tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54548726928745866632024-03-15T03:27:33.339-04:00Breslov CenterAdminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.comBlogger875125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-64431666836158635912023-07-28T05:42:00.003-04:002023-07-28T05:42:23.387-04:00Breslov Center Archive <p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">After more than twenty-five years, the Breslov Center of NY</span> is no longer active, having been superseded by several other Breslov outreach and educational programs. However, we are leaving this website online as an archive of translations and teachings on the topics listed on the sidebar. We hope these writings will continue to benefit anyone who wishes to explore Breslov.</span></p>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-76696913102171472462023-07-17T06:24:00.000-04:002023-07-17T06:24:04.708-04:00A Prayer for Moshiach<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho9-v1zYjDlAXXfdkf4YecBtmAOZMr4F79mbl5VXkOK9PFyd8obPZiWh0MCs1XbkcDQniFI2Ve5fUxrIuWs9vHbb6KGxsd6Qvi_DOneEThmbGNzF05Sy-a7Pv2IcVZpmovgqQaaMx5sfZD/s1600/untitled.bmp"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634448841194869330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho9-v1zYjDlAXXfdkf4YecBtmAOZMr4F79mbl5VXkOK9PFyd8obPZiWh0MCs1XbkcDQniFI2Ve5fUxrIuWs9vHbb6KGxsd6Qvi_DOneEThmbGNzF05Sy-a7Pv2IcVZpmovgqQaaMx5sfZD/s400/untitled.bmp" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 380px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 329px;" /></a><em><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />By Rabbi Noson Sternhartz<br />Likutey Tefillos I, 142<br />Translated by Dovid Sears, “Entering the Light” (Breslov Research Institute)</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Our God and God of our fathers: have mercy upon us, and confer merit upon us, and speedily send us our righteous Moshiach. He will fix this broken world, as well as all of the worlds from the highest to the lowest, for they all depend upon this lowest World of Action (<em>Olam ha-Asiyah</em>). Have pity on him and on us, and send him speedily and in peace, that he may bring everything to perfection, with the most awesome and wondrous <em>tikkun</em> (rectification).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Enlighten us with true perception, and open our eyes and hearts to Your Torah. Thus, may we be privileged to understand all the words of the Torah lucidly, according to their truth, so that no question or doubt will remain in our minds concerning any law or path among the laws and paths of the Torah. Rather, may everything be clarified beyond any shadow of a doubt, even those questions and doubts about which the great tzaddikim of former times declared "<em>teiku</em>." The Moshiach will straighten out them all, untangle them and make them understandable to us, and rectify the paradigm of "teiku" that includes all of the uncertainties in the world—both those that perplexed the great sages of Israel concerning the laws and paths of the Torah, and those that have perplexed everyone, from the greatest of the great to the smallest of the small.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So many of us yearn with all of our hearts to return to You! However, the paths of return and the paths of Torah are hidden from us, and our hearts are torn by doubts and deep uncertainties about which course of action to take. This is especially true of me, as I stand before You today. You know all that I have been through, and how many doubts and conflicts have bothered me about so many things. These confusions are greater than ever today, in so many areas of my life and in so many ways. My soul is so disturbed that sometimes it seems more than I can bear.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Master of the Universe, Master of the Universe! Almighty God of truth, "great in advice, and mighty in deed!" (Jeremiah 32:19). Have compassion on the Jewish people and upon me, and send a wondrous illumination from the World of Rectification (<em>Olam ha-Tikkun</em>), for which our righteous Moshiach will serve as the spiritual channel. Then "<em>teiku</em>" will be transformed to the most wondrous <em>tikkun</em>, and all questions will be resolved and all doubts clarified, even the subtlest "doubts of doubts"—and we will constantly receive perfect, good, and true advice about everything in the world.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In Your compassion, teach us the proper way to mourn and lament over the destruction of the Holy Temple at all times, particularly every night at the exact moment of <em>chatzos</em>, and during the three summer weeks known as "between the straits (<em>bein ha-metzarim</em>)." On the Ninth of Av, the bitter day when both Holy Temples were destroyed, may we recite the Book of Lamentations and <em>kinnos</em> (elegies) sincerely, with a broken and humble spirit, and pour out our hearts like water before You. Let us "put our mouths to the dust—perhaps there is hope" (Lamentation 3:29), and strike our heads against the walls of our hearts, due to our suffering and travail, as a nation and as individuals. How many years have passed since the devastation of our holy city and Holy Temple! How has the glory of the "House of Our Life" been removed! The trouble of each day is worse than the day before, especially now, when harsh and cruel decrees have been issued against our people, beyond our ability to endure. Our lives hang in the balance; our hearts are filled with dread at the thought of the harsh decrees that those that hate us wish to carry out against us, God forbid.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">God of mercy, give us the emotional strength to empathize with the plight of the Jewish people, as well as to face our own spiritual dilemma. Give us the courage to break our hearts before You, and pour forth our supplication like water before You in complete sincerity, admitting the greatness of our sins and transgressions, and the “stiff-necked” behavior (Exodus 32:9) that has prolonged our exile and caused all of our grief.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Let us raise our hearts to our hands unto God in heaven" (Lamentations 3:41). Let us resort to the art of our holy ancestors, and cry and wail bitterly; let us wander the streets and alleys and market places, supplicating the One Above "until He looks down upon us from heaven" (Lamentations 3:50), until He awakens His mercy upon us, and speedily consoles us, and delivers us from our afflictions and sufferings, collectively and individually.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">May God enlighten us, even now, with a ray of the light of our righteous Moshiach, thus to mitigate all harsh decrees, and end all of our grief and travail. May He constantly shine upon us the light of truth, and constantly heal us with new and wondrous <em>tikkunim</em>, and answer and elucidate for us all doubts and questions and quandaries. May we constantly receive the right advice, according to the highest truth, so that we will return to You in truth, speedily and with a whole heart, thus to engage in Torah and prayer and the performance of commandments and good deeds, all the days of our lives. Guard us and save us from all sin and transgression, so that we never veer aside from Your will, neither to the right nor the left (cf. Deuteronomy 5:29). May Your compassion be aroused on behalf of Your children, and may You speedily bring us our righteous Moshiach, and redeem us completely, with the final and eternal redemption.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then the paradigm of "<em>teiku</em>" will be transformed to "<em>tikkun</em>" to the ultimate degree of perfection; that is, the letter <em>nun</em> from the word <em>kinnos</em> (elegies) will be transferred to the end of the word <em>teiku</em>, thus to convert "<em>teiku</em>" to "<em>tikkun</em>." All lamentations will cease throughout the world, and be remade into vessels of divine perception.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">O Merciful One, Master of Deliverance, Master of Consolation! We beg You, console us from all of our afflictions, and help us to accomplish our work in this world. Spread forth upon us Your "Tent of Peace"; prepare for us good advice, and save us speedily for the sake of Your Name. Grant us the knowledge of absolute truth. Save us from the many doubts and confusions and uncertainties that interfere with our ability to serve You. Confer upon us perfect and true advice at all times, so that we may return to You in truth, and become the people You want us to be, now and forever, <em>amen</em> <em>sela</em>.</span>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-30506775855006627842023-07-17T06:23:00.000-04:002023-07-17T06:23:29.877-04:00Tisha BeAvTisha be-Av is one of the five times during the year that Breslover Chassidim daven together <em>ki-vasikin</em>. The <em>Kinnos</em> are recited with <em>kavannah</em> until the late morning. The recitation of <em>Kinnos</em> is taken seriously, as are all the laws of Tisha B’Av.Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-41589741769979404142023-07-11T12:54:00.001-04:002023-07-11T12:54:54.822-04:00Three Weeks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqIesgi1iEQBlaOOINZazmfxytdJmKXdAIUXAyJowEp5S_GJ5sRydvhREoDT-CJ1u1tJeTDu8h9-LMnQtQSAvRKAgSOTz3VbaB1mLmAQ72ZJz9eeeX89JxabiKPpEyB-EO0-xeyyRjUCSV/s1600/israel336.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqIesgi1iEQBlaOOINZazmfxytdJmKXdAIUXAyJowEp5S_GJ5sRydvhREoDT-CJ1u1tJeTDu8h9-LMnQtQSAvRKAgSOTz3VbaB1mLmAQ72ZJz9eeeX89JxabiKPpEyB-EO0-xeyyRjUCSV/s320/israel336.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<i style="background-color: white; line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br />From “Breslov
Eikh she-Hu: Customs and Good Practices” compiled by Dovid Zeitlin and Dovid
Sears</span></i><br />
<i style="background-color: white; line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Many
Breslover Chassidim study <i>Likutey Moharan</i> II, 67, during the Three Weeks
and recite the corresponding prayer, <i>Likutey Tefillos</i> II, 33.<i> </i>Some
also recite this prayer<i> </i>on Tisha be-Av, but only after<i> chatzos, </i>since
it contains words of consolation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">(Cf. <i>Si'ach
Sarfey Kodesh</i> VI, 499)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Breslover
Chassidim dance after <i>davenning</i> even during the Three Weeks, until Rosh
Chodesh Av. The melody usually sung at this time is <i>"Nicham HaShem
Tzion." </i>However, beginning on Rosh Chodesh, dancing is curtailed until
after Tisha be-Av.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">(<i>Si'ach
Sarfey Kodesh</i> IV, 191)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">During
the Three Weeks, some Breslover Chasidim are accustomed to sit on the floor
every weekday at <st1:time hour="12" minute="0" w:st="on">noon</st1:time> to
recite <i>Tikkun Chatzos,</i> including on Erev Shabbos, as mentioned in<i>
Shulchan Arukh</i>. This was Reb Gedaliah’s practice<i>.</i> Reb Elazar
informed us that his father would have liked his <i>talmidim</i> to do so <i>be-tzibbur,
</i>but this was not feasible at the time.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Like
all Chassidim, Breslovers follow the <i>shittah</i> in <i>halakhah</i> that
there is no public display of mourning on Shabbos Chazon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Heh Av<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">This is
the <i>yahrtzeit</i> of the Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria Ashkenazi) of Tzefas,
universally recognized as the foremost master of Kabbalah by all Chassidic,
Lithuanian, and Sefardic kabbalists. His teachings were written down by his <i>talmid
muvhak</i>, Rabbi Chaim Vital (Calabrese), and primarily consists of “Eight
Gates,” including the bedrock of his teachings, the <i>Eitz Chaim</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">In
Tzefas, the <i>hillulah</i> of the Arizal attracts thousands of visitors from
all over the world, who recite Tehillim and pray at his gravesite. It is also a
widespread custom to immerse in the natural spring where he was accustomed to
immerse, not far from his <i>kever</i> in the old <i>Beis ha-Chaim.</i> The Arizal
stated that whoever did so would succeed in doing <i>teshuvah</i> for all his
sins before he died. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">(“<i>Chayey
ha-Arizal,</i>”<i> </i>a Hebrew biography of the Arizal culled from <i>Shivchey
Arizal</i> and other classic sources was compiled and annotated by Rabbi
Avraham Abish Tzeinvirt, and published by Makhon Da’as Yosef, Yerushalayim
1990. Rav Ya’akov Hillel of Machon Ahavat Shalom also has published an
annotated critical edition of <i>Shivchey Arizal</i>.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><b>Tisha
be-Av </b></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Tisha be-Av </span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">is one of the five times that Breslover Chassidim <i>daven</i> together<i>
ki-vasikin</i>. The <i>avodah </i>of reciting<i> Kinnos</i> is taken very
seriously and lasts until the late morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Reb
Levi Yitzchak Bender stated that on Tisha be-Av, it is our <i>minhag</i> to recite
the <i>berakhah "she'asah li kol tzorkhi" </i>in its proper place in <i>Birkhos
ha-Shachar.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">(<i>Si'ach
Sarfey Kodesh</i> VI, 497. Similarly, cf. <i>Darkei Chaim ve-Shalom</i>
[Munkatch] 675. Some communities omit this berakhah because the Gemara
associates it with donning the shoes, and on Tish Be-Av it is forbidden to wear
leather shoes or sandals. However, it is permissible to wear shoes made from
other materials, such as canvas or plastic.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">The
fast is broken immediately after Ma'ariv in the synagogue, prior to<i> Kiddush
Levanah</i>. It is customary to dance after reciting <i>Kiddush Levanah</i>
upon the conclusion of Tisha be-Av, despite the fact that most restrictions are
maintained until <st1:time hour="12" minute="0" w:st="on">noon</st1:time> of
the following day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">(Cf. <i>Si'ach
Sarfey Kodesh</i> IV, 270)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Soon
after Tisha be-Av, Reb Elazar Kenig usually begins studying the lesson from <i>Likutey
Moharan </i>that he will publicly deliver on the second night of Rosh Hashanah,
together with its related teachings from <i>Likutey Halakhos,</i> etc. On some
years he has started learning his Rosh Hashanah lesson even earlier. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-60717877888444466162023-07-11T12:54:00.000-04:002023-07-11T12:54:33.925-04:00Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Bender<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwye4LUewCcVGuIHqxzRWM-njJBRHyLcfJMro5Lp2Z3qgyTb3Xi7ihDCMBXQAd0qr-o9oBBP-aSJ0CAcyoja6wZu0DCGC5wWXZQRqpVV7OtmaDg0UxHEEGGaONQyMzGFi_QuVV1m_mv1P3/s1600/Scan1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478880468840640802" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwye4LUewCcVGuIHqxzRWM-njJBRHyLcfJMro5Lp2Z3qgyTb3Xi7ihDCMBXQAd0qr-o9oBBP-aSJ0CAcyoja6wZu0DCGC5wWXZQRqpVV7OtmaDg0UxHEEGGaONQyMzGFi_QuVV1m_mv1P3/s320/Scan1.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 265px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The yahrtzeit of Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Bender, zal, the central figure in the Breslov Kehillah of Me'ah She'arim after WWII, will be on 22 Tammuz.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For a brief biography of Reb Levi Yitzchok, see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Yitzchok_Bender">here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A rare video of one of his shmuessen in Yiddish is also available online <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkwnXbsLrd4&feature=related">here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">May Reb Levi Yitzchok intercede above on behalf of all Klal Yisrael. </span></div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-68078433624931325742023-07-11T12:53:00.003-04:002023-07-11T12:53:57.907-04:00Rabbi Gedaliah Aharon Kenig's Yahrtzeit<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlRvyUtKsVA82ePTJBN1Syf7KH80sQO24zq9l3uZWKNTc6FDtGjigQisxnVDyl9qTy28flC57azqN7VEKKy_YZXP25YJ3LdRwB7kqXYfSjaNv6rOoObP6OAaex7iciD2Wt__ExX6FmfrYU/s1600/untitled.bmp"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491182289998864962" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlRvyUtKsVA82ePTJBN1Syf7KH80sQO24zq9l3uZWKNTc6FDtGjigQisxnVDyl9qTy28flC57azqN7VEKKy_YZXP25YJ3LdRwB7kqXYfSjaNv6rOoObP6OAaex7iciD2Wt__ExX6FmfrYU/s320/untitled.bmp" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The 23rd of Tammuz is the yahrtzeit of Rav Gedaliah Aharon Kenig (sometimes spelled "Koenig"). Reb Gedaliah was the foremost disciple of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Sternhartz">Rabbi Avraham Sternhartz</a> and founder of the Breslov community in Tzefat, Israel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For a brief biography, see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gedaliah_Aharon_Koenig">here</a>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">An essay on the Breslov mesorah in general, which explains the places of leaders such as Reb Gedaliah, Reb Avraham, and others, appears <a href="http://www.breslov.org/bookshelf/mesorah.html">here</a>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Tzefat Breslov website is linked on the sidebar of this blog.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">May Reb Gedaliah intercede above on behalf of Klal Yisrael, and may the seed he planted in the mountains of Galil HaElyon flourish and grow!</span>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-68182085270144223252023-07-11T12:53:00.002-04:002023-07-11T12:53:08.703-04:00BRI: Participate in the Completion of Rebbe Nachman's Stories in Hebrew!<p><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1cn6BpAz6INM2qOm56a16dECAfCBcg-zoqGu9JbfxaDk6UQP5Xp6WH0d_1uS1zIPTfIouiZTc5mhaPL-jTOCgp9TmpO7aXGPaZWllGRqoU6ajaXdtSy5yf5Nj62Ug8lxpYFI2rvrWYKQGBP4HRew8_lJvGuuyqjpTMCH4BWey7OfiQIykvNqt1_C0cocP/s779/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="779" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1cn6BpAz6INM2qOm56a16dECAfCBcg-zoqGu9JbfxaDk6UQP5Xp6WH0d_1uS1zIPTfIouiZTc5mhaPL-jTOCgp9TmpO7aXGPaZWllGRqoU6ajaXdtSy5yf5Nj62Ug8lxpYFI2rvrWYKQGBP4HRew8_lJvGuuyqjpTMCH4BWey7OfiQIykvNqt1_C0cocP/w400-h268/unnamed.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white;">From <a href="https://breslov.org/">Breslov. org</a>:</span></p><p><strong style="background-color: white; font-family: "lucida sans unicode", "lucida grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;">During these days, we grieve for the Beit HaMikdash that was destroyed, for the tzaddikim who have left this world, and for the fact that we lack clear knowledge how to serve Hashem (as Rebbe Nachman wrote at length in <em>Likutey Moharan</em> II, 67).<br /><br />We at BRI are at the cusp of completing the Hebrew edition of Rebbe Nachman’s Stories - Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan’s translation with accompanying commentary.</strong></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "lucida sans unicode", "lucida grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><strong>Before we close the file, we are asking you, our dear friends, to partner with us so that we can illuminate the world with Rebbe Nachman’s teachings, also in Hebrew.<br /><br />Dedicate a story or a significant portion of the publishing costs of this very special work.<br /><br />Help us spread the Rebbe’s teachings throughout the world, so that we will merit the genuine Redemption very soon.<br /><br />You can bring the Redemption!</strong></span><br style="font-family: "lucida sans unicode", "lucida grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;" /><br style="font-family: "lucida sans unicode", "lucida grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;" /><span style="font-family: "lucida sans unicode", "lucida grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><strong><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://breslov.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3Df07b40eae7ab9c89589694ae2%26id%3D38783e32a1%26e%3D2229e46a4a&source=gmail&ust=1689180129523000&usg=AOvVaw2xQHCcGhFaq_cAltVwS9-E" href="https://breslov.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f07b40eae7ab9c89589694ae2&id=38783e32a1&e=2229e46a4a" style="color: #656565; font-weight: normal;" target="_blank"><span style="color: teal;">CLICK HERE to have the merit to participate </span></a></strong></span></span></p>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-43812996253813980912023-04-10T11:41:00.000-04:002023-04-10T11:41:07.046-04:00Other Versions of the Baal Shem Tov’s Nesia<span style="font-style: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggsuZ0VL20b_4yyN1xSJAWPcMVk-kAXX8raNRSE_l1wxcnlIlPo_3SkyOwZ8KHSW2yh3dyyUB6t6GE-wTuM3zjTson-dSIkwyqnWtyhmqwcBaeDT4Z2aK1yl2BAlC-r5-lhVt_UIdxVeVK/s1600/imagesbst.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731988938961519602" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggsuZ0VL20b_4yyN1xSJAWPcMVk-kAXX8raNRSE_l1wxcnlIlPo_3SkyOwZ8KHSW2yh3dyyUB6t6GE-wTuM3zjTson-dSIkwyqnWtyhmqwcBaeDT4Z2aK1yl2BAlC-r5-lhVt_UIdxVeVK/s400/imagesbst.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 196px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 257px;" /></a><br />About ten years ago, Rabbi Yehoshua Yosef Kornblit of Yerushalayim published a “</span><i>Baal Shem Tov Haggadah</i>” with excerpts of various teachings relating to the text. I have often used this Haggadah, along with Rabbi Alter Tepliker’s Breslov Haggadah “<i>Ohr Zarei’ach</i>,” but didn’t notice that at the very end, he includes a few variations of the story of the Baal Shem Tov’s attempted journey to Eretz Yisrael.<br />
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If you can’t find a copy of this excellent Haggadah, you could try contacting Rabbi Kornblit, who lives at 15 Batey Varsha. The phone number given in my edition of the sefer is 02 (or just 2 from chutz la’aretz) 371-059. However, you probably need to add another digit before the 3, since Israeli telephone company switched to seven digit phone numbers in the interim. I’d suggest adding a 5, although I’m not sure.<br />
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The basic story as found in the sefer “<i>Adas Tzaddikim</i>” is much the same as our Breslov version (although not surprisingly, it doesn’t include the part about the Baal Shem Tov’s daughter Udel’s rescue in the merit of her future grandson Rebbe Nachman‘s writings). In that version, the cannibals are called “Haidamaks,” which is probably a just a loose usage of the term, and they seem to be pirates rather than man-eating natives. After Reb Hirsh Sofer and the Baal Shem Tov call out responsively the letters of the alef-beis, a bell starts ringing and a mysterious elderly captain comes to the rescue with a group of soldiers, and they scare off the pirates. In this account, the ship makes it back to Istanbul on the Seventh Day of Pesach. As for the old captain—he was none other than Elijah the Prophet.<br />
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Another retelling of the story in the sefer “<i>Ginzey Yisrael</i>” similarly ascribes the rescue of the Jewish community of Istanbul to the Baal Shem Tov’s singing “<i>Le-she nifla’os gedolos levado</i>,” but neglects to mention the emissaries and the intervention of the Sultan’s mother.<br />
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“<i>Zera Baruch</i>” describes how Reb Baruch of Medzibuzh would honor the Baal Shem Tov’s deliverance with a communal meal on Acharon shel Pesach and retell the story of his grandfather’s life from the day of his birth until his sea journey. There, he emphasizes that the underlying purpose of this journey was the final redemption of the Jewish people. For the Baal Shem Tov possessed the “nefesh” of Dovid HaMelekh, while the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh possessed the “ruach” of Dovid HaMelekh. And if the two tzaddikim had finally met, the Baal Shem Tov would have received the “neshamah” of Dovid HaMelekh and thus been empowered to bring about the <i>ge’ulah sheleimah</i>.<br />
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Rabbi Kornblit also cites the sefer “<i>Ohev Yisrael</i>” to the effect that the Apter Rov, who lived in Medzibuzh after the passing of Reb Baruch, would also conclude Pesach with a <i>tisch </i>that extended into the night in honor of the Baal Shem Tov’s miraculous rescue.Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-55987804657598385262023-04-10T11:40:00.001-04:002023-04-10T11:40:54.001-04:00The Baal Shem Tov’s Nesia to Eretz Yisrael<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxhlKLtEWH7tdleOVMwZ9Cq_mWHYdIMFpG87vbXso8f5V3-86yT223gdRyRSY8h4r_1CDjlst89cGyQeg-RWbJKn-TfM1MTEdx4oc6po3XC9wcLF9oRCjPdKlGJMaCnPXu8qXz-SZb_b4Q/s1600/517604.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727958352312147410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxhlKLtEWH7tdleOVMwZ9Cq_mWHYdIMFpG87vbXso8f5V3-86yT223gdRyRSY8h4r_1CDjlst89cGyQeg-RWbJKn-TfM1MTEdx4oc6po3XC9wcLF9oRCjPdKlGJMaCnPXu8qXz-SZb_b4Q/s400/517604.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 380px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 380px;" /></a><em>Breslover Chassidim are accustomed to retell this story during the “Baal Shem Tov Se’udah,” which is the last meal of Acharon shel Pesach (AKA “ne’ilas ha-chag”). This was a common custom among many Chassidim in Europe, and a few such as the Skolye Chassidim still tell the story. This version is based on the Breslov mesorah.</em><br />
<em><br />Dovid Sears</em><br />
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Reb Levi Yitzchok Bender, the central figure in the Meah Shearim Breslov kehillah after World War II until his passing in 1989, used to retell the story every year on Acharon shel Pesach. He always said that he retold the story the way he received it personally from Rabbi Shimshon Barsky of Uman, a grandson of Rebbe Nachman and a leading <em>mashpiya</em> during the late late 1800s-early 1900s. However, Reb Levi Yitzchok also said that once someone asked his teacher Reb Avraham b’Reb Nachman if Reb Shimshon’s version was accurate. He answered, “S’iz doh nuschos ... There are many versions!” (Heard from Rabbi Avraham Shimon Burshteyn). Like all oral traditions, there are a few differences over this detail or that. Yet these differences are relatively minor.<br />
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We have put together this brief outline so that at least something will be available in English for those who wish to tell the story during the final hours of Acharon shel Pesach. This is not an “official” version, but we hope it will be good for starters.<br />
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<strong>Beginning the Journey</strong><br />
The Baal Shem Tov experienced intense <em>gagu’im</em> to travel to Eretz Yisrael—until at last the time came. (This mystical understanding of traveling to Eretz Yisrael is echoed by Rebbe Nachman’s statement, “With every step, I’m going to Eretz Yisrael,” and his teaching that “all tefillos and avodahs ascend through Eretz Yisrael.” Just as Eretz Yisrael was the goal of the Exodus from Egypt, so in a mystical sense it represents the goal of the spiritual quest of each individual and the Jewish people collectively. See the Breslov teachings in the Tcheriner Rov’s anthology, <em>Otzar HaYirah, “Eretz Yisrael</em>.”)<br />
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The Baal Shem Tov took his only daughter, the <em>tzaddekes</em> Udel, and his <em>chassid</em> Reb Hirsch Sofer, as companions for the journey.<br />
