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Thursday, June 13, 2013
Hirohito
The Sun (film)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search The Sun
Russian release poster
Directed by Alexander Sokurov
Produced by Igor Kallenof
Marco Muller
Andrei Sigle
Alexander Rodnyansky
Written by Yuri Arabov
Jeremy Noble
Starring Issei Ogata
Robert Dawson
Music by Andrei Sigle
Cinematography Alexander Sokurov
Editing by Sergei Ivanov
Release date(s) 2005
Running time 115 minutes
Language Japanese
English
The Sun (Russian: Сóлнце, Solntse) is a 2005 Russian biographical film depicting Japanese Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) during the final days of World War II. The film is the third drama in director Aleksandr Sokurov's trilogy, which included Taurus about the Soviet Union's Vladimir Lenin and Moloch about Nazi Germany's Adolf Hitler.[1]
Contents [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
3.1 Filming
4 References
5 External links
Plot [edit]Towards the conclusion of the Second World War, Japan nears defeat as Emperor Hirohito (Issei Ogata) reminisces on the past while being held up in a bunker underneath his Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Hirohito reflects on the foundation of the conflict while attempting to dictate peace terms. Later, U.S. military commander General Douglas MacArthur (Robert Dawson) is sent to bring him through the ruins of Tokyo for a meeting regarding the occupation of the victorious Allied leaders. The two very different men strangely bond after sharing dinner and cigars, after which Hirohito retreats to his personal quarters. Following his admission of personal failures, Hirohito attempts to rebuild his war-ravaged country as a fully developed constitutional nation while his own future remains in doubt, as either the Emperor of Japan or a war criminal.
Cast [edit]Issei Ogata as Emperor Hirohito
Robert Dawson as General Douglas MacArthur
Kaori Momoi as Empress Kōjun
Shiro Sano as the Chamberlain
Shinmei Tsuji as the Old Servant
Taijiro Tamura as the Scientist
Georgi Pitskhelauri as McArthur's Warrant Officer
Hiroya Morita as Kantarō Suzuki
Toshiaki Nishizawa as Mitsumasa Yonai
Naomasa Musaka as Korechika Anami
Yusuke Tozawa as Kōichi Kido
Kōjirō Kusanagi as Shigenori Tōgō
Tetsuro Tsuno as Yoshijirō Umezu
Rokuro Abe as Soemu Toyoda
Jun Haichi as Nobuyuki Abe
Production [edit]Filming [edit]Having confessed himself in "not being interested in the history or politics which took place, and not really being interested in historical events of the period",[2] Sokurov gives a personal impression of Hirohito while omitting all references to questions surrounding the Tokyo tribunal regarding the personal responsibility of the emperor as head of the Imperial General Headquarters in relation to Japanese war crimes. Due to this omission, the character interactions in the film are reflected in such a way that the imperial conference between the emperor and his council along with the meeting between Hirohito and MacArthur, are in fact none of the words related to imperial interpreter Katsuzō Okumura's transcript. As noted by Okumura, the general praised the emperor's "august virtue" (miitsu).[3]
According to The Times, the film has not been widely screened in Japan due to fears of violence from right wing extremists over its portrayal of Hirohito.
References [edit]1.^ The Sun (Solntse) (2005) Reviewed by Jamie Woolley bbc.co.uk
2.^ Aesthetic choices: Aleksandr Sokurov’s The Sun World Socialist Web Site
3.^ John Dower, Embracing Defeat, 1999, p.296
External links [edit]The Sun at the Internet Movie Database
The Sun at Rotten Tomatoes
The Dream Director film review by Daniel Mendelsohn from The New York Review of Books
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshe_Feinstein
http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/rabbis/feinstein.htm
But Rav Moshe writes that he came to the conclusion that if the talmid chochom invests all his effort and deliberates with all his mental energy, combined with fear of Heaven, he is not required by HaShem necessarily to arrive at the absolute truth, although he is helped by Heaven to accomplish that.
The following is a minute sample of the responsa that he wrote:
Rav Moshe says that he is only providing his opinion with respect to the halachic questions raised, that he indicates all his sources, and that he welcomes and encourages all readers to check his sources and question his conclusions.
The selflessness and modesty of this Torah scholar only magnify his greatness. And the fear of Heaven that underlay all his thoughts shows how great a “gadol,” a Torah giant, he was.
1. regarding the partial covering of the head when walking in the street or reciting a blessing
2. regarding the matter of the paralysis of the left hand in connection with Tefillin
3. regarding whether a kohen who desecrates the Sabbath publicly can bless the congregation with the other priests
4. regarding the mechitzah, the physical separation between men and women in a synagogue, and its required height
5. regarding a synagogue in which American and Israeli flags have been set up – does this constitute a problem?
6. regarding establishing a partnership with a Jew who desecrates the Sabbath
Moshe Feinstein
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search Rabbi Moshe Feinstein
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein at his desk in the bais medrash of Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem.
Born (1895-03-03)March 3, 1895
Uzda, Belarus
Died March 23, 1986(1986-03-23) (aged 91)
New York City
Resting place Har HaMenuchot, Israel
31°48′00″N 35°11′00″E / 31.8°N 35.183333°E / 31.8; 35.183333
Other names Rav Moshe, Reb Moshe
Occupation Rabbi, Posek
Employer Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem
Religion Judaism
Spouse(s) Shima Kustanovitch
Children Pesach Chaim Feinstein
Dovid Feinstein
Reuven Feinstein
Shifra Tendler
Faye Shisgal
Moses Feinstein (Hebrew: משה פיינשטיין; March 3, 1895 – March 23, 1986) was a Lithuanian Orthodox rabbi, scholar and posek (an authoritative adjudicator of questions related to Jewish law), who was world-renowned for his expertise in Halakha and was regarded by many as the de facto supreme halakhic authority for Orthodox Jewry of North America. In the Orthodox world he is widely referred to simply as "Reb Moshe", and his halakhic rulings are widely quoted in contemporary rabbinic literature.
Contents [hide]
1 Biography
2 Notable decisions
3 Death
4 Prominent students
5 Works
6 References
7 Bibliography
8 External links
Biography[edit]Feinstein was born, according to the Hebrew calendar, on the 7th day of Adar, 5655 (traditionally the date of birth of the Biblical Moshe) in Uzda, near Minsk, Belarus, then part of the Russian empire to his father Rabbi David Feinstein, rabbi of Uzdan. His father was a descendant of Rabbi Yom Tov Lipman, Rabbi of Kapolye, whose glosses on the Talmud have been published in the back of the Gemarah; and also the author of other Talmudic works.
He studied with his father and also in yeshivas located in Slutsk, Shklov and Amstislav, before being appointed rabbi of Lubań where he served for sixteen years. He married Shima Kustanovich in 1920 and had 4 children (Pesach Chaim, Fay Gittel, Shifra, and David) before leaving Europe.[1] Under increasing pressure from the Soviet regime, he moved with his family to New York City in 1936 where he lived for the rest of his life.
Settling on the Lower East Side, he became the rosh yeshiva of Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem. He later established a branch of the yeshiva in Staten Island, New York, now headed by his son Rabbi Reuven Feinstein. His son Rabbi Dovid Feinstein heads the Manhattan branch.
He was president of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada and chaired the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudath Israel of America from the 1960s until his death. Rabbi Feinstein also took an active leadership role in Israel’s Chinuch Atzmai.
Feinstein was revered by many as the Gadol Hador (greatest Torah sage of the generation), including by Rabbis Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, Yonasan Steif, Elyah Lopian, Aharon Kotler, Yaakov Kamenetsky and Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, even though several of them were far older than he. Feinstein was also recognized by many as the preeminent Torah sage and Posek of his generation, and people from around the world called upon him to answer their most complicated Halachic questions.
Notable decisions[edit]Owing to his prominence as an adjudicator of Jewish law, Feinstein was asked the most difficult questions, in which he issued a number of innovative and controversial decisions. Soon after arriving in the United States, he established a reputation for handling business and labor disputes. For instance, he wrote about strikes, seniority, and fair competition. Later, he served as the chief Halakhic authority for the Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists, which suited his growing involvement with Jewish medical ethics cases. In the medical arena, he fiercely opposed the early, unsuccessful heart transplants and, over time, it is unclear whether he shifted toward acceptance of brain death criteria; the last responsa, printed after he had died, suggests as much. On such matters, he often consulted with various scientific experts, including his son-in-law Rabbi Dr. Moshe Dovid Tendler who is a professor of biology and serves as a rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University.
As a leader of American Orthodoxy, moreover, Feinstein issued opinions that clearly distanced his community from Conservative and Reform Judaism.[2] Nevertheless, he faced intense opposition within Orthodoxy on several controversial decisions, such as rulings on artificial insemination and eruv. In the case of his position not to prohibit cigarette smoking, other Orthodox rabbinic authorities disagreed. It should be noted that all his detractors while disagreeing with specific rulings still considered him to be a leading and venerated sage. The first volume of his Igrot Moshe, a voluminous collection of his halachic decisions, was published in 1959.[3] He made noteworthy decisions on the following topics:
Artificial insemination from a non-Jewish donor (EH I:10,71, II:11, IV:32.5)[4]
Cosmetic surgery (HM II:66)[5]
Bat Mitzvah for girls (OH I:104 (1956), OH II:97 (1959), OH IV:36)[6]
Brain death as an indication of death under Jewish law (YD IV:54)[7]
Cholov Yisroel Permitted reliance on U.S. government agency supervision in ensuring that milk was reliably kosher (YD I:47). This was a highly controversial ruling disputed by prominent peers of Feinstein.[8]
Cheating for the N.Y. Regents exams (HM II:30)
Classical music in religious settings (YD II:111)
Commemorating the Holocaust, Yom ha-Shoah (YD IV:57.11)
Conservative Judaism, including its clergy and schools (e.g., YD II:106–107)[9]
Donating blood for pay (HM I:103)
Education of girls (e.g., YD II:109, YD II:113 YD III:87.2)[10]
End-of-life medical care[7]
Eruv projects in New York City
Financial ethics (HM II:29))[11]
Hazardous medical operations[7]
Heart transplantation (YD 2:174.3)[7]
Labor union and related employment privileges (e.g., HM I:59)
Mehitza (esp. OH I:39)[12]
Mixed-seating on a subway or other public transportation (EH II:14)
Psychiatric care (YD II:57)
Separation of Siamese twins[13]
Shaking hands between men and women (OH I:113; EH I:56; EH IV:32)[14]
Smoking marijuana (YD III:35)
Tay-Sachs fetus abortion, esp. in debate with Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg[15]
Smoking cigarettes[16]
Veal raised in factory conditions (EH IV, 92:2)
Note: Responsa in Igrot Moshe are cited in parentheses
Moshe Feinstein's graveDeath[edit]Feinstein died on the March 23, 1986 (13th of Adar II, 5746 on the Hebrew calendar). It has been pointed out that the 5746th verse in the Torah reads, "And it came to pass after Moshe had finished writing down the words of this Torah in a book to the very end." (Deuteronomy 31:24). This is taken by some as a fitting epitaph for him.
At the time he was regarded as Orthodoxy's foremost halkhic authority and Posek. His funeral in Israel was delayed by a day due to mechanical problems to the plane carrying his coffin, which had to return to New York. His funeral in Israel was said to be the largest among Jews since the Mishnaic era, with an estimated attendance of 300,000 people. Among the eulogizers in America were Rabbis Yaakov Yitzchak Ruderman, Dovid Lifshitz, Shraga Moshe Kalmanowitz, Nisson Alpert, Moshe David Tendler, Michel Barenbaum and Mordechai Tendler and the Satmar Rebbe. The son of the deceased, Rabbi Reuven also spoke.
In Israel, Rabbis Elazar Shach, Dovid Povarsky, Yitzchak Yaakov Weiss, Yehuda Tzadka, Feinstein's son Reuven, and Feinstein's nephew Rabbi Michel Feinstein, all tearfully expressed grief over what they termed a massive loss to the generation.
Feinstein was held in such great esteem that Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, who was himself regarded as a Torah giant, Talmid Chacham and posek, refused to eulogize him, saying "Who am I to eulogize him? I studied his sefarim; I was his talmid (student)."
Feinstein was buried on Har HaMenuchot in proximity to his teacher, Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer; his friend, Rabbi Aharon Kotler; his son-in-law Rabbi Moshe Shisgal and next to the Belzer Rebbe.
Prominent students[edit]Rabbi Feinstein invested much time molding some of his select students to become leaders in Rabbinics and Halacha. Those students, over the years, spent countless hours a day serving as apprentices to their great Rabbi. Most are considered authorities in many areas of practical Halacha and Rabbinic and Talmudic academics. Some of those students are:
Rabbi Nisson Alpert, (New York City)
Rabbi J. David Bleich, (New York City)
Rabbi Avrohom Blumenkrantz, (Far Rockaway, NY)
Rabbi Dovid Feinstein, (New York), his son
Rabbi Reuven Feinstein, (New York), his son
Rabbi Moshe Dovid Tendler, (New York, NY), his son-in-law
Rabbi Mordecai Tendler, (New York), his grandson
Rabbi Elimelech Bluth
Rabbi Chaim Ganzweig
Works[edit]Rabbi Feinstein's greatest renown came from a lifetime of responding to halachic queries posed by Jews in America and worldwide. He authored approximately two thousand responsa on a wide range of issues affecting Jewish practice in the modern era. Some responsa can also be found in his Talmudic commentary (Dibros Moshe), some circulate informally, and 1,883 responsa were published in Igrot Moshe. Among Rabbi Feinstein's works:
Igros Moshe; (Epistles of Moshe), a classic work of Halachic responsa. Seven volumes were published during his lifetime; an eighth volume, edited posthumously by his granddaughter's husband Shabbetai Rappoport, and published by Rappoport, and Feinstein's grandson, Rabbi Mordecai Tendler, is not universally accepted as authoritative. A ninth volume was also published posthumously.
Dibros Moshe (Moshe's Words), an eleven-volume work of Talmudic novellae.
Darash Moshe (Moshe Expounds, a reference to Leviticus 10:16), novellae on the Torah (published posthumously).
Some of Feinstein's early works, including a commentary on the Talmud Yerushalmi, were destroyed by the Soviet authorities.
References[edit]1.^ "Great Leaders of Our People – Rav Moshe Feinstein". Retrieved December 13, 2009.
2.^ For example, see Roth, Joel. The Halakhic Process: A Systematic Analysis, JTS: 1986, pp.71ff. Robinson (2001).
3.^ Codex Judaica Mattis Kantor, Zichron Press, NY 2005, p.299
4.^ Cohen, A. in JHCS
5.^ Halperin (2006)
6.^ See esp. Joseph (1995)
7.^ a b c d Feinstein & Tendler (1996)
8.^ Rav Yaakov Breisch in Chelkas Yaakov Vol.2 ch.37 stated that "all of his rationales are not sufficient to contradict a clear ruling of the Shulchan Aruch and halachic authorities...." Later in ch.37 and 38, Breisch extensively debunks various premises underlying the rationale for Feinstein's lenient ruling. See also Shu"t Beer Moshe Vol.4, ch.52, Kinyan Torah 1:38 for a more detailed listing of the many authorities disputing Feinstein's reasoning and conclusion.
9.^ Roth (1989), op. cit. on YD 139.
10.^ Joseph (1995)
11.^ Tzedakah and Tzedek: Halachic & Ethical Financial Requirements Pertaining to Charitable Organizations by Daniel Feldman [1]
12.^ Baruch Litvin, The Sanctity of the Synagogue, 1962
13.^ Tendler excerpt on Jlaw.com
14.^ See Negiah, section entitled "Shaking Hands in Halacha," for a discussion regarding Rav Moshe's opinion on this topic, both with regard to initiating a handshake and with regard to returning a handshake (i.e. where the other party extends his/her hand first). For a translation of R' Moshe's three Teshuvos (responsa) on men shaking hands with women, see [2]
15.^ E.g., see Sinclair, Daniel. Jewish Biomedical Law 2004
16.^ See RCA decision and, earlier, RCA Roundtable. (Statement by progressive Orthodox Rabbis Saul Berman, Reuven Bulka, Daniel Landes and Jeffrey Woolf.) “Proposal on smoking” (unpublished) July 1991.
Bibliography[edit]Eidensohn, Daniel (2000). יד משה: מפתח לכל ח׳ חלקים של שו״ת אגרות משה מאת משה פיינשטיין (in Hebrew). Jerusalem, Israel: D. Eidensohn. OCLC 51317225.
Ellenson, David. "Two Responsa of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein." American Jewish Archives Journal, Volume LII, Nos. 1 and 2, Fall 2000–2001.
Feinstein, Moshe; Moshe David Tendler (1996). Responsa of Rav Moshe Feinstein: translation and commentary. [translated and annotated] by Moshe Dovid Tendler. Hoboken, NJ: KTAV Publishing House. ISBN 0-88125-444-4. LCCN 9611212. OCLC 34476198.
Rabbi Shimon Finkelman, Rabbi Nosson Scherman. Reb Moshe: The Life and Ideals of HaGaon Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. Brooklyn, NY: ArtScroll Mesorah, 1986. ISBN 0-89906-480-9.
Halperin, Mordechai (2006). "The Theological and Halakhic Legitimacy of Medical Therapy and Enhancement". In Noam Zohar. Quality of life in Jewish bioethics. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. ISBN 0-7391-1446-8. LCCN 200529443. OCLC 62078279.
Joseph, Norma Baumel (1995). Separate Spheres: Women in the Responsa of Rabbi Moses Feinstein (Thesis (PhD)
format= requires
url= (help)). Concordia University.
"Rav Moshe Feinstein". Great Leaders of our People. Orthodox Union. Retrieved October 10, 2007.
_________. "Jewish education for women: Rabbi Moshe Feinstein's map of America." American Jewish history, 1995
Rackman, Emanuel. "Halachic progress: Rabbi Moshe Feinstein's Igrot Moshe on Even ha-Ezer" in Judaism 12 (1964), 365–373
Robinson, Ira. "Because of our many sins: The contemporary Jewish world as reflected in the responsa of Moses Feinstein" 2001
Rosner, Fred. "Rabbi Moshe Feinstein's Influence on Medical Halacha" Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society. No. XX, 1990
__________. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein on the treatment of the terminally ill." Judaism. Spring 37(2):188–98. 1988
Warshofsky, Mark E. "Responsa and the Art of Writing: Three Examples from the Teshuvot of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein," in An American Rabbinate: A Festschrift for Walter Jacob Pittsburgh, Rodef Shalom Press, 2001 (Download in PDF format)
External links[edit]Biography of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein
“HaRav Moshe Feinstein: In honor of his 15th yahrtzeit, 13th Adar” – A retrospective of Rav Moshe Feinstein’s life, with recollections on his character as a person.
Igros Moshe is available for free online at hebrewbooks.org. Type אגרות משה into the sefer box for pdfs of all eight volumes.
Yeshiva University Medical Ethics Society
http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/rabbis/feinstein.htm
But Rav Moshe writes that he came to the conclusion that if the talmid chochom invests all his effort and deliberates with all his mental energy, combined with fear of Heaven, he is not required by HaShem necessarily to arrive at the absolute truth, although he is helped by Heaven to accomplish that.
The following is a minute sample of the responsa that he wrote:
Rav Moshe says that he is only providing his opinion with respect to the halachic questions raised, that he indicates all his sources, and that he welcomes and encourages all readers to check his sources and question his conclusions.
