PARSHAT YITRO A COLLECTION OF TEACHINGS (PARSHA TOOLS #17) [YITRO] THE POWER OF RECIEVING TORAH Shalom & Blessings 1. The entirety of creation froze in deathly silent anticipation. The moment of ultimate cosmic destiny arrived. A select group of humanity completed all their historical preparations to unite with the Creator in an unprecedented union so awesome and powerful that all of existence would be utterly transformed forever. This is Sinai, and this is the worlds direct interface with the Creator. This is the focal point---everything before and after draws from this moment! The readiness of the bride of this union and the manner of the groom serves as the universal paradigm of Divine interface. Every detail must be thoroughly studied, understood and internalized. What is the manner of the groom [the Creator]? The answer is 1 word; TORAH. The means for the Ineffable Infinite One to unite with His finite human bride is through Torah. The Torah is the Divine manifestation clothed in garments, enabling the bride [us-- His Holy people] to unite and fuse with Him in the most brilliant union imaginable. Through the union we access eternal life, all the wisdom of existence and the actualization and perfection of our souls and of the entire creation. 2. The Baal Shem Tov offers an analogy as to why G-d chooses to relate to us through His garments [ie...why the nature of Torah--G-ds means of communication--is filtered down]. A prince is castigated by his father the King for being spoiled with the overabundance of living the regal life. In exile he eventually forgets his royal roots and the person that he once was. A sage who can communicate to the prince on his present lowly level, slowly and lovingly nurtures the prince back to his royal status. We are in our raw state, that fallen prince, and Torah is that sage nurturing us back to our elevated state. The Torah garment aligns with us in its Bible stories, moral lessons, and in its template reflecting the human psyche. This template consists of: a. 613 Mitzvot [248 positive and 365 negative] paralleling the bodys 248 organs and 365 connective tissues. b. 5 different levels of understanding [the Hebrew acronym P A R D E S stands for simple, hinted ,homiletical, and 2 levels of mystical Torah interpretation] parallels 5 levels of our soul that we can access through theses 5 levels of study. c. The Torah template serves as our eyeglasses enabling us to see the essence of reality. This is based on the axiom that G-d reality is based upon Torah--His architectural blueprint map. 3. Of course we, the bride, must be as refined and aligned to the groom as possible to facilitate maximum receiving power of the Torah and thereby unify with the Groom. Here are a few possible approaches to help make this happen: A. Be present with the knowledge that the Torah is a sort of filtered down manifestation of our Groom or our healing sage----wanting to align with us through the Torah garments which parallel our bodies, soul and our world... B. Approach Torah with humbleness, ego-nullification, complete openness to receive its Wisdom and good character traits... C. LEARN IT and when you learn, have the following meditative intentions: 1. The Torah provides us with a spiritual force field and a source of Eternal spiritual nourishment... 2. Any lack of clarity that you encounter should be overcome with a true and determined warrior spirit... 3. The Torah is a shimmering coal that we fan into a flame by deeply digging for all of its wisdom.... Blessings, Yitzchak YITRO ALIYA HEALINGS 1st ALIYA [Sunday] SANCTIFICATION OF G-D’S NAME Healing Exodus Chapter 18/11 עַתָּה יָדַעְתִּי, כִּי-גָדוֹל יְהוָה מִכָּל-הָאֱלֹהִים: כִּי בַדָּבָר, אֲשֶׁר זָדוּ עֲלֵיהֶם Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods; yea, for that they dealt proudly against them. Just as Yitro, Moshe’s father-in-law, checked out every possible type of religion and idol worship in the world, and came to the conclusion that ‘‘the LORD is greater than all gods’’, and upon announcing this publicly, generated a magnificent sanctification of G-d’s Name -----------------------so too by you---------------- seek out any and every opportunity in life, to sanctify Hashem’s Name……any time that you find yourself in a situation where you can highlight G-d’s presence, where that presence would normally go unnoticed or hidden, take the extra effort to reveal G-d’s presence , and share this with others…..similarly, when you are able to make known to others, the greatness of G-d’s Ways---give it your best effort and know that what you are doing is perhaps the most meaningful and impactful Mitzvah and act that is possible for a person to do 2nd ALIYA [Monday] SEEING OTHERS ESSENCE AND GREATNESS Healing Exodus Chapter 18/21 וְאַתָּה תֶחֱזֶה מִכָּל-הָעָם אַנְשֵׁי-חַיִל יִרְאֵי אֱלֹהִים אַנְשֵׁי אֱמֶת--שֹׂנְאֵי בָצַע; וְשַׂמְתָּ עֲלֵהֶם, שָׂרֵי אֲלָפִים שָׂרֵי מֵאוֹת, שָׂרֵי חֲמִשִּׁים, וְשָׂרֵי עֲשָׂרֹת Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of ten Just as the Holy Zohar teaches regarding Moshe’s allocation of governing duties to just the right people—that Moshe was able to see both physically and