BIO (2024)

BIO: Pesach Steinberg is a community Rabbi in Melbourne Australia and is married with five daughters and two sons-in-law. He is involved in the kashrut industry, is a prison chaplain, author & publisher, sits on industry boards for ethics in human research, has worked in Synagogue administration and has been the Rabbi of a Synagogue. He graduated from Mount Scopus College and Monash University and received semicha from HaRav Zalman Nechemiah Goldberg zt’l. Pesach is also the Australian Ambassador for Sar-El Israel, which places volunteers on IDF bases throughout Israel. (as at 1/1/24)

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

aspects of prayer

בס"ד

PARSHAT CHAYE SARA: ASPECTS OF PRAYER

(By Rav Zvi Leshem)

 

And Yitzchak went out to meditate in the field toward evening.[1][1]  One of the things we learn from our Patriarchs is the power of prayer.  Each one teaches a different aspect that we shall explore here.  In the words of the Maharal, The Avot are the beginning so they established prayer, for prayer connects the caused with the Holy Cause, and the Avot are the first to be caused.[2][2]

 

The Gemara[3][3] records the famous discussion about the origins of the thrice daily Amida prayer.  Where they enacted by the Avot or were they established in place of the daily Temple sacrifices?  The conclusion is that both are true.  Originally Avraham prayed Shacharit, Yitzchak davened Mincha, and Yaacov, Maariv.  Later, after the Temple's destruction, the Sages defined the legal parameters of these prayers, especially their times, to bring them in line with the newly defunct sacrifices.[4][4]  The Jerusalem Talmud[5][5] adds a third reason.  We pray three times a day since the day has three parts, morning, afternoon and night.[6][6]  At each transition we thank HaShem for finishing the previous stage and ask for help in the new one. 

 

Rav Kook[7][7] analyzes the relationship of each Patriarch to his particular tefila.  He also dwells on the unique verb used to describe the particular prayer of each.  Avraham (chesed) prays in the morning as he is the first monotheist and thus the model for us as we begin each new day.  His prayer is called amida, standing, since each morning we prepare ourselves to stand firm in Divine service throughout the day.  Yitzchak (gevura) goes out at the end of the day to pray in nature.  Sicha is both conversation and the vegetation that joins him in prayer.[8][8]  Yaacov (Tiferet) prays at night and his prayer is called pigiyah, touching for he succeeds in touching the Divine and experiences a prophetic dream.  Thus the opinion that Maariv is an optional prayer[9][9] is understood in light of the fact that the average person cannot be expected to strive for a prophetic prayer experience on a daily basis! 

 

May we be blessed to pray in all of the above ways, with backbone, quiet power and mystical intent.  May we merit that our prayers not only be answered, but that we have the wisdom to recognize and to understand the answers.  Shabbat Shalom.   



[1][1] Bereshit 24: 63.

[2][2] Netivot Olam, Netiv HaAvoda, chapter three.

[3][3] Brachot 26b.  See Rashi and Tosafot there.

[4][4] The medieval and modern commentaries deal here with many fascinating side points.  For example, according to the well-known view that the Avot kept all the Mitzvot, wouldn't Avraham have also davened Mincha for example, and if so, what does it mean to say that Yitzchak established it?  And how could there be an opinion that Maariv is optional, if it was started by Yaacov?  And is there a "Patriarchal" source for Musaf?  The Zohar is quoted as saying that Yosef established Musaf.  They also prove that even when the Temple stood, prayer was recited in conjunction with the sacrifices.

[5][5] Brachot chapter four Halacha 1.  See the Mareh HaPanim there on the comparison with the Bavli.

[6][6] Even though in Judaism the night comes before the day, in prayer, as in sacrifices, the day begins with the morning.  See also the fascinating view in Midrash Tanchuma Ki Tavo 1, that Moshe foresaw the destruction of the Temple and therefore decreed thrice daily prayer to replace the Bikkurim offering that would be annulled.

[7][7] Ain Ayah on Brachot 26b.  See also Pri Zaddik Vayera 5, who points out that Avraham prayed for the people of Sedom to be saved, but never prayed (that we know of) for himself to have children.  Yitzchak is the first to initiate the concept of praying for the fulfillment of one's own needs.

[8][8] He is thus able to achieve great results with little effort, and his beshert, Rivka, appears just as he begins to pray for her., and with no other hishtadlut on his part.  See also Mai HaShiloach, Part One, Chaye Sara, s.v. vaYitzchak.  See also Maharal, ibid, that Mincha reflects gevura in that one must interrupt one's business day in order to pray it.   

[9][9] This is no longer the case for men, who have accepted it upon themselves as being fully obligatory.  See Rambam Tefila 1: 6.  Women did not accept this obligation, Shulchan Aruch, Oruch Chaim 106: 1, Mishna Brura there, 4. 

Monday, November 5, 2012

Vayera - Yitzchak's laughter

Yitzchak was the first person to laugh.

What happened before Yitschak was born?
Sdom.

What was before Avraham?
Nimrod and the people of Ur.

What was before Sdom?
The generation of Noach.

The evil of the world was left to itself - unchecked.

The people of Sdom, Ur, Noach - they never laughed. They were serious. They didn't think they could control the situation. They mamesh felt it. They felt wickedness in their deepest deepest - they were being serious. They were in a locked environment. There was no way out for them - they were entrenched in their wickedness with no way out. No siman for themselves (a pinch) - for them everything was wicked.

How did Yitschak change the world?

What is special about laughter? It's something that can be used in good and bad times. An ovel (chas v'shalom) sometimes has a bit of a laugh in the midst of their sadness when they have a good memory. It gives them a temporary relief, Baruch Hashem. When we laugh during happy times, we can't laugh forever. How do you feel after you've laughed? It's like there is a sigh. At the end of a laugh you say okay, let's calm down, I need to re-orient my thoughts back into the right space again.

When terrible people try to push themselves on you, force themselves on you, rape. (chas v'Shalom) Often they laugh and smile like they're having a great time and joking around and they are so in control. Their laugh, like the baddies in the old movies traditionally say "ha ha ha", they 'think' they are powerful and in control of everything. That laugh was an external show meaning that they thought that they can do whatever they want.

When Yitschak introduced laughter it was to introduce a concept of not taking life too seriously. How has this changed the world? Now, even when bad people of the world laugh in a bad and sad situation (Chas V'Shalom), they know that despite how bad they are acting at that moment, there is still something bigger than them. That laugh gives away that even the bad people know Gd exists. The laugh is a way for Gd trying to enter the situation and pinch them. B'ezrat Hashem that laugh will be a reminder for these lost lost lost lost souls, committing atrocities, that there is something bigger and better for them to strive for, and change them.
And make a better world.


