avakesh

Belief and mysticism

Belief, akin to intuition is arch-knowledge. Meta-knowledge can be done poorly or well. When it is done poorly, it is a belief in a false g-d. When it is done by a refined individual who follows the rules of obtaining meta-knowledge, which he obtains from others or from tradition, it is a belief into the true G-d, although it cannot be communicated to one who has no concept of how to obtain meta-knowledge and has not even embarked on the quest.

To a mystic who has attained this knowledge, those who have not attained it are like children who must be protected and tended in hope of bringing them slowly and eventually to this knowledge. There is is a great danger from this to the mystic who may grow to believe that he is now exempt from the rules that  govern mere humans. If he is caught up in it, he will become a Bilaam.

Once he transitions beyond this danger, he will know what can and cannot be shared and taught. He will give to each person what he can assimilate and through which he can rise. He will pursue beneficence and chessed because that is what Hashem does for the world. On the other hand, feeding people knowledge which they are not yet ready to digest is not only irresponsible, it is a sign of smallness.

Unfortunately, in our age and time, the world has literally shrunk, both physically and spiritually. Distances are smaller and spiritual distance and levels are also not as well appreciated. We want to know everything quickly and we want to do it through our brains. We don't want to understand that there are many different kinds of knowledge and the some of them take years and decades of preparation and work

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
- Hamlet (1.5.166-7), Hamlet to Horatio

 

Rachel and Leah

Rachel and Leah are the two mothers who together built the Hose of Israel. Yet they are different - in personality, spiritual characteristics, and effect on the generations to come.

A deeper perspective on Rachel and Leah needs to take into account and explain one Kabbalistic fact. Surprisingly, in Kabbalah, Leah is higher and superior to Rachel. The partzuf of Zeir Anpin is composed of a higher part, Isroel Sabba and below it Yacov. Wrapped around them is Leah above and Rachel below. Leah is generally facing Isroel Sabbah's back whereas Rachel is sometimes front to back and sometimes front to front  to Yakov (see Shaar Hakkavonos, Krias Shema). Without getting sidetracked by these intricate ideas, one thing is clear - Leah is higher than Rachel. That is not the perception we get from the Chumash, where Rachel seems to be more valued than Leah. Ruth Rabbah 7:13 points out that even descendents of Leah, Boaz and men of Bethlehem mention Rachel before Leah.

Michtav M'Eliahu suggests that Yakov and Isroel represents Jacob as he functioned in the lower and higher realities respectively."Also Rachel and Leah correspond to two particulars in Divine Service.. Rachel. "the beautiful of form and beautiful of visage" (in the words of the Zohar - the revealed reality) is the revelation of God's Glory in this lower world. Leah stands aside (the eyes of Leah are weak - the world of the hidden) - her portion is what is revealed in the sense of the higher world, the hidden one (2:218)". The Artscroll Chumash adds derives from this an appealing idea. When Yakov saw Rachel, he immediately knew that she was his partner in this world. The same was not the case with Leah. She was his partner in spirit but at that stage of his growth, he did not yet see it. He would only see it later in his life. Rachel was she whom he needed at the time, but Leah was his destiny for eternity. It is she who produced Yehudah and Royalty and Levi and the Priesthood.

So often we see only with eyes of the flesh. Rachel was right for him as he was, Leah was destined for him as he was going to be. So often we rail and complain against Divine injustice in not giving us something that we want, forgetting that God, in His kindness, may be instead giving us what we need.

It's a great segula for Sholom Bayis to remember that the wife that Hashem may have given you may not be the one that you wanted but she is the one that is good for you. A Jewish wife is not a wife who will make you feel great and cater to your every whim and behind your back does G-d knows what. A Jewish wife is supposed to challenge you. She will challenge you, stretch you, shine light on your deficiencies, make you GROW!

