Passing Over - a Prayer for Pesach

I need to go to the desert, Lord - I need to go to the desert!

I/we don't know how I/we will serve until I/we get there, Lord!

But I'm stuck in the narrow places and Pharaoh won't let me go! And I can't leave the people behind but I need to take my leave and get to the desert.

I want the Promised Land but I can't even picture it now - I just want to get to that desert.

All the world is a narrow bridge. All the world is an EGYPT bridge.

(Bridge connections - why I love Hebrew.)

I need to leave the safety of the bridge for the desert or Miriam's well. Miriam's swell well.

(And where will I fish for gefilte fish? And can I get sweet Manischewitz or kosher for Pesach Dr Pepper in the desert?)

I have to set up the Mishkan and the twelve tribes around it - the twelve parts of me in four directions - not just the Rachel son parts but the Leah parts and the Zilpah and Bilhah parts - and even the Dinah part - what section of the camp does SHE get???

A Prayer for Purim

Riboinoi shel Oilom,

Maker of Masks, Wearer of Masks, Beholder of masks,

You are Hidden yet wear many Masks and bear many Names to reveal Yourself to us.

Blessed are You for putting on the Masks so we can approach You.

 

I need to wear masks of my own at times.

I need to remove my masks at other times.

Please give me the discernment to know:

·                   When to wear a mask

·                   When to take off the mask

·                   Which mask to wear

 

Thank You for Your guidance.

Thank You for coming out of hiding when we say “Ayeh/Where” – for “Ayeh” ha-seh l’olah – the question “Ayeh?” is the lamb of ascent.

May we know You with ever more sheer Masks speedily, in our own days.

Amen.

Thoughts about the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy

 Two thoughts about the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy (Exodus/Shemot 34:6-7) - I want to write more about them, but I will share the basic thoughts here:

1. Whenever the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy are chanted as part of the High Holiday liturgy, in Selichot, on fast days, etc., they are chanted three times. Three times thirteen equals thirty-nine. There are thirty-nine melachot, or categories of work, prohibited to be done on Shabbat - and the reason they are prohibited is that they are the tasks done to build the Mishkan, the Tabernacle. The commandment to observe/remember Shabbat contains the commandment "Six days shall you labor" - so the commandment to rest from performing the tasks to build the Mishkan includes the implicit commandment to do so the rest of the week - which can be seen metaphorically as a commandment to work to build a place for G!d's presence on earth within and among us. Since the thirty-nine tasks equal three times thirteen, this can be seen as a commandment to build a metaphorical place for the presence of G!d emulating G!d's Thirteen Attributes of Mercy as the essential nature of those tasks (and we should emulate G!d because we are created in the image (Genesis/Bereshit 1:27) and likeness (Genesis/Bereshit 5:10 of G!d.

2. Rebbe Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev, in Kedushas Levi on Ki Tisa 14, quoting the Maggid of Mezritch, teaches that the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy correspond to the Thirteen Hermeneutical Principles contained in the Baraita of Rabbi Yishmael, each Attritute having a corresponding Hermeneutical Principle. (More info about these here: https://jewishencyclopedia.com/.../12937-rules-of-r....) These Hermeneutical Principles are recited at the end of the first section of Shacharit each morning. As regular readers know, I have wrestled with the Akedah, the Binding of Isaac (Genesis/Bereshit 22), for many years - and intriguingly, the Akedah is traditionally recited in the first section of Shacharit, not that long before the recitation of this Baraita. I think that perhaps reading this very disturbing text of Abraham almost murdering his son, which can be seen as resulting in trauma for Isaac, in the context of Hermeneutical Principles that correspond to the Attributes of Mercy, teaches us to have a "hermeneutic of G!d's mercy" when approaching traumatic texts such as this. (And "mercy" is such a weak translation of the incredibly rich "Rachmanim" - derived from "rechem," meaning "womb" - "rachmonus" - to use the Yiddish pronunciation means compassion - but a very deep compassion, the English word for which doesn't really exist.)

Shavua Tov - have a great week!

"Where" is the lamb for the ascent?

