The Rose Called to the Breeze

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The rose called to the breeze,

"Please, spread my fragrance."

The breeze carried her fragrance.

Her scent wafted into an open window.

Her sweetness aroused a couple to love.

A child grew within to encompass "little soul".

He grew without, reaching for "big soul".

With more soul, more secret wisdom.

More secret wisdom, more teachings.

Students stream in, students stream out.

People taste  their souls, a sweeter world.

All because the breeze loved the rose.

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Noah's Gem and Window

In this week's Torah portion G-d tells Noah how to make a tzohar for the ark. The classical Biblical commentator Rashi relates that two definitions of tzohar  have come down the line of Jewish oral tradition. Both definitions refer to a source of illumination. One tradition defines tzohar  as a large luminous gem and another tradition defines it as a skylight. 

Lurking within uncertainty of tzohar's  definition, the great chassidic master Rabbi Nachman of Breslov drew a wonderful spiritual lesson.  In his magnum opus Lekutey Moharan he noted that the Hebrew word for Ark is taivah, which is also the Hebrew word for "word"; Namely, a "word" of prayer. Rabbi Nachman related that there are two ways to fill our "words" of prayer with light. One way is to be like a "skylight"  receiving our light from an outside source of inspiration - like from someone else's holy teachings. Another way to fill our words of prayer with light is to be like a "luminous gem", to be able to internally generate our own spiritual creativity needed for prayer. This way we can either illuminate our words of prayer from an outside source, like a "skylight", or from an inner source like a "luminous gem".

There's a story told by Rabbi Nachman that once upon a time a King had asked his two trusted friends to paint the walls of his throne room. Each was given a wall facing the other and a year to get the job done. One friend got busy right away. He drew a curtain over his half and worked diligently on his part of the project. The other friend couldn't muster up the inspiration and procrastinated.

As the year was drawing to a close, the diligent friend's work was almost complete and the procrastinator realized that he had to come up with a plan, very quickly. Like his friend, he also drew a curtain over his facing wall and with just a week to go, seemed to be feverishly at work.

The appointed day arrived. The King appeared with his entourage to dedicate his new throne room. The two friends greeted the King at the door and escorted him to their work. The diligent friend opened the curtain and a splendid nature scene dazzled the eyes. Now it was the turn for the other friend to show his work. He too removed the curtain revealing a freshly mirrored wall, brightly reflecting the scene the first friend had worked on from across the room.

The King was pleased with both friends and rewarded them handsomely.

Why was the King equally impressed with the mirrored wall, which did not seem to be as creative as the painted wall?

Perhaps, an answer can be found in the difference between whether the Ark was illuminated by a gem or a window. The gem represents an active inner dynamic generating new light, while a window is merely a passive channel allowing in light that already exists on the outside. While it's easy to see the value of being a gem, there is a unique value to being a window. The light of a gem, like the King on a chessboard, cannot reach everywhere too easily. This luminous source needs a means of conveying it's light into new territory. If all it encounters are other "gems" then it will never be able to extend it's light into distant areas. Therefore, the King was celebrating both sides of a single dynamic - the friend who can generate new creativity and the friend who can successfully convey that creativity into a new area. Both are needed.

Rabbi Hillel Paritcher commented in his commentary to Rabbi Dov Ber of Lubavitch's "Kuntres Hitpa'alut" that it should not make a difference to a person how he received a new Torah teaching, whether it was generated in his own mind or conveyed to him by someone else. In either situation, whether he's a "gem" or a "window" for the idea, the same G-d arranged that the idea should reach him. 

Truthfully, life is not black and white. Most people in certain situations play the role of "gem" and in others the role of "window/mirror". Sometimes, it's a dynamic back and forth. It's a balance. The main thing is to celebrate both as G-d given.

An Afterthought :
Truthfully as I was in the process of writing this piece, more ideas flowed into my mind. However, there just was not enough time to put it in. However the gist of it, is that the late Lubavitcher Rebbe drew a parallel between Noah's Ark and the Holy Temple. Basically, he said that the Ark was the Temple of it's day. This is why the Ark had a space warp making room for all the animals species. This is also why reproductive behavior was forbidden (just as it would be in the Holy Temple). So it's possible that the issue of whether Noah illuminated his Ark with a precious gem or a skylight might be the difference of whether the Ark contained the sanctity of the First Temple or the Second Temple. The first had the Tablets, a luminous gem. The second did not have the Tablets on site and needed to act as a skylight - drawing holiness from beyond.

