The Hidden Blessings

Source: Adapted from a Sicha of  the Lubavitcher Rebbe: 

"From The Rebbe's Treasure" - Students of Seminary Bais Menachem, Montreal Canada

The Talmud in Moed Kotton discusses the true meaning of blessings. The following story is told:

Rabbi Yonasson ben Asmai and Rabbi Yehuda ben Gerim had been studying the chapter concerning vows in the presence of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. In the evening they took leave of him.... He then said to his son: "These are worthy men. Go and let them bestow a blessing upon you."

His son went... Then they turned to him (the son) and said "Why did you come to us?"

"Father sent me here to receive your blessing" was his answer.

Whereupon they said to him: "May it be His will that thou sowest and never reapest; thou shalt bring in but never carry out [Rashi explains that the son understood this as "You should bring in merchandise and never sell it"]; thou shalt give forth but not bring in [the son understood this as "You should sell but not receive payment - Rashi]; thy permanent house shall be waste and thy temporary dwelling shall be inhabited; thy table shall be confused and thou shalt not see a first year."

When he returned to his father, he said: "Not only did they not bless me, but on the contrary they caused me grief with their words!"

"What did they say to you?" asked his father. He recited the above. "All these are blessings!" exclaimed his father:

"Thou shalt sow and not reap" means (allegorically) that you shall bear children and they shall not die.

"Thou shalt bring in and not give forth" means that you will bring in your house wives for sons, and your male children shall not die, so their wives will not need to leave your house.

"Thou shalt give forth and not bring in" means that you shall have daughters and their husbands shall not die, so that they shall not be compelled to return to your house."

"Thy permanent house shall be ruined and thy temporary dwelling shall be inhabited" means that this world is only a temporary dwelling and the world to come is the real house. As it is said [Psalms 49, 12] "Their inward thought is, that their houses are to be forever". Do not read kirbom (their inward) but kivrom (their graves) - [that is, you should be revived immediately through Techias Hameissim - Rashi].

"Thy table shall be confused" - on account of many chldren.

"And thou shalt not see a first year" means that your wife shall not die, so that you shall not be compelled to marry another." [the first year refers to the first year of marriage in which the chosson is compared to a king - Rashi]

The Maharsha suggests that Rabbi Yonosson and Rabbi Yehuda spoke in a riddle in order to test Rabbi Shimon's son's wit. He also says that the son knew that the rabbis meant to bless him, but he was troubled that he could not figure out the riddle. That is why he told his father: "they caused him grief" rather than "they cursed me", for he was confident that the rabbis would only bless him.

The Rif explains the rabbis' action by suggesting that the rabbis spoke in a riddle knowing that the son would not understand, in order to get the blessing from Rabbi Shimon's mouth, who would surely interpret it as a blessing.

But the Iyun Yaakov asks, how could they have been so sure that Rabbi Shimon would be able to discover the answer to the riddle?

From the Rebbe's Commentaries

The Tzemach Tzedek comments that it makes more sense to interpret the foregoing in a simple way. He explains that because these blessings were so sublime, the rabbis had to conceal them in what appeared to be a curse.

We can understand this in the context of a premise explained in the Tanya (Ch.23): Affliction is really the goodness of the "hidden world"; that's why it manifests itself "like a shade and not as light and revealed goodness". The light is too powerful in its original form and so it must be concealed and "funneled" so that it can be received at a low level. When accepting suffering with joy, one merits that "they who love Him shall be as the sun going forth in its might", which will be in the future to come, when the present sufferings will be seen as visible and manifest goodness just like the uncovered light of the sun.

If, however, these blessings were so high that they had to be disguised, how, then, could Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai interpret them so openly?

There are souls whose task it is to reveal Pnimiyus HaTorah, the hidden inner dimension of the Torah. These souls experience even now an illumination of the future revelations. They are at the level in which they can accept such a sublime light without the need of shade. Therefore, they can recognize the true goodness hidden beneath the veil of the physical world.

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who wrote the Zohar and whose mission it was to reveal Pnimiyus HaTorah, was therefore able to interpret those blessings in a manifest way. He already had an illumination of "the sun going forth in its might", and thus he already saw the reality of the concealed blessings. (This answers the abovementioned question of the Iyun Yaakov).

