Sukkot: Has Anyone Found my Chicken on S. Monica Blvd?

September 19th, 2002

Yom Kippur & Sukkot Musings

I lost my chicken the day before Yom Kippur. You may be wondering why that is a problem. But you see, this was not an ordinary chicken. On Erev (the day preceding) Yom Kippur we observe the custom of kaporot, by waving a chicken over our heads to atone for our sins (the connection between a helpless chicken and sins is another discussion). Yes, I am sorry to admit that I do have my share of sins. So off I went in search of my chicken in S. Monica.

What am I doing in S. Monica? I flew there Saturday night from New York to lead a Yom Kippur service – a fascinating experience of its own.

My dear friend Peter, with whom I collaborate for the Yom Kippur service, has a chicken waiting for me. He calls me on my cell at the Radisson Huntley Hotel on 2^nd Street in Monica. He is waiting in a SUV filled with chicken stench. “You better get down here immediately, or else…” I hurry down. Off we go with cackling chickens in the back, some already used by Peter’s family. One chicken is particularly loud. “That must be your chicken acting up,” I tell Peter.

We finally reach the slaughterhouse, and go back to retrieve my chicken, and… off the chicken runs, clearly aware of its impending fate. I never saw a chicken run so fast; my sins must have frightened him to death.

Finally we corner that naughty lil’ rascal. I have this allergic resistance to touching this chicken. I finally grab him under the wings, walk over to the door of the slaughterhouse, and am surprised to hear the sound within. Mexican music is blaring out the door. First I thought that we must have mistakenly come to a Latino disco. But as I peek in the door, the smell and scene of the makeshift chicken factory are unmistakably Erev Yom Kippur’dik.

And so, I did kaporos to the tune of La Bamba… Yes, it was quite a scene.

This is how my Erev Yom Kippur unfolded on a cool morning on the West Coast.

You may ask what is the metaphor and lesson in all of this? And what is this thing with a chicken anyway? Why does an innocent chicken have to die for our sins?

Honestly, I am not quite sure. Perhaps it is just to teach us a humble lesson. Instead of escaping on Yom Kippur into meditating on lofty concepts, the chicken forces you out of your head and into reality. Yes, this is not just some academic exercise; it is about life and death. It is about holding in your hands a chicken throbbing with life and knowing that your actions will affect the destiny of this creature.

In my case, this particular year, I needed to pursue this white rooster, no small feat, and look into its blinking eyes and acknowledge that I have some things to account for, which this chicken will not allow me to forget.

If you know me you are probably aware that I don’t relate to the word “sin.” The guilt thing just never got to me. What is a sin after all? The word in Hebrew for ‘sin’ is ‘aveirah,’ which means dislocate (“ha’avarah m’reshus l’reshus”, movement from on entity to another). A sin is mode of behavior or an action that dislocates us from our essence.

Yom Kippur is a day when each of us has the unique opportunity to return to our true being. To reconnect even after we have wandered off. To reintegrate who you really are and your preoccupations.

As I have written in many previous articles, Yom Kippur is the birth of hope. On this day Moses returns after 80 arduous days of prayer, beseeching G-d to forgive the people for their iniquities.

After the ‘three weeks of affliction’ and the ‘seven of consolation,’ we finally conclude the ‘two weeks of return.’ After destruction and loss, we finally receive the new revelation on Yom Kippur and are ready to begin celebrating on Sukkot (see previous article titled The Three Weeks of Pain, Seven of Comfort and Three of Return).

There is no greater celebration than the ones that comes from returning and reconnecting to your essence.

170 days have passed since we were freed from our limitations on Passover. 50 days of spiritual refinement between Passover and Shavuot, when we are ready to receive our mandate and mission. 40 more days Moses receiving the Torah at Sinai. But then the fall of the Golden Calf. Another 40 days when Moses begs G-d for forgiveness. Yet another 40 days, that finally conclude with Yom Kippur, with Moses descending with the Second Tablets.

Now, exactly six (lunar) months later, we are ready to celebrate Sukkot. True joy is only possible after having endured and undergone the experiences of great light, deep darkness, and then the greatest light of all that is generated by the deepest darkness.

Now we are ready to celebrate Simchat Torah.

And here I am in plastic LA chasing after a chicken in preparation for the holiest day of the year. It doesn’t get more hilarious, and at the same time serious in a strange way.

I was not surprised to discover that this Yom Kippur was one of the most memorable in my life. The prayers came alive as we applied them to our daily lives. We experienced a true combination of history draped in real life. The holiest day of the year, thousands of years of prayers, beginning with Moses at Sinai, all integrated with our struggles today created a most powerful experience. Traveling the journey of Yom Kippur’s five step prayer service, climbing the ladder from prayer to prayer, through the five levels of the soul, nefesh, ruach, neshomo, chaya, yechida (the five levels of life: functional, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, the essence), was exhilarating and transforming.

Indeed, Yom Kippur is a day that allows you to leave behind for 26 hours a world of monotony and often pain into a purer world of spirit. A world that is driven not by pettiness and competition, with all the distractions and tiresome efforts of trying to make ourselves feel important. A world where you are just there and feel you belong unconditionally, with no airs and pretenses.

If you let yourself go – and that chicken in S. Monica sure loosened me up – Yom Kippur becomes the most powerful cleanser.

And that is the greatest cause of celebration – the song and dance of Sukkot, when we celebrate the awe of Yom Kippur.

So, if you find my chicken somewhere on the boulevard, please smile and give me a call.

Whoever said that Yom Kippur can’t be fun.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

As I write these words, tragic news arrives from Israel. More lives have been torn from us and shattered our hope that the New Year would be a painless one. I feel strange (guilty?) to be sending you this humorous experience. But then again, perhaps my humor isn’t that good and after all, I don’t have any time to write another piece.

Above all, we must use this opportunity to extend our strongest condolences to the families that have now been devastated. “Ad mosai?!” “Viffel iz a shiur?!” – “how much more can we take” – is our cry to G-d.

Of all things, is this the way we are asked to enter the joyous holiday of Sukkot?!

Yet, we still are told to celebrate. And celebrate we will – not out of oblivious denial to the losses around us, but because every tragedy makes us ever more resolute to forge ahead, empowers us with ever more strength and faith to embrace our true calling.

As one Holocaust survivor once said: If anything, the great tragedy taught us that we cannot rely on man only on G-d. And that is the greatest cause for celebration. Every loss of life causes us to appreciate and celebrate with ever more intensity the gift of life and its purpose.

May we once and for all have a year of true peace, with no more death and pain, a year of joy in which we see in a most revealed manner how “the guardian of Israel does not sleep and slumber.”

And may we humans do our utmost to ensure that we protect our freedom and the gifts that G-d has given us. May we not be stupid and foolish in the defense of all that we cherish.

Tags: Yom Kippur, story, sin, teshuva, accountability, body and soul, connection
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Rosh Hashanah: New Year 5763

September 5th, 2002

As we commemorate the first anniversary of September 11^th, there are no better words to define the events of the past year than the Rosh Hashana prayer: Hayom Harat Olam – Today the world trembles. Today the world is born.

Today the world trembles – and tremble it did. Physically and psychologically. And the trembling didn’t subside on that fateful Tuesday morning one year ago. This past year was one that shook not only our landmarks – symbols of both our economic might in lower Manhattan and our national security in the Pentagon – but also our economic infrastructure, with the exposure of a corporate world not to be trusted. Who would have imagined that in just one year so many of our ‘reliable’ systems would be upset, that the world would so radically change – and so suddenly, without warning.

America is experiencing only the tip of our present day iceberg tremors. Israel and the Middle East remain the hotbed of global turmoil – as it has been since the beginning of history.

And the trembles continue. We are no more certain today than we were one year ago. Does anyone feel more secure today? Has anything changed on the geo-political front or the economic one?

But, today the world is also born. These tremors are the precursor of a new world. All birthings are preceded by trembling pangs and spasms, trembles that shake up the old and make way for the new.

What will this new world look like? Again Rosh Hashana provides us with the answer. By going back to the beginning we can see the future. By studying the roots we can see the fruits. Rosh Hashana is described in the prayer as ‘zeh hayom techilas maasecho,’ ‘this is the day which is the beginning of Your work.’

