Question & Answer With Rabbi Dovid Sears - “Today I Have Given Birth To You”

(Picture courtesy of zadikim.org*)

A Simple Jew asks:

Shivchei HaRan #3 states:

“When he [Rebbe Nachman of Breslov] became bar mitzvah, his uncle, the holy Rabbi Ephraim of Sudilkov, called him and pronounced over him the verse, ‘Today I have given birth to you.’ (Tehillim 2:7). This speaks of the day a person becomes bar mitzvah, as discussed in the sacred literature. His uncle then spoke to him briefly regarding religious devotion, and these words were as dear to the Rebbe as finding a great treasure.”

Explaining the meaning behind this chapter of Tehillim, Reb Nosson of Breslov wrote the following in Likutey Halachos, Hilchos Milah 4:17-19:

"When a person genuinely desires to return to Hashem and to enter the realm of holiness with a perfect heart, every day and every hour he should contemplate that he was born today. He can strengthen his faith by binding himself to the holy tzaddikim. For they are filled with the spirit of Moshiach, of whom it is written, ‘Today I have given birth to you’ (op cit.). Forget the days and years that have passed. From now on, if you only live with this thought [of being newly born] at every moment, you will be worthy of true closeness to Hashem, and healing will come for all the days which passed. Everything will be transformed to good through complete teshuvah."

Do you think that the Degel Machaneh Ephraim was trying to convey this very message to Rebbe Nachman at his bar mitzvah?

Rabbi Dovid Sears answers:

The teaching you quoted from Reb Noson seems to be a spin-off on Rabbi Nachman’s words in Likkutei Moharan I, 272 (“HaYom Im B’Kolo Tishma’u”), which discusses living in the present moment and indirectly relates this to the Moshiach, who will come “today” – i.e., who personifies this quality.

As is known, a bar mitzvah bochur is comparable to a newborn child, because the Yetzer Tov/Good Inclination associated with the Nefesh Elokis, or Divine soul, only becomes internalized within him on this day. This means that now he can do things because of their inherent virtue, rather than just because he knows that such-and-such is the right thing to do, since his parents and teachers have told him so. He also has a new spiritual capacity for an altruism that previously had not existed for him. (The same thing applies to a girl on the day that she becomes a bas mitzvah, at age twelve.)

As for what the Degel had to say about this concept when he gave the Rebbe his blessing, we have really don’t know. The quote from Shivchei HaRan only states that the Degel invoked this verse from Tehillim. But there is another Breslover tradition that when the tzaddik Reb Nochum of Chernobyl first saw Rabbi Nachman, he commented that the Rebbe had "beautiful eyes" (Siach Sarfei Kodesh II, 237; also ibid. II, 239) -- which was said of Dovid HaMelekh, and which also might be a remez, or hint, to one of the attributes of the Moshiach. This would correspond to Reb Noson's teaching in Likkutei Halakhos, cited above, about living in the present moment being one of the qualities of the Moshiach. So your speculation might not be so far-fetched.

There’s another related teaching about this in Chayei Moharan 568. Reb Noson writes: “The Rebbe once remarked that he revived himself with the aspect of “I have given birth to you today!’ [This indicates that everything is “newborn,” every instant.] God will help us to skip over everything that ever happened to us, and He will reveal the truth at last. We will all return to God, and the former days will fall away; for all time will be nullified and will merge into the category of ‘beyond time,’ where everything is remedied.”

The “good eye” (which I think is synonymous with the concept of “beautiful eyes”) and the ability to live fully in the here and now actually go together. In Rebbe Nachman’s story of the “Seven Beggars,” the Blind Beggar is not really blind, but only appears this way from a materialistic point of view. In truth, he possesses the perfection of vision, which is spiritual vision, cosmic vision – and when the various elders in his story-within-a-story make their various claims about how far back they can remember, the Blind Beggar alone declares, “Ich gedenk gohrnisht . . . I remember Nothing!” -- by which he means the Primordial Nothing from whence all existence derives. That is, he has transcended past, present, and future to live in the “eternal present.” So the Blind Beggar is a sort of perpetual bar mitvah bochur, newborn in every moment.

This is the Blind Beggar’s “wedding gift” to the chosson and kallah in the Rebbe’s story. And as Reb Noson tells us in the section cited from Likkutei Halakhos, living vividly in the present is an avodah that we may all accomplish – and must accomplish – because it is our common destiny. This is how we can live a true life and a “good life,” and it is the Blind Beggar’s wondrous gift to us all.

