Thought for the Week P' Tazria Meditation Therapy & Emotional Health, Rabbi Yaakov Winner - 5785

How are you? I hope everyone is I hope everyone is healthy, strong and happy physically and spiritually. Since the war started, we added in stucker. So here we are going to give stucker. We're going to say a prayer which is connected to the thought that we'll speak for the week. And we're going to say a blessing that we say three times a day in speedily cause the sign of David your servant to flourish and increase his power by your salvation. For we hope for your salvation all day. Blessed are you Hashem who causes the power of salvation to flourish. So this is a blessing that we ask Hashem from Msiah Mashiach Benavid to come and bring salvation. But what brought me to mind and the connection to this week's para is which is translated over here the san of David which means his blossoming his fruits his children his descendants and the same thing we end off with Yeshua so is connected to which means growth and blossoming and flourishing so this week's Pashet primarily talks about laws of purity and impurity. But what I'm going to discuss today is really aidic interpretation to the verse which is not really connected to the literal meaning of the topics which are discussed. But nevertheless in the light ofus the subject matter is one of the most relevant all-encompassing concepts and subjects inidus which is inner character development and connected to something which I believe is in the hearts and minds of every single person and that is and we've spoken about this before about return on investment. people invest their energies, their blood, sweat and tears and they wanted to see the fruits of their labor and from what we're going to discuss today we will discuss what are the principles of ensuring success. So first obviously let's connect it straight away with the beginning of the para this week's par and it starts off spoke to saying speak to the Jews and tell them a woman will conceive and give birth to a male child. So for those who have studied we know that this pik is referring to isha goes on a Jew. Hashem is compared to the husband and the Jewish nations compared to the wife. So what the pusk is telling us is what we have to do in the one of the most famous of one of the first things a Jewish child learns aidic child of kabad learns is the morum they talk about something called an arousal from above and an arousal from below that when you get an arousal from above latch onto it grab onto it don't let it go to waste and that's what this pik of our para is telling us isha When the when the when they will receive and absorb that arousal from above, internalize it, integrate it properly, then be you will give birth to proper emotions that will be stable and sustainable and will last. So that's the way this interprets this verse. But let's go back for a second and talk even more general how it fits beautifully with right now we're in the first week of the month of and talks a lot and I'm sure we spoke about it before one of the most famous is the from the Reb and the Reb over there talks about how the month of Nissan was primarily a month represented help from above Hashem took us out of Egypt. So we were saved by Hashem. It was a divine intervention. But then comes the month of which represents as it's explained in that discourse. First is that's Hashem drawing us to him. But then comes our work in following him. And that's primarily in general the work of the month of is our work how we're working on ourselves that it should come from within and this is the general work of the every single day of and then comes m in the month of which is again another response from above. So, in other words, this month, the month that we're in now, the focus is on self-awareness, an accurate self-awareness of who you are and then working on yourselves, work on ourselves to to have a makeover. So, for me personally, this is a very exciting time of the year where we analyze ourselves every night. We count another sphira which is another character attribute in ourselves and we think about what that character attribute is and how we could improve it and make it better. So therefore now we see perfectly the connection of the month this week that we started here which represents our refinement how we're working on ourselves and together with that comes the message immediately from this week's para is when the person from below says will work on himself and absorb it properly then she will give birth to the emotions. Now one more thing has to be said everyone knows we are I am aid I try to be and for those who have studied movements and then there's the difference the distinguishing contrast between and all the other movements. So just so you should know that the the true difference is that believes in every single person going on their character development therapy meditation that's what kabad is the three intellectual attributes I'm not going to elaborate now and the system see chapter three which is a side point just so you should know that the Tanya which is the alterb's masterpiece and where he lays down his whole movement and the whole idea behind the movement the ideology so we see that immediately at the beginning already in chapter three after he says you have a divine soul straight away in chapter three he describes how the intellect and this is what's relevant to our discussion here your intellect is called the mothers and your emotions are called the children. He calls the intellect the im and he calls the emotions the children. So now what our intent to do is to take what the Reb discusses in where there's a verse in the which says you should not be barren and