Jewish Lights

The Neschizer Rebbe: "Do Not Curse Anyone"

2010-12-18T23:09:00.000+02:00

from Zichron Zot (Mei-Avdut Hatzaddikim 38), 1892

I have decided for a reason known to me to add here the following story of the Neschizer rebbe when he was in the town of Ratna.

Mr. Yosef of Ravne came to him before going on to travel to the Holy Land. He told him a story, and after he left, the Neschizer told it [from his own perspective] as follows.

In the year 5618 (told the rebbe), I was in a certain town where a new synagogue was about to be built. I was asked to attend a ceremony to mark the placing of the cornerstone.

My carriage was harnessed to go from my lodgings to the synagogue site. Usually I would walk in front and the carriage would follow afterwards. But this time Hashem sent me the idea that I should send my carriage ahead of me, while I and the other people followed behind.

(Author’s note: I recall all of this as though it were happening today, because I was there.)

There was a person there who was enticed to do evil. There was a bridge along the way, and he secretly sawed through its pillars so that when I traveled over the bridge the sawn posts would break and the bridge would be destroyed.

(As is known, many people would ordinarily hold onto his carriage, and so it would be very heavy.)

But with Hashem’s kindness, since I had given word that the carriage should travel in front, when it went over the bridge and the pillars began to move to the side so that the bridge began to break, tipping over the carriage, the people accompanying me were told to go to the other side of the bridge.

After that, the Holy One, blessed be He, made it known that the person who had done the sawing had gone insane. [This happened because] he confessed his sin in public. As a result, he was taken to the paupers’ hospital.

R. Yosef went there and saw him when his mind was clear. The sick man told him that all of this occurred to him in punishment for something that he had done.

When the Neschizer rebbe told this story, a member of his household, [his aide,] said, “So should all of Your enemies be destroyed, Hashem, and all those who intend evil to the master.”

The Neschizer replied, “Why do you curse?”

The aide answered, “Am I not speaking properly? Certainly this should happen to whoever contemplates doing evil to the master even if he does so just once a year.”

The Neschizer answered him angrily, “Hashem does not listen to curses from the mouth of a person who likes to drink a little whisky and then lie down to sleep.”

The aide responded, “If so, then let Hashem be zealous on behalf of the honor of a person who does not drink whiskey and who does not love to sleep”—with which he alluded to the honorable Neschizer.

The Neschizer replied, “Such a person does not curse and is not pleased with your words.”

The Neschizer Rebbe: The Walls of His House

2010-12-15T06:11:00.000+02:00

The Neschizer rebbe treated the walls of his house, which had been home to his father and brother with especial holiness and great love.

In the year 5618 [1867-68], when he was in the town of Kalk, he gave orders that the house in Neschiz should be repaired, because it was getting very old.

When he returned from his trip and saw that the walls had been raised as part of the repair process, he was upset and said that it was not right to move the house.

And regarding the wooden window frames (reimen), he also gave orders not to remove the old ones and make new ones. Rather, where the old ones rotted, he commanded to cut away the rotted part and put a new piece there, and paint them so that the repair would not be noticeable.

Zichron Zot (Mei-avdut Hatzaddikim, 37) , 1892

Poem: The Moon Rose

2010-12-11T22:05:00.001+02:00

The moon rose in the swinging sky

And glittered at the fox

Who turned his pointy nose and sniffed.

A cat turned on the rocks.

The ocean turned upon the shore,

The boy turned on the gutter,

And musty men in dusty rags

Turned up to rage and mutter.

Oh in the apple of your eye,

Oh in the woods medieval

The woodman struck, the cages shook,

The king decried upheaval.

The Neschizer Rebbe: The Mysterious Purim Visitor

2010-12-11T19:42:00.002+02:00

(Story translated from an authentic Hasidic text, first published in 1892)

Also on Purim 5627 [1867], the Neschizer Rebbe quoted the book [unclear] that a person should write the word Amalek or Haman and then erase it, in order to perform the positive commandment of wiping out the memory of Amalek.

Regarding the custom mentioned in the Shulchan Aruch (690) that “a person should bang when the megillah reader says ‘Haman,’ etc., and we should not eliminate or mock any custom, for they were not established without reason,” the Neschizer rebbe told that one time a law was passed forbidding Jews from making noise when Haman is mentioned during the megillah reading.

But during the megillah reading, very loud striking noises were miraculously heard in the synagogue.

I believe that the Neschizer rebbe told that an old man who was doing the striking appeared. The other Jews begged him not to make noise so that they would not be endangered, but he told them not to worry.

The gentiles searched for the man making noise, but they did not find him.

And so the other Jews themselves went back to making a great deal of noise when the word “Haman” was read, and the decree was rescinded.

Mei-avdut Hatzaddikim 36, Zichron Tov

The Neschizer Rebbe: The Story of a Torn Ear

2010-12-10T08:47:00.000+02:00

The Neschizer rebbe was told that a certain person was learning forbidden literature.

The Neschizer rebbe said to that man, “Tell me the truth about what I have heard about you.”

The man answered, “Heaven forbid, I am only learning books on grammar--dikduk.”

The Neschizer answered him, “That is connected to the idea of the ‘sufferings of poverty’--dikdukei aniyut.”

The man also said, “I sometimes study the Kuzari.”

The Neschizer said, “It is fitting to learn Talmud with the comments of the Rosh. Also learn the Duties of the Heart, but skip the Gate of Unity.”

And the Neschizer said, “It is clear to me that when I learned a page of Gemera my eyes would be illumined by that.” And he directed the man to recite Zohar on Sabbath morning before prayers.

Also when the completion of a tractate was made in his presence on the Three Weeks, to make it possible to eat meat, he would at times ask the man who had completed the tractate, “Do you learn Talmud with the Rosh?” People were not sure if he meant the work Ashri by the authority called the Rosh, or if he meant, “Did you learn using your head (‘rosh’)?”

The Neschizer also very much recommended learning the Shnei Luchos Habris.

He told a story that the author of the Shnei Luchos Habris had a student in his yeshiva who had difficulty paying attention.

One time the Shlah struck him and tore his ear. The student ran away and joined a band of thieves and became their leader, and he lived in the forest.

Hashem brought it about that the Shlah was so immersed in his thoughts of Torah learning that he lost his way in the forest and he came to that very forest, to that very house.

The student recognized him, but the Shlah did not recognize the student. And he stayed there on the holy Sabbath. After the holy Sabbath was over, the student told him, “Know that I am your student, So and So.” And in proof he showed him his torn ear. And he said, “If you can show me a way to repent, fine. But if not, I will kill you.”

The Shlah gave him a regimen of repentance: to place a small snake in a bottle and hang it around his neck and feed it every day for seven years from everything that he himself eats and drinks. Afterwards, the snake will arise and kill him, and that will be his atonement.

And with this regimen of repentance, the student became a perfect tzaddik.

Zichron Tov

Rav Kook On: Bringing Light to the World

2010-12-10T08:26:00.000+02:00

The greatest spiritual illumination that can possibly rest in a person’s heart for the good is that he will always find himself desiring to act from his good side on behalf of all of existence.

The more that his awareness embraces reality, universally and in its details, in its spirituality and in its physicality, and the more that its order and structure are comprehensible and clear to him, the more well-founded will be his supernal love and the tendency of his will, so that he may, as best he can, do good for all.

The stronger that this thought grows, the more Divine it is. Then the supernal, Divine light is present. Kindness is revealed in the light of wisdom and illumines the face of [this] person and causes his soul to grow.

When this supernal thought grows stronger, with all of its conditions, when it proceeds in its order, it paves pathways in a person’s heart of how to tend in actuality to the universal good.

And when no knowledge and intellect suffice for this, immediately a holy spirit and a Divine, supernal light rest upon him. And when this grows very strong, it gives power to bring about miracles and wonders in heaven and on earth.

When universality is established very well in a person, he rises to the heights of spirituality.

He then hears and heeds the great being of spiritual matters, the strength of their existence and the multitude of life and activity within them, and he becomes entirely supernal and spiritual.

Since he is in the spiritual world, distances are nullified for him. They no longer form a barrier before him.

And all of existence appears before him in one glance and flight.

And the desire to do good with the entire world of action is a single matter.

The universal thought lifts everything, and in the light of thought that envelopes everything, he in truth shines upon everything.

All of being is filled with light as a result of his light. Everything is elevated by means of his elevations.

When the person descends from his heights and the world of action, which is defined and limited, forms a barrier before him, he then arranges his positive qualities in stages.

He knows that he requires, in the greatness of his spirit, a self-elevation, so that he will be uplifted, whole and elevated, so that he will have the ability to perform all good with the ultimate, broadest outreach.

He goes with the line: his person, his family, his tribe, his nation, his type, his classification—all that is found in his world, which is to say, in his physical reality.

Afterwards he goes and envisions, yearns as he grows elevated that all of these will participate in the improvement of the all, of all that is higher than space and more elevated than time.

And this thought itself strengthens him, causes him to grow and raises him beyond all deeds.

He goes forth to his people and speaks and acts, impresses his action upon his generation, and leaves an eternal remembrance for all generations.

He lives with eternity.

That which he will do while he is still in the corporeal sphere is a slight beginning in doing good to the all. But it is well-arranged and placed in regard to the state of the living world and existence within the boundaries of time and space.

These things themselves, in their essence and uplifted states, will be taken along with his eternal being, his essence that lives with the all.

His Divine longing will be revealed in every generation, from the supernal heights to the lowest depth.

His people will draw forth his spirit, the good spirit, to the all—with feeling if not entirely with clear understanding. They too will yearn for Divinity, for good, and beyond these heavens there will flash onto them constant brilliant flashes.

If they are not fit to rise to those heights, they will descend many descents. They will stumble as they walk. But although seven times will they fall, they will arise.

The supernal spirit, in the heights of eternity and might, places upon them the spirit of the living God, until the graves will be opened and dry, scattered bones will rise and be revived, and a very great army will stand upon its feet.

Kibbutzim Mi’ktav Yad Kodsho II, p. p. 70

Poem: A Stray Bird Flew

2010-12-06T18:10:00.001+02:00

a stray bird flew

above the scrubby hill

the air twisted like an olive press

The howler monkeys seemed on the verge of speech

Rav Kook On: A Person Who Has an Ethical, Poetic Spirit

2010-12-06T17:37:00.002+02:00

A person who has an ethical, poetic spirit constantly yearns to engage in general principles, because they contain all of the wealth that is divided afterwards to all of the individual details.

And out of the abundance that gathers in his soul due to the brightness of the general principles, a person can make use of the details clearly when they are called upon.

Contrarily, a person whose spirit is dry and this-worldly cannot bear the vast light in the general principles. He tends always to choose details for himself. And from the details, he comes to the general principles.

A person through whose soul the supernal light penetrates is aware of the entire process of the general principles: of how they proceed within the smallest details. Therefore, with all of his love for the principles his love for the details is not diminished, “and he lovingly derives from every crown upon a letter mounds upon mounds of laws.”

Kibbutzim Mi’ktav Yad Kodsho II, p.69

Rav Kook On: Depression and Divine Light

2010-12-06T11:10:00.003+02:00

The depth of the depression that embitters the soul to the very essence of life has been formed in the nature of [a person’s] supernal spirit so that it may have a receptacle that will be filled with Divine light.

The only thing that will support and revive the soul when it is faint, when it is completely discouraged, when it is filled with anger at itself, when it sees itself in its emptiness and imperfection, is Divine light.

That Divine light is not an awareness that [the spirit] acquires only through measured and step-by-step logic, which is as nothing. It is true that the soul cannot be empty of that intermediate trait of awareness. However, it is not with this that [a person] will penetrate to the Divine light that he needs for his life, but [with] the light that radiates from the supernal light in the depth of [his] soul, as the soul inherently realizes that only it itself recognizes its own happiness and light via [that light], just as [the soul] alone recognizes the times that it sees its own dark situation, its suffering and sadness.

“The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger can mix into its joy” (Proverbs 14:10).

Kevatzim Mikhtav Yad Kadsho II, p. 69

More Tales of the Neschizer Rebbe

2010-12-04T23:21:00.002+02:00

30. Sunday night, 22 Adar 5628.

Rabbi A. told me that he heard the Neschizer rebbe tell a story about his father, the Moharam, which I will repeat in brief.

Once a whiskey merchant from near the town of Tshihan came to the area of Neschiz to do business, and heard that the great [Moharam] lived there.

He came and spent the Sabbath there. When the Sabbath came to an end, he hurried to go on his way.

The great Moharam stopped him, but after the man begged him to give him leave to go, the Moharam did so.

On the way, the “external forces” misled him, God have mercy. They showed him the illusory image of a courtyard, and there he bought whiskey. Afterwards, he found himself standing in a pool of water and saw that everything had been an illusion.

He returned to the Moharam, who reminded him that he had tried to prevent him from going. Nevertheless, the Moharam had pity on the merchant and sent him to a certain ruin in a certain town. He went there and recognized the “external forces.” They told him that in respect to the Moharam they had to obey, and they returned his money to him, plus an additional amount.

31. The Neschizer rebbe told another story in which the husk of sexuality clung to a man in the shape [of a woman], God have mercy, and enticed him to sin, God have mercy.

And so the man went to the Moharam to plead for his soul.

The Moharam was aware that this man was coming, and he sent a warning to the whole town to close its doors at night and not open them for anyone.

That night, the afflicted man came to the town and pleaded that the innkeepers let him in, but they refused.

He went and lay down on a dry thatch of grass in order to go to sleep when the image came to him, God have mercy, and asked him, “Come down to me.”

He asked it, “Why is it that you always come to me but this time you are asking me to come to you?”

It replied to him, “Because of some of the grass that you are lying on, I cannot approach you.”

He asked it, “Tell me which it is, and I will throw it away from here.”

It told him which it was, and he took it, so that it protected him.

The Moharam had foreseen and brought this all about, because this was the way in which that man’s salvation had to come about.

32. The Neschizer used to inquire about the well-being of R. Shalom of Belz.

Once it was heard that he was having a problem with his eyes and that he wanted to undergo medical treatment.

The Neschizer directed him by [sending a message with] a traveler to make no effort to heal his eyes.

And it is known that in his old age he was blind.

Later on, the Neschizer told that one of the tzaddikim sitting in the heavenly Sanhedrin was elevated to a very high level (author’s note: “Israel are the children of prophets,” and the people who heard the story think that he meant his brother, the holy rebbe of Kavle, who passed away on 27 Elul 5597 [1837]) and someone else had to take his place. In heaven they wanted the Belzer to pass away and take his place in the heavenly Sanhedrin.

“And since I knew that the world needs him, with my prayer I caused his eyesight to be removed, so that it would be as though had passed away, in order that he may remain in this world.”

(Author’s note: I heard in the name of a tzaddik of our generation, may he live to a length of good days, that these two tzaddikim had a soul connection. I also heard that the Belzer too passed away on 27 Elul.)

33. In the year 5618 (1857-58) the Neschizer rebbe was in the town of Alik.

One time he was wearing his tallis in preparation for prayer.

One of his aides entered and told of a person whose actions were improper.

The Neschizer rebuked [the aide]. He took hold of the doorknob and told the aide, “You have been in my home for several years. You must know that when a person takes hold of my doorknob I immediately know and feel what he has done since the day he was born. But what can I do? It is written that the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘has not gazed upon sin in Jacob.’ If the Holy One, blessed be He, has not gazed at the evil part, how shall I gaze at the evil part? It is my way to look only at the good in a person, because if I were to look at the evil, I would never let anyone come into my house.”

(Author’s note: I heard that when the Neschizer decided to leave Berditchev and become a leader in Neschiz, Hashem, be He blessed, accepted his prayer that he never see the evil in anyone but only the good.)

34. Once, when the Neschizer was sitting at a meal, a member of his household came in and grew self-important as he spoke with the Neschizer rebbe.

The Neschizer replied, “Do you know before whom you are talking? I come from the seed of the kingdom of the house of David, and heaven only acts with my permission in an area around me to a distance of four hundred square miles.”

from "Zichron Tov"

A Person Drawn By Nature to Elevated Matters

2009-10-17T22:35:00.002+02:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

There may be a person who is drawn by his nature to elevated matters. When he is sitting idle or is involved in material things, he is not so propelled to supernal yearning for supernal matters of an exalted spiritual nature. Still, when he comes to learn something of a finite nature, then immediately his mind is in turmoil.

This is because the light of his mind—which shines as well in its activity in regard to matters of a finite nature—awakens his power of consciousness. Then immediately his yearning for uplifted and universal matters is activated. He experiences great longings for elevated and universal matters, and as a result he cannot be satisfied with small and limited things.

Kibbutzim Mi’ktav Yad Kodsho II, p. 53

Continued Stories of the Neschizer Rebbe

2009-10-17T22:33:00.003+02:00

20. The Neschizer rebbe told the following story.

Once when, as a youth, the Lubliner rebbe went to see the holy R. Elimelech of Lizhensk, a heavy, cold rain fell while he was traveling. Night fell and he got lost.

He saw a house in the forest with lights shining. He entered the house. It was warm and comfortable, and he felt refreshed, after having suffered so much from the rain and cold.

The only other person there was an attractive woman. She tried to entice him to sin, God have mercy, and he did not know what to do, because they were alone. She told him that she was unmarried and halachically pure, and he suffered a great deal from her seductiveness.

He replied to her, “I have resolved never to do anything, even if it is permissible, unless it gives pleasure to God. And what pleasure would He have from this?”

When he said these words, he immediately saw that the entire scene was an illusion meant to test him, and that there was no forest, no house and no woman. Instead, he found himself standing near the road that he had to travel on.

21. Sunday night, 22 Adar 5628.

Rabbi A. told me that he once went to the Neschizer rebbe as he was celebrating the melave malka meal.

The Neschizer rebbe said, “Great is this meal, which is first mentioned in the Talmud.”

He told that once, when the Lubliner rebbe was a young man and not yet famous, he went to the Maggid of Mezerich.

And on Friday night the holy R. Shlomo of Skahl served him and arranged 12 challahs on his table.

The Lubliner was poor and he knew that he would have nothing to eat for the melave malka meal. So he waited for everyone to leave, and then he took a slice from the twelves loaves for the melave malka meal.

When the maggid came to the table, he asked, "Who took a slice?”

And R. Shlomo answered that “it could only have been done by the man from Poland.”

The maggid sent for him, and the Lubliner was very embarrassed, and he told him what had happened.

The maggid put his hand on the Lubliner’s shoulder and blessed him, “May it be God’s will that you eat will the melave malka meal with abundance.”

