Parashat Chayei Sarah
Based on Netivot Shalom
והסר שטן מלפנינו ומאחרינו
v'haser satan mil'faneinu u'mei'achoreinu
And remove Satan from before us and from behind us.
I find this dvar Torah to be very helpful in withstanding the temptation during a nefila / fall after standing up to a or trigger and even a success! Be conscious afterwards … of the “Satan Achaeinu”. This is the next step of being in awareness AFTER a victory, succeeding in not falling into our old stories / addictive behavior/ attachments, and being able to BE a source of light and bracha in the world and to those around us… to expand our vessel to mekavel, to receive and be in the state of both physical and spiritual abundance and pleasure / oneg of being in dveikut / connection with our Creator.
–Rochel Leah
* * *
Before reciting the Shmona Esrei of the evening Ma'ariv, we beseech / מבקש Hashem to remove the Satan from BEFORE us and from BEHIND us. והסר שטן מלפנינו ומאחרינו. What does this mean?
כָּ֥ל עַצְמֹתַ֨י | תֹּאמַרְנָה֘ יְהֹוָ֗ה מִ֥י כָ֫מ֥וֹךָ
מַצִּ֣יל עָ֖נִי מֵֽחָזָ֣ק מִמֶּ֑נּוּ וְעָנִ֥י וְ֜אֶבְי֗וֹן מִגֹּֽזְלֽוֹ:All my bones shall say, Hashem, who is like You,
Who saves a poor man from one stronger than he
and a poor man and a needy one from one who robs him.
Tehillim 35:10
The Satan is the evil inclination (yetzer hara) that challenges our connection to Hashem.
1. Satan m’Lifneinu, the yetzer hara tries to overpower us BEFORE we do a mitzva or a nisayon to prevent us from fulfilling the mitzvah so we will not overcome the nisayon / test. Ie. Avraham’s nisayon of the Akeida / the binding of Yitzhak. The satan tried to conspire and plan to block him from the test, and following through with the mitzvah.*
2. Satan m’Acharinu that tries to overpower us AFTER the deed. It wants to take from us that which we have already achieved. By means of machshavat Hansa’ot, haughty thoughts. The Maggid of Meseritch teaches that when we conduct ourselves in an elevated and illuminated seder / schedule of a Jewish persons day. Ie. We get up in the morning and pray with kavanot. And after we learn the hidden and revealed Torah, and after we rise in our tefilla to all the world Asiya, Yetzira, Beriya Atzilut… and we feel elevated, connected, in dveikus… then the satan comes after us, which is more dangerous and says… “Oh you think you’re so holy…”
The Torah teaches us that the life of a Yehudi has nisayonot before we go to fulfill the yichud of mitzva. And when we attempt to turn from Ra / (being separated from Hashem), when turning from evil the yetz hara mtgaber, overpowers her in these taivot/ physical desires. We need to strengthen on this nisayon AFTER. Because even if we strengthen ourselves before , then the yetzer hara returns AFTER, saying “You didn’t really have to do that mitzva. It was really neged/ against the will /ratzon Hashem”. And she chas vshalom she comes to regret the good that she did. The Torah teaches us that there is the yetzer hara conspires and it wants to block us. / Avraham Avinu in our thoughts to achieve our elevated higher goal. And Avraham withstood all the parts of the nisayonot, meaning before and after milfaneinu and achreinu.
אמר אביי: נקטינן [מוחזקים אנו] — אין עני אלא בדעה. כלומר, עוני אמיתי הוא עניות הדעת, וכדברי רב נחמן, שהרי זה חוסר כל.
Abaye said: We hold that there is no poverty except in Daas. That is, true poverty is poverty of mind, and as Rav Nachman says, it is a lack of everything. (Nedarim 41)
HKB”H saves the ani / poor, ie. Us, when we lose our Daas, and strengthens us from the yetz hara that is triggering us and tries to overpower us. And saves us so we can stand in the nisayon and be strengthened in our taiva/ addictive behavior. And the attempts to steal that which you already have withstood in the nisayon BEFORE and overpowered your taiva. Ie. Not eating the food which is not good for your body… So the yetzer hara wants to steal from you what you already achieved. And HKBH saves us /the oni and the avyon from this theft. From the satan achairunu that he can’t steal from us the tov that we did.
SUMMARY:
The Satan "before us" is the yetzer hara that tries to prevent us from performing mitzvot and following the Divine will. If the yetzer hara does not succeed in convincing us to give up before we've even started, however, it tries again after the fact. This is the Satan "after us," that wants to undo the positive effect of the mitzvot we have performed by causing us to regret our actions. If the yetzer hara can make us think we've lost out in some way by doing mitzvot, then we are robbed of the reward for performing them.
Thus, we ask Hashem both for the strength to resist temptation "before us" - so that we can carry out His will, as well as for the ability to remain committed to our decisions after the fact and not lose the reward.
