days of repentance: 3 Elul

28 Iyyar 5664

28 Iyyar 5679

3 Elul 5695

today was 3 Elul, 77th anniversary of the death of Rav Kook z”l, on whose gravestone are found the 3 dates recorded herein. surely 77 is a significant number upon which to reflect. 77 is the simple gematria for ‘mazal’ (“luck”if you will), and certainly starting Elul with good fortune in the cards isn’t all bad, right? but we can do better if we think back to the 3rd haftarah of comfort, which we read/heard on Rosh Chodesh Elul just passed, and remember Proverbs 18:10:

“migdal-oz, shem haShem”

(a tower of strength is the Name of G’d)

the Name is a tower (gematria=77) of strength (gematria=77). and the haftarah teaches us that all the children will learn of G’d, ie, come to know the Name. and we will not need to fear the oppression of our wrongs in the past or the devastation of falling back into bad ways, for it will not come near (Isaiah 54:14). let’s expand the 77-77 further in Psalm 61:4:

“for you have been a refuge for me

a tower of strength in the face of the enemy

and back to our haftarah, in which we learn further (54:17) the power inherent in the Name:

“any weapon sharpened against you will not succeed;

any tongue that will rise against you in judgment

YOU will condemn”

“you will condemn” any accusing sharpened tongue” for that is the heritage of the servants of G’d; THAT is part and parcel their righteousness from G’d. the deeds of the baal t’shuvah will defeat the naysayers and the evil report and the cynical doubt and the tongue of any accuser. what you do now defends you from what you may have done in the past. now defeats then. NOW is “the heritage of those in awe of the Name” (Psalm 61:6). turn to haShem truly with full heart–real t’shuvah– and you gain the tools to defeat even your worst enemies, the great oppressors of your past. YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS, nonetheless:

azamra shimcha la’ad

(i will sing praise to Your Name forever)

t’shuvah is to open to channeling of the tower of strength from G’d the Source to you yourself and through you to the world. and starting tomorrow, we will not begin to examine practices of t’shuvah, the way of the soul warrior.

oh, hey, what about those dates on Rav Kook’s stone? isn’t it usually just birthdate and deathdate? well, they reflect his own emulation of the walk of Avraham avinu with haShem. do we know much about Avraham’s birth and birthdate? nope. but we know that he was called by G’d to GO himself, for himself, to himself, leaving behind your birthplace, your land , and your parents home. 3 leavings for Avraham avinu represented 3 ascents that are paralleled in Rav Kook’s life: the parental home represents the pull of the familiar and comfortable origin, which R’ Kook put behind him when he left europe and ascended to the Land of Israel on 28 Iyyar 5664; your land represents peer pressure for the ways of galut, which R’ Kook put away when he ascended to Jerusalem to live while founding a new religious way that merged rich zionism (and association with the secular) with traditional teachings and practices on 28 Iyyar 5679; and last, but not least, your birthplace represents the pull of the place into which your soul is born–your body, which R’ Kook put behind him when he died and ascended to the wholly spiritual realm on 3 Elul 5695.

birthdate is past–aveirah in aver–but each ascent as you walk Torah is a moment of vividly living in a moment. not a record of history, but a piling of milestones. so it is for everyone doing t’shuvah…you ascend from strength to strength, leaving behind the pulls of what was, adding your own milestones to the walls of the Tower of Strength.

days of repentance: haftarah of comfort 3

“and all your children shall be taught of haShem; great shall be the peace of your children”

there’s comfort for us all herein. the promise of the future in the wholeness/peace of our children. not surprising, is it? as we’ve already discussed, these first 3 weeks of comfort have a parallel in the steps of the prayers said at graveside, and the third step of mourning corresponds to the movement from acceptance of loss to the reunderstanding of the goodness of G’d in the saying of kaddish. it is the first kaddish, to be followed thereafter by the daily kaddish yatom, the kaddish of the orphan. all of us are orphaned since the destruction of the easy access to G’d’s Presence that was in Jerusalem.

a parent lost is like a parent hidden, yes? not absent exactly, for still held in memory, still alive in the learning we have been given by that father or mother. but not as visible. hidden, like the Presence of haShem….but that we are still aware of haShem in the dark times is the beauty of kaddish.

exalted and sanctified be the Great Name

so we say. we know You. you are not wholly gone. and in this 3rd haftarah of comfort Isaiah points out that all the orphans will learn of the Great Name and that will itself be the beginning of the beginnings of wholeness.

this brief haftarah, on shabbat just passed, culminates the week that leads up to Rosh Chodesh Elul. comfort for the “storm tossed” Israel, and wholeness to come, by way of the knowledge of G’d–“all your children shall be taught of haShem”–all of your newborns. and who are the newborns of Elul, which is aramaic for “searching”?

the newborns are the reborns. each of us who does t’shuvah is reborn in tzedek, in righteousness.

