never play cards with your rebbe or trust your sense of distance

Years ago I listened to a shiur by Rabbi Akiva Tatz. He spoke about the difference between Heaven and Earth. In Heaven, everything is linear, which means wherever you are in Heaven, not only do you know exactly where you are in relation to everything else, but also, you can see everything from one side of Heaven to the other.

In Tehillim, David HaMelech mentions that HaShem 'bent' the Heavens over the Earth, Rabbi Tatz continued. Down here, in this world, there is a bend, things aren't linear, and so things that may be close may be beyond our view, while things that are far away may in fact be visible.

Just think about the image illustrated here. Think of a distant vista of rolling hills. Yes, you can see the hilltops, but who knows what the valleys in the middle conceal? Whatever is in the valleys may be closer than the more distant hilltops, but it is hidden from sight. Similarly, whatever is directly behind you is beyond your field of vision, yet it is extremely close to you.

Rabbi Tatz goes on to discuss how this very 'bend' in the world is the yetzer hara, the evil urge, the primordial serpent, which Moshe Rabbeinu is commanded to take in his hand, at which point it becomes a staff he is meant to use.

Let's look for a moment at a story told by the Ben Ish Hai to illustrate the power of the yetzer hara. R' Hayyim (The Ben Ish Hai) tells of a teacher of young men in yeshivah. It was the 17th of Tammuz and he could tell the boys were weary and weak from fasting. So the teacher said, "You know, you are so weak and tired, perhaps we won't learn today. Instead, we will play cards." The boys were understandably very excited and not a little bit incredulous at this statement, "There's only one problem," the Rebbe went on, "one of you will need to teach me the rules." The boys were falling over one another to teach him the rules, and so they played energetically for a good half hour until the Rebbe stopped them. "I didn't want to trouble you, you seemed so weak today, but it appears you have plenty of energy after all, enough with the cards, let's open the books." What could they say? So they opened the books and learned as usual.

The moral of the story is either: (1) Don't fall for an obvious trick of the Rebbe, or (2) Don't fall for an obvious trick of the Yetzer Hara. As Rabbi Tatz explained above, the power of the Yetzer Hara, the evil urge, is in the ability to make things feel far away from you. We see in Kohelet that the lazy person, the atzel, finds excuses why it's too dangerous to travel to learn from his rebbe, even if the travel is no further than down a few stairs to the sitting room. The Yetzer Hara makes us feel like accomplishing a mitzvah is so very very difficult, so very very far beyond our reach. In reality it is very close to us.

This is what Mosheh Rabbeinu tells us in the Torah, the matter is exceedingly close to you, it is [already] in your mouths and in your hearts to do... No one needs to ascend to the heavens to bring it down to you, no one needs to cross the sea to bring it back. [all that has already been done.] These are all tricks of the Yetzer Hara. Don't fall for it, or you'll feel like a sheepish yeshivah bochur who just won a game of cards against his rebbe, elated for a moment, before he realizes he's in for it.

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.]

to an innocent child's eye

(1) The Hassidim, especially Rebbe Nachman espoused the importance of being simple rather than intellectual.  They also emphasized having a youthful outlook on the world, one in which every day is new and full of promise.

(2) The souls of the Jewish people are the letters of the Torah. This is a basic teaching from the Zohar. It has number of really interesting implications I hope to get into one day, for now just a simple insight.

(3) There is a very basic halachah. When there is a doubt regarding the validity (kashruth) of one of the letters in a Torah scroll, we ask a child, not an overly intelligent child, nor an overly simple child, but an average child who doesn't yet know how to read but has already learned the alphabet. We ask that child what letter the letter in question looks like, if the child answers correctly, then the letter is kosher, and Torah scroll can continue to be used to learn and read from. If the child says it looks like a letter other than the intended letter, then the Torah scroll is not kosher to be used until it has been corrected.

Taken together, these three pieces of information seem to imply something very deep and very special about Hassidut. The Baal Shem Tov and all those who followed him aspired to be the simple child who could correctly recognize the hebrew letter (soul) hidden within each one of us. If the Rebbes were simple and 'childish' (in the relevant sense mentioned above) then they could bring any Jew over to the side of 'Kashrut' simply by recognizing the Jewish soul hidden within him or her.

mouthing out His words

The Ohr HaHayyim, R' Hayyim ibn Atar, says that [in parashath Ha'azinu] HaShem referred to the written Torah as 'my lesson' (לקחי) and to the oral Torah as 'my sayings.' (אמרתי)

That's amazing!! One normally thinks the 'oral Torah' (תורה שבעל פה) refers to the speech or interpretation of the Rabbis, when here the Ohr HaHayyim is telling us no! HaShem counts the oral Torah as Torah spoken from His Own mouth.

