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Mashiach’s Weapon of War

How does Mashiach fight his wars? And by extension, how should we fight our battles?

It is taught (Likutei Moharan 2:1): אִיתָא בְּסִפְרָא דִּצְנִיעוּתָא מִנּוּקְבָא דְּפַרְדַּשְׂקָא מָשַׁךְ רוּחָא דְּחַיֵּי לִמְשִׁיחָא כִּי עִקַּר כְּלֵי זֵינוֹ שֶׁל מָשִׁיחַ הוּא הַתְּפִלָּה שֶׁהוּא בְּחִינַת חֹטֶם כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב וּתְהִלָּתִי אֶחֱטָם לָךְ וּמִשָּׁם עִקַּר חִיּוּתוֹ וְכָל מִלְחַמְתּוֹ שֶׁיַּעֲשֶׂה וְכָל הַכְּבִישׁוֹת שֶׁיִּכְבֹּשׁ הַכֹּל מִשָּׁם כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב וַהֲרִיחוֹ בְּיִרְאַת ה' וְכוּ' זֶה בְּחִינַת חֹטֶם (It is brought down in Sifra di’Tzniuta: from the nostril of the nose, the spirit of life is drawn down to Mashiach. For the fundamental weapon [of war] of Mashiach is prayer [tefillah], which is an aspect of ‘nose’ [chotem], like it is written [Yeshayah 48:9], ‘And My praise is that I will restrain My anger for you’, and from there is the essence of his vitality, and all of his wars that he will make for all of his conquests that he will conquer, all of it is from there, like it is written [Yeshayah 11:3], ‘And he shall smell [the truth of a matter] due to his fear of Hashem, etc.’, and this is an aspect of ‘nose’).

There is a great deal of information in this short paragraph, so let’s unpack it a little.

To begin his teaching, R' Nachman shares a secret from the Hidden Torah, included in a book of the Zohar ha-Kadosh known as the Sifra di’Tzniuta, that Mashiach receives his life-force, his vitality, from the ‘nostril of the nose.’ Although it is beyond the scope of this short article to explain this secret fully, suffice it to say that there is in the upper worlds a ‘spiritual building’ or partzuf that is called Arich Anpin [Long Face]. This is a part of the sefirah of keter [crown], which is the highest sefirah and the most difficult for us to grasp. In simple terms, we are speaking about the ‘Will’ of Hashem. In that partzuf (as is the case for all partzufim), there are 248 spiritual ‘limbs’ and 365 spiritual ‘connections’, and one of those ‘limbs’ is the ‘nose’. It is from one of the ‘nostrils’ of that ‘nose’ that the spirit of life descends down to Mashiach to give him life and to keep him alive (for his life is not a simple matter). When Mashiach comes to redeem his people, he receives his power, his vitality—his very life—from that ‘nose’ and it is through that life that he is able to redeem Yisrael.

At this point, we will cease putting quotation marks around all of these spiritual terms. Just keep in mind that we are not speaking about a physical nose. All we need to know at this point is that Mashiach draws down his power and strength from the nostril of this nose.

Next, R' Nachman states that this nose has to do with how Mashiach fights his wars, specifically through tefillah. In other words, Mashiach will defeat all forces of evil, nullifying and subjugating them, through tefillah. That is the weapon—not guns, bullets, protests, demonstrations, revolutions, etc. Similarly, this is the same for the rest of us (Likutei Eitzot, Tefillah 2): עִקַּר הַכְּלֵי זַיִן שֶׁל אִישׁ הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִי הוּא הַתְּפִלָּה וְכָל הַמִּלְחָמוֹת שֶׁצָּרִיךְ הָאָדָם לִכְבֹּשׁ הֵן מִלְחֶמֶת הַיֵּצֶר הָרָע הֵן שְׁאָרֵי מִלְחָמוֹת עִם הַמּוֹנְעִים וְהַחוֹלְקִים הַכֹּל עַל־יְדֵי תְּפִלָּה וּמִשָּׁם כָּל חִיּוּתוֹ (The fundamental weapon for a Jew is tefillah, and all wars that a man needs to fight, whether a war against the Yetzer ha-Ra [Evil Inclination] or whether other wars with those who put obstacles in his path or oppose him, all of it is through tefillah, and from there is his life force or vitality). How does R' Nachman derive this fact? He quotes a part of the verse from Yeshayah 48:9. Here is the entire verse: לְמַעַן שְׁמִי אַאֲרִיךְ אַפִּי וּתְהִלָּתִי אֶחֱטׇם־לָךְ לְבִלְתִּי הַכְרִיתֶךָ (For My name’s sake, I am slow to anger [a’arich api] and My praise is that I will restrain My anger for you, so that I will not cause you to be cut off [from the upper worlds]).

Notice two main points. First, Hashem says to Am Yisrael that He is patient and takes a long time before getting angry [a’arich api]. Although the words are written in the future tense, Rashi says that it is an expression of the present tense. But what is more interesting is that these words could be translated literally as ‘I am long to get angry’ or ‘I am long of nose’ since אף [af] can mean ‘nose’ as well as ‘anger’. Second, the expression ‘I will restrain My anger’ is e’chetom, which Rashi says is also an expression of nose [chotem]. In other words, ‘I will close My nose so as not to allow the smoke of My nostrils to exit against you in anger.’ But how does R' Nachman know that this has to do with tefillah? Hashem states that His patience is an aspect of “My praise” [tehillati], and as we read in Tehillim 145:1, tehillah is a type of tefillah: תְּהִלָּה לְדָוִד אֲרוֹמִמְךָ אֱלוֹקַי הַמֶּלֶךְ וַאֲבָרְכָה שִׁמְךָ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד (A tehillah of David, I will exalt You, my G‑d the King, and I will bless Your name forever).

R' Nachman also teaches that we can learn this same truth, i.e. that Mashiach draws his power from the nose, from the verse in Yeshayah 11:3. Here is the verse in its entirety: וַהֲרִיחוֹ בְּיִרְאַת יְָי וְלֹא־לְמַרְאֵה עֵינָיו יִשְׁפּוֹט וְלֹא־לְמִשְׁמַע אׇזְנָיו יוֹכִיחַ (And he shall smell [the truth of a matter] due to his fear of Hashem, and not judge through the seeing of his eyes, and not rebuke according to the hearing of his ears). What is the meaning of the word va’haricho translated here as ‘and he shall smell’? As taught in the Gemara, (Sanhedrin 93b): רבא אמר דמורח ודאין (Rava said [it means] that he will smell [a person] and judge [and he will know who is guilty and who is innocent in a case brought by litigants]).

Admittedly, these teachings are somewhat hidden and, perhaps, even obscure. Is there a more obvious source from the Torah that tefillah is the fundamental weapon of the righteous? Yes. Let’s read what R' Nachman states next (L.M. 2:1): וְזֶה עִקַּר כְּלֵי־זֵינוֹ כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב בְּחַרְבִּי וּבְקַשְׁתִּי וּפֵרֵשׁ רַשִׁ"י תְּפִלָּה וּבַקָּשָׁה וּכְמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב כִּי לֹא בְקַשְׁתִּי אֶבְטָח וְכוּ' בֵּאלֹקִים הִלַּלְנוּ בְּחִינַת וּתְּהִלָּתִי אֶחֱטָם לָךְ (And this is the essence of his weapons, like it is written [Bereshit 48:22], ‘with my sword and with my bow’; and Rashi’s explanation is that it means tefillah and entreaty, like it is written [Tehillim 44:7,9], ‘Not with my bow I trust…in G‑d we will praise [hillalnu], this corresponds to ‘and My praise [tehillati] is that I will refrain My anger [e’chetom] for you).

This verse in Bereshit 48:22 is part of the explanation of Yaakov to his son, Yosef, why he was giving him the city of Shechem as an inheritance. He said: אֲשֶׁר לָקַחְתִּי מִיַּד הָאֱמֹרִי בְּחַרְבִּי וּבְקַשְׁתִּי, i.e. that he took it from the Emori with his sword and with his bow. Although the essence of the meaning of ‘sword’ and ‘bow’ is tefillah and petition, Rashi, in his commentary on the Torah, actually states חָכְמָתוֹ וּתְפִלָּתוֹ (his wisdom/cleverness and his tefillah). The actual words ‘tefillah and entreaty’ quoted by R' Nachman come from the Gemara in a discussion on this verse (Bava Batra 123a): וַהֲלֹא כְּבָר נֶאֱמַר כִּי לֹא בְקַשְׁתִּי אֶבְטָח וְחַרְבִּי לֹא תוֹשִׁיעֵנִי אֶלָּא חַרְבִּי זוֹ תְּפִלָּה קַשְׁתִּי זוֹ בַּקָּשָׁה (But isn’t it already said [Tehillim 44:7], ‘For I do not trust in my bow; my sword cannot save me’? Rather, ‘my sword’ is tefillah and ‘my bow’ is petition). So we see that there were two aspects to Yaakov’s weapons of war against the Emori. The first is the sword, i.e. tefillah which corresponds to tehillah, which is praise to Hashem. The second is the bow, i.e. a petition or request for one’s needs. This is stated explicitly in L.M. 2:2: כִּי הַתְּפִלָּה הוּא פִּי שְׁנַיִם שְׁנַיִם שֶׁיֵּשׁ בָּהֶם שִׁבְחוֹ שֶׁל מָקוֹם וּשְׁאֵלַת צְרָכָיו (For tefillah [in a general sense, not in the specific sense used above, i.e. as only tehillah] is itself double, two, there is praise [shevach, which corresponds to the specific tehillah explained above] of the Omnipresent and asking for one’s needs).

And this double aspect of tefillah is likened to a double-edged sword in Tehillim 149:6-7: רוֹמְמוֹת קֵל בִּגְרוֹנָם וְחֶרֶב פִּיפִיּוֹת בְּיָדָם׃ לַעֲשׂוֹת נְקָמָה בַּגּוֹיִם תּוֹכֵחוֹת בַּלְאֻמִּים (The elevated praises of G‑d is in their throats and a double-edged sword is in their hand, to execute vengeance upon the goyim, rebukes among the nations). And where is this battle taking place? The previous verse tells us (149:5): יַעְלְזוּ חֲסִידִים בְּכָבוֹד יְרַנְּנוּ עַל־מִשְׁכְּבוֹתָם (The pious ones [chasidim] will exalt in honor, they will joyfully sing/shout upon their beds). And how do we know that Mashiach is the leader of these chasidim who engage in awesome tefillah upon their beds? It is written (149:2): יִשְׂמַח יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּעֹשָׂיו בְּנֵי־צִיּוֹן יָגִילוּ בְמַלְכָּם (Yisrael will be happy in their Maker, the sons of Tzion will rejoice in their king). And who is that king who leads the battle, upon whom all eyes of the righteous look for guidance and leadership? On the one hand, it refers to Hashem. But on the other hand, it refers to Mashiach himself. Therefore, we see that the execution of the final war against the kings and nobles (see 149:8) who fight against Hashem is accomplished by a group of highly devoted chasidim, b’nei Tzion, through this double-edged sword. So if you want to be part of Mashiach’s army to fight his war, now you know, at least, where it’s being conducted. It is the same place where David ha-Melech fought his wars (Tehillim 63:7): אִם־זְכַרְתִּיךָ עַל־יְצוּעָי בְּאַשְׁמֻרוֹת אֶהְגֶּה־בָּךְ (When I remember You upon my bed, during the night watches I mediate about You).

Further support for these conclusions come from a mizmor that we recite on the days when Tachanun is included in Minchah. It explains how the Jewish People will come to know and understand that the one who claims to be Mashiach is actually Mashiach, as it is written (Tehillim 20:7-8): עַתָּה יָדַעְתִּי כִּי הוֹשִׁיעַ  יְָי מְשִׁיחוֹ יַעֲנֵהוּ מִשְּׁמֵי קׇדְשׁוֹ בִּגְבֻרוֹת יֵשַׁע יְמִינוֹ׃ אֵלֶּה בָרֶכֶב וְאֵלֶּה בַסּוּסִים וַאֲנַחְנוּ  בְּשֵׁם־יְָי אֱלֹקֵינוּ נַזְכִּיר׃ הֵמָּה כָּרְעוּ וְנָפָלוּ וַאֲנַחְנוּ קַּמְנוּ וַנִּתְעוֹדָד׃ יְָי הוֹשִׁיעָה הַמֶּלֶךְ יַעֲנֵנוּ בְיוֹם־קׇרְאֵנוּ (Now I now that Hashem saves His Mashiach; He will answer him from His heavenly place of holiness, with the mighty power of salvation in His right arm; These [trust] in chariot and these [others] in horses, but we make mention of Hashem our G‑d [through tefillah]; These bent over and fell, but we arose and were encouraged; Hashem save! The King will answer us in the time that we call out).

In summary, Mashiach receives his strength, power and vitality from the aspect of the nose of Arich Anpin. Since the nose is an aspect of tefillah, the entirety of Mashiach’s power to wage war, defeat the enemies of Hashem, nullify all evil in the world, and bring the whole world to the side of good and kedushah is only through tefillah, not through fighting a physical war. This is also how we as Jews must fight our wars, our own personal battles against the Yetzer ha-Ra within us and within others who may oppose our walk in the ways of Hashem. There is no other way. These tefillot include Shemoneh Esreh and other tefillot that we pray during the day and during the night, such as during hitbodedut.

Sometimes we find ourselves wondering: “The world is so messed up and getting worse by the day! We need to do something, but what? Since this is the World of Asiyah, the World of Action, we need to do something, right?” The answer is that if we have emunah and believe in the miracle-working power of tefillah, then tefillah is our main action required in this world. No opposing force can stand in its way when it is wielded properly.

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The Great Reset vs. the Great Awakening

A couple of weeks ago, we were having a conversation at the Shabbat table that centered on the question, If you had the opportunity to go back in time to when you were 18 years old and live your life over again, but with the advantage that you would be able to retain all of the knowledge and wisdom that you had gained throughout your current life, would you go back? Further, if you had the opportunity to repeat this procedure, would you repeat it? And if so, would there be a limit to the number of times you would be willing to return to age 18 and live those years over and over again, trying to perfect them more and more each time you re-lived them?

Similarly, Elon Musk revealed an interesting fact in a recent interview with Bill Maher. He said the following about the motivation driving the development of artificial intelligence (AI): “Some people want to live forever or for a much longer period of time, and they see digital super-intelligence as the only thing that can figure out how to get them to live forever…to figure out longevity.” The word ‘longevity’ is rather flexible and can include biological or sentient longevity (some form of uploading of human consciousness and merging it with advanced hardware and software).

Either way we look at it, the question becomes (and perhaps always was), If it were possible, would we want to live forever in this world, either biologically or digitally?

Let’s frame the question with a little perspective. What is the purpose of this world, known as Asiyah, the World of Action? Was it created to be mankind’s abode or inheritance forever? As is known, Adam ha-Rishon was not even created in this world. Rather, Adam (male and female) was created in a higher world known as Yetzirah, the World of Formation, currently the main abode of malachim [מלאכים, angels]. Adam and Chavah only began to inhabit this fallen world as a result of the sin committed in Gan Eden. Therefore, le’chatchilah [לכתחילה, from the outset] this world was not supposed to have been our world. It only became that way bedi’eved [בדיעבד, after the fact]. Therefore, from the Torah’s point of view, the purpose of this world is clear: to give us the opportunity to rectify our original sin, to repair the damage done by that sin, and to be worthy of ascending to the state wherein we were originally created—essentially getting back to the beginning. Once we accomplish that goal, then, and only then, can we continue on with the ascent to even higher worlds and states of consciousness that Hashem desired of His most prized creation from the very beginning.

Therefore, the goal of our existence certainly doesn’t seem to be perpetual life, in whatever form, in this lower world. By design, it exists only to satisfy a temporary need. That being the case, why would anyone set as a goal eternal life in this lower world? To answer that, we need to consider the beginnings of human civilization.

Shortly after the flood, mankind came together on a project so monumental in scope that if they had have been successful, nothing would have been outside of their reach. What were those in charge actually trying to accomplish? Let’s read the account together.

It begins (Bereshit 11:1): וַיְהִי כׇל־הָאָרֶץ שָׂפָה אֶחָת וּדְבָרִים אֲחָדִים (And it came to pass that everyone had one language and unified words). Why mention both language and words? Aren’t they the same thing? Although different explanations have been given, Rashi’s first explanation is that ‘language’ refers to Hebrew and the ‘unified words’ refers to a common plan. He says that the essence of their plan was: לֹא כָּל הֵימֶנּוּ שֶׁיָּבֹר לוֹ אֶת הָעֶלְיוֹנִים נַעֲלֶה לָרָקִיעַ וְנַעֲשֶׂה עִמּוֹ מִלְחָמָה (He has no right to select for Himself the upper realms; we will ascend to the firmament and make war with Him). Don’t misunderstand. They weren’t so naïve to think that they could reach Heaven literally and fight a war against G‑d literally. They were sophisticated people, much like many of the global movers and shakers today; they speak and act through symbols. As an example, why do you think that the European Parliament building in Brussels was designed and built to look like the Tower of Babel as depicted in the famous painting by the Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder?  

They found a valley in the Land of Shinar which they felt was suitable and began their project (11:3): וַיֹּאמְרוּ אִישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵהוּ הָבָה נִלְבְּנָה לְבֵנִים וְנִשְׂרְפָה לִשְׂרֵפָה וַתְּהִי לָהֶם הַלְּבֵנָה לְאָבֶן וְהַחֵמָר הָיָה לָהֶם לַחֹמֶר (And they said to each other, ‘Come, let us make bricks and burn them in fire’—and the bricks were for them stone, and the bitumen was for them plaster). If would have been better had they been able to use stones, but they didn’t have any in the valley; therefore, they created simulated stone out of brick. Rashi says that the purpose of the plaster was to plaster the walls. It wasn’t mortar to cement the bricks together (perhaps they fitted the bricks together so tightly that they didn’t need mortar); rather, it was used to make everything look good. Perhaps they wanted to hide the fact that the structures weren’t actually made of stones. Keeping up appearances is important, right?

Supportive of what Rashi said was the essence of their plan, it is stated in the next verse (11:4): וַיֹּאמְרוּ הָבָה נִבְנֶה־לָּנוּ עִיר וּמִגְדָּל וְרֹאשׁוֹ בַשָּׁמַיִם וְנַעֲשֶׂה־לָּנוּ שֵׁם פֶּן־נָפוּץ עַל־פְּנֵי כׇל־הָאָרֶץ (And they said, ‘Come, let us build for us a city, and a tower with its top in Heaven, and let’s make a name for ourselves lest we be scattered throughout the world). If they just wanted to live together in peace and harmony, why build the tower? All they really needed from a practical point of view was the city itself. So what was the point of the tower? The tower was to be the tangible expression of the project, the symbol of their global strategy for centralized power and control. Their desire to reach Heaven meant that they wanted to be in place of the Holy One, blessed be He.

Continuing on in the account (11:5): וַיֵּרֶד יְיָ לִרְאֹת אֶת־הָעִיר וְאֶת־הַמִּגְדָּל (Hashem came down to see the city and the tower). Hashem coming down ‘to see’ speaks of hashgachah [השגחה, surveillance, supervision, monitoring, inspection], as it says elsewhere (Tehillim 33:13): מִשָּׁמַיִם הִבִּיט יְיָ רָאָה אֶת־כׇּל־בְּנֵי הָאָדָם (From heaven Hashem looks down; He sees all the sons of man). And this tells us a lot about what the city and its tower were really all about. Those in charge wanted to keep everyone in one population center for purposes of control and surveillance (much like a gigantic prison or ‘15-minute city’), even as they themselves said: פֶּן־נָפוּץ עַל־פְּנֵי כׇל־הָאָרֶץ (lest we be scattered throughout the world). But what’s so awful about being scattered throughout the world? After all, the world was created to be inhabited (Yeshayah 45:18): יֹצֵר הָאָרֶץ וְעֹשָׂהּ הוּא כוֹנְנָהּ לֹא־תֹהוּ בְרָאָהּ לָשֶׁבֶת יְצָרָהּ (He formed the earth and made it, He established it, He didn’t create it to be desolate, He formed it for habitation). The problem from their point of view was that a dispersed population would have been too difficult, if not impossible, to surveil and control. Unlike today, they didn’t have the technology to implement a plan which they felt would work if the world’s population was scattered all over the place.

What was Hashem’s response to this attack against His kingship? It is written (11:7): הָבָה נֵרְדָה וְנָבְלָה שָׁם שְׂפָתָם אֲשֶׁר לֹא יִשְׁמְעוּ אִישׁ שְׂפַת רֵעֵהוּ (Come, let us go down and confound there their language so that they won’t understand the language of the other). What exactly does confounding their language mean? It doesn’t say that Hashem created a bunch of different languages, and that’s why they couldn’t understand each other. No, it says that Hashem confounded their language. Rashi informs us: זֶה שׁוֹאֵל לְבֵנָה וְזֶה מֵבִיא טִיט וְזֶה עוֹמֵד עָלָיו וּפוֹצֵעַ אֶת מֹחוֹ (This one would ask for a brick and the other would bring him plaster: and this one would rise against him and split open his brain). That sounds extreme. It could be that they continued to speak the same language but for some reason, their ability to understand each other was impaired.

Finally, we read the outcome of Hashem’s disruption (11:8): וַיָּפֶץ יְיָ אֹתָם מִשָּׁם עַל־פְּנֵי כׇל־הָאָרֶץ וַיַּחְדְּלוּ לִבְנֹת הָעִיר (And Hashem scattered them from there over the whole world, and they ceased building the city). That which they feared, in spite of their best efforts, befell them after all. But notice, the verse doesn’t say that they ceased building the tower! They might have been dispersed, but they didn’t cease building the tower. What’s the meaning of this? They’ve been working on building that tower ever since.

Let’s go back and summarize the story, seeing its essence being played out in our world today. In so doing, we will answer our question why some of the global elites advancing AI today want to live forever.

Now, the ‘one language’ is not Hebrew but rather computer language, bits and bytes, 0s and 1s. This is the common language of mankind today. However, the ‘unified words’ can have the same meaning as Rashi explained, i.e. a common plan to enslave the world population and rule over everyone with their own rules instead of G‑d’s laws. Just as the leaders in Nimrod’s day resented G‑d’s rulership and sovereignty, the same is true of many of the globalist leaders in our world today. They wish to build their own tower to Heaven because they resent the fact that ‘Heaven’, i.e. true eternal life, is the exclusive domain of G‑d. They want to live forever, but they can’t because true eternal life is only outside of this spacetime. So they began to build a substitute for it, but even so they don’t have the right ingredients. This is the classic irony of man’s best efforts, always having to find substitutes and cut corners and then cover up the truth of the matter. They build their hardware and software systems, but they are far from ideal, and they know it. Their systems don’t work right; they consistently crash and produce outputs that are wrong. (If you don’t think so, just try ChatGPT as an example and you’ll see for yourself.) After all, they are programmed by people, who themselves are error-prone and biased. Why would anyone expect that their outputs would be flawless? Instead of considering their ways, they seek to hide the problems and hope that the masses, whom they are desperately trying to enslave, won’t notice. In the end, Hashem will come down and let them know what He thinks. And what is the result of this coming down to see? It is the confounding of the language. This is like a computer virus that Hashem injects into their system so, even though they are still using the same language, the whole system begins to malfunction even worse than before. And this causes them to turn upon each other, figuratively referred to as splitting each other’s brains open, essentially deflecting blame wherever they can.

Shlomo ha-Melech in his wisdom said (Kohelet 1:9): וְאֵין כׇּל־חָדָשׁ תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ (There is nothing new under the sun). The globalist master plan, known as the Great Reset, is the same as it has always been. The good news is that G‑d will intervene and the criminal masterminds will destroy each other. In fact, we are already beginning to see effects of G‑d’s computer virus. So don’t get discouraged, the Great Awakening is taking place, and mankind will be freed from the prison planet being constructed by its overlords. Worldwide peace, prosperity and happiness are just around the corner.