“establish yourself through righteousness;

distance yourself from oppression”

so says the prophet on behalf of G’d in our haftarah (Isaiah 54:14). REmake yourself in righteousness, putting distance between yourself and the wrongs of your past. in righteousness make yourself whole, give yourself peace by distancing yourself from the MAlingering past….in which you have oppressed others, knowingly or not. the past in which you have oppressed yourself in the wrongs you have done. ”aveirah”, a key word for sin shares its root with “avar”, a word meaning past. t’shuvah is never about the past, chevrei, but only about what is to be now.

in this new month of Elul, we are all of us children again….if only we will learn of haShem….and everything we do from this point to Yom Kippur is designed to teach us of nothing else.

days of repentance: haftarah of comfort 2

“Zion says…haShem has forsaken me

haShem has forgotten me”

the curious thing about the first haftarah of comfort (consolation), called ‘nachamu’ (after the meaning of the repeated first word, ie, “comfort my people, comfort them, says your G’d”) is that after the first verse it is anything but comforting. it goes on to say that the People is but as grass blown about and withered by the wind and the sun….in the face of G’d’s displeasure, the withered blades of grass are carried away as stubble. the first haftarah is comforting ONLY in that it asserts strongly that G’d is, in fact, in charge–in spite of all appearances to the contrary.

small comfort when one is feeling freshly dead in the destruction of the Temple…when one has died at tisha b’av with the departure of the Shechina from out of Israel’s midst….forsaken, forgotten, with no Presence to which to turn…

sometimes i feel like a motherless child…a long ways from home

but in the second week, Isaiah (49:14-51:3) answers with G’d’s pointed reply…

“can a woman forget her baby…..

or not feel compassion for the child of her womb?”

well, you mothers out there? in spite of the sometimes mindnumbing, backbreaking routines of parenting, can you not still feel compassion for the child of your womb? is that not about as good a surety—in the face of all the effort, the exasperation, the worry, the discipline, the sometime rejection and insolence of adolescent children, the fear of being ignored as you age—as great a certainty as any love we know on earth? is there any better certainty then a mother’s love? even among the most secular, the “miracle of birth” is treasured, and is nearly never relinquished. severing the umbilicus severs only the physical.

but we are in a series of 7 haftarot of comforting us, comforting those who mourn loss of Shechina in the Temple. we are not yet comforted…..

the grief of a mourner has 3 prominent steps at internment: 1) the e’l-mole rachamim corresponds to acknowledgment of death and the request for protection of the deceased, 2) the tziduk hadin corresponds to the accepting of truth in G’d’s judgment (verses proclaim G’d’s greatness and the “wisplike” existence of humankind, and 3) the graveside kaddish corresponds to turning of acceptance of death into the “magnification” that comes with comprehension of the greater good in the power of G’d. this structure of the internment service corresponds to instruction from Talmud (Mo’ed Katan 27b): “3 days for weeping, in 7 for lamenting, and 30 [to not] cut the hair and [wear] pressed clothing.”

from tisha b’av to the 1st shabbat is step 1 (reflected in haftarah 1 of comfort); from that to the 2nd shabbat is the acceptance of the judgment and of the truth of G’d’s promise (reflected in haftarah 2 of comfort); from that to the 3rd shabbat, and rosh chodesh elul, is the beginning of kaddish, the eye toward the future promise through t’shuvah (repentance), leading through the remaining 4 of the 7 weeks to the Birthday of the World, the day of the greatness of haShem, Rosh Hashanah.

so the 2nd shabbat of comfort begins with the cry of the forsaken, but then pivots through the realization that the Promise to the People is as rock solid as the love of a mother for her child. and at the very end of the haftarah, there is mention of Avraham and Sarah, the first parents of the People Israel, to whom was given the promise not to be fulfilled in their own day, but in days to come–even after dark days of exile from the Land and slavery.

“look to Avraham your forefather and Sarah who birthed you”

and the haftarah closes with the assurance that haShem will comfort, comforting even the very ruins, the persistence of memories of the destruction, the evil, the despondency. we are all of us spiritual ruins to one degree or another after another year of selling our spirits short, yes? our failures to live up to our best hopes, our strongest intentions, our responsibilities to each other and to G’d pile up into ruined heaps about this time of year. but right here. at THIS point in time the promise is that G’d will comfort our ruins, making Eden of our wastelands, we have the Promise of the other side of t’shuvah. for on the other side of the Days of Awe, we are promised, if we do the work:

“joy and gladness will be found there, thanksgiving, and the sound of music”

this as we enter the third week, so start to look to the mountain of G’d in Jerusalem, and know that you will hear what you’ve heard before…your heart will be blessed with the sound of music, and you’ll sing once more.

PS-don’t forget, richard rodgers real family name was abrahams………now there’s the Promise in exile, eh?)

days of repentance: begin with love and comfort

no better days…than tu b’av and yom kippur

it was Rabban Gamliel who let us know that 6 days after the black fast of tisha b’av, coinciding with the full moon, was a very, very important day. in the Mishnah, Ta’anit 4, he is quoted, saying:

“there were no better (happier) days for the People of Israel than the 15th day of Av (tu b’av) and yom kippur, since on these days the daughters of Israel/Jerusalm go out dressed in white and dance in the vineyards….”

borrowed white dresses, by the way. just add a little something blue and you get the idea. the best day of the year to get married, they say, and the only day on which to get married without having to fast. that’s right, no fasting for bride and groom should they marry on to b’av….yom kippur doesn’t let us off so lightly, of course. but tu b’av comes with a full moon, mid month, and is as far away from the yom kippur katan that is every new moon for the People….a time of fullness of promise rather than the narrow sliver of rosh chodesh.

but look at that apposition: tu b’av and yom kippur. love and atonement to bookend the penitential season….indeed, it was custom to start preparing for the month of elul on tu b’av, the gematria for which totes up to that for:

ketiva vachatima tova

‘may your inscription and seal be for good’

sounds like the Days of Awe to me. but here’s the other thing: tu b’av was the beginning of the grape harvest in the Land. so those gals in the white dresses were dancing out in the vineyards harvesting those grapes with the boys….don’t bruise the fruit, now.