"Where Are The Holy Tablets?"

Sometime during the first half of the 18th century there was a Maggid, a preacher, living in the town of Mezbohz who harbored a life long dream to relocate to the Holy Land, the Land of Israel. However, this wish was balanced against the reality that he felt needed in town. He couldn't in good conscience just abandon his flock.

 One day in the middle of his glowing spiritual career of inspiring the Jews of Mezbohz, the holy Ba'al Shem Tov moved into town. With a such a holy master to guide the people, the Maggid felt that his shoes were more than amply filled and no longer saw any reason to hold back on his dream to finally move to the Land of Israel. Every so often, he'd ask the holy Ba'al Shem Tov whether the time was right to set out on the journey and with each request the holy Ba'al Shem Tov sweetly responded, "Not yet."

There came a day when the Ba'al Shem Tov left Mezbohz on one of his long journeys. For the Maggid the Ba'al Shem Tov's long absence was his moment of opportunity. Living in abject poverty, it did not take long for him to sell all his meager possessions and scrape up the money he needed for the journey of his dreams. As was the custom of saintly Jews of that era, he began the first leg of his journey on a Friday. The idea was just to travel to the next town over and settle down for the holy Sabbath before resuming the journey on Sunday.

The Maggid huddled his Wife and children into a small wagon containing all their worldly possessions and started riding. Reaching just past the outskirts of town, whom did they meet? None other than the Ba'al Shem Tov himself traveling back to town from the other direction. The Maggid greeted the Ba'al Shem Tov a bit sheepishly. Embarrassed for having tried to sneak his way past the Ba'al Shem Tov, he shrugged, "Holy master what could I do? I just couldn't take living in diaspora any longer."

The Ba'al Shem Tov looked at him with deep understanding eyes. "Ok, I hear you.", He offered. "Please do me just one small favor. Spend one more Sabbath with me in Mezbohz. If you still want to leave after that Sabbath, you have my blessing."

"Holy master.", Protested the Maggid, "I have no money left nor a house to live in. How will I spend Sabbath in Mezbohz?"

"No problem, I already thought of that. You and your family will be my honored guests for this Sabbath. All your expenses are on me.", Offered the Ba'al Shem Tov.

With such an offer what could the Maggid do ? He turned around his wagon and followed the Ba'al Shem Tov back into town. As a true guest, for the rest of that Friday wherever the Ba'al Shem Tov went, the Maggid followed along. Later in the afternoon, the Ba'al Shem Tov visited the town's Mikvah, a spiritually purifying body of water. He was so holy that his immersion left an positive energetic impression in the waters.

When the Ba'al Shem Tov emerged from his ritual immersion, the Maggid undressed. It was his turn to immerse. He spent quite a while in the Mikvah. After emerging, he shared with people that he changed his mind. He's staying in Mezbohz.

When asked what happened that caused him to decide on staying, he related, "After the Ba'al Shem Tov emerged from the Mikvah, I went in. I saw myself in the Land of Israel. I was surrounded by a group of angels. I asked them to point me in the direction of the holy city of Jerusalem. There, I was in Jerusalem. I asked them to point me in the direction of the Temple Mount. There I was. I asked them to bring me into the Holy Temple. No problem, I was in the Holy Temple. I asked for the Holy of Holies. I was escorted into the Holy Holies. In front of me stood the gilded ark of covenant with it's two high winged cherubims. I requested for the lid be lifted off. I wanted to view the holy Tablets brought down by Moses himself from heaven containing Ten Commandments. They lifted the lid for me. My jaw dropped. The inside of the ark was empty... no Tablets."

"What!", I cried out in disbelief. "Where are the holy Tablets?"

"Oh, you want the holy Tablets.", the angels rejoined. "If you want the Tablets, they're no longer here. They're now in Mezbohz."

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Dear Reader, "What lesson(s) do you draw from this story?"

What I draw from the story is that the Creator really did answer the Maggid's prayers and repond to his dreams afterall. Only, the answer was so perfect that the Maggid did not realize that his prayers were answered.

