Magnetic attraction

The Zohar (end of parashat shemot) asks how Moshe rabbeinu knew that Har Sinai was Har ha-elokim? In answer it explains that both Har Sinai and Moshe rabbeinu were waiting since he creation of the world to fulfill their purpose, matan Torah. So that when Har Sinai sensed Moshe rabbeinu nearby, it jumped closer to him just as an iron filing jumps towards a magnet. When Moshe saw the mountain jump to him, he also jumped to the mountain when he recognized it was Har ha Elokim. The rest is history.

a baby cries Torah

The Zohar (VaYeshev) says that the Yetzer Hara only has control over the body. This is why its first instance in one's life is from the moment one is born from the womb.

The Shulchan Aruch (and the Mishnah Berurah) when discussing the blessing of Asher Yatzar, (recited after washing the hands after using the bathroom)  makes a point that the mouth is closed in the womb and only opens when the baby is born. [Sidestepping for a moment the little scientist in me who would point out this is not a scientifically sound claim.] If the mouth would not open when the baby was born, we would die, they go on to explain.[This is close to some scientific truths about the reversal of blood flow in parts of the body and the closing and opening of certain valves at the time of birth, but I said we're ignoring that for now.]

In taking these two ideas together there's an interesting parallel that may or may not bear fruit:

In Yaakov's encounter with Yitzhak, we learn, "The voice is Yaakov's, while the hands are Esav's." In a number of places, Chazal equate Yaakov with the Godly soul, and Esav with the Yetzer Hara.

From this we see, perhaps, that the only thing that prevents the Yetzer Hara from killing a body outright upon its birth is that its mouth opens. (and the baby cries) The cry, the voice, is the power of Yaakov, and even though, until physical maturity we don't have a proper Godly soul, we do have the imprint of one. That shrill wordless voice of the baby when it is born is a portent of the Torah that will flow from that mouth. For that reason alone, theYetzer Hara is weakened and prevented from taking the child outright.

Were this not enough we see a number of examples in Chazal of those people who were so Holy and so involved in Torah that the Angel of Death (synonymous with the Yetzer Hara) had no power over them. The expression used is that "their mouths never ceased to utter Torah." We find it by David HaMelech, by Rav Yehudah HaNassi and others.

We know Torah is life, that's stated a number of times in the Torah, but perhaps from here we see that the mouth is the sole weapon against the Yetzer Hara.

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.

fragrant clothes

The Zohar explains that Esav's "festive garments" (bigdei hamudot) were taken from Nimrod when he killed him. This coincidentally was the day Yaakov bought the birthright from him, presumably the day Avraham died.

It's interesting to note that Nimrod, Avraham's foil, was kept around until the death of Avraham, when he no longer served a purpose. Presumably it was only because of Avraham's prayers that Nimrod hung around. It's fitting in a way, that Esav, Avraham's grandson, killed Nimrod, Avraham's Arch-nemesis who threw him into the fire.

Anyways, back to the point at hand: Those very clothes that Esav took from Nimrod were the garments that God made for Adam when He exiled him from the Garden of Eden. Nimrod wore them and they transformed him into a mighty hunter. Still, he was no match for Esav who killed him and took the clothes from him.

Later, it's only when Rivkah gave Yaakov the clothes (how did Rivkah have them? Rashi tells us that Esav didn't trust his own wives with them, so he left them with his mother) and he donned them that they gave off a beautiful aroma. Yitzhak smells this and knows that his son, Yaakov, is worthy of the blessings.

Why did the clothes give off a beautiful scent? Because they had finally returned to their rightful owner. What?Yaakov Avinu is said to have the countenance (literally: beauty) of Adam. What does this mean, how could it possibly be? Adam was an other-worldly celestial being! After the sin, Adam was reduced to mere mortal terms and it was this form that Yaakov resembled.

