Adar 5767

Chazal in tracate Macos searched for the foundation of the Torah and their conclusion was the verse in Habakuk, "The Tzadik in his emunah will live". Rebbe Nachman from Breslov said that in the end of days before the moshiach arrives, the tzadikim at that time will cry out about emunah Therefore it is wothwhile to begin to investigate and understand this matter of emunah.
Many people have the mistaken notion that emunah simply means that one says he believes in God, and goes on to carry on with his life with no special awareness to the matter of emunah. This approach is not only problematic from a halachik standpoint, as the mitzvah of emunah is obligatory every momement of a person's life, but it also is a greatly flawed approach to yiddishkeit
Let us examine this verse from Habakuk. This verse tells us that the tzadik in his emunah will live, the implication from this verse tells that the entire life force of the tzadik is his emunah. Meaning to say that emunah is not simply an aspect of his being rather emunah is his entire existence. To understand this we can look in world and see what gives people motivation. Most people unfortunatley are motivated by superficial and external things such as money, honor, and physical desires. For the tzadik these things are of absolutely no consequence and are even repulsive to him, rather the entire motivaton of the tzadik is his emunah.
If this aspect of emunah is the foundation of the entire Torah, and is the entire life force of the tzadik, it must be that emunah is not simply a dogmatic expression of belief, God forbid. Emunah relates to God, and we know of course that God is Ein Sof(even the Rishonim who didn't have the Zohar and lived before the revelation of the Ari discuss this concept of Ein Sof in relation to Hashem so the same way that God is Ein Sof, so to their are Ein Sof of levels to emunah. This concept is very deep, and it is touched upon in the sefer Likutey Moharan. There Rebbe Nachman explains that in the service of Hashem the gate of all knowlege is faith. He explains that through faith one comes to a perception or understanding of divinity. Faith in simple terms means to believe in something that cannot be grasped by the intellect. However Rebbe Nachman explains that after one has a level of true faith, he will eventually grasp that faith with his intellect, and that which for him was previously a matter of faith now becomes grasped by the intelllect. Consequently the person now has a higher and deeper faith, meaning once the persons attains wisdom he come to an understanding that there are other even deeper matters in the matter of emunah that he cannot grasp with his intelletct. Hence he accepts these new deeper matters with emunah, and then once again these matters of emunah become grasped by his intellect. This cycle of receiving wisdom through faith is endless
This process of wisdom through that we have just disccused, is hinted to in a remarkable way in the verse in Habakuk that we brought earlier. Shlomo HaMelech says in the sefer Koheles, "Wisdom gives life to its master", so we see that life is equated with wisdom. So now we can understand in a interesting light the verse in Habakuk which says that the "The tzadik in his emunah will live.", to mean that he receives wisdom though his emunah.
This idea of faith and wisdom is extremely important, and has important ramifications also in the realms of Torah study. However now we must first understand this verse in Habakuk on a simpler level. The sefer Tehillim of Dovid HaMelech is perhaps the strongest instrument to bring a Jew to strong faith in Hashem. It is well known that when a Jew is placed in a state of distress he will turn to Tehillim to strergthen his faith in Hashem, and to arouse compasssion upon himself. Therefore if we examine the struggles of David HaMelech and how he overcame them, we can understrand what it means that the, "Tzadik in his emunah will live."
We find in many verses the strife and conflict that Dovid HaMelech faced in his life. We will select a few of these verses. "Hashem how great is my suffering, many have stood up against me." "Many have pursued, and caused me strife", in that same perek he says "Princes have chased me for no reason." And he even says, "Many are battling against me on high." Rebbe Nachman explains this last verse according to the gemarah in Sanhedrin which says, the same way a person has enemies down below, so to he has on high. We know that Dovid was pursued by Shaul, by his son Avashalom, and by one of the gedolim Doeg who rule that Dovid was forbidded to marry into the kahal This is not to mention other opposition that he faced. Despite all this we find that he says, "Hashem is with me I shall not fear", in addition, "Many have caused me strife, from your statutes I have not budged." From all this it is quite clear that Dovid drew all his strenth from his emunah, to the extent that he says, "Only good and kindness have pursued me all the days of my life " Eventhough he was in the midst of turmoil, he saw everything that was happening to him as the kindness of Hashem. So from all this we can certainly understand on a more simple level the verse, "The tzadik in his emunah will live."
This matter of opposition that Dovid faced must be understood on a basic level. Also this opposition that Dovid faced, will be encountered by any person who enters into avodas Hashem in truth. It is well known and needs no proof that there is good and evil in this world. Likewise it is known that good stems from truth, and evil from sheker. The world we live in is called in the seforim "Almah di Shikra"(world of falsehood). It is expained in seforim that the inherent nature of this world is evil Therefore when a person arouses himself to fight the evil within himself and in the world he must know that he is entering into a war. Dovid HaMelech had no evil in himself, but he was a warrior against the whole manifestation of evil in the world. And his purpose was to reveal emunah, that through which all evil can be destroyed, therefore he sufferd great opposition. And likewise we can understand the great opposition to faith that there will be in the end of days of which we spoke about in the beginning in the name of Rebbe Nachman.

   On Lag B'Omer, the thirty third day of the Omer, tens of thousands of Jews will ascend to Meron the burial place of Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai for a day of exalted happiness filled with prayer and ecstatic dancing.  This is the day that Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai left this physical world and ascended to unfathomable spiritual heights. Every year on  this day in the higher worlds all the heavenly chambers receive new life and all the angels praise the new light that is revealed.   And it is well known  throughout the generations that the rejoicing on Lag B'Omer at the grave site of Rebbe Shimon is so intense that it goes beyond  the laws of nature.  It is worthwhile to delve into the Talmud and the Zohar to gain a greater understanding of Rebbe Shimon.
   It says in the tracate of Shabbos 33b, 'Opened Rebbe Yehuda and said how nice is the workings of this nation (the Romans) they've built markets, bridges, and bathhouses. Rebbe Yosi who was present kept quiet. Answered Rebbe Shimon and said, "Everything they've done they've done for themselves."  Rebbe Yehuda ben Garis went and spoke of the matter to others and it was made heard to the king. And the king said," Yehudah who spoke highly of us will be elevated ,Yosi who kept quiet will be sent to exile in Tzipori, and Shimon who disgraced us will be killed."'  Rebbe Shimon and his son Rebbe Elazar went and hid in a cave and a miracle occurred  and a cherub tree appeared  which sustained them. For twelve years they were up to their necks in sand .  At the end of twelve years the prophet Elijah came to them and told them the king had died and that the decree has been nullified.  They left the cave, but had to come back for another year as they had begun so awesomely spiritual they needed to prepare themselves to come back into the world. It was during the 13 years that the secrets of the Zohar became revealed to Rebbe Shimon. During those years Rebbe Shimon became completely devoid of his physicality that Moshe Rabeyno and Elijah the prophet came and revealed to him the secrets of the Torah. He was able to receive the highest fifth level of the soul, yechidah.
   Rebbe Shimon reached  such a  high level that he became aware of all souls that ever existed and will ever exist as well as the  spiritual roots of every soul, how many times each soul has to come into the world, and when each soul will reach its rectification.  So great a level had Rebbe Shimon reach that he said about him and his son,"I have seen men who spiritually flourish, but they are few. And if they are only two  than it is me and my son and we can free the world from any form of judgment." (Succah 45b)
           Rebbe Shimon had great  spiritual vision that he could see all of history until the end of time. When the Rabbis entered into the vineyard in Yavneh they said. 'In the future the Torah will be forgotten from Israel and Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai said it will not be forgotten as it says, "It will not be forgotten from the mouth of his seed."(Shabbos 138b) In the Zohar Rebbe Shimon says, "With this work, the book of the Zohar, the Jewish people will leave the golus."  Rebbe Shimon was a great leader and is referred to in the Zohar as "the faithful shepherd."   He had a great love for the Jewish people, and when he revealed great secrets to his son and his students which constitute the Zohar, he said he was able to reveal such secrets because of the great love that was between them.  Rebbe Shimon was called "the faithful shepherd", because he renewed the Jewish people with faith in the awesomeness of the Almighty.  The secrets which he revealed were a living testament to the living God. He left behind him secrets of the Torah the are so infinitely deep, wonderful, and beautiful that the Torah can never be forgotten.
     When Lag B'Omer comes the soul of Rebbe Shimon ascends even higher and there is a great spiritual revelation on that day.  Anyone who comes to Meron on Lag B'Omer will be overwhelmed by the great love and happiness . One will be overcome with great thoughts of repentance and new hope for the future. One person told me that on Lag B' Omer he would cry and be joyful at the same time. Though there are thousand of people there Rebbe Shimon is aware of all them, as  he encompasses all the 613,00 root souls of the Jewish people that exist in every generation.  May we all merit to the light of Rebbe Shimon and all the other holy tzadikim, and soon in our days to the light of the messiah.
 
 

Nissan 5761

Thoughts on Pesach

   The whole year we remind ourselves in our prayers of how Hashem miraculously took
us out of Egypt, so the question arises what is so unique about the essence of Pesach. The
answer to this is that  Pesach is not just simply  a way of  reminding ourselves of the
miraculous exodus from Egypt, rather on Pesach we are commanded to actual relive the
exodus as we say in the Haggadah, "In every generation a person is obligated to see
himself as if he is leaving Egypt.."
      One may be easily misled to think that we are are just doing symbolic acts on the
night of the Seder as it is the same day of the year that we were redeemed from Egypt, but
that it doesn't reflect any sort of reality in our present time.  This is great mistake and
misconception.  Not only does Pesach have spiritual sanctity as it is a Yom Tov, but there
is an actual spiritual revelation that occurs.  Only on Pesach can one see himself as if is
he is leaving Egypt because on Pesach there is a  special, unique, spiritual revelation of
the exile. The great Kabbalist the Ari explains that one can reach very high levels of
spiritual perception on the night of Pesach even if one is not really worthy of it, the same
way the we were downtrodden slaves in Egypt and we merited to the great revelation of
Hashem.
    The perception of leaving Egypt can actually be reached on the night of Pesach. It is
written in a book called the Kuzari that a Jew can reach the level of actually having a
vision of the Temple as well as that of the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai even
though these events took place many generations ago.  Now what the Kuzari writes is
more for advanced scholars and very spiritual people, but it nevertheless shows us that
one can actually envision events that have spiritual significance for the Jewish people.
However on the night of Pesach it is open to every Jew to actually envision the leaving of
Egypt.
     We say in the Haggadah , "Even if we are all wise, all men of understanding, all
elders, all of us knowing the Torah, it is a commandment to speak about the exile from
Egypt. And the more one speaks about the exile it is praiseworthy."  We find on Pesach
this unique mitzvah of speaking about the exile from Egypt. It is through the vehicle of
speech that we can relive the exile. Not only is the speech used in order for us to relive
the exile , but it is also a praise to Hashem for redeeming us. For these two reason even
those who are wise and learned, they still have to participate in this mitzvah of speaking
about the redemption as they too have to relive the Exodus and praise Hashem for the
miracle.
       The fact that the Torah tells us that every generation must relive the exile from Egypt
tells us that throughout time every Jew has a connection with the exile. For if there were
no connection how could we relive the exile on the night of Pesach? The root of this
connection that every Jew has with the exile from Egypt  reflects the primary bond that
the Almighty has with Jewish people. For on Pesach we witnessed the greatest revelation
of Hashem, even greater than that of the creation of the world. The world was created
within the realms and laws of nature as we say in Genesis that ELOKIM created the
world which reflects divinity within the laws of nature  However the revelation of Pesach
goes beyond that and is a revelation of the four letter name of Hashem, which represents a
transcendence of any physical or spiritual limit.  And this revelation of the Almighty was
done only for the Jewish people, hence we have a a bond with Hashem that transcends
time and space, we have an eternal bond.  So it is not a wonder that even thousands of
years we still are commanded to relive the exodus for this is a relationship that transcends
any limits.  Therefore Pesach is not only reality as we link up to the ultimate source of
existence the Almight living God, but also it represents a revelation of our eternal and
miraculous  identity as the chosen people.