[the-shoemaker-report]

The Merit of the Wicked

R' Abahu said (Berachot 34b): מָקוֹם שֶׁבַּעֲלֵי תְשׁוּבָה עוֹמְדִין צַדִּיקִים גְּמוּרִים אֵינָם עוֹמְדִין שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר שָׁלוֹם שָׁלוֹם לָרָחוֹק וְלַקָּרוֹב לָרָחוֹק בְּרֵישָׁא וַהֲדַר לַקָּרוֹב (In the place ba’alei teshuvah stand, complete tzaddikim cannot stand, as it says [Yeshayah 57:19], ‘Shalom, shalom to him who is far away and to him who is near’, ‘to him who is far away’ is mentioned first, ‘to him who is near’ is mentioned afterward).

This statement seems very counterintuitive if not completely bewildering. How can the level of a ba’al teshuvah exceed the level of a complete tzaddik? What is this ‘place’ upon which the ba’al teshuvah stands that the complete tzaddik can’t stand? The typical answer is that since a complete tzaddik never had a taste for sin and his attraction to it is essentially non-existent, it is no great achievement for him to continue living righteously and to refrain from sinning. However, this is not the case for a ba’al teshuvah, who may have spent the vast majority of his life deeply entrenched in sin, G‑d forbid. He may have fallen to unspeakable levels of impurity [טוּמאָה, tumah]; therefore, when he decides to turn his life around, he has an enormous battle on his hands because the forces of tumah that have held sway over him for so long don’t easily give up their hold. For such an individual to escape their influence and free himself in order to live according to the ways of Hashem is an astonishing and commendable achievement. In this sense, he is greater than the complete tzaddik who never had such temptations in the first place nor sank to such depths.

But there is more to it than that, so let’s explore the issue a little deeper.

R' Nachman teaches (Likutei Moharan 14:5): שֶׁיְּשַׁבֵּר גַּאֲוָתוֹ מֵאַרְבַּע בְּחִינוֹת שִׁפְלוּת כִּי צָרִיךְ הָאָדָם לְהַקְטִין אֶת עַצְמוֹ לִפְנֵי גְּדוֹלִים מִמֶּנּוּ וְלִפְנֵי בְּנֵי־אָדָם כְּעֶרְכּוֹ וְלִפְנֵי קְטַנִּים מִמֶּנּוּ וְלִפְעָמִים שֶׁהוּא בְּעַצְמוֹ קָטָן שֶׁבִּקְּטַנִּים וְצָרִיךְ לְהַקְטִין אֶת עַצְמוֹ כְּנֶגֶד מַדְרֵגַת עַצְמוֹ וִידַמֶּה בְּעֵינָיו שֶׁהוּא לְמַטָּה מִמַּדְרֵגָתוֹ (A person must break his arrogance based on the four levels of lowliness [shiflut], for a person needs to diminish himself before those greater than he, and before his peers, and before those less than he, and sometimes he himself is less than even the ones less than he and then he needs to diminish himself relative to his own level and view himself as if he is on a level lower than his actual level). It is not enough to know this teaching. It must be internalized to the point where we not only know it, but actually feel it, i.e. to really feel in our hearts that others are actually greater than we are.

To make matters even more difficult, included in the category of people who are ‘less than he’ is, of course, the רשע [rasha, wicked person]. So, how is it even possible to feel in your heart that you are less than a rasha?

Ideally, we have to search. R' Nachman teaches (L.M. 282): דַּע כִּי צָרִיךְ לָדוּן אֶת כָּל אָדָם לְכַף זְכוּת וַאֲפִלּוּ מִי שֶׁהוּא רָשָׁע גָּמוּר צָרִיךְ לְחַפֵּשׂ וְלִמְצֹא בּוֹ אֵיזֶה מְעַט טוֹב שֶׁבְּאוֹתוֹ הַמְּעַט אֵינוֹ רָשָׁע (Know that it is necessary to judge the whole person for merit, and even with someone who is a complete rasha it is necessary to search and to find in him some good point, that in that little point he is not a rasha). It goes without saying for most of us that when we encounter a rasha, we don’t automatically see his good points. Searching takes effort. It doesn’t happen on its own. If we’re not looking we won’t find it. So, how can we find at least one of his good points?

We could start by working at purifying ourselves. As the Baal Shem Tov taught (Bereshit 127): כי האיש אשר הוא נקי לגמרי ולא פגם כלל מעולם אפילו כל שהוא אי אפשר לו לראות רע בשום אדם או שישמע מרע שיעשה שום אדם כי לא יזמין לו השם יתברך לראות רע או לשמוע שום רע ולכן כשרואה האדם איזה איש שעושה רע או שמספרים לפניו מאיזה איש שעשה רע ידע בבירור שיש בו שמץ מנהו מאותו הדבר עצמו ואף אם הוא צדיק מכל מקום יש בו קצת דקצת מאותו ענין והזמין לו השם יתברך ראייה זהו או שמיעה זו כדי שישים אל לבו לשוב ולתקן הפגם ההוא (It is impossible for a person who is completely clean and without any flaw whatsoever to see or hear about evil in anyone, because Hashem will not invite him to see or hear any evil; therefore, when a person sees someone doing an evil thing or if he is told about it, he should know beyond any doubt that there is in himself a stain of that very same evil, and even if he is a tzaddik there must be a minute trace of that sin, and Hashem invited him through this seeing or hearing to deeply consider it in order for him to repent of it and fix the flaw). That turns the table just a little bit, doesn’t it? Seeing a flaw in someone else is supposed to remind us that we possess the exact same flaw, but it’s not easy to keep this in mind all the time. For that, we need da’at, the presence of mind in the moment to understand exactly what is happening, why it is happening, and what our course of action must be.

And a key to having that kind of da’at is to internalize a well known truth (L.M. 49:4): כִּי כָּל אֶחָד מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל הוּא חֵלֶק אֱלוֹקַּ מִמַּעַל וְעִקַּר הָאֱלֹקוּת בַּלֵּב וְהָאֱלֹקוּת שֶׁבְּלֵב אִישׁ הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִי הוּא בְּחִינַת אֵין סוֹף (For every Jew is a part of G-d above [chelek Eloka mima’al], and the essence of godliness is in the heart, and godliness that is in the heart of a Jew is an aspect of the Ein Sof). Even a rasha, if he is a Jew, is holy. He is a chelek of Eloka mima’al—literally. And that part is the spark of kedushah that is supremely and infinitely good. It may be covered with layer upon layer of mud and filth, much like a diamond that fell into a cesspool, but all that needs to happen is for the mud and filth to be washed away with clean water. The holy spark itself is untainted, as we say during Shacharit: אֱלֹקַי נְשָׁמָה שֶׁנָּתַתָּ בִּי טְהוֹרָה הִיא (G‑d, the soul that you gave me is pure). If we keep this in mind, then we can understand what David ha-Melech meant when he said (Tehillim 37:10): וְעוֹד מְעַט וְאֵין רָשָׁע וְהִתְבּוֹנַנְתָּ עַל־מְקוֹמוֹ וְאֵינֶנּוּ (In just a little while, there won’t be a rasha, and you will consider his place but he won’t be there). Where will he be? Will he have been annihilated by Hashem? Is that how the rasha disappears? No, he ceases to be there because he did teshuvah and he’s no longer a rasha! So in reality, there’s no such thing as a complete and total rasha. Therefore, for this reason it is absolutely forbidden for any of us to call any other Jew a rasha.

How come he was the one who sank to such depths? It is because his soul is so lofty. Yes, read that again. The highest souls, when they descend, are the ones that descend to the lowest depths. But they are not just souls that descend to the depths of tumah, they are also souls capable of ascending again together with the fallen sparks of kedushah that fell there. It’s just that they haven’t yet risen together with the sparks of kedushah they interacted with while down there. They have to complete their mission to rescue and elevate them to the lofty heights where they rightly belong.

This is illustrated by the story of R' Meir and the hooligans in his neighborhood who caused him no amount of distress (see Berachot 10a). He initially prayed for Hashem to have mercy upon them that they would die, but then his wife, Berurya, explained to him that the wicked ceasing to exist didn’t meant that they would die, but rather that they would do teshuvah. Thereupon, R' Meir prayed for them to do teshuvah, and they did teshuvah! Likewise, the responsibility for the rasha rests in our hands. Perhaps if we prayed for him with greater sincerity and self-sacrifice, he wouldn’t be a rasha anymore, and he will have begun his ascent.

But how can it be that our prayers cause someone else to do teshuvah? Doesn’t this nullify the free will of that other person? This is the secret of the unity that we experienced when we arrived at Har Sinai. As Rashi famously states on Shemot 19:2: כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד בְּלֵב אֶחָד (like one man with one heart). If only we had eyes to see the awesome reality of the Nation of Yisrael! It is one spiritual organism, one spiritual body. In other words, we are all connected, directly or indirectly. Therefore, just as a man has only one heart, he has only one head. When we pray for the rasha, he is actually praying for himself. He just doesn’t know it yet.

It is as R' Nachman teaches (L.M. 25:3): וְדַע שֶׁאֵין שְׁנֵי בְּנֵי אָדָם שָׁוִין זֶה לָזֶה כִּי כָּל הַנְּשָׁמוֹת הֵם זֶה לְמַעְלָה מִזֶּה...נִמְצָא כְּשֶׁאֶחָד רוֹצֶה לַעֲלוֹת מִמַּדְרֵגָתוֹ לְמַדְרֵגָה עֶלְיוֹנָה אֲזַי הוֹלֵךְ וְנֶעְתָּק הָאָדָם הָעוֹמֵד בַּמַּדְרֵגָה הָעֶלְיוֹנָה וְהוֹלֵךְ וְנֶעְתָּק לַמַּדְרֵגָה הַיּוֹתֵר עֶלְיוֹנָה כִּי אִי אֶפְשָׁר שֶׁיִּהְיוּ שְׁנֵי אֲנָשִׁים בְּמַדְרֵגָה אַחַת (Know, that no two people are the same, because all souls are [on different levels] one above the other…therefore, when one wants to ascend from his level to a higher level, the one who is already at that level must move on to a higher level because it is impossible that two people coexist at the same level [at the same time]). When we look and find some good point in even the lowest-of-the-lows, we place that individual on the כף זכות [khaf zechut], the pan of merit on the heavenly scales. As such, he is now able to do teshuvah because he has been freed from the כף חובה [khaf chovah], the pan on the other side of the heavenly scales that has been weighed down by the abundance of judgments passed on account of his many transgressions.

Now pause and think for a moment what is actually taking place here. Even if he is at the bottom of the barrel, the lowest rung of the ladder, the most soiled soul in all Am Yisrael, G‑d forbid, the moment he does teshuvah, even the tiniest little bit, even just a thought of teshuvah, he moves up—he went from having no thought of teshuvah to having at least a momentary thought of teshuvah. That’s an aliyah. However, someone is already there at that higher level, so that second person is forced to move up to get out of his way. But wait a minute, someone else is already at that level as well, so he has to move up to make room for the second person, and so on, and so on, and so on, all the way up to the top of the entire structure, to the greatest tzaddik in the nation! The entire body gets elevated. That is the lofty greatness of the rasha. When he does teshuvah, he causes an aliyah in every Jew. No one else, not even the greatest tzaddikim have that specific merit. And that’s the place where the ba’al teshuvah stands that not even the complete tzaddik can stand.

So we must not stand in contempt of the rasha because, in reality, there is no such person. In a little while, we will contemplate his place, but he won’t be there. He will have moved up, and in his moving up, we will have moved up as well. Therefore, we will all owe him an eternal debt of gratitude. More than that, he may even overtake us someday.

[the-shoemaker-report]

The King Who Causes Death

As is known, the first three berachot of the Shemoneh Esreh form a set which relate the praise of Hashem for His three fundamental attributes of chesed (love, giving and kindness), gevurah (justice, strictness and self-restraint) and tiferet (beauty, harmony, truth, mercy and holiness). It is also known that these three berachot correspond to the uniquely perfected attributes of the three Patriarchs. Avraham exemplifies chesed, Yaakov exemplifies tiferet (as written in Michah 7:20 — תִּתֵּן אֱמֶת לְיַעֲקֹב חֶסֶד לְאַבְרָהָם [You give truth to Yaakov and chesed to Avraham]), while Yitzchak exemplifies gevurah (just think of his willingness to be bound on the altar to fulfill the will of Hashem). Even so, there is great overlap between this neat delineation throughout the berachot. To give two examples, we mention חַסְדֵי אָבוֹת (the chesed of the Patriarchs) in the first berachah, not just חֶסֶד אַבְרָהָם (the chesed of Avraham), and we mention chesed and rachamim [mercy] in the second berachah with the words מְכַלְכֵּל חַיִּים בְּחֶסֶד מְחַיֵּה מֵתִים בְּרַחֲמִים רַבִּים (You sustain the living with chesed and you resurrect the dead with a lot of rachamim).

Let’s take a closer look at the second berachah. Although it is called ‘Gevurot’, which indicates that its primary theme deals with praising Hashem for His attribute of gevurah, this berachah doesn’t seem to contain much content that actually focuses on gevurah itself. Let’s investigate.

We begin the berachah with these words: אַתָּה גִבּוֹר לְעוֹלָם אֲדֹנָ-י מְחַיֶּה מֵתִים אַתָּה רַב לְהוֹשִׁיעַ (You are mighty forever, Adon-ai; You resurrect the dead, abundantly able to save). This doesn’t sound like it has anything to do with gevurah. True, we refer to Hashem as a gibbor, a mighty champion, but this is hardly a term we would choose to describe someone who deals out strict justice on the one hand or who practices self-restraint on the other hand. Of all of the great heroes in our history, there is only one individual who is called by the title ‘Gibbor’, and that’s Shimshon, and in spite of his tremendous individual heroism, self-restraint doesn’t seem to be one of his shining attributes like it was with Yitzchak. Not only that, but resurrecting the dead and bringing salvation don’t sound much like strict justice or self-restraint either. It sounds more like compassion and kindness. So you have to admit, these are very odd words with which to begin a berachah that is supposed to deal with gevurah.

Then we praise Hashem because He מְכַלְכֵּל חַיִּים בְּחֶסֶד מְחַיֵּה מֵתִים בְּרַחֲמִים רַבִּים (sustains the living with chesed, resurrects the dead with a lot of rachamim). As already mentioned, this statement seems to praise Hashem for His attributes of chesed and rachamim, which are not at all the same as gevurah.

Next, we say סוֹמֵךְ נוֹפְלִים וְרוֹפֵא חוֹלִים וּמַתִּיר אֲסוּרִים וּמְקַיֵּם אֱמוּנָתוֹ לִישֵׁנֵי עָפָר (You support the fallen, heal the sick, release the bound and fulfill His faithfulness to those sleeping in the dust). Once again, these are mighty acts in the classical way of understanding mighty, but they are mighty in the sense of rachamim, not mighty in the sense of gevurah. But then we seem to get to the point of this berachah and ask the important question, מִי כָמוֹךָ בַּעַל גְּבוּרוֹת וּמִי דּוֹמֶה לָּךְ (Who is comparable to You, O Master of Gevurot, and who is like You?). Finally we mention gevurah. Hashem is, after all, the Master of Gevurot, but it seems that we have been praising Him as Master of Rachamim or Master of Chesed all along. So this question in the berachah seems out of place. It seems like a non sequitur. It doesn’t appear to follow the topic up to this point. Where are the words praising Hashem for His gevurah up to this point? There doesn’t seem to be any. So this is very, very perplexing.

What do we say next? מֶלֶךְ מֵמִית וּמְחַיֶּה וּמַצְמִיחַ יְשׁוּעָה (O King Who causes death, and gives life and causes salvation to sprout). The key to the entire berachah is right here: מֶלֶךְ מֵמִית (King Who causes death). True, He also gives life and brings forth salvation (which again sound like compassionate, kind things to do), but He also is ‘King Who causes death.’ Without any doubt, we have come to gevurah. A King Who causes death is a King who executes justice. Such a King exhibits the attribute of strictness.

We can see that we’re making some progress, but we are still missing something significant because there are two outstanding issues that don’t seem to have any rationale behind them. First, how does ‘causing death’ demonstrate the attribute of self-restraint? And second, why would anyone praise a king for causing death?

The key to answering both of these questions can be found in the words of the prophet (Yeshayah 48:9): לְמַעַן שְׁמִי אַאֲרִיךְ אַפִּי וּתְהִלָּתִי אֶחֱטׇם־לָךְ לְבִלְתִּי הַכְרִיתֶךָ (For My name’s sake I am patient, and My praise is that I restrain My wrath for you so as not to destroy you). Patience and restraining wrath in the face of treachery and rebellion (see Hashem’s claim against the House of Yaakov in the previous verse) is exercising the attribute of gevurah. It is self-restraint. How so? Because Hashem reveals that He could have been stricter, i.e. He could have wiped out the people completely—not just death, but total annihilation!

Therefore, causing death is an aspect of gevurah on two counts. First, it exemplifies justice which is an aspect of gevurah because death came into the world only through sin (Bereshit 2:17): כִּי בְּיוֹם אֲכׇלְךָ מִמֶּנּוּ מוֹת תָּמוּת (For in the day you eat from it, you will surely die). But let’s think about this a little deeper. If Hashem would exercise 100 percent strict justice, i.e. complete gevurah, then death wouldn’t be the result. Total annihilation or obliteration would be the result. But whose purpose would that serve? Not Hashem’s. If Hashem decided to exact strict justice every time someone sinned, there would be no world. Hashem’s great project would never have gotten off the ground. Therefore, Hashem decided on death. The fact that Hashem decided on death rather than total annihilation indicates that He chose to exercise self-restraint. Even in gevurah, He holds Himself back. But understand. We are making a subtly important distinction. Self-restraint is not the same as rachamim; they are two very different attributes. Causing death is an exercise of self-restraint. Bring the dead back to life is an act of rachamim.

Now that we’re on the topic, let’s briefly think about this phenomenon of death. Death should not be viewed merely as a form of punishment. Sometimes it may be a form of punishment, but oftentimes, it is not. Instead of punishment, it may be an important step on the road to recovery, on a path for rehabilitating the soul through a purification process that takes place only after death, i.e. death being merely the removal of the soul from its physical body and the transfer of one’s conscious life from this physically opaque world to a more spiritually transparent world where truth is as apparent and undeniable as one’s own existence. G‑d doesn’t wish us to be exterminated forever. He wishes for us to be rehabilitated so that we have life forever.

We can now see how this berachah is truly one of praise, in that we are literally praising Hashem for the fact that He is responsible for death. He causes death. And that is an act of gevurah in the two aspects of justice and self-restraint.

That being said, why is it that so much of the berachah apparently praises Hashem for His compassion and kindness? The key word is ‘apparently’, because we are not, in fact, praising Hashem so much for His rachamim and chesed. If we just change our perspective a little bit, the true meaning of this berachah will come into focus. When we say that Hashem supports the fallen, we need to ask the inevitable question, Who caused the fall in the first place? When we say that Hashem heals the sick, we should ask ourselves, Who caused the person to get sick? When we say that Hashem releases the bound, we need to ask, Who was responsible for those being put into prison? The answer to all of these questions is the inevitable and obvious. It is Hashem. We are not praising Hashem for supporting, healing and releasing. We are praising Hashem for causing the fall, causing the sickness and causing the imprisonment. After all, if we can’t even open our mouths without Hashem doing it for us, i.e. consider the words we speak at the beginning of every Shemoneh Esreh from Tehillim 51:17 — אֲדֹנָי שְׂפָתַי תִּפְתָּח וּפִי יַגִּיד תְּהִלָּתֶךָ (Adon-ai open my lips so that my mouth will declare Your praise), then how much more falling down, getting sick or being thrown in prison, G‑d forbid. Nature is just one big illusion. Everything is an act of G‑d. Hashem does everything. True, Hashem causes the fall or the sickness or the imprisonment, but we deserve it because we sinned in so many different ways. And so we are responsible. In fact, if truth be told, we deserve much worse. Nevertheless, Hashem causes the physical reality to take place.

It is as we say each morning in יוֹצֵר אוֹר (Yotzer Or), the first berachah before the Shema: בְטוּבוֹ מְחַדֵּשׁ בְּכָל יוֹם תָּמִיד מַעֲשֵׂה בְרֵאשִׁית (In His goodness, He renews each day constantly, the act of creation). Constantly, on an ongoing basis, i.e. day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, moment by moment. And that renewal includes us. Even we are being recreated or renewed constantly by an act of G‑d—literally. The universe (and our physicality within it) is much like a motion picture, a series of still frames with nothing in between. It’s just that the frames are moving by the cameras of our consciousness at trillions and trillions of frames per second that we don’t notice the quantum nature of this world. We experience only an illusion of continuity, and part and parcel with that, the illusion of physical cause and effect. But both of these phenomena are just illusions. ‘Reality’ is just an illusion. Hashem does everything, as it is taught (Berachot 33b): וְאָמַר רַבִּי חֲנִינָא הַכֹּל בִּידֵי שָׁמַיִם חוּץ מִיִּרְאַת שָׁמַיִם (R' Chanina said, Everything is in the hands of Heaven except the fear of Heaven).

So why did the Men of the Great Assembly write Gevurot in the way they did? Why didn’t they write it in a way that openly reveals the meaning of this berachah? We can suggest two reasons. First, since the reality of this truth may be a bit shocking, it is couched in hidden terms. Even so, they did write the undiluted truth with the statement, ‘O King Who causes death’. Second, when speaking of justice or din, it is good to speak of it with ‘refined language’, in oblique terms, so as not to give it unnecessary strength. This is in the aspect of that which was taught in the Yeshiva of R' Yannai (Pesachim 3a): לְעוֹלָם יְסַפֵּר אָדָם בְּלָשׁוֹן נְקִיָּה (A man should always speak with clean speech, i.e. euphemistically).

Now that we know that G‑d is the ‘King Who causes death’, we can go back and reread the entire berachah and understand exactly what we are saying. When you really internalize just how ‘heavy’ gevurah really is, don’t be surprised if it causes you to pray מְחַל לָנוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ כִּי פָשָׁעְנוּ (Pardon us, our Father, because we committed crimes) with a little more kavanah [focused concentration and intent].

[the-shoemaker-report]

There is Mercy, and There is Mercy

The second berachah of the Shemoneh Esreh, the one that praises G‑d for His attribute of gevurah [strictness, judgment, self-restraint, etc.], opens with these words: אַתָּה גִבּוֹר לְעוֹלָם אֲדֹנָ­­‑י מְחַיֶּה מֵתִים אַתָּה רַב לְהוֹשִׁיעַ...מְכַלְכֵּל חַיִּים בְּחֶסֶד מְחַיֵּה מֵתִים בְּרַחֲמִים רַבִּים (You are always mighty, Adon-ai, You resurrect the dead, abundant to effect salvation, You sustain the living with chesed, resurrect the dead with a lot of mercy). Although there are many other places in the Shemoneh Esreh where we ask Hashem for רַחֲמִים [mercy, compassion], nowhere else do we specifically mention רַחֲמִים רַבִּים [rachamim rabbim, a lot of mercy]. What is unique about the resurrection of the dead, that we praise Hashem for acting with rachamim rabbim? Wouldn’t a normal amount of rachamim be good enough?

Let’s ask another question based on the words of the prophet (Yeshayah 54:7): בְּרֶגַע קָטֹן עֲזַבְתִּיךְ וּבְרַחֲמִים גְּדֹלִים אֲקַבְּצֵךְ (I forsook you for just a moment, but with great mercy [rachamim gedolim], I will gather you). Why does Hashem promise that at the time of the complete redemption and the revelation of Mashiach, He will gather His nation back together again with rachamim gedolim? Wouldn’t ordinary rachamim be good enough?

To begin to answer these questions, let’s ask a third question. Does G‑d pray? It is taught (Berachot 7a): אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן מִשּׁוּם רַבִּי יוֹסֵי מִנַּיִן שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מִתְפַּלֵּל שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר וַהֲבִיאוֹתִים אֶל הַר קָדְשִׁי וְשִׂמַּחְתִּים בְּבֵית תְּפִלָּתִי תְּפִלָּתָם לֹא נֶאֱמַר אֶלָּא תְּפִלָּתִי מִכָּאן שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מִתְפַּלֵּל (R' Yochanan said in the name of R' Yose, from where is it derived that the Holy One, blessed be He, prays? From that which is stated [Yeshayah 56:7], ‘And I will bring them to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in the house of My prayer’. It doesn’t say ‘their prayer’, but ‘My prayer’. From here, it is derived that the Holy One, blessed be He, prays). What does Hashem pray? The Gemara continues its teaching: יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנַי שֶׁיִּכְבְּשׁוּ רַחֲמַי אֶת כַּעֲסִי וְיִגּוֹלּוּ רַחֲמַי עַל מִדּוֹתַי וְאֶתְנַהֵג עִם בָּנַי בְּמִדַּת רַחֲמִים וְאֶכָּנֵס לָהֶם לִפְנִים מִשּׁוּרַת הַדִּין (May it be My will that My rachamim vanquishes My anger, that My rachamim excel above My [other] attributes, that I behave toward My children with the attribute of rachamim, and that I go beyond the strict letter of the law for their sake). This seems very strange. Why does Hashem need to pray about this? Can’t His will just be that way in the first place?

