My cousin-in-law, Efrat, asked me for some ideas about what it means to dress up on purim. Here's what we brainstormed together:
Most Jews are not on the level where they are ready to act like Tzaddikim. (Though we are all called Tzaddikim.) Most of us think of our bodies as ourselves, and our souls as dwelling within us. (As opposed to the Tzaddikim, who recognise themselves as the souls, and their bodies as their clothes. According to the Tanya.)
When we dress in costumes, we have the ability to become whatever our heart truly desires. We are exposing that which was formerly hidden within us.
This means that on purim, our insides become our outsides, and our outsides become our insides, this is a complete reversal, typical of the Purim atmosphere. ונהפוכו
On purim also, we put on costumes, for a change we become the pnimiyut, the inner essence, instead of the chitzoniut, the external/superficial. In this way we also become like the Tzaddikim. As we explained before, Rebbe Nachman says that when we rise to new levels we are pushed to the outside, and need to work our way inwards. In the Tzeital HaKatan the Noam Elimelech says that we can rise to new levels every forty days if we work at it.
On purim, every Jew can overcome his existing challenges by dressing up. The costume allows the Jew to move inward to surpass his existing level. Simply dressing up on purim allows us to overcome the klipah and push it to the outside. [my own chidush, until I find a makor for it.]
28.2.07
recycling the heavens
Yaakov Avinu used the secret of tefillin to create new worlds, so that the harsh dinim (judgements) of the long and difficult exile could be sweetened.
This, the Noam Elimelech explains, is how Tzaddikim overturn God's judgements, by recreating the heavens, recreating the whole world, a new world, such that the judgements of past worlds become out-moded and meaningless.
Similarly, earlier in his commentary, he explains that a Tzaddik (through his prayer) can rectify a whole world each day.
Taken together these teachings imply that not only does HaShem renew the world every day, but the Tzaddikim do as well.
In yet another of his teachings, Tzaddikim recognise that all of their accomplishments are direct actions of HaShem having little to do with themselves. Taken together, God renews the world every day through the prayers of the Tzaddikim.
This, the Noam Elimelech explains, is how Tzaddikim overturn God's judgements, by recreating the heavens, recreating the whole world, a new world, such that the judgements of past worlds become out-moded and meaningless.
Similarly, earlier in his commentary, he explains that a Tzaddik (through his prayer) can rectify a whole world each day.
Taken together these teachings imply that not only does HaShem renew the world every day, but the Tzaddikim do as well.
In yet another of his teachings, Tzaddikim recognise that all of their accomplishments are direct actions of HaShem having little to do with themselves. Taken together, God renews the world every day through the prayers of the Tzaddikim.
27.2.07
the field in the well
וַיַּרְא וְהִנֵּה בְאֵר בַּשָּׂדֶה - and he saw there was a well in the field. The Noam Elimelech explains that the point of Torah learning is to get to the pnimiyut-the inner essence. The Torah is called a well, and it's inner essence, a field. (The inner essence, he says, is called חקל תפוחים - literally the apple orchard) As the Noam Elimelech explains , it says behold there is a well [whose purpose is] to [get people to] the field.
This is markedly different than the obvious geographic layout and literal meaning, there was a field with a well in the middle. It's a great example of how Hassidut really can take the literal text to new literal heights. He doesn't break the Hebrew technically, he just gives you new insight. The well comes first in the passage, just as it comes first in the spiritual journey. Whereas, in the geographical layout, one would always come upon a field before a well that was 'in the field.'
Why are these metaphors used? Let's think about it a little.
You normally go to a well. You remove water from the well, and you take it somewhere. You can gather around a well, but you generally don't enter a well. A well is a point on the way to a destination.
A field surrounds you. You enter and exit a field. A field(/orchard) provides shade and sustenance. A field is a destination.
Yes, everyone needs to go to the well and bring back water so that life can continue, but it's more an impediment than something you want to do. That is why the well is the body of the Torah, the necesary parts of the Torah.
The field is about comfort, luxury even. True, a field can also be a place where people go to bring food back to one's life, but it's also a welcoming environ. Build a little house, perhaps dig a well, and you've arrived.
Ultimately what HaShem wants from us, is to make the Torah our home. To dwell within it, to wander its lengths and depths and feel a sense of ownership. God wants us to settle down with the Torah, see the world through its leaves and branches. Enjoy the fruit of it's expanses.
[This is actually a good example as well of how the deepest secrets of the Torah exist in pop-culture. Think about the fantasies that arose in the world of fiction about what is waiting at the bottom of well. Tales of those who fell or climbed into a well.]
This is markedly different than the obvious geographic layout and literal meaning, there was a field with a well in the middle. It's a great example of how Hassidut really can take the literal text to new literal heights. He doesn't break the Hebrew technically, he just gives you new insight. The well comes first in the passage, just as it comes first in the spiritual journey. Whereas, in the geographical layout, one would always come upon a field before a well that was 'in the field.'
Why are these metaphors used? Let's think about it a little.
You normally go to a well. You remove water from the well, and you take it somewhere. You can gather around a well, but you generally don't enter a well. A well is a point on the way to a destination.
A field surrounds you. You enter and exit a field. A field(/orchard) provides shade and sustenance. A field is a destination.
Yes, everyone needs to go to the well and bring back water so that life can continue, but it's more an impediment than something you want to do. That is why the well is the body of the Torah, the necesary parts of the Torah.
The field is about comfort, luxury even. True, a field can also be a place where people go to bring food back to one's life, but it's also a welcoming environ. Build a little house, perhaps dig a well, and you've arrived.
Ultimately what HaShem wants from us, is to make the Torah our home. To dwell within it, to wander its lengths and depths and feel a sense of ownership. God wants us to settle down with the Torah, see the world through its leaves and branches. Enjoy the fruit of it's expanses.
[This is actually a good example as well of how the deepest secrets of the Torah exist in pop-culture. Think about the fantasies that arose in the world of fiction about what is waiting at the bottom of well. Tales of those who fell or climbed into a well.]
seeing to the source
A Tzaddik recognises that all of his actions and all of his accomplishments come straight from God, he doesn't take any credit for himself.
This is the explanation of כי עמך מקור חיים באורך נראה אור - for with you is the source of life, in your light we see light. David HaMelech knew that even when he prays for the healing of someone, the healing comes from HaShem, because with you is the source of life. Similarly, whenever we are enlightened, it is only because God shined his light upon us. (in your light we see light)
(Noam Elimelech, Parashath Vayetzei)
This is the explanation of כי עמך מקור חיים באורך נראה אור - for with you is the source of life, in your light we see light. David HaMelech knew that even when he prays for the healing of someone, the healing comes from HaShem, because with you is the source of life. Similarly, whenever we are enlightened, it is only because God shined his light upon us. (in your light we see light)
(Noam Elimelech, Parashath Vayetzei)
26.2.07
mysterious ways
Yesterday I spent two hours wandering around a parking garage looking for my car, completely bewildered, absolutely and totally disoriented. It was an almost Fugue-state experience, but I recognised it as God's way of putting me into situations I'm meant to experience without any higher faculties, essentially da'ath haNe'elam. (It's not the first time I've experienced it. And this time I knew it for what it was, but that doesn't exactly help.)
I couldn't understand for the life of me, why I had to have that experience, but I wandered patiently and completely exasperated, knowing that I was stuck in the experience until whatever I needed to experience, or whatever I needed to do was done.
I ended up walking around the lot looking at hundreds of unfamilliar cars on three floors of a labrynthine parking garage singing להגיד בבוקר חסדך ואמונתך בלילות (to speak of your kindness in the morning, and your faith in the evenings) to a modified tune of my own making until finally finally finally, when I had given up and headed toward the guard via a number of non-pedestrian tunnels, did I discover the secret floor zero of the parking garage where I had apparently hidden my car. (The parking garage is under a building and occupies levels 0, -1, -2, and -3. The elevators stop at floor zero, (if summoned from floor zero) but apparently there's no button in the elevator for floor zero--someone please explain this.)
It wasn't until mincha today, when I was learning the Maor Eynayim on parashath Tetzaveh, that he reminded me that last week, in parashath Terumah, he spoke about Mosheh Rabbeinu's passing away, which was histalkut hada'ath.
So, yesterday, Zayin Adar, (the day I was upset I didn't really get to have a proper seudah for the Hillulah of Mosheh Rabbeinu (it's the day he was born and the day he passed away)) I walked around, without any da'ath for two hours. I was totally caught up in the essence of the day, and because the essence was a lack of da'ath, I never made the connection.
HaShem's ways are truly beyond our understanding.
In case you were wondering, the Maor Eynayim explains that Mosheh Rabbeinu's burial place is un-known because he is a part (the part called da'ath) of every one of the neshamoth of klal yisrael. When we connect to the Torah, we are doing it through the part of Mosheh Rabbeinu that is in our neshamah.
I couldn't understand for the life of me, why I had to have that experience, but I wandered patiently and completely exasperated, knowing that I was stuck in the experience until whatever I needed to experience, or whatever I needed to do was done.
I ended up walking around the lot looking at hundreds of unfamilliar cars on three floors of a labrynthine parking garage singing להגיד בבוקר חסדך ואמונתך בלילות (to speak of your kindness in the morning, and your faith in the evenings) to a modified tune of my own making until finally finally finally, when I had given up and headed toward the guard via a number of non-pedestrian tunnels, did I discover the secret floor zero of the parking garage where I had apparently hidden my car. (The parking garage is under a building and occupies levels 0, -1, -2, and -3. The elevators stop at floor zero, (if summoned from floor zero) but apparently there's no button in the elevator for floor zero--someone please explain this.)
It wasn't until mincha today, when I was learning the Maor Eynayim on parashath Tetzaveh, that he reminded me that last week, in parashath Terumah, he spoke about Mosheh Rabbeinu's passing away, which was histalkut hada'ath.
So, yesterday, Zayin Adar, (the day I was upset I didn't really get to have a proper seudah for the Hillulah of Mosheh Rabbeinu (it's the day he was born and the day he passed away)) I walked around, without any da'ath for two hours. I was totally caught up in the essence of the day, and because the essence was a lack of da'ath, I never made the connection.
HaShem's ways are truly beyond our understanding.
In case you were wondering, the Maor Eynayim explains that Mosheh Rabbeinu's burial place is un-known because he is a part (the part called da'ath) of every one of the neshamoth of klal yisrael. When we connect to the Torah, we are doing it through the part of Mosheh Rabbeinu that is in our neshamah.
all brain and no brawn
Re: Shtreimel's post:
Love and devotion aren't rooted in logic, they're rooted in letting go of logic.
If you think about compromise, it's always the person who has a better and clearer understanding of a situation that has to capitulate to the one who has a less clear understanding. The confused person is less conversant, less agile with said piece of knowledge.
Superior logic only puts you in a more submissive position. That is the essence of אזהו חכם הלומד מכל אדם - who is wise? he who learns from every one. Similarly Hochma is achievable solely through humility. The one who would see most clearly, must be the most willing to bend.
The true Talmid Hacham doesn't give you the חומרה; (the strict ruling) he bends the Torah's superior intellect to find a כולה (lenient ruling) for you to live your life the way you are capable of living it.
This is why the Tzaddik decrees and HaShem upholds; because the greater intellect compromises with the lesser.
He doesn't want our heads in the sand.. He wants our heads to serve our hearts. Again, the greater intellect compromising with the lesser.
The head awakens and excites the heart, the head empowers the heart, and the heart serves it's creator.
[On a side note: In a way, if you look at it right, Rebbe Nachman's story, The Sophisticate and the Simpleton, (mentioned in this previous post) is a story about the mind and the heart. The intellect seeks to understand everything, and invests its energy in the most favorable things. The heart seeks to perform all its deeds in simplicity. To be excited at each and every thing.
In the end the intellect is lost, and comes to the heart full of subtle theories, ideas, and general confusion. The heart tells the intellect what is (obviously) true.]
In other words, only if I want to believe that a god exists, can I be proven, and only if he wants to believe that a god does not exist will I be able to provide substantive logic for his taste.רחמנא לבא בעי - according to Torah, life isn't a mind game. HaShem wants our hearts.
The question remains then. What gives?
Love and devotion aren't rooted in logic, they're rooted in letting go of logic.
If you think about compromise, it's always the person who has a better and clearer understanding of a situation that has to capitulate to the one who has a less clear understanding. The confused person is less conversant, less agile with said piece of knowledge.
Superior logic only puts you in a more submissive position. That is the essence of אזהו חכם הלומד מכל אדם - who is wise? he who learns from every one. Similarly Hochma is achievable solely through humility. The one who would see most clearly, must be the most willing to bend.
The true Talmid Hacham doesn't give you the חומרה; (the strict ruling) he bends the Torah's superior intellect to find a כולה (lenient ruling) for you to live your life the way you are capable of living it.
This is why the Tzaddik decrees and HaShem upholds; because the greater intellect compromises with the lesser.
He doesn't want our heads in the sand.. He wants our heads to serve our hearts. Again, the greater intellect compromising with the lesser.
The head awakens and excites the heart, the head empowers the heart, and the heart serves it's creator.
[On a side note: In a way, if you look at it right, Rebbe Nachman's story, The Sophisticate and the Simpleton, (mentioned in this previous post) is a story about the mind and the heart. The intellect seeks to understand everything, and invests its energy in the most favorable things. The heart seeks to perform all its deeds in simplicity. To be excited at each and every thing.
In the end the intellect is lost, and comes to the heart full of subtle theories, ideas, and general confusion. The heart tells the intellect what is (obviously) true.]
alight in prayer
In prayer, when do we need to give our lives (figuratively) to sanctify God's name. In other words, when is the time in prayer to put in our utmost effort, to give of ourselves as wholly as possible?
Rebbe Nachman explains that it is precisely when the machshavoth zaroth, the foreign thoughts, come to distract us, that is the sign to put in our maximal effort, to give our very lives for the sake of God's name.
(Likkutei Moharan I:26)
Rebbe Nachman explains that it is precisely when the machshavoth zaroth, the foreign thoughts, come to distract us, that is the sign to put in our maximal effort, to give our very lives for the sake of God's name.
(Likkutei Moharan I:26)
peace hurts
Shalom (שלום - peace) always comes with bitterness. Because all healing comes with the bitterness of herbs, and Shalom is the ultimate healing. As it says: שלום לרחוק ולקרוב אמר ה' ורפאתיו - peace to far and near, says HaShem and heals him.
Sometimes, someone is so sick that they can't tolerate the bitterness of the herbs necesary to heal them, then the Doctors give up, and cease to treat the patient.
Similarly, people might be so far removed from God, so sick with sin, that they cannot receive Shalom.
For these people, HaShem throws away their sins, so they can receive Shalom with suffering they can survive.
(Likkutei Moharan I:27)
Sometimes, someone is so sick that they can't tolerate the bitterness of the herbs necesary to heal them, then the Doctors give up, and cease to treat the patient.
Similarly, people might be so far removed from God, so sick with sin, that they cannot receive Shalom.
For these people, HaShem throws away their sins, so they can receive Shalom with suffering they can survive.