Aharon Yechezkal Saltz

   There is a great burning, shining,  and penetrating light that radiates endless truth, compassion and holiness.  But this light is hidden.  However it can be reavealed through faith, truth, courage, complete   and utter self sacrifice. Our father Avraham revealed this light.  When one reveales this light he is overcome with such passion and love for the Almighty living God that he completely becomes unified to Him with his entire body and soul. But this is only the beginning. This love grows and grows in an exponential manner. Words cannot describe this love, only through the endlesss depths of the hear can a person absorb, feel, sense, and grasp this love. Once a Jew reveals this light he realizes that it is not external to him but is also burning inside of him. The intellect is used inorder to build this love in his heart. Wonderous and hidden things become revealed to a person once he reveals this light and begins to love it’s Maker.
        Hashem is merciful, loving, and compassionate.  When He revealed Himself to us, we saw him as a ZAKEN MALEH RACHAMIM. An ancient one filled with compassion.  All the worlds shook and trembled when the Torah was given, and it can be no other way as the Master of the Universes Himself is being revealed. And yes we must also tremble and have fear of Him and for His holy Torah. But we saw  Him as a ZAKEN MALEH RACHAMIM. The giving of the Torah was an infinite, wonderous, completely, purely, and ultimately an act of love.  It is explained in our hidden holy books explain that before any worlds were created the souls of the house of Israel existed and the love that Hashem had for was beyond any type of grasp or comprehension.  After existence, time , and world were created and we were brought down  also in a wonderous way into the lowest level of the world Hasehm gave us the Torah and the mitzvos as an expression this infinite love that He has for us.  In the morning and the evening every single day we pray about this love. Some people say “eternal love”, and some people say “great love” in the morning. But every Jew who prays acknowledges  Hashem’s love that He has for us, and the reflection of this love in that He chose us and gave us His Torah.   Many people have foolish gentilic notions that the reason that Chazal knew so much because they were “geniuses” or had a high “IQ”. Chazal were thirsty for the word of the living God. They wanted to comprehend Godliness, the wanted to comprehend this eternal  and infinite love that Hashem has for us,  and they wanted to completely subject themsleves to to the will of the Almighty and learn his ways. Its say explicitly that they merited to this wisdom of Torah beause they had a “LEV RACHAV” a wide heart.  We know from a famous story from Rebbe Akiva that when he saw that after a while drops of water make an indentation on a rock, he realized that for sure the Torah can effect his heart.  Also when the Romans decreed upon us to stop learning Torah Rebbe Akiva continued to teach, and he said telling us to stop studying Torah is like taking fish out of water.
     Hashem commands, “And you shall love your God with all your heart..”  One must yearn so much for Hashem all the time.  The praises of the Almighty should be on a person’s heart all the time. A Jew must radiate with pure love and grace.  Hashem is so beautifully deep. Every Jew is so deep! Shlomo HaMelech say there are deep waters in the heart of a man. Hashem is pure infinite compassion  Avraham is called by Hashem as  “My beloved”  And why did God love Avraham so much to reveal Himself to him, and build a nation from him? The answer is what we say every day in prayers as it says “And you found his HEART faithful before you”.   The Torah is eternal we read about the Avos to learn from them how to come close to Hashem and open our hearts so tha we will bring this eternal, powerful, radiating, consuming, and infinite fire into our hearts. .
   If we only knew how much Hashem loves we would go to know ends or limits to come close to him, to reveal His glory  in the world, we would cry every midnight over our exile and the exile of the Holy presnce.  We wouldn’t perform the mitzvos so mundanely, rather our hearts should be oversome with such joy and ecstacy. People think that such spirtual delight is only for special people like tzadikm, but a regular Jew can’t feel Godliness in his heart he can only “believe” and perform the mitzvah.  This is not emunah, for if one had emunah his heart than every mitzvah would be awesomely real and overwhelming
         I wrote in the beginning that to reach an awareness of the light of Hashem in every Jew’s heart one must be strong and gird himself to go to any means to reveal this love that has Hashem has for every Jew. The world we live in today presents tremendous delusions and obstacles to reaching an awareness of Hashem into the depths of the heart until one is filled with complete love and passion for the Almighty.   Also a person  himself has flaws, negative desires, delusions which impurify his heart, but if a person truly wants to reach awareness, closeness, and love for the Almight these negative things will eventually become revealed to him though it may take many years, and even bitterness, and suffering but if he truly wants to transform his heart in the end he will reach this great love of Hashem. Also it will become clear that the suffering was only in order to purify his heart so that he could unify himself with the Almighty.  It says of Avraham that “Avraham was one.” So it is explained by one of the great tzadikm, that Avraham only saw in the world himself and the Holy One Blessed be He.  And he goes on to explain that when one enters into the service of God he cannot look at anything in this world, rather only Hashem. This idea is also reflected by our Sages as they say, “Every person must say the whole world was created for me.” Meaning there is an aspect that one  must only seek out Hashem, and nothing should stand in his way  This doen’t mean one should be abrasive to others or be cruel God forbid. On the contrary the more one seeks out the Almighty and to bring the holy light into his heart than he will become immune to anything that stands in the way of his search for the Almighty. Not only that he will learn to bear insult in away that will bring him closer to Hashem. And as a person reveales the kindness and the good of the Creator that fills the world he will be filled with great love for every Jew an go to know end to help his fellow Jew. The main thing is to transform the heart and merit to become overwhelmed with love for the One who constantly and for eternity bestows only good .
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Rav Zoosha and Rav Chayim
Kain and Hevel
Rav Nachman and Sadya Gaon
Bal-Shem Tov and Redemption
 
 

   Rav Zoosha was riding in a wagon, Rav Chaim was riding in a train.  A peasant Jew made fun of Rav Zoosha as he thought Rav Zoosha was a pauper and Rav Zooshah kept quiet, similarily two lower class Jews tried to coerce Rav Chayim to play cards with them and drink with them.  When Rav Chaim refused they mocked him and Rav Chaim kept silent. Rav Chayim also dressed in simple clothes like a pauper.  When Rav Zoosha arrived at the town of destination everyone came to greet him, when Rav Chayim arrived in Brisk likewise all the town came to greet him. In both cases the hooligans realized that they were belittling  gaonim and tzadikim. In both cases they asked for apology.  Both Rav Chaim and Rav Zooshah said the same thing, “I cannot forgive you for it is not me that you have insulted, but rather all the poor and destitute Jews in the entire world.”

   Along time ago there were two brothers the sons of Adam one’s name was Kain and the other was Hevel. Hevel was more succesful then Kain  as he found more pleasures in the eyes of God. Hashem wanted Kain to reach his potential as its was greater than that of Kain. Instead Kain became jealous and killed Hevel.    Stories repeat themselves over and over again. Rav Chayim and Rav Zoosha were like the holy prophets who were humble, cared for the downcast, and pursued true justice.  The story of Kain and Hevel is archytypical and happens over and over again. When will we all be like Rav Chaim and Rav Zusha? When we all fix the sin of Kain that permeates within each one of us?

    It says “The ways of Zion are that of mourning until the time will come.” How much mourning can Zion take until we fix our ways?  When will the time come?  The Lubavitcher Rebbe onced asked his father in law Rav Yosef Yitzchak Shnereson after Yom Kipur, “What is the divine sevice that we must do now after we have been forgiven for our sins.” And the answer was, “You must repent”.  For repentance there is no
limit every Jew has an obligation to constantly be in a state of repentance.

   Once the great Rav Sadia Gaon was rolling in the snow as a form of self torture. He was aked why do you do this and he responded, “I realize now to a greater extant how awesome the Almighty is, and I’m repenting now for my previous understanding of God’s greatness.”  Likewise Rav Nachman says one must always be in a state of repentance, as one must always repent for his previous  perceptions of the Almighty.

    When the Bal-Shem Tov ascended to the chamber of messiah. He asked the messiah when will you come? And the the messiah responded, “When the entire nation of Israel can ascend up and down to heaven as you do.”

      Yes! Every Jew has to walk in the ways of Rav Chaim and Rav Zooshah to care for the destitute.  And yes, every Jew must repent in the way of Rav Nachman and Sadya Gaon.  Likewise one must be quiet and bare insult the way Rav Chaim and Rav Zooshah did in their travels in Eastern Europe. And yes every Jew must not be like Kain rather every Jew must rejoice in the success of his fellow Jew, and pray to the Almighty for his own well being. If every Jew would walk in these paths we would all effortlessly ascend up and down to heaven like the Baal Shem Tov.
 
 
 
 

The fourteenth of Tishrei Erev Succos  5761

Rabeynoo Asher  decided that Jew should wear teffillin on Chol HaMoed (the intermediary days).  However the the Zohar, most rishonim, the GRA. And Rav Chaim from Brisk didn’t wear teffilin on Chol Moed.  They sat Rav Chaim didn’t wear tefillin because he agreed with the opinion of the Gra. However since Rabeynoo Asher is considered a rishon, and  for the simple people we have to accept the prinicipal of “these  are the words of the living God”.   However Rav Nachman of Breslov says that if there is even one opinion that is lenient in regards to a certain halchah one can rely on that opinion. All the more so in this case that you have the Zohar, ARI, the GRA, and all the Chachmey Sefarad. Nevertheless those wear tefillin on the intermediary days must do so in a hidden way that no one sees them. Unlike the fools who hide their teffillin under the yamulke, and jacket in public.

    With tefillin one receives something called “mocheen” or “brains”. This is a powerful spiritual energy. It says in the prayer before tefillin, “oo bishefah mitzvos tefillin yismashech alay chayim aruchim”., “with the divine flow of tefillin I will bring on myself long life”. Rebbe Nachman explains that life is knowledge or wisdom and intellect.  Intelllect must be made holy, as the holy intellect comes thru toil in Torah. And Torah is life as it says. “Kee Hem Chayayhem L’Moztayehem bi Peh.” It is life to those who speak it with their mouth.

         So therfore those who wear teffillin on the intermidiary days can rely on the opinion of Rabeynoo Asher, even though the Zohar denigrates those who wear tefillin on Chol Moyed.  Those who do so oot of fear of the Master of the Universe will merit to have secrets of Torah revealed to them as it says, “Sod HaShem LiYerayav”, “the secret of God is to those who fear Him”.

The fourteenth of Tishrei  Erev Succos 5761

Rav Chaim from Vilozin the greatest known student of the Vilna Gaon composed a beautiful song in Yiddish.  “Olam Haba is a gutter zach, learnin Torah is a besser zach”-(The next world is a good thing, but learning Torah is better.)  At first glance this seems hard to understand, how could the study of Torah be greater then the world to come.  The world to come is the greatest spiritual pleasure one could fathom,
millions of time greater than anything in this lowly world.

    Rav Nachman of Breslov in Likutey Moharan in the fith Torah explains this concept. He says there are two types of people. One person does a miztvah for the reward, and this is the majority of people, and even those who think they’re doing it for the mitzvah are actually doing it for the reward, for if the average Jew knew what the world to come was like he would for sure want the reward. However there are tzdakim who
have a grasp of the world to come and all it’s pleasures, but nevertheless do the mitzvah only for the sake of the mitzvah, and the great happiness they recieve from the miztvah alone satisfies them.

        In Likutey Moharan he goes on to explain that this is the difference between Moshe Rabeyno and the other prophets. Moshe merited to “aspekleria ha meirah” the shining light, whereas the the other prophets merited only to “aspecleria shi’ eynah mairah” a light that doesn’t shine. The Rebbe explains that this is because Moshe was connect directly to the will of God, as the mitzvahs are the will of God. He goes on to
explain that the entire creation is connected thru the structure of the commandments.  For instance tefillin is in the head in the heart and the hand, and so to with other mistvahs.

