Tomer Devorah: Chapter 10 - Restoring the Divine Presence - Rabbi Yirmiyahu Ullman

okay very good so we are in the last lap then of this last chapter of Tom and Laura and having gone through connecting to the sphero's through a person's daily cycle starting from when he goes to sleep the actual experience of sleep waking up after midnight being engaged in Tora connecting himself to the spiritual realm through malko sin that way in the different sphero's above that up to ferrous culminating in well rising further on into prayer and then even further after devoting the morning prayers by learning Torah at least some time during the day preferably all day and then directing his prayer in the morning towards high said in the afternoon towards din he discusses the the next stage in a person's daily the next phase in a person's daily activities which would be meals meals that the meal should also be a spiritual experience and the person's attitude and behavior and intentions during eating should also be aligned with the sphero's and that's what he starts off by saying here in this chapter Venizelos a between this and that meaning between Philip chakras and to Phyllis Minho kosher hashmi Nemo the pseudo say the another opportunity that he has to connect himself to the Shekinah is through his meals bozzuto so how so chegou milk acid in honey haces that He bestows loving-kindness and an active giving charity with that poor made him that poor woman who's that the screener the screener and Malthus which is dislocated particularly now during the period of Exile why she suddenly considered a poor woman fours like she's in her as your second wife she's in the female representation of Shem and now all of a sudden he's referring to is important because she has I mean the Shekinah has it has this double aspect up on the one hand being let's say one of the female aspects with which a person connects himself through which he achieves bracha the one being his temporal wife the other being a spiritual life it's true on the other hand great the period of Exile mal close is in exile as well so that all the chef that it only comes down through the Sphero standout Thermopolis becomes dislocated and part of da vinie and praying and connecting this video's is in order to re-establish this malthus which is his potential spiritual mate into her proper place so that she should be rather um um rather than being like a banished princess she's actually enthroned in the place of mal house in order to become a queen but his relationship to tomales is simultaneously both aspects it's on the one hand recognizing the importance of his relationship with the spiritual realm through Malthus as one would provide for the needs of one's wife but also recognizing that many ways the screener herself itself which is like his wife is dislocated he has to care for intend for her needs even more so and doing so establishes her back into her place so both teams are operate simultaneously and right now he's talking about between those two experiences of the morning afternoon prayer which is eating yeah infusing the act of eating the experience of eating as something spiritual and he's first kind of connecting it to the idea that the divine presence in the world which is referred to by the term Shekinah probably familiar with that term the divine presence of God in the world is often particularly nowadays where we view this as a period of Exile dislocated divine presence of the world is dislocated it's not easy to see god you have to work very hard at it and God's presence the world is not as probably felt as in times of old and this is because of the fact that the Divine Presence like I said it went into exile as the Jews were also exiled if the temple the holy holy is the temple Jerusalem landed Israel and the Jewish people are like the focal point of spirituality in the world once the temple was destroyed and the Jewish people were exiled so spirituality was diffused and dissipated into the world as well and therefore the world is kind of lacking this uh I don't know this emanating of the Divine Presence and part of serving Hashem part of serving God is doing things which are going to kind of re-established God's more palpable presence in the world and that's ultimately to culminate in and what the return of the Jewish people to the land of israel right the gaining of Jerusalem I Jewish people the rebuilding of the temple and then the restoration of God's presence in the temple and then therefore the world as well in order to counterbalance what went wrong this period of where the stage of rebuilding will take place part of what we do in our lives is Jews throughout entire lives and every day that our lives are comprised of meaning on a daily basis is about trying to promote that process catalyze that return right to bring about and stimulate that right that dynamic and and that's what this book is talking about here as well with everything that we do including eating for example so that the point that the author is going to make here is that even through eating which is generally a mundane experience we put food into our body in order to fuel the physiological needs of the body so we have energy to do the things in the world that we want to do yeah even though there's certainly that component to eating Jewish ly speaking spiritually speaking there's much more to eating than just that eating drinking where the case may be and through the act of eating one is actually providing for the restoration of the Divine Presence in the world how so it goes back to something we were saying earlier that even the physical manifestation of Mitzvahed