The answer is given in the Idra Raba on the verse quoted above from Yeshayah 54:7, i.e. that only through rachamim gedolim will Hashem bring about the complete redemption (Zohar ha-Kadosh, Naso 137b): כֵּיוָן דְּאָמַר רַחֲמִים מַהוּ גְּדוֹלִים אֶלָּא אִית רַחֲמֵי וְאִית רַחֲמֵי רַחֲמֵי דְּעַתִּיק דְּעַתִּיקִין אִינּוּן אִקְרוּן רַח��מִים גְּדוֹלִים רַחֲמֵי דִּזְעֵיר אַנְפִּין אִקְרוּן רַחֲמִים סְתָם וּבְגִין כָּךְ וּבְרַחֲמִים גְּדוֹלִים אֲקַבְּצֵךְ דְּעַתִּיק יוֹמִין (Since it is said ‘rachamim’, what is the meaning of ‘gedolim’, i.e. what does the word gedolim come to add? Rather, there is rachamim and there is rachamim: rachamim of Arich Anpin is called rachamim gedolim, rachamim of Ze’ir Anpin is called ordinary rachamim, and therefore, the verse says ‘with rachamim gedolim I will gather you’, i.e. with the rachamim of Arich Anpin).

The Zohar is teaching that there are two fundamental levels of rachamim. The lower level comes from Ze’ir Anpin, i.e. literally ‘Little Face’. Ze’ir Anpin can be thought of as a spiritual building composed of the six main attributes of chesed, gevurah, tiferet, netzach, hod and yesod working together in harmony. The higher level of rachamim comes from Arich Anpin, literally ‘Long Face’, which is in keter, i.e. Hashem’s will. Clearly, the rachamim gedolim that comes directly from Hashem’s will is much greater than ordinary rachamim. Perhaps we can think of it as undiluted, pure rachamim. This is the rachamim gedolim needed to bring about the redemption.

Without a doubt, we, collectively and individually, need a lot of rachamim, physically and spiritually. Wouldn’t it be great if we could access the higher rachamim when needed? But how can it be accessed? It is taught in Likutei Moharan 105: אַךְ בַּעֲווֹנֵינוּ הָרַבִּים בַּדּוֹר הַזֶּה אֵין מִי שֶׁיִּתְפַּלֵּל כָּךְ שֶׁיּוּכַל לְהַמְשִׁיךְ הָרַחֲמִים (However, due to our many transgressions in this generation, no one can pray in the manner needed to bring down this rachamim). If this was true 200 years ago, how much more is it true today? Moreover, his words seem to echo what the prophet wrote ages ago (Yeshayah 59:16): וַיַּרְא כִּי־אֵין אִישׁ וַיִּשְׁתּוֹמֵם כִּי אֵין מַפְגִּיעַ וַתּוֹשַׁע לוֹ זְרֹעוֹ וְצִדְקָתוֹ הִיא סְמָכָתְהוּ (And He saw that there wasn’t anyone; He was astounded that there was no intercessor; therefore, His arm saved for Him, and His righteousness, that supported Him). In other words, since no man has the ability to pray in such a way to elicit the rachamim gedolim required to bring about the complete redemption, Hashem promises to do it Himself. And this is the meaning of the teaching from Berachot 7a that we quoted above, i.e. that Hashem prays, “May it be My will…” Hashem will bring about the complete redemption through His own prayers! In the words of the Zohar, Hashem, i.e. the name associated with Ze’ir Anpin, from which ordinary, simple rachamim emerges, prays to His own will, i.e. to Arich Anpin, in order to draw down the extraordinary rachamim, i.e. rachamim gedolim in the words of Yeshayahu ha-Navi, to bring about the final redemption.

Nevertheless, can we do anything to assist Hashem, so to speak, in order that He might pray? Yes, we need to remove the impediment that is holding back His prayers and His rachamim. And what is that impediment? It is the lack of da’at. It is taught (Berachot 33a): וְכׇל מִי שֶׁאֵין בּוֹ דֵּעָה אָסוּר לְרַחֵם עָלָיו שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר כִּי לֹא עַם בִּינוֹת הוּא עַל כֵּן לֹא יְרַחֲמֶנּוּ עוֹשֵׂהוּ (It is forbidden to be merciful to anyone who has no da’at, as it is stated [Yeshayah 27:11], ‘For they are a people without understanding; therefore, their Maker will show them no rachamim’). Why is it forbidden to withhold rachamim from someone who has no da’at? It is because rachamim comes from da’at. Therefore, we see that this is another incidence of middah k’neged middah. If such a person does not show rachamim to anyone (because he has no da’at, the very wellspring of rachamim itself), then why should anyone show it to him? And generally speaking, Hashem binds Himself to this same principle. To the extent that we lack da’at, to that extent, Hashem, so to speak, will need to withhold His own rachamim from us. Therefore, above all, we need da’at.

So how is da’at developed? In short, as explained by R' Nachman in Likutei Moharan 105, it comes from the study of Torah (coupled with concentrated, focused prayer). A person needs to concentrate on his learning not only to understand the Torah he is learning, but to derive one thing from another and to create novel Torah insights from what he is learning, i.e. chidushim. When he learns in this way and prays with tremendous concentration over every letter, word and phrase in the fourth berachah of the Shemoneh Esreh that Hashem grant him da’at, he will be granted his request. And the more da’at he is given, the more rachamim he can show others and then, the more rachamim Hashem can show him.

Here’s another way to put it. The more we apply ourselves to learn Torah with this kind of focus, depth and purpose, the more sincere our ongoing teshuvah will be. And when we do teshuvah sincerely and deeply, Hashem will show us His rachamim, as it is written (Devarim 30:3): וְשָׁב יְיָ אֱלֶֹקיךָ אֶת־שְׁבוּתְךָ וְרִחֲמֶךָ (And Hashem your G‑d will return with your return, and He will show rachamim). In other words, when we do sincere, heartfelt teshuvah and return to Hashem, then Hashem will also do teshuvah, so to speak, and return to us. Then, he will show us rachamim.

Let’s elucidate two short examples, one from the Torah and one from the Ketuvim, which reveal this amazing truth. The first is the prayer that Moshe Rabbeinu prayed when he pleaded with G‑d to heal his sister, Miriam after she became afflicted with tzara’at. His prayer was only five short words (Bamidbar 12:13): קֵל נָא רְפָא נָא לָהּ (G‑d, pray, heal her, pray). Why the double expression of נָא [na], meaning ‘please, pray now’? As R' Nachman explains (L.M. 105): דְּלִכְאוֹרָה תָּמוּהַּ מְאֹד כֶּפֶל תֵּבַת נָא אַךְ עַתָּה מְבֹאָר הֵיטֵב שֶׁמֹּשֶׁה רַבֵּנוּ עָלָיו הַשָּׁלוֹם בִּקֵּשׁ זֹאת מֵהַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ שֶׁהַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ בְּעַצְמוֹ כִּבְיָכוֹל יִתְפַּלֵּל וִיבַקֵּשׁ מֵעַצְמוֹ שֶׁיְּרַפֵּא אוֹתָהּ (Seemingly, the doubling of the word na is very surprising; however, now the explanation is clear. Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, requested this of Hashem, may He be blessed, that Hashem, may He be blessed, Himself, so to speak, would pray and request of Himself that He would heal her). Moshe’s words could be understood along these lines: ‘G‑d, I pray that You would pray to heal her.’ Apparently, Moshe thought that the level of rachamim elicited by his own prayer would have been insufficient to heal his sister. Therefore, he pleaded to G‑d that He Himself would pray to elicit the supreme rachamim.

Another example is found at the end of Hallel in Tehillim 118:25: אָנָּא יְיָ הוֹשִׁיעָה נָּא אָנָּא יְיָ הַצְלִיחָה נָּא (Pray, Hashem, save us, pray; Pray, Hashem, bring success, pray). Once again, we see the double expression of na (or anna) in each half of the verse, for a total of four. Not only that, but we repeat this verse when we recite Hallel—for a total of eight! What does that teach us regarding the nature of the redemption that we seek? It’s not such a simple request. Even when we pray that Hashem would pray to send everlasting salvation and success to the Jewish People, i.e. to bring about the complete revelation of Mashiach ben David and the final redemption, we still need to repeat our request multiple times.

Now we can appreciate why rachamim rabbim is mentioned in connection with the resurrection of the dead. We may have grown accustomed to thinking of it as a ‘done deal’, an inevitable future reality—no big deal. But that’s not the case. The resurrection of the dead is not such a simple matter. It requires an extraordinary amount of rachamim that can only be drawn down as a result of Hashem’s own prayers or through the prayers of one greater than Moshe Rabbeinu who can pray in such a way as to evoke this supreme rachamim. May he be fully revealed in our days, speedily, Amen.

[the-shoemaker-report]

How the World of Truth will Emerge

The time was early February 1981. The location was the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing of the White House, not far from the Cabinet Room. President Ronald Reagan asked William Casey, the newly-appointed Director of the CIA, what he considered was his primary role as head of that agency. Barbara Honegger, assistant to the Chief Domestic Policy Advisor to the President, was in attendance. She reported Casey’s response: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”

If you’re like most people, your decision whether or not to accept this anecdote as factual will probably not reflect a careful and unbiased assessment of the available evidence. Rather, it will be based on your gut feeling, shaped by your perspective of the CIA and other government intelligent agencies whether in the USA, Israel or elsewhere. At one end of the spectrum, you might be thinking something like, “That makes no sense. Why would the head of a major government agency say that his agency’s mission was to spread disinformation among its own citizens? Whoever believes that nonsense probably also believes in all kinds of crazy conspiracy theories.” At the other end of the spectrum, you might be thinking, “Why wouldn’t I believe it? Have they ever told the truth?”

Trust in traditional media is at an all time low, and so alternative media abound. Someone says one thing; someone else says another thing. Even if we try to stay somewhat informed about what’s going on in the world, it can be very confusing. How can we possibly know what is factual and what is not? It is as the prophet wrote (Yeshayah 59:14-15): כִּי־כָשְׁלָה בָרְחוֹב אֱמֶת...וַתְּהִי הָאֱמֶת נֶעְדֶּרֶת (For truth has stumbled in the street…and truth is absent). Most of us approach the news (if we approach it at all) like someone at a buffet—“I’ll have a little of this and a little of that.” Whatever agrees with us, we accept; whatever doesn’t, we dismiss or ignore. That may not be particularly objective, but if we’re honest with ourselves, that’s what most of us do most of the time. To seek out the truth of a matter of which we have no direct knowledge is just too difficult and too time-consuming. Long gone from our public discourse are the lofty ideas described in John Henry Newman’s 1859 work The Idea of a University, “It [education] teaches him to see things as they are, to go right to the point, to disentangle a skein of thought, to detect what is sophistical and to discard what is irrelevant.” Rather, we live in a time perhaps best described by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, “The majority is always wrong; the minority is rarely right.”

If there ever was a time in human history when we need to recognize falsehood and acknowledge truth, it is undoubtedly now. However, we don’t pull the strings of global media. We do not grace the hallways and inner chambers of power and government. We are simple people with simple goals. What can we actually do? Aren’t we powerless to effect positive change?

Let us start by acknowledging one immutable truth (Michah 7:20): תִּתֵּן אֱמֶת לְיַעֲקֹב (You give truth to Yaakov). This is not a description of a one-time historical event at Mt. Sinai no matter how lofty that event was, but rather a statement describing an ongoing process in which Hashem reveals and shows the Jewish people truth. So we of all people should know truth and not be fooled by falsehood. But it is not always easy, as the Gemara teaches (Shabbat 104a): מַאי טַעְמָא שֶׁקֶר מְקָרְבָן מִילֵּיהּ אֱמֶת מְרַחֲקָא מִילֵּיהּ שִׁיקְרָא שְׁכִיחַ קוּשְׁטָא לָא שְׁכִיחַ וּמַאי טַעְמָא שִׁיקְרָא אַחֲדָא כַּרְעֵיהּ קָאֵי וֶאֱמֶת מְלַבַּן לַבּוֹנֵי קוּשְׁטָא קָאֵי שִׁיקְרָא לָא קָאֵי (Why are the letters in the word sheker [falsehood] adjacent to each other while the letters in emet [truth] far apart? It is because falsehood is found, i.e. it is common, whereas truth is not found. And why do all the letters of sheker stand on one foot whereas the letters for emet stand like bricks? It is because emet stands, i.e. endures, whereas sheker cannot stand). We could add a third question. Why are the letters in sheker not in order, whereas the letters in emet, even though they are far apart from each other to encompass the whole aleph-bet, are in order? For sheker to exist, the natural order of the world must be mixed up or put into confusion, whereas emet is in line with the natural order of the created world.

Assembling emet is not a simple process. One needs to find an aleph [א] over here and then a mem [מ] over there and then put them together in the right order with a tav [ת] found way over there on the other side of the world. Difficult as this process may be, once assembled, the resulting entity is stable and enduring. Sheker, on the other hand, is right in front of our faces. We don’t need to expend any effort to find it. It is ubiquitous and pervasive. But since it’s all mixed up and unstable, it will topple over. It’s inevitable. It’s just a matter of time. The only question is, when?

It is taught in a Mishnah (Eduyot 8:7): אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ מְקֻבָּל אֲנִי מֵרַבָּן יוֹחָנָן בֶּן זַכַּאי שֶׁשָּׁמַע מֵרַבּוֹ וְרַבּוֹ מֵרַבּוֹ הֲלָכָה לְמשֶׁה מִסִּינַי שֶׁאֵין אֵלִיָּהוּ בָא לְטַמֵּא וּלְטַהֵר לְרַחֵק וּלְקָרֵב אֶלָּא לְרַחֵק הַמְקֹרָבִין בִּזְרוֹעַ וּלְקָרֵב הַמְרֻחָקִין בִּזְרוֹעַ (R' Yehoshua said, I received a tradition from Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, who heard it from his teacher, and his teacher from his teacher, a halachah of Moshe from Sinai, that Eliyahu does not come to declare impure or pure, or to distance or bring near, rather to distance that which was brought near through force and to bring near that which was distanced through force). As explained by R' Nachman (Likutei Moharan 117): וְזֶה לְרַחֵק הַמְקֹרָבִין וּלְקָרֵב הַמְרֻחָקִין הַיְנוּ לְרַחֵק הַשֶּׁקֶר וּלְקָרֵב הָאֱמֶת כִּי אָמְרוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה שֶׁקֶר מְקָרְבִין מִלֵּהּ וֶאֱמֶת מְרַחֲקִין מִלֵּהּ (And this, to distance that which was brought near and to bring near that which was distanced, means to distance the sheker and to bring near the emet, as our Sages, may their memory be for a blessing, said [Shabbat 104a], The letters of the word sheker are close together, and the letters of the word emet are far apart).

But what’s the meaning of sheker having been brought near through force? It means that sheker masquerading as emet has been forced upon us without our knowledge, typically by nefarious individuals or organizations to serve private or hidden agendas. And what is the meaning of emet being distanced through force? It means that emet has being forcibly pushed off into a corner (when it does not serve those same agendas), well out of the consciousness of the average citizen. This tactic is utilized when it becomes difficult to refute emet with any kind of reasonable argument and evidence—at which point, it is typically ignored, belittled or buried.

To illustrate what we have just stated, we shall briefly mention two examples. For an example of sheker being brought near, consider the so-called Gulf of Tonkin incident of August 4, 1964 which President Lyndon B. Johnson seized upon to pressure Congress to pass a resolution giving the US government carte blanche approval to engage more directly in the Vietnam War. Johnson went on national television to inform the American people that he had ordered an escalation of American involvement against North Vietnam due to a coordinated attack by North Vietnamese torpedo boats against two US destroyers. The only problem was that the alleged attack never took place—a total fabrication which led to nearly 10 years of American involvement in the Vietnam War with more than 3 million Vietnamese and 58,000 American soldiers killed. For an example of emet being sidelined, consider the way traditional media has treated the stunning revelations of Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh after he laid out in detail the masterminding and bombing of Russian’s Nord Stream natural gas pipelines on September 26, 2022—they have remained silent, doing their best to ignore his reports.

It is written (Mishlei 12:19): שְׂפַת־אֱמֶת תִּכּוֹן לָעַד וְעַד־אַרְגִּיעָה לְשׁוֹן שָׁקֶר (The lip of emet will be established forever, but the lip of sheker for a moment [argi’ah]). On the surface, this means that from the moment sheker is spoken it appears as emet to many; however, after a while, given enough time, it becomes clear that it was, in fact, sheker. But if we look at this verse more closely, we notice something a little odd, as the Zohar ha-Kadosh brings out (Ki Tisa 188a): וְעַד אַרְגִּיעָה וְעַד רֶגַע מִבָּעֵי לֵיהּ מַאי אַרְגִּיעָה אֶלָּא עַד כַּמָה יְהֵא קִיוּמָא דִּלְהוֹן בְּעָלְמָא עַד זִמְנָא דְּיֵיתֵי (Ad argi’ah? It should say ad rega, i.e. for a moment. What is the meaning of argi’ah? Rather, when will these things, i.e. the oneness of Hashem and the global influence of the Jewish people’s voice (that were mentioned just prior to this passage in the Zohar), be established in the world? When he, i.e. Mashiach, comes). In other words, if the meaning of this verse is merely to teach that the lip of sheker will only endure for a moment, then the verse should have used the normal word for ‘moment’, i.e. rega, not the unusual word argi’ah. What’s the secret behind this unexpected word? The word ארגעה [argi’ah] is not based on the word רגע [rega], meaning moment, but on the word מרגוע [margo’ah] meaning repose, calmness or rest. It’s not that sheker will last only for a moment, but rather that sheker will cease its influence in this world only when true rest—Shabbat menuchah, world peace—replaces the cultures of this world.

Yes, we live in a world of sheker, but the age of Mashiach is coming, and it is a world of emet. As the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, R' Avraham Yitzchak Kook, famously said, “Before the world of truth can come, the world of lies must disappear.” But how does the world of sheker disappear? By force of arms, protests in the streets, threats of violence and riots? No, these things just continue the rulership of sheker. Sheker will disappear on its own and emet will come out of exile when we habituate ourselves to speak only emet, as we say each morning: לְעוֹלָם יְהֵא אָדָם יְרֵא שָׁמַיִם בַּסֵּתֶר וּבַגָּלוּי וּמוֹדֶה עַל הָאֱמֶת וְדוֹבֵר אֱמֶת בִּלְבָבוֹ (A person should always be in fear of Heaven, privately as well as openly, and he should acknowledge emet and speak emet in his heart). Just reciting this prayer isn’t sufficient; we have to do it. We must speak only emet and be honest and truthful to ourselves, even when it means facing those things about ourselves that we’d rather just ignore.

We often see the principle of middah k’neged middah as our nemesis, but this is incorrect. It is really our ally, and we can use it to cause positive change in the world. If we really yearn to hear only emet from others—and that includes from our governments and from government-controlled sources of disinformation— then we need to speak only emet to others and to ourselves. This is the meaning of R' Nachman’s teaching in Likutei Eitzot (Emet v’Emunah 25-26): הָאֱמֶת הוּא אֶחָד וְהַשֶּׁקֶר הוּא הַרְבֵּה...תִּשְׁמֹר אֶת עַצְמְךָ מִשֶּׁקֶר וּתְדַבֵּר רַק אֱמֶת וְתִהְיֶה אִישׁ אֱמֶת לַאֲמִתּוֹ וְעַל־יְדֵי זֶה תִּהְיֶה נִכְלָל בְּאֶחָד כַּנַּ"ל כִּי אֱמֶת הוּא אֶחָד (There is only one emet but a multitude of sheker…Guard yourself from sheker and speak only emet, and you’ll truly become a man of emet, and through this you will be included in the ‘One’ because emet is ‘one’).

The good news is that the world of sheker is collapsing before our very eyes. If we strengthen our resolve now to speak only emet, this momentum will only accelerate. As David ha-Melech said (Tehillim 117:2): וֶאֱמֶת־יְָי לְעוֹלָם (And Hashem’s emet is eternal).

[the-shoemaker-report]

On the Origin of Hide and Seek

Pesach is just around the corner and all of our thoughts turn to redemption—the ten plagues of deliverance, the exodus from Mitzraim, the splitting of the sea, the annihilation of our oppressors and enemies, arrival at Har Sinai, the unity of the nation encamped at the foot of the mountain, etc. We were in a state of extreme joy and euphoria as we anticipated the giving of the Torah.

But something unexpected happened (Shemot 20:15): וְכׇל־הָעָם רֹאִים אֶת־הַקּוֹלֹת וְאֶת־הַלַּפִּידִם וְאֵת קוֹל הַשֹּׁפָר וְאֶת־הָהָר עָשֵׁן וַיַּרְא הָעָם וַיָּנֻעוּ וַיַּעַמְדוּ מֵרָחֹק (All the people saw the thunder and lightning, the sound of the shofar, and the mountain smoking; and the people saw and they trembled and stood at a distance). The last thing they expected was to witness a spectacle that terrified them. They were afraid of dying and wanted Moshe to bring the Torah to them. Moshe told them not to be afraid, and that it’s all just a big test. Hashem wanted them to fear Him, not the ‘scary spectacle.’ However, the people didn’t budge. They weren’t going anywhere. On the other hand, Moshe was drawn into the darkness (Shemot 20:18): וַיַּעֲמֹד הָעָם מֵרָחֹק וּמֹשֶׁה נִגַּשׁ אֶל־הָעֲרָפֶל אֲשֶׁר־שָׁם הָאֱלֹקִים (The people stood at a distance but Moshe was drawn near to the thick darkness where G‑d was). It is interesting that the final test before receiving the Torah was to experience thick darkness—a place where the path forward would be obscured, where everything would appear distorted, a reality in which nothing would make any sense—a state of confused existence where even the ‘laws of nature’ would cease to exist. Why was this necessary, and what can we learn from this?

When we arrived at Har Sinai, we were very excited, and we enthusiastically said (Shemot 19:8): כֹּל אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּר יְיָ נַעֲשֶׂה (All that Hashem has spoken, we will do). But it is also written (Shemot 19:17): וַיּוֹצֵא מֹשֶׁה אֶת־הָעָם לִקְרַאת הָאֱלֹקִים מִן־הַמַּחֲנֶה וַיִּתְיַצְּבוּ בְּתַחְתִּית הָהָר (Moshe took the people from the camp to meet G‑d, and they stood in the tachtit of the mountain). Literally, this means that they stood at the foot of the mountain, but our Sages learned something much deeper about what was really going on (Avodah Zarah 2b): ואמר רב דימי בר חמא מלמד שכפה הקב"ה הר כגיגית על ישראל ואמר להם אם אתם מקבלין את התורה מוטב ואם לאו שם תהא קבורתכם (Rav Dimi bar Chama said that [the word tachtit] teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, overturned the mountain like a barrel over Yisrael and said to them, If you accept the Torah, great! But if not, there [under the mountain], will be your burial). In other words, the Torah was accepted only through an aspect of coercion. (And as is known, it wasn’t until the days of Mordechai and Ester that we accepted the Torah completely out of love.) So, on the one hand, we were very enthusiastic, excited and intent on doing everything Hashem said, but on the other hand, we were hesitant and afraid. How can we explain this contradiction?

