| Written by Tzvi Fishman |
| Saturday, 06 December 2014 |
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Once again, because of the problem of revealing esoteric Torah ideas to an internet audience of all ages, levels of Torah learning, and religions; and because of the author's paucity of true esoteric knowledge, we will only present some selected insights into the deeper meanings of Hanukah. At the time of the Hanukah story, under the pernicious influence of Hellenism, the Jewish People became so assimilated and so estranged from G-d, they failed to see the miracle in the incredible military victory of the heroic band of Hasmonean rebels. It took the miracle of the Menorah to make them realize that just as G-d had kept the tiny cruse of oil burning for eight miraculous days, it was also G-d who had miraculously led the Hasmonean fighters to victory.
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 06 December 2014 ) |
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| Written by Tzvi Fishman |
| Sunday, 12 October 2014 |
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In our previous articles on the High Holy Days, we traced their connection to Tikun HaBrit, the rectification of the covenant of sexual purity between G-d and the Jewish People. We saw that both the sounding of the shofar on Rosh HaShana, and the service of the Kohen HaGadol on Yom Kippur are designed to cleanse the Divine channel of illumination, the sefirah of Yesod, which becomes blocked because of our sins.
In the spiritual world of the sefirot, where man is considered the microcosm of Creation, it is the Yesod that parallels the organ of the Brit milah. When viewed with this understanding, the High Holy Days come to help us rectify this very fundamental aspect of our lives.
A Succah
As we approach the holiday of Succot (the Feast of Tabernacles), we will present some basic Kabbalistic explanations of the four species, and of the succah (tabernacle), to show how the festival of Succot continues this process of rectification.
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 11 October 2014 ) |
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| Written by Tzvi Fishman |
| Friday, 23 May 2014 |
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It’s so great to be a Jew! We are still in the midst of the fantastic high of Pesach and we are already gearing up for the next great high of Shavuot – and the giving of the Torah. So let's take a look at Sefirat HaOmer (the counting of the Omer). Like all of the other commandments, Sefirat HaOmer is loaded with Kabbalistic significance. Without the Kabbalah, we would not know what we were doing when we put on tefillin, wave the lulav, or blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah.
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 23 May 2014 ) |
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| Written by Tzvi Fishman |
| Saturday, 12 April 2014 |
 The holiday of Pesach celebrates our freedom from the bondage of Egypt with the goal of establishing the Nation of Israel in Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel). In addition to our physical liberation from the slavery of Pharoah and his evil taskmasters, we experienced a spiritual liberation as well from the impure Egyptian culture and the rampant immorality that festered there. |
| Last Updated ( Saturday, 12 April 2014 ) |
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| Written by Tzvi Fishman |
| Saturday, 12 April 2014 |
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Let's take a look at Sefirat HaOmer (the counting of the Omer).
A box reminding the household to count the Omer
Like all of the other commandments, Sefirat HaOmer is loaded with Kabbalistic significance. Without the Kabbalah, we would not know what we were doing when we put on tefillin, wave the lulav, or blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah.
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 12 April 2014 ) |
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| Pesach and Why Kabbalists Emphasize Tikunim |
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| Written by Tzvi Fishman |
| Saturday, 12 April 2014 |
| Before beginning the search for chametz on the night before Pesach, we scatter 10 pieces of bread, or cookies, or crackers, around the house. The practice was instituted by the master Kabbalist, the Arizal, so those of you who are frightened or ignorant of Kabbalah better beware. |
| Last Updated ( Saturday, 12 April 2014 ) |
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| Shovavim - Rectifying Sexual Transgression |
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| Written by Rabbi Shmuel Eliahu |
| Monday, 16 December 2013 |
| Every week, Israel’s former Chief Rabbi, HaRav Rav Mordechai Eliahu, of blessed memory, put out a Torah bulletin for Shabbat, called “Kol Tzofiyech,” which is distributed to synagogues throughout the country. Since the Rabbi's death, his sons are continuing to put out the bulletin. This one focuses on "Shovavim," the special period of the year most conducive to rectifying the stains of sexual transgresion. |
| Last Updated ( Monday, 16 December 2013 ) |
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| Written by Tzvi Fishman |
| Monday, 16 December 2013 |
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Here Comes “Shovavim”
“Shovavim” refers to the six-week period which begins when the Torah portion of Shemot is read. The term “Shovavim” is an acronym of the six consecutive Torah portions beginning with Shemot. According to Kabbalah, this period is especially conducive to rectifying sexual transgressions (Arizal, Shaar HaYichudim, 4:3). Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook writes of a future time when the world will admire Israel's quest for sexual purity as highlighted by the special fasts and prayers of Shovavim (Orot HaKodesh, part 3, pg. 296).
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 16 December 2013 ) |
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| Yom Kippur And Rectifying The Brit |
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| Written by Tzvi Fishman |
| Sunday, 08 September 2013 |
The Chatam Sofer (1762-1839)
Toward the end of his life, the renowned Jewish legal authority, the Chatam Sofer, became seriously ill, suffering from terrible pains in the area of his Brit Milah [sexual organ]. In a letter, he disclosed his apprehension that the suffering had come upon him because of some sin.