the physical performance of MIT's vote is connected in the spiritual realm in ways where are things that we do here and so far as they're connected to things in the spiritual realm act like levers you put on till in here it does something there right you do bris milah here it does something there we spoke about in great detail in the early part of the book but those ideas are connected here as well which is that if the divine presence is described as being dislocated the presence of the Divine or let's say that the bind presence is diluted its dissipated its weak it's as we're saying compared to like this poor forlorn exiled princess who's wandering around you know dislocated without the protection of the palace and all this type of a thing so um the intentions that a person has when he's eating actually has an effect on providing for the substance of that poor dislocated exiled right forlorn woman who's traversing alone in the world that's the shana right how so as follows when a person eats like we said the actual food your sustenance to the physical body but the food itself in addition to having the quality of being fuel which is combusted by the body and then ever gives the body energy to perform there's also spiritual potential in the food as well which gives us its to a person's salt if a person is eating only for the purpose of sustaining the body so the quality of eating is only going to be combusting the physical fuel of the food and as a result all the person's going to be is physical even if the fluid is kosher and they're certainly didn't advantage to eating kosher food spiritually speaking but in terms of providing food for the soul that he's not doing by having the right intention when a person eats that there's not only a release of physical fuel for his body but they're actually sparks of holiness in this food which are giving energy to his soul right without having that intention he's actually limiting himself whereas if he does that his intention he's releasing all types of energy which he can capitalize on I give you an example okay Moshe Rabbeinu Moses according to Jewish tradition was up on Sinai receiving the Torah for 40 days what is he eating there no was he drinking there no was he sleeping that no the Torah says no 40 days no food and no drink so what was his subsisting on soul food yeah but not by eating you know basically by being connected to God he was actually being sustained by godliness the energy of the divine was being corporated to Moshe and keeping him alive similar to the way in which you might plug your mp3 player or your devices into computer without taking its battery yeah because the computer is down to put this connection to the computer is keeping it charged so Moshe is connection to God is keeping it charged the same thing with people who are not in the level of Moses they've been a lower level but they're eating spiritually they are deriving and him busting energy from the food which is limited which is not limited to the physical confute of it it's connected to spiritual owner as well so people who are spiritually eating can actually get by on a lot less fuel it's much more economical you can eat a lot less and still be able to function the same way or even better and that's why we find for example my righteous eat very little like the guar says regarding our opinion even dosa that in his righteousness and the merit of his righteousness bounty and blessing came into the world for everybody to share loads and loads of fruit and food and bread and all of the bounty in the physical world came about through his righteousness busy himself subsisted on a very small quantity of food from shabbos to shabbos he ate very little nearly nothing during the week and he ate something on Chavez and that was able to keep him going all week long yeah why is that because he was connecting to the spiritual component of food right and that was and that was a source of energy therefore when a person is spiritual eating he has in mind that he is eating not only to sustain his body but also sustained assault same yourself so as well when the same thing regarding the Divine Presence divine presence also subsists on the food that we provide it what type of food do we provide it spiritual food what's the source of that spiritual food the tour that we learn well then this is that we perform generate a type of spiritual energy which is then used to sustain the spiritual realm and in this way the scream of the divine presence is in a way actually receiving from us the mix vote that we do the energy is created from the missile that we do in the toilet that we do in order to give it vitality right in order to sustain it and therefore this poor woman who is lonely forlorn and wandering lacking all of the dainty's in the delicacies that she would find in the palace the home of her father the king is sustained by us by are giving her right these things that is the energy of the Torah missiles so that are performing of towards the performance of the business is actually bringing about generating energy into the world which is then consumed as it were by divine presence which sustains her and actually goes a long way towards restoring her her the feminine the Divine Presence to her proper place that's the point here so therefore he says on I'm cast towards the bottom the last paragraph who then Zale is a meaning between this and that meaning between the morning prayers that we discussed earlier and the afternoon prayers that we discussed earlier kosher machine and mobile suit also a person should tie himself meaning invite bring home create a haven for through his meals and