The selflessness and modesty of this Torah scholar only magnify his greatness. And the fear of Heaven that underlay all his thoughts shows how great a “gadol,” a Torah giant, he was.
1. regarding the partial covering of the head when walking in the street or reciting a blessing
2. regarding the matter of the paralysis of the left hand in connection with Tefillin
3. regarding whether a kohen who desecrates the Sabbath publicly can bless the congregation with the other priests
4. regarding the mechitzah, the physical separation between men and women in a synagogue, and its required height
5. regarding a synagogue in which American and Israeli flags have been set up – does this constitute a problem?
6. regarding establishing a partnership with a Jew who desecrates the Sabbath
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search Rabbi Moshe Feinstein
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein at his desk in the bais medrash of Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem.
Born (1895-03-03)March 3, 1895
Uzda, Belarus
Died March 23, 1986(1986-03-23) (aged 91)
New York City
Resting place Har HaMenuchot, Israel
31°48′00″N 35°11′00″E / 31.8°N 35.183333°E / 31.8; 35.183333
Other names Rav Moshe, Reb Moshe
Occupation Rabbi, Posek
Employer Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem
Religion Judaism
Spouse(s) Shima Kustanovitch
Children Pesach Chaim Feinstein
Dovid Feinstein
Reuven Feinstein
Shifra Tendler
Faye Shisgal
Moses Feinstein (Hebrew: משה פיינשטיין; March 3, 1895 – March 23, 1986) was a Lithuanian Orthodox rabbi, scholar and posek (an authoritative adjudicator of questions related to Jewish law), who was world-renowned for his expertise in Halakha and was regarded by many as the de facto supreme halakhic authority for Orthodox Jewry of North America. In the Orthodox world he is widely referred to simply as "Reb Moshe", and his halakhic rulings are widely quoted in contemporary rabbinic literature.
Contents [hide]
1 Biography
2 Notable decisions
3 Death
4 Prominent students
5 Works
6 References
7 Bibliography
8 External links
Biography[edit]Feinstein was born, according to the Hebrew calendar, on the 7th day of Adar, 5655 (traditionally the date of birth of the Biblical Moshe) in Uzda, near Minsk, Belarus, then part of the Russian empire to his father Rabbi David Feinstein, rabbi of Uzdan. His father was a descendant of Rabbi Yom Tov Lipman, Rabbi of Kapolye, whose glosses on the Talmud have been published in the back of the Gemarah; and also the author of other Talmudic works.
He studied with his father and also in yeshivas located in Slutsk, Shklov and Amstislav, before being appointed rabbi of Lubań where he served for sixteen years. He married Shima Kustanovich in 1920 and had 4 children (Pesach Chaim, Fay Gittel, Shifra, and David) before leaving Europe.[1] Under increasing pressure from the Soviet regime, he moved with his family to New York City in 1936 where he lived for the rest of his life.
Settling on the Lower East Side, he became the rosh yeshiva of Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem. He later established a branch of the yeshiva in Staten Island, New York, now headed by his son Rabbi Reuven Feinstein. His son Rabbi Dovid Feinstein heads the Manhattan branch.
He was president of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada and chaired the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudath Israel of America from the 1960s until his death. Rabbi Feinstein also took an active leadership role in Israel’s Chinuch Atzmai.
Feinstein was revered by many as the Gadol Hador (greatest Torah sage of the generation), including by Rabbis Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, Yonasan Steif, Elyah Lopian, Aharon Kotler, Yaakov Kamenetsky and Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, even though several of them were far older than he. Feinstein was also recognized by many as the preeminent Torah sage and Posek of his generation, and people from around the world called upon him to answer their most complicated Halachic questions.
Notable decisions[edit]Owing to his prominence as an adjudicator of Jewish law, Feinstein was asked the most difficult questions, in which he issued a number of innovative and controversial decisions. Soon after arriving in the United States, he established a reputation for handling business and labor disputes. For instance, he wrote about strikes, seniority, and fair competition. Later, he served as the chief Halakhic authority for the Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists, which suited his growing involvement with Jewish medical ethics cases. In the medical arena, he fiercely opposed the early, unsuccessful heart transplants and, over time, it is unclear whether he shifted toward acceptance of brain death criteria; the last responsa, printed after he had died, suggests as much. On such matters, he often consulted with various scientific experts, including his son-in-law Rabbi Dr. Moshe Dovid Tendler who is a professor of biology and serves as a rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University.
As a leader of American Orthodoxy, moreover, Feinstein issued opinions that clearly distanced his community from Conservative and Reform Judaism.[2] Nevertheless, he faced intense opposition within Orthodoxy on several controversial decisions, such as rulings on artificial insemination and eruv. In the case of his position not to prohibit cigarette smoking, other Orthodox rabbinic authorities disagreed. It should be noted that all his detractors while disagreeing with specific rulings still considered him to be a leading and venerated sage. The first volume of his Igrot Moshe, a voluminous collection of his halachic decisions, was published in 1959.[3] He made noteworthy decisions on the following topics:
Artificial insemination from a non-Jewish donor (EH I:10,71, II:11, IV:32.5)[4]
Cosmetic surgery (HM II:66)[5]
Bat Mitzvah for girls (OH I:104 (1956), OH II:97 (1959), OH IV:36)[6]
Brain death as an indication of death under Jewish law (YD IV:54)[7]
Cholov Yisroel Permitted reliance on U.S. government agency supervision in ensuring that milk was reliably kosher (YD I:47). This was a highly controversial ruling disputed by prominent peers of Feinstein.[8]
Cheating for the N.Y. Regents exams (HM II:30)
Classical music in religious settings (YD II:111)
Commemorating the Holocaust, Yom ha-Shoah (YD IV:57.11)
Conservative Judaism, including its clergy and schools (e.g., YD II:106–107)[9]
Donating blood for pay (HM I:103)
Education of girls (e.g., YD II:109, YD II:113 YD III:87.2)[10]
End-of-life medical care[7]
Eruv projects in New York City
Financial ethics (HM II:29))[11]
Hazardous medical operations[7]
Heart transplantation (YD 2:174.3)[7]
Labor union and related employment privileges (e.g., HM I:59)
Mehitza (esp. OH I:39)[12]
Mixed-seating on a subway or other public transportation (EH II:14)
Psychiatric care (YD II:57)
Separation of Siamese twins[13]
Shaking hands between men and women (OH I:113; EH I:56; EH IV:32)[14]
Smoking marijuana (YD III:35)
Tay-Sachs fetus abortion, esp. in debate with Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg[15]
Smoking cigarettes[16]
Veal raised in factory conditions (EH IV, 92:2)
Note: Responsa in Igrot Moshe are cited in parentheses
Moshe Feinstein's graveDeath[edit]Feinstein died on the March 23, 1986 (13th of Adar II, 5746 on the Hebrew calendar). It has been pointed out that the 5746th verse in the Torah reads, "And it came to pass after Moshe had finished writing down the words of this Torah in a book to the very end." (Deuteronomy 31:24). This is taken by some as a fitting epitaph for him.
At the time he was regarded as Orthodoxy's foremost halkhic authority and Posek. His funeral in Israel was delayed by a day due to mechanical problems to the plane carrying his coffin, which had to return to New York. His funeral in Israel was said to be the largest among Jews since the Mishnaic era, with an estimated attendance of 300,000 people. Among the eulogizers in America were Rabbis Yaakov Yitzchak Ruderman, Dovid Lifshitz, Shraga Moshe Kalmanowitz, Nisson Alpert, Moshe David Tendler, Michel Barenbaum and Mordechai Tendler and the Satmar Rebbe. The son of the deceased, Rabbi Reuven also spoke.
In Israel, Rabbis Elazar Shach, Dovid Povarsky, Yitzchak Yaakov Weiss, Yehuda Tzadka, Feinstein's son Reuven, and Feinstein's nephew Rabbi Michel Feinstein, all tearfully expressed grief over what they termed a massive loss to the generation.
Feinstein was held in such great esteem that Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, who was himself regarded as a Torah giant, Talmid Chacham and posek, refused to eulogize him, saying "Who am I to eulogize him? I studied his sefarim; I was his talmid (student)."
Feinstein was buried on Har HaMenuchot in proximity to his teacher, Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer; his friend, Rabbi Aharon Kotler; his son-in-law Rabbi Moshe Shisgal and next to the Belzer Rebbe.
Prominent students[edit]Rabbi Feinstein invested much time molding some of his select students to become leaders in Rabbinics and Halacha. Those students, over the years, spent countless hours a day serving as apprentices to their great Rabbi. Most are considered authorities in many areas of practical Halacha and Rabbinic and Talmudic academics. Some of those students are:
Rabbi Nisson Alpert, (New York City)
Rabbi J. David Bleich, (New York City)
Rabbi Avrohom Blumenkrantz, (Far Rockaway, NY)
Rabbi Dovid Feinstein, (New York), his son
Rabbi Reuven Feinstein, (New York), his son
Rabbi Moshe Dovid Tendler, (New York, NY), his son-in-law
Rabbi Mordecai Tendler, (New York), his grandson
Rabbi Elimelech Bluth
Rabbi Chaim Ganzweig
Works[edit]Rabbi Feinstein's greatest renown came from a lifetime of responding to halachic queries posed by Jews in America and worldwide. He authored approximately two thousand responsa on a wide range of issues affecting Jewish practice in the modern era. Some responsa can also be found in his Talmudic commentary (Dibros Moshe), some circulate informally, and 1,883 responsa were published in Igrot Moshe. Among Rabbi Feinstein's works:
Igros Moshe; (Epistles of Moshe), a classic work of Halachic responsa. Seven volumes were published during his lifetime; an eighth volume, edited posthumously by his granddaughter's husband Shabbetai Rappoport, and published by Rappoport, and Feinstein's grandson, Rabbi Mordecai Tendler, is not universally accepted as authoritative. A ninth volume was also published posthumously.
Dibros Moshe (Moshe's Words), an eleven-volume work of Talmudic novellae.
Darash Moshe (Moshe Expounds, a reference to Leviticus 10:16), novellae on the Torah (published posthumously).
Some of Feinstein's early works, including a commentary on the Talmud Yerushalmi, were destroyed by the Soviet authorities.
References[edit]1.^ "Great Leaders of Our People – Rav Moshe Feinstein". Retrieved December 13, 2009.
2.^ For example, see Roth, Joel. The Halakhic Process: A Systematic Analysis, JTS: 1986, pp.71ff. Robinson (2001).
3.^ Codex Judaica Mattis Kantor, Zichron Press, NY 2005, p.299
4.^ Cohen, A. in JHCS
5.^ Halperin (2006)
6.^ See esp. Joseph (1995)
7.^ a b c d Feinstein & Tendler (1996)
8.^ Rav Yaakov Breisch in Chelkas Yaakov Vol.2 ch.37 stated that "all of his rationales are not sufficient to contradict a clear ruling of the Shulchan Aruch and halachic authorities...." Later in ch.37 and 38, Breisch extensively debunks various premises underlying the rationale for Feinstein's lenient ruling. See also Shu"t Beer Moshe Vol.4, ch.52, Kinyan Torah 1:38 for a more detailed listing of the many authorities disputing Feinstein's reasoning and conclusion.
9.^ Roth (1989), op. cit. on YD 139.
10.^ Joseph (1995)
11.^ Tzedakah and Tzedek: Halachic & Ethical Financial Requirements Pertaining to Charitable Organizations by Daniel Feldman [1]
12.^ Baruch Litvin, The Sanctity of the Synagogue, 1962
13.^ Tendler excerpt on Jlaw.com
14.^ See Negiah, section entitled "Shaking Hands in Halacha," for a discussion regarding Rav Moshe's opinion on this topic, both with regard to initiating a handshake and with regard to returning a handshake (i.e. where the other party extends his/her hand first). For a translation of R' Moshe's three Teshuvos (responsa) on men shaking hands with women, see [2]
15.^ E.g., see Sinclair, Daniel. Jewish Biomedical Law 2004
16.^ See RCA decision and, earlier, RCA Roundtable. (Statement by progressive Orthodox Rabbis Saul Berman, Reuven Bulka, Daniel Landes and Jeffrey Woolf.) “Proposal on smoking” (unpublished) July 1991.
Bibliography[edit]Eidensohn, Daniel (2000). יד משה: מפתח לכל ח׳ חלקים של שו״ת אגרות משה מאת משה פיינשטיין (in Hebrew). Jerusalem, Israel: D. Eidensohn. OCLC 51317225.
Ellenson, David. "Two Responsa of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein." American Jewish Archives Journal, Volume LII, Nos. 1 and 2, Fall 2000–2001.
Feinstein, Moshe; Moshe David Tendler (1996). Responsa of Rav Moshe Feinstein: translation and commentary. [translated and annotated] by Moshe Dovid Tendler. Hoboken, NJ: KTAV Publishing House. ISBN 0-88125-444-4. LCCN 9611212. OCLC 34476198.
Rabbi Shimon Finkelman, Rabbi Nosson Scherman. Reb Moshe: The Life and Ideals of HaGaon Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. Brooklyn, NY: ArtScroll Mesorah, 1986. ISBN 0-89906-480-9.
Halperin, Mordechai (2006). "The Theological and Halakhic Legitimacy of Medical Therapy and Enhancement". In Noam Zohar. Quality of life in Jewish bioethics. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. ISBN 0-7391-1446-8. LCCN 200529443. OCLC 62078279.
Joseph, Norma Baumel (1995). Separate Spheres: Women in the Responsa of Rabbi Moses Feinstein (Thesis (PhD)
format= requires
url= (help)). Concordia University.
"Rav Moshe Feinstein". Great Leaders of our People. Orthodox Union. Retrieved October 10, 2007.
_________. "Jewish education for women: Rabbi Moshe Feinstein's map of America." American Jewish history, 1995
Rackman, Emanuel. "Halachic progress: Rabbi Moshe Feinstein's Igrot Moshe on Even ha-Ezer" in Judaism 12 (1964), 365–373
Robinson, Ira. "Because of our many sins: The contemporary Jewish world as reflected in the responsa of Moses Feinstein" 2001
Rosner, Fred. "Rabbi Moshe Feinstein's Influence on Medical Halacha" Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society. No. XX, 1990
__________. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein on the treatment of the terminally ill." Judaism. Spring 37(2):188–98. 1988
Warshofsky, Mark E. "Responsa and the Art of Writing: Three Examples from the Teshuvot of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein," in An American Rabbinate: A Festschrift for Walter Jacob Pittsburgh, Rodef Shalom Press, 2001 (Download in PDF format)
External links[edit]Biography of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein
“HaRav Moshe Feinstein: In honor of his 15th yahrtzeit, 13th Adar” – A retrospective of Rav Moshe Feinstein’s life, with recollections on his character as a person.
Igros Moshe is available for free online at hebrewbooks.org. Type אגרות משה into the sefer box for pdfs of all eight volumes.
Yeshiva University Medical Ethics Society
Parshas Chukas
Weekly Halacha
by Rabbi Doniel Neustadt
Print Version
Parshas Chukas
Blessings for Pleasant Fragrances
Just as one may not derive pleasure from food or drink before reciting a proper blessing, so too, one may not enjoy a pleasant fragrance before reciting the appropriate blessing. 1 There are four2 different types of blessings that can be recited over pleasant3 fragrances 4:
1. Borei atzei vesamim: Recited over fragrant shrubs and trees or their flowers (e.g., myrtle, roses5 ).
2. Ha-nosein6 reich tov ba-perios: Recited over fragrant, edible fruits or nuts. Many poskim rule that nowadays, when fruits are generally grown for their taste and not for their smell, one should avoid smelling these fruits, since it is questionable if a blessing is required. 7 During the entire Yom Tov of Succos, the esrog should not be smelled at all. 8
3. Borei isvei vesamim: Recited over fragrant herbs, grasses or flowers.
4. Borei minei vesamim: Recited over a blend of spices of different species or of undetermined species. It is also recited over pleasant fragrances of animal origin, e.g., musk.
On Motza’ei Shabbos, the proper blessing is Borei minei vesamim—no matter what type of fragrance is being used. 9
The blessing is recited immediately before one intends to smell the pleasant fragrance. B’diavad, one may recite the blessing within a few seconds after he smelled a pleasant fragrance. 10
Question: Are there situations where one would not recite a blessing over a pleasant fragrance?
Discussion: A blessing over a pleasant fragrance is recited only over an object whose purpose is to exude a pleasant fragrance. If the object is primarily for another purpose—even if the object is sweet-smelling—no blessing is recited. 11Some examples:
• One enters a kitchen while food is being cooked or baked. Since the purpose of the cooking or baking is not to create a pleasant aroma, no blessing is recited. 12
• Flowers in a vase exude a pleasant fragrance. Since people usually buy flowers for their beauty, one who walks by and smells them does not recite a blessing. If, however, the flowers are picked up and smelled, a blessing must be recited.
• The fragrant smell of a backyard garden, etc. does not require a blessing. This is because a garden is usually planted for its beauty, not for its smell. If, however, one bends over and cups a flower in his hands in order to smell it, a blessing must be said. 13
• Some florists display flowers so that their fragrance will attract customers. In such a case, the proper blessing must be recited over the fragrance even if one did not pick the flowers up and— according to many poskim—even if he has no intention of smelling them. 14 If, however, the flowers are displayed just for their beauty, or are packed up for storage, no blessing is said even though the flowers smell good. 15
• A cup of coffee is poured for the purpose of drinking. No blessing is said over the aroma since the purpose of pouring the coffee is for drinking and not for its aroma. If, however, one specifically opens a fresh jar of coffee in order to smell it, a blessing is recited. 16 No blessing should be recited over instant coffee. 17
• No blessing is recited over air purifiers, deodorants, soaps, etc., since their purpose is to remove foul odors. 18 In addition, many poskim rule that no blessing is recited over perfume, since its fragrance is a result of chemical processes, not natural ones. 19
• Smelling an item to test if it smells good or if it is fit for purchase does not necessitate a blessing. 20
1. O.C. 216:1. A berachah acharonah, however,
was not instituted for pleasant fragrances;
Mishnah Berurah 216:4.
2. A fifth type of blessing, rarely recited, is
Borei shemen areiv. This is recited over
sweet-smelling oil derived from the balsam tree
grown in Eretz Yisrael.
3. One who does not enjoy a particular
fragrance does not recite a blessing.
4. We have listed the blessings in order of
priority when one is reciting blessing on more
than one type of fragrance; see Peri Megadim 216:19.
5. Mishnah Berurah 216:17.
6. This is the nusach which is quoted by most
poskim and all siddurim. Chayei Adam 61:2 and
Mishnah Berurah 216:9, however, substitute Asher
nosan for ha-nosein.
7. See Chazon Ish, O.C. 35:5-7, and Vezos
ha-Berachah, pg. 177.
8. Mishnah Berurah 216:53 and Beiur Halachah,
s.v. ha-meiriach. See Halichos Shelomo 1:23-37,
that an esrog which will be used o n Succos should
not be smelled even before the Yom Tov begins.
9. Mishnah Berurah 297:1. Even if fruit is
used; Aruch ha-Shulchan 297:4.
10. Halichos Shelomo 1:23-38.
11. O.C. 217:2. See also Mishnah Berurah 217:1;
216:11.
