Showing posts with label speech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label speech. Show all posts
23.9.09
nonverbal dance of the soul
When a person talks, they have a tendency to move certain parts of their body. Those parts of their body they move when they talk are the parts of their body in which their soul primarily resides. (Tikkunei Zohar 132b)
10.6.09
you just shot the messenger
The Holy Ohr HaHayyim explains that a messenger is affected by the sender of the message. (Parashath Shlach Lcha)
If the purpose of the message is good, so the messenger becomes a better person, and if the purpose of the message is bad, the messenger is (chas v'shalom!) similarly effected.
This is one possible explanation, he says, of how the tzaddikim that were sent to explore the land of Israel were able to fall so far in such a short time, only forty days.
To me this has interesting implications in so many fields. But, it becomes immediately obvious how much this applies to watching one's speech. When our messages are negative, that has a negative impact both on the speaker and on the listener. There isn't even the buffer of messengers in the case of the spoken word. If a messenger is so thoroughly affected in only forty days, how much more so the composer of the message?
14.8.08
hear me o israel
The Pri Ha'aretz teaches in Parshat Matot/Mas'ei about the nature of communication.
He explains that the speaker's words are transformed into thoughts in the mind of the listener. The letters that make up the speaker's words, are become letters of thought in the listener's mind. This is true in our interpersonal interactions, and on a deeper level still.
Our own thoughts, the Pri Ha'aretz explains, are the words of the Shechinah. HaShem voices His desires through the Shechinah as letters that make up words, and those words, in turn, become letters of thought in our minds.
Through our awareness of this, he goes on, we can bring about unifications of the upper worlds when we connect the letters of our thoughts to the voice of our thoughts, the nikkudoth of the letters of our thoughts. In this way we unite the voice, with the letters, HaShem, with the Shechinah. Those who can understand the depth of this relationship can unite KB"H and His Shechinah with their every thought.
This is a tremendously deep idea which pushes the limits of things I understand well enough to explain. For us, the dichotomy of speech into letters and voice is an interesting place to stop and examine.
It's a fairly simple thing for us to be aware of how the raw sound of our voice is modulated and broken up into words. Right? We can sing a melody, or add lyrics and turn it into a song. Without the lyrics, it's just sound. With the lyrics, suddenly our voice is transformed in a profound way.
Yet to make the leap of understanding from words to letters is a little counterintuitive. The way we learn letters, we learn them as a system of recording the sounds of speech, not as integral components of that speech. In modern linguistic theory it's pretty clear that speech evolved first, and writing much later.
Think about it further, you have non-verbal speech (body language, mannerisms, expressions) that would clearly seem to predate both speech and letters. Yet, according to Jewish tradition, the letters precede speech. Letters precede communication. Without letters, there's no communication. Even thoughts have letters.
Let's try to understand this a little, what it might mean.
We all can think for a moment and understand that no matter how quickly we speak, each of our words is rooted in thought. We think something first and then let it out as speech.
If we look at our thoughts, in the modern scientific understanding, they are a concert of nerve impulses that somehow encode the state of some concsious awareness that we would eventually break down into individual thoughts. (there are a lot of ifs here, but for simplicity's sake lets say we can somehow, at least hypothetically, break down the flow of consciousness into disparate thoughts.)
Each of these thoughts is made up of the various neurons that are firing at the moment of that particular thought. If we thought of each neuron in our brain as a unique 'letter' of thought, then we could begin to describe the letters that make up the 'words' (groups of neurons that fire in tandem) of a particular thought.
So, we can begin to grasp the idea that every one of our thoughts, let alone every one of our words, can be broken down into component parts. Calling these parts 'letter's might seem a little far-fetched, but we're far beyond where we were before. We are no longer shocked at the idea that the components of our thoughts precede those thoughts. There is something we could call 'letters' even before we can begin to discuss speech.
