never play cards with your rebbe or trust your sense of distance

Years ago I listened to a shiur by Rabbi Akiva Tatz. He spoke about the difference between Heaven and Earth. In Heaven, everything is linear, which means wherever you are in Heaven, not only do you know exactly where you are in relation to everything else, but also, you can see everything from one side of Heaven to the other.

In Tehillim, David HaMelech mentions that HaShem 'bent' the Heavens over the Earth, Rabbi Tatz continued. Down here, in this world, there is a bend, things aren't linear, and so things that may be close may be beyond our view, while things that are far away may in fact be visible.

Just think about the image illustrated here. Think of a distant vista of rolling hills. Yes, you can see the hilltops, but who knows what the valleys in the middle conceal? Whatever is in the valleys may be closer than the more distant hilltops, but it is hidden from sight. Similarly, whatever is directly behind you is beyond your field of vision, yet it is extremely close to you.

Rabbi Tatz goes on to discuss how this very 'bend' in the world is the yetzer hara, the evil urge, the primordial serpent, which Moshe Rabbeinu is commanded to take in his hand, at which point it becomes a staff he is meant to use.

Let's look for a moment at a story told by the Ben Ish Hai to illustrate the power of the yetzer hara. R' Hayyim (The Ben Ish Hai) tells of a teacher of young men in yeshivah. It was the 17th of Tammuz and he could tell the boys were weary and weak from fasting. So the teacher said, "You know, you are so weak and tired, perhaps we won't learn today. Instead, we will play cards." The boys were understandably very excited and not a little bit incredulous at this statement, "There's only one problem," the Rebbe went on, "one of you will need to teach me the rules." The boys were falling over one another to teach him the rules, and so they played energetically for a good half hour until the Rebbe stopped them. "I didn't want to trouble you, you seemed so weak today, but it appears you have plenty of energy after all, enough with the cards, let's open the books." What could they say? So they opened the books and learned as usual.

The moral of the story is either: (1) Don't fall for an obvious trick of the Rebbe, or (2) Don't fall for an obvious trick of the Yetzer Hara. As Rabbi Tatz explained above, the power of the Yetzer Hara, the evil urge, is in the ability to make things feel far away from you. We see in Kohelet that the lazy person, the atzel, finds excuses why it's too dangerous to travel to learn from his rebbe, even if the travel is no further than down a few stairs to the sitting room. The Yetzer Hara makes us feel like accomplishing a mitzvah is so very very difficult, so very very far beyond our reach. In reality it is very close to us.

This is what Mosheh Rabbeinu tells us in the Torah, the matter is exceedingly close to you, it is [already] in your mouths and in your hearts to do... No one needs to ascend to the heavens to bring it down to you, no one needs to cross the sea to bring it back. [all that has already been done.] These are all tricks of the Yetzer Hara. Don't fall for it, or you'll feel like a sheepish yeshivah bochur who just won a game of cards against his rebbe, elated for a moment, before he realizes he's in for it.

haazinu : AZ-ify us!

האזינו השמים ואדברה - heavens! harken and I will speak

These are the opening words of parashath Haazinu. While learning the Ohr HaHayyim, he asks a simple question: what is the meaning of האזינו - harken? It suddenly occured to me that the deeper meaning of these opening words is something quite different from what we might have otherwise thought:

For a little background, we need to understand a few ideas. Speech is the power of the Moshiah. Why? Speech is associated with the sefirah of Malchut in a number of places, most notably in the introduction to the Tikkunei Zohar: מלכות פה - Malchut is the mouth. Also, the Moshiah will wage his wars through prayer - בקשתי ובחרבי - with my bow and my sword - is translated as through my supplications and my praise.

Another important introduction: Az Yashir, the song that Bnei Yisrael sang upon the Exodus from Egypt, hints that Mosheh and Bnei Yisrael will sing in the future, אז, not in the past. Chazal explain (since clearly Mosheh sings with Bnei Yisrael) that this song in the future will be in the time of Israel's final redemption. (when Mosheh is resurrected with all the rest of the 'dead')

Now we can understand the prayer that was hidden within the opening words of Parashath Haazinu:

האזינו השמים ואדברה - [I entreat the] Heavens, bring us to the time/state of אז (literally: make us אז) the time of the final redemption, and then [as the Moshiah, with the power of Moshiah] I will speak.

veins of torah run deep

When scholars delve into the history and development of Judaism, especially the development of Torah alongside Judaism, one can't help but marvel at how much was lost along the way, at every stage.

