Biography of the Rebbe Rashab

June 26th, 2016

Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneerson (Rebbe RaShab) – (1860-1920)

A mystic of the highest order, the Rebbe Rashab authored the most comprehensive documents on mysticism to date, elegantly outlining the mystical infrastructure and its application to our lives. He wrote over 1500 discourses (‘maamorim’), totaling over 50 published volumes of teachings and responsa. Rabbi Sholom Dovber was a Rebbe – a leader – to thousands. He worked tireless on behalf of the Russian Jewish community during the difficult period of transition from Czarist Russia, through World War I, to the Russian Revolution. Recognizing the coming turmoil of the 20^th century, in 1887 the Rebbe Rashab established Yeshiva Tomchei Temimim, dedicated to educating a new generation of young leaders to launch a spiritual revolution.

Biographical Highlights:¹
1860: Born on 20 Cheshvan to the Rebbe Maharash and Rebbetzin Rivkah.
1875: Marries his cousin Rebbetzin Shterna Sara.
1880: Begins his work in public affairs.
1883: Begins guiding the Chassidim and accepts the post of Rebbe after the passing of his father in 1882.
1892: Endeavors to have the expulsion from Moscow rescinded; provides substantial financial subsidies to enable those expelled to settle in new places.
1893: Re-establishes the committee of communal affairs in Petersburg.
1897: Establishes Yeshivot Tomchei T’mimim.
1901: Visits Germany, France and Holland on communal concerns.
1902: Helps establish a factory for weaving and spinning wool, which provides 2,000 Jewish families with ample livelihood.
1904: Establishes committees to send matzot to Jewish soldiers in the Far East during the Russo-Japanese War.
1906: In Petersburg, successfully endeavors to halt the pogroms raging in Russia.
1911: Establishes Yeshivas Toras Emes in Chevron, Israel.
1915: Due to World War One, leaves Lubavitch and moves to Rostov, on the River Don.
1920: After Shabbat ends, on the eve of 2 Nissan, he passes away and is interred in Rostov. His only son, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, known as the Frierdiker Rebbe, succeeds him as Rebbe.

Published Works:
Sefer Hamaamarim: 5643/44; 5646-50; 5651; 5652/53; 5654; 5655/56; 5657; 5658; 5659; 5660-62; 5663; 5664; 5665; Hemshech Yom Tov Shel Rosh Hashana – 5666; Sefer Hamaamarim: 5668; 5669; 5670; 5671; Hemshech B’sha’a Shehikdimu – 5672, 3 vol; Sefer Hamaamarim: 5672-76; 5677; 5678; 5679; 5680; Sefer Hamaamarim Likut vol. 1 (5644-5680); vol. 2 (5645-5678); Sefer Hasichot – Torat Shalom; Kuntres Hat’filla; Kuntres U’ma’ayan; Kuntres Eitz Hachayim; Kuntres B’inyanei Kolel Chabad; Kuntres Ha’avoda; Chanoch Lana’ar; Haga’ot Al HaTanya; Haga’ot Al Torah Or; Haga’ot Al HaLikutei Torah; Haga’ot  Al HaSiddur; Haga’ot  L’Patach Eliyahu – 5658; Igrot Kodesh (Responsa), 5 vol.

English Resources:
Kuntres Uma’ayon. Translated by Zalmon I Posner, 1991
With Light and with Might (Tonu Rabbanan Ner Chanukah, 5643 and Kol Hayotzei LeMilchemet Beit David, 5661). Translated by Rabbi Eliyahu Touger and Uri Kaploun.
Tract on Prayer (Kuntres Hat’filla). Translated by Eliezer Danziger, 1992
To Know G-d (VeYadaata, 5657). Translated by Eliezer Danziger, 1993
On Ahavas Yisroel (Heichaltzu)
Chanoch Lenaar. Translated by Eliezer Danziger, 1999.
Yom Tov Shel Rosh Hashanah 5659. Translated by Rabbi Yosef B. Marcus
(All published by Kehot Publication Society, Brooklyn, NY. )

Some Concurrent Events in History:
1860-69: Abraham Lincoln elected president of the United States – American Civil War begins – Austro-Prussian War begins – Karl Marx publishes Das Kapital.
1870-79: French Impressionists, Manet, Cezanne, Degas, Monet et al, hold their first show – Alexander Graham Bell invents first telephone – Thomas Edison invents the light bulb.
1880-89: Alexander III vows to kill one-third of Russia’s Jews, drive out one-third, and convert the remaining third – George Eastman invents the Kodak camera – Vincent van Gogh paints; Johannes Brahms and Petr Tchaikovsky compose; Thomas Hardy and Oscar Wilde write.
1880-89: French court martial incorrectly convicts Jewish army captain Alfred Dreyfus of passing military information to Germany – Theodor Herzl founds the Zionist movement – The X-ray is discovered
1900-09: Sigmund Freud publishes The Interpretation of Dreams – Physicist Max Planck lays groundwork for quantum theory – Wright brothers make their first flight – Russo Japanese War rages – Revolution breaks out in Russia after czarist troops fire on marchers in St. Petersburg – Albert Einstein publishes his Special Theory of Relativity based on the recognition that light always travels at a constant speed – Henry Ford develops the first Model T automobile.
1910-20: World War I is fought in Europe – Lenin leads a Bolshevik revolution; Bolsheviks execute Russia’s royal Romanov family.

…It is known that the reason for the creation and the sustenance of the worlds, and the purpose of the soul descending in a body, is in order to draw down the revelation of the Infinite Light (Or En Sof) into this world through Torah and Mitzvot. And this is the concept of the unification of the transcendence of G-d (sovev kol almin) and the immanence of G-d (mimalei kol almin). As we say before every mitzvah, “For the sake of the union of the Holy One, blessed be He, with His Shechinah,” which is the aspect of the integration of the sovev kol almin and the mimalei kol almin. This is the drawing down of the revelation of the Essence of the Infinite Light (Atzmus Or En Sof) which is the ultimate purpose of the existence of the worlds and the descent of the soul.

As it says [Midrash Tanchumah Naso 16]:

“G-d had a desire to have a home in the lower world.”²

And like the home of a person, by way of an analogy, the essence of a person lives in his home.³ The same thing is above so to speak, the Essence of the Infinite Light of G-d is revealed below.⁴

As it says in the beginning of Eimek HaMelech⁵ (The Depth of the King):

“The creation of the worlds happened through the first tzimtzum⁶ that took place in the Infinite Light. And it left a hole (chalal) and a space (makom panoi), and this [vacuum or space that was created] is the source of the coming into being of the containers (kelim)⁷ and the existence of all the worlds.”

And after⁸ the tzimtzum, the revelation of the line (kav) is drawn down – this is the revelation of the light that will illuminate the containers and the worlds.⁹  (And through this [ie. the kav], creation was actualized, as it is known that the formation of the containers as well as the formation of the worlds in general, is through the kav and the power of the residue (reshimu¹⁰). Like a potential state (hiyuli¹¹) that gives power, as is discussed at length in another place.)

And the general worlds that are structured in a form of light and vessels (orot ve kelim)¹² are within the chalal and makom panoi that remains after the tzimtzum.

¹³ However, it says:

“And He placed them in the Garden of Eden to serve (l’avdah) and to guard (l’shamrah).” [Bereishit 2:15]

L’avdah are the 248 positive mitzvahs and l’shamrah are the 365 negative mitzvahs. This means to draw down additional light through the kav from the Infinite Light before the tzimtzum,¹⁴ until Moshiach comes [when] there will be the revelation of the Infinite Light in the space of the chalal as it was before the tzimtzum.

And seemingly it’s not understood: What is new about this: also before the tzimtzum the light filled the entire space!

The simple answer is that in the beginning when the Infinite Light filled the empty vacuum, there was no potential for the existence of the worlds. And if so, then the revelation would not have been in the worlds. However, after the creation of the worlds, when the Infinite Light that is before the tzimtzum is drawn down, then the revelation is in the worlds.¹⁵  And if so, before the creation, it was not possible for the light before the tzimtzum to be contained [by the worlds]. Nevertheless, after the creation, they were able to receive this light as well.

One can say that this idea is as it states in Eitz Chayim¹⁶ [on another topic]: Regarding the idea of the revelation of the kav, if the kav would have remained in the beginning, there would have been no potential for the existence of containers. After the creation, the light of the kav can shine in them without them being overwhelmed. Similarly, regarding the general light before the tzimtzum, after the creation of the worlds, they [the containers] are able to receive this light.

And one can say that an example for this is like the transmission of intelligence or knowledge from a teacher to a student. If in the beginning the teacher were to give over to the student the inner depths of his wisdom, the student would not be able to receive it. The teacher has to give over a limited light that is proportionate to the capacity of the student. After the student receives this diminished light and contains and integrates it in his mind, then afterwards he can come to the depth and innermost aspect of the intellect of the teacher (the sages say that [at forty] the student comes to the knowledge (daas) of the teacher) and he can receive it etc.

And one has to say that this is also because of the fixing (tikkun) of the keli. When a person begins to understand, the vessels of the mind begin to be repaired and refined. As it is known that when a teacher teaches a student with a lot of influence, the skills of the student become like those of the teacher.

And this example can be used to understand that after the creation of the worlds the light of the kav shines into them. It’s also known that the per¹⁷meating light [of the kav] polishes the keli from within, and the surrounding or transcendent light polishes the keli from without. And that’s why afterwards the kelim are able to receive light that is even higher than the revelation of the kav.

And the main thing is that this flow is through the Torah as it is written, “G-d gives strength [to His People]” and “There is no strength except Torah,” because through Torah the tzadikim are able to receive the Infinite Light that is higher and transcends the world without annihilating their existence. And the same with the worlds, they are able to receive the light through this, as it says in Tanya chapter 36.

So we see from this, that even though this light [that enters into existence] is the same light th¹⁸at filled the challal before the tzimtzum, however, the innovation is that the light is revealed in the worlds.¹⁹

And another explanation [regarding the innovation that is accomplished] is that there will be a revelation of light that is greater than the light that was there before. And these are the additional lights that are drawn down [and revealed] through Torah and Mitzvot. And these [lights] are of the innermost aspect and essence of the Infinite Light, which are even higher than the light that filled the challal [before the tzimtzum], as will be explained later.

And generally speaking, this [new dimension of light] is the revelation of the Infinite Light, sovev kol almin. And this was the purpose for the creation of the worlds.²⁰ ….

* * *

Hemshech Samech Vov – View a summary of the 61 discourses that comprise this landmark maamar.

 

Tags: pleasure, creation, purpose of existence, Samech Vov, chabad, mitzvah, Chassidus, chassidism, mysticism, Divine light, Rebbe Rashab, tzimtzum
Posted in Great Mystics, Torah Personalities, Modern, Spiritual, Torah, Rebbe Rashab | 7 Comments »

Meat & Atzilut

June 23rd, 2016

Can an indulgent person connect to G-d?
Can people with material desires and cravings integrate with the Divine?
Can a carnivore be redeemed?

On a more sublime note:
Can spirit and matter truly be fused?
Can a finite universe contain the infinite?

And finally:
Jewish mysticism talks about the cosmic world of Atzilut. What is the world about and why do we need it? How would existence – and our lives – be different – if there were no Atzilut? (This last question may not bother you as much as the previous ones, but you will see how this question lies at the heart of the others. Read on).

These questions are all answered is in a strange episode in this week’s Torah portion.

