Chabakuk

Sources for Bigdei Kehuna Class

2011-02-08T08:57:00.000-08:00

Bigdei Kehuna and Game of Clothing

(א) וְאַתָּה הַקְרֵב אֵלֶיךָ אֶת אַהֲרֹן אָחִיךָ וְאֶת בָּנָיו אִתּוֹ מִתּוֹךְ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לְכַהֲנוֹ לִי אַהֲרֹן נָדָב וַאֲבִיהוּא אֶלְעָזָר וְאִיתָמָר בְּנֵי אַהֲרֹן:

(ב) וְעָשִׂיתָ בִגְדֵי קֹדֶשׁ לְאַהֲרֹן אָחִיךָ לְכָבוֹד וּלְתִפְאָרֶת:

(ג) וְאַתָּה תְּדַבֵּר אֶל כָּל חַכְמֵי לֵב אֲשֶׁר מִלֵּאתִיו רוּחַ חָכְמָה וְעָשׂוּ אֶת בִּגְדֵי אַהֲרֹן לְקַדְּשׁוֹ לְכַהֲנוֹ לִי:

(ד) וְאֵלֶּה הַבְּגָדִים אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשׂוּ חשֶׁן וְאֵפוֹד וּמְעִיל וּכְתֹנֶת תַּשְׁבֵּץ מִצְנֶפֶת וְאַבְנֵט וְעָשׂוּ בִגְדֵי קֹדֶשׁ לְאַהֲרֹן אָחִיךָ וּלְבָנָיו לְכַהֲנוֹ לִי:

(ה) וְהֵם יִקְחוּ אֶת הַזָּהָב וְאֶת הַתְּכֵלֶת וְאֶת הָאַרְגָּמָן וְאֶת תּוֹלַעַת הַשָּׁנִי וְאֶת הַשֵּׁשׁ:

(ו) וְעָשׂוּ אֶת הָאֵפֹד זָהָב תְּכֵלֶת וְאַרְגָּמָן תּוֹלַעַת שָׁנִי וְשֵׁשׁ מָשְׁזָר מַעֲשֵׂה חשֵׁב:

(ז) שְׁתֵּי כְתֵפֹת חֹבְרֹת יִהְיֶה לּוֹ אֶל שְׁנֵי קְצוֹתָיו וְחֻבָּר:

(ח) וְחֵשֶׁב אֲפֻדָּתוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָלָיו כְּמַעֲשֵׂהוּ מִמֶּנּוּ יִהְיֶה זָהָב תְּכֵלֶת וְאַרְגָּמָן וְתוֹלַעַת שָׁנִי וְשֵׁשׁ מָשְׁזָר:

(ט) וְלָקַחְתָּ אֶת שְׁתֵּי אַבְנֵי שֹׁהַם וּפִתַּחְתָּ עֲלֵיהֶם שְׁמוֹת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל:

(י) שִׁשָּׁה מִשְּׁמֹתָם עַל הָאֶבֶן הָאֶחָת וְאֶת שְׁמוֹת הַשִּׁשָּׁה הַנּוֹתָרִים עַל הָאֶבֶן הַשֵּׁנִית כְּתוֹלְדֹתָם:

(יא) מַעֲשֵׂה חָרַשׁ אֶבֶן פִּתּוּחֵי חֹתָם תְּפַתַּח אֶת שְׁתֵּי הָאֲבָנִים עַל שְׁמֹת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מֻסַבֹּת מִשְׁבְּצוֹת זָהָב תַּעֲשֶׂה אֹתָם:

(יב) וְשַׂמְתָּ אֶת שְׁתֵּי הָאֲבָנִים עַל כִּתְפֹת הָאֵפֹד אַבְנֵי זִכָּרֹן לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְנָשָׂא אַהֲרֹן אֶת שְׁמוֹתָם לִפְנֵי יְדֹוָד עַל שְׁתֵּי כְתֵפָיו לְזִכָּרֹן:

[Separate] your brother Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, [and] bring them close to you so that Aaron, and his sons, Nadav, Avihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, can become priests to Me. 28:2 Make sacred vestments that are both dignified and beautiful for your brother Aaron. 28:3 Speak to everyone who is naturally talented, to whom I have granted a spirit of wisdom, and let them make Aaron's vestments. These [vestments] will then be used to consecrate him and make him a priest to Me. 28:4 These are the vestments that they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a knitted tunic, a turban, and a sash. Make them as sacred vestments for Aaron and his sons so that they will be able to be priests to Me. 28:5 [The skilled workers] shall take the gold, the sky-blue, dark red and crimsons wool, and the linen.
The Ephod
28:6 [These workers] shall make the ephod out of gold [thread], sky-blue, dark red and crimson wool, together with twined linen, in a patterned brocade. 28:7 It shall have two attached shoulder pieces at its two corners, and [these] shall be sewn [to it]. 28:8 The ephod's belt which is made in the same manner [as the ephod itself] shall be [woven] together with it out of gold [thread], sky-blue, dark red, and crimson wool, and twined linen. 28:9 Take two sardonyx stones, and engrave on them the names of Israel's sons. 28:10 There shall be six names on one stone, and the remaining six names on the second stone [inscribed] in the order of their birth. 28:11 The names of Israel's sons shall be engraved by a skilled jeweler, [and it shall appear] like the engraving on a signet ring.

[These stones] shall then be placed in gold settings.

28:12 Place the two stones on the two shoulder pieces of the ephod as remembrance stones for Israel's sons.

Rambam

(יא) בגדי כהונה מותר ליהנות בהן לפיכך לובשם ביום עבודתו ואפילו שלא בשעת עבודה חוץ מן האבנט מפני שהוא שעטנז:

(ז) ומפתח על האבנים שמות השבטים כתולדותם ונמצא כותב על האודם ראובן ועל ישפה בנימין וכותב בתחלה למעלה מראובן אברהם יצחק ויעקב וכותב למטה מבנימין שבטי יה כדי שיהיו כל האותיות מצויות שם:

(ד) מצות עשה לעשות בגדים אלו ולהיות הכהן עובד בהן שנאמר ועשית בגדי קדש ואת בניו תקריב והלבשתם כתנות וכהן גדול ששימש בפחות משמנה בגדים אלו או כהן הדיוט ששימש בפחות מארבעה בגדים אלו הוא הנקרא מחוסר בגדים ועבודתו פסולה וחייב מיתה בידי שמים כזר ששימש שנאמר וחגרת אותם אבנט והיתה להם כהונה בזמן שבגדיהם עליהן כהונתן עליהן אין בגדיהן עליהן אין כהונתם עליהן אלא הרי הם כזרים ונאמר והזר הקרב יומת:

(ה) כשם שהמחוסר בגדים חייב מיתה ופוסל העבודה כך היתר בגדים כגון שלבש שתי כתנות או שני אבנטים או כהן הדיוט שלבש בגדי כהן גדול ועבד ה"ז מחלל העבודה וחייב מיתה בידי שמים:

(ו) נאמר בבגדי כהונה על בשרו ולבשם מלמד שלא יהיה דבר חוצץ בין בשרו לבגדים אפילו נימא אחת או עפר או כינה מתה אם היתה בין בשר לבגד הרי זו חציצה ועבודתו פסולה לפיכך אין הכהן יכול לעבוד בתפילין של יד שהרי חוצצת אבל של ראש אינה חוצצת ואם רצה להניחם בשעת העבודה מניח:

(ז) וצריך להזהר בשעה שלובש שלא יהיה אבק בין בגדו לבשרו ולא כינה אע"פ שהיא בחיים ושלא תכנס הרוח בשעת העבודה בין בשרו לבגדו עד שיתרחק הבגד מעליו ולא יכניס ידו תחת חלוקו לחיק ולא יצא שערו מן הבגד ולא יהיה בבגד נימא מדולדלת ואם היה שם אחד מכל אלו עבודתו כשירה:

Halacha 4

It is a positive commandment to make these garments and for the priests to serve in them,13 as [Exodus 28:2] states: "And you shall make holy garments,"14 and [ibid. 29:8] states: "And drew near his sons and dress them in tunics."15

When a High Priest serves with less than these eight garments or an ordinary priest serves with less than these four garments, he is called lacking garments. His service is invalid and he is liable for death at the hand of Heaven, like a non-priest who serves. [This is indicated by ibid.:9 which states:] "And you shall gird them with a sash... and their priesthood shall be for them...." [Implied is that] when their garments are upon them, their priesthood is upon them. [Conversely,] if their garments are not upon them, they are like non-priests, concerning whom [Numbers 1:51] states: "A non-priest who draws close [to the service of the Sanctuary] shall die."16

Halacha 5

Just like a priest who is lacking garments is liable to die and invalidates the service he performs, so too, one who wears extra garments17 - e.g., he wears two tunics, two sashes, or an ordinary priest who wears the garments of the High Priest and performs service - profanes his service and is liable for death at the hand of Heaven.18

