Hearing, Yearning and Being Spiritually In-Tune

“If you will listen to the voice of God your God…”

– Dvarim (Deuteronomy) 28:15

Perhaps this statement in the Torah is talking directly to crazy people who hear voices. It clearly seems not to be talking to people who don’t hear voices – and yet this verse is found throughout the Torah! Either the Torah is specifically geared to people who hear voices or it is entirely irrelevent…or profoundly deep.

“The Torah contains within it everything that will ever happen in the Universe, from the biggest events to the smallest details…”

- The Vilna Gaon,
In the introduction to his commentary on the
Sifra D’tzniuta of the Zohar

How can the Torah contain within it the entire universe if it is merely a collection of stories that happened thousands of years ago? From the story of creation, Adam & Eve, the Jewish people in Egypt, etc. – where is there anything more than the mere stories? But rather, the Torah is the blueprint of creation and reality, and in order to uncover its depths and secrets one needs to know how to unlock the code, how to truly understand its meaning and infinite depth – which is why the Jewish people study and immerse themselves fully in the Torah day and night, taught by spiritual masters who have been taught its secrets.

The secret of listening to God’s voice is that deep inside everyone of us we are absolutely connected to God as we are part of God. “There is nothing other than God” (Dvarim 4:35) means that there is nothing in existence that is outside the realm of God, and everything in and of existence is God and is an expression of God.

“Rav Yehoshua Ben Levi said, everyday a voice from heaven calls out and says, woah to anyone who has not immersed themselves in the study of Torah – for a person is only free through the study of Torah…”

- Pirkei Avot, 6:2

The above teaching is a description of reality. The reality that anyone who is deeply and truly connected to the spiritual realm, to the real world, hears a voice of yearning, a voice calling upon the world to experience the soul and heart of life, to connect to their truest selves. A person who is in a place of yearning, of growth, of looking beyond the veil of this world to a deeper world, a world of oneness, a world of relationship with God – will hear this voice.

In truth, perhaps people who hear voices are on a higher level.

May we listen to the inner yearnings of our heart and of God’s calling out to us. The Hebrew month of Elul is a spiritually opportune time to listen to the yearning of our deeper selves, as expressed in the sounding of the Shofar throughout this month.

The Baal Shem Tov's Home in Medziboz

The movement that the Baal Shem Tov began became known as the “Chasidic” movement, from the Hebrew word “Chasid” meaning pious, righteous, invigorated and alive.

The time of the Baal Shem Tov’s birth and later revelation of his teachings came during a time to the Jewish people when the Jewish people were dejected from a false Messiah in Shabtai Tzvi, were beaten down with endless pogroms and attacks – but even more so from the lack of studying and experiencing the deeper realms of Judaism. The learned were few and even fewer were those who merited immersing themselves in the Kabbalah, inner dimension of Judaism, leaving the Jewish people as a whole missing out on the true experience, life and potential of Judaism – something that lingers especially today.

The Baal Shem Tov came in the early 1700s to spread the message that every Jew is not only royal and holy – but that every Jew is a small Messiah, and through their life they can bring about redemption. We must be in love with God, in love with the world and in love with Torah.

But how can a person come to to live this love? The Baal Shem Tov taught that inherently we are already in love, we just need to be in tune with that love. That comes about through passionate prayer and the study of the inner dimension of Torah, the Kabbalah and later Chasidic works.

Painting of the Baal Shem Tov and his followers going on one of countless mystical and magical tours

His teachings essentially were that every Jew is a master and every human being is deeply connected to God, they merely need to uncover it. Every Jew is a spiritual giant with an absolutely unique mission to spread their light to the world - and that we can tap into that hidden potential through powerful prayer with God and tasting the mystical secrets of Judaism.

Among the many stories about the Baal Shem Tov’s life are about his time spent in isolated prayer and communication with God in the Carpathian mountains. His later followers, and most especially his great grandson Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, said that going out to the woods and nature to speak to God in our own language is the secret to spiritual growth for every Jew and every human being.

The Carpathian Mountains, where hundreds of years ago the Baal Shem Tovwent out to speak with God

In Judaism there is a teaching that the day that a person dies and is born is a time where the person’s essence is revealed, and most especially their teachings to the world. Then may we tap into the Baal Shem Tov’s revolutionary teachings by going out today and everyday to a place of nature to speak to God, thanking God for having given us such a beautiful life, and asking to fully tap into our soul’s potential to reveal to the world that which we were meant to in this lifetime.

1)       Dvarim 28:47 – Understanding the Outcome of a Life Without Joy

1. In the Torah’s description of cause and effect, the Torah defines the outcome of suffering “…because you did not serve God with true happiness and a joyous heart”.
2. The verse does imply however that the Jewish people were serving God. That service would include: Praying, praying with a community, giving charity, studying, teaching, keeping kosher, keeping Shabbat, etc.
3. What is this verse of the Torah (literally the guide, hor’aah, Torah) teaching us about the nature of being Jewish: Is it more important what we do, or how we do it?
4. What is the Torah teaching us about the nature of cause and effect on a deeper level?