The people are not happy with the food G-d provided them and they demand meat. In the wilderness they were eating the manna, ‘bread from heaven.’ They now begin to weep: “Who’s going to give us some meat to eat? We fondly remember the fish that we could eat in Egypt at no cost, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now our spirits are dried up, with nothing but the manna before our eyes.”

Hearing the weeping people, Moses cries to G-d: “Why are you treating me so badly?… Why do You place such a burden upon me? Was I [the mother] pregnant with this nation? Did I give birth to them? Yet You told me [that I must] carry them in my bosom, as a nurse carries an infant to the land that You promised to their ancestors.

“From where should I have meat to give all these people? I cannot be responsible for this entire nation! It’s too hard for me! If you are going to do this to me, please kill me…”

G-d replies: “Assemble seventy of Israel’s elders… bring them to the Communion Tent [in the Sanctuary]… I will descend and speak with you there and I will impart [emanate] from the spirit upon you, and I will bestow it upon them. They will then bear with you the responsibility of the nation, and you will not have to bear it all alone.

“And tell the people as follows: ‘Prepare yourselves for tomorrow, for you will then have meat to eat… You will eat it not for one day, not for two days, not for five days, not for ten days, and not for twenty days. But for a full month, until it is coming out of your nose and making you nauseated. This is because you rejected G-d Who is among you, and you whined before Him, “why did we ever leave Egypt?’”

Moses then asks G-d: How will there ever be enough meat to feed the nation for an entire month? “Even if all the cattle and sheep were slaughtered, could there be enough for them? If all the fish in the sea were caught, would it be sufficient?”

G-d replies: “Has my power become limited. You will now see whether or not My word will come true.”

The story continues. Moses shares G-d’s words with the people. Moses then gathers the seventy elders, G-d descends in a cloud and speaks to Moses, and He causes the spirit upon Moses to emanate, and He bestows it upon the seventy elders. This causes them to gain the gift of prophecy which remains with them. Moses then wishes that G-d grant His sprit to all the people.

Then G-d causes a wind to blow, sweeping quail up from the sea, which provides meat for the people. With the meat still between their teeth, the people begin to die. This place is named Kivroth HaTaavah, Graves of Craving, for in this place the people who had these cravings [for meat] were buried.

The entire story is bizarre from beginning to end, and from all perspectives – the people, Moses and G-d.

The entire story is bizarre from beginning to end, and from all perspectives – the people, Moses and G-d:

The Jewish people were not small people; they were the most enlightened generation of all time – a dor de’eh (knowledgeable generation). They were highly evolved and sophisticated. How then did such great people stoop to a petty craving for… meat?!

The nation had just witnessed the greatest miracles in history – the Exodus from Egypt, the parting of the sea. Before that they had endured for 210 years the most terrible bondage and genocide, and prevailed. A mere eleven months ago they had experienced the greatest revelation of all time – the giving of Torah at Sinai – the single most powerful document in history, one that lays out the moral and spiritual blueprint for all ages.

Now, these enlightened children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, have nothing better to be concerned with than eating meat?!

And the Torah finds this story important enough to document for all time! Even if there is some reason why they craved meat, why do we need to know about this obsession today?

Equally puzzling is Moses’ reaction. Moses had been through the worst situations – he had confronted Pharaoh and the Egyptians and prevailed; he faced the sea and Amalek and prevailed; he had even confronted G-d to forgive the people after the Golden Calf and prevailed. Moses had received the Torah and spoken to G-d ‘face to face.’ After all that Moses personally experienced, after all he had seen and accomplished as a true leader, now when he hears that the Jewish people desire meat, he suddenly feels that he cannot carry the burden??!!

He could handle Pharaoh, Amalek, all the challenges, but he can’t handle finding… meat! And as a result, he asks that he be killed!

Furthermore, if the people’s request for meat is evil – angering G-d – why does his inability to provide it for them cause Moses so much grief?

And then when G-d promises him that he will provide meat, how does Moses question G-d’s ability to do so?! Had Moses not seen greater miracles? Moreover, there are millions and millions of people in the world eating meat, how can Moses wonder that ‘all the cattle and sheep’ will not be enough? And why does he add the statement about fish, when the people never asked for fish?

Finally, G-d’s response is completely incomprehensible. If the people’s craving for meat is sinful, why give them meat in the first place?! G-d should simply reject the request, and punish the people if He so wishes.

Above all, if this obsession with meat is simply their failing, why does G-d go through an elaborate process of emanating from the spirit on Moses to the seventy elders, so that they can help Moses bear the responsibility of the nation?!

All these questions clearly demonstrate that the people’s request for meat is not a simple matter, but carries a much deeper message.

Here’s the story in brief:

After the Jewish nation were freed from Egypt and received the Torah at Sinai, they came to realize the ultimate purpose of existence: To marry heaven and earth, and fuse spirit and matter – to transform the material universe into a home for G-d. This was then consummated in the building of the Sanctuary – take your physical materials and “build for me a Mikdash (a sacred home), and I will rest among you.”

They came to realize the ultimate purpose of existence: To marry heaven and earth, and fuse spirit and matter.

The people understood that their journey in the wilderness – and all the miracles that provided for their survival – was merely a preparation to bring them into the Promised Land, where they would need to toil the land, in a natural setting, and transform it into a sacred place.

This however posed a major philosophical and psychological quandary: It makes sense that we can be spiritual while we are insulated in the wilderness, protected by G-d’s miracles, eating ‘bread from heaven,’ drinking from Miriam’s well, surrounded by the Divine clouds of glory. But how can we expect to maintain spiritual integrity, let alone fuse spirit and matter, when we will be thrown into the gross, material world – a ‘land that consumes its inhabitants’ (as the scouts would argue in next week’s portion), with all its greed and cruelty, with all its temptations, desires and cravings? Is it possible to bridge the secular and the sacred when we find ourselves outside of a spiritual oasis?!

This is why the people requested meat, not because they suddenly got hungry, but because it represented for them life as it would be lived in the ‘real world,’ and they wanted to know and experience how they would be able to integrate a carnivorous world with G-dliness.

Their sin was not the request for meat; it was their obsessive ‘craving’ for meat. If you read the verse closely, you see that the story begins with strong cravings of the ‘the mixed multitude’ [‘ha’asfsuf,’ or as they are called elsewhere ‘erev rav,’ a mixture of idolatrous nations, who instigated many problems in the wilderness]. Only afterwards does it say that (this caused that) the Jewish people should also begin weeping and asking for meat.

The request for meat in itself was a positive request. [Even the craving for meat can be explained as a ‘craving’ for the spiritual sparks within the meat, as the Baal Shem Tov explains in various places]. Self-indulgence on the other hand is clearly self-destructive, as demonstrated by the fact that their indulgence in the meat was the cause of their demise. We always see that greed, lust and desire always end up consuming the person. Every addiction is bound to cause an overdose.

When Moses heard this request for meat he was distressed because he realized that their demand was justified. Moses, being the epitome of spirituality could not fathom how he could provide them with meat. If you ask me to bring them Your Torah – no problem. If you ask me to inspire them spiritually – no problem. If you ask me to be a tool for Your miracles – that I can do. But “from where should I have meat to give all these people?” “It’s too hard for me” – a spiritual leader – to give them physical meat, and bridge the two worlds. I cannot carry such a burden!

If my role as leader is to help the people fulfill the purpose of existence to fuse these two dichotomous worlds, it would be better to kill me – because I cannot serve as such a leader.

In response to this fundamental dilemma, G-d reveals a new dimension to Moses and the people. This dimension is called Atzilut. The world of Atzilut serves as an ‘intermediary’ between the Divine and the universe. Jewish mysticism elaborates on the paradoxical nature of Atzilut. On one hand, Atzilut is the world of Divine emanation; it is not a creation, but a manifested extension of the Divine. The ten spheres of Atzilut – both the energies and the containers – are one with the Divine. On the other hand, Atzilut is not how G-d is in His Essence, beyond any definition. Atzilut is G-dliness – how G-d manifests Himself in definition, but not G-d Himself.

The human being was created in the “Divine Image.” We all know that G-d transcends and defies an image. What then is the “Divine Image?” Kabbalah and Chassidus explain that this is how G-d manifests Himself in the image of a ‘supernal man’—the world of Atzilut. Atzilut is the quintessential nature and essence of all of existence.

The role of this paradoxical world is to bridge the human and the Divine, the secular and the sacred, the finite and the infinite. If there were no Atzilut, we would be unable to integrate (with our logical tools) our defined structures with the Divine. They would remain two mutually exclusive domains. Atzilut – the G-dliness within definition – is the intersection in the cosmic order where heaven meets earth.

The emanation of Atzilut – which extends the spirit of Moses and bestows it on lower levels – allows Moses to carry the burden of leading the people in fulfilling their mission of fusing matter and spirit.

One can say that Atzilut reveals a deeper dimension within G-d – the power to manifest in the finite. As the Kabbalist Ibn Gabbai writes (in his Avodat HaKodesh): “Just as G-d has the power of the infinite, He also has the power of the finite. If one were to say otherwise, one would be limiting G-d’s completeness.” When Moses asks G-d how there will be enough meat for all the people, he is not wondering about the physical amount of meat (of course G-d can provide meat for everyone); he is questioning the ability to unite the finite world of meat and the infinite. To this G-d replies: “Has my power become limited?” – Am I limited by the fact that I cannot manifest in the finite? Definitely not! G-d can manifest in the finite just as He can in the infinite. Because G-d transcends both.

Our role is to align our lives, our parameters and structures, with the Divine parameters of Atzilut. We align our wisdom (Chochma) with the wisdom of G-d as it is Atzilut, we align our love (chesed) with chesed of Atzilut (and the same with all the ten human faculties, that evolve from the ten Divine spheres of Atzilut). And by doing so we integrate the ‘meat’ of our universe – and all its elements – with G-dliness.

Meat represents the ultimate physical food. In a broad sense it symbolizes the nature of the material world and all its parameters. Atzilut is the answer to the demand of the people for ‘meat’ – for a method of how to create a home for G-d in a world of meat and potatoes.

Obviously, this poses a risk and a challenge. By engaging the world of matter, we risk begin consumed by it. The challenge we have is to immerse into the material world, without indulging in it. To enter the physical life – to consume meat and partake in the other aspects of physical life – and not be seduced by it. We must not allow ourselves to be reduced to the obsessions of human cravings and desires. Natural desires, yes. But not an overdose of self-indulgence.

We must sublimate and elevate the ‘meat’ of the world – and our desire for it – into a channel and vehicle for the sacred and Divine, until we transform the entire universe into a home for G-d. [1]

[Sources: The Chassidic discourses on this chapter in Likkutei Torah, Maamorei Admur HoEmtzoei and Ohr HaTorah. Likkutei Sichos vol. 4 pp. 1108. For an English adaptation click here Meat].

---

Tags: manna, spiritual and material, divine image, heaven and earth, Atzilut, infinite, Moses, meat
Posted in Weekly Parsha, Biblical, Soul & Mystical, Beliefs & Concepts, Behalotcha, Miracles, Torah Personalities, Bamidbar, Personal Life, Spiritual, Torah, Food & Eating, Moses | No Comments »

The Coronation

June 22nd, 2016

As the soul fills the body, so G-d fills the world

Talmud, Berachot 58a

On the eve of Rosh HaShanah, all things revert to their primordial state. The Inner Will ascends and is retracted into the divine essence; the worlds are in a state of sleep and are sustained only by the Outer Will. The service of man on Rosh HaShanah is to rebuild the divine attribute of sovereignty and reawaken the divine desire, “I shall reign,” with the sounding of the shofar

the Kabbalistic masters[1]

One night a year, the world succumbs to a cosmic slumber.