whence this idea of beginning atonement in love? well, the 7 weeks of consolation begin the shabbat after the black fast–in 2012 the first shabbat of consolation is cheek to jowl with tu b’av–and that set of 7 takes us right through the month of elul to the gate of tishrei (which begins the count up to the birthday of the world…Rosh haShanah). but what is the consolation for? well, for coming back from the great sins…the golden calf, the spies, the baseless hatred between brothers, etc, etc. tu b’av brings the consolation for the sin of the spies. consider the legend of how the People came to know that the 40-year time of wandering the desert til the generation of the sin of the spies had died out:

every year for 40 years of wandering, on tisha b’av night, the Israelites dug themselves graves, in which they would sleep for tisha b’av. by morning some 15, 000 of them would not wake up, and tisha became the black funereal fast. year after year after year. in the 40th year, all slept in the graves they had dug, but in the morning, none had died

it is taught that the People thought maybe they had the date wrong, so they kept sleeping in their graves until tu b’av, the middle of the month and the time of the full moon. at that point they knew that the sin of the spies, the sin that led to the wandering, was atoned for. and those giant grapes that the spies brought back from the Land–“now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes” (Numbers 13:20)–were not an omen of ill, but of joy. Rabbi Chanan said (Sanhedrin 70a):

wine was created to comfort mourners….

well, at least that first tu b’av must have made it seem so….so a day of wine and happy human hearts….a day of love between people born of G’d’s love for people, that they are given the chance to emerge from the wrongdoings and misunderstandings that lead them to wander in the desert. comfort ye, comfort ye, my people…..for every year the road of t’shuvah begins with love and comfort.

the mighty r’ Akiva truly understood tu b’av and yom kippur, for he centralized the concept of belovedness between people and between people and G’d by insisting on including the Song of Songs in the canon…..and then by making “love your neighbor as yourself” the central teaching of the jewish way. on tu b’av we crawl out of our self-dug graves for a day of wine and love….white dresses, white kittels…under the chuppah, whether on tu or on yom kippur. a day of wine on tu….and ultimately of roses on yom kippur. how so?

368 maneh of ketoret

1 measure for each day, plus 3 extra for yom kippur

for only on yom kippur, and only in the joyful fragrance of a ketoret cloud could the high priest enter the Holy of Holies and atone for the People. yom kippur, the day of love and roses. “marei kohen” is the piyyut we say in the avodah section of the yom kippur musaf prayers; it is a series of descriptions of the kohen gadol’s appearance upon emerging from the Holy of the Holies “in peace, without injury”:

like the garden’s rose among the thorns

was the appearance of the Kohen

and so we begin the season of t’shuvah, of return to G’d and to our best selves with love….comfort ye, comfort ye, my People…..with days of wine and roses.

haYom tish’a v’arba’im yom, sh’heim shiv’a shavuot, laOmer: malchut she b’malchut

“to draw in the Shechinah an incense offering is required”

for the Divine Presence does not completely manifest herself within the realm of mortals without the aroma of incense”, continues the Midrash Tanchuma for Tetzaveh, 15. the ketoret (incense offered on the golden altar in the Temple only’) that stops plagues, the ketoret that has qualities of flame and cloud….fiery pillar and cloudy pillar leading the People through the wilderness as they moved from freedom from direct physical slavery through the 40 years of wandering out of their spiritual slavery to become worthy of entering and living Torah in the Land.

perhaps her “mate”, the masculine haKadosh Baruch Hu enjoys also the reaich nichoach (‘sweet savor’) of the korban (‘nearness’ the core of sacrifice) going up in smoke….since this year the Shavuot holy day that comes immediately after Shabbat coincides with the american memorial day, thinking of barbecue might be just the ticket to making that scent real. there will probably be something remotely like burnt offerings going on all over the USA come this sunday…..

but what the ketoret and the reiach nichoach share is fragrance and a smoky, cloudy rising heavenward. ketoret’s fragrance is compounded of 11 spices and the korban’s fragrance is that of the barbecue with the addition of burning bread and olive oil for the grain offerings. hmm. perhaps it is no wonder that the Sages teach that the ketoret offering is more highly prized than all the korbanot together….

but the offered reason is that ketoret is not offered for the atonement of any offense, but rather (as in Proverbs 27):

“ketoret gladdens the heart”

and not just of us, but of G’d as well. we learn in Zohar that ketoret wipes away heavenly anger (slow to get there, but not absent, after all) and is entirely offered to sanctify G’d. due to this, the burning of ketoret is said, again in Zohar, to send the forces of the Other Side (the dark side, if you will) packing…..like roaches fleeing the scent of insecticide. in fact, the ketoret is offered up on a special altar, which is called the golden “mizbeach” (‘altar’) just as the other mizbeach for offering slaughtered animals (the hebrew root zayin bet chet is associated with slaughtering) only because the forces of the Other Side are slain upon it via the offering of the incense itself. no animal was ever offered up on the golden mizbeach.

so the Shechinah, the Earthly-Indwelling Presence of G’d is drawn by the the scent of what gladdens the heart of G’d. She comes in the presence of joy. malchut is in joy.

sovereignty never smells so sweet as that brought on by the Divine Presence. but let’s think again about that fragrant smokiness/cloudiness that rises up. is that not like the spirit? concealed by nothing more than diaphanous smoke/cloud, that, like the soul, constantly in motion, and generally moving from earth up. it is not permanent, nor steady, nor solid, yet it is redolent always….often our olfactory memories are stronger than the visual or the tactical or even the aural. smell abides…indeed, when it is bad, it is very hard to be rid of…..our sensory receptors for smell are designed to create permanent memory connections…not temporary ones like those of light and sound. permanent connections are connections that bind….so remember that the root of ketoret, kuf tet resh means to bind. ketoret binds a human soul to the upper worlds as it burns…..

malchut in malchut is a tightly bound interinclusion…and absolute kingdom of female Divine Presence with the power of the collected flow through the rest of the sefirot…the opening out and way into the way of the G’d.

