by Rabbi Yonason Goldson

Climbing the spiritual mountain.

 

 

  The Fear of Wisdom Ethics of the Fathers, 3:11
by Rabbi Yonason Goldson

Can one be both wicked and wise?

Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa said, "Anyone whose fear of sin precedes his wisdom, his wisdom will endure. And anyone whose wisdom precedes his fear of sin, his wisdom will not endure." Ethics of the Fathers, 3:11

Genghis Khan. Napoleon. Mao Zedong. Stalin. Mengele. Hitler. The list of evil geniuses could go on and on and on.

Which raises a question: how can genius be evil? How can human intellect, with all its potential to penetrate the mysteries of the natural world and harness the forces of human society, have such a poor track record harnessing the forces of good and overcoming the forces of evil?

In Jewish tradition, the word "wisdom" acquires markedly different nuances in different contexts, but its most neutral meaning relates to "expertise:" one who has reached the highest level in a field of study, in a craft, or in any discipline may be described as wise. Used this way, the term "wisdom" makes no moral judgments.

History records myriad examples of people whose extraordinary intellect, talent, and determination led them to inflict incalculable suffering upon their fellow human beings. According to our definition, then, wickedness seems to imply no contradiction to wisdom. On the contrary, it would seem perfectly reasonable to interpret wickedness as a product of wisdom.

Or would it?

WE HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR BUT ...

In one of its most famous statements, the Talmud tells us that, "Everything is in the hands of Heaven except the fear of Heaven."

In a lesser known statement, however, the Talmud tells us that "Everything is in the hands of Heaven except for cold and heat."

Whereas the first statement appears self-evident, so obvious that it hardly warrants Talmudic acknowledgment, the second statement is baffling. Is there anything less under our control than the weather? And how can there be two things, each of which is the only thing not in the hands of Heaven?

In truth, the Talmud is not contradicting itself at all. With their profound sensitivity to the subtleties of language, the sages referred to the afterlife as Olam HaEmet -- the World of Truth -- while our physical world they called Olam HaSheker -- the World of Falsehood. Those things considered by most to be the measures of success in the physical world -- wealth, fame, power, and beauty -- are in fact deceptions, distractions that turn the hearts of men away from the measures of true success -- integrity, respect, compassion, and love.

But our world is not completely deceitful. Rather, the physical world is a reflection of the higher spiritual world. And just as a reflection must be translated so that its image does not lead a backward interpretation, so too must physical reality be translated to produce a meaningful representation of the higher reality it reflects.

THROUGH A MIRROR, CLEARLY

What lesson did the sages intend to teach us? The answer comes from recognizing that the two things that they taught are outside the control of Heaven -- temperature and the fear of Heaven -- are not two separate things at all, but two sides of the same coin.

Needless to say, man has no control whatsoever over the weather. But the sages did not say weather; they said cold and heat. Even in the fiercest blizzard, man has the ability to insulate himself from the environment, either by adding layers of protective clothing or simply by remaining indoors. Similarly, even in the most unrelenting heat man can dress in breathable cotton and position himself in the shade. Although we cannot control our environment, we can control the way we respond to it.

Just as man can choose the way he responds physically to the conditions in which he finds himself, so too can he choose the way he responds spiritually. As much as we might often like to excuse our behavior as inborn or beyond our control, the truth is that, as human beings, we have the capacity to choose whether we lash out in anger or hold our temper, whether we treat those around us with respect or with disdain, whether we deal honestly or dishonestly with others -- or with ourselves.

This is what the sages meant when they referred to the fear of Heaven: the combination of a clear moral compass and the call of the conscience, the willingness first to determine what is right and then to follow through by doing what is right. Everything that happens to us is guided by Heaven, but the choices we make, both physical and spiritual, are in our own hands. And so are the consequences of our actions.

Rabbi Chanina comes to teach us that true wisdom, enduring wisdom, wisdom that changes the world for the better and determines the difference between history's most notorious criminals and its most admired heroes -- that is the wisdom that rests on a foundation of fear of sin, which is the fear of choosing contrary to the will of Heaven.

Similarly, one can equate the study of Torah with the mere acquisition of information and the pondering of intriguing syllogisms, but this is not true wisdom, nor will it produce any lasting benefit. Conversely, the Almighty Himself guarantees the Jew who studies Torah in order to unlock the secrets of the Divine Will a successful transformation into a true Man of Wisdom. Any Jew who acquires wisdom thus will not only improve the quality of his own life but will elevate the world around him through a life well-lived.

Such is the only wisdom that truly endures.

Author Biography:
Rabbi Yonason Goldson writes, lectures, and teaches at Block Yeshiva High School in St. Louis, MO.

This article can also be read at: http://www.aish.com/spirituality/growth/The_Fear_of_Wisdom_Ethics_of_the_Fathers3_311.asp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Baal Shem Tov!
by Tzvi Freeman, author of
"Bringing Heaven Down to Earth -- 365 Meditations of the Rebbe"

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Introduction

On the 18th of Elul 5757 (Sept. 20 1997), we entered the 300th year of the Baal Shem Tov. (The Baal Shem Tov's passing was on Shavuos)

If that doesn't impress you, take the following into account. There are just too many "fifties" to ignore:

The Baal Shem Tov was born in the year 5458. Fifty years earlier was a major date on the Jewish calendar for two reasons: The classic work "Shnei Luchos Habris" (usually referred to as the "SheLoH") was published. It became the most influential book in Jewish thought over the next hundred years of more, and served as a basis for chassidic philosophy.

The other event was the catastrophe of the Chielminicki Cossack rebellion, which devastated the Jewish settlements of the Ukraine and Poland. The hardships and social upheaval that were incurred by this disaster set the stage for the need and the success of the Chassidic Movement.

Interestingly enough, in the year the Baal Shem Tov was born, a new printing of the Sheloh was published, this time in clear, large type.

Approximately fifty years after the birth of the Baal Shem Tov, in the year 5507 -- according to a letter he wrote to his brother- in-law -- on the awesome day of Rosh Hashana, the Baal Shem Tov ascended to the supernal chamber of the Moshiach. He asked the Moshiach, "When, master, will you come?" The reply: "When your wellsprings will spread to the outside."

Apparently, the Baal Shem Tov felt the time was ripe right then, in that year. But there was still work left to do. And the worked continued to progress in fifty year cycles.

About fifty years later, in the year 5557, the first comprehensive and practical guide to the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov was published. Finally, the teachings that had been the property of a select few, only trickling down to the masses in the form of tidbits and tales, was accessible to anybody who was capable of learning Torah, or who had a teacher to guide him. The guide was the "Likutei Amarim" of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the book we now call the "Tanya".

In the Jewish world, a written Torah needs an oral tradition to make it complete. Only then, can it be said that living wellsprings are truly "spread to the outside". And so, about fifty years later, the year 5608, the grandson of the author of the Tanya, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch, published his grandfathers "oral Torah" -- a collection of explanations and illuminations of chassidic thought in great detail. He called it "Likutei Torah".

By the way, that year -- 1848 -- also occupies a central place in the secular calendar. It was called the "year of revolutions" in Europe, the most significant year in the fall of the old order. And another major work by a very different Jewish author was published: The Communist Manifesto of Karl Marx.

That year, 5608, had been predicted to be a year of liberation and the end of the Jewish exile by several tzaddikim. At its close, Rabbi Menachem Mendel's youngest son and heir asked him what had happened, where was the redemption? His father replied, "Didn't I publish the Likutei Torah?"

Apparently, another major step had been made. But it still was not enough.

And so, about fifty years later, in the year 5657, on the birthday of the Baal Shem Tov, the grandson of Rabbi Menachem Mendel announced a radical move. Until now, chassidic thought was something studied in depth whenever time could be taken from the study of Talmud. It was spice to the broth, dessert for special occasions. Now it would become part of the main course. Rabbi Sholom Dov Ber of Lubavitch opened the first yeshiva where study of chassidus was a fixed part of the curriculum. Now adolescents would enter the deepest mysteries of the universe with the same approach as Talmud and Gemora. The wellsprings had come out of the bowels of the earth, sprung above, and were now spreading far beyond their original place.

Fifty years later was 1948. We all know what happened then. Or do we?

In the years before 1948, Rabbi Sholom Dov Ber's son, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchaak of Lubavitch replanted the wellspring-yeshiva his father had founded far from its roots in the New World. With all the resources he had available to him, he did whatever he could to announce to the entire Jewish world, "L'alter l'teshuva, l'alter l'geula" -- "Immediate return to our heritage will mean immediate redemption of our people". Shortly after, the state of Israel was established. But the exile of the Jewish soul remained.

Fifty years later is now!

 

To read the rest of this article click here or on this link http://www.lchaimweekly.org/holiday/shavuos/besht.html

 

 

The Passing of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi From the writings & talks of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak of Lubavitch

In 1812, Napoleon's Grande Armée invaded Russia, with the self-proclaimed "liberator's" aim to bring the whole of Europe under his hegemony. Around that time, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi wrote to one of his disciples: If Bonaparte will be victorious, Jewish wealth will increase and prestige of the Jewish people will be raised; but their hearts will disintegrate and be distanced from their Father in Heaven. But if A[lexandar] will be victorious, although Israel's poverty will increase and their prestige will be lowered, their hearts will be joined, bound and unified with their Father in Heaven. And this shall be your sign: in the near time, the apple of your eyes will be taken from you...1 The chassid to whom this letter was addressed, Rabbi Moshe Miezlish of Vilna, was no mere bystander to these events. At Rabbi Schneur Zalman's behest, Reb Moshe served as a spy for the Russians, passing on information he picked up in the French general command, where he worked as an interpreter, to the Czar's generals.2 When Napoleon's advancing armies approached Rabbi Schneur Zalman's hometown of Liadi, the Rebbe was forced to flee. The Rebbe left Liadi with sixty wagons carrying his extended family and many of his Chassidim, escorted by a troupe of soldiers attached to the convoy by express order from the Czar. A few miles out of Liadi, the Rebbe suddenly requested from the officers accompanying the convoy that they provide him with a light carriage, two good horses, and two armed drivers. Taking along of his own people, the Rebbe rushed back to Liadi. Arriving back at his own home, he instructed that a careful search be made to see if any of his personal items had been left behind. After a thorough search, a pair of worn-out slippers, a rolling pin and a kneading bowl were found in the attic. The Rebbe instructed that these be taken along, and that the house be set on fire. He then blessed the inhabitants of the town and quickly departed. No sooner did the Rebbe leave the town that the first scouts of the French army entered Liadi from the other side. Shortly thereafter, Napoleon himself, accompanied by his generals, arrived at the Rebbe's residence, only to find the house engulfed in flames. A proclamation was issued throughout the town and the surrounding villages promising a generous reward in golden coins to anyone who could produce an object belonging to the Jewish rabbi, or a coin he received from the Rebbe's hand. But nothing was found. For more than five months, as Napoleon advanced across Russia, took Moscow, and then embarked on his disastrous retreat, the Rebbe's entourage wandered from town to town and from village to village, only narrowly avoiding the swath of carnage cut by the French army as it moved through the country. Napoleon's retreat from Moscow, winter of 1812-1813 The Rebbe rode in the third wagon. In the first wagon sat the Rebbe's grandson, Rabbi Nachum, with two military officers. Whenever they would arrive at a crossroads, the entire procession would halt while Rabbi Nachum walked to the third wagon to asked Rabbi Schneur Zalman which way to proceed. At times, the Rebbe would reply without moving from his seat; other times, he would walk to the crossroads, lean himself on his staff, and meditate for a while before issuing his directive. On one occasion, Rabbi Nachum erred in his understanding of the Rebbe's instruction, and the convoy took the opposite turn. When the error was revealed, Rabbi Schneur Zalman instructed that they continue along the road already taken, but said with great regret in his voice: "How fortunate it is when the grandson follows the grandfather; how unfortunate it is when the grandfather must follow the lead of the grandson." Many trials and tribulations followed that wrong turn in the road, culminating in their arrival in the town of P'yene. The Rebbe's convoy arrived in P'yene in the dead of winter, on the 8th day of Tevet, 5573 (December 1812). P'yene was a good-sized town, consisting of some three hundred large houses and courtyards, many of which were empty as the men were away at war. The generous townspeople provided housing and kindling free of charge to the refugees. Ten days later the Rebbe fell ill. On Tevet 24, Motzaei Shabbat (Saturday night) following Shabbat Parshat Shemot, at 10:30 in the evening, after reciting the havdallah prayer marking the close of the holy Shabbat, he returned his soul to its Maker. Shortly before his passing (by one account, "after havdallah, several minutes before giving up his soul in purity to G-d") the Rebbe penned a short discourse titled, "The Humble Soul." "For the truly humble soul," Rabbi Schneur Zalman wrote, "its mission in life lies in the pragmatic aspect of Torah, both in studying it for himself and explaining it to others, and in doing acts of material kindness in lending an empathizing mind and counsel from afar regarding household concerns, though the majority, if not all, of these concern things of falsehood.... For although the divine attribute of Truth argued that man should not be created, since he is full of lies, the divine attribute of Kindness argued that he should be created, for he is full of kindnesses... And the world is built upon kindness."

