Saturday, January 31, 2009

Skin of the snake

Adam and Chava were naked, there was no garment between them and Hashem, as is said "your teacher will no longer be hidden and your eyes will behold your teacher".

[The three colors of the rainbow are the three klipos.]
About these three klipos it says "remove your shoes from your feet." When Moshe was enclothed in them he couldn't come close, but when he took them off he could come close."

[The fire of the korban [sacrifice] would remove these three klipos. The three klipos correspond to the three tefilos each day.]


Three klipos, about which is said "Hashem Elokim made for Adam and his wife katnos ohr [garments of skins] and dressed them". Originally katnos ohr with an aleph [meaning "light"]; after they sinned, katnos ohr with an ayin [meaning "skin"]. Ohr with an ayin ["skin"] is the skin of the primordial snake.

Tikunei Zohar 58

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Thursday, January 29, 2009

"No need for airplanes or the like"

The Holy One, blessed be He, will return to Tzion, to Yerushalayim the holy city, and to our holy land together with every Jew with "clouds of heaven" with no need for airplanes or the like, since via "cloud of heaven" (the clouds of the Holy One, blessed be He) we arrive much faster, effortlessly, "from His full, open, holy, expansive hand."

Lubavitcher Rebbe during Yechidus with members of Machne Yisroel, 26 Adar 5751 (in Loshon Kodesh)

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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Moshiach Will Be Here Now...If We Truly Want

It is self-evident that the Jewish people express the intrinsic desire for redemption. If so, all we have to do is desire in our hearts and, like the Manna, G-d will satisfy our cravings immediately! And the redemption will be realized through our righteous Moshiach, when the jar of Manna will be revealed and Moshe, the first redeemer, will also be the ultimate redeemer. Not only will this come speedily but it will occur without any special supplications, just the true, intense, inner desire in our hearts for the redemption. And, as the previous Rebbe expressed it: "We must only polish the buttons on our uniforms" and we will march out to greet our righteous Moshiach, may he come and lead us "walking upright," speedily and truly in our time.

Sicha of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, parshas B'chukosai 5746

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Monday, January 26, 2009

New Neshomas by the thousands!

The sages say (Yevamos 64b) that [Moshiach] ben Dovid will not come until all the neshomas are finished from the body, and the meaning is that now in exile there are very, very few new neshomas—the vast majority are gilgulim (reincarnations). But when these neshomas will be finished and new neshomas will come then there will be the redemption and a renewal of the ohr haganuz (hidden light) and there will be new neshomas. This is the meaning of "a young one will be for a thousand, etc."—that Hashem said: I will make fruitful and I will multiply you so that many, many will be born from you in order that all the neshomas should be finished from the body. This is the time of the redemption and Hashem says "achishena" (I will hasten it) because he will speed up the time of the redemption.

Shelah haKadosh, parshas Bereishis (Free Translation)

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Friday, January 23, 2009

The Future Is Here Now!

The matters of the time to come already exist now, only that they are concealed like precious stones and gems that are kept in a chest that up until now has been closed. But the key to the chest is in the possession of every single Jew, and each one has the ability to open up the chest any time he wants.

Sicha of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, 12 Sivan 5747

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Thursday, January 22, 2009

Moshiach was revealed, awaiting acceptance by Israel

Sicha of the Lubavticher Rebbe, Parshas Vayera 5752 (1992)
italics in original

There is added emphasis in our generation in which the service to bring the geulah in actuality via Dovid Malka Meshicha is completed and finished, and in the words of the holy Rebbe my father-in-law, Nosi Doreinu [leader of our generation--ed.], during his lifetime in this world that we have already completed and finished all the avodah, and we are standing ready for the acceptance of Dovid Malka Meshicha. And how much moreso after the continuation of the avodah of spreading the wellsprings outward over the course of 40 years [1951-1992 --ed.], in a way that "Hashem has given you a heart to know, eyes to see, ears to hear."

[...] In addition to what was explained that the metzius of Moshiach exists in the spark of Moshiach (Yechida) in every single Jew, the metzius [reality] of Moshiach exists also b'pashtus [simply and really --ed.] (Yechida klolis) -- as is konwn that "in every generation there is born one from the seed of Yehuda who is suited to be Moshiach for Yisroel" "one who is suited by his righteousness to be the redeemer, and when the time arrives Hashem will reveal to him and send him, etc." and if unwanted matters would not get mixed in and obstruct and interfere, etc., he would be revealed and come in actuality.