On the functional level, the sleeper’s vital signs plod on: the sun still rises, winds blow, rains fall, seeds germinate, animals move about, humans think and feel. But the consciousness of creation is muted. For its soul of souls—the “inner will” of the divine desire for creation—has ascended, retreated to a place from where it views its body and life with a calculated detachment. Only the “outer will”—the most external element of the divine desire—remains to sustain the sleeping body of creation.

And then, a piercing sound rises from the earth and reverberates through the heavens. A sound that wakens the sleeping universe, stirring its soul to resume its conscious, willful animation of its material shell.

The cry of the shofar resounds. A profound yet utterly simple cry, a note free of the nuances of logical music. An utterly simple cry that rouses the soul of creation to a renewed commitment to the endeavor of life.

Thus the Kabbalists describe the cosmic drama which repeats itself each year, as the world “falls asleep” on the eve of Rosh HaShanah and is “awakened” the following morning by the sound of the shofar. Indeed, it is told of certain great mystics that on the night and morning of Rosh HaShanah they would feel physically weak: so attuned were they to the diminution of divine involvement in the world during this time, that it affected their own souls’ investment in their bodies.

What does it mean that the world is asleep? How does our sounding of the shofar restore the consciousness and vitality of creation? Why is G-d’s inner will withdrawn on Rosh HaShanah eve, and why does His outer will remain behind? What, indeed, is the difference between “inner will” and “outer will”? To answer these questions, we must first examine the function and the dynamics of “will” in our own lives.

Layers of Will

Will is the soul of deed. Ultimately, no act is ever performed that is not driven by the engine of volition.

But will is a multi-layered thing. There is the outermost layer of will that directly drives our actions. There is a deeper will that underlies this external will, which, in turn, contains yet a deeper will, which is itself an outgrowth of yet a deeper will, and so on.

Thus, the relationship between will and deed is not static, but subject to changes and fluctuations. At times, the innermost level of will suffuses our actions, enlivening them with the desire and satisfaction that motivate them. Other times, our deeds may be lifeless and lethargic, sustained only by the most superficial aspect of our will.

To illustrate, let us take the example of a person who owns and operates a business. Our businessman does many things in the course of the day—waking at an early hour, commuting to his office, answering the telephone, meeting with potential clients, and so on. On the most basic level, these deeds are driven by the will to do them: he wants to get out of bed, he wants to start the car, he wants to pick up the receiver—if he didn’t want to do these things, he wouldn’t do them. But why does he want to do these things? Because of an underlying will that his business should survive and prosper. But why does he want his business to survive and prosper? Because it brings him income and prestige—if this were not the case, he would have no desire for a business. Delving deeper, the desire for money and status stems from deeper wants—the desire for food, shelter and acceptance by his fellows—which, in turn, are outgrowths of the desire, intrinsic to every creature, to continue to exist.

This does not mean that every time our businessman picks up the telephone he does so because he senses that his very existence depends on it. Indeed, he need not even be convinced that the act will yield a profit, or even that it is crucial to the functioning of his business. Ultimately, however, his every action is the end-result of this “chain” of wills, each of which is caused by its predecessor. So the act of lifting that telephone receiver “contains” the entire sequence of wills that drive it, including its deepest cause of causes.

This “inner will” is the soul of his action, suffusing it with a life and vitality that reflect how deeply its origins lie in his innermost self. This is why there is a quality to the way that the owner of a business picks up the phone that shows a desire and commitment deeper than that of the most devoted employee.

Assessment

There are times, however, when the soul of a deed ascends a notch, to view its body and life with a calculated detachment.

There are times when a person reassesses what he does. Is the business indeed turning a profit? Is it meeting my needs? Is this what I want to do with my life?

His actual involvement with the business continues as before. He continues to get out of bed in the morning, continues to drive to the office, continues to answer the telephone. He continues to “want” to do these things on the most external level of will. But the deeper elements of his will are no longer in it. The business can be said to be “asleep,” animated only by the most external layer of its soul.

Then something happens to rekindle our businessman’s desire. Perhaps he sees a lucrative figure on the year’s balance sheet or a most promising projection for the future. Or a certain deal materializes that embodies everything he loves about his business, everything about it that reaffirms his self-vision and furthers his goals. His deeds, dry and mechanical in his contemplative interim, are reinfused with life and vitality. The business wakens from its slumber.

To Will a World

Once a year, the universe enters into a state of suspended animation.

G-d reconsiders His creation. Is it turning a profit? Is it realizing My goals? Do I still desire to invest Myself in the role of “Creator”?

The sun still rises, winds blow, rains fall, seeds germinate. G-d’s desire for a world continues to sustain and drive the universe. But G-d’s desire for a world is but the most external layer of the universe’s soul.

Why does G-d desire a world? There is a deeper motive beneath this membrane of will, and yet a deeper motive beneath it, and so on. The Kabbalistic writings abound with various divine motives for the creation of the universe: the desire to express His infinite potential; the desire that He be known by His creations; the desire to bestow goodness; and others. Each of these “motives” relates to another layer of the divine will, describing the soul of the universe as manifested on another level of reality.

At the heart of it all lies the very essence of the divine will to create: G-d created a world because He wanted to be king.

Defining Sovereignty

G-d is all-capable and all-powerful. So it would seem a relatively simple matter for Him to make himself king: all He has to do is create a world, populate it with creatures, and rule over them. But this alone would not make Him a king, at least not in the ultimate sense of the word.

A shepherd who drives a herd of a million sheep is not a king. A tyrant who rules an empire of a billion terrified subjects is not a king. A benevolent patriarch who extends his authority over dozens of his descendants is not a king. A teacher with a thousand devoted disciples is not a king. All these have one thing in common: their subjects are compelled to submit to them. They may be compelled by their reliance on the shepherd’s devotion to their needs, by their ruler’s power over them, by their filial bond to their father or by their appreciation of their master’s wisdom—the bottom line is that they are compelled. And true sovereignty cannot be compelled.

A true sovereign is one whose subjects freely choose to submit to him. Not because they need him, not because they fear his power, not because they love him, not even because they appreciate his greatness, but because they choose him as their king.

So to become king of the universe, G-d created man—a creature endowed with free choice. He created a being that is both the furthest from Him and the closest to Him of all His creation: furthest from Him in that man is a free and independent being—free even to rebel against his maker; closest to Him in that man is a free and independent being—as only He is free and independent. In the words of the first man, Adam, “First and last, You created me.”[2] G-d created man, “dust from the earth,” the last and lowliest of His creations, and “blew into his nostrils a breath of life” that is the very “image of G-d.”[3]

There are many aspects to our relationship with G-d. We relate to G-d as our shepherd, expressing our gratitude for His providence over and sustenance of our lives. We fear and revere Him, ever mindful of His majesty and power. We love Him with the boundless love of a child, recognizing our intrinsic bond with our Father in Heaven. We gain a student’s unique appreciation of his master by studying His wisdom, implicit in His creation and revealed to us in His Torah. Each of these relationships realizes another aspect or “layer” in the divine motive for creation, intensifying and enlivening G-d’s involvement with His world.

But once a year, “all things revert to their primordial state” as G-d reevaluates the very core of His desire for a world, the underlying “why” of His involvement with us as shepherd, ruler, father and teacher. Once a year, G-d asks Himself: Why create a world?

The First Coronation

The timing of this cosmic audit is not arbitrary: Rosh HaShanah is the day on which G-d’s sovereignty of the world was first realized.

Rosh HaShanah is the sixth day of creation, the day on which man was created. G-d had already created the heavens and the earth, the animals and the angels; He already presided over a world that submitted to His rule, over creatures who feared Him and loved Him and appreciated His wisdom. But the world was still in a state of suspended animation: its soul of souls had yet to be evoked. Then G-d created man, the only one of His creations with the freedom to choose or reject his maker.

Moments later, G-d was king.

“When Adam stood up on his feet,” the Zohar tells us, “he saw that all creatures feared him and followed him as servants do their master. He then said to them: ‘You and I both, come,[4] let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before G-d our maker.’”[5]

When the first man chose G-d as his king, the primordial purpose in creation came to fruition, infusing G-d’s work with life and vitality.

Every year, “all things revert to their primordial state” as G-d again relates to His creation as He did prior to Adam’s crowning Him king. On Rosh HaShanah eve, the divine “inner will” for creation is retracted and the world is plunged into a state of “sleep.”

Then, a piercing sound rises from the earth and reverberates through the heavens. The cry of the shofar resounds: an utterly simple cry, reflecting not the fear of the subject, not the love of the child or the sophistication of the student’s understanding, but the simple trumpet blast of a people’s coronation of their king. A cry that reflects the simplicity of choice—true choice, choice that is free of all external motives and influences.

A cry that rouses the soul of creation to a renewed commitment to and involvement in the endeavor of life.

Based on the Rebbe’s talks on numerous occasions [6]

---

Save

Tags: shofar, consciousness, sleeping, Rosh Hashana, creation, Cosmic Order, crowning the King, deed, purpose, internal, relationships, divine image, business, free choice, soul, sovereignty, kabbalah, Divine will, body and soul, Desire, action
Posted in Tishrei, Rosh Hashanah, Torah | 1 Comment »

Rosh Hashanah Stories

June 20th, 2016

Equestrian Illusions

While passing through a marketplace, Rabbi Kehot of Veritch, a disciple of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, overheard a conversation between two horse dealers.

“I was thinking,” said one to the other. “What does the psalmist mean when he says, ‘Do not be as a horse, or a mule, without understanding, their mouths stopped with bit and bridle’[1]? Well, when you put a bit in a horse’s mouth, he thinks that you are giving him something to practice his chewing on. Don’t be like a horse, King David is saying. When your Heavenly Master sends something your way, understand that it is more than something to chew on…”

Rabbi Kehot related this exchange to his teacher. The Baal Shem Tov was greatly excited by the horsedealer’s insight, and was inspired to a state of d’veikut (meditative attachment to G-d). In his ecstasy, the Baal Shem Tov began to sing a melody. This is the melody to which the rebbes of Chabad would pray on the first night of Rosh Hashanah.

——–

[1] Psalms 32:9.

————————

A Novel Audit

With the approach of Rosh Hashanah as we close the past year and welcome the new, what better time for auditing our experiences in the past year so that we can better them in the year to come. Each one of us does so in our own personal way. Yet, there is something we can all learn from Moshe the innkeeper who employed a unique method of accounting.

The Baal Shem Tov’s students once asked how to prepare for the High Holidays. He sent them to observe the simple innkeeper, Moshe. The students took a room in his inn, and waited to discover the answer to their question. At midnight before Rosh Hashanah they heard Moshe rustling about in the front room. They peeked out and saw Moshe taking down two large notebooks from the shelf. He sat down on a small stool, lit a candle, and began reading from one notebook.

The notebook was a diary of all the misdeeds and transgressions the innkeeper had committed in the course of the year – the date, time and circumstance of each scrupulously noted. His “sins” were quite benign — a word of gossip one day, oversleeping the time for prayer on another, neglecting to give his daily coin to charity on a third — but by the time Moshe had read through the first few pages, his face was bathed in tears. For more than an hour Moshe read and wept, until the last page had been turned.

He then opened up the second notebook. This, too, was a diary — of all the troubles and misfortunes that had befallen him in the course of the year. On this day Moshe was beaten by a gang of peasants, on that day his child fell ill; once, in the dead of winter, the family had frozen for several nights for lack of firewood; another time their cow had died, and there was no milk until enough pennies had been saved to buy another.

