a.k.a rabbi: Recent Episodes
Rabbi Gavriel Goldfeder
There are stories that take place on mountains - the akeidah, the giving of the Torah - and there are stories that take place on hills. What does a hill offer? It allows to ascend to a point that seems "high enough." Sometimes it's plenty. Sometimes it's nowhere close to enough.
The caves in our biblical stories split evenly between being safe access points for other levels of reality and being places to run away from reality. And sometimes caves are both. Avraham buys a cave that is a portal to the next world; Moshe is held in a cave as the Divine Light passes before him; Elijah is confronted in a cave and challenged to understand his own ,mission; Ovadiah shelters 50 prophets in a cave. And Shaul enters a cave to... use the bathroom. What's the pattern?
Wilderness, forest, field and garden occur on the common plane of civilization. Mountains and values leave common altitude to find something else - and to bring it back. Biblical stories that take place in valleys feature someone who is acting on a big stage, but they often do not know it. And that's what makes it work.
The human story starts in a garden. Gardens are places that seemingly can be controlled - because we can manipulate the soil and moisture and the sunlight, we can plant all sorts of exotic things in our gardens. But gardens are never quite sealed - serpents and other pests can find their way in and upset the perfect environment. The Song of Songs - the holiest book of our sacred literature - picks up the theme of the garden and teaches us invaluable wisdom about what it means to create and to live in such a magical place of almost-control.
We find amazing guidance toward making everyone into a friend, a havruta, and a teacher. But this does not meet all of our human needs in friendship. There are people whom we love beyond their utility, and in this need, we may have ventured beyond what the Torah thinks of as friendship. Ruth and Naomi offer some guidance in this realm.
Are our friends allowed to give us real feedback? Have we been relegated to a sort of automatic support network whose job it is to simply affirm whatever it is that our friends think? Do we expect that from others? If so, then who sharpens us?
Here's the beginning of a series on adult friendship. We start at the absolute deep end: Satan is having his way with Job - with God's permission - and Job is suffering deeply. Thankfully, Job's friends know that he is suffering, and they make their way to his home to spend time with him. How do they know to come? How do they act? More importantly, what can we learn from this? Lots.
Noach survives the flood, but he soon realizes that he failed a much more difficult and much more important text: to advocate for his generation. And thus, his second mountain begins - at the very bottom
Esther was a reluctant queen. She was more than happy to remain fully connected to her cousin, Mordecai, and to do his bidding. But the survival of her people required that she embrace the throne - and the boorish man who sat upon it.
You could see why Ya'akov might not be so confident that he is, in fact, the one. After all, he stole the blessings from his brother by deceiving his blind father. And now, here he is, getting tricked and deceived left and right by his wily father in law Lavan. It sure seems like he took a wrong turn somewhere...
King Shlomo literally has it all. In fact, he is even king over the demons. But when he engages with the demon king Ashmedai, he suddenly finds himself quite far from the palace - and he wonders what good his wealth, power and fame have done him when no one believes he is who he says he is.
King David has been fighting - and winning - his whole life. It is no surprise that he ascends the throne and becomes the king of the people whom he loves. But this is only the first mountain. Once he becomes king, the real trouble - and real gift he offers - come into sight.
King David has been fighting - and winning - his whole life. It is no surprise that he ascends the throne and becomes the king of the people whom he loves. But this is only the first mountain. Once he becomes king, the real trouble - and real gift he offers - come into sight.
Naomi's story begins as she teeters at the edge of the first mountain - her life of comfort and wealth is about to collapse into poverty, death and despair. Not surprisingly, she falls into deep bitterness and resentment. But by the end of the story, she has found comfort and purpose. What is it that helps her get there?
Everything is going smoothly - or it seems to be - and, as long as everything goes as planned, it will work at well. but it doesn't - something comes along and interrupts the flow. This interruptor serves the essential role of evoking deeper strengths and a bigger story than we would otherwise have seen. The Torah offers many such Interruption Stories. In fact, every story in the Tanakh is an Interruption Story - Adam and Eve, Noach, Avraham, Ya'akov, Yoseph, Moshe, David, Shlomo, Esther, Naomi, and on and on - each of the shows us how heroic people respond to the Interruption. In this first episode, we will consider the great disappointment of the gold cow in Moshe's life, and how it actually became the beginning of the story we actually need to hear.
Some people have reached the level at which individual mitzvot are no longer relevant. How do such people deal with this world we live in?
Paganism, ostensibly free from the stultifying unity of monotheism, allows for the widest array of unique elements to emerge. But in Rav Kook's understanding, true Unity includes this massive variety and actually enhances them by bringing them together
It is ideal to refine our lives, in order, from the world of action through emotion, to thought and perspective. But it certainly doesn't always work out that way, and we must learn to grab every opportunity to "do the work", on whichever level it occurs
Mitzvot are not symbolic - they have impact beyond what our imagination does with them, beyond what they "mean" to us
It could be that our job in life is to grow our ruach like a tree grows fruit. And when the ruach is ripe, we let it go
Jewish life is not a set of actions or texts - it is a climate, an environment. And this specific climate is the one in which we thrive. Is it healthy to venture into other climates?
Perhaps counterintuitively, one finds one's self by first immersing in the learning, emotions and approaches that constitute the basis of our tradition, and from there, one's uniqueness emerges
Judaism is as infinite as God is. Just as God contains everything, Judaism contains everything, even though there are limits in tiers of available actions.
When you are confronted with any aspect of yourself that is not yet perfect, the way to fix it is to draw from a higher place that ultimately feeds the place where the flaw emerges
Big Soul people must not get caught up in Smallness. They do far more for the universe by saying Big. But there are times when they must bring their Bigness to bear on the small details.
It is absolutely necessary that Big Soul people focus on big things and not get too caught up in small details. And it is also necessary for Big Soul people bring their Bigness to bear on the details, too
Persistent ascent brings moments of real pain and breakage and frustration, but the rewards of this persistent ascent are worth the pain that is experienced in stages between them.
The bigger the person, the more they contain. The biggest people contain everything that is, everything that is happening, within their own selves, and they work on the world's conflicts within themselves
It would be incredibly useful to approach Jewish life like we approach chemistry - breaking it down into its constituent elements, understanding them, and combining them in new and interesting ways.
So much positive, constructive engagement with Torah, Judaism, religion, etc. is inhibited by images of and opinions about those things retained from childhood. Oy.
To the extent that people can, through writing and literature, articulate the subtle aspects of the human experience, they must do so. This contributes immensely to a sense of common experience among all of humanity.
Far, far more than simple acts of ritual and obedience, mitzvot carry with them the Divine Song, and this literally builds the soul, each mitzvah in its own way
To the extent that people are willing to feel the pain of their generation WITH LOVE, they can help bring change. Which is, of course, hard, when you hate what's going on.
It should no longer be surprising that, inevitably, there is a fall, a period of weakness and not-ness, before a new level is reached. The work - and the art - is to continue to know everything we can know about how that goes, and how we, as individuals, tend to react to those moments
When we become capable of better and higher thinking and being, we need to update element of our lives that are rooted in old ways of thinking and being
Once the tzaddik realizes that sorcery is at work, the pieces start fitting together. He intuits more elements of what is happening and reports to the king, who gives the tzaddik free reign to dispose of all the sorcerers in order to undo the dark magic. When the princess hears about this, she tries to cover the evidence, and this leads to the ultimate fixing and the end of the story.
With the prince stricken with tzara'at, a solution must be found, and everyone is up to their old tricks. The king demands that the Jews pray. The Jews demand that the tzaddik prays. The problem is that the tzaddik already has been praying, and it hasn't worked. Why?
When the princess sees that the prince might actually be made out of at least one precious stone, she becomes jealous and begins a process of hiding and repression that confuses everyone. What happens when no one actually knows why all the bad stuff is coming to be?
After strange and powerful instructions from the wise man/tzaddik, a son is born. But he is not who we - or the king - thought he would be. He is not, after all, made entirely of precious stones. He doesn't even play music! But at least the princess is relieved.