22. The Neschizer rebbe told the following story.

The Lubliner rebbe told the the Neschizer’s brother, the Ostiler rebbe, “When I came to the maggid, I saw him lying in bed. I saw that this was a being who was solely a simple will, the divine will. And when I came to your father, the holy [Moharam], I saw that he is solely dedicated to Hashem.”

23. The Neschizer rebbe told the following story a few times, including once to the Sasnivitzer.

The Lubliner rebbe once heard a proclamation from heaven, “Mordechai son of Gittel is solely dedicated to Hashem.”

The Lubliner rebbe set out to seek this man. The Lubliner rebbe was informed that this man was in Neschiz, and so the Lubliner rebbe came to Neschiz.

The entire city came out to greet him and honor him.

The Moharam himself went out as one of the people to greet him. He did not make himself known but wondrously concealed himself so that the Lubliner should not have the slightest awareness of him.

The Moharam greeted the Lubliner, who responded in kind. Because the Moharam was among other people, the Lubliner did not sense anything special about him.

When the Lubliner came to the city and was close to the home of the [Moharam], he asked, “Where does the rabbi live?”

The [Moharam] replied, “I live here.”

The Lubliner rebbe was amazed and said, “This is truly something special: to ‘turn your hat backwards’ and keep me from sensing your spiritual level.”

When the Lubliner rebbe left, the Moharam sat with the Lubliner rebbe in his carriage and, said the Neschizer, “[My father] put me on his lap. And my brother, the Kavler, and our brother-in-law, R. Meir Feivel (the son-in-law of the [Moharam]), sat opposite them in the carriage.”

On the road near the village of Aratish, they left the carriage, and the Lubliner rebbe told the [Moharam], ‘Let us go alone, so that no one goes with us.” And so it was.

But I, [told the Neschizer,] accompanied my father, since I was a boy. And I heard the Lubliner rebbe ask Father, “What should I do, since I am the object of controversy in my city? Perhaps this is because my way is to reveal hidden matters. Perhaps that is why I am the object of controversy.”

Father answered him, “Your intent in doing so is certainly for the sake of heaven, and you should not abandon this practice, since it is the service of the Creator, be He blessed. But please tell me: perhaps you have built some building.”

The Lubliner rebbe replied, “No. But I did shingle my roof.”

Father responded to him, “If so, do the following. Remove a certain row of shingles, and the dispute will come to an end.”

Meanwhile, the Lubliner rebbe saw that I was with them. He said, “Didn’t I ask that no one should accompany us?”

Father replied, “What of it? He is only a boy.”

But I contemplated their words deeply.

So did the Neschizer rebbe tell.

24. The Lubliner rebbe told that for a number of years he tied a [cloth] over his eyes and did not look at anything at all. And all of his life he did not look past four cubits.

25. The Neschizer rebbe told that the Maharshal at first opposed the Ari. The Ari sensed this and sent out two of his students on a Friday, who miraculously came in an instant to the Maharshal.

A mirror stood before him, and he saw the students enter behind him. He asked them, “Where are you from?”

They told him that they were students of the Ari, and that they had that day left the Holy Land. To prove that they were genuine, they told the Maharshal that they knew that during his prayers he had been thinking about such-and-such a halachah.

So he believed them.

They went with the Maharshal to a cellar in an underground cave, and they miraculously showed him something similar to the creation of heaven and earth.

The Maharshal replied, “Now I acknowledge that your way is fitting before Hashem. But I shall go on my way, which I am accustomed to.”

26. The Neschizer rebbe used to say in the name of his father, the Moharam, that he did not think highly of any stories of tzaddikim, because many are forgeries and riddled with errors.

But he made an exception for stories about the Baal Shem Tov, because even if a story was not literally true, the Baal Shem Tov had the power to do everything.

27. The holy Neschizer rebbe told the following.

Regarding all of the awesome and wondrous things that we know that my father (the brilliant Moharam) did, including bringing the dead back to life here in Neschiz (author’s note: The holy tzaddik brought back to life a member of my own family), I am not as I am impressed as by the following story.

An agunah, a woman whose husband had disappeared, begged Father at length to free her, and came to him many times.

One time he could no longer bear her troubles, and he replied, “What should I do for you?”

She said, “Is it beyond the rebbe to bring my husband back to me?”

He answered, “And is he here that I can help you? Here is a bowl of water. Maybe he is there.”

In her great faith, she believed that meaningless words would not issue forth from his holy mouth. So she looked into the bowl of water standing there, and she cried out, “Here he is! I can see him sitting in the bowl.”

The Moharam asked her, “How is he sitting?”

She said, “With a yarmulka on his head, without a hat.”

He told her, “Show me the yarmulka.”

She put her hand into the bowl and pulled out the yarmulka.

The story was that her husband was a tailor, who was sewing in a distant courtyard. As he sat before an open window, a wind suddenly lifted his yarmulka from his head and she grabbed it.

After some time passed, he understood that this episode meant something, and his heart inspired him to return home. His wife showed him the yarmulka and he recognized it, and she was freed from being an agunah.

28. The Neschizer rebbe also told the following.

Father had the custom of traveling to the city near the village of Stabichave (near Neschiz) with his servant Eliezer. Father would leave him in secret and roll in the brambles in the forest.

One time, Father told Eliezer to gather certain grasses, because through them thousands of infertile women would be healed.

The servant rejoiced and thought, “Even if each woman gives me only ten gedulim, that will be enough for me.”

When Father came home he told the servant to put the grass under his bed. And when the eve of Passover arrived, Father told him to take the grasses outside.

The servant asked him, “But the master had said that with this, infertile women would be healed.”

Father replied, “They were already helped without having to come here.”

29. The Neschizer rebbe told that R. Yitzchak Lebovner came to Neschiz to Father’s gravesite on his yahrtzeit, on the eighth day of Nissan. At that time the snow was melting. The river here had overflowed its banks and he had to sail on a boat when the river was stormy.

[The Neschizer] asked him, “Why did you risk your life to come?”

He answered him, “It was all worthwhile in order to come for the yahrtzeit of the rebbe.”

[The Neschizer] asked R. Lebovner to honor him by sitting down. But he did not want to, saying, “Will I sit before the son of the rebbe?”

The Neschizer begged him, until R. Lebovner drank some liquor as a sign of respect.

Zichron Tov

The Mellow Sukkah

2009-10-05T09:28:00.003+02:00

For Sukkot, a guitar instrumental:

The Mellow Sukkah.

Yet More Stories of the Rebbe of Neschiz

2009-10-02T08:23:00.004+02:00

11. The Neschizer rebbe said that “after the holy R. Yaakov Shimshon of Shepitovka traveled the land of Israel, he went to see my father, the holy Moharam. When he came to Neschiz, he said, ‘I heard in the name of the Moharam that there is a strip of land that extends from the land of Israel to here, and it is true, for here I sense the atmosphere of the land of Israel.’ When people reported this to the Moharam, he said, ‘[That is the case] wherever the tzaddik of Israel [?] stays. If so, that land is called the land of Israel.’”[unclear]

Whenever the Neschizer rebbe wanted to miraculously acquire some good fish for the Sabbath or a holiday when it was otherwise unavailable, he would say, “We learn in the name of the holy author of the Ohr Hachaim that 52 years before the messiah comes, fish will leave the entire world and go to the land of Israel. And since Neschiz constitutes a strip of the land of Israel, the fish have to come here.”

And so it was.

12. The Neschizer rebbe always kept the volumes of the Kedushas Levi and Degel Machaneh Efraim on his table, and he was well-acquainted with them.

One time he was brought the holy Derech Pikudechah [by R. Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov]. He leafed through its pages quickly and said, “It contains nothing new [to me].”

We who were standing there did not understand whether this meant that he knew the holy rabbi of Dinov on the physical plane or on the spiritual plane.

Similarly, the Neschizer rebbe once said of the holy R. Elazar of Koznitz, “I love him a great deal for his simplicity.” He concluded: “even though I do not know him so well--but in regard to his simplicity, I love him. From his words “so well,” it appeared that he knew him on the spiritual plane but not “so well”—[i.e., not in the physical world].

This is similar to what the Neschizer rebbe once said about two tzaddikim who are [now] deceased: that they did not know each other in the physical dimension, but it is possible that they knew each other in the spiritual dimension.

And he said of the holy R. Moshe of Korishtshuv, “Si gefelt mir zein hisnahagus--I appreciate his way of acting--since he acts like a [simple] layman.”

We told the Neschizer rebbe at his meal that we heard that the holy R. Moshe of Korishtshuv said before he passed away, “What other neighborhood can boast, as can the neighborhood of the rabbi of Neschiz, that he protects it from the plague that was in the world, God have mercy, for he transformed the decree into inflation?”

And from the expression on the face of the Neschizer rebbe, it appeared that these words were true.

At the time of the plague, God have mercy, in the world in the year 5626 and onward, many times we heard and saw from him how he was involved on behalf of the good of the community. When he was told that the sickness had come to a certain town in the area, God have mercy, he denied it and said that it was not true. He made a motion with his fingers indicating that the sickness would circle around but it would not come to these neighborhoods. And so it was. May his merit protect us.

And when it happened that a person in our town fell ill, God have mercy, the Neschizer rebbe would refer to the illness in a joking fashion and said that it was not the [fatal] illness but rather an illness called hatzka in Yiddish, and that the man would soon get well.

And see this wonder. There was a person in the town of Brisk who was weakened by that illness, God have mercy, and people sent news dispatches by telegraph. Finally there came a dispatch reporting that he was very weak and his body was cold and his pulse was still and he was entering his death throes, God have mercy, and they paid for a reply.

The Neschizer rebbe directed to reply in the gentile language, “Be well.” And this was a wondrous thing, for he had never been heard to say anything in the gentile language. And it was even more wondrous that he would reply to a dying person dying with a confident “be well,” since he would usually reply only in the way of a prayer and blessing.

The people did not change what he directed and replied in that way. And immediately the illness was healed right before the eyes of people who had said that he had no hope unless he took much medicine. Those who stood there relied on the answer of the Neschizer rebbe and did not give him medicine.

And soon afterwards this sick person came to the Neschizer rebbe, having been healed, and he thanked God for His kindness.

13. The Neschizer rebbe told that he saw the Berditchever holding a candle and he caused himself a burn scar.

At times the Neschizer rebbe called the Berditchever “the Zelichover,” because he had initially been the rabbi of Zelichov. And at times he would call the Lubliner “the Lantziter” because he was also rabbi in Lantzit.

The Neschizer was married to the grand daughter [nechdo] of the Berditchever, and the Berditchever supported them for four years. Before the marriage, the Berditchever had stated that he could not promise to support the couple for more than four years, by any means. And this was very unusual. In the end the Berditchever supported him until the [last] day [of the four years] and then he passed away. May his merit protect us and all Israel .

The Neschizer rebbe told that the Berditchever asked him if he knows the Kotzinitzer, and he said “No.” And he asked him again, and he replied “No.” And he told him, “I would very, very much want that you should meet him.”

The Neschizer rebbe decided to travel to him, but then he heard that the Kozinitzer had passed away— may his merit protect us and all of the congregation of Israel.

And the Neschizer rebbe concluded telling this story to the holy rabbi of Sasnivitz, “From the words of the Berditchever I understood that I have a connection in the root of the soul with the Kozinitzer.”

(Author’s note: Israel are “the children of prophets,” for I heard people praise the Neschizer rebbe by saying that “he is like the Kozinitzer in his generation.”)

14. The Neschizer rebbe told that the Berditchever used to go to sleep and then get up at midnight. But the Neschizer had the custom of staying awake until after midnight.

(Author’s note: indeed, that was how I saw him act.)

The Berditchever tried to persuade the Neschizer rebbe also to first go to sleep and then get up at midnight.

One time, the Neschizer rebbe saw the Berditchever get up at midnight, awaken his servant, take liquor and go to the bathhouse, where all the travelers who had no lodging were asleep. He went to a Jew and woke him, saying, “Drink some schnapps.” The Jew agreed, but when he remembered that he had no water to wash his hands and no place to make a blessing, he refused and did not want to drink. The Berditchever then went over to a gentile and woke him, and the gentile drank the schnapps where he was without reciting a blessing to the Creator, blessed be He. And the Berditchever returned with great joy to the house and fervently proclaimed, “Master of the world, see the difference between these and those!”

15. The Neschizer was not accustomed to tell people to fast. Even in regard to rectifying a flaw in the sexual covenant, when a person asked him [for advice], he would only tell him fast some rosh chodesh eves. And he said that a person who wants to fast on the eve of the new month should not be strict in regard to the molad, [the precise astronomical time].

One time the Neschizer rebbe said to two members of his household who did not want to eat in the evening, “Why fast? That is not the main thing.”

And he told that the Berditchever did not think highly of fasting to afflict oneself.

He said that [the desire to fast] comes from the urging of the evil inclination to weaken the mind so as to prevent it from serving God.

And he said in [the Berditchever’s] name that this may be compared to two people who were fighting. One was clever and said, “If I hit the other person in one of his limbs I will only destroy one of his limbs. It is better to strike him in his head, because in that way I will gain victory over his whole body.” Similarly, at times the evil inclination advises a person to fast in order to weaken his brain, and automatically [the evil inclination] attacks him.

17. (there is no #16) The Neschizer rebbe told that in the year before he passed away, the Berditchever rebbe summoned him to teach him the mystical intentions of the lulav and esrog.

And the Berditchever’s children envied him. Why did he teach him and not them?

The Berditchever replied to them, “When the Moharam will ask me in the world of truth, ‘What did you teach my children?’ I will have to reply to him. Therefore, I am teaching him these intentions of the lulav and etrog.”

And they closed the door and he taught him these intentions.

(Author’s note: the Neschizer rebbe used to shake lulav and etrog in his succah by himself.)

18. The Neschizer rebbe told in the name of a certain earlier holy tzaddik that now divine inspiration is not common among us, except for the rabbi of Berditchever at the time that his soul is expiring at the time of the [Musaf] keter kedushah prayer. Then he attains it a bit.

19. I heard from the men of his household that the Berditchever told the Neschizer rebbe not to smoke Turkish tutin [?].

(Author’s note: In his youth, the Neschizer rebbe smoked tutin. At the end of his days, he only did so on very rare occasions. And he quickly drew in and blew out the smoke with great rapidity. For about ten years before he passed away he ceased entirely smoking. One time he was in the town of Stabekhve in the year 5617 at the marriage of his relative with [the family of] the holy R. Yaakov of Apta. The Neschizer rebbe did not have his pipe and he asked for a clean pipe. But before they brought it to him he changed his mind and did not want to smoke.)

Zichron Tov

Yet More Stories of the Rebbe of Neschiz

2009-09-25T15:33:00.000+03:00

7. The Neschizer rebbe told that his father was very strict in regard to the laws of Passover.

His son, the Kavler rebbe, wanted to be lenient regarding a Passover matter, and said, “What is the source for being so incredibly strict?”

But his father responded, “My son, do you intend to be wiser than our latter sages, who were very strict regarding the laws of Passover?”

And from then on, the Kavler was very strict regarding the laws of Passover.
And the Neschizer rebbe told that the Berditchever was even more strict in regard to the laws of the Sabbath.

8. Following the Sabbath of the parshah, B’haalotchah 5627 (1867).

The Neschizer rebbe told that the holy R. Gershon Kitiver saw R. Chaim Attar, the holy author of the Ohr Hachaim, in the land of Israel, and told him of his brother-in-law, the Baal Shem Tov.

R. Chaim Attar replied, “I know him, and Israel is his name.”

The Neschizer rebbe also told that the holy Gershon Kitiver asked R. Chaim Attar about a certain student in his yeshiva who, he saw, was at that time unworthy. And R. Chaim Attar responded to him, “It is our way to attract those who are far.”

The Neschizer rebbe also spoke at that time of the statement in the Ohr Hachaim that perhaps Hashem will lengthen time in the days of the messiah so that the length of the days will be extended to better implement the statement, “our joy will like the days of our suffering,” etc.

And the Neschizer rebbe told that a certain publisher whose name was Asher removed in his edition of Ohr Hachaim the words “and his name is Chaim” that are written regarding the messiah. Afterwards, this publisher made a mistake, and in place of the phrase “amen from another man” he put “amen from the man Asher.”

The Neschizer rebbe also told that the holy rebbe of Ishpala once stretched out his hand and said, “Master of the world, I give You my word that the Jewish people will not repent because they are under such pressure, may God have mercy. So why delay sending our righteous messiah?”

9. On Friday night, the Sabbath of the parshah Tavo 5627 (1867), the Neschizer rebbe told that his holy father once said to the departed R. Ber Tirosker in the mother of Elul, “Do you know what today is? Fish in yamim tzittern—fish in the seas are trembling.”

When the Neschizer rebbe told this, one of the people standing there replied, “People say it this way: fish in vasser tzittert—fish in water tremble.”

But the Neschizer rebbe responded that his father had in mind with that specific wording a holy unification.

10. Tuesday night of the parshah of Vayishlach, 14 of Kislev 5628 (1867-8).

The Neschizer rebbe told that the Lubliner rebbe traveled to Mezhibozh to the holy rebbe, R. Boruch.

That Sabbath there was a woman who was having trouble giving birth, and her husband came to the Lubliner, for it is common that when a tzaddik comes from another town there is a great deal of publicity about him.

The Lubliner asked him, “Will you give me the honor of being sandek—of holding the baby on my lap at the circumcision—when you have a boy?”

And he told him, “Yes.”

But the husband went as well to R. Boruch Mezhibozher, who also asked him “Will you give me the honor of being sandek?” And he answered “yes” to him as well.

His wife gave birth to a boy, and on the following Sabbath, the day of the circumcision he hid, because he did not know whom to ask to be sandek.

Finally he went to R. Boruch Mezhibozher and told him what had happened and asked him to advise him what to do.

The Mezhibozher said that he would be sandek, and he added, “No doubt the Lubliner will be here another Sabbath and everything will be fine.”

At the end of the holy Sabbath, when the Lubliner came to take leave of R. Boruch to go home, R. Boruch told him, “Why are you in such a hurry to go home?”

The Lubliner replied, “Because it is so far and I want to be home in time for the holy Sabbath.”

But R. Boruch replied, “Isn’t it not possible for you to have kefitzat haderech, a miraculous shortening of the road? If Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, experienced that miracle, how much more should tzaddikim.” And he pleaded with him to remain with him longer.

The Lubliner said, “Since it is your holy desire that I do so, I will.”

He stayed there for a second Sabbath, and it so happened that there was another circumcision, and R. Boruch honored the Lubliner with the post of being sandek.

Zichron Tov

The Life Within Life

2009-09-25T14:58:00.003+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

As long as a person thinks of nothing but the life within life—within the life that he sees, hears and feels—everything is alive for him. As a result, he comes to a state of the perfection of life within himself.

