Exodus Magazine - April 2021

#222 | April 2021 • Iyyar 5781

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April 2021 • Iyyar 5781

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5 | JEWISH SOUL

The Garments of Life

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10 | JEWISH THOUGHT

Fear of Freedom

If you want to know how to behave in a given situation, see what G‑d does. On the whole, G‑d chooses to run His world in accordance with a series of unchanging behavior patterns...

They were afraid of success, and the subsequent change it would bring about. They wanted to spend their lives in the closest possible proximity to G‑d. What were they missing?

— From the Rebbe's letters

— by Jonathan Sacks

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editorial jewish soul made you think jewish thought ask the rabbi our community simchas life on earth

6 | MADE YOU THINK

Your Soul Map: The Tree of Life

12 | ASK THE RABBI

Soulmates: The Approach to Marriage

According to Kabbalah, the spectrum of human experience is divided into seven emotions and qualities. The sefirah (also known as the tree of life) outlines the different parts of your emotional life.

My fiancé and I are planning to get married later this year. What kind of advice is there in the Torah for the right way to start a marriage, and any advice for maintaining a healthy relationship?

— by Simon Jacobson

— by Yoseph Y. Zaltzman

8 | JEWISH THOUGHT

18 | LIFE ON EARTH

Reading the Five Books of Moses is likely to leave a person full of questions. The central figures often behave in questionable ways, and sometimes seem to be questionable role models.

Another name for Kabbalah is “Torat ha-Sod.” Commonly, that is mistranslated as “the secret teaching.” The proper translation, however, contains the opposite meaning: “the teaching of the secret.”

— by Berel Bell

— by Tzvi Freeman

The Inside Story

April 2021

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The Soul of Judaism

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Imagine if you could hack yourself. If you were to take a journey into the mainframe of your mind, what would it look like?

Would you find the various components of the circuitry humming in harmony, or would you see a messy collection loose screws, stray wires and burned out pathways? Would the transformers all be in place, or have they shut down from lack of use? Would it even let you in, or would you be blocked by some firewall of trauma or And whatever it is you found in there, would you have the courage to confront it, or would you choose to replace the dusty cover and continue ignoring the problems until the entire system crashes?

Let’s face it. The greatest obstacle we face in the pursuit of peace and happiness is that we are full of belief systems that govern they way we perceive ourselves, the world and role in it. Prejudices about ourselves and others, conditioning that is the product of our education and upbringing and the intensity of life experiences and our reactions to them all contribute to the internal clutter.

The question is how much we’re aware of the effect these belief systems have on our daily lives, and the extent to which they can manipulate us and even dominate us If left unchecked.

The counting of the Omer is a 49-step program designed to strip away the belief systems and figure ourselves out for real. It is the ultimate system overhaul that systematically separates fact from fiction by exploring each detail and facet of our emotional and psychological make-up, to understand where we are and where we need to get to.

In the journey of our lives, most of us make the mistake of trying to find ourselves, even though intuitively we know that true enlightenment and happiness come from letting go of ourselves. You can’t lose yourself without knowing your self, but you certainly can’t lose yourself if you’re obsessed with yourself. The subjectivity of this approach is at best futile, or even maddening.

Some of us somehow manage to avoid this mistake and instead seek the euphoria of an objective, omnipresent truth. But in the quest for objectivity we tend to lose sight of our place in all of it. In removing ourselves from the equation, the objectivity denies the significance of individual existence and providence.

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The balance then is to seek my own inner truth — one that holds true in both the objective and subjective realities, encompassing both who I am as an individual and how I fit into the cosmic master plan. By extension, everything that follows from this refined and redefined self is that much more truthful and sincere, making the self a fitting conduit for something greater than the self.

I usually like to think that my primary purpose lies in achieving something by harnessing and utilizing the strengths of my unique individual talents. But perhaps an even greater and less obvious purpose lies in confronting the challenges I face by pealing away the layers of falsehood, fantasy and disillusionment that clog each of the 49 components of my psyche until each one shines. And once the system is hacked, I can make it whatever I want it to be.

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Iyyar 5781

jewish soul

The Garments

of

Life

From the Rebbe's letters

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f you want to know how to behave in a given situation, see what G‑d does. On the whole, G‑d chooses to run His world in accordance with a series of unchanging (and thus predictable) behavior patterns— what we call “the laws of nature.” It would be just as “easy” for Him to rain down manna from heaven as to cause grain to grow and flour and water to bake into bread; but with the exception of one forty-year period in our history, G‑d has consistently chosen to nourish us via natural bread from the earth rather than miracle bread from the heavens.

So we, too, manage our lives in accordance with the rules of nature. While we believe with complete faith that G‑d is the sole provider of life and sustenance, we labor to construct the natural vehicles through which His providence may flow. We know that to be nourished by a piece of bread supposedly produced by human hands is no less a “miracle” than to be nourished by “bread” falling from the heavens; nevertheless, we do not sit around waiting for manna to rain down upon us, but devote hours, energy and talent—resources that could have been devoted to “holier,” more spiritual pursuits— to plowing, sowing, milling, kneading and baking, or to earning the money to pay others to produce our bread.

In the 12th chapter of Genesis, we find our model for this approach to life in the behavior of the first Jew, Abraham. G‑d had commanded Abraham to take up residence in the Holy Land; but when shortly thereafter a famine swept through the land, Abraham journeyed to Egypt, where there was bread to be had. Approaching Egypt, a land notorious for its depravity, Abraham realizes that he is in mortal danger on account of the beauty of his wife, Sarah, and he tells her to say that she is his sister, lest he be killed by an Egyptian coveting her beauty.

The famine in the Holy Land and Abraham’s travails in Egypt are counted among the “Ten Tests” which established the depth and invincibility of his faith in G‑d.

At first glance, however, it would seem that Abraham “failed” these tests: he did not stay in the Holy Land, trusting that G‑d would provide for him even under conditions of famine; he did not assume that if G‑d desired

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that he live, no lust-maddened Egyptian could take his life.

In truth, however, a disavowal of the natural tools of life does not imply a greater faith in G‑d. Indeed, to do so is to go against the divine desire that we live within the natural world as G‑d’s “partners in creation.” The true test of faith lies in how a person regards his natural activities. Does he consider them the source of his achievements? Or does he recognize that they are merely “garments” within which G‑d enclothes and disguises His essentially supra-natural sustenance of our lives?

Abraham’s faith did not prevent him from going to Egypt when the natural sources of nourishment ceased to function in the Holy Land, or from resorting to connivance and deceit to ensure his safety when his life was threatened. Indeed, the fact that he could take these actions and experience their apparent success in bringing him material gain and, at the same time, relate to G‑d as the sole source of his safety and enrichment, was the ultimate proof of his faith in G‑d.

But G‑d, on occasion, does perform “miracles”—events in which the cloak of consistency and predictability is swept away

and His involvement in our lives stands denuded from the garments of nature. In this, too, we are enjoined to emulate our Creator: there are occasions in our lives that call for a “miraculous” response, for a mode of behavior that utterly disregards the dictates of nature and convention.

These, however, are the exception rather than the rule, to be employed under exceptional circumstances in our lives, or by exceptional individuals whose entire lives emulate the miraculous dimension of G‑d’s relationship with our reality.

Such an individual was Abraham’s great-grandson, Joseph. When Joseph was incarcerated in an Egyptian prison and did a good turn for a fellow prisoner, the chief butler of Pharaoh, he availed himself of the opportunity to request of him: In three days’ time, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your station….

But remember me when your situation is improved. Pray, do me a kindness and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and have me taken out from this house.

Joseph, however, is criticized for his behavior; indeed, he is punished for placing his trust in man rather than relying solely on G‑d. “The chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him,” and he was left to languish for two more years in Pharaoh’s dungeon.

What for Abraham was desirable behavior and a demonstration of his faith in G‑d, was a breach of faith for Joseph. For Joseph belonged to that select group of righteous individuals whose mission in life is to emulate their Creator in the miraculous, rather than the natural, plane of His relationship with His creation.

In every generation, a few elect “Josephs” rise to a state of utter aloofness from the ways and cares of the material world, exemplifying the truth that, in essence, there is literally “none else besides Him.” But for the vast majority of us, the path through life is the path blazed by Abraham: a path in which G‑d clothes His involvement in our lives in the garments of nature and we employ the resources and norms of our physical existence as the implements of our relationship with Him. EM

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made you think

Your Soul Map: The Tree

of

Life

Simon Jacobson

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Am I easily swayed? What price am I ready to pay for my beliefs? Is there any truth for which I would be ready to give my life?

ccording to Kabbalah, the spectrum of human experience is divided into seven emotions and qualities. The sefirah (also known as the tree of life) outlines the different parts of your emotional life. Subscribe to the Soul Workout at meaningfullife.com to examine and refine these seven muscles.