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It was very unusual to go to Eretz Yisrael in those days, and extremely difficult—unlike today. But he trusted in Hashem and left home with only enough money to reach the next town. (It is well-known that the Baal Shem did not keep even a small coin overnight, but lived from day to day, trusting completely in Hashem.) He was confident that Hashem would make a way for him.<br />
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(When Rabbi Shmuel Breines tells the story in the Breslov Shtibel of Borough Park, he often stresses the importance of <em>bitachon</em>, total reliance upon Hashem. Two sources of inspiring teachings about bitachon are Rabbi Avraham ben HaRambam’s <em>Sefer HaMaspik:</em> <em>Shaar HaBitachon</em>, or Rabbenu Bachya Ibn Paquda’s <em>Chovos HaLevavos: Shaar HaBitachon</em>. A quote or two from such sources can help make the story more meaningful.)<br />
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Day by day and week by week the threesome traveled from one town to the next, heading toward the port city of Istanbul on the Black Sea. Somehow the Baal Shem Tov received enough money to keep traveling, until they arrived in Istanbul on Erev Pesach.<br />
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They had neither provisions nor money for lodgings. But the Baal Shem Tov was sure that everything would work out satisfactorily. They found an inn in the Jewish quarter of the city and took lodgings on the ground floor, where the horses were stabled. Udel went to shore to wash clothes for Yom Tov, while her father and Reb Hirsch went to a nearby Beis HaMidrash.<br />
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At the same time, a wealthy childless couple from Germany arrived in Istanbul. This couple had been following the Baal Shem Tov from town to town in order to obtain his <em>brochah</em>, and only caught up to him now. <em>Bi-hashgochah pratis</em>, they wound up at the same inn, where they rented a large suite of rooms, and bought matzos, wine and food for Pesach. Then they went in search of the Baal Shem Tov. They found a Jewish girl washing clothes at the sea-shore—Udel, of course—asked her if she knew the whereabouts of the Baal Shem Tov, and learned that the Baal Shem Tov was none other than her father. Overjoyed, they took Udel back to the inn and instructed the servants to bring the possessions of the t<em>zaddik</em> and his daughter and disciple from the stables to their rooms upstairs.<br />
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Knowing nothing about this, the Baal Shem Tov and Reb Hirsch davened, and came back after Maariv to find everything prepared for the sedorim and for Yom Tov. The Baal Shem Tov displayed no surprise at this, but proceeded to conduct the Seder without indicating that anything unusual had happened. Only after he had completed the Seder, did the Baal Shem Tov turn to their host and hostess and declare, “I know why you came here. Know that your wish has been fulfilled, and you will have a child this year!”<br />
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However, no sooner had the words escaped his lips than the Baal Shem Tov’s face clouded over, and he closed his eyes; he was experiencing <em>aliyas ha-neshamah</em>, an ascent of the soul to the upper worlds. His daughter Udel had seen this before, but now she was terrified—her father seemed to be in a state of <em>gesisah mamash</em>, his life seemed to be hanging by a thread. In heaven, the Evil Accuser demanded: This couple had been fated to remain childless. By what right did the Baal Shem force the Ribono shel Olam to change all of creation for the sake of this man and woman? The Gemara states, “The tzaddik decrees and Hashem fulfills” (<em>Shabbos</em> 59b), and the Baal Shem Tov’s blessing would surely bear fruit. However, in such matters there is a price to be paid. The heavenly court ruled that in exchange, the Baal Shem Tov would lose his <em>Olam Haboh</em>, his place in the Afterlife.<br />
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Then Baal Shem Tov suddenly opened his eyes, the color returned to his face, and with great simchah declared, “Now I will be able to serve Hashem without any <em>p’nia</em>, without any thought of future reward!”<br />
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At this, the Evil Accuser insisted that the heavenly court restore his <em>Olam Haboh</em>—to let the Baal Shem Tov serve Hashem with such absolute selflessness was too much!<br />
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<strong>Disaster Averted</strong>At this point, Reb Avraham b’Reb Nachman would roll up his sleeves and say, “<em>Un in di ma’aseh iz doh noch a ma’aseh</em> . . . And in this story there is still another story...” (Heard from Rabbi Avraham Shimon Burshteyn, in the name of Rabbi Itche Meyer Korman).<br />
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Although Baal Shem Tov’s purpose was to go to Eretz Yisrael, his journey, like all of his actions, contained many other mysteries and purposes. (See <em>Likutey Moharan </em>I, 42. Reb Noson adds that this is not only true of the tzaddikim, but even of ordinary Jews. Everything we do reflects Hashem’s hidden plan for creation. See <em>Avaneha Barzel</em>, p. 88, which is translated in “The Tree That Stands Beyond Space,” p. 57.)<br />
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The Sultan of Istanbul was a tyrant who had a special enmity toward the Jewish people. Yet the Jews had influence and power in the city, and the Sultan had to resort to underhanded means to hurt them.<br />
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On that Erev Pesach he called together his royal ministers for a secret meeting. He proposed that a pogrom be carried out the next morning, in which the mobs would be incited to kill every Jewish man, woman and child in Istanbul. His ministers were sworn to secrecy about this plan on penalty of death.<br />
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Yet one of the royal ministers was a righteous gentile and friend of the Jews. Risking his life, he hastened to warn the leaders of the Jewish community of their great peril. After discussing the matter, they decided to send emissaries to the Sultana, the widow of the previous Sultan who had treated his Jewish subjects with kindness and respect. Perhaps she could intervene. In the cover of night, the emissaries made their way through the city’s streets toward the palace of the Sultana.<br />
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Their long trek took them past the very inn where the Baal Shem Tov and his companions were concluding the Seder. Through an opened window, they could hear the Baal Shem Tov singing with fervor “<em>Le-oseh nifla’os gedolos levado</em> … To the One Who alone performs wonderous miracles!” One of the emissaries remarked wryly to his friend, “If that Jew only knew what we know, he wouldn’t sing those words so sweetly!”<br />
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(A contemporary Breslover, Rabbi Shimshon Barsky of Bnei Brak, remembered an interesting detail here. When his father Rabbi Noson Barsky told the story, according to the version of his grandfather and namesake, Rabbi Shimshon Barsky of Uman, and he described how the Baal Shem Tov sang “<em>Le-oseh nifla’os gedolos levado,”</em> he used to sing the well-known <em>niggun</em> of the Baal Shem Tov—thus demonstrating how the Baal Shem Tov actually sang these words. He did so when mentioning the song both while the emissaries were on their way to the Sultana and on their return.)<br />
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Arriving at the palace, the emissaries begged the guards for permission to obtain an audience with the Sultana, but were refused admission. Yet they persisted until the Sultana heard the racket at the door and asked who wanted to see her at such a late hour. Learning that they were representatives of the Jewish community on an urgent mission, the good-hearted Sultana admitted them and listened to their tale of impending destruction.<br />
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Given the urgency of the situation, she asked the emissaries to remain in her home while she set out in the night to intercede with her son. Arriving at the royal palace, she woke up the Sultan and announced, “Tonight your father came to me in a dream! And he revealed to me that tomorrow our family will be utterly wiped out! My heart palpitated with dread—that’s why I hurried here. We must consult the royal chronicles to see if we can find a reason for this evil fate…”<br />
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The Sultan sent for the royal record book and in his mother’s presence saw inscribed therein the slaughter of the Jewish community scheduled for the next morning. “Now, my son, I know why I had this terrible dream!” the Sultana said. “Don’t you know what happens to all those who start up with the Jews? Don’t you know what happened to Pharaoh and Haman and the rest of their enemies? You must call off this pogram, or my dream will surely come true!”<br />
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Thus, the Sultan tore up his cruel decree and only then did his mother return home to inform the emissaries of her success. As they made their way through the Jewish quarter, they passed the same inn and were surprised to hear the same man repeating the words “<em>Le-oseh nifla’os gedolos levado</em>.” But now he did so with the greatest merriment.<br />
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After the morning prayers, the community leaders informed the <em>kehillah</em> that a great miracle had occurred. Because of Hashem’s mercy, the Jews of Istanbul had been saved from certain death. In recounting the highlights of the story, they didn’t fail to mention the Jew who sang of Hashem’s miracles at the end of the Seder, and how if he had known what was going on, he wouldn’t have been able to sing.<br />
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At this, the Baal Shem Tov (still incognito) remarked, “<em>Mir dacht zokh az der Yid mit zein zingen 'le-oseh nifla’os gedolos levado,' hott ehr mevatel geven di gezerah</em> . . . It seems to me that by singing ‘Who alone performs wondrous miracles,’ this Jew nullified the heavenly decree.”<br />
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<strong>The Sea Voyage</strong><br />
On the first day of Chol HaMoed, the couple from Germany bade farewell to the Baal Shem Tov. They wished to lavish upon him various gifts in their gratitude for his <em>brochah</em>, but the Baal Shem Tov refused to accept anything beyond the kindness they had already shown him. Only one thing did he request—that they provide him and his companions with tickets for the next ship to Eretz Yisrael. They happily did so. And the next ship was leaving that day.<br />
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Before boarding the ship, the Baal Shem Tov told his daughter and Reb Hirsch that he had the power to go to the Holy Land in a more expedient way: he could toss his <em>gartel</em> on the waves of the sea, and they could walk across it to their destination. The only condition was that they would have to focus their minds on a certain Holy Name without breaking their concentration for even a second. The <em>tzaddekes </em>Udel answered that she was willing to do so. However, Reb Hirsch feared that he would not be able to maintain his concentration; so they traveled by ship.<br />
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<strong>The Great Storm</strong><br />
The ship quickly traversed the peaceful waters, among its passengers the Baal Shem Tov and his daughter and disciple. However, in the middle of their voyage, the sky suddenly darkened and a mighty storm struck. The powerful winds cast the ship on the turbulent waves, until it seemed that they were about to either capsize or be dashed to bits.<br />
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The Baal Shem Tov said, “The sea will be stilled only if I cast my writings overboard—or if my daughter is willing to take their place. Only then will the storm subside.”<br />
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There are different versions of what happened at this point. Reb Levi Yitzchak’s <em>mesorah</em> from Reb Shimshon Barsky was to preface this part of the story with the words: “Anderer zoggen..." ("Some say…”). Then he would go on to state that Udel agreed and was actually cast into the sea. However, with this act of <em>mesirus nefesh</em>, she received a heavenly communication: she was destined to have a grandson who would write “<em>shennerer ksavim</em>,” i.e., even greater writings than those of her father. She lifted up her hands and called to the Baal Shem Tov and told him this. Udel was immediately retrieved, and the precious manuscripts were cast into the waters.<br />
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(As a humorous aside, I heard from Rabbi Avraham Moshe Wasilski of Williamsburg that whenever Reb Levi Yitzchok told the story and described how Udel was cast into the sea, Rabbi Nochum Yitzchok Frank would interrupt the story to protest, shouting “<em>Sheker! S’iz nisht shayakh! Es kennisht zein</em>! Lies! It isn’t possible! It can’t be!”)<br />
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Another version states that she merely considered jumping into the sea, either mentally or even verbally, but did not actually do so. Suddenly she had a heavenly communication about her grandson, and told her father that they could cast the manuscripts into the sea after all. Immediately they did so, and the storm stopped as suddenly as it had began.<br />
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<strong>The Cannibals</strong><br />
After this ordeal, everyone on the ship was worn out, physically and emotionally. So they headed for next island they sighted, and anchored offshore in order to set their feet on dry land again for a little while. The passengers disembarked and began to stroll along the shore and among the verdant trees, to recover from their distress.<br />
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The Baal Shem Tov and his companions walked until they found a nice shady spot to rest. However, they soon discovered that they had company. Out of the forest emerged a group of cannibals brandishing knives and spears. In a few moments, the cannibals had tied up the threesome and cast them on the ground.<br />
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Reb Hirsch, quaking in terror, asked the Baal Shem Tov, “Rebbe, please do something and save us from these savages!”<br />
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However, the Baal Shem Tov was silent.<br />
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“Why don’t you answer me?” Reb Hirch exclaimed.<br />
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“Because right now, I don’t know anything!” the Baal Shem Tov replied. “Do you know anything?”<br />
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“Nothing at all,” Reb Hirsch stammered. “Just the <em>alef-beis</em>…”<br />
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The cannibals surrounded them, grinning malevolently. In a moment they would start getting ready for dinner…<br />
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“If you know the <em>alef-beis</em>, say it!”<br />
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Reb Hirsch began: “Alef!” And the Baal Shem Tov answered, “<em>Alef</em>!”<br />
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“<em>Beis</em>!”—“<em>Beis</em>!”<br />
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“<em>Gimmel</em>!”—“<em>Gimmel</em>!”<br />
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As they prounced the names of the holy letters, the Baal Shem Tov suddenly regained his supernatural powers. In the distance, a bell began ringing, the sound coming closer and closer. Alarmed, the cannibals hastily fled. Soon a carriage came into view, and the people inside freed the prisoners.<br />
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Reb Gedaliah Kenig mentioned that Reb Avraham Sternhartz’s <em>mesorah</em> included the detail that as the cannibals were preparing to kill the Baal Shem Tov and his companions, suddenly they heard the ringing of the ship’s bell, and this is why they fled.<br />
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Rabbi Shimshon Barsky of Bnei Brak, however, remembered that according to his grandfather’s version of the story, the bells that scared off the cannibals were those of the carriage, and the “people” in the carriage were actually <em>malakhim</em>, angels send by Hashem to save the Baal Shem Tov, Udel, and Reb Hirsch.<br />
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(When Rabbi Shmuel Breines of Borough Park tells the story, he often digresses here to remark on the power of “temimus u-peshitus,” simple whole-heartedness and faith in Rebbe Nachman’s teachings. See Otzar HaYirah, “Temimus”)<br />
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In any case, those in the carriage transported them back to the shore, where they joined the other passengers returning to the ship. The wind filled their sails and the began to travel rapidly—straight back to Istanbul, in time for Acharon shel Pesach.<br />
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<strong>The Secret of Success</strong><br />
Rebbe Nachman once discussed how his great-grandfather the Baal Shem Tov and the saintly Rabbi Naftali Katz, author of “Semikhas Chakhomim,” both attempted to reach Eretz Yisrael, without success. Yet Rebbe Nachman managed to overcome all obstacles and reach the Holy Land. Why did he succeed where these great figures did not?<br />
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Rebbe Nachman explained: “Eretz Yisrael is the aspect of ‘<em>gadlus de-gadlus</em>’ (a sublime level of expanded consciousness). And it is known that every spiritual ascent must be preceded by a decent. Since Eretz Yisrael is ‘<em>gadlus de-gadlus</em>,’ it must be preceded by ‘<em>katnus de-katnus</em>,’ a most extreme descent. Those who came before me were unable to cast themselves down to such depths…”<br />
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In the merit of the tzaddikim, who sacrificed themselves on behalf of the entire Jewish people, may we too be worthy of reaching the ultimate spiritual goal.Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-68215460830009482712023-04-10T11:40:00.000-04:002023-04-10T11:40:39.601-04:00Acharon shel Pesach / Last Day of Pesach<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdlkm8ikKFrpXAbMKrjAHsdA1AdMelw1qsBYghQ9gl9tLNrPygwk_wY8NVoXyHTupLAhEYRM9BaIkBJWKFaGtyBGbw7WeMFHgbTHQy2VCp0JTP4zDF3vNM_gnfjyRonpw8-CFE0lHctMHU/s1600/kneidel.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727957369055159922" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdlkm8ikKFrpXAbMKrjAHsdA1AdMelw1qsBYghQ9gl9tLNrPygwk_wY8NVoXyHTupLAhEYRM9BaIkBJWKFaGtyBGbw7WeMFHgbTHQy2VCp0JTP4zDF3vNM_gnfjyRonpw8-CFE0lHctMHU/s400/kneidel.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 183px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 275px;" /></a><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From “Breslov Eikh she-Hu: Breslov Customs and Practices, Past and Present”</span></em><br />
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Like other Chassidim, Breslover Chassidim traditionally do not eat <em>gebrokhts</em> (matzah cooked or soaked in liquids containing water) on Pesach. However, in <em>chutz la'aretz</em>, <em>gebrokhts</em> are prepared and eaten on Acharon Shel Pesach, even in the vessels and dishes used for non-<em>gebrokhts</em>. Although this does not apply to Eretz Yisrael, where Shevi’i shel Pesach is the last day, something similar is observed during a leap year when Shabbos falls on Motza’ei Yom Tov. Then <em>gebrokhts</em> are eaten in the regular Pesach vessels and dishes, even by those who live in Eretz Yisrael.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Rebbe used to go to his daughter Udel for the <em>se’udah</em> on Acharon shel Pesach, during which the family ate soup with <em>kneidlakh</em>. Once Udel served her father two <em>kneidlakh</em>, and he blessed her that in their merit she should have two children. This berakhah came to pass—and Udel regretted that she had not served her father more <em>kneidlakh</em>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Avanehah Barzel, sec. 43, p. 33)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The last meal of Acharon Shel Pesach is called the "Baal Shem Tov Se'udah," during which it is customary for a member of the group to retell the story of the Baal Shem Tov's attempted journey to the Holy Land. There is a special Breslover mesorah concerning the details of this story, preserved by oral tradition.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Most Chassidim used to call this meal the “Baal Shem Tov Se’udah.” In the communities of Skver-Chernobyl, Skolye, and others, they still do. The Breslov nusach of the story of the Baal Shem Tov’s journey may be found in <em>Eretz ha-Kodesh / Masa’ ha-Kodesh</em>, Jerusalem: Toras ha-Netzach, 5758/1998; and in Yiddish in <em>Der Otzar Fun Yiras Shomayim</em>, Hotza’as Ben Adam, Aharon Weinstock, ed. 1992, pp. 71-87. The story was also published many years ago in <em>Mabu’ey HaNachal</em>. Other nus’chos of the story preserved by various Chassidic communities are presented and discussed by Rabbi Shlomo Abish, “<em>Koros Chayav haMekoriyyim shel Rabban Shel Yisrael haBaal Shem Tov ha-Kadosh, zy ‘a,</em>” #4, Kuntres Heichal haBaal Shem Tov, Nisan 5764 / 2004, pp. 145-152.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the Shabbos after Pesach, some are accustomed to bake a challah with the form of a key on the loaf. Some engrave this shape by pressing a key into the dough; some attach a piece of dough in this shape; and some bake an actual key in the challah. (Reb Elazar Kenig’s family attaches a piece of dough shaped like a key.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(<em>Erkhei Yehoshua, Perach Shoshanim</em> 156, mentions that the Manistritcher minhag was to engrave this shape. A reason for the minhag of baking a “shlissel challoh” is offered by the Apter Rov in <em>Ohev Yisrael, “Le-Shabbos Achar Pesach</em>,” pp. 282-283, 330-331.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Someone once complained to the Tcheriner Rov, “Purim is over, Pesach is over…” The Tcheriner Rov corrected him, replying, “<em>Mer hobben areingenumen a Purim un a Pesach</em> . . . We have internalized Purim and Pesach!”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Avraham Shimon Burshteyn)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In this spirit, Reb Avraham Sternhartz would learn <em>Likutey Moharan</em> I, 135 (“Ki Ekakh Mo’ed”), saying, “I am taking the Yom Tov into myself!” He also used to mention that the number of this lesson (135) is be-gematria “<em>matzah</em>.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(<em>Mabu’i ha-Nachal, Kovetz</em> 53, <em>Nisan</em> 5782, p. 37)</span>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-78209200189879730602023-03-23T06:01:00.002-04:002023-03-23T06:01:29.776-04:00Pesach<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Rebbe stated that on Pesach one should cry out in <em>davenning</em>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Like his saintly great-grandfather, the Baal Shem Tov, the Rebbe did not eat <em>gebrokhts</em>. However, in the Breslov community this <em>chumrah</em> is not taken to extremes. This is due to the Rebbe’s remarks about not taking on <em>chumros yeseiros</em> (excessive stringencies). Therefore, although most Breslovers refrain from <em>gebrokhts</em>, those who have a previous custom to eat <em>gebrokhts</em> are not obligated to change.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Re. Rabbi Nachman’s attitude about <em>chumros yeseiros</em>, see <em>Sichos ha-Ran</em> (English: “Rabbi Nachman’s Wisdom,” Breslov Research Institute), section 235. This seems to have been the prevailing view in the circle of the Baal Shem Tov; cf. Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz, <em>Imrei Pinchas ha-Shalem</em> [Frankel edition, Bnei Brak 2003], vol. I, “<em>Pesach</em>,” sec. 170-173, that Reb Pinchas was opposed to excessive stringencies except on Pesach, and even then limited himself to those mentioned in the <em>Shulchan Arukh</em>.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Rebbe stated that reciting the <em>Haggadah</em> in a loud voice (<em>be-kol ram</em>) is a form of <em>tikkun ha-bris</em>, rectification of the Covenant.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(<em>Likkutei Moharan</em> I, 20:10)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><em>Shevi’i shel Pesach</em> is one of the five times of the year that Breslover Chassidim are particular to daven together <em>ki-vasikin</em>, following the custom of the Baal Shem Tov.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(See <em>Yemey Moharnat</em> II, 71)</span>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-52028218836033841062023-03-23T06:01:00.001-04:002023-03-23T06:01:20.081-04:00Customs for Chodesh Nisan (Prior to Pesach)<div style="text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>Customs for Chodesh Nisan (Prior to Pesach)</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><em>From “Breslov Eikh Shehu: Breslov the Way It Is”</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><em>Work-in-progress by Dovid Zeitlin and Dovid Sears</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Rebbe taught that the days of Nisan are days of teshuvah, like the days of Tishrei.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Likutey Moharan I, 49)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Rebbe was born on Rosh Chodesh Nisan, which is the Mishnah designates as the "Rosh Hashanah shel malakhim," the day on which the reign of a Jewish king officially begins. Today many Breslover Chassidim travel to Uman to pray near the Rebbe's tziyun on Rosh Chodesh Nisan because it, too, is a “Rosh Hashanah,” and perhaps to some extent possesses the segulos of Rosh Hashanah.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In a letter to Rabbi Avraham Jacobovitch, Rabbi Shmuel Horowitz mentions that Nisan is the head of all months, and is a time of simchah in all the worlds; each day is comparable to a Rosh Chodesh and a Yom Tov; and through this simchah, one can attain tikkun and shemiras ha-bris, as discussed in Likutey Moharan I, 49. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Rabbi Shmuel Horowitz, Michtevey Shmuel [Jerusalem: Keren R’ Yisrael Dov Odesser, first edition], Letter 26, p. 103)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Beginning on Rosh Chodesh Nisan, the minhag in the Ukraine was for each person to recite the parshas ha-nasi followed by the “yehi ratzon” after Shacharis, not to read it from the Sefer Torah in public. This was also the Breslover minhag.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Michel Dorfman. Those who read the nasi privately include the communities of Chernobyl-Skver, Boyan, Karlin-Stolin, Chabad, etc. Reading it from a Sefer Torah was the minhag of Rabbi Chaim of Tzanz, also mentioned in Darkei Chaim ve-Shalom [Munkatch])</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, in recent years it became the minhag in the Tzefas Breslov community to read the nasi from the Sefer Torah. This change was made out of concern that people not forget to do so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Elazar and a group of talmidim from Tzefas usually go to Uman immediately after Pesach to spend the last days of Nisan at the Rebbe's tziyun. The chaburah spends one day visiting the kivrei tzaddikim in Berditchev, Medzhibuzh, and Breslov. While in Uman, Reb Elazar teaches Sippurey Ma’asiyos and Likutey Moharan every day, and the chaburah recites Tikkun ha-Klalli be-tzibbur.