Week of January 22, 2012 Shabbat Bo בא, Shevat 4, 5772 | |
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Bo בא Summary5772Rosh Chodesh Shevat happens during this week and we at Yeshshem will have a connection to take control of the month on Tuesday January 24, 2012 at 9 PM West Coast time. Call us or connect to us through the video conferencing tool known as oovoo. We also are planning to have a Kabbalistic Tu B'Shvat Sedar on Tuesday the evening of February 7. Send an email to yeshshem@hotmail.com for further information. The Parasha Bo translates as Come. All of the commentators comment upon the wrong word usage. It makes more sense for God to say Go to Pharoh and not Come to Pharoh. Unless God is saying Come (with me) to Pharoh. This is what the Zohar explains. The simple story of Parasha Bo is the leaving Egypt behind and the going out of slavery with the giving (doing) of several Mitzvot from Hashem. In Parasha Bo we "see" the manifestation of the final 3 plagues and some very special Mitzvot. The Mitzvah of declaring the New Moon, Pidyon Haben, The Mezuzah, Tefillin, and The Pesach (Passover) Holiday as well as the removal of Chametz during the week of Pesach. All of these Mitzvot are unusual in that they are spoken about in more than one place in the Torah. Like we did last week, lets look at the Names of these Plagues and also the Names of the Mitzvot. Arbeh ארבה Locusts. Hoshech חשך Darkness. Met Kol BeCor מת כל בכור Death of the First Born. Rosh Chodesh ראש חדש Announcing the New Moon Mezuzah מזוזת Doorposts or lintel. Chag Pesach חג פסח Holiday of Passover. Chametz חמץ Leavened Dough Pidyon Haben פדיון הבן Redemption of the First Born. Tefillin טפיללין Phylacteries (2 Black Leather Boxes containing Verses and meditation tools from the Torah). For additional information about any of the above subjects see previous years emails in the links below or send an email to yeshshem@hotmail.com. The essence or energy of the ParashaThe energy of the Parasha of Bo is to leave Egypt. What is Egypt? What does it mean to leave Egypt? In Hebrew Egypt is the word מצרים. The last two letters spell the word Yam which means "sea". It is also a feminine ending to a Hebrew Noun. The first three letters Maitzar (Mem Tzadi Resh) spell a Shoresh that means "narrow", "narrow straits", Limitation, border or boundary, and "from narrow". From the above we can begin to understand that the land of Egypt represents a place that is the antithesis of the Creator. The Creator is unlimited not narrow. The Creator has no borders or boundaries. The Creator is unlimited. The Children of Israel are the nation that the Creator has chosen to represent the Creator to all of humanity. That is the meaning of the Chosen People and that is the responsibility of the Chosen People. It is now easy for us to understand that the energy we receive from hearing the Torah Parasha of Bo is the energy to represent the Creator to the rest of humanity as well as receiving the energy to burst out of our own self created limitations and mental and emotional slavery. This is what it means to leave Egypt. As we learn from the Holiday of Pesach (one of the Mitzvot given to us during the Parasaha of Bo) the only thing a human being is a slave to, is "the desire to receive for oneself alone". Breaking out of the limitation of slavery means to become "a desire to receive in order to share". These terms used in Kabbalah are very important to understand. When we transform from "the desire to receive for oneself alone" to "the desire to receive in order to share", we leave Egypt and become free. We also remove "Bread of Shame". (Bread of Shame is receiving something we think we have not earned. Then we feel sick to our stomach or badly in some way). Removing Bread of Shame is the purpose behind creation. It is why the physical world was created. The physical world is a 'place" where we can remove Bread of Shame by transforming our desire to receive from one self alone to receive in order to share. This is the only way to remove Bread of Shame. A Deeper Kabbalistic Analysis of the Name of the PlaguesThe Kabbalists teach that the plagues destroyed the Tree of the negative system. The Tree of the negative system is a mirror image of the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life has 10 Sephirot, the Mirror Tree also has 10 Sephirot that must be destroyed in order to break free of our desire to receive for one self alone forever. As it says in Psalms and also in Proverbs (paraphrasing) God created one opposite the other. This is best understood using the metaphor of a mirror. Stand 4 feet in front of a mirror. How deep into the mirror is the/your image? It is 4 feet deep into the mirror. Which is real you You or