In the beginning, all of creation recognized the ‘hand inside the glove’ and was aware that material existence on its own is but a ‘matrix,’ a surface experience that masks the forces within. Every Rosh Hashana we are called upon to declare to ourselves and the universe our cognizance of the Divine energy which lies within and is the essence of all that exists. “May everything that has been made know that You have made it; everything that has been created understand that You have created it; and everyone who has the breath of life in his nostrils declare the prominence of G-d and His dominion over all.”

Every year on this day we renew our contract with G-d, with the universe and with destiny; we rededicate ourselves to reveal the inner unity within everything around us  —

“v’yaasu kulam agudah achas laasos retzoncho b’leivov sholom,’ ‘they will all form a single unit to carry out Your will with a complete heart.’

And then we are asked to translate the declaration into action. Introduce, reveal, expose the true essence of all creation. Imbue your every act with higher purpose. Infuse your every move with spiritual direction. Instill in your every breath the awareness of your soul which is but the breath of G-d.

This is the mission with which we are charged. And today more than ever – as the existing world trembles – we have the power and opportunity to birth a new reality, one where all peoples, religions, nations, corporations recognize the true inner force that makes it all happen.

The only permanent solution to misguided religious passions that breed wanton terrorists is to humbly accept the sovereignty of G-d and the sanctity of life with which each human being is Divinely endowed.

The only true remedy to greed and corruption, to establish trust between buyer and seller, between owner and worker – to hold onto moral values even as we pursue individual interests – is to connect to the eternal and the absolute, to an unwavering sense of justice and virtue.

As this year winds down and we prepare ourselves for a new dawn – actually the new moon of Rosh Hashana – I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your kind blessings and warm wishes. In the spirit of G-d’s words to Abraham, “those that bless you will be blessed,” you will surely be blessed in all ways.

I also thank you for supporting our work – financially and morally. I am honored to partner with you in our vital work, and look forward to an even stronger relationship as we go to the next exciting stage of our work (which you will hear about soon). May G-d’s promise be fulfilled in you: One who gives charity will become wealthy.

In addition to all the above, I would like to extend my blessing and prayer to you, my dear friend and reader:

May this New Year bring you revealed blessings, for success in all your endeavors, material and spiritual.

May you experience only joy and happiness – you, your family and friends. If any trembles do come your way, may you immediately and painlessly see how they lead you to a new birthing.

May you find your soul mate, and have the courage and the commitment to open yourself up when your soul mate is sent your way. Those of you that have already found your soul mate, may you find him/her anew – and build a wholesome home and family, one that will illuminate all those that enter your home and the environment around you.

May you be blessed with health, strength and direction to use your unique gifts to make an indelible positive mark on the world – to realize your potential and actualize your indispensable contribution to the universe.

May you be blessed with all that you need, even the needs that you are unaware of.

May you be blessed with revealing the Divine in all the things that you do, and in bringing a smile to another.

May we all be blessed with a year of love, peace and finally ushering in a time where peace and unity will prevail, between all people and all races.

On Rosh Hashana, when nations are judged and their destinies determined, “which for war and which for peace,” may we usher in with peace the birth of a new world order, devoid of violence and war, when nations will “beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more,” because it will be a world “filled with Divine knowledge as the waters cover the sea.”

Blessings of ketivah v’chatima tovah, l’shana tovah u’metukah, b’gashmius u’bruchnius.

Always,

Simon Jacobson

Tags: September 11th, divine providence, new year, security, rebirth, higher reality, Rosh Hashana
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Ki-Teitzei: The Seven Weeks of Comfort

August 15th, 2002

7 Steps to Healing and Reconciliation

We are now in week five of the Seven Weeks of Comfort that follow the Three Weeks of Affliction. In these weeks we are comforted over the destruction and loss of the Holy Temple, and they prepare us for rebirth and renewal in the upcoming New Year.

How appropriate as we approach the first anniversary of September 11 and we search for ways to commemorate the tragic events of last year, honor the losses and rebuild in a new, uncertain world. How appropriate as we continue to grieve the losses in Israel, and look for hope in our challenging journey ahead.

By digging deeper into the 2424 year-old system of the Seven Weeks of Comfort we can discover the secrets of how to deal with destruction, consolation and renewal – the mystery of eternity that has held us together through centuries of upheaval.

Following is one application of these Seven Weeks, based on the explanation of the Midrash (cited in Avudraham) of the seven Haftorahs we read during these weeks, as I discussed in last week’s article.

The seven haftorahs are sort of a dialogue between the people and G-d, as I outlined in last week’s article (please read that for the details). This dialogue is actually a process that can be recreated in this 7 week period; a process that can help us establish a dialogue with G-d as we attempt to heal and grow through our losses and experiences.

I should add, that this system is relevant to all of us and at all times. Even if you have not personally experienced a (recent) loss, we all: 1) are living in the same uncertain world and are in need of healing. 2) must empathize with others who are suffering. 3) can and must always grow; even when things are going relatively well, there is so much more that we can reach. And relative to our own level we all need a form of healing and elevation from level to level. As the saying goes (in Yiddish): “Oib gut iz gut, iz besser nisht besser? – If good is good, is better not better?”

First we must comfort each other. If you have been hurt, you must find friends that can comfort you. It’s not enough to turn to G-d. You need to find peers that you can relate to and that can relate to you. Once something has broken, you have to begin rebuilding from the bottom up. We may not be initially ready for G-d Himself to come and console us directly. We first need to create the proper ‘container’ to acclimate ourselves to receive G-d’s blessings and consolations.

Exercise: Find a friend, find a teacher that can hold your hand and help you through a difficult time. Someone sincere and real, who can accompany you and then help prepare you for the next stages. And allow yourself to be such a friend for others as well.

Week 2.  G-d has forsaken me; My G-d has forgotten me – Awareness

Once we have done everything humanly possible to heal and comfort each other, we then reach a new level of awareness and sensitivity, where we can recognize blind spots and undernourished parts of our soul that was previously obscured. In our newfound awareness we cry out, “G-d has forsaken me; my G-d has forgotten me.” We feel a deep void.

Exercise: Next time you cry, don’t just cry for your pain and sense of being overwhelmed. Try to focus not just on your feelings of emptiness, but feel that your cry is also for the void of not feeling your connection to that which is Higher than yourself – your connection to G-d.

Week 3.  The afflicted, storm-tossed one is not consoled – Acknowledgement

Our cry reaches heaven. And it is acknowledged: We are not consoled by mortals; we are not comforted by even the best of intentions and words. We are not satisfied with being pacified over our losses; neither are we soothed by just damage control and ‘doing the best with what we have.’ We want to not only heal from loss, but redeem the loss. We need to know that our pain is not just being lifted, but that it brings us and those around us – and above all, our lost loved ones – to a greater place. And this yearning is acknowledged above; it is not only our wish and hope, G-d acknowledges that we are entitled. Entitled to more.

Exercise: Be compassionate and sensitive to those around you. Acknowledge the void in others, and your void will be acknowledged as well.

A new Divine power enters into your life (made possible by the previous three steps/weeks). A force that brings you deep comfort from within, knowing that you have an absolute and indispensable purpose in this world, one that transcends and encompasses all life experiences, even painful ones. It is the sense that you can and will make it through everything and anything. This power is not a mortal one; it is Divine, and it gives you the ability to experience a deep calm – being at peace with your center.

Exercise: Say Modeh Ani prayer every morning, acknowledging the return of your soul for a new day. Connecting to your soul and your personal mission statement – your indispensable role in this world.

After the initial reconnect and corresponding comfort, we can begin to feel reborn and refreshed. Even though we may feel ‘barren’ and have ‘not given birth,’ we learn to sing. Not because we accept our ‘barren’ state, but because we learn to give birth in new ways. We learn new tools and methods – sometimes ones that like ‘bypass surgery’ open up new channels of birth, ones that even greater than conventional channels, ones that give birth to more numerous children. And we expand to far greater places. Resultingly, we don’t just sing, we break into a song.

Exercise: Meditate and internalize the lines of this week’s haftorah. G-d tells you:

“Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed… You will forget the shame of your youth and the reproach of your widowhood… For your Creator is your husband… The Holy of Israel is your Redeemer. For G-d called you as a wife abandoned and grieved in spirit. Can a wife of youth be rejected? Says your G-d. For a brief moment I forsook you, but I will gather you with great compassion. In an outburst of wrath, for a moment I hid my face from you; but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you.”