I often think of R. Yisroel Salanter. Here is a man who by all contemporary standards was a failure. His career as a Rosh Yeshiva ended with having to go into exile. He spent most of his life in Western Europe, and making very little difference. It is almost an afterthought, a few students who he taught his Mussar doctrine, who created in his name a revolution in the Jewish world. Sometimes it is the insignificant actions that we completely overlook and do not value that may earn us Eternity.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe (quoted in the Gutnick Chumash) had a different approach. He saw Rachel as representing tsaddikim gemurim, hence her beauty of appearance and stature. Leah, on the other hand, represents Baalei Teshuva. That is why she cried a lot. It is for this reason that, as Rashi points out, everyone thought that she was an appropriate wife for Eisav. Like Eisav, Lea went out, a trait that "came out" in her daughter Dinah. That is a trait of Baalei Teshuva who actively seek to cause others to become Baalei Teshuvah. Underlying this approach maybe is the Kabbalistic tradition that Leah is higher than Rachel and the statement (Brochos 34) that in the place in which Baalei Teshuvah stand, tsaddikim gemurim cannot stand.

A deeper perspective on Rachel and Leah needs to take into account and explain one Kabbalistic fact. Surprisingly, in Kabbalah, Leah is higher and superior to Rachel. The partzuf of Zeir Anpin is composed of a higher part, Isroel Sabba and below it Yacov. Wrapped around them is Leah above and Rachel below. Leah is generally facing Isroel Sabbah's back whereas Rachel is sometimes front to back and sometimes front to front  to Yakov (see Shaar Hakkavonos, Krias Shema). Without getting sidetracked by these intricate ideas, one thing is clear - Leah is higher than Rachel. That is not the perception we get from the Chumash, where Rachel seems to be more valued than Leah. Ruth Rabbah 7:13 points out that even descendents of Leah, Boaz and men of Bethlehem mention Rachel before Leah.

Michtav M'Eliahu suggests that Yakov and Isroel represents Jacob as he functioned in the lower and higher realities respectively."Also Rachel and Leah correspond to two particulars in Divine Service.. Rachel. "the beautiful of form and beautiful of visage" (in the words of the Zohar - the revealed reality) is the revelation of God's Glory in this lower world. Leah stands aside (the eyes of Leah are weak - the world of the hidden) - her portion is what is revealed in the sense of the higher world, the hidden one (2:218)". The Artscroll Chumash adds derives from this an appealing idea. When Yakov saw Rachel, he immediately knew that she was his partner in this world. The same was not the case with Leah. She was his partner in spirit but at that stage of his growth, he did not yet see it. He would only see it later in his life. Rachel was she whom he needed at the time, but Leah was his destiny for eternity. It is she who produced Yehudah and Royalty and Levi and the Priesthood.

So often we see only with eyes of the flesh. Rachel was right for him as he was, Leah was destined for him as he was going to be. So often we rail and complain against Divine injustice in not giving us something that we want, forgetting that God, in His kindness, may be instead giving us what we need.

It's a great segula for Sholom Bayis to remember that the wife that Hashem may have given you may not be the one that you wanted but she is the one that is good for you. A Jewish wife is not a wife who will make you feel great and cater to your every whim and behind your back does G-d knows what. A Jewish wife is supposed to challenge you. She will challenge you, stretch you, shine light on your deficiencies, make you GROW!

I often think of R. Yisroel Salanter. Here is a man who by all contemporary standards was a failure. His career as a Rosh Yeshiva ended with having to go into exile. He spent most of his life in Western Europe, and making very little difference. It is almost an afterthought, a few students who he taught his Mussar doctrine, who created in his name a revolution in the Jewish world. Sometimes it is the insignificant actions that we completely overlook and do not value that may earn us Eternity.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe (quoted in the Gutnick Chumash) had a different approach. He saw Rachel as representing tsaddikim gemurim, hence her beauty of appearance and stature. Leah, on the other hand, represents Baalei Teshuva. That is why she cried a lot. It is for this reason that, as Rashi points out, everyone thought that she was an appropriate wife for Eisav. Like Eisav, Lea went out, a trait that "came out" in her daughter Dinah. That is a trait of Baalei Teshuva who actively seek to cause others to become Baalei Teshuvah. Underlying this approach maybe is the Kabbalistic tradition that Leah is higher than Rachel and the statement (Brochos 34) that in the place in which Baalei Teshuvah stand, tsaddikim gemurim cannot stand.