the image in the mirror? The more you think about this metaphor the more able you will be to understand the illusion of the negative system. Also you will be able to understand what is the truth that is built into the negative system and why it is so alluring to us. The Plagues of: Locusts refers to the Sephira of Binah of the negative system. The locusts are called Arbeh. This Hebrew word also means the number 4. The Kabbalists explain that the magician's of Egypt were able to form Locusts one species at a time. The Plague consisted of 4 types of locusts. The magicians of Egypt were not able to duplicate this plague. Darkness refers to the Sephira of Chochma of the negative system. The midrash brings some absolutely amazing issues to the story. The midrash says that the darkness was not like normal darkness. The darkness was palpable. The darness was so thick someone affected by the darkness could actually not move. It was not that the Egytians could not see the furniture around them to find a seat, the Egyptians could not move to touch the furniture. They could not even feel the furniture to know where they should sit. If they were standing when the plague of darkness started they remained standing for the whole length of the plague. This lack of control went on for three days. All of the plagues lasted for 7 days except the darkness. Since people could not move they could not eat and therefore it was necessary that it only last 3 days or everyone of the Egyptians would have died. The midrash says that while the plague of darkness was happening to the Egyptians, the Children of Israel could see. The Jews were not affected by darkness as Jews can always be connected to the Light, if they desire and are willing to do their spiritual work. The midrash says they went from one Egyptians house to another. The Egyptians could not see them but could hear the rustling and sounds that the Jews made in thier house. They kept calling out "Who is there"? They got no answer to their question. The Jews searched throughout the house for all of the Valuable items. The gold, the silver, the Jewelry, the hidden money etc. Anything of value they found. So when Moshe told them to go BORROW FROM the Egyptians they knew what to ask to borrow. Also they could tell the Egyptians you forgot about the silver plate in the bottom left drawer in the little room off the kitchen. It is human nature to conceal valuable items because people think that they will loose these valuable items. This way the plague of darkness allowed the Children of Israel to receive wages for the 210 years of hard bondage and slavery they endured. Can you imagine, no one took (stole) anything, they just learned where everything was kept. It is an amazing midrash. The question must always be asked about the leaving from Egypt: Why did Hashem have the Children of Israel borrow the wealth of Egypt and not just take it. There is no record of the borrowed items ever being repaid. In fact during the time, of history, right after Alexander, the Egyptians complained to the Greeks that the Jews owed them these borrowed items. There was a "lawsuit" that ruled that the items were payment for the hard bondage and actually did not have to be returned. Still that is an answer based on physical perceptions. What is the spiritual answer to the question of why did Hashem have the children of Israel borrow the wealth of Egypt? The answer given by the Kabbalah is that we have to realize that a child of Israel (anyone on a spiritual path) has nothing of value from the physical world. A child of Israel has no physical wealth only the spiritual items he accumulates in his life has value. The Mitzvot he does. The Good Deeds he does is what has value to him. Anything physical is only borrowed from the Creator who owns everything in the physical world. WE HEBREWS have nothing of our own. Everything is borrowed. Do you treat borrowed items the same as, better than, or worse than your own things? This is the spiritual lesson for the Jews of the plague of darkness. The Killing of the First Born refers to the Sephira of Keter of the negative system. The Killing of the First born actually removes the plague of death from the world. Death is any reduction in any physical item. A business failure is considered a death. A reduction in the value of a stock or bond or other investment is considerd a death. A break up of a relationship is considered a death. All of these deaths are removed (potentially) when we hear this section of the reading of the Torah. So why are people still loosing money and getting divorced? Why after so many years of hearing the Torah does death still exist in our physical world? The reason is consciousness. How many of us truly