Hisbodedus Documentary - Very Inspiring - Embeded Video

Here is a five part video documentary on hisbodedus, what seems to me to be the number one aspect of success in keeping one's head in olam habah, even while he is steeped in olam hazeh. Big thank you to Yossi Katz at the Breslov.org blog for posting this. Very inspiring.

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True Hisbodedus - Reb Itchie Mayer Morgenstern on Matos-Masei

Here is Reb Itchie Mayer Morgenstern's Torah on Parshas Matos-Masei, with English excerpt and full text in Hebrew in pdf form from Reb Itchie Mayer's Torah. You can send an e-mail to this address to subscribe to receive Rav Morgenstern's Torah in your e-mail box every week.

Dovid HaMelech said, “My heart said to You [לך]...”[1] Rebbe Nachman quotes Rashi’s comment there, “to You” can also mean, “for You, on Your behalf.”[2] If a person wants to do a real hisbodedus, he must stand before Hashem believing fully that every word he says is from Hashem, that he is Hashem’s emissary. To come to this, one must begin by working at learning Torah lishmah, because it is certain that a person who learns Torah superficially will not come anywhere near to pouring his heart out spontaneously before Hashem. But with both Torah and prayer infused with dveikus, one merits [the influence of] the upper three sefiros of Atik, whose “breath” is completely infused with dveikus. One merits to make yichudim at the level of the Divine chariot, to really feel that everything is G-dliness. This is the meaning of Chashmal: mal [“speaking”] indicates ma’aseh merkavah, and chash [“quiet”] indicates ma’aseh bereishis.

One must feel a chiddush in prayer just as one finds a chiddush in Torah, and the tzaddikim said that when a person merits to speak fresh words of prayer before Hashem it is a sign that his prayers are accepted on high. But to be able to pray spontaneously before Hashem, one needs purity of heart—how do we purify it? “Every thing that went in fire must pass through fire.” The fire of enthusiasm purifies the heart so that one can compose his own prayer with freshness. Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches further that such words are a manifestation of ruach hakodesh, and this is the basis of the entire book of Tehillim.[3]

One must yearn for these levels, and feel pained for not having reached them. And one must yearn that the Torah should be like fire within him, because, “Everything that was in fire [and became impure] should be passed through fire [to purify it].”[4] As the Baal Shem Tov taught, all of the fiery sounds of Matan Torah can still be heard, and every person must sanctify himself so that he can catch them. Every little bit of learning must be in the fire of the dveikus of Matan Torah so that we can come to be, “directly before [נכח] the face of Hashem.” The word נכח is equal to three times the value of the Shem HaVaYaH [78 = יהו"ה x 3]; one must see three permutations of the Shem HaVaYaH before him at all times and eventually he will be able to really see that everything is Elokus—and this is the purpose of creation and the beginning of the redemption.

The Oath of the Exile

Through all of this we will merit to undo the oath that binds us to the exile, as the Zohar explains. [These are the “three oaths” in Shir Hashirim, as explained at the end of Kesuvos.] The Torah teaches that the sage, the bearer of Chochmah, has the power to annul a vow, and this is because the vow itself is on the level of Binah. We begin the fast of Yom HaKippurim with the annulment of vows in Kol Nidrei; this is a manifestation of the light of Chochmah. The exile [גולה] and the redemption [גאולה] stem from the same root—it is only that we are bound in exile because Chochmah manifest in completed Da’as represented by the alef [which means to teach] is absent. Yet this is repaired by anyone who seeks Da’as and dveikus, who believes that the Torah is Divine and that the Torah that he learns is the same that was given at Sinai, who feels that Hashem has planted eternal life in him now and has been chosen right now from all the nations to receive Torah as a gift from the heavens. And this is why there were many tzaddikim who exhorted their followers to spend time every day studying the words of the Zohar regarding the greatness of the Torah, or who learned section 47 in the Bach that discusses the blessings of the Torah time after time—to awaken their hearts to the holiness of the Torah.

The Blessings of the Torah

The destruction of the Beis Hamikdash was because of the Jewish people’s failure to appreciate the greatness of the Torah. This was demonstrated by the fact that they did not make the blessing over the Torah before they learned. And we can also fall into this error today by not having sufficient faith in the Torah’s ability to help us reach the redemption. And so the very beginning is to develop total emunah in the greatness and the holy power of the Torah itself, and this will empower one to devote more and more time to Torah lishmah so that all of the levels described above can be reached.

[1] Tehillim 27:8
[2] Likutei Moharan I:138
[3] Ibid., I:156
[4] Bamidbar 31:26

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Screaming Your Davening - Shiur on Bilvavi 2 by R' Boruch Leff

Rabbi Boruch Leff has been mezakeh us with Part 2 of his series of shiurim on Bilvavi Vol. 2, Chapter 13. The shiur discussed:

-Can you daven for specific things?
-Is every tefila always answered?
-Should you ever scream your davening?
-When is davening out loud proper and when is it not?

CLICK HERE to get the shiur!

P.S. You can get "Shabbos in My Soul," Volumes 1 and 2 by Rabbi Leff, for the price of one, HERE.

Video of Screaming in Tefillah courtesy of Ushpizin. Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

R' Leff on Bilvavi Beis - Everything is in the Hands of Heaven, Even Yiras Shomayim?

Rabbi Boruch Leff has been mezakeh us with Part 3 of his series of shiurim on Bilvavi Vol. 2, Chapter 12. The shiur discussed the concept of davening for everything in our lives, even spiritual success. But where's free will if G-d is giving me my spiritual success? Are you allowed to ask for things on Shabbos? Why should we daven so that we should be able to daven?

CLICK HERE to get the shiur!

P.S. You can get "Shabbos in My Soul," Volumes 1 and 2 by Rabbi Leff, for the price of one, HERE.

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Bilvavi Beis With Rabbi Boruch Leff from Baltimore - Audio Shiur

The Shiur by Rabbi Boruch Leff began Perek 12 of Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh, Vol. 2. The topic was tefila and how one can pray to Hashem constantly throughout the day.

Along the way, the shiur answered why tefila is called avodah if we are making requests. Isn't Hashem 'serving us' then? Where does the word tefillin come from? And more.

CLICK HERE to get the shiur in wav format.

P.S. You can get "Shabbos in My Soul," Volumes 1 and 2 by Rabbi Leff, for the price of one, HERE.