12. Sha’ar ha-Tziyun 216:46.
13. Ruling of Rav Y.Y. Fisher (Vezos
ha-Berachah, pg. 178); Az Nidberu 14:11.
14. Mishnah Berurah 217:1-2 and Sha’ar
ha-Tziyun 3 and 7. See Aruch ha-Shulchan 217:1-3
and Kaf ha-Chayim 217:2 who rule that one should
not recite the blessing unless he intends to smell
the flowers.
15. If they are picked up in order to be
smelled, a blessing is recited. See note 16 for
the view of Chazon Ish.
16. Mishnah Berurah 216:16. Chazon Ish (O.C.
35:5-7), however, rules that if the coffee jar is
going to be returned to the kitchen, then no
blessing may be recited over it. In his view, a
blessing is recited only when the spices are
designated for smelli ng only and serve no other
purpose.
17. Rav Y.Y. Fisher (Vezos ha-Berachah, pg. 174).
18. Mishnah Berurah 217:10; 216:41; Aruch
ha-Shulchan 217:5.
19. Rav S.Z. Auerbach (Shemiras Shabbos
K'hilchasah 61, note 32). This is also the view of
Rav M. Feinstein (quoted in The Radiance of
Shabbos, pg. 132, concerning Havdalah) and Rav
Y.S. Elyashiv (quoted in Vezos ha-Berachah, pg.
181 and Avnei Yashfei 2:16).
20. Kaf ha-Chayim 216:3; Rav C.P. Scheinberg
(Vezos ha-Berachah, pg. 179).
by Rabbi Doniel Neustadt
Print Version
Parshas Chukas
Blessings for Pleasant Fragrances
Just as one may not derive pleasure from food or drink before reciting a proper blessing, so too, one may not enjoy a pleasant fragrance before reciting the appropriate blessing. 1 There are four2 different types of blessings that can be recited over pleasant3 fragrances 4:
1. Borei atzei vesamim: Recited over fragrant shrubs and trees or their flowers (e.g., myrtle, roses5 ).
2. Ha-nosein6 reich tov ba-perios: Recited over fragrant, edible fruits or nuts. Many poskim rule that nowadays, when fruits are generally grown for their taste and not for their smell, one should avoid smelling these fruits, since it is questionable if a blessing is required. 7 During the entire Yom Tov of Succos, the esrog should not be smelled at all. 8
3. Borei isvei vesamim: Recited over fragrant herbs, grasses or flowers.
4. Borei minei vesamim: Recited over a blend of spices of different species or of undetermined species. It is also recited over pleasant fragrances of animal origin, e.g., musk.
On Motza’ei Shabbos, the proper blessing is Borei minei vesamim—no matter what type of fragrance is being used. 9
The blessing is recited immediately before one intends to smell the pleasant fragrance. B’diavad, one may recite the blessing within a few seconds after he smelled a pleasant fragrance. 10
Question: Are there situations where one would not recite a blessing over a pleasant fragrance?
Discussion: A blessing over a pleasant fragrance is recited only over an object whose purpose is to exude a pleasant fragrance. If the object is primarily for another purpose—even if the object is sweet-smelling—no blessing is recited. 11Some examples:
• One enters a kitchen while food is being cooked or baked. Since the purpose of the cooking or baking is not to create a pleasant aroma, no blessing is recited. 12
• Flowers in a vase exude a pleasant fragrance. Since people usually buy flowers for their beauty, one who walks by and smells them does not recite a blessing. If, however, the flowers are picked up and smelled, a blessing must be recited.
• The fragrant smell of a backyard garden, etc. does not require a blessing. This is because a garden is usually planted for its beauty, not for its smell. If, however, one bends over and cups a flower in his hands in order to smell it, a blessing must be said. 13
• Some florists display flowers so that their fragrance will attract customers. In such a case, the proper blessing must be recited over the fragrance even if one did not pick the flowers up and— according to many poskim—even if he has no intention of smelling them. 14 If, however, the flowers are displayed just for their beauty, or are packed up for storage, no blessing is said even though the flowers smell good. 15
• A cup of coffee is poured for the purpose of drinking. No blessing is said over the aroma since the purpose of pouring the coffee is for drinking and not for its aroma. If, however, one specifically opens a fresh jar of coffee in order to smell it, a blessing is recited. 16 No blessing should be recited over instant coffee. 17
• No blessing is recited over air purifiers, deodorants, soaps, etc., since their purpose is to remove foul odors. 18 In addition, many poskim rule that no blessing is recited over perfume, since its fragrance is a result of chemical processes, not natural ones. 19
• Smelling an item to test if it smells good or if it is fit for purchase does not necessitate a blessing. 20
1. O.C. 216:1. A berachah acharonah, however,
was not instituted for pleasant fragrances;
Mishnah Berurah 216:4.
2. A fifth type of blessing, rarely recited, is
Borei shemen areiv. This is recited over
sweet-smelling oil derived from the balsam tree
grown in Eretz Yisrael.
3. One who does not enjoy a particular
fragrance does not recite a blessing.
4. We have listed the blessings in order of
priority when one is reciting blessing on more
than one type of fragrance; see Peri Megadim 216:19.
5. Mishnah Berurah 216:17.
6. This is the nusach which is quoted by most
poskim and all siddurim. Chayei Adam 61:2 and
Mishnah Berurah 216:9, however, substitute Asher
nosan for ha-nosein.
7. See Chazon Ish, O.C. 35:5-7, and Vezos
ha-Berachah, pg. 177.
8. Mishnah Berurah 216:53 and Beiur Halachah,
s.v. ha-meiriach. See Halichos Shelomo 1:23-37,
that an esrog which will be used o n Succos should
not be smelled even before the Yom Tov begins.
9. Mishnah Berurah 297:1. Even if fruit is
used; Aruch ha-Shulchan 297:4.
10. Halichos Shelomo 1:23-38.
11. O.C. 217:2. See also Mishnah Berurah 217:1;
216:11.
12. Sha’ar ha-Tziyun 216:46.
13. Ruling of Rav Y.Y. Fisher (Vezos
ha-Berachah, pg. 178); Az Nidberu 14:11.
14. Mishnah Berurah 217:1-2 and Sha’ar
ha-Tziyun 3 and 7. See Aruch ha-Shulchan 217:1-3
and Kaf ha-Chayim 217:2 who rule that one should
not recite the blessing unless he intends to smell
the flowers.
15. If they are picked up in order to be
smelled, a blessing is recited. See note 16 for
the view of Chazon Ish.
16. Mishnah Berurah 216:16. Chazon Ish (O.C.
35:5-7), however, rules that if the coffee jar is
going to be returned to the kitchen, then no
blessing may be recited over it. In his view, a
blessing is recited only when the spices are
designated for smelli ng only and serve no other
purpose.
17. Rav Y.Y. Fisher (Vezos ha-Berachah, pg. 174).
18. Mishnah Berurah 217:10; 216:41; Aruch
ha-Shulchan 217:5.
19. Rav S.Z. Auerbach (Shemiras Shabbos
K'hilchasah 61, note 32). This is also the view of
Rav M. Feinstein (quoted in The Radiance of
Shabbos, pg. 132, concerning Havdalah) and Rav
Y.S. Elyashiv (quoted in Vezos ha-Berachah, pg.
181 and Avnei Yashfei 2:16).
20. Kaf ha-Chayim 216:3; Rav C.P. Scheinberg
(Vezos ha-Berachah, pg. 179).
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Tikkun Chatzot
http://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/1321935/jewish/Up-at-Midnight.htm
http://opensiddur.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Tikkun-Ḥatzot-Nusaḥ-Ha-Ari-ḤaBaD.pdf
Tikkun Chatzot
Kabbalah emphasizes the importance of waking at midnight to serve G-d until dawn.
Of the most profound and life-transforming of Kabbalistic customs is the tradition to be awake from midnight to dawn, engaged in prayer, meditation, and Torah study. Clearly a practice at least as far back as the days of King David, the Sages, particularly those immersed in Jewish mysticism, have emphasized the importance of rising in the predawn hours of the night. Whether to rectify one’s own unique soul, or for sake of the rectification of the Creation at large, it is taught that this custom greatly amplifies one’s access to the "inner light" of divine consciousness, as well as the ability to effect a sweetening of harsh spiritual forces and mystical healing on a cosmic level.
As recommended by the sages of the Kabbalah, typically one awakes, says the appropriate introductory Morning Blessings (opinions vary on exactly which ones), immerses in a mikveh, or ritual bath (this daily practice usually applies just to men), sits on the ground near the doorway, places ashes on his forehead and sackcloth around his waist, and then recites the Tikkun Chatzot liturgy, a series of verses designed to bind our souls to the state of the Divine Presence, detailed below – all with their appropriate meditations, as taught in Kabbalistic texts. The rest of the night until the rising of the dawn is filled with meditation, personal prayer, song, Kabbalah study (particularly the Zohar and the Writings of the Ari), and the learning of Mishnah. One must not forget that none of this is obligatory, but a personal heartfelt path of serving G-d beyond the imperatives of Jewish law
One aspect of rising at midnight is that of consciously connecting – emotionally as well as mentally– with the Divine Presence, or "Shechina", in her state of exile. By strengthening this affinity, via meditation and genuine prayer, we direct our consciousness to the present imperfect state of the world and towards the idea of a perfected reality to which we, individually and collectively, aspire. MYSTICAL BACKGROUND What is focused upon is the direction toward which we are moving….
Briefly, the mystical background to this custom can be understood by understanding that, generally, certain times manifest particular spiritual states, whether on yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, or, in this case, hourly cycles. In that "light" is a general term for divine mercy and holiness, and "dark" is a general term for spiritual alienation and harsh judgmental forces, one might think that daylight hours, exclusively, are the most favorable, mystically speaking. In some ways that is true, but in the deepest teachings of Jewish mysticism what is focused upon is the direction toward which we are moving. Taking this into consideration, we can see that, actually, the "sweet" or "light-filled" hours actually begin exactly at midnight and commence at high noon. That moment of transformation from when the harshest of spiritual forces of the daily clock dominate to the beginning of the shining of the light of the coming day takes place exactly at the midpoint of the night. Simply put, being awake and actively engaged in divine service from this time through the dawn allows us to tap into the incredible potential manifest by this spiritual phenomenon.
The Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are known to have instituted the three established weekday prayers of Shacharit (morning), Mincha (afternoon), and Maariv (evening), respectively; it is King David, known as "the fourth leg" of G-d’s throne, who is seen as being the first to establish the tradition of serving G-d from midnight to dawn, as he himself writes in Psalms: "I will arise at midnight to give thanks to you…" (Psalms 119:62) In fact, the Talmud states that every night at midnight a northern wind would blow through King David’s bedroom window and strike the strings of his harp, hanging above him; the instrument would sound, waking him up, and he would spend the rest of the night singing to G-d and learning Torah. (Berachot 3b)
David, corresponding to the final hei of the Tetragrammaton, completes it….
In more Kabbalistic terms, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob correspond to the lofty Divine Emanations (or sefirot) of chesed, gevura, and tiferet, respectively; David is associated with malchut, the manifestation below of all supernal spiritual flow from Above. In the same sense, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob relate to the letters yud, (the first) hei, and vav of the Tetragrammaton, the Divine Name Havayah, while David, corresponding to the final hei of the Tetragrammaton, completes it. For this reason the 16th Century Kabbalists, including the holy Arizal, who held that from their time on it is possible to bring about the Final Redemption, emphasized the importance of this Kabbalistic custom, which is taught to have the power to usher in the Messianic Era; it is said that in Safed, during that period of great anticipation of the Final Redemption (as well as tremendous revelations of Kabbalah), there were many entire congregations which assembled to pray and learn together at midnight with this intention.
In the 16th Century, the Safed Kabbalists codified a particular order of prayer for those who get up at this time, called "Tikkun Chatzot", or the "Midnight Rectification". Mostly consisting of Psalms and verses from the Torah relating to the destruction of the Holy Temple and our longing for the Redemption, it is divided into two major sections relating to the Matriarchs Rachel and Leah; this is fitting in that, as mentioned above, the Midnight Prayer corresponds to the final hei of the Tetragrammaton – the manifestation of the Divine Presence, or Feminine Principle (Nukva) below. In the language of the Kabbalah, once the "vessel" of the Feminine Principal, below, is "constructed" (or "repaired"), the divine Infinite Light from Above finds a means through which to be expressed and the world is complete.
Once printed in most Jewish prayer books, today it is mostly found in those of Sephardic communities and in a few Chasidic (Sefard) versions. Specifically, Tikkun Rachel begins Vidui, or the Confession Prayer, and then continues with Psalms 137 and 79, chapter 5 of the Book of Lamentations, and a number of verses from Isaiah, Jeremiah and Lamentations; many versions then include five poems written by 16th Century sages, including Rabbi Moshe Alshich of Safed. Next, Tikkun Leah includes Psalms 24, 42, 43, 20, 67, and 111; then, after some verses from Isaiah, is Psalms 51 and 126. Certain parts (sometimes the entire Tikkun Rachel) are omitted on certain holydays, including the New Moon and the entire Sabbatical Year in Israel. Due to the spiritual nature of Shabbat and some holidays, none of these passages are recited, in favor of study and meditation on the holiness of the day.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Kabbalistic texts abound with praises for those engage in divine service after midnight. In fact, the Zohar includes dozens of statements emphasizing its significance. The following is one of many examples:
Come and see, when a person rises at midnight to engage in Torah, the Holy Blessed One, focuses on him, as we have learned - for it is written: "You, who dwells in the gardens, friends [i.e. angels] listen attentively to your voice; let Me hear!" (Songs 8:13) And all the myriads [of angels] in the heavenly heights and all the [angelic] masters of praise who sing unto their Master all become silent because of the praise [brought about by] those engaged in Torah [at this time]. And they [the angelic forces] proclaim and say, ‘Behold! Bless G-d, all the servants of G-d!...’ (Psalms 134:1) You are the ones who bless G-d! It is you who are the praise of the Holy King! It is you who crown the King!... ‘…Those who stand in the house of G-d in the nights’ (ibid.) – these are the ones who are called the G-d's servants. It is they who are worthy of blessing the king, and their [act of] blessing is a blessing!" (Zohar II:13a)
______________________________________________________________________________
And lest one think that this practice is limited to the sages of Jewish mysticism, the Talmud itself states, "Upon all those who engage in Torah in the nights, the Holy Blessed One draws down a ray of grace upon them the following day." (Hagigah 12b) In fact, the Shulchan Aruch, the standard Code of Jewish Law for all Jews, actually begins with this important foundation in Jewish spiritual practice.
So whether a person makes Tikkun Chatzot a part of their daily practice, or only occasionally (at least weekly, according to Shulchan Aruch HaRav1), the effect, according to Jewish mysticism, is immense. In fact, in the words of the Komarno Rebbe, to rise at midnight to study, sing and pray to G-d is "a taste of the World to Come" – something whose spiritual value is actually felt and experienced. May we merit to connect to this light of the Divine Presence!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://opensiddur.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Tikkun-Ḥatzot-Nusaḥ-Ha-Ari-ḤaBaD.pdf
Tikkun Chatzot
Kabbalah emphasizes the importance of waking at midnight to serve G-d until dawn.
Of the most profound and life-transforming of Kabbalistic customs is the tradition to be awake from midnight to dawn, engaged in prayer, meditation, and Torah study. Clearly a practice at least as far back as the days of King David, the Sages, particularly those immersed in Jewish mysticism, have emphasized the importance of rising in the predawn hours of the night. Whether to rectify one’s own unique soul, or for sake of the rectification of the Creation at large, it is taught that this custom greatly amplifies one’s access to the "inner light" of divine consciousness, as well as the ability to effect a sweetening of harsh spiritual forces and mystical healing on a cosmic level.
As recommended by the sages of the Kabbalah, typically one awakes, says the appropriate introductory Morning Blessings (opinions vary on exactly which ones), immerses in a mikveh, or ritual bath (this daily practice usually applies just to men), sits on the ground near the doorway, places ashes on his forehead and sackcloth around his waist, and then recites the Tikkun Chatzot liturgy, a series of verses designed to bind our souls to the state of the Divine Presence, detailed below – all with their appropriate meditations, as taught in Kabbalistic texts. The rest of the night until the rising of the dawn is filled with meditation, personal prayer, song, Kabbalah study (particularly the Zohar and the Writings of the Ari), and the learning of Mishnah. One must not forget that none of this is obligatory, but a personal heartfelt path of serving G-d beyond the imperatives of Jewish law
One aspect of rising at midnight is that of consciously connecting – emotionally as well as mentally– with the Divine Presence, or "Shechina", in her state of exile. By strengthening this affinity, via meditation and genuine prayer, we direct our consciousness to the present imperfect state of the world and towards the idea of a perfected reality to which we, individually and collectively, aspire. MYSTICAL BACKGROUND What is focused upon is the direction toward which we are moving….
Briefly, the mystical background to this custom can be understood by understanding that, generally, certain times manifest particular spiritual states, whether on yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, or, in this case, hourly cycles. In that "light" is a general term for divine mercy and holiness, and "dark" is a general term for spiritual alienation and harsh judgmental forces, one might think that daylight hours, exclusively, are the most favorable, mystically speaking. In some ways that is true, but in the deepest teachings of Jewish mysticism what is focused upon is the direction toward which we are moving. Taking this into consideration, we can see that, actually, the "sweet" or "light-filled" hours actually begin exactly at midnight and commence at high noon. That moment of transformation from when the harshest of spiritual forces of the daily clock dominate to the beginning of the shining of the light of the coming day takes place exactly at the midpoint of the night. Simply put, being awake and actively engaged in divine service from this time through the dawn allows us to tap into the incredible potential manifest by this spiritual phenomenon.
The Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are known to have instituted the three established weekday prayers of Shacharit (morning), Mincha (afternoon), and Maariv (evening), respectively; it is King David, known as "the fourth leg" of G-d’s throne, who is seen as being the first to establish the tradition of serving G-d from midnight to dawn, as he himself writes in Psalms: "I will arise at midnight to give thanks to you…" (Psalms 119:62) In fact, the Talmud states that every night at midnight a northern wind would blow through King David’s bedroom window and strike the strings of his harp, hanging above him; the instrument would sound, waking him up, and he would spend the rest of the night singing to G-d and learning Torah. (Berachot 3b)
David, corresponding to the final hei of the Tetragrammaton, completes it….
In more Kabbalistic terms, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob correspond to the lofty Divine Emanations (or sefirot) of chesed, gevura, and tiferet, respectively; David is associated with malchut, the manifestation below of all supernal spiritual flow from Above. In the same sense, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob relate to the letters yud, (the first) hei, and vav of the Tetragrammaton, the Divine Name Havayah, while David, corresponding to the final hei of the Tetragrammaton, completes it. For this reason the 16th Century Kabbalists, including the holy Arizal, who held that from their time on it is possible to bring about the Final Redemption, emphasized the importance of this Kabbalistic custom, which is taught to have the power to usher in the Messianic Era; it is said that in Safed, during that period of great anticipation of the Final Redemption (as well as tremendous revelations of Kabbalah), there were many entire congregations which assembled to pray and learn together at midnight with this intention.