When he had finished reading the second notebook, the tavernkeeper lifted his eyes heavenward and said:

“So you see, dear Father in Heaven, I have sinned against You. Last year I repented and promised to fulfill Your commandments, but I repeatedly succumbed to my evil inclination. But last year I also prayed and begged You for a year of health and prosperity, and I trusted in You that it would indeed be this way.

“Dear Father, today is the eve of Rosh Hashanah, when everyone forgives and is forgiven. Let us put the past behind us. I didn’t always do what was asked of me and You didn’t always do what was asked of You. I forgive you and you forgive me, and we’ll call it even.”

Legal Defense

One year, when the first day of Rosh Hashanah occurred on Shabbat, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev ascended the podium in the center of his synagogue and addressed the heavens:

“Master of the Universe! Today, all Your creatures pass before You like a flock of sheep, and You pass judgment upon them. Two great books lie open before You, the book of life and the book of death. The righteous are inscribed in the book of life, and the transgressors are written in the book of death, G-d forbid.

“But today is Shabbat. Did You not command in Your holy Torah that is forbidden to write on Shabbat? True, it is permitted to violate Shabbat in order to preserve a life, so You are permitted to inscribe the righteous in the book of life. But no such clause permits inscribing those who have transgressed Your will in the book of death. I therefore inform You, dear Father in Heaven, that according to the law of the Torah, You must inscribe all Your children for a year of life, health and prosperity!”

HaMelech (“the King”) is an oft-occurring word in the Rosh Hashanah prayers, whose dominant theme is our coronation of G-d as king of the universe and submission to His sovereignty. Indeed, this is the first word chanted by the cantor on Rosh Hashanah morning, as he opens the Shacharit prayers with an awe-inspiring melody that climaxes with a sonorous Ha-Me-lech!

One Rosh Hashanah morning, the great Chassidic master Rabbi Aaron of Karlin fainted when he came to the word HaMelech. He later explained that he recalled the Talmudic passage[1] that describes Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai’s encounter with Vespasian. Rabbi Yochanan had himself smuggled out of the besieged city of Jerusalem to plead with the Roman general to spare the Torah center of Yavneh. When Rabbi Yochanan entered Vespasian’s tent, he addressed him as “Your Majesty.”

“You are deserving of death on two accounts,” said Vespasian. “First of all, I am not  the king, only His Majesty’s general.[2] Secondly, if I am indeed king, why did you not come to me until now?”

“I thought to myself,” said the Rebbe of Karlin, “if we address the Almighty as ‘King,’ does this not invite the question, ‘If I am indeed your king, why did you not come to me until now?’ What can we answer to that?”

Transform your High Holiday experience starting with Elul through Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah with bestt-selling 60 Days: A Spiritual Guide to the High Holidays.

—————

Save

Save

Save

Tags: Baal Shem Tov, Rosh Hashana, Chassidic stories, forgiveness, crowning the King, inspiration, judgement, books, prayer, sovereignty, chabad, Melody
Posted in Tishrei, Rosh Hashanah, Months & Holidays, Religion, Beliefs & Concepts, Great Mystics, Spiritual, Torah | 4 Comments »

Are You Unique?

June 16th, 2016

Posted in Weekly Parsha, Naso, Soul & Mystical, Religion, Beliefs & Concepts, Bamidbar, Personal Life, Free Choice, Social, Spiritual, Torah, Government, Emotions & Psychology | 9 Comments »

Hemshech Samech Vov

June 10th, 2016

Biography of the Rebbe Rashab

Commentary:
Part 1 Centennial of a Revolution
Part 2 A Year in Perspective
Part 3 The Power of a Mitzvah
Part 4 The True You
Part 5 The Power of Human Exertion
Part 6 Flames
Part 7 Warming the Winter
Park 8 The Difficult Dance
Part 9 The Kav
Part 10 The Light
Part 11 Intimate Light
Part 12 The Tzaddik
Part 13 Divine Containers
Part 14 To Be Like G-d
Part 15 When No is Greater than Yes
Part 16 Jury Duty
Part 17 Boiling Pot
Part 18 Birthing
Part 19 Raging Waters
Part 20 Nurturing
Part 21 Greater Expectations
Part 22 Think Different I
Part 23 Think Different II
Part 24 The Three Brothers
Part 25 Soul Profit
Part 26 The Ultimate Journey

Related Articles:
Rise up — Simchat Torah Samach-Vav (1905)
Eloquence

5:17 PM – A Moment of Truth

* * *

A running summary of the 61 discourses that comprise Hemshech Samach Vav:

PURPOSE

The purpose of existence is to draw down infinite Divine energy into this universe through our work in Torah and Mitzvot, thus creating a “home” for the Divine in the lowest of worlds. In addition to drawing down infinite energy into finite existence and fully integrating matter and spirit, we introduce through our efforts a new dimension of the Divine that did not exist even before the Tzimtzum. (Maamar 1)

All experiences, both in this world and in the higher cosmic ones, are finite reflections and revelations of pleasure. Only through our labor in the material world do we generate the essence – the new dimension of the supra-conscious state of pleasure (Eden). (Maamar 2-3)

Our virtue and ethics in the marketplace manifests Divine finite energy, the dimension invested in existence, which is called “external will” (the outer dimension of Keter, crown), the will that defines and shapes all matter. Torah and mitzvot access the “inner will” (the inner dimension of Keter), the mission and purpose that drives existence – the objective to integrate matter and spirit, and transform the mundane world into a Divine home. (Maamar 4-5)

Existence consists of space and time. Time – past and future – is rooted in the dual tug of tension and resolution (“rotzo” and “shuv”). The source of these two forces is in the outer dimension of Keter, however there the two forces are within the source. The inner dimension of Keter is beyond even the source of time, and being utterly infinite and beyond any defined states it has the power to permeate time and space; to transform time and space to that which is beyond time and space. (Maamar 6)

MITZVAH

This is the power of a mitzvah: Finite infinity. A mitzvah too has finite parameters. Yet, it is fundamentally different than the finite nature of the universe. The universe is defined by its parameters; a mitzvah is not. A mitzvah is essentially a finite form of infinity, infinite energy in a finite discipline. Thus a mitzvah has the power to bridge the infinite and the finite and redeem and free us from our finite confines. (Maamar 7)

WILL AND PLEASURE

Question: A Mitzvah is the Divine will. What connection does it have to pleasure?

Supra-conscious pleasure and will are not two distinct faculties, but one. They both stem from the same source in the essence of the soul, with the only difference being that pleasure is the internal dimension and will the external one, which expresses the inner pleasure. Supra-conscious pleasure is who you are – your essential identity; Will is how your identity expresses itself, seeking and reaching outside of itself to fulfill and realize your inner self (pleasure). Thus, the Divine will of a mitzvah is rooted in the essence of Divine pleasure. (Maamar 8-9)

EXERTION IN TORAH

But how does one reach and access this supra-conscious state? Through the exertion applied in the study of Torah. There are two forms of comprehension: Wisdom that comes through “ohr yosher,” direct light, and one that comes through the process of “ohr chozer,” reflective (or returning) light. The “ohr chozer” understanding reveals a much deeper dimension – a light that emerges from grappling with darkness, providing answers that are derived from questions. The crystallization of a concept is in direct proportion to the amount of exertion applied to comprehend the thought. By delving into a concept, studying it from different angles, challenging the idea with questions and counter questions, you come out with a much deeper and clearer comprehension than one who understands the concept at first glance, even if the latter has a better mind.

Even though both types of understanding are rooted in the unconscious mind, nevertheless they express two different dimensions of the concealed unconscious: “Ohr yosher” expresses “concealment of substance,” or the “defined unconscious” (like a white-hot coal in which the flame is hidden, but it exists and is revealed by fanning the coal). “Ohr chozer” manifests “concealment of no substance,” or the “undefined unconscious” (like a flint stone in which no physical fire exists, but a spark is released by striking the stone with force). (Maamar 10)

Question: Exertion in Torah is a punishment for the sin of Moses striking the stone instead of speaking to it. How then can we benefit from a sin? Answer: The second tablets were also a result of the sin of the Golden Calf, yet they introduced new dimensions of Torah. Torah gives power to battle the evil inclination. Torah therefore provides us with additional resources to face the challenges presented by sin. Thus, the power that comes from the second tablets and the exertion in Torah, which reveal the undefined “supra-conscious” – like the advantage of the Baal Teshuvah over the Tzaddik. This is the advantage of the Babylonian Talmud over the Jerusalemite one, which derives profound clarity through the “refinement” process emerging from the questions and the “darkness,” thereby cleansing the idea from impurities. (Maamar 11)

Question: According to the above, Eden (essential pleasure) is accessed through the exertion in Torah study. How will that level be accessed by laypeople who also will earn their right to Eden of the world to come? (Answer in Maamar 48).

TWO LEVELS OF PURE PLEASURE

Also: What connection is there between the hidden unconscious of wisdom (that is accessed through exertion in Torah study) to the essence of pleasure (Eden)? Answer: Though Torah study is wisdom (chochma) it is connected to the supra-conscious pleasure, because the “inner dimension of chochma is (one with) the inner dimension of atik,” pleasure. Thus the hidden essence of wisdom, which is reached through exertion, is one with the essence of pleasure. Or we can say that it reaches into the essence of the infinite, which is even higher than the hidden essence of wisdom.

Two levels of pleasure: Hybrid and pure. The future will consist of pure pleasure, which also consists of two levels: Pleasure that is experienced, and pleasure which is beyond experience, which is accessed through avodat habirurim. Specifically through Teshuvah – the power generated through the call from the constraints, higher than the experienced pleasure of the Tzaddik. And Teshuvah imbues Torah and mitzvot with this dimension as well. (Maamar 12-13)

[After explaining how we access the supra-conscious state (Eden), which will be revealed in the future, through our exertion and struggle with darkness, a lengthy discussion begins about the power of human initiative generated from below, and its relationship with inspiration from above].

ANATOMY OF THE SOUL

The soul is comprised of two elements: Fire and air. “The flame of G-d is the soul of man.” “He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” Just as a flame needs oxygen (air) to ignite and remain burning, the flickering nature of the soul stems from the Divine wind-like “breath” imbued in the soul (ruach), which causes the soul’s flame to transcend and descend (rotzo v’shuv) in a steady dance of tension and resolution.

However, the soul’s movement generated by the “wind” of inspiration from above, goes only so far. Every inspiration dissipates after a short while. And the very nature of inspiration is one that is not integrated in the individual. So as powerful as the inspiration may be at the time, once it fades away we have to exert ourselves with our own energy to generate the flame, and integrate it into our experience.

And it is this hard work which defines the ultimate purpose of creation.

INSPIRATION

There are two types of inspiration from above: 1) The power that comes from “supernal whiteness” – which precedes and inspires the work below, 2) The level of Aaron the High Priest who kindles the Menorah – which in itself is also a part of the Divine service, not merely an introduction that inspires service. (Maamar 14-15)

Question: Since both forms of inspiration originate in the infinite Essence, why is the former only an inspiration and the latter an actual part of the service?

Finite beings cannot contain the Infinite light. It therefore hovers “above” their parameters in a form of “makif,” hidden from (“surrounding”) their consciousness. Yet the human effort of refining the “containers” prepares them to contain even the higher makif light [The revelation of the makif is possible in three ways: Mitzvot – which create the containers; Shabbat – refines the containers, and thus internalizes the makif to a certain extent; Torah – internalizes it completely so that the makif becomes pnimi]. Thus, the first level of inspiration remains makif, while the second level is possible because it follows the work of refining the containers, therefore it becomes integrated and is very much part of the service (and does not remain a mere inspiration).