Revealing the meaning of the blessings is bound up with Pnimiyus HaTorah. Thus, just as Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai revealed Pnimiyus HaTorah to everyone, so he interpreted the blessings for his son, notwithstanding the fact that at the time his son was not yet of high stature. The incomplete status of his son at that time is evident when noting that the Talmud does not refer to him by his name (Rabbi Elazar Berabbi Shimon), but merely as "his son" [See Sanhedrin 41b where the Talmud explains that a student is called simply by his name and not with the title Rabban or Rabbi], and also from the fact that Rabbi Shimon sent him to receive a blessing from Rabbi Yonassan ben Asmai and Rabbi Yehuda ben Gerim

In the time of Moshiach, Hashem's goodness will be revealed. Everyone will see the good that is concealed in anything that may have appeared negative. But from the perspective of Pnimiyus HaTorah we do not have to wait for the World to Come to realize Hashem's infinite and true goodness. We can interpret everything in terms of manifest goodness now.

All Your Deeds Are Recorded

from the writings of the Ben Ish Hai

"Know what is above you: a watchful eye and an attentive ear. And all your deeds are written in a book"   [Pirkei Avot 2:1]

Which deeds are written in a book? If they are what the Divine eye and ear monitor, our Mishnah should have said: "A watchful eye and an attentive ear monitor all your deeds, which are then written in a book."

The Mishnah's "Book" contains a description of how we behave at home with family and servants, and how we treat friends and workers.

We would all like loyalty and respect from our family, workers, and friends. We expect them to do things for us faithfully, quckly, and well.

G-d wants the same of us. And we owe Him even more than a servant owes his master, for He gives us life, strength, intelligence, talent, health, livelihood and everything else we have.

On Judgment Day, a person's shortcomings in serving G-d will become painfully clear. Then, if he was angry and vengeful toward those who took his honour lightly, G-d will behave toward him the same way. Job therefore said: "If I despised the cause of my servant or maid when they argued with me, what will I do when G-d arises, and when He remembers, what will I answer him?" [Job 31:13-14]

That is why a person's behaviour toward others is recorded in a register. After the Heavenly Court judges him, his punishment will be adjusted, measure for measure, according to how strict or forgiving he was with his family and servants.

Psychic Connections

Reb Yisrael Yaakov said that the Heavenly signs that inform a person of his spiritual level do not exist in our times. My teachers told me that today we shouldn't concern ourselves with the meaning of dreams. But the Brisker Rav did because, as he said, his father had a Shulchan Aruch on thoughts. For some people, dreams still have meaning.

There is another form of extra-sensory perception that's not as mystical as Ruach HaKodesh or dreams - the capacity to feel fear though the cause of that fear is far away. Rabbi Ephraim Epstein, the brother of the Levush Mordechai, told me that at the time of the Hebron Massacre of 1929, he woke up in the middle of the night and sat trembling in fear at the edge of his bed without any idea what was wrong. The next morning he learned that his son, who was learning in Hebron at the time, had been killed in the pogrom.

This, he said, is what the Gemara [Bava Basra 16b] meant in relating that the friends of Iyov knew when to come visit him because something was wrong with their tree. We see from this how strongly one person can be connected with another.

Source: Rabbi Mendel Kaplan - "Reb Mendel and His Wisdom" by Yisroel Greenwald

At Peace

Be like God and don't look for people's shortcomings and weak points. You will then be at peace with everyone.

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

The Eight Levels of Charity

Rambam: Hilchos Matanos Aniyim: Laws of Gifts to the Poor

Level One: A Helping Hand

There are eight levels of charity - each one higher than the next. The greatest form of charity, which is unsurpassed by any other, is to give a helping hand to a Jew who is on the verge of financial ruin. This may be accomplished by giving him a gift or a loan, by entering into a partnership with him, or by providing him with gainful employment. Any of these efforts should be undertaken to strengthen this person before he would have to ask for charity. This is what the Torah means when it says: "If your brother becomes impoverished and his means falter in your proximity, you shall strengthen him so that he can live with you" [Leviticus 25:35] In other words, support him before he falls and becomes needy.

Upholding a poor person to save him from falling below his level has priority over supporting a wealthy person from slipping from his level of prosperity, even if the wealthy person is a neighbour or a relative [Ahavas Chesed 1 note 25]

The Chofetz Chaim [Ahavas Chesed 21:1] says that the conclusion of this verse - "so that he can live with you" can be explained by reference to the verse: "The rich man and the pauper meet: Hashem is the maker of them all" [Proverbs 22:2]. The Sages expound: "When the poor man approaches the rich man and pleads "Support me!" - if the rich man supports the poor, well and good. If not, then Hashem is the maker of them all. The very same G-d who made this man rich, can turn around and make him poor!

