Nachal novea; makor chochma -
A flowing river; the source of wisdom (Mish. 18:4)
After the Golden Calf, it became necessary to neutralize the spiritual
energies of forgetfulness and death that the Jews had absorbed due to
their sin. Hashem provided the Jews the vehicle for such a
neutralization in the commandment of the red heifer. [This commandment
involved burning a rare, totally red heifer, and sprinkling its ashes
upon someone who had become spiritually impure due to coming in contact
with death. This strange ritual purified the one who was impure while
rendering the one who prepared the ashes impure.] The energies activated
by offering the red heifer neutralized the spiritual energies of death
and forgetfulness that influenced the Jews to disregard Hashem.
One of the four images engraved on Hashem's throne of Glory is the image
of an ox. This indicates that the ox is the king of all domesticated
animals. Since the ox is king of its class, the spiritual energies of
forgetfulness and imagination are strongest in it, more so than in any
other animal of its category. This also means that all the other animals
in its class derive the energies of imagination that spiritually nourish
their minds from the ox. There is a principle that the energies of evil
can only be neutralized at their source. Therefore, the red heifer--the
same category as the ox--was utilized withing a framework of holiness to
neutralize the energies of forgetfulness contained in that animal. This
is why the angel that is appointed over forgetfulness is called PuRaH,
which is the same as the word PaRaH--cow.
Rav Noson points out that Pharaoh's dream is consistent with our
teaching. As mentioned above, cows contain the most potent spiritual
energies of forgetfulness. Egypt was the most notoriously hedonistic and
materialistic society that ever existed. A leader or king is elevated to
his position by Heaven because he has the ability to access the
spiritual energies that nourish everyone and everything under his
jurisdiction. Pharaoh was the source of the strongest spiritual energies
of hedonism and materialism of all, the same energies that nourish the
spiritually insensitive and forgetful cows. These were used to
spiritually nourish and influence the degenerate behavior of his
subjects. That Egypt's destiny was symbolized by cows indicates that
there was no difference between the spiritual energies that nourish the
mind of a cow and the mentality of Egyptian society, both being steeped
in and controlled by their imaginations and fantasies.
Murder increases the spiritual energies of death and forgetfulness in
the world. In order to neutralize those energies, the rite of eglah
arufah is performed. This entails breaking the neck of a young calf. The
word for neck in Hebrew is Ha'ORePh. Rearranged, the letters spell
PhaRaOH. [Since two objects, the names of which have the same letters,
share the same spiritual energies,] this indicates that the spiritual
essence of a calf's neck is the same as the essence of Pharaoh,
resonating with depression and death. Therefore, to negate the spiritual
energies of death and forgetfulness created by murder, the calf has its
neck broken. Not only does the back of the calf's neck contain these
energies, but as mentioned above, of all animals, the calf itself
possesses the highest concentration of these energies since it is the
leading animal of its class.
It is also a requirement that the calf whose neck is to be broken must
never have done any work. Work is associated with the spiritual energies
of intelligence because it takes intelligence to complete a task.
Intelligence is associated with awareness of Hashem. That the calf never
worked shows its strong connection to the spiritual energies of
animalism--a lack of intelligence. Therefore, breaking the neck of a
calf that has never worked is a threefold negation of the spiritual
energies of forgetfulness--the calf itself, the energies associated with
the back of its neck, and the fact that it never worked.
Although the main focus of the society in which we live influences us to
forget our bond with Hashem, we must make every effort to emulate Yosef.
Yosef was all alone in an alien culture, and yet made every effort never
to forget his bond and covenant with Hashem. We must do the same.
Although Rav Noson saw a great improvement in his devotions after
embracing the teachings of the Chasidic Masters, he still felt an
emptiness--there was still something missing. Rav Noson was desperately
seeking a mentor who could lead him on his proper path to Hashem. One
day Rav Noson, who lived in Nemirov, heard that Rabbi Nachman had
arrived in nearby Breslov and decided to visit him, perhaps the Rebbe
could help him. On September 18, 1802 Rav Noson set out for Breslov.
