2 for Your Sukkah

By properly performing the mitzvah of sukkah one is privileged to have a pure heart. That pure heart is your ticket to pouring out your heart to Hashem (God), telling Him your every concern.

The words you speak to Hashem are akin to ruach hakodesh.

OB: Our hearts lack purity because we are greedy. I don’t mean we are totally self-centered. I mean we indulge ourselves more than is necessary because we are selfish—we eat because we want to eat; we sleep because we want to sleep, etc. We focus on the pleasure for pleasure’s sake instead of doing what we need to do because we are responsible for taking care of our bodies.

But the primary mitzvah of sukkah—eating, drinking and sleeping withing its four walls—is an opportunity to re-focus, to remind ourselves that there is more to strive for. The quasi-roof of the sukkah (skhakh) may only be made from [1] materials that grow from the ground and [2] are insusceptible to tumah (ritual impurity). Part of the message of these qualifications is that we can elevate even the earthy to a higher-level of consciousness if we don’t corrupt it with impure motives and goals.

The openness of skhakh is flimsy from a material perspective. But from a spiritual perspective it is an invitation to realize higher levels of God-awareness. There is no pre-determined or fixed limit to how much you can grow. The limit is higher than the sky.

Once your hearts is freed—purified—from the petty pleasures of the body, she can speak openly to Hashem about her true concerns, about her aspirations and ambitions for coming close to Hashem. These words are not coming from a place within you that is constrained by your intellect. It is coming from an even more Divine, holy, point of contact that you have with Hashem. And it is even more than that, but what that “more” is cannot be told to you. You have to Divine/divine it yourself.

Properly performing the mitzvah of sukkah:

Is a segulah (nostrum, preternatural charm) to have children.
Saves a person from strife and argument.
Sukkah dissipates falsehood and strengthens the truth.
Reveals the genuine rebbe of the era. This means that every person sees the truth and understands who is the genuine tzaddik who can bring people back to Hashem. As a result of the true tzaddik’s fame, even the nations of the world come closer to Hashem, all with one mind.

OB: A sukkah is the Shekhinah’s nest. Wherever you see a sukkah, you are looking at a place that is, or could be, a resting place for the Shekhinah. Being the Divine “Mother,” the Shekhinah can bring fertility with her. As we‘ve seen from our Zohar-based posts about Shabbos, the hallmark of the Shekhinah‘s presence is peace. True shalom cannot exist if people lie or are deceitful to one another, even if their intentions are noble. Sooner or later, the truth will slip out and there is no guarantee that everyone in the relationship will be able to maintain his/her pacific attitude in light of the revelations.

Finally, as we learn from Rebbe Nachman‘s story The Lost Princess, the tzaddik is the one who dedicates his life, his soul, his all, to finding the Shekhinah and bringing her back home. By locating ourselves in the Shekhinah’s (temporary) abode, the sukkah, we make ourselves more capable of receiving the tzaddik’s da’at (awareness, mind-set). First, moving out of our homes and into a sukkah is the Shekhinah-seeking that the tzaddik engages in. Second, by actually “dwelling” with the Shekhinah and re-focusing to a higher, tzaddik-like mind-set, we find the tzaddik‘s teachings—or they find us!

As is well-known, there were 70 korbanot (offerings) made on Sukkot in the Holy Temple. These korbanot were brought on behalf of the 70 non-Jewish nations of the world. Just as an individual becomes spiritual, more Jewish, so too the nations of the world become more Jewish.

agut yomtov! Chag sameach!

Sukkat Shalom

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

Extra Protection

[Summary: The holy Zohar tells us that as Shabbat begins the sacred Shekhinah spreads her wings over the world and settles herself in the world. As a result, the “outside,” i.e., negative, forces are forced into hiding and can exercise no authority on the world. The world has an extra measure of protection on Shabbat; even the denizens of Hell get the day off. This is why the closing of the final Maariv blessing differs from its weekday version.]

The holy Zohar says:

Come! Expand your vision!

As the sun sets Friday afternoon, the Sukkat Shalom (canopy of peace) settles and expands into the world. Who is Sukkat Shalom? Shabbat, the Shekhinah. All the evil demons—subtle and fierce and in-between—and every carrier of impure energy, goes into hiding. The simple presence of Shabbat sanctity weakens them; they cannot stir themselves. The impure spirit flees from the sacred.

