On Love

When there is love between people God rests upon them, and that begins the process of the ultimate redemption. The whole purpose of creation was that God should have a dwelling place down below. When He sees truthful holy love he it so to speak causes him to desire to place his presence in the lower world.

The ideal form of “love of Israel” is a love not at all dependent on any “thing.” We see many people who gather together and form fellowships, yet their connection to each other is dependent on some “thing.” They may have recognized something noble or new in their friend which they want to connect to. But the second they discover that their friend has his problems, or that he may not provide them with which they hoped to receive, they immediately leave him. That is a sign of a love that is dependent on a “thing.”

True love, like the love of David and Yonatan, is not dependent on a “thing.” True love is when people truly feel the Divine soul in each other. When building connections with a person it should not be based on his exceptional characteristics, rather on the Divine connection. If God set it up that you have some sort of connection with another person that means that they must be a Divine connection between the two soul. This is an essential kind of relationship, like the way people love their children unconditionally, merely because they are their children, not basing their love on how their children act. True love is experiencing the other as a Divine revelation.

One needs to keep in mind that whenever there is a relationship between people, this relationship is tested from on high to see whether it a real connection. Is it based on external factors or is it a Divine and essential connection? So all sorts of difficulties arise to test the strength of the bond.

In the language of the Kabbalah, the first stage of a relationship is called “Back to Back.” Namely, that the connection is grounded on external non-essential aspects of the other. Then comes the test, and that is called “The Sawing.” That is when one friend stops receiving from the other what he used to get from him. He is being tested to see if there is a true and internal bond or not. Unfortunately, most people fail at this point and let the relationship fall away.

But if one strengthens himself a little bit, ignores the lessened usefulness of his friend, and tries to get in touch with the internal connection he can succeed. He should contemplates on the thought that; “Ultimately, we are one soul. The whole reason why God arranged that I would receive from my friend up to this point was only in order to bring me to a deeper truer connection.” This causes the essential unconditional love to be revealed, “Face to Face.”
(In the Kabbalah it is taught that the creation of this world goes according to this pattern. First, Adam and Eve, which are each a different spiritual sphere, begin with the immature stage of back to back, then comes the sawing that separates them, the ultimate goalbeing that they turn to face each other and unite face to face.)

Adapted from the discourses of Reb Itcha Myer Morgenstern one of the great kabbalists of our generation. (For a photo of him see http://www.the3ms.co.uk/images/B70.pdf)

The Sin Of Reb Levi Yitzchak

The holy Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev was kicked out of his job as the Rav of Pinsk for commiting a numbers of "sins." Here is one of them.
Once one of the baalebatim of Pinsk came to the Rav's home to ask him something. He entered the room and saw a glass of water on the table. He then heard a very loud voice shouting "SheHakol Nehiya BiDvaro!" and the Rav came climbing out from under the bed and drank the water. He had was so over come by fear of God when he began the Bracha that he was compelled to hide under the bed.

Love of the Stranger

I recently saw a video of Reb Shlomo Carlebach teaching and singing. Someone asked him about his way of walking the streets. He would open his heart to strangers he would bump into in the street, all the time. Shlomo said that in the Zohar it is taught that we come beck and reincarnate in this world three or four times, in order to fix our souls. (In case of emergency five times.) When we come be we meet again the same people in order to rectify that which we missed last time. Therefore, said Shlomo, I never want to miss any opportunity to meet somebody new.
People think that you need an excuse to approach a stranger, like, “I think I recognize you from some place.” Or, “You look exactly like my sister’s friend.” You can be totally straight. You can simply say, “Hello, who are you?”
Incidentally, after Shlomo was niftar the homeless people in Manhattan arranged a memorial gathering for him. Fifteen hundred people attended.

Healing with The Ibn Ezra

Does studying and keepping the Torah affect our bodies? Yes, Says the R. Avraham ibn Ezra (Shmos 23,25.)The human body is a part of the Lower World. At te time of birth, or even earlier at conception, the person's basic physical and emotional temperment is determined according to the astrological factors of the time. After that th e person's destiny is played according the temperment he received. Ther is however a way out of the limits of his fate. The soul and the mind are not members of the Lower World, the soul come from the Higher World and is lowered into the body. The studying and the doing of the Torah invigorates the powers of the soul so that it dominates the body. This domination is a compassionate one, the soul transforms the body and makes is more like the soul. This raises it above the predetermination of the Lower World, this means that if, for example, the Lower World caused the body to be weak and unhealthy, the soul' s transformation can nullify that by bringing the body stregnth from a higher source.