Halacha 6

It is said with regard to the priestly garments:19 "on his flesh and he shall wear them." [Implied is that] nothing should intervene between his flesh and the garments. Even if there is one thread, earth, or a dead louse between his flesh and the [priestly] garment, it is considered an intervening substance and his service is invalid. Therefore a priest cannot serve [in the Temple wearing] his arm tefillin, because they intervene. The head tefillin, by contrast, do not intervene20 and if he desires to wear them at the time of his Temple service, he may.21

Halacha 7

[A priest] must be careful at the time that he puts on [the priestly garments] that there be no dust, nor a louse - even if it is alive - between his flesh and the garment. Nor should air enter between his flesh and his garment during the time of service so that the garment will become distant from his flesh. He should not place his hand in his bosom under his tunic. He should not remove his hair from the garment, nor should there be a strand hanging loose from the garment. [Although] one these factors occurs, his service is acceptable.22

(י) עשו בבית שני אורים ותומים כדי להשלים שמנה בגדים ואע"פ שלא היו נשאלין בהן ומפני מה לא היו שואלין בהן מפני שלא היתה שם רוח הקודש וכל כהן שאינו מדבר ברוח הקודש ואין שכינה שורה עליו אין נשאלין בו:

(יא) וכיצד שואלין עומד הכהן ופניו לפני הארון והשואל מאחריו פניו לאחרי הכהן ואומר השואל אעלה או לא אעלה ואינו שואל בקול רם ולא מהרהר בלבו אלא בקול נמוך כמי שמתפלל בינו לבין עצמו ומיד רוח הקדש לובש את הכהן ומביט בחושן ורואה בו במראה הנבואה עלה או לא תעלה באותיות שבולטות מן החושן כנגד פניו והכהן משיבו ואומר לו עלה או לא תעלה:

(יב) ואין שואלין על שני דברים כאחד ואם שאל משיבין על הראשון בלבד ואין נשאלין בהן להדיוט אלא או למלך או לבית דין או למי שצורך הציבור בו שנאמר ולפני אלעזר הכהן יעמוד וגו' הוא זה המלך וכל בני ישראל זה הוא משוח מלחמה או מי שצורך הציבור בשאילתו וכל העדה אלו ב"ד הגדול:

(יג) זה שאתה מוצא בדבר נביאים שהכהנים היו חוגרין אפוד בד לא היו כהנים גדולים שאין האפוד של כ"ג אפוד בד ואף הלוים היו חוגרין אותו שהרי שמואל הנביא לוי היה ונאמר בו נער חגור אפוד בד אלא אפוד זה היו חוגרים אותו בני הנביאים ומי שהוא ראוי שתשרה עליו רוח הקדש להודיע כי הגיע זה למעלת כהן גדול שמדבר על פי האפוד והחשן ברוח הקדש

In the Second Temple,29 they made the Urim and the Tumim30 to complete the eight garments [of the High Priest]31 even though inquiry was not made of them. Why was inquiry not made of them? Because the Holy Spirit32 was not vested there.33 And whenever a priest does not speak with the Holy Spirit and the Divine Presence does not rest there, inquiry is not made.

Halacha 11

How was inquiry made?34 The [High] priest would stand facing the Ark. The person making inquiry was behind him, facing the [High] Priest's back. The inquirer would ask: "Should I go up [to war] or not?" He would not ask in a loud voice, nor would he merely think about the matter in his heart. Instead, [he would speak] in a low voice, like someone praying to himself.35 Immediately, the Holy Spirit will enclothe the [High] Priest. He will look at the breastplate and with the spirit of prophecy see "Go up" or "Do not go up" written in letters emerging from the breastplate toward his face. The [High] Priest would then answer [the inquirer], telling him: "Go up" or "Do not go up."

Halacha 12

Two matters should not be asked about at once. If they are, one replies only to the first. Inquiry should not be made [of the Urim and Tumim] by an ordinary person, only by a king, the court, or one who the community at large requires. [This is derived from Numbers 27:21:] "Before Elazar the priest shall he stand... [he and all the children of Israel with him, and the entire congregation]." "He" refers to the king;36 "all the children of Israel" to the priest anointed to lead the people in war,37 or someone whom the people need to make inquiry for them; and "all the congregation" refers to the High Court.

Halacha 13

The statements found in the words of the prophets38 that the priests would wear an ephod of linen does not mean that they were High Priests. For the High Priest's ephod was not of linen [alone].39 For the Levites would also wear such a garment, for the prophet Samuel was a Levite, and [I Samuel 2:18] describes him as "a youth, girded with a linen ephod." Instead, this ephod was worn by the students of the prophets40 and those who were fit to have the Holy Spirit rest upon them to make it known that such a person reached a rung equivalent to that of the High Priest who speaks with the Holy Spirit via the medium of the ephod and the breastplate.

Megaleh Amukos R Nosson Shapira of Krakow - Toldos
ענין מכירת בכורה של עשו כשבא מן השדה שהי' לבוש בגדים של אדה"ר שלקח מנמרוד שהי' צד בו כל בהמה וחיה כי אותו לבוש הי' בגדי כה"ג לכן במסורה ב"פ וילבישם כתנות עור וילבשם כתנות פ' צו ובזוהר רזא דתפילין ד' בתים של עור שהם לקבל ד' אתוון של אדני ביד וד' אתון של אהי"ה בראש והם ג"כ סוד בגדי לבן וד' בגדי אדום ועשו ביקש מיעקב הלעיטני נא מן האדום הזה שהי' מתכוון רק ללבוש בגדי אדום לכן א' ב"פ אדום כי גם בגדי לבן רצה להפוך אל אדום כי הוא אדמוני לכן אמר לשון הלעטה מלשון מלעיטין את הגמל שהי' סמא"ל רוכב על הנחש בדמות גמלים ואותן הגמלים הבריך עבד אברהם שהוא מיטטרון בי' הכי הוי בחושבנא וכשמסלקין י' מן מטטרון אשתייר מטטרון יבשה עיין בתיקונים דף כ"ד וכשיצא יצחק לשוח בשדה (בראשית כ"ו) בגי' מטטרון והנה גמלים באים לכן אמר יעקב לעשו מכרה לי בכורתך שאם אתה רוצה ללבוש אדום ללבושיך צריך אתה לחלץ בגדי כהונה מעליך שהיתה עבודה בבכורות ואז ויבז עשו את הבכורה ולכן אמר לקמן את בכורתי לקח וזכה לבגדי כהונה ומזה זכה אח"כ ליקח את ברכתי כי מכח לבוש של אדה"ר ששכח עשו בבית שלקחה רבקה בגדי החמודות אשר לו כל הקללות של אדה"ר נהפכו עתה בלבוש יעקב הבגדים לברכה כ"ש בזוהר י' ברכאן אלו של ויתן לך לקבל י' לווטין של אדה"ר כי עתה שופרי דיעקב מעין שופרי דאדה"ר שלבש בגדי כהן גדול ומאחר שיעקב נעשה עתה כה"ג למטה נזדעזע כורסי' לעילא ונחית מיכאל כה"ג שלמעלה ובא עם יעקב לקבל הברכות של ויתן לך כו' את ברכת אברהם ומה היא הברכה שבירך הקב"ה להוצי' כהונה משם בן נח ונתן לאברהם את ארץ כי שם מקום הקרבנות בברית בין הבתרים את ארץ מגוריך אשר נתן ה' לאברהם כי באותו הפרק נאמר לו כי גר יהי' זרעך אז אמר לו קח לך עגל שהראו לו סוד הקרבנות שזכה את הברכה שברכו שם וז"ש לך נא אל הצאן וקח לי משם שני גדיי עזים טובים לך טובים לבניך טובים לך שתקבל הברכות

Tehilim 104
(א) בָּרְכִי נַפְשִׁי אֶת יְדֹוָד יְדֹוָד אֱלֹהַי גָּדַלְתָּ מְּאֹד הוֹד וְהָדָר לָבָשְׁתָּ:

(ב) עֹטֶה אוֹר כַּשַֹּלְמָה נוֹטֶה שָׁמַיִם כַּיְרִיעָה:

(יח) וּשְׁמוּאֵל מְשָׁרֵת אֶת פְּנֵי יְדֹוָד נַעַר חָגוּר אֵפוֹד בָּד

Ester
(א) וַיְהִי בִּימֵי אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ הוּא אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ הַמֹּלֵךְ מֵהֹדּוּ וְעַד כּוּשׁ שֶׁבַע וְעֶשְׂרִים וּמֵאָה מְדִינָה:

(ב) בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם כְּשֶׁבֶת הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ עַל כִּסֵּא מַלְכוּתוֹ אֲשֶׁר בְּשׁוּשַׁן הַבִּירָה:

(ג) בִּשְׁנַת שָׁלוֹשׁ לְמָלְכוֹ עָשָׂה מִשְׁתֶּה לְכָל שָׂרָיו וַעֲבָדָיו חֵיל פָּרַס וּמָדַי הַפַּרְתְּמִים וְשָׂרֵי הַמְּדִינוֹת לְפָנָיו:
(ג) בִּשְׁנַת שָׁלוֹשׁ לְמָלְכוֹ עָשָׂה מִשְׁתֶּה לְכָל שָׂרָיו וַעֲבָדָיו חֵיל פָּרַס וּמָדַי הַפַּרְתְּמִים וְשָׂרֵי הַמְּדִינוֹת לְפָנָיו:

(ד) בְּהַרְאֹתוֹ אֶת עשֶׁר כְּבוֹד מַלְכוּתוֹ וְאֶת יְקָר תִּפְאֶרֶת גְּדוֹלָּתוֹ יָמִים רַבִּים שְׁמוֹנִים וּמְאַת יוֹם:

(ה) וּבִמְלוֹאת הַיָּמִים הָאֵלֶּה עָשָׂה הַמֶּלֶךְ לְכָל הָעָם הַנִּמְצְאִים בְּשׁוּשַׁן הַבִּירָה לְמִגָּדוֹל וְעַד קָטָן מִשְׁתֶּה שִׁבְעַת יָמִים בַּחֲצַר גִּנַּת בִּיתַן הַמֶּלֶךְ:

(ו) חוּר כַּרְפַּס וּתְכֵלֶת אָחוּז בְּחַבְלֵי בוּץ וְאַרְגָּמָן עַל גְּלִילֵי כֶסֶף וְעַמּוּדֵי שֵׁשׁ מִטּוֹת זָהָב וָכֶסֶף עַל רִצְפַת בַּהַט וָשֵׁשׁ וְדַר וְסֹחָרֶת:

Likutei Halachos
ה) כִּי מְבֹאָר בְּסוֹף הַתּוֹרָה הַנַּ"ל עַל פָּסוּק, "לְיוֹם חַגֵּנוּ". שֶׁכָּל הַתָּאֳרִים וְהַשְּׁבָחִים שֶׁאָנוּ מְשַׁבְּחִין וּמְפָאֲרִין אוֹתוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ הֵם בִּבְחִינַת הַמְדַמֶּה, כִּי בִּפְנִימִיּוּת הַשֵֹּכֶל הוּא יִתְבָּרַךְ מְרוֹמָם וְנַעֲלָה מִכָּל הַתָּאֳרִים וְהַשְּׁבָחִים וְעִקַּר כָּל הַשְּׁבָחִים וְהַתָּאֳרִים הֵם רַק בִּבְחִינַת הַמְדַמֶּה וְכוּ', עַיֵּן שָׁם וְכָל הַתָּאֳרִים וְהַשְּׁבָחִים שֶׁהֵם בִּבְחִינַת הַמְדַמֶּה, כֻּלָּם הֵם בִּבְחִינַת לְבוּשִׁין דְּמַלְכָּא, בְּחִינַת (תהלים קד) הוֹד וְהָדָר לָבָשְׁתָּ,

The Shofar in Three Dimensions

2009-09-10T08:05:00.000-07:00

“Three books are opened on Rosh Hashana. One of the righteous, one of the wicked and one of the medium people. The righteous are immediately assigned to life, the wicked immediately to death and the medium people are pending and waiting until the day of atonement.”

(Talmud Bavli, Rosh Hashana.)

What is the meaning of this judgment, ask the early commentators, have evil people never lived past Rosh Hashana? Some suggest that this judgement is not played out in this physical world rather there is a judgment about the person's place in the world to come. This option is also difficult to understand. Why should there be an annual discussion about what will happen to a guy after he dies? Why not give the verdict post-mortem?

Moreover what does this description of the the judgement teach us about how to experience Rosh Hashana? How does the knowledge of the divine court translate into our relationship with G-d?

Perhaps these three groups of people are not out there in the world, rather the righteous, wicked and medium all reside in the individual soul. We each have at least a little bit of clarity of mind or a little bit of unwavering conscience. When that part of us is manifest we feel no struggle, we are with the Master of the world and that is it. We also each have a place inside where our ego is tenacious or even tyrannical, and place is seemingly selfish and God-less. And obviously we have that inner place of struggle where the different voices vie for control.

With the blast of the shofar on Rosh Hashana we receive help for each of these inner places.

What is the sound of the shofar? Is it shouting? Crying? Rejoicing? Why do we just listen to the sound and not blow the shofar ourselves?

The verses we say together with the mitzva of shofar begin to reveal meaning of the blasts. We recite verses of Kingship, of Remembrance and of Shofar, and there is a special blessing said following each set. One of the great kabalists writes that the verses of kingship correspond to the medium people, Remembrance to the righteous and shofar to wicked. We will attempt to clarify his words.

1) The Shofar affect the 'wicked' part of ourselves most directly. It awakens and shocks us out of our sad slumber of despair. There is a magic in waking up from a deep sleep, we can allow the sleeping beauty awake while keeping all the ogres asleep.

Besides for being a wake up bugle, the shofar is also a kind of desperate scream or wail. It that wordless primal energy directed towards the most high, using the horn of an animal. We scream so hard that something inside breaks; that obstinate piece of wickedness. We come to the knowledge that its just a parasite steal our mind and body. So then we do not want it anymore and it dissolves like smoke. That what our sages meant that in the judgement of Rosh Hashana the wicked are judged immediately to death. Perhaps it should be better termed euthanasia.

2) For that middle place in us where experience struggle and choice our main focus is the divine kingship. If we feel both sides of a choice with equal intensity, then how can we choose? The answer is that the commitment to the relationship with G-d is what gives us the power. In this context the blowing of the shofar is act of joyous celebration as we declare him our loving king.

['The medium people are pending until the day of atonement.' It is particularly the middle part in us, the part that chooses that requires time. Choice is real when developed and maintained over time. During the Ten days of Return we tell God that we are serious about the relationship.]

3) Then there is the totally righteous part inside. That part connects with the Remembrances. The Remembrances speak of God forever remembering us. It is about the covenant that is unaffected by choice. The mystical soul is not thinking in terms of duality; am I good or am I bad? Rather it is thinking about the Oneness; about us being in Him and Him being in us.

The Shofar of remembrance is not about crying and its not about celebrating, rather it's about listening deeply. We listen to the hidden unity of G-d until we actually see it, just like the Children of Israel's vision of the sounds at the foot of the fiery Mount Sinai.

The shofar transforms our whole person, speaking to the body, mind and spirit, each in its own language. On Rosh Hashana, the day of man's creation, the whole self is elevated, and more broadly the entire community; the holy, the wicked, and the normal.

heroism vs. feeling

2008-11-24T10:07:00.000-08:00

The way of Yosef is the bring the full blooming of the Godliness of man. It is the way of heroism, not letting temporary situations overcome the inner spirit. When Yosef was in the most miserable place, in the Egyptian jail, he innocently asks his cell-mates, “Why is your face look sad today?”

Yet there is another way, a more feminine, the way of David. David did not ignore the troubles that he encountered. He deeply felt the pain and cried out to God, as we can see in the book of Tehilim. Feeling the pain allowed him to open up depths of the soul that would otherwise be totally hidden.

These two paths reveal the two types of greatness in man. The independence, dignity and strength on one hand, and and the complete dependence and trust in God on the other.

Adapted from Divrei Tora Bein Hametzarim, pp. 108-112, by R' Mottel Zilber shlit"a

Meah Shearim, Nachlaot, and Mashiach.

2008-10-03T03:57:00.000-07:00

This past Rosh Hashana my wife and I davened at two different shuls. Upon reflecting together on our experiences I realized that the two shuls represented two perennial archetypes in Jewish life. I davvened in a chassidic Yerushalmi minyan and my wife davened in a colorful Carlebach influenced congregation.

The yerushalmi shul was very family centered, with lots of children running around, all feeling part of what was going on , yet the adults were surprisingly calm, not getting too worked up about the awesomeness of the day. The enjoyed singing together the traditional songs and humming at key places in the tefila. The other minyan on the other hand was fully of fresh energy of people wanting to pray deeply and be transformed.

A superficial assessment would be that in the Yerushalaimer shul they were content and not really excited about Judaism as opposed to the baal tshuva shul where a fire burned in their hearts. Yet I feel that it is deeper than that . The yershalmim give the feeling that their calmness is not a result of laziness or lack of interest rather it reflects the essential spiritual nature. They are connected to the holiness of sameness and rootedness. That is one of the ways that God is revealed to us - the Eternal unchanging Lord. In order to manifest that aspect of the divine we need to find in our personal selves and in our society a point that doesn't change. A point of consciousness within that reflects the awesome reality of “You are God before the creation of the world and you are the same God after the creation of the world.” (One is reminded of the kabbalistic teaching that Shabbos is the the center with all the days of the week circling around her.) People who focus on this revelation tend rank the stillness of the soul over enthusiasm. The momentary enthusiasm contradicts the eternal chill. Also they focus a lot of energy on continuity, that their children should look and feel like their grandparents. Here too they seek to manifest the unchanging Eternal. This is not the conservatism that says the new is untested and dangerous, rather it is a denial of the whole concept of “new”. There is no newness in eternity.