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New Site, Frequently Updated, on Hisbodedus/Hisbonenus/Solitude

I wanted to (belatedly) announce that A Simple Jew and Rabbi Dovid Sears have started a new blog called "Solitude - Hisbodedus." ASJ and Rabbi Sears frequently update this site with sources and guidance on the practices of hisbonenus and hisbonenus. One maincommon denominator is achieving an inner quiet, and separating from all of the noise of the world.

See, for instance, this post on the Rambam on secluded meditation, according to R' Areye Kaplan...

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Music Video in Honor of Erez Levanon, HY"D

Rabbi Lazer Brody posted this video with one of Erez Levanon's songs along with a number of pictures. R' Brody created this video to honor Erez on his second Yohrtzeit which is coming up on the 7th of Adar. He was murdered by two Arabs, yemach shemam, while doing hisbodedus. After reading Rabbi Brody's posts about Erez almost two years ago, I bought Erez's CD from R' Brody, which I still enjoy listening to from time to time. The song in this video, Lev U'Mayan, is on the album is is really beautiful. Straight from the guts.

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How Baking Challah Can Bring A Bring a Woman to High Levels

Yesterday, on my post Where do Women "Fit" Into Avodas Hashem Anyway?, Leah Shaindel commented that she was told by the Koidinover Rebbe that a woman can reach very high levels through making Challah, but that she didn't know the explanation. I passed her question on to Rabbi Micha Golshevsky, who I thought might know the answer. Here was his response to the question:

[E]verything depends on what we think. A woman who remembers that she is doing a mitzvah of Chesed when taking care of the house or kids, fulfills the mitzvah of v'ahavtah l'rayacha kamocha. She has many other ways to directly elevate her house.

For example she can focus on fulfiling the mitzvah of chinuch while she spends time with her kids. She should also remember that every instant she is fulfilling the many mitzvos of tznius, being careful how she speaks, etc etc.
(Spirit of the Law, 72:6)

A universal custom among the Jewish people involves baking challah in honor of Shabbos... Even if bread baked by a Jew is available, each household should bake so that the woman of the house can take challah from the dough, etc.

Rav Nosson explains one of the deeper reasons behind lighting candles and taking challah in honor of Shabbos, as well as why the performance of these mitzvos is the woman's perogative.

Rebbe Nachman explained the verse, "Hashem is close to all who call...to Him in truth," in a novel way. No matter where you have fallen, if you will just call to the Creator in truth on your own level, He will surely reveal Himself to you since He is close to any who call in truth. Even if all you can do is say, "please help me," this will also reveal the portals that lead out of spiritual darkness to the illuminationof true connection.

Shabbos candles represent the light of truth that cuts through the deepest darkness and illuminates the path back to holiness, since Shabbos represents the next world which is the ultimate truth. Speaking even one word in truth illuminates the most mundane situation and brings closeness to Hashem, much as Shabbos imbues the mundane with sanctity.

The truth was easily discernible before Adam and Chava ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. When they ate, "the light of the world was extinguished." This means that before they ate, they existed in a more enlightened state and could easily tell the difference between right and wrong. After they ate, evil went from being external and noticeable to internal and difficult to discern.

Their intention when eating was to intensify their challenges so that they could ultimately afford Hashem more pleasure when they toiled to choose good over evil. Their mistake was that they should have done what Hashem said regardless of what they understood to be more beneficial spiritually. Hashem had said not to eat from the fruit; they should not have eaten.

Challah is set aside for a kohein, a direct male descendant of Aharon who is referred to as the "man of truth" in the verse. The kohein is the paradigm of the tzaddik who has more connection to the truth than the average person. By giving him the challah, he demonstrates how we can connect even our bread to the ultimate Source, the absolute truth of all creation.

Forging a connection with a kohein galvanizes a person to redouble his efforts in his quest for truth and holiness.

Nowadays the challah is not given to a kohein, but it is burned. The very fact that we separate a small amount of dough and yearn to give it to a kohein and attain the lofty connection this brings connects us to the higher aspect of striving for truth. It has the required effect as though we had given the challah to a kohein.
Women as a whole were affected by Chava's sin to a great extent. (This is in accordance with the relevant verses as well as Midrashic, Talmudic, and Kabbalistic teachings on them. The subject is a very broad one that will be addressed later on in the series.) The rectification of this is that women work to restore the truth to the world by lighting Shabbos candles and increasing their levels of truth by giving challah. This explains a little of why we separate challah before Shabbos and why women have the especial perogative to fulfill the mitzvah.

May Hashem fill us with the truth and the light of Shabbos!

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Where Do Women "Fit" Into Avodas Hashem Anyway?

In this post by R' Yehoishofot Oliver, he shares a teaching indicating that Chabad Chassidus encourages the practice of hisbonenus not only for men, but for women as well.

This got me to thinking that I hadn't really written about a general approach to what a woman's avodas Hashem is. Men have learning Torah, davening with a minyan and tefillin. Most other outwardly religious and spiritual activities are primarily the man's domain, with a few exceptions. But what is a woman supposed to do? And what have righteous women done throughout the ages to connect to G-d and engage in avodas Hashem? It seems as if women's daily lives are filled with work, housework, taking care of children, errands, etc. All physical things... Why aren't women involved in as many "spiritual" things as men are? Isn't that unfair?

I think that in order to understand the relative relationship between men and women with regard to what their respective roles in avodas Hashem are, you have to go back to the root sources of what a man is and what a woman is. As between Avraham and Sorah, Avraham is called the neshoma (soul) and Sorah is called the guf (the body). Also, with respect to the bottom two sefiros/midos, men come from Yesod and women come from Malchus (kingship). Also, men come from the aspect of mashpia (giving) and women are from the aspect of mekabel (receiving).

As to how all of this applies to avodas Hashem, men are involved in the outwardly spiritual parts of Avodas Hashem for the most part. It is not difficult, on a simple level, to see that someone who's learning Torah or davening with a minyan is doing something spiritual. On the other hand, a woman is given a large amount of freedom and discretion about how to serve Hashem by way of her exemption from mitzvos aseh she'hazman grama, time-defined thou-shalt types of mitzvos. They are freed up in this way from outwardly spiritual obligations partly because, on a practical level, they must be on-call to take care of all of the physical aspects of life relating to the home and the children, since the men are less available due to their obligation to fulfill those time-delineated mitzvos.

Thus, by being involved in the outwardly spiritual aspects of life, men bring a revealed spirituality into their families. In that way, they are the mashpia, the giver. However, if that were all there was, there would be no kli, no mekabel, no vessel to contain and bring that G-dliness into the physical life of home and hearth. This is the role of the woman.

