The Original Fight Club

The Baal HaTanya teaches that the Yetzer Hara is like a wrestling opponent, the more we put up a fight the more it tries to defeat us. This leads to the question: Why fight? No matter how hard we try to fight it, it (the Yetzer Hara) will only try harder. How will we ever win? Simple, the Baal HaTanya quotes Chazal who explain that it's only because HaShem intervenes and gives us the upper hand that we are able to overcome the Yetzer Hara.

Ok. Great. So if we fight the Yetzer Hara and do mitzwoth rather than sin we will get a nice portion in the world to come. Makes good sense. The world to come is forever and this world is 120 years tops, so it makes good economic sense as well, a little investment over a relatively short period of time with a payoff better than the best pension you could possibly imagine.

Wait. Thus far it all makes sense and I'm on board. But: Chazal say in Pirkei Avot: It's better to serve HaShem not in order to receive a reward. Huh? What's the point? If I'm basically just treading water, breaking even against the Yetzer Hara, and HaShem is the one pushing me over the top... Wait a minute, why am I getting rewarded for this at all? Because it's hard to fight the Yetzer Hara, especially when you know you can't win.

Right, so we don't really deserve the reward, the reward is only there to get us to persevere in our hopeless fight. So to hell with the reward! Why fight? One more question: If we don't really deserve the reward, it's only HaShem's way of convincing us to continue with the fight, why does He want us to fight? What's in it for Him? (not much, He's already got everything) It must be in our best interest. But what could be in our best interest about it? The reward? But He's already giving us the reward anyways even though we don't really deserve it, He can just give us the reward without our having to go to all the trouble.

Why does HaShem want us to go to all this trouble? What could be of benefit to us to fight with the Yetzer Hara knowing full well our only chance to win is that HaShem will intercede on our behalf? Well, wait a second, every time we fight with the Yetzer Hara HaShem intercedes on our behalf? So, you mean that whenever we struggle against the wishes of the Yetzer Hara, HaShem will show up to save us from the imminent train wreck?

So basically, if we are fighting the Yetzer Hara all day long it means HaShem is there with us all day long, helping us out in every little conflict? HaShem is spending every day, every minute with us? Wow.

So basically, whenever we want to feel HaShem's closeness we only need to fight the Yetzer Hara, that's it? We don't need to go anywhere? We don't need to make any special preparations, just jump into whatever mitzwah is at hand rather than whatever self-indulgent distraction might be currently within our grasp? Wow.

So, I guess maybe that's what the Baal HaTanya means when he says this world is better than the world to come, because we get to be even closer to The King (HaShem) in this world. Hey, even the comment from Chazal about serving HaShem with no thought to the reward makes sense too!

Guess I'll go pick a fight.

knowing the name is knowing the essence

Rebbe Natan (Likkutei Halachot: Birkot HaShachar) goes to great lengths to explain that HaShem's Name is one with His Essence, and so when we connect to His Name we are connectiong with Him.

Before we get lost in the confusion of this discussion, something Rebbe Natan went to great lengths to clarify, but something I won't clarify here, he points out that still, this is only from the point of view of us created beings. From the standpoint of His Essence itself, there is no name, and nothing which exists beyond Himself.

Yep, it's really confusing but in a way I think we can use this teaching to explain how the Baal HaTanya (and I think the B"esht as well) could say the soul is a piece of the Godliness without being contradictory.

Yes, on the one hand, HaShem is devoid of 'pieces' but that is from the standpoint of His Essence. On the other hand, when it comes to His Name, which we know is the Holy Torah, so, it has letters, and we already know the souls of the Jewish People are the letters of the Holy Torah. So, it isn't hard to understand that saying that the Jewish soul is literally a part of Godliness, means: Each Jewish soul is rooted in a letter of the Holy Torah, HaShem's Holy Name, which exists in complete undivided unity with HaShem Himself.