        So if one is truly connected with the Torah as Rav Chaim from Volozin composed, there is a side to say that learning Torah is greater than the next world.
 

Twelfth of Tishrei 5761

We have a concept in the Talmud called Teykoo. Teykoo means Tishbi YiTareyts Kushyios vi Oobayos. Meaning Eliyahoo HaNavee will come and answer all the questions that the Sages were in doubt.

   Something similar to Teykoo is the matter concerning Techaylis. Tichaylis is the blue thread. The Talmud says the blue thread is like the color of the sea, and the sea is like the color of the expance, and the expance is similar to the Holy Throne.  On Shabbos there are some erlicher Jews who don’t wear these tzisees in the public domain according to the opinion of  Rav Zechariah HaLevi.  Rav Zechariah HaLevi, known as the the Maor HaKaton or the Maor Hagadol (the great reflexive light or the small reflexive light) depending on where he cites his opinions, holds that if one doesn’t wear Tichaylis then he hasn’t performed the mitzvah of tzisees.  I’m sure Rav Zechariyah himself wore Tzisees, but the whole problem arises on Shabbos.

    On Shabbos there is a prohibition of taking an object from a  private domain into a public domain. Now if according to Rav Zichariyah  one doesn’t fufill the mitzvah of tzisees  it renders the tzisees superfolous. As it is not the way of a person to wear clothes with strings hanging from them.  Therefore this is why  those pious Jews who don’t wear tzisees on Shabbos.

     The Baal Shem Tov said that until the time of the Maharsha all the meforshay ha Shas (legal commentaries) were written with Ruach HaKodesh. Rav Nachman of Breslov said the works of the Shach Rav Shabsee HaCohen were all written with yicudeem, divine unifications).  And all the Rishoneem until the era of Rav Yoseh Caro the author of the Shulchan Aruch have the status of ELOO VE ELOO DIVRAY ELOKIM CHAYIM meaning words of the living God. The Rif in Gittin refers to the works of Rav Chai Gaon as maleches Elokym. Those who mock the erlicher Jews are fools, and the erlicher Jews merit to fufill the words of the Remah Ravh Moshe Isserlis who states in the first halchah in Shulchan Aruch (the sefer of Rav Yosef Caro) that one one should keep quiet to those who mock erlichkeit.
 
 
 
 
 

Eleventh of Tishrei 5761

 There are some pious Jews who wait 72 minutes after sunset before they end the Shabbos.  Shabbos is the root of  creation and everyday we remind ourselves of Shabbos.  Those who keep 72 minutes bring the root of creation unto their souls. 72 has importance as there are 72 hidden tzaddikim in the world 36 out side the land of Israel, and 36 in the galus. 72 also appears in the kabbalistic works as being the highest name of
the Almighty as It has 72 permutations.

    There are evn more pious Jews who wait 90 minutes until they end the Sabbath. The difference betweenh 72 and 90 is 18. 18 in Hebrew refers to life. In greater deatil it refers to the lifeforce of the entire creation. If you multiply 18 once again you have 36.  In the merit of the holy Jews in Jerusalem that keep 90 minutes may all the righteous ones return to Zion, and may we merit to see the building of Zion.

   The Rambam has a shita that we need the majority of the Jews in the land of Israel for the divine presence to be revealed.
 

Eleventh of Tishrei 5761

   In our Holy Torah we have a concept called Zaken Mamre (Rebellious Elder).  For instance a Zaken Mamre could darshen (a form of exegitical exercise used by Chazal to derive halachot from verses in the Torah) that instead of four battim to tefillin there are five.  One of the later Rishonim Rabeynoo Asher went as far as to say that if a Rav doesn’t hold of an eruv  that was decided upon by the Gadol HaDor then he
too has a status of a Zaken Mamre. Now when one analyzes this opinion of the Rash(Rabeynoo Asher) it may seem to be extreme, as there are many opinions amongst the peers of the Rash  and great rishonim from previous generation namely the foundation of  Jewish law, the great eagle, Rabbi Moshe HaSefardi, or as some call him Rav Moshe Ben Maimon, or also known as the Rambam that hold that an eruv doesn’t help. Namely in order to make an eruv there has to be a neutral area called a carmilees meaning that it’s not a rishoos harabim(public domain).  Even Rabeynoo Asher agrees to this. The whole disagreement amonst the Rishonim is what constitutes a public domain. According to some Rishonim like the Rash you need 600,000 people passing by on a daily basis so therefore in area where you don’t have 600,000 passer byers
you can place an eruv. But according to the Rambam a much smaller area consitutes or gives the status of a public domain. So the whole question is what is to be considered neutral ground.

     Hence the opinion of the Rash seems to be extreme as to referring to one who hold not of the eruv to be called a Zaken Mamre. Perhaps what Rabeynoo Asher meant was that this gadol by openly stating his opinion against the Gadol Hador was transgressing the miztvah of Lo Sassoor Mah She Yageedo Lecha Yameen or Small. Meaning one cannot trangress the words of the Sages even if they tell you right is left or
left is right. Apparently this particular Rav that Rabeynoo Asher was referring to was openly showing his opinon and causing revolt against the Gadol Hador hence the Rash called him a Zaken Mamre. Unfortunately today we have no clear Gadol Hador so for those who hold not of the eruv and want to rely on the Rambam may the Almighty bring upon them a blessing.
 
 
 
 
 

Sixth Day of Elul 5760
 

      We have finally entered into the days of Elul the month of divine compassion.  This is the month before Rosh HaShonah in which the repentance of a Jew carries great power to be received by the Almighty. It is worthwhile to discuss a little bit in depth the meaning of Elul as it is such an important time for every Jew to spiritually uplift and repair their souls.  Elul has two aspects to it one is that it is a preparation for Rosh HaShona, and secondly  it in and of itself it represents a time of repentance and awakening.  Both these aspects are also intertwined as we shall soon see.  Two great tzadikim both of the same generation, Rav Shneur Zalman of Liadi, and Rav Nachman of Breslov discuss the meaning of Elul and if we delve into their words we gain greater insight, and hopefully come to true repentance.

      This week I want to discuss the words of Rav Shneur Zalman of Liadi. The truth is this tzadik wrote a great deal about Elul, but their is one parable which he said that has become famous not only for Lubavitcher chasidim (Rav Shneur Zalman from Liadi is the founder of Lubavitcher chassidism) but for all Jews that seek the divine word. He likened the days of Elul to the following parable, a king is hidden in his castle all year round but for one month the king comes out to the fields to greet his people, this month is likened to Elul and the king is no other than the Almighty Himself.  We can understand from this a great lesson that in the month of Elul the Holy One Blessed be He makes Himself accessible to the Jew.  All year round a Jew can repent and try to change himself, but it in Elul the repentance has greater power as the Almighty Himself seeks out the repentance from the Jew. This does not mean that all year round the Almighty doesn't want us to repent, rather in Elul Hashem grants greater power to the repentance of the Jew.

    In addition  we learn from this parable that a Jew can come very close to God in the month of Elul more so then the rest of the year. A Jew who serves Hashem is always trying to get close to the Almighty through prayer and study and what might take great effort to achieve closeness to God the rest of the year , in Elul he can achieve that closeness in less time.  This ability to come close to God represents the Almighty's compassion, as Elul is called the month of compassion. This coming out of the castle and into the field represents the attribute of compassion that Hashem’s desire is that all His children should repent and come close to Him.

      It also relevant that we say that the king comes into the fields, and we don’t say that the king comes into the city. The reason for this is that the field represents a place where one can become aware of the Almighty as it is in the field where one sees and becomes unified  with the creation.  The field also represents a place where one can more easily approach the Almighty, as we learn from our father Yitzchak who went into the fields to pray to the Almighty. We can glean from this also that although the Almighty comes to greet us, we too must go into the fields to greet Him. In other words we must engender prayer and an atmosphere of  solitude to unite ourselves with the King.

    It is no coincidence that Elul falls out before Rosh HaShonah.    The purpose of  Rosh HaShona is to make Hashem King.  Not only are we supposed to become aware that the Almighty is King over the entire creation on Rosh HaShonah, but we must also make Hashem King. The way to make Hashem King is to accept His yoke, His invincible domination and authority, and His laws and decrees. By Hashem showing us
His compassion and making Himself more know and accessible to us in the month of Elul the Jew can come to accept his Kingship on Rosh HaShona. As the parable says the king comes out of the castle, this is also to show the people the king so they know whose domain is ruling over them.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Second Day Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan 5760