Avraham is the aspect of "neshoma" because man brings down the open spirituality into this world. But Sorah is the "guf" because she applies and brings that ruchnius into a physical form. She gives it a body, a reality in this world.

That is why women come from the aspect of Malchus, kingship. A king is the greatest person in the kingdom, but why? He has absolutely nothing! "Leis l'm'garmei klum!" All he has is what he taxes and takes from the people in the kingdom, but he has nothing of his own! So what is his greatness? Without anyone to direct, apply and unite the disparate resources of all of the individuals in a nation, the the kingdom is nothing but a bunch of individuals. But when the king takes a little bit from everyone and focuses all of those resources, he has the power to fashion a great army. The king is the force multiplier that directs all of the directionless kochos of the people, giving their resources a staying-power and a noticeable national effect, much greater than the sum of their individual parts.

Similarly, avodas Hashem requires two general parts. The bringers-down of ruchnius into this world, the men. And the ones who bring that ruchnius into its application into physical life, women. Without women providing the kli, the vessel, for G-dliness in this world, all the learning, davening and avodas Hashem in the obviously spiritual realms would be like "nothing," "ayin" because it would have nothing giving it a reality in the physical world. And the whole purpose of Hashem creating a physical world, with us in it, is to "give" Hashem that "Dira B'tachtonim," a resting place in the physical world.

On a practical level, I think that women generally accomplish this lofty goal by engaging in all of the physical activities of life with a consciousness of Hashem's presence and providence. And I think, practically speaking, they can do this through hisbonenus, hisbodedus and short tefillos throughout the day. For guidelines on how to approach this, I would suggest reading the section in Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh aleph on incorporating consciousness of Hashem's specific providence, which you can read HERE.

May Hashem help all of us see and accomplish our tachlis in this world.

Update: See also, Shorty's exploration of this issue HERE.

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Which Type of Hisbodedus? Rebbe Nachman or Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh?

From the comment section of here at Dixie Yid, discussing this Q&A post at A Simple Jew:

Leah Shaindel:

You wrote that the bilvavi derech and the reb nachman derech are different just as a side point- so what is a person limaiseh supposed to do with all these different drachim? I know you wrote in your oro shel moshiach post that there is a higher unity underlying it all, but how does that help a person practically? I feel like that's realizing limashal that 2 different cake recipes actually have many of the same ingredients, and taste best when eaten side by side. but practically, you can't just mix 2 different recipes of two different cakes together- they both come out good on their own but you can't just mix them. I mean Rav Shwartz is someone who almost made his own new recipe based on other recipes but for little me to mix all these drachim...? how do we l'maiseh combine them? (my mashal is prob a little off, but you get the q)

DixieYid:

Leah Shaindel,

This is a great question and also relates to the debate you were referring to in the comment section on the Oro Shel Moshiach post.

You're right that while we're living in this physical world, we may be zocheh to *know* about the unity behind different derachim. And we may be zocheh to see that unity in many instances. But as long as we're alive, we are only capable of practically holding like one side in most cases. For instance, in the machlokes between Beis Hillel and Beis Shamai in the orientation of a mezuzah, one can either have their mezuzah sideways or verticle. Although we put them diagonal, that really isn't fulfilling either opinion. We can only pasken like one or the other of two mutually exclusive shitos on a practical level.

As between the free-flowing dialouge with G-d of Breslov or the systematic self-building process of tefillah in the Bilvavi derech, I don't really see a practical way of doing both. (Unless you have a lot of time and can do an hour of free flow and an hour of "derech binyan" tefillah each day, in addition to small bursts of conversation throughout the day.) For most people you just have to follow one or the other.

I asked Rav Shwartz this specific quesiton, i.e. the compatibility of what he writes with Rebbe Nachman and I'll share his answer later because I have to leave for ma'ariv. Look forward to your thoughts.

Leah Shaindel:

wow cool looking foward to hearing Rav Shwartz's response. I definitely agree- except then what are you supposed to think when letsay I follow Rav Shwartz's derech but hear something so beautiful about a different type of avodah of in this example, free flowing dialogue with Hashem. So I think, oh that's nice but that's not what I do?

And then, how do you define a derech of avodah? Because isn't even a certain mindset and approach towards letsay what hashgacha pratis means a part of a particular derech? So that when even learning a thought from another derech , I might have to say thats beautiful, but not apply it. Which for men, I guess is fine because its all just for learning Torah, like learning 20 dif opinions in the gemara and then only applying one. But for me as a girl, i really only want to learn what I can actually apply to my thoughts, feelings and actions. So it almost seems futile to learn anything but the derech I choose. So I am really interested in what Rav Shwartz has to say- because for me I've chosen to follow bilvavi as a derech, but I love Reb Nachman! thanks!

DixieYid:

Leah Shaindel,

Okay. I basically layed out what I thought was the major difference beween the kind of hisbodedus that Rebbe Nachman talks about in Likutei Moharan and what he (Rav Shwartz) writes in the Bilvavi seforim. i.e. That Rebbe Nachman talks about a free-flowing, talking-from-the-heart, whatever-comes-to-mind type of hisbodedus while Bilvavi talks about a very structured inculcate-myself-with-a-concept-to-make-it-a-reality type of hisbodedus. To me they seem to have a similar goal, which is increasing our connectin to Hashem. But Rav Shwartz seems to say that an approach like Rebbe Nachman's (while not naming it specifically) won't accomplish the goal of increasing one's Deveikus with Hashem since it isn't done "derech binyan," in a structured, step-by-step way.

He answered me that he doesn't think that they contradict because the two seforim were written in two different ways. He said that Likutei Moharan is not organized in a step-by-step method, so it's not clear at which stage of personal spiritual development Rebbe Nachman's talking about. (Indeed, Bilvavi does talk about doing more of a Rebbe Nachman type approach in the higher stages of development.) He distinguished the Bilvavi seforim from that by saying that Bilvavi was written to be more systematic and step-by-step. Therefore, inferences about contradictions couldn't necessarily be made.

However, he did not say that it *didn't* contradict either. I also felt that he may have seen my question as more theoretical than practical, and that he therefore wasn't really trying to directly answer the question. So I don't personally have the sense that he was affirmatively saying that there wasn't any contradiction, but was merely trying to leave open the possibility that there isn't any.