Longtime regular readers of my posts will know that I have been wrestling with the Akedah, the binding of Isaac (Bereshit/Genesis 22), for over three decades. One local rabbi gives me a trigger warning whenever it comes up in daf yomi or other contexts - and invited me to give a class on the various interpretations on the Shabbat when it was read as part of the Torah reading.

Tonight, I learned a new reading, in the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, in a wonderful three-part class taught by Rabbanit Goldie Guy which concluded tonight. Here is the teaching, from Likutey Moharan:

ליקוטי מוהר"ן, תנינא י״ב:א׳:ט״ז

וְזֶהוּ בְּחִינוֹת עוֹלָה, בְּחִינַת (בראשית כב): ו"אַיֵּה" הַשֶּׂה לְעוֹלָה. שֶׁבְּחִינַת "אַיֵּה" הִיא בְּחִינוֹת שֶׂה לְעוֹלָה, לְתַקֵּן וּלְכַפֵּר הִרְהוּר הַלֵּב, שֶׁבָּא מִמְּקוֹמוֹת הַמְטֻנָּפִים כַּנַּ"ל. כִּי עַל־יְדֵי בְּחִינוֹת "אַיֵּה" נִתְתַּקֵּן וְעוֹלֶה מִשָּׁם כַּנַּ"ל.

Likutei Moharan, Part II 12:1:16

This is also the concept of the olah (burnt-offering), as in “but ayeh (where) is the lamb for the olah?” (Genesis 22:7). [Asking] “Ayeh?” is itself the concept of the lamb for the olah to rectify and atone for those thoughts in the heart that stem from the “filthy places.” For it is through the concept of Ayeh that a person is rectified and oleh (ascends) from there, as mentioned above.

Essentially, this is part of a teaching about how the glory of G!d fills the earth - yet at the same time is absent or concealed some of the time (I'm oversimplifying here), but when we feel the absence and ask "Where is G!d's glory?" - that is when it begins to revealed and we begin to make teshuvah - to return to G!d and relationship with G!d.

So rather than being "Where is the lamb for the burnt-offering?" (the pshat, or literal meaning of the text)- it becomes "'WHERE' [the question] is the lamb for the ascent" (an allegorical reading)- olah, burnt-offering, is the word for ascent (perhaps the burnt-offering is called this because the smoke ascends to G!d). The very question - the very search and desire for G!d - is what allows and begins the ascent.

I have long read Isaac going away separately from his father Abraham at the end of the Akedah through a trauma lens, that he was so traumatized by nearly being murdered by his father that he had to separate from him. And I still believe that reading is valid. But this introduces the idea that in the experience, even in the midst of the trauma, Isaac has the desire to seek G!d and sets out, separate from his father, to find G!d. The midrash suggests he goes to learn in a yeshiva. And at the very least, this perhaps explains the relationship he develops with G!d such that the text later describes him going out into the field for meditation and praying for his wife to be able to have children.

This is a new concept that I look forward to thinking about for some time to come.

Possible reason for the Ramak's choice of the title Tomer Devorah - Megillah 14a

Tomer Devorah by the Ramak is one of my favorite Jewish texts - it takes the Thirteen Supernal Attributes of Mercy from Micah 7:18-20 (different from the Thirteen Attributes taken from Shemot, although I have one siddur that has them superimposed over one another in the text of Tashlich, the practice of which is inspired by a phrase in these verses from Micah) and gives instruction on how we as humans can emulate these attributes of mercy that G!d possesses. That's the first chapter - the rest of the short work describes how to apply this through the ten sfirot, even toward the end giving a schedule of which sfirot are most active at a particular time of day.

But one thing that has puzzled me since discovering the work a couple of years ago is the title, Tomer Devorah, "Palm-Tree of Devorah", which is not referenced in the work - indeed, the only tree of any kind mentioned is the tree of klippot - hardly a tree one would compare with the tomer Devorah!

But I may have discovered the reason in today's daf.

מָה תָּמָר זֶה אֵין לוֹ אֶלָּא לֵב אֶחָד — אַף יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁבְּאוֹתוֹ הַדּוֹר לֹא הָיָה לָהֶם אֶלָּא לֵב אֶחָד לַאֲבִיהֶן שֶׁבַּשָּׁמַיִם.