This bolsters the teaching that every word of Torah we speak is tantamount to all of the mitzwoth combined, as taught by Chazal.

approaching the end

The end of the Torah, the story of the death of Mosheh Rabbeinu always troubles me. We know that the Torah is applicable in every generation, in every time, it is in every sense of the word eternal. The question becomes how will the Torah be applicable even after the dead have arisen in the final ressurrection? Mosheh Rabbeinu will be standing before us, we will all be in Eretz Yisrael, what will those last verses of the Torah mean then?

Right around now you should have stopped to ask, how can we possibly understand the Torah meant for after Techiat HaMeitim (the resurrection), after Moshiah, (messiah) after the Geulah (Redemption)? Of course we can't understand it, but I'm always curious to peek a little bit, perhaps as much as is possible to understand whatever I might, and try and somehow apply that knowledge to now.

Also, if you'd like to accompany me on a short journey into an idea that might be confusing, we know that the revelations of the world to come are far beyond anything else in this world, right? So perhaps by pushing the envelope on the Torah that is available in this world, by reaching to its utmost limits, we might also be pushing the revelations of the next world a little bit further beyond its limits, we can only find out for sure when we get there, b'ezrat HaShem.

For certain, the work we do to understand HaShem's Torah in all of its depth creates the vessels in which we will one day receive the Torah of the world to come, furthermore, who knows the precise limits of the Torah we can understand in this world, only HaShem? If we don't push these limits we might never know just how far our understandings could have gone. In the highest spiritual realms desiring to connect with the unknowable nature of HaShem is described as thrashing your head against an impenetrable wall. (see: smiling through the unbreakable barrier)

Getting back to our question, We can't let every little problem get us down, so this one has been on the backburner, while I've been (thanks HaShem!) busy with the rest of my life, but I never forgot it. This past Shabbath, my grandmother in law asked me a semi-related question which reminded me about a teaching I learned recently, from the Zohar if I'm not mistaken, that the Nefesh is called the inheritance, because it is the Nefesh that we inherit as a dwelling place. (for the higher aspects of our soul) In this context, we can read the final refusal of HaShem to let Mosheh Rabbeinu "enter the land" as a recognition of the fact that man cannot "dwell" within HaShem as he dwells within his own soul and expect to survive. Mosheh Rabbeinu reached the utmost boundary from which all we can do is "look upon" HaShem, and enjoy His radiance.

So, with this understanding, the Torah reached the ultimate completion of man, Mosheh Rabbeinu who comes as close to knowing HaShem as possible, in this world, in any world. To me this brings comfort rather than viewing the Torah as story with a "To be continued..." ending. What is especially nice about this understanding is that it doesn't really deviate from the simple meaning of the words, yet it lends a depth of appreciation that might otherwise have been missing.

I hope (b"h) to go further into the topic of dwelling within one's nefesh, one's soul in a later post, as we did little more than mention it here.

a universal how-to

I wanted to build on and discuss the previous post conflicting tasks. The intellect, as it stands has certain attributes, particular strengths and weaknesses which we know differ from person to person but are more or less common to all people. Almost everyone learns how to read and speak, to perform arithmetic, to think rationally in one form or another, to understand hints, to throw and catch, to make jokes. Yet, being that the mind is limited and must handle many complex tasks, it specializes in a few and becomes passably proficient in a larger group. As far as modern science is concerned, we go through various stages of mental growth and though we can always learn new tasks and ideas, the overhead and effort necesary to learn in later years is far greater than in youth.

The Judaic and Torah view of this is vastly different. With regard to Torah specifically we acknowledge that it always arrives as a gift from heaven. One's age or mental acuity is irrelevant, Torah is open to all to master. There is no point short of death that prevents one from being able to master the Torah. The only prerequisite to enter into the gates of Torah is the will to connect to HaShem, the unrelenting will to keep diving deeper into the sea of Torah. This is so extreme that the Gemara makes a blanket statement that anyone who claims he tried and failed to master Torah should no be believed. If s/he really tried, they would have succeeded.

Rebbe Natan explains in Likkutei Halachoth (Hilchoth Tefillin 6:37-42) that while our body is impure, our intellect is incomplete, and until our body is worked like the leather of the tefillin, until there is no further repugnant smell, then our intellect cannot be trusted. Instead we must bind our will and emunah to the Tzaddik, whose body and intellect are refined so that he may guide us. For the spiritual intellect is something else entirely than the natural intellect which we relate to.

Since it would seem that real comprehension in Torah is dependent not on our natural intellect, but on our spiritual intellect, the only thing that limits our accomplishments in Torah is our devotion to the task.