Written during a Shlomo Katz shiur on Chayei Sarah. Sorry Shlomo. I think you introduce an element of Nevuah into the world... for everyone. Gd willing, a revelation of Hashem in this world should come for the everybody, now.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Laws of nature don't rest

Shavua tov l'kulam.
In today's and tomorrow's Daf (Shabbat pgs.18&19) I welcome your thoughts regarding the topic 'use of inanimate objects for the purpose of work on Shabbos & Erev Shabbos'.
In particular, both Beit Hillel & Beit Shammai agree that you can set a beam to squeeze out the last parts of oil from crushed olives erev Shabbos, so that the last minutiae of oil oozes out OVER Shabbos.
Being that i am an amateur physics buff, I find this curious. It occurred to me that it seems the 'laws of nature' (in this case, gravity) are not given allowance to rest on Shabbos.


One of my thoughts...
It would seem this Shabbos law conforms to the Newtonian principle that objects in motion [should] stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force...?
e.g.
- you can use fire but cannot 'alter' it,
- a water wheel can turn as long as it is not grinding
- a beam can press the olives but cannot be moved.


Love
Pesach

Friday, October 19, 2012

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Success

A combination of Torah study and occupation with a livelihood leads to success in all fields.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Audio Lecture on The Mitzvah of Shofar

A very entertaining lecture recorded a few nights ago in Jerusalem,
by Rav Fink, about the Mitzvah of Shofar...

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1212622/20120827%20193847.mp3

 

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Tonight!!! Special Lecture on Shofar with Rav Dovid Fink

 

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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

netiv hatshuvah (Maharal) ch.2

construct of life
attributes that people live by
essence of tshuvah
tshuvah is not a result of creation
it is in the origin of creation
a self-corrective system for failures that might arise
tshuvah moves creation into being
linear world with a vector? No
a circular world
a line through it goes from one side to another – but it joins back to the origin
when Gd reveals himself to Moshe at sneh
bizarre conversation
'what is your name?' – out of place
Gd answers in non-commital way
"Eheya asher eheye"
'eheya' means 'tshuva' (= bina) from kabbala
1st blessing is chochma (wisdom)
2nd blessing is sphere of bina
There is a power I am embedding
Power of the divine is eheye
Eheye = I will be (become)
'what is the power that will take us out of here'
The power they need to align to, in order to liberate, for humans
(even though he never tells it to the Jews)
Eheye is the only name in the 1st person
Impossible for somebody else to say
Therefore the only way to say it and mean it, is by living it.
Tshuvah kadma la'olam
Means the sphira of bina – the end of intellection
Means the driving force of the birthing of human personality (the divine personality) – is eheye – the evolutionary process…
You can't move forward without recognising I am what I am
That is empowerment (or despair without recognition)
Anything to liberate you is to appreciate what you are first
Let them see that (eheye) – you can step beyond
It is a contradiction (existential truths are always in the contradiction)
Contradiction because you can move forward by first recognising what and where you are
The sneh is a contradiction, because it is simultaneously burning
Burning is the binah
Aspiring identity

Page 33

Man is the conduit
Man is the guide
Internal shift (e.g. pray for the earth)
Tshuvah brings planet forward
Tshuvah acts on the entire planet
When I become purified (I am what I am)
And re-assert and re-attach to Gd from there
Announce that I'm moving forward to greater fulfilment
Everything moves that way when I do
Re-attaching to the pure beginning
That is the appreciation and condition of health
Everything is healthy in the beginning
"just turn towards me" (that's all I ask)
Now the doctor has to heal you
Returning to elemental reality
Return to eheye
He goes to Gd with a broken heart (vessel) and asks for healing
The yira must have process
Ahava comes from within
Yira is a response to an issue on the outside

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Cheese on Shavuot

I remember sitting at my first Shavuot lunch in the house of a big Chabad Rabbi. What? A lunch with milk & meat??? (first milk then meat) What's that all about? You can't do that!
After inquiring and then finding out that this is symbolic of receiving the Torah laws, including kashrut ('shechita').

(... Something about Gevina)

Korach

Sweeping under carpet

Monday, June 18, 2012

Carlebach niggunim

Am Yisrael Chai
Cracow Nigun
Borchi Nafshi
David Melech, Melech Yisrael
Eliyahu HaNavi
El Adon Al Kol Hama'asim (v'ofanei hakodesh)
Gam Ki Elech
Good Shabbos
Keshoshana
Ki Mitzion Tetze Torah
Ki Hem Chayenu, v'orech yamenu
Lecha Dodi
Lema'an Achai Veray'i
Lord Get Me High
Mizmor Shir Leyom Hashabbat
Mizmor LeDavid, Adonai Roi Lo Echsar
Od Avinu Hay
Pe'er Vekavod
Simen Tov U'mazaltov
Uvne Yerushalayim
Yerushalayim (x4)
Yossele
Yachad
Ki va'moed
V'haer Eneinu
Pitchu Li
Od Yishama V'arei Yehuda uvechutzo yerushalayim

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Chabura learnt

Power of passivity
Avodah, let the work do its job, let Gd do his job
Frustration
Learning how to help others
Learning how to help myself

Chabura q's

Did you talk to anyone professionally about your dad, or your fears

On reflection did you have a privileged childhood in terms of happiness

What have you learnt

How do you identify in your emotions what that split screen is

Did you get approval from your parents? Was it wrong that they gave you their approval? Was their approval in hindsight the right or wrong thing?

'you've never opened yourself up to anyone' - What would opening yourself up look like? 'freedom to be innocent' - what does that mean?

Why loneliness? Were you close? Have you been to his grave? Have you decided to not talk about his death - like your grandfather?

Why were you so unprepared? His death was the first experience of separation?

Thursday, June 7, 2012

RDK - Maharal - Echad (Shma)

Long days & long years

Why do you go long on the echad (shma)
Many 'ones'
One can be part of a set on singles
One sun
Many unique items
Saying echad which is singular and unique, but better, one which is all encompassing
Only one reality
A long echad shows that you are encompassing everything in one.
Experiential, not intellect. A letting go.
Mind always wants to hold on, but experience is to let go - access to a level of unity and inclusiveness beyond reason.
Achdut Gamur
Don't shorten/cut the chet
Shlemut is when each participant member in the declaration has its presence - perhaps contradictory to echad.
Shalem is unity with participant parts.
Achdut gevurah
Don't over extend or grasp the chet, or else you might be clutching at an individual part of Gd in this world.
Lack in achdut if you can't take account of all the details
Saying chet long participates in eternity, and there is no moment in which He is not present
Time disappears in a non-motion eternal moment - a contact with eternity.
Matza is 'no time'.
Every moment is the same access point and doorway to eternity
Ach & Chad
Chet is the window to eternity - straddling both worlds
Ichui (ach) is binding
Chad is sharpness - a point
Everything is conquered/won over in eternity
Not lengthening the chet participates in insufficiency
Don't limit or bind yourself
Lengthening is part of transcendental
Rushing belittles the details
Don't have an awareness or even hyper-awareness of time by shortening chet
Be focussed and engaged
No need to rush a mitva
Your soul is part of eternity
Do what you are meant to be doing with wholeness, don't rush it. Don't lengthen and don't shorten.
Don't over extend chet and don't cut it short. Say chet fully and properly.
Gd leaves no room for other.
There is no acher, only echad.
The divine has no measure of time, only fulfillment of purpose to participate in eternity.