In the 16th Century, the Safed Kabbalists codified a particular order of prayer for those who get up at this time, called "Tikkun Chatzot", or the "Midnight Rectification". Mostly consisting of Psalms and verses from the Torah relating to the destruction of the Holy Temple and our longing for the Redemption, it is divided into two major sections relating to the Matriarchs Rachel and Leah; this is fitting in that, as mentioned above, the Midnight Prayer corresponds to the final hei of the Tetragrammaton – the manifestation of the Divine Presence, or Feminine Principle (Nukva) below. In the language of the Kabbalah, once the "vessel" of the Feminine Principal, below, is "constructed" (or "repaired"), the divine Infinite Light from Above finds a means through which to be expressed and the world is complete.
Once printed in most Jewish prayer books, today it is mostly found in those of Sephardic communities and in a few Chasidic (Sefard) versions. Specifically, Tikkun Rachel begins Vidui, or the Confession Prayer, and then continues with Psalms 137 and 79, chapter 5 of the Book of Lamentations, and a number of verses from Isaiah, Jeremiah and Lamentations; many versions then include five poems written by 16th Century sages, including Rabbi Moshe Alshich of Safed. Next, Tikkun Leah includes Psalms 24, 42, 43, 20, 67, and 111; then, after some verses from Isaiah, is Psalms 51 and 126. Certain parts (sometimes the entire Tikkun Rachel) are omitted on certain holydays, including the New Moon and the entire Sabbatical Year in Israel. Due to the spiritual nature of Shabbat and some holidays, none of these passages are recited, in favor of study and meditation on the holiness of the day.
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Kabbalistic texts abound with praises for those engage in divine service after midnight. In fact, the Zohar includes dozens of statements emphasizing its significance. The following is one of many examples:
Come and see, when a person rises at midnight to engage in Torah, the Holy Blessed One, focuses on him, as we have learned - for it is written: "You, who dwells in the gardens, friends [i.e. angels] listen attentively to your voice; let Me hear!" (Songs 8:13) And all the myriads [of angels] in the heavenly heights and all the [angelic] masters of praise who sing unto their Master all become silent because of the praise [brought about by] those engaged in Torah [at this time]. And they [the angelic forces] proclaim and say, ‘Behold! Bless G-d, all the servants of G-d!...’ (Psalms 134:1) You are the ones who bless G-d! It is you who are the praise of the Holy King! It is you who crown the King!... ‘…Those who stand in the house of G-d in the nights’ (ibid.) – these are the ones who are called the G-d's servants. It is they who are worthy of blessing the king, and their [act of] blessing is a blessing!" (Zohar II:13a)
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And lest one think that this practice is limited to the sages of Jewish mysticism, the Talmud itself states, "Upon all those who engage in Torah in the nights, the Holy Blessed One draws down a ray of grace upon them the following day." (Hagigah 12b) In fact, the Shulchan Aruch, the standard Code of Jewish Law for all Jews, actually begins with this important foundation in Jewish spiritual practice.
So whether a person makes Tikkun Chatzot a part of their daily practice, or only occasionally (at least weekly, according to Shulchan Aruch HaRav1), the effect, according to Jewish mysticism, is immense. In fact, in the words of the Komarno Rebbe, to rise at midnight to study, sing and pray to G-d is "a taste of the World to Come" – something whose spiritual value is actually felt and experienced. May we merit to connect to this light of the Divine Presence!
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RABBI NACHMAN of Breslov Emunah Podcast Edition 2 part 3
ADVICE from
RABBI NACHMAN
Online version of the English translation of Likutey Etzot, a complete compendium of Rabbi Nachman's practical teachings on spiritual growth and devotion based on his lessons in Likutey Moharan as transcribed by his leading student, Rabbi Noson of Breslov
Translated by Avraham Greenbaum
Through giving charity the force of love and kindness is brought into the world; the Messiah is revealed, and the Holy Temple, which is itself the revelation of the knowledge of God rebuilt. The unification of the Holy One, blessed-be-He and the Shechinah then becomes complete. Through this we will become worthy of the new revelation of Torah which is destined to come about in the future.
5 Boldness
1) One kind of boldness is thoroughly evil. This is the unashamed self-assertiveness of arrogant people. For `the bold-faced will go to hell' (Avoth 5:25) and Abraham preferred exile rather than hell as the punishment for the sins of the Jewish people. All other sins are punished with exile, but the penalty for this kind of brazen arrogance is still Gehinnom. On the other hand, there is another kind of forcefulness which is essential for anyone who wants to come closer to God. It is impossible to draw closer to the Tzaddikim and sanctify oneself without it. It entails a certain firmness, determination and initiative. This is the quality the sages referred to when they said, `Be bold as a leopard' (Avoth 5:24). The people who oppose those who are truly righteous and who put every kind of obstacle in their way have a brazen arrogance which is `royalty without a crown.' Whoever chooses life and truth needs the other kind of forcefulness in order to overcome these obstacles. His opponents have set their jaws firmly against him, and therefore he needs to set himself equally firmly against them. Only with determination is it possible to enter the gates of holiness (22:11).
ARROGANCE OF THE BODY AND HOLY SOUNDS
2) This determination and forcefulness are also necessary in the fight against oneself -- or rather, against the brazen arrogance of the body, which is itself so forceful when it comes to satisfying its own desires and has no sense of shame before the Almighty. The arrogance of the body makes it impossible for the soul to come down and draw closer to it in order to communicate something of her own spiritual perceptions. The soul has constant contact with the highest spiritual levels, but the body does not have an inkling of any of this because of its dogged involvement with its own impulses. One should take pity on the flesh of one's body and break its dogged pursuit of desire. Then the soul will be able to draw closer and give the body a share in her own spiritual visions and perceptions. To stand up to this arrogance of the body requires the other, holy forcefulness and determination. The way to assert the spiritual power of the soul is with holy sounds -- the sound of prayer and song, the sound of crying and sighing before God, the sound of the shofar or the sound of the voice of the true Tzaddik, and all the other holy sounds, even the sound of the jingling of coins in a charity box! These holy sounds have the power to break the arrogance of the body (Ibid.).
3) But at times a person may be on such a low level and his body so far removed from his soul that even when he groans and cries out to God the body does not hear the sound at all. It is so far removed from the soul that it hears only a confused and indistinct echo. This is because as soon as a holy sound is heard, it arouses the forces of the Other Side, and they are the source of the confused noise. Such a person may even hear the voice of the Tzaddik himself, but he does not hear the essence of his voice, only an indistinct noise, and the arrogance of the body remains unbroken. The body needs to be trained to hear the voice of the soul. It must be pressed into service by performing the practical mitzvot. And to hear the voice of the Tzaddik, the body must be made to participate in practical activities on his behalf. This is the way to train the body to listen to the voice of the sage and to the groaning and crying of the person himself. In the end, the arrogance of the body will be broken (Ibid. 7,8).
4) The way to attain this firmness and determination in pursuit of the holy is through joy. Joy and happiness are the main source of strength for one who wants to draw closer to God and serve Him. `For the joy of the Lord is your strength' (Nehemiah 8:10) (Ibid. 9).
5) Boldness is essential if you want to acquire Torah. You must be `bold as a leopard' to resist the people who put obstacles in your way. You must not be ashamed if they mock you. The bolder you are, the more you will find new horizons in Torah. But a person whose boldness stems from arrogance will not discover truly original Torah concepts. The Torah he receives will be drawn from the forces of the Other Side. To be bold in a positive sense in pursuit of the holy is part of the very essence of prayer -- and the level of Torah a person attains with his boldness will bring him to a corresponding level of prayer. It takes a certain daring, and even `impudence' to stand before God and ask Him for what we need, including even miracles. A person who feels ashamed when he thinks of God's greatness and his own inadequacies and failings will never be able to open his mouth at all. This is why it takes boldness to pray. The more firm and determined a person is in the face of the opposition, the higher the levels of Torah and prayer he will attain (30:8).
v6) The bold have no share in Torah. And only the bold have a share. Those whose boldness is arrogance will have no share. Only those who are bold and determined for the sake of holiness will have a share (Ibid.).
7) People may mock at you or put obstacles in your way. But don't allow yourself to be put off by them, and don't become shy and timid. You may think they are better than you or on a higher level. It may even be true and perhaps they really are on a higher level. Even so, as long as your own motive is for the sake of Heaven you must be firm and bold in the face of those who are confusing you and keeping you from the path of life. This is the only way you will attain holiness. Even with the Rav himself you need to be bold. Don't be afraid to talk about anything you need to discuss with him. It is no good to be shy, for `one who is shy will never learn' (Avoth 2:6). The reason why some people are closer to the Rav than others is only because they took the initiative and therefore the Rav speaks with them more (171).
6 Chanukah
1) Through the mitzvah of kindling the lights of Chanukah we acknowledge the glory of God. His glory is exalted and magnified in the world. Those who were distant from Him are stirred to return. We can attain true fear of Heaven, harmony in the home and genuine prayer. Strife and malicious slander are banished and universal peace spreads in all th e worlds (Likutey Moharan 14).
2) Through the mitzva of kindling the lights of Chanukah we draw down holy Da'at, the knowledge of God, upon ourselves. This Da'at is `the goodly oil' (Psalms 133:) of memory, whereby a person at all times bears in mind that everything in this world, both in general and in particular, has meaning only in relation to the World to Come (See Zicaron) (54).3) The days of Chanukah are days of thanksgiving and praise. Thanksgiving and praise are the essence of the delight of the World to Come. They cause the light of truth to shine: we can pray in truth and learn Torah in truth from the lips of the true teacher, and marriage unions are formed in truth. These three rays of truth send light to all the different facets of speech and bring the faculty of speech to perfection. Through this we are able to bring the sanctity and joy of Shabbat into the six days of the week. Then the simple unity of God is revealed. All these tikkunim are brought about by the kindling of the Chanukah lights, and the praise and thanksgiving which we offer on Chanukah. How precious it is if you achieve all this on Chanukah and bring about these awesome tikkunim (Likutey Moharan II, 2).
4) The appeals we make to God to `Forgive us!' on Yom Kippur help us to experience the holiness of Chanukah. The reason is that the theme of Chanukah is the consecration of the Holy Temple (chanukat Beit Hamikdash), and on Chanukah we draw the sanctity of the Holy Temple upon ourselves. But it is only possible to do this when our sins are forgiven, as they are on Yom Kippur. The great teaching which the Holy Temple embodies and declares to the world is that `The Lord, He is God:' in all His aspects He is One. This knowledge can free us from the hold of sin. Nowhere is God's love for Israel more clearly revealed than in the forgiveness of sin. When we radiate the holy knowledge of God's unity to our children and pupils in this generation and in all the generations of the future, we can come to a vision of the transcendental levels of holiness, the holiness which is beyond this world and encompasses it. This vision is a foretaste of the joy of the World to Come. It is through the kindling of the holy oil of the Chanukah lights that we come to perceive these levels and then our very life and sustenance are drawn from the Supernal Will. We can be worthy of receiving an awesome revelation of God's Will and favor at the very time we are eating. We long and yearn and pine for God with a desire that has no limits. But only if you are close to a true teacher who is filled with genui ne love can you come to attain these levels on Chanukah. How precious to find such a teacher (7:11)
7 Charity
1) You should give to charity before you pray. This is the way to avoid the extraneous thoughts which come to a person while praying. You will be able to pray properly without straying to the right or the left. You will order and measure your words in the scale of justice (2).
2) Giving charity to Torah scholars will protect you against time wasting and malicious gossip. It will also save you from pride and all related character defects. Giving charity is a protection against poverty and will make you wealthy (4:8).
3) In order to break your appetite for riches you must give charity. The harsh anger which hangs over the world will be dissipated, and God's providence will be drawn over the whole world. Through giving charity the force of love and kindness is brought into the world; the Messiah is revealed, and the Holy Temple, which is itself the revelation of the knowledge of God rebuilt. The unification of the Holy One, blessed-be-He and the Shechinah then becomes complete. Through this we will become worthy of the new revelation of Torah which is destined to come about in the future. The upper and lower chariots are restored, and it is accounted like an offering of incense (13).
4) Through giving charity to the true Tzaddikim and to poor people who genuinely deserve it, converts are made. Through this one attains perfect wisdom and becomes worthy of seeing the light of the Tzaddikim. This is how to achieve the love and fear of Heaven (17:5).
5) When a person gives charity to the true Tzaddikim and to poor people who genuinely deserve it, it is as if he gave charity to many, many Jewish souls (Ibid.).
6) This kind of charity enables all the goodness which is held captive amidst the heathen nations of the world to be brought back to mind and be remembered. This goodness is all the sparks of Jewish souls which have fallen into exile, and because of the length of the exile they have forgotten their true worth. Giving charity enables these souls to remember what they really are and how they have fallen from heaven to earth. They start to take pity on themselves, and long and yearn to be restored. Because the real essence of the soul is beyond all the worlds for `Israel arose in His thought first' (Bereshith Rabbah 1) and `the Holy One, blessed-be-He, consulted with the souls of Israel when He created the world' (Ibid. 8). But now these sparks are trapped in exile, and they are in danger of being destroyed and going to waste, God forbid. But when they remember their own exaltedness they repent and their holiness is restored. If you think about all this carefully you will see for yourself how far you need to take care of yourself and have pity on yourself and your condition, considering the true preciousness of your soul. You should say to yourself: `Am I not from the seed of Israel, who are above all the worlds? What have I come to? Who knows what will be in the future? Is the Evil One trying to destroy me, God forbid?' Think deeply about this, and you will be so overwhelmed with the desire to do something for yourself that you will try with all your might to return to God (Ibid. 6).
7) When a person gives some of his money to a poor person who genuinely deserves it, it is a tikkun for all his money. The `supernal colors' are revealed through his money this is the main revelation of the greatness of the Creator. The husks are thereby broken and humbled namely the fantasies, desires and distractions which rise up against a person every time he has to climb from one level to the next and which range themselves against him to prevent him entering the gates of holiness. Giving charity makes it possible to break the husks and rise from level to level (25:4).
8) Charity is the comprehensive tikkun for business activity. With every step a person takes as he goes about his business, with every word he speaks and every ounce of strength he puts into his work, he should have it in mind that his only goal is to give charity from the money he earns (29:9).
9) Giving charity expands and elevates the mind, and this brings blessing and livelihood (Ibid.).
10) Through giving charity one can come to speak words which radiate with the wisdom of Torah (Ibid. 10).
11) Acts of charity and lovingkindness have the power to undermine alien ideologies and release us from the burdens of worldly authorities, and we can achieve a perception of Godliness (30:7).
12) When the Sages criticize us and point out our faults, we should accept their criticisms submissively, even if at times they are expressed in a derogatory way. Through this we will be worthy of performing acts of charity and lovingkindness (Ibid.).
13) All the heavenly constellations are directed and governed by tzedakah, charity. It is through charity that all blessings flow into the world. But only on Shabbat are the blessings perfect. Shabbat is the embodiment of faith. The main significance of charity is that it is an expression of faith. This is why the true radiance of the light of charity and its perfection are seen only on Shabbat the embodiment of faith (31).
14) One should give charity before going on a journey. Then he will be saved from any obstacles and troubles on the way (Ibid.).
15) The central aspect of any fast is the charity which the person who is fasting gives. Fasting and charity make it possible to subdue the body as against the soul, substance as against form, folly as against wisdom. One emerges from darkness to light, from death to life, from animality to the level of Man. The force of alien ideologies and all other false and foolish idea-systems is broken, and the wisdom of Torah, which is the true wisdom, comes into its place. The hold of forgetfulness is broken, and in its place comes memory. The harsh judgments and darkness are dissipated, and love is brought into the world (37).
16) Charity given for the Land of Israel is greater than charity for other causes. When you give charity for the Land of Israel you become included in the air of the Land of Israel, which is holy breath without the taint of sin. Harsh judgements, darkness, forgetfulness and folly are banished from the world (Ibid. 4).
17) You must aim to be contented. You must be contented with just as much as is essential for you to take from this world. And even out of that you must still devote a portion to charity. The effect of this in the upper worlds is to bring about a great unification, and abundant blessings are brought into the world (54:2).
18) Charity for the Land of Israel can save you from distracting thoughts while you are praying. Your mind and thoughts are clarified and purified. This is tikkun habrit (44).
19) Charity brings abundant peace (57:7).
20) Acts of charity bring blessings of love into the world. The honor and majesty of the forces of holiness are released from the husks and the Other Side. The lust for food is broken. The prestige and power of those who are arrogant and self-assertive is broken, and honor is returned to the true leaders (67).
21) During the morning service, when you reach the words `And You have dominion over everything' (Chronicles I, 29:12) you should give to charity. The reason for this is to elevate glory and dominion from the forces of the Other Side and return them to the side of holiness (Ibid. 7).
22) When a person gives charity, it is a tikkun for all his money. This way it will stay with him, and his livelihood will be sent in abundance (69).
23) One who gives charity to a Tzaddik who is truly humble is immediately blessed (70).
24) Giving charity in secret is a tikkun for a wasteful emission at night (83).
25) Charity saves from sin (116).
26) Through charity comes wisdom (119).
27) A segulah for epilepsy, God forbid, is to distribute charity to the poor. In the Hebrew words of the verse: `He hath scattered abroad, he hath given to the needy' (Psalms 112:9) the first letters of each word, Pizar Matan La-evyonim, spell out the word NoPheL, which is the word for epilepsy (201).
28) The charity you give to Torah scholars is something great and precious. No sin can extinguish this merit (204).
29) The Sages ordained that we should give between a tenth and a fifth of our income to charity. This tithe has the power to save us from our enemies (221).
30) The tithe we give to charity brings us contentment (Ibid.).
31) Charity protects against immoral fantasies (242).
32) Charity is a remedy for immorality. But it is important not to give money to a poor person who is undeserving because this only makes things worse. One must beg God to make him worthy of finding poor people who deserve to be helped (264).
33) The merit of those who support the Torah and give money for Torah scholars is very great indeed. This money makes it possible for them to devote themselves to Torah, to give birth to new legal rulings and to open up new horizons in Torah. Those who gave the money therefore have a share in the Torah which was born and revealed through their help. Whatever they gave to the Torah scholars and whatever they themselves went short of as a result, will all be made up to them later on, by means of the new Torah concepts which came into being through their help.Revelations of Torah bring an influx of love into the world which completes all that was lacking. Those who support Torah scholars will be rewarded with the delights of the World to Come (II 2:2).
34) It is speech that gives man his uniqueness. The roots of speech lie in charity. The instinct to give charity and show lovingkindness is peculiar to man. It is in the nature of Man, the Speaker, to show kindness to his fellow creatures. When a person fails to act kindly and charitably it is a stain on the faculty of speech and he cannot be defined as a Man (225).
35) When we give charity, the main task is to break our instinct to be cruel and turn it in to lovingkindness in order to give generously. When a person who is kind by nature gives charity purely out of instinct, it cannot be called an act of service of God. In order to fulfill the mitzvah of charity in the proper way, one must first experience the battle of breaking his natural instinct to be cruel and turn it into love in order to give to charity (II, 4:1,2).
36) Charity has the power to widen the entrance to holiness. When a person wants to embark upon a certain path of devotion, he first needs to make an opening in order to enter his new path. This is why all beginnings are hard. But giving charity makes the entrance wider (Ibid. 2).