and a fragrance can pull us out of anything we are doing….that is why incense has been used in many, many religious rites world- and time-wide. from pheromones to flowers, scent is the call to Creation at its root. ketoret is higher than prayer, for it draws the Shechina to the soul that brings it. the answer to the offering is joy and Presence of the Divine therein…. we are taught (Ta’amei haMitzvot, Mitzvat Aseh 41):

“the soul takes no physical pleasure except through the sense of smell”

bring flowers for the Shechinah this Shavuot…fragrant flowers to scent the synagogue for the Holy Day of Divine Presence.

mussar for malchut she b’malchut

with another….bein adam l’chaveiro if each of us has a realm in which we hold sovereignty for doing good, we each much respect the sovereignty of everyone else. that means being aware of their deep mineral rights and also their rights to sovereign airspace. be careful that you recognize the physical rights and the spiritual rights of your neighbors. they have responsibilities to fulfill in those arenas.

with yourself….bein adam l’atzmo it is taught that Moshiach will be fragrant. that will be among the markers of the Divine Presence’s Presence with the agent of redemption. the Chofetz Chaim had a special coat that hung on the back of his door for easy grabbing….it was intended to be worn when he went out to meet the Moshiach….he perfumed it. what will you wear? how will you smell when Moshiach comes?

kabbalah for malchut she b’malchut

in assiyah….the world of doing/completion you may now have been working on your spirit traits for 48 consecutive days. what are you doing about it in the world on the 49th day, today? bring something now that you couldn’t have brought before to every interaction you have with the Creation.

in yetzirah….the world of feeling/formation light some incense (after Shabbat and Yom Tov!) in recognition of your soul’s ability to take a small bit of pleasure in it. remember the wanderings of the Sefirat haOmer this year. do you feel that your soul is more liberated? better able to walk the humble walk with G’d?

in b’riyah….the world of thought/creation you have had the chance to visit all 48 ways of acquiring Torah in the past 48 days. if you have taken even some to heart, you have prepared a fragrant field in which to study better from this point on. choose good study partners with which to share your new Torah gains during the Tikkun Leil Shavuot.

in atzilut….the world of nearness to G’d/intuition you have been climbing and wandering through, around and beside yourself for 7 full weeks (counting today). you will now rest in Shabbat. dwell in the menuchah (‘contentment’) that comes of having worked hard and having come…finally…to that 7 time, Shabbat, when G’d G’dself rested. be content.

kinyan 49 of 48 ways to acquire Torah?

say what? we have completed the 48. the traditional way on day 49 is to review the lot of 48. so i’m going to suggest a kinyan related to that review: miktar hakinyanim….connect/burn the acquisitions. when you review the kinyanim, look for the correspondences (kabbalah) between them that will bind them (katur) in new ways. always approach Torah study with the desire to find the correspondences that will bind…and burn them in passionate study and understanding as you would any other offering….

“may my prayer be as ketoret before You”

haYom sh’mona v’arba’im yom, sh’heim shisha shavuot v’shisha yomim, laOmer: yesod she b’malchut

“lovemaking is far more than sex…

it is the kiss of earth and sky, of spirit and matter.

for when you make love in earnest, you are unifying Creator with Creation,

G’d transcendent with G’d immanent”

yes, from talmud…Sotah 17a and Ketuvot 62a…more proof of the importance of being earnest. we are considering the interinclusion of yesod, seat of the male spirit genitalia (specifically the mark of the brit milah) , in malchut, seat of the female spirit genitalia, so to speak. and as we have said before, the union of the lower realm, of tiferet and malchut, which symbolizes the full reunification of Shechinah with haKadosh baruch hu, all comes together via that interinclusion of yesod and malchut, the only sefirot that share an exclusive linking pathway in the sefirotic tree of life.

indeed the thread that holds malchut to the tree at all is the pathway to yesod. go ahead, look at a diagram of the sefirot. it is clear to see. the Shechinah is tethered by way of the brit and otherwise more strongly separated, more exiled, if you will, from the interconnected flow of the rest of the tree.

but the female procreative spirit is the nurturing spirit…it is more independent of the support structure of the male in that fundamental way. is it really surprising then that the traditional way of gender suggestes that the female does not need prayer structure and study structure in the fashion of the male?

and in spite of the efforts of so very many kabbalists to keep the sefirotic away from the corporeal, we don’t have to go any farther than talmud to reveal how odd that point of view is….methinks they doth protest too much. birds and bees….and the flower of the tree….

again, the spiritual state associated with malchut in chassidut is shiflut (‘humility’ or ‘lowliness’). and malchut is associated with “dibur”, the world of speech and self-expression. so we have intercourse either way you take it…..

but shiflut is related to tsniut…usually translated as “modesty” and usually applied unevenly to the dress and appearance of women in traditional circles. what is missed is the deeper meaning of tsniut–‘reserve’. to reserve something is to hold something back or set something apart for a special purpose. it isn’t about shame or covering up, but rather about not “letting it all hang out”….about avoiding familiarity among people or situations that don’t warrant complete exposure.

public sexuality is just a particularly popular and provocative way to violate reserve….an adolescent way really….not an exercise in thoughtful engagement with the idea………except to the degree that you understand our verses from talmud to be utterly true. sexuality is “demiurgic” in the view expressed in talmud, it is a way of manipulating upper and lower, “moving” even G’d G’dself, forcing cosmic change.

keeping such power in reserve is not a bad thing. and the outward symbol of that inner reservation is the modest dress that people associate with the word.