Aleph is 2 sharp points of Gd (yud) that are joined (bound) together by a common line between worlds - ach & chad.

Echad: Aleph, Chet, Daled = directions
Aleph is 1 - one point.
Chet is 8 - forward, backward, left, right, up, down, present and future.
Daled is 4 - everyone lives within their 4 amot, from which all directions are measured. Their makom = omnipresent.

Map out your life - visualise. Then cut it in half... Make the most of every moment.


Leah Golda bat Esther Frumit

Monday, June 4, 2012

RDK - Aharon HaLevi

Shift into ahava raba
Perek chaf-tet
Tefilla of moshe is ko'ach ma
2 bechinot of chochma
Chochma that is understanding common principles.
Lower end of transition point from specification to creation
Template for created and manifest
Torah seder haolam
Bereshit bara... was with wisdom
Creation that played itself out
Wisdom that is present in all of creation
Everything is governed by rules and consistency
'Intelligent Design' theory
Gd set it in motion
Could not be any other way
Chochma is bound to Gd without any difference
He and wisdom are one.
Wisdom and pre-existing conditions are the same
Creation is a contact with Gd for those who want to know him
Rambam says in Moreh Nevuhim that if there was proof of eternal matter then Gd did not have to pre-exist
Ramban undermines, that matter did not have to pre-exist
Da'at elokim is knowing that Gd pre-existed and is without boundary or rules
The world we live in is Gd
There is no transcendence of this world and creation, because this is part of Gd.
It is this way because it's what he wants
Tyena should be requests
Praying is from Torah, because it is part of this world.
It is what Gd wants
This is an age of yearning for a relationship with Gd
Everyone has issues but it is all a manifestation of deeper yearning
We are in Elef HaShishi
Technology is a part of the current tide of our generation
The wisdom access point of Torah that derive from reality are an intimacy of coming closer to Gd
Ze'er Anpin is the divine order, expression
Chochma galuya is the ability of the recipient to understand the divine order, this is Ze'er Anpin. It is the means.
Chochma atzilut is hidden expression
Bereishit informs you there are 2 forms of reishit... Bet (2) reishit

Chochma can only answer what, not why.
Physics will never find why.

Monday, May 21, 2012

today's thoughts from pesach

I wanted to share with you a few thoughts that came up during our recent shiurim…
1.       Regarding morning shacharit starting from a time when you can notice the difference between tcheilet and white tzitzit, I noticed something curious at Maariv last motzei shabbat which I think is very relevant. Before the sky became absolutely dark, the ambient atmospheric light was in fact 'blue'. This led to an interesting phenomenon where, for example, the white shutters on the buildings across the road from the Bet Knesset were in fact a blue color at this twilight time. The same ambient atmospheric blue light would also hold true for a time just after dawn. Thus, my understanding for the mishna noting the difference between tcheilet and white is very important, not simply because it is light enough to now see the colors of the strings, but in fact during dawn there is a time when all the strings look all the same color! i.e. the white strings (like the white shutters) would actually look blue. This is important because the time for noticing a difference in color between the tcheilet string to white strings is actually a LATER time than if you were comparing, say, orange to white. Hypothetically, if you had an orange shamash on your tzitzit (instead of tcheilet) then you would notice the difference in colors earlier(!) because the white strings would look blue (from the ambient atmospheric blue light) and you would see the orange string as an orange string. Photographers actually refer to this twilight period as "blue hour". As you will note in this picture everything that is white appears as a tcheilet color, just like the white strings would on a tzitzit.
A further thought on this… for the past 150 years Jews have been trying to re-establish tcheilet back into our tzitzit. I have seen various colors of tcheilet from purple to light blue. But there is no doubt in my mind that it is possible (based on this mishna) to deduce the exact tone of blue that the tcheilet shamash string on your tzitzit should be, i.e. the same color as a white string at this 'blue hour'.
… I hope that is understandable.
2.       אם בחקתי תלכו
There is a word that perhaps we forgot to have a look at today? אם = ima = mother? perhaps this is significant in terms of the sphirot/midot and the ima that we have been referring to in previous discussions?
3.       Letters carved into the tablets. The letters were not just carved but they were also hollowed out, in order to let the light (fire?) through. The tablets were the worldly machine/filter/decoder that allowed the Gd's light to be channeled and seen.
4.       Written Torah Ink & Parchment came from living briyot as opposed to the stones which are inanimate.
Parchment is from cow hide and the ink is from gall nut juice & gum.
5.       The keterim on the Torah's letters symbolically represent the fire of Hashem that created the Torah.
6.       Tikun leil shavuot is the breaking of the Jew to be ready for chidush of receiving a new level of Torah. (Can't happen to angels, because they can only stand in 1 place)
7.       R'Akiva also died with the fire (like a keter) on his chest. R'akiva was getting the fire raked into his basar. His life ended as fire.

R'Aharon HaLevi - im bechukotai telechu

Enlivens the kli
Brings us up from the physical world
All the physical world's sphirot
Path of ahavat olam
Moshe brings ahava raba
Not by contemplation of physical
Not relationship between 2 bodies
It is just love
Not yearning
Ahava raba is love
Ahava raba is expansive love itself
No boundaries of love
Moshe's great gift is ahava raba
Reflects itself in access to Torah
It is the Torah of Ma - Shem ma
The expressed realisation
Im bechukotai teleichu
3 levels of full realisation
Chukotai, tishmeru, asitem
Torah has different dargas
1. Moshe brings down engraved in luchot
Words carved/engraved into stone
Torah of chochma ila'a - avot
2. Written torah is from midbar
Ink on parchment - 2 pieces
Seeking to bind wisdom with words
This is Torah of ze'er anpin
Bechukotai telechu is the movement of light
Mitzvotav tishmoru is the cold static means
The fire of the light of the luchot needed to explode/breakup in order to be expressed and disseminated
Hod is the fire in the moment of transition from potential to actual
Malachim are fully actualised always, they always stand
Malachim told Gd to hold still on Torah
Gd told Moshe to express how the Torah is useful only for humans
Will is only actualised when a challenge is presented to it
For Moshe to burst into fire is the sneh -for angels they are consumed.
Torah writing the world and its revelation.
Shavuot is the giving of the luchot

Essence of humanity is the ongoing transition from potential into actual, infinitely unfolding.