There is no more important concept in Judaism than emunah, belief in God. When the Sages searched for a verse on which the entire Torah rests they came to the conclusion on the verse in the prophet Habakuk , "The righteous one through his emunah will live." When we the Jewish people stood at Mount Sinai the only mitzvah we merited to hear from God Himself was , "I am the Lord your God." All the great works of halacha namely the Rambam and the Shulchan Aruch begin with this mitzvah of emunah.
One can be easily misled to think that emunah is an effortless and easy mitzvah, but there's no greater mistake, on the contrary one must toil greatly to ingrain emunah into the heart. We find throughout the Torah the Jewish people are constantly being tested by God to see if they have emunah. There is no greater example than the generation that left Egypt. The same generation that merited to see the splitting of the Red Sea and to hear the word of God ultimately failed the test of emunah. with the sin of the golden calf. The prolific commentator the Ramban writes that this generation had realized that it was God's power that had led them out of Egypt.But they simply began to forget this as they began to fear that Moses was lost. Of this generation it is said in the Book of Psalms, "An errant hearted people are they, and they no not my ways." We find however righteous ones that despite their tribulations withstood the test of emunah, as King David said of himself, "I have kept faith although I say-I have suffered exceedingly". We find also in King David that he praises the purity of his own heart as he says, "My heart is hollow in my midst", meaning it is devoid of negative attributes. It is said of Avraham our father who was a warrior of emunah against an entire generation ,"You found his heart faithful before You." It is no coincidence that we find in each of these cases that the heart is the determining factor in faithfulness to God.
To bring one's heart to complete emunah is a great and lifetime task. In truth one can never say he has complete emunah because just as the Almighty God is infinite so to the levels of emunah are likewise infinite. In addition King Solomon said of the heart that "There are deep waters within the heart of a man.", so a person has tremendous potential to a reach great depths in emunah as it is dependant on the heart. In relation to this there is a story to be told about a great tzaddik Rav Nosson Hertz. Once he was praying and some learned people overheard him and started to mock him., when he was finished he asked them what were they laughing about, so they told him we heard you asking God, "God please give me emunah!", and we started to laugh how can a great Rabbi like you ask for emunah when every simple Jew has emunah. The truth is Rav Nosson had emunah in God but he wanted to bring it out in his heart to an even greater level. Similarly we know of Avraham our father that even after he literally was engulfed in flames by the emperor Nimrod and came out untarnished (as it is explained that so great was his emunah that it permeated into his flesh) ,he still was tested many times afterwards by God to see if he had complete emunah. Even the generation that left Egypt which we spoke about earlier, the Torah testifies that at one point they had emunah in Hashem and Moses, as the verse states by the splitting of the Red Sea , "And they believed in Hashem and Moses His servant." However unlike Avraham our father the Jewish nation lost this emunah when times got difficult for them as it appeared that Moses wouldn't return. We learn from all these examples that emunah cannot be taken for granted as something one can say he has already achieved, rather one needs to constantly deepen and build his emunah so he can withstand any test that the Almighty places before him. This is perhaps the reason why Avraham our father is called the "first of the believers", because he overcame through the strength of his his emunah all the tests and trials that God had placed before him.
When we begin to discuss emunah it cannot be separated from the concept of prayer as not only is prayer an expression of emunah but is also a manifestation of the true meaning of emunah. We see this in the Book of Exodus where we find Moses our master leading the Jewish people in war against the evil nation Amalek. As the Jewish people fought Moses stood on top of a hill and the verses says literally of him, "His hands were emunah." Our Talmudic translator Onkolos (who's the most authoritative translator of the Torah) translates the verse in the following way "He remained with his hands in faithful prayer until the sunset." This does of course not contradict what we said earlier that emunah is dependant on the heart, on the contrary it fits very well as our sages say that prayer is the "service of the heart". On a simple level one could understand this correlation between faith and prayer that the mouth calls out to God what is in the heart, but on a deeper level prayer actually brings faith into the heart as we will soon explore.
If we examine some of the prayers that are said every morning by Jews all over the world for thousands of years we can begin to understand the meaning of emunah. Particularly the prayers of the morning are apt to be examined as the morning signals a renewal of emunah as the verse states in Lamentations "Hashem's kindness surely has not ended nor are his mercies exhausted. They are new every morning, great is Your emunah(Though this verse speaks of emunah in reference to Hashem, in regards to His faithfulness to the Jewish people whom He has chosen, nevertheless this signifies a tine for renewal of emunah in the entire creation)"
Of the morning prayers perhaps the greatest example we can bring is the prayer Adon Olam or in English Master of the Universe. This prayer discuses the roots of our faith, and consequently brings out a renewal of emunah for every Jew who says it no matter what level of piety.
Master of the Universe, Who reigned
Before any form was created,
At the time when his will brought into being-
Then as king his name was proclaimed.
After all has ceased to be,
He the Awesome One, will reign alone
It is He who was, He Who is
And He who shall remain, in splendor.
He is One- there is no second
To compare to him , to declare as His equal
Without beginning , without conclusion
He is the power and the dominion.
He is my God, my living redeemer,
Rock of my pain, in time of distress.
He is my banner, a refuge for me,
The portion in my cup the day I call
Into his hand I shall entrust my spirit
When I go to sleep-and I shall awoken!
With my spirit shall my body remain.
Hashem is with me . I shall not fear.
In this prayer we see two major themes the first being the greatness and oneness of God, and the second being the closeness of God to the individual. These two themes are constantly being repeated throughout our liturgy, but the uniqueness of this prayer is how it's so poetically expressed. In the beginning the prayer discusses that God was King before the world was created, was recognized as King when the world was created, and will remain King after the world will cease to exist. It then goes on to speak of the eternalness and oneness of God . And in the end it discusses the trust and longing that the Jew has for God. Perhaps the strongest verse is at the end, "Hashem is with me I shall not fear". On who has such a strong faith as is expressed in this prayer truly has no reason of which to fear anything in this world. As we discussed earlier about Avraham so great was his faith that he was not even afraid to enter into burning flames, so to this prayer engenders that attribute of trust in God which is result of true emunah.
Another prayer which is a blessing that we say every morning is also very powerful in it's message of emunah.
"My God, the soul you have placed within me is pure. You created it, You fashioned it, You breathed it into me, You safeguard it with me, and eventually You will take it from me, and restore it to me in the time to come. As long as the soul is within me, I gratefully thank You , Hashem , my God and the God of my forefathers, Master of all works, Lord of all souls."
In this prayer we see the recognition and thanks by the Jew to God for the Godly souls that rests within him under God's sole control, and the belief in the future when God will restore his soul. In this prayer and the end of the previous payer we see the expression of submissiveness and dependence the Jew has for God. This submissiveness stems from two factors the first being one realization of God's omnipotence, and the second being one's own finite awareness.
These two factors that lead to submissiveness are perhaps best expressed in a prayer we say every year on Rosh Hashonah in the Mussaf prayer. Similar to the morning prayers as a being a time of renewal of emunah, Rosh HaShonah certainly has within it these theme as it is the beginning of the new year and celebration of the creation of the world in which we crown the King.
"Truly, You are their Creator and You know their evil inclination, for they are but flesh and blood,. Man's origin is dust and his end is into dust. He earns his bread at the risk of his life. He is likened to a broken potsherd, to withering grass, to a fading flower, to a passive shadow, to a vanishing cloud, to a blowing wind, to dust that scatters and to a fleeting dream
BUT YOU ARE THE KING AND ETERNAL GOD.
There is no limit to Your years and no length of Your days; it is not possible to estimate Your glorious Chariot, and no on e can explain Your inscrutable name."
This prayer poignantly describes man's impermanence and God's eternalness. One may think that this prayer may engender sad feelings, but for the Jew with emunah it is said with great happiness and exaltation as he realizes the greatness of his King who in the end will redeem him and the entire world.
All the prayers we have seen bring out the fundamental principles of emunah namely God' oneness, His eternalness, his Kingship, His protection and providence over us, our mortality, and our belief in the future when He will restore our souls. The truth is all these principles must be talked about in length, but we see that it is through prayer that one not only ingrains these principles of emunah into his heart, but even on a deeper level through saying these prayers with one's heart it's a true manifestation of emunah as he is directly connecting himself to God through the prayers. Similar to Moses as we discussed earlier that through his prayers during the war which were connecting him with the Almighty, the Torah describes him specifically at that point of being in a state of emunah.

8th of Cheshvan 5760

We began to touch upon the subject of emunah last week particularly as it relates to prayer. The primary source we found as a link between -prayer and emunah was the verse in the book of Exodus that says of Moses during the war against the evil nation Amalek, "...and his hands were emunah". The Talmudic translator Onkolos translates this to mean that he was engaged in prayer hence we see that emunah is directly correlated with prayer. This week I not only want to develop further this idea of how prayer serves as a manifestation of emunah as reflected in this verse, but I also want to discuss the whole gamut of emunah in respect to the Jewish people and Moses as it is strongly brought to light in the war against Amalek and in the events leading up to the war.
It is a well known idea that throughout Jewish history our relationship to the nations of the world serves as a reflection of our relationship to the Almighty. When the Jewish people are united and strong in emunah then no nation in the world can harm us, on the contrary we conquer other nations as was such in the days of King Solomon.. But when we rebel against the Almighty by falling in emunah we become subject to the wrath of other nations as this wrath serves as a manifestation of God's anger towards us. This idea repeats itself throughout the Tanach, and deserves much discussion but what is unique about the war against the evil nation Amalek is that it represents the epitome of this concept. We shall soon see that Amalek attacked the Jewish nation almost immediately as they became vulnerable in their emunah towards  Hashem, and this nation, Amalek,  its whole aim is to uproot the Kingship of God from the world.
First let us trace the events leading up to the war against Amalek and afterwards we will examine them more in depth. The war with Amalek took place a short time after the Jewish nation experienced the miracle of the splitting of the Red Sea. After a time of encampment at the Red Sea, the Jewish nation walked three days without water in the Desert of Shur and came to a place called Mara which in English means bitterness. The reason it had this name was that the waters there were bitter and undrinkable, consequently the nation complained to Moses that they had no water, Moses being a man of complete emunah cried out to God and Hashem responded to him by giving him the power to perform a miracle to sweeten the waters so the people could drink. After this Moses promised the Jewish people if they followed all God's commandments they would be assured of all their needs. Afterwards they traveled to Aleemah where there was an abundance of water, and than they traveled to the desert of Sin which the Torah relates was exactly a month and fifteen days after they left Egypt. In the desert of Sin there was no food available and the nation once again complained to Moses despite being promised already by Moses that all their needs would be provided. But this time the matter was not water but rather food, and once again God performed a miracle by providing them with manna which was a special food that fell from the sky and this food lasted them all 40 years that they sojourned in the desert. It's important to note that the complaints this time were much stronger than the first time where they had no water , now the Jewish people not only complained about not having food but also voice their opinion that the land of Egypt was better for them as there they had bread and meat. Finally after being in Sin for a period of time they traveled to a place called Refidim and once again there was no water to drink. Now, in even harsher tones the nation contended with Moses going so far as to accuse him of bring them to their deaths, and went on to question if God is really in their midst. This time Moses cries out to God in desperation and proclaims, "What will can I do for this nation as soon the will stone me?" , and like all the times before God performed a miracle by giving Moses the power to take water out of a rock with his staff. However it was after this third time that the Jewish people fell in emunah that the nation of Amalek came to attack them. Rashi notes the reason why God brought Amalek to attack the Jewish people as God says, "I'm always ready to provide for all your needs, and you question if I'm in your midst or not." This expression of doubt by the Jewish nation if God is in their midst or not is also cited by the Zohar as being the reason why they were attacked by Amalek
When we examine these events as they relate to emunah we have to view them from two angles the first being the Jewish people's response which in the end represents a lack of emunah, and the second being Moses's response each time which serves as a model of emunah. The first situation when after three days there was no water drink and the nation complained to Moses one cannot blame them for complaining as they were on the brink of death. Also the second time when they had run out of food also it was justified that they should complain to Moses their leader as they were truly in a desperate situation. But the third time when they came to Refidim after God had already twice miraculously saved them, they should've learned already to trust in God that He would not abandon them in the desert. Instead of having emunah the Jewish people began to question if God actually was watching over them as they said "is Hashem really in our midst?"
. From this response of the Jewish people we learn a great lesson in emunah, that to have emunah simply doesn't mean that one is aware of God's existence, but rather one has to bring it into his heart to the extent that he has no doubt that God will provide for his every need. This is also the true meaning of the verse we brought last week that "The righteous in his emunah will live." A truly righteous person lives only through his emunah, meaning to say that he relies completely on God for his entire existence as he has ingrained in his heart that God is the provider and source for all life, and furthermore he realizes that God is ultimately good and will never truly abandon him even if it appears he's in a situation of adversity. But the Jewish people as a collective nation after they left Egypt despite the fact that they witnessed there miracles, as well as at the Red Sea, and in the desert, still hadn't reached this level of emunah of the righteous individual.
If we are to further understand this level of how the righteous live through their emunah and how the Jewish people should've approached their situation in the desert we can look to King David whom like the generation that left Egypt suffered great adversity, but David through the completeness of his emunah overcame all his obstacles. When King David was going through one of his periods of suffering and adversity as he was being chased by his enemies he said "Hashem is my shepherd I shall not lack", and he also said "Though I walk in the valley overshadowed by death, I will fear no evil." On these two verses the great Rav Chaim of Volozin, the superior student of the Gaon of Vilna, provides a deep explanation which enlightens us on King David's level of emunah. On the first verse he explains how King David uses a shepherd as a model for his relationship to Hashem. He explains that a shepherd sometimes has to do things to one of the flock that from the point of view of the animal seem to his disadvantage. For instance if one of the sheep wants to wonder off to explore new territory the shepherd has to bring him back so he shouldn't go astray from the flock, though this may not seem in the best interests of the sheep but in the end it's for his ultimate good, likewise if the sheep wants to eat or drink something that may be harmful to him the shepherd will prevent him from it. So too Kind David views Gods as his shepherd that even when he encounters a situation which causes him suffering he knows that he lacks nothing and it's in his best interest as God like a shepherd is constantly watching over him. On the second verse Rav Chaim interprets according to another way that it can be translated instead of "Iwill fear no evil" it also can be rendered from the Hebrew to mean "Iwill see no evil". He explains though King David walked in the valley overshadowed by death, as his life was in danger, he didn't see this as evil or bad. Meaning King David had reached such a level of emunah in Hashem that he realized that everything that happened to him had no bad in it as he had complete trust that God was guiding him. This level of emunah that King David had reached serves as a model for how the Jewish people should've responded in the desert to their adversity.
Like the example set by King David, we can learn from Moses as he responded to each situation, how one with complete emunah deals with adversity. In the first situation that the Jewish people complained to Moses he didn't even respond to them, instead he cried out to Hashem. Once again we see through Moses an example how the righteous live through their emunah. Here this concept especially is reflected in its most simple form, for what was Moses praying for other than water. We learn from this a great lesson that the Almighty for even our most basic needs wants that we should pray to Him. It was not enough that Moses had emunah in God that He would provide for the Jewish people, God wanted that Moses should pray to Him. Emunah cannot exist without prayer, it is through prayer that emunah becomes manifest. For if we analyze this in a very simple way we see it's clearly obvious. When a person lacks or needs something if he really has emunah he will pray, as he believes that only God ultimately provides everything, one who has no emunah will not pray. Moses certainly had emunah that God wouldn't abandon the Jewish people but this didn't lead him to refrain from prayer, on the contrary it is specifically for this very reason that he cried out to God.
In the second situation there are two very interesting responses that Moses gives to the Jewish people he says to them the first time "Who are we (Moses and Ahron)that you should complain against us?" and the second time he says, "For what are we (Moses and Ahron)? Not against us are your complaints but against Hashem!" . The Ramban explains this response in the following way that Moses was trying to teach the Jewish people that it was not he or Ahron that took them out of Egypt for what are him and Ahron other than flesh and blood but it is the Almighty God who took them out and it is He who hears their complaints. We see from this that Moses tried to educate the Jewish people on the path of true emunah, and in these verses where the mannah is discussed he further explains to them that their nourishment comes only from Hashem. The man of complete emunah like Moses views himself as nothing since he realizes that everything he has comes only from God, unfortunately the Jewish people didn't grasp this and complained a third time against Moses instead of directing their prayer to Hashem.

