The Messianic Temple [BOOK REVIEW]

Title: The Messianic Temple –– Understanding Ezekiel’s Prophecy

Author: Chaim Clorfene
Published by: Menorah Books Ltd
Manufactured: Jerusalem
Language: English
Format: Hardcover edition 8-1/2 x 11 inches in dimensions or E-book for Kindle, Nook, Apple iPad, iPod and iPhone, and Adobe PDF
Pages: 270 pages
Official Website: www.messianic-temple.com

The Author, Chaim Clorfene lives in Tzfat, Israel, where he spends much of his time writing and teaching about the Third Temple. He has authored many books [Path of the Righteous Gentile, Confessions of a Jewish Cultbuster] and wrote and directed the documentary video, Wake the Dawn, the Story of Jerusalem's Holy Temple.

The Messianic Temple presents a deep and well detailed description and physical design of future Temple based on Book of Ezekiel’s nine chapters which each and every verse are explained. More than 200 full color photos and top illustrations are showed. , Chaim Clorfene  added Classic commentaries and the Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto’s Mishkanay Elyon were quoted to illuminate us with the wisdom concerning Third Temple. As the author said “The first user-friendly edition of Ezekiel's vision of The Third Temple”.  Learning the design of the future Temple now in our days, it is as if we are actually building it, with the help of Hashem.

This book is wonderful, a decade of research, and with Chief Rabbis of the holy city of Tsfat’s endorsement –– we are very pleased to have such book in our collection to learn and is connected to Divine service.  The table of contents included “Understanding Ezekiel…”, “Introduction from Mishkanay Elyon…”, “Jacob called it a house…” and much more, there is Chapters 48 in total.

The book begins with the presentation of plan of Third Temple, and also other facts, details, pics and information …. ; In introduction we can to see a picture of tomb attributed to the Prophet Ezekiel, the Rambam’view about Third Temple, It brings prosperity and spiritual riches in holy words of Radak, the introduction of Mishkanay Elyon was translated and annotated by Chaim Clorfene sought its form, its structure, its rules and decress of Heavenly Temple. In chapter ‘Jacob called it a house, a Timeline of the Holy Temple’ are featured the Biblical events with their respective dates. And full explations of the verses.

This book is like a Tour guide, visiting holy places in Third Temple, containing insights of great Sages, Jewish Mystics.

Bring Third Temple consciousness into the world now by learning its design.

Reviewed by: Gilson Rodrigues de Arruda.

The Month of Elul – the Month of Teshuvah

Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism by RABBI MOSHE MILLER

 

The Sefer Yetzirah, an ancient Kabbalistic text attributed to Abraham who passed it on orally to his descendants, was committed to writing by the great Tanna Rabbi Akiva (who lived during the latter part of the first century and the early part of the second century of the Common Era).

The  Sefer Yetzirah teaches that each month of the Jewish calendar is associated with one of the sections of the fingers of the right or left hand, with a channel between two sefirot and the corresponding soul power, with one of the twelve tribes, with a particular sense (there are twelve senses identified in Sefer Yetzirah as opposed to the five we commonly describe), with a limb or organ of the body, with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and finally with one of the signs of the Zodiac (which are actually based on the Sefer Yetzirah). Some authorities also associate each month with a color.
 
The month of Elul is the sixth month of the year (the months begin from Nissan, although the days of the year begin from Tishrei). It is the month in which we prepare for the Jewish new year.

Joint of the hand: The middle section of the right thumb. Even though the thumb ostensibly has only two sections extending out of the hand, nevertheless Rabbi Yitzchak Luria (the Arizal) counts the metacarpal bone of the thumb as one of the digits.

Channel: From tiferet  to netzach, and in the soul powers – from compassion/mercy to victory/self-confidence.

Tribe: Gad

Sense: Action – this has the spiritual connotation of activating inner potentials and of rectifying that which needs rectification.

