The Alters Within - Ari Abramowitz: The Land of Israel Fellowship

so get ready because here's what the rebbe explained and this spoke to me very deeply he spoke of the distinction between the two different altars within the tabernacle and how the those alters you know parallel the altars within our own soul so the first thing he pointed out clearly uh is you know it's one of chabad's core philosophies is that there's nothing that can render these alters ritually unclean or impure right that at the core they were wood wood is not macabre tumor wood does not receive ritual impurity and therefore the soul of a jew no matter how low we go no matter how low any of us goes our soul is always connected to god and there's nothing that can defile or destroy that deepest part of our souls no matter how low we go how low we stoop we are never lost to the dark side there's always hope and it was the rebbe's mission and chabad's mission and you see it happening today around the world that you know he and his disciples scoured the ends of the earth to find those souls and to polish them and to raise them up and while the physical tabernacle temple can be destroyed the tabernacle temple within us i'll just say tabernacle for now because that's what we're talking about the tabernacle within us cannot be destroyed and and the service within our own souls the rebbe explained are really parallel the service in the tabernacle in every single respect okay so just as in the tabernacle there was the inner altar uh which was within the sanctuary itself in an outer altar which was larger and in the courtyard of the sanctuary we have two altars within us so let's look at the at the tabernacle again oh it's so distant so far it really doesn't it's hard to make sense of it okay but you can see there there there are two altars and as the rebbe explains the altar represents what is the altar in the miz veya what does it represent our efforts to approach god to approach the divine to come close to hashem to offer something anything to the creator of the universe that definitionally has everything and so these are the two altars within each and every one of us that we have within our souls so in the tabernacle the outer altar the bigger one the more public one was where the animal sacrifices were offered right and it got to it got intense there there was blood and flesh and meat and you would cut off the tail and the head and the fats it was intense right and and that is that is the altar within ourselves where we sacrifice the animal within us and so let's just talk about that for one second i know we're running short on time but this is really important particularly in this in this generation that we're living in because there have been uh many friends that have turned to me with their challenges that echo my own challenges of the body you know certain appetites and desires and lusts and whatever and we we all have we all have a physical body we all have that bodily spirit within us it's called the right the nephesh it attaches to the physical body and if we claim that we haven't experienced some sort of bodily desire that was probably not permitted we'd be lying and remember we're not catholic priests here who like reject the physical body and its desires that rarely turns out well that never turns out well we simply harness them we control them so that they can manifest themselves in a holy way in in a sanctified context and not where they control us and and are satisfied in a debased and animalistic and ungodly way god forbid and so my experience is that when i do have a forbidden craving or desire i try to bring that desire onto the altar within my heart i visualize it i try to feel it within and i try to sacrifice it there and that unfulfilled desire that sort of yearning that that thing that is the sacrifice to hashem and that is what i think a real sacrifice is at least on on some level it's what is a sacrifice it's when it's when something matters to you right something that is difficult for you something that you want and instead of using your own selfish self-satisfying purposes instead you offer it to hashem and that pain that we feel by not succumbing to that desire at least in my heart and in my experience that pain is the fire itself which hashem consumes the sacrifice and elevates it and accepts it and this message is so important particularly today in our time specifically uh you know in the west when giving into every and any desire is considered a virtue and often the more depraved the desire the more virtuous it's considered to the degree where teachers and schools are actually encouraging young kids in school that to to be transgender it's just so sick and so crazy and this is truly the antithesis of torah values right the torah is given to guide us not only in how to truly enjoy the pleasures of this world but to how to elevate them and harness them as tools that we could use to come closer to hashem so another way people sublimate the physical to come close to god is uh through voluntary fasting a number of you have actually reached out to me this week about various things that are happening that you're fasting about i know a lot of you are familiar with that um jews actually interestingly tend to do that less this voluntary fasting i've seen than christians and non-jews but there's nothing against it but maybe we just have so many fast days we don't want to add any to it but anyways there was a fourth century sage named rav sheshet rav sheshe and whenever he fasted he would add the following requests during his prayers he would say master of the universe you know that when the temple stood a person who sinned would bring a sacrifice although only the fats and the bloods would be offered on the altar the person would be granted atonement now i have fasted and my fat and my blood have diminished may it be your will that the decrease in my fat and my blood should be considered as if i offered them on the altar and my offering was accepted so that's like a beautiful a beautiful take on a beautiful perspective but just at the very simplest right we are denying and controlling the physical body and allowing our intellect right the the aron kodesh within our our minds to be in charge okay so the outer altar is where the korbanot were offered korban of course uh for sacrifice which means to come close because we were able to come close to hashem through those sacrifices so that was the outer altar but then there was the smaller more personal altar within the sanctuary itself and this was the altar of the incense this altar forged a deeper bond between us and hashem even in the outer altar actually it was called the mizbayach kitaurat the altar of the keturah and the rebbe points out that the word katord comes from the word ketter with the tet not a tough with the top it means crown ted it means a bond and and that alter is less about the sacrifices of the flesh and more about that deeper internal work right our fears and our jealousies our ego right that is the altar upon which we sacrifice our ego so um you know when we sacrifice our ego the things that we want for ourselves when we sublimate them to what hashem wants from us which is what what is it that hashem wants from us really whatever is happening to us particularly that thing we're resisting the most however painful what we are going through may be and believe me i know the depth of pain of the challenges that so many of you are facing right now i know because many of you tell me right you send me prayer requests you share with me you talk to me it's a privilege which i'm so grateful for and i'm honored to be able to pray for all of you and so as we said what we sacrifice on that altar is our ego we sacrifice the the image that we all have about the way we think our lives should look and we and we lovingly and we wholeheartedly accept the way things are right embracing the truth that hashem knows best for us and what's good for us and so those sacrifices the sacrifices of our anger of our expectation of our selfishness those are the most intimate and fragrant aromas for hashem and those usually actually those are the ones that happen deep within our own sanctuary deep within our private experience that we share with no one other than hashem himself and that's what the sages explain is really actually the essence of fragrance right fragrance is something that benefits the soul it's not about the yearnings of the body so the outer altar is that which we draw close to hashem from a body perspective and the inner altar that means bath of the kotori is where we draw close with our souls as the masks are coming off and much of the world is turning not only against israel but yes against the jewish people if you feel different if your love for israel is growing deeper and stronger if you're thirsting to cleave to the nation of israel and to the god of israel if you're thirsting to learn authentic torah from jews in judea then the land of israel fellowship is for you hundreds of individuals and families from around the world come together on zoom every week in what can only be described as a fellowship of love friendship of learning and praying and belonging a fellowship really unlike any other it's more than just a movement it's a family to learn more about the land of israel fellowship click on www.thelandofisreal.com backslash fellowship or send an email to fellowship at the land of israel.com love and blessings from judea