The Creator answered the prayer within his prayer. On the surface the prayer was to move to the Holy Land. However, on the deeper level the real prayer was to access the Holy Tablets. So the Creator arranged his access to Holy Tablets. He was living is Mezbohz and had direct access to the Holy Baal Shem Tov.

However, he did not realize what he really prayed for and wanted until he was faced with the possiblity of having the "surface prayer" answered at the expense of the "deeper prayer". Then, he was faced with what he was really requesting.

Many times the Creator answers our prayers so beautifully, that we don't even realize that our prayers were were fulfilled.

A Deeper Prayer

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The holy Baal Shem Tov had appointed a close disciple to blow shofar for his community Rosh Hashana morning. In preparation for this holy assignment, the disciple carefully studied the meditations from the holy Ari z'l designed to accompany blowing the shofar and studiously committed them to memory.

These meditations include visualizing combinations of various divine names at certain key moments during the sounding of the shofar.


The intensely awaited moment finally arrived. The disciple was standing before the holy congregation on that holy day, in that holy moment. As he raised the shofar to his quivering lips, he reached into his memory bank to retrieve the meditations, but to his own surprise his mind did not cooperate and blanked out on him.


Now he was forced to sound the shofar without the "crown jewel" he had so carefully crafted to accompany this precious moment. The imperfection of his performance was too personally glaring to ignore. So broken, so crushed, so humiliated, he blew the shofar in a deeply saddened state.


At the conclusion of the prayer services, after his last sounds vibrated across the sanctuary, the Baal Shem Tov approached him with very warm congratulations. Surprised and taken aback, he explained to the Baal Shem Tov how he broken hearted he was for not remembering even a single meditation. He doubted that his performance was really proportionally equal to the congratulations he had just received.


Strangely, the Baal Shem Tov's smile grew ever more radiant as his disciple bemoaned his "poor" performance. Finally, when the Baal Shem Tov's joy had brimmed over he replied, "That's exactly the way one is supposed to blow shofar, with a humbled heart! Praying with a humbled heart opens up far more gates in the heavens above than any mystical meditation can."


Lesson: The mystical meditations are certainly very important. However, they are not substitutes for the basics that prayer is supposed to contain - like a feeling heart. In this particular case, the disciple was so busy with the meditations that he would have been distracted from mustering up the level of heart needed as a very basic ingredient for his prayer. As we approach Rosh Hashanah remember, "Pray out of the depths of your heart".

Humility

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Rabbi Moshe Cordavero taught that the path to humility is to truly value all creations. This is what the Creator Himself does. ~ "Palm Tree of Deborah"
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Dearest Creator,

Over the years I've heard many suggestions describing the core attitudes that lead one on the road to a life of humility. Among these are an honest perspective of one's abilities and weaknesses, not thinking too highly of oneself, a realization that if someone else had my abilities s/he might have put them to better use. While these attitudes are valuable, they only seem to work by acknowledging something not too positive about myself. They don't easily evoke my celebration of life.

However, I recently learned a path to humility that's all celebration !

In Rabbi Moshe Cordavero's "Palm Tree of Deborah", he quoted from "Chapters of the Fathers" that a person should not be dismissive of anything created. S/he should value every single creation. The very fact that You created it is evidence enough that You value it. If You value a creation then certainly we, humans, should.

So by journeying through life considering each and every creation valuable, humans can become humble in a way that celebrates life, along a pathway of validation and inclusiveness, leading to expansive consciousness. Oh Dear Creator, please help me "celebrate my way" to humility.

Tonight with Your help, I realized another aspect within this teaching. My life situations are also Your creations. Often, I don't easily think of my situations as Your creations. This is because of my own subjectivity distorts my perspective. Yet, regardless of my perception, my situations are Your creations. They simply are. Applying this humility teaching to my life situations, beckons me to value each of my situations and not dismiss them. You value them enough to create them. So too, I need to value them and smile.

Yes, I'm going through a challenging life situation. However, I did not create it. You did. Therefore, it must be tremendously valuable. Perhaps, the value is a "Mitzvah", an opportunity to perform a spiritual deed, lurking within. Maybe this loving opportunity is the whole soul of the situation. Please help me discover and do this "Mitzvah", for this itself might be the true value of the whole situation.

Thank you for the prayer.

Love and Kisses,

Choni

Light

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Light,


You evoke mystery.