As to which method you should follow to the extent that the two approaches to hisbodedus might be contradictory, I can't tell you. The only suggestion I would give is, on a practical level to pick the derech that you feel would be the most effective in developing Deveikus with Hashem and then sticking with that method. As a human being, it's not really possible to do both (unless, like I mentioned before you have enough time in the day to do over two hours of hisbodedus daily and can accomodate both approaches simultaneously!). You may know that there is an inner unity within the two approaches, but one can't live that way practicaly and each of us have to make a choice and stick with it.

For those of us who merit to be brought up in a community with a "derech," the first choice would be to follow that derech. For those who were brought up in one derech but whose shoresh neshoma calls them to switch to something else, that need should be taken seriously. And for those, like me, who were not brought up with one derech in avodas Hashem, we need to seach out the options out there, figure out which derech is the best for us, based on where our shoresh neshoma pulls us, and then try to stay consistent in that derech on a practial level, even if we're still learning other approaches "on the side."

Adendudm: As to your other question about what you should do, as a woman with no independent mitzvah of Talmud Torah when you have the opportunity to learn about things that don't fit within the derech avodah that you've chosen, I see two main approaches. One is to say, as you did, that that derech is not yours and so you won't learn it since you only want to learn practical things. However, there's another aspect to learning Torah from drachim other than one's primary derech. And that is the aspect of hisorerus, inspiration. All of us go through the waxing and waning "Ratzo v'shov" cycles throughout our lives. But in order to get through the "shov," low times, we need some hisorerus, inspiration in the high times to take us through the "low" times. Even women need this. We all need to recharge our batteries so we can keep going in a good way during the times of "smallmindedness," mochin d'katnus. So I think that even as a woman, seeing inspiration in whatever place you can find it is also a practical aspect of learning Torah that you can benefit from, even from derachim other than your primary derech avodah. Hope that thought helps!

-Dixie Yid

(Picture by Zvi Malinovitzer courtesy of avodah-pnimis.blogspot.com)

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Kavanos to Have When Painting a House - R' Boshnack in New Orleans

As I referenced two days ago, my friend Rabbi Reuven Boshnack, in his role as rabbi at Brooklyn College, accompanied a bunch of Hillel members down to New Oreleans to paint someone's house that was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. He taught Torah every day of the trip. He has been mezakeh us by sharing some of what he spoke about each day of the trip, even on Shabbos. Awesome!

1/5
Before Scraping

We understand, that the paint here, waiting to be scraped, has been waiting since the creation of the world for us to come and scrape it. You see there are sparks of holiness, little points of destiny waiting for us, all the way down here in New Orleans.

So while we are scraping while monotony sets in, let’s focus on the message that paint scraping holds for us. There are layers that need to be scraped away, thoughts, feelings and actions that prevent us from being real. They keep us with connecting with others, they keep us from connecting with Hashem, and they keep us from connetction with ourselves. They need to be scraped away, to reveal the pure Neshama beneath.

1/6
Before Priming the walls

Now that the paint has been scraped, and our walls have been removed, we can begin again. The first step is what are the yesodos, the foundations of our lives, what are the fundaments, of emunah and yesodei hatorah that we live by? As you apply the primer keep this in mind, before we can actually paint, to interact with the world, we must understand our inner priorities first. As you put on the primer, think and try to formulate your yesodos.

1/8
Before we started painting

We’re now about to paint. R Shlomo Carlebach, in a famous torah, explained how we are all “painted”- with the superficial identification to torah and mitzvos. It’s just a mask. We’re not talking about how you are on the inside, only the way things look. You know, there are schools that won’t let sincere ehrlich jews in, because their third cousins aren’t in kollel in Lakewood. R Shlomo said, that no matter how well you paint,,you always miss a spot.

On the other hand, we should try to paint ourselves in a color which is the same on the outside as it is on the inside. We know that there was a guard outside of Raban gamliel’s Yeshiva, that would not let you in unless you were tocho k’boro- the same on the inside as you were on the outside. The Kotzker rebbe said, “What manner of demon could see the inner workings of a person? Rather, a person who went to the yeshiva for external reasons, would be dissuaded by the guard. A person who was Tocho Kboro, would figure out a way in anway, they’d go through the skylight if they had to.

Let’s try to make our Yiddishkeit real and meaningful, and a color that matches our insides

1/9
Before starting the last day of work

Do you know what it means "Makeh B’patish?" No, it doesn’t mean to hit something with a hammer. The Melacha of Maka B’patish means to put the finishing touches on something. Why is it assur to do the Melacha of Makeh B’patish? On Shabbos we have to see the world as if everything is done, so clearly putting the finishing touches are prohibited. Today, we are racing against the clock, to get in those finishing touches, before Shabbos. That’s what erev Shabbos is all about.
Also we know, that hakol holech achar hachosam, how you end it is the most important thing. Right now we’re trying to seal in all of the the thoughts and feelings and love and friendship and to seal all of our work in with a kiss.

In the Park

R' Soloveitchik said, we may have brought back shmiras Shabbos, but we have not yet brought back shmiras erev Shabbos. What’s so important about erev Shabbos? Isn’t it just Friday?

The Sefas Emes says, “In Choshen Mishpat, we have a halacha, If I sell you a field, surrounded by other fields, You need to buy a road from me, but If I give you a field surrounded by other fields, I must give you a road, because if a person is giving, it is assumed that the person is giving with a generous hand. Shabbos is called a matana tova, a good present. How do we get to Shabbos if it is so different than the rest of the week? Hashem gives us a road called Erev Shabbos.”We’re spending Shabbos in a place where people view Shabbos as a collection of don’ts, we need to be mechazek ourselves to show all of them that it is truly a good present.

Oneg Shabbos

The alter Rebbe said, that song is the pen of the soul. When you sing a person’s niggun, you touch the depths of the person who composed it. We’re singing a song from the Tzemach Tzedek. He was a person who wrote over 300,000 pages of manuscripts, proficient in every area of the torah. While singing his niggun, we’re trying to touch that great person in the deepest way.

Why do we have to be so careful about singing an old niggun in the way that it was transmitted? The song we are singing is the chernobler hakkafos niggun. The Chernobler Maggid closed his eyes on simchas torah, when he awoke- he brought this niggun down.

When we sing a niggun, we’re trying to connect, through every note and movement, you know, miss a beat, you lose the rhythm. Did you know that R Shloime Twerski, Hornosteipler Rebbe of Denver, used to spend hours, being “me’ayen” into a niggun, if a note or two belonged there?

