Shabbos Nachamu: Finding Your Center

The following concepts have been adapted from the Ramchal, the Aish Kodesh and the Ohr G’deliyahu. Feel free to print this out and read it over Shabbos Kodesh, just please not during Tefilos!

This week we leave the period of Bein HaMeitzarim. We are departing from the time of the year that is devoted to mourning the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash. We are entering instead into a period of spiritual and emotional recovery. We begin now to look forward, we raise our hopes once more. We start this process with the heartening words of the Navi. “Nachamu, Nachamu Ami…” – ‘My nation; be comforted, be comforted…’

Chazal, in the Yalkut Shimoni draw an interesting parallel. Why does the Navi tell us ‘Nachamu’ twice? Why is there a double-Lashon? Because a twofold portion of consoling is required for the nation that sinned twice over. The Passuk that laments the destruction bemoans, ‘Cheit Chatah Yerushalayim’ – ‘Jerusalem has sinned a sin.’ Just as they were Chotei B’Kiflayim, just as the erred in the double; so too they will eventually be Misnachamim B’Kiflayim, they will experience a dual sense of comfort. Nachamu and Nachamu…

The concept of the double-sin requires a closer examination.

Our goal in this world is to reveal Elokus, to expose spirituality and godliness in the lowest, most physical realms of existence. We are meant to bring holiness to all aspects of being.

Adam HaRishon, the first man, had tremendously exposed spirituality and miraculously receptive physicality. The Kabalists explain that our experiences of spirituality and physicality are relative. We perceive steak as physical and Yom Kippur as spiritual. But that’s not the peak of our potential. Adam lived in such a way that an experience like Yom Kippur came across to him like steak does to us. If that’s true then we don’t have the proper terminology to relate to the nature of what his spirituality was like. It’s beyond our current comprehension. This puts the entire story of Gan Eden into a different light. It was a totally different quality of existence.

The sin of the Tree of Knowledge shattered all of that. It lowered the universe. It brought everything down a notch. The result of Adam’s sin is the world as we know it. Our job is to restore it. Obviously this is not an easy job.

The challenge has two sides to the coin: On the one hand, Hashem has engineered the universe in such a way that the now Elokus, the Divine Light, has withdrawn itself. It’s pulled back and it’s playing hard to get. Because of its retreat there is a cosmic vacuum created in its absence. That existential hole is the root of our second challenge: the overpowering of Gashmiyus. Physicality is too coarse; it comes across as too insensitive to be a vessel for spirituality. So the prize has distanced itself and roadblocks have gotten themselves in the way. A two-sided challenge.

In parallel to this we have been given a tool that mirrors the state of the universe. The point of that being that if we can restore the balance in the tool it could perhaps set the universe straight as well. By this we mean the dynamic of body and soul. We have this Chelek Elokah MiMa’al, an Expression of Elevated Divine Light that is (on whatever level that we can put it into words) put on a dimmer and then crammed into a body. The status of the body/soul experience matches the inter-galactic state of affairs. The soul is restricted from shining forth its true power and the body’s tactlessness has been intensified. The prize has distanced itself and roadblocks have gotten themselves in the way. Great.

Therefore, every time we get it right, every single time we fulfill a positive commandment we reveal a little bit more of that light in both ourselves and within the universe around us as well. Simultaneously, we deemphasize the weightiness of our physical bodies and make the world a more spiritually receptive place. This is the meaning of the famous Kabalistic concept that the universe is a big person, and each person is a mini-universe.

But what emerges is that when we sin, we drag ourselves as well as the world around us down on those same two levels. We increase the density of the body and we also further restrain, we tighten the collar (so to speak) on our souls. When that happens we cause the further retreat of spirituality and the increased density of physicality.

This is the depth of Cheit Chatah Yerushalayim. This is the meaning of the double-sin. This how the Jewish people were Chotei B’Kiflayim. We messed it up on two calamitous levels.

So how will we be Misnachamim B’Kiflayim? From where does our two-fold comfort shine forth? For that we turn to this week’s Parsha.

We know that the Kriya is Me’orer the Zman. The Torah reading of the week is intrinsically intertwined with the goings-on of the Jewish cycle of the year. The moment in time parallels the content of the scripture. The calendar-related energies flow from the pipes of their affixed Torah readings. That means that the concepts of moving from Galus to Geulah, the vehicle that takes us out of Bein HaMeitzarim must be contained in Parshas Va’Eschanan.

In the very beginning of the Parsha, Moshe Rabbeinu delivers a lengthy oration on the topic of exile and redemption. But interestingly, this historic monologue concludes with a proclamation that has very little to do with topic at hand. Let’s explain.

