kurtiskabbalah

Good Morning Soul

2009-04-15T15:09:00.000-04:00

By YY Jacobson

And then the fight started …

“My wife sat down on the couch next to me as I was flipping channels. She asked, ‘What’s on TV?’
I said, ‘Dust.’

“And then the fight started…

“When I got home last night, my wife demanded that I take her someplace expensive… so, I took her to a gas station.

“And then the fight started…

“My wife and I were sitting at a table at my high school reunion, and I kept staring at a drunken lady swigging her drink as she sat alone at a nearby table.

“My wife asked, ‘Do you know her?’ ‘Yes,’ I sighed, ‘She’s an old friend. I understand she took to drinking right after we split up many years ago, and I hear she hasn’t been sober since.’

"’My God!’ says my wife, ‘who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?’

“And then the fight started…”

The Fire

"The fire on the altar shall remain aflame on it, it shall not be extinguished; and the Priest shall kindle wood upon it morning after morning… A constant fire shall burn upon the Altar; it shall never go out.” (Leviticus 6:5-6).

With these words the Bible describes, in this weeks Torah portion (Tzav), the instruction to continuously maintain a flame on the altar which stood in the Tabernacle (a mobile sanctuary the Jewish people built in the desert to house the divine presence), and then later in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. For this purpose, the priest was required to place new firewood on the altar each morning, in order to feed a flame which must never go out.

As the biblical commentators and the Jewish mystics acutely grasped, each mitzvah (commandment) in the Hebrew Bible contained, in addition to its concrete and simple meaning, many symbolisms relating to the inner psyche of the human being. This mitzvah is no exception, and it captures a simple but profound truth about our daily patterns.

“A constant fire shall burn upon the altar” – the altar, in the writings of Jewish mysticism, is symbolic of the human heart, the space in each of us most capable of sacrifice. The heart however needs a continuous fire burning in it. For the human heart to live deeply, for it to feel empathy and experience the depth of love, it needs to be on fire, passionate, aflame.

But how? There are times when our hearts and souls are inspired and aflame; but often we feel numb and apathetic. Sometimes we get cynical and detached (as in the above anecdotes.) How do we maintain the flame and the inspiration in our own inner altar?

There is only one way: “The Priest shall kindle wood upon it morning after morning.” Each and every morning we must place “wood” on our altar, in order to feed its potential flame. Fire cannot exist in a vacuum; the fire in our heart and soul, too, requires “wood” to sustain it.

What is the “wood” that is capable of feeding the soul’s flames each morning? Study, prayer and charity. They are the morning encounters with the living G-d that allow the fire of the soul to hold on to something and take root into the human psyche.

A delicious piece of cheesecake, reading and answering your e-mails, listening to the news – they don’t do the trick of turning on your soul, your inner depth. They lack the properties to bring out the flame of the soul. In the morning, before you do anything else, you need to engage in a labor that will let the flame of your soul emerge. Good Morning Soul must precede Good Morning America. Then you’re set for the day, because as Goethe said, a man sees in the world what he carries in his heart. If your heart is aflame, your world that day will be on fire.

And you must place the wood on your altar each morning, no exceptions. Consistency is the key to a meaningful and inspiring day. There are no shortcuts to inspiration; everything comes with a price. The only job where you start at the top is digging a hole. Bur life is about climbing mountains, not digging holes. And in climbing mountains you must begin on the bottom.
~~~

The Divine Puzzle - A Piece At a Time

2009-03-08T19:01:00.001-04:00

Winning The Lottery

The Hebrew month of Adar contains intense transformational energy. The Torah says that when Adar comes in, we have to increase in joy. That’s because the inner nature of Adar is joy, and also because in this month everything we do to add in joy and happiness for ourselves or others helps bring down transformational energy into our real everyday lives.

The two most prominent events that occurred in Adar are the birth of Moses, the one who brought the Torah to the world, and the holiday of Purim. Purim commemorates a miracle that took place long ago in ancient Persia, about 2500 years ago. It was a miracle in which the Jewish people were saved from total extinction – an extinction that had been decreed by order of a very powerful king. At that time, the king of Persia ruled the entire civilized world, and so, once he decreed death to the Jews there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. But instead of abandoning their faith, which would have meant that they were no longer part of the Jewish people and so no longer subject to death, the Jews woke up. They gathered their children together and taught them Torah, and they turned even more strongly to G-d. And at the eleventh hour, due to a series of Divinely orchestrated events that all appeared natural, the decree was turned upside down, the Jews were granted victory over their enemies, and instead of being the world’s victims, instead of being wiped out, they were elevated to a completely new state – a state of “light, and gladness, and joy and honor”.

It’s very interesting to note that the series of events that led to this miraculous transformation didn’t happen at one time. They actually took place over several years, and they took place quietly, behind the scenes. If you were watching at the time, you wouldn’t have noticed anything unusual happening. It was only after the fact that it became possible to look back and see how everything that had happened, that led up to the victory was part of an intricately woven Divine plan. Although it all seemed natural at the time, in retrospect, after the fact, it became obvious that every detail was orchestrated from Above. The same thing is true in our lives, and in our times, in the crises that we’re experiencing today. It only looks like the world is running on its own. It only looks like our lives are random. In fact, everything that happens is orchestrated from Above – and everything is part of a plan.

Purim means “lots”. A lottery is random and not rational. It doesn’t make sense from a human point of view. Usually things that don’t make sense we think of as irrational. But they can also be considered supra-rational. Sometimes things that don’t make sense just appear to be random, but that’s because they come from a place that’s too high for us to grasp, a place that’s beyond creation and beyond the laws of nature. They come from a part of G-d where sense and nonsense, nature and miracles, finite and infinite, are all the same.

Purim gives us the power to touch that place. That’s why we’re commanded to drink until “lo yada” - until we don’t know; until we don’t understand, until we get to the point that is above reason, above any conditions. That’s the level of “is”, that level of pure being, where we are simply connected to the Divine – just because we are. From that place above nature, above creation, above our personal human identity, and above any conditions there are no limits - not even the limits of our own nature. From that place we have a supernatural power to transform our world.

Chassidus tells us that in Adar, the mazal of the Jewish people is dominant. What is the mazal? It’s our infinitely connected spiritual source, the highest level of our soul. In Adar, that unknowable level flows like a river from its hidden place into the seemingly random and mundane events of our lives. That untouchable, unknowable power gives us the power to transform our lives, and all of their circumstances, in ways that didn’t seem possible before.

Often our hidden powers, our bigger powers, come out when we’re under threat, under pressure, as happened in the Purim story. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In Adar we’re capable of bringing those hidden powers out through joy. The more we follow the recipe of Purim and do things that make us happy – and make other people happy – just because, the more we connect to our own deepest levels, the more we unite with others and the more we turn together to G-d and the Torah, the smoother and more joyful our lives will be.

So here’s your meditation for the week:

Joy is already an intrinsic part of your soul. It’s just a piece of who you innately are. But sometimes you’re not in touch with it, and it needs to be coaxed into the light of day. So what will you do – today and throughout Adar to make yourself happy – and to make others happy too? Maybe you’ll put on some music and dance. Or maybe you’ll get together with others to celebrate and share. Or maybe you’ll do special – even little – things to do that will surprise and delight your family and friends. But whatever you choose, be aware that you have the opportunity to connect to and draw down the power of Adar and Purim into your life and into your world, in ways that you never have before.

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Shifra

A Good Match

2009-01-24T02:41:00.000-05:00

8 Tevet 5769 - Brit of Shiloh Yehudah Leib Sha'ul - Kfar Chabad (Excerpts)

The Baby’s Name: Shiloh Yehuah Leib

We heard from the child’s father, Rabbi Dror Sha’ul, the Chabad Shaliach in Darhamsala, India, that he was born on Wednesday, which corresponds to the fourth aliyah of parshat Vayechi. This aliyah recounts the blessing Jacob gave Judah, from whence came the first part of the name, Yehudah Leib. In addition, the night before the brit (last night) the mother had a thought by ru’ach hakodesh (all names given by parents to their children are inspired by ru’ach hakodesh—the holy spirit) that they should add another name—a name connected with the Mashiach (indeed, Judah’s name was given by his mother, Leah). Whether consciously or subconsciously, indeed the name Shiloh is also part of the blessing Jacob gave to Judah. So all three names are included in that blessing.
Now, the first part of the name given to the baby, Yehudah Leib is a pair of names that usually go together. Originally, this was the Maharal of Prague’s name, who was himself a direct descendant of King David. His name was Yehudah Livo, which means “lion,” and through the generations, this became Leib.

The Secrets of Judah

Judah also appears in the beginning of parshat Shemot. If you count, you will find that he is the 15th word of the parshah (hence, the 15th word of chumash Shemot). 15 is the value of the Hebrew word for “thanksgiving” (הוד ), which stems from the same root as Judah. It is also the value of the first two letters of Havayah, יה , which form a holy Name in and of themselves. Indeed, the Arizal writes that the letters of Judah, יהודה , are the same letters as (ban1) filling of this Name, יוד הה .
Judah is the only one of the tribes whose name contains all four letters of Havayah (and in order). Another interesting point is that given the way that Judah is written in Hebrew, if we would not know that it is the name of a man, we would think that it was the name of a woman. This also ties Judah with the sefirah of kingdom, the most feminine of the sefirot. Thus, Judah has the most feminine name of all the tribes, very similar in its structure to Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter.
We saw earlier that Judah was given the power of unification (ליחד יחודים ).2 All unification is between masculine and feminine. Since he himself is a male with a feminine name, he is an example of his power of unification. Looking more closely at his name, יהודה , we see that the letter dalet (ד ) appears after the first three letters of Havayah (יהו ), followed by the letter hei (ה ). The inner meaning of this is that the first three letters give to the dalet in order to transform it into a hei.
We find that there are many people who do not write the name Yehudah with a hei at the end because of its sanctity (all 4 letters of Havayah appear in order). Instead, they end it with the letter alef, like so: יהודא . In this case, it is another (the mah) filling of the same two-letter holy Name (יוד הא ). Of course, there is also a third way to fill this name, using the ab-filling, and then it would be יוד הי , which permute to spell “Jew” (יהודי ).
[All of our people are today called Jews after the tribe of Judah. The sages tell us that a Jew, by definition, is one who denounces false worship (עבודה זרה ) of God. So this must be the essential character trait of Judah—willingness to sacrifice himself to denounce false worship of God. Particularly because of his fight against the molech (a form of idolatry), Judah merits to be the king and to be the one who brings the entire people together under the God of Israel.]
Now, there is a fourth filling, the sag-filling of this Name, that is indistinguishable from the Ab-filling. It too is written יוד הי . For this reason, in some Kabbalistic texts only three fillings appear: יוד הי יוד הא יוד הה . Their gematria together is 91, the value of the unification of the two Names Havayah and Adni (יהוה אדני ) and a very important meditation for the word “Amen” (אמן ). Still, if we do explicitly add the fourth, sag-filling, then the total value will be 126 and this is the value of the 6 possible permutations of the three unique letters of Havayah: יהו הוי ויה יוה היו והי .3 126 is also the value of 7 times Chai (חי ) [today is the Chai, 18th day of Tevet].

Four Levels of Divine Presence in a Marriage

This leads us into an important chapter in our teachings about marital harmony, which we refer to by the idiom “the Divine Presence between them” (שכינה ביניהם ).4 We already talked about how Judah brings unity and harmony. We see this already in his birth. Leah was not Jacob’s favorite wife and the Torah even tells us that she felt as though her husband hated her. In choosing a name for each of her first three children, Leah expressed her pain and anguish. Reuben means, “God has seen my plight.” Shimon means, “God has heard my pain.” Levi expresses her wish that “From now on, may my husband be my companion.” But, when Judah is born the bitterness is gone and she calls him by this name explaining, “This time I give thanks to God” (as noted, Judah stems from the same root as thanksgiving”). Judah changes everything. When he is born, Leah seems to have attained a state of harmony, without any worries. Then the Torah tells us, “And she stopped giving birth.” Implying that in order to attain marital harmony with Jacob, she no longer needed to give birth to any more children. Sometimes, people read this verse as implying something negative happened—she could no longer bear children, but the deeper meaning is that she no longer needed to bear children for her husband to love her. She was now inspired and no longer required more children to attain the marital harmony she was looking for. Her later need to have more children came from an entirely different place. To have her two last children she had to feel some other form of lack that was not related to her first four births.
Where do we see that Judah is indeed the essence of marital harmony?5 As we saw, Judah’s name is the filling of the holy Name, Kah (יה ). The whole topic of “the Divine Presence between them” is learnt from the saying of Rabbi Akiva that,
If a husband and wife merit, the Divine Presence dwells between them. But, if they do not, then fire consumes them.
How does Rabbi Akiva learn this? When we take the words for “husband” (איש ) and “wife” (אשה ) we see that they have two letters in common and two letters the are different. The two common letters are אש , which mean fire and the two different letters are יה , the Name Kah. If they merit, the yud (י ) and hei (ה ) unify and create the holy Name Kah, representing the Divine Presence. But, if they do not, then the remaining letters that spell “fire” consume them and their marriage. Indeed, there are two “fire” left. One is the fire of cravings (תאוה ) and the other is the fire of anger (כעס ). The value of both together is equal to “You shall not commit adultery” (לא תנאף ), 562.
But, above we saw that there are four possible fillings (only three of which are unique) of this holy Name Kah that represents the Divine Presence and creates marital harmony. It follows therefore that each of these fillings represents a different type or level of marital harmony. This is a topic we have talked about in the past, but is of course very important. The more attuned a couple is to their marriage and the more ability they have to study Torah, the more they can pay attention to which level of harmony they are presently in. Incidentally, in the pre-Arizal Kabbalah it is explained that meditating on letters alone is like the Workings of Creation (מעשה בראשית ), but meditation on letter fillings is like the Workings of the Chariot (מעשה מרכבה ), a much higher and more advanced level of understanding reality. The word chariot in Hebrew also means “constructing” or “putting together.” So if all you are interested in is generic marital harmony, you can make do with the two letters yud and hei alone. But, if you are interested in marital harmony that comes from the Workings of the Divine Chariot, you have to meditate on the four possible fillings of these two letters.
Before we look at the fillings of יה , let us see another example of how fillings work. If we take the sag-filling of “Jew” (יהודי ), we get יוד הי ואו דלת יוד . Its value is 502, exactly the value of “the Divine Presence between them” (שכינה ביניהם ). 502 is also the second sag-filling of יה , יוד ואו דלת הי יוד . This does not mean that only the sag-filling is related to marital harmony, only that there is something special about it in this respect. Additionally, the soul root of Rabbi Akiva, the author of the saying about the Divine Presence dwelling between a husband and wife, is in the sag-filling of Havayah, the filling that corresponds to the mother principle. So, it is only natural that he used the phrase that equals the second sag-filling of יה .
The four possible fillings of יה correspond to the sefirot and the partzufim in the following manner:

filling
letters
sefirah
partzuf
ab filling (עב )
יוד הי
wisdom
father
sag filling (סג )
יוד הי
understanding
mother
mah filling (מה )
יוד הא
beauty
ze’er anpin
ban filling (בן )
יוד הה
kingdom
nukvah
As noted, the husband contributes the letter yud (י ) to the holy Name יה . The wife contributes the letter hei (ה ). The first point we see about the four fillings is that the filling of the male letter, the yud, is always the same. This would seem to imply that the level of marital harmony attained does not depend on the husband. His filling is always וד . What this means is that to attain the various levels of marital harmony the husband always has to do the same thing represented by these two letters, vav (ו ) and dalet (ד ). The letter yud represents a state of being aloof (it represents a dimensionless point, suspended in midair, like a person that is so disconnected that he does not even leave an imprint on his wife and his home). The husband cannot remain in this state (a state he has a natural tendency towards). Instead, he has to expand and descend through the two letters vav and dalet. As the sages say, “Descend a level and marry a woman.” The dalet thus represents his wife, and the vav represents the descent, or drawing himself down, like lowering a pail into a well (as it always does in Chassidut). So the image we get from the filling of the letter yud, the husband’s contribution to marital harmony is that the initial yud transforms into the vav by lengthening itself, by descending, and then can connect with the dalet. Indeed, this is always the case.6
Indeed, the level of marital harmony that the couple will enjoy depends on the wife. As the sages say, “Everything is from the woman.”
The second point is to differentiate between the first two fillings, the ab and sag fillings, which are externally the same. The differential is how the woman sees her husband. If she wants to take her essence and include it within his, that is the ab filling. In Kabbalah, this is the union of the supernal father and mother, where the supernal mother is enclothed within the supernal father. What is the husband’s essential point? That is selflessness. If the woman wants to annul her being and be included within her husband’s then that is the filling of ab. This is also known in Kabbalah as the understanding within wisdom (in the words of Sefer Yitzirah, “Understand in wisdom”). In a sense, the woman feels the seminal point insight that her husband has and wants to be included in him by annulling herself to this insight.
On the other hand, if the woman wants to include her husband’s essence in herself, that is the sag filling. In this case, the woman does not wish to be nullified within her husband’s essence, but rather to take that essential point, called his steadfastness, his ability to remain steady and calm and to imbue herself with it. This is the feeling a woman has when she wants to take the seed of her husband and to be impregnated by it. There is a story about the Alter Rebbe’s wife, who once said to her friends, “meiner zogt” meaning, “mine says,” referring to her husband as “mine.” This sense of ownership over her husband is not an objectification, but rather illustrates her yearning for her husband’s essence.
Let us illustrate this yearning with a story that appears in the midrash:7
A Jewish woman was married for many years, but had not had children. Her husband decided therefore to divorce her, so he went to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, of blessed memory, who told him that just as they celebrated their marriage with joy, so they should celebrate its severance with joy.
The husband prepared a great feast, at the height of which he asked wife to choose whatever of his possessions she desired, assuring her that he would not refuse her wish.
And what did she do? She served him so much wine that he got drunk and went to sleep, and then told her servants to take him on his bed into her bedroom.
The following morning, when he awoke and found himself in her home, he asked her why he had been brought there—wasn’t it clear that he intended to divorce her? She replied: “Didn’t you tell me that I could take whatever I wanted? Well, I desire neither gold, nor silver, nor precious gems, nor pearls; all I want is you. You yourself are the sole object of my desire.”
When the husband heard this, he again became enamored of his wife, and took her back. And in this merit, the Holy One, blessed be He, granted them children.

Even though they did not have children until then, the new yearning that the woman had for her husband was enough that the tzadik, Rabbi Shimon, could bless them to have children.
In the mah filling, the woman’s letter hei is filled with an alef (א ). In the Zohar, the form of the alef is likened to the form of the human being. Thus, at this level, the wife’s intent is to reproduce her husband’s form in their children. This is a very straightforward interpretation. She wants to play her part in her husband’s mitzvah of “be fruitful and multiply.” This is what the Torah notes is the revealed reason that men and women marry in the first place—they want to reproduce, to make a family.
So now, we come to the ban-filling, the filling that spells Judah (יהודה ). The Arizal explains that the ban-filling of Havayah is the secret of the Cave of the Patriarchs, the cave in Hebron where the patriarchs and matriarchs are buried, which in the Torah is called the “Doubled Cave.” There are many explanations for this name. But, what is important for our purposes is that in the ban-filling of Havayah, each letter is actually doubled: יוד הה וו הה (even the yud is filled as יוד , where the filling letters וד have the same numerical value as the root letter, י ). The first three fillings were relatively easier to understand, this one is a bit more difficult. It seems as if the wife is simply duplicating herself. At first this sounds like the sense that a woman who is not yet married would have about marriage—marriage is about finding myself in my husband. How can such a feeling lead to marital harmony?
Another possible explanation would be that the woman seeks to have only daughters with her husband, but this too is not good enough.
To understand the significance of the ban-filling, we have to recall that this filling corresponds to the sefirah of kingdom. Let us start by making an observation. Most women are not interested and would rather have no part in their husband becoming the ruler, the king, over the entire world. The sages say that, “one who is without a wife is without a wall.” Normally, the woman’s role is to protect her husband and this includes ensuring that his imagination does not get the better of him, to dissuade if he decides to seek positions and status that are simply too big for him. A woman who protects her husband encourages him to be close to his home, to make an honorable living, to set time for studying Torah, to be a talmid chacham. Normally a woman is not pleased (to say the least) if her husband decides to enter politics and she does her best to keep him from doing so.
But there is such a thing as a real king and a real queen.
There are of course superficial women, the type that would send their husband into politics in order to grab the limelight. Such women seek fame and honor and are willing to sacrifice their husbands (and themselves) for it. But, we are talking about a holy woman. How can a woman who is holy, who is modest, that wants her husband to be modest, how can such a woman and her husband assume the role of king and queen? If we would argue that the husband of such a woman should simply ignore her, if his calling is indeed in politics, then what of the Zohar’s statement that a king without a queen is neither a king nor is he great. The previous Lubavitcher Rebbe quoted this in his discourse at his son-in-law’s the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s wedding.8 In holiness, there cannot be a king without a queen; everything depends on the wife.
The nature of the woman of holiness, the woman who can be a true queen is that she endorses her husband’s sovereignty and she encourages it. Most women cannot bear to share their husband with others. But, there is a woman who is of such great stature and has so much self-confidence that she can (subconsciously) encourage others to develop a relationship that is the duplicate of her own with her husband. Of course, it goes without saying that we do not mean to say that she will let anyone else marry her husband—duplicating her relationship encompasses her spiritual and emotional relationship but not her physical. For her husband to be the king she has to project every other aspect of her relationship with her husband, the king, so that it can inspire and be shared by every one of his subjects.
So we have to explain that the duplication of the wife means that she sees the bigger picture. She realizes that her husband can be king only if her relationship with him can be duplicated and shared by others. She is the feminine kingdom, the kingdom of the world of Emanation, who acts to duplicate her relationship with her husband, the Ze’er Anpin of Emanation upon all the worlds below emanation. This is how the kingdom of emanation works in Kabbalah. It takes the relationship it has with its husband, the Ze’er Anpin of the world of Emanation and duplicates it for all the creatures that inhabit the three lower worlds, Creation, Formation, and Action. Relative to the king, all the subjects are feminine, because the king is meant to provide for everyone. So it is only thanks to the queen that the subjects know how to relate to their king in the first place. For them, she provides the example of how to relate to the king properly, how to respect and honor him in the right way (and how to get along with him). When all is said and done, she is responsible for making the rest of the world follow her husband.
Again, the ban-filling is not an alef or a yud, which would indicate something other than herself, but rather a hei, her letter. The ban-filling implies that she fills reality with herself, in the sense of her loving relationship with her husband, the king.
For the woman who enjoys this type of marital harmony, the power of the relationship is so strong that she finds that she can figuratively make room for the rest of the world in her own home. In practice, different subjects will adopt different types of relationships with the king (relationships in which they see the king as either their sovereign, their father, or their husband9), but they will all in the end be inspired by the queen’s harmony with the king. A woman who can inspire the entire world in this way—while at the same time protecting the king, her husband, from false self-aggrandizement and from ill-willed suitors—merits to affect the verse, “A king in his beauty shall your eyes see.”10
Incidentally, when we look at the history of the early kingship in the Jewish people, we can say that the reason that David was able to eventually take the kingdom from Saul was because all the women fell in love with David, a fact that is readily apparent after David’s victory over Goliath.11 In practice, David was only allowed to have 18 wives, and in our present day, when we are limited to marrying only one woman the king will of course have only one wife. Still when we look at this phrase numerically, “one wife” (אשה אחת ) is equal to “everything” (הכל ) times “one” (אחד ), implying that it has always been that one particular wife inspires everything, i.e., all the king’s subjects, to become one. We noted earlier that for King David, his one special wife was Bathsheba.
Ok. This has been in short an explanation of what the four levels of marital harmony mean from the wife’s perspective. We said that the husband seems to be constant through all the levels, and indeed his only task is to come down, to meet his wife where she is, at her level. But, in practice, depending on where his wife is, the husband has to come down in different ways in order to enjoy the marital harmony with her. In effect, each level of marital harmony also projects a different meaning onto the two filling letters of the yud (י )—vav and dalet (וד ). Let us see how this works.
We noted earlier that the dalet represents the woman. But, more specifically, the letter dalet also means “to elevate,” like in the beginning of parshat Shemot, where we find the verse, “he brought up water for us and he watered the flock”12 (דלה דלה לנו וישק את הצאן ). Also in the verse, “I exalt you God, for you have brought me up….”13 There is a principle in the Talmud that the woman ascends when her husband ascends, but she does not descend with him when he does.
So, if his wife is entirely nullified before him, as we saw in the ab-filling, then the vav dalet of her husband signifies that he gives himself entirely over to her. An example of this is when God gave us the Torah at Mt. Sinai. Since we were entirely nullified before Him, He gave His very essence to us in the Torah, as the sages say that the first word of the Ten Commandments (which we heard directly from God), I am (אנכי ) is the initials of the phrase, “I wrote Myself and I gave Myself [to you]” (אנא נפשי כתבית יהבית ).14 In other words, God did not just give as a glimpse, a reflection of His essence; He gave us His very essence. At this level of marital harmony, the husband’s descent is dynamic. It is meant to result in an ascent of the couple together, in harmony. At the very end of this ascent, the woman actually rises higher than does her husband, the secret of the verse, “a woman of valor is her husband’s crown.” So the vav signifies that his essence descends to her and the dalet signifies their united ascent up to infinity.
In the sag-filling the vav-dalet signify a different type of descent. Whereas in the ab-filling the husband gave all of his essence, in the sag-filling he gives all of his attention, all of his understanding to his wife. His descending to meet her where she is focuses on understanding her as much as he can. This not unlike a psychologist who, given a certain situation has to try to reconstruct where it came from. Of course, the sages tell us that a woman has more understanding than does a man, so the husband cannot fully understand his wife, but he has to try. This is the meaning of the vav, the descent. Both here an in the next level, the mah-filling, the dalet signifies filling his wife’s needs to the best of his ability. Indeed, in the “meiner zogt” story mentioned earlier, the Alter Rebbe came down (from his Divine meditation) in order to understand what his wife meant when she said, “mine says!” The excitement that he experienced when he understood what this statement means is typical of the Alter Rebbe, whose excitement in general originates in the sag-filling of Havayah, which corresponds to “with all of your all.”15
The mah-filling is very similar to the sag-filling. Again the husband’s descent, symbolized by the letter vav, is in order to understand and empathize with his wife. But, here the vav takes on an additional meaning. The Name Havayah is broken up into two halves, the first half (the first two letters, yud and hei) signify the concealed aspects of God. The second half (the last two letters, vav and hei) signify His revealed aspects. The revealed aspects thus begin with the letter vav. Here too, the vav does not only signify a concealed descent, i.e., a descent that is entirely psychological or spiritual. Now the vav signifies a descent that has a revealed effect. This effect can be divided into two parts, just as the vav signifies the six sefirot from loving-kindness to foundation, which are divided into two triplets. The first part, corresponding to the emotional sefirot loving-kindness, might, and beauty (known by their initials chagat, חג"ת ), means providing her with emotional support. The second part, corresponding to the habitual sefirot victory, thanksgiving, and foundation (known by their initials nehi, נה"י ), means providing her physical needs, the ones the husband committed to when he signed the ketubah (marriage contract). In short, we can describe this type of descent as taking responsibility for his wife’s needs.
Now, obviously the final level, the ban-filling, has to be something more. Here the husband’s vav-dalet signifies more than just taking responsibility for what the husband is required according to the ketubah and according to Jewish law as elaborated in the Shuchan Aruch. A husband whose wife treats her relationship with him as that of a queen with her king, such a husband wants to give his wife that which is fitting for a queen—in short, he wants to give her everything, infinitely beyond that which he is responsible for giving. In the time of the sages, this meant providing her with thousands of servants. Today, this would be translated as giving her thousands of whatever else might fit the bill.
An important point to make is that a man may think that if he gives his wife too much she will begin to spend it on the wrong things, but this is very non-regal thought. When the marital harmony is that of a king and a queen, then the wife deserves everything. Indeed, this does not mean that I (as a king) also deserve the same (or, perhaps even more)—on the contrary, exactly the opposite is true. In the classic anthology of wise idioms called Mivchar Hapninim, it says that a person should give up on the world. What it means to say is that a person should feel that he does not deserve anything in this world—because nothing belongs to him. Indeed, nothing belongs to me, so who does it belong to? It belongs to my wife! Therefore, she is entitled to everything I can give her, not because she is lacking anything. This is like the prayer of a rich man, as explained elsewhere by the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

In any case, the vav-dalet of the ban-filling implies giving your wife an infinite amount. This itself will reveal in her the hei filling of her hei, the secret of the Double Cave, the Cave of the Patriarchs, as above. Now the dalet, in this case, is like the famous kavanah (intent) of the dalet when we say the Shema’s final word “one” (אחד ). We know that there it means that God is king all around the world, in all 4 corners. The value of the dalet is 4. Giving your wife an infinite amount is to make her the queen of the entire world.

(Based on a lecture given on the 18th of Tevet, 5769 in Kfar Chabad)

Notes:

1. There are four major fillings of Havayah. See What You Need to Know About Kabbalah, pp. 141ff. The ban filling corresponds to the sefirah of kingdom.

2. Editor’s note: in the part of the lecture not translated, the Rav discussed the Hayom Yom for the day of the lecture, the 18th of Tevet. There the Lubavitcher Rebbe quotes that Jacob sent Judah before him to Egypt in order to set up a yeshivah (Torah academy) there. This ensured that all of Jacob’s descendants would be unified and in for this reason, the years Jacob spent in Egypt were the best years of his life. The Rav stressed that what created the unity was the yeshivah that Judah had set up prior to their coming. He also connected this with the Alter Rebbe’s mission statement for Chassidut: that all the Chassidim, all his followers, would be as one family united by Torah.

3. See in length in the section titled "Permutation Theory," here.

4. This is the title of Harav Ginsburgh’s first book on marriage in Hebrew, selections from which make up the main body of The Mystery of Marriage.

5. Marital harmony or more literally “peace in the home” (שלום בית ) is equal to the union of David (דוד ) and Bathsheba (בת שבע ). The initial letters of their names (Bathsheba is two words in Hebrew) spell the word “honey” (דבש ), and the Arizal adds that “honey” is equal to “woman” (אשה ). From their union comes Solomon and the Mashiach comes out of both David and Solomon.

6. As far as offering marriage counseling to the husband goes, it is always the same: Come down! You have to meet your wife where she is. The husband, more than the wife, suffers from a natural state of egotism, which he has to break if he hopes to connect with his wife.

7. The Mystery of Marriage, p. 87.

8. Sefer Hama’amarim Kuntresim, vol. 1, 20a, s.v. Lecha Dodi

9. These three types of relationship with the king are of course a metaphor for the three types of relationships we have with the Almighty, as our father, as our king, and as our husband. They are discussed in depth and length in the first article of our Hebrew volume, Ani Ledodi Vedodi Li.

10. Isaiah 33:17.

11. See I Samuel 18:6-8.

12. Exodus 2:19.

13. Psalms 30:2.

14. Indeed, as the Zohar says that the Torah came out of wisdom, the sefirah corresponding to the ab-filling.

15. See Deuteronomy 6:7.

QUALITY HARVEST

2009-01-21T01:47:00.000-05:00

PARSHA
VAYECHI 09

“Gather yourselves together Ve’agidah Lachem that I may tell you what shall befall you in days to come” (Gen.49.1)

We may read the text as follows:-
‘Gather yourselves together Ve’agudah Lachem that you may be one united bond…’ (Maayanah Shel Torah)

Yaakov’s blessing to his sons before passing on, is based on prophetic insight.

The key to the cultivation of higher intuitive knowledge may be found in Yaakov’s preface to his blessing.

Generally speaking, our thoughts tend to be scattered and disjointed, lacking uniform patterns in formation. They are mundane in their randomness and out of sync with higher harmonic planes of thought vibration.

To gain inspiration from above, we need to gather our thoughts and centre them to be as one, in unity with both higher and deeper levels of consciousness.

We need to be positive and level-headed in visualising our objectives ahead. We need to be cool, calm and collected to open the door to the collective unconscious.
With gentle steady restoration to gain inspiration, insight from the super-conscious may come to light.

Choose Light or Choose Darkness

2008-12-22T01:23:00.001-05:00

~~~~

MADOFF AND HOLTZBERG

By Simon Jacobson

A case study in contrast.

Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg. Bernard L. Madoff.

Gavriel and Rivka brought light into people’s lives, and created a global Kiddush Hashem (sanctifying G-d’s name) when they were brutally butchered by agents of darkness simply for being Jewish. They personified the Jewish virtues of charity and kindness, illuminating everyone they could reach. In the wake of their murders, which touched a deep chord, a wave of good deeds reverberated around the world.

Bernard Madoff brought darkness into people’s lives, and created a global Chilul Hashem (desecrating G-d’s name) when he massacred the financial security – and trust – of many individuals and organizations, killing in one fell swoop various charities and damaging many others, and destroying the trust in the future of all investments. He personifies greed, selfishness and self-indulgence. In the wake of his contemptible behavior, in which he single handedly eroded the confidence necessary to keep markets alive, people are left stunned and distraught. We are wondering how far this will unravel, how many others will be implicated, and above all, what will be the resulting consequences – how will this affect the future of the entire nature of investments, hedge funds and trust in money managers?

We could not have found a starker example epitomizing the two diametric extremes on the spectrum of human behavior: the heights of ultimate nobility and self-sacrifice in Mumbai, being killed in the service of others; the depths of ignobility and self-interest in New York, hurting others in the service of oneself, cheating his own people, friends and colleagues, exploiting the trust of holocaust survivors and confidantes.

What makes some people choose a life of serving others, and others a self-serving life? Exactly that: choice. We each have the power to choose which way to be.

And make no mistake about it: Each of us must choose between these two paths every moment of our lives. Either we will serve others or we will serve ourselves.

Not to minimize Madoff’s crimes, or to suggest that every self-serving person will become a Madoff, but his behavior is a symptom, not a cause, of social forces that orbit around selfish, material gain. And, whenever you are self-absorbed, thinking about yourself exclusively – “me and nothing else” – you are one step away from pulling off a scheme like Madoff did. Perhaps not on the scale of $50 billion – not everyone has that opportunity – but who’s counting?

And indeed, this choice has become only more amplified in our modern times. The comforts and freedoms of prosperity have allowed for a climate of self-indulgence. When Bernie Madoff’s grandparents were running for their lives together with the grandparents of those he cheated, there wasn’t much time to develop schemes, buy yachts, jet-set and run from Park Avenue to the south of France to the Hamptons to Palm Beach chasing a dollar and spending two. There were greedy people then too, those with power and wealth abusing the rest of the population, but for Jews at least, fighting for their lives, retirement accounts and hedge funds were the last thing they were concerned with. They gave their lives so that their children would grow up good Jews, virtuous individuals, who would carry on the baton passed on from generation to generation beginning with Abraham – to transform human society, to fight for social justice, to help the poor and the oppressed and to respect every person’s innate human dignity.

How did we go off course? And what transpired to create a climate that breeds a Bernie Madoff, and who knows how many more like him? One caught, but how many got away?

Should we feel bad for the funds and fund managers who trusted Madoff with other people’s money? Should we empathize with the wealthy individuals who trusted him with their life fortunes? Should we be saddened by the fact that some charities today invest altogether, instead of giving the money to the needy? Regardless of Madoff’s appalling crimes, are his investors innocent? After all, when they were making money on other people’s backs, they didn’t complain.

If materialism rules your life, than you are bound by its laws. And its cardinal law is this: Born by the almighty dollar; die by the almighty dollar. If money is the source of your power and security, than money will also be your source of destruction and disgrace. Because after all, money is transient, and anything transient can never provide the firm foundation of security.

How much money was made “legally” by money managers – who are protected by the fine-print disclaimers – with the same driving greed? How many charged percentages just to pass on their investors money to Madoff’s accounts?

And this scandal just refocuses attention to our current economic meltdown and global recession. What role did greed and personal gain play in creating today’s overall financial crisis? Selfish interests and short-term gains at the expense of the masses have been identified as the primary culprit. Who will pay for this selfishness? The perpetrators or the victims? A government bailout is nothing more than the burden of a few individuals being carried by American taxpayers. But what other choice do we now have?

Obscene bonuses at financial firms dominated December headlines in the last few years. Now, this December, we know that these actual cash bonuses were paid on the backs of false and illusory returns. The billions of dollars in bonuses have been exposed as essentially a rip-off of the masses who invested that money and saw nothing in return. Do these managers have to return the money they essentially stole from the investors?

Mr. Madoff did disgraceful things, but he is part and parcel, and a product of a climate of greed, where self-interest drives the markets, not their inherent value. And now, the chickens have come home to roost, and we are all left reeling.

But, using the terms of the financial sectors, every scandal has a potential to serve as a “market correction.” Firstly, by exposing the abuses of the system we recognize its inherent flaws. Secondly, it allows us to recognize how far we have fallen and wandered away from our calling, and gives us the opportunity to realign ourselves and our priorities.

This is the only redeeming factor in today’s economic meltdown: It has revealed how greed kills. First others; than yourself. How the love of money and power has vanquished the power of love. How beyond all our technological advances we are no supermen. Far from it. Humans are humans and left to their own devices will be controlled by their selfishness and consumed by their greed, to the point that they will, without hesitation nor compunction, hurt the innocent and even their own families.

And right in middle of the great global economic crisis – rooted in human greed – two servants of society (among many other innocent souls) are massacred in Mumbai – shining a glaring light, for a moment at least, demonstrating that we all have a choice: Here are the Holtzberg’s who dedicated their lives not their own needs and bank accounts, but to serve others.

If ever there were a spotlight on our inadequacies, here we have it. Why Gabi and Rivka had to suffer, we will never know. But in their deaths, as in their lives, they have taught us a critical lesson. The least we can do to honor them is to learn from them. Maybe the Holtzberg’s will give Mr. Madoff something to think about in prison.

What is their lesson?

The ultimate antidote to the greed and corruption inherent in self-indulgence is to become other-driven, instead of self-driven.

I once heard a Chassid explain why Jews shine brightly when they are spread around the world and stand alone amongst their neighbors. Yet, when they live together and build self-contained, insulated ghettos, they become petty, divisive and stoop to disgraceful behavior. He explained: It’s like manure. Gathered in one location it gives off an unbearable stench. Only when you spread it out in the fields does it fertilize the ground and make things grow…

Jews are natural leaders. A light unto nations. From the time of Abraham they have the quality of challenging the status quo and bringing positive change to their environments. When they become self-contained, focused on self-interest, instead of serving others, they can deteriorate, and ultimately turn on each other. Powerful people who do not serve society, left on their own, can and will turn into appalling creatures, as we have now witnessed with Mr. Madoff.