I pray I've created a little less confusion and a little more understanding, at least in some of us, perhaps even myself. [As problematic as talking about something like this may be.]

the way to your soul is through your understanding

The Baal HaTanya makes a very unusual point: The Godly soul resides in the intellect, while the animal soul resides in the heart.

There is a powerful lesson to be learned from this: We desire what is of value to the animal soul whereas we merely understand the importance of what is of value to the Godly soul, we don't feel an internal drive to pursue it. The life's work of a person is bring your Godly soul down from the intellect into your heart, to the point where we crave that which the Godly soul values.

This might even be the very crux of free will. The heart/mind divide.

One of the early lessons of the Kuntres HaTefillah (written by the Rebbe Rasha"b, a descendant of the Baal HaTanya) is that because of this discrepancy the tactics that work to awaken a desire in one's heart don't work to ignite one's soul with spiritual yearning. He says because the Godly soul is of an intellectual nature, only an intense intellectual pursuit in great depth of detail has the ability to truly awaken one's Godly soul to the point that it awakens deep feelings even in one's heart. It's a compelling argument and there is no question that within the body of Chabad Chassidut this is the essence of the service of God. Even outside of the body of Chabad Chassidut I think there is a powerful point we would do well to internalize. The author (Rebbe Rasha"b) goes into greater detail in the Kuntres explaining that as long as our kavana, our intentions in tefilla, are not focused and detailed, the effect it has in awakening us to impassioned service of God is limited at best.

This probably is limited in scope depending on one's personality and spiritual inclination, but at a basic enough level it applies across the board: In any discipline, in any field, anything but a serious and focused investment of energies will reap little accomplishment. As a spiritual expert the Rasha"b is saying, the way to have a lasting impact on your soul is through intense and earnest meditation on Torah principles that make up the foundation of the universe and one's place in it, or as he calls them: "Divrei Elokim Hayyim" (God's living words.)

overcoming distractions

Two sources I happened across during the Omer regarding distracting thoughts during prayer: (Machshavot Zarot)

When is the time in Tefillah to sacrifice oneself [ie.mesirut nefesh] before HaShem? When you have a distracting thought. Through sacrificing oneself you can raise up that thought as an offering to HaShem. [paraphrased ~ Likkutei Moharan I:26]

Each thought is a life, complete in itself. Dispelling a thought rather than raising it up is akin to killing it. How do you tell the difference between those thoughts you can raise up, and those you should push away? If the thought comes along with a feeling of being overcome with one's own smallness, then you can raise it up. If, on the other hand, the thought comes with a feeling of hubris, push it away, as it is said, "one who comes to kill you, kill him first." [paraphrased ~ Notzer Hesed (Avoth) 4:3]

In light of this earlier post: Unidentified flying thoughts, we have two more opinions to round out the mix:

Baal HaTanya - Beinonim have no business in raising up these thoughts, it's only a job for Tzaddikim.

Noam Elimelech - Tzaddikim need to shine the light of their awareness on these thoughts to raise them up.

And for good measure:

Rebbe Nachman's next teaching Likkutei Moharan I:27 also goes into why it is the Tzaddik who is most capable of raising up these thoughts and again in I:30 explains how these thoughts end up at the Tzaddik's proverbial doorstep.

In short, there seems to be a consensus opinion that the best way for our generation to do away with distracting thoughts is to ignore them. So, rather than wasting time trying to figure out why a thought distracted you, get back to whatever it was you were praying for before it distracted you!

This is very good news in an age where (1) there are already too many stimuli in one's daily life pulling at your attention every minute, and (2) we're so very good at ignoring things!

Ps. If you are the kind of person who anyways is going to try and elevate these distracting thoughts, I think Rebbe Nachman's advice is best, bitul and mesirut nefesh. It seems the safest route, and also seems to coincide with what the Komarna Rebbe was saying. In fact, if you read the sources carefully, they're all essentially in agreement about this point.

melting the fleshpot

The Mikdash Melech on the Zohar (179b) in the beginning of Parashath Vayeshev makes an interesting point: The Yetzer Hara, the evil inclination, only has control over the body. This explains why from the moment of birth, the Yetzer Hara challenges a person.