The seven emotional attributes are: Chesed Loving Kindness, Benevolence Love is the single most powerful and necessary component in life. Love is the origin and foundation of all human interactions. It is both giving and receiving. It allows us to reach above and beyond ourselves; to experience another person and to allow that person to experience us. It is the tool by which we learn to experience the highest reality — G‑d.

Gevurah Justice, Discipline, Restraint, Awe If love (chesed) is the bedrock of human expression, discipline (gevurah) is the channel through which we express love. It gives our life and love direction and focus. Like a laser beam, its potency lies in the focus and concentration of light in one direction, rather than fragmented light beams dispersed in all different directions. Gevurah – discipline and measure – concentrates and directs our efforts, our love, in the proper directions.

Another aspect of gevurah is respect and awe. Healthy love requires respect for the one you love.

Tiferet Beauty and Harmony, Compassion Tiferet — compassion blends and harmonizes the free outpouring love of chesed with the discipline of gevurah. Tiferet possesses this power by introducing a third dimension — the dimension of truth, which is neither love nor discipline and therefore can integrate the two.

Truth is accessed through selflessness: rising above your ego and your predispositions, enabling you to realize a higher truth. Truth gives you a clear and objective picture of your and others’ needs. The imbalance of

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love and discipline (and for that matter, any distortion) is a result of a subjective, hence limited perspective. Introducing truth, by suspending personal prejudices, allows you to express your feelings (including the synthesis of chesed and gevurah) in the healthiest mannerist quality gives TIFERET its name, which means BEAUTY: it blends the differing colors of love and discipline, and this harmony makes it beautiful.

Netzach Endurance, Fortitude, Ambition Endurance and ambition is a combination of determination and tenacity. It is a balance of patience, persistence and guts. Endurance is also being reliable and accountable, which establishes security and commitment.

Without endurance, any good endeavor or intention has no chance of success.

Endurance means to be alive, to be driven by healthy and productive goals. It is the readiness to fight for what you believe, to go all the way. Without such commitment any undertaking remains flat and empty. It is an energy that comes from within and stops at nothing to achieve its goals. This, of course, requires that endurance be closely examined to ensure that it is used in a healthy and productive manner.

Ask yourself: How committed am I to my values? How much would I fight for them?

Hod Humility, Splendor If endurance is the engine of life, humility is its fuel. As gevurah (discipline) gives chesed (love) focus, Hod gives netzach (endurance) direction. Humility is the silent partner of endurance. Its strength is in its silence. Its splendor is in its repose.

Humility – and the resulting yielding – should not be confused with weakness and lack of self-esteem. Humility is modesty; it is acknowledgment (from the root of the Hebrew word, “hoda’ah”). It is saying “thank you” to G‑d. It is clearly recognizing your qualities and strengths and acknowledging that they are not your own; they were given to you by G‑d for a higher purpose than just satisfying your own needs. Humility is modesty; it is recognizing how small you are which allows you to realize how large you can become. And that makes humility so formidable.

Yesod Bonding, Foundation Bonding is the ultimate emotional connection.

While the first five qualities (love, discipline, compassion, endurance and humility) are interactive, they still manifest duality: the lover and the beloved. The emphasis is on an individual’s feelings, not necessarily on mutuality. Bonding, on the other hand, is a complete fusion of the two.

Without bonding no feeling can be truly realized. Bonding means connecting; not only feeling for another, but being attached to him. Not just a token commitment, but total devotion. It creates a channel between giver and receiver. Bonding is eternal. It develops an everlasting union that lives on forever through the perpetual fruit it bears.

Bonding is the foundation of life. The emotional spine of the human psyche. Every person needs bonding to flourish and grow.

The bonding between mother and child; between husband and wife; between brothers and sisters; between close friends. Bonding is affirmation; it gives one the sense of

Iyyar 5781

belonging; that “I matter,” “I am significant and important.” It establishes trust — trust in yourself and trust in others. It instills confidence. Without bonding and nurturing we cannot realize and be ourselves.

Malchut Nobility, Sovereignty, Leadership Sovereignty — the last of the seven attributes — is different from the previous six. It is a state of being rather than an activity. Nobility is a passive expression of human dignity which has nothing of its own except that

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which it receives from the other six emotions.

True leadership is the art of selflessness; it is only a reflection of a Higher will. On the other hand, malchut manifests and actualizes the character and majesty of the human spirit. It is the very fiber of what makes us human. When love, discipline, compassion, endurance and humility are properly channeled into the psyche through bonding, the result is malchut. Bonding nurtures us and allows our sovereignty to surface and flourish. Malchut is the receptivity to all the emotions that are funneled through Yesod.

Just like you isolate your arms, quads, or cardio with specific exercises, working out your soul requires isolating and flexing different muscles. The Meaningful Life Center’s Soul Workouts focus on isolating emotional muscles, and help you develop new tools to carry with you in your new and improved emotional “body.” EM Rabbi Simon Jacobson is the author of Toward a Meaningful Life: The Wisdom of the Rebbe and the director of the Meaningful Life Center (meaningfullife.com).

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jewish thought

Kabbalah: The Inside Story Berel Bell

E

ven a cursory reading of the Five Books of Moses is likely to leave a person full of questions. The central figures often behave in questionable ways, and sometimes seem to be questionable role models. In addition, G‑d's motives are frequently enigmatic. He seems to want one thing, and then structure events so that everything becomes unnecessarily complicated. We are often unable to understand what His goals are and why He chooses such convoluted paths to reach them.

The Oral Tradition passed down from Mount Sinai and recorded in the words of our Sages helps elucidate the text.

The classic biblical commentaries engage in unraveling these stories, and one can find numerous explanations to many of these puzzles. However, their answers are sometimes difficult to reconcile with the text; they sometimes fit the text but stretch the imagination; they sometimes contradict each other; they sometimes solve one enigma - only to raise others which might be even more numerous and more difficult to solve; and most importantly, these explanations sometimes help only to resolve the difficulty of one particular episode. We are often left wondering how the details fit into the broader picture; and even regarding the story itself - couldn't things have been done in some easier, more straightforward way?

Finite humans are obviously unable to fathom the Ways of the Infinite. On the other hand, the Torah is given to us to study and understand. From it we are supposed to draw inspiration and guidance, even down to the details of our daily lives. How can we do so when the message is so obscured by questions?

The obstacle becomes more acute when we consider the difference between this generation and previous ones. Years ago, virtually everyone in the Western world was somewhat familiar with the content of the Bible, and accepted its veracity. Today, many are unaware of even the most basic ideas, and are skeptical of its authority.

Their questions are worse than just unsolved intellectual puzzles. They often represent the first - and seemingly insurmountable - barrier to seriously considering anything having to

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do with faith or "religion."

But the thirst and curiosity is there. This thirst is evident throughout the world in the explosive interest in Kabbalah, Bible codes and the like. This dimension of the Torah has a very special relationship with other levels of Torah interpretation.

The Torah conveys its messages simultaneously on different levels of meaning.

In general there are four levels, referred to by the Hebrew acronym "PaRDeS": the simple level (Peshat), the allusion (Remez), homiletic (Drush), and the secret (Sod).

There is, furthermore, another dimension which transcends all these four levels. The final two are normally referred to as the mystical dimension, that of Kabbalah and Chassidic thought.

The "inner dimension," or the "soul" of Torah, explicated in Kabbalah and Chassidic thought, takes the perspective of the underlying spiritual reality from which everything in the universe is derived.

Understanding these forces and their effects helps us perceive the essential unity within Creation, and to use this knowledge to guide us in all aspects of our lives.

The essential truths are conveyed to us in the Torah. Understanding its inner dimension helps unravel its mysteries. Then, the traditional explanations take on greater depth and become an integral part of the path leading us to the deeper truth. The revelation of this inner dimension of Torah indicates that the universe is ready to reach its culmination with the Messianic era. It

Iyyar 5781

jewish thought

is also the vehicle through which the world is transformed into a world of harmony, fulfillment, and perfection.