but tsniut is the way of yesod in malchut also in that the interinclusion is tremendously powerful in itself, but even more powerful in its procreative sense…the pathway between that is connection of yesod and malchut is the focuser, the laser-like final path of all the flow through the rest of the tree…..all of it from keter on down into yesod transmits to malchut through one narrow path. and from malchut the Divine Flow births out into the wider world.

tsniut is the external aspect of anavah (‘humility’, ‘gentleness’, ‘meekness’).

let’s pay close attention to the word used for “walking ‘humbly’ with your G’d”. it is not anavah…so the walk is not meek, it is not even gentle (the pace is demanding after all). in fact the word used is tsniut, ‘reservedly’. why isn’t it so translated? probably because in english the sense of coolness that attaches to reserve, the sense of ‘tightness’ and protection of self, is heavy. in casual use, someone who is reserved is not necessarily friendly or open in appropriate ways. but tsniut is closer to the idea of military reserves….power behind the front lines always ready to be exerted in the right circumstance, at the right time. when we walk humbly with G’d we also have G’d’s back….and there is always another part of us developing in the background as we improve our midot, a new strength held as yet in reserve until it is foundational and sovereign within us….only then can it be used well in the world.

to circle back…..tsniut is the word for right-timing sexuality and right-timing the ‘revelation’, if you will, of the corresponding primary and secondary sexual characteristics of the body…and the behaviors to which they are given….so when you are with your spouse…

“you know the night time (night n day) is the right time (night n day)

to be with the one you love”

then again, for reunification of haKadosh Baruch Hu and the Shechinah, night AND day is the right time…. and it is pronounced good. just so for laying the foundation in kingdom. it should be strong, and mighty, and at hand night and day…. but held in reserve for the appropriate time to be revealed to the world. the humble walk with G’d, the “v’halakhta bidrachav” (‘walking in [G’d’s way]’), is a walk with holy power to spare, ever expanding as we do the work of the walk itself.

now if you will excuse me, i’m feeling a bit earnest.

mussar for yesod she b’malchut

with another….bein adam l’chaveiro in a world of virtuality in which privacy is said to be dead and gone, understanding reserve is more complex. it’s probably pretty easy to sense that “sexting” is probably not the way of holiness….but if G’d’s kingdom is foundational in you, how much privacy should be given up and how much kept in reserve online? what goes on the web, after all, affects not only one other, but all the others…..maintain your sense of reserve online today.

with yourself….bein adam l’atzmo in order to establish the kingdom of G’d’s ways in yourself, however, you must not be tsniut internally. rather you must be naked for your own private examination of your doings and intentions and imaginations. reveal yourself to your self!

kabbalah for yesod she b’malchut

in assiyah….the world of doing/completion i suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that there is a refractory period for most people working hard to develop their spirituality. i have heard many people say that the High Holy Days wear them out spiritually…..and that they need a break from “all that synagogue”. ok. go rest in a hut for a week….consider what the lesson of sukkot is for your growing religious practice.

in yetzirah….the world of feeling/formation as we grow in spirituality, making our foundation the sovereignty of G’d’s way, we become more subject to powerful temptation. the temptations of the tzaddik are said to be profoundly severe….yet they are defeated. it is said that the way of victory is not in holding rigidly to the ways we have found, but to be like flowing water, wearing down the stones of temptation almost imperceptibly. meditate on being the water that carves a canyon out of resistance and temptation.

in b’riyah….the world of thought/creation where do you bring the passion of love making to your more intellectual pursuits? in your profession? maybe just in your volunteer work? consider what it would be like to study Torah passionately enough to work up a sweat.

in atzilut….the world of nearness to G’d/intuition in the talmudic tale of the 4 who entered paradise (Chagigah 14b), we learn that 3 of the 4 could not withstand it and came to a bad end.only the 4th, r’ Akiva returned sound as the time he left. consider your won capacity to be very near to G’d. you cleave now to your spouse and become one flesh, but are you able to come as close in cleaving to G’d as you can to your spouse? how can you change this?

kinyan 48 of 48 ways to acquire Torah

Omer Davar b’Shem Om’ro….Repeating a Teaching in the Name of the Sayer. how does citation, specifically by name, increase the gaining of Torah knowledge? well, how many of you have looked up one the verses cited in this blog? and when you did so, did you end up learning something else that you hadn’t originally sought? QED. especially in the world of the web, citation is a crucial tool for expanding knowledge….and for playing fair (Avot 6:6).

“who repeats a dvar in the name of the speaker brings redemption to the world”

haYom shiv’a v’arba’im yom, sh’heim shisha shavuot vachamisha yomim, laOmer: hod she b’malchut

“who seeks more than he needs hinders himself from enjoying what he has”

“the more possessions, the more worries”

r’ shlomo ibn gabirol urges us to consider the foolishness of consuming beyond one’s needs: instead of enjoying what he has, such a one enjoys only the comsuming moment. we find a parallel statement in Avot 2:7. both rabbis urge us to get real about what we truly need, anything beyond that leads to less appreciation in joy, and to worry over loss. neither is very attractive for the soul.

the sense of “completeness” that comes with knowing what you need (and not want) and the quality of simplicity that comes with stripping down to gratitude for what you need being supplied leads to the spirit trait of temimut (‘sincerity’, simplicity’ & ‘completeness’), which associates with hod.

hod in malchut is the way of making simplicity/wholeness sovereign. as we mentioned yesterday, bringing one’s desires into line with G’d’s is a great thing, and temimut haratzon, (simple will to do G’d’s Will) is the natural response. temimut halev is the simplicity/completeness of devoted effort to do G’d’s way. and temimut hama’aseh is the very hodlike attention to even the most minute detail of doing G’d’s mitzvot.

all 3 together make for the noble splendor of malchut well realized in the lower worlds. the nobility of the simple can make the most minimal into the majestic…just ask Sir-Sir jonathan ives, master designer of Apple’s minimal aesthetic.

in the world of spirit traits also…..

