The Name of God - The Jewish Spiritual Path - The Way of the Name - Rabbi Joshua Golding

welcome everyone they're fine presentation by you Garnett but if you guys is all prepared for and we want you to keep coming back thank you all for coming we had rabbi Golding dr. Golding before and he presented his book called the conversation and tonight we're making a new presentation when a book that is yet to come I think it's already by the publishers or soon to be it's in the really to finish the finish line and the way of the name and we all use the name of God whether we're looking at it we're pronouncing it correctly or incorrectly or differently but either way we're obligated to understand what it is that we're saying or thinking and I have a feeling that tonight's presentation will transform most of our thinking if we already learned about it certainly going to help us you know review what we already know and perhaps we'll be elevated to higher levels of literature shell without any wealth I was going to introduce it actually using the cover of his book he came last seven years ago on a sabbatical he's a professor of philosophy at bellermine University in Louisville Kentucky and we got to know each other our kids got to know each other a little bit and he's a fine person so I don't know it doesn't really say that in here it just tells us about his that his achievements but the truth is he is a really fine person and if you get to know him and hopefully he'll stay in touch with you guys we'll come back another seven years it's not the shadow before or maybe for the directorship he held research positions at the University of Haifa at the University of Notre Dame is the author of Malley this both the conversation but a book called rationality in the religious theism he also published articles religious studies faith and philosophy modern scholar school and tradition and the Torah Amada journal he received his rabbinic ordination from yeshiva sulla Yaakov in Jerusalem and we're very proud to have rabbi goli thank you okay thank you very much I'm actually going to try to something I really don't like which is read a paper this is good for like an academic kind of a presentation the reason I'm going to do this is because there's so much information that I want to share and the best way that I can share it with you is I wrote it up and I'm going to read it but I'll try to act as if I'm not reading something from a printed script so it seems more spontaneous before I begin as threal accustomed said I just finished the draft of a book called the way of the name and hopefully the book will be published sometime at the end of the calendar year or maybe at the beginning of 2018 so what I'm going to say tonight is really like a short brief summary of what's elaborated more in the forthcoming book so let's begin the way is the name the Jewish spiritual path the Torah teaches that the essential of proper name of God or ultimate being is the Tetragrammaton the four lettered name of Hashem we know as the Jews cave of K religious Jews regardless name with such reverence that we do not even attempt to pronounce it but instead use the word Hashem which means the name now one of the central teachings in Kavala or Jewish mystical tradition is that a proper understanding of the name is essential it's an essential key to living a rich and meaningful spiritual life the four lettered name signifies the ways in which the infinite essence of God is manifest in reality and so in order to walk in the way of God you must learn to understand and implement the meaning of the name it has been said that the entire Kabbalah is a commentary on the name you gave okay this understanding will illuminate and energize our fulfillment of the commandments our practice of Selah prayer and meditation and all their torah study as well just a little bit about Cibola I don't know if people in the audience have dismissed impression but some people have the false impression that Kabbalah is all about magical amulets and hocus pocus and that kind of thing but the truth is those who study Kabbalah discover that it offers a sophisticated conceptual framework for understanding the deep purpose and significance of the Torah in this cult in this talk I will be utilizing insights from Kabbalah to illuminate and energize our commitment to Torah study observance and prayer Kabbalah teaches the just as the name has four letters and by the way there you see it right there she BC Hashem when they become it the power of ash Emma's name is supposed to be something we're supposed to think about as repost I'll mention just as the name has four letters we're going to discover tonight that the spiritual journey of Judaism also has four stages which involve not only specific theoretical concepts but specific stages of personal as well as spiritual growth my talk this evening aims to combine a presentation of some of the very basic elements of Kabbalah with also a practical aim of offering a guide that can be used in real time to energize and enrich one's spiritual life we're also going to see that the four fold way of the name is closely linked with the daily morning prayer the chakras perhaps many of you know that the chakras has four stages which we'll get into but perhaps all you don't know that each of these four stages actually corresponds to one letter of the name of Hashem and also to one phase or stage of the Jewish spiritual path if you want to go on a trip and reach a destination it's always a good idea to have a road map the road map for the Jewish spiritual path is the name of a sham just one more comments before we begin sources for what I'm saying tonight for the book much of what I have to say is drawn from Kabbalah but also from the great most of works including Raveena bhai as homo cellobiose a lot of my ideas are drawn from the tanya the phyllis each arm of the rum cow and other great classics but tonight I'm not going to spend time talking too much about the sources of what I'm saying but just give you the material as best I can and leave the sources for the book and the footnotes in the book so let's talk about the name in very basic terms the significance of the four letters of Hashem name according to two Kabbalah the Kabbalists refer to the four letters of the design name as follows in reverse order that follows the last letter of a Shems name is called the lower hey or hey Tata using Aramaic then there's above then there's the upper hey to hate you law and finally the youth these four letters of a Shems name signify aspects of God each of which correspond to a certain aspects of the human being as well who was created to selam aleykum in the image of God the divine name itself is only a manifestation of the aims of the infinite and indexable essence of God that cannot be named one interpretation of the name did cave of K is that it comes from the root for the Hebrew word for being a vaio in fact some people use the name javea to refer to God the word has I a means being and clearly the Jews cave of K is somehow etymologically related to the word for being so we can think of the proper name of God as designated being itself pure or infinite being and by the way if you've ever had any doubt maybe I should say this in the show if you've ever had any doubt about whether God exists I suggest you might try thinking about God as being itself God's essence is being itself surely there's no doubt that there is a reality that there is a being something exists there in such a thing as existence