The king has a daughter who's the talk of the town, but he is actually longing to have a son. Longing - distinct from wanting or craving - is a powerful and precious experience. It often indicates something very, very real.
The king has demanded that the Jews pray for him to have a child. They found a hidden tzaddik. The king "convinced" the tzaddik to pray, and lo and behold a daughter is born. Talented, beautiful... and not what the king actually wants.
From the outset, people are treating each other like tools and objects. The king "decrees" that the Jews pray that he have a child. The Jews "tell" the righteous person to "make it" that the king will have a child. The righteous person is "brought" before the king. These all indicate a broken world.
In 1806 Rebbe Nachman announced that he would begin telling stories. He explained his intention that these stories would wake people up. Some of us don't even know we're asleep. Let's see what parts of us are awakened by the incredible story of the Prince Made of Precious Stones.
The heart is associated with "mother" and also with "binah" - the capacity to understand the nature of specific people and things and moments in real time and put them together with other people and things and moments and build a space that can hold all of them together.
You hear people saying "well, my heart tells me to trust her" or "my heart says that he's the one" and "listen to your heart" - why? Who says the heart is so trustworthy that we can actually block out all that other information and simply tune in to what the heart says? And who says tuning into what the heart says is simply, anyway?
To bring all of one's heart to a situation - to acknowledge all of what one is feeling and thinking and needing, to acknowledge all the people and voices in the room - this requires time and wisdom, creativity and humility
Whole-heartedness, all, every. This is hard work, to bring your whole heart to the situation called life. But it is necessary just the same.
Individuals have hearts, and so does a family, a community, a neighborhood, and a nation. How do we keep the heart of community open to voice beyond all of us?
Often we can adjust softly to the shifting moment, to new people and concerns that enter the space we call "heart". But there is also a need to do deeper, longer-lasting work on the heart that will allow us to stay more open without that moment to moment work.
In a way that is parallel to that of Pharaoh and Haman, King David also misunderstands his power. But unlike Pharaoh and Haman, King David knows not to close his heart
The tradition is definitely NOT in favor of abandoning and mind and the intellect in favor of "the heart". And it is also definitely NOT in favor of abandoning the sensitive, impetuous heart in favor of the cold mind.
The warning against accepting bribes applies not only to judges but to anyone who spends and earns money
it is spiritually easier to lack and to struggle. We see what we need and we know what we need to do. But when the coffers are full and we do not feel that lack, it can be harder to generate the same spiritual intensity.
The 10th commandment is quite difficult because it seems to be beyond our control - when I see my neighbor's donkey I either covet or I don't! But there are perspectives that can be cultivated upstream of that fateful encounter that can help us avoid the feeling of envy.
Rabbi Levi Yitzhak gives honor to a wealthy miser who passed away, and no one knows why. It turns out he was quite generous - and in very interesting ways - but kept it hidden from sight. This is a fabulous story.
Money, at its root, is very holy. As it comes down into concrete form, though, it is susceptible to distortion and manipulation until it can become something quite dangerous. Therefore, our tradition offers guidance at many stages of the process in order to help us maintain integrity and clarity
The Talmud suggests that we spend money generously on things that matter. It even suggests that we can use the Almighty's credit card in order to do so!
The Talmud recommends that we generously spend our money on holy pursuits - so much so that we get to use God's credit card in order to do it
According to an intriguing midrash, four people became famous and minted coins in order to convey their message specifically through monetary transactions - Avraham, Yehoshua, David and Mordecai. Each of them engraved specific images onto their currency, in hopes that people who used this currency would take these images - and the story they told - to heart as they transacted. This is a powerful metaphor for how we do or don't remember our stories of purpose and value as we transact.
We are not only concerned with our own teshuva - we must actually - and awkwardly - be concerned about the teshuva of other people
...but it remains true, according to Rav Kook. Before we worry about whether we've meditated enough, we should make sure we don't someone money, and that our stuff hasn't damaged someone else's stuff
Trying to address some of the core programming about how we be in the world, I try to (and encourage others to) work on noticing the needs of others when walking into a room
Everything we encounter - what we read, what we hear - is coming to tell us something about how we should be approaching teshuva
Short bursts for each day of Elul, providing ways to focus our attention so we can do all sorts of teshuva. Today's burst was inspired by today's Torah reading - the Kohanim don't get any land. How do we take care of them? And how does that go?
it is tempting to think about teshuva as a sort of self-help framework for getting right with ourselves, but the real (and hard) work happens in the context of community and relationship
Through the month of Elul I'll be offering short prompts and ideas to help us do teshuva from many angles and with many angels. This one is about having external accountability in teshuva.
RYBZ proves himself wise and understanding. The perfect Jew to lead the people into the future.
RYBZ escapes Jerusalem by faking his own death. Faking your own death is an important thing to do from time to time.
Vespasian invites Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai to ask for what he needs in order to ensure the well-being of the Jewish people. RYBZ procures the tools that will keep us going for millennia.
RYBZ makes his way to the (future) king of Rome and impresses him with his ability to "read the writing on the wall." But he has to choose his approach wisely.
Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai realizes that the paralysis inside of Jerusalem leaves no option but to escape and start over somewhere else. This image of cutting all ties and being, essentially, dead to the world is a powerful one that can help us understand what 9th Av could look like.
There are 3 wealthy men who will provide enough food to feed the people of Jerusalem for 21 years. But the local thugs have other ideas. And even the rabbis have something to say!
The emperor sends a general to destroy Jerusalem, but this general - Nero - has a sudden realization, and turns his life around. Shouldn't we follow suit?
I rerecorded the second half of episode 2 because I realized I was perpetuating my own negative assumptions about the Jewish people. Around 10 minutes in, I took a deep breath and started again toward a recognition of how big some moments are, and wondering what it takes to face them.
What should Rabbi Zecharia and his friends have done? Well, we see places in our tradition in which leaders figured out when and how to step out of the black and white text. But are they good precedents? Do they, in fact, have something that these rabbis don't have?
Having been kicked out of the party while the rabbis did nothing, Bar Kamtza goes to the emperor and tells him the Jews are rebelling. He suggests a test - send an offering to the Temple, they won't bring it! - to show that what I am saying is true. He blemishes the animal, rendering it unfit for offering, and presenting the rabbis with an enormous challenge
There is an incredible story in the Talmud about a party that leads to the destruction of the Temple. It offers ample food for thought about over-responding and under-responding, about response-ability and courage, about money and food, honor and shame. It's got a bit of everything.
Looking at the four paragraphs inside the tefillin, and the many amazing stories they tell. This is just an intro for a class I am giving, but I think it's worth sharing anyway.
The Shema tells us to bring the mind - cold, scientific, selfless - and the heart - warm, ego, self, personal - into accord with one another, using both to find and bring oneness in the world
The Shema challenges us to maintain awareness of and relationship to Oneness 'when you sit in your home and when you walk on the way'. How do we stay connected to your values and awareness when we have less control over the spaces into which we enter?
We continue to explore the Shema and it's challenge to notice and bring oneness and cohesion to different spaces, but also to different times and different experiences
This is an intro to the second meeting of my class on the shema. The heart is probably best understood as "self" (as opposed to Self?) and the self is a space in which many voices and spirits come to play. Not all of them should be immediately expressed.
The Shema - the great statement that "this is One!" goes on to describe many things that seem like (at least) two - Divine providence and nature, heart and mind, thought and action, inside and outside, night and day. This is precisely the work of Shema - to learn how to bridge those disparate worlds.
Malchut is tricky. On one hand it implies kingship - taking responsibility for a group, an event, a space, a moment, a self. On the other hand, "Malchut... has nothing of its own." How do these pieces work together?
This 6th week of the Omer has us almost touching down, almost manifesting in the world. So, how do you "touch down"? How do you "manifest"?
Hod is the work of Aharon, down in the trenches with the people as Moshe brings down the Torah. How do we cherish and relish our moments even as we sometimes falter in our march toward the Infinite?