Our only immunity to such behavior is to become other-driven, instead of self-driven.

What can this teach us about the future of our economy?

We are at a crossroads. We now have seen capitalism at its worst, where greed has dominated and eliminated the fair play – which is held together by intense, objective regulation – necessary for a free market system to survive.

As the indulgences of capitalism are bringing down the house, and trust has been shattered, I would like to believe that we now stand at the rare threshold of a new paradigm shift: When the house burns down will we build the same house in its place, or will we be wise, learn from the past and build a new type of economy, one which fundamentally balances and integrates personal gain and virtue.

Listening to most people talk today, you hear the weak voice of a victim, saying that this turndown will soon be over, the markets will jump back into place – isn’t that what we have been taught: Wall Street always prevails over the long term; value always rises – and we’ll go on as if nothing happened.

Or will we learn from our experiences and actually create a new climate of true trust, based on giving and charity, and absolute zero tolerance for greed. Will we insist on new economic leaders, who do not make choices based on rewarding themselves?

Will we learn? Will we ever learn?

I guess some people will learn their lessons. Some who have been burned will choose to move away from and insulate themselves from Wall Street’s lions den, and just life an austere life, giving up hope that selfish people will ever change.

But what we want to see is nothing less than an economic revolution: Not just an awakening about the vices of money and materialism left untamed, that money can destroy, but by a new way of looking at our financial systems, of recognizing that money is a means to a higher end.

Over a century ago, Andrew Carnegie, the richest man in the world of his time and the great philanthropist, wrote in a memo:

“Man does not live by bread alone. I have known millionaires starving for lack of the nutriment which alone can sustain all that is human in man, and I know workmen, and many so-called poor men, who revel in luxuries beyond the power of those millionaires to reach. It is the mind that makes the body rich. There is no class so pitiably wretched as that which possesses money and nothing else. Money can only be the useful drudge of things immeasurably higher than itself. Exalted beyond this, as it sometimes is, it remains Caliban still and still plays the beast. My aspirations take a higher flight. Mine be it to have contributed to the enlightenment and the joys of the mind, to the things of the spirit, to all that tends to bring into the lives of the toilers of Pittsburgh sweetness and light. I hold this the noblest possible use of wealth.”

Carnegie later wrote an essay called “The Gospel of Wealth,” which strongly influenced the philanthropic philosophy of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet (the two wealthiest men in our times), who collectively are giving away over 50 billion dollars. Buffet alone made a noble pledge two years ago of over $37 billion at the time (what it amounts to today I do not know) – an unprecedented act of charity and one that will go down in history (see Givers and Takers).

In his essay, Carnegie lays out his approach to countering the greed inherent to wealth and selfish gain that is the incentive of capitalism:

“There remains, then, only one mode of using great fortunes; but in this we have the true antidote for the temporary unequal distribution of wealth, the reconciliation of the rich and the poor—a reign of harmony—another ideal, differing, indeed, from that of the Communist in requiring only the further evolution of existing conditions, not the total overthrow of our civilization. It is founded upon the present most intense individualism, and the race is projected to put it in practice by degree whenever it pleases. Under its sway we shall have an ideal state, in which the surplus wealth of the few will become, in the best sense the property of the many, because administered for the common good, and this wealth, passing through the hands of the few, can be made a much more potent force for the elevation of our race than if it had been distributed in small sums to the people themselves…

“This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of Wealth: First, to set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and after doing so to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community—the man of wealth thus becoming the mere agent and trustee for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience and ability to administer, doing for them better than they would or could do for themselves.”

I submit, that with today’s global economic meltdown, we actually stand at the threshold of a new economic paradigm. And based in part on Carnegie’s formula we can create a blueprint how to implement this new paradigm.

In good economic times, with gains blinding us all, it would be quite difficult to suggest any new changes. But with the current breakdown, an opportunity opens up.

As we witness the carnage left by the abuse of money and self-interest, we are faced with three options: One option would be to just escape from this dirty world of finance. Another would be to wait it out and then go back tight into the fray right where we left off, until the next scandal breaks.

However there is a third option: To entirely remake our financial systems and introduce a new economy of the future; the final frontier of the history of money and wealth: To see the acquisition of wealth as a means for giving and fuel for spiritual growth.

Wealth, in short, will finally realize its true value: soul energy, elevating and transforming all of existence. One can say that the futuristic economy will be an elegant synthesis of a free economy choosing to behave in some way like a socialist one, with the key distinction being, that the collective sharing will come from within, self initiated rather than imposed. Recognizing the true nature of wealth will drive men to create systems that will honor and express the inner purpose of our wealth: creating a home for G-d. We will begin to see the acquisition of wealth as a means for spiritual growth, for understanding ourselves and G-d, for filling the world with Divine knowledge as the waters cover the sea (see Money and Spirituality).

Finance and economy is a place where self-interest can meet selflessness – but only when the driving engine is a higher cause. We are not asked to annihilate our individuality and unique personality. We are asked to direct it.

In this life we are always presented with two choices: either we will be driven by self-interest or by serving others.

The Holtzberg’s chose the path of others, and paid the price. Mr. Madoff chose the path of self, and also ultimately paid the price, but in his case, so did many others.

The greatest tribute to the Holtzberg’s would be to use their illuminating example of light to emulate their ways. To serve as leaders whose primary drive and focus is: Serving others. Illuminating and warming the world around them, and not just themselves.

The challenge is greatest when it comes to wealth: Will it feed our selfishness or will we see it for the gift it was meant to be: to help others and build a world of higher consciousness.

Will we learn our lessons from the current financial meltdown or will we hold on to old habits and routines?

As we enter Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, which will you choose: darkness or light?
~~~~~

BEYOND LIFE AND DEATH

2008-12-21T00:37:00.000-05:00

By Simon Jacobson

In memory and honor of Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, who gave their lives in serving others and G-d

As I was beginning to write this week’s column about the next level of bittul discussed in the Tzaddik-Dalet series (delivered 75 years ago this week), I was shaken by two pieces of dramatic news – one joyous, the other tragic.

My only daughter, Rashi, gave birth to a daughter, Luba Alte Teibel. My baby girl gave birth to a baby girl, rendering me a grandfather.

Bloodthirsty terrorists attacked innocent people in various locations, among them a Jewish Chabad Center, in Mumbai, India. As of this writing, over 150 people are dead and 350 wounded, including Rabbi Gavriel and Mrs. Rivka Holtzberg, the leaders of the Chabad House at Nariman House. Their 2-year old child was miraculously saved.

There you have life in its full spectrum: Ultimate celebration; absolute horror.

After all is said and done, they don’t cancel each other out. But all the timeless questions come pouring out: Why do bad things happening to good people? Why do innocent men and women have to die such senseless deaths? Why? Why? Why does a young couple who came from Brooklyn to Mumbai to spread light deserve to be annihilated by darkness? And when? When will it all end?

My thoughts go back to my new granddaughter. I stare at her pure and innocent face. Touch her soft untarnished skin. Does she know what type of world she has entered? Can her innocence counter the cruelty of our hostile universe? Will she witness a better world than ours?

Mystics say that a newborn child cries as it emerges from the womb, sensing for the last time the warm world of light it is leaving and the cold dark world it is entering. But even as the door slams shut and she enters our plane, she is given all the power to illuminate and warm our dark and cold universe.

And then I wander back to the Tzaddik-Dalet discourse and its esoteric messages. After explaining the two dimensions of transcendence of energy-consciousness – humility in face of a higher presence, and utter nullification to the point that the energy inherently senses that it is nothing but a channel of the source (as discussed last week) – the Rebbe Rayatz takes us to another, third level:

Even the second dimension of the energy’s bittul entails two distinct entities: The energy and its source. Though the energy senses that it has no existence of its own, the emphasis is “of its own.” But together with the source, the energy is very much existent, albeit as a channel.

The third level of bittul, however, is one in which there are no two entities; only one: The source. The energy as it is engulfed in its source senses only the source and nothing else. The only reason we still call it “energy” is because it is not the source, but it is also not anything outside of the source. This level of energy, which is called the “energy encompassed in the source,” is compared to the geometric “point,” extending from the source, which will at a later stage take shape and form as it manifests into a line and then into three-dimensional tangible parameters. The “point” does not occupy space, yet it is the basis of all space. An example for this is the initial concept which arises in a brilliant mind. At its initial point of departure, the concept is completely abstract and carries within itself a multitude of details and explanations, even contradictory ones. The point exists in a sort of “non-existent” fashion. You can’t say that it doesn’t exist, but neither can you define its form of existence. It is not the essence but also not outside of the essence.

Perhaps this is the tenuous bridge between existence and non-existence, the black-hole where light meets dark, joy meets sorrow and death meets life.

And sadly, this is the hole where the Holzberg’s have now fallen into, with so many others now and in the past. They were (and we can say remain) emissaries, shluchim, messengers of a power far greater than themselves. As discussed in last week’s article, emissaries are channels of cause beyond their own self-interest. And yet, there are levels of this type of dedication, one more profound than another. Gaby and Rivky Holtzberg paid he ultimate price for their commitment: Giving their very lives for the most noble of all causes. They did not travel to India for business or pleasure. Only to help others and illuminate their world.

The horrible events in Mumbai, the inhumanity that only human are capable of, reveals the insanity of our existence. We are then left with two choices (I am not including sticking our heads in the sands of denial): Either we become cynical and detached, losing faith and hope in justice and goodness prevailing. We may be overcome by resignation and despair. Or we dig deeper. And as we dig, we discover another dimension of reality, which is not bound by our common rules of logic and sanity. A reality that is beyond death as it is beyond life, one that precedes all the joys and all the agonies, all the births and all the deaths, all the beginning and all the ends. And in the face of this essential reality, you realize that nothing else really exists.

When all else fails, this is the only place left to go. We have no choice but to access a deeper sense of reality, which may not make any sense on our terms, but it nevertheless is a higher reality, and we can only stand in utter awe of something entirely beyond us, even as we cry or smile.

How else can you explain the ability of Holocaust survivors, who experienced unimaginable horrors, and still were able to – completely incomprehensibly – rebuild their lives, create new families and achieve an unprecedented renaissance of Jewish life? What power allowed then to transcend their shattered lives and build anything?

We may never have an answer. But we know that in some utterly mysterious way, they accessed the deepest, most concealed, reservoirs of human spirit and dignity, which is some way was more powerful than the most dreadful nightmares that history ever witnessed.

Beyond all of life and death, a force remains that does not let go and does not give up.

I take one more peek at the new life that has entered my world and I am reinfused with hope: My granddaughter just arrived from another world, and has brought us a message of hope. Despite the tragic losses and senseless pain, beyond the incomprehension of it all, life is born yet again. And with it – a new beginning with new possibilities.

I look at my new granddaughter and I know what choice I will make.

~~~~~

Vayeishev: Daily Insight #1

2008-12-17T02:58:00.000-05:00

courtesy Inner.org

The opening verse of parshat Vayeishev is: “Jacob dwelt in the land of the dwellings of his father, in the Land of Canaan. These are the offspring of Jacob, Joseph….”
One of the most important thinkers of Chassidut is Rabbi Hillel of Paritch. In his discourses, published under the title Pelach Harimon (lit., “A Slice of the Pomegranate”), for the book of Genesis, he writes what he heard from the third Rebbe of Chabad, the Tzemach Tzedek:
Regarding the verse “Jacob dwelt in the land of the dwellings of his father.” It is known that the word “dwellings” (מגורי ) has two meanings. The first is similar to its meaning in the verse: “…surrounding fear,”1 which indicates the inner fear, or higher fear of God, the experience of which is equivalent to total and absolute nullification of one’s being.
The second meaning stems from the word meaning “storage bin,” like a storage bin full of fruit, alluding to the verse: “the fear of God is His repository” and the saying of the sages that this type of fear is a vessel for the essence of life, the essence of the Infinite. What they mean to say is that it allows one to take pleasure from Him, higher and higher, and this is what is said in the Tikunei Zohar that awe is a storage bin for wisdom, i.e., to the wisdom that is concealed within the essence, etc.
Now, the nature of fear is such that it causes one to flee from one’s place, like at Mt. Sinai: “The people saw… and they stood far away.” Likewise, in the verse: “They shall enter caves… from fear of God….” But Jacob our father was able to experience inner fear and to dwell comfortably in that state, remaining in it for a length of time. This is because the root of the middle axis [of the sefirot] inter-includes the two faculties of [the right and left axes]: love and fear. Therefore, even though he experienced the might of fear, which leads to nullification of being, nonetheless, internally he still experienced love, specifically pleasurable love, the ability to take pleasure from the hidden source of pleasure as explained. And as we say: “All hearts shall fear you, and all organs and kidneys shall sing to Your Name [in pleasurable love].”
From Rebbe Hillel we learn that Jacob’s “dwellings of his father” refers to “the fear of Isaac.” Isaac is the archetypal soul of the sefirah of might, whose inner experience is fear, or awe. Indeed, Jacob describes God as “the fear of Isaac my father,” indicating that Isaac’s experience of the Almighty awakened in his soul the faculty of fear. Based on Rebbe Hillel’s teaching, we also learn that apparently Isaac was always fleeing because of his fear and awe of God. Only Jacob, thanks to his source in the middle axis of the sefirot, which inter-includes both love and awe, was able to settle down and embrace his awe of God and his total and absolute nullification. In other words, for all its importance, without inter-inclusion with love of God, fear of God cannot be tolerated by the soul for an extended period of time and leads a person to flee from the experience, for lack of peace of mind.
Before we continue, we need to see how the notion of fleeing or flight connects to the sefirot. The middle axis of the sefirot, which in Kabbalistic terminology is called the middle crossbeam (בריח התיכון ), runs from sefirah of crown on top to the sefirah of kingdom on the bottom and connects them all. The Hebrew word for “crossbeam” is בריח (pronounced: bariach), which interestingly stems from the same root (ברח ) as “flight” בריחה (pronounced: berichah) indicating that the middle axis is like an axis of flight. Now we can identify two directions of flight, because the middle axis is bi-directional. One can flee from below to above (kingdom to crown) and one can flee in the opposite direction, form above to below (crown to kingdom). Fear of falling into the abyss causes flight from below to above. Fear of God who stands above all causes flight from above to below.
Seemingly then, we should associate Isaac’s fear of God with the above to below vector of the middle axis. The movement from above to below in fear of God is described by Ezekiel in his vision of the Divine chariot. Specifically, it is the movement “to and fro,” the “run and return” of the living beings (a type of angel). Rashi writes:
“Run and return like a flash of lightning.” Our sages likened the run and return to the blast of the furnace that erupts from it and then immediately returns into it. Likewise, when they [the living beings] stick their head into the firmament that lies above their heads, as is described [in the vision], they immediately withdraw from the Divine Presence that lies above the firmament, and therefore quickly draw their heads back down.
But, recall that Rebbe Hillel defined Isaac’s fear as higher fear, or awe, which causes “total and absolute nullification of one’s being.” Clearly, this is not equivalent to fleeing from He who stands above because of a sudden awe-inspiring dread of God because such flight is meant to preserve one’s self, not nullify it. The ability to reach nullification when experiencing fear of God is a special quality of the Jewish soul. This is in contradistinction to the various types of angels, who when suddenly becoming aware of God, are struck by external or lower fear. In Hebrew, these two types of fear are distinguished by the two different prepositions that appear in their idioms. The higher fear, or awe of God, is called יראה את ה' , while the lower fear of God is called יראה מה' .2 Unfortunately, English does not carry the same distinction.
Thus, the necessary conclusion is that Isaac’s fear of God causes flight from below to above. The Zohar interprets the verse “flee to your place!” as referring to the soul returning to its source in the essence of the Almighty. Earlier we said that flight from below to above is caused by fear of falling into the abyss. We can now interpret the abyss as the experience of self, the experience of being separate and distinct from God, which awakens the soul to seek its true and unsevered existence in its source awakening it to the rectifying state of total and absolute self-nullification. In the Zohar, the return to one’s source, the selfless unification with the Almighty is likened to being sucked into the body of the King. But, far from being a traumatic experience, the flight from below to above is cause for happiness, joy, and laughter, as this is Isaac’s constant awe of God, and Isaac’s name in Hebrew means “laughter.” After his ascent back into his source the abyss becomes the object of Isaac’s ridicule. Indeed, the numerical value of “abyss” תהום is equal to the numerical value of “Ishma’el” ישמעאל .

1. Jeremiah 20:3 and elsewhere.
2. One of the best examples of this distinction is found in the first chapter of the Book of Jonah. Jonah flees before God, but his flight sends him into the belly of a ship where he falls asleep, i.e., nullifies himself before the awesome revelation of God’s power. The sailors and other passengers exhibit terror in face of God’s revelation and try to rescue themselves. When confronted by them Jonah explains his inaction (self-nullification): “I am a Hebrew, and I fear Havayah, the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land” (Jonah 1:9).

FEAR FOR LIFE

2008-12-13T19:54:00.001-05:00

PARSHA
VAYISHLAH 08

”Yaakov was greatly afraid and distressed” (Gen.32.8)

He was greatly afraid… of losing his life, and distressed… about taking a life. (Bereshit Rabba)

The economy of the world has displayed inflationary tendencies for over 60 years. Rapid inflation means rapid loss of the sense of value of possessions.
Even life has lost its value; it has become dispensable.

With depression staring us in the face, we should not allow the recent economic down-turn to be depressive, for recession has a good side.
Inevitably, new standards will be set which should restore our sense of real values.

Let us hope that people will regain respect for life once more, and that its preservation will become more meaningful by fearing its loss.

Let us hope that man yet again will be imbued with a genuine sense of what is really important.

GIVING IN DIFFICULT ECONOMIC TIMES

2008-12-12T21:32:00.001-05:00

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By Simon Jacobson
Dear Rabbi,

I look forward to reading you essays every week. As one of those many that never received a relevant Jewish education, your words have provided, dare I say transformed me, with a new way to look at myself and the world. They have helped me with my family and with my work. No words would suffice to express my profound appreciation.

I have been blessed with the ability to assist others financially. I am sincerely reluctant to cut down on my giving due to the current economic crisis, which is hurting us all. I would like to get your take on this. Is it justified for me to give less? What should be my attitude? I am sure that many people have this question, and would appreciate your wise words on the matter.

Wishing you the strength to continue your holy and necessary work,

Dear,

Thank you for you very kind words. For the record, my writings are not my own creation; they come from my teachers and from books preceding us both. They are teachings that have transformed me as they have you, and hopefully I am doing some justice in conveying these ideas faithfully. May you and I – and us all – grow in learning and implementing these life-enhancing teachings, and share it with those that we come in contact with. Like a flame, each of us has the power to ignite another flame, and another, ad infinitum, and together – we all warm and illuminate each other in one glorious basking light.

The answer to your question is twofold: All blessings come from above, including the blessing of wealth. We humans surely have to create “containers” through our hard work, innovation and investments, but after all is said and done, our efforts are like seeds we plant in the field, which then require rain from above to water the earth and allow our seeds to sprout.

Thus, no matter what economic crisis may or may not exist, we cannot and ought not compromise our obligations and responsibilities to continue giving to the best of our abilities and beyond. Indeed, your ability to give is your greatest blessing and gift; you were blessed with extra wealth so that you have the opportunity to help others. Why would you want to close off this channel of blessings by weakening in any way your giving? On the contrary, the more committed you are, the greater container you build to receive the blessings of “rain” upon yourself.

As the great philanthropist George Rohr said in the name of his father, Sammy Rohr: “During good times, when things are going well, it's no kuntz (trick; feat) to be a Baal Tzedaka. When it gets hard, that's when it’s important. When everybody is in a pinch, trying to do everything to maintain the level they've been given before - if at all possible; that's where we really get tested.”

At the same time, we need to be prudent and practical in our giving. I cannot tell you how much you should be giving; that is dependent on many factors, including your income, your potential, your general disposition to giving. Not the least amongst these factors includes your own faith and commitment, especially in hard times.

We ought to also bear in mind that a big part of an economic turndown is psychological. Though it has directly affected many people’s bank accounts, for many it’s about fear in this type of climate. Many wealthy people remain quite prosperous, yet psychologically they are frightened. For some the present economic forecast may also provide an “excuse” not to give, bearing in mind that giving is not an easy thing to do for most people.

The key thing to remember is that one should never decrease any commitment to giving due to fear or psychological reasons. Your negative attitude may be the cause that will limit your “containers” from receiving blessings in abundance. Even psychologically speaking, a broad minded attitude and optimism encourages others to have confidence and invest in you. While the opposite discourages investment.

How you balance these two – faith and pragmatism – is a challenge of its own, and needs to be addressed case by case.

Above all, allow me to share with you the prescient words of the Zohar in this week’s Torah portion, in explaining the cryptic episode of Jacob’s lonely battle with the “stranger:”

Jacob remained alone and a stranger wrestled with him until the break of dawn. When he saw that he could not defeat him, he touched the upper joint of Jacob’s thigh. Jacob’s hip joint became dislocated as he wrestled with him. As a result Jacob was limping because of his thigh.

Explains the Zohar: Jacob refers to the Torah, and his hip symbolizes the financial supporters of Torah study and dissemination. Jacob being weakened by his hip dislocation represents a situation when the financial pillars (compared to legs) cease supporting Torah scholarship, which cause the Torah to be “forgotten from one generation to another and its strength weakened.”

As a result, the “negative forces” gain power with each day, and “much evil therefore results, since, as the upholders of the Torah become weaker, strength is thereby gained by him who has no legs to stand upon. When G-d said to the serpent, “upon your belly shall you crawl” (Genesis 3:14), the serpent had his supports and legs cut off so that he was left with nothing to stand on. But when Israel neglects to support the Torah, they thereby provide the “serpent” with supports and legs on which to stand firm and upright.

…Many were the stratagems and cunning devices to which the serpent-rider resorted on that night against Jacob, for he well knew that “the voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau” (Genesis 27:22), so that whenever the voice of Jacob is interrupted, the hands of Esau are reinforced. He therefore attempted in every possible way to interrupt Jacob’s voice, but he found him strong on all sides, his arms strong on both sides and firmly upheld between them, and the Torah firmly entrenched therein.

Seeing, therefore, that he could not prevail against him, he “touched his hip bone.” For he knew that when the supports of the Torah are broken, the Torah itself is shaken… His whole purpose in contending with Jacob was to break the force of the Torah, and when he saw that he could not strike at the Torah itself, he weakened the power of its upholders; for without upholders of the Torah there will be no “voice of Jacob”, and the hands of Esau will operate freely.

Upon seeing this, Jacob, seized hold of him, as soon as day broke, and did not let him go, so that he blessed him and confirmed to him those blessings, and said to him: “Your name shall be called no more Jacob (supplanter), but Israel (princehood and strength), so that no one can prevail against you.”

Now, from that serpent issue numerous hosts which disperse themselves on every side to prowl about the world. It is incumbent, therefore, upon us to preserve in a complete state the sinew of the thigh-vein, for although the serpent-rider touched it, it retained its vitality, and we require its strength to establish ourselves in the world and to make good the words: “For you have battled with G-d and with men, and have prevailed.” When the adversary sees that that part is not broken or consumed, his own strength and courage is broken and he can no more do any harm to the sons of Jacob (Zohar, I 171a).

The words of the Zohar speak for themselves. They tell us in no uncertain terms that we must stand form against any voice and challenge (including economic conditions) that argues against supporting (or weakening our support of) good causes. By succumbing to these challenges we actually feed the destructive forces that want to undermine the foundations that keep us standing. The “serpent” takes on many forms and issues many forces, including economic conditions, “which disperse themselves on every side to prowl about the world.” And when it cannot attack out source of life itself, it attacks its supporters.

Jacob’s teaches us and gives us the power to overcome these challenges, to battle and prevail over these forces, and actually transform them into blessings.

The Zohar this week is declaring loud and clear: Do not be deceived by the attempts of the “stranger” (in all his shapes and forms) to weaken your resolve and commitment to support your good causes. We must forge ahead with faith and trust.

Indeed, the mere fact that we take upon ourselves positive resolutions to continue giving and actually increase in giving despite these more difficult times, opens up the channels of blessings, including new channels, that will nourish our efforts and produce blessings in material abundance.