Reviewing his life, he did a scrupulous self-accounting, hoping to discover the cause. But he could not recall ever having committed a sexual transgression.
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 08 September 2013 ) |
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| Kabbalistic Understandings Of The Shofar |
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| Written by Tzvi Fishman |
| Friday, 16 August 2013 |
The Goal Of The Holidays
According to the Kabbalah, one of the main themes of the upcoming High Holidays is Tikun HaBrit, the rectification and renewal of the Covenant (Brit) between G-d and the Jewish People.
The Yesod is associated with the sexual organ
Kabbalists emphasize the great importance of this rectification for our times, since we are now in the Hebrew calendar's Sixth Millenium, which parallels the sefirah (Divine Radiance) of the Yesod, associated with the Brit. The Yesod is the spiritual channel that brings Divine Illumination (shefa) and blessing into the world. In the Kabbalistic blueprint that pictures man as the microcosm of the universe, the Yesod is directly associated with the male sexual organ commonly referred to as the Brit.
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 16 August 2013 ) |
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| Written by Tzvi Fishman |
| Friday, 16 August 2013 |
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From the teachings of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in the book, "Likutei Moharan," on the Hebrew month of Elul.
[Editor's note: To understand this essay, one needs to know that according the secrets of the Torah, if, G-d forbid, a person masturbates or has a seminal emission under circumstances where it is not a mitzvah, then his semen gives birth to "spiritual children" which gravitate against him as negative spiritual forces. As described below, through tshuva (remorse and repentance), one may redeem these spiritual children and end their damaging influence upon himself and his loved ones.]
If a person merits to truly feel pain over his sins, so that he circumcises the foreskin of his heart - for as long as his heart is sealed closed, he cannot truly feel this pain - then, when his heart is open within him, he will truly experience this great anguish, and he will feel true sorrow and remorse. This powerful remorse will also be felt by all of the hearts of all of the drops of seminal seed that went forth from him, in whatever place they may be, and they will feel in their scattered places, both in the hearts of those who became his actual children in the physical world, and also in the hearts of those disembodied souls who became trapped in the spiritual world of impurity and evil, G-d forbid, for even in this Other Realm (of evil), these drops that emanated from him possess a heart and all of the other organs.
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 16 August 2013 ) |
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| Remember and Never Forget! - Parshat Zachor |
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| Written by Tzvi Fishman |
| Monday, 11 February 2013 |
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Shabbat Zachor is upon us, when we have the obligation to remember what Amalek did to us when we departed from Mitzrayim.
"Remember what Amalek did to you by the way, when you were coming out of Egypt, how he met you by the way and smote the hindmost of you, all that were feeble in your rear, when you were faint and weary, and he feared not G-d (Devarim, 25:17).
Just what is it that we are supposed to remember?
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 11 February 2013 ) |
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| Rebbe Nachman on Being Happy |
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| Written by Tzvi Fishman |
| Monday, 11 February 2013 |
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When the month of Adar begins, a Jew is called upon to be especially happy. Joy is a fundamental ingredient in serving G-d. One of the things that brought about the exile of the Jewish People from the Land of Israel was because of sexual immorality. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov teaches that unhappiness is the principle source of sexual transgression. This helps us understand an additional teaching of our Sages that we were exiled from the Land was because we didn’t serve G-d with joy.
Today also, the root of sexual sin and depravity is the widespread unhappiness and depression which grips the modern materialistic world we live in. Unhappiness leads people to the fleeting and sordid high of pornography, to homosexuality, other sexually deviant behavior, and to masturbation.
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 11 February 2013 ) |
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| The King is Watching - Ten Days of Repentance |
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| Written by Tzvi Fishman |
| Friday, 21 September 2012 |
| There are seven days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. So why is it called the “Ten Days of Repentance?” |
| Last Updated ( Friday, 21 September 2012 ) |
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| Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf? |
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| Written by Tzvi Fishman |
| Monday, 28 December 2009 |
| For the last several years, come this time of year, I try to invite friends to an uplifting night of "Shovavim" prayers designed to cleanse a person from the stains of sexual transgression. The people who come along always have a great time, but others reject the idea outright, saying, "That's Kabbalah," "That's Hasidut," or "Where is it written in the Shulchan Aruch?" |
| Last Updated ( Monday, 28 December 2009 ) |
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| Tikun Hatzot - Tikun Leah |
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| Written by Tzvi Fishman |
| Tuesday, 04 September 2007 |
Tikun Hatzot - The Actual Text
Part 2: Tikun Leah
Tikun Hatzot is divided into two parts: 1) Tikun Rachel and 2) Tikun Leah which appears in Hebrew below.
Tikun Leah is recited while sitting on a chair.
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 06 April 2009 ) |
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Jewish Holidays