This Week On The Foundation Stone:

Haftarah: Chukat – Balk: Variations on a Theme

Table Talk: Chukat

Parah Adumah – Links to Essays and Podcasts

Table Talk: Balak

The Torah Connection: Rabbi Yaakov Shlomo Weinberg

Life Lessons: The Heileger Chana Chaya: Chukat: Are You Missing The Miracles? and Do It Anyway

The Music of Halacha: Telling it Like It Is – An Introduction to the Laws of Rebuke

Bentzion of Medziboz’s Stories of the Baal Shem Tov: The Well of the Baal Shem Tov

Keter Shem Tov: Chapter 145

Forms of Prayer: Using the Siddur As A Workbook

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

John, Doctor Subtilis, of the village of Duns in Berwickshire, Scotland, (1266-1308) developed the notion of “Haecceity” as a way of giving expression to the uniqueness or the indivisible “thisness” of a person. His followers were called “Dun’s Men” from where we get the notion of a “dunce” or stupid fellow who believes himself subtle.

I don’t know about the subtle part, but I do believe in the importance of appreciating the uniqueness of a person.

A great debate rages in my family whether each of us must first focus on becoming individuals and only then submitting to God or vice versa. Is the submission of a person who does not have a sense of self, worthwhile? Is it too risky to focus on self-development? Even if we acknowledge the importance of developing ourselves: Do we consider the challenges of our times so terrible that we must sacrifice our self-development in order to fight for the Jewish people?

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

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“There will be no eating or drinking”: is only necessary if we exist as we are now; souls and bodies.

“Crowns”: indicate relationship, as with the Mitzvah of Brit Milah/Circumcision which is the shaping of a crown on the place of relationship. The Crowns indicate the level of relationship we have achieved.

“Crowns” are also reminiscent of Sinai when they had two crowns one for “We will Do” and one for “We will relate.” The Crowns were a reflection of what they had achieved through experiencing Revelation. They lost the crowns when they sinned with the Golden Calf. Moshe collected the crowns and offers them to us on Shabbat, the day on which we can experience the level of Olam Habah/World to Come that we have earned.

The Crowns also reflect the teaching of the Zohar that each letter of our prayers is raised to heaven by an angel, and the angels if empowered by our prayers, dance around each other as they fly to heaven, creating new combinations of letters and words, that all go to decorate the Divine Crown. The Zohar also teaches that each Mitzvah we perform can fly upward and decorate the Divine Crown. As we enhance the Divine Crown we are actually preparing the Crowns we will wear in the World-To-Come. They will be an exact reflection of our efforts and , therefore, we will be able to fully relate to and enjoy the Shechina – The Reflection of the Level of Relationship Achieved by The Perfected Community – without any dissonance.

The Soul in its natural state cleaves to God. We do not need to create a new reality that seems so beyond us. D’veikut – Attachment to God – is the natural state of the Soul. That is why the Ramchal adds the words Teshuva – to Return to our natural state.

We also found the three levels of barriers repeated.

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

The Ramchal describes “Attaching to God’s Kedusha – Sanctity” and then being able to enjoy our grasp of His Kavod – Presence. The concepts of Kedusha and Kavod are associated in the praises of the Angels that we describe in Kedusha: “Holy, holy, Holy…His Kavod – Glory – fills the earth.”

Kedusha is not the boundary, but the unique relationship that is created by its boundaries. The Kedusha of the relationship between a husband and wife develops from an appreciation of the uniqueness of what they have. When two young people marry they have only the boundaries of marriage, but not yet an appreciation of how they help each other grow and develop. As they grow together, they begin to appreciate how they are shaping each other and that they have something that reflects the deepest parts of each of them. They develop an awareness of the uniqueness of their relationship. They develop the sense of Kedusha.

As they increase the Kedusha of their marriage, they a) have a greater sense of the presence (Kavod) of the other in their lives, and b) it becomes heavier (Kavaid) or more intense.

