ENERGY OF THE WEEK – Middas Tiferes

Bs"d

As you know, every week of sfiras haomer we work on a specific middah – character trait. This week's middah is "Middas Tiferes". But what is Tiferes, and how do we work on it?

The root of the Hebrew word Tiferes is "Pe'er" (Peh, Alef, Reish). The word Pe'er means beauty, but it can also mean a branch (of a tree). Now, what could possibly be the connection between beauty and a branch? We know that in Hebrew, all the words that have the same letters are somehow related, so there must be some connection between the concept of beauty and branches of a tree. And even once we understand that, what does all this have to do with a character trait?

The Sefer Derech Mitzvosecha (written by the Tzemach Tzedek, the third Lubavitcher Rebbe zy"a) explains¹, that beauty is perceived only when there exists a contrast. For example, imagine a flowerpot that holds in it some beautifully formed tulips – but everything around them is all the same color. Imagine that  the tulips are white, the stems and leaves are white, the soil is white, and even the flowerpot itself is white,. Would that be beautiful? It really wouldn't be very nice at all. Rather, the beauty is exhibited only when there is contrast. When the flowerpot is a red-brown and some of the tulips are white but some others are pink and red, and the leaves are green and the soil is brown – that contrast is what awards the perception of the flowerpot and its flowers its beauty.

The Derech Mitzvosecha proceeds to explain that this is the concept of middas Tiferes. The literal translation of Tiferes in Hebrew is beauty, and what causes there to be beauty is the aspect of contrast. Middas Tiferes represents specifically the contrast of the two middos that precede it – Giving and Constriction.These first two middos contrast sharply  – Giving and Constriction are two diametrically opposite expressions. When a human being can strike an equilibrium between his amount of giving and his amount of constriction (not giving), that is beautiful. Because when he gives too much, much more than his means allow, it is not beautiful, because in effect we see that he is leading himself to poverty. If, on the other hand, he restricts his giving too much, that is also not beautuiful, becase it shows that he is a person who can't share at all. The beauty that is represented by Tiferes is the exact point of balance between the contrasting acts of giving and constriction.

 A tree is a unique reprsentation of this. The tree starts out with one single trunk that runs straight up and then branches out into many opposing and contrasting directions. All the varying branches, however, are connected by one central trunk that's in the middle. If all that the tree would consist of would be its trunk, it wouldn't be very appealing at all. It"s because of the contrast of all the branches going in their various directions, that the tree exhibits such appeal. And so a tree is the  optimum metaphor for middas Tiferes.

We now see how Pe'er (a branch) and Tiferes are directly connected. But what message does this hold for us practically, and what does that tell us about the energy of this week? 

Our focuys during the weeks of sfiras haomer is on "tikun hamidos" – "fixing" the middos. We are expected to "fix" our middos very much like one fixes a thermostat or tones the strings of his guitar. When fixing the thermostat, a person tries to find the right balance between the temperature outside and what he wants it to be inside. Ideally what he's looking for is the pleasant balance between being too cold or too hot. And since the temperature outside is constantly changing, it's constantly necessary that the balance of the thermostat change accordingly.

When tuning a guitar, the musician tries his best to find the exact balance between loosening his strings too much and between tightening them too much. The exact balance betweenn his "giving" more string and his "constricting"  more string and taking it away by making it more taunt, will give him the optimum sound that he's looking for.

It's the same with our middos. The first week of sfirah, our focus is upon the middah of Giving; the second week our focus is upon the middah of inner strength and restraint – Constricting. It's in this third week – the week of Tiferes – that we seek to find the exact balance, the optimum temperture for our nature to operate at; the balance between our giving and our restricting, that will lead us to sound through our actions the best music that we can for all to hear.

The balance that we work toward in this week of sfirah, continues to escort us onward toward the day of Kabolas HaTorah. Since the temperture "outside" is constantly changing, we must use the knowledge of the equilibrium that we gain this week, to know how to gauge ourselves even afterwards in an ongoing way. When we aquire the special trait of Tiferes in all that we do, it arouses a sense of beauty in the eyes of our beholders. Everyone relates to and honors the strike of balance that we portray, and are then further inspired themselves to discover their own individual balance. The wonder that is created by the unified combination of the contrasting parts, is  the major energy that we then carry with us toward Kabolas HaTorah - toward receiving the Torah on Shavuous habah aleinu l'tova, Amen..  

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