The Baal HaTanya who points out (I think in ch.3(?)) that the Beinoni, the person who serves God sincerely but does not eliminate his Yetzer Hara, associates his self with his body and says, "the soul which you placed within me."Conversely the Tzaddik's relationship to his body is "the flesh of man," in other words, he is his soul, and his flesh is a garment he wears.

Taken together it flows really nicely. As long as we associate our selves with our bodies the Yetzer Hara holds sway over us. When we recognize that our flesh is a temporary garment, the Yetzer Hara loses his grip.

parents as role models

Towards the end of the Tanya we see a discussion of how learning Torah differs from the practical mitzwoth.

One of the Alter Rebbe's major points is that Torah, as a pursuit of God, is limited in that the closest we can come is to an awareness of the Existence of God, but we cannot experience His Essence.

Through performing the physical mitzwoth, on the other hand, we are actually binding ourselves to God's Essence. (Note that this includes even (or especially) studying the halachot of the performance of physical mitzwoth because through the study of the performance of the mitzwoth we connect to the Essence of God's Intellect which prescribed the precise boundaries of the mitzwoth.)

My cousin Solly related a dvar Torah he had heard elsewhere regarding Avraham Avinu's tremendous intellectual insight that God existed. The question raised is, after such an insight, why did HaShem have to test Avraham? The Answer lies in the two relationships a person forges with HaShem, one is this intellectual relationship and the other is a relationship built on action and commitment. This second relationship was the one Avraham had to build, this was the purpose of the ten trials he underwent.

What strikes me personally is how one of these aspects of serving God seems very paternal, and the other maternal. Perhaps this is why HaShem gave each of us a mother and a father, to show us that we need to connect to God both through an intellectual awareness of His Existence (Torah study) and through the closeness brought about by ongoing involvement. (Mitzwah performance)

[This bears out some excellent relationship advice: When one's marriage mixes both these means of relationship, understanding and respect (intellectual) as well as shared time and experiences (involvement) there is the potential for a full and rewarding unity.]

father son learning

When we learn with our children, their ability to absorb what we are teaching is directly related to how excited we are both to be learning with them and for them to learn and understand. (Iggeret HaKodesh 15)

We can apply this idea to learning Torah as well. When we sit in front of a sefer, we are sitting down to learn with God. Now there are two ways to strengthen this connection and therefore improve our Torah learning and understanding:

(1) By being excited about learning together with HaShem, we awaken (figuratively) HaShem's excitement to learn with us.

(2) By recognizing that HaShem deeply cares about us and is excited to learn with us, this in turn arouses our own excitement to learn with HaShem.

So these two methods create a feedback loop that reinforces our enjoyment and our comprehension of Torah study. It is no wonder that the true Talmidei Hachamim find nothing as enjoyable as learning Torah, and at once have such a depth of understanding when they learn.

the tzaddik's bread crumbs

The Tzaddik's affect on our lives after his has moved beyond this world:

1. The depth of our love for the Tzaddik in his lifetime and after his death draws down his midot (love of God, fear of God, and pure Faith (emunah) in God) to be clothed within our own minds so that we too can act with these same attributes as we are now able to grasp and understand what we were previously only able to observe from a distance through the Tzaddik's actions and words. 
   
2. When we implement the Tzaddik's lessons in our lives, the light of the Tzaddik shines down upon us, encompassing us, and this inspires us to true teshuvah and divine service.

These are the two general ways the Tzaddik lives on with us even after he has (for the most part) left this world and moved on to the stages that come after life here, as described in the Zohar and explained here by the first Lubavitcher Rebbe in the Tanya, section four, 27th letter.

