Podcasts about shakai

Welcome back to Magic or Science!In today's episode, I interview Shakai. Shakai recently came back from a trip to India where she studied rebirthing rituals, yoga, and spirituality. She is also knowledgeable in Native American rituals as well as cleansing. Shakai marries spirituality and quantum physics in our discussion.Follow Shakai Here:Instagram: @thesocial.purpose  More from me:Follow me on Instagram: @magicorsciencepodcast Listen on Apple and Spotify: linktr.ee/magicorscience

Would you like to sponsor an episode? A series?   We'd love to hear from you : podcasts@ohr.edu 00:00 Rav addresses asking controversial questions 00:39 What is Ramban's view on premarital sex? 04:42 How can Shlomo HaMelech send sheidim? Isn't that kishuf? 11:20 Why was Torah given so late if that was purpose of the world? 18:50 Did Yitzchak Avinu die during sacrifice or after? 22:30 How do we regard a figure like David Weiss HaLivni (who recently died) and the Union for Traditional Judaism in general? 27:10 What is the significance of Hashem's name “Shakai"? 32:40 What is the Rav's view on psychedelic drugs? 36:25 What was religion of people of Haran? 44:20 Why was Shlomo able to build multiple extra kruvim? 48:30 How did Baer Miriam make it to the kinneret? 50:45 What is the issur of woman ordination? 56:15 How do we address skeptics of Flood of Noach? 59:18 How do we understand when Chazal say that Rabbi Akiva was greater than Moshe Rabbenu? 1:01:30 What's the minimum you have to say of the pesukim for Krias Shema Al Ha Mitah? 1:02:10 Are there any proofs in Torah that prove its validity? 1:04:38 What is the origin of making a wish on a wish bone and is it avoda zara? 1:07:40 Does reading Zohar itself purify someone? 1:09:00 What does it mean the Pinchas is Eliyahu? What are practical implications? 1:14:10 Is there a fourth individual that lived eternally? Eliyahu, Chanoch, and Sarach Bat Asher are known. What is the commonality amongst them? 1:16:50 How can Iyov be listed as a non-Jewish prophet if we know it's only a minority opinion that he was a goy? 1:20:20 Do Jews who have only a Jewish mother have inheritance? Also will there status change at time of Messiah? 1:22:35 Why is the word Bar mitzvah in Aramaic and Bat Mitzvah in Hebrew? 1:24:07 Why do some halachos depend on looking at a Goyish majority? 1:27:42 What are the views on talking in the bathroom? 1:29:08 Should we respond to Palestinian treatment of Jews in a similar way as we did with the Soviets? 1:34:52 Is it morally wrong for a Cohen to be grateful for Chet HaEgel which gave him his kehunna? 1:36:50 When would shaking a hand with a woman be permissible? https://podcasts.ohr.edu/   Visit us @ ohr.edu    Produced by: Cedar Media Studios  