In this way, we can understand how multi-tasking is virtually impossible with our natural intellect. Still, through deep study of the Torah we may begin to access our spiritual intellect which is not constricted and bound by the same worldly limitations that make multi-tasking a challenge. When we see things in this light, it starts to become clear why things that may seem impossible become entirely elementary when we connect ourselves to Chazal and rely on their testimony to the real possibility.

Shabbath is a perfect example. Someone who grew up in a Shomer Shabbath environment barely needs to think in order to avoid performing all 39 melachoth and their many many derivatives. Yet if you were to explain what keeping Shabbath entailed to an outsider, they might easily think that such a rigorous level of observance is impossible.

What I'm trying to get to is that performing even the most complex of the mitzwoth in the Torah has more to do with (1) accepting the yolk of heaven, (2) relying on and trusting in the Rabbis throughout the ages, and (3) faith in HaShem that He will bring about your success than it does any particular mental or physical aptitude.

the tenth of tevet: a fouling of letters

In Likkutei Halachoth (Hilchot Keriath Shema:5 (I think it's halachah 5)) Rebbe Natan explains a little bit about the nature of the three reasons we mourn today on the 10th of Tevet.

1. Ezra HaSofer died
2. The Torah was translated to Greek
3. The siege on Yerushalayim (that lead to the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash) began

He explains that Ezra HaSofer was able to form the letters of the Torah in such a way that all of Israel could derive endless berachah from reading the letters. After Ezra HaSofer there was no one who could form the letters in the same manner as he. That's why he is forever known as 'the scribe' - haSofer.

When the Torah was translated to Greek it was a very dark day for us because it was the exact opposite of what Ezra HaSofer had done. It was a formulation of the letters of the Torah such that all the darkest and lowest elements could also receive blessing from the letters and words of Torah. This gave them the ability to bring the darkness of their shallow and physicality-absorbed culture to the masses and to muddle the light of the true Torah of Bnei Yisrael. It also tainted Bnei Yisrael and tempted and involved and confused them with the darkness of the Greek culture.

Lastly, when the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed, it was a further hiding and cutting off of the blessings of Shamayim.

the torah we rule and the torah that rules us

Chabakuk Elisha wrote a great explanation of how integral minhag is to Judaism over here at A Simple Jew.

I wanted to bring down something from the Hesed L'Avraham (Rav Avraham Azulai) that is tangential to the discussion.

Rav Azulai explains that there are two major parts to Torah (something echoed regarding the soul in the opening chapters of the Tanya (chapter 3 specifically)) there is the part of the Torah that relates to the world of Atziluth, on which level that which dwells in Atziluth can hardly be said to be properly differentiated from HaShem, and so in this world everything is still undivided. The other part of the Torah is the part that corresponds to the three lower worlds of Beriyah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah.

The higher part of the Torah is beyond our ability to flesh out and add to, since it is all united and revealed in the higher world of Atziluth. The only way to reveal new things in this part of Torah is through prophecy or a Bat Kol, a voice from on high. This is the Torah that is still rooted in the upper world.

The lower part of the Torah can be fleshed out and determined through a gathering of all the Talmidei Hochamim, Torah scholars, in a particular generation. This is the Torah that is determined not according to the dictates of Heaven, but according to the majority, the rov, of the learned Rabbis.

The explanation of this difference is that only in these lower worlds is there a concept of multiplicity, and so down here, the majority rules and it makes sense that the majority rule. However, in the Torah of Atziluth, the majority is meaningless as the inhabitants of this world are one undifferentiated whole.

To tie this in to what Chabakuk Elisha was saying, minhag is a holy transmission from one generation of Judaism to the next that is thoroughly and wholely involved in actions, in the world of Asiyah. As it is Torah from the level of Asiyah, the majority of the Jewish nation rules in this respect, and so what we do becomes part of the Torah of these lower worlds where the choices and actions of the informed majority have such an impact. That's one of the reasons, perhaps, why a minhag that is a universal minhag (minhag Yisrael) is considered Torah.

of clothes new and old

Continuing along [from yesterday] in Hesed L'Avraham (2:11) of Rav Avraham Azulai (zt"l) we learn that while each of the letters of the Torah is rooted in the spiritual and not merely a tangential physical phenomenon, the combination of the letters awakens and emerges a new state of existence, a new creation that until now had never been.

In fact, the nature of the Torah is imbued with the union of all of the different relationships, combinations, and permutations of all the letters. As we are able to remove the physical clothing of our souls, in the days to come, so too will the Torah be removed from her physical clothing. The more removed from the physical we become the more readily the deeper secrets of the interactions of the letters of the Torah will be revealed and come alive.