* The picture above is a replica of the Baal Shem Tov's Shul in Medzhibuz where Rebbe Nachman was first called to the Torah on his Bar Mitzvah.

Azamra In Gan Eden

It is a mitzvah to offer mitigating arguments in defense of Adam and Eve, the creations of Hashem's hands.

(Minchas Elazar)

Tefillin In Auschwitz

(Illustration by Jordan Krimstein)

Excerpt from Bar Mitzva & Tefillin Secrets:

These recollections were written by the author’s grandfather, HaGaon Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Meisels zt”l, the Weitzener Rav, author of the responsa works Mekad’shei Hashem and Binyan Tzvi.

Putting on Tefillin in Auschwitz

It was heartening sight to behold. Day after day, Yidden lined up to put on tefillin, reciting the berachah, happy to say the verse Shema Yisrael—in Auschwitz. They risked their lives, since the Germans would have clobbered to death anyone caught in the act.

It was a miracle that a pair of tefillin was there at all. The moment we arrived in Auschwitz our clothing and all our possessions were taken. Often we were frisked to see if we had stowed away anything that had escaped their scrutiny. Miraculously, we were still able to put on tefillin every day.

In Auschwitz, the capital of death, it was impossible to have emunah based on reason and logic. Nothing made sense. The only way we could bolster our faith was by putting on tefillin and accepting G-d’s sovereignty as expressed in the tefillin. People put their lives on the line for the mitzvah of tefillin because it restored their broken spirits. The tefillin reinforced their determination to continue to believe, though the things that occurred in Auschwitz were beyond comprehension.

Divine Concealment

Through the tefillin we remain bound to Hashem with unflagging emunah, trust, and faith. The tefillin inspire Yidden with valor and vigor to endure periods of Divine concealment, with the firm belief that Hashem will have mercy on them and “remove them from distress to relief.”

The Chasam Sofer offers a beautiful insight on the verse, “[Hashem said to Moshe,] ‘You will see My back, but My face may not be seen.’” (Shemos 33:25) Only after an event has passed, in retrospect, we can understand G-d’s reasons, recognize His wisdom, realize that things that seemed unfair were all for our good. But, “My face may not be seen”—we cannot fathom G-d’s ways while the event is taking place. Moshe Rabbeinu asked, “How will the Yidden come through the long galus when Hashem’s Face is completely hidden?” G-d showed him the tefillin-knot at the back of His head, indicating that even in the darkest galus—yes, even in Auschwitz—Yidden will put on tefillin.

This clarifies the Gemara in Megillah 16b which says that Haman prohibited the Jews from putting on tefillin. Why did he pick this particular mitzvah? He knew that the tefillin would help the Jewish people endure even in times of the greatest concealment of Divine guidance. In the merit of the mitzvah of tefillin, they would be saved from his tyranny.

Living Like a Jew … Dying Like a Jew

When we davened and put on tefillin in Auschwitz, the non-observant Jews watched and admired us—but they were not stirred to do teshuvah. Only when they were forced to take their final journey they would say, “I know that I did not live like a Yid, but I am happy to die al kiddush Hashem as a Yid.”

Often I was told by secular Jews, “If I knew that I would die tomorrow, I would do teshuvah, but I know that I cannot keep it up for a long time.”

The Sages (Shabbos 153a) tell such a person: “Repent one day before you die.” Repent today, since you may die tomorrow. Don’t think that you’ll have to live according to the Torah for a long time; instead, consider tomorrow to be your last day. That way, you will spend your whole life in teshuvah.

Salvation and Hope

The Gemara in Menachos 44a says that whoever puts on tefillin will live long. The Rosh in Hilchos Tefillin declares: I certify that whoever puts on tefillin, Gehinnom will have no power over him.

Auschwitz surely was Gehinnom. We cherished the mitzvah of tefillin, for it protected us, assured us of long life—and would save us from the agonies of Gehinnom.

The arm-tefillin is placed first on our left arm, the weaker arm, indicating that we are powerless, unable to achieve anything by ourselves. Once we place all our trust in Hashem, we need no longer fear our enemies. We can then put on the head tefillin, regarding which it is written, “Then all the nations of the world will realize that the name of Hashem is associated with you and they will be in awe of you.”

In Auschwitz we were captives, incapable of doing anything to save ourselves. Our trust in Hashem was our only source of strength. Our treasured tefillin alluded to the helpless situation we were in—and inspired us with hope for a speedy liberation.

Leaving A Book Open

The unclosed book is opening itself up to us, offering us its riches. Leaving it open this way is like an insult to this entreaty; it seems a deliberate snub to the Torah treasures our holy books have to offer. When we close the book, its riches are enclosed and covered in a dignified fashion - it is no longer "going begging".