The man who personifies this week's Omer work is Ya'akov - in the crucible of a complex world he strives to maintain enough distance to make good choices. Not so simple.
Avraham does the essential work of going, pushing, leaving, deciding. And, not surprisingly, people are affected by this.
it is such an honor to participate in the unfolding of the Divine Expansion into the world through mitzvah.
R' Koenig sees not being sad and being happy as two separate challenges. Here, he focuses on the sadness or frustration a person might feel if they begin to come close to God and then look back on their lives
R' Koenig tells his friend that, yes, he hears their pain, but it's actually a good sign: this is pain of growth! And not only that, it's incredible that the person has reached the level of putting that pain into words. They are truly on the path to something powerful and amazing.
Continuing R Koenig's amazing letter about dealing with unwelcome thoughts, finding the light in them, and then repeat.
There are so many different moments and stages in the process of spiritual growth. And we will need support and encouragement of different kinds for each kind of stage.
Everyone needs spiritual encouragement - meaning, specifically, encouragement and support around keeping their spiritual endeavors new and fresh and alive. So it is not suprirrisng that in the first part of this letter from Rabbi Gedalia Koenig, he is giving encouragement to one of his peers.
part three riffing on R' Lazer Koenig's incredible letter about how your distracting thoughts contain brilliant light
Part two of R' Gedalia Koenig's incredible letter on seeing your challenging thoughts as invitations to the next level
Long story short - cool Breslov rabbi of the previous generation gives advice about the great opportunity presented by a dumb thought that you have
Offering up informal thoughts on meeting the challenges of a life of G-d service and devotion
It is written in the Talmud that a person’s yetzer harah - their self-sabotaging, negative-perspective, self-defeating parts - rise up against them EVERY DAY and try to KILL THEM. (Translation: every day your yezter will try to bring you down. Even if you had a great day yesterday. Even if you overcome it yesterday. It will try to distract you from living by your values and doing good and staying afloat.) And, the Talmud continues, if the Holy One didn’t come to a person’s aid, then the yetzer would be victorious.
So, what to do? From the house of Rabbi Yishmael they said: “If you run into that punk (literal translation) then drag it to the house of learning. If the yetzer is a stone it will melt. If it is iron it will shatter.”
In other words - and this is not just my reading, it is based in our amazing tradition - the yetzer is coming at you every day, and the way to fight it is to learn Torah every day.
I am sure that many of you learn Torah every day. Awesome. And in addition to that I am committing to writing and sharing a short piece of Torah every day in this blog-space. Something that inspires me and fortifies me gives me clarity and purpose and energy. And it will be short because life is short. And I hope it helps.
Obviously this is not meant to be annoying or to clog up your email. We all sign up to receive so many things so often because it seems wise and then we stop for whatever reason. No offense taken if this is not for you for now.
It is written in the Talmud that a person’s yetzer harah - their self-sabotaging, negative-perspective, self-defeating parts - rise up against them EVERY DAY and try to KILL THEM. (Translation: every day your yezter will try to bring you down. Even if you had a great day yesterday. Even if you overcome it yesterday. It will try to distract you from living by your values and doing good and staying afloat.) And, the Talmud continues, if the Holy One didn’t come to a person’s aid, then the yetzer would be victorious.
So, what to do? From the house of Rabbi Yishmael they said: “If you run into that punk (literal translation) then drag it to the house of learning. If the yetzer is a stone it will melt. If it is iron it will shatter.”
In other words - and this is not just my reading, it is based in our amazing tradition - the yetzer is coming at you every day, and the way to fight it is to learn Torah every day.
I am sure that many of you learn Torah every day. Awesome. And in addition to that I am committing to writing and sharing a short piece of Torah every day in this blog-space. Something that inspires me and fortifies me gives me clarity and purpose and energy. And it will be short because life is short. And I hope it helps.
Obviously this is not meant to be annoying or to clog up your email. We all sign up to receive so many things so often because it seems wise and then we stop for whatever reason. No offense taken if this is not for you for now.
In this and future pieces, I would like to describe and demonstrate a way of learning the writings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, specifically his magnum opus, Likutei Moharan. This approach is called b’iyun, which implies learning in depth. Specifically, learning Rebbe Nachman b’iyun implies following the trail of the references that he brings and studying them fully, complete with common (and even not-common) commentaries on those references. In doing so, a person is likely to find layers and layers of meaning, rich and complex readings of those sources, and a fuller picture of what it is that Rebbe Nachman was attempting to communicate.
For example, if Rebbe Nachman refers to a verse in Exodus, a person might look up the verse and read the entire chapter in which that verse occurs, in addition to Rashi and Ramban and other commentaries on that passage, plus notable passages in the Talmud, Midrash, and Zohar relating to that passage. It clearly takes a lot of time. It is often quite rewarding. All the cool Breslovers do it.
I am still experimenting with ways to present this material. One way is to simply provide the additional sources pertaining to the references he brings. I will be using another way: to provide one or two sources related to the references he brings, along with a commentary of my own relating to how these sources fit together. In addition, I will tell you what it means to me and how it moves me and makes want to holler.
With that, you should know that this is by far not even close to some sort of definitive reading of the original text or the network of additional sources that surround it.
Rebbe Nachman taught, in Lesson 49 of the first section of Likutei Moharan:
כִּי קֹדֶם הַבְּרִיאָה הָיָה אוֹר הַקָּדוֹשׁ־בָּרוּךְ־הוּא אֵין סוֹף,
Before the creation, the Light of the Holy One was ein sof (infinite, without end or limit)
וְרָצָה הַקָּדוֹשׁ־בָּרוּךְ־הוּא שֶׁיִּתְגַּלֶּה מַלְכוּתוֹ, וְאֵין מֶלֶךְ בְּלֹא עָם, וְהֻצְרַךְ לִבְרֹא בְּנֵי אָדָם, שֶׁיְּקַבְּלוּ עֹל מַלְכוּתוֹ.
But the Holy One wanted His Malkhut (Kingship) to be revealed, and there can be no king without a nation. Thus, God was required to create human beings who would accept the yoke of God’s Kingship.
וְהִתְגַּלּוּת מַלְכוּתוֹ אִי אֶפְשָׁר לְהַשִּׂיג אֶלָּא עַל־יְדֵי הַמִּדּוֹת, שֶׁעַל־יְדֵי הַמִּדּוֹת מַשִּׂיגִין אֱלֹקוּתוֹ, וְיוֹדְעִין שֶׁיֵּשׁ אָדוֹן מוֹשֵׁל וּמַנְהִיג. וְצִמְצֵם אֶת הָאוֹר אֵין סוֹף לַצְּדָדִין, וְנִשְׁאַר חָלָל פָּנוּי, וּבְתוֹךְ הֶחָלָל הַפָּנוּי בָּרָא הָעוֹלָמוֹת (כמבואר בע"ח בתחילתו בהיכל א ענף ג), וְהֵן הֵן מִדּוֹתָיו.
Yet it is impossible to perceive a revelation of God’s Malkhut except through the measurable attributes. Through the attributes we perceive God’s Godliness and know that there is a Lord, a Ruler, and an Authority. God thus contracted the Light of Ein Sof (the Infinite One) to the sides, leaving an emptied space. And within this Chalal Hapanuy (Hollowed or Vacated Space) God created the worlds, which are themselves the measurable attributes.
RGG:
In this lesson, among others, Rebbe Nachman refers to R’ Yitzhak Luria (a.k.a. the Ari)’s description of the beginning of a world that is, as it were, separate from, or independent of, God’s obvious Presence. In this telling, God “lacked” only one thing - to be recognized and served as King by beings who could also choose otherwise. Of course, God could simply overwhelm those beings with clear and obvious revelations of God’s God-ness, but that would not achieve the goal that those beings choose to recognize and accept God’s Godliness freely. As such, God was “forced” to make a space in which God’s Presence would not be obvious, and this space would be the field of interaction and relationship in which people could choose to recognize God and serve God.
