THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD by Avraham Chaim Apatow

The Spiritual Mission of Moses and the Jewish People

Inspired by the Teaching of Rebbe Nachman
Hi my name is Avraham Chaim Apatow and I am a spiritual seeker and former professor of
philosophy who returned to my Jewish roots. For the past seven years I have been living in Israel
studying the Torah. On this blog I am sharing my latest book THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
In this book I explain an essential aspect of Jewish spirituality and Kabbalah concerning the role
of Moses, which is not well known. According to the deeper meaning of this teaching the soul of
Moses is not merely a historical figure, but literally the power of spiritual revelation in the world.
The great Chassidic master Rebbe Nachman teaches us that this is the essential spiritual teaching
of the Torah that leads us to true joy and healing.
I hope my book helps bring greater understanding of this wisdom and joy into your life. You can
also discover more of my work at shareyorah.org a helpful book and interactive program called
The Secret to Achieving Personal Goals.
The Righteous Man is the foundation of the world.
King Solomon (Proverbs, 10: 25)
An Invitation
The knowledge of God is the awareness of the miraculous nature of life. This awareness is the
natural perception of our world that is too often constricted and silenced. My Grandma Molly
shared this awareness with me. It was several years after my grandfather passed away and I was
standing with Grandma Molly in the backyard of her home looking out at her beautiful roses
amidst the pine trees sloping up the canyon hills towards the blue skies on one summer
afternoon.
Grandma Molly turned to me and said, I was so stupid for listening to your grandfather the
atheist and giving up my religion. (My grandfather was the son of a communist and raised as an
atheist, like so many Jews of his generation.) How can somebody not believe in God? Look at
the sky, the birds, the flowers, the insects, the treeswhere did it all come from? Every breath,
every moment of life, how can there not be a God? Life is amazing, so many wonders,
happenings, all the billions of stars, the people, the stones, the dirt. Where did it all come from?
There must be a God. I was so stupid all these years that I gave up my religion. Grandma Molly
was filled with the awe of life and existence, everything was a marvel in her eyes at that moment,
she was like a child eyes wide in astonishment at everything.
A few years later I became religious. I grew a beard and began to follow the laws of the Sabbath.
I did not drive, use the phone or turn on anything electric from Friday sundown until evening
Saturnday night. My grandmothers comment was: You are going backwards. We gave that up
a long time ago all those laws and customs. Are you going to start driving a horse and buggy
too. We both laughed. With all the pain and suffering in the world, you think that there is a
God, pheh.
There are moments for all of us when we see the miraculous, when the awareness and knowledge
of God is as clear as dayand at other times the heavens are obscured by the clouds of life. I
hope that this book helps clear open the heavens for you Molly and for you my reader who is
now opening the pages of this book.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank first of all my friend and teacher Moshe Azizo for the inspiration and
guidance in writing this book. My friend Shimon HaKohen, Simcha Pivovoz and Dov Avraham
Rav Ben Shor each helped with editing and recommendations. On the physical plane, I would
not have been able to type this book if it were not for the healing advice of my friend Shoshana
Sarah and the work of the Sarno method that freed me of my repetitive stress syndrome, thank
God. I would also like to thank my mother, may her memory be for a blessing, and grandmother
Molly and my good friend Allen Dana for their generous support in this project. Chaim ben
Eleazer was so generous for donating the use of his computer. I would also like to thank all those
who have guided me on the path of the Torah and Breslov Chassidut, especially Shmuel Levy,
Simcha Pivovoz, Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum, Rav Peretz Auerbach, and all my friends in Israel
from whom I learn so much. I also gained a special insight into the history of the Jewish people
listening to the lectures of Rabbi Shimon Kesin. A special thanks also to Michael Kabat, Baruch
Zev Olnick, and as always to Barry Goldberg. Often the most difficult challenges are revealed to
be the greatest blessings. I thank the Blessed One for everything which made the writing of this
book possible and all the insights I received.
My Personal Revelation
This book is about God and the mission He gave Moses and the Jewish people to bring a light
into the world that would lead to the perfection of creation as a place of ultimate love, peace, and
laughter.
Before I began studying the Torah ten years ago I considered all religions the spiritual
imaginations of ancient world mythology. However, after an intense ten year journey into the
heart of the Torah and its secrets, the Torah has become the center of my existence. I would like
to share briefly some of the awesome realizations that led to this transformation. The path of the
Torah and its faith in God is not something of the ancient past, but a powerful reality that
thousands of Jewish people are awakening to today.
I grew up in a family that was completely separated from its Jewish roots. Although both my
parents are Jewish, I did not go to Hebrew school, attend a synagogue or celebrate any Jewish
holiday. We were the first in our reform Jewish neighborhood to have a Christmas tree.
When I was a child I asked my father what Judaism was. I asked him, Do we believe in God?
He said no. Do we believe in a soul or the afterlife? He said that we didnt. So I asked then,
What is Judaism about? He said that it was a tradition of customs. I had no interest in
traditions or customs for their own sake, and so this convesation was the first and last time I
spoke about religion in my family..
My grandfather was the son of an immigrant from Russia, a communist who was exiled by the
Czar before the revolution of 1917, and so he was raised as an atheist. Until the age of 31 I had
never met a Jew who believed in the Jewish religion. Consequently, I had not the slightest
thought in my mind that there was a God. When I was a child my entire life centered around
music, movies and television. My grandfather Bob Shad was one of the most famous men in the
music business; he recorded the Platters, Janis Joplin, Ted Nugent, and all the legendary figures
in Jazz, such as, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, and Sarah
Vaughn. My brother Judd is well known today as one of the premiere comedy writer/directors in
Hollywood. Entertainment and money was our family religion.
My grandfather and I were very close. He did not have any sons, and when I was born I was
named after him and given a middle name after his father. My grandfather treated me like his
son, but with the special bond that only a grandfather and grandson can share. He was an
amazing man, full of the love of life. When I was a small boy of only five, he used to take me
flying in his twin engine Cessna airplane. The flights in his airplane were like spiritual
experiences for me. I remember so vividly the roar of the engine as we sped down the runway,
soared into the air and flew above the clouds.
When I was nineteen, the phone rang early in the morning on the day of my birthday, March 13,
1985. It was my aunt who told me that my grandfather died of a heart attack at the young age of
sixty-five. I cried so intensely and out of the depths of my tears and pain I shouted and screamed
out at God for taking my grandfather away from me. For over an hour I continued to shout out
loud at God in my anger.
I never thought about it until many years later how strange it was that I was shouting at God. I
had no belief in God, not even a thought about Him. And yet in this moment, I spoke to God face
to face God who was present and real, the Creator and Director of all events. Hidden in my
soul was the complete faith in God and this tragic shock brought it out of me. But after this initial
shock, this strange, intuitive knowledge of God disappeared.
The death of my grandfather led me on a spiritual quest. I had just begun studying Greek
philosophy in college and learning about the idea of the immortal soul. I had not considered
these ideas seriously, but after my grandfathers passing I concluded that the beauty and love I
saw in him could not just vanish. This was the most real thing I had experienced in my life.
Platos teaching of the immortalty of the soul and the Eternal Ideas of Truth, Beauy, and Wisdom
became my religion, but I did not think about God.
I went on to devote my life to the philosophy of Plato. Plato presents a spiritual teaching that is
the foundation of all Western thought and new age philosophy. I went on to study with a
contemporary master named Pierre Grimes, who had revived Platos philosophy and developed a
whole path of life around this ancient wisdom. Pierre taught me his new paradigm for
psychology based on Plato and his teacher Socrates, and the art of dream interpretation. We also
practiced the discipline of Zen meditation and I studied with Maezumi Roshi, the founder of the
Zen Center of Los Angeles.
The ultimate questions of philosophy are what am I? And what is reality? These deep questions
are asked also in Zen as puzzles that become the focus of mediation practice. In Japanese they
are called koans. In Zen, a student focuses all his meditation and energy on such a question until
he exhausts every possible thought and answer. This leaves the student in a complete state of
wonder and openness that awakens the mind to direct experience of existence. In life, we are
usually thinking about pains and pleasures, different thoughts, fantasies and fears. All these
thoughts become the object of our experience. It takes a lot of effort to purify the mind in order
to just experience the world simply and really as it is without our mental interference.
After many years of intense meditation, I had my first enlightenment experience. In the middle
of the meditation hall I burst out in laughter at the joy of the moment. Later that day one of the
other students asked me why I laughed and I answered him saying, I saw the smile of God.
This was the pure description of my experience. My answer to the Zen Koan, but oddly enough, I
still had no interest or belief in God.
Despite this experience, I continued on in Buddhist practice and came close to becoming a
Buddhist and a teacher of this religion. The ultimate quest of the Buddhist is to discover your
original face before your mother and father were born. This original face is the realization of
nothingness and the illusion of the soul and all individuality. The irony is that my intense
journey in Zen and quest for enlightenment led me to the opposite I discovered behind all the
experience of the world and beyond emptiness was the smile of God. It was this realization
that helped me to continue on my journey and discover that my original face is a Jewish one (big
nose and all).
About four or five years later when I was thirty-one I began to be curious about Kabbalah. I was
then a professor of philosophy and I had studied nearly every spiritual tradition of the world, but
I was completely ignorant about the Jewish tradition. Many people were at that time beginning to
speak about Kabbalah. It was just becoming a trend, and I was a little embarrassed that I knew
nothing about it. I visited a synagogue in my town and began a class in Jewish philosophy.
All I can say is that something within me that was sleeping woke up. For thirty-one years I had
no interest in anything related to God or Judaism, but suddenly from out of nowhere my soul
longed for the Torah, faith, and God. I remember picking up the Torah for the first time in my
life to study it. I did not know or understand what I was reading, but my soul was exulting in
ecstasy. It was one of the strangest experiences in my life.
You may think that this is a natural thing because I was finally waking up to my Jewish identity,
but I can tell you the experience was not so simple. You have to understand that I was perfectly
content in my life and with my spiritual path. I had no feeling that anything was missing. When
this passion awakened within me, I still did not have any idea what the Torah really was. In fact,
everything that had I learned previously about it seemed rather simplistic and silly. I did not
believe in those ancient stories, and I considered religious people to be ignorant of science,
wisdom and spirituality. I had no desire whatsoever to be identified with this camp of people. In
fact, my very connection to this group was deeply disturbing to me as well as my friends and
family. My interest in Judaism became so disturbing to me that eventually I concluded that the
religion was like a cult and that I had to separate myself from it before it took me over and
destroyed my life.
I left the synagogue for many months, but during that time I felt a terrible sadness in my soul. I
had a good friend at synagogue and one day I decided to go back and visit with him. As soon as I
entered the door, all the deep feelings of love for God and the Torah reawakened within me. My
soul was flooded with happiness. I couldnt deny it. I then said to myself, I dont really care if
the religion is true or not, I obviously am a Jew and need to be connected to my religion and
people.
For five years I walked around thinking I was going crazy. I was following a religion that I did
not believe intellectually. How is it that I could take seriously the stories of the Bible? God,
Adam and Eve, Noah and his ark, all these miracles, and yet my soul was on fire with passion
for its teaching and its prayer and practices.
The Torah may seem very simplistic to those of us who are not educated in it. This is because the
Torah is written in a language of simple stories. God did this for a very special reason. He wants
the Torah to relate to everyone, child or adult, wise or simpleton. Every person can read the
Torah and understand it on some level. However, the depths of the Torahs wisdom are infinite.
Throughout history the greatest minds of the Jewish people, minds greater than Einstein, Freud,
or Marx, have devoted every moment of their lives to the detailed study of the Torah because of
its profound depths.
Even though I had begun to study and practice Judaism I had no conception of these depths. I
was inspired by the feelings of love and faith that I was experiencing for the first time in my life.
No matter how strange the religion seemed to me, there were several teachings that did
ultimately convince me of its truth.
Many people turn to Eastern philosophy because they are looking for a path to enlightenment.
These paths are beautiful and many do reach the wisdom and enlightenment that they are looking
for. Enlightenment is the realization that there is a greater reality than the perception of life we
ordinarily experience as an individual soul observing the world. The experience of enlightenment
is an experience of life in a state of freedom from all sense of self. When a person lets go of
the sense of self he or she is able to experience the oneness of life where there is no sense of
separation between the perceiver and what he or she is perceiving, (that is between you and the
world you are experiencing). The deeper levels of enlightenment lead to experiences that are free
of any mental category or description and so are called in Buddhism the experience of
emptiness. This emptiness is also paradoxically called completeness, because when we are
free of the self we are free from all desire.
There is a path of spirituality that leads to the experience of enlightenment and the transcending
of self or ego that is, the experience of emptiness, as it is called. But there is a problem with
this enlightenment (and all practitioners of Buddhism are keenly aware of this). After a person
reaches enlightenment he still has to live in this world of pain and suffering. The Eastern
religions teach that pain and suffering are part of the illusion of existence. Maybe many people
can accept this, but one who is honest and sincere cannot be satisfied with such an answer. Pain
and suffering raise the biggest questions of existence. The fact that one can reach a perception of
existence that penetrates to a deeper level where there is no pain, is not an answer. It is an
escape. This experience reveals that pain and suffering are not the ultimate end of life, but it does
not explain why there is such enormous suffering in the world or if it will ever end.
The Torah deals with the suffering of life in way that is honest and with integrity. First and
foremost the Torah accepts the reality of suffering. Life is not an illusion. It is the handiwork of
the Creator. In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth This is the foundation
of reality. The world and its pain is a part of the creation. The reason for suffering is a deep
mystery, but also deeply meaningful (as we shall discuss later on).It is part of the process for the
birth of a world that will be ultimately free of pain and suffering. The Torah teaches that the
world that we all long for in our hearts, a world of love and peace, is the purpose of Gods plan,
and the pain we experience is part of the process to achieving this end. I remember sitting in
synagogue alone reading about this and crying tears of joy and relief when I realized that there is
truly a purpose to history and an ultimate meaning of human life in this world.
Another fundamental teaching of the East is that we must free ourselves of the ego. One rabbi
explained to me that this is not possible through meditation. In the practice of meditation one can
experience life free from the limitations of the ego, but these experiences are always temporary
and the meditator returns to his regular consciousness. Indeed, this is what my Zen teachers
taught me as well. There is no permanent enlightenment. This is an illusion and false
advertising in the Eastern religions. In fact, it is well known that many of the worlds leading
teachers in the Eastern traditions suffer from various addictions and sexual problems because
they are unable to deal with the conflicts between their spiritual life and their ordinary life.
This rabbi explained to me that whenever someone is seeking enlightenment no matter what they
think, they are ultimately doing it for themselves. He said that the only true way to get beyond
the ego is if we do something for a higher reason.
This is one of the reasons why God gave the Jewish people commandments. It is out of love,
because when one performs a commandment he can do something for God, and not for the ego.
This the only way to break the power of the ego.
I had spent over ten years of intensive experience in Zen I saw very clearly the truth of what the
rabbi said. Although Zen practice brings one to experiences and feelings of egolessness, the
only freedom from the negative aspect of the ego comes when we recognize God and dedicate
our life to serving Him. This is what brings true healing and wholeness to ones life. The Eastern
philosophies cannot achieve this because they do not acknowledge the reality of the individual
soul. They train people to feel egoless and to feel the oneness of life, which is a beautiful and
important part of life. However, the purpose of life is not to flee from the ego, but to use it to
serve God.
As I learned more about the Torah I slowly began taking on more of the commandments. During
this time I was still driving to synagogue on the Sabbath until a most amazing event happened to
me.
I had met a man many years ago outside a yoga class. He was wearing a colorful Jewish hat and
reading a Hebrew book. I told him I was a Greek scholar and we began talking about the
different ancient languages. He happened to be a religious studies scholar and his wife was very
interested in Plato. We planned to get together and for many years I had his phone number on my
cork board, but we never spoke. After becoming religious I began to look for someone with
whom I could ask my questions about philosophy and other spiritual traditions. I remembered the
man I had met briefly over five years earlier. I no longer had his phone number, but I
remembered that he lived in Irvine, California. It was a Wednesday and I called a synagogue in
Irvine to see if they knew who he was. No one answered the phone.
That Saturday I went to my synagogue for the Sabbath in Laguna Beach, California. After the
prayers, we sat down to have lunch as we did every week. There were some guests with us and I
heard one of them say that he was from Irvine. He sat directly across from me at the table and I
asked him, Do you know a man from your town who is a teacher and religious studies scholar?
He said, Yes, thats me. I was in astonishment. I said, Do you know that I made a phone call
looking for you the other day. He replied, Yeah, I was wondering why I got the desiret this
week to come visit Laguna Beach for the first time.
That day I decided not to drive to synagogue any more. I saw clearly that God was in the world
watching me and guiding me back to the Torah. I met this man for no more than a few minutes
over five years earlier. I had never spoken to him since. Suddenly, I think of him and pick up the
phone to search for him. A few days later he shows up at my synagogue and sits across the table
from me for lunch. This was not a coincidence. It was the hand of God before my very eyes.
This is one of many such experiences I had. It is in these moments that I became aware that the
events of life are not random. There is a director to the script of life. The more that I came closer
to the Torah, the more I began to see these awesome moments in my life. They are awesome
because in these moments we get a glimpse that God cares for us and loves us, and that He is
directing the world. Although most often He is hidden from us, in these remarkable moments He
shows His presence.
Jewish people feel this presence through our study of the Torah and our practice of Gods
commandments. One of the things that was most surprising to me when I entered the Jewish
world is how no one questions the existence of God. As a professor of philosophy, I dealt with
this question with so many students and as a central part of Western philosophy. In the Jewish
world it is not an issue, and this is because religious Jews feel the presence of God.
My experience is not unique. Over the past thirty years, after hundreds of years that have seen
the overwhelming majority of Jews leave their religion, tens of thousands of Jews from all over
the world have turned back to the Torah and the practice of the commandments. Each one of
them have a unique story. But the basic experience is an awakening of the spark that is in the
Jewish soul, a spark that carries the message of the purpose of the Jewish people that was given
in the Torah by Moses and carried through the generations from father to son, mother to
daughter.
My journey back to the Torah began with my grandfathers death. Twelve years after he died I
asked my mother for the first time if I had a Hebrew name. She told me that my Hebrew name
was Abraham, after my grandfather. But his name is Robert, I said puzzled. No, she said,
his name is really Abraham. They called him Abey, and that turned into Bobby. Thus, my
grandfather Bob Shad the famous Jazz and rock music producer, like many other famous Jews,
was really born with a much more Jewish sounding name Abraham Shadrinky.
On my first night celebrating the holiday of Shavout, the day we received the Torah on Mount
Sinai, the rabbi gave a talk and said that the patriarch Abraham was originally called Abram by
his parents. Later God added the letter H and changed his name to Abraham. The rabbi then
explained that his original name meant lover of wisdom, but when it was changed it meant
lover of God. I cried when I heard this because I saw that in my very name was the story of my
life. I was a philosopher, which literally means, lover of wisdom, and now, like my namesake,
Abraham, I too was becoming a lover of God.
Just as God was hidden from me, also hidden from me was the entire story of my life. I
possessed a name I didnt know for thirty-one years of my life. No one in my family had any
idea what our last name Apatow meant. (I found out later that it was a city in Poland that had a
thriving Jewish community before the holocaust.) People used to hear it and think I was an
American Indian. In other words, I grew up without any knowledge of my true identity.
Moreover, I did not know the teachings of my people, our history, or my connection to God.
In the Jewish world there is also an entirely different calendar (one based on the moon and the
sun, as opposed to the western solar calendar), so that every date in the life of a Jew has a
different significance in the context of the Hebrew calendar. I was therefore curious to see if the
day of my grandfathers death also fell out on my birthday in the Hebrew calendar. The day of
someones death is considered a very powerful and positive day in the Jewish world. It is the day
when that soul reaches its completion and ascends to higher worlds. It is also a day that is
celebrated every year and on which the person who has died as a special power to bring blessing
into the world for the people he loves. However, it was still a difficult and painful memory for
me. I looked up these days on the Hebrew calendar and saw that the day of his death did not fall
on my Hebrew birthday. But I saw something that was even more remarkable. I discovered that
my grandfather who I loved so deeply and was so deeply connected to, the man I was named
after and whose passing began my spiritual journey in life that he and I were born on the very
same day in the Hebrew calendar. There are no accidents. He was born to a father who was a
communist and he lived in the time of the Holocaust when it was so hard to believe in God and
His Torah, but somehow God had planned that he would have a grandson named after him and
born on the same day who would return to the ancient faith of his fathers.
This is the story of the Jewish people today, a people slowly but steadily returning to their
purpose and the fulfilling of Gods ancient promise to the world.
How this Book Began
I was traveling in Israel and my stay was unexpectedly extended. My friend Gedalia had rented a
small apartment in the mountains of the north in the Holy city of Tsfat. He decided not to go to
Tsfat and offered it me for a few weeks. Tsfat is an ancient city of cobblestone streets where the
greatest masters of Kabbalah walked and the teaching of Kabbalah flourished.
It was a small two bedroom apartment and I could not help but think of a friend I had spoken
with in Jerusalem who was also in need of accommodations. I was a little reluctant to invite him,
because I knew his presence would disrupt my unique opportunity to study, pray and meditate in
this holy place, but God had other plans. I was only there a few days, and my friend whose name
is Moshe, showed up at my door. Our mutual friend Simcha had seen him in Tsfat and brought
him to my apartment to visit, and so I invited him to stay. A month later we decided to rent an
apartment in Tsfat together, which happened to be next to the site of the ancient school of
wisdom where Shem and Ever taught, figures from the book of Genesis who lived in the time of
Noah and Abraham; it was the very site where Jacob took refuge for fourteen years when he fled
from his brother Esau.
Moshe is a Torah scholar and healer. He is an operatic tenor and when he sings and prays at the
Western Wall he can be heard over hundreds of other people. Moshe was close with a sage
named Yisroel Ber Odessa, or the Saba (the grandpa). The Saba walked upon the earth until
the age of one hundred and six. Moshe said that the Saba was not of this world. He was someone
who perfected himself in the service of God and to be with him was to feel like you were sitting
by one of the patriarchs, Abraham, Issac or Jacob.
The Saba is a well known figure in Israel today. In 1922 when he was thirty years old he
received a letter from heaven. This letter contained a communication from Rabbi Nachman of
Breslov, a great figure in Torah who died in 1810.
I had never considered this story seriously, but Moshe said that this short note contained the
secret of the Torah and the key to the redemption of the world. It seemed absolutely incredulous
and for years I had just ignored Moshe when he spoke of this. However, when I saw him in
Jerusalem his words began to have a strange effect on me.
During the many months we spent together through the cold winter and hard rains in Tsfat, we
sat in our freezing cold apartment in the mountains and were warmed by the Torah secrets he
shared with me. Slowly my soul opened and his words began to enter into my heart.
During this time I began to become aware that this friend of mine was a very special individual.
On the outside he appears like a normal person, a jovial, warm and friendly man who didnt
seem to have any spiritual inclinations. But after living and speaking with him for many
months, I discovered that my friend was like an angel. He selflessly traveled from place to place
helping others with health issues, family and personal problems. He is a naturopath, and he has a
remarkable spiritual ability to know exactly what was going on in a persons body and what
particular foods or herbs could heal him. He regularly was able to heal people when other
doctors had failed and had given up hope. I watched as he healed a women over several months
with a severe and life-threatening case of high blood pressure. I saw her before and after the
treatment and it was a witnessing of the revival of the dead before my very eyes.
Moshe also has a spiritual gift of intuition to know how to help people in other ways, as if he was
guided by heaven with just the right advice to heal personal issues or relationships. He helped me
with many personal issues that were blocking me and seemed to open up the gates to help me
flourish in my life. His advice did not come in soft and spiritual ways, but in short quips which I
did not listen to at first, until I began to realize that he was sent like an angel to help me.
The main gate he opened for me was that of faith. He did this by explaining to me the secret of
the letter from heaven. The message of this letter is rather simple. It says to serve God with joy
and stresses our connection with the great holy man, Rebbe Nachman, and then writes the name
Nachman according to a Kabbalistic formula: Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman (Uman is
the city of his burial).
Shortly after meeting my friend Moshe I had a dream in which the Saba came to me and with his
beaming smile told me his message personally. He told me how truly important my happiness
and everyone elses happiness and joy is to God. I had never experienced a dream like this
before. I understood that it was not merely a dream, but in fact this great, holy man had come to
speak to me. Moshe told me that it was our task to spread the Sabas message to America. I
didnt know what he meant. But eventually this simple message he taught me from the Saba
opened up the gate of my understanding. I then discovered for myself how indeed this letter
from heaven and the Kabbalistic name Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman was the key to
understanding the Torah and its secrets.
Two thousand years ago, the great Kabbalist and sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the author of
the Zohar (the primary source for the Kabbalah), prophesied that the world would be saved by a
song that would be expressed in a special Kabbalistic formula in Hebrew letters (Tikune Zohar,
51). Two hundred years ago Rebbe Nachman told his followers that this song of redemption
would be revealed in the future (Lekutei Morahran II, 8).
The Torah is a song and the entire history of Jewish spirituality is the unfolding of its melody.
The masters of Kabbalah and the great Jewish sages explored its depths; but the ultimate purpose
of this song is for its music to be heard by the entire world. Not everyone can be a sage, a
scholar, or mystic, but their revelations must be revealed to all.
The song of redemption is a key that will take the entire depths of the Torah, its mysteries, and
healing power and bring it to the world in a way that can inspire the simplest child. This song is
Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman as revealed in the letter from heaven.
The Kabbalistic formula Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman expresses the essence of the
entire Torah and purpose of creation. The Torah teaches that the ultimate purpose of creation is
for man to reach his perfection and ascend to a level above the angels to be a partner with God.
The letter from heaven expresses in a Kabbalistic language that the soul of Moses has reached
this level and therefore the world has reached its completion. In other words, the letter comes to
announce to imminent redemption of the world.
The key to the worlds redemption is through the perfected soul of Moses. The perfected man is
called in Hebrew the True Tzaddik. The True Tzaddik is the manifestation of Gods light of love
and healing in the world. God is infinite and beyond the grasp and knowledge of man. We
experience God by becoming like God. And we become like God by living a life of
righteousness in the way of the Tzaddik.
The Tzaddik lives in purity and holiness and this brings him into union with God. His soul
becomes as it were a window for the infinite to shine through. This purity and clarity is the
Tzaddiks perfection. The soul of the Tzaddik functions as a window through which shines the
light of God into the world. It is this connection that sustains creation.
Any individual is capable of achieving this same relationship. In order to come close to God we
must follow the path of the Tzaddik, live in righteousness, and purify our souls. It is through this
purity that we are able to receive and experience this light and unity in our individual lives. The
True Tzaddik brings this light into the entire world and inspires and enlightens us to receive this
light. We will explain in more detail later that the Tzaddik is not God, but he is the pure, spiritual
channel through which we are able to connect to this light. This role gives the Tzaddik a unique
role and responsibility within creation.
The Torah teaches that the souls of the tzaddikim have even greater power after death. Their
power is to pray on behalf of man to draw down blessings from God into our individual lives to
help us in all that we need: in health, protection from all harm, livelihood, marriage, children and
spiritual development. There are thousands of tzaddikim who have lived and they continue to
help radiate Gods goodness into the world. There are also many tzaddikim living today.
However, there is one called the True Tzaddik who is the greatest of all, and this is Moses, for he
had the merit to bring Gods Torah into the world.
According to the tradition we shall share with you, Rebbe Nachman was the fifth and final
incarnation of Moses in the world (Biur Halekotim, at the end of Torah 22). The name Nachman
means consolation and healing in Hebrew, and so the name of this great holy man is our
consolation for the long pain of exile and suffering in this world and the source of healing that
will bring the perfection of man. For Rebbe Nachman in his lifetime brought into the world the
hidden aspects of the Torah that reveal openly to all mankind the path to God and human
perfection, that is, the keys to redemption.
The essence of this book is that we need the soul of Moses as a connecting point between
humanity and God. The soul of Moses is the power of love and revelation in the world, it
connects heaven and earth. Although humanity needs a human being, a leader to connect us to
God, this does not separate us from God in any way. The ultimate teaching of Rebbe Nachman is
that the highest form of spirituality is the simple act of secluding oneself and speaking ones
heart directly to God. In other words, each person is supposed to follow in the path of Moses and
speak directly to God. By cultivating this relationship with the Creator we have the opportunity
to participate in the work of the tzaddikim to bring the light of God into the world and receive
inspiration and wisdom to guide our personal lives.
The Kabbalistic formula and song Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman is the key that opens
the gate to genuine healing, true joy, and closeness to God and the ancient holy sages. We will
explain its meaning in more detail, but this introduction to the song will serve as a gateway to the
wisdom of Moses and Rebbe Nachman and all the great sages of Israel, and to the secrets of the
Torah that we wish to share with you in this book.
The Hidden Message
Three thousand two hundred and fifty-three years ago God gave the Torah to Moses to give to
the Jewish people. The Torah is a message for humanity, and the Jewish people are its guardians.
Nonetheless, this message has been hidden and obscured through the course of history. The
Knowledge of God will begin to reveal the keys to understanding the message of the Torah and
how it is bringing humanity across the storm tossed ocean of troubles to its promised redemption.
The message is simply:
God is the Creator of the world. He created the world for man, and all the events of history are
directed towards a purpose to bring creation to its completion and perfection.
This completion is characterized by one thing wisdom the consciousness of God and the
clear recognition of His love and goodness and the goodness of His creation.
God is creating a world where there will be no evil and where His absolute love for all life is
fully revealed and felt by every being. There will be no wars, no hunger, no disease. Humanity
will live in perfect harmony with itself, and with all creatures and the environment. Human
beings will rejoice in the wonder and joy of existence, and this joy will steadily increase in its
fullness and satisfaction. We will all grow in our living knowledge and closeness with the
Creator, and we will spend our lives deepening this wisdom and thanking and blessing God for
these awesome gifts He is bestowing upon us and for the simple miracle of being alive.
Although many traditions hint or speak of such an end of time, the Jewish tradition has received
a detailed explanation of the stages and steps necessary in this process, the reasons for each
stage, and the time and nature for the world to reach its final completion.
God created the world in such a way that His love and goodness is often hidden by the painful
nature of our experience. God hid himself so that there could be a world of life and death, good
and evil. This allows for freedom. The purpose of freedom is for man to choose life and
goodness and thereby bring greater God consciousness back into creation. This process of
choosing life over death and good over evil transforms physical existence from a place where
God is hidden into a realm of revelation until ultimately the knowledge of God will fill the earth
like water covers the sea (Isaiah, 11:9).
This is the purpose of creation and history. This time is called the redemption. It is the time when
God will reveal that although He has appeared to have turned His face away from His world, He
has been ever present guiding the creation through a process of birth into the magnificent image
we have described.
All the terror and chaos and pain and suffering that we see is called the birth pangs of this
process (Ketubot). Just as a woman must go through a most painful labor, so the entire creation
is also going through such a process. Today we are living in the end of history we the very
destructive power of humanity has reached a point where man lives in constant danger of
destroying his entire world and the natural environment. The fear and terror we all feel at the
constant sight of this is the screams of our world in the final moments of its labor.
The ultimate birth will be the revelation of the miraculous and Godly nature of our existence.
The danger we experience is the result of the lowest aspects of human nature dominating our
existence, the desire for consumption and greed and ambition to dominate our brother. These are
the instincts of nature that stem from our animal-like desire.
The birth will be a revelation of Godliness in the world. We will perceive directly that we are not
subject to the complete domination of nature and animal-like forces. Mankind will directly
perceive that there is a Creator and that He is fully in control of every aspect and event of
existence, and that there is no escape from this reality. We will see that none of the problems that
we have created through our animalistic desires can be solved through human reason. They can
only be solved when human beings begin to transform their nature and begin to openly accept
their role as being channels for the miraculous power of the Creator. In other words, in the very
near future, God will begin to reveal His direct control over nature, and He will do this as He
promised to do thousands of years ago, through the children of Israel and their King.
This revelation of God and the way to it is called the Revelation at Mount Sinai. The revelation
of the Torah at Mount Sinai was experienced by all the children of Israel, but it was Moses alone
who ascended Mount Sinai and spent two periods of 40 days without sleep or food or water
learning the Torah of God.
The written Torah is called the revealed Torah. The Torah captures the complete revelation, but
the full expression of this revelation and teaching to Moses was concealed. In other words, the
spiritual revelation of Moses was not written down. It has been passed down from teacher to
student throughout history as commentary on the written Torah. It also has been transmitted to
holy and righteous men through prophecy, that is, spiritual revelation and communications from
angels and the souls of holy teachers who come to maintain and advance the spiritual life of the
Torah in the world.
The central figure in this revelation is Moses. This is equally true both in the past and in the
future to come. Whatever was or will be revealed to anyone was first revealed to Moses on
Mount Sinai. This is the foundation of the Torah and Jewish Law.
Moses is not simply a historical figure. Moses is revelation. He is the living spiritual power of
God consciousness at the center of creation. This is the essence of the teaching of the Jewish
spiritual tradition called Kabbalah.
Few people throughout history have known this secret teaching and its significance. This is true
both in the Jewish and world. Today we live in an era of revelation and it is fitting for this
knowledge to spread throughout the world in order to truly understand the Torah, to clarify the
worlds religions and the purpose of life.
The Jewish people and their observance of the Torah present an exemplary role of morality and
dedication to community and family and religious piety. However, few today look to the Jewish
people as the spiritual light inspiring the world. The world looks to Jews as leaders in banking,
science, law, medicine, entertainment, comedy but when it comes to wisdom it generally looks
elsewhere.
This fact is the consequence of exile. The Jewish people have not only been in exile physically,
we have been in exile spiritually, which means that we are separated from who we are and our
mission in the world. That mission is as the prophet Isaiah says to be a light to the nations.
After over two thousand years of physical exile, the Jewish people have not chosen to actively
spread their wisdom in a revealed form, either to themselves or to the world. The non-Jewish
world has been perceived as the threat to our survival, and little has been done to influence our
surroundings. Instead, we have tried to shelter and protect ourselves from being influenced by
our surroundings.
Secondly, the deepest secrets and greatest wisdom has historically been reserved for select few.
Because of this even the average religious and learned Jew knows very little of the deeper vision
of the Torah and the purpose of creation, except for the general principles.
Those who study the Jewish tradition, Jew and Gentile can easily miss the deeper meaning of the
Torah because the Torah is written in a way that conceals its secrets. Consequently, many who
read the Torah conclude that it is uninterested with spirituality and presents a picture of an
unmerciful God. The Torah also de-emphasizes our connection and dependence on others in our
spiritual relationship to God. And so, unlike other religions, the emphasis in Jewish life has not
been on a leader, but the actual practice and knowledge of the Torah. The truth is that the Torah
contains the light and wisdom of God to heal the world and provide for all its needs. The exile of
the Jewish people and the destruction of its Temple has hidden its light.
In the last several hundred years a new light has emerged that is reigniting the Jewish people and
transforming the Jewish soul. This is the light of remarkable spiritually advanced leaders who
have declared that the time of redemption has begun, and these teachers have begun to reveal the
deeper meaning of the Torah to the mass of Jewish people. This caused a revolution within the
Jewish world that has gone through several periods of resistance from the conservative voices
that seek to maintain the vision of exile, and have not awoken to this new light (which is the
original light of the Torah that has been hidden through our exile).
Nonetheless, this light has gained a foundation within the Torah observant world, and it is
consistently being revived and reinvigorated. It is the light that is slowly transforming and
preparing the Jewish people for its ultimate role in history. When the Jewish people finally
receive this light they will be able to rise to the occasion and truly be a light to the nations
spreading the living knowledge of God to the world and the purpose of creation.
The essence of this teaching is the revelation of the role of the Perfected Righteous Man in the
world, that is, the role of Moses. King Solomons says that, The Righteous Man is the foundation
of the world. The Torah teaches that there will never arise in history a prophet as great as Moses.
He is this truly perfected human being. Moses is not merely a historical figure in the Jewish
religion, but in fact his soul is the connecting point between humanity and God.
According to the deeper meaning of this teaching the soul of Moses is literally the power of
spiritual revelation in the world. This revelation manifests itself in history through the
incarnations of the great visionaries in Jewish history who have each contributed to the spiritual
evolution that is leading to the perfection of humanity. The goal of this evolution is to enlighten
the world with the knowledge of God. The importance of this idea illuminates the deeper
meaning and significance of the Jewish Bible in a way that brings clarity, coherence, and
contemporary relevance to Moses revelation at Mount Sinai.
It is through the soul of Moses that the secret and deeper meaning of the Torah and the purpose
of history has been preserved. It is the aim of this book to reveal the basic message of this
tradition. In order to do this we will need to clarify several important aspects of the Torah that
are not widely known or well understood
The Role of Moses
The nature of the Righteous sage (the Tzaddik)
The Secret Kabbalistic tradition
The Merciful Nature of God
Reincarnation
The process of Redemption
This will provide both the Jew and Gentile a deeper and richer more understanding of the Torah,
its spiritual depth, the meaning and precision of its understanding of history, its spiritual vitality,
its role for helping us understanding history and the purpose of life, and give us the power and
knowledge to participate more actively in the perfection of ourselves and the world.
In the first part we will give an overview of the spiritual principles that explain the deeper
meaning of the Torah and the life of Moses. In the second part, we will give an introduction to
both the hidden and revealed teachings that are taught by the Kabbalah that allow us to become
more active participants in Moses mission to enlighten the world with the knowledge of God.
Chapter 1: The Righteous Man is the Foundation of the World
Tzaddikim
The Torah teaches that there are thirty-six unique individuals hidden in every generation who are
entrusted with leading humanity to its spiritual destiny. In Hebrew these thirty-six people are
called the Lamed Vav Tzaddikim. Among these thirty-six tzaddikim there is one individual who
is known as the True Tzaddik (or the Tzaddik with a capital T). The True Tzaddik is not
necessarily revealed and known. He may be a simple craftsman whose wisdom and greatness
remains hidden. However, this Tzaddik is the spiritual leader of the world. Let us explain.
The Torah begins with the words, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The
heavens are not only the sky above us; they are also the spiritual realms above the earth from
which flows the creative life-force that sustains the earth below. In this way of understanding the
heavens are above the earth in a metaphorical sense meaning more spiritual. Between the
spiritual heavens and the physical earth there is a special kind of being that partakes of both the
spiritual nature of the heavens and the physical nature of earth this is man.
The center point of creation and the meeting place of heaven and earth is the soul of man. Man
unites heaven and earth and completes the creation. This is why he was created on the sixth and
final day of Gods creating. Man completes creation because it is through the soul of man that
the creative life-force flows from heaven to earth and sustains the entire physical world.
In the physical world each of us is part of a family; this family is part of a greater group of
families called a tribe; tribes are part of a greater whole called a nation; all the nations of the
world are part of the whole called humanity.
On each of these levels there are individual souls that lead the families and tribes and nations of
souls. It is very similar to ordinary life. For example, we all are shaped by our mother and father
in our likes and dislikes and our general way of looking at life. On a larger scale, there are
individuals who have great vision and power and influence larger groups of people. Art and
music is a good example of this. There are figures in music like Duke Ellington in jazz or Bob
Dylan and the Beatles in rock who shaped entire generations of musicians. In history, there are
people like Abraham and Moses who have influenced nearly every person who ever lived after
them.
A similar structure exists on a spiritual level. Each of us has his or her own particular individual
soul, but each of our souls is part of a family of souls (these are not necessarily people in our
physical family; they are other souls that are similar to us in our way of looking at life). Each of
those families of souls is connected to a tribe. The tribes of souls come together to form a nation;
and each of those nations of souls is connected in a special way we will describe.
On a physical level a person is part of a family. That family is a unit. The families and tribes are
part of a nation, and the nation is a greater unit. The leader is one separate individual that unites
the separate units. On a spiritual level a soul that is part of a family has a more intimate spiritual
unity with the other members of its family. On the level of tribe and nation there are again higher
levels of spiritual unity. On each of these levels of family, tribe and nation there are souls that are
the leaders that channel life and inspiration to their group. On the highest level all souls of all
nations join together to form a perfect unity under the spiritual influence of one spiritual nation
of souls and one particular individual soul. On this level all humanity becomes a perfect unity
that has a different kind of life and function in the higher worlds of spirituality a life as one
living being.
In other words, our individual souls are connected to higher worlds and function in the spiritual
life of the creation in ways that we are not necessarily aware of. Those individuals who train
themselves in spiritual disciplines become more aware of the greater unity of life, their
connection with other human beings and creation, and the connection between the soul and God.
The more one is aware of this knowledge, the more one can become an active participant in the
workings of creation and the purpose of life.
The souls that lead and unite people on higher spiritual worlds are called tzaddikim. A tzaddik is
a holy and righteous man who devotes his life to God, the Torah, and prayer. The individual soul
that unites all souls is called the True Tzaddik. This soul has come into the world in the lives of
remarkable men such as Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and King David and
King Solomon (as well as many others, some who are known and others who are unknown). The
True Tzaddik, because he unites all souls, possesses knowledge of the purpose every particular
soul who has ever lived. All the tzaddikim in general also share in this knowledge (but in a less
perfect way), since their job is to help guide people in their lives to their particular destiny.
The Tzaddik and the Miraculous
The tzaddik is a spiritual leader of the world and is able not only to channel the creative life-
force of the world, but because of his devotion and attachment to God he brings Godliness into
the world. The quality of Godliness is an expression of the presence and light of God, which is
above nature. Consequently, the life of the tzaddik is characterized by miracles.
There are thousands of stories of the miracles of the tzaddikim in Jewish history from every
place the Jews have lived and visited. One of the first stories ever told was that of Abraham, the
father of the Jewish people. Abrahams father Terach had a shop that sold statues of idols.
Abraham stood alone in Babylon and sought out the truth of existence that had been forgotten in
his day that there is a Creator and that He is one and there is no other god that we should
worship. Abraham spoke out against idolatry and sought to awaken his generation to the One
God. He went and smashed all the idols in his fathers store. Nimrod, the first tyrant and dictator
of Babylonia imprisoned Abraham and threw him in a furnace filled with flames. God protected
Abraham with angels who protected him for three days within the furnace in the sight of Nimrod
and his soldiers.
One may think that such stories are just legends, but such miracle stories exist to this day. I will
share a story from modern times that reveals the power and importance of the tzaddikim. During
World War II, the Germans under the direction of their brilliant general Rommel led a division
that fought their way through North Africa and against the British in Egypt. Their destination
was to conquer the Holy Land of Israel in order to carry out Hitlers, may his name be erased,
evil plans against the Jewish people. The Germans were seemingly unstoppable.
The Germans began to advance into Palestine to attack the British. At this time the people of
Israel were in a state of terror and fear. Two Kabbalists by the name of Rabbi Yehuda Fataya and
Rabbi Salman Mutzafi went to the grave of Rachel the wife of Jacob and performed special
prayers, prayers that were immediately answered. The Germans advanced and the British
withdrew from their camp in the desert of Israel (then called Palestine). The Germans took over
their camp and discovered a reserve of water. The Germans during this time had weak supply
lines that were restricting their army. Their soldiers who were filled with thirst from their
marches through the desert heat found the British water reserve and began to drink. The water
turned out not to be drinking water and the entire army became terribly sick. This vastly
weakened the Axis campaign and consequently their plan to attack Israel was thwarted. This was
a genuine miracle.
In ancient times, another army sought to approach the Holy Land. Alexander the Great was
leading his army in the conquest of the entire ancient world. When he reached the walls of the
city of Jerusalem, the High Priest of the Temple, Shimon the Tzaddik came out of the walls to
greet Alexander. To the surprise of his army, Alexander the Great, the ruler of the world,
dismounted from his horse and bowed before Shimon the Tzaddik. His generals turned to him
and asked him why he gave such honor to the priest. Alexander responded by saying that before
every one of his successful battles he had a dream in which Shimon the Tzaddik had appeared to
him.
Later in history after Alexanders empire was divided, the Syrian Greek King sought to destroy
the Temple and the Jewish way of life. However, in the miraculous wars commemorated by the
holiday of Chanukah, a small band of Jewish rebels led by the Kohen Matisyahu, were able to
overthrow one of the most powerful armies in the Mediterranean. The miracles against the Nazis
and the Greeks are no different than the miracles that have assisted the Jews to survive
throughout history against every empire that has sought its annihilation. The ultimate weapon of
the Jewish people has been its prayers and the prayers of its tzaddikim.
The same is true today as witnessed by the entire world on television in recent years as Saddam
Hussein in 1991 launched 40 scud missiles over a six week period at strategic targets in Israel
without any serious damage and causing the direct death of one Israeli citizen. This war ended on
the eve of Purim, the holiday commemorating the foiled plan of the Persian leader Haman to
destroy the entire Jewish people. According to the BBC, in the most recent war between Israel
and Hezbolla, 3700 Hezbolla missiles were launched into Israel killing 43 civilians. Nothing
supernatural occurred. However, it was a miracle that in these recent wars casualties
remained relatively few.
There are two kinds of miracles, the revealed and the hidden. A revealed miracle is one like the
splitting of the Red Sea. In this miracle God overthrew the laws of nature in a way that was clear
to the eyes of the entire world. However, the Torah teaches us that the greatest miracle is nature
itself. Every act of nature is an expression of the work of the hand of God. The second kind of
miracle is one hidden within the framework of nature. One therefore has to look and think more
carefully to perceive these hidden miracles.
Someone told me a story that describes this phenomenon. This individual went to a bar in Israel
and saw an old friend of his. The friend told him of a story that occurred to him on patrol in the
border in Lebanon. You know I am an accountant and I was never good at anything in the army.
During the war I was on patrol one night in Lebanon with two other soldiers and out of nowhere
I turned my rifle and shot into the dark. Out of the darkness an entire squad of Lebanese soldiers
comes out towards us with their hands in the air. It turns out I had shot their commander right
between the eyes.
The most interesting thing about the story is that the man who told it was not religious and did
not perceive anything miraculous about the event. If we look at the story carefully, we see that
it is not natural for someone who has not talent as a soldier to be able to shoot someone in the
dark between the eyes, no less in the dark and without even looking at his target. And it is not
natural for an entire squad of soldiers to then immediately surrender to three soldiers. Clearly this
was the hand of God, however, the hand of God working within the guise of natural events.
King David writes:
They have lyre and harp, timbrel and flute and wine at their feasts, and they do not notice Gods
works, they do not see His handiwork.
King David teaches us here that we live in a world where all our needs are cared for and in which
we enjoy the pleasures of this world, but this often blinds us from seeing the hand of God in the
world.
Rebbe Nachman teaches that miracles, faith, tzaddikim, the Jewish people, and the land of Israel
are all connected. This is because they all reveal Gods miraculous light within the world of
nature. It is in the land of Israel with the Jewish people and their tzaddikim that we see open
miracles that reveal this power that is greater than nature the hand of the Creator of nature. The
ability to see the miraculous is faith. We gain this power of faith by learning about and seeing the
lives of truly Godly men.
The tzaddikim live a life of tremendous holiness that sanctifies their very physical bodies. So
much so, that there are tzaddikim whose bodies are not affected by decay after their death. There
are many well-known stories that tell of families that had to move the grave of a relative and
discovered that the body of the tzaddik had not decayed. One of the greatest tzaddikim of the last
few hundred years is called the Gra, an acronym for Gaon Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna. In modern
times, the communists in Lithuania were building a highway over a Jewish cemetary. When the
tractor came to the grave of the Gra, it could not move forward. After several attempts and
accidents that occurred, the communists gave up and agreed to allow seven graves to be
relocated. The ArtScroll biography of the Gaon of Vilna relates the following:
The three members of the chevrah kadisha charged with moving the bodies of these Torah giants
approached their task with great trepidation. On the appointed day for digging up the graves,
they fasted and beseeched those about to be moved for forgiveness for disturbing their resting
place. They first had to dig up the graves and then place the bodies, which had been wrapped
only in the traditional burial shrouds, in coffins for transfer to the new cemetery. When the three
finished opening the Gaons grave and lifted him into a coffin, they were astounded to find that
his body had not degenerated nor rotted at all in nearly two centuries. They were able to discern
that even the hairs on his beard remained unchanged from the day of his petirah. [death]
In contemporary times, the leader of the Chabad Chassidim, the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem
Mendel Schneerson, was a well-known tzaddik and miracle worker. In the 1980s the Rebbe, as
he was known, received more mail than anyone in the United States besides the President.
Thousands of Jews around the world consulted him about practical affairs, health and business
issues. There were hospitals in Israel where doctors would not perform an operation on a
member of the Chabad group without having them first speak to the Rebbe because they knew of
his remarkable spiritual gift.
One of the followers of the Rebbe is named Joseph Isaac Gutnick. He is an Australian
businessman and the head of the Western Mining Company. One day Mr. Gutnick brought the
Lubavitcher Rebbe a map to look at to get advice regarding a diamond mining business. The
Rebbe looked at the map and told him exactly where to do the mining. For almost ten years they
continued to mine this area without any success. Gutnick and his business venture was at the
edge of bankruptcy. The Rebbe spoke up and told his students, If anyone wants to be rich invest
in this company. Shortly after they succeeding in finding the diamond mine and Mr. Gutnick
became one of the richest men in Australia and is today one of the foremost philanthropists in the
Jewish world.
The greatest miracle of a tzaddik, however, is his ability to bring a person closer to God. My
teacher Shmuel Levy was raised in Morocco and later in Israel. Like many young Israelis he was
distracted from his tradition by the lure of the contemporary world. Shmuel was an avid guitarist
and was more interested in his ambitions to succeed in the world of rock music than learning the
Torah. When he was in his young twenties he visited Brooklyn and a relative who was a student
of the Chabad Rebbe. Shmuel went to see him teach Torah before thousands of listeners. The
very sight of the tzaddik brought Shmuel to thoughts of returning to God. Looking at a tzaddik is
looking into the living presence of the Torah and Gods light. Shmuel was on his way to Europe
where he was developing a career as a professional guitarist. In Europe shortly after leaving
Brooklyn he found himself in a room with a friend who was showing him a video. Suddenly in
this video was a short clip of the Chabad Rebbe.
