I've been reading the Tanya -- the central philosophical text of the Chabad Hasidic movement of Judaism, written by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi and published in 1796. You can read a page a day and finish it in exactly a year.
I had tried reading it in 1999, when I was a student at Pardes, the liberal modern Orthodox yeshiva in Jerusalem. My cousin, Raymond, in South Africa, who is part of the Chabad movement, gave it to me. I made it through the beginning.
The beginning is amazing enough. Rabbi Shneur Zalman describes the Benoni -- the intermediate one, whose good and evil impulses are nearly balanced, but who chooses good. That, it turns out, is the best to which we can aspire.
There are some other amazing things in the Tanya. Once concerns the spiritual implications of Hebrew letters, a concept drawn from the Kabbalah. Each has its significance -- none more than the letter Hay (ה), which has an "h" sound.
Hay is the letter of breath. It is also the letter of the definite article "the." It is almost abstract, and yet fundamental. Its shape suggests the role of God in the world: mundane reality is the detached foot, part of God but also independent.
Another is the idea of how one's soul should love God. There are two forms of loving God -- and these, in turn, are opposed by mundane desires. The Tanya describes the latter as a kind of "rival wife," which is a fascinating concept.
I've still got about 3 months to go, and this won't be my last time studying the Tanya, because I'm only reading it at a superficial level, but it's really a privilege to engage in any meaningful way with old or ancient texts and spiritual insights.
I should have noted in my message about the weekly Torah portion that this week is Shabbat Chazon, the Sabbath of Vision. We are about to mourn -- but see through that pain to something better that lies beyond, on the other side.
Wishing you the best vision -- and an incredible reality to follow. It happens!
We begin the final speech of Moses to the people of Israel before they enter the Promised Land. He relates the ups and downs of the years of wandering in the desert, before, finally, the people have the merit to enter the land itself.
This Sabbath always precedes Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. It is the anniversary of the destruction of both of the Holy Temples, and a catch-all for many calamities that befell the Jewish people.
A word on Tisha B'Av. This year I am leaving for an overseas trip during the afternoon of the holiday -- in the middle of a fast day. Not idea, but there was no other choice. But my flight is in the afternoon, which is significant.
We relax some of the harsh, mournful customs of the day in the afternoon. We start to pray normally; we sit on regular chairs; we start to have hope again in the redemption that will, one day, lead us all back from exile to our home.
I'll be taking a trip to a land where an important part of ...
President Trump is in Scotland, playing golf and making big trade deals -- a major deal with the EU, in fact. Meanwhile, there is a global outcry about humanitarian aid to Palestinians (not about the Israeli hostages, mind you).
On top of that, Democrats are at their lowest polling numbers ever -- so they are trying to win control of the House by redistricting in the middle of a 10-year Census cycle. Oh, economic optimism is up, so they have a tough road.
And Tulsi Gabbard's revelations about the Russia collusion investigation make it clear that Obama's lieutenants lied to Congress. How deeply was he himself involved? The media continue to ignore the evidence, but we certainly won't.
Special guests:
Nick Gilbertson - Breitbart News White House correspondent, on EU deal
Frances Martel - Breitbart News foreign editor, on Trump abroad and Russia
John Spencer - urban warfare expert, on humanitarian aid and war in Gaza
Bradley Jaye - Breitbart News congressional correspondent, on the ...
