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

A Bag of Cold Goins

A wealthy & experienced businessman had a son who was a novice in business. The father gave him a sack of gold coins to buy some merchandise. “Business isn't complicated my son. It's simple: You buy merchandise in bulk at wholesale price, and you sell it at retail price, making profit. Go to Vilna. Visit the city market and buy it for the wholesale price.” The son-in-law went and did as his father-in-law had suggested. The first stand he saw at the market was selling shofars (ram horns). "It's right before Rosh Hashanah! Come and buy shofars for the holiday!" Announced the owner. He got a good price on shofars and bought a wagon-load.


When he arrived home, his father was flabbergasted. “What did you do?!” The son replied, “What’s the matter? I checked the prices just like you told me to.” “Yes,” said the father, “but there's only one main synagogue in our city! Everyone hear's the shofar blown there on Rosh Hashanah. Nobody's going to buy these!” The father stormed off to tell his workers to put the shofars in the warehouse. Sometime later the father was ready to try again. The son went to Vilna again, and this time he found a tremendous bargain - a massive amount of toothpicks for less than 10% of their wholesale price! Smiling with pride, the boy filled his wagons with toothpicks and headed back to town. He was in for a surprise when he came home. “What’s the matter father? I got an amazing price on these toothpicks.” “What’s the matter? What’s the matter?! Nobody's going to buy all of these toothpicks!” The father sighed and told his workers to put the toothpicks in the warehouse.

After a while, the father called a merchant who dealt in odd lots and asked him to take the shofars and get whatever he could for them. The following day, he called somebody else, who dealt in overstocks, to do the same thing for the toothpicks. Soon after, these two fellows bumped into each other. Unaware that they were working for the same person, they made a trade, shofars for toothpicks. When the father got the report, he burst out laughing. His son complained: “Why are you so upset with me? These two guys are hot-shot businessmen and they both bought the same merchandise I did!” The father answered, “My dear son. Both of these men had something worthless and exchanged it for something worthless. But you had gold. You could have bought priceless goods, but instead you bought worthless merchandise!”

Each of us has been entrusted with a beautiful neshamoh (soul). We have been given a G-dly gift, the Torah, full of Divine wisdom and guidance. We have been given many minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years to achieve and acquire good deeds in this world. But too often we pass up on good "merchandise", instead focusing on the purchase of useless items. This wouldn't be a big deal, if not for the fact that we were given gold. Each of us has been given golden, priceless souls, entrusted with a divine mission to acquire mitzvot and better the world as best we can. From saying the shema to lighting shabbat candles or giving a dollar to charity, we can come home with great merchandise our Father can be proud of.

Shabbat Shalom!

The Power of Garments

G-dly Soul and animal soul. Will and pleasure. Unity and disparity. Thought and action. In his monumental, classic work - the Tanya - Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812) compares and contrasts everything from what goes on within a human being, to what's going on within G-d and his universe. Made up of 5 parts - A Collection of Sayings, The Gate of Unity, Letters on Repentance, Holy Letters, and The Final Collection of Sayings, the first book contains 53 chapters. Early on, in the 4th chapter, the author makes a point so profound - it's almost easy to read right through it and pass over the latent power behind his words. After discussing in Ch. 3 what we're made up of - a "divine soul" & an "animal soul" each made up of 10 faculties, in chapter 4 Rabbi Shneur Zalman discusses the "garments of the soul" which is thought, speech, and action. Surely when one thinks over a Torah thought or says a kind word, or even brings a glass of water to a parent, that's cute and everything, but surely less holy or powerful than the G-dly soul within us....right?

In the words of the holy Rabbi: "Now these 3 "garments," deriving from the Torah & its commandments, although they are called "garments" of the soul, their quality, nevertheless is infinitely higher & greater than that of the soul, as explained in the Zohar, because the Torah and G-d are one." Meaning, as great and as spiritually lofty as the souls within us are, they are still finite. But, when I choose to do, say, or think something from the Torah, I am connecting my soul and body to something truly infinite - because G-d and his wisdom, his Torah, are one and the same, it is connected to his Essence. The power in which Judaism places on proper action in life knows no bounds - it is ALL about this world! So many focus on the "world to come" - on "going to heaven" - but Judaism teaches that this is where it's at! Sure, in the next world, G-dliness is felt and comprehended easier and pleasure is therefore greater, but in terms of true spiritual attainment and accomplishment, nothing beats the opportunity we have in this physical world. There is a Jewish law that says men must tuck in their tzitzit - "fringes" on the sides of their garments, when walking into a cemetery. Why? So as not to arouse any jealousy in heaven, because of the fact that we can do physical mitzvot and they can't anymore!