Let’s bring up another contradictory idea. The verse (20:18) said that G‑d was in the thick darkness [הָעֲרָפֶל, ha-arafel]. What was G‑d doing in the darkness? Isn’t the Torah light (Mishlei 6:23)? And if Moshe was going to receive the Torah, why was he entering into the darkness to receive it? Although it seems bizarre and paradoxical, both are equally valid realities: the Torah is light and Hashem dwells in the darkness. As the Baal Ha-Turim points out on that verse, the gematria for הָעֲרָפֶל is identical to the gematria for the שכינה [Shechinah, the Divine Presence], i.e. 385. This is not coincidental. This is hidden a secret in the Torah that teaches us that when Moshe was drawn near to the thick darkness, he was being drawn near to the Shechinah. The darkness was exactly where Hashem was to be found. We can also read about this perplexing truth elsewhere. For example, David ha-Melech said (Tehillim 18:12): יָשֶׁת חֹשֶׁךְ סִתְרוֹ (He made darkness His concealment). He also said (Tehillim 97:2): עָנָן וַעֲרָפֶל סְבִיבָיו (Cloud and the arafel surround Him). And Shlomo ha-Melech, at the dedication of the Beit ha-Mikdash said (Melachim Aleph 8:12): יְיָ אָמַר לִשְׁכֹּן בָּעֲרָפֶל (Hashem said [that He would] dwell in the arafel).

Instead of simplifying the matter, we now have two paradoxes! Paradox #1: the people were enthusiastic yet terrified and pulled back. Paradox #2: Hashem who is light and whose Torah is light dwells in thick darkness. Can there be a single explanation for these two apparently contradictory and paradoxical ideas?

When someone chooses to do teshuvah on some particular aspect of his life or even after chasing meaningless pursuits throughout his entire life, he often experiences something for which he was completely unprepared. His life may have been going along quite smoothly up to this point; yet, the moment he commits to walk in the ways of Hashem and to purify himself, everything seems to fall apart. He may encounter many obstacles, and life as a whole may get extraordinarily difficult, being overrun by many setbacks. He begins to wonder if Hashem is even interested in his teshuvah. After all, he may have done some terrible things, maybe even many terrible things. Perhaps Heaven is simply rejecting him, plain and simple, G‑d forbid. Such a person’s enthusiasm may wane and he may become despondent or depressed, possibly even abandoning the thoughts of teshuvah that he originally had, G‑d forbid. However, if he understood the dynamics of what was happening and that Hashem wasn’t rejecting him, he wouldn’t have come to such a state. So what is going on? Why do things like this seem to happen so often?

When we sin, we bring upon ourselves (and upon others) judgments, i.e. indictments for crimes committed against the King and His kingdom. These indictments come from the Attribute of Justice [מִדַּת הַדִּין, middat ha-din] which rightly accuses us and denounces us. Not only that, but obstacles are often set up preventing us from walking in Hashem’s ways. Why should we be permitted to waltz effortlessly into a sublime relationship with Hashem when we did what we did, defiling ourselves and ruining His world? The middat ha-din is not unfair; it is just. After all, it is written (Tehillim 37:28): כִּי יְיָ אֹהֵב מִשְׁפָּט (For Hashem loves justice).

However, there is also the Attribute of Mercy [מִדַּת הַרַחֲמִים, middat ha-rachamim] which stems from the fact that Hashem loves kindness, as it is written (Michah 7:18): כִּי־חָפֵץ חֶסֶד הוּא (For He desires chesed). So on the one hand, the Holy One, blessed be He, loves justice, yet on the other hand, He desires chesed and loves Yisrael, His beloved children, even after they sin, as it is written (Malachi 1:2): אָהַבְתִּי אֶתְכֶם אָמַר יְיָ וַאֲמַרְתֶּם בַּמָּה אֲהַבְתָּנוּ הֲלוֹא־אָח עֵשָׂו לְיַעֲק��ב נְאֻם־יְיָ וָאֹהַב אֶת־יַעֲקֹב (I have loved you, said Hashem, but you said, How have You loved us? Isn’t Esav a brother to Yaakov, declares Hashem, yet I love Yaakov).

In short, there must be din and there must be rachamim. But what’s the solution for this paradoxical situation? Can both co-exist?

The solution is that which is stated explicitly in the Zohar Ha-Kadosh (Emor 99b): וְאָף עַל גַּב דקב"ה רָחִים לֵיהּ לְדִינָא כד"א כִּי אֲנִי יְיָ אוֹהֵב מִשְׁפָּט נֶצַח רְחִימוֹי דִּבְנוֹי לְרֶחִימוּ דְּדִינָא (Even though the Holy One, blessed be He, loves din, as it says [Yeshaya 61:8], ‘For I, Hashem, love justice’, the love of his children trumps the love of din). If only we could hold this truth in the forefront of our minds constantly, imagine how much anguish and heartache we could avoid in life! Even though Hashem loves din, he loves us even more. As a result, although He doesn’t push away din, for He created it and agrees with it, and He knows that we are not worthy to drawn near to Him for the abundance of our sins, what does He do? He places his middat ha-rachamim within his middat ha-din. He hides in the midst of the darkness! He’s not rejecting us. He’s not indifferent to our teshuvah and to our efforts to draw closer to Him. It’s as if He’s playing hide and seek, and He wants us to find Him in the midst of all the so-called obstacles, as it is written (Yeshaya 55:6): דִּרְשׁוּ יְיָ בְּהִמָּצְאוֹ (Search for Hashem when He can be found). After all, the truth is that there are no such things as obstacles. They’re all just illusions, as stated explicitly in Likutei Moharan 115: כִּי בֶּאֱמֶת אֵין שׁוּם מְנִיעָה בָּעוֹלָם כְּלָל (For in truth, there is no obstacle in the world at all). Do we get it? Do we see why the so-called obstacle isn’t really an obstacle at all? It is because Hashem arranged them and hid Himself within them; therefore, they are the path to Hashem. And if they are the path to Hashem, they’re not obstacles, are they? Yes, they are challenges and difficulties, but they don’t prevent us from accessing Hashem. On the contrary, they are the very route to Hashem.

This being the case, why was Moshe the only one who was drawn into the darkness? It is because not everyone has this understanding, or even if they do ‘know it to be true’, they don’t ‘feel it to be true’. And the only one who had this knowledge, this da’at, was Moshe Rabbeinu. Therefore, he was drawn into the darkness—literally. He was compelled to enter the darkness, not for himself, but on behalf of the people, to bring the Torah out to them. Therefore, if we are to find Hashem in every situation in life, especially during the difficult times, we need da’at. That’s why it’s the first berachah of request in the Shemoneh Esrei. We need it like we need air to breathe. Without it, we’re constantly falling into the traps laid by the Sitra Achra to ensnare us. But with da’at, we can recognize the trap at the moment we encounter it, and know and feel that it’s just a test—that Hashem is there and that what He really wants is not for us to become entrapped but to draw closer to Him. It is as R' Nachman writes (L.M. 115): וּמִי שֶׁהוּא בַּר דַּעַת הוּא מִסְתַּכֵּל בְּהַמְּנִיעָה וּמוֹצֵא שָׁם הַבּוֹרֵא בָּרוּךְ הוּא (Someone who has da’at, he looks into the obstacle and finds the Creator, blessed be He, there). And if Hashem is there, then that’s where we need to go.

All of this may seem like a rather convoluted way to draw close to Hashem. Couldn’t He have designed the system another way, in a clear and direct way? He has unlimited abilities, after all. So how come He designed it in a way that seems like we’re all involved in some kind of surreal game of hide and seek? To answer that question we need to go back to the Garden. What did Adam do after he sinned? It is written (Bereshit 3:9-10):  וַיִּקְרָא יְיָ אֱלֹקִים אֶל־הָאָדָם וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ אַיֶּכָּה׃ וַיֹּאמֶר אֶת־קֹלְךָ שָׁמַעְתִּי בַּגָּן וָאִירָא כִּי־עֵירֹם אָנֹכִי וָאֵחָבֵא (Hashem G‑d called to the man and said to him, Where are you? He said, I heard Your voice in the garden, and I feared because I am naked, so I hid). Adam, i.e. we, initiated the game, not G‑d. And since we hid from G‑d, He hides from us. It is middah k’neged middah. In His infinite wisdom, G‑d knows that the only way for us to rectify this sin is to replace fear with emunah and enter into the thick darkness. Then, instead of Hashem asking us אַיֶּכָּה (Where are you?), we will ask Him אַיֶּכָּה? This is the ultimate tikkun.

May we merit to find Hashem in all of our challenges and difficulties in life and never abandon the hope of finding Him in the midst of our thick darkness.

[the-shoemaker-report]

For Men’s Eyes Only

When writing about the importance of reciting the Shema morning and evening, we often focus on the first verse that declares the oneness of G‑d, i.e. Hashem echad. However, in this article we’re going to focus on a verse in the third paragraph (Bamidbar 15:39): וְהָיָה לָכֶם לְצִיצִת וּרְאִיתֶם אֹתוֹ וּזְכַרְתֶּם אֶת־כׇּל־מִצְוֺת יְיָ וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם וְלֹא־תָתוּרוּ אַחֲרֵי לְבַבְכֶם וְאַחֲרֵי עֵינֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר־אַתֶּם זֹנִים אַחֲרֵיהֶם (And it shall be for a tzitzit for you, and you shall look at it and remember all the mitzvot of Hashem and do them; and you shall not ‘tour around’ after your heart or after your eyes which you use to commit sexual immorality). We have translated this verse rather literally in order to make plain what most English translations delicately avoid. Hashem is giving His people quite a pointed rebuke, yet do we feel any shame when we read this?

But, you may ask, is this verse supposed to be taken so literally? The Rambam, referencing the passage in the Gemara that discusses this verse (see Berachot 12b), writes the following in Mishneh Torah (Hilchot Avodah Zarah v’Chukot ha-Goyim 2:3): אַחֲרֵי לְבַבְכֶם זוֹ מִינוּת וְאַחֲרֵי עֵינֵיכֶם זוֹ זְנוּת (‘After your heart’ refers to heresy and ‘after your eyes’ refers to sexual immorality). We read essentially the same thing in Shnei Luchot ha-Brit (Torah Sh’bikhtav, Shelach, Ner Mitzvah 4): ולא תתורו אחרי לבבכם זה מינות ואחרי עיניכם זה הזנות (‘And you shall not tour around after your heart’ refers to heresy, and ‘after your eyes’ refers to sexual immorality). It was the transgression of this prohibition that led to the downfall of Shimshon ha-Gibbor. When justifying his desire to marry a Philistine woman, he said to his father (Shofetim 14:3): אוֹתָהּ קַח־לִי כִּי־הִיא יָשְׁרָה בְעֵינָי (Take her for me, for she is upright in my eyes). And for his transgression, he was judged in classic middah k’neged middah fashion (Sotah 9b): תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן שִׁמְשׁוֹן בְּעֵינָיו מָרַד...לְפִיכָךְ נִקְּרוּ פְּלִשְׁתִּים אֶת עֵינָיו שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר וַיֹּאחֲזוּהוּ פְלִשְׁתִּים וַיְנַקְּרוּ אֶת עֵינָיו (The Rabbis taught, Shimshon rebelled with his eyes…Therefore, the Philistines gouged out his eyes, as it is written [Shofetim 16:21], ‘And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes’). Admittedly, this may seem harsh based on today’s standards, but that’s not the point. We’re not here to judge Hashem. The point is for us to evaluate ourselves, and if we could just grasp even a little bit of the severity of this prohibition we would be doing well.

As we all know, there is ‘seeing’ and then there is ‘seeing’. So what kind of ‘seeing’ does our verse prohibit? We will let the reader look up the full extent of the halachot in the Shulchan Aruch, but we will bring down at least a few highlights here (Even Ha-Ezer 21): צריך אדם להתרחק מהנשים מאד מאד...ואסור...להביט ביופיה ואפילו להריח בבשמים שעליה אסור...פגע אשה בשוק אסור להלך אחריה אלא רץ ומסלקה לצדדין או לאחריו...וה��סתכל אפילו באצבע קטנה של אשה ונתכוין ליהנות ממנה כאלו נסתכל בבית התורף [פי' ערוה] שלה...ואסור...לראות שערה (A man needs to stay really, really far away from women…and it is forbidden…to gaze at her beauty, and even to smell her perfume is forbidden…if a man met a woman in the market, it is forbidden to walk behind her, rather he must run so that she is either to his side or behind him…and to gaze even at the little finger of a woman with the intent to derive pleasure from it is as if he was gazing at her genitals…and it is forbidden…to gaze at her hair). The Mishnah Berurah also writes (Orach Chaim 75:7): אבל לענין איסור הסתכלות לכו"ע המסתכל באשה אפילו באצבע קטנה כיון שמסתכל בה להנות עובר בלאו דלא תתורו אחרי עיניכם ואמרו שאפילו יש בידו תורה ומע"ט לא ינקה מדינה של גיהנם (But about the prohibition against gazing, the opinion of all poskim is that the one who gazes at even the little finger of a woman, since he is gazing at it to derive pleasure, he transgresses the negative prohibition of ‘you shall not tour around after your eyes’ [Bamidbar 15:39], and they say that even if he has a lot of Torah and good deeds to his credit, he won’t be exempt from the judgment of Gehinnom). He continues to explain that incidental seeing is not prohibited per se; however, an ‘important individual’ should be careful under all circumstances, whether incidental or deliberate. We’ll quote one final teaching from our Sages to highlight the seriousness of this prohibition (Berachot 61a): אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן אֲחוֹרֵי אֲרִי וְלֹא אֲחוֹרֵי אִשָּׁה (R' Yochanan said, ‘[A man should walk] behind a lion and not behind a woman’).

Why is gazing such a serious a matter? Rashi comments on our verse from Bamidbar 15:39: הַלֵּב וְהָעֵינַיִם הֵם מְרַגְּלִים לַגּוּף מְסַרְסְרִים לוֹ אֶת הָעֲבֵרוֹת הָעַיִן רוֹאָה וְהַלֵּב חוֹמֵד וְהַגּוּף עוֹשֶׂה אֶת הָעֲבֵרָה (The heart and the eyes are ‘spies’ for the body, pimping for it sins: the eye sees, the heart covets, and the body does the sin). And even if the rest of the body doesn’t follow through with any further action, we as B’nei Yisrael are held to a high standard and are judged as having committed sexual immorality. This is similar to the manner in which the Torah describes Reuven’s sin even though ‘all he did’ was to rearrange his father’s bed (see Bereshit 35:22 and Shabbat 55b).

Interestingly, these three steps are essentially the same three steps Chavah followed when she ate from the forbidden fruit (Bereshit 3:6): וַתֵּרֶא הָאִשָּׁה כִּי טוֹב הָעֵץ לְמַאֲכָל וְכִי תַאֲוָה־הוּא לָעֵינַיִם וְנֶחְמָד הָעֵץ לְהַשְׂכִּיל וַתִּקַּח מִפִּרְיוֹ וַתֹּאכַל (And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and a lust for the eyes, and that the tree was pleasant to make one wise, and she took from its fruit and ate). Although this verse is describing a reality in the higher world of Yetzirah where the words ‘seeing’ and ‘eating’ are not describing physical actions, the words are still valid for our fallen world of Asiyah: ‘seeing’ leads to lusting, and lusting leads to ‘eating’, which is the actualized sin. Since ‘seeing’ lies at the root of sin from the very beginning of the history of man, prudency would dictate that we ought to guard our eyes against seeing what they should not see.

How can we rectify this sin of seeing in order to derive pleasure? There are two main methods depending on the depth of one’s transgressions. At the very least, one needs to close one’s eyes when reciting the Shema and concentrate deeply on unifying Hashem’s names: Adon-i [א­‑ד‑נ‑י], the name associated with the Shechinah and the sefirah of Malchut, and Havayah [י‑ה‑ו‑ה], the name associated with the six sefirot of Ze’ir Anpin. R' Nachman teaches in Likutei Moharan 36:3: לְפִיכָךְ כְּשֶׁקּוֹרִין פָּסוּק רִאשׁוֹן שֶׁל קְרִיאַת־שְׁמַע צָרִיךְ לְהַעֲצִים אֶת עֵינָיו בִּבְחִינַת "עוּלִימְתָּא שַׁפִּירְתָּא דְּלֵית לָהּ עֵינִין" כִּי תִּקּוּן שֶׁל הִרְהוּרֵי זְנוּת שֶׁבָּא לָאָדָם שֶׁיֹּאמַר שְׁמַע וּבָרוּךְ שֵׁם (Therefore, when we read the first verse of the Shema, it is necessary to close one’s eyes in the aspect of ‘a beautiful maiden who has no eyes’, because the tikkun for thoughts of sexual immorality that come upon a man is to recite Shema etc. and Baruch Shem etc.). The deeper one concentrates while accepting upon himself the yoke of the kingship of G‑d, the more he disconnects himself from the klipah of the Sitra Achra, i.e. from the zivug of the Samech-Mem, and to attach himself to G‑d in the splendor of kedushah, as it is written (Tehillim 29:2): הָבוּ לַיְיָ כְּבוֹד שְׁמוֹ הִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לַיְיָ בְּהַדְרַת־קֹדֶשׁ (Give to Hashem the honor due His name, bow to Hashem in the splendor of holiness). This is the meaning of the ‘beautiful maiden who has no eyes’. The beautiful maiden is the Shechinah or Knesset Yisrael, the zivug of the Holy One of Yisrael, blessed be He. Having ‘no eyes’ means that she is not driven at all by the lusts that come via the eyes.

However, if someone routinely transgresses in this area, this level of rectification will not be sufficient to pull him out from the impurity into which he has fallen. Rather, he will need more potent medicine. And what is that medicine? The healing property of one’s own heartfelt tears of remorse and shame (L.M. 36:4): אֲבָל אִם הוּא חַס וְשָׁלוֹם רָגִיל בְּהִרְהוּר שֶׁל הַתַּאֲוָה הַכְּלָלִיּוּת רַחֲמָנָא לִצְלָן וְאֵינוֹ יָכוֹל לְהַפְרִיד מִמֶּנָּה אֲזַי צָרִיךְ גַּם כֵּן לְהוֹרִיד דְּמָעוֹת בִּשְׁעַת קַבָּלַת מַלְכוּת שָׁמַיִם (However, if he, G‑d forbid, regularly has thoughts relating to this all-encompassing lust, Rachmana litzan, and he can’t separate himself from it, then he needs to shed tears at the time that he is accepting the kingship of Heaven). Considering how difficult it is to shed tears these days, we might want to make the extra effort to break this lust once and for all.

And this is the deep secret found in the Torah’s description of what was happening among the faithful Jews during the time when Zimri was engaging in adultery with Kozbi (Bamidbar 25:6): וְהִנֵּה אִישׁ מִבְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בָּא וַיַּקְרֵב אֶל־אֶחָיו אֶת־הַמִּדְיָנִית לְעֵינֵי מֹשֶׁה וּלְעֵינֵי כׇּל־עֲדַת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל וְהֵמָּה בֹכִים פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד (And behold, a man [Zimri ben Salu] from B’nei Yisrael came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman [Kozbi bat Tzur] in the presence of Moshe and in the presence of the whole congregation of B’nei Yisrael, and they were crying at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting). What is the meaning of this crying? Targum Yonatan tells us: וְאִינוּן בַּכְיַין וְקַרְיַין שְׁמַע (They cried and recited the Shema). It is as R' Nachman explains (L.M. 36:4): וְזֶה לֹא עָשׂוּ אֶלָּא כְּדֵי לְהִנָּצֵל מֵהִרְהוּר שֶׁל אִשָּׁה זוֹנָה שֶׁהִיא קְלִפָּה הַקּוֹדֶמֶת לַפְּרִי וְלָבוֹא לְהִתְגַּלּוּת הַתּוֹרָה (They cried to be saved from [lustful] thoughts instigated by the adulterous woman [i.e. the zivug of the Samech-Mem] who is the peel [klipah] that precedes the fruit, in order to come to the revelation of Torah).

If you missed it, read that again. The greater the test, the greater the reward when we pass it. It is not impossible; G‑d doesn’t command the impossible. True, it may be difficult, especially in our generation where forbidden sights assault us from all directions, but it is not impossible. After all, do we not believe the words of our Sages? They taught (Shabbat 104a): בָּא לִיטָּהֵר מְסַיְּיעִים אוֹתוֹ (One who comes to become purified, they [Heaven] assist him).

Three times a day we pray וְתֶחֱזֶינָה עֵינֵינוּ בְּשׁוּבְךָ לְצִיּוֹן בְּרַחֲמִים (And may our eyes see Your return to Tzion in mercy). Do we think that the same eyes that gaze at that which is forbidden are going to merit seeing Hashem’s return? Can the impure have a share in the pure? Rather, we should work on fulfilling what David ha-Melech trained himself to do (Tehillim 16:8): שִׁוִּיתִי יְיָ לְנֶגְדִּי תָמִיד (I constantly place י‑ה‑ו‑ה before me). Eyes that picture the name of Hashem throughout the day just might be eyes that merit seeing His return.

In conclusion, the complete revelation of Mashiach ben David is near, and we are at the cusp of receiving new revelations of Torah, even beyond that which Moshe brought down from Mt. Sinai with the first set of tablets. Avert your gaze, men. There is an old adage: curiosity killed the cat. It has the power to kill us too if we don’t break the spirit of curiosity that constantly incites our eyes to ‘tour around’. Instead, let’s gaze into a Gemara. There’s plenty there about which to be curious.

[the-shoemaker-report]

War or Peace: It’s Our Choice

On June 10, 1963, President John F. Kennedy delivered a commencement address at American University in Washington, D.C. that many historians believe helped seal his fate in Dealey Plaza on that infamous day of November 22 later that year. What did he say that was so unacceptable and inappropriate that it may have fueled the conspiracy to assassinate him in broad daylight less than six months later?

This is what he said: “I have, therefore, chosen this time and this place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived—yet it is the most important topic on earth: world peace. What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children—not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women—not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.”

President Kennedy made three main points in that speech. First, he challenged the notion that war is inevitable. Second, he wanted to initiate a debate on his nation’s attitude toward the Soviet Union. Third, he sought to reexamine his nation’s attitude toward the Cold War in general. His vision for world peace was profoundly simple: seek not power over others, rather seek to empower others. In short, he was laying down the gauntlet and declaring war on his own nation’s military-industrial complex that his predecessor, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned about in his Farewell Address to the American people a year and a half earlier on January 17, 1961. Eisenhower said the following: “This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence—economic, political, even spiritual—is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.”

There are certain truths that are so well-guarded that few dare speak openly of them. And this is one of them—that war is without a doubt the most lucrative business and the most effective mechanism for societal engineering that men of influence, wealth, power and unbridled lust have ever come up with. Therefore, any influential individual who is perceived as threatening that institution becomes a target.

Major General Smedley Butler was a 34-year career Marine officer who fought in numerous wars including the Philippine-American War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Mexican Revolution and World War I. At the time of his death in 1940, he was the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. So when it came to the topic of war, we would do well to pay attention to what he had learned. And what was that? He wrote it all down in a short book called “War is a Racket” which opens with these words: “War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small ‘inside’ group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.”

It is no different today. Whether we are dealing with local riots, civil wars, battles between nations, or wars among alliances of nations, it is always the same. It makes no difference. Wars are rarely accidental events. Rather, they are planned (oftentimes many years in advance) and instigated by the psychopaths at the expense of the masses.

But where do wars really come from? They come from lust—lust for power, lust for money, and lust for licentiousness. Therefore, if we really want to experience ‘peace in our time’ let alone ‘peace for all time’ as Kennedy envisioned, we need to break our own lusts and do all we can to teach others how they can break theirs. There is no other way and there are no shortcuts. And that is why war is so common (but not inevitable, as Kennedy correctly understood) and why peace is so elusive. War is so common because we all have lusts (with the exception of the Mashiach who will have succeeded in breaking all of his lusts). And peace is so elusive because the only way for peace to emerge in this world is for people to break their own lusts—and that isn’t so easy. It takes tremendous effort.

The existence of separation or division [פִּרוּד, pirud] presents us with the opportunity for either war or peace. A famous Midrash relates an ancient disagreement about which of Hashem’s attributes should be employed to create the world, gevurah [strict justice] or chesed [kindness]. With gevurah, the slightest transgression would be met with instantaneous annihilation, and with chesed, everything would be permitted and chaos would reign. Of course, both forces are needed but the debate centered on which would be more fundamental. It came out that Hashem created the world through chesed, as it is written in Tehillim 89:3: עוֹלָם חֶסֶד יִבָּנֶה (The world will be built on chesed). But gevurah would still exist because it plays an important role. Because these two opposing forces or attributes would coexist, harmony, i.e. peace, would need to be created between them. This peace is in the attribute of tiferet [splendor, beauty, truth] which is a force (or light) which contains chesed and gevurah. By way of analogy, if you heard someone banging cymbals together really loudly and then heard someone else playing the flute, you might think to yourself that there is no way for these two sounds to coexist. However, if you went to the symphony hall and experienced the finale of Tchaikovsky’s fourth symphony for yourself, you would realize that you were wrong. By experiencing the reality, you would appreciate the true meaning of peace, because peace is the harmonious connection between two opposing forces as it is taught in Likutei Moharan 80: וּמַה הוּא הַשָּׁלוֹם? שֶׁמְּחַבֵּר תְּרֵי הֲפָכִים  (And what is peace? It is that which connects two opposites).

