Patterns Chapter One
BSD YERUSHALAYIM IHK
Bayom HaHu, Yehiyeh Hashem Echad U’Shemo Echad
On that day (when Mashiach comes and is totally revealed and empowered), Hashem will be One and His Name will be One.
When Mashiach comes… this is a longing, a refrain that has been on the lips of Jews for millennia. Everything will be set right, once Mashiach comes. Everything, on every level, will be perfected. Human misery will end, exile will end, confusion will end. Illness will end, sadness will end, poverty and need will end. All will be correctly aligned and the world as we know it will become perfected. The universes will be correctly aligned, the angels will sing perfectly. All that is hidden will be revealed as a blessing.
The Gemara puts it this way-
Tishbi Yetaretz Kushyot Ubaayot. Mashiach will clear up all questions and problems.
We cannot imagine such a world, such a life. Indeed, when discussing this idea in different forums, one honest or perhaps lively ( gutsy, raunchy) student will remark that it sounds pretty boring to live in a world with no challenges, no hardships. Clearly, since general human experience can only remember life as a challenge, the idea of a rat race world is embedded in our DNA. We are so used to living with dishonesty, with graft and corruption, with pain that we consider this normal and often just search for and are satisfied with temporary reprieves in the journey for survival.
And yet, a deep part of every person knows and yearns for something higher, something happier and holier than what is being presented by the world as ‘life’. The body understands and is familiar with ‘lackings’ and either accepts this as a fact of life, or tries to find a solution and some satisfaction. Nevertheless, the yearning, the searching, the inner disquiet resurfaces.
What does it mean that when Mashiach comes, Hashem and His Name will be One? Hashem is the ultimate ‘One’. The idea of ‘onlyness’, of total internal unity, of uniqueness belongs only and totally to Hashem. Is Hashem then, not ‘One’ before Mashiach comes?
Kabala and Chassidut talk about the difference between Hashem in His Essence and Hashem in His Behavior. In His Essence, Hashem is One, Perfect, Only, Unique and all the words and phrases language has to explain and describe ‘Perfect Onlyness’. A human, who for his greatness and gifts is after all only a created being, was not hardwired to comprehend Hashem in His Essence. Whatever words, ideas, parallels, examples, models or imaginations we can conjure up, we created beings cannot fathom what exactly Hashem ‘is’.
But Hashem has gifted us with an understanding and a vision of what He ‘does’, of how He relates to His creation. This is the secret of His Name (or names).
A person has no need for his own name if he dwells totally isolated from society. Only when he has to interact with other humans is the need for a name, which both defines and separates.
Hashem in His Essence is perfect oneness. This world is multitudinous. The universe contains too many ‘things’ to enumerate. There are things like physical matter which can be described, defined and measured. There are concepts like gravity which can be described, defined and measured. There are emotions like love which cannot be defined or measured, yet are describable and palpable. There are angelic beings which can be neither defined, measured nor felt by the common man, yet which are immensely powerful. There are ideas of kindness, trust and honesty…There is an imagination, a brain, forces…The list is endless almost infinite.
In His ‘behavior’ towards His creation, Hashem is multimediatic. He has created a universe of many. He ‘acts’ towards creation in many ways. Sometimes He reveals Himself, as on Har Sinai. Most of the time, He is concealed. He sometimes makes miracles, of biblical proportions, yet most of the time nature seems to be just natural and predictable. Sometimes we feel He loves us, sometimes not. Sometimes we feel Him close, sometimes not. There seems to be no consistency, no absolute. No ‘Oneness’.
It is this situation of duplicity, of more than oneness, which allows for our basic friend, our profitable angel called ‘free choice’ to survive.
Thousands of years of choices. Billions upon trillions of choices made by mankind, leading up to and creating the world we now live in.
Yet, it is all leading up to a time when we will live with Hashem in His Oneness. When Mashiach comes, when the game is over, Hashem in His Essence will be revealed and perceived by every human alive. His Name which is how we relate to Him now, how even the greatest Torah scholar understands Him now will be unified with His Being.
And this is the secret of the desire for love and unification that burns within your heart.