spiritually , the essence of each appointed person, and once this essence was uncovered, that person could rise to heretofore unheard of levels of greatness and prominence-------------------------so too by you-----------------see deeply the essence of the people that you encounter, and encourage them to use their essence to express themselves in all that they do, and thereby step up to becoming much greater of a person than they thought possible……one way to do this is to search for their strong ‘point’----the point that distinguishes them from everyone else---the point, that when activated is a true and natural expression of their total self 3rdALIYA[Tuesday]MAXIMUM EXPRESSION OF POTENTIAL Healing Exodus Chapter 18/26 וְשָׁפְטוּ אֶת-הָעָם, בְּכָל-עֵת: אֶת-הַדָּבָר הַקָּשֶׁה יְבִיאוּן אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, וְכָל-הַדָּבָר הַקָּטֹן יִשְׁפּוּטוּ הֵם And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. Just as the Saba of Nevordik [R.Y.Y. Hurwitz zt’l] brings down, that prior to Yitro pointing out to Moshe that he needs assistance from a whole crew of people to govern the nation, Moshe was perfectly able to do it on his own, because Hashem gave him special Divine assistance -------------------------so too by you-----------------since we all have have an obligation to ask ourselves, ‘’When will my actions be on the level of our Patriarchs [including Moshe] and Matriarchs’’, then, it follows, that we have the potential to singlehandedly change the world, and singlehandedly act and impact in ways that we would think are only possible for 1000 people to accomplish…..with Hashem’s help, there is no limit to the maximum expression of our potentials 4th ALIYA[Wednesday] THE CHOSEN PEOPLE Healing Exodus Chapter 19/6 וְאַתֶּם תִּהְיוּ-לִי מַמְלֶכֶת כֹּהֲנִים, וְגוֹי קָדוֹשׁ: אֵלֶּה, הַדְּבָרִים, אֲשֶׁר תְּדַבֵּר, אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. Just as our ancestors were charged [as will be the case with our nation in the Messianic times]with the responsibility of being a holy nation and a kingdom of priests-------------------------so too by you---------------rise to the level of carrying out the profound destiny and legacy of your nation…..be a Jew who others point to saying, ‘’that’s a holy Jew’ or ‘’that’s a priestly and regal type of person……begin doing this by distinguishing yourself in your values, principles and motivations---be a person who’s every act is connected to Hashem in love and awe---one who looks to see Hashem’s Hand guiding their every move in holiness and purity…..and whatever you do accomplish as a G-dly person, be sure and share this with others 5th ALIYA[Thursday]PURIFICATION PREPARATION Healing Exodus Chapter 19/11 וְהָיוּ נְכֹנִים, לַיּוֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁי: כִּי בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁלִשִׁי, יֵרֵד יְהוָה לְעֵינֵי כָל-הָעָם--עַל-הַר סִינָי and be ready against the third day; for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai Just as the Children of Israel, 3 days prior to receiving the Torah from Hashem at Sinai, had already completed a very long and intensive purification process [in their long refining slave years in Egypt, as well as their 49 day purification preparation process from the time they left Egypt until they arrived at Sinai], nevertheless they needed even more purification preparation of 3 days of ‘Hagballa’/’sacred boundaries’ in order to be fitting to receive the Torah--------------------------so too by you-------------------see the importance of spiritual preparation in your life….realize that the more that you prepare for any significant activity, the more that you will get out of it….realize that relatively speaking [relative to the levels that you can reach] , there is no limit to the amount of preparation that you can do….and all this is especially true with regard to Torah and all other forms of spiritual growth activities---the more that you prepare, the purer will be your experience and your growth and your level 6th ALIYA [Friday] SUPERNAL UNITY Healing Exodus Chapter 20/1 וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹהִים, אֵת כָּל-הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה לֵאמֹר And God spoke all these words, saying Just as G-d communicated prior to the actual giving of the 10 commandment and the Torah, the entire Torah in one utterance, something that is inconceivable, showing that the higher one goes up in the level of spirituality, the simpler and more concise and more unified and more profound it is -------------------------so too by you----------------- seek to get to the core essence of whatever life situations that you deal with……once you do find the essence point , try to communicate this point with others in as concise a way as possible…..the more that you do communicate in a concise , yet profound way, the more people will attach importance to every word that you say….more important than this, the more you will get used to seeing and communicating essence---a process that will naturally heal your soul 7th ALIYA [Shabbat]BEYOND WORDS TO EXPRESS Healing Exodus Chapter 20/14 וְכָל-הָעָם