Inspired Judaism, Inspired Living

Sunday November 22nd 2009

Conscious Relationships

“As the sons (Yaakov and Esav) grew up, Esav became a man who knows to hunt, a man of the field….and Yitzchak loved Esav.” -Breisheit / Genesis 25:28

What does the Torah mean when it says, “knows to hunt” instead of merely being a hunter? And why two separate things of being a hunter and also being a man of the field?

Rabbi Avraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra (from Spain 1089-1164), the classic commentator and great clarifier of the Torah says that in order to succeed in hunting one needs to know how to manipulate and trick the prey. One cannot just kill an animal, but one needs to know how to trap the animal. So the Ibn Ezra is teaching us that the Torah is not merely giving us a historical accounting of Esav’s proffession – but on a deeper level is telling us what kind of person he was; and Esav knew how to trick, trap and manipulate.

The Medrash asks why does the Torah add “man of the field”? What is the Torah adding for us? The Medrash answers that Esav used to take women from their husbands out to the field, so no one could hear them scream – what a haunting description. Shocking, horrific – even graphic, but the Medrash is adding for us another level of understanding who Esav was: more than mere manipulation and trickery that he was capable of, Esav was cruel and destructive.

If this is the kind of man Esav is: a hunter, manipulator, deceiver, rapist and cruel – how is it that the Torah emphasizes, “& Yitzchak loved Esav”. How could Yitzchak, a prophet, a spiritual and utmost refined holy individual love this type of person – and why is the Torah going out of its way to emphasize this?

Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Leiner, the Ishbitzer Rebbe (Poland, 1801-1854) says the following profound reality of the relationship of Yitzchak to Esav. If a person looks closely, the word in the Torah saying how Yitzchak loves Esav is actually in the active form. This means to say that it was not merely that Yitzchak happened to especially love Esav – he actively and consciously loved him, he went out of his way to love him.

As is known, Esav is the father of the western world, the non-Jewish western world to be precise. Esav was not Jewish nor was his progeny Jewish. However, as history developed and evolved, there came to be many great Jewish leaders who trace their lineage to Esav. Ovadia the prophet, Sh’maya & Avtalyon the famous sages in the Talmud, Rabbi Akiva and many others throughout Jewish history. How is it that all of these great leaders, sages and prophets specifically stem from Esav the hunter, rapist and deceiver? Is that our Jewish heritage? What is the meaning behind this?

The Ishbitzer Rebbe says the following deep secret of the Torah to answer.

Yitzchak did not inherently love Esav any more than he did Yaakov – why should he? Should he love Esav’s ways of deceit, manipulation, hunting animals and most horrific his treatment and abuse of women?

Rather, says the Ishbitzer Rebbe, as the Torah is telling us that Yitzchak actively and consciously loved Esav – he made the deep effort to. And from everytime Yitzchak looked upon Esav with favor, love, compassion and care there sparked the souls of future righteous generations within him. From the active loving of Esav, not only despite his evil ways but because of it, there generated within him and his progeny sparks of goodness to later be actualized in Ovadia, Rabbi Akiva and thousands more.

Judaism teaches us to “nullify your will for God’s, so that God will nullify others for yours” (Pirkei Avot 2:4). The Ishbitzer Rebbe says that this is what Yitzchak did for Esav – he nullified his own internal difficulty in loving Esav to love him which later resulted in God channelling the wills of Esav’s progeny towards Torah.

The secret here is that good does not happen by accident and good people do not appear out of the blue. The truth is that one has to create good by relating to everything in a positive, deeper way. This is the deeper meaning of Yitzchak loving Esav – Yitzchak loved that which is not good in order to make it good. Not with immediate results either, for it took many generations until Yitzchak’s vision came to be a reality in the leaders mentioned above.

This is really the essence of Judaism – to have a heart filled with deep love of everyone, and if it’s not there, to make it there.

The secret of this Parsha is that the first ingredient in Judaism, life and community is loving others – and only through that will there be later success, though often not at all immediate.

How in our lives is this practical? To enhance the love that we already have for people we adore and for people that we don’t. Are there people in our lives who we think of as “Esav”, who we think bring us down? Are there things or people who we might treat negatively, even a little bit? Are there people who would benefit from our being more patient, forgiving and compassionate? To all of the “Esav’s” in our lives, let us be like Yitzchak who consciously loves to generate the hidden good within.

Friday October 9th – Hoshana Rabba & Simchat Torah

Dancing While Doing Dishes

How does one attain and come to experience the highest levels of living? How would one be able to be in and of this world within the daily experiences of errands, responsibilities, obligations, eating, drinking, sleeping and so many things that might keep a person from living and being in a state of pure joy, calm, clarity of mind and enlightenment?