As we discussed earlier after these three incidents and particularly because of the last one in which the Jewish people question if God is in their midst, Hashem brought the evil nation of Amalek to attack. This war represented struggle in emunah as not only did it come as result of the Jewish people's downfall in emunah, but the attacking nation represented the ultimate enemies of emunah as their whole aim was to uproot the Kingship of God from the earth. As we have seen up to this point Moses reacted to each situation in a similar way namely through prayer to God. But unlike the times before now there was a foreign enemy attacking the Jewish people not only in a physical way but in a spiritual way as Amalek had at their disposal all types of evil magical forces that had the power to alter nature These forces were not to be taken lightly since Amalek knew of the great miracles that occurred to the Jewish people, but they nevertheless were confident that they had even greater powers. The only way to be victorious over such a nation is by spiritually uprooting the source of their power. Moses being a man of extreme holiness and deep emunah through his prayer uprooted this power of Amalek, But the prayer of Moses during the war took on another form than in the previous times when the nation complained. Here we find that the Torah expresses Moses's praying with his hands stretched to the heavens. We find that during the war several times Moses could no longer remain with his hands extended to the heavens and at those times Amalek began to overcome the Jewish people, so we see that this type of prayer represents a complete giving of one's entire power and being to God. Eventually with the help of Ahron and Hor Moses was able to remain with his hands stretched to the heavens and the Jewish people managed to defeat Amalek.
The Torah calls this prayer of Moses emunah as it represents a true manifestation of emunah. Emunah implies that even when a situation according to the laws of nature dictates a certain outcome it can always be changed as God has the power to alter any situation. This aspect of emunah becomes manifest through prayer as one who prays in such a situation believes that God ultimately dictates nature , hence the Torah describes Moses's prayer as being emunah. In the coming weeks, with the help of Hashem, we will continue to discuss emunah, particularily as it relates to the intellect and the dictates of nature.

15th of Cheshvan 5760

This week I wish to begin to discuss how emunah relates to the intellect. Essentially emunah is understood to mean as something that goes beyond the intellect, meaning it as an act of acceptance of a belief without actual intellectual proof. This doesn't necessarily mean that emunah always has to contradict or act mutually exclusive of the intellect, but it's not bound by the intellect rather it functions independent of the intellect. We find in our belief system in Judaism many things that can't be intellectually proven, though these beliefs are logical and plausible to the intellect once accepted, nevertheless they aren't ideas that are arrived upon through the intellect. Our emunah in Judaism can also bring one to a belief that seemingly contradicts the intellect, but nevertheless it is accepted by the Jew since he believes that it emanates from Hashem Whom cannot be limited only to the human intellect. Likewise emunah can bring a Jew even to behave against what the natural intellect dictates. I would like to examine a few of these manifestation in Judaism where emunah predominates over the intellect
Central to the emunah of the Jew is belief in the world to come. We have a few details of what occurs to a person after death, but we truly cannot grasp anything of the world to come as long as we are clothed in our physical bodies in this world. Nevertheless the Jew with emunah not only accepts this concept of reward and punishment in the next world, but it serves for the Jews as a primary motivation for performing the mitzvot and refraining from sin. Now this belief cannot be proven by the intellect, at best it can enter the realm of intellectual theory, but this doesn't disturb the Jew .as he wholeheartedly accepts this with full emunah. Another example similar to this is the belief in the coming of the messianic era when once again the glory of God will be revealed to the world, the Temple will be rebuilt, and the Jewish nation will be restored to its greatness. This tenet of faith certainly cannot be proven as it relates to the future of which is not in the power of the intellect to foretell rather to speculate, but the Jew with emunah accepts this unconditionally as an absolute truth that will definitely occur. In fact the Jew with emunah doesn't view this as something that's reserved for the distant future, rather he believes that everyday the Messiah can arrive to redeem us and he aalways awaits his arrival.
These two previous examples of emunah don't contradict the intellect, and once accepted as reality by the Jew are very plausible to the intellect, but there are deeper aspects of emunah that cannot at all be resolved by the intellect. For instance we believe that before God created the world there existed only Him, and in order to create the world God had to make a primordial space devoid of His presence in which He could place the world and the entire cosmos. If God wouldn't remove Himself from this space there would be no place in which to create the world, yet the Jew simultaneously believes that there is no space devoid of His presence as nothing can exist without Him. So it results that there are two opposites, on one hand we say God removed Himself from this space, and yet on the other hand we believe His presence still remains in this primordial space in which the entire cosmos exists. If one delves into this paradox he will find that every attempt to intellectually resolve it will just lead to even greater theologicall queries. Another similar example from our emunah which cannot be resolved by the intellect is the fact we believe God has knowledge of all that is to take place, but yet we believe that we still have free will to act in a certain way. This means that despite the fact that God already knows how each individual will act in a certain situation this still doesn't limit the possibility for the individual to behave in either one of the two ways. Of this paradox Maimonides writes in his monumental work, Moreh Nevuchim (Guide to the Perplexed), that it is beyond our human intellect to grasp. The Jew with emunah who encounters these seeming intellectual paradoxes is not all perturbed since he knows that Hashem is beyond the grasp of human intellect as Maimonides explains, and in fact this inability to grasp the ways of God brings a Jew of emunah to even greater humility and awe of God.
Not only do we find that emunah in Judaism can conflict with the intellect, but even more so it can cause one to behave against the intellect. The classical example in our Torah for this idea is God's command to Avraham to sacrifice Yitzchak. First God promises Avraham that through Yitzchak will grow a great nation, and then afterwards God commands him to sacrifice Yitzchak. This from the perspective of Avraham certainly cannot be grasped. If God promises him something it perforce has to be true and eternal as it is God's word , and yet God seems to ask him to behave in a manner which negates this promise. This was actually the ultimate test of Avraham's emunah, and we find in the Torah that Avraham not only accepts to perform this act that God commanded him, but he does so in a zealous way. Eventually we find that this was only a test for Avraham and in fact God didn't negate His word, but before Avraham knew that it was only a test he acted with complete emunah despite the fact that he was commanded to do something that couldn't be resolved by the intellect. (I once heard in the name of the Gaon Rav Chaim Soloveitchik that Avraham knew that there existed a contradiction in what God had told him, however he had emunah that this would later be resolved. Despite this Avraham at the time didn't know the solution.) We find also in our history in the exile when Jews were faced with the choice to convert to Christianity or to face death most of the time Jews chose death. This in fact is a halacha, that in a time of oppression if a Jew is forced to transgress the Torah or to die he is obligated to die The only way.a person can accept upon himself martyrdom is if he has ingrained with him great emunah in the truth of the Torah, because certainly according to the intellect it would make more sense to live. In fact Rabbi Yakov Emden writes that in the time of the Spanish inquisition of those Jews who chose death it was mostly made up of the simple lower class Jews, whereas the Jew of upper echelon intellectual class chose to convert and practice Judaism secretly. Martyrdom is a classical example of how the Jew lives and dies according to his emunah even when it conflicts with the intellect.
Despite all that we have discussed concerning the preeminence of emunah over the intellect, Judaism still demands that one must use his intellect to its greatest capacity in order to understand the Torah and its halachot. In fact the greater one develops his intellect through the study of Torah he should come to higher levels of emunah, as the Torah is the craftsmanship of the Almighty Himself. We find in addition that through studying the Torah one gains intellect as King David says in Psalms that, "it makes the fool wise." Nevertheless the gateway to enter the infinite realms of wisdom in the Torah is through emunah as we find that when the Jewish nation were asked if they wanted the Torah they responded, "First we will do and then we will hear". Meaning that the Jewish nation first accepted upon themselves with emunah to act according to the Torah without even understanding what it entailed, and only afterward would they delve into its meaning. Ultimately Hashem wants us to cling to Him, but we cannot reach that level if we rely solely on the intellect for He is hidden and infinite, and his ways are mysterious. Even though the Jew can never fully understand Hashem he has emunah in what Moses said of Him, "The Rock-perfect is His work, for all his paths are justice; a God of faith without iniquity, righteous and fair is He." If one follows this path of emunah he will find that God will enlighten him also to understand that which before he could not and consequently both his intellect and his emunah will grow. Happy is the one who trusts in God and walks in the path of emunah.

                                  Aharon Yechezkel Saltz
 
 

