Please Pass the Salt - Parsha Vayikra - By Rabbi YY Jacobson

[Music] No [Music] they tell a story about a Jewish couple living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan a studio apartment two one-bedroom and her brother moves in on them I don't know if you ever had a brother move in on you but this was a particular he stays one day two days one week two weeks Biffle azocheer how much can you tolerate it so after awhile subtly the sister and the brother-in-law try to intimate to this young man that it's time to leave but he does not get the message what do they do so they come up with a brilliant plan Cavalli created by a Yiddish a cop what's the plan he tells his wife you know tonight when you serve me dinner you'll serve soup and I'll take one spoon of the soup I'll taste it and I'll tell you honey the soup is too salty and you will argue with me you will maintain that the soup is not too salty and we'll get into this fake argument and from the fake argument we'll get into the fake conflict and then we'll ask your brother what is his opinion about the soup and whoever he agrees with the other one will throw him out of the house somehow if he throw him out of the house because of a debate over whether the soup was too salty or not it can be justified great dinner time comes the wife serves a bowl of soup to her husband he tastes the soup honey usually Iran but tonight the soup is horrible disgusting abominable and she's like darling the soup is impeccable it's flawless then he's honey I would not feed this food to my end of the soup to my enemy and she's like your mother can't make such a soup to save her life and he tells her you wouldn't catch me dead eating the soup to put it the way it was from a fake fight it turned into a very real conflict all of the resentment all of the issues they had with each other for many many years emerged every iota of resentment and frustration contained in the precious brain of his wife emerged at that moment a war broke out between this couple and finally at the height of the debate and the dispute the great moment comes the moment which called for all of it he turns to his brother-in-law his wife's brother and he says what is your opinion about the soup there's the soup salty too salty or is it not too salty and the brother scratches his forehead he looks around he meditates for a few moments and he says you know I have to live here for another few months I cannot afford to take any sides of course reflective of the fact that very often conflict between people between spouses between individuals is often not even about their own issues but about somebody else's issues and this generates the conflict but I used this anecdote as an introduction into the discussion tonight a very interesting and engaging mitzvah' commandment in the portion of I ikura the opening portion of the safer vyi crew the Book of Leviticus in chapter 2 verse 13 we have the following Mitzvah as you know via Cara deals with the many types of animal and grain offerings that were brought to the temple thus chapter 2 verse 13 source number one in your curriculum presents the following commandment with all-carbon minho tsubame locked in la ville Asajj bismillah bris my casa may Alman hosaka I'll call carbonic attack ramela translation you shall salt your every meal offering with salt do not eliminate the salt of your God's covenant from upon your meal offering on your every offering you shall offer salt consequently every sacrificial part that made its way to the temple altar to be consumed by the flames and ascends to heaven as it were was salted beforehand no matter whether the offering consisted of meat raw flour bake matzah unleavened bread these were the three types of foods that were offered on the altar meat raw flour or baked not saw any type of food that made its way to the altar needed to be salted on both sides to be fit for consumption on the altar what is the rationale behind this Mitzvah seems like a very straightforward simple Mitzvah make sure you salt all of your offerings don't eliminate salt fine why what is the meaning what is the symbolism what is the logic behind this Mitzvah one of the most fascinating elements of Torah transforming it into a lifelong journey of adventure and often ecstasy is the fact that every single verse Mitzvah law episode story and message recorded in the Torah contains a minimum of four layers of interpretation which correspond to the four layers of every human soul there is the biological layer of human identity the emotional layer of the human self the cognitive and the spiritual every single law and story in the Torah can be explained on four different levels each of them legitimate in its own context each of them paralleling corresponding to one layer of human consciousness the four layers are known as Passat remiz douche sewed together their acronym is the word Paradise which means orchard garden paradise is shot ramus DeRusha site the first layer is shot the simple concrete meaning mirroring the down-to-earth biological dimension of life this is the literal pragmatic concrete you might call simple meaning of the verse law or Mitzvah episode of the Torah it parallels the biological dimension of self the concrete literal embodiment of life what does it mean you're alive you're biologically alive that's the shot level the second level is known as remiz this symbolic or homolytically nning of the particular aspect of Torah the symbolism of it this reflects the emotional plane of the soul knowing as a Rua why because emotions usually function as symbols of underlying subconscious experiences most emotions are smokescreens they're symbolic they have to be studied as symbolisms representing deeper underlying emotional experiences then we have the third level of explaining Torah