The people of this camp can be seen fighting, both literally and figuratively, for Judaism in a way that can be mistaken for fanatic enthusiasm but when you look carefully you reveal that it is not that. They are on the defensive. They are protecting their community from what they perceive as forces of change that undermine this calm principle of eternity. It has nothing to do with missionary zeal.

The eternal sameness is a but a sliver of the Truth. There is newness and growth which is also a revelation of the divine. The world was created in order to make room for the possibility of birth, of development, of growth. The reigning in of the infinite allows the entity called change to exist. So there are people who work to manifest this revelation with a focus on renewal and growth. They spurn things set in stone; old thoughts and habits that hinder the transformation towards God.

So we have two contradictory ways of walking with God. And this contradiction is part of the plan and the warring parties will come to peace. The Prophet tells us that in the end of days the tribes of Yosef and Yehuda will be united and the enmity between them will be gone. Yosef is called the Tzadik, a solid rock unmoved by temptation. He is also the revealer of the divine aspect of Yesod meaning foundation, which is also related to reproduction- continuity, the physical manifestation of eternity.

Yehuda and is grandson David have a different way, the way of the Master of Return. They both fell and got up showing us that change is possible. And that God desires a new song. That we with our small growth and movement can make the entire project of constriction of the divine and the creation of the world worth the cost.

Who will fix this world? We are told that it is Mashiach ben David. For he is the singer , the dancer, and the renewer of the cosmos. He will pull us out of despair of ever changing.

But that is jumping to the end of the story, before that comes Mashiach ben Yosef to prepare the way. In order to make a divine transformation we need to connect to the eternal Divine.

(The disciples of the Gaon of Vilna said he had the soul of Mashiach ben Yosef, and the disciples of the Baal Shem Tov said he had the soul of Mashiach ben David. This was told over by Reb Y.M. Morgenstern shlit”a. )

One time the Arizal was in the fields and he communed with the souls of Shmaya and Avtalyon and they told him the following secret. In the Shmona Esre prayer at the words “and the throne of your servant David please prepare” one should pray that Mashiach ben Yosef should not be killed. Shmaya and Avtalyon were gerim, they were clearly of the way of newness. But they were telling the holy Ari, “Please pray for the way of old, the way of eternity that it should part of the redemption.” We need to connect so deeply to the unmoving infinity that when the newness of redemption comes it does not make us feel that the ground is being pulled out from under us, but rather we will feel that in some mysterious divine way the new redemption fits with the divine eternity.

On Succos the festival of joy there was a holy dance. It was the dance of the Chasidim and the Baalei Teshuva. The chasidim would sing “How happy are we that we lived our whole lives with unchanging purity.” The Baalei teshuva would sing “How happy are we that grew, and changed from the way of our youth.” Both groups would then sing together, “Happy is he who did not sin, and he who sinned let him return to God, and He will accept him.”

This was a miraculous moment when Yosef and Yehuda would look at each other and recognize the Godliness of there respective ways. It only happened in the joy of Simchas Beis Hashoeva when the divine spirit drawn.

Reb Mottel Zilber shlit"a

2008-09-19T01:24:00.000-07:00

Reb Mottel is the one in the middle.

His chassidim publish his Toras every week. The weekly Torah can be received via email from toldosyehuda@yeshivanet.com

It's a Girl!

2008-08-01T06:11:00.000-07:00

2008-07-17T01:46:00.000-07:00

Pondering

2008-07-13T09:21:00.000-07:00

seeking the inner light of the mishnah

2008-06-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

תלמוד בבלי מסכת סוטה דף כז עמוד ב
/מתני'/.
א- כשם שהמים בודקין אותה כך המים בודקין אותו, שנאמר: +במדבר ה+ ובאו ובאו. כשם שאסורה לבעל כך אסורה לבועל, שנאמר: +במדבר ה+ נטמאה ונטמאה, דברי ר' עקיבא.
א"ר יהושע: כך היה דורש זכריה בן הקצב. רבי אומר: שני פעמים האמורים בפרשה נטמאה ונטמאה, אחד לבעל ואחד לבועל.
ב- בו ביום דרש ר' עקיבא: +ויקרא יא+ וכלי חרש אשר יפול מהם אל תוכו כל אשר בתוכו יטמא, אינו אומר טמא אלא יטמא - לטמא אחרים, למד על ככר שני שמטמא את השלישי.
א"ר יהושע: מי יגלה עפר מעיניך רבן יוחנן בן זכאי, שהיית אומר: עתיד דור אחר לטהר ככר שלישי, שאין לו מקרא מן התורה שהוא טמא, והלא ר' עקיבא תלמידך מביא לו מקרא מן התורה שהוא טמא, שנאמר: כל אשר בתוכו יטמא.
3 ג- בו ביום דרש ר' עקיבא: +במדבר לה+ ומדותם מחוץ לעיר את פאת קדמה אלפים באמה וגו', ומקרא אחר אמר: +במדבר לה+ מקיר העיר וחוצה אלף אמה סביב, אי אפשר לומר אלף אמה שכבר נאמר אלפים אמה, ואי אפשר לומר אלפים אמה שכבר נאמר אלף אמה, הא כיצד? אלף אמה מגרש, ואלפים אמה תחום השבת;
ר' אליעזר בנו של ר' יוסי הגלילי אומר: אלף אמה מגרש, ואלפים אמה שדות וכרמים.
ד- בו ביום דרש רבי עקיבא: +שמות טו+ אז ישיר משה ובני ישראל את השירה הזאת לה' ויאמרו לאמר - שאין ת"ל לאמר, ומה ת"ל לאמר? מלמד, שהיו ישראל עונין שירה אחריו של משה על כל דבר ודבר כקוראין את הלל (אשירה לה' כי גאה גאה), לכך נאמר לאמר;
רבי נחמיה אומר: כקורין את שמע ולא כקורין את הלל.
ה- בו ביום דרש ר' יהושע בן הורקנוס: לא עבד איוב את הקב"ה אלא מאהבה, שנא': +איוב יג+ הן יקטלני לו אייחל, ועדיין הדבר שקול, לו אני מצפה או איני מצפה? ת"ל: +איוב כז+ עד אגוע לא אסיר תומתי ממני, מלמד שמאהבה עשה.
אמר רבי יהושע: מי יגלה עפר מעיניך רבן יוחנן בן זכאי, שהיית דורש כל ימיך: שלא עבד איוב את המקום אלא מיראה, שנאמר: +איוב א+ איש תם וישר ירא אלהים וסר מרע, והלא יהושע תלמיד תלמידך למד שמאהבה עשה.

רש"י פירש שגם ההלכה הראשונה במשנה נאמרה בו ביום – ביום שהעבירו את רבן גמליאל מנשיאותו והעבירו שומר הפתח והתרבו ספסלי בית המדרש.
האם יש קשר ענייני בין חמש המימרות
מה שקרה באותו יום היה הרחבת גבול הקדושה שגם תלמידים ברמה נמוכה שאולי אין תוכם כברם יוכלו ללמוד ולא רק האליטה. כל ההלכות במשנה קשורים לעניין הזה של ההרחבה. הדוגמה הכי פשוטה היא ההלכה האמצעית במשנה שיש הלכות הקובעות את דין השטח מסביב לעיר. עיר יהודי יש לו קדושה (בנוגע לשילוח מצורעים ועוד) וכאן מגלים את קדושה-הלכות שנוגעים לאלף אלפיים אמה מסביב.
הדרשה הרביעית גם מדברת על הרחבה שלא רק החכם הגדול משה רבינו אמר שירה אלא שעל ידו התעוררו כל קהל ישראל לשירה שלהם. ובגמרא הובא דרשות המלמדות שגם התינוקות והעוברים שרו – הכי פשוטים בכלל ישראל לקחו חלק בשירת משה.
המשנה גם כוללת הלכות שליליות - סוטה וטומאה, ומגלה שגם שם יש הרחבת גבול הקדושה. המשנה מראה את זה על ידי ההקבלה בין שתי דרשות האחרונות מול הראשונות. סוטה וטומאה מול שירה ואהבה. הדרשה החמישית מדברת על אהבה מתוך ייסורים של איוב מגלה את האהבה בתוך הייסורים של סוטה טומאה. (והוא דוקא בחינתו של רבי עקיבא שדורש תלי תלים - תלתלים שחורות, וגם קיים בעצמו הן יקטליני לו אייחל.)
כשם שאסורה לבעל אסורה לבועל -היינו שנישואין צריכים להיות עם קשר ואהבה פנימית שלא רק שבגידה בנישואין מקלקלת אותה -אסורה לבעל אלא שגם אם תחילת הקשר היה בזנות של מים גנובים בבריחה מהבעל ולא באהבה טהורה גם זה פוגם את קדושת הנישואין – ואסורה לבועל. נמצא שהרחבת האיסור הוא ביטוי של הרחבת הקדושה. וכן ההלכה ששני עושה שלשי לטומאה מלמד על עומק צורך הטהרה. (סוטה- קדושה טומאה-טהרה אהבה מצד ימין שירה מצד שמאל.בגמ' כתוב בזכות ואנכי עפר ואפר זכו בניו של אברהם אבינו לעפר סוטה ואפר פרה.)
במשנה כתוב אמר רבי יהושע: מי יגלה עפר מעיניך רבן יוחנן בן זכאי ריב"ז בימיו עשה תנועה של התכנסות - תן לי יבנה וחכמיה, רק האליטה. ביום הזה החזירו את הפניה לכל ישראל והיה בחינת גאולה של התנערי מעפר קומי. ואז ישיר מש"ה ובני ישראל.