Says Moshe (this is a very rough topical adaptation), “Unlike me, you will cross the Jordan River and enter into the land. When you get there, take great care to uphold and preserve your relationship with God. For if you forget that covenant, if you become corrupt, if you serve idols and perversely enter yourselves into the realm of all that which is evil in the eyes of the Lord, then you will suffer the consequences. You will perish quickly and you will be expelled from the land.” Sounds like Bein HaMeitzarim so far…

Moshe goes on, “From there, from the contemplative distance of the exile you will long, you will thirst for your God. In distress and pain you will return to Him. And He will listen to you. He is merciful and He will want you back. You will not be destroyed. You will be redeemed.” Beautiful, we’re moving away from Bein HaMeitzarim. The connection between the Moment and the Verse has been found.

But Moshe doesn’t stop: “Look back at what has preceded you: Your God extracted you when you were in Egypt. You looked and acted no different than your oppressors. They served idols and you did as well. Yet He took you out in dramatic and miraculous fashion. And your God revealed Himself to you. You heard His Voice speak directly to you at Sinai. You experienced this and lived. Your relationship with him is unique. Therefore, Atah Hareisa LaDa’as Ki Hashem Hu HaElokim, Ein Od Milvado! You have been shown; you know that God is the source of all of the forces, both spiritual and physical. There is none other than Him!”

This passage does many things to the national psyche. It informs, it cautions and it inspires. But the ending doesn’t fit. We are told that if we do wrong we will be punished and when we repent we will be forgiven. Why is this fact backed up with the memory of the Exodus and Mount Sinai? And why does that have to be topped off with Atah Hareisa?!

Says Rashi, at the moment of Atah Hareisa, at the time of the declaration of God’s Supreme Unity, Hashem was Kara Es Ha’Elyonim V’Kara Es HaTachtonim. ripped open the Elyonim (the upper spheres of existence) and He ripped open the Tachtonim (the lower realms of reality). His presence descended so that it could be revealed through all of the layers of the universe, and He simultaneously busted open physicality to make it receptive to that immense spirituality.

This dynamic of revelation to the world is a manifestation of the preceding reminders of the Exodus and the experience of Sinai. During Yetziyas Mitzrayim, God went against the natural format of the world by forcibly extracting a spiritually jaded Jewish people. We are taught that at the time of the Exodus we were on the brink of spiritual demise. But God, due to His immense love for us turned up the spirituality-dial and rocketed us out of there. He brought every single person to the level of immense prophecy, even though we were not ready to receive it. He elevated us out of the depths. He ripped open the Tachtonim.

At Ma’amad Har Sinai, as the nation stood at the foot of the mountain He did the opposite. He appeared within the fire and smoke and brought Himself (so to speak) down to us. His voice, a voice without physical manifestation, echoed through the world. He took the loftiness of the upper echelons and delivered it to us. He ripped open the Elyonim.

So we have explained how the moment of Atah Hareisa LaDa’as Ki Hashem Hu HaElokim, Ein Od Milvado is backed up by Yitziyas Mitzrayim and Ma’amad Har Sinai. But what does that have to do with the Geulah? Why does this section serve as the punchline to the discourse of exile and redemption?

We have a Mitzvah to remember these two experiences every day. It’s right after Shacharis in your Siddur. The purpose of this is to tap back into those energies. We are told to mentally transport ourselves back to those experiences and nurse from their power and meaning.

Because of Atah Hareisa, because of how God was Kara Es Ha’Elyonim V’Kara Es HaTachtonim we have a certain reality etched into the fiber of our collective being. God, when he ripped open the Tachtonim and revealed the Elyonim, showed us that it is very possible to overcome the two-sided challenge of Avodas Hashem. When He took us out from Egypt we were shown that it is within the realms our divine empowerment to elevate the physicality. We can come out. When we came down to us at Sinai He gave us the power to control spirituality. He showed us that we can direct the heavens towards us down here. We can bridge the gap. We can raise earth toward the skies and we can bring heaven down to us as well.

This knowledge, the awareness that it is part of our very being to over come this two sided struggle is itself the double-portion of condolence that we need as we leave the twice-paining stage of Cheit Chatah Yerushalayim. When He was Kara Es Ha’Elyonim, Hashem was saying Nachamu, and when He was Kara Es HaTachtonim He was saying Nachamu again…

We can, we shall and it is Mamesh our destiny to overcome. In our metaphysical DNA is a gene of spiritual-superiority. The Beis Hamikdash raised man towards God, and made God an attainable experience for man. In times without the Beis HaMikdash it is incumbent upon every individual to tap into the deepest resources of inspiration and create that connection and restore that balance. We can be Korei the Elyonim, Nachamu. We can be Korei the Tachtonim, Nachamu.