Rabbi Yitzchak Luria (1534-1572) known as the Arizal (an acronym which stands for HaEloki Rav Yitzchak Zichrono Livracha – The Godly Master Yitzchak, may his memory be for a blessing) was someone who more than almost anyone in Jewish history attained a level of enlightenment, holiness, purity and entirely embodied all of the divine qualities of goodness and truth.

To illustrate the level in which he was on, one day while studying Torah early in the morning his main student and disciple Rav Chaim Vital walked in. The Arizal was very much immersed in his study and he merely glanced at Rav Chaim for a moment as he entered the room. After glancing for a mere moment at Rav Chaim, the Arizal then went back to his learning and said, “Rav Chaim – why did you insult your wife last evening?” Rav Chaim was taken aback by the immediacy of the Arizal’s vision and asked how he knew that, how he saw that. The Arizal said, “It was written in the lines of your forehead”.

The Arizal Shul in Tzfat

There is an entire book about the greatness of the Arizal called, “Shivchei Ha’Ari” (the praises of the Ari) in which there are brilliant, mind opening and boggling descriptions of who he was, what he saw and how he brought the reality of God to people’s minds and hearts.

The Arizal was once asked how he had attained such heights, such mastery, such perfection, such holiness. He answered, “It was through the dancing on Simchas Torah”.

Although the Arizal had mastered every aspect of Torah, prayed in isolation, meditated, studied and so worked on himself to attain and experience the level that he did – it somehow all came down to his dancing on Simchat Torah.

This would really deserve an entire book dedicated to delve into the depths involved and required to truly explore this – but nevertheless we can begin with something.

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches in the 10th lesson of Likutey Mohoran that the experience of dancing is the synthesis and marriage of body and soul, of physical and spiritual (paraphrased). For when a person dances, they dance from the joy that they experience that brings their body to unleash its inner soul. The body is so infused by the soul’s happiness, excitement, vision and pure life force that it dances; where the body and soul become one. And therefore, to the extent of one’s connectedness and being in-tune with his soul will the body dance.

We dance on Simchat Torah after having gone through over a period of a year the entire Torah. Over the course of a year, the Jewish soul has tasted and experienced one teaching after another, week after week, day after day. With the vision of what the teachings of the Torah are, how they totally transformed his life, how they opened, expanded and infused infinite life to his heart, mind and soul – with that vision a person breaks out in dance. And if a person is seriously connected – the dancing will be an experience of infinity, of tapping into the oneness of creation and the marriage of body and soul.

With this potential of experience, the Arizal said that this is how he attained his lofty heights of living.

There are countless stories of many holy Jewish people who on Simchat Torah were seen dancing in a state of bliss and fiery energy alone in their homes. For if a person is hearing the music, he cannot stop dancing.

Whether we find ourselves in Shuls and communities that are having Simchat Torah or we find ourselves away from a larger community – may this Simchat Torah (Saturday night and Sunday morning outside of Israel, Shabbos in Israel) bring us to live our lives to the highest heights and truly develop a relationship with God.

Ultimately this vision, clarity and joy is to enlighten the way in which we walk in the world in our day to day living; enlighten our errands, careers, eating, sleeping and cleaning. So that we’ll be dancing while doing dishes…

Friday September 11th – 22nd of Elul

Hearing, Yearning & Being Spiritually In-Tune

“If you will listen to the voice of God your God…”

- Dvarim (Deuteronomy) 28:15

Perhaps this statement in the Torah is talking directly to crazy people who hear voices. It clearly seems not to be talking to people who don’t hear voices – and yet this verse is found throughout the Torah! Either the Torah is specifically geared to people who hear voices or it is entirely irrelevent…or profoundly deep.

“The Torah contains within it everything that will ever happen in the Universe, from the biggest events to the smallest details…”

- The Vilna Gaon,
In the introduction to his commentary on the
Sifra D’tzniuta of the Zohar

How can the Torah contain within it the entire universe if it is merely a collection of stories that happened thousands of years ago? From the story of creation, Adam & Eve, the Jewish people in Egypt, etc. – where is there anything more than the mere stories? But rather, the Torah is the blueprint of creation and reality, and in order to uncover its depths and secrets one needs to know how to unlock the code, how to truly understand its meaning and infinite depth – which is why the Jewish people study and immerse themselves fully in the Torah day and night, taught by spiritual masters who have been taught its secrets.

The secret of listening to God’s voice is that deep inside everyone of us we are absolutely connected to God as we are part of God. “There is nothing other than God”(Dvarim 4:35) means that there is nothing in existence that is outside the realm of God, and everything in and of existence is God and is an expression of God.

“Rav Yehoshua Ben Levi said, everyday a voice from heaven calls out and says, woah to anyone who has not immersed themselves in the study of Torah – for a person is only free through the study of Torah…”

- Pirkei Avot, 6:2

The above teaching is a description of reality. The reality that anyone who is deeply and truly connected to the spiritual realm, to the real world, hears a voice of yearning, a voice calling upon the world to experience the soul and heart of life, to connect to their truest selves. A person who is in a place of yearning, of growth, of looking beyond the veil of this world to a deeper world, a world of oneness, a world of relationship with God – will hear this voice.

