March 29th, 2015
The following letter was written by Rabbi Nissan Mindel, a secretary of the Rebbe. In it he responds to relative regarding criticisms aimed at the Rebbe and Chabad. It is believed that the letter was reviewed and edited by the Rebbe, as this was commonly the case when Rabbi Mindel sent letters in his own name.
B’H
Pesach Sheini, 5730
Thank you for your letter… I was puzzled by your question about the Cadillac – as you correctly surmised. But frankly, I could find more profitable use for my time than answering criticism of Lubavitch. If everything said and rumored were taken seriously & refuted – a full time secretary would be required (& nothing would be gained). For usually these critics are not interested in the truth but only wish to criticize and find fault. However, I cannot refuse you an answer since you seem genuinely concerned…
To begin with, you have conveyed to me something which you heard from someone, who has heard it from someone else… Although I usually refuse to discuss hearsay, I will give my reply in the order of your letter:
1) I am not aware of anyone being warned, before going into the Rebbe’s, shlita room for a private audience, to address him as “Your Eminence.” This is absurd. (I know of one writer who insists on using this expression when referring to the Rebbe, but that is the said writer’s prerogative). The usual custom is to address the Rebbe, when speaking to him, in the third person (“The Rebbe said…), but this respectful manner is due to any older Rov… it has always been the custom to use the third person when writing to anyone in Hebrew and the Rebbe also uses this form exclusively, except when writing to children. This is also my practice.
2) Not to speak before spoken to, to stand in the Rebbe’s presence and to walk backwards when leaving – this is the customary way Chasidim act in the Rebbe’s presence… this is in the best tradition of Jewish etiquette. (I presume this would be the routine when being received in audience by the Queen?). The Rebbe asks non-Chasidim to sit down, and some do. I sit in the Rebbe’s presence only when taking dictation. That fellow is barking up the wrong tree if he criticizes this procedure.
3) I know that the Rebbe does not accept personal gifts for himself or his wife from anyone. The only exception is books – and that for his library, since it is of public service. Checks made payable to the Rebbe go to ”Special Discretionary Fund” – for special cases or directed to one of the institutions.
4) On the question of “miracles” – here too, the well-known adage can be applied: “For him who believes, no proof is necessary, for him who does not believe, no proof will suffice.” However I will present here some basic observations in regard to miracles: Jews who believe in the Torah believe in miracles; Jews who believe in the Talmud, believe in the ability of certain men (Tannaim etc.) to perform miracles; many men are mentioned in the Talmud who perform miracles, and none was “deified”; the efficacy of blessings and prayers has often been stressed in the Talmud, even of an ordinary Jew; there are “miracles” & there are “miracles”… of turning blood into water etc. and of a blessing come true – such as a refu’a, children, affluence. As for the first kind – I have not heard of any Chosid claim the Rebbe has performed this. It is usually a case of his blessing or prayer having materialized. Those who have experienced such “miracles”- do not have to see a “rational” explanation, for, as mentioned above, it is well within the realm of men, especially saintly men. Skeptics may want to “rationalize” such miracles – it is their prerogative.
5) There is no way of preventing anyone who has been helped “miraculously” by the Rebbe from shouting it from the rooftops… I do not know of a single instance where the Rebbe took credit for any “miracle” or even alluded to it, though he receives many letters from people who inform the Rebbe that his prayer had helped them “miraculously.”
6) On one occasion, when asked by a student about his helping people in a “miraculous” way, the Rebbe replied that any Jew who is a shomer Torah & mitzvos is capable of performing such miracles by virtue of his attachment to the Giver of the Torah & mitzvos. (as a light can be switched on because of its connection to the source, the power station).
7) The kind of miracles attributed to the Rebbe have been similarly attributed to other saintly men (Vilna Gaon, Reb Itzele of Rezhitze… about whom I was told by my family members).
8) As for attaching a “G-d- like” image to the Rebbe, oft repeated criticism, it is a matter of semantics. We have all been created in the “image of G-d” and therefore have “G-d-like images.” Certainly a Jew who is more closely attached to G-d, & consistently so, has more of a (revealed) G-dly image than a Jew who is not so close. I cannot imagine a greater stupidity than the charge of the Rebbe being “deified.” Even Moshe Rabbeinu was never deified. (this has a place in Xstian dogma, not in Judaism).
9) I need hardly point out that neither the Rebbe nor his wife is ostentatious in any way. Not only do they not travel “first class” (it would be no crime if they did), but they do not travel, period. In my association with the present Rebbe for nearly 30 years, he has not taken a vacation for a single day… I believe his wife made one trip abroad, but I do not know if she traveled first class.
10) Now for the “celebrated Cadillac. This car is by far not the most expensive car in the U.S.A…. it is most often bought here for its performance rather than prestige. If it is a luxury, it is probably the only one the Rebbetzen can be “accused” of. It so happens that she is rather petite & it is the most comfortable for her to drive. I should know, because I went with her to buy her first Cadillac (she insisted on subdued colors). You see, she has no private chauffeur to drive her around…
I am sorry that you were so distressed about these criticisms and having to “defend” the Rebbe. Spare yourself the aggravation. Nothing you will say will convince those who delight in criticism of this kind. As for the innocent bystander, you can only tell him: Don’t believe everything you see and believe nothing you hear.