Series: Be'erot, Love & Relationship with God.   Episode Transcript: I walked into a friend's birthday party, who's the Rosh Yeshiva up the hill at Makor Chaim, David Zinger. It's like a whole yeshiva up there, like three hundred guys, they're all dancing, you know, this and that, we'd hang out together to ferbreng with the kids. Well he says, What are you thinking about? I said, I'm thinking about simcha b'tuv layvav. He said, That's great, because that''s shvat. That's just what I was thinking about, simchah b'tuv layvav. Shvat. (What does that mean?)                 It means joy with a good heart. And I wanted to continue the exploration from last time, if you remember that the Rambam teaches about some crucial things for us in terms of our work in coming to understand the nature of love, and it feels like something of a summary of where we've travelled to see this Rambam. I'll just remind you, he brings it at the end of the year; basically, he brings it at the end of his halachas that have to do with Sukkot, being the tekufot hashanah, being the time that that year turns around—which is why we turn around so much on Sukkot and on Simchat Torah. Because it's called in the Torah the tekufat hashanah, it's the surrounding of the year and it has to do both with the fact that the year has come to an end and also with surrounding light, which is called in Kabbalah the mafikim, the surrounding light, hakafah. And so we do all kinds of hakafos on Simchas Torah. And we sit inside something which is maykif upon us, we sit inside a Sukkah, which surrounds us, and those makifim and considered to have their origin in a world called as we've come to know as binah, the mother world of joyous birthing—aym habanim smeachah, which is why, of course, Sukkot is such as holiday of joy. Vayhitah ach sameach is spoken about Sukkot specifically, because Sukkot is the holiday of the time of the deep expression of the joy of birthing, the joy of giving.                 And in fact, the teachings of Chassidut have it that, in looking at the paradigm of Torah, avodah and gemilut chassidim—that is, the three pillars that the world stands on—so the standing pillar of Sukkot is gemilut chassidim, when you stand outside of your boundaries and become a giver. You stand outside of the confines of your house, and you become a giver. And there is the transition in the teachings of Chassidut, that is the transition into the world of binah, which is the transition of the ability and the actualization of birthing. That's why it has eight days—if you remember when we talked about Chanukah, which is the eigth sefirah down from the top—this eight-day phenomenon of Sukkah is also a reference to its aspect of being the eighth sefirah up from the bottom. And that's why Sukkot has these eight days.                 But the point is, and what is most precious for us, is that it is the time when we enter into the birthing mother who holds within her the potentialities, and most importantly, the fountain of life—the fountain of giving—and the powerful ability to overcome those things which come in the way of sharing. And I speak of this with such significance because binah, as we've seen in the Zohar, is the origin of love. And even though we're used to chesed being the place from which love originates, the truth is that it's binah, and we came to understand that chesed is really the origin of the love of G-d, and chochmah and chesed are the origin of the love of G-d, which have to do with a more static state of being, which is wisdom of what is, and chesed, which is the connection to what is. Remember that we explained that gemilut chassidim, the giving of chesed, always requires the injection of the aspect of gevurah, of power, of something that recognizes distinction and delineation and therefore has an other to give to (whereas chesed belongs really in the world of bitul, on the level of abnegation on the level of being a static principal.) This is the opposite of what most people think, but we spent time explaining this at one point. That it is a being in existence and in chochmah, it's a being in being, meaning that there is no other than His being.                 Binah, so she is the one who turns outwards, and she becomes the ma'ayan . She becomes the lev haolam and the ma'ayan, she becomes the heart of the world, and the spring from which giving springs forth. And so we find, interestingly, that the other theme of Sukkot is the Simcha Beit Hashoevah, the great, joyous event of the water drawing, which was the special event once a year in the Beit Hamikdash when the Cohen Gadol would go down to the spring that is at he bottom of Har Habayit. You can still visit there today—it's a very striking place, you can go there through the tunnel. Chiskiyahu, that's the mea ha gichon. He would go down and draw up waters, and then trek back up the hill with these waters and go up on the mizbeach, and pour these waters down so that they would return to the depths of where they would come from. Basically, doing nothing. (Laughing) He'd draw them up, he'd bring them up to the top, and everyone would be in tremendous joyous extasy, then he would spill them out, and they would do back down into the tehom, so that I suppose that next year, he would draw them up again. And this happened during the seven days of Hag HaSukkot, during the primary cyclical phenomenon, which is the water cycle, which is the first thing you learn about when you learn about environmental phenomena, that there is an ecological phenomenon as a system which replenishes itself. This cycle is generally most available to us in terms of visualizing it and realizing it as this water cycle, the basic cycle that is celebrated at Sukkot—tekufot hashanah—which is the time of the cyclical aspect of the year, when the birthing is the birthing and then it returns to its place of reorigination, down into the tehom, to be drawn again. And man has the one and simple function of being he who transfers it where it has come to, up through some raising, which will then return into its bed of primary beginning existence. And this is what it looks like, and it brings people such tremendous joy. Dancing like crazy, and we talked last week about Hillel HaZakeyn, dancing, saying, Im ani kan hakol kan, if ani is here, then everything is here, and it really is an image of that, like all of the world is being passed through me as I draw the waters and pour them down.                 And this is the consciousness of binah, meaning that she is the life-giving force, but she comes with a consciousness of that life being flowed through me, and it needs that—otherwise it becomes a most disoriented and disconnected phenomenon, like it did for Chava, when she said, Kaniti ish et hashem, that I had made a man like G-d, really the way most of the mefarshim read it, although really you could read it "with G-d," but the sense of it is that she had done like G-d, which is true, but she had done it from a disconnected place, having already eaten of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, so that her name, which was Chaya, became Chava, which in Arameic actually means "the snake," a problematic name. And in giving birth to Cain from there, Cain and Hevel, brought the first fraternal strife into the world, because their life's playing out really was an expression of a consciousness of binah that had been separated from the originator of life, so their reality is one of contest and of jealousy, which we looked at.                 But the point is, when the consciousness is right, so it's very joyous. So today I want to get a more of a look at this, as we began to explore last week in the Rambam, because this simcha is not only the place of birthing that we're describing, but it's also the place of love, which the Rambam taught us that the simcha, she yismach adam basiyata mitzvah ahava ahavta hakel shetziva bahem avodah gedolah hi. Put them together, joy and love. So I want to contemplate some of that with you today. That introduction is a way of getting you oriented in terms of what kind of a spiritual reality we're orienting ourselves toward and referring to, and to also remind you that it has to do with this aspect of surrounding, holding us, containing us, makif.                 I don't expect you to understand everything; this orientation is just to give us an alignment with something so that we can explore it together in terms of how it comes down into actual halacha that the Rambam poskins at the end of Hilchos Sukkah, and tells us there's this great avodah of asiat hamitzvah v'avodat hakel. So last time, we saw that the Rambam told us that the great avodah and of love is to not get in the way. And he said that kol hamoneah atzmo mesimchah, reui lhiparah mimeno. That this person becomes like a Pharoah, basically, becomnes a separater. And he told us later, How does it happen that you are going to get in the way of this. The phenomenon of getting in the way is called neges da'ato, and kavod l'atzmo. His consciousness, his da'at, awareness, becomes bloated and coarse, and he separates himself out for his honor. So if someone were to ask you, how do you get in the way of love and joy? So I'll tell you. Become stuck-up with yourself, egoically involved, bloated in your da'at. And the reason for this is because the function of da'at is connection. As in vayedah Adam et ishto, that he connected to her in terms of carnal knowledge, which is an unfair translation of what the Torah means when it says knowledge, It's not really talking about the physical aspect of the knowledge, although that's clearly participant, but it's talking about the mentalities merged, it's talking about the personhood merged, and that's what da'at does. As soon as you're neges da'at, so then your da'at becomes coarse and bounded and blocks the ability to merge with another, because you've become basically stuck up with yourself, rather than being in a connective mode.                 The other reflection of that, as it comes down in terms of personality, is this person will be cholek kavod l'atzmo. You'll see him standing on the side. Not necessarily standing on the side like the wallflower at a party. He might be standing in the middle of the party. But he's basically being cholek kavod l'atzmo.  Meaning that his orientation is that he should be able to establish his honor and recognition in the world, in a way in which people will provide him with the worth that he so is desperately speaking. Or by simply wanting to experience life intensely, and so his orientation is attempting to get a hold of life, get a touch of life. That's cholek kavod l'atzmo. These are the reflections of how a person will block the simchah and tuv levav, and the simchah and the ahavah that are meant to flow through him. Imagine the Cohen going down to draw the waters and then coming up onto the mizbeach, saying, This is stupid, man, I just drew them up, and now I'm going to throw them down again? What are we doing here? We're not doing anything. We're just drawing the waters and pouring them back down, and then they get buried back down into the ground, go intot the tehom and then literally flow back down through the underground channel back into the gichon. As soon as he becomes self-conscious about that, and demands for himself that he should have significant place, then he's going to step down off that altar and not be interested in that process at all. It's only as much as he's in joy involved. It would be really like a mother whose in the birthpangs saying, this is stupid, this child is coming down into the world, and he's just going to be buried again in a couple of years, I mean, what the heck am I doing? It's really like that, that's what you're doing, I mean, how long is the kid going to live? Seventy, eighty, ninety years? A hundert und tsvantsik. In the end he's going to be back in the ground.                 