May you – and we all – be blessed to fight like Jacob and prevail over all doubts, anxieties and fears. And just as Jacob prevailed in his battle 3578 years ago, and we his children are here to tell about it, so too we are confident that we will prevail, and come out stronger than ever.

~~~~~

A Place of Prayer

2008-12-11T01:38:00.000-05:00

We have already seen that the sages understand that the word “He arrived,” ויפגע , means “prayed.” When Jacob arrived at Mt. Moriah, the place where Isaac was bound to be offered as a sacrifice, he prayed and in doing so established and instituted the evening prayer, called aravit, for all generations to come. We also saw the Talmud passage where it is explained that Abraham instituted the morning prayer called shacharit; Isaac instituted the mid-day prayer, called minchah.

Now, let us see what the Midrash teaches us regarding the three daily prayers:
“He arrived at the place.” He prayed. The patriarchs instituted the [daily] prayers. Said Rabbi Shmu’el bar Nachmani: they [the daily prayers] correspond to the three times during which the day shifts. At night fall a person should say: “May it be Your will, Havayah my God that You shall take me out of darkness and into light.” At daybreak a person should say: “I give thanks before You, Havayah, my God, for taking me out of darkness and into light.” At mid-day a person should say: “May it be Your will, Havayah my God, and the God of my forefathers, that as You blessed me with seeing the sun rise, so shall You bless me with seeing it set.”

The order of the prayers described by Rabbi Shmu’el bar Nachmani is aravit, shacharit, and minchah. Meaning, that he follows the order of the verse in Psalms: “Evening, and morning, and midday, I will speak and be excited and He will hear my voice.”1 These are the three times in which the day shifts. Following this scheme for the prayers, the order of the patriarchs is Jacob, Abraham, and Isaac. The order in which Jacob precedes Abraham and Isaac is based on the verse: “Jacob who redeemed Abraham,” in order to give birth to Isaac. This means that Abraham who was all loving-kindness could not give birth to his complete opposite, Isaac, who was all might. So actually, in order to become fertile, Abraham had to receive a measure of might. Where did he get it? This verse indicates that Jacob, who symbolizes the sefirah of beauty, a composite of both loving-kindness and might, was the source. Jacob redeemed, that is freed Abraham so that he could have Isaac. As has been explained previously, in order to be the composite of two opposite sefirot like loving-kindness and might, beauty has to originate in a source that is higher than both.
It is important to note that Rabbi Shmu’el bar Nachmani does not dispute that it was the patriarchs who instituted the daily prayers. Rather his statement defines more clearly when these times were—at times that marks changes in the daylight.” Indeed, in our own parshah, the shift in the day is explicit. The verse says: “He arrived at the place, he slept there for the sun had set….”2 So the preferred time for the evening prayer, according to Rabbi Shmu’el, is immediately with the setting of the sun.
Let us look at the verse from Psalms quoted above: “Evening, and morning, and midday, I will speak and be excited and He will hear my voice.” Targum Yonatan translates this verse as: “In the evening, in the morning, and at midday, I will pray, I will feel [lit., gather myself] and He will hear my voice.”
There are three verbs in this verse: speak, excite, and hear. They correspond to the three patriarchs and the three daily prayers, as follows:

part of verse

patriarch

prayer

“I will speak”

Isaac

minchah

“and be excited”

Abraham

shacharit

“He will hear”

Jacob

arvit

Let us now see how.
The Hebrew verb for speak is אשיחה , which is the same verb that we saw regarding Isaac’s prayer “Isaac went out to speak in the field.”3 We already saw the passage in the Talmud that proves from our verse in Psalms that speaking intimates prayer. Indeed, the Targum Yonatan used the Aramaic word for “prayer,” which is צלי (tzali), which in Hebrew is related to the word for shadow, צל , alluding to the time after midday when objects begin to cast a longer and longer shadow.
The first emotion of the heart, its basic form of excitement, is love, the inner experience of loving-kindness. Just as Abraham is the first of the patriarchs, so the sefirah of loving-kindness is the first sefirah of the emotional realm. Thus, excitement is the verb describing the functioning of the heart and corresponds to Abraham. God notes that the reason that he changed Abraham's name from Abram was because he is destined to be the father of a multitude of nations, אב המון גוים . The word “multitude“ המון is related to the word for “excitement“ הומה . In fact, the Aramaic translation is even more explicit on this point because the word “feel” (ארגיש ) in Aramaic literally translates as “I will gather.”4 Thus, a multitude of nations is a gathering of nations. In Chassidut, the multitude of nations of which Abraham is the father is explained to symbolize the powers of the animal soul, whose focus is the sound and fury of physical life. But, the physical world awakens with the dawn. By waking up even earlier (as in the verse: “And Abraham woke early in the morning”), that is, by contemplating and meditating on God, Who is always the first (and the last), preceding everything else, Abraham is able to rectify the din of the animal soul and focus its strength on serving the Almighty. King David said: “I will wake the dawn,” which the sages interpret as meaning: “I wake the dawn; the dawn does not wake me.” The Chassidic interpretation of this verse is thus that a person should have the ability to see God as primary, as first, and as independent of everything that comes to pass. In that case, he wakes the dawn, which symbolizes physical reality and subjects it to the yoke of Heaven making its trials and tribulations manageable.
“He will hear my voice,” is related to Jacob about whom Isaac said “the voice is the voice of Jacob.” Hearing alludes to the Shema: “Hear O’ Israel.”5 The special affinity between the voice and the evening, which in Hebrew also means “pleasant” (ערב ), is revealed in the verse: “For your voice is pleasant.”
Continuing with Jacob’s correspondence to “He will hear my voice,” on the verse: “She will cry at night.”6 The words in Hebrew are בכו תבכה בלילה . The initials of the first two words בכו תבכה spell בת , “daughter.” The numerical value of the rest of the letters, כו בכה בלילה , is 130 = 5 · 26, or the word עין , which means either an “eye” or a “wellspring.” Thus, this verse is the secret of the בת עין , which literally means “the daughter of the eye,” but in Hebrew is an idiom for the eye’s pupil. The tears that come out at night are the secret of the third phrase of the verse: יסבבנהו יבוננהו יצרנהו כאישון עינו , “He [God] will encompass him [the Jewish people], build him, and guard him like the pupil of His eye,”7 which describes a three-fold process of meditation and cleansing of the blood from the influence of the animal soul.8 On the words “She will cry at night” Rashi comments: “A person who cries at night, He who hears his voice, cries with him.” The crying at night is a reference to what in Kabbalah is called raising feminine waters, while the words “He who hears his voice, cries with him” is a reference to the masculine waters, that is the affluence brought down from God in response. All this is the secret of aravit, the evening prayer, the prayer of Jacob. Specifically, in Jacob’s life, it was his wife Rachel who symbolized the feminine waters rising, as Rachel רחל is equal to 2 times “tear,” דמעה . Indeed, the gematria of Israel, ישראל , is exactly equal to the gematria of “evening,” רמשא , in Aramaic.
Thus, we have found that the order of the prayers in the verse “I will speak and be excited and He will hear my voice,” (minchah מנחה , shacharit שחרית , aravit ערבית ) is exactly opposite the order in the verse: “Evening, morning, and midday….” In Kabbalah, such a reversal is likened to an engraved stamp, or seal חותם המתהפך .9 Writing out the initials of the three prayers in the order they are found in the verse “I will speak…” we get: מ ש ע . These three letters, rearranged spell the first word of the Shema שמע . Each of the six possible permutations of these letters forms an acronym for a well-known verse or idiom in Torah. Beautifully, the acronym formed by the משע permutation is מקומו של עולם , “Space of the world,” God’s connotation that we discussed in length yesterday. As explained, this is the connotation that is first found in reference to our parshah: “’And he arrived at the place’—God is the space of the world, but the world is not His space.”

In the chapter 77 of Psalms, there are two verses that have similar idioms to the verse: “I will speak….” Let us look at them:
The first verse translated as literally as possible10 in order to retain the similarity in verbs is: “When I remember God and I will be excited, I will speak, and my spirit will be completely bundled.” Applying our earlier meditation on the correspondence of the verbs to the patriarchs, we find that in this verse the order of the patriarchs is Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; “I will be excited” alludes to Abraham, “I will speak” to Isaac, and “My spirit will be bundled” alludes to Jacob.” The order of the daily prayers in this verse is therefore shacharit שחרית , minchah מנחה , aravit ערבית , the initials of which spell “Shema,” שמע .
The second verse that is similar, again translated as literally as possible, is: “I will remember my song at night; I will speak with my heart and my spirit searches.” What is the order here? The first part of this verse refers to the second half of the night, after midnight, the time in which the sages relate that David’s harp, struck by the wind in his bedroom chamber, would begin to play music by itself, memories of the songs that the king had played on it earlier that day. This is the proper time to begin preparations for shacharit, the morning prayer, as explained in the Zohar. Music that plays by itself is the result of deep meditation on the greatness of God, which is the spiritual work of Abraham.11 Speaking with the heart is of course a reference to Isaac’s prayer, minchah. Finally, “my spirit searches” is a reference to Jacob. On deeper contemplation, one can see that this verse is describing not just the order of the daily prayers, but the relationship between them, how together they carry the singular thread of the soul through the day. The song remembered at midnight, is as noted, a memory of the song of the soul sung in the evening prayer, aravit. Speaking with the heart in the afternoon, in minchah, is formed from the excitement that the heart experienced as a result of the morning prayer, shacharit (the first rectified excitation of the heart alludes to Abraham’s love for God). And finally, the searching of the spirit at night is a residue of twilight, the hour of minchah according to Rabbeinu Tam, and the perfect time for searching, which is why this is the time of day that we search for leaven dough, chametz, before Passover.
Now let us perform a somewhat difficult exercise. Let us find the value of each of these verses:
“Evening, morning, and midday…” ערב ובקר וצהרים אשיחה ואהמה וישמע קולי = 1884
“When I remember God…” אזכרה אלהים ואהמיה אשיחה ותתעטף רוחי סלה = 1994
“I will remember my song at night…” אזכרה נגינתי בלילה עם לבבי אשיחה ויחפש רוחי = 1939

Now note that 1939 = ½ (1884 ┴ 1994). This means that the average of the first two verses is exactly the value of the third verse!

Based on the Daily Dvar Torah from Thursday, 5 Kislev 5768 – November 15, 2007

1. Psalms 55:18.

2. Genesis 28:11.

3. Ibid.

4. See also Psalms 2:1. Many times this verse is translated incorrectly using Modern Hebrew (see for instance the Jerusalem Bible). The exact meaning is “Why have the nations gathered…,” which is strengthened by the context of verse 2, where it is clear that their gathering is to do battle with the Mashiach.

5. In this case, since the verb is “hear,” which corresponds to the sefirah of understanding, the reference is to the partzuf of Yisra’el Saba, the sefirah of wisdom in the World of Creation.

6. Lamentations 1:2.

7. Deuteronomy 32:10.

8. Each stage of the three-fold process described in the verse corresponds to one of the three patriarchs.

9. When a stamp is pushed into wax for instance, whatever was on the bottom of the stamp comes out on the top of the reverse image in the wax, and vice versa.

10. From the context of chapter 77, it is clear that this is not a verse describing a person who is full of strong spirit and happiness. In a less literal, more figurative translation it is rendered: “I remember God and moan; I meditate, and my spirit faints completely.” See also Metzudat David, Radak, and Malbim on this verse.

11. גדולה , “greatness,” is a synonym in Kabbalah for the sefirah of loving-kindness.

courtesy Inner.org

Parshat Vayeitzei: Hamakom

2008-12-07T04:47:00.000-05:00

Hamakom
Let us continue to focus on the word “in the place” במקום , but this time we will begin with a theological perspective. One of the connotations of God is “the Place,” which can be rendered more understandably as “the Space.” In Hebrew the word is: המקום . In the midrash1 we find the following teaching on our parshah:

Why is God’s Name connoted and he is referred to as the Space? Because He is the space of the world, and the world is not His space.

Said Rabbi Yosi ben Chalafta: We do not know whether God is the space of the world or whether the world is His space. From the verse: “Behold, there is space with Me”2 we conclude that He is the space of the world, but His world is not His space!

Said Rabbi Yitzchak: From the verse, “The abode of eternal God”3 we can not know [based on this verse] whether God is the abode of the world or whether the world is His abode. But, from the verse “God, you have been our abode,”4 from this verse we know that God is the abode of the world and that the world is not His abode.

This can be likened to a warrior who was riding on his horse and his weapons were hanging from both sides [of the saddle]. The horse is secondary to the warrior, not the warrior to the horse. This is the subject of the verse: “When you ride on your horses, your chariots bring deliverance.”5

Thus, from the sages, our verse is the first source in the Torah that reveals that God is the space of the world, but the world is not the space of God. To be more exact, from our verse, the Rabbi Yosi ben Chalafta says that one might still think that the world does give space to God. What does this mean? Let us look at the classical philosophical interpretation of this question and the inner Kabbalistic and Chassidic interpretation.

Philosophy vs. Kabbalah
From a philosophical point of view, every theology needs to address the question of the relationship between God and creation. This question can be asked from a number of different perspectives. It can be asked from a causal perspective, for instance one might ask, is God the underlying force acting behind everything. It can be asked from a time perspective: Is God free of time limitations? In other words, does He create time, or is He bound by it. In the Midrash quoted the question of God’s relationship with the world is asked from the perspective of space, meaning the container, if you will, of reality. The philosophical question is then: “Is God contained within space, or is He not?” The philosophical-theological question has to be answered with either a yes or a no. If you answer in the affirmative, the world is the space within which God exists, then you would be defined a pantheist—most nature oriented beliefs (like Wicca or Shinto) are pantheistic and experience God as imminent. If you would answer in the negative, God is not limited only to the space of the world, they you would be defined as a transcendentalist—the so-called monotheistic religions like Christianity and Islam understand God to transcend reality—there can be no direct experience of God, for God is not actually present in our reality.

But, from the Kabbalistic perspective, which reveals the depth of Jewish theology,6 this is not a yes-no question. It is a relative question. God is both contained within the world and at the same time not limited by the space of the world. Because God is Infinite, He exhibits both aspects. The aspect of God that is contained within space, in the world, is called the light that fills all worlds (אור ממלא כל עלמין ). The aspect of God that is not limited by space is called the light that surrounds all worlds (אור סובב כל עלמין ). Thus, the Kabbalistic mind does not interpret this midrash as asking whether or not God is so and so (contained or not contained in space), but rather which verse refers to his filling light aspect (contained) and which verse refers to his surrounding light aspect (transcendent, not limited).7 The question that is of interest is which verses reveal the imminent nature of God’s Presence, and which verses refer to His transcendent Presence.

Did Jacob Find Himself or His Wife?
Let us now return to the arguments found in the quoted midrash. Rabbi Yosi ben Chalafta says that from the verse in our parshah, “He arrived in the place,” we might have thought that God is contained within the world. Translated into Kabbalistic/Chassidic terminology, we might have thought that this verse refers to God’s filling light, the light that fills all worlds. This would seem to be an appropriate interpretation because in the Arizal’s conceptual scheme, the light that fills all worlds, the imminent nature of God is revealed by the ray of infinite light that permeates the void, a state alluded to in the verse: “Then your light shall burst forth like the dawn….”8 The word for “burst forth” in this verse is יבקע , which permutes to spell “Jacob” יעקב , indicating that Jacob himself is the personification of this aspect of God. How fitting it would be that Jacob would arrive at, that is experience the light that fills all worlds, the imminent experience of God, which is the essence of his own soul.

Nonetheless, Rabbi Yosi ben Chalafta says this is not clear from this verse, and that when another verse is taken into account: “Behold, there is space with Me,” a verse spoken to Moshe Rabbeinu who is considered to be an embodiment of the inner aspect of Jacob,9 it is clear that this was not the light that fills all worlds that Jacob experienced, but rather the revelation of the light that surrounds all worlds, the transcendental nature of God. In Kabbalistic language, the first revelation of the light that surrounds all worlds is called the great circle, or the kingdom of the Infinite. This aspect of God is alluded to in the verse: “The woman of valor is the crown of her husband.” Like the crown that is round, the great circle precedes, as it were, all imminent revelations. Since the surrounding light is associated with a woman of valor and the imminent revelations with her husband, it is clear that the masculine and feminine aspects of reality correspond to the imminent and transcendent revelations of God, respectively. Relative to the soul, the body is feminine. Thus, in the future, the woman of valor, the body, will be the crown of the soul, her husband; the body, which does not have an imminent experience of God, will be able to reveal to the soul a transcendent experience. By Jacob, clearly the feminine with which he is to unite as the soul unites with the body, is Rachel. Indeed, as we have pointed out earlier, “He arrived in the place” ויפגע במקום is equal to the value of Rachel רחל (238) plus one-half the value of “Rachel” 119: ויפגע במקום = 357 = 238 ┴ 119. As explained previously, according to Rabbi Avraham Abulafia, the consummate wholeness and root of anything is revealed when it is illustrated in the format of a whole and a half.

Mathematical Ruminations
Let us take a short mathematical detour to see what happens when we add our verse to the verse brought by Rabbi Yosi ben Chalafta. Our verse is “He arrived in the place” ויפגע במקום and Rabbi Yosi brings the verse: “Behold, there is space with me” הנה מקום אתי . Together they equal 1014 = 26 · 39, or “Havayah” י־הוה times “Havayah is One” י־הוה אחד . But, 1014 is also equal to three times the value of “He lay down” וישכב (338). It is also equal to 6 times “He arrived” ויפגע (169). Yesterday we saw (see note 9) that when a word possesses 4 letters, its value when written in “front and back” format will be 5 times the value of the word itself. Let us now extend this rule and say that for any word of n letters with value m, its value when written front and back is m(n ┴ 1). Since ויפגע has 5 letters, 1014, which is 6 times the value of ויפגע is also equal to ויפגע written front and back: ויפגע יפגע פגע גע ע ו וי ויפ ויפג ויפגע !

Submission, separation, and sweetening in the midrash
Now, let us return to the midrash. We see that the midrash brings altogether three different examples of places where one might think that the reference being made is to God’s imminent Presence, but actually His transcendence is being referred to. The first is our verse, with the word “place” (which we translated also as “space”). The second is a verse referring to “abode.” And, the third is a parable that uses the image of a warrior riding a horse, a rider.

In the first two examples, the midrash formulates its conclusion in the same format: “He is the x of the world but the world is not His x.” In the first example the formula yields: the space of the world, מקומו של עולם . In the second it yields: the abode of the world, מעונו של עולם . If we were to apply this formula to the third example we would get: the rider of the world. But, in Hebrew the correct way to say “the rider of the world,” and which, as we shall see, also alludes to a particular verse (implicitly the source for the parable) is “world rider,” רוכב עולם .

If we add these three together we get:

מקומו של עולם מעונו של עולם רוכב עולם = 1690 = 10 · ויפגע !

We saw in the first teaching on Vayeitzei that 1690 also equals the values of ויפגע its first, and its second fillings together!10

Now, from the Chassidic perspective, the question to be asked on the midrash quoted is why are three examples necessary? The answer is that each illustrates a different facet of the same idea. In our case, we will now see that these three examples together complete the model of submission-separation-sweetening taught by our master the Ba’al Shem Tov.

In our service of God, awareness that God’s transcendent aspect gives space, or a place, to the world (“He is the space of the world”) creates submission. The sages teach us that, “Who is wise? He who knows his place!” Wisdom is the experience of nullification or selflessness. Thus knowing that the space that one occupies is entirely within the transcendence of the Almighty is a nullifying experience11 that leaves one in a state of submission before God.

Awareness of God’s transcendence as the abode of our reality can be understood in context of the seven firmaments. “Abode” is the name of the fifth firmament, which is explained to be God’s private dwelling, as it were. That all my reality is contained within God’s abode thus elicits a feeling of being special and motivates me to disassociate myself from all of my negative inclinations. As explained elsewhere, this is the essence of separation in the Ba’al Shem Tov’s model.

Finally, that God is riding the world, exemplifies that everything is serving God, even me! With this parable we come to realize that everything has the potential (even me!) to be part of God’s chariot, a platform upon which and through which God’s Infinite goodness and holiness can be revealed. This is the experience of sweetening, where even the bitter reality of creation which seems to be disconnected from God can be transformed into an object of sweetness that reveals God and is one with Him. The verse brought to support this last example is explained by the sages to refer to the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. In Chassidut, the horses are explained to symbolize the letters of the Ten Commandments whose purpose it is to reveal the very essence of the Almighty Himself in creation. As the midrash explains elsewhere, at Mt. Sinai, the border separating the revealed reality (the lower Worlds) from the essence of God (the higher Worlds) was nullified.

Based on the Daily Dvar Torah from Wednesday, 4 Kislev 5768 – November 14, 2007

1. We have brought the reading found in Yalkut Shimoni on the verse “He arrived….” See the alternate sages mentioned in Midrash Bereisheet Rabbah 68:9.

2. Exodus 33:21.

3. Deuteronomy 33:27.

4. Psalms 90:1.

5. Habakuk 3:8.

6. One of the greatest scholars of our generation has remarked on several occasions that Kabbalah is Judaism’s official theology.

7. Chassidut makes it clear that neither aspect of God is God Himself, both are just categories of the revelation of the Infinite Light of God which itself unites both aspects in a paradoxical consummate Oneness. See in length the discourse “Ha’omnam” in Sefer Hama’amarim 5643, pp. 94ff.

8. Isaiah 58:8.

9. In the language of the Zohar: “Moshe on the inside, Jacob on the outside,” or in the language of the sages: “One may not have mercy for someone who has no knowledge.”

10. Just מעונו של עולם רוכב עולם together equals 7 · “world” עולם , corresponding to the seven lifetimes (worlds) that a person experiences in his or her life, as enumerated in the beginning of Midrash Rabbah Kohelet.

11. As mentioned a number of times before, in Kabbalistic and Chassidic ontology, space and time correspond to the sefirot of understanding and wisdom, respectively. The joint experience of wisdom and understanding, as they are in the World of Emanation, resolves into selflessness and humility in the lower Worlds. Thus, more exactly, we would say that knowing that one’s place is entirely subsumed within the transcendent nature of God is a humbling experience.

courtesy inner.org

Parshat Toldot: Isaac - Abraham's Hidden Self

2008-11-30T19:53:00.000-05:00

Repetitive text?“These are the generations of Isaac the son of Abraham, Abraham gave birth to Isaac.” So begins our parshah this week. Immediately one is struck by the seemingly duplicate wording: “Isaac the son of Abraham” and “Abraham gave birth to Isaac.” What is the difference between the two? Different answers have been offered by the Midrash, the Talmud, and others.1

In this article, we will add an additional explanation of the difference that is based on all that has been said before by the various commentaries. This explanation touches upon some of the most important concepts in the Chassidic interpretation of Kabbalah and will provide us with valuable lessons for coping with one of life’s most frustrating difficulties.

Intellectual, Emotional, and Behavioral
Let us begin with a most general statement. The first part of the verse: “Isaac the son of Abraham” describes Isaac as Abraham’s son in nature and behavior. But, the second phrase “Abraham gave birth to Isaac,” comes to tell us that Abraham willfully gave also his emotional and intellectual traits to Isaac.

To understand this statement we need to introduce the tripartite division of the sefirot into intellectual, emotional, and behavioral (or natural), as follows:2

Intellectual: wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.

Emotional: loving-kindness, might, and beauty.

Behavioral: victory, acknowledgment, and foundation.

Before the advent of Chassidut, the division of the sefirot into three such groups of three was well-known, but the nomenclature for addressing each group was based on the initials of the sefirot. Thus, the first group is known as חַבַּ"ד (chabad); the second group is known as חַגַ"ת (chagat); and the third group is known as נֶהִ"י (nehi).3 In Hebrew, these three categories are known as מוּשְׂכַּל (intellectual), מוּרְגַשׁ (emotional), and מוּטְבַּע (behavioral).

Natural Essences of Abraham and Isaac
In their nature, Abraham and Isaac were complete opposites. Abraham’s nature stemmed from elemental water, the archetypal source of the sefirah of loving-kindness, of which he is the archetypal soul. Isaac’s nature was that of the elemental fire, the archetypal soul of the sefirah of might, of which Isaac is the archetypal soul. Because of Abraham’s elemental root he is described by the sages as being drawn to God like water. Isaac’s elemental root in fire is related to his binding and his likeness to a perfect sacrifice that was to be consumed as all sacrifices are consumed by the fire of the altar.

Since we will use the correspondence between the sefirot and the four elements later this week, let us present it in its complete form:

might
fire
loving-kindness
water

beauty
air

kingdom
earth

Natural Birth vs. Conscious Rebirth
How could Abraham, who was water, give birth to Isaac who was fire? The answer is that in most cases, the natural process of birth reveals the hidden, but present traits that the parent possesses; traits that the parent usually only ever so slightly experiences in the depth of the psyche because they are hidden, but are nonetheless present. Having children is thus a revelatory and exploratory experience for the parents who see something of themselves, which they may have thought was lost, or would never be expressed in their own lives, suddenly taking on a life of its own in the form of their child’s character. We call this a natural process because it is done entirely without volition or consciousness. In other words, the latent but present characteristics that make up the natural character of the child originate in the habitual sefirot of the parent. Isaac’s fire-like character was already present, though concealed, in Abraham.

But, the second phrase “Abraham gave birth to Isaac,” implies a second birth, one that unlike the first transferred Abraham’s conscious character—associated with his emotional and intellectual sefirot—to Isaac’s own emotions and intellect.

The Hidden Self
The application of this idea to our everyday lives has to do with those things which we seem to project but feel do not truly reflect who we are. For instance, there are people who are frustrated because they seem to encourage animosity or fear in others, while they see themselves as kind and gentle people. If you experience such frustration, or anything similar to it, you ask yourself, why is it that I give off these negative vibes, while I myself am really such a positive person? It might be that you see yourself as a loving and caring individual, but at the same time feel that for some reason people seem to be threatened by you. “How can this be?” you ask yourself.” The answer is that you harbor some latent but very present character “genes” that are only revealed in your offspring, that is in the way you express yourself. To yourself you seem to be the very opposite from the way you come off. What can one do in this very familiar situation?

The answer is that the lack of control you have over these latent character traits is a result of their remaining unconscious and you not being able to exercise any volition over them. To remedy the situation, to express these genes in a positive way, you have to transform their birth process, their expression, into one that is consciously intellectual and emotionally revealed. Then you can express these latent genes in the right context, in a place where they will have a positive and constructive influence. For example, there are times when people should feel threatened by you, even if you in your essence a loving and caring individual. If you can consciously express your might in a positive context, it will no longer need to find its own means of expression causing you surprise and embarrassment. Such control is called "mature mind" (מוֹחִין דְגַדְלוּת ) in Kabbalah. Expression, as it is anticipated by the mature mind is implied in the words: “Abraham gave birth to Isaac.”

Isaac’s Hidden Self in Jacob
What was Isaac’s latent gene? Clearly, this was Jacob. Indeed, in gematria, Jacob (יַעֲקֹב ) is equal to the word for "offspring" (צֶאֶצַא ). This Hebrew word is spelled with the same two letters, צא , repeated. צֵא means “go out,” in Hebrew. Therefore, the Hebrew word for “offspring” can be understood as implying to “comings out.” The first צֵא , coming out, refers to the natural, unconscious expression of one’s latent character; the second צֵא , coming out, refers to the intellectually and emotionally conscious expression of one’s latent character traits.

When Jacob was צֵא = 91 years old, he gave birth to Joseph, the archetypal soul of the sefirah of foundation, which like Jacob’s sefirah of beauty lies on the middle axis of the sefirot. Joseph was particularly similar to Jacob. In the Zohar we find that the body, which corresponds to the sefirah of beauty and the male procreative organ, which corresponds to the sefirah of foundation are considered as one.4 Still, the sefirah of beauty leans somewhat to the right while the sefirah of foundation leans a little to the left, indicating the connection between the generations: Jacob is connected to Abraham and Joseph is connected to Isaac, showing once more how the latent traits can be completely opposite to the revealed essence.

The Ark Gives Birth to Noah, Twice
The first time that we find this twofold process of expression is in relation to Noach. After almost a full year in the ark, God commanded Noah: “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you….” The Hebrew text, the word for “come out” is צֵא and the word for “bring out” is הוֹצֵא , which is a derivative of צֵא . Thus, “come out” is a natural process void of special intent. But, “bring out” is a conscious and purposeful process.

Amazingly, even the word הוֹצֵא alludes to the intellectual and emotional sefirot. The word is written הַיְצֵא but is read הוֹצֵא , thus stressing the three letters that change between the written and oral forms of the word: יהו . These are also the three letters of God’s essential Name, Havayah that refer to the sefirot of wisdom (י ), understanding (ה ) and beauty (ו ).

(Based on the Daily Dvar Torah from Monday, 23rd Cheshvan, 5768 – November 4, 2007)
1. For some of these answers and how they correspond to the 4 aspects of Torah methodology, see Likutei Sichot (Hebrew), v. 3, pp. 33-9.

2. See also What You Need to Know About Kabbalah, pp. ???.

3. As discussed in our earlier teachings, these three groupings form the basis of the Arizal’s description of the enclothement of one partzuf within another, whereby the lower three sefirot, the nehi of the higher partzuf are enclothed within the higher three sefirot, the chabad, of the lower partzuf. There are many exceptions to this formula, but this is its best known form. Additonally, each group of three sefirot represents another state of maturity in the development of a partzuf.

4. Tikunei Zohar 69 (106a). See also Zohar I, 153b-154a.

courtesy Inner.org

Digging the Wells in our Souls

2008-11-28T16:55:00.000-05:00

The Weekly Torah Portion of: Toldot

Our souls have infinite depths, waiting to be uplifted and manifest at the surface. The Divine service of our Patriarch, Isaac, was to dig wells and to both literally and figuratively release the subterranean waters from their straits below, allowing them to swell to the surface and broaden. In this audio meditation, Rabbi Ginsburgh describes the levels of the soul as they correspond to the wells that Isaac dug. When we can identify these levels in ourselves, we can achieve the infinite breadth of the highest level of our souls, penetrating all barriers and achieving true fruitfulness and fulfillment in our lives.

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Isaac's Divine Service

The work of any soul is the spiritual service of both the man and his wife, who are two halves of one soul

The essential Divine service of our Patriarch, Isaac, was to dig wells, uplifting the subterranean waters and fountains to reveal themselves on earth. Rebecca, Isaac's wife, supported Isaac in this service. The work of any soul is the spiritual service of both the man and his wife, who are two halves of one soul. Isaac's Divine service of revealing the waters below and raising them to above is considered a feminine form of Divine service, called "uplifting feminine waters."

Direct and Returning Light

Isaac's service complemented his father, Abraham's Divine service. Abraham's service and rectification was to bring direct light from God above to the world below. His main occupation was to bring guests into his home, where he would teach them to love God. Abraham projected light to his guests, who were like students sitting at the feet of their master. The master projects direct light, from above to below, to his students. This service, whose direction is from above to below, is called "direct light."

Isaac's Divine service and rectification complemented Abraham's by working in the opposite direction -- from below to above. By digging wells, he would reveal hidden light, as symbolized by the living waters, which had previously been trapped in the lowest physical realms. He would break open the physical shells, revealing the concealed light from below to above. This is the service called "returning light."

A hidden tzadik, may inspire people to become aroused to love and fear God without their knowledge

The work of "returning light" is the work of the hidden tzadik, who inspires people to become aroused to love and fear God without their knowledge. By digging the wells, Isaac would project his positive energy into people's hearts, causing them to experience an inexplicable arousal to know and love God.

The Three Wells

The first wells that Isaac digs are the wells that had been dug by Abraham and sealed by the Philistines. The Philistines succeeded in sealing Abraham's wells because digging the wells was not Abraham's essential service. Once Isaac actualized his own Divine service by reopening his father's wells, the Philistines were powerless to seal them.

Isaac then proceeded to dig three of his own wells. The first two wells that he dug created controversy and strife as to who was the owner of the wells. Accordingly, Isaac named the first well Esek, which means "trouble." He named the second well Sitnah, which means "hatred." Finally Isaac traveled to a different area, where his well digging did not arouse controversy. At this new place it was clear at all levels of world consciousness that the wells that Isaac dug were his. Isaac named the third well, dug in this new place, Rechovot, which means "infinite breadth --" in anticipation of the breadth that would enable him to bear new fruit in reality.

Three Levels of the Soul Kabbalah explains that the three wells dug by Isaac correspond to three ascending levels of the soul. Isaac's essential service of digging these three wells represents the rectified maturing process of every soul from below to above.

Esek: The Behavioristic Level of the Soul

The attributes of the soul at its lowest, innate level are confidence, sincerity and truthfulness. These innate attributes are not achieved by meditation but are rather inborn. They manifest when a person is in action. A person who has no more mental or spiritual light in his consciousness above and beyond the innate character that surfaces when he acts is represented by the first well, Esek. This "trouble" is behavioristic, describing the dynamic of active controversy surrounding the well. The negative connotation in the name Esek stems from the fact that this level of the soul is vulnerable to the evil inclination and must battle it.

Sitnah: The Emotive Level of the Soul

When a person digs deeper into his soul he manifests a deeper, emotive level. The attributes of the soul at this second, emotive level are love, awe and compassion. This is the level where real emotion enters the soul. The emotion that Isaac's second well aroused was deep hatred, sitnah. This name also has negative connotations, symbolizing the negative emotive forces of the evil inclination to which this level of the soul is vulnerable and with which it must do battle.

Rechovot: The Intellectual Level of the Soul

When a person digs yet deeper into his soul, he realizes that the realm of the evil inclination is all seven attributes of the heart from below to above. He then must remove himself from that vulnerable space and reach the third, higher dimension of the soul. This is the intellectual level of the soul -- pure perception – the inner eye and ear of the soul, whose attributes are wisdom, understanding and knowledge. When a person reaches this full maturity of soul, he has transcended the realm that is vulnerable to opposition.

When the first Lubavitcher Rebbe was released from the Czarist prison, he thankfully recited the verse in Psalms (55:19):

My soul has been redeemed from battle in peace

When we dig to the deepest, intellectual level of our souls we can ultimately penetrate all the world's barriers

When a person reaches the intellectual level of inner peace in his soul, he has transcended the reality of battle. Isaac had to go to a different place so that he could achieve this true, deep, mental perception of the soul. To dig a well is to penetrate the earth and to see through opaque barriers. When we dig to the deepest, intellectual level of our souls we can ultimately penetrate all the world's barriers and reach Rechovot, the infinite, God-given breadth and power to be fruitful in all that we do.

courtesy Inner.org

The Consummate Life of Sarah

2008-11-22T16:59:00.000-05:00

127 Years: The Revealed Meaning
Sarah, the first matriarch, lived for 127 years. The Torah writes her lifespan as "100 years, and 20 years and 7 years." This particular division of her years obviously points to the message behind those years. Rashi, the most important classical Biblical commentator, quotes the explanation of the sages: At the age of 100, Sara was still as pure of soul as a 20 year old, and at the age of 20, Sara was as beautiful as a child of 7.

127 Years: The Inner Meaning
Kabbalah and Chassidut explain that the first 100 years of Sarah's life, 10 times 10, correspond to Sarah's perfection at the level of keter, the superconscious level of the soul. The next 20 years of Sarah's life, 2 times 10, correspond to her perfection at the two intellectual faculties of the soul, chochmah, "wisdom," and binah, "understanding." This indicates that Sarah, the first Jewish woman was perfect in her mind, as in the verse (Proverbs 19:14):

If a man is worthy, his wife is a truly and completely intelligent woman

The 7 years of Sarah's life correspond to her perfection at the level of the inner dimension of the 7 emotive attributes of the heart; love, awe, compassion, confidence, sincerity, truth and humility.

Levels of Interinclusion in the Soul
In Kabbalah we learn that each ascending level of the soul has a greater level of interinclusion. The brilliance of the soul shines at each stage of the interinclusion. As a result, the higher levels of the soul shine with much more brilliance than do the lower levels. The verse on Sarah's age illustrates this point:

Mathematically, 7 is 7 times 10 to the 0 power (10 to the 0 power is 1). There is no interinclusion of 10 in 7 -- rather, the 7 stands alone. At the level of 20, the two mental faculties of the soul, interinclusion already exists. 20 is 10 to the first power. Thus, in each of the powers of the mind, there is interinclusion of all 10 powers of the soul. At the level of 100, keter, there is an added dimension of interinclusion. 100 is 1 times 10 squared. At this supernal level of the soul, there is a double manifestation of all 10 intrinsic powers of the soul. Thus, there is an added dimension of light in the superconscious crown in relation to the faculties of the mind, and 10 times more light in the faculties of the mind than in the emotions of the heart. Sarah's lifespan reflects the brilliance of her soul. The lights of the powers of her soul shine at all levels of perfect interinclusion.

Synthesizing the Body and Soul of the Torah
Kabbalah is the concealed level -- the soul -- of the Torah. It enlivens the revealed level – the body -- of the Torah. From the Lubavitcher Rebbe we learn that both the revealed and concealed interpretations of a verse must be related and synthesized. Let us now explore the significance of Sarah's age in the prism of both the revealed and concealed interpretations of this verse.

The Nullification of 100
In the Ethics of our Fathers our sages explain that when a person reaches the age of 100, he becomes null, as though he has already passed away. Even if the person is still alive, he experiences life outside the realm of normative human connection to earthly matters. This level of total nullification of earthly consciousness experienced by the centenarian is the full manifestation of the Crown in his soul. The Crown is the level of light above vessels -- it does not relate to reality as we experience it. Rather, at the level of Crown the experience of the soul is the pure consciousness that God is all and all is God -- above the vision of reality as perceived by our physical senses. At the age of 100, a person is no longer deceived by his senses. He fully reveals his Crown. Because he has succeeded in reaching this total nullification, he is pure and without blemish, as a person of 20, who is not yet held responsible for his sins.

The Purity of 20
Only when a person's mind is fully developed can he be held responsible for his actions. This full development of one's mental faculties occurs at the age of 20. It is then that a person is liable for his sins. Until the age of 20, a person is still immature and not responsible for his sins. Sarah was pure at the age of 100 as a person of 20 who was never held responsible for his sins. Although her mind was completely mature, she merited not to sin. Her purity stemmed not from her immaturity, but rather from the matured and consummate powers of her soul.

The Beauty of 7
Tiferet, "beauty" is the most central of all the seven emotions of the soul. The source of the charm and grace of a young girl of 7 is the natural compassion in her soul for all living things. At the age of 20, Sarah was as consummately beautiful in all the emotions of her soul as a child of 7.
Sarah was the first matriarch. By emulating her ways we can strive to ascend to the consummate levels of nullification, purity and beauty of her soul.

age
revealed meaning
(Rashi)
concealed meaning
synthesis of revealed and concealed

100

sefirah of Crown
total nullification to God, without blemish or sin

20
Pure soul

mental faculties of wisdom and understanding
purity of a person of 20 who has not yet been held responsible for his sins due to his as yet immature mental faculties

7
Beauty
7 emotive powers of soul
compassion for all living things, the source of beauty of the child

courtesy Inner.org

BEYOND SELF-INTEREST

2008-11-21T22:30:00.000-05:00

Hemshech Tzaddik-Dalet Part V

By Simon Jacobson

This weekend several thousand of leaders, from six continents and over 100 countries, are gathering together in a powerful convention. They are called shluchim. Messengers. This simple name, however, carries within itself volumes of invaluable lessons for each on of us. Lessons that have the power to change your life forever. This essay is in honor of the Annual International Shluchim Conference this weekend in New York.

When it comes to big life issues, we humans have the tendency to avoid drawing very distinct lines. And justly so. Life is far too complex and nuanced to impose a black and white perspective. Grey is the color of choice.

Despite this general rule (which itself, by the logic above, should not be etched in stone), the fact is that there are areas where lines can be drawn. And one primary one is the big choice we make about our careers – where we will invest the bulk of our life energies. In this area we really have only two choices: Will you live your life driven either by self-interest, or by dedication to a higher cause than yourself?

The undisputed argument can be made, that even self-interest can benefit the public. Isn’t that the basis of capitalism: Personal gain and even greed serve as a powerful catalyst to create products and services that benefit the public. Even a self-interest driven individual can be charitable and benevolent. And conversely, even dedication to a higher cause can also be driven by self-interest, in effect, making it just another expression and extension of personal gain and benefit.

Yet, the very clear distinction remains between the primary and secondary drives: One has chosen a life driven by self-interest, which also – as an ancillary element –can happen to benefit others. The latter has chosen a life that is primarily driven by helping others – a cause beyond himself – which also can satisfy his self-interest.

Another key point: You can be involved in your self-interests without anyone else gaining anything. Or your self-interest can be directed toward efforts than benefit many. Like the difference between the two options of putting on a fur coat or lighting a fire to keep warm in a cold room: By donning a fur coat (a tzaddilk in peltz), you serve and keep yourself warm, but no one else. Lighting a fire warms you and everyone else in the room.

Sadly, even religious commitment today, due to its mechanization, has become trapped beneath these two options.

I submit that one of the greatest contributions in our time to counter the inevitable stagnation that results from being content with a self-interest driven life, including religious self-interest, was the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s innovation of the concept of shlichus.

Shlichus literally means “mission.” A shliach is a messenger sent on a mission to serve a cause greater than him or herself: To help others. Every person on Earth is sent here on a mission; your soul was dispatched for you to accomplish a particular assignment, which is your calling.

In this week’s Torah portion we read about the first shlichus in the Bible: Abraham sending Eliezer as his emissary to find a bride for Isaac. Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi explains that Eliezer’s mission to join Isaac and Rebecca reflects the general mission of each of our lives: To fuse matter and spirit, body and soul into one seamless union (see Messenger or Matchmaker).

Dedicating your life to a cause beyond yourself, unleashes many powerful forces. Firstly, it frees you from the stifling containment of your own orbit – of breathing your own recycled air and that of your natural environment (“ghetto”). Leaving your comfort zones creates challenges that always bring the best out of you. Secondly, it empowers you to become a leader instead of a follower. Finally, and above all, it introduces into your life, your family’s life – and into the universe – an energy of giving instead of taking. You reverse the arrow that is, left to its own accord, inwardly directed toward self-interest – toward “me, me and more me,” and you turn it outward, toward others and the larger world. Like the windows in the Holy Temple, which were narrow on the inside and wide on the outside, in order to allow the transmission of the inner holy light to the outside.

In Kabbalistic and Chassidic terms this is the concept of Ohr, light-energy, whose fundamental property is bittul – the ability to transcend your own ego and self-interest. In our universe made of matter and energy (container and light) – with all matter being essentially energy – we always have a choice: Matter, by nature and by definition, is self-contained, concealing the energy within and denying any root source. Energy is selfless, always pointing to a source (of the energy). Will we choose a life driven by matter and substance, which is selfishly oriented; or will we seek out the energy within which directs us to a higher source?

In our last installment on the continuing series of Hemshech Tzaddik-Dalet – the discourse delivered 75 years ago in Warsaw – we reviewed the three different dimensions of the selfless “energy consciousness.”

After explaining the first dimension, the profound humility of the energy sensing its utter insignificance in face of the energy source, the Rebbe Rayatz goes on (in discourse delivered 75 years ago this week) to define the second, higher level of selflessness: The sense that the energy is entirely dependent and has no being without its source.

There is a fundamental difference between these two dimensions of bittul, though both are a result of the energy’s connection to the source. The first level of bittul is only circumstantial. In face of its source the energy feel utterly nullified. But not that the energy on its own is actually insignificant. Take a candle for example. In the light of the sun, the candle’s flame gives off no light. It actually appears dark in comparison to the sun’s brilliant backdrop. But move the candle away from the presence of the sun into a dark room, then the candle has a very significant presence.

By contrast, the second level of bittul permeates the energy to such a point that it’s very being, even not in the presence of the source, senses that it has no existence of its own, only as a result and extension of its source. The example for this would be sunlight itself: Unlike an independent flame, the sun’s light always “feels” that it cannot exist without the sun.

Applying this to the concept of shlichus – the role each of us plays when we sense ourselves as Divine emissaries on a mission to serve a higher cause (than our own needs) – two possibilities arise in the way we serve as messengers on our missions:

Your dedication to the cause – your bittul – can be one in which you feel yourself utterly humble in face of the cause you represent. Like a student who feels absolutely trivial in the presence of his great teacher. But this feeling does not permeate your entire being. Your ego and personality remains intact, only nullified in the presence of your teacher. Once you leave your master’s presence, you feel very much of a personality.

A higher level of dedication and bittul is one in which your entire being senses that is has no substance and value expect as an extension of it’s source. It’s like being “in the zone,” where you don’t sense yourself at all; the object and the subject, the noun and the adjective, are all one. The messenger feels that his entire being has no substance if not for being a messenger of the sender.

Practically, the difference between these two attitudes is not mere semantics. Take, for example, a situation where a student of a great teacher is faced with a serious dilemma and does not have the ability to consult his master. In the first instance, the student would have no choice but to decide what to do based on his own instincts and knowledge. If he were in the presence of his master, he would of course defer to the master. But now that he is “on his own,” he is left to his own devices.

In the second instance, the student has so absorbed and integrated the teachings and methodologies of his teacher, that even when he is not in the master’s physical presence, the student is never “on his own;” he feels that all his tools and his knowledge are but a mere extension of his teacher’s, and thus he solves the problem not with his own logic, but with the approach of his master that he has utterly assimilated.

To move from the first to the second level student/shliach is not just a matter of “wiring” or feelings (hergesh), as if to say that some people are simply not capable of reaching the higher level of dedication. Every student has the ability, with effort and hard work, to reach a point that he can This requires commitment, devotion, and immersion into the teachings and spirit of the master’s thoughts and methodologies, to the point where the student’s mind, heart and sprit reflect and become one with the master’s.

This is one reason why the Torah commands us to “know thy G-d,” not just to believe but to study, probe and understand G-d and His ways. Faith alone connects you with the Divine. But on its own it hasn’t yet transformed you, the person. In the name of faith you defer and surrender to a Higher Will. But where do you, as an individual, remain standing? When faith is integrated into your system – your mind and heart – then you become transformed into an instrument: Your mind channels a higher intelligence and state of consciousness, your heart channels a higher state of emotions, and your actions, your arms and legs and your entire body, manifest a higher, refined state of behavior. You and your faculties have become, in effect, agents of higher energy.

* * *
People marvel at the fact that Chabad shluchim cover the globe. Wherever there is Coca-Cola you can find Chabad. Others talk about their great dedication, no matter what they will never leave their job.

I humbly submit, that the greatest story of all, is the fact that the Rebbe understood the need to empower and to create proactive individuals, who would transcend self-interest, or harness their self-interest for the good of the greater cause. Especially in times of freedom and prosperity (notwithstanding the current economic meltdown) it is so easy to gravitate to a state of complacency and passivity, immersed and engulfed by self-interest.

The model of shlichus – that an individual, or a couple, leave their comfort zone and self-orbiting life and go out to build communities – is a model for us all: the ultimate antidote to modern-day self-indulgence.

And this model itself we have the two possibilities discussed above, one deeper than the next in the emissary’s dedication to the higher cause.

But before you get too excited, there is yet another, third and even more profound dimension of bittul. Stay tuned.
~~~~~

All about Sarah

2008-11-19T23:08:00.000-05:00

Let us examine the names of the angels in context of their mission: Micha’el came to give Sarah the news of Isaac’s upcoming birth; Gavri’el came to destroy Sodom; and, Repha’el came to heal Abraham. Taking the sum of the angels’ names with the objects of their mission, we get that:

מיכאל שרה ┴ גבריאל סדם ┴ רפאל אברהם = 1515 = שרה שרה שרה

Meaning that Micha’el plus Sarah plus Gavri’el plus Sodom plus Repha’el plus Abraham = 1515, which is three times Sarah. Thus, the average value of each of the angels and the name of the object of his mission is Sarah! This places Sarah clearly as the center of everything that happens in our parshah.

Now, the numerical value of Sarah (שרה ) is 505, which is 5 times the numerical value of Micha’el (מיכאל ):

שרה = 5 · מיכאל , or 5 · 101

Therefore, it follows that 1515 = 15 · מיכאל , or 15 times Micha’el.

We have previously noted that Micha’el (מיכאל ), whose numerical value is equal to 101, is considered the angelic minister of the Jewish people, Israel. The numerical value of Israel, ישראל is 541. Amazingly, the 101st prime number is 541!

It is interesting to note that the name “Isra’el” follows the common naming of an angel (that ends with “el”). Indeed, Jacob received the name Israel only after having defeated Esau’s angel,1 “Because you have wrestled with angels and men and you have overcome.” Jacob’s ability to overcome Esau’s angel came by his including the strength of Gavri’el, who manifest the power of the sefirah of might. After the sun rose, Jacob was healed by the power manifest in the angel Repha’el.

The name “Israel” stems from the root meaning “to overcome” or “to minister” as does the name “Sarah.” The numerical value of “Israel” (ישראל ) is 541, which is also the sum of “Sarah” (שרה ) and “Leah” (לאה , the mother of Jacob’s six children, as explained in an earlier teaching): ישראל = שרה לאה .

Since “Sarah” is equal to 5 times “Micha’el,” this means that the difference between “Israel” (in this case referring to Jacob) and his wife “Leah” is 5 times “Micha’el.” Jacob’s other wife, and Leah’s sister was Rachel, whose numerical value is 238. Amazingly, the difference between “Israel” and “Rachel” is also a multiple of “Micha’el”: ישראל = רחל ┴ 3 · מיכאל ! This follows from the fact that the difference between Rachel (238) and Leah (36) is 2 times Micha’el (202). That Micha’el figures into the relationship between Jacob and both of his wives who are matriarchs suggests that as the ministering angel of the Jewish people, and the angel corresponding to the power of loving-kindness, Micha’el plays a role in establishing and elevating these relationships.

Micha’el and the individual
Now that we have seen a few examples of Micha’el’s role at the national level of the Jewish people, let us focus on his role for every individual. In respect to our devotional service of the Almighty, Micha’el appears as the power entailed by our love for God that can break us free of our so-called comfort zone. Recall that the value of his name is 101. Let us quote from the Tanya,2 the foundational work of devotional service and the basis of Chassidic teachings:

The Talmud writes that “he who serves God”3 refers to one who reviews what he had studied 101 times, while “he who serves Him not”4 refers to one who reviews his studies only 100 times. This is so because in the Talmudic days, it was normal to review each lesson one hundred times.

The Talmud illustrates this by drawing an analogy with a market of the donkey drivers. The drivers would charge one coin for every ten miles that they would have to cover, but demanded two coins for driving 11 miles because driving an additional eleventh mile deviated from their standard [which was for driving 10 miles]. Likewise, the 101st review of one’s studies, which illustrates a commitment to study that is beyond the normal practice to which the student has been accustomed since his childhood [his “comfort zone”], is itself equivalent to all the 100 repetitions already performed, combined.

In fact, the 101st review’s quality surpasses the first 100 times in its greater strength and power. Therefore, it is only this one extra review that entitles the student to be called “he who serves God.” For in order to change his natural habits the student must arouse love for God, by meditating on God’s greatness in his mind; this meditation makes it possible to control the habitual aspect [of one’s character] that resides [symbolically] in the left chamber of the heart, the seat of the animal soul, which is full of the blood of the animal soul whose source is in the kelipah, the source of these types of habits. This is considered impeccable service for a Beinoni [one who is not a tzadik].

An alternate type of service for a Beinoni is to awaken the natural love for God that is inherently found hidden in the [right chamber of the] heart, thereby overpowering the natural habits that are in the left chamber of the heart. This too—struggling against one’s natural habits and inclination by arousing one’s natural love [for God]—is deemed serving God.

If, however, one does not struggle at all with one’s habits, [the existence of] this type of love [the natural love of God that lies dormant in the heart] cannot be credited to his service of God. [Therefore he is described as “he who serves Him not.”]

Thus, it is the angel Micha’el who represents the power to break out of one’s inbred habits in search of growing closer to the Almighty. Note that the Tanya describes two such methods for freeing one’s self and going beyond one’s comfort zone: 1) by meditating on God’s greatness and thereby arousing new-born love for God, 2) by awakening one’s natural love for God.

Torah meditation requires intellectual effort and a struggle against the opaqueness of our mind (the study of Torah clarifies one’s thought—without investing and immersing oneself in Torah, the mind remains an unpolished lens, unable to truly understand the Divine). Thus the first method is related to the World of Creation, which corresponds to the intellectual processes of the psyche.

The second method requires us to awaken our natural, inborn love for God, in order to struggle against our habits. Habits are formations in the psyche—they grow steadily and surely as time passes, just as stalagmites grow in a cave, eventually creating an emotional impasse that one cannot even venture to cross. This type of struggle is in its essence an emotional one and thus occurs at the level of the World of Formation, which encompasses the psyche’s emotional faculties (from loving-kindness to foundation).

