Air…Conditioned!

by Rabbi Ben-Tzion Saloff on February 9, 2012

Inspiration floats through the air of Eretz Yisrael, as it is written “אויר ארץ ישראל מחכים” “The air of the land of Israel makes one wise”.

Although I can’t lay claim to any significant level of wisdom, while I was praying ma’ariv the other night, I snatched the following things out of that air which you may find useful.

In the first blessing after the “Barechu”, there are two conscutive phrases: “בחכמה פותח שערים” and “ובתבונה משנה עתים”.  The first phrase has to do with wisdom: “with wisdom He opens gates”, and the second phrase relates to understanding: “and with understanding He changes times”.

The gematria of the the sofei teivos (final letters in each word of the phrase) of the first phrase-the wisdom phrase- is 53, which is also the gematria of the Hebrew word for “garden” as in “the Garden of Eden”. The sofei teivos of the second expression-the understanding expression- is 50, which corresponds to the lofty “50 Gates of Understanding”.

This teaches us that by using “שכל תנודה” “oscillating consciousness”, that is to say, by oscillating between our binah/rational consciousness, and our chochmah/intuitive consciousness, we open the gates to the Garden of Divine Inspiration and channel it through the 50 Gates of Understanding until there rests in our hearts, mouths and hands inspired G-dly feelings, thoughts and actions.

After floating with the power of that observation, we arrived at the Shemonah Esrei. In the blessing of השיבנו (return us), the first three words are: “השיבנו אבינו לתורתך” “Return us our Father to your Torah”, and the second three word phrase is: “וקרבנו מלכנו לעבודתך” “and bring us near our King to your service”. The gematria of the sofei teivos of both of those three word phrases is 32, which is also the gematria for the Hebrew word “lev” or “heart”. The gematria of the sofei teivos of the subsequent four word phrase: “והחזירנו בתשובה שלמה לפניך” “and return us before You in complete repentance”, is 36 which is two times the the Hebrew word for life (chai).

This teaches us that if we put our whole heart into both our Torah learning and practice, and our avodah (avodah is prayer), we will merit to draw close to Hashem with abundant vitality/life force both in this world, and in the world to come (double chai).

Abundant blessings from the Holy Land.

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Pesach in Panama

by Rabbi Ben-Tzion Saloff on November 15, 2011

I will be speaking at a Pesach program in sunny Panama.  You can check it out at pesachinpanama2012.com

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Permission, no….Encouragement To Seek!

by Rabbi Ben-Tzion Saloff on November 5, 2011

 

ז ויאמר אליו אני ה’ אשר הוצאתיך מאור כשדים לתת לך את-הארץ הזאת לרשתה
ח ויאמר אדנ”י ה’ במה אדע כי אירשנה

“7 And he said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.
8 And he said, Lord G-d, how shall I know that I shall inherit it?”

What CHUTZPAH!

How could it be that Avraham, the first person who, though living amongst the practitioners of every form of idolatry imaginable, came to a recognition of the One, True G-d who is a Absolute Unity of all things;  how could such a person receive a direct promise of inheritance from such an Awesome and Absolute Master/Creator, and then ask “how shall I know that I shall inherit it?”!

We would like to suggest that the next verse not only clears up the apparent contradiction, but also opens a whole new world of direction in life and Divine service:

ט ויאמר אליו קחה לי עגלה משלשת ועז משלשת ואיל משלש ותר וגוזל”:”

“9 And he said to him, Bring me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat,

and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

The very nature of the process of Avrahams’ G-dly revelation precluded any kind of doubt of Hashem’s word.  As part of that process, Avraham had come to understand that Creation was a “multiverse”, consisting of physical, spiritual and G-dly dimensions which had reflections and signs of, in their counterparts.  That meant in our verses in question that Avraham accepted in full confidence that Hashem would fulfill his promise; however his question was “how will I see this commitment which you have already manifested in the upper dimensions, according to your Word; begin to manifest in the physical world?  G-d then answered him with a series of signs and symbols which, through comtemplation and action upon, he could begin to understand the process of the revelation of the fulfillment of His Promise.
G-d wants us to Seek Him and signs of Him and His influence in Creation.

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To whom does Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi address his magnum opus of Jewish mysticism The Tanya?:

“שמעו אלי רודפי צדק מבקשי ה’ וישמע אליכם אלקים למגדול ועד קטן”

“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek G-d, and may the Almighty listen to you, both great and small.”

 

 

 

 

 

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PASSION!

by Rabbi Ben-Tzion Saloff on November 2, 2011

There is one common undercurrent flowing within every profoundly creative person, and that is PASSION!

In her eulogy for her brother Steve Jobs, Mona Simpson said that the last words of this prolific, creative genius were “OH MY. OH MY. OH MY!” His passion and what I call “original wonder” were apparently in play until the last moment.

“Original wonder” is the ability to view things with the original wonder of a child. This is the reason that children are so creative and learn so much, so quickly. Everything is so new and wonderful!

This passion and wonder are what Hashem seeks from us in our search for Him in the Torah and in creation; as it says in the foundational prayer that we are commanded to say at least twice every day “And you shall love Hashem your G-d, with All your heart, with All your soul and with All your might”!

The next time that you pray, learn or seek signs of Divine Providence in creation, remember to do it with PASSION and ORIGINAL WONDER! You may be profoundly amazed by your results.

Let me know.

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Perspective השקפה-What Have We Done With The Essence? Installment #1

by Rabbi Ben-Tzion Saloff on June 24, 2011

(I’m going to offer this next subject in installments.  Please feel free jump in any time! :) )

Perspective. It guides us and it fools us. It depends on how we build it; how we build our paradigm, our personally designed window on the world.

How can our perspective fool us? There is a very interesting mechanism built into the human psyche. This “mechanism” is adaptability.

For practical intents and purposes, I have no sense of smell. Just like my lack of a sense of smell, adaptability can be a blessing and a curse. A change, if administered gradually can be easily assimilated, even though if it were to be experienced all at once, it would be intolerable. This applies to physical, psychological and even political changes. The temperature in the mikva…the loss of liberties and freedoms…Look around you. I’m sure that you can come up with numerous examples of your own.

There is an insidious change which we have been adapting to. It has been taking place over a long period of time, and it needs to be addressed immediately and vociferously, because it is responsible for the spiritual confusion and decline of many of our brothers and sisters, especially among the youth.

What I’m about to say will certainly raise some eyebrows, and perhaps upset people, but try to clear your mind and view the world with the un-jaded and unprejudiced eyes of youth through which truth is clear and uncomplicated by ego and pride.

Torah observant Judaism in most communities, has taken on a strange pathway, life and character which has caused us to veer off in directions which our forefathers would never recognize, and I believe that the stress which our sages placed on accurately attributing and teaching something (only) In the name of the person who said it, (so much so, that they said such attribution brings
redemption to the world!) was to try to avoid the condition which we nevertheless find ourselves in.

We have been focusing on the the body (logic, rational evaluation and investigation, rules and regulations) and not the soul (Faith and Trust in G-d). We are creating golums. Our bodies are powerful, but we and especially our youth are in danger of losing our souls!

Let’s look at a few examples.

(to be continued next week)

Good Shabbos

 

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