May we learn from Avraham avinu, who strenghened himself in the nisayonot /tests both before and after the mitzva. May we be zoche to perform all the mitzvot and achieve all our goals and mission / yeud in the world and to be happy with them, knowing with certainty that no negativity or bitterness is caused by our fulfillment of hashgacha pratit / the Divine will. May our performance of mitzvot with this shleimut / wholeness cause us brachot and zechut - both in this world and the next.
*[When Avraham heard that Sarah had died, he could easily have regretted following Hashem's will. This would have been an understandable reaction; after all, his obedience to God resulted in the death of his beloved wife! Yet Abraham understood the tremendous power of regret to undo the effect of past actions. Had Avraham regretted bringing Yitzchak as an offering, countless future generations would have lost the ability to draw from the zchut / merit of his actions. Therefore, Avraham cried only a little bit (the small כ in the word CRY) over the passing of his beloved wife to show that, despite the challenges, he did not regret having performed the Hashem’s ratzon will. He knew that there are no negative consequences to performing mitzvot wholeheartedly, and that his actions could therefore not have been the true cause of Sarah's death. In fact, it was her time to pass, she fulfilled all her days in her life. This was the Satan’s coniving way of bringing Avraham to depression / regret / doubt. In overcoming this test nisayon of emunah, Abraham preserved the zechut/ merit of the Akeida as a powerful inheritance for us in later generations.]
PHOTO: R.L. WEIMAN
The yesod of the Avoda of Re’eh,
“seeing” according to the Arizal
Based on the Netivot Shalom zt:l
רְאֵ֗ה אָנֹכִ֛י נֹתֵ֥ן לִפְנֵיכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם בְּרָכָ֖ה וּקְלָלָֽה׃
See, this day I set before you blessing and curse:
אֶֽת־הַבְּרָכָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּשְׁמְע֗וּ אֶל־מִצְוֺת֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָנֹכִ֛י מְצַוֶּ֥ה אֶתְכֶ֖ם הַיּֽוֹם׃
blessing, if you obey the commandments of your God יהוה that I enjoin upon you this day;
וְהַקְּלָלָ֗ה אִם־לֹ֤א תִשְׁמְעוּ֙ אֶל־מִצְוֺת֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם וְסַרְתֶּ֣ם מִן־הַדֶּ֔רֶךְ אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָנֹכִ֛י מְצַוֶּ֥ה אֶתְכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם לָלֶ֗כֶת אַחֲרֵ֛י אֱלֹהִ֥ים אֲחֵרִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־יְדַעְתֶּֽם׃ {ס}
We always read parashat Re’eh on the Shabbat preceeding Rosh Chodesh Elul..
In only 1 month we will be standing in Rosh Hasheana. The bracha is to hear with our hearts KOL DODI DOFEK
The voice of my beloved knocks. According to how much we prepare for Rosh hashana, can we be zoche to accessing the shoresh, source, of its bracha.
Parashat Reeh follows the parsha of hearing, Eikev. When SEEING is combined with HEARING , WE COME TO REIYAH ELYONA, a higher seeing. We can see with theeyes of our heart. This shabbat, Shabbat Mevorchim Elul may we reach this level of seeing the source of our goodness with all our hearts.
The yesod of the Avoda of Re’eh, “seeing” according to the Arizal:
There hasn’t been a person created like another person since the creation of the world. And no one can accomplish an other persons tikkun. Which means that each person has her own special mission devar meyuchad, for which each person is sent down from the higher world to this world.
And that’s what the posuk refers to saying : Re’eh. רְאֵ֗ה אָנֹכִ֛י נֹתֵ֥ן לִפְנֵיכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם בְּרָכָ֖ה וּקְלָלָֽה׃ I
Its not discussing the keeping of the mitzvos in relation to reward and punishment. Instead this is referring to each person’s special mission int his world, shlichut meyucheded and the role, tafikd of the person in his world. The greatest bracha is when a Jew is able to accomplish her highest mission in this world, her sheichut haElyona. And she metakens (fixes) the matters in which she came down to this world.
And the klala, curse, chas vshalom is if she didn’t metakein her special shelichut, meaning, when she does not accomplish her reason for coming down into the world and instead spends her years (ad 120) laboring and struggling and didn’t accomplish her shelchut / mission that was assigned for her.
HKBH is tov u maitiv, good and does only good, and He created the world in order to to grant us goodness and so we can nurture from His creation. He provides each of us with the special conditions which bring us to fulfill our purpose in the world
And that’s why it says LOOK REEH I am giving you the bracha which you will listen. Meaning that everything I give you, all the conditions that HKB”H provides to the person… all our struggles, triggers, tikkunim… its ALL provided for our shelichut that each of us to facilitate so we can accomplish our particular mission that we came down to the world for.