Thus the self generated work from below makes it possible to reveal dimensions that are beyond the reach of human effort, including the level of the Supra-conscious will and pleasure. “One who toils on Erev Shabbat, eats on Shabbat:” The toil in refining the animal soul and material universe in the workdays allows for the revelation of deep love from above (Shabbat).

PRAYER: REFINING THE ANIMAL SOUL

Prayer (like the Temple offerings) offers the animal soul to be consumed by the Divine fire, which consists of the fire lit below, the fire from above that relates to the animal soul and the fire from above that relates to the Divine soul, which prepares the individual to receive the great love from above.

This corresponds to the different levels of prayer: The verses of song – the fire from below that elevates the animal soul, which is aroused by the meditation in the awesome Divine power that vivifies existence; the blessings before the Shema – the fire from above that elevates the animal soul through the meditation about angels; Shema – is the fire from above aroused by the meditation of the Divine soul in the divine power that transcends existence (confirmed by Emes V’yatziv), which completely sublimates the animal soul; and all this effort, which, after all is said and done, is self generated, earns the right to the Amidah, Shemone Esreih – the great love from above, which is beyond fire, and at the same time permeates internally (pnimi). (Maamar 16-17)

RETURN (SHUV)

Just as the yearning (rotzo) of the soul is inspired from above but is achieved through human exertion below, so too the “return” (shuv), the immersion in refining the universe, is inspired from above but is implemented through our hard work.

Indeed, immersion requires more effort and exertion than does transcendence, for several reasons: 1) In a state of transcendence one senses the inspiration from above, something which is not sensed in the daily grind of immersing in mundane activities. 2) Transcendence is more natural to the soul’s yearning personality.

Thus the power to transcend comes from a more “external” level than the power to immerse. Transcendence is a state of revelation that needs a reason and cause to transcend, unlike immersion which is rooted in the Essence and its “desire” to have a “home” in the “lowest of worlds,” which is not driven by a reason or cause. Immersion therefore is a more “self-generated” state than transcendence, being that 1) Personal refinement is necessary to internalize the inner Essence (where immersion is rooted). 2) Immersion has no rational reason and is only necessary because it is rooted in the Essence. (Maamar 18)

[To understand the power of self-generated effort which draws down new, unprecedented energy, and the way the light becomes integrated and revealed in existence, a lengthy discussion begins about two types of service and two types of souls: The soul of Atzilut which is an extension of the Divine, and therefore serves like a son who has access to the inner revelations of the Divine. The soul of B’iya, which is a “new” entity outside of the Divine and serves like a servant through hard work and earns its right to the divine through exertion (unlike a son that naturally inherits his father’s wealth).

Essentially, the underlying theme is to explain how deep we can reach and how much it becomes ours; how new the revelation is and how much it is integrated into our beings; how we reach the essence and we also reveal it in our parameters].

TWO TYPES OF SOULS

Question: Why is self-generated effort ultimately necessary and what is its contribution when the revelation from above is a superior state of revelation? (Answer in Maamar 26; 40-42).

There are two ways to serve G-d, and two types of souls: One like a son, who has intimate access to the “innermost chambers and secrets of his fathers’ home,” the second like a servant, a stranger subjugating himself to serve his master. Atzilut is an extension of the Divine (like a “son” who is a biological extension of his father), a reflection and revelation of higher spiritual levels. The service of the souls of Atzilut consists of their total selflessness. While Biy”a (Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah) is a new entity, outside of and separate from the Divine. The service of the souls of Biy”a entails subjugating the body’s “ego.”

ATZILUT AND THE KAV

Atzilut reflects and is similar to (“adam”) the world of Adam Kadmon (A”k) and even to the “kav” – the thread of light that draws down the infinite light from before the tzimtzum into the post-tzimtzum existence. Yet, compared to the infinite light higher than the kav, Atzilut, and the kav itself is like a new entity.

This can be explained in two ways, based on the two opinions in the nature and personality of the “kav,” whether it is a finite light or an infinite one. According to the opinion that the kav is finite, meaning that it manifests the Divine power for finite self-expression, then the identity of Atzilut is one that reveals and is similar to the Divine light in the kav. However compared to the infinite light, Atzilut and the kav are “new” entities. [The second explanation is in Maamar 23]. (Maamar 19)

EIN SOF

Question: Since Atzilut is a reflection (not a new entity) of the kav, and the kav in turn is a reflection of the light that preceded the tzimtzum, it would seem that Atzilut too is a reflection of the pre-tzimtzum light. Why then is Atzilut called a new entity compared to the Divine light before the tzimtzum? Also: Since both the finite and infinite light come from the pre-tzimtzum light — why then are there two types of light?

The answer will be understood by first explaining the nature of light and the meaning of the Divine infinite Ein-Sof (lit. no end). Why is it called Ein-Sof and not Ein-Techila (no beginning)? Kabbalists explain, because only G-d Himself has no beginning, while the Divine emanation may have no end, being a reflection of the Divine, but it surely has a beginning – a source.

The Kabbalists have differing opinions whether Keter is part of the Sefirot system: Many Kabbalists hold that Keter is Ein-Sof and not part of the Sefirot which are all creations. (According to them we can understand why its called Ein-Sof and not Ein-Techila). The Ramak disagrees, arguing that nothing but G-d can be Ein-Sof, and Keser too is one of the created Sefirot.

The basis of their disagreement is to resolve the issue how the creation causes no change in G-d. The Kabbalists feel that since creation comes through Keter and not the Essence of G-d, then any change from before and after creation occurs in the Keter level, not in G-d’s essence. The problem with this of course is that this suggests that a level outside of G-d has the Ein-Sof power of the Creator, which is obviously unacceptable. The Ramak therefore holds that only G-d owns the title Ein-Sof, and He creates in a way that has no effect on Him, because He does not need any effort to create. But this too has its problems, because ultimately since the Essence is creating, how is it possible that creation has no effect and causes no change in the Essence.

Comes the Arizal and reconciles between the two opinions, explaining that Keter has two levels: Arich – which is the “highest level of the” defined states of the sefirot, and Atik – which manifests “the lowest level of” Ein Sof. The Arizal clearly recognizes that there is some “entity” outside of the Essence which is called Ein Sof. The Alter Rebbe explains that light is this entity which is called Ein Sof and is not the Essence. Light has no substance of its own; it always reflects its (luminary) source. Yet, precisely because of its transparent bittul (selflessness), light purely reflects and channels the deepest ‘substance’ of the source, with no ‘personality’ of its own to get in the way. This state of light allows us to reconcile between both opinions: Ein Sof is attributable only to the Essence (as the Ramak explains), but since light has no reality without the Essence and is a mere reflection of its source, the Divine Ein Sof extends into its reflected light. This also explains how creation causes no change in the Essence, because the process is implemented not through the Essence itself (as Ibn Gabbai and the Rameh explain), but also not by a force outside of the Essence: Creation is possible only through the Ein Sof power of the Essence, carried through the power of light, which is a mere emanation of the Essence. In effect, light “carries” the non-existential Essence into existence. (Maamar 20)

LIGHT

Light is unlike any other form of transmission. Shefa is the word used to define the transmission of any substance, which requires an effort and investment on the part of the transmitter, and it affects the transmitter. Light, by contrast, has no substance, and it requires no effort or investment, and it does not affect the luminary (source of the light); light is just a reflection of the source.

Similarly, Divine light is a mere reflection of its Source (but unlike involuntary sunlight, the Divine Source does not have to give off light), and the light itself is therefore Ein-Sof and carries within it, by extension of the Essence, the power to create “something from nothing” (nothing referring to the light). The light after the tzimtzum is a form of shefa relative to the light before the tzimtzum. (Maamar 21)

LIGHT WITHIN ITS SOURCE

Generally, in relation to the post-tzimtzum reality the light prior to the tzimtzum concealment is only a state of potential light. It is called the “light contained in its Source” where it does not yet have an “identity;” at this stage the light is nothing more than the Source’s ability to emanate.

More specifically the pre-tzimtzum state consists of two levels: 1) The abovementioned “light within the Source,” and 2) an actual state of light, which is “closer” to ultimately becoming the source of existence. This latter level too breaks down into two levels: 1) The light prior to manifesting the Divine “will” to create, which does not have any parameters of sefirot (or the sefirot are infinite ones), 2) The light as it manifests the will, which is the source of the parameters of existence (structure of the ten sefirot).

Each of these levels of light, especially the highest one (within the Source, which has no identity), has no “personality” of its own; light is essentially only a reflection of its Source, to the point that it is completely one with the Source, assuming and expressing the Source, thus bridging existence with the non-existential nature of the Essence.

All these levels of light are a state of Ein-Sof, by virtue of it being nothing more than a reflection of the Essence (as opposed to the level of Keter or Ratzon which is a defined state, and therefore cannot be Ein-Sof, as the Ramak rejects the opinion of the Avodat HaKodesh). Even the two latter levels are so, but it is most understood regarding level one – which is only the potential ability for light, not actual light. (Maamar 22)

TWO ASPECTS OF ATZILUT: REFLECTS THE KAV; NEW COMPARED TO LIGHT ABOVE THE KAV

The Essence also has the ability to not give off light, and to limit or conceal the existing light. Within the Essence both abilities – the ability to emanate and the ability to not emanate (or conceal the light) – are one and the same: Both aspects of the omnipotent Divine. These two abilities evolve into the two types of light: Sovev – infinite light that remains above the parameters of existence; Memaleh – finite light that is manifests in the parameters of existence. On a lower level these two forces evolve into the infinite light and the kav (finite light).

This explains (the questions in Maamar 20): How there are two different forms of light which stem from the Source. And also how Atzilut is reflection (not a new entity) of the kav which is a reflection of the pre-tzimtzum light, and at the same time it is considered a new entity compared to the Divine light before the tzimtzum: The kav is reflection of its source in the pre-tzimtzum finite light; but it is a new entity in contrast to the pre-tzimtzum infinite light.

Another explanation: Atzilut is a reflection of the finite light of the kav, but a new entity even compared to the source of the kav – the pre-tzimtzum finite light (and definitely in comparison to the pre-tzimtzum infinite light). Because after all is said and done, the kav (and Atzilut) are an actual finite state relative to the pre-tzimtzum finite light which is only the ability to be finite, but is in itself not finite being that it chooses to be finite, and finite by choice is not actually finite (like the power of the hand to write letters: Though the letters themselves are finite, the power in the hand that limits itself is not actually finite).

All this is according to the opinion that the kav is finite light. According to the more popular position that the kav is infinite light, it is both a revelation of its source, but also like a new entity, simply because the infinite light of the kav is completely sublimated in its infinite source. (Maamar 23)

CONTAINERS

Also the containers of Atzilut are a reflection of the Divine: They are a revelation (not a new entity) of the containers of Adam Kadmon (a”k). A”k is the general plan (the Divine will to create) that encompasses the entire structure of existence. Thus, the containers (structure) of Atzilus are a revelation – an expression and manifestation – of a”k.

(Question: Since a”k encompasses all of existence, also the containers of biy”a should be a revelation (and not a new entity) compared to a”k? Two answers: 1) The Divine will in a”k itself wants the containers of Atzilut to be a revelation and those of biy”a to be a new created entity. 2) The containers of biy”a are formed after the parsa – the curtain – that creates a new entity; while the containers of Atzilut are an extension of the containers of a”k).

