ok, I hear. Unfortunately, sometimes one wants to work on being friends with someone and they resist. Sometimes they even become nasty or abusive. At that point I back out. they don't want to communicate. they don't want to become friends and it's best not to push. I wonder what this means with regards to the souls and not being able to help or communicate.
Actually I did hear a story from a friend of mine, who is a female dentist. There is another female dentist in our community as well - they are both jewish. She told me that they could not work together or even discuss things as they both had memories of being dentists during the holocaust !
I have had this experience Rabbi Dov Ber Pinson talks of...where someone is incredibly similar to me. Same interests, very similar life experiences and emotions, in some obscure things and in ways that the majority of people do not talk about. The thing is, it has been that they were a woman (I am male) and not Jewish. Very hard to explain, because how then could they come from the same area of Adam?
That makes me sad, Devorah, but thanks for answering.
I have always felt almost all my life drawn towards Judaism.
Did take steps... And then... For many reasons could not proceed .
Perhaps too aged now..perhaps Gd did not want it.. Perhaps I did not push my self hard enough.. Perhaps so many other things.
Now.. I follow blogs and try my best to be what I should be.
Moshiach may come soon ,please Hashem...and solve all the mess this beautiful has and is becoming , and it gets scary... But I keep reminding me, that Hashem is in charge.
The answer to LondonMale is no simple. To say that only the Jewish souls came from Adam, and only in case the woman is jewish they can be so related each other, means that the rest of humanity is not human, is a kind of animalistic human-like being... that`s not true, I'm not Jewish and my beloved father is Adam, and my soul was there when he was created. Adam was a twofolded being, male and female at the same time, as the Torah says even in the first level of interpretation. The Adam side of the first human being is Am Israel and the feminine side is the other side of humanity, that's why LondonMale feel so related to that non Jewish woman, I guess. Hope it helps. Eduardo, Spain.
On the matter of Jewish souls, I am having a lifetime that certainly seems to be a opportunity to choose to be Jewish, having been born in a Christian family and having learned many lessons until I finally converted in my 50's. Looking back, I can be ashamed of my early life choices, or I can choose to understand more about Tikkun Olam, about elevating sparks and about "blooming where I'm planted," not a Jewish concept but a good one, anyway. The longer I live, the more I study and pray as a Jew, the deeper is my understanding that I may never understand this particular life journey completely. Hashem has purposes for me in this life that far exceed my ability to comprehend, and that's normal for a human being. What's really important is my desire to cling to Hashem. My desire is my greatest gift from Hashem, which is not hard to see when I look around me locally, and also look at the vast wave of indifference and hatred of Hashem in the world. I clung to Hashem more and more before I converted, and now I do so as a Jew. To others who may or may not have the opportunity to convert, please take courage in your soul. Cling to Hashem just as you are, who you are, where you are. Learn and grow. That's a tremendous gift, the desire for devekut itself. The desire is a gift, a blessing. Many people born Jewish do not seem to have that gift, or they have simply rejected it. Our desire for Hashem is the greatest thing we have to give Him, and to give others. A good Shabbos and meaningful Pesach to all!
The Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 11b) says, “In the month of Nissan, they were redeemed from Egypt. In the month of Nissan, they are destined to be redeemed once more."
In the month of Nissan, we have the Yom Tov of Pesach. The Gemara (Chagigah 7a) remarks that on the festival of matzos we are commanded to ascend to the Beis HaMikdosh in Yerushalayim...
Our normal response: “We are in exile and don’t have a Beis HaMikdosh to ascend to. Therefore, we are exempt from this mitzvah" (see Avodah Zarah 54a).
Wrong!
When an infant wants his parents to give him attention, he cries. If they don’t hear him or choose to ignore him, he cries or screams even louder until his parents come and attend to his needs.
In the words of the Chofeitz Chayim: “One must demand the redemption, just as with the wages of a hired worker. Failure to do so shows that this matter is clearly not that urgent to us!”
So too, we must COMPLAIN to Hashem that we WANT to fulfill the mitzvah of ascending to the BEIS HAMIKDOSH!!!
For without a Beis HaMikdosh there continues to be chaos in the world. As the Gemara (Sotah 48a) says, “From the day that the Beis HaMikdosh was destroyed, there has been no day without its curse."
We said earlier that our nation was redeemed from Egypt.
How did our redemption from Egypt take place?