This brings us to the final double-Lashon. At the end of Eicha, Am Yisrael says, “Hashiveinu Hashem Eilecha V’Nashuva, Chadeish Yameinu K’Kedem.” Return us and we shall return. Help us tap into both levels of Nachamu. Help us restore the balance. Help bring us back to Kedem. The way it used to be. Kedem means B’Gan Eden MiKedem - Back to the Garden of Eden, back to the sublime state of pre-sin universe. HaKadosh Baruch Hu should help us get there.

Beha'aloscha: Point A to Point B

The following is an adaptation of concepts from Rav Yitzchak Izak Chever, The Chalban in his Sefer Talilei Chayim, and the Sefer Mima’amakim. Please feel free to print this out and read it over Shabbos Kodesh just please not during Tefilos!

This week’s Parsha is famously broken into three parts. If we are to open any Chumash or Sefer Torah we will notice that the two Psukim of VaYihi BiNsoa HaAron and U’V’Nucho Yomar are literally bracketed off to be a section unto itself by upside-down Nuns (This letter: נ), breaking up the Parsha into three. The whole concept really begs an explanation.

While the goal of this essay is not to discuss why the Nun-brackets are upside-down, we do want to delve deeper as to why HaKadosh Baruch Hu chose to break off this section with the letter Nun specifically. For this we need to understand two things: first, what is the significance of these two Psukim? Second, what is the letter Nun all about? If we can properly understand these two factors separately then hopefully the connection between them will emerge by itself.

As the Torah tells us, the Aron HaKodesh’s movements dictated where and when the Jewish people would travel around the desert. When it started to move, so did the camp. When it’s travels ceased, the nation rested as well. These two Psukim detail what Moshe Rabbeinu would say when the Aron started and stopped its journeys.

The Psukim read as follows: Va’Yihi BiNsoa HaAron Va’Yomer Moshe, “Kuma Hashem V’Yafutzu Oivecha V’Yanusu M’Sanecha MiPanecha”. U’V’Nucho Yomar, ‘Shuva Hashem Rivivos Alfei Yisrael.” – ‘When the Ark would journey Moshe would say, ‘Arise Hashem! Let your foes be scattered and let those who hate You flee from before You’. And when the Ark rested he would say, ‘Reside Hashem among the myriad thousands of the Jews.’”

In short, when the Aron began to move, Moshe would ask of Hashem to destroy his enemies - evil and those who promote it. When it rested Moshe’s request would be that of relationship – God’s presence dwelling amongst the Jewish people. The question is so obvious that it almost asks itself: what is the connection between the Ark’s travels and Moshe’s prayers? For this we need to clarify the nature of traveling in general.

We move from Point A to Point B because there is something that we need to do or seek to gain at our destination. If there would be nothing to do at the target location, then per force it would cease to be a destination and there would be no point in leaving Point A in the first place.

The Aron’s travels were no different. It’s brought down in many sources that the whole point of the journeys around the desert was to tame and subdue evil and impure forces in order to extract from those places the hidden holy sparks that those places contained. The Torah-presence that the Aron wielded had the proper energy of Tikun (spiritual rectification) to extract and save that holiness. When it’s job was finished in Point A, it would pick up and move to Point B to go and bring positive spiritual vibes to that new place as well.

These travels of the Aron are a microcosmic manifestation of history on the whole.

The universe, from the time of its very inception, has been wrought with flaws. The most potent goodness that God created, the Or - the Light from the very beginning was stored away – creating the possibility for negativity to fill that gap. The waters split and it created Machlokes - disagreement and friction between the creations. The moon rebelled against God. The Trees rebelled against God. Man rebelled against God. A simple look through Parshas Bereishis shows us a universe off to a bad start.

Why did Hashem choose to do it this way? Rav Shmuel Tal brings from the Ramchal that the was to build the concept and need for Tikun into the very fabric of reality. He made an unsound world to give us a playing-field on which to work. By placing us in an imperfect universe, He gives us the opportunity to fix it, to become active participants in making it right.

How it this accomplished? By revealing God’s presence in the world. Hashem, as we know, is the ultimate Good and the revelation of His glory elevates everything around it. But if God’s Intrinsic Self – a concept too profound for a human to fathom – would enter our sphere of existence, the sheer power of His being would blow us all away and return everything to naught. So what are we to do? If we need Godly force to change the world for the better, but it’s simply too much – how can we bring Tikun?

In response to this problem He gave us the Torah. The Torah HaKedosha, as the Ba’al HaTanya, Leshem and many others explain, is God’s presence in the way that this world can handle. Through the Torah, HaKadosh Baruch Hu channels His Will into concepts that man can deal with. His desires become actions within our reach to accomplish. His hopes for the universe are transformed into stories that we can relate to and lessons that we can really live by. By giving us the Torah Hashem gives us the power that we need to slowly but surely bring about the Tikun that the universe to desperately craves.

