The Spirit of Men Ascends on High with Rabbi Aaron Dovid Poston

[Music] Shalom Al everybody Welcome Home to Torah a warm welcome home to Torah we are in the mid and we are going over the par T now before we begin I just want to mention a few things besides the fact that this class these classes are very uh text intensive although very spiritually enlightening so we do encourage you to follow the original Hebrew text there'll be a link down below so you could follow the black and white copies not the pretty uh highlighted copies that I have um that's like number one we really encourage you to learn Hebrew number two and the Mitzvah of come which is next Thursday oh next Thursday night there won't be a Shear right we're going to be listening reading the Milla and getting ready for all the other Mitzvah that are over the next three days the next the following you know 3 days it's a big it's a big thing to spend poring in jerus Jalem and I want to dedicate tonight's learning especially in the Merit um of the art side of a friend of mine um his mother's yard site Leia bomu and while we have we should always have at the Forefront of our minds the success the victory of the army the immediate immediate return and safe return of all the remaining hostages and without any further Ado oh about the MIT matoni so we we distribute a lot of Charity and this uh especially this season we're going to be giving out a lot but we can't give it out unless you give it right we're like conduits we're going to be like we're going to be a of your mitvah so down below there's a link in how you could participate in the mitzvah of of of helping the needy especially at this time through the Mitzvah of the gifts to the poor okay let's begin in Chapter 30 verse 1 we are now beginning a new CLE the CLE the vessel is the incense altar it's gold it's a gold Altar and it's sitting inside of the holies so you have the holy of holies which the only object in that room is the arodes the holy Ark with the luos the the both the broken tablets the full tablets sa for Torah and there's a vial of man and there's iron staff and it's behind a curtain behind the curtain okay it's very important to know that on the inside on or let's say outside of the curtain so you have three vessels you're going to have number one you're going to have the manur to the South okay so it's east of the curtain but it's towards the South and then you have the Shan which is on the Northern side of that room but dead center I shouldn't say dead center but in the center a little bit further out to the east you have this alter that we're talking about and the altar is used for the incense daily twice is um uh offered and you have interestingly enough what do you have you have a crown there's a crown on it there's only three vessels that have crowns that's the Aron kodish itself and then in this room the other two vessels not the Minar so the Shan has a crown and the alt that we're discussing tonight has a crown and what else do I want to mention about it ah the the the measurements the measurements are going to come up that it's one cubit Cubit is an armor from the elbow to the fingertip so it's one by one which is perfectly square and then it's two almost high as opposed to the other altar which is outside of the holies it's in the courtyard of the Tabernacle and that is where the animal sacrifices are done not the incense as we mentioned on the inside but the animal sacrifices are done on the outside and dimensions of that altar is five almost by five almost much bigger and it's even taller it's three OS High okay so now that we have discussed that we're going to be talking about the altar the incense altar which is on the inside as opposed to the animal offering altar where you are B burning the animals it's acting as a kapar it's acting as an atonement and we're going to hear what these things atone for so the clear begins it certainly seems it seems that these two altars the ones I just described the one on the inside the one on the outside both of them that both of them are arranged the whole concept is for the arrangement of both of them to atone for the neish now the neish I do need to give a little bit of a brief there are five levels of our soul the neish is the most lowest animalistic part of our soul then you have the ru then you have the then you have the the and then you have your okay we're not going to go too we're not going to go too cabalistic tonight but you do need to know about these different levels right now we're talking about the neish that's like it says in the Torah that the neish is in the blood so the animals have a neish we have a neish we're not allowed to eat the blood it's the lowest part of our soul it's called the ne the the soul that sinned that means the copper uh altar when we were in the desert and the Tabernacle was transported from place to place so the altar as I described that where this the sacrifices were burnt that was made of copper and could be moved once you have the temple we have a Temple mount bem it should be rebuilt soon in our days where we have an an altar from made from the ground that is permanent and not movable so so again you had the incense altar which was lighter and smaller and could be moved that was on the inside and on the outside in the Tabernacle in the in the in the in the in the courtyard you had this special a copper uh Altar and what did it do the copper altar that's outside that it comes to atone for the part of us that is very physical which the body itself is stricken so to speak with or through sin through the stone of sin and the Allah meaning on top of this uh copper altar that's where the offerings of the B of the animals the animal sacrifices were brought Hab they came in exchange neish for neish okay so the animal which has only the the neish beemus the animal soul that that sacrifice was as if what we deserved or was going up in atonement for us because the animals which have this animal Soul that's the only thing that they have in similarity to human beings but that at least is a similarity the word Dion right it's a similarity um to the physicality