avakesh

Chumash Seudah

Spiritual and Physical 7: Relationship of Nefesh and Neshama

Since we maintain that perfection of the level of nefesh, the bodily influenced human traits and, emotions that arise out of inborn physical constitution of an individual (negative ones such as anger, frustration, jealousy, self-doubt, melancholy or conversely positive ones like pity, sense of shame and kindness), does not prevent achieving gains in the world of Ruach, many questions arise. If artistic and even spiritual achievements are available even to those who wallow in lusts and appetites of the body, why should the world of neshama, the exulted abode of Divine Inspiration and Ruach Hakodesh not also be open even to those whose nefesh remains polluted?

In fact, however, every authority, from Jewish philosophers to mekubbolim maintain that moral perfection is a necessary condition for Ruach Hakodesh.

To explain this, we can invoke the concept found in the writings of the Ari. The Ari (Otsros Chaim, Shaar Hanekudim 9) posits that a light of a level can shine through the level immediately below it to the level two steps removed from it. The converse is also true. The imperfection of   a level can retard, influence or drag down a level two steps above it.

There are several implications to this fact. First, we do not have to deny that limited spiritual enlightenment can accrue even to those of another religion or spiritual way. The level of Ruach, and perhaps, even an occasional glimpse into the level of the Neshama is available to all sincere seekers, especially inf they are constitutionally open to spirituality (what Rambam called a developed imaginative faculty). What is closed to them however, is the perfection of the bodily nefesh , the "kedushas hamitvos", the sanctification of the "chaluka D'rabbonon", or more explicitly, the intermediary soul-spirit that mediates between the body and the total soul. This semi-spiritual life-spirit takes the shape and form of the body itself. It has 248 limbs and each positive misva sanctifies a corresponding limbl the same is true of the remainder of the organs that correspond to the negative commandments (Shaar Hakedusha, Ch.3). Only with a sanctified body, can one become a resident of the level of the Neshama. Without the mitsvos,nothing more than an occasional glimpse of the Neshama is possible.

By the way, deeper is higher. The deeper one is able tor each into his own soul, the higher in the spiritual cosmos can he see, for each level of the soul is in fact what's above, just that it is connected to an individual instead of cosmos. In addition, as is known, Neshama is only located within the body in its lower parts. Most of it is actually outside of the body. Metaphorically this means that, "from my flesh I see God (Iyov 19)", that penetrating into one's own soul takes one also into the realms of the Divine.

How does one perfect the level of Nefesh? Well, we already discussed one way, the path of the commandments. Unfortunately, we do not have much detailed guidance on how to do so in kabbbalistic of chassidic literature, although much information is scattered in works such as Reishis Chochma, Taharas Hakodesh and others. I find that Mussar has a lot to offer in this regard.

Mussar is directed toward tikkun hamiddos. Various schools of thought focus on different levels of what we here call Nefesh. Roughly, though, Nefesh, as Tanya explains in ch. 2, 3 and 4, consists of Sekhel and middos. In Tanya's terminology, middos means something other than character traits. To understand it, let's briefly discuss one of the emotions associated with the Nefesh-level,  anger.

Anger is an emotion closely associated with the body, both its earthy character and in in how it manifests itself in flushing, rapid heartbeat and rising blood pressure. Some people are predisposed to anger because of thier biology.  Its lower manifestations are its middos. What lies behind anger is its sekhel. These are the assumptions, beliefs and suppositions that drive it. Anger comes to those who hold a certain set of beliefs - a feeling that one is entitled to respect, a sense of having been chronically wronged, internal hostility and the like. Thus, one person may be set off by a failry minor insult becasue fo what he believes it to represent and another is barely affected by the same incident.

Mussar offers a method of affecting both the beliefs and the manifestations of emotion. Chanting, melody, practice, "with lips aflame" help drive the transformation of the middos, whereas smussen, especially the shiurei daas variety a.k.a Telz, transform the Sekhel of the Nefesh.