(Likkutei Moharan I:27)
we're still dreaming, we only think we're awake
Over on Mystical Paths, there's a really disturbing trend starting. (or at least being encouraged) They are delineating who is awake and who is asleep.
Awake. It's just another Tag, another trend, another name, another way to associate with other like-minded people. It's not any more true than Gucci. There's no more emeth in 'awake' than there is in 'asleep.' Look at Likkutei Halachoth, (hilchoth netilath yadayim) and then we'll see who praises being 'awake.' (see here, and here.)
Any Jew who latches on to any name other than Yisrael should look within themselves, myself included. We should look within ourselves and wonder why we are pulling away from the klal, the complete whole that is Yisrael. HaShem is Echad, Torah is Echad, and Yisrael is Echad. All of Yisrael is mixed with one another. (ערבים זה לזה) There's no delineation, no divisiveness that is part of Yisrael.
The Hareidim who don't have time to talk about moshiach because they are too busy learning Torah aren't not awake. They know the emeth, that Torah is always important. A shiur that is kavua will still be kavua, even if moshiah is coming that very same second. Torah is eternal just like Yisrael is eternal. People who go through their lives taking care of their family and saying tehillim but don't have time or energy to respond to people's calls for moshiach, they are just as awake as you or I. People who never in their lives opened a sefer, but are caring and benevolent people are awake too. People who seem to all intents and purposes to serve no clear purpose by their very existence, they too are awake. (If you think they serve no purpose aren't you the one who's asleep?)
To put it simply: Remember the Baal Shem Tov, if God shows you someone who appears (to you) to be asleep, God is sending you a wake-up call!
Don't start a witch-hunt for those who are asleep. You are wasting your own time. This stupidity of 'awake' and 'asleep' is like one of those dreams where you think you woke up and got dressed and went to work (or school), only to wake up later and discover you're still in bed in your pajamas.
If you were truly awake, everyone around you would be awake as well.
(note to self: stop judging people and get out of bed!!!!)
Awake. It's just another Tag, another trend, another name, another way to associate with other like-minded people. It's not any more true than Gucci. There's no more emeth in 'awake' than there is in 'asleep.' Look at Likkutei Halachoth, (hilchoth netilath yadayim) and then we'll see who praises being 'awake.' (see here, and here.)
Any Jew who latches on to any name other than Yisrael should look within themselves, myself included. We should look within ourselves and wonder why we are pulling away from the klal, the complete whole that is Yisrael. HaShem is Echad, Torah is Echad, and Yisrael is Echad. All of Yisrael is mixed with one another. (ערבים זה לזה) There's no delineation, no divisiveness that is part of Yisrael.
The Hareidim who don't have time to talk about moshiach because they are too busy learning Torah aren't not awake. They know the emeth, that Torah is always important. A shiur that is kavua will still be kavua, even if moshiah is coming that very same second. Torah is eternal just like Yisrael is eternal. People who go through their lives taking care of their family and saying tehillim but don't have time or energy to respond to people's calls for moshiach, they are just as awake as you or I. People who never in their lives opened a sefer, but are caring and benevolent people are awake too. People who seem to all intents and purposes to serve no clear purpose by their very existence, they too are awake. (If you think they serve no purpose aren't you the one who's asleep?)
To put it simply: Remember the Baal Shem Tov, if God shows you someone who appears (to you) to be asleep, God is sending you a wake-up call!
Don't start a witch-hunt for those who are asleep. You are wasting your own time. This stupidity of 'awake' and 'asleep' is like one of those dreams where you think you woke up and got dressed and went to work (or school), only to wake up later and discover you're still in bed in your pajamas.
If you were truly awake, everyone around you would be awake as well.
(note to self: stop judging people and get out of bed!!!!)
seeing the temple in our days
via HaMikdash:
Also, in Masechet Midot (daily english translation(its been discontinued but if you root around it looks like it's all still there)) in the mishnayot they discuss a lot about the daily function of the mishkan.
I can't give you all the sources in the talmud, simply because it's all over the place and I don't know where to find them.
B'hatzlacha!
The Holy Chafetz Chaim writes: "…Presently it is difficult to find Kohanim who know the laws and practices of the fully. How disheartening and embarrassing. It sadly indicates that our prayers for the and the Service are merely lip service, not real or heartfelt. For if we really desired it to come, we would prepare and make ready for it.He makes a really good point, and I can tell you for myself (though I am not a Kohain) that there is really nothing that makes you feel more connected to the Beit HaMikdash than reading through the descriptions of (especially the daily) rituals that were performed there. The Rambam discusses everything there is to know about the Beit HaMikdash in great detail. (Sefer Avodah (in hebrew) (summary of its topics in english) , Sefer Korbanot (in hebrew) (summary of its topics in english))
Also, in Masechet Midot (daily english translation(its been discontinued but if you root around it looks like it's all still there)) in the mishnayot they discuss a lot about the daily function of the mishkan.
I can't give you all the sources in the talmud, simply because it's all over the place and I don't know where to find them.
B'hatzlacha!
25.2.07
the root of all evil
Rebbe Nachman teaches that Tikkun HaBrit is the shoresh (root) of all of the negative mitzwoth. There are so many fine points, in the negative mitzwoth, he says, that one could never master them all. Instead, through rectifying the Brit Milah, we fix all of our shortcomings in all of the 365 negative mitzwoth at their root.
(Likkutei Moharan I:28)
(Likkutei Moharan I:28)
spiritual gifts in physical costumes
How is it that Rivkah went behind Yitzhak's back and told Yaakov to steal the berachah that was Yitzhak intended for Esav?
Yitzhak intended to bless Esav with this world. (physicality) Yitzhak intended to bless Yaakov with the world to come. (spirituality) Rivkah wanted Yaakov to have of this world in addition to the world to come. But Rivkah was a Tzaddeketh, so how could she have even cared about the physical world? (As Tzaddikim have no thought for physicality. )
Obviously, She didn't.
All physicality wouldn't exist without the sparks of Godliness within it that give it life, Rivkah was concerned that that holiness wouldn't be given to Esav. She wanted to make sure all the spirituality went to Yaakov.
(Noam Elimelech parashat Toldoth)
Yitzhak intended to bless Esav with this world. (physicality) Yitzhak intended to bless Yaakov with the world to come. (spirituality) Rivkah wanted Yaakov to have of this world in addition to the world to come. But Rivkah was a Tzaddeketh, so how could she have even cared about the physical world? (As Tzaddikim have no thought for physicality. )
Obviously, She didn't.
All physicality wouldn't exist without the sparks of Godliness within it that give it life, Rivkah was concerned that that holiness wouldn't be given to Esav. She wanted to make sure all the spirituality went to Yaakov.
(Noam Elimelech parashat Toldoth)
God is great
Of course these things are never exact, but exactly a year ago I told you all that there were 40 days and 40 nights till my wedding day. Well, 40 days and 40 nights from now is the official due date..:)
22.2.07
heart to heart
דברים היוצאין מן הלב נכנסים ללב - things that come from the heart, enter the heartNormally, this is taken to mean that if you speak from the heart, it will pierce into the heart of others. Conversely if you speak about things you don't believe, others will know it and take it to heart no more than you yourself do.
The Noam Elimelech understands this phrase in a completely novel fashion. When you connect to HaShem with all your heart, (in awe and holiness) it awakens a similar desire in those around you, and when you see those around similarly aroused, it enters your (own) heart once more and encourages and energizes you and raises you to new hights of awe and holiness.
In his own words, "things that come from the heart, enter the [same] heart [from which they came and there they awaken more kedusha]."
shield of ages
The Notzer Hesed says that all of the yichudim that one does in one's daily activities are considered the life of the moment. (חיי שעה) This means connecting one's mundane actions back to God, performing them in order to perform unifications of the Shechinah and HaKadosh Baruch Hu in the higher worlds through one's intentions and actions, it's all about bringing life down to the world at this very moment. But, Pirkei Avoth warns, no matter how lofty your intentions and actions, they won't help you in a moment of weakness when you've fallen from your level. They can't help you, because they exist in the moment.
Torah learning, on the other hand, is called (eternal life or) the life of the world , (חיי עולם as we've discussed before regarding learning after you pray) and it surrounds, protects, and guards us when we fall, so that we can get up again, and return to our place.
[מגן הוא לכל החוסים בו - it is a shield to all who take shelter in it.]
Torah learning, on the other hand, is called (eternal life or) the life of the world , (חיי עולם as we've discussed before regarding learning after you pray) and it surrounds, protects, and guards us when we fall, so that we can get up again, and return to our place.
[מגן הוא לכל החוסים בו - it is a shield to all who take shelter in it.]
21.2.07
there is no between
A post over at ASimpleJew had me thinking. He quoted the Chidushei HaRim:
The Notzer Hesed (which I also brought in my comment to the linked post) says that a man is always between two women, the Shechinah and his wife.
The Zohar (which I again brought in my comment) says that a man's proper conduct with his wife at home ensures that the Shechinah accompanies him on his journeys.
Just as it is important to appropriately prepare your house to welcome the Shabbath, it is important to treat your wife (lehavdil) the way you would treat the Shechinah so that the Shechinah is welcome to dwell upon her.
On the other hand, we have a chevruta, or should at least, now this person also knows you intimately, but in a completely different way. How does that square and how does that relate to your other relationships, with the Shechinah and your wife?
Rebbe Nachman explains that when two people are sitting and learning, it creates a vacuum between them that is akin to the vacuum created by the original TzimTzum into which God injected His light and created the world.
From here we see that the relationship of the Chevruta is one of pushing apart from one another, emptying out a space in the middle of which the Torah of your learning can create worlds consumate with your efforts in your study.
The relationship with one's spouse is a union negating all parts and resulting in something even beyond a world. What comes out of the union of a marriage is the ribui, the amassing, of infinite potential to create endlessly.
The relationship of the Chevruta can be related to Olam haZeh, this finite world, whereas the relationship with one's wife is more correctly related to Olam haBa, the world to come which has no end.
Perhaps the real truth lies within the words of Rebbe Yitzchak Meir Alter of Ger, who once said, "There are only two who truly know you: G-d and your spouse."I never liked that distinction between God and spouse. Simply because I want to give all that I am to both God and my wife. How can one divide oneself between two things? How could either be more important than the other. My only solution is to devote myself totally to my wife because God was the one who brought her to me. How could it be any other way?
The Notzer Hesed (which I also brought in my comment to the linked post) says that a man is always between two women, the Shechinah and his wife.
The Zohar (which I again brought in my comment) says that a man's proper conduct with his wife at home ensures that the Shechinah accompanies him on his journeys.
Just as it is important to appropriately prepare your house to welcome the Shabbath, it is important to treat your wife (lehavdil) the way you would treat the Shechinah so that the Shechinah is welcome to dwell upon her.
On the other hand, we have a chevruta, or should at least, now this person also knows you intimately, but in a completely different way. How does that square and how does that relate to your other relationships, with the Shechinah and your wife?
Rebbe Nachman explains that when two people are sitting and learning, it creates a vacuum between them that is akin to the vacuum created by the original TzimTzum into which God injected His light and created the world.
From here we see that the relationship of the Chevruta is one of pushing apart from one another, emptying out a space in the middle of which the Torah of your learning can create worlds consumate with your efforts in your study.
The relationship with one's spouse is a union negating all parts and resulting in something even beyond a world. What comes out of the union of a marriage is the ribui, the amassing, of infinite potential to create endlessly.
The relationship of the Chevruta can be related to Olam haZeh, this finite world, whereas the relationship with one's wife is more correctly related to Olam haBa, the world to come which has no end.
absent analogs
I was thinking about different ideas today, and thought to myself, well, if this is true, then there must be an analog in nature.
Now, if something is emeth, then there must be an analog in Torah somewhere. But where did I get the idea that there must be an analog in nature as well?
We do have Chazal telling us in multiple places that the Torah is the blueprint for the creation of the world, so I would think if it exists in Torah then it must also exist in nature, except that we know there are things in Torah that Chazal tell us never were and never will be. (The Tanya discusses mitzwoth like this and how the learning of their halachoth is the way to keep them, namely ben sorer u'more and (i think) certain inyanim of pigul. (amongst others, The Baal HaTanya didn't provide a complete list)) So apparently not every truth has an analog in the physical world.
But, why did I think it in the first place? It seems that God puts all the biggest secrets and most profound ideas right in front of us, clothed in such simplicity that only the really perceptive and bright-eyed will catch them. So, naturally, if I came upon a big secret, I would think it must have been right under my nose the whole time. I still feel like this is the truth most of the time, but we just proved above that there are truths that have no expression in the physical world outside of the letters in a sefer kodesh.
The idea that struck me as true is that the Godliness within us, interacts with the Godliness in the world at large through the various physical clothings in between them. The whole exercise is mainly to raise up these physical trappings that divide between the (k'v'yachol) separated unity of Godliness. It doesn't sound like a chidush, but try to picture the relationships, and I can see I'm getting into a place too meta to go with Binah; everytime I go there I have to stop thinking. אם רץ לבך שוב לאחד - if your heart runs, return to one. (I've quoted this in the past, it's still from the Sefer Yetzirah - the book of formation.)
This kind of thinking only serves as fuel to remember I don't know anything and I need to get back to learning.
Now, if something is emeth, then there must be an analog in Torah somewhere. But where did I get the idea that there must be an analog in nature as well?
We do have Chazal telling us in multiple places that the Torah is the blueprint for the creation of the world, so I would think if it exists in Torah then it must also exist in nature, except that we know there are things in Torah that Chazal tell us never were and never will be. (The Tanya discusses mitzwoth like this and how the learning of their halachoth is the way to keep them, namely ben sorer u'more and (i think) certain inyanim of pigul. (amongst others, The Baal HaTanya didn't provide a complete list)) So apparently not every truth has an analog in the physical world.
But, why did I think it in the first place? It seems that God puts all the biggest secrets and most profound ideas right in front of us, clothed in such simplicity that only the really perceptive and bright-eyed will catch them. So, naturally, if I came upon a big secret, I would think it must have been right under my nose the whole time. I still feel like this is the truth most of the time, but we just proved above that there are truths that have no expression in the physical world outside of the letters in a sefer kodesh.
The idea that struck me as true is that the Godliness within us, interacts with the Godliness in the world at large through the various physical clothings in between them. The whole exercise is mainly to raise up these physical trappings that divide between the (k'v'yachol) separated unity of Godliness. It doesn't sound like a chidush, but try to picture the relationships, and I can see I'm getting into a place too meta to go with Binah; everytime I go there I have to stop thinking. אם רץ לבך שוב לאחד - if your heart runs, return to one. (I've quoted this in the past, it's still from the Sefer Yetzirah - the book of formation.)