The mind as a bridge to God

2008-06-11T12:32:00.000-07:00

The Intellect According to Maimonides and R. Nachman of Breslov

Maimonides on the intellect

Maimonides taught that the highest form of service of God is to know with certainty, via rational proofs, all that is knowable of the divine.(Guide III:51.) People who believe in and practice the Torah merely because of their acceptance of tradition are further away from God. The intellect in itself is what binds man to God. This doctrine is based on ideas developed by the Arabic expositors of Aristotle. Firstly that there is one Intellect that brings out from potential to actuality the minds of human beings and also provides the forms for all objects in this world. They named this the active intellect and it is closely identified with God. They also posited the unity of the intellect, the thinking subject and the object of thought. (I: 68) Namely, that when one understands a piece of intellect he is in essence becoming one with that intellect, which is entity unto itself. Based on this doctrine we can say that when one thinks of God he is becoming united with Him.^¹ This does not however include all types of thinking. The Rambam explains that only a person who arrived to the knowledge of God through rational cognition is considered as knowing God. Someone whose idea of God came to him through the faculty of the imagination is not knowing God rather he knows a fictitious invention of his own heart. (III: 51.)

Although the Rambam is adamant about the rationalistic path it would a mistake to say that the ultimate religious goal is dry logical speculation about God. As David Blumethal pointed out, many passages in the Guide reveal that the rational perception of the Divine is not the end of the road. After one arrived at the truth then he must meditate on the idea and hold it in his mind. As the Rambam writes, “This kind of worship ought to be engaged in after intellectual conception has been achieved...This love is to be so intense that the awareness of God in the mind and the joy in the heart do not ever cease, even when that person is involved in discussions with other people. Furthermore, the person who practices this type of communion for many years will gradually become so overcome with love and pleasure that his soul will leave his body just as it happened to Moses Aaron and Miriam.

Blumenthal names this communion Philosophic Mysticism.^² He also cites passages from the Guide that show that at this point the mind moves beyond intellectual categories. For example, “Apprehension of him consists in the inability to attain the ultimate apprehension of Him... ‘Silence is praise to You’(Ps. 65:2)...Accordingly, silence is preferable - and limiting oneself to [the modes of] apprehension of the intellects - just as the perfect ones have enjoined and said, ‘Commune with with your own heart upon your bed and be still’(Ps.4:5.)” (I:50) Meaning that there is a stage of inner silence and stillness that is more true than that apprehended with cognitive activity.^³

The mind is what connects people with the Active Intellect, therefore the more one is thinking about divinity the stronger the influence of the Active Intellect and the more he will be protected from the accidents of this world. The Rambam even goes so far as to state that nothing bad can ever befall somebody while his mind is bound to the divine. Any time that the scripture tells of a prophet was harmed in some way, it must be that this prophet’s mind momentarily forgot about God causing the Intellect’s protection to leave him and hence he became susceptible to harm. This doctrine demonstrates how seriously Maimonides took the act of thinking. Thinking is not merely a lonely activity of the brain, it is a act with metaphysical effects. The mind, when its potential becomes realized, binds with the Intellect which consequently protects the thinker.

Acquiring this intellectual, (or supra-intellectual according to Blumenthal,) knowledge of God is the goal of all religious life. All the mitzvot are meant to prepare and enable the person to attain unity with the intellect, and thus be able to survive death. According Maimonides, and in line with Aristotelian thinking, the only part of the person that can possibly survive after death is the intellect, more specifically the ‘acquired intellect’. This is achieved through the communion with the intellects and with God by way of knowing them, and since they are eternal the intellectual part of the soul that joined with them lives on too^⁴.

This doctrine has been accepted by later Jewish thinkers like Gersonides, but there is one thinker who explicitly rejected it, that is R. Hasdai Crescas. Crescas argued that the reward in the after life cannot be only for the strictly intellectual part of the personality. The intellect can not feel pleasure it can only understand. This is particularly true if this human intellect loses all of its individual identity and become incorporated into the universal intellect, leaving no person to experience the bliss of immortality. Moreover, says Crescas, immortality is not the exclusive lot of the philosophers rather it is the reward of those who serve God with love even if they have not arrived at the abstract philosophical subtleties^⁵.

In summation, according to Maimonides achieving intellect is central in religious life. It is; a) a way of serving and communing with God, b) the cause for Divine providence, c) the way to gain immortality of the soul.

The common understanding of the Rambam was that he was teaching a dry intellectualist path to God and bliss. However there were those who understood his teachings more mystically. The Rambam’s own descendants espoused a spiritual devotional path while not veering from the Rambam’s way.^⁶ The kabbalist R. Abraham Abulafia developed his own mystical path whereby one used a variety of new meditative techniques to reach communion and revelation, but his theoretical basis for what these techniques achieve follows Maimonidean philosophy. These techniques are all ways to cleave to the active intellect.^⁷ Some of the early kabbalists in Spain too claimed to be consistent with the Ramabam’s philosophy. R. Asher ben David, of the Provencal school of R. Isaac the Blind, writes that the ten Sephirot of the kabbalists and the ten Intellects of the philosophers are one and the same.^⁸

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov on the intellect

One person who prima facie would be a highly unlikely candidate for being a follower of Maimonides is R. Nachman of Breslov. In his talks to his disciples he explicitly denounces the Rambam and other rationalistic Jewish thinkers. He was quoted as mocking Rambam’s proposed reasons for Mitzvot. He told his Chassidim to stay away from the Guide and from the the philosophic parts of Mishneh Torah. He said, “ I can tell on a person’s face if he had studied the Guide or not, because if he did his face would have changed for the worse.”^⁹ Yet we have evidence in his writings that he accepted and taught some of the these intellectualist doctrines of the Rambam.^¹⁰ It is these seeming contradictions that I would attempt to analyze. The term Sechel (mind-intellect) is to be found all over R. Nachman’s magnum opus, Likutei Moharan. Most of those references to the mind are positive; advice on how to cultivate and grasp intellect. For example in the begining of his book he writes of the need to see the intellect in every thing.^¹¹” One of the identifying features of R. Nachman’s writings is that there is a constant equation of concepts one to the other; a is an aspect of b and b is an aspect of c and so on. The Sechel is equated to Moses, to the Messiah^¹² and to the revelation of the Tora of the World to Come^¹³. R. Nachman used the term Sechel with the full awareness of its meaning in medieval Jewish philosophy. Namely that it describes a metaphysical entity not just an aspect of the human organism. In one discourse he describes the world in terms of Medieval cosmology , “...The movement of the Spheres is caused by the Intellects, who are the angels. Every sphere has its own Intellect, that is angel, that controls it.... All these Intellects receive from one General Intellect that is the soul that leads them all.^¹⁴”

As we will further demonstrate, R. Nachman taught a metaphysics in which the cognitive mind is very central; merely having religious feelings is not enough. The mind is needed to in order to cleave to God. The following is a passage where this is stated quite clearly, and will introduce the subject of the immortality of the intellectual soul.

“Eternal life is to God alone, for he lives for ever, and he who is incorporated into his source, namely in Him may He be blessed, also lives forever, because since he is included in the One, and he is one with God, he too will live eternal life... And the main ways one is included in the One is via knowing Him may He be blessed, as is the saying of the wise; “If I would know Him I would be Him.” For the essence of Man is the mind [sechel], hence, in the place where the mind is thinking there is the place of the entire person^¹⁵. When he knows and perceives the knowledge of God he is actually there. The more he knows the more he is included in the source, that is Him may He be Blessed.”^¹⁶

Elsewhere R. Nachman states this in more philosophical terms. “A person needs to raise himself up the imagination into the intellect...Then when he perceives in his mind all that is in the human capability to perceive his mind becomes acquired intellect. As the philosophers have written that there is potential intellect, active intellect and acquired intellect. The person’s main existence after death is only the acquired intellect... Acquired intellect is when a person knows many things with one knowing. Because first one needs to know many introductions prior to knowing a thing. Then when he perceives the thing he discards the introductions and knows the thing with one knowing.^¹⁷”

These passages demonstrate that R. Nachman’s conception of the world-to-come is similar to the Rambam’s Aristotelian intellectual immortality. We further find similarity in the topic of divine providence. Most of the relevant passages on providence have been aptly analyzed in a paper by David Zori^¹⁸. Zori shows that R. Nachman, like Maimonides, posited two possible spheres in which a person can live; nature or providence. The way one can ‘bring down complete providence upon himself^¹⁹’ is by acquiring true knowledge of God. All human suffering is a result one’s being mentally exiled to a world of nature^²⁰. When one clings to truth he becomes united with God and his providence^²¹. Providence is also brought about through the study of Tora, which in R. Nachma’s terminolgy is synonymous with Intellect; the Tora is God’s eye, the closer one is to the Tora the closer one is to the eye^²². R. Nachman also speaks of providence in symbolic terms, the state of being divinely watched is equated to the spiritual concept of ‘The land of Israel.’ Here too there is a connection to the intellect; “The taste of the land of Israel can only be explained to someone who knows the taste of intellect...only the Talmud scholars who have taste a little of the taste of intellect in their explanations and questions, or the wise men of other [non-Jewish] disciplines who feel the taste of intellect can understand the taste of the land of Israel^²³.”