There were those eyes of wisdom looking directly at me through the video, through the
television in a small apartment in Europe. And my friend wasnt even Jewish. I felt that the
Rebbe had followed me to Europe and reached out to me through this television to touch me.
Just the sight of those eyes reminded Shmuel of the holiness and truth he saw in the tzaddiks
presence and he booked himself a ticket and returned to Brooklyn where he stayed for five years
praying everyday with the Rebbe and attending his Torah lectures. The lectures were mostly in
Yiddish which Shmuel did not understand. Nonetheless, he attended nearly every weekly public
lecture for five years in order to behold the eyes and be in the presence of a true man of God.
God literally gives the world to the Tzaddik. The Torah teaches us that when he speaks, God
must listen. In other words, God is obligated to heed the prayers of the Tzaddik. The Tzaddik is
part of the system of higher worlds and the purpose of creation, and his prayers have a kind of
power in this system that we cannot always comprehend.
The main work of the tzaddik is prayer. In prayer we ask God to change nature. If someone is
sick, we request that he become healthy. If someone is poor, we request that he become wealthy.
The change does not have to take place in a miraculous way, and most often the change seems
natural. However, the prayer is above nature. It is a request to recreate a natural condition.
Prayer has this power because it is the belief, the faith in a power that is higher and greater than
nature.
A tzaddik is a special being who possesses an extraordinary connection to God, and through this
connection is able to utter blessings and prayers that have remarkable power. The tzaddik is a
being who reveals that there is a God in the world that controls nature. The tzaddik lives
according to Gods will as expressed in the laws of the Torah. He lives in holiness and
righteousness, connecting his thoughts and his will to the Creator. Through his purity of heart
and intention, his prayers and blessings are received favorably in the eyes of the Creator.
The tzaddik has the deep faith and vision to see that this world is but a mask for the divine plan.
He sees the hand of God in all events. It is not that the tzaddik does not suffer at the pain of this
world. The tzaddik suffers all the pain of the world and it is this pain that fills his prayers with
such power. But at the same time, the tzaddik has the faith and wisdom to see that God is also
present in the suffering of the world, and so he maintains his perfect faith even when the Gods
goodness is hidden from view. Despite the hiddenness, the tzaddik sees the hand of God always
and remains connected to the Creator. This is because the tzaddik is a special being that connects
heaven and earth.
Creation consists of various levels. There is the inanimate level of earth and rocks. Above this is
the level of plants and then the animals. Above the animals is humans. Above humans is the
realm of the angels, who carry out the will of God to bring sustenance to the world. Between
humans and the angels are the tzaddikim. The tzaddikim are the highest beings in the earthly
world and through their spiritual attainments they can raise up to the world of the angels and
even surpass them. The angels have no freedom. A man who is able to overcome his animal
nature and perform the will of God is able to stand above the angels in the scale of heaven.
According to the Torah, this is the ultimate destiny of man.
The fulfillment of Gods plan of Creation depends upon the work of the tzaddikim and ultimately
the True Tzaddik. The work of the tzaddikim ultimately depends on humanity connecting itself
to its spiritual leader the True Tzaddik. The Tzaddiks job is to lift all the prayers of the world
to the Creator and thus to draw down the greatest blessing into the world.
Each individual can connect to the power of the Tzaddik. In this way we gain greater power in
our own prayers and come closer to a relationship with the Creator. By studying what a tzaddik
is, we gain the vision of a life of faith, blessings, and miracles. We have the opportunity to look
to the Tzaddik as a model of a perfected soul, one who has transformed his nature from
animalistic drives to one of beneficent and holy intention. Through this connection, the light of
his refinement penetrates our own life and helps to transform and refine our nature of its
stubborn habits, cravings and bad character traits to a life of greater harmony and health.
The Day in the Life of a Tzaddik
The tzaddik grows in his holiness and closeness to God because he devotes his life to Torah and
serving God. The day of a tzaddik begins at midnight. The point of midnight is when the gates of
heaven open and God and all the tzaddikim of all time join together in the Garden of Eden to
study the deepest mysteries of the Torahs wisdom. The tzaddik rises out of bed in the midst of
the night after a few hours sleep to participate in this spiritual light that is opening in the world.
As he opens his eyes he thanks God for returning his soul to him from the world of sleep. He
ritually washes his hands to start his day in purity and rises from bed. He recites his prayers upon
awakening preparing for his day and thanking God for all that He has provided to give him life.
and blesses Him for the opportunity to study His Torah. The tzaddik then goes to a natural spring
where he performs a ritual immersion. A natural body of water is a place where we purify the
body and reconnect to the spiritual through the element of water. By entering into the water we
reenter the womb of life and renew our purity and connection to the source of all life.
As the rest of the world sleeps the tzaddik uses the peace and stillness of the night, to give his
full concentration to the study of Gods laws and wisdom and the mysteries of creation. He goes
into the dark night and looks up towards heaven and pours out his soul to His Creator, thanking
God for the gifts of life, crying for all the pain and suffering that we must experience, and
begging and pleading with God to overlook the wrongs we have done and to shine His light of
mercy on His creatures.
An hour before dawn as the first rays of light come over the horizon, the tzaddik dons his prayer
shawl and binds his phylacteries (tefilin) on his arm and on his head, as God commands every
Jewish man to do. The phylacteries are special boxes that contain parchments written by the hand
of a scribe that express the basic faith of the Jewish people, Hear Israel, the Infinite is our God,
the Infinite is One. By binding them to our arms and our head, we literally connect the Torah to
our hearts and mind physically. The Torah commands that its spiritual ideas be expressed in a
physical way.
The tzaddik goes through the order of prayers established two thousand years ago and recited by
every observant Jew. These prayers are structured according to the service that was done in the
times of the Temple. The prayers of our mouth have become in the time of exile the substitute
for the various sacrifices and songs performed by the priests and Leviim in the Temple.
These prayers are recited in the rhythm of the sunrise and culminate in the highest spiritual point
in a silent prayer with the breaking of dawn. At the point of dawn, after the journey through the
darkness of night, the light of the sun spreads out over the horizon and the world is renewed.
This is the moment of the greatest expression of love during each day; it is this moment we
silently face the Creator in the most intimate unity and bless Him and recite our most important
prayers for the redemption of the world, as well as for our personal needs. After one or two hours
of prayers in the morning the tzaddik begins his Torah study. The rest of his day is dedicated to
immersing himself in the study of the Torah and whatever daily obligations he has to work,
family or community.
Some tzaddikim remain hidden their entire lives. They appear as simple people, no different than
other ordinary religious Jews, but their prayers sustain the world. Others are known to the
community and devote their lives to teaching and giving advice to others on both practical and
spiritual affairs, as well as making special prayers and blessings for those in need. During the
day, King David decreed that we should say one hundred blessings. These blessings on food and
various other aspects of life, as well as the afternoon, evening and bedtime prayers keep a Jew
connected to the Torah in the midst of worldly life. King David wrote, I place God before me at
all times. This is the foundation of the life of a tzaddik. Although he lives in the physical world,
he looks upon every moment of his life as an intimate dialogue with God.
The Torah: Why God Tells Stories
In this section I would like to provide an introduction to what Torah is and how it connects us to
God.
The first thing that one may wonder is: why the Torah begins with stories? Compared to other
ancient books of wisdom or to modern books on science and physics, the Torah may seem rather
simple. You might wonder how someone could devote their lives to studying such simple stories.
God tells stories because it is only through stories that we can grasp the infinite. Human reason
can only grasp what is defined or finite. But where reason ends, the imagination begins, and it is
through the power of the imagination in its purest form that we have some capacity to reach out
to the infinite. God communicates prophecy through the imagination. The great prophets trained
their minds to free their power of imagination from the desires of this world so that they could
become pure receptacles for the visions communicated to them by God. The Torah presents
stories that were communicated through prophecy to be shared with the entire world. These
stories are simple so that every person can relate to them, from the smallest child to the wisest
sage. Each letter and each word of each story contains infinite levels of communication and the
person who studies the Torah, depending upon his sincerity and preparation, is able to connect in
some way directly to the Creator.
The Torah presents the history of humanity and the Jewish people. It contains 613
commandments to the Jewish people and seven commandments to the nations of the world.
These 613 commandments form the basis of Jewish life. This structure of law also allowed the
Jewish nation to flourish under its Kings and Prophets. The laws include the foundation of
spiritual life and practice, and also instruction in the details of practical life: in marriage,
farming, business, and human relations. This aspect of the Torah is called its revealed meaning,
in contrast to its hidden mystcal knowledge.
The Torah is not a regular book. It is a revelation of Gods presence in the world. God is infinite.
He gave the Torah so that finite man could connect to Him. The Torah is Gods wisdom and
infinite goodness compacted in a way that man can experience.
So how does this work? Let me present a metaphorical example. When I was nineteen my
grandfather passed away. I missed him so terribly. As I explained in the earlier chapter, my
grandfather was a famous jazz record producer. After his death, I became a jazz affectionado and
a saxophonist. The saxophone was his favorite instrument. Though my grandfather was no
longer in this world (even though I didnt do it consciously) every time I listened to his jazz
records or played my saxophone I was connecting to his soul.
The Torah works in a similar way. We connect to God by studying His words and performing the
actions that express the essence of the Creator. God gave us the Torah so His infinite Being can
be experienced within the finite world. The Torah is therefore a window to the infinite. God asks
all people to live with kindness and justice. Therefore, when we do acts of kindness and justice,
we are fulfilling the will of God we are connecting to the Creator.
When we listen to music we can do so on many levels. We can just listen, or we can open our
heart and soul to the deeper feelings and emotions of the composer and musician. In the same
way the words, stories, and laws in the Torah, and the deeds that God commands us to do, are
filled with infinite depths of meaning and spiritual emotion that reveal to us the awesome
wonders and wisdom of higher spiritual worlds.
There are many books that can be read and experienced on deep levels. However, the person who
devotes his life to the study and love of the Torah discovers a wisdom and awesomeness that is
beyond the human. Looking into the Torah is looking into heaven.
The Torah literally contains hints of the entire history of creation. Every single human being,
who they are, what their purpose is, every single event, your entire life, is hinted at in the letters
of the Torah. Each letter in the Torah is a part of a code from which all of creation is manifested.
Like a cell that contains a genetic code the information that sustains the life of an human being,
the letters of the Torah are Creative forces that contain in unfathomable ways all of existence.
When one senses this creative power and sees that the wisdom of the Torah is unfathomable, that
is truly beyond the comprehension of man, one is filled with awe. The awe is the experience of
God.
When one studies the Torah they are looking at the power of life, and this power purifies and
nurtures the soul, so that it becomes holy or Godly. This Godly quality gives a person closeness
to God so that he can sense much more finely the presence of God in the world. His prayers are
more powerful and he is able to draw down blessing into the world; he has knowledge of what
God wants of us and what the future will bring is revealed to him.
Moses received the Torah and because of this he is unique. The Torah teaches us that no prophet
who will ever live will ever equal the prophecy of Moses. This is because Moses received the
Torah and all of its wisdom was taught to him directly by God. Everything we have described
above is just a miniscule glimpse of the level of revelation and wisdom that was given to Moses.
Chapter 2: Let There Be Light
And God saw the light and it was good
In most English translations, Genesis begins with the sentence: In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth. However, a more accurate rendering is,
When God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was chaos and void and darkness was on
the face of the deep, and the spirit of God hovered above the waters, and God said, Let there be
light, and there was light
Although it is not as dramatic, our more accurate translation emphasizes that the main point is
not the creation of heaven and earth; the main point the Torah is emphasizing is the creation of
light. The reason is because this light is the purpose of creation.
The Torah can be read on many levels. On the one hand it is a story of the creation of the world.
However, the careful reader realizes that the sun, the stars, and the planets are not created until
day four. God said Let there be light on the first day. Why is light created on the first day and
the sun and stars created on the fourth day?
The reason is that the light of the first day is not ordinary light; it is the Light of God. (We will
capitalize Light temporarily to distinguish spiritual light from physical light.) The revelation of
Gods Light is the very purpose of creation.
A purpose is the end reason why you do something. The Torah begins with the creation of light
because the Kabbalah teaches us that the end is wedged in the beginning and the beginning
wedged in the end. In other words, Gods Light is the first thought at the beginning of creation,
and the revelation of Gods Light is the completion and purpose of creation.
Gods Light is different than physical light. Physical light is something in nature that is most
similar to Gods light and can help us to understand this spiritual reality. Physical light is a part
of the natural world, but at the same time it has properties that seem to transcend nature. Light
provides the power for life and growth on earth. In this way, it seems to be a power greater
than nature. Light is unlike all the other physical things we experience. It is not a solid, liquid or
gas. It cannot be grasped. Instead, it is the medium through which we perceive the world with the
eyes (as we shall explain in a moment). Light is a remarkable unity of seven colors. Scientists
tell us that light is mysteriously both a wave and a particle. It is by definition the fastest thing in
the universe. And most astonishingly, Einstein taught us that everything that seems material is
really energy. In other words, everything is in a way just light.
But the physical light that we see is only a lower manifestation of the spiritual Light of God. The
physical light we talk about in science gives us hints to what true Light is. The True Light is the
power behind creation, a remarkable unity, a spiritual reality that is ungraspable through the
physical senses and is at the same time the reality of the physical world.
Gods Light is the ultimate power in the world. It is the actual source of life. It cannot be
perceived directly, and yet the entirety of creation is nothing but this Light.
Here is an analogy that is essential for understanding the deepest aspects of God and spirituality.
God is like the sun. The Sun is the ultimate source of all light in our world. However, the sun
itself is not seen. We only see the light of the sun. In the same way, God is the Infinite Power of
Creation, and mysteriously He gives His Light to His Creation. Creation is nothing more than the
manifestation of Gods Light. We can experience Gods Light, but God Himself is ultimately
unknowable.
Gods presence is revealed in the world as the manifestation of this spiritual Light. This Light is
an expression of Gods goodness, wisdom, and love. It is a holy Light because it transcends
nature. The more something in the world shares in these qualities of goodness, wisdom, love, and
holiness, the more it reveals Gods Light, that is, Gods presence. Gods presence, however, is
not God Himself. Just like the light of the sun is not the sun itself. The highest expression of
Gods presence in the world is the perfected righteous man the Tzaddik.
The second commandment within the Ten Commandments is not to worship idols. Idolatry is
worshiping an image of Gods presence. The Torah teaches us that even when we see Gods light
in the world we must remember that this is a reflection and not the true source. Therefore, we are
forbidden from worshiping men, nature, or statues of man or nature. We must acknowledge the
light of God that is in nature, but we use it to remember the Creator who is the only object of
worship.
Since man himself has the greatest form and reality to express Gods light in the world, man is
most tempted to worship other men or statues of them. This is most true when the man is a
tzaddik and expresses such powerful light. But we are commanded to remember that anything in
nature is a vessel for Gods light and not God Himself. The objects found within creation,
inanimate, plants, animals, and man, are all vessels for Gods light.
Here there is a close analogy with physical light. Physical light itself cannot be seen by the
human eye. What the eye perceives is the reflected light from a physical object. When we look at
a green leaves of a tree, the color appears because that is the only one of the seven colors within
light that is not absorbed by the leaves. In other words, the eye perceives the reflected light that
is not absorbed by the leaves. We cannot see pure light. In order for light to be perceived it has to
be perceived as a certain color. This occurs only when the full spectrum of light is reflected off
an object and then reduced in some way.
In the same way, any person or object in the world functions as a vessel for Gods light. God is
infinite and the finite object becomes the means by which that finite light is expressed in the
finite world. In other words, in order for us to relate to Gods light, that light has to be reduced,
just like physical light is reduced.
Religions such as Buddhism and Christianity contain truth, but they err in this very important
way in that they use the images of man to be objects of worship. They are powerful religions
because the images of great men are powerful channels of spiritual light. However, that light
cannot be holy if it is done in a way that contradicts the laws that God gave us for His worship.
In other words, people can receive inspiration and spirituality through these religions, but they
cannot bring a person or the world to perfection and completion because they do not express the
pure will of God. This is not to say there is no truth in them. There is truth in them, but that truth
has to be purified from the aspect of the religion that violates the Torah.
The laws of the Torah teache the ways in which God wants us to relate to His light in the world.
These laws create the conditions of holiness that allow Gods light its fullest expression in the
world. The greatest expression of this light is through Gods Prophet and chosen leader. The
greatest leader we have ever known is Moses. He was chosen to be the recipient (that is, the
vessel) to bring the full revelation of Gods wisdom to humanity. Moses not only received that
revelation, but he became that revelation. His life of holiness and complete dedication to God
was the perfect expression of Gods qualities of goodness, wisdom, love, and holiness in
physical reality. God teaches us to have faith in His prophets, but never to worship them.
There is a second secret in the creation of light that we discussed above. We saw that when God
said, Let there be light, He was revealing the very purpose of Creation. After the Creation of
light the Torah says,
God saw that the light, that it was good.
When Moses was born, the same phrase is used. His mother Jocheved saw Moses that he was
good (in the Hebrew it is the same exact phrase). The commentators note that this is because
when he was born light filled the room. We know also that when Moses descended from Mount
Sinai his face radiated with light. This light is the presence of God in the world. In Hebrew it is
called the Shechinah.
The Torah therefore, begins with the creation of light (that is the light of the Tzaddik Moses),
and the Torah ends with the death of Moses. In other words, the entire Torah from beginning to
end is the story of Moses. This is because the Tzaddik is the fulfillment of Gods desire to bring
His Light into creation. Moses is the greatest tzaddik who ever lived, and therefore he is the most
powerful vessel for expressing the Light of God within creation.
Every tzaddik is an expression or manifestation of this Godly light in the world. Moses is the
tzaddik of all tzaddikim; his life is the expression of the highest and purest essence of this light.
This light is the light above nature, the light of the miraculous. The tzaddik lives above nature.
He is truly connected to God, and through him all the prayers of the world are lifted and fulfilled.
The tzaddik has the power to change nature through his prayers and blessings. He commands and
God listens. But only to a point. The entire world is sustained by the existence of the Tzaddik in
the world. This is because he is the manifestation of Gods purpose in the world, the revelation
of Gods light and truth. If Gods purpose was not being fulfilled, then there would be no need
for a world. Therefore, there always exist a Tzaddik and according to the Rabbis, thirty-six
tzaddikim through whose merit the world continues to exist.
This is why humans seek religion and spirituality through the image of man, because men do
manifest the light of God. However, the Torah comes to refine this so that we recognize the
difference between man and God. At the same time, there is an essential role for the truly
righteous to help us connect to God. The source of this power in the world is through Moses, but
as this power comes into the world it often falls into darkness and idolatry.
The Light of the Messiah
Two thousand years ago, after the destruction of the Second Temple, there lived a rabbi named
Akiva. Rabbi Akiva was an astonishing man. He did not start studying Torah formally until forty
years old. Through the great sacrifice of his wife, Rabbi Akiva devoted himself to learning,
beginning with small children learning the Hebrew alphabet. He went on to become the greatest
sage of his generation and is one of the links in history that preserve the Torahs oral tradition
before the writing of the Mishna and Talmud.
Rabbi Akiva believed that a great Jewish warrior named bar Cochba was the messiah. He
encouraged his fellow Jews to join in bar Cochbas rebellion against the Roman occupation, but
the rebellion failed. The question then is how could Rabbi Akiva, one of the greatest sages of
Jewish history have erred in believing that bar Cochba was the Messiah? The answer is that bar
Cochba did possess the light of the messiah. However, Jewish law tells us that the messiah must
reunite the Jewish people and rebuild the Temple. Before he completes these tasks, one can only
be considered a potential messiah.
The sages teach us that there is a potential messiah in every generation. This potential leader can
only fulfill his mission if it is decreed by God. There are certain generations when a greater light
comes into the world. This was true in the generation of Rabbi Akiva. When this light comes into
the world, it must find a place to express itself. It is a kind of spiritual law of conservation. If the
generation of Jewish people are not worthy to bring this light into the world then this light is
expressed through the Gentile nations.
This does not mean that God chooses another nation. God promises numerous times in the Torah
that he will not abandon His chosen people.
I will remember My covenant with Jacob; also My covenant with Itzach and also My covenant
with Abraham will I remember, and the land will I remember Despite even this, when they
will be in the land of their enemies, I will not have despised them nor will I have loathed them to
destroy them, nor to nullify My covenant with them, for I am the Lord, their God. And I will
remember for their sake the covenant of the ancients whom I brought out from the land of Egypt
before the eyes of the nations, so as to be a God to them; I am Hashem(Leviticus 26, 44-5))
Hashem, your God, will return your captivity and show you mercy; He will return you and gather
you from all the nations that Hashem, your God, dispersed you there. If your displaced will be at
the end of the heavens even from there will the Lord, your God, gather you; and even from there
will He take you. And the Lord, your God, will bring you to the land that your forefathers
inherited, and you shall inherit it (Deuteronomy 30, 3-5)
The times that the light of the Torah cannot be fully realized by the Jewish people is a
consequence of exile, and this exile is also a part of Gods plan for history. When this light is
received by the nations it is expressed in an indirect way. For example, when the first Temple
was destroyed 422 B.C.E., it was the very time of the great flourishing of wisdom in the world,
and the peak of the Classical era of Greece. The philosopher Plato was born in 427 B.C.E., which
is five years after the Temples destruction. Plato lived until 347 B.C.E., which is five years after
the beginning of the construction of the Second Temple in 352 B.C.E. His life therefore overlaps
completely the time of the Babylonian Exile, and this is not an accident. Plato was the recipient
of the wisdom that was sent out from Israel with the destruction of the Temple into the nations.
Plato is the greatest exponent of ancient wisdom. In the ancient world it was Aristotle who was
known as The Philosopher; Plato was known as The Theologian. This is because in addition to
his philosophical ideas, Platos works expounded the ancient worlds religion. Plato was the first
person in the Greek world to write an extensive body of wisdom literature. Prior to his works the
philosophers wrote in short poems. Plato gave the world an entire body of dialogues that
portrayed his teacher Socrates in philosophical discussion with the famous teachers of Greece
and preserved the wisdom of the ancients on nearly every aspect of human life.
Platos final work was called the Laws. In this book, he sought to show a practical way to build a
nation, as opposed to his Republic which was merely a theoretical work whose purpose was the
discussion of the nature of the soul. In other words, in the Laws Plato sought to do through
human reason and spiritual wisdom what the Torah had taught the Jewish people through
revelation.
Platos philosophy as expressed in his Dialogues became the basis of all Western spirituality
until today. Plato did not replace the Torah. However when Temple was destroyed and the
Jewish people sent into exile, so also was the light of the Torah and its wisdom. This light of
Torah that goes into exile it is expressed imperfectly. The genuine expression of Gods wisdom
and truth is through the revelation of the Torah in prophecy.
The attempts of man to reach truth and wisdom through reason separate from the revelation of
the Torah are imperfect approximations of Gods wisdom, but nonetheless profound. The sages
teach us, If one says that there is truth among the nations believe him; if one says there is Torah,
do not. The revelation of the Torah through prophecy is Gods gift to the Jewish people. God
chose the Jewish people to make them a nation of his holy people to teach the world. In the
future, all the different forms of expression of wisdom and religion among the nations will be
reunited and clarified in the light of the Torah.
The light that came down into the world in the time of Rabbi Akiva is the light of the messiah.
The potential messiah of that time bar Chochba was unable to fulfill his job. After the destruction
of the Second Temple and the failure of the bar Chochba rebellion (132-135 C.E.), the light and
opportunity to bring the messiah was lost. But the energy of this light had to find expression in
the world. This gave Christianit the opportunity to gain influence. Christianity is therefore a
reflection and imperfect image of the Torahs messianic vision, just as Greek philosophy is an
imperfect expression of the revelation of the Torah wisdom. Nonetheless, Greek philosophy
became the foundation of Western Civilization and the Christian religion has effectively spread
the idea of the One God and the concept of messiah, albeit a corrupted understanding of the
Jewish concept. In other words, the light that came into the world to bring the true messiah and
redemption of the world through the Jewish people was not realized and the energy of this light
became reflected in the development of the West in knowledge and technology, and has provided
the power that has fueled the development of Christianity.
During the time of exile Christianity has temporarily usurped the role of the Jewish people.
However, now at this point in history, Christians are being forced to examine the truth of their
past as discovered in Biblical scholarship. According to the impressive scholarship of Hyam
Maccoby in Paul the Mythmaker, the historical Jesus never considered himself the founder of a
new religion. He is a traditional Jew who believed he was the messiah and failed. This is
supported by an analysis of the Gospels, which are all based on Mark the earliest Gospel.
Maccoby illustrates how Mark portrays Jesus as a Pharisee (that is, a traditional Orthodox Jew),
and it is only in later Gospels that these same accounts are changed to portray Jesus in opposition
to the Pharisees. In other words, Maccoby shows that as Christianity developed into a new
religion in opposition to Judaism, so also did its presentation of Jesus.
Jesus and the original followers of him were Jews who did not reject the Torah. In fact, the
original Gospel of Mark does not even include the story of Jesus supposed resurrection. This
was added in later times by those who sought to create a new religion. Maccoby demonstrates
that Paul is this mythmaker who created the new religion of Christianity.
The Christian religion is a religion that confuses the Jewish idea of God and the Tzaddik and
therefore violates the first two commandments: that God is one and not to place an idol before
God. Paul used a false interpretation of the Torah as a foundation to build a new religion around
the idea of the messiah. Christianity claims that the Jews are no longer the chosen people and
that the messiah is God. These two claims are direct contradictions to the Torah.
Noneheless, Christians have been the most successful movement in the history of man promoting
the idea of the One God and the messiah, even though in a corrupted form. This is because the
teachings of the Christians is a distorted image of the Torah, like that of Plato, and needs to be
clarified in light of the Torah.
However, as we shall see in the course of this book, that the light and power of the Jewish
tradition is in the messiah. Since the founding of Christianity, the rabbis have downplayed the
idea of the messiah in Judaism to distinguish the religion from Christianity. In other words, as
Christianity rose in power and influence in the world, the rabbis assisted this by letting the
Christians promote the primary mission of the Torah and the Jewish people. This reached its
climax after the Sixteenth Century when a false messiah arose in the Jewish world named
Shabbtai Tzvi.
Shabbtai Tzvi (1626-1676) was a unique individual who had deep understanding of the secret
Kabbalistic tradition and amazing charisma and was able to convince the majority of the Jewish
world that he indeed was the messiah. This reached such remarkable proportions that many in the
European world began to buy homes and arrange transportation to bring the Jewish people to
Israel. In the end, Shabbtai Tzvi became a great embarrassment to the Jewish people. He was
arrested by the Turkish Sultan and chose to convert to Islam to save his life.
After this great embarrassment, rabbis began to restrict even further the discussion of the secrets
of the Torah and the emphasis on the role of the messiah and the tzaddik in Jewish life. Many
great spiritual leaders, men of remarkable character were persecuted because of the fear that they
were another false messiah. Consequently, the genuine light of the messiah that was revealed in
the world through our great spiritual leaders of the past few hundred years has not been able to
flourish until very recently. For it is also a principle of Kabbalah that God not only creates light,
but He also restricts that light as part of the process of creation and redemption.
The Hidden Light
The world is spectacular filled with beauty, wisdom, harmony, intelligence and design, infinite
variety and astonishing precision. We know today that particles of matter here are directly
connected to particles galaxies away; every motion in the universe affects everything else. The
whole universe is one great symphony of life where everything is connected, like the life of one
ecosystem. Every breath we take, every flap of a butterflys wings influences the whole universe
and everything must exist with perfection precision: from the distance of the sun, the temperature
of the atmosphere, the motion of the moon, the waves of the ocean, the falling of the rain gravity
of planets the variety of species of animals, plants, micro-organism all must be in harmony to
sustain life.
In the midst of this is man. His desires and ignorance often go against nature, and this has
resulted in our present state of imbalance with our environment and our conflict-ridden world.
My mentor in philosophy Dr. Pierre Grimes was a soldier in World War II. He told me that often
he was on the battlefield against the Germans in the midst of a bloody and difficult fighting and
he would turn and notice a meadow of beautiful, spring flowers. He said that this was the most
astonishing aspect of war, no matter how terrible things, he could turn his head and behold the
beauty of nature.
The world of man as we know it today often seems to fit the description of creation before God
created light. And the earth was chaos and void, and darkness hovered on the face of the
deep
There is truth to this perception. The Torah teaches that the first thing that God did after He
Created this light is hide it away.
And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
The sages tell us that this is because God did not think it was appropriate for wicked people to
experience the light of His goodness. This light is the reward of the righteous.
But there is another reason: creation is a process. Gods purpose is for all of creation to behold
His awesome light and goodness. But He wanted to make man a partner in creation so that man
would have a work and function in bringing out the revelation of Gods light and goodness and
the perfection of the world. In other words, God wanted man to earn his reward. God knew that
if He gave man this revelation without having to work, man would feel ashamed. He would not
feel worthy of such a remarkable gift. Therefore, God made the revelation of His light a process
that would take place within time, within the process of creation and the history of man.
The Return to God
Before the creation of the world, God foresaw all the tragedies of man, how far he would fall into
the darkness and into the disease of sin. The existence of the world depends upon righteousness.
God therefore knew that if man were to fall completely the world would not continue to exist.
Therefore, before creating the world, God created the antidote for this problem, the ultimate cure
to the entire worlds ills this is the power called the return to God.
No matter how far a person has fallen, no matter how great the sin, there is no place from which
where God will not welcome a persons desire to return to Him. The return to God is a power
that insures that now matter how far the world enters into darkness, that from any place man can
discover meaning and love, and the opportunity to improve ones ways. In other words, God
insured that man would return to Him, and this preserves the worlds ability always to continue
to exist.
A person I know in Israel is the son of Holocaust survivors. Although he went to religious
schools as a child, when he became a teenage he went into a life of drugs, music, and bars. One
day when he was about thirty years old he was sitting in his apartment in the midst of dealing
drugs when a knock came at the door. He went to the door and saw a Chasidic man who was
giving out books of Rebbe Nachman. My friend began to speak Yiddish with the rabbi. He told
the rabbi that he hadnt spoken Yiddish in twenty years. He went and cleared the table of all the
drugs and kicked everyone out of his apartment. He invited the rabbi in and he began to speak.
This man told the rabbi that he didnt doubt that there was a God. He was in awe of the Torah
and the power of the Hebrew letters as they are written in the sacred scroll by a scribe; each one
written like a flame with the light of God lifting the readers soul towards heaven. However, he
said, Theres no hope for me. Im already too far gone. I have lived a life of crime. Ive broken
most of the commandments. Thats when the rabbi handed him a special book called The
Return to God. This book explained the teaching of Rebbe Nachman that there was no place to
which a person could fall and be completely separated from God. From any place, no matter how
far, God was there and waiting for him to express even the slightest desire to return. Rebbe
Nachman taught that the prayers of someone returning were the most precious words to God and
had the power to bring the greatest light into creation. My friend was startled. I didnt know
this. I thought I was completely lost. I had no idea that there was a chance for me. He went and
shouted to his wife in joy sharing this revelation that there was still a chance for him to fix his
life, and there still is.
The tzaddiks primary job in the world is to spread the light to inspire people to return to God.
Gods willingness to accept us even when we are not worthy is called His mercy. The tzaddik
reveals this quality of mercy in the world, which is Gods highest quality. God does not love His
creatures because they deserve love or kindness. Gods love is so powerful and pure that it flows
to all whether they deserve it or not. It is a love above nature.
The Tzaddik is the expression of this love in the world. His entire being is seeking to bring the
entire world back to God. He looks on every person with compassion and kindness, and his only
desire is to help people return to a place where they can receive Gods love and blessing. The
tzaddik is given a special power to bring light into the darkest places, to shine the love of God
there to draw all back to the ultimate good of life.
The power of the return to God is the most powerful thing in the universe. It is a door that is
never closed and through which the worst circumstances can be turned into the highest good. The
Torah teaches that even the Tzaddik cannot stand in the place of one who has returned to God.
The one who returns to God goes from the deepest darkness immediately to a light and closeness
to the Creator that is supreme. Nothing brings greater joy to the Creator than this transformation.
The power of this transformation is the purpose of the world. All the tests and trials of life, all
the pain and suffering, all the failures and darkness that man reaches is for this to discover
that God is with us in every moment. There is no place devoid of God. No matter how far away it
may seem that we have turned away from God or how greatly the light and love of God seems
hidden, this gate of return stands always present to allow us to immediately lift all our pain and
darkness immediately to the most immediate knowledge and connection with the Creator.
Why is there Suffering?
Why did God create a world where there is suffering and darkness? Why did He create a world
where man could sin and become separate from Him?
The answer is that this world is a place of freedom where man has the power to choose good or
evil. When man chooses good over evil, he participates in fixing and completing creation and
earns reward for his eternal soul. This freedom is a gift that gives mans life true meaning.
However, no answer is completely satisfying in the face of the pain and tragedy that we
experience in the world. Perhaps it is a consolation to know that when Moses ascended Sinai and
received the Torah, he too asked this very question. On Sinai Moses spent forty days and forty
nights with God. He did not sleep and he did not eat or drink. During this time, Moses ascended
through 49 gates of wisdom where all the knowledge of the mysteries of God and creation were
revealed to him. However, the 50th and final gate remained closed. This is the gate of complete
wisdom that explains why there is suffering. This was the only one of the questions that God
would not answer.
The only thing that God revealed is that somehow through suffering in this world, we come
closer to Him. As we explained above, the return to God from the darkness brings us into the
most intimate connection with the Creator, for we discover there is no place where He is not
present.
The return to God comes through the Tzaddik through Moses, because Moses is the receiver
of the Torah, and the very purpose of the Torah is this return to God. So perhaps this is why God
did not answer Moses question and why Moses did not enter the 50th gate, because he himself is
the 50th gate! He is the purpose of creation. Moses is a man who perfected himself and ascended
to the highest light and wisdom of the Creator. He merited to receive the gift of the Torah that is
the pathway and power to perfect the world and all humanity.
Solomon, said The Tzaddik is the foundation of the world. The Tzaddik unites heaven and earth.
His righteousness insures the existence of the world. He is the gate of return to God for all
people no matter how far they have turned. The Tzaddik through his teaching and prayers
extends the light of the Creator to the darkest corners of the world so that the whole of life is
united and completed. Complete in Hebrew means peace Shalom. When the light of the
Creator is extended to the entire world, the world is complete and this creates true peace.
The tzaddikim teach us that the purpose of every fall or descent in life is for a greater ascent.
Although a sin is forbidden, King Solomon teaches us that there is no man who is born that doe
s not sin. Sin (a descent) is a part of creation. Therefore, even sin has a purpose in Gods plan. A
sin is an action that is forbidden by God. One must not knowingly sin. Nonetheless, if a person
sins, (God forbid), through the teaching of the tzaddikim we can learn how to transform that fall
into an opportunity for a greater spiritual ascent. Indeed, this is the ultimate secret of the fall of
Adam.
Chapter 3: The Metaphysics of Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve existed on a spiritual and Godly level in the Garden of Eden. Their task was to be
a channel to bring blessing into the world. Man bridges the gap between the infinite good and the
finite world of creation.
This infinite good is like an ocean and the ocean flows into rivers, streams, channels, brooks, to
water every plant and creature. The way of drawing this good and blessing into the world is
through prayer. Prayer is the means of connecting heaven and earth.
No shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for the
LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground
Before God created man nothing grew and the earth was barren, because there was no prayer.
Rain or blessing cannot come to the world without man and his prayers. This is how God created
the structure of life.
but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground
Then the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and man became a living soul
The mist that went up from the earth is prayer. Prayer is the energy that brings the rain (blessing)
into the world. Before man was created, God himself had to utter the prayer to bring the initial
blessing into the world, and afterwards He created man to fulfill this function. Adam was able to
pray and bring blessing into the world because he was one being who brought all creation into a
unity. Each man is a microcosm of the entire universe consisting of elements from every aspect
of creation, from the mineral, plant, animal, and the rational and spiritual. Adam was therefore
the perfection of this unity of all aspects of life.
Just as God created the world through speech, God gave Adam the power to name each animal,
(that is, to give each animal its power in the world) because the name is its power and reality.
Adams power of speech his prayer contains a power of creation and manifestation that is
not the same as Gods but like it. Adam is Gods co-creator. Moses and all the tzaddikim are
special souls that possess some of this power of Adams original essence.
The Garden of Eden
At the beginning of the story of the Garden of Eden God commands Adam not to eat from the
Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. However, God does not forbid Adam from eating from
the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life is only forbidden after Adam eats from the forbidden Tree of
the knowledge of Good and Evil. Let us explain why.
From the Tree of the Knoweldge of Good and Evil man received the desires related to the
enjoyment of the world both physically, mentally, and spiritually. The entire world of life that we
experience through the physical senses, emotions, mind, and spirit can be used for good or evil
and can lead to pleasure or pain.
The Tree of Life is the essence of Gods love and wisdom. The fruit of this tree is the power to
know how to live and direct the mind and body in the world so that it can traverse the world of
pleasure and pain turn away from evil and do good. This wisdom to guide man through life is
called the Torah. The Tree of Life is the essence of the Love and wisdom of the Torah.
When man lives without this wisdom he gets ensnared by his desires for pleasure and uses the
power of his intellect to justify his selfish desires.
God does not want us to eat from the Tree of Knowledge before eating from the tree of life. This
is because knowledge without the heart of wisdom is dangerous and destructive. We have to be
connected above to the source of all love and wisdom before entering into the world of life
below. However, Adam did it backwards, and that is why the world became is as it is, a place of
strife and contention.
God, therefore, blocked the way to the Tree of Life after Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge
because he feared that Adam would gain immortality in the imperfect state he had created by his
eating from the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. However, God did not deny Adam
access to the wisdom he needed. Now that Adam and Eve had entered into the world of
physicality, God had to communicate the love and wisdom of the Tree of Life to Adam in a way
that would be appropriate to their new condition. God did this by giving man the Laws of the
Torah.
The Laws of the Torah are the love and wisdom of the Tree of Life. The power of the Tree of
Life is contracted and contained within the Torah so as to give man the ability to fix his soul and
the world. The Laws and the Wisdom of the Torah are the medicine to repair the soul of man and
to restore the world to its perfect state without the risk of damage. The history of man is this
process of healing.
There is a story of the giving of the Torah that relates this point.
Moses went up in a cloud which entirely enveloped him. As he could not penetrate the cloud,
God took hold of him and placed him within it. When he reached heaven the angels asked God:
What does this man, born of woman, desire among us? God replied that Moses had come to
receive the Torah, whereupon the angels claimed that God ought to give the Torah to them and
not to men. Then God told Moses to answer them. Moses asked, Do the angels have homes, and
possessions and physical needs that they need the Torah and its laws? It is man who lives in the
physical world who can carry out Gods commandments.
All the Tzaddikim from Adam until Moses were given the essence of the Torah. However, the
essence of the Torah and this love and wisdom of God was communicated in seven basic laws,
called the Noahide Laws, which are the basis for the entire worlds system of law. These laws
were given to Noah in the book of Genesis to communicate to humanity.
The Tree of Life is the wisdom of the heart, the heart that is filled with compassion, love,
genuine care.This is the circumcised heart, the heart of flesh that is is pure, connected to God and
possesses the wisdom to know how to use the mind and body for the sake of heaven.
The purpose of the Laws of the Torah are to give man the ability to control and restrict his
desires and to be mindful of the higher will of the Creator who rules all the world. In order to do
this one must submit ones will to the authority of the will of the Creator. In other words, one
must submit the powers of his mind and body and its desires to laws. In this way one aligns ones
life with the will of the Creator, and this allows ones physical life to become a vessel or medium
for the power of God to work through. The power of God is His love and wisdom. This love and
wisdom is blocked by mans personal desires and thoughts, which are ruled by the physical
world. (By the way, even the desires for the pleasure of art and philosophy and other
sophisticated pleasures are also considered aspects of the physical world.)
When man submits to Gods law his life can become a vessel through which Gods love and
wisdom can flow. This is experienced within the life of a man by the opening of the love and
wisdom that resides and flows through the heart. By following the laws of the Torah, we
immediately become in alignment with Gods will. This gives the individual the potential to
awaken to the love and wisdom of the Creator in his or her life. If one does not follow the laws
of the Torah, this is impossible until one seeks to return to God and His Law. As we said earlier,
this gate of return is always open.
In the future the light of God will be revealed in a wisdom that opens the heart of all humanity so
that the power of love can truly flourish and mankind can end its destructive behavior. The path
of the Torah and the teaching of Moses give all of us the ability to connect to this wisdom right
now in our own lives so that we can experience an aspect of the future and hasten the coming of
the time of the redemption.
According to Rebbe Nachman, when one goes through the gate of the return to God and awakens
the power of the heart, he will truly begin to live. Prior to this point he says that we do not really
have a true existence in the world. This is because our lives are being dominated by personal
desires for pleasure through our bodies and minds, including desires for spiritual pleasure. True
existence comes when we discover our connection to the Tree of Life through the openness of
the heart to Gods love and wisdom.
The Torah does not deny the role of the body and intellect. It teaches that all our experience must
be connected to the purpose of Creation. For example, knowledge itself is not good or bad.
However, knowledge separated from the wisdom of the heart is dangerous. The knowledge of
physics can be used to build airplanes or jet bombers, space ships or nuclear bombs. Our
knowledge today has developed technology that threatens our very existence. This is why the
Kabbalah teaches that all knowledge must be brought into the heart. We have to connect our
thinking and intellect back to the source of all love and wisdom, otherwise it will take on a
dangerous life of its own as we have witnessed over the last century.
In the Garden of Eden story this desire for knowledge separated from wisdom occurred because
of the tempting of the serpent. In the book of Genesis, the serpent is called the cleverest beast in
the field. In Hebrew the gematria or numerical value of the word for serpent is equal to the word
messiah. This means that the serpent, which is the power of desire and knowledge, has in
potential when connected to the will of God to be the power of the messiah, who brings the
perfection of life.
The Tzaddik, who is the power of the Messiah in every generation, is the heart of the world and
his main task is to open the hearts of all humanity to the love of God.
The Fall
The Kabbalah is the tradition of the secret wisdom of the Torah. According to the Kabbalah,
Adam was not merely a man he is Man. Adam is the collective soul of all humanity both
masculine and feminine. The Torah teaches that humanity is one being. This being is the image
and likeness of God. The word Adam in Hebrew is related to the Hebrew word likeness and
also the word earth. So Adam is the earthly image of God.
God is infinite light and Adam is the first expression or manifestation of this infinite light. He
therefore is an entirely new kind of existence and in this sense Adam is an entire world.
Each individual human being is a part of Adams collective soul. Adams fall was the breaking
up of his soul into the spiritual sparks of all the souls that would ever live. The fall also resulted
in the descent of the spiritual state of the world.
From all that we have said in previous sections we can see that the story of the Garden of Eden is
much more profound that it is usually explained. The stories of the Torah sound very simple, but
they express deep, metaphysical truths about existence, hidden secrets of creation. The ultimate
meaning of the story of the Garden of Eden is beyond our comprehension because it encapsulates
the mystery of why there is evil, the question that God told Moses that even he could not know.
Nonetheless, the intention of the story is to explain the nature of man and the way to fix his
world.
It is true that Adam did sin. He did not listen to Gods command, but in a certain way Adam also
did this to complete creation. Before there was sin, the world was mostly spiritual. Adam and
Eves intention was to bring about the fall and the emergence of materiality so that Gods light
could reach even the darkest places. If they had never sinned creation would never have extended
into the physical world of history as we know it, so in some sense creation would have been
incomplete.
Was it really a sin? Did Adam have free will? Why did there have to be evil? These are questions
we cant answer completely. The Torah is unique in its outlook on the world. It recognizes the
complexity of life. It does not avoid the dilemmas. Man is free, but in another respect we do not
seem free. Adam did sin, but his action brought about something that perhaps God wanted to
accomplish the emergence of the physical world and its history as we know it. God is all good
and does not directly cause evil, and yet evil exists and has a purpose in creation.
The eating from the tree of knowledge of good an evil brought about the manifestation of
opposition in the world. Before the eating there was only good. God wished man to eat from the
Tree of Life and receive the completion and perfection of the spiritual world He had created.
When Adam and Eve ate from the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, the knowledge of good and
evil entered into them. After this, God could no longer allow them to eat from the Tree of Life
and live forever, because now they were in need of a repair and purification from the
consequences of their descent into physicality.
From this descent a world of opposites emerged and opposition to the spiritual flow of blessings
in the world. This block is the power of the angel called Satan. In the Hebrew language Satan
literally means to block. The angel Satan is not a power separate from God, as taught in other
Zoroastrian based religions like Christianity. An angel is literally a messenger. Angels do not
have free will. They are created to do the will of God. The angel Satan is no different. His job is
to bring this idea of opposition into the world as part of Gods purpose. This opposition creates
the need for man to fix himself and the world. In other words, opposition was sent into the world
in order to give man a job to do as part of the creation process.
Every being gets its life force from God. Before the Garden of Eden story, the Satan like every
angel, got his life-force directly from God. As a consequence of eating from the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil, God took the Satan and connected him directly to Adam and Eve,
so that the Satan would now live off of man like a parasite. When Adam would choose good, the
Satan would get no life-force, but when man chooses evil, the Satan would be able to suck off
mans life. Adams task was now to rectify the wrong that he had done and to rid the world and
himself of the energy of the Satan.
The Adversary
God created the world with cosmic law and justice. There are laws that govern the order of the
world and its creatures. Just as we see the laws of nature, there are laws that govern what
happens to human beings. These laws and the principles of justice determine reward and
punishment for our actions. This reward and punishment is calculated both for this world and the
after life. The principles of these laws are presented in the Torah. However, their application is
quite complex and beyond human comprehension.
There is a story of one who wanted to follow an angel on his mission. He watched as this wall
fell and this person got killed, and so forth, but it was too hard to bear, but then it was explained.
If a person kills another, that killer receives death. This is strict justice. Human beings have free
choice, and when justice is meted out, the punishment occurs in this world or the next.
As part of this system there are also heavenly courts, spiritual forces and systems that carry out
justice in the world. Based on this information, the Satan gains the right to test another or to
cause harm in the world. The Satan is called the prosecutor because he is not allowed to come to
a human being unless he has cause. In other words, the Satan, like a regular prosecutor, must
show that a person has done wrong in order to gain the right to test him or to punish him. This
test or punishment is always the result of an expression of strict justice.
However, the Satan and strict justice are not the ultimate power governing the universe. The
ultimate power is the Creator. And God can at any time override the whole system and extend
undeserved merit and reward to whoever He likes. (He never sends out unearned punishment.)
The expression of this power is called His mercy.
The great majority of our experience the conflict, pain and suffering that we witness is the
consequences of judgments against humanity for not following the will of God. We are all
interconnected and we all suffer the consequences of each others wrong actions, and the actions
of our ancestors. All the tests and trials of life are a consequence of this justice.
However, in each test and trial, within each block, there is an opportunity to achieve a greater
good and to rise out of the level of justice and to experience Gods mercy. Within the world of
justice simultaneously Gods mercy is present (though we may not perceive it).
The difference between the world of justice and the world of mercy is the difference between the
world as we know it today, and they way it will be in the future in the time of redemption. In the
world today we do not see Gods mercy and kindness always present. Gods love and mercy is
very often concealed by the pain and suffering we experience and witness. In the time of
redemption, we will never be separated from the perception of Gods mercy and love. We will
always see that in each moment God is extending His infinite goodness to us.
The job of the Satan is to help man earn this greatest reward. He is called an adversary because
he prosecutes man according to strict justice. But he is an adversary in another more profound
way. An adversary is someone who challenges us, and because of that challenge we are forced to
discover and bring out greater strengths and powers in life.
The tzaddiks job is to stand opposite the Satan and through prayer to awaken Gods mercy. Just
as there is a power that fills the world and strives to test and block us by constantly appealing to
strict justice, the tzaddik is reminding us and the world of Gods mercy. The more we connect to
the tzaddik, the more we can connect to the power of prayer to overcome strict justice and bring
greater mercy and blessing into our lives.
Tzaddik is the Foundation of the World
Based on what we said above we can now understand why King Solomon said that The Tzaddik
is the foundation of the world. If there were no tzaddik with the power to awaken Gods mercy,
the Satan would have every justification to destroy the world.
This explains the stories of Genesis. Though Adam was a great spiritual being who was an entire
world, he was also a real person. After his sin and the descent of the world into this material
existence that we know, Adam had to go through a period of repentance. He had to go through
the gate of the return to God. His sin literally separated him from God and he intimately felt the
pain he caused in the world and the separation from the profound closeness he shared to God
prior to his sin.
Even though he did a true and complete repentance, Adams actions had an effect on Creation.
He drew down into the world tremendous potential for evil. The world is real and there are real
effects from our actions. Even though there is great mercy in the world, God has given mans life
and creation tremendous integrity. Its not like a child who spilt his milk and his parent just
cleans up the mess. The universe has rules and Adam had to witness the consequence of his
actions. The immediate consequences were the generations that took place until Noah and
Abraham. These generations were dominated by violence and immorality. Although there was
always the possibility for these generations to return to God, it was extremely difficult because of
the power of evil that was unleashed. The world at that time was very separated from the
presence of God and the light of His goodness in the world.