This kind of thinking only serves as fuel to remember I don't know anything and I need to get back to learning.
up in smoke
The divine presence was only revealed within the Beit HaMikdash and the Mishkan when they were filled with the smoke of the ketoret. (the incense offering)
This is interesting in a purely physical sense, because we know with light and especially lasers, that the path of a laser isn't (generally) readily visible, unless the air is full of particulate matter. This is also true of the sun's rays shining through on partially clouded days. Light can only be briefly glimpsed directly, as a source of brightness, or as illumination on the surface of something else. Sometimes though, (as in the examples above: the laser and the rays of sunshine) filling an area with a cloud of something allows us to gain more insight into the way the light moves, how and wear it is travelling.
On an entirely different level, perhaps the same principle applies. We know that God can't be viewed directly, he warns Mosheh, לא יראני האדם וחי - man cannot see me and live. We also know that when God does reveal himself, it is through some mask, some outer clothing that shields us from the full effect of seeing God, if such a thing can be spoken about. כִּי בֶּעָנָן, אֵרָאֶה עַל-הַכַּפֹּרֶת (For in a cloud will I reveal myself on the covering of the ark. Vayikra 16:2)
We can learn something really amazing from the fact that God is revealed in the smoke of the incense offering. The word smoke, עשן, which is used to describe har Sinai as כלו עשן -entirely smoke- can also be read as an acronym that stands for עולם ,שנה ,נפש - World, Year, Soul. These are three dimensions, or three separate levels that comprise the major aspects of the world, Space, Time, and Consciousness.
From this we see that Space, Time, and Consciouness are all simply veils that not only protect us, and allow us to interact with God, despite our puny finitude, but also that they were created for the express purpose of God revealing himself to us, through them.
Just like our post in which Rebbe Nachman explained that our body is the most direct way to our soul. Here we see that Space, Time, and Consciousness are the most direct channels to God.
This can actually be seen in Tefillin and Tallith. Rebbe Natan in Likkutei Halachoth relates how Tzitzith represent one's place. As long as we aren't in our appropriate place, it seems like there's no room for us at all, and we feel suffocated and squeezed into existence. When we find our apporpriate place, appointed by God, then we can relate to and connect to God, and actually we become the space of the world, an attribute normally limited to HaShem Himself.
Similarly, Rebbe Natan explains that Time is a more refined version of Space, in that it is more fine and more difficult to connect to. Yom Kippur is completely above time, and for this reason we wear our Tallith from the very start of Yom Kippur, because the Tallith connects us to Time in a way that we can relate to time, without being trapped within it. [It occurs to me that Teshuvah can be seen as literal time travel.]
The Tefillin, on the other hand, connect our consciousness and our mind to the mind of HaShem. The Tefillin represent the whole Torah, and since the Torah stems from the Will (רצון) of God, by making our will His Will, (by subjecting ourself to his Torah by laying Tefillin) we connect our consciousness to His.
When next you pray, be aware that you are surrounding yourself in the עשן, the smoke, through which HaShem reveals himself to His people. This should help in envisioning yourself in the Holy Temple while you are praying.
Perhaps through Space, Time, and Consciousness we can ascend into the smoke of Har Sinai, which would explain what Mosheh meant when he told us that we didn't go up the mountain (as we should have) despite God explicitly telling us not to go up the mountain.
This is interesting in a purely physical sense, because we know with light and especially lasers, that the path of a laser isn't (generally) readily visible, unless the air is full of particulate matter. This is also true of the sun's rays shining through on partially clouded days. Light can only be briefly glimpsed directly, as a source of brightness, or as illumination on the surface of something else. Sometimes though, (as in the examples above: the laser and the rays of sunshine) filling an area with a cloud of something allows us to gain more insight into the way the light moves, how and wear it is travelling.
On an entirely different level, perhaps the same principle applies. We know that God can't be viewed directly, he warns Mosheh, לא יראני האדם וחי - man cannot see me and live. We also know that when God does reveal himself, it is through some mask, some outer clothing that shields us from the full effect of seeing God, if such a thing can be spoken about. כִּי בֶּעָנָן, אֵרָאֶה עַל-הַכַּפֹּרֶת (For in a cloud will I reveal myself on the covering of the ark. Vayikra 16:2)
We can learn something really amazing from the fact that God is revealed in the smoke of the incense offering. The word smoke, עשן, which is used to describe har Sinai as כלו עשן -entirely smoke- can also be read as an acronym that stands for עולם ,שנה ,נפש - World, Year, Soul. These are three dimensions, or three separate levels that comprise the major aspects of the world, Space, Time, and Consciousness.
From this we see that Space, Time, and Consciouness are all simply veils that not only protect us, and allow us to interact with God, despite our puny finitude, but also that they were created for the express purpose of God revealing himself to us, through them.
Just like our post in which Rebbe Nachman explained that our body is the most direct way to our soul. Here we see that Space, Time, and Consciousness are the most direct channels to God.
This can actually be seen in Tefillin and Tallith. Rebbe Natan in Likkutei Halachoth relates how Tzitzith represent one's place. As long as we aren't in our appropriate place, it seems like there's no room for us at all, and we feel suffocated and squeezed into existence. When we find our apporpriate place, appointed by God, then we can relate to and connect to God, and actually we become the space of the world, an attribute normally limited to HaShem Himself.
Similarly, Rebbe Natan explains that Time is a more refined version of Space, in that it is more fine and more difficult to connect to. Yom Kippur is completely above time, and for this reason we wear our Tallith from the very start of Yom Kippur, because the Tallith connects us to Time in a way that we can relate to time, without being trapped within it. [It occurs to me that Teshuvah can be seen as literal time travel.]
The Tefillin, on the other hand, connect our consciousness and our mind to the mind of HaShem. The Tefillin represent the whole Torah, and since the Torah stems from the Will (רצון) of God, by making our will His Will, (by subjecting ourself to his Torah by laying Tefillin) we connect our consciousness to His.
When next you pray, be aware that you are surrounding yourself in the עשן, the smoke, through which HaShem reveals himself to His people. This should help in envisioning yourself in the Holy Temple while you are praying.
Perhaps through Space, Time, and Consciousness we can ascend into the smoke of Har Sinai, which would explain what Mosheh meant when he told us that we didn't go up the mountain (as we should have) despite God explicitly telling us not to go up the mountain.
thoughts of the morning
I was wondering this morning, about relating to humanity as a single entity, and what it would be like to be humanity's psychologist. How would you define the emotional age of humanity, with which syndromes would you claim it was afflicted?
I think humanity as a whole is still pretty young, at least intellectually and emotionally. It's hard to tell whether we're suffering post-traumatic stress (PTS) or if we're just a big unruly teenager. I'd compare us to those rogue (orphaned) elephants in Africa who go around causing chaos, killing people and raping rhinoceroses. (what's the plural form of rhinoceros? merriam-webster says it's rhinoceros, rhinoceri, or rhinoceroses) There's a lot wrong with the world right now, but we aren't sure what. Every time something gets under control the common subconscious offers up a more dangerous nightmare. We just got over fear of thermonuclear annihilation and now we've got global warming--something that might already be intractable. Our fate might already be sealed. [To answer this we have yesterday's Torah from Reb Elimelech m'Lizhensk] Our (global messianic) hopes are the hopes of an orphaned child dreaming of a father-king/mother-queen who will return to right all the wrongs that s/he has suffered.
On a smaller scale, the Jewish people are in their early middle age, or mid thirties. They've reached a point with they've stopped focusing on the bigger picture and started worrying more about their own offspring, they've gone into hibernation as far as lofty goals are concerned, instead focusing on the more immediate needs. This isn't good or bad, this is simply where we are, we aren't grandparents with no concern for ourselves, only our future, we certainly aren't teenagers off to save the world from itself with our limited intellect. I think we need to be a little more grandmotherly, and start to put real effort into the ones getting left behind, and the larger community. [To speak to this issue we have massive kiruv efforts, the seeds of massive aliyah efforts, and those who are forever toiling to bring our message (however they might define it) to the masses.]
I don't know how well I've thought this all through, it's pretty murky to me. It's just an interesting thing to think about.. Can we stretch our minds large enough to fit all of humanity in there? Can we leave our own bias behind and assemble enough knowledge to speak knowledgeably on the topic? I know my own attempt here is childish in it's limited viewpoint, I recognise so much ignorance in the little that I think I know.
Keep in mind that all of this, everything around you, is what HaShem has placed there so that you may grow and expand. (as the Baal Shem Tov made apparent) As much as things may be broken on the outside--in the world at large--it's the broken things inside you that they highlight that are your first priority to fix.
Rebbe Nachman says (I think I read it in Likkutei Sichot years ago) that the goings-on of the world play out in our personal relationships. So much so that if we isolate ourselves, then we go insane because all of the conflict of the world carries itself out in our heads.
Through our daily routines we not only can experience the reality of the world at large, but through them we may also affect global change by changing the immediate realities of the world in our vicinity.
[This is well beyond karma.]
Life is a combination of knowing the whole world was created solely for you, and knowing that you are naught but dust and ashes. Who are you to affect and change the world? Who else was it created for? it was created for you. for you to change and fix. Before you think that the world needs your fixes, your changes, remember that you are dust and ashes.
It is only for your sake that the world was created, that through changing and fixing it, you will be the one who benefits from it--not the world. The world doesn't need you, you need the world. You need the world because it is your only way to God. As Rebbe Nachman says, the whole world is a narrow bridge.
I think humanity as a whole is still pretty young, at least intellectually and emotionally. It's hard to tell whether we're suffering post-traumatic stress (PTS) or if we're just a big unruly teenager. I'd compare us to those rogue (orphaned) elephants in Africa who go around causing chaos, killing people and raping rhinoceroses. (what's the plural form of rhinoceros? merriam-webster says it's rhinoceros, rhinoceri, or rhinoceroses) There's a lot wrong with the world right now, but we aren't sure what. Every time something gets under control the common subconscious offers up a more dangerous nightmare. We just got over fear of thermonuclear annihilation and now we've got global warming--something that might already be intractable. Our fate might already be sealed. [To answer this we have yesterday's Torah from Reb Elimelech m'Lizhensk] Our (global messianic) hopes are the hopes of an orphaned child dreaming of a father-king/mother-queen who will return to right all the wrongs that s/he has suffered.
On a smaller scale, the Jewish people are in their early middle age, or mid thirties. They've reached a point with they've stopped focusing on the bigger picture and started worrying more about their own offspring, they've gone into hibernation as far as lofty goals are concerned, instead focusing on the more immediate needs. This isn't good or bad, this is simply where we are, we aren't grandparents with no concern for ourselves, only our future, we certainly aren't teenagers off to save the world from itself with our limited intellect. I think we need to be a little more grandmotherly, and start to put real effort into the ones getting left behind, and the larger community. [To speak to this issue we have massive kiruv efforts, the seeds of massive aliyah efforts, and those who are forever toiling to bring our message (however they might define it) to the masses.]
I don't know how well I've thought this all through, it's pretty murky to me. It's just an interesting thing to think about.. Can we stretch our minds large enough to fit all of humanity in there? Can we leave our own bias behind and assemble enough knowledge to speak knowledgeably on the topic? I know my own attempt here is childish in it's limited viewpoint, I recognise so much ignorance in the little that I think I know.
Keep in mind that all of this, everything around you, is what HaShem has placed there so that you may grow and expand. (as the Baal Shem Tov made apparent) As much as things may be broken on the outside--in the world at large--it's the broken things inside you that they highlight that are your first priority to fix.
Rebbe Nachman says (I think I read it in Likkutei Sichot years ago) that the goings-on of the world play out in our personal relationships. So much so that if we isolate ourselves, then we go insane because all of the conflict of the world carries itself out in our heads.
Through our daily routines we not only can experience the reality of the world at large, but through them we may also affect global change by changing the immediate realities of the world in our vicinity.
[This is well beyond karma.]
Life is a combination of knowing the whole world was created solely for you, and knowing that you are naught but dust and ashes. Who are you to affect and change the world? Who else was it created for? it was created for you. for you to change and fix. Before you think that the world needs your fixes, your changes, remember that you are dust and ashes.
It is only for your sake that the world was created, that through changing and fixing it, you will be the one who benefits from it--not the world. The world doesn't need you, you need the world. You need the world because it is your only way to God. As Rebbe Nachman says, the whole world is a narrow bridge.
20.2.07
not always imminent
Sometimes, things boil to a point where the outcome seems unavoidable. It is exactly at that point that the Tzaddik brings down divine intervention and prevents what seemed imminent.
This is how the Noam Elimelech explains Yaakov's birth, gripping Esav's heel. Dinim represented by Esav appear to be unleashed upon the world, but at the last second, rachamim represented by Yaakov grabs the dinim by the heel and holds it back, protecting the world.
Perhaps this explains what the Noam Elimelech said about himself, that how could it be that all the prophets and wisemen foretold of the pain and suffering in the end of days? Didn't they know that Elimelech would come and intercede on behalf of Israel?
This is how the Noam Elimelech explains Yaakov's birth, gripping Esav's heel. Dinim represented by Esav appear to be unleashed upon the world, but at the last second, rachamim represented by Yaakov grabs the dinim by the heel and holds it back, protecting the world.
Perhaps this explains what the Noam Elimelech said about himself, that how could it be that all the prophets and wisemen foretold of the pain and suffering in the end of days? Didn't they know that Elimelech would come and intercede on behalf of Israel?
the unknowable head
This morning we went for an ultrasound, (well, I can't do much more than tag along) my wife said it's amazing that we get to know and see someone, before they are even someone, we get to see them and know them before we really know them at all. She described it as ראישא דלא איתידע - the head which isn't (or can't be) known. (a term from the Zohar) It struck me as resonating deeply with Rebbe Nachman's Torah from yesterday. (Likkutei Moharan I:24)
Which made me realize that really, approaching any person is a similar experience. Part of the interaction with a person gives you insight into who and what they are. But, there remains always a part of them which is completely beyond us. A part of everyone, that only HaShem knows. (This is the same part that is hinted at in this previous post about dying to sanctify God's name.)
This goes even further. Not only people, but in any exploration of the secrets of existence, there is that which we are able to know, and grasp, and that which is beyond us. In each of these relationships, the longer and more involved we become, the deeper this knowledge can go, but there's always some invisible barrier, of that which we can never connect to. There is always the infinite underlying whatever it is we may know.
That is the spark of Godliness in everything.
Even though we can't know it, it doesn't mean we can't relate to it. The minute you know that there is Godliness in someone or even something, you relate to it differently. When you know that something that seemed finite bears within it infinite marvels, you tend to look twice, to come back to it, to revisit it, to be more reverent in your relationship to it.
Here's the pitfall. Even though Godliness exists in everything, we have to be careful how we relate to that Godliness. On the one hand, as we see in halachah, we can't waste or abuse anything, be it natural resources, or friendships. On the other hand, we can't elevate that something beyond its status, and deify it, that's expressly forebidden as worshipping other gods.
We have to balance respect for Godliness in everything and remember that each of these sparks is simply another window on the one Divinity that gives life (and hides) to (and within) all of us. (The window metaphor is actually provided by the Baal HaTanya to help people understand the idea that One God may be expressed in a number of different ways within the world.)
Still, we have to relate to this Godliness, we have to always push on that barrier, to see how far we can go, how much we can grasp, how much of this physicality we can elevate until we get to a point where there is raw Godliness that is beyond our touch or a need to be elevated.