In truth, perhaps people who hear voices are on a higher level.

May we listen to the inner yearnings of our heart and of God’s calling out to us. The Hebrew month of Elul is a spiritually opportune time to listen to the yearning of our deeper selves, as expressed in the sounding of the Shofar throughout this month.

Monday September 7th – 18th of Elul

Today is the birthday of the Baal Shem Tov (b.1698), one of the greatest luminaries of the Jewish people – who began one of the most radical movements in Jewish history.

The Baal Shem Tov's Home in Medziboz

The movement that the Baal Shem Tov began became known as the “Chasidic” movement, from the Hebrew word “Chasid” meaning pious, righteous, invigorated and alive.

The time of the Baal Shem Tov’s birth and later revelation of his teachings came during a time to the Jewish people when the Jewish people were dejected from a false Messiah in Shabtai Tzvi, were beaten down with endless pogroms and attacks – but even more so from the lack of studying and experiencing the deeper realms of Judaism. The learned were few and even fewer were those who merited immersing themselves in the Kabbalah, inner dimension of Judaism, leaving the Jewish people as a whole missing out on the true experience, life and potential of Judaism – something that lingers especially today.

The Baal Shem Tov came in the early 1700s to spread the message that every Jew is not only royal and holy – but that every Jew is a small Messiah, and through their life they can bring about redemption. We must be in love with God, in love with the world and in love with Torah.

But how can a person come to to live this love? The Baal Shem Tov taught that inherently we are already in love, we just need to be in tune with that love. That comes about through passionate prayer and the study of the inner dimension of Torah, the Kabbalah and later Chasidic works.

Painting of the Baal Shem Tov and his followers going on one of countless mystical and magical tours

His teachings essentially were that every Jew is a master and every human being is deeply connected to God, they merely need to uncover it. Every Jew is a spiritual giant with an absolutely unique mission to spread their light to the world - and that we can tap into that hidden potential through powerful prayer with God and tasting the mystical secrets of Judaism.

Among the many stories about the Baal Shem Tov’s life are about his time spent in isolated prayer and communication with God in the Carpathian mountains. His later followers, and most especially his great grandson Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, said that going out to the woods and nature to speak to God in our own language is the secret to spiritual growth for every Jew and every human being.

The Carpathian Mountains, where hundreds of years ago the Baal Shem Tovwent out to speak with God

In Judaism there is a teaching that the day that a person dies and is born is a time where the person’s essence is revealed, and most especially their teachings to the world. Then may we tap into the Baal Shem Tov’s revolutionary teachings by going out today and everyday to a place of nature to speak to God, thanking God for having given us such a beautiful life, and asking to fully tap into our soul’s potential to reveal to the world that which we were meant to in this lifetime.

Monday August 17th – 27th of Av

Joy – The Truth of Living

1)       Dvarim 28:47 – Understanding the Outcome of a Life Without Joy

1. In the Torah’s description of cause and effect, the Torah defines the outcome of suffering “…becauseyou did not serve God with true happiness and a joyous heart”.
2. The verse does imply however that the Jewish people wereserving God. That service would include: Praying, praying with a community, giving charity, studying, teaching, keeping kosher, keeping Shabbat, etc.
3. What is this verse of the Torah (literally the guide, hor’aah, Torah) teaching us about the nature of being Jewish: Is it more important what we do, or how we do it?
4. What is the Torah teaching us about the nature of cause and effect on a deeper level?

2) Psalms 97:11 – “There is a light sown for a Tzadik/ righteous person, and joy for those with a straight heart”.

1. a. Otzar Hamidrashim / Collection of Medrashim, the 32 Character Traits of the Medrash, p. 268 – One cannot say that there is a Tzadik/ righteous person who does not have joy and a straight person who is not filled withlight. Rather this is the teaching: The righteous are those with a straight heart and their light is the light of joy.
2. b. What does the verse mean by saying a straight heart? How is this defining the ability to be joyous?

3) Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, Likutey Mohoran 4:5, 5:3 – A person is inherently happy, it is merely the confusion of the mind that results through mistakes of action and thought that confuse a person to be unhappy – for man’s natural state is of a “straightened heart of joy”…

4)       Proverbs 17:22 – “A joyous heart enhances one’s brilliance, and a broken spirit dries the bones”

1. Explination by Rav Shlomo Yitzchaki, Rashi- When a person is overjoyed with the life he has been given, his face shines with that joy.
2. What is Rashi adding that we didn’t know already? What is Rashi pinpointing?
3. Rashi is adding the element of, “the life one has been given” – which is being aware of the current abundant blessings in one’s life, appreciating, acknowledging the reality of all the good one has been given – not focusing on lack but realizing that there is no lack. When a person lives with the joy of the life he has – his face will shine with that joy.
4. What does the end of the verse teach us? What is the root of all “dry bones”, suffering, ailments, frustration, and difficulty?