(Death is stasis)
Need to be ego-less, and not protecting your paradigms and personality.
Talmidei chachamim are always in a mode of chidush of Torah.
R'Akiva is an access to keter (atik & arich)
Keter is the pure light where potentiality is coming down to the letters.
Engraving of light
Tehiru is the keter
R'Akiva sees the ketarim
From ketarim is the hilchot olam
Moshe is flesh - beshegam hoo basar - the LETTERS
R'Akiva is fleshless, having his skin raked from him - the KETER
R'Akiva is shifting, pirte pratim, chidush

Shavuot is the burning fire
Not the same Torah as the rest of the year

Shavuot is for gerim
Beyond the boundaries
Through gerim comes the keter


Im (Em) bechukotai - ima ila'a
The carving in the tablets are to let the light through - tablets are the kli/machine/filter
The ink and parchment once came from living things.
The keterim on the letters are a representation of the fire of Gd coming into letters
Tikun leil shavuot is the breaking of the Jew to be ready for chidush of receiving a new level of Torah. (Can't happen to angels, because they can only stand in 1 place)
R'Akiva also died with the fire on his chest.
R'akiva was getting the fire raked into his basar.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

RDK Tefilla Maharal, perek zayin, netiv ha'avoda

First reading of 3 brachot of Kr'Sh
1st bracha, First notice light - Yotzer Or
More than physical light
Also enlightenment of malachim
Awakening of consciousness
2nd bracha - al olam ha'ze
2 torahs, origins in zohar
Mishle describes how there was torah before world - kodem nifalav
& Torah of response to world
Access to divine, e.g. Mitzvot
Explains how it cultivates a relationship to Gd
A master to whom you're answering
Torah participates with world
Torah gives world priority
Guide to navigate
1st torah is origin of world
World is torah in flesh
creates circumstances of history
Non contingent will
2nd is contingent will
Reality which forces itself upon us, as history unfolds
Allows for technological breakthroughs as we become conscious and aware and lays the path for the next stage of thought
Learning is greater so you can learn how to act/perform/do.
Teach people and or lived truths.
Some things cannot be transferred by words, but only can be done - e.g. Leading by example.
T'chiat hametim is going back into the beam and then being transported again from the beam into the new body.
Everyone lives in a conceptual framework in their particular lifetime.
The next manifestation has a different framework which you cannot live within
Choni HaMeAgel slept for 70 years and when he woke up he struggled to fit the update of life that was now prevailing
The neshama can only be great when it has embodiment and selfhood
The learning(Talmud) can only be connected in the Ma'ase.
The learning moves me into doing and action
The learning must be expressed in the flesh
Words are part of the equation which cannot be realised without embodiment and ma'ase
Torah is lived
Moshe is also flesh, but he is a reflection of what is being learnt, and flesh it out!
Someone talking is not enough yet, it has to be done.
The writing on the luchot is necessary so people can interpret in their own way, for generations and forever.
The aron always needs the rods attached to it - so people can handle it and carry it.
New generations and your new involvment via different gilgulim is necessary
Torah sh'bctav is living still today in new dynamism and vitality with every generation
Forever unfolding
Precedent is stupidity and is constantly getting re-interpreted for new era's. New paradigms.
Halacha is the way we walk in the world, or are the laws forever walking and updating and changing
Im bechukotai telechu - you will see the laws in different ways in different eras
The laws will become engraved and you will toil in the law until the ma'ase is all the Torah enriching life.
Torah sh'bktav is a once in lifetime creation that cannot be altered, added or reduced - but it can be interpreted for the era

Beam of light of creation
Physicality of light
Light is most primordial element of physicality of creation
Recognise transitional vehicle of Torah
Leads to Shma Yisrael
Beyond the Torah is the Ani of Gd
Ani is the creation of Gd becoming manifest
Malchut is Ani
Ani is selfhood of Gd
Ani is before torah, it is the identity
Torah is the medium through which ani will be experienced and given to the world.
This is the light, the Torah.

Malchut of Ein Sof (identification)
Alefcha, katva
Za'er Anpin (response of Torah)
ZA is our vehicle to connect to Gd, the way for revelation to come about

Identity behind everything that will spell things out and make it a manifest of Gd
(megilla esther shows entrapment of amalek which makes the world full of rules and precedent that is unchanging)
Rules always serves something, which gets caught up in the game.
David Hamelech breaks the rules and forgets his self-importance with his humility
What makes Gd one is that there is nothing else. Everything is a reflection of Gd. The personhood of the ein sof.
You are the Torah being reflected via the flesh. Na'aseh v'nishma. (opposite of Bechukotai)

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

No More Fear - Carlebach

http://www.breslev.co.il/articles/breslev/rebbe_nachmans_wisdom/no_more_fear.aspx?id=21962&language=english

When G-d took us out of Egypt, you know what was wrong? We were still afraid of Pharaoh. When we left Auschwitz, we were still afraid of the Nazis. This is engraved fear. The miracle at the Red Sea is that G-d took fear from us, for a moment we were free.

Fear paralyzes us. The less fear, the more free we are, the more we can grow.

Our Torah says that the lowest, simplest person in the world, when he crossed the Red Sea, had higher vision than Ezekiel the Prophet. We were ready for the highest. For one moment, all of Israel had the same vision as Moshe. Why don’t we have the same vision as Moshe all the time? It’s because of fear.

If I’m absolutely free inside, I’m not afraid of anything.

By the end of Pesach we reach the level of infinite Prophecy and infinite riches. The Egyptians brought all their gold and silver with them, and the ocean spat it out.

There’s high oneness and lower oneness. The high oneness is like on Rosh HaShanah, when I fall down before G-d. There is only G-d: I don’t exist. Low oneness is there’s you, and then there’s me.

Why does a seed have to disintegrate before it becomes something? What remains of the seed is the deepest depths, a vessel for everything. When we stood at the Red Sea, at that very moment we were in a state of the deepest disintegration. On the one side Egyptians, on another side the Sea, and on the third side, wild animals. At that moment we were at the deepest place of recognition, and it was the children who saw G-d first when they crossed the Red Sea. We were disintegrating, but obviously not yet enough. We were still afraid of Pharaoh, we were still too afraid to be prophets.

What’s the first sign that someone’s a slave? No self-confidence, fear.

Why isn’t Moshiach coming? We’re still a little afraid of it.

Reb Nachman says that you can’t taste the hidden light of the world unless you first get rid of fear, because fear paralyzes us mentally and physically. At the Red Sea we learned not to be afraid, to trust G-d in the deepest way.

We are so afraid of loving people. The only ones who aren’t afraid are our children. Seder night is the fixing of fear. How do we do it? We make children the center.

On the first day of Pesach a sin offering is brought to ask G-d to forgive us for not bringing Moshiach sooner. We might have, but we were afraid to.

At the crossing of the Red Sea, all of Israel went to mikva for the first time ever. It was just before Mount Sinai - our conversion - therefore we all went to the mikva.