And according to the announcement of my father-in-law the Rebbe, Nosi Doreinu, the Moshiach of the generation*, that all matters of avodah have been finished and completed and we are standing ready for the acceptance of Moshiach Tzidkeinu, thus in our days all the obstructions and interferences have been nullified. And because of this there is (not only the metzius of Moshiach, but rather) also the hisgalus [revelation] of Moshiach, and now we need only to accept Moshiach Tzidkeinu in actuality!

* Yechida klolis, which illuminates and is revealed in the neshoma of the Nosi Hador, which includes the neshomos of all Jews in the generation.


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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

All Israel are One Soul

Know that all Israel are called one soul and all of them are inclusively called Adam (man)...as it is written "all the soul [singular] that came with Yaakov, etc." they are called one soul. Just like the 248 organs/limbs of the body are one person, so too Israel--each one is one organ/limb as they are called in the Zohar, "שייפא דגופא". Just as there are different levels among the organs and limbs—this is the brain, this is the heart, this is the eye, this is the hand, etc.—so too are there different levels within Israel, each one higher than the next but still "שייפא דגופא", they are connected and form one man.

Shelah haKadosh (Rabbi Yeshaya Horowitz), parshas Vayeshev (free translation)

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Monday, January 19, 2009

Moshiach: klipa will be purified

In the future it will not only be that the level of Melech haMoshiach will be exalted, but also the enemies will make peace with him. That is to say that the klipa will be purified and will acknowledge the truth, and all the nations will turn around to true belief. "On that day Hashem will be one and His name will be one."

The snake (נחש) will be transformed to choshen (חש"ן) and man will be transformed to a heart that is entirely pure. This is the secret of the existence of Malchus Beis Dovid and Moshiach, who seemingly did not come about in a holy way, G-d forbid. Because Yehuda came to Tamar and he thought she was a zona. And Ruth came to Boaz and revealed his feet, etc., but all of this was from Hashem. Dovid and Moshiach come out in a twisty way, because in the power of this all will be transformed to kedusha in the future and all the external (evil) things will become internal because the Holy One blessed be He will remove from them the evil and all that will remain is the kedusha from their source Above.

Shelah haKadosh, Parshas Vayeshev (Free Translation)

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Sunday, January 18, 2009

Getting closer, getting darker

The inner aspect of golus is the revelation of a new light, and as a result of drawing closer to it there is a distancing from the influence of Divine revelation. Therefore, the more we draw close to Moshiach the more oppressive golus becomes.

Lubavitcher Rebbe, Likkutei Sichos 2:361

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Saturday, January 17, 2009

Fear Pushes Off Geulah

In the Zohar, the designated purpose of a retzoo’ah (strap/lash) is to hit someone, that is, to punish him. Now, someone who is not frum, what does he see when he sees frum people? He sees people who are really involved with reward and punishment. But, more than the reward, he sees the punishments hanging over their heads.

He says to himself: “I don’t keep the Shabbat the way that you do. So what would you have done to me? You would want to come and stone me, no!?” In short, what he sees is the lash—if you do not follow the commandments, that lash will strike you. How do we understand what he sees in spiritual terms? We understand that as long as there is still a place that is empty of the true awe of God, it is an empty pit, scorpions and snakes will fill it, i.e., fear of punishment will fill it. And as long as there are such pits where it is not God that is feared but punishment that is feared, the redemption cannot come. Simply put, if a person sees only punishment, only the lash (the retzoo’ah), he cannot be redeemed.

As explained in Chassidut, a place that is empty of awareness of God is a place where a person does not sense the King, the Master of the Universe, but instead he senses gehenom, hell. Anyone who is experiencing only the lack of God’s Presence is experiencing the contraction or concealment of God’s infinite light and that person is unfortunately in gehenom already. As long as this is the case, we cannot yet make peace with Esau. The lash is like a string drawn very, very tight, ready to strike at any moment, and loosening to the point of completely freeing it is what is needed in order to reveal God’s Presence. And to this end we need the Torah of Mashiach.