knowing as doosh doosh is the interconnected meaning which views all of Torah literature as a multi complex multi fast multi-dimensional mosaic as one large organism Dheeraj sees the entire Torah literature as a single organism as a single body a large tapestry this path demonstrates how every concept in Torah can only be fully understood when based on truths and ideas contained in all of Torahs writings this layer mirrors the cognitive dimension of the soul no and as neshama and then we have the fourth layer of learning Torah the a satiric or mystical dimension known as sewed the mystical explanation of Torah this corresponds to the spiritual or transcendental dimension of human identity the spiritual layer of human consciousness no one as Shia so we have nephesh Rua neshama Shia the biological the emotional the cognitive and the transcendental corresponding to shot rama''s ruch and salt the literal explanation of Torah the homolytic allure symbolic explanation of Torah the explanation of Torah as an interconnected mosaic and the spiritual esoterical mystical explanation of Torah the mitzvah of salting every temple offering is no exception it too contains four levels of interpretation let's dissect let's go on a journey tonight into the four layers of interpretation with this Mitzvah on the practical level we have the explanation presented by the eben Ezra eben Ezra rabbi avraham avinu Zirin your sources is one of the great biblical commentators he lived in the 12th century born an 11 and 19 approximately 11 19 passed away approximately 1194 he lived in Spain he was a Spanish poet philosopher astronomer and one of the greatest exponents of the literal and linguistic aspects of the Bible and the Stephen Ezra gives his reason why we have to salt every offering and in your curriculums you can open it up I read his nasty Lobby briefs rage but especially takarov TOEFL Vallejo elk you there at Brazilian which means that the basis of this Mitzvah is a demonstration of respect towards God nobody would dare serve a human King bland and tasteless food the famous verse and job which asks hi Yakult uffelman lamella is bland food eaten without salty of asks now though God obviously does not consume the food offered on the altar we're not worried that God is going to have a lousy dinner because there's no salt nonetheless it was the torah's way of inculcating in the Jewish psyche a respect for the King of Kings you offering a sacrifice to God make sure it's Alton's don't give food don't put food on the table when there's no stuck insults when there's no salt that's the literal explanation on the most basic literal level there is another literal explanation the one given by rambha Maimonides Maimonides Rambam Rubino measured by my man who also lived in the 12th century in spain and then in morocco and in Eretz Israel in the Holy Land and finally in Egypt the great philosopher a physician Kota fire leader he presents another practical reason for this law and this is in their albums guide to perplexed marina Volcom section 3 essay 46 chapter 46 again in your curriculum the Rambam explains that the ancient pagans believed that their gods cherished blood as a result of this myth they did not want to lose even a single drop of blood from their offerings to these gods so they wouldn't allow even a grain of salt to come and contact to their offerings because salt absorbs blood in order to eradicate the worship of idolatry and blood the Torah would not accept an offering that was not saturated and salt according to my manatees is the torah's method of deprogramming the Jewish people from the pagan myths that have saturated civilization at the time as the Rambam puts it in the second paragraph in your curriculums Cain lay Tim submit over me carbon or say amela you'll never find salt in any of their offerings and that's why God tells us make sure that you offering don't only have salt they're saturated with salt what they perceive as the ultimate rebellion against their gods is for us the way how we come closer to God and this is the torah's psychological way of reprogramming the Jewish psyche so the practical reason is this was the way of the pagans the way of idolatry don't use any salt the Torah says I want you to use salt next level the symbolic level the first two explanations of a benezia Rubino of Rama veneza with Evan Ezra and the rambha Maimonides both explain it on a very practical level why the Torah wants us to put salt on the offering now we take it to the symbolic level known as remiz and this is presented in the twelfth century book knowing as safer hacking of the Book of Education it's brilliant author remains unknown until today it's assumed to be the Spanish rabbi IRA in Haleiwa he is assumed to be the author of say fraction of the Book of Education a brilliant book which is really an encyclopedia of all of the 613 613 mitzvot of the Torah a brief description of each Mitzvah a brief analysis of its reasons and it's practical loss this was the great contribution of the safer action of the Book of Education in Mitzvah 119 dedicated to the concept of placing salt on every offering they're just safer a hymn of gives us this symbolic explanation and again you have it in your curriculum hemella make I am called over or mat Salalah have said waha recovering cane by my sock Arbonne he not sale Adam and I have said witta Shamanov shave it he shot Eric I am Aslam the Mitzvah according to the sinner who was symbolic of a message just a soul preserves food which would otherwise decay the temple offerings preserved the people who brought them atoning for their wrongdoings securing the internal the eternal endurance of their souls salt preserves food and the carbon the sacrifice to God preserves the human being and his or her soul this is the symbolic reason