It goes without saying that this pursuit must be through the holy path of Halachah, the journey described by Torah, without this compass it is too easy to lose our way and end up in self-delusion and fantasy.
How do we do this in purity? As Rebbe Nachman taught us, through great joy (שמחה) and simple faith. (אמונה) This extra effort that comes from within us activates all of our deep spiritual senses, instruments, and limbs, to fully embrace and explore the explorable but impermeable membrane of the divine.
Through Rebbe Nachman's method we may reach places so special that they are unknown to anyone but us, they are utterly unique. They are the nine chambers of our extra-intelligence, offered up and created in the attempt to draw close to the divine. They have no real existence except in the moment of our attempt to unify with infinity.
[The first Torah in Likkutei Moharan (I:1) talks about how it is necesary for every Jew to seek out the hidden knowledge in every thing.]
May Rebbe Nachman's Torah merit us each to connect to these infinities in our personal relationships in kedushah, in simchah, and in emunah.
Which made me realize that really, approaching any person is a similar experience. Part of the interaction with a person gives you insight into who and what they are. But, there remains always a part of them which is completely beyond us. A part of everyone, that only HaShem knows. (This is the same part that is hinted at in this previous post about dying to sanctify God's name.)
This goes even further. Not only people, but in any exploration of the secrets of existence, there is that which we are able to know, and grasp, and that which is beyond us. In each of these relationships, the longer and more involved we become, the deeper this knowledge can go, but there's always some invisible barrier, of that which we can never connect to. There is always the infinite underlying whatever it is we may know.
That is the spark of Godliness in everything.
Even though we can't know it, it doesn't mean we can't relate to it. The minute you know that there is Godliness in someone or even something, you relate to it differently. When you know that something that seemed finite bears within it infinite marvels, you tend to look twice, to come back to it, to revisit it, to be more reverent in your relationship to it.
Here's the pitfall. Even though Godliness exists in everything, we have to be careful how we relate to that Godliness. On the one hand, as we see in halachah, we can't waste or abuse anything, be it natural resources, or friendships. On the other hand, we can't elevate that something beyond its status, and deify it, that's expressly forebidden as worshipping other gods.
We have to balance respect for Godliness in everything and remember that each of these sparks is simply another window on the one Divinity that gives life (and hides) to (and within) all of us. (The window metaphor is actually provided by the Baal HaTanya to help people understand the idea that One God may be expressed in a number of different ways within the world.)
Still, we have to relate to this Godliness, we have to always push on that barrier, to see how far we can go, how much we can grasp, how much of this physicality we can elevate until we get to a point where there is raw Godliness that is beyond our touch or a need to be elevated.
It goes without saying that this pursuit must be through the holy path of Halachah, the journey described by Torah, without this compass it is too easy to lose our way and end up in self-delusion and fantasy.
How do we do this in purity? As Rebbe Nachman taught us, through great joy (שמחה) and simple faith. (אמונה) This extra effort that comes from within us activates all of our deep spiritual senses, instruments, and limbs, to fully embrace and explore the explorable but impermeable membrane of the divine.
Through Rebbe Nachman's method we may reach places so special that they are unknown to anyone but us, they are utterly unique. They are the nine chambers of our extra-intelligence, offered up and created in the attempt to draw close to the divine. They have no real existence except in the moment of our attempt to unify with infinity.
[The first Torah in Likkutei Moharan (I:1) talks about how it is necesary for every Jew to seek out the hidden knowledge in every thing.]
May Rebbe Nachman's Torah merit us each to connect to these infinities in our personal relationships in kedushah, in simchah, and in emunah.
19.2.07
wanting what we want
From Sfas Emes blog:
To me it seems that the reason why David HaMelech merited to be the Moshiah is because he wanted to have his cake and eat it too. He wanted to be with HaShem so much, that he begged HaShem to give us all directly--with no intermediary--so that he wouldn't have to experience any lack of God's presence. This is actually quite a crafty request from God, not only does it achieve David's apparent desire of wanting always to be one with God, but it also ensures they we get to experience it as well, for if the Tzaddik is asking God to be his own intermediary, it means we all get to experience God as the Tzaddik experiences God.
This reminds me of my grandmother. Whenever she tells my grandfather she's in the mood for chicken tonight, it probably means that she thinks I (or one of the other grandchildren) only want chicken tonight, a request that my grandfather wouldn't necesarily grant on our behalf, (to be fair, it's a pain for my grandfather as he doesn't eat meat) but if the request comes from my grandmother, how could he do anything else?
The midah of David HaMelech is to make our needs his own needs.
This is also the meaning of the pasuk in Tehillim, “ה' רֹעי לא אחסר/God is my shepherd I shall not lack.” Proportionate to my belief that God is my shepherd, I will merit an awareness of His providence and I shall not lack. Similarly, according to the Rav of Neschiz, David HaMelech is praying that he not lack saying that God is his shepherd.The Noam Elimelech understands this passuk a little differently. [Based on what we mentioned in the past here.] A Tzaddik is unaware of the world's needs and cannot relate to the world when he is in a state of utter cleaving to God. Normally, a Tzaddik disconnects from God's presence in order to take care of the world and all its needs. In this passuk David is praying, ה' רעי - God, be my shepherd - meaning, God, please take care of the world for me, לא אחסר - So that I won't lack, so that I won't have to leave your presence. [wow!]
To me it seems that the reason why David HaMelech merited to be the Moshiah is because he wanted to have his cake and eat it too. He wanted to be with HaShem so much, that he begged HaShem to give us all directly--with no intermediary--so that he wouldn't have to experience any lack of God's presence. This is actually quite a crafty request from God, not only does it achieve David's apparent desire of wanting always to be one with God, but it also ensures they we get to experience it as well, for if the Tzaddik is asking God to be his own intermediary, it means we all get to experience God as the Tzaddik experiences God.
This reminds me of my grandmother. Whenever she tells my grandfather she's in the mood for chicken tonight, it probably means that she thinks I (or one of the other grandchildren) only want chicken tonight, a request that my grandfather wouldn't necesarily grant on our behalf, (to be fair, it's a pain for my grandfather as he doesn't eat meat) but if the request comes from my grandmother, how could he do anything else?
The midah of David HaMelech is to make our needs his own needs.
smiling through the unbreakable barrier
Rav Adin Steinsaltz once told us that pursuing God is like racing through the chambers of the palace to get to the throne room. Each inner chamber is more beautiful, more wonderous, than the last. At each chamber, there is the danger of getting caught up in the beauty, the magnificence of that chamber, and losing sight of the true goal. One has to strive exceedingly hard to keep to the goal, seeking out the King and nothing less. We have to want the King more than anything that we might encounter along the way. (This meshes really nicely with the previous post.)
The Maor Eynayim on this parashah (Terumah) speaks, as we mentioned before, about the fall and rise that describes spiritual growth. He actually goes on to explain that life consists of two major falls and rises. The first is the fall of being born, and forgetting all the Torah we knew as a child. Then we slowly rise up again to the first level of gadlut, or great-mindedness, at age thirteen when all thirteen of the styles of Torah derivation (same as God's thirteen attributes of mercy) have fully vested. Next is the fall from the level of receiving the Torah and mitzwoth at age thirteen, bar mitzwah, which culminates in a more cycling rise and fall, a constant gradual growth through adulthood that never truly ends until the arrival of Moshiah.
He explains and quotes the Talmud saying that the passuk הנה אלהינו זה קוינו לו - This is our lord.. that we will actually be able to hold out our finger and point, because God will be so revealed, so present, that we will be able to see Him before us, face to face. This is only in the final rise in the time of Moshiah.
[This use of the finger pointing is interesting, because it comes up in other religions also (namely the gateless gate, a zen buddhist work, don't follow this link if you are at all concerned about being careful what you expose your soul to. zen koans are entertaining to Jews simply because they provide mind-bubble gum but without the burden of mitzwoth and the yolk of heaven that comes with Torah study. Rambam's Yesodei HaTorah says that there is truth and there is wisdom amongst the nations, but there is no Torah amongst the nations. I can't say for myself if the linked material has truth and wisdom, I would say it happens not to in this instance. If pondered one might arrive at some wisdom, but it isn't guaranteed, and anyways, pondering anything will ultimately lead to wisdom. When it comes to the world around us, it behooves us to ponder the wonders of the world and connect to the knowledge that is in every created thing (Likkutei Moharan I:1))]
If you want to understand what finger pointing is really about, Rebbe Nachman quotes the Zohar (correct me please if I'm wrong) in Likkutei Moharan I:24 That they asked him where is the middle (ie. the essence) of everything? (In response) He straightened his finger.
Rebbe Nachman goes on to explain the episode and claims he has added nothing new, simply explained the actual meaning of the text. He says that we must perform the mitzwoth with great simcha. (great joy and happiness)
When we perform the mitzwoth with simha, he says that the actual act makes the Shechinah, malchuth, rise up and clothe the keilim of halichah the vessels of movement. (namely Netzah, Hod, Yesod) These vessels, in turn, rise up and clothe the keilim of brachah. (namely Hesed, Gevurah, Tiffereth) These vessels rise up and clothe the intelligences (Hochmah, Binah, Da'ath) which in turn raise up to the level of Keter. Keter is the barrier between the Holy Infinite Light, and all of creation.
Rebbe Nachman explains that we cannot breach this barrier, but when we perform the mitzwoth with simcha as explained, and also with emunah. The emunah allows the intelligences to thrash and beat against the barrier of Keter, forming nine chambers ("beyond") the barrier through which we can experience some form of the Holy Infinite Light directly. (He explains the nine chambers as: the three Intelligences break into their nine component parts (since each actually has three parts -- something mentioned also in the Shaar HaYihud of the Mittler Rebbe of HaBaD, son of the Baal HaTanya.)
This, Rebbe Nachman explains, is what the Zohar calls, מטי ולא מטי - grasping and not grasping It is called thus because we are connecting to and knowing the Holy Infinite Light without actually connecting to it and knowing it. The performance of mitzwoth with simcha and emunah allow us some kind of experience that is beyond the realm of what can be experienced.
[How this actually really has to do with finger-pointing is still beyond me. Though in Likkutei Moharan he does claim to explain it, it is definitely still beyond me. At least, I can rest assured when the Moshiah comes I will understand, if I don't get there before then.]
What do we take away from all this. Pursue God wherever you are with whatever you have and do so with simple faith and great joy.
The Maor Eynayim on this parashah (Terumah) speaks, as we mentioned before, about the fall and rise that describes spiritual growth. He actually goes on to explain that life consists of two major falls and rises. The first is the fall of being born, and forgetting all the Torah we knew as a child. Then we slowly rise up again to the first level of gadlut, or great-mindedness, at age thirteen when all thirteen of the styles of Torah derivation (same as God's thirteen attributes of mercy) have fully vested. Next is the fall from the level of receiving the Torah and mitzwoth at age thirteen, bar mitzwah, which culminates in a more cycling rise and fall, a constant gradual growth through adulthood that never truly ends until the arrival of Moshiah.
He explains and quotes the Talmud saying that the passuk הנה אלהינו זה קוינו לו - This is our lord.. that we will actually be able to hold out our finger and point, because God will be so revealed, so present, that we will be able to see Him before us, face to face. This is only in the final rise in the time of Moshiah.
[This use of the finger pointing is interesting, because it comes up in other religions also (namely the gateless gate, a zen buddhist work, don't follow this link if you are at all concerned about being careful what you expose your soul to. zen koans are entertaining to Jews simply because they provide mind-bubble gum but without the burden of mitzwoth and the yolk of heaven that comes with Torah study. Rambam's Yesodei HaTorah says that there is truth and there is wisdom amongst the nations, but there is no Torah amongst the nations. I can't say for myself if the linked material has truth and wisdom, I would say it happens not to in this instance. If pondered one might arrive at some wisdom, but it isn't guaranteed, and anyways, pondering anything will ultimately lead to wisdom. When it comes to the world around us, it behooves us to ponder the wonders of the world and connect to the knowledge that is in every created thing (Likkutei Moharan I:1))]
If you want to understand what finger pointing is really about, Rebbe Nachman quotes the Zohar (correct me please if I'm wrong) in Likkutei Moharan I:24 That they asked him where is the middle (ie. the essence) of everything? (In response) He straightened his finger.
Rebbe Nachman goes on to explain the episode and claims he has added nothing new, simply explained the actual meaning of the text. He says that we must perform the mitzwoth with great simcha. (great joy and happiness)
When we perform the mitzwoth with simha, he says that the actual act makes the Shechinah, malchuth, rise up and clothe the keilim of halichah the vessels of movement. (namely Netzah, Hod, Yesod) These vessels, in turn, rise up and clothe the keilim of brachah. (namely Hesed, Gevurah, Tiffereth) These vessels rise up and clothe the intelligences (Hochmah, Binah, Da'ath) which in turn raise up to the level of Keter. Keter is the barrier between the Holy Infinite Light, and all of creation.
Rebbe Nachman explains that we cannot breach this barrier, but when we perform the mitzwoth with simcha as explained, and also with emunah. The emunah allows the intelligences to thrash and beat against the barrier of Keter, forming nine chambers ("beyond") the barrier through which we can experience some form of the Holy Infinite Light directly. (He explains the nine chambers as: the three Intelligences break into their nine component parts (since each actually has three parts -- something mentioned also in the Shaar HaYihud of the Mittler Rebbe of HaBaD, son of the Baal HaTanya.)
This, Rebbe Nachman explains, is what the Zohar calls, מטי ולא מטי - grasping and not grasping It is called thus because we are connecting to and knowing the Holy Infinite Light without actually connecting to it and knowing it. The performance of mitzwoth with simcha and emunah allow us some kind of experience that is beyond the realm of what can be experienced.
[How this actually really has to do with finger-pointing is still beyond me. Though in Likkutei Moharan he does claim to explain it, it is definitely still beyond me. At least, I can rest assured when the Moshiah comes I will understand, if I don't get there before then.]
What do we take away from all this. Pursue God wherever you are with whatever you have and do so with simple faith and great joy.
18.2.07
climbing without falling
Everyone in the world is part of one huge chain. No two people are at the same level. Each person is above and below other people.
At each level of the chain there is a new test, a new yetzer harah, a new challenge, a new klipah.
When someone reaches a new level, they encompass this new test. It is within them, and they are the shell around it. It prevents them from continuing their climb up this chain towards greater spirituality. They must fight and overcome this test, forcing it to the outside, so that they may gain access to the inside.
In such a manner they become the center (internal, pnimi) and the test, the klipah, becomes external, chitzoni. They may then rise to the next rung of the ladder, the next higher link in the chain.
Once again they are chitzoni to the klipah which hides the next higher level of the chain. Again they must force the klipah to the outside and gain dominance in the inside, which allows them to climb still higher.
What we see from this is that through someone's spiritual growth, a constant war is waged with the klipoth always forcing them to the outside, the extremities, to irrelevance, while the person continues ever inwards, to newer and deeper levels of pnimiyut, inner, integral life.