It is for this reason that Yaakov shared the same spiritual nature with Adam that he was able ultimately to rectify the nature of Adam. His descendants all followed in his Godly ways and received the Torah, at which time the stink of the sin was removed from all his future generations.

That's not the end of the story, we know, since the sin of the golden calf followed shortly afterwards. Still, the stink of the sin of the golden calf is nothing compared to that of the sin in the Garden. When the children of Yaakov clothe themselves in the words of the Torah they too give off a pleasing scent before God and draw down abundant blessing in the world. Think about that the next time you don a Talit or a kipah [or cover your hair--married women] or wear nice clothes for Shabbat.

Be involved in mitzwoth. Fill the world with the aroma of the Garden of Eden.

face of the father

The Zohar on Parashath VaYeshev says something very interesting. In an explanation of how Yosef not only maintained himself throughout his slavery but even grew, [spiritually,] the Zohar brings a lesson from Eliyahu HaNavi (Zachur LaTov) and Elisha HaNavi, Eliyahu's primary student:

How could it be that Elisha requested a double portion of Eliyahu's spirit? The spirit is singular, so either he would receive Eliyahu's spirit or he wouldn't?

In the answer we learn that a student who internalizes his teacher's lessons and brings additional wisdom to bear on these lessons, cleaving to them and delving to their depths, can reach new strengths through these lessons that were previously unavailable to him.

This was the secret of Yosef's success. He constantly delved into his father's lessons, always kept his father's countenance foremost in his thoughts.

This is especially helpful to us who are each caught in our own spiritual slavery. We have to bind ourselves to the lessons of our Rabbis the teachings of our fathers, and even keep their faces fresh in our memory, and may it be HaShem's Will that, like Yosef HaTzaddik, we will be sped from the darkness of the pit to the spotlight of the King's attention.

the farsighted king

David HaMelech saw that in the end of days, we'd be left with only the three daily prayers as a means to truly experience HaShem. (Tikkunei Zohar 127b)

I haven't had a chance to look into what the commentaries make of this. But I like the way it stands on its own. God willing there will be follow-up posts on the topic.

wrinkled and holy like parchment paper

On Yom Kippur, when I had a lull in concentration, and no matter what I tried I couldn't focus on anything other than an old sci-fi movie, I started to think about the influential people in my life. I thought about my grandmothers and grandfathers, parents, aunts and uncles, teachers, in-laws. The only thing that stuck in my head was the texture of their skin. Holy holy holy skin, wrinkled and paper-thin.

It occurred to me then, and though it is something I've said and written in the past I understood it then in a new and deeper light, that the essence of being a Jew is being simple. Simply keeping to the laws and traditions, year after year, day after day. Your soul is always holy; infinite and holy. But in the persistence of Judaism your flesh, especially your skin becomes holy. And in that moment I understood that children are new flesh, with years and years of investment ahead in order to reach that same holiness of skin that Grandma or Sabba carry with such grace.

It is no wonder then, that the Tikkunei Zohar teaches that the skin is the organ that represents Malchut. (God's Kingship, the Word of the King)

nonverbal dance of the soul

When a person talks, they have a tendency to move certain parts of their body. Those parts of their body they move when they talk are the parts of their body in which their soul primarily resides. (Tikkunei Zohar 132b)

haazinu : AZ-ify us!

האזינו השמים ואדברה - heavens! harken and I will speak

These are the opening words of parashath Haazinu. While learning the Ohr HaHayyim, he asks a simple question: what is the meaning of האזינו - harken? It suddenly occured to me that the deeper meaning of these opening words is something quite different from what we might have otherwise thought:

For a little background, we need to understand a few ideas. Speech is the power of the Moshiah. Why? Speech is associated with the sefirah of Malchut in a number of places, most notably in the introduction to the Tikkunei Zohar: מלכות פה - Malchut is the mouth. Also, the Moshiah will wage his wars through prayer - בקשתי ובחרבי - with my bow and my sword - is translated as through my supplications and my praise.