you should not have children. you should not have an experience of a stillborn. And he explains in that Kasi discourse what does it mean in relation to intellect and emotions and we're going to discuss it here that this is according to what does it mean over here is the my friend if you want to see the fruits of meditation call it meditational therapy call it cognitive therapy call it inner character transformation. So today we're going to discuss what are the fundamental principles that you should succeed and see the results to have healthy strong proper children emotions. So what the mimer in ti explains how is it that first of all you shouldn't be barren and he says two reasons why a person's barren. The first reason is some person might not even have a womb. What could you do? They're born with such a defect. But what does it mean spiritually speaking that a person doesn't have a womb? Doesn't mean you don't have a womb. It means that you did something that right now is considered as if you don't have a womb spiritually. And what is that? When you decide that you will not be receptive. When you close your ears and your eyes and you say, "I don't want to hear. I'm not interested." That means that you're not even receptive. You haven't left an opening for the truth to be able to enter in general. So that's the first reason why let's say a person it's called dullness of the brain. You're not going to even get intellectually excited at all if you're not even letting any of the intellect come into your head. And now let's talk let's talk about the and why. And he explains because because you're full of yourself. When you are full of yourself, your interests, your desires, you're chasing after materialism, whatever it is, you're completely full of yourself. You're not leaving any room for anything else. Just like physically if you have a book and the book is taking place in a bookshelf it occupies space. So because that space is being occupied it doesn't leave room for another book to be able to go into that space. It's almost similar to the saying that they say you need a lot of faith to be an atheist. In other words, you're closing your intellect from being able to conceive. In order to be saz means you have to receive. You have to receive to absorb in order to conceive. If you're not absorbing, you're not letting anything come in there in the first place. In general, I think we've spoken about this many times. Real intellect doesn't mean about having a good head. Real intellect, true intellect, the good intellect means that you come to the truth obviously. And how do you come to the truth? As we spoke many times and it's explained that intellect means that you're able to see the reality as the reality is without going to something approaching something your preconceived notions or you can preconceived agendas or bias etc. So you make yourself empty to be receptive to be able to see the truth that the truth should reveal itself to you. So that's what it means to be objective and the only way to be objective is through being humble and through making space for the truth to be able to come into you. That means you have to empty yourself from your preconceived notions, from your pre agendas and biases etc etc and pre prejudices. And by the way, coming from PES, if I remember correctly, one of the Reb explains some of them and they have the same letters except for the and the there's a me and there's a word and there's a me and a word mat. But mata has a and what's the difference between a and the explains the he has a window on top and the is completely closed. What does it mean? A window on top, an opening on top, an opening to something higher than yourself. Just imagine, just try to accept the notion that there's something above you. Leave that opening. Once you leave that opening, that possibility that you give spirituality a chance instead of being completely closed and shut yourself out and lock out any idea of aspiration of spirituality or transcendence. If you leave the opening, then it's possible to shine through that infinity, that transcendence, that truth, whatever you want to call it. So this is the first thing the first step of is if you wanted to be at you have to have the womb a place a space that could receive that's the first thing an opening be receptive give it a chance that's one level of a person that could be barren is because they shutting it out. They're shutting out any receptivity. A second case the Reb explains is that they allow it to come in but they don't work with it. What it means is that even after like for example when it comes to planting so there's sewing there's planting there's work watering it has to be nurtured in other words the gestation period in order to come to a child and what the Reb explains in the means it's not only enough to be receptive to allow the truth to come in But then you have to nurture it a bit. It involves the work and the work he calls that's connected to the seed being implanted. We need to we need mitzvah. We need to feed to to feed that truth that the truth should become implanted in a solid way that it's not shaky. In other words, it takes time, you know. Just like when it comes to any other profession, you know, I see this all the time. Zakar, he learned secular studies all his life. He comes to yeshiva after six months or after a year and let's say he doesn't see the point of it so much. He doesn't see the results. It's not something necessarily you could touch with your hands. Especially if you're talking about character and he's getting, you know, ants in his pants, becoming itchy. He wants to move on. Should I go to university now? And I tell them a simple thing. You know, when