and if God's essence is identified with being itself then the most profound and obvious fact about the universe is that there is reality God is reality God is being now of course there's more to Judaism than just that because as Kabbalah teaches the aim soap or infinite being of God manifests itself in certain specific way there's a certain way in which this infinite being is manifest manifest the four lettered name of a Shem represents those four major ways in which God's efforts is manifest let's talk about them finally if the lower hey okay if you have your your hand out you can see that I've got on the handout at the top so you see this gave up they over here so the lower head corresponds to the Divine Presence Roisin oh yeah what is meant by God's presence or Shiina that aspect of God that relates most closely to the physical world and to the human body for example whenever God's presence appears in a physical manifestation such as the clouds of glory or the anomic acabo that presence is often referred to as the Shema the lower hay or the Shiina relates to the fact that being manifests itself in such a way that it has a physical presentation the first thing you notice the first most obvious thing about being that you see your experience is that there's a physical reality when you look at a person the first thing you see is their body okay now there's more to a person than a body just like these more to God than a physical presence or a physical manifestation but the hey the lower pay or Shiina represents the fact that God is manifest in the most things including the physical around the lower hey also relates to the fact that not only is God present in the physical world but God is also open or available to us even in the depths of our physicality so to speak the Kabbalist sometimes referred to this aspect of God as shift looks she's looked or under sunroof on the solutes meaning the humbleness the lowliness of God the fact that God is available God is present even to a physical creature that's represented by the lower hey the lower hey is in effect the doorway the Pesa through which a person may come in contact with God now above moving up from the lower hey now to the love what is result represent the buff corresponds to the me dope or me dose of Hashem generally speaking to me toes meaning God's character traits basically to simplified a little bit in Kabbalah in rabbinic literature God needles refer to his head guru and rahman those are the three major character traits that God has that are represented by the vows God's benevolence God's justice and God's compassion and next moving to the upper hey okay again on the handout that's moving up to the the second hey in Hashem name that corresponds to God's intelligence or beam up now beam up in Kabbalah is the ability to understand the comprehend beam is also the ability to make distinction the haben being doubled of are also beam a corresponds to our ability to infer things our inferential ability made in government oak cover as the phrase is found so the upper hay is above the thought there is a pecking order here in other words the lower hay and then above the upper hand the good there's a pecking border or a totem pole of importance here in some ways the higher letters our closer to the infinite essence of gods and the lower letters and the lower letters represents the more outward manifestation so in Kabbalah is very important by Lillian Italian tuxedos especially kebab procedures the emphasis on the fact that being up is higher than the character trait so the same thing is supposed to be true for a human being that one's intelligence one's rational capacity is supposed to govern and guide one's character traits so the hay is above above now finally the good the unit in Kabbalah corresponds to two aspects of God actually hokhmah which is wisdom and we'll talk about the difference between a customer and Dina a little bit also the tip of the earth because in other way the years is written is like a copse of the universe from the very top which is in Kabbalah said to be a reference or like a pointers toward the infinite essence of God which is invisible okay because remember all the letters of a shemin's name are supposed to represent ways in which that infinite essence of God is manifest so the tip of the year represents the highest aspect of a sham which in Kabbalah is sometimes called cata or kept there and is also identified as rep song or will Hashem ease will that's the highest level of a Shems manifestation and then Proxima now what's the difference between cosmos and bina hokhmah is creative wisdom being a remember we said bina is intelligence the ability to comprehend the ability to understand things the ability to make inferences Kozma is creative wisdom there's a big difference some people are actually very good at one or the other some people are very good at both but to be a creative thinker to come up with new insights to be invented because the kind of created genius that's something beyond just the ability to comprehend or understand let's say a logical argument to make distinctions so again the unit represents clock mark and also the tip of the year represents will now obviously I've already made it clear in effect that the human being has these aspects of well number one we have a body we have an outward of groups we have an outward appearance that corresponds to the lower hey we have character traits right we have the ability to be generous to be kind to be just because we also have the ability to have bad character traits but that was correspond to the bug we have the intelligence we have a brain you have a left brain and the right brain and we also have at least according to Judaism we have free will we have the Pyrrhic options so that that ability to have to have free will the ability to make choices is the highest level of the human beings because that corresponds to the highest letter of a Shem same in fact it corresponds to the co social use the highest level of the use now so far we've talked about the letters of a Shems name what they mean or what they basically refer to in terms of a Shems manifestation of His infinite essence a little bit about the human being let's talk a little bit about the chakras so this is on the bottom of your handout okay the chakras or the morning prayer has four stages again from lowest to highest you start off with section number one is beer Costa shop are the morning blessings and the Provence those are grouped together by the catalyst as one phase the first phase of chakras you can say some of those droplets at home you can even say some of those growth Ruffus while you're still in pajamas are getting out of bed in fact some the beginning to modani you're already in that first stage of the prayer okay then there's the second stage which is cookie to zero the verses of praise higher level notice that there's a Kaddish often I mean you can get into discussions with different in hug human customs but between the first stage and the second stage is often a sibenik Kaddish that marks a transition between the lower a and above next the third level or third stage of chakras is Kriya China together with the brook of Shema that's the third stage and the fourth and final stage is the Shmona X ray V on either the standing prayer which is the pinnacle of the chakras now it's true that there are things we say after the shamone s ray there's Tottenham which is really parked in a way of the Cielo there's other things that are said there's