Thursday, October 25, 2007

A thought on Parshas Vayera

"...va'yashkem Avraham baboker...""...and Avraham arose in the morning..." (19:27)

If you have ever watched someone smoke a fine cigar, you may have marveled at how they blew smoke rings. With the atmosphere still and the correct positioning of the mouth and lips, a person can exhale the tobacco fumes so that they form perfect circles, slowly gliding apart until they dissipate into the air.

"Why must we pray?", one might ask, since HaShem knows all that we think, and can grasp whatever we mean for Him to know about our wishes and needs. Why have our sages stressed that we must put our yearnings into words and articulate them as our means of praying? They have even linked our verse above with the principle that Avraham initiated the shacharis prayer, hinted at in the image of him arising in the morning.

The Recanati mentions that some people ask the above question. As to what it has to do with my cigar imagery, you will soon increase your Havana... Read on:

All of our deeds in this Lower World require a discernible action or event. Intention or kavana does not suffice for our deeds to leave an imprint in the Higher Realm. An action leaves a mark, converting abstract thought or dormant emotion into an actual event.

In the name of Rabbeinu Sa'adia Gaon, the Recanati illustrates this. We use our breath, our voice, as a medium for prayer. However, it is the words we express which contain the content or the essence of those prayers. When we express the words, what are we doing? Words are made up of letters, which form syllables, which have a precise sound and which connote specific meanings. We build our words with our mouths, lips, throat, tongue and teeth, then we cast them outwards and upwards.

The word emerges as a sound, yet the sound is just the casing or the container of those letters and their meaning. Those letters continue to exist! The word continues to exist within the sound of the voice which has emerged from within our body and mind. (In English, we see this too, for the word "vocabulary" includes the word "vocal" or voice. The voice is the container of that which is vocalized, including that which gets verbalized.)

Now, the word exists because it is audible. But: is it tangible? Is it visible? The Recanati suggests that you try saying something on a chilly morning. Watch the steamy vapor which emerges from your mouth. When the atmosphere is just right, you will see the steamy air approximate the shape of your verbalization. An "A" will look like one. An "O" will look like one (hence my cigar smoke imagery).

What are those vapor forms doing there? That condensation is... a condensed replica of the words which have emerged and arisen. Each letter endures, presenting its own koach or feature. As the words rise in vocalized fashion, they too ascend like the smoke rings blown, making their mark in that zone between material Earth and numinous Heaven, which is the air, the sky and the space beyond. In this way, a prayer has made its mark, and leaves its impression on this earth and onward. When directed correctly amidst proper kavana and when accompanied by the strivings of the heart, the yearnings of the soul and the wishful hoping of the mind, that prayer will continue to travel far past the place where other words vanish into thin air.

Our words of prayer continue to fly onward and upward, breaking through each plane and layer of the cosmos until they soar over the highest places Above and form a crown of praise fit for the One who dwells on the Throne of Majesty.

This is what Avraham knew as he arose in the morning and sent his words of prayer Heavenward. And this is why we too must take care to put our koach ha'tefilla into the form of words which have a koach of their own. Our words of prayer are the result of our act of prayer. Every deed on this material world requires a formal act, and with the prayer act, we enable our lowly strivings to work for us down here and up there.

Don't inhale. Good Shabbos. D Fox

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

A thought on Parshas Lech Lech

"...v'he'yea bracha..."
"...and be a blessing..." (12:2)

HaShem seals his promise to Avraham with the assurance that He will bless him and make his name known, and that Avraham will "be a blessing."Many of our sages have offered interpretations of this curious phrase, "be a blessing." We can better understand the idea of a person becoming blessed, or that his deeds are blessed. The idea that a person can become a blessing is harder to fathom. We do not usually look at a blessing as a noun which can define an object. It is a free standing noun which refers to a statement as in "say a blessing" or "make a bracha." Or, the word can be an adjective as in "his blessed memory" or "may you be blessed." What is the meaning of HaShem's saying that Avraham would become a bracha?

If you have ever gone swimming in Israel, you may know that a pool is called a braicha. The Recanati tells us that this is a deeper aspect of the word bracha in our verse. Just as a pool cleanses the impure, Avraham was promised that he would cleanse the spiritually impure. He was blessed with the power to reach people who would struggle with matters of the mind and spirit. The Recanati says that Avraham (this is a direct quote) would "m'karev es ha'rechokim".

He then illuminates the spiritual and metaphysical dynamics of such a bracha. The Recanati tends to see ways in which this world, this life, is a mirror of the Higher realm. He tends to write about the symbiosis between our actions below and actions Above, as well as between those from Above and our experience below.