Shortly before his arrival, Rabbi Nachman said to his student Reb Yudel,
"I see a soul in the Ukraine near Breslov" (referring to Rav Noson), and
went on to speak about the greatness of this soul. After spending some
time with Rabbi Nachman, Rav Noson realized that he was the mentor that
he had been seeking all those many years.
After Rav Noson decided to become Rabbi Nachman's follower, he
experienced great persecution from his father, family, wife, and
father-in-law, who all tried to prevent him from continuing on his
chosen path. However, his father-in-law later made peace with Rav Noson
when he saw how much Rabbi Nachman's teachings had improved him. Rav
Noson eventually became Rabbi Nachman's closest student and scribe. Rav
Noson transcribed most of Rabbi Nachman's teachings. Rabbi Nachman said
that without Rav Noson, nothing would be left of his teachings. On June
9, 1822 Rav Noson arrived in the land of Israel, after a most perilous
journey, and stayed for a little more than a month and then returned
back to the Ukraine. After Rabbi Nachman's passing in the fall of 1810,
Rav Noson refused the position of Rebbe, he felt there was no fitting
replacement for the unique Rabbi Nachman. However, it was Rav Noson who
worked so hard to keep the teachings of Rabbi Nachman alive. Through Rav
Noson's efforts, Rabbi Nachman's movement grew and flourished, with many
new followers joining the movement. From 1835 until 1838, Rav Noson and
Rabbi Nachman's followers were severely oppressed and persecuted by the
powerful Savraner Rebbe, who tried to wipe out the movement. This came
about because of a certain minor incident that had occurred, accompanied
by malicious and false reports that wrongfully vilified the Breslov
movement. During this time, Rav Noson was jailed and exiled from his
home.
Not only did Rav Noson write and publish much of Rabbi Nachman's
teachings, but he also published his own teachings, based on his
mentor's advice. Rav Noson composed a collection of his own Hithbodeduth
(see below), called Lekutai Tefiloth (collection of prayers), based on
the teachings of Rabbi Nachman, which contain most beautiful and awesome
prayers. Rav Noson's greatest work was Lekutai Halachot, which is a
kabbalistic commentary, based on the teachings of the Zohar, the Ari,
the Talmud, and especially Rabbi Nachman, on the entire eight volumes of
the code of Jewish law. This work contains phenomenal insights that
explain many of the practical lessons that are derived from the Torah's
laws. Most of the material used to write these Torah sheets are derived
from that work. One can plainly see from Rav Noson's works that he was
an expert of the highest caliber in the entire revealed and hidden Torah
and he had an unusual clarity of mind which was expressed in his
teachings. Rav Noson was totally attached to Hashem his entire life; he
never forgot Him. His mission, which he inherited from Rabbi Nachman,
was to show that no matter how much a man has sinned, he can always
return to Hashem. Rav Noson passed away on Friday, 10 Teves 5605
(December 20, 1844). He was sixty-four years, eleven months old. While
extremely sick and weak, hours before his death, Rav Noson's followers
read to him one of Rabbi Nachman's stories, "The Lost Princess," which
ends with the words, "Come let us go home!" Rav Noson then said, "It is
my time to go home." (Through Fire and Water: Breslov Research
Institute: POB 5370, Jerusalem, Israel)
When the Jews received the Torah at Mount Sinai, this lofty encounter
with Hashem (G-d) attached their consciousness and souls to the
hereafter. They had attained the spiritual purity of Adam before his
sin, cleansed of the spiritual toxins with which all people had been
imbued as a result of that sin. Death had been decreed upon man to rid
him of these spiritual toxins. However, at Sinai, the Jews were purged
of these toxins, thus the Angel of Death no longer had any power over
them, as the Talmud explains, "The verse says [when it describes the
stone tablets that contained the ten commandments], 'The tablets were
Hashem's handiwork, and the script was the script of Hashem, engraved
(charut) on the tablets.' (Exodus 32:16) The word ChaRuT--engraved--has
the same Hebrew root as Chay'RuT--freedom. [Words with the same root are
interchangable, homiletically.] Therefore, the verse can also be
understood to imply that the Jews reached such awesome spiritual heights
at Mount Sinai that they freed themselves from the spiritual pollution
inherited from Adam and gained freedom from death.'" (Talmud: Eruvin 54)
Unfortunately, the Jews reverted to their former status after sinning
with the Golden Calf.