other portions of the governing but if you would think of chakras as the kind of a ladder of salaam going up to heaven then the fourth rung the highest rung is the sroa x-ray and the aftermath that we say after the shamone x-ray is kind of a coming back down from that height of the Cremona s right the Schmoe Nasri is the climax of the donning and everything after that is kind of coming back down to the real world after the shmona s ray so we're going to see in more detail how these four stages of shock which correspond to the four letters of a champagne and how they correspond to the four aspects of a sham and in a way more importantly and what hasn't talked about yet is how these four stages correspond to what I'm calling the Jewish spiritual path meaning that there are certain nito certain quality traits character traits and also certain intellectual traits that were supposed to develop as the Jews in our effort to become closer and closer to Hashem which is really the ultimate goal of the Jewish spiritual path right the ultimate goal of the Jewish spiritual path this is said by many people that are on call famously in the beginning in the school to charm more or less talks about this that the object of Judaism is to achieve the basis is to achieve a connection a close connection a bond with God who is open it being so that's what Judaism is recipe for and the Jewish spiritual path is a way of getting to that end as we'll see so is it the one time I said it brother before little edge guy okay anyway let's talk about the me toes associated with the lower hey and here you can refer to your your handout I think it's in the middle of that first page right okay so let's look at the lower hey the first step in the Jewish spiritual task is to develop the meter of receptivity I call this the meter of Kabbalah you know people use the word Kabbalah to mean tradition and mysticism but I'm suggesting that we can think of Kabbalah as a leader as a quality which should be we should be developing now what do I mean by receptivity and acknowledgement and acceptance of certain very basic facts about reality and in particular about oneself this is the beginning of the spiritual journey I think this is a meter that perhaps is a little under emphasized in the great classic works of Mooser what on these are being receptive a receptive person is someone who takes things in who absorb things who acknowledges that which is given to him a receptive person is sensitive self-aware he or she takes stock of who and what he or she is and what are the conditions of one's immediate circumstances these include but are not limited to certain basic facts about oneself such as the fact that I have a body I mean that some of in a way the most basic fact about myself I have the ability to touch this feel I have a physical presence okay but I also have a consciousness I have a consciousness of some sort I live I breathe I eat I drink I ingest I excrete I experience pleasure I experience pain see I here I walked I talk these are the basic facts about themselves now in a way you might say anyone should be how can you possibly not be aware of the fact that you have these qualities but the meter here is paying attention taking stock realizing that I am this kind of creature that is the beginning of the spiritual path just the beginning but it's the important beginning now it's easy to see I'm going to what if you you're probably thinking two steps ahead of me and you can see how this comes up in the very first part of the chakras prayer meaning the purpose of chakra but I'll get to that in a minute before I get to that let's just notice that this this quality of Kabbalah rista tivity clearly corresponds to allure hey of a shams name because I explained earlier because what is the lower hay signified God's presence in the physical realm okay and so here we are thinking of this activity as being aware of the fact that I have a physical body that I have the ability to sense and to feel to touch the meter of receptivity is also a kind of openness which is a good lead of that to be open to be receptive I mean Kabbalah they say that the letter hey all the letters have a certain way they look and in couple of they make a big deal about the actual physical appearance of a letter the hey is an open letter that hey has an opening on the bottom it has an opening on the top right opening on the bottom is the bottom part that's open and the top part is this little part and years it's also open so being open is represented by the hey Hashem is open this is his ability is willingness to relate to us even in the lowest depths of physicality the our openness at the starting point of the Jewish spiritual path is our receptivity to who and what we are and what the world is like okay there's something third of the way through there's something reflective about receptivity let me try to explain what I mean by this it involves a turning in upon oneself receptivity involved taking an objective standpoint with respect to oneself because in order to recognize that one is a receiver a person has to kind of step outside of themselves and look at themselves and see what kind of person what kind of thing that they are an infant is a passive beneficiary of many things so you could say well an infant has receptivity doesn't it because it receives it takes in but there's a difference between being passive and being receptive receptivity is already easily as a rim is really not completely passive to be receptive you have to do a little bit of an action you have to be kind of okay I am a receiver up once you make that statement once you look at yourself from the outside then you are cultivating the niether of receptivity all spiritual growth I think this is true maybe that all personal growth spiritual growth involve some kind of advance in objectivity in other words you sort of if you see yourself if you only see yourself as you as the whole the only thing that exists in the world then you're on a very low level of maturity the more you are able to see yourself as part of a greater whole and there's many levels of set the more you grow as a person and as a spiritual being okay receptivity involves taking stock of certain very obvious things we tend to take them for granted but really they're quite astonishing the first stage of chakras helps the person to focus precisely on these things when we take stock of the effects here I'll get to that in a minute but there's two other virtues or qualities that are so with the lower hay and these are led to or these are inspired by receptivity those two other character traits are gratitude Oh dah and humility so let's see how this works remember we start off with receptivity that's the very first step I have a body I can I have I have faded I have I eat I drink I go to the bathroom I wake up in the morning I can move I have I have clothes I have I can tie my shoes okay I have all these amazing things the next step is gratitude the next step is appreciating my gosh what what do I am I have this amazing body that does all these amazing things so how Cara's hatov is based upon that first step of receptivity now there's a business there's a receptivity is a double-edged sword because when you take stock of who and what you are as a physical creature you're also faced with the reality that you are a frail creature how dependent them are if I wake up and I'm sorry if I'm parking on going to the bathroom but I think of this every morning and I think everyone should think of this