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Kol Tuv,
A Still Small Voice
You are joyfully invited to
The 21st Annual Open-House, Pot-Luck
Purim Party for Women
* Learn * Dance * Inebriate *
Monday, Shushan Purim, March 1, 2:00 PM to 2:00 AM
Chabad Street 90/16 Jewish Quarter (Old City)
Bronze gate above street (that passes between the parking lots and continues to the kotel). Once stepping into the courtyard take left entrance, left staircase, 3rd floor #16
Bring food and drink and an open heart
…and don’t forget your dancing shoes!
Everyone is Welcome (women only that is)
PurimBurst 2010 /5770
by Sarah Yehudit Schneider
(inspired by R. Tsadok HaKohen, Likutei Amarim, essay 5)
One is obligated to drink on Purim until you don’t know the difference between cursing Haman and blessing Mordecai (Shulchan Aruch 695:2).
The Ari explains the tikun that happens through this peculiar mitzvah: In every fallen person or sinful moment there is a sliver of God that enables that opposer-of-good to exist for there is only one source of life, and that is HaShem, the One-and-Only-Sustainer-of-Worlds. And these poor slivers of God trapped within the sociopath are coerced to enliven his wayward deeds—even when he scorns all that God holds dear. The spark of life inside that opposer-of-good is actually a chip off our very own block, a holy brother sequestered by the other side. The problem is how to send love to our comrade-spark without energizing its malevolent captor—how to keep the spark alight till its rescue can be arranged.
That, says the Ari, is the secret and power of Purim and, in particular, its mitzvah of inebriation.
When a person, in their drunken state, accidently blesses Haman (though he meant to bless Mordekhai), he sends light to the holy spark trapped inside Haman [a symbol for the evil realms which includes all our enemies both inside and out]. Yet because the blessing was unconscious and accidental, it does not empower the Amalakite, himself, only the spark that’s held captive there. [And the stronger the spark, the greater its might to tug the system toward the light—captor and all.] (Pri Eitz Chayim, Shaar Chanukha and Purim, Chapter 6)
Most of the time, an absent mind produces failure, fall, and damage. “A mitzvah without intention is like a body without a soul.”1 The sages teach that witlessness is the cause of all misdeeds. “No one sins except if a spirit of folly overcomes him for a moment” (TB Sota 3a).
But, on Purim, the opposite is true. We actually cultivate folly—there is a certain tikun that only occurs when we suffer a lapse of awareness. Presence of mind is our perennial goal but on Purim we seek to escape it. The explanation is as follows:
In general, the power of a mitzvah’s tikun is in proportion to its mindfulness. A mitzvah performed by rote, accomplishes minimal advancement—a spark gets extracted but remains earthbound.2 It lacks the wings of love and fear to carry it aloft. Like a precious stone mined from the earth, and left lying on the ground, the spark remains below. The more passion and intention one brings to that deed, the higher the spark ascends. A mitzvah performed with lucid awareness—the selfless desire to serve good and delight God—that is the purest of motives and it brings the greatest tikun.3
But what happens to those earthbound sparks, released but left behind when we perform a mitzvah by rote? Are they doomed to eternal limbo? The Ari says, No! As soon as we come back and perform that same mitzvah with greater intention, or recite that prayer with concentration, this new service “pierces the firmament” and carries with it the sparks that could not rise on their own.
There is no wasted mitzvah. Even when we space out altogether and barely take advantage of the potential of the moment, spiritual work is done. The deed itself extracts the spark. And the next day or week or year or lifetime, when we come back and perform it again, this time with full kavanna, those previous sparks gets lifted by these ones with greater oomph.
R. Tsadok extends this principle to the Passover sedar which is the only time of year that eating becomes a full-fledged mitzvah, meaning that we actually recite a blessing over that act of consumption: ”Blessed are You HaShem…who has commended us to eat this matzah (or maror or, when relevant, Korban Pesach).” Eating thus becomes an act of holy service. And, just as we learned about prayer—that a passage recited with soulful intent will uplift all the times it was spoken by rote—so does the Sedar raise all the earthbound sparks produced by unconscious eating. These three moments of mitzvah-eating (the only three of the whole year) can even redeem a spark from food that was eaten with gluttonous intent as long as it was kosher. The Sedar can raise our neutral deeds and wrong intentions, but it cannot reverse the callusing of soul that comes from forbidden foods.
