shelters within

In the previous post (see: approaching the end) we mentioned the idea of the nefesh (soul) as an inheritance.

First, a moment of background, we need to understand that we are made up of many levels. Just as the universe bears within it many levels of complexity, man was created as a microcosm of the world, with all of its levels of complexity. And just as in the universe, each level effects all the other levels below and above it, so to in each person, each level is affected by, and in turn affects all the other levels of that person.

We know how many different levels there are that make up the body, how many interdependent systems that were one to fail, the body would cease to function. We bless HaShem each morning and many times throughout the day in acknowledgement of the wonder that is the body. Yet we know that just as the skin is the outermost layer of the body, the body is the outermost layer of the person.

The manifold layers of the soul are broken into five major levels, listed here in ascending order: Nefesh, Ruah, Neshamah, Chayah, Yechidah. Any of the first three can generally be translated as 'soul' though each of the five bears a very different nature. Note that we have a more basic 'animal' soul that animates the body, meaning that none of these five levels of soul is in any way directly observable in this world. The Nefesh, or lowest of the five levels of the soul is so refined that there is no perceivable similarity between the nature of the Nefesh and that of the body. (or even the animal soul) The nefesh is likewise coarse and unrefined in comparison to the Ruah, just as the body is to the Nefesh. This relationship is true for each of the various levels of the soul, until the level of Yechidah is so removed that its relationship to a person is tenuous a best.

When we are created/born, our awareness encompasses only the most tangible realities, the immediate report of the senses. As we grow and develop, we learn to refine our awareness to abstract levels beyond the raw information of our sensations. Reading for example requires us to recognize with our eyes the fine print of letters, to divvy up the words and sentences and to process how the words would sound, what they mean, and project into our minds the ideas of the one who wrote the letters. Reading is a very advanced abstraction, a very subtle understanding of the coarse feedback of the physical world.

In the very same way, we are initially only aware of the most basic and coarse spiritual realities. Only through growth and development can we work to understand and make sense out of what are spiritual senses report. This is a major aspect of the system HaShem created, both the physical and the spiritual. When we start to learn something new, we are immediately rewarded. In the physical world this is through natural opiates in the brain that reward new brain growth. In the spiritual realm this involves an initial glimpse of HaShem's Holy light. Once we have tasted the reward, then we can more easily recognize a particular form of stimulus. (be it physcial or spiritual) The initial sweet taste essentially tunes our awareness to know that there is something out there worth seeking. Every stage of growth works like this.

As we progress and develop spiritually, we are given new tools, new vessels to encourage and enable our further development. Each of these new tools is a new level of soul. There are a very great number of levels within each of the five levels we mentioned. Each new accomplishment is another rung on this ladder of spiritual development. Each new level of soul is a step inward, deeper towards the essence of what we are, a figurative fragment of HaShem.

Now we've returned to hopefully a place of understanding where we may try and take another step and gain a new insight. As we said previously, the Zohar speaks of the soul as our inheritance, a place in which to dwell in the world to come. If we think about it, it makes sense, in a way our soul dwells within in our body. Our bodies are the land for our soul. Similarly each level of our soul plays the part of an inheritance to the level of soul above it. As we refine ourselves further, we move deeper. We enter into new undiscovered lands, or heichalot-halls in the palace of the king, each one closer to the throne room than the last.

When we were perfecting a particular level, like learning to read in the physical world for example, we couldn't enjoy the benefit of this new level, this new tool. Instead we worked hard to gain some basic competence, some grasp of this level. Once we've grasped this level, and we have become proficient in it, then we can enjoy all the potential bound up in this new tool. Reading, again as the example, all manner of books and stories, exploring worlds of knowledge previously hidden behind the patience of others to expound them to us. With each level comes profound freedom and benefit.

Once we have mastered the particular level at which we exist, we begin to sense the depths that lie beyond the medium, the 'art form' of wielding the tool that comes only from a greater wisdom, a deeper understanding. In this very same way, we can see how each new spiritual ascension allows the previous level to transition into the home, the background, the proving ground for the next level.

This is how the Tzaddikim travel from level to level, world to world, always striving for the deeper next further level. In this way even one's soul becomes the inheritance, the land, the homestead of one's desire. The desire to push on, closer and ever closer to HaShem's oneness, until the soul is merely a means to an end, the end being the fulfillment of this sole (no pun intended) desire.

For the rest of us, when we hear "The Promised Land" we think of a place, a plot of land bordering on the plots of land of our extended families, where we bodily live, eat, and sleep in the comfort of HaShem's protection. But, for the Tzaddikim, their soul is The Promised Land where their desire can take comfort, can be fulfilled in HaShem's revelation.

minting peace

The Talmud tells us that HaShem wants our hearts. (רחמנא לבא בעי)

The Baal HaTanya (Iggeret HaKodesh 4) explains Mosheh Rabbeinu's comments in the Torah (ומלתם את בשר לבכם) to explain that we must remove the thick outer foreskin of our hearts, to learn to love HaShem, and in turn he will remove the finer casing around our hearts, and reveal our inner essence to his light. He says that Tzedaka is the best way to hasten this process.

We see, sadly, in this day and age just how close money can get to our hearts. Bills can pile up and cause physical pain, serious stress on our fragile hearts. The best way to combat this reality is to give tzedaka. In a way through tzedaka we are putting our money where it can't be touched by anyone..we are putting it in the only sure-fire investment. Every cent or agurah that goes to tzedaka is a scale in the armor that protects us in this world and the next.

Why did Mosheh pray to HaShem through the language of ואתחנן? It seems to me to be language that relates to tzedaka and begging. Mosheh was pouring out his heart, appealing to HaShem's midah of Tzedaka, knowing that since Tzedaka is the deepest power we have, it is also the most powerful of HaShem's midoth.

Let's give tzedaka to awaken HaShem's tzedaka and bring peace to all of klal Yisrael.

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.