Rabbeinu Bachayei says that even though the time of the redemption had arrived, they weren’t worthy of being redeemed. However, once they all cried out in unison from the work that they were undergoing, there tefillos were accepted and they were redeemed! (see Rabbeinu Bachayei al HaTorah, Shemos 2:23)
The Medrash states, “Just like the first redemption from Egypt was caused through crying out to Hashem, so too, our upcoming redemption will happen in the same fashion" (Koheles Rabbah 1:9. See also Zohar volume 2, page 12b).
Why do we want the redemption?
The Vilna Gaon says that the purpose of the redemption is the sanctification of G-d’s Name...*
With Hashem’s help, may we all merit, very soon, to witness the revelation of Moshiach Tzidkeinu, who will make our Creator’s Name Great Again!
*Roy Neuberger says, “There is a tendency to believe that the world is going to continue as it has, with enough sense of normalcy to lull us into forgetting that we are in exile and hoping that this state of affairs will continue into the distant future. We need to consult our Torah Sages to bring us back to reality. Please give your attention to the words of Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler zt”l:
‘The destruction of Edom [at the end of our last exile - i.e. America] will only come through the destruction of this world [as we know it]. The Holy One will cause the very foundations of life on earth to collapse. Tranquility will be disrupted, personal lives will be filled with worry, fear and suffering** and the entire world will cower in dread of destruction and devastation... Only then will the light of the Messiah be revealed ... ‘and the saviors shall go up to Mount Tzion to judge the mountain of Esau...’” (Michtav Me’Eliyahu volume 3, Galus V’Geulah, page 205).
**The posuk says, “You will [literally] go insane from the sight of your eyes that you will see (Devarim 28:34), amongst the nations you will not be tranquil, there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; there Hashem will give a trembling heart, longing of eyes and suffering of soul” (ibid. 28:65).
I think all of us experience these pesukim in our lives.
In both cases, the non-Jewish women were really keen on Yiddishkeit, and had grown up in areas where there was a large Jewish population. They were interested in Judaism but showed no wish to convert. In both cases meeting them caused me tremendous emotional distress.
I have read that the Erev Rav have non-Jewish souls....but will eventually covert to Judaism when Mashiach comes. Reb Dov Bar Leib has written they are reincarnations of the people of Schechem who circumcised themselves.
Eduardo: I did not mean to imply that a nonJewish soul does not come from Adam as well. I guess it's just that Rav Pinson is talking to about Jews here, although I can't be sure of that either. As Adam was the first, we all stem from him. I did learn that our generation is from the heel of Adam. We are the lowest, as you can see from the state of the world generally. Probably best to stick with information from rabbis rather than from me... some things we will not find out for sure until Moshiach comes. thanks for your comments everyone.
Here is another video from Rav Pinson where he talks about reincarnation, past life memories, the Zohar, death, afterlife, kabbalah, autism, suffering, souls of converts, and children. See: Torah Cafe: A Fascinating Voyage into Our Souls
The Arizal (and the Zohar before him) makes it clear that the souls of the Erev are from the same spiritual root as the Jewish people.
Both sets of souls were the generation of the flood, then reincarnated as teh generation of the dispersion (the Tower of Babel), then again as the people of S'dom, then finally, both reincarnated in back in Moshe Rabbenu's time in Israel.
The more rectified souls became the Jewish people, the less rectified souls became the Erev Rav. The idea was always that the Erev Rav would eventually become fully rectified, spiritually, and 'rejoin' the Jewish people.
That's the essence of why Moshe Rabbenu took them along out of Egypt, as he believed the time had come to rectify them too, but he was premature.
The same number of Erev Rav came out of Egypt as the 4/5 of Jews who died in the plague of darkness, again pointing to the deep connection between the Jewish and Erev Rav souls.
There are two groups of Erev Rav: those that can be rectified, and those that can't.
No-one knows:
a) WHO is really Erev Rav today
b) WHO can be rectified, and who can't.
So, we just need to keep identifying and working on any 'Erev Rav' tendencies that keep coming up in our own souls. There's nothing else helpful that we can do.
To Eduardo @ 9:13 pm: All human beings stem from Adam. The Jewish people stem from his head and other peoples from the rest of his body. Different races, etc. from different parts. Every human being was created in the of G-D! We differ from the animal kingdom because G-D breathed only into Adam, thus, we all have a part of G-D within us, whereas other creations do not. We are the only ones to speak and reason.