Advice For Living

Find something real in yourself that you are proud of, something that you can say with confidence that this good. Now focus on that, and live there for a couple of moments. After doing this you will be closer to lighting up the inside of your heart. This not just a mental exercise, it is a way of looking at life.

Do you sometimes feel that you are not able to find God? Do you feel that his presence is missing in your life?
The solution is much closer than you think. All you need is to do some truthful looking inside. You need to dig a little, to concentrate a little, and focus on the spark inside that is earnestly good. The place in you where there is true freedom and love.
When you connect and light up that part of your soul you are actually finding God who is residing in you.

Once you have discovered that point of good will in you be able to deal with world with fearless confidence. Even when you find yourself failing in many goals you’ve set for your self, or if your service of God is pathetic you still do not crumble because you are confident in your good core.

For example, if you find that you can’t learn as much Torah as you thought you would, or if you are not able to awaken your heart in davening, you might be tempted to throw in the towel and give up. “Forget about it,” you will say to your self, “I am not a spiritual person. Why am I even trying?”

But than you remind yourself that you believe in God, you have a strong core. You are part of the Jewish people who where chosen to proclaim the greatness of God in all generations. Just by being Jewish you are already doing for God. You are carrying God around in your particular heart and personality. This is a reason to celebrate.

Reb Nachman of Breslov once moved with his disciples to a city that was full of non-believers. When asked why he made this move, he said, that some of his close students were feeling dejected because of their perceived shortcomings in their spiritual work. Therefore he wanted to acquaint them with people who didn’t have any connection with God so that could be happy that they a least have a little faith in God.

Based on the teachings of Reb Nachman and his disciple Reb Nosson

The Gnawing Yearning

Many evils exist in the world,
whose root is the great yearning, that is hidden deeply in the human psyche,
to be satiated from the light of wisdom and the perception of truth,
which is actually the light of G-d.
It is because the souls do not find the way that leads to the quenching of their inner thirst,
they become full of sickness and anger,
and at times they err and try to break their thirst with things that do not help at all,
rather they dull their feelings so that not to feel the hurt of their inner heart.
Fortunate is the one who lowers his shoulder to bear the yoke of seeking God and his power
and does not quiet his thirst with anything but the source of living water
God, the Lord of truth.

Rav Kook Pinkas Rishon Leyafo 8

The Eagle , the Ring and the Mountains of Darkness

Every day Shlomo would rise early in the morning,
he would turn his face towards the east and would see what he would see.
Afterwards he would turn to the south and would see what he would see.
Then he would turn towards the north and stand there,
he lowered his eyes and straightened his head.
At that time, there was a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud that would come,
On the pillar of cloud came an eagle.
The eagle was great and strong.
This is the way he would come;
the right wing on the pillar of fire
and the its body and left wing on the pillar of cloud
The eagle would bring two leaves in its mouth
So they came, the pillar of cloud the pillar of fire and the eagle upon them
and bowed before King Shlomo
the eagle humbled himself before him and gave him the leaves
King Shlomo took the leaves and smelled them
he would sense in the smell a sign
and he would say,”this one is from Falling One,
and this one is from Uncovered Eyes.”
When there were two leaves
he would know that both Falling One and Uncovered eyes wish to reveal to him secret words.
What would he do?
He sealed his throne with a seal that was engraved in it the holy name,
and he took a ring that was engraved in it the holy name.
He then mounted the eagle and flew away.
The eagle climbed to the clouds,
and every placed where they would pass the light would become darkened.
The wise people who lived in the place where it became dark would know,
and would say, “ King Shlomo just passed by,”
and they wouldn’t know to where he was going.
The foolish people of that place would say,
“It was clouds that were passing by that made the world dark.”
The eagle rose higher and flew four hundred parsangs until he reached the Mountains of Darkness, there is Tadmor in the desert in the mountains,
and he would land there, raise his head and would see a Mountain of Darkness
There he would learn all that he needed
and he knew that in there he would enter
He rode the eagle like before and flew and rose into the mountains
until the place of the olive tree.
He called out with strength, “God your hand is raised, let them not see...(Isaiah 26, 11.)
He entered there until came close to that place,
he placed the ring with t he seal before him and came close
there he learned all that he wanted
of those foreign wisdoms which he wanted to know.
Once they told all that he wanted to know he rode on the eagle and returned to his place.
When he sat down on his throne, his mind became settled,
and he would speak from his mind precious words of wisdom.
Zohar II 112b