Another important introduction: Az Yashir, the song that Bnei Yisrael sang upon the Exodus from Egypt, hints that Mosheh and Bnei Yisrael will sing in the future, אז, not in the past. Chazal explain (since clearly Mosheh sings with Bnei Yisrael) that this song in the future will be in the time of Israel's final redemption. (when Mosheh is resurrected with all the rest of the 'dead')

Now we can understand the prayer that was hidden within the opening words of Parashath Haazinu:

האזינו השמים ואדברה - [I entreat the] Heavens, bring us to the time/state of אז (literally: make us אז) the time of the final redemption, and then [as the Moshiah, with the power of Moshiah] I will speak.

your prayers are always heard

Imagine this:

The King sits upon his throne in a sprawling chamber surrounded on all sides by infinite troops of mighty angels, the Holy Tzaddikim come and go petitioning the King and receiving His direct acknowledgement.

Outside the door to the King's chamber there is an anteroom, there the beinonim crush in a throng around the door passing notes in to be read to the King. They aren't allowed to enter, but they are at least priviledged with passing their prayers into the room.

At the far end of the anteroom the resha'im, the evildoers scornfully loiter, without any access to the King's ear.

That's the way the Tikkunei Zohar describes the scene. It seems to be in direct contradiction to the advice of the Ba'al Shem Tov: You should pray with the certain knowledge that your prayer will be answered.

How can we reconcile the two views? Either the Ba'al Shem Tov was only speaking to the Tzaddikim or else he knows something we don't know.

In fact, more than that, we know how much HaShem loves His children. (ie. infinitely more than the most a parent has ever (unconditionally) loved their child) So how could HaShem let a prayer go unheard? Moreso, a prayer that is unheard is a secret known only to the one who prayed it, and yet we say that the hidden things are for HaShem and only the revealed parts of creation are for us. (הנסתרות לה' אלקנו) These hidden prayers are under HaShem's sole jurisdiction, how could these prayers be refused entry into the King's chamber?

Perhaps Rebbe Nachman can enlighten us: In the past we discussed his teaching that prayers born of utter despair are always welcomed into the chamber of the King. [see prayers cleaving to prayers] The real trick here is that all the half-hearted or unintentioned prayers that loiter around, unable to enter the King's chamber, are embraced and wrapped up within a true prayer born from desperation. HaShem Himself brings such a prayer into His chamber and there, alone with this very precious prayer, all the other prayers are unwrapped and revealed.

Here we see that HaShem created the world with a structure and a system, it's called midah k'neged midah. (or 'a turn for a turn' as translated by R' Lazer Brody) The system (figuratively) handles the day to day function of how the world should work. But HaShem also created prayer as a means to petition HaShem directly, perhaps we could say (again figuratively) a means to balance the system. This is a secret backchannel established with His beloved children and it's actually bidirectional.

You see, we've learned previously one of the most basic (and crucial) lessons of the Baal Shem Tov: When HaShem wants to give us more blessing than we deserve, (according to the system of midah k'neged midah) He wraps that blessing up in a package of suffering. When we experience the suffering and thank God for that suffering recognizing that anything that comes from God is ultimately for our own good, we merit to remove that outer package of suffering and get at all the surplus of blessing hidden within.

That's one direction of the backchannel. The other direction is prayer. As we just learned prayer lets us wrap up our prayers, all our needs and desires, all of our confusion, everything in the desperate prayers of any member of the Jewish people. One person's genuine prayer is enough to raise up the needs and wants of all to God's attentive ear.

Prayer is the general 'upload' channel, but repentance, Teshuvah, is a more specific protocol of prayer. Through Teshuvah we can awaken HaShem's infinite Mercy and bring down limitless influx of blessing. The reason it can bring down so much blessing is because it contains an element of the download channel as well -- we thank HaShem for the sin, for the fact that we failed the test, recognizing that even our failure comes from God, and even our failure was ultimately in our best interest.