The end of Pesach is the highest mikva in the world. Most people don’t keep Shabbos, don’t keep Yom Tov, because they’re afraid to. Even when they keep it, it’s not done on the level of Kriyas Yam Suf [crossing the Red Sea]. Only after we cross the Red Sea can we receive the gift of a Shabbos without limits, a Yom Tov without limits. Shabbos and Yom Tov are gifts from the inside, inside, inside of heaven.

The way to fight evil is by becoming infinitely holy.

When we get out of Egypt, Pharaoh is still there. There is still evil left in the world. If we know that there is still evil left in the world, how can we sing? But when we crossed over the Red Sea, there was no evil in our world, so now we could sing.

In order to sing you we be free. Okay. The slaves from Africa used to sing to tell you that no matter how much you tried to enslave them, they were still free. Singing comes from the world of freedom. When you sing, you are telling evil, “You don’t have dominion over me.”

In Judaism, the walking, the journey, is so important. Judaism becomes precious because of the long walk. The holiness of it is that it teaches you that you are always on the road. Teachers have to teach you the holiness of walking, and they have to walk with you. The Baal Shem Tov says that a teacher who doesn’t walk with you, doesn’t know your soul, and is not a real teacher.


Excerpt from “Rebbe Nachman Says”, The Teachings of Rabbi Nachman of Breslev as Taught by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach z”tl. Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s books are available online at the Breslev Israel store.

meron day - Lag B'Omer

We tried to catch the bus to Meron, but at 2 separate bus stops there were hundreds of people waiting around and no buses. So I offered to drive and everyone paid 40 shek's each. worked out well.

Schedule – Lag B'Omer – Meron - Amirim

4.00pm-6.00pm Had special pre-lag b'omer shloof
8.00pm-12.00pm Lag B'Omer bonfires in Gan Sacher for Mayanot Shule and Sulam Yaakov Yeshiva
12.45am               left home in van to pickup friends
1.00am                 picked up friends, drove to Kikar Belz to catch bus to Meron
1.10am                 arrived at first bus stop for Meron – hundreds of people, no buses
1.20am                 arrived at second bus stop Meron – hundreds of people, no buses
1.30am                 decided to drive by ourselves to Meron (full car of 9 people)
3.30am                 Pit Stop on Kvish 6
4.30am                 Arrived in Meron 'area'
5.00am                 Parked behind Meron in SifSuf
5.15am                 Caught Shuttle to front gate of Meron
5.20am                 Arrived at front gate of Meron
5.30am                 Started Shacharit (amud hashachar) – outside the front of kever
5.45am                 Neitz
6.15am                 Finished shacharit
6.30am                 'Dived' into kever - bracha
6.45am                 'Swam' out of kever
7.00am                 Listened to Kriya in Bet Knesset beside Kever
7.15am                 Ate a little out the back beside the forest.
7.30am                 went into kever of Hillel HaZaken - bracha
7.45am                 danced a hora with bunch of chareidim
7.55am                 waited at front gate for friends
8.05am                 caught shuttle back to car park
8.15am                 arrived in car park at SifSuf
8.20am                 departed for Jerusalem
10.00am               pit stop on kvish 6
11.30am               arrived back in Jerusalem
12.00pm              went to bed (didn't sleep)
3.00pm                 got back in car with family and drove to Amirim (next to Meron)
10.30pm              Fell asleep after almost 30 hours…

Monday, May 14, 2012

RDK - Aharon HaLevi

New bechina, sha'ar slishi
Moshe Rabeinu
Ahava Raba
Shem Ban, Shem Ma
Aspect of Ima and Aba i'la'i
Power of M's shushavina d'malcha

All forms of spiritual expression find a place with Moshe R.
M has a special place with Bina.
Ima on left side, is into hod of ze'er anpin - expression of emotive, bringing things into realisation
Ima gives over conviction - something has to come from this
Her son is the modality through which her NEHI become expressed - netzach, ?, hod
Though yesod ima is short, (yesod aba extends downwards) does not extend into midot of Ze'er Anpin
Hod of ZA is impacted by Ima
Brings an acquiescence to Gd's infinity
To be modeh
Influx from above is modeh
Cause others to be modeh by being fully revealed and powerfully expressive
To be modeh to our talents, then that becomes powerful to others so that it spreads
People won't experience you fully because you haven't fully expressed yourself and admitted fully to your midot
Leads to obsequiousness
Tries to get someone to be modeh to him before he's even reached his own hod fulfillment
Hod is crucial to understand ourselves
When Bina extends downwards, the impact of the ein sof, it goes beyond and open to the infinity
The personal impact is to be modeh in the ze'er anpin
Binah does not take over and define midot, she only helps with being modeh
Aba's yesod is long, not in the intellection and differentiation
Aba dwells in ein sof
In expansive bitul, and perfectly present
Midot can be completely transformed, not intellectual.
Wisdom not thinking
Aba extends down through centre line of all midot into ZA
Ima extends down left into Hod
Ima is not prime identity
Aba spreads out into Hod and yesod, but not essential to it, except for expanding midot
Centre gets transformed into bitul
Aba produces a bliss which expands your midot because the ein sof is being integrated

Wise man is beyond abilities and comprehension, apprehension
Not really aligning himself, but listening and chupping it
Chacham echoes the teachings and has learned
He can't be creative, he just gets it
Modeh le chochma
Primary stance is not to align with the wisdom, but to be modeh and his students learn from that
But if student is bitul to chacham, then he becomes transformed by this relationship and understanding of the chacham.
Binah can only hold conceptualisation
They don't get it, and nothing for them to do in the contemplation.
This is binah i'la'a
Avot is in love with Hashem, ahavat olam - Gd is enlivening their kli.
But the kli and midot are separate
Ahava raba is expansive though and is beyond kelim
But contemplation needs to love
Bina i'la'a is infinte in which there is no other
Midah means measurable and finite.
Hod-hoda'a is a surrender, a stance
Contemplation is the disembodied aspect
My mindfulness and awareness of ein sof can be awakened
They're all then batel
Do they disappear to the ein sof? No, that's binah talking. Participant of consciousness.
Chochma is simply to see it. Impact from midot being enamoured/integrated - present to it. In solution with it. Dissolved.
Bina looks for solution
Chochma is the dissolution
Lacks distinction
Spiritual awakening
Value of both possibilites
Intellect ends, and chochma is involvement in presence without thinking.
Power of this is that midot are still there, but enhanced by bitul of chochma.

The makot of mitzrayim are a teaching - a transformation of consciousness.
It was a shift so we could go into desert and live with Mun and Clouds, etc.

