In the first rendition of the עשרת הדברות (Ten Commandments) the last few commandments are stated with no connective words between them: לא תגנוב לא תרצח, Do not steal, Do not murder. In the second rendition, there is the extra letter ו (meaning and) inserted connecting between the words לא תגנב ולא תרצח. Do not steal and do not murder. What is the reason for this distinction?
The Bais Yaakov of Ishbitz explains that this is because the first set were given by directly by God. As a result when God said "Do not steal," these words permeated the entirety of creation. When he next said "Do not murder," those words permeated the entirety of creation. How can it be that each set of words permeated all? Shouldn't it have to be one or the other? This is one of the paradoxes of God which we cannot comprehend, how things that appear to us to be distinct and separate are within Him united and One. But separation is for our world, in God's dimension separation doesn't exist.

This is why the first set of tablets could not possibly last. They were written from God's perspective, not man's. As humans, we lacked the ability to connect to the full concept of unity. The tablets had to be destroyed and a new set made, by man, in which these disparate (from a human perspective) concepts could be strung together and connected, as symbolized by the letter ו, so that each one had its proper time and place.

This would seem to be similar to the Kabbalistic concept of the breaking of the vessels. This concept teaches that at Creation God tried to pour the spiritual power of the Ten Sefirot into vessels to contain them. But it was too much for them, and they broke. It is now the remit of man to collect what spilled out and to repair the broken vessels. These were not Godly errors on the way to creating a world or giving the Torah, but this is an intentional pattern repeated, as we see here, throughout history. And this is true not only on a global and national scale, but also for individuals as well. The Sages teach us that in utero a child is taught all of the Torah; when he is born, he forgets it all. Why bother teaching it to him if he will forget?

The answer is that God instills within the world all of the potential goodness that can possibly exist. He places it there within our reach and gives us the innate intuitive knowledge that we can achieve it. But He will not give it to us. We must take it for ourselves and find the place for every aspect of it. This is because within God there are no divisions; all is One. Only man can divide and by doing so arrange, and conquer.
The Kabbalists explain that this is the goal of all Talmudic study. As simply stated so much of Tanach and the Mishnah seems to be a hodgepodge of half statements and contradictions. We need to order it all to make sense of it, to understand where and how each and every Halacha of the Torah is appropriately applied.
God can't and won't do this for. It is up to man to create the balance.

Shepherd of Love

As Yaakov begins his ברכה (blessing) to the sons of Yosef, he refers to God (Ber. 46:15) as האלהים הרעה אתי, conventionally translated as "The God who shepherded me." The Ramban points out that the root רעה can also be understood to mean love, and he therefore suggests that the meaning of this verse is "The God who loves me."
Rabbi Yitzchok Isaac of Komarna points out that the word הרעה is lacking the letter ו (vov) which should have been after the ר (reish) to emphasize the sound "oh." He says that this is because the letter vov is usually used to indicate a connection between two things (vov is used to indicate the word "and" as well as serving as the Hebrew word meaning a hook, a connector between two things). A connector is only needed between things which are separate and need a means of connection, however, in this instance, where it is referring to God's love for His nation, the connection is so intimate, that there is no need for a connector.

The Sea - Part One- Laying the Groundwork

The other day, on a whim, I picked up a sefer (Hebrew book) entitled Yam HaChochma. This is the most recent edition of the teachings of Rabbi Yitzchok Morgenstern of Yerushalaim. I have seen editions from other years before, but for some reason was never inclined to purchase them. This week I finally got smart; and I wasn't disappointed. Much of what I have read so far has been very meaningful to me. Similar to what I had been doing for a long time in my Lev Tahor blog, sharing the writings of a particular work, I will try to share with you some of his thoughts on this blog over the next few weeks.

Just as God presented us with the revealed portions of the Torah at Mt. Sinai which teach us the actions which God expects us to perform and are recorded in works such as the Talmud and Shulchan Aruch, so too He directed us how to do the inner work through which we can fulfill the duties of the heart. These include the directives to love, fear and develop a relationship with God, as well as the injunctions to believe in God and in his Unity. Ultimately all the commandments, even those involving physical actions, are there to assist Man in fulfilling the inner mitzvos. And just as God instructed Moshe in the details of the physical mitzvos, so too he was instructed in the details of how to fulfill the inner mitzvos as well.

The credo of the Jewish people is the Shema שמע ישראל ה' אלוקינו ה' אחד, Hear O' Israel the Lord is Our God, the Lord is One. The Baal HaTanya explains that Shema (hear) is an active verb. It means to take the time to contemplate the message of this verse, not to just sit back passively and listen.

