A Drop in the Ocean

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Sage met wedding jester; greetings, smiles.

They embraced in special friendly warmth.

"Oh, jester you always share so much joy.

Today, touch me with deep spiritual insight."

Begged sage. "A rare offer." smiled jester,

"Do you know more than most people?

What each person knows, is but a speck.

The 'unknown' is a vastly vibrant ocean.

The 'known' is barely a moist drop - lost!

Shall a tiny drop boast over his vast ocean?

Can you boast over your slightly larger drop,

When you share with all the massive ocean?"

Sage's eyes lit up, face radiated satisfaction,

"Thanks, you returned my long lost teaching."


                                                        
      ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ 

A Soul

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A soul basked in paradise, suffused with light.
No needs, no wants, floating, ease and delight.

In the midst of misty sweetness, she reflected,
"I've been given everything, except for "giving".
My Giver's giving fills me with desires to give.
Please Giver, allow me to be like You - giving."

The Giver answered His beloved's prayer.
She was escorted out of her realm of light,
Descended levels, until reaching the night.

The realm of night flickered, dimly lit.
Souls, both suffered and pleasured in it.

Living this seesaw wore down the soul.
She wept and scrunched into a fetal ball. 


In the midst of pain, arose a thought,
"Weep? Your prayers were answered.
You dwell in a gift. Celebrate living!
Pain's a womb that nurtures giving.

Can a realm of giving look any different?"
 
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                       ~
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A Kabbalah Mind Puzzle

Note: This post might be partially unintelligible without a basic understanding of some of the Ari z'l's teachings


Dearest Brother,

I have a puzzle on my mind. I want to share it with you to see how you resolve it (maybe, share it with Rabbi ... for his pleasure as well).

Here goes:

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan writes in several different places and I also heard it in Rabbi Ashlag's name that the way the notion of "space" work in the spiritual realms is by the principal of similarity and dissimilarity. Two entities are similar, they're close. If they're dissimilar, they're far. Humans tend to use this notion in human relations, probably because relationships are somewhat spiritual. A person can live next door and be "far" from his neighbor. By contrast, another person can live at the other end of the world and be "close".

With this groundwork laid down, let's examine the "empty space" prior to the introduction of the "line of light". It was spherical because there was no up, down, right, left. On any given perimeter, every point along that perimeter was equidistant from the Infinite Light. For example, when the "empty space" expanded out ten times, it left grooves (like the rings of a tree) at each spot that was a previous outer border. Each point along a given groove should receive an equal portion of light from the Infinite Light. It does not matter whether the points are on a 60 degree angle from each other or a 120 degree angle from each other. The determining factor is the distance from the Infinite Light.

Well, if each point on a given groove, before the is introduction of the "line of light", was really receiving an equal portion of light from the Infinite Light, then each point is identical. What defines anything is the amount of light it receives. Beings receiving the exact same amount of light (in quantity and quality) are so similar that there's no distance between them - they're really just one entity. If they're one entity then there's should not be a spherical structure of equidistant points, but rather there should only be one point. So how can there be a sphere with many points, finding themselves equidistant from the Infinite Light and yet, often quite distant from each other?

I'm curious to learn how you (and Rabbi ...) deal with this puzzle. The answer that flowed into my mind contains a beautiful real life lesson of human growth and development - but, I don't want to bias your answer(s) with my own.

Have Fun !

Love,
Choni

The answer that flowed into my mind:
It seems likely to me that when the "line of light"  enters the "empty space", it does not enter from an arbitrary spot. There is probably a designated spot that's most conducive for it's entry. Otherwise, why would the entry point be at that particular spot and no other? 

When examining the words of the Ari z'l in "Etz Chaim" we find that the only entity in the entire system defining the main directions, (front / back, right / left, and up / down) is the "line of light" itself. Since this is the only guide post provided, it makes sense that even prior to it's entry the "line of light" is somehow already defining the directions. This means that on some underlying level there's already a sense of direction - although it's not overt.

The substance of "empty space" closer to where the "line of light" is due to eventually enter, must have unique qualities which allow it to accommodate the "line of light" and is perfectly placed to await the "line of light's" entry.  Areas designed to have a closeness with the "line of light", but not to experience the full impact of entry, will be a bit further away. Yet, other areas not designed to be very distant from the experience of direct impacted at all, will be at the opposite end of the "empty space". This positioning of the areas of the "empty space" is based on a very "subtle differentiation". On the surface all areas probably look alike. However, their unique potentials to interact with an event that's about to happen is different, but does not yet manifest a difference in their appearance, except in one area - their position. Yet, these differences are "subtle" enough not to undermine the evenly spherical appearance of the structure. Still, this "differentiation" is sufficient to allow spots on the exact same sphere within the "empty space" to lie at distant reaches from each other.

The lesson I take from this is that like a spot in the "empty space" a human often finds himself or herself seemingly voluntarily bringing his or her life into a certain situation. If asked, "Why?" The person probably wouldn't be able to give the real answer because it's a case of, "He doesn't know, but his higher self knows." Even if the person can offer some logical answer, it's only at best a desperate groping on life's surface to make some sense of the his or her behavior. Truthfully, what's motivating the behavior is a soul getting ready for a unique encounter with spiritual light. For the soul to be a receptive vessel for this light, the soul needs to be in the right life situation; in the right spot in the "empty space". A little further away and the light might be too weak. A little closer in and the light might be too strong.

So when we see children gravitating towards certain academic interests &/or skills, it's likely that these preferences are motivated by a soul trying to find her place in the sphere of life where she makes her best contact with the light, even if the light has not yet descended. It's important to allow that process to be and not tell a child, "I don't see the benefit, so please move over to where I'm standing. Hang out under my streetlamp."

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.

  ** *** ** *** ** *** ** *** ** *** ** *** **

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".