Please, the Erev Rav are simply the reincarnations and/or descendants of the Egyptians who tagged along with the Jewish people and they were numerous (about 2 million). They were the ones who caused the sin of the eigel hazahav immediately after our departure from Mitzrayim. They were steeped in black magic and thus were able to bring forth a 'ready made golden calf'. Ten measures of black magic were given to the world and nine were in Egypt. G-D warned Moses that they were very insincere in their plea to join the Jewish people but Moses allowed them to come along anyway. We know that everything comes from H' and we can guess that history simply has to play itself out, according to His Script. Most of the tzarot of the Jewish people were caused by the Erev Rav throughout the millenia. The Gaon of Vilna says that at the end of days, they will prove to be our worst enemies, because they are within, and their goal is to connect with both Esav and Yishmael, thus, eradicating Torah Judaism.
so according to Arizal if you feel a strong connection you are from the same root- and if you feel an ant ipathy you are also from the same root-a mirror image of each other. on thw surface that seems funny. -doesn't the tomer devorah say that each Jew has a piece of every Jew in himself and we are all a piece of hashem? I do not question the veracity -just it is hard to assimilate these ideas.
this is how i see it: if you feel a strong connection to someone instantly, whether it is a good feeling or a feeling of severe aggravation/jealousy/anxiety/anger - then obviously there is a reason why you are feeling this way, after all you've only just met this person, so what is the reason for the extreme feelings? Apparently there is something about that person which is bringing on this reaction. Sometimes that person is a mirror of ourselves and we are subconsciously reacting to the things in ourselves we dislike. Other times we may feel an instant attraction to the person. maybe we are just seeing in that person the things we like about ourselves and identifying with them for that reason.
ok, I hear. Unfortunately, sometimes one wants to work on being friends with someone and they resist. Sometimes they even become nasty or abusive.
ReplyDeleteAt that point I back out. they don't want to communicate. they don't want to become friends and it's best not to push.
I wonder what this means with regards to the souls and not being able to help or communicate.
Maybe it's just them and not you.
ReplyDeleteActually I did hear a story from a friend of mine, who is a female dentist. There is another female dentist in our community as well - they are both jewish. She told me that they could not work together or even discuss things as they both had memories of being dentists during the holocaust !
I have had this experience Rabbi Dov Ber Pinson talks of...where someone is incredibly similar to me.
ReplyDeleteSame interests, very similar life experiences and emotions, in some obscure things and in ways that the majority of people do not talk about.
The thing is, it has been that they were a woman (I am male) and not Jewish.
Very hard to explain, because how then could they come from the same area of Adam?
A Jewish soul can be born into a nonJewish body, whether or not that is the case here I don't know. [A nonJew cannot be born in a Jewish body though]
ReplyDeleteBut, the Erev Rav are born Jews and the rabbis say they do not have Jewish souls.
ReplyDeleteI liked reading your comment Devorah.
ReplyDeleteNow if a Jewish soul hPpens to be. Born in a non Jewish person... What then..? Like what would or could happen to this person?
I would appreciTe a reply. Thanks.
Hashem bless all.amen.
sc
I don't know about the Erev Rav.
ReplyDeleteSC: Usually that person would feel a compelling need to convert to Judaism.
Maybe it's a test for them, to be born a nonJew and have to convert.
That makes me sad, Devorah, but thanks for answering.
ReplyDeleteI have always felt almost all my life drawn towards Judaism.
Did take steps... And then... For many reasons could not proceed .
Perhaps too aged now..perhaps Gd did not want it..
Perhaps I did not push my self hard enough..
Perhaps so many other things.
Now.. I follow blogs and try my best to be what I should be.
Moshiach may come soon ,please Hashem...and solve all the mess this beautiful has and is becoming , and it gets scary... But I keep reminding me, that Hashem is in charge.
Hashem bless you all.
Sc
The answer to LondonMale is no simple. To say that only the Jewish souls came from Adam, and only in case the woman is jewish they can be so related each other, means that the rest of humanity is not human, is a kind of animalistic human-like being... that`s not true, I'm not Jewish and my beloved father is Adam, and my soul was there when he was created. Adam was a twofolded being, male and female at the same time, as the Torah says even in the first level of interpretation. The Adam side of the first human being is Am Israel and the feminine side is the other side of humanity, that's why LondonMale feel so related to that non Jewish woman, I guess. Hope it helps.
ReplyDeleteEduardo, Spain.