behind salt it's representing a message there's no need for physical salt on a practical level level to make it taste good or to do it differently than the idol worshipers as Evan Ezra and Maimonides but it represents something it symbolizes something salt preserves food the offering preserves the soul next the interconnected level drache Jewish this is presented actually in this case by none other than Rashi the greatest biblical commentator Rabbi it's hockey Rashi from France who lived in the 11th century before Evan Ezra and Maimonides Rashi was born approximately 10:40 and passed away approximately in the year 11:05 he usually are the years to the first level of Torah interpretation Rashi states a few times in his commentary on Eli bus CL ellipse traditional Makura my mission statement is to explain the first level of Torah interpretation the literal but in this instance he offers a rather dramatic midrashic interpretation tracing the mitzvot back to the genesis of existence Rashi focuses on the enigmatic expression in this biblical verse which we quoted in the beginning where the pasok says the verse says the Lesage bismillah bris la Camille Mikasa don't eliminate the salt of your God's covenant from upon your meal offering why is the salt associated with a covenant with a breeze with a divine covenant and Rashi says you have it in the curriculum shahe breeze Crusoe lamella Hamish's immigrations God made a covenant with salt during the time of creation so hoof - Who am I am had a Steinem Lee Karev Bemis Bay off the mela finis Akamai America the lower waters were promised that they would be offered to the altar through the salt and through the pouring of the water on the festival of circus what does this mean here we have a classical level of - an interconnected interpretation the opening portion of the tour in veracious relates and when the second day of creation God created a division between the heavenly waters above the firmament firmament and the earthly waters below there akia below the firmament initially all the water was one on Sunday on Monday of the creation God creates a separation a partition between the waters you have the higher waters and the lower waters the Madras records that the earthly waters began weeping maíam tastin m.bison an on beam on lamothe kada mulk we to crave to be close to God why have we be a band why have we been abandoned why were we throw and below to comfort the lower waters God makes a covenant with the water what is the what what is the covenant that the lower waters will one day become a critical component in the temple service for salt which comes from the sea would be placed on every single offering one more thing he promised the waters on circus there was a special tradition a ritual where each morning of the holiday of suka s-- water was poured on the altar no one has nice AAHA maíam these were the two promises God made with the lower waters in order to comfort it from its grievance and pain from being cast below now we come to the mystical level what is the mystical meaning behind this mitzvah of placing salt on every offering here we are introduced to the commentary of Rubino Bahia the great Spanish biblical commentator in the 14th century rabbi towba Shia also alluded to somewhat alone a different level in the commentary of the Rambam and the humanities the 13th century great Spanish rabbi philosopher biblical commentator physician Ram ban and the humanities are minimization of an animal the Cabalists explained as Rabinovitch ie elaborates that salt contains two paradoxical properties on one hand it's destructive it prevents plants from growing and it corrodes most substances that's why the yam hemella the salty sea in Israel is called the Dead Sea in English in Arabic as well why is it called the Dead Sea because it's tremendous quantities of salt kill all potential growth and kill all living creatures besides human beings who actually like to hang out and float on the Dead Sea but if you take a fish and you place it in a Dead Sea if fish by mistake flow into the Dead Sea they have no chance of survival they die immediately because of its saltiness it kills so it's the dead sea on the other hand conversely salt preserves food it saves food it helps food survive it's also an essential component of the diets of human beings and other warm-blooded animals so we have here a paradox and the paradox is expressed also in the taste of salt on one hand salt has a bitter taste it's not a very nice taste it's pretty horrible on the other hand sold gives food a delicious and spicy flavor it would never have on its own as the good old Yiddish saying in almost every Jewish home so felt abyssal results it's missing a little salt salt gives it a delicious flavor the very creation of salt suggests the kabbalists represent these two distinct forces salt is distributed in the oceans in the seas in the lakes its source is water but dryness and aridity are critical to its production so salt represents the synthesis of moisture and dryness in Cibola these two qualities of salt embody two attributes of judgment and discipline versus compassion and empathy Gugu reverses hazards God says the Midrash first fashioned the universe with the attribute of strict discipline medusa didn't then he realized the word the world will not survive so he incorporated into the fabric of the cosmos the quality of grace of empathy of mid Asura common salt represents then guru and Rafa ma'am I said GUI and hazard guru and Rafa ma'am that's the correct terminology Robin abou kya salt then we discover represents the very foundation and covenant of existence the two polar forces with which God created the world and the covenant with God represented through the offerings have this double component now many of these explanations or all