Yet that, precisely, is the power of Purim—it is the one day when folly, itself, becomes a mitzvah. And thus it can redeem all the foolish (and fallen) deeds that were performed throughout the year. The implications are profound, for we have already learned that: “A person does not sin, except when a spirit of folly overtakes him.” When eating becomes a mitzvah it redeems our gluttonous consumption—when folly becomes a mitzvah, it raises our foolish deeds—a Talmudic euphemism for sins, as we have seen.
This explains Purim’s legendary power to effect teshuva in a way that even surpasses the day that is specially designated for teshuva, our Day of Awe called Yom Kippur. Everyone knows the Ari’s famous teaching based on the Hebrew words for Purim, and Yom Kippurim (K’Purim); where the difference between them is simply the letter K’ (which, as a prefix, means, “like” or “similar to.”). This hints to the secret relationship between these two days where, Yom Kippur becomes, literally, the day that is k’ (like) Purim. The Hebrew language thus ascribes the primary (and trend-setting) holiness to Purim. Yom Kippur strives for Purim’s sanctity but never quite measures up. It comes close enough to be called, “like Purim,” but never supersedes.
On Yom Kippur the reconciliation of our relationship with G‑d is the fruit of conscious inner work—scrupulous confession, heartfelt apology, and fierce commitment to change. On Yom Kippur, the reward is in proportion to the effort. Our soul is cleansed from the flaws that we admit (and lament) on that awesome holy day.
Yet, the grace of Purim extends to even our unconscious flaws—the sins we continue to deny—the still-fallen sparks connected to our soul that provide life juice to the Haman’s of the world (including our own narcissistic layers of self). The light of Yom Kippur does not penetrate that dark, outer edge of our psyche. Only Purim, with its mitzvah of inebriation, can enliven the sparks trapped within our blind spots without providing succor to the delusions that ensnare them.
Yet, says the Ari, this mission can only succeed if we relinquish conscious control and trust HaShem to guide our instincts on this day of holy folly. When a person fulfills the mitzvah of drinking on Purim his ego lapses into a quasi-prophetic reverie (called tardema). Then the pintila yid takes the reins and we slip into the groove of unconscious awareness (because the self, i.e. the ego is anesthetized with wine). And it is here that the Purim tikun occurs. In this exalted state of Divinely-sanctioned folly, the subliminal wisdom of our primal self, for a moment, leads the way—and assures that we will “bless Haman” (mistakenly) on this irreverent holy day. And that blessing transmits life-juice to the captive sparks held there and converts them into born-again emissaries of the light.
The danger is if the ego is only faking sleep, and secretly exploits this unguarded moment to advance its hedonistic interests. In that case, the nurture directed toward the holy sparks sequestered by the other side gets waylaid by their captors and the mission backfires. Instead of strengthening the sparks it fuels the narcissistic delusions that imprison them.
There are those who weigh the risks against the benefits of this mission and reckon that it isn’t worth the gamble. Better to drink a little more than usual and go to sleep (literally) and fulfill the mitzvah that way, than take the chance you’ll crash and burn and cause more harm than good. For slumber is another way of losing the distinction between cursing Haman and blessing Mordekhai.4
One who chooses this latter option must remember, nonetheless:
The obligation to drink more wine than usual on Purim is one of the specific mitzvot of Purim day and there are deep reasons and secrets for it. One who refrains from fulfilling this mitzvah because he doesn’t understand it cuts himself off from the community of Israel and rebuffs the yoke of rabbinic authority (Bina L’ittim Drush 21, Nitay Gavriel 73:1 fn1).
The mitzvah of “drinking to inebriation on Purim until you don’t know the difference between blessing Mordekhai and cursing Haman” is actually the spiritual equivalent of matanot l’evyonim (giving charity to the poor) another mitzvah that is specifically obligated on this day. Our holy sparks trapped by the other side—be they prisoners of war, prisoners of Zion, prisoners of addiction, prisoners of our own narcissism, prisoners of cults, prisoners of ignorance—these captive sparks are spiritually impoverished and there is virtually no other way to get rejuvenating lights to them. Any resources directed their way get intercepted by their captors, and that, sadly, causes more harm than good.