The Komarna explains in the opening words of the Notzer Hesed that none of what Mosheh Rabbeinu received from the mouth of God on Har Sinai could be transmitted. (Every word would take more than seventy years to explain)

On the day Mosheh Rabbeinu died, Yehoshua forgot thousands of halachot.

The codifying of the Tanach left out a number of books from that time period. The hashing out of the mishna left a tremendous body of baraita in its wake. The Talmud is but the smallest drop of the knowledge of the Amoraim, whatever could be committed to text, and whatever we haven't lost of that over the years.

This says nothing of the thousands, maybe tens (hundreds?) of thousands of sefarim that have since vanished from the world. (We're not even going into the secrets of the Torah, we have maybe seven extent chapters (Sefer Yetzirah) from the book of Adam rumored to have at least five hundred.)

Beyond all that, even of the Torah we have maintained to this day, volumes seemingly without end, so much of it has transitioned from Torah with practical application (only in the most literal sense, chas v' shalom that someone should think it needn't be learned) to Torah for its own sake. So many practices and Halachot are no longer performed or held today, either from chumrot, kulot, or different minhagim.

But really, if you think about it, it isn't so shocking.

There are some who might look at all this and see evolution, survival of the fittest, or even a readjustment of norms to meet the expectations of modern society, but I believe that is foolishness at best.

The reality is that yes, it's entirely organic, but in a way our everyday short-sighted view couldn't begin to comprehend.

When we look at the entire Jewish people as comprising a single body, one organism that persists throughout time as well as space, we recognize the deeper meaning of the identification of these generations as the heels--the ends of the feet. It begins to dawn on us, from this perspective, that just as there are veins, arteries, sinews, nerves and more that connect the feet with the rest of the body, there are many more veins, arteries, sinews and nerves, that don't quite reach the feet, many, if not most, never even come close.

If Torah is an integral part of the Jewish body, the life force of this body, then the abundance of Torah centralized in the head (Mosheh Rabbeinu and his generations) and the chest (the Mishna/Talmud and their generations) makes the Torah in the feet almost negligible by comparison.

So, rather than being shocked and appalled by what has become of our Torah, we can begin to understand the role and part our Torah in our day plays in the greater timeless body of Israel and Torah.

it isnt easy being blue

פתיל תכלת הוא בחינת מה שאמרו חז"ל: במקום שאתה מוצא ענותנותו, שם אתה מצא גדולתו - וכן להפך

I don't understand. I don't understand Korah's halachic question to Mosheh Rabbeinu. (as reported by Rashi)

We know that there are many halachoth that even though their ways seem peculiar, any other way does not fulfill the obligation. Why did anyone think that Korah's question was legitimate?

What was Korah's question? Here it is: If you have a whole garment, and adding a little blue (tcheleth) string permits the entire thing, why wouldn't an entirely blue garment be permitted outright? (without the addition of a little blue string.)

To me it definitely seems like asking: We don't wear tefillin on Shabbath because tefillin is a sign (ot) of HaShem, and Shabbath is a sign. If I wear tefillin on Shabbath, do I need to keep Shabbath?

Of course you need to keep Shabbath!!

What was Korah's real argument, why did it hold water, and why was it still wrong?

Perhaps I could understand it like this:

Tcheleth, the blue color of the tzitzith, as Chazal explain, is there to remind us of the Kisei HaKavod (the Throne of Glory) a testament to HaShem's greatness.

Basically it could be that Korah thought that if a small testament to HaShem is good enough, then certainly an entire garment colored to declare HaShem's greatness should be even better.

We can even understand how this is at the source of his claim to the Priesthood: He saw that Shmuel HaNavi would come from his line, and Shmuel HaNavi, Chazal explain, was 'equal' to Mosheh Rabbeinu and Aharon HaKohen combined. So, Korah could have thought: Aharon HaKohen is great, no doubt, but my line is even greater and if it is an honor to HaShem that Aharon HaKohen should represent Him, it would be an even greater glorification of HaShem's name if I were the Kohen Gadol.