of these explanations as interesting as they are they leave us wanting they still seem to beg for further explanation and clarification let's go through the list and Vanessa's idea of offering God tasty food begs the question after everything is said and done God needs not salted meats nor salted grain nor salted matzah nor salted flour to enjoy the Temple meal must we really resort to this practice in order to demonstrate respect to the Almighty human food needs salt but would it really be respectful to God if we don't offer the meat on the altar with salt it's not being eaten it's being burnt up in the flames Maimonides explanation about rejection the pagan attraction to blood is oh so puzzling with the Torah give the Jewish people a mitzvah for all of eternity that has no inherent value or meaning save the D legitimization of an ancient pagan myth which is a question the commentators discuss on many of the explanations of Maimonides and the guide to the perplexed but today we discuss with discussing this particular Mitzvah this means that the Mitzvah has no inherent value it's just a response to paganism in a milieu of paganism no relevance to other times the symbolic explanation in the safer our clinic in the Book of Education also leaves us wanting salt preserves the food not the person who eats the foods how does the salt on the meat of the sacrifice represent the Eternity of the Jewish soul who offers the sacrifice raah she's dramatic idea about the Covenant of God fashioned with the lower waters also leaves us with a question if God really wished to placate the lower waters why didn't he command us to pour the lower water each day on the altar why did he instruct the Jew to merely use the salt taken from the waters for the temple offerings and only one time a year on circus one holiday of the year do we pour water on the altar you really want to placate the lower waters I haven't better to remember ever have a better option don't separate the waters you separate the waters you create higher waters and lower waters now the lower waters are sad they're grieving we want to be close to God so you comfort them how do you comfort them you don't tell them ok I'll undo the seperation no the Gulf remains what are we going to do we're not even going to use you every day as a means to offer a sacrifice to God we're not going to pour you on the altar every day we're going to use your salt the soul that's found in the lower waters will be your friend on every offering and every circus will actually pour water on the altar why is he play caning the lower waters through this fashion finally the Kabbalistic insights about the connection of discipline and empathy represented in salt which both preserves and destroys which both rescues and undermines which is both connected to moisture and dryness why is this combination and the combination of these two forces so crucial to accompany every single offering there was not one offering on the altar which did not have salt 300 years ago with the birth of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov who was born in 1698 and passed on in 1760 a fifth layer of Torah interpretation was revealed the Baal Shem Tov's model of Torah interpretation developed even more intricately by his disciples and the disciples of his disciples throughout the generations came to be known as the teachings of Hasidism cus it ISM today you have probably 2,000 volumes of the section of Torah know and as cassidy's while the first four levels of Torah interpretation reflect the four layers of the soul the biological the emotional the cognitive and the spiritual the teachings of cassadee's mirror the fifth layer of the soul the fifth layer of the soul is the quintessential undefined eye of the human identity in Hebrew it's known as Yashida there is nefesh Rua neshama hiya and yet hidden it has no definition it has no description only that it Salida it's one this is the very essence of the eye there is the biological eye there is the emotional eye there is the cognitive eye there is the spiritual eye and then there is the quintessence quint actually is the fifth level in Greek quint that's why it's called the quintessence s as the fifth level Ikeda this is the very essence of the eye it's the dimension of consciousness that is embodied in that part of the self which is not defined by any particular quality characteristic not biology not emotion not cognition and nap spirituality only by the profound set sense that it exists unconditionally as a piece of God as it were who also exists unconditionally and this is the deepest core of human consciousness the fifth layer of identity is infinitely removed from all the other layers of identity because it's undefined it cannot be captured in a particular word or term or language yet precisely because of its undefined quality it can be seen as the core and the essence of every facet and experience of the soul the most essential state of AI is at the root and at the core of every single dynamic of the human condition because it's so infinitely removed from any particular quality it also constitutes the essence of every quality and experience who are you at your most basic and fundamental level can you answer the question I know who I am on a physical level or at least I hope to know who I am I know who I am emotionally well that gets complicated but at least we try some of us sit in therapy for many many years to try to figure out who we are emotionally right you know the story of the guy who went to the Bahamas on vacation and he's having a great time he writes a postcard to his psychotherapists from the Bahamas he says my dear doctor I'm here in the Bahamas and I'm having a great time I wish you were here to tell me why so some of us attempt for many years to figure ourselves out