It seems to me that there is a clear microcosmic example here of our interaction with God: As the Baal HaTanya explains, God both permeates all of creation and ecompasses it. In a more limited sense, the effect a Tzaddik has on our lives is also described in these two ways, one that permeates our minds and one that encompasses them.

[We learned this letter this past Shabbath in the memory (לע"נ) of my father in law, HaRav Meir Benayahu ben HaRav Yitzhak Nissim, ztz"l]

being the voice of the universe

Imagine every single object in your periphery declaring that HaShem is One all at the same time. Your desk, computer, chair, telephone, wallpaper, floor, door, assorted books, cups, etc. (Anyways, you get the idea.) That is what happened on Har Sinai -- only it wasn't just everything talking to you -- everything was talking to all 600,000+ of you at once, telling you all in no uncertain terms that there is only one God, HaShem. That's how the Tikkunei Zohar describes it. (it's quoted in today's Tanya, the 22nd of Adar) Imagine your own body telling you, your hair, everything. 

It seems to me that the beauty of HaShem's world is this: On Har Sinai, the whole world spoke up and told us that HaShem is One. From that time on, it is our job to give voice to the whole world, to unite HaShem's name in the world and proclaim HaShem's One-ness in the name of all the world.

How is it that we can give voice to the world? The Talmud explains that mankind is called the challah of the world. Challah is a special offering, a small quantity of any dough that is prepared is given to the Kohanim and is attributed Holiness, Kedushah. In a way this is similar to the kedushah of other such tithes, ma'aser or terumah, or even the first fruits and first born. What it means is that mankind represents the microcosm of the macrocosm. 

Another midrash describes a similar idea by saying that in order to create Adam, the first man, HaShem gathered dust from the four corners of the world. Astronomers and science fiction writers take great pleasure in pointing out that most of the heavier elements that make up the world around us, including our bodies are elements that were forged in the hearts of stars in the early universe. I don't think they've ever equated these two ideas from these two vastly different frames of mind. Adam's body [and soul too] was created from a gathering of a little bit of everything created. 

There are other midrashim that hint at the same idea, one example equating different parts of the human body with different animals, etc. Other parshanim explain (as we've mentioned in the past) that the Mishkan was a microcosm of both the world, and the human body, implying that the human body is a microcosm of the world. The Tikkunei Zohar goes into this in depth, explaining the metaphor pertaining to the various major organs.

In short, we here today, each one of us, is a microcosm, gathered from the furthest reaches of space and time, heaven and earth. We are the true testament to HaShem's Oneness. If HaShem wasn't One, how could a little bit of everything created be brought together into a single creation. 

On Har Sinai the whole world proclaimed it for us, just to bring the point home. Today, it is our job every time we say Shema Yisrael, (2 (3^*1) times a day) to embody the whole world, as its representatives.

HaShem Elokeinu HaShem Echad - Hear O Israel, HaShem created and sustains everything in creation, HaShem is One.

The whole world waits every morning and every evening to hear us proclaim this deepest truth, to fulfill its deepest purpose, to bear witness to the oneness of HaShem.^*2

This is also a good kavanah to have when you recite Perek Shirah, that all the animals of the world are waiting to praise HaShem, but they need you to give voice to their prayers.

notes:

*1 We say Shema Yisrael in the morning and evening prayers, and we are meant to repeat it (a third time) on our bed every night before we sleep.

*2 The Ramhal in his Da'ath Tevunoth explains that the whole purpose of creation is to make us aware that HaShem is One.

room for prayer

I came across mention of hitbodedut (or something very similar) in the same day this past Shabbat, in both the Tanya (I:26) and Rebbe Nachman's Likkutei Moharan. (II:25)

For me, the biggest obstacle is getting out to a wild and untravelled place, something Rebbe Nachman usually emphasizes. In this Torah he mentions that hitbodedut can also be done in a secluded room -- something more achievable and realistic in my case.