Impact of hitbodedut in ahavat olam
Nothing to do but let go of self-hood
A new human being walking around
Different level of humanity, a new league - you can only be modeh of these people.
Seek to be modeh of your own path
Live in the presence of Moshe
Could only see his backside, not his face, needs a mask
Moshe's face changed when he asked to see Gd's face
The only gilui of Gd's malchut is in the hod of 'atik'.
People will just look in complete surrender and awe - hod she'be'atik
Binah knows it's beyond me.
Atik is misgaleh to binah
Ne'etak means separated from. This is how binah sees Gd.
Chochma has no transcendence to see this.
Beyond kelim.
M is using hitbonnenut, perfection of bina i'la'a.
M also exists in Aba, the midot is yesod aba.
M is in the attachment of Aba, and this is the source of his true anava to Gd.

Monday, May 7, 2012

RDK - Aharon HaLevi

Yaakov excited by physical reality, when he meets Rachel - ahavat olam, responsiveness
Movement inwards to intimacy
Accessible path
'Ban' = 52
Redundancy, replication - this is that
Appreciation of the child 'Ben' = child
The world is the child of Gd
Jews are first born of HKBH
Path of the fathers

Then introduced to Moshe
Ahava Raba
Not aroused by phycial presentation
Aroused by contact with essence
Kelim are not source of arousal
Love of one for another
Blissful stillness
Quiet of presence within divine
Deeply reflected in Moshe's stance in life in anava
Simple and boundless
Anachnu ma? We are what?
We are not a particular entity and phenomenon
We are absorbed in all
1 way is carrying content in words
Another way is seeing the words
Seeing the speaker
Jews touch this when they 'see' the words at Har Sinai
Ban is Bina is hearing and listening - not that way.
What is desire and intention behind those words
Words block the intention
Moshe lives in ahava raba
Moshe says this is not for me, the world of ma.

Aharon HaKohen is the escort of the queen
Moshe is the escort of the king
Moshe, brings king into avod of queen - divine to the world.
Moshe is netzach, right side
Aharon is the escort of the queen to the king - the world to its submersion in the divine
Aharon is Hod, left side

Aharon and Moshe are Ma - mahut nothing
Don't see sum of things
They're love is beyond understanding and wisdom
Derived from kelim, where the avot are
Supernal mother and father
Does not enter into ze'er anpin
z.a. is accessible format
za the driver to unfold and unpack
Za the contemplation is of avot and Gd
M&A are not bringing down vitality
Only seeing divine
Is no other in the divine
Delineation b'n body and vitality is not appropriate there
Perspective of man is built on consciousness of b'ground and perspective
Our brain 'subjectifies' everything
Israel is the forerunner of imaging
You never see what it is, only who it is
You can see patterns and give it identity
This is disappointingly NOT what is there
The translation of what is there
Electrical impulses are the real form
Moshe in ma sees what is
Ultimately you become anava
Ultimately access the inner, and leads to netzach, which is forever
Pale blue is the netzach, the forever
Naming is a function of 'ban' - subjectifying
Angels can't name items
Human brains give it pattern and appearance
Humans live a pattern out as identity
This is man's glory (not undoing)
Angels are pure force
Force which is potency which is unformed
Moshe is an ish elokim
Moshe is never named by his mother
Aharon was named 'nireh', an enabler of perception
Always seeing divine
Doesn't see space in between
Like an eddy in the flow
(as opposed to Korach who stood on his legs and was not part of the natural flow)
Gds appearance in yesh is no different to Gds appearance not in yesh
Moshe is Gds escort to house of queen
Queen is representative of people, the recipient
Moshe brings revelation of divine into nifalim - this world
Panim b'panim - inner to inner
Kelim don't have mahut, don't carry anything

All devarim in the world are Gd speaking to us
... Now we have to get that

Like a love letter. Its about the love and accessing her - not the letter
What stands behind all this
Coming into the world, not as other
Aharon is left, who turns upwards
Brings queen into kings chamber
Re-instates belovedness between 2 people
Reintegrate their relationship
It's not a lie
2 people don't want to be separate, really.
Zohar gives contradiction and says Moshe is supernal wisdom
... And also yesod aba
And bina is Moshe
And Moshe is bina
And Hod
But in truth they're all of a common intention
Moshe is abnegated before Gd, Ma.
Activity and contemplation in terms of seeing via bina ha'ila'a.
M Always looks upward towards his divine essence.
This is bina, but not bina of deriving Gd from the world
M sees Gds picture of the world, from Gds perspective
Revelation of chochma and bina reflect in Hod.
Moshe has hod, reflection of light glowing from him
M passes light, hod, onto Yehoshua
Malachim admit to the power of man when they see Moshe
Empowerment of hod, and moshe's ability to give it over
Hod above shamaim is ze'er anpin

Extent of anpin is into Hod
ZA is standing, man. Above is ima. Netzach extends downwards into midot
Where mind meets matter
Bina spreads down
3 legs extending down, segments,
Top is chochma, middle is chesed, lower is netzach
Side of hod, top is bina, middle gvura, hod - this is ima
Avot are in zeer anpin
Moshe is ima which is in hod
His face is glowing

If chochma and bina remained in their essence they would not come down at all
Experience acceptance
Knowing there is nothing but Gd
Your brain is structured so everything is translated into image
Moshe is the only non imaging prophet
You can only be modeh to it.
Hod is the source of prophecy
Experience of flow
Moshe brings that down
Experiencing hod is appreciating its influence and acquiescing to what it is
Hod is the end of Bina
Becoming inquisitive makes Bina disappear, you just need to nullify and accept

Yesod is the connection of Ima to the ein sof
Awareness of ein sof, there is no emotion to accompany that
Hod goes down to bina to accept there is nother than He
Chochma of Yesod of aba can connect downwards and connect with love, informed by the bitul submersion
Bina, looking towards, and aware of, stands in your way of emotional reality