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah and his talmidim used to go to Tzefas in order to pray there on Erev Rosh Chodesh Iyar. When asked about this, Reb Gedaliah said that this was the date that Mosdos Nachal Novea Mekor Chochma had purchased its first property in Tzefas. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Dovid Shapiro)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah stated that the mekhirah is a complete sale, and chas ve-shalom that one should think otherwise. Therefore, one may sell any quantity of chometz gamur.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Yaakov Klein)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah did not instruct his talmidim to sell their chometz through a Rov who used an arev kablan. Therefore, it seems he was not particular about this. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Yaakov Klein. The Baal ha-Tanya advocated the use of an arev kablan, a Jew who acts as the agent of the non-Jew who buys the chametz. )</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After Minchah, it is customary to recite the Haggadah, beginning with “Avadim hayinu” until “le-khaper al kol avonoseinu.” One does so even if Shabbos ha-Gadol falls on Erev Pesach.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(RaMA, Orach Chaim 430:1; Mishnah Berurah, ad loc.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Rebbe darshans on the custom that once prevailed in Eastern Europe to turn over the tables after Shabbos HaGadol. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Sichos ha-Ran 88)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The tables were commonly made so that the top rested on the legs. Therefore, by turning over the top, one was provided with a new, “chometz-free” surface.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Leibel Berger)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Avraham Sternhartz told Rabbi Shmuel Horowitz that Reb Noson used to say: “As soon as one recites the berakhah for bedikas chometz, it is already a shtick Pesach (i.e., one is already connected to Pesach).”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Rabbi Shmuel Horowitz, editor of Rabbi Avraham b’Reb Nachman, Yemei T’la’os [Jerusalem 1982, fifth edition] p. 41)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Avraham described how after the bedikah, Reb Noson would speak words of mussar to his sons: they should strive to remove the chometz from their hearts, etc. This was the only time he spoke mussar at such length the entire year. He did so order to awaken the paradigm of “yom nakam bi-libi . . . the day of retribution is in My heart, and the year of My Redemption has come” (Isaiah 63:4). This mood lasted until the burning of the chometz the following morning, when one must also destroy the chometz from one’s heart. Reb Noson’s allusion to the verse “yom nakam bi-libi” alludes to Likutey Moharan I, 83, which speaks of searching for chometz with the “light of the eyes” (see there), destroying the chometz in one’s heart, and other awesome tikkunim that are bound up with the Redemption and Beis ha-Mikdash.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Rabbi Shmuel Horowitz, editor of Rabbi Avraham b’Reb Nachman’s Yemei T’la’os [Jerusalem 1982, fifth edition] p. 41)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah had a large family and an extremely small dirah. Yet despite the challenges of operating within such circumstances, he remained calm and patient throughout the Pesach preparations, with tzelilus ha-da’as.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Elazar Kenig)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah showed great zehirus in all mitzvos de-rabbanan. Thus, he would not even drink water before bedikas chometz, even though this is halakhically permissible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Elazar Kenig and Rabbi Yaakov Klein)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah did not use a feather and wooden spoon during bedikas chometz, but only a candle and a sheet of paper made into a cone to collect the ten pieces of chometz, etc. One year one of his children came back from kindergarten and gave him a wooden spoon for the bedikah. However, he put it aside and did not use it, commenting, “Ich fier zach vie der Tate . . . I conduct myself like my father.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Yossel Sofer citing his mother, Mrs. Mirel Sofer)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah’s wife would place each of the ten small pieces of chometz on a piece of paper, and put them on the floor. Reb Gedaliah would collect them during the bedikah and put them in the paper cone together with the candle to be burned in the morning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Yossel Sofer citing his mother, Mrs. Mirel Sofer)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah was not extreme in his manner of performing the bedikah. For example, if a drawer were not normally used for chometz, he would just open it and quickly look inside. He told his children to clean out the pockets of their clothes during the day, and he did not inspect them at night. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Yossel Sofer citing his mother, Mrs. Mirel Sofer)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Avraham Sternhartz used to fast all day on Erev Pesach and did not avail himself of the heter to make a siyum or attend one. This also had been the practice of his zeide, the Tcheriner Rov.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Elazar Kenig and Rabbi Avraham Shimon Burshteyn)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rabbi Avraham Shimon Burshteyn remembered hearing that Reb Avraham had had an older sister who died young, and therefore he was not obligated to fast on Ta’anis Bekhorim; yet he did so anyway. Another possible reason for this stringency, he speculated, was that Reb Avraham wished exempt his bekhor, Reb Noson, during the latter’s childhood, and he simply continued to do so after Reb Noson came of age. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Rav of Tcherin writes that there is no special inyan in Breslov to bake Erev Pesach matzos, which entails many halakhic risks if conditions are not optimal. "However," he adds, "if one can do so properly and without great difficulty, mah tov u-mah na'im." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(See Si'ach Sarfei Kodesh IV, 257. However, Reb Elazar has a copy of an unpublished letter from Reb Noson asking for wheat in order to make Erev Pesach matzos. This was a custom of the Baal Shem Tov still observed in many circles; see Shivchey Baal Shem Tov [Avraham Rubenstein, ed.] 199; Siddur ARI Rav Shabbsai, Seder Erev Pesach, et al.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah did not bake Erev Pesach matzos. Moreover, he was particular not to use them, due to the halakhic problems surrounding them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Yitzchak Kenig, Rabbi Chaim Man, and Rabbi Moshe Grinberger)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sometime after chatzos, Reb Gedaliah would recite the letter of Rabbi Shimshon Ostropolier, printed in many editions of the Haggadah. He encouraged his talmidim to do so, as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Moshe Grinberger)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After Minchah, he would read recite the account of the Korban Pesach. This is the common minhag. It is possible that the nusach he followed was that of Rabbi Yaakov Emden’s Siddur. This was one of his favorite seforim, which he often reviewed at different times of the year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Ephraim Kenig)</span>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-36177196157268971002023-03-23T06:01:00.000-04:002023-03-23T06:01:07.503-04:00Reb Michel Dorfman’s Pesach Customs<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbFIwBUQbhq3tmCUy9eyHdxhKQBvABklnGFNTbFb1wnF96rlt4oAFpzdrPDfh-N2fHp7YRPpq66Vrf6mkCmd69sWZtgD_Yjn8kDLIz8hQPDRLqyTTU3uW0HsslBfwsxIPd9yqFVkFZDwqa/s1600/Reb+Michel+Dorfman.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726588272611143346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbFIwBUQbhq3tmCUy9eyHdxhKQBvABklnGFNTbFb1wnF96rlt4oAFpzdrPDfh-N2fHp7YRPpq66Vrf6mkCmd69sWZtgD_Yjn8kDLIz8hQPDRLqyTTU3uW0HsslBfwsxIPd9yqFVkFZDwqa/s400/Reb+Michel+Dorfman.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 269px;" /></a> <br />
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<em><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Heard from Reb Gershon Ginsburg</span></em><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Once during the 1970s, Reb Gershon Ginsburg and his wife were visiting Yerushalayim, and asked their mentor, the prominent Breslov leader Rabbi Michel Dorfman, if they could join him for the Pesach Seder. He replied that he would be happy to have them as guests, as long as they did not mind the way he handled the issue of <em>gebrokhts</em>. Like most Breslover Chassidim, Reb Michel did not eat <em>gebrokhts</em>—but his wife did. And Reb Michel made no issue of using the same <em>keilim</em> and utensils for <em>gebrokhts</em> and non-<em>gebrokhts</em> during the entire Pesach.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Michel used potatoes for karpas.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Despite his advanced age, he used actual <em>chrein</em> for <em>morror</em>. However, he also served romaine lettuce for those who preferred it to <em>chrein</em>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He recited the Haggadah with fervor, sang a few passages, according to the common <em>minhag</em>, and did not say <em>vertlach</em>. At the conclusion of the Seder, Reb Michel recited <em>Shir HaShirim,</em> and remained awake learning Torah until it was time to go to <em>mikveh</em> and <em>daven ki-vasikin</em>, as he did every morning.</span> </div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-86869491502193392052023-03-23T06:00:00.001-04:002023-03-23T06:00:43.581-04:00Rabbi Herschel Wasilski’s Pesach Customs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidteUOl081Br6NqOIjWH5CNpnRuPfME0ILOBs-D5DHA2K6_DpFTFWTI0bNlTVEMtIiMQXszNoslS1MgYDMeyps-DtNlW64Wql_v25lAcaPVu8v7GsLkDMdT8NOlYVibgHepdZsSDjeAwrI/s1600/wUntitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidteUOl081Br6NqOIjWH5CNpnRuPfME0ILOBs-D5DHA2K6_DpFTFWTI0bNlTVEMtIiMQXszNoslS1MgYDMeyps-DtNlW64Wql_v25lAcaPVu8v7GsLkDMdT8NOlYVibgHepdZsSDjeAwrI/s1600/wUntitled.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Photo
by Rabbi Yakov Horowitz<span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rabbi Herschel Wasilski’s Pesach
Cutoms<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From <em>“Breslov Eikh she-Hu: Breslov Customs and Practices, Past and
Present,” a work-in-progress compiled by Dovid Sears and Dovid Zeitlin.</em><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Rabbi
Zvi Yosef (“Herschel”) Wasilski (1922-1981) was the central figure in the New
York Breslov community after World War II. There is a Breslover <i>shtiebel </i>in
his name on Lee Avenue in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, which he
founded, and which is led today by his son Rabbi Avraham Moshe Wasilski. Reb
Avraham Moshe kindly provided the information posted here.</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A
descendent of many distinguished <i>talmidei chakhomim</i>, Rabbi Herschel
Wasilski was born in Vilna, Lithuania, raised in Oszmiana on the outskirts of
the city. At age thirteen his parents sent him to learn in Rabbi Elchonan
Wasserman’s famous yeshivah in Baranovitch. Many talmidim in Baranovitch were Breslover
Chassidim, and Reb Herschel soon became a Breslover, too. With the invasion of
the Nazis, the yeshivah was forced to disband and reestablish itself in Vilna. When
Vilna came under attack, Reb Herschel was forced to flee. Captured by the
Russian army, he spent the rest of the war in Siberia and then in Samarkand.
There, he became a close and lifelong friend of Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Bender, who
also survived the war and went on to lead the Breslov <i>kehillah</i> in
Yerushalayim. Reb Herschel emigrated to New York in 1946, soon entering the
Torah Vodaath Yeshivah in Williamsburg, where he later served as a <i>maggid
shiur,</i> <i>melamed </i>and <i>menahel</i>. Reb Herschel was a devoted
Breslover Chassid who worked tirelessly for the Breslov <i>chaburah </i>in New
York and on behalf of the Breslover shul and yeshivah in Yerushalayim and the Breslover
Chassidim in Eretz Yisrael. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rabbi
Avraham Moshe recalled that his father, <i>zikhrono liv’rakha</i>, had many
personal <i>chumros</i> which reflected his deep <i>yiras Shomayim—</i>but not <i>hakpodo</i>s.
His Pesach <i>hanhago</i>s were all conducted in a pleasant spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He
came from a Litvishe family that basically followed the <i>minhagey ha-GRA</i>.
However, unlike his family, Reb Herschel did not eat <i>gebrokhts</i> on
Pesach. There were no <i>gebrochts</i> in his home, even on Acharon shel
Pesach. Even the children were not allowed to eat <i>gebrokhts.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb
Herschel did not “<i>mish</i>” (eat food prepared in other people’s homes, or
in restaurants or at public events) all year long—but his <i>hatznei’a leches</i>
(modest conduct) was so thorough that no one ever noticed. This certainly
included Pesach. But on Acharon shel Pesach, for the Baal Shem Tov Seudah (<i>Ne’ilas
HaChag</i>), it is customary for everyone to bring some food to <i>shul</i> (usually
matzos, hard-boiled eggs, and fruit) which the entire <i>chaburah</i> shares.
This was the one time that Reb Herschel did “<i>mish,</i>” as an expression of <i>achdus.</i>
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He
refrained from commercial food products all year long, with a few exceptions such
as bakery bread, rolls, and cake; milk and cottage cheese. On Pesach he used only
staples such as salt and sugar (with the <i>hekhsher</i> of the Hisachdus
HaRabbonim), and wine. Rebbetzin Wasilski and later her older daughters did all
the cooking. The Rebbetzin made her own <i>non-gebrokhts lokhshen</i>. She made
her own <i>shmaltz</i> rather than use commercial oil, and she ground her own
fish for gefilte fish. On Pesach, she squeezed her own orange juice and grape
juice, and they didn’t even use selzer. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yet,
Reb Avraham Moshe added, his father never made an issue about these <i>hanhagos</i>;
nobody thought that this was anything special, or that Reb Herschel was “extra <i>frum</i>.”
Everything was done with <i>temimus u-pshitus</i> and with <i>simchah.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb
Herschel used handmade <i>shmurah matzos</i> from the Poilisher Matzoh Bakery
on the Lower East Side, which he participated in baking with a special <i>chaburah.
</i>The chaburah included his brother-in-law Rabbi Tuvia Kaplan, his younger
brother Rabbi Boruch Kaplan (founder of Beis Yaakov Seminary in America), and Rabbi
Dovid Bender (Menahel of Yeshiva Torah Vodaas and father of Rabbi Yaakov
Bender). They were particular to use <i>razeveh </i>(whole wheat)<i> matzos</i>,
as a <i>hiddur</i> in <i>halakhah</i>. (The whole wheat flour was only sifted
once, leaving less chance for error.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb
Herschel used these handmade <i>shmurah matzos</i>, not machine <i>matzos</i>,
throughout Pesach. Rebbetzin Wasilski and the children also used only these handmade
<i>shmurah matzos.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">*</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He
used to leave some <i>matzos</i> on a tray in the middle of the dining table
throughout the entire Pesach, in case anyone wanted to wash and make “<i>hamotzi.</i>”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Bedikas
chometz</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: The<i> bedikah </i>was a serious <i>avodah</i> for Reb
Herschel. He did not speak the entire time, and all the lights in his home were
turned off. They would put out ten small pieces of bread, as is the common <i>minhag.</i>
Reb Herschel used a long wax candle, which one of his young children would hold
for him. He would sweep any crumbs with a feather into a white cloth. He also
used a wooden spoon. Yet he did not perform an unusually long <i>bedikah.</i>
It took 15-20 minutes to search their seven and a half room apartment.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In
those years, <i>bedikas chometz</i> kits were not common. Reb Herschel would
get a feather from the local butcher. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He
used to say the <i>tefillah </i>after <i>bedikas chometz</i> from the Rabbi
Yaakov Emden Siddur (“<i>Dinei Erev Pesach</i>,” p. 226, Lemberg ed.). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After
the <i>bedikah</i>, he would tie up the the white cloth and its contents, including
the feather and spoon, with string. Then he would hang it from the light
fixture in the front hall of the apartment until the morning. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He
would recite the <i>tefillah</i> after <i>bi’ur chometz</i> from the Rabbi
Yaakov Emden Siddur. Alluding to <i>Yechezkel</i> 36:26, this <i>tefillah</i>
asks that Hashem grant us a “<i>lev bosor</i>” (heart of flesh). In <i>Chayei
Moharan </i>(sec. 339), Reb Noson mentions that the Rebbe related “<i>lev bosor</i>”
to “Breslov” (since they have the same letters). Therefore, Reb Herschel would
always tell his children and all those nearby after reciting the <i>tefillah</i>,
“So we’re asking to become Breslover Chassidim!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Hadlokas
HaNeiros</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: The women would light the candles before the <i>zman</i> on
the first night, as on Erev Shabbos. The second night they would light after <i>tzes
ha-kokhavim</i>. Reb Avraham Moshe assumed that the women recited their own “<i>Shehechiyanu</i>”
after lighting, although he wasn’t absolutely sure.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb
Avraham Moshe remembered that when his father came to the Seder, he had an aura
of <i>malkhus. </i>His face would be radiant<i>—</i>”<i>anpin nehirin.</i>” Reb
Herschel wore a white <i>yarmulke</i> and white <i>kittel</i>. He used his
regular armchair covered with a white cloth, to the left of which was another chair
covered in white with several pillows on which he would recline when drinking
the wine or eating the matzoh, etc. But he did not lay down, nor did he recline
during the meal. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">His
sons did not use pillows, but just leaned at the required times. The guests did
not have their own pillows, either—and there were always guests.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb
Herschel did not <i>bentch</i> the children before the Seder (although he did
so before the Shabbos meal on Friday nights). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb
Herschel himself picked out the matzos for “<i>Kohen, Levi, Yisroel</i>” (arranging
them in that order—“Kohen” on top, “Levi” in the middle, and “Yisroel” on the
bottom), and then set up the <i>Ka’arah</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Ka’arah</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> /
Seder Plate: They used one <i>ka’arah, </i>set up according to the <i>minhag</i>
of the Arizal (which is the common <i>minhag</i> in Breslov). However, each
guest had his own <i>lechem mishneh</i>. The children did not have their own
matzos, though, even Reb Herschel’s grown sons. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
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<i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Simanei
HaKa’arah:<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Karpas</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: Reb Herschel
used both potato and onion for <i>karpas</i>. Although he preferred potato, he
always served onion as well, since this was his father’s <i>minhag</i> (as it
was throughout Lithuania). So the onion was on the table, even though he didn’t
use it. (This probably reflected the Rebbe’s caution not to eat raw onions in <i>Sichos
HaRan</i> 265). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Whenever
Rebbetzin Wasilski’s father Rabbi Yaakov Mordechai Gordon joined them for
Pesach, they also served raddish for <i>karpas,</i> since that was his family <i>minhag.</i>
(This was customary in the region of Kobrin, where his family came from.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Chazeres</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: He
used the head (<i>keppel</i>) of the horseradish root.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Moror</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: He
used the end (i.e., the root, not the tip) of a romaine lettuce stalk. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Beitzah</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: He
used a boiled egg, not roasted.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Zeroah:
</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">He used the neck of a chicken (<i>gorgel</i>). But in later
years, he used the wing (<i>fliegel</i>).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Charoses:</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Like
most Eastern Eurpean Jews, he used a mixture of grated apples, wine, chopped nuts
and maybe cinnamon. He would mix them together himself in the late afternoon on
Erev Pesach.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Kadesh,
Urchatz,</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> etc.: Reb Herschel led the entire Seder, and everyone else
followed along. He alone recited “<i>Kadesh, Urchatz, Karpas, Yachatz</i>…” (If
anyone wished to say it for themselves, they would do so quietly.) He also
announced each of these <i>simanim</i> individually as the Seder progressed,
and often would comment on it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Kiddush</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: According
to the common Litvishe custom, Reb Herschel alone made Kiddush on Shabbos and
Yom Tov for his family. However, on Pesach every son made his own Kiddush one
after the other, in the order of their ages. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He
drank the entire <i>kos</i> for each of the four cups of wine—even though in
those days only Tokay, Malaga or Concord wine were available. He usually used
Concord wine. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He
used an 8 or 9 oz. glass <i>kos</i> on Shabbos and Yom Tov and also at the
Pesach Seder. Yet he would drink the contents all at once. However, the women
and children over <i>bar mitzvah</i> didn’t use such large glasses; they were
probably 6 oz. glasses.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Every
child also had his own Kiddush cup, even if it was a small <i>shiur</i>. This
included even the younger children, beginning when they were as young as three
or four. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Everyone
stood for Kiddush. The women held their glasses and quietly recited the Kiddush
at the same time as Reb Herschel. Then the male guests and his sons would
recite Kiddush, one after another. No one left the table during Kiddush, but
everyone listened to everyone one else. There was no <i>hefkerus.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Maggid:
</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">With Reb Herschel leading, everyone would recite the text of
the Haggadah together, section by section. He would frequently add <i>chiddushei
Torah</i> based on Breslov teachings. These <i>chiddushim </i>were new every
year. Occasionally one of the guests would add a <i>vertl, </i>but this was infrequent.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb
Herschel recited the Haggadah with a certain <i>niggun</i> or <i>nusach</i>
that he probably heard from his father. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He
always used Reb Alter Tepliker’s <i>Ohr Zareich Haggadah</i>, which includes
various excerpts from the Breslover <i>seforim</i>. Reb Avrohom Moshe recalled
that his father had an old edition, probably from the 1940s.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Karpas:</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> He
did not recline for <i>karpas</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Yachatz:</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> He
would set aside the Afikoman in a cloth bag nearby, and during the Seder one of
the children would “steal” it and then bargain with him at the end of the meal,
as is common.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He
followed the common <i>nusach</i> “<i>Hoh lachma anya</i>” (with a <i>kometz-heh</i>
for “<i>hoh</i>”), not “<i>hey lachma anya</i>” or “<i>ki-hoh lachma anya</i>”—although
he was well aware of these variant <i>nuschos</i>. This probably reflected his
father’s custom.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Mah
Nishtanah</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: The younger boys and girls would recite the “<i>Fee’ir
Kashas</i>,” and Reb Herschel alone would repeat them when they were through. (He
would often preface this by saying, “I was the youngest child in my family.”) He
would then say, “<i>Der teretz iz… </i>(the answer is)…” followed by “<i>Avodim
hoyinu</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">They
said the “<i>Mah Nishtanah</i>” in the order of the Bavli, as found in most
Haggadahs, and not according to the Yerushalmi and Arizal (even though most of
the other Breslover <i>hanhagos</i> conform to those of the Arizal). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In
addition to commenting on the Haggadah, he would sing at various points,
particularly in <i>Hallel</i>, and then at length after the conclusion of the
Seder. Everyone would enthusiastically join in the singing. There were years
when some of his <i>talmidim</i> and other local <i>yeshivah bochurim</i>
stopped by just to witness Reb Herschel’s Seder (which was much longer than
most).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Mitzvas
Moror</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: He would use only the stalks of romaine lettuce, removing
the rest of the leaves and then rinsing the stalks thoroughly with water. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He
would add some white <i>chrein</i> on top of a few lettuce stalks, with a very
small amount of <i>charoses</i>. However, he distributed large <i>shiurim</i>,
six or seven stalks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For
his personal use, he would prepare slices of the ends of the lettuce (i.e., the
lower part from which the leaves grow) and add white <i>chrein</i> to those
slices. This too may have been his father’s <i>minhag</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Korekh</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: Reb
Herschel would add a little <i>charoses</i> to the <i>chrein</i> and lettuce
stalks. Despite his carefulness to avoid <i>gebrokhts</i>, he was not concerned
with the <i>charoses</i> touching the matzohs for <i>korekh.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Beitzah</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">: At
the beginning of the meal itself, he would serve hard-boiled eggs. For himself,
he would slice an egg and put the slices in a small dish of salt water. This
was his father’s <i>minhag</i>. (In Eastern Europe, many families only ate
slices of the egg; they could not give each person a whole egg, due to
poverty.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By the
time he got to the fourth <i>kos</i>, which was after 4:00 AM—or sometimes
after finishing the Seder—he often would go to the kitchen sink and dampen his
forehead with cold water to wake himself up in order to continue his <i>avodah.