One of the underlying reasons for all idol worship, and particularly the
sin of the Golden Calf, was to legitimize immorality, one of the most
spiritually polluting sins. Rav Noson says that the Torah, which records
Hashem's will, is connected to the spiritual essence of memory.
Specifically, the Torah is a constant reminder that there is a world to
come and its laws guide us in reaching the hereafter, as the verses say,
"I remembered in the night Your Name, Hashem, and I have preserved Your
Torah [through Torah study I have remembered Hashem]." (Psalms 119:55),
"Your Torah I have not forgotten [i.e. the spiritual energies contained
in the Torah are associated with the ability to remember]." (Psalms
119:109) Idolatry is a denial of the entire Torah, thus worshipping an
idol activates the most potent negative spiritual energies of
forgetfulness, which causes a person to completely forget or disregard
Hashem and the hereafter. This results in becoming connected to the
spiritual energies of death, for the person has been disconnected from
Hashem, the source of all life, as the verse says, "I have said, 'You
are godlike beings, all of you sons of the Most High. Nevertheless, you
shall die like men...'" (Psalms 82:6, 7) [The first verse talks about
belief in idols and is followed by a reference to death, teaching that
idol worship and violating Hashem's will connects one with the spiritual
energies of death]. In addition, idolatry pollutes the heart (the heart
is also associated with memory of the hereafter), causing it to
malfunction which eventually leads to death. Therefore, the Jews once
again became subject to death due to the sin of the Golden Calf.
The spiritual energies of forgetfulness that cause a disregard for
civilized behavior are strongest in animals. The animal mind is greatly
influenced by its imagination, which is associated with
forgetfulness--the forgetfulness of higher purpose--causing a neglect of
spiritual pursuits. [Note: In the modern world, imagination and fantasy
are used to influence society towards hedonistic behavior. Such fantasy
media as pornography, movies, TV, advertising, video games, etc. induce
a forgetfulness of Hashem and the hereafter. Indeed, some of these, such
as movies, can be used as vehicles to remind people of spirituality.
Nonetheless, the vast majority of these are used as distractions. The
highest awarness of Hashem is created through prayer, learning Torah and
doing His will (i.e. performing His commandments).]
Pharaoh, in his dream, saw seven robust and healthy cows that were
consumed by seven emaciated cows. This indicated that evil would swallow
up good until the good would be forgotten, as the verse says, "Then
seven years of famine [the negative spiritual energies] will arise after
them [the years of plenty--the positive spiritual energies] and all of
the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten [the good will be
swallowed up by the evil]..." (Genesis 41:30) [As a punishment for the
Egyptians' hedonistic ways, which caused them to disregard and forget
about Hashem, and which activated the energies of forgetfulness
associated with death, they were punished with a deadly famine derived
from the very spiritual energies of forgetfulness that they themselves
had created through their evil deeds. This is why the verse associates
the word "forgotten", with the impending famine].
Yosef did not forgot Hashem despite his many years of adversity and
association with the immoral Egyptian society. It was he who provided
the solution to the evil tidings conveyed in Pharaoh's dream, suggesting
that the produce of the seven years of plenty be stored so that it could
be eaten during the years of famine. This advice neutralized the evil
energies of the famine, preventing them from swallowing up the good of
the years of plenty. Through Yosef's brilliant interpretation of
Pharaoh's dream, everyone was able to recognize his greatness and he was
appointed second to the king. This meant that the negative spiritual
energies of forgetfulness and death that Pharaoh drew forth from the
upper worlds to nourish his land would be channeled through the holy
Yosef. Then Yosef could take the polluted spiritual energies derived
from Pharaoh, neutralizing and purifying them. When the succeeding
Pharaoh enslaved the Jews, he did so with the intention to activate and
instill within them the spiritual energies of forgetfulness, to
influence them to ignore the teachings of the patriarchs which
emphasized adherence to Hashem and His ways. Slavery is connected to the
spiritual energies of depression, depression is connected to the
spiritual energies of death, and death is connected to the spiritual
energies of forgetfulness. It was the fact that Yosef purified Pharaoh's
spiritual essence which prevented the Jews from totally forgetting
Hashem during their years of slavery, and eventually enabled them to
leave Egypt.
