words with redeeming quality

When we speak of the redemption from egypt, Yetziat Mitzrayim, we think of something that happened in ancient history. Yes, we have a responsibility, even a number of mitzwoth including a seven day festival, to remind ourselves of that event that took place so long ago, but it's still more or less an inaccessible memory.

The Komarna Rebbe transforms so much historical preservation into a vehicle for redemption:

The words we speak telling the story of the redemption from Egypt, are the vessels through which HaShem delivers us individually (personal salvations) and nationally. ( the ultimate redemption)

So speak out about the story of Egypt and don't hold back, because it isn't some half-dead national memory you're perpetuating without purpose-- it's the direct means through which you are being redeemed, today, tomorrow, and forever.

heads or tails, evil loses

The goal of the klipah (the dark side) is to cause Israel suffering. The source of all the other side's power are the Holy sparks that fell and were trapped there.

The trick is, the Klipah elevates these Holy sparks to its 'head,' where they have the most influence and garner the most ability to stir up trouble for the Jews.

It happens to be that the head of the Klipah abuts the heels of Holiness, making it exceedingly easy to elevate those holy sparks just a little bit higher and back into the feet of Holiness, robbing the dark side of its power altogether.

(Mitzwah 22 & 23 Otzar HaHayyim - Komarna)

We see that God created the world in such a way that all the heavy lifting is done by the system, our job is just the finishing touches at every stage.

(The Baal Shem Tov says mitzwoth really almost perform themselves, without any help from us; May it be God's will that this teaching will help us to perform mitzwoth with simplicity and sincerity.)

[The Komarna brings this teaching to illuminate the mitzwah of redeeming your firstborn donkey. He doesn't say it outright, but it seems like he is equating the firsborn donkey (donkey in hebrew חמור shares a root with חומר matter, corporeality) with the 'head' of the klipah. Instead he explains how the redemption of the firstborn donkey teaches us about how to deal with 'foreign' or 'strange' thoughts. (Machshavot zarot are a complete topic in themselves, the translation does them no justice and we will address them God willing another time.) Tzaddikim raise them up through 'redeeming' (פדיה) them, while everyone else needs to behead (עריפה) them through repeatedly striking them. If you spend thought on this you will find a number of deep connections.]

the difficulty with simplicity

Today, 10th of Iyyar, is the 25th day of the Omer, Netzah she'be'Netzah, and it is also the Yahrtzeit of the Rebbe Yitzhak Isaac Yehudah Yechiel Safrin of Komarna (ben R' Aleksander)

Perhaps when you have gone through a number of his works, or at least various parts of them, the most amazing thing, and probably the most overlooked is, like Rebbe Nachman and many of the Hassidic Rebbes, his stress on being simple and sincere with HaShem.

He totally rejects and derides philosophy (or whatever else you might call it Rationality, Intellectualism) and stresses simplicity.

Ok, fine, simple, we get the point.

BUT.

But? BUT. I've never encountered a system as thoroughly complex and convoluted as that of the Kabbalah.

Try being simple and sincere while wrapping your mind around a system more complex than anything ever devised by scientist or mathematician.

The truth is you can't really make progress until you decide to experience that system spiritually, simply, sincerely, and this is what Reb Yitzhak Isaac was talking about.

People can spend a lifetime memorizing every letter combination of every name etc etc, and never touch anything true. Not so if you approach the same structure and complexity through simplicity, through sincerity.

This is the difference between relating to HaShem via Hochmah, and relating through Binah. Binah requires structures and understanding, Hochmah only works through simplicity and sincere yearning.

on purim, everyone's a hassid

[I can't recommend enough the Komarna Rebbe's commentary on Megillat Esther, Ketem Ofir. When I first learned the introduction a few years ago, I was blown away, in one page he managed to fit in all the Hassidut I had ever learned. Where would he go from there, if that was only the introduction? This year I found myself listening to the Megillah and wondering what each verse was really hinting at, wishing I had had more time to review and learn the Ketem Ofir.]

He mentions that Haman wanted to cut us off from being able to access HaShem's infinite Hesed, (loosely translated: Kindness) a light so pure that it cannot be affected, changed, or tainted. It reaches from one end of the world to the other and eradicates all trace of evil. For this reason, for fear of eradication, Haman wanted to separate us from it, HaShem's infinite Hesed.

How did he want to do this in practice? To begin with, how does one connect to HaShem's infinite Hesed? We serve HaShem with excitement and heat. Haman and Amalek, they're power over us is to cool us off, try and bring us back to 'cool' reason, 'cold logic.' To try and ruin the 'heat of the moment.' When we devote ourselves totally and wholly to HaShem with passion and heat, in that place, we can connect to the root of our souls, forever bound up in HaShem's infinite Hesed, from that place all the evil, all the klippot melt away, and Haman is no more. 

I think we can see this in practice through Esther HaMalka coming before the king, at great personal risk and for the sake of the nation, from that moment on, we see Haman's actions are no longer his own and a chain of uncontrollable events lead to his almost immediate downfall. The Rebbe went further in explaining the idea, more technical and more detailed, but that's not for me to give over here.