He notes that it is important to understand that [just as we are still us, underneath all the clothes, so too,] the revelation of the Torah in no way reflects a change in the underlying Torah, only a change in our ability to receive and connect to the Torah.

of books, scrolls, and something else entirely

The Written Torah isn't simply a means devised by the transmitter to encode information in written form. If it were, then once someone knows the information by heart, the writing no longer serves a purpose. Similarly, if one were to struggle for years and never retain anything, we would assume he wasted those years and writing is of no use to him.

The letters themselves are inherently spiritual, and awaken great spiritual power from the highest of places every time they are spoken or written, or even thought.

(paraphrased from Hesed L'Avraham 2:11)

learning in pairs or groups

A Simple Jew brought up the issue of Chevruta. (learning Torah with a study partner) It's a really difficult issue for me. I know that it is supposed to be the focal point of Jewish learning, at least in the revealed, nigleh, Torah.

I can see how learning in chevruta pertains clearly to Halachah. Halachah is an objective system that boils your subjective world down into step by step instructions for how to serve HaShem through living your daily life. It's easy to gloss over the Halachah and misunderstand how to apply some objective ruling to your subjective world. By learning with a chevrutah, you need to apply the same objective ruling always to at least two subjective worlds, this increases the chances you will correctly understand and internalize the halachah.

When learning the written Torah, or the hidden, nistar, Torah, the goal is very different. The goal of the nistar is to connect to HaShem. The goal is admittedly insurmountable from the outset. HaShem is beyond us in every imaginable way. Still, through our nistar studies we can attain a form of closeness, a relationship with HaShem.

In such an instance, it is very hard to learn with someone else. For a good example, try and explain to someone else how to do something on their computer over the phone.. You are looking at your desktop, and they are looking at theirs and you are telling them what to click and where. (I'm sure most people who can find this blog have had this experience in one instance or another) It is tremendously difficult and requires a lot of patience. The more you use your computer, the more specific and customized it becomes, the more difficult it is to relate to someone else's computer. The more personal your relationship to HaShem through the nistar, the more difficult it becomes for two people to study together.

This is how it always seemed to me anyways. But the more I thought about it the more I realized how much more there really is to it:

When two people come from a very close spiritual connection, from the same soul root, then since their connection with HaShem has many similarities it is easier to learn with them and helping them to connect actually helps you to connect. On an even deeper level all of Bnei Yisrael is connected spiritually and learning with any member of Bnei Yisrael and helping them to connect to HaShem bridges and strengthens and deepens your own connection.

This is a very high level of understanding. But, when we can relate to our fellow Jew as a part of ourselves, carved from the same source, then learning with them can be transformed from a chore to a very high level of relating to HaShem. A level above relating directly, as we learn in the Tanya in chapter 32 (לב) that truly loving HaShem is loving what He loves most, Bnei Yisrael. Giving and sharing with Bnei Yisrael allows us to get even closer to HaShem than trying to pursue HaShem directly.

This is why Gemilat Hesed is tantamount Torah learning, and Teshuvah, and Tefillah. (See Pirkei Avot) Because through the Hesed that we do with Bnei Yisrael we can attain a closeness that isn't possible through relating to HaShem directly. (The goal of Torah, Teshuvah, and Tefillah)

As we know, the highest Gemilut Hesed, the highest Tzedaka enumerated by the Rambam is teaching someone to help themselves. What could be higher than learning with another Jew and helping them to get closer to HaShem directly? That it brings us closer to HaShem shouldn't hurt either.

This understanding of Chevruta and learning for the sake of raising all those learning closer to HaShem is often demonstrated in the Zohar. In the Gemara every learning is about hearing. Come and hear. In the Zohar, there are many descriptions that use words like "over there," "on this side," and "like so." One way to understand what is going on in the Zohar is to understand that when learning and discussing the Zohar they were actually in the midst of a common mystical experience of the heavenly realms and the underlying structure of the world. This way, when they pointed to or gestured at things, it was to illustrate the idea being discussed. Outside of this common mystical experience it is much more difficult to understand the explanations according to all of their implications and manifold possibilities.

Sinat hinam, free hatred of our fellow Jews brought about the destruction of the Beith HaMikdash, without being able to come together and unique in goals of holiness like Torah learning, we can't repair that breach.

B'ezrat HaShem we should all merit to bring ourselves, those around us, and all Klal Yisrael closer to HaShem through Torah learning in chevrutah.

the eyes within turbulence

In Masechet Yoma, while comparing and contrasting the two temples, they explain that even had all of Israel come back, the Divine presence would still not have rested in the Second Temple.