A deeper perspective on Rachel and Leah needs to take into account and explain one Kabbalistic fact. Surprisingly, in Kabbalah, Leah is higher and superior to Rachel. The partzuf of Zeir Anpin is composed of a higher part, Isroel Sabba and below it Yacov. Wrapped around them is Leah above and Rachel below. Leah is generally facing Isroel Sabbah's back whereas Rachel is sometimes front to back and sometimes front to front  to Yakov (see Shaar Hakkavonos, Krias Shema). Without getting sidetracked by these intricate ideas, one thing is clear - Leah is higher than Rachel. That is not the perception we get from the Chumash, where Rachel seems to be more valued than Leah. Ruth Rabbah 7:13 points out that even descendents of Leah, Boaz and men of Bethlehem mention Rachel before Leah.

Michtav M'Eliahu suggests that Yakov and Isroel represents Jacob as he functioned in the lower and higher realities respectively."Also Rachel and Leah correspond to two particulars in Divine Service.. Rachel. "the beautiful of form and beautiful of visage" (in the words of the Zohar - the revealed reality) is the revelation of God's Glory in this lower world. Leah stands aside (the eyes of Leah are weak - the world of the hidden) - her portion is what is revealed in the sense of the higher world, the hidden one (2:218)". The Artscroll Chumash adds derives from this an appealing idea. When Yakov saw Rachel, he immediately knew that she was his partner in this world. The same was not the case with Leah. She was his partner in spirit but at that stage of his growth, he did not yet see it. He would only see it later in his life. Rachel was she whom he needed at the time, but Leah was his destiny for eternity. It is she who produced Yehudah and Royalty and Levi and the Priesthood.

So often we see only with eyes of the flesh. Rachel was right for him as he was, Leah was destined for him as he was going to be. So often we rail and complain against Divine injustice in not giving us something that we want, forgetting that God, in His kindness, may be instead giving us what we need.

It's a great segula for Sholom Bayis to remember that the wife that Hashem may have given you may not be the one that you wanted but she is the one that is good for you. A Jewish wife is not a wife who will make you feel great and cater to your every whim and behind your back does G-d knows what. A Jewish wife is supposed to challenge you. She will challenge you, stretch you, shine light on your deficiencies, make you GROW!

I often think of R. Yisroel Salanter. Here is a man who by all contemporary standards was a failure. His career as a Rosh Yeshiva ended with having to go into exile. He spent most of his life in Western Europe, and making very little difference. It is almost an afterthought, a few students who he taught his Mussar doctrine, who created in his name a revolution in the Jewish world. Sometimes it is the insignificant actions that we completely overlook and do not value that may earn us Eternity.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe (quoted in the Gutnick Chumash) had a different approach. He saw Rachel as representing tsaddikim gemurim, hence her beauty of appearance and stature. Leah, on the other hand, represents Baalei Teshuva. That is why she cried a lot. It is for this reason that, as Rashi points out, everyone thought that she was an appropriate wife for Eisav. Like Eisav, Lea went out, a trait that "came out" in her daughter Dinah. That is a trait of Baalei Teshuva who actively seek to cause others to become Baalei Teshuvah. Underlying this approach maybe is the Kabbalistic tradition that Leah is higher than Rachel and the statement (Brochos 34) that in the place in which Baalei Teshuvah stand, tsaddikim gemurim cannot stand.

The Empty Tefillin? by Chaim Gershon

 

The mitzvos of the Torah generally became binding as soon as they were given.

If so, since Jews started wearing tefillin while journeying through the desert and two of the chapters of Shema from the book of Devarim that go into tefillin were not written down until the fourteeth years, it follows that for 39 years they wore head tefillin with four compartments but with only the two parshiyos from Shemos in two of the boxes. The other two compartments were empty!

 

This is supported by Rashi's language in parshas Bo, where he explains the word for tefillin, totafos as 4 compartments whereas in parshas veschanan he refers to four parshios. 

 

The Lubavitcher Rebbe discussed this on various occasions. See especially Likutei Sichos 9 , 43 and Sefer HaSichos 5751 Bo p.272  and 5749 Bo p.204, as well as in the Green edition of Likutei Sichos #9,  Eschanan. Some materials are also found here. Other sources include: Sichos Korach Gimmel Tammuz 5724 (in Toras Menachem series), Ohr Hatorah Devarim Volume 1, Tzemach Tzedek, pages 87, 90...327. Online the topic is discussed here: 

http://www.shemayisrael.com/dafyomi2/parsha/archives/bo98.htm

 

http://dafyomi.shemayisrael.co.il/parsha/bo5.htm

 

http://vesomsechel.blogspot.com/2007/01/tefillin-of-rashi-and-rabbenu-tam.html (An interesting analysis of R. Tam's tefillin)