As I write this, I already sense the risk that this sounds dry and technical. Not that all material must presented with great fanfare and exciting words and intriguing titles, but I do know that the balance between precision and excitement often tips in one direction or the other. But please know that the process being described here is alive, and it matters, and it is in play at every moment. We are perpetually challenged, and invited, to see and find meaning and growth, relationship and devotion, through everything that happens to us and through us and with us in this Empty Space. The problem, it seems, is that we are likely to be generally underwhelmed. We don’t see fireworks (or plagues, or miracles). Rather, we see ordinary, pedestrian events and occurrences, and we will need to choose to also see this object or event or occurrence as being connected to the Divine. That’s because God’s Presence within them seems partial, small, or frustrating.
Such is the price of God’s desire to be known and encountered in the pedestrian, ordinary world.
The work, as we will see, is to approach such events and occurrences with a positive and open mind, reminding ourselves that this, too, is an opportunity to encounter and serve God. Once we have that thought in mind, and approach the situation accordingly, then those events and occurrences become alive and infused with a deeper saturation of Divinity than they were before - or, that deeper saturation of Divinity becomes apparent. So it turns out that our willingness to make it into an encounter makes it into an encounter.
Rebbe Nachman Continues:
וְהַלֵּב הוּא הַצַּיָּר שֶׁל הַמִּדּוֹת, הַיְנוּ הַחָכְמָה שֶׁבַּלֵּב, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב (שמות ל״א:ו׳): וּבְלֵב כָּל חֲכַם לֵב וְכוּ'.
And the heart is that which forms the measurable attributes - specifically, wisdom in the heart, as is written, “And in the heart of every wise-hearted person etc.” (Exodus 31:6)
RGG:
The meaning, depth, and potential contained within these nodes of encounter - these measurable attributes - is not simply a function of our desire for them to be meaningful. In fact, they are designed by God to facilitate a certain kind of encounter (and it may well be that, within that encounter, there is a huge or infinite number of possible outcomes).
Here we have a description of the mechanism by which these nodes of encounter are created. Meaning, God might decide that God wishes to encounter me through, say, a flat tire or a broken washing machine. Ordinarily these are not places in which the flames of my religious fervor are likely to be roused, but, just the same, I manage to pry my closed heart open and to remember this, too, is an opportunity to encounter and serve God.
But not all flat tires are the same, and not all broken washing machines are the same. Where was I going? Who was with me? What was I thinking at the time? What was I trying to wash? When was the lat time I got a flat tire? What’s in your wallet? The exact details of this seemingly unfortunate event are created by God through God’s heart. Or, more specifically, through the wisdom-chochmah that is in the heart.
Ordinarily the heart is associated with a certain function of mind-consciousness called binah. Chochmah, which is not binah, refers to abstract facts and realities - the ‘wisdoms’ include math and physics. It carries a sense of how things work, or ought to work, in an ideal world. Binah, on the other hand, implies an openness and sensitivity to the reality on the ground. It is an ability to perceive and respond to the uniqueness of the moment, rather than simply to implement eternal and objective principles to this moment, as if this moment were the same as all other moments. So the “chochmah in the heart” implies an interaction between the two - an ability to apply eternal and objective concepts and truths within unique situations. That God designs these nodes of encounter through the “wisdom of the heart” implies sensitivity to the specific moment.
Wisdom-chochmah in the heart is indeed a strange formulation. But even stranger is the reference that Rebbe Nachman uses - and this is where iyun begins. The reference made here is to the construction of the Mishkan, the traveling wilderness Temple that the Israelites used as they traveled to the land of Israel.
Here is the section of the Torah in which this verse occurs.
א וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃
ב רְאֵ֖ה קָרָ֣אתִֽי בְשֵׁ֑ם בְּצַלְאֵ֛ל בֶּן־אוּרִ֥י בֶן־ח֖וּר לְמַטֵּ֥ה יְהוּדָֽה׃
ג וָאֲמַלֵּ֥א אֹת֖וֹ ר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֑ים בְּחָכְמָ֛ה וּבִתְבוּנָ֥ה וּבְדַ֖עַת וּבְכָל־מְלָאכָֽה׃
ד לַחְשֹׁ֖ב מַחֲשָׁבֹ֑ת לַעֲשׂ֛וֹת בַּזָּהָ֥ב וּבַכֶּ֖סֶף וּבַנְּחֹֽשֶׁת׃
ה וּבַחֲרֹ֥שֶׁת אֶ֛בֶן לְמַלֹּ֖את וּבַחֲרֹ֣שֶׁת עֵ֑ץ לַעֲשׂ֖וֹת בְּכָל־מְלָאכָֽה׃
ו וַאֲנִ֞י הִנֵּ֧ה נָתַ֣תִּי אִתּ֗וֹ אֵ֣ת אָהֳלִיאָ֞ב בֶּן־אֲחִֽיסָמָךְ֙ לְמַטֵּה־דָ֔ן וּבְלֵ֥ב כָּל־חֲכַם־לֵ֖ב נָתַ֣תִּי חָכְמָ֑ה וְעָשׂ֕וּ אֵ֖ת כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֥ר צִוִּיתִֽךָ׃
ז אֵ֣ת ׀ אֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֗ד וְאֶת־הָֽאָרֹן֙ לָֽעֵדֻ֔ת וְאֶת־הַכַּפֹּ֖רֶת אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָלָ֑יו וְאֵ֖ת כָּל־כְּלֵ֥י הָאֹֽהֶל׃
And in English:
1 The LORD spoke to Moses:
2 See, I have singled out by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Yehudah.
3 I have endowed him with a divine spirit of skill, ability, and knowledge in every kind of craft;
4 to make designs for work in gold, silver, and copper,
5 to cut stones for setting and to carve wood—to work in every kind of craft.
6 Moreover, I have assigned to him Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the heart of every wise-hearted person I have given wisdom, that they may make everything that I have commanded you:
7 the Tent of Meeting, the Ark for the Pact and the cover upon it, and all the furnishings of the Tent;
What’s remarkable about this reference is that the Mishkan is the space we make for God! Amidst a lesson that is speaking of the space that God makes for us is a reference to the space we make for God! Hopefully without jumping the gun, it is remarkable that, yes, God makes space in God’s self for this Other, this world of ours. And now, here we are, quite likely full of ourselves and our narratives and stories about what is happening, and we need to carve our some space within that story to make room for God. That is something of what was happening in the Mishkan.
Not only that: Rebbe Nachman uses this verse to describe the tools - the wisdom in the heart - that God uses! These two spaces are made in the same way. We share a craft with God - the craft of space-making. We must learn how to use the “wisdom in the heart” to create a space in which we can serve God, just as God uses this tool to create a space in which we can serve God. The same combination of wisdom and sensitivity will be called for.
The Mishkan-system consists of two primary components: the mishkan itself which is the space-structure, and the keilim - vessels that go inside the mishkan.