However the containers, and even a”k itself, are a new entity compared to the levels higher than a”k (including the reshimu, the “residue” left after the tzimtzum, which are the source of the containers). (Maamar 24)

In this context, the containers are more reflective of a”k than the lights are of the kav, because the containers are actually of the same essence as the containers of a”k, whereas the lights are only a reflection of higher levels.

Question: The rule is that all creations need to undergo a leap before they are created. How then can the containers, which by definition are creations, be revelations of the higher levels? (Answer in Maamar 26).

There are two levels in the name Havaya, a lower and higher one – Havaya de’litato and Havaya de’liayla. The creation process is carried through the four letters of Havaya de’litato: Yud – the initial tzimtzum (concealment) necessary to transmit from a higher dimension to a fundamentally lower dimension; Heh – the development of the idea contained in the Yud; Vav- the actual transmission; Heh – the devlepment of the idea in the realm of the recipient. Havaya de’litato of Atzilut is rooted in Havaya de’liayla of the will in a”k, which also consists of four letters as it carries the light down from pre-tzimtzum to the initial structural plan. There is no space between the two havayas, like by Moses, implying their similarity, yet there is a parsa (curtain), but it doesn’t change the essence of the containers. By contrast, between Atzilut and biy’a there is a parsa that does change the essence.

This answers the question how the containers, which are creations, are both a revelation and undergo a leap before they are created: The containers follow the leap of the parsa, but the leap is not one that changes the essence of the containers.

According to all the above we can understand how the souls of Atzilut are like sons, who “search the hidden archives” (the hidden lights higher than Atzilut) and intimately knows “the house secrets” of his fathers’ home (the ten Sefirot of Atzilut), being that Atzilut is an extension of the Divine – both its lights and containers – a reflection and revelation of higher spiritual levels. The service of the souls of Atzilut consists of their total selflessness. (Maamar 25-26)

[This concludes the discussion about the souls of Atzilut that began in Maamar 19. Now, the discourse continues about the two types of souls, Jacob and Israel, and their respective experiences. Israel is the son (Atzilut), who is close to the Divine. Jacob is the servant, who reveals the Divine concealed in the universe. Israel and Jacob are Torah and prayer; the positive mitzvoth and the negative ones. Through Jacobs’s hard work in repairing the concealment and avoiding evil (negative mitzvoth) he reaches into the Divine Essence, higher than the revelations of the souls of Atzilut (Israel) rooted in the kav which reflects the pre-tzimtzum light].

ISRAEL AND JACOB

This can be further understood with the verse “give truth to Jacob.” Question: Jacob is the level of truth. So what truth is given to Jacob? Jacob is the level of the servant, while Israel is the level of the son. Jacob is involved in repairing the Divine concealment in the name Elokim, which conceals the Divine light of Havaya. Jacob experiences the “lower knowledge” (daat tachton), which senses that the universe exists and the Divine is and unknown and concealed form of existence. Israel experiences the Divine revelation of Havaya – the ultimate truth of the higher knowledge (daat elyon) – that the Divine is reality and the universe is nothingness in comparison.

The ultimate objective is that the “truth of Havaya [should be revealed] in the universe,” and this is the truth that is given to Jacob: Not only the revelation of the Divine force that is concealed in existence, not only the revelation that the concealment of the Divine is in itself a Divine energy (which is all still the revelation of the inner truth of Elokim), but above all the awareness of the truth of Havaya (Havaya de’liayla) – that the Divine is the only true existence. This is the awareness of the souls of Atzilut (Israel), which is “similar” to and reflects the truth of the “higher knowledge” – the son who “searches the hidden archives,” the hidden lights higher than Atzilut (Havaya de’liayla). (Maamar 27)

TORAH AND PRAYER: FRONT AND BACK

In the level of Divine service Israel and Jacob are Torah and prayer. Torah reveals the Divine from above down – the frontal revelation of the “face” (panim). This is the meaning of the verse a man’s wisdom makes his face shine: “Man” (adam) refers to Atzilut, and its root – Adam Kadmon; the Divine manifesting in the image of man (“upon the figure of the throne a figure in the shape of a human”). “The thought of Israel [which] precedes all things” is rooted in the mind (thought) of a”k. “Man’s wisdom” refers to Torah, which “makes his face shine” – revealing the glow of the pleasure of Atik in the souls of Israel. Torah reveals the front (face) by being the ultimate metaphor that bridges matter and spirit, revealing in the material universe the highest levels of the Divine. Mitzvot too reveal the face of the Divine – the level of Atzilut and Atik, that are reflections of the Divine.

Prayer accesses the divine from the bottom up, through distance – through the “back” (ochor). Even when the Divine is hidden – and it seems as G-d has forsaken and forgotten us (two levels of concealment) – we connect through faithful prayer, thereby invoking “I remember the devotion of your youth…how you followed Me in the wilderness.” Like a father who hides from his son in order to evoke the child’s ingenuity to find the hidden father; the wise son is not perturbed by the concealment, but recognizes that it is G-d’s way of testing him, so he exerts himself to find his father, and thereby eliciting an even deeper expression of Divine love and kisses, transforming the “back” to an even more powerful “front.” This is the profound love generated by our struggle in exile, when the Divine is utterly concealed – a love which will be revealed in the Redemption. (Maamar 28-30)

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE MITZVOTH

Positive mitzvoth generate the light of the “close encompassing” (makif hakorov), rooted in the light of the kav and even in “tehira ila’ah” – the conscious levels of light that associate with the universe. Negative mitzvoth generate the “distant encompassing” (makif harochok), extending from the Essence of the light, which is beyond any manifestation and relationship with the universe, one that cannot be contained in any particular act, only in a non-act.

And it is these negative mitzvoth that most manifest the potent strength and devotion of the child searching for the concealed father (“I remember the devotion of your youth…how you followed Me in the wilderness,” when you did not see My Divine face and did not experience revelation). Positive acts of virtue express love; but the deepest love is expressed, and the strongest effort exerted, in protecting from destructive forces. (Maamar 31)

Thus, negative mitzvoth protect the positive ones from any corruptive forces. Positive energy has the potential for feeding the negative for two reasons: 1) Negative and evil forces don’t have any power of their own. What sustains them is the level of “makif,” a hovering form of energy that is somewhat removed from the internal details and therefore can tolerate and energize the negative. Since positive mitzvoth are connected to the level of makif, they therefore can be affected by negative energy fed by the makif. 2) Positive mitzvoth manifest in the material world, which conceals the Divine and is under the influence of kelipot. Therefore good actions can potentially “feed” negative forces in the process.

The protection comes from the higher level of makif, which we access through the negative mitzvoth: The sheer effort of withstanding temptation to do something wrong builds defenses and draws down the Essential energy that shields us from all harm. Torah too protects the mitzvoth from negative energy.

The distant makif of negative mitzvoth is revealed in the close makif of positive mitzvoth, which help it permeate internally – which is the ultimate purpose: To integrate the distant makif internally. “How you followed Me in the wilderness,” through the negative mitzvoth (shemi and yud heh) causes “I remember the devotion of your youth” through the positive ones (zichri and vov heh). (Maamar 32)

Question: Havaya is the level of pnimi. How then caw we say that the mitzvoth, which correspond to the yud heh and vav heh, are connected to makif? Answer: There are three levels – the crown, the skull and the mind. The positive mitzvoth draw down Havaya of the distant makif (crown) through the skull (close makif) – makif which is beyond defined structures – and internalize it into the pnimiut. (Maamar 33)

THE ELEVATION OF MALCHUT

What connection is there between Shemi (my name), Malchut, and and yud heh? Malchut and Z”a (Zeir Anpin, the six emotions) are the intermediary bridging the Divine and created existence: Z”a draws down the Divine into structure; Malchut draws the energy of Z”a into existence, like speech that communicates higher wisdom and feelings to the recipient. There are three levels in the elevation of Malchut: The “point beneath the foundation,” in which Malchut is in completely concealed in its infancy. 2) Malchut elevates to the level of Z”a. 3) Malchut elevates to stand face to face with the wisdom of chabad.

Through our efforts (especially in keeping the negative mitzvoth) in revealing the concealed through the “back,” “how you followed Me in the wilderness,” we reach the yud heh of the third and highest elevation of Malchut and reach the “face,” standing face to face with the Divine, while also generates “I remember the devotion of your youth” (through the positive mitzvoth).

This explains why prayer is called the “back of G-d” (see Maamar 29), because it reveals the Divine in its concealment, as the son who looks for his hidden father. Another reason for calling it the “back” is because the process of revealing the Divine within the concealment is by meditating in prayer that all of existence is related merely to the “back,” i.e. the lowest levels of the Divine as it manifests in creation (Maamar 34-35)

SON AND SERVANT

[Here concludes the discussion about “give truth to Jacob” in Maamar 27].

Jacob the servant is the level of the “back”; Israel the son is the level of the “front.” Jacob, through exertion in prayer, works hard at repairing the Divine concealment in the name Elokim. And also his Torah is primarily focused on the hard work necessary in “birurim,” refining the hidden sparks, through exertion in Torah as it manifests and deals with the material world (see Maamar 11). By contrast, Israel’s service in prayer and Torah comes much easier, being that Israel, the soul of Atzilut, is naturally aware and connected to Divine revelation, and his prayer and Torah is about revealing the Divine, not battling the concealment. (Maamar 36)

According to this Israel is higher than Jacob. But in truth, Jacob has an advantage over Israel: The self generated effort of the servant, as opposed to the inherited strength of the son. The son is a natural extension of his father. He therefore does not need exertion to fulfill his father’s will; his interests are one with his father’s. So too the soul is a natural extension of the Divine. The body, however, is like a servant that needs to exert himself to fulfill his master’s will. Against his nature the servant chooses to dedicate himself entirely and absolutely to serve his master, to the extent that the servant is no longer a separate entity, but his entire being is merely an extension of his master’s. All his accomplishments and achievements are considered those of his master’s. He constantly goes beyond his own nature to serve. Thus, the self-initiated effort of the servant – the soul as it manifests in the body – who chooses with his own free will to serve reaches higher and generates additional dimensions of energy, more than the son who does not require effort being a natural extension of his father.

There are two types of servants: The faithful servant (eved nee’man), who serves with pleasure, joy and love. He appreciates the awesome virtues of the master and the value of serving the master. The second type of servant is the “simple servant” (eved poshut) who serves out of duty, without the feeling and awareness of the Divine. The faithful servant is an exalted level of soul who perceives the Divine that transcends creation (but not quite on the same intimate level as does the son, the soul of Atzilut). He is not one with the Divine (as is the son), but due to his appreciation he serves with deep love and devotion, and therefore generates additional levels of energy, beyond those that are inherent in existence.

Being that he serves out of duty, not as a result of feelings of love, the simple servant has an advantage even over the faithful servant, for several reasons: 1) His service is against his natural will, it therefore requires more exertion than the faithful servant who serves with feelings of love and devotion which overshadows the exertion. 2) His service is constant, never fluctuating. 3) All types of service are equal to him. (Maamar 37-38)

Also the simple servant has pleasure in his work (which motivates him to excel), but his pleasure is not due to his love for the master (as it is with the faithful servant), but is derived from the pleasure of his master: Being that the servant is completely subjugated to his master, the master’s pleasure becomes his own.

This complete fusion of servant and master defines two more reasons that the service of the simple servant is greater than that of the faithful one: 4) All the credit of his service is attributed to his master. 5) The fruit of one’s own labor brings infinite more pleasure than that which is achieved through the work of others. Since the servant’s service is considered the master’s, the master derives deep pleasure from the servant’s service, the same pleasure as if he had done the work himself (while the work done by the faithful servant is another person doing the work for him, thus resulting in less pleasure).