of man thear wants to express through the pattern through the design of the altar that's going to prove his point he's going to use that as proof for his what call a thesis that the idea that the external the outside altar is three almost high that is D it's compared to the height of an average human being certain people in this room are shorter but okay we're not going to get into that um but the average human being is three cubits three amamos so too the very fact that animals are offered on that ex that outside altar the they're um they're being offered they are similar right to our own neish beus that's within man Andes ises so that lower soul of the animal is in exchange for the atonement for the lower Soul within man so if you go to Source number two it mentions right I'm sorry it's Source number three in Source number three if a person brings a meal offering to the Lord right let's say normally you're dealing with a Corbin an animal Corbin of but if you don't have enough money right we're talking about a um a voluntary offering if you don't have enough money so that we're talking about an an a poor person he's going to bring a Min Min is flower f l o uur right he going to bring a meal offering now interestingly enough the verse sayses all the other places you look at Rashi and so he said when a person brings that's how the English translation but in Hebrew it's NE the cor Rashi says literally if a soul brings right nees these are sacrifices which were donated voluntarily the only instance only one instance that Torah calls the person in NE fish is specifically where that person is bringing the flower offering the meal offering so you might think that it's not as valuable as the animal offering remember he's poor whatever amount of money it is it's it's a lot for him or her right so it's as if they're giving their life as Rashi explains now who usually donates a meal offering a poor person because we all know that flour is going to be a lot less expensive than either birds or animals so what does God say Mal it's as if I God am accounting for that person as if he sacrificed his very Soul even though remember for him it was a lot of money cuz he has nothing so enough for a cake a piece of matah right that maybe in a month's time in a month and a week we're going to be spending a lot of money on matah they call Himi because it's very expensive right anyway that's a private joke for those who get it get it um so the Clear goes on and says that this is the reason this very very reason that it says by the flower offering of the poor person the word he doesn't have in his hand meaning he doesn't have the ability he doesn't have the money he doesn't have the resources to offer the neish of an animal in place of his own soul what does he bring soless he's going to bring fine flower regarding that the verse says thees God is saying it's right it's it's as if this person is as if he is offering his own soul but again there are five levels of the soul and I want to just tell you a little bit about them so we did mention uh what they were quickly right NE Ru the and we're going to talk about the shortly um R nor weberg gave a great series on the five levels of pleasure and we're going to discuss specifically the highest level of pleasure which isem which is communion with God but he gave us um based I'll tell you what was based on a seminar and based on the five levels of your soul the five levels of pleasure within your soul and he went through and he got a lot of this from like a straw man in missil sar from laato I I think what I'll do is I'll put a link into the description box below where we'll go into greater detail RoR weinberg's ideas behind the five levels of pleasure but basically the lowest level the fifth level is um just physical and material pleasures cuz you got to remember that man was created God created us as like in interested in physical Pleasures I mean that is what we are we are we are beings that are interested in physical material Pleasures uh one of the main OB objects of the of rno seminar was helping you distinguish between counterfeit pleasures and real pleasures true Pleasures Pleasures that are Eternal and we're going to talk about that Eternal pleasure and I don't want to give too much away but we will discuss that in the future right that the sikim will have crowns on their heads and they'll be in the world to come uh basically what does that mean we'll get to it shortly but we're talking about crowns on the heads of the sikim where they are experiencing the ultimate Bliss of the Divine pleasure of the warmth of the light emanating from the um from God's Own Essence so to speak the next level up like in other words everything has an exchange rate so you would be willing to give up physical material pleasure for either money or for love something that has a higher exchange rate and then of course using it for uh for God's to serish him properly the third next level of pleasure is a cause how many people are willing to die for a cause or to actually appreciate goodness the next class the second class from the top is creativity which is you know one of the reasons we're here is things and to feel that we are Partners in creation and of course now the highest level of pleasure that one can assume is and that's after mastering you know the difference between the counterfeit pleasures and the real pleasures after mastering the first four levels an encounter with God absolute Bliss basically being in a total state of gratitude and connection with the goodness that God is this is a too short of a explanation it's not at all for tonight I will put the link below and I encourage you all to go and find it out about the five levels of pleasure relating to the five levels of our soul the next paragraph begins of a mik what is still necessary even though the neish the beemus right the lowest animal part of our soul will need atonement that's true what about that middle level called the N guess what it also needs some atonement it came into the world pure and bem we'll see we should leave this world with uh all of our chuva and repentance and kapar