FOOTNOTES 1. Igrot Kodesh Admur HaZaken, letter #64. For more of Rabbi Schneur Zalman's support of the Czar against Napoleon, see Is Judaism a Theocracy? 2. See Bonoparte and the Chassid.

 

The Mystic Mind

Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi -- also known as "The Alter Rebbe," "Baal HaTanya" and "The Rav" -- was born in the White Russian town of Liozna on Elul 18, 5505 (1745) -- the 47th birthday of the founder of Chassidism, Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov. In 1764 he traveled to Mezeritch to study under the tutelage of the Baal Shem Tov's successor, Rabbi DovBer. Despite his youth, he was accepted into the inner circle of the great master's pupils. Upon his return from Mezeritch, there gathered about him a group of disciples whom he instructed in the ways of Chassidism. It was during these years that he formulated his distinct "Chabad" philosophy and approach to life. For twenty years he labored on his magnum opus, Tanya, in which he outlined the Chabad philosophy and ethos; first published in 1796, Tanya is the "bible" of Chabad Chassidism, upon which the hundreds of books and thousands of maamarim (discourses) by seven generations of Chabad Rebbes are based. Soon Rabbi Schneur Zalman's influence had spread throughout White Russia and Lithuania, where a significant part of the Jewish population regarded him as their Rebbe and leader. In late summer of 1812 Rabbi Schneur Zalman fled the approach of Napoleon's armies, which were advancing through White Russia in their push toward Moscow (Rabbi Schneur Zalman actively supported the Czar in the war against Napoleon). After many weeks of wandering he arrived, in the dead of winter, in the town of Pyena. There he fell ill and on Tevet 24, Motzaei Shabbat (Saturday night) following Shabbat Parshat Shemot, at 10:30 in the evening, he returned his soul to its Maker. Today, the Chabad movement he founded is regarded as the most vibrant force in contemporary Jewish life, bringing the warmth of Chassidism and the profundity of its teachings to Jews, and to humanity as a whole, in every corner of the globe. For more on Rabbi Schneur Zalman and his teachings, Click Here

  Uncluttering the Mind Ethics of the Fathers, 3:10
by Rabbi Yonason Goldson

A cloudy mind clears for those things that truly matter.

Rabbi Dostai ben Yannai said in the name of Rabbi Meir: If one forgets his Torah study, scripture considers it as if he bears the guilt for his own soul, for the verse says, "Take heed and guard yourself well, lest you forget the things that your eyes saw" (Deuteronomy 4:9). Should one think this applies even if his studies were too difficult for him? The verse therefore continues, "and lest they be removed from your heart all the days of your life." Thus, one does not bear the guilt for his soul unless he sits idle and allows them to become removed from his heart. Ethics of the Fathers, 3:10

In his extraordinary memoir, Skullcaps and Switchblades, David Lazerson describes how the teenagers he taught in New York's inner-city schools, identified as learning disabled and seemingly incapable of remembering the most rudimentary facts in math, English, and history, nevertheless had no trouble retaining the complex lyrics of popular rap music. When asked to explain his perfect recall, one student explained simply, "If you don't know the words, you ain't nuthin'!"

It is remarkable indeed how children demonstrate an ability to remember events, conversations, music lyrics, movie dialogues -- not to mention every inconsistency or perceived injustice ever perpetrated upon them by their parents or teachers. Yet somehow this gift of memory applies itself selectively, often passing by such pedestrian information as school subjects and household chores.

But there's really no mystery. People remember what's important to them, and quickly forget what isn't important to them. Children, whose minds are still uncluttered by years of accumulated (and often useless) information, remember better because their brains are both more flexible and also because their worlds resonate with the excitement of novelty and exploration and discovery. So much is remembered because so much is new, except when it is imposed upon them by authority figures against whom their budding egos are eager to rebel.

THE REBBE AND THE INNER CHILD

Rabbi Abraham Twerski tells the story of a group of Chassidim gathered around their rebbe's table on some festive occasion. The table ran short of supplies, and the rebbe asked if one of his students would go out to procure some more. When no one volunteered, the rebbe said that he had a boy who would run the errand. He then stepped out of the room, presumably to delegate the task.

After a long delay, the rebbe returned carrying the supplies, and the Chassidim realized with embarrassment that there had been no boy; it had been their rebbe himself who had gone off to fetch the groceries.

But the rebbe put them at ease. "Do not think I lied to you," he told them. I do have a 'boy,' by which I mean the childlike part of myself that I have preserved and nurtured even into my old age. It is the part of me that allows me to find the novelty and adventure in even the most mundane activities."

Even if we can't make a trip to the grocery store exciting, at least we should be able to arouse enthusiasm for those things that are truly important. Indeed, our sages tell us that the words of the Torah should be as new to us every day as they were when Moses received them at Sinai. A tall order, to be sure. But it's not beyond our reach.

Like the boy in David Lazerson's memoir, we can make Torah so relevant that learning is not a chore but a joy, and we can do so by cultivating a simple yet profound appreciation that, "if we don't know the words, we ain't nuthin'!"

AS PRECIOUS AS LIFE ITSELF

The sages compare Torah to water, because just as the body quickly withers and becomes ill without water, so too does the soul wither without Torah. They compare the Torah to a spice that adds flavor to all our comings and goings and adds relish to all the days of our lives. They compare it to a universal remedy, for it preserves our well-being and protects us from the spiritual ailment of too much involvement in the physical. Torah connects us with our past, defines our present, and steers us securely into the future. It adapts to the modern world without compromising its values, and it enables us to change with the times without losing our sense of who we are or what we believe.

And so Rabbi Dostai in the mishna reminds us what should be obvious but what is too easily forgotten. Just as a person might endanger his own physical and emotional well-being by neglecting his diet, his hygiene, his work, his marriage, the weather, the symptoms of ill health, or the traffic on the highway, even more so will he endanger his spiritual well-being if he neglects the welfare of his soul by not setting aside time to involve himself in Torah.

By contemplating the indispensability of Torah, we enable its words engrave themselves permanently and indelibly upon our minds and upon our hearts. All the clutter that occupies our thoughts and muddles our thinking miraculously makes way for the Divine words that we invite into our minds.

Of course, no one's memory is perfect. Even the boy in David Lazerson's school probably forgot a few lyrics from time to time. But if Torah means so little to us that we sit idly and let its words slip away from us, then we will have no excuse when we find ourselves afflicted with the symptoms of spiritual confusion and debilitation. How much wiser to take Rabbi Dostai's words to heart, to unclutter our brains and reap the benefits of a healthy spirit and a healthy soul.

Author Biography:
Rabbi Yonason Goldson writes, lectures, and teaches at Block Yeshiva High School in St. Louis, MO.

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This article can also be read at: http://www.aish.com/spirituality/growth/Uncluttering_the_Mind_Ethics_of_the_Fathers3_310.asp

 

 

Project Genesis LifeLine - "It is a tree of life to all who cling to it." D'var Torah and News from Torah.org - learn@torah.org Volume XIV, Number 9 - Shemos - Exodus 1:1-6:1 To sponsor an edition of the Project Genesis Lifeline, click here. In This Issue: Note from the Director History of Tzitzit - JewishAnswers.org Life is a Test - Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis New Installments of our Ongoing Classes This Week's Torah Reading: Shemos Featured Dvar Torah: Within a Child’s Reach Note from the Director COMING THIS SUNDAY: Our "Ki MiTzion" lecture series continues, with Rabbi Motty Berger speaking at the Center for Jewish Education in Baltimore at 1pm Sunday. He will be speaking on the topic "Anti-Semitism: Why the Jews?" Next week: Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblum on "Turbulence in the Middle East: The Next Chapter" -- so stay tuned! Good Shabbos! Rabbi Yaakov Menken Director, Project Genesis / Torah.org BACK TO TOP