Then sing a song to yourself, sing for the blessings in your life.

But even as we are comforted, the world around us may still remain a dangerous place. It’s not enough to insulate ourselves from the pain around us, we must also be able to feel secure in our environment. So after we are personally comforted and given the ability for rebirth, we now are comforted by the fact that we have the power to transform and rebuild the world around – even a dark and uncertain world.

Exercise: Now meditate and internalize these words:

“Arise, shine for your light has come, and the Divine glory has risen upon you. For, behold, darkness will cover the earth and thick darkness the peoples, but G-d will arise over you and His glory will be seen upon you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising… Aliens will build up your walls…The sons of your oppressors will come bending to you, and all who despised you will bow down at your feet. They will call you, “The city of G-d, the Zion of the Holy one of Israel.” Though you were forsaken and hated with no one passing through you, I will make you an eternal majesty…Violence will no longer be heard in your land, neither desolation nor destruction within your borders…Your sun will no longer set, not will your moon wane. For G-d will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning will be ended. Your people will all be righteous; they will possess the land forever; the branch of My planting, the work of My hands… The smallest will become a thousand, and the least a mighty nation; I, G-d, will hasten in its time.”

Now, sing not just for yourself, but sing a melody for and with others.

After the previous six weeks/levels of comfort, we have grown and acknowledge that growth. We reach the point where we are now ready to reciprocate. And we do – in a celebration of joy.

“I will greatly rejoice in G-d, my soul will exult in my G-d, for He clothed me with the garments of salvation.”

We commit ourselves to be awake and alert –

“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be still, until her righteousness shines forth like radiance… The nations will see your righteousness. And all the kings your glory.”

Exercise: Do your part to protect the sacred and defend the helpless. Speak out and take a stand.

“O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen on your walls. They will never be silent day or night… Behold G-d has proclaimed to the end of earth: Say to the daughter of Zion: Behold, your salvation comes… They will call them ‘The Holy People,’ G-d’s redeemed; and you will be called ‘Sought Out,’ a city not forsaken.”

Recognize the Divine choreography in today’s world events. “Who is this that comes from Edom…”

And above all, remember that G-d is with us in all our pain.

“In all their affliction He was afflicted…In His love and pity He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them through all the years.”

Now, we are ready to enter the New Year.

Tags: compassion, Divine, healing, Three Weeks, new year, Beis Hamikdash, the seven weeks of comfort, loss, comfort, rebirth, renewal, self awareness
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Eikev-Nachamu: From Lebanon to Jerusalem – Diary

July 25th, 2002

Brief report from Israel:

Things are stable here. People are not living in crouched fear. They are careful where they go and avoid some of the more public dining areas. But overall, there is a positive attitude and it’s quite pleasant to travel and meet people wherever you go.

The mood sounds much worse via American media than it actually is. The news does not at all convey the strength and fortitude of the average Israeli. This does not minimize the tragic losses and pain this country has recently suffered, nor does it diminish the uncertainty and serious challenges ahead of us. But at the same time, a powerful spine holds up people here. And it’s empowering to be around them.

As we are about to enter Shabbat in Israel, I can say now more than ever that being here makes me proud to be a Jew.

May it be a peaceful Shabbat and week, both here and abroad. And may we be wise and do what we must to create true and permanent peace.

Shabbat Shalom,

Simon Jacobson
Old City, Jerusalem
Erev Shabbat Eikev, 6:07 PM
*****

FROM LEBANON TO ISRAEL

Diary
Note: My last week has been – and continues to be – overwhelmingly rich and fulfilling. With all the adrenaline flowing and all the energy around me, I find it extremely difficult to write. At least for me, it seems almost impossible to commit to paper (or e-mail) powerful experiences while I am
still in the middle of experiencing them, without the luxury (and detachment) of distance.

Yet, since my trip to Israel one year ago, only amplified by the events of September 11 and their aftermath, I have felt compelled to write a weekly commentary. I will therefore continue my writing this week, as difficult as it may be, and offer my apologies for any inadequacies in this week’s
offering.

*****

Friday-Sunday, July 19-21 – Lebanon State Forest, New Lisbon, NJ

Experienced an extraordinary Shabbat camping weekend with some 120 other souls. Sheer power emanates from a gathering that is self-generated and not dependent on human structures. There is something amazing – in its raw truth – about getting away from your comfort zones, being vulnerable to the elements, going into nature, and doing it with others. To sing, laugh and cry together as we sit under the serene heavens was simply transformative.

Additionally, there is great power in creating a Shabbat environment in a place where Shabbat was perhaps never felt. It’s like treading a path where no one had previously walked. You feel – in the words of the Baal Shem Tov – as if Existence itself from the beginning of time has been waiting for you to come to this place and sanctify it.

With all the chaos and upheaval going on around us today, with all the senseless deaths – it was beyond empowering to spend this time with real people. You know that feeling, when you just sit and watch quality people be real. I wish I could convey how deeply moved I was to be part of such an extraordinary experience, only enriched by the fact that I could spend it with my son, Menachem Mendel, who joined us in this adventure.

Of all the Sabbaths I have experienced – in five star hotels, age-old or modern synagogues – the most powerful one of all is Shabbat under the heavens. No crutches, no excuses, no                       smokescreens – just you, others and G-d.

In all our years of praying, never did the Shabbat prayers come alive as they did in Lebanon (State Forest). As we stood under the canopy of trees (over our central tent) we could literally feel the resonating words: “The heavens will rejoice, the earth will exult; the sea and its fullness will roar. The fields and everything therein will jubilate; then all the trees in the forest will sing.” “The rivers will clap their hands, the mountains will sing together.”

In all our years of praying, never did the Shabbat prayers come alive as they did in Lebanon (State Forest).

And sing they did, together with all of us.

Even the thunderstorms (until exactly 10PM) joined the chorus. “His lightnings will illuminate the world; the earth will see and tremble.”

And if this is not enough, we suddenly heard ourselves singing: “The voice of G-d is over the waters, the G-d of glory thunders; G-d is over mighty waters… The voice of G-d breaks cedars; G-d shatters the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them leap like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.”

Lebanon?! Yes, Lebanon.

As we sung these words, we all felt as if the ‘Lebanon’ around us was being shattered and the ‘forests stripped bare’ to make room for new openings.

Usually these are just words we say in the Friday night service. Last Friday night we actually experienced them. Wish you were there.

And then – after a night of incredible words, songs and camaraderie – the next morning we read in the Torah the moving words of Moses asking G-d to enter the Promised Land. Moses begged G-d with 515 (!) prayers to allow him in.

“I entreated G-d at that time, saying… “Pray let me cross over and see the good land that is on the other side of the Jordan, this good mountain and the Lebanon.” But G-d was angry with me because of you, and He did not listen to me, and G-d said to me, “Enough; speak to Me no more regarding this matter. Go up to the top of the hill and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward and see with your eyes, for you shall not cross this Jordan. But command Joshua and strengthen him and encourage him, for he will cross over before this people, and he will make them inherit the land which you will see.”

The great commentator Rashi says that “this good mountain” is Jerusalem and “the Lebanon” is the Holy Temple, as some of the commentaries on Rashi explain, that the Temple is called Lebanon because it purified [Lebanon from the word ‘malbin’] the people of their sins.

“Lebanon” is also comprised of the two words ‘lev nun,’ literally ‘heart fifty.’ It manifests the power of ‘bina liba,’ the understanding heart – the fifty gates of understanding, that allow the heart to fully experience and communicate.

And so the Shabbat went, every moment richer than the one before it. Beautiful Shabbat meal, with words of inspiration from Phillip, Zvi, Yocheved and so many others. Glorious Shabbat afternoon, peaked by a moving Third meal, with its special melodies and the unexpected touching words that Noah shared with us about his father and about his love and appreciation for his wife.

Amazing havdalah service, and even stronger melave malka, as we sung and danced into the fire-lit night until reaching dawn.

Sunday morning captured the spirit of unity. People from such diverse backgrounds, young and old, joining as one – in a true model for what is expected of us as we return to civilization. If only we can hold onto this inspiration.