The Zohar itself is written in the form of a commentary on the Bible. The stories of the Bible are not just stories, for within them are buried the secrets of the Universe. Through understanding their inner dimension, we tap into that Infinite Wisdom which G‑d has been waiting for us to discover. And we must thank the Creator for making these stories so unfathomable as to spur us on to keep digging until we find the "light" within.

One central theme which runs through a number of incidents is that lying, or at least trickery, seem to be involved. Abraham and Isaac say that their wives are their sisters; Jacob tricks Esau out of his privileges as the first-born; Rebecca and Jacob trick Isaac into giving him the blessings; Joseph's brothers kidnap and sell him and then lead Jacob to believe that he's been killed; Leah tricks Jacob into marrying her; Tamar tricks Judah into fathering her children. Why does everything seem so crooked?

The theme of trickery stems from the first, and perhaps most famous case - that of the serpent tricking Adam and Eve. Had they not sinned, Adam and Eve would have brought the world to perfection and the Messianic Age would have begun right away. Kabbalah explains that when they ate from the Tree of Knowledge, there was a catastrophic change by which sparks of good and sparks of evil become mixed in virtually every aspect of the universe. In order to rectify this act, its effects must be undone. The retrieval and elevation of these sparks is the unifying task which has occupied the world ever since.

Part of the mystery of this rectification is that the manner in which it is carried out must also match the way in which these sparks were spread out in the first place. A corresponding action is performed, but this time, on the side of holiness. This could perhaps be compared to the cover of a jar: just as it became tightened through being twisted on, the way to remove it is through twisting in the opposite direction. The Talmud similarly explains why the prophet Obadiah was chosen to pronounce the downfall of the Edomite kingdom - because he himself

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was an Edomite convert, and "the handle for the axe to cut the tree comes from the forest itself."

We find a similar idea when Moses showed Pharaoh that G‑d sent him by turning a stick into a snake. (Ex. 7:10-11) The head sorcerers of Egypt replied, "Are you bringing straw to Ephraim?" (a city known for its grain), i.e. "Are you bringing witchcraft to a place which is full of witchcraft?!" (Menachot 85a., Shemot Rabba 9:5) Moses answered that indeed, "You take your vegetables to sell in the place where everyone brings their vegetables." At first glance, it is difficult to see what exactly is Moses answering; he just seems to repeat their question as his answer!

But his answer is that although he and the Egyptian sorcerers superficially seem to be doing the same thing, there is a huge difference between them. Only a discerning mind is able to distinguish them, just as only in a place where everyone sells vegetables can you tell "which is the good vegetable and which is the bad." (Iyun Yaakov, Menachot ibid. See also Maharsha, Eitz Yosef, ibid. Y'fat To'ar on Shemot Rabba, ibid.) "Ephraim" refers to the primordial snake, (since "the earth [in Hebrew, "afar"] is his bread" (Isaiah 65:25) - "afar" from the same root as "Ephraim"), and its abundant produce alludes to the Tree of Knowledge. Only in that place and in an almost identical fashion can its darkness be transformed to light.

The serpent succeeded through being "deceptive" (Gen. 3:1) or as the Zohar (Zohar I:36a) puts it, "all its words were false" - where his true intentions were concealed. He was only able to succeed because he also had a certain G‑dly energy and influence - and was therefore, "wiser than all other creatures." The serpent - had it been ignored or defeated - could have become a powerful force of holiness in the world. Since Adam and Eve failed the test, it is up to the subsequent generations to achieve this rectification.

There is a level of "deception" which is called "concealed chochma". ("Vayomer Lo Elokim," Vayishlach, 5694. Likutei Sichot 1:55-56. See also Zohar III:144a.) It is called "deception," because the world cannot determine its true nature, but it is ultimately

the tool which we use to undo the damage caused by the serpent.

Since the epic struggle to combat darkness draws from this "concealed chochma," it often comes in a manner which seems foreign to us. A superficial glance will only see that the cover of the jar is being twisted; it takes Kabbalah to reveal to us how it's being twisted in precisely the opposite direction.

This has implications for our daily lives, in that our entire existence in this world is really a form of "deception." The soul comes from the spiritual realms of existence where the Infinite Light shines strongly. It descends into a physical body to live its life in a physical world where the presence of G‑d and the purpose of existence are concealed.

Because of this concealment, the physical universe is called in mystical literature, "the world of falsehood" ("alma d'shikra"). In order to fulfill the purpose of our creation, we must in turn, "deceive" the world by using its physicality for spiritual purposes.

The Torah demands that we be honest, but by being "honestly" materialistic, we would fall into the deceptive trap of concealment and spiritual darkness. To this extent the Torah directs us towards one particular sort of "deception" - the kind that enables us to be spiritual within the physical world.

Our forefathers had the job of preparing the world and the Jewish people for this historic struggle. Their lives foreshadowed what would happen in the future. (Ramban, Gen. 12:6) Even more so, their actions actually forged the path which pulled their descendants to follow them. (ibid.) They were considered a "Chariot" (Zohar III, 28b, 217a), i.e. a pure vehicle for the most sublime heavenly revelations. Everything they did reflected the deeper truths guiding things from Above. Sometimes this is difficult for us to see, but in the bright light of Kabbalah and Chassidic thought we can discern at least a glimpse into their motives. And in this light, not only do their acts not seem so puzzling; we can often not understand how they could have considered acting any other way. EM Rabbi Berel Bell is a well-known educator, author and lecturer. He and his family reside in Montreal, Canada.

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jewish thought

Fear of Freedom Jonathan Sacks

T

he episode of the spies was one of the most tragic in the entire Torah. Who sent them and to what end is not entirely clear. The text says that it was G‑d who told Moses to do so (Num. 13:1–2). In Deuteronomy (1:22), Moses says that it was the people who made the request. Either way, the result was disaster. An entire generation was deprived of the chance to enter the Promised Land. The entry itself was delayed by forty years. According to the Sages, it cast its shadow long into the future.

Moses told the spies to go and see the land and bring back a report about it: Are the people many or few, strong or weak? What is the land itself like? Are the cities open or fortified? Is the soil fertile? They were also tasked with bringing back some of its fruit.

The spies returned with a positive report about the land itself: “It is indeed flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit” There then followed one of the most famous ‘buts’ in Jewish history: “But – the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak [‘the giant’] there” (Num. 13:28).

Sensing that their words were demoralizing the people, Caleb, one of the spies, interrupted with a message of reassurance: “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” However, the other spies insisted: “We cannot attack those people; they are stronger than we are.… All the people we saw there are of great size.… We seemed like grasshoppers…” (Num. 13:30– 33). The next day, the people, persuaded that the challenge was completely beyond them, expressed regret that they had ever embarked on the Exodus and said, “Let us appoint a leader and go back to Egypt” (Num. 14:4).

Thus far the narrative. However, it is monumentally difficult to understand. It was this that led the Lubavitcher Rebbe to give a radically revisionary interpretation of the episode. He asked the obvious question.

How could ten of the spies come back with a defeatist report? They had seen with their own eyes how G‑d had sent a series of plagues that brought Egypt, the strongest and longest-lived of all the empires of the ancient world, to its knees. They had seen the Egyptian army with its cutting-edge military

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technology, the horse-drawn chariot, drown in the sea while the Israelites passed through it on dry land. Egypt was far stronger than the Canaanites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and other minor kingdoms that they would have to confront in conquering the land. Nor was this an ancient memory. It had happened not much more than a year before.

What is more, they were entirely wrong about the people of the land. We discover this from the book of Joshua, in the passage read as the haftarah to Shelach Lecha. When Joshua sent spies to Jericho, the woman who sheltered them, Rahab, described for them what her people felt when they heard that the Israelites were on their way: I know that the Lord has given this land to you. A great fear of you has fallen on us…We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt.…

When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your G‑d is G‑d in heaven above and on the earth below.

(Josh. 2:9–11) The people of Jericho were not giants.

They were as fearful of the Israelites as the Israelites were of them. Nor was this something that was disclosed only later. The Israelites of Moses’ day had already sung in the Song at the Sea:

The peoples have heard; they tremble; Pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.

Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; Trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.

Terror and dread fall upon them; Because of the greatness of Your arm, they are still as a stone.

(Ex. 15:14–16) How was it that they forgot what, not long before, they knew?

What is more, continued the Rebbe, the spies were not people plucked at random from among the population. The Torah states that they were “men who were heads of the People of Israel.” They were leaders. They were not people given lightly to fear. The questions are straightforward, but the answer the Rebbe gave was utterly unexpected. The spies were not afraid of failure, he said. They were afraid of success.