But it's only when a mother selflessly becomes a mother of life, that she allows that to pass through her and the more selfless she is about it, in the sense of I see this as a flow and a fountain which is coming through me, so the more she'll be able really to be joyous in giving that birth. Chazal actually say this. They say that the passage in the Torah which describes G-d getting sad that He's made man, v'yitazev el libo, He got sad in his heart. It's at the end of Parshat Bereshit. This marvelous Parshat Bereshit, it all starts to fall apart fairly early on, and by the end of Parshat Bereshit, G-d is sad about the whole thing. So there is a midrash that asks, He's sad at the end, but wasn't He happy at the beginning—yismach Hashem b'ma'asav? He happy at the beginning? Didn't he see what was going to be? Didn't he forsee it? So the midrash answers, of course He forsaw it, just like a mother and a father forsee the death of their child. And nevertheless, they are joyous in celebrating his coming into the world. Now that's a deep thing, it's not just a trip people are playing. I am joyous in what is, and I celebrate it as it is, by being a place through which it will pass. And that's fine, and that's mamash the only way to live a kind of a life which remains connected to the eim habanim smecha.                 So binah is actually called l'hotsi davar mitoch davar, the power of drawing out one thing from another. And it's the origin of creativity, and interestingly, the origin of joy and of love. They all begin there and they all, so to speak, get divvied out along the way. So one thing that I can certainly say practically is being attentive to that is really the place.                 And I want to tell you a story, and it's a little bit embarrassing, but that's okay, because we're all friends already, and that is that mamash the Torah that I'm teaching you right now is derived from what I'm going to tell you about. And that is that there is a group of boys from this yeshiva up the hill, that had for some time been coming to learn with me Sunday mornings. I was sending sort of confusing messages whether it was happening or not happening. And they have to come special from home in order to get into Bat Ayin on time for us to learn together. So it came down to that I had said it wasn't going to happen and one of the guys shows up. So at that point, I'm like open the door, and I watch myself going into this space of mamash cholek kavod l'atzmo. Like, here's this one high school kid, he's a tenth grader, and I finally had a morning opened up for me to do the things that I want to do. To learn the things I want to learn. And so he comes in the door, and I feel myself, it's like an old pattern of I don't have time for you, so I basically say to him, I don't have time for this right now, I'm busy. You know, when you get it together, and it will be a group, so then we'll talk again. So, what am I doing? So if you want, we'll talk for ten minutes. Just won't have another chance to meet him. So he comes in and mamash, I just went into this space of lev tov and this Torah opened up. This Torah opened up in a way that I want to share with you this morning, thanks to him, I mean the kid is not only brilliant, but spiritually very sensitive, and was just the right person for me to be learning with. It's great, we had a great time, and he got to school late but it's their problem.                 So I'll tell you what opened up and it's very dear to me. I can't say that it's entirely worked out and it's a most marvelous teaching of the Rambam. To be honest, I don't remember if I said it to you last week or not, but I hope it will be okay. The Rambam, in teaching the way he did here, hinted to us that he's got a secret that he wants to share. And that is, when the Rambam brings a verse, he intends for you to know that the verse is the origin of what he's teaching. And I'll remind you that the verse he brings is the one that teaches us that we are going to go into exile because we have not served G-d b'simcha ub'tuv levav. In joy, and with a good heart. So you look at that and you say, Joy, I know what that is, but what is tuv levav? What does it mean to have a good heart? Am I a nice guy? Okay, but there is something deeper here. The Rambam is telling it to us in his delineation which is a tremendous chiddush; it didn't have to be this way. That at the end of Sukkot, the place you arrive at is simchah and ahavah, joy and love. How do I know this the Rambam says? Because that's the ultimate achievement in the work of G-d, proof being, it comes at the end of the year, the whole process is ending at tkufat hashanah, and I know it because the ability to return from galut, and here's a deep irony—involves going into the galut which is called Sukkot. The ability to return from or not go into Galut, to be more precise, involves going into the galut, which is Sukkot. You leave your house and you go out into these ephemeral, practically non-existant boundaries of the Sukkah. And we say, let this be a kapara, if I needed to go into galut. And here the Rambam says, that's about the simchah and tuv levav, about which the Torah said, if you are going to lose it, you are going to go into galut. So what you're telling me is that I need to leave and go into galut, so that I will not go into galut. (What is galut?)                 Galut is exile, separation, losing your embeddedness in the place that is meant to be yours. In other words, the simchah v'tuv levav which comes out of Sukkot, or is the reality of Sukkot, is that which goes into these ephemeral boundaries which are called the Sukkah, and only when one is able to be there, only then will one not become disconnected from his earthly root of the land of Israel and the place from which he is drawing the wellsprings of his existence. That's what the Torah is teaching us. So now, the Torah is telling us, I have two things to teach you. Namely, needs to be b'simchah, if you're going to stay here, and it needs to be b'tuv levav, with a good heart. So the Rambam tells you, What's the tuv lev? Tuv lev is love. Otherwise, where does he get his proof from? Tuv lev is love. And then he goes on and says, Merov kol.                 If you did not worship G-d with joy and in love, with the awareness that you have bountiful sources, a bountiful source, merov kol. From what would the word be? Exuberant everything? You can't really have rov kol, because kol is everything. You can't really have rov of everything, a lot of everything. It's like the best we can do for abundance in Hebrew is beyond everything. Merov kol, and I do want to check the kabbalah on this but I'm sure that rov kol is a reference back up to binah. Because kol is generally malchut, where it comes down to, so rov kol, is like the sourcing of that.                 So this tuv lev what is that? What does it look like in life, and what is the consciousness that it holds such that it should be? I want to show you a teaching in the mishnah which you can actually see yourselves. I want to tell you that one of our greatest teachers, Yochanan Ben Zakkai, whose name means "the man of chen," "the chen man, who is the son of the Zakkai, of the pure one, the zach one." So Yochanan Ben Zakkai had five students. And in a very unusual mishnah, in Pirkey Avot, chapter two, number nine, rather than starting with what he teaches and what his students taught, he tells us about his students, who there were, before he asks them the question which is the life question of what is the good way for a person to be davek. Or ayzeh derech hi tovah, what is the good path she yidbak b'haadam, that a person cling to in his life. So we're going to get a very important teaching from these five studetns. But before he gives us the five studnets, and their teachings, he first tells us who they are. Now that is interesting and unusual. He tells us that I have these five students and they have these five different qualities to them. The first one, anything I say, sticks. He stays with it. He doesn't lose a drop of water. The second one, happy is the mother who gave birth to him. The third one, he is a chassid. The fourth one, he fears sin. The fifth one, he is a flowing wellspring. Or more literally, a maayan mitgabeir, an everflowing, ever able to overcome wellspring. His name is Elazar ben Arach. So have the picture? (Could you repeat?) We have Eliezer ben Hurchenus, he's a plastered pit who doesn't lose a drop. The second, Rebbe Yehoshua, happy is the mother who gave birth to him; the third one, Rebbe Yossi HaCohen, he's a chassid; the fourth one, Shimon ben Netanel, he's a yireh chet. He fears sin. And the fifth one, he's a ma'ayan mitgabeir. He is a spring, which is overcoming anything that would standing the way of it. Beautiful, huh? And it's so interesting when you look at these, because he began with a pit that holds the water. Doesn't lose anything. And you end with the one who is the spring who's losing everything, and of course gaining everything by it. And then you have these other three in between who are amazingly enough just who you would expect them to be. Meaning, if it were so, that the first one is actually a holding of what is, well, then that would be wisdom, chochmah. The holding of what is. We're even treated to a color of it being a plastered pit with the translucent waters in it. Exactly the way it's described in the pardes of the Ramak that it was like a sapphire. And then the second: how happy is the mother who gave birth to him. Well, that's binah. Then the third, he didn't have anything to tell you about him, except that he's a chassid. The fourth is a yireh chet. He lives in fear of sin, in fear of the lack, chet. And the fifth, Ah. He's a ma'ayan mitgabeir, he's the wellsprings flowing out. He goes all the way down through the bottom. Getting to understand a little of Reb Yochanan wanted us to know who they are. (36:21) (That's malchut?)                 I'm not sure where that is, I think, yeah. I mean, Let's see, let's be open to what he teaches us. Now we're ready to ask each of them from his place, from consciousness, tzu ur'uh eyzeh hu derech she yidbak b'hadam. So the first one says, what is the good way, the way of goodness that a person should cleave to and cling to in his life? What is the best way to be? Now, in having introduced these five men, and their reality, so an attuned reader will of course understand that we are going to get five different perspectives. Well, so the first one's perspective is ayin tovah. Look from a place of goodness. Seeing the good. Not telling you to do anything. Just contemplate the good. Be in the good. That's what yous hould see. See the light. Ki tov. See the light. See it as it is, with an uncritical mind, not judging. That's what really is an ayin tovah. Judgmental capacity is already getting you into ayin harah. Just see it as it is, it's always good.                 