Therefore, mankind, individually and collectively, is faced with an existential question. What do we do with pirud (which was necessary for the creation of the world and continues to be necessary for its existence)? If we allow lusts to rule within us, then peace will elude us and the pirud will continue (and expand). On the other hand, if we learn to rid ourselves of lusts, then we will bring harmony or unity to the worlds while allowing both sides to express themselves. This is why peace (or the lack thereof) emerges from within us (L.M. 33:1). Our job is to seek and pursue peace (Tehillim 34:14). This ought to be our primary objective in life, for everything else depends on it.

When we learn G‑d’s ways, we often come up against a very common roadblock. Our heads may acknowledge truth but our hearts lag behind, seemingly incapable of feeling or actualizing what the head knows. This is why the verse in the Shema (Devarim 6:5) states that we are to love Hashem with all of our heart (and soul and resources). Loving Hashem with one’s mind isn’t even mentioned. Getting the heart engaged is the real challenge for creating peace. For example, we may know that it is inappropriate and counterproductive to harbor a grudge against another Jew, but it’s another matter altogether to materialize that truth by rooting out the grudge totally. Or perhaps we may know that Hashem controls our external world for our good, but it’s another matter altogether to feel happy about what happens to us all the time. But when we make peace between our head (what we know) and our heart (what we feel) through prayer, we will experience not only internal peace but external peace, i.e. peace will spread beyond ourselves. And if we all learn to do it, then war will be abolished and we will experience enduring and everlasting world peace, i.e. ‘peace in our time’ and ‘peace for all time’.

This is the meaning of this publication’s tagline, ‘Connecting Worlds.’ The worlds that we all need to connect start within ourselves, the world of the head and the world of the heart. Externally, they are the world of one person, such as a husband and the world of another person, such as a wife, or the world of a father and the world of a son, etc. Beyond that, they are the world of one family and the world of another family, and then the world of one community and the world of another community, and then the world of one nation or people and the world of another nation or people, etc. On an even larger scale, each of us has a role in connecting the upper worlds with the lower worlds. Fundamentally, to connect worlds is to build universal peace—peace everywhere and peace at every level, as it is written (Yeshayah 9:6): לְמַרְבֵּה הַמִּשְׂרָה וּלְשָׁלוֹם אֵין־קֵץ (There will be no end to the abundance of governance and peace).

Creating peace is not a spectator sport. It requires each one of us to enter the arena. We must experience the challenge, not just think or talk about it. How come? It is because experience transcends even our best and most perfect thoughts. For example, someone can describe to you the sublime beauty of that same Tchaikovsky symphony that we mentioned earlier, but you will never be able to think or talk about it in any meaningful way unless you experience it yourself. Go to the symphony hall and experience the beauty of peace.

In conclusion, connecting worlds means materializing the meaning of ה' אחד (Hashem is one) in everything. It shouldn’t be something we say just during Shacharit or Ma’ariv and then go about our business the rest of the day as if it has no meaning to us, G‑d forbid. Hashem echad is the essence of our lives, to believe it and to conduct ourselves in such a way as to reflect that belief. And that is why it is written (Zecharyah 14:9): וְהָיָה יְיָ לְמֶלֶךְ עַל־כׇּל־הָאָרֶץ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִהְיֶה יְיָ אֶחָד וּשְׁמוֹ אֶחָד (And Hashem will be king over all the earth, in that day Hashem will be one and His name one). May we merit to experience the fulfillment of this prophecy speedily in our days. Amen, selah.

[the-shoemaker-report]

Recipe for Consistent Growth

When you hear the word teshuvah, what do you think about? Perhaps the first ideas to come to mind are that it means to repent or to return to Hashem and His ways. We could add the notion of moving from being far away to being closer to Hashem. Maybe it is associated with becoming ‘more religious’ or ‘more observant’ of mitzvot. While these may all be true, they seem just a little bit vague. In other words, what exactly does it mean to ‘return’ to Hashem or to move ‘closer to’ Hashem or to become more religious? And what does being more observant of mitzvot mean? There’s a lot of mitzvot, so which mitzvot might we be thinking about? Are there particular mitzvot which epitomize teshuvah more than others? If we wanted to, we could create a list of hundreds of things to include in doing teshuvah. But that’s not the point. We want to define the most important features of teshuvah, because if we know what sits at the top of the hierarchy, then everything could more easily flow from there. Instead of focusing on particular details (which may actually result in just the opposite of its intended purpose, G‑d forbid), we want to focus on the overriding principles. What are they? Do you know?

We need to distinguish between conditions and outcomes. The conditions are those attributes that need to be in place even before we do anything. Think of the conditions as the fuel in the tank. Without the fuel, we’re not going anywhere. The outcomes are the specific actions that we can do in a practical sense to materialize teshuvah, i.e. to get to a destination.

Let’s start with the conditions. It is written in Yeshayahu 6:9-10: וַיֹּאמֶר לֵךְ וְאָמַרְתָּ לָעָם הַזֶּה שִׁמְעוּ שָׁמוֹעַ וְאַל־תָּבִינוּ וּרְאוּ רָאוֹ וְאַל־תֵּדָעוּ׃ הַשְׁמֵן לֵב־הָעָם הַזֶּה וְאׇזְנָיו הַכְבֵּד וְעֵינָיו הָשַׁע פֶּן־יִרְאֶה בְעֵינָיו וּבְאׇזְנָיו יִשְׁמָע וּלְבָבוֹ יָבִין וָשָׁב וְרָפָא לוֹ (And He said, “Go and speak to this nation, ‘Surely you hear, but you do not understand, and surely you see, but you do not know.’ The heart of the nation is fat, its ears are heavy, and its eyes are sealed, lest it see with its eyes, hear with its ears and understand with its heart, so that it will return [do teshuvah] and be healed”). We see here the three conditions for teshuvah: seeing, hearing, and understanding, i.e. internalizing that which is seen and heard in one’s heart. This is elucidated in Likutei Eitzot: Teshuvah 8: כִּי צָרִיךְ הָאָדָם לָשׂוּם עֵינוֹ וְלִבּוֹ הֵיטֵב עַל דְּרָכָיו וּלְהִסְתַּכֵּל עַל תַּכְלִיתוֹ הַנִּצְחִי וּלְיַשֵּׁב אֶת עַצְמוֹ הֵיטֵב הֵיטֵב וְלִשְׁמֹעַ הֵיטֵב כָּל דִּבְרֵי רַבּוֹתֵינוּ הַקְּדוֹשִׁים וְאָז יִזְכֶּה לִתְשׁוּבָה בֶּאֱמֶת (A person needs to focus his eyes and his heart really well on his ways, and fix his gaze on his ultimate purpose and settle himself really well [in this], and pay attention to all of the words of our holy Sages, and then he shall truly merit teshuvah). Seeing relates to having the ultimate purpose of one’s existence constantly in mind, hearing relates to paying close attention to the Torah, whether written or oral, i.e. the words of our Sages, and understanding relates to feeling these truths in one’s heart. So even if you’re already a ‘religious Jew’ and consider yourself well-versed in Torah and in the observance of mitzvot, you can still climb to even higher levels. When faced with the Eternal Infinite, all progress we may think we have made to date is not even a drop in the bucket.

Now that we have outlined briefly the three ‘internal’ conditions for doing teshuvah, we can now move on to the outcomes, the practical, i.e. ‘external’, application of these conditions. There are only two and we read about them in the berachah of teshuvah in the Shemoneh Esreh: הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ אָבִינוּ לְתוֹרָתֶךָ וְקָרְבֵנוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ לַעֲבוֹדָתֶךָ וְהַחֲזִירֵנוּ בִּתְשׁוּבָה שְׁלֵמָה לְפָנֶיךָ: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ הָרוֹצֶה בִּתְשׁוּבָה (Cause us to return, our Father, to Your Torah, and bring us near, our King, to Your service, and bring us back in complete teshuvah before You: Blessed are You Hashem, Who wants teshuvah). The practical outcomes that we must ‘do’ to put into effect the thoughts and feelings of teshuvah are to learn the Torah and to serve Him. And where does serving Hashem take place? It is written (Devarim 11:13): וְהָיָה אִם־שָׁמֹעַ תִּשְׁמְעוּ אֶל־מִצְוֺתַי אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוֶּה אֶתְכֶם הַיּוֹם לְאַהֲבָה אֶת־יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם וּלְעׇבְדוֹ בְּכׇל־לְבַבְכֶם וּבְכׇל־נַפְשְׁכֶם (And if you will truly pay attention to My mitzvot which I command you today, to love Hashem your G‑d and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul…). So we see that ‘service’ takes place in the heart and soul of every Jew. Commenting on that verse, the Gemara asks (Ta’anit 2a): אֵיזוֹ הִיא עֲבוֹדָה שֶׁהִיא בַּלֵּב הֱוֵי אוֹמֵר זוֹ תְּפִלָּה (Which is the service that is ‘in the heart’? You must say it is tefillah [prayer]). And as is known, when our Sages spoke about tefillah, they were referring to the Shemoneh Esreh.

Why does this berachah start off by calling Hashem ‘Father’ and then switch to ‘King’? It’s not so unusual. After all, we refer to Hashem as both ‘Father’ and ‘King’ in many other prayers, such as Avinu Malkeinu for example. But notice the association of each in this particular berachah. ‘Father’ is associated with learning Torah, and ‘King’ is associated with tefillah. We learn the Torah of our Father, but pray to our King. We’ll return to this point further on.

But don’t we already learn Torah and pray the Shemoneh Esreh? Let’s assume that we do, but to be a ba’al teshuvah, i.e. a Master at Repentance, we need to be involved in Torah more than whatever we are currently doing now, and we need to pray with greater focus and concentration [kavanah] than whatever we are managing currently. There’s always room for growth. And if we focus on improving in just these two areas, we will really become a ba’al teshuvah. Whether we were frum from birth or turned to Hashem later in life, it makes no difference. Unless you’re a tzaddik gamur [a completely religious individual], then you should be striving to become a ‘ba’al’ teshuvah every day of your life, the key word being ‘ba’al’—a master, a professional, an expert. Don’t let yourself fall into the trap—and if you’ve already fallen in, climb out quickly—of thinking like this: “I’ve already got a nice seder of learning Torah and I’m already davening three times a day. I’m already observant, so I don’t need to do teshuvah. That’s for non-religious people. In addition, I’ve got other things to do. I’ve got a life to live. What? You expect me to study Torah in all of my spare time and to concentrate with perfect focus on every letter and word of tefillah? Nobody can do that. Be realistic.” This is a dangerous position to hold because to think that we have arrived is tantamount to proclaiming our demise, G‑d forbid. Again, when faced with the Eternal Infinite, i.e. the Ein Sof, we haven’t even begun!

Perhaps you’ve already made the connection to the berachah immediately preceding the berachah of teshuvah, the berachah requesting chochmah, binah and da’at [nusach Sephard]: אַתָּה חוֹנֵן לְאָדָם דַּעַת וּמְלַמֵּד לֶאֱנוֹשׁ בִּינָה חָנֵּנוּ מֵאִתְּךָ חָכְמָה בִּינָה וָדָּעַת בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ חוֹנֵן הַדָּעַת (You graciously grant da’at to man [Adam] and teach binah to man [enosh]; Graciously grant us from Yourself chochmah, binah and da’at: Blessed are You Hashem, Gracious Giver of da’at). For those who haven’t made the connection yet, what is it? These three ‘mental faculties’ that are mentioned here correspond to the three conditions upon which complete teshuvah is established—seeing with the eyes, hearing with the ears and internalizing with the heart. So isn’t this beautiful? This explains why this berachah immediately precedes the berachah for teshuvah. We are asking Hashem to bestow upon us these three ‘mental faculties’ so that we will be able to do teshuvah properly.

But what’s the connection between learning Torah and tefillah? Why are these activities the two ‘external’ outcomes that define complete teshuvah? The answer is given in the very first sentence of the very first teaching in Likutei Moharan (L.M. 1:1): דַּע כִּי עַל יְדֵי הַתּוֹרָה נִתְקַבְּלִים כָּל הַתְּפִלּוֹת וְכָל הַבַּקָּשׁוֹת שֶׁאָנוּ מְבַקְּשִׁים וּמִתְפַּלְּלִים (Know! By means of the Torah, all the tefillot and all the requests which we request and pray are accepted). Surprising? Maybe initially, but it makes perfectly good sense. Think of the audacity of someone who dares to approach the King with petitions, but never (or rarely) ever bothers to study his Father’s teachings. Why should the King accept his requests? If he doesn’t accept the Father’s words, why should the King accept his words? (Of course, the Father and the King are one and the same.) Isn’t it just an aspect of middah k’neged middah? As we have written in many articles to date, the entire course of the world is governed by middah k’neged middah. Torah is Hashem speaking to us; tefillah is us speaking to Hashem. And these two activities establish the foundation for a truly meaningful relationship.

For balance, stability and growth, G‑d gave us two legs to stand on. By way of analogy, we could say that Torah and tefillah are like our two legs. We need both and we need them equally strong. Some of us are very strong in Torah, but very weak, G‑d forbid, when it comes to prayer. Likewise, others are very strong at prayer, but very weak, G‑d forbid, in learning Torah. Like any athlete, if you want to improve, you have to strengthen the weakest link. In our case, there are only two links, so it shouldn’t be too complicated to figure out which one is the weaker one. Take a little time to think about it and you’ll probably figure it out quickly enough. At first, spend more time strengthening the weaker leg, and then when you get it up to par, continue strengthening both equally.

In summary, instead of trying to do a thousand things at once, focus on the three conditions and the two outcomes. Pray to Hashem that you would be given eyes to see and ears to hear, that you would be given a heart to internalize what you know, and that you would be able to keep the eternal purpose of your life in mind throughout the day (and night). By the way, these are all really great things to focus on during hitbodedut. Then follow through, i.e. work on improving your learning of Torah and your concentration during Shemoneh Esreh. Man is like a tree (Tehillim 1:3), so allow your growth to happen naturally, organically. Don’t try to force it. You can’t force a tree to grow faster by beating it, screaming at it, shaming it, over-fertilizing it or dumping tons and tons of water on it. On the contrary, those things will either stunt its growth or, G‑d forbid, kill it altogether. Go organic. That’s the way to grow!

[the-shoemaker-report]

Finding Your Shidduch: Rectifying Adam

This is the third article in our series focused on finding one’s zivug in today’s world. To recap, the first article explained that the root of the problem is related to the widespread difficulty that [young] men today have in being shomer brit. When we cause damage to our brit (which corresponds to the sefirah of yesod in this world of Asiyah) we cause a corresponding damage in the higher worlds (all the way up to the sefirah of yesod in the world of Atzilut). This damage causes a separation between the Holy One, blessed be He, and His zivug, i.e. the Shechinah. This disconnection in the lights of the higher worlds leads to catastrophic consequences in all of the lower worlds, one of which, in true middah k’neged middah fashion, is that a man loses his true zivug. The second article explained that the best way to rectify this problem (in addition to the need to cease causing further damage to the sefirah of yesod) is by accepting humiliation and disgrace with love, i.e. being silent in words and quiet in spirit. How does it work? When we realize that Hashem is the One responsible for bringing the disgrace upon us but He does it through another person (usually someone whom we think is the least qualified for this holy mission), and we actually feel ashamed of being disgraced by Hashem because we disgraced Him and His Shechinah, then our silence becomes the natural response. Accepting this judgment from Hashem repairs the damage caused in the higher worlds by our sin of failing to be shomer brit in the first place.

As we learned previously, the Sitra Achra receives its life force from the blood [דָּם, dam] on the left side of our heart. By being silent in the face of disgrace, we drain that blood by transforming it into דֹם [dom, silence], thus weakening the Yetzer ha-Ra that constantly seeks to trip us up. As Shimon the son of Rabban Gamliel used to say (Pirkei Avot 1:17): כָּל יָמַי גָּדַלְתִּי בֵין הַחֲכָמִים וְלֹא מָצָאתִי לַגּוּף טוֹב אֶלָּא שְׁתִיקָה (I grew up my whole life among the Sages and I never found anything better for the body than silence). Silence is the key to rectifying the Supernal lights in the upper worlds, i.e. the 10 sefirot which make up the Supernal אָדָם [Adam] in the world of Atzilut. It leads to the re-creation (or ‘rectification’) of Adam in the image of G‑d, and when Adam is re-created, he is re-created together with Chavah, allowing for his reunification with his soul-mate, his true zivug. Let’s explore this more deeply.

The topic of sefirot and heavenly lights is abstract, but we can bring it within our reach by focusing on one letter, the aleph, א, the first letter of the aleph-bet. This works because each of the 10 Supernal lights, i.e. sefirot, are contained in a compact form within the Supernal א; therefore, by focusing on how these 10 lights become rectified in the א, we can understand how silence re-creates the Supernal Adam. In short, when the א is rectified in the merit of דֹם [dom, silence], it can be added to the דָּם [dam, blood] to form "א‑דם" [Adam], and once that happens one merits to find his Chavah. (This article is adapted from Likutei Moharan 6:5. The interested reader is encouraged to study further there.)

Let’s look carefully at the structure of the א. The א can be divided into three parts: the lower left leg (which resembles an upside down yud, י), an upper right head (which resembles a regular yud, י) and a dividing diagonal (which can be compared to a vav, ו, on an angle).

What does the lower left leg of the א represent? When David ha-Melech expressed the essence of his existence with his famous words (Tehillim 109:4) וַאֲנִי תְפִלָּה (And I am prayer), he was declaring that he epitomized the sefirah of malchut, the “empty” sefirah that has no light in and of itself. It is similar to a female’s womb— empty on its own and incapable of producing a child without impregnation from the male. What malchut receives, it receives from the sefirah of yesod. To put it another way, David’s words express the essence of bitul or self-nullification, for אני [ani, I] are the same letters as אין [ein, nothingness]. Not only is bitul the attribute that makes prayer so effective, it is also the attribute needed to be capable of responding with silence in the face of disgrace. Silence indicates acceptance of G-d’s decree. It demonstrates our understanding that we deserve what happened and that it is really for our good. This is the aspect of the lower left leg, i.e. the upside down י (gematria of 10 as malchut is the 10thsefirah from the top down). In short, through silence and self-nullification, we rectify the sefirah of malchut, the lowest of the ten sefirot and begin the process of rectifying the Supernal א.

The upper right י of the א corresponds to keter. Like malchut, it is also likened to the numerical 10 because it is the 10thsefirah from the bottom up. Alternatively, since all sefirot unfold from this uppermost sefirah of keter, it actually includes all 10. Now, as we have explained before, keter is like the crown on the top of the head. It precedes the brain—thoughts and understanding—for it is the seat of ‘will’ or ‘desire’, which precede these capabilities. It is also the seat of honor [kavod]. Therefore, by being silent, we take off our crown, which means that we relinquish our will and accept the Will of the Holy One, blessed be He. Through this, we merit having a Divine kavod bestowed on us, which is the true aspect of keter. In short, by accepting the Will of Hashem, resisting the temptation to defend our own kavod, and responding to disgrace with silence, we rectify the sefirah of keter.

What is the ו which hangs in the middle between the lower י of malchut and the upper י of keter? The letter ו has the gematria of 6, which corresponds to the six fundamental attributes: chesed, gevurah, tiferet, netzach, hod and yesod. Together, these six form a spiritual body called ze’ir anpin. It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss this idea in detail. What we need to appreciate now is that these six form an integrated whole that function together, similar to how the main parts of a man’s body (below the head)—right arm, left arm, torso, right leg, left leg and the male organ—function together as an integrated whole. As is known, David ha-Melech mentions these six along together with malchut in a single verse (Divrei ha-Yamin Aleph 29:11): לְךָ יְיָ הַגְּדֻלָּה וְהַגְּבוּרָה וְהַתִּפְאֶרֶת וְהַנֵּצַח וְהַהוֹד כִּי־כֹל בַּשָּׁמַיִם וּבָאָרֶץ (Yours, Hashem, are the greatness [chesed is sometimes called gedulah] and the gevurah and the tiferet and the netzach and the hod; indeed, everything that is in heaven [yesod] and earth [malchut]). Why does ‘everything that is in heaven’ refer to yesod and ‘earth’ refer to malchut? To simplify a complex topic, the heavenly lights of chesed, gevurah, tiferet, netzach and hod funnel down into yesod, the lowest of the six sefirot of ze’ir anpin, and it is from yesod and only from yesod that these lights enter malchut through a spiritual process similar to impregnation. Therefore, the ‘male’ sefirah of yesod corresponds to ‘heaven’ or sky (even as rain comes down from the sky) while the ‘female’ sefirah of malchut corresponds to ‘earth’ (which can then produce its ‘fruit’ in response to the rain). Keep in mind that the entire purpose of creation is to enable man to experience the heavenly light from the Ein Sof down here below, i.e. on earth. So this ו in the middle of the א represents these six attributes, corresponding to heaven or sky, which unfold the light from keter and channel it down into malchut.

But what does this have to do with being silent in the face of disgrace? To answer that question, we need to know why heaven, i.e. the middle ו of the aleph, is called שָּׁמַיִם [shamayim]. The Gemara explains (Chagigah 12a): מַאי שָׁמַיִם אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹסֵי בַּר חֲנִינָא שֶׁשָּׁם מַיִם בְּמַתְנִיתָא תָּנָא אֵשׁ וּמַיִם מְלַמֵּד שֶׁהֱבִיאָן הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וּטְרָפָן זֶה בָּזֶה וְעָשָׂה מֵהֶן רָקִיעַ (What is shamayim? R' Yosi bar Chanina said that ‘there is water’ [sham mayim]. It was taught in a Baraita, fire and water [eish u’mayim], to teach that the Holy One, blessed be He, brought them together and combined them to each other and made from them sky [rakia]). Since we are not dealing here with the physical world, what does ‘heaven’ being a combination of ‘fire and water’ really mean? Our Sages are speaking about the lights that come down from keter into ze’ir anpin. Fire corresponds to the light on the ‘left’, i.e. gevurah—judgment, constriction, strictness. Water corresponds to the light on the ‘right’, i.e. chesed—kindness, loving, giving. Fire is red; water is clear or ‘white’. Fire represents blood while water represents its absence. In short, the ו, which represents ‘heaven’, which represents the six sefirot which make up ze’ir anpin, corresponds to the embarrassment or feelings of shame that a man of truth experiences when he hears his disgrace. They are an aspect of the different hues of color that appear on our face, from being blushed with red to being made pale.

If you’ve been keeping track, we have accounted for 8 of the 10 sefirot which comprise the image of G-d in which the first Adam was made. We have the will and the body, but no head yet. Therefore, we need Adam’s brains. If we look closely, we’ll notice that the י is itself composed of three parts: the crown that points upward, a horizontal portion and the lower portion that hangs down. The upper crown that points up is the actual keter itself, highest above all and beyond comprehension and understanding. Extending out and to the right of that is the horizontal portion which corresponds to chochmah [right brain], and finally, extending from that and somewhat angling to the left is the lower portion which corresponds to binah [left brain].

We have now accounted for all 10 sefirot which comprise the image of G-d with which Adam was created, as it is written (Bereshit 1:27): וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹקִים אֶת־הָאָדָם בְּצַלְמוֹ בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹקִים בָּרָא אֹתוֹ זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה בָּרָא אֹתָם (And G-d created the Adam in His image, in the image of G‑d He created him, male and female, He created them). As we have explained above, the Supernal Adam, which is the image of G‑d, is composed of male (ze’ir anpin) and female (malchut) aspects. In summary, this is how to solve the shidduch crisis in the orthodox Jewish world. When a man accepts the decree of Hashem by responding to insults and disgrace with loving silence [דֹם, dom], he builds all of the heavenly lights contained in the Supernal א. This rectified א then combines with the dalet, ד, and mem sofit, ם, of דָּם [dam, blood] to form אָדָם [Adam]. Even though it requires dedicated and consistent effort, the good news is that since Adam was created together with his zivug, when a man merits to be re-created in the aspect of Adam ha-Rishon, he merits to be with reunited with his Supernal soul-mate, his Chavah, his true zivug.