Purim is the one day of the year when these destitute sparks get filled to the brim with sweet, clean, invigorating lights…and there is no pilfering by the other side. And now, fortified by their Purim manot, these holy (but estranged) sparks get raised by our folly, awakened by our reverie (tardema), cleansed by the mitzvah, and transformed from dispirited prisoners into missionaries of the light. What a great and holy deed is the mitzvah of inebriating on Purim.
Seize the moment! Bring all your sparks to the party (which only happens when your whole self comes along),5 for that fulfills the Purim motto: NO SPARK LEFT BEHIND!
Let it be, HaShem, that as individuals, as members of the community of Israel, and the larger world community, that we should, through our holy Purim festivities, draw a flow of joy and revealed good into the heart, bones, cells, and spaces of your creation and of every creature in it. May our celebrations of eating, inebriating, dancing and learning be pleasing in Your eyes. Please guide and inspire our study that Your will and Your holy Torah’s truths should fill our hearts and transform our lives in ways that are only good.
גל עיני ואביטה נפלאות מתורתך
Open my eyes and I will behold the wonders of your Torah (Psalms 119:18).
A Related Chassidic Story
During his stay in Mezritch, the Rav of Kolbishov saw an old man come to the Maggid and ask him to suggest a tikun that would wash away his sins. “Go home,” said the Maggid. “Write all your sins down on a slip of paper and bring it to me.” When the man brought his list, the Maggid glanced at it briefly and comforted him as follows: “Go home. All will be well.” But later the Rav of Kolbishov observed the Maggid reread the list and laugh at every line. This strange behavior shocked the Rav and actually even annoyed him. “How could someone reputedly holy laugh at another’s sins!”
For years he did not forget the incident and remained bothered by it. Then, one Shabbat, he heard someone quote a teaching from the Baal Shem Tov:
“Everyone knows the Talmudic dictum that ‘no one commits a sin unless a spirit of folly overcomes him.’ The Talmud is teaching us that a sinner is a fool. And if a sage encountered a fool who was spouting silly, childish tales and obvious delusions…would the sage take offense or try to reason with the man? That would get him nowhere and might even make things worse. A better option would be to find the humor in his folly—the silliness of his behavior given what he’s hoping to accomplish, the short-sidedness of his strategy given how the world really works—and laugh with him at the absurdity of his predicament. And as he laughs, the defensiveness melts, and a spirit of kindness wafts through the world. The fool’s small-minded perspective softens, his horizons broaden, and a vision of higher possibility illumines the moment.”
As the Rav reflected on this teaching his heart opened: “Now I understand the laughter of the Maggid when he read that list of sins.”
EAT, DRINK AND BE HOLY
1 Rabbi Yitzchak Luria (1534-15720, Likutei Torah LeArizal, “Parshaat Ekev” [in the beginning]; Rabbi Yeshaya Halevi Horowitz (1570-1630), Shenei Luchot Habrit (Jerusalem: 1965), Vol 1, p. 249b.
2 See Sarah Yehudit Schneider, Eating as Tikun.
3 Tanya, Chapter 39.
4 Shulchan Aruch w/Mishnah Brurah 695:2 MB5, Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 144:6, Chayei Odom 155:8, Kaf Hachaim sk16.
5 That’s the whole point of Purim masks—they create the space for you to become even more fully yourself.
This Tu Bi’Shvat teaching is dedicated to the complete and speedy recovery of Shoshana bat Sarah and was sponsored by some of her friends.
Tu Bi’Shvat: The New Year for Fruit Trees
Tu Bi’Shvat is the New Year’s day for fruit trees but it is important to note that this is not their day of judgment—that occurs months later in Sivan, on the holiday of Shavuot. The Mishna makes a distinction between these two types of days and lists four examples of each. The four New Year’s days are:
1st of Nissan – which starts a new year when reckoning the length of a king’s reign.
1st of Elul – which starts a new year for the tithing of animals (meaning that 10% of the livestock born in the previous year must be formally designated as gifts for the kohanim before this date).
1st of Tishrei (which is also Rosh HaShana) – which starts a new year for the counting of history as well as the tithing of grains and vegetables (and also for counting Sabbatical years).