Now consider a passage in the Talmud Berachot 55a, which actually contains the line Rebbe Nachman quoted from Exodus 31:
[וידבר] ה' אל משה לאמר ראה קראתי בשם בצלאל וגו' אמר רבי יצחק אין מעמידין פרנס על הצבור אלא אם כן נמלכים בצבור שנאמר ראו קרא ה' בשם בצלאל אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה משה הגון עליך בצלאל אמר לו רבונו של עולם אם לפניך הגון לפני לא כל שכן אמר לו אף על פי כן לך אמור להם הלך ואמר להם לישראל הגון עליכם בצלאל אמרו לו אם לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא ולפניך הוא הגון לפנינו לא כל שכן אמר רבי שמואל בר נחמני אמר רבי יונתן בצלאל על שם חכמתו נקרא בשעה שאמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה לך אמור לו לבצלאל עשה לי משכן ארון וכלים הלך משה והפך ואמר לו עשה ארון וכלים ומשכן אמר לו משה רבינו מנהגו של עולם אדם בונה בית ואחר כך מכניס לתוכו כלים ואתה אומר עשה לי ארון וכלים ומשכן כלים שאני עושה להיכן אכניסם שמא כך אמר לך הקדוש ברוך הוא עשה משכן ארון וכלים אמר לו שמא בצל אל היית וידעת אמר רב יהודה אמר רב יודע היה בצלאל לצרף אותיות שנבראו בהן שמים וארץ כתיב הכא וימלא אתו רוח אלהים בחכמה ובתבונה ובדעת וכתיב התם ה' בחכמה יסד ארץ כונן שמים בתבונה וכתיב בדעתו תהומות נבקעו אמר רבי יוחנן אין הקדוש ברוך הוא נותן חכמה אלא למי שיש בו חכמה שנאמר יהב חכמתא לחכימין ומנדעא לידעי בינה שמע רב תחליפא בר מערבא ואמרה קמיה דרבי אבהו אמר ליה אתון מהתם מתניתו לה אנן מהכא מתנינן לה דכתיב ובלב כל חכם לב נתתי חכמה:
Rabbi Yitzḥak said: One may only appoint a leader over a community if he consults with the community and they agree to the appointment, as it is stated: “And Moses said unto the children of Israel: See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah” (Exodus 35:30). The Lord said to Moses: Moses, is Bezalel a suitable appointment in your eyes? Moses said to Him: Master of the universe, if he is a suitable appointment in Your eyes, then all the more so in my eyes. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to him: Nevertheless, go and tell Israel and ask their opinion. Moses went and said to Israel: Is Bezalel suitable in your eyes? They said to him: If he is suitable in the eyes of the Holy One, Blessed be He, and in your eyes, all the more so he is suitable in our eyes. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said that Rabbi Yonatan said: Bezalel was called by that name on account of his wisdom. When the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses: Go say to Bezalel, “Make a tabernacle, an ark, and vessels” (see Exodus 31:7–11), Moses went and reversed the order and told Bezalel: “Make an ark, and vessels, and a tabernacle” (see Exodus 25–26). He said to Moses: Moses, our teacher, the standard practice throughout the world is that a person builds a house and only afterward places the vessels in the house, and you say to me: Make an ark, and vessels, and a tabernacle. If I do so in the order you have commanded, the vessels that I make, where shall I put them? Perhaps God told you the following: “Make a tabernacle, ark, and vessels” (see Exodus 36). Moses said to Bezalel: Perhaps you were in God’s shadow [betzel El], and you knew precisely what He said. You intuited God’s commands just as He stated them, as if you were there. 13 Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: Bezalel knew how to join the letters with which heaven and earth were created. From where do we derive this? It is written here in praise of Bezalel: “And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship” (Exodus 31:3); and it is written there with regard to creation of heaven and earth: “The Lord, by wisdom, founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens” (Proverbs 3:19), and it is written: “By His knowledge the depths were broken up and the skies drop down the dew” (Proverbs 3:20). We see that wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, the qualities with which the heavens and earth were created, are all found in Bezalel. 14 On a similar note, Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The Holy One, Blessed be He, only grants wisdom to one who already possesses wisdom, as it is stated: “He gives wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to they who know understanding” (Daniel 2:21). Rav Taḥalifa, from the West, Eretz Yisrael, heard this and repeated it before Rabbi Abbahu. Rabbi Abbahu said to him: You learned proof for this idea from there; we learn it from here: As it is written in praise of the builders of the Tabernacle: “And in the hearts of all who are wise-hearted I have placed wisdom” (Exodus 31:6).
Note, in the discussion of appointing a leader, the imagery of a decision or commitment that has to be made below, in a mundane and relatively uninformed situation, before some insight comes from above (God’s approval).
Additionally, in light of the lesson Rebbe Nachman is teaching so far, this passage in the Talmud becomes a meditation on order: which goes first? Recall that this lesson is concerned with question of whether the move we make - realizing that “I can serve God here” - precedes the insight - “Now I see how God is manifest here.” What comes first - making a space for God (Mishkan) or seeing the light of God (the vessels)?
That question is mimicked in this passage in the Talmud, as explained by the talmud commentary called Ben Yehoyada:
בן יהוידע: מקשים איך יאמר להפך, ונראה לי בס"ד כי משה רבינו עליו השלום ראה והשיג סוד ארון ושלחן ומנורה שהם פנמיים שרומזים לאורות עליונים תחלה, ואחר כך ראה והשיג סוד גוף המשכן שהוא קטן וחיצוני להם, כי כן סדר ההשגה והראיה, והוא שמע מהקב"ה שאמר לו בריש תרומה [שמות כ"ה ט'] ככל אשר אנכי מראה אותך את תבנית המשכן ואת תבנית כל כליו וכן תעשו, ויש לפרש וכן תעשו קאי ארישא דקרא, והכי קא"ל כפי הראיה האלהית הסודית אשר אני מראה אותך במשכן וכליו כן תעשו כסדר הזה, ולפי זה צריך לעשות תחלה הכלים העליונים שהם ארון ושולחן ומנורה שרומזים לאורות העליונים, ואחר כך גוף המשכן, כי ההשגה וראיה הסודית שראה משה רבינו עליו השלום היתה של אלו תחלה, ולכן משה רבינו עליו השלום אמר לו עשה ארון וכלים ומשכן, שפירש דבריו יתברך על פי אופן הנזכר, אך באמת דבריו יתברך יש בהם פירוש אחר, דקאי וכן תעשו על סוף הפסוק, שהזכיר המשכן קודם באומרו את תבנית המשכן ואת תבנית כל כליו, וכן תעשו על פי הסדר הזה שאני מזכיר אותם עתה המשכן תחלה ואחר כך הכלים, וזה הפירוש השיגו בצלאל מחמת הטעם שראה בהכריח, כלים שאני עושה להיכן אכנסם, ומאת ה' היתה זאת שיתעלם פירוש זה תחלה מן משה רבינו עליו השלום כדי שיזכה בו בצלאל העוסק במלאכת הקודש
… it seems to me that Moshe, our teacher, peace be upon him, first saw and understood the secret (mystical meaning) of the Ark, the table, the Candelabrum, that they are inner, that they hint to Supernal Lights, and afterward he saw and understood the secret of the body of the mishkan, which is small and external to the vessels. Moshe saw that this is the proper order of realization and seeing, and he heard from the Holy One Who said to him (Ex. 25:9] “Like everything I am showing you, the plan of the mishkan and the plan of all its vessels - so shall you do.”…. And this is what he was saying to him: “According to the Divine, secret vision that I am showing you of the mishkan and its vessels, so shall you do, in that order.” According to this, he ought to first make the Supernal vessels, which are the Ark and the Table and Candelabrum, which hint to Supernal Lights, and afterward the body of the Mishkan, for Moshe’s vision was in that order. So Moshe told Bezalel to make the vessels and the Mishkan, “and so shall you do according to this order that I am describing.” But the truth is there is another explanation of God’s words - “and so shall you do” apply to the end of the verse, which first mentions the mishkan and then mentions the vessels… and Bezalel grasped this second meaning because he saw that it must be so. “These vessels that I am making - where will I put them??!” And this was by God’s design that this understanding of the verse be hidden from Moshe so that Bezalel, who was tasked with making the mishkan,
Ben Yehoyada calls attention to the deeper implications of the question of order. It seems that Moshe can see the light (represented by the vessels). Metaphorically, he sees the already-available relationship with God. He just needs to make a context in which to have that relationship. Us? We don’t see the light so good. But this passage in the Talmud, and Rebbe Nachman by bringing this passage in the Talmud, is telling us that, actually, the process works in reverse. We first have to create the context, and the the light will become apparent. If we build it they will come.
There is so much more here than I have described. Make your own connections. Spend some time with that passage in the Talmud and consider how it works with Rebbe Nachman’s teaching. Look at them as commentaries on each other. Enjoy.
Neo: Well, that didn’t go so well.
Morpheus: Are you certain the Oracle didn’t say anything else?
Neo: Yes.
Trinity: Maybe we did something wrong.
Neo: Or didn’t do something.
Morpheus: No, what happened happened and couldn’t have happened any other way.