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History of Tzitzit - JewishAnswers.org JewishAnswers.org What is the history of the Tzitzit (traditional, fringed, four-corned garment)? In ancient times, a jacket was a four-cornered piece of cloth. G-d commanded Jewish men to put a fringe on each corner. These fringes would remind us while we are doing all the things we do, that we must do them according to G-d’s commandments. Eventually, styles changed and our jackets no longer have 4 corners. However, we realize that the idea of always wearing a reminder that we are Jewish and that we have responsibilities is still as important as ever. Therefore, the custom is to wear a special four-cornered garment, either under our shirts, and/or as a “Talit” above our jackets, with the four fringes on them. The Hebrew word for fringes is “Tzitzit.” Rabbi David Shenker Life is a Test - Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis TorahMedia.com In this first of a series of lectures from Jewish World Review, Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis, who has been dubbed the "Jewish Billy Graham", questions several cliches about life. She asks her listeners to pause and consider who they are and why they are here. Length: 8 minutes Listen Now, or Free Download BACK TO TOP New Torah.org classes on Shemos Yaakov and His Children by Shlomo Katz Read more in Hamaayan Coming To Egypt by Rabbi Yissocher Frand Read more in Rav Frand By Design by Rabbi Eliyahu Hoffmann Read more in Olas Shabbos What’s Possible- In a Name! by Rabbi Label Lam Read more in DvarTorah A Series of Ups and Downs by Rabbi Berel Wein Read more in Rabbi Wein Fill The Land by Rabbi Raymond Beyda Read more in Table Talk The Strife Factor by Rabbi Naftali Reich Read more in Legacy Leaving Egypt, Take 2 by Rabbi Pinchas Winston Read more in Perceptions Read previous years' classes on Shemos on Torah.org: Beyond Pshat by Rabbi Yosef Kalatzky Drasha by Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky DvarTorah by Rabbi Label Lam Hamaayan by Shlomo Katz Kol Hakollel by Rabbi Pinchas Avruch Legacy by Rabbi Naftali Reich LifeLine by Rabbi Yaakov Menken Olas Shabbos by Rabbi Eliyahu Hoffmann Parsha Insights by Rabbi Yisroel Ciner Perceptions by Rabbi Pinchas Winston Rabbi Wein by Rabbi Berel Wein Rabbi's Notebook by Rabbi Aron Tendler Rav Frand by Rabbi Yissocher Frand Table Talk by Rabbi Raymond Beyda The Living Law by Rabbi Osher Chaim Levene Thinking Outside the Box by Rabbi Jeff Kirshblum BACK TO TOP Featured Dvar Torah: Within a Child’s Reach By By Rabbi Label Lam http://torah.org/learning/dvartorah/5766/shemos.html Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe by the River and her maidens walked along the River. She saw the basket among the reeds and she sent her maid servant and she took it…She called his name Moshe as she said, “For I drew him from the water.” (Shemos 2:10) She sent her maid servant: Our sages learn that she stretched out her arm and it became elongated many cubits. (Rashi) “Why was it that Moshe was not named “Mashui”? which grammatically describes him as having been drawn from the water? Rather she called him Moshe which implies that he drew himself out of the water …that is his own merit caused him to be drawn from the water.” (Midrah HaGadol) I once heard the question asked, “Why did Basya, the daughter of Pharaoh, bother to send out her hand to grasp something that was out of her reach?” Would we extend our hand to the ketchup if it was at the other end of a long table and it was impossibly far away? Why bother to reach at all for something so far out of reach? A close friend of mine who moved to Israel years back was having a problem integrating his younger son into school. The boy, we’ll call him Yehudi, was having a hard time finding his place amongst the other students. Either they weren’t welcoming to him or he wasn’t warm to them but the problem lingered and festered. The other children had adapted without much crisis but poor Yehudi began to resent going to school. The father asked another close friend who has since become a sought after educational consultant what he should do for his son. He was advised to tune into his children’s radio hour that evening with his son Yehudi. On the program Yehudi’s problem was presented to the listening audience and callers were invited to offer Yehudi a solution. The hope was that the boy would identify some clue or suggestion of help while unaware that the discussion was about him. A strange thing happened. Yehudi himself asked his father if he could call the radio program. He did. He suggested that the boy should bring to school candies and goodies for all the other kids in his class and that might help them accept him more. It sounded like such a good idea that the father actually implemented it and guess what? It worked! Yehudi had found his own solution and he has not looked back since. When the daughter of Pharaoh sent out her hand it was not to grasp the ketchup or mustard. It was a Jewish child at risk amongst the bull-reeds. Sometimes a person may have to reach impossibly far to help another and the results may prove to be disproportionately favorable if one just stretches as far as they can first. There is another factor here, though. The person has to be a willing participant in being helped, and he may likely be the key-holder to his own salvation. Someone told me just yesterday that a young boy was brought to Rabbi Mordachai Schwab ztl for misconduct. Rabbi Schwab asked that the boy come back the next day by which time it would be decided what to do with him. When the boy returned, Rabbi Schwab handed him a wrapped up present. The boy was shocked. He asked, “What’s this for?” Rabbi Schwab told him, “This is for all the times that you behaved well.” Reaching that extra distance when it’s a Jewish child amongst the bull-reeds may mean extending a measure of seemingly undeserved tenderness and placing the solution within a child’s reach. Text Copyright © 2006 by Rabbi Label Lam and Torah.org. To support Project Genesis - Torah.org, click here. LifeLine, Copyright © 2007 by Torah.org. Join the Jewish Learning Revolution! Torah.org: The Judaism Site brings this and a host of other classes to you every week. Visit www.torah.org or email learn@torah.org to get your own free copy of this mailing. Need to change or stop your subscription? Please visit our subscription center, http://torah.org/subscribe/ -- see the links on that page. Permission is granted to redistribute, but please give proper attribution and copyright to the author and Torah.org. Both the author and Torah.org reserve certain rights. Email copyrights@torah.org for full information. Torah.org: The Judaism Site Project Genesis, Inc. 122 Slade Avenue, Suite 250 Baltimore, MD 21208 www.torah.org learn@torah.org (410) 602-1350 FAX: (410) 510-1053

I Am Based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Courtesy of MeaningfulLife.com

I shall be Exodus 3:14 I shall be with you in your present distress, and I shall be with you in future exiles and persecutions Rashi on verse When G-d appeared to Moses in the burning bush and charged him with the mission to take the people of Israel out of Egypt, Moses said to the Almighty: "Behold, I will come to the children of Israel and say to them, The G-d of your fathers has sent me to you, and they will say, 'What is his name?' What shall I say to them?" G-d replied to Moses: "I shall be who I shall be... Tell the children of Israel, I Shall Be (Eh-he-yeh) has sent me to you." An Anonymous G-d? To name something is to describe and define it. So G-d, who is infinite and undefinable, cannot be named. Thus G-d has no name, only names -- descriptions of the various behavior patterns that can be ascribed to His influence on our lives. In the words of the Midrash, "G-d said to Moses: You want to know My name? I am called by My deeds. I might be called E-l Sha-dai, or Tzevakot, or Elokim, or Ha-Va-Ya-H. When I judge My creatures, I am called Elokim. When I wage war on the wicked, I am called Tzevakot. When I tolerate the sins of man, I am called E-l Sha-dai. When I have compassion on My world, I am called Ha-Va-Ya-H..." Therein lies the deeper significance of the question that Moses anticipated from the children of Israel. What is His name? they were sure to ask. What type of behavior are we seeing on the part of G-d in these times? You say that G-d has seen the suffering of His people in Egypt, has heard their cries, and knows their pain, and has therefore sent you to redeem us. Where was He until now? Where was He for the eighty-six years that we are languishing under the slave-driver's whip, that babies are being torn from their mothers arms and cast into the Nile, that Pharaoh is bathing in the blood of Jewish children? What name is He now assuming, after eighty-six years in which He has apparently been nameless and aloof from our lives? G-dly, But Not Holy As explained above, each of the divine names describes another of the attributes by which G-d has chosen to relate to His creation: Elokim describes G-d's assumption of the attribute of Justice, Ha-Va-Ya-H His assumption of Compassion, and so on. Eh-he-yeh ("I Shall Be"), the name by which G-d here identifies Himself to Moses, connotes G-d's assumption of Being and Existence. This is why there is some question amongst the Halachic authorities as to whether the name Eh-he-yeh should be counted among the seven holy names of G-d. Torah law forbids erasing or defacing G-d's name, for the very ink and paper (or other medium) assume a holiness by virtue of its representation of something that relates to the divine. While there are many names and adjectives that describe G-d's many-faceted involvement with His creation, there are seven primary divine names to which the strictest provisions of this law apply. Yet despite the fact that many Kabbalists consider Eh-he-yeh to be the loftiest of divine names, it is not included in certain versions of the seven-name list as it appears in the Talmud and the Halachic works; indeed, the final Halachic conclusion is that it is not one of the seven holy names.1 The reason for this paradox is best understood by understanding the meaning of the term "holiness". What makes something holy? Holy (kadosh in the Hebrew) means transcendent and apart. G-d is holy, for He transcends our earthly reality; Shabbat is a holy day, for it is a day of withdrawal from the mundanity of the everyday; a Torah scroll or a pair of tefillin are holy because these are objects that have visibly transcended their material state to serve a G-dly end. The same applies to the seven holy divine names: each describes a divine activity that goes beyond the mundane norm, a divine intervention in reality -- G-d as ruler, G-d as judge, G-d as provider, G-d as savior, etc. On the other hand, Eh-he-yeh ("I am") is G-d as being -- G-d as the essence of reality.2 So Eh-he-yeh is beyond holiness. If holiness is a feature of G-d's transcendence, the beingness of G-d transcends holiness itself, describing a dimension of divine reality that pervades every existence even as it transcends it, and thus relates equally to them all, holy and mundane alike. [Nevertheless, Eh-he-yeh is a name -- that is, an assumed behavior pattern -- of G-d's. The very phenomenon of "existence" is part and parcel of G-d's creation, and G-d certainly cannot defined by something He created. Utimately, G-d can be described as a "being" or "existence" only in the sense that we speak of Him as a provider or ruler: these are mere names, describing not His essence but a certain perception He allows us to have of Him by affecting our reality in a certain manner.] The Answer This was G-d's answer to the people's outcry, "What is His name?!" Tell the children of Israel, said G-d to Moses, that My name is Eh-he-yeh. Where was I all these years? With you. I am being, I am existence, I am reality. I am in the groan of a beaten slave, in the wail of a bereaved mother, in the spilled blood of a murdered child. Certain things must be, no matter how painful and incomprehensible to your human selves, in order that great things, infinitely great and blissful things, should be. But I do not orchestrate these things from some distant heaven, holy and removed from your existential pain. I am there with you, suffering with you, praying for redemption together with you. If you cannot see Me, it is not for My ethereality; it is because I am so real

FOOTNOTES 1. See Talmud, Shavuot 35, and Dikdukei Sofrim, ibid.; Mishneh Torah, Laws of the Fundamentals of Torah, 6:2; ibid., Venice 1524 and Venice 1540 editions; Kessef Mishneh commentary on Mishneh Torah, ibid.; Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 276:9. 2. Guide to the Perplexed, part I, ch. 62; Ralbag and Abarbanel on Exodus 3; Ikarim 2:27; et al. See also Gevurot Hashem, end of chapter. 25.

 

The Path of the Soul #10: Trust
by Dr. Alan Morinis

Once you recognize that the world is not meant to be comfortable, certain, or easy, but rather an ideal training ground for the soul, trust in God can begin to take root.

The soul wants to live in an atmosphere of trust since the alternative is anxiety and worry. But people find it difficult to trust, for so many good and valid reasons. This world is so unreliable. Hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires and other natural disasters can strike at any moment. Your life can suddenly be overturned by illness or accident. And most of all, there is the unaccountable cruelty, incompetence and stupidity of people. A level-headed view of life seems to offer us every reason not to trust.

How and where could we possibly put our trust?

The Hebrew term for the soul-trait of trust is bitachon. To the Mussar teachers the only place to put our trust is in God, therefore bitachon means "trust in God." Including God in the definition may offer you some help, or it may bring on an additional challenge, depending on the role faith plays in your life. Growing in bitachon is a very different proposition for a person who already has a strong relationship to the divine as opposed to someone who has no active sense of Who/What he or she is being asked to trust.

But who could possibly trust a God who allows a million children to be killed in the Holocaust, who permits AIDS and smallpox and ALS, who rains fire on the innocent and allows the guilty to die in their comfortable beds? If this is the best that omniscient, omnipotent divinity is capable of, then it seems you'd have to be crazy to trust that God.

The fact that this is a difficult world is no accident or sign of bad design. The Source of all has made our world just as it is so we will not become complacent and lethargic, but instead be surprised and challenged. The stretching and pulling -- by love as well as by blows -- is what brings us to the threshold of growth that we would likely never otherwise approach.

With your free will, you have it in your power to turn away from the opportunity to grow, and instead to build thicker walls of anger, hatred and despair around your heart. Or you can offer up your heart for its initiation. The Kotzker Rebbe said, "There is nothing so whole as the broken heart." Once you recognize that the world is not meant to be nice, or comfortable, or certain, or easy, but that it is set up to be the ideal training ground for the heart, you can trust in God because the world is working just as it should be.

The suffering or difficulty in our lives almost never makes sense in the moment, and only reveals its logic in time. Have you ever looked back over a section of your life, or your whole life itself, and only been able to see the storyline in retrospect? How many people have you heard say something like "losing that job turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me" though at the time it seemed like a blow to the solar plexus? Maybe you've already had an experience like that yourself.