emotionally and then to figure ourselves out cognitively and to maximize our cognitive power how much percent of your brain do you think you use throughout your life and then there's of course becoming aware of our spiritual and transcendental yearnings and aspirations and every person functions on different layers different times different days different hours different moods different states different ages who are you right now you're just a biological beastly creature are you an emotional creature are you a cognitive creature or we're mindful are you a transcendental creature but these are all defined qualities these are all defined characteristics we can discuss them we can write books about them we can pontificate lecture about them and certainly philosophize about them endlessly of course as the human race has been doing since the first human being experienced consciousness and gods one of God's first questions of the human being is a Yakka who beast where are you do you know who you are but then there's your leader if he is the core of course you see there's the fifth level that's not defined it's not that it lacks definition because we're uneducated because we did not read enough because he did not think enough because we did not live enough we did not live long enough it's undefined by its very nature it comes from a place that's beyond any particular definition the core of the self cannot be defined according to Kabbalah and hazardous in any particular way as it reflects God who is also undefined in any way it's the essence of all essences it's the essence behind learn beyond language so on one hand it's the most removed and on the other hand it's the most intimate it's the most unrecognizable dimension and yet it's the most recognizable dimension because it saturates and it permeates every single experience you cannot say that your emotion is involved in every experience sometimes you do things without emotion at least without conscious emotion and certainly you're not going to say that your mindfulness and cognition and awareness is involved in every activity or in every word or in every thought and certainly not your transcendental and spiritual self but your essence is always there your essence is always present the essential eye is the core of our biological emotional cognitive and spiritual identity this is true about the fifth level of torah interpretation cassadee's does not compete with any other layer of torah study on the contrary cassadee's accentuates and highlights and brings to the surface the quintessential core of Torah the pure godliness of Julius as a result it infuses each of the other four layers of Torah interpretation with a new majestic depth vitality and life one that emerges when some things anythings pristine essence is manifested what happens to you when you're in touch with your deepest self all your layers are now enriched all your layers all your facets all your dimensions now shine in a new way we know it's from our own lives when we're in a good mood when you feel really happy when you feel inner wholesomeness and harmony everything you do is different the way you answer the phone the way you write an email the way you send a text message the way you say good morning good night the way you greet your wife or a husband when you come home the way you embrace your children in the evening the way you eat the way you walk everything is changed when your essence is presence so Hasid this we have to understand is not an additional part of Torah a variant perspective there's the perspective of shot of rama''s of Jewish of soul and then there's another perspective cassadee's that's a poor and impoverished understanding of what our citizens rather Hasid this exposes the raw core of all of the four layers of Torah cassadee's accentuates the deepest essence of all of the layers of torah interpretation all of them are now seen in a new depth and clarity as a result of the Hasidic explanation so curse it this is not another explanation just like you see des is not another layer of identity in addition to the four layers it's the core of all layers because it's the undefined essence so it redefines or it gives a new emic a new soulfulness to all of the layers so tonight we want to explore the fifth layer the Hasidic perspective on the mitzvah of salting every offering that makes its way to God's altar and then we come back and we revisit the first four explanations first we explore the fifth level the Ikeda level the essential level and then we go back and we revisit the four explanations and we see how the fifth layer of commentary grants us a new vibrancy a new depth which we now can confer upon the previous insights one that reveals their innate core so the fifth level will not compete with the other four the fifth level will just help us see the other four in their ultimate light because it will reveal their true essence the ultimate depth suck the marrow out of the shot than their Emmas in the darshan the salt you could learn shot without its essence you can learn rama''s without its essence you could learn Jewish without its essence you could learn study without its essence just like you can be biologically alive or you're not in touch with your essence and you could be emotionally present but your essence is missing and therefore your emotion sometimes are going all over the place or they need lots of healing and you can be cognitively alive but not in touch with the real essence of your ability of your creativity and of course you can have spiritual experiences but not in touch with your spiritual essence when you do have the fifth level all of them are now functioning on a deeper level what does cussedness have to say why is there a mitzvah to put salt on every offering when we approach God when we make