The other thing Rebbe Nachman mentions in the same Torah: turning one's learning into a prayer is also a very lofty occupation. [For the best illustration, see Likkutei Tefillot which Rav Natan wrote for each of the Torahs in Likkutei Moharan.] To me, since it is mentioned alongside hitbodedut, I'd like to think he meant it as tantamount. This is comforting as well, because it can also be put into practice anywhere.

the essence of hassidut

I've been in chapters 26 and 27 of the Tanya for the past few days, and I think I have to point out that this is what is so important about Hassidut -- everything else is filling, but the logic employed in maintaining happiness is so central and crucial in these two chapters: 

The essence:

1. There's a time and place to be sad, and that's a set time every day. [tikkun hatzot to the best of my knowledge -- or reciting Shema Yisrael before sleep] Any other time but that set time, you should be happy and drive away any depressing thoughts whatsoever. Especially right after that appointed time, it's important to be full of joy.
2. Any depressing thoughts should be driven away whether they come during the regular course of the day or during prayers/learning -- simply because it isn't the appointed time. The very act of driving those thoughts away rather than dwelling on them should bring you joy, because it is the fulfillment of an important mitzwah and is a praiseworthy act in itself.

I think that these two points were novel ideas that changed my life years ago, and returning to them encourages and strengthens me even more.

In short: don't hide from depression, deal with it, but only in a controlled setting. This can grow out into a general lesson applicable across all walks of life.

As a final note, I'll just say that this is the essence of Hassidut phrased in the negative -- there's another, different, positive framing, that's for another time, when I know and understand more.

don't leave me

Yom Kippur of this year I left Neila with a single thought: "HaShem, don't leave me," Don't let me be alone, I need You with me.

It's been 5 months to the day and still that thought resonates through much of my prayers.

This morning in the daily Tanya (beginning of ch. 23) I saw a very appropriate answer:

ועל כן גם אברי גוף האדם המקיימים המצוה, שכח ובחינת המעשה של נפש האלקית מלובש בהם בשעת מעשה וקיום המצוה, הם נעשו מרכבה ממש לרצון העליון

In this way, those organs of the human body which perform the mitzvah — i.e., those organs in which the divine soul’s faculty of action is clothed during the performance and fulfillment of the mitzvah — they, too, become a veritable vehicle (lit., merkavah — a “chariot”) for the Divine Will.

Basically, if I don't want HaShem to leave me, I should always involve myself with mitzwoth. As long as I'm involved in mitzwoth, then my body and soul are nullified to HaShem's Will and He 'dwells' within me.

brit shalom

The Tanya (very end of ch. 12) quotes the Zohar teaching how to interact with a fellow Jew: If your yetzer hara encourages you to hate, despise, or be jealous of a fellow Jew, you should do the opposite. Take a lesson from Yosef and invest even more love and warmth in your relationship with them. Just as Yosef treated his brothers with love, despite everything that befell him because of their sentiments and actions, so too we should add love and warmth rather than revenge or hate.

In other sources, (one being Devarim She'b'Kedusha 5:6) seeking out peace is inherently connected to the guarding the Brit Milah, which is the attribute of the Tzaddik, of which Yosef is the archetype. 

These teachings came to my attention just as I wanted to draw the same parallel based on my realization that Yosef's relationship with his father exemplifies our ideal relationship with HaShem (our father, as He calls us His first born child)  and Yosef's relationship with his brothers exemplifies our ideal relationship with our fellow Jew.

I don't even understand myself

Today I heard someone saying that. "I don't even understand myself." I think a lot of people feel that way, and it's a frustrating feeling.

When Rebbe Nachman discusses his disfavor with philosophy he explains it like so: Philosophers take a question and its answer and then rephrase them collectively in the form of a question, which then has no answer, because the answer is already part of the question.