The Point A of history is imperfection; a universe full of problems and impurities and forces that seek bog down holiness – God’s enemies so to speak. The Point B of history is Tikun a world where God’s presence dwells with His creations in peace and without obstacles. The vehicle that will get us from Point A to B is the Torah.

Our two Psukim deal with this specifically. The Aron HaKodesh’s travels to bring Tikun to remote desert corners is a small glimpse into history as a whole. The Aron and the Torah which it contains going from place to place to eradicate impurity, and bring sanctity and godliness in its place. “When the Ark would journey Moshe would say, ‘Arise Hashem! Let your foes be scattered and let those who hate you flee from before You’.” And then, when the proper Tikun is brought about God and the Jews can dwell peacefully in that space - “And when the Ark rested he would say, ‘Reside Hashem among the myriad thousands of the Jews.’”

So why bracket this lesson off with the letter Nun specifically?

Chazalexplain that every letter in the Alef-Beis can be broken down into component parts, which the is style in which scribes write. For example a Hei is really a Daled and a Yud. An Alef is two Yud’s and a Vav. The list goes on.

What is a Nun? A Nun is a Yud affixed on top of a flipped-over Vav. Yud, as Rashi tells us in Bereishis is a reference to God’s Kavana, His intent – His will for things to play out a certain way. Yud as a prefix makes a word future tense – directing any verb towards the flow that God willed for the universe - Tikun. Vav, which as a prefix always means ‘and’ is a reference to Chibur, connection. This and this. The ‘and’ between them connects them. The sources that bring down that on the grand scale the goal of Vav is to make the greatest connection of all – the connection of heaven and earth. Thus if Nun is a convergence, an affixation of a Yud above a Vav directed downward then the Nun is a manifestation of the channeling of God’s intention from lofty place above and its arrival down in our world. The Nun takes God’s abstract Will – the Yud, concepts too grand for us to handle, and through the Vav takes it down to a level that this world can appreciate. The Nun then, in very obvious fashion, represents everything that the Torah as that a vehicle of Tikun is all about.

Thus it is specifically the letter Nun and all that it represents that is chosen to frame the Psukim that detail the microcosm of Torah HaKedosha’s role throughout history.

The practical lesson is clear. If I want to be an active participant in the perfection of the world, there is one - and only one – way to pull that feat off. All my good intentions, all of my positive feelings can be a really helpful force in this world – under on condition. I can make the most of myself – I can make my personal power infinite by connecting it to the infinite source. When I’m hooked up to Hashem’s Ratzon I get the opportunity to become something bigger than myself. I get the chance to feed off an energy that I otherwise couldn’t attain. Being connected to the Divine Master-Plan is my ticket to greatness, it’s the boost that I need to be a part of the one force that the history as a whole is propelled by - Tikun.

HaKadosh Baruch Hu should give us the inspiration that we need to tap into this profound mindstate. He should give us the energy to constantly remember that a life unified with His will is a life of substance, and a life that is bringing the world to a better place. If we can live by this, there is no doubt that we will live lives of Simcha and Shleimus, moving closer to HaKadosh Baruch Hu and ultimately the Geulah Sheleimah!

Pesach/Metzora: Talk the Talk

In this week’s Parsha we deal primarily with Tzara’as; a plague, often mistranslated as leprosy, which arrives on a person as a result of speaking Lashon HaRa, evil speech, about another person.

Throughout Torah literature we learn about punishments for many types of sins; lashes and even capitol punishment are dealt out by courts for different offenses. We are even told that certain transgressions will generate spiritual decrees that arrive without the need of a human court to carry them out - Kares, which means to be cut off from the Jewish people – is one example.

But at first glance, the relationship between Lashon HaRa and Tzara’as is a strikingly novel exception to the rule. It comes as a result of an Aveira, a sin, that has no physical ramifications other than speech, and none the less creates a physical malady that plagues the home, one’s clothing and then eventually the body itself. It’s not like other sins because there is no action, and it’s not like other punishments because the response which is carried out by heaven is physical. We don’t see anything like this anywhere else in Judaism.

So we need to ask both how this works and why this is so. How is it possible that my speech creates a physical reality, and why does Hashem choose to send this message home specifically by Lashon HaRa?

And while we are on the subject of speech, we need to discuss its very accentuated relationship to Pesach, whose name Peh-Sach - ‘The speaking Mouth’ and whose main villain Paroh, whose name spells Peh-Rah - ‘Evil Mouth’ – is a dead giveaway to the connection.

The whole Seder-evening surrounds the theme of speech. The Mitzvah of the night is “V’Higadita L’Vincha” – And you shall tell it over to your sons. The Sfarim HaKadoshim go wild over the greatness of Sipur Yetzias Mitzrayim - the commandment to tell over the story of the Exodus. We are told in the Hagadah how the greatest of our sages would tell over the story for hours upon hours. And we know that the ideal format of the Seder is a question-and-answer discussion, not simply reading the text to one’s self.