But if he isolates the Life of all worlds in a separate locus, then the radiance of the life of the entire world leaves him. And it does not return to him until he at last learns that in order to find the Life of the worlds he does not need to seek any particular spot.

Then, as before, he can without any weakness find the life within life inside life itself, within the life before him, in the reality that extends in its beauty and all of its hues before his eyes.

This is true in regard to a person’s soul, which only needs to soar in the breadths of spirituality, to rejoice and take pleasure.

But in our limited life, which is filled with many obstacles, confusions and realms of darkness, the Life of worlds is not revealed to our eyes of flesh.

And so when we wish to draw life into the pathways of this world, which are so difficult and filled with anger, we must raise our eye to the heavens and find Hashem above our world, sitting in the heavens.

But a person who comes to seek God sitting in the heavens in answer to the demand of his soul is making a mistake, because “Hashem God is in the heavens above and upon the earth below—there is no other.” Even in the midst of the world, God embraces and surrounds all, and fills all.

A person who is unaware of the One Who dwells in heaven as being here upon the pathways of actual life is in danger of sinking into the depths of wickedness and he will find no peace, because the pathways of the world require Torah from heaven.
Pinkas Hadapim 1:24

You May Think That You are a Clutch of Lavender

2009-08-14T16:13:00.005+03:00

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

You may think that you are a clutch of lavender,
I do not know if you are.
You shampooed your hair,
You breathed in the 2 a.m. breeze,
You tiptoed through mattresses of sleeping children,
You struck your heart, which grew increasingly broader.

That is all that it takes:
A sky as lickety-split as a postage stamp,
A cousin who lives in the Bronx,
A box of matches,
And the reply from the government ministry
That they cannot repeal the law of gravity.

Perhaps you will meet a chameleon
Or watch the braids of brown ants weaving their fall provisions.
Everyone is happy with his porridge.
All right then. Order blackberry wine
And carry it back to your table with two hands.

The Cessation of Animal Sacrifices and Vegetarianism

2009-08-14T16:10:00.003+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Animal sacrifices will diminish under the influence of the amount of consumption of completely non-sanctified meat.

This is because the verse states, “When your spirit desires to eat meat…” (Deuteronomy 12:20). And how can a person with a perfected spirit desire to eat the flesh of a living being, since such a person rather sees in the animal a proper instrument to perfect Divine justice by making an effort to improve the animal and impart intelligence to it?

For the sake of the needs of the day, it is possible that there will exist many animals throughout the course of an entire era at the threshold of such perfection that it will accustom them to sacrifice their lives as an offering to Hashem, as a sign of their great awareness of the goodness that accrues and will accrue to them as a result of the service of Hashem that has brought mankind to that point: that he has risen to such a degree that he focuses all of his endeavors upon elevating animals and their honor. And in accordance with the value of the animal’s perspective, they will require that approach--i.e., of being sacrificed.

Alternatively, there will still be a need to continue drawing such energy of the sacrifices into the world so that the worst and most degraded members of the human race will not return to freely choose evil deeds, regressing from ethical perfection. Offering sacrifices makes that possible.

Alternatively, the Sanhedrin may find it proper, in accordance with the power that it possesses to uproot a law from the Torah when that involves non-action (Yevamot 89b), to declare sacrifices of living beings non-obligatory, since the killing of animals for non-sanctified purposes has ceased to be the norm.

The Bible supports this, for the verse speaks of a sacrifice as “bread”: “My sacrifice, My bread for My fires” (Numbers 28:2), yet regarding the same sacrifice the Bible refers to “one sheep” (Exodus 29:39, Leviticus 14:12). This appears to be a contradiction. The resolution is that as long as animals are killed for non-sanctified purposes, one may offer them to God; but when animals are not killed for non-sanctified purposes, sacrifices should be composed of bread.

Our Sages allude to this in saying that “all the sacrifices will be nullified except for the thanksgiving offering, which will not be nullified” (Yayikra Rabbah 9:7)—because it is composed in part of bread. Thus, the verse states, “and the flour offering minchah of Judah and Jerusalem will be sweet to Hashem as in former days and years of old” (Malachi 3:4)--because that which remains fit to be a sacrifice after supernal human perfection is the flour offering.

And, to return to the verse on sacrifices, it speaks of “My sacrifice, My bread” (as noted above), and the following verse states, “And tell them: this is the fire-offering that you will offer to Hashem”—i.e., you realize that ultimately the offering will consist of “My bread for My fires,” “bread of the minchah.” However, at the present, until that time of perfection, tell them to sacrifice sheep.

The matter depends upon whether the sacrifice is considered to be “a pleasing fragrance.” And it will grow clear in the time of perfection that killing animals cannot give a “pleasing fragrance.”

It is possible that, in accordance with the ruling of the Sanhedrin and with verses found in the Prophets, the sacrificial service will revert to being offered by the first-born. Since there is an explicit verse in the Torah that leads to this presumption, such an idea is not to be considered as uprooting anything from the Torah, but rather as upholding the Torah.

The first-born were disqualified from offering sacrifices as a result of their role in the sin of the Golden Calf (Bamidbar Rabbah 3:5). But it is impossible that a sinful matter should last forever, because teshuvah, repentance, preceded the world (Tanchuma, Nasso 11:11).

Therefore, every impression of the sin of the Golden Calf will be rectified, and at that time the sacrificial service will revert to the first-born. The cohanim will of course not be disqualified, since “once they have ascended they do not descend” (Zevachim, Chapter 9).

We may derive that the obligation to offer animal sacrifices is in force only when those who offer them are solely cohanim. Therefore the verse states that in the present era, “[The person bringing the sacrifice] will have it slaughtered on the north side of the altar … [but only] the sons of Aaron, the cohanim, will sprinkle its blood” (Leviticus 1:11). However, when the first-born will also be qualified to serve, then due to the elevation of animals and all of existence, animals will not be used for sacrifices, but only bread and flour-offerings, as a sign of appreciation and elevation.

And in every case that we find a verse in the Torah and apply straightforward reasoning, the Great Court has the power to deliver such significant rulings—and in particular when we add the appropriate verses in the Prophets.

However, this vision refers to days in the far distant future. It is possible that the rectification of the world including with the resurrection of the dead will occur prior to that. And then in truth a number of matters will change in accordance with the quality of the new time.

Only wicked people eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge while it is unripe, for they do not appreciate the great worth of everything in its time.

Machberot Boisk 1:8

Hasidic Tales of the Neschizer, Apter & Other Rebbes

2009-08-14T16:07:00.001+03:00

5. On Friday night of Tavo, 5627 (1867), the Neschizer rebbe told that the Berditchever once said, “Master of the world, I do not have the ability to say, ‘And Hashem said, I have forgiven.’ So You say, ‘I have forgiven’—for I do not have the power to say anything.”

6. One time, the Neschizer rebbe was in the town of Ratna for the Friday night Sabbath meal in his house. At his table, we were no more than two of his household. He told at length of the holy R. Avraham Yehoshua Heschel of Apta and Meziboz.

And he spoke of him as well one time on the eve of Rosh Hashanah and also on a Sunday night, the parshah of Balak 5627 (1867), and also on a Monday, the parshah of Bamidbar 5627 (1867), and the eve of the holy Sabbath, Tavo, 5627 (1867) and Tuesday night of Vayishlach, the fourteenth of Kislev 5628.

And from all of those occasions, it emerged that the Apter rebbe used to tell exaggerations.

And the holy Neschizer rebbe said of him (the writer states: either in the name of the Berditchever or in the name of the Lubliner—I don’t recall which) that he knows the secret of the statement of our sages that “We learned an exaggeration.” Therefore he had the ability to tell exaggerations.

One time, the Apter sat at a meal with the holy rebbe. R. Boruch of Meziboz, and he told many exaggerations. The people standing there they looked and thought that perhaps the Mezibozer would begin to laugh at this, and they themselves laughed. But it was not so. And after the Apter left, the Mezibozer said, “Of all of the men of Poland, I have not seen anyone as wise as he, for he has a golden scale in his mouth, with which he weighs each word before he says it.”

And the Neschizer rebbe told that when the Apter was in Berditchev in the great throng that wanted to greet him the Berdichever, the Berditchever] brough the Apter a glass of spirits and a piece of cake.

And after the Apter tasted it, he went into a few houses and he told an exaggeration that in the town of Yass (where he had apartments and a rabbinical post [unclear]), a bridge was built before his mansion, and he told of the wood and the nails in the thousands, in the way of great exaggeration.

A merchant who would go to Yass, Mr. Noach, was standing there, and he nodded his head and said “Yes, rebbe, the truth is as you say.”

And the Apter turned his face to him and asked him, “R. Noach, how do you know that?”

One time, the Neschizer rebbe went to his brother, the Kavler, in Meziboz. The Apter rebbe was led the Neschizer rebbe all of his rooms, in order to show him affection.

The Neschizer rebbe said that he did so purposefully, since the wife of the Apter was bedridden (and it was understood that the Neschizer rebbe would have in mind to pray on her behalf).

The Apter told him that due to his fear of an informer, he had directed that the notes people gave him with their requests should be burned, and they were burned three days in a row. The Neschizer rebbe held himself back a great deal from laughing at this exaggeration since he knew [the Apter’s] holy way.

The Neschizer rebbe told that the Apter said that he had already been in the world ten times. He had been on the level of cohen gadol, prince, king and so forth. And this time he was in the world to rectify the area of the love of Israel, and he was naturally very good. And he said that it appeared to him that he would not have to come into this world any more.

Regarding the work Oheiv Yisrael which was printed, the Neschizer rebbe said that it did not have the taste that the words had had when they were heard from the Apter’s holy mouth literally.

At that time there was also printed the book Nishmat Adam. The Neschizer rebbe praised it a great deal as being good.

The Neschizer rebbe said that [the Apter] acted as a very good leader for the generation: “er iz geven zeiyer a sheiner manhig hador.”

The Neschizer rebbe said that the Apter’s face was similar to that of the Neschizer rebbe’s father, the Moharam.

The Neschizer rebbe told that when the Apter rebbe was in Berditchev, he directed his son, the holy R. Yitzchak Meir, during his meal that if the Neschizer rebbe comes, to bring him before him.

And when the Neschizer came before the Apter, the Apter asked him his opinion about the fact that he had decreed a Monday, Thursday, Monday post-festival fast (bahab).

The Neschizer rebbe told him that in Berditchev people accepted the fast that he had decreed. They confessed their sins, and repented and recited his prayers (maamadot).

The Apter answered him, “If I had the strength to decree one such more bahab fast, it would certainly be very, very good.”

The Neschizer rebbe wanted to ask him about this lack of strength, but he was unable to do so.

The Neschizer rebbe told that when the Apter was staying in the town of Kalbisov, for the month of Nissan he went to Lublin to be with the Lubliner.

The Lubliner asked the Apter if he knew R. Boruch of Meziboz, and he replied that he did. “And it is true that he is a great tzaddik and very wise--but only for himself (nar par zich).”

And the Lubliner asked him if he knew the Moharam.

The Apter answered, “No.” And he asked him, “Tell me about the Moharam.”

The Lubliner answered him, “If you would know the Moraham, you would see that he has Torah, prayer, eating and sleeping—it is all one deed (altz eins)—and he can raise a soul to its root.

(The writer states: one of those standing before the rebbe of Neschiz spoke up: “Is this not as it is written ‘in all your ways know Him’?” But the rebbe of Neschiz answered, “No. This is a greater path, as is stated in the name of Ramban on the verse ‘and cling to Him.’” This is quoted in his work, Toldot Yitzchak, parashah Nasso.)

The Apter decided to go to the Moharam. But after a wagon was prepared for his journey, he was slandered, and he had to go to the kreiz—the secular court system, and the next day as well.

And since there wasn’t much time before Passover he was unable to travel to Neschiz. He decided to go to Neschiz in the summer. But after Passover, the news arrived that the Moharam, the Ark of God, had been taken away on 8 Nissan 5560.

This is what the Apter tell the Neschizer rebbe, and he concluded, “si tit mir zeier bank-- I am filled with yearning that I did not see the Moharam.”

The Neschizer rebbe told that an old woman who sat in the market selling items something told her friend as follows: “I do not know if it was when I was awake or in a dream that I saw my husband, of blessed memory, who passed away a few years ago. He was running, and I began to weep, ‘You left me with orphans and no money!’ But because he was running, he did not answer me. After he came back, he said to me, ‘From now on, you will have an income. And the reason that I did not reply to you before is that I had to smoke the path in order to purify the air because otherwise the tzaddikim who come from the Holy Land cannot bear it. They are coming to see the Apter, who will leave the world soon.’ That was on a Tuesday. And at that time the Apter was still well. And on Thursday the Apter passed away.”

May his merit protect us and all Israel.

And the Neschizer rebbe concluded by saying twice, “This is a fine story.”

Zicharon Tov

הזיקית סגרה ופתחה הכפפות שלה

2009-08-07T16:06:00.002+03:00

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

an attempt to translate my own poem into Hebrew. The English original is directly below.

הזיקית סגרה ופתחה הכפפות שלה
והפנתה גלגלי עיניה הגביעותיות לבחון את העפר הלבן.
היא חיכתה למישהו חכם להסביר לה השמש החמה
אבל לא הצליחה להבין
והתגלגלה לתוך האטד המוכר לה.

החנות מכרה דבש-שמים
הכחול שלו חרך כקלף
ממורח על קרקרים אפויים מעיסה של מחשבות ישנות.

קנוניה של נמלים העבירה מסרים של להבי עשב.
אכלו את הסודות אבל אף פעם לא הבינו אותם.
הם היו, כמובן, עסוקים.

עפר ואתמול מתפשטים על הרחוב,
הנדנדה מתנונדת
ושיר קטן מטפטף מקיר סדוק.

A Chameleon Folded and Opened His Mitten Hands

2009-08-07T16:05:00.000+03:00

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

A chameleon folded and opened his mitten hands
And turned his cone eyeballs to investigate the white dust.
He was waiting for someone wise to explain the hot sun,
But could not understand
And he trundled into the familiar brambles.

The store sold sky-honey,
Whose pale blue burned like parchment,
Spread on crackers made from the dough of old thoughts.

A cabal of ants passed messages of grass blades.
They would eat the secrets but never understand them.
They were understandably busy.

Dust and yesterday are spread across the roadway,
The swing swings back and forth,
And a little song trickles from a cracked wall.

Torah for Its Own Sake

2009-08-07T16:03:00.001+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

The basis of “Torah for its own sake” involves strengthening the might of the Congregation of Israel, which is concealed within us.

The more that we bring forth from [the Congregation of Israel] areas of knowledge and a broadening of feelings, the more do we expand its power and cause its appearance to be radiant.

And we expand the Torah itself, which is the spirituality of the true life of the Congregation of Israel, hidden within us and cloaked within the entire Torah and in its every specific detail.

Orot Hatorah 2:6

The Color of the Fog

2009-07-31T14:52:00.009+03:00

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

The color of the fog,
The odor of the sea
Are filled with unnamed things
And swift felicity.

The windows of the sky
Admit the wrinkled moon
To spill light on the Alps
And on an unnamed dune

That rolls up in the evening
And sifts away at dawn.
An airplane in the jet stream
Dissolves, a breath withdrawn.

Stories of the Rebbe of Neschiz

2009-07-31T14:49:00.002+03:00

Matters of Faith

6. One time, the holy rabbi of Sasnivitz came to the Neschizer rebbe, as I—the writer— was standing at the bottom of the house.

Someone from the town was seriously ill. His wife came, stood behind the window, and cried out to the rebbe to pray for him.

The rebbe then told the Sasnivitzer that one time two great tzaddikim were staying together. (Writer: because of woman’s outcries, I could not hear who these tzaddikim were.)

They received a request for help from a woman who was experiencing a difficult childbirth, and they urged each other to help her. Finally, the greater of the two took his kerchief, spread it out like a curtain, looked into it, and said, “Congratulations—she has given birth.” And so it was.

The other tzaddik asked him, “What did you see in the kerchief?”

He answered him, “I did this so that the onlookers would have simple faith, for if I would have spoken in some other way, everyone would have thought, ‘How does the tzaddik know?’ But now there is nothing here that can be understood. And that is the essence of faith: that the believer should know that he has no grasp of the matter and cannot study and investigate it.”

With that, the Neschizer rebbe sent me to visit the sick man—who, after a few days, returned to his health.

Writer: the rebbe demonstrated how the tzaddik had spread out the kerchief and looked at it.

Matters of Clinging to the Divine

1. Tuesday night, rosh chodesh Av 5624 (1864), the parshah of Devarim.

As the holy tzaddik, R. Yehoshua of Sasnivitz (of blessed memory), was sitting before the Neschizer rebbe, the rebbe told the following story about his great father, Moharam (of blessed memory). (And he told the same story on Sunday on the week of the parshah of Balak 5627 [1867].)

One time, Father was lying in bed in the morning before prayers, because he was weak.

Many visitors came to him with various requests to pray on their behalf, and he answered each person in accordance with his concerns and business.

A regular visitor to the house, R. Chaim Leib, who was an intelligent man, stood quiet but obviously wondering. After all of the visitors had left, Father asked him “Why are you standing there wondering?” But he remained silent. So he asked him a few times, “What are you thinking?”

He answered, “I am surprised that even though the rebbe is involved in the upper worlds, he can reply to each individual about his affairs.”

Father answered him, “Know that despite this I did not stop clinging to God. When you recite prayers such as ‘Hear our voice’ and “He Who hears prayer’ you say the words but your thoughts wander; so why should you be surprised if a person can think about the upper worlds and speak words of this world?”

Afterwards, in 5624 (1863-64) the rebbe showed the Sasnivitzer rebbe a passage in the book, Sefer Chareidim, which quotes the Ramban on the topic of constantly clinging to God (in positive commandment 81, section 10; this is cited in Toldot Yitzchak, Nasso.)

And in 5627 (1866-67), when the rebbe finished [writing] this [work] [?], he taught the teaching printed there in the Likutim section on Tanach (Isaiah 55:8) on the verse “My thoughts are not your thoughts,” etc.

2. Tuesday night, parshah of Pekudei, 5627.

The holy tzaddik, R. Y.L. of Parisov, came to sit before the Neschizer rebbe, of blessed memory.

Before the holy tzaddik went home, the [Neschizer] rebbe told him the teaching printed in [his] Likutei Shas (Eiruvin 64) regarding the statement of the sages that “a person should not take leave of his comrade….”