(Sometimes instead of links in a chain it might be helpful to think of the stages as concentric inner chambers. You are forever moving inward into a more intimate and hidden space, and there's no way to get there other than by moving through the chambers one at a time, overcoming the challenge in each chamber. [Here is an example of how the modern media and pop culture mirrors the spiritual reality of the world, in dungeons in old RPG and modern MMORPG games, you progress through dungeons through tasks of increasing difficulty finally to reach an ultimate pay-off.])
This is my best understanding of Likkutei Moharan I:25
(an animation would probably help) (I also need to speak to my Rav about it, because there's another possible interpretation/understanding - the text has a nusach acher (alternative version) which seemed to be the nusach I would have chosen based on my understanding, the actual nusach alludes to an even deeper understanding.--note, there aren't so many occurrences of such alternative nusachim in the Likkutei Moharan--unlike some other sefarim, like the Zohar which is rife with numerous versions overlapping each other all the time.)
The most amazing part is that, since no two people can occupy the same level in the chain at the same time, when one person wants to sanctify himself by rising to a new level, he raises up everyone else above him and below him as well. In such a manner, when we are sanctifying ourselves we are actually sanctifying all of Bnei Yisrael at the same time.
Our own spiritual growth is the spiritual growth of the whole nation.
There are some powerful ramifications of such an understanding. We normally talk about how prior to a period of growth there is an initial fall. In fact, the Maor Eynayim addresses this in this week's parasha. (Terumah) He illustrates nicely with a physics example. When we go to throw a stone high into the air, we first pump downwards, to build potential for our arm, so we can build momentum with a larger swing of the arm before letting go. (Think of a (american) football quarterback, his hand first moves back and down, and then snaps forward and up.) Similarly, when God throws us to new heights, we are first brought lower, then shot upwards. We've addressed this numerous times before.
In this new model, this new insight, we are actually always moving upwards, the perceived downward fall is merely being relegated to the "outside" of this new level we've attained. Rebbe Nachman says this is a crucial point. Sometimes he says, we think we've overcome certain personal challenges, and we think we've grown and then all of a sudden we fall back into our old ways. Rebbe Nachman says no, if you've beaten those "old ways" then what your being challenged by now, is a new level, a new challenge, that is clothed in the same faulty attributes. You are refining yourself at a new and higher level.
It may seem like it's the "same old" tests. But they're actually all new. (Sort of "It's new to you" reruns but very very lehavdil.) Knowing that these are new tests, instead of getting depressed that you've fallen, you can take heart that you are growing and succeeding, and it can inspire you to fight even harder than before. (This is a very Chassidic power move, similar to the Baal HaTanya's twist that if you are getting machshavoth zaroth it means you are actually accomplishing something and your yetzer harah is fighting back.)
Note the difference in Rebbe Nachman Chassiduth, you're not really falling in order to rise, you are being pushed to the outside. (of a new level) It's only a perceived push to the outside, as you are (actually) always moving inwards, just after a step inwards, you find yourself at a new level and a whole new outside.
At each level of the chain there is a new test, a new yetzer harah, a new challenge, a new klipah.
When someone reaches a new level, they encompass this new test. It is within them, and they are the shell around it. It prevents them from continuing their climb up this chain towards greater spirituality. They must fight and overcome this test, forcing it to the outside, so that they may gain access to the inside.
In such a manner they become the center (internal, pnimi) and the test, the klipah, becomes external, chitzoni. They may then rise to the next rung of the ladder, the next higher link in the chain.
Once again they are chitzoni to the klipah which hides the next higher level of the chain. Again they must force the klipah to the outside and gain dominance in the inside, which allows them to climb still higher.
What we see from this is that through someone's spiritual growth, a constant war is waged with the klipoth always forcing them to the outside, the extremities, to irrelevance, while the person continues ever inwards, to newer and deeper levels of pnimiyut, inner, integral life.
(Sometimes instead of links in a chain it might be helpful to think of the stages as concentric inner chambers. You are forever moving inward into a more intimate and hidden space, and there's no way to get there other than by moving through the chambers one at a time, overcoming the challenge in each chamber. [Here is an example of how the modern media and pop culture mirrors the spiritual reality of the world, in dungeons in old RPG and modern MMORPG games, you progress through dungeons through tasks of increasing difficulty finally to reach an ultimate pay-off.])
This is my best understanding of Likkutei Moharan I:25
(an animation would probably help) (I also need to speak to my Rav about it, because there's another possible interpretation/understanding - the text has a nusach acher (alternative version) which seemed to be the nusach I would have chosen based on my understanding, the actual nusach alludes to an even deeper understanding.--note, there aren't so many occurrences of such alternative nusachim in the Likkutei Moharan--unlike some other sefarim, like the Zohar which is rife with numerous versions overlapping each other all the time.)
The most amazing part is that, since no two people can occupy the same level in the chain at the same time, when one person wants to sanctify himself by rising to a new level, he raises up everyone else above him and below him as well. In such a manner, when we are sanctifying ourselves we are actually sanctifying all of Bnei Yisrael at the same time.
Our own spiritual growth is the spiritual growth of the whole nation.
There are some powerful ramifications of such an understanding. We normally talk about how prior to a period of growth there is an initial fall. In fact, the Maor Eynayim addresses this in this week's parasha. (Terumah) He illustrates nicely with a physics example. When we go to throw a stone high into the air, we first pump downwards, to build potential for our arm, so we can build momentum with a larger swing of the arm before letting go. (Think of a (american) football quarterback, his hand first moves back and down, and then snaps forward and up.) Similarly, when God throws us to new heights, we are first brought lower, then shot upwards. We've addressed this numerous times before.
In this new model, this new insight, we are actually always moving upwards, the perceived downward fall is merely being relegated to the "outside" of this new level we've attained. Rebbe Nachman says this is a crucial point. Sometimes he says, we think we've overcome certain personal challenges, and we think we've grown and then all of a sudden we fall back into our old ways. Rebbe Nachman says no, if you've beaten those "old ways" then what your being challenged by now, is a new level, a new challenge, that is clothed in the same faulty attributes. You are refining yourself at a new and higher level.
It may seem like it's the "same old" tests. But they're actually all new. (Sort of "It's new to you" reruns but very very lehavdil.) Knowing that these are new tests, instead of getting depressed that you've fallen, you can take heart that you are growing and succeeding, and it can inspire you to fight even harder than before. (This is a very Chassidic power move, similar to the Baal HaTanya's twist that if you are getting machshavoth zaroth it means you are actually accomplishing something and your yetzer harah is fighting back.)
Note the difference in Rebbe Nachman Chassiduth, you're not really falling in order to rise, you are being pushed to the outside. (of a new level) It's only a perceived push to the outside, as you are (actually) always moving inwards, just after a step inwards, you find yourself at a new level and a whole new outside.
money money money
[More thorough treatment than the previous post]
There's definitely too much focus on money in the world today. We as Jews have a special responsibility to overcome this focus, and to put money in its place. Yes, taking care of our families is important. Yes, providing food and clothing and schooling to our children, are all vital. Still, just like there's a proper way to relate to people, whether you know them or not, which we call derekh eretz; There is also a correct way to relate to money.
If we think for a moment, that the well-being of our family, of our children, depends on money, then we are thinking about money the wrong way. We are creating illusions. The only reason we want the money is for the sake of the things they can attain, the things we think we actually need, food, clothing, shelter, comfort. Even these things aren't what we depend on. In fact, it is laughably easy, and horribly frightening to imagine a situation in which none of these would matter. When we feel the slightest discomfort of illness, our physical surroundings, the food in our mothers, the clothes on us, they all feel wrong, and bring little or no comfort.
As long as we put our faith and well-being in the hands of any intermediary, corporeal or otherwise, we aren't putting that faith and trust in HaShem. As long as we aren't doing that, we're still stuck in the animal-soul mentality, and we are giving in to the yetzer harah.
Rebbe Nachman teaches us that by putting our faith back in the right place, in the source of all of these other means, in the end and the beginning, in God, we are shining life upon us. We are only truly living when we are connecting the means of our existence with its ends.
He says that each member of Bnei Yisrael is (already) called a Tzaddik, because of his brit milah, so, all we have to do is capitalize on our potential.
Remember, we can go to work, join the rat race, do the same exact things every day, but just this slight (and fundamental) change in our perspective makes all the difference in the world. First change your thinking, then start to think about whether your actions need to change at all. Most of the time they don't. Sometimes we might want to stay a little longer in minyan, realizing that spending time with God in no way whatsoever hinders you receiving your livelihood from Him.
We might want to just focus a little more as the prayer-words blur by our eyes. We might relish stopping for minha in the midst of the hectic day instead of feeling the crush of its responsibility during our busiest hours. We might call our husbands or wives to say a few nice words (apologies, what have you) before we talk to HaShem, so that we don't have to make excuses for ourselves in our tefilloth, and don't have any distractions.
If we know in our hearts that we wont get a penny (or agurah) more or less than exactly what HaShem intends to give us, then perhaps we will approach each penny differently. If we know in our hearts that HaShem created the ends and it is within his power to 'make them meet', then just that little bit of faith we put in God, instead of weighing down our hearts with stress, will work wonders the world has never seen.
(based on my limited understandings of Likkutei Moharan I:23)
The Maor Eynayim explains (about Parashath haMan) that the Shechinah brings down our individual blessings, direct from God. In the time of midbar Bnei Yisrael were worthy to receive their blessings unclothed in physicality. Nowadays, we don't merit to see our blessings directly from HaShem, but nonetheless, the Shechinah brings our blessings all the way down into the physical world. Nothing has changed though, the blessing, the life-force (direct from HaShem) is still what nourishes us. Eating still has the potential to be a spiritual relationship with the Shechinah.
Lesson to learn: emunah puts food on the table.
There's definitely too much focus on money in the world today. We as Jews have a special responsibility to overcome this focus, and to put money in its place. Yes, taking care of our families is important. Yes, providing food and clothing and schooling to our children, are all vital. Still, just like there's a proper way to relate to people, whether you know them or not, which we call derekh eretz; There is also a correct way to relate to money.
If we think for a moment, that the well-being of our family, of our children, depends on money, then we are thinking about money the wrong way. We are creating illusions. The only reason we want the money is for the sake of the things they can attain, the things we think we actually need, food, clothing, shelter, comfort. Even these things aren't what we depend on. In fact, it is laughably easy, and horribly frightening to imagine a situation in which none of these would matter. When we feel the slightest discomfort of illness, our physical surroundings, the food in our mothers, the clothes on us, they all feel wrong, and bring little or no comfort.
As long as we put our faith and well-being in the hands of any intermediary, corporeal or otherwise, we aren't putting that faith and trust in HaShem. As long as we aren't doing that, we're still stuck in the animal-soul mentality, and we are giving in to the yetzer harah.
Rebbe Nachman teaches us that by putting our faith back in the right place, in the source of all of these other means, in the end and the beginning, in God, we are shining life upon us. We are only truly living when we are connecting the means of our existence with its ends.
He says that each member of Bnei Yisrael is (already) called a Tzaddik, because of his brit milah, so, all we have to do is capitalize on our potential.
Remember, we can go to work, join the rat race, do the same exact things every day, but just this slight (and fundamental) change in our perspective makes all the difference in the world. First change your thinking, then start to think about whether your actions need to change at all. Most of the time they don't. Sometimes we might want to stay a little longer in minyan, realizing that spending time with God in no way whatsoever hinders you receiving your livelihood from Him.
We might want to just focus a little more as the prayer-words blur by our eyes. We might relish stopping for minha in the midst of the hectic day instead of feeling the crush of its responsibility during our busiest hours. We might call our husbands or wives to say a few nice words (apologies, what have you) before we talk to HaShem, so that we don't have to make excuses for ourselves in our tefilloth, and don't have any distractions.
If we know in our hearts that we wont get a penny (or agurah) more or less than exactly what HaShem intends to give us, then perhaps we will approach each penny differently. If we know in our hearts that HaShem created the ends and it is within his power to 'make them meet', then just that little bit of faith we put in God, instead of weighing down our hearts with stress, will work wonders the world has never seen.
(based on my limited understandings of Likkutei Moharan I:23)
The Maor Eynayim explains (about Parashath haMan) that the Shechinah brings down our individual blessings, direct from God. In the time of midbar Bnei Yisrael were worthy to receive their blessings unclothed in physicality. Nowadays, we don't merit to see our blessings directly from HaShem, but nonetheless, the Shechinah brings our blessings all the way down into the physical world. Nothing has changed though, the blessing, the life-force (direct from HaShem) is still what nourishes us. Eating still has the potential to be a spiritual relationship with the Shechinah.
Lesson to learn: emunah puts food on the table.
speaking about money
There's a lot of back and forth about money and parnasa lately (what with parshath haMon, melaveh malka, and all of the other segulot mentioned lately.)
Through revealing God's might and gadlut in the world, through acts of kindness, like Tzedaka,we reveal God' light in the world. One of the most powerful revellations of God's light is in bringing out the light hidden within money. Because money has no greater purpose than in bringing glory to God's name.
When we receive money, we can imagine all kinds of things to do with it, we have to break through those fantasies and reveal the true light, the true potential that's underneath it all, how can I use this money to glorify God's name in the world? By giving a tenth (or a fifth, or whatever you are able) to Tzedaka, the entire sum is illuminated, raised up, and rectified. Then, no matter what you do with it, be it buy food, clothes, take care of any of your needs, it is now done in holiness.
[Sourced in my limited understandings of Likkutei Moharan I:25]
Through revealing God's might and gadlut in the world, through acts of kindness, like Tzedaka,we reveal God' light in the world. One of the most powerful revellations of God's light is in bringing out the light hidden within money. Because money has no greater purpose than in bringing glory to God's name.
When we receive money, we can imagine all kinds of things to do with it, we have to break through those fantasies and reveal the true light, the true potential that's underneath it all, how can I use this money to glorify God's name in the world? By giving a tenth (or a fifth, or whatever you are able) to Tzedaka, the entire sum is illuminated, raised up, and rectified. Then, no matter what you do with it, be it buy food, clothes, take care of any of your needs, it is now done in holiness.
[Sourced in my limited understandings of Likkutei Moharan I:25]
15.2.07
salvation through serving
One quickie from the Noam Elimelech: (in light of the previous post on salvation through eating)
He says that Tzaddikim gain tremendous shefa through hosting and (specifically) feeding other Tzaddikim.
He says that Tzaddikim gain tremendous shefa through hosting and (specifically) feeding other Tzaddikim.
tzaddik as battering ram
The Noam Elimelech (Parshat Chayyei Sarah) asks a cool question: How is it that some Tzaddikim fast and all but torture themselves to reach a level of holiness called Hassidut, whereas some simple people come by that level far more easily?
He explains that the Tzaddik batters down the door for the rest of us. Which, to my simple mind, is a great tool for the rest of us to break our egos. Perhaps everything we've attained is only in the zchut of the hard work of the Tzaddikim, and we haven't even begun our own labors yet? Thinking in this way can certainly keep you humble--though don't let it depress you.