The culmination of this evil was in the time of Noah when God finally decided to end this stage
in history. Noah, however, was the tzaddik and it was through his merit that the world continued
to exist. This is one of the main lessons of the entire Torah. This is revealed so clearly by the fact
that God destroyed the entire world and saved Noah and his family.
Although Noah was a great Tzaddik and the world was sustained on his account, he was unable
to begin the repair of the world. This process began with Abraham.
Chapter 4: Abraham and the Tower of Babel
From the time of Noah to Abraham there were ten generations. In each generation there was a
great Tzaddik through whose merit the world was sustained. However, none of them had the
merit to do the universal spiritual repair. This work began with Abraham, the father of the Jewish
people.
Abraham was chosen by God to do a special mission in this world. Up until this time it was the
work of all humanity to repair the sin of Adam and the spiritual descent of creation. In
Abrahams lifetime this changed. Abraham alone stood up in his generation against the forces of
idolatry and brought people back to the knowledge of God. In order to understand who Abraham
was we also need to understand the world in which he lived.
Idolatry is based on the wisdom of the ancient world. This wisdom teaches that creation has a
structure. There are the heavens above and the earth below. This picture of the universe was the
foundation of all knowledge until Copernicus. According to the ancient view, the universe is
pictured with the earth at the center and surrounding the earth are different circles or spheres that
carry the different planets and stars in their motion around the Earth. First there is the sphere of
the Moon, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and finally the sphere in which all the
twelve constellations reside. The ancient astronomical model explains the phenomenon of the
heavens as they appear to us from the Earth. This view is not false. It is a practical picture which
is still used today for navigation upon the seas.
This ancient model carries with it a beautiful world view that describes the motion of the spheres
as a heavenly symphony. The ancient sages had knowledge of geometry, astronomy, and the
mathematics of music that brought all of knowledge into a beautiful harmony. The system also
included a spiritual understanding of the heavens in which beyond the sphere of the stars was the
sphere of the Hyperion through which God sends the life-force of the universe through realms of
angels that carry this power through the heavens and then it descends through the different
spheres.
The source of life and blessing for the world comes from God. God sends this power into the
world through a system of forces, from the most spiritual through a chain that becomes more
related to the physical world until it actually enters the physical dimension. This metaphysical
system is called the higher worlds of angels. Angels are not simply spiritual beings; they are
messengers and energy links that deliver the life-force from the Infinite God to the finite world.
It is this system that accounts for the astrology and its ability to explain different personality
types according to the time of a persons birth in relationship to the constellations and the seven
planets. Each planet is carrying an influence and power depending upon their relative locations.
Modern science rejected this ancient model because Copernicus was able to explain certain
astronomical phenomena with greater simplicity. He did not do it more accurately. Both the
geocentric and heliocentric theories of the universe describe the phenomena of the heavens. God
created the universe as it is and also as it appears to us from the Earth. Both perspectives are
important. The ancient model explains the simple way things appear to the eye of an observer
much more simply, and it also provides a metaphysical model that explains the spiritual
relationship between heaven and earth. Modern science dismisses spiritual ideas out of hand.
However, this model was and remains today the basis for a spiritual understanding of life and is
the ancient basis of idolatry and magic.
Cham, the son of Noah, was the first to practice idolatry and magic. The basic goal of these
practices is to use metaphysical knowledge, the knowledge of the workings of angels and higher
worlds, in order to control the flow of life-force in the world.
Cham and his son Cush did the horrific act of castrating Noah. They did this so that Noah would
not have any other children and therefore diminish the spiritual and physical inheritance of his
three sons. There is also tradition that Noah possessed the tunic of animal skins of Adam. On this
were pictured all the different animals and many Kabbalistic formulas in Hebrew letters. The one
who wore this cloak possessed tremendous power over all animals and nature. Cush stole this
cloak and then passed it on to his son Nimrod.
Nimrod is the founder of the empire of Babel (Babylonia or contemporary Iraq). After the flood,
Nimrod led his tribe of people to the flattest area they could discover, because they wanted
protection from God bringing upon them another catastrophe.
Nimrod was the first tyrant in human history. He was learned in the knowledge of magic and
idolatry, he inherited the cloak of Adam, and he used this power to wage war on his fellow man
and build an empire. Nimrods great plan was to build the tower of Babel. The tower of Babel
was constructed in order to gain control over the flow of life-force from heaven to earth.
And it came to pass, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and
they dwelt there. And they said one to another: Come, let us make brick, and burn them
thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and lime had they for mortar. And they said: Come,
let us build us a city, and a tower, with its top in heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be
scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
Name is the power of God in the world. The entire spiritual tradition of the Kabbalah is the
study of names, the names of God and the names of angels. This is because God creates the
world through speech and the power of the Hebrew letters. He created it this way so that man can
use his understanding (which is based on language) to comprehend the workings and power of
creation. God wants man to become a partner in the process of creation. However, He wants us
to do that through the power of prayer and through our connection with the Tzaddik.
Nimrod was not a Tzaddik. He was an evil, power hungry man who sought to use the knowledge
of the heavens for his own glorification, and not in the service of God. He sought power for its
own sake instead of power to bring love, mercy and justice into the world. Like the Pharaohs in
Egypt (the other children of Cush) who built their pyramids, Nimrod enslaved humanity in order
to build his tower. This tower was based on the most advanced understanding of mathematics,
astronomy, astrology and magic. This knowledge was received through connection with spiritual
powers.
The tower was built using mathematical harmonies as well as the magical use of angelic names.
Its architecture incorporated this astronomical and metaphysical knowledge to draw down the
life-force from the spiritual worlds through the stars, and into the hands of Nimrod, who then
promised his people that he would save them from the wrath of God and future floods.
Nimrod created a society where humans believed they could gain control over their destiny, very
much like people today believe they have done through science and technology. However, this
society based its knowledge on spiritual forces and powers in nature. Therefore, Nimrod gave
honor to the angels and spiritual powers that guided him in his conquest of this world and helped
him establish his empire. These angels and spiritual powers are called gods in the idolatrous
religions. These gods are really intermediate messengers who have been hijacked through
techniques in magic and divination.
Nimrod created an entire religion and way of worshiping these powers. The center of this
practice was the making of images of these powers and bringing them sacrifice. The offering of
animals and wine and different incenses upon idolatrous altars is a way of giving life and honor
to these spiritual powers. It is a way to spiritually feed them. The worshipper is not merely
worshipping physical statues. When a human being brings his mind and intention to these acts of
worship, he elevates certain forces within man and the physical world back to these gods and
gives them greater power and influence in the world. Although idolatry seems a strange practice
to us today, it is not for no reason that such temples and altars that first began in Babel were
spread throughout the ancient world in Mexico, South America, India and Tibet. This is
because they have power.
God allows this because it is part of the structure of creation. He gave humans power and
knowledge. This power and knowledge can be used for good or for evil, just like we can use
plants for medicine or for harmful drugs. God allows us to use spiritual power for our benefit or
our harm. Although one who practices idolatry in this way can gain certain power and rewards,
in the end, just like the drug addict, this practice will destroy him.
This is the world that Abraham was born into. During this time people still believed in a supreme
God, but they believed that worship and the way of life had to be conducted through idolatry and
the connection to the spiritual forces.
Abraham was alone in his world. His father Terach was one of the leading makers of idols in
Babel, and a close advisor to Nimrod. As a young man, Abraham used the clarity of his mind and
the deep longings of his heart to seek out the truth of life. He was educated in the idolatry of his
day and its profound knowledge of mathematics and astrology. However, Abrahams deep
longing for truth pushed him to seek what is the source of all the power of the stars and even the
higher worlds. He recognized that all the worship of idolatrous gods was for one purpose self-
interest. People practiced their religion of their idols in order to gain favor and personal benefit.
Through his intellectual integrity and deep sincerity, he broke the power of the spell of idolatry,
and connected back to the One God who is the Creator of all. Abraham discovered for himself
that it is only to the One True God that we should serve and give honor.
Abraham had the courage to stand up for the truth he discovered, and he went into his fathers
store and smashed all the idols. This caused an outrage in Babel. Word of Abrahams
rebelliousness reached Nimrod who then threw Abraham into an oven filled with a raging fire.
God then did a miracle for Abraham and allowed him to live for three days in the middle of the
fire. This showed to all Babel that there was a greater power in the world. Abraham then was
released from the oven and was exiled. With his wife Sarah and Lot he followed Gods
command for him to go to the Land of Canaan.
In the Land of Canaan God gave Abraham the command to circumcise his foreskin and to
become a father of nations. The circumcision is an act that signifies the power above nature, the
power of God. The sexual organ is the ultimate symbol of the power of nature. The act of
circumcision establishes a mark on the organ that there is something higher and greater than
nature. The circumcision shows man that he must use the power that has been given to him, not
for self-indulgence and mere pleasure but to serve the Creator. The circumcision is done on the
eighth day after a childs birth because the number eight signifies that which is above nature.
Whereas seven is the number seen throughout the patterns in nature the days of the week, the
waves of light, and the notes in the musical scale the number eight marks the transcending
nature.
God also added the letter H to Abraham and Saras names. Before this they were Abram and
Sarai, and with the letter H they were called Abraham and Sara. The letter H stands for the name
of God that we do not pronounce today, YHVH. Whereas Nimrod wanted to create a name, to
take the name for himself, God now gave the power of His name as a gift to Abraham.
God blessed Abraham to become a father of nations. Many of those nations would be through his
son Ishmael, whose mother was the Egyptian Hagar. The children of Abraham and Sarah would
have a special mission; they would take upon themselves the task of performing the spiritual
repair of the world. The primary role in this work would be given to the children of Abraham and
Sarah and their descendents through Isaac and Jacob.
When Abraham was ninety-nine years old, his wife Sarah at the age of eighty-nine miraculously
gave birth to Isaac. Through Isaac would be born the progeny who would take on this task.
However, when Isaac was thirty-seven, before he was married and had children, God spoke to
Abraham and told him to take his son Isaac and bound him upon an altar as a sacrifice in a
special place that God would direct him to. Abraham, who had been speaking out to the whole
world about the evils of idolatry and child sacrifice, was now being commanded by God to
perform that very act. This was the ultimate test of Abrahams faith and self-sacrifice to God.
The Torah tells us that Abraham woke early in the morning. He did not delay one moment, but
set out immediately to do the will of God.
God led Abraham to the holiest place in the world, the rock from which the entire creation was
formed. This is Mount Moriah. Abraham bound his son, placed him upon the altar which he had
built and began to reach for his knife to perform the sacrifice, when suddenly an angel called out
to him, Abraham, Abraham, now I know that you are God fearing. Abraham looked up and
a ram appeared caught in a thicket. He then went and sacrificed the ram in place of Isaac.
Isaac then married Rivka and gave birth to twins, Esau and Jacob. Esau was an ambitions man
with great power. Both Esau and Jacob had the opportunity to build the holy nation. Isaac had
hoped that Esau would use his great power to serve God. Esau instead went out to follow in the
ways of Nimrod. He sought Nimrods power for himself and killed Nimrod in battle and stole the
cloak of Adam. Rivka understood that Jacob would have to take Esaus power from him, and so
she told Jacob to fool his old and blind father before he died, and to ask for Esaus blessing. It is
through this blessing that Jacob received the mission and the power to give birth to his twelve
sons from which comes the nation of Israel (the other name of Jacob).
After the Torah was given to Moses, the nature of this service is defined. The heart of this
service is the establishment of a family of priests, the children of Levy, who would perform the
service of God in His chosen place. The chosen place is Mount Moriah. The temple that
eventually was built by King David sits on the very place where Abraham bound Isaac. In the
areas surrounding this place, the Kohanim performed sacrifices of animals and offerings of wine
and flour to God. The Torah teaches that this is the only place in the world where sacrifices are
now permitted.
At the center of the Temple is the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant rests. It is the
very point where the spiritual chain of life force comes into the physical world. In other words,
the Temple is the interface between the physical and spiritual world. From this place all blessing
flows to the world. The Torah teaches that if the nations understood this they would send all the
armies of the world to protect the Temple and the work of its priests. We shall speak more about
this in detail later on. For now, we can see that the Temple is the opposite of the Tower of Babel.
In Babel, Nimrod declared himself king and sought to take the power of Gods name for his own
purpose. The Temple mount was chosen by God to be the place where God would place His
name. God chose one man to give birth to a nation of priests who would use their quality of self-
sacrifice to do the holy acts that would draw down the blessings and life force for the world. The
Temple is the worlds House of prayer whose ultimate function is to bring the light of eternal
peace to the world. Today in the era when the Temple is destroyed we see that the opposite
exists, the conflicts over the land of Israel and Jerusalem are the pretense for war.
Abrahams willingness to obey Gods voice without question and to sacrifice his own son
(something even more precious than ones own life) is the defining quality of the true servant of
God. This quality is the root of Abrahams soul and it is the source of the nation that he and
Sarah would give birth to, a nation whose task would be to serve God. Whereas Nimrod sought
to steal the power of Gods name, God gave Abraham the power of His name as a gift for him
and his descendents. The power of the name of God is the foundation of the blessing that
Abraham received. Abraham was now to become a father of nations, and all the world would be
blessed through him. God literally changed, or shall we say, completed the structure of existence.
And the angel of God called to Abraham a second time from heaven. And he said, I swear by my
Being, is the pronouncement of God, since you have done this act, and did not withhold your
son, your only one, I will bless you and I will increase your offspring like the stars of the
heavens and like the sand on the seashore. And your offspring will inherit the gates of its
enemies. All the nations of the earth will bless themselves by your offspring because you have
obeyed my voice.
Abraham himself became the tower that Nimrod sought to build. Abraham the Tzaddik, was
established by God as the true foundation of the world. He and the children of Israel were given
the responsibility for the repair of the world and through them all the life-force and blessing of
the world would come. In other words, Abraham and his children became the final link in the
spiritual chain that brings blessings from the Infinite God to the earth through levels of angels
and through the angels that are behind all the planets and stars, and finally into the souls of the
Children of Israel.
Chapter 5: Egypt and the Ascent to Sinai
The descent of the children of Israel to Egypt is parallel to the story of the Garden of Eden and
one of the deepest mysteries in the Torah. After God chose Abraham to be the father of the holy
nation, one of the first things He told him is that his children would have to go into this painful
exile.
And it came to pass, that, when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and,
behold, a dread, even a great darkness, fell upon him. 13 And He said to Abram: Know of a
surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they
shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I
judge; and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
There is a principle in the Torah that the greatest Godliness is hidden in the darkest places. The
Kabbalah teaches that this is because the darkness also protects the Godly light. If this light was
not hidden in the darkness its power would be used by the side of evil, and then evil would have
unstoppable power in the world. In other words, this Godly light remains in certain dark and
hidden places as potential to be awakened to Godly purpose. This light is hidden in souls and
physical objects. When the souls and physical objects are trapped within a world that is dedicated
to purposes opposite to God, its power remains trapped. This light and power is freed when it
enters the service of God and the purpose of Creation, as we shall see in detail in the story of the
Exodus.
After the defeat of Nimrod the power of idolatry gained its greatest expression in Egypt. There
the pharaohs possessed tremendous knowledge of the secrets of the universe. Like Nimrod, they
built the pyramids to draw down the power of the heavens for their personal glorification, power
and tyranny over their fellow men.
The great pyramid of Giza, for example, remains to this day the largest man-made structure on
earth. Despite its immense size it is situated so perfectly in alignment with true north that
compasses are set in accordance with it, rather than the other way around. Every detail of the
pyramid is designed as a mathematical model of the northern hemisphere, as well as the
geometrical ratios of pi and the golden mean. In a documentary about the pyramid, an engineer
responsible for moving large freight was asked what it would take to move a single stone from
which the pyramid is built. The engineer said that to move a stone of such size and weight would
take the largest crane in the world and a month preparation. This is what it would take to move
one stone today with all our modern technology. And yet somehow, these ancient people had
technology and power to build the largest structure on earth composed of thousands of such
stones.
Egypt possessed also the deepest wisdom about the heavens and idolatry. Herodotus the father of
Greek history writes that all Greek knowledge of the gods comes from Egypt. In other words, all
the life force and wisdom of Greece was first in Egypt. But with all this great wisdom, Egypt was
also a place of tremendous sexual immorality and cruelty. The Pharaohs created a civilization
where all kinds of pleasure were permitted, and this pursuit of selfish pleasure in its various
forms turned mankind away from the holy purpose of Creation. Yet it is precisely in this place
where the power of the light of God was hidden and waiting to be released.
Joseph
The decent of the Children of Israel to Egypt began when the sons of Jacob sold their brother
into slavery. Jacob had two wives Leah and Rebecca, and two handmaidens, Bilah and Zilpah,
who gave him his twelve sons. Joseph was the first son of Rebecca, Jacobs true love.
Joseph was very special in Jacobs eyes because he saw that he would fulfill the mission of his
own twin brother Esau who had failed to accept the service of God. The Kabbalah teaches that
there were supposed to be four patriarchs, not only three. Esau was supposed to be the fourth and
to marry Leah. Because he did not do his job, Jacob had to take on both tasks. The task of Esau
was to go out and bring the teaching of God into the world, unlike Jacob who would remain in
the tents of study in the land of Israel. Jacob saw that his son Joseph would fulfill the mission of
Esau, and he gave him special attention and teachings that the other sons did not receive.
Joseph shared with his brothers and father his dream that the sun and moon and all the stars
would bow down to him.
Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he
made him a coat of many colours. 4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more
than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him. 5 And Joseph
dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brethren; and they hated him yet the more. 6 And he said
to them: Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: 7 for, behold, we were binding
sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves
came round about, and bowed down to my sheaf. 8 And his brethren said to him: Shall you
indeed reign over us? or shall you indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the
more for his dreams, and for his words. 9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his
brethren, and said: Behold, I have dreamed yet a dream: and, behold, the sun and the moon and
eleven stars bowed down to me.
Josephs brothers were unable to acknowledge that their younger brother was the true Tzaddik of
the generation. They were jealous of him, and the fact that Jacob had chosen him over them to
receive his teaching, symbolized in his multi-colored coat. The brothers were each great and
merited to be the father of the tribes of the children of Israel. However, they were not on the
spiritual level of their brother Joseph. Joseph who possessed the divine gift of dream
interpretation understood what his dream symbolized. The dream told him that his brothers must
bow to him and his level of spiritual purity and righteousness in order for them to reach their
own great levels. He also knew that if they would, it would bring the redemption.
The brothers were each struggling with their own particular temptations from their lower natures.
They had yet to reach the level to overcome and acknowledge Joseph. Instead, the brothers
justified their own failings and jealousy by their belief that Joseph was another Esau, a killer and
megalomaniac who was a threat to the holy mission of their family. Consequently they decided
to rid themselves of him. Initially they decided to kill him, but their brother Yeudah convinced
them to sell him into slavery.
Joseph was taken down to Egypt by Arab traders who then sold him to the house of Potiphar, a
minister of the Pharaoh. Joseph was blessed by Hashem and the works of his hands prospered
and Potiphar gave him control of all his belongings, except his wife. His wife, however, desired
Joseph and sought to seduce him. Although Potiphars wife was one of the most beautiful
women, in the world, Joseph resisted this tremendous temptation time after time.
What kind of man could be given so much power and resist taking it all for himself? It is the way
of men of power to only want more. The path of the Torah is one of restraint and boundaries
to do what is righteous. Joseph maintained his self-control in the face of the temptation to take
Potiphars entire house and his wife for himself. It is because of this remarkable self-control over
the forces of sexuality separated from his land and his people that earned Joseph the title of
Tzaddik. In fact, he is the only person in the entire Five Books of Moses called Tzaddik.
Potiphars wife, however, stole Josephs clothes and feigned that he tried to rape her.
Consequently, Joseph was thrown into jail for twenty-two years. Joseph was finally released by
the Pharaoh who had heard from his ministers of his ability to interpret dreams. The Pharaoh told
Joseph of his dreams, and Joseph explained how they portend of seven years of rich harvest and
seven of famine. He also advised Pharaoh to prepare for the famine buy setting up storehouses.
The Pharaoh recognized Josephs wisdom and immediately made him second in power to
himself over all of Egypt.
The famine finally came and forced the brothers to come to Egypt. We cannot imagine the awful
suffering that Joseph must have experienced, sold buy his very brothers as a slave at the age of
seventeen, exiled from his land, suffering decades in prisons. And yet Joseph did not seek
revenge. He saw the hand of God in all the suffering that he experienced. He saw that all that
happened to him was for the ultimate good of his family, even though it had appeared to be the
exact opposite.
The famine had occurred as God had revealed to Joseph, and the entire Mediterranean world was
now dependent upon the storehouses of grain that Joseph had built for survival. All of Egypt sold
themselves into slavery for bread. Through Joseph, the Tzaddik, the entire world was saved from
starvation. If he had not come to bring this advice to Pharaoh, his family would have all died
from hunger.
When the famine reached the Land of Canaan, Jacob sent his children to Egypt to buy the food
they needed for their survival. He sent all his sons except for the second son from his wife
Rachel, Benjamin, Josephs only other full brother. The brothers came before Joseph in order to
purchase grain and other supplies. The brothers did not recognize that Zaphenaeth-Panea
(Josephs Egyptian name), with his magnificent clothes and servants, the grand Viceroy of all
Egypt, was in fact their brother Joseph. However, Joseph did recognize them.
Joseph questioned them to find out if his father and brother were still alive. The ordinary man
would have sought out revenge for the terrible suffering he had endured, the time bound in
slavery and in prison. But Joseph saw the hand of God in all that had happened to him. Instead of
revenge, he designed a drama to force his brothers to see the wrong they had done, and to give
them the opportunity to do true repentance to return to God.
Joseph charged them with being spies. The brothers protested and told him that they were simple
shepherds from the Land of Canaan. In order to prove this Joseph commanded them to leave one
brother in his custody and to return with their youngest brother Benjamin. When they returned,
they explained all that had happed to Jacob. Jacob refused to let them return with Benjamin for
fear of losing another son. However, as the famine continued he was forced to allow him to go.
In return, Judah vowed before his father that he would give his own sons if he did not return with
Benjamin.
When the brothers returned to Egypt, they bought their provisions and they packed up their
mules and headed out to return home. However, Joseph had one of his servants plant his goblet
in the bags of Benjamin. The brothers then were confronted by Josephs guards but the brothers
denied that they took the goblet, which Joseph was said to divine from. The brothers vowed that
if one of them were found with the goblet that he could be put to death. The guards found the
goblet in Benjamins pack and took him away to jail. Judah could not bare it and risked his life to
come before Zaphenaeth-Panea and beg for mercy for his father. Judah explained how precious
Benjamin was to his father and the vow that he himself took to protect his brother. He begged
Zaphenaeth-Panea to take him for his prisoner and slave in exchange for his brother. Joseph saw
now that his brothers had done true repentance.
As Judah said these words, Joseph could not restrain his emotions. He cleared the room of all his
servants, turned to his brothers and cried:
I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?
Whereas they were willing to sell him into slavery so many years before, now Judah, the leader
of the brothers was willing to give himself into slavery to save his brother Benjamin, who now
stood in the place of Joseph in the house of Jacob. True repentance means that when we are
faced with the same circumstances as when we did wrong, in this second time, we choose the
right path. Joseph designed a drama that would allow his brothers this opportunity to do true
repentance. He did this for the benefit of their souls and also so that the brothers could reunite
with him in peace free of guilt from the past.
The entire book of Genesis begins with Adam and his sin. The consequence of this sin was the
envy and rivalry that led to Cains murder of Abel, an event that reflects the evil of strife that had
entered into mankind as a consequence of Adams sin. This theme is continued with the rivalry
of Isaacs children Jacob and Esau, and then between Jacobs sons. However, the book of
Genesis ends with Joseph overcoming his anger and seeing the hand of God, and bringing peace
into his family. Consequently, Joseph brings his father and all his children to Egypt to protect
them from the long famine. The Pharaoh gave them the land of Goshen where they tended their
flocks and lived in prosperity under Josephs protection.
Joseph became the Tzaddik who is the foundation of the world, as his dream prophesied. He
controlled the food supply of the entire Mediterranean region, and amassed all the wealth. In the
end, not only did his family have to bow down to him, but the entire world had to bow to him.
The entire world was created for Adam, and the entire world saved on account of Noah; and then
all blessings were given to the world in the merit of Abraham. In the story we see that the entire
world is saved in the merit of the righteousness of Joseph, who was able to go down into the
darkness of Egypt and remain true to the path of life taught to him by his holy father Jacob.
Moses
The astrologers of Pharaoh prophesied that a child would be born among the Jews that would
destroy the house of Pharaoh. In order to protect themselves the Pharaoh decreed that every male
child born to the Hebrews must be drowned in the Nile. Jethro, the High Priest of Midian
together with the Prophet and magician Balaam and Job were consulted by Pharaoh as to the
means for exterminating the children of Israel.
Moses was born to Amram and Yocheved. Amram was the grandson of Levi, the family of
priests among the children of Jacob. When Moses was born the entire house was filled with light.
Tradition also tells us that Moses was born fully circumcised, a sign of the remarkable purity and
Godliness of his life that was of miracles transcending nature.
When the family could no longer hide Moses from the Egyptians, they decided to place him in a
basket and relied on the Divine protection that the child had hoping that he would be saved. His
sister Miriam followed the basket down the Nile and watched as a daughter of Pharaoh rescued
the child and decided to raise him in the house of Pharaoh. Miriam then offered to have her
mother come nurse the child for her.
Pharaohs daughter named the baby Moses because she drew him out of the water. (In Hebrew
the name is Moshe, which is based on the root word meaning to draw forth.) Torah is said to
be like water, in that it is the source of life and the only thing which can quench the thirst of the
soul. Moses, therefore, is that child who is drawn forth from the true water, which is the infinite
ocean of Torah Wisdom.
A midrash relates that
Moses was a very large child at the age of three; and it was at this time that, sitting at the kings
table in the presence of several princes and counselors, he took the crown from Pharaohs head
and placed it on his own. The princes were horrified at the boys act; and the soothsayer said that
this was the boy who they had predicted would destroy the kingdom of Pharaoh and liberate
Israel. Balaam and Jethro were at that time also among the kings counselors. Balaam advised
the king to kill the boy at once; but Jethro (other sources say it was Gabriel in the guise of one of
the kings counselors) said that the boy should first be examined, to see whether he had sense
enough to have done such an act intentionally. All agreed with this advice. A shining piece of
gold together with a hot coal was placed on a plate before the boy, to see which of the two he
would choose. The angel Gabriel then guided his hand to the coal, which he took up and put into
his mouth. This burned his tongue, causing him to stutter; but it saved his life.
Moses was raised a royal prince in the house of Pharaoh. He was thus unique among all his
fellow Hebrews. He was given a complete Egyptian education in the arts of geometry, astronomy
and astrology, the secret sciences of nature, and the metaphysical secrets of the Egyptian
idolatrous priests.
Moses was caught between two worlds. Unlike all the other children of Israel, Moses had the
freedom to choose the life of an Egyptian or a Hebrew, that is, a royal Egyptian prince or a
Hebrew slave. The pivotal moment in his life when this choice is made is presented in the Torah.
And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown up, that he went out to his brethren,
and looked on their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12
And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he smote the
Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. 13 And he went out the second day, and, behold, two men of
the Hebrews were striving together; and he said to him that did the wrong: Wherefore smitest
you your fellow? 14 And he said: Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? thinkest you to
kill me, as you didst kill the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said: Surely the thing is known.
15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of
Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian;
Moses chose to not only identify with his people and their suffering, but he took action to defend
them. He killed the Egyptian taskmaster and defended one of his brethren. The Torah does not
name the Hebrew in order to show that it did not matter who was being attacked. Moses sought
to defend all of his people, the trait of a true leader.
A similar theme is told in a famous story about Moses after he fled to Midian and married
Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro.
One day while watching his flock Moses noticed that a small lamb had gone astray. Moses spent
many days looking for the lamb and traveled a great distance when he finally found the lamb and
carried it back to the flock. God looked upon this action and saw that Moses had the soul of a
true leader, because a true leader has the care of not just the great and important ones among his
people, but for all his people equally. This is how God looks upon the world. He directs the
world with love and care for the greatest good of every single creature equally.
All the great leaders of the Jewish people were shepherds, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph,
Moses, and David. A shepherd spends his time out in nature alone, patiently guiding and
protecting his flock. He travels for weeks or months alone seeking pasture to feed the flock. All
this time he is alone in nature underneath the stars. It was during this time that these great men
sat in contemplation of life and spoke their heart out to God. In these times they forged through
intimate conversation a powerful bond with the Creator. We shall discuss later on that it is this
secluded meditation and intimate speech of the heart with God is the most important spiritual
practice and teaching of the Jewish people.
It was one day while shepherding when one of the most famous stories of the Torah (Exodus,
Ch. 3) occurred (Exodus, Ch. 3):
Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the
flock to the farthest end of the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. 2 And the
angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked,
and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said: I
will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when the LORD
saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said: Moses,
Moses. And he said: Here I am. 5 And He said: Do not come close to here; remove your
shoes from your feet, for the place upon which you stand is holy ground. 6 Moreover He said: I
am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And
Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. 7 And the LORD said: I have surely
seen the affliction of My people that are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their
taskmasters; for I know their pains; 8 and I shall descend and deliver them out of the hand of the
Egyptians, and bring them up out of that land to a good land and a large, to a land flowing with
milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite,
and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to
Me; moreover I have seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now therefore, and I will
send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth My people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
11 And Moses said to God: Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth
the children of Israel out of Egypt? 12 And He said: Certainly I will be with you; and this shall
be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt,
you shall serve God upon this mountain. 13 And Moses said to God: Behold, when I come to
the children of Israel, and shall say to them: The God of your fathers has sent me to you; and
they shall say to me: What is His name? what shall I say to them? 14 And God said to Moses: I
AM THAT I AM; and He said: Thus shall you say to the children of Israel: I AM has sent me
to you. 15 And God said moreover to Moses: Thus shall you say to the children of Israel: The
LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
has sent me to you; this is My name for ever, and this is My memorial to all generations. 16 Go,
and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the
God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying: I have surely remembered
you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have said: I will bring you up out of
the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the
Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey. 18 And they
shall listen to your voice. And you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt,
and you shall say to him: The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. And now please
let us go three days journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God. 19
And I know that the king of Egypt will not give you leave to go, except by a mighty hand. 20
And I will put forth My hand, and smite Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in the midst
thereof. And after that he will let you go. 21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the
Egyptians. And it shall come to pass, that, when you go, you shall not go empty; 22 but every
woman shall ask of her neighbour, and of her that sojourns in her house, jewels of silver, and
jewels of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters;
and you shall spoil the Egyptians.
According to tradition, the meeting at the burning bush was one of the three periods of forty days
and forty nights that Moses ascended to be with God and learn the depths of Gods wisdom the
Torah.
One of the most peculiar things about Moses encounter with God is Moses resistance to take on
the mission.
10 And Moses said to the LORD: Oh Lord, I am not a man of words, not yesterday, nor the day
before yesterday, nor since You first spoke to Your servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a
slow tongue. 11 And the LORD said to him: Who made mans mouth? or who makes a man
dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? is it not I the LORD? 12 Now, therefore go, and I will be with
your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak. 13 And he said: Oh Lord, please send by the
hand of him whom You will send. (Exodus, 4:10)
Rashi, the great Jewish commentator, explains the deep reason. Moses was not refusing to go. He
wanted to receive a commitment from God that he would not only lead the Jewish people out of
the exile in Egypt, but that he would be able to lead the Jewish people into Israel and complete
the ultimate redemption of the world. Moses knew that if he took the people out of Egypt that
they were likely to turn from God and sin and that this would create the need for future exiles to
atone again. Moses wanted God to assure him that he would lead the people into the land and
build the temple that would last forever and begin the era of blessing and eternal love for
humanity.
God could not give Moses this guarantee. And eventually Moses acquiesced and accepted his
mission, knowing at least that there was a chance to complete the mission. Moses also learned
that whether or not he would be successful, the mission he would take on would be the ultimate
model for the final redemption.
In other words, the Exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt is a preview of what the future has
in store. Every single detail of the story of the Exodus will have a parallel in the future
redemption. In the future the Jews will be led out of their exile by a great leader amidst miracles
and wonders that will leave the world in awe. There will be leaders who will resist, like Pharaoh,
and there may also be Jews who will not accept the leadership of the Jewish Messiah who will
stand in Moses place.
In order to truly understand the significance of the Exodus from Egypt we must first try to better
understand what the religion of Egypt is. Egypt is a continuation of the tradition of Ham and
Nimrod. Egypt became the repository of all the ancient worlds wisdom and spiritual practices.
From a modern perspective the belief in many deities and powers that rule over nature seems
supernatural. However, the opposite is true. The essence of pagan belief is a worship of nature
and its powers. We must keep in mind that included in the pagan understanding of nature is the
power of the spiritual forces that rule nature. These forces are based primarily on the twelve
constellations. This is a common theme in nearly all ancient religions, namely that the stars are
powers (that is, gods) that rule over nature.
A simple example of this is the power of the moon that has tremendous power over the tides,
agriculture, as well as womens menstrual cycles and peoples feelings. In modern thinking, this
is because of natural laws of science. However, in the ancient world there is a picture of the
heavens that includes the flow of life into the world. This flow of life is distributed through the
motions of the planets. Each planet has a soul with intelligence and with a certain power that
manifests in the world. The soul of the planet or constellation and its influence on earthly life is
the source for the descriptions of ancient mythologies. These mythologies are found in
civilizations all over the globe.
This structure is the basis of all astrology. Astrology is a very ancient understanding of the world
that says that a persons character is determined by the placement of the planets in the
constellations at the time of birth. This is based on the idea that the soul of a person comes into
the physical world from the highest part of the heavens and then travels down through various
spheres. These spheres then influence the energies of the soul and body that the person is born
into, and it is on this basis that s in astrology provides its remarkably accurate descriptions of
character types and personalities.
Paganism is not a simplistic theory of nature as many history books say. In the watered down
view of history, mythology is presented as ancient peoples naive attempt to explain the
phenomena of the natural world in the absence of science. When science emerged then there was
no need for mythology. This is not true. Pagan tradition is not focused on simply describing
nature as we know it. It is describing a system of the influence of the flow of natures life force
from heaven to earth through the system of the stars and heavenly spheres. Moreover, it included
practices of magic and divination which sought to influence the flow of this life force through the
contact with spiritual forces that ancient people called gods, but are really better described as
angels. Angels are the powers that oversee the flow of life into the world. Angel literally
means a messenger. God allows these angels to speak to man and to offer ways of
communicating with them and gaining power over the flow of life force and blessing. These
angels teach mankind various forms of religious practice that are known throughout the world.
Egypt reached the peak of mans communication with angels and knowledge of the heavens and
divination. The greatest marks of this understanding are recorded in the pyramids. This is the
very reason the pyramids exist today, to remind us of the past and the greatness of these
civilizations, their remarkable knowledge of the heavens, science, and their remarkable ability to
build these structures that remain beyond our knowledge and capacity today.
The Egyptian religion was not a supernatural religion; it was a system of knowledge of nature
which included the spiritual forces and powers within nature. These angels or gods are not
separate from nature; they are the system of nature. It is with this wisdom that the Pharaohs were
able to build their powerful civilizations.
One of Gods purposes in the Exodus and Moses mission was to announce to the Egyptians and
the rest of the world the existence of the true Creator of Heaven and Earth. This could only be
done in contrast to the religion of the day. Pharaoh and Egypt with all its knowledge of the gods
and heavens does not know the God of the Hebrews. Who is this God? Pharaoh asks Moses.
The story of the Exodus is Gods answer to Pharaohs question. The awesome miracles and
wonders are Gods demonstration of His superiority to all the wisdom and pagan divination of
the great Pharaoh and his priests.
The Exodus Story
The entire story of the Exodus and its miracles is hard to comprehend for the modern mind.
When we see it being portrayed in movies, these ancient accounts are transformed into fantastic
legends. The very story is fantastic and truly supernatural, because the very point of the event is
to bring into physical reality the knowledge that there exists the power of God which is above all
nature and all other spiritual powers.
The Jewish people have been entrusted to preserve the Torah through history.carry through
thousands of years of history the message of the Torah: the purpose of Creation, the Laws of
God, the development of the family and tribes of Israel, and the remarkable and miraculous acts
God performed for the Jewish people in the eyes of the world.
The Torah is unlike any other book in history. Each Torah scroll must be hand written by a
sincere Jew who observes Jewish Law. The Torah must be written with special ink, on the skin
of a kosher animal, and in a specific script. The details of these laws of writing a Torah scroll fill
an entire book. When a Torah scroll is completed it is not considered kosher or acceptable for
use in a public reading unless it has been examined letter by letter by an authority. If there is any
ambiguity in the reading even of a single letter, the Torah scroll is not kosher. Consequently
every kosher Torah scroll in use by the Jewish people is identical after thousands of years of
history of the Jewish people being spread out throughout the globe. If you compare this with the
textual tradition of any other ancient text you will see how astounding this is.
On every single page of the works of Homer, Plato, or the Gospels, for example, there are ten to
fifty textual variations. In other words, every ancient copy of nearly every page of ancient texts
generally has many different versions based on the errors of scribes or interpretation. In more
simple language, imagine the game of telephone when people pass a message around a room. At
the end it comes out very different than when it started. The same is true for ancient books.
Books are passed down and copied through history and they inevitably become different. The
Torah established laws for its preservation so that its message could travel through time and
space unchanged.
The preservation of the story of the Exodus is one of the central pillars of the Jewish people. The
Torah established another law in order to preserve this message, and that is the holiday of
Passover. One of the most primary commandments in the holiday of Passover today is the telling
of the story of the Exodus. Each year on the first night of Passover, Jewish families hold a
special meal and during the meal we are commanded to recount the story of Passover.
Raise the tray with the matzot and say:
This is the bread of affliction that our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. Whoever is hungry, let
him come and eat; whoever is in need, let him come and conduct the Seder of Passover. This
year we are here; next year in the land of Israel. This year we are slaves; next year we will be
free people.
The tray with the matzot is moved aside, and the second cup is POURED.(Do not drink it yet).
Now the child asks What makes this night different from all [other] nights?
On all nights we need not dip even once, on this night we do so twice!
On all nights we eat bread or matzah, and on this night only matzah.
On all nights we eat any kind of vegetables, and on this night bitter herbs!
On all nights we eat sitting upright or reclining, and on this night we all recline!
The tray is restored to its place with the matzah partly uncovered. Now we say We were slaves.
. .
We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the L-rd, our G-d, took us out from there with a strong
hand and with an outstretched arm. If the Holy One, blessed be He, had not taken our fathers out
of Egypt, then we, our children and our childrens children would have remained enslaved to
Pharaoh in Egypt. Even if all of us were wise, all of us understanding, all of us knowing the
Torah, we would still be obligated to discuss the exodus from Egypt; and everyone who
discusses the exodus from Egypt at length is praiseworthy
In the beginning our fathers served idols; but now the Omnipresent One has brought us close to
His service, as it is said: Joshua said to all the people: Thus said the L-rd, the G-d of Israel,
`Your fathers used to live on the other side of the river Terach, the father of Abraham and the
father of Nachor, and they served other gods.
And I took your father Abraham from beyond the river, and I led him throughout the whole land
of Canaan. I increased his seed and gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau
I gave Mount Seir to possess it, and Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
Blessed is He who keeps His promise to Israel, blessed be He! For the Holy One, blessed be He,
calculated the end [of the bondage], in order to do as He had said to our father Abraham at the
Covenant between the Portions, as it is said: And He said to Abraham, `You shall know that
your seed will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will enslave them and make them
suffer, for four hundred years. But I shall also judge the nation whom they shall serve, and after
that they will come out with great wealth.
This is what has stood by our fathers and us! For not just one alone has risen against us to
destroy us, but in every generation they rise against us to destroy us; and the Holy One, blessed
be He, saves us from their hand!
Go forth and learn what Laban the Aramean wanted to do to our father Jacob. Pharaoh had
issued a decree against the male children only, but Laban wanted to uproot everyone as it is
said: The Aramean wished to destroy my father; and he went down to Egypt and sojourned
there, few in number; and he became there a nation great and mighty and numerous.
And he went down to Egypt forced by Divine decree. And he sojourned there this teaches
that our father Jacob did not go down to Egypt to settle, but only to live there temporarily. Thus
it is said, They said to Pharaoh, We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for
your servants flocks because the hunger is severe in the land of Canaan; and now, please, let
your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.
Few in number as it is said: Your fathers went down to Egypt with seventy persons, and now,
the L-rd, your G-d, has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.
And he became there a nation this teaches that Israel was distinctive there.
Great, mighty, as it is said: And the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly,
and multiplied and became very, very mighty, and the land became filled with them.
And numerous, as it is said: I passed over you and saw you wallowing in your bloods, and I
said to you `By your blood you shall live, and I said to you `By your blood you shall live! I
caused you to thrive like the plants of the field, and you increased and grew and became very
beautiful your bosom fashioned and your hair grown long, but you were naked and bare.
The Egyptians treated us badly and they made us suffer, and they put hard work upon us.
The Egyptians treated us badly, as it is said: Come, let us act cunningly with [the people] lest
they multiply and, if there should be a war against us, they will join our enemies, fight against us
and leave the land.
And they made us suffer, as it is said: They set taskmasters over [the people of Israel] to
make them suffer with their burdens, and they built storage cities for Pharaoh, Pitom and
Ramses.
And they put hard work upon us, as it is said: The Egyptians made the children of Israel work
with rigor. And they made their lives bitter with hard work, with mortar and with bricks and all
manner of service in the field, all their work which they made them work with rigor. And we
cried out to the L-rd, the G-d of our fathers, and the L-rd heard our voice and saw our suffering,
our labor and our oppression.
And we cried out to the L-rd, the G-d of our fathers, as it is said: During that long period, the
king of Egypt died; and the children of Israel groaned because of the servitude, and they cried
out. And their cry for help from their servitude rose up to G-d.
And the L-rd heard our voice as it said: And G-d heard their groaning, and G-d remembered
His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
And he saw our suffering, this refers to the separation of husband and wife, as it is said: G-d
saw the children of Israel and G-d took note.
Our labor, this refers to the children, as it is said: Every boy that is born, you shall throw
into the river and every girl you shall keep alive.
And our oppression, this refers to the pressure, as it is said: I have seen the oppression with
which the Egyptians oppress them.
The L-rd took as out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with a great
manifestation, and with signs and wonders.
The Lord took us out of Egypt, not through an angel, not through a seraph and not through a
messenger. The Holy One, blessed be He, did it in His glory by Himself!
Thus it is said: In that night I will pass through the land of Egypt, and I will smite every first-
born in the land of Egypt, from man to beast, and I will carry out judgments against all the gods
of Egypt, I the L-rd.
I will pass through the land of Egypt, I and not an angel;
And I will smite every first-born in the land of Egypt, I and not a seraph;
And I will carry out judgments against all the gods of Egypt, I and not a messenger;
I- the L-rd, it is I, and none other!
With a strong hand, this refers to the dever (pestilence) as it is said: Behold, the hand of the
L-rd will be upon your livestock in the field, upon the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds
and the flocks, a very severe pestilence.
And with an outstretched arm, this refers to the sword, as it is said: His sword was drawn, in
his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem.
And with a great manifestation, this refers to the revelation of the Shechinah (Divine
Presence), as it is said: Has any G-d ever tried to take for himself a nation from the midst of
another nation, with trials, signs and wonders, with war and with a strong hand and an
outstretched arm, and with great manifestations, like all that the L-rd your G-d, did for you in
Egypt before your eyes!
And with signs, this refers to the staff, as it is said: Take into your hand this staff with which
you shall perform the signs.
And wonders, this refers to the blood, as it is said: And I shall show wonders in heaven and
on earth.
When saying the following words blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke, spill three times from
the wine in the cup.
These are the Ten Plagues which the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon the Egyptians,
namely as follows:
Blood.
Frogs.
Lice.
Wild Beasts.
Pestilence.
Boils.
Hail.
Locust.
Darkness.
Slaying
Thus it is our duty to thank, to laud, to praise, to glorify, to exalt, to adore, to bless, to elevate
and to honor the One who did all these miracles for our fathers and for us. He took us from
slavery to freedom, from sorrow to joy, and from mourning to festivity, and from deep darkness
to great light and from bondage to redemption. Let us therefore recite before Him Halleluyah,
Praise G-d!
What is most remarkable about the Haggadah that we read on Passover is that it does not
mention Moses. The reason is that the essence of the event was the act of God Himself. The
Passover account focuses on the relationship between God and the Jewish people
The story of the Exodus in the Torah focuses on the relationship between Moses and Pharaoh.
This is because the Torah is about the development of the Jewish people and their message to the
world. Therefore, the Torah tells the story of the dramatic change in history when the people of
Israel receive their mission and how the idolatrous tradition and powers they have to confront in
order to bring the knowledge of God to the world.
One should also keep in mind that the period of the ten plagues lasted an entire year. As each
plague occurred Moses confronted Pharaoh, and each time Pharaohs priests and magicians were
able to replicate the wonders and signs of God and Moses His messenger.
Moses had a staff that turned into a serpent, and so did Pharaohs priests and magicians. Moses
turned the water into blood and so did Pharaohs priests and magicians. In other words, the
Pharaoh and his people were not easily persuaded that the religion of the Jews was anything new
or different. At this time, each of the peoples of the world had their various Gods and their own
particular magic that they were able to do. The people with the greatest understanding of magic
and divination were able to control others. Pharaoh was not going to give up his authority in the
world so quickly. In other words, Pharaoh perceived the conflict as one pagan magician against
another.
However, as the power of the plagues increased, it became more and more clear to the Egyptians
that Moses and his God were clearly more powerful than the Pharaoh. At times, even the
Pharaoh began to perceive this, and as each plague begins the Pharaoh summons Moses and asks
him to pray to his God on the Pharaohs behalf in order to end the plague. The Pharaoh promises
to heed to Moses request to let him lead his people into the desert to serve their God for a three
day festival. However, once the plague subsides, God hardens Pharaohs heart and the Pharaoh
retracts his promise.
Finally, with the plague of the lice, the magicians acknowledge that they are unable to replicate
the plague, and they say surely this is the finger of God. They begin to acknowledge the power
of the God of the Jewish people. The plagues continue until the magicians say to Pharaoh,
surely Egypt is lost. Pharaoh finally gives in at the plague of the death of the first born, and
during this night the Jews actually slaughter and sacrifice the sacred animal god of Egypt, the
lamb.
God has Moses lead the Jewish people the route of the See of Reeds so they cannot turn around.
Pharaoh recants one last time and gathers his army to bring the Jews back to Egypt. He drives the
Jewish people up against the Sea of Reeds, and here the greatest miracle of all occurs. Moses
lifts his arms and a great wind comes and splits the sea before their eyes. The children of Israel
cross. The Egyptians follow, and then the walls of the sea fall back and drown the entire
Egyptian army as the children of Israel walk onto the dry land.
The entire story of the Exodus was heard throughout the entire ancient Mediterranean world.
When Moses father-in-law Jethro comes to meet him, he tells Moses Now I know that God is
greater than all the gods, for in the very matter in which (the Egyptians) had planned against
them to drown the male children in the Nile, God has done to the Egyptians by drowning
them in the Red Sea. Jethro was the highest priest of the ancient world and had been initiated
into every form of pagan worship. But now he turns his life away from everything he had learned
before to acknowledge the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob.
Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for
Moses, and for Israel His people, how that the LORD had brought Israel out of EgyptAnd
Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and bowed down and kissed him; and they asked each
other of their welfare; and they came into the tent. 8 And Moses told his father-in-law all that the
LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israels sake, all the travail that had come
upon them by the way, and how the LORD delivered them. 9 And Jethro rejoiced for all the
goodness which the LORD had done to Israel, in that He had delivered them out of the hand of
the Egyptians. 10 And Jethro said: Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand
of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh; who has delivered the people from under the
hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods; yea, for in the
very matter in which the Egyptians plotted against them. (Exodus, 18:5)
The Pharaoh had tried to destroy the Jewish people by drowning all the male babies in the Nile.
What is most amazing to Jethro is that God in his revenge takes Pharaoh and his entire army and
does to them what they wished to do to the Jews. God overturns nature to enforce ultimate
justice.
There is a tradition that when the Red Sea split, all the water in the entire world also split. In
Jewish thought, water is related to wisdom. In order for God to be revealed, the entire wisdom
of the entire world had to be broken open. The word for Egypt in Hebrew is Mitzrayim, which
means a narrow, constricted space. The Exodus from Egypt was literally the birth of the
children of Israel into a holy people. Egypt was the womb, the narrow birth canal, and the
splitting of the sea was the breaking of the water in the womb and the opening of the cervix
through which this people were born into the world. God is the father who chose the Jewish
people to be His holy nation to receive the Torah for humanity.
Through the dramatic story of the Exodus, God reveals Himself to the entire world that He is the
Creator of all nature, of the system of the heavens (and its angels) and the earth. He therefore can
choose a people to represent His will in the world to stand above the forces of nature. Unlike all
the other nations of the world who worship the spiritual forces of nature, the Jewish people were
chosen to bring to humanity the worship of the One True God.
When God is revealed, the Egyptians see that all the gods of Egypt are nothing in comparison to
the True God. The revelation of God is also the revelation that there is something above nature,
that is, the God who created all nature and the system of the heavens and His spiritual
messengers.