Elul
BSD PARSHAT KI TAVO 5767
YERUSHALAYIM IHK
There are many aspects to the month of Elul that we can access and utilize for out benefit and success. Looking at the hints that Chazal give to the name of the month, we are taught that the beginning letters of Ani LeDodi VeDodi Li spell out Elul. The Passuk from Shir Hashirim speaks of the love between Hashem and the Jewish People. This is an aspect of love Beyn Adam LaMakom. Another famous Passuk which spells out Elul is (Mishloach Manot) Ish Lerayayhu Umatanot Laevyonim. This Passuk from Megillat Esther is the basis for the Halacha that on Purim we each give gifts of food to our friends and charity to the poor. This is an aspect of love Beyn Adam Lachaveiro.
We are also taught by the Baal Shem Tov that in Elul, Hashem is so to speak, more available. ‘The King is in the field’ is the description of Hashem’s availability and accessibility. No appointments needed, no preparations needed. The Palace Above is, so to speak, being prepared for the great Yom Hadin, the Day of Judgment, Rosh Hashanah. Until then, Hashem is informal with us.
The months of summer and Rachamim are from Nissan- Pesach- until the end of Elul. The months of Din, the winter months, begin with Tishrei and end with Adar. These last two weeks of Elul are therefore the last of the weeks of Rachamim.
We were taught that the redemption of Pesach was one of Rachamim since we truly did not deserve that total redemption. Hashem was so to speak forced to redeem us since we had no more spiritual strength to continue in the Galut Mitzrayim. We are also taught that when the final redemption comes, we will be able to say it came from Din, meaning that in a certain way, we merited it. Thousands of years of suffering in the spiritual vacuum of Galut are payment to create a Din big enough for our People to ‘deserve’ Geula.
If it is true that Hashem is closer now in Elul, then, we must take advantage of this and speak to Him more often, more comprehensively and in more detail. The teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov are crucial here. Hisbodedus is crucial now. Taking time every day to talk your heart out to Hashem, to ask for clarity, to ask for help in all areas of life, to beg for the ability to do a Simcha’dic Teshuva. All these things and more should be the basis of our Hisbodedus.
If this area of private prayer and conversation with Hashem is so important, than it most likely will have lots of barriers trying to prevent Hisbodedus from happening. Whatever is most meaningful spiritually is most blocked. The trick is to recognize this and do it anyway.
The Yetzer Hara does not involve itself in things that don’t have high spiritual payoffs. If you are feeling a blockage in a certain Avodat Hashem, chances are great that this particular Avoda is very important for you to be doing. Therefore, you are being challenged. Ignore the challenge, and go for the goal. Whatever you achieve is just fine. Then, push a drop harder.
Rav Kook teaches that the Light coming form Above is sent down via a porthole called Achdut, unity. Since Hashem’s Light is coming from Unified Hashem, it travels and is received only in Unity. When Jews are divided, they don’t receive and perceive Hashem’s Light. The only way a person can have clarity and Daas Torah is by loving every Jew despite their lack of similarity.
Imagine that you are being offered a million dollars to just stay at peace with your most hated enemy. Could you and would you swallow your pride and stay civil? Imagine you were offered two million to actually find certain good points in your worst enemy. Could you and would you not make a great effort? And imagine you were offered ten million to do the work of loving your greatest enemy. Could you think of not doing it?
A person learns from life experiences. A person learns from their mistakes. Errors in life are really only teachers of life. Can we each learn from our mistakes? Can you learn from mine, and can I learn from yours? It’s an age old question. Parents have tried for thousands of years to impart their life wisdom to their generations. Sometimes they are heard, sometimes not. In my life, one thing I have learned is that no Jew is without merit. No Jew is without great deeds and wonderful Midot. It is worth a fortune in inner peace to never disregard a fellow Jew. It is worth a fortune in inner perfection and even in material success to care for, respect and appreciate every Jew.
In Elul there is the added dimension of love. Hashem loves us, we love Him. He loves your annoying neighbor, your obnoxious boss and your difficult spouse.
It is too easy to blame the world for the wrongs of the world. The Rambam teaches that when world calamity strikes, or when local calamity strikes, we are to cry out to Hashem and look inward at our own individual deeds and repair them. Not to look at the outside world and criticize, but to look within and criticize.
“If there be anxiety (D’Aga) in a person’s heart, let them suppress it (Yashchena), and a good word will turn it into joy.” Mishlei 12:25
Anxiety in Lashon Kodesh is called D’Aga. An oft quoted saying in Yiddish is that D’Aga is the first 5 letters of the Aleph Beis with the letter Beis missing. It means having all the basics in place except one- reliance and trust in Hashem is missing.Any emotion that a person experiences that brings worry, stress, sadness, hopelessness, weakness, fear, anxiety, is rooted in a lack of Bitachon.
