To Reach And Connect To The Source

Dedicated in honor of the marriage of 

Levi Yitzchok and Tal Lauffer

May Hashem bless you to have endless  Nachas and simchos together. May your home always be lit up with the light of  Torah  and Mitzvahs. Moshiach Now! 

  

Dear friends, 

Thank you to all of you who were involved in the #TefillinforYitzi and the #ShabbatcandlesforYitzi campaigns in honor of my 48th birthday. Thank you to all who put on Teffillin and lit Shabbat candles in honor of my birthday. 

To give thanks, I bring you a dvar Torah based on a teaching of the Rebbe on Purim, in which light, Tefillin and a verse of my new chapter of Tehilim (49) are discussed. 

May you be blessed with good health, good parnassa and much nachas. 

Yitzi  

Print       Tetzaveh         Zachor         Purim

ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששון ויקר 

אמר רב יהודה אורה זו תורה... ששון זו מילה... שמחה זה יום טוב... 

ויקר אלו תפלין ... 

In the Meggila it says, "For the Jews there was orah (light), and simcha (joy), and sasson (gladness), and yekar (prestige or dearness)." This is also a part of Havdala we say at the end of Shabbos and Yom Tov, and many have the custom that everyone says this verse.

The Talmud tells us, "Rabbi Yehuda said. 'orah is Torah... simcha is Yom Tov (holidays)... sasson is circumcision... and yekar this is Tefillin...'" 

The Alter Rebbe asks: Usually Torah is called ohr, in the masculine, as the verse says, "v'Torah ohr," so we have to understand why here it's called orah, in the feminine? 

He explains that the Meggila is telling us that in the story of Purim we attained a much higher level than ohr, the light of Torah. Orah is like the word meira, which means to give light, it's the source of the light. On Purim we attained the orah, the source of the light of Torah, the essence of Hashem. 

We have to understand why we were able to attain such a great level. 

To understand this, we have to first understand that there are sometimes that we are affected from above, meaning that Hashem awakens in us a level of spirituality and a feeling of closeness to Hashem that we can't attain on our own. This is called an awakening from above. 

An awakening from above can occur in one of two ways. It can be directly from Hashem, meaning that we didn't do anything to cause or deserve it. Then there is an awakening from above that is motivated by something that we did below. When we do something on our own that brings us closer to Hashem it is called an awakening from below. So in this case, an awakening from below begets an awakening from above. 

If an awakening from above can occur on its own, what is there to gain  by causing an awakening from below? 

Because when you have an awakening from above that is motivated from below it is far greater - higher and deeper - than when it comes on its own. Because an awakening from below reaches much higher than where a self occurring awakening from above comes from. 

For example, Creation of the world is clearly an wakening from above, since there was no one below to motivate it. Hashem did it of His own accord. Yet everything in existence has to come through many levels and many transformations until it takes a physical form from nothing to something. Yet a miracle that is motivated from below and is clearly based on one's actions and trust in Hashem, comes directly from above the whole system, which is much higher. 

In other words, in a relationship there is the giver and the receiver. The giver could give without the input of the receiver and that is one level of the relationship, it's noble and loving and caring, but it is one sided. And then there is when the receiver is involved in the relationship, it brings out a whole new level of giving in the giver. 

And that is what is meant by what it says, "A woman of Valor is the crown of her husband," and "There is an extra wisdom that was given to woman more than in the man." That when she is involved in the relationship, and when the husband values her involvement and her thoughts it takes the relationship to a whole new level, because she brings out a whole new level of love in her husband, she becomes the crown of her husband. 

And in our case, the miracle of Purim in the time of Mordechai and Esther, which came specifically through the actions and the self sacrifice of the Jewish people. 

And this is also what it says in the Meggila, "And the Jews accepted what they initially started to do." The giving of the Torah was the start and on Purim we solidified our acceptance of the Torah of our own will. The giving of the Torah was an awakening from above, we were wowed and completely taken in by the moment, the sights, the sounds, the great love of Hashem for the Jewish people that we felt. It was one-sided, and it wasn't a total acceptance from our part. On Purim it was an awakening from below, we didn't experience the love from above, no wondrous sights or sounds. And with all that we accepted the Torah of our own will, totally and unequivocally. For a year, they served Hashem with self sacrifice, an awakening from below, that is how they "accepted what they initially started to do," they accepted the Torah of their own will. Then the greatest love of Hashem was showered upon the Jewish people - who are metaphorically the wife of Hashem - the miracles of Purim. 

And now we will understand why it says, "For the Jews there was orah," instead of ohr, because ohr refers to the wisdom of Torah, the light of Torah, that is what we got with the giving of the Torah. However, on Purim we got so much more than ohr, we got orah, the source of the light, the essence of Hashem. 

Perhaps we can say that one of the reasons that this verse is part of Havdala is because on Shabbos our essence is revealed, the part of us that is one with the essence of Hashem, the source of light, the orah. In other words, on Shabbos Hashem's essence is revealed, the orah is in the world. And because we want to draw down the orah into the whole week, we say this verse. As our sages say, "Shabbos, from it all the days (of the week) are blessed."

Women and girls usher in Shabbos by drawing down this orah into their homes and into the world. That is perhaps why it is such a powerful moment, and many women and girls use this time to pray for what is most important to them, because it's the moment Hashem's essence is drawn into the world.

The verse says, "For the Jews there was... yekar (prestige or dearness)." This is similar to what it says, "Adam (man) doesn't overnight with yekar." It is explained that this means that in the Garden of Eden, before the sin of the tree of knowledge, Adam who was perfect, couldn't handle a very great spiritual manifestation called yekar, because he wasn't great enough to contain it. 

Yekar has the numerical value of 310. This is what the Mishnah means when it says, "In the future Hashem will give every tzadik 310 worlds," that they will merit to receive a very great spiritual level similar to yekar, they won't be able to have true yekar, only what is represented by its numerical value. Since it is not exactly yekar, they will be able to receive it, but true yekar is much higher. And this is the meaning of "Adam doesn't overnight with yekar," that even Adam couldn't receive yekar. 

However in the Meggila it says, "For the Jews there was... Yekar," that they actually received true yekar as a reward for their awakening from below, serving Hashem with the self sacrifice of Purim. 

Every year, when we celebrate Purim, we get a taste of yekar. And through the mitzvah of tefillin, of which it says, "yekar this is  Tefillin," and specifically through the straps of the Tefillin, we draw yekar into the whole year. Because the straps of the Tefillin are there to draw down, from the mind to the heart and from the heart lower. That's why the straps have to be long, even reaching the legs. So too, they draw yekar into the whole year. And not the numerical version of yekar, but true yekar. 

May we merit to have orah (light), and simcha (joy), and sasson (gladness), and yekar (prestige), once again, with the coming of Moshiach, which will come as a result of our awakening from below, our self sacrifice to serve Hashem in this dark and bitter exile. May he come soon.