The key lesson that Korah, according to my limited understanding, didn't pick up on, and perhaps it's only clear in hindsight, is that HaShem doesn't want ego and glory and pride, he wants us to be humble. Chazal teach us that in the same place that you find HaShem's humility that's where you find His greatness.

We see this lesson in practice: Har Sinai was chosen as the place to reveal HaShem and the Torah because it was a small and humble mountain. Mosheh Rabbeinu was chosen to receive the Torah because he was the most humble of all men.

Humility and Greatness must always go hand in hand. This is perhaps why the tzitzith only has a little string colored to remind us of the Throne of Glory, of HaShem's might and greatness. Because on the tzitzith, where we find HaShem's humility, in a single strand among many, we find a hint at HaShem's greatness.

approaching the end

The end of the Torah, the story of the death of Mosheh Rabbeinu always troubles me. We know that the Torah is applicable in every generation, in every time, it is in every sense of the word eternal. The question becomes how will the Torah be applicable even after the dead have arisen in the final ressurrection? Mosheh Rabbeinu will be standing before us, we will all be in Eretz Yisrael, what will those last verses of the Torah mean then?

Right around now you should have stopped to ask, how can we possibly understand the Torah meant for after Techiat HaMeitim (the resurrection), after Moshiah, (messiah) after the Geulah (Redemption)? Of course we can't understand it, but I'm always curious to peek a little bit, perhaps as much as is possible to understand whatever I might, and try and somehow apply that knowledge to now.

Also, if you'd like to accompany me on a short journey into an idea that might be confusing, we know that the revelations of the world to come are far beyond anything else in this world, right? So perhaps by pushing the envelope on the Torah that is available in this world, by reaching to its utmost limits, we might also be pushing the revelations of the next world a little bit further beyond its limits, we can only find out for sure when we get there, b'ezrat HaShem.

For certain, the work we do to understand HaShem's Torah in all of its depth creates the vessels in which we will one day receive the Torah of the world to come, furthermore, who knows the precise limits of the Torah we can understand in this world, only HaShem? If we don't push these limits we might never know just how far our understandings could have gone. In the highest spiritual realms desiring to connect with the unknowable nature of HaShem is described as thrashing your head against an impenetrable wall. (see: smiling through the unbreakable barrier)

Getting back to our question, We can't let every little problem get us down, so this one has been on the backburner, while I've been (thanks HaShem!) busy with the rest of my life, but I never forgot it. This past Shabbath, my grandmother in law asked me a semi-related question which reminded me about a teaching I learned recently, from the Zohar if I'm not mistaken, that the Nefesh is called the inheritance, because it is the Nefesh that we inherit as a dwelling place. (for the higher aspects of our soul) In this context, we can read the final refusal of HaShem to let Mosheh Rabbeinu "enter the land" as a recognition of the fact that man cannot "dwell" within HaShem as he dwells within his own soul and expect to survive. Mosheh Rabbeinu reached the utmost boundary from which all we can do is "look upon" HaShem, and enjoy His radiance.

So, with this understanding, the Torah reached the ultimate completion of man, Mosheh Rabbeinu who comes as close to knowing HaShem as possible, in this world, in any world. To me this brings comfort rather than viewing the Torah as story with a "To be continued..." ending. What is especially nice about this understanding is that it doesn't really deviate from the simple meaning of the words, yet it lends a depth of appreciation that might otherwise have been missing.

I hope (b"h) to go further into the topic of dwelling within one's nefesh, one's soul in a later post, as we did little more than mention it here.

celebrating future independence

The Kabbalists describe some of the steps involved in creating spiritual vessels. One of the major components is that at some point the light must be removed from the vessel, this emptying out of the vessel is a crucial step in the formation and completion of the vessel. Only after the vessel is completed can the light, the contents, be returned to the vessel. This is a very abstract understanding of a very vague phenomenon, but we see how it plays out in a number of ways: We learn in the midrash that a child in the womb learns all of Torah, only to forget it when s/he is born, necessitating the re-learning of the Torah from scratch. On it's face this midrash is weird. Why would HaShem be so evil as to teach us something, make us forget it and then learn it again? When we look with the eye of a Kabbalist we can see that this 'forgetting' of Torah is the emptying of the vessel. It is only the learning and consequent forgetting in the womb that completes the vessel that is us. Only after forgetting all of Torah are we able to properly absorb and contain the Torah.