Today secular society has much in common with the Egyptians. Instead of pagan wisdom, we
worship modern science and believe in its knowledge and technology. Today we look at the
world through the eyes of science. We see scientific knowledge as the true understanding and
knowledge of what reality is. We look to science and its technology to control nature. So much
so, that many have declared that there is no God. We believe that because of our knowledge and
power to control nature, that we have truth. However, in the future just as God revealed Himself
to the Egyptians, He will again reveal Himself to the modern world and the truths that we believe
in today will be revealed to be as shallow and powerless as the ancient pagan idols in the
presence of the One God and Creator of heaven and earth. It is not to say that there is no
meaning and significance to science. It is just that the revelation of God shows that there are no
real laws of nature; everything is the will of God. The same was true for the Egyptians. They
believed they understood life perfectly, but were shocked to discover that their knowledge and
power was nothing in comparison to the knowledge of God.
God comes to Egypt in an act of vengeance. God gives man freedom and the opportunity to
worship other gods and powers. These acts are detestable to God and a violation of Gods
original covenant with mankind. The civilization of Pharaohs Egypt was based on the pagan
wisdom and magic of Ham, the son of Noah and the evil Nimrod. It was a civilization that did
not recognize the Creator and sought to dominate nature and other humans for Pharaohs
personal power. Its wisdom and achievements were not for the glory of the Creator, but for the
glory of one man and his kingdom. The entire civilization was developed from a foundation that
was against the will of the Creator and purpose of Creation. It was ruled by the spirit of the side
of life that is opposed to holiness and the purpose of Creation to be a place of love and Godly
wisdom. God is merciful, and all human actions have their purpose in the ultimate plan of
existence. Nonetheless, God does judge the world and at times individuals or even nations are
destroyed because of their rebellion against God. Every Passover the Jewish people celebrate the
Exodus by singing special Psalms of praise to God. However, we recite a shortened version of
them because our sages teach us that it is wrong to fully rejoice over the destruction of even our
enemies because they are also Gods creation.
Mount Sinai
The Torah expresses the culmination of the Exodus with the following words:
And God saved Israel on that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians
dead on the shore of the sea. And they saw the great hand (that is, the mighty power) with
which He used on the Egyptians, and the people believed in God and Moses His servant.
(Exodus, 14:30)
This passage expresses a fundamental principle of Jewish faith. The faith that God taught us was
not only to believe in God, but also to believe in Moses His servant.
Moses is the greatest prophet. He communicates the word of God to man. This is most clearly
expressed in the story of the Revelation of the Torah at Mount Sinai.
There is a law in the Torah that says the messenger of the king is like the king. Moses was
appointed by God to lead the Jewish people. He is the messenger of the King of the world.
Therefore, Moses stands to the Jewish people and the rest of humanity in the place of the King of
the world.
Moses and every true prophet is a finite vessel through which the infinite wisdom and love of the
Creator is communicated to man. A prophet is like an angel among men. An angel is a Greek
word that literally means a messenger. In Hebrew the word is malach, which means an officer of
the king through which the king expresses his rulership.
God is the King of the world. All the worldly kings are examples in the world of what the True
King is. It is not the other way around. The Kabbalah teaches that the very purpose of the world
is for God to be King. God cannot be King without a people. God gives us life, but in this one
thing we are able to give back to Him. We have the power to establish Him as king. It is through
our existence and our acceptance of Gods kingship, that His very kingship has power and
reality.
The foundation of Gods kingship is His rulership over the world. His rulership is expressed
through the giving of His Law that is, the Torah (and Torah literally means The Law).
When we think of kings and kingship today, we think of human beings and their hereditary
claims to power. Since we have been educated in the era of democracy, which is a rejection of
the idea of kingship and the power of an individual over the many, it is hard for us to conceive
how this metaphor illuminates the nature of Gods relationship to the world. Moreover, the entire
concept of law in our world has been reduced to an arbitrary convention that makes society
work, and is often an expression of the abuse of power.
In order to understand what the Torah expresses, we need to completely transform our idea of
Kingship and Law. Gods Kingship is marked by one supreme quality. In Hebrew the word is
kvod. Kvod means honor or glory, but it is a term that we need to explain. God is infinite
love and goodness. He is the source of a majestic and splendid infinite light of love and
goodness. This is the expression of His Kingdom. God wants to be King because He is filled
with the desire to share His blessed goodness with His creation. To be King means that He
spreads His superabundant wealth of infinite goodness with every creature. He provides all their
needs, gives them life, and provides all their needs. God gives humanity the awesome
opportunity to freely choose to become part of His blessed Kingdom and to live in the presence
and experience of His glory. The role of creation is to sing with joy in immense gratitude and
thankfulness for such a blessed existence. This is to give honor and to sing praise to God.
This is the true nature of Gods Kingdom. When we look upon the world today, this is difficult to
perceive because of the pain, suffering, and confusion we see. However, this is because God has
hidden His presence from the world. The truth is that in each moment and in the deepest
darkness of existence, Gods infinite light is present. The course of history is the process of
revealing this, and when it is revealed we shall all see that God was always with us, and
everything that looked bad was in truth perfectly orchestrated to create the ultimate perfection of
existence.
Faith is the work that God asks us to do, to believe in Him and to praise Him as King even when
He is hidden. It is work and there is a reward for this faith. God hides His presence in order to
give us the opportunity to do this work of faith and to earn its reward, because it is only work to
serve God when He is hidden. When his blessed goodness is revealed, faith is effortless.
Although God is hidden, His presence is not completely absent. When we behold creation we see
the marks of His amazing wisdom and intelligence. The wisdom and intelligence of the natural
world fills us with awe. No one can look at the heavens and the stars and galaxies above us and
not be filled with this awe: behold the smile of children and the blooming of flowers, the infinite
variety of animals and plants, the abundant food and sustenance we are provided with; the
incredible precision with which nature is designed in every detail to provide us all that we need
from air to breath, water to drink and food to eat, the perfect atmosphere to live every detail
of nature is a miracle. But the greatest miracle of all is existence itself, the fact that there is
something which arises from nothing and continues each moment to exist.
The sages teach us that creation did not become fully established in existence as an eternal world
until the giving of the Torah. This is because the very purpose of the world is to establish Gods
kingship upon the earth. This kingship was not established until God chose a people to receive
His Law and the yoke of His rulership. This is the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people.
The Torah is Gods plan for creation. The Jewish people were chosen to be Gods nation of
priests, a nation that would perform the holy service of God and through that way of life be
drawn close to God and His wisdom and become the teachers who would spread Gods plan and
teach Gods law to all of humanity. The Torah is presented in simple stories and basic laws for
human functioning and Gods worship. However, encoded within the Torah is the deeper
teaching of Gods purpose and the path to transform the world as we know it where Gods
presence is hidden into a world where Gods infinite light will be fully revealed.
The revelation begins with Moses ascending Mount Sinai to spend another forty day period with
God. God tells Moses that he should now declare to the Jewish people how he brought them
from slavery and the house of Pharaoh to serve him, not as slaves, but as the holy nation with the
purpose we have just explained above.
In the third month after the children of Israel had gone forth out of the land of Egypt, on this day
they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 And when they journeyed from Rephidim, and came to
the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before
the mount. 3 And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain,
saying: Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4 You have seen
what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles wings, and brought you to Myself. 5
Now therefore, if you will hearken to My voice, and keep My covenant, then you shall be Mine
own treasure from among all peoples; for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a
kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children
of Israel. (Exodus, 19:1)
Moses spoke Gods message to the people who accept in unison the mission and the covenant.
And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words
which the LORD commanded him. 8 And all the people answered together, and said: All that
the LORD has spoken we will do. And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD.
(Exodus, 19:7)
God then tells Moses that He will come and speak with him so that they shall see for themselves
the special status of Moses, and that the words he speaks are truly directly from God. God says
that the people will believe in Moses forever. This can be understood in two ways. One is the
simple meaning that people will believe in Moses as he expresses Gods commandments in the
Torah. The other meaning is that people will always believe in the Moses that is born in every
generation.
And the LORD said to Moses: Behold, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear
when I speak with you, and may also believe you for ever. (Exodus, 19:9)
The people are then prepared for the Revelation:
And Moses told the words of the people to the LORD. 10 And the LORD said to Moses: Go to
the people, and sanctify them to-day and to-morrow, and let them wash their garments, 11 and be
ready for the third day; for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people
upon mount Sinai. 12 And you shall set boundaries to the people round about, saying: Take heed
to yourselves, that you go not up into the mounaint, or touch the border of it; whoever touches
the mounaint shall be surely put to death; 13 no hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be
stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live; when the rams horn sounds
long, they shall come up to the mountain. 14 And Moses went down from the mountain to the
people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their garments. 15 And he said to the people:
Be ready for the third day; do not come near a woman. (Exodus, 19:10)
The Revelation
16 And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunders and
lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and the voice of a horn exceedingly loud; and all
the people that were in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the
camp to meet God; and they stood at the bottom of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was
altogether on smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof
ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. 19 And when the
voice of the horn sounded louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice. 20
And the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mount; and the LORD called
Moses to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. 21 And the LORD said to Moses: Go down,
charge the people, lest they break through to the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish. 22
And let the priests also, that come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break
forth upon them. 23 And Moses said to the LORD: The people cannot come up to mount Sinai;
for you commanded us, saying: Set boundaries around the mountain, and sanctify it. 24 And the
LORD said to him: Go, descend, and then you shall ascend, you, and Aaron with you; but let
not the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest He break forth upon
them. 25 So Moses went down to the people, and told them.
The Ten Commandments
And God spoke all these words, saying: 2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the
land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. 3 You shall
not make to you a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven
above, or that is in the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth; 4 you shall not bow
down to them, nor serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; 5 and
showing mercy to the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments.
6 You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him
guiltless that takes His name in vain.
7 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 8 Six days shall you labour, and do all your work;
9 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, in it you shall not do any manner of
work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your man-servant, nor your maid-servant, nor
your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates; 10 for in six days the LORD made heaven
and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD
blessed the Sabbath day, and sanctified it. 11 Honour your father and your mother, that your days
may be long upon the land which the LORD your God has given you. 12 You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your
neighbour. 13 You shall not covet your neighbours house; you shall not covet your neighbours
wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is your
neighbours. 14 And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice
of the horn, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood
afar off. 15 And they said to Moses: Speak you with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak
with us, lest we die. 16 And Moses said to the people: Fear not; for God is come to prove you,
and that His fear may be before you, that you sin not. 17 And the people stood afar off; but
Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. 18 And the LORD said to Moses: Thus
you shall say to the children of Israel: You yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from
heaven. 19 You shall not make with Megods of silver, or gods of gold, you shall not make to
you. 20 An altar of earth you shall make to Me, and shall sacrifice thereon your burnt-offerings,
and your peace-offerings, your sheep, and your oxen; in every place where I cause My name to
be mentioned I will come to you and bless you. 21 And if you make Me an altar of stone, you
shall not build it of hewn stones; for if you lift up your tool upon it, you have profaned it. 22
Neither shall you go up by steps to Mine altar, that your nakedness be not uncovered thereon.
And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the horn, and
the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood afar off.
And they said to Moses: Speak you with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest
we die. And Moses said to the people: Fear not; for God is come to prove you, and that His fear
may be before you, that you sin not. (Exodus, 19:1)
God spoke the first two commandments directly to the people, but then the people beg Moses to
intervene because they are unable to continue in the overwhelming of awe of hearing the voice of
God. And so the rest of the Ten Commandments are spoken by Moses to the people.
So we see that Moses is the very connection between the people and God. Moses has devoted his
life to perfecting and purifying himself. Moses is the humblest man of all. He has given his will
to completely perform the will of God in the world. He has ascended Mount Sinai and spent
another forty days and forty nights being taught directly by God and living above nature without
food or sleep, a man living like an angel and among the angels.
The Golden Calf
After the revelation at Sinai, the sages teach us that the world was fully repaired from the sin of
Adam. The redemption of the Children of Israel from Egypt and the receiving of the Torah had
now brought the entire world in a state of perfection. However, another test would occur and the
world would once again descend into its state of darkness.
Moses was ascended Mount Sinai for the second period of forty days and forty nights. During
this time there is a tradition that the Satan came and made a vision appear to the Jewish people
showing them that Moses had died. Another tradition said that they made them count the forty
days wrong. The people then feared that their leader and connection to God had died. They did
not know how they could continue on.
When the Children of Israel left Egypt many Egyptians also begged Moses to join them saying
that they had given up their gods and now wanted to follow the God of Israel. This group is
called the mixed multitude. Tradition teaches us that it is the leaders of this group that
approached Aaron, Moses brother and threatened to kill him if he did not make an idol for them.
The mixed multitude still clung to the pagan worship of Egypt and believed that they could make
an idol to stand in Moses place.
Aaron was a man of peace and always sought to resolve situations with peace. He knew that
Moses would come soon and wanted to delay the people. Therefore he told them to collect gold
for the idol. The mixed multitude brought him the gold and Aaron threw it into the fire and to
Aarons surprise a golden calf emerged (Exodus 32:24).
1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people
gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him: Rise up, make us a god who shall go
before us; for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what
is become of him. 2 And Aaron said to them: Break off the golden rings, which are in the ears
of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me. 3 And all the people
broke off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he took it
at from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said:
This is your god, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 5 And when Aaron
saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said: To-morrow shall be
a feast to the LORD. 6 And they rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt-offerings, and
brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to make merry.
7 And the LORD spoke to Moses: Go, descend; for your people, that you brought up out of the
land of Egypt, have become corrupt; 8 they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I
commanded them; they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have
sacrificed to it, and said: This is your god, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of
Egypt
15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the testimony
in his hand; tablets that were inscribed on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were
they inscribed. 16 And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God,
engraven upon the tablets. 17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he
said to Moses: There is a noise of war in the camp. 18 And he said: It is not the voice of them
that shout for control, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome, but the voice
that I hear. 19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came near to the camp, that he saw the calf and
the dancing; and Moses anger flared up, and he cast the tablets out of his hands, and broke them
beneath the mountain. 20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and
ground it to powder. (Exodus, 32:1)
The episode of the Golden Calf and the breaking of the tablets with the Ten Commandments
seems like a great failure. However, it reveals a deeper lesson about life. Although the first
tablets are broken, Moses ascends Mount Sinai for the third period of forty days and receives
second tablets. Moses is commanded to give these tablets to Aaron to place in the sacred Ark,
and also to place the broken tablets next to them. This is a consistent theme in Torah, uniting the
broken and the whole.
Earlier in this book we discussed the Gate of the Return to God. When someone commits a sin,
God forbid, and they return to God, he returns as someone broken, remorseful for what he had
done. Through the process of return a person reaches a higher level because it is only when we
are broken that we can reach a state of true humility and openness. As Tzvi Freeman puts it,
How can we find a place to put the infinite? The infinite cannot be put in a finite place, that is
a place of wholeness. Somehow when our wholeness is shattered, we reach a mysterious place of
openness with the state of brokenness. King David writes in his Psalms,
God desires are a broken spirit and a broken and humbled heart. These sacrifices God does not
turn away.
The highest state is then to return to our life, to our wholeness, but not to forget our brokenness.
In the sacred part of our lives we must contain the broken tablets and the whole tablets. We have
to maintain our wholeness and our brokenness. Our wholeness gives us the power and strength to
live in the world through our individual will. Our brokenness is our acknowledgement that we
are nothing but frail creatures formed by God. It is through this brokenness that we humbly
recognize that all our strength comes from God and that we must have mercy and kindness to
others who are also broken.
We need to keep both our wholeness and brokenness in mind. A famous rabbi once said that he
has two pockets and in one pocket he keeps a note with a line of Torah that says that each
person must look upon the world as if it were created for him alone (to remember the specialness
of our individual life and our responsibility for the whole world), and in the other pocket he had
a note that says, I am a worm and not a man (in order to remember we are a creature
completely dependent upon God and with no merit of our own).
Chapter 6: The Holy People
The Temple
From the creation to the story of Adam and Eve to the story of the giving of the Torah at mount
Sinai The Five Books of Moses is primarily a narrative of the history of man and the children of
Jacob. After the Revelation at Mount Sinai, the Torah continues the story of Moses attempts to
lead the people to the land of Israel, but the majority of pages of the rest of the Torah explain the
construction of the sanctuary of God and the various offerings and requirements of the priests,
Levis, and the people of Israel to support the sanctuary. In fact, the construction of the sanctuary
is presented at the center of the Five Books of Moses, because it is the very purpose of the Torah.
Let us explain why.
God says that He desires a place to dwell below, that is, in the world. How can we possible
understand such a statement? God is infinite, and the physical world is finite. So how can the
infinite dwell in the finite?
Infinite means beyond all limitations and boundaries. However, limitations and boundaries are
what define the physical world. The physical world is governed by the dimensions of time and
space. These are the finite limits that define objects in the physical world. A person exists in the
physical world because he has a size and occupies a location in time.
We can then ask, Can God exist within the physical world? Can God exist within a limited space
in a specific location and in a specific time? In simple logic we would say, No, God cant exist
within the finite because He is infinite, and infinite is the opposite of the finite.
However, if we say that God cant exist within the finite, are we then putting a limit or restriction
upon Gods existence?
The truth is that God is not really infinite, nor is He finite. God is beyond anything we can
conceive including the categories of infinite and finite. God tells us that My thoughts are not
your thoughts. Gods desire to dwell in the physical world is His way of revealing the ultimate
truth of existence that is beyond heaven and earth, beyond the infinite and finite, but at the same
time unites them. God desires to dwell in the world to reveal the ultimate unity of all existence
and the ultimate wonder and mystery of life.
On a more simple level, God tells the Jewish people, make me a sanctuary and I will dwell
within them. The sages tell us that God says within them instead of within it because when
we build a sanctuary then He can dwell within the heart of all the people who serve Him. God
wants to dwell in the world in the most intimate way to reveal His love and kindness to all His
creatures. The building of the sanctuary is the means that God choose to bring His infinite light
and love most perfectly into the physical world.
After the giving of the Torah as the Jews traveled through the desert, God commanded Moses to
arrange the twelve tribes into four separate parts corresponding to the four directions. Each of
these four camps corresponded to one letter in the holy name of God, the Tetragrammaton,
YKVK. (The Tetragrammaton is the name of God that is not pronounced today, and is
represented by the four English letters Y K and V K, which stand for the Hebrew letters and
.) In the center of the camps were the Priests and Levis and at their center was the Ark of the
Covenant that carried the Ten Commandments and the broken tablets. At this point, Gods
presence was dwelling with the Jewish people and the destination of their travels was to enter the
Holy land of Israel.
God did not let Moses bring the people into the land, but instead his student Joshua did. It was
not until generations later that King David finally conquered Jerusalem and was commanded to
build the Temple of God there where God would place His Name.
A name in the ancient world is the power of something. Gods name is the manifestation of
His power and presence. God chose Mount Moriah as the place where He would make the final
dwelling place of His power and presence in the world.
This site is for many special reasons. The sages teach us that:
As the navel is set in the centre of the human body,
so is the land of Israel the navel of the world
situated in the centre of the world,
and Jerusalem in the centre of the land of Israel,
and the sanctuary in the centre of Jerusalem,
and the holy place in the centre of the sanctuary,
and the ark in the centre of the holy place,
and the Foundation Stone before the holy place,
because from it the world was founded.
Israel is a land that rests on Asia and Africa and borders Europe on the Mediterranean. It is
literally the meeting place of these three continents, the center of the world as it was known in
ancient times. The Jewish tradition literally is a meeting place between East and West. It is
neither Oriental nor Occidental, but something that unites the two extremes.
The holiest part of the Temple is called the Holy of the Holies. It is the place where the Ark of
the Covenant rests. In this special place only the High Priest of the Kohanim is allowed to enter,
and he is only allowed to enter once a year on the holiest day of the year the Day of
Atonement, Yom Kippur.
The Holy of Holies is built upon the stone called the Even haShetiya. According to the sages, it
was from this rock that the world was created.
In the words of the Zohar [16]: The world was not created until God took a stone called Even
haShetiya and threw it into the depths where it was fixed from above till below, and from it the
world expanded. It is the centre point of the world and on this spot stood the Holy of Holies.
It was from this same spot that God formed Adam. It was upon this rock that Adam, Cain, Abel,
and Noah all offered sacrifices to God. It was this at this place that God commanded Abraham to
sacrifice his son Isaac.
Take your son, your only son, the one you love, Isaac and offer him up as a sacrifice at the place
I will direct you to.
Isaacs son Jacob came here as he was fleeing from his brother Esau, and it was upon this place
that Jacob placed twelve stones around him and slept and dreamt of the angels climbing up a
ladder ascending and descending.
Jacob departed from Beer-Sheba and went toward Haran. He encountered the place and spent the
night there because the sun had set; he took from the stones of the place which he arranged
around his head, and lay down in that place. And he dreamt, and behold! A ladder was set
earthward and its top reached heavenward; and behold! angels of God were ascending and
descending on itJacob awoke from his sleep and said, Surely God is present in this place and
I did not know! And he became frightened and said, How awesome is this place! This is none
other than the abode of God and this is the gate of the heavens! (Genesis, 28:10)
This place is literally the meeting place of the finite and the infinite within our three dimensional
world. This is the reason the world needs a temple on this spot, because at this point the life force
flows from heaven into the physical world. The angels ascending the ladder take our prayers and
sacrifices to God, and the angels descending bring all the blessing and life energy for all
existence.
In the spiritual geography of the universe, Jerusalem is the top of the Earth. The heavens and the
twelve constellations surround the earth in 360 degrees. From Jerusalem upwards there are
different levels of the heavens. Gods blessing and life-force must descend from outside the
heavens and descend through various spheres of the heavens until they come into the Holy of the
Holies, the Even haShetiya and then this blessing and lifeforce travels through spiritual pathways
throughout all of Israel and then throughout the entire earth.
Israel is a tiny country, but in this tiny area there are hundreds of different geographical places,
from snow capped mountains to Sahara desert, to tropical beaches and lush green vineyards and
valleys. Nearly every kind of plant can grow in the land of Israel. King Solomon was said to
have grown every kind of plant that was upon the earth in Israel. He was able to do this because
he knew precisely in Israel where the channel of life force to the different regions of the earth
flowed. Therefore, if wanted to grow an African fruit tree he would plant it in a spot in Israel
where the blessing to Africa flowed to support that particular tree.
God commanded King David and his son King Solomon to build the Temple in Jerusalem for a
very practical spiritual reason. This is the very place where heaven meets the earth, and therefore
this is the place where we must do the work of prayer to bring and sustain blessing into the world
as we mentioned earlier, this is the fundamental task and purpose of Adam. This job was
assigned to the Jewish people, and within the Jewish people it is the responsibility of the tribe of
Levis and the sub-group of Levis called Cohens.
The work of the temple, its priests, songs, offerings, prayers, all are arranged to correspond to
what is required in the spiritual system of the flow of prayer and blessing that God established.
We pray only to God Himself, but these prayers have an effect in spiritual worlds that fulfills
Gods Will. We never pray to angels, but angels function to assist in the communication of
prayers. In the higher worlds of angels there is a spiritual network that delivers prayers and
blessings back and forth in the world; there are also rules that must be followed, and when things
do not follow these rules there are other angels who have the job to block the flow. The system
of the Temple is organized to keep this flow unblocked and to keep the network running
smoothly. In order for this to occur sacrifices and prayers must be done to satisfy the angels who
seek to block the flow, and also to give strength and life to the angels that maintain the flow.
The Torah teaches us that every thought and deed creates angels. Good thoughts create good
angels and bad thoughts bad angels. In other words, the spiritual network corresponds to human
actions. When we do right, things flow; when we do wrong the network is blocked. God knows
that humans err and there will be blocks so He created rituals and mechanisms to deal with this.
For example, if a person does a sin, God forbid, this creates a major block in the flow of
blessings in his or her life, and therefore for the world. In order to fix this block, God created a
system of sacrifices and prayers that make atonement. This atonement is effected when the
person acknowledges the sin, and then takes his money or property and buys an offering of
mineral, plant, or animal, depending on the persons economic situation and the sin, and then
brings it to a priest who takes this offering and puts it upon the holy altar.
The priest is a person who devotes his life to serving God and is given the responsibility to help
the people atone. He has to lay his hand upon the offering and with the proper intention offer this
to God. An animal is offered because when we sin we are letting our animal nature dominate our
lives. An offering of an animal upon the alter is a way of expressing that we are willing to give
up this part of ourselves in order to serve the higher purpose of life. The energy of that animal is
then transformed to a holy purpose and through the prayers and intentions of the person and the
priest, this energy clears the spiritual block and is then eaten by the priest and his family, so the
animal part of the person is now regenerated into an energy that is given to the spiritual world of
angels and also to the human priest who uses it to serve God.
Because the Temple is the place where the infinite and finite meet, it was a place of constant
miracles. Although the courtyards of the Temple were places of hundreds and thousands of
animals sacrifices, there were no flies present. During the time of the Temple, no woman in
Jerusalem ever miscarried. The flame on the altar always burned in a straight line heavenward,
no matter what the weather conditions.
And during the time of the holidays when all of the men of Israel would come to the Temple,
miraculously there was always room for every person to pray.
The sages say that if the nations of the world knew of the importance of the Temple, they would
all send the armies of the world to protect it and ensure its constant functioning.
The Holy People and its Holy Land
Now that we have discussed the Temple, we have a much better context to truly understand
holiness. Holiness is the quality of things that are associated most intimately with the flow of
Godliness in the world. There is a holiness associated with persons, time, and place, and all of
this is established in relationship to the Torah and the Temple.
The root meaning of the word holy (kodesh in Hebrew) is separation. The holy is that which is
separated from its ordinary use in order to serve God. God chose Abraham and his descendents.
He separated the Jewish people from the other nations to serve Him.
What does it mean that He separated them? The Torah teaches that there are seventy nations in
the world. These are the seventy primary descendents of Noahs children. These nations were
each given a different language and spread around the world as a punishment for the Tower of
Babel. Each of these nations is presided over by a certain angel. This angel guides each nation in
its particular gifts and strengths, and directs its leaders in its political goals and religious
expression. The main purpose of the seventy nations is to build and develop civilization. This
means the development of knowledge and skills to care for the needs of man, whether it is in
agriculture, building, the art of medicine, mathematics, art, etc. Throughout history each nation
has its special gifts which they used to contribute to the overall development of human life and
civilization. This is the task of humanity in general.
God separated the children of Jacob to be a nation that has a different task. Instead of directing
its efforts towards human needs, God asked the Jewish people to serve His needs in the world.
The nations think about growth and power and knowledge. The purpose of the Jewish people is
to focus on what God wants in the world and to teach this to the rest of humanity. God desires
that the world be transformed into a place where His love and wisdom can shine. This love and
wisdom is Gods presence. The more love and wisdom that humanity receives and expresses, the
more God can be said to live in the world. This preparation is for the time when God will fully
reveal His presence to all humanity. In this time, the existence of God and the purpose of life will
no longer be hidden, and the knowledge of God will fill the earth like water covers the ocean.
However, in order to reach this time, God required that certain spiritual work be done. The
nature of that work is the extensive 613 commandments given to the Jewish people and the 7
commandments given to all of humanity.
God calls the Jewish people a holy people and His segula. Segula literally means that the Jewish
people are the special mark of God in the world. They perform this by doing Gods will. The
Torah and its 613 commandments are the expression of Gods infinite will and wisdom. God
brings His infinite being into the world by placing them in a way that can be physically
expressed in the world. The 613 commandments are actions that in secret and awesome ways
reveal the being of God in the physical world.
The commandments teach us how to build the Temple, who Gods servants are in the Temple,
what service He requires, how His servants must live, how they should dress, what they can and
cannot eat, who they may marry, and every other detail of life. Gods priests are the chosen tribe
from among the chosen people. The rest of the people of Israel must work to support the priests
and the workings of the Temple.
In order for God to dwell among the Jewish people He requires that the Jewish people live in a
way that preserves a greater state of purity and makes their bodies proper to receive His light.
Therefore God explains which animals can be eaten and elevate the body spiritually and which
have energies that draw the body into physicality and its animal nature. Everything in the
physical world has these two potential powers, to elevate him towards God or to draw him down
away from God. The Torah and its commandments show the Jewish people how to navigate
through life in a way that preserves the conditions for God to dwell. This includes what fabrics a
Jew can wear, when to conduct marital relations, who one can marry, what to eat, how to work
and transact business, how to pray and what to wear and do while praying, how to create a
government and make war, how to raise animals and farm, as well as every other detail of life.
The commandments teach us how to build the Temple, who are Gods servants there, what
service He requires, how His servants must live, who they may marry. Gods priests are the
chosen from among the chosen people. The rest of the nation must work to support the priests
and the workings of the Temple.
God created the world by commanding the world into existence through speech. God continues
this process with His commandments to the Jewish people and humanity. These commandments
are expressed in words and these words are written in letters. These letters and words are from
the holy language of Hebrew, which is a cosmic code of Creation and is a link to the light and
power of higher spiritual worlds. When a Jew studies these laws he is connecting in profound
ways to this heavenly and Godly light and power. When the Jew follows the commandment he
literally brings this heavenly light and Godly power into the physical world. Hundreds of
millions of Jews have lived through history and have devoted their lives to studying the Torah
and following its commandments. These actions have continued the process of Creation
transforming and preparing the world for the complete revelation of Godliness.
Even though the world may look the same, and perhaps may even look worse through the
process of history, on a spiritual level the complete opposite is true. The world and the souls of
humanity have been undergoing a process of transformation and perfection. The Torah teaches
that this process oddly enough continues in a way until humanity and the Jewish people reach its
lowest level. The Torah teaches that the revelation of God and the redemption of humanity will
occur not from the highest place, but when we reach the lowest place. This is parallel to the story
of the Exodus. The Jewish people were redeemed from a state of slavery after many had given up
hope and turned to the religion of the Egyptians.
There is a simple and profound truth in the statement that says that it is darkest before the dawn.
A metaphor is given that the relationship between man and God is like the two angels called the
Cherubim that stand on the Ark of the Covenant. At times these angels are facing one another. At
other times they are back to back. In order for the two cherubim to go from back to back and
move face to face, they must first separate completely from one another and then begin the
motion towards one another. The same is with God and man. Right before we become face to
face with God, we must first appear at the furthest place from Him. This entire process is the
completion and perfection of what we described earlier called the return to God. The return to
God is the purpose of creation, and it is most complete when the world returns from the lowest
place immediately to the highest place. When that occurs the highest heavens are united with the
lowest earthly places, the brightest light, with the deepest darkness. Then the entire creation
becomes truly unified and complete and God is revealed to be One. The movements towards this
perfect goal have remained hidden from most of humanity except for a few holy and hidden
Tzaddikim who have helped guide the world through this process.
The entire process of the uniting of heaven and earth depends primarily upon the work of the
Jewish people. This process has been taking place for the last two thousand years in a state of
exile. Since the destruction of the second Temple in 70 CE, the Jewish people have been
scattered and dispersed through every corner of the world. God warns the Jewish people that this
will be their punishment if they disobey, but he also promises that at the end of days He will
return them from their exile.
then the LORD your God will turn your captivity, and have compassion upon you, and will
return and gather you from all the peoples, from where the LORD your God has scattered you. 4
If any of you that are dispersed be in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your
God will gather you, and from there He will fetch you. 5 And the LORD your God will bring
you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will do good for
you, and multiply you above your fathers. (Deuteronomy, 30)
The exile was a punishment to the Jewish people for its failure to follow Gods commandments,
but it also served a spiritual purpose. Since the Jewish people did not fulfill its mission in the
easy way by doing its holy work properly in the land of Israel, the entire world went through a
spiritual descent. Therefore, God sent the Jewish people throughout the world to help fix the
world and bring the redemption through a more difficult path. But now that work is finished and
God is miraculously fulfilling His ancient promise before the eyes of the world.
The Jewish people are returning to its promised land now in order to complete their work, to
fulfill the 613 commandments of the Torah. These commandments can only be fulfilled
completely in the land of Israel. We said above that the commandments unite heaven and earth.
This process of bringing the heavenly light into the world is done by a holy people, and must
also take place within a holy land. Just as the Jewish people are separated and holy to bring
Gods light into the world, so too God established Israel as a holy place where this light can enter
the physical world. As we described in the previous chapter, this is because the site of the
Temple is the very place where the infinite meets the finite world, the origin of creation.
The Torah includes a total of 613 commandments. Seven of these commandments were given to
all humanity. They are known as the 7 Noahide Laws because they are given to all the children
of Noah (Sanhedrin 56).
1. Prohibition of Idolatry: You shall not make for yourself an idol.
2. Prohibition Murder: You shall not murder.
3. Prohibition of Theft: You shall not steal.
4. Prohibition of Sexual Promiscuity: You shall not commit adultery.
5. Prohibition of Blasphemy: You shall not blaspheme.
6. Prohibition of Cruelty to Animals: Do not eat the flesh of a living animal.
7. Requirement to have just Laws: You shall set up an effective government to police the
preceding six laws.
Perhaps the primary commandment in the entire Torah is the dedication of Shabbat the one day
a week when a Jew rests from work and acknowledges that God is the Creator of the universe.
This day of rest is also a day of rest for the holy land of Israel, and for the animals a Jew
possesses. Moreover, every seven years the land is also given an entire year of rest during which
it is not cultivated. (This commandment is only required in the land of Israel.)
The entire system of the Torah and its purpose to bring Godliness into the world is dependent
upon the 613 commandments being fulfilled by the majority of Jewish people in the holy land,
the land designated for this process. The land of Israel is a part of the system of holiness that is
perfecting Creation. In a way it is the final completion of the process, which is culminated by the
rebuilding of the Temple and the restoration of Gods holy service. Then the complete efforts of
the people of Israel on its land can be dedicated to the service of God.
When this happens, the entire world will see its true purpose. All the efforts in building
civilization have appeared to be a human-centered endeavor. Its true purpose has also been
hidden. When the Temple is rebuilt, all the work of humanity will be seen in its true light as part
of one great process to bring Godliness into the world, and then the genius of humanity can be
used in a revealed way to serve the will of God in the world.
Today the entire political fate of the world seems to be centered on the conflict over the state of
Israel. If one thinks about this objectively you can see how strange this phenomenon is. Israel
possesses no significant natural resources, like oil or uranium, or gold or diamonds; it also is a
tiny piece of land with no special strategic value. No one needs military bases in Israel for any
special purpose. The plight of the Arabs who have lived and suffered because of these conflicts
is of no greater importance than the suffering of any other people. In fact, there are many more
groups around the world who suffer much more hardship. There are groups in Africa that have
faced genocide and not even received 1% of the interest of the worlds attention as Arabs. The
truth is that Arabs live in Israel better lives than many Arabs in a majority of Arab countries.
The only reason that the world pays so much attention to Israel is because intuitively humanity
knows that Israel is the center of the world and the destiny of humanity depends upon this holy
land. This is also the reason why there is so much opposition to the building of the state of Israel.
It is the expression of the resistance that we must overcome for humanity to achieve its destiny.
This is Gods vision a perfect system of holiness and the flow of blessing and bounty in the
world. It is rooted in the giving of the Torah, the work of the Jewish people in the land of Israel,
the building of the Temple, the fulfilling of the 613 commandments, thus bringing Gods
presence into the world and making the flow of abundance and peace fill the world.
We are all obligated to participate to bring Gods vision into reality, but it does not have to wait
for the completion of political and social change in the Middle East. Each individual Jew and
Gentile can participate in this reality in his or her own life. The sages teach us that one who has
true knowledge of God it is as if the Temple was built in his day, but this is only through the
connection with the Tzaddik.
The Arizal, the greatest Kabbalist explained that the source of the Torah is the soul of the
Tzaddik. When Moses was given the full revelation of the Torah the world reached its perfection
once again (before the rebellion of the Golden Calf), and Moses reached the 50th gate of
wisdom. 50 is written with the letter N in Hebrew. When this letter is added to the letters of
Mosess name, it spells neshama which is the Hebrew word for soul. In other words, the highest
achievement of the Tzaddik in the world is to become the Soul of the world, to reach the level
where he is the very source of Torah the light of God. He is not God Himself, but he is the
expression and light of God in the creation. The Tzaddik is the true perfection and the heart of
the world.
God desires to dwell within the heart of each of His creatures. Our heart therefore is supposed to
be a temple for God, just like the Temple in Jerusalem. Our hearts become a place for God when
we follow paths of holiness and seek to become like the True Tzaddik. When we make our heart
like the heart of the world, the heart of the True Tzaddik, then we begin to become holy and
make our lives a fitting dwelling place for God.
Therefore, each one of us can make our heart like the Holy of the Holies. The Kotsker Rebbe
asks, Where does God dwell? His answer, Wherever we let him in.
The Nations
When the Temple is reestablished and the holy work performed, then not only will the Jewish
people achieve their destiny, but all the nations of the world will also. No people can truly
achieve its destiny if it is not integrated in the purpose of humanity as a whole.
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach says that a Jew is chosen and the nature of his chosenness is to desire
that the whole world to be chosen also. We are not chosen to be distant. We are chosen to
bring Gods light to the worldEvery nation is chosen for something. Every person is
chosenWe have to bring down to the world the realization that everything is chosen. We are
here to let everyone know that they too are chosen. This is the mission of the chosen people.
The genius and power of each nation has a hidden purpose in the plan of God. This cannot be
revealed until all the nations begin to participate in this holy plan. Each nation has a specific
vision and way of expressing its vision of life and God, and each has specific gifts and talents.
Some nations are gifted in aesthetics, others in commerce, others in design and engineering, and
others in arts. Each of the nations is a part in the whole of humanity, just as each limb and organ
is part of an individual, each with its specific role and task. Today we have only a small
conception of what humanity is as a whole, what it is supposed to be and what it can achieve.
Nonetheless, there is a simple truth that we must remember, that, no part can reach its true
excellence separate from the whole. A part gains its particular excellence and completion only
when it functions in harmony with the other parts.
We live in a time where nations and people are no longer separate from one another. We live in a
global community where transportation and modern communication bring us all together. We
therefore have the means to work together and build our world together, to share our gifts, and to
learn from one another.
However, there is a disease that possesses humanity and the nations. This disease is the desire for
power and domination. This disease prevents nations from participating in their appropriate place
in the plan of the world. This is the disease that leads to conflict and war. Consequently because
of this disease the greater part of the worlds economy is wasted on armies and war, an economic
segment that gives temporary boosts to the economies, but prevents true economic health and the
flourishing of prosperity. The trillions of dollars that have been spent on weapons and military
purposes in the last hundred years could have solved all the worlds problems, hunger, crime,
education, health, and environment.
The prophets tell of the time of redemption when there will be no more need for armies and war:
And they shall beat their swords in to plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation
shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more (Isaiah 2:4)
The force that maintains this destructive desire for power in the world is called evil. This evil
possesses individuals in different nations that rise to positions of power and maintain the desire
for conflict and domination in governments and corporations. We see this over and over again.
People want peace but leaders maintain conflict and war. This is of course supported by the
media that promotes the worlds conflicts and shapes the way people conceive reality. The true
reason is the desire for wealth and power.
Individuals who cultivate this disease in their nations very often host another disease the
desire to annihilate the Jewish people. This phenomenon is not new. Throughout history there
have been many nations and leaders who have sought to eliminate the Jewish people. This is
because the Jewish people represent God and the true purpose of humanity the creation of a
world where there is no war, no domination, and the cultivation of love and wisdom. These
individuals who are filled with desire for power and wealth are consumed by a disease. Like drug
addicts they are willing to lie and sacrifice the good of all humanity in order to fulfill their
personal desires and fantasies. The Jewish people and the Torah stand for a higher purpose and
higher values that these leaders cannot tolerate.
Human beings are all brothers and sisters descended from the same parents. Our conflict is a
conflict within a family. When Adam and Eve broke Gods command and the world descended
from its spiritual and divine place, the consequence was the conflict between the first two
brothers, Cain and Abel. The descent of the world meant that for the first time Gods presence
became hidden and humans felt separation from God. When one feels separate from God, one
feels lacking and this lack is the birthplace for desire, envy, and anger. This is what happened to
Cain. He envied the fact that God received his brothers sacrifice in front of his own. This led to
anger and a tremendous spiritual test. God came to Cain and admonished him and encouraged
him to overcome his evil inclination.
and the LORD turned to Abel and to his offering; 5 but to Cain and to his offering He did not
turn. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. 6 And the LORD said to Cain: Why
are you angered? and why is your countenance fallen? 7 If you improve, shall it not be lifted up?
and if you dont improve, sin waits at the door; and it desires you, but you can rule over it.
(Genesis, 4:3)
Cain did not return to God and went on to murder his brother.
This conflict between brothers continues throughout the story of Genesis. Issacs wife Rebecca
receives a prophecy that this very conflict will be manifested between the children within her
womb:
And the LORD said to her: Two nations are in your womb; two regimes from your insides shall
be separated; the might shall pass from the one regime to the other, and the elder shall serve the
younger. (Genesis,25:32)
Esau is the elder, and like Cain, is confronted with a tremendous spiritual test. The Sages tell us
that Esau was greater in power than Jacob and that Isaac loved him more than Jacob because he
hoped that he would be able to turn his great power to good. His mother Rebecca knew that this
would not happen and so helped Jacob devise a means to impersonate his brother. Before Isaac
died Jacob came to his father in the guise of his brother and Isaac gave him the blessing intended
for his older brother. This blessing is the spiritual inheritance that God gave to Abraham that
through him the world would be blessed.
This is the Torahs description of the scene:
34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry,
and said to his father: Bless me, even me also, O my father. 35 And he said: Your brother
came with guile, and has taken away your blessing. 36 And he said: Is he not rightly named
Jacob? for he has supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now
he has taken away my blessing. And he said: Have you not reserved a blessing for me? 37 And
Isaac answered and said to Esau: Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have
given to him for servants; and with corn and wine I have sustained him; and what then shall I do
for you, my son? 38 And Esau said to his father: Have you but one blessing, my father? bless
me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. 39 And Isaac his father
answered and said to him: Behold, of the fat places of the earth shall be your dwelling, and of the
dew of heaven from above; 40 And by your sword shall you live, and you shall serve your
brother; and it shall come to pass when you shall be aggrieved, that you shall shake his yoke
from off your neck. 41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father
blessed him. And Esau said in his heart: Let the days of mourning for my father be at hand; then
I will slay my brother Jacob. (Genesis 27:34)
In other words, the very spiritual descent of the world, the idea of lack, where one can be blessed
another lacking, that there is one side that is good and another that is evil, became manifested in
the children of Isaac. This conflict is the source of nearly all the conflict that has occurred
through history. It is not a consequence of an error in judgment by Isaac, Rebecca or Jacob; it is
something that is the drama of the history of man that has been played out in the life of the
patriarchs.
Esau had a grandson named Amelek. Amelek embodied this anger and hatred towards the
children of Jacob. When the children of Jacob left Egypt, the nation of Amelek was the first to
attack the children of Israel when they were weak and could hardly defend themselves. The
world had heard the story of the Exodus, and unlike Jethro who saw this as the work of God and
Creator of the universe, the Amelekites went against God and His chosen people, and their
descendents became the sworn enemies of the Jews as we shall discuss in a moment.
Moses reached the land outside of Canaan, and there the nations of Canaan were filled with fear.
They called the prophet Bilaam to come curse the people. Bilaam was truly a prophet who spoke
to God. However, he too hated the children of Jacob. Bilaam along with Jethro and Job were the
three advisors to Pharaoh who advised him to kill all the young Hebrew male infants. Jethro of
course fled the Pharaoh, repented and some say converted to Judaism. Job suffered terribly and
this led him also to repentance. Bilaam remained an enemy to the children of Jacob and never
repented and was killed eventually in war.
The Kabbalah teaches that God creates one side opposite the other there is a side of good and
a side of evil. Moses was the chosen prophet of God to bring Gods will into the world.
However, Bilaam was a prophet equal to the power of Moses who was opposite him. Therefore,
he was called upon to try to use his power to destroy the Jewish people. Bilaam tried to resist this
request because he knew that God had chosen Moses and the Jewish people. He also knew that
he could not go against anything God commanded him to do. The King offered him tremendous
wealth and sent numerous missions to persuade him to come, and eventually Bilaam got
permission from God to go. Bilaam tried to use his sorcery to destroy the Jewish people, but
every time Bilaam sought to curse the Jewish people, God turned his words into blessings.
God commanded the first King of the Jews, Shaul to destroy the nation of Amelek in war.
However, Shaul had pity on their king and imprisoned him. During his imprisonment he was
visited by a wife and fathered a son and continued the race of Amelek.
Over a thousand years later a descendent of the King of Amelek named Haman became the
closest advisor to the King of the Persian Empire. During this time, the Jews were living in exile
spread out in Babylon and the rest of the Kings empire. Haman convinced the King to issue a
decree to have the Jews killed on a single day and their money and property taken by whoever
wished. This is an historical event that is documented in the Megilah Esther (the last historical
book in the Jewish Bible) and the victory of the Jews is celebrated in the holiday of Purim
annually to this day.
The Megilah Esther documents the hanging of Haman and his ten sons. When the book
documents this fact it lists the names of the ten sons in a peculiar way and writes three Hebrew
letters in a small script. These letters add up in gematria to the number 707 (each Hebrew letter
has a numerical equivalent). This is a hint to the year 5707 on the Hebrew calendar which is the
year 1946-7. In Megilah Esther (9:13), Queen Esther says, If it pleases the king give the Jews in
Shushan permission to carry out this days edict tomorrow also, and let Hamans ten sons be
hanged on gallows. However, at this point the ten sons of Haman had already been killed.
Therefore, why is Queen Esther asking the king permission to hang them again? On the word
tomorrow, in Esthers request, the Sages comment: There is a tomorrow that is now, and a
tomorrow which is later. In other words, it is a hint to a later generation and reincarnation of
these same enemies of the Jewish people. (Tanchuma Bo 13 and Rashi on Exodus 13:14).
In Nuremberg on October 16, 1946 (21 Tishrei, 5707 on the Hebrew calendar) ten convicted
Nazi war criminals were hanged. The last one was Julius Streicher, and his very last word as
printed in Newsweek, October 28, 1946, were, Purimfest 1946.
The connection is presented in the Megilah Esther to reveal to us that these Nazis are the souls of
Haman and his sons; the war of the Nazis against the Jews is the same war of Haman in ancient
Persia against the Jews, and the same war that Amelek fought against the Jews leaving Egypt.
All these historical wars are the expression of the hatred of Esau toward his brother Jacob, which
is an expression of the very conflict of good and evil in our world. This conflict is not only a
conflict of physical force, but a spiritual conflict. Esau stole the cloak of Nimrod, which
originally came from Ham the first practioner of sorcery. Amelek and Haman both sought the
use of sorcery and the black side of Pagan magic to fight the Jewish people. In the modern era it
is also well documented that the founders of the Nazi movement were all initiates in cults of
ancient black magic and that they chose Adolf Hitler for his role in their movement and initiated
him into their practices. There is no doubt that Hitler had a demonic power of speech and there is
good reason to believe that this power was achieved through these initiations into pagan cults. It
is also documented that Hitler was not against the Jews until joining these groups.
This is the essence of idolatry, the expression of spiritual powers that lead humans into goals
against the purpose of God. The deepest darkness of idolatry is the outward expression of hate
and desire for destruction of Gods holy people. However, there are more subtle forms of
idolatry that now dominate the world the overwhelming avarice and materialism that
dominates the leading nations today. This greed and desire for money and power is leading the
world to environmental destruction; it is an economy dominated by the need for oil and the
production of weapons of war and the preservation of international conflicts especially the
conflict between Arabs and Israel.
Evil thoughts create evil power physically and spiritually in the world. The primary work of the
Jewish people in exile is to counteract this through thoughts, prayers and deeds of goodness and
kindness. The Torah teaches that we can see good in every detail in life. The Lubavitcher Rebbe
was asked, What good can there possibly be in men like Hitler and Stalin? His answer in a
paraphrase: There are men capable of doing such evil in order to teach us that there are men
capapable of doing even greater good. For we know, as the Chassidic saying goes, even a little
light can dispel the greatest darkness.
Rebbe Nachman in the 1800s foresaw all the darkness that would descend of Europe and the
Jews in the years after his death through World War II. He prayed and beseeched his generation
to listen to him in order to annul these harsh decrees that were prepared in heaven, but his
generation did not listen. This is because ultimately, Rebbe Nachman realized that his teachings
were not for his generation. His teachings were for the future, for our generation, the generation
of the coming of the messiah.
The Messiah, The Ultimate King of Comedy
My sister wrote an essay a long time ago about my brother Judd and me. It described her two
brothers, one a philosopher and the other a comedian. Even though on the outside they seem so
different, they are remarkably similar. They both are obsessed with their vision and have
dedicated their lives to it. But there is a deeper similarity, in the end the search for truth is a
search for the highest form of laughter.
The world has been waiting for thousands of years for the Messiah, a man who will lead the
world back to God, end all wars, and teach humanity love and peace. What is generally not
known is that his highest mission is to bring the world to laughter.
The Messiah is the son of King David and will follow in the footsteps of his father. Before David
became king and before he was a warrior, his first job was as a musician and court jester for
King Shaul. In other words, King David, the Messiah, is first and foremost a comedian.
King David writes in his Psalms (126):
When God returns the captivity of the Jewish people, our former life will have seemed like a
dream and our mouths will be filled with laughter
My brother cannot bare the pain of the world and so he has become a genius in comedy, creating
movies and TV shows that help people free themselves from their pain and bring laughter in the
midst of their suffering. Comedy saves people from pain through laughter.
There is another kind of comedy, and it is the comedy of the messiah. The messiah will help to
reveal to the world that within all the pain and suffering we have experienced in history and in
the events of our personal lives, there was nothing but God.
Suffering exists because the light of God and His love and goodness is hidden from us. In the
midst of pain we do not see the meaning of life. We do not see a purpose. We do not feel love
and kindness. This is the source of all suffering.