The author continues: "Hence it has been said (in Ethics of our Fathers 4:17): Better is one hour of repentance & good deeds in this world than the whole life of the world to come" since in heaven one connects to a limited light, whereas G-d's Infinite Essence can be found only in Torah & Mitzvot. But wait a minute! How in the world can we say that G-d's Essence is found in the Torah, one that talks about monetary laws, rituals, holidays, laws of the temple!? By way of analogy, Rabbi Shneur Zalman concludes: "Although the Torah has been clothed in lower material things, it is by way of illustration, like embracing the king. There is no difference, in regard to the degree of closeness and attachment to the king, whether the king is then wearing one robe or several robes, so long as the royal person is in them." G-d is found in his Torah and Mitzvot completely, whether we feel it or not.

May we embrace the king whenever possible, in good thought, speech and deed, binding our small selves with the infinite.

Shabbat Shalom!

Mission Accomplished

Hi there, hope you've had a meaningful week, and that an uplifting Shabbat awaits you. This week's Torah Portion is entitled "Va'etchanan", which means "And he implored." This refers to the many requests of Moses to G-d to grant him entry into the Land of Israel together with his people. In fact, the numerical equivalent of the Hebrew word Va'etchanan is 515, which our Sages say is the number of times Moses implored G-d to enter the land, but was refused. It was, sadly, not meant to be.
Instead, G-d told Moses to ascend the mountain "Nevo" in the Jordan Valley, adjacent to the Israeli town of Jericho. There G-d Showed Moses the entire land, from north to south. Our Sages say that G-d also showed Moses all of the future events that would happen to the Jewish People in the future; the good & the bad.

After Moses gazed into Israel & the future, it was time for his soul to depart. As sad as it is to lose our great leader, the shepherd of the Jewish People, the description of his death is incredible. The Midrash describes the last day of his life, ending with: '...At that moment, G-d Called to Moshe's soul and said to her: "My daughter, I assigned you one hundred and twenty years in Moshe's body. Now the time has come for you to depart. Emerge and do not delay." She [Moshe's soul] responded: "Master of the Universe, I know that You are the Master of all spirits and the Master of all souls. You created me and You placed me in Moshe's body for 120 years. And now, is there a body in this world more pure than that of Moshe? I love him and I do not wish to depart from him!"
G-d answered: "Emerge, and I shall take you up to the highest of heavens and seat you beneath the throne of My glory, near the cherubs and serafim." Then, G-d kissed Moshe and took his soul with a kiss.'

As fascinating and moving an account this is of G-d & Moses, I think we can also be inspired and learn a few lessons
in our own lives. Generally we look at this life as all that there is. And for good reason! This is all that we see & know, touch and feel. And not only that, but Judaism strongly emphasizes that we live this human life to the fullest, engaging our physical surroundings and uplifting it in the process. But ultimately, we have to remember that we are just visitors. Souls from Heaven on a mission. As sad as death is, it is merely a return; to an even loftier level than where we began. Let's try & live life down here with the constant awareness that we come from up there. And then our life here will better reflect our mission at hand - to make this world a heavenly place.

And may we merit the day when all of those who passed, with Moses at their head, come back to life and lead us all back to the land of Israel, with Mashiach now.

Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel

Souler Powered

B"H

Does the spiritual exist? Do I have a soul? Is there a Divine Life-force beyond the physical?

Well, let's take a trip back in time for a moment and imagine we were sitting in a preschool class (Oh the good old days :).

The teacher takes out a few pictures depicting the weather:



The 1st picture depicts a sunny day. "What's the weather?" The teacher asks. "Sunny!" Everyone yells.
How did they know? Because they saw the sun and its rays.
Next comes a picture depicting a rainy day. The children all guess correctly again, pointing to the dark clouds and numerous rain drops.

Now comes the 3rd picture.



"What's the weather here?" Asks the teacher.
"It's windy!" Everyone yells.
But wait! How did they know?? There's no wind to point to!
Well, one can see the effects of the wind - the leaves flying off, the man and kite bending backward, etc.
Let's take Love. It can't be seen, it can't be weighed or heard. But its effects are blatant.
Radio waves are everywhere. But I don't see them!? Well, bring a radio into your room, turn it on, and you'll hear the waves.
The waves just needed a proper vessel to express themselves.

The SOUL can't be seen. It can't be heard.
But its effects are apparent. And like radio waves, the soul too needs a body to express itself and to carry out its mission.
If you look at the Hebrew words for wind and rain, you discover something fascinating.
Wind in Hebrew is Ruach, as is the word for soul or spirit. Spirituality is Ruchaniyut (Wind, like that which is spiritual, can't be seen.)
Rain is Geshem; physicality is Gashmiut. (Rain, like all things physical, is seen.)
So too by the Spiritual G-dly Life Force that sustains our world. It may not be seen, but through its effects (like Divine Providence - see last email ;)
and the world's vitality, we can deduce its existence.
{To see more on the subject, look here}.