Neo: How do you know?
Morpheus: We are still alive.
Well, that’s a pretty low bar, no? “We are still alive” is not the usual standard we use for, say, how a meeting went. “Honey, how was shopping today?” “Well, I’m still alive.” “Great. Did you get potatoes like I asked you to?”
Nor is “we are still alive” a level of success that should be discounted. It definitely has its place among the standards we use to assess success and well-being. There are, of course, many others - “We really connected!” “Best presentation of my life!” “I really felt it for the first time.” “I know that she heard me.” But “I’m still alive” also has its place, for sure. As does, “Well, I showed up” and “It wasn’t completely devastating” and “at least I said the words.”
Different standards are in play at different times. Sometimes even the same activity has different standards at different times. The trick is to know which one to use, and when. Because the simple fact is that the course of our lives will take us to the heights of the mundane and to the depths of the profound, and our own inner capacities will often vacillate between deep engagement and minimal presence, and every stop along the way calls upon us to recognize its unique set of opportunities and challenges, and to understand our experience accordingly. This would take a clear and open mind that is nimble enough to say, “What is happening here?”
Superimposing the standards of the sublime onto the world of the mundane will yield disappointment, disillusionment, disconnection, disempowerment, and worse. Superimposing the standards of the mundane onto the sublime can be just as tricky.
As challenging as it is, we are asked to remain attuned to the landscape of the encounter in which we find ourselves, as well as our own inner landscape, in hopes of aligning them as closely as possible.
How we engage in prayer is certainly one kind of opportunity; whether we are considerate to the other people in the room (or Zoom) is another. How we eat, dress, buy, sell, and play racquetball - all of these are part of the story. When they write of your noble deeds, they will include (and perhaps even emphasize) those parts of the story as well. I hope they don’t say about me that I davened with a lot of energy but couldn’t seem to find any energy at all when I was talking to the mailman. Regardless of the activity, a certain degree of presence, openness, alertness, humility, wonder, and respect can always be expected.
Who demonstrates this more than Avraham? His great, noble journey, replete with dynamic visions, also includes detours through Egypt, literal battle, and difficult conversations with his ambitious nephew. His mythical marriage to Sarah includes allowing her to be taken into a harem and then a confusing second marriage to Hagar, which brought a substantial amount of strife. (Strife also calls for a presence, openness, alertness, humility, wonder and respect, as strife also provides its own opportunities and has its own standards.) And Avraham’s mission to initiate the building of the Jewish Nation also included conversations over who stole the wells. His journey was not a straight highway to the sublime. There were plenty of apparent “detours.”
But Avraham does not think of these detours as detours. He knows - and he models for us - that each of them its own opportunity, has its own standards of connection and sanctification, and each offers its own spoils.
Consider Avraham and Sarah’s journey to Egypt. Soon after their arrival in the land of Israel, the land of Israel was beset with famine, and they needed to move southward to Egypt (which is always the destination when there is a famine). While most people would complain, or even question God’s providence, Avraham continues to step forward. He knows this is part of it. And what is the work? So many answers to this question are possible. One is that, even amidst this troubling story (wherein Sarah, his wife, is taken into Pharaoh’s harem) Avraham does something absolutely essential: he makes sure that he and Sarah are on the same page. He has a plan, but he makes sure she is on board with it. “Please say that you are my sister…” This is very instructive for moments when we are about to enter into something murky or difficult - make sure you are connected to the people who matter, and whose support you need, as things get hard. This is even more difficult and more true because people tend to withdraw into themselves specifically at times when they need support the most. So that becomes the standard. Not, “Did you have a nice, spiritual experience on Egypt?” but, rather, “Were you connected to the people you needed to be connected to?”
Consider Avraham’s conversation with his nephew, Lot. Both of them have huge flocks and herds, and it is becoming increasingly essential that they communicate about space for grazing. In fact, Avraham must separate from Lot because Lot’s shepherds have started to act inappropriately. Avraham knows that how we comports himself in this conversation is essential and important like everything else he does. How do you have that conversation? What would success look like? It probably won’t end in high-fives. Likely he won’t report that the conversation with Lot was amazing or inspiring. But success might mean that Lot knows that he is loved, and that Avraham remains connected to him, no matter what happens. If he came away from conversation feeling deep and spiritual and connected but had not succeeded in establishing those boundaries as well as that continued sense of connection, that would be a failure. And that becomes a model for us when we need to have hard conversations and set firmer boundaries. The standard: “Did you succeed in communicating those boundaries but still let them know you are with them and love them?”
Of course, Avraham also had intense God-moments. He built three altars and “called out in the name of God” in this parsha alone. And at those moments, the standard may well be “did you, really, deeply, truly call out in the name of God?” That may not be a moment of “did you make sure you feel connected to your partner?”
Having the right standard within the wide variety of soul-evoking moments is essential. It requires clarity, flexibility, and confidence. Thankfully, our biblical ancestors provide us with plenty of guidance along the way.
To be realistic, those pearls of authenticity rescued from the ocean floor of your deep mind must go through a process of refinement before they can have full impact in the world. Rav Kook offers some perspective on this.
The "search for authenticity" is like a narrow bridge. There are dangers on both sides - indulgence and self-absorption on one side, ignoring the treasures within on the other. Rav Kook provides incredible guidance for traversing the narrow bridge.
Ramchal is talking about things that are certainly fabulous to experience. But the barriers of his - and most - religious language leave people feeling outside of the experience. And since we find ourselves right now in the midst of the Three Weeks, we will discuss the unnecessarily off-putting religious language of "senseless hatred."
It is essential that we do the actions that are building blocks of the future we want to see. The practice, and the future want to see, cannot be separated.
Here we look at Ramchal's expression of what the purpose of our being is. And it is NOT austere. And it is NOT waiting for marshmallows. It is far more compelling, and far more inviting.
In this first installment of The Direct Path, we clarify: the possibilities are truly infinite. The path to those possibilities is crystal clear. The word is hard. And it starts with clarifying the question, "What, exactly, is our obligation in our world?"
Talk has turned toward the eventual return to the normal - whenever that will be. We anxiously anticipate the opportunity to, like, go out and, like, see people and stuff, and maybe daven together or go see a movie. Shop without fear of infecting people. etc.
And amidst the very real pain, this time has granted us an (over)abundance of time to observe the systems and patterns that constitute our local realities. Without the usual distractions, and with the constant repetition of days, we see all too clearly who we are as people, how we function in relationship, what happens when we hold on to bad moods, how we reach for distractions when things get too intense, what moves us, what stimulates us, etc. Many of us have seen the nature and quantity of stuff that has accumulated in our homes over the years. We get a glimpse of how we manage time. Money. Space. We now know more about who and what we miss and don’t miss. We now likely recognize that there is a difference between essential and non-essential goods. We see how irrelevant the opinions of many celebrities are.
Many of us are also looking at larger scales - how our choice of news sources has real effect in our lives and the lives of others. How we think about people with whom we disagree. How different models of leadership impact the health and well-being of the leaders’ constituents. How countries do and don’t cooperate to manage common threats. How economic systems interact with the people who operate within them. How commerce pushes people to make difficult choices between health and earning a living. How the state of the environment has been impacted by collective human behaviors.
More startling and important and foundational than any particular observation we might have been granted is the bare realization that all of them are based upon choices. Every pattern that we are now seeing features a choice, made by us or by someone else. Someone is choosing. And someone is affected by those choices.
As we prepare for our eventual release back into the wild, we confront the reality that all of these - our political and economic choices, our individual and collective habits of consumption, our actions and our attitudes - actually operate as variables. If they were done differently, then things would be different. Choices are being made, and different choices could be made, with different outcomes.
Choices are being made. And different choices could be made.
And as we tentatively consider thinking about the possibility of maybe eventually returning to “normal”, many of us are committed to not returning to “normal.” We want to choose differently. On the smallest scales, we are now more aware that regular exercise is good, and diet matters, and schedule matters, and relationships matter, and we must choose to invest more in those aspects of our lives than we did B.C. (before corona).