(Rabbi Asher Meir)

Guest Posting By Yitz - Nine Years Ago

(Picture by R. Hamid)

In the months before I left university and made aliyah, I realized that I was having the same conversation with so many different people. Every time I got to talking, it revolved around the world and God's place within it. Every discussion would wander from one novel point to another without any apparent order. It often got dizzying. So, for my own benefit and the benefit of those with whom I was conversing, I decided to put my thoughts in order.

The result was an intense collection of short ideas, the longer ones a few thousand words. There are always a number of projects that I'm in the middle of starting -- only a precious few ever reach completion. In my attempt to at least garnish some college credit out of all my extra-curricular pursuits I combined these ideas into a somewhat cohesive whole which I published on the web titled "Words: Initial attempts at expression."

Just so you understand, I spent many many months falling in and out of the depths of what might have technically been described as depression. For me it wasn't depressing at all, it was an intense obsessive struggle to understand and grasp the smallest part of the depths of creation.

Along the way I was honing a skill which would take further years to master, but something I believe is ultimately accessible to everyone. The ability to focus your sub-conscious thought on an idea or a problem and examine it thoroughly without conscious awareness of the act. It took a long time before I even recognized what it was I was doing. From the symptoms it seemed as if, for long stretches of time, sometimes months, I couldn't focus or think in a coherent way, or with any depth, about anything at all. When this period of deep processing came to an end, my train of thought would wander to a particular topic and suddenly I would have a profound insight into the matter, something which I could never have grasped before. Without any effort a new found well of ideas and understandings would pour fourth.

In this way, over a number of years heavily steeped in depression, without even really knowing what I was doing, I worked through a number of different questions I had about the world. The end result was the beginning of a framework from which I could discuss Hashem in a meaningful context. At that point, age 22, I realized that I had completed a mission I had set for myself one summer in Israel when I was about eight years old. [Apparently there are a number of levels of sub-conscious processing upon which we operate.] When I was a child I was told that the Avraham Avinu saw Godliness in the world, and was able to learn the entire Torah from his observations, even before it had been given. Once I was told that, what need did I have for books? I too would look out upon the world and see Torah. That was the plan, and at age 22, I acknowledged, if not defeat, then the acceptance that it was time to hit the books, I'd learned all I could from the world. So I set out on my next mission, to be a talmid of Chazal, to negate my view, my understanding in order to obtain theirs.

That was then. This is now. I'm still working, I pray diligently, to obtain Chazal's view of the world. In the interest of holding on to that initial attempt at understanding I recently re-published those ideas in their original form (mostly untouched and still in need of adaptation) as a blog. The blog gave me the opportunity to revisit the ideas and assess where I am and where I've been.

In part, I envy the raw hunger and brilliance of the youthful me. I say that without any ego, and partially tongue in cheek. I wish I could lose myself in those ideas and fill notebooks and websites with them. It's tempting and tantalizing, the world of pure thought. Still, there's a deeper and purer world out there. One that takes so much more commitment and bravery, perseverance and a willingness to give up everything to attain. A world of sweetness that I don't think most people even know is possible, except maybe grandparents watching their grandchildren.

It's a world of closeness to Hashem, closeness by constant association, and the only map to get there of which I'm aware is the derech of Hassidut. I'm sure there are others, each Neshamah needs its own way; but I know Hassidut goes there, straight there.

It's not the culture of Hassidut, or the Torah of Hassidut, but the derech, the Torah she'b'al peh of the combination of the culture and the Torah of Hassidut, that's it. That's what life is about for me. I've come full circle. Now, I know that experiencing the world just as it is is a wonderful way to discover God. All of His deepest secrets He hides in the open, in the most obvious parts of life which we are all glossing over while we rush to find the hidden things. I don't claim or pretend to hold any of the secrets, but I do, finally, have a clue.

Through Gazing

Man's downfall came about through gazing. And when the serpent wanted to entice Eve it appealed to her eyes. "On the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened." Looking at the wrong things is the source of all ruin, sensuousness, distress, and pain. The first step to repairing the defect of the eyes is to shed tears from one's eyes. The next step is not to blemish one's eyes by gazing at immoral things or actions.

(Reb Arele Roth)

Rabbi Yitzhak Fanger: From The Himalayas To Jerusalem

From the Himalayas to Jerusalem

Rabbi Yitzhak Fanger went from being the number one Reiki instructor in Israel to an Orthodox rabbi. Yitzhak Fanger studied under world renown masters in India, including the Dali Lama. Join us as we journey through Rabbi Fanger's awesome adventures from the top of the Himalayan mountains and back to his childhood home, Israel.

