Blessing of the blossoming trees in Nissan

Compiled and translated by Rav Rahmiel Drizin

See the full version of the post here in PDF format

Kabbalah · Mitzvah · Neshamah · New Moon · Nissan · Rosh Chodesh · Tikkun · Zohar

Chodesh Tov!

Rosh Chodesh (Head of the Month) – New Moon Festival is described in the Torah as the day of rejoicing (Bamidbar (Numbers) 10:10) , the time of renewal. Even the word “Chodesh” – month – comes from the root “חדש” – “Chadash” – “NEW”.

Like all “moadim” – appointed times – Rosh Hodesh is the time of opportunity. The deeper meaning of Holidays and special times in Torah is not “commemoration” of some event, but an active opportunity to use the flow of energy that is descending at that time into the physical world. On Rosh Chodesh, the surge of energy that is creating the reality of the upcoming month is available to us – and the way to receive it is to be joyous!

This is because joy causes us to be expansive and enables us to receive Hashem’s light. On the contrary, negative emotions e.g., sadness, make us contract and unable to turn on our “receptive mode”
After ensuring that we do fulfill Torah’s directive to be joyous, we can harness that energy of Rosh Chodesh withTefillah. We can target specific issues in our prayer – because it’s much easier to change the month in its conception.

This can be compared to a garden hose that can create various shapes of a spout by twisting the nozzle – because it’s changing the shape of a jetstream of water in the place where it is forming.

Of course when we talk about “Changing the month”, we mean “Changing ourselves” in order to create the new month of opportunities for spiritual growth. The change is always easier when level of energy is high – if we direct the energy into changing ourselves in Tefillah, it will be used constructively, if we are oblivious to the chance, the energy can even destabilize us or dissipate inconsequentially.

In a sense, Rosh Chodesh is similar to Rosh HaShanah – just with a different scope.

Just like Rosh HaShanah helps us to create a new year full of opportunities, so does Rosh Chodesh give us a chance to break out of our routine and rise up.

Rosh Chodesh is also regarded as a special time for Jewish women. You can read the standard explanation “why?” here, but I think the deeper reason for women’s special connection to Rosh Chodesh, is that our ladies are much more in tune with the dynamics of time and renewal.

Men need rigorous halachic times laws just to be basically in sync with spiritual reality,

while women are exempt from those laws – because they are generally already in tune with times and do not need specific Halachah for that. Interestingly, many Chassidic Tzaddikim were known to be very liberal with halachic times – perhaps because they reached the level of being in tune with times – similar to what most women have from birth.

So while women might be more in tune with the energy of Lunar renewal, men also try to catch up with Kiddush Levanah – another wonderful mitzvah using the Lunar energy of growth and rejuvenation. B’Ezrat Hashem we will discuss it in one of the future postings.

Today is the first day of Sivan and in 4 days we have Chag Shavuot – holiday of receiving the Torah. The energy needed to form the Holiday is also descending today – so we start defining our receiving of the Torah already today!

Good Month Sivan to everyone!

Chassidic · Energy · Halacha · Ish Tam · Jewish · Joy · Kiddush Levanah · Mitzvah · Moed · New Moon · Prayer · Rosh Chodesh · Shavuot · Tefillah · Tzaddik

What is a Secret and Kabbalah learning

We all hear about secrets – secrets of ancient wisdom, secrets of Kabbalah, people promising to open and reveal the secrets, people keeping secrets… What is the real secret of a “Secret” ?

“Secret” is not an information that is hidden by other people or circumstances – it is information which is hidden because it is not understood.

Secret is not understood because of the lacking of level or state of consciousness necessary to grasp the particular concept about the reality. This makes pure intellectual learning and analysis of deep Kabbalistic concepts completely useless. A person is getting an illusion that he is learning, however he has no ability to understand what his mind is recording.

