a glimpse of the world to come

Out of the three regalim, the three festivals, Shavuot is a one-day affair. The other two are seven days long, and Sukkoth even has a special extra eighth day.

Yet there is a halachah that if someone passes away the day before Shavuot, those who must mourn them essentially do not sit shiva. What's so weird about this? Shiva is named for the fact that it is a seven-day mourning period. When Shabbath falls during the shiva, we don't observe most of the minhagim associated with shiva, because one can't mourn outwardly on Shabbath.

When this mourning period falls before Pesah or Sukkoth, it's understandable that there is no real period of mourning, we are commanded to be happy on the festivals, and these festivals each last seven days in length, which means that there is no time left in which to observe the mourning period.

But what about Shavuot? It's only one day long, so if someone passed away right before Shavuot, why wouldn't the mourners be required to sit for the five days after Shavuot? 

In order to answer this I need to share something with you about the true nature of time and the world to come. The world to come is called a day that is entirely long. What does this mean? Chazal explain in the hidden Torah that in this world, each day vies for it's time in the spotlight and since the days themselves cannot get along and work together, each day shines for twenty-four hours and then ceases, making room for another day to take over. In the world to come, the days dwell together peacefully and so they all shine at once, indefinitely.

From this perhaps we can see how Shavuot is a taste of the world to come and at the same time explain our quandry regarding the halachot of mourners after Shavuot. I would like to say that Shavuot is actually a seven-day festival just like her sister festivals. The difference is that on Shavuot all the days dwell in peace with one another, and so down here in this world, Shavuot is represented as only a single day -- yet when it comes to the laws pertaining to mourning, since Shavuot is the holiday representing the resurrection of the dead, so we count all seven days of Shavuot and negate the mourning period -- just as the ultimate resurrection will render mourning a moot point.

Nisan day 7

Today is the seventh day of Nisan, which represents the month of Tishrei. (teshuvah through fear of heaven, and renewal of everything in the world) On this day the tribe of Ephraim (younger son of Yosef) brought their offering to inaugurate the Mizbeah.

The Yehi Ratzon for today's parashah of the Nasi of Ephraim asks HaShem to vanquish our enemies in the merit of Ephraim. It also mentions and emphasizes peace between Ephraim (Moshiah ben Yosef) and Yehudah. (Moshiah ben David)

Tishrei also represents (to the best of my knowledge,) shkiah and nightfall, as well as Sukkoth representing Maariv, the evening prayer. It is a time of celebration and newness as well as a time of forgiveness when Teshuvah is most easy. Sukkoth is also the time of HaShem hiding us away from the world and celebrating privately with us. Simchat Torah also takes place in Tishrei. 

So today is a day to rejoice with HaShem and His Torah. A day to ask forgiveness and appreciate newness.

circumcising the clouds

Continuing in the vein of the Torah of Sukkoth, mentioned here, we can start to look at the special nature of Shemini Atzeret.

Through the progression of Yom Kippur to Sukkoth we take all the bad from our past year and form it into a protective surrounding cloud.

Throughout Sukkoth, provided for by this external surrounding divine presence, we work daily to bring this divine illumination into us. Finally we reach a stage where it is time to remove the outer layers and expose ourselves to the new year, on the eighth day we perform the equivalent of a spiritual brith milah. We remove the rough outer protective layer (orlah) and finally begin a new year with all the energy the previous year had to offer us.

This means in each new year we bring everything with us from the year before. All the good comes of its own, and all the bad is refined to new goodness through the process of Yom Kippur, Sukkoth, and finally Shemini Atzereth.

Now that we have performed this spiritual brith milah, we are spiritually complete, ready to live a life of closeness with HaShem at every moment.

For the Jews who live outside of Israel there is an added connotation: Since the chag comprises nine days, and there are minhagim according to some communities to sit in the Sukkah on the eighth day as well, so the ninth day is likened to a birth which takes nine months. In this case the connection of the Sukkah to the womb & placenta (and likewise to the nation of Mitzrayim) is readily apparent. On the ninth and final day we leave the Sukkah and start an entirely new life, as if reborn.

[From this we can see a little the difference between living within Eretz Yisrael, and living outside. Living in Eretz Yisrael, we have a continued existence from year to year, growing from strength to strength. (Similar to a married person who experiences hitchadshut) Whereas living outside, each year we start fresh as if just born. (Similar to a single child who can't experience hitchadshut on their own)]

sukkoth (part 3 of 3) system of systems

[part 1 here] [part 2 here]

Truly leaving the Sukkah behind is an even more difficult task than leaving our permanent house behind in favor of the Sukkah.

In fact there are many levels, many systems for us to abandon, but before we can let go of them we must first reach them and truly pierce them to their essence.

Each level is higher, farther, and more subtle than the level above it.

