Journal Mitzvah

Journal Mitzvah

Sunday, July 31, 2022

IN PRAISE OF THE ARIZA'L

 


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,

Yitzchak Schwartz

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