The act of ‘bringing down providence’ is caused not only by the contemplative knowledge of God, but according to Zori’s interpretation it has to do with how a person views the world. When a person sees the world with divine eyes he causes to world to have order and providence^²⁴.

Thus far we have seen R. Nachman following the Rambam’s metaphysics in the area of immortality and providence. Yet it would be wrong to conclude that R. Nachman was an Aristotelian thinker. This will become clear from a passage in the second book of Likutei Moharan that dealing with the subject of Sechel that we will now cite at length.

“The main goal and completion [of life] is to serve God with total naivety, without any cleverness. For there are some philosophers that say that the main goal and the world-to-come is only to know every thing in the way it is, like to know a star the way it is; to know its essence and why it stands where it stands. Because there is the intellect, the thinking subject, and the object of thought. In their opinion, this is the ultimate goal and the world-to-come, that these three become united. They while away the whole life on this world; analyzing and perceiving the intellects... in their mind this is the world-to-come, just that while they are enclothed in their bodies they cannot yet feel the full pleasure of intellectual analysis...

In truth, with us [Jews] the main way of reaching the ultimate goal is only through faith and practical mitzvot, to serve God with naivety and simplicity, and via this in itself we merit to what we merit, ‘An eye has not seen it [the world to come] besides for You’... Know that the truth is not like their opinion, God forbid, because if it was very few people would reach the ultimate goal, namely the intellectual philosophers. But what should the people who don’t have the capability to philosophize and perceive the intellects. [These people] are the majority and main part of the world. How will they reach the final goal?^²⁵”

R. Nachman brings the argument already used by Crescas, that is, it must be that simple people can also reach the ultimate goal, in order to refute Maimonides’ intellectualist scheme of Judaism. Is this a recantation of his acceptance of Aristotilean metaphysics we have seen in the sources above. A careful read of this passage suggests that he is only rejecting the way of life based on Aristotle but not the metaphysical underpinnings. After presenting philosophers’ description on how one cleave to the intellects he says as follows; “In truth, with us [Jews] the main way of reaching the ultimate goal is only through faith and practical mitzvot, to serve God with naivety and simplicity, and via this in itself we merit to what we merit.” I seems to me that he is staying with the philosophers’ description of the ultimate bliss but saying that Jews can reach that place through non-cognitive activities.

This idea can be found in other places in the book where R. Nachman teaches of a variety of activities that can bring down the influx of Sechel. For example, he writes that guarding the five senses awakens the divine influx of intellect^²⁶. And sometimes when this influx becomes hidden from the person he prescribes shouting out in prayer and Tora study as a way to uncover the hiddenness of the mind^²⁷. Another practice that brings the intellect is Joy in the performance of the mitzvot^²⁸. This is the major point of divergence of R. Nachman from the Rambam. Whereas the Rambam makes cognition and contemplation the only path enlightenment R. Nachman provides ways that are open to a wider range of people.

R. Nachman’s introduction of many ways to the intellect does not come to totally replace the straightforward way of wisdom. Rather he reserves the intellectual path for the Zadik, the master of great faith who is able to navigate through the perils of human wisdom^²⁹.

Conclusion

R. Nachman accepted the basic Aristotelian theory of the intellect and incorporated it into his chassidic system of thought. The place where he strongly disagreed with it is in regard to its practical ramifications. He rejected the idea that cognition is the only way to bliss. The entire psyche needs to be dealt with in order to truly unite with the metaphysical realms.

1 Actually there is disagreement between Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd whether this ultimate union is possible this life.

2 Blumenthal accuses Gershom Scholem of ignoring the Maimonidean stream of Jewish Mysticism because he preferred to focus on mystical schools and systems that were more colorful and dramatic (p. 97) .

3 For further analysis of this type of mysticism see Alan Brill Thinking God, NY, 2002 pp. 391-415.

4 See Mishneh Tora, Sefer Mada Hilchot Yesodei HaTora 4:8-9 and Hilchot Teshuva Ch.8.

5 Symcha Bunem Urbach, The Philosophic Teachings of Rabbi Hasdai Crescas, [Hebrew] Jerusalem, 1961.

6 See Paul Fenton’s comprehensive introduction the The Treatise of the Pool by Obadya ben Abraham ben Moses Maimonides, London, 1981.

7 See Moshe Idel ‘Maimonides and Kabbalah’ in Studies in Maimonides. Ed. by Isadore Twersky. Cambridge, MA, 1990 pp.54-80. Idel holds that “...Maimonides’ Guide can be regarded as a principal positive catalyzer of Jewish mysticism, as it found its major expression in ecstatic (that is Abulafian) Kabbalah.”

8 Cited in Mark Brian Sendor, The Emergence of Provencal Kabbalah, Doctoral Dissertation, Harvard University, 1994 p. 94. See also pp.95- 99.

9 Shivchei Haran, Warsaw, 1928, p. 37.

10For more on the Rambam is R. Nachman's writings see Zvi Mark, Mistika veShigaon beYetzirat Rav Nachman miBreslav pp. 162-169, and Eliezer Shore, Letters of Desire Doctoral Dissertation Bar Ilan 2005 pp. 349-350.

11 Likutei Moharan, (henceforth LM) I:1.

12 The connection between Moshe and the Messiah is already found in Tikunei Zohar p. 113.

13 LM I:13,2.

14 LM I: 61, 3.

15 This saying is from R. Nachman’ great grandfather the Baal Shem Tov.

16 LM I:21,11 beginning with words Chayim Nitzchiyim.

17 LM I:25,1.

18 The Conception of Providence of Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav in the Light of His Views about the Lust for Money and its Roots in Maimonides’ Thought, MA thesis, Tel Aviv U. 2006.

19 In the language of R. Nachman in LM I:13.

20 LM I:250.

21 Ibid. 51.

22 Ibid I:13,4, see Zori p. 58. See also R. Nachman’s contemporary R. Shenuer Zalman of Liady, Lekutei Amarim Tanya Ch. 5 where he describes thae act of learning torah as conjunction with the Divine intellect.

23 Ibid. II:40, see Zori pp. 6-26 where he dissects the sources cited above.

24 Zori pp. 14-15,26, see also LM I:1. Note that this distinction can counteract mystical world-hating tendencies. We are told not only to contemplate God but to view the world with a positive eye. For more on the pro-cosmic and anti-cosmic tendencies in Jewish mysticism see Asi Farber,‘Klippah Kodemet LaPeri’ Eshel Beer Sheva 4 Beer Sheva, 1996 pp.118-132.

25 LM II:19.

26 LM I:21,2.

27 Ibid. I:21,7.

28 Ibid. I:25, 5.

29 Ibid. II:19, presumably the level that the Zadik reaches with his cognition is a higher than the place of the simple man, seemingly a form of elitism. Yet this is not the Rambam’s elitism because R. Nachman’s Zadik shares his spiritual achievements with the masses. See the end of the passage where there is the imagery of Moses raising his arms on the mountain in order to help the Israelites battle Amalek, symbolizing the Zadik’s using his great faith to help the people.