Never had a people lived so close to G‑d.

If they entered the land, their lifestyle of camping around the Sanctuary, eating manna from heaven, living in continuous contact with the Divine presence would vanish.

They would have to fight battles, maintain an army, create an economy, farm the land, worry about the weather and their crops, and all the other thousand distractions that come from living in the world. What would happen to their closeness to G‑d? They would be preoccupied with mundane and material pursuits. Here they could spend their entire lives learning Torah, lit by the radiance of the Divine. There they would be one more nation in a world of nations with the same kind of economic, social, and political problems that every other nation has to deal with.

They were afraid of success, and the subsequent change it would bring about.

They wanted to spend their lives in the closest possible proximity to G‑d. What they did not understand was that G‑d seeks, in the Midrashic phrase, “a dwelling in the lower worlds.” One of the great differences between Judaism and other religions is that while others seek to lift people to heaven, Judaism seeks to bring heaven down to earth.

Much of Torah is about things not

Iyyar 5781

conventionally seen as religious at all: labour relations, agriculture, welfare provisions, loans and debts, land ownership, and so on.

It is not difficult to have an intense religious experience in the desert, or in a monastic retreat, or in an ashram. Most religions have holy places and holy people who live far removed from the stresses and strains of everyday life. About this there is nothing unusual at all.

But that is not the Jewish project, the Jewish mission. G‑d wanted the Israelites to create a model society where human beings were not treated as slaves, where rulers were not worshipped as demigods, where human dignity was respected, where law was impartially administered to rich and poor alike, where no one was destitute, no one was abandoned to isolation, no one was above the law, and no realm of life was a morality-free zone. That requires a society, and a society needs a land. It requires an economy, an army, fields and flocks, labour and enterprise. All these, in Judaism, become ways of bringing the Divine presence into the shared spaces of our collective life.

The spies did not doubt that Israel could win its battles with the inhabitants of the land.

Their concern was not physical but spiritual.

They did not want to leave the wilderness.

They did not want to become just another nation among the nations of the earth. They did not want to lose their unique relationship with G‑d in the reverberating silence of the desert, far removed from civilization and its discontents. This was the mistake of deeply religious men – but it was a mistake.

Clearly this is not the plain sense of the narrative, but we should not dismiss it on that account. It is, as it were, a psychoanalytical reading of the unconscious mindset of the spies. They did not want to let go of the intimacy and innocence of the time-out-oftime and place-out-of-place that was the experience of the wilderness. Ultimately the spies feared freedom and its responsibilities.

But Torah is about the responsibilities of freedom. Judaism is not a religion of monastic retreat from the world. It is a religion of engagement with the world. G‑d chose Israel to make His presence visible in the world.

Therefore Israel must live in the world. The

Jewish people were not without their desertdwellers and ascetics. The Talmud speaks of R. Shimon Bar Yochai living for thirteen years in a cave. When he emerged, he could not bear to see people engaged in such earthly pursuits as ploughing a field (Shabbat 33b). He held that engagement with the world was fundamentally incompatible with the heights of spirituality (Brachot 35b). But the mainstream held otherwise. It maintained that “Torah study without an occupation will in the end fail and lead to sin” (Mishnah Avot 2:2).

Maimonides speaks of people who live as hermits in the desert to escape the corruptions of society. But these were the exceptions, not the rule. It is not the destiny of Israel to live outside time and space as the world’s recluses.

Far from being the supreme height of faith, such a fear of freedom and its responsibilities is, according to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the sin of the spies.

They did not want to contaminate Judaism by bringing it into contact with the real world. They sought the eternal dependency of G‑d’s protection and the endless embrace of His all-encompassing love. There is something noble about this desire, but also something profoundly irresponsible. The spies demoralised the people and provoked the anger of G‑d. The Jewish project – the Torah as the constitution of the Jewish nation under the sovereignty of G‑d – is about building a society in the land of Israel that so honours human dignity and freedom that it will one day lead the world to say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people” (Deut. 4:6).

The Jewish task is not to fear the real world but to enter and transform it, healing some of its wounds and bringing to places often shrouded in darkness fragments of Divine light. EM Rabbi Dr. Sir Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, was the former Chief Rabbi of the UK and the Commonwealth and a member of the House of Lords. He was a leading academic and respected world expert on Judaism. He was the author of several books and thousands of articles, appeared regularly on television and radio, and spoke at engagements around the world.

future tense

MOSHIACH MUSINGS

Some famous prisoners: Abraham: imprisoned by Nimrod for ten years (Talmud, Bava Batra 91a).

Joseph: incarcerated in the royal jail of Pharaonic Egypt for twelve years (Genesis 39:20).

Rabbi Akiva: imprisoned by the Romans for teaching Torah (Talmud, Berachot 61b).

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai: confined to a cave for thirteen years after the Romans placed a price on his head.

Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi: held for 52 days in the Peter-Paul Fortress in Petersburg on charges of treason against the Russian Czar. Released on Kislev 19, 5559 (1798).

The common denominator of these “prisoners” is that each one’s life and teachings constituted a milestone in the dissemination of Torah. Abraham commenced the “age of Torah.” Joseph was the link between the Torah of the Patriarchs and the generations of exile in Egypt. Rabbi Akiva was the central figure in the transmission of the “Oral Torah”— the body of Torah law and interpretation that is the key to understanding and applying the “Written Torah”—from Sinai to Diaspora Jewry. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, author of the Zohar, is our source for the Kabbalah , the mystical dimension of Torah. And Rabbi Schneur Zalman was the founder of Chabad Chassidism, the movement that fused the rational and mystical streams of Torah into a unified, comprehensive program for life. In each of these cases, imprisonment served as the incubation period for the revelation of a new, unprecedented dimension of G‑d’s wisdom in our world.

Indeed, confinement always precedes a new beginning—consider the circumstances of every birth (under Torah law, a newborn infant has the legal status of a newly-released prisoner, since “there is no greater prison than the womb”).

Thus the prophet Ezekiel compares the experience of exile (our current state of exile and spiritual displacement) to a pregnancy, and the redemption to the birth that follows.

ask the rabbi

Soulmates: The Approach to Marriage Rabbi Yoseph Y. Zaltzman

Q

My fiancé and I are planning to get married later this year. What kind of advice is there in the Torah for the right way to start a marriage, and any advice for maintaining a healthy relationship?

Mazel Tov! I look forward to meeting your bride-to-be and consulting with you both on how to make your wedding truly meaningful and memorable, and consistent with the holiness and traditions our people have upheld for generations. Your wedding is an opportunity to have a proper Jewish marriage ceremony, a Chuppah, full of beauty and meaning, and a kosher wedding reception.

As you build your new life, you can learn a lot from the metaphor of building a physical home. Just like the construction of any edifice is only as strong as the foundation which supports it, the first year of marriage serves as the foundation of your new home.

Your time and energy should be devoted to nurturing your relationship. During this special year, you should engage in meaningful activities, both as a couple and individually, grow together, spend as much time together as possible, and avoid any travel which involves an overnight stay away from each other. This approach was actually mandated by law thousands of years ago in the Torah, which forbids newly married men from going to war or engaging in any obligations that might take him away from bringing joy to his new wife during their first year of marriage.

A marriage is commonly called a “union,” and from a Jewish spiritual perspective this is an appropriate term to use. According to Jewish mysticism, the first couple, Adam and Eve, were actually created as one body. Soon after, they were separated into two separated bodies. This illustrates to us that husband and wife complete one another, and that without each other they are incomplete. They are two halves of one soul that is coming together in marriage. Upon marriage, the soul becomes whole again, and this is one of the reasons for the tremendous joy and celebration of a Jewish wedding.

This is also the deeper explanation behind the term “soulmate.” Even though marriage

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includes a lot of worldly activities – the management of the household and supporting each other’s life ambitions – these things are superficial, they evolve over time, and they are not the core of what life is about. The spiritual side of life and of marriage, on the other hand, are eternal. That is where the true and lasting joy comes from. It a journey in which you find yourself and lose yourself at the same time. You lose your egocentric self, and you find your deeper self.

And so it makes sense to begin this journey by focusing inward and building a strong spiritual connection as a foundation.