and I think this is really what the breath of Ashley ups are is every partly about is our bodily functions are amazing and if something didn't work quite right we'd be dead right if I but what would happen is my eyes suddenly did work or if my nose didn't work or if I didn't have clothes or I didn't have shoes or I didn't have water to wash my hands okay so when I'm receptive and reflective about who and what I am on the one hand I'm wow amazing I'm an amazing creature and how all these things I can see I can hear at the topic and do this I can do that I can walk this is amazing but on the other hand how freeing the creature I am okay what if I couldn't go to bathroom what didn't have water what if I didn't have shoes then I'd be really stuck so receptivity week two on the one hand gratitude and essentially maybe a little bit of a pride and what kind of a creature I am but also humility in what how dependent and finite and also how mortal I am because if you take stock of yourself in the morning you wake up you're immortal creatures you could get it by a car today or stabbed by terrorists or posture shown something even worse who knows what okay so reflecting on that is that's the basic starting point of the Jewish spiritual path all that corresponds to the hey and [Applause] this is the major theme of the first part of chakras maybe I don't have to go through their hosts the chakra how many of them focused on these things I'm sure yes sir I can see I can walk I can tie my shoes I can have a belt I have a keep on a hat and not only that but only have done that section maybe some of you are familiar with from the chakras that that sometimes called the little schnapps the little swallow you say in between breath of the shark and the cubanos the old me has done that section in there really emphasizes how frail and how almost it's kind of almost a depressing part of the fair that we're like nothing we're like a zero it's not for our relationship with God it goes on to say okay so the first part of it Fela the first part of shock risk helps us cultivate those very basic virtues from the beginning of modena knees all the way up throughout we can talk about the qurba notes how that fits in but I think we should move on to the love so moving on to the love well we said that in the first or lower hey level we're focused mostly on one's own self I realized that I had great gifts but basically all I am doing in the in the lower that in the lower hey is I'm absorbing them take but I'm not giving the me toes associated with the lower hair essentially passes the closest I come to giving anything is giving thanks what's that funny that's getting something but the promise of a giving right it's important but it's not giving something beyond just giving thanks the realization that there's something passes about this level leads to or provokes a sense of responsibility which engenders a more active or positive desire to do and especially to give rather than just to be a receiver there is a recognition that remaining in the hey stage or there should be a recognition that remaining in that hey stage okay I'm just going to be a thankful receptive humble person and that's all I'm going to do there's something inadequate about that it's insufficient it's immature it's an immature way of interacting with the world and with God now there's several factors that work in this process first of all if you really appreciate something you have you can grow to appreciate it in someone else if I can walk and I can talk and I can do all these things I look at another person so he has those things - that's amazing also so the first step is again it's a transition to objectivity instead of just focusing on oneself it's looking outside and looking around the world and saying hey there are other creatures around that are pretty special and amazing - objectivity in particular the ability to reflect on the fact that others are receivers just like me that's the beginning of compassion that's the beginning of Rahman in other words what I can look at another person and say hey he's also a receiver and I can sort of sense what it's like for him to be a receiver and for what it would bully for him to feel pain or to be suffering and if I can feel that in myself that's the beginning of the feeling of compassion or the virtue of compassion now another element involved in the transition from the lower hey to the love the love is going to constitute the leaders the press abraca meme in Europe mimicking God Tomatoes of his above okay his Bob Meadows an element involved in a transition from the Lower Haight to the Valle thus involved looking around the world outside of themselves seeing what a wondrous world it is if there are a million discrete evident events that are going on inside of me that allow me to function there are billions and billions of event going on in the world outside of me that makes it and all of its wondrous content function the natural world includes people trees plants animals the vast oceans to see the sea creatures the planet the universe is an amazing place when I'm able to step outside of myself and appreciate that wondrous world that's when I'm beginning to move out of the lower hey level and into the vogue level this is the role of the second phase of chocolate Sepideh Zimbra that's exactly what's 52 Zimri is supposed to be about again in the first phase I'm blessing God for my gifts I'm focusing on me the fact that I have these gifts and I think I share my recognized - M as the source but in the second level this is a difference between thanks and praise right the difference between giving thanks and singing to Jesus never supposed to be sung a lot of people I think those who persecuted Zimmer as if it's like you know just said the first part of dying but it's supposed to be song with the tune and the reason it's supposed to be sung with the tune is because it's joyful supposed to be exuberant but to be looking around the world and saying my gosh what an amazing place does this is supposed to be inspiring and it's supposed to be inspiring to us to be Bali has that as well and that's one reason I believe why there is a custom for the end of cookie deserve of which many of you I'm sure are familiar with of giving sadaqa right there's a customer giving sadaqa toward the end of cicadas Imre we could talk about a lot of details about it's basically silky do zimmer is not suppose to be something that you just go through passively but it's supposed to inspire you to be about SS just why Hashem is about that's it the world is filled with wondrous amazing things God is an amazing giver the Netherlands when I contemplate that and I go Kentucky to them and I do it right I'm inspired to be a giver to and that's why for at the end of cooking December up I want to give some stuck up I want to give charity and it should be just well I'm giving charity then I'm done with it right the idea isn't to give charity and then say okay I did my good deed for the day it's the opposite is that I'm giving charity because that's the kind of person I want to be for the rest of the day I want to be a charitable giving person now let's talk a little bit about a very important concept in Cibola again this is related to the transition from the lower hey to above an important ID in Kampala is called some of you may be familiar with it's called Mohammed de souza it means the bread of shame how many people ever heard this idea but if shame okay now the idea is the bread of shame is that let's