Conceited Fool

You should have read this first. If you haven’t, please do. It will give (personal) context to what follows.

An irreligious man came to Rebbe Nachman and boasted that he was an expert in foreign (non-Jewish) languages. He had recently been in a government office and was able to interpret a word that even their professional interpreters did not know. He was very conceited because of this knowledge.

When the man left, the Rebbe ridiculed him for being conceited about such nonsense. One of the Rebbe’s disciples, an extraordinary God-fearing scholar, was there. He asked, “Maybe it is better to be conceited because of something foolish than to be conceited, God forbid, because of one’s Torah knowledge?”

The Rebbe was silent for a minute and then answered, “No. The opposite is true. Our Sages tell us that when Rebbe Akiva was in prison, Papus said to him, ‘Fortunate are you Rebbe Akiva, for you were imprisoned for the sake of the Torah. But woe unto Papus who was imprisoned for trivialities’” (Berakhot 61b).

It is brought in Likutey Moharan I, Lesson #22 that the punishment for conceit is imprisonment. See Likutey Moharan II, Lesson #63 which discusses the imprisonment of Rebbe Akiva. It is established that it is better to be conceited on account of Torah, than on account of trivialities.

Talents, skills, knowledge—they’re all fine and dandy. But ultimately they’re trivial. They have no meaning unless they are harnessed to that which is everlasting. And that’s why we are gifted with them. Capisce paisan?

Shabbos Night (1 of 10)

(In memory of Chaim Barukh Yehudah ben Dovid Tzvi zl)

There’s a lot coming our way about Shabbos (Friday) night. And that’s before we get to the Friday night seudah (meal)!

Hellfire Rests on Shabbat

See this! With your mind and your faith. When Shabbos begins and that unholy ball of fire is buried in the Sinkhole of the Great Deep all harsh fires of judgment of the River Dinur and even of Hell are buried and quashed, burning nothing. The guilty in Hell have some respite (if they kept Shabbos in this world). In fact, all worlds, above and below have respite.

When Shabbos ends and Jews make the blessing on fire in Havdalah, each of the buried fires returns to its place.

One reason we are forbidden to kindle fire on Shabbat—”Wherever you live, do not light a fire on Shabbat”—is to not fan those flames.

Why then was the fire on the mizbeach, Altar, in the Beit HaMikdash? The origin of that fire is different and so it keeps the negative forces away (Zohar 2:208a).

At the beginning of Shabbos an announcement is made in all the Heavens: Cavalry and camps be prepared and ready to greet your Master! When they do, they are absorbed into the Shekhinah’s light and become part of her jewelry.

With that comes a wind out of the South, a wind of kindness to cloak these holy camps. This wind is called the gorgeous Shabbat clothing. The Shabbat tables of Jewish homes are placed in a special Heavenly chamber. You and your family are fortunate when your Shabbat table is properly set. You won’t suffer embarrassment if your table is set to the best of your ability.

Zohar 2:203b–204a

Shabbos is Special! Don’t Disrespect Her!

If, God forbid, we break the Shabbos laws we disrespect her. It’s like we’re telling the Shekhinah we don’t care about her. Here the Shekhinah crowns us with an extra neshamah and we sort of fling it off our heads!

So we have to watch ourselves and not use our mouths to say anything unfitting to Shabbos; or our hands to do any prohibited weekday activity; or our feet to walk beyond the Shabbos boundary. Don’t diss Shabbos!

Zohar 2:207a

Extra Holiness! Handle with Care!

Shabbos night (Friday) the Shekhinah spreads her wings and her light over the entire world. The weekday staff that operates the world is removed. The Shekhinah’s staff takes their place in order to shelter the Jews with peace.

When the Shekhinah asserts her authority, a cleaner atmosphere prevails in the world. Each Jew then receives the neshamah yeteirah (additional soul). Depression and anger are forgotten, replaced by joy in the heavenly worlds above and in our world below.

This additional neshamah is so refined that before she can descend to our world she has to bathe in the fragrance of the Garden of Eden. Then she rests herself on a Jew.

When that neshamah leaves for the Garden, she doesn’t leave by herself. She’s accompanied by 60 “chariots.” They head for the six palaces in the Garden (east, west, north, south, up, down), crowning all the souls that are there. An announcement is made:

“How fortunate are you Jews, the holy nation! Your Master desires you even before you do anything for Him!”

If you’re familiar with “wisdom” {i.e., Kabbalah} there’s a deep secret here waiting to be discovered. The Jewish people are extremely fortunate when the breath of the nefesh, ruach and neshamah (levels of the soul) expands to encompass the earth and fill the air. This is the Shabbos-spirit that rests on every Jew.

Not only Shabbos, Hashem’s Kingdom needs protection, but the Shabbos-spirit that fills the world as well. This is why we are told (Exodus 31:17), “Protect es the Shabbos” (instead of just “protect the Shabbos”).

That spirit fills you. Be careful to keep Shabbos. Driving Shabbos out of the world drives it out of a person.

Zohar 2:204

Uman Rosh Hashanah & LSD

On my Twitter account last week, I riddled: How is Uman Rosh Hashanah like taking LSD?

