The Dreamer

I know a guy who’s a dreamer.

He’s always coming up with a new idea that is interesting but crazy at the same time.  He’s a nice guy (usually), but (almost always) out of touch with reality.

Is the dreamer someone lacking intelligence, allowing his imagination to take over, or is he someone who can go deeper then reason, to try, and sometimes succeed, to make connections that no one has made before, to connect two seemingly opposing ideas, and to innovate beyond any expectation?

We live in a dream.

We live in a reality in which opposing truths can coexist. Where one can love Hashem in one moment and love the world a moment later. Is that a good place to be in? Does that mean that the love of Hashem is just an illusion? 

One must understand, answers the alter Rebbe, that looking from our perspective this reality is indeed contradictory. However, in it’s spiritual source, there is no contradiction at all; because, in truth, the world and Holiness are, not opposites but, one and the same, both expressing the greatness of Hashem. 

We are frustrated because, in our mind, we are like the dreamer who does not realize that he is simultaneously entertaining two ideas that cannot coexist. Yet, in truth, we are not living a contradiction. In truth, we are the dreamers who can reach deeper then the perceived truths, we are the dreamers who are not afraid of apparent contradiction, and we are the dreamers who look at the world and see it for what it really is: an expression of Hashem. 

(Based on Torah Or Parshas Vayeshev, D”H Shir Hmaalos... Hayinu Ki’cholmim).

The Power of Youth

The Akeidah is the greatest lesson of commitment to Hashem recorded in the Torah. We look to Avraham for inspiration to carry us trough the most challenging of times.

Avraham himself also learned something from the Akeidah: he learned the power of Youth.

Avraham commitment to Hashem was inspired by the revelation, yet Yitzchak was able to do the same without any revelation.

Only after the Akeudah did Avraham understand the power and strength of the dediaction of the youth.

Therefore, immediately after the Akeidah, the Torah writes: “Avraham returned to his lads”. He returned to the lads whom he taught about Hashem, yet he returned to “hang out” with them, to learn about true and enduring commitment to Hashem.

He returned to experience the youthful dedication, enthusiasm and perseverance.  

(A "Kutsker" Torah)

Why Him?

From all the people on earth G-d decides to choose Billam as his prophet. 

Billam, the man who wanted to curse the Jews so badly, that when G-d forced him to bless the Jews he convinced his own people to send their daughters to entice the Jews to sin. Every time I read the story I ask myself could G-d not have found someone more moral and deserving for the job?

This morning it came to me.

What if G-d chose Billam so we can appreciate Moses?

We look at Moses and we say to ourselves that if only G-d would speak to us we would be as great as Moses. So G-d decides to speak to Billam; showing that prophecy alone is no assurance to morality. It's not the prophecy that makes the person great, rather it's the person's own effort that makes him a great prophet.

The same is true for every person. When we feel an inspiration from above we must know that the inspiration alone will not make us Mosses-like. To be like Moses we must ensure that we, inspired by the gift of inspiration, will work hard to improve ourselves.

What on Earth is Spirituality?

Reading? Thinking? Swimming? Yoga?

The most accurate description of spirituality is change.

“What does change have to do with spirituality?” you ask.

A spiritual phenomena is undefinable in physical terms, and is therefore not bound to any particular form of existence; beacuse if it has to remain in a specific form then it is bound to a specific definition, thus compromising it's spirituality.

Therefore, the plant, which grows and changes, is more spiritual then the the stone, which does not change at all. The plant, however, is rooted in a specific place from which it can't break away. Thus the animal, which roams the earth freely, is more spiritual the the plant. And nothing in this world is more spiritual then the person who transcends himself to speak to another person.

It follows, therefore, that the act of changing, not being bound by your previous state of being, is the ultimate expression of one's spirituality-boundlessness.