Why? Because the Temple was built by and at the behest of the Persians. The Talmud derives the teaching from this passuk[Bereishith 9:27]: יַפְתְּ אֱלֹהִים לְיֶפֶת, וְיִשְׁכֹּן בְּאָהֳלֵי-שֵׁם - Which they explain like so, even though the Persians were descendants of Yefet, since the Second Temple wasn't "Ohalei Shem," (the tent of Shem, ie. built by us, we being of the line of Shem) so then the Shechinah, the divine presence, wouldn't dwell (ישכון) there.

There is a tangentially related discussion in which the Amoraim determine that the Kohanim are messengers of HaShem as opposed to messengers of the nation.

Why? Because the kohanim perform duties forebidden to the nation, since when can a shaliah (messenger) perform a duty that is forebidden to the one who sends him on the shlichut? (the errand)

Both of these discussions relate the importance and centrality of HaShem's relationship with our people. It is a place where HaShem sends his messengers on his errands to perform special acts on our behalf. Acts that occur nowhere else in the world, acts that may be performed by no one. (The Kohen Gadol enters the Kodesh HaKedoshim on Yom Kippur, something that is forebidden to everyone without exception.) Similarly, HaShem is only willing to enter and dwell in this house if we build it for Him.

The relationship of HaShem and Knesset Yisrael is most clearly seen in this House. We can also learn from this how best to bring HaShem into our lives. (the root of all our prayers as we mentioned previously)

Only by intentially creating a sacred space in our own lives, is HaShem willing to dwell within our midst. This sacred space is called Shabbath, as it is the central eye of the storm that is our daily lives. Shabbath literally means to sit, to dwell. (הנה מה טוב ומה נעים שבת אחים גם יחד) Within our performance of each of the mitzwoth, we create a space within which HaShem may dwell. This space, this aspect of each mitzwah is the aspect of Shabbath.

From this we can see how when we perform our mitzwoth with the proper intentions we can awaken awareness of Shabbath at every moment. This is Shemirath Shabbath during the week.

This also answers our previous question from the end of the Notzer Hesed. When we experience insight and enlightenment without allowing for this shared space with HaShem, we take from Shabbath and give to the mundane week day. When we build that space, that mikdash m'at, in the performance of our mitzwoth and in (God-willing) our every act, we ensure that our moments of brilliance always take place within Shabbath.

no other

[This is my 500th post, maybe 400 of which have been divrei Torah. I thank HaShem, to whom I forever owe my being, with all my heart that though I have so much work left to do, I was able to achieve something small for the betterment of the world and klal Yisrael. May HaShem inscribe us all in the book of life, may He fill our hearts with love and awe, our souls with Torah overflowing. אין עוד מלבדו]

The Meor Eynayim explains that all the best things in life actually come from the highest realms, and so, praying for them takes the most effort, because there are so many gates to bring them down through in order to reap the benefits down here in this, the lowest of worlds.

Things like, children, a proper (shidduch) match, parnasa, rain, refuah (healing) they all derive from the highest purest supernal light.

I want to go into the details a little of what this means and what it can teach us, and then perhaps deviate on a tangent.

Drawing down HaShem's blessing in any form can always be referred to and described as a yichud , a union. Just as getting something from someone else requires relating to them in some way in order to elicit what you want, so too, receiving blessing from HaShem follows parallel 'rules.'

Here though, the process of drawing down divine light differs from obtaining things from other people. In our world, people are created in such a way that everything is exterior to ourselves. If you want money from your employer (or your parents) you ask them for it and they reach into their wallet and produce it. If you want a candybar, the store owner hands it to you from the shelf, etc.

It's only when we get into more intimate human interactions that it ceases to be a relationship of objects exterior to oneself. Let's say you want to know what your friend is thinking, or you want to hear a story, then the person needs to reach inside themselves and produce something for your. In the process they enter the recesses of their intellect or the depths of their heart, and then take that thought or feeling and winnow it down into words and sentences. Finally they turn those words and sentences into sounds through the use of their mouth and you get to hear whatever they choose to tell you.

When it is money or merchandise or clothing or anything else exterior, we can always take that thing by force. But when it is something that exists only within the person, we have to find a way to draw it out of them, we have to convince them to be willing to draw it out.

Because as the Rambam explains, nothing is external to HaShem, everything we desire from Him we must obtain through convincing, through drawing out.

Similarly, everything we want whether it be material or no, comes from HaShem's depths, from what we might refer to as His mind. Just as we never receive what is actually in our friends' mind, rather what they express through their mouth, so too HaShem's light only reaches us through similar filters and tzimtzumim. (translations)

Our prayers ascend to the heights of His intellect, and attempt to draw out His desire to bestow blessing upon us. Now, because He loves us greatly, he always is arroused to desire that which is best for us, and always replies to our prayers with what is appropriate to our needs.