in place after the fact that by sinning our bodies have become stricken so to speak the so the outer altar is only really on the ne but what about the the N is not getting the proper kapora through the animal sacrifice you cannot even compare the two what does this Soul the of man it wants to be elevated oh that's why it's like a flame we're going to talk about that too the soul is constantly trying to reach higher and higher so that's the nature of the whereas the animal part of us and we know that the animal that the animal wants to go down it to descend below and there's a verse in Ecclesiastes number four in the sore sheet who knows that the spirit of the children of man is that which ascends on high but what about the spirit of the Beast is that which descends below to the Earth so the wants to explain a good question based on that how is it possible for the animal Soul which is the animal being sacrificed that is due to expire and be destroyed how is that ever exchanged for the Nish of a man remember the Nish is not the neish the N is the higher part of man that is actually Eternal this temporal neish of the beema is not going to atone for the Nish of a human remember we're really answering we're trying to answer the question what is the purpose of this inner incense altar okay that's why my God commanded the Living God this is according to the clear why you have this incense altar on the inside what happens I if you ever seen incense but like a barbecue everyone must have seen something like this that this the the smoke is just going off that's what it's doing the the the the smoke ascends the and it brings a pleasing fragrance to God and that's inner altar the incense altar right that's through the incense it's going to atone for the spirit of man who is the spirit is constantly going up just like the smoke of the incense heam he now he brings a proof text from song of song it's chap 3: 6 who is coming up from the desert like Cloud Columns of smoke perfumed it's talking about the Jewish people who are full of Mitzvah perfumed with myr and frankincense but in Hebrew it's mik right it's asan these are columns of smoke that are going up so what the clear I think is trying to say here here is that it's true that the incense is made up of two of these Mo and Lana right myr and frankincense um but that it's perfumed it's the incense is causing a good smell in other words there's an improvement right and what does the clear say this is talking about these ingredients that's sh that are good actions our mitzvah are are like incense going up and giving God a pleasing fragrance hasem is so to speak from the Jews when they do Mitzvah to teach you wait till you hear this in order to teach you to place upon your hearts we have to know this point and it's in our chapter in 30:36 just a few verses later and you shall Crush some of it finely part and we say this every morning right part of the process of making the incense is to crush it very finely to make it very fine as fine as fine can be so those words the clear says a why do you think it's a hint to the because the is which means it's it's so ethereal it cannot even be felt it's it's so thin it's so fine in a good way it's not crushed we're talking about the the N is so fine and you're crushing the incense to be so fine that eventually through the incense itself it's going to um it's going to prove itself it's it is going to make the kapara the atonement in order that the soul will then be refined so much that it goes up to the very place from which it was heun and where was the this the H from from well there's two ways to look at it either we talk about hasem himself it's a it's part of hem himself or we can use the other phrase that our our nishas were heed from the bottom of the from the uh the Throne of Glory itself now we did discuss in the introduction that the number system the the dimensions were at least by we're talking about the um the altar the inner altar being one by one so the CLE car points out that the very dimensions of this altar is going to prove his point because relating to the size of this altar it's AR it's one by one what does that tell you see when it came to the Shan and it came to the the um Arc they were bigger numbers one and a half two and a half whatever it was or two it was not one by one this altar is specifically one by one it's coming to teach you because one by one that it's coming to atone for the soul that the soul itself is called one unified one or singular that's and there's a verse in Psalms CH 22 verse 21 if you look at number seven right I highlight NA means my soul from the the hand of the the dog the grip of the dog but it's going back when it says it's talking about my soul the soul is called just like God is one so too our soul is one now how high was it we mentioned that it's twoos the outer altar was three alos High the size of an average person but the inner altar was to high basically I'll say what I think it means and then we'll read it literally that the Nish transcends the limitations of the body okay that the lower Amma is like the body the higher Amma is the soul which is above the body now literally it says that the spirit of man is above the place aside from the place which is the Goof which is the body itself this incense was offered the incense was offered in the morning and in the late afternoon what do we say I you've heard me say it that we're born again right we're born again we should be feeling every single day Hashem gave me back my soul before I went to sleep I placed it into his back into his possession so in the nisham in the morning is coming as an infant in in his infancy as if he was just born that's the that's the time of let's say his birth the you know the the The Shining of his son s n and comes the evening time you're going back to your father as in the days of your Youth and he's going to say Hali what does that mean if it only were below that when you expire and it could be whether we're talking about daily giving your soul over or at the end of 120 years when you leave Hal we should be leaving our soul clean uh like we came in without