For me, this jump is far enough. Once we recognize that our thoughts, and yes our words, are made up of something, anything at all, then we can start to understand what the Torah means when we learn that our words and thoughts are made up of letters.
Now that we can begin to understand our thoughts being composed of letters and how the words of the speaker become the thoughts of the listener, perhaps we can reevaluate a commonly held Jewish practice.
We are encouraged by many of the greatest Hassidic Rebbes, as well as by Halachah (Jewish law) to repeat certain ideas or passages of text to ourselves out loud. The most obvious example is the Shema Yisrael. When we recite the Shema or any other prayer out loud, we are basically reinforcing our thoughts by allowing our speech to reenter ourselves and further direct, underscore, strengthen and frame our thoughts.
The more general practice of reminding yourself of particular holy ideas out loud, and the fact that Torah learning really needs (l'halachah) to be read to oneself out loud, shows just how thoroughly Judaism embraces this idea.
In fact, in this context, perhaps we can understand Na'aseh v'Nishma -- we will do and we will listen -- in a new light: Through the doing, the act of speaking HaShem's Torah to ourselves, we allow ourselves to hear it more clearly. Repeating HaShem's Torah focuses our understanding and our heart so that we may truly listen to what HaShem is telling us.
Perhaps this also explains the first verse of the second paragraph of Shema Yisrael, "and when you hear, listen!" (והיה אם שמוע תשמעו)
He explains that the speaker's words are transformed into thoughts in the mind of the listener. The letters that make up the speaker's words, are become letters of thought in the listener's mind. This is true in our interpersonal interactions, and on a deeper level still.
Our own thoughts, the Pri Ha'aretz explains, are the words of the Shechinah. HaShem voices His desires through the Shechinah as letters that make up words, and those words, in turn, become letters of thought in our minds.
Through our awareness of this, he goes on, we can bring about unifications of the upper worlds when we connect the letters of our thoughts to the voice of our thoughts, the nikkudoth of the letters of our thoughts. In this way we unite the voice, with the letters, HaShem, with the Shechinah. Those who can understand the depth of this relationship can unite KB"H and His Shechinah with their every thought.
This is a tremendously deep idea which pushes the limits of things I understand well enough to explain. For us, the dichotomy of speech into letters and voice is an interesting place to stop and examine.
It's a fairly simple thing for us to be aware of how the raw sound of our voice is modulated and broken up into words. Right? We can sing a melody, or add lyrics and turn it into a song. Without the lyrics, it's just sound. With the lyrics, suddenly our voice is transformed in a profound way.
Yet to make the leap of understanding from words to letters is a little counterintuitive. The way we learn letters, we learn them as a system of recording the sounds of speech, not as integral components of that speech. In modern linguistic theory it's pretty clear that speech evolved first, and writing much later.
Think about it further, you have non-verbal speech (body language, mannerisms, expressions) that would clearly seem to predate both speech and letters. Yet, according to Jewish tradition, the letters precede speech. Letters precede communication. Without letters, there's no communication. Even thoughts have letters.
Let's try to understand this a little, what it might mean.
We all can think for a moment and understand that no matter how quickly we speak, each of our words is rooted in thought. We think something first and then let it out as speech.
If we look at our thoughts, in the modern scientific understanding, they are a concert of nerve impulses that somehow encode the state of some concsious awareness that we would eventually break down into individual thoughts. (there are a lot of ifs here, but for simplicity's sake lets say we can somehow, at least hypothetically, break down the flow of consciousness into disparate thoughts.)
Each of these thoughts is made up of the various neurons that are firing at the moment of that particular thought. If we thought of each neuron in our brain as a unique 'letter' of thought, then we could begin to describe the letters that make up the 'words' (groups of neurons that fire in tandem) of a particular thought.
So, we can begin to grasp the idea that every one of our thoughts, let alone every one of our words, can be broken down into component parts. Calling these parts 'letter's might seem a little far-fetched, but we're far beyond where we were before. We are no longer shocked at the idea that the components of our thoughts precede those thoughts. There is something we could call 'letters' even before we can begin to discuss speech.