On the matter of Jewish souls, I am having a lifetime that certainly seems to be a opportunity to choose to be Jewish, having been born in a Christian family and having learned many lessons until I finally converted in my 50's. Looking back, I can be ashamed of my early life choices, or I can choose to understand more about Tikkun Olam, about elevating sparks and about "blooming where I'm planted," not a Jewish concept but a good one, anyway. The longer I live, the more I study and pray as a Jew, the deeper is my understanding that I may never understand this particular life journey completely. Hashem has purposes for me in this life that far exceed my ability to comprehend, and that's normal for a human being. What's really important is my desire to cling to Hashem. My desire is my greatest gift from Hashem, which is not hard to see when I look around me locally, and also look at the vast wave of indifference and hatred of Hashem in the world. I clung to Hashem more and more before I converted, and now I do so as a Jew. To others who may or may not have the opportunity to convert, please take courage in your soul. Cling to Hashem just as you are, who you are, where you are. Learn and grow. That's a tremendous gift, the desire for devekut itself. The desire is a gift, a blessing. Many people born Jewish do not seem to have that gift, or they have simply rejected it. Our desire for Hashem is the greatest thing we have to give Him, and to give others. A good Shabbos and meaningful Pesach to all!
ReplyDeleteReply to SC:
ReplyDeleteThe Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 11b) says, “In the month of Nissan, they were redeemed from Egypt. In the month of Nissan, they are destined to be redeemed once more."
In the month of Nissan, we have the Yom Tov of Pesach. The Gemara (Chagigah 7a) remarks that on the festival of matzos we are commanded to ascend to the Beis HaMikdosh in Yerushalayim...
Our normal response:
“We are in exile and don’t have a Beis HaMikdosh to ascend to. Therefore, we are exempt from this mitzvah" (see Avodah Zarah 54a).
Wrong!
When an infant wants his parents to give him attention, he cries. If they don’t hear him or choose to ignore him, he cries or screams even louder until his parents come and attend to his needs.
In the words of the Chofeitz Chayim: “One must demand the redemption, just as with the wages of a hired worker. Failure to do so shows that this matter is clearly not that urgent to us!”
So too, we must COMPLAIN to Hashem that we WANT to fulfill the mitzvah of ascending to the BEIS HAMIKDOSH!!!
For without a Beis HaMikdosh there continues to be chaos in the world. As the Gemara (Sotah 48a) says, “From the day that the Beis HaMikdosh was destroyed, there has been no day without its curse."
We said earlier that our nation was redeemed from Egypt.
How did our redemption from Egypt take place?
Rabbeinu Bachayei says that even though the time of the redemption had arrived, they weren’t worthy of being redeemed. However, once they all cried out in unison from the work that they were undergoing, there tefillos were accepted and they were redeemed! (see Rabbeinu Bachayei al HaTorah, Shemos 2:23)
The Medrash states, “Just like the first redemption from Egypt was caused through crying out to Hashem, so too, our upcoming redemption will happen in the same fashion" (Koheles Rabbah 1:9. See also Zohar volume 2, page 12b).
Why do we want the redemption?
The Vilna Gaon says that the purpose of the redemption is the sanctification of G-d’s Name...*
With Hashem’s help, may we all merit, very soon, to witness the revelation of Moshiach Tzidkeinu, who will make our Creator’s Name Great Again!
*Roy Neuberger says, “There is a tendency to believe that the world is going to continue as it has, with enough sense of normalcy to lull us into forgetting that we are in exile and hoping that this state of affairs will continue into the distant future. We need to consult our Torah Sages to bring us back to reality. Please give your attention to the words of Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler zt”l:
‘The destruction of Edom [at the end of our last exile - i.e. America] will only come through the destruction of this world [as we know it]. The Holy One will cause the very foundations of life on earth to collapse. Tranquility will be disrupted, personal lives will be filled with worry, fear and suffering** and the entire world will cower in dread of destruction and devastation... Only then will the light of the Messiah be revealed ... ‘and the saviors shall go up to Mount Tzion to judge the mountain of Esau...’” (Michtav Me’Eliyahu volume 3, Galus V’Geulah, page 205).
**The posuk says, “You will [literally] go insane from the sight of your eyes that you will see (Devarim 28:34), amongst the nations you will not be tranquil, there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; there Hashem will give a trembling heart, longing of eyes and suffering of soul” (ibid. 28:65).
I think all of us experience these pesukim in our lives.
@Devorah
ReplyDeleteThank you.
In both cases, the non-Jewish women were really keen on Yiddishkeit, and had grown up in areas where there was a large Jewish population.
They were interested in Judaism but showed no wish to convert.
In both cases meeting them caused me tremendous emotional distress.
I have read that the Erev Rav have non-Jewish souls....but will eventually covert to Judaism when Mashiach comes.