Ok,,now that our voices are hoarse from singing, let me tell you something. In this week’s Parsha Yaakov says, “Hashem appeared to me in Lud, and said he’ll increase me, and give me Eretz Yisrael. Efraim and Menashe will be like Reuven and Shimon to me, and they’ll have inheritance equal to the shevatim. Then on the way from Padan, Rachel died, and I buried her there.”

I heard the following from my Rebbi, who quoted Rav Saadia Gaon. Do you know who Rav Saadia Gaon was? He met people, who met Rabbis from the Talmud. We’ve met people who met the Rav, who met Rav Kook, who met the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Anyway, Rav Saadia Gaon, said Yaakov was saying, Yosef, I never told anyone, but Hashem promised me great things as I was in Lud, but then tradgedy after tragedy happened. Rachel died, you disappeared, and any time I would even think about such a nevuah, it was a source of pain. But now that I see Efraim and Menashe,I know that Hashem, kept his word.

My Rebbe’s father was sitting next to him at a graduation of one of Rebbe’s daughters, and he told him, if you would have told me when I was in Mathausen, that one day I’d be sitting with hundreds of Jews at a graduation of my granddaughter, I’d have told you that you were crazy.

So many times, we think all of the nevuos which we have seen in tanach are so far fetched, they’ll never happen. This quote from Rasag tells us even Yaakov had given up on them, but it teaches us never to give up on Hashem’s promises to us.
These gatherings are sometimes called Sheves Achim, where jews get together, to sing together and encourage each other. It’s a great thing to do. We should continue sitting together and singing, until moshaich comes and teaches us a new song, vsham nashir shir chadash, bivinyan bayis Hamikdash hageula Hashelama vemisis…

Shalosh Seudos

In just a few hours, we’re going home, and facebook will become plastered with the pictures of our trip. Now, I’m not an antitechnology crusader, but I want to warn you about the dangers of digital media.

We lost our camera last week, with all of the pictures on the memory stick. It was a little upsetting. But if you think about it, our memories really should be a lot stronger than all of the pictures we take. Whenever we experience something, we take a picture. Now this is a little disturbing, we’re relying upon the pictures instead of our memories. And maybe, it’s cheapening them.

Let’s try something. Can you close your eyes and picture your favorite memory from the trip. Take a minute. What did it feel like? Was there wind blowing? Was it warm or cool? What did it smell like? Look at the details. You’ll notice that you can “zoom in” on certain details, or remove some noise or obstruction.

When we rely on our pictures for our memories, we confine them only to what was in the viewfinder of the camera, and only that millisecond, not before or after. If it’s a video, whatever happened outside that viewfinder or duration of the clip.
If we do it the other way- you get everything, and you never need a picture to revisit your memories. You can do this exercise all the time.

We see two different types of writing in the Torah, the writing of a Torah, ink on parchment, and the writing of the luchos habris- on the tablets. The difference of course, is that the writing is something separate from the parchment in the Sefer Torah, but in the case of the Luchos, it is the Luchos. Our experiences can be like letters written on the parchments of our lives, or they could become apart of them. The choice is yours.

There is the story of the Volper Rav, one of the students of the Maggid of Mezrich due to setbacks in his life, ultimately became an alcoholic and wandered around. Once, in an inn, a certain Chasid heard someone reciting secrets of Torah. But he couldn’t see where they were. A careful search revealed that they were coming from a poor man, drunk and hiding under the furnace. He realized that this must be the Volper Rav. The chassid located the Volper Rav’s room, and began to search his possessions, for a manuscript of the Maggid’s Torahs. The Rav returned to the room, and asked this man what he was doing. The Chassid, embarrassed, said, “Iwas looking for a manuscript of the Maggid’s torah.” The Rav said, “What’s wrong with you, when I was at the Maggid, he, the students and the Torah were all, one. So, who needs a manuscript?”
The way we deal with and revisit our memories, will allow us to make them a greater part of us.

-Dixie Yid

(Picture courtesy of Natasha Hollander)

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Silencing the Philosopher Within - By Rabbi Micha Golshevsky

The halacha is that if something treif (or milk in meat etc.) falls into a pot of kosher food, it is permitted if there are 60 times the amount of kosher food relative to whatever treif food fell into the pot. If 1 oz fell into the pot and there are 60 oz in the pot, it's kosher. If a second oz. of the same material fell in, we do not say that if there are 60 oz. relative to the new trief oz. alone, that both are nullified. Rather, there needs to be at least 120 oz of kosher in the pot since "matzah min es mino." The 2nd treif element combines with the earlier oz and exudes taste in the food unless there is enough in the pot to nullify the taste of 2oz of treif.

The same holds true for engaging in sophistry, philosophy or other spiritually negative endeavors. We all have some of these attributes in us already, however. According to Rav Avraham ben Rebbe Nachman, we have a built in philosopher who feels that we need not do anything except what our baser elements dictate.

If we study heretical writings or talk to people who are ruled by their inner philosopher, (each person in his own way) we need to be very vigilant that this not effect us negatively.

Rebbe Nachman says gives an antidote for such negativity (negative fire) in Likutei Moharan. He wries that through the fire of judging oneself in hisbodedus, one burns off the negativity that inevitably rubs off on him when trying to draw people who are distant to Torah closer to Hashem.

We negate the bad influences which pull us down spiritually through fiery prayer and distilling out the proper way to act in each element of our lives and asking for assistance to act the way we should. (For example: Since Hashem, our loving Father, is right there with us always, is it proper to act in such and such a way? Please help me change this etc.)

Hashem should help us truly do hisbodedus to remove the "philosopher within!"

(Picture courtesy of Wikipedia)

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Bringing Knowledge of "The Purpose" Into Every Mitzvah - Bilvavi

The following is a suggested, example tefillah, which I have translated from the 5th chelek of Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh, #s 8 and 9:

There are so many mitzvos, but Chazal have revealed to us that there are three pillars upon which the world stands; Torah, Avodah and Gemilus Chasadim. Behold, Master of the World, learning Torah is cleaving to you as it was written and expanded upon in the sefer "Nefesh HaChaim." Avodah... since we do not have Korbanos today, in their place the way to get closer to you is through Tefillah. What is Tefillah? It is speaking with You Hashem! And isn't Tefillah, then, a way of getting close to You? Gemilus Chasadim is cleaving to Your ways. All of your ways are kindness, and the whole purpose of the creation of Your world is to give goodness to those who You created. Master of the World, through these three pillars I am able to get close to You. But I must remember all of the time that that these three pillars are the way to get closer to you, and not, G-d forbid, to learn Torah and forget you, Daven and forget you and do chesed and forget you. Because if I, G-d forbid, learn Torah, Daven and do chesed behold I will have forgotten the whole purpose of Torah, TEfillah, and doing chesed, the whole purpose of life. Therefore, Master of the World, I want to remember every time I am involved with one of these three pillars, the reason why I am doing them and what their purpose is.