The Messiah will usher in an era when we will all see before our very eyes even though it
seemed that God was hidden and that our experience was filled with suffering and pain, in truth,
God was present the whole time, and every event no matter how painful and tragic. Each
moment in all of history was perfectly orchestrated to bring about the highest good for ourselves
individually and humanity as a whole.
Such a revelation is hardly conceivable, and that is why it will fill our mouths with laughter,
because like all great comedy, the joke is unexpected. And indeed the Torah teaches that this is
how the messiah will come, when we are least expecting him.
Central to the Torah and the history of the Jewish people is a remarkable sense of the absurd.
Gods joke begins when He blesses Abrahams eighty-nine year old wife Sarah to have a baby.
Sarah laughs at it, and when their son is born they name him Isaac, which in Hebrew means
laughter.
The joke continues. Abraham stood up against his world to assert the existence of God in a time
dominated by idolatry and pagan magic. Abraham spoke out against the ritual slaughter of
children practiced in his day. And so what did God do? He spoke to Abraham and asked him to
slaughter his own son an ultimate test of faith, and the ultimate absurdity.
The Torah is the story of the Jewish people, the people chosen by God to be His treasure, His
holy nation of priests. And yet through history the Jewish people have suffered more than any
other people, culminating in the Twentieth Century with the Holocaust.
In order to achieve the true laughter and complete perfection of life, the Jewish people along
with the rest of humanity have had to descend to the deepest darkness. From this place of the
absurd how can we find meaning? The meaning is that through this descent we are helping to
complete the creation so that there will be no more evil. It is precisely by descending into the
deepest darkness, and there revealing even the smallest glimpses of Gods light that we are able
to completely rid evil from existence.
When this light and meaning is discovered, evil can be completely eliminated and then we can
have true laughter. The Torah of Moses is the key to unfolding this grand comedy. It is the key to
the faith that will give us the strength to find joy and happiness within the pain and struggles we
experience in life. Through this joyful faith we bring more quickly into reality the time when
God reveals Himself to the world and our mouths will all be filled with laughter, and even now,
each moment of joy and laughter is a small taste of this time to come.
The Messiah will reunite the Jewish people, build the Temple and lead humanity in its mission.
He will spread the light of the secrets of the Torah. This Torah was revealed over a hundred
years ago by Rebbe Nachman, who said the only difference between the messiah and me is that
the world will listen to the Messiah.
In the second part of The Knowledge of God we shall give an overview of the history of the
development of the Kabbalistic spiritual tradition and show how the culmination of Jewish
spirituality and the light of the Torah of Moses is expressed in the teachings of Rebbe Nachman.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
The Spiritual Mission of Moses
and the Jewish People
Inspired by the Teaching of Rebbe Nachman
Na Nach Nachma Nachman From Uman
by Avraham Chaim Apatow
Copyright 2008
avrahamchaim@yahoo.com
Hi my name is Avraham Chaim Apatow and I am a spiritual seeker and former professor of
philosophy who returned to my Jewish roots. For the past seven years I have been living in Israel
studying the Torah. On this blog I am sharing my latest book THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
In this book I explain an essential aspect of Jewish spirituality and Kabbalah concerning the role
of Moses, which is not well known. According to the deeper meaning of this teaching the soul of
Moses is not merely a historical figure, but literally the power of spiritual revelation in the world.
The great Chassidic master Rebbe Nachman teaches us that this is the essential spiritual teaching
of the Torah that leads us to true joy and healing.
I hope my book helps bring greater understanding of this wisdom and joy into your life. You can
also discover more of my work at shareyorah.org a helpful book and interactive program called
The Secret to Achieving Personal Goals.
Enjoy!
Avraham Chaim Apatow
Posted in Knowledge of God, a. Title | Leave a Comment
Preface: Grandma Molly and God
June 8, 2009
The Righteous Man is the foundation of the world.
King Solomon (Proverbs, 10: 25)
An Invitation
The knowledge of God is the awareness of the miraculous nature of life. This awareness is the
natural perception of our world that is too often constricted and silenced. My Grandma Molly
shared this awareness with me. It was several years after my grandfather passed away and I was
standing with Grandma Molly in the backyard of her home looking out at her beautiful roses
amidst the pine trees sloping up the canyon hills towards the blue skies on one summer
afternoon.
Grandma Molly turned to me and said, I was so stupid for listening to your grandfather the
atheist and giving up my religion. (My grandfather was the son of a communist and raised as an
atheist, like so many Jews of his generation.) How can somebody not believe in God? Look at
the sky, the birds, the flowers, the insects, the treeswhere did it all come from? Every breath,
every moment of life, how can there not be a God? Life is amazing, so many wonders,
happenings, all the billions of stars, the people, the stones, the dirt. Where did it all come from?
There must be a God. I was so stupid all these years that I gave up my religion. Grandma Molly
was filled with the awe of life and existence, everything was a marvel in her eyes at that moment,
she was like a child eyes wide in astonishment at everything.
A few years later I became religious. I grew a beard and began to follow the laws of the Sabbath.
I did not drive, use the phone or turn on anything electric from Friday sundown until evening
Saturnday night. My grandmothers comment was: You are going backwards. We gave that up
a long time ago all those laws and customs. Are you going to start driving a horse and buggy
too. We both laughed. With all the pain and suffering in the world, you think that there is a
God, pheh.
There are moments for all of us when we see the miraculous, when the awareness and knowledge
of God is as clear as dayand at other times the heavens are obscured by the clouds of life. I
hope that this book helps clear open the heavens for you Molly and for you my reader who is
now opening the pages of this book.
Avraham Chaim Apatow
Eighth Day of Chanuka
The Holy City of Jerusalem
Posted in Knowledge of God, b. Preface: Grandma Molly and God | Leave a Comment
Acknowledgements
June 8, 2009
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank first of all my friend and teacher Moshe Azizo for the inspiration and
guidance in writing this book. My friend Shimon HaKohen, Simcha Pivovoz and Dov Avraham
Rav Ben Shor each helped with editing and recommendations. On the physical plane, I would
not have been able to type this book if it were not for the healing advice of my friend Shoshana
Sarah and the work of the Sarno method that freed me of my repetitive stress syndrome, thank
God. I would also like to thank my mother, may her memory be for a blessing, and grandmother
Molly and my good friend Allen Dana for their generous support in this project. Chaim ben
Eleazer was so generous for donating the use of his computer. I would also like to thank all those
who have guided me on the path of the Torah and Breslov Chassidut, especially Shmuel Levy,
Simcha Pivovoz, Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum, Rav Peretz Auerbach, and all my friends in Israel
from whom I learn so much. I also gained a special insight into the history of the Jewish people
listening to the lectures of Rabbi Shimon Kesin. A special thanks also to Michael Kabat, Baruch
Zev Olnick, and as always to Barry Goldberg. Often the most difficult challenges are revealed to
be the greatest blessings. I thank the Blessed One for everything which made the writing of this
book possible and all the insights I received.
Posted in Acknowledgements, Knowledge of God | Leave a Comment
Introduction: The Hidden Message
June 8, 2009
My Personal Revelation
This book is about God and the mission He gave Moses and the Jewish people to bring a light
into the world that would lead to the perfection of creation as a place of ultimate love, peace, and
laughter.
Before I began studying the Torah ten years ago I considered all religions the spiritual
imaginations of ancient world mythology. However, after an intense ten year journey into the
heart of the Torah and its secrets, the Torah has become the center of my existence. I would like
to share briefly some of the awesome realizations that led to this transformation. The path of the
Torah and its faith in God is not something of the ancient past, but a powerful reality that
thousands of Jewish people are awakening to today.
I grew up in a family that was completely separated from its Jewish roots. Although both my
parents are Jewish, I did not go to Hebrew school, attend a synagogue or celebrate any Jewish
holiday. We were the first in our reform Jewish neighborhood to have a Christmas tree.
When I was a child I asked my father what Judaism was. I asked him, Do we believe in God?
He said no. Do we believe in a soul or the afterlife? He said that we didnt. So I asked then,
What is Judaism about? He said that it was a tradition of customs. I had no interest in
traditions or customs for their own sake, and so this convesation was the first and last time I
spoke about religion in my family..
My grandfather was the son of an immigrant from Russia, a communist who was exiled by the
Czar before the revolution of 1917, and so he was raised as an atheist. Until the age of 31 I had
never met a Jew who believed in the Jewish religion. Consequently, I had not the slightest
thought in my mind that there was a God. When I was a child my entire life centered around
music, movies and television. My grandfather Bob Shad was one of the most famous men in the
music business; he recorded the Platters, Janis Joplin, Ted Nugent, and all the legendary figures
in Jazz, such as, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, and Sarah
Vaughn. My brother Judd is well known today as one of the premiere comedy writer/directors in
Hollywood. Entertainment and money was our family religion.
My grandfather and I were very close. He did not have any sons, and when I was born I was
named after him and given a middle name after his father. My grandfather treated me like his
son, but with the special bond that only a grandfather and grandson can share. He was an
amazing man, full of the love of life. When I was a small boy of only five, he used to take me
flying in his twin engine Cessna airplane. The flights in his airplane were like spiritual
experiences for me. I remember so vividly the roar of the engine as we sped down the runway,
soared into the air and flew above the clouds.
When I was nineteen, the phone rang early in the morning on the day of my birthday, March 13,
1985. It was my aunt who told me that my grandfather died of a heart attack at the young age of
sixty-five. I cried so intensely and out of the depths of my tears and pain I shouted and screamed
out at God for taking my grandfather away from me. For over an hour I continued to shout out
loud at God in my anger.
I never thought about it until many years later how strange it was that I was shouting at God. I
had no belief in God, not even a thought about Him. And yet in this moment, I spoke to God face
to face God who was present and real, the Creator and Director of all events. Hidden in my
soul was the complete faith in God and this tragic shock brought it out of me. But after this initial
shock, this strange, intuitive knowledge of God disappeared.
The death of my grandfather led me on a spiritual quest. I had just begun studying Greek
philosophy in college and learning about the idea of the immortal soul. I had not considered
these ideas seriously, but after my grandfathers passing I concluded that the beauty and love I
saw in him could not just vanish. This was the most real thing I had experienced in my life.
Platos teaching of the immortalty of the soul and the Eternal Ideas of Truth, Beauy, and Wisdom
became my religion, but I did not think about God.
I went on to devote my life to the philosophy of Plato. Plato presents a spiritual teaching that is
the foundation of all Western thought and new age philosophy. I went on to study with a
contemporary master named Pierre Grimes, who had revived Platos philosophy and developed a
whole path of life around this ancient wisdom. Pierre taught me his new paradigm for
psychology based on Plato and his teacher Socrates, and the art of dream interpretation. We also
practiced the discipline of Zen meditation and I studied with Maezumi Roshi, the founder of the
Zen Center of Los Angeles.
The ultimate questions of philosophy are what am I? And what is reality? These deep questions
are asked also in Zen as puzzles that become the focus of mediation practice. In Japanese they
are called koans. In Zen, a student focuses all his meditation and energy on such a question until
he exhausts every possible thought and answer. This leaves the student in a complete state of
wonder and openness that awakens the mind to direct experience of existence. In life, we are
usually thinking about pains and pleasures, different thoughts, fantasies and fears. All these
thoughts become the object of our experience. It takes a lot of effort to purify the mind in order
to just experience the world simply and really as it is without our mental interference.
After many years of intense meditation, I had my first enlightenment experience. In the middle
of the meditation hall I burst out in laughter at the joy of the moment. Later that day one of the
other students asked me why I laughed and I answered him saying, I saw the smile of God.
This was the pure description of my experience. My answer to the Zen Koan, but oddly enough, I
still had no interest or belief in God.
Despite this experience, I continued on in Buddhist practice and came close to becoming a
Buddhist and a teacher of this religion. The ultimate quest of the Buddhist is to discover your
original face before your mother and father were born. This original face is the realization of
nothingness and the illusion of the soul and all individuality. The irony is that my intense
journey in Zen and quest for enlightenment led me to the opposite I discovered behind all the
experience of the world and beyond emptiness was the smile of God. It was this realization
that helped me to continue on my journey and discover that my original face is a Jewish one (big
nose and all).
About four or five years later when I was thirty-one I began to be curious about Kabbalah. I was
then a professor of philosophy and I had studied nearly every spiritual tradition of the world, but
I was completely ignorant about the Jewish tradition. Many people were at that time beginning to
speak about Kabbalah. It was just becoming a trend, and I was a little embarrassed that I knew
nothing about it. I visited a synagogue in my town and began a class in Jewish philosophy.
All I can say is that something within me that was sleeping woke up. For thirty-one years I had
no interest in anything related to God or Judaism, but suddenly from out of nowhere my soul
longed for the Torah, faith, and God. I remember picking up the Torah for the first time in my
life to study it. I did not know or understand what I was reading, but my soul was exulting in
ecstasy. It was one of the strangest experiences in my life.
You may think that this is a natural thing because I was finally waking up to my Jewish identity,
but I can tell you the experience was not so simple. You have to understand that I was perfectly
content in my life and with my spiritual path. I had no feeling that anything was missing. When
this passion awakened within me, I still did not have any idea what the Torah really was. In fact,
everything that had I learned previously about it seemed rather simplistic and silly. I did not
believe in those ancient stories, and I considered religious people to be ignorant of science,
wisdom and spirituality. I had no desire whatsoever to be identified with this camp of people. In
fact, my very connection to this group was deeply disturbing to me as well as my friends and
family. My interest in Judaism became so disturbing to me that eventually I concluded that the
religion was like a cult and that I had to separate myself from it before it took me over and
destroyed my life.
I left the synagogue for many months, but during that time I felt a terrible sadness in my soul. I
had a good friend at synagogue and one day I decided to go back and visit with him. As soon as I
entered the door, all the deep feelings of love for God and the Torah reawakened within me. My
soul was flooded with happiness. I couldnt deny it. I then said to myself, I dont really care if
the religion is true or not, I obviously am a Jew and need to be connected to my religion and
people.
For five years I walked around thinking I was going crazy. I was following a religion that I did
not believe intellectually. How is it that I could take seriously the stories of the Bible? God,
Adam and Eve, Noah and his ark, all these miracles, and yet my soul was on fire with passion
for its teaching and its prayer and practices.
The Torah may seem very simplistic to those of us who are not educated in it. This is because the
Torah is written in a language of simple stories. God did this for a very special reason. He wants
the Torah to relate to everyone, child or adult, wise or simpleton. Every person can read the
Torah and understand it on some level. However, the depths of the Torahs wisdom are infinite.
Throughout history the greatest minds of the Jewish people, minds greater than Einstein, Freud,
or Marx, have devoted every moment of their lives to the detailed study of the Torah because of
its profound depths.
Even though I had begun to study and practice Judaism I had no conception of these depths. I
was inspired by the feelings of love and faith that I was experiencing for the first time in my life.
No matter how strange the religion seemed to me, there were several teachings that did
ultimately convince me of its truth.
Many people turn to Eastern philosophy because they are looking for a path to enlightenment.
These paths are beautiful and many do reach the wisdom and enlightenment that they are looking
for. Enlightenment is the realization that there is a greater reality than the perception of life we
ordinarily experience as an individual soul observing the world. The experience of enlightenment
is an experience of life in a state of freedom from all sense of self. When a person lets go of
the sense of self he or she is able to experience the oneness of life where there is no sense of
separation between the perceiver and what he or she is perceiving, (that is between you and the
world you are experiencing). The deeper levels of enlightenment lead to experiences that are free
of any mental category or description and so are called in Buddhism the experience of
emptiness. This emptiness is also paradoxically called completeness, because when we are
free of the self we are free from all desire.
There is a path of spirituality that leads to the experience of enlightenment and the transcending
of self or ego that is, the experience of emptiness, as it is called. But there is a problem with
this enlightenment (and all practitioners of Buddhism are keenly aware of this). After a person
reaches enlightenment he still has to live in this world of pain and suffering. The Eastern
religions teach that pain and suffering are part of the illusion of existence. Maybe many people
can accept this, but one who is honest and sincere cannot be satisfied with such an answer. Pain
and suffering raise the biggest questions of existence. The fact that one can reach a perception of
existence that penetrates to a deeper level where there is no pain, is not an answer. It is an
escape. This experience reveals that pain and suffering are not the ultimate end of life, but it does
not explain why there is such enormous suffering in the world or if it will ever end.
The Torah deals with the suffering of life in way that is honest and with integrity. First and
foremost the Torah accepts the reality of suffering. Life is not an illusion. It is the handiwork of
the Creator. In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth This is the foundation
of reality. The world and its pain is a part of the creation. The reason for suffering is a deep
mystery, but also deeply meaningful (as we shall discuss later on).It is part of the process for the
birth of a world that will be ultimately free of pain and suffering. The Torah teaches that the
world that we all long for in our hearts, a world of love and peace, is the purpose of Gods plan,
and the pain we experience is part of the process to achieving this end. I remember sitting in
synagogue alone reading about this and crying tears of joy and relief when I realized that there is
truly a purpose to history and an ultimate meaning of human life in this world.
Another fundamental teaching of the East is that we must free ourselves of the ego. One rabbi
explained to me that this is not possible through meditation. In the practice of meditation one can
experience life free from the limitations of the ego, but these experiences are always temporary
and the meditator returns to his regular consciousness. Indeed, this is what my Zen teachers
taught me as well. There is no permanent enlightenment. This is an illusion and false
advertising in the Eastern religions. In fact, it is well known that many of the worlds leading
teachers in the Eastern traditions suffer from various addictions and sexual problems because
they are unable to deal with the conflicts between their spiritual life and their ordinary life.
This rabbi explained to me that whenever someone is seeking enlightenment no matter what they
think, they are ultimately doing it for themselves. He said that the only true way to get beyond
the ego is if we do something for a higher reason.
This is one of the reasons why God gave the Jewish people commandments. It is out of love,
because when one performs a commandment he can do something for God, and not for the ego.
This the only way to break the power of the ego.
I had spent over ten years of intensive experience in Zen I saw very clearly the truth of what the
rabbi said. Although Zen practice brings one to experiences and feelings of egolessness, the
only freedom from the negative aspect of the ego comes when we recognize God and dedicate
our life to serving Him. This is what brings true healing and wholeness to ones life. The Eastern
philosophies cannot achieve this because they do not acknowledge the reality of the individual
soul. They train people to feel egoless and to feel the oneness of life, which is a beautiful and
important part of life. However, the purpose of life is not to flee from the ego, but to use it to
serve God.
As I learned more about the Torah I slowly began taking on more of the commandments. During
this time I was still driving to synagogue on the Sabbath until a most amazing event happened to
me.
I had met a man many years ago outside a yoga class. He was wearing a colorful Jewish hat and
reading a Hebrew book. I told him I was a Greek scholar and we began talking about the
different ancient languages. He happened to be a religious studies scholar and his wife was very
interested in Plato. We planned to get together and for many years I had his phone number on my
cork board, but we never spoke. After becoming religious I began to look for someone with
whom I could ask my questions about philosophy and other spiritual traditions. I remembered the
man I had met briefly over five years earlier. I no longer had his phone number, but I
remembered that he lived in Irvine, California. It was a Wednesday and I called a synagogue in
Irvine to see if they knew who he was. No one answered the phone.
That Saturday I went to my synagogue for the Sabbath in Laguna Beach, California. After the
prayers, we sat down to have lunch as we did every week. There were some guests with us and I
heard one of them say that he was from Irvine. He sat directly across from me at the table and I
asked him, Do you know a man from your town who is a teacher and religious studies scholar?
He said, Yes, thats me. I was in astonishment. I said, Do you know that I made a phone call
looking for you the other day. He replied, Yeah, I was wondering why I got the desiret this
week to come visit Laguna Beach for the first time.
That day I decided not to drive to synagogue any more. I saw clearly that God was in the world
watching me and guiding me back to the Torah. I met this man for no more than a few minutes
over five years earlier. I had never spoken to him since. Suddenly, I think of him and pick up the
phone to search for him. A few days later he shows up at my synagogue and sits across the table
from me for lunch. This was not a coincidence. It was the hand of God before my very eyes.
This is one of many such experiences I had. It is in these moments that I became aware that the
events of life are not random. There is a director to the script of life. The more that I came closer
to the Torah, the more I began to see these awesome moments in my life. They are awesome
because in these moments we get a glimpse that God cares for us and loves us, and that He is
directing the world. Although most often He is hidden from us, in these remarkable moments He
shows His presence.
Jewish people feel this presence through our study of the Torah and our practice of Gods
commandments. One of the things that was most surprising to me when I entered the Jewish
world is how no one questions the existence of God. As a professor of philosophy, I dealt with
this question with so many students and as a central part of Western philosophy. In the Jewish
world it is not an issue, and this is because religious Jews feel the presence of God.
My experience is not unique. Over the past thirty years, after hundreds of years that have seen
the overwhelming majority of Jews leave their religion, tens of thousands of Jews from all over
the world have turned back to the Torah and the practice of the commandments. Each one of
them have a unique story. But the basic experience is an awakening of the spark that is in the
Jewish soul, a spark that carries the message of the purpose of the Jewish people that was given
in the Torah by Moses and carried through the generations from father to son, mother to
daughter.
My journey back to the Torah began with my grandfathers death. Twelve years after he died I
asked my mother for the first time if I had a Hebrew name. She told me that my Hebrew name
was Abraham, after my grandfather. But his name is Robert, I said puzzled. No, she said,
his name is really Abraham. They called him Abey, and that turned into Bobby. Thus, my
grandfather Bob Shad the famous Jazz and rock music producer, like many other famous Jews,
was really born with a much more Jewish sounding name Abraham Shadrinky.
On my first night celebrating the holiday of Shavout, the day we received the Torah on Mount
Sinai, the rabbi gave a talk and said that the patriarch Abraham was originally called Abram by
his parents. Later God added the letter H and changed his name to Abraham. The rabbi then
explained that his original name meant lover of wisdom, but when it was changed it meant
lover of God. I cried when I heard this because I saw that in my very name was the story of my
life. I was a philosopher, which literally means, lover of wisdom, and now, like my namesake,
Abraham, I too was becoming a lover of God.
Just as God was hidden from me, also hidden from me was the entire story of my life. I
possessed a name I didnt know for thirty-one years of my life. No one in my family had any
idea what our last name Apatow meant. (I found out later that it was a city in Poland that had a
thriving Jewish community before the holocaust.) People used to hear it and think I was an
American Indian. In other words, I grew up without any knowledge of my true identity.
Moreover, I did not know the teachings of my people, our history, or my connection to God.
In the Jewish world there is also an entirely different calendar (one based on the moon and the
sun, as opposed to the western solar calendar), so that every date in the life of a Jew has a
different significance in the context of the Hebrew calendar. I was therefore curious to see if the
day of my grandfathers death also fell out on my birthday in the Hebrew calendar. The day of
someones death is considered a very powerful and positive day in the Jewish world. It is the day
when that soul reaches its completion and ascends to higher worlds. It is also a day that is
celebrated every year and on which the person who has died as a special power to bring blessing
into the world for the people he loves. However, it was still a difficult and painful memory for
me. I looked up these days on the Hebrew calendar and saw that the day of his death did not fall
on my Hebrew birthday. But I saw something that was even more remarkable. I discovered that
my grandfather who I loved so deeply and was so deeply connected to, the man I was named
after and whose passing began my spiritual journey in life that he and I were born on the very
same day in the Hebrew calendar. There are no accidents. He was born to a father who was a
communist and he lived in the time of the Holocaust when it was so hard to believe in God and
His Torah, but somehow God had planned that he would have a grandson named after him and
born on the same day who would return to the ancient faith of his fathers.
This is the story of the Jewish people today, a people slowly but steadily returning to their
purpose and the fulfilling of Gods ancient promise to the world.
How this Book Began
I was traveling in Israel and my stay was unexpectedly extended. My friend Gedalia had rented a
small apartment in the mountains of the north in the Holy city of Tsfat. He decided not to go to
Tsfat and offered it me for a few weeks. Tsfat is an ancient city of cobblestone streets where the
greatest masters of Kabbalah walked and the teaching of Kabbalah flourished.
It was a small two bedroom apartment and I could not help but think of a friend I had spoken
with in Jerusalem who was also in need of accommodations. I was a little reluctant to invite him,
because I knew his presence would disrupt my unique opportunity to study, pray and meditate in
this holy place, but God had other plans. I was only there a few days, and my friend whose name
is Moshe, showed up at my door. Our mutual friend Simcha had seen him in Tsfat and brought
him to my apartment to visit, and so I invited him to stay. A month later we decided to rent an
apartment in Tsfat together, which happened to be next to the site of the ancient school of
wisdom where Shem and Ever taught, figures from the book of Genesis who lived in the time of
Noah and Abraham; it was the very site where Jacob took refuge for fourteen years when he fled
from his brother Esau.
Moshe is a Torah scholar and healer. He is an operatic tenor and when he sings and prays at the
Western Wall he can be heard over hundreds of other people. Moshe was close with a sage
named Yisroel Ber Odessa, or the Saba (the grandpa). The Saba walked upon the earth until
the age of one hundred and six. Moshe said that the Saba was not of this world. He was someone
who perfected himself in the service of God and to be with him was to feel like you were sitting
by one of the patriarchs, Abraham, Issac or Jacob.
The Saba is a well known figure in Israel today. In 1922 when he was thirty years old he
received a letter from heaven. This letter contained a communication from Rabbi Nachman of
Breslov, a great figure in Torah who died in 1810.
I had never considered this story seriously, but Moshe said that this short note contained the
secret of the Torah and the key to the redemption of the world. It seemed absolutely incredulous
and for years I had just ignored Moshe when he spoke of this. However, when I saw him in
Jerusalem his words began to have a strange effect on me.
During the many months we spent together through the cold winter and hard rains in Tsfat, we
sat in our freezing cold apartment in the mountains and were warmed by the Torah secrets he
shared with me. Slowly my soul opened and his words began to enter into my heart.
During this time I began to become aware that this friend of mine was a very special individual.
On the outside he appears like a normal person, a jovial, warm and friendly man who didnt
seem to have any spiritual inclinations. But after living and speaking with him for many
months, I discovered that my friend was like an angel. He selflessly traveled from place to place
helping others with health issues, family and personal problems. He is a naturopath, and he has a
remarkable spiritual ability to know exactly what was going on in a persons body and what
particular foods or herbs could heal him. He regularly was able to heal people when other
doctors had failed and had given up hope. I watched as he healed a women over several months
with a severe and life-threatening case of high blood pressure. I saw her before and after the
treatment and it was a witnessing of the revival of the dead before my very eyes.
Moshe also has a spiritual gift of intuition to know how to help people in other ways, as if he was
guided by heaven with just the right advice to heal personal issues or relationships. He helped me
with many personal issues that were blocking me and seemed to open up the gates to help me
flourish in my life. His advice did not come in soft and spiritual ways, but in short quips which I
did not listen to at first, until I began to realize that he was sent like an angel to help me.
The main gate he opened for me was that of faith. He did this by explaining to me the secret of
the letter from heaven. The message of this letter is rather simple. It says to serve God with joy
and stresses our connection with the great holy man, Rebbe Nachman, and then writes the name
Nachman according to a Kabbalistic formula: Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman (Uman is
the city of his burial).
Shortly after meeting my friend Moshe I had a dream in which the Saba came to me and with his
beaming smile told me his message personally. He told me how truly important my happiness
and everyone elses happiness and joy is to God. I had never experienced a dream like this
before. I understood that it was not merely a dream, but in fact this great, holy man had come to
speak to me. Moshe told me that it was our task to spread the Sabas message to America. I
didnt know what he meant. But eventually this simple message he taught me from the Saba
opened up the gate of my understanding. I then discovered for myself how indeed this letter
from heaven and the Kabbalistic name Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman was the key to
understanding the Torah and its secrets.
Two thousand years ago, the great Kabbalist and sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the author of
the Zohar (the primary source for the Kabbalah), prophesied that the world would be saved by a
song that would be expressed in a special Kabbalistic formula in Hebrew letters (Tikune Zohar,
51). Two hundred years ago Rebbe Nachman told his followers that this song of redemption
would be revealed in the future (Lekutei Morahran II, 8).
The Torah is a song and the entire history of Jewish spirituality is the unfolding of its melody.
The masters of Kabbalah and the great Jewish sages explored its depths; but the ultimate purpose
of this song is for its music to be heard by the entire world. Not everyone can be a sage, a
scholar, or mystic, but their revelations must be revealed to all.
The song of redemption is a key that will take the entire depths of the Torah, its mysteries, and
healing power and bring it to the world in a way that can inspire the simplest child. This song is
Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman as revealed in the letter from heaven.
The Kabbalistic formula Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman expresses the essence of the
entire Torah and purpose of creation. The Torah teaches that the ultimate purpose of creation is
for man to reach his perfection and ascend to a level above the angels to be a partner with God.
The letter from heaven expresses in a Kabbalistic language that the soul of Moses has reached
this level and therefore the world has reached its completion. In other words, the letter comes to
announce to imminent redemption of the world.
The key to the worlds redemption is through the perfected soul of Moses. The perfected man is
called in Hebrew the True Tzaddik. The True Tzaddik is the manifestation of Gods light of love
and healing in the world. God is infinite and beyond the grasp and knowledge of man. We
experience God by becoming like God. And we become like God by living a life of
righteousness in the way of the Tzaddik.
The Tzaddik lives in purity and holiness and this brings him into union with God. His soul
becomes as it were a window for the infinite to shine through. This purity and clarity is the
Tzaddiks perfection. The soul of the Tzaddik functions as a window through which shines the
light of God into the world. It is this connection that sustains creation.
Any individual is capable of achieving this same relationship. In order to come close to God we
must follow the path of the Tzaddik, live in righteousness, and purify our souls. It is through this
purity that we are able to receive and experience this light and unity in our individual lives. The
True Tzaddik brings this light into the entire world and inspires and enlightens us to receive this
light. We will explain in more detail later that the Tzaddik is not God, but he is the pure, spiritual
channel through which we are able to connect to this light. This role gives the Tzaddik a unique
role and responsibility within creation.
The Torah teaches that the souls of the tzaddikim have even greater power after death. Their
power is to pray on behalf of man to draw down blessings from God into our individual lives to
help us in all that we need: in health, protection from all harm, livelihood, marriage, children and
spiritual development. There are thousands of tzaddikim who have lived and they continue to
help radiate Gods goodness into the world. There are also many tzaddikim living today.
However, there is one called the True Tzaddik who is the greatest of all, and this is Moses, for he
had the merit to bring Gods Torah into the world.
According to the tradition we shall share with you, Rebbe Nachman was the fifth and final
incarnation of Moses in the world (Biur Halekotim, at the end of Torah 22). The name Nachman
means consolation and healing in Hebrew, and so the name of this great holy man is our
consolation for the long pain of exile and suffering in this world and the source of healing that
will bring the perfection of man. For Rebbe Nachman in his lifetime brought into the world the
hidden aspects of the Torah that reveal openly to all mankind the path to God and human
perfection, that is, the keys to redemption.
The essence of this book is that we need the soul of Moses as a connecting point between
humanity and God. The soul of Moses is the power of love and revelation in the world, it
connects heaven and earth. Although humanity needs a human being, a leader to connect us to
God, this does not separate us from God in any way. The ultimate teaching of Rebbe Nachman is
that the highest form of spirituality is the simple act of secluding oneself and speaking ones
heart directly to God. In other words, each person is supposed to follow in the path of Moses and
speak directly to God. By cultivating this relationship with the Creator we have the opportunity
to participate in the work of the tzaddikim to bring the light of God into the world and receive
inspiration and wisdom to guide our personal lives.
The Kabbalistic formula and song Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman is the key that opens
the gate to genuine healing, true joy, and closeness to God and the ancient holy sages. We will
explain its meaning in more detail, but this introduction to the song will serve as a gateway to the
wisdom of Moses and Rebbe Nachman and all the great sages of Israel, and to the secrets of the
Torah that we wish to share with you in this book.
The Hidden Message
Three thousand two hundred and fifty-three years ago God gave the Torah to Moses to give to
the Jewish people. The Torah is a message for humanity, and the Jewish people are its guardians.
Nonetheless, this message has been hidden and obscured through the course of history. The
Knowledge of God will begin to reveal the keys to understanding the message of the Torah and
how it is bringing humanity across the storm tossed ocean of troubles to its promised redemption.
The message is simply:
God is the Creator of the world. He created the world for man, and all the events of history are
directed towards a purpose to bring creation to its completion and perfection.
This completion is characterized by one thing wisdom the consciousness of God and the
clear recognition of His love and goodness and the goodness of His creation.
God is creating a world where there will be no evil and where His absolute love for all life is
fully revealed and felt by every being. There will be no wars, no hunger, no disease. Humanity
will live in perfect harmony with itself, and with all creatures and the environment. Human
beings will rejoice in the wonder and joy of existence, and this joy will steadily increase in its
fullness and satisfaction. We will all grow in our living knowledge and closeness with the
Creator, and we will spend our lives deepening this wisdom and thanking and blessing God for
these awesome gifts He is bestowing upon us and for the simple miracle of being alive.
Although many traditions hint or speak of such an end of time, the Jewish tradition has received
a detailed explanation of the stages and steps necessary in this process, the reasons for each
stage, and the time and nature for the world to reach its final completion.
God created the world in such a way that His love and goodness is often hidden by the painful
nature of our experience. God hid himself so that there could be a world of life and death, good
and evil. This allows for freedom. The purpose of freedom is for man to choose life and
goodness and thereby bring greater God consciousness back into creation. This process of
choosing life over death and good over evil transforms physical existence from a place where
God is hidden into a realm of revelation until ultimately the knowledge of God will fill the earth
like water covers the sea (Isaiah, 11:9).
This is the purpose of creation and history. This time is called the redemption. It is the time when
God will reveal that although He has appeared to have turned His face away from His world, He
has been ever present guiding the creation through a process of birth into the magnificent image
we have described.
All the terror and chaos and pain and suffering that we see is called the birth pangs of this
process (Ketubot). Just as a woman must go through a most painful labor, so the entire creation
is also going through such a process. Today we are living in the end of history we the very
destructive power of humanity has reached a point where man lives in constant danger of
destroying his entire world and the natural environment. The fear and terror we all feel at the
constant sight of this is the screams of our world in the final moments of its labor.
The ultimate birth will be the revelation of the miraculous and Godly nature of our existence.
The danger we experience is the result of the lowest aspects of human nature dominating our
existence, the desire for consumption and greed and ambition to dominate our brother. These are
the instincts of nature that stem from our animal-like desire.
The birth will be a revelation of Godliness in the world. We will perceive directly that we are not
subject to the complete domination of nature and animal-like forces. Mankind will directly
perceive that there is a Creator and that He is fully in control of every aspect and event of
existence, and that there is no escape from this reality. We will see that none of the problems that
we have created through our animalistic desires can be solved through human reason. They can
only be solved when human beings begin to transform their nature and begin to openly accept
their role as being channels for the miraculous power of the Creator. In other words, in the very
near future, God will begin to reveal His direct control over nature, and He will do this as He
promised to do thousands of years ago, through the children of Israel and their King.
This revelation of God and the way to it is called the Revelation at Mount Sinai. The revelation
of the Torah at Mount Sinai was experienced by all the children of Israel, but it was Moses alone
who ascended Mount Sinai and spent two periods of 40 days without sleep or food or water
learning the Torah of God.
The written Torah is called the revealed Torah. The Torah captures the complete revelation, but
the full expression of this revelation and teaching to Moses was concealed. In other words, the
spiritual revelation of Moses was not written down. It has been passed down from teacher to
student throughout history as commentary on the written Torah. It also has been transmitted to
holy and righteous men through prophecy, that is, spiritual revelation and communications from
angels and the souls of holy teachers who come to maintain and advance the spiritual life of the
Torah in the world.
The central figure in this revelation is Moses. This is equally true both in the past and in the
future to come. Whatever was or will be revealed to anyone was first revealed to Moses on
Mount Sinai. This is the foundation of the Torah and Jewish Law.
Moses is not simply a historical figure. Moses is revelation. He is the living spiritual power of
God consciousness at the center of creation. This is the essence of the teaching of the Jewish
spiritual tradition called Kabbalah.
Few people throughout history have known this secret teaching and its significance. This is true
both in the Jewish and world. Today we live in an era of revelation and it is fitting for this
knowledge to spread throughout the world in order to truly understand the Torah, to clarify the
worlds religions and the purpose of life.
The Jewish people and their observance of the Torah present an exemplary role of morality and
dedication to community and family and religious piety. However, few today look to the Jewish
people as the spiritual light inspiring the world. The world looks to Jews as leaders in banking,
science, law, medicine, entertainment, comedy but when it comes to wisdom it generally looks
elsewhere.
This fact is the consequence of exile. The Jewish people have not only been in exile physically,
we have been in exile spiritually, which means that we are separated from who we are and our
mission in the world. That mission is as the prophet Isaiah says to be a light to the nations.
After over two thousand years of physical exile, the Jewish people have not chosen to actively
spread their wisdom in a revealed form, either to themselves or to the world. The non-Jewish
world has been perceived as the threat to our survival, and little has been done to influence our
surroundings. Instead, we have tried to shelter and protect ourselves from being influenced by
our surroundings.
Secondly, the deepest secrets and greatest wisdom has historically been reserved for select few.
Because of this even the average religious and learned Jew knows very little of the deeper vision
of the Torah and the purpose of creation, except for the general principles.
Those who study the Jewish tradition, Jew and Gentile can easily miss the deeper meaning of the
Torah because the Torah is written in a way that conceals its secrets. Consequently, many who
read the Torah conclude that it is uninterested with spirituality and presents a picture of an
unmerciful God. The Torah also de-emphasizes our connection and dependence on others in our
spiritual relationship to God. And so, unlike other religions, the emphasis in Jewish life has not
been on a leader, but the actual practice and knowledge of the Torah. The truth is that the Torah
contains the light and wisdom of God to heal the world and provide for all its needs. The exile of
the Jewish people and the destruction of its Temple has hidden its light.
In the last several hundred years a new light has emerged that is reigniting the Jewish people and
transforming the Jewish soul. This is the light of remarkable spiritually advanced leaders who
have declared that the time of redemption has begun, and these teachers have begun to reveal the
deeper meaning of the Torah to the mass of Jewish people. This caused a revolution within the
Jewish world that has gone through several periods of resistance from the conservative voices
that seek to maintain the vision of exile, and have not awoken to this new light (which is the
original light of the Torah that has been hidden through our exile).
Nonetheless, this light has gained a foundation within the Torah observant world, and it is
consistently being revived and reinvigorated. It is the light that is slowly transforming and
preparing the Jewish people for its ultimate role in history. When the Jewish people finally
receive this light they will be able to rise to the occasion and truly be a light to the nations
spreading the living knowledge of God to the world and the purpose of creation.
The essence of this teaching is the revelation of the role of the Perfected Righteous Man in the
world, that is, the role of Moses. King Solomons says that, The Righteous Man is the foundation
of the world. The Torah teaches that there will never arise in history a prophet as great as Moses.
He is this truly perfected human being. Moses is not merely a historical figure in the Jewish
religion, but in fact his soul is the connecting point between humanity and God.
According to the deeper meaning of this teaching the soul of Moses is literally the power of
spiritual revelation in the world. This revelation manifests itself in history through the
incarnations of the great visionaries in Jewish history who have each contributed to the spiritual
evolution that is leading to the perfection of humanity. The goal of this evolution is to enlighten
the world with the knowledge of God. The importance of this idea illuminates the deeper
meaning and significance of the Jewish Bible in a way that brings clarity, coherence, and
contemporary relevance to Moses revelation at Mount Sinai.
It is through the soul of Moses that the secret and deeper meaning of the Torah and the purpose
of history has been preserved. It is the aim of this book to reveal the basic message of this
tradition. In order to do this we will need to clarify several important aspects of the Torah that
are not widely known or well understood
The Role of Moses
The nature of the Righteous sage (the Tzaddik)
The Secret Kabbalistic tradition
The Merciful Nature of God
Reincarnation
The process of Redemption
This will provide both the Jew and Gentile a deeper and richer more understanding of the Torah,
its spiritual depth, the meaning and precision of its understanding of history, its spiritual vitality,
its role for helping us understanding history and the purpose of life, and give us the power and
knowledge to participate more actively in the perfection of ourselves and the world.
In the first part we will give an overview of the spiritual principles that explain the deeper
meaning of the Torah and the life of Moses. In the second part, we will give an introduction to
both the hidden and revealed teachings that are taught by the Kabbalah that allow us to become
more active participants in Moses mission to enlighten the world with the knowledge of God.
In the second part of The Knowledge of God we shall give an overview of the history of the
development of the Kabbalistic spiritual tradition and show how the culmination of Jewish
spirituality and the light of the Torah of Moses is expressed in the teachings of Rebbe Nachman.
Chapter 7: The Eternal Soul of Moses
Reincarnation and the History of Jewish Spirituality
In the first part of this book we discussed the concept of the Tzaddik in the Torah. We also saw
how Moses is the complete Tzaddik who is the unique soul who was chosen to receive the
perfect revelation of Gods wisdom. There are many hints through the Torah and sages that
Moses is the power of wisdom in creation. According to the tradition in Breslov Chassidut, the
soul of Moses has appeared in history in five primary reincarnations: Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai,
the author of the Zohar, Rabbi Issac Luria, (called the Arizal) the greatest expounder of
Kabbalistic wisdom, Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Chassidut, and Rebbe
Nachman, great-grandson of Israel Baal Shem Tov. This chain of wisdom through these holy
souls is the unfolding of the wisdom of the messiah in the world.
Reincarnation is a fundamental part of the Torah. However, it is not discussed explicitly within
the revealed law. The Torah focuses on a persons responsibility to use his or her freedom to
follow the Laws given by God. God is the ultimate judge and rewards and punishes individuals
according to their adherence to His Law. In the end of days, the Torah teaches us that God will
cause a resurrection of the dead where those who have died will live again in the physical world.
The resurrection of the dead is one of the thirteen fundamental principles of faith according to
Maimonides, the Rambam. The Kabbalists explain that this means that the entire physical nature
of creation will be transformed and return to its perfect state before the sin of Adam.
In the beginning, the world descended because of the sin of Adam. The punishment for this sin
was death:
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it; for in the day that you
eatest thereof you shall surely die.
Before the sin there was no death in the world. The consequence of the sin was that the world
descended spiritually to a plane where there could be death. King David tells us that a day is a
thousand years in Gods eyes. Therefore, as a consequence of his sin Adam was given a day to
live, that is, one thousand years. However, from those one thousand years, Adam gave seventy
years to King David (who lived exactly seventy years). It is the descendent of King David who
will finally complete the atonement for Adams sin and the repair of the world. This repair is
completed with the resurrection of the dead.
These two ideas, reward and punishment and resurrection of the dead seem to conflict with the
idea of reincarnation. How can God judge people if they are reincarnated? Which incarnation
would He judge? And if people are reincarnated, which reincarnation will be resurrected?
Judaism is differs from other religions that believe in reincarnation. The Torah teaches that each
person has one primary life. This is the life that we are judged for and in the end of days if we
merit it, we will be resurrected to live eternally.
The Kabbalah teaches, however, that the soul is a very complex spiritual entity. Moreover, each
soul is connected in profound and intimate ways with other souls. Reincarnation according to the
Torah is not when the entire soul of a person is reborn into another life. Instead, in the Jewish
conception of reincarnation it is only certain spiritual aspects of the first soul that are reborn. In
many ways, the original life is like a father and its reincarnated life is like its child. Each soul in
the chain of reincarnations also can bring spiritual benefit or harm to the previous soul. In other
words, a person can be reincarnated and live a life of holiness and good deeds and therefore
bring benefit to the soul it was reincarnated from. Rebbe Nachman told his followers that he was
the reincarnation of Moses and that he is the fifth incarnation as we described above. He also
said that he had perfected the soul of Moses.
All the souls of humanity form a system. This system of souls has a structure. It is like an army.
We know that according to the Torah there are seventy families of souls corresponding to the
seventy primary nations or peoples. Within each nation there are leaders of families, tribes,
communities and a leader of the nation. The Jewish people are Gods chosen holy nation and
through their commitment to fulfilling the 613 commandments of the Torah they play the role of
bringing Gods spiritual blessing and presence into the physical world and to all the peoples of
the world.
Within the Jewish people there is also a hierarchy of leaders of groups of tens, fifties, hundreds
and thousands. There are also three categories of Jew. There are the Kohanim, the direct
descendents of Aaron who have the role of priests and teachers. Then there is the tribe of Levi,
the singers in the Temple and teachers to the people. The remaining members of the Jewish
people are the descendants of the sons of Jacob and called Israel. There are leaders within each
of the twelve tribes of Israel, there are leaders of the prophets, there are leaders among rabbis and
judges, and ultimately there is the individual king, the descendent of King David who is the
ultimate leader of all the Jewish people and the spiritual leader of the world.
The roles and structure of the Jewish people were established in the Torah. When the Torah was
first given, Moses played the unique role of King, Prophet, and Head Priest for the nation. This is
because his soul is the highest soul of Israel. Moses was perfect except for one thing, he did not
enter the land of Israel. As we mentioned earlier in the book, the ultimate redemption will be like
the redemption from Egypt. This means that the leader of Israel will be an incarnation of Moses.
This is achieved because the soul of Moses will return to the world in the person of a descendent
of King David.
The Torah was given in two aspects, the revealed and the concealed. The revealed aspects are the
laws that govern the Jewish people and human life. The concealed are the deeper secrets
(Kabbalah) that express the purpose of history, the spiritual meaning behind all the laws, and the
descriptions of the interaction of higher worlds and the spiritual development of man.
As we have said previously, all the wisdom of the Torah was revealed to Moses. However, the
secrets of the Torah he taught only to a few students, and these secrets were not written down
until the time of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, author of the Zohar.
At the end of the Torah, Moses told the Jewish people that they were likely to rebel against God
and sent into exile. In this exile, the Temple could not be built and the land went uncultivated.
However, it was specifically in this time that the deepest secrets of the Torah were revealed to
the Jewish people, and all the gates of human perfection taught. The exile is a time for
development and preparation, the building of the Temple in each of hearts, as we wait for the
time when God returns the people to the land and we are given the opportunity to fulfill Gods
purpose completely in the world.
The Kabbalah was revealed in five stages through five unique individuals, and the story of each
one is astonishing.
Chapter 8: Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was one of the leading rabbis in the first generation after the
destruction of the Second Temple. He is the student of Rabbi Akiva. He lived in the second
century CE.
In the middle of his life, the Rashbi, as he is known according to the initials of his name, was
speaking with his colleagues. One of the people there spoke in praise of the Romans and all that
they had done for the land of Israel, building roads, aqueducts, and guarding the land. Rabbi
Shimon countered by saying that all they had done was only for self-interest. They built their
roads to bring their armies and collect taxes and tribute, and everything else they built was to
earn money and serve their army and protect their revenues.
A report of the conversation was given to the Romans who then sentenced Rabbi Shimon to
death. Rabbi Shimon and his son Eleazar fled for their lives to a cave in the north of Israel,
barely escaping the Romans. They spent thirteen years hiding from the Romans in this cave
where they lived a miraculous life. In the cave sprouted a carob tree that fed them and an
underground spring flowed to quench their thirst. Each day they were visited by the prophet
Elijah who taught them the deepest secrets of the Torah. In the Bible we learn that Elijah was a
prophet who did not die, but was taken directly to heaven before the eyes of his student Elisha.
The sages tell us that he comes to foretell the coming of the messiah, and the greatest sages of
history have merited to learn the secrets of Torah directly from him.
When the emperor Hadrian died Rabbis Shimons sentence was annulled and he and his son
were able to leave the cave. When they returned one of their former students beheld Rabbi
Shimon, his body worn from his exile. His student told his teacher how painful it was to see the
great rabbi in this condition. Rabbi Shimon responded by saying, I am glad that you see me in
this condition, because now you can know how I earned the spiritual level I have reached.
The hidden wisdom that Rabbi Shimon and his son Eleazar learned from the mouth of Elijah the
prophet are the basis for the foundational work of Kabbalah called the Zohar (meaning
splendor). There are four levels of interpretation of the Torah. The first is the simple meaning,
then there is the level called explanations, thirdly are the unfolding of certain hints towards other
ideas. Finally, the deepest level is called the secrets of the Torah.
The Zohar is an interpretation of the entire Torah according to this deepest level. It explains how
the stories and laws in the Torah relate the spiritual levels of reality and the way that the presence
of God is revealed. The Zohar explains the mysteries of the Hebrew alphabet and how it is used
as a means of creating the world and ascending spiritually. This holy book also discusses the
meaning of exile, its spiritual purpose and the spiritual meaning of the rituals that Jews are
commanded to do.
Although the writings of the Zohar were collected by the students of Rabbi Shimon, they were
hidden for over a thousand years. The Zohar itself hints that its wisdom would not come to light
for twelve hundred years, and indeed it was approximately 1100 years later when the book first
began to be discovered. The manuscripts were said to have been in a vault for over a thousand
years and then dug up by an Arabian king. Somehow these manuscripts ended up in the hands of
Moshe de Leon in Spain, one of the foremost Kabbalists of his day. The manuscripts began to be
circulated throughout the Jewish world and unlike any other text previously known, the Zohar
was immediately accepted by all the leading rabbis as the authentic work of the great Rabbi
Shimon bar Yochai, despite the fact that the deeper aspects of the text remained a mystery to
most of those who studied it.
The Zohar is written in a style of beautiful, poetic and mystical symbolism. Because of the depth
of its content, it is generally a very difficult text to study. The study of the Zohar requires
preliminary study in the basic fundamentals of the Kabbalah.