And on the largest scales, some of us are hoping that big change is at hand, with governments far more deeply invested in the well-being of their citizens, with collective worldwide cooperation on issues that affect us all, like pandemics and the health of the environment. We are hoping that people with power will make different choices. We might even choose to do something about it.
But what’s going to make it so we don’t just fall back into old patterns? Consider the reentry that is is choreographed in this week’s parshiot - Tazria/Metzorah. A person has sinned - ostensibly through unnecessarily speaking badly of others - and they have been kicked out of the community. Having seen the error of their ways, they have gone through their teshuva process and are ready to re-enter the community from which they were expelled. This is a long process, with several stages and a startling array of offerings and rituals, many of which mimic other offerings and rituals. The rituals are deep and rich: shaving the whole body; waiting outside the tent for a week; shaving again; blood-initiation. But there is one ritual that is unique to this particular situation. In this sequence, two birds are taken up. One bird is killed. The other bird is dipped into the blood of the first bird and then set free.
This is the Torah’s representation of the person who sinned: choices were made. People were hurt. You have another chance. Choose well. And know that momentum and force of habit are not on your side.
A bird covered in blood is easy prey. Any half-decent predator could smell it a mile away. And this serves well as a stand-in for the slanderer who wishes to reenter the community that includes people he has slandered. How do you not fall back into the same pattern? The only way in which old patterns and bad choices can help us make better choices in the future is to carry a reminder of their dangers everywhere we go.
Like that bird, we are given another chance, but we - as individuals and as communities and societies and nations - know the odds are stacked against us. We know where we have been. We know that damage has been done. We know something else is possible, but it will require vigilance and conscious defiance on engrained habits.
A person might notice that they are not bringing their full selves to their Service - that they are distracted, or don't care. Or maybe a person is operating on a very old model of "what God is" and this old model is genuinely (and thankfully) uninspiring. Time for an Olah.
The book of Vayikra - Levitticus - describes, in great detail, the actions called korbanot, usually mistranslated as sacrifices. These descriptions contain far more than descriptions of the ritual slaughter of animals; they contain eternal guidance that can inform how we come close to Hashem today.
Let’s suppose that, every morning, you wake up at the break of dawn. You don your robe and slippers and make yourself some coffee. When it is ready, you pour it into your favorite mug and stand by the bay window that looks out on your back yard. Cherishing those few moments of silence before the kids get up, you have a chance to watch the world fill with color and sound and come to life.
Now, imagine that, at the end of each lunar month, you fold up your house and everything in it. The bay window, the bed, the coffee maker, the mug - everything is disconnected from everything else and loaded onto a truck. You drive for a day or two in some direction, and then you stop. You unload your bay window and your bed and your coffee maker and your mug, and then you put them all together in the exact same way.
The next day, you wake up at the break of dawn. You don your robe and slipper and make yourself some coffee. When it is ready, you pour it into your favorite mug and stand by the bay window that looks out on new your back yard. Cherishing those few moments of silence before the kids get up, you have a chance to watch the world fill with color and sound and come to life.
And then one time, your drive takes you to a place that is not so pretty. The scene that unfolds as the sun rises is not nearly so pleasant - maybe the back yard is strewn with empty bottles, and someone has graffitied something hateful on the wall. Just the same, you watch the world fill with color and sound and come to life. Somehow, the daily ritual provides you with a way to take it in, to process what you see, and to consider how you will move forward.
This is how I view the mishkan. The mishkan was built as a wandering Temple that moved as the Jews moved through the wilderness. It shared many features with the Temple that would ultimately be built in Jerusalem - a menorah and an Ark, altars - but it differed in one essential way: it was designed to be dissembled and moved. The boards that constituted its walls were easily separated from one another; it’s primary furnishings were fitted with rings into which poles were inserted and the object was lifted and carried; the loops and hooks that connected the massive tapestries that covered the mishkan could easily be undone.
The mishkan was dissembled and reassembled at least 42 times in the wilderness, as the Jews moved from Sinai to Israel. The trips between those 42 encampments may have been uneventful, like moving from one nice Boston suburb to another. But just as often, all hell breaks loose. A mass rebellion occurs; there is a panic over perceived lack of water; a rock is stricken in anger; the spies return; Miriam dies; the people demand meat and God plagues them. Each time something like this happens, the mishkan is once again reassembled, the candles are lit, the incense is burned, the daily offerings are offered.
What is the experience of lighting the candles when one has moved from one suburb to another? Perhaps not so dramatically different. And what is the experience of lighting the candles when one is looking out on a back yard strewn with empty bottles, and someone has graffitied something hateful on the wall? Perhaps at such a time one feels the darkness so deeply that they are sick to their stomach, and they know with a deep knowing that the light they bring is the light that the world needs in order to survive for one more day.
Such is the nature of a life guided and framed by ritual. A few words of gratitude upon waking, a half-hour of sitting meditation around midday, a blessing over food, a walk in the woods after dinner - all of these work as lattices for our days and weeks and months and years, marking time and pointing inward or outward, reminding us to notice and to open. And they might not impact us so much when we do them - until suddenly they do. Suddenly we are acutely aware of being awake, of clinging to mindfulness like a raft in turbulent seas, of deeply needing that walk, of feeling genuine gratitude for food when food has suddenly become a bit more sparse.
Passover is coming - that odd collection of exotic foods, silly songs, stories told, broken matzahs hidden and found. Woven into the fabric of the “different night” are tales of families struggling to communicate, mysteries tellings of late-night rabbinic jam sessions, recollections of promises made by our Redeemer, mystical math that makes 10 into 50 into 200. Within each of these is the promise of realization, connection, gratitude, growth. And most of the time most of that potential remains latent - until it doesn’t. Suddenly, the hagaddah pops. Each line, each story, each character shakes off the dust and struts its hour upon the stage.
Perhaps this year is such a year. For many of us, life has been turned inside out or upside down. We may find ourselves confined to tight quarters with family, with little exposure even to our next-door neighbors, with less to distract us than we would like, face to face with our personal and familial patterns, and suddenly, we may say, “Ah! So this is slavery! And I am my own Pharaoh!” And suddenly, the haggadah pops and comes to life and we can see just how much we need it.
Perhaps these scripts, songs, prayers and stories can help us sort out our lives a bit, straighten out our relationships a bit, speak our minds bit, hear each other a bit, see our blessings a bit, and set our course toward next year in Jerusalem.
Every Jewish holiday happens with the current moment - moods and news cycles and the like. Pesach in particular - with its intended intergenerational conversations about the path ot freedom - takes place in the context of what is happening in families. And here we are, as a family, spending lots. of. time. together. A perfet time to gather intel!
Esther invited the king and Haman to a party.... and then invited them to another party, at which she finally told Achashveirosh that Haman's plot was against her own people. The reason why she didn't tell the king at the first party is because she knew how to do "Hamten" - "Wait."
The Purim story, in a nut shell, from Esther’s perspective: she has become queen. And then, for five years, nothing happens. What does the queen of Persia do, after all? Just come to the party when Achashveirosh says to come to the party. Keep your head on your shoulders and your wits about you. Decorate the palace Christmas trees. Maybe some kind of half-hearted and not-ironic campaign against bullying.
And then she gets desperate word from Mordecai that trouble is brewing. Haman is plotting to kill all of the Jewish people in the kingdom, and Esther will have to intercede on behalf of her people. She fasts for three days, and then invites the King, along with Haman, to a party. And then…. she invites them to another party.
Esther’s thinking at this point is one of the great mysteries of the Purim tale. It turns out to be the precise turning point of the story: in between those two parties, Haman sees Mordecai, Mordecai refuses to bow to him, Haman is incensed, he consults with his wife and advisors, realizes he must have Mordecai killed NOW, builds a gallows (in the middle of the night!) and goes in the middle of that same night to tell the king about his new plans.