Mystics envision you.


Auras are made from you.


You’re a precise surgical scalpel.


Objects can’t reach your speed,


Whose constancy boggles, best minds.


While whizzing by us, you don’t travel at all.


While flashing in “light years”, you’re timeless.


You are at once opposites, particles and waves.


You’re a great teacher, twisting our perspective.


We used to think time and space were solid.


We used to think all shared a single clock.


Mental veils ripped, beckoning us to peer beyond;


Beckoning us to embrace space - warped and timeless.


This is how you’re escorting us to appreciate our Creator.


You’re walking us along a red carpet to the timeless Being.


With such an amazing servant, what can one say of his King?

Memories

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From the perspective where I am coming from the Creator has granted us "memory" as a kindness. Its a tremendous blessing to have. I am one of those people who see memory in a positive light.

Yet, to some memory also seems to be associated with prolonging profound pain. For example, throughout world history it seems all too common for individuals and nations to bear long historical grudges over painful deeds committed years, if not centuries, beforehand. As the person or nation is reminded, the pain is being replayed and relived.

An example that most people can relate to is the memory of a loved one who had passed away. Reminiscing about the loved one can be more than simply a walk down memory lane. It can be an encounter with profound pain. So perhaps memory is not such a blessing after all?

Its an Interesting question. However, it seems to me that reliving pain through memory is not a result of having too much memory. Surprisingly, it's actually a result of having too little memory.

Let me explain. Memory comes in two forms: horizontal and vertical. (These are my own made up terms.) Horizontal memories are a collection of memories from our earthly experience, here in physical form. It's what we refer to as history - whether its personal history, national history or world history.

Besides horizontal memory, there is also vertical memory. Vertical memories are memories of experiences in the higher realms from which the soul descended before entering the body. These could be memories of past lives, memories of between lives, memories of the heavenly court, memories of early stages of existence, memories of who we'll morph into in the future, etc. In short, memory of spiritual history.

The reason why horizontal memory can cause such pain is because we don't have sufficient vertical memory to match it up with. The vertical and horizontal versions of memory are a couple. They're supposed to get married, becoming one flesh, one memory.

Without being paired, the horizontal memory remains like a lifeless body craving the supportive animation of vertical memory. However, even without  vertical memory every detail of life on the earth plane is really directed from Above. So behind every horizontal event there is a vertical event. It just needs to be remembered, in order to complete the story of what happened. But, if we don't remember the higher parallel event then we know far less than half the story. Sometimes knowing a half story can be less helpful than knowing no story, at all.

We need to somehow grow in vertical memory in order to sweeten our horizontal memory. From a Jewish perspective this is what will happen for everyone in the days of the Messiah. However, even today there are great saintly individuals who are already privy to vertical memory, to one degree or another. That's the Creator's gift to them in order to help them guide others.

When the Messiah's era arrives vertical memory opens up on a grand scale, not just for individuals, but for everyone. There are many things we can do to bring forward that day. Among them bringing peace and friendships between peoples, praying and helping people get along, acts of kindness, more involvement in the spiritual side of life, etc. 

With our momentary lack of vertical memory, horizontal memory can be meanwhile sweetened somewhat by finding common ground and interests in broad areas. For example, group projects that appeal to what is universally human, to shared spiritual beliefs and values, etc. This can be accomplished through art, Internet friendships , study groups, prayer circles, educational ventures, etc.

There's an old Jewish story that humorously demonstrates the pitfall of humans having insufficient vertical memory.

Long ago, in a Jewish Eastern European town, there lived a very old, but healthy man. People in the town wondered about his "secret". One day a group of people gathered the courage to ask him.


"So what's your secret?", Chimed their ring leader.


"What secret?", Questioned the old man.


"You know ... how you managed to live so long and remain in such great shape", clarified the ringer leader, as if the old man should have known why he became an object of attention.


"Oh", Laughed the old man. "That's an easy question to answer. I never in my whole life complained. So they never felt compelled to take to where the answers are."

Up until contemporary times vertical memory usually only becomes available to a person after his or her earthbound existence. Let us hope to a brighter tomorrow when the missing memory will also become available to human beings, in bodies of flesh, here on earth. That's part of the sweetness the Jewish people, and many others, look forward to in the Messianic era.