peugeot milk acid ammonia sauce and in this way he does a great service to this poor woman the the screen of the Divine Presence which is in love which is dislocated in exile kimochi ionia Hilo's aachen as was said for example by hillel osakan there's a note here 30 was it a nine-game oh it says going on now show each has said there's a verse which says gonna nap show ish has said a person well really each has said meaning a good person going on our show he actually provides for his own soul they Hillel is okay and this is a reference to suck in one of the sage of the Talmud or mother Tommy Dave his student said to him Rebbe late on a toilet where are you going rabbi mr Lamb league milk acid in holden of sonia virgo bisa i'm going to do an act of casa de of loving kindness with the guest in this home on below kool join is logic sonya said rabbi every day you have a guest in the home you're always going and saying that you're providing for the needs of your guests on the hem he said to them well had a nap show a luvo so lava sanyo boo gufa he says what and a person soul is not like a guest in his body so from here the door is actually making a reference to eating you see from here therefore that eating is not something that we should do just to satisfy our physical needs or the more so in order to indulge ourselves in the physical desire for food but rather we should little be thinking I'm eating this food in order to sustain my soul why is it important to say and save my soul because it keeps me alive why is it important to stay alive yeah cause if you're not alive you can't be an investment banker on Wall Street right there you go yeah you can't be a spiritual banker if you're not alive you're not going to be able to be an investment banker investing all that spiritual money which is the Torah and the missiles into your spiritual bank account your spiritual Wall Street yeah the world to come and therefore this is the type of thing the person have in mind I'm not only eating because I need to keep my body live of course that's important yet you want to sustain the needs of your body yeah but you're primarily eating for spiritual reasons if you have the right intention of mind you're eating in order to be able to be alive in order to have entered in order to do the will of God so now that transforms your physical act of eating into spirituality then you become a human being then you become elevated then you're eating becomes almost angelic it becomes like the screen itself which is consuming and driving vitality from spirituality if not so then we're no different than a dog what does dog doing is hungry ate right and what animals usually doing eating or looking to you yeah what is it what is the cow do all day my account just just just stuffs his face just stuffs his face all day long right and animals by and large right have their faces and their heads oriented and directed towards the Earth leaders towards the Earth human beings are one of the few animals that have the head up right above the highest part of the body right so all of our thoughts things that we see things we hear things we smell things we taste all of our faculties should be directed upwards towards a shambles boys we don't look downward right we can even do handstands if we want but that's not the point that would be turning this things upside down we don't want to be like the cow stuffing his face with food all day chomping on Doritos drinking down soda yeah all right because it tastes good it's sweet makes it feel good it gives me high it gives me live know what should be eating eating properly when you have the right intention in mind so then you're eating generally speaking you know you're going to be eating healthy foods in healthy quantities not unhealthy foods in unhealthy quantities but most of society nowadays is based not on serving God but on serving ourselves so we serve ourselves more and more and more and more and what we're served are the things which make us addicted to serving ourselves right so all the things that we eat and all the ingredients that go into it or all of the packaging and all of the promotion and all of the what's it called the what advertising right is all in order to sustain conception sustain consumption go on it's all distracting person for the real purpose so first think spiritually you find that you really can get by with a lot less yeah a lot longer title a lot longer way now your dad Sadiq furthermore it says here in the text your daett's attic nefesh bento your dad Sadiq nephew Joe italic knows the needs of its animal what are referring to here ZTE a Cavanaugh service Udall so this should be the intention of a person during his meal and his approach towards experience of eating in general league mole has said the nefesh bahama in order to do a kindness with his animal soul with a castro but so Amazon and to tie it into the mystery associated with the meal or with foods so Sadiq your day and nefesh my empty o means that it's adik a righteous person knows the needs of his animal what's his animals a reference to the animal soul the lowest of the five levels of soul that we've discussed that's the nefesh and therefore a person knows is aware of the needs of his animal soul and he'll therefore eat in order to provide for the needs of that salt but the purpose is just to keep himself alive ultimately however the purpose is so that that nefesh is able to become like a candle to the level soul above it which is raw Andrew up will then sustain neshama neshama higher and higher nephew door so that through the active eating he's actually elevating us all to the highest drum we're gonna