believe that death can be stopped? How many of us truly want death to disappear? Most people in this world do not even know that it is possible and when they "hear" it is possible they do not believe it is possible. This must change for death to be swallowed up forever, as the Prophet says. Essentially we humans have not learned the tools of Kabbalah. Even if we have learned the tools of Kabbalah we rarely use them properly. Yet it will happen. Death will be swallowed up forever. I personally hope it happens sooner rather than later. It will happen. KNOW it in your heart. Actually the only reason the Angel of death is still around is people do not believe that he will leave. They are waiting for Mashiach to come and remove him and resurrect the dead. The prophecies imply that the resurection will take place prior to the manifestation of the Mashiach. It is time to start reading the Book of Prophets. A Deeper Kabbalistic Look at the Mitzvot that are revealed in this Parasha.The first Mitzvah that is given to the Jewish Nation even while they are still in Egypt, in that narrow place, is the Annoucing of the time of the New Moon/Month. This is the Mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh. This Mitzvah has 3 components, but most people are not aware of these 3 components. One, there is a court who interviews witnesses to determine what they saw is sufficient under our laws to declare the New Moon. Two, there is the declaring of the new moon. Three there is the Blessing of the New Moon. During Temple times these duties were handled by the Sanhedrin. They would provide free food for any body on any day who said they saw the new moon. Even after they had the two witnesses they needed they continued to feed the people who came and said they had seen the new moon. This was so that next month people would not be persuaded by the evil inclination to not come testify to the Sanhedrin thinking someone else will testify. Do you appreciate how much thought and effort went into this process. How important our Sages thought this Mitzvah to be. After the Temple was destroyed these 3 parts were replaced as follows: One, The announcement of the new moon time on the Shabbat before the Rosh Chodesh Holiday. (In most synagogues this is announced in the Hebrew Language and the language of the congregation. In a Kabbalistic Minyan the announcement is made in as many languages as possible. This announcement on the physical level in a language like Chinese or Korean is what assists the spiritual world in maintaining peace in the world. How little do we truly understand about Cause and Effect in our world. Two, the Celebration of the New Moon called the Rosh Chodesh ritual. In a Kabbalistic Minyan it is celebrated by a meditation, using the Ana Bekoach and the letters of the Month, during the evening of Rosh Chodesh. This allows people to take control of the month. This allows people to minimize the negative influence of the New Moon and enhance the positve effect of the new moon. Three the Blesssing of the New moon which takes place anytime from the 7th day to the 14th day of the month. This is actually best done on Motzei Shabbat that falls between these two evenings. Others say the best time is the earliest possible time that the moon is seen clearly between these two dates of the month. Lets explore these items some more. During the period from the destruction of the Temple until approx 1000 of the common era. Judaism as we know it as Orthodox Judaism was under attack from 2 sources. The Church and a group of Jews, called Karaites, who followed a literal interpretation of the Chumash. The Karaites did not accept the Talmud or the Oral Law. The Holiday of Shavuot, is described in the Torah as 7 weeks (the actual word used is Shabatot) after Pesach. The Talmud and our Rabbinic Sages have said that this 7 week period is 49 days. The Karaite Sages said the literal reading is 7 weeks after the Shabbat after Pesach. Before the Temple was destroyed the Sanhedrin was determining the new month not from a recorded calendar but from the eye witnesses who "saw" the new moon. The Karaites attempted to corrupt the declaring of the month of Iyar and Sivan so that the Holiday of Shavuot fell always on the Sabbath, which then would coincide with the interpretation of the Karaites. The corruption took the form of false witnesses. People would come to the Sanhedrin and report that they had seen the new moon on days that would make the Holiday of Shavuot come on a Shabbat. The Sanhedrin took great care to avoid this corruption, yet some years due to the merit of the generation the moon was declared based on these false witnesses. Since the Sanhedrin declared the New Moon the universe followed our