it came to human logic, human intellect, which is limited, you've been studying it primarily, that was the main focus in your life for the last 12 years, elementary, primary school, high school. Now you came to one year where you're studying God in God logic, Tyra, Hashem's logic, which is infinite. And after a year, you ready to say you're ready to go back to university? If limited intellect from human minds, you study for 12 years, you're ready to study even more. But what do you have to say about godly intellect which is infinite? If it's infinite, it should take many many more years and time that you should invest in it in order to be able to fathom it and to begin to really appreciate it. And it's true. You can't come to start opening up a gur, opening up a mime, opening up aid and learn for once and then expect that there's going to be a lightning and there's going to be an earthquake and you're going to change overnight. Of course, that's also true because never never underestimate one line, one word of infinity. It has amazing amazing powers. But at the same time, if we want that it shouldn't be barren or it shouldn't be stillborn, but it should but should it really have the full impact and accomplish everything that it meant and could accomplish. Then in addition to being receptive and giving it a real chance, part of it is then the nurturing that comes afterwards, you need to follow the recipe. And part of the recipe similar to what we spoke about last week is eating kosher, putting on film. Then it all begins working together in tandem. And the analogy is from a seed similar to a seed. Just having a seed is not enough. You have to plant it in the ground in fertile ground. So if you put the seed in the wrong place, you won't see the you won't see growth. You have to put it in the right place in the ground. And the ground itself, there's many different aspects to it being a fertile ground, a good part of the country, and there was plowing and then continued nurturing and looking after and supervision etc etc. And the same thing is true about character development and growth. So there's one last point that the Reb says in the in addition to in other words to make sure that you have emotions and you're not barren which means you're meditating but you're not really letting anything become internalized or you're not serious enough that you keep with it to nurture it. But then last but not least, you have to also be ready to make a shift, a paradigm shift, a change, an epic move. If if if you will be open enough and continue to nurturing it, are you ready to take the leap which might come in accordance to the truths that will be revealed to you? many times and this is another aspect over here which the Reb talks about complacency contentment but in a negative way that's why another reason why many people they don't reach the full success of seeing the fruits of the labors is because they reach a certain point let's say and then they're satisfied with that point of advancement of progress or development they became satisfied with a lower level, a lower standard and they they're underestimating themselves and they don't realize how much more su successful they could be. So, so this is the general message of the team and this is the general message of the weeks that we're in now and the inner character development and this is what's therapy concerning meditation, intellect and emotions and the most fundamental principles of number one is that make room for the truth. Be receptive. Open up your ears like the hay. Leave an opening. Number two, you have to continue to nurture it. Not just a one-time thing that you're being receptive. You have to follow the recipe that's which is mitzvah sit by etc. And number three, don't let yourself be satisfied with less because then it becomes stilted and you stop. So this process of meditation and giving birth to healthy, sustainable, long-term children means everything we said before and Hashem should help that we should see the results and we should see the results in all areas of our life. Wherever there's investment, we should see the fruits. This week was also the birthday of the Reb Mahash Bir. So just to give an examples and he was very sharp and he had some apherisms that are just like one line but they're so life-changing. One of the lines that he said was which means I need is a dullness of the mind. A blockage of the mind. I want is a dullness of the heart. A blockage of the heart. So I said I need. So it's already talking about the person who's full of himself. A full vessel cannot receive. It's number one is the I and I decided I need you need. Something's wrong with your your your math. Who said you need? It's not true. You don't need let's say. So in other words that mar was saying sometimes when a person comes to a conclusion and he says I need he decided something is a necessity he's making a mistake and it's because of something's been compromised with his intellect it's crooked he's coming to a wrong conclusion and then I want is you want in other words it's a desire fair, but it's going in the wrong direction. Who says because you want it's something that you should have, maybe it's dangerous, maybe it's wrong, etc., etc. So, the should help every single one of us should take the message of these weeks that we have to work is kazria. We have to do our work of planting, sewing, meditation, self-examination. desire to grow to develop etc. personal growth and we should we should see permanent stable results and the same thing is like it's brought down in the first I think says is going on through our this causes the ultimate result and the ultimate fruits of the gula take it posting from my home.