A soul that successfully masters herself understands that she has a unique relationship with the Creator. She develops her strengths and attaches to her Source. Her relationship with God is unique, or in our terms, Kadosh. She can then experience the joy of God’s Presence (Kavod) and the relationship intensifies (Kavaid.)

We now say: “Blessed be the Name of His Glory”, because we can speak of His Kavod only with an appellation, a name. However, once we achieve D’veikut – attachment, we will not speak of “Shem kivod malchuto” but “Kivod Malchuto.”

The Soul forms a unique attachment to God.

The Soul enjoys the Intensity of God’s Presence without 1) anything holding her back, 2) anything blocking her development, and 3) any barrier between God and her.

The first verse describes “Az” as in “Az Yashir” of the Song of the Sea. It is the pleasure of the moment of realization. The Wow!

The second verse is a description of living with God’s countenance.

The third describes the creation of Satisfaction, for which we often pray: “Sabeinu”. The creation of satisfaction will be developed as he continues to define Shleimut – Perfection & Chisaron – Lacking.

We compared these ideas to the two verse the Ramchal quotes in Messilat Yesharim – Path of the Just, Chapter 1: (Psalm 73) “As for me, Closeness to God is what is good to me.” Note the stress on me; my unique experience.

2) (Psalm 27) “One thing I have asked…” The soul reaches a stage in which she realizes that there is only one good.

We compared this too to Derech Hashem – The Way of God – Section One, Chapter 2, Paragraph 13.

The Ramchal then seems to wax poetic: “Verses in every corner of the prophets and Writings, Revealed to all the nations, Search from above the Torah and Read!”

Once you understand these three verse, you will discover hints throughout the Prophets and writings, tucked away in the corners. You will have begun a process that will only expand until you realize that this concept of the Torah offering a relationship with God is revealed throughout all its words, and then you will be able to develop it more and more. It will not stop expanding. You will only have a sense of Shleimut – Perfection being more. Which is why the Sechel – Intellect said earlier that it did not want to begin with Perfection: It is impossible to be defined. In fact, this sense of constant expansion is so intense that God created a sense of satisfaction so that the person will not experience the search as an eternal quest without ever achieving any peace.

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

Call (218)486-1616 – Enter ID 375711

We began with the Intellect’s statement on the bottom of pages 18 -19 in The Knowing Heart:

1) A person achieves Dveikut – Attachment as he or she achieves greater self-mastery.

2) Dveikut – Attachment is to God’s Kedusha – Sanctity.

3) Dveikut allows one to enjoy his or her perceptions of God’s Glory.

4) That enjoyment will not be limited by any of the three major barriers: 1. Hindrance – Someone or something holding you back from moving forward, 2. Barrier, and 3. Impediment.

5) The Ramchal quotes three verses to explain and define each of the three limitations to enjoyment.

6) Whenever the Ramchal quotes more than one proof-text, he intends to prove more than one point.

7) The three limitations are discussed in prayer: Amidah: Avot: “Melech ozer, u’Moshia, U’magain – The King Who Helps, saves and shields.

Hindrance refers to ego interfering with attachment: Jacob holding on to Esau’s heel (where the Serpent of Eden attacks) is holding Esau back from asserting power – a positive hindrance. Serving God without integrity – with self-serving motivation – is ego. The attacks of others in word and deed create barriers. Our inability to accept that God uses His abundant blessings to guide us toward the fulfillment of our purpose in life is the impediment.

9) This too is in the Amidah: Gevurot: Mechakail Chaim – God sustains us in order to help us achieve Techiat Hameitim – World to Come – which is our ultimate purpose.

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

Da’at Tevunot Class Wednesday night 8:30PM (NY Time) call 218- 486-1616 Enter ID 375711 when prompted

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

How should I respond to a complete stranger who calls me and literally weeps with desperation as he begs me to pray that he find a way to support his family? I told him I would pray for him, but wondered if he prayed for himself. Any ideas of how I should respond to such requests?

Author Info:

Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

Just posted Spiritual exercises for Shavuot http://bit.ly/AzJrW

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

Hope to post Exercises for Shavuot later today: http://bit.ly/M7Fhq

Author Info:

Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.