declaration and the false witness was not truly false. What a paradox? What is the truth if the witnesses are false but the universe follows the declaration of the court? This allows us to learn a very important spiritual law. It is not about being right. It is about being in unity. Yet Unity is only truth when it allows room for diversity. A truly amazing spiritual law. It is due to this and other reasons (essentially following the practice of our fathers) that our modern Rabbi's have not allowed the calling of the New Moon to be done by eye witnesses since the Modern State of Israel was founded. Yet the few remaining Karaites still announce the new moon each month. Some years the leap year from the calendar and the leap year according to the Karaites do not agree. What is the big deal about the question when does the New Moon start? The big deal answer is actually a big deal. The calendar that we use is approx 2000 years old. It is a calculation that declares when the new moon occurs. The Mitzvah that Hashem gave the Nation in Egypt is to declare the New Moon by observation. What is the difference? The Kabbalah teaches that our consciousness is very important in the actions of the Mitzvoth that we do. When the new moon is declared by witness and a Bet Din (a court), the Kabbalah explains that in the spiritual worlds the cycle of the month adjusts to what man says. That means the physical moon will eventually adjust to the cycle that man is saying and effecting in the spiritual world. Does this truly matter? The answer is Yes. How does someone start to beleive that death can be overcome. The creator knows that the start is to recognize the truth of what is being written in this paragraph. The cycle of the moon is declared and affected by the actions of man not by the mechanical cycle established by the natural laws of gravity. This is necessary for man to realize that he controls the physical world and the physical world is not controlling man. This is one of the steps leading to the resurrection of the dead and the removal of death from this world. Ultimately, we need to arrive at a level of consciousness where we believe in order to see it manifest and not the way many people think now: I need to see it manifest in order to believe it will happen. If you see it manifest it is no longer belief it is knowledge and the Torah uses the words of Emunah (beleif) and Bitachon (trust) to remove death. We can see that there is alot of explanations dealing with this Mitzvah. There is an equal amount of information that impacts our Kavenah in doing each Mitzvah. This email is not long enough to go into each of them. I have recorded approx 100 mp3 recordings of an hour or more in length explaining the Kavenah for the various Mitzvoth. I have only done this for approx 100 of the 613 Mitzvoth. They are available in the Revealed Wisdom section of the Yeshshem website. Feel free to listen to these recordings. They are free and they will assist you in many of the Mitzvoth that you do every day. I also don't have enough space in this email to deal with the Kavenah for the other two parts of the Rosh Chodesh Mitzvah. What do i learn from the Discussion Above? We learn that consiousness is important in our actions. Let me explain in more detail. The Torah teaches us that it is important to teach a child the way to do a Mitzvah and eventually the doing of the Mitzvah will cause the child to know the Kavenah involved in the correct doing of the Mitzvah. The Kabbalah teaches that the Kavenah in the doing of a Mitzvah is equally important as the action of the Mitzvah. We are all children learning to be an adult in Hashems world of spirituality. Part of that process to become an adult is learning to use our minds to control matter or the physical world. The Mitzvah of Man declaring the New Moon from witnesses through a Bet Din is an important part of that processs according to Kabbalah. Eventually Torah law will prevail. This is what the Prophecies say. Right now people are not ready for that to happen. People do not understand that jails punish prisoners they do not reform prisoners. Torah law with the Cities of Refuge do allow for the reformation of guilty people. That is what the Mashiach will manifest in our physical world. But which comes first the chicken or the egg. Does man learn to control the phsyical world and thereby manifest the Mashiach. Or will the Mashiach teach us how to control our physical world after he comes with the Armagedden War (Chas V Shalom). The Kabbalah teaches that the Egg comes before the chicken because the sephera of Malchut(chicken) is included in the sephera of Keter (egg). It is necessary for Man to learn to control the physical (Mind Over Matter). This, along