Sunday night I return to New York, only to ready myself for my next trip Monday morning.

Monday-Tuesday, July 22-23 – JFK Airport

From Lebanon to Israel I go. I fly.

Arrive Tuesday morning. Go immediately, with my friend Greg, to the Wall. Same wall, nothing seems to have changed. Yet so much has changed. Does the Wall feel the changes over the last year. Is it sadder because of the blood lost? Or is it oblivious or just plain worn out after seeing so many years of suffering?

Cannot tell by looking at the wall. But I can tell by looking at people’s faces.

Wednesday, July 24 – Judean Desert, Jordan Valley, Tiberias, Tzfat

Drive to Tzfat via the Jordanian valley route (Highway 90). The so-called West Bank. Over the green line (the land conquered by Israel in 1967). We drive through the Judean desert. To the right is the Dead Sea, the Jordan River and the border dividing Israel and Jordan. To the left is Jericho and other Arab occupied cities.

In the valley we spot fields of date trees, olives, grapes, bananas and more. The words in this week’s Torah portion (Eikev) come alive: “For God is bringing you to a good land that emerges in valleys and mountains, a land of wheat and barley, vines and figs and pomegranates, a land of oil producing olives and honey.”

I wonder how we have fulfilled the end of this verse: “You will eat and be sated, and you shall bless God for the good land He has given you.” Are we blessing G-d and appreciating what was given to us?

As we drive by Jericho I can’t help but look out to the right toward the River Jordan to see where the Jews crossed the Jordan as they entered the land. Perhaps I can detect some signs.

Am completely blown away that this is the place Moses is talking about at the end of this week’s Torah portion: “For if you keep all these commandments which I command you to do them, to love G-d, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave to Him, then G-d will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will possess nations greater and stronger than you. Every place upon which the soles of your feet will tread, will be yours: from the desert and the Lebanon [Lebanon again; wasn’t I just there?], from the river, the Euphrates River, and until the western sea, will be your boundary. No man will stand up before you; G-d will cast the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land upon which you tread, as He spoke to you.”

I look around and around as we drive. Here is the place that is the focus of G-d’s providence of His world. “A land which G-d your G-d cares for: the eyes of G-d your G-d are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.”

But are we doing our part in keeping the Land? G-d commands the people to destroy the idols of the land’s former masters, and to beware lest they become haughty and begin to believe that “my power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.”

We drive on. First stop in Tiberias. Visit the graves of the Rambam (Maimonides), the Shaloh and some other greats.

The road to Tzfat is closed. We circle only to find out that there is no other route from this direction. They finally open the road to our relief. But the cop won’t let us make a right (he apparently doesn’t like cab drivers). So, more circles. Israel seems to be a place where people disproportionately go around in circles. Maybe it’s a way the Holy Land gets even with us after years of our neglecting it.

Maybe it’s a way the Holy Land gets even with us after years of our neglecting it.

Finally we are on our way to mystical Tzfat. Best place to be on this day, the 15th of Av. I want to see the sun set over the Galilean mountains overlooking one of the oldest and most powerful cemeteries – actually called ‘beis hachaim’ in Hebrew. When we ask someone for directions to the cemetery, they correct us and call it “beis ha’chaim,” House of Life. Thanks for the correction.

Indeed, it is the House of Life. Here lay some of the greatest tzaddikim – and especially Kabbalists, beginning with the holy Arizal, the Bet Yosef (R’ Yosef Karo), the Ramak (R’ Moshe Kordovero), the Mabit, R’ Moshe Alsheich, and so many others. Hosea the prophet I believe is the oldest gravesite. The resting place of Chana and her seven sons [killed by the Syrian king, Antiochus, for refusing to bow to is idols] is especially moving to see.

A man sees Greg and I standing on a spot near the Ari’s burial place (kever). He tells us that we are standing on the kever of the Ramak’s son. “How do you know?” I ask him, not seeing any markings indicating such. He tells me that he once discovered a piece of stone at this grave that bore the name of the Ramak’s son.

This man piques my interest. How would he have discovered the stone? We strike up a conversation. His name is Mordechai Shababi and he is the keeper of the cemetery for the last 30 years. He inherited the position from his father who inherited it from his father, as it was passed on father to son going back over 500 years ago to the time of the Arizal!

Of all people to meet here I meet this man. So I ask him why some of the graves are painted in blue? He tells me that since he doesn’t have money to put up signs indicating the identities of the gravesites, he painted the distinguished ones blue so they stand out.

— So now you know the secret to the blue graves in Tzfat.

He also shares with me a dream he had – which I will write about next week.

The return trip to Jerusalem is a trip indeed. We leave Tzfat around 8:30 PM. By now night has fallen and the Jordan Valley – over the Green Line – is a new world where you can feel ‘between the lines’ buzzing activity, with army vehicles, checkpoints ad roadblocks littering the roads. As we arrive down the 90 near Jericho, we are redirected on a detour to another road toward Jerusalem. A bumpy, dusty one-line road that is several feet from the fence on the Israeli-Jordanian border.

A friend in the car freaks out of fear. I actually find myself entering a very peaceful place. After all, this is the last place where a bombing (G-d forbid) would take place.  In the middle of a desert. No one around for miles. Only army vehicles. And I was excited by the sheer opportunity to ride along the border where the Jews entered the Promised Land 3274 years ago.

Make it back safe and sound at 12:30 PM. Am exhausted but exhilarated. Not a good mix for sleep. But hey, who has time for sleep anyway?

Thursday, July 25, Jerusalem

Visit the tunnels beneath Jerusalem and the Wall. If you want to see the truth and reality of Jerusalem and Israel you MUST visit these tunnels. Indeed, as I was to discover, these tunnels reveal the truth about our entire world situation today.

You enter the tunnels at the western end of the Wall and you exit in the ‘Arab Quarter.’ The tunnels reveal the Temple structure before the Romans destroyed it and the Muslims built their homes and mosques on these ruins.

The Western Wall as we know it is actually maybe only 1% of the entire edifice that was once surrounding the Temple – actually, the land plate that created level round upon which to build the Temple. The Western Wall is a remnant of a long wall that stretches hundreds of meters, which you see as you walk through the tunnel, until you reach the north-western corner, which is actually no longer a wall but the actual Temple Mount (Mt. Moriah).

In the tunnels you see the original Herodian stones, and you see the areas where the Romans destroyed the wall, and how they were not quite able to finish the job, leaving jagged edges of stone standing. What is even more shocking – and blood boiling – is what the Muslim did 700 years later. They rebuilt parts of the wall, no, not to rebuild the Temple, but to serve as a foundation (and cistern and sewers) for their own structures. They completely covered up every remnant of a previous structure, and converted the entire place into new buildings, courtyards, streets, and of course, the two mosques on the Temple Mount proper. To the naked eye no one could tell that something existed here before.

But G-d has His own mysterious ways. Though most of the wall was buried by the combination of Roan destruction and Muslim rebuilding, a sliver of wall remained exposed, allowing us a glimpse to the reality within. This remnant is the Western Wall of today, where the shechinah rests eternally, and it wakes us up to peer inward. And indeed we did, uncovering these fascinating tunnels that reveal the inner truth.

Suddenly, the entire reality of history – and today’s events – appeared before my eyes.

The Holy Temple in Jerusalem is the center of the universe. The Holy of Holies on top of the ‘even ha’shesiya,’ the Foundation Rock, upon which the entire world is built. Adam and Eve were created atop this mountain. Cain and Abel, Noah all brought their offerings here. Abraham offered Isaac on this mountain. Jacob had famous dream here.

The children of Esau (Romans) and Ishmael (Muslims), each in their own time destroyed and concealed the truth of the Temple Mount. Today, we see how perceptions are so distorted and people are convinced that the outer façade is true, and deny the underlying truth.

Everyone is invested in perpetuating this myth, and will do everything to suppress the truth that lies beneath and within the Temple Mount.

Why did they go to such lengths to build entire structures – what is today called the Arab Quarter – to cover up what lies below? The question is rhetorical; you can figure out the answer yourselves.

As we exit out the tunnels into the Arab Quarter, I see it all come alive.