37) Any act of charity is very hard and heavy at the beginning. But the effects of charity are great beyond measure. The body has many needs even the essentials, like food, drink, clothing and shelter are very demanding. They are all a distraction from one's religious devotions. But charity has the power to break all these obstacles because it opens up the channels of God's blessing and love to the point where one has no need to work at all in order to have what he needs to live. All his work will be done by others, leaving him free to devote himself to the service of God (Ibid. 3).
38) Charity is the remedy for the damage caused when the elders of the generation do not lead their lives as they should. Through remedying this, it is possible to strike at the very roots of materialism the idea that everything in the world is dominated by the laws of nature. Then we can hear the mesSage of the three festivals, Pesach, Shavuot and Succot: that everything takes place only through the will of God. Each of the festivals recalls the miracles that were brought about for us miracles transcending nature. To be aware that God's will transcends the laws of nature, is to experience the joy of the festivals and attain to the fear of Heaven.Fear of Heaven is the channel for receiving blessings so abundant that you will have not have to work at all, to have what you need to live (Ibid. 9).
39) Charity is the remedy for all wounds (Ibid. 12).
40) The true Tzaddik receives the words of his holy lips from those who give charity (II, 15).
41) Zealousness for the Lord of Hosts is accounted as an act of charity (65).
42) You must learn the thirteen Divine attributes of lovingkindness learn them in order to fulfill them in practice. You must cultivate the quality of love and do as many kindnesses as you can for other people.When we strive to fulfill each of the thirteen attributes of love, the thirteen supernal attributes of love are aroused, and the destructive angels brought into being through sin are humbled. Our own acts of kindness arouse God's forgiveness, and He passes over our sins one after the other (Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom 89).
8 Children
1) Intense prayer is a segulah for having children. The same is true of the mitzvah of Succah and the Land of Israel. These three concepts are all connected with one another (48).
2) Those who work hard to draw people closer to God and to the Tzaddik are worthy of having children (53).
3) If you are married, be careful that you sanctify the marriage relationship. You must break the force of your desires, which are rooted in the animal soul. You should imagine that a demon is forcing you (cf. Nedarim 20b). Then you will be blessed with children, and they will be protected from premature death (39).
4) The best time for relations between husband and wife is on the night of Shabbat (cf. Ketuboth 61b). Then they will be blessed with children (Ibid.).
5) One with an evil eye will not leave male offspring behind. The same goes for one who talks lashon hara, slander, and bad language (Ibid.).
5) A segulah for having children is that prior to having relations, the husband and wife should recite the account of the additional offerings which were brought on the New Moon. This also helps for a child who is sick (151).
6) A woman who usually has a difficult labour should recite the Psalm of Thanksgiving (Psalm 100). It is also a segulah for her to give generously to charity and to help others as much as possible with favors and acts of kindness (II, 2:3,4).
7) A person who has no children should make it a practice whenever he attends a religious celebration to be especially joyful. When he studies Torah it should be with joy. The same goes for all the mitzvot. The joy should be so great that he literally starts dancing for joy. Then he will be worthy of having children (81).
8) Faith brings children (cf. Genesis 15:5,6) The Hebrew word for faith is emunah. The numerical value of the word emunah is one hundred and two. The word for children is banim. The numerical value of banim is also one hundred and two (Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom 34).
9) It is best for children if you leave them alone for the most part rather than sticking to them and playing with them constantly. Don't pay overmuch attention to them. Do what you have to in order to give them their religious education, and training them in mitzvot when they reach the appropriate age. But don't play with them too much (Ibid. 59).
10) If you are joyous, it can protect your children from death (Ibid. 65
9 Clothes
1) You should be very particular about your clothes. Never treat them carelessly, and make sure they are not stained or dirty. A person's clothes become his judges if he does not show them the respect they deserve. The greater the man the more care he must take over his garments, because the higher one's level the more scrupulously one is judged (29:3).
2) A person who fails to protect his garments from stains causes a division between the Holy One, blessed-be-He, and the Shechinah. This gives strength to the `wicked maid,' which is an expression for the forces of evil. Such a person is like a rebel against God's kingship, and therefore his whole livelihood will only come to him with great exertion and difficulty (Ibid.).
3) By making a beautiful garment for a Tzaddik the Shechinah is clothed in radiant garments, and the severe face which God shows to the world becomes sweetened (42).
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4) See to it that your clothes are always in good condition. Never wear clothes that are torn. Torn clothes are an indication of weakness in the fight against evil, because the concept of clothing alludes to the mystery of the chashmal (Ezekiel 1:27) which is bound up with the idea of watchfulness (127).
The definition of Chashmal[92] is based on
5) The Evil One and the forces of the Other Side grab people by their clothes. They burden people with all kinds of worries about clothing. The trouble people have to go to for various items of clothing they need can easily become a serious distraction from religious devotion. Someone who is firm in his faith will not be concerned about this. Even if he has nothing to wear he will still do what he can to serve God to the full extent of his capability. In the end God will look down from the Heavens and see (Rabbi Nachman's
Ezekiel 1:4 And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber (chashmal), out of the midst of the fire.
And
Chagigah 13b The Rabbis taught: There was once a child who was reading at his teacher’s house the Book of Ezekiel, and he apprehended what Hashmal was, whereupon a fire went forth from Hashmal and consumed him. So they[93] sought to suppress the Book of Ezekiel, but Hananiah b. Hezekiah said to them: If he was a Sage, all are Sages![94] What does [the word] Hashmal mean?-Rab Judah said: Living creatures speaking fire.[95] In a Baraitha it is taught: [Hashmal means], At times they are silent, at times they speak.[96] When the utterance goes forth from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, they are silent, and when the utterance goes not forth from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, they speak.
Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsberg[97] defines Chashmalim as:
The dynamic of contraction and relaxation characterizes the class of angels whose spiritual abode (the “heaven” known as Ma’on’) is in the realm of the sefirah of gevurah. These angels are referred to as Chashmalim, which means that they are “at times silent, at limes speaking”. The time of silence is the time of contraction; the time of speaking is the time of relaxation. As it is written, “The words of the wise spoken in a state of tranquility, are heard”.
10 Confession
CONFESSION:
1) It is a good thing to pour out your heart and confess all your sins before a Torah scholar. Sin is in essence a denial of Godliness. Therefore when a person confesses his sins it is an acknowledgement of the sovereignty of God. God's sovereignty is then exalted and restored to its root, and the power of the forces denying Godliness is broken. Through confessing in this way and expressing what is in your heart you will eventually come to understand how everything that happens is for your own good. You will acknowledge that `God is good and does good.' This is the formula of the blessing we make on hearing good news. Today, we still have a separate blessing for news that is not good. But our Sages said that in time to come there will only be one blessing -- the one for good news (Pesachim 50a).
This will be when we will realize that everything is for the best. To achieve this realization is to have a taste of the World to Come (Likutey Moharan I, 4:3).
2) The sins a person commits are engraved upon his very bones (Ezekiel 32:27) But when he confesses them before a Torah scholar, the entire accumulation of evil engraved on his bones is lifted. All his sins are forgiven and atonement is granted (Ibid. 5).
3) A person may come to visit a great scholar and even contribute money to him. But until he comes before him and confesses his sins and pours out his heart, he still does not know the path he should travel. For `there is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the ways of death' (Proverbs 14:12). Through his confession, the scholar is able to set him straight on the path which accords with the root of his soul (Ibid. 8).
4) Each time a person visits the scholar, he should pour out his heart before him. Through this he will come to be merged with the En Sof. (Ibid. 9).
5) It is necessary to specify exactly what the sin was, and the confession must be put into words. Thought is not enough. Whatever you may have done, you must verbally articulate what you did. There are many obstacles to doing this. Sometimes the sin passes out of your mind and you forget it. In certain cases people find it very difficult to bring out the words and confess. There are many other obstacles. The way to conquer them is with joy, the joy of a mitzvah, such as a wedding celebration and so on. You should work yourself up until you literally dance for joy. Then you will be able to confess what you must and right the wrongs caused by your sins (178).
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Emunah Paths Podcast - Edition 2
http://archive.org/details/R.Nati_RebAkivaEmunahPathsPodcast-Edition2
Akavya ben Mehalalel said: Reflect upon three things and you will not come to the hands of sin. Know from where you have come, to where you are heading, and before Whom you will give justification and accounting. From where have you come -- from a putrid drop; to where are you heading -- to a place of dust, worms and maggots; and before Whom will you give justification and accounting -- before the King Who reigns over kings, the Holy One, may He be blessed. Ethics of the Fathers, 3:1
Emunah Paths Podcast - Edition 2
Recognizing Hashem's presence in the world what does this mean practically? Pirkei Avos ch 3 reflect on 3 things and you will not come to sin-become sensitive to stnding in front of the king Despair forgitten who we really are -- c/n possibly recover-- no place without Ha shem in the world Tzadikkim planted in each generation Role of soiled garments --falling from self purification--great effort in stripping thenm off Avram Greenbaum Restore my soul Role of expanded consciousness-being awake-internal knowing-emunah- G-d runs even the minutest detail Realizing "who we are" spiritual coma of restricted consciousness Awareness of who's running the world-- not just an intellectual knowing We're brought down to spiritual coma in the world We're involved in the feel of the moment -Gentle reminders all are mesages from the Holy One Blessed Be He We want tio revert o bat qol and Nevi- yet he sends non intrusive messages every day - he's even more vocal when we are not listening. Everything is a message from Ha Shem. Not alone in the world. A guest does not fret over what's being served for dinner-- a guest just receives-- we're just guest.. From where have you come -- from a putrid drop
Science fiction writer Robert Heinlein told of a sad little lizard who bragged that he was a brontosaurus on his mother's side. People who inflate their importance by pointing to an illustrious past often have nothing to be proud of within themselves.
We are all guilty of this, given human beings' natural predisposition toward arrogance. We imagine ourselves as the crowning glory of all the generations that preceded us, occupying our rightful place at the pinnacle of creation. In our arrogance, we convince ourselves that whatever we may desire is, by definition, right and good.
But what if we look back not to our noble forebears but to our biological beginnings? Every one of us can trace his origins back to a few milliliters of seminal fluid and to a single spermatozoon. And what if that particular spermatozoon had been edged out by another in the fertilization of our mother's ovum? Quite simply, we would not exist, and our place in the world would be occupied by another.
Is this the past on which we found our delusions of supremacy and grandeur? Is this the source of the arrogance that convinces us that we can abrogate Divine Law? Consider your origins, says our Mishna, contemplate your own insignificance if not for the Divine Hand that brought you into being, and you will think twice before you act in contravention of the Creator upon whose existence your own existence depends.
to where are you heading -- to a place of dust, worms and maggots
The past is not the only source of human arrogance. The present and the future confirm our suspicion that we stand atop the pyramid of creation. We are superior to all other creatures. We control the fate of the world. We are masters of our own destiny. In our arrogance, we easily rationalize and justify all that we wish to do.
But what is this destiny over which we are the masters? Paupers and kings, nobles and peasants alike end up in the same place, interred beneath the earth, food for worms and maggots. Whatever we hope to accomplish or believe we have accomplished in this world, the passage of time will leave little for us to be remembered by, and the physical bodies that once gave us power upon the earth will testify to how fleeting and how trivial are all things physical.
and before Whom will you give justification and accounting -- before the King Who reigns over kings, the Holy One, may He be blessed
If our physical past holds nothing but seeming random evolution from both primordial and biological slime, and if our physical future holds no hope but decay and oblivion, then what does it matter how we live our lives?
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Indeed, life does have meaning and purpose, but only if we look beyond the physical and transcend the limitation of our senses to recognize the intricate Plan of Creation, a plan that placed us here in this temporal existence for the purpose of earning our reward in the World to Come. To earn that reward, however, we must win the eternal battle of the calling of our souls and our conscience against the temptation of our desires and our inclinations.
By remembering the futility of all physical reward, by recognizing the eternal consequences of spiritual transcendence, we can conquer the ego and the impulse that thrive upon the physical so that we will merit the incalculable reward that is the purpose of all Creation. When we come to know that the accounting we give for the way we live our lives will determine our everlasting fate, only then will we be armed to defend ourselves against the seductive callings of our physical existence, an existence that seeks all our attention for the few brief moments of our transit through this world before abandoning us to an eternity of nothingness.
http://www.azamra.org/advice.shtml
ADVICE from
RABBI NACHMAN
Online version of the English translation of Likutey Etzot, a complete compendium of Rabbi Nachman's practical teachings on spiritual growth and devotion based on his lessons in Likutey Moharan as transcribed by his leading student, Rabbi Noson of Breslov
Translated by Avraham Greenbaum
1 Advice
ADVICE:
1) Everybody has ideas about the way to live. But as far as the great mass of people are concerned, their ideas are all as bad as each other: they're all worthless. Don't pay any attention to their advice. And all the more so, be sure to ignore any guidance offered by wicked people. They are the enemies of truth and the source of everything corrupt and destructive. All they have to offer is the advice of the primordial serpent, which is the antithesis of the Holy Covenant. Anyone who follows it will be covered in filth. He will become alienated from truth, faith and prayer, and he will be unable to come to the Land of Israel. Have nothing to do with their ideas. Bind yourself to the true Tzaddikim and those who follow their ways. Their guidance is the `seed of truth.' Through it you will be able to observe the Covenant in purity. You will attain goodness, truth, faith and prayer and be worthy of coming to the Land of Israel (7:3).
2) Observing the mitzvah of tzitzit, the fringes, carefully is a protection against the `advice of the serpent.' One who fulfills this mitzvah carefully will be guided only by the Tzaddikim (Ibid.). 3) Someone who lacks faith in the Sages will never know what he should do: he will always be racked with doubts and he will have no idea what course he should follow (61:1).
4) When a person follows the guidance of the Tzaddikim, it sweetens the harsh judgements, and through this he will be helped and freed from his troubles. But if he fails to follow their advice, he may well come to grief, God forbid, and the responsibility will be his alone, as it is written: `The foolishness of a man perverts his way' (Proverbs 19:3). If a person does follow the advice of the Tzaddikim, and later on things do not go well for him, he can be sure that this has been sent to him from above (143).
CRY FROM THE HEART
5) Cry from the heart and you will find true guidance. You must cry out to God from the very depths of your heart. The darkness will crack and deep counsel will be revealed. Through this your faith will be strengthened. In the end you will have perfect faith. Healing will come and great goodness will be brought into the world (II, 5:3).
2 Alien Philosophies and Ideologies
ALIEN PHILOSOPHIES AND IDEOLOGIES:
1) The only true wisdom is the wisdom of the Tzaddikim. It brings them to a lofty perception of God and gives them the power to communicate their perception to those who follow them. Compared with this wisdom, all other ideological systems are utter foolishness. But because of our many sins, it can happen at times that this genuine wisdom falls into the hands of the heathens and the forces of the Sitra Achra, the Other Side. Their new-found wisdom gives them power and dominion, and then the heathens gain the upper hand, God forbid. Who can bear the sound of the great and terrible cry when this wisdom falls into their hands and fools affect to be wise? They try to adapt this genuine wisdom to their own purposes, as if it could be made a part of their own ideologies, as if their own foolishness had anything to do with the knowledge of God. They start claiming that they alone are the wise ones and there is no wisdom greater than their own erroneous speculations, parasitic as they are on the fallen, genuine wisdom. God Himself cries out because of this. Every Jew has a part to play in the task of identifying how this wisdom that has fallen into their hands can be separated from them and elevated in order to return it to its source. The way to achieve this is through acts of charity and kindness under the guidance and inspiration of the Tzaddikim (30:6).
2) Wisdom is the root of all things (Psalms 104:24) One should always guard one's mind against false ideologies. The only way to achieve fulfillment in life is through the pursuit of genuine wisdom, namely the wisdom of Torah, which is concerned with Godliness. Compared with this all other systems of ideology are sheer emptiness, they have nothing to do with wisdom at all (35:1).
3) When a person is born his intelligence is limited. When he begins to use it to think about how to serve God, it starts growing. But if a person fills his mind with alien ideas, the intelligence of his holy soul is diminished in direct proportion to the space taken up by these ideas. This unholy `intelligence' becomes the source of all kinds of negative appetites and character traits (Ibid.).
4) This is why a person has to be so careful to guard his mind and his thoughts and make sure that he never admits alien ideas or ways of looking at things. All our problems and defects and sins come from abusing the sanctity of the mind, God forbid, by admitting alien thoughts and ideologies. To achieve true repentance and to make amends for all one's sins, one must cleanse the mind of all these alien ideas. Wisdom and intelligence actually are the soul. By clearing the mind of alien ideologies the faculty of thought is elevated to its source. This is the essence of returning to God (Ibid.).
5) When the Jewish people adopt the ideas and outlook of the other nations, God forbid, the Tzaddik falls from his level and his perceptions become covered over and obscured (49).
6) Too much intellectual sophistication can be harmful, especially when it takes the form of excessive philosophizing and speculation. The basis of true wisdom is a strong heart and a strong character. The only way to attain them is through good deeds. A person whose intelligence outstrips his practical attainments in the form of good deeds will lack the strength of character to contain his intelligence within the necessary bounds. His intelligence will only make him sin. It can be very dangerous when people with lax moral standards dabble in philosohy. Their intelligence drives them on to even greater transgressions and it harms them, and indeed the entire world, more than all the snakes and scorpions, wild animals and other dangerous things in the world. They use their intelligence to hurl insults and abuse at the heavens and to cast aspersions on the Holy Torah and especially the Sages of the Talmud and the Tzaddikim of blessed memory who followed them. All this is well known. May God in His mercy take pity on the remnant of Israel and guard them from this band of people and their babblings (55:6).
7) Within the bounds God has set for man's intelligence it is a great mitzva, a positive duty, to sharpen the mind and understand as clearly as possible whatever the human mind is capable of grasping. However there are certain questions the answers to which are beyond the capacity of the human mind to understand. Only in time to come will the answers be revealed. (An example is the paradox of free will.) On no account should one delve into these questions. Of those who try, relying on their own intelligence and speculation, it is said: `None that go unto her return' (Proverbs 2:19). It is impossible to solve these questions through reason. We must have pure faith. Even when it comes to the questions which do have an answer, there are times when the paths of the intellect become blocked and one is unsure how to answer the unbeliever speaking in one's heart. The remedy then is to study the codes of Torah law. If one still finds oneself confused and unable to understand the way to answer the questions, one should rely on faith alone even here. The main thing is to have faith (62:2).
8) It is forbidden to delve into philosophical works. There are certain questions which stem from the chalal hapanui, `the empty void,' to which it is impossible to find any answer. In time to come the answers will be revealed. But in this world it is impossible to put these questions to rest merely with thought and ingenuity. Whole philosophical systems have been built up around them. Anyone who delves into them will be sunk in them and lost eternally, as it is written: `None that go unto her return' (Proverbs 2:19). God is not to be found in these philosophies. Through intelligence alone it will never be possible to solve the intellectual tangles they contain. The Jewish people, with its faith in God, is beyond all these philosophies and their complications. Israel believes in God and His Holy Torah without needing philosophical justifications. They have pure faith. The Hebrew word for `beyond' is e-ver, and the Jews are called Ivrim -- Hebrews -- precisely because they are beyond all this speculation. With a faith which transcends philosophy we do not need to speculate about the truth. We know it. We have received it from our fathers, of blessed memory (64:2).