Both on the way up to His highest intellect, and down back to this world, there are many stages, many filters, many tzimtzumim. On the way up, there are Angels appointed to translate, clothe, and crown our prayers with raiments appropriate to each of these levels, so that our prayers are always in the correct context. On the way down, God's light drips in the smallest of drops, (the most the world can possibly bear) to provide precisely what HaShem would like to bestow upon us, and at each level it is clothed and fleshed out to make it appropriate to our own corporeal context.

One of the metaphors used to describe this process is rain. When the thunder (prayers) reach the clouds (which represent the intellect) it draws out droplets of rain which fall to the earth, enter the ground, get pulled up into a tree, and eventually through nourishing the tree produce fruit.

In the exact same fashion a child, which starts as a mere desire in the father's mind, ends up a new born baby.

The Likkutei Halachot on Tefillin (end of Halachah 4) talks about this same idea as regards the writing of the tefillin. Reb Natan explains that the white klaf (parchment) is the clouds, the intellect, the pure unrefined and unrevealed light. It is only through the black letters that are scrolled with a quill onto the page, that the light is drawn out and channelled.

I never before understood this exactly so. The letters, I knew, were bound together and ordered through the universal light. (the klal) But only now do I begin to see how it is that the parchment represents this universal light, and the letters the channels that draw out and clothe this light in a manner that we can receive.

Beyond this, we know that the Jewish people are the letters of the Torah. We are the channels and the clothes through which the universal light of HaShem is garbed and filtered so that it is palatable to the rest of the physical world.

This is our nature, there is nothing we can do to hide or change this. Every thought, every feeling, every word, every act of ours determines how HaShem's light is revealed down here in this world. We can turn it into something despicable or we can turn it into something sublime, something breathlessly beautiful. The only thing we can't do is run away from this reality.

Jews are Jews and will always be. The divine light within you is shining for anyone who has the eyes to see. The beauty of HaShem's light has the power to eradicate any blemishes we may leave on ourselves or on the world. Teshuvah is the process where we refine ourselves so that this light can shine most clearly, where we recognize that HaShem's light is always creating the world, and that we would like to play a part in it, instead of being an obstacle that makes everyone else's world a little bit darker and dirtier.

[500 years is the distance between each world. May we be zocheh to the next level, the next world; and may we always rise from world to world, a praise and glory to the Holy One blessed be He.]

the nerve of some people

There's a thought I had while I was in America, that went under my radar as far as how mind-bending an idea it is. Someone asked me to speak on Shabbath in my parents' congregation, and having nothing to lose, I decided to speak about how much it behooves us all to be in Israel. I was merciless in the most loving way I could be.

Anyone who worries about parnasa in Israel doesn't understand how parnasa works, I said. The shefa for the whole world is a function of whatever falls off of Israel's table. If you can make a kli (a vessel) to receive HaShem's blessing in the diaspora, so much more so in Israel.

A close friend asked me after I returned to my seat, "Well then, why do all the schnurrers (beggars) from Israel show up here all the time?"

The answer is: HaShem creates poverty in Israel only so that the Jews of the diaspora will be able to receive reward from their charity. Poverty in Israel exists only so that Jews outside of the land will still have a connection to it.

The poor of Israel are performing tremendous mesirat nefesh so that their brothers abroad aren't lost entirely.

Update: This post was actually something I'd been thinking about for a while, but it took a post over on A Simple Jew to crystalize it properly. As you can see from the comments there, this post is only half of the idea. I'm going to copy over a small part of one of the comments that really illustrates this idea in the text of sefer Devarim:

in Devarim (15:11) (כִּי לֹא-יֶחְדַּל אֶבְיוֹן, מִקֶּרֶב הָאָרֶץ) HaShem tells us that there will always be poor people--"mikerev ha'aretz" (מקרב הארץ) it would make more sense to say "b'kerev ha'aretz" (in the midst of the land rather than from the midst of the land) From this we can see that in fact, tzedaka is "mekarev ha'aretz", it brings the land closer. It brings Eretz Yisrael closer to each Jew. If poverty was simply a result of distribution of wealth, how can HaShem tell us that there will always be poverty? Rather, since tzedaka in Israel is the means through which Jews outside of Israel can "bring the land close to them," as long as there are Jews in chutz la'aretz there will always be poverty in the land of Israel.

