In the Tur, on the halachot of Tefillin (32:20?), he mentions that if a Sofer writes tefillin without proper kavanah, then someone will use those tefillin, blessing upon them every day for their whole lives, each time taking HaShem's name in vain (chas v'shalom) without knowing it, and never be properly keeping the mitzwah of Tefillin. What follows is that all of this multitude of sins (chas v'shalom) will be on the Sofer's head. Therefore, he concludes, a Sofer needs to have tremendous Yirat Shamayim, fear of heaven.
From this I learn that we need to be aware of our actions that take on a life of their own. Not everything we do vanishes after it is done. Some things carry on, persist, infect and affect others.
Still, we have no choice but to continue to act and do and live. These necesitates two things, great Yirat Shamayim, and also great Emunah. We have to have faith in HaShem always that He is guiding us to good things, and protecting us from what we can't and don't know. (Similar to what the Nodah b'Yehudah said in the story about him found on A Simple Jew)
Showing posts with label sofrut. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sofrut. Show all posts
18.6.07
14.6.07
newborn musings
There is a very high level of prayer described as praying like a day-old child. Lately I've seen a lot of references to it so I asked my Rav what exactly does it mean?
He explained that this is a level of prayer achieved only by those people who have a nefesh from the world of Atzilut. When one is on such a level, there is no difference between one's thought, speech and action, they are all united. At such a level, one can pray like a one-day-old child.
Before I got a chance to speak to my Rav, I explored a little in my own tefilla, trying to imagine and understand what it is to pray like a new born child. Since my son is only eight weeks old, I looked to him for examples. When a baby cries, really cries, they become so worked up and overwhelmed that their whole body becomes tense. They become so caught up that the reason they started crying doesn't appear to matter, they just cry until they're exhausted or until someone intervenes.
It's such an exhausting avodah to try and pray in some semblance of the immediacy of a baby's needs. My tefilla went from around a half hour shemonah esrei to a three minute urgent shemonah esrei.
Somewhere in the middle of my explorations was a form of tefilla that is closer to "children's tefillah" than to a one-day old baby's tefillah. It was a sort of joy arrived at simply because being involved in tefillah was fun. It felt somewhat like being one of those sunshine-y kids who just spread happiness with them wherever they are.
Anyway my Rav said that the Rebbe m'Komarna brings down that there's another form of prayer, the simple "prayer of women and children" which is just that, simple, unassuming, and genuine. That works wonders in heaven and completely confounds the ministering angels. This is something that anyone can achieve--whereas the prayer of a day-old child is a spiritual level that is virtually beyond comprehension.
One last point, the splitting of the sea in the exodus from Egypt is said to be akin to the birth of a child. So, in that sense, Shirat HaYam (אז ישיר) is the cry of the just-born child. Chazal says about Shirat HaYam that it is white fire on black fire, whereas the rest of the Torah is black fire on white fire. So these I take to be clues about the tefillah of a newborn child.
He explained that this is a level of prayer achieved only by those people who have a nefesh from the world of Atzilut. When one is on such a level, there is no difference between one's thought, speech and action, they are all united. At such a level, one can pray like a one-day-old child.
Before I got a chance to speak to my Rav, I explored a little in my own tefilla, trying to imagine and understand what it is to pray like a new born child. Since my son is only eight weeks old, I looked to him for examples. When a baby cries, really cries, they become so worked up and overwhelmed that their whole body becomes tense. They become so caught up that the reason they started crying doesn't appear to matter, they just cry until they're exhausted or until someone intervenes.
It's such an exhausting avodah to try and pray in some semblance of the immediacy of a baby's needs. My tefilla went from around a half hour shemonah esrei to a three minute urgent shemonah esrei.
Somewhere in the middle of my explorations was a form of tefilla that is closer to "children's tefillah" than to a one-day old baby's tefillah. It was a sort of joy arrived at simply because being involved in tefillah was fun. It felt somewhat like being one of those sunshine-y kids who just spread happiness with them wherever they are.
Anyway my Rav said that the Rebbe m'Komarna brings down that there's another form of prayer, the simple "prayer of women and children" which is just that, simple, unassuming, and genuine. That works wonders in heaven and completely confounds the ministering angels. This is something that anyone can achieve--whereas the prayer of a day-old child is a spiritual level that is virtually beyond comprehension.
One last point, the splitting of the sea in the exodus from Egypt is said to be akin to the birth of a child. So, in that sense, Shirat HaYam (אז ישיר) is the cry of the just-born child. Chazal says about Shirat HaYam that it is white fire on black fire, whereas the rest of the Torah is black fire on white fire. So these I take to be clues about the tefillah of a newborn child.
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.
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