Reb Dov Bar Leib has written they are reincarnations of the people of Schechem who circumcised themselves.
Eduardo: I did not mean to imply that a nonJewish soul does not come from Adam as well. I guess it's just that Rav Pinson is talking to about Jews here, although I can't be sure of that either. As Adam was the first, we all stem from him. I did learn that our generation is from the heel of Adam. We are the lowest, as you can see from the state of the world generally. Probably best to stick with information from rabbis rather than from me... some things we will not find out for sure until Moshiach comes.
ReplyDeletethanks for your comments everyone.
Here is another video from Rav Pinson where he talks about reincarnation, past life memories, the Zohar, death, afterlife, kabbalah, autism, suffering, souls of converts, and children. See: Torah Cafe: A Fascinating Voyage into Our Souls
ReplyDeleteSee this: Rabbi Alon Anava: Goyim Discovering Judaism
ReplyDeleteRE: the souls of the Erev Rav.
ReplyDeleteThe Arizal (and the Zohar before him) makes it clear that the souls of the Erev are from the same spiritual root as the Jewish people.
Both sets of souls were the generation of the flood, then reincarnated as teh generation of the dispersion (the Tower of Babel), then again as the people of S'dom, then finally, both reincarnated in back in Moshe Rabbenu's time in Israel.
The more rectified souls became the Jewish people, the less rectified souls became the Erev Rav. The idea was always that the Erev Rav would eventually become fully rectified, spiritually, and 'rejoin' the Jewish people.
That's the essence of why Moshe Rabbenu took them along out of Egypt, as he believed the time had come to rectify them too, but he was premature.
The same number of Erev Rav came out of Egypt as the 4/5 of Jews who died in the plague of darkness, again pointing to the deep connection between the Jewish and Erev Rav souls.
There are two groups of Erev Rav: those that can be rectified, and those that can't.
No-one knows:
a) WHO is really Erev Rav today
b) WHO can be rectified, and who can't.
So, we just need to keep identifying and working on any 'Erev Rav' tendencies that keep coming up in our own souls. There's nothing else helpful that we can do.
Thanks for the explanation Rivka.
ReplyDeleteTo Eduardo @ 9:13 pm: All human beings stem from Adam. The Jewish people stem from his head and other peoples from the rest of his body. Different races, etc. from different parts. Every human being was created in the of G-D! We differ from the animal kingdom because G-D breathed only into Adam, thus, we all have a part of G-D within us, whereas other creations do not. We are the only ones to speak and reason.
ReplyDeletePlease, the Erev Rav are simply the reincarnations and/or descendants of the Egyptians who tagged along with the Jewish people and they were numerous (about 2 million). They were the ones who caused the sin of the eigel hazahav immediately after our departure from Mitzrayim. They were steeped in black magic and thus were able to bring forth a 'ready made golden calf'. Ten measures of black magic were given to the world and nine were in Egypt. G-D warned Moses that they were very insincere in their plea to join the Jewish people but Moses allowed them to come along anyway. We know that everything comes from H' and we can guess that history simply has to play itself out, according to His Script. Most of the tzarot of the Jewish people were caused by the Erev Rav throughout the millenia. The Gaon of Vilna says that at the end of days, they will prove to be our worst enemies, because they are within, and their goal is to connect with both Esav and Yishmael, thus, eradicating Torah Judaism.
ReplyDeleteso according to Arizal if you feel a strong connection you are from the same root- and if you feel an ant ipathy you are also from the same root-a mirror image of each other. on thw surface that seems funny. -doesn't the tomer devorah say that each Jew has a piece of every Jew in himself and we are all a piece of hashem? I do not question the veracity -just it is hard to assimilate these ideas.
ReplyDeletethis is how i see it: if you feel a strong connection to someone instantly, whether it is a good feeling or a feeling of severe aggravation/jealousy/anxiety/anger - then obviously there is a reason why you are feeling this way, after all you've only just met this person, so what is the reason for the extreme feelings? Apparently there is something about that person which is bringing on this reaction.
ReplyDeleteSometimes that person is a mirror of ourselves and we are subconsciously reacting to the things in ourselves we dislike.
Other times we may feel an instant attraction to the person. maybe we are just seeing in that person the things we like about ourselves and identifying with them for that reason.
Yes, Devorah. Sorry I didn't explain myself well.
ReplyDeleteEduardo, Spain.
Don't worry Eduardo, it's probably me that didn't explain myself well. :)
ReplyDelete