Another midrash offers a similar tale, this time however it is about Mosheh Rabbeinu. On Har Sinai, each day HaShem gave him over the whole Torah, yet each day Mosheh Rabbeinu would forget it all. Each morning they would start anew. Finally on the last day, HaShem gave over to Mosheh Rabbeinu the whole Torah as a gift and only in such a way was he able to receive it. We certainly can't understand the magnitude of HaShem's gift to Mosheh Rabbeinu, but we can see the learning and forgetting that took place as a sort of clarifying Mosheh Rabbeinu as a vessel that was fit to receive the whole Torah. When he came down from the mountain his face was glowing.

I'm sure we all often wonder what's the point of living in Olam HaZeh, only to die and then to be reanimated in Techiath HaMaytim, the resurrection of the dead? In this new light we can see death as the final completion of the body as a vessel to contain Godliness. This is perhaps why even after 120 years of perfect service Mosheh Rabbeinu still needed to go through the process of death.

Perhaps this even touches on Adam HaRishon, why was Man created as one male and female? why then was Chavah taken out of Adam and then returned to him?

This simple abstracted teaching touches on so many different questions on so many different levels, but heeding the words of our Rabbis, a wise person sees what is yet to be born. (Ezehu hacham haroeh et haNolad) There's a story about the Chabad hasidim, on the day the first Chabad Rebbe was imprisoned by the Russian government, the hasidim threw a great celebratory feast. Why, you might ask? Because they were celebrating the certainty that he would be successful and would be released. When we understand this basic idea, that it is only the removal of the light that perfects the vessel, then we can begin to see the beauty and promise in the deepest lack, the most broken heart.

It is for this reason, and with admiration and recognition to those faithful Chabad hasidim, that I propose celebrating this Yom Ha'atzmaut like we never have celebrated it before. Not celebrating the event that happened 60 years in our past, but rather celebrating, in the height of the current darkness, the independence of the Land and People of Yisrael when HaShem (may it be swiftly in our days) returns to us the light which we so sorely lack.

Everything hangs in the balance, and tomorrow we could lose it all. But we know with absolute certainty what will be in the end, a time of celebration and rejoicing beyond compare. And, if we truly know it, why not celebrate now? Why not show HaShem how deep and strong our Emunah is today?

This is the lesson of Hesed b'Tifferet; the kindness HaShem gave us clothed in the Beautiful Torah.

the rumblings of future triumph

When Mosheh Rabbeinu recalls HaShem's commands regarding entering the Holy Land, he speaks of the nations Amon and Moav as well as Edom. In the discussion he states some points that seem important only as historical trivia. Details like which nation dwelled in the land before Amon, Moav, or Edom inherited them, and what their various names were.

The Noam Elimelech says that the Torah is the furthest thing from a history lesson, and so these passages carry within them deep lessons. What kind of lessons? Mosheh Rabbeinu is showing us how to overcome our enemies. Even enemies such as Amon and Moav who had a connection with and the protection of Avraham Avinu, as well as Edom, who had the merit of the honor he showed his father Yitzhak Avinu. Because of their merits, we weren't permitted to war with them, so Mosheh Rabbeinu, in recounting their histories, tied them to the Sarim (the angelic rulers) of the nations they had defeated. In doing so, he uprooted their merits and opened the door to their ultimate destruction. Just as the Sarim had been defeated, so too would those who were tied to them be defeated.

This is a valuable lesson for us to understand the infinitely subtle and farsighted True Kindness of HaShem that is the driving force behind all of history. Our enemies today take on a name for themselves, not just any name, but the name of the nation who once inhabited our land. We don't have Mosheh Rabbeinu nowadays to tie our enemies to the fallen Sarim, so HaShem allows history to play out in such a way that it is done for us.