</i>Reb Avrohom Moshe speculated that he might have even done so for the sake
of the children, whom he encouraged to do the same thing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Afikoman:</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Reb
Herschel was never <i>makpid</i> about the <i>zman</i> of <i>chatzos</i>. Reb
Avraham Moshe does not remember his father even mentioning it. He just did his <i>avodah
</i>in its own time. And in fact there were many Gedolei Yisrael who were not <i>makpid</i>
about the <i>zman chatzos</i> on the Seder nights.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After
completing the Seder, he would lead the singing of the various songs at the
end, some of which he sang in Yiddish or Russian, as well as in Hebrew. Then he
would recite aloud the entire “<i>Shir HaShirim</i>.” After this, he would go
to wake up those who asked him to do so for <i>Shacharis,</i> go to the <i>mikveh</i>
and then to <i>shul.</i> (He did not <i>daven ki-vasikin</i> but a little after
7:00 AM.) Thus, he would be awake all night long on both of the first two
nights of Pesach.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Avrohom
Moshe added that one should remember that his father and his peers were strong
people, and they were capable of doing these <i>avodahs</i> with <i>simchah
shel mitzvah </i>and without becoming overstressed. Reb Herschel himself would
always tell people that if they would not be able to function the next day, they
surely should finish the Seder earlier.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb
Avrohom Moshe added a <i>vort</i> of his own about this issue. The Haggadah
mentions how five <i>chakhomim</i> stayed up all night discussing <i>yetziyas
Mitzrayim</i>, until their <i>talmidim</i> came and announced that the time had
arrived for <i>kriyas Shema shel Shacharis</i>. Did the sages need their <i>talmidim</i>
to tell them this? Maybe we can infer from this that the <i>talmidim</i> wanted
to inform their teachers that they couldn’t stay up all night like their
masters and function properly the next day!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After Pesach:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shlissel
Challoh:</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> At first, the Wasilskis did not bake a “<i>shlissel challoh</i>”
for the Shabbos after Pesach. But in the later years, Rebbetzin Wasilski would
bake a <i>challoh</i> with the form of a key on top of the loaf, not an actual
key. (There are a number of different customs for baking <i>shlissel challoh</i>.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Because
they didn’t eat<i> kneidlach</i> on Acharon shel Pesach, for many years Rebbetzin
Wasilski made <i>kneidlach</i> for the Shabbos after Pesach. They were prepared
from a half-pound of <i>matzoh </i>meal which Reb Herschel bought before Pesach,
ground by the bakery from the <i>matzoh </i>baked by his <i>chaburah</i>. However,
it seems that this was done for the sake of the children. After the children
grew up, Rebbetzin Wasilski stopped making <i>kneidlach</i> for this Shabbos.</span></span></div>
</div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-64897930360507759192023-03-23T06:00:00.000-04:002023-03-23T06:00:11.660-04:00Pesach Customs of the Barsky Family<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisuY1oXXGz3p9GSFh_k_r9NsAOPLiPttQ_n86UsRjpOUskQ2wznZ6xg3OFEHzhbzvzjI1bQBXJ2UlXu2Fv4pwvlGCAUGIzYbGV4Vi8v0vtzdhJva6s5EnxFzEGnbU5yqQnwxF_RomRHbO8/s1600/barsky.bmp"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726589805783367346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisuY1oXXGz3p9GSFh_k_r9NsAOPLiPttQ_n86UsRjpOUskQ2wznZ6xg3OFEHzhbzvzjI1bQBXJ2UlXu2Fv4pwvlGCAUGIzYbGV4Vi8v0vtzdhJva6s5EnxFzEGnbU5yqQnwxF_RomRHbO8/s400/barsky.bmp" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 338px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a> <br />
<div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rabbi Shimshon Barsky of Bnei Brak, depicted in the photo above, is a son of Rabbi Noson Barsky and grandson of Rabbi Shimshon Barsky of Uman. He remembered a number of Pesach customs and <em>hanhagos</em> of his father and grandfather.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rabbi Shimshon Barsky of Uman, some of whose teaching were published as “Lik<em>utey Eitzos—Ivri Teitch</em>,” was a descendant of Rebbe Nachman through his daughter Sarah, and was a leading figure in the Breslov community before the Stalinist persecutions. His son Reb Noson spent the first twenty years of his life with his parents in Uman, until in 1914 on the eve of World War I, he married the daughter of Rabbi Henich Gutterman, a Gerer Chassid from Lublin, Poland, who had become a Breslover. From then on, Reb Noson lived in Lublin, while his father remained in Uman until his passing in 1935. Reb Noson and his wife and seven children miraculously escaped to Eretz Yisrael two weeks before the outbreak of World War II, when Shimshon was four years old. Reb Noson Barsky’s customs mentioned below were also those of his father.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Shimshon remembered that his father Reb Noson Barsky allowed the smaller children to eat gebrokhts. However, when the children were older, he no longer permitted <em>gebrokhts</em> in his home.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Noson Barsky put out ten pieces of bread, but did not perform a lengthy <em>bedikas chometz</em>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He wore a <em>spodek</em> and <em>kittel</em> at the Seder.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">His wife and any other women present lit the candles when the men came home from shul. They were <em>yotzei “Shehechiyanu”</em> after <em>Kiddush</em>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He did not <em>bentch</em> the children before the Seder.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Only the men and boys said <em>Kiddush</em>. The women just listened, as on a regular Shabbos or Yom Tov. Reb Noson Barsky and his sons recited Kiddush together, and the boys also said the words out loud.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The <em>bekhers</em> they used contained a smaller <em>shi’ur</em> (presumably around 4 oz.), as was common in those parts of Eastern Europe in past generations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The men leaned on a pillow next to the arm of the chair for the <em>mitzvos</em>, but not during the <em>se’udah</em>. (According to Ashkenazic custom, the women did not recline.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“<em>Kadesh, Urchatz</em>,” etc., were recited at the beginning of the Seder, and then at each component of the Seder, the name of the new section was announced with the <em>niggun</em> of the Haggadah.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After “<em>Yachatz</em>,” Reb Noson Barsky wrapped the <em>Afikoman</em> and put it aside. The children “stole” the <em>Afikoman</em>, and Reb Noson bartered to get it back, according to the common <em>minhag</em>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Only the children said “<em>Mah nishtanah</em>,” and the adults did not repeat it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After the Four Questions, Reb Noson said, “<em>Der teretz is</em>…” and recited “ <em>Avodim hoyinu</em>.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He used <em>chrein</em> for both <em>morror</em> and <em>korekh</em>. Lettuce was not available in either Poland or the Ukraine at Pesach time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For <em>karpas</em>, he used potato. This seems to have been the common <em>minhag</em>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He reclined for <em>karpas</em>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The egg for the <em>ka’arah</em> was boiled and then roasted on the fire.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><em>Charoses</em> consisted of grated apples, chopped walnuts, cinnamon, and wine.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The wine was added to the <em>charoses</em> when it was prepared, not when the mixture was place on the table. A small amount of <em>charoses</em> was placed on the <em>ka’arah</em>, and the rest remained on the table in a bowl for serving.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Noson Barsky placed a plate containing the six <em>simanim</em> on top of the three covered <em>matzos</em>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He did not use the egg from the <em>ka’arah</em> at the beginning of the meal, but distributed eggs from a separate bowl.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He dipped the chrein into the <em>charoses</em> and left a little <em>charoses</em> on the <em>chrein</em> (not a lot) both by <em>morror</em> and <em>korekh</em>. He was not <em>makpid</em> about preventing the the matzah from coming in contact with the <em>charoses</em> for <em>korekh</em>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the <em>ka’arah</em>, he used grated <em>chrein</em> for <em>morror</em> (i.e., the lowest point of the upper <em>segol</em>), and a piece of the head of the horseradish root for <em>chazeres</em> (i.e., the lowest point of the lower <em>segol</em>).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For <em>zero’a</em>, he used a roasted chicken wing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He used the Oh<em>r Zarei’ach Haggadah </em>compiled by Rabbi Alter Tepliker.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He recited the Haggadah with intense <em>hisorerus</em>, and chanted the entire Haggadah the same niggun except for “<em>Vehi she’omdoh</em>,” which he sang to the familiar upbeat melody that is still sung by many Chassidim.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He simply recited the Haggadah and explained a few highlights briefly to his family in Yiddish.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He sent the children to open the door for “<em>Shfokh chamoskha</em>,” and no one said “<em>Borukh ha-boh</em>.” The <em>kos shel Eliyohu</em> was placed on the table and filled after bentching, prior to “<em>Shfokh chamoskha</em>.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After concluding the Seder, he recited <em>Shir HaShirim</em> with great deveykus. </span></div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-20280805089559679782023-03-23T05:59:00.000-04:002023-03-23T05:59:58.454-04:00Reb Gedaliah’s Seder Customs<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYGSbSM4t3PnMxiqodib2QnpuvjtmqVrEofd79DtMGjVoqm6n59IZVZVVi9GuI1huA-ZaWbIp78O8F60yEkH3rfEeKmJUjU2n4ndu212-2iq90TkULXIdVoP1ivd2zgFx-4Kv0AB3fEFmq/s1600/ged.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726866644307244546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYGSbSM4t3PnMxiqodib2QnpuvjtmqVrEofd79DtMGjVoqm6n59IZVZVVi9GuI1huA-ZaWbIp78O8F60yEkH3rfEeKmJUjU2n4ndu212-2iq90TkULXIdVoP1ivd2zgFx-4Kv0AB3fEFmq/s400/ged.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 200px;" /></a><em><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From “Breslov Eikh she-Hu: Breslov Customs and Practices, Past and Present,” compiled by Dovid Zeitlin and Dovid Sears</span></em><br />
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Before going to shul on Seder night, Reb Gedaliah selected the three <em>matzos</em> for the <em>ka’arah</em>, and made other preparations, as well, such as arranging the chairs, etc. Thus, he could begin the Seder without unnecessary delay as soon as he came home from shul. However, he did not actually place the matzos on the table until he came home from shul. (Heard from Rabbi Yossel Sofer, citing his mother, Mrs. Mirel Sofer)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">During his early years, he used to check all of the <em>matzos</em> for <em>kefulos</em> before Pesach and separate the whole <em>matzos</em> from the broken ones in order to expedite things at the Seder. However, it seems that during his later years he did not always do so, and if he found <em>kefulos</em>, he broke them off and put them aside. (Heard from Rabbi Yosef Sofer, citing his mother, Mrs. Mirel Sofer)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Like most communities today, Breslover Chassidim arrange the <em>ka’arah</em> (Seder plate) according to the custom of the Arizal as presented in the <em>Mishnas Chasidim</em>. That is, the three matzos (<em>Chokhmah-Binah-Da’as</em>) are placed under the six <em>simanim</em>, with the <em>zero’a</em>/bone (<em>Chesed</em>) to the upper right, <em>beitzah</em>/egg (<em>Gevurah</em>) to the upper left, <em>morror</em>/bitter herbs (<em>Tiferes</em>) in the middle, <em>charoses</em>/chopped fruit and nuts with grape juice or wine (<em>Netzach</em>) to the lower right, <em>karpas</em>/celery, parsley, or another vegetable that grows from the ground (<em>Hod</em>) to the lower left, and chazeres/second portion of bitter herbs (<em>Yesod</em>) between them, under the <em>morror</em>. The ka’arah itself corresponds to <em>Malkhus</em>. (See <em>Mishnas Chassidim, Seder Leyl Pesach</em> 2; <em>Siddur ARI Rav Shabbsai,</em> et al. This is also cited in <em>Be’er Heitiv, Orach Chaim</em> 473:8. <em>Arukh haShulchan, Orach Chaim</em> 473:11, states that this is the prevailing Ashkenazic custom today. However, the RaSHaSH and other Sefardic <em>mekuballim</em> do not place the <em>matzos</em> underneath the six <em>simanim</em>, but on the <em>ka’arah</em> at its upper point (i.e., “twelve o’clock” if it were the face of a clock). This is because traditionally the Sefardic <em>matzos</em> are smaller and made somewhat like pita breads. An interesting exchange on this subject between Rav Asher Zelig Margolios and the Minchas Elazar appears as an appendix in <em>Kocho deRaSHBY</em>, pp. 18-23.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Avraham Sternhartz also arranged the <em>ka’arah</em> in this manner (i.e., as presented in the <em>Mishnas Chassidim</em>). (Heard from Rabbi Michel Dorfman)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The <em>matzos</em> may be placed in a cloth bag with three sections; or between napkins; or in a special unit with three metal racks and a <em>ka’arah</em> on top. Reb Gedaliah did not own a special holder, but used to rest a plate containing the <em>simanim</em> in small vessels directly on top of the covered <em>matzos</em>. Reb Elazar explained that this was another example of his father’s extraordinary <em>histapkus</em>—contentment with his modest material circumstances and shunning of luxuries, even when it came to the performance of certain <em>mitzvos</em>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mrs. Mirel Sofer remembered that Reb Gedaliah used napkins between the <em>matzos</em>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Yosef Sofer)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah’s <em>minhag</em> was to use romaine lettuce for <em>morror</em>, and he took the “<em>kepel</em>,” the part from which the leaves grow, for <em>chazeres</em> on the <em>ka’arah</em>. (That is, the bottom point of the upper segol was the leaf of the romaine lettuce, while the bottom point of the lower <em>segol</em> was the “<em>kepel</em>” of the romaine lettuce.) Once he tried to use <em>chrein</em> (horseradish) for the mitzvah of <em>morror</em>, but found that it made him ill.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Ephraim Kenig. <em>Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chaim</em> 473:5 states that romaine lettuce is the preferred type of <em>morror</em>. This is based on <em>Pesachim</em> 39a. However, cleaning these leaves to remove insects may be a difficult and time-consuming task. Therefore, some just use lettuce stalks. Special insect-free lettuce with rabbinic supervision is also available today.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, Reb Avraham Sternhartz used <em>chrein</em> for <em>morror</em>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Michel Dorfman)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Since insect-free romaine lettuce was then unavailable, Reb Gedaliah advised his <em>talmidim</em> to put the lettuce in the coldest part of the refrigerator overnight. This would cause the insects to loosen their grip, so that cleaning would be easier the next day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Dovid Shapiro)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For <em>karpas</em>, Reb Gedaliah at first used potatoes, and then changed to a raw celery root (not the stalks or leaves), in keeping with the view of the Arizal. However, he also continued to serve cooked potatoes, which some people prefer. Many Sefardic kabbalists also use celery root for <em>karpas</em>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Elazar Kenig and Rabbi Ephraim Kenig. This is supported by <em>Kitzur Shulchan Arukh</em> 118:2, <em>Teshuvos Chasam Sofer, Orach Chaim</em>, no. 132. See Rabbi Chaim Vital, <em>Sha’ar ha-Kavannos, ‘Inyan Pesach, Drush</em> 6, that the ARI was particular to use <em>karpas</em> and not any other vegetable. Sefardic authorities understand this to mean the celery root. <em>Darkei Chaim ve-Shalom</em> 589 states that the Minchas Elazar used a small amount of parsley leaves (<em>petrizeil</em>), which he held to be the <em>karpas</em> mentioned in the Gemara and Kisvei ARI zal. Some use the parsley root. The Hornestiepler Rebbe of Flatbush, Rabbi Mordekhai Twersky, told us that his family <em>minhag</em> is to use radishes. Bobover Chassidim use cucumbers. However, most Eastern European Jews used potatoes.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In any case, Breslover Chassidim do not use raw onions for <em>karpas</em>, in keeping with the Rebbe’s family <em>mesorah </em>that the Baal Shem Tov said not to eat raw onions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(See Sichos haRan 265)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, Reb Gedaliah did not consider raw scallions to be the same as onions. When he spent Pesach in Brooklyn, at the home of Reb Moshe Grinberger, he considered using raw scallions for <em>karpas</em>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Moshe Grinberger)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah would eat the <em>karpas</em> without reclining.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Ephraim Kenig. This follows the view of <em>Shevilei Leket</em>, 64; <em>Matteh Moshe</em> 626; <em>Birkhei Yosef</em> 474:14; <em>Siddur ARI Rav Shabsai</em>; <em>Darkei Chaim ve-Shalom</em> [Munkatch] 590; <em>Minhagei Chabad</em>; et al. Those who recline follow the shittah of Abudarham.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For <em>zero’a</em>, Reb Gedaliah used a roasted chicken wing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Yitzchak Kenig, Rabbi Ephraim Kenig, and Rabbi Yossel Sofer)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For <em>beitzah</em>, Reb Gedaliah used a hard-boiled egg, but did not roast it. (Heard from Rabbi Ephraim Kenig)</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reciting the Haggadah</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Many Breslover Chassidim use the <em>Haggadah Ohr Zarei’ach</em> compiled by Rabbi Moshe Yehoshua Beziliansky (better known as Reb Alter Tepliker). This work is a digest of Breslover teachings related to the text of the Haggadah. However, there is nothing special about the nusach of this Haggadah.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The women in Reb Gedaliah’s family used to light the Yom Tov candles after the men came home from shul. They recited the <em>berakhah</em> “<em>Shehechiyanu</em>” immediately afterward, and did not wait to do so until Kiddush. (Heard from Rabbi Yosef Sofer, citing his mother, Mrs. Mirel Sofer)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah said “<em>Ha lachma ‘anya</em>,” with a <em>kametz</em> under the <em>heh</em>, as in most versions of the Haggadah, not “<em>Heh lachma ‘anya</em>,” with a <em>tzeyre</em> under the <em>heh</em>—although the latter is the nusach of the Arizal. (The common nusach of “<em>hah</em>” with a <em>kametz</em> is mentioned in <em>Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chaim</em> 473:6. For the <em>nusach</em> of the ARI zal, see Rabbi Chaim Vital, <em>Pri Eitz Chaim, Sha’ar Chag haMatzos</em>, 7; <em>Mishnas Chassidim, Masechtas Seder Leyl Pesach</em>, 5:2, et al. This is based on several <em>pesukim</em>: <em>Bereishis</em> 47:23, <em>Yechezkel</em> 16:43, and <em>Daniel</em> 2:43.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah followed the more common order of “<em>Mah nishtanah</em>” (<em>Matzah</em>, <em>Maror</em>, <em>Matbilin</em>, <em>Mesubin</em>), not that of the Yerushalmi (<em>Matbilin, Matzah, Maror, Mesubin</em>), although the Arizal preferred the latter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(The common <em>nusach</em> is that of the Talmud Bavli, and is cited in the Machzor Vitry. It also appears in all of the Slavita siddurim. The ARI zal follows <em>nusach</em> of the <em>Yerushalmi</em>, as redacted by the RIF, RaMBaM, Rosh, and Baal haRoke’ach; see Rabbi Chaim Vital, <em>Pri Eitz Chaim, Sha’ar Chag haMatzos</em> 7. Chassidic sources that follow the <em>minhag</em> ARI include <em>Siddur Baal ha-Tanya;</em> <em>Darkei Chaim veShalom</em> [Munkatch] 599; <em>Erkhei Yehoshua</em> [Manistritch], <em>Perach Shoshanim</em> 121; <em>Siddur Tzelosa deShlomo</em> [Bobov]; et al. The Arizal explains that the Four Questions parallel the Four Worlds, in ascending order.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah and his family recited the “<em>Mah nishtanahs</em>” in unison, not the children first, followed by the adults.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Ephraim Kenig)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After the “<em>Mah nishtanahs</em>,” Reb Gedaliah used to exclaim, “<em>Oo-ah! Azoyne shtarkeh kashas</em> . . . Such strong questions!” Then he would say “<em>Der teretz is</em> . . . The answer is…” and recite “<em>Avodim hoyinu</em>.” (Heard from Rabbi Ephraim Kenig)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sometimes after reciting the section “ ‘<em>Avodim hoyinu</em>,” he would add: “<em>Me darf es noch fahrenferen. Tzorekh biur</em> … We need to give more of an answer. This needs explanation…” (Heard from Rabbi Ephraim Kenig)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Elazar has told his family members and <em>talmidim</em> that when we mention the <em>ben sho’el</em> during the Haggadah, this is an “<em>es ratzon</em>.” Therefore, one should quietly daven for whatever one needs. (Heard from Mrs. Hindy Hecht)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Avraham Sternhartz knew all of Reb Noson’s children. He heard from them, and particularly from Reb Noson’s daughter Chanah Tzirel, “<em>az Pesach banacht is geven zeyr a shverrer tzeit</em> . . . Pesach night was an extremely difficult time . . . ‘<em>Es is geven fun di shverster tzeiten fun a gantz yohr</em> … It was one of the hardest times of the entire year.” Reb Avraham explained that first, there were all of the <em>hakhanos</em>, physical and spiritual, and later during the Seder, Reb Noson was enflamed with emotion. Reb Noson used to recite the Haggadah loudly and with great fervor. His <em>deveykus</em> was so intense that once—and possibly more than once—when he came to the words “<em>U-ve-morah gadol—zeh gilu’i Shekhinah</em>,” he actually fainted. His family was therefore extremely nervous about what would happen at the Seder. They were afraid that he might suddenly expire.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Avraham Shimon Burshteyn)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah recited the Haggadah like a “<em>flamm fier</em>,” with intense passion. He conducted the Seder with awe and <em>yiras Shomayim</em>, creating a rarified atmosphere that affected everyone present. He did not allow the emotional climate to degenerate, notwithstanding all the children and the lateness of the hour, but maintained this exalted mood from beginning to end.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Ephraim Kenig)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Ephraim Kenig once remarked that the way his father recited the Haggadah, intensely probing the meaning of its words, was “<em>a perish af der gantzeh Haggadah</em>.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah would place the <em>Kos shel Eliyahu</em> on the table at the beginning of the Seder and fill it after <em>bentching</em>. Thus, it was visible throughout the Seder. He used a slightly larger <em>kos</em> than the rest, made of glass, not silver.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Yitzchak Kenig and Rabbi Yosef Sofer, citing his mother, Mrs. Mirel Sofer)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The wine from the <em>kos shel Eliyahu</em> was used the next morning for Kiddush.