Meanwhile, the King Himself cannot sleep - some say he is bothered by the fact that Esther invited Haman, and he wonders if Esther and Haman are conspiring to kill him, and then he wonders if maybe there is some bad karma that would put him in danger, like maybe some unpaid debt, and he discovers that he never rewarded Mordecai for saving his life 6 years ago. In a rare moment of clarity, Achashveirosh connects his suspicions about Haman and his debt to Mordecai and devises a plan to take care of both: he will ask Haman how to reward a “man whom the king wants to honor,” offering a kind of Rorschach Test to see what’s on Haman’s mind. The rest, as they say, is history.
Looking back, we can see that Esther’s plan worked out perfectly: she invited the king and Haman to a party, and at that party invited them to another party, and in between the two parties, everything changed. But what was her strategy? What was she thinking? Why plan for two parties?
Ibn Ezra (medieval commentator on things that need commentating) suggests that Esther waited to tell Achashveirosh that the threat to the Jewish people included her because she didn’t see any indication that anything had changed as a result of the three-day fast she had undertaken. And when she saw Mordecai paraded through the streets of Shushan the next day, she was encouraged.
For Ibn Ezra, the plan was to get to Point A and then wait for an indication that it was safe to go to Point B. Her plan was to put herself in the situation she needed to be in and then to feel the textures of the moment, to trust herself that she would know what to do when she felt clarity, and then to move forward when she knew it was time to do so. Her plan was to be completely OK not acting if the time wasn’t right. She bought herself more time because the time wasn’t right.
I suspect that there are a lot of moments in which we are expected to show up with our talking points in hand. Elevator speeches rehearsed, responses anticipated, counter-responses prepared. Lesson plans must be formulated. Agendas for the meeting sent out in advance. Clever questions are conceived in case the conversation wanes, calibrated to include the right level of intimacy and curiosity. We are supposed to know how the song goes and what the plan is. We should know our lines, and when we are supposed to say them.
Sometimes, however, we cannot know in advance what will be needed of us. We are venturing into something novel and uncharted. It is a genuinely unprecedented, definitionally unknowable moment, and to know how to act within that moment requires total unobstructed presence and presence of mind, alert, open, empty.
At these special times, we realize that our plans and strategies are defenses against the demands of presence and spontaneity, that our frameworks and vocabularies and heuristics are as good at preventing beautiful moments as they are at facilitating them. That all the work we do beforehand betrays a lack of trust in ourselves, and in the moment, to open up at its own pace. That our analyses are attempts to fit the round peg of demanding moments into the square holes of our narrow perspectives. And we may well have built up our lives to protect ourselves from exposure to the unknown.
We’re all invited to Esther’s parties this Purim - both of them. The invitation is to spend a few hours in Infinite Time, fully present - with Haman in the room, with Achashveirosh in the room, not panicking or lurching toward solutions, not pressuring ourselves or each other to do anything or say anything or change anything until we are ready, until we genuinely sense that the time is right.
As Purim approaches, I focus on the moment when, after Haman leads Mordecai through the streets of Shushan and declares "This is what the king does for a man whom he wishes to honor!" Mordecai immediately goes back to his sackcloth and fasting. By not falling for this surface-level king-moment he taps into what Rebbe Nachman describes as the kingship rooted beyond the surface.
Music is not simple. It seems to different from reading a newspaper or a text book, but it delivers all kinds of messages just the same. Unfortunately, we need to be able to sort out different tones and messages within the media we are absorbing, because the people providing it are affected by their own influences, and we need to know how far it goes up.
We need leaders - and we need to be leaders - who can draw inspiration from outside of and beyond themselves. We must be able to learn, listen, assert, rethink, grow.
When I hear someone using their voice for self-servign purposes, I might internalize the subtle message that that's what voices are for, and I might use my own voice in that way. The institution called "voice" has been tainted. But it can be untainted through the practice of night-learning.
100 million people tuned into Shakira and J-Lo. I know that she's still Jenny from the block and the hips don't lie, but beyond representations of sexuality, gender, and minority culture, Rebbe Nachman points our attention toward the deepest motives of the musicians whose music we listen to.
Rebbe Nachman, more than any other Hassidic master, spoke and wrote about the usefulness and importance of opposition from others as a constructive element that one must learn how to use. And this must have proved quite useful, as he may have been the most controversial and opposed hassidic master ever. So when the devil brought the old man to stir up opposition, Rebbe Nachman said "bring it on!"
The king gets "smoked" and he has a vision of the greatness of his own soul. And in his vision he sees the primary counterforce to his own greatness - oldness.
In the story of the Spider and the Fly, the king has a conversation with a mountain (!) in which he realizes that he is onto something important. He is in proximity to wisdom that could really change the world. But who am I to change the world? Shouldn't I just work on myself? NO!
In this first installment of Rebbe Nachman's story of the Spider and the Fly, we discuss how some people really don't want to deepen their relationship to Jewish practice - people who might already do all the stuff - because it requires personal investment, time, energy, etc. that people might not want to give.
It is essential to Rebbe Nachman's approach to growth and prayer and the aspiration to become better and more holy that every tiny thing actually matters, and is never lost. Which is not true if you are trying to win a championship.
Rebbe Nachman here addresses the issue of why it feels like our prayers are often not answered. It's an important thing to discuss, because, if we don't have a real and useful perspective on it, we could become disillusioned. And that would be unfortunate.
Side-stepping the kinds of religious "activity" that tend to evoke defenses like boredom and dread is essential in keeping it real. Here I describe a recent fragment-idea that came to me as I tried to motivate myself to "daven."
Continuing with Rebbe Nachman's 2nd lesson, we look at how the righteous person/moshiach/Moses gathers up our prayers and builds them into something bigger. This is actual a major relief.
Using what we've been learning from Rebbe Nachman about having a proper level of perspective on the tools we have at our disposal, we discuss the level eight as giving us essential perspective on the seven levels below it
Taking a break from translating LM 2, here are some thoughts on what has happened so far in this lesson: prayer is someting that people “receive” rather than have to do. It’s almost like you get a prayer-license. And to get the license you have to be a mensch in relationships. And there’s more: once you “get” your prayer-license you have to learn how to use it…
Continuing the exciting and unwieldy project of getting Rebbe Nachman's Torah out there in a useful way. This piece addresses questions around how corruption of justice affects how we see the world
Here is - thanks to Shira - a better approach to translating the second lesson of Likutei Moharan. Realizing that it is impossible to "just translate" - meaning, impossible to really understand - I fill in the gaps here, connect paragraphs, explain references. Still not "commentary" - that's later. And please note this is only part one of lesson two (they're long).
Codenames is a boardgame of sorts in which partners give each other clues about words on the board. And it requires that you not only be clever, but you know your partner. And it is therefore not at all easy. But Rebbe Nachman's lesson about opening to the intelligence of others offers some useful guidance in how to play well.
Once we have accepted that the thoughts we think are not necessarily true and not necessarily worth expressing, and we open to the real realness of other people and things, we can hopefully have "chen." And once we have "chen", then the people to whom we open may also come to have "chen"
Rebbe Nachman writes that Torah study is the key to staying open to receiving the sechel in everything. But that is actually fairly surpising. Learning Torah usually isn't "for" anything. It's done for its own sake. What's the deal?
It is really easy to be convinced that we are actually open to all the people and all the things, but we're likely more like Eisav - that is, more convinced of our rightness and therefore convinced that we don't need to be open - than we'd like to admit.
This first commentary on Likutei Moharan lesson 1 calls attention to what makes a person of Israel and Israelite - it is opening ourselves to the wisdom that is literally everywhere
This is an experiment. If there are people out there who want to have access to Rebbe Nachman's teachings in audio - not just classes explaining, but the teachings themselves - then I'll keep doing it.
I'm about to begin (and hopefully, ultimately finish) the project of recording Rebbe Nachman's teachings so people can have them as audio files. There will be two kinds of podcasts - one in which I will read and offer a simple translation of a teaching from Rebbe Nachman's books, and one in which I will offer my own commentary on those teachings.
So it will be important to revisit some of what happened on Yom Kippur and carry it forward into the next holiday