רֹאִים אֶת-הַקּוֹלֹת וְאֶת-הַלַּפִּידִם, וְאֵת קוֹל הַשֹּׁפָר, וְאֶת-הָהָר, עָשֵׁן; וַיַּרְא הָעָם וַיָּנֻעוּ, וַיַּעַמְדוּ מֵרָחֹק 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 Just as the people experienced at Sinai, a level of prophecy, described as seeing that which is normally heard and hearing that which is normally seen, which is unfathomable and impossible to communicate----------------------so too by you-----------------realize that there are very subtle and profound messages that are possibly potentially accessible to you at all times….know that these messages, though they are normally inaccessible and incommunicable, hold the keys to all the inner key secrets, and perhaps in the merit of our ancestors who heard and saw the unfathomable , you too will be able to pick up bits and pieces of inner secrets if you listen very carefully PARSHA MYSTICAL GUIDANCE YITRO ***** In this week’s Parsha, I noticed a common theme running throughout the pieces that I have chosen to bring—EXTRAORDINARY CAPABILITIES 1. HARNESSING YOUR EXTRAORDINARY CAPABILITY OF TOTAL SELF TRANSFORMATION [‘And Yitro was ecstatically happy about all the goodness that Hashem did for Israel…’ ] (Shmot 18/9) KNOW that Yitro was an expert in every single form of religion , spirituality and idol worship that existed in his day….he understood that what he heard and witnessed with regard to Hashem and Israel’s experiences as an incipient nation, was on a whole different level---and he had the courage to act on this and become a member of the Israelite nation himself …………………………………. Experience how the events and experiences and highlights of your life may just be directing you to reconsider the present path that you are going on……experience Hashem speaking to you in a very positive, gentle and loving way---urging you to be real with what you know to be true regarding the direction your life is on, and how that direction can be elevated or transformed into a whole new level---a level that is the natural outcome of all the events of your life and of all the inner directives urging you on to a full expression of your real essence……………………….…… ….Notice how the more that you ask yourself, what it is that Hashem is really guiding you to do [as a natural consequence of all of your present experiences and accomplishments]—the clearer your true ‘calling’ becomes… …… 2. HARNESSING YOUR EXTRAORDINARY CAPABILITY OF PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT [‘….why do you sit [in judgement] alone….…” ’] (Shmot 18/14) KNOW that before Yitro advised Moshe against taking upon himself all of the burden of judging and guiding every single member of the Children of Israel [and Moshe follwed his directive by appointing a system of ministers –ministers of the 1000’s and the 100’s and the 10’s to help shoulder the burden]---before Moshe acquiesced to Yitro’s advice, he, in fact was doing it all alone….we are taught the lessons of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs, in order for us to discover at least partially, a similar trait inside of ourselves and emulate it as best as we can …………………………………. Experience going ‘out of the box’ with regard to what you are personally capable of accomplishing in your life…..it may be a specific area that you just ‘know’ that you are blessed with in an extraordinary way….take no heed about what ‘the world’ says about what a normal person is capable of doing and accomplishing….discover that place inside where you know that you have it in you to do it better, more creatively, with more inspiration…etc… than it’s ever been done before—and grab Hashem’s helping hand and just do it-- in the best way that you know ……………………….…… ….Notice how the more that you try out new levels of accomplishment and being in your life, the better you feel about yourself, the more alive you feel and the more inspired you become to try other new extraordinary and unprecedented challenges …… 3. HARNESSING YOUR EXTRAORDINARY CAPABILITY OF MAXIMUM EXPRESSION WITH MINIMUM WORDS [‘And G-d spoke all of these things to say’] (Shmot 20/1) KNOW that this verse teaches us that just prior to the Divine revelation of the Torah, Hashem conveyed the entirety of the 10 Commandments which contain the whole Torah, in one single utterance………know that the Torah is basically an Infinite Divine communication that contains all of reality ……Hashem’s conveying of all this in one single utterance, teaches us the mystical lesson that the higher that one goes, spiritually speaking, the less articulation that is required in order to convey essence ……………………. Experience that you are capable of expressing yourself fully with a minimum amount of words….look deep into the essence of the idea or message that you want to convey, and try to find just the right words to express it’s essential point----and say exactly what you mean --no less and no more….try to find a friend that you can practice with ---communicating in a minimal way with essence points …….practice thinking in this way, and listening in this way ……………………….