9) Certain of the great Tzaddikim were obliged to go into these philosophies in order to extricate and elevate the souls which have fallen and become sunk in them. You cannot argue that it is permissible for others to enter them on the grounds that many of the great scholars of the past were involved. In their case it was an obligation. And through the great sanctity they possessed, they had the power to release the souls which were trapped. But people who are not on a comparable level of sanctity, and needless to add, the ordinary people of our own age, should never enter these realms and risk being eternally lost (Ibid. 3).
10) The song of the true Tzaddik has the power to draw up the souls that have fallen into this form of atheism, from which there is otherwise no return (Ibid. 5).
11) The materialist philosophers, who claim that everything operates only by virtue of the laws of nature, are a breed of wild animals who have made terrible inroads into our people and caught many of our sons in their clutches. Many Jewish souls are sunk in this like birds caught in a snare. If you love your soul, keep well away from these wild beasts, who would otherwise snatch your soul and consume it. Keep well away from books of speculative science, even those written by our own great Sages. There is no greater evil (Likutey Moharan II, 4:6).
12) Acts of charity and kindness have the power to break the force of the serpent, which is the root of materialistic ideology. And then these wild animals will have no power over you. However at times even after you have crushed them they are soon back again, placing fresh doubts in your mind about whether the world is governed only by the will of God. If this happens you must make fresh efforts at charity and kindness. Charity has the power to subdue the ideology of materialism and reveal that everything is governed only by the will of God (Ibid. 9).
13) Serve God with simplicity and purity, using no sophistication at all. This is the true goal. No one who goes by the name of Jew should ever so much as open a book of philosophy. This is no part of the heritage of Jacob. All speculative philosophy contains the stumbling block of Amalek, which is calculated to make people fall. In one moment they can lose whole worlds. There is no greater evil. Even the books written by Jews discussing speculative philosophy should be left well alone, because they can harm the holy faith which is the root of everything. Thank God we have today many holy books which are filled with sound guidance and the fear of God and which are free of all speculation derived from the so-called `wisdom' of the Greeks. They are firmly founded on the holy words of the Sages of the Talmud and the Midrash. In particular there are the books based upon the teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Explore them, and go through them again and again. You should have nothing to do with books based on the viewpoints of the other nations of the world (19).
14) There are many searching questions about God. But anyone with even a modicum of genuine understanding will see that it is only right and fitting that such questions should exist. For how can we, with our limited human intelligence, understand how God governs the world? Of course there are things which baffle us. The utter greatness and exaltedness of God are only magnified when we find that there are questions we cannot solve. Understand this well (52).
3 Anger ANGER:
1) You must break the force of your anger with love. If you feel yourself becoming angry, make sure you do nothing unkind because of your anger. You must make a special effort to be kind to the very person you are angry with. Sweeten your anger with kindness. When you do this, you will be able to draw benefit from the Tzaddik and then you will be able to understand the true goal of all things. You will taste the delight of the World to Come, and you will see how everything in the world is part of the movement to this ultimate goal. Your perception will be according to the root which you have in the soul of the Tzaddik (18:2).
2) Through breaking the force of anger with love and kindness, the true Tzaddikim receive honor and greatness and the world finds a true leader, one who will have pity for the world and lead it in the right way, bringing each individual to his ultimate goal (Ibid.).
3) Anger and unkindness arise when people's understanding is limited. The deeper their understanding the more their anger disappears, and kindness, love and peace spread. This is why the study of Torah, which deepens the understanding, brings love and peace into the world and banishes anger (56:6).
4) Immersing in the mikveh is also an antidote to anger, because immersing in the mikveh brings understanding (Ibid. 7).
5) When a person gives way to anger, it stirs up the great accuser, Esau, or Edom. The accuser in the upper world is the source of a flurry of accusers and enemies who come down and take charge of this angry man. His anger puts his wisdom to flight, and the image of God disappears from his face. He no longer has the face of a man. This is why he is in the power of his enemies. Because he has the appearance of a beast they are not afraid of him (57:6).
6) The remedy for anger is to fast. In fact, the main value of fasting lies in this. That is why when a person is fasting the Evil One comes against him and creates all kinds of pretexts for making him angry. The Evil One wants to spoil the fast. One has to be very careful to avoid getting angry on a fast day. The whole value of the fast lies in subduing one's anger (Ibid.).
7) Through the holy act of eating on Shabbat, anger is crushed (Ibid.).
8) Anger can make a person lose his money. When a person gets angry he spoils the blessing of wealth which was due to come to him. He causes a stain upon his good name and, indeed, his very soul. But when a person holds his anger back and behaves patiently even in the most trying of circumstances, he attains wealth, a good name and an unblemished soul. All the other souls yearn to be merged with his soul and he can succeed in drawing many souls closer to God. Through this the glory of God is revealed (Ibid.).
9) When a person fights his anger and breaks it, the spirit of Mashiach is drawn into the world. Such a person is accounted as if it was through him that the world and all that is in it was created and brought into being. He will be worthy of rich blessings, and he will attain true prayer, directing himself to God alone without any extraneous motives of gaining people's respect and admiration. He will succeed in carrying out all the mitzvot and other holy acts that he must accomplish (66:3).
10) Through the sanctity of the Land of Israel it is possible to break the force of anger, depression and laziness completely. For this reason one must plead with God to be worthy of coming to the Land of Israel speedily. There a person can attain tranquility in the face of any experiences he may undergo. He will never be angry or upset with anyone, no matter what they may have done (Ibid. 155).
4 Awe and Devotion
AWE AND DEVOTION:
1) You should never fear anything except God. If ever you begin to feel afraid of anything, remember the great fear which is due to God. Throughout the day, fill your entire consciousness with this sense of awe. It will help you to pray with all your strength to utter the words with such force that they are like thunderbolts! Then you will hear the words which are on your lips. This is the way to achieve true joy, and to perform the mitzvoth with a joy derived from the mitzvot themselves. Then you will attain the understanding of how to nullify all harsh decrees even after the decrees have been made, God forbid (5:5).
2) In order to achieve these levels, you must combine your fear of Heaven with love. A person's main strength lies in the love he has for God. Nevertheless fear must come first (Ibid.5).
3) If you wish to savour the taste of the hidden light the secrets of Torah which are destined to be revealed in time to come you should meditate and speak to God. Express everything in your heart before Him. Examine yourself and judge yourself. Weigh up all the different things you are involved with. In this way you will be able to banish your extraneous fears of forces other than God these are called `fallen fear' and you will be able to elevate your fear and experience the true awe of Heaven. When a person neglects to examine and judge himself, he is examined and brought to judgement from on high. God has many ways of executing His judgements. He has the power to clothe them in anything in the world, because all things are His messengers, and he can use whatever means he chooses to execute His judgements. We can actually see this in practice. When something bad happens to a person, the particular cause which precipitates the problem is often apparently quite insignificant. One would never have expected a small thing like this to bring on such a train of consequences illness, suffering and the like. The explanation is that the Divine decree passed against him has been clothed within these mundane circumstances in order to give him his deserts. But when a person examines and judges himself of his own accord the decree above is removed. There is no need for him to be afraid of anything. Worldly objects and events will no longer be used as a veil and a cloak for executing the decree of God. By bringing himself to a reckoning he has removed the judgement above. He is already sufficiently aroused and spiritually awake without needing things of this world to shake him. This is what is meant by elevating fear to its root. He is afraid of nothing except God. Because of this he will be worthy of the hidden light (15).
4) To attain true fear and love of God is only possible with the help of the Tzaddikim of the generation (17:1).
5) Fear of Heaven is the foundation for sanctifying the way one speaks and using the Holy Tongue perfectly (see dibbur). But to reach this level of fear it is necessary to journey to the Tzaddik in order to hear words of truth directly from his lips. It is not enough to study mussar literature works giving guidance about spiritual development. When a person hears a Tzaddik, the actual words of the Tzaddik possess a quality of perfection. They are uttered with true fear of Heaven, and this is the foundation for the fulfillment of the Covenant and achieving moral purity. Even if a person hears what the Tzaddik said from the lips of somebody else who himself heard the Tzaddik say them, it still does not help as much, because the words have descended from their original perfection. In order for the words of the Holy Tongue to possess perfection, they must be heard from the lips of the Tzaddik himself. This is where the treasure-house of the true fear of Heaven is to be found, and this is the foundation for attaining perfection in the Holy Tongue (19:3,9).
6) Having a sense of shame is the basis for attaining the fear of Heaven. One must feel ashamed before God so ashamed that one could not possibly sin. To have a sense of shame is a very high level (22).
7) Be sure that you make your days very long. With each new day and each fresh moment, make sure that the time is longer, fuller and richer with added holiness. So it must be with every day that comes. You must continually extend the days by filling them with more holiness and more purity. This is the secret of a long life. When you start each day, at first the day is very short. The spiritual accomplishments you need to achieve this day weigh heavily upon you. It takes great determination not to be discouraged as you feel the weight of the devotions you have to undertake this day. But be courageous and don't lose heart. Make a start even if at first things seem heavy and strained and difficult. If you are determined enough they will become easier and you will find that you can accomplish what you must in God's service. With every hour that passes see to it that you enrich that hour and lengthen it with extra holiness. Do the same with every new day of your life. Let each day be filled with more holiness than the day before. Then y ou will be blessed with length of days. The root of this skill in living lies in cultivating true fear of Heaven (60:2).
8) Such fear is the foundation of a long life. It can bring you great wealth, the wealth of holiness. And through this wealth it is possible to attain profound understanding. There are certain paths of Torah which possess a degree of profundity which can only be attained with the help of great wealth. This is the reason why so many of the greatest of the Tzaddikim were extraordinarily wealthy, such as Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the compiler of the Mishnah, and Rav Ashi, the compiler of the Talmud. The source of this wealth is in `length of days,' which is attained through awe (Ibid. 3).
9) There are three aspects to fearing God: the fear of Heaven, fear of your teacher, and fear of your father and mother (Ibid.).
10) When a person has true fear of Heaven, he is no longer trapped by the beauty of women. He is free from the attractions of falsehood. He will be saved from poverty and attain wealth (Ibid.)
11) The Tzaddik has the power to arouse men from their sleep through the stories he tells about the years of old. Through this he can cause the barren to give birth, which arouses great awe at the might of God throughout the world. This awe is the instrument for attaining all the spiritual levels we have mentioned (Ibid. 5,6).
12) The key to everything is the way you start. All beginnings are difficult, because you are trying to turn things from one direction to the opposite direction. But once a start has been made, you begin to get used to the direction you are going in and things are no longer so hard. The level of awe and devotion a person attains each day depends on the way he starts. Every day you should go backwards in the sense that you should always try and draw inspiration from the start, which was the hardest thing of all. You must always make a frest start. Each time you come to the Tzaddik, you must likewise make a fresh beginning. It must be as if you had never come to him before, as if this time it is an entirely new experience for you. Because perhaps the first beginning was not as it should have been, and if so all the devotion which followed will not have been as it should have been. Because everything depends on the beginning. Therefore you must marshal all your strength and steel yourself to make a vigorous beginning. Start again every time with new fire and passion for God. Start as if you had never begun at all before. The strength of your new beginning will bring power and vigor into all your devotions. You should always ask yourself if the start was as it should have been. Make the effort to start again, and come to the Tzaddik afresh. Do this every time (62). 13) When a new soul enters a person, he must raise it and rear it with love and awe (67:6).
14) If a person does not consider the purpose of everything, what is the point of his life? (268).
15) One of the basic rules in serving God is to think only of today. Pay no attention to yesterday or tomorrow. This applies to the work you have to do to earn a living and provide your needs. Our sacred literature tells us that we should only be concerned with today. The same applies to serving God. You should only think of today, the present hour. When a person wants to begin serving God it seems like a heavy burden which he will never be able to bear. But if you think that you have only today, it will not be a burden at all. Don't put things off and say, `I'll start tomorrow... tomorrow I will pray with strength and devotion,' etc. Man's world consists of nothing except the day and the hour that he stands in now. Tomorrow is a completely different world. `Today, if you would but listen to His voice!' (Psalms 95:7). Exactly! Today! (272).
16) Every mitzvah which a person does in this world, creates a lamp with which he can explore the treasure house of the King after his passing. This is the ultimate bliss of the World to Come (275).
17) There are two kinds of fear of Heaven. . This levelThere are people who fear God because of His greatness and exaltedness as the Ruler and Master of the Universe of fear adds completeness to God's Name. Secondly there is a lower form of fear which is attained through the fear one has of other, lower things -- a wild animal, a person wielding great power, or the like. Such things can evoke the awareness of God within a person, and this second level of fear is the source of the influx of blessing into the world. To receive the blessings one has to make a vessel. The vessel is formed through the longing and desire which he has to travel to the true Tzaddikim. This creates the shape of the vessel, and the vessel itself is formed when one comes to the Tzaddik in person. The more obstacles a person encounters in his efforts to draw close and the more energy he devotes to breaking them, the greater the vessel he forms (185).
18) Every Jew is created with the ultimate purpose of wielding power over the angels. This is his destiny. But the angels are very jealous of a man who has power over them. He must protect himself and see that he has the strength to remain in this position of power without being cast down through the angels' envy (Ibid. II, 1:1).
19) Materialism, immorality and gluttony distort and corrupt the fear in a person's heart. The remedy is through honoring the three festivals of the year and celebrating them in the proper way. This causes the fear which is latent in the heart to become manifest, and through it one can attain the experience of prophecy. This is the avenue to true prayer and healing. One becomes bound to the very root of the souls of Israel, and here alone there is protection from the envy of the angels (Ibid.).
20) When a person falls into materialism, immorality and greed, God sits and cries out like a lion (Ibid.).
MITZVOT AND GOOD DEEDS ARE CHILDREN LIKE BIRTH PANGS OF A WOMAN
TREMENDOUS EFFORT AT THE BEGINNING TREMENDOUS EFFORT
21) A person's devotions, his mitzvot and good deeds are his `children.' This is especially so of the Tzaddikim. Before a woman gives birth she has to undergo contractions and birth-pangs, and she cries and screams. It is literally the same when you serve God. When you want to carry out a particular devotion or return to God in truth, it inevitably takes a tremendous effort. You have to cry out and groan, bending and jerking in all directions. The hardest thing of all is the start. All beginnings are difficult. This is when you need to cry out and groan the most. Even after the start things do not necessarily come easily, and it takes a lot of effort before you achieve something worthwhile. But don't be discouraged by what you have to endure. According to the effort, so is the reward (4:5).
CHARITY OPENS GATES TO HOLINESS AND AVERTS THE EVIL DECREE
22) Charity helps to open the gates to holiness. This is why it is good to give charity before doing any mitzva or good deed. The charity helps to widen the opening to the holiness which is the goal of this particular devotion, and then it will not be so hard to enter (Ibid.).
CHARITY ATTAINS THE FEAR OF HEAVEN
23) Through giving charity you can attain fear of Heaven, and this will lead to lovingkindness. When you attain this you will be able to serve God without being restricted by the difficulties of earning a living (Ibid.).
24) In times when the elders of the generation fail to achieve perfection, it gives strength to anti-religious ideologies. The task of each individual is to ensure that with every day that passes he gains additional holiness and deeper understanding. Each new day must be filled with more of the radiance of devotion to God. Only when a person achieves this is he worthy of the name `elder.' When a person wastes his days without adding extra holiness, he may grow old but he cannot be termed an `elder.' Instead of enjoying `length of days,' his days are actually short. It is because of this that materialistic ideologies are able to become entrenched in the world. The remedy lies in the giving of charity (Ibid.).
25) God's main joy and pleasure come only from this low world of ours. God has the whole array of angels, serafim, chayot, ofanim and all the higher worlds, all of them serving Him. But when we in this low world of ours magnify and sanctify His Name and carry out His will, this is what gives Him the greatest joy, because He sees the service of this low world rise to the realms above (Ibid. 7). 26) When people study and discuss one of the original Torah concepts of the true Tzaddikim they can become filled with the fear of Heaven (Ibid.13).
27) Your main aim should be to serve God with simplicity, with no ulterior motive. Follow His ways in order to know Him. This is what He wants. A person who serves God in order to earn the World to Come is just hungry: he wants to fill his stomach with the reward. But even so, it is better to serve God for the sake of the reward of the World to Come than it is to chase after this world. At least someone who serves God for the sake of the reward is wiser than one who struggles for this world all his life. This world is transient, but the World to Come is the world of eternal life. But even so, the main aim should be to serve God with no ulterior motive whatsoever (37).
28) What profit is there when people run after the superficialities of materialism and gratification and neglect the task of achieving self-perfection? There are many people who waste away their days struggling to leave a big inheritance for their children. But this is no better than when a person gets himself dirty and then takes more dirt to cover up the dirt. Other people try their best to leave a good name behind them for their children's sake. But this is still not the real purpose of life. The aim of the true Tzaddikim is only to satisfy the will of God (Ibid.).
29) Man always has free will. This applies to everything he may be involved with. In all situations, the Jew always has the option of exercising free choice. As far as the other nations of the world are concerned, there are certain things which restrict their free will and compel them to act in a particular way. With a Jew, however, no matter what he does, be it to travel to a particular place, or whatever, there is always some devotion involved, something which relates to his service of God. Because of this, the Jew has free will in everything (54).
30) The profit a person can have from this world is indescribable. You don't need to spend your own money to make a profit here. God spreads the opportunities before you and you can simply stretch out your hand and take abundant profit. `No eye hath seen it.' (55).
31) You should throw yourself upon God and rely upon Him completely. At the start of every day you should entrust all your actions of that day, and all the actions of your children and other dependents, to God, asking that everything should go as He wishes it (Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom 2).
32) Fear is the key to achieving spiritual perfection. The basis of fear of Heaven is to be afraid of being punished. Even Tzaddikim need to have this fear. This is what gives us our initial motivation to serve God (Ibid. 5).
33) If you want to serve God, you must keep on making new beginnings. Even in the course of a single day you may have to start all over again several times (Ibid. 51).
34) Whatever you see in this world exists only to create the possibility of free will. The whole world and all that is in it was created only for the sake of free will (Ibid. 300).
35) There are people who serve God for a whole lifetime without being shown what they have achieved. Only in the World to Come will they see what they have achieved (244).
36) The main devotion of the Jew is to get up every night in the winter for the midnight prayer. In the summer, when the nights are short and we do not rise for the midnight prayer except in the Land of Israel, he should be sure to get up with the dawn each morning (Ibid. 301; see Chatzot 3).
THE BELOW TOPICS WILL BE IN PART TWO OF ANOTHER POSTING
5 Boldness
6 Chanukah
7 Charity
8 Children
9 Clothes
10 Confession
11 Controversy and Strife
12 Covenant
13 Eating
14 Elul
15 Encouragement
16 Eyes
17 Fasting
18 Healing
19 Holiness
HOLINESS:
1) The essence of the holiness which every person must strive for is to observe the Covenant in purity. The way to achieve this is by sanctifying the way you speak. You must speak only words of holiness and keep yourself from any lapse into language which is not holy. Then whatever you say will be in `the Holy Tongue,' and through this you will achieve the holiness of the Covenant (19).