The Sechel - Part II

2008-05-08T03:09:00.000-07:00

In summation, according to Maimonides acheiving intellect is central in religious life. It is; a) a way of serving and communing with God, b) the cause for Divine providence, c) the way to gain immortality of the soul.
The common understanding of the Rambam was that he was teaching a dry intellectualist path to God and bliss. However there were those who understood his teachings more mystically. The Rambam’s own descendants espoused a spiritual devotional path while not veering from the Rambam’s way. The kabbalist R. Abraham Abulafia developed his own mystical path whereby one used a variety of new meditative techniques to reach communion and revelation, but his theoretical basis for what these techniques achieve follows Maimonidean philosophy. These techniques are all ways to cleave to the active intellect. Some of the early kabbalists in Spain too claimed to be consistent with the Ramabam’s philosophy. R. Asher ben David, of the Provencal school of R. Isaac the Blind, writes that the ten Sephirot of the kabbalists and the ten Intellects of the philosophers are one and the same.
One person who prima facie would be a highly unlikely candidate for being a follower of Maimonides is R. Nachman of Breslov. In his talks to his disciples he explicitly denounces the Rambam and other rationalistic Jewish thinkers. He was quoted as mocking Rambam’s proposed reasons for Mitzvot. He told his Chassidim to stay away from the Guide and from the the philosophic parts of Mishneh Torah. He said, “ I can tell on a person’s face if he had studied the Guide or not, because if he did his face would have changed for the worse.” Yet we have evidence in his writings that he accepted and taught some of the these intelletualist doctrines of the Rambam. It is these seeming contradictions that I would attempt to analyze.
The term Sechel (mind-intellect) is to be found all over R. Nachman’s magnum opus, Likutei Moharan. Most of those references to the mind are positive; advice on how to cultivate and grasp intellect. For example he writes, “The renewal of the Sechel is the renewal of the soul.” One of the identifying features of R. Nachman’s writings is that there is a constant equation of concepts one to the other; a is an aspect of b and b is an aspect of c and so on. The Sechel is equated to Moses, to the Messiah and to the revelation of the Tora of the World to Come. R. Nachman used the term Sechel with the full awareness of its meaning in medieval Jewish philosophy. Namely that it describes a metaphysical entity not just an aspect of the human organism. In one discourse he describes the world in terms of Medieval cosmology , “...The movement of the Spheres is caused by the Intellects, who are the angels. Every sphere has its own Intellect, that is angel, that controls it.... All these Intellects receive from one General Intellect that is the soul that leads them all.”
As we will further demonstrate, R. Nachman taught a Metaphysics in which the cognitive mind was very central, merely having religious feelings is not enough. The mind is needed to in order to cleave to God. The following is a passage where this is stated quite clearly, and will introduce the subject of the immortality of the intellectual soul.
“Eternal life is to God alone, for he lives for ever, and he who is incoporates into his source, namely Him may He be blessed, also lives forever, because since he is included in the One, and he is one with God, he too will live eternal life... And the main ways one is included in the One is via knowing Him may He be blessed, as is the saying of the wise; “If I would know Him I would be Him.” For the essence of Man is the mind [sechel], hence, in the place where the mind is thinking there is the place of the entire person. When he knows and perceives the knowledge o God he is actually there. The more he knows the more he is included in the source, that is Him may He be Blessed.”

To be continued with the help of God.

The Sechel - Part I

2008-04-15T02:32:00.000-07:00

This is the beginning of a paper I'm in middle of writing. Tell me what you think.

The Intellect According to the Rambam and Chasidism
Maimonides taught that the highest form of service of God is to know with certainty via rational proofs all that is possible to be known about the divine.(Guide III:51.) People who believe in and practice the Torah merely because of their acceptance of tradition are further away from God. The intellect in itself is what binds man to God. Rambam accepts some of the ideas developed by the Arabic expositors of Aristotle. Firstly that there is one Intellect that brings out from potential to actuality the minds of human beings and also provides the forms for all objects in this world. They named this the active intellect and it is closely identified with God. They also posited the unity of the intellect, the thinking subject and the object of thought. (I 68) Namely, that when one understands a piece of intellect he is in essence becoming one with that intellect, which is entity unto itself. Based on this doctrine we can say that when one thinks of God he is becoming united with Him. This does not however include all types of thinking. The Rambam explains that only a person who arrived to the knowledge of God through rational cognition is considered as knowing God. Someone whose idea of God came to him through the faculty of the imagination is not knowing God rather he knows a fictitious invention of his own heart. (III: 51.)
Although the Rambam is adamant about the rationalistic path it would a mistake to say that the ultimate religious goal is dry logical speculation about God. As David Blumethal pointed out, many passages in the Guide reveal that the rational perception of the Divine is not the end of the road. After one arrived at the truth then he must meditate on the idea and hold it in his mind. As the Rambam writes, “This kind of worship ought to be engaged in after intellectual conception has been achieved............... This love is to be so intense that the awareness of God in the mind and the joy in the heart do not ever cease, even when that person is involved in discussions with other people. Furthermore, the person who practices this type of commmunion for many years will gradually become so overcome with love and pleasure that his soul will leave his body just as it happened to Moses Aaron and Miriam.

Blumenthal names this communion Philosophic Mysticism. He also cites passages from the Guide that show that at this point the mind moves beyond intellectual categories. For example, “Apprehension of him consists in the inability to attain the ultimate apprehension of Him... ‘Silence is praise to You’(Ps. 65:2)...Accordingly, silence is preferable - and limiting oneself to [the modes of] apprehension of the intellects - just as the perfect ones have enjoined and said, ‘commune with with your own heart upon your bed and be still’(Ps.4:5.)” (I:????) Meaning that there is a stage of inner silence and stillness that is more true than that apprehended with cognitive activity.

The mind is what connects people with the Active Intellect, therefore the more one is thinking about divinity the stronger the influence of the Active Intellect and the more he will be protected from the accidents of this world. The Rambam even goes so far as to state that nothing bad can ever befall somebody while his mind is bound to the divine. Any time that the scripture tells of a prophet was harmed in some way, it must be that this prophet’s mind momentarily forgot about God causing the Intellect’s protection to leave him and hence he became susceptible to harm. This doctrine demonstrates how seriously Maimonides took the act of thinking. Thinking is not merely a lonely activity of the brain, it is a act with metaphysical effects. The mind, when its potential becomes realized, binds with the Intellect which consequently protects the thinker.
Acquiring this intellectual, (or supra-intellectual according to Blumanthal,) knowledne of God is the goal of all religious life. All the mitzvot are meant to prepare and enable the person to attain unity with the intellect, and thus be able to survive death. According Maimonides, and in line with Aristotelian thinking, the only part of the person that can possibly survive after death is the intellect, more specifically the ‘acquired intellect’. This is achieved through the communion with the intellects and with God by way of knowing them, and since they are eternal the intellectual part of the soul that joined with them lives on too.

This doctrine has been accepted by later Jewish thinkers like Gersonides, but there is one thinker who explicitly rejected it, that is R. Hasdai Crescas. Crescas argued that the reward in the after life cannot be only for the strictly intellectual part of the personality. The intellect can not feel pleasure it can only understand. This is particularly true if this human intellect loses all of its individual identity and become incorporated into the universal intellect, leaving no person to experience the bliss of immortality. Moreover, says Crescas, immortality is not the exclusive lot of the philosophers rather it is the reward of those who serve God with love even if they have not arrived at the abstract philosophical subtleties.

to be continued.

Drinking Our Way to Oneness

2008-03-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

On Purim as opposed to other Yamim Tovim the mitzva is not just to rejoice but to rejoice in the Mishteh- the wine-feast. What is the secret of the Mishteh?
Rav Zadok HaCohen taught us a way to reveal what words in the torah really mean. You have to look at the first time the word appears in in the torah an from that context you will learn the essence of that word-concept.

Where is Mishteh first mentioned?

It is mentioned in the story of Lot and the angels. The angels arrive in Sodom and Lot makes a Mishteh for them. Lot at this time was in a spiritualy low place. He had left Avraham for the evil people of Sodom who were completely against Avraham's way of benevolence. The angels were only able to save him by reawakening in Lot the spark of Avrahamic kindness. And was only through feasting together that they were able to do this. This is the definition of Mishteh the spiritual coming together of people who seemingly can't unite, like the angels and Lot. this is what happens at the Purim feast we unite with each other in ways that we thought we impossible.

A Teaching from the Sfas Emes

2008-02-29T00:20:00.000-08:00

The existence of life force in all the things of the world serves as a testimony and as a reminder about the existence of the Creator. The more revelation of liveliness and spirit there is in the world the more God's presence is revealed.

The Jewish People were told that, "You are my witnesses." Meaning that the Jews, merely by living with the Jewish spirit reveal the potent lifeforce hidden with in humanity.

The Mishkan was also called the Mishkan of Testimony. The Midrash teaches that it was only after the Jewish people fell in episode of the golden calf that they need the Mishkan in order to accomplish their mission of testimony. Previously their actual collective being in itself was a manifestation of the Spirit of the Universe. But now they needed the act act of the building of the Mishkan in order to do that.

They made a mistake with their involvement with the golden calf. Now the revelation comes through the gold and the silver and all sorts of physical beauty. In the area where they seemed to have failed they will now reveal the lifeforce.
There are no failures, only opportunities to testify through new mediums.

Inspired by the Sfas Emes parshas Vayakhel.

Business Tripping

2008-02-21T07:51:00.000-08:00

Someone once asked Reb Naftali Tzvi of Ropshitz, "how come you daven so much longer than anybody else?"
The Rebbe answered, " You see, most people start praying and begin to imagine themselves doing a business deal. They reach the point where the've handed over the merchandise to the buyer and suddenly they've reaced the end of the shemona esre. I, however, don't finish so fast. I wait to until I've gotten the money, counted it and put it in my pocket, and only then do I finish davening.

Extreme Hitbodedut

2008-02-14T10:30:00.000-08:00

A friend of Reb Eliezer Berland told the following story. Many years ago, before Rav Berland became famous, he spent Shabbos at the friend's home. On Shabbos afternoon he disappeared to the forest, without his Talit and Tefilin and with out food, to do Hitbodedut and did not return untill the following Shabbos. He later explained that he survived on berries. As for the lack of Tefilin, I guess that he felt that it was a spiritual emergency to run to fields and talk to God.