The focus in a harmonious marriage is the principle belief that one's spouse is an inseparable part of oneself. Your spouse is the other half of your soul. Just as a person would not want to hurt of lose an integral part of his body, so too—and even more so—he would not want to hurt or lose a part of his soul. In realizing this higher reality, a couple can achieve better marital happiness and peace. In knowing that in their home lives one soul—the two reunited halves they share—the whole momentum of the relationship changes, and many of the common challenges and pitfalls of marriage become more manageable when put into this perspective.

Nevertheless, every relationship experiences its challenges in the course of this journey, whether it being during the “honeymoon” phase or later down the road. Seek out the advice and guidance of others – a wide, older friend, a mentor, a rabbi. Make your life easier, minimize conflict and maximize clarity by opening yourself up to the right people and receiving their perspective. EM Rabbi Yoseph Y. Zaltzman is the Senior Rabbi of the Jewish Russian Community Centre of Ontario. You can Ask the Rabbi at jrcc.org or fax to 416.222.7812. To meet with Rabbi Zaltzman in person, feel free to call 416.222.7105 to book an appointment.

Appointments are generally available on Wednesday evenings after 7pm.

Rebbitzin Chiena Zaltzman is also available for private consultations by appointment on Wednesday evenings from 9 to 10pm by calling 416.222.7105.

Что делает народ народом? Если собрать сто, тысячу, миллион человек - превратятся ли они в народ? Просто большое количество людей – это еще не народ. Существует известное определение понятия «народ». «Народ – это устойчивая группа людей, проживающих на определенной территории и имеющих историческую связь с ней; определяющих себя в качестве народа; признающих свои исторические, этнические или расовые, лингвистические, культурные или идеологические, социально-экономические особенности; являющихся всем населением государства или только его частью и осознающих свою потребность самоопределения в международных отношениях». Иными словами, обычно народ характеризуют общая территория, язык и культура. Но у евреев территории обитания разные, языки разные, и в связи с этим разнятся их культуры, кухни и т.д. Достаточно сравнить евреев марокканских, ашкеназских, латино-американских и т.д., чтобы увидеть, насколько отличаются они друг от друга во всем. Еврейский народ является народом, так как всех евреев объединяет общая идея: еврейский народ – это народ, избранный Б-гом, чтобы нести свет в мир. Обычно люди болезненно принимают тезис избранности евреев. Говорят, что евреи декларируют себя избранным народом, а люди к этому относятся по-разному: кто-то скептически, а кто-то попросту агрессивно. Впрочем, куда идти дальше? Сами евреи часто возмущаются, когда разговор заходит об избранности еврейского народа. Да, но отрицание нашей избранности самими евреями является показателем определенного уровня ассимиляции...

The article above is excerpted from the Russian edition of Exodus Magazine. To subscribe, please visit exodusmagazine.org or call 416.222.7105.

Iyyar 5781

‫ב”ה‬ ‫ב''ה‬

KISLEV 5781

T H E M O N T H I N R E V I E W. U P C O M I N G E V E N T S & P R O G R A M S .

APRIL 2021 | IYAR 5781

JRCC MATZAH PROJECT REACHES OVER 12,000 FAMILIES

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

APRIL2021 03/26 04/04

PESACH SHENI

SUN

04

MOSHIACH SEUDA

THU

POST-PASSOVER CHALLAH BAKE

SUT

SUMMER WOMENS CLASSES BEGIN

08

10 TUE

2 IYAR FARBRENGEN

SUN

PESACH SHENI FARBRENGEN

FRI

LAG BAOMER

13

25

30

Our

Community

НОЯБРЬ 2020

This year, thanks to the JRCC Connect initiative and the generosity of 10s of volunteers, many more families received Passover shmurah matzah packages.

Together, the JRCC and its volunteers distributed packages to over 12,000 households in the Jewish Russian Peel Regional Police Divisional Mobilization volunteering community! Handmade shmurah matzah to bring Matzah to the community they serve is central for Passover, especially for the Passover Seder, and this extraordinary effort ensured all the families and individuals were able to partake in the special mitzvah of matzah the traditional way..

HEBREW SCHOOL PASSOVER FOOD DRIVE

The JRCC Hebrew School, in collaboration with the JRCC Cares, the social services division of the JRCC, held a Passover Food Drive to provide basic holiday foods for the needy. Several drop-off locations were set up from February 21 to March 7 where people could drop off non-perishable kosher for Passover food items. In addition to helping those in need, which was the main objective, this project provided a handson experience in the supreme Jewish value of tzedaka (charity) to JRCC Hebrew School students, and enabled people from across the community and beyond to give directly to those in need.

In all, over 60 Hebrew School students participated, and many needy families benefited.

PESACH2GO

CANDLE LIGHTING TIMES Friday, Apr 2, 2021 Passover

7:28 PM

Shabbat, Apr 3, 2021 Passover

8:30 PM

Sunday, Apr 4, 2021 Passover

8:32 PM

Friday, Apr 9, 2021

7:36 PM

Friday, Apr 16, 2021

7:45 PM

Friday, Apr 23, 2021

7:53 PM

Friday, Apr 30, 2021 April 2021

8:01 PM

For the most part, public community seders and even private family group seders were limited or not possible this year due to COVID restrictions. The JRCC team put together a Seder2Go program, whereby people could order specific packages to suit their specific needs and the number of people attending their Seder ranging from a basic Seder Plate only option to an option with a full, three-course catered meal. The Seder2Go program employed a “pay what you can” policy. When selecting one’s desired options, the actual cost of the package is displayed, and the person ordering is given the option of either paying the cost or paying whatever they can. Thanks to subsidies from the JRCC and its generous sponsors, anyone who wanted a Seder2Go package was able to order one, regardless of financial means. The “pay what you can” policy was only open to members of the Russian community.

PESACH SEDER to go

exodusmagazine.org

13

Photo of the Month

ENGLISH CLASSES ON ZOOM LEARN ABOUT MOSHIACH with CHIENA ZALTZMAN EVERY MONDAY AT 8PM ZOOM ID: 83834122371

TORAH AND TEA

with CHANIE ZALTZMAN EVERY MONDAY AT 8PM ZOOM ID: 770 613 7608 PW: 770

SECRETS OF THE WEEKLY TORAH PORTION with Rabbi MENDEL ZALTZMAN EVERY TUESDAY AT 8PM

ZOOM ID: 770 613 7608 PW: 770. zoom.us/my/jrcceast

JRCC Hebrew School students attended the JewQ Competition testing their knowledge in various Jewish topics. The top 3 winners will compete in the international competition against Hebrew School students from around the world.

CAFFEINE FOR THE SOUL for women only

with SARALE ZALTZMAN

EVERY THURSDAY AT 11AM ZOOM ID: 770 613 9699

MOSHIACH’S SEUDAH

Birth Kit

PROGRAM

SUNDAY, APRIL 4

For all the newborn Russian Jews

A unique celebratory feast: Four cups of wine, matzah and unbounded, optimistic joy, in the tradition of the Baal Shem Tov. Check with your local JRCC branch for times and locations or visit

www.jrcc.org/Pesach

CELEBRATE YOUR FUTURE

‫ב"ה‬ OSCAR YOLLES

Did you just gave a birth?

Did you become a grandparent?

Do you know any of your friends who just gave a birth?

1ST-4TH GRADES

REDESIGNED INNOVATIVE HEBREW AND JUDAIC CLASSES FROM HOME 5 SESSIONS CONTACT: ARIEL.ZALTZMAN@JRCC.ORG 416-222-7105 EXT. 225

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JRCC is ready to deliver a baby package right to the house. It includes: baby diapers, body suits, napkins, baby cream, kids cup, baby powder, shower gel, Jewish soft toy, blessing for a child and a mother, Jewish educational book, baby blanket.

Contact JRCC office for more info

416.222.7105 ext.245

Iyar 5781

BAR &BAT MITZVAH CLUB GIVE YOUR CHILDREN THE BAR/ BAT MITZVAH THEY DESERVE

For information, call 416.222.7105 x247, email BarMitzvah@jrcc.org or BatMitzvah@jrcc.org

Upcoming

FARBRENGENS

Faces of the Community MAYA VOLIS I would like to tell you a little about my father, Valery Volis, who now lives in Israel. During the war, his father, my grandfather, died heroically, and my grandmother Riva was left a widow with her four-year-old son, Vilya.