Rebbe Yehoshua, who is ashrei yoludat'do, how happy is the mother who gave birth to him; the chassid, chaver tov. Be a good friend. What's a good friend? A good friend, I suppose, is one who is good to the one who is close to him. He may have many chaverim, but he is good to the one who is close to him. Okay. Rebbe Yossi says, be a shachen tov. Who is Rebbe Yossi? He is the chassid. Be a good neighbor. Meaning, you are in close proximity. There is a sense of fraternity in that. Close proximity. Be good to your neighbor. Rebbe Shimon says, Be careful, he's the yireh chet. Be careful and be aware of consequences. Haroeh et hanolad. The one who sees what will come of what he does. He's aware of consequences. Careful person, which is specifically referring to don't lend money unless you know you're going to get it back. And don't borrow money unless you know you're going to pay it back. It's all very bounded.                 And then comes Rebbe Eliezer. And each one of these needs its own exploration, clearly, and understanding of how they are associated. But Rebbe Eliezer says the most amazing thing. He says, Lev tov. Now remember who Rebbe Eliezer is. He is the man who is spring which is ever-flowing, overcoming all obstacles. His heart is open. He is creatively producing. It's coming out of him. It does have an association with binah, but the place where I think we are in terms of the hishtalshelut, coming down to things, is this is actually where it begins to become real in the world. The Maharal says, If you look at it, he's the only one who is doing it selflessly. The ayin tovah, he's not really doing anything at all, he's just observing but observing with goodness. But the rest of them, they all have something going on for them. If you are a chaver tov, if you are a shachen tov, if you are a roeh et hanolad. Lev tov, just the flow of life coming through him. Hmm. So from Rebbe Eliezer ben Arach, we're finding out what the lover looks like. And the lover has to be the one who is drawing life from a spring that is flowing. So if you're seeking a loving consciousness, so then a loving consciousness will be in which you experience life in its source as being a spring that is giving out its waters. The more you experience life as being a spring that is giving out its waters, the more tuv lev you will have, and the more tuv lev you will have then the more in love you will be.                 I don't know how to explain this, and I'm not sure if this can be explained. But I think that's when  people are happy. I think the experience of joy is always like that. It's like creative life is flowing through you and you just want to give it out. People who are really b'simchah, they are not cholek l'atzmam. They are not cutting themselves off from others. They are not in risk at giving life to others. (sic) They are not at loss for sharing what's coming through them, because it is a ma'ayan mitgabeir. That's literally what that is, an ongoing flow that is overcoming everything else. That kind of a consciousness is a consciousness of tuv lev and a consciousness of simchah. But it's almost as if there's a heart is a good heart (sic) if it's good enough to pump life into everything it comes into contact with. That's what a good heart is. (44:27)                 By the way, if you count the letters in the words in the Torah, so there are thirty-two letters, the numerical value of the word tov. Tov is the thiry-third word of the Torah, mamash. Bereshit barah elokim, etc. (sic) Because the whole reality of G-d's giving us life and existence is a reality which is one of His giving us ki v'yachol his lev tov. And yes, His lev tov, where binah comes down to, is the malchut. Because there is a lev which is the lev of binah, and she is the feminine of the upper supernal consciousness, and there is a lower lev, the lev of malchut, the actualization of bringing into reality and shraring of the fountain, which is David. So it would seem. I would really find support. I have seen in the Maharal who teaches the teaching but he gives it very subtley, because he doesn't like to teach kabbalah, but it says that any wise person who knows how to be mayvin, will understand how exact the order of these chachamim is. That's as much of an indication of what we are saying is right on. It feels right on. And indeed, when malchut is in tikkun, in leit lah migar mash, she's not seeking it for herself. It's like David says to Michal, You're trying to keep it all in kelim, you're worrying about my honor, Michal otiot keli. Looking out the window, being upset about me letting go in front of everyone. I'm telling you, that's the only way to be a king. And David says in fact, about himself, all the kings like to sit around and have high-falutent conversations that make them look good and important. You know how I spend my day? he says to G-d. Looking at women's bedikah cloths  (which you may know this or not, but it's a way of establishing whether a woman is pure for her husband or not pure for her husband—whether they can live together.) What are you spending your time with? any other king would say. V'yadayim m'luchlachut b'dam, he says, My hands are dirty with blood. But it's not the blood of the wars which he had to fight. It's the blood of establishing if people can live together. Because the entire orientation of and purpose of the malchut is to be a blood that flows through the bodies of the people who are in the malchut, in a way that they are held together so that they be given life, unity and connection. He has such a wild way of saying things: Lo chasid ani? Aren't I a chasid, if that's what I spend my day doing?                 Someone asked me, so is it simchah that leads to love or love that leads to simchah? I'm not sure it's a fair question. I mean loving people seem to be very full of joy. I'm not sure that all joyous people are full of love. (I think truly joyous people. There can be fake joyous people that aren't full of love. If it's real joy then they have real love. And when you have real love, you have real joy.)                 See, inour teachings, so the eim habaim smecha, the joyous mother of creative giving, is indeed the origin of love. And it all depends on how you see it. Because on the one hand, so love is born of heri chesed as the origin of the love of G-d and on the other hand love is born of her, just by virtue of her, with again the Zohar teaching that the love has its origin in bunah, eim habanim smecha. (Inaudible) I'd like to, I'm just kind of listening right now. But what seems, if we're correct in our model, that to love another human being, which comes out of binah, and down the left side so to speak to Aharon HaCohen,who is the hod, so the love of another human being comes out of joyousness. We seek to share it. It's really a weird thing. Seek to share it. You see, wisdom, which is on the right side, and shared that with chesed, is the pleasure and blissful consciousness with what is. And so the blissful consciousness and just what is is a very deep connection to G-d and produces, as the Rambam taught us love of G-d. So when you have a blissful connection of G-d and just being just as it is, then you have love of G-d. He says, You're just going to have to be in love with G-d. That's just what happens when you are in bliss with Him. But you will not necessarily come to be in love with people. They can actually be quite annoying to that state. That's why wisdom is supernal aspect, is a most marvelous reality of communion with him, but in a ceratin sense, you have to get your distance in order that it become love of people. I don't think that they're one and the same. And it's a mysterious transition, one to the other. And in fact, the Zohar teaches that if chochmah and binah are not forever attached in loving embrace, then the world just collapses. Which is sort of what happens is a meditation that just leaves you in the being of what is, so you're out of the world. And in bliss with G-d. But if that is the consciousness of reality, then the world ends. That's literally what the Zohar says, they have to be tre reh d'lo mispar they have to be two lovers that hold themselves together. But in loving embrace, so the blissful connection with G-d and the joyous mother of children, they create a world in which the emotive qualities of the planet, which you experience in your emotions, the emotive qualities of the cosmos, again, which reverberate through you in your emotions, they become the devotion to G-d in all of His goodness, in all of His life-sourcing reality. In Kabbalah this is called the z'er anpin. The yichud of the miniature face, which means that there is an experience in all of life in miniature, which you get in your emotional experience. The large face, the arich anpin, is the consciousness of mentalities, the condition of the attachment with him, everything is there, but it's not in an emotive reality. But when it comes down in to the world of midot, by which I mean your love, fear, beauty, ability to overcome challenge, and desire to acquiesce and give thanks, and your connectedness to life, those are the six primary traits. So when all of those are in rapture with G-d, and unified towards Him this is what's called yichud hailahah, this is one of the aspects of higher unification. Which comes by virtue of the relationship between wisdom and understnading, chochmah and binah. This is what's born of that when that consciousness is right. And it will produce a love both of G-d and of all of the disparate aspects of reality. But that finally comes to expression in the malchut when I'm holding it all here, down here. I'm holding it all.  It's not about my emotive integration into my devotion to G-d, I'm outwardly turned towards that which is and in love with it and participating together in this great unity. That's the lev tov. That's a good heart. You can have a heart, but it's not a good heart unless it's a connective heart .                 Remember, we learned about lev tov as being the aspect of connecting out. I don't know exactly I can answer the question in a succinct fashion. We can say stuff. What you say is true. A loving person is a joyous person, a joyous person is a loving person, but they are not one and the same. They might be different things. One seems to birth the other. And what it sounds like is that the joy is what births the love. The joy having to do with the consciousness of ma'ayan, of life in its goodness of flow, I am attached to and have flowing through me. (In couples work literature, I know studies have been done that couples that have four pleasurable experiences together to every one bad experience together are couples that thrive, as opposed to couples that have three or two pleasurable experiences as opposed to every bad experience together. There is some math that comes out. If you have this particular ratio of experiences together, then you will have a loving relationship, as opposed to if you have too many non-pleasurable experiences together, then love kind of fades out of the relationship.)                 