15th of Shvat – which starts a new year for the tithing of fruits.
In contrast, the four judgment days are:
Pesach (15th of Nissan) – when Heaven decrees how much grain will be reaped in the coming year.
Shavuot (7th of Sivan) – when Heaven decrees how much fruit will be gathered in the coming year.
Rosh HaShana (1st of Tishrei) – when the spiritual (and by extension, material) resources that will be available to each creature are determined for the coming year.
Sukhot (15th of Tishrei) – when Heaven decrees how much rain will fall in the coming year.
There is one point of overlap between these two lists, and that is Rosh HaShana (the 1st of Tishrei) which is both a New Year’s and a judgment day.
We are all familiar with these judgment days—though we don’t usually think of them as such—for they are better known as our most distinguished holy days and, consequently, we observe them with great fanfare, as specified by the Torah. We refrain from melacha (creative work) and perform special rituals that help us absorb the spiritual gifts available on those days. Yet, our prayers and mitzvot apparently serve another purpose as well—they generate a pile of merits that will, hopefully, tip the scales toward a favorable verdict in the blessings that are allocated on those holy judgment days.
New Year’s days are different. Besides Rosh HaShana, they can pass unnoticed for without the Temple, there are no Torah obligations associated with them and, for city folk, especially outside the land of Israel, there is no practical observance that applies. So how do we mark these “minor” New Year’s days.
One clue is that the Hebrew word for New in the term New Year, actually, literally, means head (rosh). The idea is that according to kabbala, the beginning (or rosh) of something actually contains all the lights that are going to unfold in whatever it is the rosh of. Consequently, Jewish practice instructs us to give special attention to those first moments of each new cycle of time and fill them with prayer and holy thoughts. At the ins tant of wakening (the rosh of the day) we recite a prayer of gratitude; on the New Moon we sing Psalms of Praise (i.e., Hallel) along with special prayers; and on the rosh of the year we spend the entire day in prayer and celebration. Everything that occurs during that inaugural period (deeds, thoughts, prayers, emotions) impact the head of that cycle. And since the head defines and delimits future possibilities, anything that affects the head, affects all that will unfold in that cycle, even if its only contact with that cycle was in its first moment of formation.
Tu Bi’Shvat is the rosh of the fruit tree’s new year. All creatures have biorhythms. Plants go dormant in the cold winter damp. Bared of foliage trees look dead; they give no sign of viable life. Then in spring a growth phase begins; they bud and flower and bear their fruit. On Tu bi’Shvat the sap starts to rise and signals the flora to prepare for rebirth. It is the turning point when the plant kingdom shifts from death toward life.
As above, so below. As without, so within. The human being is a macrocosm that contains something of all the different layers of creation within itself. That’s one interpretation of what it means to be created “in the image of G-d.” And so, says kabbala, we all have a:
Mineral layer that includes the physical materials, the “dust and water” out of which we are formed;
Plant layer that includes all the vegetative functions that our body constantly performs: cell divisions, circulation, respiration, metabolism, etc.;
Animal layer that includes all the primitive thoughts and emotions, fight or flight responses, locomotion, pleasure principle, reproductive drives, etc.;
Human layer that includes our speech and conceptual thoughts, complex emotions, visions and aspirations.
And it is the vegetable layer that oversees our physical health. Its autonomic activity heals wounds, balances hormones, neutralizes toxins, metabolizes food, eliminates intruders, etc. (In contrast, the animal layer manages our emotional health, which is why efforts toward self-improvement must enlist its support if they are to produce enduring change.)
Consequently, Tu Bi’Shvat marks the point in our own biorhythms when one cycle of health completes itself and a new cycle begins. Tu Bi’Shvat is an opportunity to regroup, correct imbalances, and begin a new phase of health and healing—to boost the body’s efficiency on the vegetable layer.
What is the practice? How do we make the best use of the energies available on this New Year’s day for fruit trees? The tradition is simple: eat fruits of all sorts; admire the shape, color, taste and uniqueness of each one; and say blessings with deep intention.
This is actually a powerful practice; it conveys a deep secret about how to exert positive influence over the body’s vegetable layer that normally operates beyond conscious control and which oversees our physical wellbeing.
