IN PRAISE OF THE ARIZA'L
Dear friends,
In honor of tomorow night's [-the 5th of AV] Yahrtzeit of the
Arizal, I feel it’s important to see this excerpt from what his main student
–R.Chaim Vitale [ztz'l]-- has to say about his Rebbe [from Shaar Hakdamot];
''The Ari overflowed with Torah. He was thoroughly expert in
Scripture, Mishnah, Talmud, Pilpul, Midrash, Agada, Maaseh Bereishit and Maaseh
Merkava. He was expert in the language of trees, the language of birds, and the
speech of angels. He could read faces in the manner outlined in the Zohar (vol.
II, p. 74b).
He could discern all that any individual had done, and could see
what they would do in the future. He could read people's thoughts, often before
the thought even entered their mind. He knew future events, was aware of everything
happening here on earth, and what was decreed in heaven. He knew the mysteries
of gilgul [reincarnation], who had been born previously, and who was here for
the first time. He could look at a person and tell him how he was connected to
higher spiritual levels, and his original root in Adam. The Ari could read
wondrous things [about people] in the light of a candle or in the flame of a
fire. With his eyes he gazed and was able to see the souls of the righteous,
both those who had died recently and those who had lived in ancient times.
Together/from these departed souls, he studied the true mysteries. From a
person's scent, he was able to know all that he had done. (See Zohar, Yenuka
vol. III p. 188a). It was as if the answers to all these mysteries lay dormant
within him, waiting to be activated whenever he desired. These are not things
that we heard from others. They were wondrous things that had not been seen on
earth since the time of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
None of this was attained through magic, heaven forbid. There is a
strong prohibition against these arts. Instead, it came automatically, as a
result of his saintliness and asceticism, after many years of study in both the
ancient and the newer Kabbalistic texts. He then increased his piety, asceticism,
purity and holiness until he reached a level where Elijah would constantly
reveal himself to him, speaking to him "mouth to mouth," teaching him
these secrets. This is what happened to Raavad, as Recanti states. Although
complete prophecy no longer exists, Ruah Hakodesh is still here, manifest via
Elijah. It is as Elijah the Prophet taught his students, commenting on the
verse, “Devorah was a prophetess,” (Shoftim 4:4): “I call heaven and earth to
bear witness, that any individual man or woman, Jew or gentile, freeman or
slave, can have Ruah HaKodesh bestowed upon him. It all depends on their
deeds.”
ARIZAL MEDITATIONS
[** – insired by and drawn from one of the Arizal's master
works----Shaar Ruach HaKodesh, The Gate of The Holy Spirit
in honor of the Hoy Ari today on his Yahrtzeit**]
1. Prophesy. The Ari described prophesy and Ruach HaKodesh, saying
when we use our voice for some type of Holy articulation, and all the
conditions are right, meaning we are pure enough and holy enough, a past voice of
our own or of someone else meshes into our present voice. These two voices
merging will speak to us in a way only we can hear, and tell us about the
future. It provides hidden information or analogies, which need to be
interpreted, but we’re given the interpretation as well. That’s what’s called
prophesy and Ruach HaKodesh.
2. Moses. Moses is preferred over all other prophets because what
he was receiving is called a clear aspakleria, which means it was so clear it
was like one person speaking to another person. It was that clear. Others
received prophetic messages that were garbed in an analogy requiring
interpretation, based on the language and the interpretation and the
sophistication of the receiver, the prophet himself.
The highest level of Ruach HaKodesh was found in King David, and
specifically in the Psalms he wrote, and one of the manifestations of that was
staying power and eternal renewing power. Since they were composed, about 3500
years ago, everyone who has spoken those Psalms finds themselves, their life
situations, their heart stirrings in those Psalms, as if they are speaking
those Psalms originally. That is the Ruach HaKodesh in those Psalms.
These are very high levels, and this kind of Ruach HaKodesh is
available to special people in our times, but prophesy is something that will
only come into the world in Messianic times, under certain conditions. But we
are getting impressions of it already. I like to suggest, as an experiential
part of this, to consider whenever you’re learning something holy, take
yourself to the side and make a list of questions. You’ll find that because
you’re involved in holy learning, you’ll get answers. Associated ideas will
come to your mind when you’re in an elevated state where there is access to
higher information.
If you want to bring down higher information into your life, start
to keep a notebook of your dreams, right next to your bed. Mark down a word or
two, and when you recall the dream later, when you’re awake, you can begin to
see how that dream is a revelation of inner thoughts and possibly future events
in your life.
Recite the Psalms as though you’re the author of those Psalms, and
you’ll see how powerful, how transcendent those words are for you.
3. Maggid. A maggid is a spiritual being that’s created as a result
of something you do or something you say, because it has to have some kind of
substance to rest upon. Rav Joseph Caro, the famous author of The Shulkan
Aruch, 500 years ago, was so prolific and efficient and holy in his studies
that he created a maggid from his study of the Mishnah. Rav Caro wrote an
entire book about the conversations between himself and this maggid, this
spiritual being.
The Arizal teaches us that, according to the purity of the recital
of your articulations the purity and wholeness of the spiritual being will be
completed. So, ask yourself, “If I could have a maggid, what would my spiritual
being advise me to do in any particular situation?" That’s one thing you
can do.
Another thing is to be a channeler. While you’re singing, while
you’re teaching, while you’re in your zone. In an effortless, elevated way, try
to allow the forces to come through you in a holy way. That’s Divine help
coming through, and assisting you with what you need.
4. Another area the Arizal discusses is this work is yichud, a
unification. The Arizal was a master of drawing from the teachings of the Zohar
some practical unifications, meaning an intertwining of Divine letters and
Divine concepts into each other. These unifications elicited very powerful
results. They were safer than anything that came toward the Arizal because they
were strictly in the realm of though, not spoken.