The reason for the profound pleasure that comes from self-generated exertion is due to the novelty – a twofold newness: 1) The simple servant is under the control of the material domain and has no natural spiritual inclination. Thus his choice of Divine service is a complete and unprecedented transformation from a materially driven individual to one totally subjugated to the Divine. 2) The effort – and its results – is completely self generated, not due to any other infusion or help, or a result of a ready-made product. When someone else does the work for you, you are getting a ready made product. It therefore does not contain the innovation, and resulting pleasure, of self-initiated effort.

The ultimate purpose of creation is fulfilled by the simple servant, one who is immersed in and consumed by the material world, has no natural sense of the Divine, no revelation, no feelings of love, and still totally dedicates his life to serve G-d, and exerts himself, against his will and nature, to refine the material world. This overwhelming effort, in its innovative nature, generates a completely new, unprecedented Divine energy, higher than the source of the “kav” (the ray of light), which is the source of all existence. Like the earth that produces new vegetation through the hard work of tilling the land. (Maamar 39)

Question: Why is innovation more in the domain of the simple servant than of the faithful servant and son? True they serve as a result of their natural or generated love, they don’t have quite the same material challenges, but they still exert themselves to refine the material world. So why don’t they generate a new energy as does the simple servant?

Answer: Like the earth that produces new fruit (unlike heaven), only Malchut carries the power to create something new. All the sefirot are spiritual expressions of the Divine, which do no not innovate or create anything new, only reveal that which is higher than them. Malchut, however, is rooted in the Essence (“the end is wedged in the beginning”), which is beyond any revelation, and includes many things that are not transmitted in the light. Therefore Malchut has the power to actually create anew, while even Keter creates levels that are relatively new, but they are still sublime and ultimately rooted in higher states of being. Malchut carries the power of creating the material existence, which is a truly new entity. (Maamar 40-41)

The same is true in our work of refining the sparks: The primary objective of refining the material universe is fulfilled on earth, in our “lowest” world, where the Divine is completely concealed. Here, you have to create a new state of being; matter must be converted into spirit, the inclination to narcissistic survival must be transformed into becoming a selfless channel that serves a higher calling. This transformative work of the simple servant (Jacob) from below in turn generates a completely new energy from the essence of the light as it is one with the Essence itself, beyond the level of light as it manifests and has some relationship with existence (which is accessed through the faithful servant and the son, the level of Israel). (Maamar 42-43)

Israel (the son and faithful servant) and Jacob (the simple servant) correspond generally to Torah and Mitzvot respectively. There are three levels of selflessness (ayin): 1) The selflessness of (the outer level of) wisdom (chitzoinios ha’chochma) which stands nullified (botol) by its sense of a reality greater than itself. 2) The selflessness of the deeper, inner level of wisdom (pnimius ha’chochma), which is an essential state of selflessness (bitul atzmi), not merely one that has substance nullified by a greater light (outer wisdom). Yet, this level is still only a reflection of 3) The essence of selflessness of keter (ayin b’etzem), which has absolutely no self of its own (chochma is the essential color white, unlike the other colors which are superimposed, yet white is still a color, the bridge between no color and color. Keter is beyond any color).

Torah is the level of chochma – the selflessness of wisdom, which is only a reflection of Keter. Torah is rooted in the “hair strands” of the skull which are a limited transmission, and manifest in many different levels (like the faithful servant, who distinguishes one type of service from the next). Mitzvot, on the other hand, are rooted in the “skull” itself – the level of ayin of Keter itself, which equalizes all levels (like the simple servant for whom all types of service are equal). (Maamar 44-45)

THE SON WHO BECOMES A SERVANT

The son, with inherited access to the Divine, has the power to become a servant, who serves with self-generated exertion and thus creates new, unprecedented energy (unlike the son who only develops that which is already existent). This exertion is expressed in the study of the oral Torah, through which the scholar generates new revelations, unlike the study of the written Torah which only reveals the revelation that comes from above. (Maamar 46)

There are two types of spiritual nourishment: 1) Food from heaven – Torah nourishes the soul, by connecting it to the revelations of the Divine. 2) Food from earth – the soul connects Torah to the Divine Essence (beyond all revelations), which is accessed through self-generated exertion in the oral Torah – the depth of wisdom that comes only through real experience. In the written Torah the ideas are clear, but it has not been tested and challenged in practice. When an idea has to be actualized it requires an entirely new level of focus and clarity, which crystallizes and affirms the truth of the theoretical concept, and also draws new, innovative ideas from the “hidden essence.”

This is the difference between the birur of the direct light and of the refractive light. There are two methods to refine gold: 1) First you extract the purest gold, then you extract the less pure gold, and so on, until you’re left with the least refined gold and the coarsest dross. Or 2) the other way around: First you extract the coarsest dross, then the less coarse impurities, and so on, until you are left with the purest gold. (Maamar 47)

Both levels of birur require power from above, but in one the power is revealed and obvious and in the other it remains hidden. This too has two forms: The refinement comes primarily from the power above, but it is not felt, creating the illusion that the work is self-generated. Like a child who is prodded to walk by his parent. Though the refinement comes from power above and it is revealed, the work is self-generated, like a child who walks on his own feet. The oral Torah derives its power from the written Torah, but only through self-generated exertion of the student new revelations are extracted from the oral Torah.

This answers the question (in Maamar 12) how Eden (essential supra-conscious pleasure), which is generated through the exertion in Torah study, will be accessed by laypeople, and how scholars access this undiluted pleasure through study (though wisdom on its own is hybrid): The lay person is the “simple servant” who serves through his self-generated exertion (unlike the son who inherits his strengths and is privy to revelation), and thus create new, unprecedented energy. The scholar achieves this not through regular study (of the written Torah) but through the equivalent self-generated effort he exerts in struggling with the Oral Torah. (Maamar 48)

MENTAL EXERTION

The exertion necessary in understanding the oral Torah is compared to combing hair, untangling each strand, separating them from one another and ensuring that each lies in its proper place.

The analogy of hair is used in order to explain the paradox of the unconscious mind – which emerges through the mental exertion necessary in plumbing the depths of the oral Torah. The laws of the oral Torah are like the strands of hair which originate from the cosmic “skull” (unconscious) and are rooted in the highest dimensions. But they manifest (precisely because they carry such potency) in “thin strands” as they descend into the depths of existence and address the way we should conduct our lives on earth.

Yet, these laws remain obscure and unknown, until we exert ourselves in the strenuous process of “combing” and excavating the hair strands of the Torah’s wisdom to discover its message. The hair itself therefore represents the wisdom of Torah, as it is ostensibly understood. Combing the hair is the challenging process to analyze a Torah idea from all angles, “turn it and turn it” in all directions, questions, counter questions, arguments and counter-arguments – all in an exerted effort to untangle the contradictions, organize and categorize the ideas, and finally reach the ultimate clarity. Because the Torah’s message is concealed in a confused world, this arduous “combing process” accesses the “skull” itself – the essential “ayin” (nothingness) of the supra-conscious, which is higher than the conscious and revealed wisdom of the hair strands. (Maamar 49)

HUMILITY

The “combing” of the oral Torah has two dimensions, “turn it and turn it:” Exertion that results from the pleasure of the intellectual pursuit for clarity. Exertion out of “kabolos oyl” – the profound awe of heaven that motivates the student to discover the Torah’s truth. The former reaches the hidden “ayin” of wisdom; the latter reaches the essential “ayin” of keter, similar to that which is achieved through the act of mitzvoth.

This will explain the nature of all the different opinions in Torah and the halachik consensus which rules according to one of the two opinions. The opinions are both Divine and true, but on the level of Elokim – which is only a Divine reflection of the Divine, not its Essence; Halacha is the clarity that comes through the exertion out of deep humility, which accesses Havaya, the Essence – the truth of truths. Thus, the halacha rules according to Hillel over Shammai, being that he was humbler. Similarly, the halacha rules according to the mediator, who reaches higher into the essential truth than the two who disagree.

Thus, the son who becomes a servant refers to the student of Torah who exerts himself out of humility to access the essential truth of truths that comes only through the self generated, difficult effort from below. This has the power to reach the essential light and draw it down into the lowest universe – fulfilling the ultimate purpose of creation. While the other reasons for creation– so that the Divine be known and that G-d reveal His potential (see Maamar 1) – are legitimate on the level of the son (who knows the “secrets of his father’s chambers” – Atzilus), the ultimate purpose is achieved through the exertion of the servant (Jacob), through mitzvoth which refine the material and Torah study which “comb” through the complications. (Maamar 50-52)

[Now begins a discussion on the nature of the soul as the Divine manifesting in an “independent” entity, rooted in the Divine containers. To appreciate the uniqueness of the soul we first must understand the difference between souls and angels, which will explain the power of a soul on earth to draw down and reveal the hidden essence of the Divine, and the effect this work has on the soul: The hard effort of the soul’s descent in the body reveals the soul’s source in the soul as it manifests in the body, and it reveals a new, unprecedented dimension in the soul.

Essentially, the souls’ sublime nature, a fusion of spirit and substance, enables us to integrate matter and spirit. The discourse maps out the gradations of spirit evolving into substance. As spirit diminishes substance intensifies – each level lower more substance, less spirit; each level higher less substance, more spirit.

But the goal is the seamless fusion of the two: where substance meets spirit and the container senses not itself, but it being merely a channel for spiritual expression.

The different stages of fusion of matter and spirit consist of an eloquent journey, reflected in the way we think and speak. Thought and speech are metaphors for the entire cosmic experience. They are conveyors of communication – channels of energy. And like all channels they are comprised of the two dimensions they are coming to bridge. The perfect state is complete fusion between energy and container, between light and vessel. Moreover, not only does this show us amazing fusion symmetry, but it also demonstrates for us the process how spirit converts into matter, allowing us to reverse the process, and transform matter into spirit].

All these accomplishments are achieved by the soul as it descends below into a body in the material universe. To understand this we will now discuss the nature of the soul. The soul comes from the Divine breath, from within the Divine Essence. Question: Souls “arose in the [Divine] thought,” which is below the Essence. [Answer in Maamar 56: The letters of thought originate and are one with the light, Beriah, Atzilus, all the way to the engraved letters of Keser and A”k, all the way to the source in the letters of the Reshimu of the hidden sefirot before the Tzimtzum, rooted in the hidden essence, which imbued the soul with its Divine breath].

The letters (containers) of thought are connected and one with the light (of the idea). These are the letters of Beriah, which is not yet a true yesh, unlike and higher than the letters of speech of Yetzirah, which create angels and all creations – letters of yesh, separate from the light. Higher: like the written letters of Binah of Atzilus, beneath the supernal throne. Even higher: Souls originate in the supernal man of Atzilus.

The difference between the root origin of souls and that of angels is the difference between thought and speech. The letters of speech – angels – are separate, concealed, tangible, intermediary. They are rooted in the power of speech, Malchut of Atzilus, which then goes through a concealment to energize the creation in Biy”a.

Souls are letters of thought, connected to the light of the idea. They originate in the power of thought, the inner dimension of the letters – the Divine Throne, which is a garment that conceals the supernal man (kos alef), the essential emotions.

The Divine Throne of Beriah is rooted in Binah of Atzilus, where the letters originate, a garment and throne to Chochma, Atzilus.

Angels are creations; souls – Divine that became yesh, but a separate (and concealed) entity (mehus); Torah is the revealed Divine.