He also told him that when the holy Lubliner rebbe was a student of the holy tzaddik, the rebbe R. Shmelke, R. Shmelke requested that when he is engaged in deep study of halachah and Tosafot, and that leads him to allow his mind to drift away from clinging to God, the Lubliner should remind him by gently shaking R. Shmelke’s sleeves.

The Lubliner said that he never had to do this, for he saw that the holy R. Shmelke was never distracted from clinging to God, heaven forbid, including the time that he was learning.

One time the Lubliner saw that R. Shmelke was deeply immersed in his learning, and he was afraid that he had been distracted from his clinging to God. He wanted to shake his sleeves as the R. Shmelke had told him, but meanwhile R. Shmelke turned to him and told him, “My son, my son, I myself remembered.”

(The writer states in regard to the teaching, “one should take leave only in the midst of words of halachah,” that the rebbe said--in brief--that the letters of the word halachah can be rearranged to form the letters hakalah—the bride. And he mentioned the 24 adornments of the bride. But for my sins I did not merit to hear and recall this.)

On The Topics Of Eating, Sleep, Dreams And Healing

1. Monday night, the parshah of Devarim 5627.

The rebbe told about the holy tzaddik R. Chaim Krasner (a teaching of whose is printed in his name in this book, in the parshah of V’etchanan (3.27) on the verse, “Go up to the head of the peak”).

He was a student of the Baal Shem Tov and afterwards of the maggid of Mezritch. (After the Baal Shem Tov passed away, all of his students became students of the Maggid of Mezritch, because when the Maggid of Mezritch came to the Baal Shem Tov, he said, “A container filled with candles has come before me, and it is only necessary to light them.”)

R. Chaim Krasner lived in the days of the holy tzaddik, R. Nachum of Chernobyl.

The tzaddik, R. Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, at first did not eat any meat, not even chicken, and not even on the Sabbath. R. Chaim Krasner argued with him about this. He said, “For whom were these foods created? Is it only so that gentiles will eat them?” After that, the tzaddik of Berditchev would eat chicken even on weekdays.

2. At the Sabbath morning meal, on the parshah of Bechukotai 5627, the leaders of the generation were together with the rebbe. The rebbe told them in the name of the Karliner that in a person’s heart there can come into being the feeling that a bone is growing. And he is healed by eating onions at the holy Sabbath meal.

3. The Neschizer rebbe also said at that time that since the early authorities speak of the obligation to eat hot food on the Sabbath, and if one does not, then “one must fear lest…,” heaven forbid, the implication is that this obligation to eat hot food causes healing.

4. The Neschizer rebbe also spoke at that time regarding fish that are commonly eaten here (i.e., in his town of Neschiz) on the holy Sabbath.

He stated that the Baal Shem Tov had said that he had been given a choice from heaven as to whether to live in Nemirov, Mezibozh, or a third town. He chose Mezhibozh, since fish are common there and he could acquire them easily for the holy Sabbath.

5. On Wednesday night of the parshah of Teitzei 5627, the Neschizer gave a reason for sleep in the name of the Baal Shem Tov.

In the kabbalistic writings in the name of the Ari, we learn supernal reasons for sleep: that sleep is on the level of small consciousness, with the purpose of rising to expanded consciousness.

The Baal Shem Tov said that this may be compared to a king who had an only son who was very precious to him, whom he sent to war. He asked his son to send home all of the spoils that God awarded him little by little.

His son asked him, “Would it not show greater respect to bring everything at once?”

But his father answered him, “I am afraid that the enemy might overcome you and take it all from you, heaven forbid. Therefore, save it little by little.”

And the meaning is clear.

When a person’s soul engages every day in Torah and performs God’s commandments and good deeds, he must be concerned that his evil inclination will gain in strength and ruin everything, heaven forbid. (The rebbe repeated these words a number of times and praised them, saying that in truth a person must be concerned about this). Therefore, sleep was given, so that the soul rises up and hides these in a well-guarded storehouse.

The rebbe concluded that on the night before the giving of the Torah the Jews slept until God Himself came and woke them, as we learn in the Midrash. The reason that they went to sleep was that they were greatly inspired and prepared for the giving of the Torah, and they were afraid that this [inspiration] might be taken away from them, heaven forbid. And so they hid it in a heavenly storehouse by means of going to sleep.

from Sefer Zichron Tov

Idolatrous, Christian and Moslem Conceptions of the Divine

2009-07-31T07:31:00.002+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Idolatrous worshippers have envisaged Divinity in degraded ways, which a person’s free spirit transcends. Therefore, they will eventually cease to exist: “and the idols will entirely pass away” (Isaiah 2:18).

The Christians have envisaged [Divinity] as being lowered to [the level of] human perfection. When mankind rises beyond anything which the image of human perfection can reach, this degraded impression of the image of Divinity will be erased.

The Moslems have found no specific passage to the essence of Divine images that can be integrated into a religious framework. Therefore they have had to invoke for everything the authority of their prophet and bring faith in him into their every religious aspect. When the world rises beyond the ideals that can be envisaged in their prophet, that religious power will be uprooted from its foundation.

There is no nation in the world upon whose essence the Divine concept rests except for the Congregation of Israel, whose desire, yearning and goal--which brings about its existence--is the most mighty desire, the most enlightened and the most elevated, forever and ever.

Therefore, the name of Hashem is connected to it “like a chain of a palace key” (Yerushalmi Taanit 2:6).

And just as His name exists forever and forever but grows greater and more sanctified from generation to generation, so too Israel rises forever (Midrash Tehillim 88:6) and never descends. “Do not fear, My servant Jacob, and do not be frightened, Israel. I will make an end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but I will not make an end of you; [even though] I will punish you in measure, I will not destroy you” (Jeremiah 46:28).

Pinkas Rishon L’Yaffo, #115

The Turtle-Head is Sinking in the West

2009-07-24T17:30:00.000+03:00

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

The turtle-head is sinking in the West.
I watch the falcon, eagle and the kite,
The faint footpaths whose courses have been blessed,
The secret soul that only speaks at night,

The bride whose feet leave crimson drops of blood,
The rows of houses, long across the hill,
The radio signals, tumbling in a Flood,
Geraniums upon the window sill.

The praying mantis crouches in the wind,
The wheat fields bow their prayerful, golden heads.
The silver moon is keening that it sinned,
And startled children tumble into beds.

And oh good morning, mystery of streets,
Of treasures underneath the sycamores.
The papers land with news of new defeats
And hidden chambers open their green doors.

Matters of Faith—Stories About the Neschizer Rebbe and His Father, the Moharam

2009-07-24T17:08:00.001+03:00

1. Tuesday Night, Tavo, 5627 (1867).

The Neschizer rebbe told that his father, the Moharam, was at first involved in business matters. On every business trip he would earn some money, until he saved enough for an etrog.

One time, he saved six rubles for this purpose. He went to buy an etrog in Brode—he was still living in the city of Leshnov—and he met a water-drawer who carried water with the help of a horse. His horse had died, and he was weeping and groaning.

The Moharam asked him, “Why are you crying?”

When the man told him what had happened, the rebbe stood and gave him the six rubles with which to buy another horse.

The Moharam said, “What’s the difference? The etrog is a mitzvah from Hashem and this too is a mitzvah from Hashem.”

The writer states: I heard that he said lightly, “Everyone makes a blessing on an etrog, and I will make a blessing on a horse.”

But in the end he was brought a very beautiful etrog.

2. The Neschizer rebbe told that his father, the Moharam, said that his offspring would be present at the time of the coming of the redeemer. May he come quickly, in our days.

3. This took place in the summer of 5627 (1866-67) on a Wednesday night, I do not remember the parshah, for I forgot at the time to make a note of it.

The Neschizer rebbe told that the holy R. Yitzchak of Lebovna (of blessed memory) would at first travel to the holy R. Shlomo Karliner.

He was wealthy, but afterwards he lost his money.

He came to the rebbe’s father, the Moharam, and he stood there greatly troubled.

The Moharam asked him, “Why are you so troubled over the loss of money? We can interpret the verse, ‘I will demand your blood for your life from the hand of every living thing’ to mean, ‘So that you may demand of God and pray on behalf of Jewish souls, God will cause all living creatures to bring you your money.”

The writer states: It is known that afterwards many people traveled to the holy R. Yitzchak of Lebovna, and he made a respectable income.

4. The Neschizer rebbe stated told that in Apta there was a rabbi, a great tzaddik before the holy Rayah was there.

This rabbi once stated that he promised bread and borsht without any toil and effort to all who learn Torah.

One person who was a clay digger heard this and believed it. He went home and climbed onto his large oven and sat and recited Psalms, and he did not want to go to his work.

His wife could not persuade him. He did not reveal his reasons to her, and she thought that he had gone mad, heaven forbid.

In he meantime, in order to earn something for the day’s expenses, she sent another man with her husband’s wagon to dig clay, as his partner. And as this man dug, he found a treasure of money and put it on the wagon. But before he got ready to set off with the wagon, the horse ran off with the wagon to the house of its owner, and they discovered the blanket covering the wagon, and saw the treasure. They divided it in half with the digger, and he was very wealthy for the rest of his life.

5. The writer states: I heard a very wondrous thing from a person whom I find to be trustworthy. And I will write it in brief.

Once the Neschizer rebbe was in the city of Vladavke.

At night, he lay in bed, And a few people stood around him.

He told that in the city of Apta there had been a great tzaddik. And in his days there was a man who was learned, wise and handsome, and a merchant in the aristocratic courts.

One time he went to do business in a certain court, and the woman in charge, who was unmarried, she controlled the city of Apta. She gained control of the merchant, heaven have mercy, until in the end he converted, heaven have mercy, and he married the woman. He was very harsh to the people of the city, and he would always state that he wished to return to his religion, [which would incense the anti-Semites]. And in this way he caused many problems for a number of people.

One night as the rabbi was sitting and learning for a few hours, this merchant came and knocked at his door. The rabbi opened it for him, and the merchant told him, “Rabbi, I want to repent.” But the rabbi expelled him because he was afraid of being arrested and falsely charged.

And this happened a few nights.

One time the rabbi grew angry at the merchant when he came to him at night. He raised his stick and said to him, “Go out, or I will beat you with my stick.”

He thrust the stick into the ground and he declared, “Just as this stick will never blossom and give fruit, so will you never repent!” And the merchant left in despair.

The rabbi returned to his learning. But he turned and saw something amazing: for the stick had blossomed and produced fruit. He was astonished, and so with the power of his thought he drew the merchant back to him. And so the merchant came, and the rabbi told him what had happened, and he taught him how to repent.

The merchant sighed heavily and said that he has children with her, but the rabbi told him, “Act on your own behalf.”

So the merchant gathered much money from the property and fled. And as for the children, they died.

[Translator’s note: although this part of the story seems heartless, it may be more acceptable when we consider the highly-polarized, anti-Semitic nature of the environment of those days.]

The Neschizer rebbe concluded by stating a few times that in earlier generations there were tzaddikim who could bring such things about. But now have we ever heard of such a thing? Yet he concluded, “But it is possible.”

Writer’s comment: That is to say, he is not sure, and perhaps today someone could do such a thing.

He said that a few times.

And in the morning the news went about of a local person who fled such a
situation. As for the end of that story, we do not know it, for nothing more has been heard of that man to this day.

from Zichron Tov

Our Thirst for Divine Light

2009-07-22T14:34:00.001+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

When a person comes to purify himself, he can clearly sense the iron wall separating him from his Maker. He thirsts for the Divine light and sees that he is far from it. Moreover, he suffers in his spirit for the fact that his thirst is not a genuine thirst. He wishes to feel the pain of the thirst, to feel in his spirit this true preciousness that he is yearning for to the point of his soul perishing. But to his heart’s dismay, he does not feel that within himself. He wanders like a shadow, suspecting himself of falsehood and self-deceit.

But if he is truly strong, pure in heart and straight upon the path, his steps will not totter. He will do what he must: he will improve his actions, rectify his ways, purify his traits, increase learning and study, arouse feeling by means of the service of the heart, by means of prayer and praise, by means of song and melody, by means of the companionship of good, straight people, by means of dwelling permanently in the Holy Land, by means of constantly speaking in the Holy Tongue--until the light of Hashem will shine upon him, and he will have relief.

Pinkas 81 Piskaot (Jaffa), #72

Degraded and Holy Literature

2009-07-22T14:31:00.001+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

There has been an increase in degraded literature, which comes not because of an intensification of the power of creativity and an increase of the light of the soul, but which comes rather because of the low level of the creator, who cannot make any spiritual acquisition but who instead is outwardly profuse, like the teeming small creatures and swarming things.

There is, on the other hand, an elevated type of person whose profuseness is due to the flow of the light of the soul—for the world of consciousness does not cease manifesting constant, limitless phenomena.

It is impossible to explain and precisely demarcate the line that separates these creations. Such matters are given over particularly to the sense of understanding of the person involved in these creations.

The sense of spiritual scent can distinguish between a new light that wells up from a wellspring of holiness--the cause of whose creation is an intensification of supernal life that illumines lowly life, descending into it in order to raise and improve it--and between the twitching of a creation that is not elevated beyond low physical movements, which comes from a weakness in awareness and ethics that lacks the strength to remain quiet.

Pinkas 81 Piskaot (Jaffa), #67

Tales of the Neschizer Rebbe

2009-04-03T14:39:00.002+03:00

1. Monday night of Parshat Shelach 5627 [1866], R. Yitzchak, the Neschiz rebbe and author of Toldot Yitzchak, said that when he was young it was easier for him to serve God fully, because he had more strength and because he felt the impression made upon him of the tzaddikim who were alive in those days. But now in his old age, serving God is more difficult.

2. It was in the year 5623 [1862], I believe, when he was in the town of Ratna after the Sabbath but before the evening prayers, that he complained that the generation is terribly orphaned.

He said that his brother, the Kavler rebbe, of blessed memory, had told how their father had told him, “My son, if a person does not literally feel the pangs of a woman giving birth within fifty miles circumference, in order to pray for her sake, how is he worthy of being called a tzaddik?”

R. Yitzchak said, “I paid great heed to that story.”

And he said, in his humility, “I am not one of those who can feel this. Nor do I know if the tzaddikim of our generation can.”

One of the people listening, from his household, said, “And if a person that knows and feels, does he tell others that he feels?” meaning to say that the rebbe did know and feel, but was concealing it.

The rebbe replied, “Perhaps in my youth, when I was stronger.” And he cut his talk short and directed that they begin the evening prayers, so as not to speak of these matters at length.

And once I heard the rebbe say—and I believe that at that time I was particularly careful to hear the story, and perhaps the first time I didn’t hear it properly—as follows. His father, the brilliant Moharam, told his brother, the Kavler, “My son, my son, in order to be a leader of the generation—a guter yid—one needs a great test: if within a fifty mile circumference there is a woman having trouble giving birth and that tzaddik does not feel her sufferings and birth pangs exactly as she does in order to empathize with her and help her, how can such a person be called a guter yid?” And the rebbe concluded, “When my father said this, I paid very careful attention, to understand why he is saying this before me, that I should hear this. And I understood why he said this.”

And the master hid the rest of the story, but implied that his father had told this for his sake. And it is known that at the time his father was alive, the rebbe was no more than ten years old.

3. The rebbe told as follows: “In my youth, when I recited a chapter of Psalms, I would help a woman having trouble in childbirth in the entire local area. And that much more when Hashem helped me recite five chapters of Psalms.”

The writer states: this implies that this includes even those women having difficult childbirths in the area who did not come to inform the rebbe.

And he suppressed the rest of the story, as was his holy way.

The writer states: Usually, when he could not sleep he would say that this is because of a woman having trouble giving birth in some town. And one time we saw him having a restless sleep and saying, “There must be a good package arriving somewhere—iss muz shoyn zayn ergetz ein gut pekele,” and the next day a messenger came on behalf of a woman who had had a very difficult childbirth at that time in a nearby town.
Zichron Tov

Vignettes of Rav Kook

2009-04-03T14:37:00.001+03:00

1. One time, Rav Kook was sitting together with his student R. Shimon Strelitz in his small room. Their Gemaras were open before them, and they were learning. There was a knock at the door, the mailman entered and brought a letter to the Rav. They looked at the letter—it was a check for a million dollars.

The Rav looked at the check with complete indifference. And with a dismissive expression he turned to his student and asked, “What can be done with this?”

The student gathered his courage and told the rav, “Allow me, rabbi, and I will say what can be done with this.”

Rav Kook gave him permission, and R. Shimon began to explain about checks: “If I had a check for a million dollars, I would first of all devote a sizable part of the sum to building the land.”

When Rav Kook heard “building the land,” his eyes shone. His indifference ceased. If so, this money is not completely meaningless, if it can be used to build the land of Israel! And he listened attentively to what his student might add.

“And second,” continued R. Shimon, “I would set aside a significant part of that money on behalf of our Central Yeshiva.”

Now Rav Kook’s brightness was doubled: this money could be used for the sake of the holy renewal, for the establishment of Torah—if so, it is certainly not meaningless.

And R. Shimon didn’t cease, but he added a detailed list all sorts of good things that could be done with this million dollars, as Rav Kook sat and listened.

However, after the student had mapped out a complete plan of what could be done with this money, it turned out this was not a real check, but an American New Year’s greeting card, in the form of a million dollar check.
Shivchei Harayah (told by R. Shimon Strelitz), pp. 221-222

2. One time the Nazir, R. Dovid Hacohen, came to Rav Kook to ask for a match. Rav Kook answered, “If this is what you want, I must certainly be sure to give it to you” (because in general R. Dovid would not ask anyone for favors). And Rav Kook added, “Do you know what? Nothing in this house is mine. The watch isn’t mine [see Rav Kook’s will in Nefesh Harayah]; the chairs are a gift from Williams [one time a man named Williams came to Rav Kook’s house and saw that he was lacking chairs and he sent about twenty chairs to Rav Kook’s house]; the fur coat [for traveling to America] is form the general council.”
Shivchei Harayah (told by Rav Dovid Hacohen), pp. 222-223

3. Rav Kook told his bother’s son, R. Rafael, who was planning to travel out of the country, “Do we have permission to allow you to leave us? But what can I do? You are traveling among people. Tell them our situation. I have to send out letters on the topic of agunos [grass widows], and I don’t have stamps.”
Shivchei Harayah (told by R. Rafael Hacohen Kook), p. 223

4. When R. Chaim Dovid Sobol, Rav Kook’s student, had his first-born child, a boy, he asked Rav Kook to redeem his son in the pidyon haben ceremony, since Rav Kook was a cohen.

The father at that time asked Rav Kook if he wanted silver coins or a silver object.

It was the custom in the land of Israel to give the cohen for the pidyon haben Turkish majidos, which contained an amount of silver in the necessary weight according to the halachah. But Rav Kook told his student that he preferred a silver object, on condition that it contained enough silver as necessitated by the halachah.