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Yosef Sofer, citing his mother, Mrs. Mirel Sofer)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah sometimes spoke briefly after “‘<em>Avodim hoyinu,”</em> and perhaps two or three times during “<em>Maggid</em>.” However, he and his sons and guests did not say <em>vertlach</em>, or engage in lengthy discussion of the Haggadah.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Ephraim Kenig)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah would spill a drop of wine while reciting each of the Ten Plagues, and not remove the wine with his finger. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Yossel Sofer, citing his mother, Mrs. Mirel Sofer. Rabbi Chaim Vital, <em>Pri Eitz Chaim, Sha’ar Chag haMatzos</em> 7, with glosses of Rabbi Yaakov Tzemach, <em>hagahah </em>1; cf. <em>Shulchan Arukh haRav</em> 473:51, s.v. “ve-yesh nohagin”; <em>Kaf haChaim</em>, ad loc. 166. The custom of using one’s finger is also mentioned by these sources, as well as by the RaMA, <em>Orach Chaim</em> 473:74.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The spilled wine would be collected and poured into an unglazed earthenware container, and later disposed of.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Yossel Sofer, citing his mother, Mrs. Mirel Sofer)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Elazar Kenig continues his father’s <em>minhag</em> of personally making the <em>charoses</em> for the Seder, with the help of one or two of his daughters. His recipe is: 10 apples, peeled and cored; 10 pears, peeled and cored; 10 bananas, peeled and sliced. The entire mixture is put through a food processor. Then Reb Elazar adds the juice of one pomegranate, strained through a cloth; three cups of home made sweet red wine; plus ground walnuts, ground almonds, ground cinnamon, ground ginger. He divides the batch into a number of separate bags for his married children who will not be with him for the Seder. The rest is used at his table.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Mrs. Hindy Hecht)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah would dip the <em>morror</em> in <em>charoses</em> for both <em>morror</em> and <em>korekh</em>, and immediately shake it off. He did not eat <em>charoses</em> together with the <em>matzah</em> and <em>morror</em> for <em>korekh</em>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Ephraim Kenig. According to <em>Erkhei Yehoshua, Perach Shoshanim</em> 131, the Manistritcher minhag was to include <em>charoses</em> in the <em>korekh</em>/sandwich. <em>Sefer Minhagim-</em>Chabad similarly states that one dips the romaine lettuce in charoses and then shakes it off, as prior to eating the <em>marror</em>.) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He added a little grated horseradish to the lettuce for <em>korekh</em>, but did not do so for <em>morror</em>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Yossel Sofer, citing his mother, Mrs. Mirel Sofer)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When Reb Avraham Sternhartz ate the morror, he would exclaim again and again, “<em>Ot azoy is gevezen bitter di Yidden</em>… Just like this, it was bitter for the Jews!” Reb Gedaliah used to repeat Reb Avraham’s words when he ate the <em>marror</em>, as well. (Heard from Rabbi Ephraim Kenig)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">During the meal, Reb Gedaliah would use a bed in order to recline while eating. However, he would sit in the usual manner while eating the soup, or if it became difficult for him at some point.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Ephraim Kenig. This reflects the view of the Rama, <em>Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chaim</em> 472:7, end; also cf. <em>Mishnah Berurah</em>, ad loc., that this is only <em>le-chatchilah</em>. Some say that this is entirely not applicable today.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In Reb Gedaliah’s home, it was customary to eat the egg after the fish, not immediately at the beginning of the meal. He used the egg on his <em>ka’arah</em> (unlike those who leave all the <em>minim</em> on the <em>ka’arah</em> for the entire Seder).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Ephraim Kenig)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, Reb Elazar did not remember his father waiting to eat the egg.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah would slice the egg into sections, dip the sections in salt water, and give them to everyone with a spoon. If he needed more slices, he would use a second egg, in addition to the one from the <em>ka’arah</em>. Before eating the egg, he would announce, “<em>Zekher le-chagigah</em>.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Ephraim Kenig)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, Mrs. Mirel Sofer remembered that when she was a young girl, Reb Gedaliah did not use the egg from the <em>ka’arah</em>, but took eggs from a separate bowl, dipped them into salt water, and distributed them. The egg from the <em>ka’arah</em> was eaten during the day meal, and Reb Gedaliah would distribute slices to those present.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Yosef Sofer)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In Reb Gedaliah’s house, sour pickles, <em>chrein</em> mixed with beets, and other sharp-tasting foods and condiments were not served during the Seder meal. It seems that this was because the Haggadah, in the second of the Four Questions, states: “<em>ba-laylah ha-zeh, marror.”</em> This is an old hanhagah, which is mentioned in various <em>seforim</em>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Ephraim Kenig) </span></div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-86872315671898028662023-03-02T06:14:00.002-05:002023-03-02T06:14:35.984-05:00Purim Mysteries<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFee6ed8vg1UQMRU0EAaN9EIxdXuhffUUm2ZfcWDWWkSIG5pDE4Xsy4gfCPtt4CsInAvwyPy0Y595XdHETeAbQP6kGTURUQ6vfO3FS4DGjEAHiW6qU_GgzIq_PTh3GykGGva6NeJUKfvNh/s1600/Purim+in+Meah+Shearim.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713889056823408322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFee6ed8vg1UQMRU0EAaN9EIxdXuhffUUm2ZfcWDWWkSIG5pDE4Xsy4gfCPtt4CsInAvwyPy0Y595XdHETeAbQP6kGTURUQ6vfO3FS4DGjEAHiW6qU_GgzIq_PTh3GykGGva6NeJUKfvNh/s400/Purim+in+Meah+Shearim.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 267px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a> <br />
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<em><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Rabbi Dovid Sears<br />Based on a discussion from asimplejew.blogspot.com</span></em><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Q. While I was reviewing books on the subject of Purim, I ran across this teaching from <em>Likutey Moharan</em> II, 74: “Purim is a preparation for Pesach. Through the mitzvah of Purim we are protected from chometz on Pesach.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In my own slow-paced learning of <em>Likutey Moharan</em>, I have not yet reached this lesson. I can’t say that I fully comprehend what Rebbe Nachman of Breslov is trying to teach us. I know that joy is the main aspect of Purim and that <em>chometz</em> symbolizes the character trait of arrogance. I don’t yet understand how the joy we experience on Purim helps protect us from arrogance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A. Like most of Rebbe Nachman’s teachings, this lesson is full of mysteries. This reflects Reb Noson’s words in his Introduction to <em>Likutey Moharan</em>, citing the Gemara (<em>Chagigah</em> 13a) that in mystical matters, one must simultaneously reveal and conceal. This is particularly true of Rebbe Nachman’s teaching style. So whatever we say must be understood as speculation only.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1) On a basic level, the Rebbe is expounding on the “coincidence” that in the Jewish calendar, Purim is followed by parshas Parah and then by Pesach, and he finds profound meaning in these connections. Even though the miracle of Purim took place more than one thousand years after the Exodus, the paradigm it represents “paves the way” for Pesach.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rebbe Nachman states: “Through Purim, we are protected from <em>chometz</em> on Pesach.” Purim represents hidden miracles; Pesach represents open miracles. Purim shows us that what appears to be natural is truly supernatural. It elevates us above nature, above ego, and destroys Amalek, which represents sexual immorality (symbolized by the fact that the Amalekites sexually mutilated their victims) and disbelief (the word “<em>Amalek</em>” = gematria “<em>sofek</em>,” or doubt). Thus, Purim protects us from chometz, which variously represents ego, lust, and the illusion of nature as autonomous—the antithesis of Pesach.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2) Rabbi Borukh Ephraim of Homel, a student of the Tcheriner Rov and author of <em>Be’ibey haNachal</em> on Likutey Moharan, looks at this teaching from another angle. First let’s recap the original lesson in <em>Likutey Moharan</em>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After Purim, we read parshas Parah, which is a preparation for Pesach. This is customary because when the Beis haMikdash still stood, we were required to eat the Korban Pesach in a state of taharah, purity from <em>tumas mes</em> (ritual defilement that comes from contact with the dead). This is attained through the ashes of the Parah Adumah, the Red Heifer. Today, lacking the Beis haMikdash and the ashes of the Parah Adumah, we cannot do so. However, in a spiritual sense we reenact this process every year beginning on Purim, when we commemorate the “<em>pur</em>” (<em>pey-vav-reish</em>), the lot that was cast concerning the fate of the Jews, after which Purim is named. Then a little later we read parshas Parah. Thus, the “<em>pur</em>” of Purim turns into the aspect of “Parah” (<em>pey-reish</em>, the root letters of “<em>pur</em>,” plus the letter “<em>heh</em>”), the Red Heifer. (Rebbe Nachman takes this connection of “<em>pur</em>” and “<em>parah</em>” from a teaching of the ARI zal in <em>Pri Eitz Chaim, Sha’ar Purim</em> 6, which is too complex for us to discuss here.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Rebbe finds an allusion to this idea in Shir haShirim: “<em>Sifsosav shoshanim notfos mor ‘oveir</em> … His lips are roses overflowing with myrrh.” “His lips” refer to Pesach, which the ARI interprets as “<em>peh-sach</em>,” a mouth that speaks (<em>Sha’ar haKavannos, Inyan Pesach, Drush</em> 3; <em>Pri Etz Chaim, Sha’ar Chag haMatzos</em>, Chap. 7. In other words, on Pesach we can now speak HaShem’s praises openly, as free men.) “<em>Shoshanah</em>” has the same gematria as “<em>Esther</em>,” thus it hints to the Purim story. And “<em>mor</em>” hints to Mordechai, whom the Gemara homiletically connects with the biblical phrase “<em>mor d’ror</em>,” flowing myrrh (Chullin 139b). The word “<em>d’ror</em>,” which literally means “free,” also alludes to Pesach, the Festival of Freedom.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This Purim-Pesach connection is further borne out by the verse: “<em>Shivas yamim tokhal matzos ka’asher tzivisikha le-mo’ed chodesh ha-aviv ki vo yatzasa mimitzrayim ve-lo yeira’u fana’i reikam</em> . . . Seven days you shall eat matzos as I have commanded you at the season of the month of Aviv [“springtime,” the biblical name for Nisan], for then you came out of Egypt; and you shall not appear before Me empty-handed” (Exodus 23:15). The initials of the five words “<em>mi-mitzrayim velo yeira’u fana’i reikam</em>” spell the word “Purim.” For Purim is the way to Pesach. Through it, one can be protected from chometz on Pesach…</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Noson, the editor of <em>Likutey Moharan</em>, mentions that at this point, the Rebbe paused and did not finish explaining this idea. Then the Rebbe added another cryptic remark: “At first, all beginnings were from Pesach; thus, all mitzvos are <em>zekher le-yetziyas Mitzrayim</em>, in commemoration of the Exodus from Egypt. <em>Ve-’achshav,</em> and now…”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He stopped again, and did not finish.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The author of <em>Be’ibey haNachal</em> detects in the Rebbe’s words some amazing hints as to how the derekh of Breslov works today, after the Rebbe’s <em>histalkus</em> (ascent from the body). To sum up the gist of his remarks:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“<em>Nachman</em>” is numerically equivalent to “<em>Pesach</em>” (148) – “<em>ve-’achshav</em>,” and now, we can all make a new beginning by going to the Rebbe’s holy burial place on Rosh Hashanah, which is so called because it is the “head” (<em>rosh</em>) and beginning of the year. Pesach is also a new beginning. Thus the lesson states that Purim is named after the “<em>pur</em>,” and subsequently turns into “<em>parah</em>,” which is spelled <em>pey-reish-heh</em>. These letters are the initials of Pesach (<em>pey</em>) and Rosh Hashanah (<em>reish-heh</em>), which together include all spiritual rectifications (<em>tikkunim</em>) (see <em>Likutey Moharan </em>I, 49). This is the aspect of the Parah Adumah, which “purified the impure, and contaminated the pure” (Rashi, Numbers 19:22, end). That is, when one comes to the cemetery, where the dead are buried, one contracts <em>tumah</em>. However, by reciting Tehillim and praying to Hashem from the depths of one’s heart – especially by reciting the ten psalms of the Rebbe’s awesome <em>Tikkun haKlalli</em> – one “purifies the impure.” This is accomplished by <em>teshuvah</em>, and by rectifying the spiritual damage one has caused, through the merit and power of the tzaddik who is buried there. Thus, one may make a new start in serving G-d, which is the aspect of Pesach and the Exodus, leaving one’s state of impurity and receiving the Torah anew. All this is accomplished through the holy grave of the Rebbe, whose name has the same gematria as “<em>Pesach</em>.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This leads to our personal ge’ulah, our inner exodus from spiritual alienation, which is true slavery, to freedom from the ego and self-serving desires. This freedom is gained through the Torah.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">3) Breslov tradition includes still another interpretation of this lesson from a different vantage point. According to Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Bender (<em>Si’ach Sarfey Kodesh</em> VI, 233), the Breslover Chassidim of old used to say that the Rebbe gave us a precious piece of spiritual advice by concluding “<em>ve-’achshav</em> / and now…” That is, one can only serve Hashem in the present moment -- for the past is gone, and the future has not yet come, as the Rebbe states (<em>Sichos haRan</em> 288). Therefore, the present moment is all that truly exists. </span></div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-34844949321249073542023-03-02T06:14:00.001-05:002023-03-02T06:14:19.056-05:00Breslov Teachings On Purim<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6q9oJKFgRv6oHQucnd3YkspcSmHWeU0YgQRXxZ_5LBzTll2uAVa5rfff4EO6NHsUKyrUOclNUA0KUbmXnPScBMXLO6l7wCxyjnxrU6cz35_D0CcLwMr3iI_RJmd3OpKdM4QbtapRr91x3/s1600/PURIM_1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573600016108134674" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6q9oJKFgRv6oHQucnd3YkspcSmHWeU0YgQRXxZ_5LBzTll2uAVa5rfff4EO6NHsUKyrUOclNUA0KUbmXnPScBMXLO6l7wCxyjnxrU6cz35_D0CcLwMr3iI_RJmd3OpKdM4QbtapRr91x3/s400/PURIM_1.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 258px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><em>From the anthology Oztar HaYirah (Likutei Eitzos HaMeshulosh), Purim.<br /><br />These selections are, in turn, from Reb Noson’s Likkutei Halakhos.<br />Translated by Dovid Sears</em><br /><br />The <em>Sitra D’Mosa</em> [“Side of Death,” meaning the state of estrangement from God, Who is the source of life] is primarily derived from self-importance. This is the root of the <em>klippah </em>(“husk”)—the spiritual force that seeks to obstruct the light of holiness, associated with Haman and Amalek, the archenemies of the Jewish people. (4)</span><br />
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The main strategy of the <em>klippah</em> of Amalek is to attack the weak by convincing them that there is no hope, God forbid. [1] However, by finding the good point within yourself, even when you seem to be in a state of spiritual decline, you conquer Amalek. (1)</span><br />
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Through the <em>simcha</em> (joy) of Purim, it is possible to gain lofty perceptions— to attain "the ultimate knowledge, which is not-knowing." The seemingly opposite paradigms of "knowing" and "not knowing" coalesce and become one. Every trace of evil disappears, for at this exalted level, all is one, and all is good. (9)</span><br />
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When the holiness of Shabbos enters the world, the <em>klippah</em> of Amalek is subjugated. The Wine of Drunkenness, from which we refrain, is supplanted by the Wine of Joy. When we recite the <em>Kiddush</em> over wine, a spirit of holiness encompasses all the souls and holy sparks that were extricated from the realm of the <em>klippos</em> during the six days of the week, and now, with the advent of Shabbos, they ascend to their place of rest.</span><br />
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Their main path of ascent is through <em>simchah</em> (joy) and the <em>Kiddush</em> that we recite over the wine, which is an aspect of the Wine of Joy. Through this, our "hot blood" is tempered, and we can serve God with a heart inflamed with devotion.</span><br />
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This is why on Purim, which celebrates the extirpation of the seed of Amalek, it is a great mitzvah to drink wine to the point of intoxication. On Purim the wine is an aspect of the Wine of Joy, which destroys the <em>klippah</em> of Amalek; for the main downfall of Amalek is accomplished through <em>simchah</em>. (20)</span><br />
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The <em>klippah</em> of Amalek, which manifests itself as false wisdoms and heretical philosophies, derives from the <em>Chalal</em> <em>HaPanui</em>—the Vacated Space that precedes all creation.[2] Because of this precedence, it is axiomatic that on all levels of reality, “the <em>klippah</em> precedes the fruit.”</span><br />
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Thus Amalek is called <em>reishis</em> (the "first")— "Amalek was the first of nations" (Numbers 24:20); its power derives from the Vacated Space that precedes creation altogether. Analogously, Esau was born before his twin brother, Jacob, and was considered to be the firstborn son.</span><br />
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However, in truth, the holy transcends everything; God is the primordial reality, and God created the Vacated Space. Therefore, Israel, by power of their simple faith that God transcends and precedes everything, can ascend beyond all the wisdoms and heretical philosophies that come from the Vacated Space. This is why Israel is called the "firstborn," as the verse states, "My child, my firstborn, Israel" (Exodus 4:22), and why Jacob took the right of the firstborn from his brother, Esau, from whom Amalek descends.</span><br />
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This faith destroys the klippah of Haman and Amalek, and reveals the Song of the Future World. [3] (3)</span><br />
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On Purim a great and wondrous light shines forth that reaches the very depths of this lowly World of Action: the spiritual light of Mordechai and Esther. Just as gazing upon the face of the true <em>tzaddik</em> is spiritually transforming, [4] so is the experience of this lofty light. Through it, we attain humility and nullify our self-importance, which is the <em>klippah</em> of Haman and Amalek.</span><br />
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The reading of the Megillah in particular reflects this, for the light of the holy faces of Mordechai and Esther is hidden within the Megillah, the scroll that they composed. When we read their words in the Megillah, the light of their faces shines upon us, and it is as if we gazed upon them in person. Our higher consciousness becomes charged, as it were; our self-importance falls away, and we attain true humility. This is the eternal life of the World to Come.</span><br />
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Lowliness and the "pride" that derives from the side of holiness become as one, in keeping with the verse, "In the place you find His greatness, there you find His humility." [5] This fusion is the ultimate perfection of humility. Thus, on Purim our sages command us [6] to drink wine "until you do not know the difference between: <em>Arur</em> <em>Haman</em> (Cursed is Haman)," which corresponds to nullifying the ego," and “<em>Baruch</em> <em>Mordechai</em> (Blessed is Mordechai)," which corresponds to holy pride. This leads to true joy, the <em>simchah</em> of Purim. (5)</span><br />
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[1] The nation of Amalek attacked the weary and enfeebled Israelites on their journey through the wilderness, sexually abusing and dismembering their captives; see Rashi citing <em>Midrash</em> <em>Tanchumah</em> on Deuteronomy 25:17-19. Amalek is a symbol of human cruelty throughout rabbinic literature, much like the Nazis in the contemporary experience. On a deeper level, the Kabbalists point out that word Amalek bears the same <em>gematria</em> (numerical value) as <em>sofek</em>, meaning "doubt." Thus, the <em>klippah</em> of Amalek is the voice within us all that denies God and the true tzaddikim and simple <em>emunah</em> (faith).</span><br />
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[2] The <em>Sefer</em> <em>Eitz</em> <em>Chaim</em> of the Ari z"l begins with an abstruse account of the mysteries of creation: In the beginning, the Infinite Divine Light was omnipresent. When it arose within His will to create the universe, God constricted the light to the “sides” in all directions, leaving a Vacanted Space (<em>Chalal</em> <em>HaPanui</em>). Into this Vacated Space, God "beamed" a thread of the light that had been constricted; and from this thread of light all things, spiritual and physical, derive their existence. For a practical application of this teaching in divine service, see <em>Likkutei</em> <em>Moharan</em> I, 49.</span><br />
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[3] <em>Likkutei Moharan</em> I, 64.</span><br />
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[4] <em>Likkutei Moharan</em> I, 4.</span><br />
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[5] Megillah 31a.</span><br />
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[6] Megillah 7a. See <em>Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim</em> 695:2 for the halachic parameters of this law, which are quite lenient in the case of a person who is weak, or otherwise incapable of drinking to the point of intoxication. This obligation does not apply to women. </span></div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-86617010587724450292023-03-02T06:14:00.000-05:002023-03-02T06:14:03.110-05:00PurimThe Rebbe taught: “Rejoicing and dancing on Purim makes us worthy of receiving the Torah anew, in both its revealed and hidden aspects.” He also discusses how clapping the hands and dancing mitigates harsh judgments.<br />
(<em>Likkutei Moharan</em> I, 10:8)<br />
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Purim is one of the five times during the year that Breslover Chassidim are particular to daven together <em>ki-vasikin</em>, following the custom of the Baal Shem Tov.Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-48393664063114029922022-11-28T14:14:00.000-05:002022-11-28T14:14:08.567-05:00Chanukah Customs<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMKaQk2F8QEI9Vu062e7w6BQWMnxN_jk4PnRQk6jpLNw9Q13rD5o1lVCu0ISTeoKfrszXX0dlKPyolM6gKHFsCVercS25dYaOXp-6PYVZOVi-pHCeazCssK5amlyJEt78Jms2MpTqPNJQ3/s1600/MENORAH_with_candles.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5683840696843455746" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMKaQk2F8QEI9Vu062e7w6BQWMnxN_jk4PnRQk6jpLNw9Q13rD5o1lVCu0ISTeoKfrszXX0dlKPyolM6gKHFsCVercS25dYaOXp-6PYVZOVi-pHCeazCssK5amlyJEt78Jms2MpTqPNJQ3/s400/MENORAH_with_candles.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 267px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><em><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Compiled and annotated by Dovid Sears and Dovid Zeitlin<br /><br />This list of customs especially reflects those of Reb Gedaliah Kenig and the Tzefat Breslov community, although it includes a number of general Breslov customs, as well.</span></em><br />