Another Torah from the same part of the Noam Elimelech teaches that the yetzer harah of Tzaddikim sometimes tells them that they've attained the level of dust, so they don't have to work anymore, they've already rectified themselves. So the Tzaddik needs to remind himself that he (too) hasn't even begun his labors so that he can always serve God in the manner of one who has just started down the path of service in God, where he is at full strength and with great longing. (and very inspired)
So, we don't have it so different, we both need to remind ourselves of the road ahead. We, unlike the Tzaddikim, can take comfort knowing that there are Tzaddikim out there always easing our way.
He explains that the Tzaddik batters down the door for the rest of us. Which, to my simple mind, is a great tool for the rest of us to break our egos. Perhaps everything we've attained is only in the zchut of the hard work of the Tzaddikim, and we haven't even begun our own labors yet? Thinking in this way can certainly keep you humble--though don't let it depress you.
Another Torah from the same part of the Noam Elimelech teaches that the yetzer harah of Tzaddikim sometimes tells them that they've attained the level of dust, so they don't have to work anymore, they've already rectified themselves. So the Tzaddik needs to remind himself that he (too) hasn't even begun his labors so that he can always serve God in the manner of one who has just started down the path of service in God, where he is at full strength and with great longing. (and very inspired)
So, we don't have it so different, we both need to remind ourselves of the road ahead. We, unlike the Tzaddikim, can take comfort knowing that there are Tzaddikim out there always easing our way.
eating your way to salvation
Lately I've been getting sick of the process of eating. The thought of putting more things in my body out of necessity without being able to know what other side-effects it will have on me (especially in the case of food consumed outside of the home) just makes me frustrated with the need to eat altogether. I happened to find a good reason to eat in the Noam Elimelech on Chayeiy Sarah.
The story of the exile from Gan Eden is well known, but it's not often well-understood. There are just too many wholes for questions. Of course, according to the pshat, the simplest understanding of the text, it works, but what about trying to apply the lessons and learn something about our world and our situation from it.
It would seem apparent that the sin involved eating, for eating we were banished from Gan Eden. The Noam Elimelech's explanation holds to this general statement, but like all good Hassidic Torah he turns the statement on its head:
After the sin, God was looking for a way to allow Man to fix the sin. He settled on eating as the best way to fix the sin, and so, he sent Man out of Gan Eden to live in a world where he was forced to eat. What's the goal here? The Noam Elimelech explains that when one lives and works and especially eats in holiness, he raises up lost sparks of holiness that have fallen into this very physical realm. [These lost sparks or souls have embedded themselves into physical objects which we consume in order to return the life in them to us, then through our holy lifestyles, the life these sparks give us can be returned to its proper place.]
So, first of all, according to the Noam Elimelech, this exile from Gan Eden was in order that we would all have to eat, because through eating we can raise up all the souls that fell when Adam first ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Through this eating in holiness, we are able to eat from the Tree of Life, and because of this eating in holiness, we will ultimately live forever. So, instead of being kicked out so that we couldn't also eat from the Tree of Life, we were kicked out specifically so that we would be able to also eat from the Tree of Life.
Meaning that eating is the major work we were put here to do. Eating in holiness that is. Eating kosher. Eating to have strength to serve God. Eating with lofty (read:holy) intentions. That would explain why so much of halachah is concerned with what we eat.
The story of the exile from Gan Eden is well known, but it's not often well-understood. There are just too many wholes for questions. Of course, according to the pshat, the simplest understanding of the text, it works, but what about trying to apply the lessons and learn something about our world and our situation from it.
It would seem apparent that the sin involved eating, for eating we were banished from Gan Eden. The Noam Elimelech's explanation holds to this general statement, but like all good Hassidic Torah he turns the statement on its head:
After the sin, God was looking for a way to allow Man to fix the sin. He settled on eating as the best way to fix the sin, and so, he sent Man out of Gan Eden to live in a world where he was forced to eat. What's the goal here? The Noam Elimelech explains that when one lives and works and especially eats in holiness, he raises up lost sparks of holiness that have fallen into this very physical realm. [These lost sparks or souls have embedded themselves into physical objects which we consume in order to return the life in them to us, then through our holy lifestyles, the life these sparks give us can be returned to its proper place.]
So, first of all, according to the Noam Elimelech, this exile from Gan Eden was in order that we would all have to eat, because through eating we can raise up all the souls that fell when Adam first ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Through this eating in holiness, we are able to eat from the Tree of Life, and because of this eating in holiness, we will ultimately live forever. So, instead of being kicked out so that we couldn't also eat from the Tree of Life, we were kicked out specifically so that we would be able to also eat from the Tree of Life.
Meaning that eating is the major work we were put here to do. Eating in holiness that is. Eating kosher. Eating to have strength to serve God. Eating with lofty (read:holy) intentions. That would explain why so much of halachah is concerned with what we eat.
living to die
Judaism must be the only religion where we're expected to think seriously about dying (for the sake of sanctifying God's name) six times a day. (Three Amidahs (arvith, shacharith, minha) and three Shemas (arvith, shacharith, and al haMitah (before going to sleep)) every day)This morning, during the first beracha of the amidah, I was thinking about dying for kiddush HaShem. (Which is actually an important thing to do, especially at the word באהבה - with love)
I was thinking that in Shema, we have the same responsibility, to think about dying for kiddush HaShem when we say ה' אלוקנו ה' אחד - Nature and the super-natural both originate from the one God. If we actually internalize this idea when we say it. Then, dying for kiddush HaShem is not so difficult. If we know that what is befalling us is solely the result of the will of God, it shouldn't make a difference whether we are chilling out watching a sitcom rerun, or if we are having the flesh raked off of us by a Roman centurion. And, in truth, the Noam Elimelech says that about Tzaddikim, for them, they know their lot is directly from HaShem, and they have no care (absolutely none) for their personal situation.
So, in a sense, for us mere mortals, the goal of dying for kiddush Hashem right when we are supposed to be acknowledging God's one-ness seems like a logical after-thought. Since it's all in our imagination anyways. (Yes, I really want it when I'm thinking about it, and would want to be able to welcome it, but some small part of me knows that the actual challenge would be nothing like the imagination, obviously. As a simple example, last night I was annoyed with my wife about something totally trivial, but try as I might I couldn't ignore it, even though I knew she'd done nothing wrong, and it was totally my yetzer trying to get me to be mad at her. Something stupid and trivial and I had to beg HaShem to keep me from getting upset about it. (Coincidentally Today's Tanya this morning speaks specifically to that.) )
This wasn't what I wanted to talk about, I wanted to meta-out a little further. The goal of the Jew in the world is to unite the natural and super-natural recognising and making apparent to all that they are one and the same. To reveal God's one-ness in the world. (At least according to Rav Moshe Hayyim Luzzato, the Ramhal, in his Da'ath Tevunoth.)
If and when we reach the point where we're walking zen-masters. (lehavdil elef havdaloth) Living in the moment, aware that everything we perceive is God's will and God's private conversation with us. (at least according to the Baal Shem Tov) Then why are we here? Why be presented with choices about what to do when? Why the mitzwoth? The minute we totally get HaShem. Totally recognise the truth and goodness in every outcome, what purpose does action serve? In my prayers this morning the answer was patently simple. Sometimes, when you are sitting with someone you love, you're happy to sit silently gazing into one another's eyes. Other times, you want to tell them something exciting, or suprise them, or do something special. In fact, the relationship really only grows and develops when you communicate with them through actions and words, through sacrifices and selflessness.
Our Torah, our mitzwoth, our prayers, all those things are what we do to develop our relationship with God because we love him. Everything that happens to us, it's what He does to us because he loves us. Through the interplay of our respective actions and responses, the manifold conversation in simultaneous multiple media, we develop deep bonds and intense relationship.
The Noam Elimelech says it's true, from God's perspective we don't need to act, the thought is enough--witness what the Talmud says about someone who intended to fulfill a mitzwah and was prevented by external (extenuating) circumstances--God makes it as if he actually did fulfill the mitzwah.
But, Avraham Avinu knew that from his perspective, nothing less than the action would do, and eventual action isn't sufficient, it needs to be immediate action, in the heat of the moment. That is why, the Noam Elimelech explains, that he chopped the wood for Akeidath Yitzhak right after God commanded him, even though he would need to carry the wood for three days to a place that most-likely was wooded.
Even moreso, Yitzhak asks Avraham, why do we need to go through the whole charade of offering me, I'm willing and ready to be offered, why not just find the sheep and sacrifice it in my place already? Avraham says, when I've tied you down and placed you on the Altar, only then will you have fulfilled your part to it's utmost. (This is a paraphrased version of how the episode goes down according to the Noam Elimelech)
Our actions and all our mitzwoth, along with this physical world, are all here solely for our benefit. God knows we really want him, there's a part of us that wants him no matter how much we fight it. (The Tanya talks about this in Likkutei Amarim perek 24&25, as does the Notzer Hesed in Ketem Ofir (re: Shushan HaBirah in Esther 1:5)) But God also knows that we have to see what it is we're really ready to do for Him. We have to reveal and develop the relationship until everything we have and everything we are is that relationship. This world is about the flow from potential to actual. (מן הכח אל הפועל)
This is actually the lesson that Esther learns in the Megillah, Mordechai tells her that she needs to go now and intervene with the king, otherwise she and her family will be lost, but HaShem will save Bnei Yisrael some other way. It's not for Bnei Yisrael that Esther needs to risk her life before the king, it's for her own soul. (It's the pshat but I never understood it that way until I heard Rav Aly (from the Kollel of Yeshivat HaKotel) talking about it 5-6 years ago.))
When we are thinking about dying for kiddush HaShem, it's not that were dying as a favor to God, to make his name great in the eyes and hearts of all who see and hear about it. We are dying for kiddush HaShem because that's all we want from existence, to see God so clearly, to cleave to Him so closely that we cease to exist and all that is left is his one-ness.
14.2.07
sea-splitting
Just a short insight that I stopped to relearn today, from the Maor Eynayim. (Parshath Yitro)
He says that in order to serve God, we first have to split the sea of wisdom, the vast body of wisdom in the heavens. Until we split it, we cannot enter it and begin our journey in the service of HaShem. This, the event of the splitting of the Red Sea, coincided with Bnei Yisrael's splitting of the yam hahochmah, the sea of wisdom, and it was through this that they were able to receive the Torah only a few days after leaving Egypt and idolatry behind them. (Remember that the revellation of Sinai was a the highest level of divine revellation on earth. Not just anybody can receive that kind of prophecy, you need to be worthy.)
Anyways, it's a good thing to think about during Az Yashir in your shacharith prayers.
He says that in order to serve God, we first have to split the sea of wisdom, the vast body of wisdom in the heavens. Until we split it, we cannot enter it and begin our journey in the service of HaShem. This, the event of the splitting of the Red Sea, coincided with Bnei Yisrael's splitting of the yam hahochmah, the sea of wisdom, and it was through this that they were able to receive the Torah only a few days after leaving Egypt and idolatry behind them. (Remember that the revellation of Sinai was a the highest level of divine revellation on earth. Not just anybody can receive that kind of prophecy, you need to be worthy.)
Anyways, it's a good thing to think about during Az Yashir in your shacharith prayers.
unidentified flying thoughts
Machshavoth Zaroth, (foreign/forebidden thoughts) are a seemingly popular topic in Hassiduth. There's a lot of discussion of how and whether to raise these thoughts from their origins in impurity back to holy origins. There was a certain synchronicity in that I happened in my learning this week to cover both of the opinions, and got a rare glimpse at the larger picture.
Basically Today's Tanya and the Noam Elimelech (parashath Vayera) duke it out:
The Tanya says, this is a challenge for the Tzaddikim, beinonim should ignore these evil thoughts. Not only that, but they should take heart in the fact that evil thoughts are falling on them as a sign that their prayers are working because otherwise the yetzer harah wouldn't have to fight so hard.
The Noam Elimelech, on the other hand says there are Tzaddikim who have these thoughts, but they push them away so quickly, they reach a level where they aren't even conscious of these thoughts anymore. This, he says, is not good. The Tzaddik needs to shine the light of their awareness on themselves so sharply as to discover the origins of these thoughts and purify themselves to the point where these thoughts no longer happen at all.
Of course, it's not a real disagreement. The Tanya, Sefer HaBeinonim, does just what it is supposed to, it tells beinonim they should ignore these thoughts. The Noam Elimelech, Sefer HaTzaddikim, (for all we know) agrees and says that Tzaddikim can't ignore these thoughts, they have to root them out.
A word about the real discussion here: The Tanya actually explains the discrepancy. (As does the Noam Elimelech but each from their own unique perpsectives.) The Baal HaTanya explains that Tzaddikim are on a level where they have purified themselves and are now set on the task of raising up their fellow Jews who are struggling to overcome their powerful evil urges. The thoughts and inclinations of these Jews are raised through their prayers to the Tzaddik who is beset upon by them and who knows how to properly vanquish them. The Baal HaTanya delineates between the Tzaddik and the Beinoni like so: If the evil thoughts that are attacking you are from your own evil urge, you can't overcome them, you need to drive them off and ignore them. Only when these thoughts come from someone else's evil urge do you have the strength and ability to rectify their contents. Driving off your own evil thoughts is the only rectification that you are able to do with them.
The Noam Elimelech adds something really cool. He says that Tzaddikim when they cleave to God they are unaware of the state of the world, and so cannot bring down the livelihood (life force/blessing) that they (as the guardians of creation) are appointed to bring down. It is only through praying with people who still have yetzer harahs (evil urges) that are intact that they are distracted and beset upon by these foreign thoughts. These foreign thoughts then awaken the Tzaddikim to the state and needs of the world, so that the Tzaddikim may pray and bring about the blessings of children, livelihood, and food, as is their responsibility.
[For some comments on foreign thoughts by the Notzer Hesed you can look at this older post]
Basically Today's Tanya and the Noam Elimelech (parashath Vayera) duke it out:
The Tanya says, this is a challenge for the Tzaddikim, beinonim should ignore these evil thoughts. Not only that, but they should take heart in the fact that evil thoughts are falling on them as a sign that their prayers are working because otherwise the yetzer harah wouldn't have to fight so hard.
The Noam Elimelech, on the other hand says there are Tzaddikim who have these thoughts, but they push them away so quickly, they reach a level where they aren't even conscious of these thoughts anymore. This, he says, is not good. The Tzaddik needs to shine the light of their awareness on themselves so sharply as to discover the origins of these thoughts and purify themselves to the point where these thoughts no longer happen at all.
Of course, it's not a real disagreement. The Tanya, Sefer HaBeinonim, does just what it is supposed to, it tells beinonim they should ignore these thoughts. The Noam Elimelech, Sefer HaTzaddikim, (for all we know) agrees and says that Tzaddikim can't ignore these thoughts, they have to root them out.