From this article by R' Yitzchak Ginsburgh

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Friday, January 16, 2009

Every Jew redeemed--even those who don't want!

It is explicit in Rashi on the verse "and Hashem your G-d returned, etc" that the intent in this is every single Jew personally. In the words of Rashi: "He will take him by the hand mamash, man by man...they will be gathered each one of Bnei Yisroel"—we see that the promise of the redemption and the manner of the redemption, "Hashem...returned", comes as a continuation and as a consequence of the "reason" for the redemption, "you shall return to Hashem your G-d" "in the end Yisroel will do tshuva at the end of their exile", namely that in this, too, it is each and every one personally.

And so wrote the Alter Rebbe (Tanya, ch. 39; Hilchos Talmud Torah 4:3) that each and every Jew "will certainly do tshuvah in the end...כי לא ידח ממנו נדח (because none of them shall be thrust away)..."

According to this it includes even all the resha'im (wicked ones), even those that will not want to go out of exile—that the Holy One blessed be He will even awaken them in tshuvah and will redeem them from exile as we see explicitly in the verse: "it will be on that day that a great shofar will be blown and the ovdim (those who are lost) from the land of Ashur and the nidachim (those who are pushed away) in the land of Egypt will come and they will bow down to Hashem on the holy mountain in Yerushalayim" (Yeshayahu 27:13), that even those who are stuck in their exiles to such a degree that they become ovdim and nidachim (lost and pushed away) and they have no desire to leave the exile—even they will be awakened in tshuvah to such an extent that they will "bow down to Hashem on the holy mountain in Yerushalayim".

And as has been said numerous times, based on the language of the sages in the response to the question of the "wicked son" in the Pesach Haggada: "if he was there, he wouldn't have been redeemed"—that it seems perplexing: what is the need and what is the benefit from telling a wicked one that he has no connection to the Seder, which is in rememberance of the Exodus from Egypt? The explanation is that the intention is not to push away the "wicked son" from the Seder and to inform him that the redemption is beyond him, on the contrary—the response to him emphasizes that only "there (in Egypt) he wouldn't have been redeemed", but in the future redemption, since it follows after the giving of the Torah, he too will be redeemed.

And this illustrates to us, in passing, the wonderous effect of Matan Torah, where the Holy One blessed be He said "I am Hashem your G-d" in the singular, that YKVK is brought down to be the power and the life of every single member of bnei Yisroel, and therefore every Jew, even a wicked one like this, and so he is assured that through this power [which was bestowed upon him at Matan Torah] in the end he will be redeemed...

Lubavitcher Rebbe, Likutei Sichos XI, p.2 (Free Translation)

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Thursday, January 15, 2009

Moshiach's level is so great, it brings tzaddikim to tshuva

לאתבא צדיקייא בתיובתא—ראה זח"ג קנג

"Tzaddikim will be brought to tshuva"—this is specifically referring to Moshiach, as explained that Moshiach is the one who will bring tzaddikim to do tshuva because the level of the neshoma of Moshiach is incomparable to the level of the rest of the neshomas. This is known from the writings of the Arizal—that the level of neshoma that the greatest of Yisroel received prior to Moshiach are only from the aspects of נרנ"ח (nefesh, ruach, neshoma, chaya). Adam Harishon merited to chaya, which is not the case with Moshiach who will merit to Yechida [essence of the neshoma, one with Hashem], the Yechida klolis (the collective Yechida) of all of Yisroel. And the aspect of Yechida is incomparably greater compared with נרנ"ח (nefesh, ruach, neshoma, chaya).

Lubavitcher Rebbe, Sefer Maamorim Meluket I, p.160 (Free Translation)

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Thursday, January 01, 2009

An Unrefined Body Cannot Perceive Refined Physicality

R' Shmaryahu Gurary told a story in front of [the Rebbe Rashab] from R' Yisroel of Koznitz, that he said to his son "I no longer have a body". So his son grasped his [father's] hand and said "here is a hand." His father answered -- "you are touching with [an unrefined physical] body."

The Rebbe Rashab said (free translation): We understand [...] that the body is not a body before it becomes unified [with the spiritual].

Toras Sholom, p. 211

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