say you have a poor man and he received a piece of bread as a handout so you get this piece of bread so actually in the Gemara it's actually in a you shall me where the Gemara says a person who is given a piece of bread of charity he it doesn't taste good to him he's ashamed to look in the face of the giver and because why because he didn't earn it he's getting a free gift okay now there are people in the world who don't mind getting free gift maybe know somebody like that but normal human being after a while of getting free gifts if you don't feel like you earned it it doesn't it doesn't actually taste good in your mouth because it's not something that you earn okay so this is one reason why many most normal people want to do they want to achieve they want to give back to the community you don't have to be Jewish to have this thing going on it's a very human quality not to be just a sponge and a take-take-take but also to give because you want to feel like you in some way earned what you've had what you have okay and this drives a lot of people to be givers and doers and achievers which are not exactly the same thing it can be achieved in a given those two different things but anyway let's focus on giving so if I'm in the hay level allow I have all these things I have all these gifts natural gifts great I thank Hashem and I'm humble and I risk realized my finitude but that's not enough because if I stay at that level stop with bread of shame instead I want to be a giver and that leads me to transition into the bulb letter love level and cookies in Zimbra is a way of getting oneself to realize it there's the world outside of myself that's part of the function of circuit system as well okay now let's move on a little bit because we need to so we should talk about devorah and how that fits in but I think in the interest of time let's move on to the next level which is the the upper hey how do we get from the second stage to the third stage of the Jewish spiritual path it's triggered by three related things now we have said that the cultivation of the media press that is based partly on looking outside of ourselves and seeing this great wondrous world by seeing the custom in the world we're inspired to do active presses our tradition teaches that God is not only a benevolent force within nature but that God is the Creator right God is the creator of nay God or ultimate being transcends the world and when we come to this realization we are inspired not only to cultivate tested but this but to seek to relate to God himself this takes us beyond above level and into the upper hey what I'm suggesting here is apply to explain the love and the hey the the lower hand of love levels are really something that all human beings ought to have all the using got to have receptivity humility compassion justice the hey and above are for all human beings when we get to the upper hey level now we're getting more into something that's more specific to the Jewish people and possibly also to what we might call what you know as the name Noah now the been no ox is a non Jew who accepts upon himself Hashem as a lawgiver commander accepts upon himself certain Commandments so even if then Noah can get into the upper hay level as well but we'll see that the only way you can get to the youth level is you have to be you I get right okay all right well so I explained what why that is now here's something about some people say a lot of people say listen well I just want to be a good person Obama as long as I'm a good person I'm a boss that said I'm generous on kind of compassionate I don't need to be having some kind of relationship with God if I'm a good person that should be good enough I want to try to explain why the mido suppresses Rahman and Din Gura are ultimately insufficient there's something lacking about them and particularly they fail to help us truly escape now Hamid Iike to foe okay let's go back to our example of the poor man who's given a gift of bread let's suppose he's generous to others so he feels like he's not just receiving for himself he's giving to others as well so that alleviates his shame of being the because he's also a giver but the truth is that even when the poor man gives some of his bread to another poor man he still didn't really earn the bread it makes him feel better but it really doesn't make him be an earner of the bread okay so what I'm suggesting is that being a giver makes you feel better it alleviates your shame but there's still something deep down in you that's unsatisfied with that because you're still not earning your gift okay the only way to earn your gift is to somehow be worthy of having been created oh my god how can how can you possibly do something that's going to make your life worthy of having been created that's an amazing thing if it's possible that's what the Torah says we can do if you're keeping it so say Hashem created the world so our tradition teaches us God created the world and God created man with a purpose and God gave human beings missiles or commandments and when you fulfill those Commandments and you serve Hashem through fulfilling those Commandments you are doing something amazing you are fulfilling the purpose for which you were created and that's that's on a higher level than just being a nice guy which is good being nice being just being kind being generous being compassionate again that's that's all the love level but to get to the hay level you have to see that all that stuff is wonderful and great but it's still not going to make me really be truly worthy of having been created and deep down everybody wants to feel that way everyone wants to feel that my life isn't an accident I just happen to do this I mean some people come to terms with that if you're an atheist or an agnostic you say well I just to have involved guess who I am well die one day and that's okay I mean their ways of living that kind of life if one wants to Judaism said there's something better we're still in mix-up gives you a sense of achievement and accomplishment and makes you worthy of having been created and then all your natural gifts be some becoming things that you've earned in some way like retro actively you've earned them by fulfilling the purpose of which you created that's our upper hey level now where do we see this in the chakras in the third stage of the chakras right goes what is the third stage about the third stage of chakras is basically essentially is the Schnapp cabela's oh malucia Mayan and Kubelik Olmec votes we stay in the Shema I accept that I chemin the king the creator and that there are missiles for me to perform and I accept upon myself the obligation to perform the missiles that's essentially the the hague the upper hey now notice though that this this this is a kind of couple of CC there's a parallel between the second day and the last day they both involved couple up they both involved receptivity they both involved being open the first the lower-level openness was being aware and open about the fact that I have a body and I have fingers and I can block like all the things we talked about earlier that's the lower hey any human being should be able to get to that level the upper hand is more advanced okay it's Kabbalah oh my foot your night it requires intelligence it requires study it requires spot it's more of an intellectual thing rather than a sort of emotional thing if you will and the only way you can get to couple an ohm efficient item of course is if you've been exposed to the tradition write