…… ….Notice that the more that you get used to communicating in this way, the more you find yourself cutting to the core in the way that you absorb wisdom and even in the way that you think ---until you find yourself becoming embraced by a sense of essence most all of the time…… 32 APPROACHES TO LEARNING TORAH *1. YOUR TAKE----based on the teachings of the Arizal, a very powerful way to actualize our souls potential is to express our take in Torah. We are all unique and we all have therefore a unique way of seeing reality and understanding Torah.. I would suggest to start on a smaller scale. Choose one particular topic in any Parsha in the Torah that truly speaks to you, and simply write [or teach] a commentary that expresses your unique perspective. Once youve got the hang of it--Expand! 2. BE A WARRIOR FOR CLARITY-----here we learn another way of self actualization from the Arizal---The Arizal would enter into a study session with the goal in mind of identifying all areas of the topic at hand that were unclear, difficult or contradictory...etc... The important point to understand, is that those doubts on the page, in a different garb, are the roots of the same blocks, doubts, fears and baggage that we have in our lives. Clear up the former ones and the latter ones automatically clear up also. We can easily understand how to carry this out, the hard part is the actual clarifying. Take any piece of Torah that you encounter [from anywhere in the Written or Oral Torah], and go to work. Try to locate that which is unclear or somehow inconsistent with other aspects of the text, or with what you understand to be true, and keep fighting for an explanation that rings true. 3. 5 LEVELS OF SOUL TORAH------ This approach is based on the principle that the layout of Torah parallels the layout of a person. Just as we have 5 levels of soul, so too are there 5 corresponding approaches to learning Torah---whose acronym is P R D S [ the word PaRDeS is a garden as in PaRaDiSe--the garden of Eden 4. TIKUN OLAM----When we fully understand that the world is an environment where Hashem hides Himself, and therefore the worlds Tikun is to reveal Hashem in His hiding, then well be naturally motivated to become world-wide ambassadors to reveal Hashem in His hiding! 5. TORAH OR---the Slonimer Rebbe teaches in volume 1 of his series called Netivot Shalom, that any area of life or reality that is not actively learned in a Torah framework is by definition in a state of chaos. The Torahs dealing with that area or topic brings order and unity into the chaos. The more one learns about it in breadth and depth, the more order and Tikun there will be. 6. MARTIAN TORAH--- This would involve developing an approach to learning taught to me by my 3rd grade teacher [and I remain as impacted today as I was back then]. I was taught to try to see the other person as a Martian who is starting from point zero---no preconceptions---and I must take them by the hand and explain everything in a crystal clear manner. All that I learn would be with the altruistic goal in mind of clearly giving it all over to someone else. *7. TIKUN OF THE INDIVIDUAL----The main application that this learning approach focuses on, is healing and solutionizing. List on the upper side of a sheet of paper the problems, challenges and dilemmas in life that you need solutions and\or healings for. While engaged in a Torah learning session, pay attention to the flashes [the solutions] that Hashem is sending you in between the lines, usually having nothing to do with the topic you are learning. Quickly write them down, before they become forgotten. . *8. TORAH LEARNING 24\7---- This person is walking, talking, eating and even dreaming his Torah. !!]. Perhaps this person is walking around with 10 topics at once in their mind, and all the inquiries that such a big list entails, and everything that they learn and encounter in life would provide answers..... Their type of Torah not only engages their intellect, but also their emotions and all the rest of the various aspects of the human psyche. They may have set for themselves a goal of covering as much territory as possible in the Written and Oral Torah---this year all of the Mishna, next year all of the Midrash...etc...For this person to succeed , they would need to have staying power through thick and thin with a healthy attitude of commitment and hard work, but probably even more important, a great geshmak [taking great pleasure] in jumping out of bed everyday for another full day of Torah. 