Impurity, in the spiritual plane, has six levels, beginning with the source of tuma (such as a corpse) and descending to peripheral tuma, such as that which might affect sacred property in the Bais HaMikdash. Why six? Because the seventh sphere of Divine influence is known as Chesed - Kindness. Kindness transcends impurity; Divine kindness protects against impurity or provides the remedy and antidote for impurity, which is tahara. Seven is the zone where six becomes inert, powerless. Tuma cannot connect with Chesed.

Avraham Avinu dedicated his life and existence, in this world below, to chesed. His mortal acts of persistent and selfless kindness towards others, as we know from so many of the events in Bereishis, were a replica of Divine chesed. They were more than the imitative deeds which try to emulate the Ways of HaShem. They had, in this mortal existence, a mirror role of the powers and emanations of Kindness Above. That is, his acts of kindness were able to purify others, a remedy to their distress and confusion, a balm for their strife.

This is the meaning of HaShem conferring on Avraham the status or title of "bracha." By way of his acts of chesed, he would have a cleansing and purifying effect on others. He was given the promise that his kindness would change people and transform the world.

How many of us know people whose being considerate of others seems like a pool of clean water? How many of us feel transformed by the kindness shown us, rather than feel like mere recipients? How many of us reach out to others and offer them chesed with the aim of bringing the distant closer, and bringing greater purity to the world?

Wishing you a good Shabbos. D Fox

Thursday, October 11, 2007

A thought on Parshas Noach

"...va'yomer Elokim l'Noach...""...and the Lord said to Noach..." (6:13)

The Torah utilizes the name Elokim - "Lord" - in depicting the Divine decree to bring the mabul or flood over the globe. In later catastrophic events, such as His visitation upon the dor ha'plaga or in striking the communities at and around S'dom, the Torah employs the name HaShem - "God" - instead. What are we able to learn from this significant shift of Names?The Recanati draws on the mystical words of the Zohar here. We have learned to associate the name Elokim with that mida or attribute which we perceive as din, or Divine justice. We understand the name HaShem as characterizing the attribute we know as rachamim or Divine compassion.

The Divine response to those who sought to build a tower was to disperse them so that the world became a home for numerous races and cultures. There is quite clearly an element of compassion there, as opposed to abject punishment and destruction. One can perceive within this Divine response a vivid aspect of rachamim within the din decision. This is also seen in the Divine response to S'dom where select areas were overthrown yet many other areas, and their inhabitants, were spared. This is another illustration of our being able to see din which is cloaked within rachamim. This is why the name HaShem is utilized there.

The deluge, or flood, was another matter. Noach and his family went adrift in their own taeva, a boat which became a replica of a now submerged world. The rest of the globe, the former world, was no more to exist. There was no semblance of compassion seen, only a Divine punishment which was a pure manifestation of din. That is why the name Elokim is utilized there.

This thought, notes the Recanati, can be captured in a familiar verse (Tehillim 29:10) which we chant every Friday night as we rise during Kabbalas Shabbos - "HaShem la'mabul yoshav." - HaShem "sat" at the flood. Now, we know that HaShem is described as "sitting" on a heavenly throne. He is the Melech - the Majesty, and we often symbolize that image by describing His Kisae HaKavod. What is the thought in this Psalm that HaShem "sat" or was enthroned specifically during the flood?

The Recanati explains the Zoharic message that once again, the name HaShem signifies the attribute of compassion. There was no perception or sense of compassion during the flood. That aspect of the Divine presence was "nowhere to be found" from an earth point of view. Where was His rachamim at that time? The Recanati says that this is what Dovid HaMelech is telling us: during the flood, HaShem "sat it out." Compassion took a back seat (actually a higher seat.) His mercy was high in the heavens yet not sensed below on earth. This is what the Psalm means when it declares that HaShem was "sitting" far away during the worldwide flood.

Yet, promises that verse, "va'yeshev HaShem Melech l'Olam" - the time will come when the Just King who is HaShem, whose majesty will be perceived as compassionate and merciful, will be sensed in our midst throughout the universe and for eternity.

May that time come speedily, in our own days. Good Shabbos. D Fox

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

A thought on Parshas Bereishis

"...ha'isha asher nosata imadi hee nosna li...""...the woman that You gave to be with me, she gave it to me..." (3:12)

During the coming year, I plan to study the teachings of a commentary who is less well known (which is how I also depicted Rabbeinu Bachya a year ago), and whose name is usually mispronounced (which is also a phenomenon associated with Rabbeinu Bachya). In fact, this commentary is simply called by the last name of its author.