1) By surrounding ourselves with fruit of every sort, the successful harvest of last year’s cycle, we impress the picture of robust health onto the plant layer of ourselves using symbols that are meaningful to it. The form and color of each fruit is an icon that triggers associations in the plant layer of soul. These subliminal suggestions of health and success penetrate the unconscious and leave transformation in their wake. Each fruit expresses a unique way of turning ra w materials into something that is beautiful, healthy and life-nurturing. Admire the fruit. Notice its shape, color, taste and beauty.
2) Pray. Say your brachot with special intention. Create your own blessing for yourself and others that expresses the particular beauty of each fruit as an affirmation, for example, “Your cheeks should be as rosy and your Torah as sweet as this crisp and rosy apple.”
3) Eat with remembrance of G‑d. Meditate on the Creator of the fruit as you bite, chew and swallow it.
I want to bless us that as individuals, as members of the community of Israel and the larger world community that we should, through our Tu Bi’Shvat celebration, draw the special lights of this time into the depths of our souls, and of the world and of every creature in it, bringing light and trust and healing there. And in so doing may we contribute, in our small way, to the six millennial process of tikun olam. May all that we do be pleasing in HaShem’s eyes.
What: A rare occasion of tremendous learning and inspiration with Sarah Yehudit (Susie) Schneider
Topic: On the Kabbalah of Ahavat Yisrael (Love)
When: Wed. December 2nd
Time: 8pm
Where: 1537 Edris Dr. Beverlywood, CA 90035
Contact: olivia@chaicenter.org
This is bound to be unforgettable encounter with one of the great Tzadikim of our time. Don’t miss it.
A Short Torah for the 17th of Cheshvan
(When the Great Flood Began)
by Sarah Yehudit Schneider
R. Tsadok explains that HaShem was hoping to bring down the Torah in Noach’s generation. All the pieces were there, including the soul of Moshe Rabbenu, which the Talmud (Chulin 139b) proves from a verse in Bereshit, 6:3, which contains the word, beshagam, a word whose primary distinction is that its gematria is the same as Moshe (345). The verse describes HaShem’s “disappointment” with the fallen state of humanity and opens a discussion that ends with His decision to blot out creation through flood.
And HaShem said, My spirit shall not abide in man forever, for that he is also flesh; therefore his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.
The pshat (literal sense) of the verse isn’t relevant to the Talmud, only its context and the appearance of a word with the same gematria as Moshe. And so, teaches R. Tsadok, HaShem wanted to bring the Torah down then, as soon as possible after Adam, and if that generation had been worthy, so it would have been. The Talmud (San. 108b) teaches that HaShem tried several strategies to bring the generation around. First He bribed them with a taste of the-world-to-come, hoping they would see that it was certainly worth their while to rise to the occasion. When that failed he started the rains gently, showing that the threat of flood was real, but giving them a week’s reprieve and one last opportunity for teshuva.
If only they had seized the moment, turned over a new leaf, and dedicated their lives to truth and good…they would have received the most precious gift in the universe, the holy Torah…which, as we know, is always compared to water. Instead, in stubborn arrogance, they turned their backs on this golden opportunity, persisting in their wayward path. Those same awesome Torah lights now crashed down, no longer expressing themselves as sweet, life-nourishing wisdoms…rather, instead, as mayim zedonim , destructive, hurtful flood waters. From the negative we learn the positive. As great as the flood’s power of devastation, so is the Torah’s power of tikun.
Noach’s generation was offered the highest honor possible in the universe, the opportunity to receive the Torah. They blew it, and those very same lights that contained the sweetest teachings of the universe, now manifested as raging waters of death and destruction. All this happened in the month of Cheshvan.
R. Tzadok uses this to prove an amazing and relevant teaching. He derives a spiritual law from Noach’s story. R. Tzadok says that it is always true, that whenever we stumble in our lives, (be it our spiritual lives, emotional lives, career lives, whatever) there was some blessing that was trying to come through in that moment, and for whatever reason we didn’t rise to the occasion — perhaps we didn’t get the message at all, we didn’t even know that there was an opportunity at hand; perhaps we underestimated the value of what was being offered so it didn’t seem worth its price tag; perhaps we really did try to seize the moment but couldn’t manage to change a bad habit that was blocking the way — whatever the reason, we blew it. HaShem offered us a gift and it slipped through our hands and the worst part is that it feels like there’s no second chance. The moment is gone it won’t come again.
