Special HodOfHod Farbrengen

4:44 AM

@HodofHod I found it.

A gutn voch everyone! I'd like to thank @ShmuelBrin and @DoubleAA for facilitating this farbrengen.

@ShmuelBrin ?

Mazal Tov. Shnas Hatzlacha begashmius and Ruchnius

There is a Maamar in Melukat Beis where the Rebbe explains the special nature of R' Shimon Bar Yochai

He happened to be one of the few people who were involved both in Nigla and Kabbalah (in that time)

We find people who learned mostly Niglah

some (R' Nechunya? ben Hakana IIRC) that learned mostly Kabbalah

yet few who were active in both

R' Shimon Bar Yochai was active in Kabbalah (the Zohar!)

and yet was active in Nigla (every stam R' Shimon in the Gemara is R' Shimon Bar Yochai)

But more, he learned Niglah in a manner similar to Kabbalah.

The Alter Rebbe explains in Lo Sashbis Melach that there are two approaches to Torah learning. One is the approach of "Mikrah" - reading

One who just reads Chumash fulfills an obligation of Talmud Torah (so even one who doesn't know Hebrew says a Bracha in the morning) since one doesn't really understand Chumash, he just brings it into the world

On the other hand, one who learns Gemara cannot do that. He must toil in this world to actually understand it.

IIRC it compares it to the difference between Binah and Chochma. Chochma is a revelation of Hashem's wisdom

Bina is one trying to understand it in a seicheldik (intellectual manner)

The Alter Rebbe says that Kabbalah is something one cannot understand - therefore it belongs as a part of Mikrah

(small haa'ra - the Alter Rebbe writes in Hilchos Talmud Torah that Kabbala is a part of Midrash [as in 1/3 Mikra 1/3 Midrash 1/3 Talmud])

Which is why Kabbala is compared to salt - it doesn't have a taste (one doesn't understand it) yet it brings taste into Niglah

But R' Shimon Bar Yochai's Niglah was of a different form - he brought was he saw in the source

(Haa'ra - though there is a klal that the Halacha doesn't follow R' Shimon against [almost] anyone! How could it be? The Halacha doesn't follow someone who learned Niglah in the greatest way - seeing it in the source?

Rather, we see this concept in a few places - Talmud Yerushalmi is from a higher source than Talmud Bavli, and yet the Halacha doesn't follow it. Because Hashem wants a dwelling place in the lower world - that Hashem's essence is specifically found in the lower place

When one learns Torah from a lower place, Hashem's essence is there. Therefore, the Halacha follows it).

.

Either way, Lechaim Velivracha

@HodofHod we're waiting :)

5:06 AM

@ShmuelBrin Amen! Gam atem!

(Chips look a little stale.)

Oh! At least the herring's still good!

3

@HodofHod amen

It's said that on one's birthday one has a special ability in giving brochos. So I'd like to give everyone a brocha: You should be healthy and happy, you should be successful in all your endeavors, both physically and spiritually.

You should grow from strength to strength in your learning and doing of mitzvos, and you should give a lot of nachas to G-d and all others to whom you should be giving nachas to. You should merit to help bring, and to see, the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu, speedily in our days!

2

@ShmuelBrin @DoubleAA @IsaacMoses @msh210 @MonicaCellio and anybody else who happens to read this :D

@ShmuelBrin Wow! Do you just always have one of these ready?

@HodofHod Amen

I started writing up a maamar I learned this shabbos, but I apparently have absolutely no chush in summarizing.

@HodofHod which one?

5:14 AM

@ShmuelBrin Melukat Gimmel, Shir Hamaalos.

Here goes nothing:

Actually, I may have pick and choose which parts to do. Starting in the middle, then:

There's a famous story in the Zohar: One time, there was a drought, so they came to Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai to ask for his help. He said a dvar torah on the verse in Tehillim (133:1) "A Song of Ascents: Behold, how good and beautiful it is when brothers sit together, also as one." and rain then fell.

Now, we know that usually rain is something that is prayed for: We add 6 blessings to the Amidah for it during drought, and we decree 13 fasts. Additionally, there are stories, like that of Choni Hammagol, who stood in a circle and demanded rain from G-d. All these are prayer, amd involve effort (yegiya), so why did Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai use Torah instead, and how was he able to do it (without effort, no less)?