Limb or organ: Left hand

Letter: The letter yud (י)

Sign: Betulah (Virgin-Virgo)

Color: Red

The month of Elul is a preparation for the new year and particularly for the High Holy days. It is the time when the 13 Attributes of Mercy illuminate the world and a person can more easily rectify the past and lay down a path for the future. The letters of the word Elul (א-ל-ו-ל) spell out the initial letters of the verse אֲנִי לְדוֹדִי וְדוֹדִי לִי – I am (devoted) to my Beloved, and my Beloved is (devoted) to me (Song of Songs 6:3). The work of Elul is to actualize our devotion in daily living through teshuvah – returning to our soul root.

ABOUT:

 

 

Moshe Miller, a guest teacher at Ascent when he lived in Israel, was born in South Africa and received his yeshivah education in Israel and America. He is a prolific author and translator, with some twenty books to his name on a wide variety of topics, including a new, authoritative, annotated translation of the Zohar. He currently lives in Chicago.

The Sages of the Talmud and the Zohar state that “fifty gates of understanding were created in the world. All of them were given to Moshe (Moses) except for one” – the fiftieth gate. That one we have to complete by disseminating the wellsprings of the inner dimensions of the Torah (Rebbe Rashab).

And the earth will be filled with the knowledge of God as the ocean covers the sea-bed (Isaiah 11:9).

Written by: Rabbi Moshe Miller
Authorization granted for republication of the article: Kabbalah Decoded
Photography by: morguefile.com

Breslov Therapy tm

When a person doesn’t feel well he goes to a doctor who diagnoses his condition and prescribes a treatment. If the condition is a serious one then he made need to go to a specialist. So too Rebbe Nachman offers a diagnosis to every person at every age and in every situation in life, offering advice – treatment – as to what can be done. Rebbe Nachman is the all around specialist.

In Breslov Therapy, the following material is used:

1- Likutey Eitzot (Advice)
2- The Kitzur (Abridged) Likutey Moharan
3- Likutey Moharan
4- Likutey Tefilot (The Fiftieth Gate)
5- Likutey Halachot.

The very first step is to do what is called hitbodedut – secluded meditation. In hitbodedut one should attempt to pinpoint what one feels to be the root attribute in preventing one’s personal development in life.

One will find attributes and characteristics in oneself grouped in two categories: 1-cause/root attributes. 2- effect/resulting attributes. For example, one may suffer from haughtiness and anger. Haughtiness could be the “cause” for the “resulting” anger.

Thus haughtiness is a root attribute that requires priority attention.

Once you have located what you feel to be the “root” cause to other negative attributes, take a look at the book Advice/Likutey Eitzot in the chapter which closest relates to your root. Eg. for haughtiness take a look at the chapter Pride and Humility

After looking up the whole chapter, see which paragraph most relates to what you are going through. Then look up the corresponding lesson in The Kitzur (abridged) Likutey Moharan. Eg. paragraph 21 reads: 

Humility protects against sexual temptation. Pride arouses it (130). The number (130) refers to lesson 130.

It happens sometimes that you relate to several paragraphs in a single chapter, and you just don’t know which one to choose. If this happens take a look at the corresponding lessons in the Kitzur Likutey Moharan and see if your variety of choice still stands or not. If you still cannot choose between several lessons, then take a look at the corresponding prayers on the lessons in the Likutey Tefilot – Fiftieth Gate.

Once you have found what you feel to be the “right” lesson. Start reviewing the actual lesson in the Likutey Moharan over and over again along with the corresponding prayer in Likutey Tefilot.

Get so associated and adjusted to the lesson until you practically know it by heart. As you continue to review, the lesson begins to literally turn “alive” illuminating your life: You can use your life experiences to perceive the lesson, and also use the lesson to perceive your life. All the while continually saying the corresponding prayer along with your own additions.

Learning the lesson in Likutey Moharan activates the actual remedies, guidelines and advices in your life. The more you review the lesson (seeking deeper insight) the more refined and acute is the remedy. Praying to attain the lesson’s themes directs this “remedy” to where the spiritual wound is located.

This can be compared to having the right medication, but if you don’t apply it to the actual wound, it won’t help that much. So too, Rebbe Nachman’s deep, profound words actually create a spiritual remedy, but if you don’t daven to HaShem to direct the spiritual doses in the right area, you won’t get that far. Judaism is based mainly on articulation – in torah and prayer.