Fifth of Kislev 5760

The first step in gaining a knowledge of Hashem comes through the attribute of fear
 of God as the verse states in the Book of Psalms, "The beginning of wisdom is fear of
 Hashem."  We  also find in our Torah the demand of God that His people should fear
 Him as Moses says to the nation, "Now Israel what doesHashem your God ask of
 you? Only that you should fear the Lord your God". In the work  äîëç ú'ùàø it
 describes the meaning of this fear that God demands of us, "For once a man knows
 that there is a Creator Who brought into existence everything and He rules over
 everything according to His will and without His influenceand life force nothing can
 exist as the verse says 'And You give life to everything' and if God forbid He would
 remove His influence from all the worlds even for one second everything  would
 become nullified and it would be as nothing had ever existed, for everything is
 dependent on Him and He is dependent on nothing ,after coming to an
 understanding of all this a man perforce will come to fear God , accept the yoke of
 the Torah and divine service like a slave who knows his master."  We find also in the
 Zohar that if a person has no fear of God the mitzvot that he performs don't create an
 impact in heaven, it is similar to a slavewho labors without knowing whom he is
 serving.
One of the most basic ways one can come to fear of God is to realize how vast all the
 universe and all the worlds are and yet in respect to the greatness of God there size is
 absolutely irrelevant as we find in the tracateäâ'âç   "From the earth to the first
 heavenly expanse is a walking distance of five hundredyears, the thickness of the
 expanse is five hundred years distance, likewise is the distance between each expanse.
 Above all the expanses are the holy Chayot(types of heavenly beings), the feet of the
 Chayot  are as large as everything put together, the ankles of the Chayot are large as
 everything put together (all thatcame before it)and so on everything gets greater
 exponentially the shins of the Chayot, than the thighs of the Chayot, than the upper
 body of the Chayot , than the necks of the Chayot, than the heads of the Chayot, and
 than the horns of the Chayot. Above all of this is the foot of the holy throne which is
 as large as everythingbefore it put together, and then above all this is the holy throne
 itself which is greater in size than all that came before it.  Above everything is the
 King, living God great and exalted Who dwells over them." Another thing which can
 bring one to fear of God is one ponders on that  which the Zohar says of Him
 "Thereis no place devoid of his presence."   Likewise the Zohar says of Him, "He fills
 all the worlds, and surrounds all the worlds."   Something else one can ponder that
 will bring  to fear of  His greatness is God's transcendence of time as the verse says in
 the Book of Psalms, "A thousand years in Your eyes, is like yesterday."
We find in one of the greatest works of Chassidut , the Tanya by Rav Shneur
Zalman from Liadi (who was  one of the  greatest students of the Maggid of Mezerich
 the main disicple of Rebbe Yisrael Bal Shem Tov the founder of Chassidut ), a
 discussion of  how  every Jew can attain fear of God and what fear of God actually
 encompasses.   He begins this discussion with a piece of Talmud whichdiscuses a
 verse that we spoke about at the beginning of our discussion. Moses says to the Jewish
 people, "What does God ask of you? Only that you should fear him"  The Talmud asks
 rhetorically on this verse, "Fear of God is such a small thing?", and it answers "Yes, for
 Moses our master it is a small thing." The authorof the Tanya questions this answer
 given by the Talmud for the verse is not requesting fear of God from Moses rather
 from the Jewish people, so what does the Talmud mean when it answers that for
 Moses fear is a small thing? He goes on to answer this question in a very deep way,
 "Rather the matter is that every single soulfrom the house of Israel has in it an aspect
 of Moses our master.  Because he(Moses) is one of the seven shepherds who bring life
 and Godliness to the souls of Israel, and he represents the archetype of the seven
 shepherds  and therefore is called the faithful shepherd.  This means that he brings
 knowledge to the soulsof Israel to know God everyone according to the level of their
 souls, the root of their souls in the upper worlds, and their level of connection to the
 soul of Moses......."   From this we see that every Jew has a portion in the soul of
 Moses, and through that portion he can attain fear of God. Later on the Rav
 ShneurZalman goes on to explain more how the potential for fear of God is found in
 the heart of every Jew.,"A person needs to dig with great effort to reveal the treasure
 house of fear of heaven that's stored and hidden in the wisdom of the heart of every
 person from Israel. This is an aspect that is above time and it is thenatural fear that is
 hidden in the heart of a Jew."
He also describes how a person should go about attaining fear of God, "The main
 thing is to deepen his understanding of the greatness of Hashem and to entrench his
 thought in God with strength and power of his heart and mind until his thought is
 connected to God like it would be connected to a physical objectthat one sees with his
 eyes.  This idea of deepening one's thought and coming to know God is an act of
 connection as the verse say "Adam knew Chavah.". This power and attribute to
 connect one's knowledge to God is within every soul from the house of Israel
 according to their connection with the soul of Moses. But sincethe soul is enclothed
 in the physical body one must toil greatly to reach this level."  He also explains on
 what a person should concentrate on to come to fear of God, "Every person from
 Israel whoever he may be when he meditates for an hour every day how God literally
 fills the upper worlds and the lower worlds, how theheavens and earth are literally
 filled with His glory, and how God watches and examines  every person's heart, steps,
 actions, and speech and records every detail then fear of God will enter into his heart
 for the entire day."
We learn from a blessing the great sage Raban Yochanon the son of Zakai  gave to his
 students how one should at a minimum fear God, he said to them, "May it be the will
 of God that the fear of heaven shall be upon you like the fear of a king of flesh and
 blood."   The author of the Tanya explains in a deepersense what type of fear Raban
 Yochanan the son of  Zakai was referring to. "Only through seeing the king's body and
 dress does one know that his power and being exist so to exactly one should fear God
 through seeing with the flesh of his eyes the heavens, the earth, and the entire cosmos
 which the infinite light of Godis enclothed in them. Even though He is enclothed in
 many garments, just like a king of flesh and blood there is no difference whether he's
 unclothed or whether he's dressed in many garments one must fear him so to it is
 with the King of kings.  The main thing is to accustom his mind and heart always to
 realize that allhe sees with his eyes in the heavens and the earth and all which is
 encompassed within them all of it is the outer garments of the King blessed is He."
With the help of Hashem we will in the future continue to discuss how one can come
 to understand God and cling to His ways.   However the gates of wisdom according to
 our tradition cannot be opened without first delving into the topic of fear of God.
 The wisest man of all time King Solomon said even more  thatthe main thing for a
 Jew is to have fear of God as the verse says, "The sum of the matter, when all has
 been considered:Fear God and keep His commandments, for that is man's whole
 duty."
 
 
 
 

Purim Katan 5760

Many people want to know about Chassidut. What is it, and why is it neccesary? When  the Jewish people left Egypt they witnessed the miracles of Hashem and had the complete realization of His total contol and power over the world. When the Temple existed the Kingship of the Almighty also was revealed to the world. However after the destuction of the second Temple Hashem’s light became hidden, and was only revealed to those who plunged the depths of the Torah.  The following are a sampling of various ideas based on works of the students of the Baal Shem Tov who strove to reveal the light of the Almighty to the rest of the world..

 God’s glory fills the earth but it cannot be percieved by someone who has not negated all his negative attributes.   When one negates all his negative attributes, he will come to a realization that everything he has is gift from God. And likewise the entire world is a gift from God.  After one has done this he will percieve the Almighty’s presence in this world. (This idea is brought in many place in the Talmud the most classical
being in the Brechot in the sixth chapter which states that the whole world belongs to the Almighty therefore one may not take from this world with out blessing the Almighty first.   In the light of Chasidut one will be able to perform this halachah of blessing the Almighty with great ferver and love.)

 Chassidut teaches that there are holy sparks everything that exists in Creation, and the role of a Jew is to return those sparks to their root.   However a Jew cannot properly do this if he himself doesn’t believe that the holy sparks are there.

Where as classical ethics teaches fear and love of Hashem Chassidut teaches faith in Hashem. Meaning constantly binding oneself in thought to the Almighty.  The Maggid of Meziritch said that there are a lot of people who have fear of God, but have no faith in him. Meaning they believe in God, and that He is great but they haven’t reached a level  of perception that Hashem is close to them at all times.

 In this light a person onced asked the great holy master Rav Mendele M’Kotzk where is the Almighty. So the Holy Kotzker responded to him, “You will find God wherever you let Him enter.”

 Chassidut teaches that one can eliminate bad attributes through prayer, and the primary way of doing this is for one to pray with utter sacrifice of oneself to God.  Again this is an idea based on halacha as prayer is in the place of a sacrificial offering.  This doesn’t mean that one shouldn’t feel his physical needs, but he should realize that in order to gain them he has to approach the Almighty.

 A true Chassid can stare at something hanging still on the wall, and see that it’s not the nail hold it up. But the Almighty who created  all of the vast worlds, is also holding up the picture.

 A Chasid searches to reveal God’s presence in every place.

 A Chasid when he says the prayer of crossing the Red Sea  through the power of melody and song can actually experience a taste of the actual miracle as if they were there themselves.  Likewise a Chasid on Pesach night actually experiences the leaving of Egypt.

 Yechekal Aharon Saltz - Yerushalayim Ir HaKodesh

Fifth Day Chodesh Adar Bet 5760

King David said of his own heart it "is hollow in my midst."

This doesn't mean that Kind David had no emotions, the Rav Nachman explains this to mean that King David had negated all the selfishnesss and and vanity from his heart.

King David's prayers representing seeking out the God in times of darkness, and rejoicing with Him in time of splendour.

The Holy Shlah teaches that the Holiest of Holiest is the heart of man, as the Temple represents the form of a man so the Holy of Holy represents the heart.

The Altar also has connotations to the heart( Baal Hareedim, LIBI MISHCAN EBNEH LHADAR CAVODO). As we know the place of the Alter is the place of Mesiros Nefesh, self sacrifice. As it was at the place of the Alter that Yitzchak Aveenu was willing to give up his life,

 Rav Nacnman teaches that every Jew should find himself in the words of King David as the represent the collective and individual strugge of every Jew. And we should all merit to pure hearts and lives of mesirut nefesh for the Master of the World.
 
 

Twenty-six Adar Bet 5760

Everbody knows that the Jewish people are a holy nation and that every Jew is a holy person. But one must question what is the nature of our holiness and from where does it originate?. The obvious answer to this question lies in this that we are bound to the Almighty's Torah whereas is no other nation in the world so we the Jewish people are the only nation that has this receprocity with Hashem which makes us holy.

This is the general answer but to understand it better and other aspects of our holiness we must delve into the Chumash where we find the sources for this idea of holiness. The first time that the Jewish people unilaterally are referred to a holy nation is when the Almighty through Moshe offers us the Torah. It states the following , "And now, if you hearken well to me and observe My covenant and you shall be to the most beloved treasure of all peoples, for Mine is the entire world. You shal be a kingdom of ministers and a holy nation." Rashi explains that "My covenant" refers to the keeping of the Torah. So we see clearly that the holiness of the Jewish people came as a result of God chooosing us on the condition that we keep His Torah. The Jewish people accepted upon themselves to keep the Torah, which makes us eternally God's holy people. Even when the Jew transgresses the Torah he cannot escape this pact as either he will be punished and him or his descendants will repent or be wiped out. However since the Jewish people accpeted this covenant it will remain eternal, and never wiped out as the Prophet says, "The eternalness of Israel will never lie, because it is not a mere mortal to lie"

There are other places in the Chumash where holiness is spoken about which will help us to understand a deeper meaning of our holiness. We find not long after the Torah warns against eating non-kosher meat and it's stated in the following way, "People of holiness shall you be to me, you shall not eat flesh of an animal that was torn in the field, to the dog you shall throw it.." There are other such examples in the Torah in respect to forbidden foods. In addition we find another type of defilement as considered a transgression of our holiness. In the book of VaYikra in the parshah of Kedoshim, the parsha starts out by saying, "You shall be Holy for I am Holy." Rashi there explains that this is referring to transgressing of forbidden relationships, and he also explains that wherever one finds a a fence against forbidden realtionships one finds holiness. This line of defining Kedusha was taken very seriously by Maimonides-Rambam who was the only Rabbi to codify the entirety of Jewish Law, in his great work he has a section called "Holiness" , and it's dedicated entirely to laws of forbidden relationships and forbidden food. So we see from this that Jew has to maintain his holiness by abstaining from impure food and behaviour. From this we see more how each Jew is a holy being and has the potential to grow in holiness, or to profane the inherint holiness that was given to him.

So far we have spoken about holiness as it refers to the Jewish people as a whole as a result of our accepting the Torah, and binding ourselves with the Almighty like no other nation. We also started to look at the ramifications of being holy and how we can maintain our holiness, or how we can profane it. In the coming weeks I'd like like to speak about more aspects of holiness in Judaism, and to gain an even deeper insight into what has been stated up till now.

Aharon Yechezkel Saltz

Fourth of Nissan 5760
 

The topic this week was supposed to a continuation on holiness what we started talking about last week, but I've been compelled to put that on hold for several reasons. First of all through my own studies and conversations with people I've become involved in a new topic, and secondly this week's topics revolves around the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov whose birthday was a few days ago on Rosh Hodesh Nissan.

A person mentioned to me that the most important thing is that a person should know where they're holding with the Ribono Shel Olam. The truth is if a person actually merited to know such a thing it certainly would be the greatest thing in the world, but Rebbe Nachman teaches that this is something beyond a person's understanding. We learn this from his student Rav Nosson who writes concernning a related topic ,"And so so too a person himself when he merits to become close to the the truth through the strength of his faith, he needs also that he should have faith in himself as this is also included in having faith in the Chachamim as is explained in another place. Because many people become distanced through the many questions that they ask on themselves as the see other people pursuing to come close to Hashem and have undergone a little bit of struggling and have been insulted and disgraced for their pursuit of truth and even so these same people still are distant and don't seem to have accomplished anything. All of this is the work of the Evil one who tries to drive away people and we have spoken abouth this many times. Still it needs to be announced, made known, and to make known to others THAT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR A PERSON IN ANY WAY THAT HE HE KNOWS WHERE HE IS HOLDING AS I"VE HEARD THIS IN HIS NAME(Rebbe Nachman) This is the main tests of a person as he doesn't know where he stands at the present time. ...... All what distances a person is these types of thoughts and misunderstandings, all resulting from the wanting to know the truth right away. But the one who truly believes won't rush and one needs to wait a large large amount of time until he merits to grasp and to understand the truth of Hashem's ways".