At the beginning of World War II, the Mussar teacher Rabbi Yehudah Leib Nekritz, along with his wife and children, were exiled from Poland to Siberia. The Russians had invaded the part of Poland where the Nekritz family lived, and because Rabbi Nekritz had been born in Russia, he was judged suspicious and was sent to labor in the harsh north country. Of course everyone in the town was distraught for the poor Nekritz family, since all the others were allowed to remain at home while this one family was singled out for the punishment of exile. "Terrible, terrible," they moaned, and it was indeed terrible, except for the fact that remaining in the town ultimately turned out to be an even worse fate -- the Nazis rolled into that part of Poland and consigned all the Jews who lived there to the death camps.

At the end of the war, the Nekritz family was released and made their way to the United States. The exile to Siberia had been their ticket to survival.

Who in the moment could have seen the big picture? No one in the middle of a story is able to see how everything will work out in the end. So our reactions to what unfolds in life are either pure speculation or they reflect our clinging to a story we ourselves generate from our unconscious.

This is true for personal events and for history as well. The Mussar teaching is to call up trust to counteract our reactivity. When you recognize the truth that you do not write the full script of your life nor do you direct all the action, then it sinks in that there is really nothing to worry about. Trust.

I am not saying that evil and suffering are not real. But it is available to us to see everything that confronts us in life as a challenge to our own soul-traits. We are meant to be good and loving, generous and kind, but we can't make any of those qualities take firm root in our inner soil unless we face the challenge of rejecting their opposites. Only if these challenges are entirely real will can we use them to help our hearts to grow in positive ways. When Rabbi Nekritz would be asked by the peasants in Siberia, "Why have you been sent here?" he would always answer, "To teach you bitachon, trust in God."

Do we draw from all this that having strong bitachon means being fatalistic? In its extreme form, the answer is actually yes. There is a Hassidic story about a rebbe who saw a frantically busy man, and he asked the man where he was running in such a frenzied rush. "I'm chasing my destiny," the man answered. To which the rebbe replied, "How do you know it isn't also chasing you? Maybe all you have to do is to stand still for a moment to give it a chance to catch up."

But we can also find more measured voices telling us that while our destiny is surely in the hands of God, we are still obliged to make our own efforts. To rely exclusively on God implies that we have absolutely nothing in hand to bring about change, when that is seldom if ever the case. Everyone has some powers that are gifted to them, like the ability to think, to speak, to write, to lift objects, to move about, to care -- and even if you are lacking one or more of these capacities, you should put what capabilities you do have to work to bring about the outcomes you see to be the best, rather than rely totally on God. God is the source of these capacities, so wouldn't it dishonor those gifts and especially their Giver not to put them to use?

When wise bitachon has taken root in you, you recognize how important it is to act on your own behalf. Making genuine effort to improve yourself, your relationships, and other circumstances in the world is a sign that you understand and accept your real responsibility for yourself and the world. It also reflects your acknowledgement of the gifts God has already put into your hands. Yet with bitachon, you also recognize that the outcome of your actions is always beyond your control.

In short, Mussar's guidance is that you should try to make things work out the way you think is best, and then be fully prepared to accept whatever occurs.

It's easy to see that practicing trust in this way will inevitably give rise to peace of mind. Effort combined with trust yields calmness -- because when you willingly accept whatever results come out of your actions, what could there possibly be to worry about? Jewish sources stress that through trust -- casting your burden on God -- you free yourself from worldly cares, bringing on the calmness and tranquility so many of us long for and that we often try to find in less-than-Godly ways.

Strong trust also makes you brave. Once you have developed the attitude that you will be just fine with whatever comes out of your actions, you will feel freer to speak out and take steps that reflect your deepest convictions, without concern for consequences. In this way bitachon helps strengthen soul-traits that are susceptible to fear. For example, people (like me, though thankfully more so in the past than today) often slip into saying things that are not true out of fear of consequences, which means that a person with strong trust is likely to find fewer challenges to being honest. And so on for any other traits that might be knocked off their proper measure by the force of fear.

When fear or worry strikes you, recognize the experience as a signal calling on you to fan the inner sparks of your bitachon. Your task is to become aware of feelings such as fear, anxiety, and clinging right as they are occurring within you, and to respond to them inwardly by identifying them as signs of not trusting. That naming should not be confused with self-recrimination. By being sensitive to feelings that imply a lack of trust, you call yourself to be conscious of what is happening within you. From that foundation of self-awareness, you can remind yourself of the other option that lies before you in this situation -- to trust.

Bitachon is not a mere philosophical principle; it is an act that requires practice. How do we practice trust? Let me prepare you with a story adapted from the Chofetz Chaim.

There was once a man who was visiting a small town in Europe. It was Shabbat morning, and he went to the local synagogue. Everything was just as you might expect, until unusual things started happening. There were well-dressed, obviously prosperous people seated near the front, but all the honors for the Torah-reading were given to scruffy men who stood clustered at the back of the room. When it came time for the rabbi to say a few words of wisdom, all he spoke about was the weather. After the prayers were finished, lovely food was spread on the table and nobody ate.

The man was flummoxed by all these incomprehensible goings-on. What kind of place was this? Was everyone here crazy? Finally, he pulled aside one of the locals and asked, "What's going on here? The men who got the Torah honors, the rabbi's talk, the uneaten food... nothing makes any sense!"

The man explained, "Those scruffy looking men had been unjustly imprisoned and the community worked long and hard to ransom them to freedom. Isn't it wonderful that they are now free to come to bless the Torah? The rabbi spoke only about the weather because there has been an unusual drought this season and the farmers have nothing on their minds but their crops, and the rabbi knew and cared for their concerns. Why didn't anyone eat? One Shabbat every month the community prepares its usual lunch but instead of eating it, the food is donated to the local home for the elderly."

"I can see how it might have looked to you," the local man told the guest, "but when you can only see part of a picture, it's easy to put together a faulty impression of what is going on."

This story offers a useful parable for our own lives. When you can only see part of the situation -- and in the present moment, all any of us can ever see is part of the picture -- then you can't possibly know what is really going on. That will only be revealed in the fullness of time.

But I introduced the story by saying that trust in God needs to be practiced, and I had in mind suggesting a way in which you can do that by making use of this story. Just by recognizing the truth in this parable, and keeping it in mind, it is there to serve you whenever you are shaken awake by something happening that doesn't fit your expected story line. Maybe the disaster will turn out to be a strangely packaged gift. Maybe in time it will be revealed that what appeared to be a glorious boon was actually the doorway to disaster. This happens, of course. Because at any moment you can only see part of the picture, and because this world and its Maker are ultimately trustworthy, you can trust.

© Alan Morinis

Author Biography:
Dr. Alan Morinis is the author of the book "Climbing Jacob's Ladder" (Broadway 2002). He is an active interpreter of the teachings and practices of the little-known but ancient Jewish Mussar tradition, about which he regularly gives lectures and workshops to every segment of the Jewish community, from the secular to the Orthodox. Born and raised in a culturally Jewish but non-observant home, he studied anthropology at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship. His doctoral thesis was published by Oxford University Press as "Pilgrimage in the Hindu Tradition." He has written books and produced feature films, television dramas and documentaries and has taught at several universities. Although he took a deep journey into Hindu and Buddhist thought and practice, for the past six years the Jewish spiritual discipline of Mussar has been his passion and commitment, guided by Rabbi Yechiel Yitzchok Perr, Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva of Far Rockaway, New York. Alan lives in Vancouver, BC, with his wife of 30 years, Dr. Bev Spring, and their two daughters.

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This article can also be read at: http://www.aish.com/spirituality/growth/The_Path_of_the_Soul_10_Trust.asp

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before the creation of the world, the letters, the 22 letters already existed; but

they remained mysterious and secret, hidden in the depths of divine mysteries.

When G-d took the decision to create the began to move like 22 princesses in a

royal procession, advancing one after the other toward to that of the alphabet;

so that it was Tav, the last letter, which made its entrance first and was the first

to present its petition:

 

 

_Master of the world, of grace, use me in order to perform your creation. Am I

not the letter that completes the word which is engraved upon your scepter: the

word "truth" (in Hebrew: emet)?

 

 

_You are indeed worthy, replied the Holy One, Blessed be He. But it is not fitting

that I use you in order to create the world, because you are destined to be marked

upon the foreheads of the faithful who have obeyed the law from Aleph to Tav, and

also because you form the last letter of the word for "death" (mavet). For these

reasons, it is not fitting for me to use you for the purpose of the creation of the world.

     So the letter Tav withdrew..... What could it reply?

     Then it was the turn of the letter Shin. She presented herself. She presented

herself and laid claim to the fact that she constituted the initial letter of the Divine

Name (Shaddai).

 

 

_It is fitting to use the initial of the Holy Name Shaddai for the creation of the world.

 

 

_Indeed, replied the Holy One, Blessed be He, you are worthy, you are good, and you

are true. but the forgers will use you to swear the most terrible lies, by associating you

with the letters Qof and Resh, to form the word "lie" (sheqer)....

     And the letter Shin withdrew, while its companions, the letters Qof and Resh, did not

even dare present themselves.

 

 

All the other letters thus filed past, in turn, each claiming rights and qualities which made

them especially suited to be special too with which the world would be created. And, each

time, the Holy One, Blessed be He, replied by using an irrefutable argument wich confounded

all their pretentions.

     Finally, there came the turn of the next-to-last letter, the letter Bet.

 

 

_Master of the Universe, may it please You to make use of me in the creation of the world,

because I am the initial of the word which is used to bless you--Blessed be He (Barukh).

 

 

And the Holy One, Blessed be He--finally--agreed:

     _Indeed, I shall use you in order to inaugurate the creation of the world and you will

thus be at the basis of the whole "work of creation."

     And what about the letter Aleph, the very last, that is to say the very first, what happened

to it?

     It stayed where it was, without presenting itself.

     _Aleph, Aleph, why have you not presented yourself to me like the others?

     And Aleph replied:

     _Master of the Universe, seeing all the letters present themselves to you to no avail, why

should I present myself also? Then when I saw that you had already granted the letter Bet this

precious gift, I understood that it did not behoove the King of the Heaven to take back the gift

that he had given to one of his servants in order to gratify another.

     The Holy One, Blessed be He, then cried:

     _O Aleph, Aleph, although I shall use the letter Bet for the creation of the world you shall

 be the first of all letters and I shall have no unity but in you; you shall be at the root of all

calculations and the actions performed in the world, and nowhere shall there be unity, unless

it is in the letter Aleph!

(Zohar, translation quoted by Renée de Tryon-Montalembert)

Mysteries of the Kabbalah, Chapter 24 The Letters of Creation (Mark-Alain Ouaknin) pp. 274-276

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Crash Course in Jewish History Part 4: Abraham's Journey
by Rabbi Ken Spiro

Abraham gave rise to a nation of Hebrews -- people who live "on the other side."

More than one hundred years ago author Mark Twain posed a fascinating question concerning the Jews:

If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of smoke lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of; but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world's list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning, are also way out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all ages: and has done it with his hands tied behind him.

All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?(1)

The answer to this question can be found in the remote beginnings of the Jewish people, in the earliest stories in the Bible.

As mentioned previously, history is a guidebook for the future. The early lessons of Jewish history reveal a pattern, so we have to pay extra special attention to anything that happens at this period of time. We also have to pay special attention to the characters themselves. Just as these early stories are the paradigm for future events, so too are the earliest personalities in Genesis the model for the collective nature of the Jewish people throughout history.