Thus, says the Chofetz Chaim, whenever a poor man approaches you, you should imagine that your own finances are also insecure. And it really is so, because if you do not respond positively to the pauper, your financial position may collapse like his, Heaven forbid. If, however, you do help him to stabilize his position, both of you together will endure and prosper, thereby fulfilling the Scriptural pledge, so that he can live with you.

Sefer Chassidim writes than an excellent form of charity is when the poor man attempts to sell an article that no-one wants to buy, but the rich man nevertheless purchases it from him. This is a supreme act of charity because the pauper does not feel that he has received alms.

Level Two: Double Anonymity

The next level, a step lower, is to give a charitable gift to the poor in such a way that the donor is unaware of the identity of the recipient, nor does the recipient know his benefactor. This is pure charity (lishmah) performed for its own sake. An example of this was Lishkas Chasholm - "The chamber of the Discreet" - in the Temple. The tzaddikim would deposit money into it quietly, and the poor sons of good families supported themselves from it discreetly [Mishnah, Shekalim 5:6]. The closest thing to this (today) would be the community charity chest. However, one should not contribute to the community charity chest unless he knows that the person in charge of it is as trustworthy and wise and capable of administering it properly as Rabbi Chananya ben Teradyon [Bava Basra 10b].

Level Three: Incognito Benefactor

The next level, a step lower, is when the donor knows to whom he is giving, but the poor man is unaware of the identity of his benefactor.

This means that when a gabbai tzedakah is not available to serve as a middle-man and the donor must personally allocate the charity, he should still attempt to deliver it in secrecy. He can, for example, throw the money into the poor man's house or send it with a messenger or a mailman who will not divulge who sent the money.

The Talmud [Kesubos 67b] relates how Mar Ukva was accustomed to secretly placing a sum of money on a poor man's doorstep every day. One day the poor recipient decided to discover the identity of his mysterious benefactor. The man waited behind his front door until Mar Ukva and his wife approached. When the poor man flung open the door, Mar Ukva and his wife fled at top speed lest their identity be discovered. In order to elude the poor man who was running after them, they both dashed into a burning furnace to hide, saying that it was preferable to throw oneself into an inferno than to embarrass a poor recipient.

Level Four: Unknown Recipient

The next level, a step lower, is when the recipient knows from who he is receiving, while the giver is unaware of the identity of the recipient. This was the practice of certain great Sages who would wrap money in their cloak and throw it over their shoulders behind them so that the poor could take the money without being seen, thus avoiding embarrassment.

Another example of this level of giving is described in the Talmud [Berachos 58b] regarding R' Chana bat Chanilai who left bags of grain outside his home every night during years of famine for the benefit of those indigents who were too embarrassed to personally beg for food in the daytime.

This level of giving is a degree lower than the preceding one because here the poor person feels somewhat embarrassed and beholden to his patron. This method is, however, preferable to the following level, because the poor man is spared the need to confront his benefactor face to face.

Level Five: Giving Before Being Asked

The next level, a step lower, is for the donor to present the money directly to the poor man, but to give it to him before he asks.

When a confrontation between the donor and the poor recipient is unavoidable, one should make a special effort to enhance his mitzvah by giving before being asked. With this sensitivity and kindness one emulates the ways of the Almighty Who says "And it will be that before they call I will answer" (Isaiah 65:24)

Level Six: A Generous Response

The next level, a step lower, is to give an appropriate amount to the poor after being asked.

Level Seven: Bestowing Words of Comfort: (11 blessings)

The next level, a step lower, is to give the poor man less than the appropriate amount, but to give with a smile and a pleasant disposition.

Sometimes, even a person who is usually a generous donor, is incapable of giving a generous amount. Embarrassed by his inability to respond in a dignified way, this donor may feel that it is better to give nothing at all. That is incorrect. Better to give a small amount with sincere apologies and regret than to give nothing at all, thus losing the mitzvah and depriving the poor of everything.

Even if a person is unable to give anything because of his own poverty, he can still offer encouraging words of comfort to the unfortunate collector. The Talmud [Bava Basra 9b] teaches that when a person offers kind words, even without any financial aid, Heaven bestows eleven blessings upon him. Encouraging the poor man should be a primary objective in giving tzedaka.