5)       The Torah does not merely instruct, it rather defines reality and is the gauge of reality. What the first verse in Dvarim and the later teaching of Proverbs has defined for us is the following reality in the following quotes:

1. Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, Likutey Mohoran II, 24 – The essential means of being connected to God is only through being in a consistent state of absolute joy, and to strengthen oneself to fully distance sadness and depression with all of one’s strength. For all the sicknesses that come upon a person – all of them come because of a lack of joy (literally: destruction of joy).
2. Rav Shlomo Carlebach, quoting Rebbe Nachman in his own words – People think they’re unhappy because of all the difficult things in their lives, but really it’s just the opposite: Difficult things come upon a person who is unhappy….
3. Sefer HaMidot (Book of Character Traits), Joy – Success can only come to one who is filled with joy.

i.      One might think the opposite – that when I become successful I’ll be happy!

ii.      Rather being filled with joy is our natural inherent state that brings about health, success and a true ability to relate, and be open to God! Amen!

Monday August 10th – 20th of Av

“From the 15th of Av the strength of the sun weakens, and the night grows longer. One should therefore study more Torah during these evenings, as the study of Torah during the night increases ones days and inspires their lives.”
- Talmud Ta’anit 31a with Rashi

If the study of Torah can have such an impact – why should one study it during the dark and cold night? Wouldn’t it make more sense to study during the glorious sunny Summer day? And why should one increase their study specifically during the longer nights? Unless there must be some secret to the essence of the night and its relationship to studying Torah.

“Torah can truly be experienced only when studied with all of one’s soul…For Torah to truly be studied, it must be studied at night.

Therefore, someone who wants to merit the crown of Divine Wisdom should be conscience every night of their life to immerse themselves in the study of Torah and higher consciousness.”

- Rambam, Maimonides

The Path to Study Torah, 3:12,13

The study of Torah is to open one’smind and soul to a higher reality, to experience and touch upon a deeper living. In order to fully access this, one must study it in the evening – for the evening represents darkness, concealment and confusion. Not to be perused or merely read – but “with all of one’s soul” in the darkness of night, in the climax of struggle. For that darkness of night has within it the glory of silence, the majesty of stillness and all the world is quiet. In that realm, the Torah is entirely alive and available to expand one’s mind, enliven one’s heart and settle our soul.

If a person might not know where first to look to study Torah, not knowing which books to look for, etc. I would be happy to help them find a book that most speaks to them and their unique personality.

B’chasdei Hashem we should all merit attaining the higher realms of thought, emotion and experience that God wishes to bless us with during the beginnings of these longer nights.

Thursday July 30th – Tisha B’av

“The word for Lamenting and fixing are the same in Hebrew, ‘kinot’ are the same letters as ‘tikun’ which means fixing”

- Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

Likutey Mohoran 247

On Tisha B’av morning throughout the world, the  Jewish people sing, hum and meditate on the kinot. The Kinot are poetic lamentations written in utmost beauty and glory, describing the destruction of Jerusalem and exile of the Jewish people. They are a collection of poems and liturgy written over a thousand years ago by holy Rabbis and Jews brokenhearted and spiritually shocked at the reality in which they live compared to the reality which had been.

The Kinot when translated are like food without spices or taste, it has a lost effect. The experience is almost lost without the genuine richness of the original poetic Hebrew – something in and of itself to cry and lament over; the reality that the power and grandeur of Judaism cannot be experienced by so many.

Even in English though, when going through the kinot one can taste the soul of the Jewish people, the soul of the Land of Israel, the soul being in exile and yearning for Tikun, fixing and redemption. That is the secret of the kinot.

Rebbe Nachman in the above teaching is teaching a secret about the nature of redemption and the secret to fix anything that needs fixing: by going through, and by feeling and experiencing the destruction. That in and of itself brings about Tikun. Kinot are Tikun, they are the same word, the same essence, the same reality.

If a person ever finds themselves in a place and reality of brokenness, of destruction, of exile – the secret to find completeness, building and redemption is by fully being in the reality of exile – by saying kinot, by absorbing that reality – and by understanding why we are there.

“Said Rava: If a person finds that sufferings and frustrations have come upon him – he should look at how he has been living and acting; as it says in Lamentations, ‘We shall look into our ways and analyze it, and return to God”

If a person were to look and not find any reason in his actions – then it is because of not having studied Torah…and if not because of Torah, then they are sent from God out of love to refine the person to grow”

- Talmud Brachot 5a

For things beyond our control – such as what kind of families we were born into, our personalities – that is part of a Masterplan of the Creator. But for things within our control, and we find ourselves frustrated and broken – look into our actions, say “kinot” over how we might have acted, see what we have been lacking in and misguided about – and when we say “kinot”, then we will find Tikun. For there is always a secret in suffering and a message of why it is happening to us; and once the message is understood, the suffering is no longer needed.