any sin esos so simultaneously right I say simult meaning around the same time period in the morning and the evening there's something happening with the manora okay that time period in the morning when the um when the fir when the when the early morning incense is being burnt that's the time that the Kim are cleaning the Hao they're cleaning the neros they were burnt or burning all night long okay they were burning from evening until morning so the morning time is time to clean up what what about the AR and and night time is when right before dark is when the com is going to ignite light Kindle the lamp and in Daniel chter 8 verse 26 look at number eight the vision of the evening and the morning that was said is true there's something msic Umar the the just the sight of the evening and the morning brings truth what is that what is the truth what was Daniel doing he was relating the idea as it says in Proverbs chap 20: 27 chapter 20: 27 number n man's soul is the Lord's lamp near Hashem the the lamp of God the vessel of God that's we that's us is the nishas is the soul of man okay so the morning is the time for improvement that's the time to perform the mitv it's the time of action during the day during your lifetime when Atma and to cleanse yourself just like they clean look behind me you have a manora right to clean the glass jars you have to clean it the morning to clean ather from all the dross or the dirt or the of the ash that's the time to clean what about the evening time that's the time that the Sun is setting now you know they say going west I don't know going south you know there's an expression person's dying so they're right so the sun their Sun is setting so it could be again on a daily basis before you go to sleep you give your soul over or we're really talking about the end of 120 years who that's the time of the Ascension of the Soul going back to the place it was HED from meaning from God himself so now we understand better that the alter altar that's going to be an atonement for the neish the inner altar is going to atone for the the the incense and that eventually after 120 years or at the end of the day you're going to leave from this world without any sin just as when you entered just to get a little feel for the word niftar right when someone passes away every secular Jew knows the word niftar means he's expired he's gone okay it is related to the idea let's say for example someone got fired someone was let go right there is this concept they use the same word because it really means exempt you're exempt you're no longer you know like if you don't send the email you're fired right what is that like don't show up tomorrow we want to know five things you accomplished you know yesterday right are you still alive will you even answer this email so so basically niftar means you are exempt you cannot fulfill any more Mitzvah right not that you're fired but you're laid off right you don't have any more obligation while we are still alive we are we are obligated in many things but once you have passed on to the next world you are P you are not there's no there's nothing to accomplish all of this life is given to us a very short 120 years to accomplish to do and therefore I know PES is coming up maybe we'll discuss it more during the Omare what does it mean to count time make time count and not to just what they call killing time right time is not worth wasting can never get it back now I mentioned that there is a zir there is a crown on this golden altar of for incense it's going to be parallel the reward of the righteous in the world to come that they are going to be Dei deriving benefit experiencing pleasure from the shine of God's presence and interestingly the gor in Bros explains and their crowns are on their heads so the cleart points out why isn't it just say crowns on their heads what is why is the um the word the at it's there it's possessive they own these crowns these sikim own the crown that's on their heads remes the clear says it's henting to the idea it's hinting to those crowns that the Jewish people that the Israelites received um when they acquired the Torah they acquired these crowns at Hari where the Torah was given when we said we will do and we will try to understand it's brought down in gor shabas um the idea is then I think I have it written here number 10 actually it's number 11 already I did skip number 10 it says inly enough in BR 17A that the world to come in the name of RV is not like this world in the world to come there won't be eating or drinking there's no procreation there's no negotiations of business there's no jealousy there's certainly no hatred and there is absolutely no competition but what will happen the righteous sit with their crowns upon their heads enjoying the Splendor of the divine presence and it was based on an earlier verse Exodus 24:1 where at the um at harit self it says they beheld God and they ate and drank now there's many different ways to explain this verse we're not going to go into the negative because this could be held as a negative which we're going to just skip for a second the idea is that when they ate and drank at Hari they didn't really eat and drink cuz that wouldn't have been appropriate but that they experience God as if they were being satiated with good food and good drink try to use your imagination the you go to a gourmet restaurant I don't know if the just from one like little drip of you know wine on your tongue or a little sauce you know you can just feel it through your whole body so this is um when they were at Hari they didn't eat or drink okay we're not talking about the negative side because there is an opinion this was actually why nadav and AIU H were taken out so just aside from that the way to explain it here is that they didn't really eat and drink at all but they experienced such pleasure from God's presence as it says meaning that beholding God's countenance is tantamount to eating drinking now aramor here when it says nishma the gor in chabas 88a explains that yes there were 600,000 administering angels that came and tied two crowns to each Israelite one