<strong><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Introduction:</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Rebbe states: Through the mitzvah of the Chanukah lights, we come to recognize G-d’s Glory, which is elevated and magnified throughout the world. Those who are distant from holiness are awakened to return to G-d; and we attain awe of G-d, peace in our homes, and the power of prayer. All strife and evil speech are nullified, and universal peace spreads through all of the worlds.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(<em>Likkutei Moharan</em> I, 14)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He also states that through the mitzvah of lighting the Chanukah lamp, we internalize holy <em>da’as</em>, which is the awareness of G-dliness. This is the paradigm of “good oil,” the paradigm of “remembrance.” That is, through the Chanukah lights we are privy to “remember” the World to Come -- the transcendental realm that is the point of origin of the soul and its ultimate destination -- even in the midst of this world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Ibid. I, 54)</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Chanukah Menorah</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Reb Gedaliah Kenig was particular to use olive oil for lighting the Chanukah Menorah. This is the <em>mitzvah min ha-muvchar</em>, the optimal way to perform the mitzvah.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(See Rama on <em>Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chaim</em> 673:1. However, wax or paraffin candles are also acceptable, as the <em>Shulchan Arukh</em> states.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Most Menorahs have an extra place for a ninth light, set apart from the rest, called the “<em>shamash</em>.” In addition to this, Reb Gedaliah would use a second <em>shamash</em>, a wax candle, to light the wicks; and when finished, he would place it in a separate holder to the side of the Menorah. This seems to reflect a <em>hiddur</em> in halakhah, in that adding the light of the <em>shamash</em> prevents one from inadvertently making mundane use of the Chanukah lights.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(See <em>Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chaim</em> 673:1 regarding the custom of lighting an extra candle)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The conclusion of the blessing before lighting the Menorah is "<em>le-hadlik ner Chanukah</em>," in keeping with the custom of the ARI zal. The initial letters of these three words spell the Divine Name "<em>NaCHaL</em>" (literally “river” or “brook”). Reb Noson homiletically relates this to the "<em>Nachal Novea Mekor Chokhmah</em> (A Flowing Brook, the Source of Wisdom)," a euphemism for the Rebbe. (The initial letters of this phrase from Proverbs 18:4 spell the name “Nachman.”)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Cf. Rabbi Chaim Vital, <em>Pri Eitz Chaim, Sha’ar Chanukah</em>, chapter 4, which explains that this Divine Name brings about an outflow of the supernal light of <em>Binah</em> to <em>Ze’er Anpin</em>; Reb Noson relates this to “Nachal Novea Mekor Chokhmah” in Likkutei Halakhos, Betzias ha-Pas 5:27; ibid. Kiddushin 2:3)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah did not wear Shabbos clothes while lighting the Chanukah Menorah (except on Erev Shabbos Chanukah and Motza’ei Shabbos Chanukah). However, some wear a <em>bekitcheh</em> in honor of Chanukah.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(This seems to have been the common custom among Russian and Ukrainian Chassidim, among others; e.g. Skver-Chernobyl, Chabad, Karlin-Stolin, Boyan-Rizhin, et al. However, many Hungarian Chassidim wear a <em>shtreimel</em> and <em>bekitcheh</em> while lighting the Chanukah Menorah; see <em>Likkutei MaHaRiCH, Seder Dinei u-Minhagei Chanukah</em>, p. 718.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah would begin chanting “<em>Ha-neiros hallalu…”</em> after lighting the first candle, while the flame was starting to arise by itself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Reb Gedaliah’s custom reflects the view of the Shulchan Arukh, Magen Avraham, Elyah Rabbah, et al., and is similar to the custom followed by the communities of Karlin-Stolin, Lelov, and others; however, some begin “<em>Haneiros hallalu</em>” after the first candle is fully lit. Other communities, such as Chabad, Skver-Chernobyl, et al., follow the view of the Pri Megadim, Eishel Avraham, et al., to begin after one finishes lighting all the candles; see <em>Likkutei MaHaRiCH, Seder Dinei u-Minhagei Chanukah</em>, p. 718.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After reciting “<em>Haneiros hallalu</em>,” Reb Gedaliah would gaze at the lights in silence for approximately thirty minutes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He would also sing <em>Ma'oz Tzur</em>, and recite <em>Vi-hi Noam</em> and <em>Yoshev be-Seser</em> seven times, followed by <em>Lamenatze'ach be-Neginos</em>, <em>Ana be-Koach</em>, and various <em>zemiros</em>. However, he always spent much time sitting and gazing at the lights in silence.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(The minhag to recite these psalms and <em>zemiros </em>is not unique to Breslov, but is common practice in many Chassidic communities; see <em>Likkutei MaHaRiCH, Seder Dinei u-Minhagei Chanukah</em>, p. 709.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah would often learn <em>Likkutei Moharan</em> I, 3 (“Akrukta”) at this time, although he sometimes chose a different Chanukah Torah.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Other Chanukah lessons include <em>Likkutei Moharan</em> I, 8, 14, 17, 30, 49; II, 2, 7)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Shabbos Chanukah was one of the three fixed times during the year when the Chassidim used to come to the Rebbe. In commemoration of this, some Breslover Chassidim today travel to Uman for Shabbos Chanukah. (However, the only time of year when it is obligatory for a Breslover Chassid to come to the Rebbe is Rosh Hashanah.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Bender states that on Erev Shabbos Chanukah, the Breslover Chassidim in Uman would daven Minchah with a minyan earlier than usual, prior to lighting the candles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(<em>Si'ach Sarfei Kodesh</em> IV, 255. This is consistent with <em>Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chaim</em> 679:1, 2; also see <em>Mishnah Berurah</em>, ad loc.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However the minhag of Yerushalayim, which is also the <em>minhag</em> of the Breslov community in Tzefat, is to light the Chanukah Menorah and Shabbos candles prior to Minchah, and then go to shul.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(<em>Kitzur SheLaH, Hilchos Chanukah, s.v. “Ve-yesh le-hazhir”</em> states that this is preferable to praying Minchah alone at home in order to maximize the time that the candles will burn. This custom probably reflects practical difficulties of going back and forth to the synagogue twice so close to Shabbos.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In any case, the Chanukah Menorah should be lit before the Shabbos candles, and the candles should burn until at least 30 minutes after <em>tzes ha-kokhavim</em> (about 90 minutes after sundown in America, and somewhat less in Eretz Yisrael).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(<em>Mishnah Berurah</em> on <em>Orach Chaim</em> 679:2)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On Shabbos Chanukah, the psalms and<em> zemiros</em> usually recited and sung immediately after lighting the Menorah are sung during the evening meal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Shabbos Chanukah is also the main time that the Tzefat <em>chaburah</em> gets together to rejoice as a community, including sharing a communal <em>Melaveh Malkah</em>. This was the focal point of Chanukah for the talmidim of the Rebbe and Reb Noson, as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the eighth night of Chanukah, the <em>yeshivah bochurim</em> share a communal meal, accompanied by singing, <em>divrei Torah</em>, and joyous <em>rikkudim</em>. Rejoicing on “<em>Zos Chanukah</em>” is a <em>minhag </em>of the Baal Shem Tov, which is observed by many Chassidim. However, the Tzefat Breslov kehilllah does not do so as a whole. Rather, Shabbos Chanukah is the focal point of communal celebration.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><em>(Sippurei Baal Shem Tov</em>; also cf. <em>Likkutei MaHaRiCH</em>, <em>Seder Dinei u-Minhagei Chanukah</em>, p. 714)</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Chanukah Gelt” </span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is customary to give extra <em>tzedakah</em> during the days of Chanukah. Reb Noson states that this is because during Chanukah, we are engaged in drawing the light of holy altruism into the world, as indicated by the verse “the tzaddik is beneficent and giving” (Psalms 37:21).</span><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Likkutei Halakhos, Birkhas ha-Mazon 3:16).</span></em><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Gedaliah used to give “Chanukah gelt” to his children on the last night of Chanukah (“<em>Zos Chanukah</em>”).</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nittel Nacht </span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Like all Chassidim, Breslovers do not study Torah from sundown until <em>Chatzos </em>on “Nittel Nacht.” Ideally, one should go to sleep as early as possible and arise to recite <em>Tikkun Chatzos</em>. However, Reb Gedaliah stated that if one remains awake, it is permissible to read the Rebbe’s <em>Sippurei Ma’asiyos.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Heard from Rabbi Chaim Man.)</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reb Noson's Yahrtzeit </span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the evening of <em>Asarah Be-Teves</em>, Reb Noson's yahrtzeit is commemorated by lighting a 24-hour candle and sharing a communal meal. In some Breslov communities it is customary to read the description of Reb Noson's histalkus (passing from the world) from <em>Alim le-Terufah</em> (Jerusalem: Toras HaNetzach 2000 ed., pp. 913-918). It is also proper to study an additional portion of Reb Noson's teachings on his yahrtzeit, and to give tzedakah in his name according to one’s means.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(In English, see Rabbi Chaim Kramer, Through Fire and Water, Jerusalem: Breslov Research Institute, Chapter 48)</span>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-81992771981111918832022-11-28T14:13:00.001-05:002022-11-28T14:13:43.380-05:00Prayer Before Lighting the Menorah<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><b><i>From <a href="http://www.breslov.org/bookstore/prayer/entering-the-light/prod_14.html">"Entering the Light"</a> </i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Master of the Universe! Help us in
Your great mercy to fulfill the mitzvah of lighting the Chanukah candles in its
proper time, in a perfect manner, in a spirit of holiness and purity, and with
intense concentration. May we be privileged to perform these <i>tikkunim,</i> which
we have mentioned before You, through the mitzvah of the Chanukah candles; and
may our fulfillment of this mitzvah be considered in Your sight as if we had
done so according to all of its details, fine points, and <i>kavannot</i> (intentions),
as well as the complete structure of 613 <i>mitzvot</i> that depend
upon it. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">May the light of the holiness of
our <i>mitzvot</i> shine before You, throughout all the worlds! By
performing this mitzvah may we perfect all of the worlds entirely, as well as
through our performance of all the <i>mitzvot</i>, scriptural and
rabbinic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Let us perform them all in love and awe and
with great joy, to the highest degree of perfection, until we succeed in
eliciting peace from You and transmitting it to all of the worlds, in
fulfillment of the verse, “God will give strength to His people, God will bless
His people with peace.”</span><span style="line-height: 150%;">[1]</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">May the One Who makes peace in His heights
mercifully confer peace upon us and upon all Israel, amen</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: #1155cc;">! </span>[2]</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">(LT I, 14)<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[1] Psalms 29:11.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[2] Liturgy, <i>Kaddish.</i></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-80840969959496433702022-11-28T14:13:00.000-05:002022-11-28T14:13:20.972-05:00The Mysterious Guest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKidgdN2jE4oThyphenhyphenVS_xVjdtLJmlSZIbMBgxilKm8-CuPS-YOXYHwHm6tyXuBAXDk-FpEDhtOSY-R9_3VSQzzqukpvsuP6Mr-ektM8i3MLWxEQ9NTvzL1wjQAHnpJFlqoDejKj_akz5Q23V/s1600/negra14.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKidgdN2jE4oThyphenhyphenVS_xVjdtLJmlSZIbMBgxilKm8-CuPS-YOXYHwHm6tyXuBAXDk-FpEDhtOSY-R9_3VSQzzqukpvsuP6Mr-ektM8i3MLWxEQ9NTvzL1wjQAHnpJFlqoDejKj_akz5Q23V/s400/negra14.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Painting by Francisco de Goya</span></div>
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<b><u><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">The Mysterious Guest<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><i>Chayey Moharan, Sippurim Chadashim </i>(“New Stories”) 85<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">Translation and Commentary by Dovid Sears<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">On the first day of Chanukah 5569/1808, in
the evening after lighting the first candle. Rabbi Nachman told this story:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">A visitor came into a house and asked the
head of the house, “From where do you obtain a living?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">"I
don’t have a steady livelihood at home,” his host replied. “However, the world
provides me with what I need to live.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">The
guest asked him, “What do you study?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">The
host answered him.</span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">They continued conversing, until soon they
were engaged in a true heart to heart discussion. </span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />The host began to feel an
intense longing and yearning to reach a certain level of holiness. “I will
teach you,” said the guest.</span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><br />The
host was surprised. He began to wonder, “Maybe this isn’t a human being at
all!” However, he looked again, and saw that the guest was talking to him like
a human being.</span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Immediately afterward he had a strong sense
of faith, and he resolved to believe in him. He started calling him “my
teacher,” and said to him, “First of all, I would like to ask you to teach me
how to conduct myself with due respect toward you. Not, I scarcely need add,
that I could actually detract from your true honor, God forbid; but even so, it
is hard for human beings to be as meticulous as they should be in these
matters. That is why I would like you to teach me how to behave with due
respect.”</span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%;">“For
the moment, I don’t have the time,” he replied. “Another time I will come and
teach you this. Right now I must go away from here.”</span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%;">“I
also need to learn from you about this,” said the host. “How far must I go when
I accompany you on your way, as a host is obligated to do when his guests
depart?”[I]</span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%;">“Until
just beyond the entrance,” he replied.</span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">The
host began to think to himself, “How can I go out with him? Right now I am with
him among other people. But if I go out with him alone—who knows who he is?” He
questioned him and then told him, “I’m afraid to go out with you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">“If
I can learn with you like this,” the visitor retorted, “then now, too, if I
wanted to do something to you, who would stop me?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">The
host went with him beyond the entrance. All of a sudden, the visitor seized him
and began to fly with him! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">It
was cold for the host, so the other took a garment and gave it to him. “Take
this garment,” he said, “and it will be good for you. You will have food and
drink and everything will be good, and you will live in your house.” And he
flew with him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">In
the midst of this, the host gazed, and suddenly he was in his house. He
couldn’t believe his own eyes that he was in his house; but he looked, and
there he was, speaking with people, and eating and drinking in a normal manner.
Then he looked back, and lo and behold, he was flying, as before. Then he
looked back and he was in his house. This went on for a long time.</span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">After awhile, he flew down to a valley
between two mountains. There, he found a book which contained various
combinations of letters: </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">alef, zayin, chet, </i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">which is </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">dalet,</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> etc.
Vessels were depicted in this book, and inside the vessels were letters.
Moreover, inside the vessels were the letters of the vessels, by which one
could create such vessels. He felt an intense desire to study this book.</span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">In the midst of this, he gazed, and lo and
behold, he was in his house. Then he gazed, and there he was, in the valley.</span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">He made up his mind to climb the mountain;
perhaps he would find an inhabited place there. When he came to the mountain,
he saw a golden tree with golden branches standing there. Hanging from the
branches were vessels like those depicted in the book, and within those vessels
were other vessels by which one could create such vessels. He wanted to take
some of the vessels away from there, but he was unable to do so, for they were
inextricably entangled in the branches.</span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">In the midst of this, he gazed </span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">-</span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> and lo and behold, he was in his house. This was most amazing to
him. How was this possible? How could he be both here and there at the same
time? He wanted to discuss this with other human beings, but how could one
speak about such an astounding phenomenon to other people, something that they
surely would not believe?</span></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">In the midst of this, he looked out the
window and saw the same guest. He started begging him to come to him. However,
the guest replied, “I don’t have time, because I am on my way to you!”</span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">“This itself is a wonder in my eyes!” he
cried. “Look, I am right here—what do you mean, that you are on your way to
me?”</span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">The guest explained, “The moment you decided
to come with me, to accompany me beyond the doorway, I took the </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">neshamah </i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">(higher
soul) from you and gave you a garment from the Lower Garden of Eden.[II]</span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> The </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">nefesh</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> (vital spirit) and </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">ru’ach</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> (lower soul) remain with
you. Therefore, whenever you attach your thoughts to that place, you are there,
and you draw an illumination from that place to yourself. And when you return
here—you are here!”</span></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">I do not know which world he is from, but
this much is certain: it is a world of good.</span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">So far, it is not over, it is not finished.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><b style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">Commentary</b><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">Before we start skating on thin ice, it must
be said that there are no classical commentaries on this story in the Breslov
literature. Therefore, all of our remarks are speculative. No doubt, the story
lends itself to many other lines of interpretation, as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">Guest and Host/Ohr Makif and Ohr Pnimi<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">The “mysterious guest” has at least two
levels of meaning: most obviously, he represents the <i>tzaddik</i>. He also
represents the <i>ohr makif,</i> or “encompassing light,” which in general
alludes to the <i>sefirah</i> of <i>Binah</i>.[III] This is the level of perception or being that is perpetually beyond one’s grasp
- for as soon as it is internalized, another<i>
ohr makif </i>takes its place.[IV] Thus, <i>Binah</i> is in a constant state of flux.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">The Baal Shem Tov relates</span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> Binah </i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">to </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">orei’ach</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">,
the Hebrew word for guest.[V}</span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Orei’ach </i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">(spelled </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">alef-vav-resh-chet</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">) can be divided into </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">ohr-chet,</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">
meaning “light of eight.” This alludes to the eighth </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">sefirah </i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">in
ascending order, which is</span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> Binah.</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> Whenever one shows hospitality, this
creates a channel for internalizing the light of </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Binah:</i></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%;">The Baal Shem Tov, taught: When a guest
arrives, he brings his host Torah insights </span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%;">-</span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%;"> for the
Torah insights the host receives from Above correspond to the nature of his
guests.[VI]</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">The guest is a vehicle for the </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">ohr makif</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">.
However, every level of perception is an </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">ohr makif</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> in relation to the
level below it, which is called </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">ohr pnimi,</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> the “inner” or “manifest
light.” The </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">ohr pnimi</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> corresponds to the host.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Sixteenth century kabbalist Rabbi Chaim Vital
explains that the light of the Chanukah lamp represents </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Binah</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">, the
transcendent level, as it illuminates</span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> Z’er Anpin</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">, or “Small Face,” the
structure comprising the six lower </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">sefirot </i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">that animate the natural order.[VII]</span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> In less technical language, a ray of the limitless “shines” into the finite.