The father of the boy bought a silver goblet in the correct weight, carved on it the words “for pidyon haben”, and gave it to Rav Kook during the ceremony.

After that, this goblet replaced his regular kiddush cup on the Sabbath, since this goblet, Rav Kook explained, was certainly his, since the Torah made it his, unlike all of the other goblets, which were given to him out of respect.
Shivchei Harayah, from R. Ch. Sobol, p. 223

"Taking Out" is Higher Than "Raising"

2009-04-03T14:34:00.001+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

The descents in human history are for the purpose of ascent. If man were not destined to blossom on a very exalted level, he would not descend. [He would have] accepted and integrated the natural state of the seven Noahide commandments.

However, [because man’s] powers are great, he does not accept a situation with brief guidelines, but must expand his physical and spiritual life.

Therefore, the world has descended even below [the minimal requirements of] Noahide law. [Instead,] the abominations of the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan have increased.

The Holy One, blessed be He, raised us from Egypt, if for no other reason that [we] did not pollute ourselves with crawling creatures. This concept of being raised is sufficient to return to a level of rectified humanity.

However, that is not enough. In [addition, the verse states,] “I took you out of the land of Eygpt.” In the Torah, “taking out” is more central than “raising.” Even if the nations had not descended so drastically but had maintained their natural state of being, it still would have been necessary for [the Jews to] be “taken out” [of Egypt] in order that [the people of] Israel alone be uplifted.

But in truth, it is all connected, because it is altogether impossible for a lowly state of being to last. Therefore, a great state of being is necessary--and the greatest state of being comes only by means of Israel.

At the incident of the golden calf, [the Jews] said, “These are your gods, Israel, which raised you from the land of Eygpt”—[meaning,] to be no more than a natural nation. But that was an error. The hand of Hashem had no need whatsoever to be revealed for this (nor would there be a need for humanity to descend if it were not destined for an honored and elevated position).

The letter vov in the word “that raised you up” saved [the Jews], for [it indicates that] they did acknowledge an advantage to the holiness of Israel—however, they thought that they would be able to make use of natural humanity and be educated by it, with an additional element of the guidance of supernal holiness that might find a place with an elite—and for that, they had an example amidst the nations of special priests of the supernal God, elevated men.

But not like these is the portion of Jacob, for [the nation of Israel] is all a seed of truth. “Hashem leads it alone and there is no foreign god with it.”
Kevatzim Miktav Yad Kasho

How Will I Convey the Great Truth?

2008-10-17T22:32:00.000+02:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

I am thirsty! I thirst for my God like a deer alongside the streams.

Oh, who will give tongue to my hurt, who will be the harp to the songs of my moaning, who will express my bitter voice, the pain of my self-expression, broader than the broadest oceans?

I am thirsty for truth. Not to attain truthBI already ride its heavens! I am entirely immersed in the truth! Rather, my entire being is filled with anguish that comes from the painful effort to express myself. How will I convey the great truth that fills my entire heart? How will I reveal to everyone, to the worlds, to created beings, to the fullness of everything, to nations and individuals, the flashes filled with treasures of light and heat that are contained within my soul? I see them, flames rising and leaping up to the highest heavens. And how will I make others aware of it? How will I describe their power?

I am not a divine warrior, one of those mighty men who find the entirety of universes within themselves and to whom it is of no consequence whether or not anyone knows of their abundance. Their attitude is: “Those flocks of sheep that walk on two legs—what good will it do them if they know about the stature of a man, and what harm will it do them if they do not?”

But I am connected to the world and to life. People are my fellow-beings. Many parts of my soul are intertwined with them. And so how can I illuminate them with my light? Whatever I say merely covers my radiance and dims my light.

My suffering is great and my pain is great. Oh, my God, help me in my hurt, create means of expression for me; give me lips and speech of the lips.

Amongst the masses, I will tell my truths—Your truth, God!

Chadarav

How Will I Convey the Great Truth?

2008-10-16T10:32:00.001+02:00

Why Do You Cry Against Me, My Heart?

2008-10-15T22:31:00.000+02:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Why do you cry against me, my heart?

Behold, I am filled with a thirst for the living God, a fire flames up within me.

“Give me a consuming fire!”—a fire with which I will slake my thirst, deeper than the fathomless depths and higher than the magnificent mountains.

Chadarav

My Spirit Thirsts for Hashem

2008-10-14T10:29:00.000+02:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

My spirit thirsts for Hashem.

True, at times this thirst is placed in an exile of imagination adulterated with dross.

It cries out for redemption, to be raised to its proper place, to the level of pure mind with clear knowledge, until it will be a power of rectified deed that brings about salvations in the midst of the land.

Chadarav

Shall I Cast Away the Source of Love?

2008-10-13T22:28:00.000+02:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Shall I cast away the source of love and the wellspring of endless delights?

Shall I distance myself from that source—higher than all being and all non-being, than all nothingness and than all void—in its great radiance and exaltedness?

I constantly thirst for its light, and it is sweet on the palate. It always slakes my thirst, even as it increases yearning and amplifies thirst, elevating and refining, together with its refined humility within which my soul within me melts.

Mine is my secret, and my secret is my light, and my secret is with me, the treasure of my life.

[You are] august and sublime, living forever. Forever and ever I am filled with strength, with the glory filling Your being eternally—gladness and tranquility and eternal salvation.

And my eye is aware of every oppressed person. “You save an impoverished people”—the glory of repentance and the secret of worship and the hidden wisdom, whose gates are ever opening to pour forth many streams “in the breadths, streams of water.”

Chadarav

I Am Filled with Love for God

2008-10-12T22:26:00.000+02:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

I am filled with love for God. I know that what I seek, what I love, is called by no name. How can that which is greater than everything, greater than goodness, greater than quality, greater than being, be called by any name?

And I love, and I say: I love God.

The light of the Infinite One dwells within the expression of the Name, in the expression of the divine, and in all of the names and cognomens that the heart of a man teaches and expresses when his soul is lifted ever upwards.

I cannot satisfy my soul with the love that comes from chains of logic, from the search for the light of God via the world, via an existence that penetrates into the eyes.
In our soul are born divine lights—from the perspective of our spirit, many gods.
There is one true God—and higher than one, in the depth of His truth.
God is revealed, He rules over us, He conquers all of our spirits, the spirit of all existence.

Wherever there is idea, feeling, thought and will, wherever there is noble, spiritual life, the divine light rules, governs, conquers, scintillates, is magnificent, gives forth splendor and beauty, vivifies, elevates—all of it out of a clarity of the light of being. It rules—and it dies.

That rule is limited as long as it comes from the world, from being.
At times the light waxes. One desires a light that is more refined, more inward, more true, which is in its very essence more energetic.

The light overwhelms the vessel, thought overwhelms being. The structure cannot hold, the inner content is not congruent, the vessels shatter, the kings die, the gods die, their soul rises, soars to the heavens. The bodies descend to the world of separation, existence stands bare, isolated, torn away, scattered.

It contains within itself, hidden and concealed, an eternal desire for the supernal light.

The eternal love has placed within the shattered vessels its light, its sparks.
In every movement, in every content of life, in every quality is being. There is a spark, a spark of a spark, faint, exceedingly faint, the inner light, the light of the supernal God, building and setting a foundation, gathering the scattered, rectifying forever, organizing and joining together.

The eternal sovereignty is revealed from the light of the Infinite One that is within the soul. From God to the world a new light is born: the light of the radiance of the glory of the face of God.

Chadarav

This Great Distress

2008-10-11T22:25:00.000+02:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook
Is this great distress that I am not permitted to pronounce God’s Name as it is written an empty thing? Is it not a holy fire, burning and blazing in my soul, which indicates the depth of the hidden longings within it for the light of the true God, the God of Israel, Who makes the precious light of the truth of His manifestation shine only with the holy Name as it is written?

All the holy Names are general— they express a concept of divinity that anyone with intelligence in his mind and with feeling in his heart can express and yearn: to desire Him and to be connected to His being.

But “who is like Your nation Israel, a unique nation upon the earth”— connected to the truth of divinity, which is revealed only in a miraculous, wondrous fashion, in a way of total truth coming from the supernal holy spirit of the “clear lens”?

The verse, “This is My name forever,” is actually written, “This is My name: to be concealed.”

It is impossible for us to pronounce it within this darkened world as long as the light of Israel has not manifested itself in its holy location, in the House of its life: in the eternal Temple.

A thirst for truth flares up, and the longing for that essential expression to be impressed into this world is great. “I have been silenced, quiet. I have been silent, lacking good, and my pain is stirred up.”

Chadarav

A Passionate Yearning

2008-10-10T22:24:00.000+02:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

My spirit yearns passionately for the supreme light, the infinite light, the light of the God of truth, the God of my life, the living God, the Life-force of all universes.

This passionate yearning consumes my physical and spiritual strength. I have neither the ability nor the proper training to satisfy the totality of this great, passionate yearning.

I am filled with utter self-abnegation before the Monarch of all universes, Who opens His hand and satisfies the desire of every living being.

Satiate my desire. Satiate me in the light of Your manifestation, and fill my thirst for Your light.

“Make Your face shine, and we will be saved.”

Chadarav

Who Can Know Me?

2008-10-09T10:22:00.000+02:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Who can know me, who knows the fervor of my heart, which burns in truth with the fire of a supernal love of God?

“My spirit expires for You; my heart and my flesh sing to the living God.”

Who can realize that I am unable to take interest in any limited matter because of my great yearning for the eternal delight of the infinite expanses—that I am sick with love?

And not only do others not know me, but I myself do not know myself.

How much must I battle against myself, to keep hold of an inner faith in the greatness of my soul? And that greatness has nothing to do with deeds; it is intrinsically great, because of what it is. It is a supernal freedom, and all teachings and mitzvot only serve to make a measure of its worth clear to it.
Chadarav

I Must Recognize the Holy Fire

2008-10-07T10:20:00.000+02:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

I must recognize the holy fire that blazes in my heart—my yearning that burns ceaselessly within it for the living God—as a great and mighty ability.

I am obligated to honor that holy illumination, which constantly appears to me and at times gains in strength, all in accordance with the amount of deed and learning and in accordance with the amount of the depth of thought, freedom of mind and health of body—and the joy of the heart that is dependent on all of these.
Chadarav

The Crucial Point of the Inner Quest

2008-10-06T22:19:00.000+02:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Is it possible that I will not find what I seek, at the time that my search wells from the depths of truth?

And what do I seek if not myself, my true essence—not my physical or spiritual garments, all of which are acquisitions, which come and serve the essence? If my essence, my essential being, is beyond me, how will any of these devices help?

That is the crucial point of the inner quest, which requires true might so that a person may be strong as he engages in it.

And that constant endeavor to find my essence is also at the root of finding the existence of the entire Jewish people and of humanity in its broad sense, and of finding all existence in its inner sense and in its breadth.

And that is the gate of Hashem to finding the eternally sought: the God of the universe, the Source of all quests, for Whom every spirit yearns, and without Whom there is nothing to seek.

Behold, that search is the purest and most wholehearted quality. It harasses the spirit and seizes all inner spiritual proclivities, making them unable to find their path as long as the fundamental position of what one is essentially seeking is not based upon the spiritual foundation that incorporates all the movements of life.

To this end comes the entire wealth of Torah learning, all intelligent activity, and all spiritual awakening in its multitudinous movements in life—in a human being and in the world.

“Fortunate are all those who wait for Him.”
Chadarav

The Speech of Creation

2008-10-05T22:17:00.000+02:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

I have subjugated myself to teachings, to deeds, to relationships, to a variety of different obligations—and as a result, no thought of mine is finished and mature.

Supernal illuminations fall away like blossoms that drop after having appeared, before their time to ripen has arrived, because of a storm wind.

And so the time has come to break the chains that my own hands placed upon all the limbs of my soul, upon all the parts of my spirit. I have no obligation to focus on obstacles outside myself. Salvation is firmly placed within me, within my heart.

The wellspring of tranquility pours forth and flows unceasingly. The kindness of Hashem fills the world.

All that I have to do is to attend to that autonomous awareness, to listen to the secret of the speech of creation in its inner chambers.

I will hear, and my spirit will live.
Chadarav

My Inner Gaze

2008-10-04T22:16:00.001+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

I have no need to reject my inner demand to gaze at everything from the essence of my spirit.

At the same time, I am summoned to strengthen myself and broaden my perspectives, expressed in spirit and in deed, in accordance with the understanding that comes from outside myself: from friendship, mingling with others, reading books and other life experiences.

And afterwards, everything returns so as to be mixed into my very spirit, and I return to my inner gaze.
Chadarav

My Spirit Yearns to Burrow Into Its Inner Chambers

2008-10-03T22:14:00.000+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

My spirit yearns to burrow into its inner chambers.

I struggle to draw matters forth from the light of the Torah and from the light of the world.

But I find that all the roots of these pure objects that I seek must be found in the depths of my own spirit, whose light is taken from the light of the Torah and from the radiance of the world.

If I return from the midst of Torah and from the midst of the world to my spirit, I increase my life-force when I then re-enter the chambers of the Torah and the chambers of the treasuries of the world.

And so every bright revelation is divided into three: that of the spirit, that of the Torah and that of the world.

“Speak, my tongue, your words, for all of [God’s] commandments are righteousness.”

Chadarav

How Can I Have Anything to Say to Others?

2008-10-02T10:12:00.001+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

How can I have anything to say to others if I say nothing to my own spirit?

How can I express an opinion about the spiritual and physical world without first seeking a key to the treasures gathered within me?

“Gates, swing open,” I shall say to the chambers of my spirit, to my heart and to my “kidneys,” my source of counsel.
Chadarav

I Constantly Seek

2008-10-01T22:10:00.000+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

I constantly seek that which is in the midst of my soul.
Outer servitude distracts my mind from that inner search, bringing me to seek in vain at the far-flung corners of the earth for that which has not been found in the depths of my spirit.

Chadarav

I Must Speak of Myself

2008-09-29T10:08:00.000+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

I must speak of myself a great deal.

Matters of my essential being must become extremely clear to me.

When I understand myself, I will understand everything—the world and life—until my understanding will reach the Source of life.
Chadarav

From Within Myself

2008-09-28T22:05:00.000+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

From within myself, from my wellsprings, I must always take the hidden treasures.

I am always connected to a holy suffering that results from my search for supernal perfection.

That search is never fulfilled. Indeed, it has no need to be fulfilled.

This is the nature of such ever-lasting yearning: its foundation is divine thirst. Nothing in the world can slake that thirst except that which it seeks: the on-going revelation and ever-growing experience of the thirst itself.

That itself is transformed into the source of all pleasure, into the platform for all spiritual delights, into the radiance of the Almighty.

Chadarav

The Water in Which Faith Grows

2008-09-19T15:39:00.002+03:00

by R. Nachman of Breslov

It is important to dig and find the water in which faith grows.

And that “water” corresponds to solution-oriented ideas, out of which faith grows.

This is related to the verse, “I will praise Your name, for You have done something that comes out of nowhere; solutions from afar, deeply faithful” (Isaiah 25).

Such solutions correspond to the depth of the heart.

In other words, when a person’s faith is damaged and it falls, when even crying out does not help him—i.e., not even a simply outcry without words—then a person has to cry out from his heart only, as in the verse, “Their heart cried out to Hashem” (Lamentations 2). In that case, only the heart cries out, without a sound, as in the verse, “From the depths have I called out to You, Hashem” (Psalms 130)—from the depths of the heart.

And the depth of the heart corresponds to solution-oriented ideas, as in the verse, “Deep waters are solutions in the heart of a person” (Proverbs 20).

And so, when crying out does not help because one’s faith has fallen, then one has to cry out from the heart alone, without a sound, only from the depth of the heat.
And as a result, the solutions are revealed, which correspond to “deep waters are solutions….”

And when such solutions are revealed in the world—i.e., when people know how to solve their problems—then faith grows. “Solutions from afar, deeply faithful.”
Likutei Moharan II 5:2

The Sabbath is a Time of Joy

2008-08-30T22:38:00.003+03:00

by R. Nachman of Breslov

When a person’s communication is complete, that corresponds to the Holy Tongue.

All human languages are incomplete and lack perfection, and are called “barbarous speech” (Isaiah 32:4).

Only the Holy Tongue possesses perfection. And the Holy Tongue is connected to the Sabbath. Thus, our Sages comment on the verse that includes the phrase, “and speak a word” (ibid.), which speaks of the Sabbath, “that a person’s speech on the Sabbath should not be the same as his weekday speech” (Shabbat 113).

Similarly, our sages state that the phrase “Thus shall you bless” (Numbers 6:23) means, “in the Holy Tongue” (Sotah 38). The Holy Tongue incorporates blessing and holiness, due to the fact that it is associated with the Sabbath, which is described as possessing blessing and holiness, as in the verse, “and He blessed … and He sanctified” (Genesis 2:3).

And so by means of the Holy Tongue a person is connected to the Sabbath.

Therefore, by means of perfecting one’s speech, which corresponds to the Holy Tongue, a person draws the joy of the Sabbath to the six days of the week.

The six weekdays are associated with depression, for “the angel Metat rules in the weekdays” (Tikunei Zohar 18, p. 33b), and Metat is a servant, which corresponds to depression.

But the Sabbath corresponds to a son, when “there is rest for those in heaven and those upon the earth.” Then joy is awoken. At that point, all of the commandments that a person performed during the six days of the week are raised and elevated from depression; instead, rest and joy are drawn onto them. This is alluded to by the verse, “A son was born and his name was called Noah, for it was said, ‘This one will comfort us from our deeds and from the weariness of our hands” (Genesis 5:28-29).

That corresponds to the Sabbath, which corresponds to the son, corresponding to Noach, “Rest (i) for those in heaven and those upon the earth” (see Tikun 70 at the end and Zohar Bereishit 58, 59), which comforts and gives joy to everyone instead of depression—thus, “this one will comfort us….”

When a person attains the level of the Holy Tongue, which is connected to the Sabbath, he draws down the holiness and joy of the Sabbath into the six days of the week.

Since the Holy Tongue is connected to the Sabbath, through it the joy of the Sabbath is drawn to the six days of the week. Thus, the verse states, “The Mighty One, God, Hashem, spoke.” The numerical value of this phrase in Hebrew (plus the number of words of which it is composed) is equal to that of the word, simchah, joy. By means of a perfect speech, which is the Holy Tongue, joy is drawn down.

Likutei Moharan II 2:5

We and God Together Seek Atonement on Rosh Hashanah

2008-08-29T14:48:00.001+03:00

by R. Nachman of Breslov

When a person sits down to talk with someone else, that can be said to correspond to Rosh Hashanah.