If this is the case, then from the Jewish perspective, the most important Biblical character to understand is Abraham. This is why I call Abraham "the proto-Jew." He personifies everything that could be characterized as the "Jewish personality." His strengths, mission, drive and idealism are reflected in all the generations of the Jewish people that come after him.(2)

Abraham was certainly one of the great truth-seekers of all time. He was also famous for his kindness and hospitality(3). But the attribute that probably stands out more than any other and truly epitomizes the essence of what Abraham, and therefore the Jewish people, is all about is drive. To stand alone for thousands of years against the entire world; to dedicate oneself, heart and soul, to the ultimate cause of perfecting the world requires tremendous strength of character. This drive is an outstanding feature of Abraham's personality and we see its manifestation in every generation of the Jewish people. From Abraham onward, we see this idealism -- an uncompromising drive to "change the world" -- in the collective Jewish personality.

It is because of this drive that the Jews have historically been tremendous over-achievers and have been at the forefront of virtually every major advance, cause, or social movement in world history. (Jews have not only been awarded a disproportionate number of Nobel prizes for their intellectual contributions, but have led movements such as communism, socialism, feminism, civil rights, labor unions, etc.)(4) Notes professor of Social Philosophy Ernest Van den Haag:

Asked to make a list of the men who have most dominated the thinking of the modern world, many educated people would name Freud, Einstein, Marx and Darwin. Of these four, only Darwin was not Jewish. In a world where Jews are only a tiny percentage of the population, what is the secret of the disproportionate importance the Jews have had in the history of Western culture? ... The Jews have invented more ideas, have made the world more intelligible, for a longer span and for more people than any other group. They have done this indirectly, always unintentionally and certainly not in concert, but never the less comprehensibly... Jews continue to feel the yoke, the task, the moral mission of being Jews-of preserving themselves as such, and to the surprise, scorn, and at times hatred of the rest of the world, of refusing to become anything else... Jews may call themselves humanists, or atheists, socialists or communists...they may even dislike Jewishness and deny it in scientific terms. But, rarely do they refuse to carry it...They won't give up being Jewish even when they consciously try to, when they change their names, intermarry, and do everything to deny Jewishness. Yet they remain aware of it, and though repudiating it, they cling to it; they may repress it, but do act it out symptomatically. Their awareness of their Judaism is shared by others simply because their denial is so ambivalent. Unconscious or not, at least some part of every Jew does not want to give up its Jewishness(5).

The answer to Van den Haag's question lies in understanding the personality of Abraham.

PATTERNS FOR THE FUTURE

If the Bible is our paradigm for Jewish history and if Abraham is the model for generations of Jews then we must pay special attention to the earliest descriptions of Abraham in Genesis. By examining just the first few sentences in Genesis 12 we can identify several sweeping and unique patterns that will characterize all future Jewish history.

God said to Abram, "Go from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father's house to the land that I will show you. (Genesis 12:1)

We know that the Bible isn't like the writings of Charles Dickens. Dickens got paid by the word, and he would be as verbose as possible. God is the exact opposite. Instead of filling the text of the Bible with pages of details and minutia, the narrative is limited to the bare minimum of relevant information that we need to know. So the question we have to ask is: Why does God, Who uses words so sparingly throughout the whole Bible, repeat this command so emphatically? "Separate yourself completely, not just from your land, but from your birthplace, from your father's house."

If you grew up in a specific house for a period of time, that place will always be home for you. When you think of home, no matter where you've lived after that and how comfortable you've been, you'll always think about it as home. There's a very deep connection. So God is saying to Abraham: "Separate yourself on the most basic emotional level."

More importantly, from the macrocosmic, historical perspective, God is saying to Abraham, and therefore the Jewish people: "Separate yourself completely and go in a different direction."

The journey that God is directing Abraham to undertake is not just a physical journey; it's a journey through history that is going to be different from anyone else's. Abraham is going to become a father to a unique nation with a unique destiny. "...a nation that dwells alone and is not reckoned among the rest of the nations." (Numbers 23:9) As already mentioned, we see this concept of the Jews as a unique nation manifest itself in the double standard constantly applied to modern Israel.

This is the first unique characteristic of Jewish history.

In this first sentence we see that God not only commands Abraham to leave his homeland, but to go to a specific piece of real estate which will later be know as the Land of Israel. This is the first promise of the land to Abraham and his descendants. From this point on we will see that there is a special relationship between the Land of Israel and the Jews. This special relationship is the second unique aspect of Jewish history. We will discuss this relationship in more detail in the next chapter.

The third unique aspect of Jewish history we see in the next verse:

"I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you and make your name great; and you will be a blessing." (Genesis 12:2)

This verse conveys God's promise that He will be actively involved in Jewish history: "I will make you ..."

In the 17th century when Blaise Pascal, the great French enlightenment philosopher, was asked by Louis XIV for proof of the supernatural, he answered, "The Jewish people, your Majesty." Why? Because he knew Jewish history and he realized that for the Jewish people to survive to the 17th century, violated all the laws of history. Can you imagine what he'd say seeing the Jews made it to the 20th century?! Jewish history is a supernatural phenomenon.

The Jewish people should never have come into existence. With Abraham's wife Sarah being barren, that should have been it. Abraham would have died childless, and his mission would have died with him. But it didn't. A miracle happened.

Many scholars and well-known personalities have taken note that Jewish history is in fact unique, that it violates all the laws of history. Writes Professor Nicholai Berdyaev (Russian philosopher 1874-1948):

Their [the Jews] destiny is too imbued with the "metaphysical" to be explained either by material or positive historical terms... Its survival is a mysterious and wonderful phenomenon demonstrating that the life of this people is governed by special predetermination... The survival of the Jews, their resistance to destruction, their endurance under absolutely peculiar conditions and the fateful role played by them in history; all these point to the particular and mysterious foundations of their destiny...(6)

Thus we learn that the Jewish people come into being miraculously and survive all of human history miraculously, outlasting even the greatest empires.

Things happen to the Jews that don't happen to other peoples. This is so because the Jews are a nation with a unique mission, a nation with a unique history-A nation whose role is so essential that they cannot be allowed to disappear.

To live for 2000 years as a nation without a national homeland is not normal. It's unique in human history. To re-establish a homeland in the place that was yours 2000 years ago is not normal. It's unprecedented in human history.

The fourth unique aspect of Jewish history is found in the second half of the same sentence: "...and you will be a blessing." The tiny Jewish nation that should never have come into existence and should certainly never have survived will profoundly impact all of humanity. This point refers back to what was already mentioned: the unique mission of Abraham and his descendants as "a light to the nations."(7) More than 3,700 years after the birth of Abraham, there is no doubt that the world has been profoundly blessed by the Jews. In the words of John Adams, second president of the United States:

I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation...They are the most glorious nation to ever inhabit this earth...They have given religion to three quarters of the Globe and have influenced the affairs of Mankind, more and more happily than any other nation, ancient or modern.(8)

You can see the incredibly positive impact the Jews have had on the world. The most basic of all is that the Jews have contributed the values that are now linked with democracy -- the values that come from the Torah -- respect for life, justice, equality, peace, love, education, social responsibility etc.

And number five:

"I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you, and through you, will be blessed all the families of the earth." (Genesis 12:3)

God is saying here to Abraham that he and his descendants -- the Jews -- will be under God's protection. The empires, nations and peoples that are good to the Jews will do well. Empires, nations and peoples that are bad to the Jews will do poorly. And the whole world is going to be changed by the Jewish people.

That is one of the great patterns of history. You can literally chart the rise and fall of virtually all the civilizations in the western world and the Middle East Spain, Germany, Poland, America or Turkey etc, by how they treated the Jews. (Ironically, most nations have treated the Jews both benevolently and malevolently. It is an oft repeated pattern that the Jews are first invited into a country and then later persecuted and expelled from the same country) We will see this pattern time and time again as we go through the history of the Jews in Diaspora.

Part of this phenomenon, by the way, is not so supernatural, because if you have a group of people living within your country -- an educated, driven, dedicated, loyal, creative, well-connected people -- and you're nice to them and you allow them to participate and contribute in a meaningful way, your country is going to benefit. If you crush those people and expel them, you're going to suffer, because of the economic fallout. But, of course, there's much more going on than just that. In the words of Thomas Newton (1704-1782), the Bishop of Bristol:

The preservation of the Jews is really one of the most signal and illustrious acts of Divine Providence...and what but a supernatural power could have preserved them in such a manner as none other nation upon earth hath been preserved. Nor is the providence of God less remarkable in the destruction of their enemies, than in their preservation... We see that the great empires, which in their turn subdued and oppressed the people of God, are all come to ruin...And if such hath been the fatal end of the enemies and oppressors of the Jews, let it serve as a warning to all those, who at any time or upon any occasion are for raising a clamor and persecution against them(9).

So we have a final pattern -- the rise and fall of nations and empires is going to be based on how they treat the Jews, which is an amazing idea, and one you can clearly demonstrate in human history.

So from these three verses in Genesis we see the key underlying patterns of all of Jewish history.

Abraham's journey is the paradigm. His personal life and the life of his immediate descendants are going to be a mini-version, a microcosm, of what Jewish history is all about.

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1) Mark Twain, The Complete Essays of Mark Twain (New York: Double Day: 1963) 249.
2) The Talmud (Tractate Shabbat 97a) discusses this concept and uses the phrase Hen maminim b'nei maminim, "They (the Jews) are believers, the sons of believers" The first believer is of course Abraham. He passes on to his children a kind of spiritual genetics-a drive and intensity that has always characterized the he Jewish people.
3)See Talmud: Sota: 10b for an explanation of how Abraham used hospitality as a tool to bring people back to God.
4)"Disproportionate" is really an understatement. Take virtually ANY cause in modern history (communism, socialism, Black civil rights, anti-apartheid, labor unions, anti-globalization, SDS, feminism etc, etc) and if it isn't founded by Jews (who make up just one quarter of one percent of the world's population) it is overwhelmingly, disproportionately run by Jews. The explanation of this phenomenon is that nothing comes as close to Abraham's original mission to perfect the world as a cause. This explains why so many Jews today, the vast majority of who are disconnected from their Jewish heritage, none-the-less still have that high-powered Jewish soul pushing them to make an impact.
5)Van Den Haag, Ernest, The Jewish Mystique. ( New York: Stein and Day, 1969): 13, 38-44.
6)Prof. Nicholai Berdyaev The Meaning of History. (London. 1935) 86-7.
7). For a more detailed explanation of this impact see my book WorldPerfect-The Jewish Impact on Civilization. (Health Communications Inc., Deerfield, Florida, 2003)
8)John Adams, From a letter to F.A. Van der Kemp, 1806.
9)Allan Gould, ed. What Did They Think of the Jews? (Northvale, New Jersey :Jason Aronson Inc..1997), 92-93..

Author Biography:

Rabbi Ken Spiro is originally from New Rochelle,NY. He graduated from Vassar College with a BA in Russian Language and Literature and did graduate studies at the Pushkin Institute in Moscow. He has Rabbinical ordination from Yeshiva Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem and a Masters Degree in History from The Vermont College of Norwich University. Rabbi Spiro is also a licensed tour guide by the Israel Ministry of Tourism. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife and five children where he works as a senior lecturer and researcher on Aish HaTorah outreach programs.