Just as the Plishtim, the Philistines fell before HaShem's first born, Yisrael, so too God-willing will the Palestinians (who chose to tie themselves to the name of a long dead idolatrous people, rather than to the merits of Yishmael) fall before HaShem's first born, Yisrael. Right now it seems like their name is a source of strength (a flag behind which many people may unite and gain recognition) but the time is approaching when it will become their undoing.

Speedily and in our days. Amen. Netzah. Selah. va'Ed.

[this is post #702 on this blog, gematria Shabbath שבת - may this post be an indication of the endless Shabbat to come, and may we all merit to experience it in HaShem's infinite mercy in our immediate future.]

bread of humility

Rebbe Natan explains (Likkutei Halachoth - Hilchot Tefillin) that we are nourished not by the food we eat, but rather by the life-force within the food. If our bodies were purified in that they were completely humbled before HaShem, then we would be nourished directly from the life-force and the food itself would pass through us undigested.

It is only because we have not rectified our entire bodies, that we digest and use the corporeality of the food. Whichever part of our bodies have not properly been humbled cannot receive directly from the life-force within the food and so they are forced to consume the food itself in order to derive life.

This humility is an aspect of Mosheh Rabbeinu who was utterly humble. Each of our 248 limbs and 365 sinews must expose their potential humility which is the nature of Mosheh Rabbeinu that is latent within that body part. When our whole body is in a state of awareness of its dependence on and recognition of HaShem's might, then we don't need to eat at all. This is how Mosheh survived for one hundred and twenty days on Sinai without eating or drinking.

The reason, he explains, that our digestive functions produce putrid/disgusting byproducts is to remind us of how lowly and dependent we truly are.

It seems to me that this is good to keep in mind during the time between Purim and Pesah when we are meant to work on perfecting our ability to eat in holiness.

actions that speak louder than words

Sometimes we limit ourselves simply by virtue of the fact that we don't believe enough. This is a basic lesson from Rebbe Nachman in his story the Sophisticate and the Simpleton. In our rush to be smart, we begin to doubt everything.

The Baal HaTanya, in tomorrow's Tanya explains that when we simply contemplate the reality of HaShem's presence and truly believe and know that He permeates everything and all is negligable in reference to Him, we can arrive at unparalleled levels of joy. This he says, being aware of HaShem, is the underlying mitzwah in all other mitzwoth, as Chabakuk revealed. (צדיק באמונתו יחיה)

The Noam Elimelech (Parashath Balak) explains that a Tzaddik has the ability to perform miracles and bring down phenomenal blessings through his sheer cleaving to HaShem, just by speaking, anything is possible. What's the limit on the Tzaddik's ability? He can only affect those who put their trust and belief in him. In order to affect those who don't believe, he must take some physical action in order to perform wonders. This is how he explains Mosheh Rabbeinu hitting the rock: He says that Tzaddikim think only about the wellfare of the nation, even to the end that they will (on occasion) condemn themselves to gehenom in order to bring divine mercies down for Bnei Yisrael. Mosheh thought if he simply spoke to the rock that any members of Bnei Yisrael who had any doubts about him wouldn't be part of the miracle, and so through performing a physical action, he hit the rock, he brought out many waters, enough for even the most distant. Clearly, the Noam Elimelech adds, HaShem agreed with him because the miracle ocurred.

So, important life lesson, emunah in HaShem and His tzaddikim will save you a lot of hardship when you may otherwise be needlessly limiting yourself. In this way we open ourselves to divine intervention and holy miracles.

a foot in the door

This past Shabbath I reviewed Likkutei Moharan I:152, to me it is one of the more cryptic Torahs in Likkutei Moharan. I can't be sure I understood it correctly, but from my limited understanding Rebbe Nachman explains that at certain truly difficult times, a great Tzaddik may defend the generation through unbelievable mesirut nefesh. What is this mesirut nefesh, this unbelievable self-sacrifice?