for naset the other one for nishma but after the golden calf and this is worthy of Investigation why did it take one Angel to bring two crowns but when they were removed you needed one one Angel per Crown so 1,200,000 Angels came and took the uh these crowns away but according to RAR Rina right it's true at they put on the instruments the ornaments which was the crowns and ATV they were removed unfortunately but later on look down R Lish says in the future what's got God going to do he's going to give us back these crowns okay those that's why they're called their crowns because they made a Kenyon on those crowns and those very crowns will be returned to them as it says in Isaiah chapter 35:10 and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto zion an everlasting Joy shall be upon their heads now there's a lot of ways to explain was it really a crown or is it like the Torah the KRA Torah the Torah is like that's the crown and me you could just feel your brain uh you know tingling the el el elasticity it's it's um elastic you know you're constantly making when you're learning to you're constantly making these connections you're and I'm using my own words but maybe these are famous words you're like mind melding with God right you're like you're connecting to God's brain so to speak SE when you're learning Torah you're okay let's say you're connecting to his thoughts I mean that's a big deal don't take it so lightly so these crowns that we're going to get is like basically saying you're going to know the whole Torah you know Torah will not be need to be taught to any other Jew right it's only to the non-jews we're going to be a light to the nations in its true sense and and every Jew will become a teacher so you might as well get ready CU really the truth is it has to do with what you made the attempt uh to learn and then we all know that if you go to a shear and you didn't fully hop it you didn't get it completely that in the world to come you'll understand it with Clarity but that's only if you went to the shear that's only if you made the attempt to open the book it's only if you asked the questions then bem absolute Clarity the crown on the head head the the the elect I can't pronounce it but the elasticity will will be complete okay so now in the clear car at the top of the second page so it says in the gamor so we were loaded with the crowns but unfortunately also after the golden calf those same crowns were removed say in the future God will return those crowns to them and now we understand why said it's those same crowns that was taken away from us those crowns in the future will be returned to us now we did speak about this idea of the physical location of this altar being directly opposite the arodes so this is a crown on the altar that's sitting opposite the Torah so to speak the the ark that has the Torah in it so the pusk in verse six which I'm not sure I put down yes it's number 12 it's chapter 30:6 and you shall place it right this is the incense altar in front directly in front of the dividing curtain and where which is upon the Ark of testimony meaning that par is separating you from the Arc of testimony but it's specifically the Ark of testimony in front of the Ark cover which is upon the testimony which I will arrange to meet with you that's where hasem is meeting us so that's what the Hebrew says the CLE car wants to emphas size it is directly opposite the holy Ark on the outside of the curtain it's all coming to teach you one important lesson the very uh Crown that's on this altar is referring to to remember the the reward of theim is this Crown the crown that's on their heads hu it's referring to the crown of Torah you're sitting as a sadik somehow like invested is that a good word sholom you're like invested into this crown of the mes and I would highly recommend to read if you could do it twice a day but at least once a day the the incense offering right it's this is hinting to the Torah the crown of Torah and the the the crowns that are going to be given back to to you that was taken away at then the future will be returned back to you now the last paragraph I'm skipping uh two lines he's just referring to something he says by the which we're not dealing with right now he mentions that that that atones for brazenness but in verse 10 look in verse 10 you'll see that I didn't put it down I'm sorry I didn't bring it down so here we go chapter 30:1 says Aaron shall bring atonement upon its horns once a year from the blood of the sin offering of the the atonements once a year he should bring atonement upon it for your Generations it's holy of holies to what does it mean once a year it's talking about Yumer talking about Yer so the says the essence of that dayer why do we dress all in white right why do we not to eat need to eat and drink because we're like angels Angels don't eat and drink Angels they're they're I guess they're white whatever they dress in white so we're like Angels on the and the Soul returns back to its pure State like it was originally and then he has these words and the highly spiritual intellectual person will understand this and will add their own he says in the very beginning of the pario dealing with the Kim that there are many things that are said you don't need to make anything up take what exists and find some K find some important point to expand upon don't start from scratch you're only going to get lost take the vast amount of information I'm going to call it Divine information not artificial information right take the Divine information that we have and delve deeply into it and and find we call novel ideas within it you don't need to uh invent anything you just need to uncover and discover and with that I'll just remind you mat right it's coming up okay there's a link below uh we'd like to say at the end of all of our shears the shirim right that one should have an unbelievable shabas and a great life but I want you to know next week we won't have a she have a great a great and may it be really the beginning of our personal and National Redemption we'll see you in a few weeks and have a great life [Music] oh