The Mysteries Of An Ancient Art Revealed In Dallas

By Laurie Bessler

The most important and holy objects in any synagogue are its Torah scrolls. Handwritten using tools and techniques from ancient biblical times, the writing of these scrolls is only carried out by specially trained scribes and scholars called “sofrim.” While the process of writing these sacred scrolls is mystifying to many, a Dallas-based congregation has teamed up with a local scribe in a unique campaign to create a new Torah Scroll.

Congregation Torah Chaim of Dallas (TorasChaimDallas.org), under the leadership of Rabbi Yaakov Rich, has partnered with scribe Rabbi Avraham Chaim Bloomenstiel to, for the first time, publicly create a Torah Scroll. Using the “Blogosphere,” the synagogue intends to document, from day one, the entire writing, column-by-column, of the entire scroll and the unique age-old techniques of its creation.

“Nothing like this has ever been done. Ever.” says Dovid Meisel, an Israeli blogger who writes on Judaism and the internet. “We see the Torah, we read from it in the shul [synagogue], but to lay the whole process of writing before the world like this is a unique milestone in the use of the internet to, well, literally, spread Torah.”

In Meisel’s opinion, this may also be the most detailed documentation of scribal techniques yet created. “Rabbi Bloomenstiel has agreed to photograph and discuss even the most esoteric aspects of his art. It is simply incredible…he is a genius, an internationally known scholar of Talmudic law… to have this kind of a thing from this sort of a person is a rare opportunity.”

Creating a Torah scroll involves a tremendous amount of work. All five books of the Old Testament must be painstakingly copied by hand, in an ancient Hebrew script, onto over 60 large sheets of parchment. The whole task is carried out using a hand-cut feather quill and specially made ink. The sheets must then be sewn together and the whole scroll checked, letter-by-letter, four times before it can be consecrated in the synagogue.

“It’s a lot of work, but I can think of very few things more worthwhile,” said Rabbi Bloomenstiel in a phone interview yesterday. “The Torah is who we are. Without it, we are nothing.”

According to Rabbi Bloomenstiel, a scribe must be an expert in the over 4,000 ancient laws that govern the creation of sacred texts. “The purpose for every detail of these laws,” says Bloomenstiel, “is to ensure proper transmission of the Torah. A comparison of every scroll extant today reveals that they differ by less than 10 letters – and these are letters that do not even affect the meaning of the text!”

The synagogue is soliciting public sponsorship and contributions toward the completion of this scroll. For more information on sponsorship opportunities, and to view the creation of this Torah, visit http://www.ctc-torah.org/.

Secluded With A Nose In A Book

Whoever says that he has nothing but Torah, and thus no kindly deeds, does not have even Torah.

(Talmud – Yevamos 109b)

Back From The Other Side Of The Road

Diverted.

The path I walked for so many years has been torn up.

I cross to the sidewalk on the opposite site of the road.

Days pass.

Months pass.

And then one day the barricades are removed.

A freshly paved path lies in front of me.

Step after step, I walk for the first time

Forward on this new path.

With a new and strong resolve.

I understand.

I am comforted and filled with gratitude.

And I am encouraged once again.

14 Tammuz Links - יד תמוז

Solitude / Hisbodedus: Rabbi Isaac Luria’s Years of Seclusion

Solitude / Hisbodedus: The Ladder of Ascent

Solitude / Hisbodedus: On Divine Visions

Dixie Yid: Toiling in BigLaw or Torah?

Letters of Thought: Mottel and Kallah

A Simple Jew: אור ליום ב' פרשת פנחס תקמ"א

Examining The Letters

Even a simple person who sits with a book and examines the letters of the Torah carefully can perceive new concepts and real wonders. But don't make a test of this.

(Rebbe Nachman of Breslov)

Summer Vacation - Blogging Break

This year, the majority of the yomim tovim in Tishrei fall out on weekends. This allows me to finally take some time off this summer for a true vacation with my family. Although I don't plan to go too far, I plan to take a break from blogging during this time and will return to regular posting on Monday, July 6.

Question & Answer With Rabbi Zvi Leshem - How To Identify A Spiritual Fall

(Picture by Y. Nachomi)

A Simple Jew asks:

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov taught that when a person advances to the next level in his avodas Hashem he is immediately besieged by new obstacles which make a person feel as if he has fallen all together. A person should know, however, that he has not fallen at all. He must exert himself tremendously to break through and gain a solid foothold on this new level.