Affectionately,
Nissan
Tags: miracles, traditions, Jewish customs, Rebbe, Frierdiker Rebbe, chassidim, respect, blessings
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March 29th, 2015
By the Grace of G-d
28th of Sivan, 5724
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Mr. [name redacted],
Toronto, 19
Ontario, Canada
Greeting and Blessing:
This is to acknowledge your letter.
It is surprising to me to note in your letter that it is your impression as though Chassidim do not participate in the outside world, etc. As a matter of fact, the reverse is true, for there is hardly any sphere or area in the world at large which Chassidim exclude from their interest. This attitude is the direct result of the emphasis in Chassidus on the true concept of Monotheism. The Chassidic concept of the oneness of G-d goes much further than the generally accepted view that there is only One Deity and no more, but that there is only One G-d and nothing else. For, inasmuch as G-d’s word (whereby it He brought the world into existence) constantly and without interruption creates and vitalizes the whole Universe and every particular of it, and without this creative force, which is the true essence of every existing thing, nothing could exist, it follows that there is no true reality other than G-d, and there is actually nothing but G-dliness. Chassidus emphasizes that it is one of the central aspects of man’s purpose in life to establish this truth and to spread it to the utmost extent of his influence. This is not merely an idea, but a way of life which is expressed in the daily life, and which permeates the whole inner being of a Chossid.
A corollary to this viewpoint is another fundamental principle in the teachings of Chassidus, namely that Divine Providence extends to each and every particular in the Creation, not only to each individual of the human race, but each particular in the realm of the animal world, the vegetable and even the mineral, as it is well known to everyone who studies Chassidus.
Thus it is fundamental for the Chassidic philosophy and way of life not to exclude any part of the world from its sphere of interest.
As for your writing that you have not come across any names of Chassidim who participated in certain movements, such as civil rights etc., this is also surprising, inasmuch as many have taken an active part in this and other constructive movements. Many more, however, among those who participate in such constructive movements do so while avoiding publicity and headlines in the press.
You do not write about your own background, from which I assume that your own affairs are in order. From what has been said above, it will be clear that true “order” is accomplished when the spiritual aspects and higher values in life have preponderance over the material aspects or, to put it in the Chassidic way, when the spirit prevails over matter, and this, not on special occasions in the course of one’s life, but in everyday life.
With blessing,
Tags: chassidim, divine providence, belief, Chassidus, creation
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March 29th, 2015
Miriam the prophetess … took the tambourine in her hand; and all the women followed her with tambourines and dances.
And Miriam called to them: “Sing to G-d….”
Exodus 15:20-21
We don’t sing when we are frightened, despairing, sleepy, or after a heavy meal. We sing when we are pining after one we love, when we are yearning for better times, when we are celebrating an achievement or anticipating a revelation.
We don’t sing when we are complacent. We sing when we are striving for something, or when we have tasted joy and are climbing it to the heavens.
Song is prayer,
the endeavor to rise above the petty cares of life and cleave to one’s source. Song is our quest for redemption.
The Midrash enumerates ten preeminent songs in the history of Israel—ten occasions on which our experience of redemption found expression in melody and verse. The first nine are the song sung on the night of the Exodus in Egypt, the “Song at the Sea,” the “Song at the Well,” Moses’ song upon his completion of writing the Torah, the song with which Joshua stopped the sun, Deborah’s song, King David’s song, the song at the dedication of the Holy Temple, and King Solomon’s “Song of Songs” extolling the love between the Divine Groom and His bride Israel.
The tenth song, says the Midrash, will be the shir chadash, the “new song” of the ultimate redemption: a redemption that is global and absolute; a redemption that will annihilate all suffering, ignorance, jealousy and hate from the face of the earth; a redemption of such proportions that the yearning it evokes, and the joy it brings, require a new song—a completely new musical vocabulary—to capture the voice of Creation’s ultimate striving.
Encore
The most well known of the ten songs of redemption is Shirat HaYam, the “Song at the Sea” sung by Moses and the children of Israel upon their crossing of the Red Sea. We recite this song every day in our morning prayers, and publicly read it in the synagogue twice a year: on the seventh day of Passover (the anniversary of the splitting of the sea and the song’s composition), and on a mid-winter Shabbat in the course of the annual Torah-reading cycle—a Shabbat which is therefore distinguished with the name Shabbat Shirah, “Shabbat of Song.”
The Song at the Sea praises G-d for His miraculous redemption of Israel when He split the Red Sea for them and drowned the pursuing Egyptians in it, and expresses Israel’s desire that G-d lead them to their homeland and rest His presence amongst them in the Holy Temple. It concludes with a reference to the ultimate redemption, when “G-d will reign for all eternity.”
Actually, there are two versions of the Song at the Sea—a male version and a female version. After Moses and the children of Israel sang their song, “Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the tambourine in her hand; and all the women followed her with tambourines and dances. And Miriam called to them: ‘Sing to G-d, for He is most exalted; horse and rider He cast in the sea…’”
The men sang, and then the women. The men sang, and then the women sang, danced and tambourined. The men sang—sang their joy over their deliverance, sang their yearning for a more perfect redemption—but something was lacking. Something that only a woman’s song like Miriam’s Song could complete.
Feeling and Faith
Miriam, the elder sister of Moses and Aaron, presided over the female encore to the Song at the Sea.
Miriam, named “Bitterness” because at the time of her birth the people of Israel entered the harshest phase of the Egyptian exile. Miriam, who when the infant Moses was placed in a basket at the banks of the Nile, “stood watch from afar, to see what would become of him.”