[the-shoemaker-report]

Finding Your Shidduch: Splitting the Sea and Disgrace

In last week’s article, we examined the true reason behind the shidduch crisis in the orthodox Jewish world. With G‑d’s help, we will now begin to lay out the path that a young man can take in order to cleanse his way, thereby meriting to marry his zivug and having her be an ezer to him and not, G‑d forbid, k’negedo.

It is taught in the Gemara (Sotah 2a): אָמַר רַבָּה בַּר בַּר חָנָה אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן וְקָשִׁין לְזַוְּוגָן כִּקְרִיעַת יַם סוּף שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר אֱלֹקִים מוֹשִׁיב יְחִידִים בַּיְתָה מוֹצִיא אֲסִירִים בַּכּוֹשָׁרוֹת (Rabbah bar bar Chanah said in the name of R' Yochanan, Making a match is as difficult as splitting the Yam Suf, as it says [Tehillim 68:7], ‘G‑d settles [unmarried] individuals in a [married] house; He releases those bound in fetters’). Why is pairing a man with his zivug so difficult a thing that it is compared to the miracle of splitting the sea? It is as we explained in last week’s article, i.e. that a young man separates himself from his own zivug when he fails to be shomer brit, thus preventing Hashem, as it were, from making the match. However, in this article, we want to focus on a different question: What merit did b’nei Yisrael possess to warrant such an open miracle? Moshe Rabbeinu told the people prior to splitting the sea (Shemot 14:14): יְיָ יִלָּחֵם לָכֶם וְאַתֶּם תַּחֲרִשׁוּן (Hashem will make war for you and you shall be quiet). In other words, in the merit of being silent, Hashem will fight for you and you will be saved from Pharaoh and his attacking army. Since R' Yochanan compared splitting the sea to matchmaking, the same merit is needed for both kinds of miracles. Therefore, for a young man to merit having his impenetrable barrier of bachelorhood split, thus saving him from the forces of the Evil Inclination [Yetzer ha-Ra] that constantly attack him and prevent him from reaching his personal salvation, he needs to learn the art of silence. But silence in the face of what?

What is the essence of teshuvah? Is it confessing your sins and telling Hashem that you are sorry, banging your chest three times and saying, ‘I have sinned, I have transgressed, I have rebelled’? Is it regretting the sin so much that you shed tears? Is it promising never to sin again? All of these are necessary facets of the whole; however, we have all done these things and yet, we all seem to continue sinning. So what’s missing? R' Nachman reveals a surprising truth in Likutei Moharan 6:2: וְעִקַּר הַתְּשׁוּבָה כְּשֶׁיִּשְׁמַע בִּזְיוֹנוֹ יִדֹּם וְיִשְׁתֹּק (The essence of teshuvah is when one hears his disgrace and is silent and quiet). Silence is the essence of teshuvah! What does silence and quietness in the face of disgrace or insult have to do with teshuvah? And further, why is that response the essence of teshuvah?

When someone insults or disgraces us, what is our natural reaction? Most of us experience a strong urge to answer back. And why do we want to answer back? We are very particular about defending our own honor, and an insult, at its source, is an attack against our honor. Very rarely do we ever feel that an insult is justified. Either the person who insulted us is just plain wrong or he had no business saying what he said or he delivered it in a tone of voice or in a manner or place that was totally inappropriate, etc. By default, we are quick to justify ourselves and find reasons to answer back. But R' Nachman comes to teach us that when we remain ‘silent’ (outwardly) and accept the disgrace with a ‘quiet’ and settled soul (inwardly), we are practicing teshuvah in a way that surpasses all of the formal modes of teshuvah mentioned above. Therefore, we need to come to the point in our lives where we actually feel that the insults and the disgraces that we experience come to us only because of our sins, and that the insults are an aspect of middah k’neged middah [tit for tat]. How is that so? By sinning, we insult our Creator. It’s that simple. We should feel ashamed of this, but because most of us don’t, we need a little reminder. So Hashem out of His abundant love for us gives us a little nudge. He gets someone to insult us. And by being silent and quiet, we acknowledge that the real reason for the insult wasn’t anything in the ‘here and now’; rather, it was only because we sinned and brought disgrace to the name of Hashem in this world. And if we respond with silence, then we are forgiven for having insulted Hashem, as it is taught in Berachot 12b: וְאָמַר רַבָּה בַּר חִינָּנָא סָבָא מִשְּׁמֵיהּ דְּרַב כָּל הָעוֹשֶׂה דְּבַר עֲבֵירָה וּמִתְבַּיֵּישׁ בּוֹ מוֹחֲלִין לוֹ עַל כָּל עֲוֹנוֹתָיו (Rabbah bar Chinana the elder said in the name of Rav, Whoever commits an act of transgression and is ashamed of it, they [the heavenly courts] forgive him of all his transgressions).

Our Sages of blessed memory taught the most amazing thing (Eruvin 13b): נוֹחַ לוֹ לְאָדָם שֶׁלֹּא נִבְרָא יוֹתֵר מִשֶּׁנִּבְרָא (It would have been preferable had man not been created than to have been created). How could our Sages say such a thing? After all, Hashem created man! Did He make a mistake? Obviously not, but because of man’s sins, the perfect world that G‑d created was destroyed, and its beauty was replaced with pain, misery and suffering. If we don’t fulfill the purpose of our creation, then what’s the point of our existence? However, their teaching didn’t end there. They concluded their teaching with עַכְשָׁיו שֶׁנִּבְרָא יְפַשְׁפֵּשׁ בְּמַעֲשָׂיו וְאָמְרִי לַהּ יְמַשְׁמֵשׁ בְּמַעֲשָׂיו (now that he has been created, he should examine his actions; and some say, he should evaluate his actions). ‘Examining’ reflects the desire to fix the damage created by one’s sin, e.g. by doing teshuvah, whereas ‘evaluating’ refers to contemplating one’s actions beforehand to determine if they should be done in the first place. In other words, before a person does teshuvah, he is an aspect of ‘it would have been preferable had man not been created’. It is as if such a person doesn’t really have any existence in the world. However, when he prepares himself to do teshuvah, then his life begins to have meaning and he starts to transition from having no existence to having existence. This is when he becomes an aspect of ‘now that he has been created’.

This is the meaning of the name אֶ‑הֱ‑יֶ‑ה [Ehyeh], which is associated with one’s will and the sefirah of keter [crown], i.e. ‘I will be’ or ‘I am prepared to be’. As R' Nachman explains in L.M. 6:2, when a person prepares himself to do teshuvah, he has a share in this name and draws down the light of Ehyeh from the upper worlds to himself. However, before teshuvah, the light of Ehyeh is hidden from him. This is known as the achoraim of the name Ehyeh, always going back to the beginning and starting over, i.e. א, א‑ה, א‑ה‑י, א‑ה‑י‑ה, the gematria of which is 44, i.e. א is 1, ה is 5, and י is 10. So what? This gematria matches the gematria of דָּם [dam, blood], i.e. ד is 4 and ם is 40, and this comes to teach that spilling of blood (humiliation, embarrassment) and disgrace come to us when we experience the hidden face of Ehyeh. This is what Elkanah, the man of G‑d, said to Eli the Kohen Gadol (Shmuel Aleph 2:30): כִּי־מְכַבְּדַי אֲכַבֵּד וּבֹזַי יֵקָלּוּ (For I [G‑d] honor those who honor Me, and those who disgrace Me will be treated lightly). In other words, they too will be disgraced. As we said already, this is an expression of middah k’neged middah.

R' Nachman further explains (L.M. 6:2): כִּי עֲדַיִן הַדָּם שֶׁבֶּחָלָל הַשְּׂמָאלִי שֶׁבַּלֵּב שֶׁשָּׁם מְדוֹר הַיֵּצֶר הָרָע כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב [לֵב חָכָם לִימִינוֹ]  וְלֵב כְּסִיל לִשְׂמֹאלוֹ עֲדַיִן הוּא בְּתֹקֶף וָעֹז וּבִשְׁבִיל זֶה בָּאִין עָלָיו בִּזְיוֹנוֹת וּשְׁפִיכוּת דָּמִים (Because the blood still resides in the left cavity of the heart, and that’s where the Yetzer ha-Ra dwells, as it is written [Kohelet 10:2], ‘[The heart of a wise man is to his right] but the heart of a fool is to his left,’ it is still strong and powerful and because of this, insults and spilling of blood come to him). We have two kinds of ‘blood’ coursing through our ‘body’; blood on the right side strengthens the Good Inclination [Yetzer ha-Tov] while blood on the left side strengthens the Yetzer ha-Ra. Our job is to drain the blood from the left cavity of the heart in order to completely subdue the Yetzer ha-Ra. And the best way to do this, the most effective way to do this, is by being disgraced and insulted, feeling the embarrassment and being quiet. Miraculously, this drains the blood from the left side and weakens the Yetzer ha-Ra—which, if you think about it, explains why we have such a strong urge to answer back in the first place. The Yetzer ha-Ra doesn’t want us to be silent because by doing so, it slowly dies.

But how does being silent empty out the blood on the left side? By being silent, we transform דָּם [dam, blood] into דֹם [dom, silent]. And since the dam was changed from its original substance, it is no longer there. By being silent, we diminish the amount of dam on the left side. As R' Nachman further explains: וּכְשֶׁמְּקַיֵּם דֹּם לַה' אָז הַקָּדוֹשׁ־בָּרוּךְ־הוּא מַפִּיל לוֹ חֲלָלִים כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב דּוֹם לַה' וְהִתְחוֹלֵל לוֹ וְהוּא יַפִּיל לְךָ חֲלָלִים (And when he fulfills ‘Silence for Hashem’, then the Holy One of Yisrael, blessed be He, causes corpses [chalalim] to fall before him, as it is written [Tehillim 37:3], ‘Silently wait for Hashem and longingly hope [hitcholel] for Him’, and He will cause corpses [chalalim] to fall before you [see Gittin 7a]). And who are those who fall dead like corpses? The Yetzer ha-Ra and its minions.

This is exactly what David ha-Melech did to destroy completely the Yetzer ha-Ra within himself (Tehillim 109:22): כִּי־עָנִי וְאֶבְיוֹן אָנֹכִי וְלִבִּי חָלַל בְּקִרְבִּי (I am poor and destitute, and my heart is completely empty [chalal] within me). The cavity on the left side of the heart was completely drained. There was nothing in it. He had completely slain the Yetzer ha-Ra within himself, i.e. the left side of his heart became an empty space, a chalal (the same root as the words chalalim and hitcholel above). With concerted effort, we can do it too. It’s not impossible. If we can do it once, we can do it hundreds or thousands of times throughout our lives. But it takes prayer, practice and patience. If you remind yourself of this every day, you too can merit the death of the Yetzer ha-Ra within you. And if we all practice this, the Yetzer ha-Ra will no longer have any place in this world.

If you think about it now, the reason why silence in the face of insults and humiliation is so powerful is because it is an expression of emunah. By remaining silent, we are, in essence saying, ‘Hashem, You orchestrated this insult. You gave me this opportunity to fix myself. It is for my good and couldn’t possibly be any better. Thanks.’ And this explains the great merit of the silence at the Yam Suf. It was a massive expression of emunah by the entire nation in the face of an unprovoked attack by the forces of evil, as it says (Shemot 14:31): וַיַּאֲמִינוּ בַּיְיָ וּבְמֹשֶׁה עַבְדּוֹ (And they had emunah in Hashem and in Moshe His servant). And this is the same emunah that a young man needs to develop to have his Yam Suf split for him.

In next week’s article, G‑d willing, we will explain how this kind of silence creates a man in the image of ‘Adam’ thus giving him merit to find and unite with his ‘Chavah’, i.e. his true zivug.

[the-shoemaker-report]

Finding Your Shidduch: Bikkurim and Basar b’Chalav

The orthodox Jewish world is in the midst of a crisis, a crisis of not being able to find one’s marriage partner [shidduch]. Many young men and women are either not dating, or even if they are dating, they are having a difficult time finding that ‘perfect match’, the person with whom they are willing and wanting to raise a family and with whom they are committed to spending the rest of their lives. Why is this so? What’s at the root of this crisis? Further, is there anything we can do about it? We plan on writing, ב"ה, a series of articles to answer these questions. In this article, we will define the problem, and in future articles we will examine some solutions from the teachings of R' Nachman of Breslov.

What does the Torah’s prohibition against mixing meat with dairy (issur basar b’chalav) have to do with finding one’s shidduch? Most people would respond with a resounding, “Huh? What kind of a question is that? Obviously, they have nothing to do with each other!” However, the Torah is deep and its secrets even deeper, so let’s not be too hasty in judging the matter until we examine the subject.

To lay out the underlying problem, we will need to study a rather lengthy section from Tikkunei Zohar Tikkun 14. Instead of quoting and translating it phrase by phrase, we have reproduced the relevant section (see reverse bottom) and will rely on the Matok m’Dvash commentary to explain its meaning.

R' Shimon bar Yochai is learning the esoteric teachings of the Torah with his talmidim. In the course of discussing a particular topic, they bring up Shemot 23:19: רֵאשִׁית בִּכּוּרֵי אַדְמָתְךָ תָּבִיא בֵּית יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לֹא־תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ (The earliest first fruits [bikkurim] of your soil you shall bring to the House of Hashem your G‑d; you shall not cook a kid [gedi] in the milk of its mother). The question is asked: What does the mitzvah of bikkurim have to do with the issur basar b’chalav? In other words, what are we to learn from the juxtaposition [semichut] of these two Biblical commandments? R' Yochanan teaches in Berachot 10a that we are to expound, i.e. derive meaning from, juxtaposed scriptural passages [semuchin], as it is written (Tehillim 111:8): סְמוּכִים לָעַד לְעוֹלָם עֲשׂוּיִם בֶּאֱמֶת וְיָשָׁר (They [i.e. Hashem’s mitzvot] are reliable [semuchim] for eternity; made in truth and uprightness). Therefore, there must be some reason for the semichut.

One way to understand the semichut is that just as the mitzvah of bikkurim only applies in Eretz Yisrael so to the issur basar b’chalav only applies in Eretz Yisrael. However, R' Shimon knew this was an incorrect conclusion, and he wanted to make sure that the correct halachah was transmitted and that no confusion arose in the mesorah. For it is written explicitly in a Tosefta at the beginning of the 8th chapter of Chullin: בשר בחלב נוהג בארץ ובח"ל בפני הבית ושלא בפני הבית בחולין ובמוקדשים ([The issur] basar b’chalav applies in Eretz Yisrael and outside of Eretz Yisrael, in the Temple and when not in the Temple, with unconsecrated meat and with consecrated meat). Further, the Rashbam (see Tosafot on Chullin 103b) specifically explained that this teaching is necessary because without it, one might erroneously conclude based on a comparison with the law of bikkurim that the issur basar b’chalav only applies in Eretz Yisrael.

So what did R' Shimon do? He quickly summoned Eliyahu ha-Navi to come down from Heaven—with permission from Hashem—to join them in order to shed light on the matter. He needed Eliyahu to come with the permission of Heaven, i.e. dressed in a body like a Tanna and Torah Sage, so that he will be able to decide the halachah conclusively. What did Eliyahu say?

Eliyahu explained that the semichut is indeed important, but it has nothing to do with concluding (erroneously) that the issur basar b’chalav only pertains to Eretz Yisrael. He said that the secret has to do with the laws of forbidden mixtures, i.e. kilayim. The verse in question is Devarim 22:10: לֹא־תַחֲרֹשׁ בְּשׁוֹר־וּבַחֲמֹר יַחְדָּו (You are not to plow with an ox and donkey together). The reason why the Torah prohibits plowing with an ox and a donkey at the same time is because an ox is kodesh while the donkey is tamei. We are not to mix the two together because, in the upper worlds, it will lead to the ‘external forces’ nourishing off of the kedushah. The semichut is to teach that if the Jews are negligent in observing the mitzvah of bikkurim, they will unwittingly cause basar to be cooked with chalav. What does that mean? Chalav being white is chesed and basar being red is gevurah. Since the two are not from the same root, this mixture will result in a nullification of the chesed by the gevurah. This parallels the prohibition against plowing with an ox and a donkey. Both laws are based on the same principle of forbidden mixtures, i.e. kilayim. Here, specifically, the prohibition is against benefiting from mixtures that are min b’she’eino mino [one type mixed with another that is not of the same type].

But R' Shimon raised an important distinction. An ox and a donkey are certainly not of the same type. The ox is a kosher animal, i.e. it is pure [tahor], whereas the donkey is non-kosher, i.e. it is impure [tamei]. So truly, this is kilayim of the good with the bad and thus forbidden. But basar and chalav are both kosher. They are both tahor. He argued that chalav is chesed d’kedushah and basar is gevurah d’kedushah. Why should this be forbidden? Shouldn’t the chesed sweeten the din of the gevurah as opposed to be nullified by it?

Eliyahu states that R’ Shimon’s logic would be correct under normal circumstances; however, the verse itself is coming to teach a different secret. And what is that secret? Even with issues of kedushah, we are not allowed to mix min b’she’eino mino. Where do we learn this secret? From Bereshit 1:24: וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים תּוֹצֵא הָאָרֶץ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה לְמִינָהּ (And G‑d said, let the land bring forth a living soul [not ‘living creatures’ as in most translations] according to its kind). The land is the sefirah of malchut, the origin of the soul of Yisrael, the ‘living soul’. The phrase ‘according to its kind’ indicates that each soul emerges from its source as a unique pair made up of male and female. In other words, the paired souls are one min [type] from one root. And even though they are both tahor, they emerge from their source as a pair, a zivug. And they come down to this world in pairs. Therefore, each male needs to find its zivug in order to join with each other exactly as they were when they emerged from the sefirah of malchut, the source of Jewish souls.

However, if someone doesn’t merit to find and marry his zivug, and he ends up marrying another woman instead, and then a son is born from that union, that son is considered a graft, i.e. a ‘mixture’ from two separate sources. And that’s why the Torah teaches that, in that case, we are not to cook a gedi in its mother’s milk. The baby boy is called a gedi. And the verse refers to the relationship as his mother’s milk because she’s not from the same root as his father because the mother and the father have no soul-relationship with each other. In a deep sense, they really have nothing to do with each other; they don’t belong to each other. As a result, the Torah’s concern is that the son won’t be brought up well, i.e. won’t be cooked right. Even though they are both tahor, i.e. they are both holy Jewish souls, but not from the same root, the mixture is forbidden.

R' Shimon emphatically stated that Eliyahu had correctly explained the esoteric secret behind the issur basar b’chalav. He then added his own chiddush based on Shemot 22:28: מְלֵאָתְךָ וְדִמְעֲךָ לֹא תְאַחֵר (Do not delay m’lei’atecha and dimacha). Understood to refer to one’s bikkurim and terumah (even Rashi admits that he doesn’t understand how dimacha refers to terumah), their literal meanings are ‘your fullness’ and ‘your teardrop’. The word m’lei’atecha, i.e. your fullness, refers to one’s zivug, the paired soul that fills and completes the essence of one’s half-soul (just as Chavah completed Adam’s half-soul). And the word dimacha, ‘your tear drop’, is a reference to one’s holy seed that one is to give to his zivug in order to bring forth holy offspring. The expression ‘don’t delay’ teaches that one is not to postpone marriage. Why not? One might, G-d forbid, come to emit his seed in vain or give his first drop to a niddah, a maidservant, a non-Jew or an adulterous woman, all of which are synonyms for Lilit, the unholy zivug of the Samech-Mem, the Primordial Serpent. What’s the concern? The concern is that she would snatch or kidnap the drops and create from them impure klipot that would nourish from the kedushah and wreck havoc in all the worlds. If this isn’t bad enough, these actions could cause another man’s prayers to become effective and award him the merit to take the first man’s zivug, G­­‑d forbid, as it is taught by Shmuel in Moed Katan 18b: שֶׁמָּא יִקְדְּמֶנּוּ אַחֵר בְּרַחֲמִים (Perhaps another would preempt him through Divine mercy, i.e. through prayer). And all of this would be middah k’neged middah [tit for tat]. How so? Since the first man preempted his first seed by giving it to someone who was not his zivug, so another man comes along and preempts his wife, thus taking someone who is not his zivug.

And even if he merits to marrying his zivug, she will cause him no end of grief. How do we know this? This comes from a famous exposition on Bereshit 2:18: וַיֹּאמֶר יְיָ אֱלֹקִים לֹא־טוֹב הֱיוֹת הָאָדָם לְבַדּוֹ אֶעֱשֶׂה־לּוֹ עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ (And Hashem G‑d said, ‘It is not good that the man be alone; I will make for him a helper opposed to him [ezer k’negdo]). R' Elazar asks in Yevamot 63a: So what is she, a helper or an opponent? He answers: זָכָה עוֹזַרְתּוֹ לֹא זָכָה כְּנֶגְדּוֹ (If he merits, she helps [ezer] him; if he doesn’t merit, she opposes [k’neged] him). Or as Rashi says on Bereshit 2:18: זָכָה עֵזֶר לֹא זָכָה כְּנֶגְדּוֹ לְהִלָּחֵם (If he merits, she is a ezer; if he doesn’t merit, she opposes him [k’negdo], to make war with him). Putting this together with the Tikkunei Zohar we have learning, we now may understand what determines his merit. If he guards his brit then he merits marrying his zivug, and she will fulfill the role of ezer to help him in learning Torah and fulfilling mitzvot with love and reverence. She will be his ezer in this world and in the world to come. But if he doesn’t guard his brit, then even if he merits to marrying her, she will be k’neged him in these four aspects and cause him to lose out in the two worlds. What a series of multiple tragedies! And this whole mess happens only because a young man blemished his brit when he was a bachelor.

Can anything spare us from this terrible fate? Yes, the earliest bikkurim of your soil (see Shemot 23:19 above). Bring your bikkurim, i.e. your first drops of seed, to the House of Hashem. And what is the ‘House’ of Hashem? It is one’s wife, the true ‘house’ that Hashem assigned for the man from the beginning when they emerged together from the source of souls. Therefore, if a young man guards his brit, he won’t cause the gedi, i.e. the son, to be cooked, i.e. to be reared, in the milk of its mother, the son being a mixture that comes from a woman that is min b’she’eino mino to his father. This is the deep, esoteric answer to the existence of the semichut in Shemot 23:19.

Let’s now be honest. These days, how many young men have guarded their brit in the manner in which we have just explained? Very few people will speak of it, but this is the real reason behind the shidduch crisis in the orthodox Jewish world today.

But don’t despair. There is hope. With G-d’s help, in the next issue, we will address the issue of what can be done if someone was not so careful to guard his brit. Is there any tikkun [repair/fix] by which he can still merit his zivug who will be an ezer to him? The short answer is that he will need to do teshuvah (and this can be effective even in the case when his zivug was taken by another man), as the prophet wrote (Yeshayah 6:10): שָׁב וְרָפָא לוֹ (Do teshuvah and He will heal him).

[the-shoemaker-report]

To Rebuke or Not to Rebuke: That is the Question

We all know that the Torah instructs us to offer appropriate correction when we witness a fellow Jew behaving in a way contrary to the teachings of the Torah, as it is written (Vayikra 19:17): לֹא־תִשְׂנָא אֶת־אָחִיךָ בִּלְבָבֶךָ הוֹכֵחַ תּוֹכִיחַ אֶת־עֲמִיתֶךָ וְלֹא־תִשָּׂא עָלָיו חֵטְא (You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you shall repeatedly rebuke your fellow Jew, and you shall not bear sin on account of him). In other words, if we don’t rebuke or correct our brother, then in some way we are showing our hatred (or perhaps contempt) for him, and further, we end up sharing in his guilt. Therefore, on the surface, these words should motivate all of us to rebuke each other whenever we’re given the opportunity. After all, who wants to be accused by Heaven of hating his brother and end up sharing in his guilt?