The world has then an extra measure of protection. There is no need to pray for it as we do on weekday: “Who protects His People, Yisrael, forever.” It’s a blessing made for the weekday because on weekdays the world needs protecting!

But not Shabbat! With the Sukkat Shalom spread over the world, guarding the world from all sides—even the Hell dwellers are safe and resting—all the worlds, upper and lower, are peaceful and tranquil.

So on Shabbat the blessing closes, “Who extends the Sukkat Shalom over us, over all His people Yisrael and over Jerusalem.” Why “Jerusalem”? Because Jerusalem is where the Shekhinah resides.

And we need to invite the Sukkat-Shekhinah who has spread her wings over us, to be with us and watch over us, as a mother does for her children. Then we will have no need to fear the Sitra Achra.

Zohar 1:48a

The Wrong Kind of Smart

I don’t know much about building underground tunnels. Don’t know how to dig them, ventilate them or illuminate them. But I do know that it takes a lot of people a lot of time and effort to make it happen. It costs lots and lots of money. And like any building project, there’s a certain amount of danger that workers will get hurt. You can multiply my tunnel-ignorance many times over anytime a whole system of tunnels is built.

So I am impressed that Hamas invested so much time, effort, money, ingenuity and know-how to build what is basically an underground city. Can’t be stupid to think of an idea like that and can’t be stupid to actually execute it. You’ve got to be pretty smart. Sadly for them (and us), Hamas is the wrong kind of smart. “They are smart enough to do evil, but when it comes to doing good they don’t know how” (Jeremiah 4:22).

Imagine, and I know for some of us it will be difficult to imagine this, but imagine if Hamas had invested all that time, money, ingenuity etc., into building factories, schools, a hi-tech development center and the like. How many thousands of Gazans would have benefited? How many Gazans would be alive today? The Israeli blockade prevented this from happening? That’s patently false. Despite the blockade, Hamas managed to smuggle in everything it needed to build an underground city that leads all the way into Israel. And right under the noses of the vaunted Israeli intelligence, too.

Hamas could have done so much good for its own people and, by extension, the entire world. Not only would Israelis be safer, but people and nations across the globe would have been calm instead of angry, peaceful instead of belligerent, loving instead of hateful. Arab pride would have gone through the roof. (No pun intended.)

But Hamas couldn’t channel their energies in a positive way because they hate our guts so much. That blinds them to the good they could do. And it blinds them to making peace. “The way of peace they do not know. There is no fairness in the roads they take. They have twisted their paths; whoever walks them will know no peace” (Isaiah 59:8).

May the Blessed Creator soon open the eyes of all us to be the right kind of smart. Amen.

Getting Ready for Rosh Hashanah

One of the things we learned from our ruminations about Uman and LSD is that a big part of our spiritual—excuse me, Jewish—mission is getting along with our fellow Jews. (Of course, Rebbe Akiva put this a bit more succinctly when he said “Love your fellow as you love yourself” [Leviticus 19:18] is a major principle of the Torah [Bereishis Rabbah 24:7].)

But loving people—even if you don’t like them and even if you can’t stand them—and inter-acting civilly is not the last step. It’s the first step. The real power of love is much greater. Pardon the cliché, but the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts.

As you know, Rosh Hashanah is Yom HaDin, Judgment Day. We pray to be written in the Book of Life, for a sweet, happy and healthy new year. But that judgment thing, you know, just won’t go away. Fortunately, God also wants us to come out with a good verdict. So we have to give Him some good reason to make it come out right.

Each of us has the ability to influence the verdict. In fact, you are one of the judges. You are not the chief justice, but your opinion will not only be heard, but it will factor into the final decision. Rebbe Nachman teaches, “On Rosh Hashanah one must be wise and think only good thoughts, that God will be good to us ….” (Rabbi Nachman’s Wisdom #21).

That means, don’t just wish for a good year, and don’t just hope for happiness and good fortune, but “be wise.” Think about what is good, what would truly be good if it happened, if it existed. “Think only good thoughts” about how you, and others, can be better at living a more wholesome Jewish life, for example. Focus and concentrate on how and in what ways “God will be good to us.”