They have actually made it into a statistic. But it's pleasure. It's interesting to look at the numerology. Love is generated by pleasure. It doesn't have to be. We have to be careful because we are so used to translating pleasure into some selfish activity. But that's not what we're talking about. It's a communing experience by a joint and shared pleasure. That is what I would think is what generates the love. I mean, you might be a chaver tov by pleasure that your partner has given you. You might even be a shachen tov. Or you might have a relationship that is roeh et hanolad, you might be aware of the consequences, you might lose it. But none of those will in any way compare to what is the real love, which is the ma'ayan mitgabeir. It's not because of good neighborly relations we provide each other with what we need, like chaver tov, which might be more of an abstraction of that we feel a certain affinity to each other, or just on pragmatics of roeh et hanolad like, listen, if you don't behave nice, she's going to walk out on you. That level, which also is generated by the pleasure of her company. What do you care whether he or she walks out on you? But the true consciousness in which it comes purely through you, which is the ma'ayan mitgabeir, which is, Life is coming through me and I'm together with you in it, and we're actually have one heart which is a good heart, beating life through all of us together. That's the deep knowing of the malchut, of someone who's not cholek kavod latzmo, it's not about my game, my honor, my ego—it's one heart that's beating for all. And then that's simchah, which is rooted in a communing oneg. (It's that the difference between simchah and joy?)                 That's the difference between pleasure and joy. Pleasure, like on Shabbat, is a blissful statis. Joy, which is on the moadim, on the hagim, is a joyous outburst and receiving of life and giving of life. That's why the Zohar says that anyone who has a meal on Yom Tov, where there aren't any poor or needy people at his table, is like he's eating the most distusting and decrepit thing. It doesn't say that about Shabbat, although we all like having guests on Shabbat. Everyone understands that if it's just Shabbat in the family, okay. Or even if it is Shabbat alone. There is something that's okay in that. But not about Yom Tov. Because simchah is the time, when it's like everyone dancing together. Simchah is the time when David HaMelech says, I don't care if I'm exposed. Adah rabah. V'nakolti ra mi zo.  I'm looking to be completely exposed, in the sense that I don't want to have blocks that stand in the way of this ma'ayan mitgabeir being able to be mitgabeir and flow out. I don't want to have anything that will be moeah this from me. Chas v'chalom. What are you talking about, Michal, what do you think you're going to gain from that? Live a life in which you're closed in and completely oriented on providing for yourself? And making sure that your standing is an accomplished one? No one really talks that way when they're in joy. And therefore, no one except through that pathway will really come to love. So without the joy, the effulgence of life is not providing you with the sourcing for being one who is giving it over. Otherwise, you go into galus. The only way to not go into galus is by being in galut in that sense. Being outside. (I have an exerise idea, if you want to do at some point. ) … (Can  you clarify the point you made about going into galus by being in galus?)                 I want to express appreciation of your asking questions, first of all. Second of all, can I clarify that more? It's an image. There's a certain kind of a being at home in yourself, where the established boundaries of what you know and are familiar with are what you become very invested in protecting and preserving. Like I see this with people who have a lot of trouble getting married. I'm comfortable with who I am, they say. I don't know if that's such a good thing. What do you mean, You're comfortable with who you are? What does that mean in terms of where change is going to come from? And growth. Life is always hitting you with the demand to grow. And being mistapek, having satisfaction with what you have, of yesh li kol, has nothing to do with being in the way of growth. Nor does it have to do with being comfortable with who you are; that's shalvah. Shalvah is a very bad state. Because that kind of complacence, it leads to keeping the home comfortable. Because I'm comfortable with who I am. That's a nefesh habehamit talk. So what is, then, the right consciousness? You could be happy with what you have. That's already a far more dynamic kind of langauge. But I'm happy already with what I have. But that joyousness already indicates a dynamic energy, like I could have more, I could grow into—but that already means that you have to go into galus from the confines of the personhood of who you have established as and become comfortable with. That's what I mean going into galus. (Going out.)                 Yeah, going out. But if you don't, then what happens is you become separated from the rest of life, because in becoming comfortable with what you are, you are unwilling and unable to accept what life keeps hitting you with, which is evolve, grow, this one's tough, there I am, here's someone else in your life, how are you going to deal with this? I'm comfortable with who I am, so I'm not going to deal with any of it. So that's the pnimi galus. That's an inner galus, in which you've separated and exiled yourself from the world. That's why the Rabbis say, ki nata v'an kavod, exile a person from the world, take you out of the world. What do you mean, Take you out of the world? There are very energetic and jealous people that I know and who seek their honor and are full of tyvah. They are really in the world. Those are the people really doing it, right? Those are the people that are in the world. The Rabbis say that's going to take you out of the world. What do you mean it takes you out of the world? What it means is that it's all about you, and your only interaction with the planet, is as one who is basically exiled from it. Because you don't really want to be living the life in connected with all, you only want to be providing yourself with the excitement and exhiliaration with the being that you're comfortable with. That stinks. You're totally out of the world. You may feel like you're totally alive, but you're totally out of the world. So you have to step out, go into the sukkah, loosen the boundaries and like welcome. So I said it in sort of like a paradox, because it's talking about two different kinds of galut, so it comes out as a paradoxical statements. (You say go out of the boundaries, but the name that I was taught that was associated with Sukkah is Shakai. And isn't that davka a name of—) I don't know. I was taught that it's the orot of ekyeh, so that would be different. Should get that one clearer. It's the ?? 1:11:54 (In terms of the going out in order to be able to come back in, I see in Sukkot the space of, after the yamim hanoraim, when we're really going inside, to see the habits or things that we really need to eke out and only a couple of years ago I started to understand and appreciate Sukkot I think because I could never walk back into my house and actually change. If after Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur I would have to go back into my dwelling place, I would be exactly the same. It's the ability to step out of that space and be told to sit. And when I sit, I sit with it, And after having those days to sit with it, I can walk back into my house and I'm totally changed. And it feels like, if I were not able to go into the Sukkah, we're going to get thrown out right away because we think we can hold it in our davening, but when we walk back into our house, we are too entrenched in it, so we need to break out of our space. So we have to embody it.)  (In Sukkot, we can be safe in our vulnerability so when we can go back in it feels good that we let go.) (Chaya: I was wondering, what is this lev tov? When do I experience that? Looking at, when does my heart feel good, and thinking that we could try and deepen into that experience of lev tov, to try to identify it in our lives, and when do we really feel that, and then even to do a mediation to identify lev tov experience or feeling, and see if it's connected to acts or moments in my life when I can generate that lev tov, or when that happens, and to write out a list of those moments of lev tov, and then to have the kavanah that we're going to go into life, trying to do those things a little bit more. Or in particular, if you look at certain relationships, such as with my husband, what are the things that create a lev tov, and write them out and be committed to try and do more things that generate pleasure, not just getting by every day. Because so much of relationship is like, marriage is like you're just trying to get by, and I feel that one of the point that you're saying is, raise up our life experience to pleasure, joy and happiness as opposed to that shalvah or getting by.) I'd like to do that. How's the rest of the room doing? (A comment. I'm seeing how joy and love and this important concept of to avoid going into galus you have to experience it yourself. I see love as joy that's giving, sharing with some other entity, and to continue to get out of ourselves. It appears to me that the ultimate galus is become exiled from the rest of the world. You are separated, so You have forgotten how to share and love, how to give, you've cut yourself off. So in order to continue to remain in the path of giving and attaining joy from giving and giving from a place of joy, you must contniue to exercise to do what a little difficult or scary, which is the galus, in order to improve and to continue to love and connect.)                 The transition point is letting go in trying, again, to hold on to what is comfortable and familiar and to risk by going out and giving. To take that risk. Your emphasis on giving is something that others share and it's important to recall it. And maybe in doing the work that Chaya is suggesting, so people will discover their points of maybe what am I thinking, what am feeling, what am I doing? In the realization of lev tov.                 What's missing a little for me here, and maybe it's missing for other people, is that we haven't really given a hard and fast definition of what lev tov is. I'm just sharing the Maharal, so the assumption is clearly that it has to do with giving. The Maharal says that all these other people are giving, but with some kind of self-interest. This one is just giving life, he's the ma'ayan mitgaber, he's giving life, he's a heart pulsing for all. So, but somehow, it seems different than gemilut chesed, in which I'm doing a good turn for someone. Here we're really sharing a life source, and that's a different experience. We're "life-ing" together. So if that helps in clarifying, for me it like—yeah, so let's take five minutes to honor that, and when have I experienced that? I guess you're asking? When has it been like that for me? What does it look like when it's happening? (Well, first off, what is my definition of a lev tov, let me consult my heart for a minute: okay, heart—) When are you good? (When are you good? When do you feel good? What is my personal experience of lev tov. And trying to identify experiences where I've touched that. So let's ask our hearts.)