Master of the World, behold I accept upon myself, Bli Neder, to remember whenever I begin to learn Your holy Torah, not to begin to learn suddenly. Rather, I will first speak to you every time and say 'Master of the World, behold I am going to learn Your holy Torah. Why am I going to learn it? Because I want to be close to You, and I want to get close to You through learning Torah let me merit to attain this! And so too while I am learning, behodl I want to remember every time why I am learning. ThereforeI want to remember this about once every half hour. (Over time, this gap should shrink to just a few minutes and thememory will be triggered automatically.) The matter should be living in me, that everything that I learn should be in order to get closer to You, and I will not give up hope if I forget this. I will try, bli neder to remember this every time. And I beg You, Hashem, that you should help me, and cause me to remember this all of the time until the matter is extremely fixed in my heart...

(Certainly, one needs to clarrify to himself why, indeed he is going and not to say words that his heart does not feel at all. But rather to clarify in his heart what, in truth he wants. And even if this is even part of what his heart wants, he should still say these words with full confidence, that he feels this in his heart and that his desire is that his main feelings should be such and such, etc. But the main thingis that he should speak the truth. "דֹּבֵר שְׁקָרִים לֹא-יִכּוֹן, לְנֶגֶד עֵינָי." "One who speaks falsehood will not dwell before Me." (Tehillim 101:7).

-Dixie Yid

(Picture courtesy of bbc)

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Our Escapist Tendencies - Getting to Know Yourself

I have written before about people's desire to distract themselves from their own desire for greater holiness and their dissatisfaction with their life without it. I wrote about wanting to distract one's self from Shabbos and from one's spiritual life in general, using movies/TV/ipods/novels/etc here and here.

This is expresed also in the way that the priests used to sacrifice people's children to the Molech. While the priests would kill their children, other priests would beat drums and play loud music, so that people should not hear the screaming of their children calling out for their help, which might cause them to change their mind about what they were doing.

Similarly, when our neshamos are crying out to us for help, we don't like the discomfort of hearing that inner pain. So we distract ourselves from hearing our inner voice by drowning it out with ipod music, movies, novels, or workaholic-ism.

If we want to take the first step towards living the life we are supposed to live, rather than distracting ourselves from that purpose with all of our twenty-first century distractions, then we must first recognize that we do not need all of our gadgets and distractsions merely for their enjoyment or necessity. Rather, we must recognize that, to the extent that this is the case, they are really there to drown out the voice of our neshamos.

Once we attain this self-recognition, we can begin to do a kind of hisbonenus before we begin to engage in one of these entertaining distractions. One might say to himself before opening up a novel or turning on his ipod during a train or bus ride: "The true inner "I," my neshoma, wants to serve you, Hashem. But the superficial "I" doesn't want to think about things like that. I don't feel that I have the wherewithall to win in this battle right now, so I am going to do XYZ to take my mind off of what I should really being doing right now. But I recognize that it is only a distraction, and not the deeper desire of who I truly am inside."

This brief thought is, IMHO, in line with the teachings of the Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh. IY"H, may we merit to recognize our escapist tendencies and get to truly know ourselves, as a first step towards "getting to know" Hashem.

-Dixie Yid

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Shlepping out a Shtikel Hisbodedus

From Memo to Self by Ruth Lewis

Just At First

It's hard to speak words of faith
just at first.
They seem to catch in the throat,
to sit there and congeal into a lump,
seem to wedge themselves in the teeth,
become entangled between teeth and tongue,
alien intruders in the mouth,
unfamiliar-tasting as a foreign dish.
You think, Who am I - so far from perfect faith -
to speak such words?
You think, Who am I - so far from living up to this -
to speak such words?
You think, Others who are great
don't say such things...
You think a lot of things.
It's hard to speak words of faith just at first.
What do you expect?
It's a new exercise,
bound to be uncomfortable,
straining muscles never used.
Just at first.
Then, a dam bursts inside,
and everything flows.

How to do Hisbodedus:

Balloons

Waiting for the school bus.
"Look, Mommy! A balloon!"
Indeed.
A red balloon
floating above the buildings.
Higher...higher...
It disappears from view.
"It went to Heaven,"
he informs me.

"Let's daven to the Eibeshter,"
I say.
"Let's send our words up to Heaven like balloons-
red, blue, yellow, purple..."

He laughs.
The idea appeals to him.
We daven:
"Thank you, Eibeshter,
that I'm a Yiddishe yingele.
Thank you that I'm learning chumash...
Lookk Mommy!" He points to the air.
"There go our balloons!"

"What will the Eibeshter do
with all the balloons
that the Yidden send him?"
I ask.

He considers.
"He'll be happy with them!"

-Dixie Yid

(Picture courtesy of insideview)

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Our Dear Wonderful Father in Heaven - Avinu Av Harachaman

Departing from our usual shedule where we distribute the Tefila Chaburahs with Reb Yerachmiel from the Baltimore Community Kollel on Tuesdays, I want to share another shiur that Reb Yerachmiel and I were e-talking about today.

It's a shiur from April 22, 2007 called "Avinu Av Harachaman, Our Wonderful, Dear Father in Heaven." The reason it came up is because he played a little bit of a shiur by Rav Shimshon Pincus, where Rav Pincus lost himself a little bit, and let go for a moment or so, in his love for Hashem.

The shiur is in two parts.

To listen online, you can CLICK HERE FOR PART A and HERE FOR PART B.

To download the shiur, click on these links:

PART A
PART B

-Dixie Yid

(Picture courtesy of photoMendrea.com)

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Guest Post by Author - Women from the Fall of Eve to the Full Redemption

It is my pleasure to present this article, written by the author of a new book, The Moon's Lost Light, by Rebbetzin Devorah Heshelis. In it, she tells the amazing story of how she had been bothered her entire life growing up in Bais Yaakov in the Lower East Side by the apparant inequality of women in Yiddishkeit. Her example of constant searching, learning and davening are a tremendous lesson for us. My sense is that this book is different from any other and will begin to truly open up your understanding of this topic through sources from both Niglah and Nistar. You can get ahold of her book from Targum HERE (for 30% discount). You can also read a great review of the book by Meyer Twersky in Jewish Action Magazine HERE.