The Feminine side of God
The revealed Torah is a book that emphasizes what can be called Gods masculine attributes.
God is neither male nor female. He is not a He, a She, or an It. He is above human or any
other kind of form. However, we need to use some word to speak of God. Many are not aware,
but God is spoken of in the masculine, feminine and neutral forms in the Torah.
The Torah teaches that we should not attribute human qualities to God Himself. However, God
speaks to us in the language of man. We cannot know God in Himself. We can only know God
in the way that He expresses His will in the world and reveals His presence.
The Zohar explains in detail these three aspects of Gods functioning in the world. The ultimate
name of God is The Infinite. The infinite cannot be described in any way as masculine or
feminine. This is the description of the Kabbalist who transcends the boundaries of existence to
come to an awareness of Gods infinite nature.
The Torah and the revealed law are considered the masculine aspect of God. This is the outer
aspect of the study of Torah. The inner aspect is the world of intimate connection, mysticism, the
revelation of the secret meaning of the laws and stories of the Torah this is the feminine
aspect of Torah. The Torah is the expression of God in the world, so the outer aspect is also the
masculine side of Gods presence, and the inner mystical is the feminine side of Gods presence.
The purpose of the revealed Torah is to bring an awareness of the masculine side of Gods
presence the fear and awe of God as the lawgiver and judge. The purpose of the Zohar and the
Kabbalistic tradition is to deepen our awe and fear of God, but also to provide the paths to
develop an awareness of the feminine side, which is the love of God.
Love and Fear are called the wings of prayer. Both aspects are necessary in our prayer and
relationship to God. Solomon in his wisdom says: The beginning of wisdom is the fear of
heaven.
The lowest level of fear is blind fear of power and authority. When a small child does something
wrong and his parent disciplines him, he learns simple fear. This is the same fear of an animal to
its master. But as a child grows in intelligence, he or she learns respect of his parent. His fear
grows and matures. He does not obey his fathers will simply because of fear, he also desires to
do his will because he knows his father has greater intelligence and wisdom, and also because he
desires to honor his father. The same is true in our relationship with God. It begins with the
simple fear of disobeying his laws and being punished. As we mature, we then desire to do
Gods will because we recognize His wisdom and intelligence. This awareness of Gods
greatness grows into the quality of awe. We gain an awe of God because of his overwhelming
greatness and power. Awe teaches us that our relationship with God requires a respectful
distance.
The opposite of awe is love. Love is the desire to come close, the desire to have something for
oneself. God is a source of goodness and blessing to us. He is the source of our entire life, and
because of this we have great love for Him. This love compels us to seek Him out and to come
close to Him. However, this love must be balanced with awe. Otherwise we would not maintain
our proper honor and respect for God. The same is true in respect to our love for our parents. The
Torah teaches us that we should not call our parents by their first names nor should we sit in their
seats at the table. These are practices that teach us to remember that our relationship to our
parents is not the same as with other people. Our parents were partners with God in bringing us
into the world and they provide and nurture us into maturity. Unrestrained love would lead us to
overstep the bounds of the respect that they properly deserve. The same is true with God. He is
our Creator and we are required to maintain are appropriate respect to Him. God is also the
supreme power in the universe, and therefore, we cannot relate to Him through love alone. God
is a consuming fire, who can approach Him. No man can see my face and live. Awe exists to
balance our love for the Creator and to protect us so that we can have a complete relationship
with Him.
One of the primary ideas in the Kabbalah is understanding the three principle ways God
expresses Himself in creation. One is through the quality of justice. This is God known as the
Judge who rules according to a strict understanding of His Law, and this justice can be very cold
and harsh at times. The other aspect of God is His love that brought the world into being. This is
Gods mercy, which Moses calls upon after the Golden Calf rebellion.
The God that Moses describes in the Torah is a judge who judges both the world and the Jewish
people very harshly. He rains down destruction on Sodom and Gemorah, He destroys Pharaoh
and his army, and the nations in the land of Canaan. After the children of Israel (led by the mixed
Egyptian multitude) made the golden calf, God wanted to destroy them and start a new nation
from the seed of Moses. However, Moses pleaded for mercy. Mercy is Gods greatest quality. It
reveals His love that goes beyond the boundaries of nature and justice. This quality expresses the
highest essence that we can know of God.
After all the miracles of Egypt, the splitting of the sea, the revelation of the Ten Commandments,
the children of Israel violated the primary commandment not to worship an idol. By force of law,
God had every right to destroy them as a punishment. This is one of the ultimate moments in the
drama of the Torah, because it expresses the purpose and greatest power of the Tzaddik. At the
very moment when the children of Israel were at their lowest level, the Tzaddik pleads before
God to request mercy.
In truth, this is what God most desires. God created nature and its physical and spiritual laws, but
Gods essence transcends these boundaries. God most desires to reveal His deeper essence
His overabounding Love and Mercy. The world of nature does not have the power to draw this
Godly quality into the world. This quality is only revealed when man the height of creation,
the height of nature faces the limits of nature and calls to God and through cries and prayers
begs God to reveal His true self in the world to reveal His love that supersedes all limits of
nature. Moshe cries out:
Lord, Lord, God Compassionate and Gracious, Slow to Anger and abounding in love and truth,
Preserver of Love for thousands of generations, Forgiver of iniquity, willful sin and error, and
who absolves
The revelation of Gods compassion is achieved through the greatness of Moses, the Tzaddik.
Moses is the leader of Israel. He too had every right to be angry at the people for disobeying the
commandments and dishonoring him before God. An ordinary man in his anger and self-
righteousness would see himself as above his people, especially in the moment that they sinned.
An ordinary man would not want to be associated with the disgrace that his people had
committed. Such an ordinary man would accept Gods offer as the highest praise to himself. He
would think, I am so great that not only does God want me to be the leader, he wants to re-form
my entire people so that they shall all be my direct descendents. This is the greatest honor that
could ever be bestowed upon a man. Such a man would receive the entire merit of all generations
of the Holy nation directly to him.
But Moses was not an ordinary man. Moses is exceedingly humble and a true servant of God.
He was not looking for his self-aggrandizement. He sought only to do what is right and true
before God. Therefore, he put aside all of his own self-interest and prayed on behalf of his
people. This act is one of the greatest acts of overcoming human nature. This act of overcoming
human nature elicited a response from heaven whereby God used His great power to overcome
the nature of the spiritual laws of justice in order to reveal His love and mercy.
This brings God the greatest pleasure. God desires to be a King. A king rules according to law.
However, God desires more than anything to reveal that He is the greatest kind of King, one that
can overcome all law in order to reveal His true nature. One may ask, God can do this at any
time? Why does He need man to pray for mercy? God is a master artist who desires that the
highest element of His creation be expressed. This highest element is what we see in the person
of Moses. The entire world is created for these moments when a great man like a Moses is able
to overcome the animal part of human nature and express a God-like quality in physical
existence. This draws down all of Gods love and blessing into the world.
The Tzaddik is a model for each one of us, because in every moment of our lives we too have the
opportunity to do this very same thing. One does not have to be in a dramatic situation where the
fate of an entire nation hangs in the balance in order to do a good deed. Every time we restrain
our selfish interests in order to do a good deed we are serving the Creator and drawing love and
blessing into the world. The more kindness we express the closer the world comes to reaching its
true purpose when Gods mercy will be fully revealed.
 Chapter 9: The Arizal
Although the Zohar was discovered, the depths of its deepest secrets remained hidden from
understanding. In 1534 in Jerusalem was born Rabbi Issac Luria, known as the Holy Arizal. The
Arizal revealed to his students that he was the reincarnation of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. He
would gather his closest students and meet in the cave where the Rashbi taught his students. The
Arizal would sit in the place of the Rashbi, and then place his students in their respective seats
according to their incarnation.
At the age of eight, the Arizal was fluent in his reading and understanding of all the main
subjects in Jewish learning: Bible, Mishnah, Talmud, and Aggada. By the age of fifteen he was a
master and overwhelmed all the sages of Egypt. During his childhood the Arizals father died
and his family moved to Egypt. At the age of seventeen he obtained a rare handwritten
manuscript of the Zohar. The Arizal meditated intensely on the study and contemplation of the
Zohar for many years. He was married at twenty-two, but spent his time in a hut along the Nile
secluded in study and meditation living like an angel, with little food or sleep. The Arizal spent
one day a week with his family, the Shabbat, where he spoke only when necessary, and when he
did it was only in the holy language of Hebrew (which at that time was not the spoken language
of the Jews).
The Arizal continued on this path of intense study and meditation until he was worthy of ruach
hakodesh, and at times Elijah the prophet would come to teach him the secrets of the Torah. His
soul would ascend each night and troops of angels would greet him to safeguard his way,
bringing him to the heavenly academies. These are the places in heaven where the great
tzaddikim of the past teach their Torah wisdom. The angels would ask the Arizal which academy
he desired to study at. He was able to learn directly from the prophets, the great sages, and
perhaps even Moses himself.
There is a story that once a student of the Arizal saw him fall asleep and nap at his desk while
studying. While he slept, the student watched his lips move as he continued to study. When the
Arizal awoke the student asked him what he had learned. The Arizal responded that in heaven a
person can learn in a few minutes what it would take years to learn in this world. He said for him
to explain what he just learned would take his student fifty years to understand.
Rabbi Moshe of Prague relates that His level was high above any angel or Maggid (a kind of
angel that comes to teach Torah secrets). He knew all that was on high and below, as well as
what was decreed in the Tribunal on High and he could annul these decrees.
The Arizals primary student Chaim Vital writes of his master:
The Arizal was overflowing with Torah. He was thoroughly expert in the Bible, Mishnah,
Talmud, Pilpul, Midrash, Agadah, Workings of Creation, and Workings of the Merkava (these
are the two major parts of the Kabbalah study). He was expert in the conversation of trees, the
conversation of birds, and the speech of angels. He could read faces in the manner outlined in the
Zohar. He could discern all that any individual had done, and could see what they would do in
the future. He could read peoples thoughts, often before the thought even entered the
individuals mind. He knew future events and was aware of everything happening here on earth,
and what was decreed in heaven.
He knew the mysteries of reincarnation, who had been born previously, and who was here for the
first time. He could look at a person and tell him how he was connected to the Supernal Man,
and how he was related to Adam. He could read wondrous things in the light of a candle or in the
flame of a fire.
With his eyes he gazed and was able to see the souls of the righteous, whether those who had
died recently, or those who had lived in ancient times. With these he studied the true mysteries.
By a persons odor he was able to know all that he had done, an ability that the Zohar attributes
to the Holy Child.
It was as if all these mysteries were lying in his bosom, ready to be used whenever he desired.
He did not have to meditate to seek them out.
All this we saw with our own eyes. These are things that we heard from others. They were
wondrous things that had not been seen on earth since the time of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
None of this was attained through the Practical Kabbalah, heaven forbid. There is a strong
prohibition against using these arts.
Instead, it came automatically, as a result of his piety and asceticism, after many years of study
in both the ancient and newer Kabbalistic texts. He then increased his piety, asceticism, purity
and holiness until he reached a level where Elijah would constantly reveal himself to him,
speaking to him mouth to mouth, and teaching him these mysteries.
This is the same thing that had happened to the Raavad, as Recanti states. Even though true
prophecy no longer exists, Ruach Hakodesh is still here, manifest through Elijah. It is as the
prophet Elijah taught his disciples, commenting on the verse, Deborah was a prophetess
(Judges 4:4): I call heaven and earth to bear witness that any individual, man or woman, Jew or
Gentile, freeman or slave, can have Ruach HaKodesh bestowed upon him. It all depends on his
deeds.
When the Arizal was thirty-six, the prophet Elijah instructed him to move to Tsfat, Israel. Tsfat
at this time was perhaps the center of Kabbalah study. At this time the great Kabbalist Moses
Cordevero was there teaching, as well as Joseph Caro, the codifier of Jewish Law and author of
the Shulkan Aruk. However, Elijah sent the Arizal for one purpose to be the teacher of an
individual who was to become the messiah an advanced student of Torah and Kabbalah named
Chaim Vital.
The Arizal attended the lectures of Rabbi Cordevero and did not speak for six months,
concealing his own wisdom. It was at this time that the Arizal met the twenty-seven year old
student of Kabbalah named Chaim Vital. Chaim Vital was at this time engaged in writing a
commentary on the Zohar, and when he first met the Arizal he was not aware of his greatness.
The Arizal began to teach his wisdom and Chaim Vital was astonished. The Arizal revealed to
Chaim Vital that he possessed the soul of the messiah and that he himself and had been born into
the world only for the purpose of teaching his wisdom to him.
The Arizal did not begin to teach publicly until after the death of the great Moses Cordevero.
Before the Arizal, the central revelation of the Kabbalah was the system of sefirot. Sefirot are the
technical name in Kabbalah for the ten primary attributes of God. The first principle of Kabbalah
is that God Himself is infinite and unknowable. However, within the system of worlds that God
created, God reveals an expression of His existence, which is His Torah. The Torah is the
expression of Gods will. One of the secrets of the Torah is the ten primary attributes of God,
which are called in the technical language of Kabbalah sephirot. These ten attributes are so to
speak the genetic code of creation. These attributes form a system or structure that reveals the
inner workings of the nature of the spiritual worlds and their relationship to the physical world.
In the last chapter we described that God expresses His will in the world through three primary
modes, Love, Justice, and Mercy. These three attributes form the basic structure of the sephirot.
The sephirot are most easily understood in relationship to the figure of man. Man is created in
the image of God. The Kabbalists reveal that this image is a secret term for the sephirot. God
Himself does not have an image. This is one of the fundamental principles of the Torah.
However, God speaks in the language of man. That is, God uses metaphors to describe the way
He functions in the world that are physical so that man can grasp them easily. For example, God
says to Moses, No man can see my face and live. This does not mean that God has a face or any
other physical description. It is merely a means to communicate with man.
God says that we are created in His image. On the simple level this means that man has the
obligation to strive to become like His creator in the qualities of Love, Justice, and Mercy. The
Kabbalah reveals that the ten attributes of God form an image for man to understand the ideal
that he should strive to be.
There are three Intellectual qualities.
There are three Emotional qualities.
There are three physical qualities
And finally the completion of those qualities in the world.
Will
Wisdom Understanding
Love Justice
Mercy
Eternity Majesty
Foundation
Kingdom
This system also expresses a flow chart that describes the nature of creation. The first point of
creation is Gods will to create the world. The Torah is called the blueprint of creation because it
expresses Gods will. This will flows through various spiritual levels that are higher
metaphysical worlds that establish the spiritual system (the software) behind the workings of
creation. These levels are actually the description of higher worlds and systems of angels that
carry out Gods will in the world.
There is a world of angels on the level of Intellect
There is a world of angels on the level of Emotion
There is a world of angels on the level of the Physical Powers
The final level in this system called Kingdom is level of physical reality.
In Kabbalah man is called a microcosm of creation because his existence includes an image of all
these worlds. Therefore the goal of man is to receive the Will of the Creator the Torah that is
the blueprint of creation and to use his three powers the intellectual, emotional, and physical
to bring that blueprint into actualization in the physical world.
This model is the image of God that man aims to achieve. The Tzaddik is one who realized
this in his life. The path of the Tzaddik that the Torah teaches begins on the level of action. As a
small child he learns what God commands him to do each day, for example, to pray and say
blessings one his food, to give charity and other good deeds, and to study the Torah. This path of
life teaches the child that what is primary is not what he wants, but what God asks him to do. In
other words, any desire cannot be satisfied. He first has to discriminate and see if that desire is
acceptable according to the Torah.
As the child grows he learns that the powers of Intellect, Emotions, and Physical body are gifts
from God and provided to him to serve the Creator. In order to serve the Creator properly he
must submit his own desire and will to the Will of the Creator and His Torah. The greatest test
comes through the power of sexuality. The control of this desire is the foundation of our life
force. The prayers and commandments that are given in the Torah give the Jew the powers of
holiness to purify the physical body. As one grows in maturity he then must learn to fix his heart,
the seat of his emotions. This is done through prayer, which is the work of the heart to express
our love for God. (We will discuss this in more detail in the chapter on Rebbe Nachman.)
When the body and emotions are purified and sanctified to God, this opens the gate of
understanding to truly be close to God and so gain the intimate knowledge of His existence. The
path of purification prepares the soul and its higher powers to ascend spiritually to open up and
receive visions of Godliness. There are many levels of this knowledge and they begin on the
level of Intelligence and ascend to the level of Will, which is called in Kabbalah the Crown. The
Tzaddik who reaches this level becomes complete and crowned with the true knowledge of the
Creator. This crown is a gift from God. The Tzaddik wears this crown in the world because he
becomes what is called in Kabbalah a vessel for Gods light. The entire life of the Tzaddik is
given over to carry out the Will of the Creator and so he is called a chariot for Gods Will upon
the earth. He becomes a true child of Abraham through whom all the world receives its blessing.
The Kabbalists used this knowledge of the sephirot as the key to understand the secret teachings
revealed in the Zohar and reached great heights of spiritual advancement. The Arizal received
from Elijah a deeper revelation into the system of sephirot. The Arizal taught that the ten
sephirot are intimately connected to the unspoken name of God called the Tetragrammaton.
Tetragrammaton literally means the four letter (name of God). These four letters which we
write in English YKVK are not pronounced today. Instead they are used to signify an unspoken
intention to connect our soul to the Infinite God. The Arizal revealed a complex system for
understanding the structure of creation at every level that integrates the system of sefirot with the
YKVK. For example, each of the four letters now stands for the four worlds described above.
There is also a fifth level called the first point of the name.
First Point: Will
Y: Intelligence
K: Understanding
V: Emotional and Physical Powers
K: Physical World
The system has the quality of self-similarity, as in fractal mathematics and Chaos theory. This
means that each sephira consists ideally of a full set of the ten sephirot. In other words, the
sephira of Love consists of the ten sephirot that we have described above: Will, Intelligence,
Understanding, Love, Justice, etc. The Arizal used this complicated system of descriptions of
worlds, sephirot, and their connection to the holy name of God to present an entire system for
meditation and prayer. This is but an extremely brief description of the Arizals Kabbalah. His
system is as complex as a textbook in electrical engineering and demands the same kind of
intellectual effort to grasp it. However, it brought a paradigm shift so to speak in the world of
Kabbalah and allowed students to understand sections of the Zohar that were previously
completely obscure.
Arizals student Chaim Vital was astonished by the depth of the revelation. He introduced his
fellow students to the Arizal and his teaching The Arizal, however, did not wish to gather a circle
of students. He explained to Chaim Vital that his work was to teach him only, and there was
much work to do. Chaim Vital insisted. The Arizal continued to request to teach his student
alone. This disagreement continued to grow and eventually the Arizal revealed to Chaim Vital
that he was under oath to heaven to reveal to him whatever it is that his student asked him.
However, there were many secrets that he did not wish to reveal to their circle. The Arizal
pleaded with him to study with him alone and to disband the circle of students. The Arizal
explained that through the teaching of this wisdom to him alone his soul would become perfected
and this would bring the era of redemption. However, Chaim Vital insisted that this wisdom not
be withheld from his friends. The disagreement continued for some time becoming stronger with
the Arizal pleading that it was premature to reveal this wisdom, and Chaim Vital insisting that it
must be revealed. The disagreement reached its peak as Chaim Vital relates that they spent an
entire day and night in discussion of the issue, but Chaim Vital would not acquiesce. Chaim Vital
goes on to relate that only a few days later the Arizal passed away at the young age of thirty-
eight.
Chaim Vital spent the rest of his life regretting this. In his youth he did not perceive the
consequences of his desire to share this wisdom and how much he and the world lost because of
his impatience to bring this light into the world.
Chaim Vital devoted the major part of the rest of his life to compiling the teachings that he had
learned in approximately a year and a half. In this short time, the Arizal revealed to Chaim Vital
his extremely complex system of Kabbalah, and the secrets of reincarnation, the stories of the
Torah, meditation, and prayer. It is astonishing the amount of material that passed between the
master and student, material the fills over a dozen large volumes of detailed and complex
material. Although Chaim Vital taught some of this material, during the rest of his life he did not
release the books of the teachings that he compiled. It appears that in repentance for his actions
he sought to be buried with this wisdom, and like the Zohar in previous generations, when the
time was right, God would bring this wisdom to light.
At the end of his life during his time of illness Rabbi Yehoshua, his closest follower, who had
accompanied Rabbi Chaim Vital on nearly every journey, managed to bribe Rabbi Chaim Vitals
younger brother, Rabbi Moshe, with 500 gold coins, to lend him his masters writings, which
were kept locked in a box. Rabbi Moshe accordingly brought Rabbi Yehoshua a large part of the
manuscripts, and 100 copyists were immediately engaged: in just three days, they were able to
reproduce more than 600 pages.
There is also an oral tradition passed down to me through teachers of Kabbalah in Jerusalem that
Chaim Vital was buried with many scrolls of his writings that he made of the teachings of the
Arizal. After his death, two of his closest students received a dream in which Chaim Vital told
them to come and take the scrolls. They dug up the grave and took several of the scrolls, but
when they reached to take others Chaim Vital grasped them and would not release them, and so
the deepest mysteries of the Arizal remain buried there to this day.
Chapter 10: Israel Baal Shem Tov
According to the sages, there are thirty-six tzaddikim whose prayers sustain the world in every
generation. According to an oral tradition preserved in Chabad Chassidus, after the death of
Chaim Vital, a tzaddik named Eliyahu Baal Shem started a secret society of tzaddikim. This
society sought out to find the souls of tzaddikim in the Jewish world and train them in the
mysteries of Kabbalah. The leader was called a Baal Shem (Master of the Name) because he
was trained in the use of praying with the holy name of God in ways that are not revealed outside
this circle.
The secrets of Kabbalah were not taught openly within the Jewish world. The word kabbalah
literally means to receive because these secrets were only taught face to face between teacher
and student. This chain of teaching extended back to the time of Moses and his student
Yehoshua, and as far back as Abraham to Issac and to Jacob and his children. Before the
patriarchs this teaching was handed over from Adam in a chain to all the great tzaddikim such as,
Enosh, to Shem and Eber, and Noah.
The sages teach that in a generation in which there is one to whom the wisdom of God is
revealed, it is as if the Holy Temple has been rebuilt. The function of the Holy Temple, as we
discussed earlier, is to draw down heavenly blessings into the world. This is the function of
prayer. During the exile the society of the hidden tzaddikim sought righteous souls to train in this
wisdom in order to fulfill the ultimate function of man and the Holy Temple to draw down
Gods presence and blessing into the world.
In a time of exile, these efforts have to be concealed. When the Temple stood its sacrifices and
prayers had great power to diminish the spiritual forces of the other side whose job is to
attempt to restrict Gods presence and blessing. These spiritual forces give power to evil in the
world and attempt to squash the prayers and holy words of Israel and its tzaddikim. The rituals in
the Temple had the specific power to satisfy the desire of these spiritual forces in a way that
neutralized them and then allowed the prayers of the world to ascend to their proper places, and
the heavenly blessings to descend and flow into the channels that sustain the entirety of creation.
Without the power of these prayers and daily sacrifices, the forces of the other side gain
tremendous power in the world, especially the power to thwart the efforts of holy people.
However, when something is kept secret from the world, it is also gains protection from these
spiritual forces.
According to Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan in his Meditation and Kabbalah, the title Baal Shem literally
means master of the Name, and was given to those tzaddikim who knew how to make use of
the divine names in the practice of Kabbalah. Later on, the leader of the group was called the
Baal Shem and he alone had the authority to decide when these names could be used. Rabbi
Kaplan also mentions that the secret circle also achieved an important social transformation and
initiated efforts to establish the education of women in the Jewish world. According to the
Kabbalists, women have a special connection to the secret wisdom of the Torah, and therefore by
teaching women to read Hebrew this gave entry way for women to participate more deeply in
prayer and to have the opportunity over time to learn Kabbalah.
Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (The Master of the Good Name), was born on the 18th of Elul 5458
(August 27, 1698) to Rabbi Eliezer and his wife Sarah. They lived in a small village on the
Russian-Polish border. Rabbi Eliezer and Sarah were already very old when Israel, their first
child was born. When the Baal Shem Tov was only five years old, his father Rabbi Eliezer died.
Before his death, he left his only son with these profound words that would guide the Baal Shem
Tov his whole life. Israel my son, you have a very holy soul, do not fear anything but God. It
was not long after that his mother Sarah also died leaving young Israel an orphan.
The Baal Shem Tov was adopted by the local community and educated in the fundamentals of
Torah study. Young Israel was very different from the other children. Having lost his mother and
father, he would spend his time in the fields and forests to be alone with his Father in Heaven.
There are many stories of children and adults who ventured into these forests and became lost or
attacked by wild dogs and wolves. The Baal Shem Tov, however, saw the presence of God
before him wherever he walked. At a very young age, the final teaching of his father penetrated
into his heart so that he could enter the woods both in day and at night without fear to pour his
heart out in prayer before the Creator. This was the path of all the great Jewish leaders, they were
all shepherds who spent countless days underneath the stars alone speaking and crying out to
God. It may have been at this time that the Baal Shem Tov encountered the circle of tzaddikim
who studied secretly in the forest.
Without any family to support him financially in the study of Torah, Israel went to work as an
assistant teacher. He had a beautiful way with children and would sing psalms and other songs
with the children as they walked to school. He would also tell the children stories of the
tzaddikim and teach them how to pray.
Later in his life Israel became the caretaker of a local synagogue. He appeared to those around
him a simple person. He worked during the day and studied Torah at night when the study hall in
the synagogue was empty. During this period Israel gained a great depth of expertise in the
revealed and secret traditions of the Torah. The son of the Baal Shem named Rabbi Adam gave
the Israel the books of Kabbalah to study.
Israel inherited the title of Baal Shem Tov after the death of Rabbi Adam. He remained a hidden
tzaddik for many years. He was married to the grand-daughter of a well-respected rabbi named
Rabbi Ephraim of Brody, who became aware of Israels greatness. However, his brides father
disapproved of the match thinking him a peasant. Nonetheless the rabbis daughter accepted the
proposal, and the two set off with a horse and wagon to a village in the Carpathian mountain
region of the Ukraine.
Israel Baal Shem Tov continued to live in the guise of a simple peasant for ten years. During this
time an ancient prophet named Achiyah HaShaloni revealed himself to him, and taught him the
mysteries of the Torah. Achiyah HaShaloni left Egypt with Moses and lived until the reign of
King David.
Like Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and the Arizal before him, the Baal Shem Tov reached the
highest levels of Torah wisdom and holiness. However, the Baal Shem Tovs mission was to
bring the light of this wisdom to the common Jew. During the time of the Baal Shem Tov,
European Jews were divided between the elite students of Torah knowledge and the simple
workers and peasants, many of whom could not even read Hebrew. Jews at this time segregated
themselves into different synagogues. There were houses of prayer and study for the elite, and
separate places for the simple people. Synagogues were often divided based on guilds for
different kinds of craftsman. Many families sought to educate their children in Torah, but usually
were unable to support more than one son in study. This child would then be able to enter the
class of the rabbis and elite of the community.
At the same time, the Jews suffered terrible persecution at the hands of the Cossacks. During the
various political upheavals and revolts Jews often became targets of attack and suffered terrible
massacres by the hands of the Cossack leader Khmelnytsky who killed 65,000 Jews. In 1768 a
massacre occurred in the city of Uman, the last home of Rebbe Nachman, in which 30,000 Jews
were killed in a single day.
The Baal Shem Tov also lived after the time of the false messiah Shabtai Tzvi.(who we spoke
about in the first chapter of our book). Shabtai Tvi lifted the hopes of the Jewish people for their
promised redemption, but in the end left the Jewish world with a great disappointment. The time
of the Baal Shem Tov was one in which Jews of Europe reacted against the spirituality of the
Kabbalah and the fervent longing for redemption. The elite retreated into the study of the
revealed law as taught in the Talmud and restricted the discussion and study of the secrets of the
Torah. Those who entered into these subjects were looked upon with suspicion as a possible
remaining follower of Shabtai Tzvi.
It was in this milieu that the Baal Shem Tov started a spiritual revolution within the Jewish
world. The Baal Shem sought to revive the spiritual inspiration of Jewish prayer and yearning for
the messiah and the coming redemption. Until this time the mysteries of the Kabbalah were
reserved for only the advanced students of Torah. As we described in the previous chapters, the
Kabbalah of the Rashbi and the Arizal required esoteric knowledge and intense training and
study. The Baal Shem Tov ascended into the spiritual heavens of the world of Kabbalah and
grasped its profound esoteric truths and delivered them in simple teachings, stories, and parables
to inspire not only the wisest, but the simplest man, woman, and child among the Jewish people.
The basic message that the Baal Shem Tov taught was that the picture of the Supernal Man and
Holy names of God in the Kabbalah were ultimately to teach us to know ourselves, overcome
our lower desires, and awaken our love for our fellow and for our Creator. The Baal Shem Tov
did this primarily by awakening the Jewish people to return to the basic message of the Torah.
He saw that Torah students had become lost in intellectualizing the study of Torah at the expense
of the essence the yearning to attach oneself in knowledge and soul to God.
The Baal Shem Tov once prayed to God to reveal to him who was the true master of prayer in all
the world. Through his prophetic power, he was told to visit a certain village where he would
find this master of prayer. He gathered his students and they prepared for the journey. When they
arrived they visited the synagogue and searched out this tzaddik. However, in the synagogue
there did not appear any Jew of extraordinary wisdom or holiness. But in the back of the
synagogue the Baal Shem Tov did notice one man holding a prayerbook and reading out loud the
names of the Hebrew letters in a joyful tune and in great spirit. The Baal Shem Tov turned to him
and asked him, My brother, what are you doing reading the letters of the aleph-bet? The man
responded sincerely, I never learned to read. All I ever learned was the letters of the alphabet, so
I recite them and I pray that when they reach heaven, God puts them in the right order.
This story and others like it emphasize that every Jews prayer is precious to God. The
Kabbalists created complicated systems of prayer to ascend spiritually based on the names of
God and the sephirot. The Talmudists believed that one had to be a scholar with great knowledge
of the Torah law to connect to God. However, our story illustrates that the ultimate connection to
God occurs through the sincere longing of the heart, and this is independent of how much a
person may or may not know. In fact, the Arizal and the Kabbalists also taught that one should
learn, but when one comes to pray he should approach the Creator with the heart of an infant
crying out to its mother.
In 1734 the Baal Shem Tov revealed himself as a holy man to the Jewish world. He became a
famous healer, miracle worker and teacher. He gathered many disciples who spread his message
throughout Europe. These students each founded their own particular approach of what is called
Chassidus, and despite the opposition that arose against the movement, eventually a majority of
European Jews aligned themselves with the students of the Baal Shem Tov. The Baal Shem Tov
passed away on the holiday of Shavuot in the Hebrew year 5520 (May 23, 1760). Shavuot is also
the day that King David died, and the Baal Shem Tov was a direct descendant of King David and
so his life is intimately connected with the light of the messiah.
The Ten Principles Of The Baal Shem Tov
Translated by Yaacov Dovid Shulman.
The following is a summary of the principles that the Baal Shem Tov taught his holy students.
This precious text was found in the possession of a grandson of the Baal Shem Tov in Hamburg
(copied from the holy handwriting of the Admor Moharash).
1. The entire Torah and the entire world contain nothing but the light of the Infinite One (blessed
be He) concealed within them. All the verses that speak of this, such as there is no other than
He and I fill the heavens and the earth, are to be taken literally.
There is no act, word or thought in which the essence of divinity is not constricted and hiding.
And so when you look and see with your minds eye, you will see the inner, life-force aspect of
everything, not just its outer, superficial layer. You will see nothing but the divine power inside
all things that is giving them life, being and existence at every moment.
And when you listen carefully to the inner voice within any physical sound that you hear, you
will hear only the voice of God as, at that moment, it is literally giving life and existence to the
sound that you are hearing.
2. The exile of Gods Presence refers to the life-force and divine power that gives a person life
and existence even at the moment that he is transgressing Gods will.
3. The evil inclination and lust are agents of God. They carry out Gods will to mislead a person
in order that he will overcome them.
From them, you can learn to be as mighty as they are. Just as they never slacken in their work but
are trying to destroy you day and night (because a person always desires what his eyes see and
what his ears hear), just as they are happy and delighted to carry out Gods will, it should be as
clear to you that God wants you to overcome them until you will conquer yourself and all your
desires will be under your controluntil you transform them to good.
This idea is alluded to in the verse, we will take from it [from the flock] to serve God (Exodus
10:26), meaning that we will take a lesson from the evil inclination to act just as it acts to fulfill
Gods will. And a word to the wise is sufficient.
4. Having no [divine] source, evil does not come down from heaven. Nevertheless, evil that
exists has an inner power giving it life. And this [inner power] is total goodness. So if you look
at the inner aspect of evil, you will only see the good in it.
5. A person has to cling to the words that he speaks. Because each word contains a soul and
divinity, when you cling to them, you are connected to divinity.
6. Everything that happens in the world, no matter how insignificant, comes from God. And so
do not concern yourself with whether or not what has occurred is in accordance with your will.
7. Neither thinking about the day of ones death nor the fear of punishment in hell will arouse a
persons heart to serve God. But yearning to cling to the source of life and goodness will do so.
And neither fasting nor afflicting oneself will be of any help. But forgetting oneself out of the
depth of ones yearning will do so.
8. Every person in his own right is [essentially] a complete spiritual Torah. If he goes in Gods
path, that [Torah] is absorbed into his being, according to his level.
9. When a person prays for something that he needs, he should pray for the divine life-force
hiding within that thing and giving it life, which is now suffering because of whatever it is
lacking. And so one should ask God to have pity on His life force that is hidden in that thing.
10. Gods Providence extends to all created beings, even to inanimate objects and plants. There
is nothing that is not viewed from above in every detail. Everything was made with a particular
intent. And a word to the wise is sufficient.
Kovetz Eliyahu, p. 14
Dialogue with the Messiah
The Epistle: The Letter From The Baal Shem Tov
To Rabbi Gershon Kitover (Translated By Rabbi David Na Nach)
The Baal Shem Tovs LETTER that describes his ascent of the soul on Rosh Hashana is one of
the few original writings of the founder of Chassidus that has survived. The LETTER was
written during the last years of the Baal Shem Tovs life to his brother-in-law, the Torah scholar
of repute, Rabbi Avraham Gershon of Kitov, who had immigrated to the Holy Land. However,
for some reason, the LETTER was never delivered. Thus, Rabbi Gershon Kitovers loss was
posteritys gain. The precious document remained in the Baal Shem Tovs immediate circle until
its publication some 30 years later in Ben Poras Yosef, a collection of Chassidic discourses by
Rabbi Yaakov Yosef HaKohen of Polonoye. The LETTER also appears as the first entry in
Kesser Shem Tov (Crown of a Good Name, 1794), Rabbi Aharon HaKohen of Zhelikhovs
classic anthology of the Baal Shem Tovs teachings gleaned from the works of Rabbi Yaakov
Yosef of Polonoye.
To my beloved brother-in-law, my friend who is dear to me as my own heart and soul, the
exalted rabbi and Chasid, renowned for his Torah scholarship and fear of Heaven, our master,
Rabbi Avraham Gershon, may his light shine. Peace to him and his family, his modest wife,
Bluma, together with all their children; may they be blessed with life, amen, sela.
I received the letter written by your holy hand, which you sent by means of the emissary from
Jerusalem, at the fair of Luka in the year 5510 (1750 c.e.). It was written with extreme brevity,
explaining that you had already written at length to each of us individually and had sent those
letters by means of a certain man en route to Egypt. However, the letters never arrived, and I was
sorely grieved that I never saw the work of your holy hand which was written in greater detail.
Assuredly this is due to the calamitous state of the many lands in which the plague has spread
because of our many transgressions. Not far from our region the pestilence has reached the holy
community of Mohilev, as well as Wallachia and Turkey.
[Your letter] also states that the Torah teachings and mystical revelations which I sent you
through the rabbi and preacher of the holy community of Polonoye did not reach you; this, too,
caused me great distress. It certainly would have given you great joy if they had reached you. I
have since forgotten many [of those teachings]. However, the few details I still remember I will
write to you in brief.
On Rosh Hashanah of the year 5507 (1746 cue.), I made a [Kabbalistic] oath and elevated my
soul in the manner known to you. I saw wondrous things in a vision, the like of which I had
never witnessed since the day my mind first began to awaken. The things which I saw and
learned when I ascended there would be impossible to communicate, even if I could speak to you
in person. When I returned to the lower Garden of Eden, I saw many souls, both living and dead,
some known to me and others unknown-their number was beyond reckoning. They were
hastening to and fro in order to ascend from one world to another through the Column known to
those initiated into the Mysteries. Their joy was too great for the mouth to express or the physical
ear to hear. Also, many evil-doers were repenting, and their sins were being forgiven, since it
was a special time of Divine favor. Even to me, it was amazing how many of them were accepted
as penitents, a number of whom you also know. There was great joy among them, too, and they
ascended in he same manner.
Together they begged and implored me unceasingly, Because of the glory of your Torah, God
has granted you an additional measure of understanding to grasp and to know these matters.
Ascend with us so that you can be our help and support.
Because of the great joy that I beheld among them, I agreed to go up with them And I
besought my master (Achiyah HaShiloni) to accompany me, for the ascent to the Supernal
Worlds is fraught with danger. From the day of my birth until now, I never experienced such an
ascent as this.
I went up from level to level until I entered the Palace of Messiah, where Messiah studies with
the Tannaim and tzaddikim, as well as the Seven Shepherds. There I found extremely great
rejoicing, but I did not know the cause of this delight. At first I thought that it might be due to
my having passed away from the physical world, God forbid. Later they told me that I had not
yet died, for they have great pleasure on high when I effect mystical unifications in the world
below through their holy Torah. However, to this very day, the nature of their joy remains
unknown to me.
I asked Messiah, When will you come, master? And he replied, By this you shall know: it
will be a time when your teachings become publicized and revealed to the world, and your well-
springs have overflowed to the outside. [It will be when] that which I have taught you-and that
which you have perceived of your own efforts-become known, so that others, too, will be able to
perform mystical unifications and ascents of the soul like you. Then all the evil klippos will be
destroyed, and it will be a time of grace and salvation.
I was amazed at this and greatly troubled, since a long time must pass for this to be possible. But
while I was there I learned three segulos and three Holy Names which are easy to learn and
explain. My mind was then set at ease, and I thought that with these teachings the people of my
own generation might attain the same spiritual level and state as myself. They would be able to
elevate their souls and to learn and perceive just as I do. However, I was not granted permission
to reveal this during my lifetime. I pleaded for your sake to be allowed to teach you; but I was
denied permission altogether and took an oath to that effect.
Yet this I can tell you, and may God assist you, that your way may pleasant to the Lord, and that
you do not go astray (particularly in the Holy Land). Whenever you pray or study-and with every
utterance your lips-intend to bring about the unification of a Divine Name. For every letter
contains worlds and souls and Godliness, and they ascend and combine and unite with one
another. Then the letters combine and unite to form a word, and they are actually unified with the
Divine essence-and in all these aspects, your soul is bound up with them. All [the worlds become
unified as one, and they ascend and bring about great joy and delight without measure. Consider
the joy of a bridegroom and bride in this lowly physical world, and you will realize how much
greater is the joy on such a lofty spiritual level.
God will surely help you. Wherever you turn, you will succeed and become enlightened. Give
wisdom to the wise, and he will become wise all the more. Please pray for my sake, that I might
be privileged to dwell in Gods land during my lifetime; and pray for the remnant of our people
who still remain in the Diaspora.
These are the words of your brother-in-law who longs to see you face-to-face, who prays that
length of days be granted to you and your wife and children, and who wishes you peace all your
days-including the nights, for many good years, amen, sela.
Israel Baal Shem Tov of the Holy Community of Medzhibuzh
Chapter 11: Rebbe Nachman and His Teachings
At the end of his life Rebbe Nachman only told stories, wondrous and mysterious tales of
princesses and travelers and common people. He said to his students that his stories are higher
than all the words of Torah that he gave them. I think it is appropriate to begin the discussion of
Rebbe Nachman with a story because only a story can express the deep reality of his awesome
wisdom. Most importantly, Rebbe Nachmans Torah reveals vividly that the ultimate purpose of
wisdom is to heal our lives.
Moses ascended into heaven and brought the Torah to the world. The Rashbi and the Arizal
revealed the secrets and depths of that heavenly wisdom that was previously concealed. Israel
Baal Shem Tov showed how we can apply those secrets to the details of our ordinary lives and
relationship to God. Rebbe Nachman teaches us to connect to the Tzaddik. The Tzaddik is the
soul of the Torah and has the power to heal the world. This connection to the Tzaddik opens our
hearts to discover God and blessing within the midst of the pain and challenges of our lives. This
is story of my personal connection to Rebbe Nachman and how he reached out from heaven to
help me.
It was the Shabbat during the holiday of Sukkot. Sukkot is the holiday when we celebrate how
God provided the Jewish people shelter after leaving Egypt and we remember how we dwelled in
the desert beneath the Clouds of Glory, the light of His presence. I was going from Jerusalem to
Beit Shemesh (House of the Sun) to visit a friend for Sukkot. I got on the bus but there was no
room to sit. A friend of mine called to me. His name is Yochanan. He is from the Jewish
community of India. He was smiling and so happy to see me. We had not seen each other for
over a year. Yochanan was so kind and graciously insisted that I take his seat. I was very
appreciative of his kindness. I had been in the sun for a while waiting for the bus and was a little
dizzy as we traveled down the windy, mountain road leaving Jerusalem.
Yochanan invited me to come to him for a meal during Shabbat. I was a little embarrassed to
visit with him and his family. I was recently divorced and in the middle of a very dramatic
conflict with my ex-wife that was very painful for me. My ex-wife was very close with
Yochanans wife and family and I didnt know how they would feel about seeing me. So many
of the people that I knew were judging me unfavorably and it was very uncomfortable. I told him
that I didnt know if I could come because I was a guest of a friend and didnt know if it was
within walking distance of his house. (I was hoping it wasnt.)
I had spoken to my friend earlier in the week and he asked me to call him when I arrived in Beit
Shemesh so he could come pick me up. On the bus I called him several times, but he did not
answer. (It turned out that my friend had his cellphone off and so I was not able to reach him.) I
had no choice but to visit with Yochanan and his family. This had its benefits, since his family is
very special, and I happen to love Indian food. I laughed. Here I thought I was going to visit one
friend, but in truth God had a different plan for me. I wondered what the significance of it would
be.
I had a very pleasant Shabbat. To my surprise, the entire family was delighted to see me and
welcomed me with the warmest friendship and hospitality. I was never too close with them, but I
found that they were even more friendly to me on this visit than any other time I had visited in
the past when I was married. Here I thought that it would be uncomfortable, but it turned out to
be the complete opposite.
The visit made me think of a dream I had a few nights earlier. The dream had several images of
breaking free, and ended with a scene where I was flying and freeing myself from a
mountainous and isolated place. I saw the dream as a message for me that I was free and that I
shouldnt walk around with all the guilt from a failed marriage and the lingering problems that
were burdening my heart. Here I was walking around feeling that everyone was judging me, but
the truth was that I was the one judging myself, not them. And God put me in a position that I
found myself forced to visit the house of the people where I thought I would be most
unwelcome, but was instead treated with friendship as an honored guest.
The next day I returned to the Old City of Jerusalem where I was staying for the holy days. This
was the night of the anniversary of the passing of Rebbe Nachman. I had a feeling something
significant was going to happen and I was praying that I would have some inspiration for this
book. That night I slept in our Sukka, (a temporary shack that we build as a part of the holiday).
Each of the seven nights during the holiday of Sukkot there is a tradition that the light of one of
the seven shepherds of Israel comes as a guest: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph
and David. Rebbe Nachmans passing corresponds with the day when we feel the light Moses as
a guest in our Sukka. The death of a person reveals the completion of that persons life, and the
fact that Rebbe Nachmans death corresponds with the day when we feel the presence of Moses
is another indication of the deep connection between these two great tzaddikim. That night I
spent with my friends sharing Rebbe Nachmans teaching.
That morning at the Western Wall (which is still the same day on the Hebrew calendar which
begins at night and continues through to the day) there was a very special event that only
happens twice a year. Hundreds of Jews who trace their lineage back to Aaron the Kohen (the
priest) come to the Western Wall to pray together and bless the Jewish people in the way they
were commanded in the Torah.
On the walkway overlooking the Western Wall I happened to meet my friend Moshe Newman
who was sitting in a small sukka. For some reason, I stood next to him and put my arm around
him in friendship, something very unlike me. We waited as the Kohanim all rose and under their
prayer shawl lifted their hands and blessed the thousands of gatherers and the entire people of
Israel, May God bless you and protect you, May God shine the light of His face towards you and
be gracious to you, May God lift His face towards you and grant you peace.
After the blessing I asked Moshe to share his advice with me on the issue that was concerning
me. Moshe, like his name, really became a new man. I first met him the week he got divorced
after a three year battle. After a number of years I met him later and saw a transformed human
being. He beamed with joy and love and there was no trace of bitterness in his soul. I asked him
what process he went through. I explained to him my situation. I told him that I had no reason to
be guilty and yet I was walking around with such a burden of guilt and fear of how people were
perceiving me. I shared with him the story of my dream and my trip to Beit Shemesh and I told
him that I thought that this was a wake up call for me to face these feelings.
Moshe shared an amazing Torah of Rebbe Nachman with me. It is the sixth essay in Rebbe
Nachmans collection (which is called Lekutai Moharan), and one of the deepest and most
personally challenging in all his teachings. It is a difficult lesson to understand, but Moshe had a
profound insight into it that he earned through his heartfelt prayers and personal struggles.
He told me that we all walk around with these places in our soul where we feel embarrassment
and disgrace. These are places of pain and discomfort. They reveal our hidden vulnerability and
insecurities. He said that this was the key to one of Rebbe Nachmans most important teachings.
Rebbe Nachman was unique because he taught us that this disgrace is a tremendous gift. This
disgrace we feel is an invitation to come closer to God and help in the healing of the world.
Moshe said that what I need to do is to let myself feel those feelings, enter into them and look for
God there. Use this block, this uncomfortable and dark place and pray in your own words.
Speak to God and express your feelings, cry and beg Him to reveal to you the hidden light that is
in this emotional darkness of your life.
The heart is unlike the mind. The mind can only think one thing at a time. The heart can feel
multiple emotions simultaneously. However, if we close ourselves off to one of them we close
off the entire heart. In other words, we cant selectively limit our emotions. When we limit one,
we limit them all. Shlomo Carlebach used to teach us that it is a great gift to experience joy and
pain, because that is a sign that the heart is truly open. This is so vital because the openness of
the heart is our pathway to prayer and closeness to God. To the extent our heart is closed, it also
closes our connection to God. Therefore we need to scream out and express our truest and
deepest emotions in order to open our heart and reconnect to God.
What blocks this is our embarrassment and unwillingness and fear to go into those
uncomfortable feelings. Moshe said that we have to do this in order to spiritually repair the
world. We have to go into these feelings because this is precisely what Adam did not do after he
violated Gods command. Instead of facing up to his sin, Adam hid from God and blamed Eve.
He covered over his embarrassment.
This is precisely what each of us does in our lives. Instead of being honest with our hearts and
feelings, we cover over our embarrassment, vulnerability and insecurity. We seek out pleasures
and honors, the activities and pleasures of life to distract us from the painful truths of our lives
that are hidden within our hearts. This is the great gift of the feeling of embarrassment. It allows
us to do what Adam was supposed to do. In other words, all the mistakes of our lives, all the pain
and brokenness of our childhood, our emotions and its consequences that we experience in our
adult lives is for the purpose of giving us the ability to fix what Adam did not fully do. Although
Adam did return to God and face his embarrassment, the consequences of his action effected
creation, as we explained earlier. Our lives our the repair of these effects. We make this repair by
living out his brokenness in all the various forms that it takes in our individual lives.
The path that Moshe Newman explained to me is a difficult road to follow. The reason is because
in order to open up the heart, we have to face all the pain that is locked in the heart. We cant
open the heart selectively. As I spoke to Moshe I felt this immediately. His words were opening
my heart and the memories of my pain were slipping out and I began to cry deeply. I saw clearly
why my heart was blocked. There was a painful reality in my life that I didnt believe I could
bare. It seemed too great.
At the beginning of this book I told how I first returned to Judaism to learn the way of the Torah.
However, many aspects of my life were not kosher and seemed impossible to rectify. It was at
this time that I began attending a Breslov synagogue that had recently opened in Los Angeles.
(Rebbe Nachman taught in the city of Breslov and his tradition is called Breslov Chassidus.) I
was sitting at a cafe one morning and the teacher who founded the synagogue joined me. We
began speaking and I told him a little about my life. I knew very little about Rebbe Nachman at
the time. When he heard my situation he looked at me and laughed and said, Oh, so your life is
all screwed up you are a Breslover. I didnt know quite what he meant but I was soon to find
out.
My teachers name is Shmuel Levy. He is a well-known and extremely talented musician in the
Jewish world. He has a music group called Levyatan. He began to introduce me to the teachings
of Rebbe Nachman. Unlike anything else I had encountered in the Jewish world, Rebbe
Nachman spoke directly to the soul of a Jew about the most real spiritual matters. The essence of
Rebbe Nachmans teaching is prayer. Rebbe Nachman said of himself, I am prayer. Prayer is
the longing of the heart. Rebbe Nachmans teaching is the path of the sincerity of the heart to
open itself up in true longing to connect with the Creator. Rebbe Nachman said for him faith is
the main thing. He taught that the traditional way of a Jew, to walk with simplicity and
righteousness before the Creator and to give oneself over to God and the sages with complete
faith.