Evil in Hebrew is Rah, which is also the same word as Er which means to arouse, for that is the nature of experiencing evil and difficulty: to be awoken. To be made conscience, to be made aware and aroused to think about the way we have been acting in order to refine and redefine ourselves. Once awake, no arousal is needed, for only someone who is sleeping needs an alarm.

Our saying Kinot on Tisha B’avisin order to fully enter the reality and experience of exile – only to come out of it with a vision of what is deeply missing in our lives and how we can attain it.

Let this Tisha B’av be a time of clarity and vision where we experience the deeper lackingsin our lives and the world and come away with an understanding of how we can bring the Tikun about.

Wednesday July 29th – Erev Tisha B’av

On Tisha B’av we immerse ourselves in the book of Eicha (Lamentations), the poetic expression of Yirmiyahu who experienced the destruction in Jerusalem thousands of years ago.

Eicha also literally means “ayeka” which means: where are you? This was the same word that Hashem used to ask Adam where he is after he ate from the tree.

On Tisha B’av, the book of Eicha is an expression of who we are and who we can be. The destruction of Tisha B’av is not a historic thing, but a current reality of the spiritual exile and confusion that exists in the world. The day of Tisha B’avisa daywhere we can be silent with our lives and see who we really are and who we can become. God is asking all of us, “ayeka” where are we? What are our lives about? Who are we?

“The Mashiach is born on Tisha B’av”

- Talmud Yerushalmi, 2:4

Let this Tisha B’avbea dayof clarity, sensing the deeper reality in which we exist and becoming our ultimate selves – for with destruction comes true redemption and realization.

Tuesday July 28th 2009 – Two Days Before T’sha B’av

“On the 9th of Av it is prohoibited to study Torah, as Tehillim says, “…for the words of God are straight and gladden the heart’ “

- Code of Jewish Law, Orach Chaim 554:1

The words of Torah absolutely bring a person to a place of joy and settledness, giving clear consciousness, patience and understanding.

If so – so even on T’sha B’av we should learn Torah?

Because we might not experience that when we learn Torah, or even listen to words of Torah throughout the year – we might open up or hear words of Torah and that experience is not there for us.

So on T’sha B’av we should be in a completely different reality of solitude and quiet to listen to the lack of completeness in our lives, to experience the unsettled mind that one might have throughout the year. And to listen to how it is thirsting for Torah to gladden our hearts, settle our mind and expand our lives. For T’sha B’av is the day of vision for how to repair and fix all that needs perfection: first and foremost our hearts and minds.

Monday July 27th 2009 – The 9 Days

“When the Hebrew Month of Av enters, Decrease Joy”

- Talmud Ta’anit 26b

With an introductory reading of this, the meaning would be  saying that due to the many horrific tragedies that befell the Jewish people throughout this month, we therefore decrease our joy.

However, everything in Torah and Judaism is all about going deeper and uncovering the hidden meaning within everything.

“For a Jewish person must always look for the inner wisdom in everything.”

- Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

Torah Aleph in Likutey Mohoran

This statement of the Talmud is actually a secret to living with joy: When you decrease…joy! When the month of Av enters, the inner work that we have to do is decrease and focus – and when we do that: joy. This is the secret of “decrease joy“.

In Judaism, this month has the tradition of fasting, not eating meat and wine during the 9 days leading up to T’sha B’av and simplifying our lives by focusing on what really makes us happy.

During this time of destruction – the secret to rebuilding is not merely focusing on history, but rather being silent with what we have and listening to what we need to “decrease” in our lives. By focusing on that, joy will well up within us – for like children we are in a constant state of joy. If we don’t feel that, then our blocks need to be decreased.

Monday July 13th 2009, 21st of Tamuz – the 3 Weeks

The mind does not work properly, unless the heart is open.

“When a person lacks understanding in something – what should he do? He should pour out his heart to God.”

- Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

Prayer and study is one thing – when our hearts are truly open our brains are giving us true thoughts. Let us strive to constantly open our hearts through pouring out our hearts to God and then our minds will flow with holy, pure and wonderful consciousness. Tears are the gates to wisdom.

July 12th 2009

The Secret Of Living Is Living Positive

“And God related upon man saying….from the tree of knowledge of good and evil do not eat from, for the day on which you eat from it death with occur.”

- Genesis 2:16,17

“When the redemption comes we will read this verse differently: the tree of knowledge is good, and from evil do not eat – for upon consuming evil one surely dies”

- Mei Hashiloach, the Ishbitzer Rebbe

Every moment of life is a gift and opportunity from our Creator for us to perfect ourselves and the world. It is an opportunity as well as a decision, an experience that we create. Depending on how we “eat” from it, how we consume it, how we relate to it is the extent of our experience.