-Dixie Yid

It’s no secret that women’s status in Judaism is one of the most difficult areas for modern people to deal with. When one looks at the Torah’s treatment of women one gets the impression that although women are considered important - Jewish women are called G-d’s daughters - they are not on the same level as men. There’s even a blessing for men to say for not having been created a woman.

But if women are not equal with men, then how do we reconcile the Torah’s relegating women to a secondary position with our belief in the Torah’s goodness and perfection?

In times gone by this wasn’t a pressing issue. No society considered women entirely equal, but Jewish women were much better off than non-Jewish women, enjoying many more rights and privileges, than their non Jewish counterparts. Furthermore, life had so many more difficult issues to struggle with, like abject poverty or blatant and dangerous anti-semitism. Under the circumstances, pondering women’s equality or inequality was far from being top priority on people’s minds.

Times have changed. The world around us has gone all out for total equality, considering any inequality as unfair and cruel. Suddenly the Torah world found itself in a very difficult position.
Those who were not loyal to Torah had no problem with this.. They said, “Change the Torah and make women equal.” This makes as much sense as saying that if you don’t like the fact that diabetics can’t eat sugar you should change your policy and let them eat sugar. G-d’s laws - which include the laws of the Sages whom He appointed to be his agents - cannot be changed to our likes and dislikes, any more than one can change the laws of physics or chemistry. They all come from the same source. Just as the scientist cannot change the laws of nature, he can only learn to understand and apply them, so the rabbi cannot change the laws of the Torah, he can only show us how to understand and apply them.

How did those loyal to Torah respond? The old world response was “This is from G-d, the Creator of the world who gives all life and existence. If this is the way He wants it, who are we to ask questions on G-d?” Although there is much truth here, the problem was that it required more faith than most people had..

Others who realized that this answer wasn’t enough, pointed out the many positive, and complimentary things the Torah has to say about women. They showed how those who virulently criticized the Torah’s attitude towards women were uninformed and/or misinterpreting things. The critics thought women were being treated as inferiors because they were judging the Torah’s attitude by non Torah standards. For example, child bearing and child raising, doing chesed and being modest are not considered prestigious in the modern world - but in the Torah world they are considered very lofty spiritual goals which place those who adhere to them on a lofty spiritual level. On the other hand, the defenders pointed out, the “feminist” ideals have left most women robbed of those things which would give them real happiness - a loving , loyal, stable, family, that honors their wife and mother.

Yet, while all of this was very true, it still didn’t cover all the sore points. Yes, men and women are by nature different and so it makes sense that they should have different tasks. And yes, the Torah does have wonderful things to say about women. Yet there still remains the fact that there really are some ways in which women do have a secondary position...

If this wasn’t enough to have to deal with, the Talmud and later rabbinic sources sometimes describe women in a way that doesn’t correspond with our reality. For instance, men were seen as generally having intellectual capabilities while most women were seen as has having practical common sense but incapable of abstract intellectual achievements. Traditional Jewish life was designed to correspond to this. Men were expected to learn Torah and women were expected to do practical things.

But the pattern didn’t fit. There were too many exceptions - intellectual women and not so intellectual men.

I was sixteen years old when I began to be bothered by questions on the Torah’s attitude towards women. Having been born to a religious family on New York’s Lower East Side and attended the local Bais Yaakov, I was able to learn Torah commentaries directly from the sources. Being an avid reader with a philosophical bent, I searched for answers, but I couldn’t find ones that satisfied me, not from the modern writers who wrote in defense of the Torah, nor from the traditional commentators. My teachers didn’t have answers for me, nor did anyone else I asked. Eventually, I realized that no one around had the answers I was looking for. Then, out of sheer desperation I did something I thought was very daring. I turned to Hashem and explained that I had done everything humanly possible to find the answers I needed to make me love His Torah, but I was unsuccessful, so I asked Him to give me the answers Himself. Over and over again, I asked Hashem to answers my questions. I prayed at the kosel. I got up for forty nights after midnight and said tikun chatzos (psalms and prayers about the exile and our hope and longing for the ge’ula). Perhaps I fasted too, I don’t remember. Again, and again I begged Hashem to help me.

And He did.

It didn’t happen all at once. It took many, many years, but little by little I found the pieces that when put together created a dazzling puzzle - a puzzle which revealed a glorious Divine plan. It was no wonder that no one I knew had the answers to my questions, for those answers were in the area of Torah known as “sod”, secret. There was a great secret about women that was related to the future. But it wasn’t just the future. What almost nobody knew was that this great change in women wasn’t going to start only when Moshiach comes. It had already started!

I put what I found out into a book called The Moon’s Lost Light - A Torah Perspective on Women from the Fall of Eve to the Full Redemption. When Rabbi Zev Leff read my book he said, “It’s phenomenal! How did you do it?” The answer, of course was that I didn’t do it. It was all siyata dishmaya - assistance from heaven. It wasn’t me, it was Hashem taking me by the hand and showing it to me. Hashem answered my prayers.

But as I said, it didn’t come in a day. The process took over twenty years. First I found out from some of the tradition commentaries that I read that women’s inequality was coming from Chava (Eve’s) sin. That meant that women’s lower status was not how it was originally meant to be, and the way things are now is not the ideal. This in itself was comforting. It showed that Hashem “agreed” that women being unequal was not how He really wanted it to be.

Then I found out about the verse in Jeremiah 31:21 which prophecizes that women will become equal with men. Literally the verse reads “nekevah tisovev gever”. There are many explanations of this phrase, but the deeper commentaries explain it to mean that in the future females would have equal spiritual perception with men. (Later I found out that it also means that women would learn Torah, and would become eqaul in other ways as well.) But this still didn’t make sense to me, because as far as I could see women already had equal spiritual perception with men. Finally, when I was about 40 years old I read an amazing book called Kol HaTor. Written by a student of the great Gaon of Vilna, it contained his secret teachings on what would happen before the redemption.

This book explained that from the year 5500 (1740) the powers of the redemption begin affecting the world, and that everything that will be in the full redemption enters the world little by little from this period onward, growing stronger as time progresses. In other words, the “future” equality of women which the commentators had spoken about had already begun to materialize. That’s why the Sages descriptions didn’t always suit our reality. We were living in a different reality, the reality of ikvesa demeshicha, the turbulent period before the coming of Moshiach, and this reality things were different.