I first heard of this great Rishon (who lived in Italy from the latter part of the thirteenth century until the early years of the fourteenth century, in the same era as Rabbeinu Bachya) while studying in the yeshiva of Rav Moshe Feinstein zt'l. One year, my chavrusa, a chossid, quoted this commentary (using the yeshivish mispronunciation of the name) and I was chilled by the mystic tone of his ideas. When I asked who he was and what his name meant, no one seemed to know.

Now, years later, I have a set of the writings of the Levush, Rav Mordechai Yaffa zt'l who was one of the very early poskim Acharonim. This was a gift given to me by my sister and brother in law in London. In the back of the final volume, the Levush has a commentary on this commentary. I am now, b'H, finally able to study this Rishon first hand.

Often called "the Recanti", his name was actually Rabbeinu Menachem Recanati. This is actually a fairly common Italian Jewish last name. Much confusion and mystique has surrounded the meaning of his name, most of which has been debunked by those who know of his work and of his Italian origins. His family name was simply Recanati. He wrote works on kabbala and halacha, and is cited as a source by great poskim. He was a great mekubal and one of the first to put his thoughts into writing. He illuminated the mystical works of those before him. His commentary requires careful analysis, which is one of the reasons the great Levush wrote the Levush Aven Yakara elucidation of the Recanati.

May HaShem guide me in the months ahead as I attempt to introduce some of his work in these weekly parsha emails. Now back to our verse.

"...ha'isha asher nosata imadi hee nosna li...""...the woman that You gave to be with me, she gave it to me..." (3:12)

In the Garden of Eden, once Adam HaRishon has been confronted about having eaten of the Tree of Knowledge, he retorts that it was his wife Chava, who was meant to be a support to him, who had actually given him the fruit. There is a tone of double fault finding in the verse: not only does Adam blame Chava but he also implies that HaShem Himself is at fault as well. "The woman that You gave to be with me" implicates HaShem kavayachol in the event. What were the repercussions of this pointed allegation?

The Recanati writes that putting HaShem on par with the woman opened up a double sided mystical reality. In times to come, ages later, the Jewish people would enter exile. Part of that exile would serve to spotlight this supernal "fault" in Shomayim. Exile would involve a decrease in spiritual awareness and would also lead to a perception that HaShem was "faulty" (as in "fault lines"): the world, including the Jewish world, looks to the Heavens during exile and wonders "what has become of G-d?" It is as if we cannot see Him, when in reality it is our own spiritual energy which has become faulty and lacking. It is as if He has "become" a reflection of our own lack of wholeness and completeness as we recede into the shadow world of galus.

The other side of this mystical reality is that in our exile, the Divine Presence "goes into exile" alongside of us. Adam's pairing HaShem with "the woman" as having been at fault meant that during our centuries of suffering, the Divine Presence is, well, sensitive to our plight. He shares in our burden kavayachol, for as Adam HaRishon declared, "You had a role in my downfall too." This is not to contend that any of the above "accusations" are to be understood at a literal level, nor to imply that any of the Recanati's thoughts are to be taken at face value alone. He opens up for us a separate dimension in looking at the verses, for seeing deeper into their eternal ramifications.

Many years ago, my great rebbe Rav Simcha Wasserman zt'l, whose yartzeit is nearing, spoke about the meaning of the Hoshanos which we are saying during this week of Sukos.
He told us about the final prayer which we recite each day, Ani v'Ho hoshia na...k'hoshata elim b'Lud Imach and how it depicts the way in which HaShem stays with our nation during and throughout each step of our sojourns in exile. Each of the verses includes HaShem as well as a reference to ourselves (I suggest that you look at this passage in the Hoshanos and see it for yourselves!)

The Recanati makes the identical point here. He writes that this is the focus of Ani v'Ho...k'hoshata elim b'Lud Imach. It speaks of exile and it speaks of the Divine Presence which accompanies us into exile and stays a part of us here. It is a manifestation of "Immo
Anochi b'tzara" - I am with them amidst their suffering (Tehillim 91:15).

When Adam linked the Higher world with the lower world in explaining the events of his life, he inaugurated the connection between both realms, which continue to resonate for us when we are at our best and living a life of spiritual completeness, and during the dark night of exile, when we wander in search of our missing wholeness, followed and shadowed and protected by the Presence which we can sense hovering somewhere out there...

Wishing you a Year of renewal, a festival of joy through Torah and a good Shabbos. D Fox