the word Shema means here except learn understand and that's why in the schmod is the mitzvah of learning Torah study teaching and also there's an association there with the missus and Phillip are very important part of the Schnapp right now notice that in the first part of the dominating that's where you put on your Tallis if you're a man or if you're a woman who puts on a Talos Dylan if you put on filling that's a physical action of donning a garment and putting on the boxes and you say a prayer and then you go on with the rest of shoppers but when you get to the Shema you go back to those things and you talk about what is it still in represent what does it mean what are the tips is supposed to represent what do they mean they mean think about the mixels don't forget them don't stray from them remember you see it Smith Ryan because you see us a trying what that foundational event by which we became God's chosen people right and God gave us a mission to fulfill it's open to teach the world there were supposed to be fulfilling mitzvot okay so whereas in squicky to Zimbra is almost there's no reference to fill in or kisses there is a minute of touching your children when you say but they abused a cup but there's nothing about filling the ticket to Zimbra okay why is that well part of it is because in the lower hey in the upper his sections you're doing Kabbalah you're accepting you're accepting upon yourself at a very basic level in the low lower hey and then in the higher hey you're accepting on a more intellectual rational female level okay that a Shen is God an - engage with Smith folks and we're supposed to be fulfilled enough so that is the upper hey now let's talk about oh yeah I'm sorry I need this if you look on the handout it's not just about accepting there's also the Middle's of oz' in europe the needles of allah love and respect love and reverence because to accept them as King it's not enough just to do it as an intellectual thing it has to be done emotionally as well and Alva and Meera in Kavala and especially in kebab computers are driven by comprehension driven by understanding Alva Amira are not we often think of love and fears as raw emotions but in Kabbalah and in casitas especially kebab casitas love and fear or reverence for God are supposed to be driven by the mind especially what's called Europe aroma works ok at a02 all different kinds of Europe this fear of punishment that part of Europe and that's mentioned in the Shema because in the second section of smothers star the onus the idea that we're supposed to fulfill the commandments and if we don't his negative consequences okay but there's something else too called URIs hieronymus which by the way that our rehab cutter said that the trayless the blue symbol the blooming strain on the sisters is supposed to inspire us with mattress gear up to owners for years aromas because the blue of the tailless reminds us of the sky and the sea and the ketha color so all of that is supposed to be driven by comprehension and understanding not just gut feeling fear okay Yura and are part of the upper hey level now you might begin to ask me okay well that sounds like pretty good I mean if you've reached the hey isn't that really what Judaism says accepts the myth so do the mid-south fulfilled you know accept God as king well how can you go any higher than this you're serving gods of love these escapes Muhammad's if you do fo what could be better there is something better and that's the youth level so let's talk about the good level now one way of thinking about the difference between the hang and the hood is the following the hey level is like the wedding day you have wedding vows you decide I'm going to marry this person and I hereby take this person as I my lovely bride and she says the same thing and you agree that you're going to embark on this relationship that's the hey the good is when you actually fulfill and have a genuine true loving relationships in which you form a bond or an Ebru of Akos between you and your beloved so think of it like this the hey level is I'm getting married to God the Jewish people are married to God we accept fashion as our king and we are going to serve Him great that's wonderful okay the youth level is when you've actually succeeded and fulfilled that vow and you form a bond with God so that is represented by the amido this is a difference between the Sh'ma and the amido the Amidah represents a bond with God at the level of the will and at the level of hokhmah how do we see remember we said that the difference between being a is comprehension understanding rightly said that customer has to do with creative thought creative innovative thinking where do we see that initial mass right I'll tell you where in the fact that the Shmona x ray is out of all the dominating out of all the chakras the Shmona s ray is the place where cuz i'll say that a person is supposed to innovate in fact the Talmud says that a true cielo is only a feeler properly if a person can be Maccabi fold over that's the difference between saying something by rope and innovative we often think maybe I think it's unfortunate we think of the Amidah as you know you just read this in the book and you say what's in the book and that's it okay well one thing you're doing you're supposed to say everything that's in the book because all designed to pray in such a way that it helped conform our will to God's will that's the point of the Shmona Israel to achieve debate group and also with the Kabbalah and Hassidim called hit that works for self obligation okay the bowing that we do in the Shmona array is the form of total submission to God it's one thing to say I love you on marrying you it's another thing to say I am totally submitted to you and your will that's what we're supposed to be doing in the short answer it when we dive into a Shemin say the words that are in the prayer we are literally conforming our wills ideas to change our will that it conforms with what God wants so that's that part of it okay that's the that's the is bat'leth or he popped loose part of the strong hands raised there's also the dankest part which is that bond that were attempting to achieve with God in the Shmona yesterday but it's also supposed to be a creative endeavor okay and therefore let's just talk a little bit about getting close 9:30 I wanted to make this to be about roughly an hour okay so the thing is the pinnacle of shmona astray what is it what is the high point of own astray well it's different you could argue that the beginning is maybe the beginning the first part is the most important part of all yesterday that's where the sage is saying you have to have qivana if you don't then the whole thing is lost so you could argue that the first partition on yesterday is the most important part you could argue argue that the kedusha is the most important part because that's what you're sanctifying god's name okay but I would suggest that the most important part in a way of the shamone s rate is actually the very very end - gone astray when you've already finished how Mubarak Asante selfish alone and you're into that zone of ello kindness or know what I'm talking about the last paragraph for the industry on a trail dinosaur now the stage in the Gemara it's explained that difference how common would say different things at that point that player was not fixed it was not set in stone it just so happened that the prayer that we know as all kind of Thor became the one that found its way into was accepted it's