So our question returns. What is the seeming obsession with speech when it comes to Pesach?

To gain clarity, we need to spend a little time analyzing what speech is. The First Speech belongs to God. Hashem originally created the world through speech, like the Passuk says, “VaYomer Elokim Yehi Ohr” And God said let there be light – and there was light. God’s speech creates our physicality. As the Passuk says in Tehilim, ‘B’Dvar Hashem Shamayim Na’asu’ – With the Word of God were the heavens made. The Tanya explains that as long as God continually sustains the Ma’amaros, the statements with which He created the world, existence remain intact.
And we have this power as well. We too continually keep the world going with our speech. My Rebbe, Rav Yoel Rackovsky explained this with a unique understanding of King Solomon’s famous adage, “Hevel Havalim, HaKol Havel” – ‘Futility of futilities, all is futile.’ This sobering saying expresses how all things are worthless in comparison to the pursuit of Divine Closeness. But, Havel, doesn’t just mean worthless matter. It also means ‘breath’. Chazal tell us that the world only remains in existence in the merit of Hevel Tinokos Shel Beis Raban - The mutterings of young school children. There simple, honest readings of Chumash, the pure Modeh Ani, this unadulterated Havel – that’s what’s our contribution to the continuation of the universe’s being.

The Passuk in Bereishis says “VaYipach B’Apav Nishmas Chayim” – God blew a Soul of Life from Himself into man. Unkelos on the spot translates “Nishmas Chayim” as Ruach Mimalila - a spirit of speech. When God blew from Himself into us – it generated our ability talk The Talk, namely God’s.

My speech is so powerful that my prayers can sway the outcome of real life events. Whether or not I appreciate it, my speech, in parable-like comparison to God’s, created realities as well. And this is, understandably, of tremendous weight. But it begins to shed light on Lashon HaRa, a sin carried out with speech.

The severity of Lashon HaRa is the fact that, even though we see it as only words, this sin – in a very real way – paints a reality in which my victim exists in a more negative light. And therefore the punishment is that he becomes a Metzora, which Chazal explain to come from the term Motzie Ra - He who brings out bad. He who, with his words, chooses to revamp the world around him in a negative angle – the results shine back at him.

When a person, Chas V’Shalom speaks Lashon HaRa, he shows that he neither realizes nor cares about the intrinsic power that strength that speech carries. Says Hashem in response, ‘You think that your words don’t matter? You think they aren’t real? I’m going to show you that your words are very real.’ And thus it is specifically in a transgression of speech that Heaven delivers a very real, very tangible reminder that words matter – a lot.

And with the same concept we can begin to understand what is going on with Pesach as well. Says the Ramchal, the light which generated the first redemption, meaning the energy with which we left Egypt, is the same light, the same force that will be used to bring about the final redemption. In our terms: every year when we celebrate Pesach, another giant leap is taken towards Geula.

And this happens specifically by speaking out Sipur Yetzias Mitzrayim. The more I talk about redemption, the automatic outcome is that I paint a reality which is more receptive to the coming of Moshiach

And this emerges beautifully from a close reading of a seemingly simple piece in the Hagadah. There is a discussion between Ben Zoma and the Chachamim in regards to how we go about remembering Yitziyas Mitzrayim. The Passuk commands that you are obligated to remember the exodus, ‘Kol Yimei Chayecha’ - All the days of your life. Ah, but the Passuk could have said Yimei Chayecha - The days of your life, so what do we gain by throwing in all the days of your life? Say the Chachamim, Yimei Chayecha teaches us that in our times we need to fulfill this commandment, but the extra ‘all’, the extra ‘Kol’, that teaches us that we will remember the exodus even when the Messiah comes, “LeHavi L’Yimos HaMashiach”.

That’s the way we were taught to understand this passage since we are little kids. The problem is that is simply not what the words mean. LeHAvi L’Yimos HaMashiach doesn’t mean ‘in the days of the Messiah’ rather it means ‘to bring to the days of the Messiah’. What does it mean that this Mitzvah brings us to the days of Mashiach?

Now we understand clearly. Says the Sfas Emes, it is through speaking about redemption; it’s through telling the story of the exodus that we infuse the very fabric of the world around us with redemptive energy. And thus the Passuk comes to tell us that in as much as we speak about the Geulah from Mitzrayim do we also prepare the world do re-accept that light. ‘Kol Yimei Chayecha - LeHavi L’Yimos HaMashiach.

It’s clear at this point that the power of speech is no small thing. It is Godly and it has the ability to, on the one hand wreck the universe and tear up our lives and conversely it is on speech that the world stands and it is that same power that will bring the Geula Asida.