Rebbe Nachman explains that when a soul comes into this world there is only one gate through which that soul can still ascend and unite with HaShem, the gate of emunah. Sometimes, that gate is temporarily closed (on a personal level because of some damage one has done, and a national level because of the culture of sinning that has been reinforced and strengthened) but that is only for a short while. In really extreme circumstances permission is given from on high to shut the gate permanently. In such times someone with true fear of heaven (to my understanding a Tzaddik) puts themselves in the mouth of the gate, and because of their purity, the gate cannot be closed. In this manner, the Tzaddik allows the gate of emunah to remain open, even when Bnei Yisrael doesn't deserve it. The catch, and here is the true mesirut nefesh, is that the Tzaddik can't leave the mouth of the gate or else it would be closed and so, his soul cannot ascend to unite with HaShem.

To me this echoed the words of Mosheh Rabbeinu in the end of sefer devarim, "I can no longer come in and go out." (לא אוכל עוד לבא ולצאת) (Devarim 31:2)

ps. please correct me if I've understood Rebbe Nachman's intent here. (this basically goes for any other Torah as well that I may have misunderstood)

land ho!

In honor of Mosheh Rabbeinu's Yahrtzeit, (7 Adar) i'll mention something i came across yesterday. The Hesed L'Avraham explains that when HaShem originally promised the land of Israel to Avraham's children, He promised him ten lands. When the Jewish People were brought out of Egypt, HaShem gave them only the lands of the seven canaanite nations. Rav Azulai explains that the remaining three lands represent the mind/sechel, while the seven lands represent the seven middoth and the body. It is for this reason that Mosheh Rabbeinu was buried outside of then-current Israel, in part of the three lands, because Mosheh represents the aspect of Da'ath, knowledge, part of the mind rather than the body.

After the final Geulah, R' Azulai adds, the three remaining lands will become part of the land of Israel as well, [and HaShem's promise to Avraham will be complete.]

a fragrance to ponder

The Noam Elimelech on B'ha'alotcha goes into a number of interesting principles:

First, he explains that malachim do not know a person's thoughts, (because they are hidden to HaShem) but HaShem did give angels the ability to smell the different intentions people have in their prayers. Through this ability the angels are able to know which prayers to offer up to HaShem in heaven such that they will produce a 'pleasant smelling offering.' (ריח נחוח)

Second, that Tzaddikim can know the thoughts behind a person's speech. This is how Mosheh Rabbeinu was able to know that even though the people were crying in their tents about 'the fish they had in Egypt,' he knew they were crying about the newly-prohibited marital relationships.

Third, that all the thoughts a person has are expressed in their prayers. This is how the angels discovered that Bnei Yisrael was crying over forbidden marital relationships. Because Mosheh Rabbeinu knew the thoughts behind their words, and prayed on their behalf, and Mosheh's thoughts entered into his prayers and the angels smelled his prayers. Otherwise the angels could never have known of Bnei Yisrael's true desires.

This explains why Mosheh sees this particular incident as his own failure, and asks to be killed rather than see his own folly in rearing the nation.

ears falling on words

The Pri Ha'aretz taught a great Torah on parashath Shemoth, Mosheh complains to HaShem asking why did you treat your nation badly? Of course Mosheh, the humblest of all men, didn't presume to judge HaShem's actions, what did he mean?

He explains that a person's speech has the ability to raise up those that hear it and make them more spiritual, or to bring them down and make them more physical.

Mosheh naturally assumed the fault was with himself and that when he came a spoke to the people that he had brought them lower, made them more physical, and brought harsher judgement upon them. Therefore he questions his own purpose in HaShem's plans once again suggesting that perhaps someone else could be better suited to this particular mission.

This is a useful lesson to keep in mind, not only can our actions and speech affect us, they will have an effect on those that hear us. If the effect isn't positive, it's going to be negative. (chas v'shalom) We must work with great discipline to ensure that our words are aimed to elevate those around us.

his hands are emunah

Rebbe Nachman brings down in Likkutei Halachoth I:91 that in netillat yadayim (the mitzwah of washing the hands) the Arizal HaKadosh explains that you must lift up one's hands to receive the kedushah. Rebbe Nachman builds on this explaining that there is a level beyond normal emunah where you have emunah in your heart, you can reach a level where your whole body is suffused with emunah.

in israel's mind's eye

One more Torah from the Hesed L'Avraham: (basically every few paragraphs of the Hesed L'Avraham blows me away so I'll try to cherry pick those most easily related via blog.)

