PARSHA TOOLS BECHUKOTAI

By: Rabbi Yitzchak Schwartz
PARSHA TOOLS BECHUKOTAI

'TRANSCENDENT TORAH POWER' TRANSCENDENT TORAH POWER

Shalom and Blessings

HOW DOES EXTRAORDINARILY DILIGENT TORAH LEARNING DRAW DOWN BLESSED DIVINE PROVIDENCE?

1. 'If you conduct yourselves according to my Laws and you guard my Mitzvot and you do them... Then I'll give you your rains in their season...etc...' [Vayikra 26 verses 3 & 4]. Rashi, the Torah's main commentary, brings from our earlier sages, that we are urged [not commanded] to engage in a deep effort-filled manner of Torah study, not just the normal Divinely commanded mitzvah of Torah study, but rather what's called being 'AMAL' [extraordinary concerted effort] in Torah. To the extent that we are 'AMAL' in Torah, we will draw down benevolent Divine Providence. The Parsha goes on to list positive physical and spiritual Providential Blessings----such as---abundant rain and crops in their proper seasons, success in peace and war, abundance in the area of fertility and the Blessing of being able to walk fearlessly and blissfully with Hashem in our day to day lives. These Blessings are followed by Curses or a shutting down of Divine benevolent providence, resulting from a lack of 'AMAL' in Torah......

For those of you who are starting to pick up on my style of asking questions [i.e...not taking any peculiarity for granted], you will probably anticipate what we need to ask at this point----------What does this 'AMAL' in Torah consist of ? How does this type of Torah learning effect the learner and the world so much that it's considered to be the primary catalyst of Divine Providence ?! --------

I can give you the short answer or the long one. It would probably be easier for both you and I to go for the short answer. But you know what----I'm not going to do that. First of all, I couldn’t even begin to do justice to the massive topic of Torah and its transcendent power. Besides that, we're really getting close to SHAVUOT--the Holiday of receiving our annual individual Torah portions.....So get yourself comfortable, this might take a while--but we're in no hurry , what we don't finish this time, we can always complete in the next week or two....

'HASHEM, TORAH AND YISRAEL ARE ONE'

2. It's taught in the mystical writings of our Sages the following statement, 'HASHEM, TORAH AND YISRAEL ARE ONE.' I have to admit that this is the most mind-blowing---pregnant with meaning idea I've ever heard. In line with the tradition of my Rebbes, who taught me that when learning a Torah concept, first try to get your own 'take' on the meaning----and only afterwards, check out what the commentaries have to say about it [you'll actually understand both the concept and the commentaries understanding of it much better, not to mention the fact that you'll 'polish up' your soul more powerfully by primally engaging the concept], let us ponder the ramifications of this mystical statement [I suggest that at this point, you avert your eyes from the computer screen for a few minutes and write down all the possible ramifications that you can come up with. This will serve actually as this week's parsha Tool, since the main tools will be featured in the continuation of this week's essay...].

Here are a few ramifications I came up with in my ponderings;

a. THE CORRESPONDENCE FACTOR The deeper I properly connect with Torah, the deeper I connect with myself and with Hashem as well as with all of reality [since the Torah is a 'Blueprint of Reality' as our sages teach---Hashem looked into the Torah and Created the World {based on it}]. Conversely, the deeper I connect with myself, the deeper I connect with the other dimensions of Hashem and Torah and Reality. And finally, the deeper I connect with Hashem, the deeper I connect with all the other areas! Most likely, these types of correspondences are facilitated by some type of template common to all these dimensions, such as a universal persona [called in Kabbalah a 'partzuf']....Press button A in the dimension of Torah and effect the corresponding button A in the G-d, Yisrael and Reality dimensions!

b. THE INFINITE INTERINCLUSION FACTOR Any part of infinity is as infinite as the whole of infinity. If you tap into one aspect of infinite G-dliness, you tap into all the rest! Since G-d, Torah and Yisrael are all one--the same rule holds true by all of them. The entire Torah can be revealed in any specific word of Torah. The totality of a person can be found in any specific body part or character trait...etc...[for example, a proper foot massage sends healing to the entire body and even more important than this----the rectification of one character trait of one person, can rectify that identical point in many other people , and even in all of mankind, depending on how thorough the rectification was].All the realm of space can be tapped into by tapping into one area of space--[king Solomon, with his amazing wisdom, knew exactly which underground veins in the earth of the land of Israel, matched the corresponding terrains and plants all over the globe and was able to thereby grow all the earth's plants in Israel]! The same is true of the dimension of time [..ie..tap into the unique power of a certain Holiday, and that same power is activated the entire year].

c. THE TIKUN FACTOR The purpose and inner drive of Creation, as taught by our Sages, is to reveal Hashem's presence in the world where it's hidden. There are various expressions for this-------fixing that which is broken, raising that which is fallen, uniting that which is disunited or bringing order into that which is chaotic. In one word----'TIKUN'. Certainly the mystical statement that Hashem, Torah and Yisrael are one---is coming to enable TIKUN. And sure enough, we find within each of these realms and in their interconnections, built in mechanisms facilitating TIKUN; The Torah has a higher and a lower manifestation, as does Hashem, Yisrael and the world[s]--------all designed to enable the higher levels to elevate and fix up the lower levels.

UPCOMING ATTRACTIONS

3. As you see, this can get very lengthy. However it all comes together to reveal the transcendent power of Torah and its effect on all other aspects of reality. What we hope to bring in the next week or two is a list of transcendent Torah approaches that will serve to do the following:

a. Answer the questions that we asked in the beginning of this essay...

b. Illustrate the ramifications of our essay's mystical statement.

c. Provide practical techniques for yourself in order to harness your own powers of transcendence in Torah learning...

Stay tuned and Shabbat Shalom
Yitzchak

Website: http://www.paradiseprinciple.com/

Email: yitzchakschwartz@msn.com