Many dreams have the potential to become reality. Speech is a very
powerful means of connecting the intangible to the manifest. The way a
dream is interpreted can change the outcome of future events, due to the
power of the spoken word to actualize potential. Therefore, Yosef's
interpretation of Pharaoh's dream changed the outcome of the future,
transforming the negative spiritual energies contained in the dream to
positive ones, enabling the good to prevail over the evil. What Yosef
had done, through his interpretation of Pharaoh's dream, was synonymous
with what offering of the red heifer would accomplish--the
neutralization of negative spiritual energies.
Red is an indication that strong energies of din--harshness--are
present. Extremely harsh spiritual energies are responsible for
forgetfulness and death. Therefore, by burning the red heifer, the
forgetfulness and death that are associated with the color red and with
cows are somewhat neutralized at their roots. This is why the ashes of
the red heifer have the ability to purify someone who has become
spiritually contaminated through contact with the dead. This
contamination has the same roots as forgetfulness and the negative
spiritual energies created through the sin of the Golden Calf and the
sin of Adam. Many of the rites of the red heifer are associated with the
number seven in order to neutralize the spiritual energies created by
the seven evil cows revealed in Pharaoh's dream and activate the
spiritual energies of the seven good cows. The seven good cows and the
spiritual powers of Yosef are associated with memory, as the verses
says, "A fruitful (po'raht) son is Yosef (Genesis 49:22) The word
Po'RaHt, fruitful, in the verse comes from the same root as the word for
cow, PaRaH, indicating that Yosef possessed the same positive spiritual
energies as the seven fruitful cows in Pharaoh's dream. [Note: Spiritual
energies are eternal and effect the world even centuries later, unless
they are neutralized. Things that share a common number indicates that
they are connected to the same roots and that through utilizing one
item, the spiritual essence of the second item can be accessed.]
When Yosef's brother's returned from Egypt with the good news that Yosef
was still alive after a twenty-two year absence, Ya'akov (Jacob), their
father, did not believe them. To prove the validity of their claim,
Yosef had instructed his brothers to tell their father that the last
topic that he and Ya'akov had studied together was the laws of eglah
arufah [the calf of which the back of its neck is broken to atone for an
unsolved murder (cf. Deut. 21:1-9)], as alluded to in the verse,
"However, when [Yosef's brothers] related to [Ya'akov] all the words
that Yosef had spoken to them [mentioning that the last topic that they
studied together was the eglah arufah], and [Ya'akov] saw the wagons
(A'Ga'Loth) that Yosef had sent to transport him, then the spirit [of
joy in him](was revived [causing the Divine Presence to return to him,
for the Divine Presence cannot rest on a sad person (Rashi)]." (Genesis
45:27) The word A'Ga'Loth--wagons--in the verse, comes from the same
root as the word EGLoth--calves, thus alluding to the topic of the EGLah
arufah. Thus, "And [Ya'akov] saw the a'ga'loth that Yosef had sent,"--
it doesn't say "(that Pharaoh had sent(" (Rashi)--Ya'akov understood the
sign that Yosef had sent him and therefore knew he was still alive. But
this was more than a sign that Yosef was physically alive, it meant that
Yosef hadn't forgotten Hashem, that he had been successful in
neutralizing the spiritual energies of forgetfulness through the eglah
arufah. It was this piece of information that was most important to the
spiritual Ya'akov, whose main goal was to build a holy nation. It was
this information that revived his spirit.