However, there’s a little hitch. It is taught in the Gemara (Arachin 16b): א"ר טרפון (תמיהני) אני אם יש בדור הזה שמקבל תוכחה אם אמר לו טול קיסם מבין עיניך אמר לו טול קורה מבין עיניך אמר רבי אלעזר בן עזריה תמיהני אם יש בדור הזה שיודע להוכיח (R' Tarfon said, I would be surprised if there is anyone in this generation who can receive rebuke. If he would say to him, ‘Remove the splinter from between your eyes’, he would respond to him, ‘Remove the beam from between your eyes.’ R' Elazar ben Azariah said, I would be surprised if there was anyone in this generation who knew how to offer rebuke). Now, if these great sages expressed these words about their generation, how much more would it be said of our generation?

If (potentially) no one is really capable of giving rebuke anymore and no one is really capable of receiving rebuke anymore (rather than justifying himself while accusing the rebuker), then why do we correct each other so often? The answer is simple: it feels good. And when something ‘feels good’ while not being in line with the Torah, we may safely assert that the behavior is actually being instigated by the Yetzer ha-Ra and, therefore, we need to resist the urge. Why does it feel so good? Many reasons could be given, but perhaps the main reason why we have such a craving to correct others is that we have feelings of low self-worth. By correcting others, we artificially elevate ourselves at the expense of the others thus allowing ourselves to feel good about ourselves when we haven’t done anything to merit true feelings of self-worth. Another way to put it is that it stems from a lack of self-judgment. Everybody has an inherent, internal drive to correct and to rebuke. It’s built into the human psyche, and it’s a good thing—potentially. The goal is to use this drive in the right way. It needs to be used as a tool for exercising the attribute of gevurah d’kedushah and not as a tool for the attribute of chesed of the Sitra Achra.

What happens at the spiritual level when someone is rebuked improperly? R' Nachman describes the chain of events (Likutei Moharan II:8): כִּי כְּשֶׁהַמּוֹכִיחַ אֵינוֹ רָאוּי לְהוֹכִיחַ אֲזַי לֹא דַּי שֶׁאֵינוֹ מוֹעִיל בְּתוֹכַחְתּוֹ אַף גַּם הוּא מַבְאִישׁ רֵיחַ שֶׁל הַנְּשָׁמוֹת הַשּׁוֹמְעִים תּוֹכַחְתּוֹ כִּי עַל־יְדֵי תּוֹכַחְתּוֹ הוּא מְעוֹרֵר הָרֵיחַ רַע שֶׁל הַמַּעֲשִׂים רָעִים וּמִדּוֹת רָעוֹת שֶׁל הָאֲנָשִׁים שֶׁהוּא מוֹכִיחָם (When the rebuker isn’t fit to rebuke, not only does his rebuke not help, but he causes a stink to arise from the souls of the people hearing his rebuke, for through his rebuke he stirs up the bad smell of the bad deeds and the bad middot of the people that he is rebuking). It’s like taking a stick and poking around in a pile of garbage. If the garbage had been left alone, the bad odor may not even have been detected, but now that the person poked around in it, he stirred up the stench and made matters much worse.

But it’s worse than that. The soul of the rebukee is actually weakened in the process, which restricts or diminishes the flow of heavenly abundance to all the worlds that are dependent on that soul. This happens because a soul’s primary nourishment is from scent, as it is written (Tehillim 150:6): כֹּל הַנְּשָׁמָה תְּהַלֵּל קָהּ (The entire soul should praise G‑d). And the Gemara in Berachot 43b expounds the implication of the verse: אֵיזֶהוּ דָּבָר שֶׁהַנְּשָׁמָה נֶהֱנֵית מִמֶּנּוּ וְאֵין הַגּוּף נֶהֱנֶה מִמֶּנּוּ...זֶה הָרֵיחַ (What is something from which the soul derives benefit but the body does not derive benefit? It is the fragrance). So we see that the health of the soul is very much dependent on scent, on aroma. Therefore, when someone who isn’t fit to rebuke stirs up the bad odor of his fellow, he is literally weakening the essence of that person. He is weakening his brother’s soul and causing it to become ill. Sadly, when ill-rebuke becomes habitual, the souls of all of us (our families and communities) become ill and a terrible stench filters heavenward triggering decrees of judgment against us.

However, when healthy rebuke takes place, a pleasant fragrance gets injected into the soul of the errant one which acts as a healing balm. Therefore, when this form of rebuke spreads throughout the nation, a pleasant scent wafts heavenward which leads to the sweetening of harsh decrees and to blessings. But in light of R' Tarfon’s and R' Elazar ben Azariah’s words, do such people even exist anymore, people who are capable of rebuking properly? The answer is yes, but such people need to be in the aspect of Moshe Rabbeinu, the leader of the Jewish Nation, who was truly capable of giving rebuke in such a way as to enhance the scent of the souls of those whom he corrected. We learn this from a careful reading of the wording of Shir ha-Shirim 1:12 which our Sages say refers to the sin of the Golden Calf: עַד־שֶׁהַמֶּלֶךְ בִּמְסִבּוֹ נִרְדִּי נָתַן רֵיחוֹ (While the king was reclining [at his festive meal, i.e. at the Giving of the Torah at Sinai], my nard gave forth [natan] its fragrance). We would have expected the verse to say that the fragrance of the Jewish Nation putrified, but it doesn’t say that. Oddly, it says that its fragrance gave forth. As Rashi writes: אָכֵן לְפֵרוּשׁ הַתּוֹסָפוֹת שָׁם שֶׁפֵּרַשׁ וְהָכִי קָאָמַר מַה שֶּׁכָּתַב נָתַן וְלֹא עָזַב זֶהוּ מִשּׁוּם חִבָּה (Likewise, according to Tosafot there [see Shabbat 88b where the verse is discussed], the reason that natan [gave] is written and not azav [forsook, abandoned] is because of affection). As R' Nachman elucidates with tremendous clarity (L.M. II:8): כִּי עַל־יְדֵי תּוֹכָחָה שֶׁל מֹשֶׁה עַל מַעֲשֵׂה הָעֵגֶל הוֹסִיף וְנָתַן בָּהֶם רֵיחַ טוֹב שֶׁהוּא בְּחִינַת מְזוֹנָא דְּנִשְׁמָתָא כִּי עִקָּר יְנִיקַת הַנְּשָׁמָה הִיא מֵהָרֵיחַ כַּנַּ"ל כִּי עַל־יְדֵי קוֹל הַמּוֹכִיחַ שֶׁהוּא רָאוּי עַל־יְדֵי־זֶה הוּא נוֹתֵן רֵיחַ טוֹב בְּהַנְּשָׁמוֹת שֶׁהוּא בְּחִינַת מְזוֹנָא דְּנִשְׁמָתָא (Through Moshe’s rebuke regarding the incident of the calf, he added and put [natan] into them a good fragrance that is like ‘sustenance of the soul’ because the soul mainly draws its nourishment from the scent because through the voice of the one who is fit to rebuke he puts a good aroma into the souls, which is like ‘sustenance of the soul’). In other words, Moshe’s words of correction were filled with so much love and affection that he did not stir up a bad odor in the Jewish People, G‑d forbid. Rather, through his rebuke, he strengthened them and caused them to emit a pleasant fragrance.

When did Moshe deliver this rebuke? Practically forty years later, at the end of his life, and only then in highly coded language (Devarim 1:1): אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר מֹשֶׁה אֶל־כׇּל־יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן בַּמִּדְבָּר בָּעֲרָבָה מוֹל סוּף בֵּין־פָּארָן וּבֵין־תֹּפֶל וְלָבָן וַחֲצֵרֹת וְדִי זָהָב (These are the words that Moshe spoke to all Yisrael across the Yarden, in the desert, in the Aravah, near Suf, between Paran and Tophel, and Lavan, and Chatzerot, and Di-Zahav). As Rashi explains: לְפִי שֶׁהֵן דִּבְרֵי תוֹכָחוֹת וּמָנָה כָאן כָּל הַמְּקוֹמוֹת שֶׁהִכְעִיסוּ לִפְנֵי הַמָּקוֹם בָּהֶן לְפִיכָךְ סָתַם אֶת הַדְּבָרִים וְהִזְכִּירָם בְּרֶמֶז מִפְּנֵי כְבוֹדָן שֶׁל יִשְׂרָאֵל (Because they are words of rebuke, and he enumerated all of the places where they angered the Omniscient One; therefore, he ‘closed the words’ and mentioned them only by allusion because of the honor of Yisrael).

Where is the allusion to the sin of the Golden Calf in this verse? It is in the words ‘Di-Zahav’. That’s it. That is the extent of Moshe rebuke in this matter! And even though he rebuked them about it (if you could even call that a rebuke), he did so only after he had spent many days (years prior to this) defending and justifying the nation in the presence of Hashem, essentially blaming Hashem (at least partially) for the sin (Berachot 32a): מַאי וְדִי זָהָב אָמְרִי דְּבֵי רַבִּי יַנַּאי כָּךְ אָמַר מֹשֶׁה לִפְנֵי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם בִּשְׁבִיל כֶּסֶף וְזָהָב שֶׁהִשְׁפַּעְתָּ לָהֶם לְיִשְׂרָאֵל עַד שֶׁאָמְרוּ דַּי הוּא גָּרַם שֶׁעָשׂוּ אֶת הָעֵגֶל (What is the meaning of ‘and Di-Zahav’? Those in the yeshiva of R' Yannai said, This is what Moshe said before the Holy One, blessed be He, Master of the World, because of the silver and the gold [zahav] that You lavished upon Yisrael, until they said ‘Enough [Dai]!’, that is what caused them to make the calf). And that’s how to correct someone.

Our Sages taught (Tamid 28a): כל המוכיח את חבירו לשם שמים זוכה לחלקו של הקדוש ברוך הוא שנאמר מוכיח אדם אחרי ולא עוד אלא שמושכין עליו חוט של חסד שנאמר חן ימצא ממחליק לשון (Anyone who rebukes his friend for the sake of Heaven merits to a portion of the Holy One, blessed be He, as it says [Mishlei 28:23]: He that rebukes a man shall be behind Me… Moreover, they draw down upon him a thread of kindness [chut shel chesed], as it says: …He will find more grace than the one who flatters with his tongue). This is how one fulfills the mitzvah to rebuke a fellow Jew. Anything less just makes matters worse.

But what if we haven’t yet completely nullified our craving to correct others? After the fact, if we did rebuke someone (even if we think we were 100% right in doing so), we just need to ask ourselves a simple question to help us figure out if we were behaving for the sake of Heaven and acting in the spirit of Moshe Rabbeinu (or not): Does the person I corrected view me more favorably after I rebuked him than he did before I corrected him? If the answer is not an unequivocal ‘Yes’, then perhaps we need to spend more time in self-judgment.

This is also how Mashiach will deal with the Jewish Nation, as it is written (Yeshayah 11:3): וַהֲרִיחוֹ בְּיִרְאַת יְיָ וְלֹא־לְמַרְאֵה עֵינָיו יִשְׁפּוֹט וְלֹא־לְמִשְׁמַע אׇזְנָיו יוֹכִיחַ (And he will be imbued [haricho] with the fear [yirah] of Hashem; he will not judge by what his eyes see nor rebuke by what his ears hear). The Gemara discusses the meaning of the word haricho (Sanhedrin 93b): אמר רבי אלכסנדרי מלמד שהטעינו מצות ויסורין כריחיים רבא אמר דמורח ודאין (R' Alexandri said it teaches that He loaded Mashiach with commandments [mitzvot] and suffering [yissurin] like millstones [reichaim]; Rava said that [Mashiach] smells [morach] and judges). What did Rava mean by saying that Mashiach smells and judges? It is as we have explained throughout. Mashiach will be able to ‘smell’ the soul of every Jew to discern whether it is emitting a pleasant fragrance, i.e. whether it is healthy and being nourished properly, or a stench (G-d forbid), meaning that it is ill and malnourished. And this is why Rava connects smelling to judging. The point of smelling is to judge or ‘discern’ the state of each soul. Why is this needed? Healing cannot begin until all sickness is properly diagnosed.

May we merit the revelation of Mashiach speedily in our days to be truly healed within and without with aרְפוּאַת הַנֶּפֶשׁ וּרְפוּאַת הַגּוּף (healing of the soul and a healing of the body).

[the-shoemaker-report]

The Torah of Fear: Its Source and Remedy

Fears can be extraordinarily debilitating, and generally speaking sane people don’t want to be debilitated. This is the reason why a great deal of psychology exists around fear, i.e. how to deal with it, how to overcome it, and even how to benefit from it. On the surface this sounds great, but if you’ve ever tried to implement any of these strategies, e.g. distract your thoughts, speak it out, face your fear, adopt a positive mindset, etc., it won’t take you very long to realize that they don’t really deal with fear itself. Rather, they deal with our reaction to fear. At best, these strategies may help us through certain crises in our lives, and that can be practically helpful, but they certainly don’t prevent new fears from emerging in our psyches down the road. And the situation seems to be getting worse. For example, the top 10 fears on the Chapman University Annual Survey of American Fears for 2022 (its 8th such survey) center on five main topics: corrupt government officials, harm to a loved one, war, environmental catastrophes and the economy. And it’s not that these fears are found in only 10-20% of Americans. These fears exist in 50-60% of the American public! The interested reader can spend time looking up data on other countries (such as Israel), but it is no secret that our world is drowning in an ocean of fear and nothing seems capable of rescuing it.

Let’s ask some basic questions. Where do fears come from? If fears are such a basic human emotion (as psychologists are wont to say), why don’t innocent young children have fears? Can we do anything about fears other than manage or cope with them? Instead of focusing on band-aids that may or may not be effective for a particular individual in the short term, wouldn’t it be better if we knew of a solution that would work for everyone and actually eliminate fears once and for all?

It is written in Likutei Moharan 15:1: מִי שֶׁרוֹצֶה לִטְעֹם טַעַם אוֹר הַגָּנוּז הַיְנוּ סוֹדוֹת הַתּוֹרָה שֶׁיִּתְגַּלֶּה לֶעָתִיד צָרִיךְ לְהַעֲלוֹת מִדַּת הַיִּרְאָה לְשָׁרְשָׁהּ (Whoever wants to experience a taste of the Hidden Light [Ohr ha-Ganuz], i.e. the esoteric secrets of the Torah that will be revealed in the future, needs to elevate the attribute of fear [yirah] to its source). We learn at least four things from this statement. First, yirah is real. It exists. It’s not a figment of our imagination. Second, it is an inherent attribute of man. It isn’t something foreign to the human experience. Third, it exists in two states, a fallen state and an elevated state. Fourth, we have the power to raise or put back the fallen type of yirah to the place where it is supposed to be, to the place where it was originally.

What are the two states of yirah? The elevated yirah, which is the correct or proper type of yirah, is the yirah of G‑d, as it is written (Kohelet 12:13): סוֹף דָּבָר הַכֹּל נִשְׁמָע אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִים יְרָא וְאֶת־מִצְוֺתָיו שְׁמוֹר כִּי־זֶה כׇּל־הָאָדָם (The sum of the matter, when all is said and done: Fear G‑d and keep His mitzvot, for this is the whole [purpose] of man). In fact, this kind of yirah (which also includes the idea of reverence) is a true spiritual asset (Tehillim 111:10): רֵאשִׁית חׇכְמָה יִרְאַת יְיָ (The yirah of Hashem is the beginning of wisdom [chochmah]). The fallen yirah, which is unacceptable in Hashem’s eyes, is the yirah of anything else. For example, we are not supposed to fear people (Devarim 1:29): לֹא־תַעַרְצוּן וְלֹא־תִירְאוּן מֵהֶם (Do not dread or fear them). David ha-Melech expresses a similar sentiment (Tehillim 118:6): יְהֹוָה לִי לֹא אִירָא מַה־יַּעֲשֶׂה לִי אָדָם (Hashem is for me; I have no fear. What can man do to me?). We are not supposed to fear wars, diseases and the like (Tehillim 91:5-6): לֹא־תִירָא מִפַּחַד לָיְלָה מֵחֵץ יָעוּף יוֹמָם׃ מִדֶּבֶר בָּאֹפֶל יַהֲלֹךְ מִקֶּטֶב יָשׁוּד צׇהֳרָיִם (Do not fear the terror of night, the flying arrow of day, the plague that goes out in darkness, or the scourge that devastates in the afternoon). We could bring forward many more examples, but this should suffice.

How do we elevate yirah? If we knew how to do this, we would only be left with the elevated form of yirah and all other objects of fear would simply vanish. We wouldn’t need to cope with them, face them, talk our way through them or employ any of the other techniques suggested by psychologists. They would simply disappear.

R' Nachman gives us the answer. We elevate yirah through judgment [מִשְׁפָּט, mishpat], specifically by judging ourselves, as it is written (Tehillim 112:5): טוֹב־אִישׁ חוֹנֵן וּמַלְוֶה יְכַלְכֵּל דְּבָרָיו בְּמִשְׁפָּט (Good is the man who lends generously, who conducts his affairs with mishpat). To conduct one’s affairs with mishpat is to behave like a righteous king, as it is written (Mishlei 29:4): מֶלֶךְ בְּמִשְׁפָּט יַעֲמִיד אָרֶץ וְאִישׁ תְּרוּמוֹת יֶהֶרְסֶנָּה (A king upholds the land with mishpat, but a haughty man tears it down). And by upholding the land, the king elevates yirah since the ‘land’ is an aspect of yirah (Tehillim 76:9): מִשָּׁמַיִם הִשְׁמַעְתָּ דִּין אֶרֶץ יָרְאָה וְשָׁקָטָה (You pronounced judgment from heaven; the land was afraid and quiet). To summarize, when a person judges himself with integrity and truth, i.e. when he conducts his affairs with mishpat, he behaves like a good king and sustains or upholds his land, the territory over which he has sovereign jurisdiction. And since upholding the land is likened to upholding yirah, such a righteous king releases yirah from its fallen state and returns it to its source. And how does he judge himself with mishpat? The only way to do this is by speaking the truth with his Creator during his daily hitbodedut. When he does this, he demonstrates his yirah only for his Creator and all other fears will fade away.

Surprisingly, the mechanism is very simple. It is written in Midrash Rabbah (Shofetim 8:5): אָמַר רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר אִם נַעֲשָׂה הַדִּין לְמַטָּה אֵין הַדִּין נַעֲשָׂה לְמַעְלָה וְאִם לֹא נַעֲשָׂה הַדִּין לְמַטָּה הַדִּין נַעֲשָׂה לְמַעְלָה (R' Eliezer says, If we make judgment below then judgment will not be made Above, and if we don’t make judgment below then judgment will be made Above). And how are judgments that are made Above manifest in our lower world? In just about every way we can think of, as it is written (Tehillim 119:91): לְמִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ עָמְדוּ הַיּוֹם כִּי הַכֹּל עֲבָדֶיךָ (Your judgments are upheld every day because all things are Your servants). To illustrate this principle, two stories are told in the Gemara (Niddah 41a). The first is of a man who was riding a small mule. When the mule was crossing a narrow bridge, it went crazy and bucked the rider. The rider fell to his death in the river below. The second is of a scorpion that was crossing a river on the back of a frog. Having crossed the river, the scorpion disembarked and stung a man who subsequently died of his sting. In both cases, this verse from Tehillim 119:91 was quoted to illustrate the principle involved—that everything in the created world can act as an agent to administer a heavenly decree. Of course, the heavenly decree doesn’t always have to be as severe as death, but the point is the same either way. The principle is succinctly explained in Likutei Moharan 15:2: וּכְשֶׁשּׁוֹפְטִין אֶת הָאָדָם בְּמִשְׁפָּט דִּלְעֵלָּא אֲזַי הַדִּין נִתְלַבֵּשׁ בְּכָל הַדְּבָרִים וְכָל הַדְּבָרִים נַעֲשִׂים שְׁלוּחִים לַמָּקוֹם לַעֲשׂוֹת בְּזֶה הָאִישׁ מִשְׁפָּט כָּתוּב (When a person is judged with mishpat from Above, then the sentence is clothed in all kinds of things, which all become messengers of the Omniscient One to execute upon the man the mishpat that was decreed).

These messengers then become the objects of our fears. We fear them because they have become messengers of Hashem to execute judgment against us because we didn’t bother to take the time to pass judgment upon ourselves. As such, these things can be ordinary objects like a kitchen knife or a pillow or they can be people whom we are more prone to fear, such as corrupt state officials, terrorists, thieves, or even animals and viruses, etc. It makes no difference. If we judge ourselves so that no judgments need to be conducted Above, and then the heavenly courts get dismissed, then nothing down here can harm us. Nothing. There won’t be messengers that clothe heavenly decrees; and therefore, the objects of our fears will simply cease to exist. As R' Nachman concludes in L.M. 15:2: וְזֶהוּ שֶׁהָאָדָם מְפַחֵד אֶת עַצְמוֹ מֵאֵיזֶה דָבָר מִשַּׂר אוֹ מִגַּנָּבִים וּשְׁאָר פְּחָדִים זֶה הוּא שֶׁהַיִּרְאָה נִתְלַבֵּשׁ בְּזֶה הַדָּבָר כִּי אִם לֹא הָיָה נִתְלַבֵּשׁ הַיִּרְאָה בְּזֶה הַדָּבָר לֹא הָיָה כֹּחַ בְּזֶה הַדָּבָר לְהַפְחִיד אֶת הָאָדָם (And this is why a person fears a particular thing, e.g. a government official, thieves, and other things, it is because yirah has clothed itself in that thing, because if yirah had not clothed itself in that thing, that thing wouldn’t have the power to frighten the person). But the purpose is not to frighten us for the sake of fear itself. The higher purpose is to provoke us to do teshuvah. Therefore, when we find ourselves experiencing fear, we should understand its cause, and immediately intensify the quality (and quantity) of our hitbodedut. A loving Father is sending us warnings. Our fears are our alarm bells and they’re going off. The more serious we are about judging ourselves, the more our fears will disappear. (And if you think about it a little bit, you’ll understand why very young children have very few if any fears. They haven’t sinned yet, and as a result, no judgments are being passed against them in the heavenly courts.)

This is the deeper meaning of the Berachah of Mishpat/Din in the Shemoneh Esreh that we pray three times a day: הָשִׁיבָה שׁוֹפְטֵינוּ כְּבָרִאשׁוֹנָה וְיוֹעֲצֵינוּ כְּבַתְּחִלָּה וְהָסֵר מִמֶּנּוּ יָגוֹן וַאֲנָחָה (Restore our judges as at first and our counselors as at the beginning and remove from us agony and moaning). Yes, the plain meaning is as a prayer to reestablish courts of justice that are free from corruption and arbitrariness; however, there is a deeper side to this berachah that we often miss. The deeper side is that we are the judges that we are praying to Hashem to restore! And it is this lack of self-judgment that may very well be the most important cause for most of the corruption in our courts and legal systems today. The thought we should have is as follows: If I were to restore myself to the position of judge, then not only would my personal level of agony and moaning greatly diminish, our collective national level of agony and moaning will also diminish.

Imagine a world without fear. It’s real; it’s not just a pipe dream. It’s in your hands. And no one (other than yourself) can deprive you of it, as it is written (Michah 4:4): וְיָשְׁבוּ אִישׁ תַּחַת גַּפְנוֹ וְתַחַת תְּאֵנָתוֹ וְאֵין מַחֲרִיד כִּי־פִי יְיָ צְבָקוֹת דִּבֵּר (And each man shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and he won’t be scared, for the mouth of Hashem of Hosts spoke).

[the-shoemaker-report]

A Nation That Will Dwell in Solitude

In the past two issues, we wrote about the importance of waking up and getting out of bed at midnight. We focused on two tasks and their accompanying benefits: (1) by learning Torah after midnight, we draw down a thread of chesed throughout the day, and (2) by reciting Tikkun Chatzot, we help raise the Shechinah from the dirt, helping to merit in the rebuilding of the Holy Temple and ushering in the final redemption. In this issue, we will add a third important reason why we should wake up and get out of bed while it is still night.