The work on the Nefesh need not completely precede the purification of Ruach. Yes, true, great people who have climbed high rungs of spirituality sometimes fail specacularly and in most debased ways,b ecsue their Nefesh is not faulty. Still, as a practical manner, one is engaged in work of Ruach and Nefesh simultaneously because the capacity for self delusion means that, as we grow throughout life, so we continue to discover the levels of Nefesh that are deficient in ways we had not previously been capable of ascertaining. In proprtion to improvement in Nefesh, so our residence in Ruach becomes more consistent and more proolonges and so, will it lead to more and more frequent glimpses of the Neshama, until that too is a daily ocurrence and becomes a state of one's being, the level of great tsaddikim, the level within reach of prophecy and vision.

 

The strangeness of Jewish civil law

"The first issue in the book is perhaps the most important: the enigma of Jewish criminal law. This aspect of Jewish jurisprudence is mysteriously vague, and the question is why. In fact, one finds very few social misdemeanors ("that is, crimes committed by humans against other humans") identified in Jewish law, and attempts to penalize offenders on the basis of evidence are systematically blocked by the impossibility of satisfying the requirements. ("Murder, for example, must have been observed by two witnesses, both of whom have to have seen the crime in the process of being committed, and both of whom are required to have warned the suspect of the gravity of his actions, among other things.") This phenomenon cannot be characterized as a lacuna. A legal lacuna is created by the limitations of human thought, by the failure of lawmakers, as brilliant as they may be, to imagine every possible scenario.

As Plato says in his dialogue The Statesman: "... the law does not perfectly comprehend what is noblest and most just for all and therefore cannot enforce what is best. The differences of men and actions, and the endless irregular movements of human things, do not admit of any universal and simple rule. And no art whatsoever can lay down a rule which will last for all time."

But in the case of mishpat ivri, it is not a matter of oversight. Societies establish codes of criminal law before they address other branches of jurisprudence: Criminal law is first and foremost a product of fear of social deviants and the need to create a defense against them. It is illogical to assume that this omission is inadvertent. Enker's approach to this problem is based on the kind of multi-level analysis that is familiar from halakha ("Jewish religious or ritual law"). Different strata include the "law of the sovereign," or the king, as one possible concretization of sovereignty, and the power of a court to impose punishment that is not cited in the Torah. "

See here..

Comment: Might not the difficulty of enforcing Torah punishments have something to do with the institution of "goel hadam". As we see from the story of Amnon and Tamar, and Avsholom's exacting revenge for his sister from Amnon, the society of the times had a working method for deterring interpersonal offences, so that the "formal" law could afford to pursue a more utopian vision.

Of these do I weep...

Oh, how the mighty have fallen and the weapons of war were despaired... Oh, where, are we heading?

Physical and spiritual 6: Music

Living in the world of Ruach-spirit is how one begins to experience the deeper and the higher world of the Neshama. The way to do so is to train and gain a modicum of control over emotions, not in order to suppress them, but as vehicle to encourage elevated feeling and emotion and slowly banish the unworthy ones. As previously pointed out, just as an average person can get occasional glimpses of Ruach while living on the level of Nefesh, so he who resides on the level of Ruach can begin to grasp the power and siblimity of the level of the Neshama. In this post, our topic is music.

Music resides in the world of Ruach. It is a rare individual who does not instinctively sense the power of music to elevate and inspire. If so, we must explain how music can also arouse the most base feelings, why it seems so inexorably connected to bodily sensations of rhythm, meter and timbre, and why some musicians are less than elevated beings.

Those who understand music are very aware of the fact that on many levels music resembles or invokes bodily sensations. I am not speaking here of heavy rhythms that physically vibrate the body or of lyrics that appeal to the heart or imagination.  No, even classical music draws on the familiar sensations of heartbeat or dance for its effects. We now know that music can directly affect the patterns of electrical discharges in the brain, and its wave pattern. Yet, at the same time, best music possesses an ethereal quality with clearly defined spiritual character.

In essence, the mystery of how music can span the distance between the physicality of arrangement, timbre and pattern and elevated spirituality is the same one as the mystery of numbers, on which it is based. Western music is based on scales and distances within the octave, on the principles of tension and resolution, and on repetition and variation. We might say that it spans  its floor, which is physical in the extreme and its ceiling, which is spiritual in essence. But, this we had already seen. The level of Ruach spans and mediates between Nefesh and Neshama. So also Music spans and mediates between its physical components and its spiritual overlay.