Of course, one who has not awakened even the soul’s innate love of God is called “one who serves Him not.” It may be that such an individual performs many acts of goodness and commandments of the Torah out of habit, but without the struggle to advance in one’s level of action and observance, there is no service of God, only good habits. This is the level of the World of Action, which is void of any emotional or intellectual spirit.

What this reveals is that the angel Micha’el, the angel of revealed love for God, appears in two distinct manners, intellectual and emotional. These are the aspects of Micha’el in the World of Creation and in the World of Formation. Multiplying the value of Micha’el by 2, we get the Hebrew word for “master”: מיכאל מיכאל = רב , alluding to his symbolic capacity as the power to escape one’s habits and push forward. In the Bible, the word “master” appears as part of two word idiom “master and commander”5 referring to the powerful sovereignty of a king. The numerical value of “master and commander” is 557, the same as the value of “Gavri’el” and “Repha’el” together: רב ושליט = גבריאל רפאל , indicating that Gavri’el and Repha’el have been included within Micha’el in order to provide the Divine soul with sovereignty over the animal soul.

Micha’el and the Mashiach
In the passage quoted from the Tanya, the normal habit referred to corresponds to the spiritual level of the World of Action—activity without emotional or intellectual struggle. In Talmudic times the consummate perfection of the World of Action was represented by the number 100. 100 is also the gematria of “Michal” (מיכל ) King Saul’s daughter and King David’s first wife who in the future is destined to give birth to the Mashiach, the son of David. It is David’s task to awaken in Michal the letter alef (א ), which will then transform her name to that of the angel Micha’el, the minister of the Jewish people, the angel of love, whose ultimate task (as the High Priest of the spiritual Temple) it is to elevate the souls of the Jewish people from the World of Creation to the World of Emanation, thereby revealing their inherent nature as tzadikim. Transcending from Creation to Emanation can be understood as adding self-nullification to the individual, regardless of how much intellectual knowledge of the Torah he or she has. Without self-nullification (bitul, in Hebrew), one cannot become one with the Almighty, nor can one truly fulfill one’s mission in life.

Micha’el, the message of fraternal love
In the Song of Songs there is a beautiful allusion to this transformation of Michal into Micha’el. The words “If only you were like a brother to me….”6 In Hebrew, the initials of these words spells Michal: מי יתנך כאח לי , in order. But, the כ in כאח is a relational כ , meaning “like.” The word itself is אח , meaning “brother,” whose initial is א . So, we have also the name Micha’el alluded to: מי יתנך כאח לי , also in order. From this analysis we learn that the special power of the angel Micha’el is to instill a feeling of fraternity between the supernal groom and bride—the Almighty and the Congregation of Israel.

This is a beautiful example of the aspect of loving-kindness that the angel Micha’el can add to a relationship. Indeed, we can now say that it was indeed thanks to the fraternal bond and love between Abraham and Sarah that made it possible for the angel Micha’el to come and give Sarah the news of Isaac’s impending birth. It was Abraham who told Sarah, “Say that you are my sister,”7 which the sages say was not a falsehood, for she was indeed his niece and as such their love also included the fraternal love (the most idealized form of love, as explained elsewhere) between brother and sister.8

Yehoyada and Yehosheva
Apart from the letters that spell Micha’el in this phrase, the numerical value of the rest of the letters י תנך ח י is 498 also the numerical value of Yehoyada (the High Priest) and his wife Yehosheva, יהוידע יהושבע . As a couple, they represent the consummate rectified brotherly love in the Bible. Together they were able to save the boy Yo’ash, an offspring of the House of David, and to have him appointed rightful King of the nation.9 In the Midrash,10 Rabbi Nechemyah connects Yehoyada and Yehosheva with the verse: “Two [together] are better than one… and the triple cord will not soon be broken,”11 which can also mean that the two (Yehoyada and his wife, Yehosheva) are together because of the one (אחד , in Hebrew)—i.e., their fraternal love. As explained elsewhere, in the Bible the word “one” is also written as “brother” (אח ).12

The Midrash writes that Yehoyada and Yehosheva’s marital bond gives birth to the Mashiach.13 What their names share in common are the first three letters of God’s essential Name, Havayah יהו , the third partner in “the triple cord that will not soon be broken.” Indeed, יהו יהו is equal to אהיה (אשר) אהיה , “I will be that which I will be,” the Name of God that represents the power “to become,“ i.e., to give birth (and redeem). The final three letters in their two names, ידע and שבע together equal 456, the value of “Jacob,” “Rachel,” and “Leah” יעקב לאה רחל .

498, the value of Yehoyada and Yehosheva, is also the numerical value of the complete spiritual family, “father, mother, son, daughter” אב אם בן בת , which corresponds to the four letters of God’s essential Name, Havayah.14 498 is also the numerical value of the four basic categories of beings in Talmudic taxonomy (which also correspond to the four letters of God’s essential Name, Havayah): speaking (man), living (animal), growing (vegetable), and silent (inanimate), מדבר חי צומח דומם , over which the angel Micha’el, as described above, has sovereignty.

As hinted above, Michal, David’s first wife was destined to give birth to his son who would become the Mashiach. Above we connected “Michal” with the phrase “If only you were like a brother to me….” Clearly, this suggests that Michal yearned for her husband King David to experience the fraternal love that Abraham and Sarah had—a love that is essential for the birth of Mashiach. When we add the value of the entire phrase whose initials spell “Michal” (מיכל ) to “David” (דוד ) we find that together they equal 613, the full number of commandments in the Torah and the numerical value of “Moshe Rabbeinu,” whose soul will be the soul of the Mashiach: מי יתנך כאח לי ┴ דוד = משה רבינו !
1. Genesis 32:29.

2. End of chapter 15.

3. Malachi 3:18.

4. Ibid.

5. Daniel 2:10.

6. Song of Songs 8:1.

7. Genesis 12:13.

8. For a more complete discussion of the topic of fraternal love in marriage see Consciousness & Choice, pp. 82-3 and pp. 168-174. See also What You Need to Know About Kabbalah, pp. 107-9.

9. See II Kings chapter 11 and II Chronicles 22:10 ff.

10. Kohelet Rabbah 4:8.

11. Ecclesiastes 4:9-13.

12. Ezekiel 18:10. See Consciousness & Choice, p. 172.

13. See Yalkut Shimoni to II Samuel 161.

14. See What You Need to Know About Kabbalah, p. 129-131.

courtesy Inner.org

Angels and the sefirot - revisited

2008-11-16T20:11:00.000-05:00

Solving A Contradiction Between Rashi and the Midrash

Yesterday, as a first approximation we explained that the three angels, Micha’el, Gavri’el, and Repha’el correspond to the three sefirot of loving-kindness, might, and beauty (referred to by their Hebrew acronym chagat), respectively. However, today let us more accurately say that they represent the active aspect of these three sefirot, which are victory, acknowledgement, and foundation (referred to by their Hebrew acronym nehi). Together, all six sefirot, chagat and nehi, are called the six extremes, or the six measures [of the heart]. However, the lower half, the nehi are considered to be the practical extensions of the upper half, the chagat. The beautiful gematria that goes with this understanding is that the initials of the three angels’ names are: מיכאל גבריאל רפאל , רמג = 243 = 35, but which is also the numerical value of the names of these three sefirot in Hebrew: נצח הוד יסוד = 243!

We saw that the sum of the numerical values of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Micha’el, Gavri’el, and Repha’el is equal to 1296 = 362 = 64. Thus, we have that in this model, the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob correspond to the chagat (loving-kindness, might, and beauty) and the three angels, Micha’el, Gavri’el, and Repha’el correspond to the nehi (victory, acknowledgment, and foundation). Incidentally, 36 is the numerical value of Leah (לאה ), who gave birth to six of Jacob’s children.

In every individual’s life the challenge is to realize his or her potential. In order to understand what one’s mission in life is, one has to go to one’s source, represented by the sefirah of crown. But, in order to realize one’s mission, to transform potential into action, the sefirot of nehi, victory, acknowledgment, and foundation are necessary. In the first benediction of the Amidah, the main part of every prayer service we say: “The Most High God who grants great loving-kindness, owns everything, and remembers the goodness of the patriarchs….” The Arizal explains that the phrase “the Most High God,”1 refers to the sefirah of crown, while the three predicates, “grants great loving-kindness, owns everything, and remembers the goodness of the patriarchs,” correspond to the three sefirot of nehi. Indeed, excluding the initials, which equal the names of the three sefirot of nehi, the rest of the letters equal the Hebrew word for “action,” מעשה : יכאל בריאל פאל = 415 = מעשה , alluding to the sages saying that “action is the main thing.”2

Since we have looked at the nehi, let us now look at the upper half of the six measures, loving-kindness, might, and beauty. The numerical value of the sum of these three sefirot is: חסד גבורה תפארת = 1369 = 372. Beautifully, when we add the sum of the names of the bottom half of the six measures, the nehi, we get:
1369 ┴ 1296 = 372 ┴ 362 = 37 = 2665

Where, 37 reads the 37th inspirational number, and the nth inspirational number is defined as: n = n2 ┴ (n - 1)2.

2665 is also the product of יה י־הוה (41) and אדנ־י (65), which refers to Abraham’s words: “Please my Master (אדנ־י ), do not pass over your servant.”3 As explained in Rashi on this verse, there are two possible meanings to the word “my Master.” Either it refers to the Almighty, in which case Abraham was asking the Almighty to wait for him until he finishes hosting his three guests. Or, it is a mundane name, and thus refers to one of the three angels, specifically to Micha’el, the greatest between them. In fact, the numerical value of אדנ־י (65) is the exact difference between Gavri’el and Repha’el, teaching us that it was Micha’el that gave the angels the power to come together to Abraham.

Rashi’s idealism
Now, let us note two things about Rashi’s commentary quoted yesterday:

1) Rashi mentions all three angels in the order of the sefirot, loving-kindness (Micha’el), might (Gavri’el), and beauty (Repha’el):
One [man] to bring the news [of Isaac’s birth] to Sarah [Micha’el – loving-kindness], and one to destroy [Gavri’el – might] Sodom, and one to heal Abraham [Repha’el – beauty]…

2) Rashi does not mention saving Lot until later, and he sees the saving of Lot as an extension of healing Abraham.
But, in practice the order of the angel’s missions was different: first Repha’el healed Abraham (a mission that is not mentioned explicitly in the Torah); then, Micha’el gave news of Isaac’s impending birth to Sarah; finally, the destruction of Sodom was carried out by Gavri’el. Thus, Rashi elevates the three angels who themselves correspond to nehi, to their source in chagat.

Three that are four
We are left with a second question, introduced yesterday, regarding the dispute regarding the identity of the angel who saved Lot. Rashi, following the Midrash identifies him as Repha’el, who first healed Abraham and then saved Lot. The Talmud identifies him as Micha’el who first heralded Isaac’s birth and then continued on with Gavri’el to Sodom and there saved Lot. What is the dispute? How can we understand that both opinions are “the words of Living God,”4 a phrase commonly used to describe that Torah sages do not contradict, they complement?

Let us analyze both opinions using the language of Kabbalah. According to the Midrash and Rashi, saving Lot was carried out by Repha’el, and thus the action represents the sefirah of beauty. According to the Talmud, saving Lot was carried out by Micha’el and therefore is an act of loving-kindness. We now have four actions that actually correspond to only three archetypes. How shall we make correspond the actions with the archetypes and at the same type take into account the dispute we have just seen?

Let us first draw the correspondence and then explain it:

concealed knowledge
healing Abraham

expanding knowledge
saving Lot

might
destroying Sodom
loving-kindness
heralding Isaac’s birth

The actual order of events was: 1) healing Abraham, 2) heralding Isaac’s birth, 3) saving Lot, 4) destroying Sodom. We now see that in reference to the sefirot this order corresponds to concealed knowledge, loving-kindness, expanding knowledge, and finally might.

Two stages of consciousness
We have in this model introduced a relatively new concept in our use of Kabbalistic teachings that of concealed knowledge (da’at hane’elam)5 vs. expanding knowledge (da’at hamitpashet). Normally when we speak of the sefirah of knowledge as manifesting as human consciousness, we are referring to the expanding aspect of knowledge. As such, knowledge is born—it expands, as it were—out of the union of wisdom and understanding and stands as the “firstborn son”6 followed then by the six other measures of the heart (from loving-kindness to foundation). In this capacity, the sefirah of knowledge is the key to the measures of the heart and without it, the psyche cannot function, as the person cannot connect or unite with anything outside of him or her self.

But, the concealed aspect of the sefirah of knowledge represents a pre-sentient state in which somehow connections are formed even though there is no true consciousness yet. The example cited in Chassidic teachings to help us get a sense of concealed knowledge or concealed consciousness in our lives is the powerful connection between a baby and his father specifically,7 a connection that is expressed in the baby’s cry “father, father,” once he has begun to taste wheat, representing the Tree of Knowledge. Unlike an adult, who experiences expanding knowledge as day to day consciousness, the baby does not really understand what it means that it has a father. The baby does not connect or bond with the father figure out of a full consciousness of the relationship between them. There is something strongly intuitive about this bond, and the baby is more prone to feel alone and miss its father, than the adult who understands the nature of the relationship better with his expanding consciousness.

The nature of expanding knowledge
Now, armed with this understanding of the complexity of the sefirah of knowledge we can explain the dispute between the Midrash and the Talmud. The Midrash follows the explanation that expanding knowledge, as its name indicates, expands or manifests concealed knowledge, corresponding to the angel Repha’el (whose first act, to heal Abraham, is indeed concealed in the Torah). Furthermore, expanding knowledge acts as the soul of the sefirah of beauty (which lies directly beneath knowledge on the middle axis of the sefirot), as the key to all the measures of the heart. That is why it identifies the angel who saved Lot with Repha’el who is the archetype of beauty and its inner power of mercy.

The Talmud on the other hand sees expanding knowledge more as the firstborn son of the union of wisdom and understanding. Normally, if asked which sefirah is born first out of this union, we would answer that it is loving-kindness. The first emotional product of mental prowess is love. Therefore as explained oftentimes in Kabbalah and Chassidut, expanding knowledge has the characteristics of loving-kindness. In Kabbalistic terminology, there are five measures of loving-kindness which comprise the essence of expanding knowledge. Thus, the Talmud identifies the angel who saved Lot and exemplifies expanding knowledge with Micha’el, the archetype of loving-kindness.
1. See Genesis 14:18-20.

2. Avot 1:17.

3. Genesis 18:3.

4. Eiruvin 13b; see also Yoma 35b.

5. Concealed knowledge can also be understood as theoretical or ideal consciousness, which does not necessarily follow the constraints of our practical and physical reality. Our concealed consciousness meets space and time in their idealized state. This is not a state of grasping nothingness, because there is consciousness here, and there are space and time. Nonetheless, there is something quite disruptive and non-realistic about the way that concealed consciousness sees the world, but it is the key to understanding the direction in which the world is headed, even though at times it may seem that reality is stronger than our beliefs and our intuitions.

6. See Zohar II, 136b.

7. Berachot 40a and Sanhedrin 70b. The Talmud specifically mentions the father because concealed knowledge is considered to be an aspect of the father principle (in the Talmud the reading is “father and mother,” thus referring to the higher father and mother, the sefirot of wisdom and understanding as they are in the father principle). See Alter Rebbe’s Likutei Torah Bamidbar 13b.

courtesy Inner.org

The Angeles Micha'el, Gabriel, and Rephael in the Bible

2008-11-15T16:45:00.000-05:00

Micha’el in the Bible
In this article, we will concentrate on the names of the three angels: Micha’el, Gavri’el, and Repha’el. The name Micha’el appears 13 times in the entire Tanach (Bible). Since 13 is the gematria of “love,” in Hebrew (אהבה ), this is a beautiful example of self-reference, as Micha’el is the angel of loving-kindness whose inner experience is love. It is also the gematria of “one” (אחד ), thus completing the reference to Abraham as well, as Abraham is called both “Abraham, who loves Me [God]” and “Abraham was one.” As we shall see, 13 appears prominently in everything related to Micha’el.

Three out of these 13 appearances are as the name of the angel Micha’el and the remaining are names of men. All three times Micha’el is the name of an angel appear in the book of Daniel and if we take the sum of “Micha’el” and “Daniel,” we get a perfect square, a numerical sign of wholeness: מיכאל דניאל = 142 = דוד · דוד

The first time that the name appears is in reference to one of the spies1 that Moshe Rabbeinu sent to the Land of Israel. The verse there is: “For the tribe of Asher, Stur, the son of Micha’el,”2 למטה אשר סתור בן מיכאל . The verse divides neatly both grammatically (based on where a comma would be) and numerically (the two halves are both multiples of 13), based on the golden ratio (2:3 words and 7:11 letters, in this case). The first two words, למטה אשר equal 585 = 13 · 45, or אהבה · 45, while the last three words סתור בן מיכאל equal 819 = 13 · 63 or אהבה · 63 (819 is also the gematria of “simple oneness,” אחדות פשוטה , an important idiom describing the Oneness of the Almighty); both 45 and 63 are fillings of God’s essential Name, Havayah.

Since the name “Micha’el” appears as both the name of a man and the name of an angel let us look at these two words. The word “angel,” in Hebrew, מלאך is equal to 91, which is also r13, the triangle of 13, or the sum of integers from 1 to 13. The word for “man,” אדם is equal to 45, or r9. These two triangles divide the word “one,” אחד , along a golden ratio, in this case 3:2, as all three letters together, אחד = 13, and the first two letters אח = 9. Adding the two words together אדם מלאך we get 136, which is also a triangular number, 16.

Looking at the 13 appearances of this name in the Tanach, we find that 3 times it appears with the conjunctive “and” before it: ומיכאל . The sum of all 13 times, 10 times מיכאל and 3 times ומיכאל is 1331 = 113. 1331 is also משיח in mispar kidmi (אבגדהוזחטיכלמ אבגדהוזחטיכלמנסעפצרקש אבגדהוזחטי אבגדהוזח = 1331).

Gavri’el and Repha’el in the Bible
The name “Gavri’el” appears twice in the Tanach, both in the Book of Daniel and both times as the name of the angel. If we add these three names together: “Daniel, Micha’el, Gavri’el” דניאל מיכאל גבריאל we get 442 = טוב · יהוה , or “good” times “Havayah.” The initials of these three names spell מגד .
Repha’el appears only once in the Tanach as the name of a man.

From this we can say that it is indeed Micha’el who is the angel that connects the heavens and the earth (angel and man) together.
Let us sum all the appearances of the names of the three angels. We have: 13 · מיכאל ┴ 3 · גבריאל ┴ רפאל = 2116 = 462! Indeed, 46 is the midpoint of 91, the numerical value of “angel,” מלאך .

Micha’el the minister
It is from the book of Daniel that we learn that Micha’el is the ministering angel of the Jewish people. When speaking to Daniel, the angel Gavri’el mentions Micha’el three times:

The first time he describes him as “Micha’el one of the first ministers,” מיכאל אחד השרים הראשנים . The gematria of this phrase is 1275 = 50.

The second time he says: “Micha’el, your minister,” מיכאל שרכם .

The third time he calls him: “Micha’el the great minister,” מיכאל השר הגדול ; “the minister,” in Hebrew, השר is a permutation of “Sarah,” שרה , whose numerical value, as we saw yesterday, is 505 = 5 · מיכאל .

The sum of all three phrases is: מיכאל אחד השרים הראשנים מיכאל שרכם מיכאל השר הגדול = 2590 = 70 · 37, the significance of which will be explained shortly.
The initials of these nine words are: מאהה מש מהה = 441, or אמת , “truth,” = 212, or אהיה · אהיה , one of the Names of the Almighty. אהיה ┴ אהיה = 42, and there are 42 letters in all nine words.

Indeed, Daniel also saw these same three angels without referring to them by name. He simply describes them as “three people,” שלשה אנשים , which equals 1036 = 28 · 37. Recall, that above we saw that all three descriptions of Micha’el that appear in Daniel also equal a multiple of 37 (2590 = 70 · 37). But these two numbers, 2590 and 1036 share a higher denominator, 518 since 2590 = 5 · 518 and 1036 = 2 · 518. Two numbers that share a common denominator are congruent. Here, the common denominator is 518, while the multiplicands are 5 and 2. 5 and 2 are the most important division of 7, and as mentioned in the recent past, they constitute the numerical essence of the Hebrew word for “gold,”זהב , where the first letter ז = 7, and the last two letters ה and ב equal 5 and 2 respectively, giving us the equation 7 = 5 ┴ 2. Indeed, the common denominator 518 is itself a multiple of “gold,” since 518 = זהב · 37, or: 14 · 37

Micha’el Mission of blessing
Micha’el’s mission was to bring the news of Isaac’s birth to Abraham and Sarah. In the previous article, we saw that the angel Micha’el elevates a married couple to experience fraternal love in their relationship, a necessary component for the procreation of the lineage of the Mashiach. It follows that we should look at the gematria of “Abraham, Micha’el, Sarah”: אברהם מיכאל שרה = 854, which is also the numerical value of the first of the three priestly blessings:3 “May God bless you and safeguard you,” יברכך יהוה וישמרך . The sages explain that the words “bless you” in this blessing refer to blessing you with boys and the words “safeguard you” refer to safeguarding you with girls. Indeed, as explained in length in our forthcoming book on the mathematics of the Priestly Blessing, the three blessings correspond to the three patriarchs; the first of course corresponds to Abraham.

The initials of Abraham, Micha’el, and Sarah are אמש , the three ”mother letters” of the Hebrew language, whose gematria is 341 and the value of the connotation of God with which we end the first benediction of the Amida: “the Shield of Abraham,” מגן אברהם .4

The Hidden meanings of Micha’el
A notrikon is a phonetic method, whereby the syllables that make up a word are taken as separate units that refer to whole words, which usually make up a phrase from the Tanach, or an idiom of the sages. As such, the notrikon of a word is used as one of the principles of analysis of the Torah and has the power to reveal hidden meanings of words. So to end today’s teaching, let us see some of the various notrikons related to the name “Micha’el”:

"Who is like You among the powerful, God”5 – מי כמכה באלם ה'

“Who is like you, a nation whose salvation is in God”6 and “Jeshurun, there is none like God.”7 These two verses, which are part of Moshe Rabbeinu’s blessing before his death, link the greatness of God with the greatness of the Jewish people who believe that their salvation comes from God alone; and in Hebrew: מי כמוך עם נושע בה' and אין כאל ישרון .

“Who is as powerful as You”8 – מי אל כמוך , the first of the thirteen principles of mercy as stated in the prophets. It corresponds to the first principle of mercy stated by Moshe in Exodus, אל , “powerful,” which is the Name of God corresponding to the sefirah of loving-kindness, as does the angel Micha’el.

The most important and revealing notrikon of all is: “Who is like Havayah our God,”9 מי כיהוה אלהינו , which appears in the first of the Psalms that we recite during Hallel. The remaining letters are יהוה הינו , whose numerical value is 97, the value of מהיטבאל , the name that contains the secrets of the unification of מה and בן , as explained in length in the writings of the Arizal. Let us quote this verse in context:

Who is like Havayah our God, Who sits on high, Who stoops down to look at the heavens and the earth….He settles the barren woman in her home as a joyous mother of children, Haleluyah.

That the Almighty “stoops down to look at the heavens and the earth” is an allusion to God entering as the Divine Presence between a man and a woman in order to allow them to procreate, as the sages say: “There are three partners in [the creation] of a human, his father, his mother, and the Almighty.” We have seen that this relates to the angel Micha’el who was given this mission by God. The first barren woman who gave birth is Sarah, who merited giving birth to Isaac. When Isaac was born Sarah said, “God has given me laughter,” indicating her joyous state.
1. See Numbers chapter 13.

2. Ibid. 13:13.

3. Numbers

4. Based on the verse: “Fear not Abraham for I am shielding, your reward greatly.” Abraham’s reward, as explained in the Midrash was that he would have offspring who could shield others, which is where the idea of the shield of David and the shield of Solomon originates. All three shields, Abraham’s, David’s, and Solomon’s were fashioned with a star on them. Abraham’s was an eight-pointed star, David’s a six-pointed star, and Solomon’s a five-pointed star. This is the basis for our design of Eve’s Shield, an elegant gold pendant, which can be seen at: http://www.inner.org/goldjewelry/aboutjewelry/abouteveshield.php.

5. Exodus 15:11.

6. Deuteronomy 33:29.

7. Ibid. 33:26.

8. Micah 7:18.

9. Psalms 113:5.

courtesy of Inner.org

RIGHTEOUS AND JUST

2008-11-14T21:30:00.000-05:00

By Simon Jacobson

Identifying a single incident – or statement – that, in retrospect, changed the entire course of history, is one of the most exhilarating discoveries.

We have one such verse in this week’s Torah portion: For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they will keep G-d’s way, to do righteousness and justice (Genesis 18:19).

Indeed, therein lays the secret of Abraham’s eternal success. As the sequence of the verses suggests: The previous verse states, Abraham is about to become a great and mighty nation, and through him all the nations of the world will be blessed. And the reason is given in the next sentence: For I know him, that… his children and his household will... do righteousness and justice. Abraham and his nation’s greatness and might are a result of their commitment to the just and righteous path.

This may be the first and earliest documented episode of humans adopting the most powerful moral mandate: To do what is right and just.

As benign and correct as this life choice resonates within us, the disturbing fact is that, despite Abraham’s commitment, the path of righteousness and justice would not come natural and easy to the human condition. It would take literally thousands of years for the idea to take hold and become the standard of virtue in the world at large.

Living in our free world today, it may be hard to imagine that institutionalized values of freedom, justices and righteousness are relatively new to our governments and institutions – merely a few centuries old. Before the 18th century nations were ruled by monarchs and despots, some of who may have been benevolent, but most were not and regardless, righteousness and justice was not the Divine right of the masses.

It was the American Revolution that embraced man’s Divine human rights, in its Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Reading this historical declaration and its appeal for “justice and magnanimity” and despair at those leaders “deaf to the voice of justice” provides us with an accurate depiction of the state of world affairs from the beginning of time. The ruling power was not justice and righteousness, but the people in control. From one end of the globe to the other, individuals ruled, often with tyranny and force, and their citizens were subject to their mercy. There were undoubtedly individuals throughout history that chose a path of peace, kindness and justice. From time to time there sprung up movements and life approaches that followed or were inspired by Abraham’s life, which helped plant the seeds of democracy. But these were exceptions, and they definitely did not create generations or nations that followed their personal philosophies.

So it’s quite remarkable to go back 3721 years to the time when Abraham made his momentous move, and pioneered the path to keep G-d’s way, to do righteousness and justice.” And this was not merely his personal choice; this became the defining principle that would shape and permeate Abraham’s “children and household,” for generations to come.

It’s quite amazing when you think about it: G-d knew and trusted that

It’s one thing to make a personal promise. But how many of us can be sure what our children and households would embrace? And not for one generation, but for over 90 generations, till this very day!

Easy it wasn’t. Indeed, this commitment to virtue cost many lives and caused much anguish. For thousands of years empire after empire persecuted those committed to an authority greater than theirs. Righteousness and justice had to be fought for, every step of the way.

Yet, Abraham’s “children and household” held on to the commitment. They maintained it and endured through their Egyptian slavery, through their suffering at the hands of the Babylonians, Greeks, Persians, and Romans. Their dedication to Abraham’s just path continued despite the hellish Crusades and Middle Ages, through the Inquisitions, expulsions and pogroms. And finally, through the horrors of the Holocaust in the 20th Century.

Through all these nightmares of history Abraham’s “children and household” did not just hold up their commitment; they exported it and spread the light unto nations, even to those nations that tormented them.

A nation with such vigilance and fortitude deserves to become a great and mighty nation, and through him all the nations of the world will be blessed.

And indeed, who has prevailed? Not the tyrants, not the killers and persecutors. Not they and not their families have remained. The world has become a more righteous and just place. Nations today are ruled by laws guaranteeing human rights, with freedoms unheard of just a few hundred years ago. And Abraham’s “children and household” are here to tell the story.

Many, many lessons can be gleaned from this ultimate story of history. Above all, it is the story of our own lives, or better yet, our own personal choices

Today, we are not asked to pioneer a new path of justice and virtue. We stand on the shoulders of Abraham and his children and students. Yet, in our own way we are all faced with moral choices every moment of our lives. Each of us in our heart knows that the battle is not over. Despite our freedoms and all the great advances made over the millennia, we still are faced with our individual vices, driven by self-interest and greed.

Abraham’s mandate is as important today as ever. And his persistence teaches us the power of one individual’s choice, how much it can accomplish.