For me, this jump is far enough. Once we recognize that our thoughts, and yes our words, are made up of something, anything at all, then we can start to understand what the Torah means when we learn that our words and thoughts are made up of letters.
Now that we can begin to understand our thoughts being composed of letters and how the words of the speaker become the thoughts of the listener, perhaps we can reevaluate a commonly held Jewish practice.
We are encouraged by many of the greatest Hassidic Rebbes, as well as by Halachah (Jewish law) to repeat certain ideas or passages of text to ourselves out loud. The most obvious example is the Shema Yisrael. When we recite the Shema or any other prayer out loud, we are basically reinforcing our thoughts by allowing our speech to reenter ourselves and further direct, underscore, strengthen and frame our thoughts.
The more general practice of reminding yourself of particular holy ideas out loud, and the fact that Torah learning really needs (l'halachah) to be read to oneself out loud, shows just how thoroughly Judaism embraces this idea.
In fact, in this context, perhaps we can understand Na'aseh v'Nishma -- we will do and we will listen -- in a new light: Through the doing, the act of speaking HaShem's Torah to ourselves, we allow ourselves to hear it more clearly. Repeating HaShem's Torah focuses our understanding and our heart so that we may truly listen to what HaShem is telling us.
Perhaps this also explains the first verse of the second paragraph of Shema Yisrael, "and when you hear, listen!" (והיה אם שמוע תשמעו)
15.6.08
word offerings
All of us bear within us the Holy letters of HaShem's speech that give us life. Everything in existence does. When we sin, these letters are cut off from Godliness and become a channel for the klippoth, the purely self-interested element of creation, to gain sustenance.
This is why teshuvah must be done through words, through vidui, the pronouncement of your sins before HaShem. Each utterance of the vidui returns those Holy letters to their source, reconnecting them and us with the source of all life.
(paraphrased from the Pri Haaretz on parashath beha'alotcha)
This is why teshuvah must be done through words, through vidui, the pronouncement of your sins before HaShem. Each utterance of the vidui returns those Holy letters to their source, reconnecting them and us with the source of all life.
(paraphrased from the Pri Haaretz on parashath beha'alotcha)
30.4.08
conversations overheard
Rebbe Nachman brings two teachings related to one another and to this time of year:
If one pays attention to the conversations of women, one can gain insight into the current state of the Shechinah. (Likkutei Moharan I:203)
If one pays attention [during the Sefirat haOmer] to the discussions that take place over the course of the day, one will see that they are all related to the sefirah of the particular day. (Likkutei Moharan I:182)
This goes to the heart of the Baal Shem Tov's torah that everything you experience is part of a private dialog between you and HaShem.
If one pays attention to the conversations of women, one can gain insight into the current state of the Shechinah. (Likkutei Moharan I:203)
If one pays attention [during the Sefirat haOmer] to the discussions that take place over the course of the day, one will see that they are all related to the sefirah of the particular day. (Likkutei Moharan I:182)
This goes to the heart of the Baal Shem Tov's torah that everything you experience is part of a private dialog between you and HaShem.
1.4.08
wisdom is in the air of the land
Masechet Megilla (18a) brings a quote from Eretz Yisrael, "[if] a word is worth one coin, silence is worth two."
I love to find these quotes from Eretz Yisrael, it exposes some of the wisdom that the Babylonian Talmud chooses to associate with the land of Israel. For instance, what is special about Israel that encourages that particular saying? It would seem that this wisdom is applicable anywhere. Certainly we have in Pirkei Avoth, "siyag l'hochmah shtikah" - being silent is a fence around wisdom.
Ironically, everytime I think of something to write regarding this quote.. I feel the urge to be silent.
All I will say is that my grandfather always reminded me how important it is to take the time to think through your words before you let them out of your mouth. Today would have been his seventy eighth birthday, he passed away this year in Heshvan, my favorite month.