 

Ohr Yisroel 39, 216

http://www.hebrewbooks.org/13617

 

http://www.hebrewbooks.org/22600

Pri Tzadik Elul(2), 92 therein

 

What is the meaning of tefillin with two empty boxes?  The Rebbe discusses the implication that the absence of those two paragraphs (Shema and Vahaya im Shemoa) implies that the avodah expressed by them was not necessary in the dessert. He references the Mittler Rebbe who states that Moshe did not transmit the two parshiyos in Devarim until he realized that he was not leading the Jews into the land of Israel.

 

Moshe's personal avodah was that of revelation from above, experiencing G-dliness as it comes down from above to below, called by Tanya in Shaar Haichud V''Hoemunah- Yichud Ilaah. When Moshe saw that his way will not be the way for the Jews after they enter the Holy Land, he wished to teach Jews to recite Shema and VaHaya im Shemoa which correspond to the more distant, yichud tata, avodah from below,rising to  perceive G-dliness through their own efforts from below to above. These parshiyos from Devarim would be placed in the tefillin once they entered the land. 

 

The history of tefillin teaches us that In our daily lives today a balance between both avodahs is necessary.

 

Avakesh comments:

 

While the most important point of the above teaching is about different ways of serving Hashem, especially through the mitsva of tefillin, it raises several issues previously discussed on this blog. Among them is whether the concept of Progressive Revelation is acceptable within the Tradition, with the proviso that it is restricted to the fourty year period of wandering in the dessert. If yes, many differences between the book of Devarim and the rest of the Chumash can be easily reconciled. There is also the question of whether it allows for admitting the existence of an Editor, as long it is Moshe Rabbeinu who was the Redactor of Biblical critics. There is perhaps some room for a concept that Moshe was given the freedom to arrange parshiot within the Torah, a concept that may be utilized to explain some of the arrangement and construction of its books. The Talmud records a disagreement in Gittin 60: “R. Yochanan in the name of R. Babaya said:” The Torah was given scroll by scroll (Rashi – First the scroll that contained the story of Creation, than the Scroll of Noach, then the scroll of Avraham).R. Shimon ben Lakish says: ”Torah was written as a complete document.” The Chezkuni explains:(Shemos 34,32): "Moshe would hear the commandments from the mouth of the Holy One Blessed be He and write them each one in a separate scroll. When it was his time to leave the world he arranged the Book of Torah and fixed in it contents according to the (significance) of organization (semukhin)  appropriate to it, as our Rabbis have explained”. A similar explanation is offered by R. Yosef Bkhor Shor in his commentary.”

 

These Megilas may have also contained some that were Moshe’s personal diaries or logs and were incorporated into the Torah under direct Divine command. See Ohr Hachaim to Bamidbar 33,1. The Midrash Chateirot V’Yateirot in Wertheimer edition (Jerusalem 1930) (but this passage is not found in other editions) says that Bamidbar10:35-36 are set off in the Torah scroll by inverted Nuns to indicate that it is a part of the prophecy of Eldad and Meided that was inserted in that spot by Moshe.

 

In relation to the book of Devarim, see Abarbanel in Introduction to Devarim, Toldot Yitzhak (R. Yosef Karo), Mizrachi to Devarim1,1;Beit Elokim, Shaar Hayesodot, 33; Alshekh beginning of Devarim, Ohr Hachaim Devarim 1,1. All of these authorities would likely share the opinion of the Abarbanel “The general rule is that this sacred book comes from the mouth of the Almighty, G-d having commanded it to be written word for word, like the rest of the Chumash” (op.cit.). However, this formulation leaves room for the arranging and sequencing of the megillos to be done by Moshe.

Posach Elyahu: The Infinite, the sefirotic complex and the human being

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What are Sefiros?

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Atheism and the Problem of Evil

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Tsimtsum: The view of the Vilna Gaon, R. Dessler and Lubavitch

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Creation

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Gaining spirituality: what to do to get there and stay there

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Cosmological and teleological proofs for existence of God

 This lecture should be studied together with the one on the Ontological Proof in this series. It is being posted out of sequence due to techincal problems that have delayed it

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