When your turn comes – and when does it not? – will you be an Abraham?
~~~~~

When You Feel Dead Inside (the way I do; alot)

2008-11-13T21:29:00.000-05:00

B”H

The Desire for Desires

By Yosef Y. Jacobson

Ignorance & Apathy

What is the difference between ignorance and apathy? A man asked his friend.
-- I don’t know and I don’t care, was his response.

Midnight Lecture

A Jewish man is speeding along the highway at 1 a.m. A policeman stops him and asks, "Where are you racing at this hour?"

"To a lecture," the man responds.

"Who will give you a lecture at this hour?" the policeman wonders.

"My wife," he replies.

The Cruse of Oil

This week, Jews the world over will read a biblical tale about an impoverished widow, a kind prophet and a cruse of oil, described in the Book of Kings (1). Here is the story:

"A woman, the wife of one of the prophets, called out to Elisha: 'My husband, your servant, has died, and you know that your servant was G-d fearing -- now the creditor has come to take my two sons as slaves'(2).

"Said Elisha to her, 'What can I do for you? Tell me, what have you in your home?'

"She answered: 'Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a cruse of oil.'

"He said, 'Go borrow vessels for yourself from the outside, from all your neighbors; empty vessels; only that they not be few.

"Then go in and shut the door behind you and behind your children; pour into all these vessels and remove each full one.'"

The woman obeyed. "They brought her and she poured. When all the vessels were full, she said to her son, 'Bring me another vessel.' He said to her, 'There are no more vessels.' And the oil stopped.

"She came and told the man of G-d (Elisha), and he said, 'Go sell the oil and pay your creditors, and you and your sons will live on the remainder.'"

What’s the Relevance?

On the surface, this is a story about a compassionate prophet willing to lend a hand to help a lone, destitute widow who lost her husband and is about to lose her children. The prophet performs a miracle of an endless oil flow that saves the woman's family and economy.

Yet, a basic axiom of Jewish tradition is that the true significance of the Bible lies not in the historical tales it records or the ancient figures it depicts, but in the messages these tales and figureheads hold for our lives today. The Torah -- including every episode, event and law transcribed therein – as its name indicates (Torah means teachings) was meant to constitute a blueprint for living, a spiritual road map for the complicated, painful and stressful voyage of each human being on our small but very hectic planet (3).

But how can we personally relate to this story? Most of us do not profess to be prophets or miracle workers. Though it would actually be nice to have an Elisha who could secure our oil flow, and spare us from dependency on the Middle East, that is not the case at the moment. So how can this tale of a widow, a prophet and a cruse of oil serve as a source for inspiration and guidance in our contemporary lives?

A Young Man's Cry

Two hundred years ago, in the first decade of the 19th century, a young man entered the chambers of one of the great Jewish thinkers and personalities of the time, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi. The young man's question was simple: "I feel numb, frozen and apathetic; my insides are dead. What should I do?"

Rabbi Schneur Zalman, a person of profound love, extraordinary wisdom and intense spirituality shared with his distressed young pupil the tale of the widow and the prophet, and proceeded to demonstrate how this ancient biblical story contained a response to the young man's loneliness.

I wish to present to you -- in my own words -- this insight of Rabbi Schneur Zalman (4).

A Dead Soul

The soul of a human being has been compared to a woman -- a wife of G-d, as it were (5).

Why? Because the soul represents that part of our identity that is in a perpetual relationship with G-d, described as “the husband.” A husband and a wife, even when they have issues with each other, are still in a relationship. They can love each other or hate each other, but they can't be indifferent to each other. The soul is that part of our self that cannot ignore G-d.

But then comes the day when the woman cries out about her husband's death -- the death of her divine spark. She turns to the prophet, representing G-d, and says, "My husband, your servant –- the divine energy-field within me -- has died and you know that your servant was G-d fearing." The Hebrew term for "my husband" (eishi) may also be translated as "my fire." This is the cry of many a human being: My soul used to have a flame, but today it is completely extinguished. I have become apathetic to any deeper, spiritual reality of life. I am numb, detached and lifeless. G-d has become meaningless to me.
If Boredom is the desire for desires (as Tolstoy put it in Anna Karenina), this soul can be described as genuinely bored. Gone is the sense of mystery, the quest to embrace.
“I’d rather die of exhaustion than of boredom,” a wise man once remarked. Indeed, the death that comes from boredom and apathy could be extremely painful.

An Enslaved Heart

Even worse, cries the soul, "the creditor has come to take my two sons as slaves."

Love and awe, closeness and distance, affection and discipline, these two polar forces have been dubbed in Kabbalah as the two "children" of their intellectual progenitors. Emotions are born and molded by awareness and cognition; the mind is the parent and the heart is the child. The two primary emotions, or children, are attraction and rejection, since every existing emotion is either a form of attraction or a form of rejection (6).

Everybody experiences attraction and rejection in his or her life. Everybody loves and everybody despises. We gravitate and we recoil; we love and we fear. The question is, toward whom and toward what?

Do you love people or do you love gossip? Do you love truth or do you love addiction? Do you love depth or do you love superficiality? Do you love justice and righteousness or do you love instant gratification and crave the transient? Are you attracted to your soul or are you drawn to externality or even promiscuity? We all have fear. But from what? From losing our human dignity or from exposing our true selves? From people or from G-d?

Thus is the cry of the numb human being: My soul is dead, and my emotions have been manipulated and enslaved. I do not own my love or my awe anymore. I have been robbed of them; they are owned by forces outside of me. "The creditor has come to take my two sons as slaves."

Whence the Romance?

A similar outcry is often heard from a couple struggling in a relationship.

Perhaps over the years you shared magical moments with each other; there were times when heaven bestowed its grace on your union, and romance flowed from your lips like milk and honey. You were madly in love.

But now, the relationship is suffocating. The love is gone and the magic dead. Your heart is devoid of any feelings and your spouse drains you. At such a dreadful moment, you turn to G-d, or to a friend, or a marriage counselor and you cry out: Whence the romance? Whence the electricity? What happened to that part of me that could explode in love toward my partner?

An Artificial Heart

A similar cry may often be heard from an emotionally crippled adult.

You grew up in a dysfunctional environment. Your father or your mother (or both) never uttered the words every child craves to hear and feel, "I love you." You have never been taught to feel your emotions and express them in an appropriate fashion. Now, when it is your turn to build relationships with your children, you find yourself incapable of experiencing and expressing real emotions. You're locked. You feel that you possess an artificial heart and you hate it.

The Human Story

"Said Elisha to her: 'What can I do for you? -- Tell me, what have you in your home?'

She answered: 'Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a cruse of oil.'"

The first and most moving divine response to an impoverished soul is, "What can I do for you?" In effect, the response seems to mean that I can't really be of help to you!

Why? Because the drama of human life lay precisely in the fact that it is the only story not written by G-d. G-d can inspire it, create all of the revolving circumstances and even predict it, but never write it (7).

The real question, G-d is saying, is not "What can I do for you?" but rather "What do you have in your home?" You must search within yourself for the answer to your crisis. The answer to human pain must ultimately come from man himself.

"I have nothing," the woman cries. "There is nothing left of my soul. I am spiritually and emotionally dead."

Really? If you were truly dead, why are you in pain? If you don't care, why do you care about the fact that you're don’t care?

The woman thus qualifies her previous statement. "Yes, I do have something left in my home that was not taken away." A cruse of oil (8).

Who Are You?

What is the uniqueness of oil? When you mix pure oil with any other liquid the oil remains aloof, never forfeiting its identity in the conglomeration of many other liquids (9).

Oil, therefore, represents the core of cores of human identity -- a dimension of self that remains unsoiled and untouched by all of life's experiences (10).

Can you close your eyes, take a deep breath, meditate for a few moments, and then describe your core? When all the layers, including the subconscious layers, are stripped, what will emerge?

Jewish mysticism gives us four cardinal laws to characterize the human core (or any core), termed "etzem" in Hebrew: It is undefined, unchangeable, indivisible and non-experiential. The most innate dimension of a human life is not defined by anything or anybody outside of itself. It is not a composite of distinct forces that combine to make up the final product called man. Rather, it is a self-contained reality that is defined exclusively within and by itself.

If you attempt to describe your essence, to capture it in words, feelings, or awareness -- it is not the core anymore. The only thing that can capture essence is the essence itself. The moment you attempt to "capture" it, to put it in a "box" and transport it to another domain, you have lost the pristine core.

This unshakable core -- the essence of human dignity -- is the "cruse of oil" that could never be taken from you. It is what makes you -- you; it can't be understood, mimicked or manipulated by anybody else. It can't be manipulated even by you yourself.

Why Are We In Therapy?

It may be that the primary cause for the deep insecurity and lack of confidence that plague countless women and men today is their lack of identification with this inner "cruse of oil."

Many of us have come to believe that we are merely a conglomeration of various genes, chemicals and DNA. But does my “self” own a core that is uniquely mine? Judaism teaches that at the core of all the forces governing our lives lays a tiny but untouchable "cruse of oil" bestowing upon us an inexhaustible source of self hood.

Your emotions may be faint and your soul may be dead, but your "cruse of oil" is always present. That part of your life that stands face to face with G-d's essence -- essence to essence -- never dies. It may be buried for decades but it is never dead.

Hollow Vessels

Now, the prophet Elisha turns to the widow and says, "Go borrow vessels for yourself from the outside, from all your neighbors; empty vessels; only that they not be few. Then go in and shut the door behind you and behind your children; pour into all these vessels and remove each full one.'"

Empty and borrowed vessels serve as a metaphor for uninspired robot-like actions that are empty of passion and enthusiasm, actions which we could never call "our own" since our heart and soul are not present in these actions.

"Go borrow vessels from all your neighbors; empty vessels; only that they not be few," says the prophet of G-d.

Act, act more and act even more.

Continue to perform G-dly, moral and sacred deeds, many good and G-dly deeds, even if they seem borrowed and empty to you.

As for an empty marriage -- make sure to act lovingly, though you may feel that your spouse is a burden. Fill your life with thousands of empty vessels, with numerous acts of "borrowed love" in which your own heart is not present. Husbands: Go out and buy roses, wash the dishes, put the kids to sleep, pick up the groceries, write cards. Each and every day perform acts of love and kindness toward your women.

As for a closed-heart parent attempting to educate his or her children -- approach your children, embrace them and tell them how you much love them. Your heart may be locked and your emotions stifled -- we do not care. We want empty vessels. As many empty vessels as we can get.

What's the Point?

You know what happens next?

"Go in and shut the door behind you and behind your children," says Elisha. "Pour into all these vessels and remove each full one.'"

"They brought her and she poured. When all the vessels were full she said to her son, 'Bring me another vessel.' He said to her, 'There are no more vessels. And the oil stopped."

Every so often in life (it may be once a month, once in three months, or once a year), our "cruse of oil" emerges, if only for a few fleeting moments. If it has no "vessels" to fill, it emerges but then "returns" to its hiding place in the core of cores of the human identity. We remain hungry for our core, but we have no way of accessing it again till the next time it emerges.

But if when the essence of your soul emerges it finds "waiting" for it hundreds or thousands of empty vessels, it will begin to flow and flow until every empty vessel is filled with the dignity, depth and meaning of the divine essence of the human spirit.

Praying When You're Not in the Mood

This, then, was Rabbi Schnuer Zalman's response to a young man, attempting to live a Jewish life based on the principles and guidelines of the Torah and its mitzvos, and yet feeling indifferent and uninspired.

Who among us can't relate to this man's quandary? How many of us could claim that each morning as we awake we are in the mood of wrapping tefilin (phylacteries), meditating on the soul and praying to G-d for an hour? How many mitzvos in our daily lives become an exercise in boredom and sluggishness?

At some point many a person asks himself, "What's the point? If I would feel G-d, living a life of Torah and mitzvos would be an awesome experience. But most of the time I don't feel G-d; my mitzvos are hollow, empty acts!"

Yet, a day not too far away will come, when your "cruse of oil" will indeed emerge. Those who with sweat and toil constructed "empty vessels" in their lives, when their matching moment arrives, their days and nights shall become filled with the endless profundity and dignity of their Divine core.
For many of us, it is impossible to live a life of perpetual inner vitality and inspiration; but we are capable of filling our lives with empty vessels, with a schedule saturated with meaningful acts and experiences. When the moment will come and your soul will peek out from its inner core, its life force and inspiration will fill all of your empty vessels with life.
~~~~~~~~
Footnotes:
1) Kings 2 chapter 4.
2) According to our sages, the widow was the husband of the late prophet Obadiah who spent all his money on oil for the lamps that lit the two caves that hid the last 100 Jewish authentic prophets from the wicked king Ahab and his, even more, evil wife Jezebel. This story takes us back about 2720 years, in the Jewish year 3040 since creation, or 720 BCE (around 300 years before the first temple was destroyed).
3) This fundamental axiom concerning the Bible is beautifully explained in Zohar vol. 3 53b.
4) Published in Maamarei Admur Hazalan Haktzarim pp. 136-138. Quoted and explained in Likkutei Sichos vol. 5 pp. 332-335; Sefer Hammamrum Melukat vol. 4 pp. 43-50.
5) See Maamarei Admur Hazakan ibid. Cf. Song of Songs and many of the commentaries to the book. Rambam Hilchos Teshuvah chapter 10. Many ideas in the Talmud, Midrash and Kabbalah are based on this metaphor.
6) Tanya chapter 3.
7) See Rambam Hilchos Teshuvah chapter 5.
8) This explains why the widow first stated that she has nothing, and then proceeded to say that she possesses a cruise of oil. In the soul's mind, she has nothing left to call her own. Yet her very pain about it demonstrates that the situation is far from hopeless (this idea, a beautiful addition to the discourse of Rabbi Schnuer Zalman, was presented by the Lubavitcher Rebbe during a 1964 talk. Likkutei Sichos vol. 5 ibid.)
9) See mishnah Tevul Yom 2:5.
10) See Sefer Hamaamarim Melukat vol. 6 p. 72 and references noted there.
11) The significance of closing the door is, that if you wish that your cruise of oil fill your life with inner meaning and fulfillment, you must put a stop to your addictive hobbits and your immoral actions. You must shut the door and now allow your urges and impulses become enslaved to foreign forces.

~~~~

Angelic missions

2008-11-12T22:01:00.000-05:00

Our insights into parshat Vayeira will focus on the three angelic visitors that appear to Abraham three days after his circumcision and then continue on to Sodom to destroy it and save Lot, Abraham’s nephew. Undoubtedly, one of the most interesting topics to those interested in spirituality is angels. What exactly are they? How do they function? What is their role?, etc.

In this article, we will focus on a well-known limitation of angelic action: one angel cannot perform two missions. Seemingly, for this reason, three angels were sent to Abraham in order to perform three different missions. This limitation may surprise many people because it means that angels have been delegated a very one-track existence. An angel, a true messenger of God, cannot veer left or right. It is always committed to fulfilling its purpose, but that purpose is relatively more simplistic than the purpose of a human soul.

In any case, the definition of what constitutes a mission (to which an angel cannot add another mission) will be our topic today.

The second verse of our parshah reads:1

And he [Abraham] lifted his eyes and gazed, and behold, three men were standing before him; he saw, then he ran toward them from the entrance of the tent and prostrated himself to the ground.

Explaining the three words, “behold, three men,” in the verse, Rashi writes:

One [man] to bring the news [of Isaac’s birth] to Sarah, and one to destroy Sodom, and one to heal Abraham, because one angel does not perform two missions. This is understood because throughout the entire narrative, scripture refers to them in the plural: “they ate,” “they said to him.” But, when the news [of Isaac’s impending birth] was given it says: “He said: ‘I will surely return to you.’” And when Sodom was destroyed, it says: “For I will not be able to do anything” and “I will not destroy.” And Raphael, who healed Abraham, went from there to save Lot. This is also in accordance with the verse: “It came to pass that when they took them outside, he [the angel] said, ‘Flee for your life.’” From all of this it is apparent that only one [of the angles] acted as a deliverer.

On this same subject, in the Talmud we read the following:

And who were these “three men?” They were Micha’el, Gavri’el, and Repha’el. Micha’el came to bring the news [of Isaac’s birth] to Sarah; Repha’el came to heal Abraham; Gavri’el went to destroy Sodom. [Asks the Talmud:] And yet it says “The two angels came in the evening to Sodom” [so there were two, not one who went to destroy Sodom]? [The answer is] that Micha’el accompanied him [Gavri’el] in order to save Lot. And this [that only Gavri’el destroyed Sodom] can be gleaned from the verse that says: “And he destroyed these cities,” and it does not say “And they destroyed.” Learn from this!

The Tosafot, the medieval collection of commentaries on the Talmud write in their gloss:

“He who went to save Lot.” This is perplexing, for in Bereisheet Rabbah it says that a single angel does not perform two tasks. We must therefore say that here Micha’el performed only one task when he came to bring the news to Sarah. And when he left [Sarah] and went to Sodom, a new task began; in one place an angel does not perform two tasks.
Now, in Bereisheet Rabbah it says that the angel that came to save Lot was Repha’el, and the healing of Abraham is not accounted for. But, even if he [Repha’el] came also to heal Abraham, this would still be considered a single task, because healing and saving are considered the same matter.
Our master, Rabbi Elchanan raised a difficulty: From the verses it seems that there were two angels involved in saving him [Lot]. It says: “And the men held his hand,” and it says “they took him out and left him outside the city.” And only later does it say that the angel that came to destroy Sodom said to him: “For I will not be able to do a thing until you get there [to Tzo’ar].” So we have to say that both of them [Micha’el and Gavri’el] took him out of the city; Micha’el escorted him to Tzo’ar and Gavri’el urged him to make haste.

So now, let us clarify the different opinions we have seen so far. The main dispute revolves around the question of the identity of the angel who saved Lot. Rashi, quoting the Midrash, writes that it was Repha’el who saved Lot. But, the Talmud writes that it was Micha’el who saved Lot. So, who is correct? Who was the angel that actually saved Lot?

Types of Missions
To further understand the point behind the two opinions on which angel saved Lot, let us now turn to the Maharal in his commentary on the Torah (Gur Aryeh). We will quote from his commentary somewhat in length and then take a few moments to focus on his main point. The Maharal’s commentary always begins with Rashi’s words. In this case, the Maharal focuses on Rashi’s statement: “…Raphael, who healed Abraham, went from there to save Lot….” He writes:

These words are difficult, for an angel cannot perform two tasks.

There are those who say that once the angel has completed one task, it can go on to perform a second task. But this is incorrect. Because if it were so, it would have been enough for God to send two angels [instead of three]—one to heal Abraham and one to give the news of Isaac’s birth to Sarah—and then the two of them could go on to perform another task each.

Then there are those who say that healing and saving are the same matter. But, this too is a difficult opinion, because in the Talmud it says that it was Micha’el who had given Sarah the news was the one who went to save Lot. But, clearly, giving news and saving are not comparable.
Therefore, it seems that we have to say that there are three categories of tasks involved here, and it is of these categories that we say that one angel cannot perform two categories of task.

The first category is pure loving-kindness, pure goodness. The second category is pure judgment and negativity, which is required to destroy and annihilate. And, the third category is like a median between the first two; it balances them by sustaining everything in a natural fashion, in the normal manner of the world.

Now, in order to give the news to Sarah about the impending birth of Isaac—actually to open her womb, as she had been sterile until now—for this, one angel was needed. To destroy Sodom, there was one angel, which was responsible for complete death and destruction. And, to heal Abraham so that he may continue to live, this is neither total goodness nor total destruction, it is simply sustaining the normal course of nature. Because these three tasks involve different categories, therefore we say that “one angel cannot perform two tasks,” because one could not take on the task of another.

Therefore, it was the angel that came to heal Abraham that went to save Lot, because saving is merely sustaining life, the person [Lot] is already alive and by saving him, he is kept alive. This is neither an act of pure loving-kindness nor an act of pure destruction or annihilation. [This explains the Rashi who says that it was Repha’el who both healed Abraham and saved Lot]

But, now the Talmud says that it was Micha’el was the one who went to save Lot, and it is correct to say this, because Lot was saved by the merit of Abraham, as the verse says: “And God remembered Abraham [and he saved Lot from the destruction].”2 So it was in relation to Abraham that this kindness of saving Lot was performed, therefore, saving Lot cannot be considered simply sustaining life.

Furthermore, we have to say that saving Lot was an act of loving-kindness because not only was Lot was not worthy of being saved, but everything was destroyed and only he alone remained. As Lot himself said: “Your loving-kindness has overwhelmed me, in order that You could save me.” Since every other place was destroyed, this must be total loving-kindness. Looking at the heralding of Isaac’s birth, this is also pure loving-kindness, because it is not natural for an old man and woman [as Abraham and Sarah were] to give birth. So, Micha’el who is an angel of loving-kindness went to save Lot, who was completely evil and could only be saved in the merit of Abraham. So this too was pure loving-kindness. But, [it could not have been] Repha’el who healed [Abraham], the healing is not called loving-kindness, because [Abraham’s] healing was natural.

But, the opinion of Bereisheet Rabbah, that it was Repha’el who saved Lot, is based on the notion that saving is similar to healing, because saving is also saving from some calamity, which does not necessarily strike everyone. But, Micha’el who gave Sarah the news of the upcoming birth, this was an act of free loving-kindness. And this is the point of their contention.

Angels and the Sefirot
It is known that in Kabbalah, the three angels Micha’el, Gavri’el, and Repha’el correspond to the sefirot of loving-kindness, might, and beauty, which are represented by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So let us now see how indeed each of the angels performed a task that corresponds with its sefirah.

Our parshah begins with Sarah being informed that she will beget Isaac. Everyone agrees that it was the angel Micha’el that was the messenger for this task. Micha’el is also considered the advocate of the Jewish people. Every nation in the world has a particular angel that is its spiritual minister. The ministering angel of the Jewish people is the angel Micha’el. Indeed, Sarah’s name in Hebrew stems from the same root as “minister.” Chassidut explains that the power of procreation is the embodiment of the infinite capacity of the Almighty within the human being. By making our first matriarch and patriarch fertile, Micha’el performed the ultimate task of loving-kindness, as the sefirah of loving-kindness represents a state of no limits (infinite, as such). There is no greater loving-kindness than to make the bounded vessel of a sterile man and woman, unbounded and able to give birth.

Gavri’els mission, to destroy Sodom is clearly an act revealing tremendous might. Its relationship with Isaac is that Isaac’s name in Hebrew literally means “he will laugh.” Isaac’s inner experience is one of rejoicing.3 As the verse says, “when the wicked are destroyed, rejoice.”4

Rapha’el in Hebrew stems from the root רפא , meaning “to heal.” But רפא also permutes to spell פאר , the root of the name of the sefirah of beauty, תפארת , the sefirah of Jacob.

Angels and the patriarchs
Since Isaac and Jacob (and their essence as the archetypal souls corresponding to might and beauty) were still in potential in Abraham’s procreative energy [and even Abraham’s own essence as loving-kindness had not yet been fully revealed] the revelation of the three angels illustrated for Abraham what his offspring would be like. As the verse says: “For, within Isaac, you will find your seed.”5 The word “within” limits Isaac, for of Isaac’s sons, only Jacob is considered to be the seed of Abraham. And all three patriarchs were represented by the angels that came to visit Abraham.

This connection and correspondence between the angels and the patriarchs is illustrated beautifully in gematria. There is an important principle in the mathematical analysis of the Torah that square numbers, wherever they are found, represent a consummate wholeness. If we add the names of the patriarchs to the names of the three angels, we get:

אברהם יצחק יעקב מיכאל גבריאל רפאל = 1296 = 362 = 64.

Where the 6 here suggest the 6 names whose sum we have calculated.
1. Genesis 18:2.

2. Ibid. 19:29.

3. Zohar I, 229b.

4. Proverbs 11:10.

5. Genesis 21:12.

Courtesy of Inner.org

When Your Relationship Goes Sour

2008-11-06T16:11:00.000-05:00

B"H.

By Yosef Y. Jacobson

A Chassid related the following story:

I once saw a Russian soldier being whipped. His crime? While standing watch on a winter night, his feet had frozen to his boots. "Had you remembered the oath you took to serve the czar," his commander berated him, "the memory would have kept you warm."

"For 25 years," concluded the Chassid, "this incident inspired my service of the Almighty (1)."

A Self-Absorbed Husband?

This week's Torah portion (Lech Lecah) relates the following enigmatic story:

A famine breaks out in the Land of Israel, and Abraham and his wife Sarah head down south to Egypt. As they approach Egypt, Abraham voices his fears to his wife that the Egyptians, notorious for their immorality, might kill him so that they may lay their hands on her, a most beautiful woman. "Please say that you are my sister," Abraham begs his wife, "so that they will give me gifts for your sake and my life will be spared (2)."

This is a difficult story to digest. Abraham, the founder of Judaism, considered one of the most spiritual men of all times – the person who gave the world the gift of Monotheism -- seems to be all-consumed by the fear for his life, and yet totally unconcerned with the fate of his wife.

What is even more disturbing is Abraham's interest that "they give me gifts for your sake," while his wife would be enduring abuse and humiliation of the worst degree (3).

No less absurd is the fact that the Torah finds it necessary to begin the biography of the father of the Jewish people with this episode, as though signifying that it contained the fundamentals of Jewish faith and practice.

A Tale of Two Loves

What is the difference between the sibling relationship and the spouse relationship?

A spouse you choose; siblings you don’t choose. Your connection with your brothers and sisters is natural and innate.

The bond between siblings is constant and immutable. Whether you love your brothers or not, he will always remain your brother; you are eternally connected (on some level).
Conversely, the bond with a spouse is subject to change and fluctuation; today you are married, but in a year from now you may be (heaven forbid) divorced.

Yet paradoxically, love of a sibling – even at its best -- is usually calm and placid; the love of a spouse, on the other hand, is capable of becoming fiery and passionate. Because the love of sibling is inborn, it can never die, but we also don't get too excited about it.

The love of a spouse is something created anew as a result of two separate individuals coming together at a later stage in life. The distinctiveness, rather than the sameness, of the two individuals linked in marriage is what gives the relationship its unique intensity and drama, feelings that cannot be found even between the closest of siblings. Yet this same quality is also the reason some marriages are short-lived: passion can flourish, but passion can die.

And when the marriage does fail, you fall back on the innate bond that exists among family members, who are, in some weird yet reassuring way, always there for you.

Tough Times

When one is situated in the holy-land, a term symbolizing a psychological state of serenity and spirituality, he is her husband and she is his wife. They care for each other and look out for each other in a way that only a husband and wife can. Those are the days when you wake up in the morning and say, "Thank you G-d for giving me such a special person in my life."

But then a famine may erupt, starving your heart and dulling your senses, you end up in "Egypt," which in Hebrew means "constraints" and "limitations." You lose your passion for your spouse, barriers between you are constructed, and your marriage becomes a burden. Those are the moments when you say to yourself, "Almighty G-d, why did I have to end up with this person?"

A Jewish couple was celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary. During the feast, the woman stood up and said: "I'd like to make a toast to myself for sticking it out with this man for fifty years, and I want to tell you, that the fifty years of our marriage have passed like two days."

The crowd was very moved by her words. But one man asked, "Why like two days, and not like one day?"

"The fifty years of our marriage," replied the woman, "were like two days: Tisah B'av and Yom Kippur."

At these moments one must remember that his wife is, in essence, also a sister, and that her husband is also a brother. Even if you don’t feel the connection, you remain connected innately; even if you don’t experience the romance consciously, you remain linked essentially. Because the shared bond between a wife and her husband is not only the result of a created union at a later point in their lives; rather the spouse relationship is also innate and intrinsic, in the words of the Zohar, "two halves of the same soul (4)." A marriage, in the Jewish perspective, is not only a union of two distinct people; it is a re-union of two souls that were one and then, prior to birth, separated. In marriage, they are reunited.

The relationship between spouses goes beyond feelings. We crave to always be husbands and wives, but sometimes -- for our marriages to survive and thrive -- we must become brothers and sisters. Whether you feel it or not, your wife is one with you, always (5).

Abraham and Sarah taught us, that when your spouse becomes difficult, and the relationship becomes challenging, you cease to be husband and wife; now you become brother and sister. You fall back on the innate, intrinsic oneness which binds you in an eternal link.
This, in fact, brings an awesome benefit to a husband. When you are there for your wife even when you're not in the mood for it, an extraordinary energy of love is later returned to you. That's why Abraham told Sarah that by saying that she was his sister, he would not only survive, but would also receive special gifts.

G-d My Sister, G-d My Wife

"A sound! My beloved knocks! Open your heart to Me, My sister, My wife, My dove, My perfection (5)." In these stirring words, King Solomon describes the Jew both as G-d's spouse and as G-d's sibling.

There are times when the Jew is situated in the holy-land, inspired and motivated to live a spiritual and G-dly life. Like in a good marriage, the Jew is crazy about G-d, yearning to be close to Him and fulfilled by having a relationship with Him.

But then come the days when the Jew enters into a psychological "Egypt," where his inner spirituality is numbed, as he is overtaken by self-centered lusts, beastly cravings, negative impulses and enslaving addictions. His marriage with G-d seems all but dead.

The key to survival at those moments is to remember that G-d is not only a spouse, but also a sibling. We are sacred and G-dly not just because we feel it and we love it, but because man is inherently a spiritual and sacred creature, and G-dliness is intrinsic to the human being's very composition. Whether I'm in the mood for it or not, when I behave in a moral and spiritual way, I am being loyal to my true self.

You are holy not because you feel holy, but because you are essentially holy – this is one of the most fundamental ideas of Judaism, expressed in the first narrative about the first Jew.

When the Russian winter threatens to freeze our souls, it's time to recall the warmth provided by G-d as a member of the family. It's time to remember the intrinsic bond existing between you and your sibling that will never fail (6).

~~~~~~~~~

Footnotes:
1) Once Upon A Chassid, p. 217.
2) Genesis 12:10-13.
3) The explanation that follows, culled from the writings of Chassidism, explores the psychological and spiritual symbolism behind the story. On the literal level, two approaches can be found in Biblical commentary. The Ramban (Nachmanides, circa 1194-1270) writes that Abraham performed indeed "a great sin, inadvertently." The Zohar explains (Tazria 52a), that Abraham, who knew Sarah's superior spiritual quality, was certain that no harm would befall her and was thus only fearful about his own fate. Cf. Likkutei Sichos vol. 20 Lech Lecah. Based on the idea of the Baal Shem Tov (Baal Shem Tov Al Hatorah Lech Lecah), that as a result of descending to Egypt Abraham’s relationship with Sarah was compromised, for then he began seeing her beauty as autonomous of the Divine beauty, it is possible to suggest that the explanation in the essay is relevant on some level to the literal story as well.
4) Vayikra p. 7b.
5) Song of Songs 5:2.
6) This essay is based on the writings of the Chabad Chassidic Masters (Or Hatorah Emor, pp. 149-151; Safer Hammamarim 5627, pp. 248-251; Likkutei Sichos vol. 20 Lech, and Tanya chapters 18 and 25).

~~~~~~

Abraham the Hebrew

2008-11-05T21:47:00.000-05:00

Lech Lecha: What It Means to be a "Hebrew"

Before we were called either the Children of Israel, or Jews, we were called Hebrews. When Joseph is questioned in Egypt as to his origins he says: “I was stolen from the Land of the Hebrews.” Our language is also called Hebrew, not Jewish or Israeli. Today we will look at the origin of this word, “Hebrew.”

The verse that we have been looking at all week begins with the words: “Abraham crossed through the land….”1 The Hebrew word for “crossed through” is ויעבר , which stems from the three-letter root עבר (pronounced: avar) the root of the word עברי , “a Hebrew.”2 As we progress in our study today, we will begin to appreciate why entering the Land of Israel requires one to be a Hebrew.

Later in the parshah we find that Abraham is indeed called “Abram the Hebrew”3 אברם העברי . The sages4 provide a number of different explanations for this adjective:

“Avram the Hebrew was told.” Rabbi Yehudah, Rabbi Nechemyah, and the sages [disagree]. Rabbi Yehudah says: the entire world is on one side and he is on the other side [the word for “side” in Hebrew is מעבר , which stems from the same root עבר ]. Rabbi Nechemyah says: Because he is of the descendants of Ever [the son of Shem, the son of Noah]. The sages say: he is from the other side of the river and that he speaks in the Hebrew tongue.

There are three opinions and four explanations in this Midrash. Let us look at them more closely and see how they correspond to the four letters of God’s essential Name, Havayah.

We will begin with the sages’ opinion, which really presents two different but related explanations. Both of the sages’ explanations make use of a purely linguistic approach to understanding this word. The first explanation they offer is that עברי , Hebrew alludes to the notion of Abraham having come from the other side of the Euphrates.5 In Kabbalah, the sefirah of understanding is described as “the breadth of the river.”6 Thus, coming from the other side of the river is a metaphor for drawing down the light of the sefirah of understanding and this explanation corresponds to the first hei of Havayah. Furthermore, the very concept of space (Abraham’s birth place, where he comes from) is associated with the sefirah of understanding.7 Note also that of all four explanations Rashi quotes this one alone. There are four different methods for writing tefilin. The tefilin of Rashi, which is what most people use, correspond to the mother principle, the sefirah of understanding.

The second explanation offered by the sages is that Abraham speaks the language of the Hebrews. Speech is always described as the manifestation of the sefirah of kingdom, which is many times called “the world of speech” in Kabbalah. Thus, this explanation corresponds to the sefirah of kingdom and to the final hei of Havayah. Thus, we have that both of the sages’ explanations are related to language and to the two hei’s in Havayah, which in Kabbalah are also described as the mother and the daughter, as the prophet says: “Like the mother is the daughter.”8

Rabbi Nechemya’s explanation corresponds to the sefirah of wisdom. Ever, Abraham’s teacher was the 14th generation of men. Abraham was the 20th generation. One connection between these two numbers is that 14 is written יד , and 20 can be written as יוד , both of which correspond to the filling of the letter yud,9 the first of the four letters of the Tetragrammaton, which corresponds with wisdom. 14 and 20 are related in another way: 14 = 105, while the 20 = 210, thus there ratio is 1:2, a ratio that is known in Kabbalah as “the whole to the half” (שלם וחצי ). Thus, the ratio between (the triangles of the generations of) Abraham and Ever is one of “the whole [Abraham] to the half [Ever].” If we add Abraham and Ever we get: אברהם ┴ עבר = 520, which is also the product of יוד and י־הוה , God’s essential Name. The multiplication of the filling of the letter yud (יוד ), the first letter that corresponds to wisdom, by the entire Name stresses the wisdom aspect of God’s Name. Finally, the name Ever itself in Hebrew is cognate to the word for “past” (עַבַר , pronounced: avar). To be a descendant of Ever is to be a descendant of the (distant) past. So there is an inherent time dimension in it. Just as space is related to the sefirah of understanding time (especially, the distant past) corresponds to the sefirah of wisdom.10

Rabbi Yehudah’s explanation corresponds to the six extremities that are the six dimensions of Ze’er Anpin (from loving-kindness to foundation), also known as the six extremities. He explains that Abraham was on one extreme (one side) and the rest of the world was on the other extreme (or side). Rabbi Yehudah’s explanation pits Abraham’s steadfast faith in the Almighty (which we discussed in yesterday’s installment) with the rest of humanity’s superstitious beliefs in false gods. Faith is the innermost experience associated with the sefirah of crown, and the inherent link between Ze’er Anpin—the six dimensions—and faith is described by the Zohar as “Ze’er Anpin is unified and linked with Atika (the innermost aspect of the crown).” Thus, Abraham’s ability to stand with confidence in his faith is fueled by his insistence on remaining separate from all other people. Furthermore, Rabbi Yerhudah’s explanation adds a dimension of consciousness to the etymology of Abram the Hebrew. According to him, what situated Abraham differently than all other men in his generation was his consciousness of God. In Kabblaah, consciousness is associated with the sefirah of knowledge, which is regarded as the key to the six extremities of Ze’er Anpin.

Before summarizing, let us note that we now see that the 3 categories of explanation offered by Rabbi Nechemyah, Rabbi Yehudah, and the sages correspond to one of the central models of Sefer Yetzirah: world (space), year (time), and psyche (consciousness).

Now that we have seen all four of the explanations, we can say that the words “Abraham crossed through the land,” contain them all, revealing the multifaceted nature of the Torah’s verses. It was Abraham’s ability to embody all of these explanations, which made him into an individual uniquely different from his surroundings that assisted him in crossing the land and being a Hebrew. He was then capable of opening his home to any passerby, assured as he was of his independence as a Hebrew.

Aliyah and rebirth
So far we have translated the beginning of this verse as: “Abram crossed through the land.” Let us now look at the original Hebrew words: ויעבר אברם בארץ . The first word ויעבר , “He crossed through” or “He passed through” is equal to 288, the number of sparks of holiness that fell into the mundane reality following the shattering of the vessels of the world of Chaos, the world of Nekudim. 288 is also the numerical value of אברם (243) and לוט , “Lot” (45), Abraham’s nephew, together. Altogether there are in this verse 45, or מה letters. 45 is the numerical value of the filling of God’s essential Name, Havayah, which is connected to the rectification and elevation of the 288 Divine sparks.

Permuting the letters of the word ויעבר we get עיבור ,11 meaning “pregnancy,” alluding to the first of the Arizal’s three stage process of development: pregnancy, suckling [dependency], mind [maturity] (or, in Hebrew, עיבור יניקה מוחין ). This word also permutes to spell עב ריו . עב is the gematria of חסד , loving-kindness. ריו is the gematria of גבורה , might. Thus this word alludes to the unification of loving-kindness and might, which is why, according to the Arizal that it is the first word in the Torah’s recounting of the 13 Principles of God’s Mercy, as mercy is the inner experience of the sefirah of beauty. The connection between “pregnancy” and the unification between loving-kindness and might is explained in length in Kabbalah.12

But, practically speaking, what this reveals to us is that every person who ascends to live in the Land of Israel (“makes aliyah,” in modern parlance) must pass through a second pregnancy. This is like a second period in the womb that gives birth to a new spiritual reality in the person’s life, just as the first 9 months in the womb gave birth to a first spiritual reality. In Chassidut, it is explained that whereas the first period of pregnancy, of being in the womb, allows one to understand that the spiritual aspect of reality indeed exists, the person can only achieve, at best, an intellectual understanding of the spiritual. The second level of spirituality allows a person to begin to see the essence of the spiritual world. This is a much higher level, and again is possible only after experiencing a second “pregnancy” as it were, this time with the Land of Israel, the essence of mother earth, as one’s womb.13 Once attaining spiritual sight, a person can successfully engage in the elevation of the sparks of holiness in the mundane, as did Abraham.

Now, in the entire Torah, the word ויעבר appears 7 times, with different vowel signs, indicating different tenses of the verb. Five times it appears as it does here, with the meaning of “he crossed through,”14 and another twice with the meaning of “he passed [objects or people] over.” Thus, we have that 7 is divided into 5 and 2, a division alluded to in the word “gold,” זהב , where the first letter ז = 7, and the next two letters, ה and ב equal 5 and 2.

Ours is the first time that this word in the sense of “he crossed through” (and all its secrets discussed above regarding the 288 sparks of holiness) appears in the Torah. The last time that this word appears in the Torah (also in this sense) is just before the 13 Principles of Mercy, where the verse is “God passed over him [Moshe] and He called out” ויעבר יהוה על פניו ויקרא . If we add the numerical value of the three words in our verse: ויעבר אברם בארץ (“Abram passed through the land”) and the value of the words in the final verse: ויעבר י־הוה על פניו ויקרא (“God passed over him and He called out”), we get 1701, which amazingly is equal to 7 times Abram, 7 · אברם , Abraham’s name as it appears in the verse from our parshah. 1701 is also the value of אהיה · אנכי , God’s Name Ekyeh, times His connotation “I,” indicating how much this word is related to the essence of Godliness and the ability to see spiritual matters.

Notes:

1. Genesis 12:6.

2. In English, the word “Hebrew” is the source of the word “over.”

3. Genesis 14:13.

4. Bereisheet Rabbah 42:8.

5. The river always associated with the Promised Land (to Abraham, in this week's parshah) is the Euphrates, the last (but most essential) of the four primordial rivers of Genesis. In Hebrew, the root of “river” (נהר ) is one of the 13 synonyms for “light.” It is also the root of the Aramaic translation of “light” in the beginning of creation. “And God saw the light to be good.” Numerically, both the word for “river” (נהר = 255) and “Euphrates” (פרת = 680) are multiples of “good” טוב (= 17).

6. Zohar III, 142a.

7. Based on the verse: “…And where is the place of understanding” (Job 28:12).

8. Ezekiel 16:44.

9. See also http://www.inner.org/parshah/deuteronomy/E68-0105.pdf for more examples of how these two fillings work together.

10. We have gone into these definitions in greater detail in our latest book: Lectures on Modern Physics: Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, and String Theory, the first volume in our new series: Lectures in Kabbalah.

11. Shnei Luchot Habrit, Beit David 12.

12. See Tikunei Zohar 22 (f. 67b). Pardes Rimonim 23:10, 30:7. Sha’ar Hakavanot, drushei vaya’avor, 7.

13. In Kabbalistic language (and in Rebbe Nachman’s writings) this is referred to as first maturity and second maturity (גדלות ראשון, גדלות שני ).

14. With vowel signs: וַיַּעֲבֹר , which in Hebrew grammar is the tense known as binyan kal.

TRUE VALUES

2008-11-05T16:47:00.000-05:00

PARSHA

NOAH 08

“You shall make a Tsohar for light for the Tevah ark” (Gen.6.16)

Some say Tsohar is a window, others say it is a jewel as a source of light. (Rashi)

The term Tevah – ark, also means word. So, take care to ensure that every word that leaves your mouth sheds enlightenment like precious stones and valuable jewels.

(R Mendele of Riminov)

In these days of turbulence, the effects of collapsing markets and the plunging values of commodities have hit people worldwide. Assets and investments set aside for a secure and comfortable future have lost much of their value.

In these days of uncertainty, we should realise that our riches lie not in material wealth but in the jewels of enlightenment of our Sages of old. They provide us with pearls of wisdom to bolster our faith and instil in us a hope and confidence needed to face tomorrow’s difficulties so that we may overcome them with assurance.

When Job loses everything he states; ‘G-d gave and G-d has taken away. May G-d be blessed’.

We dare not lose hope. We must remain optimistic.

Should we act positively in depressing circumstances, as taught by our Sages, the realisation will come to us that every experience is meant for our good. Ultimately we will be the richer and better for it.

SPIRAL INSTITUTE

mirvis@mweb.co.za

FINANCIAL ANXIETIES

2008-11-02T16:12:00.001-05:00

By Simon Jacobson

If you are suffering from today’s financial crisis, here is a profound piece of counsel from this week’s Torah portion.

A great flood was about to arrive on Earth. Noah is told by G-d: “Build yourself an ark… come into the ark together with your family,” and this ark will protect you from the flood.

“Teivah” is the Hebrew word used in the Torah for ark. “Teivah” also means “word.” Says the Baal Shem Tov: “Build yourself an ark” – enter into protective words of Torah and prayer – which protect you from the raging floodwaters of financial anxieties that each of us have.

This advice may seem counterintuitive. When you are suffering financially it sounds more practical to intensify your efforts to find supplemental income: A new job, new types of investments. When money is lost it seems that the most logical thing to do is to become more aggressive in your pursuit of money, not to escape behind spiritual walls.

But think again. From where do we derive ultimate security? Can a structure rest comfortably on a shifting foundation? Would you feel safe being embraced by transient love? Can a child build confidence with absentee parents? Can we be secure with something that is fundamentally insecure?

True security can only come from something that is not temporary; safety and trust is built on that which is solid and permanent.

Everything in this material universe is intrinsically impermanent. We are mortals living in an ever-changing and ever-aging world. Everything physical erodes, ages and dies. Everything that has a beginning has an end. Our looks, our youth, our food, our belongings, and yes – our money – all get depleted.

I always found it ironic to call those financial vehicles – which are inherently temporal and fraught with risk (as very prospectus legally reminds us) – with the name… “securities.”

With everything material, including money, being so transitory, how can we expect to find security there? Yet we return there again and again. Is it because we have become addicted, or because we don’t know of any other alternatives?

The mere fact that in times of financial anxiety most of us would gravitate back to more aggressive money pursuits is the clearest demonstration how addicted we have become to money, and how we feel that it is the only panacea to relieve our anxiety. However, the rule is that anything that brings you anxiety can never relieve your anxiety. But this is a rule of logic, not of emotions. As much as it may make sense that a “drug” will not solve your problems, the addict returns to the drug again and again. Because life is not about sense; most of our decisions are emotional ones in the first place.

As one shtetl drunk once said: You drink to drown your tzoros (problems). Then you find out that tzoros float…

And thus comes the brilliant but simple advice of this week’s Torah portion: “Build yourself an ark… come into the ark together with your family.”

When the floodwaters of financial pressures and anxieties are raging and threaten to drown you, build a protective “ark” and enter into it with your family. Surround yourself with sacred words, insulate yourself with spiritual values and ideas.

Take time each day, each week, on weekends – designate any time that works – gather your family together and study some Torah, read a spiritual thought together, pray together.

This is not escapism. This is being pragmatic, and empowering. It is acknowledging that when the unpredictable floods are going wild, you have the power to create an oasis – a protective womb – that lifts you and your loved ones to an eternal place, which shelters you from the storm.

Not just shelter that avoids danger, but a space that brings permanent comfort being that it connects you to the immortal – the holy words that surround your life. So that even when you “leave the ark” and return to the material world you have become somewhat immunized, no longer so vulnerable to the inherent insecurities of everything corporeal.

Build yourself an ark. Enter into it. Feel nurtured.

A simple piece of advice. But one that can change your life forever.
~~~~~

Firmament, Water, and Light

2008-11-01T20:53:00.001-04:00

The Zohar states that "God looked into [the letters of] the Torah and created the universe." The Divine act of Creation is referred to by the metaphor of speech, as we say in the beginning of our morning prayers: "Blessed is He who said… and the world came into being." The root אמר, "to say", is an acronym for the first three primary creations: light (אור), water (מים), firmament (רקיע). These represent the three stages in the materialization of the creative seed, as taught by the Arizal:

the spiritual origin of the seed in the mind – light
physical manifestation of seed – water
the beginning of conception in the womb – firmament.
Light, water, and firmament correspond, in turn, to the three categories defined above: light, life (here viewed as concentrated light)- as in the phrase "living waters," and energy (here, as pregnant "light-life"). The firmament (רקיע), which derives from the root רקע, "to stretch", represents all states of positive tension- energy fields- in nature.

After each individual act of creation, God observed that which He had created and saw it to be good. At the end of the sixth day of Creation, "God observed all that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." Thus, "before" Creation God looks into the Torah; the act of Creation itself, in each and every "present moment, is by means of Divine word; "after" Creation God observes His reality to be good. As "there is no good other than Torah," seeing Creation to be good is actually relating created reality "back" to its ideal model- Torah. This act is called, in Kabbalah and Chassidut, the process of "clarification." In man's service of God, it corresponds to the positive critique of one's deeds, to assure that they remain in tune with and in the light of the teachings of Torah.

In Kabbalah, "before" Creation is the secret of the right eye and "after" Creation is the secret of the left eye. They are the ultimate origins of light and life, respectively. The right eye gazes at the letters of the primordial, uncreated reality, as engraved in Torah – "reality", still "nothing" in the sea of Infinite Light. The left eye contemplates created reality in relation to its Torah-model, thereby enlivening it from "the source of living waters" of Torah. The Sages interpret God's seeing all to be "very good": " 'good' refers to the angel of life; 'very [good]' refers to the angel of death." Death is here understood to serve both as the "antithesis" necessary for the process of 'clarification' (whose purpose is to infuse reality with life), and even deeper, the necessary, intermediate stage between the initial state of temporal life and the final "resurrected" state of eternal life, to be realized on earth in "the future to come."

The mouth, the secret of creation in the "present" moment, whose "breath" represents the continual emanation of energy-matter, is between the two eyes, as the present is between the past and the future. Regarding the position of the head tefillin, the Torah instructs that their inscribed words be "a memory between your eyes, so that the Torah of God shall be in your mouth." The word "memory" (זכרון) itself, in Hebrew, means "a source of speech" (as in the phrase: בכל מקום אשר אזכיר את שמי אבא אליך וברכתיך, "in that place that I will allow you to speak My Name I will come to you and bless you").