Musicians live in the world of Spirit. However, one can live at its bottom  within its physical floor,  rising at times towards its spiritual ceiling to draw insights and then dropping back to dwell at its bottom. In fact, one can be quite satisfied with what is available on the floor of Ruach and not at all desire anything higher. Many musicians feel that they have all the spirituality that they care to have through their musical work; more, that they can immerse themselves in the physical lusts and appetites without losing their spiritual connection of music. This is why some of the greatest musicians were vile people. Without a motivation to ascent above Ruach, there is no need to repair or redeem the level of Nefesh, where body reigns. Those, however, who long to rise above Ruach, quickly find that unredeemed and unrepaired deficiencies of the level of Nefesh, will drag them quickly and mercilessly down, for a  person with unrepaired Nefesh can draw upon the level of Ruach but never beyond it.

Deeper is Higher

It is impossible for a person to maintain consciousness of God's eminence and greatness unless he first delves into the essence of his own soul.

(Noam Elimelech, Vaeschanan, q.v.Hishomer ..)

Is civil law from Sinai?

18 And the LORD said unto Moses: Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel : Ye yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.

19 Ye shall not make with Me--gods of silver, or gods of gold, ye shall not make unto you.

20 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto Me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt-offerings, and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen; in every place where I cause My name to be mentioned I will come unto thee and bless thee.

21 And if thou make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast profaned it.

22 Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto Mine altar, that thy nakedness be not uncovered thereon. {P}

1 Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them.

Hashem spoke to Moshe and directed him how to design an altar and its ramp. Suddenly and without warning He gives him a different, clearly demarcated off set of laws and commands him to set these laws 'in front of them'. The relationship between the two directives is not at all clear. It is rendered even more confusing by placement of an 'open' space (pesucha) between them, which separates but connecting them with an 'And' that brings the two passages closer together.

The function of pesucha is not well understood. While often taken as analogous to a chapter demarcation, many units of meaning that should have been separated by a pesucha are found to have no separation at all or they have a setuma, a 'closed' space [1]. Similarly, the 'And' in the beginning of asentence sometimes functions as nothing more than a transitioning device that is expected to always be found in the beginning of sentence and sometimes as a bona-fide 'and', or, at times, as both [2]. In the majority, VAV indicates nothing more than a beginning of a sentence, the function that the related WAW performs in classic Arabic. We therefore have the situation in this case in which the two devices function in contradictory manner. In addition, the requirement to "set them in front of them' is not clear in its practical application.

How do the two sets of laws, the altar and civil law, differ? Are they different in source, in function or in application. If they differ in the latter two, what does it suggest about their source?

We thus have 3 problems.

1. Source: Is it possible that G-d did not dictate the specifics of the mishpatim to Moshe? One might certainly think so for the usual formula "And Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying" is absent here. Perhaps He only commanded Moshe to provide such laws for common good as he considers necessary and to formulate them as he chooses.

2. Function: What are the implications of Laws being 'set before them". Does this refer to a different method of study or retention? How would it be different from that of other laws.

3. Application: Are these immutable principles or do they come with a guide to interpretation? Are they accompanied by Oral Law? Are they a part of religious law or can even a non-member of the religious community apply them as long as he applies them correctly? If the latter, are they of a Divine origin.

The concern behind these questions can be reduced to a single pre-occupation. Does the way mishpatim are presented signify that they are in some way different, not as "Divine? The theological issue is clear and stark.

The Tannaim had to consider how to formulate their responses to this implication of the language[3]. Let us read the whole passage in the Mekhilta in the beginning of Mishpatim and then discuss each view.

R. Ishmael said: "These" (ordinances) add to the above ones. Just like the ones above are from Sinai so also these ones are from Sinai.

R. Akiva said: "Why does it say "these ordinances"? Because it states, "Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them (Lev. 1).You may think that this means once; how do you know that it means even 3 and 4 times [4]? It says, "And teach the Children of Israel " (Deuteronomy 31). Perhaps it means that they study but do not memorize (shonin)? Learn to say, "Place it in their mouths (ibid). May be (it means) that they memorize but do not understand? Teach to say [5], "And these are the ordinances" - put it in front of them like a set table, as it says, " You have been taught to know (ibid 4).