A word about the real discussion here: The Tanya actually explains the discrepancy. (As does the Noam Elimelech but each from their own unique perpsectives.) The Baal HaTanya explains that Tzaddikim are on a level where they have purified themselves and are now set on the task of raising up their fellow Jews who are struggling to overcome their powerful evil urges. The thoughts and inclinations of these Jews are raised through their prayers to the Tzaddik who is beset upon by them and who knows how to properly vanquish them. The Baal HaTanya delineates between the Tzaddik and the Beinoni like so: If the evil thoughts that are attacking you are from your own evil urge, you can't overcome them, you need to drive them off and ignore them. Only when these thoughts come from someone else's evil urge do you have the strength and ability to rectify their contents. Driving off your own evil thoughts is the only rectification that you are able to do with them.
The Noam Elimelech adds something really cool. He says that Tzaddikim when they cleave to God they are unaware of the state of the world, and so cannot bring down the livelihood (life force/blessing) that they (as the guardians of creation) are appointed to bring down. It is only through praying with people who still have yetzer harahs (evil urges) that are intact that they are distracted and beset upon by these foreign thoughts. These foreign thoughts then awaken the Tzaddikim to the state and needs of the world, so that the Tzaddikim may pray and bring about the blessings of children, livelihood, and food, as is their responsibility.
[For some comments on foreign thoughts by the Notzer Hesed you can look at this older post]
push me with the left, pull me with the right
Over at Jewish Philosopher, Jacob Stein recently posted a critical commentary on those Jews who have turned their back on their faith.
I contacted him via email because the tone sounded really harsh, and he quoted some of his sources. It seems that basically, the Jewish reaction to Jews who have fallen willfully by the wayside is twofold. On the one hand, we have the people whose roots are in Gevurah and they generally want to wipe out the perpetrator. On the other hand, we have the people whose roots are in Hesed who mostly want to approach and shower the offender with loving kindness such that he will recognise the error of his ways.
What is common to both sides is the awareness of כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה - all of Israel is responsible for one another. (More or less the all for one and one for all principle.) Both are looking to aid the individual in the best way possible.
The people who want to drive them away, and classify them as not Jewish, (or to pass judgement on them and outright kill them for which there is, by the way, (halachic and historic) precedent) are trying to protect this lost Jew from causing themselves (in addition to everyone else) any more harm.
The people who want to hold them close and persuade them through effort and affection aren't satisfied with the cessation of harm, they want to help that person to grow beyond themselves and do teshuva return to God of their own will and not only undo what they've done, but actually take all of what happened and bring it over to the side of good through kiddush HaShem, sanctifying God's name.
All of this heads back to the endless question that is the covenant of peace that HaShem gives to Pinhas ben Elazar HaKohen. Pinhas was the grandson of Aharon HaKohen, the high priest. Aharon is best known for being a rodef shalom, a tireless pursuer of peace. How could Pinhas, his grandson stray so far from that path as to slay two people in plain sight of the Jewish nation because of their transgressions against God? Did he stray at all, considering God awards him a covenant of peace in reward(?) for his action? Why do we write the vav, (ו) broken in that particular word שלום in that covenant?
Sadly, I don't have the best answers to these questions yet. I still have a lot more to learn. But I would like to leave you with two points:
First, as I've noted before, the Notzer Hesed tells us outright that any evil we have heard ascribed to another Jew is falsehood and folly. [Similarly, if someone tells you something bad about themselves, I think (halachically) that still qualifies as lashon harah and you have a responsibility to yourself to not be mekabel.]
Secondly, and I think this is the deeper point I'd like to give over. I've said it already, but I'd like to hammer it home a little better. Both the sides of gevurah and the side of hesed. They both want to bring this Jew back. All of the halachoth about violence toward such people and how to think of them more often than not is there to wake these people up, to shake them up, make them fear a little, because from fear they can come to fear God, knowing their only true salvation is to rely on God to save them. If you look at these halachoth you can see this at their heart. All of the efforts of others to love and pray for them don't work half as well as inspiring the person to pray for themselves. Similarly, we know that when people are judged harshly and mistreated by others, they are spared judgement from heaven. Sometimes through judging them harshly, we are actually opening the doors upstairs, making their way back so much easier, if they would only take it. Other times, through turning the other cheek and pursuing them with love, we are condemning them to harsh decrees from on high.
In the end, the combination of those who pursue them with love and those who drive them away with fear will, with God's infinite wisdom running the whole show, return them to their proper place. We each have to keep playing our part in every little interaction that we have.
[Here's a little clue from the text of the Torah: The broken vav (ו) in the שלום in the covenant with Pinhas (פנחס) symbolizes these two sides. Vav has gematria 6 and represents the six middle middoth, these middoth split into two columns, the right side, headed by hesed, and the left column, headed by gevurah. When both arms, the hesed, and the gevurah, are used together, then we reach peace.] [And one more gematria: פנחס + שלום = עקדת - In the world of akkudim (עקודים) all of the orot, including those of hesed & gevurah, are unified within a single vessel.]
For myself, the word of the Rebbe m'Komarna is enough, I can rest assured that through practicing the Torah of Rebbe Nachman and finding the good in them, I will bring them to the side of good, and I can take solace also in that by simply believing in these words and acting accordingly, I'm strengthing my emunath hachamim.
I contacted him via email because the tone sounded really harsh, and he quoted some of his sources. It seems that basically, the Jewish reaction to Jews who have fallen willfully by the wayside is twofold. On the one hand, we have the people whose roots are in Gevurah and they generally want to wipe out the perpetrator. On the other hand, we have the people whose roots are in Hesed who mostly want to approach and shower the offender with loving kindness such that he will recognise the error of his ways.
What is common to both sides is the awareness of כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה - all of Israel is responsible for one another. (More or less the all for one and one for all principle.) Both are looking to aid the individual in the best way possible.
The people who want to drive them away, and classify them as not Jewish, (or to pass judgement on them and outright kill them for which there is, by the way, (halachic and historic) precedent) are trying to protect this lost Jew from causing themselves (in addition to everyone else) any more harm.
The people who want to hold them close and persuade them through effort and affection aren't satisfied with the cessation of harm, they want to help that person to grow beyond themselves and do teshuva return to God of their own will and not only undo what they've done, but actually take all of what happened and bring it over to the side of good through kiddush HaShem, sanctifying God's name.
All of this heads back to the endless question that is the covenant of peace that HaShem gives to Pinhas ben Elazar HaKohen. Pinhas was the grandson of Aharon HaKohen, the high priest. Aharon is best known for being a rodef shalom, a tireless pursuer of peace. How could Pinhas, his grandson stray so far from that path as to slay two people in plain sight of the Jewish nation because of their transgressions against God? Did he stray at all, considering God awards him a covenant of peace in reward(?) for his action? Why do we write the vav, (ו) broken in that particular word שלום in that covenant?
Sadly, I don't have the best answers to these questions yet. I still have a lot more to learn. But I would like to leave you with two points:
First, as I've noted before, the Notzer Hesed tells us outright that any evil we have heard ascribed to another Jew is falsehood and folly. [Similarly, if someone tells you something bad about themselves, I think (halachically) that still qualifies as lashon harah and you have a responsibility to yourself to not be mekabel.]
Secondly, and I think this is the deeper point I'd like to give over. I've said it already, but I'd like to hammer it home a little better. Both the sides of gevurah and the side of hesed. They both want to bring this Jew back. All of the halachoth about violence toward such people and how to think of them more often than not is there to wake these people up, to shake them up, make them fear a little, because from fear they can come to fear God, knowing their only true salvation is to rely on God to save them. If you look at these halachoth you can see this at their heart. All of the efforts of others to love and pray for them don't work half as well as inspiring the person to pray for themselves. Similarly, we know that when people are judged harshly and mistreated by others, they are spared judgement from heaven. Sometimes through judging them harshly, we are actually opening the doors upstairs, making their way back so much easier, if they would only take it. Other times, through turning the other cheek and pursuing them with love, we are condemning them to harsh decrees from on high.
In the end, the combination of those who pursue them with love and those who drive them away with fear will, with God's infinite wisdom running the whole show, return them to their proper place. We each have to keep playing our part in every little interaction that we have.
[Here's a little clue from the text of the Torah: The broken vav (ו) in the שלום in the covenant with Pinhas (פנחס) symbolizes these two sides. Vav has gematria 6 and represents the six middle middoth, these middoth split into two columns, the right side, headed by hesed, and the left column, headed by gevurah. When both arms, the hesed, and the gevurah, are used together, then we reach peace.] [And one more gematria: פנחס + שלום = עקדת - In the world of akkudim (עקודים) all of the orot, including those of hesed & gevurah, are unified within a single vessel.]
For myself, the word of the Rebbe m'Komarna is enough, I can rest assured that through practicing the Torah of Rebbe Nachman and finding the good in them, I will bring them to the side of good, and I can take solace also in that by simply believing in these words and acting accordingly, I'm strengthing my emunath hachamim.
13.2.07
wielding feathers with utmost intention
The Rebbe m'Komarna relates a story about his holy uncle Moshe (both in Notzer Hesed 1, and in the Ketem Ofir 1:1 his commentary on Megillat Esther) who asked his holy uncle Zvi about an unusual experience: Every time he would come home from town (and the work he did there) and pray minha, he felt such amazing wonderment that he would almost cease to exist--he was concerned that perhaps this experience was telling of some flaw in his soul, but the holy Ziditchover Rebbe (Zvi, the Komarna Rebbe's uncle) told him that it was no flaw, instead it was his holy thoughts, his holy devotion, on the way to and from his labors, that would attract lost souls in the fields. When he would go to pray, these lost souls would become so excited to be reconnected with their creator, it would overwhelm him.
The Notzer Hesed teaches from this story how important such holy intentions are, even during the most worldy tasks. In the Ketem Ofir (1:1) he actually says that such holy yichudim are called adorning the Shechinah with jewelery she didn't have. Whereas holy kawanoth (yichudim) in prayer and Torah learning are called adorning the Shechinah with her own jewelery.
Last night instead of my normal chevrutah with my friend Oren, we got together and spent the time whittling turkey feathers into scribe's quills, so that he could continue with his holy craft--he's a sofer stam by trade. (His site is still under construction but I linked it--hope he won't mind) It was amazing to be involved in something so special, it's been so long since I formally learned sofrut, (having only learned and never practiced) that it was nice to be once more in the midst of such hands-on labor. It's similar (l'havdil) to how much I love building the canvas before I paint it. There's something pure about simple manual labor. When that labor is also a labor of kedushah, it's extra special.
On the plus side, my arvith tefillah last night was out of this world, (transforming feathers into pens whose might is well beyond swords --describe it however you might-- it's not of this world) on the minus side, we didn't get to learn any Likkutei Halachoth this week.
The Notzer Hesed teaches from this story how important such holy intentions are, even during the most worldy tasks. In the Ketem Ofir (1:1) he actually says that such holy yichudim are called adorning the Shechinah with jewelery she didn't have. Whereas holy kawanoth (yichudim) in prayer and Torah learning are called adorning the Shechinah with her own jewelery.
Last night instead of my normal chevrutah with my friend Oren, we got together and spent the time whittling turkey feathers into scribe's quills, so that he could continue with his holy craft--he's a sofer stam by trade. (His site is still under construction but I linked it--hope he won't mind) It was amazing to be involved in something so special, it's been so long since I formally learned sofrut, (having only learned and never practiced) that it was nice to be once more in the midst of such hands-on labor. It's similar (l'havdil) to how much I love building the canvas before I paint it. There's something pure about simple manual labor. When that labor is also a labor of kedushah, it's extra special.
On the plus side, my arvith tefillah last night was out of this world, (transforming feathers into pens whose might is well beyond swords --describe it however you might-- it's not of this world) on the minus side, we didn't get to learn any Likkutei Halachoth this week.
humor: WD40 and duct tape in one
Humor is dangerous. Rebbe Shlomo Carlebach said that people laugh at all the wrong things. (according to my friend Zev) (I guess Reb Moish can correct me if I got it wrong.)
It's dangerous because it is so powerful. An awkward social situation can be made comfortable with a quick joke, or a comfortable situation can be made traumatizing by a mean-spirited joke. Humor can encourage and welcome, or divide and drive away.
Unfortunately many times, humor is used to lighten our lives in such a way that things that should never be tolerated become accepted and outrage is pacified or trivialized. How often can we laugh at civil liberties being trampled, human rights being undermined, before these things can no longer affect us except to laugh them away as quickly as possible?
Humor can have a coccoon affect. It can cut us off from reality. Kalut rosh, being light-hearted (literally light headed) is one of the things we are warned to fend off. When we treat things lightly, we separate our hearts from feeling real things. The Rambam says that the most dangerous sins are those that are so basic that we take for granted (lashon harah etc) such that they are referred to as those that we tread on with our heals--things below our awareness threshhold.
This is not to say that humor is inherently bad. Humor is there to raise our spirits and lighten our load. There is some debate about exactly what is the Jewish definition of the pursuit of happiness, (via A Simple Jew) but some things are clear, performance of mitzwoth should be done with pure joy. Anything less takes away from those mitzwoth. When rava used to teach his students, the Talmud relates that he would first tell them jokes to excite them and prepare them for serious Torah study.
I just wanted to raise the issue of humor, and how it lubricates our tolerances, to a level of awareness where we can choose for ourselves what to laugh at and what to accept, what to frown at and what to protest.
It's dangerous because it is so powerful. An awkward social situation can be made comfortable with a quick joke, or a comfortable situation can be made traumatizing by a mean-spirited joke. Humor can encourage and welcome, or divide and drive away.
Unfortunately many times, humor is used to lighten our lives in such a way that things that should never be tolerated become accepted and outrage is pacified or trivialized. How often can we laugh at civil liberties being trampled, human rights being undermined, before these things can no longer affect us except to laugh them away as quickly as possible?
Humor can have a coccoon affect. It can cut us off from reality. Kalut rosh, being light-hearted (literally light headed) is one of the things we are warned to fend off. When we treat things lightly, we separate our hearts from feeling real things. The Rambam says that the most dangerous sins are those that are so basic that we take for granted (lashon harah etc) such that they are referred to as those that we tread on with our heals--things below our awareness threshhold.
This is not to say that humor is inherently bad. Humor is there to raise our spirits and lighten our load. There is some debate about exactly what is the Jewish definition of the pursuit of happiness, (via A Simple Jew) but some things are clear, performance of mitzwoth should be done with pure joy. Anything less takes away from those mitzwoth. When rava used to teach his students, the Talmud relates that he would first tell them jokes to excite them and prepare them for serious Torah study.
I just wanted to raise the issue of humor, and how it lubricates our tolerances, to a level of awareness where we can choose for ourselves what to laugh at and what to accept, what to frown at and what to protest.
12.2.07
the world's life-force last erev shabbath
Last friday afternoon I was in Kiriat Belz (Belsz?) looking at baby strollers. (I don't think I will ever want to put our child down b"h once s/he is born, but thankfully my wife is more practical than that.)
What struck me as so remarkable was how calm and peaceful it was amid what must have been erev shabbath preparations. Everyone was smiling and happy and beautiful.