This is because Rosh Hashanah is a day of judgment; and when a person sits down to talk with someone else, he has a tendency to judge him.

A person must be very careful in this regard and look at himself well, to see if he is competent to judge someone else.

The verse states that “judgment belongs to God” (Deuteronomy 1:7)—meaning that only God is competent to judge someone.

Also, our Sages state, “Do not judge someone until you come to his place” (Pirkei Avot 2). But who can know and come to someone else’s place except for God? “He is the Place of the world, and the world is not His place” (Bereishit Rabbah, Veyeitzei 68, cited by Rashi on the verse hinei makom iti—Tisa). Each individual has a place with God. And so, only God can judge someone.

**

He is the Master of compassion, Who certainly “judges every individual favorably” (Avot 1).
We can see His compassion in the fact that He set the date for Rosh Hashanah, which is a day of judgment, on rosh chodesh—the new month. That is a great kindness—for how else would we dare lift up our faces to seek atonement from God? He did us the great kindness of setting the Day of Judgment, Rosh Hashanah, on rosh chodesh, for at that time God Himself (as it were) seeks atonement. We learn that God says in regard to rosh chodesh, “Bring an atonement on My behalf” (Shavuot 9a, Chullin 60b).

We learn that from the following Talmudic passage.

R. Shimon ben Pazi contrasted two verses. One states that “God made the two great lights”—the sun and moon—implying that they were of equal size (Genesis 1); and the other describes the sun and moon as “the large light and the small light.”

The solution to this contradiction is as follows.

Originally, the sun and moon were of equal size, but the moon complained to the Holy One, blessed be He, “Master of the universe, is it possible for two kings to make use of the same crown?”

God replied to the moon, “Then make yourself smaller.”

She said to Him, “Master of the universe, because I raised a reasonable point to You, should I then make myself smaller?”

God attempted to appease the moon in various ways, but she refused to be reconciled. Seeing this, He said, “Bring an atonement on My behalf for having made the moon smaller.”

And so on the Day of Judgment we are not ashamed to seek atonement, since God Himself seeks atonement at that time.

Also, when God Himself must, as it were, state, “Bring an atonement on My behalf”—i.e., because He did something that He must regret—we are not ashamed to come before Him with our sins in order to seek atonement for them and regret them, since He Himself has done something that He needs to regret.

And so we see the greatness of God’s compassion—i.e., that He set the date for Rosh Hashanah on rosh chodesh.

Only He is fit to judge the world, for only He knows the place of each individual. This is because all places are with Him, since “He is the Place of the world, and the world is not His place.”

**

We find that God’s Presence rested in certain sites, such as the Temple. But that is not to say (heaven forbid) that God constricted His Divinity (heaven forbid). As Solomon stated, “Behold, the heavens and the heavens of heavens cannot contain You—certainly not this house” (Kings I 8:26).

But there were felicitous matters there—e.g., we learn that the Temple was in the form of the Work of Creation and in the form of the Garden of Eden (see Introduction to the Tikunim). Therefore, God drew His holiness into it.

But as for God Himself, the world is not His place—rather, He is the Place of the world.
God can make Rosh Hashanah, which is the Day of Judgment, because He represents the concept, “Do not judge someone else until you come to his place,” because God is the Place of the world.

The verse states that “holiness is felicitous in Your House, Hashem, for length of days” (Psalms 93:5).

That is to say, God drew His holiness into the Temple, since it had felicitous things there. But as for God Himself, the world is not His place—rather, He is the Place of the world.

And so the verse ends, “Hashem, for length of days.” That is to say, since God is the Place of the world, He can make Rosh Hashanah, the day of judgment, which is called for halachic reasons a “lengthy day” (Beitzah 4 and 6; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 393).

**

A person who grasps the level of the Throne of Glory—which is the level of the roots of souls—corresponds to the Place of the world. That corresponds to the verse, “He endows [such people] with a seat of honor as an inheritance, for Hashem’s are the pillars of the earth, upon which He set up the world” (Samuel I 2:8).

That is to say, by coming to the level of the Throne of Glory, the roots of souls, such people function as the place of the world, the level of “upon them He set up the world.”

And thus such a person can make Rosh Hashanah.

Likutei Moharan Tinyana 1:14

The Flow of Abundance

2008-08-15T13:25:00.000+03:00

By R. Nosson of Nemirov

The lust for money is the result of a lack of faith that God can bring a person an income via an easy means, without toil. Lacking this faith, a person constantly chases after his income. He is filled with depression, worry and bitterness, and borrows a great deal of money because he does not believe that God can provide him with his income in its proper time without toil, via a simple means.

And all of this is drawn from and connected to time. God transcends time and place, “Israel rose first in the [divine] thought,” and “the Holy One, blessed be He, the Torah and Israel are all one.” And so Israel also transcends time.

And all the service of Israel in this physical world, which rests within time and space, is solely to raise and connect the reality of time and space to the reality that transcends time and space—i.e., to raise, connect and incorporate all of creation into that which preceded creation.

And the essential thing is faith. As the verse states, “All of Your commandments are faith.”

This is because via faith, via believing that God created everything with His will, and that all time and space come from Him, from the reality that transcends time and space, we raise and connect time and space to the level that transcends time and space. And then all of creation is on the level that transcends time and space—on the level of providence.

And that is the aspect of trust in God. And in truth, essentially a person grows depressed and worries over earning a living because he fails to trust in God.

In essence, this blemish and lack of trust in God derive solely from the level of time and space.

God causes His good abundance to flow constantly, without interruption for even a moment. But that flow of abundance enters this physical world, which is within time and space, and so it must be clothed in time and space.

And so the flow of income and abundance comes down only within a specific time and space.

In essence, worry over earning a living comes from the fact that at times the flow of a person’s income is interrupted. Then the worry over making a living rises in his heart and he grows concerned over what he will eat tomorrow.

As a result, he invests a great deal of toil in earning a living. But in the end he does not attain an income until its proper time arrives.

But if this person possessed a true intelligence and believed that everything is from God but that it is necessary to wait until its time comes, he would not chase after his income so much, knowing that God will give him his income in its time, via an easy means.

It is necessary for a person engage in some slight action for the sake of earning a living, as our sages state regarding the verse, “I will bless you in all that you do”--for it can be drawn down into this world only via vessels. Thus, it is necessary to engage in some industry and business, for in this way one makes vessels and conduits to receive the abundance.

But in truth, the work is not the main thing at all. Rather, the essential income comes from God, from His providence alone, for no person knows how he will earn a living.

And so a person should not urgently pursue his income with great toil--as though, heaven forbid, his income depends on that alone. To the contrary, as a result his income will decrease, because “whenever a person forces the moment, the moment forces him back.” A person needs to engage in business and industry only to fulfill the commandment of engaging in business faithfully, in order to make a vessel and conduit to receive the abundance--and whatever he does in this will suffice.

And thus, “I will bless you in all that you do”— in whatever a person does, even something slight and small, Hashem will bless him. Most people pursue an income repeatedly and with great effort yet do not succeed in earning a profit, and achieve nothing in their toil--yet then God has pity on them and brings them an income--sometimes even great wealth—via a very simple means, in an almost supernatural fashion. The world is filled with stories of this kind, which are very common among those who engage in business.

So if a person had intelligence and from the beginning relied on God and did not worry at all, he would have no need whatsoever for unnecessary toil. When the time came, God would give him his income via a simple means.

Not only does a person not earn anything as a result of his worry, depression and exaggerated toil and overwhelming efforts, but to the contrary, he loses the abundant flow of great income.

This is because the essence of the flow of income comes from above, from that which transcends time and space--except that in this world, income has to clothe itself in time and space, and so a person must engage in some activity and business for the sake of income, in order to make a vessel in which abundance can clothe itself in this world.

When a person believes that time and space are connected to that which transcends time and space, he has abundant income because he is connected to the source of abundance that flows from above by means of his faith and trust in Hashem.

But when a person runs after his income with great toil, he is drawn after and powerfully connected to the level of time and space. He disconnects time and space from the level that transcends time and space. As a result, he is distanced from the root of flowing abundance, and so it is difficult for him to earn a living. And even when he receives a little income, it necessarily comes with a great and overwhelming toil.

As a result of his income coming with excessive toil, he is drawn even more to into constriction, into time and space.

And so his income comes with excessive toil, which is drawn from the level of time and space.

Our sages state that “when a person forces the moment, the moment will force him back, but when a person allows himself to be forced back by the moment, the moment will be forced back by him.”

That is to say, a person who is excessively drawn after time and tries to force the moment is connected in an excessive manner to time and space, and is greatly distanced from the aspect that transcends time and space. As a result, he is distanced from the source of the flow of abundance.

As a result, “the moment will force him back,” since he is so greatly connected to the aspect of time.

And so this person suffers even greater pressure, because his income is pushed off to a further time and place. Because he has put so much effort into time and space, his income is pushed off in time and space.

But when a person allows himself to be “forced back by the moment,” when he believes that everything is from God and that when his time comes his income will come of itself, via a simple means, he is tied strongly to that which transcends time and space.

And so “the moment will be forced back by him,” because in this way he reduces time and space, and God sends him his income in a short period of time and in close proximity to himself.

This is because he is close to and connected to the aspect that transcends time and space.

As a result, he does not need to engage in great exertion for the sake of his income.

This is because the essence of exertion is drawn from the aspect of time and space.

If a person had very strong trust, he would not even have to engage in any means at all in order to earn an income.

In essence, it is necessary to engage in some simple means to earn an income in order to make a conduit and vessel to receive the abundance that flows down from above. But if a person had strong trust, he would make the vessel and the conduit with that trust itself.

This is because by means of the trust he makes a vessel to receive the flow of abundance.

Likutei Halachot, Yoreh Deah, Ribit 3:1

Faith and the Red Heifer

2008-08-04T12:52:00.000+03:00

The law of the red heifer is said to be a chukah, an ordinance that transcends human reason. But the Be’er Mayim Chaim and other works point out that R. Moshe Hadarshan explains that the purpose of the red heifer was to make it possible for the Jews to gain attainment following the sin of the golden calf. Why, then, is this law referred to as a chukah?

The author of Yismach Yisrael (Terumah) quotes his father, the holy Admor, who in turn cites our holy rebbe of Worke, with an answer to this question.

The essence of the sin of the golden calf was lack of faith. Faith operates when the intellect is not illuminated and the mind is not clear. (As the verse states, “Your faithfulness is in the nights.”) When the people of that generation were deprived of the presence of Moses for a short while and their intellect did not shine for them sufficiently, they lacked faith and made the golden calf.

The rectification for that is an equivalent measure of repentance—i.e., a strengthening of faith, of believing simply (even if we do not know and understand with our intellect) in the commandments of God.

And that is the meaning of the words of R. Moshe Hadarshan: although the law of the red heifer is a chukah without reason and we cannot understand it with our intellect, nevertheless we keep it. Therefore it is a rectification for the sin of the golden calf, the lack of faith—i.e., this red heifer comes, which lacks human reason and in which everything is from the aspect of faith, and grants atonement for the sin of the golden calf, which was a lack of faith.

Esser Zechuyot

Walking with God

2008-08-03T12:17:00.000+03:00

The holy Yismach Yisrael (Vayigash) cites a teaching of our holy rebbe, the holy elder of Worke, regarding the baraita at the end of Berachot that “whoever reviews halachot every day is assured a place in the world-to-come, and the verse states of him, ‘His are the pathways of the world.’”

This is speaking of a person who attains Torah and clings to God, so that he does not make even the slightest motion with any limb without it being solely for the sake of God. Everything that he does is called halachah, which means walking—i.e., he walks in the ways of God.

And that is the meaning of this baraita: “whoever reviews halachot every day”—i.e., everything that he does the entire day is only walking in this fashion.

“And the verse states of him, ‘His are the pathways of the world.’”

That is to say, the entire world was created only to join together with this person, who with his deeds satisfies the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah.

When a person merits to be on such a level, so that all of his deeds, movements and feelings are solely for the sake of God and not for any other purpose, he clings to the Torah constantly. Then all of his deeds are the Torah of Hashem.

And this is the intent of the Torah: that a person should cling to God. And all of the 613 commandments are aids to attain that level.

And he said that (in this sense) the holy tzaddik R. Dovid of Lelov reviewed halachot every day.

Esser Zechuyot

How a Physician Became a Complete Tzaddik

2008-08-01T12:02:00.000+03:00

I heard from the famous and pious Torah scholar, R. Yitzchak Meir (chief judge of Alexander and the brother-in-law of our master) how R. Chaim Dovid (of blessed memory), a physician of Pietrekov, became a complete tzaddik.

R. Chaim Dovid was a great and famous physicians—and, like all of the doctors, he was irreligious.

One time a gentile nobleman set for him from a distance, for he was ill.

R. Chaim Dovid traveled to him in his carriage, and the route took him through the city of Lelov.

When he came to Lelov, it was late at night and a torrential rain began to pour, and he could not continue further.

He wanted to spend the night in some house, but it was pitchblack everywhere.

Then, from a distance, he saw a house where a light was shining, so he went there. This was the home of the holy tzaddik, R. Dovid of Lelov. R. Dovid greeted him warmly and told his wife, “Make a good meal, for we have a good guest.”

He ate there, and when the rain quieted down he left him.

And as they were parting, the holy R. Dovid told him, “Know that when a person is in a time of trouble, heaven help us, it is good to pledge gold to charity. That is an excellent remedy.” But R. Chaim Dovid didn’t understand what he was telling him.

That was the time of the great war between the Poles and the Russians. And as he was on his way, the Russians swooped down and joyfully took him prisoner, and they took him to be hanged, because they thought that he was the commander of the Polish forces.

When he saw that he was in such great trouble, he recalled what the man from Lelov had told him. He had a golden rendel sewn into his hat (as gentlemen do), and he pledged that rendel to charity.

Immediately, the head of the brigade said, “Behold, since we have captured the commander of the Poles, it is only proper that we inform our own commander, so that he will come and execute you himself.” And everyone agreed to that.

So they sent for their commander.

But when he came, he told them immediately, “You made a mistake, for this is not the man”—for he recognized the Polish commander. And so they let him go in peace.

When he saw this, he realized that the man of Lelov is a holy man.

He went to him and repented and became a whole-hearted penitent and a follower of the holy rebbe. He went to him on a regular basis and became his hasid, until people said of him that he was on a high spiritual plane and that divine inspiration rested on him. And at the end of his life, he accepted kvitlech, petitionary notes.

Esser Zechuyot

An Encounter with the Evil One

2008-08-01T12:00:00.000+03:00

The book A.I. tells that near Worke lived a person in a village who, on Hoshana Rabbah morning, made himself a hoshana (a bundle of willows), and set out to Worke, to be with our holy rebbe and pray there.

As he was holding the hoshana in his hand, a gentile nobleman met him and asked him, “What is in your hand?”

He told him, “A hoshana.”

And he said, “Call it a meitla [a disparating term?],” and struck him cruelly so that he would say that. But he refused and insisted on saying “hoshana.”

The nobleman then asked him, “Where are you going?”

He told him, “To the rebbe of Worke.”

He told him, “Call him Yutzke [a colloquial version of the rebbe’s first name]!” and struck him again with murderous blows.

But he cried out, “To the rebbe!”

And then the nobleman vanished.

When he came to Worke, our holy rebbe asked him, “What happened to you on the way?” And he told him the entire story.

Our holy rebbe told him, “Know that this nobleman was the Evil One, and he wanted to destroy you, heaven forbid, in two ways: first, that you should show contempt for the mitzvah, and second, that you should call your rebbe by name. And you experienced great miracles and withstood the test. And so a heavenly decree against you was torn up and changed from evil to good. And may you be written and sealed for a good life.

And so it was that he had a good year.

Esser Zechuyot

It Is Impossible Not To Love Hashem

2008-07-25T17:54:00.000+03:00

It is completely impossible not to love Hashem.

And it is completely impossible that this power of sweet, necessary love will not blossom into action, into a love of engaging in deeds that relate to goodness, in terms of attaining the light of Hashem.

It is impossible not to love the Torah and the commandments, which are so connected to the goodness of Hashem.

It is impossible not to love that which is honest and just, that good and excellent order which brings good to all, which is well-connected to the truth of existence and to the thought of the heart, with an excellent connection that is so great and splendor that we call it “the desire of Hashem.”

But higher than all this and unique beyond all this, bringing pleasantness to the soul of all, beyond the plane to which any thought can rise, it is impossible not to be filled with love for every creature, because the flow of the light of Hashem shines in everything, so that everything is a revelation of the dearness of the pleasantness of Hashem.

“The kindness of Hashem has filled the earth.”

Orot Hakodesh IV, p. 390

The Secretary in the Forest

2008-07-18T16:32:00.002+03:00

I heard the following story from a reliable person, who heard it from someone who had met an exceedingly old man who possessed remarkable strength.

That [old man] told a story about the holy Worke rebbe, when the holy rebbe was young and a secretary in a forest [in a lumber operation]. And there was also a treasurer there there. And [this old man] was a worker there--called a gei’avi—and there were other workers there as well.

One time, the treasurer suspected the gentiles of stealing wood from the forest. So he told the servants to watch for thieves in the forest that night, and if they caught a thief they would be given half of the fine [that the thief would have to pay]. And that is what they did they did.

Suddenly that night this worker saw the secretary going through the forest. And he was very surprised, because it is not normal for a secretary to look for thieves at night. So he kept an eye on him and saw that he was going to a pit filled with worms and muravkes (leeches[?]). The secretary took off his clothes and went in naked, until blood streamed from his entire body. And near by was a pit filled with water, and he immersed in it and went home.

The worker discreetly kept an eye on the secretary the next night and the following nights, and the secretary did the same each night. And the worker kept this matter hidden in his heart, considering the secretary to be a holy man but not revealing it to anyone.

One time the treasurer celebrated his new-born son’s circumcision, and before the circumcision he gathered all of the workers and gave them pastries and vodka, as is the custom.

Afterwards, he asked them to bless him that the boy should grow up.

They asked him, “What particular blessing do you want us to give you?”

He told them that whenever he had had a son, either before or immediately after the circumcision the baby passed away.

This worker could not contain himself and told the treasurer, “I have to tell you that the only person who can help you is our secretary. He will help you, because he is a holy man.” And he told him the whole story.

So the treasurer sent for the secretary and gave him pastry and vodka. And then he brought him into a room and closed the door. And he said, “Please bless me.” And he told him of his trouble.

The secretary said to him, “What do you want from me? Am I a rabbi or a rebbe?”

The treasurer told him, “Don’t conceal yourself from me, for I have learned that you are a holy man.” And his wife also wept before the secretary, out of the bitterness of her soul, and she said, “Save me, my master!”