“less is more”

for even gratitude is made more sovereign when needs–and not mere wants–are met. being grateful for receipt of a want is for kids.

kabbalistically, in the joining of the ” lower union” of tiferet and malchut, the bride Shechinah/malchut, enters into hod, and the groom tiferet enters into netzach….the twin pillars of the Temple. bride Shechinah is the fullest expression of G’d’s Presence in the lower spirit worlds, and brings the thankfulness component of menuchah (‘contentment’) to the keeping of Shabbat….

“sanctuary of the King, city royal, arise, go out from amidst the turmoil”

as we sing in l’cha dodi to welcome the Shabbat Bride. the simple joy of a deliberately de-complicated day, a sincere time, a wholeness of way.

hod in malchut….simple majesty.

mussar for hod she b’malchut

with another….bein adam l’chaveiro when giving tzedakah today, be thankful to the recipient for letting you share in the doing of the mitzvah “loving your neighbor as yourself”.

with yourself….bein adam l’atzmo reduce your consumption of some nonessential in at least 1 area today. this, of course, will work some degree of tikkun in the entire olam.

kabbalah for hod she b’malchut

in assiyah….the world of doing/completion enjoy the intensity of the simple wonders in your life and surroundings. the scent of fruit, spices, candles……the spice of life is found in the small, sincerely enjoyed. find your favorite simple prayer…perhaps shema ….what is the scent in it that calls to you?

in yetzirah….the world of feeling/formation what is the simplest dish that you cook? is it one to which you attach contentment? joy? memories of the preparer when you were a child? what simple food brings you back to a time when you knew easy contentment? THAT was a time when you were sovereign of your realm. what’s changed?

in b’riyah….the world of thought/creation if i write e=mc2, do you think of the entire universe? now, how simple is that?

in atzilut….the world of nearness to G’d/intuition sexuality in marriage is an evocation of the rejoining of tiferet and malchut….of Shechinah with haKodesh baruch hu. is sex hard? or is it really like riding a bicycle? and is it better when you need it or when you merely want it?

kinyan 47 of 48 ways to acquire Torah

Ha’mech’aven et Sh’mu’ato….Think Over What You’ve Heard. when you think something over, you make richer sense of it. you may dwell on details of what you’ve heard (learnt), which is hod. or you may consider a broader context into which to place the learning, which is malchut. either way , the thinking over affixes the material in your mind….consider Talmud Yerushalmi B’rakot 5:1:

“who understands his/her lesson will not readily forget it”

haYom shisha v’arba’im yom, sh’heim shisha shavuot v’arba’a yomim, laOmer: netzach she b’malchut

“great are the Works of G’d; they seek all of their desires”

exactly how to translate the second phrase of Psalm 111:2 is uncertain. it is cryptic, but what i have here is about as simply close as it gets. i’ve seen it as “they should be studied by all who enjoy them” and as “sought out according to all his wills”–maybe one of those works somehow for you. but what i have here reflects netzach in malchut.

how so? well, every creature contributes to the great purpose of existence…each according to its realm. as we’ve seen before, each human has a realm in which to work. mitzvot that are best suited, which they will do strongly, with ambition and drive…that will seem most natural. each of us is a sovereign in our piece of the humble walk….ensuring that our walk is humble but not broken or despicable.

it is so for every creature. we may not understand what the realm of the ant-way is (except perhaps E.O. Wilson) but the ant is utterly best at it, and its chafetz (‘desire’) is most after that ant-way in Creation. the beauty of this understanding is that we are granted “strength” in desire, netzach in chafetz, hence we will press it home. and the sum of all our desires is nothing other than G’d’s Will…..

the sum of our desires becomes the greatness, the “gadol-ness”, the malchut of Creation. we are the kingdom of G’d, each of us a small fractal bit of the whole.

that this is “natural” kabbalistically is easy to see, for Creation originates in the ratzon (‘will’) of G’d to love an other. in human terms, the “will” to love another is desire…to long for….to want.

“for I desire loving-kindness and not sacrifice,

and the knowledge of G’d, not burnt-offerings”

we go after netzach in malchut, ambition in sovereignty, when we learn Torah and make our fractal desire tend ever closer to the overarching ratzon of G’d. each piece of desire includes the essence of the whole. this is what r’ Yehuday haNasi, master of the Mishnah, means when he tells us in Avot 2:4:

“make your will like His Will, so that He will make your will like His Will”

is it odd to aspire to have G’d’s Will match your own? nope. it is simply netzach in malchut….the way of bending the will of the universe to the path of the humble walk. THAT is the “victory” that is in the “kingdom”.

mussar for netzach she b’malchut

with another….bein adam l’chaveiro everyone has a contribution to make. help another to make his/hers.

with yourself….bein adam l’atzmo what is your strongest desire right now? the one you think is your strongest? is it spiritual? or is it material? if the latter, put it to the test: does it tend to justice? does it love kindness? and does it walk humbly with Your G’d? if not, keep seeking your desire and suppress your will.

kabbalah for netzach she b’malchut

in assiyah….the world of doing/completion it is important that we all examine our circumstances, motivations, and perceived limitations to find the Divine Spark underneath/inside. the Indwelling Presence of G’d in each of us is called penimyut or ‘innerness’. it is integrity, consistency and thoroughness….evenness and wholeness of spirit. find more of yours today.