Monday, April 30, 2012

RDK - R'Yehoshua Ben Levi

(Ch.26)
Last time began world of Moshe as expressed in ahava raba
Shift in sha'ar
When M&A say nachmu it is def'n of their nature and identity
Different from world of avot
Different b'n havaya and
Ma is with aleph, unfication, essence
Ba is diiferent
Aleph is a vav on a slant with 2 yud's, gematria 26
Orientation to essence and unity
Ma is non-presence
Denial
After saying there is nothing left of you
Completely lost in presence of divine
Act of abnegation
What did you think we are?
What is that?
Not interested in its functions
Unrelated to anything
'Mahut'
Reflected in kabbalah - Ma and Ben
Ban - 52 -
Ma - ?
Yud is chochma is essence
Chochma is Ma
Bina is Ban
After seeing the sneh, M goes to par'o
Who am i?
... I am with you.
Bina is the power of redemption
The wise man has what he has
Bina is the ability to derive one thing from another
Ma is the essence in presence
Redeem involves ability to step the next step
To find out 'who' it is, requires context and expression
Who we are is defined with bina
E'he'ye - I will be with you
I don't provide names - ma
E'he'ye & E'he'ye
First appearance, after Gd asks, who am I
E'he'ye is the def'n of both Gd and man
Par'o is a disrupter
Lots of boundaries in Egypt (euclidean plane)
Subjugation and oppression has no connection to spirituality
Mitzra'im is 'meitzar', confinement of me.
Physics & geometry is the opposite of Gd/spirituality.
E'he'ye means i will be - Essence and core
Modality and personality is governed by e'he'ye
Identity is essence&core, liberating
Personality are the pieces
Self is the integration and expression
Self-dedication is confinement & control
E'he'ye is dynamic, expose yourself
David HaMelech is dynamic
Sha'ul was trapped in his image, paranoia
E'he'ye is a mode of becoming
Becoming free
E'he'ye is uncommonly used
Malchut is a reflection of bina
Selfhood is the end and emergent personality
Selfhood, if it loses bina, becomes self-serving and non-expansive
Moshe needa to go in with E'he'ye, not with Ma.
E'he'ye is the power of liberation.
E'he'ye is the keter
Ari: E'he'ye is in keter and bina
Doubled E'he'ye, 1st is keter, asher is chochma, 2nd is bina
... I am, that is, what i become
2nd E'he'ye is the revelation of Gd
Expansion and moving out
Only way to be in resemptive posture, needs preceding with E'he'ye and Asher, essential stillness and listening
Asher is the anchor, or else it comes with too much frredom - hippie, footloose.
Moshe is ma.
In M's presence, everything can begin to expand.
Zohar: bina is a river flowing out of Eden.
Needs to achieve a sense of presence & worth.
Bina is the source of simcha and liberation
Zohar: 50 times in the chumash
Mi is 50 times
E'he'ye is the only name of Gd in 1st person
But as soon as you say it, it is yourself.
It is the expression of Gd in this world.
Ban is mi, who, my power
Beginning in anochi, keter
Nothingness to the Ma

Moshe asks for an identity when he goes to see Par'o.

(Yovel is 50 - Mi - comes back to primary identity, beginning. It is also shavuot)
Nachala is bina
Shavuot is nata betochenu
Chachamim are guiding with a 'cattle prod', but they're not moving around. But they are not stuck, they are planted. Therefore able to grow. They have a foundation.
When the malchut becomes a separate reality, then we get disconnected and enclose ourselves in a mitzraim
Always reference to source before reacting
Moshe in the desert finds Yitro the 'Keni' and marries tzippora

Ultimately, Ma is static. Asher and chochma allows us to respond.
Nature unfolds so that if we stay passive in the Ma, then we are abortive of Gd's revelation in this world.
Nature of reality is that Gd is always calling us forth.
Ma will lead into Mi. Gd is calling us to task.
Asher is an affirmation.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Resentment - steps, process...

1. Bringing forth the object of our resentment. Judging, deriding.

2. Confessing the extent of the resentment. What i've been doing to this person and to myself.

3. Gains and losses

4. Ask forgiveness - gam anosh l'tzadik lo tov ('even punishing for a tzadik is not good'). Offer forgiveness.

5. Choose an action. Imagine it done. To reflect this new perspective.

Resentment (my response)

I don't know you well enough.

Where is your life, your character, in respect of Torah. If you were to reflect on that, what's the difference.
Stubborn, rude, condascending, nasty
Obvious lack of patience
What makes you like you are
Lack of compassion
Not very happy
I only see smiling when there is a joke
Mocking
Too serious
Closed
Disconnected
Proper
Does the negativity overflow into all areas of life

Yet i think you know what you're like...?
How do you reconcile?
Tell me about your life?
Why are you the way you are

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

tazria-metzora-omer

Tazria has 67 verses which is gematria for the word בניה – her children – a reference to the woman who gives birth (at the beginning of the parsha). The word בניה can also be understood to be mean 'builders', since children are also the builders of the future. Metzora has 90 verses which is gematria for the word עידו – his witness – a reference to tzaraas which is witness to someone who tells lashon hara. This week we also start perek aleph (ch.1) of Pirkei Avot, which we say weekly between Pesach and Shavuot. Pirkei Avot begins with discussing how the Torah was received by Moshe at Sinai and then 'passed on' ("Mesora" = tradition) to Joshua, etc.

What's the relationship between the two sidras and Pirkei Avot?

In all 3 cases the relationship revolves around the origin of Torah for the Jewish people.

Tazria: The children (בניה) were the 'guarantee' offered by the Jewish people at Har Sinai in order to receive the Written and Oral Torah. The male child, discussed at the beginning of Tazria, is also the receiver of the Jewish covenant by the law of brit milah – 'circumcision'. The builders of the Torah are the Torah scholars , and Gemara Berachot 64a tells us that children shall be the learners of the Torah.

Metzora: In our system of imposing Torah law in our society, we also have the Jewish Beit Din. The Beit Din when listening to cases needs to have independent witness/es in order to pass their judgement. The judgements of a Beit Din are clarifications of our Written and Oral Torah and therefore carry similar obligations to be observed by Jews. Therefore the Jewish court system is an additional aspect of the origin of Torah for the Jewish People.

Pirkei Avot: So we received the Written and Oral Torah at Sinai (Tazria), and we have rules and judgements by the Beit Din (Metzora), both of which contribute to Torah in our daily life. The last aspect of how Torah is a part of our daily life comes from the way Pirkei Avot begins – traditions. For many Jews, one of the most regular ways that Judaism plays a part in our lives is by the traditions we receive from our parents and our families.

Tazria (67) + Metzora (90) = 157 => 1+5+7 = 13
Gematria for:     13 = אחד (unity)                13 = אהבא (love)
This is the 'antidote' against lashon hara, disunity and baseless hate between Jews.

67 (סז) + 90 (צ) = 157 (קנז)
קנז is a reference to Othniel Ben Kenaz who was the first of the lineage of Judges. He was the first to follow after the end of Joshua's reign.

Monday, April 23, 2012

RDK - tefilla - R'Yehoshua HaLevi

Introduction:
Moshe
Ish elokim
Divine human being
Introduced as in the 'flesh' - 'certainly'
Relationship b'n flesh and selfhood
Flesh is needed to fully participate in the temple service
Vegetarian age - body?
Transcendence
Pride of incorporation of body with Torah
Primitive sacrifice of animals
We are now not necessarily at the highest development
Power of divine to relate to the basar, rather than relating to the soul

Ahavat Olam

Looking at body of world, life force, origin
Ya'akov touching the place
Other Avot oriented to essence, not manifest or output
Female to embodiment and realisation
Male essence concept
They declare their identity
Aspect of 'Ma' has 2 meanings

1. They way it is - not sensing. Abstract. Whatness not suchness. Template for physical formation.
e.g. hardness and resistance. modality for finding difference b'n bodies
There are 10 differences - sphirot - b'n all the elements, colours, sounds, tones, motion, rhythm, energy.
Goes back to chochma and then atzeilut
Things are in revolution
Humanity constantly shifts paradigm, e.g. Analog to digital, discovery of 'genes'
Chochma and nachmu ma, are those who hold the abstracted format. Not the world.
Moshe and Aharon are introducing something new.
This is looking to essence - not the world.
Avot melachot are physical
Moshe & Aharon are divested of reality
'Ein kavod ela Torah' nothing to honour except Torah
i.e. No origin for kavod without Torah
Honour is part of the essence and embedded meaning.
Given significance by manifestation and teaching.
Nothing here without purpose and significance - R'Nachman.
Those who are attached to chochma will assign kavod, honour.