[This explains why the human being is described in Jewish literature as “speaker”, not “thinker”; true, the thinker may feels spiritual beacuse he is breaking loose of his state of being and allowing his mind to roam freely; true freedom, however, is connecting to another person, breaking out of the most difficult bondage to escape, the bondage to the self.]

(Leku"s Yisro 6:1)

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.

The Calling Heart

To me, there is no description of a Jew studying Torah more beautiful the Alter Rebbe's:

"Torah study is referred to as “calling”, as a man calls to his friend to come to him, or as a child will call his father to come and join him and not to part from him, leaving him alone, G-d forbid".

You see the guy studying every free moment he has; he always has a book within reach; it's his only hobby. You assume he's the most intellectual person you know.

Nothing is further from the truth.

You see his mind trying to grasp the wisdom. Look a bit deeper and you'll discover his yearning heart.  

All he wants is to feel close to Hashem. 

His study partner, although reading the same page, is interested in the wisdom and is therefore in a completely different place. The study partner must, therefore, stop every hour to mediate on the fact the he is learning Hashem’s wisdom (Tanya). He has to make an effort to perform the Mitzvah of Study with a love and fear of Hashem.

The one studying because he wants to connect, because his soul is calling to Hashem, need not stop every hour; because his study is nothing but the expression of Love to Hashem.    

(Tanya Chapter 37) 

Kosher Wisdom

What makes an animal kosher, according to the famous talk of the Rebbe, is not whether it has a hoof, but  whether the hoof is split. 

The hoof represents being uplifted from the earth, not being totally involved in the physical experience. You would think that that is the most important component of the Kosher person. In realty, however, the defining factor is whether the hoof is split, whether the holy and spiritual elements of our life, the hoof - the part that is removed from the earth, has a split through which it can influence the earth.

Paraphrasing the words of the Ramabam (who's book we conclude today): don't look for the wise iwhem he is studying. Look for him when he is eating. Only then can you be sure that you are indeed looking at a wise man. 

(Leku"s Vol. 1, Shmini) 

Don't Touch the Spoils

You would think that it’s an integral part of the story. It’s repeated again and again. “and in the spoils they did not send forth their hands”.

I always wondered, why is it important for the book of Esther to mention angina and again that when the Jewish people battles their enemies they did not take any of the spoils?

Perhaps this is a lesson for us. 

We to are called upon to battle against the concealment this world, by revealing the light of Hashem. In the midst of the battle, however, we may come across “spoils” that we feel is rightfully ours. Perhaps we could take it back with us to our own homes.  

Says the Megilah: no. you are here to influence the world, to reshape it’d contents to serve a greater purpose, not bring home it’s spoils and defeat the very purpose of the battle.  

Respect the Fire of Love

They were wrong. 

They told us that a relationship can endure on love alone. They told us that ideally we should be in love every moment of our life. They told us to follow our hearts.

The results of their misunderstanding are enormous; a fifty percent divorce rate is proof that they missed something crucial.

They failed.

They failed to mention that Love is fire. Like fire, it keeps jumping up then down, never staying in one position.  They failed to teach us that Loves fiery passion, the force that overcomes great distance to bring people together, will run out of steam as soon as it brings two people together. Because bringing strangers together is not only it's purpose but also it's motivator.

They failed to explain that when we don't feel the fire, we must commit to our beloved, not out of Love but out of respect. we must commit to our beloved who is a distinct person, with hopes, dreams, aspirations that may be different then ours. 

And, most importantly, they failed to assure us, that only when our heart feels that we respect the boundaries of our beloved, when it senses that we are two distinct beings that respect each other despite not being in love at this moment, only then does the fire hidden in our soul surge into a flame of passion.

(Based on my interpretation of lesson 2 of JLI's TML)

Aron and Chur

Chur was a great man. He did not hesitate to sacrifice his life to prevent the Jews from creating a golden calf. Yet the Torah does not mention him in the story at all. Why?