To explain: the difference between Torah and prayer is that prayer is an "avodah" (service) that works from below to above. I.e., one is below, and he prays that that which is above come down. Torah is an avodah from above to below. Since Torah itself is a high thing, learning Torah an advantage over prayer.

This is why we say "Yehi Ratzon" - "It should be your will". Meaning that it is not yet, but it should become!

The difference between Torah is prayer is analogous to the difference between a blessing and prayer. Prayer as we said before, is from below to above, but a blessing is from above to below, that someone with the power to bless, is higher than the thing which he is blessing, so he is "pushing" it down so to speak, to the blessee.

There is no effort or request involved, it's more like a commandment of the blesser.

So the advantage that a blessing has is in the one who blesses, but as regards the actual "effects" prayer has the advantage. A blessing can only "push down" that which already exists, but it cannot create a change in the world. Prayer however, is asking something of G-d, who then creates a new "effect" from Or Ein Sof, which is above the whole chain of creation.

5:54 AM

Unlike blessing however, Torah has this power of prayer to create new things. Like we know that a psak din of halacha, can create a change in the existence of the world (e.g., Bsuleha Chozrin). Torah is above the source of the world, so it can effect changes in the world. Torah also has the advantage of blessing, that it is not a request, it's power is "m'meila" (automatic, without effort or request).

This is specifically because one who learns Torah and paskins, is "mevatel" himself to the giver of the Torah - G-d, therefore his halachic decisions have the G-d's power behind them.

Nevertheless, prayer still has an advantage over Torah, since prayer brings effects from Or Ein Sof, while Torah is "limited" to to Chochma (the supernal level of "Wisdom") which is incomparable to Or Ein Sof.

So the Chidush of Rabbis Shimon Bar Yochai using Torah to bring rain, as opposed to other Rabbis who used to Torah to effect other effects, is that there is no hint that the world was "shayech" to rain. Even according to Torah (whose source is higher than the world) the world was not ready for rain. So this that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai brought rain, is only from Or Ein Sof, which is the same effect that prayer has.

We can say, that the reason Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai could bring an effect from Or Ein Sof through Torah, is that Or Ein Sof is revealed specifically through the inner part of Torah (Kabbala), therefore, davka the Rashbi could have this effect.

The reason that usually things are done through prayer is that prayer also has the effect of making the one who prays a receptacle for the blessing to come down into. So the Rashbi's Torah must also have had the second effect, that of making the world a receptacle for the blessing of rain

(In very short, this is because of his choice of Pasuk. "Hinei Ma Tov" is a pasuk of ahavas and achvas yisrael (Love and Unity of Jews). So through the love and unity of fellow Jews, it creates this receptacle for blessing, specifically because the relationship of Jewish unity is parallel to the unity of G-d and Israel, therefore revealing and effecting one, also effects the other.)

And this is why the verse continues "like good oil upon the head that falls onto the beard, the beard of Aharon", because oil refers to Torah - "good oil" refers to the inner part of Torah. (As the Zohar explains, that "good oil" is the shining of הארת יסוד דעתיק &rtl; ). In order for there to be "sheves achim" there must be the learning of the inner part of Torah.

L'chaim!

<looks around> Where'd everybody go?

@ShmuelBrin Yep, no chush.

:D

6:17 AM

@HodofHod It explains this in the other maamar that Rain involves both avodas hatzadikim and avodas baalei tshuva (rain is hamshacha but like baalei tshuva it involves avoda)

it's getting late

In honor of Lag Baomer, I think we're cancelling all chassidus tomorrow :)

I find it funny, after all the inspiration by a farbrengen, we have a late wakeup the next day, straight to davening and niglah

</rant>

Double AA

@HodofHod Still here ;)

@DoubleAA Yay! If you manage to make it through that wall of text, let me know ;) (Original here)

@ShmuelBrin I know, I always wondered about that.

Hey @Michoel! A Gut Voch! I'd like to personally extend my brochos to you today

:D

@ShmuelBrin Actually, there're some places at least that do have Chassidus, say, on friday morning.