an offering to God suggest the Hasidic masters we must remember that the offering always comes eclipsed with salt there is always salt on top of the warfarin you see one of the greatest challenges one of the greatest causes of frustration in our mental moral and psychological lives is the realization that we must always battle with bitter forces with distaste ii distasteful and dark forces whether these forces are packaged as a vulgar passions ugly temptations horrible addictions may be profound fear insecurity shame guilt lack of security the feeling that we're not entitled maybe tendencies towards melancholy laziness apathy detachment dejection depression a horrible low self-image most human beings never rid themselves completely from the struggles that accompany every attempt to live a truly wholesome harmonious and meaningful and dignified life our natural instincts and cravings always threatened to undermine our moral sane and spiritual growth and this endless battle proves too many that after all of their moral and spiritual labor it ultimately remains futile essentially they're gross they're primitive they're underdeveloped people ask when will the struggle cease this is the cry of many a person well when I when will I finally become liberated from my demons when will I finally be able begin and bathe in endless light when will my relationship with God become an all-encompassing sugar-sweet experience now these struggles as I said very many different people many different ways at many different moments but the common denominator is that is usually a struggle to overcome inner outer spiritual psychological physical emotional but there are barriers that you have to overcome and when you overcome some barriers there's usually another layer to the onion that you discovery after peel to confront this critical dilemma the Torah comes and in a very moving verse envira teaches us the how carbon mean has car bomb elastomer you shall salt your every meal offering with salt light ashby smell of bristle academy almond cassava don't eliminate the salt of your god's covenant from upon your meal offering I'll call carbuncle attackers mela on your every offering you shall offer salt three times in the same verse salt salt salt you shall salt your every meal offering whole carbon mentality muah don't eliminate salt bring salt on every offering three times the same commandment in the same verse and you have four times the word mela by mela tim large mela mela the salt accompanying every offering to god is not a tragedy it's not an aberration it's not a demonstration that you haven't touched heaven no the salt is part of god's covenant it's an indispensable component of the way he desires that you serve Him you were not created in order to discover truth with a sense of heavenly sweetness celestial purity devoid of stress of struggle of doubt ooh fragmentation you were created in order to confront darkness to confront the soil to subdue it each of your offerings to God for it to fulfill its calling will be covered with salt must be covered with salt it's infused with the struggle to crush and transcend the salty the bitter the horrible aspects of your life so don't get depressed from the salt in your life for God your salt is part and parcel of the offering that ascends to heaven so the very salt you're lamenting about from God's perspective is part of the offering he desires from you why what does this mean what is the explanation the tanya chapter xxvii offers the following explanation we have to examine the physical properties of salt is salt horrible or a salt delicious is it bitter or is it tasty it depends of course on its own salt doesn't have a good taste its bitter but when it's employed to serve another food it can become a lovely ingredient one that rescues the dish from being a bore the salt bitter on its own may bestow upon other foods a richness of taste a delightful tank that inspires taste spots like nothing else and this is true in our spiritual lives as well taken independently our salty and bitter characteristics and struggles are often hopeless pointless and demoralizing they can drag us into the muck and derail us from our calling in life and our true essence but when the very soul becomes part of a larger dish when our darkness is placed in the context of our service to God when we discover that our individual and unique path to God consists of subduing the negative conquering the immoral saying no to fear challenging darkness then the very salt and bitterness grants the dish a spiciness a drama a depth and a royalty that it could have never had enjoyed otherwise practically speaking when you have a struggle in your life you can see it in two ways as a force which pulls you away from your objective as a force which derails you from your mission statement as something that came to bound to drag you down but you can view your struggle or something else in a different context you can view it as a force which is part of your objective as a force which is part of your mission statement part of your work in life is to challenge this demon to confront this darkness God did not create holy people to do holy things he did not want holy people to do holy things he wanted unholy people to subdue their darkness the objective of existence in this world as the tanya and the Hasidic masters explained is not just to generate light there is another objective the main objective is to subdue darkness the main objective is this happen especially to annoy or to confront the unholiness to confront the demon to confront opaqueness to challenge it to excavate the light within the darkness to transform the darkness so when I have the darkness in my life I ought not to feel ie this is destroying everything that's not destroying anything on the contrary