R. Yehuda says: "These are the ordinances" - taught in Mara, as it says, "There He placed for him (people) law and ordinance (Exodus 16)."

R. Alazar Ben Azariah says: " Behold, Gentiles who judges the same as Jews, I might derive that this is valid; it teaches "that you set before them". You judge theirs and they do not judge yours….

R. Shimon says: Why did ordinances deserve to come before all the commandments of the Torah? For when people go to court, there is rancor between them. The case is closed - there is peace between them. So also Yisro said, "If you do this thing.. all these people will come to its place n peace".

Let us look at individual statements.

R. Ishmael said: "These" (ordinances) are an addition to the ones above. Just like those ones are from Sinai so also these ones are from Sinai.

R. Ishmael's point can be understood in several different ways. R. E. Mizrachi suggests that he means to say that mishptim were also given among thunder and lightning. Ohr Hachaim strongly rejects this interpretation on logical grounds. Ohr Hachaim ad. loc. suggests that R. Ishmael takes the unique formulation and introduction to the mishpatim as an indication that all their details were handed over by G-d to Moshe at Sinai. This is in distinction to R. Ishmael's view that general principles of (other) laws were given at Sinai but the particulars were taught in the Tent of meeting. Alternatively, and the view I prefer based on Midrash Hagadol's version ('You may think that these laws were not form Sinai') R. Ishmael may be addressing the issue of the source by saying that these laws are Divine in origin and not a product of Moshe's own mind. R. Ishmael is thus addressing solely the question of source of mishpatim.

R. Akiva said: "Why does it say "these ordinances"? Because it states, "Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them (Lev. 1).You may think that this means once ; how do you know that it means even 3 and 4 times? It says, "And teach the Children of Israel " (Deuteronomy 31). Perhaps it means that they study but do not memorize (shonin)? Learn to say, "Place it in their mouths (ibid). Mat be (it means) that they memorize but do not understand? Teach to say, "And these are the ordinances" - put it in front of them like a set table, as it says, " You have been taught to know (ibid 4).

R. Akiva approaches the central theological question in an indirect manner. He comments on the issue of study method. He argues that the method is the same as for the rest of Torah. 'Setting in front' means that Moshe must arrange these laws in an extremely usable manner so as to make them easily digestible with the usual study methods. Here too, Ohr Hachaim relates the R. Akiva's view to his general opinion that the specifics of all laws were given at Sinai and merely reviewed at the Tent of Meeting and Arvos Moab . If so, the 'setting in front of them' must go beyond that and must refer to making them especially well organized.

Following our general approach, R. Akiva posits that these laws are studied like all other laws - therefore they are also of Divine origin.

R. Yehuda says: "These are the ordinances" - taught in Mara, as it says, "There He placed for him (people) law and ordinance (Exodus 16)."

R. Yehuda solves the riddle of the abrupt change of subject from Temple matters to civil law by positing that the verses are returning to a topic that was not completed in the past but is now being completed. He buttresses the argument that these laws were directly commanded by Hashem by relying on the representation in Exodus 16  that uses the same language- "There He placed for him law and ordinance". R. Yehuda also addresses the matter of source.

R. Alazar Ben Azariah says: " Behold, Gentiles who judges the same as Jews, I might derive that this is valid; it teaches "that you set before them". You judge theirs and they do not judge yours….

R. Elazar Ben Azariah deals with the issue of application. He negates the possibility that ordinances are immutable and logical principles and not a part of a religious system of law. He also addresses the matter of source by positioning it squarely within the spectrum of religious law.

R. Shimon employs a strategy similar to that of R. Yehuda. He refers mishpatim back to the story of Yisro. The account there demonstrates that civil laws were given under direct Divine command (… and G-d commands you and you can withstand it.). He resolves the quandary of why these laws are "packaged" so differently and "set in front of them" by pointing out that it is in order to ensure justice and that justice attained brings peace.

The unanimity of Rabbinic opinion, however, on the essential questions of doctrine is impressive. What is at stake is the teaching of "minim" that only the Ten Commandments were directly commanded by G-d and that only they need to be followed in practice (See Brochos 12). The Tannaim taught the integrity of the entire Torah as given at Sinai. They, therefore, needed to dispel the impression that mishpatim are not Divine and to refute alternative interpretation.