In short, there's this whole massive edifice that is the rules and structure of creation, and then there's the entirely personal, entirely private relationship HaShem has with His children. The structure is really there to educate us, and to sustain us as long as we don't know how to access that personal relationship. But don't be mistaken, the entire goal of your existence is discovering and developing that personal relationship.

So if you find yourself standing outside in the anteroom this Rosh HaShanah, don't forget that you have a V.I.P. pass to the afterparty.

knowing how to eat, or eating how to know?

The Zohar on parashath VaYetze mentions the teaching of our sages that a child will not learn to speak until s/he tastes bread. (wheat) The Zohar explains that it is only through tasting bread that a person can begin to develop intellectually. [I believe (though I may be mistaken) the Tanya explains that it is only through speaking that a child can become aware of what is going on inside themselves and in that way come to consciousness and intellectual understanding.]

That is the reason, the Zohar continues, that HaShem gave us bread from heaven in the wilderness. It was only after tasting the man[na] that we could begin to speak the words of Torah and to digest its wisdom.

We are told that Matzah is the bread of emunah. It seems to me now that we spent seven days eating matzah, only now can we begin to speak of Emunah, to truly taste Emunah, and to attain true wisdom in Emunah.

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.

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!!!

a holy remnant

Tikkunei Zohar (Tikkun 16) brings down something from the Midrash, that Rashi apparently quotes in his commentary on Bereishith: Man is the Challah of the world.

There is a mitzwah, whenever one makes dough, to take a portion of the dough and devote it to God. Were there a Beit HaMikdash at present, this dough would be given to the Kohanim, in our days we burn it till it is inedible so that no one else will benefit inappropriately from this Holy dough.

The Rabbis teach that Man's creation was HaShem separating Challah from the world. The earth and the water were mixed into a dough, and from that dough, Challah was taken, and into that Challah, HaShem blew a divine soul.

We are a portion of the world, set aside in Holiness by HaShem, since the time of its creation.

laying foundations

It ocurred to me today that I'm drawn to the study of Kabbalah out of the simplicity of it. No one in his right mind would call Kabbalah 'simple,' yet to me it is the closest thing to the equations that describe the spiritual underpinnings of the world. It is a system that gets down to the simplest clearest expression of the deepest forces in the world. Or at least that is what I try to draw out of it.

It is my hope that from this firm basis I will one day be able to sit down and study Tanach and Talmud as it truly can be studied. Currently, when I open a Humash I see infinite possibilities, meanings upon meanings, I'm drowning in too much information. When I open the Talmud the same is true. There's so much content, so much depth in every word. For me, the Kabbalah is a framework, the foundation, and upon it I hope to build everything else.

There is support for such a view in the writings of the Holy Komarna and the Holy Zidichover. How can I question Tzaddikim of their Holy level?

fear the vessel

In Pirkei Avoth we learn that Yirah (fear/awe) must preceed one's Torah learning.

In the Midrash, we learn that HaShem created the world initially out of Din, (judgement/might) and then joined it with Rahamim. (Mercy)

The Ramhal (Rav Mosheh Hayyim Luzzato) along with other mekubalim, (like R' Immanuel Hai Reiki in Mishnath Hasidim) explains that this Gevurah (Din) is the initial Tzimtzum that created the empty space into which the world was created. As they explain, the Tzimtzum is the root of the creation of the kli, the vessel.

It seems to me that the reason our Yirah must precede our learning, our Hochmah/wisdom, is because we need to create the vessel first that will contain our learning.

The Notzer Hesed explains that learning the secrets of the Torah, in the Zohar and the recorded writings of the Arizal, gives us proper Yirah. He says that even young children should be educated in these secrets so that they will have proper Yirah.