Level Eight: Giving With Misgivings

The next level, a step lower, is to give charity with sadness.

The very lowest level of tzedakah is to give with hidden, unexpressed feelings of reluctance.

If the donor openly expresses his annoyance and dislike of giving, then he loses the entire merit of his tzedakah, even if he gave a large, generous amount. This type of callous contribution is not even considered among the Rambam's eight levels of charity, for it is actually a sin. The giver transgresses the prohibition "Let your heart not feel bad when you give him" [Deut 15:10]

Source:  Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Feuer "The Tzedakah Treasury" Published by Artscroll

Miracles

from the writings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

Miracles are performed for a person who has been tested. Before G-d performs a miracle for someone, the person first falls upon bad times - the difficulty of which is determined by the greatness of the miracle about to be performed on their behalf.

If you find yourself being tested, you should realise that if you withstand this test, G-d will perform a miracle on your behalf.

Miracles are not performed for an immoral person.

Do not rely on a miracle as long as it is possible to save yourself by using money or some other (similar) means.

Tzedaka (giving charity) frees you from having to rely on a human being for help.

Standing while studying Torah overturns the machinations of the goyim.

Trust in G-d and He will reward you with loving-kindness.

Humility brings salvation.

Miracles are performed because of truth.

Miracles are performed because of G-d fearing people.

When a person teaches G-d's ways in public, even if amongst the gentiles, the Holy One will save him.

When Jews speak truthfully, they are blessed with Heaven's loving-kindness.

Source: Rabbi Nachman's Aphorisms on Jewish Living

A Woman's Tears

Art: Sharon Tomlinson

Rabbi Chaim Vital, one of the great kabbalists, said, "A man's soul is judged in the next world according to how he treated his wife."

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov said, "If a man spends his rage on his wife, shames her, or raises his hand to her, God forbid, the Almighty will demand recompense of him."

A man has no right to ever hit or abuse his wife [see Rabbeinu Yonah, Sha'arei Teshuva 3:77]. In fact, millennia before any civilization or country in the Western world deemed raping one's wife a criminal act, Judaism did. Neither the Torah nor rabbinic literature permitted men to harm their wives emotionally or physically.

The Talmud says that God counts a woman's tears, and men are warned to make sure that they do not cause their wives pain [Baba Metzia 59].

A wife is the source of blessing for her husband; she is the vessel for the husband’s blessings and in her the blessings are found. To receive the special light a man must be married; to be complete and be one with his wife. Only in unity the light is revealed. When a wife is not in harmony with her husband, the next thing to go is his ability to receive the light, which adversely affects his health, wealth, and happiness.

16 Cheshvan - Reb Shlomo Carlebach zt"l



Reb Shlomo with daughter Neshama



Shlomo Carlebach's ancestors comprised one of the oldest rabbinical dynasties in pre-Holocaust Germany. He was born January 14, 1925 in Berlin, where his father, Rabbi Hartwig Naftali Carlebach (1889-1967), was an Orthodox rabbi. The family fled the Nazis in 1931 and lived in Baden bei Wien, Austria and by 1933 in Switzerland before coming to New York City.

Carlebach emigrated to Lithuania in 1938 where he studied at a yeshiva. In 1938 his father became the rabbi of Congregation Kehilath Jacob, a small synagogue on West 79th Street in New York's Upper West Side. Carlebach came to New York in 1939 via Great Britain. He and his twin brother Eli Chaim took over the rabbinate of the synagogue after their father's death in 1967.

Carlebach studied at several high-level Orthodox yeshivos, including Yeshiva Torah Vodaas and Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin in Brooklyn, New York, and Bais Medrash Gevoha in Lakewood, New Jersey. His voice and musical talents were recognized quite early during his days in yeshiva, when he was often chosen to lead the services as a popular Chazan ("cantor") for Jewish holidays.

As is engraved on his tombstone, he became a devoted hasid of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, the sixth Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch. From 1951-1954, he subsequently worked as one of the first emissaries (shluchim) of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, until he departed to form his successful model for outreach, reaching hundreds of thousands of Jews worldwide.

In 1972 he married Elaine Neila Glick, a teacher. They had two daughters, Nedara (Dari) and Neshama. Neshama Carlebach is a songwriter and singer with a substantial following who has written and sung many songs in her father's style.