in yetzirah….the world of feeling/formation r’ Nachman teaches that

“all the world is a narrow bridge–the main thing is not to be afraid”

you must summon netzach, inner strength, to overcome the fear that grabs you just knowing that the world is fraught with danger and obstacles. but we are to fear only one thing in the universe–we are to be only in awe of G’d. the rest is emotion for us to take control over. consider your personal narrow bridges…..and dwell on the bridge that aids you in getting across!

in b’riyah….the world of thought/creation King David is the model of a ruler in the Tanach. his strengths included his utter faith in G’d and the thoughtfulness of his approach to ruling in a Divinely Desired way. even an “enlightened despot” is enlightened…so seek ye wisdom in your realm of Creation. consider every action before doing it…and the consideration for every action can begin now.

in atzilut….the world of nearness to G’d/intuition “ki l’olam chasdo”…’His loving-kindness is for all time and space’ is a refrain from Psalm 136 that we first considered in week 1 of the counting (interinclusions in chesed).meditate on how G’d’s chesed is also netzach in malchut and strive to abide in it as the mark of your penimyut, jude.

kinyan 46 of 48 ways to acquire Torah

Mach’kim et Rabo….Making One’s Teacher Wiser. there is no greater satisfaction for a teacher than to have students who are studying Torah so diligently and imaginatively that they produce new understandings that did not even occur to the teacher. this makes possible the axiom that each of us should learn from everyone we meet. and it is good for all to remember that it is the very rarest of rabbis who has all the answers! teach your rabbi to be wiser, and you will be learn/do Torah in the process (Chagigah 14a):

“a wise person is a student who makes his/her teacher wiser”

haYom chamisha v’arba’im yom, sh’heim shisha shavuot u’sh’losha yomim, laOmer: tiferet she b’malchut

“when you pray, direct

your eyes toward the earth & your heart toward the heavens”

we learn this from Yevamot 105b, which goes on to explain that G’d’s Presence dwells everywhere, no less in the earthly realm than in the heavenly one. and this also reflects the position of tiferet in the sefirotic tree, for it is the central sefirah, the most interconnected one, receiving directly from every sefirah except malchut.

so it is eyes earthward for seeking out, perhaps, as the heart is not a hunter. though the Presence of G’d is everywhere, the hiddenness of G’d keeps the sense of exile alive. and the longing of the heart for reunification is a very important driver of tikkun olam. we repair the world for our own sake as well…..

tiferet in malchut is making harmony sovereign, giving compassion dominion over your life.

this year, in preparation for rosh chodesh sivan (which always corresponds with tiferet in malchut), the month of the giving of Torah, we had a broadly observable ring eclipse, in which the moon takes momentary primacy over the sun, creating a spectacular alignment light show in the heavens. but we also had interinclusion of the symbol of Shechinah/feminine/malchut in the moon in the symbol of haKodesh Baruch Hu/masculine/tiferet in the sun. even the temporary celelstial symbolism of this yichud (‘oneness’ or ‘unification’) gives us the beauty of tiferet all round.

“the earth is full of G’d’s glory”

time and space in harmony this year for our counting of the Omer. baruch haShem. and it is no accident that this statemen of glory comes in the line that is the essence of the kedushah prayer in our liturgy….all angels encircling the Divine Presence, each angel calling out to each other, with a bow casting eyes earthward, before lifting up eyes and all with “kadosh, kadosh, kadosh”. again and again and again.

tiferet in malchut….the realm of harmonious beauty all round.

mussar for tiferet she b’malchut

with another….bein adam l’chaveiro when we say the kedushah in prayer, all are equal, none of the differences of philosophy, approach, custom, even appearance that otherwise enter into everyday life matter a jot. all are as one, lifting on toes, uttering simply: “holy, holy, holy, G’d of hosts, full is the earth of Your Glory”. there are times when we accept each other without a thought. find more such.

with yourself….bein adam l’atzmo the moon is always lovely, the sun always brilliant….yet neither ever does a thing to beautify itself….it is simply there. do you comport yourself in a way that reflects harmony, balance and beauty? in a way that reflects the Divine Presence i nthe world as you walk in it? consider how you might be a better representative of the Way. start not with your clothing or your hair or your tie…start with doing justice and loving kindness…..the markers of blended tiferet…give them dominion in your realm.

kabbalah for tiferet she b’malchut

in assiyah….the world of doing/completion yesterday on the streets of chicago, while the NATO summit was going full on, protesters pushed and police shoved. balance was begun to be struck. by late in the day, reports of protesters accepting and police accepting compromise positions reached the world press. we even heard stories about the protesters and police joking together and sort of hanging out. if these strongly opposing sides can strike up even fleeting moments of harmony, what holds the rest of us back in our relationships with family, with friends, with neighbors…..with strangers? contemplate how you can remain open to harmony even in oppositional situations.

in yetzirah….the world of feeling/formation our emotions are key in being open to balance and harmony. most of us are not yet masters of equanimity, not yet calm regardless of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. meditate on how the love expressed in the Shechinah, the Divine Presence in malchut, can flow into the other emotions in your toolset. can you make compassion for all formative today?

in b’riyah….the world of thought/creation balance and harmony of spirit should extend not only to other humans, but to all of Creation. but working to retain/restore the environment, or to achieve world peace, or to stop needless war will take more than emotional change. it requires careful thought, examination and observation, planning and mobilization on a very large scale. this is an intellectual exercise as well. consider what specific steps you will next take to bring harmonious, compassionate, beautiful interactions to the larger world.

in atzilut….the world of nearness to G’d/intuition we recognise beauty in the celestial mechanics of the moon and sun. why? for the religious, such moments are of apprehension of the Divine Presence. meditate on how we can be of fully present of mind in such moments, not only to exist in them, but to remember the contextualizing blessings that are part of the response of our tradition. it is the blessing that brings the single moment into the following ordinary time.