For eternity the Jewish people have sought wisdom for living by studying the Torah. Yet on a superficial initial look at the Torah, no wisdom can be gained from it. The story of Adam and Eve in the garden seems like a children’s story at first glance – yet upon deeper study and meditation wondrous secrets are revealed. On a deeper level of relating to the Torah, the Ishbitzer Rebbeisteachingus a profound secret of living: that through knowledge all of life is good – but as soon as we relate to life as if it were not, we bring upon ourselves death.

Death is an illusion and life is truth. All experiences of negativity, discord, arguments, sadness, depression, lack of drive and motivation are all outcomes from eating from the tree of “evil” – for they are death. From relating to the negative. Those experiences are deadly and deathly – and God tells us in the Torah not to relate to evil, not to eat it, to see it, hear it or taste it. For God wants us to live. And we live through knowledge….

“When a person has true knowledge, he lacks nothing”

- Talmud

Knowledge and experience are the same word in Hebrew, “da’at“. Knowledge is knowing, living and experiencing that God is a giver of good and we are the recipient of that good every moment of life. And how does one receive a gift, by saying thank you.

When we walk our lives in a constant state of gratitude, saying thank you for everything with utmost joy – we live Jewishly. For the word Jew in Hebrew comes from the word to be grateful: Modeh, Yehudi. Whatever might happen to us – when we “eat” it with the knowledge of gratitude, all is good, life is good.

Upon being insulted – we should say thank you for being instructed how to improve ourselves.

Upon being hurt – we should say thank you for experiencing being humbled.

Upon losing something – we should say thank you for what we had and thank you for what can come next.

Upon failing – we should say thank you for the opportunity to better appreciate success.

When living with the knowledge of gratitude, we live with the experience that all is good, we live the good life. Joy lives within gratitude – joy lives within Judaism.

From July 9th to July 30th this year is the period in the Jewish year of the 3 weeks of destruction and exile. It all stemmed from a lack of knowing gratitude, of knowing God – of knowing good. There was gossip and slander, there was stealing and murder – there was a consumption of evil. The word in Hebrew for evil is the same as shaky, “ra’uah” and so it all came tumbling down – and the Jews were exiled from their land, scattered around the world to learn the lesson of the knowledge of gratitude, the knowledge of good, the knowledge of God.

Let us all be aroused to only be positive and speak positively. Let us all be aroused to be filled with joy and never giving into the illusory temptation of negativity. Let us all be aroused to be entirely gratefully for everything we have and everyone we know – we are more blessed than we can imagine.

The lesson of the knowledge of gratitude happened in the Garden of Eden – and upon living that lesson, we immediately enter back into the Garden of Eden.

Let this time of destruction become one of building and construction. Let this time of exile become one of redemption. Let this time of mourning become one of celebration for every Jewish person, for the entire world.

All You Need is Love

There is one element among any community in the Jewish world that we struggle with. Wherever one is on the map in whatever affiliation, group and context that a Jewish community exists, there is one element that we all struggle with: eachother.

“If there were ever to be only 10 Jews who would love eachother with absolute and unconditional love, the Mashiach (Messiah) would come.”

- Rav Yisrael Meir HaKohen, the Chofetz Chaim

In fact, the Jewish nation has been struggling withthisfortwo thousand years. For two thousand years ago the Jewish people were in the land of Israel with the magnificent Beit Hamikdash standing and functioning in all its glory. It was a place of immense wealth, Divine experience and pure holiness.

The Second Temple in Jerusalem

So how is it that we lost it? The section of the Talmud that deals with Divorce tells the story of how the Jewish people were separated and exiled from their land. In Gittin55b there is a story of Kamtzahwhohosted a fantastic party with the entire Jewish community invited, including the leading Rabbis. But there was one person who was there that Kamtzah did not want there: Bar Kamtzah. So Kamtzah goes up to Bar Kamtzah and tells him to leave. Bar Kamtzah says, “as long as I’m here let me stay – I’ll pay for what I ate”. To which Kamtzah says no and still wants him to leave. Bar Kamtzah offers to pay for half of the entire party – but Kamtzah refuses. Bar Kamtzah offers to pay for the entire party so that he shouldn’t suffer the embarrassment of leaving – but Kamtzah refuses and forces Bar Kamtzah out of the party.

Bar Kamtzahnoticed with rage that of all the Rabbis that were at the party who witnessed the interaction, not one of them said a word. Bar Kamtzah then concluded that the Rabbis saw that the behavior of Kamtzah was thus appropriate – an outrage! How could the Rabbis see the rude behavior of one Jew to another and not say anything? So Bar Kamtzah went to the Romans to convince them that the Jewish people will rebel against them, ultimately leading to the destruction of the Temple and exile of the Jewish people.