The Mezuzah hanging on the doorpost of a house is one of the most identifiably Jewish symbols that exists. For centuries, across the many countries we've been exiled in, the Jews have faithfully hung their Mezuzah scroll on the entrance to their homes. But Why? Why do we hang a mezuzah? What's the hidden meaning behind the Mezuzah? Join me as we explore the basic laws of Mezuzah as well as the deeper kabbalistic essence of it, and you'll gain a more meaningful understanding of this beautiful mitzvah. Happy Listening! Rabbi Moshe thethinkingjew.com To sponsor a podcast or make a tax-deductible donation to support this podcast and DATA of Richardson: https://thethinkingjew.com/support-us/ Contact me with any questions, feedback or topic requests: thethinkingjewpodcast@gmail.com Sources: Deuteronomy 6:9, 11:20, obligation to hang Mezuzahs - https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.6.9?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en, https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.11.20?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en Code of Jewish Law, Yoreh Dei'ah 286, all the doorways in your home need a Mezuzah - https://www.sefaria.org/Shulchan_Arukh%2C_Yoreh_De'ah.286.18?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en Blessing on Mezuzah - https://www.sefaria.org/Siddur_Ashkenaz%2C_Berachot%2C_Birkhot_Hamitzvot.9?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en Sefer HaChinuch, 423, purpose of Mezuzah is to constantly remind us of God - https://www.sefaria.org/Sefer_HaChinukh.423.2?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en Exodus 12:7, 13 commandment to place blood on the doorposts in Egypt - https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.12.7?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en Mechilta DiRebbi Yishmael, Exodus 12:22, connecting the Mezuzah of paschal lamb to classic mitzvah of Mezuzah - https://www.sefaria.org/Mekhilta_d'Rabbi_Yishmael.12.22.2?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en Recanti Deuteronomy 34, Mezuzas is same letters as repelling death - https://www.sefaria.org/Recanati_on_the_Torah%2C_Vaetchanan.34?vhe=Recanati_on_the_Torah&lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en Source of Recanti above in Tikkunei Zohar - https://www.sefaria.org/Tikkunei_Zohar.66a.6?vhe=Tikkunei_Zohar&lang=bi Darkei Moshe quoting Kol Bo, Yoreh Dei'ah 288:3, letters of Shakai stand for protector of the dwellings of Israel - https://www.sefaria.org/Darchei_Moshe%2C_Yoreh_Deah.288.3.1?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en