I have an idea that may or may not be correct; here it is:

At that point in Jewish history, the Jewish people were not yet commanded to sacrifice their lives to avoid idol worship (The commandment is found in Leviticus 22 34). Perhaps the reason we don't emphasize the greatness of Chur's commitment, is that one may not sacrifice their live without an explicit commandment from Hashem.

If this answer is correct, then Aron would be completely exonerated. As it would be against the Torah for Aron to sacrifice his life to avoid making the golden calf.  

By omitting Chur’s sacrifice the Torah is conveying the importance of life, saying that one may not give up his life even for the noblest of causes, without the direct commandment by Hashem.

I find it interesting that we celebrate the Akeydah as the first act of martyrdom, although nobody died. This emphasizes that we celebrate the willingness to die, never death itself.  

Erev Rav

Rashi mentions by Eleh Elokecha and shicheis amcha that it was mostly the erev rav who Moshe accepted or mikareved that made the problems. Perhaps this was Aharon’s thought process and mistake. He felt that they should not have been brought along was hastening along their split from the Yidden. And his mistake was that it also drew in some Yidden along the way.

Moshe - Unov

וְהָאִישׁ מֹשֶׁה עָנָיו מְאֹד מִכֹּל הָאָדָם אֲשֶׁר עַל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה

How was Moshe able to be so humble? He must’ve have known his true worth. And even if could think that were people who were greater than him could he actually be more humble than everybody? Were all his gifts and skills only G-d-given talent and not also the product of his labours? Besides for it straining our belief, (there is a Medrish that states exactly the opposite. It says that a King heard about Moshe when the Yidden were in the desert and wanted to get to know him. So he sent an artist from his court to draw a portrait of Moshe. When the artist came back with the portrait the King was incredulous stating that this is a picture of a person who is ugly in character and is a low human being. When he sent his response to Moshe, Moshe replied that you are right, this is the way I was born but I was able to better myself through hard work.) But perhaps this Medrish strains our belief. :)

So back to the point, maybe Moshe wasn’t the hardest working person on the planet but he must’ve been at least a little bit.

Perhaps we can say that even the hard work that Moshe did he was able to be humble about. One way is to say that this was a G-d-given talent. But more so would be to say that he attributed the good things he did to the people who taught them to him or to those that he learned them from. And we could learn Mikal ha’adam with the mem meaning from rather than more than.

Torah T’mimah writes that the greater a person is the harder it is to be an anuv and that Moshe therfore was able to be the greatest Onuv around.

Targum Yonason explains that the Pasuk comes in connection to Miriam’s complaint. That despite him being an onuv he wasn’t Choshesh to their Taaneh. We don't see him reacting. Another Pirush says that they said it in front of him and he didn't react.

Aron

Aron was right at the center of the worst crime scene in Jewish history. He was personally involved in creating the weapon. Yet, he does not loose his priesthood as the Bichorim (- first born) did for their involvement in the crime. The Rabbi’s offer every possible interpretation to exonerate him.   

Perhaps the reason Aaron is treated with so much love and care is because of the way he treated other people. If he saw others sinning he would always look to put a positive spin on the action. He, therefore, deserves we do the same for him.

I am not sure if this is a great answer, but it is consistent with the idea of "measure for measure".

The Sea

I am looking at a picture of myself looking straight ahead at the the Mediterranean Sea. I like the way it makes me feel, so I post it to my desktop computer.

I like the way it makes me feel, because it reminds me to look at the vastness of the creation, never to limit my world, my potential, to the narrow streets I walk every day.

My soul feels so peaceful looking at the vastness of the Sea. Perhaps that's because, in its waters, she sees a reflection of herself.     

Ambition

I've never seen anyone as ambitious.

He's unbelievable; he doesn't rest for a second; he's laser focused; he embraces the challenge with excitement; he never compromises with the competition; he is always as peek energy - never letting his guard down.

Yet, surprisingly, he's not interested in making a name for himself; nor is he interested in controlling the entire world. 

He does, however, want to control himself. Completely.

He strives to be a Beynuney.