2) You must sanctify your mouth, your nose, your eyes and your ears. You must guard your mouth against words of falsehood and anything else which falls short of holiness. You must develop your fear of Heaven in order to sanctify your nostrils. Your ears will be holy when you believe in the Sages and listen to their words. And you must close your eyes and shut out anything which is not good for you to see. The sanctity you attain will bring you perfect understanding, and you will have wisdom, which is God's blessing, and ruach hakodesh, the holy spirit. Another way of sanctifying your nostrils, is if you are humble and patient and do not burst out in anger if someone insults you (The Hebrew expression for anger is a `burning in the nostrils'). The way to sanctify your ears is to be one who is `faithful in spirit and concealeth a matter' (Proverbs 11:13) he is careful not to reveal a secret which there is no need to reveal (21).
3) One who is prepared to sacrifice himself for the sake of sanctifying God's Name will attain peace, and through this the ability to speak holy words of Torah and prayer and to bind the thoughts in the mind to the words which the mouth is speaking. In order to pray with devotion, have in mind that you are willing to sacrifice yourself entirely in order to sanctify God's Name. To achieve perfect prayer, you must pray with a spirit of total self sacrifice (80).
4) It has been proved many times that even the most worthless of Jews, even the sinners of Israel are prepared to sacrifice themselves for the sanctification of God's Name if someone tries to force them to violate the Torah. Each day you should remind yourself that you would be ready to give your life to sanctify God's Name. This is the essence of Israel's holiness. You will then attain peace and be able to pray with true devotion (Ibid.).
5) When you recite the Shema you should say the words in a spirit of total self-sacrifice for the sake of God's Name. Picture in your mind the four death penalties imposed by the Beth Din stoning, strangulation, burning and the sword. You should imagine every detail so vividly that you can literally feel the pain of dying. Thought has a very great power. By imagining yourself dying you can literally come to feel the pangs of death. But be careful not to dwell on these thoughts for too long, because otherwise your soul could literally leave you, God forbid, causing premature death (195).
6) Self-sacrifice for the sake of God brings unity to the worlds above (260).
7) There are certain Tzaddikim who have a very great name and who are known very widely. Yet people hold them in contempt and talk against them. They suffer mercilessly because of this, but it is something they take on themselves in order to sanctify God's Name, and because of it they can save thousands of Jewish souls from slaughter and death, God forbid (Ibid.).
8) Each person has something in his life which is more of a barrier for him than anything else. This is precisely the barrier he has to break in order to serve God. This is his task in life. It is his own way of sacrificing himself. Someone who is very afraid of dying must be more ready than anyone to give up his life to sanctify God's Name (Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom 57).
20 Honor
21 Hospitality
22 Joy
23 Land of Israel
24 Marriage
25 Meditation
26 Memory
27 Midnight Prayer
28 Mikveh
MIKVEH:
1) Immersing in the mikveh is the cure for all troubles. The mikveh has the power to purify us from every kind of sin and impurity. The spiritual power of the mikveh is rooted in the most exalted levels of wisdom and love (56:7).
2) Immersing in a mikveh helps to make it easier to earn a living and receive the flow of blessing. Strife and anger are dissipated and in their place come peace, love, deep wisdom and healing, length of days and the power to arouse men to God (31:2).
3) Immersing in a mikveh is not in the least bit harmful. Any doctor who says it is is no doctor at all. So long as the water is not excessively cold, immersing in a mikveh is actually very beneficial to the body since it opens the sweat glands, as is known by medical experts (Ibid. II, 123).
29 Mockery
30 Modesty
31 Money and Livelihood
32 Moral Guidance
33 Music
34 Obstacles
35 Omer and Shavuot
36 Patience
37 Peace
38 Perception and Revelation of Godliness
39 Pesach -- Passover
40 Prayer
41 Pride and Humility
42 Purim
43 Redemption
44 Repentance
45 Rosh Chodesh -- New Moon
46 Rosh HaShanah -- New Year
47 Shabbat
48 Sighing
49 Simplicity
50 Speech
51 Succot
52 Tefilin
53 Thoughts and Fantasies
54 Three Festivals
55 Three Weeks
56 Torah Study
57 Travel
58 Trust
59 Truth and Faith
60 Tzaddik
61 Tzitzit
62 Understanding
63 Will and Desire
64 Yom Kippur -- Day of Atonement
Akavya ben Mehalalel said: Reflect upon three things and you will not come to the hands of sin. Know from where you have come, to where you are heading, and before Whom you will give justification and accounting. From where have you come -- from a putrid drop; to where are you heading -- to a place of dust, worms and maggots; and before Whom will you give justification and accounting -- before the King Who reigns over kings, the Holy One, may He be blessed. Ethics of the Fathers, 3:1
Emunah Paths Podcast - Edition 2
Recognizing Hashem's presence in the world what does this mean practically? Pirkei Avos ch 3 reflect on 3 things and you will not come to sin-become sensitive to stnding in front of the king Despair forgitten who we really are -- c/n possibly recover-- no place without Ha shem in the world Tzadikkim planted in each generation Role of soiled garments --falling from self purification--great effort in stripping thenm off Avram Greenbaum Restore my soul Role of expanded consciousness-being awake-internal knowing-emunah- G-d runs even the minutest detail Realizing "who we are" spiritual coma of restricted consciousness Awareness of who's running the world-- not just an intellectual knowing We're brought down to spiritual coma in the world We're involved in the feel of the moment -Gentle reminders all are mesages from the Holy One Blessed Be He We want tio revert o bat qol and Nevi- yet he sends non intrusive messages every day - he's even more vocal when we are not listening. Everything is a message from Ha Shem. Not alone in the world. A guest does not fret over what's being served for dinner-- a guest just receives-- we're just guest.. From where have you come -- from a putrid drop
Science fiction writer Robert Heinlein told of a sad little lizard who bragged that he was a brontosaurus on his mother's side. People who inflate their importance by pointing to an illustrious past often have nothing to be proud of within themselves.
We are all guilty of this, given human beings' natural predisposition toward arrogance. We imagine ourselves as the crowning glory of all the generations that preceded us, occupying our rightful place at the pinnacle of creation. In our arrogance, we convince ourselves that whatever we may desire is, by definition, right and good.
But what if we look back not to our noble forebears but to our biological beginnings? Every one of us can trace his origins back to a few milliliters of seminal fluid and to a single spermatozoon. And what if that particular spermatozoon had been edged out by another in the fertilization of our mother's ovum? Quite simply, we would not exist, and our place in the world would be occupied by another.
Is this the past on which we found our delusions of supremacy and grandeur? Is this the source of the arrogance that convinces us that we can abrogate Divine Law? Consider your origins, says our Mishna, contemplate your own insignificance if not for the Divine Hand that brought you into being, and you will think twice before you act in contravention of the Creator upon whose existence your own existence depends.
to where are you heading -- to a place of dust, worms and maggots
The past is not the only source of human arrogance. The present and the future confirm our suspicion that we stand atop the pyramid of creation. We are superior to all other creatures. We control the fate of the world. We are masters of our own destiny. In our arrogance, we easily rationalize and justify all that we wish to do.
But what is this destiny over which we are the masters? Paupers and kings, nobles and peasants alike end up in the same place, interred beneath the earth, food for worms and maggots. Whatever we hope to accomplish or believe we have accomplished in this world, the passage of time will leave little for us to be remembered by, and the physical bodies that once gave us power upon the earth will testify to how fleeting and how trivial are all things physical.
and before Whom will you give justification and accounting -- before the King Who reigns over kings, the Holy One, may He be blessed
If our physical past holds nothing but seeming random evolution from both primordial and biological slime, and if our physical future holds no hope but decay and oblivion, then what does it matter how we live our lives?
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Indeed, life does have meaning and purpose, but only if we look beyond the physical and transcend the limitation of our senses to recognize the intricate Plan of Creation, a plan that placed us here in this temporal existence for the purpose of earning our reward in the World to Come. To earn that reward, however, we must win the eternal battle of the calling of our souls and our conscience against the temptation of our desires and our inclinations.
By remembering the futility of all physical reward, by recognizing the eternal consequences of spiritual transcendence, we can conquer the ego and the impulse that thrive upon the physical so that we will merit the incalculable reward that is the purpose of all Creation. When we come to know that the accounting we give for the way we live our lives will determine our everlasting fate, only then will we be armed to defend ourselves against the seductive callings of our physical existence, an existence that seeks all our attention for the few brief moments of our transit through this world before abandoning us to an eternity of nothingness.
http://www.azamra.org/advice.shtml
ADVICE from
RABBI NACHMAN
Online version of the English translation of Likutey Etzot, a complete compendium of Rabbi Nachman's practical teachings on spiritual growth and devotion based on his lessons in Likutey Moharan as transcribed by his leading student, Rabbi Noson of Breslov
Translated by Avraham Greenbaum
1 Advice
ADVICE:
1) Everybody has ideas about the way to live. But as far as the great mass of people are concerned, their ideas are all as bad as each other: they're all worthless. Don't pay any attention to their advice. And all the more so, be sure to ignore any guidance offered by wicked people. They are the enemies of truth and the source of everything corrupt and destructive. All they have to offer is the advice of the primordial serpent, which is the antithesis of the Holy Covenant. Anyone who follows it will be covered in filth. He will become alienated from truth, faith and prayer, and he will be unable to come to the Land of Israel. Have nothing to do with their ideas. Bind yourself to the true Tzaddikim and those who follow their ways. Their guidance is the `seed of truth.' Through it you will be able to observe the Covenant in purity. You will attain goodness, truth, faith and prayer and be worthy of coming to the Land of Israel (7:3).
2) Observing the mitzvah of tzitzit, the fringes, carefully is a protection against the `advice of the serpent.' One who fulfills this mitzvah carefully will be guided only by the Tzaddikim (Ibid.). 3) Someone who lacks faith in the Sages will never know what he should do: he will always be racked with doubts and he will have no idea what course he should follow (61:1).
4) When a person follows the guidance of the Tzaddikim, it sweetens the harsh judgements, and through this he will be helped and freed from his troubles. But if he fails to follow their advice, he may well come to grief, God forbid, and the responsibility will be his alone, as it is written: `The foolishness of a man perverts his way' (Proverbs 19:3). If a person does follow the advice of the Tzaddikim, and later on things do not go well for him, he can be sure that this has been sent to him from above (143).
CRY FROM THE HEART
5) Cry from the heart and you will find true guidance. You must cry out to God from the very depths of your heart. The darkness will crack and deep counsel will be revealed. Through this your faith will be strengthened. In the end you will have perfect faith. Healing will come and great goodness will be brought into the world (II, 5:3).
2 Alien Philosophies and Ideologies
ALIEN PHILOSOPHIES AND IDEOLOGIES:
1) The only true wisdom is the wisdom of the Tzaddikim. It brings them to a lofty perception of God and gives them the power to communicate their perception to those who follow them. Compared with this wisdom, all other ideological systems are utter foolishness. But because of our many sins, it can happen at times that this genuine wisdom falls into the hands of the heathens and the forces of the Sitra Achra, the Other Side. Their new-found wisdom gives them power and dominion, and then the heathens gain the upper hand, God forbid. Who can bear the sound of the great and terrible cry when this wisdom falls into their hands and fools affect to be wise? They try to adapt this genuine wisdom to their own purposes, as if it could be made a part of their own ideologies, as if their own foolishness had anything to do with the knowledge of God. They start claiming that they alone are the wise ones and there is no wisdom greater than their own erroneous speculations, parasitic as they are on the fallen, genuine wisdom. God Himself cries out because of this. Every Jew has a part to play in the task of identifying how this wisdom that has fallen into their hands can be separated from them and elevated in order to return it to its source. The way to achieve this is through acts of charity and kindness under the guidance and inspiration of the Tzaddikim (30:6).
2) Wisdom is the root of all things (Psalms 104:24) One should always guard one's mind against false ideologies. The only way to achieve fulfillment in life is through the pursuit of genuine wisdom, namely the wisdom of Torah, which is concerned with Godliness. Compared with this all other systems of ideology are sheer emptiness, they have nothing to do with wisdom at all (35:1).
3) When a person is born his intelligence is limited. When he begins to use it to think about how to serve God, it starts growing. But if a person fills his mind with alien ideas, the intelligence of his holy soul is diminished in direct proportion to the space taken up by these ideas. This unholy `intelligence' becomes the source of all kinds of negative appetites and character traits (Ibid.).
4) This is why a person has to be so careful to guard his mind and his thoughts and make sure that he never admits alien ideas or ways of looking at things. All our problems and defects and sins come from abusing the sanctity of the mind, God forbid, by admitting alien thoughts and ideologies. To achieve true repentance and to make amends for all one's sins, one must cleanse the mind of all these alien ideas. Wisdom and intelligence actually are the soul. By clearing the mind of alien ideologies the faculty of thought is elevated to its source. This is the essence of returning to God (Ibid.).
5) When the Jewish people adopt the ideas and outlook of the other nations, God forbid, the Tzaddik falls from his level and his perceptions become covered over and obscured (49).
6) Too much intellectual sophistication can be harmful, especially when it takes the form of excessive philosophizing and speculation. The basis of true wisdom is a strong heart and a strong character. The only way to attain them is through good deeds. A person whose intelligence outstrips his practical attainments in the form of good deeds will lack the strength of character to contain his intelligence within the necessary bounds. His intelligence will only make him sin. It can be very dangerous when people with lax moral standards dabble in philosohy. Their intelligence drives them on to even greater transgressions and it harms them, and indeed the entire world, more than all the snakes and scorpions, wild animals and other dangerous things in the world. They use their intelligence to hurl insults and abuse at the heavens and to cast aspersions on the Holy Torah and especially the Sages of the Talmud and the Tzaddikim of blessed memory who followed them. All this is well known. May God in His mercy take pity on the remnant of Israel and guard them from this band of people and their babblings (55:6).
7) Within the bounds God has set for man's intelligence it is a great mitzva, a positive duty, to sharpen the mind and understand as clearly as possible whatever the human mind is capable of grasping. However there are certain questions the answers to which are beyond the capacity of the human mind to understand. Only in time to come will the answers be revealed. (An example is the paradox of free will.) On no account should one delve into these questions. Of those who try, relying on their own intelligence and speculation, it is said: `None that go unto her return' (Proverbs 2:19). It is impossible to solve these questions through reason. We must have pure faith. Even when it comes to the questions which do have an answer, there are times when the paths of the intellect become blocked and one is unsure how to answer the unbeliever speaking in one's heart. The remedy then is to study the codes of Torah law. If one still finds oneself confused and unable to understand the way to answer the questions, one should rely on faith alone even here. The main thing is to have faith (62:2).
8) It is forbidden to delve into philosophical works. There are certain questions which stem from the chalal hapanui, `the empty void,' to which it is impossible to find any answer. In time to come the answers will be revealed. But in this world it is impossible to put these questions to rest merely with thought and ingenuity. Whole philosophical systems have been built up around them. Anyone who delves into them will be sunk in them and lost eternally, as it is written: `None that go unto her return' (Proverbs 2:19). God is not to be found in these philosophies. Through intelligence alone it will never be possible to solve the intellectual tangles they contain. The Jewish people, with its faith in God, is beyond all these philosophies and their complications. Israel believes in God and His Holy Torah without needing philosophical justifications. They have pure faith. The Hebrew word for `beyond' is e-ver, and the Jews are called Ivrim -- Hebrews -- precisely because they are beyond all this speculation. With a faith which transcends philosophy we do not need to speculate about the truth. We know it. We have received it from our fathers, of blessed memory (64:2).
9) Certain of the great Tzaddikim were obliged to go into these philosophies in order to extricate and elevate the souls which have fallen and become sunk in them. You cannot argue that it is permissible for others to enter them on the grounds that many of the great scholars of the past were involved. In their case it was an obligation. And through the great sanctity they possessed, they had the power to release the souls which were trapped. But people who are not on a comparable level of sanctity, and needless to add, the ordinary people of our own age, should never enter these realms and risk being eternally lost (Ibid. 3).
10) The song of the true Tzaddik has the power to draw up the souls that have fallen into this form of atheism, from which there is otherwise no return (Ibid. 5).
11) The materialist philosophers, who claim that everything operates only by virtue of the laws of nature, are a breed of wild animals who have made terrible inroads into our people and caught many of our sons in their clutches. Many Jewish souls are sunk in this like birds caught in a snare. If you love your soul, keep well away from these wild beasts, who would otherwise snatch your soul and consume it. Keep well away from books of speculative science, even those written by our own great Sages. There is no greater evil (Likutey Moharan II, 4:6).
12) Acts of charity and kindness have the power to break the force of the serpent, which is the root of materialistic ideology. And then these wild animals will have no power over you. However at times even after you have crushed them they are soon back again, placing fresh doubts in your mind about whether the world is governed only by the will of God. If this happens you must make fresh efforts at charity and kindness. Charity has the power to subdue the ideology of materialism and reveal that everything is governed only by the will of God (Ibid. 9).
13) Serve God with simplicity and purity, using no sophistication at all. This is the true goal. No one who goes by the name of Jew should ever so much as open a book of philosophy. This is no part of the heritage of Jacob. All speculative philosophy contains the stumbling block of Amalek, which is calculated to make people fall. In one moment they can lose whole worlds. There is no greater evil. Even the books written by Jews discussing speculative philosophy should be left well alone, because they can harm the holy faith which is the root of everything. Thank God we have today many holy books which are filled with sound guidance and the fear of God and which are free of all speculation derived from the so-called `wisdom' of the Greeks. They are firmly founded on the holy words of the Sages of the Talmud and the Midrash. In particular there are the books based upon the teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Explore them, and go through them again and again. You should have nothing to do with books based on the viewpoints of the other nations of the world (19).
14) There are many searching questions about God. But anyone with even a modicum of genuine understanding will see that it is only right and fitting that such questions should exist. For how can we, with our limited human intelligence, understand how God governs the world? Of course there are things which baffle us. The utter greatness and exaltedness of God are only magnified when we find that there are questions we cannot solve. Understand this well (52).
3 Anger ANGER:
1) You must break the force of your anger with love. If you feel yourself becoming angry, make sure you do nothing unkind because of your anger. You must make a special effort to be kind to the very person you are angry with. Sweeten your anger with kindness. When you do this, you will be able to draw benefit from the Tzaddik and then you will be able to understand the true goal of all things. You will taste the delight of the World to Come, and you will see how everything in the world is part of the movement to this ultimate goal. Your perception will be according to the root which you have in the soul of the Tzaddik (18:2).
2) Through breaking the force of anger with love and kindness, the true Tzaddikim receive honor and greatness and the world finds a true leader, one who will have pity for the world and lead it in the right way, bringing each individual to his ultimate goal (Ibid.).
3) Anger and unkindness arise when people's understanding is limited. The deeper their understanding the more their anger disappears, and kindness, love and peace spread. This is why the study of Torah, which deepens the understanding, brings love and peace into the world and banishes anger (56:6).
4) Immersing in the mikveh is also an antidote to anger, because immersing in the mikveh brings understanding (Ibid. 7).
5) When a person gives way to anger, it stirs up the great accuser, Esau, or Edom. The accuser in the upper world is the source of a flurry of accusers and enemies who come down and take charge of this angry man. His anger puts his wisdom to flight, and the image of God disappears from his face. He no longer has the face of a man. This is why he is in the power of his enemies. Because he has the appearance of a beast they are not afraid of him (57:6).