Part of the reason I think most people don't understand themselves is because just like a philosophical question, (as defined by Rebbe Nachman) a person is a combination of two opposites whose union defies explanation.

A person has many parts, overall we can categorize them into three: a body, an animal soul, and a Godly soul. As long as a person looks at these three parts and assumes they are one part, it's impossible to make sense out of all the contradictory elements of the human condition.

The best place, I think, to begin to understand the structure of a person is to learn the first twelve or so chapters of the Tanya; the manual for self-awareness and fulfillment written by Rebbe Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the first Lubavitcher Rebbe.

feeding the body to the soul

The anniversary of the passing of the first Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, known as the Alter Rebbe, author of the Tanya and the Shulchan Aruch, is celebrated on the 24th of Tevet. The Alter Rebbe used to say that in the world to come, "the soul will be nourished from the body." There will be a reversal of nature: the essential (the soul) will become incidental while what was once incidental (the body) will become essential. This is the real secret of "Joseph is still alive": the od of Joseph (which is in each Jew) will live eternally, while the soul (the aspect of "I will praise G-d while I live") will receive its principal vitality from the body which will live forever. [Rav Yitzchak Ginsburg - http://www.inner.org/times/tevet/tevet59.htm]

Has anyone seen the source for this teaching of the body nourishing the soul in the world to come? I know the Tanya discusses the 248 limbs being clothed in the 250 columns of light from Keter, and he mentions the mitzwoth (these same 250 columns of light) as the clothing of the soul in Gan Eden, but he also says there that davka the Torah we learn is the food of the Neshamah in Gan Eden. (all that can be found in iggrot kodesh - second to last section of tanya)

From the title of the post we can learn another teaching, since we're here, we might as well learn somehting right? 

Rebbe Nachman teaches (and we've mentioned it in the past) that "The land that eats her inhabitants" teaches a very deep lesson: That when we live in Israel, it consumes us and makes us into part of herself, just as the body consumes food and turns it into (flesh/bone/blood/etc) part of the body. In the same sense we can say that when we live for the sake of our soul, our body is consumed by and turned into part of the soul.

This can be substantiated by the teaching in Tikkunei Zohar that the angel in charge of the days of the week, (His 'nickname' is Mat -- we don't pronounce the names of angels with the exception of the four main ones Michael, Gavriel, Refael, and Uriel) is the body of Chanoch, which he turned into a holy angel through his divine service.

a new focus

כדי לבטל את רצונות היצר אפשר לעקוב אותו במחשבה פשוטה. שילוב חיי אם אני, להקדים את מקור חייך להאני הישות שלך מביא ביטול מוחלט מאני לאין: חאיניי - עיטוף האני בחיי נפשך מגלה עצם ביטולו

One of the most basic ways to work on ego is to remind yourself that you are nothing next to your soul which is literally a piece of Godliness. (חלק אלוקה ממעל ממש) The Tanya discusses this in the context of awakening divine mercy for your poor soul that has been distanced from her home (the source from which she was hewn) in heaven.

A simple idea to focus on is this: the ego, the I, is אני in hebrew. The goal is to turn the ego, the אני, into אין, into the hebrew word for nothing. This seems simple as אין and אני have the same hebrew letters, aleph yud nun. So, we should be able to just rearrange our awareness and that's it, presto! no more ego. 

Unfortunately it's not so simple. But, when we start to think of our soul, of the source of our life-force, we can represent it with the word חיי. This is the life-force we pray for when we ask HaShem for בני חיי ומזוני - offspring, life, and sustenance. The life component encompasses many things, including really the other two. So, when we focus on our soul as the root of our life-force,  חיי, we can unite it with our ego, אני, and accomplish fascinating results.