HaKadosh Baruch Hu should give us a Bracha to find the inspiration and motivation to only speak about the right things. When we do, we automatically make the world a better place. This Pesach, we should be Zoche to play an active role in bringing the redemption and be meritorious enough to see it soon. If we can do this, there is no doubt that we will live lives of Happiness and Growth, moving closer to the HaKadosh Baruch Hu and eventually Yimos HaMashiach!

Purim Costumes: Way Deeper than You Thought

~Please feel free to print this out and read it over Shabbos Kodesh, just please not during Tefilos. Enjoy!~

We take it for granted that everyone dresses up on Purim. We’ve been told that this is because just like Hashem hid behind the costume of seemingly natural events to generate the miraculous salvation of Purim, so too we hide ourselves. But we need ask a question that is one step deeper. Firemen, Aladin, Pirates, The Muffin Man – all sorts of secular cultural icons show up at our Purim feasts. It’s one thing to dress up, but why does it all of sudden become okay to dress like a Goy?

Like all things, in order to understand the true essence of costumes we need to investigate as to what the first time that we encounter them in the Torah. And to do so we need to look no further than Parshas Bereishis. We need to understand the ‘costume’ that Hashem gave to Adam HaRishon.

After the sin of the Eitz HaDa’as Tov V’Ra - The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil - HaKadosh Baruch Hu gives to Adam what the verse calls Kasnos O’r (O’r is spelled Ayin-Vav-Daled), Garments of skin to wear before kicking him out of Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden.

There is an interesting Midrash connected to the Kasnos which says that in the Torah of Rebbe Meir the Tana, the word for skin - O’r - was written with an Alef - Or, meaning ‘Light’. His Torah said that Hashem gave Adam HaRishon a cloak made of light.

Based on the words of The Ramchal and The Leshem Shvo V’Achlama we can understand the dramatic tragedy of the Kasnos O’r with an Ayinand its contrast of the Kasnos Or with an Alef.

It’s brought down from the Ari’zal that before Adam HaRishon sinned by eating from the Eitz HaDa’as Tov V’Ra, the universe existed in a qualitatively different state. We experience physical things and spiritual things. Lunch is physical - Gashmius. Praying Kabbalas Shabbos with a fervor; that’s spiritual - Ruchnius. Clearly our experience of Gashmius is much more attainable and recognizable to our senses.

But that’s only now. Says the Ari’zal, before the sin, Adam HaRishon experienced our Ruchnius as his Gashmius, meaning that what we call spirituality was to him how we experience lunch, and if that’s the case, then we don’t have the words to describe what his spirituality was like. By sinning he brought everything down a notch – resulting in the universe as we know it.

Therefore, before his sin, Adam HaRishon’s body was a comparatively spiritual entity, Kasnos Or with an Alef - a body of Light. Therefore the Noam Elimelech explains, it was specifically in the Torah of Rebbe Meir, whose very name means ‘Makes Light’ that we are taught what the ideal universe was supposed to be like. But because of the sin we went from Kason Or with an Alef to Kasnos O’r with an Ayin, bodies of flesh.

This is the first costume in the Torah. HaKadosh Baruch Hu took Adam HaRishon’s essence, which was a Kasnos Or, a body of light and covered it, dressed it up with Kasnos O’r with an Ayin, a Body of Flesh.

The Kasnos O’r that was given to Adam post-sin make another appearance in the Torah, a few Parshios later in Parshas Toldos.

The stage was set for a tremendous calamity to occur. Eisav HaRasha was going to be blessed by Yitchak Avinu. Although Yitzchak had good intentions, Eisav would have taken the empowerment given to him and used it against Yaakov. But as we know, Yaakov Avinu came in and stole the Brachos, he took the spiritual energy headed for Eisav and redirected it to the realm of holiness.

How did he do so? The Passuk tells us that Rivka Imeinu dressed up Yaakov in Eisav’s clothing so that Yaakov would be able to convince Yitzchak that in fact he was Eisav. The Passuk describes these clothing as Bigdei Chamudos, precious garments. Rashi brings down from the Midrash that these precious garments which belonged to Eisav were really stolen by Eisav from King Nimrod, who took them from Cham, the son of Noach who himself received them directly from Adam HaRishon. This mentality and focus on Kasnos O’r with an Ayin had made its way down to Eisav HaRasha.

Yaakov Avinu took the Kasnos O’r and entered into Yitzchak’s private quarters in order to receive the Brachos. The final words in the verse before Yitzchak gives the blessing is that he smelled from these garment the Reiyach HaSadeh Asher Beircho Hashem, the smell of the Field which Hashem blessed. Says Rashi, this smell of the blessed field was the smell of Gan Eden.