The Sports Shop with Reese & K-Mac, heard weekday mornings from 6-9 on Buzz Sports Radio. It's "Good Look-Bad Look Monday" as Reese, K-Mac and Jasmyn Fritz discuss the Hurricanes looking to force a Game 7 against the Capitals tonight after being humiliated in Washington with a 6-0 loss on Saturday night as well as this past weekend's NBA Playoff action. Sports Shop favorites Mike in Cary and Shakai also share their NBA Playoff thoughts while boxing expert Perry in Cary shares his analysis of the Terrance Crawford-Amir Khan fight that took place last Saturday night.

The Sports Shop with Reese & K-Mac, heard weekday mornings from 6-9 on Buzz Sports Radio. It's "Hump Day" as Reese, K-Mac and Jasmyn Fritz discuss Duke edging past Wake Forest at Cameron Indoor Stadium last night in the Blue Devils' home finale as well as UNC taking care of business up at Boston College, setting up Saturday's rematch between Duke and UNC in Chapel Hill. Legendary Sports Shop callers Sabah, Shakai and Mike in Cary also weigh in with their thoughts on Duke and UNC.

An unconventional recap of our Shakai no Kage event held at our Thirty Six Black Art Collective in Orlando. 1809 S Orange Ave, Orlando, FL…

Decoding the Universe - Part 10 "Divine Personalities" With Rabbi Ari Sollish (Recorded at the Intown Jewish Academy on January 13, 2019) Human beings have different personalities. The Talmud sums it up thus: "Just as two faces are not alike, so are two personalities not alike." Truth be told, each of us individually possesses multiple personalities. We have moments of kindness and moments of severity, moments of ambition and moments of humility. Seeing as we human beings have been created in the Divine image, the Kabbalists expose G-d's "multiple personalities." Each is intimated by one of the many names of G-d found in Scripture. The name "Havaya" evokes a different personality than the name "Elokim," and the name "Keil" is very different than the name "Shakai." In this magnificent session of Kabbalah & Coffee we look at Divine Personalities and decode the Biblical names of G-d. In the process we encounter the magnificent mystical doctrine of Tzimtzum, and discover just how we got to be who we are.