R. Tzadok says no, in fact the opposite is true. That blessing that was slated to come into our lives is permanently connected to our soul. And not only is it bound to our soul, it is an actual piece of our soul, a spark of ourselves that got lost out there and needs to be brought back in.
So, HaShem guides us step by step, moment by moment, from coordinate A to coordinate B, because in each moment there is a spark, a lost splinter of ourselves that needs to be rescued and brought back in. Slowly, day by day, as we move through life, we become more whole, for we are constantly absorbing new lights that were really part of ourselves all along. The recovery of a piece of our soul is always (eventually) experienced as a blessing.
Based on this model, according to R. Tzadok, there is always a second chance, and a third, etc. However many chances we need to get it right and earn the blessing…for the spark inside that blessing has nowhere else to go. Its home is our soul, and eventually every scattered/shattered spark must find its way home.
So how is this true for the flood generation? How do we see them recovering their lost blessing of the Torah? Amazingly, the Ari teaches that the generation of the flood will reconvene as the souls that comprise the generation that greets mashiach.
And one thing we know about the messianic time is that all the Torah’s hidden teachings will be revealed. The midrash says that the Torah of mashiach will be so radiant that all the Torah we’ve learned thus far, all the sweet and holy teachings that fill our libraries—that have rejoiced the hearts and brightened the eyes of generations—are dull husks before the lights that will shine as Torah of mashiach. The generation of the flood will get all that they lost, and more.
Sarah Yehudit will be teaching the following topics on her upcoming tour. If you would like more information, use the emails below or contact us.
November 19th (Thurs) in Atlanta
Home of Linda Lippett
Topic: Text-Based Exploration of the Weekly Parsha (Toldot)
For more information contact: doctorlindanl@bellsouth.net
November 21st (Motzei Shabbat) in Brooklyn
Source Based Perspective on the Evolving Relationship of Male and Female
478 Argyle Road (btwn Ditmas and Dorchester) Brooklyn
7:30 pm
$10
Aviva Feldman 646-287-8407 (avivasegall@hotmail.com)
November 22nd (Sun) in Flatbush
How to Live a Heart-Centered Life
Flatbush Minyan
1517 Ave. H (off 16th St.) Brooklyn
7:00 pm
$10
Aviva Feldman 646-287-8407 (avivasegall@hotmail.com)
December 2nd (Wed) in LA
You Are What You Hate: A Spiritually Productive Approach to Enemies
December 3 (Thurs) in Berkeley
You Are What You Hate: A Spiritually Productive Approach to Enemies
Chokhmat HaLev
2215 Prince St. Berkeley
“The ultimate conquest, kabbalistically, is to eat something. That’s a weird statement, but let’s look at the mechanics of eating to understand what it means: When I eat a piece of food, something that was not me, now becomes a part of me. It is the ultimate kinyan (acquisition). A final and irreversible conquest occurs when I eat something. … Before I ate it, that fruit, vegetable or animal was doing its own self-directed thing…and now, after being eaten, it is reduced to serving my trip. Before it had its own trip. Now its serving mine.”
“Really the whole world of geopolitics comes down to who will eat who. Not literally, but in terms of whose narrative, whose scripture, whose ideology, whose story of why we are here, and where we are going, and what G‑d wants from us ….whose narrative is going to prevail, and absorb everyone else into its story line.”
- Sarah Yehudit Schneider
“I am trying to carve out a path of fulfilling our Jewish mission to be a “light unto the nations” that incorporates both linear and circular truths. I am attempting to articulate a method of honoring our own belief that Torah and Israel are the [absolute] center of the universe, in a way that gives space for others to have a different experience and claim a contrary truth (but which does not produce uncertainty on our part regarding the rightness of our belief).”
- Sarah Yehudit Schneider
Don’t worry, Machiach and the End of Days are still coming, so no need for alarm. This weeks class, Machiach and the End of Days scheduled for 8pm on Tuesday, October 13th has been cancelled. Please take note and pass on the message to anyone you know who was planning on coming. The class will continue, B”H next week as scheduled.
Shavuah Tov
