Bells and Pomegranates

In the times of the holy Temple in Jerusalem, behind the Western Wall, the High Holidays were a whole different ball game from what we have today. On Yom Kippur, the people didn't stand in synagogue all day. Rather, they ascended to Jerusalem and watched the Kohen Gadol, the holiest Jew of the time, perform an intricate service inside the Temple. On Yom Kippur, when entering the room known as the 'holy of holies' with the Ark, the Kohen Gadol would wear 4 garments of white, just like other Kohanim. However, the rest of the year he would wear 8 garments, including a 'me'il' (cloak) which covered his entire body, made of the special blue color of techeilet. The Torah describes that at the bottom of this garment were to be golden bells and pomegranates. What were they there for and what did they symbolize?

At first glance, there is an extremely strange argument between two of the greatest medieval commentators on the Torah regarding these bells and pomegranates. Rashi explains that on the lower helm of the garment were bells, pomegranates, bells, pomegranates - separate from one another. The Ramban (Nachmanides) argues and posits that each bell was inside each pomegranate. The reasoning he uses seems baffling: "According to Rashi's view, why not use apples instead of pomegranates?" Perhaps, explains other commentators, Ramban is referring to the circular, apple-shaped golden ornaments of the Menorah in the Temple. If they are for beauty, why not just use apples? Let's leave the pomegranates for a moment and focus on the bells. The reason for the bells was in order that the Kohen Gadol "be heard." Why was that important? The Ramban explains simply, that when entering the presence of a King without asking permission first, bursting in, is extremely insensitive and rude. So the noise of the bells symbolized his approach to a holy place. But if we look deeper, a question can arise: Is holiness really represented by sound, or is it by silence?

The loftiest time of prayer is during Shemonah Esrei - the Silent Prayer. The holy Zohar explains that one of the sources for why we pray silently at the apex of prayer comes from the vision of Elijah the Prophet in the Book of Kings: "Fire came, but God was not in the fire. An earthquake came, but God was not in the earthquake. Then a great wind came by, but God was not in the wind. Then came a 'kol demamah dakah' - still, small voice." Noise represents complexity and passion, whereas silence represents unity and oneness. Chassidic Philosophy connects this concept with the difference between the relationship with God a Baal Teshuva (repentant) has, and a Tzadik perfectly righteous person has. The newcomer is "loud", coming from an opposite world and state of mind to connect with God with a strong passion. The Tzadik is "silent", having felt one with God for as long as he's known. The angels too are divided into those that sing passionately (Ophanim V'chayot Hakodesh) and those on a higher level (Seraphim) who are unified with God in complete silence. Imagine walking into a complex class being given. There you might see 3 types of students listening: 1) The silent student who is quiet because he is spaced out and has no idea what is going on. 2) The loud student, who is beginning to understand and is asking question after question with passion. 3) The silent student who is smiling; silent because there is no complexity for him; the knowledge of his teacher has unified with his mind.

In 2013, our service of God needs to be "noisy". "Silence" in our case would be akin to the spaced out student, totally apathetic. We have to improve and grow, working to rise beyond to connect with God. Many ask why Jews who pray move so much, swaying back and forth. The Baal Shem Tov once remarked: "Have you ever seen someone that's trying to avoid drowning? They're moving passionately. To avoid "sinking" into the materialism and apathy of this world, one has to be passionate. Now we can return to our question in even stronger terms: Why would the Kohen Gadol have bells at all!? The holiest person entering the holiest place in the world - more than anyone else - should signify silence and oneness with God! The answer is a very powerful one: The Kohen Gadol didn't live for himself. He lived for the people and when entering the Temple, was spiritually bringing the entire Jewish people in with him. That's why he needed bells, signifying the service of noise of the people, fighting to connect to God. That's why the bells were at the lowest part of the hem of his cloak; the Kohen Gadol was bringing in even those who felt most distant and low. Now we can understand what the Ramban was saying to Rashi about apples and pomegranates. Apples, throughout the Kabbalah, represents a holy level. Pomegranates represent a lower level trying to connect to a higher level: "Even the empty ones among you are filled with Mitzvot like a pomegranate is filled with seeds." (Talmud Berachot 57a) The Rebbe once asked: "If every Jew is filled with Mitzvot, how can he be called empty?"

As the high holidays approach, let us take advantage of these special moments to connect with God, both with passion and at times with silence, with the full knowledge that each of us are looked at as a pomegranate - even though we can improve, we are each full of good deeds and are brought in to the holy of holies.