It was Miriam, with her deep well of feminine feeling, who truly experienced the bitterness of galut (exile and persecution). And it was Miriam, with her woman’s capacity for endurance, perseverance and hope, who stood lonely watch over the tender, fledging life in a basket at the edge of a mammoth river, whose vigilance over “what would become of him” and his mission to bring redemption to her people never faltered.
The scene of the young woman standing watch in the thicket of rushes at the edge of the Nile, the hope of redemption persevering against the bitterness of galut in her heart, evokes the image of another watching matriarch—Rachel. As the prophet Jeremiah describes, it is Rachel who, in her lonely grave on the road from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, weeps over her children’s suffering in galut. It is she, more than the male patriarchs or leaders of Israel, who feels the depth of our pain; it is her intervention before G-d, after theirs has failed, which brings the redemption.
Miriam and her chorus brought to the Song at the Sea the intensity of feeling and depth of faith unique to womankind. Their experience of the bitterness of galut had been far more intense than that of their menfolk, yet their faith had been stronger and more enduring. So their yearning for redemption had been that much more poignant, as was their joy over its realization and their striving towards its greater fulfillment.
Today
The great Kabbalist, Rabbi Yizchak Luria (“The Ari,” 1534-1572), writes that the last generation before the coming of Moshiach is the reincarnation of the generation of the Exodus.
Today, as we stand at the threshold of the ultimate redemption, it is once again the woman whose song is the most poignant, whose tambourine is the most hopeful, whose dance is the most joyous. Today, as then, the redemption will be realized “in the merit of righteous women.” Today, as then, the woman’s yearning for Moshiach—a yearning which runs deeper than that of the man, and inspires and uplifts it—forms the dominant strain in the melody of redemption.
Based on an address by the Rebbe, Shabbat Shirah 5752 (January 18, 1992)
Adapted from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe by Yanki Tauber
Tags: Exodus from Egypt, exile, redemption, women, song, Moshiach, galut
Posted in Weekly Parsha, Biblical, Passover, Shmot, Months & Holidays, Beliefs & Concepts, Beshalach, Torah Personalities, Social, Moshiach & Redemption, Torah, Prayer, Nisan, Art & Music, Miriam | No Comments »
March 29th, 2015
By the Grace of G-d
5741
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Mrs.[name redacted],
L.A. Cal. 90064
Blessing and Greeting:
This is to confirm receipt of your letter, with the enclosures, which reached me with some delay.
May G-d grant the fulfillment of your hearts desires for good, as He knows what is the true good, which – insofar as a Jew is concerned – includes both the material and spiritual, with the preponderance of the spiritual over the material.
The following is written after some hesitation, but in the hope that it will be accepted in the proper spirit, especially since you asked for my opinion.
Needless to say, everyone should fully utilize one’s G-d given capacities and talents. However, as in everything concerning human life, and in view of human frailties and uncertainties, the Creator has provided guidelines and instructions for human behavior, especially in every detail of the Jew’s everyday life. These are clearly spelled out In the Torah, called Torah Or; the Torah is Light because it illuminates the individual’s personal life to the minutest detail.
The Torah also requires a Jew to reach out to any and every fellow Jew to bring them closer to the eternal values of the Torah and the Torah-way of life, using every good opportunity to influence them in this direction. Of course, just as in the case of individuals an individual approach is required so in the case of groups and nationalities. What may be the proper approach to one ethnic group, for example, may not be the right approach to a different ethnic group.
All of the above is by way of a foreword to the subject matter at hand, namely, the idea of portraying the seven women prophetesses of the Torah through the medium of film.
When it is desired to present an image of a bygone era, particularly one from the distant past, one must bear in mind that a certain well-defined image has already been formed in people’s minds in regard to their historic past, according to time-honored concepts and traditions. Hence special caution is required to ensure that the presentation will uphold that image, and certainly will in no way denigrate it, however unwittingly. This would be true also in a literary presentation; how much more so, when portraying it in a visible form, particularly in the form of a motion picture, for T. V. and the like, in terms of living persons and events, as a “docu-drama” or similar film presentation.
Certainly, when the idea is to recapture, in an audio-visual, true-to-life film presentation, an era or personage that has to do with a religious theme, with the sublime and holy, and similar highly sensitive nuances, one must be extremely cautious not to offend the sensibilities of the viewers.
In light of the above, I do not see how it is altogether possible to present a religious personage, such as a prophet/ess, in a portrayal that would be in keeping with the said aim. Even to present a factual, authentic documentary, without any in-depth study, would be most difficult to do for anyone who is not on the same spiritual level, is permeated with the same convictions, and has shared the same experiences as the subject portrayed.
As a matter of well-known fact, all such movie productions on Biblical themes end personages, however impressive from the artistic viewpoint and in other respects, have not succeeded in the essential aspect of projecting a true, or even remotely true image, as the producers themselves will readily admit, or have admitted, since, in any case, this has not been their primary concern.
And since the said objective is essentially unattainable, I do not believe that one has a moral right to attempt it in view of the far-reaching impact on the feelings of the numerous viewers.
I am aware of the argument that the production is intended to attract the distant and uninitiated, and in their case there can be no offended feelings, while even a partial benefit would have a gain. In truth, however, the argument is not justifiable on two counts. First, it is impossible to limit the viewing audience to the uninitiated; second, even those who will be favorably, impressed and will be attracted to learn more about Yiddishkeit, will very likely be inhibited in their advancement by the impressions they will have gained from the film.