In 1945, on Victory Day, they, like the families of many of the bereaved, received buns. They decided to exchange this treasure at the bazaar for potatoes. Instead, they were seized by a policeman who ate the buns in front of little Vilya. Vilya thought to himself: “Jerk, give me my buns!”, while my grandmother prayed: "Glory to G-d, in 1919 during the pogroms it was much worse…”

In 1952, Vilya came to visit his grandfather and grandmother in Kiev. My grandfather had three sons, all of whom died at the front. The youngest, a seventeen-year-old volunteer, was hanged at the gate by a policeman called by his neighbors. My father, who was then eleven, became aware of this story and that the policeman lived nearby. Every night in his sleep, Vilya would aim a pistol at him.

Once, at the height of the antisemitic Doctors’ plot campaign, Vilya was late for school. He enters the classroom, and everyone turns to him. There is a painful silence. The boy froze. The teacher said: “Children, it is not his fault. His father died at the front, as a hero.” In response, there was a whisper: “They are all traitors, they fought in Tashkent…”

My father’s mother and grandmother, who lived very meagerly, nonetheless tried to give Vilya a higher education at any cost. His graduation essay was written without a single mistake, yet he was given a lower grade in order not to be granted a medal.

TUESDAY, APRIL 13 2 Iyar Farbrengen

Celebrating the birthday of the Rebbe Maharash, Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch.

SUNDAY, APRIL 25 Pesach Sheini Farbrengen “Opportunity strikes once - again”

For information on times and how to attend visit www.jrcc.org/Farbrengen

Summer Womens Classes LEARN

PIRKEI AVOT EVERY SATURDAY

Check with your local JRCC branch for times and locations or visit

www.jrcc.org/WomensCircle

At the age of twenty-nine, after graduation, my father was drafted into the Soviet army. One time there was a quarrel with the new company commander, who said to my father, “You, lieutenant, are a Jew's face!” My father wanted to reach for a pistol, but stopped himself in time, instead saying to one of the other soldiers: “Sergeant, you are a witness. I am filing a complaint with the political department.” The witness refused to testify, but the company commander was still replaced.

After the army, my father got a job as an electrical engineer at the Gorky aircraft plant which employs 30,000 people. My father was very proud of his position. In 1966, the aircraft plant transferred MIG aircraft to India. My father was responsible for the construction of the chassis test stand, and he had a 2-3 month business trip to India!

Day and night he was immersed in his work. A week before the commissioning of the stand, a local understudy suddenly appeared. My father turned to his superiors. He was told that because of him they had already been reprimanded. My father replied, “I will reach Brezhnev. My father is a hero. I am clean before the country and the party!" Of course, a Russian replacement was dispatched.

Despite all the challenges, my father often speaks of life in the USSR as a happy time.

We had many friends, both Russians and Jews. And if there were conflicts, he held no grudge against anyone.

In 1991, my father left for Israel. Upon arrival at the airport, he was asked, “Why did you emigrate? We know that you are a communist, you made MIG planes, you are a tank officer.” My father replied, “It seemed to me that things were heading for a new Holocaust, and I am unarmed... Will you give me a machine gun?”

So, my father, an engineer, started everything from scratch at the age of fifty plus in Israel. A year of study in engineering followed, and the study of the specialty in two languages – Hebrew and English. He studied for nine hours every day. Most people of his age could not stand such hard work. And in the end my father got a job as an engineer! My father is made of that Bolshevik mix: “Nails would be made of these people - there would not be stronger nails in the world!”

In 2002, at the age of 61, he underwent heart surgery. The doctor said: “Don’t dream about going back to work!” A month later, he returned to work. In 2016, at the age of 75, he was diagnosed with cancer, followed by serious operations. From work, they brought him drawings to review at the hospital, and he discovered an error in the plans. He was taken to the air base, and the error was corrected. Five months later, he returned to work, where he works to this day.

My mother supports her husband in everything – as they say that behind every successful man is a strong woman. My father always remains a frontline soldier, and we are all very proud of him. I will end with the words: “And the fight continues again, and my heart is anxious in my chest. My dad is so young and always rushes ahead!”

April 2021

exodusmagazine.org

15

JRCC Directory

JRCC Program Spotlight

416-222-7105 | www.jrcc.org Jewish Russian Community Centre of Ontario

JRCC CONNECT: FOSTERING COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS The rationale behind the JRCC’s latest community-building initiative is as simple as it is grand. With a community comprised of tens of thousands of individuals, and a team of less than a dozen rabbis, program director and their support staff to serve them, how is it possible to reach and connect with every individual?

Clearly, more people need to get involved in order to make the dream of connecting every individual to the community into a reality. A lot more people, actually.

The JRCC Connect initiative aims to deliver thousands of packages each month to members of the community, by volunteers from within the community, for Jewish holidays and for birthdays. The Jewish holiday packages, including apples and honey for Rosh Hashana, Menorah kits for Chanukah, Mishloach Manot for Purim, and Shmura Matzah for Passover, connect people to their heritage and a shared sense of community holiday spirit. The birthday cake packages are a personal touch that create a more intimate connection between community members in the same neighborhood.

The inspiration behind this volunteer-based initiative is the Rebbe’s vision that, “each individual has the capacity to build communities and endow communities with life... So that every community member becomes a source of inspiration.” Each and every individual has the ability, and therefore the responsibility, to take an active part in making life better for others in their community.

5987 Bathurst Stre­et, #3 To­ron­to, ON M2R 1Z3 Canada Office Hours: Sun: 12 — 5 Mon to Thurs: 9 — 6 • Fri: 9 — 3hrs before Shabbat

JRCC BRANCHES JRCC of Ontario: 5987 Bathurst St., #3 Rabbi Yoseph Y. Zaltzman x278 Roi Aftabi, COO x257 JRCC Woodbridge: 25 Sandwell St. Rabbi Avrohom Yusewitz x261 JRCC S. Richmond Hill & Maple: 9699 Bathurst St. Rabbi Avrohom Zaltzman x247 JRCC Concord: 411 Confederation Parkway, #14 Rabbi Avraham Weinstein x 249 JRCC Affiliate CRC of Thornhill Woods: 8808 Bathurst St. Rabbi Chaim Hildeshaim x224

In addition to the community service aspect of the volunteer work, the lives of the volunteers themselves are also enriched. The experience of giving and being active in the community brings with it a sense of purpose, and also provides opportunities for meaningful social interactions. The JRCC Connect team also holds a variety of exclusive programs and events for volunteers, celebrating their collective and individual achievements, and providing support and recognition for the work they do.

Plans are in place to expand volunteer activities to an outbound phone system that will serve as a conduit for various JRCC services, and to create a dedicated mobile app to coordinate volunteer activities and provide real-time updates to the JRCC. Join the growing group of JRCC Connect volunteers, and experience the joy of giving, of being part of an amazing group of people, and gaining rewarding experiences. Visit jrcc.org/ connect or contact _Liza__ for more details.

JRCC West Thornhill: 1136 Centre St., #2 Rabbi Levi Jacobson x240 JRCC East Thornhill: 7608 Yonge St., #3 Rabbi Mendel Zaltzman x227 JRCC South Thornhill: 1 Cordoba Dr., Party Room Rabbi Levi Blau x288 JRCC Steeles & Hilda: 175 Hilda Ave., Party Room Mr. Melekh Brikman x282 JRCC Rockford: 18 Rockford Rd. Rabbi Shmuel Neft x235 JRCC Affiliate Jewish Gorsky Assn.: 465 Patricia Ave. Rabbi Dovid Davidov x255 Downstairs JRCC Willowdale and the City: 5700 Yonge St. Rabbi Yisroel Zaltzman x231 JRCC Sheppard & Bathurst Senior’s Building 4455 Bathurst St., Party Room / Mr. Roman Goldstein x221 JRCC Lawrence & Bathurst Senior’s Building 3174 Bathurst St., Party Room x221

JRCC AFFILIATES Danforth Beaches Rabbi Shalom Lezell (416) 809-1365

Durham Region Rabbi Tzali Borensein (905) 493-9007 Georgina, Ontario Rabbi Yossi Vorovitch (905) 909-8818 Hamilton Region Rabbi Chanoch Rosenfeld (905) 529-7458 London, Ontario Rabbi Lazer Gorgov (519) 438-3333 Niagara Region Rabbi Zalman Zaltzman (905) 356-7200 Ottawa, Ontario Rabbi Chaim Mendelsohn (613) 218-8505 Waterloo Region Rabbi Moshe Goldman (519) 725-4289

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS L&M Gelfand Daycare JRCC Daycare and Preschool x501

FOOD BANK VOLUNTEER

SUPPORTED IN MEMORY OF

ANNE & ED MIRVISH

DONATE YOUR FURNITURE TO THOSE IN NEED! Call us @ 416-222-7105 ext. 248 to get a quote for pick-up

with us

JRCC Hebrew School Sunday and after-school program x225 Institute of Jewish Studies Classes & Lectures for Adults x221 Exodus Magazine Monthly Publications in Rus & Eng x222 JRCC Bookstore & Library jrcc.org/bookstore x221

SOCIAL PROGRAMS Furniture Depot: 1416 Centre St. #6 x500 jrccfurnituredepot.org

Call us at

Hospital & Jail Visitations x221 Family Counselling & Legal Advice

or visit us online at

Holiday Programs x234 Events, Parties & Holiday Awareness

416-222-7105 x 248 jrcc.help

Jewish Identity Verification x237 Mazal Makalski jewishidentity@jrcc.org Simcha Gemach x234 Chanie Zaltzman chanie.zaltzman@jrcc.org Volunteering x254 Get involved in your community!