2)       Psalms 97:11 – “There is a light sown for a Tzadik / righteous person, and joy for those with a straight heart”.

1. a.       Otzar Hamidrashim / Collection of Medrashim, the 32 Character Traits of the Medrash, p. 268 – One cannot say that there is a Tzadik / righteous person who does not have joy and a straight person who is not filled with light. Rather this is the teaching: The righteous are those with a straight heart and their light is the light of joy.
2. b.       What does the verse mean by saying a straight heart? How is this defining the ability to be joyous?

3)       Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, Likutey Mohoran 4:5, 5:3 – A person is inherently happy, it is merely the confusion of the mind that results through mistakes of action and thought that confuse a person to be unhappy – for man’s natural state is of a “straightened heart of joy”…

4)       Proverbs 17:22 – “A joyous heart enhances one’s brilliance, and a broken spirit dries the bones”

1. Explination by Rav Shlomo Yitzchaki, Rashi- When a person is overjoyed with the life he has been given, his face shines with that joy.
2. What is Rashi adding that we didn’t know already? What is Rashi pinpointing?
3. Rashi is adding the element of, “the life one has been given” – which is being aware of the current abundant blessings in one’s life, appreciating, acknowledging the reality of all the good one has been given – not focusing on lack but realizing that there is no lack. When a person lives with the joy of the life he has – his face will shine with that joy.
4. What does the end of the verse teach us? What is the root of all “dry bones”, suffering, ailments, frustration, and difficulty?

5)       The Torah does not merely instruct, it rather defines reality and is the gauge of reality. What the first verse in Dvarim and the later teaching of Proverbs has defined for us is the following reality in the following quotes:

1. Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, Likutey Mohoran II, 24 – The essential means of being connected to God is only through being in a consistent state of absolute joy, and to strengthen oneself to fully distance sadness and depression with all of one’s strength. For all the sicknesses that come upon a person – all of them come because of a lack of joy (literally: destruction of joy).
2. Rav Shlomo Carlebach, quoting Rebbe Nachman in his own words – People think they’re unhappy because of all the difficult things in their lives, but really it’s just the opposite: Difficult things come upon a person who is unhappy….
3. Sefer HaMidot (Book of Character Traits), Joy – Success can only come to one who is filled with joy.

                                                               i.      One might think the opposite – that when I become successful I’ll be happy!

                                                              ii.      Rather being filled with joy is our natural inherent state that brings about health, success and a true ability to relate, and be open to God! Amen!

“When the Mashiach / Messiah will come, the people of the world will be in a state of confusion. But someone who spends time everyday alone talking to God will be as if waking up from a nap with a settled mind.”

- Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

Sichot HaRan

The second step in attaining a settled mind is by spending time everyday talking to God in solitude. When a person spends time alone talking to God, one can truly settle one’s mind as we open ourselves up to the infinite. In fact Rebbe Nachman says that when a person has an open heart, whatever he experiences in talking to God is just under the level of prophecy.

God is always communicating with us in a personal way – and through this Hitbodedut of talking to God, we open ourselves up to the relationship and communication. When a person truly does this, they will experience a new life with a new mind and open heart.

]]> http://www.thebethisrael.com/2009/05/08/talking-to-god/feed/ 0 http://www.thebethisrael.com/2009/05/08/attaining-a-settled-mind/ http://www.thebethisrael.com/2009/05/08/attaining-a-settled-mind/#comments Fri, 08 May 2009 08:07:08 +0000 Rabbi Ari Sherbill http://rabbiari.wordpress.com/?p=174 ]]>

“The main thing is to have a settled mind”
- Rav Levi Yitzvhak Bender,
Leading Rabbi of Breslov
Of the previous generation

Amidst the business of a workday with all of one’s activities, responsibilities and errands – is it possible to go through an entire day with a settled mind?

God created us with spiritual capacities and powers beyond what we could imagine. For just as God is infinite, we have that essence of infinity in our being made in the image of God.

So how can we access that amidst the busy days and lifestyles that we have?

There are two ways.

The first advice is to “walk with words of Torah”. That is to take something that speaks to our soul from the works of our sages and to walk with it throughout the day. To chew it over and to meditate on it as we are doing and living throughout the day.

To somehow have it in the front of our minds to anchor us in holiness and to allow our day to be an expression of that piece of Torah.

Doing this will entirely change our lives, relationships and perspectives on reality; as we will begin to relate to everything through the prism and lens of God’s mind.

Tomorrow we will go into the second form of advice, God willing.

I would love to hear from anyone who tries this and hear how it went for you.

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