What it would take to constitute a perfect world? Ken Spiro questioned more than 1,500 people of various backgrounds, revealing six core elements: respect for human life; peace and harmony; justice and equality; education; family; and, social responsibility. A highly readable and well-documented book about the origins of values and virtues in Western civilization as influenced by the Greeks, Romans, Christians, Muslims and, most significantly, the Jews.

"This is a book that everyone in the world should read"
Kirk Douglas-Actor and author

Click here to order WorldPerfect

 

  The Path of the Soul #9: The Calm Soul
by Dr. Alan Morinis

Tranquility doesn't spell the end of our spiritual struggles; it's the inner quality that equips us to handle them.

How sweetly the velvety voice of tranquillity beckons:

In lush meadows He lays me down, beside tranquil waters He leads me (Psalm 23).

Jewish sources use several terms to name the soul-trait of undisturbed equanimity. The most descriptive is menuchat ha'nefesh, calmness of the soul.

The calm soul is centered and rides on an inner even keel, regardless of what is happening within and around you. I liken it to surfing. Even as the waves are rising and falling, the calm soul rides the crest, staying upright, balanced, and moving in the direction you choose, though exquisitely sensitive to the forces that are at work all around.

But before we surf off into this peaceful and beguiling garden, I want to bring up one of the first Mussar teachings that caught my attention and piqued my interest in this tradition. It was from Rabbi Israel Salanter, the father of the Mussar movement, who said:

As long as one lives a life of calmness and tranquility in the service of God, it is clear that he is remote from true service.

Here we are being cautioned that "calmness and tranquility" are contrary to spiritual service. That sentiment is echoed in a more general way by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, who writes in The Thirteen Petalled Rose:

The Jewish approach to life considers the man who has stopped going -- he who has a feeling of completion, of peace, of a great light from above that has brought him to rest -- to be someone who has lost his way. Only he whom the light continues to beckon, for whom the light is as distant as ever, only he can be considered to have received some sort of response.

These teachings tell us that the Jewish spiritual journey isn't supposed to lead you to a station called peace and tranquillity, and if that happens to be where you lodge at some point along the way, then you better realize you've been traveling on the wrong track. If you're living in a state of equanimity, you need to shake yourself awake because clearly you've fallen asleep.

This is a very wise caution. It's so seductive to think of a total escape from the storms and turmoil of life. Comfort, sweet and soft, invites us to snuggle down and drift off to sleep, and that can't be a spiritual goal. Imagine you're on a ladder. Would you want to be asleep?

So how can we square these cautionary teachings with a positive appraisal of equanimity in Jewish spiritual practice?

The fact is that we can have both. Having the soul-trait of equanimity doesn't spell the end of our struggles, but rather is an inner quality that equips us to handle them.

Trying situations -- large and small -- crop up in everybody's life. This is not accidental. Life is constructed to give the soul spiritual trials (nisyonot in Hebrew) that score direct hits on the traits of your inner life -- anger, compassion, greed, generosity, and on through a long list -- where you yourself are particularly vulnerable. That's what makes them tests! If you are a person prone to anger and someone steps on your toe (literally or figuratively), or you are sorely tempted to steal and someone leaves an open purse right under your nose, or lust gets you every time and the hotel desk-clerk is just your type, then here you have a spiritual test.

What's the ideal? To rise to the test and to triumph with flying colors, which would mean stretching into the middah (soul-trait) in a way that is both difficult for you and good for the soul.

What's the reality? You could go either way. That's why the test is real. If you pass a test, then that aspect of your inner being gets strengthened and you earn the right to move on -- to face yet another set of challenges. Otherwise, you are likely to encounter the same test again at some future point.

I've seen this situation play out most clearly in the relationships people take on in their lives. Once the honeymoon is over, the relationship can look like nothing but tests. Too often people run from these trials, get divorced, and then proceed to find another relationship that tests their middot -- in exactly the same way.

When you think of tests along your curriculum for growth, they are likely negative challenges -- lust, greed, rage, arrogance come to mind. But there are positive challenges, nisayonot, as well. Success, for example, can sometimes be more of a challenge than failure. Arrogance and greed can feed on success even more effectively than on failure.

So life keeps delivering tests to our doorstep, whether we happen to be living through days of darkness or when things are going well. We do ourselves a favor by embracing our struggles because they are inevitable, woven right into the plan. In fact, if we are committed to our own growth, we won't even want our struggles to end.

When you see struggle as not only inevitable but as spiritual practice, you are being true to the insights of Rabbis Salanter and Steinsaltz about staying awake on the Jewish way. This says nothing, however, about the inner attitude you adopt as you contend with your challenges. Here's where equanimity comes into play.

ATTAINING INNER DISTANCE

What guidance does our Jewish tradition offer in the way of inner calmness?

In his letter to his son, Rabbi Moses ben Nachman (the Ramban) advises: "distance yourself from anger." And in the Orchos Chaim [Ways of Life] of the Rosh, we are advised, "distance yourself from pride." This phrase, "distance yourself," shows up elsewhere as well. We are surely not being told never to be angry, proud, jealous, etc., because Mussar teachers consistently assert that this would be an unrealistic goal -- everyone experiences the full range of inner states, and in and of themselves, every inner trait is neither good nor bad. More important is how we respond to what we feel.

"Distance yourself," then, can mean only two things. Either we are to stay physically far from people who are angry, proud, etc., or we are being directed to develop some kind of inner distance from the experience of our own anger, pride, and other incendiary middot.

Although there are definitely times when we ought to stand away from powerful outer forces, we should be less concerned about falling under external influences than we should the impulses that arise in us. We are solely responsible for the powerful inner forces that can lead us astray and so these are our first priority. The guidance we are being given here is to cultivate an inner attitude that creates some distance between the stimulus that comes at us and our reactions to it. We make this space by cultivating an inner stance as witness.

When you have a strong inner witness, outer influences are seen for what they are and that will help you keep from being infected by sentiments that swirl around you. That same inner faculty also keeps you from being pushed around by the forces that arise within you -- the distanced witness is not susceptible to the tides of doubt, temptation, jealousy, etc., that wash through the interior world.

Do we still face real struggles? Yes. Do the consequences matter? Yes. Do we still feel the full range of human emotions and drives? Yes. In other words, every aspect of your current life is real and important. You would be wise to embrace it because it's your curriculum. But cultivate the witness who will make you the master of the inner realm and not the victim.

The most touted way to cultivate an inner witness is through meditation. While sitting still and silent, many inner states will arise, and over time you can get quite good at living in their presence without feeling that you are a slave to any of them, whether repugnant or alluring.

I'd like to offer another way to practice to the same end, one that encourages the experience of the witness in every context in which you might find yourself. Rabbi Steinsaltz describes the Jewish spiritual experience as a constant beckoning to the light. If we take that word "constant" seriously, then the light we seek must be present at all times and in all situations, no matter how murky or even dark they appear to us.

It is the job of the witness to keep an eye out for that light. When you realize that, and assign this task to the inner witness, and strengthen that practice, then over time you will grow to be increasingly aware of the radiant Presence that is a constant in the ever-shifting contexts in which you live.

An inner eye connected to the constant light won't give you a life of fewer challenges and struggles, but it will give you equanimity from which to engage and triumph. It's hard to imagine a better way to be as you take on the trials that come your way. Perhaps that is why the Alter of the Kelm school of Mussar tells us: "A person who has mastered peace of mind has gained everything."

© Alan Morinis

Author Biography:
Dr. Alan Morinis is the author of the book "Climbing Jacob's Ladder" (Broadway 2002). He is an active interpreter of the teachings and practices of the little-known but ancient Jewish Mussar tradition, about which he regularly gives lectures and workshops to every segment of the Jewish community, from the secular to the Orthodox. Born and raised in a culturally Jewish but non-observant home, he studied anthropology at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship. His doctoral thesis was published by Oxford University Press as "Pilgrimage in the Hindu Tradition." He has written books and produced feature films, television dramas and documentaries and has taught at several universities. Although he took a deep journey into Hindu and Buddhist thought and practice, for the past six years the Jewish spiritual discipline of Mussar has been his passion and commitment, guided by Rabbi Yechiel Yitzchok Perr, Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva of Far Rockaway, New York. Alan lives in Vancouver, BC, with his wife of 30 years, Dr. Bev Spring, and their two daughters.

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This article can also be read at: http://www.aish.com/spirituality/growth/The_Path_of_the_Soul_9_The_Calm_Soul.asp

 

 

 

Twenty Eight Teachings from Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi By Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), founder of Chabad Chassidism (Free Translation)

Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), founder of Chabad This is what man is all about; this is the purpose of his creation and of the creation of all the worlds, sublime and lowly -- to make for G-d a dwelling in the physical world. A little bit of light dispels a lot of darkness. By virtue of its inborn nature, the mind rules the heart. Prayer without direction of the heart is like a body without a soul... Love of G-d and fear of G-d are the two wings by which a deed rises heavenward. Every individual Jew, righteous or wicked, has two souls... One soul derives from kelipah (the "husks" of creation) and sitra achra (the "other side"), and clothes itself in the blood to animate the body... From it derive the evil traits... and also the Jew's instinctive good traits... The second soul in the Jew is literally a "part of G-d above." "The soul of man is a lamp of G-d" (Proverbs 20:27). Just like the flame of the lamp strains upwards, seeking to tear free of the wick and rise heavenward - though this would spell its own demise - so, too, does the G-dly soul in man constantly strive to tear free of the body and the material existence and be nullified within its source in G-d. The body is likened to a small city: like two kings who wage war over a city, each desiring to capture it and rule over it, that is, to govern its inhabitants according to his will so that they obey him in all that he decrees for them, so do the two souls - the G-dly [soul] and the animal [soul] - wage war against each other over the body and all its organs and limbs. The desire and will of the G-dly soul is that it alone should rule over the person and direct him, and that all his limbs should obey it and surrender themselves completely to it and become a vehicle for it, and serve as a vehicle for its ten faculties [of intellect and emotion] and three "garments" [thought, speech and action]... and the entire body should be permeated with them alone, to the exclusion of any alien influence, G-d forbid... While the animal soul desires the very opposite... There are two types of pleasure before G-d. The first is from the complete nullification of evil and its transformation from bitterness to sweetness and from darkness to light by the perfectly righteous. The second [pleasure] is when evil is repelled while it is still at its strongest and mightiest... through the efforts of the "intermediate man" (beinoni)... As in the analogy of physical food, in which there are two types of delicacies that give pleasure: the first being the pleasure derived from sweet and pleasant foods; and the second, from sharp and sour foods, which are spiced and prepared in such a way that they become delicacies that revive the soul... When one's body is viewed with scorn and contempt, and one's joy is in the soul alone, this constitutes a direct and simple way to fulfill the commandment "Love your fellow as yourself" toward every Jew, great or small... For the source of their souls is in the One G-d, and they aredivided only by virtue of their bodies. Therefore, those who give priority to their body over their soul, find it impossible to share true love and brotherhood except that which is conditional on some benefit. This is what Hillel the Elder meant when he said about this commandment [the love of Israel]: "This is the whole Torah; and the rest is commentary." For the foundation and source of all Torah is to elevate and give ascendancy to the soul over the body ... Also those who are far from G-d's Torah and His service... one must draw them close with strong cords of love -- perhaps one might succeed in bringing them closer to Torah and the service of G-d. And even if one fails, one has still merited the rewards of the fulfillment of the Mitzvah, "Love your fellow." It is written: "Forever, O G-d, Your word stands firm in the heavens" (Psalms 119:89). Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, of blessed memory, explained the verse thus: Your word which you uttered, "Let there be a firmament..." (Genesis 1:6), these very words and letters stand firmly forever within the firmament of heaven and are forever clothed within the heavens to give them life and existence... And so it is with all created things, down to the most corporeal and inanimate of substances. If the letters of the "ten utterances" by which the world was created during the six days of creation were to depart from it for but an instant, G-d forbid, it would revert to absolute nothingness. If the human eye were allowed to see the spiritual vitality flowing from the utterance of G-ds mouth into every creation, we would not see the materiality, grossness and tangibility of the creation, for it would be utterly nullified in relation to this divine life-force. The era of Moshiach is the fulfillment and culmination of the creation of the world, for which purpose it was originally created. Something of this revelation has been experienced once before on earth, at the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai [when] "To you it has been shown, to know that the L-rd is G-d; there is none else beside Him" (Deuteronomy 4:35). G-dliness was then perceived with physical vision.... Subsquently, however, sin coarsened both them and the world - until the era of Moshiach, when the physicality of the body and the world will be refined, and we will be able to apprehend the revealed Divine light which will shine forth to Israel by means of the Torah.... "The glory of G-d will be revealed; and all flesh will see that the mouth of G-d has spoken" (Isaiah 40:5)... This all depends on our deeds and labor throughout the duration of the galut... When a person does a mitzvah, he draws down a flow of Divine light into the world, to be suffused and integrated into the material reality... Our sages have taught, "Whoever gets angry, it is as if he worshipped idols" (Zohar I, 27b). The reason for this is... because at the time of his anger, his faith has left him. For were he to believe that what happened to him was G d’s doing, he would not be angry at all. For although it is a person possessed of free choice that is cursing him, or striking him, or causing damage to his property -- and is accountable according to the laws of man and the laws of heaven for his evil choice -- nevertheless, as regards the person harmed, this [incident] was already decreed in heaven and “G d has many agents” [to carry out the decree]... Rabbi Mordechai of Haradak, a disciple of Rabbi Schneur Zalman, told: The first thing we heard from the Rebbe was: "What is forbidden, one must not; and what is permitted, one need not." Three or four years we toiled with this, until we this approach was ingrained in our lives. Only then would we be received in a private audience with the Rebbe to ask about our individual paths in serving the Almighty. To a disciple who complained of his financial troubles: You speak of what you need, but you say nothing of what you are needed for. "One who is satisfied with his lot" (Ethics of the Fathers 4:1) describes a tremendous virtue in material matters, and a tremendous failing in all that pertains to one's spiritual attainments. During the time that Rabbi Schneur Zalman was imprisoned in Petersburg, one of the czar's miniters asked him to explain the verse (Genesis 3:9) "And G-d called out to the man and said to him: Where are you?" Did G-d not know where Adam was? Rabbi Schneur Zalman asked the minister: Do you believe that the Torah is eternal, that its every word applies to every individual, under all conditions, at all times? The minister replied that he did. Rabbi Schneur Zalman was very gratified to hear this, for this was a basic principle of the "subversive" teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, the propagation of which was at the heart of the accusations leveled against him. "Where are you?" said Rabbi Schneur Zalman to the minister, "is G-d's perpetual call to every man. Where are you in the world? You have been allotted a certain number of days, hours, and minutes in which to fulfill your mission in life. You have lived so many years and so many days -- Where are you? What have you accomplished?" Once, in the early years of his leadership, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi said to his disciples: "One must live with the times." He later explained his meaning: One should live with and experience in one's own life the Torah portion of the week and the specific section of the week's portion which is connected to that day. In essence, every mitzvah is as supra-rational as the law of the Red Heifer. It is only that the divine will is revealed to us in varying degrees of rational "garments". There is love like fire, and there is love like water. Following his release from imprisonment on Kislev 19, 5559 (1798), an event which marked the Chassidic movement's decisive victory over its opponents, Rabbi Schneur Zalman sent a letter to his followers. The letter begins by quoting the verse in which Jacob says to G-d, "I am diminished by all the kindnesses... You have shown Your servant" (Genesis 32:11). "The meaning of this," explains Rabbi Schneur Zalman "is that every kindness bestowed by G-d upon a person should cause him to be exceedingly humble. For a [Divine] kindness is [an expression of] ... 'His right hand does embrace me' (Song of Songs 2:6) -- G-d is literally bringing the person close to Himself, far more intensely than before. And the closer a person is to G-d ... the greater the humility this should evoke in him... This because 'all before Him is as naught' (Zohar), so that the more 'before Him' a person is, the more 'as naught' [does he perceive himself to be].... This is the attribute of Jacob... The very opposite is the case in the contrasting realm of ... kelipah (evil): the greater the kindness shown a person, the more he grows in arrogance and self-satisfaction..." The letter concludes: "Therefore, I come with a great call to all our community regarding the many kindnesses which G-d has exceedingly shown us: Assume the attribute of Jacob... Do not feel yourselves superior to your brethren (i.e., the opponents of Chassidism); do not give free rein to your mouths regarding them, or hiss at them, G-d forbid. [I] strictly warn: Make no mention [of our victory]. Only humble your spirits and hearts with the truth of Jacob..." The life of a tzaddik is not a life of the flesh, but a spiritual life consisting wholly of faith, awe, and love of G-d "And now, Israel: What does the L-rd your G-d ask of you? Only to fear G-d" (Deuteronomy 10:12). Regarding this verse, the Talmud asks: "Is fear of G-d a minor thing?" The answer given is, "Yes, for Moses it is a minor thing." At first glance, this answer is incomprehensible, since the verse says "What does G-d ask of you" - i.e., every individual Jew! But the explanation is as follows: Each and every soul of the house of Israel contains within it something of the quality of our teacher Moses, for he is one of the "seven shepherds" who feed vitality and G-dliness to the community of the souls of Israel.... Moses is the sum of them all, called the "shepherd of faith" (raaya meheimna) in the sense that he nourishes the community of Israel with the knowledge and recognition of G-d... So although who is the man who dares presume in his heart to approach and attain even a thousandth part of the level of the faithful shepherd, nevertheless, an infinitesimal fringe and minute particle of his great goodness and light illuminates every Jew in each and every generation. It is stated in the sacred Zohar that "When the tzaddik departs he is to be found in all worlds more than in his lifetime." Now this needs to be understood. For, granted that he is to be found increasingly in the supernal worlds, because he ascends to there; but how can he be found more in this world? ... This can be explained based on [the maxim] that the life of a tzaddik is not a physical life but a spiritual life, consisting wholly of faith, awe, and love of G-d... While the tzaddik was alive on earth, these three qualities were contained in their physical vessel and garment (i.e. the body) on the plane of physical space... All his disciples receive but a reflection of these attributes, a ray radiating beyond this vessel by means of his holy utterances and thoughts... But after his passing... whoever is close to him can receive a [far loftier dimension] of these three qualities, since they are no longer confined within a [material] vessel, nor bounded by physical space... Thus it is very easy for his disciples to receive their part of their master's quintessential spirit, each according to the level of his loving attachment (hitkashrut) and closeness to the tzaddik during his lifetime and after his death... Rabbi Schneur Zalman's disciples would say: Our Rebbe revives the dead. What is a corpse? Something cold and unfeeling. Life is movement, warmth, excitement. Is their anything as frozen in self-absorption, as cold and unfeeling as the mind? And when the cold-blooded mind understands, comprehends, and is excited by a G-dly idea - is this not a revival of the dead? Before a king enters the city, the people of the city go out to greet him in the field. There, everyone who so desires is permitted to meet him; he receives them all with a cheerful countenance and shows a smiling face to them all. And when he goes to the city, they follow him there. Later, however, after he enters his royal palace, none can enter into his presence except by appointment, and only special people and select individuals. So, too, by analogy, the month of Elul (which precedes G-d's "coronation" as King on Rosh Hashanah) is when we meet G-d in the field. From a note penned by Rabbi Schneur Zalman shortly before his passing: The truly humble soul recognizes that its mission in life lies in the pragmatic aspect of Torah, both in studying it for himself and explaining it to others; and in doing acts of material kindness by lending an empathizing mind and counsel from afar regarding household concerns, though the majority, if not all, of these concerns are things of falsehood. For the loftiest beginnings are rooted in the end.

Twenty Eight Teachings from Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi By Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), founder of Chabad Chassidism (Free Translation)

Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), founder of Chabad This is what man is all about; this is the purpose of his creation and of the creation of all the worlds, sublime and lowly -- to make for G-d a dwelling in the physical world. A little bit of light dispels a lot of darkness. By virtue of its inborn nature, the mind rules the heart. Prayer without direction of the heart is like a body without a soul... Love of G-d and fear of G-d are the two wings by which a deed rises heavenward. Every individual Jew, righteous or wicked, has two souls... One soul derives from kelipah (the "husks" of creation) and sitra achra (the "other side"), and clothes itself in the blood to animate the body... From it derive the evil traits... and also the Jew's instinctive good traits... The second soul in the Jew is literally a "part of G-d above." "The soul of man is a lamp of G-d" (Proverbs 20:27). Just like the flame of the lamp strains upwards, seeking to tear free of the wick and rise heavenward - though this would spell its own demise - so, too, does the G-dly soul in man constantly strive to tear free of the body and the material existence and be nullified within its source in G-d. The body is likened to a small city: like two kings who wage war over a city, each desiring to capture it and rule over it, that is, to govern its inhabitants according to his will so that they obey him in all that he decrees for them, so do the two souls - the G-dly [soul] and the animal [soul] - wage war against each other over the body and all its organs and limbs. The desire and will of the G-dly soul is that it alone should rule over the person and direct him, and that all his limbs should obey it and surrender themselves completely to it and become a vehicle for it, and serve as a vehicle for its ten faculties [of intellect and emotion] and three "garments" [thought, speech and action]... and the entire body should be permeated with them alone, to the exclusion of any alien influence, G-d forbid... While the animal soul desires the very opposite... There are two types of pleasure before G-d. The first is from the complete nullification of evil and its transformation from bitterness to sweetness and from darkness to light by the perfectly righteous. The second [pleasure] is when evil is repelled while it is still at its strongest and mightiest... through the efforts of the "intermediate man" (beinoni)... As in the analogy of physical food, in which there are two types of delicacies that give pleasure: the first being the pleasure derived from sweet and pleasant foods; and the second, from sharp and sour foods, which are spiced and prepared in such a way that they become delicacies that revive the soul... When one's body is viewed with scorn and contempt, and one's joy is in the soul alone, this constitutes a direct and simple way to fulfill the commandment "Love your fellow as yourself" toward every Jew, great or small... For the source of their souls is in the One G-d, and they aredivided only by virtue of their bodies. Therefore, those who give priority to their body over their soul, find it impossible to share true love and brotherhood except that which is conditional on some benefit. This is what Hillel the Elder meant when he said about this commandment [the love of Israel]: "This is the whole Torah; and the rest is commentary." For the foundation and source of all Torah is to elevate and give ascendancy to the soul over the body ... Also those who are far from G-d's Torah and His service... one must draw them close with strong cords of love -- perhaps one might succeed in bringing them closer to Torah and the service of G-d. And even if one fails, one has still merited the rewards of the fulfillment of the Mitzvah, "Love your fellow." It is written: "Forever, O G-d, Your word stands firm in the heavens" (Psalms 119:89). Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, of blessed memory, explained the verse thus: Your word which you uttered, "Let there be a firmament..." (Genesis 1:6), these very words and letters stand firmly forever within the firmament of heaven and are forever clothed within the heavens to give them life and existence... And so it is with all created things, down to the most corporeal and inanimate of substances. If the letters of the "ten utterances" by which the world was created during the six days of creation were to depart from it for but an instant, G-d forbid, it would revert to absolute nothingness. If the human eye were allowed to see the spiritual vitality flowing from the utterance of G-ds mouth into every creation, we would not see the materiality, grossness and tangibility of the creation, for it would be utterly nullified in relation to this divine life-force. The era of Moshiach is the fulfillment and culmination of the creation of the world, for which purpose it was originally created. Something of this revelation has been experienced once before on earth, at the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai [when] "To you it has been shown, to know that the L-rd is G-d; there is none else beside Him" (Deuteronomy 4:35). G-dliness was then perceived with physical vision.... Subsquently, however, sin coarsened both them and the world - until the era of Moshiach, when the physicality of the body and the world will be refined, and we will be able to apprehend the revealed Divine light which will shine forth to Israel by means of the Torah.... "The glory of G-d will be revealed; and all flesh will see that the mouth of G-d has spoken" (Isaiah 40:5)... This all depends on our deeds and labor throughout the duration of the galut... When a person does a mitzvah, he draws down a flow of Divine light into the world, to be suffused and integrated into the material reality... Our sages have taught, "Whoever gets angry, it is as if he worshipped idols" (Zohar I, 27b). The reason for this is... because at the time of his anger, his faith has left him. For were he to believe that what happened to him was G d’s doing, he would not be angry at all. For although it is a person possessed of free choice that is cursing him, or striking him, or causing damage to his property -- and is accountable according to the laws of man and the laws of heaven for his evil choice -- nevertheless, as regards the person harmed, this [incident] was already decreed in heaven and “G d has many agents” [to carry out the decree]... Rabbi Mordechai of Haradak, a disciple of Rabbi Schneur Zalman, told: The first thing we heard from the Rebbe was: "What is forbidden, one must not; and what is permitted, one need not." Three or four years we toiled with this, until we this approach was ingrained in our lives. Only then would we be received in a private audience with the Rebbe to ask about our individual paths in serving the Almighty. To a disciple who complained of his financial troubles: You speak of what you need, but you say nothing of what you are needed for. "One who is satisfied with his lot" (Ethics of the Fathers 4:1) describes a tremendous virtue in material matters, and a tremendous failing in all that pertains to one's spiritual attainments. During the time that Rabbi Schneur Zalman was imprisoned in Petersburg, one of the czar's miniters asked him to explain the verse (Genesis 3:9) "And G-d called out to the man and said to him: Where are you?" Did G-d not know where Adam was? Rabbi Schneur Zalman asked the minister: Do you believe that the Torah is eternal, that its every word applies to every individual, under all conditions, at all times? The minister replied that he did. Rabbi Schneur Zalman was very gratified to hear this, for this was a basic principle of the "subversive" teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, the propagation of which was at the heart of the accusations leveled against him. "Where are you?" said Rabbi Schneur Zalman to the minister, "is G-d's perpetual call to every man. Where are you in the world? You have been allotted a certain number of days, hours, and minutes in which to fulfill your mission in life. You have lived so many years and so many days -- Where are you? What have you accomplished?" Once, in the early years of his leadership, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi said to his disciples: "One must live with the times." He later explained his meaning: One should live with and experience in one's own life the Torah portion of the week and the specific section of the week's portion which is connected to that day. In essence, every mitzvah is as supra-rational as the law of the Red Heifer. It is only that the divine will is revealed to us in varying degrees of rational "garments". There is love like fire, and there is love like water. Following his release from imprisonment on Kislev 19, 5559 (1798), an event which marked the Chassidic movement's decisive victory over its opponents, Rabbi Schneur Zalman sent a letter to his followers. The letter begins by quoting the verse in which Jacob says to G-d, "I am diminished by all the kindnesses... You have shown Your servant" (Genesis 32:11). "The meaning of this," explains Rabbi Schneur Zalman "is that every kindness bestowed by G-d upon a person should cause him to be exceedingly humble. For a [Divine] kindness is [an expression of] ... 'His right hand does embrace me' (Song of Songs 2:6) -- G-d is literally bringing the person close to Himself, far more intensely than before. And the closer a person is to G-d ... the greater the humility this should evoke in him... This because 'all before Him is as naught' (Zohar), so that the more 'before Him' a person is, the more 'as naught' [does he perceive himself to be].... This is the attribute of Jacob... The very opposite is the case in the contrasting realm of ... kelipah (evil): the greater the kindness shown a person, the more he grows in arrogance and self-satisfaction..." The letter concludes: "Therefore, I come with a great call to all our community regarding the many kindnesses which G-d has exceedingly shown us: Assume the attribute of Jacob... Do not feel yourselves superior to your brethren (i.e., the opponents of Chassidism); do not give free rein to your mouths regarding them, or hiss at them, G-d forbid. [I] strictly warn: Make no mention [of our victory]. Only humble your spirits and hearts with the truth of Jacob..." The life of a tzaddik is not a life of the flesh, but a spiritual life consisting wholly of faith, awe, and love of G-d "And now, Israel: What does the L-rd your G-d ask of you? Only to fear G-d" (Deuteronomy 10:12). Regarding this verse, the Talmud asks: "Is fear of G-d a minor thing?" The answer given is, "Yes, for Moses it is a minor thing." At first glance, this answer is incomprehensible, since the verse says "What does G-d ask of you" - i.e., every individual Jew! But the explanation is as follows: Each and every soul of the house of Israel contains within it something of the quality of our teacher Moses, for he is one of the "seven shepherds" who feed vitality and G-dliness to the community of the souls of Israel.... Moses is the sum of them all, called the "shepherd of faith" (raaya meheimna) in the sense that he nourishes the community of Israel with the knowledge and recognition of G-d... So although who is the man who dares presume in his heart to approach and attain even a thousandth part of the level of the faithful shepherd, nevertheless, an infinitesimal fringe and minute particle of his great goodness and light illuminates every Jew in each and every generation. It is stated in the sacred Zohar that "When the tzaddik departs he is to be found in all worlds more than in his lifetime." Now this needs to be understood. For, granted that he is to be found increasingly in the supernal worlds, because he ascends to there; but how can he be found more in this world? ... This can be explained based on [the maxim] that the life of a tzaddik is not a physical life but a spiritual life, consisting wholly of faith, awe, and love of G-d... While the tzaddik was alive on earth, these three qualities were contained in their physical vessel and garment (i.e. the body) on the plane of physical space... All his disciples receive but a reflection of these attributes, a ray radiating beyond this vessel by means of his holy utterances and thoughts... But after his passing... whoever is close to him can receive a [far loftier dimension] of these three qualities, since they are no longer confined within a [material] vessel, nor bounded by physical space... Thus it is very easy for his disciples to receive their part of their master's quintessential spirit, each according to the level of his loving attachment (hitkashrut) and closeness to the tzaddik during his lifetime and after his death... Rabbi Schneur Zalman's disciples would say: Our Rebbe revives the dead. What is a corpse? Something cold and unfeeling. Life is movement, warmth, excitement. Is their anything as frozen in self-absorption, as cold and unfeeling as the mind? And when the cold-blooded mind understands, comprehends, and is excited by a G-dly idea - is this not a revival of the dead? Before a king enters the city, the people of the city go out to greet him in the field. There, everyone who so desires is permitted to meet him; he receives them all with a cheerful countenance and shows a smiling face to them all. And when he goes to the city, they follow him there. Later, however, after he enters his royal palace, none can enter into his presence except by appointment, and only special people and select individuals. So, too, by analogy, the month of Elul (which precedes G-d's "coronation" as King on Rosh Hashanah) is when we meet G-d in the field. From a note penned by Rabbi Schneur Zalman shortly before his passing: The truly humble soul recognizes that its mission in life lies in the pragmatic aspect of Torah, both in studying it for himself and explaining it to others; and in doing acts of material kindness by lending an empathizing mind and counsel from afar regarding household concerns, though the majority, if not all, of these concerns are things of falsehood. For the loftiest beginnings are rooted in the end.

The New Year of Chassidism

The 19th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev is celebrated as the "Rosh Hashanah of Chassidism." It was on this date, in the year 1798, that the founder of Chabad Chassidism, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), was freed from his imprisonment in Czarist Russia. More than a personal liberation, this was a watershed event in the history of Chassidism, heralding a new era in the revelation of the "inner soul" of Torah. The public dissemination of teachings of Chassidism had in fact begun two generations earlier. The founder of the Chassidic movement, Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760), revealed to his disciples gleanings from the mystical soul of Torah which had previously been the sole province of select Kabbalists in each generation. This work was continued by the Baal Shem Tov's disciple, Rabbi DovBer, the "Maggid of Mezeritch"--who is also deeply connected with the date of "Kislev 19": on this day in 1772, 36 years before Rabbi Schneur Zalman's release from prison, the Maggid returned his soul to his Maker. Before his passing, he said to his disciple, Rabbi Scneur Zalman: "this day is our yomtov (festival)." Rabbi Schneur Zalman went much farther than his predecessors, bringing these teachings to broader segments of the Jewish population of Eastern Europe. More significantly, Rabbi Schneur Zalman founded the "Chabad" approach -- a philosophy and system of study, meditation, and character refinement that made these abstract concepts rationally comprehensible and practically applicable in daily life. In its formative years, the Chassidic movement was the object of strong, and often venomous, opposition from establishment rabbis and laymen. Even within the Chassidic community, a number of Rabbi Schneur Zalman's contemporaries and colleagues felt that he had "gone too far" in tangibalizing and popularizing the hitherto hidden soul of Torah. In the fall of 1798, Rabbi Schneur Zalman was arrested on charges that his teachings and activities threatened the imperial authority of the Czar, and was imprisoned in an island fortress in the Neva River in Petersburg. In his interrogations, he was compelled to present to the Czar's ministers the basic tenets of Judaism and explain various points of Chassidic philosophy and practice. After 52 days, he was exonerated of all charges and released. Rabbi Schneur Zalman saw these events as a reflection of what was transpiring Above. He regarded his arrest as but the earthly echo of a Heavenly indictment against his revelation of the most intimate secrets of the Torah. And he saw his release as signifying his vindication in the Heavenly court. Following his liberation on Kislev 19, he redoubled his efforts, disseminating his teachings on a far broader scale, and with more detailed and "down to earth" explanations, than before. Kislev 19 therefore marks the "birth" of Chassidism: the point at which it was allowed to emerge from the womb of "mysticism" into the light of day, to grow and develop as an integral part of Torah and Jewish life. For more on Rabbi Schneur Zalman, his teachings, and the events of Kislev 19, see the following articles and stories: The Passsing of the Maggid The Black Carriage Where Are You? The Splattered Gem The Longer Shorter Way Body: The Physical World According to Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi Twenty-eight Teachings of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi A Brief Biography of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi More on Chassidism

One or the Other

When the Czar's soldiers came to arrest Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi in 1798,1 the Rebbe consulted with Rabbi Shmuel Munkes: should he go into hiding, or should he allow himself to be taken to Petersburg? Reb Shmuel advised his Rebbe not to run away. "Why not?" asked Rabbi Schneur Zalman. "The soldiers are coming to arrest me!" Answered Reb Shmuel: "One or the other. If you are truly a Rebbe, then no harm will befall you. And if you are not--you deserve it! How dared you deprive thousands of Jews of their pleasure in the material world?"

FOOTNOTES 1. See About the 19th of Kislev for more on Rabbi Schneur Zalman's arrest and liberation.