Josh gets out of prison and is determined to stay out. On the outside he finds his friend Shakai has been killed.

At Shakai's wake, Josh finds some help putting together his business plan. Kingston confronts Conan about Shakai's death.

Josh pitches his business idea. Conan keeps calling and Sarah issues a warning. The truth about Shakai's death is revealed.

Josh gets out of prison and is determined to stay out. On the outside he finds his friend Shakai has been killed.

At Shakai's wake, Josh finds some help putting together his business plan. Kingston confronts Conan about Shakai's death.

Josh pitches his business idea. Conan keeps calling and Sarah issues a warning. The truth about Shakai's death is revealed.

このゲームのお店を見ていい？このげーむの おみせを みていい？Kono geemu no o-mise o mite ii?¿Puedo mirar esta tienda de juegos?いいけど、社会の窓が開いてるよ！いいけど、しゃかいの まどが あいてるよ！Ii kedo, shakai no mado ga aiteru yo!Vale, pero tienes la ventana de la sociedad abierta.社会の窓？しゃかいの まど？Shakai no mado?¿La ventana de la sociedad?ズボンのチャックが開いてるってこと。ずぼんの ちゃっくが あいてる ってこと。Zubon no chakku ga aiteru tte koto.Que tienes la cremallera del pantalón abierta.ええ？そんな言い方するの？面白い国だね。ええ？そんな いいかた するの？おもしろい くにだね。Ee? Sonna iikata suru no? Omoshiroi kuni da ne.¿Eh? ¿Así se dice? Qué país más interesante.