Partly funded by The Regional Municipality of York

16

YEDinstitute – Entrepreneurial Mentorship x221 yedinstitute.org

Iyar 5781

SHARE THE JOY! the ex odus ma g azine s im cha sectio n

Celebrate your Jewish birthday!

IT’S A BOY!

Binyomin Yoav Gersh Binyomin Levi Deker Gideon Gershkovitz Richard Irisbaev Eduard Shulgin Noah Simon Kunets Benjamin Max Cadeskay David Zackary Luban Aaron Malcolm Starizini Bradley Iuri Moshe Rogatchev Alan Michael Itelman Yisroel Markovich

To learn more on when and how to celebrate your Jewish birthday visit

IT’S A GIRL!

Iris Lazarev Abigail Zilpa Cherkasov Nama Ester Gadayev Aliyah Israelov

BAR-MITZVAH!

www.jrcc.org/birthday

Sean Chernyak Corey Barmapov

ENGAGEMENT

Zachary Glazer & Ariella Eydelman

MARRIAGE!

Jacob Oziel & Devorah Gilels Yossi Ostfeld & Shoshana Hecht

Wishing you much health, happiness and nachas, from the rabbis of the JRCC Rabbi Yoseph Y. Zaltzman (Senior Rabbi) Rabbi Levi Blau, Rabbi David Davidov, Rabbi Chaim Hildeshaim, Rabbi Levi Jacobson, Rabbi Shmuel Neft, Rabbi Avraham Weinstein, Rabbi Avrohom Yusewitz, Rabbi Avrohom Zaltzman, Rabbi Mendel Zaltzman, Rabbi Yisroel Zaltzman

Aspirals Gymnastics Centre Classes TOTS 2 TEENS Gymnastics Recreational & Competitive Dance Acrobatics Classes for Orthodox Jewish Girls

Happy Holidays!

BAR MITZVAH CLUB

Discover what Bar Mitzvah is all about. Learn to read the Torah, and love it too! Bar mitzvah preparation and so much more...

BAT MITZVAH CLUB

Don’t just celebrate a Bat Mitzvah, become one!

Learn what it means to be a Bat Mitzvah Woman in the modern world.

Concord 905-760-0092 www.aspirals.ca

For more information and to register call 416-222-7105

SPREAD THE JOY!

April 2021

NAMES LISTED ABOVE AND ADS IN THIS MAZEL TOV PAGE ARE NO PROOF OF JEWISH IDENTITY

CHUPPAH

BAT MITZVAH

BAR MITZVAH

OPSHERN

BABY NAMING

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life on earth

The Soul

of Judaism

Tzvi Freeman

I

nside your body breathes a person—a soul. Inside the body of Jewish practice breathes an inner wisdom—the soul of Judaism. We often call it “Kabbalah”, meaning “receiving.” Just as Jewish practice is received through an unbroken, ancient tradition from the revelation at Sinai, so is its soul.

Kabbalah, then, is the received wisdom, the native theology and cosmology of Judaism.

Another name for Kabbalah—one much more revealing—is “Torat ha-Sod.” Commonly, that is mistranslated as “the secret teaching.” The proper translation, however, contains the opposite meaning: “the teaching of the secret.”

“The secret teaching” means that we are trying to hide something from you.

“The teaching of the secret” means that we are trying to teach something to you, to open up and reveal something hidden.

Now, you might point out, if the secret is taught, it is no longer a secret. A revealed secret, it would seem, is an oxymoron.

That would be so if we were discussing an artificial secret, one that is secret only because it is shrouded in secrecy, because others don’t want you to find out. True secrets, even once taught, explained, illustrated, analyzed and integrated into your consciousness, remain just as mysterious as before. No—vastly more mysterious, for as the island of knowledge expands, so too its beach upon the infinite sea of the unknowable.

Life teems with such mysteries: What is love? What is mind? What is life? What is existence? How do they come to be? From where do they emerge? What is your soul, the person within your body? You experience all these at every moment. They are you.

And yet, the more you gaze upon the depths of their mysteries, the deeper their waters become.

The deepest of all secrets are those best known to all, that which we learn as small children, take for granted the rest of our lives, live with daily—and yet never manage to unravel or grasp with our cognitive mind.

There is. Things are. I exist. I am alive. Life is not death. Darkness is not light. There is that which is bigger than me.

Kabbalah plunges into these secrets and

18

pulls their depths into the open. It provides metaphor, parable, understanding. It shines light and opens our eyes. It inspires and guides us to use this wisdom for healing and growth in everyday life. That is why the experience of learning Kabbalah is one of “Yes! I knew that truth all along! My heart knew, but my mouth was unable to speak it!”

The truths of the Kabbalah belong to every sentient being.

Yet, most of all, Kabbalah provides a sense of the beyond; the knowledge of that which cannot be known, the wisdom of mystery, the understanding that we do not understand.

Kabbalah is the knowledge of wonder.

Why Is Kabbalah So Secret?

Teaching a secret is fraught with danger.

The student is in danger, for he may believe he truly understands. A mystery can never be presented without the wrappings of

metaphor and parable. Perhaps the student will grasp the wrappings but fail to unravel its contents, as one who chews the husk and discards the fruit inside.

The teacher is in danger, for how can he know if he is truly understood? He will teach many students, his ideas will become popularized, their essence will be lost and their meaning will be twisted into the opposite of his intent.

The Kabbalah itself is in danger, for once it has lost its integrity, immediately it is no longer “the received wisdom.” It may be wise, it may be beautiful, but it is no longer Kabbalah.

That is why, for most of time, Kabbalah was transmitted from teacher to select and trusted student, in utmost confidence. When it was written, the writings were purposely cryptic and arcane, in whispered riddles, parables and darkened allusions. At times, restrictions had to be reaffirmed to censure all but a select few from studying Kabbalah.

Only in the past few hundred years have master teachers begun to reveal these truths openly. The chassidic masters uncovered a light and provided a set of metaphors that allow all to approach that light, bringing the Kabbalah into the domain of even the simplest soul.

Yet still, a guide is indispensable, and great care must be taken to preserve the purity of the teachings.

Who is that guide? How do you know that you are receiving pure waters, straight from the original spring?

For one thing, pure water reflects clearly.

If the teacher’s life does not reflect his teachings, his waters are impure.

Next, know that until Moshiach comes, the path within is never without struggle. If the teaching comes easily, it is not the inner teaching.

And third: It’s true that you do not need to be Jewish to imbibe the sweet wine of Kabbalah or to learn its healing paths. But the soul of Kabbalah is unlike a human soul—never can it be ripped from its body, for the marriage of soul and body is complete.

Jewish practice and Kabbalah are one. If you are told, “This has nothing to do with Judaism,” you are being told a lie.

Iyyar 5781

life on earth

How Can Learning Kabbalah Help Me? Kabbalah is an aspect of Torah, and Torah means “guidance” or “instructions.”

Everything in Kabbalah is meant as an instruction in life. We study Kabbalah not to just to reach a high, but because we need its inspiration in everyday life, and because it provides us direction and practical guidance.

Kabbalah provides a cosmic dimension to the issues of everyday human life. Illness is a reflection of the lovesickness of the divine presence for the Infinite Light. The challenges in life are the sparks lost in the primal act of creation, coming to you to be repaired and elevated. Your life is a mission, in which you are directed to the divine sparks that belong uniquely to your soul, for which your soul has returned many times to this world until they will all be gathered.