9. ONE TORAH ----The Vilna Gaons own personal approach [that kept him occupied 22 hours of the 24 hour day] consisted of trying to compact all of the written and oral Torah inside of the Book, the Parsha and the first verse of bereshit [the first of the 5 books of Moses]. This comparison approach highlighted Torahs unique property of every part of torah containing every other part. of it. *10. WALKING WITH ONE TORAH THOUGHT ALL WEEK---This was a practice that was done by the Arizal as well as some of the top contemporary Torah scholars that exist ---The idea is to go throughout your day while contemplating meditating and talking this one subject up to all that you know.... 11. PRAYING FOR AND CO-CREATING TORAH UNDERSTANDING----R. nachman as a child, in addition to learning properly would pray all day and night to understand the Mishna and Talmud...etc...he also teaches [in Sichot Haran #62] the principle behind the secret or co-creating see our previous essays for more detail, and states clearly that this can be done for accessing Torah wisdom as well. *12. TOOLS TORAH----I have been exploring this realm for a few years now in these weekly essays as well as elsewhere---the general principle is to create an exercise , tool or meditation that will internalize the wisdom that you are learning...for more info. of how to do this...email me.... 13. ENLISTING ALL OF YOUR TORAH WISDOM [AS WELL AS YOUR WORDLY WISDOM] TO GET TO KNOW HASHEM AND HIS WAYS---R. Avigdor Miller [obm] dedicated his life to this approach and you can learn about it in all of his amazing Books and tapes. Simply reframe all that you learn to be one more uncovered puzzle piece instructing you in the ways of G-d... *14. M.M.M. MUSICAL MYSTICAL MEDITATIONS---UTILIZING ALL OTHER CREATIVE AND NON-INTELLECTUAL INTELLIGENCES TO ACCESS AND EXPRESS TORAH *15. TANI VHADAR MEPHAREISH----which means first learn or read the original torah piece , and then use your infinite inner wellsprings of knowledge to expand upon the subject...you will be very pleasantly surprised to see how much you know, even though you didnt think that you did... 16. COMPARING SECULAR WISDOM TO TORAH WISDOM---many people are attracted to this approach since they either have one or the other under their belts [secular or Torah wisdom] and therefore they can relate better to the as yet unknown wisdom they are encountering for the first time... *17. TORAH IN EXILE---utilizing secular wisdom to enhance the complete understanding of Torah wisdom as well as bringing the secular wisdom back home to Torah 18. TORAH AND TEFILLAH----praying to actualize all that we learn [every detail] 19. HEALING TORAH---3 possible angles; a. Torah learned to expand consciousness and thereby open up the healing flow b. A mass diagnostic whose essential appropriate Torah principles are prescribed for whatever is lacking or needs healing C. Torah learning in and of itself is a cure-all for whatever ails you *20. THE TORAH STORIES IN ME---- The Torahs Bible Stories and characters and situations are related to as being various parts of my personality all waiting to be healed and expressed properly in life 21. TORAH DVAIKUS----Every one of the 613 Mitzvot are different pieces of advice of how to cling to G-d [Dvaikus] in any and all of lifes circumstances 22. TAKING A TOUR OF THE WORLD AND NEVER LIFTING YOUR NOSE OUT OF THE TORAH----The world and the Torah are exactly parrallel, allowing us to travel the entire world through Torah....be careful to leave enough time in each port to properly take a look around 23. SEEING THE TORAH TEXT THAT YOURE PRESENTLY READING AS HOLDING THE ANSWER TO YOUR DILLEMMAS AND CHALLENGES IN LIFE 24. TAP THE TANNA TORAH---Our mystical texts teach us that when we learn the words of any Sage [whos already passed on] their lips move in their resting place] and in a certain way, they come inside of us when we learn their Torah...the ramifications are amazing 25. LEARNING TORAH AT MANY DIFFERENT DEPTHS--- this can include anything from a simple browsing, a simple reading of the words [just to cover as much ground as possible ], all the way to a very deep thorough analysis of 1 line, and everything in between *26. TORAH CHARTING ----creating charts or series of charts that summarize in a very compact fashion, that summarize huge masses of wisdom , and possibly afterwards combine many charts into one large chart... 27. INTERINCLUSION TORAH------viewing many different realms of Torah as all being included in eachother and thereby discover whole new realms that only can be born and discovered in this fashion 28. AL MENAT TORAH----learning Torah in order to....ie...alwys learning in order to reach a higher goal such as teaching or practicing whats learned 29. O.H.-ING TORAH-----reducing the essential concepts learned into a very short term [...ie..an OH--omek Hamusag or essential point], and thinking and communicating with these terms... 30. CO-CREATION OR CAUSATIVE TORAH----When we allign ourselves intensely enough to Torah, then hashem promises that what we desire in life will manifest, and even beyond that, the Torah that we learn actually causes reality to come out the way it does.... 31. BABA SALI TORAH-----The Baba Sali as well as others when asked to solve any question or challenge in life, would simply open the Book [almost andy Torah Work would do] and wherever they opened it up to, there would lie the answer 32. TORAH GAUGING------The soul level of a person can be measured by the level of understanding that they have with a corresponding piece of Torah appropriate for a certain soul level....they will fall asleep, or lose attention or be overwhelmed with that piece of Torah whic is too high, whereas that Torah which resonates with their level will ring thoroughly true throughout their being Blessings, yitzchak
Posted on: Thu, 16 Jan 2014 07:14:55 +0000
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