So, too, every Jew, whom the Torah commands to emulate God, should learn to first see the letters of Torah and their secrets in thought (the sight of the "light" of the right eye), then to speak them with his mouth, and finally to "clarify" them as "rectified" deed (the "life" process of the sight of the left eye).

When Cynicism Kills Innocence

2008-11-01T01:05:00.000-04:00

B"H.

By Yosef Y. Jacobson

A Tale of Two Birds

As the flood waters recede, Noah opens the window of the ark and sends out the raven, which "kept going and returning until the waters dried from upon the earth (1)." It would seem as if the raven did its job admirably, and the story should have ended right there. Instead, the text describes a drawn-out process in which Noah sends out a dove three times to determine whether the waters had subsided from the face of the ground.

The first time, the dove returns to the ark, as it could not find a place to rest, because the earth is still engulfed in water. The second time the dove returns with a plucked olive leaf, indicating that the water has receded significantly. Seven days later, Noah sends the dove a third time. This time, it does not return any more. At last, the dove encountered a space to dwell. The earth was once again habitable.

Why the need to send two birds, a raven and a dove? And why did he first send out the raven and only afterward the dove?

The raven has a long standing negative reputation. Because of its black plumage, croaking call, and diet of carrion, the raven has long been considered an unkind bird. Psalm (ch. 147) describes G-d's mercy in feeding all creatures, even "the raven's children who call out." Why are the raven's children singled out? Because ravens do not care for their young as do other birds (2), which is one of the reasons that the raven is singled out as a non kosher bird (3).

Modern Western culture has continued this trend. The famous Edgar Allan Poe poem portrays the raven as a grim, spectral presence. One particular flock of ravens has attained notoriety by taking up residence at the Tower of London, site of many gruesome beheadings and royal murders. To this day, the Beefeater guards warn visitors from getting too close, lest the ravens supplement their usual diet of carrion with a tourist's finger or toe.

The dove, on the other extreme, is a symbol of tenderness, loyalty and kindness. The image of the dove bearing an olive branch – originating in this week's Torah portion (4) - resonates in the communal consciousness, even if the peace that it represents seems to flee ever further. The Song of Songs compares time and time again the beautiful bride to the dove. The rabbis praised the dove for its extraordinary singular loyalty to its mate, unique in the animal kingdom (5). Not only is the dove a kosher bird, but it is the one chosen by the Torah to be offered in the Holy Temple as a sacred, divine offering, testifying to its sublime potential.

In Kabbalistic and Chassidic terminology, the raven represents the attribute of gevurah -- aggression, strength and sternness. The dove, in contrast, represents the quality of chesed – kindness, tenderness and empathy (6).

Based on this contrast between the raven and the dove, we can appreciate the deeper rhythms behind the Noah story.

Initially, Noah felt that the proper approach in a post-flood universe must be that of the raven. It must be tough, rough and unkindly. After all, humanity deteriorated because it was spoiled rotten and it thus grew arrogant and depraved (7). Humanity received too much love, too much generosity, and this allowed people to lose their priorities and to forfeit their moral compass. Now, Noah assumed, we must start all over again, with the raven showing the way. The "new world order" must be based on sternness, strength and discipline. Aggression and strict judgment must prevail if we want to ensure that civilization does not revert again to chaos.

This approach of Noah holds true in many of our own lives as well. People who have experienced a "flood," in one form or another, people who have felt the turmoil and pain of life, often feel that the only way to build a new life for themselves is by adopting the perspective and the attitude of the raven. They develop a rough shell, a dense crust, an aggressive disposition. They become tough, strong, and stern. Sometimes they become cynical and suspicious and their hearts shut down. They devour, as they are scared to embrace.

Can we blame them? No. They are afraid to be abused again. They can't endure the pain twice.

But soon Noah discovered that with a raven you can’t rebuild a world. The raven is good to remain in the peripheral; the raven "kept going and returning until the waters dried from upon the earth." The raven is important to give borders to love, and created limits for vulnerability. The raven will hover over the new world, protecting it from a kindness and a love that could turn destructive. But who must to lead the way in settling the new world and rebuilding a shattered civilization? Only the dove. The primary driving force in life must be love, loyalty and compassion.

Each of us has disappointments on life. Some of them are caused by other people; others are caused by G-d. Some people feel that they have been let down by those who were supposed to care for them most. We can understand if they have developed a "raven" attitude in order to protect themselves in the future; even Noah himself did just that. Yet the human soul is capable of much more: of not allowing the pain of life to deprive it from its greatest power – its ability to love.

The Modern Flood

During the past six decades the Jewish people have been attempting to recover from a flood that destroyed a third of our nation. One and a half million children were sent to the gas chambers, but nobody uttered more than a pips.

Understandably, Jewish hearts were swelling with bitterness, mistrust and profound pain. They could have easily turned into "ravens," projecting hatred and cynicism unto their children and grandchildren. But learning from Noah's example, they replaced the raven with the dove. The survivors, for the most part, built families and showered their children with love, confidence, and hope. Sure, many children of survivors suffered (and suffer till today) from the paralyzing silence that pervaded their homes. But we can all testify that most of our parents and grandparents did they best they can to protect and nurture their loved ones and give them an opportunity to celebrate life. Will we, the recipients of that courageous choice, ever be able to thank them adequately?

Only if we, the second, third and fourth generations, continue being guided by the dove, giving love, confidence and hope to the people around us (8).

~~~~~~

Footnotes:
1) Genesis 8:7. 2) Midrash Tanchuma Eikev 3. 3) Leviticus 11:15. Cf. Talmud Sanhedrin 108b about the conversation between Noah and the raven (see Maharal in Gur Aryeh to Parshas Noach about hoe to understand this "conversation.") 4) Genesis 8:11. 5) Midrash Rabah Shir Hashirim. 6) See Sefer Halikutim – Tzemach Tzedek under the entries of "orev" and "yonah." 7) Midrash Rabah Noach. 8) This article is based on the writings of the Chassidis masters. Cf. "The Raven and the Dove," by my brother, Simon Jacobson.

EVERYTHING YOU DO MATTERS

2008-10-29T12:07:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, October 29
Tishrei 30, First Day of Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan

EVERYTHING YOU DO MATTERS

Once upon a time, the Baal Shem Tov sent a group of his students on an important mission to help a needy couple in another town. When they returned, he was not so interested in hearing about their mission as about the minutiae of their trip—what they ate, where the slept, how they traveled, etc.

They didn't understand the relevance of these details, but he insisted on hearing everything. When they related that one morning they sat down near a brook and drank some water there, his face lit up and he said, "That water was waiting from the beginning of time for someone to come and make a blessing over it and drink it."

In Jewish mystical thought, space, time, and matter are understood to be forces of Divine energy—sparks which fell down to earth at the time of creation and which became embedded in all aspects of existence; these sparks must be elevated in holiness for the world to achieve perfection as per the Divine plan. This is why the little things you do in life are sometimes more important than the big things—the journey is sometimes as or more important than the final destination.

When you go to work tomorrow, take a moment to appreciate how you got there. Every second of your trip matters—the people you meet on the way, the cup of coffee you drink while waiting for the bus, the piece of paper you throw in the trashcan—all are changed by your actions.

Quite often the things that are seemingly beyond your control are really opportunities to elevate sparks of Divine energy trapped in the mundane, and by doing so, to spiritualize the material—to bring infinite to the finite.

It's a deeper way of looking at the world. And when you begin looking at life this way, a whole new world will be revealed to you—a G-dly world, an immortal world, the real world.

Ask yourself: Have you ever stopped to think that everything little thing you do matters?
Exercise for the day:

- Write down one final request you have of G-d for the new year.
- Re-read the journal for the past two months.
- Enjoy all that you have accomplished. That matters too.
You have now concluded 60 days of hard — but exhilarating work. Feel proud.

As this rich season comes to a close, know that you have partaken in an extraordinary journey — on a road that has been traveled on for thousands of years.

Yet your journey this year covered a part of the road that has never been tread upon: Your unique journey.

And you have been blessed to reach here. Empowered with all the wealth of the holidays: Rosh Hashana — renewal; Yom Kippur — sanctity; Sukkot — joy; and Simchat Torah — ecstasy.

The next step is yours.

May you be blessed with a healthy, sweet and meaningful year. One filled with joy and happiness for you and your family.

60 days of work — A lifetime of blessings.

EMULATING ABRAHAM

2008-10-29T12:06:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, October 28
Tishrei 29

EMULATING ABRAHAM

Some people say that they don't have to keep the Torah and its commandments because it's good enough to be a Jew at heart. They say they love G-d, they meditate on the oneness of the universe a lot, and they are basically good people. The rituals and mandates of Judaism they don't need.

It is true that in most spiritual disciplines other than Judaism, the action is not as important as what is going on beneath the surface. But Judaism says that what is beneath the surface does not truly change unless there is an action above the surface. It's like a contract that is never signed and executed.

Imagine, for example, that you give a brilliant business presentation and your customer heartily responds: "What a wonderful project! I'm in! I'm with you 100% percent." But if he doesn't sign the contract, if he doesn't invest in your project, what do his words ultimately matter? It's nice that he gave you his emotional support but what you want and need is his active support.

The material world is about bottom lines; it is driven by action and it can only be transformed by action—not just any action, but action which spiritualizes the material. This is why it is not enough to be a Jew at heart.

The amazing thing is that through action, it is possible to spiritualize everything in life including your own body—it is possible to actually retard the aging process. The Book of Genesis tells us about Abraham, who lived to 175, that "Abraham aged, and he came into his days." And the Zohar explains that this means that Abraham aged very slowly because he spiritualized every moment. By doing so, his life became eternal.

Today, 4,000 years after he lived, millions of his descendants the world over remember not only his name but also everything he did which is recorded forever in the Torah. That's immortality.

Ask yourself: How much of your life will be remembered by others?
Exercise for the day:
- List three things you did, or plan to do, for which you want to be remembered forever.

DOING WHAT G-D WANTS

2008-10-29T12:04:00.000-04:00

Monday, October 27
Tishrei 28

DOING WHAT G-D WANTS

During the time when the Temple stood in Jerusalem, the duties of the High Priest were minutely detailed in Torah law. This law mandated the High Priest to do something very strange. On Yom Kippur, when he entered the Holy of Holies—the most important service that he would perform all year—he was obliged to come out immediately if he heard a noise outside. Why? To see if anyone was hurt (even though there were many other priests around who could tend to such things). This was because he could never be so immersed in the Divine experience as to forget about the sanctity of life. He had to constantly remember that he was not there to enjoy the spiritual ecstasy but to do what G-d wants.

This is something we must be forever mindful of as we go about our task in life to spiritualize the material world.

For example, when we give to charity, why do we do it? Some people do it for the tax deduction. Others do it for the plaque and the honors. Still others do it because it makes them feel good. But there is only one good reason to do it: Because G-d said we should, and therefore it is the right thing to do—it makes the world work right. As the engineer of the world, G-d gave us instructions how to make the "machine" of life work at its best.

When we do it because G-d said so, we're essentially connecting to something that is beyond the money and beyond the charity. When we do it because G-d said so, we align our corner of this material world with the cosmic engineer's plan, thereby transforming it into a G-dly place.

If you live a life dedicated to doing what G-d wants, you are guaranteed to bring immortality into your life. Even more than that, you are guaranteed to change everything about you. Because every fiber of your body and every moment of your day is then infused with a new vitality. You are connecting to something that is so much higher than yourself and at the same time uncovering who you really are, and that is a very exciting thing.

Ask yourself: How much of your life is dictated by what G-d wants?
Exercise for the day:

- Name one thing that G-d wants you to do that you don't do.
- Do it.

The Mystical Symbolism of the Seven Laws of Bnei Noach

2008-10-26T21:25:00.000-04:00

Excerpt from Kabbalah and Meditation for the Nations

The Nature of the Soul
In order to understand why God gave these seven specific commandments—the Laws of Bnei Noach—to all of humanity, we must first briefly explain how the human soul functions.

The human soul has both a Divine and a physical, or animal aspect. In Hebrew these are referred to as the Divine soul (nefesh Elokit) and the animal soul (nefesh behamit) as defined in the Tanya,1 by the Chassidic Master, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi.

All human beings possess a Divine spark. The difference between one human and another lies in the extent to which the spark has entered and plays an active role in his or her psyche. (We use the term “psyche” to refer to both the conscious and the unconscious planes of the soul).

When the spark fully enters the psyche2 it is known as a Divine soul. And so we speak of Jews as possessing a Divine soul. With regard to a non-Jew, the Divine spark hovers above the psyche (not entering it even on the unconscious plane). A righteous gentile (that is, a non-Jew who fulfills the seven Laws of Bnei Noach) is one who senses the presence of the Divine spark and is inspired by it to walk along the path of God fitting for all people as outlined in the Torah.3 On the other hand, a non-Jew who has not yet become a righteous gentile is unaware of the Divine spark hovering above.

To use the language of Chassidut, the Divine spark (or soul) of a Jew is considered an inner light (or pnimi), meaning that it is directly experienced and makes for part of his or her psychological makeup. The righteous gentile’s non-Jew’s spark of Divinity is described as a “closely surrounding light” (or makif karov), meaning that it is psychologically experienced only indirectly. The Divine spark of non-Jews who are not considered righteous gentiles is akin to a “distantly surrounding light” (or makif rachok), meaning, that it plays no conscious role in that person’s experience as a human being.

Even in this third case, due to the refinement of character that results from life’s trials and tribulations, and due to the Divinely ordained meetings between non-Jews and Jews, which introduce the beauty of the Torah to the non-Jew, the “distant” spark may grow “closer” and the “close” spark may even desire to convert to Judaism. It is because of this latent potential innate in every non-Jew that we speak of all non-Jews as possessing a Divine spark. Indeed all of God’s creations are continuously brought into being by means of a Divine spark, but, only a human being, even if born a non-Jew, is able to convert in his present lifetime and become a Jew.

These three levels of influence that the Divine spark can have on us as human beings are alluded to in the beginning of the Torah:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.4

In Kabbalah, “the heavens” symbolize the soul and “the earth” symbolizes the body. The Torah continues:

And the earth was chaotic and void, and darkness was on the face of the abyss, and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.

The initial state of the earth (the body together with its animal soul) described by the three adjectives “chaotic,” “void,” and “dark” (which in Kabbalah are identified with the three impure “shells”), corresponds to the initial state of the earthbound non-Jew whose Divine spark is still distant from his psyche. “And the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters” refers to state of the righteous gentile whose Divine spark is sensed as hovering above him, close to his psyche. The sages teach us that “the spirit of God” refers here to the spirit of the Messiah who will be sent by God to redeem mankind.5 Thus we may conclude that the coming of the Messiah depends upon raising the spiritual level of the non-Jewish world from “darkness” to “spirit,” encouraging non-Jews to become righteous gentiles.

The next verse in the Torah reads:

And God said: “Let there be light,” and there was light.

This verse describes the reality of the Jewish soul. “Let there be light” refers to the Divine spark as it permeates the unconscious plane of the Jewish psyche. “And there was light” portrays the Divine spark when it permeates the conscious plane of the Jew’s psyche.6

Abraham was the first man to integrate the Divine spark as an essential and non-differential part of his psyche (both on the unconscious and the conscious planes). From his inner light he was able to shine light to all around him. In the words of the prophet: “Abraham began to shine light.”7 This made Abraham into the first Jew.

The level to which the Divine spark is present in the psyche has a strong influence on the nature of a person’s animal soul. First, let us note that the animal soul is itself divided into two distinct facets, an intellectual facet (nefesh sichlit, in Hebrew) and an emotional/behavioral facet. The animal soul of a Jew, due to the inner presence of the Divine soul, is relatively more refined than that of the non-Jew. Its intellectual side possesses a unique Jewish character, or way of thought and reasoning. It is able to grasp abstract and subtle concepts. For this reason Jews are innovative in many secular fields. The passions of its emotional side are directed to things that are permissible according to the law of the Torah.

The physical soul of a righteous gentile resembles that of the Jew in some ways. Consequently, the motivations of the righteous gentile are considered a mixture of good (altruistic) and bad (selfish).8 However, the state of consciousness of the non-Jew that is not yet righteous, i.e., that is not yet bound to God through the universal aspects of the Torah, conceals and blocks the manifestation of truly good (altruistic) motivations and these cannot be actualized in his physical soul.

When the Divine soul of the Jew is revealed, he or she feels an unconditional love toward all of God’s creations, realizing that a spark of God is present in all (with the caveat noted above with regard to the difference between human beings and all other creatures). He or she will love the good in all and reject whatever evil hides, perverts, and corrupts that intrinsic good.
1. Chapters 1 and 2.

2. The spark itself can be likened to a geometrical point, which is dimensionless. After entering the psyche, as the individual develops in his or her commitment to the service of the Divine, the point will expand first to into a line (a one-dimensional figure) and then to an area (a two-dimensional figure). In other words, it becomes more and more real.

3. When a non-Jew becomes so inspired by the spark of Divinity spiritually hovering above that he or she wishes to identify with it in full then that is the true motivation for becoming a convert to Judaism.

4. Genesis 1:1.

5. Yalkut Shimoni Bereisheet, 4. According to most Jewish descriptions of the coming of Messiah, particularly the description of Maimonides, the Messiah will be a living Jew, descended from the house of David. He will become king of Israel, rebuild the Temple, and bring all the Jews back to the Holy Land. He will inspire the entire world to believe in the One God, and usher in an era of all human beings living together in peace and brotherhood.

6. These two stages of integration of the Divine spark are alluded to by the sages in the two sayings: “Israel are cherished for they have been called the sons of the Almighty,” and “Israel are cherished for they were the recipients of the precious vessel [the Torah]” (Avot 3:14).

7. Midrash Shemot Rabah 15:26.

8. See Tanya, end of chapter 1.

LEADING A HOLY LIFE

2008-10-26T15:55:00.000-04:00

Sunday, October 26
Tishrei 27

All this week the Torah portion being read is Bereishit—the opening of the Book of Genesis—which begins with the famous words: "In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth."

In other words, this sentence states that G-d created both spirit and matter, which clearly means that G-d is neither spirit nor matter. This also means that the assumption most people make that they have a choice of leading either a materialistic life or a spiritual life is false. There is a third choice: a G-dly life—a holy life—which is another thing altogether.

G-dliness—or holiness—is not the same as spirituality. Spirituality can lead to holiness, but in itself it is not holiness.

Unless spirituality is a path to holiness, it can be as ego-centric as materialism. There are spiritual people who are quite arrogant—they see themselves as superior to everyone who's not as spiritual as they. Holiness, on the other hand, demands humility.

Another distinction between spirituality and holiness is action. Spirituality can take the shape of being a completely meditative experience, apart from the material world. Holiness means that you take on yourself the task of living in the material world in order to transform it.

A story that aptly illustrates this point is told about two Chassidim: a father and son who were absorbed in studying Torah. Suddenly, a baby (the son's child who was sleeping in the next room) fell out of its crib and started crying. The son was concentrating so hard, he didn't hear it. The father heard and went to tend to the baby. When he returned, he said, "If you don't hear the desperate crying of a child, what value is there to your Torah study? Torah study is meant to refine you, to teach you how to help another person, to hear the cry of one in need!"

Ask yourself: What kind of life are you leading: a materialistic life, a spiritual life, or a G-dly life?

Exercise for the day:
- Describe how you need to change your life to make it G-dly.
- Identify one G-dly act you can do today and do it.

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MEETING THE CHALLENGE

2008-10-25T16:18:00.000-04:00

Friday, October 24
Tishrei 25

TURNING INSPIRATION INTO ACTION

If you want the inspiration of the High Holiday season not to dissipate but to be turned into eternal moments that you can draw on for the rest of the year and for the rest of your life, you have to do something about it.

While meditation can be very beneficial, action is more powerful than any meditation can be. Indeed, meditation only lays the groundwork for action. Action changes human beings, moves mountains, and ultimately changes the world.

How can action change the world? It melts the tension between matter and spirit, fusing them into one.

Matter (our material, earthly realm) is temporary but tangible. Spirit (our soul) is eternal but intangible. Hence the tension between them. The Jewish solution is to fuse the two—to spiritualize the material.

To do so, you must take your material life, which is the antithesis of anything eternal, and you must connect it to something eternal. That's the key.

Many people interpret this to mean that they should free up more moments in their life for eternal and spiritual activity—that, for example, instead of working fourteen hours a day, they should come home earlier and spend more time with the family.

That is very good but there is another way.

When you go to work you should transform your workplace into eternity. One suggestion, especially if your work is about making money, is to put a charity box on your desk. While it might seem like a token gesture, it becomes a constant reminder in the midst of financial deal-making that other things are more important.

Another suggestion—since so much attention is paid to food consumption—is to take the time to always make a blessing before and after eating. While it might seem like another token gesture, a blessing is a powerful reminder that the material world is not here for us to indulge in, but to be refined and transformed.

Ask yourself: How do you plan to capture the inspiration of the High Holidays? How can you turn it into action?

Exercise for the day:
-Commit to one action that will fuse the material with the spiritual in your life.
- Do it.

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Saturday, October 25
Tishrei 26

MEETING THE CHALLENGE

Every challenge we are presented with in life packs a certain amount of energy. And to meet that challenge requires of us an amount of energy equal to that of the challenge. If the resistance is, say, 10 pounds, we need to counter it with 10 pounds. And we need 11 pounds, or more, to overcome it.

When it comes to the tension between matter and spirit (see essay for the 25th day of Tishrei), the spirit must apply that much energy, and then some, to overcome matter.

Physically speaking, two of us cannot sit in the same seat at the same time, because physicality by definition takes up time and space. So, in order to share with another, we have to give up something. If we have food, and we share with another, we have less. If we have money, and we share with another, we have less. That's how things are measured quantitatively in the world of matter.

But, spiritually speaking, two people can sit in two different seats a million miles apart, and their love is so deep that they're like one. For them to share food or money means not giving but gaining something far more precious.

So matter and spirit work in two different directions entirely. Matter (being selfish) always holds onto its own space, but spirit (being selfless) doesn't have a problem with giving up its space. The spirit understands that money runs out, food spoils, everything material eventually rots and erodes. But anything with spiritual value, by definition, is eternal, unchanging.

This means that every moment in life which becomes spiritualized is immortalized. So, if you dedicated extra time to the High Holidays, you have gained something eternal.

Ask yourself: How much energy did you put into this High Holiday season? How much did you get out of it?

Exercise for the day:

- Calculate the time and effort you put into the preparation and celebration of the various High Holidays?
- Know that in the coming year, this time and effort will be returned to you in manifold ways.
- Watch for it.

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ETERNAL MOMENTS

2008-10-23T15:21:00.000-04:00

Thursday, October 23
Tishrei 24, Isru Chag

A story is told about the 19th century Chassidic Master, the Rebbe Rashab, who was visited by a friend he had not seen for 37 years.

The re-union was strange—the two once-close friends had seemingly nothing to say to each other after all that time—and then the Rebbe began to sing. It was a song from another time, and he closed his eyes as he sang, transported to another place. In a trance-like state, he sang for a long while, and when he finished, he turned to his friend and asked, "Do you remember?" And the friend answered, "Yes, I remember." That's all they said to each other, and a week later the friend died.

Later the Rebbe explained to his students who had witnessed that moment: "Thirty-seven years ago, when we parted ways, this was the song that we sang. The song was, in a way, a time capsule that held for us all the years that passed. When my friend said that he remembered, I knew that we didn't need to reunite because we had never parted ways—that song lifted us to an eternal time and place as if these years had never passed."

Eternal moments have the power to transcend time and space because they capture inside them the fleeting connection between the finite and the infinite. Such moments are gifts from G-d and are extremely rare. We'd all love to experience such eternal moments, because immortality is what we all yearn for. But unfortunately, life is, for most of us, an accumulation not of eternal moments but of finite, "dying" moments.

As we process the experiences of this High Holiday season, we want to capture the eternal moments that we experienced, be able to recall them, and use them to return to the closeness we felt with our own soul and with G-d.

Ask yourself: What eternal moments did you experience in this High Holiday season? What will it take to recall them later at will and be transported above time and space once again?

Exercise for the day:

Describe in detail as many eternal moments as you can recall.

Simchat Torah

2008-10-21T12:26:00.000-04:00

Monday, October 20
Tishrei 21, Hoshana Rabba; Seventh Day of Sukkot

ONE TWIG AND ONE LEAF

The word "simple," when applied to human beings or physical objects, usually implies an absence of something. A simple man, for example, is one who has not been blessed with much intelligence or depth of feeling.

There is, however, another application of the word "simple"—in the sense of something that is pure and singular, as opposed to something that consists of various parts and elements. Thus G-d is described as "simple oneness."

In our world, we have no model for such a simple oneness, for even the most homogeneous entity is a composite of various parts, qualities and aspects. G-d, however, is utterly and absolutely one.

And yet, the Baal Shem Tov draws a parallel between human "simplicity," defined by a lack of learning and spiritual sophistication, and the Divine "simplicity." He singles for distinction the simple Jew who has a simple faith in G-d not observed in his more sophisticated fellows. This is not because scholars do not possess faith or commitment to G-d (which is intrinsic to every Jewish soul), but because, in them, its innocence is blurred by the sophistication of their understanding.

On Hoshana Rabba we celebrate the simple Jew by selecting for a special mitzvah the simple willow twig. Indeed, the day is called "Day of the Willow." Among the "four kinds," the willow twig stands for a Jew who neither excels in his wisdom nor his accomplishments, and it is the willow twig that makes Hoshana Rabba.

Generally, when the "four kinds" are waved, there must be at least two willow twigs, each with at least three leaves, but the special mitzvah of Hoshana Rabba is fulfilled with just one willow twig, which need only have one leaf.

This mitzvah is considered so important the rabbis of the Talmud arranged the Jewish calendar in such a way that Hoshana Rabba never falls on Shabbat when the handling of tree branches or twigs would be forbidden.

Hoshana Rabba must be kept aloof of the changes and vacillations of this world. If the cycles of time threaten its consistency, we must divert these cycles, manipulating the calendar if necessary, to ensure that the simplicity of the willow twig—the simplicity of the Jew who puts all his trust in G-d—always assert itself on the seventh day of Sukkot.

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Tuesday, October 21
Tishrei 22, Shemini Atzeret; Eighth Day of Sukkot

A DAY RICH WITH ESSENCE

The name of this holiday, Shemini Atzeret, has many meanings.

The Hebrew word shemini means "eighth" but it comes from the same root as shuman meaning "fat" or "rich." The Hebrew word atzeret can mean "retention/absorption" or "restraint/retreat" or "in-gathering/assembly." And it can also mean "essence." Thus Shemini Atzeret represents the richness of the essence of the entire year, because this day consummates all the energy of the holidays of Tishrei and channels it into all the days of the year.

Rashi, in his commentary on Torah, explains the significance of Shemini Atzeret with the following parable:

There was once a king who invited his children for a banquet of several days. When it came time for them to go, he said to them: "My children, please, stay with me one more day—your parting is difficult for me..."

In the parable, the king does not say, "our parting is difficult for me," but "your parting is difficult for me." Indeed, G-d is everywhere and so He never parts from us. It is we who part from G-d, moving on to a state of diminished awareness of our relationship with Him.

"Your parting" has yet another meaning—the parting we take from each other, which, in G-d's eyes, is synonymous with us parting from Him. When we are one with G-d, we are also one with each other, united as children of our royal father. The same applies in reverse: when we are one with each other, united in our common identity as G-d's children, we are one with G-d.

This parting is distressful to G-d. So He retains us one day longer, for an eighth day of "retention" or "absorption" or "in-gathering"—a day on which dwelling in the sukkah is no longer a commandment but on which the unity of Sukkot suffuses us nonetheless.

On this day it is not we who are in the sukkah, but the sukkah is within us. On this day we are empowered to internalize the unity of Sukkot, to distill it into an essence, and store it in the pith of our souls so that we may draw on it in the months to come.

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Wednesday, October 22
Tishrei 23, Simchat Torah

CELEBRATION OF THE INDESTRUCTIBLE

On Simchat Torah we complete the cycle of reading the Torah (the last verses of the Book of Deuteronomy) and we begin anew (with the Book of Genesis).

The very last words of the Torah read: "...and all the great deeds which Moses performed before the eyes of all Israel." (Deuteronomy 34:12)

Rashi states that this refers to Moses' breaking of the tablets. But, surely, his breaking the tablets was a failing rather than an accomplishment. How could it be a great deed?

It was a great deed because his breaking of the tablets made possible the inscribing of the second tablets which were indestructible.

The first tablets can be compared to a tzaddik—a person who is born innocent and leads a holy life; the second to a baal teshuvah ("master of return")—a person who falls, but then gets up, repents and starts anew, and is infinitely stronger for the experience.

The second tablets—which came into being because the first ones were broken—reflect the challenge of life itself: the fall of man and his ability to rise to new, unprecedented heights.

The second tablets also reflect the power of human initiative: They were carved by Moses and were given by G-d on Yom Kippur after 80 days of Moses' tireless efforts. The second tablets therefore revealed a new dimension in our relationship with G-d. That even after we have fallen, through our efforts (of teshuvah), we can demonstrate the invincibility of our inherent connection with G-d and Torah, that transcends all our weaknesses. It was the breaking of the first tablets that uncovered this power and invincibility.

The second tablets, in short, revealed a new and unprecedented dimension within us, the Torah, and our relationship with G-d.

Simchat Torah is the celebration of that new dimension. We therefore dance with absolute passion and no limits. We dance with our legs, our arms wrapped around a Torah scroll. It is a dance that touches the very essence of the Jew, the very essence of the Torah, and the very essence of G-d. It is a dance that transcends our limited intellects and emotions, that encompasses all people, regardless of education, background, and spiritual station. It is an infinite dance that touches immortality itself.

Hemshech Tzaddik-Dalet Part III

2008-10-21T12:12:00.000-04:00

DO YOU WANT TO DANCE OR DO YOU WANT TO DANCE?
By Simon Jacobson

What would you do to get a glimpse, just a glimpse, of a reality that is beyond the one you usually perceive?

As we are about to celebrate the unfettered dance of Simchat Torah, the Chassidic series Tzaddik-Dalet – which has been the focus of this column in the past few weeks marking the 75th anniversary of this discourse’s delivery – helps us enter a new zone, which can lift us above the trappings of our daily routines and the din of our demoralizing anxieties.

The story until here: All of existence is a process, a transmission consisting of three stages, yesh, ayin, yesh. All matter – the “body” and being of our physical universe (the created yesh) – carries within it energy (ayin), which in turn originates from a source, the “transmitter” (the true yesh).

As we travel deeper into the worm-hole that connects our perceived reality and the deeper reality within – concealed by layers upon layers of thick curtains – we discover that in the in-between ayin state there are actually many levels and dimensions.

In the continuing process of deconstructing existence – which this classic discourse does so methodically – the Rebbe Rayatz further dissects the transitionary ayin into two: Ayin of the Yesh Ha’Amiti and the ayin of the yesh ha’nivra. Since the transmission is not of the Essence itself, but of a reflection, it goes through gradations as it moves down the pipeline. First comes a state that carries the transmission, removed from the essence while reflecting it. Then this state metamorphasizes into another, lower form of ayin, which is more customized to the final recipient, yet still beyond it.

The first ayin is called “non-existent” or “nothingness” simply because of its actual insignificance, completely paling in comparison to its source. The second ayin is so called not because of its insignificance; it actually carries much significance, indeed, it is the source of the recipient’s existence. It is called ayin because from the perspective of the recipient 1) it remains unknowable and mysterious; 2) its existence is of a different “personality,” one that our existence cannot relate to and sees as “non-existent”.

In other words, every state of being, which inherently originates from a higher state of being – i.e. every transmission from one state to another – consists of four levels: The source (Yesh Ha’Amiti), the way the source manifests and is reflected as it begins to transmit and evolve (ayin ha’amiti), the transmission getting closer to the recipient (ayin of the yesh ha’nivra), and the recipient (yesh).

To make this a bit more palatable, take the example of a teacher and student: As the teacher (the first yesh) transmits an entirely new idea, he first must gather his thoughts and condense the idea in his own mind (the first ayin). Then he must find words and examples that the student can relate to (the second ayin), which will carry and plant the idea into the student’s mind (the final yesh). This is true for every form of transmission and process.

And these four levels in a sense repeat themselves again and again as we move through the cosmic order. Each “section” of the process consisting of a state that evolves into a lower state, with two levels of “ayin” in-between connecting them.

[The following two paragraphs can be skipped if you find them too esoteric:

There are actually three different ways to explain the meaning the two levels of ayin. 1) The infinite light (sovev) divides into two dimensions: the essence of the light and its extension. 2) The infinite light (prior to the tzimtzum) is the first level of ayin and the finite light (after the tzimtzum) is the second level. 3) The finite light itself (memaleh) divides into two.

It seems obvious, though the Rebbe Rayatz does not state it specifically, that every stage of existence, from the highest to the lowest, has two stages in the in-between process that connects every two states of reality. Relative to your existing state, the level above you is a lower form of ayin, and the level above that is a higher form of ayin, which follows the yesh above it].

What this all means in practical terms:

Understanding the dynamics of existence and how our reality came to be is not just an academic exercise which satisfies our natural curiosity to know “how things work” (the proverbial clock, which we take apart to see what makes it tick), but something far more profound and consequential. The inner workings of reality teach us how to retrace the steps and reconnect to our core source, how to integrate our surface level existence with the inner forces that shape and define our very being.

All of life is a journey. Not just a journey on earth, but one that carries us from one state of being to a higher state of being, from one state of consciousness to a higher state of consciousness, like climbing a mountain, the mountain of perception, where each leg upward allows you to see and experience new horizons. When humans say that they like to improve and perfect their lives what does that mean? Is perfection physical – instead of one million, two million dollars? Instead of one car two, instead of one home two homes, and so on? True perfection and self-actualization is when we release all our potential, when we reach higher states of awareness. It is about spiritual perfection – not being trapped by our own limited perspectives and possibilities, and reaching for heights (hitherto) unimaginable. It is the story of the finite yearning for the infinite.

How high and what exactly constitutes these heights is subject to various opinions. Hemshech Tzaddik-Dalet tells us that no limits exist in how high we can reach – but only if you are ready to “pay the price.” There is no way to get beyond mediocrity and experience transcendence if we ourselves and our mindsets remain mediocre. Climbing upward requires the readiness to suspend pre-conceived notions and experiences, to set aside self-interest and other ego-driven pursuits, and allow yourself to be carried to a broader place.

To climb the mountain and elevate our lives from one state to a higher state we need to experience two states of bittul. The first realization is that our existence is very limited and that there is a far greater force, unknown to us, that energizes our very beings. Once you assimilate this new perception (which is no small feat and takes much work), you can begin to climb to the next level and realize that not only is our existence inferior to its source, but that there is a level where there is only light and energy, reflecting a higher reality, and all of existence is completely engulfed, and has no identity of its own, in that light. Not only that something greater than us exists; not only that’s is not all about you, but that that you compared to it are nothing at all.

Once you come to that profound awareness, then you can integrate your being with that higher state, and then something dramatic happens: You become absolutely significant – not because you think you are somebody, but because the essence makes you somebody.

To understand this we need to further analyze the meaning of light and bittul. This we will leave for the future columns of this ongoing series. Let us for now return to Simchat Torah, which immediately follows the festival of Sukkot.

One of the personal lessons of spending an entire week in a Sukkah instead of in our comfortable homes is to remind us of the temporal nature of existence. The material world is not our home. We must never succumb to the illusion that our man-made structures and mortal edifices are our natural environments. Corporeal life is a means, a road that leads us to a deeper, higher reality. The transitory Sukkah reminds us that we are just travelers in this impermanent material world; we are spiritual beings on a material journey, not material beings on a spiritual journey.

The vulnerable Sukkah has many layers, but as we travel inward each layer makes us stronger – and wiser, realizing new states of transcendence and joy.

Seven days in a Sukkah prepare us to enter yet another dimension of reality, called Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, when we dance the seven circles (hakofot). Each circle sucks us further into its vortex, helping us melt away the fears of our limited perspectives in a narrow universe.

To enter a higher reality we have a narrow passage called “ayin.” To enter this passage you must first shed layers of ego and self-interest, recognizing that there is a reality that precedes you and is concealed from view; a reality beyond your grasp and of another dimension. Once you travel up this state of selfless ayin, it will lead you to yet another passage. There you need to shed not just any shred of self, but you need to know that compared to the Higher Reality your reality has no significance at all.

And then.... And only then a new passageway opens up for you – wider than anything you have ever seen, transforming you into a new being, a new reality.

Yes my friends, the secret to immortality is to disappear. Disappearance can never disappear, the invisible cannot be obliterated, selflessness cannot be annihilated.

Want to catch a glimpse of another reality?

Dance on Simchat Torah. Don’t just dance. DANCE.

Ahh, to dance and dance into oblivion. An oblivion that carries us into the ayin, and then into another and yet another – as we deconstruct existence and catch a glimpse of a something beyond…
~~~~~

A TIME TO LAUGH... A TIME TO DANCE

2008-10-18T08:29:00.000-04:00

Friday, October 17
Tishrei 18, Fourth Day of Sukkot

THE JOY OF UNITY

Armies once had the custom of singing victory songs as they went to war. Why would they sing a victory song when they had not yet begun to fight? To express the conviction that they would win. This conviction lifted the soldiers' morale and inspired them to fight more valiantly, secure in certain victory.

Sukkot is this victory song. We march with the "four kinds" armed with our spiritual weapons resolute to fight any battle, confident we will prevail.

Sukkot gives us the power to transcend our uncertainty, our fears and vulnerabilities. It helps us access a greater strength that inspires us to be joyous. (Conversely, lack of this awareness is the root of insecurity, fear, uncertainty, and the inevitable resulting despondency.)

Joy is a revealed expression of the soul's innate celebration of life—of our indispensable purpose in life, of our connection to our Divine mission. On Sukkot we celebrate this connection. We dance and sing with unadulterated joy in expression of genuine happiness from the essence of our being.

Sukkot is "the time of our rejoicing" because we do not celebrate alone—G-d also joins the celebration and rejoices with us, His creatures.

Joy unites us with G-d and with other people. Indeed, because joy cannot be celebrated alone, we are obligated to invite guests to our sukkahs.

"It is fitting that all of Israel should dwell in a single sukkah," says the Talmud. Though physically we might sit in separate sukkot, spiritually we all sit together in one unifying sukkah. We bind together the "four kinds" which symbolize different personalities, acknowledging that our diversity is our strength, that it feeds our unity, and that each of us has a unique contribution to make to the greater good.