[for another example of wisdom from Eretz Yisrael in the Babylonian Talmud, see my post here from Masechet Horayos.]
לעילוי נשמת עובדיה בן רחל מתנה ויעקב אהרון
I love to find these quotes from Eretz Yisrael, it exposes some of the wisdom that the Babylonian Talmud chooses to associate with the land of Israel. For instance, what is special about Israel that encourages that particular saying? It would seem that this wisdom is applicable anywhere. Certainly we have in Pirkei Avoth, "siyag l'hochmah shtikah" - being silent is a fence around wisdom.
Ironically, everytime I think of something to write regarding this quote.. I feel the urge to be silent.
All I will say is that my grandfather always reminded me how important it is to take the time to think through your words before you let them out of your mouth. Today would have been his seventy eighth birthday, he passed away this year in Heshvan, my favorite month.
[for another example of wisdom from Eretz Yisrael in the Babylonian Talmud, see my post here from Masechet Horayos.]
לעילוי נשמת עובדיה בן רחל מתנה ויעקב אהרון
22.1.08
the fruits of our lips
Last night in honor of Tu B'Shvat I gave the following dvar Torah:
It seems to me that just as man is an olam katan, a miniature world, the same applies to trees.
We can see in fact, that the various stages of creation all find representation in the body of a tree:
The roots, which are the most massive part by far, are entirely hidden from view and so represent the innermost level of creation which is the state of Atziluth.
The trunk comes seemingly out of nothing, shooting up out of the ground, and being the apparent essence of the tree. (If you cut off branches, the tree is still said to remain. Even if you cut off all the branches, you might think of it as a 'dead' tree but still a tree.) In this way the trunk represents the level of Beriyah, creation of something from nothing. This is the level from which all things receive their substantive nature.
The branches are clearly offshoots of the trunk, and represent further development of the tree, mirroring the 'something from something' nature of Yetzirah, formation. Similarly it is the branches that play a very large part in the appearance and shape or form of the overall tree.
Finally, the leaves represent where all the 'action' happens in a tree, the generation of energy and the breathing of carbon dioxide. The leaves parallel the final and lowest step in creation known as Asiyah, action or making.
There is a final step in the tree and that is the most evident one on Tu B'Shvat, the production of fruit. Fruit represent, to my poor understanding, the lowest sephirah, Malchuth. This is paralleled by the attribute of speech in a person. Just as the words that leave a person's mouth seem separate from him, so too the fruit seem more like a product rather than an integral part of the tree. (see today's Tanya)
There is an important lesson that we may learn about speech from the fruit of the tree. Within each fruit is a seed, the seed contains the very essence of the tree and the potential to reproduce the tree in its entirety. [The seed that created the tree to begin with can even be seen to reflect the primordial level of creation known as Adam Kadmon, a state in which everything is still unified in a potential point.] So, what does the seed in the fruit come to teach us? That within each one of our words, at its core, is the word of HaShem, the same speech that created and maintains the world in its entirety is clothed within every single word that leaves our lips.
When we eat fruit, we should raise our awareness to understand that it is HaShem who provides us life through this fruit, and know that the words that we speak share this same ability to provide life to ourselves and to those around us.
It seems to me that just as man is an olam katan, a miniature world, the same applies to trees.
We can see in fact, that the various stages of creation all find representation in the body of a tree:
The roots, which are the most massive part by far, are entirely hidden from view and so represent the innermost level of creation which is the state of Atziluth.
The trunk comes seemingly out of nothing, shooting up out of the ground, and being the apparent essence of the tree. (If you cut off branches, the tree is still said to remain. Even if you cut off all the branches, you might think of it as a 'dead' tree but still a tree.) In this way the trunk represents the level of Beriyah, creation of something from nothing. This is the level from which all things receive their substantive nature.
The branches are clearly offshoots of the trunk, and represent further development of the tree, mirroring the 'something from something' nature of Yetzirah, formation. Similarly it is the branches that play a very large part in the appearance and shape or form of the overall tree.