Yes, as we traveled from Lebanon to Israel I realize in the process that our challenge today is to uncover the hidden foundations beneath Jerusalem, and to bridge the outer surface with its true reality within. And the only way to do so today is from the ‘bottom up.’ A grass roots effort of transforming the trees and forest of ‘Lebanon’ in our lives into a dynamic source of sanctity.

So, is Jerusalem still sitting alone as Jeremiah describes 2424 years ago? I guess so. But this time it waits for us to make a move. You can feel that Jerusalem is waiting for us.

So, last Shabbos – Shabbat Nachamu – we transformed Lebanon State Forest into a truly sacred space and time. This Shabbos I enter into Jerusalem with something to offer. I bring to you, Jerusalem, the warmest regards of souls inspired by you. I bring to you the energy created by a group of us last week in a beautiful Shabbos that we experienced in Lebanon. I tell you, Jerusalem that you have a partner that is willing to pay the price to reveal your hidden secrets and to expose your inner self.

Resultingly, Jerusalem will perhaps feel a little less lonely this Shabbos.

Tags: Shabbos, Holy Land, Ishmael, Esau, Holy Temple, prayer, Israel, Jerusalem, Jewish history, Western wall
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Matot-Masei: Three Weeks of Pain, Seven of Comfort, & Two of Return

July 4th, 2002

A 1934 year old system that can teach us how to deal with destruction, consolation and renewal.

– Week 2 –
July 4^th, 2002: An attack in LAX. Threats of more attacks. A world shrouded in the shadows of terrorism and bloodshed.

Religion, economy, our basic security – all our existing infrastructures are undergoing an unprecedented reality check – tremors that will surely change the universe in which we live.

As we enter the second week of the traditional Three Week mourning period, when we grieve the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem (the first Temple 2424 years ago, the second one 1934 years ago) – life around us seems to be tragically reflecting this sad time period.

This three week period is one that exposes the cracks in our universe. Cracks in our systems shake us up; but a crack also exposes what lies within. We can be demoralized by the cracks or we can attempt to look between the cracks and see an emerging larger picture.

We are now directly experiencing a crack in the continuum of history, one that can catapult us into a completely new awareness and raise our consciousness to a completely new level.

To understand the deeper meaning of these weeks – and glean from them a system how to heal, grow and rebuild our lives – allow me to cite a discourse of the great Chassid Reb Hillel of Paritch (1795-1864) in which he explains the deeper significance of the “three weeks of rebuke, seven of consolation, two of return.”

The Kabbalah teaches that the Three Weeks manifest the concealment of the three intellectual faculties (Chochma, Binah, Daat). The following Seven Weeks express the revelation of the intellect of Atik Yomin (lit. ‘ancient days,’ referring to the higher dimension of Ketter, the crown – the highest Divine revelation) in the seven emotions. And the Two Weeks of Return is the elevation of Malchut achieved through the two levels of teshuvah (‘higher teshuvah’ and ‘lower teshuvah’) that elevates from Biy”a (Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah). This is followed by Yom Kippur, when the Second Tablets were given, the revelation of the intellect of Atik Yomin into Biy”a. Followed by  Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, when the revelation of Yom Kippur is revealed in great joy.

If you had problems understanding the last paragraph, don’t be forlorn; most of us have the same difficulty. That is why we need Chassidus to explain the cryptic language of Kabbalah. Reb Hillel explains it with an analogy of a teacher and student (which is the classical and best example to explain the relationship between the Divine and the mundane).

The conventional transmission of knowledge from teacher to student is a seamless process. It does not require a special effort. However, when the teacher (out of his deep love to the student) wants to convey an entirely new concept – one that is beyond anything yet revealed – he needs to collect his thoughts, return into the deepest recesses of his mind until he is ready to being transmitting the new concept.

During the process of reflection, the teacher will suspend his transmission teacher to the student, while he gathers his thoughts. The deeper he goes into his own mind, the more he immerses into the new concept, the deeper will be his silence.

From the student’s perspective this silence can be perceived as a disconnection. He can even think that the teacher has abandoned him. In truth what is happening is that the teacher is connecting ever more with the student. His silence actually reflects a deeper bond with the student; this silence is giving birth to an unprecedented new concept that will afterwards be conveyed to the student.

Reb Hillel explains, that the Three Weeks reflect a cosmic silence that progresses from week to week. The Three Weeks begin with the 17^th of Tammuz, the day when Moses broke the Two Tablets when he saw that the people had built the Golden Calf, 40 days after he received the Tablets with the Ten Commandments at Sinai.

On the surface, the broken Tablets are a tragic events and the 17th of Tammuz is the beginning of the saddest time of the year. Yet, following that day Moses returned to Sinai to beseech G-d to forgive the people. His efforts would take 80 days, but at the end of that period Moses would prevail and return on Yom Kippur with the second set of Tablets.

The Second Tablets are in many ways far greater than the first. They revealed an entirely new ‘concept’ and introduced an unprecedented new energy into existence. This new ‘concept’ and energy is born in the Three Weeks (the first three weeks of Moses prayer on Sinai).* During these weeks Moses was on Sinai, the people below experienced only silence. But above a birthing was take place.

As the Three Weeks progress the silence deepens. The people feel that perhaps they will not be forgiven. The siege over Jerusalem intensifies from day to day, until we reach Tisha B’Av at the end of the Three Weeks, which is the saddest day of all, when the Temples are destroyed. Traditionally the mourning intensifies as these weeks pass and reach closer to Tisha B’Av.

In week one the first intellectual faculty (Chochma) is concealed. Though the ‘teacher’ is retreating into his mind to generate the new ‘concept,’ he still can maintain some form of superficial communication with the student. In week two the concealment progresses into the dimension of Binah (understanding). Finally, in week three all levels of intellect are concealed, including the third faculty of Daat (knowledge).

Yet as the silence deepens, the new ‘concept’ is developing further and reaching new heights. The greater the silence, the greater the revelation.

Even during this silence, if we look close enough we can detect a glow on the face of the teacher as he experiences the new revelation.

This glow, this aura expresses itself in the seven emotions of the teacher – and they in turn comfort us (the student) in the Seven Weeks of Consolation. In each of the seven weeks we are increasingly comforted as we progressively connect to the ‘glowing’ seven emotions of the teacher (as will be discussed in detail in future essays).

The Seven Weeks of Consolation are meant to motivate and prepare us for the work we must do to receive the new revelation birthed in the Three Weeks. This work entails teshuvah: In order to grow and be receptive to a new perspective, we must suspend our old perspectives and free ourselves from our old patterns of behavior. This teshuvah has two steps – the Two Weeks of Teshuvah, which allows us to finally receive the new revelation of the Second Tablets on Yom Kippur. After all this work we are finally ready to celebrate our reception of the new ‘concept.’ And celebrate we do on Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.

This in brief is a synopsis of Reb Hillel’s fascinating discourse, which apparently is based on the teachings of his teacher, the Tzemach Tzedek.

I don’t know about you, but I find that this explanation provides us with a brilliant formula to cope with our challenges today.

We now stand in the second of the Three Weeks – the week of Binah. Families torn apart by recent violence seem to be experiencing a deep silence. And we all grieve with them. When we think about it (or even when we don’t) we are all living in a long shadow of uncertainty, and the gloom seems to be deepening.

“Where is G-d in all of this?” many of us are asking. Why is G-d silent?

Will we get through this, and more importantly how will we?

These and so many fundamental questions asked today are answered by the 1934 year old system that teaches us how to deal with loss, how to be comforted and how to rebuild a new world.

Even as we experience great loss, we also witness – and are comforted by – noble heroism and the majesty of the human spirit – perhaps a manifestation of the seven ‘glowing’ emotions.

Even as we hear silence, we must realize that a great new revelation is being born. And we are privileged to be part of it. We are blessed to help precipitate a new era – when materialism will be not an end in itself, but a means to spirituality – to a world whose entire occupation will be to know the Divine, to perceive in all of existence the sublime energy within, the ‘hand inside the glove;’ a “world filled with Divine knowledge as the waters cover the sea.”

But to do so, we must first be cognizant of the tenuousness of the material world (as an end to itself). We must grieve for our losses, stand in awe of the silence and recognize the cracks that have opened up in our existing infrastructures. Then we must be comforted by the knowledge and the trust in G-d’s promise, that the ‘destruction’ of a previous state allows for the birth of a new one. That the cracks around us reveal a deeper truth. And finally, we must acclimate ourselves to the deeper truth. We must free ourselves – through teshuvah – from our subjective pasts and our hardened habits, and realign our lives to a greater vision of new horizons.