We are, therefore, to contemplate the Oneness of God. What does it mean? According to the Ramchal this incorporates two aspects of oneness. First of all the fact that He fills and surrounds all of Creation; there is no place empty of Him. Secondly, that he is One in terms of running the world.

Love, love me do

A friend of mine wrote the following to me on Facebook in response to a comment about feeling God's love:
No argument with the general idea of your statement. Even so, to fill one's self with "G*dly Love"... How is that done exactly? Reminds me of the oh-so-familiar commandment to Love G*d with...How does One mandate love in the other or somehow insist upon it within oneself? I can see the "emulation" of loving behavior (for it is an action) but to will a feeling [?]; never met anyone who could do it & say so honestly.
The question he is asking is an old one. The Torah can tell me that I must do something and I have the ability to force myself to do it, even if I don't particularly feel like doing it. But when it comes to feelings and thoughts, how can the Torah mandate that I must think or feel a certain way. I cannot force myself to feel in a way I don't feel.
Love my neighbor? The guy is a low down creep! Fear God? But I don't!
The standard answer is that if you don't feel in the manner prescribed by the Torah, what is expected of you is to take the time to investigate how you are feeling and how you should feel. Do the research to learn how others have coped with such situations. Learn how they have succeeded in bringing new feelings into their hearts. You aren't the first one struggling with this issue, you can find pointers in the right direction.
So, in answer to your first question, how does one fill himself with Godly love, I would recommend starting to read Tehilim (psalms) on a regular basis. Don't just read it, stop and contemplate the messages, allow them to permeate your heart and become a part of yourself. Maybe read the commentary of Hirsch to help get a deeper feeling for the messages. Pray to God that He helps you feel his love.
Do these things and you will find His love.

Testing...Testing...

In this week's Torah portion the Patriarch Abraham concludes the ten tests which God has placed before him. Many are troubled by God's putting him through these ordeals. Doesn't God know what is in the heart of Abraham? Doesn't he know that Abraham has love for God and truly understands the concept of fear of God? Why must God put him in the crucible as well?
I believe that in order to answer this question we need to understand why it is that God created the world. The father of modern Kabalah, the Arizal, writes that God had within Himself every possible good trait that exists. That was not sufficient, however. God needed to bring all of these traits to practice, he had to make them real. Otherwise, they were meaningless.
Each of us has a part of God within ourselves, we are chips off the old block, so to speak. To get the most out of our existence in this Universe, we need to be as Godlike as possible. Just as God had to make his good traits real, so too it is with us. It isn't enough to be kind, or loving in the heart, you must exercise that trait with respect to someone else to make it real.

The portion concludes with a short lesson on the offspring of the brother of Abraham. Many wonder why it is placed in this location. Some suggest that it is to tie in the birth of Rivka to the Binding of Isaac so as to teach us when she was born.

I would like to suggest an additional approach. Many find tests and the idea of tests difficult. Who was the prototype in the Bible for a person who is tested? Iyov-Job. Unlike Abraham of whom the Torah only describes his behavior in overcoming the tests and does not teach us of any struggles he underwent until he was able to pass them, in the case of Job the struggles are there for us to see. We can ponder and debate the philosophical issues that plagued him.

Job came from the land of Utz. Utz was a nephew of Avraham, the oldest one in fact as recorded here at the end of the Torah portion. At the conclusion of Abraham's tests the Torah wanted to allude to us about someone else who would be tested. It therefore mentions the birth of the grandfather of Job.

Relationship with G-d - Part II

I was asked: If you believe that it is the relationship that is so important, why then do we actually have to do Mitzvos? Just have a relationship without there being any Mitzvos to be done.
I gave a two-part answer. First of all, any relationship that does not put demands on a person is not a real relationship.
Secondly, the Arizal explains at the beginning of Etz Chayim that the reason why Hashem created the world was that even though He had all the finest attributes that could possibly be, they could not be made real until and unless they had a place to manifest themselves. Latent abilities that do not find a place in the real world are meaningless.
The same is true for us as well. It is all fine and good for us to have a “relationship” with God and all sorts of wonderful feelings and thoughts directed towards Him. But until and unless these feelings are brought into reality in this world they are meaningless.
Combine this with the fact that the entire point of creation was to bring latent abilities into reality, and it is clear that our doing so as well enables us to connect to the very forces of creation.