Finally, the leaves represent where all the 'action' happens in a tree, the generation of energy and the breathing of carbon dioxide. The leaves parallel the final and lowest step in creation known as Asiyah, action or making.
There is a final step in the tree and that is the most evident one on Tu B'Shvat, the production of fruit. Fruit represent, to my poor understanding, the lowest sephirah, Malchuth. This is paralleled by the attribute of speech in a person. Just as the words that leave a person's mouth seem separate from him, so too the fruit seem more like a product rather than an integral part of the tree. (see today's Tanya)
There is an important lesson that we may learn about speech from the fruit of the tree. Within each fruit is a seed, the seed contains the very essence of the tree and the potential to reproduce the tree in its entirety. [The seed that created the tree to begin with can even be seen to reflect the primordial level of creation known as Adam Kadmon, a state in which everything is still unified in a potential point.] So, what does the seed in the fruit come to teach us? That within each one of our words, at its core, is the word of HaShem, the same speech that created and maintains the world in its entirety is clothed within every single word that leaves our lips.
When we eat fruit, we should raise our awareness to understand that it is HaShem who provides us life through this fruit, and know that the words that we speak share this same ability to provide life to ourselves and to those around us.
9.1.08
upon my word
In Pirkei Avoth, we learn that Avtalyon says "wisemen be careful with your words, lest you require an exile, and you will be exiled to a place of poisoned water, and your students will drink from it and die, and the name of heaven will be disgraced."
The Notzer Hesed explains this verse, emphasizing "be careful with your words." Everything else that comes about in the verse, he explains, comes from being careless and saying unnecesary words.
Tonight, learning this with my hevruta, Pesah, we arrived at an understanding of just how much our words affect our world, until even the meaningless unnecesary words have such an impact.
Only through this lesson was I able to understand the words of the Pri Ha'aretz that one who understands that it is not his own voice but the voice of HaShem speaking can create worlds. HaShem created us b'tzelem elokim, in His divine image. He gave us speech. Just as the world was created when He spoke, so too, when we speak we are creating worlds. If we do not heed our words, the worlds of our creation will be distorted and damaging. If we speak with the proper awareness and humility of where our voices, our words, come from, then we can create worlds of bounty and blessing.
[this is the 630th post to this blog, which is the gematria of קצתי בחיי which has special significance to me. Thank you HaShem for all of your beauty and kindness, I lack nothing, and have so very much. I am diminished from all of your kindness. טובה הארץ מאוד מאוד - the land is exceedingly good]
The Notzer Hesed explains this verse, emphasizing "be careful with your words." Everything else that comes about in the verse, he explains, comes from being careless and saying unnecesary words.
Tonight, learning this with my hevruta, Pesah, we arrived at an understanding of just how much our words affect our world, until even the meaningless unnecesary words have such an impact.
Only through this lesson was I able to understand the words of the Pri Ha'aretz that one who understands that it is not his own voice but the voice of HaShem speaking can create worlds. HaShem created us b'tzelem elokim, in His divine image. He gave us speech. Just as the world was created when He spoke, so too, when we speak we are creating worlds. If we do not heed our words, the worlds of our creation will be distorted and damaging. If we speak with the proper awareness and humility of where our voices, our words, come from, then we can create worlds of bounty and blessing.
[this is the 630th post to this blog, which is the gematria of קצתי בחיי which has special significance to me. Thank you HaShem for all of your beauty and kindness, I lack nothing, and have so very much. I am diminished from all of your kindness. טובה הארץ מאוד מאוד - the land is exceedingly good]
30.12.07
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.
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.
4.9.07
short sweet and to the point
This will (hopefully) be a short post. After witnessing a lifetime of drawn out internet discussions where the point is thoroughly lost, I've come to truly appreciate the genius of the Tannaim and Amoraim of the Mishna and Talmud.