Rav Azulai explains a little about the eye-mind relationship. He says that the reason why it is forbidden to look at certain things is that looking at those things (nudity for example) causes the mind to become more physical and less spiritual.

Everything we see creates an image in our mind. Similarly we are capable of imagining any image in our mind. (Sometimes this is called very aptly our mind's eye.) Whether it is something we imagine or a reflection of something seen in the outside world, the image in our mind affects the nature of our mind itself. Our mind actually becomes more physical, more impure when we bear the image of something impure in our mind.

Conversely, when we picture something holy in our mind, our mind becomes more elevated, more spiritual. This, Rav Azulai explains, is why we have a custom to visit our Rabbi and to come before HaShem three times a year, similarly for this reason he explains that it is a mitzwah even to just see the land of Israel even if we cannot enter it. (Thank HaShem that this is not generally a problem nowadays.)

There is one more amazing point, he explains further that when we stand before someone holy, we cause that holy person to picture us in his or her mind. When they have us in their mind, since their mind is always involved in holiness, then we are brought closer to the holiness in their mind and similarly elevated even more than simply picturing that holy person in our own minds.

This plays out in many ways, when we see a loved one, they picture us with great love in their minds and we picture them with great love in ours, and in so doing the bond of love is greatly increased. The same thing is true about hatred and those we hate. This is why it is forbidden to look at a Rasha, as well as someone who is angry.

From here we can extrapolate an amazing point. Seeing the picture even of someone or something holy is tremendously uplifting but not nearly so much as the mirror effect of being physically present before that someone or something.

Rav Azulai even explains that when we see Eretz Yisrael, she sees us right back. We are visualized in her mind, just as she is visualized in ours. When we look with great love, she looks back with equally great love. Can you imagine, even if one couldn't make it to Israel but they were able to see Israel, they were contained within the mind of Eretz Yisrael if not the body?

This was the berachah that HaShem bestowed upon Mosheh Rabeinu despite not letting him into the land.

the mountain came to the besht

Rav Ginsburg (Into to the Kabbalah of the Arizal p. 213) brings down that Mosheh Rabbeinu's level was such that he had to ascend the mountain (leaving the people behind) in order to completely cleave to HaShem. He then had to descend back down the mountain to bring HaShem's Word to the people.

He then explains that the Baal Shem Tov asked for a special gift from HaShem that he might be able to be totally connected to the world and to HaShem simultaneously, all the time. This was the difference in the Baal Shem Tov's relationship to HaShem.

I just wanted to interject that according to the Noam Elimelech, David Hamelech sought a slightly different outcome in his request of HaShem, he wanted to stay close to HaShem at all times, and that HaShem would come down to the people directly. [we mentioned this before]

words caught in the throat

The Noam Elimelech (Parashath Tazria) explains that Tzaddikim are always involved in Torah and Tefillah. Sometimes, though, to overcome boredom and weariness, they need to speak with other people. When they do so these words are words of musar and fear of heaven. These words cause others to greatly awaken in the service of HaShem, even the Tzaddikim themselves. For when they remember their words they fear that perhaps there was some small taste of sin in these words and so they awaken new fear and new teshuvah within themselves.

He goes on to explain (Parashath Metzora) that when Tzaddikim learn or pray for the sake of HaShem, their souls are bound up in the words and alight to the heavens where they, the words and their souls, are united with the Torah and therefore with HaShem.

Moshe Rabbeinu was unique in that he was able to connect with HaShem through his voice. The simple sound of his voice would alight and unite with HaShem even before he would form words. This is the meaning of the saying that the Shechinah speaks from the throat of Mosheh. (ie. The throat where the sounds of speech are modulated)

It occurred to me while learning this that one could connect the two different Torahs and find a way for Tzaddikim to emulate and connect to Mosheh Rabbeinu without having to speak words that weren't Torah or Tefillah. Through singing or humming a niggun perhaps a Tzaddik can recuperate (from boredom or weariness) without having to talk words of musar with others, and later regret these words.

oil in the beard of aharon

Tehillim 133 is one of the shorter tehillim, it's also one of the more beautiful in its simplicity. Masechet Horayot actually explains how the tehila was divinely inspired and the story it describes.

א שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת, לְדָוִד:
הִנֵּה מַה-טּוֹב, וּמַה-נָּעִים-- שֶׁבֶת אַחִים גַּם-יָחַד.
ב כַּשֶּׁמֶן הַטּוֹב, עַל-הָרֹאשׁ--
יֹרֵד, עַל-הַזָּקָן זְקַן-אַהֲרֹן:
שֶׁיֹּרֵד, עַל-פִּי מִדּוֹתָיו.
ג כְּטַל-חֶרְמוֹן-- שֶׁיֹּרֵד, עַל-הַרְרֵי צִיּוֹן:
כִּי שָׁם צִוָּה יְהוָה, אֶת-הַבְּרָכָה--
חַיִּים, עַד-הָעוֹלָם.

When Mosheh Rabeinu annointed Aharon (his brother) the Kohen Gadol, there were two droplets of the annointing oil, shemen haMishchah, that would bead on the edges of his beard. (It actually describes a miracle that the two droplets would reabsorb to the root of his beard when he spoke so as not to fall off, and then redistribute into the two beads at the edge of his beard when he stopped talking.)

Anyways Mosheh feared that perhaps the droplets were a sign that somehow he had misused the annointing oil. Therefore the second two passukim of the mizmor were spoken aloud by a bat kol, a divine voice, informing Mosheh that just as the dew of Mt. Hermon cannot be misused so too the oil of Aharon's beard was not misused.

Still Aharon feared that maybe the droplets signified something he had done wrong, at that moment the divine voice, the bat kol, spoke the first passuk of the mizmor, informing him that just as Mosheh was free of taint, so too was his brother who dwelt with him.

[here you can find another commentary that brings down the radak who says the mizmor is about the meeting between moshiah and the kohen gadol.]

(this is actually one of those parts of tanach that is so chock-full of secrets I can't wait till I find some Hassidut that explains it, or till I get to the Arizal on it, bezrat HaShem)

the loyal servant

I always wondered why Mosheh Rabbeinu didn't just keep his hands raised in the battle with Amalek. The Noam Elimelech finally cleared it up for me: Mosheh Rabbeinu was on a level whereby, if He wasn't careful, he could have unified the whole world with God, causing it to cease to exist. Whenever he raised his hands, in other words asserted his authority, he had to do so in a metered fashion, lest the world be overwhelmed with divine mercy such that even the evil-doers would go unpunished.

The world was created to submit to the authority of Tzaddikim, and Tzaddikim generally act in one of two ways, either mitook haDin (sweetening of the harsh judgements) or awakening divine mercy that preempts any judgement at all. Because of Moshe's unique level, he only performed 'sweetening of the harsh judgements' because his 'awakening divine mercy' was beyond the threshold of what the world could bear.

discourse on spiritual healing

Yitro came to teach Mosheh something, and the whole story came to teach us something, so I'm going to give it a whirl:

As per the explanation of the Noam Elimelech, (פרשת יתרו) Mosheh used to anticipate the problems of those who came to him, with his divine foresight, (רוח הקודש) and would fix their problems (through prayer or yichudim presumably or through simple faith in HaShem) before they even arrived at their meeting with him.

Yitro suggested to Mosheh a slightly different tactic. Why not go to the source of the harsh decrees, the dinim, and fix them there, solving everyone's problems all at once instead of waiting for each person's problems to occur?

There's so much we can learn from this, but for me I think the most important thing is that when you want to fix the world, you need to start one person at a time. Once you have developed the compassion and the understanding from working with each person directly, then you can start to generalize the solutions and the fixings to the whole.

[This is perhaps why according to some opinions we should only be praying for the wellbeing of the Shechinah and according to other opinions we couldn't possibly relate to the suffering of the Shechinah and so we can't pray directly on the Shechinah's behalf. The opinions who say we can and should (pray for the Shechinah) perhaps take for granted that we've built to it by first praying on behalf of ourselves and others. The second opinion (that we cannot pray for the Shechinah) perhaps applies to the beginning/intermediate stages where we would be reaching beyond our capabilities and unsuccessful in our (futile) attempts without first experiencing proper tefillah on behalf of those closest to us.]