this is the salt which can now add spice to your service of God God wants you to serve him with salt through salt the salt is the objective when you subdue the bitterness the salt on its own is bitter but it's part of a very delicious and tasty dish it creates your service of God don't despise your salt on the contrary because of the salt the negative itself becomes part of the beauty becomes part of your service it gives you the opportunity to subdue the darkness they tell the story about a great king who once summoned the Jewish artists and he tells the artist he says you know I need you to draw a portrait of me but two conditions the portrait must be accurate and I must appear very handsome in the portrait there was one problem the king had a horrible blemish on top of his eyebrow so the Jewish artists doesn't know what he does what to do if it's accurate that must have the blemish if it has the blemish the king will not look handsome and if he violates the instruction of the King he can come out with a hat shorter what do you do so the Jew meditated and reflected and what was his decision his decision was he drew made a portrait of the king while engaged in deep reflection and meditation so what was the position the Kings hand was right over his eyebrow engaged in deep thoughts it was accurate and the King looked lovely and handsome he took the very blemish he took the very problem and he used it as a catalyst to create the King in a reflective and meditative position which actually portrayed a very thoughtful and mindful purse Milosh is the same letters like lack and bread an offering is called Lakshmi Li shy my bread ray actually crazy my aroma so the Jew takes the salt and turns the mela into Latin turns the salt into a delicious offering for God so when I have a struggle when I have negativity when I have a challenge in me when I have darkness in me don't let like I can't allow the darkness to tell me oh you're bad you're down there's no hope for you on the contrary take the salt and put it into the dish of serving God God wants you to subdue your darkness not to be filled with light to transform darkness into light every offering will have salt it's not a tragedy on the contrary this is what constitutes serving God serving God in this world means you serve Him with your salt if you followed last week's class the coup de fourvière Kiva's contribution every thorn becomes a crown I'll call kites with kites two little enchiladas as discussed in the previous class about the Forgotten souls last Monday now we can return to the other explanations of the salting Mitzvah and discover how the Hasidic perspective allows each of them to cast their individual glow in a new light the true core of Evan Ezra's idea can now better be appreciated God needs not the salt on the offerings for the physical taste but Hashem desires that man prepare for him the dish that utilizes salt in order to grant it a new unique taste for this capture something essential a man's service of the almighty Ram BOMs explanation too can be comprehended in a deeper way the salt and our offerings represent our continuous attempt to escape from the pagan cult of darkness until Messiah comes the worship of blood on many different levels is part of our psyche and we must battle it with salt Rashi's idea regarding the covenant fashioned with the lower waters becomes absolutely marvelous water represents the light and pleasure the higher waters represent our spiritual pleasures and aspirations the lower waters represent our earthly earthly and beastly pleasures aspirations and sometimes addictions the lower waters cry why did we fall below we also wish to be close to God your darkness too craves sublimation God's Way of placating the lower waters is not by removing the Gulf it's also not by instructing us to pour water each day on the altar because that would defeat the entire purpose of the lower waters for the lower waters to fulfill their purpose of challenging the person to battle for truth of challenging the person to transform darkness into light they must remain lower waters not higher waters but God demonstrates to these waters how they fulfill their mission and reach their deepest potential by being who they are lower waters salt the bitter substance is coming from the lower waters must be placed on every offering what give what gives every human offering in this world its profound as taste is the salt the bitter and lowliness stemming from the lower waters which we then offer to God we take our darkness and we subdue it the symbolic meaning of the assault is also appreciated in a new way the very salt which accompanies our service of God constitutes our greatest spiritual power and endurance according to the phenomena because the ultimate objective of existence was to subdue and transform the darkness in the world and in our psyche and transform it so our very saltness when exploited to serve God becomes the source of our endurance and finally we have a much better understanding of the Kabbalistic inside and disorders combining the forces of compassion and judgments the connection to the temple offering is now more than obvious because the essence of the experience of offering one's identity to God must always synthesize these two forces the sense of celebration and the sense of judgment and severity against the powers of darkness when we offer ourselves to God is always an element of ecstasy and exultation there's an element of battle and confrontation so in summation the next time you experience an ugly craving a profound fear say to yourself this ought not to demoralize me God wants me to serve him with salt apparently it tastes much better [Music] oh gosh [Music] yes [Music] Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hey [Applause] [Music] keep Oh [Music]