May we use these weeks well to align our lives to the healthy cosmic rhythms of time – the rhythms that reflect the inner patterns of life and inner forces that make existence tick.

May we do our part to prepare ourselves and the world to finally receive and experience the new revelation: the rebuilding of the Third and eternal Temple, the final and eternal Redemption. After the long – 1934 year old – silence, it’s about time.

———-

*) Aryeh (lion) – the Mazal (sign) of the month of Av – is an acronym of Elul, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Hoshana Rabbah. Av gives birth to the success of Moses prayers beginning in Elul (when Moses ascends Sinai for the third and final time), through Rosh Hashana, finally prevailing on Yom Kippur, and consummated and celebrated on Hoshana Rabbah.

Tags: Three Weeks, silence, revelation, siege, teachers, consolation, attack, murder, Second Tablets, binah, Tzemach Tzedek, rebuke, ketter, baal teshuvah, golden calf, Holy Temple, student, Mt. Sinai, Tisha B'Av, daat, mourning, Yom Kippur, emotions, Jerusalem, The Ten Commandments, Moses, loss, sadness, kabbalah, terrorism, chochma, redemption, connection
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Sh'lach: The Birth of Projection

June 6th, 2002

Insects and Giants

We were in our own eyes like tiny grasshoppers, and so were we in their eyes
– Numbers, Shelach 13:33

If the scouts objectively were like midgets compared to the huge giants they encountered, why did they just not simply say “and we were like locust compared to them?”

Well, here is the first reference to what psychology today calls ‘projection.’ How you feel about yourself is what you project to others. How you feel about yourself is how others will feel about you.

Moses sent the scouts to inspect the Land of Israel and determine how best to conquer the land. The grave mistake the scouts made was that they did not suffice with a report on the best strategy to conquer the land, but they went beyond their mission and came to a conclusion: that we CANNOT conquer the land.

They violated the most sacred quality of life: the confidence that we can face all life’s challenges. They abused the most essential question in life: Can we overcome every dilemma before us?

We all know that life is difficult and challenging. Yet, belief in G-d means that we have the power to face and overcome every challenge. We never ask the question WHETHER we can do it; we only ask: HOW we can do it?

When our inner confidence erodes or is lacking then the forces around us begin to look formidable. When the scouts saw themselves as insects, then the giants around them also saw them that way. The scouts themselves exposed their own weakness: Not that we truly cannot conquer the land; we only PERCEIVE that we cannot do it, and when you think you cannot, that then becomes your reality.

Conversely, when you are confident that you can face the challenge no matter how formidable, that empowers you and your surroundings to actually accomplish the task.

It’s all about your confidence.

But how does one gain such absolute, unwavering confidence, how do we acquire the strength to face every challenge?

We gain the power by connecting to that which is above us – to G-d. We must become aware of our essential connection to our life’s mission, to the Divine calling which each of us has been charged with. Our absolute faith in this connection instills in us the complete certainty that we have all the abilities and resources that we need to fulfill our mission. Our absolute faith in G-d and His promises to us infuse us with the firm confidence that we can face every challenge before us.

Joshua and Caleb were the only two scouts that did not partake in the mutiny of the scouts. They returned and said we CAN DO IT, we can enter the Land as G-d promised us. Why were they different than the other scouts? They connected their mission with special prayers to G-d for success. Moses prayed for Joshua, and Caleb went to the Cave of Machpelah in Chevron to pray at the gravesite of the patriarchs and matriarchs.

Only through prayer and through our connection to the past do we have the power to overcome the challenges of the present. When you are stuck in a pit overwhelmed by difficulties, you cannot solve the problem alone. “One in fetters cannot release himself,” the Talmud teaches. Being in the pit you cannot free yourself. By connecting to our ancestors, by praying to G-d — we attach ourselves to a force beyond ourselves and beyond the difficult here and now. And this connection allows us the ability to transcend the immediate hardships and overcome the present challenges.

As Chassidim say, “When you are bound above you do not fall below.” We may be small, but a midget that stands on the shoulders of a giant – when we stand on the shoulders of the generations before us – we can see farther than the giant.

No message is more appropriate today. Our biggest question today is: What does the future hold, and do we have the power to face the challenges ahead of us? As we face an uncertain future – having encountered enemies of humanity killing innocent people both in Israel and America, and we continue to wage a war whose future is unknown, a war that has destabilized the world – our most compelling question is do we have the absolute confidence and certainty to overcome anything that will come our way?

This week’s Torah portion teaches us that the question is not whether we can do it, but how we can.

We have a choice to be overwhelmed or confused by the difficulties around us or to overcome and grow through them. Will you see yourself as an insect, or as a messenger of G-d? That is up to you.

As we continue our journey toward the Promised Land – both collectively and personally, as we move forward in reaching our ultimate goals – we must know, that no matter how daunting the challenge, by connecting to G-d, we have the power to enter and settle the land.

Know that you control the process. How you see yourself is how the world will see you.

Travel with confidence and strength of purpose, and the world will support your cause.

Tags: Power of Prayer, Life's Challenges, choice, G-d, emotions, your mission, scouts, psychology, connection, faith, transcendence, belief, ancestry, prayer, war, Israel, America, future, higher reality, murder, perception, reality, The 12 Spies
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Bahalotcha: The Journey

May 30th, 2002

As the journey through the wilderness commences in this week’s Torah portion, we are compelled to live with the times and reflect about our own journey today.

Some background first. Following the Exodus from Egypt (Nissan 15 2448), the Jewish people began their 40 year journey – actually a composite of 42 journeys – through the Sinai Wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. 44 days after they left Egypt they arrived at Mt. Sinai (Sivan 1 2448). Following the Giving of Torah (on Sivan 6) they remained at Sinai for nearly a year. In this period they built the ‘portable’ Temple (Mishkan), concluding and erecting it on Nissan 1 2449, as related at the end of the book of Exodus. The Torah then spends 12 chapters (10 in Leviticus and the first two in Numbers) relating the laws that were given and the events that transpired following the Temple’s assembly. 40 days later, on Iyar 20 2449 – almost one year from the day they arrived at Sinai – the journey continues in our weekly Torah portion (Behaalotcho).

Indeed, journeys seem to be a concurrent theme that runs through the entire Bible. The journey of Adam and Eve as they are expelled from Eden. Cain’s wanderings around the world. Noah’s 40 day journey on the ark. The birth of transmigration resulting from the language separation that followed the building of the Tower of Babel.

The journeys only intensify as time goes on. Beginning with G-d’s first command to Abraham, Lech Lecho: Leave your land, your birthplace and the home of your parents and go to the place that I will show you. Isaac’s travels. Jacob’s life is one long journey: First escaping from Esau, Vayeitzei Yaakov, and traveling to Charan. His return 20 years later, only to have to travel once again and descend to Egypt ostensibly because of the great famine. This begins the long and hard journey of Jacob’s children into 210 years of Egyptian bondage.

One would think that after the Egyptian exile the journeys would cease. What do we find? We find that the journey is yet to begin! Following the exile begins of course the most famous journey of all: The Exodus from Egypt. But it doesn’t end there. The rest of the entire Torah – the greater part of Torah – is all about the 40 year journey of the Jewish people through the Sinai wilderness!…

Indeed, almost 4/5 of the Bible is the account of this 40 year journey. 1/5 of the Torah (the Book of Genesis and the first two and a half chapters of Exodus) covers a period of 2448  years (the year when they left Egypt.) The rest of the entire Torah spans merely 40 years – and all those years are one lonely journey through the desert!

What is even more amazing is that the Torah (the five books) concludes before the Jewish people ever enter into the Promised Land! The Land is promised countless times throughout the Torah – to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and later. Hundreds of references are made to the fact that all these journeys have one purpose: they all lead to the Promised Land. Yet, when it comes down to it, the Torah’s story is only about the journey itself, up to the point that the people reach the east bank of the River Jordan, where Moses passes away, and the Torah ends there.

Only later in the book of Joshua do we read about their entry into the land.