If a point could be intuited, they didn't say it. Every recorded word of theirs was novel and totally necesary. (words like succinct and brevity don't even come close)
When we discuss communication we often discuss the signal/noise ratio: How much of what we receive is useless noise, and how much actually carries information.
The Talmud and mishna as they were codified contain no noise, it's all signal!.
B'ezrat HaShem I will be able to learn from their examples and pare down the noise, sticking (mostly) to the signal.
If a point could be intuited, they didn't say it. Every recorded word of theirs was novel and totally necesary. (words like succinct and brevity don't even come close)
When we discuss communication we often discuss the signal/noise ratio: How much of what we receive is useless noise, and how much actually carries information.
The Talmud and mishna as they were codified contain no noise, it's all signal!.
B'ezrat HaShem I will be able to learn from their examples and pare down the noise, sticking (mostly) to the signal.
9.7.07
the peace of the wise
וכל המקים את דברו רוח חכמים נוחה הימנו
anyone who keeps their word brings solace to the wisemen.
anyone who keeps their word brings solace to the wisemen.
This is the final statement in Masechet Shevi'it, the mishna which discusses the laws of the Shemitah year. The Shemitah year is the seventh year in a repeating seven year cycle in which we are commanded to let the land lay fallow.
More relevant to this particular quote is that all debts between people are to be (automatically) forgiven/forgotten upon the arrival of the Shemitah year. The quote praises those who pay their debt in any case, because then lenders won't be affraid to lend out money to those in need during the sixth year in the cycle. The quote is actually a more general phrasing praising everyone who keeps their word because when people keep to their word, there is no need for disputes in court. Everyone is honorable.
Keeping our word, being upstanding and honorable Jews brings peace to the Hachamim. Since we are overcoming our nature, it seems natural that we are bringing peace to the world and this in turn brings peace to the Hachamim.
I think another reading of this same phrase may be: "all those who keep HaShem's Word, Which is to say all those who keep the Torah, the spirit of the Hachamim rests upon them."
We find this in a number of places, especially in the stories of the Talmidim of the Arizal (whose hillulah is tonight and tomorrow) who merited the ibur of (the impregnation of their soul with the soul of another) a tzaddik from the earlier generations (the Tannaim or Amoraim) because of their extraordinary performance of a particular mitzwah.
18.6.07
purchased praise
Yesterday I wasn't at work, so I caught mincha in a shul not far from my home on Rehov Jabotinsky, there was a Rav there who brought up a cool point upon which both Beit Hillel and Beit Shamai agree:
When someone has purchased (or otherwise acquired) something, there is a responsibility upon you to praise it for its good features rather than deride it (and possibly make him feel bad about his purchase) because of its failings.
[The point actually comes up in their machloket about how you praise a bride on her wedding day, but this is not the place to dissect that machloket.]
Perhaps this is why we need to be so careful about lashon harah, because HaShem acquired Bnei Yisrael for Himself.
When someone has purchased (or otherwise acquired) something, there is a responsibility upon you to praise it for its good features rather than deride it (and possibly make him feel bad about his purchase) because of its failings.
[The point actually comes up in their machloket about how you praise a bride on her wedding day, but this is not the place to dissect that machloket.]
Perhaps this is why we need to be so careful about lashon harah, because HaShem acquired Bnei Yisrael for Himself.
12.6.07
the golden rule
The word with the largest gematria in the whole Chumash is used in this week's parashah, when Datan and Aviram ask Mosheh why should he rule them. (תשתרר - gematria 1500)
From this I learn the tremendous potential of our speech. The 'heaviest' word (in the gematria sense) in all of the Five Books of Mosheh could have been used to say something about HaShem's Kingship in the world, and instead it was used to challenge the word of HaShem.
From this I learn the tremendous potential of our speech. The 'heaviest' word (in the gematria sense) in all of the Five Books of Mosheh could have been used to say something about HaShem's Kingship in the world, and instead it was used to challenge the word of HaShem.
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