Remember me? Sorry about the prolonged absence, it’s been a while, since Chanukah to be precise. Which was really fun in Israel, people get really ingenious with their menorahs and cupcake fillings. Much time has passed and much has happened. I had many visitors to Israel. First my sister, Rachel, was here, followed a week later by my mother who has never visited Israel before. We had a wild time and since I got a camera for Chanukah (thanks dad) pictures will be posted soon. Me and mom rented a car and traveled all over the country, experiencing everything from Shabbos overlooking the Wailing Wall, climbing Masada at sunrise, floating in the Dead Sea, eating a fish caught and grilled to order from the Jordan river, dancing with Euthopian Jews in Sfat, and finally hanging out with family in Tel Aviv. I don’t think we could have squeezed another bathroom break into the program.
Another reason I’ve held out in writing is because I was holding my breath with the country, as you probably have read about in every newspaper, 24 hour TV news station, facebook updates, and on the streets, Israel and Palestine were engaged in a war. Solidarity with all those engaged; the State of Israel and Palestinian civilians. Although I still have an impossibly hard time wrapping my head around conflict, I am in accordance with the way Israel reacted -- with strategic and deliberately aimed attacks on Hamas (whose own disregard for human life, to hide and fire rockets from schools, hospitals, and mosques) in order to protect Israel. I was really bothered by the coverage on the war internationally; the rhetoric was very misleading referring to Israel as occupying Gaza, colonial state, offensive action, disproportionate force. If only these statements were looked at in their true context. I have much to say on the topic, and urge anyone who has questions, comments, alternate views to engage me in more dialogue on the matter.
I don’t want to use this entire blog entry talking about the war in Gaza, mainly because I don’t believe I need to excuse or defend Israel for what occurred. Nevertheless, many lives were lost, may they rest in peace and may their families be comforted, and may the people find the strength to demand a government that will defend and protect their rights to a safe and comfortable life.
Despite all of this and all the other heart-wrenching news that fills our tubes across that world, I am still a firm believer that this world is good. That even though we may look around and see violence, poverty, hatred, atrocities, filth and we are tempted to think that this world has fallen to shit…or is on the fast track in that direction, I still believe that Peace and Love is not only the ultimate answer, but was the ultimate intention for this place.
Can I take a moment to reiterate that I absolutely love learning Torah!!! I have never experienced anything so incredibly challenging and pleasurable in my entire life. I feel like a child trying to make sense of the world, testing the laws of nature, seeing the consistency of everything I am learning and then BAM all the pieces fit. Every single little concept learnt plays out on every single microcosmic level from the most practical man-made business dealings spanning to the most transcendental spiritual plane, one idea governs it all. I feel as if I am tuning into the universal song and it’s an incredibly blissful experience.
The other day the author of the bestsellers “To Know G-d” and “Genesis and the Big Bang”, Gerald Schroder (http://www.geraldschroeder.com/age.html) came to give a lecture at Mayanot. I highly recommend his books which point out that nothing science says is contradictory to what the Torah explains, he even showed us that NASA’s definition of the Big Bang Theory and Nachmanidies’ (a mideval Kabbalists and Halachist) explanation are identical even in the wording…I didn’t know NASA was so deep! Mr Schroder told us, “If the G-d in this book doesn’t match the G-d we see and know in this world, then this is all nonsense and what are we doing here wasting our time”?
I wish I could capture the feeling one experiences when you learn a little bit of truth about the universe, when you can suddenly and consciously sync yourself up with G-d. Excuse me for being risqué, but the feeling of truly “knowing something” feels as good as the intimacy shared between man and woman. Biblically, the code word for having relations is “to know”…ie. Adam knew Eve. I always thought this was just a bad translation, but now I understand. To know something, to experience a spark of truth and that it resonates with your entire being, permeating your soul and heart…its cataclysmic, its ecstatic, it feels so damn good. And this is the headspace I’ve been in since arriving in Israel.
Again, that was another tangent that I didn’t mean to get into but I just had to tell you how I feel, and those who know me (not in the above defined way… but all my friends) know that I like to express my feelings. But to the point already..my objective for writing with Blog entry is to explain about the 10th Day of the month Shvat on the Jewish calendar. Which is a very special day around these parts. I am studying at a Chassidusha school and one thing Chassids are known for is that they love their Rebbe’s. Today is day of the passing of the previous Lebuvicher Rebbe (Of Blessed Memory) and the date that the most recent Rebbe, Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson (Of Blessed Memory), accepted the position of Rebbe and delivered his first mimar (I guess you can call it an acceptance speech). The name of his composition was Bossi L’Gani. For those of you who have been following my blog since the very beginning, you’ll get the utterly undeniable divine interplay here, the way G-d’s hand has weaved itself into the fine details of the fabric of my life. And so I wanted to talk about the speech, aptly title Bossi L’Gani (translation: I came into my garden).