Rebbe Nachman’s allegory of the guest and the head of the house alludes to this
kabbalistic model, as well.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<b><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">“From where do you obtain a living?”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<b><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">The guest inquires as to the host’s source of
livelihood. This is because the <i>tzaddik</i> is the <i>parnes,</i> provider
of sustenance. Thus the guest, who represents the <i>tzaddik</i>, is entitled
to ask his host this question.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Only two biblical figures are explicitly
called </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">“tzaddik”</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">: Noah and Joseph. The Midrash explains that both
deserved this title because they provided others with food.[VIII]</span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> In Noah’s case, he fed the entire world in his ark until the floodwaters
subsided; in Joseph’s case, he provided grain to all Egypt and surrounding
lands. Similarly, the Talmudic </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">tzaddik</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> Rabbi Chanina confered his great
spiritual merit upon the world so that all creatures might receive sustenance,
even those deemed completely unworthy.[IX]</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Rebbe Nachman deals with this concept of the</span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">
tzaddik </i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">as provider in many teachings, especially </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Likutey Moharan</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">
II, 7 (“For a Compassionate One Shall Lead Them”). There he states that the
world receives livelihood by virtue of the </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">tzaddik</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">, albeit through the
fusion of two levels inherent within him. The higher is represented by the </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">tzaddik</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">’s
“son”; the lower is represented by the</span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> tzaddik</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">’s “disciple.” However,
these terms are mean to be taken more symbolically than literally. The
perception of the son is expressed by the Ministering Angels who ask: “Where is
the place of His glory?”—indicating the transcendent level, the aspect of “not
knowing,” the</span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> ohr makif</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">/encompassing light. The perception of the
disciple is related to the antithetical declaration, “His glory fills the
world” </span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">-</span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> indicating the immanent level, “knowledge of
God,” the </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">ohr pnimi</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">/inner light.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">In truth, these two perceptions are one, and
each completes the other. Those in the category of the “son,” who have attained
the higher level (“Where is the place of His glory?”), must be protected from
total self-nullification in God’s transcendent aspect. They are like holy moths
that would readily self-destruct in their desire to reach the light. The
knowledge that “His glory fills the world” grounds them, creating the
possibility of a perception of God. Thus, they may experience the mystic’s awe
before the infinite mystery of the Divine.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Those in the category of the “disciple,”</span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">who
occupy the lower level (“His glory fills the world”), are protected from total
self-nullification in God’s immanence. They are like people who immerse in the </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">mikveh</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">
(ritual bath) and stay under the water too long. These “disciples,” too, must
experience awe of God, because the trace of wonderment they are granted—the
admixture of “Where is the place of His glory?”—creates the existential
distance needed for their perception. Otherwise, everything becomes “white on
white,” lacking all contrast.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Thus, process and spiritual growth are made
possible through this fusion of the perceptions of God’s transcendence and
immanence; and livelihood is drawn forth to the world from the </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">tzaddik</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">
who has grasped the secret of this dualism, and as such, serves as the channel
for God’s will to continually create and sustain the world. This is the concept
of “</span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">tzaddik yesod olam .</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> . . the </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">tzaddik</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> is the foundation of the
universe” (Proverbs 10:25).</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<b><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">“The world provides me with what I need to
live” <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">Because the <i>ohr pnimi </i>derives its life
force from the <i>ohr makif, </i>the host actually receives his livelihood from
the guest. However, the host remains unaware of this. All he knows is that
somehow his needs are fulfilled. Thus, he replies, “I don’t have a steady
livelihood at home, but the world provides me with what I need to live.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">This answer suggests that either the host
lacks initiative, or he fails to appreciate the true source of his sustenance,
or both. In</span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> Likutey Moharan</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> II, 7, the lesson cited above, Rebbe Nachman
says that to be a provider, one must have a certain </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">malkhut,</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> a certain
authority (although he seems to use the term in more than one sense), adding
“one can’t be a </span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">shlimazal”—</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">an incompetant person, or a “loser.” If so,
what is our host? What is he telling us about himself with his vague reply? At
this point in his life, at least, he seems to be a passive sort of fellow.</span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%;">This
alludes to the paradigm of how the world was sustained prior to the Giving of
the Torah. Rebbe Nachman states in </span><i style="line-height: 150%;">Likutey Moharan</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%;"> II, 78, that before
the Torah was given, humanity was involved only in </span><i style="line-height: 150%;">derech eretz, </i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%;">mundane
pursuits. From this, the Midrash infers, “</span><i style="line-height: 150%;">Derekh eretz</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%;"> (which can also
mean simple human decency) preceded the Torah.”[X]</span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%;"> Since the Torah is the source of life—as it is written, “For they [i.e., the
commandments] are your life and the length of your days”</span><span dir="RTL" face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%;"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%;"><span dir="RTL"></span> </span><span dir="LTR" face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%;"></span><span dir="LTR" face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%;"></span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%;">(Deuteronomy 30:20)—</span><span dir="RTL" face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%;"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%;"><span dir="RTL"></span> </span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="line-height: 150%;">from whence did the world derive its
sustenance? The answer: from God’s gratuitous kindness.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">The
Talmud states that the twenty-six generations prior to the Giving of the Torah
correspond to the twenty-six repetitions of the refrain “for His kindness is
everlasting” in Psalm 136.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[XI]</span> However, the Torah certainly existed prior to its revelation; indeed, the
Midrash tells us that all things came into being through the Torah, which
preceded creation.[XII] The Torah was merely hidden. And where was it hidden? In the Ten Creative
Statements recounted in the first chapter of Genesis, with which God
continually animates the universe.[XIII] Thus, our host says that he is sustained “by the world,” that is, by the Torah
that is hidden in the world, although he does not yet perceive it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">In
this lesson, Rebbe Nachman also identifies the<i> tzaddik</i> as the channel
for sustenance. He is the holy <i>“prustok”</i> (peasant or simpleton) who at
times must desist from studying or fulfilling the commandments of the Torah in
order to engage in worldly activities. At such times he receives vitality from
what the Midrash calls the “Treasury of Unearned Gifts,” the gratuitous
kindness with which God sustained the world prior to the Giving of the Torah.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xiv]</span><!--[endif]--></span>
Then he, in turn, can confer this gratuitous kindness upon the true
simpletons—the rest of us in our present unenlightened state, enabling us to
survive until we, too, become worthy of receiving life directly from the
holiness of the Torah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">Perhaps
the guest in our Chanukah story is the holy <i>prustok</i>, and the host
represents the spiritually benighted masses that unwittingly receive life and
sustenance through him. This is what gives the guest the “right” to inquire as
to his host’s means of livelihood. The guest wants him to realize that he is
being sustained by the <i>tzaddik</i> who is privy to God’s Treasury of
Unearned Gifts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<b><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">“What do you study?”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">Torah study, too, is the guest’s business,
inasmuch as it reflects the influence of<i> Binah</i>/Understanding. The first letter
of the Written Torah is the <i>bet </i>of <i>Bereshit </i>(“In the Beginning”);
the last letter is the <i>lamed </i>of <i>Yisrael</i> (“Israel”). Together,
they spell <i>lev </i>(heart), which the <i>Zohar </i>designates as the seat of
<i>Binah</i>/Understanding.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xv]</span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<b><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">A heart-to-heart discussion<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">It is said: “Words that come from the heart,
enter the heart.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xvi]</span><!--[endif]--></span>
Because the guest/<i>tzaddik </i>personifies the heart, he can reach the heart
of the other. He channels the <i>ohr makif</i> into the heart of the host, who
reciprocates by expressing his longing for greater levels of illumination. This
is one of the main benefits of our attachment to <i>tzaddikim.</i> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">Rebbe
Nachman once observed, “I have three types of followers: those who come for my <i>shirayim</i>
(leftovers);<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xvii]</span><!--[endif]--></span>
those who come to hear my Torah teachings; and those who are ‘baked’ in my
heart.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xviii]</span><!--[endif]--></span>
Of course, every aspiring follower wants to be in the last category. But how
can this be accomplished? Say the Breslover Chasidim, “When the Rebbe is
‘baked’ in our hearts!” This is implied by the “heart-to-heart discussion” in our
story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<b><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">The host began to feel an intense longing and
yearning to reach a certain level of holiness<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span>
</span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial;">This arousal is due to influence of the
guest, who has put the host in touch with the deepest will of the heart:
longing and yearning for the holy.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div>
<!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Click </span><a href="https://breslovcenter.blogspot.com/2009/10/the-seven-beggars-gifts-stories-and.html">here</a><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"> to read the whole article.</span></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
</span><div id="edn1">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[i]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> <i>Sota</i> 46b.<i> Tanna D’vei Eliyahu Zuta</i> <st1:time hour="16" minute="43" w:st="on">16:43</st1:time> states that a disciple who escorts his
Torah teacher receives divine blessing. The same text adds (<st1:time hour="16" minute="46" w:st="on">16:46</st1:time>) that when one escorts a
traveler embarking on a journey, the traveler will be protected from harm. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[ii]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> The <i>Zohar</i> (I, 138a) describes the Garden of Eden as having a
higher level for the <i>neshamah</i>, which is the seat of thought, and a lower
level for the<i> ru’ach, </i>the seat of the emotions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[iii]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> See Rabbi Avraham ben Nachman,<i> Kokhvei Ohr, Chokhmah u-Binah</i>,
who associates Rebbe Nachman’s teachings with the <i>sefirah</i> of <i>Binah. </i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn4">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[iv]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> <i>Likutey Moharan</i> II, 7:6. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn5">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[v]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> <i>Sefer Baal Shem Tov, Vayeira,</i> 4, citing <i>Toldot Yitzchak,
Likutey ha-Shas.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn6">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[vi]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephraim of Sudylkov,<i> Degel Machaneh Ephraim,
Vayeira.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn7">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[vii]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> <i>Pri Eitz Chaim, Sha’ar Chanukah</i>, 4. The three “upper” sefirot
are <i>Chokhmah</i> / Wisdom, <i>Binah </i>/ Understanding, and <i>Da’at</i> /
Knowledge, corresponding to three aspects of the mind. The six “lower”<i>
sefirot</i> are:<i> Chesed</i>/Kindness; <i>Gevurah</i>/Strength; <i>Tiferet</i>/Beauty
or Harmony; <i>Netzach</i>/Eternity or Victory; <i>Hod</i>/Splendor; and <i>Yesod</i>/Foundation;
corresponding to the two arms, torso, genitals, and two legs. The seventh and
last <i>sefirah </i>is<i> Malkhut</i> / Kingship, which is a<i> partzuf</i>
unto itself, corresponding to the feminine archetype. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn8">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[viii]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> <i>Tanchuma, Noach,</i> 5.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn9">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[ix]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> <i>Ta’anit </i>24b; cf. Rabbi Yisrael of Koznitz, <i>Avodat Yisrael,
Likkutim, Ta’anit.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn10">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[x]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> Leviticus Rabbah, 9:3.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn11">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xi]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> <i>Pesachim</i> 118a.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn12">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xii]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> Genesis Rabbah 1:2, 8:2;<i> Zohar</i> I,
134a, II, 161a‑b.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn13">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xiii]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> This idea echoes a fundamental Chasidic teaching. On the verse,
“Forever, O God, Your word stands in the heavens” (Psalms 119:89), the Baal
Shem Tov explains that “Your word” alludes to the Ten Creative Statements that
bring the universe and all it contains into existence. If the “letters” of
these divine statements were to depart for even a moment, everything would
revert to nothingness; see Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, <i>Sefer ha-Tanya,
Sha’ar ha-Yichud vi-ha-Emunah</i>, chap. 1; Rabbi Chaim of Chernowitz, <i>Be’er
Mayim Chaim, Bereshit</i>, s.v. <i>bereshit bara,</i> 7. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn14">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xiv]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><i><span style="line-height: 150%;"> </span></i><span style="line-height: 150%;">Deuteronomy Rabbah 2:1; <i>Tanchuma,
Va’eschanan,</i> 3; cf. Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, <i>Ohr Yakar, Vayelekh,</i> 1:15
(p. 27), who relates the “Treasury of Unearned Gifts” to the <i>sefirah </i>of <i>Keter</i>.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn15">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xv]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> <i>Tikkuney Zohar, Hakdamah, “Patach Eliyahu.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn16">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xvi]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> A rabbinic maxim quoted by Rabbi Moshe Ibn Ezra, <i>Shirat Yisrael</i>,
p. 156.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn17">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xvii]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> Based on earlier rabbinic precedents, it is customary for a Chasidic
Rebbe to distribute to his followers portions of the foods from which he has
partaken. These leftovers are known as <i>“shirayim.”</i> This communal eating
creates a spiritual bond among the participants, causing the holiness of the <i>tzaddik</i>
to extend to all, bringing healing and blessing; see Rabbis Mordechai Scharf
and Yisrael Menachem Mendel Brecher, <i>Yesod Olam</i>, 11:5-7, citing various
sources.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn18">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xviii]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> Oral tradition cited by Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Bender, <i>Si’ach Sarfey
Kodesh,</i> vol. II, 1-102.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-76677653569137968182022-11-28T14:12:00.002-05:002022-11-28T14:12:58.166-05:00Bringing Down the Light<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghX1oR-N6GfRBXc3ycy00Dt43oxhXaUkWG0QV406YYDBI7aa_HnJKb3vstAXDc6cdYHVPpLJtgTcsLZJSz6CF9lgaYJ-qA1OUeBkNb00U35OrVBebUh2I6orkfiSTa8r67YtKecekhb-z8/s1600/Chanukah_Lights.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686445480811242754" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghX1oR-N6GfRBXc3ycy00Dt43oxhXaUkWG0QV406YYDBI7aa_HnJKb3vstAXDc6cdYHVPpLJtgTcsLZJSz6CF9lgaYJ-qA1OUeBkNb00U35OrVBebUh2I6orkfiSTa8r67YtKecekhb-z8/s400/Chanukah_Lights.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 196px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 258px;" /></a><strong></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Excerpt from "<a href="http://www.breslov.org/bookstore/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=14">Bringing Down the Light</a>":</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rabbi Ephraim ben Naftoli</span><br />
<em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Tefilot HaBoker:</em><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Prayers of the Dawn, </span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tefilah </em><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">4</span><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />No matter to what depths we have fallen, the tzaddikim can rescue us by "shining" down the light of Divine perception to heal our souls.</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Help us, O Lord our God, help us to receive the holiness of the days of Chanukah in sanctity and purity, and with true joy. Grant us the privilege of lighting the Chanukah candles every night, as You have commanded us through our holy rabbis of blessed memory—to begin by lighting one candle on the first night, and to add another candle on each succeeding night, until the eight days of Chanukah are complete. For You have already made known to us through our holy sages that through the holiness of the Chanukah candles, we imbue our minds with perceptions of Godliness. The </span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">tzimtzumim</em><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> (constrictions) of the Infinite Light which they represent produce the spiritual illumination transmitted by all holy lights and candles. This is the paradigm of “eliciting abundant holiness and igniting flames and radiant lights.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Shine upon us the light of the holy anointing oil, enlightening us with perceptions of Godliness in a miraculous and wondrous way. Thus may we illuminate and kindle the holy candles which contain all spiritual unifications and transmissions of Divine consciousness, so that their light will reach even people like us who occupy the nethermost rung, which corresponds to “below ten handbreadths.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Through the tikkunim of the miracle of Chanukah, may we too experience this light through the power of the preeminent tzaddikim who transmit perceptions of the supernal light to us, even in our lowly condition. They heal us from sicknesses of the soul which threaten to overwhelm us, to the point that “our souls abhor all food, and we have reached the gates of death.” For we know in our hearts how fiercely these sicknesses attack us, and how every day our souls grow weaker, due to the multitude of our sins. However, in Your great mercy, You ennoble us with the holiness of this awesome mitzvah of lighting the Chanukah candles. Through this mitzvah, the true tzaddikim transmit the radiance of Divine perception even to such spiritual invalids as us, and they bring down this lofty light into the darkness that pervades our bodies because of our evil deeds. These tzaddikim “shine” to us, so that we might take to heart their holy words; they enliven us with their words, and in so doing, transmit the holy light of the Chanukah candles to the depths of darkness.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />May we firmly believe that without a doubt, we can go forth from darkness to light with this mitzvah, in the merit of the true tzaddikim who illuminate the earth and all who dwell upon it! Fulfill in us the verses: “Even when I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I shall not fear evil, for You are with Me.” “Though I sit in darkness, God is a light unto me.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Instill compassion into the hearts of the true tzaddikim toward the entire Jewish people and toward me, so that they will mercifully draw all of us closer. May they lower themselves to our level, shine their lights upon us, and reveal flashes of Divine perception, even to people like us, and may they succeed in healing our souls. May they fulfill the mitzvah of visiting the sick by attending our ailing souls every day! Thus they will give us,new life and revive us with spiritual delicacies, until we finally return to You in perfect teshuvah when we accept and follow all their holy advice, which is a powerful remedy for our souls.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Illuminate our souls with the wondrous radiance of Divine perception in the aspect of Chanukah! Revitalize our wisdom in holiness, and grant us life from the Light of the Face as a result of our rejoicing in the mitzvot. Gather together the mitzvot that we perform on the Three Pilgrim Festivals and in their merit, may we participate in the rededication of the Holy Temple, which is the channel for the illumination of the Light of the Face!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“The Light of Your Face, O Master, lift up to us.” “May God favor us and bless us; may He cause His Face to shine among us, selah.” “Shine Your Face upon Your servant; save me in Your kindness,” so that through the lighting of the Chanukah candles I will be privileged to draw the Light of the Face from the Holy Temple in order to enliven the sefirah of Malkhut, and thereby receive perceptions of Godliness.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />“Let Your Face shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your ordinances.” “And every created thing shall know that You created it, and every formed thing shall understand that You formed it; and everything that possesses the breath of life in its nostrils shall declare: The Lord, God of Israel is King, and His dominion extends over all!”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />In Your mercy, grant us the opportunity to give tzedakah, especially during the days of Chanukah, so that through us Your Face will shine. And by virtue of the tzedakah that we give to the poor when they come to our homes, may we receive the Light of the Face of the Living King.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />In the merit of this tzedakah, may we draw closer to the true tzaddikim who reveal Your light by making the necessary tzimtzumim and vessels to illuminate even our souls, which are so far from holiness that by right we should be treated as outcasts. Nevertheless, with great self sacrifice, they labor all their days out of compassion for us and for all Israel — even those who are most distant—in order to bring us closer to God. They reveal new and wondrous tzimtzumim by which it is possible to reach anyone who wishes to enter the realm of holiness.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Have mercy on us and allow us to come close to tzaddikim like them. In Your mercy, put an end to the dispute, which was produced by our sins, surrounding those tzaddikim who strive to reach out to us. For this is why there is such great opposition to them, even from other great tzaddikim: The Divine attribute of judgment garbs itself in these opposing tzaddikirn because of their fierce holiness, which prevents them from being able to tolerate the world, due to our transgressions and unworthy deeds.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Although the truth is with them, You have already made known to us that in Your beneficence, You do not desire to reject us, God forbid. On the contrary, You always wish to judge us favorably, despite the foulness of our sins. You always wish to show compassion toward us, even to the “worst of the worst.” Therefore You create ways of fixing our damage, and garb the lights of holiness in such wondrous garments and constrictions that these lights can shine to us as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Thus the tzaddikim. continue to transmit the Divine light to lower levels, in increasing degrees of holiness, more and more every day, and they continue to elevate all fallen souls, imbuing them with perceptions of Godliness through holy tzimtzumim, until finally they will heal all afflicted souls in the world. Therefore have mercy on us and abolish all strife surrounding these true tzaddikim, and allow us to draw close to them. Let them remove all the shame and disgrace that has befallen us due to our sins, bring us back in complete teshuvah, and draw us close to You in truth!</span>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-60679347796718672202022-11-28T14:12:00.001-05:002022-11-28T14:12:32.420-05:00The Wheel of Transformation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcX13HW6aUKarlMQ8frMyRqAatR2tlpnM4l0lIgcrKwHn7oC8RLUOprZBocKX9HjvyPMA-Ch65J4wxoxwJHIQGaXWa-IJzYpeupK4Wb_8FRgAoTjrvy3prxTBZVzzMQ2_MQp6vSDlN3vjr/s1600/300px-Crop_circles_Swirl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcX13HW6aUKarlMQ8frMyRqAatR2tlpnM4l0lIgcrKwHn7oC8RLUOprZBocKX9HjvyPMA-Ch65J4wxoxwJHIQGaXWa-IJzYpeupK4Wb_8FRgAoTjrvy3prxTBZVzzMQ2_MQp6vSDlN3vjr/s1600/300px-Crop_circles_Swirl.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Sichos HaRan # 40, slightly abridged</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Translation, commentary, and wild speculations by Dovid Sears</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Introduction</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />After the sin of the Golden Calf, God commands Moses, “Make a sanctuary for Me, and I will dwell among you” (Exodus 25:8). The Children of Israel had estranged themselves from God and Moses. However, through the Mishkan (Tabernacle) in the desert, and later through the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, this relationship was “patched up” and the spiritual damage began to be repaired.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />The Holy Temple is the central paradigm for the spiritual and even physical accord between the Creator and creation. As Rebbe Nachman states in the lesson we are about to read, it embodies the principle of “the superior below and the inferior above.” That is, Godliness “descends” into the vessels of creation, and creation “ascends” to its Essence, which is the Divine Oneness. The cognitive realization of this mystery is called da’as, literally, “knowledge.” However, a better translation in this context might be “enlightenment” (notwithstanding the word’s Eastern religious associations) in the sense of a completely transforming spiritual awakening. In this context, the term da’as does not refer to an idea or concept, but to an encompassing perception of the divine essence of all things.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The connection between the Holy Temple and da’as is underscored by a teaching from the Talmud:</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rabbi Ami said: Great is da’as, for it was given between two Divine Names; as it is written, “A God [E-L] of Knowledge [de’os, a construct of da’as] is the Lord [YHVH]” (Exodus 2:3).1</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">First the verse uses the Divine Name “E-L”; then the term “de’os”; and then the Essential Divine Name YHVH (known as the “Shem HaVaYaH”). So da’as is couched between these two holy names.1 </span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Talmud continues:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rabbi Elazar said: Great is the Holy Temple, for it was given between two Divine Names; as it is written, “Your dwelling place that You brought into existence, O God [YHVH], the sanctuary [mikdash], O God [ADNY], that Your hands established…” (Exodus 15:17).