2.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Esh Kodesh - Piasetzner's Torah from Warsaw Ghetto - Parsha Mishpatim

Bracha...
Understand
Connect
Dedicate
Learn
Something new
Beyond reason
Something real

Laws placed before them
Broken houses (Gemara Berachot)
Daven in a ruin
Eliyahu was at the doorway
Daven on road
Daven short amida
Voices of hurva
Heavenly voices
Cooing like a dove
Woe that my home is destroyed
My children are exiled
That voice is heard 3x a day
Gd bows his head during kaddish
'keve yachol' - so to speak...
Woe to children exiled
Woe to father who exiles his children
Jewish soul tortured
Thinks only he is tortured
All the pain is not of interest above
Heaven doesn't care
All the pain - gd is in pain
When the shechinah is in pain, Gd's limbs are hurting
More than a person feels pain
Gd himself, so to speak, feels the pain

Does the Piasetzner see Gd's pain?

Not perceived in the world that Gd is not in pain
If Gd is infinite, then he is in infinite pain
Imagine Gd's pain
Do we even hear the echo of the voice of Gd'w infinite pain
It is beyond our human limitation
How could R'Yosi have heard Gd's voice and here in the Warsaw ghetto we can't hear it?
Hurva of J'lem, your identity is nullified
R'Yose's limitations were nullified in J'lem
Part of R'Yose was destroyed
That's when R'Y heard Gd's voice, an echo
Heard from far away, faint

This is the explanation for the world existing, if we don't hear His pain.
Gd's pain is not entering the world, and this is why the world exists
Angel told Gd that he wanted to cry instead of Gd, during the destruction of Temple
Gd said that He wants to, and not to stop Him
Angel says that it's not prayer
Piasetzner says that this is not protocol
Gd goes to a different place to cry
It's not good for servants to see the King crying
The King's pain boundless! That's why it can't come into the world.
The angel wanted to cry so the pain would go into the world
Angel is Gd's extended will/messenger
Emissaries of Gd
The angel wanted to cry the cry of the 'so to speak' - the 'so to speak' is that which can't come into the world.
Otherwise the world would have heard the cry
LET THE WORLD HEAR HIS CRY - AND BURST!
ONE SPARK AND BURN UP ALL THOSE WHO HATE HIM... i beg you.
Gd had mercy on Egyptians
Now the Jews are drowning in blood.
Can the world continue to exist?
Angel: i'll cry, and You wont have to, so then there will be nothing left to cry over

... It wasn't yet the time for the revelation.

Now.
The pain is great
It's too huge for world to contain
It is transcendent
He lifts his pain higher than the angel
Even the angels can't see it

Kabbalah:
That place is the inner chamber
Understanding beyond cognition
Intuition
Bina exists for us to wonder
Not for that which needs to be known
It is higher
His pain is hidden from us and malach


My thoughts:
People visit a makom (omnipresent) many years after the dust has settled 'so to speak'. Like R'Yosi visit the hurva of the Beit Hamikdash. This is when you feel and hear the souls. This is when you hear the latent echoes of Gd. When the injustice is being done - during the destruction and the death - the voice is still in its chamber. The cry is in its chamber. The cry of when you open your mouth and nothing comes out. You are in such pain. When we go to the Har HaBayit, when we go to Warsaw, to Auschwitz, to Dachau and all the places where the cry was of such pain that it was not heard, now, today, we hear the moaning and the cooing and the keveyochel, the 'so to speak' - beyond this world.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Parshat Tsav - Shabbat HaGadol Teaching


2 teachings...
1. picture from Mei Hashiloach (R'Leiner-Ishibitzer) about how we will regard each other in the days of Mashiach. This is from parshat tsav.
2. below, from R'Brodt about Shabbat HaGadol

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Before leaving Mitzrayim, Hashem gave us a very special mitzvah: the mitzvah of Korban Pessach, the Paschal lamb that was to be sacrificed on the 14th of Nissan in the afternoon and eaten in the evening, the 15th of Nissan, at our last meal in the land of Egypt. However, for this Pessach sacrifice, Hashem required us to acquire the lamb on the 10th of Nissan and to bring it home for safeguarding until it was time to offer the sacrifice, to ensure that it would not have any blemishes that would otherwise disqualify it as a sacrifice.
It is well known that the lamb was one of the many gods that the Egyptians worshipped. The mitzvah of the Korban Pessach was an opportunity for us to do something that required a great deal of faith and courage. Visualizefa a little 'yiddele' who all his life was a slave to the Egyptians and now he had to confront his masters. Here he is walking home with a little sheep on his shoulders and an Egyptian stops him on the street and says to him, "What are you doing with that lamb"? And this little yid, had to tell him, "I'm bringing this lamb home because in four days from now we are going to use it as a Pessach sacrifice." He had to find all his courage and gather all his faith and publicly proclaim that he was now prepared to slaughter the god of his oppressor slave-master, for now he truly believed and knew that there is only one G-d, the G-d of Israel.
The miracle was a twofold one. The Jewish slave found his faith and courage, and the oppressor was overcome with fear and did not try to stop him from killing his god. But there was something even greater that took place in this miracle! When the Egyptian first-borns were told of the coming 'plague of the first-borns' they, the very Egyptian first-borns who oppressed the Jewish slaves, went to demand of their elders to let the Jews go. When their request was refused, they waged battle against them and many were killed. This is alluded to in the verse: "To Him who smote the Egyptians with their firstborn." The Rebbe zt"l explains that this represents the highest stage wherein "darkness is tranformed into light".
But why do we honor the Shabbos before Pessach each year, instead of the 10th of Nissan? Chassidut explains that all the spiritual and material gifts that come to us during the week, actually originate in the preceding Shabbos. Thus we observe the Shabbos before Pessach as Shabbat Hagadol, rather than observing the 10th of Nissan for the miracle that occurred on that day. The miracle that took place on the 10th of Nissan in Mitzrayim was nurtured by the fact that it was Shabbat.
Today, it is a widespread custom that on Shabbos afternoon of this Great Shabbos, we read a part of the Haggadah, from "avadim ha-yinu" until "lechapeyr al kol avonoteinu", to note the miracles of Shabbos Hagadol and to prepare ourselves consciously for our upcoming liberation celebration. It is also customary to do further study and review of the many laws of Pessach.