May we keep our eyes and ears attuned to that which isn't openly seen or heard, and sense the subtleties of this world; the
silent underlying force behind life - in the world & in us.
'...And a great and strong wind splitting mountains and shattering boulders before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake-not in the earthquake was the Lord. After the earthquake - fire, not in the fire was the Lord. And after the fire a still, soft sound.' (Melachim-I Kings, Ch.19 verses 11-12)
Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel

To truly be Alive

What does it mean to be truly alive?

A story is told, of a king who's son fell deathly ill. All of
the greatest doctors were brought in to the palace to try their luck
at finding a remedy for the sick prince. But to no avail.
As the prince's health worsened, the King was becoming more & more
distraught. Until finally one doctor spoke: "My king, there is 1
remedy that perhaps can save your son. It isn't for certain, and it
requires you to give up something precious. I need the crown jewel on
the top of your crown. I will grind it up and put it into water for
the prince to drink. Perhaps it can heal him."
The king answered, "for my only son! of course take it! what's the
point of my crown jewel if there isn't my only precious son!?"
This analogy was given by the "Alter Rebbe", the founder of 'Chassidus
Chabad', to explain why Chassidus, the inner dimension of Torah,
needed to be revealed. The Jewish people in these last generations,
under the constant attack of outside enemies, along with the inside
problem of assimilation, need this precious jewel to infuse our
Yiddishkeit with life and vibrancy.
SO what is Chassidus?

Just like our body needs food to nourish it and keep it happy, our
souls need "food" as well to feel satisfied. But the soul doesn't
enjoy ketchup and mustard. What it wants and needs is spiritual
nourishment. This "food" it enjoys is Torah; specifically, its inner
dimension, Chassidus. This is the essence of Torah. Therefore, because
of its nature as essence, Chassidus is often likened to oil: On one
hand, it itself is beyond any one thing (oil rises to the top of any
liquid it enters). On the other hand, it permeates every single
aspect. Chassidus is the secret dimension of Torah (oil is hidden
inside the olive). What are some of these secrets? Chassidus shows us
the uniqueness and preciousness of every Jew. How we are truly 1 w/
G-d, like an "only son born to parents in their old age." How loving a
fellow Jew is the entrance to a relationship with G-d. How serving G-d
with Joy is greater than all else. How there is no place devoid of
Hashem's Presence. The physical world and G-d don't contradict; rather
all physicality is permeated by G-dliness. The world is G-d's
painting. Where can one hope to look for the artist? in his painting.

Specifically, when a Jew does a "Mitzvah," he feels he's doing a
"commandment" of Hashem. Kiddush was drunk? Matzah eaten? Mitzvah
accomplished? case closed. Chassidus teaches us that every time a Jew
does a mitzvah, he is in direct connection with his Creator. "Mitzvah"
means "tzavsa" - "connection". One is connecting with his Infinite G-d
at the time of a mitzvah. So much so, that Jewish law states you must
stand in front of any Jew, regardless of his level or stature, when
amidst doing a mitzvah! (see Ch. 46 of Tanya)
And in any case, why do I learn Torah and perform Mitzvos, and serve
Hashem in the 1st place? for reward in the afterlife? True, this is a
direct outcome. But We really serve Hashem in order to please our
Father, and ultimately, in order to form this world into a dwelling
place, a home, for Hashem. Chassidus shows us the beauty of Torah and
Mitzvos; not because we have to. Rather, because we want to.

Ultimately, Chassidus teaches us that G-d is Everywhere. It makes us
realize "there is no place devoid of Him." If you're lost in Tijuana,
sitting on a couch of a party, or praying in synagogue, G-d is there.
No place is devoid of His Presence. Not only that, but Chassidus
revolutionizes the look at "Divine Providence": that every single
thing that happens in this world, from a joyful job promotion to an
annoying traffic jam, to the stubbing of your toe, is all directed by
G-d. Everything.
By knowing this, a Jew becomes alive. He sees Hashem's Hand in
everything. How He truly watches over us,and how important our mission
in this world is. How every act we do can literally change the world
enormously for the better. With
1 good deed, speech, or even thought, one can bring the Redemption,
our ultimate goal.

Chassidus emphasizes how small are the "great", and how truly great
are the "small." A voiceless cry from a Jew's depths when in a tough
situation, pierces all heavens and breaks all gates, straight to
Hashem. This is something the most religious and greatest Torah
scholar wishes to have. It makes sense, because we are all G-d's
Beloved children.
To know this truth is to live. This knowledge keeps us vitalized and
warm. It infuses us with truth and meaning in this often-times
confusing world.

This is what it means to be truly alive.

(you can contact your local chabad Rabbi to learn more, or read up
yourself: chabad.org. You also can always call me: 858-452-6205 if you
want to learn a bit. I'm home now for Chanuka, feel free to call
anytime! (I have menorahs if you need also)
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Channukah!

-daniel