</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Just as da’as is found between two Divine Names, so is the Holy Temple, or mikdash. Thus, our Sages show that there is a certain equivalency between the two. Aside from its other functions, the Holy Temple is the channel for the revelation of divine wisdom. As such, it is the antithesis of philosophy, which is a product of human reason, reflecting the natural order. Divine wisdom, by contrast, both encompasses and transcends nature; it is supra-rational, miraculous.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the teaching from Rebbe Nachman about Chanukah and the Holy Temple that we are about to consider, rationalist philosophy is pitted against “mystical wisdom,” represented by the Holy Temple—and the former is defeated by the latter. Although Rebbe Nachman doesn’t say so, this is why the struggle of a handful of Jews against a vastly more powerful foreign invader more than two thousand years ago remains relevant even today. The Syrian Hellenists sought to suppress the study of Torah and the rites of the Holy Temple, championing an alternative world-view and seeking to impose it the conquered. The Talmudic sages recognized that this conflict was not just another one of the many national conflicts the Jews had endured. Rather, it represented an archetypal conflict between two approaches to life, and existentially between two antithetical ways of being-in-the-world.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Hellenists esteemed above all else man-made philosophy; even their gods were conceived in vividly human terms. By contrast, the Maccabees who led the Jewish revolt asserted the superiority of divine intellect, prophecy, and the paradigm of the Holy Temple. The miraculous victory of the Maccabees, as Rebbe Nachman explains it, was actually a refutation of the Greek approach, which was the philosophical approach, and the occasion for a new revelation of divine intellect: the da’as for which the Holy Temple was and is destined to be the unique channel.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Cosmic Dreidel</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rebbe Nachman begins his teaching by attacking philosophy, even philosophical works written by of some of the great medieval rabbis, and asserting the primacy of simple faith: the basic Jewish belief that God creates and sustains the world, and will renew it in an entirely wondrous manner in time to come. He states:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Concerning the order of creation, the philosophers ask: why is a star a star, or a constellation a constellation? For what misdeed were lower things, such as the various animals, consigned to lower levels? Why isn’t the opposite the case? Why is the head a head, and why is the foot a foot, and why isn’t the opposite the case?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Questions like these are discussed at length in their books. However, in truth, this is “vanity and a disturbance of the spirit” (Ecclesiastes 1:14). We do not need to question God’s ways, because “tzaddik vi-yashar hu . . . He is righteous and just” (Deuteronomy 32:4).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In truth, the entire world is a wheel of transformation. It is like a dreidel, a toy top that spins around and around. Man becomes angel, and angel becomes man; head becomes foot, and foot becomes head, and similarly all other aspects of creation. Everything goes in cycles, revolving and being transformed. All things exchange forms, lowering the higher, and elevating the lower.2 For all things share one root.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are transcendental beings such as angels, which have no connection to the material. There is the celestial realm, whose nature is very subtle. Finally, there is this lowly world, which is completely corporeal. Although to be sure, each of these three is</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">derived from a particular place, nevertheless, they all share one root. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rebbe Nachman’s reference to “particular places” that share a common root reflects the kabbalistic concept that every aspect of the Four Worlds of Asiyah/Action, Yetzirah/Formation, Beriah/Creation, and Atzilus/Emanation has its root in the “global template” of creation. The Zohar calls it Adam Kadmon, “Primordial Man,”3 which, of course, is not any sort of man at all, in the ordinary sense of the word. This awesome and purely abstract reality defies our grasp. We can’t imagine what Adam Kadmon truly is, aside from that it is the substratum of creation. However, what we can say is that all levels of creation reflect the archetype of the human form, beginning with Adam Kadmon. The array of the ten sefiros, too, conforms to this principle. As the Tikkuney Zohar states, “Chesed/Kindness corresponds the right arm, Gevurah/Might corresponds to the left arm, Tiferes/Beauty…”4 and so forth. Thus, Rebbe Nachman acknowledges that every phenomenon has its corresponding noumenon, which he terms its “particular place” in the metaphysical worlds, which devolve from Adam Kadmon. On this highest plane, all things share a common root.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Therefore, all creation is a wheel of transformation, revolving and oscillating. Right now, something may be on top, like a head, and another on the bottom, like a foot. Then the situation is reversed. Head becomes foot, and foot becomes head. Similarly, man becomes angel, and angel becomes man.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Our sages teach us that angels were cast down from heaven to this lowly world. They entered physical bodies and became subject to all sorts of worldly lusts.5 Many times angels were sent on missions to this world and clothed themselves in physical bodies.6 We also find the opposite, cases where human beings </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">became angels.7 For the world is a revolving wheel. It spins like a dreidel, with all things emanating from one root.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The feet of some are also higher than the heads of others; for in the supernal worlds, the lowest level of an upper world is higher than the highest level of a lower world. Yet everything revolves in cycles.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That is, the hierarchy in creation is dynamic: nothing remains fixed, nothing exists exactly as it did a moment ago, everything is in a constant process of transformation; yet there is an encompassing unity within which all things are subsumed. This oneness is beyond hierarchy, beyond division altogether. It is the prima materia, the foundation of all diversity, as Rebbe Nachman will soon explain. This oneness is what in another lesson Rebbe Nachman calls emes, the true nature of things.8 It is also the domain of the holy, where Creator and creation meet.9</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Although the universe is unimaginably intricate and complex—and in the Baal Shem Tov’s conception, reflects divine providence in its every detail10—nevertheless, the essence of all things is Godliness. In this sense, we may say that “all is One.”</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It should also be noted that Rebbe Nachman describes each level of creation in terms of its relative coarseness and materiality. Transcendent beings are beyond materiality; the celestial realm has only the subtlest material aspect; and the earth is altogether physical. In kabbalistic terms, this reflects a process known as tzimtzum, constriction of the divine light, and each level of creation, in general and in particular, may be described as a “garment” for that which precedes and transcends it. Thus, the hierarchy is one long scale, like a musical scale, of devolving substantiality, level after level. However, this scale is but the modulation of one “sound.” That sound includes all notes, and is present within all notes, a concept which Reb Noson develops further in his Likutey Halakhos.11</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The next section of our discourse relates the symbol of the dreidel, tying in this seemingly “innocent” custom, which is not mentioned in the Talmud or any primary sources, to the core issues of Chanukah:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is why we play with a dreidel on Chanukah.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Chanukah is an aspect of the Holy Temple.12 The primary concept of the Temple is the wheel of transformation. The Temple represented the paradigm of “the superior below and the inferior above.”13</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That is, what is inherently bound up with a higher level of the cosmic hierarchy becomes revealed on a lower level, and what is inherently bound up with a lower level of that hierarchy becomes spiritually elevated. As the Rebbe goes on to explain:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">God lowered His Presence into the Temple, which is “the superior below.” The converse is also true. The entire pattern of the Temple with all its details was engraved on high,14 which is the paradigm of “the inferior above.” The Temple is therefore like a dreidel, a spinning top, for everything revolves and is transformed.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Temple refutes philosophical logic. God is beyond every transcendental concept, and it is unthinkable that He should constrict His Presence into the vessels of the Temple. [As King Solomon declared,] “Behold, the heavens and the heavens of heavens cannot contain You—how much less this House!” (I Kings 8:27).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yet God caused His Presence to dwell within the Temple, thus destroying all philosophical logic.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Philosophy cannot explain how man can have any influence on high. Nor can it explain how a mere animal can be sacrificed and rise as a “sweet savor”15 and source of gratification before God, “Who spoke and His will was fulfilled.”16 How is “will” applicable to God? However, God showed that the truth contradicts their logic. For in fact God brought His Presence below into the Temple, and the animal ascended as a sweet savor. Philosophical logic is crushed by the dreidel, the spinning wheel that brings “the superior below and the inferior above.”</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The power of the hyle, discussed in their books, stands between potential and actual.17 Before anything comes into existence, it must exist in potential. Coming from potential to actual, it must first pass through the in-between stage of the hyle. All manifestation thus emerges from the hyle.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thus, the hyle is the source of all creation.18 The three categories of creation—transcendental, celestial, and physical—all proceed from this common root. As they change form from transcendental to physical and vice-versa, they all revolve around this root, within which they are one.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This description suggests that the hyle is not just a stage through which everything must pass in the voyage from potentiality to actualization, but is a realm unto itself; an encompassing reality, which stands above and beyond the hierarchy of creation altogether. It is like the absence of color that contains all colors, the silence that contains all sounds.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The letters on the dreidel are heh, nun, gimel, and shin.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Heh stands for hyle.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nun stands for Nivdal, the transcendental.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Gimel stands for Galgal, the celestial.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Shin stands for Shafal, the lower, physical plane.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The dreidel thus includes all creation. It goes in cycles, alternating and revolving, one thing becoming another.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Chanukah means “dedication,” referring to the dedication of the Holy Temple, the paradigm of “the superior below, and the inferior above.” This revolving wheel is the dreidel.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rebbe Nachman now turns to contemplate the Redemption. The political victory of Chanukah was occasioned by the miracle of the one flask of oil with the seal of the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) that burned for eight days. This miracle was a foretaste of the Redemption. Then, too, all oppression will cease, the Jewish people will be restored to their ancient homeland in peace, and the miraculous nature of reality will be perceived by all. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thus, Rebbe Nachman asserts:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Redemption, too, will express this alternating cycle, as in the paradigm of the Holy Temple: the superior below and the inferior above.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When the Israelites crossed the Red Sea after the redemption from Egypt, they sang, “You brought them and planted them on the Mount of Your inheritance . . . the Temple that Your hands established” (Exodus 15:17). Redemption was for the sake of the building the Holy Temple, which embodies the wheel of transformation. For when the superior are below and the </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">inferior are above, which is the ultimate goal—this shows that everything is one.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is the meaning of the letters on the dreidel. They correspond to the initial letters of the verse “You redeemed the staff of Your inheritance, Mount Zion…” (Psalms 74:2).</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Gimel is Ga’alta − “You redeemed”</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Shin is Shevet − “the tribe”</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nun is Nachalasecha − “of Your inheritance”</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Heh is Har Zion − “Mount Zion”</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is the paradigm of “You brought them, You planted them on the Mount of Your inheritance.” It is the aspect of the Holy Temple, symbolizing the wheel of transformation, which is the essence of redemption.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thus, the Redemption is not only a matter of liberation from the oppression of other nations. It is also a spiritual phenomenon: liberation from inner conflict and our most basic misconceptions about reality and the self, a correction of our deep confusion about nature as an autonomous force, and an awakening to the miraculous and the divine. It is this erroneous way of thinking, the true “exile mentality,” that Rebbe Nachman attacks with his critique of philosophy.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Spinning the Dreidel</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To sum up the discourse, Rebbe Nachman describes creation as a “wheel of transformation,” giving three basic models for this concept: the Holy Temple, the Chanukah dreidel, and the Redemption. However, in describing the Redemption, Rebbe Nachman stresses not so much the political aspect, not even the ideal of world peace that the prophets extol, but our spiritual liberation. This is brought </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">about through the revelation of da’as, or divine intellect. The core of that da’at is the paradoxical knowledge of how all things proceed from Oneness, are permeated with Oneness, and throughout all possible transformations, remain subsumed within Oneness. This is symbolized by the Chanukah dreidel, spinning to the delight of little children whose innocence and simplicity renders them still capable of wonder and delight. For all creation is a cosmic dreidel, spinning on its axis in eternity—and if we have eyes to see, we too can gaze upon it with wonder and delight.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Afterthoughts</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Answering the Philosophers</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“The head becomes a foot, and the foot becomes a head . . . All things exchange forms, lowering the higher, and elevating the lower.” This is actually Rebbe Nachman’s answer to the materialist philosophers cited at the beginning of the discourse. In truth, nothing is a fixed entity; all existence is impermanent. There is no “head” or “foot” in an absolute sense. One may ask: if this is such an important point, why did Rebbe Nachman state it in passing, as if it were a side issue?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Perhaps he meant to imply that these philosophers do not deserve a direct answer − because their questions are already answers. They’re not even listening. Rebbe Nachman’s words are only intended for those of faith; therefore, answering the philosophers is truly a side issue.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dreidel Ethics</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“All things are different—but in their root, they are the same.” There is a wonderful teaching from the Baal Shem Tov related to this concept that I like to repeat whenever I have a chance.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Do not consider yourself superior to anyone else,” the father of Chasidism states. “In truth, you are no different than any other creature, since all things were brought into being to serve God. Just as God bestows consciousness upon you, He bestows consciousness upon your fellow man. In what way is a human being </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">superior to a worm? A worm serves the Creator with all of his intelligence and ability; and man, too, is compared to a worm, as the verse states, ‘I am a worm and not a man’ (Psalms 22:7). If God had not given you a human intellect, you would only be able to serve Him like a worm. In this sense, you are both equal in the eyes of Heaven. A person should consider himself, the worm, and all creatures as friends in the universe, for we are all created beings whose abilities are God-given.”19</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If all creation is essentially one, proceeding from one source, as Rebbe Nachman also states, we must show compassion and respect for all of God’s works. We’re all spinning in the same dreidel!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Dreidel and the Snake</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The letters heh-nun-gimel-shin traditionally inscribed on the four sides of a dreidel bear the gematria of the word nachash/serpent.20 The verse states, “Now the serpent was cleverer than all the animals of the field that the Lord God had made” (Genesis 3:1). Archetypally, the cleverness of the nachash is the root of materialist philosophy and intellect as a power unto itself, cut off from that which is higher than intellect, as Reb Noson explains.21 The Holy Temple is the antithesis of what the Zohar calls the “corruption of the serpent.”22 Hence, according to Rebbe Nachman’s teaching, the dreidel is a tikkun for the gematria of the four letters it bears.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Moreover, kabbalistic sources point out that the gematria of nachash/serpent is the same as that of Mashiach/Messiah.23</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nachash:</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nun = 50</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ches = 8</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Shin = 300</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Total = 358</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mashiach</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mem = 40</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Shin = 300</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yud = 10</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ches = 8</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Total = 358</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">12</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is because the Mashiach will bring about the ultimate tikkun of the serpent and of our conventionally warped way of thinking.xxiv He can do so because he has slaughtered the “serpent” within himself (which is another way of reading all of those dragon-slayer stories), transforming the very epitome of selfishness to pure altruism. He is thus empowered to similarly elevate the rest of the world.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1 Berakhos 33a.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2 Exodus Rabbah 31:14; also see Shabbos 151b, Sukkah 5:6, Kesubos 10:6.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">3 Tikkuney Zohar, Tikkun 19 (42a); Tikkun 69 (115a-b); Tikkun 70 (120a, 133b). This concept is discussed at length by the Safed kabbalists; e.g. Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, Pardes Rimonim, Sha’ar Erkhei ha-Kinuyim 23:1; Rav Chaim Vital, Eitz Chaim, Drush Iggulim ve-Yosher (11a-13a); ibid. Sha’ar Drushei Nekudos 1 (34a); ibid. Seder Atzilus 3 (17a), et passim; Arba Me’os Shekel Kesef, Drush Adam Kadmon, beg. (9b, 44b), et passim. The archetype of “Adam Kadmon” also suggests that the purpose of creation is man.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">4 Tikkuney Zohar, Hakdamah, “Pasach Eliyahu.”</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">5 These include the “Benei Elokim/Sons of the Lord” mentioned in Genesis 6:1-2; Abraham’s angelic visitors in Genesis, chap. 18; Lot’s guests in Genesis, chap. 19; and the stranger identified with the angel Gabriel who directed Joseph to his brothers in Genesis 37:15-17 (according to Rashi); also see Genesis Rabbah 26:7; Zohar III, 208b; et al.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">6 Yoma 37a; Yerushalmi Berakhos 1, 5, 9, et passim.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">7 One example is Enoch in Genesis 5:24; see Targum Yonasan, ad loc. Another is Elijah in II Kings 2:1.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">8 Likutey Moharan I, 51, which equates the terms echad (one), tov (good), kadosh (holy), and emes (truth) as descriptive of non-dual reality.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">9 Ibid.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">10 Tzava’as ha-Rivash 4, 84, 120; Sha’ar ha-Osiyos, Hashgachah Peratis; Shivachey Baal Shem Tov 150; et al. These and other such teachings are translated in my anthology, The Path of the Baal Shem Tov (Jason Aronson 1997).</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">11 Reb Noson Sternhartz, Likutey Halakhos, Peryah vi-Rivyah 3:21.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">12 In the original, Rebbe Nachman speaks of both the Mishkan/Tabernacle and the Holy Temple. The connection between Chanukah and the Temple as a mystical paradigm is discussed further in Likutey Moharan II, 7:11. This lesson, too, was delivered on Chanukah. Reb Noson states that the makifin, or “surrounding powers,” mentioned in that lesson are an aspect of the dreidel, since these surrounding powers encompass and constantly change.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">13 Pesachim 50a; Bava Basra 10b.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">14 Tanchuma, Pekudey 1; Zohar I, 80b.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">15 Genesis 8:21, et al.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">16 Rashi, Zevachim 46b.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">14</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">17 Nachmanides mentions the hyle in his commentary on Genesis 1:1-2; also cf. Rabbi Chaim Vital, Etz Chaim, Sha’ar Drushey A-B-Y-A, 1; Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl, Me’or Einayim, Bereshis, Ma’amar 4, et al.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">18 In an addendum to this teaching, Reb Noson adds that the hyle is equivalent to Chokhmah, which may be parsed “ko’ach-mah,” the power of “mah” (meaning “what is it?”). This may actually denote the sefirah of Keser, not Chokhmah.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">19 Tzava’as ha-Rivash, 12.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">20 Cf. Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz, Imrey Pinchas (Bnei Brak 2003), vol. 1, “Chanukah,” 68, who states that the letters on the dreidel equal “Mashiach / Messiah.”</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">21 Likutey Halakhos, Shabbos 6:8; ibid. Shilu’ach ha-Ken 5:18; et passim.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">22 Shabbos 146a; cf. Zohar I, 52a.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">23 Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (RaMCHaL), Adir Bamarom (R. Yosef Spinner, ed.), vol. I, p. 339, citing Zohar III, 119b, re. the verse: “Kolah ki-nachash yelekh / [Egypt’s] voice will go forth like a snake…” (Jeremiah 46:22). At the end of the paragraph, RaMCHaL mentions that “nachash” is numerically equivalent to Mashiach. Conceptually, this connection is found in numerous kabbalistic sources, e.g., Hashmatos ha-Zohar, end of Bereshis (Livorno ed., p. 15b of the hashmatos), which describes the final battle between the nachash and Mashiach. I am grateful to Rabbi Avraham Sutton for locating these sources. Subsequently I came across another mention of this gematria in Sefer Ohr ha-Ganuz, Va-eschanan, Ofan Ches (69a) by Rabbi Yehudah Leib Hakohen, a close disciple of the Maggid of Mezeritch.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">xxiv Another connection between the nachash and Mashiach is that both are symbolically associated with the feet; see Sichos ha-Ran 93; Likutey Halakhos, Keriyas ha-Torah 1; ibid. Hoda’ah 6:4; ibid. Ribis 5:14; Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl, Me’or Eynayim, Likkutim, Ma’amar “Vi-naid’ah nirdefah la-da’as es Hashem” (end); et al.</span></div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454872692874586663.post-44828013946729098292022-11-28T14:12:00.000-05:002022-11-28T14:12:05.403-05:00Chanukah and Overcoming Avarice<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3HRlCgSQ6v12pHFKP54yOOZsX7Z97qCLoAqrIZyOPo5R5oHyOGCuma6DFcRkimZY0r9ZbXSRiEwHYkFA84T61zTvgrcy6RPQqr_eaCP4bRCgmMKxbW5cxFGdUSeBFTcWdf7ARECfzZs4R/s1600/41Fo3PjgopL__SS500_.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686336259687491922" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3HRlCgSQ6v12pHFKP54yOOZsX7Z97qCLoAqrIZyOPo5R5oHyOGCuma6DFcRkimZY0r9ZbXSRiEwHYkFA84T61zTvgrcy6RPQqr_eaCP4bRCgmMKxbW5cxFGdUSeBFTcWdf7ARECfzZs4R/s400/41Fo3PjgopL__SS500_.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 247px;" /></a><strong><br />Excerpt from "</strong><a href="http://www.breslov.org/bookstore/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=48"><strong>Chanukah with Rebbe Nachman of Breslov</strong></a><strong>":</strong><br />
<em>Even someone who is supported by charity must beg or sell his clothing in order to buy Chanukah candles.</em><br />
<em><br /></em>
<strong>Avarice</strong><br />
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The history of mankind may be the story of the victory of the strong over the weak (war), of the many over the few (democracy), of the wicked over the innocent (crime), but the underlying dynamics of human history boils down to avarice. The rise and fall of nations may be connected with the strong the many, and sometimes the wicked, but the basic driving force for power is avarice.<br />
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The Greeks were no different, although they pursued their goals under the facade of "culture." in order to impose avarice upon the Jewish people, they issued three decrees: no Sabbath, no New Moon, and no circumcision.<br />
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The weekly Sabbath rest reminds the Jew that his sustenance comes from God. Observing the Sabbath thus precludes avarice, since it declares that no effort will help without God. The New Moon dictates the Jewish calendar, and subsequently the festivals. just as the Sabbath rest precludes avarice, so does observing the festivals. Circumcision signifies sexual purity, the lack of which induces avarice, because controlling one's passion for sexual gratification weakens the passion of avarice (<em>Likutey Moharan</em> I 23:2‑3; <em>Likutey Halakhot, Aveidah u’Metziah</em> 3:6).<br />
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Avarice defiles the mind. When one's mind becomes filled with thoughts of money, there is no room left for wisdom. Thus the Greeks defiled the Temple oil, because oil is symbolic of wisdom (<em>ibid.</em> 3:7).<br />
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Furthermore, the desire for money and material gain is really the source of all sadness. The more you want, the more you need, and the more you feel you lack. A criminal will rob and kill someone, in order to fill his perceived lack, and nations go to war for the same reason. Thus, those who succumb to avarice are surrounded by a dark cloud of moroseness (<em>Likutey Moharan</em> I, 23:1) – because they find no contentment in what they possess. Therefore, tradition says, the Greeks are compared to darkness (<em>Bereishit Rabbah</em> 2:4).<br />
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In order to counter avarice, in order to dispel these clouds of darkness, you must open your heart and hand (<em>Likutey Moharan</em> I, 13:1). You must become a fitting vessel for God through which to channel His boundless bounty. You must allow yourself to experience the gratitude that comes from accepting that bounty. Lastly, you must allow yourself to experience the love that comes from sharing your bounty.<br />
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Chanukah symbolizes this.<br />
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The victory was wrought through the priests. The priests symbolize charity, because they are given the priestly gifts that epitomize charity. So after Judah Maccabee—the priest led his army to victory, he donated all the spoils of war to charity (<em>Yosefun</em>).<br />
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To relive this victory over avarice, over the dark clouds of moroseness, we light our candles after sunset, rejoice, and give Chanukah gelt—charity (<em>Likutey Halakhot, Aveidah u'Metziah</em> 3:8).<br />
In fact, so great was this miracle—the miracle of victory over avarice—that even someone who has nothing to give must beg or sell his belongings to purchase candles. That will be considered his charity.Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01898147546418282248noreply@blogger.com0