the prayer of Marva Regina Pacifica Mara says but the idea is if you look at that prayer very closely what you're saying in that is I want God to make my will like his will I want to I'm praying to God that he should make me be his true servant and Yi Li Ruslan in Reseda ago me Bella Furness Hashem threes goalie may the words of my heart and the meditations of my mind be in accordance with his will okay now there's a custom suppose you may know of inserting a puppet with your own name at the very end of the yellow kind of sword or a puppet that has the first letter of your name and the last letter of your name okay what's that all about and there's different explanations given so that I have to offer an explanation the point of Judaism is to form a bond with God is to form a connection with Hashem now our will our freewill is our most elevated aspect it's that tip of the hood that we talked about before the highest way you can bond with God is by somehow managing to bond your individual units you would with God every human being this is the amazing thing about human being I mean maybe it's true to some degree about animals but because we have free will I think it's especially true that every human being is an individual everyone in this room not to mention everyone in Jerusalem is unique and different we all have own peculiar different personal qualities it's an amazing thing about the human being and each and every one of us was created because so the catalyst say we're different and each of us is going to have a somewhat different take on a relationship with God so when we reach the highest level of the shmouna s ray we're saying our own name because we're connecting with hashem as individuals it's like when you write a letter and at the end of letter you sign off and you sign your name that's what we're doing when we say that tough look at the very industry on yesterday signing off with our own name to bond with Hashem as individuals uniquely so so I preserved a little bit for my text and I probably lost a lot of little points that I wanted to bring up but I think maybe it'd be good times for you the whole second side yes the second side was really just to show you okay let's talk about the second side and then other examples the fourfold path that this fourfold structure that we talked about it sounds another let's say spheres or areas of life in college now you may think this is a somewhat hokey example but freshman sophomore junior senior there's a four there's four levels to that college to college at least in America I know what exactly is going on here and Europe made it so different but you know in any relationship maybe developing a relationship okay when you first start off with like a romantic but someone naive love then you get to a mature but untested then we built romantic love as it tested it and finally the highest level to genuine love now I think the four cups of the Seder by the way fit very handsomely into this scheme as well if you look at the structure of of the Haggadah if you like I can share an essay with you about that stuff all the time the four levels of the four cups that we do on the Seder if you look at the Haggadah correspond to these four aspects of growth as well so that that thing on the fact I wasn't really planning on talking about it is just kind of to show you that these resources occur in other areas of life as well so in sum total again God is infinite God's essence is indescribable but the Kabbalah teaches Judaism teaches that the you cave of K is the essential name of God why because each of these letters of a Shems name manifest from the lower to the higher aspects of Hashem his ways in which genes manifest there are four aspects of the human beings again the body the character traits intelligence and then wisdom and the will those goes together and there are four stages to our spiritual growth starting from the basic levels of receptivity and humility working up to more active qualities of generosity compassion and justice than getting to another level of acceptance or Kabbalah this time the above avulsion Imanol Mitzvah and finally the US represents the bonding Vegas complete total connection with Hashem and just a time with appointment made earlier the naina has Mitzvah all right then Noah and Noah hide you is that sorry I know I do a Noahide is someone who accepts Mitzvah but they'll accept our yard right then expect the 613 f7 so they have a purpose they can escape Mohammed because he flow because they're fulfilling the missile they're doing what they were created to do but to achieve the intense close deep bond with Michele you have to accept target miss Wilson maybe I'll close just by they shared this table with a few others in the audience a little earlier this week but I'll say here this maybe is the difference between Pesach and shabooey if we pay stuff and mountain Torah and Pesach we became the chosen people God gave us some Commandments right we had some Commandments he had still and I mentioned carbon Pesach massa God gave us a mission we became a Honda scar when we were taken out of Egypt you see in Australia but Anshe Beulah's before we came to the harsh scene I God said you know what I gave you a few mixels but now I want to ask you people you Jewish people do you really want to be not just a nominal car but I'm Sabula not just to chosen people but a special people mom let's go honey in the glade Kadosh well for that you're going to have to accept Haryana so not just seven or ten or twelve because the bond that we established with God at that highest level is enough wife called my mother Kenai because it corresponds to the Amida as opposed to the Shema which corresponds to pay stuff and you see it's Australian you'll notice by the way something interesting that the SIA with trying is not mentioned once in the entire Anita unit up you figure you see as much I am is such a big deal not mentioned once in the entire ajita no mention of Cistus no mention of Philip you're not supposed to be touching or playing with your sisters and cylinder ngey irrational answer it but you are supposed to do that during the Shema why because in the smile you're focusing on these if you mix that that God gave me in the Amidah you're totally bonding with a share and so that's the level that God willing we should all be striving for and with Hashem help and the help of the youth give up cake and a little focus and concentration through the chakras and through following through the rest of the day developing the need Oh God willingly should fulfill our purpose and achieve basis of a sham thank you anybody want to ask a question I'm open to practice a turkey need to take Mary right okay yeah so at what point in crescendo to with that we had where where was I think Thomas talked about that that there was a time when in the big mixes that they would have a custom of reading defend Commandments every day and then there was a certain point party okay and then eventually at some point it became there was a people who started doing it outside the bay thermic - and then the rabbi's discouraged that and it was because of the sect of the story those as I understand it is that there was a sect of Jews maybe they were neo Christians or Essenes or who wanted to say that the only thing that was important was ten commandments and the rest of it was not really divine and so that was the reason given for why the customer disbanded as that's my understanding they I mean I think that we could say just sort of following