A person doesn’t know what her special shelichut is. But it say, “Re’eh anochi notain lefneichem hayom. רְאֵ֗ה אָנֹכִ֛י נֹתֵ֥ן לִפְנֵיכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם
May I SEE & contemplate, re’eh v hitbonen all of the conditions that are surrounding me...
May I see that everything that hashem is giving me is for the aim asher tishmu אֶֽת־הַבְּרָכָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּשְׁמְע֗וּ is so you will listen.
This is the why it says ASHER tishma’u. THAT you will be able to keep, in the language THAT אֲשֶׁ֣ר not IF , as it says about the klala: וְהַקְּלָלָ֗ה אִם־לֹ֤א תִשְׁמְעוּ֙, The klala is when some works hard without fulfilling her personal mission. Hashem gives us all the conditions, which means our personal challenges and our national challenges, as in the war in Eretz Yisrael, right now, ONLY FOR THE SAKE OF THE BRACHA, only for the sake of the bracha. That each of us individually and collectively as Am Yisrael, WILL FULLFILL OUR SHELICHUT ELYONA AND OUR TAFID in the world. Our goal is ASHER tishmau, we ARE seeing deeply right now. The bracha is unconditional. It is already given to us through our life situations, so we may learn about our shelichut. All we need to do is be AWARE AND CONSCIOUS of the lessons of each of the challenges we face, when we feel constricted or in the dark or triggered. He is constantly giving us His brachot, if only we SEE it in the moment.
Do you have a pattern of repeated situations of types of people in your life?
THEY are a clue to your personal mission.
Think about this deeply.
Hashem is renewing the Briah, creation of the world every moment of every day
As we say in our Shabbat davening Mechadesh bchol yom tamid maase bereeishit.
EVERY DAY has its particular tafkid. Each condition that happens in a particular day is a shaar, gateway to fulfill the shelichut meyuchded, particular mission of that day.
MEDITATION
Make yourself comfortable
breath in / neshima / through our our nostrils to higher consciousness
Bring the light in through your breath and bring it down to your heart.
Imagine removing the klipah from the HEARING CENTER of your heart
Open the gate to your hear
Breath
Slowly and deeply
While opening yourself to hear the Kol dodi dofek,
the Kol, the voice of the shechina, calling you back
To your true purpose in life, your shelichus elyona
If any distracting thoughts enter your mind
Pop them like a bubble
Noting can divert you from attaining your personal mission
They can take any form
Like youtube, Instagram, physical desires, negative emotions, anything that comes up for you
Envision popping all these diversions like a child popping bubbles
You are the child
Pop pop pop
Imagine that before you,
you see 2 gates, shaarim.
This is the moment in your life when you need to choose which gate you will enter. Listen, open yourself to hear the kolot, sound of the shofar calling you to the pathe of
Chius, ahava, bracha
Imagine a time when you felt most loved…
Now open the gate to your heart
Visualize yourself standing before the completely cleared path of your shelichut elyona, your personal mission
imagine removing the klipah of the VISION CENTER in your heart
You now perceive with incredible bracha with Yishuv Hadaat. You are in full light and consciousness.
I re-enter my day with a new consciousness
I am prepared consciously through the mitzvot of preparations for Shabbat kodesh
my head is not in the clouds, as I am staying grounded through the process.
I cook and prepare,for Shabbat,
I bake challah I set the table beautifully and early
I am preparing consciously, as I adjust my consciousness.
Transitioning with the mitzvot
Harein mekavin laasot et atzmi …
the dichotomy of Rochel and Leah are coming closer and merging
the Yichud of Rochel and Leah Consciousnesses getting closer as shabbat comes closer
I no longer need to disconnect part of my thoughts and consciousness to access the spiritual and the physical at once.
I am bringing my mochin dgadlut into Rachel
Rochel HaGadola
I hold her sparks as I rise into Shabbat
elevating my emotions (zeer anpin) to meet the One
I greet this new role with malchut and Bina
Wearing my crown while steeped in shiflut, humility
simultaniously
May Hashem give me Chein, through this pnimius Torah
of my support system, my soul sisters who are doing this work together,
Raising the frequency toward geula
as Nechama Sarah said, Our pnimius work is a fortress
When we are looked upon of being too spiritual, or reaching too high for the light
or our head is in the cloud
We run and return with
mesiras nefesh the dedication of our souls
to not hide any more
but to go out there
Embracing those who are of a different soul family
Who think differently
wearing our crowns of ratzon, oneg and emunah
Expanding love and light
In touch with our heart center.
When you are ready, open your eyes and now you can SEE with this light of awareness …
your higher mission withing all the conditions and circumstances.
____________
If you would like to learn more about this process, go to:
www.kavconnect.com/shaarlneshamaschool
PHOTO: SHOSHANA SHAREEN