The essence of faith according to Rebbe Nachman is the belief that nature has no power over us.
For example, a person can go to a doctor and receive medicine, but it is only through faith and
Gods will that a person is healed. To believe that nature has the power is an error. Nature is the
appearance of how the world works, but the faith of a Jew is to remember that the workings of
the world are all the handiwork of Gods direct control. Nature has no power itself. God uses
nature to do His will. At any moment God can alter nature if He chooses to.
The path of a Jew is to follow the ways of the tzaddikim. This means a life of simplicity and
purity with faith in the Creator. The way of this path is to turn all ones affairs over to prayer and
faith. This does not mean one should not act in the world. It just means that we have to recognize
in every moment that what happens is the will of the Creator, and therefore the only true means
to effect anything to bring an aspect of life from potential to actuality is primarily through
prayer. The goal of the life of faith and prayer is to awaken the living, heartfelt knowledge and
connection to God. Rebbe Nachman emphasizes that all that we lack is only because of the lack
in our connection to God. His teaching is a detailed path to reestablish that connection.
My friend and teacher Shmuel was born in Morocco where he learned and saw the ways of the
Moroccan Jews who carried the simple path of their mothers and fathers through over two
thousand years of history. He later in his youth moved to Israel. He possesses a true love of
Rebbe Nachman and complete faith in his teachings. He possesses a rare depth of spirituality and
sensitivity and opened me to the true soul of Rebbe Nachmans teachings. When I first began
studying I did not really understand too much, but what I did understand is the faith and love of
God and the Tzaddik that I saw in my teachers eyes and heard in his poetic words. Rebbe
Nachman says that the best way to know of a teacher is by looking at his student. And this is
how I began my study of Breslov, with Shmuel, a true student of Rebbe Nachman.
Five years after first discovering the Torah in my life, in September 2002 I moved with my wife
and two children to Israel. It was the time of the intifada; buses were blowing up left and right,
and another war with Iraq was looming in the horizon. When we arrived we were one of very
few families to move to Israel from America in this period.
For Americans who watch the media portrayal of the Middle East, Israel looks like a war zone.
Israelis often point out that if Americans watched pictures of inner city life they would be scared
to live in their own country. The truth is that life in Israel is generally much safer and calmer
than in America. Women and children can walk in the street without fear at all times of the night.
When I was living in California I would not let my young daughter go to the apartment next door
unattended. In our Jerusalem neighborhood children could play in the streets freely at any age.
Although terrorism is very dramatic, Israel is still statistically a much safer place to live than any
major US city and the biggest danger in Israel is not terrorism but simply driving on the roads.
Traffic accidents are statistically a much bigger threat than Arabs.
Despite all the challenges of life in Israel, I was in awe. After thousands of years of my family
living in exile from their homeland, after the millions of prayers that had been said by my
ancestors, I had the merit to return to bring my family back to the Holy Land. When I was in the
United States, even though I lived in some of the nicest places in the country, Beverly Hills,
Santa Barbara, South Hampton, Laguna Beach, I never felt at home. I didnt know why until I
moved to Israel. In Israel we lived in a small apartment at the entrance to Jerusalem in the midst
of a religious neighborhood. All the sites and sounds were completely foreign to me. I never
lived among religious Jews. I had never traveled to foreign countries, no less one in the Middle
East. I didnt know Hebrew. And yet I felt perfectly at home. My soul knew that this was my
home and I felt a genuine sense of peace.
At the time, I had an older daughter named Chava, who was very much in love with Israel. I
remember the first Shabbat when she walked out the door and saw all the girls jumping rope in
the middle of the street (since there were no cars driving there on Shabbat). She ran down the
street and shouted, I love Israel.
We also had a son named Aaron who was almost two years old. Aaron suffered from sleep apnia,
a breathing disorder that prevented him from breathing in a regular pattern at night. It was a
terrible experience because we didnt understand the cause of the problem and the doctors didnt
know what to do. The advice we got was that he would grow out of it. We were regularly kept up
at night watching him as he fought to breathe. His heart would race a million miles an hour and
yet in the day, he was perfectly normal. My wife suffered terribly from this and barely slept for
over a year while watching him at night.
My son was an angel and a beautiful boy with gentle wavy blond hair, bright eyes and mocha
colored skin. He was always smiling and singing. In Israel he would carry a prayer book in one
hand and a wooden dreidel in the other as he sang. I loved him more than my very life.
One night I dreamt that my son was lying on my lap dead. The dream was unlike any other I ever
experienced. It had the sense of reality and it terrified me. A month later in the middle of the
night my son woke us up in terrible pain from what we thought was teething. My wife took him
in the living room to look at his condition. It was a Shabbat night. It was the midst of a
tremendous thunderstorm. Lightning filled the sky, a storm that is still memorable years later. It
was the day of the winter equinox, the darkest day of the year. I looked at my wife as she held up
my son and then shouted in horror that his heart had stopped. I ran down eight flights of stairs to
the apartment of a doctor who lived in our building. Ambulances arrived and emergency team,
they pumped him with drugs and took him and my wife to the hospital while I stayed to watch
my daughter who was still sleeping through all of this.
I sat there and cried out and prayed for a miracle. I screamed out into the night of the Jerusalem
sky to God in heaven. I remember holding on to Aarons large wooden toy dreidel and imagining
it was his heart and begging God to pump it full with life. Please God, I am in the holy land, let
us see your miracles. God answers every prayer, but sometimes for reasons we dont understand
the answer is no. I received the call from my wife at the hospital that my precious son had died. I
felt like the universe had taken an enormous sledgehammer and just smashed and shattered my
heart.
When someone dies you dont really feel the loss right away. I was more in shock. You dont
feel like he is really gone. I felt a very real spiritual sense of Gods presence holding me. I also
felt a deep connection with my sons soul as it was going to heaven. Somehow I think I was still
with him as he was entering heaven, and I was sharing the awe he felt in his new journey.
On the other hand, I was also heart broken and I didnt know how I would ever be able to bare
the pain. I had two dreams that saved me. In one dream I heard the Beatles song :speaking
words of wisdom, Let it Be and I felt that this was Gods message to me. I had to accept this
reality. In another dream an angel told me that I was being selfish. You want your son to be
happy and he is now in the most happy place, and so dont be selfish. You want the best for him
and now he has it. This dream especially woke me up from my extreme sadness and allowed me
to move forward with my life.
I didnt know what would happen with my family. I thought my wife would certainly want to
leave Israel immediately. My mother called her and asked her this. To my surprise my wife
answered that she wanted to stay. You dont understand, this is a special place, and the people
here are like angels. Somehow the pain and loss of our son had opened my wifes eyes to the
holiness of the land. During the period of morning, we sat in our home for seven days while our
entire town came to comfort us. We were new residents there and yet complete strangers came to
feed us and hold our hands with words of comfort and faith. Our home was turned into a
synagogue for a week. My neighbors came to pray the three daily prayers there and a Torah
scroll was brought for the public readings of the Torah. I said the kaddish prayer, which is
generally for a parent, for the soul of my son.
After the morning period ended my wife told me that she wanted to have another child. I was
amazed by her courage. However, shortly after the ongoing conflicts within our marriage
reemerged. It seemed that even though we had both become religious Jews, we had each entered
this path in a different way and that what united us previously was no longer present in our
marriage. We tried therapy but nothing worked. In the end I decided to leave. I realized it was no
longer good for my wife or children to continue an unhappy marriage.
I had to come to Israel with such faith and hope. My precious son had died, my marriage fell
apart, and now I was going through a difficult divorce in a foreign legal system. My entire family
thought I was a fool for going to Israel and becoming religious, and the problems I had faced was
only more evidence of their belief.
This is when I spoke to Moshe Newman at the Western Wall. Moshe was sharing with me his
understanding of how to use all that I had been through into a means for becoming a new man.
This is the essence of Rebbe Nachmans teaching. That no matter how difficult or painful life
may be, There is no despair at all! From every place no matter how dark or difficult we can cry
out and ask Where are you God? And we can find Him and we can discover the kindness and
love that God is sharing with us in that very place.
Through my friend Moshe, Rebbe Nachman was speaking to me and teaching me exactly what I
needed to hear. I had come to Israel with such high hopes and with such simple faith and love,
and through all the suffering my heart became filled with a lot of bitterness and anger. I did not
like this, but it was the truth of my situation. Moreover, although I was still a deeply spiritual and
religious person, I no longer felt the simple love and happiness in my connection to God that I
felt when I first came to Israel. When I looked at my Israeli I.D. and saw my picture which was
taken when I first arrived I would cry because I saw a simple joy in my face that I no longer
possessed.
Rebbe Nachman was teaching me in this very moment how my heart had become closed, and he
was now revealing to me how to open it. He taught me that the key to serving God is the art of
how to go from the state of consciousness where God is revealed and bring that light to the place
where God is hidden, and then from the times and places where God is hidden to learn how to
return to the state where Gods light is revealed.
When one first discovers God, His light is powerfully present. However, through time and
suffering this light becomes hidden in many ways. Now, finally, I felt like Rebbe Nachman was
showing me how to return to the light. The path was to face those places of embarrassment. I did
not question my own faith in God. I still maintained a rich relationship with God and had no
doubt of the truth of the path of the Torah. I just couldnt understand why God had made my life
so miserable on the outside. I felt like I was living two completely different lives simultaneously.
On the inside, in respect to my learning of Torah, my meditation and prayer, and my love for the
land of Israel and the Jewish people I was in heaven. In respect to my practical life, my health,
financial situation, and home life, I had been living in hell.
Moshes advice that he learned from Rebbe Nachman was that I needed to go into that painful
state and not to hide from it. I heard his words and I entered into my pain and I began to cry. I
understood immediately why we all hide, because this pain felt too great to bare. We all live with
such expectations of what we are supposed to be in the world, successful, together, in
control, capable, etc. How is it possible when there is such pain locked up in our hearts, such
brokenness? There is no one who goes through life and does not have this kind of pain and
brokenness in their heart. Everyones life has some aspect of tragedy. Every childhood includes
painful memories and experiences when our parents and society limit us and cut us off from
beautiful part of our soul. We all witness injustice and meanness in our families and the world
around us. The only way to keep up the appearance of having it all together is to hide from the
pain and brokenness, because the truth of our life is in a way too hard to bare. However, it is too
hard to bear only if we want to keep up the appearance of having it all together.
The problem with hiding from the truth is that it blocks the heart, and our hearts are our vehicles
of prayer. Prayer is the work of the heart, and God tells us that He desires the heart. The only
way to reconnect to God is to face the truth within us and to open the heart. This comes when we
let ourselves be overwhelmed with our feelings and experience. King David tells us that God
receives the prayers of the brokenhearted.
This is the spiritual repair that each of us has to do for Adam. Adam hid from his sin and from
his feelings of having done wrong in Gods eyes. He did not immediately face up to his shame
before God. (Though later on he did do this.) Therefore when we face our pain and the wrong we
feel we have done in our heart we are fixing the world and helping to bring it back to its spiritual
perfect state.
Overlooking the Western Wall I received this beautiful lesson on the anniversary of Rebbe
Nachmans passing. It was the day of Moshe Rabbeinu and I received it through my friend
Moshe as the Kohanim, the sons of Aaron blessed us. I sat there in this most holy place between
the sons of Aaron and my friend Moshe Aaron Moshe this was the name of my son. I felt his
presence as the meaning of all my trials and pain was being revealed to me and I continued to
cry as my heart opened again after being shut up for so many years from the pain and anger over
the loss of my precious son.
This is the essence of the teaching of Rebbe Nachman the purpose of life is to connect to God
through prayer, that is, through the opening of the heart which is achieved by pouring our soul
and all its feelings before God. This allows us to awaken the clarity and wisdom to see the hand
of God in our lives and to reveal the gifts and blessings that are in every moment.
A few months later I celebrated the fifth anniversary of Aaron Moshes passing. I felt a lot of
pain in my heart, but nonetheless I made a meal to honor the day. My friend Dr. Moshe hosted
the event at his house a few steps away from the place by the Western Wall where I had spoke to
Moshe Newman. All my beautiful friends gathered and we prayed the afternoon prayer on the
rooftop overlooking Mount Moriah and the dome of the rock. I said the Jewish Kaddish prayer
for my son, and then we gathered in a circle and danced under the heavens of Jerusalem singing
Mitzva gedolah lhiot bsimcha (The greatest commandment is to be happy) and then we sang
the song of the name of the Tzaddik Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman. We sat down to
our meal in great happiness, ate, drank, danced, shared words of Torah all with the intention to
lift the soul of my son to higher worlds in heaven and at the same time that light of heaven
shined upon our gathering. I was astonished at how this bitterness my heart was feeling could be
transformed through our celebration to become the source for such great joy. The Zohar teaches
that on the door of the academy of the Messiah in heaven is written, No one may enter who has
not transformed bitterness into joy. Somehow the pain we experience in this life gives us the
opportunity to enter into the ultimate secrets of heaven.
The Life of Rebbe Nachman
Rebbe Nachman was born on April 4, 1772 and lived for 38 years (like the Arizal) and died on
October 16, 1810. His short life covered one of the most intense periods of change in human
history. It is the time of the French Revolution, the American Revolution, the Industrial
Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. This is no accident. Rebbe Nachman brought the light of
change and transformation into the world. It is the essence of his teaching that each moment
should be new and alive. For the Jewish people who had been living in exile, the opposite
philosophy reigned. The rabbis taught that the work of the Jewish people is to preserve the old,
to preserve the tradition and teaching of the past. This was a stage in Jewish history, but the
Torah is called the Torah of Life, and what is alive must constantly give birth and be renewed.
Rebbe Nachman did not teach that there should be change in the basic laws of the Torah, God
forbid. He taught that the Torah being the source of life is the power to renew the soul and our
relationship with God.
Rebbe Nachman was born to Feige, the granddaughter of the Baal Shem Tov. His father was Reb
Simcha, the son of Reb Nachman Hordeneker, one of the Baal Shem Tovs closest disciples. He
was born in the Ukrainian town of Medzeboz where his great-grandfather had lived and was
buried. Rebbe Nachman therefore grew up in a home of intense holiness and devotion to God.
He was surrounded by the disciples of the Baal Shem Tov and nursed on his legends.
Although he appeared to be a regular child to those around him, including his parents, from a
young age Rebbe Nachman took on the path of an ascetic holy man. Before the age of ten he
would regularly take upon himself week-long fasts from Sabbath to Sabbath. He would wander
off to frozen streams where he would cut holes in the ice and immerse himself in the icy waters
for several hours. He would prostrate himself on the grave of the holy Baal Shem Tov and cry
out longingly to God to help him transform his nature to become a true tzaddik who could bring
light and salvation to the Jewish people and the world. He was a marvel in Torah study and at a
young age gained mastery of the revealed and Kabbalistic tradition. All this he did in a way that
was mostly hidden from the people around him because his goal was not to gain honor for
himself through his spiritual accomplishments, but to honor and serve God.
At the age of eighteen Rebbe Nachman went off on his own and began to develop a small
following which included senior leaders of the Chassidic movement. In 1798 at the age of
twenty-six, Rebbe Nachman headed out on the perilous trip from the Ukraine to the Holy Land
of Israel. He traveled by foot and wagon across Russia to Turkey, and sailed the Mediterranean
to reach the port of Haifa. His traveled during time of war and was also captured by pirates.
When he reached the land of Israel he took four steps and turned to his companion and said, We
can turn back now. (This is because this satisfied the commandment of coming to the Holy
Land.) However, his companion compelled him to stay and after his visit they safely returned to
the Ukraine. Rebbe Nachman was able to achieve what the Baal Shem Tov failed to do to
reach Israel. On a spiritual level this was an awesome accomplishment, and upon returning to
Ukraine he brought a renewed Torah and asked his students to burn all his previous teachings.
Rebbe Nachman established his sect of Chassidim in the town of Breslov, and today his
followers are called Breslov Chassidim. Breslov is the same letters as the Hebrew phrase lev
besar, which means a heart of flesh. This name represents the ideal that the Rebbe taught, that
through prayer one can transform the heart of stone into a heart of flesh, in the language of the
prophet Isaiah. In about 1807 at the age of thirty-five he contracted tuberculosis, which
eventually took his life. In the final year of his life Rebbe Nachman moved to the town of Uman.
The Rebbe wanted to be buried in Uman because in 1768 tens of thousands of Jews who refused
to abandon their faith had been slaughtered there within three days in a mass burial. Rebbe
Nachman said that the souls of these Jews had been calling him there to bring a spiritual repair to
their souls. It is also clear that Rebbe Nachman foresaw that Uman would be a site where Jews
could visit his grave and gain spiritual renewal. And indeed today, nearly thirty thousand Jews of
all groups visit Uman to celebrate Rosh Hashana (the Jewish New Year) by the grave site of
Rebbe Nachman, for this is the day when the entire world is renewed. Rebbe Nachman told his
students that God had given him this day as a gift and that Jews should come to him so that he
could help secure a judgment for a blessed year for them from Heaven.
My Rosh Hashanah is something completely new-and God knows it is not something I inherited
from my fathers. God Himself gave me the gift of knowing what Rosh Hashanah is . That all of
you are dependent on my Rosh Hashanah goes without saying. The entire world depends on my
Rosh Hashanah! (Chayey Moharan #405)
What is remarkable is that the number of gatherers on this day approximates the number of
martyrs that were buried there. In his very death, Rebbe Nachman transformed this dark and
tragic event in Jewish history into a place where there is experienced annually the largest and
most joyful gathering of Jews together in the world.
Here is a letter I wrote to a friend upon returning from my first trip to Uman for Rosh HaShana
in 2006.
I want to share my experience of Uman with you and I hope you share it with all your friends. I
was fearful of going to Uman because I was concerned I would be disappointed. I had serious
doubts about the claims Breslovers make for this journey. I had the same doubts that many
people have in Israel. How could going to the Ukraine be more important than spending a the
new year in the Holy Land of Israel? How could the grave of Rebbe Nachman be any greater
than the Arizal or Rashbi (in Israel) to justify the expense and leaving the Holy Land?
However, this year I found myself outside Israel for the Holy days and reunited with my Breslov
teacher Shmuel Levy, so I had no excuses not to go. I went completely without expectations
open to accept whatever the trip was. My main concern was not to get disappointed and lose my
faith and connection in the teachings of Rebbe Nachman.
When I arrived in Ukraine I was surprised by the incredible beauty of the land, its green forests
and wide open fields of farmland. I felt a great openness in my soul to speak to God. We stopped
to pray mincha on the drive to Uman and I felt the energy of the Tzaddikim and their prayers
who had lived there had opened up a gate to heaven.
When I arrived in Uman I went to the grave, I gave some charity and began to recite tikkun
haklali (a specific set of Psalms). I was standing at the holy grave of the Tzaddik and doing this
prayer that I had only dreamed of doing for so many years, but despite all the spirituality I had
felt on the journey, I now felt absolutely nothing. I continued reading and I felt a complete lack
of all spiritual feeling. The very moment I completed the prayer my heart burst open and I began
to cry deep cries and tears for a complete hour. I do not know from where or why, just intense
tears. That was the beginning of my experience in Uman.
As I spoke with my friend in Uman one late evening about our experience I said, Here when I
speak to God I actually feel like He is really here listening.
What do you mean, my friend replied, He is not only listening, Hes answering. And we
both laughed at the awesome truth of his statement.
One of the remarkable things about being by Rebbe Nachmans grave for me was the sense of
the absolute purity of the Tzaddik. One friend of mine said before I left that I would come back a
full-on Breslover. I found the opposite to be true. I felt it was wrong to think about it as a Breslov
thing, because the primary thing I experienced there was how the Tzaddik can unite all the
Jewish people. Uman is not about being part of a single group, its about the whole. In Uman I
felt my life fully bound and connected to the people of Israel through the power of the Tzaddik.
Whether it exists always in Uman or with Rebbe Nachman, one thing was clear to me, on Rosh
HaShanah the power of the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu to unite the Jewish people is in Uman. And
because the Jewish people are united there, the presence of God is dwelling there too in all Her
majesty. Everyone feels this joy and everyone feels their brother feeling this joy. So when the
singing and dancing begins everyone joins in and can hardly stop because we are all feeling the
same inspiration reverberating within each of us, a connection to the same point, the point of
unity that guides the Jewish people the Tzaddik the soul that draws the presence of God
into the physical world. And what is so remarkable is that this is being done in the Ukraine of all
places. In other words, it reveals the holiness of the Jewish people and their connection to God
and how when we are united God will dwell with us anywhere, so its up to us.
Before leaving we stopped at the grave of the Holy Baal Shem Tov. There I opened a sefer of the
Baal Shem Tov and read the following line. Each Israeli needs to repair and aim his prayer to
the part of the messiah related to his soul. My teacher Shmuel Levy said, This is Uman. The
Tzaddik is yechida of yechida (the highest aspect of unity and G-dliness) and he brings out the
yechida in each Jew, and this is what creates the unity we see in Uman and this brings us to
true joy!
So by going to Uman and doing the prayer tikkun haklali and connecting to the Tzaddik, one has
the opportunity to see revealed in himself the highest aspect of his soul, that Godly essence
which is connected to every other Jew and by doing this one can rise above all the experiences of
the previous year, return to the source of all, and thus be truly renewed. Ashreinu.(rejoice)
As I finish the writing of this book, it appears that the government of Israel is going to bring the
grave of Rebbe Nachman to Jerusalem.
The Teachings of Rebbe Nachman
The Torah is called the Tree of Life, all who attach themselves to it are alive today. Rabbe
Nachman presents this Torah in practical terms. He told his students that his teaching was really
for future generations.
Rebbe Nachman tells us that Torah is in truth wise advice. The Torah teaches us how to live and
when we follow its advice we receive its life.
The Torah reveals that the fundamental issue in man is the contrast between the Tree of Life and
the Tree of Knowledge. The path of redemption for humanity and each individual is the wisdom
that leads us back to the Tree of Life. The contrast between the power of these two trees
constitute the challenge of man.
We explained earlier in the book in the chapter on the Garden of Eden that God intended man to
eat from the Tree of Life first, and then he would be able to eat from the Tree of Knowledge.
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil gave man the desires related to the whole system
of mind and body and its powers for enjoyment of the world both physically, mentally, and
spiritually. The entire world of life that we experience through the physical senses, emotions,
mind, and spirit can be used for good or evil, and can lead to pleasure or pain.
The Tree of Life is the essence of Gods love and wisdom. The fruit of this tree is the power to
know how to live and direct the mind and body in the world so that it can traverse the world of
pleasure and pain by turning away from evil and doing good. This wisdom to guide man through
life is called the Torah. The Tree of Life is the essence of the Love and wisdom of the Torah.
When man lives without this wisdom he gets ensnared by his desires for pleasure and uses the
power of his intellect to justify his selfish desires.
God does not want us to eat from the Tree of Knowledge before eating from the tree of life. This
is because knowledge without the heart of wisdom is dangerous and destructive. We have to be
connected above to the source of all love and wisdom before entering into the world of life
below. However, Adam did it backwards, and that is why the world is as it is.
God, therefore, blocked the way to the Tree of Life after Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge
because he feared that Adam would gain immortality in the imperfect state he had created by his
entering into the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. However, God did not deny Adam all
access to the wisdom he needed. Now that Adam and Eve had entered into the world of
physicality, God had to communicate the love and wisdom of the Tree of Life to Adam in a way
that would appropriate to his new condition. God did this by giving man the Laws of the Torah.
The Laws of the Torah are the love and wisdom of the Tree of Life. The power of the Tree of
Life is contracted so as to give man the ability to fix his soul and the world. The Laws and the
Wisdom of the Torah are the medicine to repair the soul of man and to restore the world to its
perfect state in a way without the risk of damage. The history of man is this healing.
The ultimate doctor is Rebbe Nachman. Rebbe Nachman teaches that the Torah is the very
advice that leads to the complete healing of the soul. In order for the soul to be healed it must
understand the condition, which is a result of the eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and
Evil.
When Adam ate of the Tree, the serpent actually entered into him. This serpent is represented in
man as the spinal column. The spinal column begins from the tail bone and extends to the neck
and completes itself in the brain. The brain is literally part of the spinal column. The serpent
dominates us through its base and head. Its base is the power of sexuality and its head is the
power of the intellect. The serpent is the cleverest of all the animals in the field.
The power of the serpent brought an impurity into humanity. This impurity is the selfish desire
for pleasure. This desire goes against the very nature of existence. This is for two reasons. The
first is that the nature of reality is Godly and Godliness is characterized by unity. God is love and
goodness and this love extends equally to all. The selfish desire for pleasure blinds us from the
true nature of reality as one and Godly and also blinds us from seeing our genuine connection to
all of life.
This desire for pleasure is rooted in our physical nature. The physical nature does not see Godly
unity. Physicality is characterized as a perception of the world that is governed by space and
time. Space and time are the boundaries that separate physical objects from another. We do not
feel unity when we focus on the fact that objects are in different places and at different times. It
is only through our spiritual faculty of sensing the world that we recognize the unity of life. This
is because the Godly unity that we can experience through our spiritual perception transcends our
physical perceptions. It is a deeper understanding of existence. The desires of the body for
physical pleasure, however, draws the soul from the spiritual to the physical and this can block
spiritual understanding and perception.
The Torah does not teach that pleasure is bad, only that it needs to be restrained. Pleasures have
the potential to bring a person down. Through the power of the Torah, we sanctify life and
elevate physical life and pleasure through living in a way that is guided by the restraint of law
and for Holy purpose.
This is for a very important reason. The power of the serpent within man not only craves
pleasure. It does so in a way that is completely without boundaries. It wants unlimited pleasure.
This unrestrained power of desire is a force that seeks mans own destruction. It is a desire that
goes against life.
The desire for money and power is the root of all war and conflict.
The desire for the pleasure of food is the root of all disease.
The desire for sexuality is the root of all immorality.
The desire for the pleasure of alcohol and drugs is the root of all self-destruction.
The serpent and its desires is literally trying to destroy man. Sometimes this destruction can be
very subtle. It can be the long-standing addiction to sugar or alcohol that slowly kills a person
over a lifetime, or it can be the drug-addict who goes the short route to an overdose and early
death. Whether slow or fast, both are paths of destruction. More importantly, these powers of
desire turn humanity from its true destiny, which is the cultivation of wisdom and closeness to
God.
The Torah is the ultimate healing from the destructive power of the serpent. Whereas the serpent
is leading humanity to destruction, the Torah is the source of life and the pathway to true life.
Rebbe Nachman explains in very simple terms the essential prescription to overcome the power
of the serpent.
The primary advice of Rebbe Nachman is to be happy. Joy is the ultimate medicine for all the
problems of man. Joy is the most powerful medicine because it is the antidote to the serpents
venom, which is depression.
Unhealthy and destructive desires can only take hold of a person when they are in a state of
unhappiness or depression. The serpent tells us that the fulfillment of the desire will return us
from the state of lack and sadness or depression to one of fulfillment and happiness. However,
this pleasure is a false replacement for true joy. The pleasure is usually intense and short-lived. It
has no true fulfillment and leaves the person with a sense of being deceived. However, the
serpent tells us that feeling of being deceived is merely a sign that we need further satisfaction of
the pleasure. This leads on and on in cycles of highs and lows. Eventually the highs reach a limit
and the lows continue to get lower, so that the individual is filled with deeper dissatisfaction and
depression and darkness in their soul.
The only true cure for the body and soul is the decision to be happy. Happiness and joy reveal
the lies of the serpent and free individuals from the false paths of destructive physical pleasure
that can never lead to true satisfaction.
The way to true joy is to connect oneself to the Tzaddik. The Tzaddik is the power of joy in this
world. This is because his soul is connected fully to the Torah which is the source of all life. In
other words, the soul of the Tzaddik is the connecting point to receive the power of life. This
happens on a spiritual level, but there are also important practical things that one must do.
The best way to connect to the Tzaddik and the source of life is to follow the advice of the Torah
as expressed by the Tzaddik. Rebbe Nachmans advice is the path to being happy in this world.
The starting path to this is the quality of simplicity. Children are happy because they are simple.
The expression of simplicity is faith. All children have natural faith and belief in the Creator.
This is the most natural belief to have. If there is a world, then there is someone that made it.
Children live in a wonder and awe at the creation. Everything they see is new and their curiosity
is their elixir of joy. They express a natural love for the creator and its Creator through their
laughter and wonder at all they see and experience. This aspect of the life of children is literally
from the Garden of Eden. The Lubavitcher Rebbe says, If you want to see the Messiah, look at
children.
Joy is a source of health, productivity, creativity, the desire to share, and compassion for others.
Rebbe Nachman teaches us that joy is the foundation of all human virtue.
Our natural joy is challenged by the world that we see. Our world is filled with pain and
suffering and this can cause a person to doubt that there is a benevolent Creator guiding the
creation.
Faith is the power that preserves the belief in God in the face of the darkness we may experience.
We experience this darkness as a test of our free will. The Torah teaches that the only true free
will is the expressed in the decision to come closer to God. When we walk through the darkness
and suffering of the world and maintain our faith, we truly earn our existence and bring out the
strength of the soul. It is through this faith that we fulfill the purpose of the world and earn our
eternal life.
Rebbe Nachmans great-grandfather the Baal Shem Tov teaches that this aspect of life is like a
father playing hide-and-seek with his child. The father hides momentarily and then reappears to
guide his child. As the child grows, the father can play this game for longer and his hiding can
increase, but this is only to strengthen the childs ability to stand on his own. However, even
when the father is hiding he is still peeking out from his hiding-place to guard his child.
The serpent is the cleverest. Intellectualizing leads to depression. Overthinking. Intellectualizing
is an energy that is focused on the ego-self. It is an absorption in what I think. It is this
absorption that leads to the negative qualities of intellectualizing. It is a truism that most
intellectuals have a skeptical and pessimistic view of life, which is an outward expression of
their own unhappiness. Intellectuality takes a powerful hold on people and is probably a harder
disease to crack than alcoholism. This is because intellectualism is fueled by the belief that one
knows something, and generally people do not give up their claims to knowing. It is a disease
that dominates the Western world and one that we are all effected by, because we live in a world
that values knowledge and intellectuality.
The antidote to intellectualism is faith and the belief in the Torah and Moses. This belief is
ultimately a belief in the miraculous. An intellectual cannot believe in a miracle, because
miracles transcend understanding. An intellectual wants to encapsulate all the world within the
power of his knowledge. The idea of a miracle cannot fit in such a world.
The Jewish people are the expression of the miraculous in the world. They are a people who do
not fit the laws of nature. According to the laws of history, the Jewish nation should be as large
or larger than the Chinese in population. However, God has preserved us as the smallest of
peoples.
The Jews were spread out throughout the entire world, and somehow we maintained our
language, laws, customs, and integrity as a historic people. The Jews literally reversed history
and after two thousand years of exile, returned to its ancestral homeland and reestablished its
ancient language as the official language of a modern nation.
Rebbe Nachman teaches us that the Jewish people, the Torah, the Tzaddikim, and the land of
Israel are the foundations of faith. This is because all of these have a Godly nature that
transcends the natural world.
When we look at creation we see Gods intelligence, beauty and wisdom. However, these
qualities are the external expression of Godliness in the world. They do not reveal the inner
essence of God Himself. They reveal qualities of God in His handiwork. The Jewish people, the
Torah, the Tzaddikim, and the land of Israel express the inner aspect of Godliness. They express
Gods miraculous power that transcends nature within nature.
The expression of the power of faith and the miraculous is prayer. Through simple words
expressed from the heart, prayer is the power to affect nature.
This is the ultimate teaching of Rebbe Nachman. The ultimate purpose of life is to transform this
world as we know it into a world of peace and compassion. Rebbe Nachman gave us his Torah
as the tool to fulfill this vision. The main power to bring this transformation is through prayer.
The first element of his teaching is that everyone must pray. It does not matter what level a
person is on, what they have done right or wrong in their life God receives the prayers of
everyone, and quite often it is the prayers of those who have descended to lower levels that have
the greatest power, because it takes great strength to make this return back to God.
The second element is that we must bind our prayers to all the tzaddikim and especially to the
True Tzaddik who leads the generation. Prayer is a power on the spiritual level and it gains
strength through attachment to holy souls. Therefore, we give our prayers greater power to
ascend to heaven when we make the intention to attach our prayers to the prayers of all the holy
people living today and who have come before us, and we especially need to attach our prayers
to the soul of Moses and the Tzaddik that is leading the world today unknown to the eyes of the
world. And of course we must bind our prayers to Rebbe Nachman ben Feige, whose soul is
called the flowing spring and source of wisdom.
Prayers have power because ultimately we must recognize that there is no reality called nature.
The rational view of life is founded upon the idea that world is governed by the laws of nature.
This was the essence of Greek philosophy and it is rooted in the modern notion of the European
Christian philosophers who believed that God created the world and then left it to run according
to its laws. They used the metaphor of a clock. God created the clock and wound it, and then let
it work on its own. In this view, nature is a clock functioning according to the mechanical laws.
These philosophers also believed that God can when He chooses overturn these laws.
Clearly the world appears to run according to laws. There is science and it has knowledge of the
patterns of the world, and it uses this knowledge to do awesome things. Scientists build space
ships and launch them into space.
The Torah does not say that there is nothing called science. The Torah explains that we must
understand science very differently. Let us continue with the analogy of the clock. The
Kabbalists and Chassidic masters teach us that God does not merely wind the clock and walk
away and let it run on its own. God guides each and every tick of the clock. Rebbe Nachman
teaches that there is no nature at all. What he is saying is that God never walks away from the
clock. In other words, God did not create Heaven and Earth in one moment at the beginning of
Creation. God creates Heaven and Earth in each moment. Nature has no power on its own. God
is doing everything at every moment, and He is not subject to any laws. Nature appears regular
because that is how God makes it appear, but anything can change in any way at any moment if
God so willed it to.
So what does this mean practically. The best example is that of medicine. Doctors use their
knowledge to diagnose patients and give them appropriate medicines that according to the rules
of science have the power to heal a person from the disease they are suffering from. Rebbe
Nachman teaches that the plants and chemicals that the doctor uses have no power on their own
to heal. The only reason that they may appear to function to heal someone is because God gives
them that power. This is why sometimes a medicine can heal and other times it may not. It is not
the medicine. God uses the medicine as a means of bringing healing to a person.
This does not mean that people should not study medicine or go to doctors. God created the
world with a structure and we must live within that structure. He gave us knowledge and
medicine. However, the Torah teaches us that we must not put our faith in doctors and medicine.
The Torah teaches that we must live in the world with our faith. We must go to doctors and use
their medicine but at the same time remember that the true power of healing comes through God.
One can ask then, Why then go to doctors at all? The same question can be asked in regard to
anything in our lives. Why do we need to work? why do we need to eat? Why dont we just
pray for everything? Why do we have to live within the context of the ordinary ways of nature?
The Kabbalah teaches that the world is the garment that covers the presence of God. Therefore,
man can easily forget that God even exists. The entire history of man is the history of the process
of this forgetting. God desires that we live in this world of nature where His presence is
enclothed and constantly seek to remember our Creator. This is the work of Adam. Adam was
put in the Garden of Eden to work and guard the garden. As we mentioned earlier, nothing grew
and the rain did not fall unless Adam prayed. This work of prayer and remembering the Creator
is the act of revealing Gods presence and drawing it forth in the physical world. God wants man
to be an active participant in creation. This is the way man participates. God could easily have
done everything for us. Instead, God created the need for man to bring the consciousness of God
into the world. Through faith and prayer, mankind brings the power of the awareness of God into
the world of nature and this ultimately transforms nature into a place where Gods presence will
be fully revealed from its hiddenness.
Rebbe Nachman emphasized that the strength of prayer is activated through the power of the
voice. God created the world through speaking. Genesis recounts ten acts of speech through
which the world was created. The Kabbalah explains that the Hebrew letters are not like ordinary
letters. The Hebrew letters are the code of creation. Just as mathematics and numbers are the
expression of the code and power of nature, the Hebrew letters on a higher level are the ultimate
code of creation. The Hebrew letters are the building blocks of creation. Each letter expresses a
fundamental power. The combinations of these powers in words are the very essence of the thing
that the word names. A human being is ADaM, which in Hebrew is the three letters A, D, M.
These letters are like the heavenly genetic code that expresses the essence of man and brings him
into existence. Every word in Hebrew can be analyzed and understood in respect to its
component letters. For example, the word Adam is related to the Hebrew word for earth, adama.
The three letters in Adam represent three different elements in man.
The letter A represents the number 1 and also is the first letter in the Hebrew word for God.
The letter D represents the the number 4, which are the four elements of the physical world,
earth, air, fire, water. Man is the image of God expressed in the physical world.
The letter M stands for mashiach (Hebrew for messiah, the anointed one). The messiah is the
realization of the Godly image in man, and he ushers in the era when all humans can begin to
fulfill this ideal purpose.
Man is unique in the physical word because he has the power of speech, he has a part in the
power of creation. All the worlds languages come from Hebrew, so even though Hebrew is the
most powerful language, every language shares this power. (As a side note, the Websters
dictionary of the Nineteenth Century listed Hebrew as the root for the majority of English words.
This is a fact that is hidden by contemporary scholarship that is prejudice against the Torahs
view of history.) Whenever a man speaks, his words have power to create on both in spiritual
and physical worlds. Most people do not recognize this or respect this awesome power that we
have been granted. The Torah has extensive laws on how we should guard the way we speak and
so to maintain the purity of this power. For example, we are taught to speak truth and also not to
speak gossip or bad things about others. In psychology we see that affirmations are used to help
heal or improve a persons character. Speech is the power through which leaders control their
peoples. Speech is literally power.
The greatest purpose of this power is prayer. Rebbe Nachman teaches that it is through speech
that we can bring the potential that God has given us into actuality. Whereas God uses speech to
create something from nothing, the power of human speech is to bring the potential gifts that
God has given us into physical reality. Rebbe Nachman taught that:
Prayer must be spoken out in actual words literally . It is not enough to think the prayers. It
is true that God knows what we are thinking. But the words have to be spoken, because speech is
the vessel with which we receive the flow of blessings. According to our words, so is the
blessing we receive.
One who perfects his speech can receive abundant blessings through the vessels he forms with
his words. This is why we must actually articulate our prayers with our mouths.
Rebbe Nachman taught a very specific form of prayer called hitbodedut. Hitbodedut means to
seclude oneself. Rebbe Nachman taught that the ultimate form of prayer is the also the simplest
and most natural. He taught us to spend regular time each day alone and to use this space to
speak our thoughts and feelings out loud directly to God as we would speak with a friend.
Speaking to God is natural. Whenever we are in trouble or need help desperately our voice
naturally raises up to the heavens. The Torah and other writings of the Bible relate the personal
prayers and pleadings of all the great righteous men and women to God. Indeed, the Rambam
explains that the essence of the commandment to pray is to give thanks each day to the Creator
for what He provides us and also to express our requests for our needs and the needs of the world
around us.
Rebbe Nachman is the first great spiritual leader in the Jewish world to teach that this simple
form of prayer is in truth the highest and most powerful means of spiritual ascent. In ancient
times there were said to be a million prophets among the children of Israel. The nation was filled
with schools of prophecy that taught various techniques for individuals to connect to our Creator.
The majority of the techniques focused on special training in meditation on combinations of
Hebrew letters. The students of the prophets also disciplined themselves intensely with fasts,
sitting meditation, periods of silence and other ascetic practices. These practices reached high
levels of deep complexity involving the understanding of the spiritual pathways in the various
spiritual worlds and understanding the sacred names of God and angels that allowed the seeker to
make their spiritual ascent.
Rebbe Nachman spent much of his youth in intensive ascetic practice. As a small child he
secretly fasted, very often from Sabbath to Sabbath. He trained himself to swallow his food
without tasting it. He reached a high level of spiritual power that allowed him to overcome his
physical nature. In the winter he cut holes in the ice and immersed himself in freezing Ukrainian,
mountain waters for hours at a time. There is no doubt he also was a master of all the Kabbalistic
meditations of the Rashbi and Arizal. However, Rebbe Nachman discovered that the highest
form of prayer is the simplest the sincere speech of the heart of a man or woman alone with
the Creator.
The regular practice of speaking with the Creator is the means to discover the genuine truth of
the heart. In our daily lives we end up silencing our feelings and thoughts. We take on false
appearances and masks in order to survive and keep peace with friends, family, teachers, and in
the workplace. Our true thoughts can be challenging to what society or our personal world
accepts. These deep and genuine thoughts express our true self, and that is the place where we
meet God in the place of Truth. When we silence our thoughts and feelings that create layers
of walls and hardening around our heart that hide our true self not only from people around us,
but from our very selves. In this way, we separate our selves from God. The practice of being
alone and speaking to God our true thoughts reverses this process and releases our true selves
and builds the bridge of sincerity and truth that connects us to God. The practice simply opens
our heart to be real.
Selected Teachings
Pray For Everything
You must pray for everythingDo this for everything: make it a habit to pray for all your needs,
great or small. Your main prayers should be for fundamentals: that God should help you to serve
Him and draw closer. Even so, you should also pray for minor things.
God may give you food and clothing and everything else you need in life, even without your
asking for them. However, you are then like an animal. God provides all living creatures with
their food. But if you do not draw your needs through prayer, your livelihood is like that of an
animal. A man must draw his vitality and all his needs from God only through prayer.
Is it beneath your dignity to pray even for something minor? You must pray for everything, even
the most minor things.
(Sichot Haran #233)
Like A Child Pleading with His Father
When a person wants to pray to God and ask for what he needs, he should first thank God for all
of His past kindnesses and only then ask for what he needs. Because, if he starts by asking only
for what he needs, God says, Have you nothing to thank Me for then?
It is very good to pour out year heart to God like a child pleading with his father.
Doesnt God call us His children? You are children to the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 13:1).
Therefore it is good to express your thoughts and feelings and all your troubles to God, like a
child nagging and complaining to his father.
Even if you think you have done so much wrong that you are no longer one of Gods children,
remember that God still calls you His child.You may think you are no longer one of Gods
children. But if you do your part, God will eventually send you thoughts of encouragement
(Sichot Haran #7)
Meditation and Personal Prayer
Set aside time each day to meditate and pray alone in a room or some meadow and express your
innermost thoughts and feelings and personal prayers to God. Use every kind of appeal and
argument. Use words that will endear you to God and win His favor. Plead with God to draw you
closer and let you truly serve Him. This is Hitbodedut.
You should hold these conversations in whatever language you speak best. Our set prayers are
said in Hebrew, but if this is not ones native language, it is difficult to use it to give expression
to all ones innermost thoughts and feelings and the heart is less drawn after the words. It is
easier to pour out your heart and say everything you need in your own language.
You should tell God everything you feel, be it contrition and longing to repent over the past or
requests and supplications to come truly close to God from now on, each person according to his
level.
Be very careful to get into the habit of spending time every day on your personal prayers and
meditation. fix a regular time for this and then be happy for the rest of the day!
Hitbodedut is of the greatest value. It is THE way to come closer to God, because it includes
everything else. No matter what you lack in your service of God, even if you feel totally remote
from His service, tell God everything and ask Him for all that you need.
If at times you find yourself unable to speak to God or even open your mouth, the very fact that
you are there before Him wanting and yearning to speak is itself very good. You can even turn
your very inability to speak into a prayer. Tell God that you feel so far away that you cannot
even speak to Him! Ask Him to have mercy on you and open your mouth to tell Him what you
need.
Many great and famous Tzaddikim have said that all their achievements came only through
Hitbodedut. Anyone with understanding can recognize the supreme value of this practice, which
ascends to the most sublime heights. This advice applies to everyone equally, from the very least
to the very greatest. Everyone is capable of practicing it and can attain great levels. Happy are
those who persist in it.
It is also good to turn Torah teachings into prayers. When you study or hear a teaching of a true
Tzaddik, make a prayer out of it. Ask God when you too will be able to fulfill this teaching. Tell
him how far from it you are and beg Him to help you attain everything contained in the lesson.
A person of understanding who wants the truth will be led by God in the path of truth, and he
will learn how to practice Hitbodedut and offer words of grace and sound arguments to persuade
God to bring him to true service.
Hitbodedut rises to a very high place. This applies especially to turning Torah teachings into
prayers, which creates the greatest delight above.
Hitbodedut is the highest level: it is greater than everything.
(Lekutei Moharan II, 25)
Hitbodedut is for everyone
From the smallest to the greatest, it is impossible to be a truly good person without Hitbodedut.
(Lekutei Moharan I, 100)
Even One Word
If you cannot speak at all in your Hitbodedut, even saying a single word is also very beneficial.
If you can say one word, keep strong and repeat that word over and over again, countless times.
Even if you spend day after day mediating with that word, this in itself is very good. If you are
persistent and repeat that word countless times, God will have mercy and open your mouth, and
you will be able to express yourself.
(Lekutei Moharan II, 96)
Master of the World
Even if the only thing you can say in your Hitbodedut is Ribono Shel Olam! (Master of the
World), this is also very good.
(Chayeh Moharan #440)
The practice of speaking and opening ones heart to God may seem formidable. However, as
Rebbe Nachman said, Dont Despair. Every effort that we make towards this practice is
meaningful. The Rebbe gave us this parable to encourage us:
The Hammer
A certain King sent his son far away to study. The son eventually returned to the kings palace
fully versed in all the arts and sciences. One day the king told his son to take a particular stone
that was as big as a millstone and bring it up to the top floor of the palace. But the stone was so
heavy that the prince could not even lift it up. He was very upset that he could not fulfill his
fathers wish.
Eventually the king said to his son, Did you really imagine that I meant you to do the
impossible and carry the stone just as it is up there? Even with all your wisdom, how were you
supposed to do such a thing? That was not what I meant. I wanted you to take a big hammer and
smash the stone into little pieces. This is how you will be able to bring it up to the top floor.
In the same way, God commands us to lift our heart with our hands up to God in the heavens
(Lamentations 3:41). Our heart is a heart of stone (Ezekiel 36:26), a very heavy stone. There is
no possible way to raise it to God except by taking a hammer and breaking and smashing the
heart of stone.
The hammer is speech!
The ultimate purpose of prayer and secluded meditation is to come close to God. The way to this
closeness to God is through the Tzaddik. To come close to the Tzaddik is to follow in his ways
and become like him. Rebbe Nachman reveals to us the way the tzaddikim have all come close to
God, and that is through the secluded speech with God and opening of the heart. The Kabbalah
teaches us that the souls of the Tzaddikim enter into those who sincerely desire to return to God
and they inspire them and help guide them and give them the strength and wisdom to overcome
their spiritual challenges. One can begin this process from any place no matter how dark or
impure. But when one begins to return to God the degree of closeness that he or she may reach
depends on ones commitment to purifying ones soul and body.
Purity of Thought
Mans mind is his very essence. Wherever your thoughts are, that is where you are all of you.
This is why it is so important to avoid all the evil thoughts, because otherwise that is where your
place will be.
You must force yourself to think good thoughts in order to be worthy of knowing God. Then
your place will be with Him and you will be merged with Him. The greater your perception of
God, the more fully merged with Him you will become, and then you will attain eternal life.
(Lekutey Moharan I, 21)
The Seven Lamps of the Head
To gain spiritual understanding and awareness, you must sanctify the seven lamps of your
head: your mouth, nostrils, earls, and eyes.
Guard your mouth from speaking any falsehood.
Sanctify your nostrils with the fear (and awe) of Heaven, as it is written: he will scent the fear
of God: (Isaiah 11,3). The way to sanctify the nostrils is through meekness and humility. You
must be patient and not let anger burn inside you, even if people treat you badly.
Use your ears to listen to the words of the Sages: believe in what they say. The way to sanctify
your ears is through discretion and loyalty. If people tell you secrets, be sure to keep them and
not reveal them to anyone.
Lower your eyes and avert them from evil.
Sanctifying the seven lamps of the head can bring you to complete spiritual understanding and
awareness. Your heart will then burn with passion for God, because the activity of the mind
generates heat and fervor in the heart. The more you occupy your mind with thoughts of Torah
and devotion, the more your heart will burn for God. The deeper your understanding, the greater
your fervor will become. This fervor purifies the heart , protecting it from becoming inflamed
with evil desires, which merely pollute it. When a persons heart is pure, he will never be at a
loss for words when he speaks to God. He will always find new words and new approaches.
One who sanctifies the seven lamps of the head can attain awesome levels of perception of
God. These heights of understanding are a blessing from God which is bestowed from above
without any preliminaries and introductions. This is the gift of ruach hakodesh, holy spirit (that
is, prophecy).
(Lekutey Moharan I,21)
God gives His Torah through Moses, the Tzaddik. The Torah is Gods Law, the expression of
His will. The Tzaddik and Gods Torah are therefore the expression of Gods kingship in the
world. Rebbe Nachman teaches us that the ultimate purpose of Creation is to give glory to God
as the Creator and king. This is done primarily through speech the praise and thanks that we
give to God in prayer and song and by following His will.
Glory is the light of God. The more that humanity honors God through prayer and by doing
His will, the more Gods light is revealed in the creation. The goal of the Tzaddik is to bring the
wisdom and encouragement to humanity to fulfill this purpose. The goal of the Tzaddik is to
raise the kingship of God in the world so that the light and presence of God can be realized in
creation and true peace and blessing can flourish.
Rebbe Nachman said that the only difference between the Messiah and me is that the world will
listen to the Messiah. They didnt listen to me in my lifetime. He said this because the Torah that
he revealed to the world is the Torah, (that is, the teaching) of the Messiah. The Messiah will
spread the teaching of Rebbe Nachman to the Jewish people and the world. Rebbe Nachman said
that the publishing of his book Lekutey Moharan was the beginning of the redemption.