Ruminating on these journeys can surely dizzy your mind. Yet, they also take us on a journey through our minds, our hearts and life experiences. What is the mystery behind our journeys?

Yes, a journey also implies displacement and all the other consequences of movement and relocation. Yet, we are fascinated and even mesmerized by journeys. Just look at the transportation and communications industry we have created; our obsession with all forms of travel – from time travel to wandering day (or night) dreams, from expeditions and voyages to safaris and tours, whether it be by land, water or air (and air waves), we are essentially travelers on a journey called life.

Whether physical or spiritual, the journey always represents mobility, the ability to move from one place to another, the power to grow, the capacity to get out and explore other possibilities.

You can say that a journey is a form of hope. That when we are in the dumps, or just living a life of plain mediocrity and ‘silent desperation,’ we know that we always have the freedom and ability to aspire and reach to broader horizons.

Hopefully our journeys will be restless but peaceful ones; not filled with agony, resulting from loss and trauma. But every journey – no matter the catalyst – is an opportunity for true change and growth in perfecting

A journey represents mobility and flexibility. And something more. It captures the uniquely human personality of constantly striving to better our lives. Animals live in the same habitats and are content with their life situation. Blissful, but boring. Humans are not satisfied (and hopefully will not become satisfied) with animal bliss. Indeed, the journey reflects the very fiber of life itself: Energy. Movement. Constant movement.

Yet there is something more.

According to Jewish theology the concept of Redemption (Geulah) is not just an event but a process. Rabbi Schneur Zalman in his classic Tanya (chapter 37) explains, that the Messianic Era – which means the transformation of the material universe into a vehicle for spiritual and Divine energy – “depends on our actions and service throughout the duration of the galut (exile). For the cause of the reward for a mitzvah is the mitzvah itself,” by performing the mitzvah we imbue the material universe with a flood of Divine light and energy.

All good acts of human beings from the beginning of time are like ‘building blocks’ that, when they all accumulate, create the structure of Redemption: A world infused with recognition of its Higher Purpose, a world that sees materialism not as an end in itself, but a means to G-dliness, a “world filled with Divine knowledge as the waters cover the sea.”

The journey of life – and the journey through history – is not just a circumstantial preparation to reach the destination, but in many ways the end in itself: The journey creates the destination, and by extension is an integral part of the destination. When we understand the true meaning of the journey, and we live by that meaning, then in many ways, the journey is the destination itself.

The Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak writes, that “when the Redemption arrives, we will yearn for the days of galut,” for the challenges and opportunities that these darker days provide us. It is only in times of challenge that we aspire to higher places. Once we reach the destination, we will yearn for the days of aspiration while we were in the process of the journey. True, the fulfillment of our journey is when we reach our destination – and that is what we always aspire to. Yet, at the same time, it is the journey itself, paradoxically, that crafts and generates the destination.

Redemption and all its revelations and rewards are a sum total of our actions during our journey today. At that time we will need to have new and greater challenges to aspire to. But today the challenges are quite apparent. Our focus must be on our journey: what are we doing to reach the destination, how are we moving from the place where we stand and taking steps closer to where we want to reach?

Perhaps, that is why the entire Torah focuses entirely on the journey and the process.

Having is never as pleasurable as wanting. May we want what we have and have what we want, and then want some more. “Who is wealthy? The one who is satisfied with his lot.” May we always have what to aspire to, even as we are content with what we have been blessed with. May we never be fully content, and always have that touch of angst that makes us alive.

As we relive the journey that the people took through the Sinai Desert, let us review our own journey. Let us realize that the journey is as important as the destination and how we travel today determines where we will be tomorrow.

We are relay sprinters that carry the baton passed on to us from generations past. We are the last leg of the journey that began thousands of years ago and has continued in an unbroken chain up to our present day. 3800 years ago Abraham began the journey, 3313 years ago his grandchildren traveled their journey through the wilderness, and today we are called upon to finish the final lap. We have the gift and opportunity to bring the collective journey of all history to its destination, and fuse the two – the journey and the destination – into one.

How awesome is it to be part of a journey that has continued, in an unbroken chain, all these years. How incredible is it to know that we control the destination.

What will your journey be like?

Tags: Rebbe Rayatz, journey, exile, redemption, Beis Hamikdash, Matan Torah
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Shavuot: Esau, Ishmael, & Sinai

May 16th, 2002

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 3314 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 3314 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, 3314 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 3314 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 3314 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.

Tags: Jewish nation, Ishmael, Esau, Talmud, divine sparks, Christianity, Islam, Matan Torah, Torah, Jewish history, Divine will, jewish survival
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Behar-Bechukotai: The Ultimate Peace Plan

May 2nd, 2002

Oh, how things have changed. With a world consumed by fear and anxiety, today’s deepest longings are for security and peace, not money and comforts.

What would you give to find out the secret to a life free of fear and uncertainty? How much would you pay for this knowledge?

The Torah, given at Sinai 3314 years ago, tells us the secret in this week’s Torah portion – and it will cost you nothing to find it out! Well, not exactly nothing; the price will be psychological and emotional, not financial (read the fine print below).

Instead of writing my own thoughts on our presenting challenges, allow me to cite literal verses from this week’s Torah portion that speak for themselves.

“If you follow My laws and keep my mitzvot… you will live securely in the land. I will grant peace in the land so that you will sleep without fear. I will rid the land of dangerous animals, and the sword will not pass through your land. You will chase away your enemies, and they will fall before your sword. Five of you will be able to chase away a hundred, and a hundred of you will defeat ten thousand.

“But if you do not listen to Me and do not keep all these mitzvoth… I will bring upon you feelings of anxiety along with depression and agitation, destroying your outlook and making life hopeless.” (Leviticus 26:3-8;14-16)

35 years ago, as a young child, I heard these verses cited by the Rebbe, my Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. The Rebbe was addressing a Lag B’Omer children’s parade which I attended in Brooklyn, New York. It was a week before the outbreak of the Six Day War in 1967. President Nasser of Egypt was moving 100,000 troops and over 1000 tanks into the Sinai Desert. He closed off the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, officially declaring war against Israel. Jordan and Syria were amassing troops as well on Israel’s other borders. Things did not look good.

Addressing the looming crisis I remember the Rebbe’s powerful, determined voice booming over Eastern Parkway – and across the globe – that Sunday morning. “As our brothers and sisters in Israel are now in need of salvation – and G-d will surely protect them now more than ever – we have the power to help them by adding in our study of Torah, performance of mitzvoth and selfless love for each other. Our commitment to G-d by keeping His Torah and mitzvot guarantees us the blessings of peace and security in Israel — ‘you will live securely in the land. I will grant peace in the land so that you will sleep without fear.’”

Much has happened in the last 35 years. But these words resonate today more than ever.

We are uncomfortable and unaccustomed (to say the least) with finding spiritual solutions to presumably political problems. We have become desensitized to recognizing the deep and historical forces at work in shaping our lives today. Our material comforts and prosperity, our high standard of living, has sheltered us from the realities of life and death, good and evil. As we have become detached from our organic connection to the world around us and we have adapted to a life of the here and now, we tend to address our problems with simple, linear, fast-food solutions.

September 11^th has opened many of our eyes. Not simply the tragic events of that day, but the subsequent global upheaval unleashed – or exposed – in the wake of 9/11 has awakened us to realities that have become obscured over the years. Very abruptly, we find ourselves grappling with themes we have long sensed but never articulated.

But our eyes are still not completely open. Having developed new tools to adapt to our new secular world, we have become accustomed to systems that function seemingly well without G-d, faith and higher purpose. It therefore remains quite difficult to accept the role of G-d and spirituality in today’s problems.

Yet today’s global events – so deeply rooted in inexplicable age old religious passions – rudely remind us of the message so clearly articulated in this week’s Torah portion: As long as we do not make our peace with G-d we will not be at peace with ourselves and with each other. Are there more apt words to describe our feelings today than those of the Bible: “feelings of anxiety along with depression and agitation, destroying your outlook and making life hopeless”?!

The Shaloh writes that ‘reward and punishment’ in the Torah is actually a system of ‘cause and effect.’ When we hearken to G-d, we connect to our inner purpose, and as a result we will live in peace and security. When we lose sight of our Divine calling, the natural effect is one that leads us to anxiety and hopelessness.