Let us gather together during the remaining days of Sukkot and celebrate—celebrate our lives and the gifts that G-d gives us every day. This message of hope, joy and unity is needed now more than ever. It is the ultimate fuel to be help us forge ahead, rebuild, and come out even greater.

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Saturday, October 18
Tishrei 19, Fifth Day of Sukkot

A TIME TO LAUGH... A TIME TO DANCE

The Rebbes tell us that what we accomplish on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur through tears, we can accomplish on Sukkot and Simchat Torah through joy.

The obvious question is, if you can accomplish the same thing with joy as with tears, who needs tears? Why not just skip Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and go straight to Sukkot?

But here's the secret—you can't reach the necessary state of joy unless you can cry first. True joy is not about denial or escape; it is a celebration of the gift of life and the mission with which we were charged. Such joy comes hand in hand with accountability and responsibility, and the need, when necessary, to be sensitive and shed some tears over our lost opportunities and mistakes.

In other words, there is time to cry and a time to rejoice, as we learn from the famous book authored by King Solomon, the Book of Ecclesiastes (Kohelet) which some read during Sukkot:

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die...a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance... (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

The secret we need to master is how to ride the rhythms of life. This holiday season teach us exactly that—because it is all about cycles. What particularly stands out is the cycle of seven: Tishrei is the seventh month. On Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur important prayers are recited seven times. Seven days connect Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. And Sukkot lasts seven days.

On Hoshana Rabba we circle the bimah seven times, reciting seven Hoshanot. Then finally, on Shemini Atzeret, we celebrate Simchat Torah, circling the bimah seven times again, while reciting seven verses and dancing seven hakofot ("circlings").

Seven is the cycle of time, the cycle of existence, the cosmic cycle.

The secret to a balanced life is aligning ourselves with the inner cycles/rhythms of existence. To know when to cry and when to dance. Because there is a time for everything.

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Do You Need a Hug?

2008-10-18T08:26:00.000-04:00

B"H

A Kabbalistic Perspective on the Festival of Sukkos

By Yosef Y. Jacobson

Three sons left home, went out on their own and prospered. Getting back together, they discussed the gifts they were able to give their elderly mother.

The first said, "I built a big house for our mother."

The second said," I sent her a Mercedes with a driver."

The third smiled and said, "I've got you both beat. You know how Mom enjoys the Bible, and you know she can't see very well. I sent her a brown parrot that can recite the entire Bible. It took 12 years to teach him. I had to spend $100,000 a year for 10 years, but it was worth it. Mom just has to name the chapter and verse, and the parrot will recite it."

Soon thereafter, Mom sent out her letters of thanks:

"Milton," she wrote, my first son, "The house you built is so huge. I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house."

"Marvin," she wrote to another, "I am too old to travel. I stay home all the time, so I never use the Mercedes. And the driver is so boring!"

"Dearest Melvin," she wrote to her third son, "You were the only son to have the good sense to know what your mother likes. That chicken was delicious."

Anatomy of a Sukkah

For the past 3,275 years, during the seven days of the joyous festival of Sukkos, we eat, drink, feast, schmuez, relax, read and sleep in a temporary structure, or hut, known as a Sukkah. This structure consists of walls and a roof composed of material that grew from the ground, like bamboo, straw or branches.

How many walls does the Sukkah require? According to Jewish law, a Sukkah must have two complete walls plus a third wall that may even be one handbreadth long (1). If your Sukkah has three or four complete walls, that's wonderful; but the minimum requirement is two walls and a tiny piece of a third wall.

Why does the law dictate this exact requirement for the Sukkah walls? And what really is the spiritual and psychological significance of spending seven days in a hut on your porch or in your backyard?

Anatomy of an Embrace

Two of the most extraordinary Jewish thinkers, Rabbi Isaac Luryah (3) and Rabbi Schnuer Zalman of Liadi (4) turn our attention to the affectionate words uttered by the Bride in the Song of Songs (5), "His left arm lay under my head and His right arm embraces me."

These two mystics understand (6) these words to be addressing, in metaphorical prose, two distinct moments in the relationship between G-d the Groom and His people, the bride. During the "days of awe," Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, G-d's "left arm," as it were, lay under the head of the Jewish people. The left side represents in Kabbalah introspection, discipline and integrity, and this is the primary theme of the days of awe.

Sukkos, on the other hand, described in the Torah as "the time of our joy," constitutes the point during the year when “G-d's right arm embraces me."

Take a look at any of your arms, says Rabbi Isaac Luryah, and you will notice its division into three distinct sections, each one usually extending in a different direction. The first is the arm itself, from the shoulder to the elbow; the second is the forearm, from the elbow to the wrist; and the third section is, of course, from the wrist to the edge of the fingers.

Now, take a good look at your Sukkah and you will notice a "right arm's embrace." The first complete wall represents a Divine embrace from the "shoulder" to the "elbow"; the second wall reflects the embrace of the "forearm" and the third tiny wall symbolizes the palm embrace.

Rabbi Isaac Luryah takes this a step further. He explains that these three dimensions of an arm's embrace encompass three distinct parts of the body being embraced. When you embrace another person, explains Rabbi Chaim Vital (7) quoting his teacher Rabbi Isaac Luryah, the highest part of the arm (between the shoulder and the elbow) encompasses the entire left waist of the one being embraced. The middle part of the person's arm, the forearm, expands over the entire width of the embraced person’s back. Finally, the palm and the fingers extend even further and cover only a small part of the face of the embraced one, a handbreadth of the face.

The same is true concerning the Sukkah "embrace." The first two walls represent G-d's light embracing the left waist and the back of the human being dwelling in the Sukkah. The third wall of the Sukkah symbolizes the Divine energy embracing a small part of the Jew's face. (If you have a Sukkah of three or four complete walls, the hug is, of course, an all embracing one, encircling your back and your face.)

This is the language of Kabbalah, written in codes and metaphors. Now the question is, how can we apply these anthropomorphic descriptions to our ordinary lives? How can the performance of the mitzvah of Sukkah become a meaningful and inspiring experience, even if the weather will decide to disagree with the holiday?

How Do You Express Love?

To understand this we must examine four universally accepted forms of expressing love to another human being (8).

The first is, of course, through words of affection. The three simple words "I love you," when uttered sincerely, may have a transforming impact on peoples lives. Words have always served as the basic tools for expressing our inner emotive experiences.

A second, more powerful expression of love is a kiss. A genuine kiss contains an extraordinary energy and serves as the medium for communicating a deeply intense feeling that may not be grasped in words. Words can state, "I love you," while a kiss declares, "I love you more then I will ever be able to tell you how much I love you."

A third, perhaps even more powerful expression of love comes in the form of a gaze. Two people in love can gaze at each other for long periods of time without uttering a sound. The sound of a silent gaze is sometimes louder then a thundering cry conveying affection. Eyes carry within themselves deep secrets of the soul (that is why most people feel uncomfortable when somebody stares them in the eyes for more than a few seconds.) There is something of your soul that you can communicate to another human being exclusively through your eyes (9).

A fourth universally accepted method of expressing love is by means of an embrace. A "big fat hug," when it is authentic and not just for show biz, demonstrates a solid and profound bond existing between the two people embracing each other.

Dissecting the Hug

Which of these four forms of love do children cherish most?

Children enjoy being spoken to (to, not at). They certainly take pleasure from being kissed and being looked upon with tender affection. Yet, more then anything, most children, especially infants, cherish being hugged. When our children hurt themselves or destroy our homes and then break out in tears, they come running to their parents for a big and long hug to calm them down and to restore their confidence.

What is the secret of the hug? What is its power?

Two Features

Two significant features set apart an embrace from the other three "love communicators."

All the above-mentioned forms of expressing affection are directed primarily toward the face of the beloved one. You speak to one's face, you kiss one's cheeks or lips, and you gaze at one's eyes. An embrace defines as its target the nape and back of the one being embraced.

One more feature that distinguishes an embrace from other love communicators is the firm physical bond that characterizes a delicious hug. When I utter words of love to you, when I gaze at you, even when I kiss you, I am not holding on to you; if you want to move away from my kiss, it's your choice. But when I embrace you, even if you wish to escape my embrace, you remain "trapped" in my gripping hug; I don't let you tear yourself away from me.

Now, once we grasp the spiritual energy behind a hug, we will see how these two unique characteristics of an embrace - its target being the back and its gripping hold on the embraced one - are interdependent upon each other.

Two Forms of Love

There are two forms of love -- reciprocal love and unconditional love. The first is directed to the face of the beloved one; the second is directed to the back of the beloved.

I may love you because of what I receive in return for my relationship with you. You may be wise, deep, sensitive, kind, beautiful, humorous, challenging etc. - qualities expressed in and through your face, your eyes, ears and mouth and general look - and I love you because of these or other tremendous qualities that enrich my life.

This is the type of love communicated in words of affection, or in a kiss or in a silent, romantic gaze, all of them directed toward the face of the beloved one, the primary location of reciprocity. When I express my attachment to you in these three or other forms, I am essentially stating that I cherish you because of your face, because of your qualities and virtues that enrich the caliber of my life. Without you, life for me is that much more empty, boring and directionless.

This love is not an illusion or a myth. It may be deep and powerful and can bestow upon you a life of blessings and fulfillment. Yet it is conditional on the reciprocity of the beloved one. As long as you are here for me, I am here for you. In essence, I love you because I love myself, and you make my "self" so much deeper and happier.

Yet there is a far deeper love - the love demonstrated in an embrace, in which my arms encircle your back. The hug represents an unconditional, unqualified and absolute love. It is not about your face, it is about your back, a space lacking the opportunity for meaningful reciprocity. I don't love you because of me; I love you because of you. You may not give me anything in return for my love, you may even want me out of your life, but I still love you with all my heart, because my soul loves your soul.

Do You Embrace Your Children?

That is why children, perhaps more than anything else, need their parents to embrace them.

When children contract a "booboo" or destroy something in the home, what they are searching for more then anything is the affirmation that the validity of their existence has not been compromised. They are yearning to hear the message that their value is not dependent upon them being perfect and impeccable, but that their dignity is absolute and eternal. "Teach me," asks the child, "that you love me unconditionally because of who I am and not because of what I achieve."

When your child's is weeping because their finger is bleeding, and you simply place a band aid on the wound and go away, you may have forfeited the irreplaceable opportunity to teach your child the most important lesson of all: Your dignity stems from your very being. Even when you will fall in life and bleed badly, your very being and identity is sacred and indispensable.

When You're Uninterested In G-d

Our relationship with G-d also operates on these two levels.

All year around, G-d's light is communicated to us as a result of the choices we make in our lives. The more we fine tune our bodies and psyches to the higher truth of reality, the more we allow ourselves to hear echoes of the still, silent voice of G-d, resonating in the depth of our souls.

Throughout the year, we experience G-d's presence only through our endless efforts and toil to refine our behavior and spiritualize our days. When we meditate, pray, reflect, study and live morally and holy, we may catch a glimpse of G-d's love toward us. When I declare a war against my immoral temptations and ugly cravings, I can at times sense a reciprocal kiss from G-d.

Throughout the year, we enjoy a reciprocal relationship with G-d. G-d might talk to you, He may even kiss you or gaze at you, but with one condition: You must show Him your face. If you don't turn your back on Him, He will be there for you in ways you might have never imagined.

On Sukkos, the "rules" are suspended for seven days. During this unique festival, G-d embraces you. He shares His light and love with you unconditionally.

Sukkah Patterns

This is the essence of the Sukkah experience. What do you do in the Sukkah? You eat, drink, chat, relax, hang out and sleep - all mundane things pursued by ordinary physical humans. There is no hint of spirituality or religiosity in many activities we do in the Sukkah. Yet when these acts are performed in the Sukkah during the festival of Sukkos, they are defined by G-d as a Mitzvah, as a medium through which we craft a relationship with Him.

This is the message displayed by the walls of the Sukkah: I love you and cherish you not because of what you do for Me or because of what I gain from you. I am attached to you not because of your spiritual sophistication or because of your noble pursuits. I love you because I love you. I am one with you as you are. I am in love with your very core.

So if you need a big fat hug in your life, this Sukkos spend some time in a Sukkah.

Sustaining the Embrace

The purpose of each Jewish holiday is to leave us with a message and an energy that can impact us throughout the entire coming year, till the same holiday comes again. This is true concerning Sukkos as well: This “hug” displayed to us by G-d even while we are in a very physical mode, empowers and inspires us reciprocate and transform all of our physical and mundane endeavors, throughout the year, into tools through which to serve G-d and bring His light into the world.

This may be one of the reasons for the statement of the Midrash (10) that the performance of the mitzvah of Sukkah nowadays guarantees you a place in the Sukkah that will embrace the world during the time of Moshiach. During the time of Moshiach the human being will feel himself encircled and embraced by divine energy, and the preparation for that is spending time in the Sukkahs that we build today (11).

~~~~~~~~

Footnotes:
1) Sukkah 6b; Rambam Hilchos Sukkah 4:2; Tur and Schulchan Aruch Orach Chaim section 630.
2) The Talmud ibid. derives this law from a biblical source. Here we will present the spiritual and psychological dimension of the law, based on the ancient axiom that each law and Mitzvah in the Torah and in the Talmud contains many layers of understanding. Not only are these multitude of interpretations not contradictory to each other, they actually evolve from each other and enrich each other.
3) Known as the Arizal. He is considered one of the greatest mystics in Jewish history, he lived in Jerusalem, Egypt, and finally passed away in Sefad in 1572, after teaching there kabbalah for two years and revolutionizing the landscape of Jewish mysticism.
4) Known as the "Elder Rebbe," The Rav, or the Baal Hatanya. The founder of the Chabad school of kabbalah, he was considered one of the greatest Jewish leaders and personalities of his day. He passed away on 24 Teves, 1812, while escaping Napoleon's army. The Rebbe and Napoleon shared a mutual hatred.
5) 2:6.
6) Pri Eitz Chaim Shaar Chag Hasukkos chapter 4. Likkutei Torah Derushim LeSukkos pp. 78-79; 82d; 84a-b; 87a. Cf. Or Hatorah Derushim LeSukkos pp. 1762-3.
7) Pri Eitz Chaim ibid.
8) See Likkutei Diburim (from Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak of Lubavitch) vol. 1, opening discourse.
9) See Midrash Rabah Song of Song 1:15, explaining the words "Your eyes are like those of a dove."
10) Yalkut Parashas Emor.s
11) This essay is based on Chabad Chassidism (Likkutei Torah and Or Hatorah ibid. Likkutei Sichos vol. 2 p. 418 and other sources). Cf. essay by Rabbi Yoel Kahn in Beor Hachasidus (published by Heichal Menachem, Brooklyn, NY) issue of Tishrei 5755.

~~~~~~~

FROM ONE REALITY TO ANOTHER

2008-10-18T07:29:00.000-04:00

Hemshech Tzadek-Dalet Part II
By Simon Jacobson

With the financial markets shaking so many people to the core, the holiday of Sukkot comes as a powerful reminder about the mercurial nature of our securities. It teaches us the critical need to diversify our portfolios so that they include a dimension sadly often forgotten: Our families, loves and sublime experiences – the spiritual reality that is the only solid, unwavering bedrock foundation we can always depend upon.

But how do we free ourselves from our deeply entrenched perspectives? How do we break our addiction to the markets and perceived dependence on money, and allow another reality to enter our lives?

A powerful Chassidic discourse can help unshackle us. To honor the 75th anniversary of the classic Chassidic series “Hemshech Tzaddik-dalet,” delivered by the Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak on Rosh Hashana 1933, last column began a summary and review of the major themes of this profound dissertation, which deconstructs existence to its core.

This (unfinished) series consists of nine discourses and thirty-three chapters: The first five delivered on Rosh Hashana, Shabbos Shuva, Yom Kippur night, Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret respectively. The final four delivered on Shabbos Parshat Noach, Lech Lecho, Chayei Sarah and Toldot.

Accordingly, this week’s entry will address the themes of the first three discourses. And their connection to the holiday season, as we are about to enter the festival of Sukkot.

* * *

The poetry of the High Holidays is quite exquisite. Beneath its technical surface an unmistakable melodic arrangement defines the underlying structure of the holiday-filled month of Tishrei.

The first half of the month begins with days of awe: Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Followed by the Sukkot days of joy in the second half of the month, when the moon grows full.

Awe and joy are two vital ingredients in every healthy experience; two necessary components in every successful relationship.

Awe – a combination of reverence, wonder and modesty – respects the mystique of life. But awe alone keeps us at a distance from the experience. Joy brings the experience close and makes it intimate as we celebrate our relationship.

Both our relationship with the Divine and our personal relationships (which is meant to reflect our bond with the Divine) require a balance between awe and joy: We must always feel a profound respect for the other, lest we become arrogant and controlling. Yet, love also means that you feel close and connected with your beloved.

For love and intimacy to be complete it needs the same interplay between warmth and reserve, closeness and space, familiarity and mystery.

Thus, the parameters of the holiday season, which is all about building relationships between us and G-d and between each other, begin with the days of awe (Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur) and conclude with days of joy (Sukkot).

Awe is transcendence. Through awe of a reality beyond our limited selves we are able to reach to a place beyond our own mortal boundaries. Think of an awesome sight that gave you a glimpse to a picture far greater than one you could ever have imagined. As a teenager, I, for example, remember spending a number of summer nights observing the relentless waves crashing against the shore. All night long I would stand and watch with amazement the unfathomable power of the sea, as wave after wave after wave, would come in, never sleeping, unstoppable. It taught me about power that is beyond us all. It gave me a taste of the infinite.

Joy is integration, allowing us to assimilate powerful experiences. After standing in awe before the Divine on Rosh Hashana a Yom Kippur, we then dance and sing for seven, eight, nine days of Sukkot through Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.

These two elements are also featured in the mitzvah of Sukkot, when we dwell in makeshift huts with a vulnerable flora roof, in which we are eat all our meals and conduct all the activities of the day which we regularly would do at home.

One of the personal lessons of spending an entire week in a Sukkah instead of in our comfortable homes is to remind us of the temporal nature of existence. The material world is not our home. We must never succumb to the illusion that our man-made structures and mortal edifices are our natural environments. Corporeal life is a means, a road that leads us to a deeper, higher reality. The transitory Sukkah reminds us that we are just travelers in this impermanent material world; we are spiritual beings on a material journey, not material beings on a spiritual journey.

Yet, while the Sukkah lifts us to a higher awareness, we also sit within it, allowing its four walls to embrace us with its surrounding presence. BaSukkot Taishvu, we settle in and internalize the Sukkah experience. Awe and joy fused as one.

* * *

As discussed in the previous column, Hemshech Tzaddik-Dalet dissects the very nature of existence, indeed, the very nature of reality itself. In a meticulous fashion, in a style unique to Chassidic discourses, the Rebbe RaYatz (an acronym for Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak) deconstructs all of reality into three stages, which he calls Yesh, Ayin, Yesh, literally: being, non-being, being, or itness, nothingness, itness.

These three Hebrew words can be translated many ways, with various interpretations, as shall be discussed later in this series, but overall they reflect three stages of every process: The beginning point, the middle, in between step, and the end point, the destination.

In effect, every process is a state of transmission. This is true for the entire cosmic order – a metamorphosis from one state of being to another. Every transmission begins with a transmitter. On the other end of the spectrum is the receiver. And in between is an intermediate state that connects the two. As it with every transmission, the entire essence of the transmitter cannot be carried over to the recipient. Only a small amount is passed on. Take a teacher and a student as an example. Only a reflection of the teacher’s mind can be transmitted to the student. This “reflection” – the channel that connects teacher to student – is therefore called “ayin,” a state of “non-being,” like a void or a vacuum, where the metamorphosis takes place transforming one state of begin into another.

All processes consist of these three states. A seed must decompose in the ground before it sprouts. An idea must go through a state of confusion before it develops into a full-blown theory. Creativity is a child of frustration: The greater the creation the more frustration that precedes it. A piece of gold must be melted in order to shape it into a beautiful ornament. To grow a new layer of skin the previous one needs to be shed. A structure is razed before another can replace it. We must lose ourselves before we find ourselves. Another way of defining these three stages is: consciousness, non-consciousness and a new consciousness. As long as the initial state remains intact, another one cannot be born. Thus the need for the “ayin” in between.

The ultimate root of these three stages is in the Divine process of creation:

The first yesh is the Yesh Ha’Amiti. The first and only true state of being is the Divine Essence, which exists because it must exist. Reality is real because it is real; its’ reality generates from within: it exists because it exists. All existence as we know it, both material and even spiritual, has no true validity of its own. Nothing dictates that matter or spirit must exist. And even when they do exist, their entire being has no self-contained power; it is driven entirely by Divine energy. The only true Reality is the Divine Essence of all. In the words of the Tanya (Iggeret HaKodesh ch. 20): Everything has a cause. But G-d has no cause other than Himself; nothing preceded Him; His being derives from His own self. G-d’s existence must exist, for it is true reality. Since all existence as we understand the term has a “cause” and is not self-contained, the “existence” of the Essence of Reality is an existence that is unlike any existence, “a non-existential existence.”

On the other end of the spectrum is the yesh ha’nivra, existence as we know it. And in between these two states of being and reality (the first yesh and the last yesh) comes an Ayin, an intermediary stage of light/ energy that connects and carries a reflection of the Divine reality into our perceived reality.

The plot thickens. In truth, the created yesh is rooted in the Divine yesh, as explained in Tanya: Only a Reality that has no source can create a reality, our self-contained existence, which does not feel that it has a source. But in our closed “bubble” we only perceive our own beings (yesh), with no clue to the forces that shape us.

All that we know about existence and reality is limited to our myopic vision and subjective perspective. For us humans to being getting a glimpse of a higher reality we need to retrace the steps and enter the state of ayin – a state of bittul, modesty, humility and suspension of self, which allows us to transcend ourselves and our self-contained perceptions, only exacerbated by our self-interest. Through the ayin we reach beyond ourselves and bridge our reality with the Ultimate Divine Reality, to the point that our yesh can fuse with the Yesh Ha’Amiti.

* * *

As we begin a new year and are moving from the awe of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur to the loving embrace of Sukkot, it’s a good time to reassess our perspective on reality.

As long as you are trapped by your own “box” and “structure” – your past experiences and baggage – it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to move forward and expect new experiences. Even if they were to be showered with all the blessings there would be no place for them to manifest in a crowded box that is your life.

Thus the meditations ofTzaddik-Dalet are a powerful way to step back, rise above and look down with a birds’ eye view on life, on our expectations and on future possibilities.
To sum it up in one line: Through bittul we connect with the ultimate reality, never to return the same.
~~~~~

5769

2008-09-29T13:21:00.000-04:00

Monday, September 29
Elul 29, Erev Rosh Hashana
THE BALANCED LEDGER

A Chassidic rebbe once sent his students to observe a local innkeeper as part of their preparation work for Rosh Hashana.

The students dutifully checked into the inn, but the first day observed nothing remarkable. They went to sleep, only to be awakened at midnight by someone praying loudly.

They tip-toed out of their rooms to find the innkeeper fervently reciting Psalms. When he finished, he opened up a cabinet and removed two big ledgers.

From one ledger he proceeded to read all his sins of the past year: he confessed that he was insensitive to his wife, that he didn't fulfill all his obligation to his community, that he didn't study enough Torah, he once came late to prayers, etc.

Then he opened the second ledger, saying to G-d,
"These are my failings, now here's what You didn't do... I asked for a better living wage this year and you didn't give it to me. My wife is still ill. My children need shoes..."

In the end he concluded, "Look, I didn't live up to my obligations and You didn't live up to Yours. So let's call it even. I'll close my book, You'll close Your book, and we'll start a new year again with a clean slate."

We learn from this story that the relationship between us and G-d is a partnership. When G-d created human beings in His image, He invested something Divine in us. There is a partnership between us and Him to perfect the world.

It is as if He founded a business, and said to us: "I am the investor, but you stand behind the counter."

Partners are accountable to each other. In the month of Elul, we take out our ledgers and make sure our accounts are in order. Rosh Hashana is audit day. G-d checks the books to see how we took care of His investment in us.

In so doing He doesn't look for perfection. He didn't create imperfect human beings to ask, "Why weren't you perfect?" He asks us only, "Why aren't you as much as you could have been?"

But that's a tough question and tonight each individual must know how to answer it.

THE DAY OF REMEMBERING

When we usher in Rosh Hashana, just before sunset tonight, we light candles and we say a blessing:
"Blessed Are You, O G-d, King of the Universe, who sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to light the flame of the day of remembering."

Rosh Hashana is a "day of remembering" because it's a day when G-d reviews our ledgers for the past year and remembers why He sent us to earth. But since G-d doesn't need to be told to remember anything, this means more than that. In effect, this is a day when we ask G-d, "Please remember me, and through doing that, remind me of my mission on earth so that I may never forget it."

When we arrive at the synagogue, the usual afternoon prayers—Mincha—are recited just before Rosh Hashana formally begins. While these prayers are being said, a very special thing begins to happen. Jewish mystics explain that as the sun goes down before Rosh Hashana, the universe goes into a comatose state. A slumber descends on all existence, everything comes to stands still in cosmic silence, in apprehension of its contract being renewed.

Then, as Rosh Hashana begins, the awakening starts. It begins slowly until the full awakening the next morning, when the ram's horn known as the shofar is blown.

The shofar is like an "alarm clock" that wakes up the universe and us from this cosmic sleep. We needed this sleep to wake up refreshed—it holds the secret to our renewal. It is rather like exhaling in order to inhale. And this is, in fact, exactly what happens on Rosh Hashana. As the year ends, there is a cosmic exhaling and then a cosmic inhaling of fresh air.

As Rosh Hashana begins, take a deep breath! Now you are ready to recite the unique words of the key Rosh Hashana prayer, which asks G-d to remember why He sent us to this earth and that our mission here is not yet completed:

"Remember us for life, King Who desires life, inscribe us in the Book of Life, for Your sake, O Living G-d."

Tuesday, September 30
Tishrei 1, First Day of Rosh Hashana

THE DAY THE WORLD TREMBLES,
THE DAY THE WORLD IS BORN

The two meanings of the Rosh Hashana prayer, Hayom harat olam, communicate succinctly the essence of the day: "Today the world trembles/ Today the world is born."

We feel this message most acutely when the shofar is blown. On the anniversary of the day on which the first human being possessing a Divine soul was created, we blow the shofar which mirrors the cry of that soul—our soul.

On this day G-d breathed the soul of life into man. And now every Rosh Hashana man blows his breath—the breath that G-d breathed into him—through a ram's horn in order to hear the sound of his soul reverberate.

The ram, a male sheep (the animal that Abraham offered in sacrifice in place of his son Isaac), is the most gentle and innocent of creatures, untainted by the aggressive nature of other animals. The ram reminds us that our soul is that part of ourselves that is gentle and innocent, untainted by the aggressive, manipulative world we inhabit. And the ram's horn is the simplest of instruments—not carved, molded or strung like other instruments which testify to the ingenuity of man—and it produces the haunting, resonating, piercing cry that most closely approximates the pure sound of the soul.

The prayer that we recite before the blowing of the shofar further unlocks its secret: "From my narrow place, from my depths and constraints, I call to You, and You respond to me from Your expansive place."

The pressures and challenges of life that force us into a "narrow place"—a place of difficulty, pain, frustration, regret, or sorrow—are meant to be catalysts that compel us to cry out to G-d for something more than our earthbound materialistic reality.

This prayer assures us that when we cry from our "narrow place," the response flows from G-d's most expansive generosity. In fact, the shape of the shofar—narrow at one end and wide at the other—mirrors this experience.

The purest cry that is emitted from the constraints of our lives reaches the purest place in heaven and opens up the channel of all blessings.

Wednesday, October 1
Tishrei 2, Second Day of Rosh Hashana

THE DAY OF CORONATION

The idea of Rosh Hashana as the day when we "coronate" G-d as the King of the Universe, may be one of the strangest and hardest to accept for those of us raised in modern, democratic societies. To us kings are corrupt despots at worst, and characters out of fairy tales at best.

Yet this idea is essential to the observance of Rosh Hashana, because in the language of Judaism a king is a metaphor for absolute authority. On Rosh Hashana we accept upon ourselves G-d as the one and only absolute authority who rules over every aspect of our lives, and we submit to His judgment, which we believe will be merciful because our King is also our Father.

When we accept G-d's absolute authority over us, we do not annihilate our own individuality. On the contrary, we only empower it. When we acknowledge G-d as our King, we simultaneously recognize the nobility in ourselves—the dignity and majesty of having been created in the Divine image.

This idea fills us with unbridled joy and points up the paradox of Rosh Hashana, because Rosh Hashana is a day when we stand before the Supreme King and tremulously accept the "burden of His sovereignty," but it is also a festival, which we celebrate amid much feasting and rejoicing.

Such is the nature of a coronation: it is an event that combines trepidation and joy, awe and celebration. For true kingship, as opposed to mere rulership, derives from the willful submission of a people to their sovereign. So the coronation of a king includes a display of reverence and awe on the part of the people, conveying their submission to the king, as well as the joy which affirms that their submission is something they whole-heartedly desire.

The joy and celebration of Rosh Hashana is called v'gilu b'roadah, "celebration wrapped in trembling."

When we stand before the king, we feel such joy that we want to dance, but we cannot in respect of the king. So the joy must be packaged in a more appropriate expression. Only after we leave the palace (on Sukkot) can we begin celebrating with unbridled expression.

EXISTENCE UNPLUGGED

2008-09-26T13:01:00.001-04:00

~~~~~

By Simon Jacobson

It was in midst of the Great Depression; FDR was introducing the New Deal; Hitler had just come to power; Stalin had begun ravaging the Soviet Union with his reign of terror; the world was about to be thrust into history’s bloodiest period, shaking the universe to its core.

75 years ago, 1933, was a momentous time; major transitions – mostly tragic but some positive – were underway, and mankind would never ever be the same.

Meanwhile, in Warsaw, Poland – the city that would several years later be destroyed by the Nazis – a great Rebbe began delivering a series of profound Chassidic discourses, which would become known as “Hemshech Tzaddik-Dalet,” literally “the series of 94,” referring to the series of discourses delivered by the Rebbe, Rabbi Yoseph Yitzchak Schneerson, in the Hebrew year 5694, September-November 1933.

These discourses were so dense and complex that the Rebbe abruptly discontinued their delivery right in middle of the series, after one of the listeners complained to him, to the chagrin of us all, that they were too deep for the audience… What a fool: if you can’t follow along, go home. Why spoil it for the rest of us?

As a result, we are now left with an unfinished symphony. The good news, however, is that this discourse was based on an earlier one delivered by this Rebbe’s father, the Rebbe Sholom Dovber, 18 years earlier, in 1915 (5676), and there we can study the general thread and continuing flow of these discourses to their conclusion, albeit without the elaboration and explanations that the Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak would surely have added.

The series, as it is, consists of nine discourses, the first one delivered on Rosh Hashana 1933, and concluding – aborted, as it were – with the last discourse delivered on Shabbos Parshat Toldot. These discourses, delivered by the Rebbe both orally and in writing, were subsequently published.

To honor the 75th anniversary of this significant series, this column will offer a summary and analysis of the core ideas discussed in these discourses (in the same spirit that was done for Hemshech Samach-Vav several years ago).

Hemshech Tzaddik-Dalet dissects the very nature of existence, indeed, the very nature of reality itself. It’s central and most remarkable theme is that existence as we see and experience it is not real at all.

What is real? is the big question posed in this series. Is something real because you can touch and see it? Or is that simply a circumstantial reality, which has no validity outside of the world of our senses. If something were to be truly real, wouldn’t that dictate that it be real even if and when we don’t see or touch it? In other words its reality is based on it being fundamentally and essentially necessary, not because it just happens to exist.

Think of it this way: What is reality – the sub-atomic forces that energize and define all of matter, or the matter itself; the DNA that shapes your entire being, or your being; the electricity that runs through our appliances, or the appliances.

What is more real: The cause or the effect? The peel or the fruit? Your body or your soul?

Is existence energy or matter? And if you were to find out that matter was just a form of energy, and should that energy cease to flow all of matter would simply vanish – how real is that matter even while it looks so formidable?

Is power defined by its immediate or by its enduring strength? How much credence do we give to something that is powerful today but will disappear tomorrow?

How would you look at yourself and your vanities if you were to know that it is all based on a state of blindness: Our inability to see behind the curtain? What would feel like if you were to discover that the things we worship and control our lives are nothing more than a shell concealing a fruit within?

Hemshech Tzaddik-Dalet explains that material existence and even – which is more astonishing – spiritual existence has no true validity of its own. Nothing dictates that matter or spirit must exist. And even when they do exist, their entire being has no self-contained power; it is driven entirely by Divine energy. The only true Reality is the Divine Essence of all, which exists because it must exist. In the words of the Tanya: Everything has a cause. But G-d has no cause other than Himself; nothing preceded Him; His being derives from His own self. G-d’s existence must exist, for it is true reality. G-d is an existence that is unlike any existence, “a non-existential existence.” It is real because it is real; a reality that exists because it exists.

This all may sound too esoteric to some of us. In truth, however, by understanding and appreciating the emptiness and hollowness of material existence, we begin to loosen its seductive stranglehold on us. As long as we give credence to the superficial realities around us we remain part of the problem instead of the solution.
By recognizing what is truly real, we stop feeding the illusion that people and materialism have power over us, allowing us to access the true power of the Essence, which in turn allows us to begin healing this ailing world.

Perhaps, as the universe was being annihilated in 1933 and no person would be spared from the devastation, the Rebbe felt the need to dissect and revisit the “engineering room” that wires all of existence. When the world around you is being destroyed, a certain measure of solace can be attained by transcending its mechanics and traveling into its core. But perhaps even more importantly, by recognizing the folly of all existence and, in effect, invoking the source of all of existence, we have the power to renew our contract with the Cosmic Architect and “rewire” the dynamics of existence.

Over the past seven weeks I have been writing about the exact opposite extreme end of the spectrum – child abuse – the lowest end of human degradation, which can’t get much farther from the nature of Divine reality.

Yet, in an interesting way, by lifting ourselves to the highest places we can both escape and ultimately redeem our most demeaning of experiences. When you are mired and covered in manure, sometimes the only way to go is high up above the clouds.

We thus are comforted by this week’s Haftorah – the final one of the seven weeks of comfort:

I will greatly rejoice in G-d, my soul will exult in my G-d; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom puts on a priestly garland, and a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth her growth, and as the garden causes its seeds to grow; so G-d will cause righteousness and glory to spring forth before all the nations.

For Zion's sake I will not keep silent; and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be still, until her righteousness shines forth like radiance, and her salvation like a burning torch. The nations will see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory; you will be called by a new name, which G-d's mouth will give. You will also be a crown of beauty in G-d's hand, and a royal diadem in your G-d's palm. You will no longer be termed Forsaken, and your land will no longer be termed Desolate. But you will be called, 'My delight is in her,' and your land, 'Espoused'; for G-d delights in you…

Go through, go through the gates, clear the way of the people; build up, build up the highway, clear the stones; lift up a standard over the peoples. Behold, G-d has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion: Behold, your salvation come.

And when a universe – or a child – is violated, we read on:

Who is this who comes from Edom, with crimsoned garments from Basra? Why is Your apparel red, and Your clothing like one who treads the winepress? I trod them in My anger, and trampled them in My fury. Their blood is sprinkled on My clothing, and I have stained all My raiments. For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and My year of redemption has come. I looked, but there was no one to help; I gazed in astonishment, that there was no one to uphold… So He became their deliverer. In all their affliction He was afflicted...

In His love and compassion He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all through the years (Isaiah 61:10 - 63:9)

As the curtain of this year 5768 comes down, may we raise ourselves to the highest of heights, bringing down all forms of abuse and hurt, incapacitating the oppressive forces that feed off of our giving them authority and power over us.

As the universe retreats to its source and its batteries prepare to be recharged, we have the ability to rise up to the very essence of reality, from whence we derive new hope and new possibilities.

May this new year draw from the Essence and bring you revealed blessings of life, health, livelihood, children and all that you need, materially and spiritually.

THE COUNTDOWN TO ROSH HASHANA

2008-09-25T12:27:00.000-04:00

Thursday, September 25
Elul 25

Less than a week remains until Rosh Hashana, which is called "the birthday of the world." In fact, Rosh Hashana is the birthday of the first humans—Adam and Eve—who came into being on the sixth day of creation. This means that the first day of creation coincides with the 25th of Elul.
Today is the day in the Hebrew calendar which carries with it nothing less than the energy of the creation of existence—time, space, matter, darkness, and light. Today we begin preparing the world for its rendezvous with G-d on Rosh Hashana.

If thus far you have not taken full of advantage of the opportunities inherent in Elul to prepare for the High Holidays, the time to start is now. Preparation is essential for success in anything in life—be it material or spiritual, be it an audit of your taxes, or an audit of your soul.

Imagine yourself arriving in the reception room of a big corporation.
"Can I help you?" says the receptionist.
"Oh, I guess so," you answer yawning and surveying the ceiling.
The receptionist looks quizzically at you. "Well... why are you here?"
"I'm not exactly sure."
"Are you here to apply for a job, perhaps?"
"Yes I think that's it."
"Okay, did you bring a resume?"
You look at her feeling a little stupid. "No, I didn't bring anything."
"Well, then perhaps you can come back when you've prepared for this."

If you arrived at a big corporation that ill prepared, you'd expect nothing to happen. Similarly, if you arrive at a synagogue on Rosh Hashana without preparation, without knowing what you are there for, or what this is all about, what can you truly expect?

Moses was on the mountain for 80 days. You don't have to physically go to the mountain, but you have to climb. Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur will be only the sum total of what you do today.

Ask yourself: How well prepared are you for the High Holidays?
Exercise for the day:

- Identify the strengths and weaknesses in your preparatory work thus far.
- Recreate day one of creation, and bring a little light into your corner of the world.

THE THIRTEEN ATTRIBUTES OF COMPASSION

2008-09-24T13:18:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, September 24
Elul 24

As we petition G-d to forgive us, we repeatedly recite the Thirteen Attributes of Compassion—as if to remind G-d that He is merciful and forgiving.

These Thirteen Attributes of Compassion were revealed to Moses when he pleaded for G-d's forgiveness after the sin of the Golden Calf. And they radiate during the month of Elul, when we relive Moses' experience.

Moses was dealing with the aftermath of a very grave thing—idolatry, a betrayal of G-d Himself. And this act of idolatry was quite intentional—the Israelites knew the consequences. Nevertheless, Moses asked G-d to restore the special relationship between Himself and His treasured people.