6) The remedy for anger is to fast. In fact, the main value of fasting lies in this. That is why when a person is fasting the Evil One comes against him and creates all kinds of pretexts for making him angry. The Evil One wants to spoil the fast. One has to be very careful to avoid getting angry on a fast day. The whole value of the fast lies in subduing one's anger (Ibid.).
7) Through the holy act of eating on Shabbat, anger is crushed (Ibid.).
8) Anger can make a person lose his money. When a person gets angry he spoils the blessing of wealth which was due to come to him. He causes a stain upon his good name and, indeed, his very soul. But when a person holds his anger back and behaves patiently even in the most trying of circumstances, he attains wealth, a good name and an unblemished soul. All the other souls yearn to be merged with his soul and he can succeed in drawing many souls closer to God. Through this the glory of God is revealed (Ibid.).
9) When a person fights his anger and breaks it, the spirit of Mashiach is drawn into the world. Such a person is accounted as if it was through him that the world and all that is in it was created and brought into being. He will be worthy of rich blessings, and he will attain true prayer, directing himself to God alone without any extraneous motives of gaining people's respect and admiration. He will succeed in carrying out all the mitzvot and other holy acts that he must accomplish (66:3).
10) Through the sanctity of the Land of Israel it is possible to break the force of anger, depression and laziness completely. For this reason one must plead with God to be worthy of coming to the Land of Israel speedily. There a person can attain tranquility in the face of any experiences he may undergo. He will never be angry or upset with anyone, no matter what they may have done (Ibid. 155).
4 Awe and Devotion
AWE AND DEVOTION:
1) You should never fear anything except God. If ever you begin to feel afraid of anything, remember the great fear which is due to God. Throughout the day, fill your entire consciousness with this sense of awe. It will help you to pray with all your strength to utter the words with such force that they are like thunderbolts! Then you will hear the words which are on your lips. This is the way to achieve true joy, and to perform the mitzvoth with a joy derived from the mitzvot themselves. Then you will attain the understanding of how to nullify all harsh decrees even after the decrees have been made, God forbid (5:5).
2) In order to achieve these levels, you must combine your fear of Heaven with love. A person's main strength lies in the love he has for God. Nevertheless fear must come first (Ibid.5).
3) If you wish to savour the taste of the hidden light the secrets of Torah which are destined to be revealed in time to come you should meditate and speak to God. Express everything in your heart before Him. Examine yourself and judge yourself. Weigh up all the different things you are involved with. In this way you will be able to banish your extraneous fears of forces other than God these are called `fallen fear' and you will be able to elevate your fear and experience the true awe of Heaven. When a person neglects to examine and judge himself, he is examined and brought to judgement from on high. God has many ways of executing His judgements. He has the power to clothe them in anything in the world, because all things are His messengers, and he can use whatever means he chooses to execute His judgements. We can actually see this in practice. When something bad happens to a person, the particular cause which precipitates the problem is often apparently quite insignificant. One would never have expected a small thing like this to bring on such a train of consequences illness, suffering and the like. The explanation is that the Divine decree passed against him has been clothed within these mundane circumstances in order to give him his deserts. But when a person examines and judges himself of his own accord the decree above is removed. There is no need for him to be afraid of anything. Worldly objects and events will no longer be used as a veil and a cloak for executing the decree of God. By bringing himself to a reckoning he has removed the judgement above. He is already sufficiently aroused and spiritually awake without needing things of this world to shake him. This is what is meant by elevating fear to its root. He is afraid of nothing except God. Because of this he will be worthy of the hidden light (15).
4) To attain true fear and love of God is only possible with the help of the Tzaddikim of the generation (17:1).
5) Fear of Heaven is the foundation for sanctifying the way one speaks and using the Holy Tongue perfectly (see dibbur). But to reach this level of fear it is necessary to journey to the Tzaddik in order to hear words of truth directly from his lips. It is not enough to study mussar literature works giving guidance about spiritual development. When a person hears a Tzaddik, the actual words of the Tzaddik possess a quality of perfection. They are uttered with true fear of Heaven, and this is the foundation for the fulfillment of the Covenant and achieving moral purity. Even if a person hears what the Tzaddik said from the lips of somebody else who himself heard the Tzaddik say them, it still does not help as much, because the words have descended from their original perfection. In order for the words of the Holy Tongue to possess perfection, they must be heard from the lips of the Tzaddik himself. This is where the treasure-house of the true fear of Heaven is to be found, and this is the foundation for attaining perfection in the Holy Tongue (19:3,9).
6) Having a sense of shame is the basis for attaining the fear of Heaven. One must feel ashamed before God so ashamed that one could not possibly sin. To have a sense of shame is a very high level (22).
7) Be sure that you make your days very long. With each new day and each fresh moment, make sure that the time is longer, fuller and richer with added holiness. So it must be with every day that comes. You must continually extend the days by filling them with more holiness and more purity. This is the secret of a long life. When you start each day, at first the day is very short. The spiritual accomplishments you need to achieve this day weigh heavily upon you. It takes great determination not to be discouraged as you feel the weight of the devotions you have to undertake this day. But be courageous and don't lose heart. Make a start even if at first things seem heavy and strained and difficult. If you are determined enough they will become easier and you will find that you can accomplish what you must in God's service. With every hour that passes see to it that you enrich that hour and lengthen it with extra holiness. Do the same with every new day of your life. Let each day be filled with more holiness than the day before. Then y ou will be blessed with length of days. The root of this skill in living lies in cultivating true fear of Heaven (60:2).
8) Such fear is the foundation of a long life. It can bring you great wealth, the wealth of holiness. And through this wealth it is possible to attain profound understanding. There are certain paths of Torah which possess a degree of profundity which can only be attained with the help of great wealth. This is the reason why so many of the greatest of the Tzaddikim were extraordinarily wealthy, such as Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the compiler of the Mishnah, and Rav Ashi, the compiler of the Talmud. The source of this wealth is in `length of days,' which is attained through awe (Ibid. 3).
9) There are three aspects to fearing God: the fear of Heaven, fear of your teacher, and fear of your father and mother (Ibid.).
10) When a person has true fear of Heaven, he is no longer trapped by the beauty of women. He is free from the attractions of falsehood. He will be saved from poverty and attain wealth (Ibid.)
11) The Tzaddik has the power to arouse men from their sleep through the stories he tells about the years of old. Through this he can cause the barren to give birth, which arouses great awe at the might of God throughout the world. This awe is the instrument for attaining all the spiritual levels we have mentioned (Ibid. 5,6).
12) The key to everything is the way you start. All beginnings are difficult, because you are trying to turn things from one direction to the opposite direction. But once a start has been made, you begin to get used to the direction you are going in and things are no longer so hard. The level of awe and devotion a person attains each day depends on the way he starts. Every day you should go backwards in the sense that you should always try and draw inspiration from the start, which was the hardest thing of all. You must always make a frest start. Each time you come to the Tzaddik, you must likewise make a fresh beginning. It must be as if you had never come to him before, as if this time it is an entirely new experience for you. Because perhaps the first beginning was not as it should have been, and if so all the devotion which followed will not have been as it should have been. Because everything depends on the beginning. Therefore you must marshal all your strength and steel yourself to make a vigorous beginning. Start again every time with new fire and passion for God. Start as if you had never begun at all before. The strength of your new beginning will bring power and vigor into all your devotions. You should always ask yourself if the start was as it should have been. Make the effort to start again, and come to the Tzaddik afresh. Do this every time (62). 13) When a new soul enters a person, he must raise it and rear it with love and awe (67:6).
14) If a person does not consider the purpose of everything, what is the point of his life? (268).
15) One of the basic rules in serving God is to think only of today. Pay no attention to yesterday or tomorrow. This applies to the work you have to do to earn a living and provide your needs. Our sacred literature tells us that we should only be concerned with today. The same applies to serving God. You should only think of today, the present hour. When a person wants to begin serving God it seems like a heavy burden which he will never be able to bear. But if you think that you have only today, it will not be a burden at all. Don't put things off and say, `I'll start tomorrow... tomorrow I will pray with strength and devotion,' etc. Man's world consists of nothing except the day and the hour that he stands in now. Tomorrow is a completely different world. `Today, if you would but listen to His voice!' (Psalms 95:7). Exactly! Today! (272).
16) Every mitzvah which a person does in this world, creates a lamp with which he can explore the treasure house of the King after his passing. This is the ultimate bliss of the World to Come (275).
17) There are two kinds of fear of Heaven. . This levelThere are people who fear God because of His greatness and exaltedness as the Ruler and Master of the Universe of fear adds completeness to God's Name. Secondly there is a lower form of fear which is attained through the fear one has of other, lower things -- a wild animal, a person wielding great power, or the like. Such things can evoke the awareness of God within a person, and this second level of fear is the source of the influx of blessing into the world. To receive the blessings one has to make a vessel. The vessel is formed through the longing and desire which he has to travel to the true Tzaddikim. This creates the shape of the vessel, and the vessel itself is formed when one comes to the Tzaddik in person. The more obstacles a person encounters in his efforts to draw close and the more energy he devotes to breaking them, the greater the vessel he forms (185).
18) Every Jew is created with the ultimate purpose of wielding power over the angels. This is his destiny. But the angels are very jealous of a man who has power over them. He must protect himself and see that he has the strength to remain in this position of power without being cast down through the angels' envy (Ibid. II, 1:1).
19) Materialism, immorality and gluttony distort and corrupt the fear in a person's heart. The remedy is through honoring the three festivals of the year and celebrating them in the proper way. This causes the fear which is latent in the heart to become manifest, and through it one can attain the experience of prophecy. This is the avenue to true prayer and healing. One becomes bound to the very root of the souls of Israel, and here alone there is protection from the envy of the angels (Ibid.).
20) When a person falls into materialism, immorality and greed, God sits and cries out like a lion (Ibid.).
MITZVOT AND GOOD DEEDS ARE CHILDREN LIKE BIRTH PANGS OF A WOMAN
TREMENDOUS EFFORT AT THE BEGINNING TREMENDOUS EFFORT
21) A person's devotions, his mitzvot and good deeds are his `children.' This is especially so of the Tzaddikim. Before a woman gives birth she has to undergo contractions and birth-pangs, and she cries and screams. It is literally the same when you serve God. When you want to carry out a particular devotion or return to God in truth, it inevitably takes a tremendous effort. You have to cry out and groan, bending and jerking in all directions. The hardest thing of all is the start. All beginnings are difficult. This is when you need to cry out and groan the most. Even after the start things do not necessarily come easily, and it takes a lot of effort before you achieve something worthwhile. But don't be discouraged by what you have to endure. According to the effort, so is the reward (4:5).
CHARITY OPENS GATES TO HOLINESS AND AVERTS THE EVIL DECREE
22) Charity helps to open the gates to holiness. This is why it is good to give charity before doing any mitzva or good deed. The charity helps to widen the opening to the holiness which is the goal of this particular devotion, and then it will not be so hard to enter (Ibid.).
CHARITY ATTAINS THE FEAR OF HEAVEN
23) Through giving charity you can attain fear of Heaven, and this will lead to lovingkindness. When you attain this you will be able to serve God without being restricted by the difficulties of earning a living (Ibid.).
24) In times when the elders of the generation fail to achieve perfection, it gives strength to anti-religious ideologies. The task of each individual is to ensure that with every day that passes he gains additional holiness and deeper understanding. Each new day must be filled with more of the radiance of devotion to God. Only when a person achieves this is he worthy of the name `elder.' When a person wastes his days without adding extra holiness, he may grow old but he cannot be termed an `elder.' Instead of enjoying `length of days,' his days are actually short. It is because of this that materialistic ideologies are able to become entrenched in the world. The remedy lies in the giving of charity (Ibid.).
25) God's main joy and pleasure come only from this low world of ours. God has the whole array of angels, serafim, chayot, ofanim and all the higher worlds, all of them serving Him. But when we in this low world of ours magnify and sanctify His Name and carry out His will, this is what gives Him the greatest joy, because He sees the service of this low world rise to the realms above (Ibid. 7). 26) When people study and discuss one of the original Torah concepts of the true Tzaddikim they can become filled with the fear of Heaven (Ibid.13).
27) Your main aim should be to serve God with simplicity, with no ulterior motive. Follow His ways in order to know Him. This is what He wants. A person who serves God in order to earn the World to Come is just hungry: he wants to fill his stomach with the reward. But even so, it is better to serve God for the sake of the reward of the World to Come than it is to chase after this world. At least someone who serves God for the sake of the reward is wiser than one who struggles for this world all his life. This world is transient, but the World to Come is the world of eternal life. But even so, the main aim should be to serve God with no ulterior motive whatsoever (37).
28) What profit is there when people run after the superficialities of materialism and gratification and neglect the task of achieving self-perfection? There are many people who waste away their days struggling to leave a big inheritance for their children. But this is no better than when a person gets himself dirty and then takes more dirt to cover up the dirt. Other people try their best to leave a good name behind them for their children's sake. But this is still not the real purpose of life. The aim of the true Tzaddikim is only to satisfy the will of God (Ibid.).
29) Man always has free will. This applies to everything he may be involved with. In all situations, the Jew always has the option of exercising free choice. As far as the other nations of the world are concerned, there are certain things which restrict their free will and compel them to act in a particular way. With a Jew, however, no matter what he does, be it to travel to a particular place, or whatever, there is always some devotion involved, something which relates to his service of God. Because of this, the Jew has free will in everything (54).
30) The profit a person can have from this world is indescribable. You don't need to spend your own money to make a profit here. God spreads the opportunities before you and you can simply stretch out your hand and take abundant profit. `No eye hath seen it.' (55).
31) You should throw yourself upon God and rely upon Him completely. At the start of every day you should entrust all your actions of that day, and all the actions of your children and other dependents, to God, asking that everything should go as He wishes it (Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom 2).
32) Fear is the key to achieving spiritual perfection. The basis of fear of Heaven is to be afraid of being punished. Even Tzaddikim need to have this fear. This is what gives us our initial motivation to serve God (Ibid. 5).
33) If you want to serve God, you must keep on making new beginnings. Even in the course of a single day you may have to start all over again several times (Ibid. 51).
34) Whatever you see in this world exists only to create the possibility of free will. The whole world and all that is in it was created only for the sake of free will (Ibid. 300).
35) There are people who serve God for a whole lifetime without being shown what they have achieved. Only in the World to Come will they see what they have achieved (244).
36) The main devotion of the Jew is to get up every night in the winter for the midnight prayer. In the summer, when the nights are short and we do not rise for the midnight prayer except in the Land of Israel, he should be sure to get up with the dawn each morning (Ibid. 301; see Chatzot 3).
THE BELOW TOPICS WILL BE IN PART TWO OF ANOTHER POSTING
5 Boldness
6 Chanukah
7 Charity
8 Children
9 Clothes
10 Confession
11 Controversy and Strife
12 Covenant
13 Eating
14 Elul
15 Encouragement
16 Eyes
17 Fasting
18 Healing
19 Holiness
HOLINESS:
1) The essence of the holiness which every person must strive for is to observe the Covenant in purity. The way to achieve this is by sanctifying the way you speak. You must speak only words of holiness and keep yourself from any lapse into language which is not holy. Then whatever you say will be in `the Holy Tongue,' and through this you will achieve the holiness of the Covenant (19).
2) You must sanctify your mouth, your nose, your eyes and your ears. You must guard your mouth against words of falsehood and anything else which falls short of holiness. You must develop your fear of Heaven in order to sanctify your nostrils. Your ears will be holy when you believe in the Sages and listen to their words. And you must close your eyes and shut out anything which is not good for you to see. The sanctity you attain will bring you perfect understanding, and you will have wisdom, which is God's blessing, and ruach hakodesh, the holy spirit. Another way of sanctifying your nostrils, is if you are humble and patient and do not burst out in anger if someone insults you (The Hebrew expression for anger is a `burning in the nostrils'). The way to sanctify your ears is to be one who is `faithful in spirit and concealeth a matter' (Proverbs 11:13) he is careful not to reveal a secret which there is no need to reveal (21).
3) One who is prepared to sacrifice himself for the sake of sanctifying God's Name will attain peace, and through this the ability to speak holy words of Torah and prayer and to bind the thoughts in the mind to the words which the mouth is speaking. In order to pray with devotion, have in mind that you are willing to sacrifice yourself entirely in order to sanctify God's Name. To achieve perfect prayer, you must pray with a spirit of total self sacrifice (80).
4) It has been proved many times that even the most worthless of Jews, even the sinners of Israel are prepared to sacrifice themselves for the sanctification of God's Name if someone tries to force them to violate the Torah. Each day you should remind yourself that you would be ready to give your life to sanctify God's Name. This is the essence of Israel's holiness. You will then attain peace and be able to pray with true devotion (Ibid.).
5) When you recite the Shema you should say the words in a spirit of total self-sacrifice for the sake of God's Name. Picture in your mind the four death penalties imposed by the Beth Din stoning, strangulation, burning and the sword. You should imagine every detail so vividly that you can literally feel the pain of dying. Thought has a very great power. By imagining yourself dying you can literally come to feel the pangs of death. But be careful not to dwell on these thoughts for too long, because otherwise your soul could literally leave you, God forbid, causing premature death (195).
6) Self-sacrifice for the sake of God brings unity to the worlds above (260).
7) There are certain Tzaddikim who have a very great name and who are known very widely. Yet people hold them in contempt and talk against them. They suffer mercilessly because of this, but it is something they take on themselves in order to sanctify God's Name, and because of it they can save thousands of Jewish souls from slaughter and death, God forbid (Ibid.).
8) Each person has something in his life which is more of a barrier for him than anything else. This is precisely the barrier he has to break in order to serve God. This is his task in life. It is his own way of sacrificing himself. Someone who is very afraid of dying must be more ready than anyone to give up his life to sanctify God's Name (Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom 57).
20 Honor
21 Hospitality
22 Joy
23 Land of Israel
24 Marriage
25 Meditation
26 Memory
27 Midnight Prayer
28 Mikveh
MIKVEH:
1) Immersing in the mikveh is the cure for all troubles. The mikveh has the power to purify us from every kind of sin and impurity. The spiritual power of the mikveh is rooted in the most exalted levels of wisdom and love (56:7).
2) Immersing in a mikveh helps to make it easier to earn a living and receive the flow of blessing. Strife and anger are dissipated and in their place come peace, love, deep wisdom and healing, length of days and the power to arouse men to God (31:2).
3) Immersing in a mikveh is not in the least bit harmful. Any doctor who says it is is no doctor at all. So long as the water is not excessively cold, immersing in a mikveh is actually very beneficial to the body since it opens the sweat glands, as is known by medical experts (Ibid. II, 123).
29 Mockery
30 Modesty
31 Money and Livelihood
32 Moral Guidance
33 Music
34 Obstacles
35 Omer and Shavuot
36 Patience
37 Peace
38 Perception and Revelation of Godliness
39 Pesach -- Passover
40 Prayer
41 Pride and Humility
42 Purim
43 Redemption
44 Repentance
45 Rosh Chodesh -- New Moon
46 Rosh HaShanah -- New Year
47 Shabbat
48 Sighing
49 Simplicity
50 Speech
51 Succot
52 Tefilin
53 Thoughts and Fantasies
54 Three Festivals
55 Three Weeks
56 Torah Study
57 Travel
58 Trust
59 Truth and Faith
60 Tzaddik
61 Tzitzit
62 Understanding
63 Will and Desire
64 Yom Kippur -- Day of Atonement
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