If souls originate in thought, Beriah, why does it say “the soul is tehorah hi,” higher than Beriah?

Souls originate in the Supernal Man, Odom. All of creation is only a reflection from the light, and the light is only a reflection that does not in any way convey Atzmus. All of these levels and containers – are possible only as a result of the Tzimtzum, which happened because of the souls which originated in the Divine thought (so that they descend and fulfill their mission on earth). Thus the existence of the containers is because of the souls. Indeed the “souls arose in the thought” means that they manifest in the defined containers of the Supernal man. The Divine manifested in the containers because of the souls that originate in the thought, in A”k, all the way before the Tzimtzum in Tehira I’loah.

Though angels also originate in the containers – their source is in the outer containers, intermediaries, not united with light. While souls originate in the inner containers and are the purpose themselves, united with light. Torah is the level of the Divine light itself.

The soul originates in the letters of thought, which are rooted in the power of thought, which is the level of Beriah, and higher – Atzilus. Written letters are Atzilus. Engraved letters – Keser, A”k. Engraved through and through – Reshimu, Tehria O’loah. And from there it descends into Beriah etc. (Maamar 53-56)

SOULS DESCENT

The root of the soul (in the Divine containers and letters in their highest root) is revealed in its descent and work below.

The soul is rooted in the deepest levels of the Essence. But that level is completely consciously detached from the soul as it manifests into a form of energy. The soul is the Divine as it manifests as an independent entity; Torah is Divine revelation (and therefore reveals the soul’s connection with the Essence, as discussed later in Maamar 60). (Maamar 57)

Furthermore: The soul’s hard work does not only achieve the revelation of its source, it also generates something new: Through exertion below souls elevate higher than their source – from containers to light, and in the light – into the essential light, up till the hidden essence.

There are three levels of light: 1) Essence of light, 2) revealed light but only to yourself, 3) revealed light for others. The containers (source of souls) emerge in level three. But through the soul’s descent and its hard work below it accesses level two and one. And ultimately it reaches the light as it is in Atzmus, Divine Essence (Maamar 58-59)

Even souls of Atzilus (the level of the son) – whose souls are revealed – also have the power to reach the source through their Torah study with kabolat ol and their exertion in Torah. This allows them to reach the level of the “son who becomes a servant.”

Torah – which is the level of Divine light (its connection to the Divine is revealed) – reveals in the soul its source in the Divine light all the way to its source in Atzmus. Light reveals the virtues of the containers.

Mitzvos – are connected to the Essence itself, even higher than Torah. Torah reveals the light above, mitzvos access the hidden essence.

Exertion in Torah has both virtues. But all people, even the simple (who are not scholars), can access the essence of the Divine through their mitzvos (the level of the servant).

These three levels of light correspond with the three levels of malchiyot, zochronot and shofrot: Memaleh, Sovev and Atzmus. (Maamar 60-61)

Tags: pleasure, mitzvot, space, kabbalah, time, Chassidus, Rebbe Rashab, tzimtzum
Posted in Great Mystics, Torah Personalities, Modern, Spiritual, Rebbe Rashab | 3 Comments »

Back to Sinai: A New Solution to the Middle East

June 9th, 2016

Picture this scenario:

The world’s nations and religions stand in judgment before G-d. G-d is asking them to account for their activities and for what they perpetrated against the Jewish people and against the world. It is a momentous occasion. The destiny of the world hangs in the balance.

Interesting scenario, huh? If it would only be true, you say.

Well, this is exactly what transpired 3328 years ago, and is being resolved today.

The Talmud (in the opening of the tractate Avodah Zorah) relates in elaborate detail a fascinating account of a dialogue between G-d and the nations.

I would strongly suggest that each of us read this account during the upcoming holiday of Shavuot – as it addresses the events at Sinai – and I assure you that you will find it surprisingly and uncannily relevant to our times.

Here is a brief summary:

The Talmud tells us that our actions are witnesses that testify on our behalf for posterity.

In this context, the Talmud describes a “trial” that will happen in the “future to be” (referring to the Final Redemption of the entire world, a time of peace and harmony, a world where G-d will be at ‘home’ in our material world). G-d will invite all those who served G-d with Torah to “come and receive their reward.” The nations of the world arrive for their reward. First come the two most prestigious and powerful empires the Roman Empire followed by the Persian Empire. Each describe their great achievements in commerce, travel, entertainment, etc., explaining how their contributions allowed for Divine service, and facilitated Jews to study Torah. G-d rejects their arguments, stating that their achievements were for their own sake, not for any higher purpose. “Are there among you those that disseminated Torah?” G-d asks them. G-d concludes that there are none, hence the nations are not deserving of any reward.

The same will transpire with every nation. Each will argue that they should merit reward for their temporal achievements which also benefited the spiritual – from which Israel derived benefit – and their claims will be denied.

“Why are the Romans and Persians explicitly mentioned by name as opposed to the other nations that are not mentioned separately?” The Talmud answers: “For these regimes will endure until the arrival of Moshiach.”

The Talmud then continues to relate how the nations will attempt to defend themselves against G-d’s charge that they did not involve themselves in Torah. Briefly, the Talmud suggests three different arguments the nations will proffer.

First, that they were never offered the Torah. This is refuted by the fact that the nations were indeed offered the Torah – as it is stated “G-d came from Sinai shone forth to them from Seir [territory of Esau, father of the Romans] and made an appearance from Mount Paran [land of Ishmael, father of the Persians]” – and they did not accept it.

The second claim would be that since the nations never received the Torah, they were not responsible for it. This too is an unacceptable defense, because in this very contention lies their refutation. For G-d will ask them: “Why, in fact, did you not accept the Torah in the first place.”

Finally, the nations’ defense will be that G-d did not coerce them to receive the Torah as He did the Jews, implying that had G-d coerced them, they too would have received the Torah and followed its precepts. G-d replies: “The first will inform us” – “Your level of commitment to the first set of commitments – the seven universal Noachide Laws of civilization – will inform us whether you indeed would have observed the Torah had I coerced you to accept it.” “Since you did not fulfill the seven Noachide precepts, it is evident that you would not observe the Torah’s commandments.”

The nations continue to appeal by asking what evidence is there that the Jewish people were meticulous in their observance of Torah. After a series of back and forth arguments, the evidence finally comes from the nations themselves who bear witness to the Jews’ commitment. Nimrod bears witness that Abraham was G-d fearing, Laban bears witness that Jacob was ethical, etc.

Finally, the Talmud concludes that the nations request that G-d give them another chance to accept G-d’s commandments. And G-d gives them the chance. And adds, that it is only through your effort and preparation today that you can merit reward tomorrow. “If you do not prepare food before Shabbat, what will you have to eat?”

The relevance of this narrative today is powerfully evident. We are witnessing today the struggle of nations stemming from Esau – the Roman/Christian/Western world, and Ishmael – the Arab/Muslim world, and their confrontations are deeply related to Israel and the Jews, children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

This struggle can truly be understood only by retracing its roots. The story of Abraham and his children, and then the story of Sinai seven generations later tells us how these battles all began.

G-d offered the Torah to the great nations/religions of the world. The children of Esau and the children of Ishmael rejected it on grounds that they could not comply with some of Torah’s laws.[1] Instead, these people – who encompass all nations – went on to build powerful empires that made important contributions, but also wreaked great destruction on the world.

Their rejection at Sinai is the root of all our conflicts today. Yet the solution lies in the very offer that the nations rejected. Why would G-d offer the nations the Torah surely knowing that they would reject it?[2] The Zohar explains that it was to redeem the Divine ‘sparks’ embedded among the nations. Furthermore, the offer to the nations was actually a way of implanting in them the quality that will ultimately emerge at the end of days when the entire world will serve G-d in unity, “I will turn to the peoples a pure tongue that all shall call upon the name of G-d and serve Him with one consent”[2].

G-d’s dialogue with the nations in the “future to be” comes to bring closure to this unresolved 3328 year old rejection. All the material achievements of nations and regimes must be permeated with a higher, Divine purpose. They must pave the way to bring the Divine wisdom and will (Torah) into this world.

How fascinating it is that thousands of years ago Moses, in his final parting words, opens his closing blessing to the people with the vision for the entire world: G-d came from Sinai shone forth to them from Seir and made an appearance from Mount Paran. Moses, 3274 years ago, stated clearly that the Torah would shine forth to all the nations of the world – to the nations of Esau and Ishmael, that encompass all the others.

True, at the time the nations were not yet ready to embrace the Torah’s values. Yet the seeds were planted, and have worked their way and seeped into the fiber of existence everywhere.

That was then. Now, 3328 years later the time has come for these and all nations to face G-d once again, and this time embrace G-d’s law – to reconnect to the commitment of Abraham, “father of all the nations,” that was consummated at Sinai.

As we enter into the holiday of Shavuot, when we celebrate and commemorate the giving of Torah at Sinai 3328 years ago, what more appropriate message is there for each of us and for the world today. We are called upon to declare: Let us make our peace with Sinai.

The nations of the world must and will embrace their legacy — to integrate G-d into their lives, teach G-d’s laws to their children and infuse spirituality into all systems. Jews must fulfill their calling of being a “light unto nations,” bringing Sinai and its teachings to all.

G-d knocked on the door once over three millennia ago. G-d has been waiting ever since. Religions and faiths have been born in the interim and have been going through their growing pains. Some have brought untold devastation to the world. Each has undergone its own ‘market corrections’ and reality checks.

Today, as the nations – especially Esau and Ishmael – confront the world and each other, with Israel as usual in the middle, G-d’s 3328 year knock resonates louder than ever.

Are we listening? Are we responding?

——

1. See also Zohar III 192b. Mechilta Yitro 20:2. Sifri and Rashi Deuteronomy 33:2.
2. See the Tzemach Tzedek, Ohr HaTorah p. 1840, on the verse in Deuteronomy.
3. Zefaniah 3:9. Maimonides. Mishne Torah, Laws of Kings end of chapter 11.

Posted in Shavuot, Months & Holidays, Social, Torah, Sivan, Current Events | 2 Comments »

Shavuot Poem

June 9th, 2016

By Philip Namanworth

We were slaves in Egypt
Now we are free
HaShem took us out
Now it’s up to you and me
To refine our character
And make each moment count
Redefine our purpose
As we head to the mount

Work hard, rebuild, dig deep
Transform to reach our goal
In fifty days
Those fifty gates of heaven
Gonna burn into our soul

First thing we see is desert
A spiritual wilderness
It’s emptiness and loneliness
We wind up feeling ownerless
And at that point
We’re open to receive
With love and awe
G-d’s Holy Torah
Life’s blueprint
Cosmic Living law

With blessings that you
receive the Torah on Shavuos
with joy and inwardness

Tags: poem, Mt. Sinai, blessings
Posted in Shavuot, Months & Holidays, Torah, Sivan | No Comments »

The Kabbalah of Curses

June 2nd, 2016

Tags: anger, meaning, kabbalah, garments, Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, blessings and curses, language, Talmud, Tzemach Tzedek, Torah, wisdom
Posted in Kabbalah, Weekly Parsha, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, Talmudic, Vayikra, Personal Life, Torah Personalities, Spiritual, Torah, Emotions & Psychology, Pain & Suffering, Bechukotai | 1 Comment »

The Stranger

May 11th, 2016

Tags: family, abused children, love your neighbor, conflict resolution
Posted in Weekly Parsha, Vayikra, Personal Life, Home & Family, Kedoshim, Torah, Emotions & Psychology, Pain & Suffering, Personal Stories | 18 Comments »