Needless to say, I appreciate the strong motivation and desire to portray, on the highest possible level of holiness, an exemplary and inspiring figure from the ancient past, especially when one feels capable of doing it. But this should also provide the strength to resist the temptation.
I have not touched upon the other problems that complicate such a production, as, for example, duplicating the garments worn in the period, which also calls for caution as well as expertise. But even if all other problems can be dealt with reasonable satisfaction, the main objection, as outlined above, remains.
I reiterate my hope that you will accept the above in the spirit it has been written, since it is a matter of public concern. And may you utilize your talents in a way that is fully consistent with the eternal Torah principles, for the benefit of the many.
With blessing,
Tags: media, publicity, ancestry, Jewish history
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March 29th, 2015
[Esau would ask his father:] “How does one tithe straw?”
Midrash Rabbah, Bereishit 63:15
And the house of Jacob shall be fire … and the house of Esau, straw
Obadiah 1:18
Straw, being animal fodder, is absolved from the obligation of tithing, which applies only to produce grown for human consumption. Esau inquired of Isaac as to how to tithe straw, wishing to impress his father with a demonstration of copious piety; in doing so, he also demonstrated a fatal flaw in his approach to life.
We each possess both an “animal soul” and a “G-dly soul.”
Man, the Kabbalists tell us, is vitalized by no less than two souls: we each possess both an “animal soul” and a “G-dly soul.” The animal soul is the motor of physical life, incorporating the instincts, drives, desires and faculties that serve the survival and perpetuation of the physical self. In this, the human being is another animal, however intelligent and sensitive an animal. What distinguishes him from the animal world is his G-dly soul, which embodies his striving to transcend the animal state and relate to the Divine.
All endeavors of man are either “human food” that fuels the spiritual life of the G-dly soul, or “animal fodder” that nourishes the material life of the animal soul.
All endeavors of man are either “human food” that fuels the spiritual life of the G-dly soul, or “animal fodder” that nourishes the material life of the animal soul. Both are indispensable to our purpose in life, for the soul can operate and achieve its goals only via a physical self; but one must take care not to confuse the means with the end. One must always be able to distinguish between the sacred and the mundane in one’s life, and remember which exists to serve which.
Esau wished to tithe the straw of life, to attribute spiritual worth to animal fodder. Instead of exploiting the material to serve the spiritual, he wished to invest the material with a significance and value of its own, which is the spiritual meaning of straw.
The end, of course, was that the “dew of the heavens and the fat of the land” intended for Esau was given to Jacob, who could be trusted to “tithe” or idealize only what nurtures the man in man—the G-dly drives and aspirations that distinguish the human from the animal.
Unfit Fodder
In the end of days, prophesies the prophet, when the purpose of creation will reach its fulfillment, “the house of Jacob shall be fire… and the house of Esau, straw.”
In the perfect world of Moshiach, such empty materialism will cease to be—the
kash of Esau will be utterly consumed by the spiritual fire
of Jacob.
Teven, on the other hand, will become the staple of the animal kingdom, as the prophet says, “the lion, like the ox, shall eat straw (
teven).”
This is not the same straw of which Esau spoke to Isaac. The Hebrew word used in that connection by the Midrash is
teven, while the prophet describes the house of Esau as
kash. While both words loosely translate as “straw,”
teven is more precisely the chaff that is harvested together with the grain and is subsequently fed to the livestock, while
kash is the stubble that remains in the field and is too coarse even for animal consumption.
Esau was initially entrusted with the teven, the straw symbiotically related to the grain—the straw that feeds the animal that serves man. But when he sought to reverse this relationship—to make straw the focus and object of life—his teven turned to kash, into a hollow husk depleted of all nutritive potential.
In the perfect world of Moshiach, such empty materialism will cease to be—the kash of Esau will be utterly consumed by the spiritual fire of Jacob. Teven, on the other hand, will become the staple of the animal kingdom, as the prophet says, “the lion, like the ox, shall eat straw (teven).”
Based on an entry in the Rebbe’s journal, circa 1942.
—–
Tags: materialism, body and soul, animals, spiritual and material, spiritual evolution, wheat, nature
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March 29th, 2015
The Torah-reading of Vayechi (Genesis 47-50) recounts the culminating events of Jacob’s earthly life: his parting instructions and blessings to his children, his passing, funeral, and burial.
Vayechi begins with Jacob’s request of Joseph that his body should be taken out of Egypt to buried in the Holy Land, in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron where the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of Israel are interred. Aware that this was sure to encounter much resistance from Pharaoh, Jacob insists that his son take a solemn oath to carry out this request.
Soon after, Joseph brings his two sons to receive Jacob’s blessing. But before Jacob blesses them, he speaks to Joseph, recalling the circumstances surrounding the death of Joseph’s mother, Rachel, nearly 50 years earlier:
And I, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the Land of Canaan, on the road, a short distance from Efrat; and I buried her there on the road to Efrat, which is Bethlehem.
Rashi explains that Jacob was saying to Joseph:
I am asking you to trouble yourself to take me to be buried in the [Holy] Land… even though I did not do the same for your mother. She died near Bethlehem … and I did not even take her to Bethlehem to bring her to [a settled place in] the Land. I know that there is resentment in your heart toward me [over this]. But know that it was by divine command that I buried her there, so that she should be a help for her children when Nevuzaradan will exile them and they will pass by there. Then Rachel will come out upon her grave and weep and plead for mercy for them, as it is written: “A voice is heard in Ramah, [lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel is weeping for her children…]”; and G-d will answer her, “There is reward for your work…. The children shall return to their own borders.”