Understanding the cosmic dimension means that nothing in life is trivial. Everything has meaning. Everything moves toward a single purpose, with a single goal. Understanding allows you to take on those challenges and to complete the journey of your soul.

How Does Kabbalah Differ from Other Spiritual Teachings?

There are many wise spiritual teachings from peoples in every part of the globe. In their practice, people find transcendence of the material world, enlightenment and serenity.

The focus of Kabbalah is not on serenity.

Neither is it on transcendental enlightenment.

It provides those as well, but as a means, not as a goal. The goal of Kabbalah is inspired action. Whatever wisdom the Kabbalist gains, whatever state of ecstasy or mystic union to which he or she ascends, the end result will always be an act of beauty in the physical world. To turn it the other way around: Many teachers will tell you to do good deeds and acts of kindness because that is one stone along the path to higher consciousness. The Kabbalist will tell you that in the moment of that good deed, you are there already.

The act itself is your goal, to which a higher consciousness must lead you.

To the Kabbalist, the ultimate paradise is here now, because the Infinite Light is here now, and more than any spiritual realm, this is where the Infinite Light yearns to

April 2021

be discovered. Our job is to peel away the husk to reveal that light within each physical artifact of our world. To enlighten not only ourselves, but every living being, and even the inert matter of our world.

When Did Kabbalah Start?

The stories of the forefathers are painted with a palette of mystic visions, divine revelations and communication with non-physical beings. Yet the Torah, including Kabbalah, is not defined by those visions. The central event of the Jewish narrative is the mass revelation at Mount Sinai, when “all the people saw the sounds and the lightning.”

Let’s say you lived shortly after the event.

Let’s say you asked those people who had been there, “Tell me what happened.”

What would you they tell you?

“We were told not to have other gods.”

“We were told to honor our parents, to not steal or murder.”

I don’t think so.

More likely, their response would be something like this: “We saw all the secrets of the cosmos open before us. We saw how each thing is generated into being at every moment. We saw that there is truly nothing else but the one Creator, and all else is but articulations of His will.”

The commandments themselves—to have no other gods, to honor parents, to not steal or murder—these were but the content of that experience. The medium, the experience— this was the core of the message. It was in that mystic experience that our people were born—the experience of a world in which “from every direction, G‑d spoke with them.” They saw all of reality as nothing but the words of a single, unknowable origin of all things. And they came into communion with that Source.

For about a thousand years after Sinai, the Jewish experience remained defined by prophecy. Wisdom was known to the people through seers and prophets, men and women who separated themselves from human lusts and vanities to attain a clear vision of the inner realms. Yet none of these visions provided a new revelation, adding or subtracting anything from the Torah.

They were simply affirming, clarifying and sustaining the shared vision of Sinai.

The era of prophecy came to a close at the beginning of the Second Temple period, but divine revelation and mystic vision never departed. Neither did the receivers of that wisdom sit at the fringe of Jewish tradition.

Many, if not most, of the better-known masters of the soul of Torah were also the established masters over the body of Torah practice. Rabbi Akiva is often considered the father of the Mishnah, and both the Talmud and Sefer HaBahir describe his mystic journeys. His student, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, was responsible for the classic Kabbalistic work, the Zohar, and his opinions pervade every section of the Talmud.

At times, and in certain places, philosophical inquiry pushed aside the received tradition to dominate Jewish thought. Yet it was rarely considered the native theology, but rather a kind of grafting from alien vines.

Philosophy works upward, striving to create a single vision out of disparate parts.

Kabbalah does the converse, beginning with a vivid, holistic vision and attempting to transmit that vision to others. Nevertheless, especially after the Spanish expulsion, the rationalism and much of the terminology of the philosophers became integrated into the holistic wisdom of the Kabbalah. The result was an unprecedented flowering and popularity of Kabbalistic thought.

In the critical era when Jewish Law was codified and established (from the Spanish expulsion until the mid-seventeenth century), almost all serious scholars were steeped in Kabbalah. Rabbi Yosef Caro, author of the standard code of Jewish Law, the Shulchan Aruch; Rabbi Moshe Isserles, whose glosses made that code acceptable to Ashkenazi Jewry; as well as most of the standard commentators to that code, penned Kabbalistic works as well. Even the popular synagogue sermon was often dressed and garnished with Kabbalistic references.

To most of the Jews of Muslim lands, the Zohar is as sacred as the Book of Psalms.

The Chassidic movement grew directly out of Kabbalah. The original opponents to the Chassidic movement, such as Rabbi Elijah of Vilna, were masters of the Kabbalah. Many

exodusmagazine.org

19

of the standard commentaries studied today on the Five Books of Moses are replete with references to Kabbalistic ideas.

That’s why attempting to understand the Jewish experience without an understanding of Kabbalah is akin to analyzing a person’s behavior without knowing what is going on in his mind. The great Jews of ages past who did not taste of the Kabbalah felt that inner soul intuitively within the Torah they studied, within their prayers and within their practice of mitzvot. In all these things, their souls shone vibrantly. Over the centuries, as the world became a more sterile, materialistic and confusing place, that soul became wearied and fell dormant. Today, the sure path for a thinking person to sense the soul of the Jewish experience is to taste of its inner secrets. Today, Judaism stripped of Kabbalah is a body stripped of its soul.

Study of Kabbalah today is vital for a yet more important reason—as an essential stage in the final evolution of humankind. We’ll get to this later.

How Does Kabbalah fit Into the Modern World?

In the past hundred years, science has laid bare the intricacy and sheer vastness of the physical world in a way previously inconceivable. We’ve uncovered an amazing harmony by which the entire physical universe is seen as a singularity, every particle integrally related to every other particle, a harmony by which even matter and energy themselves are essentially a single dynamic.

Technology has provided us means to share and examine this knowledge that were unimaginable even a generation ago.

Programming our own virtual environments

20

enriches us with metaphor by which we can imagine what it means to create a world and sustain its existence at each moment.

Humanity should be swept away in awe and wonder, yet instead we have been left out in the cold. Ironically, in our search for the unity of physical law, we have severed ourselves from that unity, digging a sweeping chasm between the hard, material world that surrounds us and the soft, human world that burns within. In brokering that divorce, we have rendered ourselves the orphans.

Kabbalah heals that wound. It describes the world about us in the language of our own psyche. It puts us in touch with a world composed not of dumb matter but of fathomless mind.

The scientist describes the universe within the dimensions of time and space, in terms that he can count and measure. Yet not everything that counts can be counted. One of the most ancient works of the Kabbalah, the Book of Formation, describes yet another dimension: that of life, consciousness and soul. Whatever exists in time and space, we are told, is first found deep within that inner dimension.

It is a dimension with which we are intimately familiar.

The artist looks at a tree and sees not a cellular structure of carbon, but beauty, life and magnificence. The music lover hears in a string quartet not the vibrations of nylon strings and their overtone series, but the struggle for resolution within the composer’s soul. The literary critic reads within the novel’s words the thoughts of the author, within the thoughts the attitudes, within the

attitudes the perception of the world that generates such attitudes, and within that perception the persona of the author himself.

So too, the Kabbalist sees within each instance of reality not its palpable, defined presence, but a divine energy sustaining all existence, ever new as the water of the rapids is renewed each moment, generating and regenerating each detail out of the absolute void, imbuing each thing with its particular properties and life, each instance of existence in its own particular way. And within that dynamic of creation, the Kabbalist sees G‑d Himself.

As it turns out, we have an affinity with this universe about us. Just as we perceive within ourselves layer upon layer of personality, deeper and yet deeper strata of consciousness, and yet within all this an indefinable core essence of being, so we can perceive deep within the universe a sentience infinitely greater than our own, and an essence that transcends knowledge and knowing altogether.

Indeed, we are the children of that unknowable essence, our minds a faint reflection of its light within the muddy waters of the material world, our souls its very breath within these corporeal bounds. EM

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, a senior editor at Chabad.org, is the author of Bringing Heaven Down to Earth and more recently Wisdom to Heal the Earth. To subscribe to regular updates of Rabbi Freeman's writing or purchase his books, visit Chabad.org. Follow him on FaceBook @RabbiTzviFreeman.

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Event Featuring: ENTERTAINMENT JEWISH MUSIC FOOD

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AND MORE DUE TO COVID-19 FINAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE EVENT WILL BE AVAILABLE CLOSE TO THE DATE

JRCC.ORG/LAGBAOMER All local covid-19 regulations will be enforced.

Address correction requested

PM 40062996