Thus far, we have 2 stages in Breslov Therapy: The diagnosis and treatment. The diagnosis is finding the right lesson that relates to you and the treatment in itself has 2 parts: learning the lesson to activate the remedy and davening about it through the Likutey Tefilot on the lesson joined with your own personal hitbodedut.

However, like in any surgery/treatment if there is no pain-killer the treatment hurts, especially in this case where the Rebbe’s teachings are going straight to the core of all physical/spiritual maladies. For this, one requires an anesthesiologist. Rebbe Nachman’s advice is to always carry along with you two lessons and constantly go with them – lesson 282 and 195.

By going over the lesson and accompanying prayer the treatment is in process. The next stage is the recovery process. This is the Likutey Halachot.

Likutey Halakhot shows you how to implement and apply the lesson’s themes, ideals and practical ramifications in day to day life, and how these items are found hidden and underlying various subjects in the Torah.

At the back of every standard edition of Likutey Moharan, you have an index showing the various discourses in Likutey Halachot that are based on a particular lesson in Likutey Moharan (for more details see “The Methodology of Likutey Halachot” at the appendix to the book “Through Fire and Water”)
In Summary:

1) The diagnosis is learning the right lesson in Likutey Moharan that relates exactly to what you presently need, offering you advice as to what to go about doing.

2) The actual surgery/therapy/treatment is in itself 2 stages – a) learning the holy words of the lesson have the power to activate the remedy while b) davening about the lesson using the Likutey Tefilot, Tehillim and especially your own hitbodedut “directs” the remedy to the appropriate place.

3) The recovery stage using the Likutey Halachot which guides you how to implement the lessons ramifications in your life on a broader scale to cover just about every area in life.Although note: since the process is painful you will need constant dosages of lesson 282 (Azamra) and 195. Also, these 3 stages may be done simultaneously.

The lesson in Likutey Moharan should be reviewed over and over again until you literally know it almost by heart. While reviewing questions will and should pop up. You may reach a point where the lesson might become a bit dry. At this point you should go a step deeper and begin to delve into the main commentaries on Likutey Moharan.

There are 4 main commentaries on the Likutey Moharan: 1) Parparaot LeChochmah 2) BeIbey HaNachal 3) Mey HaNachal 4) Biur HaLikutim.

As you learn the lesson with these commentaries, you will notice that they ask most of the questions that you yourself had (it makes you feel good that you are at least on the right track!!!).

Furthermore they will arouse your attention to newer and deeper perceptions into the lesson which will only enhance your feeling and excitement to connect with the “soul” of the lesson.

This is especially true with the fourth commentary, the Biur HaLikutim. Biur HaLikutim is a very, very deep commentary on the Likutey Moharan, which requires you to be totally absorbed into the lesson in order to actually understand what he is saying. The author developed 18 rules to learning the Likutey Moharan which he culled from the writings of Reb Noson.

With all this simultaneous input from the Likutey Moharan, Likutey Tefilot, Likutey Halachot, etc. you will amazingly see how your whole life will presently revolve around the lesson. You will be able to connect everything in life as hints to the lesson, from your daily prayer services to your spouse’s latest arguments.

For most people entering the Likutey Moharan with its accompanying commentaries is too deep to begin with. Therefore it is highly suggested and recommended to use the BRI’s translation and commentary to the Likutey Moharan.

The commentary collects all the commentaries as they relate to understanding the simple flow of the lesson, along with accompanying background info to all the verses, Talmudic, Midrashic, Zoharic and Kabbalistic quotes that Rebbe Nachman refers to.

The feeling and experience of how Rebbe Nachman “dresses-up” his perception in a Biblical verse or quote from Chazal is truly inspiring. It could literally ignite you with fiery words in your personal hitbodedut. In essence this is the “shpitz” of Breslov Therapy – to renew and enflame yourself with powerful and deep words of prayer to Hashem in order to effect positive changes in life.

People generally ask: Does Breslov Therapy really work? Is it proven and tested? From personal experience of almost 20 years it has helped tremendously!!! However, there are practical hints that you can use to see if you’re headed in the right direction:

1) If things do not change in life – have patience and keep on going until you do see some change.