Male and Female
Intrinsic to our nature is a perpetual striving for self-improvement. The human being is never content to just be: the very thought of a missed opportunity or an unrealized potential gives him no rest, spurring him to the ceaseless toil and unremitting ambition he calls “life.”
“He,” we said, for though the drive for self-betterment is present in every individual of our species, it belongs to the “male” or active-assertive aspect in our personality. But no less integral to us is our “female” element—our capacity for receptiveness and sacrifice, our conviction that there is no greater greatness than the abnegation of self to a higher end.
So ingrained is this duality within us that we unquestionably accept its paradox in every area of life. We exalt selflessness even as we glorify the self. We equate “good” with “altruistic” even as we recognize the ego as the prime motivator of all positive achievement. We strive for “success,” “fulfillment” and “realization” even as we avow that we are doing it all “for the children.”
For so were we formed at the hand of our Creator: “G-d formed man, dust of the earth” —yielding as the soil under his feet—“and He blew into his nostrils the breath of life” —the drive to aspire, grow and achieve. G-d then “took the man He had made, and placed him” in His world “to work it” and develop it, but also “to keep it” and nurture it.
As Jews, we inherit this duality from Jacob and Rachel.
Man is thus a creature with not one, but two centers to its being, an entity with not one, but two nuclei at its heart. Man is spirit revolving upon an axis of fulfillment-seeking selfhood, as well as a soul centered upon a core of selflessness. In the words of the verse: “Male and female He created them … and He called their name—man.”
As Jews, we inherit this duality from Jacob and Rachel. Jacob was “the choicest of the Patriarchs,” and Rachel, the quintessential mother of Israel. From Jacob, whose life of accomplishment is crowned by a royal procession to the heart of the Holy Land where the founders of Israel are enshrined, we derive our potential for self-perfection. And from Rachel, the young mother who died in childbirth and who dwells in a lonely wayside grave in order to better bear witness to the suffering of her children, we receive our capacity for commitment and self-transcendence.
Based on the Rebbe’s talks on Shabbat Vayechi 5746 (1986) and on other occasions
Adapted from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe by Yanki Tauber
Tags: transcendence, self-development, gender identity, women, men, gender roles
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March 29th, 2015
And Abraham again took a wife, and her name was Keturah
Genesis 25:1
Keturah is Hagar. Why is she called Keturah? For her deeds were [now] as pleasing as the ketoret [incense].
Midrash Rabbah on verse
Hagar was the Egyptian maidservant of Abraham’s first wife, Sarah. When Sarah had failed to conceive a child after many years of marriage, she implored Abraham to have a child with Hagar. Hagar did give Abraham a child, Ishmael, who turned out to be “a wild man, whose hand is against everyone and everyone’s hand is against him.’’ Sarah ultimately demanded of Abraham that he banish Hagar and Ishmael from their home. When Abraham hesitated, G-d instructed him, “Whatever Sarah tells you to do, harken to her voice.” Hagar drifted back to the paganism of her homeland and found an Egyptian wife for Ishmael.
Years later, however, we find Ishmael back in the Abrahamic fold, accompanying Abraham and Isaac to the Akeidah. And then, three years after Sarah’s death, Abraham remarries Hagar in the event of the return of Hagar. The reconciliation is now complete—indeed it is Sarah’s son, Isaac, who brings Hagar back for her marriage with his father.
“Everything that happened to the Patriarchs,” say our sages, “is a signpost for their children. This is why the Torah elaborates on…the events of their lives…for they all come to instruct the future.”
The same is true regarding the shifts in Abraham’s relationship with his “barbarous” wife and son: his expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael and their subsequent readmission into his family represent the different stages in our history of dealing with the “Hagars” and “Ishmaels” in our lives—the raw and unruly elements in our nature, society and environment.
The Spiritualist, the Miner, and the Future
There are three basic ways of dealing with the mundane in one’s life: disavowal, refinement or sublimation.
The first approach is that of the ascetic, whose reaction to mundanity is to escape it. Repelled by the corporeality of physical life, he reduces his involvement in the material to the bare minimum and devotes his life to spiritual pursuits.
Then there is the “refiner,” who approaches the untamed wilderness of materiality as a prospector panning for gold. He knows that much of what passes through his hands is profitless sludge, but he is searching for the nuggets of sublimity imbedded within. So he doesn’t disavow the material, but neither does he embrace it unequivocally. His life is an exercise in selectivity: to extract the sparks of potential while rejecting the irredeemable dross.
The third approach is that of the “sublimator,” who refuses to regard any element of G-d’s creation as “irredeemable.” He insists that every creature, every force, every experience, no matter how lowly, can be transformed into something positive and holy. There is nothing that is intrinsically negative in G-d’s world, he argues; evil and corruption are never more than skin deep. Everything can, and should, be transformed into a force for good.
These three approaches are actually three stages in the history of human potential. On the second day of creation, G-d divided His creation into two domains, decreeing that “The lower realms shall not ascend to the higher realms, and the higher realms shall not descend to the lower realms.” The breach between the spiritual and the physical was absolute: the spiritual could not be actualized, nor could the physical be sanctified. Man had a choice—he could either succumb to the mundanity of the material, or he could transcend it. “Refining” or “sublimating” the material was beyond the capacity of a world in which an inviolable boundary separated the holy from the profane.