Because of hatred amongst our own people were we exiled

The Talmud in Gittin concludes that becauseof the hatred amongst ourselves was the Temple destroyed and we were sent into exile – an exile that lasts until today.

“If the exile of the Jewish people was because of hatred, then our redemption will only come about through love”

- Rav Kook

As long as there is any hatred in our hearts for any Jew or any human being – we will remain in a state of exile. As long as we have the slightest negative thought for any Jew or human being – we will remain in a state of exile.

The only way to redemption is through embodying, embracing and becoming someone who loves every Jew. May we all spend time in isolated study of Torah and meditative prayer to experience the clarity that we need to love everyone, to ultimately bring about the redemption of the Jewish people and the world.

Yom Hazikaron is the day where we “remember” all the holy Jewish soldiers who gave their lives for the Jewish Land

Why is this day a day of memory? Why is specifically memory the function by which to relate to the soldiers?

In learning from the Torah where the obligation to tell our children the story of the Jewish people leaving Egypt, there is a profound difference of opinion between the Sefer HaChinuch and the Rambam, Maimonides.

The Sefer HaChinuch (13th Century) learns out from the verse in Shmot / Exodus 13:8:

“On that day (Passover) you must tell your child, ‘it is because of this that God acted for me when I left Egypt’ “

As is explicit in the verse, “tell your child” – it is almost intuitive to say that this verse is the source for the telling of the story of redemption to our children. But the Rambam doesn’t see it that way.

Hilchot Chametz & Matzah 7:1 – It is a positive Mitzvah in the Torah to tell of the wonders and the miracles that were done for our people on Pesach night as it says in Exodus 13, ‘Remember this day when you left Egypt’ as it says later in Exodus 20, ‘Rememberthe Shabbos day’. How do we know this is on Pesach? As it says, ‘And you shall tell your child on that day’….

The Rambam connects “remembering” the Exodus to the “remembering” of Shabbos. If remembering were limited to commemorating – then it would not be related to Shabbos. For the remembering of Shabbos is not a memory at all, but rather an experience, a living, a consciousness. Shabbos not a memory for we live it, we experience the rest, the serene calm after a work week and the extra soul that God gives us.

So the Rambam, by connecting the nature of Shabbos to the memory of leaving Egypt, is redefining memory as consciousness, or conscious experience. But we’re not done.

The Rambam continues and says that this is the whole definition of telling our children, of giving it over to the next generation. For the only way to convey a reality, message, vision and world view is not by speaking an idea, but by embodying a conscious reality. When a person remembers the Shabboshelivesit – only then will it relate to the next generation. Not through thought but through it being real with the speaker.

So Yom Hazikaron is not a memory but a living, an experience, a consciousness of understanding how the Jewish people are able to be in their land: through self-sacrifice, mesirat nefesh. We do not remember the soldiers who gave their lives for the Jewish people and their Holy Land – we consciously experience their loss, we feel it, we know it we live it. We are conscious of the reality that we are where we are because Jewish people became soldiers who sacrificed their own lives. In order to build, create, and generate the ability for the Jewish soul to return home. May God also remember – and may we see the fulfillment of the Prophets that the Land of Israel be the joyous Mother as her children return home.

The Healing Power of Spring

The entire Jewish year is a multitude and array of vast emotions and experience, as we’ve spoken about in previous blogs. Todaybeing the new month of Iyar is thus an emergence of a new reality and experience, as the name itself is a hidden message.

“The Name of the Month Iyar is an acronym of “Ani Hashem Rofecha”

I am God who heals you”

- The Bnei Yissochar

The “I” in Iyar is an aleph in Hebrew, the “y” is a yud and the “r” is a reish – the aleph is for ani, the yud is for Hashem and the reish is for rofecha.

What is the meaning behind it? Why of all months is Iyar a month whose essence has to do with healing – and specifically that God is He who heals. Why not other months?

In the Victorian Gardens of Halifax During Spring

Iyar (April, May) is the real season of Spring as everything that was cold and covered beneath the ground during the winter begins to sprout and emerge. The weather of Spring is the most inviting of seasons for it is neither cold or hot but pleasant.

Therefore what is healing about Iyar is that it is a month of growth and balance. The natural world is in a state of growth and coming out of and the temperatures are in a balanced medium. So that when a person is in this type of state, he has the capacity to heal.

This is Israel during Spring: Everything is beautifully filled with the kalaniyot red flowers

Only when a person is in a state of growth, striving, emergence, challenge, overcoming and vision can he be healed. As soon as a person is in a static state and stuck with a limited perspective – there is no capacity to heal. The capacity to heal is being in a healthy, happy, loving and giving state – the essence of which is the desire to grow.

Being in a balanced state is not being overly zealous like the heat of the summer and not overly inward like the cold of the winter. But rather at ease like the Spring. As Rambam, Maimonades says that a person should strive for the middle path – not to the right and not to the left, not to an extreme, but strive for balance.