The end of the passuk (עַל-כֵּן אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ, לֵאמֹר, פָּתֹחַ תִּפְתַּח אֶת-יָדְךָ לְאָחִיךָ לַעֲנִיֶּךָ וּלְאֶבְיֹנְךָ, בְּאַרְצֶךָ) drives home the point: Therefore I command you, saying, open your hand to your brother, your poor b'artzecha. Literally this means "in your land." (ie. in Eretz Yisrael) But, b'artzecha can also mean for the sake of the land or in exchange for the land. So we can understand it literally to mean: "obtain the land through opening your hand to the poor."

This becomes obvious when we relate the passuk: ציון במשפת תפדה ושביה בצדקה - Zion will be redeemed through justice and her captives [will be returned] with tzedaka.

carving hearts

Appropriate to the hillulah of Rebbe Menachem Mendel, 7th Rebbe of Lubavitch, I learned one of his sichot about the death of a Tzaddik:

קשה מתתן של צדיקים לפני הקב"ה כשבירת הלוחות
The death of Tzaddikim is difficult before The Holy One Blessed Be He like the breaking of the tablets. [of the covenant]

The midrash explains that when Mosheh was bringing down the Luchot (the tablets) and the people sinned, he saw that the letters had flown off the Luchot and so the Luchot no longer had any real substance and he grabbed them and threw them down and shattered them.

The Rebbe explains that the Luchot, (the tablets) were created by HaShem and so they were on such a high level, even after the letters had flown off them, Mosheh still should have saved them. He also points out that the letters were carved into the Luchot so that there was no way for them to fly off. Rather, the carved space of the letters had been filled with spiritual energy, which is what departed from the Luchot. This spiritual energy, (this divine writing) revealed in the carved letters was so high that it raised the carved Luchot to such a lofty level, that their original level (being novel and unique creations of HaShem) seemed like nothing by comparison.

We see that the investment of the energy of the letters in the Luchot raised them to a whole new level of existence. Similarly, the Rebbe explains, that is why we bring the broken Luchot into battle with us, because the goal of conquering the land of Israel is to invest within it the same height of revellation of Godliness, to create a dwelling place for Godliness in this world. To raise the world which was "created by HaShem" to the level of "the writing of HaShem" which reveals His glory in the world. The Rebbe extended this, citing the Rambam, to include bringing Torah observance to the world as well.

What does this have to do with the death of Tzaddikim? The physical bodies of Jews are Holy, "created by HaShem" but when someone reaches the level of a Tzaddik, their soul so invests their body as to make their entire corporeal body spiritual. To follow the comparison through to its conclusion: When the soul of the Tzaddik leaves its body, the body is nothing compared to its former stature. But the body of the Tzaddik reminds us like the broken Luchot, to wage the war of mitzwah. To bring mitzwah observance to the world in order to create a dwelling place for Godliness in this world, in order to elevate the world from "created by HaShem" to the higher revellation of the "writing of HaShem."

(My limited understandings of Likkutei Sichot Devarim כ' מנחם אב (vol.14) Ekevא)

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.

depths of his thought

M00kie asked the following question re: my post Praise of His lips (in which I speak about the words of HaShem)

i was wondering where our thoughts fit in.

is there such a thing as g-d's thoughts?

were we in his thoughts before being in his words?

did we exist at that point?

my thoughts seem to have a life of their own, are they not alive until they are expressed?

I hope this answer helps a little:

There are many levels of thoughts. Most of the things we call our thoughts are very similar to speech in that they are even considered to be made up of letters just finer/thinner letters than our spoken ones. It is only because the letters are so hard to detect that no one hears or reads our thoughts. [Except for people like the Arizal, the Baal Shem Tov, and similar Holy personages.]

Generally our thoughts are described as originating in our heart. They then rise up to our minds at which point we become conscious of them. Then we have the choice of what to do with them. While our thoughts are still in our heart, they are pre-letter thoughts. The thought is clothed in letters as we become conscious of it in our minds. Later, we can choose to clothe our thoughts in the even thicker letters of spoken words.

This is actually an important point in our interfacing with HaShem and others. There is an aspect of clothes. HaShem puts on the clothes of the Torah and the mitzwoth and the physical world, all so that we will be able to relate to Him. We dress up our thoughts in spoken words so that others can relate to them. Words and letters are all about the clothing that allows for a relationship to develop between two things, two ideas, two people. A word, in a sense, is even the clothing that allows two letters to interact. Our thoughts are garbed in letters so that we can manipulate them with greater facility.

As to HaShems thoughts, HaShem says about himself in tanach לא מחשבתי מחשבתיכם - my thoughts are not [like] your thoughts, so we know He definitely has thoughts. Presumably still, some of the levels of HaShem's thoughts have letters, in other words are clothed so that they can be related to other things. The Tanya describes one of the differences between HaShem's thought and ours. HaShem's thoughts totally encompass and contain what He thinks about whereas ours only describe an idea about the thing we are thinking.