All of us lack Bitachon; the question is how much lack of Bitachon we are suffering from…
The Tzaddik lives with his Emuna and has no lack of trust and reliance on Hashem. Therefore, she-he fears not, worries not and is not anxious. She-he is in a constant state of quiet peace and calm. Hishtavus. All is fine. The world might be on the verge of apparent destruction, but the Tzaddik has total trust in the plan of Hashem
For the rest of us, we struggle with trusting Hashem and juggle the need to intervene and interfere with Hashem’s work. Our distrust leaves us in a state of distress.Shlomo Hamelech advises us to suppress the worry. Rav Ginsburgh teaches that Yashchena, suppress, means to minimize the worry by looking at the total plan of life, the total plan of the world and placing the current object of your worry into a larger perspective.
The Gemara in
Parshat Re’ey
B’SD
PARSHAS RE’EH MEVARCHIM CHODESH ELUL 5767 YERUSHALAYIM IH’K
In the week of Parshas Re’eh, Hashem encourages us to ‘See that He has put before us today the choice of living a life of blessings or in a cursed way’.
Given this choice, how would any thinking human opt for a non blessed life?
How would we define a blessed life- is there an objective definition, or is it subject to individual interests?
Chazal teach that the word Bracha, whose root is Bais Raish Chaf is related to the word Berech, knee. On the simplest level, Bracha, blessings are a function of the humility, the bending of the knee, which acknowledges the source of everything- Hashem. When we say the formula for a blessing which begins Baruch Ata Hashem, we are verbalizing the fact that Hashem is the root source of everything we have, do, or aspire towards.
This is why the holy Rebbe, Reb Zusha was able to see himself as blessed, even as he appeared to be living in wretched conditions. Blessings are about the connection a person has with He who bestows all things. It is not about how many things a person possesses.
On another level, Bracha has to do with the idea of actually bringing more holiness into the world. Bracha means Hamshacha, to draw down. As we opt for a blessed life, we join forces with those who try to bring more awareness of Hashem into the planet. To a Jew, being blessed contains the obligation towards others, and is not about enjoying a private life of pleasure. It is about bringing blessings to others, in a way that imitates the actions of Hashem, and therefore proclaims and testifies to His Middat Chesed.
One way the word Bracha has found its way into the modern Israeli lexicon is in the phrase Mishpacha Brucha Yeladim, a family blessed with many children. The most traditional way to spread the presence of Hashem was to bring down more Jewish souls into the world; each addition to our nation is another chunk of holiness descending and actualizing.
In addition to the phenomena of traditionally large families, we have its opposite. There are people marrying later in life, necessarily having smaller families, or those who have no children at all. They have apparently other work to do in the area of bringing to the world revelations of Hashem’s presence. Often, these people have fulfilled the Mitzva of Pru Urevu in past lives, and are here to do something else.
Bracha is related to the word Beraycha which means a flowing spring of water. For blessings to be meaningful, they must flow, be shared, nourishing others. That is why the numerical value of each of the root letters are all multiples of two (Bet is two, Raish is two hundred and Chaf is twenty). And our teachers have taught that the first Bet of Beraishit refers to the first and ultimate Bracha of Hashem sharing Himself with us through this creation.
So, this week, Hashem wants us to push a little harder to open our inner eye and to see that there are choices in life. We can choose to connect to each other and with Him. We can choose to see the blessings in our life. We can actually choose to bring down more blessings into our life. Or we can choose the curse of viewing life as haphazard, aimless, coincidental and meaningless.
And it really is a choice that needs to be made consciously, especially these The Haftara from last week tells us to look towards Avraham Avinu and Sara Emainu for Chizuk when things look bleak. Habitu El Avraham Avichem V’el Sara Tochalelchem. When they were each feeling totally alone, hopeless and helpless that’s when Hashem chose them and gave them Bracha. As the Tzaddikim teach, it was only after Sara Emainu totally gave up hope of giving birth that she conceived Yitzchak. That was the last laugh that she had, and she bequeathed that to us, her children.
The Chazon Ish lived through the birth of the State of