When we connect two ideas in our thoughts, we generally interweave the letters of their composition, called in hebrew a שילוב - shiluv. In the case of אני and חיי when we want the חיי to be the dominant force influencing the אני, we start with the ח from חיי and then take the א from אני and so on, alternately taking one letter from each word. When we combine the whole thing we get:

חאיניי 

In this word we see that while the חיי remains intact surrounding what's in the middle, the middle has changed from אני, from ego to אין, to nothing.

In this way we can see that by focusing on the source of our life-force, on our soul, and its importance, we can overcome our ego in a very natural almost roundabout way.

When we remember our soul, and recognize how our actions either respect our soul, dignifying her, or dishonor her, embarrasing her, we can lose sight of whether our actions are bringing us honor or power or attention or all the other things our ego likes us to focus on.

polaroids of G-d

In the daily Tanya last week, the first Lubavitcher Rebbe explained how to ignore distractions in the middle of prayer. Basically it works something like this: (and if you take the time to really get into it, it really does work.) 

On a deeper level, you need reach the understanding that the distraction is also rooted in Godliness. This is pretty straight-forward if you realize that the distraction is not only being given life at that very moment from HaShem on high, but also, that distraction is actively given permission to distract you. Which means HaShem is imminently involved in that distraction which, in turn, means that the distraction is another channel of communication with HaShem. At this point, rather than being something that hampers your prayer, the distraction blends into the prayer as if it is perfectly natural and no longer pulls you away from your focus. You no longer hear the distraction at all.

This lesson gives you a very powerful tool to reassess your surrounding environment at all times, not only in prayer. The more you bring the awareness of HaShem in all things to the forefront, the more you gain control over yourself, the more free will you have to choose an appropriate response. As long as we deny the Godliness in a stimulus, we are limiting our capacity to respond to that stimulus. The minute we recognize its meta-worldly origins, is the minute we pull back and truly reassess. This is the moment of "I will turn and I will see [this wonderous spectacle.]" (Shemot 3:3) that made Mosheh Rabbeinu stand out in the eyes of HaShem, that made HaShem cry out to him with love, "Mosheh! Mosheh!"

From this we can see a deeper lesson that hits closer to home: The Godliness we see in all things is an essential part of our own soul. With each point of Godliness we find within the matter, we liberate another facet of our soul. We reunite ourselves.

In a way when we reunite ourselves with something that was previously separate, the world has, in a sense, become a little smaller. Every reunion breaks dow the barrier between one and an other. Until, in the envisioned end, there is only one point in all of existence, one tiny infinitely small self, surrounded entirely by HaShem. This is the root of existence, this is the root of the Jewish people. 

[And I think this is the root of the teaching: If you open for me an opening like the eye of a needle, I will open for you an opening the size of a hall. It's kind of like a pinhole camera, if you can focus everything down through a singular point, you get infinite focus over a span of time.]

Abba!!!

I have been lost in the very deep Torah of Tikkunei Zohar this Elul, so I've had a hard time bringing it down to levels I can comprehend let alone share.

I guess I can see the littlest of what the Komarna Rebbe meant when he said he didn't write a peirush on Tikkunei Zohar because it was too dense.

Not long ago, in the daily Tanya, Rebbe Shneur Zalman explained how a father can only give over a lesson to his son if he first refines his ideas to a very basic level, one which will be palatable to his son's lesser intellect. Secondly, the excitement/desire/love with which the father gives over the lesson to his son has a tremendous impact on how well the son can receive and retain the lesson.

In Elul and on Rosh HaShanah especially, we need to recognize how much HaShem truly loves us that he created this whole world, everything in existence, as a means to make his infinite kindness palatable to our limited selves.

Not only did he bring down the infinity of Torah to a level of ink scrawled on parchment, but He loves us so much that he gave us the Torah as well as six hundred and thirteen mitzwoth with which we may bind ourselves to Him.

When we sin, when we violate part or one of those six hundred and thirteen mitzwoth, it isn't that we are doing something wrong, that we're behaving badly. It is that we are limiting ourselves beyond even our nature. HaShem has come all the way down to earth to be with us, to look us in the eye, and we are unwittingly closing those eyes.