Chazal tell us that Tzaddikim are called Shabbath because they live in a perpetual state of Shabbath. I heard a story about the Ohr HaHayyim haKadosh who let a simple Jew taste the smallest portion of his Shabbath experience and the simple Jew was catatonic from sunset to sunrise every Shabbath.

Some Tzaddikim dwell in the level of Shabbath, and hence are called Shabbath. There is a story of the Vitebsker, Rebbe Menachem Mendel one of the foremost students of the Maggid of Mezritch, that there was a cry in the streets claiming Moshiah had arrived and he stuck his head out the window to smell if the smell of Moshiah in fact permeated the air, afterwards he proclaimed that Moshiah had not arrived. They ask why he needed to stick his head out the window? Couldn't he just sniff the air in his room? The answer is no. He was in a constant state of receiving the Moshiah, in his own personal revellation of Moshiah, he needed to leave his own space to see if the rest of the world had achieved his state. So some Tzaddikim dwell even in a constant revellation of Moshiah.

There are even Tzaddikim who dwell in the level of Techiyath haMeitim, the Revival of the Dead, like the Prophet Eliyahu HaNavi.

At each level there are Tzaddikim trying to rise to new and further heights. Many people are caught up along the way at various levels, thinking they have accomplished enough, their share.

There are those Tzaddikim who are known as the Bnei Aliyah, who operate on the level of Ayin, of nothingness, total bitul. They run always to newer and higher levels for they have truly internalized the lesson that no level has any inherent value of its own. They are on the level of ayin--whatever level they are currently on, they recognise that that level is nothing, and run on to the next higher level.

The gaps between each of the levels get further apart as the levels themselves are more removed from human comprehension. For example, since we experience Shabbath every week, we can at least imagine what it would be like to be on the level of experiencing Shabbath all the time. Whereas since we don't know what it's like to have an annointed Jewish king, it's harder to connect to what living in the time of Moshiah involves. The distance between such a comprehension and the level of what it means to live in a world without death, the world of Techiyath haMeitim, is clearly vast. It goes on and on. Each of these levels divide into their own infinite number of levels, we have no chance of entering them all, our only hope is to place our hope in the only source of salvation.

May we always be able to recognise the bitul of every system and seek out HaShem in newer and higher places, may we merit to alight always to run after the deepest desire of our heart and soul, none other than the Master of the world.

sukkoth (part 2 of 3) not a system

[see sukkoth part 1 here]

We left off last time explaining that the eighth day of Sukkoth, Shemini Atzereth, is a celebration of the direct relationship with HaShem that is our inheritance. Unlike the nations of the world, we don't need to relate to HaShem through any fixed structure or system, we can relate directly.

This raises a serious question. If we are celebrating the lack of rigid structure in our relationship with HaShem, how is it that we celebrate the Torah (a highly complex system for relating to HaShem) on the very same day?

My answer is that the Torah isn't really a system, this is something very simple to say but very difficult to convey.

This is how I would try to distill down what exactly Torah is:

The Written Torah is prophecy frozen in written form.

The Oral Torah is a description of the actions that flow naturally from this frozen prophetic state. Since we aren't necesarily able to internalize this prophetic state, we can perform the actions of the Oral Torah as a means to try and stimulate/reestablish the prophecy embedded in the Written Torah.

Perhaps we can describe it in terms of Tzedakkah, The Rambam explains that the highest level of Tzedakah is providing someone with the ability to help themselves. Rather than giving someone money or time or materials or knowledge, sometimes even giving someone encouragement or praise can be the highest form of Tzedakkah.

There are a number of levels of Torah and with each of them HaShem is performing Tzedakkah with us on a different level. Through the Mishnah HaShem teaches us how to judge and descriminate between things, not by telling us what to do in every situation but rather through changing the way we see and relate to the world. Through the Talmud HaShem teaches us how to think, how to use the different intellectual attributes, not by telling us what they are and giving us increased control over them but by encouraging us to pursue His own designs. Through the Zohar HaShem educates our spiritual palate just as a connoisseur might educate his protege, through feeding us tasty subtle morsels that sharpen our senses and make us aware of new flavors, experiences. Through the Written Torah, HaShem draws us close to Him. He calls to us, binds us, reveals new faces, shares private jokes.

The Torah isn't a system, it is HaShem's side of the dialog. He already knows what we are thinking and what we want most to say, so he's already replied, already comforted and consoled, already laughed at our jokes, already reciprocated our affections. Open up the Torah, start thinking about anything at all, start any conversation with HaShem in earnest, and wherever you look in any sefer on any page, HaShem's reply is right before your eyes. Take that response into account and formulate a new question, take the conversation in a new direction and still you will see right there what HaShem wants you to hear in response. As long as we are open to hearing His voice.

The world too is the same, after all it's based on the Torah. You can't escape HaShem's conversation with us, as Yonah's story teaches. The Torah, the world, everything that you can experience is what HaShem is telling you right now. The Holy Baal Shem Tov taught us this.