There was something else I learned as well. Kol HaTor said that the powers of evil would rise to fight against the progress towards the ge’ula. The more the powers of redemption would enter the world, the stronger the forces of evil would grow. As I found out from my chassidic reading, these sources, called klipos, outwardly resembled the holy forces, using the same powers but for opposite goals. Elsewhere, the Vilna Gaon said that the klipa, the impure side would come before the holy side. And that was just what had happened - it explained feminism perfectly.

But that wasn’t all. When I looked at Jewish history from the year 5500 onwards I saw that this pattern was affecting everything. Zionism, haskala, and every other change in Jewish life was all connected to this.

I was so full of this amazing discovery that I was bursting with it. I told it to anyone and everyone who would listen to me. People were absolutely fascinated.

Fascinated? That’s not even the word. I remember speaking to a group and one young lady literally jumped out of her seat. Eventually, I wrote down what I had learned in a book, adding more and more interesting details along the way. For instance, the book explains that even throughout most of world history, when women had a lower position, they were equally important and beloved in their essence. The book also speaks about the blessing for not having been created a woman, and the women’s blessing for having been created according to Hashem’s will, which has many secrets in it. According to kabbalah, women parallel and resemble the Shchina, Hashem’s presence in this world which is compared to a mother. Whatever happens to the Shchina happens to women and vice versa. Paralleling the Shchina isn’t a put down, it is one of the greatest (although sometimes difficult) honors there could be. Women’s lower position is because of the Shchina’s lower position, and when the Shchina rises, so will women.

The book brings 192 sources to substantiate these teachings. It has approbations from Rabbi Yisroel Belsky, Rabbi Dovid Goldwasswer, Rabbi Zev Leff, and Rabbi Michel Twersky. Many other leading talmidei chachamim, including Rabbi Mattisyahu Solomon of Lakewood, personally told me how much they like the book. The publisher is Targum-Feldheim and it can be obtained from book stores or from the Targum website.

So if you’re interested in a different approach to this subject, happy reading.

-Devorah Heshelis

Update from D. Heshelis on 4/6/08:

About three months ago, there was a post here on my book, The Moon’s Lost Light. It caused quite a stir mainly amongst two readers. Because I do not have an internet connection I could not see the comments directly. Some of them were forwarded to me and I answered them, but there were other comments that I never saw.

Recently an acquaintance came across this post on a Google search and he printed and gave me the entire dialogue. For the first time, I became aware of questions and comments which I hadn’t answered. I am very sorry about this because my failure to respond may have deprived people of answers they needed to see and perhaps left them wondering if there were any answers. It is therefore important for me to inform the readers that my silence was not intentional. Presently, I am very busy preparing for Pesach and responses take much longer than most people realize. But I hope to answer a pertinent point after Pesach. Dixie Yid will אי"ה inform you when and where they will be posted.

A wonderful Pesach to everyone,

Devora Heshelis

Update 6/23/08: Rebbetzin Heshelis has responded to the loose ends left by the comments. You can read her detailed responses to many of the comments, including to Chaim and Ariella in particular. In a few days, there will be a short version of some of these responses as a new post.

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Rav Ekstein's Visualizations - Amazing Astronomical Photographs

My friend Tuvia, from Yerushalayim, sent me these pictures in the context of an e-conversation we were having about R' Ekshtein's sefer, Tenai Hanefesh l'hasagas haChassidus, which is also available in English here. Desipite what one might think from the modern cover, pictured above, this sefer was written by a Djikover Chossid before the war, in the 1930's, and talks about how to expand your perspective beyond your limited experiences. He uses a method of meditation using visualizations to accomplish this.

One of his guided visualizations from the beginning of his sefer is imaging yourself looking down at yourself just above your head. And then panning back, out, higher over your street, then looking over your whole neighborhood, then your whole city, then your whole state, then from the perspective of looking over your whole country, then your continent, then the whole earth, and then moving farther and farther out into space. Then zooming back in, in one's mind, till he goes into the person, from the organ level, to the cellular level, to the molecular level, to the particle level, to the atomic level, to the sub-atomic level, etc. (Now, if someone collected another bunch of pictures for that visualization, that would be something!) This is for the purpose of breaking one's trait of egoism, where we fail to appreciate Hashem's creation and our smallness relative to it's unbelievable majesty. I wrote about a similar topic with pictures here.

Here are some pictures Tuvia forwarded me to help with getting some perspective on our size relative to the world and relative to other aspects of the universe that Hashem created...

This picture shows the scale of Earth, which is a mere dot relative to the Red Giant, Arcturus.

In this one, our sun is merely a dot compared to the star in the Scorpia contellation, Antares.
This is an enlarged view of space, where countless stars and galaxies can be seen.
Here, one of the darker spots in the above pictures is zoomed in on.

Wow.

-Dixie Yid

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New Site on Hisbodedus With Guidance, Stories, Shiurim, & Links

Thanks to the folks at Bilvavi.net for the heads-up on this new site on Hisbodedus that has advice, guidance, shiurim, and personal stories relating to the practice of Hisbodedus, and not only based on Rebbe Nachman. It includes material from the author of the Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh seforim as well. Warning: It is an Israeli site and is all Hebrew. Enjoy Hitbodedut.com!

-Dixie Yid

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Practical Hisbodedus Chaburah in מבוא חורון This Friday Morning With Bilvavi Author

This Friday morning, there will the first in a series of practical Hisbodedus Chaburah meetings with the author of the Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh seforim. If you are interested, you can read the e-mail that I received below and RSVP with the Bilvavi.net proprietor, Ran Weber, at bilvavi1@gmail.com.

אנחנו מתחילים ביום שישי הזה (12/10 למיניינם) בשעה 9:00 בבוקר אצלי בבית (מבוא חורון, בית 133א, משפחת ובר)
קבוצת עבודה פנימית עם הרב מחבר בלבבי משכן אבנה. בשיעורים הראשונים הרב יסביר את הבסיס להתבודדות
וינחה הנחיות כלליות ולאחר מכן בע"ה נפגש כל שבוע ונוכל לחלוק חוויות ולשתף את המקום שאנו נמצאים בו
תוך קבלת עצות והכוונה מהרב.

הקבוצה מיועדת למי שבאמת רציני לגבי עבודה פנימית ומוכן להתחייב

בהצלחה לכולם
רן

נ.ב : אם אתם מתכוננים להגיע - נשמח לדעת כדי להערך מבחינת כסאות וכיוב'

-Dixie Yid

(Picture couresy of ShevaChaya.com)

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