No doubt that the way of peace includes self-defense and a position of strength: when attacked we need to defend ourselves and go to war to protect our security and freedom. Yet, while we fight our physical battles we must simultaneously wage our spiritual battles to reconnect with G-d and His Torah and laws – and thereby bring about peace and security to our land.

As we prepare to receive the Torah at Sinai, let us remember this:

“[The] entire Torah was given to bring peace to the world, as it says ‘its ways are pleasant ways and all its paths are peace.’” (Rambam, conclusion of laws of Chanukah. Proverbs 3:16)

After all we have been through, perhaps the Torah’s peace plan is the best plan after all.

Tags: Rebbe, fear, blessings and curses, Israel, Torah, war, peace, Divine
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Emor: Radiant Caution – On War & Love

April 25th, 2002

How to Illuminate a Dark World

As we experience a very tentative lull following a period of severe Middle Eastern bloodshed, and we hold our breaths hoping the worst is over, this week’s Torah portion, Emor, sends us an imperative message that teaches us how to forcefully deal with adversity while becoming greater and more dignified people in the process.

Coming away from the Passover Massacres and the lives they shattered, we count the days of the Omer, which emphasize emotional refinement and personal growth as we count down to Sinai.

How do we balance these two poles: Intense hatred and wanton violence on one hand; strong conviction in our higher values and hope in the future on the other. How can we maintain a vision of a better life when we have to battle so much death and pain, and go to war with those that are causing all this suffering?

This week’s Torah portion begins with the words:

“Speak…and you shall tell them.”

Our sages associate this commandment with the obligation of education. The redundancy (“speak” and “tell them”) informs us:

“To caution the adults concerning the children.” (Talmud Yevamot 114a. Cited in Rashi’s opening commentary to this week’s portion)

The Hebrew word used here for ‘caution’ – ‘lihazhir’ – shares the same root as the word ‘zohar,’ meaning “radiance.” This teaches us a fundamental lesson in education: We must not just caution our children and students but we must radiate for them. ‘Speak’ to your children and warn them of all life’s dangers, but do so in a way that ‘you shall tell them’ and radiate the beauties of life.

Discipline is a most necessary component in the education. An unshaped and impressionable child needs direction and guidance to grow into a healthy and virtuous adult. Discipline helps avoid the pitfalls and traps of our own selfishness. Yet, how often do we witness – and how many of us have been hurt if not damaged – by discipline devoid of love…

Especially in the religious world, how many of us have been affected by dogmatic, fear driven discipline?! I personally have witnessed the devastating psychological effects of many people growing up (can we call it ‘up’?) in homes and schools that indoctrinated children with the wrath of G-d, with fear and guilt – with everything that has been coined today as ‘religious neurosis.’

The primary causes for fear based education vs. love based education include:
1) Laziness. It’s simply easier to just yell at your child and create strong rules, than to patiently and warmly cultivate the child’s personal responsibility.
2) Adult insecurity. We project our own fears and insecurities (perhaps absorbed from our own parents) onto our children. When we internally feel unconfident we will instinctively treat our children in kind, and make them feel afraid and insecure. When we suffer from low self-esteem we will more often than not gravitate toward fear driven approaches rather than love driven ones. It is hard to love another if you do not love yourself. Because of our own inner guilt and inadequacy, we feel that the only way to prevent problems is through driving the fear of punishment into our own hearts and the hearts of our children (as we may have witnessed our parents doing). We presume ourselves and those around us ‘guilty until proven innocent.’

How sad it is that parents and educators have such power over our children; the power to distort and obscure the inherent beauty within each of us. And how sad it is that society contributes so much to this attitude – society shaped by philosophies and schools of thought that narcissism is the inherent state of a human being, and that ‘evil’ is as powerful as good if not more powerful. Concepts like ‘original sin’ and sexuality as a ‘necessary evil’ have helped foster our feelings of shame and guilt about ourselves. Add into the equation the prevalent belief that humans are just billion-year-old evolved bacteria, and it should be no wonder that we feel ourselves as lowly, worthless creatures. Our present education system, both in its attitudes and in its teachings, feeds the powerful illusion that we are in essence insignificant ‘insects’ overshadowed by a vast world, where ‘survival of the fittest’ is the dominant rule.

It is therefore no surprise that the ‘natural’ approach in education is not love based by fear driven. We are afraid of ourselves and of those around us, so we need to create and reinforce protective ‘gates’ around ourselves to guard against the enemies within.

Emor tells us – it actually commands us – to educate our children with radiance and love. Discipline and caution are necessary, but they are part of and rooted in the same word as ‘radiate;’ discipline is but a dimension in radiance – gevurah within chesed.

See yourself as a gardener, the Torah is telling us. Within the earth lie flower seeds. Each person carries within him/herself divine beauty and light, by virtue of the fact that we have all been created in the Divine Image. No, we are not insects or animals; each of us is an indispensable flower in a grand, cosmic garden. As a gardener, the role of parent and educator is to clean the earth, rip out the weeds – create a nurturing environment so that the ‘flowers’ within your child can emerge intact, unencumbered.

Discipline is cleaning out the weeds in your life, in your home and in your behavior, so that your child can flourish. Even when discipline is required in education, always, but always ensure that the child feels that it is coming from a loving place.

* * *

Lag B’Omer is coming next week. This mystical day is the yahrzeit of the great sage and mystic Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. Rabbi Shimon was known for his mastery of Torah in both the revealed (exoteric) and hidden (esoteric) dimensions – the body and soul of Torah. Rabbi Shimon was the author of the holy Zohar, the classical ‘Bible’ of Jewish mysticism. Indeed, Lag B’Omer is called the “Mattan Torah” of the inner Torah.

The legal body of Torah must be balanced with its spiritual interior. If not it risks becoming a doctrine that regulates life, but lacks the spirit within.

I recall meeting a woman who shared with me her reasons for escaping her ultra-religious home because she felt spiritually asphyxiated. “The anger and guilt of my parent,” she told me, “simply destroyed my spirit. There was no talk of soul or love, no talk of hope and faith, only rules, rules and more rules. If you do this, you will be punished this way, and if you don’t do this, you’ll be punished another way.” “It seemed,” she concluded, “as if G-d has nothing better to do that to penalize transgressors.”

After hearing and acknowledging her anguish, followed by a long emotional talk, I told her that I do not judge her in any way. On the contrary, she did the healthiest thing by getting away from her abusive environment. But, I added, “if you really want to understand what happened in your life and not short change yourself, I suggest that you study some Chasiddus (the inner dimension of Torah). It will show you that Judaism is a comprehensive and deeply spiritual way of life, that teaches us how to fuse body and soul, matter and spirit, in one glorious dance.”

Zohar – ‘lihazhir’ – radiates light. All forms of discipline are but subsets of this illumination.

* * *

As it is in the microcosm so is it in the macrocosm – in today’s global conflicts.

When people are attacked they naturally respond. But often this response will be driven by the force of the attack with the goal of protecting yourself and your loved ones. We have an ample demonstration of this both in America’s response to September 11^th and Israel’s response to the terrorism against its citizens.

The question is this: Are you fighting a defensive war only to protect yourself, or are you fighting an offensive war for something you believe in? In other words, are you fighting against or for something?

Emor teaches us that if your battle is only against, you will always remain locked in a cycle of violence. Your fear and caution must be coupled with light and illumination – a deeper embrace of what you truly believe in. And that core belief becomes the foundation that allows you to fight against your enemy, while maintaining sight of your ultimate goal: To radiate light in your own home, community and in the entire world.

We are faced today with this unprecedented opportunity: To see the war we are fighting as a catalyst to fight the true war against today’s widespread distortions of all sorts. Distortions of the facts, distortions of religion, and distortions of what it means to be a human being.

We are all Divine flowers and have nothing to fear. Yes, we must be extremely cautious today and do whatever it takes to defend our lives and freedoms. We must go to war to unequivocally eliminate all forces that threaten innocent lives with terrorism and other violence. But our calling – and our physical war – is fueled by our embrace for truth, freedom and G-dliness.

But do not allow your life to be driven by caution and fear. Allow it to be driven by radiance and beauty.

Tags: love, children, fear, September 11, personal growth, teaching, war, Counting the Omer, education, passover, Lag B'Omer
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