How can we fully live and embody this? Only through a mature relationship with God. “I am God who heals you“. Why is this? Because we are finite and limited, and God is infinite. We can only experience the essence and goodness of life when we are open up to the Divine.

How can one live like that? As R’ Shalom Arush teaches in his book “The Garden of Emunah” based on teachings of Rebbe Nachman – it is in three stages:

1. Living with the awareness that everything is from Hashem, God
2. Living with the awareness that everything therefore is good.
3. Living with the awareness that everything is an invitation and communication from Hashem.

When a person lives with Hashem in this way, he lives in a state of purpose, joy, balance, love and ultimately healing. For everything is part of the relationship we have with God and nothing is outside of it. If we experience

• Having negative attitudes towards people
• Anger and frustration from occurrences in life
• Not being in a constant state of joy

it is all from a lack of understanding that these things are from Hashem, for the good and that Hashem is telling me something. For how can I have ill feelings towards someone when not only are they created in the image of God – but that whatever they might have done is ultimately only from Hashem? As R’ Arush explains – it is like getting mad at an object instead of the person who the object belongs to – and the holder is the Creator.

Withallofthe above, let this new month be for all of us a time of desire to grow, be balanced in our emotions and experience the relationship of Hashem, God in everything in our lives.

Holocaust Rememberance Day: More than a Memory

Yesterday was Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. A Day where Jewish communities all over the world come together to remember the evil and destruction that befell our people.

That was yesterday.

Today is the dayafter, a regular Wednesday- are we any different after our experience of yesterday?

We might all be different in our psyche and sensation of how many lives were tortured and destroyed and the miracle of survival for those who did. We might be different in our emotions, thoughts and memories – but are we any different in our actions?

The Nazi’s did not just kill millions of innocent people – they did it systematically. The high ranking officers had to have Masters and Phd’s in order to go up in the ranks of the Nazi regime – for only someone with such intelligence can organize the killing of millions of people. They thought, planned, analyzed and met to discuss how thoroughly they can kill. How systematically they can wipe out a people. If we are only affected by the Memorial day in our minds – we have given the enemy a victory.

We must build, create, renew, energize and enliven Jewish life and community the same way it was sought to be destroyed: by coming together and thinking, planning and analyzing how we can thoroughly build our people.

When we do that we will have used to evil to create good and to create life from death. May we not just remember, but may we act.

Waking Up Before Sunrise

The Hebrew word for time is zman, but is also the same word for invitation, zimun. This is because all times of the day and of life are different invitations to experience a new world. The experience of morning is different than the  experience of night.

“The Zohar talks about the time of Midnight more than anything else. This is because being awake at midnight is the essence of being Jewish”

- Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

In fact, anyone who goes through the Zohar will see that  what is talked about again and again is the process and experience of time from Midnight to day break. The emerging energies and sensations that God inspires into the world are like a prism of light manifesting different colors at different times. The time of Midnight (Chatzot in Hebrew) begins 6 hours after the stars come out and is a time of clarity and higher sensitivity.

Even if one does not wake up for Chatzot, one can still get a taste of it by waking up before Sunrise. The beginning of the dayis an emergence of absolute newness that God inspires us with, climaxed at the point of sunrise.

This morning as I was driving during sunrise, seeing the forests of Canada and Nova Scotiaastheywere immersed in the morning dew and frost, fog and sun, I was blessed with the experience of the new day. Of God changing His colors, sensations and energies.

Halifax harbor, early morning

I was thinking how we all have a reason of where we are in all of our lives and how amazing it is to be in Halifax. Ultimately and speedily our home is really in Israel, but for the time being God sent us to Halifax to taste Chatzot and sunrise here, to see God’s revelation in Nova Scotia. I look forward to seeing more people awake, alert and present during these glorious moments….

Entering a New World

The Jewish year is cyclic in nature, ultimately going through a full gamot of emotions, awarenesses and experiences throughout the year. From the joy of Sukot to the mourning of Tish’a B’av and the 3 weeks, from the revealed miracles of Pesach to the hidden nature of Purim. From the fasting of Yom Kippur to the feasting of the other Chagim, from the rest of Shabbos to the active weeks that follow.

We have just completed the miraculous week of Pesach, and in hours are entering the holy realm of Shabbos. The Shabbos after every Chag (holiday in english) is the capacity to internalize and digest all that we strove to attain during the holiday itself. This is true of any week, but the Shabbos following a chag is especially opportune for such attainment.

For this reason Rebbe Nachman of Breslev always stayed up the entire night after Shabbos was over – to fully internalize.

God willing we will continue to deal with how to experience what is spiritually possible and come to our fullest potential and fulfillment, to completely enjoy the beautiful world which we have been given.

Good Shabbos!