The Exalted

We keep doing it.

I never figured it out. Why do we keep exalting him, telling how awesome and removed he is from us, all while trying to connect to him in Prayer.

To me, it always felt strange; I felt that the more exalted he is, the harder it is for me to connect to him.

This Morning the Alter Rebbe explained it: Hashem is exalted, therfire the entire creation is insignificant before him. As soon as I'll realize this truth the world will not be able to interfere with my connection to Hashem; after all it's insignificant.

(Lek"t Masey)

Vows

The Torah summarizes the laws of vows, in the beginning of Matos, by saying “these are the statutes which the Lord commanded Moses concerning a man and his wife, a father and his daughter, in her youth, while in her father's house”; omitting from the summary, what seems like the main point of the portion, the commandment that “If a man makes a vow to the Lord or makes an oath to prohibit himself, he shall not violate his word; according to whatever came out of his mouth, he shall do”.

This leads the Rebbe to conclude that the main point of the portion is not, the self understood idea, that one must keep a vow. Rather, here, the Torah's point is the contrary, the laws of nullifying a vow.

For until that point, while the Jews were in the desert they were permitted to make vows and separate themselves from the mundane. Now, however, when the Jews were about to enter the Land of Israel, and were given the responsibility of bringing G-dliness to this physical world, they don;t have the luxury to separate themselves form a physical item, rather they are empowered to refine and elevate it.

(Leku”s Matos 13 1)

Return then Run

Life, like energy, is a constant pull between running and returning. The soul yearns to connect to G-d, yet it must “return” to this world, bringing the light of Hashem down to this earth, through the Torah and Mitzvot.

Then the cycle starts again, after it returned the soul starts “running” and yearning again.   

This idea appears continuously in Chasidic philosophy; yet only this Shabbos did I realize an important detail of the process. In Lekutey Torah the Alter Rebbe explains that the cause for the “running” after the “return” is the “return”. The fact that the Jew drew g-d into his life, return, now makes him appreciate G-dlyness that much more, thus causing another “running” yearning to Hashem.  

(Leku"t Naso)

Shehakol

Why is it that so many different food groups (meat, poultry, fish, drinks, mushrooms) are all together when it comes to which Beracha Rishona is recited over them?
Boray Pri Ha'Adamah is straight forward, so is Boray Pri Ha'Etz. Mezonos is said on foods that have now become food which is Zan.
But SheHakol that's the default one for food that we don't know which Beracha to say.
Is that fitting to use that one for meat that it is written about it, Ein Simcha ella B'Basser? We should make a special Beracha over it just like wine.
And I was thinking,
that it seems a difference between Ha'Adamah- Ha'Etz and SheHakol is that the former is said over food, even if it was cooked, that is recognizable as being edible even in its original natural state. While SheHakol is for foods that are able to be eaten only after human involvement. And to bavorn Kochi V'Otzem Yodi we make a special Beracha SheHakol N'hiya Bidvaro- Hashem created it.

Sitting on the Couch

Yesterday you built a couch. You extend yourself to the outside world. You couldn’t think about some deep idea because you were busy making sure that you put the nail in the right place.

You lowered yourself to the level of a couch.

Today you sit on the couch, relax, and read philosophy. Now, not only did you elevate yourself from the state of the couch to the state of the Human, but the couch itself was elevated from being a distraction to your wisdom to the contributing to your ability to think clearly – to be yourself.

The world is the couch. During the six days of creation Hashem lowers himself to create the world; on Shabbat he is elevated, and so are we.  

Today

Today is the day.

Today all your dreams will be answered.
Today you will love Hashem, your mind will unite with his mind with an unparalleled unity.
Today you will feel the “Ashreynu” of being Jewish and being a Chosid.
Today you will enjoy the gift of the family Hashem gave you.
Today you will “find grace and kindness in the eyes of Hashem and people”.

Every day is Today.

The Power of Matzah

Moshe perceived his speech impediment as a serious challenge to the task of leading the Jewish people. Perhaps in today's society we would expect Moshe to overcome his handicap by bolstering his own ego, by telling himself how great and impressive he is, how Pharaoh will surely be swayed by the force of his personality.

Moshe does no such thing. He overcomes the challenge with the power of humility. By telling himself that it's the message, not the messenger, that is important. 

We tend to think that a humble person is, by definition, unambitious and weak. Moshe teaches that the ultimate strength comes from looking beyond one's self to the significance of the task.    

This, perhaps, is the lesson of the Matzah. To break free of one's limitations, one must look past himself, to the humility symbolized by the Matzah.