along the lines of what I said toward the end that you want to make sure that to achieve this bond with God we have to accept our yoj mitzvot and so therefore we don't want to place the special emphasis at this very high level on only a certain number and that might be part of what's what's going on did you have a question sir oh please I think that's reasonable driving I I just want to qualify a little bit what you're saying I mean there are when motion has an interchange at the burning bush and he said you know what who shall I say sent them and God says you know tell them a key has sent a symptom but then he says tell her money you know then he uses his name you see love Kay also so it's a you know it's a little bit mysterious what's going on there you know maybe God has many names but clearly according to the Kabbalah the essential name of a sham in other words the name FES is it's the name of use for God but it's also a word that's used in common ordinary speaking right are we means I will be and we find the word is certainly occurs elsewhere the Torah in context where it's referring to humans right but the good cave up gang is the only name that is exclusively used for God and never for a human being in any context whatsoever so I think that supports the idea that the ex is at the you cave of K is the essential name of God that's one interpretation yes yes okay yes I saw that the statistical that you have to take every Sunday welcome to a hidden thing I think that might be an illusion that that would be yeah it sounds to me like they thought that you would find in any Kabbalistic were to assure that it 5b you know there is an element of God the world is inscrutable right you don't always understand why God doesn't does and we can sort of understand it but not maybe we can understand other things about God better than he will so yeah I think that the smallness of that coat of the years six in with that pain with dimensional yes well that's that's a very good question and I I you know I would have to do more thinking and research about that I saw a lot about chakras and how it fits in and I think you know off the top of my head I'd be saying that you know the important prayer in a way of shock was because that sets the tone for the day and then you you know you've already prayed and in effect you fulfilled your obligation of prayer and you've gone through this fourfold path the problem is that as the day goes on you know you want to you want to you want to re-energize it and come back to it you don't need to do everything we did in the first part of doubting you don't need to say smile we do say ASHRAE as I sort of kick off to the shamone s ray of nimpah Mar is is you know a whole I mean historically people talked about the history we know that the Sela Mars really was originally not part of the obligation at all the SH Maya's but not Cielo and that has a lot has to do with the fact that night time when you go to sleep and it's not a time of achievement it's not it's not really a time of doing more time of relaxing and going a bed so but but I think that it's essentially that the chakra sets the tone for the day and the other prayers are to fill in you know the rest of the day so to speak yes is there anyone your conceptualization of prey of the emotion is something godlike about the media for this some houses sold Kingdom big maker an asset of God whatever something yeah no I was trying to say that that is very much a part of this that that just as Hashem has these four aspects you know he's got will cost wisdom intelligence character traits we have to pass right so we we parallel that to this life but maybe neither it in aspects like that is actually a spark of God no stop Wellington I don't think about it okay local accountant now right right I mean I you know I think that if we think of I like to see I develop this idea more in the books and I did here tonight but I like to think of God as being the being itself and that everything that exists is in some way a manifestation is me and there's you know every human being has a spark of being right so that spark of being the ranking then item is well but that's true but the thing is so the parallel only comes in in that the way in which we act but we have certain you have certain just as God is mad I guess I'm going back I'm just backpedaling to the other point that we are like God we are significantly like God more than than chairs and tables and even animals are because we have the pattern of parallel qualities of rationality and especially it comes down to free will and I think free will is the key element that makes us divine life God somehow enables us to make choices that are not determined by him I mean that's sex you know that's a very perplexing philosophical issue a lot of people have trouble with that you know if God is Almighty and also God knows I'm sure yet that problem so the notion of free will is really a not such a simple one but insofar as we have free will we are demigods I think that's the spark of God within us that's how I would understand it okay oh thank you for asking okay this week this book is called the conversation a novel this is um this book has four parts and freshman sophomore junior senior it's really a novel about a college student to an American college student who is Jewish but doesn't really know much about Judaism and he comes to college and he gets involved with all the things that college dutiful many of the things that college kids get involved with and he also sort of starts on a philosophical oddly he's interested in philosophy that's a little bit unusual but he's very interested in philosophy and he sort of learns about Judaism and Jewish philosophy as the novel goes on and there's a story he meets various people he falls and loudly falls out of love he gets involved with you know marijuana and smoking and drinking and all the other things to get involved into college or some of them do anyway um so if there's a lot of Jewish but there also is a lot of Kabbalah in here it's kind of meant to be like an introduction to Jewish philosophy and Kabbalah in the form of a novel it's meant to be intelligible to the layperson and so if they're as flex one reason why brought it along in case anyone's interested in taking a look like you have one copy available here to this show over highest bidder what this is more oh yeah I do I can get more copies but if someone would like to take a look if you're interested in Jewish philosophy or in questions like you know does it make sense to believe in God as a rational truth of God why do Jews reject Christianity what did you think about other religions you know these kind of philosophy of religion Jewish philosophy questions that you see the novel thing about this novel is that there are different characters in the book to express different views about these questions so this is kind of like a very is sort of like a conservative position is a meaning you know as an Orthodox conservative the forum is a conservative view expressed here and then is the more orthodox is in the more traditional Orthodox view and the characters kind of as he goes through college he he gets into these conversations with these various characters who illuminate him and hopefully the reader about these different problems and different ways in which they can be addressed so yeah the conversation you can find it on amazon.com huh okay any more questions I'll hang around here you have more questions or thoughts or comments I'm still here