Chazal also say, that Israel arose first in HaShem's thoughts when He thought to create the world that's why He calls us בני בכורי - His first born son. So we definitely existed in His thoughts before anything else did, and since He doesn't change (אני ה' לא שניתי) it means we are still foremost in His thoughts.

As to whether we could call our thoughts alive, I was going to go into it a little, but then I remember I posted recently on the matter and I'll just link it here: life and death of a thought in which I discuss the Notzer Hesed's explanation of thoughts as living entities.

I was going to say we give thoughts life when we choose to act on them and do something with them, especially mitzwoth, or other Godly acts. [Just as we described our Godly speech being (given life) eternal in Praise of His lips] Instead, the Notzer Hesed is far more authoritative than myself.

amounting to something

The Brisker said that you only get reward for the Torah you understand. How does that square with our previous post about Hassidut enlivening you even when you don't understand it?

Not to mention, something you learned years before can be understood anew many times over the course of your life. Which time counts as you 'learning it' if each time you understand it better than the last, only the last time? This also raises the question of does understanding it later even count as learning it, if you aren't learning it when you understand it?

At this point, I think it would be prudent to simply mention נעשה ונשמע - we will do, and we will hear. שמיעה or hearing is normally associated with בינה (understanding) which is actually the root of the Oral Torah. Whereas עשיה, action, relates back to Will, or desire, which is רצון which relates above the intellect (of which בינה is a part) entirely to the level of כתר or God's Crown.

So, it still seems that learning Torah even without understanding it, is doing. The most important part of the learning in this case is speaking it aloud while you are learning. (The speaking is the essence of the doing.) In this way, there is still a basis to say you are 'doing and hearing' since you are speaking the Torah aloud, and your ears are hearing your voice.

In short, just keep learning as we are fulfilling the letter of נעשה ונשמע by reading it out loud and hearing it with our ears, and fulfilling the spirit of נעשה ונשמע by moving forward with our learning even though we haven't yet heard (understood) the proper way to learn.

I have one more subtle nuance: the Oral Torah is rooted, as we said, in בינה. Whereas Hassidut is actually rooted not in בינה but in חכמה (wisdom) the source of the Written Torah. Understanding is something we need to work for, Wisdom comes on its own, it's like receiving a present. So, it makes perfect sense that the Brisker, (Rav Hayyim of Brisk) who was talking about the Oral Torah says you don't get any reward unless you understand, and Hassidut explains that even if you don't understand Hassiduth the reward comes anyways.

The moral of the story? When in doubt, learn Hassidut.

handing over one's soul

[was out sick for the past three days, stay tuned for all the backlogged posts that should come out over the next two days.. plus hopefully regular new ones.. like, for example:]

While learning today's Tanya, I uncovered what was for me a very great secret. The word כה often comes up in the context of the Jewish people in the Torah. In fact, today's Tanya was the end of perek כה (the 25th perek) of Likkutei Amarim. This is what gave it away, the Baal HaTanya talks about how this midah of ours of mesirat nefesh (מסירת נפש) is the lynch-pin of our Torah observance, of cleaving to God and proper repentance. (תשובה) Suddenly it clicked with עקדת יצחק (the binding of Yitzhak) where Avraham says אני והנער נלכה עד כה. (I and the child will go as far as כה) This is significant because Yitzhak's life was going to be offered..the literal translation of מסירת נפש - mesirat nefesh.

So now I finally know that כה is the midah of mesirat nefesh, of being willing to give your life in the name of God.

In hindsight it's also illustrated in the word itself, made up of a kaf (כ) which wmeans palm, (or spoon) and the letter heh (ה) which represents the soul and (it has gematria 5) it's five levels, nefesh being the lowest of the five levels. So כה is literally the handing over of your soul.

[I also discussed כה at the end of this post on shabbath]

no dough

Since we've been in the apartment I've tried to make Challoth for shabbath on a regular basis. I don't always have the time, but last week, shabbath parashath Bo, I made the dough, even braided the challoth, but we went out and didn't get back in time to bake them before they had collapsed. So, ironically in the parashah that Bnei Yisrael didn't have time for their dough to rise because they left in such a hurry, (Exodus 12:39) we too had flat dough that I even put in the oven and forgot to bake because of the rush. (Don't worry, anyways we were eating by my parents' in law who had challoth already anyways.) It's important to see yourself in the parashah of every week and the Torah of every day, this week it was easy and humorous to do so. [the picture is of different challoth that rose successfully and baked nicely about seven months ago.]