While Rebbe Nachman is telling us that we are not falling in this situation, how are we to know when we are actually are falling in our avodas Hashem since the symptoms of lethargic davening and learning occur with both the person who is exerting himself at the new level and the person who is not exerting himself at all?

Rabbi Zvi Leshem answers:

This is a serious issue (related to the issue I addressed a year ago in the article Peak Moments in Avodat HaShem) that all of us struggle with on our path of spiritual growth. I am willing to admit up front that the question may be better than any answer that we can give. As the holy Besht replied to his students when that asked how to test a new "holy man",

"Ask him for a remedy to be rid of machshavot zarot. If he gives you one he is a quack, since certain things require years of constant effort, and there are no short cuts." (The Piaseczner Rebbe, Hachsharat HaAvreichim 12a).

Here too, to develop the level of spiritual self-awareness necessary to answer our question, which is so personal, may require a long path of trial and error, and general rules may be inapplicable. Nonetheless I will try to give some insights that may be helpful.

In addition to Rebbe Nachman, this topic is addressed as well by the Mei HaShiloach and his student Reb Zaddok HaKohen of Lublin. They were acutely aware of the need to learn from the reality around us (See Rav Zaddok, Tzidkat HaTzadik 177, that all of reality contains the four hermeneutic levels of Pardes), but at the same time fully cognizant of just how misleading that reality can be. (See my article on Nazir and Sota). Regarding our specific issue, Rav Zaddok writes in Tzidkat HaTzadik 151:

"Times of falling, when you have no desire for Torah or Avoda, are preparation for a great aliya. This occurs due to the crying as one thinks about his path and contemplates his lowly state."

On the other hand, since we live in the alma d'shikra, the world of illusion, just as "failure" may actually be a sign of progress, "success" is not always a guarantee that we are in fact on the right path. In Tzidkat HaTzadik 64 he writes as follows;

"Sometimes you see clearly that Hashem is helping you and agrees with your actions, but this is no guarantee that your deeds are truly righteous…for in the path that one wants to go, he is led."

Based upon this principle Rav Zaddok explains how, after the followers of Korach were swallowed up in the ground in an open miracle, the people could still blame Moshe and Aharon, charging, you have killed the people of Hashem.

"For even though they saw the miracle in their demise, they thought that the Torah is not in Heaven, and therefore the Halacha is not necessarily with Moshe and Aharon against Korach and his gang. However, since Moshe and Aharon wanted to defeat Korach, and they had certain merits, they succeeded in killing the people of HaShem."

Perhaps it is this very confusion that Rebbe Nachman alludes to in Likutey Moharan 25:2, when he writes,

"When one ascends from one level to the next, he must pass through illusions (dimyonot), in order to achieve holiness. As soon as he ascends to a new level the shards (klipot) of these illusions are aroused, surrounding him. And he must subdue and shatter them, in order to purify this [new] place from these shards."

Later, in 25:5 he adds,

"Many Chassidim make the mistake of thinking they have fallen from Avodat Hashem, when there is no falling at all…therefore they need to strengthen each time anew to subdue and shatter the shards that prevent them [from growth], at each new level they achieve…"

Perhaps the answer to this quandary is that it may not really matter. I feel attacked by the illusion of the yetzer hara. It may be a fall, yet on the other hand, it may be the sign of my having reached a new spiritual level. Mai nafka mina – what difference does it really make? Of course, it would be nice to "know where I am holding" at any given time, but practically speaking, I have to serve Hashem in all situations, for the whole world is filled with His Glory – no place is empty of His Presence. If the yetzer is attacking, it is my job to optimistically fight it off, not to make cheshbonot, calculations about why this is happening to me right now. This would seem to be a perfect example of tamim tihiyeh im Hashem Elokecha, serve Hashem with simplicity. If we adopt this strategy we should hopefully react properly in all situations.

May Hashem bless us with more clarity as we continue to grow in our Avodat HaShem.

20 Sivan Links - כ סיון

Rebbetzin Yehudis Golshevsky: The Holiness of the Shabbos Meals

Solitude / Hisbodedus: The Holy Garment

Solitude / Hisbodedus: Dwelling in Caves

Solitude / Hisbodedus: Directing the Heart

Solitude / Hisbodedus: The Ramchal On Hisbodedus

Creation & Confusion

When one reads this portion, it is forbidden to ask, "Why was this created on this day and not on another? Why is one thing different from another?" Whoever delves into such questions only confuses himself. Better to study Torah for the purpose of knowing what he is obligated to observe.

(Me'am Lo'ez)