Posts
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:ZOHAR:TIKKUN OLAM:
Jewish Spiritual Renewal:Shabbat 2/14/09 Hebrew College:Torah,Talmud,TaNaK
Shalom Talmidim v' Chaverim, and again, a big Yasher Koach to our students at Aleph Yeshiva in Phila and Hebrew College Yeshiva outside of Boston:
Again, I am getting this class out, not post-Shabbat, but pre, due to the Tu B'shevat holiday and the large turnout of wonderful people coming to the Tu B'shevat seder.
At the end of the d'var I am posting some comments from last week's class.
Many people who are not spiritually connected tell me they do not believe in miracles. My definition of a miracle is seeing God's handiwork manifest itself daily. To me, my first breath in the morning is a miracle, and one which I give thanks for with a beracha...''modeh ani...''
But I have been witnessing a wonderful miracle with two of our chaverim...one at Chabad in Florida, the other, clear across the globe in South Africa who is without sight....but spiritually sighted. And the fellow in South Africa called out to me for help in getting Braille Jewish texts, and I asked the fellow in Florida to help him. Without hesitation, and with full -speed -ahead he did and is.
And the Ahavath Israel, the mutual love that I see, is beyond words and is a miracle. This is what God's will is for us.
Another: as you're aware, I published, without copyright, a Tu B'shevat Seder Hagaddah from a Jewish Spiritual Renewal view point. I was over whelmed with the number of communities world wide within days who thanked me for it and their use of it. But the greatest one came from the Madrid , Spain Jewish community, who translated it into Spanish, and its on their web site for Spanish speaking Jews world wide.
The point of the above two vignettes is that when we open up our hearts to do God's will, altruistically, without any attachment to outcome, we never know how we can effect others in a positive way.
Conversely, when we do our will, puny compared to the Majesty of our Creator's, there is a good chance that we can hurt someone. And when we hurt others, we invariably, maybe not at that moment, but certainly at some point in the future, hurt ourselves as well.
Some Kabbalah, which is part of our Oral Tradition:
Kabbalistically we are made of three items. The Nefesh is the "soul" that all breathing creatures, man and beast, possess - their lifeforce. The Ruach is the spirit that distinguishes man from the animals. The Ruach gives man with the ability to go beyond the physical existence of animals, and reach into spiritual dimensions -- specifically to try to understand the deeper meanings of God's Torah. All people have a Nefesh and Ruach within their being. The Neshemah however, is an additional part of man's spiritual makeup. Neshemah is a spirit (or "spiritual connection"), given by God when a person through faith/trust, begins to truly seek Him and combines with his fellows. The Neshemah is the spiritual faculty given to man that connects with the Ruach haKodesh (God's Holy Spirit) and the souls of one's fellows, human and animal.
As the above teaches all of us have a Nefesh and a Ruach . This makes as Homo Sapien. But if we want to move forward and become Homo Spiritus, with a vibrant Neshemah, we have to develop a relationship with God, that sustains us even during rough times, and keeps us loving our fellows, even when we feel jealous, and want to lash out with lashon ha ra against them.
Some Rabbinic wisdom: "Fear only two --- the Creator and he who has no fear of Him." Trust me on this because I lived a life before with no love or awe of God. And neither did my friends or with few who went to Temple. If one is so bold to deny God, and deny His Providence and boundaries, how do you think he will behave towards yours? The Yetzer Ha Ra rules this person and their tongues kill multiple times daily with slander and guile. Oh, they can be charming and kind to those they wish to be, and even do some good deeds, but it all gets negated when they hurt others, because the sages teach that one who does mitzvoth and then does lashon ha ra, the merits of those mitzvoth, are given to the victim of the gossip.
Some Torah from our Parasha: Ex: 18:15-18: ''15 And Moses said unto his father-in-law, Because the people come unto me to inquire of God: 16 when they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God, and his laws. 17 And Moses' father-in-law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good. 18 Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for the thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.''
It is sage advice from Jethro, that if his son-in-law Moses tried to judge and teach all of the Hebrews it would kill him. Eventually after 40 years of it, it did. We are a stiff necked people, and we know very soon as Rabbis that trying to get Jews to behave as Jews ought to behave is like herding cats.
While Jews may not be known to be great yacht men or sports figures, with some exceptions, we excel in one sport fantastically....killing Rabbis. We tried for 40 years to rid ourselves of Moses, kvetching our way thru B'midbar. We had an armed rebellion led by Korach, Moshe's own relative. Judah ha Nasi, the redactor of the Mishna, and one of our famous rabbis, had body guards, not to protect him from Romans but to protect him from Jews. And our priests and kings killed Rabbis, rabbis hated each other as well, and caused each other early deaths.