And since the secretary saw that he had no alternative, he sat on the seat and held his holy hands before his face for a few minutes. And then he said to the treasurer, “Once when you were a boy you were playing with other children, and you took a ring and put it on the twig of a tree and said, ‘Behold, you are betrothed to me.’ One of the beings from the Side of Evil was sitting there, and it is she who is killing your babies.”

The treasurer remembered the episode. He wept and asked the secretary what to do.

The secretary asked for paper. He made lines and wrote some text on the paper, and he told the treasurer to go to a tree that he would point out and tell the tree, “I give this to you as divorce papers.”

And the secretary stood there by the window and gazed out until the treasurer finished and returned to him.

And the secretary told the treasurer, “You have already been saved.”

And so it was.

And this worker was standing there and saw all this. And since he realized that this was a propitious moment, he said to the secretary, “Bless me too.” And the secretary blessed with him with long life.

And then the secretary left the area, since he saw that people were beginning to notice him.

And that secretary was our holy rebbe of Worke.

Esser Zechuyot

The Essence of Learning Torah

2008-07-11T15:09:00.000+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

The essence of learning Torah “for its own sake” can only come about via this preparation of understanding accompanied by feeling of how all of the details of the Torah are beloved with a holy love, and how the universal light, which is filled with life and which brings life to the world, penetrates all of [the Torah’s] details.

Orot Hatorah 2:7

Learning Torah

2008-07-11T15:08:00.000+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

The foundation of learning Torah “for its own sake” depends upon the enhancement of the strength of the Congregation of Israel, which is concealed within us.

The more we draw forth from [the Congregation of Israel and] into actuality branches of perceptions and breadth of feelings, the more do we enhance its power and cause it to shine.

And in so doing, we enhance the Torah itself, which is the spiritual aspect of the true life of the Congregation of Israel, which is concealed within us and hidden within the entire Torah and in each of its details.

Orot Hatorah 2:6

We Raise in Holiness, and We Do Not Bring Down

2008-05-19T00:22:00.000+03:00

by R. Nosson of Nemirov

“We raise up in holiness and we do not bring down” (Berachot 28).

Would it occur to anyone to bring holiness down, heaven forbid?

But the following is the meaning of this statement.

There are some holy people who are so truly great that because of their essential holiness they cannot bear people, and because they are so incredibly holy, they push away and push down people whom they are angry at, because they cannot tolerate their corrupt actions.

But this is not what God wants, for “He desires kindness,” and he wants those who are righteous to have compassion on the Jewish people constantly and bring them close, however they may be.

And even if He Himself is very angry at them because of their wicked deeds, He wants the righteous people to pray for them and bring them close.

Thus, when Moshe removed his tent from the camp (Exodus 33) because the Jews had sinned so much, our sages teach that God said, “If I am angry and you are angry, they who will bring them back?”

So do we find regarding a number of prophets and saintly men to whom God Himself complained about His great suffering, as it were, because of the many sins of the Jews—yet when they ratified His worlds and did not defend the Jews, He grew very stern with them.

That was the case with Hosea (Pesachim 87) and Elijah, who said, “I have been exceedingly zealous…” Kings 19), to which God responded, “Anoint Elisha son of Shefat as prophet in your place”—meaning, state our sages, that God told him, “I do not want your prophecy, because you accuse the Jews” (Yalkut Shimoni).

This is because God wants us only to defend the Jews and have compassion on them, even the lowest, bringing them all to God, like Moses, who was entirely dedicated to help the Jews, and who said, “And if not, then wipe me out…” (Exodus 32).

And so “we raise in holiness”—the more we toil and reach holiness and come closer to understanding the divine, the more souls must we raise up, and not bring down—i.e., we must take care not to lower other souls due to our own holiness—i.e., we should not grow unforgiving of the Jews even if we attain great holiness and awareness of God, which makes it impossible for us to tolerate lowly people, until we might grow angry at them and might lower them, heaven forbid…

Rather, we must “Raise in holiness and not lower,” for when a person comes to a higher level and achieves greater understanding, he must shrewdly make new constrictions, utilizing wondrous strategies, so that he will be able to bring many people ever closer, and heal even the lowest and the very ill.

Likutei Halachot, Orach Chaim, Hashkamat Haboker 4

The Good of the Entire World

2008-05-10T22:07:00.001+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

There are some tzaddikim who are so great and mighty that they are unable to restrict themselves to the Congregation of Israel, but are constantly worried and concerned about the good of the entire world.

Nevertheless, they too are connected at their inner core to the Congregation of Israel, because the Congregation of Israel is the essence of the good and the most elevated of the entire world. And when the Congregation of Israel receives love and goodness, it surrounds all creation.

Such tzaddikim cannot be “nationalistic” in the external sense of the world, for they cannot tolerate any hatred and any injustice, any constriction or limitation of goodness and kindness. Instead, they are good to all, in accordance with the traits of the Holy One, blessed be He, Who is good to all and Whose compassion extends to all of His creatures.

Nevertheless they are mighty as they gaze toward salvation, for they know clearly and believe with the entirety of their pure being that the salvation of Israel, the salvation of Hashem, is the salvation of the entire world and everything in it, from the highest heights to the lowest depths.

And these supernal tzaddikim, these supernal pious people, who are connected to the ropes of lovingkindness and the light of truly supernal love, hold onto their great trait, the trait of a supernal lovingkindness, and they seek constantly the good of every individual and all creation.

And in the midst of that drive, they involve themselves devotedly and with a wondrous soul connection to the needs of Israel, in all generations and in all seasons, in all ways, in all frameworks and in all avenues.

And it is they who tend toward lovingkindness, who love to justify people and have no desire to condemn them, who love justice and hate evil, who cling to the trait of our patriarch Abraham.

And in the midst of a broad love of all creation, a wondrous love of Israel enters their heart. And since it is constricted into a concentrated place, after having been greatly spread out in an immense breadth, it is exceedingly mighty and powerful, and causes great waves to pass through the soul, until it has the power to warm many souls and to place the holy fire of the love of Israel into the depths of their heart and soul, in a great and mighty measure that leads to deed—even without any action on their part.

Their soul streams forth a wondrous love of Israel. And out of the great flame of their spiritual light comes the life power of all the good deeds of the nationalists, those who are truly dedicated to the affairs of the nation. This is because the root of all life and all goodness is to be found in the soul of the supernal tzaddikim, who stand beyond all the trivial matters that regularly fill the heart of most people.

And in the concealed place of their spirit, the seeds of ideals grow. And from their aristocratic spirit these spread in every direction. And each seed takes root in its proper place, where it sprouts. “And the sprout of Hashem will be a thing of pride and beauty for the remainder of His nation.”

Orot Hakodesh III pp. 349-350

The Passover Seder's Fifteen Sections

2008-04-18T07:20:00.001+03:00

By R. Moshe Grunwald (author of Arugat Habosem)

Kadesh. A person who wishes to sanctify (kadesh) himself and return to God should not be frightened by the words of the evil inclination that he cannot repent—rather, he should trust that God will help him purify himself.

Urchatz—as related to the word rachitz, to trust. And “when a person accepts the yoke of Torah, the yoke of the government and the yoke of earning a living are removed from him” (Avot 3:5). That brings us to:

Karpas. The commentators state that this can be read as perekh samech (the hard labor of 600,000). And so:

Karpas yachatz. One should break–yachatz—the yoke of the samech-mem—the evil inclination—by sanctifying oneself and trusting in God, accepting upon oneself the yoke of His rule. Then:

Maggid rachtza. It is not enough to sanctify oneself, but one should accept the obligation to teach others (maggid) the ways of God and to tell them to wash (rachtza) and purify and remove the evil of their deeds. “No sin comes about through a person who improves others” (Avot 5:18). And our sages state as well that the verse, “When Hashem approves of the ways of a person, then even his enemies make peace with him” (Proverbs 16:7), refers to the evil inclination(Bereishit Rabbah 55:1)—a person who teaches the Jewish people to cleanse themselves of their sins will find that in the end even his evil inclination will make peace with him and he will not have to battle against it. And so:

Motzi matzah—he will remove (motzi) any conflict (matzah) he has with it.

One might therefore say, such a person will then be dependent on others, seeing that he does not work to earn a living—and our sages state, “The dove said to the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘I would rather have my livelihood as bitter as an olive ... [than depend on others]’” (Eiruvin 18b). But the Peleh writes on the verse, “They call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20), that such a person makes the bitter sweet and the sweet bitter—such a person turns the whole world around (Panim Yafot, Beshelach, L’maan anasenu). For example, the entire world was sustained because of the sage Chanina. And so:

Maror Korech. That bitterness (maror) will be covered over (karuch). And the reason is that he does not depend on another. To the contrary:

Shulchan orech. Others are fed because of him. And if you say that as a result, his reward in the world-to-come is diminished, we learn:

Tzafun barech. As the Peleh comments, we say in the Grace After Meals, “he has mercy and life and peace and everything good”—yet nevertheless, we continue, “he does not lack the eternal good.” (That which is hidden in the world-to-come will continue to be blessed.)

And just as a person works to increase the praise of God in this world, so will he praise Him in the world to come: Hallel Nirtzah (praise that is accepted).

Kadesh Urchatz Redux

On this night, when it is a mitzvah to tell of the exodus from Egypt and to guide people to serve God, this list indicates how a person who wishes to be a leader should act. First:

Kadesh urchatz. Sanctify and cleanse yourself as in the verse, “Adorn yourself …” Zephaniah 2:1; cf. Bava Metzia 107b). Then:

Karpas yachatz. Break your desires and corporeality. And then:

Maggid—tell others:

Rachtza—wash in the waters of awareness.

But one must guard oneself from three things:

Motzi matzah—not to say things that might arouse conflict. And also:

Maror Korech—and not to explicate things that are bitter but wrap them in words of Torah that are sweeter than honey. And also:

Shulchan orech-as Rashi says in Mishpatim: “Do not say I will teach them two or three times and not bother myself to make them understand the reason for things. The verse states ‘Place before them’—i.e., like a prepared table set for a meal.” And another piece of advice:

Tzafun barech—as Alshich comments on “when you reprove a fool he will hate you, reprove a wise person and he will love you” (Proverbs 9:8): “and when you reprove someone, don’t call him evil—to the contrary, say, ‘Is it possible that someone as wise as you should do such a thing?’” As our sages say, “when a person rebukes someone for his sin, he should bless from the depths of their heart that it is good. As the verse states “Their hearts did not turn back …’ (Psalms 44:19). And then:

Hallel nirtzah. They will praise his deeds and he will be accepted by God.

Wearing the Kittel on Passover

2008-04-18T07:17:00.001+03:00

By R. Moshe Grunwald (author of Arugat Habosem)

For the Pesach seder, it is the custom to wear a kittel, as the Magen Avraham writes (472:5). From his words, it appears that the purpose is that a person’s heart should be humbled. And I have come upon a reason for this, which is related to our sages’ comment on “and they became there a nation”—teaching that the Jews had their own independent character as a nation there. And our sages state that the sages in Bavel had their own character as a people—i.e., that they wore white clothes(Shabbat 145a). As we learn, the rabbis are called ministering angels (Nedarim 20), for they are outstanding, like ministering angels, of whom the verse states ‘wearing white garments’ (Ezekiel 9:11).

To recall that, we too wear the white kittel.

We learn in Divrei Shmuel of R. Shmelke of Nikolsberg that a person should visualize that he is already in the world of truth and he has been shown his sins throughout his entire life, and he himself judged himself.

As we find in Avot (3:1), “Before Whom will you have to give an accounting of yourself?”—in the world-to-come, our commentators say, a person judges his own deeds. And he is given the choice as to whether to return to this world to correct his deeds.

And certainly after such a visualization and realization, a person will take great care and correct that which he did wrong. And thus it is the custom to wear the kittel: as though one was already in the world-to-come, and one returned to this world, sent to correct himself.

And as a result one should be joyful and happy and give thanks for having received such an opportunity, and then one should rise from level to level.

And an allusion to this may be found in our sages’ statement that “the [greens] are brought before him, he dips the chazeret until he comes to the condiments of the bread” (Pesachim 114a). Yet afterwards the mishnah states, “They brought before him matzah and chazeret and charoset.” That being so, the first phrase is unnecessary.

However, the language of the sages contains an important lesson: that before one opens one’s mouth to tell the story of the exodus from Egypt, one must make an accounting of oneself and consider before God all that has occurred to him in his entire life. And thus his heart will be broken and humble—and not only because of unseemly deeds, but also because of his treating meaningful things lightly, even if he engaged in mundane activities with no higher purpose (as we find in Chovot Halevavot [Shaar Avodat Ha’elokim 84).

The word chazeret is related to the word chazor, review and repent. And that is before he is brought matzah and chazeret—i.e., he reviews all he had done “until he comes to the condiments of the bread”—and Tosafot Yom Tov states that the word for condiments is related to “I was at peace and He shattered me” (Job 16:12)—i.e., a person should repent until he breaks his heart and so deeply contemplate such thoughts until even in regard to the bread which he utilizes to sustain himself he humbles and shatters his heart.

And then the opening of his lips will be straight: “and may the expression of my lips be acceptable before the Master of all created beings.”

Another possible reason for the custom is related to the verse, “he removed his garments and put on other garments” (Leviticus 6:4). Our sages state: “a person should not give a cup to his master in the same clothes that he cooked his master’s food” (Shabbat 114a). And this is an allusion to the garments of the soul—the “rabbinical garments”—that the soul wears in the world-to-come (as referred to in the passage we recite before wrapping ourselves in the prayer shawl).

And here too when he comes to pour the cup for his master, he should not do so in filthy garments that he wears the entire year, but he should remove them with thoughts of repentance and garb himself in garments of regret for the past and a confident heart toward the future.

The Difficult Birth

2008-04-18T07:03:00.000+03:00

Before Pesach, when every Jew cleans the house and carries outside all of the furniture, the holy rebbe, R. Meirel, himself would work with great effort until he was sweating.

One time he worked very hard before Pesach to take a large pot [?] (toptshan) through a window, for it wouldn’t fit through the door. But it was also very hard to get it through the window, for it was very big and the window too small, in keeping with the small rooms.

His gabbai asked him, “Dear rebbe, why do you have to work so hard to take it out?” But the holy rebbe did not respond.

They worked at this for a long time until they finally got it through the window.

Suddenly a messenger arrived from a shtetl with a pidyon contribution from a woman who was having a difficult childbirth. The holy tzaddik answered him immediately, “Go home, the child was born healthy at the moment that Meir got the pot through the window.”

And that was what had happened, just as the holy tzaddik had said.

When the messenger left, the holy rebbe said to the gabbai, “Just think what a fool you are. Meir worked with all his strength so that the child should come out of his mother’s womb without any problem and you, fool, wanted to give Meir advice that the child should be born with broken feet!”

See and understand that he did all simple work with deep intention for a great purpose with his holy good traits, and he saw and knew everything with his holy divine inspiration.

May his merit stand by us always in all matters, physical and spiritual.

Shivchei R. Meir

What Makes Matzah Kosher?

2008-04-18T06:59:00.002+03:00

One year before Pesach, Rabbi Israel Salanter as usual took great care to prepare his shmurah matzah, spending a great deal of money to carry out his stringent requirements. He had a man reap some wheat by hand, dry it and thresh it. Rabbi Israel usually put the kernels in a box and then grind the grain in a handmill and oversee the bakers (Or Israel).

But that year, Rabbi Israel realized that he would be unable to be present during the matzah baking. Some of his students noticed Rabbi Israel's distress, and they approached him. “Rabbi, tell us what you are particularly concerned about during the baking of the matzah, and we will make sure that it is done.”

Rabbi Israel answered, “I ask only one thing. In your zeal, don’t rush the woman kneading the dough, because she is a widow, and the Torah tells us, ‘You shall not oppress the widow.’” He added, “The kashrus of the matzos is not made complete when you care for even the most stringent Pesach halachah, but only when you are scrupulous about the halachos of Choshen Mishpat—treating other people in business correctly.”

cf. Tenuat Hamusar

I Am Filled with Love for God

2008-04-16T02:44:00.000+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

I am filled with love for God. I know that what I seek, what I love, is called by no name. How can that which is greater than everything, greater than goodness, greater than quality, greater than being, be called by any name?

And I love, and I say: I love God.

The light of the Infinite One dwells within the expression of the Name, in the expression of the divine, and in all of the names and cognomens that the heart of a man teaches and expresses when his soul is lifted ever upwards.

I cannot satisfy my soul with the love that comes from chains of logic, from the search for the light of God via the world, via an existence that penetrates into the eyes.

In our soul are born divine lights—from the perspective of our spirit, many gods.

There is one true God—and higher than one, in the depth of His truth.

God is revealed, He rules over us, He conquers all of our spirits, the spirit of all existence.

Wherever there is idea, feeling, thought and will, wherever there is noble, spiritual life, the divine light rules, governs, conquers, scintillates, is magnificent, gives forth splendor and beauty, vivifies, elevates—all of it out of a clarity of the light of being. It rules—and it dies.

That rule is limited as long as it comes from the world, from being.

At times the light waxes. One desires a light that is more refined, more inward, more true, which is in its very essence more energetic.

The light overwhelms the vessel, thought overwhelms being. The structure cannot hold, the inner content is not congruent, the vessels shatter, the kings die, the gods die, their soul rises, soars to the heavens. The bodies descend to the world of separation, existence stands bare, isolated, torn away, scattered.

It contains within itself, hidden and concealed, an eternal desire for the supernal light.

The eternal love has placed within the shattered vessels its light, its sparks.

In every movement, in every content of life, in every quality is being. There is a spark, a spark of a spark, faint, exceedingly faint, the inner light, the light of the supernal God, building and setting a foundation, gathering the scattered, rectifying forever, organizing and joining together.

The eternal sovereignty is revealed from the light of the Infinite One that is within the soul. From God to the world a new light is born: the light of the radiance of the glory of the face of God.

Chadarav

A Holy Fire, Burning and Blazing in My Soul

2008-04-15T02:37:00.000+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Is this great distress that I am not permitted to pronounce God’s Name as it is written an empty thing? Is it not a holy fire, burning and blazing in my soul, which indicates the depth of the hidden longings within it for the light of the true God, the God of Israel, Who makes the precious light of the truth of His manifestation shine only with the holy Name as it is written?

All the holy Names are general— they express a concept of divinity that anyone with intelligence in his mind and with feeling in his heart can express and yearn: to desire Him and to be connected to His being.

But “who is like Your nation Israel, a unique nation upon the earth”— connected to the truth of divinity, which is revealed only in a miraculous, wondrous fashion, in a way of total truth coming from the supernal holy spirit of the “clear lens”?