And now things come full circle. Says the Maor VaShemesh, Yaakov Avinu was able to direct the energy headed to Eisav because he took the Kasnos O’r with an Ayin and brought it back to Kasnos Or with an Alef, he took the flesh and turned it back into light. And therefore Yitzchak smelled Gan Eden - Yaakov Avinu brought it in with him.

How does this apply to Purim? The answer is that Mordechai HaTzadik really did the same thing with Haman. Haman HaRasha was empowered by Achashverosh to wipe out the Jewish people, but as we know from Chazal, this decree didn’t start with Achashverosh. It was really a Gezeira, a decree from heaven, and Haman was chosen to carry it out. And therefore he too had his own special garments that were headed to him. Achashverosh asked Haman how to properly honor someone and he responded by listing that all the special royal garments should be put on such a person.

At that stage in the Megilah, Haman was the empowered one! Those garments should have been his – a symbol of his power! But at the last the last second they are given to Mordechai, and that’s when the Megilah says that if lost this battle of the Levushim, the garments, then for sure Haman wont succeed. Mordechai’s wearing of the equivalent of Haman’s Kasnos O’r led to the eventual redirection of power from the death sentence over the Jews to their dramatic salvation and victory. And then after the victory came about in actuality, the Megilah says that Mordechai took over Haman’s position, meaning that he fully took his spritiual energy, and then the Passuk says that U’Mordechai Yatza MiLifnei HaMelech B’Levush Malchus - And Mordechai went out from before the king in Levush Malchus, royal garments. It’s no shock that the Zohar says that Levush Malchus means Garments which come from the spiritual reality called “Malchus” - Mordechai too had arrived at Kasnos Or with an Alef.

And this all makes a lot of sense in the light of a comment made by the Chida that Mordechai was really a Gilgul, a reincarnation of Yaakov Avinu.

We are taught that when we celebrate a holiday we aren’t simply commemorating it, rather we are re-living it. The light that came down which generated the original experience re-enters the world on that date every year. Thus on Purim the war that happened back then happens again. If we check the Megilah we see that at first there was a decree to kill the Jews, and then there was a decree for the Jews to defend themselves. We won, and we win again every year. But the interesting thing is that the first decree was never nullified. That means that this potential to lose the war also re-enters the world every year. Our wearing of pop-culture-inspired costumes is our way of transforming the Kasnos O’r with an Ayin into Kasnos Or with an Aled, just like Mordechai did and just like Yaakov did. That’s how we take the victory.

But how does this apply to my Bat-Man costume? The answer is that in my mind, I really do associate myself with my Garment of Flesh (body) much more than I affiliate with my Garment of Light (soul). If I’m mainly physical and somewhat spiritual then I automatically put a roof on how far I can grow spiritually. But when I look at my self in the mirror and I see myself in a costume, and then I get a little into the Purim mindstate (which may or may not take a few cups of wine [it does take a few cups of wine]) I begin to realize that my body too is only a costume. The real me is the Garment of Light, the Kasnos Or with an Alef.

If we can internalize this message, even of only for a few seconds, then we transform ourselves into vessels of massive spiritual capabilities – far greater than what we relate to the rest of the year. Hashem should give us a Bracha that we can, in our own little way – focus less on the Kasnos O’r with an Ayin and feel a little closer to our Kasnos Or with an Alef. A Freilachen Purim!

A Radical Idea on Elul: Thoughts On Reality, Thoughts Of Reality

The goal of this essay is to convey a tremendously profound and inspiring concept of the Bnei Yissachar which can be found in the fourth entry of his first essay on Chodesh Elul. In order to do so effectively we will need to begin with some essential introductory background information.

Our task is to understand the following line: If the world physically came to be in the month of Tishrei then the thought of creation and the processes leading up to it took place in the month of Elul. What does that mean and how does that play out in our understanding of how to act in this month?

Buckle your seat belts; this is going to be a ride.

God, in His essence; intrinsically, in the truest way we can state, is totally beyond our comprehension. It’s a level of unique perfection far surpassing the capabilities of the human mind. There is no grasping God Himself. It just doesn’t happen.

But on the other hand, God gave us His self-titled Attributes, Names and Descriptions that we do use to relate to how He interacts with us. This much we can say. Can we relate to God intrinsically? No. Can we relate to how He interacts with us. Yes.

With this on the table we can discuss a totally crucial peg of all Jewish thought as taught to us by the Ramchal. The first of these attributes that God titled Himself with was “Tov” – ‘Good’. Before anything else, God calls Himself Good, Good in the truest, most perfect sense. Good, but not in anyway you would see in a finite context. He’s uniquely good, infinitely good, divinely good.