Shabbat Shalom!

-Rabbi Daniel

King in the Field

A King decides to leave his palace, leave his large city, and enter the fields where the simple farmers work. There, all are able to come and meet the King, who embraces them with a shining and happy countenance. (Alter Rebbe, Likkutei Torah 32b)

Thus the Mystics describe by way of analogy, the spiritual dynamic of the last month of the year which we are in the middle of now - Elul. Falling in the fall season, Elul directly precedes the special month of Tishrei, full of the “high holidays” of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot, where we take stock of our deeds of the past year and decide upon an improved life course for the coming year. The Mystics liken Rosh Hashanah and the high holidays to a time when the people come to crown their king in his palace. However, in the month of Elul it is the king who comes to the field to visit his people. In Elul it is God who reveals Himself to our souls and draws us closer in, providing a more accessible path to connect and feel closer. We are given a special opportunity and ability in this month to get in touch with our heritage and spirituality in a much smoother fashion than usual. Notice that the King comes to his people in the field; in their domain. He lacks royal clothes, his throne and his air of superiority; he approaches in his natural state. Just as God approaches us vulnerably, we too must approach God in our natural state. There’s no fasting, lengthy prayer, or white clothes of Yom Kippur. I approach God as myself, including all of my faults and desires. I still want to connect and have a relationship.

This experience of renewed connection is known in Hebrew as ‘Teshuva.’ Often improperly translated as ‘repentance,’ the real meaning is ‘returning’. This slight variation is significant, as it represents the Jewish view that even when we mess up, our natural state remains pure and wholesome; we merely have to return to who we really are under the mess. But returning to our soul and its mission means to change from our daily patterns of action, and who likes to change? Many of us suffer from what psychologists call a “victim mentality”. For example, there are times when certain unfortunate people feel the need to resort to begging for a livelihood (often out of need). At first ashamed, a pauper who begs can oftentimes pass a certain threshold where it isn't hard anymore for him to beg. It even becomes hard to stop and extract oneself from this new mentality. A friend of mine living in New York once saw a man whom he recognized as a beggar, driving a nice Volvo! Someone explained to him that the guy had become comfortable with begging.

While we can be thankful that we are not paupers, and we should give those begging the benefit of the doubt, we ourselves may be acting like the paupers who suffer from a victim mentality. Maybe we’re stuck in a rut, doing things simply because it has become a part of our daily routine and mentality. One can slip to such a point in behavior where he believes, ‘I am who I am. This is me. I may as well accept my mediocrity.’ It’s very difficult to come to the realization that we’re not living the way we should be and that we’ve fallen below our capabilities. And it’s even harder to extract ourselves from this new mentality we may have. Comes the months of Elul and Tishrei, an opportune time to get back in touch with one’s true inner identity. Teshuva means returning to one’s true self - not the worldly mentality we have become accustomed to, but rather the internal, Divine mentality we naturally possess in our souls. The King is in the field and accessible, smiling and awaiting our approach; all we have to do is go out to greet Him.

Shabbat Shalom!

The Infinite Light

'And God said, "Let the water that is beneath the heavens gather into one place, and let the dry land appear," and it was so' (Genesis 1:9). 'What is the way to love and awe of God? Whenever one contemplates the great wonders of God's works and creations...'(Maimonides, Foundations of the Torah 2:2).

In the beginning of the Book of Genesis, we read a description of the original formation of the universe. The Torah tell us that God did not simply "snap His fingers" and poof! Rather, He created the world through speech. But what does this mean? Since God is described as Ein Sof - Without End, a perfect unity without parts (that includes organs like a mouth), what does it mean when it says, "And God said"? Let's take a look at what speech really represents by looking at human beings, and then we will extrapolate back to God, as it says: 'God made Adam in His image' (Genesis 1:27) and 'From my flesh I see God' (Job 19:26).

When you say something, are the words that are spoken considered a part of your being? Not exactly. Yet could they be considered anything other than you? Absolutely not. The words are solely yours, but they are only emanations from your being; expressions of who you are. They are also merely a revelation outward of an idea which was hidden before within. So too, God speaking is the revealing of His inner light outwardly. The Jewish Mystics explain (Tanya, Gates of Unity Ch.1 ) that before God spoke creation, He and His Infinite Ability/Light filled all of existence. To make room for another existence, God hid His light and emanated a finite light that descended through concealment upon concealment until finally creating the physical matter of the universe. That outward revelation of His finite creative energy is called His speech. Incredibly, this means that every detail of the universe that we see is a specific expression of God's light! That blade of grass and that star and that butterfly is an emanation and manifestation of God's light; the sky and earth are the expressions of God. So when you are looking at any object in this world, you are seeing God's light condensed, tailor made to express that specific object. The mystics teach further that God is continually speaking every existence into creation, as King David: "Forever your word stands firm in the heavens" (Psalms 119:89).