To Moses' entreaty, G-d responded with an unprecedented gift. He revealed His Thirteen Attributes of Compassion—thirteen secrets of G-d's "personality" that only He could have revealed.

We recite these Thirteen Attributes of Compassion many times during the High Holidays:

"Hashem, Hashem, Almighty, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in kindness and truth, keeper of kindness for thousands of generations, endurer of iniquity and transgression and sin, and cleanser ." (Exodus 34:6-7)

Each one of these words is profoundly mystical and contains enormous Divine energy. The Thirteen Attributes of Compassion are described in the Zohar, the classical work of the Kabbalah, as the "thirteen-petalled rose"—the greatest secret of life, the key how to repair whatever is broken.

According to Talmud (Rosh Hashana 17b), G-d told Moses: "Whenever Israel sins, let them recite this and I will forgive them."

The repetition of G-d's name—Hashem, Hashem—at the beginning indicates that G-d is telling us, "I am the same G-d before you sin as I am after you sin and repent." This is a solemn assurance that the invocation of the Thirteen Attributes of Compassion will never be without effect.

This assurance means that repentance is always possible and that G-d always awaits our return to Him. The implication is also plain that if we emulate G-d's compassionate ways, He will treat us compassionately in return.

Ask yourself: Do you consciously emulate G-d's compassionate ways? If so, how? If not, why not?
Exercise for the day:

- Do one deed today which expresses compassion, especially to someone who may have wronged you
- Describe how it felt to do it.

OF GOOD STANDING

2008-09-24T06:52:00.000-04:00

PARSHA
NITZAVIM 08

“Atem you are standing today all of you before Hashem your G-d” (Deut.29.9)

The three letters, Alef, Tav & Mem constituting Atem – you, are the initial letters of Elul Teshuvah Mekubelet - in Elul repentance is accepted. ‘Today’ alludes to Rosh Hashanah, the day on which we stand in judgement before the Divine Ju dge, creator of heaven and earth. (Ohel Yosef)

But surely the time for Teshuvah is during the ten days set aside specifically for this purpose, starting with Rosh Hashanah and ending with Yom HaKippurim?

This is true, however our Commentators point out that in order to stand before G-d on the Day of Judgement, we need to do Teshuvah, we need to return, to do a turn-about and come back from the ways that lead us aside and away from divinity.

The three letters Alef, Tav & Mem of Atem also read Emet – truth.
On Rosh Hashanah we need to f ace our maker in truth - true to him and to ourselves in acknowledging and admitting the wrongs that we have done.

May the coming year be one of true return for the Community of Israel, that we may we remembered for life – the good life – in all of the four Mystic Worlds. For indeed, the Gematria for Tov – good = 17; and 4 x 17 = 68, the Gematria for Hayyim – life!

A TIME OF REFUGE

2008-09-16T13:14:00.000-04:00

September 16
Elul 16

Whatever shortcomings you may find in yourself as you undertake the process of facing yourself in the month of Elul, know that within G-d's compassion that radiates this month everyone can find refuge.

In the introduction to the month of Elul we noted that it is an acronym for a verse from the Book of Exodus (21:13) which speaks of the "cities of refuge" where those who committed an accidental crime could flee and make a new home: inah le'yado vesamti lach ("...deliver into his hand, I shall establish for you...").

By the Torah's command, nine cities of refuge were to be established in the Land of Israel, but not all in the same territory:
three in Israel proper—the Holy Land
three east of the River Jordan—the Wild East where manslaughter was common
three in the Time to Come, when G-d will enlarge the borders of Israel—the Holy Land of the future
This teaches us that G-d provides a refuge for everyone—from the relatively lawless to the holy.

At every stage of our spiritual/religious life there is the possibility of some "crime" (relative to our unique potential) and there is a safe place where we can take refuge to safely undergo self-examination and endeavor to make atonement.

G-d gives us the month of Elul as that special time of refuge in the Hebrew calendar.

It is the way of the Western world to make Elul—which typically falls in high summer—a time for vacation. But there is another dimension to this: While you take vacation from your material work, you are freed to do serious spiritual work—accounting for the past and returning to your true self and to your mission from G-d.

Ask yourself: Have you made Elul a time of introspection in the past? How is this Elul different for you?
Exercise for the day:
- Dedicate some of your vacation time for spiritual introspection, making the most of the opportunity that this Elul offers.
- Sincerely express to G-d your desire to return to your Divine mission.
- Intensify your intention when reciting Psalm 27 during this month.

RELATING TO G-D

2008-09-12T06:45:00.000-04:00

Friday, September 12
Elul 12
RELATING TO G-D

The Kabbalah suggests that the biggest challenge for us human beings is to maintain our individuality and at the same time have a relationship with G-d.

G-d is an all-encompassing reality, and if we were consciously aware of G-d's reality, we would cease to exist. But we do exist, because G-d concealed His light in order to make space for another entity called us.

And yet transcendence—that is, crossing the line of the reality where G-d is concealed to the reality where G-d is revealed (but we continue to exist nevertheless)—is possible. Heaven and earth can be married, can unite, and we can become one with G-dliness. A defined existence like ours, with physical parameters, can become one with that which is completely undefined.

This can happen because we were created in the image of G-d—we have holiness within us. And we can connect to the G-d within us by getting our selfish selves out of the way so that the holiness can surface.

The only thing that is eternal is a thing that is not driven by its own self, its own fuel. Whatever is driven by its own fuel, though it can be very powerful, is limited. This is why we aim to get past the self in order to connect to the eternal so that we too can become eternal.

And we do so by acting like the holy beings that we are.

We are commanded in the Torah—our guidebook to life and our guidebook to freedom from slavery to the physical aspects of life—to be holy, like G-d. "You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your G-d, am holy." (Leviticus 19:2)

This means being compassionate, because G-d is compassionate. It means being patient, kind, just, loving, creative. When we become holy like G-d, we connect with G-d.

Ask yourself: Do you want to connect to the Divine image within you? Is being holy a goal in your life? How often do your actions approach holiness?
Exercise for the day:
- Consider what it would take for you to connect with the part of you that is holy.
- Do something holy today.

Saturday, September 13
Elul 13

INNER HOLINESS

The essence of each one of us is good and holy because it is a part of G-d. The challenge is to recognize this holy part of ourselves—which resides deep on the inside—and to allow it to shine on the outside.

Even when we recognize our own inner glow, it is hard to actualize it. It's not easy. Because we live in a world that doesn't respect goodness and holiness; it respects wealth, success, and power, the acquisition of which often demands the abandonment of holiness and goodness.

But Torah teaches us that we have the ability to access the inner part of ourselves and actualize it in everyday life, without changing everything about ourselves and our work. We have to learn how to discover our own soul and bring it into the world that we're living in and working in.

Whether you work in the world of music, business or the sciences, whether you are a doctor or a lawyer, whatever sphere you're trained in, your mission is to reveal your soul in that environment. The soul is not meant to replace the body and not meant to replace your life; its mission is to reveal your inner dimension and integrate it into your life in order to elevate it, and to bring out the best in both your body and soul.

If you are on a spiritual journey and it's completely annihilating your life, there's something wrong. A sign of a healthy spiritual path is integration and transformation, not annihilation.

Ask yourself: Are you able to recognize your inner holiness? Is your spiritual path helping you or hindering you? Are you able to balance your spiritual and your social life? Do you live/work in an environment which respects holiness? Are you able to your reveal the things you hold sacred in this environment?
Exercise for the day:
- Choose a simple act of holiness and demonstrate it in an environment which is usually oblivious of holiness. (This simple act could take the form of expressing gratitude, demonstrating patience and graciousness in a stressful situation, saying a blessing when eating, consoling a sick person, or giving charity.)
- Resolve to make this a regular practice throughout Elul.

FOCUSING ON THE DESTINATION

2008-09-11T12:16:00.000-04:00

Thursday, September 11
Elul 11

At times when you must let go and you ask someone to push you, you must know where you want to be pushed. You must know your destination.

Rabbi Mendel Futerfas, who spent many years in a Siberian gulag, tells how he learned a great lesson from a tightrope walker who was also imprisoned there.

The rabbi asked the tightrope walker what is the secret to his art. "What does one need to master? Balance? Stamina? Concentration?"

The tightrope walker's answered surprised him: "The secret is always keeping your destination in focus. You have to keep your eyes on at the other end of the rope, and that's how you get there is a straight line, without wavering. But do you know what the hardest part is?"

"When you get to the middle?" the rabbi ventured.

"No," said the tightrope walker. "It's when you make the turn. Because for a fraction of a second, you lose sight of your destination. When you don't have sight of your destination that is when you are most likely to fall."

Life is something like a tightrope. To navigate it successfully you must have your destination in focus. You must know where you are going. When the time comes to make a turn, and for a moment you cannot see where you are headed, you have to have your destination in your mind's eye.

The ultimate destination—the final goal of all human efforts throughout history—is called geulah ("redemption"), when the world will realize its purpose and reach ultimate refinement. The Jewish people have always kept their eyes on this destination; it gave them the power and freedom to forge ahead, despite all difficulties.

Geulah is not a destination you can see by looking in front of you, you can only see it by looking inside you.

Real focus is not physical, it is transcendental. Real focus is your relationship with your Divine mission. If it is well developed, it can guide you past the moments of danger, and keep you moving with confidence even in moments of greatest fear and darkness.

Ask yourself: Do you have a real focus in your life? Do you have a larger goal?
Exercise for the day:
- Identify your personal mission in life. What do you believe is your calling in this world?
- If you have difficulty with this, identify the steps you must take to discover your mission.

SEEING G-D

2008-09-09T13:42:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, September 9
Elul 9

Perhaps the most dramatic experience that happens atop Mt. Sinai is when Moses asks to meet G-d face to face: "I beg you, show me your glory." (Exodus 33:18).

G-d responds, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live... I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by, and I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back..."

This exchange is puzzling. How could Moses not have known that one can only come face-to-face with G-d in the next world? And why does the Torah document G-d's rejection of his request?

The answer is that Moses' request was not rejected. In the language of metaphor Moses asked to understand G-d. G-d responded by saying that it is impossible to see His essence in this world, but it is possible to see its reflection. In effect, G-d told Moses, "you'll see My face by not looking."

There are things we see in life by looking directly at them, and there are things we see with our eyes closed. There are things that we hold onto by grasping them, and things that we hold onto by letting go.

Creative people know that when they let go that is when the creativity starts flowing. When they try to control it or force it, it doesn't come—the channels of creativity are blocked. For creativity to emerge requires letting go. The same thing is true of "seeing G-d."

G-d said to Moses, in effect, "You will see Me when you stop looking. You will see Me when you get yourself out of the way."

Ask yourself: How often can you get yourself out of the way to achieve a higher goal? Do you "see" G-d in your life? Have you learned to see by not looking?
Exercise for the day:

- Recall an event in your life when you were able to gain something by letting go.
- Examine the process—how did you get yourself out of the way in order to make it happen?

WITHOUT BIAS

2008-09-03T12:51:00.000-04:00

PARSHA
SHOFTIM 08

“You shall appoint judges and clerks for yourself” (Deut.16.18)

Most disputes arise because of double standards. We tend to use one standard in judging our fellow and another when judging ourselves. So invariably our fellow is in the wrong whilst we are right. For this reason the Torah states, ‘Appoint judges for yourself’. (Toldot Yaakov Yosef)

Our Parsha always coincides wi th the first Shabbat of Elul, the month during which we prepare ourselves for the Yamim Noraim, the forthcoming High Holy Days. This period is set aside for introspection. We need to take a good hard look at ourselves with a view to self-improvement in the coming year.

Being honest about ourselves is extremely difficult. Perhaps we judge too harshly, or we seek and find reasons for self-vindication. We look at things from a subjective and one-sided viewpoint.

Elul gives us the opportunity to change our focus, the opportunity to put ourselves in the shoes of our fellow man. The Torah tells us to judge ourselves - that is, with objectivity.

RAISON D’ETRE

2008-08-27T06:43:00.000-04:00

PARSHA

RE-EH 08

RAISON D’ETRE

“Re-eh Anochi see I…” (Deut.11.26)

The perceptive of your ‘I’ for man’s essential task is to know yourself. (Hassidic saying).

How do we get to know ourselves?

The initial and final letters of the term Re-eh – see, in reverse read Har – mountain.

Roberto Assagioli shows that a person may gain conscious awareness of his higher self through ‘inner ascent’, climbing an imaginary mountain. Like the ascent of a mountaineer, the spiritual climb will take one through thick mist, cold and dark, before breaking through to the sun-drenched summit.

From this elevated vantage point, we are able to visualise our ideals, our purpose and our aspirations in life.

We begin to know ourselves when we understand and appreciate our commitments and our responsibilities.

We become ourselves through devotion and dedication.

We are ourselves when we are true to our higher self.

ORDERED WAYS

2008-07-30T10:20:00.000-04:00

PARSHA

MASE’EY 08

“Moshe recorded the starting points of their various journeys as directed by Hashem” (Num.33.2)

To move about on one’s ways as directed by Hashem, should be the axiom for all generations. In principle a person who is a ceaseless wanderer forsakes the ways of Hashem. (R Asher Hurwitz)

Divinity created an ordered universe.

It is our duty as beings created in the divine image to maintain that order and accordingly live an ordered life.

This means that every trip should have a positive goal and for good purpose,

be it a major undertaking or a simple journey, over long distances or just around the corner.

Should this be our way, heaven will surely assist us in our endeavours to make it prosper.

Dignity, Love, Monotheism and Sheep

2008-07-24T13:01:00.000-04:00

B"H.

The Art of Consistency
By Yosef Y. Jacobson

David is driving in Jerusalem.

He's late for a meeting; he's looking for a parking place, and can't find one. In desperation, he turns towards heaven and says: "G-d, if you find me a parking place, I promise that I'll eat only kosher, keep Shabbos, and all the holidays."

Miraculously, a place opens up just in front of him.

He turns his face up to heaven and says, "Never mind, I just found one."

Bill Gates and GM

Bill Gates is spending the day with the chairman of General Motors.

"If automotive technology had kept pace with computer technology over the past few decades," boasts Gates, "you would now be driving a V32 instead of a V8, and it would have a top speed of 10,000 miles per hour. Or, you could have an economy car that weighs 30 pounds and gets a thousand miles to a gallon of gas. In either case, the sticker price of a new car would be less than $50."

"Sure," says the GM chairman. "But would you really want to drive a car that crashes four times a day?"

The Defining Verse

A fascinating Midrash credits an isolated verse in this week's Torah portion with encapsulating the quintessence of Judaism (1).

The Midrash quotes four opinions as to which biblical verse best sums up the ultimate message of Torah.

One sage, by the name of Ben Azzai, believed it was the verse in Genesis (2): "This is the book of the chronicles of man; on the day that G-d created man He created him in the image of G-d."

Another sage, by the name of Ben Zoma, holds a different verse to be more central to Jewish thought: "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is One (3)."

A third Talmudist, Ben Nanas, chooses this verse: "You shall love your fellow man like yourself (4)."

Finally, the fourth sage, Shimon, the son of Pazi, casts his pitch for the epic verse of the Bible. It is culled from the section in this week's portion that deals with the obligation during the time of the Temple to bring each day two lambs as an offering to G-d. "One sheep you shall offer in the morning, and the second sheep in the afternoon (5)." This verse, according to Shimon, the son of Pazi, is the defining verse of Judaism.

The Midrash concludes: "One of the rabbis stood on his feet and declared, 'The verdict follows the opinion of Shimon the son of Pazi!'"

The Question

Now, there is something in this Midrash that seems really amiss.

The first three opinions are logical. The notion that all of Judaism can be traced back to the idea that a human being reflects G-d, makes perfect sense. The same can be said about the concept of a single and universal G-d, or the injunction to love our fellow man like ourselves -- these ideas, introduced 3300 years ago by the Hebrew Bible, vividly embody the essential weltanschauung of Judaism and its contribution to human civilization.

But how does the verse "One sheep you shall offer in the morning and the second sheep in the afternoon" represent the core essence of Torah? How can one even begin to compare the message about offering two lambs with the global and noble ideas contained in the other three options?

What is even more astonishing is that the final verdict in the Midrash selects this verse about the sheep as the "winner." The biblical verses dealing with love, monotheism and human dignity, the foundations of morality and civilization, did not "make it" in the contest; it is precisely this verse enjoining us to offer a lamb in the morning and a lamb in the afternoon -- that was chosen as the "representative" of the Jewish paradigm!

The Depth of Perseverance

One of the most seminal Jewish thinkers in the post-medieval period was Rabbi Judah Loew (1525-1609), who was known as the Maharal and served as chief rabbi of Prague. In one of his works (6) he offers a rather moving answer to the above query.

What the fourth and last sage, Shimon, the son of Pazi, was suggesting is that the verse that ultimately defines what it means to be a Jew, is the one that speaks of unwavering consistency, "One sheep you shall offer in the morning and the second sheep in the afternoon." Every single morning and every single afternoon you make a sacrifice for your Creator.

Of course, the biblical declarations that reveal the philosophical depth of Torah and its grand vision for humanity -- monotheism, love, human dignity -- are powerful, splendid and revolutionary. But what makes living a Jewish life unique is the unswerving commitment to live and breathe these truths day in, day out, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

One can be moved to tears by the notion of tikkun olam, of healing the world; one can become aflame with a burning passion toward the ideals of human dignity, love and peace. One can be inspired to make a donation, to give a speech, to shed a tear, to attend a rally or to argue a point.

But the real and ultimate power of Judaism is that it always inspired its people to cultivate their relationship with G-d on a continuous basis, every day of their lives. Judaism asks the human being to make daily sacrifices for truth, for love, for peace, for G-d. "One sheep you shall offer in the morning and the second sheep in the afternoon."

During exciting days as well as monotonous days, on bright days and bleak days -- "One sheep you shall offer in the morning and the second sheep in the afternoon." In the morning, when you awake, you are called to make a sacrifice to G-d. In the afternoon, when your day is winding down, you are called, once again, to sacrifice something of yourself for G-d.

Judaism is not only about a moving Yom Kippur experience or an emotional memorial ceremony; it is a something the Jew lives every moment of his life. It is the dedication of ordinary people to construct, through daily ordinary acts, a fragment of heaven on planet earth.

~~~~~~~~~

Footnotes:
1) The Midrash is quoted in the introduction to Ein Yakov, written by the author Rabbi Yaakov Ben Chaviv. He writes there that he found this information recorded in the name of the Midrash, but could not discover the original source. He proceeds to present his own explanation to the Midrash.
2) Genesis 5:1.
3) Deuteronomy 6:4.
4) Leviticus 19:18.
5) Numbers 28:4.
6) Nesivos Olam vol. 2 Nesiv Ahavas Ria chapter one.
My gratitude to Rabbi Nir Gurevitch, spiritual leader of the Australian Gold Coast community. I first heard this Midrash and Maharal from Rabbi Gurevitch, when I visited his community several years ago.

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COMMITMENT

2008-07-23T12:40:00.000-04:00

PARSHA

MATOT 08

“If a man makes a vow to Hashem or takes and oath imposing an obligation on himself, he shall not break his pledge, he must carry out all that has crossed his lips.” (Num.30.3)

Our Sages discourage vows for they are binding by law and must be carried out. The only exception is a vow made under duress or in an emotionally charged state when one’s behaviour is irrational.

Nonetheless, it is suggested that even when we undertake to do something without a vow, we should carry out ‘all that has crossed our lips’.
We should carry out our commitments with the same enthusiasm in which the undertaking is made. (Meorah Shel Torah)

In nature, anything that is warm cools off with time. Man has the same disposition. However, we are above nature for we have the capacity to reverse the process of cooling.

The person whose word is his deed is a person of grace. His ways are befitting in the eyes of heaven above and of man on the earth beneath.

FORTY-TWO JOURNEYS part 5

2008-07-19T07:42:00.000-04:00

Rabbi Simon Jacobson

The Baal Shem Tov teaches that the forty-two journeys in the wilderness – from Egypt to the Promised Land – reflect the forty-two journeys or phases that each person experiences throughout life. This is the fifth installment of a new series from Rabbi Jacobson, that outlines the psycho-spiritual 42 journeys that each of us go through in our own lives.

The story till now:

Journeys 1-5 begin with birth leading through childhood into the maturity process.
Journeys 6-9 cover various adversaries we face early in life.
Journeys 10-12: Power; weakness; revelation.
Journeys 13-15: Craving; rebellion; resignation.
Journeys 16-17: Building family and home.
Journeys 18-19: Failure; mob mentality.
Journeys 20-22: Beauty; fear; unity, community.
Journey 23-27: Low-points; middle-age; fruits of labor; emissary; counsel.

Please click here to read the first four installments covering journeys 1-27.

Now we continue with journeys 28-33, which cover the later stages of life as we enter our silver years.

Journey 28: They left Moseroth and camped in Benay Yaakan
Benay Yaakan literally means the sons of Yaakan, grandson of Seir (Genesis 36:27). It is also translated as “wells of distress” (Targum Yonasan), a place that is “narrow, confined and tight” (commentary Yonasan). This journey – which is also connected to the passing of Aaron (see Deuteronomy 10:6 and Rashi) – refers to the distress and limits that come with older age: Health issues, infirmity and the general physical decline associated with aging; both the agony for the aged one as well as for his/her family and friends as they see him/her waning. Yet, this stage too can be transformed into a very fruitful one, by learning to appreciate and connect with a deeper aspect of the aged one – the wisdom and experience that comes with the years, as the next journeys celebrate.

Journey 29: They left Benay Yaakan and camped in Chor HaGidgad
Chor HaGidgad – hole or clefts of Gidgad (Targum Yonasan) – refers to the head (gidgad) with its various cavities (see Arizal – Sefer Ha’Likkutim Massei). In psychological terms this journey denotes sagacity and wisdom that comes with ripe age, “many years bring wisdom” (Job 32:7).

Journey 30: They left Chor HaGidgad and camped in Yatvathah
Yatvathah means a “good, calm place” (Targum Yonasan), a “good, rich place” (Rokeach), an area of flowing brooks (Deuteronomy 10:7). This refers to the deep calm that comes with seasoned wisdom (see Arizal ibid). As the Talmud writes: “the minds of elderly scholars become more settled with age” (Kinim 3:6).

Journey 31: They left Yatvathah and camped in Avronah
Avronah is a “river crossing,” a “ford” (Targum Yonasan). It means to “pass through,” referring to the journey of life called transition – the transition into old age. Avronah also alludes to the transient material universe, how short-lived and ephemeral life truly is – an awareness that comes with age. Yet, through our acts of virtue and kindness, through the people we inspire and touch, we have the power to transform the fleeting life into a permanent and eternal force that perpetuates forever. This is the meaning of “they left Yatvathah and camped in Avronah:” upon birth we leave the “good and calm” of the spiritual worlds and enter the turbulent, insecure life of this physical world. Yet, through spiritualizing our lives we carry the “good and clam” of Yatvathah and “camp” peacefully even in Avronah (see Pri Megadim, responsa 1:3).

Journey 32: They left Avronah and camped in Etzyon Gever
Etzyon Gever means the “rooster’s crow” (Targum Yonasan), or the “wisdom of the rooster.” Masters proficient in the rooster’s wisdom lived in this place. “This wisdom is a deep secret, because it has the power to perceive the difference between day and night” (Tzioni. Rokeach). As the Talmud says, when you hear the rooster’s call say the blessing “Blessed is He who gave the rooster perception to distinguish between day and night” (Berachos 60b).

Life is made up of light and dark, day and night – bright times of clarity, hope and joy, and dismal times of confusion, defeat and sorrow. The purpose of darkness – and the ultimate achievement of life – is our power to transform night into light. But one of the great challenges that makes this effort difficult is the blurring of the boundaries between the two: darkness has the insidious ability to seep into our brighter moments and cast its dark shadows even on our most illuminating life experiences. It would be one thing if we were able to compartmentalize a negative experience, but not when it spills over and pollutes our good times, undermining our confidence and self-esteem to gather strength and move on. On the other hand, we also need to know how to give pain its due and allow it to go its course and dissipate, before we attack and transform it.

Etzyon Gever in our lives is the point we reach in our journey when we learn the art of perception, the secret to discern day from night; when we becomes masters to know the precise moment when to send out a wake-up call; when to begin the process of drawing light into darkness and transforming night into day. This perception requires profound insight, a sensitive heart and an uncanny sense of timing (Ohr HaTorah Massei pp. 1360. 1394. 1411).

Journey 33: They left Etzyon Gever and camped in Kadesh, in the Tzin Desert
Tzin and Kadesh are so called because here the people “were commanded” (tzin form the words tzav, command) and here they “were sanctified” (Talmud, Shabbos 89a). Kadesh is an eventful location: In this place Miriam passed away (Numbers 20:1), and the incident of the “Waters of Strife” happened (ibid 20:2-13): After the water from Miriam’s well ceased flowing (due to her death) and the Jews complained that they had no water, Moses fatefully struck the rock instead of speaking to it, which brought upon the sad decree that Moses and Aaron would not enter the Promised Land. This is another reason that this location was called Kadesh, because G-d was sanctified in this place (Bamidbar Rabbah 19:14; Tanchuma Numbers 11).

What this means in our life journey is a challenge to our commitment. There will be consequential times – due to excessive circumstances (a death, a major change, a transition) when everything we believe in will be on the line. We then have the choice: Will we sanctify G-d’s name or not?

To be continued
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PEOPLE POWER

2008-07-16T13:01:00.000-04:00

PARSHA

PINHAS 08

“Let Hashem… appoint a man over the community… that they may not be as sheep which have no shepherd” (Num.27.16f)

They may have no shepherd but the leaders do have an overseer, namely the very people they purport to lead. (Meorah Shel Torah)

With few exceptions, the world today is plagued by leaders who lack moral scruples and engage in corrupt practices. Where are our idealists, the honest champions of our cause who cry out against injustice and strive to improve the lot of humanity?

In a democracy, elected Heads of State represent the will of the people. It follows that their success in effecting change is possible only if the people really want change. Leaders reflect the attitudes of those that they lead; their corruption mirrors the corruption of the people who gave them their mandate.

There is an urgent need for administrators and governors to clean up their acts. They will do so when the people they represent begin to clean up their own back yards.

FORTY-TWO JOURNEYS part 4

2008-07-14T09:44:00.000-04:00

Rabbi Simon Jacobson

Talk about journeys. I just returned from a long voyage – actually a series of journeys – that spanned over 20,000 miles (32,000km). Last Wednesday I flew from New York to Sydney Australia. But it’s not as simple as that. First, my flight was cancelled, and instead I had to rush to the airport to barely make a flight from New York to Los Angeles (6 hours), with a connecting leg to Auckland, New Zealand (14 hours), and finally from there (3½ hours) arriving Friday afternoon in Sydney, with a few more hours thrown in waiting between flights.

Between the trips to the airports, running from one gate to the next, connecting one flight to another, between car transports to and from the airports, with over 20 speaking engagements, meetings and interviews, running to and from places and sleeping locations, from breakfasts, lunches and dinners, walking on Shabbos for over two hours – all in a whizzing 5 days, across the international date line twice, with a 14 hour time difference – it felt like traveling 42 journeys…

Yet, my journeys did not take 40 years and they were hardly in a “great, terrifying desert, where there were snakes, vipers, scorpions and thirst, with no water.” True, airplane food ain’t exactly lip smacking gourmet and the cramped space is hardly amusing, but it’s definitely far better than a great and terrifying wilderness.

[In the wilderness the Jews complained that they were “getting disgusted with this unwholesome food (the Manna from heaven).” It would however be inappropriate to compare it to the complaints about the food served in the airline heavens – a far cry from the “heavenly bread” that nourished the Jews in the wilderness, an unprecedented blessing originating in the highest cosmic levels].

In fact, the “difficulties” of my journey to Sydney are laughable compared to the truly grueling journeys that many have gone through in the last few decades – severe and punishing journeys, unprecedented in history, through the hells of Nazi Europe and Communist Russia. The last generations have endured upheavals and journeys that literally amputated entire communities and transplanted them, shattered and forever changed, in new countries across the globe. Indeed, Australia has the largest per capita population of Holocaust survivors, many of which escaped to the farthest place from Europe that they could reach…

How can I even include in the same breath my journeys to Sydney, which by contrast, had none of these challenges?

Quite the contrary, my trip to Sydney was deeply gratifying – completely overriding the arduous journeys. From Dover Heights to Double Bay; from a gourmet dinner with Rabbi Levi and Chani Wolf of the magnificent central Synagogue to an intense conversation with the Head Chabad Rabbi Pinchas Feldman (who was sent by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to Sydney in 1968); from the huge crowd at the formal Gimmel Tammuz event for the greater Sydney community to the intimate farbrengens throughout; from meeting some key political and financial leaders to a stimulating evening at the home my good friend Kevin Bermeister; from a stirring melave malkah with the local Chabad Shluchim to an emotional evening with the women of the community – I was deeply moved by the dedication, the refinement and the beauty of these exceptional people.

When you think about it, it is quite amazing that in this distant land – down under and upside down – Jewish life thrives. Young Chabad men and women are totally devoted to inspire and illuminate the lives of all those around them. Their pure faith and innocent dedication is life affirming. They have cultivated important connections with government and business leaders, and have the ability to generate true social change and higher the spiritual consciousness of Sydney – which can have a ripple effect across the world.

Every community, and Sydney is no exception, has its challenges. Yet, I felt that the goodness and commitment of the young couples, investing all their energy in making their world a better place, will prevail and overcome all difficulties; their dedication to spreading light will dispel darkness. Their pursuit of greatness has the power to transcend pettiness.

I may have embarked on 42 journeys half around the earth and back, but I came away energized, rejuvenated – with a deep sense of renewed hope, motivated to intensify my own work to help provide tools and resources to these community leaders and laypeople. 42 journeys – with a sense that we are on our way to the Promised Land.

The 12th Century Talmud scholar, the Raavad, writes that in the final Redemption, G- the people will not immediately enter the Promised Land, but G-d will “bring them through the wilderness of the nations” (Ezekiel 20:35), the same way that after the Egyptian redemption the people were led through 42 journeys in the wilderness (Adioth 2:9. See also Bechayei Massei).

As I return from my short trip to Australia I can report that we indeed are on a path to the Promised Land. And just as the Jewish people traveled 42 journeys through the wilderness on their way from Egypt to Israel, we too go through these 42 journeys in our own lives, as the Baal Shem Tov explains.

The Tzemach Tzedek does say that we go through the 42 journeys every day. So I guess that with some analysis I can figure out how I traveled these journeys through my Sydney trip. But meanwhile, let us return to the series that outlines these psycho-spiritual 42 journeys – which was skipped last week due to my laborious trek.

Here is the fourth installment of this series. Please click here to read the first three installments covering journeys 1-20.

Journey 21: They left Mount Shefer and camped in Charadah
Charadah – trembling – was so called due to the terror caused by the plague (Numbers 17:12. Targum Yonasan). Just as we experience beauty in our lives (Mount Shefer, Tiferet), we also, at times, sadly experience terror. This is the journey of fear in our lives; when “severities” (gevurah and din) are dominant (see Bechayei). Living in a perilous world, whose “roads are all prone to danger,” we all will endure experiences that cause us to shudder. The critical thing to always remember, even in the most frightening and anxious moments, is that fear is also part of the journey toward the Promised Land. When harnessed we can find solace (“camp”) in our shudders, as they sharpen our alert, focus our vigilance and teach us how to avoid or conquer the agents of fear. By not allowing our fears to consume us, we can learn to see them through, transform them to awe of the Divine and come out more powerful (see Kedushas Levi). That which does not destroy us makes us stronger.

Journey 22: They left Charadah and camped in Mak’heloth
Mak’heloth is a place of assembly (Targum Yonasan), possibly the place where the miracle of Aaron’s rod occurred in response to Korach’s challenge. This reflects the community building journey in our lives, when we build – or join – a community; when we assemble a group toward a particular cause or effort. Mak’heloth is a state of unity – when we feel connected with other and with ourselves, and together we serve a higher purpose (as in the psalm (68:27) b’Mak’heloth – in full assemblies – they praised G-d). The ultimate transformation of fear (Charadah) is when it leads us to gather, appreciate and sing praise for our Divine blessings (see Baal Haturim).

Journey 23: They left Mak’heloth and camped in Tachath
Yet, the cycles of life are such that we move from high to low. Tachath means “below,” referring to a lowly state, the lowlands of Mak’heloth (Targum Yonasan). Tachath are the low-points and downers in life. Some of these low-points follow success. This downward journey – which comes just after the mid-way point of the 42 journeys – may also refer to the middle-age blues. Another application of Tachath is the depths we fall to when we “leave Mak’heloth,” i.e. forsake and abandon unity (Chasam Sofer). Yet, we have the power to transform Tachath into a place of peace, when we each dwell “beneath (tachath) our vine and fig tree” (see Toldos Yaakov Yosef).

Journey 24: They left Tachath and camped in Terach
Terach is the name of Abraham’s father, which comes from the word “wild goat” or “old fool.” Terach is also related to the word boiling (rotach), as in irate; with Terach’s birth G-d became irate over the idol worshippers (Midrash Aggada Genesis). Another meaning of the word Terach is wait or delay (Rokeach). Terach refers to the stage in life when we move into middle-age and become fathers of our children. Will we yield children like Abraham? Will we be like “wild goats” and “old fools” worshipping one idol or another, or will we be wise and give off a spiritual aroma (Terach from the word re’ach, the scent of Torah and Mitzvot – Yalkut Midrashei Teiman)?

Journey 25: They left Terach and camped in Mithkah
From Terach we camp in Mithkah, a place of sweetness, with good fresh water (Targum Yonasan), the stage in life when we experience the sweet nachas from seeing the fruits of our labor – as in grand-parenting or other life achievements. This sweetness is even more profound because it follows and transforms the bitterness of life (see journey 5).

Journey 26: They left Mithkah and camped in Chashmonah
Chashmonah means ambassador, referring to the journey in life when we serve as an envoy or emissary representing a particular cause. It can also include a time when we assume a mature position of leadership and influence – usually later in our lives.

Journey 27: They left Chashmonah and camped in Moseroth
Moseroth (from the word mussar) means chastisement. Some say it was Aaron’s burial place (Malbim Numbers 20:29). This refers to the journey and stage in life when we have the wise experience to counsel others and offer constructive criticism and rebuke (“at age fifty for counsel” – Avot 5:24).

To be continued.
~~~~~

Faith as Paradox

2008-07-14T06:50:00.000-04:00

No, Yes, No, Yes

By Yosef Y. Jacobson

This week's Torah portion, Balak, tells the fascinating story of Balaam, a prophet, who was summoned by the Moabite king to curse Israel. In the end, in lieu of curses, the prophet gushes forth the most splendid poetry ever written about the uniqueness and destiny of the Jewish people. His poetry has become classic, a wellspring of inspiration for thousands of years, recited daily in Jewish liturgy and prayers.
Yet there is something profoundly confusing about the narrative.
The Bible relates how the emissaries arrive from Moab and Midian. They state their mission: They want Balaam to curse the Israelites. Balaam tells them to stay the night, while he consults with G-d.
G-d's answer is unequivocal: “G-d said to Balaam, ‘Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.’”
Balaam obeys. He refuses to go. Balak, the Moabite king, redoubles his efforts. Perhaps more distinguished messengers and the promise of significant reward will persuade Balaam to change his mind. He sends a second set of emissaries. Balaam's reply is moving: "Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord my G-d." However, he adds a fateful rider: "Now stay here tonight as the others did, and I will find out what else G-d will tell me."
The implication is clear. Balaam is suggesting that G-d may change His mind. But this is impossible. That is not what G-d does. Yet to our surprise, that is exactly what G-d seems to do:
“That night G-d came to Balaam and said, "Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you."
Balaam followed G-d’s latest instruction. He got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab. “But G-d was very angry when he went, and the angel of G-d stood in the road to oppose him.”
The narrative now shifts to the famous scene of Balaam's donkey. The donkey senses the presence of an angel obstructing its voyage and refuses to continue. Balaam the prophet does not. He beats his donkey. “Then G-d opened the donkey's mouth, and it said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?"

Balaam answered the donkey, "You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now."

The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?" "No," he said.

“Then G-d opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the angel of G-d standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.”

Balaam asks the angel if he should return home. The response now is, no! You must go. “Just speak the words I will speak to you.”
Balaam continues on his journey with the princes of Balak.
What is going on here? First G-d says no, than it becomes yes, then it is no again, and finally it s a yes! Why did G-d change His mind four times?! And what was Balaam suppose to do? Not go, when G-d told him explicitly to go?
The entire narrative seems like an unfair set up for Balaam. G-d tells him to go, and then gets angry at him for following instructions!
The commentators offer various ways of resolving the apparent contradictions between G-d's first, second, third and fourth reply. One subtle explanation, articulated in the works of Chassidic spirituality, I wish to share with you today.
***
G-d wanted Balaam to go. He wanted the curses of Balaam to be transformed into blessings. It's always nice to receive a compliment from a friend or a loved one. But praise that we truly savor is praise that comes from an adversary. When a rival at work, a business competitor or an outright enemy says something like, "I must say, you guys have something there!" -- that's the kind of vindication we relish most of all.

This is true in our inner psychological life as well. The greatest and deepest blessings are those born from channeling and transforming our tension and challenges. When we have the courage to stare our psychological and emotional pain in the eyes, and confront it, we can then turn it into a catalyst for profound growth. The deepest growth in life is born from such a process.

But how do you create this transformation in your life? For Balaam to do this – and for all of us to do this -- he needed to become a vessel, one that would reflect the vantage point of G-d. In our lives too, in order to transform our emotional challenges into blessings, we need to open ourselves up and become vessels for the Divine perspective on life.

But we are often stuck in our own shells. Our egos – or insecurities -- are too powerful. We -- just like Balaam -- think we know the truth. We believe we know what G-d wants.

Only when Balaam realized that he was absolutely ignorant, and that he did not grasp the divine perspective, was he humbled in to becoming a vessel. The confusion and shame he experienced in the process allowed him to hear the voice of G-d telling him to go and bless. He needed to hear “no” in order to be able to hear “yes.” Balaam needed to realize that he could not hold on to his ego before he could be open to G-d’s word.

Faith, the Torah is teaching us, should not to be confused with simplicity and blind obedience. The path of faith is often fraught with profound questions, dilemmas, and confusions. When we are not ready, we hear G-d saying no. When we are ready, we hear G-d saying yes. And sometimes, it is in the confusion created from paradox, that we become ready to hear what we need to hear.
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