Rav Noson wrote this piece after he was discussing the generation of the midbar(desert) that they came to places and didn't have any water they were already complaining to Moshe for what did he take them out of Egypt, despite that they witnessed all the miracles , and the truth of Hashem. It is the same idea that because a nation or a person has suffering or difficulty as a result of his beliefs he must place his faith in Hashem they will eventually be resolved, the problem is every one wants the whole truth right away.

We learn from Rav Nosson a great lesson that even when a person may seem to be digressing or serving Hashem less he cannot assume that he has fallen, it could likely be that Hashem is testing him to see how he handles adversity, and will eventually bring him to greater things. Likewise if the Jewish nation would've withstood the tests in the midbar the would've have merited to enter into the land of Israel.

We will end with a story that is a classic example of this idea. There was once a Chassid of Yisrael from Ruzin, that became compelled to come close to the Kotzker Rebbe. So he went to to the Kotzk house of study and he began to become engaged with the Chasidi Kotzk. After a certain amount of time he became perturbed and approached the Rebbe and asked him, "When I was in Ruzin I studied a lot and prayed with fervor, here in Kotzk I'm not learning or praying?" So the Kotzker answered him by saying, "Maybe your not learning and praying in Kotzk is greater to Hashem than your learning and praying in Ruzin." Once again we learn from this story that a person can never know where he is holding with the Ribono Shel Olam.
 
 

Eleventh of Nissan 5760

The Holy Angels say, "Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, the whole world is filled with his glory"

Being in Egypt was very stifling and humiliating for the Jewish people.

When the Jews were redeemed they saw even more than the Angels see.

But we forgot?

On Pesach it's a reminder to every Jewish household, and every Jew DON'T FORGET REMEMBER WHAT THE ALMIGHTY INVINCIBLE ABSOLUTE DOMINATOR OF ALL THE WORLDS   DID TO PHARO AND REDEEMED YOU AND YOUR PEOPLE, HE IS THE MASTER.

If a Jew can remember this every second of the day WE WOULD WITNESS EVEN GREATER MIRACLES.

But not everyone has reached this level of KEDUSHA, so Pesach at least every Jew must STOP and remember the ALMIGHTY.
 
 
 

Twenty -third of Nissan  5760
 

When one purchases an object if he has emunah in the Torah  he must
realize that he's performing a holy act as the Torah relates to purchases.
There's is a total perek in Bava Metzia called perek HaZahav that deals with
these issues.   Emunah isn't just a subjective religous experience.   Emunah
must be together with truth, the truth is the Rambam, and the Shulchan Aruch.
When one charges ribis, or transgresses onah(charging a certain amount more
than the market value), or hurts an Almanah, or speaks loshon hora , or motze
shem ra.   It might be that those people have a general emuna but when they
do those things at that moment they are heretics    Also Rambam explicitly
states that it's forbidden to steal from a goy.
            The root of all these problems is desire for money, as that will
save people's problems? CHAZAL say "Who is a wealthy man, the one who is
happy with his portion."    One speaks loshon horah because or he or she just
wants to  do harm, in which case he or she  is a Rasha, or it stems from
jealousy of the other person so they try to bring him down to his or her
level.    If a person has emunah he sees only himself with the Ribono Shel
Olam.

Ahron Yechezkal Saltz
 
 

Twenty-fifth of Nissan 5760

We say every morning in davening  two times "Kadosh, Kadosh,
Kadosh, Malay Col Haaretz Cvodo"(Holy,Holy,Holy the world is filled with his
glory.)  In the first kedusha we rise and say it with the angels, in the
second kedusha we sit. However the second kedusha provides a translation of
this in Aramiac in the following way, "Imikablin din men din kadeeesh beshmei
mroma ilaah bet schcentie, kadeesh arra ovad gevuritay almay, almaya, Hashem
ztvakos mlya col araa zeev ykarey"
It mean's the the following "And the Angels recieved from each other and said
Holy in the highest world is the home of His shecina, Holy over the land he
does might, Holy is he for ever and ever, The God of Legions, the world is
filled with the brightness of his preciouness"
         I'd like to to telll a story that related to this concept.   There
was once a great Tzadik Simcha Bunim M"Pershisca and he was at the time of
the story a student of the great Chozeh M"Lublin. Now Rav Simcha Bunim
travelled to many cities on business for reasons in his service of God and
also to make a honest living.  One day he returned from one of his trips and
he went to the Chozeh M"Lublin but the Chozeh wouldn't allow him to enter. So
Rav Simcha Bunim became perplexed and down hearted, so he tried the next day
and the Chozeh let him in. The Chozeh explained to him that Simcha Bunim came
the previous day filled with the shecina all over his face and he didn't want
him to become haughty, Because the Chozeh explained the shecinah is
everywhere and where it's most hidden it's easy for a Tzadik on the stature
of Rav Simcha Bunim to reveal it.
    One level is  to do business honestly is very good level.    But to build
on that with deep emunah the nachas ruach Hashem receives from one who does
business according to Chosen Mishpat   If ones works on emunah and tries to
find the truthful path then he will also merit to see zeev yekarey the divine
presence.
 
 
 
 
 

Twenty-eigth of Nissan 5760

There is a Midrash in the PERKEY D REBEE ELIEZER or chapters of Rebbe Eliezer. It is the third perek and this is how it starts.

"Rabey Eliezer the son of Horkonus starts. Who can speak of the might of Hashem and make heard his praises? Is their a person in this world who can speak of the power of Hashem, or make heard his praises? Even His angels can only praise him a little. We need to delve in what He did and what He will do in the future in order that we may glorify the name of Hakodesh Baruch Hu to ourselves. His creation is from one end of the world to the next the very end as it says, "From generation to generation Your works will be praised". Before the world was created, it was only Hashem and His Great Name. And it went up in His mind to create the world. And he placed the world before Him and it couldn't stand. What is this similar? To a king that wanted to build palaces, if he doesn't place yesodos(foundations) entrance ways and exit ways, he cannot start to build. So to Hashem placed before Him and saw that it wouldn't stand until he created Teshuvah (repentance)........"
We see from this that Teshuva is a creation of the Almighty, that existed before creation, so it's very powerful. One may be given by Hashem the power to do tshuvah. but to be a true Bal Teshuva one must look at Rebbe Akiva as an example. When Moshe Rabeyno saw in prophecy (Navuah) Rebbe Akiva darshining Tagin on the letters of the Torah. Moshe Rabeyno asked Hashem why didn't you give the Torah to Rebbe Akiva why me Moshe Rabeyno? Hashem said to Moshe, "SHASAK KACH ALAH MEMAHSAVAH TECHILA"(Keep quiet because that's what went up in thought in the beginning).. In other words Hashem was telling him that what was he had in mind when he thought to create the world even before the creation of Tshuva. Rebee Akiva's tshuvah was so complete he entered in the realm of Hashem's first thought to create the world. It says the place where Baaley Teshuva can stand Tzdakim Gemorim aren't able to stand. Rebbe Akiva , Ben Zoma, Ben Azai, and Acher all ascended to heaven while still in their bodies Rebbe Akiva entered in peace and came back in peace. Ben Zoma Nitrafa Da’ato Ben Azai died, Acher became a heretic.
Rebbe Nachman said "The whole world is a very narrow bridge, but the MAIN thing is not to fear. One must go very deep in emunah to the extant that he looks at himself and every thing before him as Hashem showing him for a reason, and he must be calm and pick what deep in his heart is the best path. If a person does this he will build his bitachon in Hashem. And Hashem will reveal for him miracles everday.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Twenty-ninth day of Nissan 5760
 
 

The RAMBAM in his monumental work MOREH NEVUCHIM defines TZELEM as intellect. In reference to the name ELOKIM he says the following,
"The name ELOKIM when it's connected with HASHEM, ANGELS , DAYANIM(HALACHIK JUDGES), and Leaders of Nations means what it says after the sin of ADAM HARISHON "They said like ELOKIM knowing good and evil." Therefore ELOKIM denotes the knowledge of good and evil. So therefore TZELEM ELOKIM denotes one's intellect to distiinguish between good and evil.
We also know that the name ELOKIM denotes the indvisible ultimate power of the entire Cosmos within the framework of it's nature and structure. And in not contradiction to the RAMBAM ELOKIM is the ultimate KNOWER of Good and Evil and that is why one should fear ELOKIM in his heart. As it's well known there are two sides to the heart the left side and the right side, the left side represents the evil inclination one must subdue the leftside of the heart to ELOKIM.
In parsas MISHPATIM perek 22 verse 8, the Bes Din is referred to as ELOKIM, it so happens in this case one of the parties wants to take an oath on the higher name of HASHEM YKVK which represents that which is above the realm of the finite cosmos, and above the realm of time and space. In order to make an oath on the Holiest name the Bes Din represents ELOKIM, in other words when a person comes to Bes Din it is like standing before the King of the Entire World. Only in front of Bes Din can a person make this type of oath. The case in question has to do with claiming that an object that was given to a person to watch, and he the person wants to make an oath that it was stolen.
From this we see the holiness Jews must be concerning their own property and theft, the respect with one should give to a Bes Din, and how much we should strive to maintain our TZELEM ELOKIM
 
 
 

Seventh of Iyar 5760
 

Power of Beis Din

We spoke about in our previous discussion the power of BET DIN as it represents the aspect of ELOKIM. Before however we discussed a case where BET DIN were passive just representing the aspect of ELOKIM inorder that one shouldn't swear falsely.
This week I want to give an example from the Torah where BET DIN uses the power of ELOKIM actively. If a person makes an aquistion and gives the money but has not yet lifted up the object, he can still ask for his money back. When this news comes to BET DIN and they say the following curse, "HE WHO PUNISHED THE DOR OF THE FLOOD, THE DOR HAFLAGAH, HE IN THE FUTURE WILL PUNISH SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T KEEP HIS WORD."
There is much to be learned from this first of all when a person does something in a halachic way, but it causes some sort of damage to someone it's not a light thing. In this case the seller thought the sale was closed when he recieved the money, than the buyer pulled out. The buyer gave one word and the changed his word this type of behaviour is detested by BET DIN as the buyer gets cursed for changing his word. Unfortunately our generation BET DIN doesn't carry so much power, but at least we Jews can see the truth and importance in being honest. The DOR OF THE FLOOD did many terrible things but the worst was theft and on that the decree was made. So even something that's not at all theft BET DIN views it at the same type of dishonesty, meaning simply changing one's word. MAY WE MERIT TO SEE THE RETURN OF MISHPAT TO YERUSHALAYIM.
 
 
 
 
 

Thoughts on the festival of Shavuos

 On Pesach we celebrate the awesome wonders that Hashem did for us in Egypt, and on Shavuos we celebrate the giving of the Torah as the culmination of the leaving of Egypt. (Not the ultimate culmination, as the ultimate culmination is to enter the land of Israel with the Torah)  These two festivals are linked through the counting of the Omer.

     According to Chassidut these events are exlplained in the following way. Hashem’s revelation to the Jewish people in Egypt was far greater than what the Jewish people were worthy.  However since the galus in Egypt had brought the Jewish people to the lowest possible level, the Almighty had to redeem us as if we would’ve stayed in Egypt longer we would’ve been wiped out.  In preperation to receive the Torah Hashem
gave the Jewish people 50 days, and on these days we recite the Omer. This time is designated for strengthening emunah and building midos.  Through this time the Jewish people don’t witness great revelations, as it is set aside for building the spiritual vessels to recive the light on Shavuos, the giving of the Torah

        The Baal Shem Tov explains this process through a story.  It’s likened to a father who hugs his son and brings him close in his arms, but afterwards he distances himself from his son in order that the son learn to walk on his own two feet.  Pesach is when we are in our Father’s arms, the Omer period is when we learn how to come close to Him on our own accord, and Shavuos is where we meet our father for the ultimate
unification, as the giving of the Torah is likened to a wedding between God and the Jewish people.
 