In our generation we no longer know what it means to sin intentionally. To sin intentionally you need to know what you are missing out on. Do we really know? No.

The Komarna Rebbe quotes the Arizal who explains to Rav Hayyim Vital, that we are beings so thoroughly mired in physicality that we can't possibly reach a lofty level, yet every mitzwah we do is all the more precious because of that. The Komarna Rebbe goes on to say that if the Arizal was explaining this about the time in which he lived, how much the moreso nowadays? In fact, the Rebbe goes on, I testify that in our day and age, every Jew, and especially all Bnei Ashkenaz are considered tinok she'nishba, an innocent child who knows nothing and cannot be held accountable for his sins. (Netiv Mitzwotecha, Netiv Emunah:6:10)

HaShem loves us so much. We love Him too. The goal of every mitzwah you do from now till Rosh HaShanah is to open your heart and feel that love, both Him for us and we for Him.

Abba!!!

embrace of mind

The Baal HaTanya, in his Shaar HaYichud v'HaEmunah, explains an idea of the Rambam: God's knowledge of everything is a function of His knowledge of Himself.

He expands on this idea and explains that each and every one of us is encompassed within the knowledge of HaShem. Unlike human knowledge, where our minds encompass only the idea of something, HaShem's knowledge encompasses the something itself.

To me this is a beautiful kavanah for the Tallith, when we put on the Tallith in the morning, a white garment, just as the color white is associated with some of the loftiest levels of intellect, we are acknowledging that we are clothed, wrapped, and encompassed in HaShem's knowledge.

To me that's a really nice feeling, knowing that you are encircled in the womb of HaShem's mind.

if you can't join em, beat em [1/2]

As we've mentioned previously, we think of food as something physical that we eat in order to give us life. That's one level, but there's a deeper truth in which the food itself is all but extraneous, it is purely a vehicle, a means, a vessel that contains the life force which HaShem gives to us.

We learn that the manna, (מן) was pure spiritual life, it didn't have any physical 'clothing.' This matter greatly troubles the Pri Ha'aretz on parashath Beha'alotecha (Rav Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk) who says that it is our understanding that the evil that one does is a function of the physical part of the food we consume. In the desert, when we were consuming food with no physical nature, how was it possible that people would fall in sin, whether it be a minor rebellious act, or a major infraction of Torah?

He explains that the equation isn't quite so simple. Yes, the physical side of food has the potential to weigh down a person and make them more physical, but the result ultimately rests with the person. Just as in the natural view, the proteins, nutrients, and amino acids all are absorbed and integrated into bodily systems, new bone, new blood, new skin etc. The spiritual life-force within food becomes a part of the person, it is transformed entirely into the nature of that person. When the person is a good person, always striving to perfect themselves, then the life-force makes the person better, more pure, more holy. When the opposite is the case, then the life-force can greatly strengthen one's physical/mundane nature. (heaven forebid)

I'd like to develop this idea a little further, thinking about eating and kashrut as well. The Baal HaTanya explains that when something is forebidden to us it is because we do not have the ability to rectify or raise that thing up to be used in holiness, instead that thing will bring us down and make us impure and more physical. There is a clear analog in the physical world: disease and infections. When we consume something that is infectious, rather than in the normal healthy model where what we consume becomes a part of us, the contagion consumes us and turns part of us into more contagion. (Whether it be bacterial, viral, cancerous, parasitic, symbiotic, etc)

If we look at non-kosher or forebidden food as spiritual contagions, we can at least draw a picture in our minds to understand what affect it has on us.

From all this we learn two things:

1. Don't eat things that can be harmful to you, spiritually, because our soul cannot digest and elevate them.
2. Even when eating the things permitted to us, we must remember that if we aren't careful to integrate and elevate them into our essence, they will bring us down to their level.

to be continued...