OK. Maybe you said because each is a trip. Ha, ha. Very funny. LOL. ROTFL. And probably very true. But before we go any further, I want to make TWO THINGS VERY CLEAR.

I do not equate the taking of LSD, or any drug, with any authentic Jewish spiritual practice (with all due respect to both the Yaqui Way and Rastafarians everywhere).
I DO NOT ENDORSE TAKING ANY ILLEGAL DRUGS, INCLUDING HALLUCINOGENS.

If you have never taken LSD and are curious to know what it’s like; or if you have and would like to relive the experience (while limiting the chances of a negative flashback), you may want to read Monkey, by Arthur Waley.

OK, back to the subject at hand.

One innocent responded to the riddle by saying that the two are connected by the Summer of Love “but in spirit only.” I won’t disabuse him of this latter notion, but he’s right on the first count, although I would describe Uman RH more as Human Be-In than Summer of Love.

Rebbe Nachman was very insistent that his followers be with him for Rosh Hashanah. I want to offer a reason. Even though it took place on the Sixth Day of Creation, Rosh Hashanah is the anniversary of Creation because it is the day humankind was created. Without us and our free will, all the beauty and genius of Creation is nothing but a glorified puppet show.

When we and Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge—girl souls with Eve, guy souls with Adam—all hell broke loose. We were driven from the Garden of Eden and have been trying to get back since. Rebbe Nachman, as the tikkun for/of Adam (humankind, not the guy), calls upon us to re-participate in the annual Opening Day Contest between Serpent and Human. Each year, Rebbe Nachman (with our fragmented-souls reaffixing themselves to his whole Adam-soul) fixes more and more of the damage.

Rebbe Nachman teaches that the greatest part of the RH tikkun (and really every tikkun), is the resultant right-daat, consciousness/awareness. One of the claims made by those who championed “turning on” was that it resulted in “tuning in,” being conscious of the truths of reality and the correct way to live them. It’s not necessarily apparent to us who are blessed to be part of Rebbe Nachman’s Rosh Hashanah, but somehow our consciousness and behavior are permanently altered by the experience. If we remain vigilant, the changes grow stronger within ourselves and get shared with others by osmosis.

Another Yid also got it (mostly) right, although for some reason he responded somewhat tentatively, “Both cause you to see deeper patterns in reality and make you feel outside of daily pedestrian life?” The feeling of being outside the confines of ordinary life is certainly there. This is one of the reasons that many people crash emotionally and/or spiritually (as well as physically) after Rosh Hashanah, sometimes as soon as they pull out of Uman!

As for seeing “deeper patterns in reality,” well, that depends. It has long been my contention—and Rebbe Nachman’s foremost disciple, Reb Noson, backs me up on this (Likutey Halakhot, Taanis 4:8)—that Rebbe Nachman doesn’t really “teach” anything. He says his lesson and each of us who receives the lesson hears what he is capable of hearing, i.e., what he wants to hear. Sadly, those results are sometimes antithetical to Rebbe Nachman’s mission, as well our own personal missions. Reb Noson writes that the best method for “getting it right” is to beg God (and your living teacher) to make you get it right!

Which brings us to the final (for now) part of the riddle’s answer. We will talk first of taking LSD since, in all likelihood, more people who surf the Internet have done LSD than have ever been to Uman. (That is due to change, by the way.) Broadly speaking, there are (were?) three general approaches to taking LSD. There is the Kesey “Electric Kool-Aid” School, the Hunter Thompson “Gonzo” School and the “Let’s Have Fun” School.

What each school sought is not the point here. What is important is that depending on the “why” one was going to ingest the drug, is how one would set up his environment, in order to best foster that goal. Everything that was beyond the person’s planning was viewed in terms of how it impacted on reaching the goal, fun, escape or consciousness.

Uman RH is the same. Some come for the adventure. Some come for a material and/or spiritual escape, including Rebbe Nachman’s promise, that he will pull them out of Hell, no matter what they’ve done (as long as they try their best to not do it again). Some come for daat/consciousness. Some in this last group have a specific state, level or type of daat they want to reach. Others just put themselves “on the table and let the Rebbe operate” on their minds.

Is Uman RH for you? It’s a trip. It requires physical stamina even for those coming from the Holy Land, a three-hour flight. You are (most likely) coming from a First-World country to a non-First-World country. People are coming and going at all hours of the day—and night. Your sleeping and eating patterns will be disturbed, to put it mildly. Services are much longer than usual.

It requires emotional stamina. For a week, you’re thrown into close quarters with Jews of all different types, with different levels of Jewish knowledge, commitment, sophistication, and whose level of courtesy and couth may fall far short of what you consider normal human decency.

It requires spiritual stamina. Facing the physical and emotional challenges, how patient can you remain so that you don’t fall short in your own interactions with others? How committed to maintaining your Torah-learning schedule (adjusted for travel and the holiday)? How patient to focus for davening (praying)? Can you be conscious enough to be b’simchah, to relish that you are part of something bringing humankind to its tikkun?

Do you believe in Rebbe Nachman? Is your faith in his genius and tzaddik-ness enough to cover your stamina handicaps?

148 West

NEVER EVER DESPAIR!

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