"Alternatively, the verse means: Just as a palm tree has only one heart, as a palm tree does not send out separate branches, but rather has only one main trunk, so too, the Jewish people in that generation had only one heart, directed to their Father in Heaven." (Megillah 14a)

Perhaps the Ramak is exhorting us, through his work Tomer Devorah, to have only one heart, directed to G!d, manifested in living out the 13 Supernal Attributes of Mercy.

Response to Tanya, Likutei Amarim, end of Chapter 3

 Today's reading in Tanya talks about fear/awe (yirah) and love (ahavah) of G!d - and it reminds me of how these fundamental ways of approaching the service of G!d are expounded in Mesillat Yesharim, one of the foundational texts in the study of Mussar.

Tanya on awe: For when the intellect in the rational soul deeply contemplates and immerses itself exceedingly in the greatness of G-d, how He fills all worlds, or when one contemplates how He encompasses all worlds, or, when one contemplates another aspect of G-d’s greatness, namely, how in His presence all creation is considered as naught—upon contemplating and immersing oneself in any of the abovementioned aspects of G-d’s greatness, the middah of awe for the Divine Majesty will be born and aroused in one’s mind and thought, to fear and be humble before His blessed greatness, which is without end or limit, and there will also be born a dread [pachad] of G-d in his heart.

Mesillat Yesharim: Fear [of G-d] - this is fear of the exaltedness of G-d, namely, that one fears before Him like he would fear before a great and awesome king, feeling abashed by His greatness before making any movement before Him. All the more so, when speaking before Him in prayer or studying His Torah.

Tanya on love: Next, his contemplation his heart will glow with an intense love of G-d like fiery flames, with a passion, desire, and longing, and a yearning soul toward the greatness of the blessed Ein Sof. This is what is meant by the term kalot hanefesh (“a consuming passion of the soul”), as it is written: “My soul longs [for You]; indeed, it faints…,” and “My soul thirsts for G-d…,” and again, “My soul thirsts for You….”

Mesillat Yesharim on love: Love - that one has implanted in his heart love of G-d, until his soul is moved to do what is pleasing to Him just like his heart is moved to do what is pleasing to his father and mother. He will be pained if he or others are lacking in this. He will be zealous for it and feels great joy in doing something of this.

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, who wrote Mesillat Yesharim, was a kabbalist, so I am not surprised that he and the Alter Rebbe came up with similar language to describe these - I would love to know more about how these two aspects of the service of G!d are treated in prior works that both might have read and been influenced by.

Response to Tanya, Likutei Amarim, beginning of Chapter 3

I decided last week on Yud Tes Kislev to read Tanya and HaYom Yom this year. I had tried to read Tanya once before, a couple of years ago, and had not gotten very far - and after Chai Elul, I sporadically read HaYom Yom, which I enjoyed more.

TBH, today's Tanya reading was the first one so far in the book that I actually found insightful. The introductions by other people, while interesting, made me feel "alright, already - let's get to the good stuff!" - and how many times must we read that someone who published without permission in the five years after original publication would be cursed? I'm also profoundly uncomfortable with the division of the world into "wicked", "righteous", and "in-between" - I think ALL people are "in-between". I'm also uncomfortable with the idea that some souls are derived from unclean klippot, with no good whatsoever within them - I just can't accept that.

But the idea of the lower seven sefirot corresponding to the seven days of creation - THAT is an insight I appreciate. (I have some familiarity already with the sefirot.) I knew there was a connection between Malchut and Shabbat - although it's usually expressed that Malchut (identified with the Shechinah) is in exile six days a week and united with Keter on Shabbat - there is a passage from the Zohar (Ka Gavna) that Chasidim and Sephardim recite on Friday night in the liturgy about this. But it's interesting to see how some of the others work - particularly Gevurah, which would be the second day of creation - which is the only day of the six active days of creation where G!d does not see that "it was good" - and Tiferet is the one day (third day) where it says that G!d saw that it was good TWICE. And Yesod corresponds with the sixth day when G!d saw that it was VERY good. I hope there is more about this as Tanya proceeds.

I'm looking forward to seeing additional insights as I continue through Tanya.