Don’t be selfish and use your wise thinking only on you and yours. Think about your friends, neighbors, local, city, state and federal governments. (I’m not a big fan of politicians, to put it mildly. This recommendation is not for their sake, but ours, per the Mishnah [Avot 3:2], “Pray for the welfare of the government.”) Think wisely about the material misery of so many across the globe, but think even more wisely about the decline of morality and of civilization which need to be reversed.

Our individual efforts to “think only good thoughts” will have a positive impact, but only to a limited degree. The reason? Because as strongly as you or I focus on bettering the world, we are acting singly. We can mitigate the judgment only to our individual limits. But what if we thought together? What if we were so in love with one another before Rosh Hashanah that we agreed on which were the best, or most necessary, points to “be wise” about and we focused on them together?

Yeah, that would be pretty cool. Now, maybe it’s too close to Rosh Hashanah 5774 to do something globally, maybe not. But certainly, it’s not too late to discuss with some friends and fellow shul/synagogue/chaburah-goers about which “good thoughts” to think and in what ways we want “God to be good to us.” Ditto, for folks, spouse and siblings.

Uniting in peace and love, even as a small group, creates a mind much greater in scope, with much greater power. The Rebbe teaches (Rabbi Nachman’s Wisdom #62):

When thought is intensely concentrated and focused, it can exert great influence. All faculties of the mind, conscious and unconscious, down to the innermost point, must be focused without distraction. When many people do this without distraction, their thinking can actually force something to happen. (See there for a caveat!)

A final word. We usually think of “good” in material terms, “more” and “better,” “bigger” and “faster.” When Rebbe Nachman says “good” he means an eternal good beyond our comprehension—but within our ability to live.

Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

In honor of The Nine Days, the first nine days of the month of Av, which culminate with Tisha b’Av (9^th of Av), the anniversary of the destruction of the holy Temple in Jerusalem, let’s talk peace.

Rebbe Nachman says in Likutey Moharan II, Lesson #96: It is possible to whisper that a gun should not shoot.

If you read international news, national and maybe even the local news, you’re going to find many articles about people picking up guns, or stones, or knives. (And how many of us hurl poisoned words, sometimes with careful aim and sometimes carelessly?) The threat of violence is always lurking, seemingly everywhere. Every reported crime appears to inspire another. Aveirah goreret aveirah, one sin drags along another (Avot 4:2).

Rebbe Nachman once pointed out that many primitive ancient practices, such as child-sacrifice, have disappeared, but the misguided error of war and bloodshed still remain. He spoke disparagingly of inventors who develop weapons of mass destruction. “What geniuses they are, that they can figure out how to kill thousands of people at once! Is there anything more foolish than to kill people for nothing!” (Tzaddik #546).

Rebbe Nachman subtly reminds us, the children whose “voice is the voice of Yaakov” (Genesis 27:22), that even our whispers are strong enough to silence the guns of the world (“Esav’s sword,” ibid. v.40), to put a stop to wars and bring an end to violence. But we have to pray. Letters to editors or senators, gun legislation, police presence and such are band-aids at best. A collective change of consciousness is needed. And it starts with your whisper.

Even if you’re so distracted by your personal pain that you cannot care enough about humanity’s pain; even if you’re so disheartened by the constant and consistently amazing descent of human behavior, still it is possible to manage a whispered prayer: “Dear God! Please. No more violence. No more lifting swords against one another. No more learning war. Help us to beat the swords into plowshares already.” “It’s getting dark, too dark to see. Put our guns in the ground. We can’t shoot them anymore.”

Start with your whisper. The river that flows from the Temple (Ezekiel 47) also begins as a mere trickle, but gets deeper and stronger as it goes, pushing away death and bringing life and healing wherever it flows—speedily, in our days. Amen.

(Rebbe Nachman wasn’t a total pacifist. He was a realist. He taught that if there is a war, one must make the necessary preparations and not rely on miracles [The Aleph-Bet Book, Strife, A:5, 101].)

148 West

NEVER EVER DESPAIR!

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