So we rabbis are taught early on to ignore these slings and arrows. If Moses and Rabbi Judah ha Nasi couldn't please all of the Jews and Hebrews, if Korach was denying Moses' and Aaron's right to lead, both God given, and in a sense calling their ordination, second rate, we rabbi are already prepared for such lashon ha ra.
Unfortunately, it just shows that many Jews still wish to be Sapien and not Spiritus, be second rate humans, and not have a healthy developed Neshemah. It also shows that these Jews aren't very original and as we will read below, are spiritually disconnected from God, are short on wisdom and lack understanding. Our Talmud excludes them from being witnesses in court, teachers and of course, Rabbis.
Some more Torah from our Parasha:Ex.: 20:18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die."20:20 Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning."
Some TaNaK from this coming Shabbat's Haftarah: Isaiah 6:5: '' "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty."
Notice how Isaiah is not just saying only Hebrews, whom he is teaching, commit lashon ha ra. He does it also. It is awfully hard to avoid completely. But we must guard our tongues and try with God's help.
Some Talmud Bavli Tractate Yoma: "Rabbi Elazar Ben Azarya expounded upon the following verse: 'from all your sins before the Lord you shall be purified.' For sins between man and God – Yom Kippur atones; for sins between man and his fellow – Yom Kippur does not atone until he the sinner appeases his fellow and receives his forgiveness."
Some more TaNaK: Job:28:28 And he said to man, 'The fear of God--that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.'"
Be kind to one another. We rabbis, just as Moses could not, cannot be assigned, nor is it our task, as your hall monitors in life. Any fool can be a gossip. It takes a strong and wise person to speak kind, sweet and loving words.
Some Midrash: ''The Gates of Repentance [Shaʻare Teshuvah] are always open.[ Lamentations Rabbah 3:43, section 9].''
And so another miracle occurred this week: I was told of a new Jew that had moved to town. I had not met him. So I called to invite him and his wife to our Tu B'Shevat seder. Even though I announced who I was, he proceeded to launch into a diatribe about me reminiscent of Korach's defamation of Moses. He obviously did not realize with whom he was speaking.
Now because I pray and meditate thrice a day, all of this lashon ha ra washed over me like a soothing shower, as I immediately went into prayer for this fellow. When he was through, I re-announced who I was, and said that he was still invited to our seder, but he had just committed some very grievous sins of lashon ha ra.
In a polite and loving conversation that followed, I found that he indeed had never met me, but got his gossip from folks around the area who make sport of 'killing' rabbis and anyone who is not ultra reform. Following God's will and Judaic principles and staying with humility and not bruised ego, I returned detraction with love.
Now, here is the miracle of God working in our lives. The fellow made sincere repentance. And we have made future plans to study together.
Some more Talmud: Bavli Tractate Yoma 86a :''Rabbi Hama, the son of Hanina says: "Great is repentance, for it brings healing to the world."'
This fellow started the conversation with what our sages equates to murder, but because he was able to access the spark of God inside all of us, he did a bit of Tikkun Olam, (healing, repair of the world), and unhusked a bit of God's bright face, that was covered over , the Zohar tells us, when the world was created and God contracted ,tzimtzum ,to make room for man and his free will. He caused some of God's brilliance, radiance, [what the name Zohar means], to break through into this world.
And he made himself a new friend, in me.
Please develop your Neshemah with Jewish Spiritual Renewal. As my friend and teacher wrote me today: The Divine One is The Source of Joy. To be joyous is to be connected with the Source – one who is connected to the Source IS joyous! Move from Galut, exile, to Gila, joy, into Geulah, redemption.
Love peace and pursue peace, bring each other closer to God, to Torah and each other, say our sages in Pirkei Avot. Do not be a maker of makloket, strife, as the Torah teaches,"Do not be like Korach." Be loving toward one everyone. Life is too short for anything else.
Many blessings, and Shabbat shalom!!
Rabbi Arthur Segal
Hebrew College, Newton Centre, MA, USA
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Hilton Head Island, SC;Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
Hebrew College, Newton Centre, MA, USA
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Hilton Head Island, SC;Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
The SPIRITUALRENEWAL mailing list is hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network a service of Hebrew College, which offers online courses and an online MA in Jewish Studies, http://hebrewcollege.edu/online/
To unsubscribe email SPIRITUALRENEWAL-unsubscribe-request@SHAMASH.ORG
For other options go to: http://listserv.SHAMASH.ORG/
Nothing says I love you like flowers! Find a florist near you now.