The sin of the Golden Calf occurred because the mixed multitude [the
Egyptians who converted to Judaism and departed from Egypt with the
Jews] wanted to rid themselves and the Jews of Hashem's control over
them. For this, they needed to draw forth the spiritual energies of
forgetfulness. Therefore, they specifically chose to make an image of a
calf, rather than some other form, because as mentioned above, it
possessed the strongest spiritual energies of forgetfulness and fantasy,
more so than any other creature. The Jews were threatened with
annihilation as punishment for the sin of the Golden Calf. All this
indicates how powerful and deadly are the spiritual energies of
forgetfulness that are contained in cows. Thus, Hashem arranged that the
last topic Yosef studied with Ya'akov, before he was sold to Egypt was
the laws of the eglah arufah. The spiritual power that he derived from
studying these laws enabled Yosef to neutralize the energies of
forgetfulness contained in Pharaoh's dream and resulted in his being
elevated to a position of power. With the spiritual energies of both the
red heifer and the calf whose neck was broken, Yosef was able to
neutralize Pharaoh's spiritual energies of forgetfulness. Pharaoh tried
to use these energies to enslave and destroy the Jews and their
teachings of the importance of coming close to Hashem. Not only did the
struggle between forgetfulness and remembrance occur in Egypt, but it
has occurred throughout every subsequent exile the Jews have
experienced. Rabbi Nachman taught that forgetting or disregarding Hashem
is the source for all the troubles the Jews have ever experienced. The
solution to this is the spiritual energies of Yosef--the spiritual
energies of awareness of Hashem in the world.
COMBINING THEIR POWERS
For the above reasons, we read the portion dealing with the laws of the
red heifer just after the holiday of Purim. The wicked Haman, a
descendant of the evil Amalikites whose goal it was to cause the world
to forget Hashem, cast lots to activate the spiritual energies of
forgetfulness, to better enable him to destroy the Jews and to help him
determine which time would be the best to destroy them. The word PuR,
lot, comes from the same root as PaR, bull. So by casting the lots Haman
activated the spiritual energies of forgetfulness contained in cattle.
The spiritual energies created by an event recur annually on its
anniversary. Therefore, each year at Purim (one month before Passover),
the spiritual energies of forgetfulness that the wicked Haman created by
casting his lots, are most concentrated. Therefore we must neutralize
these energies by celebrating the holiday of PuRim (from the root of
PaR, bull). We read the section, Zachor--remember, and we read the
portion of the red heifer to negate the spiritual energies of
forgetfulness that Haman created. (Lekutai Halachot: Choshen Mishpat:
Hilchot So'chair 3:11-13)
The spiritual energies of death are associated with forgetfulness, a
disregard for Hashem's will and denial of the hereafter(January 2,
1996--the fast of the tenth of the Hebrew month of Tevet--is the one
hundred and fifty second anniversary of the passing of Rabbi Nachman's
chief disciple, Rav Noson ben Naftali Hertz Sternhartz z"tzl of Nemirov,
Ukraine. The following is a brief biographical sketch in honor of this
event. Rav Noson was born on Shabbos, the fifteenth of the Hebrew month
of Sh'vat, 5540 (Tu B'Sh'vat January 22, 1780) into a wealthy family. He
was the eldest of five children. In July, 1793 Rav Noson married, at the
age of thirteen (a common practice in those days), to Esther Shaindel
the daughter of the world-renowned sage Rabbi Dovid Zvi Orbach, who was
the chief Rabbi of Sharograd, Kremenetz, and Mohilev. Under his
father-in-law's tutelage, Rav Noson rose to very high levels in Torah
scholarship, becoming fully versed in the Talmud and Codes. Rav Noson
felt a lack of warmth in his devotions, and although he was raised in an
atmosphere that has hostile to the Chasidic movement, from the years
1797 to 1802, he went to study at the academies of many of the holy
Chasidic Masters, such as Rebbe Zusia of Anipoli, Rebbe Levi Yitzchok of
Berdichov, Rebbe Baruch of Medzeboz, and Rebbe Gedaliah of Linitz among
others.