This is one of the reasons Jewish tradition required men to master the Talmud before starting to learn the Kabbalah – they had to develop their consciousness before starting with deeper levels of Torah learning. However if they learned Gemorra mechanically, ignoring the aggadic parts (that are intertwined with legalistic material to develop the right-brain thinking), they will continue to learn the Kabbalistic material in the same way – understanding little and never being able to apply the wealth of wisdom practically.

In a similar way, Jews approaching Kabbalistic wisdom without the background of mitzvoth can’t make sense of it – it remains a secret. One needs mitzvoth to get on the level of consciousness needed to understand the Sod – fourth deepest level of Torah.

Moreover, the mitzvoth and the Torah learning must be done with the heart – when it becomes a part of you, transforms the consciousness and allows to understand the Sod.

Gemorra · Ish Tam · Kabbalah · Mitzvah · Secret · Sod · Talmud · Torah

Mezuzah box with parchment

Mitzvah to hang the mezuzah on the doorpost is one of the 613 mitzvot given in Torah to Jewish people.

Mezuzot are completely amazing creatures – I can’t call them things as they seem to have their own personality and will.

Mezuzah is an energy creature with two-way connection to the area (room or house) that it is protecting -
it infuses the area with energy of holiness and it takes a hit from the negativity that is happening in that room (house). This is a primary reason Mezuzah can become posul (invalid – if even one letter breaks on the parchment it’s written on). If Mezuzah is posul, it not only does not protect, but it projects into reality the very defect that is imprinted into it. That’s why the Halacha is to check mezuzot at least twice in 7 years – some people do it every year.
There is a well known in Rav in Yerushalaim  (Rav Yom Tov) called “Mezuzah-Man” – his interesting ability is to tell people their issues by looking at their mezuzot – because when mezuzah hangs in a house long enough, it takes an imprint of everything that is happening inside (The breaking down is an extreme case when it can’t “hold it” anymore.)
Now interesting discovery I made recently – if the mezuzah is kosher and you channel energy into it (I read Tehillim with my hands on mezuzah and feel the energy flow into the mezuzah), it has tremendous positive impact on the room (and everyone inside) – much more than if you would read Tehillim or channel energy into the people directly. It works like a spiritual amplifier and a battery, so if you “recharge” it daily (or once in a few days – see how long does it “hold the charge” in your case), you can create really powerful healing environment in your house or the room where you live or sleep (I usually do it when kids are asleep – they are most open at the time).

Feeling the energy isn’t a prerequisite however. It’s enough if you focus your attention on mezuzah while reading the Tehillim, or simply focus on it with thoughts of love and affection.

The custom to kiss the mezuzah as we pass through the door accomplishes exactly that – if done properly. In fact this is how I made my discovery – when I asked a question why do we do it? Unfortunately many people barely notice the mezuzah when they enter – we need to give it more of our love and awareness!

Just to mention that in order to work, the mezuzah must be kosher (e.g. written on the parchment by qualified Sofer observing all the Halachic specifications) and bought from a reliable source.

Putting a zerox copy on the doorpost is like taking a picture of the radio-receiver and expecting it to play music. If the radio-receiver is assembled not according to the spec, it simply doesn’t work, or worse, creates distorted sound.

The reason some people go for larger or more beautiful/special mezuzot is that not all kosher mezuzot are created equal. The energetic capacity of the mezuzah depends on the care with which the Sofer writes it, his purity of thought and generally what kind of a person he is. In modern manufacturing-style resale system it’s difficult to ascertain those factors, so most people look at the external things like size, style of the ktav (writing) and beauty of the ktav. Many good mezuzot come with certificate of quality, certifying those parameters. I usually like to go through a few mezuzot on sale, touching them gently and feeling them. I still smile as I recall my latest buy – the mezuzah just didn’t want to leave my hands once I picked it up

I however had seen good results with “recharging” procedure even with regular 12 cm mezuzot – they just need to be real kosher mezuzot.

Hope it helps!

How to Affix a Mezuzah

Practical Spirituality: Touching the Mezuzah

Energy · Halacha · Ish Tam · Jewish · Kosher · Mezuzah · Mitzvah · Sofer · Tehillim