This is because the redemption occurs through the process of prayer. The prayers that the world
speak bring the power of the Messiah into the world. These prayers gain their real strength
through the opening of the heart and through purity of mind and body. When we attach our
selves to the soul of the Tzaddik, the Messiah, then the Messiah is given the power to reveal the
light of God to the world.
The Kabbalah teaches us that the Messiah is the completion of the power of three great souls
united. The soul of Moses, Joseph, and David. Moses received the Torah and taught the people.
Joseph realized the ideal of the Tzaddik. Moses and Joseph were both princes of Egypt. Egypt
represents the material and dark powers of physical existence. Moses had to leave Egypt to
receive the Torah. Joseph returns to Egypt and uses the Torah to rule Egypt and save the world
from famine. Joseph is the power to overcome the physical and evil. David is the power then to
transform the world of the physical to one of Godliness. David is the sweet singer of Israel, the
author of Psalms, the deepest, most beautiful expression of the music of the soul. This is because
the Kabbalah teaches us that the Messiah, spiritual and physical heir of King David, will conquer
the world through song. Rebbe Nachman taught that this song would be revealed by his student.
In the next chapter we will tell the story of that revelation.
Perhaps the greatest gift that Rebbe Nachman left us with is what is called the Tikkun Klali in
Hebrew (the Wholistic Repair). The Kabbalah teaches that the world is in need of tikkun,
literally repair. Each of us is participating in the repair of the world and the repair of our
individual lives. The Tzaddikim strived to bring spiritual tools to give us greater power to do that
repair. King David wrote his Psalms not only as poetry to express his personal struggles and to
inspire other with hope and faith. His book of Psalms has hidden powers to heal the soul because
of the mystical combinations of Hebrew letters that he composed. These combinations were
given through prophecy so that one who recites Psalms does spiritual healing work for the entire
world and for their individual soul on levels that we are generally not aware of. Psalms were
composed as songs that were accompanied by instruments and played in the Temple. The book
consists of ten types of song. Rebbe Nachman teaches us that:
The life and workings of the body are governed by ten basic pulses. These in turn are vitalized
by ten kinds of melody emanating from the soul. Negativity, anxiety and depression weaken the
pulses, and this can cause illness. But when the melody of the soul is joyous, it strengthens the
vitality of the pulses and brings health to the body. (Likutey Moharan I, 24).
Many ancient sages knew that there was a certain combination of Psalms that was called the
Wholistic Repair. However, it was not revealed which Psalms they were. Rebbe Nachman
merited to have these Psalms revealed to him. They are ten Psalms, each representing a different
kind of song and therefore they do a repair or spiritual healing on every level. They especially
are able to do repairs for transgressions in the realm of sexuality. Prior to the revelation of this
tikkun, the spiritual damage of such transgressions was very difficult to fix in this world.
Moreover, Rebbe Nachman taught that these Psalms have power to bring healing and salvation
for all kinds of life challenges. These Psalms are 16, 32, 41, 42, 59, 77, 90, 105, 137, 150
(according to the Jewish ordering).
The Ten Psalms correspond to the Ten Kinds of Song. These ten melodies are the true remedy.
This is the Tikkun HaKlali the General Remedy. There is a specific remedy for each sin, but
this is the General Remedy. Go out and spread the teaching of the Ten Psalms to
everyone.This remedy has not been revealed since the time of creation. (Sichot Ha Ran #141)
Before Rebbe Nachman died he made a formal vow:
Bear witness to my words. When my days are over and I leave this world, I will still intercede
for anyone who comes to my grave, says these Ten Psalms and gives a penny to charity. No
matter how great his sins, I will do everything in my power, spanning the length and breadth of
creation, to save him and cleanse him
I am very positive in everything I say. But I am most positive in regard to the great benefit of
these Ten Psalms.
(Sichot Ha Ran #141)
Chapter 12: Yisroel Ber Odesser: The Saba
In one of the works volumes of the teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai called the Tikune
Zohar, there is a mysterious teaching that says, that the redemption of the world will come
through a song. This song is the blast of the rams horn which calls out to us to return to God.
(The rams horn was sounded at Mount Sinai and is blown every Rosh HaShana.) The Tikune
Zohar explains that this song is the name of God, the four letter ineffable name that expresses the
infinite.
In a special way, all of Rebbe Nachmans teaching is to ultimately reveal the meaning of the
Tikune Zohars prophecy and the true essence and power of music and song. Rebbe Nachman
said that A holy melody can bring you to the level of prophecy. Music is the foundation of true
attachment to God (Likutey Moharan I,3)
Rebbe Nachman further explains that The life and workings of the body are governed by ten
basic pulses. These in turn are vitalized by ten kinds of melody emanating from the soul.
Negativity, anxiety and depression weaken the pulses, and this can cause illness. But when the
melody of the soul is joyous, it strengthens the vitality o the pulses and brings health to the body
(Likutey Moharan I,24).
The redemption of the world will come through the healing of the soul of man. Man needs to be
healed of his destructive desires that lead to dissatisfaction, anger, destruction and depression.
This healing comes through song, and the song is the song of joy.
Rebbe Nachman prayed that he would have the merit to reveal this song. Before his death he
hinted to his students that he would yet reveal the song of redemption in the future when he said,
I have finished and I will finish.
A similar prophecy was made by one of the students of Rebbe Nachman. The prophecy was
preserved in the handwriting of Rav Hetzel, a student of Rav Avraham the son of Reb Nachman
of Terchin. It is titled On the Subject of the Beginning of the Redemption. The writings were
preserved through a chain of students of Rebbe Nachman. This particular essay also includes a
notice that it is not to be given to publication until the time of the Messiah, according to the
directions of this assembly of Rebbe Nachmans students and signed by Shmuel Horowitz.
According to the directions of our teacher Israel Ber Odesser, who was a close friend of Shmuel
Horowitz, the time has come for all such publications to be revealed. The writing begins as
follows:
Eruv Shabbat after midday, in the month of Tammuz, 5632 (1872) Rav Avraham, may his light
shine, arose from the mikva, dressed in his Shabbat clothing, and was in an awesome and
powerful state of spiritual elevation and ecstasy and in powerful attachment to G-d, (and said)
in approximately fifty years (yoval) there will arise a lad with beautiful appearance and clear
vision and he will renew the matter of rabbeinu (Rebbe Nachman) with something new and there
has not yet been such a wonderful thing like this (in the world) before. This will be a new and
lofty path in the matter of the Redemption, and it will bring great good to the entire world, Amen
may it be speedily in our days.
Exactly fifty years later in 1922 such a young man as described by this prophecy, Israel Ber
Odesser received his awesome letter from heaven signed by Rebbe Nachman, as we first
mentioned in the introduction to our book. Here is the story of Israel Odesser.
Yisroel Ber Odesser was born in 1888 in Tiberias, a small village on the Sea of Galilee in the
north of Israel. His parents were simple people of faith and part of the Karliner sect of
Chassidim. His father was blind and his mother baked bread to support the family.
They lived in a tiny home and in great poverty. At night before going to sleep, the large family
would spread out straw mattresses on the floor. They would eat bread with a bit of onion and tea.
Even as a young child, Yisroel Ber would give his lunch (a piece of bread with a few drops of
oil) to the poor in the town in order to merit to give charity. He was left without strength,
ravenous, and suffered from terrible headaches. His teacher noticed Yisroel Bers lack of
participation in the class and, thinking he was a lazy student, would punish him cruelly. Despite
this Yisroel Ber continued to perform his charitable acts.
At home his father would give each child a bit of oil for his bedside lamp. Yisroel Ber would use
this each night to recite the Midnight prayers to lament for the destruction of the Holy Temple.
When his oil ran out he would take more from the familys supply in order to continue his
prayers throughout the night, and by the end of the week no oil remained for Shabbat. His
parents realized that young Yisroel Ber had finished the oil because of his dedication to serving
God.
As Yisroel Ber grew up he would pray to God with great fervor. He also would fast on the eve of
every Rosh Chodesh (new Jewish month). Yisroel sought to purify his soul and fought great
battles against his physical desires and evil thoughts. His great desire for holiness made him feel
lacking in his Divine service. He sought out and consulted with elder Chassidim who were
renowned for their piety and fear of God concerning his doubts and temptations. But he received
only partial answers that did not quench his thirst for purification. His soul burned to serve God.
He wanted to draw near to God as much as humanly possible. This was his purpose. He wanted
to study the Torah and to grow in spirituality. His family, who suffered from dire poverty,
wanted him to work and to help support the family, but he refused categorically to reduce his
Divine service. Eventually they accepted this and allowed him to continue on his spiritual path.
I encountered many struggles in my service of God. In order to find a cure for my soul I would
seek out many great rabbis, elders, and kabbalists of the generation and confide in them my
innermost spiritual struggles, but ultimately they were unable to help me. Occasionally, I derived
some inspiration, but I never found a complete cure. After yearning and struggling to find an
answer, I finally merited to be introduced to the teachings of Rebbe Nachman, The flowing
stream, the source of wisdom (Proverbs 18:4).
One day in the Yeshiva Yisroel Ber found a book without a cover in the garbage. He removed it
in order to dispose of it in a fitting way for holy objects. But before he did this he read some of
the book and he was shocked to see that this book, Outpouring of the Soul, explained how to
draw near to God in truth and how to achieve his spiritual aspirations to become purified and
reach the highest good. I wondered if the Almighty had arranged this incident for my personal
salvation? Instead of burying the book, I kept it and began reading it day and night. It became
precious to me, and in truth it started to heal me. The book written by a student of Rebbe
Nachman explained the secret method of the Holy Shepherds of Israel: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
and David, who became completely righteous through this method of private and personal
conversation with God.
Since my Yeshiva was in the hills, I had an excellent opportunity to try out the books
teachings. I would go out periodically to a secluded spot and try to implement the books lessons.
At the time I didnt know who the author was, nor did I have any knowledge of Breslov
ChassidusHowever, I was longing intensely for a spiritual cure, and when I thought about it
honestly, I saw that this book was healing me. Its power of simplicity and truth had more impact
on me than miracles and wonders. Its principal idea, that in all situations, good or bad, a person
can assert his free will to serve God, I saw as the greatest miracle of allThe teachings instilled
in me a new light and protected me from all pitfalls in life. I felt transformed, undergoing a
change as great as the distance from Heaven to earth.
At that time there was a great prejudice in the Jewish world against the followers of Rebbe
Nachman, who were called Breslov Chassidim after the town of Breslov where the Rebbe lived
and taught. Unlike other groups, the Breslovers did not choose another rebbe after Rebbe
Nachmans death. Instead, they believed that Rebbe Nachman could not be replaced and would
continue to guide them spiritually. Moreover, the Breslovers expressed more outward devotion
and emotional attachment to God, as well as sacrificing time from their studies to go into the
woods to be alone to speak to God.
Saba relates that One day a certain Chasid came into my room. When he saw this book in my
hand he said, Are you actually looking at a book like that? Isnt that a Breslov book? (This was
the first time Id heard the name Breslov.) So I told him, If you dont like it, dont look at it; but
I will continue to read it. However, he forced the book out of my hand and left with it.
Despite this incident, Saba continued with the teachings he had learned and now prayed to find a
teacher in the path of Breslov Chassidut. God heard young Yisroels prayers and soon after he
met the tzaddik Yisroel Karduner. The Saba relates that Ordinary words are not adequate to
describe what I observed from him. He lived with such an attachment to God that anyone who
saw him immediately sensed his holiness. To this day I have not heard or seen such devotion in
fulfilling Gods commandments. When he would stand to pray it was as though he was not in
this world at all. All his actions both towards his Creator and towards his fellow man were to
sanctify Gods Name, and his face shone with holiness.
Rabbi Yisroel (Karduner) served God with awesome and wonderous fervor and vitality.
Everyone who ever met him, or even heard his voice including those most opposed to Breslov
felt so overwhelmed in his presence that their objections completely faded away and they
came to respect him and to view him with awe.
Rabbi Yisroel Karduner was living in the city of Meron and spending his days in devout prayer
by the grave site of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the author of the Zohar. He began to suffer
terrible pains in his arm, but did not want to let this physical problem distract him from his
prayers. Eventually the pain became so intense and Rabbi Karduner suspected that it was a sign
that God wished him to travel to Tiberias to soak his arm its hot springs. It was on this short trip
that Rabbi Karduner found himself at the home of Rabbi Yisroel Ber to buy bread for dinner.
Saba relates that upon meeting Rabbi Karduner that From his appearance I had the distinct
feeling that he was one of the Thirty-Six Hidden Tzaddikim, as many great Jewish leaders had
said of him in his own lifetime. I already knew that through him I could find the approach I was
searching for in fulfilling Gods commandments. When Rabbi Karduner sat down to eat his
bread, young Yisroel Ber whispered to him, Do you know that the Almighty sent you to rescue
my soul?
From that day for the next five years Yisroel Ber studied with Rabbi Karduner the teaching of
Rebbe Nachman and the ways of holiness.
Rabbi Yisroel would be in a state of holiness and sanctity the entire week, and on Shabbos he
was exceptionally holy. He actually could see and experience the light of Shabbos. His singing
and dancing were phenomenal. We would dance together most of the night of Shabbos. This
really amazed the people of the town, since no other Chassidus demonstrated such happiness and
joy.
I also witnessed in Rabbi Yisroels faith and trust in God that is impossible to imagine or
describe. Once I saw him at the Tomb of Rashbi in Meron, on a winters day. He stood there the
entire day reciting Psalms. His words were like coals of fire, resounding with awe, devotion, and
sweetness, the likes of which Ive never heard before or since. Even though tears normally dry
up, Rabbi Yisroels crying continued until the Tomb literally was soaked. I saw this with my
own eyes.
On another occasion we were walking to a certain moshav. On the way there was a terrible
storm. All around us was flooding and mud, and we had to devote all our energy to saving
ourselves. Hours passed before we saw any light. Finally, we noticed a lit house and were invited
inside. When the owner saw our drenched condition, he gave us clothing to change into and tea
to drink. Rabbi Yisroel stood to pray the evening prayer. I was sure that this night, after
everything that had happened to us, he wouldnt be able to rise for the Midnight Lament. I was
so exhausted that I couldnt even move my limbs. The family arranged beds for us and we went
to sleep.
Before I knew it, Rabbi Yisroel arose from his bed like a lion. Ive never heard a Midnight
Prayer like this, all the days of my life. Afterwards he went to his table and lit a candle. I was
turning restlessly on my bed, unable to relax. Finally I also got up and approached the door
quietly. I saw Rabbi Yisroels table shaking and trembling like a great machine. I felt
tremendously ashamed and was afraid to approach him, but I wanted to fulfill our agreement to
meet every night. Finally I gathered courage and walked towards him, and I saw his face
glowing. When I saw this I felt ashamed.
In the morning, Rabbi Yisroel prayed at sunrise as usual. The prayer was so sweet sounding that
all of the people of the town stopped at the window to listen on their way to work. I was with
Rabbi Yisroel when he said the Shema with such concentration that I thought his soul would
leave him. His yearning to be close to God was so intense that he cried like a baby during his
prayers. Afterwards, the owner of the house stood in front of Rabbi Yisroel as if in the presence
of a king. He prepared a banquet for him. The lady of the house, sensing his holiness, went to
cover herself in modest attire. Rabbi Yisroel declined the banquet and asked the owner to forgive
him, since it was his custom only to eat bread and tea.
Rabbi Yisroel and I were never apart. I had witnessed the fulfillment of my prayers and
hitbodedut, testifying to the greatness of Rebbe Nachmans teachings, in Gods sending my
teacher right into my house. Miraculously, I saw that Rabbi Yisroel, having been forced by
Divine Providence to leave Meron in order to help me, was so strongly drawn to me. Such a
bond formed between us that much water could not extinguish the love between us (Song of
Songs 8:7). I knew that even if the whole world tried to separate us they would not succeed.
However, the world remained very opposed to Breslov. People began to express their opposition
to me with words of bitter contempt. It is true that Rabbi Yisroel is a great man, they would
tell me, but he is a Breslover and that is his shortcoming. (They didnt realize that all his
greatness was due to Breslov, through which he merited to attain all of his righteousness,
holiness, and love of God.) When they saw that their words had no effect on me, they went to my
father, who was already blind at the time, and said, Your son has become a Breslover Chasid,
the ones that wander in the mountains speaking to God. All the rabbis are against this way; it
could cause your son to lose his mind. Now there still is time to save him. But later on he will be
in the category of all those who enter will never return (Proverbs 2:19). They asked my father
to persuade me to leave Breslov Chassidus.
When my parents heard these menacing words from the other Chassidim, they were very
frightened. My father still thought, however, that I would listen to him and leave Breslov, since
until now there had always existed tremendous love and closeness between us. One day he sat
down with me and said, I am a Karliner Chassid. You may choose for yourself and Chassidus
you want with the exception of Breslov. However, I had already seen the Almightys Hand in
arranging events for me to meet a giant like Rabbi Yisroel; the light I saw and the healing I
received cannot be imagined. So I replied to my father, I cannot reveal to you everything in my
heart, but you should know that in this matter you cannot influence me at all. My response
completely bewildered him. In my entire life I had never rebelled against even his smallest
request. I always had shown him great respect, especially after he became blind, but in this
matter I told him that I could not obey him.
My determined reaction convinced my father that his fears were justified, and he became even
more adamantly opposed to me. He worried that his power to influence me no longer existed, so
he decided to wage war with me over this matter and he relinquished responsibility for my
upcoming wedding. But my mother opposed him, saying that I was still their son and that they
should suffer through the situation until I got married.
This situation escalated until Yisroel Ber received opposition from his family, teachers, fellow
students, and the entire village where he was raised. His mother begged Rabbi Karduner to tell
his student to end his study of Rebbe Nachman. The rabbi told her not to interfere with her sons
learning. In this meeting his mother collapsed in the house of Rabbi Karduner and was believed
to have died. For two hours she could not be revived and there were no signs of life. The people
of the village were saying, You see what her son has done to her! I was broken and crushed
and started to wonder if, really, I had erred in causing my parents so much sorrow. Certainly I
thought, I could have left the matter alone and become a Breslover Chassid later (on in my life).
However, after two hours a seeming miracle occurred. Yisroel Ber said, I felt like there was
literally a case of revival of the dead which no one could explain in a rational way.
The challenges against Yisroel Ber were enormous. He was denied a proper stipend for his
studies, his family, friends, teachers, and village had rejected him. He risked losing his finance,
and at one point he was even tortured by the Turkish controlled police, hung by his legs and
whipped, because they had believed he was responsible for kidnapping a rabbi who had also
become a Breslover. Yet despite all these tests and challenges, Yisroel Ber remained true to the
light of truth that he discovered in the teachings of Rebbe Nachman and in the holy guidance of
his teacher Yisroel Karduner. Indeed Rebbe Nachman predicted that his true student would have
to face opposition from the entire world. This indeed was true in the life of Yisroel Ber Odesser.
The Saba relates further that My relationship with Rabbi Yisroel lasted until eventually, Rabbi
Yisroel told me that his time to depart from this world was drawing near. He foresaw that in the
future a great darkness of disbelief would descend upon the world, a darkness impossible to
describe, and he spoke of the pain and suffering he felt because of it. We were at the time so
immersed in our powerful service of the Almighty that I couldnt conceive of our relationship
ending. However, I saw that Rabbi Yisroel was correct, and every time he felt unwell I worried
that his end had come and that he would leave the world.
During the five years of our pact, Rabbi Yisroel and I endured many hardships, including war
and a famine, which made it very hard to learn together. However, simply being with him was
the greatest learning of all. His faith, trust in God, and exemplary character were examples to be
emulated that have sustained me all my life. From him my soul has derived life and strength to
continue to probe deeper into the ways and teachings of Rebbe Nachman.
When the British entered Tiberias at the end of World War One, a plague broke out, God spare
us, during which most of Rabbi Yisroels children died. He was left with only one son, twelve
years old. But Rabbi Yisroel accepted the decree with fortitude and certainty. In the end, this son
also died. Rabbi Yisroel himself became very ill and weak. He said that, with his death, he would
take the plague with him and thus stop its expansion. And so it was that after he died the plague
stopped.
Yisroel Ber continued to carry the torch of the light of Rebbe Nachmans Torah that he received
from Rabbi Yisroel Karduner and a few years after his teachers passing the most remarkable
event of Yisroel Bers life occurred, an event that he kept secret for sixty years. This is the story
in his own words:
The event took place in 1922. For sixty years I kept it completely a secret. I told it only to my
children and alsoI told them and they kept it secret? How did they keep this secret? It is
above nature, but they kept it secret.
I am compelled now to relate this matter briefly, a small taste of what occurred. I stumbled. I
stumbled and fell. This was the Seventeenth of Tammuz. It is a very serious fast day of the four
annual fasts.It occurs before the Ninth of Av, the time of the destruction of the Temple. I was
accustomed to fast all fast days, including every second and fifth day of the week and every day
before the new month. And I also fasted every day from midnight until after morning prayers and
during this time I didnt even drink water. In this I followed the way of my holy teacher Rabbi
Yisroel Karduner. But on the fast day of the Seventeenth of Tammuz I fell and stumbled.
The 17th of Tammuz arrived and I imagined that I was not feeling well. And I felt compelled to
break the fast. I felt weak and not very good, but not God forbid anything serious. Then the
Accusing Angel overcame me in the morning of the 17th of Tammuz. You are very weak, you
need to eat now before praying! Any way I am embarrassed to tell the entire story of how it
happened. I didnt drink water from midnight until after morning prayers. I didnt eat and I didnt
drink. But the Accusing Angel comes to me and says, You need to eat before praying. You are
extremely weak. I was not able to overcome (the test). I listened to him. I didnt want to, but I
ate.
So I ate, but in the way of eating something harmful, God forbid. I ate but this was not with
enthusiasm, but I ate. Any way, I stumbled. I fell down. I fell very low I ate in the morning.
After I ate I made the blessing on the meal (bircat hamazon) and I went to the mikva and to pray
after the seuda (festive meal). Nu, Can you imagine how my prayers were and what state I was in
after such a thing to eat before the morning prayers.
This weighed heavily on me and it caused me terrible suffering. I didnt want to live. I almost
went out of my mind. I became very broken and fell into a state of depression and I was unable
to speak or to be with people. All I did was lie down and I didnt eat anything. I fell into this
terrible depression. I could not even look at myself because of fear, and this fear came upon
anyone who saw me.
I went to yeshiva and I laid down in the synagogue (the synagogue was also the study hall), For
five days I laid down as if I had died. I was at home Friday and Saturday, and I was in yeshiva
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. With these two days this was six days. I
laid down as if I were dead. I did not speak. I did not eat. I only prayed. I didnt eat, I didnt
speak, as if I were dead.
And on Wednesday evening this thought came to me. I cried to the Blessed One to heal me and
to take this depression away from me. Why should I hear that all the students of the yeshiva
laughing and saying that Yisroel Ber the Breslover became insane. He is sick and went insane?
And I shouted out in great pain that I had caused shame to the name of Breslov Chassidus, since
they were saying that in the end all the Breslovers become insane. Then I prayed to God and
cried that He should heal me so that I would not disgrace Gods name. Then a strong thought
came to me as if some one came to me and said, Go into your room and open your cabinet and
put your hand on a certain book and open it in a certain place and you shall open itand there
you will find the healing for your soul.
And so I did it. I entered into my room and opened the cabinet and took out a book and opened it
and there was a noteand I did not pay attention to it. I saw a piece of paper. This paper, this is
my healing? . I didnt pay attention to it.
I only read the Torah at the place that I opened. It was Orach Chaim volume I page 25, and for
certainly it enlivened my soul, but afterwards I saw that I had no hope of a healing and I did such
and such, I did what the voice told me, but I only found a piece of paper, and it was (no help) for
me at all.
And the Torah I read didnt help me at all. I left that place and as soon as I stopped reading I
returned to my sicknessand I entered a state of despair. I wanted to take the book, close it and
return it to my cabinet. Before I returned the book, before I closed the book I noticed and I saw
that there were lines on the paperI began to read it and immediately saw what it was , that it
was a wonder that has never come before to the world. And every word that I read entered into
me. The wonders that I experienced and saw are impossible to explain.
With each and every word a joy entered into me that has never before come to the world. I read
and I read until I finished reading the letter and I experienced a joy that I never before
experienced in my life. And I began to sing and dance.
All the students in the yeshiva heard me that I was joyous. Then they said that Yisroel Ber used
to be normal, after his depression and now his happiness like this, now he will be insane for the
rest of his life and no hospital will be able to help him because there is no cure for him at all.
Then I entered into the room and they saw dancing and joy they took me out of the room into th
courtyard and all the students in the yeshiva made a circle and I was in the middle and I danced
and everyone was very joyful.
They stayed many hours close until midnight and then they said, He is not getting tired at all,
and we are already tired. We need to go to sleep and they left.
Then on Thursday (23 Tammuz 5682 or 9 July 1922) all the yeshiva went into town and they
brought upon me the voice of all the town, all the people in the yeshiva, to each ones synagogue
and so no all the people in all the synagogues in Tiberia knew that Israel Ber the Breslover was
insane.
Rabbi Motty of Slonim, head of the Slonimer Chassidic Movement, was known as a serious and
non-frivolous person. Everyone in Tiberias feared him, and he was known for never laughing.
He began to shake with great and long laughter when Yisroel Ber explained to him that he had
received a letter from Rebbe Nachman. Later the rabbi said he found out who put the note in the
book. However, no one could say what was written on the note. The rabbi asked all the people in
the town who had done it, but none could say what the note said.
This is what the note says,
Very hard it was for me to descend to you
My Precious student to tell you that I enjoyed
Greatly your service and about you I said
My fire will burn until
Moshiach will come Be Strong and Courageous
In your service
Na Nach Nachma Nachman MUman
And with this I shall reveal to you a secret and it is
Full and Heaped up from line to line
(the Hebrew letters PZPZYK)
And with strong service you will understand it and the sign is
The 17th of Tammuz they will say that you are not fasting
In fact the note had several quotes from the sayings of Rebbe Nachman, as well as deep
Kabbalistic secrets. At that time none of the people in his town studied the writings of Rebbe
Nachman, and few would be aware of such Kabbalistic secrets. He took the book from a locked
case to which only he had the key. In addition, there was no one who had known that Yisroel Ber
had eaten on the fast day, because he had done it in the utmost secrecy. The only person who
could have written the note was someone who saw Yisroel Ber eating and also was a great
scholar of Rebbe Nachman and the Kabbalah. Such people were very few in all of Israel, and
there was no one who came even close to such a description in the whole town of Tiberia, no less
the yeshiva where Yisroel Ber studied. He alone was the only student of Breslov Chassidut in the
entire city.
Rabbi Motty loved Yisroel Ber deeply and would learn with him. He summoned all of his
Chassidim and examined them until no one was left in all of Tiberias who would admit to having
written the Petek. His Chassidim depended upon him for many things, and no one would have
dared to conceal the truth from him. Yet he found no one who admitted responsibility. For this
reason he summoned the entire Slonim community of Tiberias and said that because of the
miracle of the letter from Rebbe Nachman, he was dropping his opposition to Breslov Chassidus.
There are several times in the history of the Jewish people that a letter was received from heaven.
The Talmud Yoma 69 says that A Letter fell to them from Heaven, and it was written in it:
Truth. The Talmud Baba Metzia 86 says, that At the death of Rabba bar Nachmani a letter fell
from Heaven to explain to them how to bury him and how to mourn for him. Two more Letters
fell from Heaven for the same reason. The Mishna Berura 51:1 says that The prayer Baruch
Sheamar in the morning prayers was established because of a letter that fell from Heaven, upon
which were written the words of the prayer. It is believed that this prayer was sent from the
patriarch Abraham.
In the early 1980s, one of the most respected graphologist in Israel at the University of Haifa
examined the Petek for one month. She concluded that at least one of the words was in the
original handwriting of Rebbe Nachman himself. There are samples of Rebbe Nachmans
handwriting that correspond to the style of writing in that word of the Petek. (The other words of
the Petek are written in a script that is not normally used in handwriting, and she had no
examples of similar script in the original handwriting of Rebbe Nachman with which to
compare.) She also confirmed that the writing of the Petek suggested that the author suffered
from tuberculosis, and it is known that Rebbe Nachman suffered from this illness. The paper of
the Petek was examined in a Police laboratory. It was determined to be 60 years old, dating back
to the year in which Rabbi Yisroel Ber received the Petek.
Yisroel Ber spent the next 60 years of his life seeking to understand the significance of the letter
he received from Rebbe Nachman. For most of the rest of his long life, the letter remained a
secret that he did not speak about. The Saba devoted his life to serving God in prayer and Torah
study and following the path of Rebbe Nachmans teaching. He lived in utter simplicity and his
family suffered great hardship. The Saba started a foundation to raise money to print Rebbe
Nachmans books and make them available at cost. Whereas in his youth he was unable to find
the books of Rebbe Nachman or to freely read them without the prejudice of his time, after a
lifetime of work the Sabas foundation called the Keren has distributed eight million books of
Breslov Chassidus. He also had great influence and formed a close relationship with Shalman
Shazar, the former President of Israel. President Shazar collected the letters of the Saba and they
became a published and have become a famous book in Israel. The Saba formed close
relationships with Shai Agnon and Martin Buber and helped them in their coming closer to God
and the teachings of Rebbe Nachman.
The Saba reached the greatest heights of Torah knowledge and Kabbalistic wisdom. However, he
hid his greatness from the world. Unlike other great rabbis who attracted large followings of
students, the Saba acted like a simpleton, often pretending to forget simple blessings or Torah
facts or acting in silly ways to conceal his wisdom. However, those who came to know him and
become close to him say that to be in his presence was like to be with one of the patriarchs. The
Saba purified his soul to such a degree that he overcame all his desires for this world and was
able to devote himself purely to God.
Rabbi Yisroel Ber with his sincere service of God made himself a living example of a true
servant of God. One who has Faith always gains advantage over one who relies on his
cleverness. The strength of his prayer, the constancy of his learning, his fear of God, his
simplicity and sincerity, and especially his humility. His distance from falsehood, from
controversy, and from the charm of falsehood. His love for others. A person who feels the pain
of another. Always prepared to help, to listen, to give of his precious time, to pray for those who
ask. He was very sensitive and tactful, since he was able to place himself in the others position.
His face radiated the Divine Presence.
Even when he was deep in holy thoughts, or studying, or reciting Psalms, if someone would
come to speak with him he would close his book and devote his full attention to the one who had
come to speak with him. One who spilled out to Rabbi Yisroel Ber his pain, his questions, his
problems, his worries and his fears, he would leave Rabbi Yisroel feeling that his problems had
been alleviated. Rabbi Yisroel Ber felt the pains of another person as though they were his own.
This would leave the person feeling completely recharged. Rabbi Yisroel Ber for his part would
require some time to overcome the pain that he would feel from the other person. He would
personally experience all the emotional and physical pain that the person felt. Many times people
would come to awaken him in the middle of the night. He never criticized those who did this and
he never showed any anger. His door was open to everyone 24 hours a day. People who saw him
even for the first time felt such love and closeness to him that they would relate to him like one
of their closest family members. They called him Saba, meaning Grandfather. Even when he
was tired and suffering from terrible pains, he would give of himself completely to whoever
needed his help.
In the later years of his life after his wife passed away, he chose to live with different friends and
students who extended their hospitality to him. In this way, the Saba was able to go and assist
different people spiritually. I heard from one gentleman who hosted the Saba in his home an
amazing story. One evening he noticed a light in the Sabas room and he went to investigate
what it was because he had already shut the lights for him. He opened the door and a burst of
spiritual light pushed him out of the room. Another individual told me a similar story. He
reported to me that he was actually able to enter the room filled with this light, but he was sworn
not to tell what he had seen.
At the age of 92, the Saba was in a retirement home when he received a spiritual message that it
was now time to reveal the letter from heaven. In his wheel chair, the Saba headed out on a
mission to teach about his message.
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, renowned as the supreme halachic authority in the United States, met
with Rabbi Yisroel Ber in New York in 1984. They learned together from Likutey Moharan,
Rebbe Nachmans masterwork, concerning the attractive power of the Tzaddik, who nullifies
himself like the dust of the earth in order to draw the whole world back to God via his teachings.
At the end of the meeting Rabbi Feinstein requested that Rabbi Yisroel bless him. Rabbi
Feinstein bowed his head and asked Rabbi Yisroel to bless him. Rabbi Feinstein, who at that
time was very ill, lived for another two years and merited to have the greatest funeral procession
in the history of the State of Israel, when he was escorted to his burial on Shushan Purim by
some 300,000 people. Rabbi Feinstein wrote about Rabbi Yisroel Ber that he is a Genius in
Kabbalah and that he had seen a secret letter in Rabbi Yisroel Bers possession, a very
wondrous thing.
Twenty-five of the most respected and spiritually advanced rabbis of the Sabas generation
attested to the authenticity of his letter.
So what is the message of the letter? Let us begin by simply reviewing the basic message of the
letter, and then we shall look at its deeper meaning.
Very hard it was for me to descend to you
Rebbe Nachman begins by explaining the difficulty it was for him to come from heaven to this
world to deliver this letter. He addresses the Saba as his precious student because as we know
Yisroel Ber was in a state of great depression at the time. Rebbe Nachman continues that far
from being disappointed in him, he is deeply pleased with his efforts in serving God. Before the
end of his life, Rebbe Nachman announced to his students that the fire of his Torah teaching
will burn until the coming of the Messiah. In other words, the light and inspiration of his life and
teaching will not die, but will continue to maintain the spiritual life and development of the
Jewish people and the world until the Messiah. In this statement Rebbe Nachman is passing the
light of his Torah to Yisroel Ber. Before his death Moses said the following words to his student
Yehoshua, Be strong and courageous. So also Rebbe Nachman was passing his spiritual legacy
to his student, Yisroel Ber. And he signs the letter Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman. As
we at the beginning of the chapter, this is the Kabbalistic formula for writing ones name
according to the simple, doubling, tripling, and quadrupling of the letters of the name, and Uman
is the place of Rebbe Nachmans grave site. The Hebrew letters PZPZYK that are written are the
name of the angel that presides over Rosh HaShana, the new year, which as we learned earlier
was the time specially appointed to Rebbe Nachman from God. Finally, the letter tells Yisroel
Ber that he is aware that he had eaten on the Seventeenth of Tammuz.
The letter is an expression of the deepest level between a teacher and student. In the midst of his
brokenness, Rebbe Nachman came to lift Yisroel Ber from his depression. Our inner adversary
uses times like these to attempt to break us. Despite all that Yisroel Ber did to serve God, waking
up at midnight, continual fasting, prayer and study, and good deeds, his inner adversary used this
one moment where he stumbled to blind him from all the good and dragged him into depression
from which he was stuck. As the saying goes, sometimes the higher we go, the greater and more
dangerous the fall. But Rebbe Nachman, as he had sworn before his death, came to lift Yisroel
Ber from his personal hell.
The message is something for all of us. That from the lowest place in his life, Yisroel Ber was
able to ascend to the highest place. This is also the significance of the Seventeenth of Tammuz.
This is the day when the Romans entered the walls of Jerusalem and began their inevitable march
to destroy the Holy Temple three weeks later. This was the lowest time in the history of the
Jewish people, the destruction of the Holy Temple. The destruction of the Holy Temple both in
the time of the Babylonians and later in the Roman era occurred on the 9th of the Hebrew month
of Av. This is the day when God decreed that the generation of Moses would not enter the land
of Israel, and it is a day when great sorrows have occurred historically for the Jewish people and
the world. It is the day of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and also the day that
World War I began, which is in truth the event that led to the rise of the Nazis and the Holocaust
against the Jews in World War II.
The 17 of Tammuz is the day when Moses brought the first set of tablets with the Ten
Commandments from Mount Sinai. When Moses saw the people had sinned with the golden calf
he smashed the tablets. However, this day was intended to be the day when the people of Israel
received the written Torah. The Talmud teaches us that the 9th of Av is the birthday of the
Messiah. In other words, the Messiah will transform the greatest sorrow and evil to Godliness
and good. The story of the letter from heaven teaches us that also in our personal lives that the
moment of our greatest brokenness is also a hidden opening for our growth and transformation.
However, in order to see that we need to connect ourselves to the light of the tzaddik.
The phrase Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman is the key to this connection. It is a
Kabbalistic formula that connects us to the light of the Tzaddik and his power to help us
transform darkness to light and bitterness to joy which is the essence of the Torah.
This phrase Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman includes in it in a hidden way the essence of
Rebbe Nachmans teaching. In Hebrew each letter stands for a number. Letters are used to write
numbers and so for example in Hebrew the first three letters are a,b,g. A is 1, B is 2 and G
is 3. Therefore each word has a numerical value. Kabbalists count the numerical value of words
to discover hidden connections between different words. This is called gematria.
The numerical value of Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman is astounding. Na Nach Nachma
Nachman is the numerical value for the Hebrew words Joy and the word Messiah. This is
the essence of Rebbe Nachmans teaching, that it is through the joy of serving God that we will
bring the Messiah into the world. The phrase Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman is
equivalent to the word Tehillim the Hebrew word for Psalms. In other words, Na Nach
Nachma Nachman from Uman expresses the essence of our prayers and the power of King
Davids Psalms, which is the power of the Messiah. For Rebbe Nachman taught that the power
of the Messiah is prayer. Therefore, what gives our prayers power is our connection to the
Tzaddik Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman.
Chapter 13: The Song of Redemption
Rabbi Yisroel Ber Odesser devoted his life to the teachings of Rebbe Nachman. The ultimate
significance of the letter from heaven received remained a deep mystery to him for many years.
However, towards the end of his life the meaning became clear.
That the entire redemption depends upon Rebbe Nachman and the key to the redemption and our
understanding of the Torah is Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman.
This Kabbalistic song is developed from the name Nachman, the name of the great rebbe and
breaks it up into four parts that are in dynamic motion according to its Hebrew letters (Na,
Ch, Ma, and N):
Na
Nach
Nachma
Nachman
This song is not a song as we ordinarily understand song. We commonly understand music as
the international language, and that songs have the power to lift and inspire the soul. Music also
has the power to help plants grow, and babys develop their minds. Music also has the power to
heal. This kabbalistic song is this and more because it expresses the inner essence of the power
of all music and communication. This is because the Hebrew letters contain the power of
creation. These letters express the vibrations of the soul of the perfection of man. When a person
says them they connect to the energy and existence of Rebbe Nachman, Moses, and all the holy
sages of Israel. The vibration of this energy of this name opens gates of wisdom and prayer that
work miracles.
A large part of the Kabbalistic tradition is the wisdom of the names of various angels that
oversee and guard different levels of heaven and powers of heaven powers for healing,
wealth, spirituality, etc. The one who ascends through the spiritual levels of heaven needs to
know the names that open the gates to each level. These names were the hidden knowledge of
kabbalistic masters and were only passed down from student to teacher. Rebbe Nachman in his
lifetime opened up all the gates so that now anyone who is sincere and devotes his or her life to
God can reach and level of heaven and have any prayer answered through this one holy name
and Kabbalistic formula the song Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman.
This Kabbalistic formula is described in the Tikune Zohar as the song of redemption. This song
from the Zohar is written using the same structure of single, double, triple and quadruple with the
letters of the divine name, the Tetragrammaton:
The song that is simple that is Y,
the song that is doubled and that is YK,
and the song that is tripled and that is YKV
and the song that is quadrupled and that is YKVK.
In the name YKVK prayer goes up
and this is the presence of God.
Torah in song, the presence of God in song.
Israel will be raised up from exile in song.
This is what is written:
Then Moshe will and the children of Israel
will sing this song to God (Exodus)
The Kabbalah explains that these letters YKVK are the mark of the Infinite Creator on His
creation and they the express the essence of everything that is. The song is the song of Gods
ineffable name YKVK expressed according to the ancient Kabbalistic formula which builds the
name in the form from one letter of the name, two letters, three letters, and then four letters. Each
letter is a power and so the song moves from the simple power of the first letter, doubling it to
include the second letter, tripling it to include the third letter, and quadrupling it to include the
fourth letter.
Rebbe Nachman taught that the song of redemption described in the Tikune Zohar will be
revealed in the future at the time of the redemption. This song must be revealed because the
Tetragrammaton is not pronounced. The letters of the Tetragrammaton are a silent expression of
the Infinite Creator.
Moreover, Rebbe Nachman teaches a most awesome teaching that the name of God and the
name of the Tzaddik are in partnership. In other words, the power and expression of God comes
through the Tzaddik. This is the meaning of the letter from heaven and the name Na Nach
Nachma Nachman from Uman. It came to Yisroel Ber to reveal the ultimate meaning of the
Tzaddik.
This entire book has been an introduction to help us understand what this means. The Saba
taught the simple truth that Rebbe Nachman is the perfection of the soul of Moses. This soul is
the light of God in the world. The name Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman is the
kabbalistic key to connecting to this light; it is an expression of the faith that the Torah teaches
us, to believe in Moshe, Gods servant.
A name in ancient times means the essence and power of a person. To know someones name is
to be able to connect to this essence and power. The Kabbalistic formula of the single, double,
triple quadruple reveals this true power of the name. It works with every name, but when we use
it for the Tzaddiks name it opens all the gates of all heaven for our prayers. It connects us to the
eternal joy and wisdom of his soul. In simple terms, it connects us to the light of healing that the
world requires for its redemption.
The Torah is the power of the Tree of Life, but in order to come into the world it had to be
enclothed in many layers. The full expression of the Torah is contained in the Five Books of
Moses. Because the Jewish people fell away from God, the redemption was delayed and the
world required further expressions of the Torah to bring us to God. This is the history of the
Jewish people as expressed in the Prophets and Writings of the Bible, and then the written
statements of the Oral Law in the Mishna and Talmud, and the spiritual revelations of the
Kabbalah and Chassidic tradition. As we explained in the previous chapters, the secrets of the
Torah came down to history through five stages, from Moses, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the
Arizal, the Baal Shem Tov, and finally Rebbe Nachman.
Rebbe Nachman writes that
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was a unique figure, as everyone knows. From the time of Rabbi
Shimon until the time of the Ari, of blessed memory, the world was quiet. From the time of the
Ari until the time of the Baal Shem Tov the world was again quiet, and no new teachings were
revealed until the Baal Shem Tov came along. He was also a totally unique figure and revealed
completely new teachings. From the time of the Baal Shem Tov until the present the world has
again been quiet. There have been no new revelations on a similar level, and the world has been
sustained only through the revelations of the Baal Shem Tov. Then I myself came along, and
now I am beginning to reveal awesome and exalted teachings which are entirely new and
original. (Chayeh Moharan)
The Torah teaches us that the entire world is sustained through the light of the Torah. However,
the Torah is alive and like everything else in the world must be renewed with vitality. This
renewal has come about through the five great souls we have spoken about. These souls are the
expression of Moses in the world.
Moses himself was the greatest prophet and was taught the entire Torah. This light sustained the
world until Rabbi Shimon who revealed the secrets of Kabbalah, the deep light that sustained the
Jewish people through exile. The Arizal came to reveal the light that was hidden in Rabbi
Shimons teaching, and he did so in a remarkably detailed and vast way. The Baal Shem Tovs
genius was to take the wisdom of Kabbalah that explains the system of worlds and lights in every
aspect of creation and in the details of the Torah and he revealed how the simplest, uneducated
Jew could achieve spiritual levels attained by Kabbalistic knowledge and complex systems of
prayer in sincere devotion of the heart and love of ones fellow. Rebbe Nachman took the
Chassidut of the Baal Shem Tov and gave us the keys to the depths of prayer by teaching us the
importance of the True Tzaddik, the path of hitbodedut (personal speech to God), the power of
speech and purification of the physical body. In addition all these great rabbis revealed depths of
wisdom in their explanations of all aspects of the Torah.
(For those familiar with the Kabbalah of the Arizal, it is quite clear that this holy lineage of five
Tzaddikim from Moses to Rebbe Nachman expresses a perfect partzuf. Moses is the crown and
source of all Torah. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai brought forth the wisdom of the Kabbalah. The
Arizal unfolded the understanding of that wisdom in all its details. The Baal Shem Tov taught us
how to bring this wisdom into the challenges of personal life, the middot. And finally, Rebbe
Nachman taught us that the deeper mysteries of speech and our connection to the True
Tzaddikimin prayer are the keys to establishing the Kingship of the Messiah.)
However, as we learned in the Baal Shem Tovs letter and his conversation with the Messiah, the
redemption is dependent upon the wisdom and power of the Torah being spread out through the
world and this can only been done through that which is most simple. This is Na Nach
Nachma Nachman from Uman. Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman is the Kabbalistic key
that opens the door for the era of redemption as well as each individuals personal healing and
redemption.
The song of joy is the song of the Tzaddik. When mankind hears the song of the Tzaddik, his
cravings and bitterness will be transformed into happiness and peace. The air of this joy will
spread through out the world and will lift humanity to the level of prophecy so that the
knowledge of God will fill the world like water covers the sea.
The Zohar predicted over two thousand years ago that the song would be revealed in the future.
When Moses went to the elders of the children of Israel, he had to come with signs that he was
the redeemer that the people were waiting for. In the same way, the announcement of the
redeemer of the Jewish people today must come with a sign. That sign is the letter from heaven
that Rebbe Nachman sent to Rav Israel Ber Odesser.
But why is this the key to redemption and the teaching of the Messiah. There are so many who
have made this claim?
The Messiah does not merely come to save the world. The true Messiah teaches us to save
ourselves. He teaches us to be like him. This is the teaching of Rebbe Nachman. As we said
earlier, Rebbe Nachman said the only difference between the Messiah and me is that people will
listen to the Messiah. This is because Rebbe Nachman began the process of redemption by
revealing to the world in specific detail how to save ourselves.
But this is not all. Not only did Rebbe Nachman give us the instructions and advice to save
ourselves, he taught us how to connect to the spiritual power that provides the inspiration and
power to heal our souls and overcome our physical desires and negative inclinations. This
healing and power to overcome is the light of the perfected soul of Moses who received the
complete Torah and Wisdom of God. This soul was reincarnated through history to sustain the
spiritual life of the worlds and finally reached its completion in the life and teaching of Rebbe
Nachman.
Rebbe Nachman ushered in the era of the light of the Messiah and passed it to his student Yisroel
Ber Odesser, as Moses passed his light to Joshua. It is through Yisroel Ber Odesser that we learn
to be truly connected to the light of the Tzaddik. He gave his life entirely to the hands of Rebbe
Nachmans teaching and sacrificed everything to follow in his path. Rebbe Nachman taught that
the connection to the Tzaddik is the key to all faith and knowledge of God. It is the Tzaddik that
lifts all the prayers of the world in unity to God. But this only happens when the world
acknowledges the Tzaddik. When the world believes in Moses, Gods servant. This is the
ultimate key to the redemption, because the Tzaddik only gains the power to lift prayers to God
and to begin the transformation of the world when the people of the world, and especially the
Jewish people, entrust their prayers to the Tzaddik. Therefore we follow the practice of
expressing the intention of connecting to Rebbe Nachman before we pray. We do not pray to the
Tzaddik. We ask the Tzaddik to carry our prayers to God and to pray on our behalf. This
intention is strengthened by the recitation of the Tzaddiks name in the formula Na Nach
Nachma Nachman From Uman, because this name is the key to opening the gates of heaven to
our prayers.
We do not know who the Messiah is. However, we do know that the power and teaching of the
Messiah is in the hands of the soul of Rebbe Nachman, the perfected soul of Moses. Therefore,
the world needs to follow in the path of Yisroel Ber Odesser the only path to true greatness
and seek out the advice and guidance of Rebbe Nachmans wisdom and to attach our lives each
in our own way and at our own level to the soul of the Tzaddik.
All that take on this path will see awesome healing and miracles in their lives. You will see the
work of the Tzaddik opening gates that have been shut for you. You will see awesome
providence in your lives. This is not an easy path to the fulfillment of personal desires for wealth
or gratification. It is the path to genuine meaning and growth. It is a path that will bring you
closer to your true destiny and to God. For some this is miraculous healing and revealed
blessings. For others it is tests and trials. Faith is not dependent upon outcomes. As the sage
Antigonus of Socho taught, We should not serve God for the sake of a reward. The purpose of
faith and prayer is to bring us closer to truth, meaning, and God. Every prayer is answered, but
not always in revealed ways. But all prayers and every step in faith is helping the world come
closer to its perfection and completion.
Rebbe Nachman teaches us that every word spoken in prayer in sincerity is an aspect of
prophecy. There is nothing separating you from your Creator. He is waiting for you to open your
heart and to speak to him intimately about your concerns, your fears, and your desires. Like
Moses who spoke to God face to face, God is calling each of us to approach him in faith. There
is no place where God is not present. Rebbe Nachman is encouraging us to call out to God from
wherever we are and for whatever we need. He is teaching us that this is our very purpose in the
world, and that everything we experience is just an opportunity to connect back to our Creator.
The invitation and key is the letter from heaven from Na Nach Nachma Nachman from Uman.
For this is our assurance that from any place in our lives, in any challenge, there is a Tzaddik
who is extending the lengths of heaven and earth to assist us to reach our highest destiny and true
connection to God. And when we take even the smallest step towards doing a good deed,
expressing a kind thought or striving to live a purer, holier life, we are giving the Tzaddik the
power to open the gates to the revelation of the Messiah and the fulfillment of the redemption.
For in truth, every word that is spoken with a desire to come closer to God is prophecy, and the
redemption is nothing more than the revelation of the truth of this reality. And so when Rebbe
Nachman teaches us to speak to God in our own words, he is inviting us to begin the redemption
both for ourselves and the world. Each word of sincere prayer is added to every other word and
these words join together and give the Messiah the power to pray that the Original Light of
Creation be brought forth from its hiddeness to illuminate the entire world with the blessed
knowledge of God.