(listen as you read to set the mood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt2_uET0jhE&feature=PlayList&p=5F1190BEFC29AEA2&playnext=1&index=2)
The sentence “Bossi L’Gani” are quoted from King Solomon’s Shiur HaShiurim (Song of Songs) and in accordance with my above analogy about the intimacy between man and wife, the Song of Songs, which can be found in any Tanach, is perhaps the most explicit of the writings in the Jewish Tradition. On the surface, the text is about as graphic and risqué as a $5 naughty romance novel, but on a deeper level, it expresses the relationship intrinsic between man and G-d. The Rebbe took a line from Shiur HaShiurim “I came into my garden, my sister, my bride” and used it as his statement of purpose when accepting the position of Rebbe. His message was not only beautiful, but it was inspiring and empowering, charging us, the entire world, as the beloved generation with the mission of bringing G-d back into this world (perhaps Obama was taking notes?) .
The basis for the Rebbe’s mission statement, although extraordinarily spiritual and ambitious, is rooted in a principle found in the boring and practical technicalities discussed in Jewish law (Halacha). The laws of ownership and acquisition are thoroughly elucidated upon in the Gemara. According to Jewish Law, one way to acquire an object is to change it original form. For example, if I steal your purse and turn it into a belt, although I would still be guilty for stealing and legally would have to compensate you for the object, since I permanently altered the form of the purse into a belt, the object’s very essence is changed. This alteration caused the purse to loose its original status and relationship with the previous owner and therefore ownership changes hands. Did you follow that line of reasoning? The physical change the purse underwent resulted in a change of ownership because the essence of the object was irreversibly altered.
The Gemera continues the discussion on “changes”, another Rabbi comes along and points out a subtle technicality, Rav Pappa says, “Wait a minute. If someone steals earth from a neighbor and turns it into a brick, he does not acquire it because it can again become earth. But if he stole a brick and made it into earth, he does acquire it”. Rav Pappa points out that while in the first example, the change is reversible, in the latter example, although a new brick can be made from the earth, the original brick can never be restored “it has a new face”. This becomes a rule of thumb on the discussion of acquisition through “change”: If the change is reversible, then the original ownership is maintained.
Going back to the acceptance speech, Rebbe Schneerson takes the extremely practical laws on acquisition and applies it to a spiritual realm. The phrase “Bossi L’Gani” or “I came into My Garden” is a reference to G-d’s presence and the garden is a reference to the world, which may seem more like an untamed jungle rather than a garden at times. Since G-d created the world, He holds the deed, He’s the original owner. Since the phrase was worded “gani” (my garden) it is clearly denoting ownership.
Following the story of Creation in the Torah, G-d creates the world and the Garden of Eden with the intention that it would be a dwelling place for G-d, as Gensisis reads: “The divine presence rested in the garden”. Nevertheless, the ‘world’ has a will of its own; an existence separate from the Creator (the very nature of “creating” is to make something independent of the creator). So after G-d went and created the earth, the inhabitants “changed” the essence of the earth through a myriad of sins (I don’t particularly like the word ‘sin’ but I am using it to refer to an action that separates us from our connection with G-d), you know what I am talking about… the eating of the apple, brothers killing each other, etc etc until it appeared that worlds essence changed, the G-d no longer was hanging around. It seems as if the ownership of the world was taken from HaShem’s hands and the initial intention to be a creation of goodness was irreparably changed. At times, this is seemingly so, looking around it seems sometimes that G-d relinquished the ownership too. Violence, famine, hate, war, poverty, excessive materialism, unemployment all validate this assumption… So where is G-d?
And so the Rebbe, using the Halacha about ownership explains that Bossi L’Gani…He comes back to His Garden. He still owns this place and therefore the “change is reversible”. All we just have to return it to Him, because G-d is still owns this joint, and nothing has changed that can’t be fixed. The initial intention of this world, to make is a place where G-d’s presence can be seen and felt everywhere, still holds true. And so we mustn’t loose sight of what the world was created for.
After learning this, I understand the concept of “the coming of the Messiah” a lot better. The Messiah is an often discussed idea in Judaism and refers to a time (which could happen at any moment) in which This World, the very world we are living in now, reaches a state of perfection. And although is hard to imagine what a “state of perfection” would be, we learn from Bossi L’Gani, that perfection is merely to return the world to the place it was when it was created, a state of its initial intention: goodness, kindness, and peace.
And since we know our bodies are a microcosm for the world, let G-d into your garden, let Him reclaim it. We are all vessels of holiness. L’Chaim.
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