Also funny, Israel is the center of the world, and Jerusalem is the center of Israel. All the life-force in the world flows from Jerusalem to Israel and on to the rest of the world. (At least that is the state of affairs as it should be.) The Jewish people are the soul of mankind, and so, the root of all the life force of the billions of people in existence flows through each particular Jew to all those gentiles in the world connected to that particular Jew. (Again, this is the state of affairs as it should be.)
On friday I happened to see a George-Clooney look alike, a Robert DeNiro (if he were sixty, and a smiling grandfather with a big silver beard and payot) look-alike and another look-alike I'm forgetting at the moment, all in a two-block radius in Kiriat Belz. Who knows if they were their respective soul-roots. But there is something about the people of Jerusalem that makes you know right away that they are the life-force of the world.
As nice as the rest of the world is, as nice as the rest of Israel is, there really isn't anything like Yerushalayim.
see the voices of the light in the letters of the world
Here's something that I've visited from a number of different sources, recently so let's touch on it a little. I always pay attention to Torah about the hebrew letters, so there've been some really nice mentions lately that I'll try and keep short and simple.
The Maor Eynayim explains (parashath Mishpatim) that HaShem created everything in the world through permutations of the hebrew letters. (Something that's mentioned in a number of places including the Sefer Yetzirah and the Tanya, and, I think, the Zohar) Anyways, the way these words were originally spun, woven, or organised by HaShem, they were meant to bring down blessing to everything in existence. That means that in its natural state, everything was designed for our wellbeing.
Because we are given the power of Godly speech, we have the ability to recombine and permute the letters of creation. When we sin, we do so (recombine the normally beneficial and healthy permutations) to our own detriment. (It's like how in a chess game, even though all your pieces are (in theory) at your disposal and meant to further your own goals, if you don't know what you are doing, you can actually trip yourself up; having your own pieces be in the way of the moves you might want to make.)
The Tzaddikim are the ones who take these tangled damaging permutations and return them to their natural (ordered) state of blessing. We too have such a potential, especially through our teshuvah we untangle the harmful letter combinations that our sins created. This the Maor Eynayim explains is what the Talmidei Hachamim are doing when they organize the mitzwoth and halachoth in an easily digestible manner, they are reorganizing the divine permutations back to beneficial springs.
The Noam Elimelech (parashath Vayera) takes this deeper still, by quoting his teacher (The R' Dov Baer, the Maggid of Mesritch, chief disciple of the Baal Shem Tov) that when God created the world, he had to (so to speak) remove himself. Where did HaShem remove himself to? The hebrew letters. He clothed himself in the hebrew letters. He brings the statement from Chazal that through the Hebrew letters God actually can enter into and be in this world. He goes on to explain that when a Tzaddik learns Torah and prays, with holiness and desire, then God enters into his very words and he experiences God through the words of his Torah.
In the past I've mentioned how we can put ourselves into our words and travel in them. Now we learn from the Noam Elimelech that we can also bring God into our words.
Lastly, we can see from the Sfat Emet (over at the Sfas Emes blog) that the sound of God's voice in his words is even more desirable than his words themselves. (His voice being his will and intent, the meaning, whereas the words are solely the vessel.) In short, he says that the idea of נעשה ונשמע - we will do and we will hear - means we keep the mitzwoth, His words, first, in order that afterwords we will be able reach the level of being able to hear His voice. (Which actually connects with our last posts about Rebbe Nachman and purifying the body through mitzwoth in order to receive our soul-transmissions)
To wrap up, the Sefer Yetzirah describes the hebrew letters as stones that are combined to build houses. So be sure to lay those stones straight, be careful with each of them, for waiting within them is blessing direct from the source. Even more than that, within them, if you look carefully, you can find HaShem Himself, manifest in this world, you don't have to stop at hearing the voice, you can even see the voices, as we did at Har Sinai, when we received the Torah.
The Maor Eynayim explains (parashath Mishpatim) that HaShem created everything in the world through permutations of the hebrew letters. (Something that's mentioned in a number of places including the Sefer Yetzirah and the Tanya, and, I think, the Zohar) Anyways, the way these words were originally spun, woven, or organised by HaShem, they were meant to bring down blessing to everything in existence. That means that in its natural state, everything was designed for our wellbeing.
Because we are given the power of Godly speech, we have the ability to recombine and permute the letters of creation. When we sin, we do so (recombine the normally beneficial and healthy permutations) to our own detriment. (It's like how in a chess game, even though all your pieces are (in theory) at your disposal and meant to further your own goals, if you don't know what you are doing, you can actually trip yourself up; having your own pieces be in the way of the moves you might want to make.)
The Tzaddikim are the ones who take these tangled damaging permutations and return them to their natural (ordered) state of blessing. We too have such a potential, especially through our teshuvah we untangle the harmful letter combinations that our sins created. This the Maor Eynayim explains is what the Talmidei Hachamim are doing when they organize the mitzwoth and halachoth in an easily digestible manner, they are reorganizing the divine permutations back to beneficial springs.
The Noam Elimelech (parashath Vayera) takes this deeper still, by quoting his teacher (The R' Dov Baer, the Maggid of Mesritch, chief disciple of the Baal Shem Tov) that when God created the world, he had to (so to speak) remove himself. Where did HaShem remove himself to? The hebrew letters. He clothed himself in the hebrew letters. He brings the statement from Chazal that through the Hebrew letters God actually can enter into and be in this world. He goes on to explain that when a Tzaddik learns Torah and prays, with holiness and desire, then God enters into his very words and he experiences God through the words of his Torah.
In the past I've mentioned how we can put ourselves into our words and travel in them. Now we learn from the Noam Elimelech that we can also bring God into our words.
Lastly, we can see from the Sfat Emet (over at the Sfas Emes blog) that the sound of God's voice in his words is even more desirable than his words themselves. (His voice being his will and intent, the meaning, whereas the words are solely the vessel.) In short, he says that the idea of נעשה ונשמע - we will do and we will hear - means we keep the mitzwoth, His words, first, in order that afterwords we will be able reach the level of being able to hear His voice. (Which actually connects with our last posts about Rebbe Nachman and purifying the body through mitzwoth in order to receive our soul-transmissions)
To wrap up, the Sefer Yetzirah describes the hebrew letters as stones that are combined to build houses. So be sure to lay those stones straight, be careful with each of them, for waiting within them is blessing direct from the source. Even more than that, within them, if you look carefully, you can find HaShem Himself, manifest in this world, you don't have to stop at hearing the voice, you can even see the voices, as we did at Har Sinai, when we received the Torah.
mirror neurons of the world
Fight with the world and the world fights back. Chill out and the world chills out. It definitely seems like that sometimes, that the world interacts with us in the exact same way in which we react with it.
You're not imagining it, the world really works that way.The Noam Elimelech explains why: God has many different attributes or means of expression. Similarly we were created btzelem elokim in His image, and so we have the same attributes. When we act with a particular midah (attribute) we draw down God's influence through the same midah. There's nothing else to it.
Tzaddikim, because they always act with kindness and mercy, bring down HaShem's kindness and mercy on the whole world. We do too, but sometimes we don't live up to our potential and God forbid, bring down other far less-pleasant attributes.
[updated a typo]
You're not imagining it, the world really works that way.The Noam Elimelech explains why: God has many different attributes or means of expression. Similarly we were created btzelem elokim in His image, and so we have the same attributes. When we act with a particular midah (attribute) we draw down God's influence through the same midah. There's nothing else to it.
Tzaddikim, because they always act with kindness and mercy, bring down HaShem's kindness and mercy on the whole world. We do too, but sometimes we don't live up to our potential and God forbid, bring down other far less-pleasant attributes.
[updated a typo]
11.2.07
between learning and prayer, who has time for work?
Learning and Prayer. Two things that make a Jew a Jew. Two things that can't be accomplished without connecting one's mind and heart with their creator. They're just two in a list of six hundred and thirteen. We've spoken about them both before, associating them with ratz and shav. (running and returning)
They're connection is quite intimate, the Talmud says that serious learners don't need to stop learning to pray, while in other places they question whether learning the appointed prayer at the appointed time counts as prayer or not. Chassidim similarly would learn well past the appointed times, and pray at all hours of the day, because if the learning didn't count as prayer, at least it was involved in preparation, there's no use praying without preparing first. Further, the Talmud also says that ideally a person should pray all day long. (The Hasidim HaRishonim (who lived well before the time of what we now consider Hasidim) would spend nine hours a day in prayer and meditation.) Contrast this with the Torah obligation to learn Torah day and night. They also happen to be two mitzwoth that everyone agrees require proper intention. (kavanah)
Rebbe Nachman actually tied them together really nicely in Likkutei Moharan I:22 explaining away the differences without even trying. Torah and Prayer, he says, is נעשה ונשמע (The Jews said to God when they received the Torah: We will do and we will listen - Naaseh v'Nishma) Na'aseh (we will do) is the the internal, it is where we are right now, our current situation, it is our Torah learning, Nishma (we will hear) is where we are aspiring to, it is our prayers, it is what is still beyond us.
He says we move from one place to the next, the place we are currently at is our Torah, the place we are heading towards is our Tefillah, our prayer. As we grow, we arrive at a new destination, and what was our prayer becomes our Torah. That which is in sight, on the new horizon becomes our prayer.
So our Tefillah is our Torah when it is still in its potential. Or conversely our Torah is actualized prayer.
So I think we can understand from this that when we are to sanctify ourselves with what is permitted to us, (לקדש את עצמו במותר לו) on the one hand it means with the Torah, which is now in our posession, whereas our Tefillah which is still beyond us. On the other hand, motar can mean what is still left over and separate from us, which would be our Tefillah. So we can see that we need to serve God both through prayer and learning.
When we are praying, we are drawing new Torah into ourselves. When we are learning that Torah, (we properly explore what is ours, what is us, and find our current limits) we are discovering new horizons (and directions/intentions (kivunim/kavanot share a root)) of prayer.
So, instead of seeing Torah and Tefillah as two separate mitzwoth, (which they are, which in itself is a kindness of God that we get double the reward) we can look at them as two sides of the single action of growing closer to HaShem.
[hopefully in my next post I will tie this together with the numerous other related posts.]
They're connection is quite intimate, the Talmud says that serious learners don't need to stop learning to pray, while in other places they question whether learning the appointed prayer at the appointed time counts as prayer or not. Chassidim similarly would learn well past the appointed times, and pray at all hours of the day, because if the learning didn't count as prayer, at least it was involved in preparation, there's no use praying without preparing first. Further, the Talmud also says that ideally a person should pray all day long. (The Hasidim HaRishonim (who lived well before the time of what we now consider Hasidim) would spend nine hours a day in prayer and meditation.) Contrast this with the Torah obligation to learn Torah day and night. They also happen to be two mitzwoth that everyone agrees require proper intention. (kavanah)
Rebbe Nachman actually tied them together really nicely in Likkutei Moharan I:22 explaining away the differences without even trying. Torah and Prayer, he says, is נעשה ונשמע (The Jews said to God when they received the Torah: We will do and we will listen - Naaseh v'Nishma) Na'aseh (we will do) is the the internal, it is where we are right now, our current situation, it is our Torah learning, Nishma (we will hear) is where we are aspiring to, it is our prayers, it is what is still beyond us.
He says we move from one place to the next, the place we are currently at is our Torah, the place we are heading towards is our Tefillah, our prayer. As we grow, we arrive at a new destination, and what was our prayer becomes our Torah. That which is in sight, on the new horizon becomes our prayer.
So our Tefillah is our Torah when it is still in its potential. Or conversely our Torah is actualized prayer.
So I think we can understand from this that when we are to sanctify ourselves with what is permitted to us, (לקדש את עצמו במותר לו) on the one hand it means with the Torah, which is now in our posession, whereas our Tefillah which is still beyond us. On the other hand, motar can mean what is still left over and separate from us, which would be our Tefillah. So we can see that we need to serve God both through prayer and learning.
When we are praying, we are drawing new Torah into ourselves. When we are learning that Torah, (we properly explore what is ours, what is us, and find our current limits) we are discovering new horizons (and directions/intentions (kivunim/kavanot share a root)) of prayer.
So, instead of seeing Torah and Tefillah as two separate mitzwoth, (which they are, which in itself is a kindness of God that we get double the reward) we can look at them as two sides of the single action of growing closer to HaShem.
[hopefully in my next post I will tie this together with the numerous other related posts.]
spirits of the age
Carrying on with Rebbe Nachman's blockbuster statement that we need to clarify and rectify the body through mitzwoth in order to be able to receive the constant transmisions of the soul, we zoom out from the micro to the macro.
Rebbe Nachman says that the Tzaddikim are likened to the soul of the national body. The Tzaddik is always transmitting God's will and God's blessing to his people. The people, playing the role of the body, can't always pick up these transmissions, unless they have purified themselves. How do the people cleanse themselves so that they may receive the word of God through the Tzaddikim?
This actually relates to this past week's parashah, Parashath Yitro, in which God tells Mosheh to tell the people to purify themselves for three days so that they will be ready and able to hear God's voice, to receive the Torah directly from him. Rebbe Nachman explains (again) that through the proper and correct performance of the mitzwoth, the people open themselves up to the voices of the Tzaddikim, that they may receive the words of God.
In a sense, just the desire to perform the mitzwoth correctly opens the people up to the words of the Tzaddikim, because they need to seek them out and ask them to explain the proper performance of the mitzwoth, so at it's essence (to my mind anyways) clarification on the macro scale is emunat hachamim --faith in the Tzaddikim-- that we turn to them to seek out instruction and leadership for our individual lives.
Other related posts about the knowledge of tzaddikim (Baal Shem Tov had instantaneous access to all knowledge) (Scorning Rebbes is diluting the truth)
[Note: Zchus Avos was nice enough to compile a list of Sifrei Kodesh that are said to have a specific segulah associated with it: (via A Simple Jew) sefarim with segulot via ZechusAvos]
Rebbe Nachman says that the Tzaddikim are likened to the soul of the national body. The Tzaddik is always transmitting God's will and God's blessing to his people. The people, playing the role of the body, can't always pick up these transmissions, unless they have purified themselves. How do the people cleanse themselves so that they may receive the word of God through the Tzaddikim?
This actually relates to this past week's parashah, Parashath Yitro, in which God tells Mosheh to tell the people to purify themselves for three days so that they will be ready and able to hear God's voice, to receive the Torah directly from him. Rebbe Nachman explains (again) that through the proper and correct performance of the mitzwoth, the people open themselves up to the voices of the Tzaddikim, that they may receive the words of God.
In a sense, just the desire to perform the mitzwoth correctly opens the people up to the words of the Tzaddikim, because they need to seek them out and ask them to explain the proper performance of the mitzwoth, so at it's essence (to my mind anyways) clarification on the macro scale is emunat hachamim --faith in the Tzaddikim-- that we turn to them to seek out instruction and leadership for our individual lives.
Other related posts about the knowledge of tzaddikim (Baal Shem Tov had instantaneous access to all knowledge) (Scorning Rebbes is diluting the truth)
[Note: Zchus Avos was nice enough to compile a list of Sifrei Kodesh that are said to have a specific segulah associated with it: (via A Simple Jew) sefarim with segulot via ZechusAvos]
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