Continues the Ramchal, the nature of that which is good is to bestow good on others. This how the good of any object is realized. Good becomes good only when it is extended into or onto something else, thus making that good recognizable, activated and altogether present.

Based on this, it is the self-titling of God as Good that sparked creation to be. For at the exact moment that God calls Himself good, it requires that there be something or someone for that good to be bestowed upon, and –bam- creation happened.

But with this information on the table we can now more acurately reformulate it in the reverse. The reason that God gave Himself the title of Good was in order that there would be a creation that He would be able to bestow that Good upon.

The slight change we just stated is as follows: Until now we said that a title of Good was placed, and that title necessitated the creation that could receive that good. We are now giving this understanding a new nuance by saying that the it was the end result, the desire for those subjects onto which good could be bestowed, that was the cause for the title – which in turn set the stage for those creations to exist.

But there’s a nuance, for while it is true that all aspects of the created world are relevant to receiving Goodness, the goal of all things that were created was so that they could set the stage for and facilitate the Jewish people -Am Yisrael reaching the highest level of that Good.

How do we know this to be true? From the first word of the Torah. Bereishis - ‘In the beginning.’ Simple enough, but Chazal tell us that Bereishis has contained within it a deeper message. “Bereishis, Bishvil Yisrael She’nikra ‘Reishis’”, “What does is mean, ‘In the beginning’? It means for Am Yisrael which is called a ‘Beginning’.” And verses are brought to prove this.

With this in mind we need to address a new question: What is the best to go ahead and bestow that good? God knew that free handouts of good would feel like charity, and no one likes to be on the receiving end of charity. We’ve all felt some sort of guilt or unworthiness that sours any undeserved freebie.

Thus God set up the system (ie: the universe we are currently in) in such a way that the creations, and Jews in specific, would have to work to receive their good. By putting in effort to receive the good that Hashem sought to give, the creations could receive that good, and not have that pleasure tainted by the feeling of receiving unmerited and unjustified freebies. Thus we have Torah and Mitzvos to help us get connected Hashem’s Goodness.

This system of earning our connection to Goodness through our actions is called Isarusa Di’Lisata, literally ‘An Awakening from Below.’ This means, us (the ‘Below’) cause the arousal of Good through our actions.

It is in the month of Tishrei that man was brought into the world, thus commencing the physical reality. But all the thoughts and plans for how the world would be brought about so that Goodness could be achieved through Isarusa Di’Lisata were conjured up in the month before, in the month of Elul.

With everything said, here is where everything gets problematic. In theory we can propose the following question: Any system that is true to itself does not work against its own principles. And if the end-goal of all of creation is to receive goodness through a system of Isarusa Di’Lisata, where was there any Isarusa Di’Lisata to begin creation? That was all on God’s side! All effort from the side of creations is all after the fact! And thus an entire system predicated upon Isarusa Di’Lisata does not have a practical foundation in that very concept!

Here the holy Bnei Yissachar reveals a massively novel idea about the nature of the basis of creation:

Is must be that the thought of the future actions of Am Yisrael alone was considered enough of a Isarusa Di’Lisata to stimulate a creation.

This is a potential tapped into again and again by Jews throughout history. When times are rough and we don’t feel that we have enough merit to support us and back us up to a positive outcome, we know that on a very real level God appreciates actions we know that we want to do in the future.

But this power comes to its fullest fruition in the month of Elul. For it was in the very first Elul, in the Elul before there was a world, that God looked to the future, perceived the actions that we would do as a retroactive Isarusa Di’Lisata and bestowed good – all good that would ever be – because of it.

It is because of this that in our prayers we say “Hashiveinu Hashem Eilecha V’Nashuva, Chadesh Yameinu K’Kedem” – “Hashem! Return us to you and we shall return, renew our days as they were previously.” What is the deeper meaning here? ‘Hashiveinu Hashem Eilcha - Hashem! Return us to you.’ Connect us to you. Bestow good upon us. ‘V’Nashuva - And we shall return.’ We’ll try our very best to be better in the future. ‘Chadesh Yameinu K’Kedem – Renew our days as they were previously.’ Treat us now as You did previously, before there was a world, before creation, before existence was – in a time where the mere thought of our future righteous deeds was enough of an Isarusa Di’Lisata to do good with us.

Elul is a time where we are in a unique position. God wants our will. Because Elul puts in a place where, more that ever, a pure thought can lead to a legitimate action. Where the desire to be good in the future can really be a first, concrete step to a brighter future. Elul is a time where positive thinking is a real Isarusa Di’Lisata of a better tomorrow.

B’Ezras Hashem we should be Zoche to tap into such a holy (albeit attainable) state of mind. If we can do that, if we can really focus on creating better realities for ourselves, there is no doubt that we will live lives of meaning and happiness moving closer to the Creator and ultimately the redemption!