Carlebach died suddenly of a heart attack on 20 October 1994 while traveling on an airplane to relatives in Canada. Seated next to him was the Skverer Rebbe's gabbai; they were singing the Rebbe's favorite melody, Chasdei Hashem ki lo Samnu ["G-d's lovingkindness does not end"].

Carlebach was very close with many famous hasidic rebbes, including the Amshinover Rebbe and Bobover Rebbe. He is regarded as one of the most successful kiruv personalities of the 20th century, reaching many Jewish souls through his music, storytelling, and teaching.

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From the teachings of Reb Shlomo:

REBUKE YOUR FELLOW MAN IF YOU SEE HIM DOING WRONG

If you see someone doing wrong, you have to tell him. You have to tell him. You have no right to remain silent. If someone sees his friend walking in the wrong path, it is a mitzva to talk to him, tell him he is doing wrong, but it has to be done in private. Don't tell someone in public that he did wrong, because if you do, you are transgressing about fifteen laws. The G'mora says it's very easy to keep Shabbos, very easy to put on t'fillin, but Rabbi Akiva says the hardest thing is to tell someone when he is doing wrong. Rabbi Akiva was very holy, and he said, "I don't know if there is anyone in my generation who would know how to rebuke." You have to do it in a way that he listens to. Rabbi Tarphon said there is no one who knows how to receive rebuke either.

Both are really hard things to do. Before you tell him what he did wrong you have to tell him, "I am saying it to you because I am really your friend, I am concerned. It is not that I can't stand sin, like a missionary, that I want to abolish sin in the world. I really care for you, and it hurts me that you did wrong." Say to the person, "I don't want to change you. I'm not putting you down on a couch and analyzing you. I care for you, and it seems to me that you did wrong, so can you tell me why?"

Then he can tell you, "I know I did wrong. I'm sorry, and I probably won't do it again." Or he can tell you, "I didn't do wrong. You are wrong, because you don't know the whole story."

In any case, there has to be communication. What is communication for? Why did G-d give us the power of speech? The Torah is very strong on communication. I have the right to hate someone who did wrong, but if I didn't tell him, I'm transgressing. If the person accepts what you tell him, it is good; if not, tell him a few times. If he says, "I don't want to hear you; I don't want you to talk about it to me anymore,"then you don't have to grab him, tie him to a chair; you don't have to be drastic. Talk to him like a human being.

The Torah wasn't given to the angels. G-d gave the Torah to human beings. There is such a thing as hating; what can we do? Moishe Rabbenu came up to Sinai, and the angels were complaining to G-d, "Why are You giving the Torah to Moishe? Why aren't You giving it to us?" G-d said to them, "There is no hatred between you, so you don't need the Torah. They need the Torah below, because there is hatred in the world." So the Torah says if you hate someone, you have to talk to him. Imagine, if every anti-Semite took the time to talk to one Jew there would be less killing in the world. If everyone followed this one thing: if you hate somebody, talk with him, make contact with him, it would be a different world. If you want it to work, it will work.

The G'mora and Maimonides both say that if I see someone doing wrong and I don't tell him, then I become a partner in the sin. The G'mora says if I see the people of my house are doing wrong, and I don't tell them, I become a partner. If I see the people of my city doing wrong and I'm not raising my voice, I'm becoming a partner in what the city is doing. If the whole world is doing wrong, and I'm not speaking up, then I'm becoming a partner in the sin of the whole world.

This is one of my favorite stories. Once I was visiting my cousins in Belgium, and when they invited me for dinner, they said because of me they would eat kosher. So I come to see what is going on there, what they are going to be feeding me. "Because of you it will be really strictly kosher. We know you don't eat ham, so we bought horsemeat." What if I take out a bible, because you have to tell people when they do wrong. "Sit down you dirty sinners. You know horsemeat isn't. . ." Naturally this does not go. It says to rebuke, and that is not the level of rebuking. They don't know anything, so you can't rebuke them. It says you have to tell them in such a way that they know you care for them. If I say, "I am here for Shabbos, and it makes me uncomfortable that you don't keep Shabbos,"that means I don't give a damn about their Shabbos, just about my own. It is a very delicate thing.

The truth is, most of the time people know when they do wrong, they just don't have the strength not to do it. When you tell people they are doing wrong in a good way, it gives them strength not to do it again. The Mittler Rebbe says it suddenly becomes like two souls against one evil. If I'm too weak to overcome my evil, the minute someone tells me it is like two fires against one darkness. But it is hard to know how to tell people in a good way.

Video: The Story of the Crakow Niggun