Michoel

6:36 AM

@HodofHod Thanks, gut voch and happy birthday! Shnas Hatzlocha etc..

@Michoel Amen! Gam atem! (I hope you don't mind if I read a lot of extra stuff into that "etc.")

Michoel

@HodofHod That was the idea :-)

7:00 AM

As I sit down to my own farbrengen IRL, I'm thinking of my Mi Yodeya friends :D.

msh210

8:02 AM

@ShmuelBrin Y'yasher kochacha.

@HodofHod Amen! You, too!

@HodofHod A good year to you! And many more to follow.

10:29 AM

@msh210 Thank you! Kol hamivarech misbareich!

@DoubleAA Looking back, I didn't mean to put you on the spot about reading that huge wall if text (a bad summary in the first place). I had actually meant to address that to the general audience, in an impersonal way. (Honestly, I don't know if I myself would be able to make my way through that wall of text)

Double AA

2:45 PM

@HodofHod I did not feel pressured, and had indeed read through your text (though I didn't check out the original).

Rashbi used Torah and not Tefillah (like most others) to get rain because it is more direct and can create new things, but only he was able to use that technique because he needed to access a higher level of God to get the rain and only the Torah of Kabbala of which he was an expert can reach that high up.

4:12 PM

@DoubleAA Um.... Wow. That's some serious skill in summarizing :) (I only posted a link to the original in case my summary was illegible/mistqke-riddled and someone wanted to check the original. :D )

5:04 PM

@HodofHod amein and thank you! (I didn't know about the birthdays-give-special-bracha-strength idea. Nice!)

@HodofHod sorry, it was late. A belated l'chaim!

@HodofHod I read your wall of text. Thank you for sharing it!

5:54 PM

@MonicaCellio No worries! It was, especially on your coast :)

@MonicaCellio I hope it was somewhat parseable? I did some dejargonifying, but it was still a bit thick.

@HodofHod I got most of it, thanks! I wasn't hung up by jargon; I'm just pretty unfamiliar with some of the background ideas. It was interesting and I enjoyed looking though an unfamiliar-to-me lens, so to speak.

@HodofHod ah, I wondered where you live. (No need to answer -- I assume the lack of precision in your profile is intentional -- but it sounds like at least we aren't in the same timezone.)

@MonicaCellio I'm actually a bit of a nomad right now. In the past 2-3 years, I've lived on both coasts, in the midwest, and also Canada and England.

@HodofHod wow, you get around! I've been in one metro area most of my life.

7:36 PM

@MonicaCellio well, you know what they say, "Join Chabad, see the world!"

@HodofHod I didn't know that was all of Chabad. Are you a sh'liach, then?

@MonicaCellio Not in the way you're thinking, no. But really, even for non-shluchim, since Chabad is so spread out, people are always traveling around for relatives' events. A Bar MItzva in New York, a wedding in South Africa, etc...

@HodofHod oh yeah, that definitely makes sense!

And that's for settled people! For younger people there's even more traveling. Young people travel for school, to help shluchim out, to work in or run summer camps around the world....

7:53 PM

@HodofHod plus, until you settle down with a family and a mortgage, you're probably more open to moving for a new job.

@MonicaCellio True, true.

You're having a real-world farbrengen to supplement this online one, right? How is/was it? (Or are we in "will be" territory?)

@MonicaCellio Part 1 went till 3 AM this morning. It was really one of the best I've been to, mostly because of the company. Really great to just farbreng with friends. Sang and talked until we were all falling over from exhaustion. Tonight, bonfire on the beach, guitars and BBQ etc. Should be lots of fun! :D

@HodofHod glad to hear it! Bonfire on the beach sounds like a lot of fun. (No beach here and it's raining...)

@MonicaCellio :( No parade in your city?

8:00 PM

@HodofHod in about an hour, though people will be soggy.

@MonicaCellio Soggy Parades - the best kind of parade!

:D / :'(

@HodofHod except for trying to get the fire going at the end. :-) But oh well, some years work better than others...

@MonicaCellio Lighter fluid and gasoline should do the trick!

@HodofHod we'll see!

@MonicaCellio Are you going?