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1 The purpose of setuma is even less well understood. It does not appear to function as a chapter mark, although sometimes it is used for derash, such as in Rashi Genesis 48,28. There seems to have been in existence a chapter-like system in antiquity that divided Tanach into 243 parts and that bears no clear relations to Pesucha and setuma. See Introduction to Koren Tanach.

2 See Radak Yehoshua 1,1, Makhlol 44 and sources brought by Eluzer Brieger in fn. #60 (p. 16) in Sefer Hadikduk L'Ramchal.

3 Although Ido not quote it here, the Midrash Hagadol records this Mekhilta in a way that is explicit that this is the issue behind the various views. See Torah Shlema ibid.

4 See Aruch Hashulchan O"C 288,2

5 For the purposes of translation I vocalize Talmud Lomar as Tilmod Lomar, it is done in Yemenite manuscripts.

R.Arye Kaplan on Meditation

Mount Sinai

Spiritual and Physical 5: Introduction to Spiritual Discipline

We started the discussion of the topic of Physical and Spiritual by positing that the spiritual cannot be proved but only experienced. To that end  we first pointed out how the spiritual, in the form of abstractions, is all around us; so that we live more within this world of abstraction than in the world of physical sensation. We then discussed other models of the spiritual - language, numbers and the like. It is particularly important for us, who live in the materialist milieu on 21st century America to define what we mean when we speak of the spiritual. We wanted to avoid defining the spiritual vaguely, as "that which is not physical". Making spirit depend on a relation to the physical denies the reality of the spiritual and puts its whole existence into question. Once we have a positive sense of what the spiritual is, rather than what it is not, we can begin to consider how it might be experienced. Only direct experience proves existence. In the current cultural climate, proving the spiritual is a Promethean task for there are so many contrary influences, assumptions and biases that we imbibed almost with our mother's milk. Having discussed the models, having at least began to see something, we can proceed to the essence of this series - direct perception, perception after which no doubts remain.

How does one have a direct experience of the spiritual? I am not as vain as to presume to know. What I can, however, do is to draw an analogy that many find helpful.

Almost everyone has, on some occasion or another, experienced moments of spiritual exhilaration. Such moments may be brought about by an experience, an encounter with great beauty, or a particularly intense emotional experience (walking away from near death, for example). It can be life changing. For most people, encountering the spiritual is an occasional occurrence, once every few years, perhaps once in a lifetime. Others, great musicians, poets, visionaries and leaders, are illuminated by frequent flashes of inspiration. The intensity of this experience is often remembered and always pined after. We might say that such moments represent a moment of transcendence out of the world of ordinary, everyday life to the World of the Spirit. It stands to reason then that one who can learn to spend more time on that level , who learns to live, or at least spend extended time, in THAT world, may begin too experience moments of even higher illumination that are analogous to the experience of Ruach for most of humanity. Just like most people have rare flushes of insight into the world of spirit, so do these individuals experience flashes of perception of yet a higher reality. If we allow that this analogy describes something real, we begin to have a glimpse, an inkling into the world of Ruach Hakodesh, great Rebbes and prophetic inspiration.

The key to becoming a resident of the world of Spirit is through cultivation of elevated emotions and feelings that are constituents of that level.  How does one do so in practice? We will repeatedly return to this point.

The process begins by having a guide, a road map. Our tradition provides such a guide, and with this we can begin a life long process of spiritual growth. The classical Jewish view of the soul consists of the nefesh, ruach and neshama + (paralleling the four alomos Abia).  For the purposes of the introduction let us posit that most people live on the level of Nefesh and its powers of ordinary everyday emotions and feelings, some good (pity, regret etc), some bad (anger, jealousy, etc). Ruach is the domain of elevated feelings: wonder, gratitude, joy, exhilaration, hope etc, as well as the domain of great music, poetry and feeling. The stepwise ascent along a progression is, of course, not unique to Judaism. Self actualization scales have been offered by psychologists such as Maslow and Erikson. However, without understanding the Jewish view of spiritual progression through life, much of what the tradition aims to say remains a canvass of disjointed jottings and swabs.

The aim of spiritual life is then learning how to live on the level of Ruach and seeking to experience flashes of the Neshama that are available there.

To continue...