This state of affairs prevailed for the twenty-six generations from Adam to Moses. Then G-d rescinded His decree.
On the sixth of Sivan in the year 2448 from creation (1313 bce), “G-d descended upon Mount Sinai,” setting the precedent that the supernal may permeate the earthly, “and to Moses He said: ‘Ascend to G-d,’ ” empowering the earthly to be elevated.[12]. Midrash Tanchuma, ibid.: “Once there was a king who decreed: ‘The people of Rome are forbidden to journey to Syria, and the people of Syria are forbidden to journey to Rome.’ Likewise, when G-d created the world, He decreed: ‘The heavens are G-d’s, and the earth is given to man’ (Psalms 115:16). But when He wished to give the Torah to Israel, He rescinded His original decree, and declared: ‘The lower realms may ascend to the higher realms, and the higher realms may descend to the lower realms. And I, Myself, will begin’-as it is written, ‘And G-d descended on Mount Sinai’ (Exodus 19:20), and then it says, ‘And to Moses He said: Go up to G-d’ (Exodus 24:19).”]
The era of “refinement” (birur) commenced. At Sinai, we were enfranchised to extract kernels of holiness from the husk of materiality. We were given a guidebook, the Torah, to teach us how to distinguish between that which can be positively utilized and that which must be rejected. The Torah spells out which foodstuffs are elevated when they energize our positive deeds, and which coarsen our minds and hearts and deaden our spiritual sensitivities; which relationships can bring love, joy and sanctity to our marital lives, and which are exploitative and debasing. The same applies to every area of life: the Torah instructs us which elements of physical life we are to embrace and develop, and which we are to reject and disavow. To attempt to go beyond this guide–to seek to sublimate that which the Torah decrees to be irredeemable–is futile and counterproductive. Just as pre-Sinai man was incapable of bridging the divinely imposed barrier between matter and spirit, so, too, are we capable of sanctifying only that which the Creator of life has empowered us to sanctify.
Finally, G-d promises that there will come a time when “I shall remove the spirit of impurity from the earth.” A time when all evil and negativity shall cease from the earth and the positive essence of every creature and phenomenon in G-d’s world shall come to light. No longer will we face the daily challenge of winnowing the holy from the profane; no longer will we know the pain of being compelled to relinquish potent areas of our lives because of our inability to properly and constructively channel them. Instead, we will inhabit a world in which everything will naturally lend itself to a good and G-dly end.
Abraham’s Sinai
Abraham lived in the pre-Sinai era. This means that, ultimately, his achievements were confined to the spiritual realm. He forged the Jewish soul, developing his own life into a paradigm of lovingkindness and commitment to G-d, and bequeathing these qualities to his descendants. He battled the near-universal paganism of his time, prevailing upon many of his generation to renounce their idols and recognize the one G-d. But the physical substance of creation was largely unaffected; the divine demarcation between the spiritual and the material was still in force, precluding any human endeavor to sanctify the mundane.
Nevertheless, as “father” and archetype of the Jewish nation, Abraham embodied the entire history of our mission in life. So Abraham’s life also included a transcendent “pre-Sinai” period, a “refinement” period, as well as the futuristic “sublimation” era. These three phases in the life of Abraham are delineated by the three sidrot (Torah sections) which the Torah devotes to Abraham’s life: Lech Lecha (Genesis 12-17), Vayeira (18-22) and Chayei Sarah (23-25).
The exclusively spiritual period in Abraham’s life lasted until his circumcision. The divine instruction to circumcise himself was Abraham’s “Sinai”—the first (and only) occasion on which G-d commanded a mitzvah (Torah commandment) to him. For the first time in his life, Abraham could perform a mitzvah—an act that carries a divine empowerment to transform a physical entity (in this case, his own body) into a vehicle of spirituality and G-dliness, through its utilization as an agent of divine will.
[This explains a curious detail of Abraham’s behavior related by the Torah. When Abraham wanted his servant, Eliezer, to take an oath, he told him to “place your hand under my thigh.” An oath is taken while holding a sacred object such as a Torah scroll or tefillin; here Abraham is telling Eliezer to swear on the part of his own body sanctified by the mitzvah of circumcision. Yet our sages tell us that “Abraham observed the entire Torah” though it was yet to be given [at Sinai] —so Abraham studied Torah, put on tefillin, affixed a mezuzah on his doorpost, etc. It would therefore seem that he had no shortage of “sacred objects” available to him. Why, then, did he have Eliezer place his hand “under his thigh,” contrary to all common standards of modesty and propriety? But as explained above, the import of Abraham’s pre-Sinai mitzvot were of a wholly spiritual nature. Since G-d had not commanded him to do them, they remained human deeds, subject to the natural law that separated the spiritual from the material; while they had a profound effect on his own soul, the souls of his descendants, and the spiritual essence of creation, they had no impact on the material substance of the universe. The single exception was the mitzvah of circumcision, whose commandment by G-d constituted an empowerment to sanctify the physical. Thus, this was indeed the only sacred object available to Abraham.]