From that whole concept we have a pre-practicing intention, which
we do before saying any prayer or mitzvah, when we say, “For the name of the
unification of the Holy One, blessed be He and his Divine Presence.” We say
that before we do something, in order to mesh and blend the male and female
aspects of the Divine into the act we are about to produce.
This is a practice and it’s rare. I was privileged to know a few
people who were involved in these unifications 24/7, keeping them in mind while
they were eating, walking, talking, doing mitzvoth, and anything and everything
else. They also did certain rectifications for sins, and recipes for higher
consciousness, etc. And there is even a rectification for exorcizing a person
who is trapped inside another body. That’s the power of these unifications.
Their lives were completely immersed, and they lived in a constant
state of higher consciousness. I was amazed when I had the opportunity to see
all this in action. And I think the proper way to experience this is to empty
your mind and to fill it up with a Hebrew letter. You’ll get the feel of the
power of Hebrew letters that way. Or, fill your mind with the Divine Name, the
yud and the hey and the vav and the hey and take note of what you experience.
Or, without Divine Names, bring into your minds-eye a trait you
have which is weak and mesh it together with a trait you have which is strong.
Watch what occurs.
5. This last topic is not in the Ari’s book Ruach HaKodesh, but
it’s connected to it. It’s the different ways the Arizal knew about souls. One
of the ways he knew about souls was by taking the soul out of a person’s body and
talking to it, interviewing it, checking its pulse Spherotically.
The Ari could look at a person’s forehead and see what they are
thinking and what mitzvah they have done. When he was learning, the Ari could
manifest the Sage or teacher simply by pronouncing their name or quoting them,
and he would actually manifest them, and all affiliated souls. The experience
here would be for us to just ask questions, and a good one is, “What does G-d
say about this?” Or “What does my soul say about this situation?”
We can feel a resonation, a smoothness about situation, or not. Or,
all of a sudden you may feel out of place. You may feel an out-of-context
emotional burst. Know that’s your soul talking to you, and ask it what the
emotion means
A FEW OF THE WONDER-FUL THINGS THAT THE HOLY ARIZAL --R. ISSAC
LURIA ZATZ'L-- TAUGHT US
[*A PERSONAL COLLECTION IN HONOR OF HIS YAHRTZEIT *]
1.The Arizal spent years and years going over one piece of Torah,
just a few lines. And he’d come up with more Torah on that one little piece, a
few lines, than anyone could handle. He’d produce an exponential amount of
Torah, in quantity and quality of teachings.
2. One of the things the Arizal taught us is this – the deeper we
go in receptivity (Kabbalah is receptivity) and the more we remain open to the
finest nuances of our study, the more we need to be able to be able to plug in
with our soul and tap into the ultimate wellsprings of wisdom.
3.He taught us about partzufim, about the idea of persona and
seeing spirituality and the sefirot as worlds that are all interconnected, all
outside of us as well as inside of us. We need to be aware of and connect up
with those worlds, as much as possible, to advance our souls.
4.The Arizal taught us about tzimzum, the constriction of creation,
and how that from the most constricted places come the most potential,
expansive, divine, infinite places where we need to reveal G-d in all these
constricted places, as the Arizal taught us.
5. The Arizal taught us about worlds, one higher consciousness,
world outlook, and ways of creation and ways of relating to reality. We need to
emulate his teachings. We need to look at these teachings and see how it
applies to us, so we can step into these worlds in practical ways in our lives.
6.The Arizal taught us that the whole world, after the breakdown of
reality, is filled with sparks that are found in the mundane places of life,
and they are calling out to us. To advance our souls as much as possible we
need to be able to hear those calls, to feel that drive inside to reveal G-d’s
light in places he’s normally not found.
7.The Arizal taught us all about bringing expanded consciousness
into our lives so that we can grasp that which is beyond us, that outer light
beyond us, in order to fill ourselves and to grow our soul. That is how our
souls grow.
8.The Arizal taught us the idea of an externality and an
internality of life. That internality is what we need to search for because it
seems that everything has an external look and feel, but under the surface and
over the starts there’s the most beautiful light we could ever see, and we need
to keep our soul focused on that, to expand it.
9.The Arizal taught us about the idea of unification, about
connecting things that don’t seem to be connected in order to produce and
reproduce new aspects of being and of life that wouldn’t be birthed without our
connection. Ultimately, we need to see the multiplicity of life as oneness. That’s
what unification is all about.
10.The Arizal taught us about Adam Ha Rishon, about Adam and Eve in
the Garden of Eden, as a place we are driven, in everything that we do as
humanity and as individuals. We need to get there with the ultimate being and
G-d connection.
11.The Arizal taught us that the world is made up of holiness and
anti-holiness. This is our struggle inside, and we need to step up as much as
possible with our souls, in order to fight this eternal holy war we are
fighting.
12.The Arizal taught us that worlds ascend. There is an ascent, an
elevation of reality at all times, and we see it especially on Shabbos. That’s
when we go to a place where there is nothing lacking, and everything is perfect
As-Is. We need to learn to take that ride, not only on Shabbos but on other
holidays and also personal times in our lives. We need to ascend that ladder as
often as possible to purify our souls.
13.The Arizal taught us that we have had previous incarnations. We
were here before and we’re here to finish our unfinished business now, and then
to carry on our perfected business, engaged in the world on a much wider scale
of personal and cosmic tikkun.
14.The Arizal taught us the world is made from the universal
principle of male and female, masculine and feminine, the Zeir Anpin and the
Nukva. As much as we possibly can, we need to unite them until they complement
each other within each of us, and interpersonally as well
Blessings,