 

It is explained in the holy works of Chassidut and the ARIZ’L that the three festival each represent one of the three AVOS ,fathers. Pesach represents Avraham our father, Succos represents Yaakov our father, and finally Shavuos represents Yitzchak our father. One doesn’t need to look far to find the parallel to Yitzchak.  The whole experience of receiving was extremely poweful and awesome, as this represents the aspect
of Yitzchak. In addition there was a shofar blown during the giving of the Torah.   And the shofar is also a representation of the sacrifice of Yitzchak, as it was a ram who replaced Yitzchak on the alter, and the shofar comes from a ram
 
 

A very nice and important lesson we we learn from Rashi in one of the verses preceding the giving of the Torah. It states, “And the nation encamped opposite the mountain(Sinai)”, now the word encamped should be in plural as it’s referring to the entire nation, yet it is written in the singular. So Rashi  tells us this is coming to tell us that the Jewish people  were about to accept the Torah as one person with one heart.
 
 
 

Thirteenth of Sivan 5670

       The famous question ,“What is the purpose in life?,” has been dealt with by the world’s greatest theologians, philosophers and thinkers throughout history.   Our tradition in Judaism provides very strong and clear answers to this question that have to do with the the core of our faith. I have chosen three of the perhaps greatest Jewish scholars of the last millenia who deal with this question very directly
Maimonides(RAMBAM), Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzato(RAMCHAL), and Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.   From pieces of writing taken from these three masters of Jewish thought it will become quite clear as to what a Jew’s purpose is in this world.

   We will start off this week first with Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzato who wrote an entire book dedicated to the purpose of a Jew in this world and how to fufill that purpose, the name of his masterpiece is Path of the Just. It’s primarily in the first chapter of the book titled  “An Explanation of a Person’s Obligation in this World” that the RAMCHAL deals with this question..

                         The foundation of righteousness and the root of complete service is that it should
                       become clear and true to a person what his obligation is in this world and to what he
                       should place his view and direction in his toil throughout his life.

                             And behold our Sages of Blessed Memory  have taught us that a person was not
                        created except to take pleasure from Hashem and to enjoy from His divine presence as
                        that is the truest and greatest pleasure from any other pleasures that one could find.

                              And the the place of this pleasure in truth is in the next world, as it was created in
                         order for this need. However the path to get towards this desired place is in this world.
                         This is the meaning of our Sages when they said, “This world is similar to a corridor
                         for the next world.” The means of which one attains this purpose is the mitzvot  which
                         have been commanded to us by our blessed God. The place of the performance of the
                         mitzvot is in this world.   Therefore a person was placed in this world from the start
                         in order that through this medium of the mitzvot that are at our disposal in this world
                         he will be able to reach the place that is set for him in the next world, and to enjoy there
                         the good which he achieved though the medium of the mitxvot.

                                  When one looks into the matter one will see that the complete truth is only
                         clinging  to the Blessed One, and this is what King David said, “And for me the
                         closeness of God is good.” And he also said, “One thing I have asked of Hashem is
                         that I should sit in the House of God all the days of my life.”  Anything other than this
                         which people consider good is only foolishness. A person who places his aim to
                         this clinging to God must perform the mitzvot.

                                  You will see in truth that already no person of intellect can believe that the
                          purpose of a person is his life in this world.   For what are is the life of a person of a
                          person in this world, does anyone truly happy in this world? The days of our life are
                          seventy years and if one is strong eighty years, and the majority of them are toil and
                          vain. Many types of anguish, sickness, pains, and trouble, and after all of this death.
                          One out of a thousand you can’t find that gained in his life true pleasures and comfort
                          in this world, and even if he reaches to his hundredth year he soon no longer even exist
                          in the world.

                                  And not only this, if the purpose of a man was for this world, God wouldn’t have
                          needed to bestow us a divine soul that is great and elevated even above the angels
                          themselves, all the more so that the soul finds no pleasure in all the delights of this
                          world.

   In the following weeks we will explore the writings of Rav Nachman of Breslov, and the Rambam whom expound further on this topic.
 
 
 
 
 

Twenty Sivan 5670

Last week we started to discuss the Torah perspective of what is a person’s  purpose in this world. We saw from the writings of Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzato a very clear picture of what a Jew’s purpose in this world.    This week I want to bring from the writings of Maimonides, the Rambam.  What we will see from the Rambam should be viewed as one with Rav Moshe Chaim Luzatto as they both derive their ideas from the sages.  However it is worth seeing how the Rambam views the words of uor sages, and we will see issues raised by the Rambam that were not directly touched upon by the Ramchal.

       The first piece from the Rambam is from his monumental work Guide to the Perplexed which deals with a large gamut of Jewish thought. In the third section in the thirty third chapter the Rambam discusses how the Torah wants of us to approach life.

       “Another principle from the purposes of the perfect Torah is the abandonment of physical desires and the abuseful behaviour that comes from them, and the restriction from them as much as possible to the point where one should only follow these desires only to that which is absolutely required.  One should already know that most peoples’ vulgarity and destructiveness comes from food, drink, and lustful behaviour. This approach of the general populous negates the ultimate purpose of a man.  For running after desires the way that fools do  will negate the desire to contemplate, will destroy the body and bring a person to his end before his time, will cause worrying and anguish, and  will increase jealousy and hate. All of this comes about as a result of one running after pleasure.  Therfore the Hashem guides us by giving us the mitzvot which negate this destructive lifestyle., and makes one turn away their thoughts from such a lifestyle. The Torah prevents one from wild and purposeless desires.   This is one of the great meanings that the Torah has for us.

    And also from the purposes of the Torah is that a Jew should be fine and refined in his character,  that he shouldn’t be stubborn or slothful, rather he should act with a clear state of mind and be calm.

      And also from the purposes of the Torah is purity and holiness.  My intention is one should reduce lustful behavior to the minimum. The same way that God commanded us to make holy the nation in order to receive the Torah, as He said be holy today and tomorrow, as He said don’t approach  a women. We see from this that holiness implies a distance from lustful behaviour.

   So to cleanliness  and a clean body the Torah desires from a person, but this comes only after purifying  one’s deeds and  one’s heart from impure beliefs and impure characteristics. But to be satisfied being clean outwardly while carrying on to chase pleasures and desires is disgraceful

 This type of behaviour is not the purpose of the Torah, the purpose of the Torah is firstly a restriction of  physical desires and outer cleanliness after one has created an inner cleanliness.”
 
 

   Our next piece from the Rambam comes from his great halachik work the Mishneh Torah. Here we will see how the Rambam describe how one reaches the highest spirtual level, the crown of Torah. In chapter three of the laws of Torah study the Rambam discusses how one can merit to the crown of Torah.

   “Whomever takes it upon his heart to fufill this mitzvah properly and to be crowned with the crown of Torah will not remove his thoughts to other things, and he won’t have in his mind that he will aquire Torah along with wealth. Thustly is the way of Torah, bread and salt shall you eat, measured water shall you drink, and on the ground you shall sleep..”

     “You have no mitzvah amongst all the mitzvahs that is greater than the study of Torah the study of Torah is equal to all the mizvahs put together.”

  “Perhaps you shall say I will aquire money and afterwards I will return and study. If this thought comes to your head you will not aquire the crown of Torah. Rather one should make the study of Torah a set thing and one’s work secondary.”

   “The words of Torah are likened to water as it is said of  Torah ‘All who are thirsty go to water’. This teaches you that just as water doesn’t rest on a slope rather it flows down and rests on a flat place so to Torah cannot be found by one who is arrogant rather by one who is humble and sits in the dust of the feet of scholars and removes desires and pleasures of the times away from his heart. His work shall be of little amount inorder for him to live and the rest of the day and night should be devoted to Torah”
 
 

In our next discussion we will see how the great Hassidic master Rav Nachman of Breslov relates to this matter.
 
 
 

Fourth of Tammuz 5760
 

In the last few weeks we have spoken about what the Torah views as the meaning of life. So far we have seen through the writings of the Ramchal and the Rambam various perspectives and ideas.  From the writings of the Ramchal we saw the idea of the world to come as being central as the purpose in this world, that by doing mitzvos in this worlds one gains a portion in the world to come.  The Rambam of course
agrees with this as it is one of the foundation stone of Judaism, but the Rambam adds that part of the purpose of the Torah is to seperate us from bad behavioural attributes, and bring is to a life of holiness and purity of heart.  We also saw from the Rambam how one attains the highest level one can reach in this world the “crown of Torah”.

          This week I want to conclude this topic with the writings of Rebbe Nachman who spoke a great deal of the purpose in life.  The particular piece I want to bring is perhaps the clearest and most comprehensive piece of the the writings of Rav Nachman which discusses the purpose in life.

     “The rule is:This world is filled with worry, disappointment, anguish, and suffering without end as it always has been since the time of Adam as it was decreed then  ,”with difficulty shall you eat”, and “by the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread”.  There is no where to run  from this worry and anguish which shortens and brings to an end one’s days except to the Almighty and the Torah.”

    “Even all wealthy people agree that this world is filled with disappointment and suffering.  Their worrying and suffering is very great each time, each day, and each moment.  Like our  Sages say, “increase possesions, increase worry”.   And eventhough the general populous and poor people don’t understand this and they think if they were wealthy all their problems would be solved, they are making a big mistake.”

   “Therefore in this world there is “no wisdom, no understanding and no advice” to be comfortable. Only when one accepts upon himself to live by the bare minimum and to live a life of difficulty like our sages say “Bread and salt shall you eat.” Just when you accept upon yourself to live by the bare minimum and have a life of difficulty and involve yourself in the Torah as it says, “In Torah shall you labour”, then you will
start to feel the real meaning of life.  You will no longer have the sufferings of this world since you have already accepted upon yourself everything inorder for the Torah. And all your life and goodness will be from the Torah as it is the true good.”

     “Even the non Jewish philosophers agree to all this  that the world is filled with  suffering, as is written in their books.  They say the only good thing  is to accept all the suffering on oneself.  But all their words don’t help without the holy Torah that we the children of Israel merited. A person cannot merit to accept upon himself the suffering without the Torah.  When a person considers the matter well he will realize that this
world has no purpose to it, because even if he had wealth and many pleasures without any pain or suffering even so it is all empty as life passes over with the blink of an eye. All the more so that this world filled with anguish, pain , suffering , worries, and bothers without end, from the greatest person down to  the smallest, from the greatest of the greatest wealthy person down till the poorest of the poor everyone is filled with suffering pain and anguish.

   No one can escape all of this except when he chooses his portion in Torah and the holy mitzvos.. And he is willing to sustain himself on the bare minimum in order to study Torah an be involved in worship of Hashem If a person chooses this path he will remove from himself all the anguish, pain, suffering, bitterness of this world, and he will live a true life dedicated to Hashem which  is the ultimated life both in this world
and the next.”
 
 
 

Thirteenth of Tamuz 5670
 

      In the last weeks we discussed very serious matters from the writings of the Rambam, Ramchal, and Rav Nachman.  In the coming weeks I want to relate lighter matters but yet equally inspiring namely  the stories of tzdakim.  The great Yisrael from Ruzin said  stories of tzadikim will uphold the faith of the Jewish people at the end of days before the Messiah will arrrive.  We thank God have a wealth of stories from tzadikim to
share and they are all very uplifting and enlightening.

        This week I want to tell over a famous story from Chozeh of Lu