The significance of this watershed event in Abraham’s life is emphasized by the fact that, upon commanding him to circumcise himself, G-d changed Abraham’s name. Originally, the first Jew’s name was Abram; G-d added the Hebrew letter hei to make it Abraham. “Abram” is an acronym for the Hebrew words av ram—“exalted father”; “Abraham” stands for av hamon goyim—“father of a multitude of nations.”Before he was granted the commandment of circumcision, Abram was an exalted father—a progenitor of spiritual achievements and a bequeathor of a spiritual legacy; his deeds, however, remained “exalted,” beyond the realm of the material. Upon his circumcision, Abraham assumed a role of influence upon “a multitude of nations”—a role that involved his refinement and elevation of the pedestrian and the mundane (to the extent that this was possible before Sinai).
The Refining Female
“Male and female He created them,” is how the Torah describes G-d’s creation of human life.
Indeed, this duality extends to all forms of life, and to all elements of creation—heaven and earth, sun and moon, energy and matter, and the numerous other physical models of the masculine and feminine. The same is true of the spiritual essence of life—our relationship with G-d comprises both a “male” initiating and achieving aspect, and a “female” receptive and nurturing element.
Thus we find that many mitzvot are commanded solely to the man, while others are the domain of the woman: a husband and wife, our sages explain, embody the two halves of a single soul; the deeds of each contribute to their common soul’s fulfillment of both the “masculine” and “feminine” elements of its mission in life. More specifically, each mitzvah is both a “male” and “female” act: it is an act of conquest, of aggressive appropriation of resources from an alien domain for holy purposes, as well as an act of nurture—of refining, purifying and developing the appropriated resource into a vessel of holiness. In the words of the Talmud, “Man brings home grain; but does he chew grain?” Man wrests nutritive potential from the earth, but it is the woman who winnows the chaff from the cereal, sifts the fine flour from the coarse, and kneads, forms and bakes it to edible perfection.
Thus it was Sarah, the female half of Abraham’s soul, who effected the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael. When Abraham hesitated, loath to relinquish the potent potentials implicit in his pagan mate and wild son, G-d said to him: “Whatever Sarah tells you to do, harken to her voice.” True, you are now Abraham, father of multitudes and elevator of the mundane, but in every refinement process there is the extractable ore and the unprofitable rubble. Hagar and Ishmael represent elements of My creation too crude, too volatile, to be redeemed by your efforts. Sarah, your feminine sense of differentiation, has rejected them—do as she says.
However, Abraham’s life includes a post-Sarah era as well—an era in which the most savage of Ishmaels and the most foreign of Hagars have a place in Abraham’s family. An era that is the forerunner and prototype for the age of sublimation, when “no longer will your Master be cloaked; your eyes shall see your Master” —when the divine essence of creation will no longer be shrouded in a mantle of corporeality and the positive utility of every creature will be manifest and accessible.
Based on the Rebbe’s talks and works, including an address delivered on Shabbat Chayei Sarah, 5737 (November 20, 1976).
Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe by Yanki Tauber.
Tags: refinement, spiritual and material, spiritual evolution, personal refinement, materialism, redemption
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March 29th, 2015
And these are the chronicles of Isaac the son of Abraham; Abraham fathered Isaac
Genesis 25:19
Many of the Torah commentaries dwell on the repetitious phrasing of this verse: if the Torah identifies Isaac as “the son of Abraham,” what is added by informing us that “Abraham fathered Isaac”?
One of the Chassidic masters offered the following insight:
Often, we encounter what has come to be called the “generation gap”—parents and children in conflict with each other because they hold different world views and measure their lives against different value systems. At times, the enmity and disdain is reciprocal. In its less severe forms, it might be one-sided: the parents might be proud of their children’s achievements, while the children scorn the “primitiveness” and “backwardness” of their parents. Alternatively, the children might revere their parents and what they stand for, while their parents are deeply disappointed in their children and shamed by their behavior.
The Torah is telling us that, in the case of the first two generations of Jews, there was no “gap”: Isaac had no reservations about being “the son of Abraham,” while Abraham no less readily identified himself as the father of Isaac. Despite the fact that they embodied two very different approaches to life, Isaac sensed that everything he is and has derives from Abraham, while Abraham saw in Isaac the fulfillment and realization of his deepest self.
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Tags: children, parenting, fatherhood, true self
Posted in Biblical, Weekly Parsha, Bereishit, Abraham, Personal Life, Torah Personalities, Chayei Sarah, Home & Family, Isaac, Torah | No Comments »
March 29th, 2015
5712
Mrs. [name redacted],
Bronx, N. Y.
Blessing and Greeting:
I received your letter. While I am pleased to read in your letter a quotation about G-d being the Creator of the world Who also guides all its destinies, etc., this very good impression is weakened by the further tone of your letter, where you state that you want to be “realistic”, based on the prognosis of physicians regarding your condition.
I want to tell you, first, that even from the realistic point of view, we must recognize the fact that very many times the greatest physicians have made mistakes in diagnosis. Moreover, in recent times we see that new discoveries are made daily in the medical field, with new “wonder” drugs and methods, which have revolutionized medical treatment.
Secondly, observing life in general, we see so many things that are strange and unbelievable, that to be truly realistic one cannot consider anything as impossible.
In a condition which is, to a large extent, bound up with the nervous system and the resistance of the organism, even medical opinion agrees that the stronger the patient’s faith in cure, and the stronger his will to get better, the stronger becomes his ability to recover.
Needless to say, this is not said in the way of an admonition. But, inasmuch as by individual Divine Providence, you have learned of me, and I of you, I think I am entitled to convey to you the above thoughts, which I was privileged to hear from my father-in-law of saintly memory in similar cases.
