Avraham Avinu
Was king of the world
Why bother?
Avraham Avinu
Launched two millenia of Torah
What for?
Avraham Avinu
Composed an autobiography
Sefer Yetzira
שלהבת קשורה בגחלת
Scale the heights of unity
Bring דעת to worlds
Of fragmentation
סופן בתחלתן ותחלתן בסופן
Shabbos HaChodesh Shalom
Mesechta Megila
Begins with מגילה
And ends with ירושלים
Two days of Purim
One sponsored by ואהבת
Next one by יום הכפורים
כי יד על כס יה
3 x מגלה = הויה
Yom Kipur is Yerushalayim
One place in the world celebrates יה
לשנה הבאה בירושלים הבנויה
Amalek
Stands between the Jew and Har Sinai
Amalek
Monetizes reality
Amalek
Detests tzaddikim
Amalek
Detests God even more
Amalek
Is not a religion
And is no longer a nation
Amalek
Is an ideological disease
Which infects unwary hearts
Even A Jew’s
Shabbos Zachor Shalom
Purim Appears Twice In The Zohar
Once For each day
In שלח we’re taught
Esther wore לבוש לויתן
Achashverosh died when he saw her
Why?
Mordechai wore it too
People were awestruck
But didn’t die
Why?
Mordechai wore the עטרת זהב גדולה
Not Esther
Why?
What do we wear
Special for Purim?
Tikunei Zohar 21 says
Leather shoes
Why?
Esther did her job
Then Mordechai did
Now it’s our turn
Shabbos Shalom
Taste Your Shabbos Before It Begins
טועמיה חיים זכו
We say this during musaf
Before attaining נשמה יתירה
And it refers to erev Shabbos activity
Tosefes Shabbos is before and after
Not during Shabbos
Yosef HaTzadik ordained musaf
Before the Jews received Shabbos
Floating into the kitchen looking for a snack
Does not yield טועמיה
Looking for a taste of the world
You’ve made for yourself – is
You make your own food for Shabbos?
Or rely on others
Anticipating their olam haba?
Or your own
רב ספרא מחריך רישא
רבא מלח שיבוטא
טועמיה is of what you’ve made
Made out of yourself
לעשות את השבת
הקב״ה מראה לצדיקים עד שהן בעוה״ז
מתן שכרן מה שהוא עתיד ליתן להם לעתיד
Shabbos Shalom
Emuna Is For Beginners
Bitachon is for masters
The ultimate goal of all avodas Hashem
Is called bitachon
Emuna is mentioned throughout the Torah
It’s a mitzva
Bitachon is too
Distinct from emuna
But not emphasized in the Torah
Failure in emuna is heresy
Failure in bitachon is condoned
Even encouraged
Avraham Avinu is called ראש למאמינים
Not לבוטחים
Moshe Rabenu is called רעיא מהימנא
He guides us in emuna development
Not bitachon
Want a Masters in avodas Hashem?
Yaakov Avinu Asked To Reveal
יעקב אל בניו
And He Did
The world’s endgame:
1-Shechina disappearance
2-Emuna challenge
3-שמעו בני יעקב
Who is ישראל אביכם?
He’s broadcasting brochos
תדיר כאשר תריד
Hot Shower Before Shabbos
That shower requires a Lurianic kavana
Think ‘שלהבת = שבת לה
Why not warm up by a fireplace?
Why not hot soup, or food?
The third and fourth letter of the Torah
Are אש
Surrounded by ברי“ת
Yaakov Avinu is אש
Yosef HaTzadik is שלהבת
אש is internal
שלהבת leaps and bounds
Yosef brings Yaakov
To the great outdoors
קבלת שבת
Shabbos Shalom
Chanuka Climaxes With זאת
Which appears once in shemoneh esreh
Find it and formulate
Why Chazal chose to enrich
That brocho
With the high-beams
Of Chanuka
Avraham Avinu
Is already a fully fledged prophet
Has been coronated king of the world
And has converted it to monotheism
His earns an letter addition
Only years later
A letter that doesn’t appear in any of his children or grandchildren
Until Yehuda comes along
Ask Hashem
To help you understand
And ask how you too can earn that letter addition
Even if you’re lucky enough
To have it already in your name
Shabbos Shalom