If you thought this idea was deep, we are going to go one step deeper. We explained earlier that in order to emanate a finite light and create a universe full of beings that would appear and feel completely independent, God had to hide His Infinite Being and abilities. But although hidden, His Infinitude never left. Therefore, this finite expression of God's light through His speech that created all that we see, in truth, is also the Infinite reality of God. God contains the ability for infinitude and finitude just the same. Imagine the way speech is before it's spoken, in the mind of the speaker. 'There is no place devoid of Him.' (Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 57) Walking down a dark street, eating a salad, wherever you find yourself and whatever you are doing, know that you and your surroundings are within the infinite light of God. We are not just standing in front of the king; we are one with the king. All of existence is one with God's inner Being.

When we contemplate on this idea in depth and picture it, we can lift our perspective and reality from the lowest of levels to the loftiest of heights.

Shabbat Shalom!

-Rabbi Daniel

Clothes of Light

What changed when Adam and Eve sinned by eating from the tree of knowledge? Previous to the eating, the soul and body were completely united - the soul illuminated the body. During the havdalah ceremony on Saturday night, we hold our fingernails up toward the candle, and look at the reflection of the candlelight in them, representing the bodies of Adam and Eve - how they shined before the sin. Kabbalah describes their bodies as 'cotenot or' - 'garments of light.' Rather than hide the inner soul, their skin revealed! That's why they wore no clothes; originally there was no feeling of shame.

Why does nakedness cause a feeling of shame? Isn't it natural? The mystics explain that it's because of our inner awareness that we contain an inner angelic being that's being housed in an outer animal-like body. This dichotomy between the two causes shame - my soul is being represented outwardly by a body similar to an animal's. One response is to cover the nakedness in shame, the other (Jewish) approach is to hide the body in a way that demonstrates a dignity. This is known as dressing 'tzniut' - 'modestly.' Like a King or Queen who wears clothing in a way which hides the body, but also reveals that they are royalty.

The word for skin in hebrew is 'Or' with an ayin, while light is 'Or' with an alef. The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is Alef - ﬡ - It holds a special importance as a letter which indicates particular holiness; it's the letter of the soul. It is made up of 2 yuds and a vav, numerically equivalent to God's name which is 26. It's connected to the word commander - Aluf, and some have postulated that English words with similar meaning have ancient roots in the letter alef, such as elevate & aloof. Whenever an alef is exchanged for an ayin, it refers to a lowering in holiness. The word Or can also be read as "Iver" - blindness. This is what occurred after the eating of the fruit, as the garments of light turned into garments of skin (from alef to ayin). From revealing the soul to hiding it; blinding us to its existence through concealment. Why do you think we call skin - hide? It's no coincidence that the next 3 letters after alef is bet, gimmel, daled which spells beged - meaning garment or traitor. The garment of the soul, the body, is traitorous to what's inside of it.

When you looked at Adam or Eve originally, you saw a soul. Afterward, you noticed, faintly, a body as well. Now it's the inverse: When looking at another, we see the body. Through much effort and sensitivity, one may notice the faint glow of an inner soul. When we desire something material, what do we say? "I'd like to have that" in 1st person. And what does our soul, our conscience respond? "You shouldn't do that." The soul has taken the back seat. Most, if not all spiritual paths and religions have worked to fix this problem since the sin of Adam & Eve, through asceticism - denying of the body through celibacy and denial of physical pleasure; from nuns and priests to Buddhist monks and Islamic abstinence from wine. Judaism has always included wine in spiritual celebration and emphasizes the holy power of marriage. Jewish commandments - Mitzvot - is a word connected to tzavta, meaning binding/connecting. By doing Mitzvot, we bind the physical with the spiritual, the soul with the body. Through our actions we are able to uplift the physical - reverting the world and body back to their original state, and even higher, ultimately leading to the final redemption when we will be able to see everything and everyone for what they really are inside - their true essence revealed.

Shabbat Shalom!

-Rabbi Daniel