May the Almighty help you to fulfill your promise to work for Torah-true movements, and to bring up your children in the way of true Yiddishkeit.
With blessing, and hoping to hear good news from you,
Sincerely,
Tags: positive thinking, faith, healing, health, doctors
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March 29th, 2015
Lag BaOmer, the thirty-third day of the Omer Count, is the anniversary of the passing of the great sage, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (circa 165 ce).
Although Rabbi Shimon was one of the greatest expounders of the “revealed” part of Torah—the vast body of Halachah that legislates the civil, marital and ritual laws of Jewish life —he is most deeply identified with its “hidden” or mystical element. He is the author of the Zohar, the most basic Kabbalistic work, and the initiator of a new era in the history of Torah’s transmission through the generations.
Up until Rabbi Shimon’s time, the mystical soul of Torah—which charts the sublime expanses of the divine reality, the processes of creation, G-d’s relationship to our existence and the inner recesses of the human soul—was transmitted in private to only a very few individuals in each generation and only in the form of terse, cryptic maxims. Rabbi Shimon was the first to expound upon these most intimate secrets of the divine wisdom, and he set in motion the process by which, in the generations that followed, they gained a widening audience and an increasingly detailed and explicit elucidation.
This process was accelerated by Rabbi Isaac Luria who proclaimed that “in these times, we are allowed and duty-bound to reveal this wisdom,” and more recently, by Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov and his disciples.
The Chassidic masters have explained that the growing popularity and accessibility of the inner dimensions of Torah reflect history’s progression toward the day when, with the advent of the Messianic era, “The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of G-d, as the waters cover the sea.”
The Zohar itself expresses this truth when it declares, “With this book shall Israel be mercifully redeemed.”
Before his passing, Rabbi Shimon instructed his disciples to observe his yahrzeit as a day of joy and festivity, as it marks the culminating point of all he achieved in the course of his physical life. Thus we celebrate Lag BaOmer as Rabbi Shimon’s personal festival, as well as the day that made the mystical soul of Torah accessible to each and every one of us.
On Lag BaOmer it is customary to take the children to parks and fields to play with bows and arrows. One of the explanations given for this custom is that we are told that in the course of Rabbi Shimon’s lifetime, no rainbow appeared in the sky. The rainbow is a sign of human failing: as related in the ninth chapter of Genesis, G-d promised that whenever mankind shall be as undeserving as it was in the generation of the Flood, the rainbow will remind Him of His vow to never again destroy His world. But as long as Rabbi Shimon was alive, his merit alone was enough to ensure that G-d would not regret His creation. Hence the connection of the bow (keshet ) to Lag BaOmer. According to this, however, the bow is a negative symbol, reflecting the decrease in merit that the world experienced upon Rabbi Shimon’s passing. There is, however, a positive aspect to the phenomenon of the bow as well, for the bow also serves as an indicator and catalyst for the ultimate Redemption.
In the words of the Zohar: “Do not anticipate the coming of Moshiach until you see the shining colors of the rainbow.”
The Sword and the Bow
The first weapons devised by man were designed for hand-to-hand combat. But a person’s enemy or prey is not always an arm’s-length away, or even within sight; soon the warrior and hunter were inventing an array of weapons capable of reaching targets which are a great distance away, or which lie hidden and protected behind barriers of every sort.
Chief among them was the bow and arrow. The inventor of this device conceived how the tension in an arched bough of wood could be exploited to propel a missile over great distances. To do so, he first had to grasp the paradox that the deadly arrow must be pulled back toward one’s own heart in order to strike the heart of the enemy; and that the more it is drawn toward oneself, the more distant a foe it can reach. Indeed, virtually all long-range weapons (including the rocket) operate on this principle: they cause an action by the means of an opposite action; they impel up and away by means of a force that is exerted down and back toward the launch-point.
Therein lies the deeper significance of the bow and its connection to Lag BaOmer.
The “revealed” part of Torah is like a close-range weapon in that it aids us in meeting the obvious challenges of life. It teaches us to distinguish between good and evil, between the holy and the profane. Do not kill or steal, it tells us; feed the hungry, hallow your relationship and family life with the sanctity of marriage, remember the Shabbat day, eat only kosher foods—for thus you will preserve the order that G-d instituted in His world and develop it in accordance with the purpose for which He created it.
But not everything is as up front as the explicit do’s and don’ts of the Torah. What about the ambiguities of intent and motive, love and awe, ego and commitment? What about the subtleties of comprehending the divine essence of reality and vanquishing the cosmic heterogeneity that is the source of all evil? How are we to approach these challenges, so distant from our sensory reach and so elusive of our mind’s perception?
This is where the mystical dimension of Torah comes in. Delve into yourself, it explains, retreat to your own essence, to the very core of your soul. There you will uncover the selfless heart of the self, the “spark of G-dliness” within you that is one with its Creator and His creation. There you will gain the insight and foresight to deal with the most distant and obscure adversary; from there you will catapult your redeeming influence to the most forsaken corner of G-d’s world.
On Lag BaOmer, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai gave us the bow.
Based on the Rebbe’s talks, Nissan 29 and Lag BaOmer, 5711 (May 5 and 24, 1951)
Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe by Yanki Tauber.
Tags: Moshiach, kabbalah, redemption, mysticism, Torah, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai
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