The Torah isn't a system. There is no system, there's only you and HaShem. We cherish the Torah on the eighth day like we cherish the most precious gift of our beloved, no matter how precious the gift itself, the fact that it comes from our beloved makes it priceless.

sukkoth (part 1 of 3) this town is big enough for the two of us

We are now in the midst of an eight-day holiday. It is split into two parts. The first part consists of the first seven days. The second part is the final eighth day. (Outside of Israel the eighth day is split into two days, the eighth and ninth days.)

The first part of the holiday is marked by our dwelling in the Sukkah. This part of the holiday is shared with the seventy nations of the world, as we offer seventy cows (representing the seventy nations) over the course of this seven day period.

The second part of the holiday does not delineate where we need to live, whether in our homes or in sukkoth or even outside. This second part is special for Bnei Yisrael, a separate quality-time that the other nations don't celebrate.

What does this two-part holiday come to teach us? In the first part, we throw out one system in favor of another system. We move out of what we consider to be the constant world, and into another system called the temporary world, but it's still a system.

What do I mean? If you want to keep the mitzwah of Sukkoth, you have to live in a Sukkah. We exchange the system of permanent home with the system of Sukkah. If the goal was simply to throw out the permanent system, why don't we live outside, exposed to the elements? Why do we live in a temporary structure?

The fact that the first part of this holiday is tied to a systemic mindset is why the seventy nations get to take part in it. The nations, as we know, each have a prince, a guardian angel, through whom all their divine blessing flows.

Unlike the seventy nations, since Avraham Avinu, we Jews can opt out of the system and receive our divine blessings straight from HaShem, the Holy One Blessed Be He, Master of the World. This without any middle men.

This is why the second part, the final eighth day of the holiday is special only for us. On the eighth day we throw out systems altogether and connect with HaShem directly.

This holiday teaches every Jew that there is nothing standing between you and HaShem.

Sukkah and Mishkan

When one begins Masechet Sukkah it's hard to miss how hard the Talmud tries to learn out the different middot of the Sukkah from the Mishkan. It's a little bit ridiculous how extreme the examples and stretches of connections to the text get. Why all this pulling and stretching?

The Noam Elimelech towards the end of his commentary on Sefer Shemoth explains that the word Mishkan is from the word HamShachah, meaning to draw out or draw down. The Mishkan is peculiar in that it was always meant as a temporary edifice. In this sense the Mishkan represents the Reshimu, the imprint of the eventual drawing out of HaShem's godliness into the world.

The function of the reshimu is to give direction and shape, to flesh out the light that will flow into it. Just as liquid takes the shape of its container, the supernal light comes down taking the shape of the reshimu into which it is drawn. The creation of the world itself was a process of HaShem shining His divine light into the reshimu He had created through first clearing a (figurative) space in which to create the world.

From this perhaps we can see why Sukkah is learned out from the Mishkan. They share the same goal. In our yearly life, the Sukkah is the imprint of how we are going to relate to HaShem through our surroundings. From Shemini Atzeret and onwards through the rest of the year we are working on drawing down HaShem's light into the reshimu that was created over the seven days of Sukkoth.

clouds within and clouds without

Building on the torah I mentioned about Yom Kippur here, I'd like to discuss how Yom Kippur connects to Sukkoth, and why it is that one precedes the other.

The Tanya teaches us that when one sins, HaShem nourishes us externally from an infinite distance known as makif, (translated as surrounding) in other words, when we transgress His desires, He still nourishes us with life, but will have no part in it directly. Conversely when we perform mitzwoth, as we've mentioned in the past, we have the oppurtunity to create a dwelling place for HaShem within those actions, and within ourselves.

When we sin we also take of the life-force that HaShem has given us and use it to perform these nefarious deeds.

So, when we do Teshuvah, we find that we are actually rectifying two kinds of divine light. The small trickle of life force that was within us when we performed the sin, and the surrounding makif light that was the essence of our relationship with HaShem at that moment.

We spoke about the small inner life force, when we understood that it is this which becomes the cloud through which we are able to perceive HaShem. (כי בענן אראה על הכפרת)

What we didn't talk about was what happens to the rectified makif light when we do Teshuvah. It too is turned into a cloud, but in this case the cloud is a surrounding (makif) cloud. The Teshuvah of Bnei Yisrael is the source of the ענני הכבוד - the Clouds of Glory that surrounded Bnei Yisrael and protected them in the desert. These are the clouds that the Sukkah represents.

This is why Yom Kippur comes after Sukkoth, so that the rectification of our past transgressions complete the clouds of glory of the Sukkah. On Sukkoth we sit surrounded and protected by the product of our refined sins. (This is a hidden meaning of - במקום שבעלי תשובה עומדים אין צדיקים גמורים יכולים לעמוד - the Sukkah of a Ba'al Teshuvah is different than the Sukkah of a Tzaddik Gamur.)