2) If things start to get worse, this may also be a good sign, as Rebbe Nachman states, that at the beginning of a healing process, the sick person normally gets worse but then gets better.

3) If things get just worse and worse and worse – then you could assume that you are in the wrong direction, and take another lesson to work on.

Another point to take note of – if you do see positive changes in life with a specific lesson, continue until the moment you don’t see or feel any noticeable changes. Know then that you have received the main points of the lesson. Look into another characteristic that you would like to work on.

When getting adjusted to the Likutey Tefilot and Likutey Halachot on the accompanying lesson you will notice that they relate to you more than anything else in life. From this you can see Reb Noson’s greatness, in that he continues to be your best and most understanding friend in life.

If after all is said and done, Breslov Therapy still doesn’t work, then possibly the problem is more profound. I.e. if a person goes to a “doctor” to receive treatment, and then argues with the doctor about his treatment, the patient won’t get too far. One must trust and put his faith in the “doctor” that he is giving the best treatment possible.

So too, for Breslov Therapy to work one must have faith and trust that Rebbe Nachman knows his stuff and offers us the best diagnosis possible to help our situations. A suggestion to build this faith would be to learn the following books: 1) Rabbi Nachman’s Wisdom 2) Tzaddik – A Portrait of Rabbi Nachman.

Another important item which can help is to actually visit the gravesite of Rebbe Nachman in Uman, Ukraine, and simply ask him to open one’s heart and soul to the healing effects of his teachings. Judaism is based on the belief that tzaddikim never die and their spirit can still be found hovering over the grave.

By: Meir Elkabas

For more info please contact Meir Elkabas:
breslovtherapy@gmail.com
http://breslovtherapy.blogspot.co.il/

Beit David Kingdom

Shalom,

Please, visit the holy website Beit David Kingdom:

http://www.david-kingdom.022.co.il/BRPortal/br/P100.jsp

That we may serve Hashem with fear and love.

 

Tzaddik of Beit David Kingdom

Anatomy of the Soul [BOOK REVIEW]

Title: Anatomy of the Soul

By: Chaim Kramer and Avraham Sutton
Published by: Breslov Research Institute
Manufactured: Israel
Language: English
Format: Printed or eBook
Pages: 528 pages
Official Website: http://breslov.org/

Rabbi Chaim Kramer, founder of the Breslov Research Institute along with Rabbi Avraham Sutton, he is an Orthodox Torah mentor, teacher and author. For over 25 years, he has been learning and teaching prophetic Torah, Kabbalah, Talmud, Midrash, chassidut, prayer and meditation, and sacred song. So you can expect a well-crafted book to better understand the Kabbalistic teachings to practical use in our lives. Read more about authors in BRI’s website or visit: http://www.avrahamsutton.com.

Anatomy of the Soul, the title itself indicates us the concepts of inner self and spirituality that the pious, righteous, investigator for spirituality based on Torah Kabbalah must learn, using the various tools that the holy tzaddik, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught us. It is often very difficult to realize the Divine service, absolutely; this book helped a lot one to develop and apply knowledge, without skipping steps and gain a better focus on each area we need to improve.

A remarkable and lucid explanation of Kabbalah was added with text written by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, of blessed memory. Also, many references comes from Reb Noson, the closest disciple of Rebbe Nachman, simplifying further we need to know about Jewish mysticism.

In Anatomy of the Soul have 4 pages of the classic "Tomer Devorah" of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero with details about the Ten Sefirot.

As the vast array of powerful forces that God provided to help man, Rebbe Nachman explains how we can perceive them and uses them, so we can work to have a beautiful vessel to be in connection with the Creator.

“The heart is the source of judgment. The practice of hitbodedut rectifies the heart; it establishes a proper sense of judgment within a person, while at the same time lessening his potential for evil (L.M. I, 59:2)” –– This is easy to learn to be a good person.

A book to nourish our soul, mind and body with the Wisdom of the Torah.

Reviewed by: Gilson Rodrigues de Arruda.