We are all familiar with the story of Balak hiring the prophet Bilaam to curse the Nation of Yisrael. But every time Bilaam opened his mouth, he praised them instead of cursing them, for example (Bemidbar 23:9): כִּי־מֵרֹאשׁ צֻרִים אֶרְאֶנּוּ וּמִגְּבָעוֹת אֲשׁוּרֶנּוּ הֶן־עָם לְבָדָד יִשְׁכֹּן וּבַגּוֹיִם לֹא יִתְחַשָּׁב (For I see it from the top of the rocks, and from the hills I observe it. Behold! It is a nation that will dwell in solitude, and it will not be considered among the [other] nations). What is the meaning of ‘a nation that will dwell in solitude’? And why is this statement one of praise? Although introverts readily appreciate the benefit of being alone, a highly extroverted individual might actually dread it! So how is being alone something praiseworthy for everyone, for the entire nation?

Lamenting why so much suffering and tragedies befall the Jewish People, the Chofetz Chaim writes (Likutei Amarim 10): ולא יסתפק אדם במה שמתפלל השמונה-עשרה שלש פעמים בכל יום, אלא כמה פעמים ביום צריך לשפוך תפילות ובקשות בינו לבין עצמו כשהוא בביתו מעומקא דליבא .כי השלש תפילות הן אצלו כבר שגורות בפיו ואינו נותן לב להם כל כך; מה שאי כן אם יתבונן כל אדם בינו לבין עצמו ויעשה חשבון נפש על מצבו ומעמדו (A person should not be satisfied with the three times he prays the Shemoneh Esrei each day; rather, many times throughout the day he needs to pour out his prayers and requests, privately, by himself, when [for example] he’s in his house, from the depth of his heart, because his mouth is already accustomed to saying the three [formal] prayers, and as a result, he doesn’t pay attention to them all that much. But that’s not the case if everyone were to be introspective and do a cheshbon nefesh [personal examination] on his situation and his standing in life). He continues to explain that we are not answered in our three regular daily prayers because we don’t pour out of heart to Hashem when we pray. Instead, we’re praying like a machine. Plug it in, set the speed dial to ‘rapid’, push the ‘start’ button and away it goes. If we spoke to our friend or spouse that way, do you think they would be particularly interested in listening to what we had to say? Likewise, do you really think Hashem is any different in this regard?

The Chofetz Chaim is speaking about the need for everyone to spend time each day—even throughout the day—praying to Hashem in one’s own words, a practice known as hitbodedut [private, secluded prayer].

R' Nachman taught (Likutei Moharan II:25): הַהִתְבּוֹדְדוּת הוּא מַעֲלָה עֶלְיוֹנָה וּגְדוֹלָה מִן הַכֹּל דְּהַיְנוּ לִקְבֹּעַ לוֹ עַל־כָּל־פָּנִים שָׁעָה אוֹ יוֹתֵר לְהִתְבּוֹדֵד לְבַדּוֹ בְּאֵיזֶה חֶדֶר אוֹ בַּשָּׂדֶה וּלְפָרֵשׁ שִׂיחָתוֹ בֵּינוֹ לְבֵין קוֹנוֹ...שֶׁיְּקָרְבוֹ אֵלָיו לַעֲבוֹדָתוֹ בֶּאֱמֶת (The practice of doing hitbodedut is very exalted and greater than everything, i.e. to fix a time for oneself, at least one hour or more, to seclude oneself alone in some room or in the field, to lay out one’s conversation in private with one’s Creator…that he would be able to draw closer to Him and serve Him in truth). It doesn’t make any difference if we feel that we are already close to Hashem or if we feel that we are too far from Him to be of importance or if we can’t even open up our mouths to say anything, the main point is to spend time in solitude knowing that you’re sitting with Hashem. This in and of itself is very, very good. In fact, there is nothing greater than this.

Regarding the best time and place for hitbodedut, we read in Likutei Eitzot, Hitbodedut 7: עִקַּר הַהִתְבּוֹדְדוּת הוּא בַּלַּיְלָה שֶׁאָז הַכֹּל יְשֵׁנִים וְגַם טוֹב שֶׁיִּהְיֶה הַמָּקוֹם חוּץ מֵהָעִיר שֶׁיֵּלֵךְ בְּדֶרֶךְ יְחִידִי דְּהַיְנוּ בְּמָקוֹם שֶׁאֵין בְּנֵי אָדָם הוֹלְכִים שָׁם אֲפִלּוּ בַּיּוֹם (The essence of hitbodedut is at night because then everyone is asleep, and it is also good that he should be in a place outside the city, that he walk to a solitary place, i.e. a place where even by day people don’t go). The reasons for this are because the quietness of night is the best time for obtaining clarity about oneself because the cares of the world are decreased. Although these parameters are optimal if one is able to fulfill them, they should never prevent someone from spending his hour of hitbodedut during the day in a room of his house if that works for him. The main point is to spend one interrupted hour alone with Hashem, each and every day. Once you get used to this hour, it should become the best hour of your day.

But what is the real purpose of hitbodedut? Is it to tell Hashem all the things we need or want in life, to make our requests known to Him—“I need a good spouse. I need a nice apartment. I need a high paying job. I need…”? No. That’s the purpose (in part) of the Shemoneh Esrei. The purpose of hitbodedut is something completely different. Simply put, it is to work on oneself, to fix one’s deficiencies and faults, to achieve self-nullification, thus becoming part of the necessary reality. Let’s explain.

Two kinds of realities exist: necessary reality and dependent reality. Hashem, of course, is the ultimate and only necessary reality. Everything created in all the worlds is just a dependent reality. None of it must exist. All of it came into existence by the Creator who spoke it into existence, as it is written (Tehillim 33:6, 9): בִּדְבַר יְיָ שָׁמַיִם נַעֲשׂוּ וּבְרוּחַ פִּיו כׇּל־צְבָאָם...כִּי הוּא אָמַר וַיֶּהִי הוּא־צִוָּה וַיַּעֲמֹד (By the word of Hashem heaven was made, and by the breath of His mouth, all of their host…He spoke and it was, He commanded and it stands). The moment Hashem created the soul of Adam ha‑Rishon to have free will to choose and to do His will, reality changed. All of the created worlds acquired a certain aspect of the necessary reality, i.e. all the upper and lower worlds need to exist in order for Hashem’s purpose to be fulfilled. And what is that purpose? It is to return and be encompassed in one’s Source, in the only true, independent necessary reality. This is all explained in detail by R' Nachman in L.M. 52, but here’s a short summary: וְעַל־כֵּן אָז דַּיְקָא כְּשֶׁעוֹשִׂין רְצוֹנוֹ נִכְלָל הָעוֹלָם בִּבְחִינַת מְחֻיַּב הַמְּצִיאוּת כַּנַּ"ל כִּי כָּל מַה שֶּׁעוֹשִׂין רְצוֹנוֹ יוֹתֵר הֵם נִכְלָלִין בְּיוֹתֵר עִם כָּל הָעוֹלָמוֹת הַתְּלוּיִים בָּהֶם בְּחִיּוּב הַמְּצִיאוּת (Therefore, it is specifically then, when we [the inheritors of the mission and soul of Adam ha‑Rishon, i.e. Yisrael] do His will, that the world is included in an aspect of the necessary reality, for the more we do His will, the more we are included together with the worlds which are dependent upon them, in the necessary reality).

This is really an amazing and awesome truth! Even though the world and everything in it, including ourselves ‘start off’ as a dependent reality in that everything is created by Hashem and has no independent existence in and of itself, when the object and purpose of His creation actually perform the will of its Creator, then not only do all the worlds acquire a certain aspect of the necessary reality but, more importantly, the people who perform His will also acquire a certain aspect of the necessary reality. And it is a matter of degree. The more we do Hashem’s will, the more we are encompassed in His Oneness, and the more the world and everything in it, including ourselves, become part of this same necessary reality.

Now the logical question is: How do we actually achieve becoming encompassed in one’s Source so that we move from being a dependent reality to being a part of the necessary reality? R' Nachman explains (L.M. 52): אַךְ לִזְכּוֹת לָזֶה לְהִכָּלֵל בְּשָׁרְשׁוֹ דְּהַיְנוּ לַחֲזֹר וּלְהִכָּלֵל בְּאַחְדוּת הַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ שֶׁהוּא מְחֻיַּב הַמְּצִיאוּת זֶה אִי אֶפְשָׁר לִזְכּוֹת כִּי־אִם עַל־יְדֵי בִּטּוּל שֶׁיְּבַטֵּל עַצְמוֹ לְגַמְרֵי עַד שֶׁיִּהְיֶה נִכְלָל בְּאַחְדוּתוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ (However, to merit this, to be encompassed in one’s Source, i.e. to return and be encompassed in the Oneness of Hashem, may He be blessed, who is the necessary reality, is possible only through bitul [self-nullification]. A person needs to nullify himself completely to the point that he becomes encompassed in His Oneness, may He be blessed).

Self-nullification? That seems a bit drastic, if not kind of weird. What does it really mean? Bitul means to negate all of one’s negative character traits and all of one’s physical desires and lusts—anger, impatience, theft, stinginess, harboring grudges, jealousy, laziness, selfishness, stubbornness, ungratefulness, speaking negatively about others, self-justification, lying, lusting after food and drink, lewdness, feasting one’s eyes on that which is forbidden to look at, immodesty, desire for honor and prestige, love of money, arrogance, lack of emunah and bitachon, etc. But isn’t that impossible? R' Nachman assures us that it is very achievable, not just by the tzaddikim, but by all of us. How so? These are his holy words (L.M. 52): וְאִי אֶפְשָׁר לָבוֹא לִידֵי בִּטּוּל כִּי־אִם עַל־יְדֵי הִתְבּוֹדְדוּת (It is impossible to achieve bitul except through hitbodedut). This is the real reason for hitbodedut. It is the most powerful tool available for fixing ourselves. Reading self-help books, listening to lectures and inspirational talks, reading articles (like this one), or even talking to therapists may be fine and dandy, but that will not get us to the goal of our lives, which is to return to our Source and become encompassed in the Infinite for eternity.

But it seems so overwhelming! Perhaps, but that’s why we were given life in the first place, to achieve that which seems so impossible. After all, is anything truly impossible with G‑d? Can He not help us achieve the impossible if we really want it? But we have to be honest. We can’t go into hitbodedut and pretend. The moment we walk out into that field or close that door, we have to be real. We have to speak only truth. Nothing gets fixed without truth. We start with one negative trait and we keep talking to Hashem about it night after night until we negate it. It may take years of concerted effort, but all sincere effort will be rewarded. And when we nullify one negative trait, we move onto the next one, and so on, until we nullify them all. At that point there will be nothing left of us. We will have achieved complete bitul and become nothing, i.e. no-thing—even as Hashem is ‘No-thing’. This is how we prepare for becoming merged into the Eternal Infinite, to be fully encompassed in the necessary reality even as Hashem is the necessary reality.

May G‑d give us strength to be what we were destined to be, a nation that dwells in solitude (not because of government coercion, but voluntarily), each one of us becoming an expert at hitbodedut and achieving his true mission in life.

[the-shoemaker-report]

Meriting the Final Redemption

It is taught (Berachot 3a): אָמַר רַב יִצְחָק בַּר שְׁמוּאֵל מִשְּׁמֵיהּ דְּרַב שָׁלֹשׁ מִשְׁמָרוֹת הָוֵי הַלַּיְלָה וְעַל כָּל מִשְׁמָר וּמִשְׁמָר יוֹשֵׁב הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וְשׁוֹאֵג כַּאֲרִי וְאוֹמֵר אוֹי לִי שֶׁחֵרַבְתִּי אֶת בֵּיתִי וְשָׂרַפְתִּי אֶת הֵיכָלִי וְהִגְלִיתִי אֶת בָּנַי לְבֵין אוּמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם (Rav Yitzchak bar Shmuel said in the name of Rav, There are three watches in the night—and regarding each one, the Holy One, blessed be He, sits and roars like a lion, and says, ‘Woe to Me that I destroyed My house, burned My palace and exiled My children among the nations of the world’). Tosefot ha‑Rosh writes on this: וראוי לכל ירא שמים שיהא מצר ודואג באותה שעה ולשפוך תחנונים על חורבן בית המקדש כמו שנא' קומי רוני בלילה לראש אשמורות (It is proper for all those who fear Heaven to be distressed and concerned at that time, and to pour out supplications about the destruction of the Holy Temple, as it says [Eichah 2:19], ‘Rise, sing in the night, at the beginning of the watches…’).

Consistent emphasis is placed on this point in the initial three sections of the very first chapter of the Shulchan Aruch (O.C. 1:1‑3): יתגבר כארי לעמוד בבוקר לעבודת בוראו שיהא הוא מעורר השחר...המשכים להתחנן לפני בוראו יכוין לשעות שמשתנות המשמרות שהן בשליש הלילה ולסוף שני שלישי הלילה ולסוף הלילה שהתפלה שיתפלל באותן השעות על החורבן ועל הגלות רצויה...ראוי לכל ירא שמים שיהא מיצר ודואג על חורבן בית המקדש (One should strengthen himself like a lion to stand in the morning in the service of his Creator, so that he would wake up the morning [and not the other way around]…The one who gets up early to supplicate before his Creator should aim for the hours when the watches are changing…and the prayer that one prays at those hours regarding the destruction [of the Temple] and regarding the exile is favorable…It is proper for all who fear Heaven to be distressed and concerned about the destruction of the Holy Temple). In addition, the Mishnah Berurah writes at the beginning of a very lengthy passage describing the importance and virtues of rising early to recite the prayer that has come to be known as Tikkun Chatzot, the Midnight Repair (O.C. 1:3:9): והמקובלים האריכו מאוד בגודל מעלת קימת חצות כי רבה היא (And the Kabbalists expound at great length about the tremendous value of rising at midnight because it is very great).

It is told of R' Eliyahu Lopian (1876-1970) that he started rising at midnight to recite Tikkun Chatzot only later in life. When asked about this, he replied, “When I leave this world and come before the Heavenly tribunal, they will ask me if I kept the Shulchan Aruch and presumably I will say I did. They’re sure to say, ‘Let’s check,’ and they will probably start going through the Shulchan Aruch section by section, law by law. If they catch me on some detail after about two hundred sections, I might be able to come up with an answer. But what am I going to say if they catch me on the very first section?”

True, our Sages did not obligate everyone to get up out of bed at midnight and recite Tikkun Chatzot. They understood our limitations; however, they didn’t ignore the obligation either. As we read above (O.C. 1:3), it is only incumbent upon those who fear Heaven. So just ask yourself one simple question: Do I fear G‑d?

Many have been taught that reciting Tikkun Chatzot is something that just the super-religious, the Kabbalists or the tzaddikim do. But is this so? R' Nachman taught otherwise (Sichot ha-Ran 301): שֶׁעִקָּר עֲבוֹדַת אִישׁ הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִי הוּא בַּחֹרֶף לָקוּם בַּחֲצוֹת לַיְלָה וּבַקַּיִץ בְּעֵת שֶׁהַלַּיְלָה קָצָר מְאֹד שֶׁאָז אֵין עוֹמְדִין בַּחֲצוֹת בְּחוּץ לָאָרֶץ...אָז יִזָּהֵר לַעֲמֹד בַּבֹּקֶר הַשְׁכֵּם כַּעֲלוֹת הַשַּׁחַר (A Jew’s main devotion in the winter is to rise at midnight, and in the summer when the night is very short when we don’t rise at midnight outside of Eretz Yisrael, then we need to be careful to get up in the morning early at dawn). A Jew’s main devotion is Tikkun Chatzot? How can this be true?

When we get up in the middle of the night to mourn over the destruction of the Temple, we are following in the footsteps of Mashiach (Tehillim 119:62): חֲצוֹת־לַיְלָה אָקוּם לְהוֹדוֹת לָךְ עַל מִשְׁפְּטֵי צִדְקֶךָ (I rise at midnight to give You thanks regarding your righteous judgments). These ‘righteous judgments’ allude to the destruction of the Temple and our long, bitter exile. Even for these terrible decrees, which admittedly are very difficult to understand, we thank Hashem because (as we have written many times before) everything—including all of the events in our lives that are very difficult to understand—everything Hashem does, He does for our good. But why is it so important to accept Hashem’s ‘righteous judgments’ specifically at midnight? Midnight is the moment of the greatest darkness, the greatest constriction of consciousness (the world is typically asleep, i.e. ‘unconscious’ at that time) and the greatest judgments. But it is also the opportunity for change for the better because it is the moment when harsh decrees can be mitigated, i.e. ‘sweetened’, as R' Nachman states (Likutei Moharan 149): חֲצוֹת הוּא מְסֻגָּל כְּמוֹ פִּדְיוֹן כִּי הוּא הַמְתָּקַת הַדִּינִים (Midnight is highly effective, like a ransom, because it sweetens judgments).

It is difficult to mourn over the destruction of the Holy Temple. It happened so long ago. It seems so distant from us, so abstract, so foreign. All true; therefore, instead of focusing on the destruction per se we can focus on ourselves. By focusing on our own deficiencies, we share in the suffering of the Shechinah. And anyway, the fact that the Holy Temple is no longer with us does not give us an excuse to obstruct its rebuilding. In other words, midnight is the optimal time for cheshbon nefesh [self-examination, introspection]. This is the secret of what Tikkun Chatzot is really all about, and this is how R' Nachman summed it up (L.M. II:67): עַל־כֵּן מְאֹד צָרִיךְ לִזָּהֵר לָקוּם בַּחֲצוֹת לִהְיוֹת מִתְאַבֵּל עַל חֻרְבַּן בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ כִּי אוּלַי בַּגִּלְגּוּל הָרִאשׁוֹן הָיָה הוּא הַגּוֹרֵם שֶׁיֶּחֱרַב הַבֵּית־הַמִּקְדָּשׁ וַאֲפִלּוּ אִם לָאו אוּלַי הוּא מְעַכֵּב עַתָּה בִּנְיַן בֵּית־הַמִּקְדָּשׁ וְנֶחֱשָׁב גַם־כֵּן כְּאִלּוּ הוּא גָּרַם לְהַחֲרִיבוֹ (Therefore, it is very necessary to be careful to get up at midnight, to mourn about the destruction of the Holy Temple, because perhaps in one’s first incarnation, he was responsible for its destruction, and even if not, perhaps he is obstructing its rebuilding now, and that is also considered as if he caused its destruction). By getting up at midnight and sharing in the pain of the Shechinah, we are doing what we can to rebuild the Holy Temple. And this empowers us to begin repairing, i.e. doing tikkun on, our deficiencies one by one.

Tikkun Chatzot is about expanded consciousness and redemption. To receive these, we need to interrupt our sleep at the very moment when our consciousness is at its lowest. Why? This is when redemption takes place (Likutei Halachot, Hashkamat ha-Boker 1:15): שֶׁזֶּהוּ בְּחִינַת קִימַת חֲצוֹת מַמָּשׁ שֶׁאָז הוּא תַּכְלִית הַקַּטְנוּת וְאָז דַּיְקָא הוּא בְּחִינַת הִתְעוֹרְרוּת הַשֵּׁנָה שֶׁהוּא בְּחִינַת הִתְעוֹרְרוּת מִנְּפִילָתוֹ וּבָזֶה תָּלוּי הַגְּאֻלָּה בִּכְלָל וּבִפְרָט (This is an aspect of rising precisely at midnight for then is the ultimate smallness, for specifically then is the aspect of arousal from sleep, which is an aspect of arousal from one’s fallen state, and redemption both collectively and individually depends on this).

We can now understand why all past redemptions took place at midnight—as we acknowledge during נרצה [Nirtzah] at the end of the Pesach Seder. From Avraham’s crushing defeat of the four kings, to Lavan’s dream in which Hashem told him to cease and desist from hounding Yaakov, to the death of Egypt’s firstborn, to the destruction of Sisera’s and Sancheriv’s armies, to the fall of Babylon, to the deliverance of Daniel from the lion’s den, etc. All of these momentous events of redemption took place at midnight. And so it will be in the future (Hashkamat ha-Boker 1:15): וְעַל־כֵּן הָיְתָה גְּאֻלָּה הָרִאשׁוֹנָה בַּחֲצוֹת דַּיְקָא וְכֵן גְּאֻלָּה הָאַחֲרוֹנָה שֶׁאָנוּ מְקַוִּים בִּמְהֵרָה בְּיָמֵינוּ תִּהְיֶה עַל־יְדֵי בְּחִינַת חֲצוֹת עַל־יְדֵי הַכְּשֵׁרִים וְהַיְּרֵאִים שֶׁעוֹמְדִים בְּכָל לַיְלָה בַּחֲצוֹת (Therefore, the first redemption [from Egypt] took place precisely at midnight, and likewise the last redemption that we hope will come speedily in our days, will come through the aspect of midnight by virtue of those kosher and G‑d fearing Jews who get up each night at midnight). The final redemption will come about by virtue of those who rise at midnight? That’s quite a statement. But is it true? Yes, it is what the prophet wrote (Yeshayah 62:6‑7): עַל־חוֹמֹתַיִךְ יְרוּשָׁלִַם הִפְקַדְתִּי שֹׁמְרִים כׇּל־הַיּוֹם וְכׇל־הַלַּיְלָה תָּמִיד לֹא יֶחֱשׁוּ הַמַּזְכִּרִים אֶת־יְהֹוָה אַל־דֳּמִי לָכֶם׃ וְאַל־תִּתְּנוּ דֳמִי לוֹ עַד־יְכוֹנֵן וְעַד־יָשִׂים אֶת־יְרוּשָׁלִַם תְּהִלָּה בָּאָרֶץ (I appointed watchmen upon your walls Yerushalayim, all day and night, constantly, they won’t be silent. Those of you who remind Hashem, do not be quiet! Don’t give Him any quiet until He establishes and makes Yerushalayim a praise on the earth).

The three daily prayers correspond to the Patriarchs: Shacharit to Avraham, Minchah to Yitzchak and Arvit to Yaakov (Berachot 26b). And the three Patriarchs correspond to the three ‘legs’ of the מֶרְכָּבָה [Merkavah, Divine Chariot] as stated in Bereshit Rabbah 47:6. But there are actually four ‘legs’ to the Merkavah (Yechezkel 1). Who merited the fourth ‘leg’? It is none other than David ha-Melech (Zohar Chadash Lech Lecha 32a‑b). The Chofetz Chaim brings this down in Shemirat ha-Lashon Sha’ar ha-Tevunah 8: וְאָמְרוּ רַזַ"ל שֶׁבְּאוֹתוֹ שָׁעָה זָכָה דָּוִד לִהְיוֹת הָרְבִיעִי לְרַגְלֵי מֶרְכָּבָה (Our Rabbis said that at that time [when David accepted the cursing of Shimi ben Gera] David merited to become the fourth leg of the Merkavah). If David corresponds to the fourth leg, what is the fourth prayer? Obviously, it is Tikkun Chatzot, the midnight prayer that focuses on nothing but the destruction of and the yearning for the Holy Temple, a prayer aptly corresponding to David since he (and his son) merited to build it in the first place. This secret is actually alluded to in the first blessing of the Shemoneh Esrei. Have you ever wondered why we say הָקֵל הַגָּדול הַגִּבּור וְהַנּורָא קֵל עֶלְיון (the great, mighty and awesome G‑d, the supreme G-d)? Isn’t it sufficient to say “the great, mighty and awesome G-d”? After all, these are the attributes that correspond respectively to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov: “great” corresponds to Avraham’s perception of Hashem as well as his own personal mastery of chesed, “mighty” being Yitzchak’s perception and mastery of gevurah, and “awesome” being that of Yaakov in tiferet. Why do we need to say “the supreme G-d”? Now you know the answer. It is because those words encapsulate David ha-Melech’s perception of G‑d as well as his own personal mastery. David is Mashiach, the anointed king, the supreme sovereign below, even as Hashem is the supreme sovereign above.

Now we can understand something fascinating. In the future, Hashem will prepare a banquet for the tzaddikim (Pesachim 119b). After the meal, the cup of blessing gets passed around, first to Avraham, then to Yitzchak, Yaakov, Moshe and Yehoshua, but no one will feel worthy to lead the group in blessing Hashem. Finally, the cup is given to David; he accepts it and leads the group. As it is written (Tehillim 116:13):  כּוֹס יְשׁוּעוֹת אֶשָּׂא וּבְשֵׁם ה׳ אֶקְרָא (I will lift up the cup of salvations and I will call upon the name of Hashem).

In this short article, we have tried to lay out some of the rationale for this prayer, but what we can’t do is explain its beauty and sweetness. To appreciate that, you will have to experience it yourself. So if you want to have a part in meriting the final redemption, why not begin rising in the night to pray Tikkun Chatzot?