kinyan 45 of 48 ways to acquire Torah

Lomed al M’nat Laasot….Learning in Order to Practice. the more we learn, the more we know. and to know, know, know G’d is to love, love, love G’d. among the most potent ways to know G’d is to study Torah tirelessly and to put into practice what we learn….that is, to live Torah is to love G’d….consider Psalm 50:

“You spoke….out of Zion, beauty’s perfection…You shone forth…arriving, breaking the silence. a fire before You with a cloud….calling

out of the heavens above and the earth below

for proving Your People….”

haYom arba’a v’arba’im yom, sh’heim shisha shavuot u’sh’nei yomim, laOmer: gevurah she b’malchut

“I have set my rainbow in the cloud”

we read about the covenant after the great flood in Genesis 9:13ff and may only rarely appreciate what an extraordinary idea this is. it is an explicit sign of covenant established between G’d and humankind, between G’d and all the living, between G’d and the earth. that much we all get. and it is a sign of the explicit agreement that never again will there be a “cutting off” of all flesh by the waters, and that never again will there be an earth-destroying flood. right. there’s the basics.

the idea of covenant of such a sort is astounding, but it is more extraordinary still in its implications. look carefully at the text (Genesis 9:12ff) and you will see why, i think. who looks at the rainbow and why?

“…I will remember my covenant….I will look upon it to remember my everlasting covenant….”

G’d is looking at rainbows….not us. it is a sign for G’d. for G’d to remember what is everlasting….to remember a particular judgment taken and punishment made, and to not follow that same course of judgment and punishment again.

G’d needs a reminder of what G’d has made everlasting?

well, yes, apparently. the rainbow is the great symbol of gevurah in malchut….self-restraint of sovereignty. and more….it is constraint of unlimitedness in a climate of repentance. and it is something repeated in each incidence of possible flooding rain forever. there is no taking for granted here….

do we have any images of rainbows from space? nope. but pilots high in the atmosphere report seeing the full circle of some rainbows…apparently all of them tend that way, but from our viewpoint, the circle is broken by features of the horizon. so we don’t see raincircles, but rather rainbows.

this is a strictly terrestrial sign, then. for G’d to see it, G’d would have to be standing where we are. and that is the point.

malchut is the Divine Presence amongst us as Shechinah. for us, then, the rainbow is a sign of the Indwelling Presence as much as it is of the covenant against world-destroying floods. malchut is described by kabbalists as the prism through which G’d’s unending light streaming through the upper sefirot is concentrated and then separated to shine into the lower worlds. malchut is a rainbow maker.

and one lesson of the prism is that we all need reminders about proper justice and severity. reminders to limit our desire/urge/tendency to limit strictly. to imitate G’d is to look to signs of restraint of constraint.

gevurah in malchut is in part the rainbow symbol of repentance on a cosmic scale….and the light that refracts is the light through chesed with which G’d created all.

mussar for gevurah she b’malchut

with another….bein adam l’chaveiro this one is easy….and, oh, so hard: do what you say you will do! you are master of a realm, and to be a good sovereign, you must do what you say you will….else you become arbitrary like a tyrant….and that is not the model of sovereignty.

with yourself….bein adam l’atzmo examine your motivations for your reactions to things in the world. if you are angry…why? if you are sad….why? “the unexamined life is not worth living”, said Thoreau….a bit extreme. it isn’t a matter of “worth”. rather the meaning might better be, “the unexamined life is not living”. examine your motivations…..

kabbalah for gevurah she b’malchut

in assiyah….the world of doing/completion you have unwritten covenants with all the people around you. unspoken, assumed agreements about intimacy, deportment, sharing, etc. consider, then, what would be the signs of these covenants that you would rely on, but like a rainbow, could also be seen by those affected? and how would you share those signs with the covenanted?

in yetzirah….the world of feeling/formation many have suggested that G’d might have regretted having destroyed the world by flood. we’ve argued here that the rainbow is a symbol of repentance, the very heart of malchut. we know that confession is essential…that sort of facing up to wrong is necessary. and we know that resolve not to wrong again is essential. but can one repent without experiencing regret?

in b’riyah….the world of thought/creation it may be important to see clearly that G’d does not promise to never again destroy the earth and all the living, but rather promises only to not do so via flood. we could suppose that the myriad other options are still on the table….when one of us humans says “i’ll never do that again!”, do we mean a broad “i’ll never do anything that has that effect again” or i’ll never achieve the same result doing a particular thing again….but i might achieve it doing something else? consider this for yourself. when you repent of something, how specific or broad are you?

in atzilut….the world of nearness to G’d/intuition a rainbow is a diaphanous and passing phenomenon on a massive scale. meditate on how the signs of G’d’s Presence that you perceive are like a rainbow.

kinyan 44 of 48 ways to acquire Torah

Lomed al M’nat l’Lamed…..Learning in Order to Teach. people talk of going to college theses days to learn a profession. specifically to get a good, well-paying, not-likely-to-be-outsourced sort of job/career for life. it has been a long-time since i’ve heard anyone suggest that they want to go to learn in order to teach what they learn. can’t really be a rabbi if you don’t teach….most of jewish practice individually and communally is do-it-yourself (or is intended to be). fortunately, we haven’t yet concluded that rabbis are amongst those who can’t do….so they teach! but so important is the intent to share your learning that Rabbi Yishmael, amongst the greatest of our teachers of Torah, says in Avot 4:5:

“who studies in order to teach is afforded adequate means (by G’d) both to study and to teach”