I believe this also explains why it is we are required to get drunk on Purim, to be filled with the heat of love and excitement in performing HaShem's mitzwoth. It's no coincidence that most of the mitzwoth of the day are bound up in Hesed, acts of kindness. The drink takes away the edge of the "cold logic," the cooling effect of Amalek.

One more thing that was never clear to me on Purim was the mitzwah of hearing the megillah, without missing a single word. The rest of the day is about losing da'at, about not being able to maintain an intellectual relationship but rather an emotional, in a way deeper, one. So, it's striking that we are required, on the very same day, to follow, with perfect precision and focus, a text being read aloud. In the context of our tremendous and unfailing love for HaShem this mitzwah can come into focus: When we love someone, we can't take our eyes or ears off them, every word every gesture is not only pleasing, but also vital. If we can connect to the love of HaShem inherent in the day of Purim, then listening to every word of the megillah comes as a freebie, we wouldn't pass up a single word in the story of how He saved us, everything He did for us.

don't disengage

There's a difference between being small in deed and small in thought. Humility is about accomplishing a lot, and not letting it go to my/your head.

False humility is about 'not doing' in order to avoid the nagging thought that you are great. Denying yourself opportunities, most of all mitzwoth, is self-abuse not humility.

This is such a hard concept for me to internalize. I know that so many things have no intrinsic value, and instinctively I want to cut them out and become an ascetic.

At every turn I need to remind myself that no, the more you engage the world, the more you involve yourself in the world, the more potential you have to bring about holiness.

Engaging isn't easier, it's more of a challenge; but the alternative, pulling back, only limits you.

the tzaddik's fork

There are two different paths tzaddikim can take, both of them derive from divine da'ath. Da'ath, knowledge, splits into hesed (giving) and gevurah. (holding back)

The path of hesed which is open to the tzaddik involves jumping into the thick of existence and destroying your ego through recognizing and experiencing great Ahavat Yisrael. Knowing that you yourself are nothing and that everyone around you is priceless. This may sound hard and depressing but it isn't simply because everything and everyone around you is so sweet and precious, it causes infectious happiness.

The path of gevurah, which is meant for other tzaddikim is an even higher path but it is found in tremendous worldly suffering. Through subjecting oneself to deep physical hardship and attaching oneself solely to the spiritual one's spiritual joy and accomplishments are practically unbounded. This path, the Komarna explains is frought with a number of dangers, most notably depression.

The Komarna Rebbe describes a few Tzaddikim who represented the first category, foremost among them, the Baal Shem Tov.

There is a story about the two brothers, Reb Zusha and Reb Elimelech:

R' Zusia and his brother R' Elimelech had an ongoing dispute on what should one base his service of God. R' Zusha maintained that one should first reflect upon his own lowliness which would in turn cause him to appreciate God's eminence. R' Elimelech held that by contemplating God's eminence, he would come to realize his own insignificance. Since neither brother could sway the other, they went to the  Maggid of Mezeritch for a judgment as to whom was correct. "You are both correct, explained the Maggid, both paths are valuable. But the one who begins with himself is safer . . . one can't fall from the ground".[from: http://www.judaicaplus.com/Tzadikim/tz_viewer.cfm?page=zusha.htm]

This story sort of highlights the two paths. Reb Zusha was a (to my mind) proponent of the path of hesed, and Reb Elimelech of gevurah. I think the story points out the relative safety of Reb Zusha's path, the path of hesed, over the path of gevurah. In terms of impact and accomplishment though, Reb Zusha insisted that Reb Elimelech (the younger brother) was the greater of the two.

more to pray about

Last erev Shabbath I gave a short dvar Torah summarised here:

We know from the 13 rules of how to expound Torah (according to Rabi Yishmael), that we can learn about the generality, the klal, from the specific, the prat. 

Today we'll look at a single prat, and from this, learn about everything, the klal.

Just as it's obvious to us that we can never stop praying for our children, that they are always a work in progress, so too it becomes obvious to us that we must always pray for every aspect of our lives and existence.

Think about it for a minute.

Money, clothing, transport, food, health, everything. Even when something is "in the bag" still, it can devaluate, rip, break, rot, fail, or cease to be. When we rest assured that what is in front of our face is "a sure thing," we're forgetting HaShem's constant hand in our lives.

This isn't meant to make you paranoid, just the opposite. 

When you realize that there is no substantive difference between holding something in your hand or not having it all, you can recognize that it all depends solely on HaShem. At this point you can be comforted by the fact that He is infinitely more trustworthy than government, insurance, investment, lifetime warantees, or employment.

HaShem provides us all with everything we need, not medicare, not taxes, not 28-hr [sic] work days. Pray for it.

"So you're telling me not to work?" No!!! Work, but recognize that the work itself is a form of prayer to HaShem, the most basic form of prayer: "I'm doing my part HaShem, from here on out, it's up to you." 

If your work performance is less than "I'm doing my part," well, then that's not really praying is it?

This is the heart and essence of the deepest kabbalistic meditations, yihudim and kawanoth: "I'm doing my part HaShem, from here on out it's up to you." You are entering into a complete and total partnership with HaShem.

This was the legacy left to my father by my grandfather ztz"l, and I'm still learning it to this day.

Everything, whatever it is you are doing right now, has the potential to be a prayer. If it doesn't, then stop doing it. If it isn't then ask yourself why it isn't, or better yet, make it so.