Powerful Thoughts

2008-02-08T00:01:00.000-08:00

When the spirit falls into smallness,
and the person finds no satisfaction in himself
because of his limited good deeds,
because of his list of wrongdoings
and because of his limited diligence in Torah
he should streghthen himself with "the secret of thought."
He should know that one who understands a thing from within a thing
his thought is considered before the Holy One as more than all the offereings.
Which means that the sacred thoughts - the lofty intelligent conceptions have the qualities of all the offerings
and the qualities of all the practical forms of worship
and it also has the qualities of the bodily aspect of learning Torah
- the saying of the words.
He should be very much fortified with the knowledge that may times the lessening of activity and study is a direct result of his great inclination for " the secret of thought,"
and that it is possible that many of his failures happened because he did not sufficiently respect his power of thought.
Therefore he should strenghthen his inner understanding,
to understand that the fixing of the wole world,
and the healing of all the souls,
is all dependent on "the secret of the thought,"
and he will elevate his thought as much as he can,
and rise up to return from an inner love.

Rav Kook

The Rebbe and the Wolf

2008-02-01T03:06:00.000-08:00

One of the chassidim of the Kotzker Rebbe once asked him, "Rebbe, please teach me what it means to fear God."

The Kotzker said, "You are a merchant and you often travel through the polish forests, did you ever meet a wolf in the forest?"

"Yes," he answered.

"Were you frightened?"

"Very much."

"And while being scared were you aware that you were scared?"

"No, I was too scared to think about that," said the chasid.

"That is what it means to fear God," concluded the Holy Kotzker.

A teaching from the Tzemach Tzedek

2008-01-25T01:08:00.000-08:00

What is really going on when we praise God in our prayer?

The Shechina, the Divine Presence, when we begin our prayer is in the lowest most unenlightened place possible. When we pray we gradually raise up to the highest place, the World of Atzilut. We cry out the wondrous praises of God not only from a place of awe and humility but also like someone who is trying to comfort a woman and make her happy. The Pesukei DeZimra is a series of compliments we give to God, with the intention to raise up the Shechina within us up from its sadness and loneliness.
The nature of this ascension of the Shechina is not linear. She goes up while continuously coming down again like the movement of a flame that flickers up and down. It is a dance we are partaking in.We move from speaking of God's awesome transcendence, "God is high above all the nation..." to intricate involvment in all parts of creation, "You have created the heavens...the sea and all that is in it, and you enliven all of them." Only through this harmonic dialectic movement can we come closer to the all encompassing Infinite.
(When we find that we are incessantly flitting between concentration and distraction, we should know that this too is part of the Shechina's dance of ascension.)
This is the meaning of the verse in Shir HaShirim, " How beautiful are your footsteps in shoes, daughter of the generous one."
How beatiful is your dance, in shoes, when you rise up from the lowest most gross place, and go towards you Father the source of all kindness.

Giving with Freedom

2008-01-13T11:57:00.001-08:00

Shimon the Righteous said, "I have never eaten from the offering of a Nazir who was unintentionally impure, except for once..." This is because usually when people accept upon themselves the nazirite vow it is because they were feeling guilty about something that they did. Then later when they inadvertently become impure and consequently must keep more days as a nazirite, they regret their vow. Shimon did not want to eat from an offering whose owner had already changed his mind and is thus bringing his offering to the temple only because the law says he must.

The Gemara is teaching a basic guideline in the service of God. Do not make guilt the basis of your devotion. Guilt may be a very driving force at the beginning but in the long run it does not support genuine service and giving. Guilt is an inner movement of moving away from or reacting to something negative. Shimon the Righteous said he would only eat from an offering that was offered out of feelings of unfettered love and giving. An offering inspired by guilt lacks that holy freedom.

This does not mean that the feeling of guilt has no purpose at all. It is useful as a catalyst. It can remind the person of those values that were very dear to him but for some reason got forgotten. For example, I said something insulting to my friend and I feel very guilty about it. This guilt reminds me how important it is for me to be kind to people in general and how I am fond of this person in particular. Now I can act not out of the negative and reactive feeling of guilt rather out of my internal feeling of kindness.

Baba Sali's Yahrzeit

2008-01-10T14:04:00.000-08:00

Today is the Yahrzeit of the Baba Sali (The Praying Elder.) Once it was during Succos and person who was childless for many years came to the Baba Sali for a blessing for children. So the Baba Sali took out his Luav and esrog out and shook them again and prayed for this man to have children. He was very old so he pryed very softly but the gabai who was next to him listened very carefully and heard him saying the following; "Master of the world, I am willing to have my hands cut off in order to bring a salvation to this man and give him a child."

Simple Streetsweepers, Gevalt!

2008-01-07T10:49:00.002-08:00

A Moment of Life

2008-01-07T10:40:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I am suddenly reminded of an experience of the past and I become filled with feelings of nostalgia. The memory has the flavor of a lost garden of Eden. Upon contemplating on the memory I usually realize that I wasn’t very conscious at the time; it is only in retrospect that it became a consciously peaceful or happy experience.
This makes me stop and think that perhaps this actual moment that I am passing through right now, unthinkingly and nonchalantly, may one day be remembered as magical. So it might be worth it to live this moment for real.

On Love

2007-12-31T09:22:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-25T02:31:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-23T10:37:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-19T02:55:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-13T10:05:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-13T09:38:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-11T10:10:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-27T03:17:00.000-08:00

King David cried out,"You do not desire burnt offerings, the sacrifices of ELOHI"M is a broken heart, because a broken and humble heart you do not despise."
The Mysterious Granfather of the Zohar (Parshat Mishpatim) explains these verses. Offerings may only be offered to the Eternal One YHV"H, but to ELOHI"M which is the name of Divine judgement. One may not offer to ELOHI"M because there are many powers in the world calledd elohim and some of the are from the evil side. So how does one relate to this aspect of the Divine? It is only with the broken heart, that is the offering to ELOHI"M.
In our mixed up world not all criticism is constructive. there is so much criticism out there that is just smallmindedness or fear or jealousy. So one can't offer an offering judgment, that is to totally melt one's soul in worship and bond with that face of the Divine. By doing that one may accidentally get caught up in negative constrictions that stunt the blooming of the soul and distance the person from give in the deepest way he can. But the way that we can relate to this aspect of God is with a broken heart. We must be able to hear the voices that challenge us, some of them might loving at their source truly coming from the Divine judgment. We must be humble enough to able to examine them earnestly by feeling out the truthfulness of the voices, while at the same time not allowing the negativity to wash us away and negate our joyful spirit.
In Pirkei Avot it is taught that if we really desire to hear God's voice through the Torah we must learn to be a "lover of criticism." The Zohar would add to that a warning not to go too far in this love. We can't totally worship criticism, and we must remember that there is an inner core in us that can never be criticised.

Intentional Jubilation

2007-11-25T04:30:00.000-08:00

The Three Festivals, teaches Reb Nachman, are the heart of the year. During the year we serve God in all sorts of ways, do all sorts of Mitzvot with our bodies but don't necessarily feel their spiritual ramification. At times it might even feel that all our efforts fall into an unknown abyss. The Festivals are a time when we start feeling how our mitzvot profoundly transformed our insides. It is a time of celebration, when some of the Divine joy comes down to us.
what do we need to do in order to connect with this Joy?
One of the Halachot of Yom Tov is that you may only use or eat things that you intended to use already before the coming of the Yom Tov. For example if you put grapes up on the roof in order that they turn into raisins and the when Yom Tov came you changed your mind and decided to eat the grapes, you may not do so. This is because you put these grapes away not to be used.
Now, what if you intended to use it for one use and then (on Yom Tov)you would like to use it for a different use. Is that allowed?
The Gemara makes the following distinction; if originally food was intended to be used as dog food and afterwards the owner changed his mind and decided to eat it himself this is permitted. But if the opposite happened, namely, food was set aside for human consumption and it subsequently became in edible for people but okay for the dog, in this case it is forbidden to be fed to the dog because it is considered that it was not prepared before Yom Tov for the dog.
What is the spiritual idea behind this law?
The law that all food that we eat on Yom Tov must have been set aside for that before teaches us that the key to receiving the Divine joy is intention and preparation. But this does not only mean that I must settle down and focus and say to myself, "I want to connect the sanctity of the Festival." It is a lot more than that. This intention and focus needs to extend to all my possessions and activities. If I want to gather together all the sparks of Godliness from my entire year then I must be able to at least gather together my whole day into the consciousness of celebration. My food didn't just happen to be here it is here intentionally to participate in God's party.
For this reason, if you had in mind to use this food for yourself it does not suffice if you to give it to the dog. Because the dog represents all that that is more earthly and naturally more distanced from human consciousness. It is particularly those things, the more peripheral parts of the person that need the most focus on Yom Tov. We open our selves to receiving total joy when we celebrate with total all-encompassing intentionality.