with Hatred for no Reason, is what is delaying the coming of Mashiach. We have the tools of Kabbalah. It is just hard to break out of the Egypt (limitation) of our creation. When we learn that technology is a tool and not a God, we will be going down the path towards Mashiach. Mind Over Matter is capable of controlling physicality. Technology is a temporary fix just like Aspirin is a temporary relief for a headache. How do we know? In 2004 it was the 100 year celebration for the Wright Brothers first airplane flight. A reproduction of their plane was built. Guess what? The plane did not fly because the people who flew it did not have a sufficiently strong desire for it to fly. The Wright Bros developed Mind Over Matter from the strength of their desire to fly. How strong is your desire for peace? For the coming of Mashiach? For Happiness and fulfillment to manifest in the world? If you truly have the desire for these things they should manifest in your life and also in the world. Why does that not happen? We don't have a strong enough desire for these truly desirable goals. So what do we do? The sages teach us that the path to strengthen our desire, which in Kabbalah is called "building your vessel" is to ask for the desire, to have the desire, to have the desire, for THAT desire. The Sages tell us even if we need to have 10 levels of the desire to have the desire to have the desire etc. It is considered as if we have the desire. This is the process that grows and strengthens our desire. Do you want the desire? Then ask for the desire to have the desire at the 10th level and watch it manifest in our world. This request is a prayer. Remember all prayers when structured properly are answered YES. Personal Sharing Prayers and Requests are best said during the 3rd Meal of Shabbat which is called a "Time of Good Will". This means it is a time of the Creators good will to answer Yes to your desires. Enjoy the reading on Shabbat. Good Learning! Shabbat Shalom chanoch P. S. We are seeking donations to automate the return of Tikune information based on your English Birth Date. This will include What your Tikune relating to the Day of the Week of your Birth; What happened in History on that day; The Tzadim that celebrate their Hilula on that day; The Verses from the Torah that have your Tikune hints in them; and many other items relating to your individual Tikunes. If you can, Please contribute and share in the revelation of light associated with the spreading of this information. Go to www.Paypal.com and click on the send money link. Type in yeshshem@hotmail.com and give what you can afford or if you want to truly understand Tzedakah more than you think You can afford. After all, Yeshshem is a truly poor person! We know that these funds will be forthcoming. It is up to you if you want to be part of this Light revelation. HaShem will replace this money 10 fold when you need it.
P.S.S. I am looking for volunteers to translate our recordings into many other languages. Come share in the revelation of wisdom. Use your native language skills. All you need is a cell phone that has unlimited long distance and approx 3 hours a week. Write to chanoch_7@hotmail.com if you are interested. You will be amazed how your life improves by this sharing! Announcement 1: Kabbalah Classes: Sunday: 10 AM Advanced Class Subjects. Monday 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM "Beginners Class Subjects".Tuesday at 7:45 PM "Readings and Teachings from Rabbi Ashlag". Wednesday at 10 PM. "The Kavenah of the Mitzvoth. Thursday 10 PM "A unique Zohar Class". Conference call to listen to the class is 213-289-0500 and the entrance code is 911904#. These classes are recorded and available to download and hear repeatedly at your leisure. The link to download is www.yeshshem.com and click on the Revealed Wisdom Link. Announcement 2: Kabbalah teaches that 10% of the money you earn belongs to someone else. There is no fulfillment from this money for you. This is why you get traffic tickets and major car repairs and other unexpected expenses. Instead of having those expenses why not donate to www.yeshshem.com where your money will be used to eliminate chaos in the world. Don't believe me but see if it works for you. Announcement 3: This is a weekly e-letter about the Parasha. Sometimes there will be all of the links - sometimes due to time limitations there will not be be all of the links. Announcement 4: One of the main purposes of the Mitzvah of Hearing the Torah on Shabbat Morning is to receive the Metaphysical Energy we will need during the next week. Please strive to hear the Torah Reading each week for this benefit. Kol Tuuv
Chanoch Ben Yaacov |
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