From this we can perhaps even understand that the learning that we do that is not l'shmah (for its own sake) still leads to learning l'shmah, because it creates the vessel for our future learning. How does it create the vessel? Through our learning, we see how much we don't know, we learn that there is so much still to learn, we get the smallest glimpse of just how great HaShem and His Torah are. This brings us to awe, which creates the vessel for our future learning.

the wealth of a pauper

Likkutei Halachoth (Hilchoth Tefillin 5:43) discusses the three kinds of prayer: 1) Tefillat Mosheh 2) Tefillat David 3) Tefillat Ha'ani, the prayer of the pauper. Of the three, the most appreciated is the prayer of the poor person. Why? Because he turns to HaShem with full recognition that there's no where else to go, he depends totally and completely on HaShem and he will not cease his prayers until he is answered.

He brings down the Zohar which describes how the prayer of the poor person gathers up everyone else's prayers, envelopes them and ascends to heaven. There, HaShem tells the heavenly court, leave me for I want to be alone with this special precious prayer. Once the court has left, HaShem derives (figuratively) special pleasure from this prayer, and all the other prayers (that had been hidden within it) are revealed (and answered) as well in this special moment.

From here we can see the most valuable prayer comes from the mouth of he who depends totally and utterly on HaShem for every one of his needs. As long as we think we're ok for now, but we need to pray that HaShem should also provide for us tomorrow or next week or next year, we aren't in touch with the fact that this very moment in which we are "ok" is being given to us right now from HaShem, out of His infinite kindness.

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.

forty years on the temple mount

The Midrash HaNe'elam (Zohar parashath Hayyei Sarah) explains that forty years before a soul is born, it comes down to dwell on Har Tzion until the time of its birth.

I just realized that the neshama of my son, and any other children born this year, have been dwelling on Har Tzion since 1967 when Har HaBayit was captured and Jerusalem was reunited.

That's an amazing first experience as a Neshama dwelling on har habayit.. Of course I have no idea of the deeper meaning of the Zohar in question.


[ps. I still maintain that that was the year the moshiah was actually born, which must also have been a very amazing event for all those neshamoth.]

to honor the king

Rav Yosef Karo brings down in his Beit Yosef (אורח חיים:לו) that we don't wear tefillin on chol haMo'ed. The reasoning is really interesting. There are many opinions among the Rishonim on the matter, but the Talmud doesn't state a clear opinion. It seems like we would lean towards wearing tefillin on chol haMo'ed except that he brings down the opinion of Rabi Shimon Bar Yohai (Rashbi) in the Zohar.

The Holy Rashbi explains that on Yom Tov we don't need to wear tefillin because HaShem's Tefillin shel-rosh is revealed upon us during those days. On chol haMo'ed however, HaShem's Tefillin shel-yad is revealed upon us. Therefore we don't wear tefillin throughout the whole of Yom Tov and chol haMo'ed. His son, Rabi Elazar asks why we don't put on tefillin on chol haMo'ed if the revellation of HaShem's tefillin is only on the level of shel-yad, but if we were to wear tefillin we would wear the shel-rosh as well?

In answer the Rashbi explains via parable: Once a king wanted to give his loved ones a special sign of his love, so he gave them a replica of his signet ring. Then later, he gave them one of the actual signet rings of one of his ministers. It would be a huge insult to the king if they chose to wear the replicas instead of the actual signet rings, even if it was only a minister's signet ring.

The tefillin we wear normally are a representation of HaShem's own tefillin, the Rashbi implies. On Yom Tov and chol haMo'ed, unlike the ordinary week days, HaShem gives us His own tefillin to wear, if we chose to wear our replicas then it is an insult to the King and chas v'shalom we would deserve to die.

I think there's an important principle in this for us all to learn year round. HaShem gave us the Torah and the halachah. Sometimes, we think we should honor HaShem in some other way, something we think is more honorable than perhaps saying a berachah, or going to minyan. From this story we can learn that no, doing the mitzwoth according to HaShem's will is the highest honor we can afford HaShem. Anything else we may choose to do, might actually be dishonoring or insulting the King--we run the risk of adding injury to insult. (chas v'shalom)