The verse, “This is My name forever,” is actually written, “This is My name: to be concealed.”

It is impossible for us to pronounce it within this darkened world as long as the light of Israel has not manifested itself in its holy location, in the House of its life: in the eternal Temple.

A thirst for truth flares up, and the longing for that essential expression to be impressed into this world is great. “I have been silenced, quiet. I have been silent, lacking good, and my pain is stirred up.”

Chadarav

My Spirit Yearns Passionately

2008-04-14T02:34:00.000+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

My spirit yearns passionately for the supreme light, the infinite light, the light of the God of truth, the God of my life, the living God, the Life-force of all universes.

This passionate yearning consumes my physical and spiritual strength. I have neither the ability nor the proper training to satisfy the totality of this great, passionate yearning.

I am filled with utter self-abnegation before the Monarch of all universes, Who opens His hand and satisfies the desire of every living being.

Satiate my desire. Satiate me in the light of Your manifestation, and fill my thirst for Your light.

“Make Your face shine, and we will be saved.”

Chadarav

Who Can Know Me?

2008-04-13T02:26:00.002+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Who can know me, who knows the fervor of my heart, which burns in truth with the fire of a supernal love of God?

“My spirit expires for You; my heart and my flesh sing to the living God.”

Who can realize that I am unable to take interest in any limited matter because of my great yearning for the eternal delight of the infinite expanses—that I am sick with love?

And not only do others not know me, but I myself do not know myself.

How much must I battle against myself, to keep hold of an inner faith in the greatness of my soul? And that greatness has nothing to do with deeds; it is intrinsically great, because of what it is. It is a supernal freedom, and all teachings and mitzvot only serve to make a measure of its worth clear to it.

Chadarav

The Holy Fire

2008-04-11T01:52:00.001+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

I must recognize the holy fire that blazes in my heart—my yearning that burns ceaselessly within it for the living God—as a great and mighty ability.

I am obligated to honor that holy illumination, which constantly appears to me and at times gains in strength, all in accordance with the amount of deed and learning and in accordance with the amount of the depth of thought, freedom of mind and health of body—and the joy of the heart that is dependent on all of these.

Chadarav

The Crucial Point of the Inner Quest

2008-04-10T08:42:00.000+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Is it possible that I will not find what I seek, at the time that my search wells from the depths of truth?

And what do I seek if not myself, my true essence—not my physical or spiritual garments, all of which are acquisitions, which come and serve the essence? If my essence, my essential being, is beyond me, how will any of these devices help?

That is the crucial point of the inner quest, which requires true might so that a person may be strong as he engages in it.

And that constant endeavor to find my essence is also at the root of finding the existence of the entire Jewish people and of humanity in its broad sense, and of finding all existence in its inner sense and in its breadth.

And that is the gate of Hashem to finding the eternally sought: the God of the universe, the Source of all quests, for Whom every spirit yearns, and without Whom there is nothing to seek.

Behold, that search is the purest and most wholehearted quality. It harasses the spirit and seizes all inner spiritual proclivities, making them unable to find their path as long as the fundamental position of what one is essentially seeking is not based upon the spiritual foundation that incorporates all the movements of life.

To this end comes the entire wealth of Torah learning, all intelligent activity, and all spiritual awakening in its multitudinous movements in life—in a human being and in the world.

“Fortunate are all those who wait for Him.”

Chadarav

The Speech of Creation

2008-04-10T08:32:00.001+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

I have subjugated myself to teachings, to deeds, to relationships, to a variety of different obligations—and as a result, no thought of mine is finished and mature.

Supernal illuminations fall away like blossoms that drop after having appeared, before their time to ripen has arrived, because of a storm wind.

And so the time has come to break the chains that my own hands placed upon all the limbs of my soul, upon all the parts of my spirit. I have no obligation to focus on obstacles outside myself. Salvation is firmly placed within me, within my heart.

The wellspring of tranquility pours forth and flows unceasingly. The kindness of Hashem fills the world.

All that I have to do is to attend to that autonomous awareness, to listen to the secret of the speech of creation in its inner chambers.

I will hear, and my spirit will live.

Chadarav

My Inner Gaze

2008-04-10T08:31:00.001+03:00

I have no need to reject my inner demand to gaze at everything from the essence of my spirit.

At the same time, I am summoned to strengthen myself and broaden my perspectives, expressed in spirit and in deed, in accordance with the understanding that comes from outside myself: from friendship, mingling with others, reading books and other life experiences.

And afterwards, everything returns so as to be mixed into my very spirit, and I return to my inner gaze.

Chadarav

My Spirit Yearns

2008-04-10T08:28:00.000+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

My spirit yearns to burrow into its inner chambers.

I struggle to draw matters forth from the light of the Torah and from the light of the world.

But I find that all the roots of these pure objects that I seek must be found in the depths of my own spirit, whose light is taken from the light of the Torah and from the radiance of the world.

If I return from the midst of Torah and from the midst of the world to my spirit, I increase my life-force when I then re-enter the chambers of the Torah and the chambers of the treasuries of the world.

And so every bright revelation is divided into three: that of the spirit, that of the Torah and that of the world.

“Speak, my tongue, your words, for all of [God’s] commandments are righteousness.”

How Can I Have Anything to Say to Others?

2008-04-06T21:22:00.001+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

How can I have anything to say to others if I say nothing to my own spirit?

How can I express an opinion about the spiritual and physical world without first seeking a key to the treasures gathered within me?

“Gates, swing open,” I shall say to the chambers of my spirit, to my heart and to my “kidneys,” my source of counsel.

Chadarav

I Constantly Seek

2008-04-06T21:18:00.000+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

I constantly seek that which is in the midst of my soul.

Outer servitude distracts my mind from that inner search, bringing me to seek in vain at the far-flung corners of the earth for that which has not been found in the depths of my spirit.

Chadarav

I Must Speak of Myself

2008-04-06T21:16:00.000+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

I must speak of myself a great deal.

Matters of my essential being must become extremely clear to me.

When I understand myself, I will understand everything—the world and life—until my understanding will reach the Source of life.

Chadarav

The Hidden Treasures

2008-04-04T03:35:00.001+03:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

From within myself, from my wellsprings, I must always take the hidden treasures.

I am always connected to a holy suffering that results from my search for supernal perfection.

That search is never fulfilled. Indeed, it has no need to be fulfilled.

This is the nature of such ever-lasting yearning: its foundation is divine thirst. Nothing in the world can slake that thirst except that which it seeks: the on-going revelation and ever-growing experience of the thirst itself.

That itself is transformed into the source of all pleasure, into the platform for all spiritual delights, into the radiance of the Almighty.

Chadarav

Hatred of Evil

2008-03-24T23:32:00.000+02:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

At its inception, a profound and great hatred of evil must involve a hatred of evil people.

Afterwards, it is mitigated by the power of one’s intellect and it is clarified, until it attains a rarefied state of purity: until it becomes solely a hatred of evil.

And as for those people who possess evil—i.e., evil people—one is filled with compassion for them. “May sins be wiped out, not sinners” (Talmud).

But if from its inception this attitude is already in its ideal form, so that it is directed solely into a hatred of abstract evil, it will never truly become a hatred of evil. The lack of hatred for evil people will weaken that hatred against evil. And then the entire treasury of goodness is placed in great danger.

This has been the stumbling block of many great people. They fell because from the very beginning they made use of hatred of evil in its rarefied state. As a result, their lack of hatred for evil people was afterwards transformed into a love for them. And then, as a result of loving evil people, they fell into loving evil itself.

Thus, a person’s initial thought must possess the content of the trait of judgment. Only afterwards may the trait of compassion come and mitigate it by becoming its partner.

Otzrot Harayah, pp. 1240-1241

The Greatest Hasidic Story About Purim Ever Told!

2008-03-20T21:08:00.001+02:00

Come listen to a wonderful story of R. Israel of Rizhin--a 14 minute podcast that you can also download. Listen here.

The Righteous Toil

2008-03-19T16:54:00.001+02:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

The righteous toil with a spiritual toil when their faith in themselves is diminished, and then they believe that they are like the masses of people.

And even if they imagine themselves to be the most refined and learned of them, they will not escape an inner lowliness.

But they must know that the quality of their soul is an entirely different, supernal quality, that yearning for the light of holiness and clinging to the divine is demanded of them at every moment.

And they must constantly influence all souls that draw sustenance from their great and encompassing soul.

Included in the definition of such righteous people are all those whose inner yearning for the secrets of Torah and for the reasoning of holy wisdom in its totality clings to them by their nature.

At times their light is diminished and at times they fall into all sorts of trivial pursuits. But regarding that, the verse states that “the righteous person falls seven times but rises” (Ecclesiastes).

After whatever such a person may go through, he may not remove his faith in the essence of he holiness of his soul, but say with complete conviction, “Know that Hashem has set aside the pious one for Him, Hashem will listen to those who call Him.”

A person who is fit for true fear of heaven, for piety and holiness, must know that it is utterly impossible to be like the average man.

Instead, he must toil to keep hold of his unique character.

Orot Hakodesh III p. 214

Everybody Needs a Friend

2008-03-18T10:02:00.001+02:00

A song.

Grab Whatever Comes to Hand

2008-03-16T08:28:00.001+02:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

A person has to begin with purity of deed, then purify his feelings and personality traits, and then rise from that to purify his mind. In that case, matters proceed in proper order. Fortunate is the person who can attain that.

But sometimes it isn’t possible for a person to bring about these rectifications in the proper order. And in such a case, he is forbidden to consider proceeding in this order.

Rather, he must grab whatever comes to hand. When his spirit is ready for an elevation of awareness, he must rise, purify it and broaden it—“make the Torah great and more mighty.”

Even though he may have many demands on himself [for self-improvement] from matters that have not yet been rectified and clarified in regard to the nature of his feelings and deeds (even if these are of the most serious kind—i.e., matters between man and man), he should not abandon his self-elevation and his activity to attain goodness and rise upward in anything that he can achieve.

And that is the case even if there exists an impediment in any area, whether due to a lack of ability or, even, to a lack of desire—for at times a lack of a desire is itself close to being something that is beyond a person’s ability to change.

It is true that we should never use the heretics’ self-rationalization [minimizing] free will, for that is a degenerate viewpoint. Still and all, at times there are purifications that come from that viewpoint, that bring healing to difficult illnesses of the soul. This is related to the principle expressed in three biblical verses [that imply our helplessness in the presence of the evil inclination and mitigate the sins of the Jews, without which] “the feet of Israel would have tottered” (Berachot 32a).

And so the general principle is that in accordance with a person’s greatness in attainment and in his desire for the increase of good, he must increase and broaden his deeds, and not be upset or frightened by any impediment, whether spiritual or physical.

And when people are strengthened and filled with might, the holy power from above begins to pulse in their soul, which proceeds successfully upon all its path.

Orot Hakodesh III, p. 238

The Spiritual Greatness That A Person Feels

2008-03-11T06:05:00.000+02:00

by Rav Avraham Yitchak Kook

The spiritual greatness that a person feels while he is serving God is arranged in various levels of gradation.

The level that is appropriate for an intermediate service of God is considered to lack exultation when compared to a higher level of serving God.

And contrarily, that greatness that refines the soul and crowns it with glory when it is involved in a supernal worship of God is like foolish pride during a time of a lower service of God. That pride in Hashem, which is unique to those who gaze upon the chariot, which is the true humility, is in the realm of egotism that arouses the pollution of the coarseness of the spirit when it appears in its measure during normal Torah learning.

And so “the heart of the wise person knows a time and a decision,” of how to take hold of the measure of his spirit, in its elevation and descent.

A person who must draw sustenance from the supernal source cannot draw sustenance from a lower source. Simple ethical instruction cannot stand by those who are fit for a supernal outlook. Rather, when they are involved with deep contemplation and a way of life that is appropriate for their measure they must bring their bread specifically from afar, for that from a nearby and small place will not give them spiritual nutrition.

Orot Hakodesh III p. 220

Great Souls Have No Rest

2008-03-08T22:40:00.001+02:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Great souls have no rest from fear and depression until they reach that level for which they are destined from the essence of their nature and the root from which they are hewn: to be absorbed entirely, constantly, into the divine light, with a great radiance of a lucid consciousness and mighty desire of an exceedingly powerful will.

And whatever is lower than that does not satisfy their hunger, and does not calm their spirit.

**

Such great people must leap [over levels,] in order to enter into great thoughts.

A person must recognize his inner ability, and he must know whether he has been created for great things. He should not be taken aback by the sin of pride insofar as he recognizes the level of his consciousness, and the quality of the direction of his desire. To the contrary, a person must be much more careful about an unacceptable modesty, which oppresses the soul and occludes the divine light in the spirit.

When great people rise in their consciousness, the entire world rises with them—in terms of feeling, in terms of the joined nature of all human spirits.

But in the greatest measure of all, the nature of that joined spirit is active within the Jewish people, who from the aspect of the soul possess an absolute unity.
Orot Hakodesh III, p. 216

If You Have An Aptitude for Spirituality

2008-02-28T05:59:00.001+02:00

by Rav Avraham Yitchak Kook

If you have an aptitude for spirituality, for clinging to God, and for elevated, abstract, spiritual wisdoms, you must know: it is for this that you were created. If you slacken in your supernal work, something that only a rare few can do, who will fill that great cavity?

So be happy in your portion and do not look at it in a negative way.

And do not look down on the portion of others, even if they are very far from this, because they certainly have other fields of goodness and usefulness, which are far from you.

Always be wealthy in your mind, with a good eye. Honor others. Love them all. And strive for their good and their elevation.

Even if you have no more than a small inclination for supernal spiritual sights, even if you do not really have intelligence and wisdom, but your imagination is elevated somewhat more than the usual, you are entirely responsibility to act in a supernally holy way.

You must proceed on your own, on your holy path. With good traits and elevated qualities, rise beyond the masses. And make an effort to learn from everyone—in particular from the simple-hearted masses, and from every individual who has any good quality.

If you will attempt to go on the usual path of the masses with their usual leaders, you will by no means be able to do so. Instead, make an effort to acquire excellent traits and a clear reckoning of the world.

And do not set aside the constant yearning to be close to God, which is deep in your soul, for any obstacle in the world.

Do not chase after honor—nor should you be confused when you find people heaping honors on you. And of course, do not be upset if people insult you or are disrespectful to you.

Orot Hakodesh III, p. 207

The Vision of the Man in the Circle

2008-02-20T05:14:00.000+02:00

by R. Nachman of Breslov

I will tell you what I saw. And you tell your children.

Someone was lying on the ground, and people were sitting around him in a circle. There was a second circle around the first, a third circle, and so on.

Around these circles sat some other people in no particular order.

The man who was sitting in the middle on his side was moving his lips, and everyone around him moved his lips like him.

Then I saw that the man in the middle was no longer there, and all the people sitting around him stopped moving their lips.

“What is going on?” I asked.

I was told that the man had grown cold and died. Since he had ceased to speak, the others had ceased to speak as well.

Afterwards, everyone began running.

I ran after them. I saw two beautiful palaces.

Two ministers sat there.

The people ran to the ministers and began to complain to them, “Why did you fool us?” They wanted to kill these ministers. Finally, the ministers ran out.

When I saw the ministers, I liked them very much. I ran after them.

From afar, I saw a beautiful tent.

People shouted from the tent to the ministers, “Go back! Find all your merits. Take them in your hand and go to the candle hanging there. There you will be able to accomplish everything that you want.”

The ministers went back and took their merits. There were bundles of merits. They ran to the candle, and I ran after them.

A lit candle was hanging in the air. The ministers came and threw the merits at the candle, and sparks fell from the candle into their mouths.

The candle [HaNeiR] turned into a river [NaHaR], and they all drank from it.

Creatures were formed within them. When they opened their mouths to speak, the creatures emerged.

I saw them running back and forth. They were neither human nor animal--just creatures.
Afterwards, the ministers decided to return to their place. They said, “How can we get back to our place?”

One of them said, “Let us send a message to the person standing there who is holding a sword from the heavens to the earth.”

They said, “Whom shall we send?”

They decided to send the creatures. The creatures went there, and I ran after them.

I saw a frightening being standing from heaven to earth with a sword in his hand that reached from heaven to earth, which had many blades.

One blade was sharp for killing; another blade was for poverty; another blade was for weakness. And there were other blades for other punishments.

They began, “It is a long time that we have been suffering because of you. Now help us and bring us to our place.”

He said, “I cannot help you.”

They asked, “Give us the blade of death and we will kill the people.”

But he did not agree.

They asked for another blade, but he did not want to give them any blade. So they left.

Meanwhile, an order was given to kill the ministers, and their heads were cut off.

Then things went back to what they had been before.

A person lay on the ground and there were circles of people about him, and they ran to the ministers, and so forth, all over again.

But this time, I saw that the ministers did not throw their merits at the candle. Instead, they took the merits, went to the candle and broke their hearts and began to beg before the candle. Sparks fell from the candle into their mouths.

They pleaded more and the candle turned into a river, and so on, and the creatures were formed. And I was told, “These will live. The first ones were guilty of death because they threw the merits at the candle and did not plead, as these had.”

I didn’t understand this.

I was told, “Go to such-and-such a room and you will be told what it all means.”

I went there, and an old man was sitting there. I asked him about this.

He grasped his beard and told me, “This beard is the explanation of the story.”

I answered him, “I still don't understand.”

He told me, “Go to such-and-such a room, and there you will find the explanation.”

I went there, and I saw a long, broad, endless room, full of writings. And wherever I opened up [a book], I saw an explanation of the story.

Chayei Moharan p. 36, #2

Joyfully

2008-02-20T04:56:00.000+02:00

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

We must perform all of the commandments joyfully, because they develop our feeling of pleasure and of divine love, which is hidden in the very nature of our soul.

And separating ourselves from all sin is also good for helping us connect with this holy goal. Sin dims the illumination of the soul because of the turbidity of the sinful deed, which mixes into our spiritual lucidity, which blocks expansion of the light of the divine pleasantness.

And our consciousness has to expand—in its connections to deed and in its spiritual connections—until the power of our soul will expands so greatly that it will find the strength to organize all of life, in general and in detail, into a fitting form, so that the supernal blossom of life, which is the universal delight (which contains all ever-lasting delights and from which all time-bound delights flow), which is the delight of the pleasure of Hashem, will constantly blossom with success and greatness.

Orot Hakodesh III, p. 186

A Movement

2008-02-17T05:34:00.001+02:00

by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov

Sometimes an ordinary Jew just makes a movement with his sidelock, and God takes great pride even in that.
Likutei Moharan 17:1