say here the book that's the last news for chapter 10 and very and if a vicious times on the right side the last two putting with the animals yes his animal soul and every Jew righteous are wicked there are two souls at his written I have made Souls alluded to salts one soul originates in the cleve oh and this is drop and is enclosed in the blood of a human being giving life to the body for the life of the flesh is the blood this refers to the animal soul that's from Hyneman to tom very good so this is a reference to the fact that you know what we're speaking about here is that when a person eats that food is ingested it is then digested the energy is transmitted to the different parts of the body including the blood the blood sustains not only the physical body but it also is the house for the nephesh like it says in the Torah nefesh who had done that the nefesh the spiritual component of nefesh is in the blood and that nefesh itself is a seat for the levels of sold above it as well so when a person so that's the China that's the explanation of the first with the saying it says yes sarika via nefesh momento that's adik he knows the needs of his animal nephesh which is to eat I mean to be sustained through food but he's using the experience of food to sustain his nefesh not to remain on the level of bahama which is an animal but rather to realize the elevated potential that he has his human being that nefesh will then generate and vitalize and maintain the higher levels of soul as well ruocco neshama corresponding to emotion and intellect league Volquez the nefesh banik ostrava soda muslim there's another note here none dollied your day I purush the cashier oh very good come on hold on yo does harbor like it says Adam knew his wife what does it mean he knew her he knew her in the biblical sense yeah meaning he was connected to her he had intimacy with her so that your daya sadiq nefesh bento means that the sadak he connects his physical component to his spiritual component even through the act of eating with the proper intention the has said 'no chromosome and reference in the verse 2 has said is a suggestion of Muslim bazan the words on which is like sustenance in the form of food is the gamma Tauri of Kel and javea a la flama and the name of God good hey Bob and hey why 57 yes 57 interesting okay Zhaan so it's kel and javea and both of these names Carolyn avaya are associated with has said so your day at sadak nefesh behem toe zodiac Ivana service also pursued also initially intentions that he has when he's eating big molested the nefesh bahama with a kosher but sort of Muslim very nice yeah we're not used to thinking of food in that way to get food in those terms right thing of eating in those terms but these are some of the ideas that a person should have when he wants to eat Jewish Lee not just eat kosher but it's to eat with the intention in mind that he's really doing this in order to be able to serve a Shem and not himself in which case like I said he's going to be eating healthy things in healthy measure and he's not going to be indulging himself number one number two we can have in mind that Zhaan which is the sustenance through food corresponds to these names Kel and javea the names of God so he's actually infusing his food with divine names and it would be no wonder then when he's eating it he's releasing energy from it which is more than just a physical dimension of the food but it's the reefs of the spiritual injury energy as well kind of amazing thing it was like everything on the one hand it has a physical facade but if you break something down into its microscopic parts you get to the atoms and you break up the atoms you get to the nucleus and the protons and the neutrons and electrons right and science tells us that in this basic these basic building blocks of existence and you know the atoms and subatomic particles there's actually more space then there is place and there's more energy right then there is mass right so that really you should just have your pan pass right through the table because there's just really no place right on the most simple level there's more space than place and there's more energy than mass so that shouldn't happen all right you should just go right through it but there's divine energy which is within all of that sub atomic material when you tap into it the results are explosive right karmic energy coming from space from energy like and it's here right there everywhere yeah huge and huge amounts of energy hidden within this the secret dimensions of creation that's the presence of the Divine if you're eating only physically you're connecting to the physical aspect of the food but if you're eating spiritually you're connecting to the divine sparks the divine presence which is in food as this isn't everything and when you release that you're tapping into that energy you're tapping into a tremendous source of of hidden energy right like those who tap into the sub atomic energy and release huge amounts of I was explosive energy so if you're eating with spiritual purposes you're actually tapping into the hidden divine aspect of food which is hidden in every part of reality and and and and and that would explain why for example people get a lot more mileage out of eating much less if they're doing with the right intention so on page nine Tests Akasha oh la la casa Minho Nick schaberg were after he's completed his meal and he goes back to his daily prayers and he has already finished his mincha prayer which we discussed earlier at this point hint in the erev he waits until the evening the young man had to Ferris LML who's how he who you know I be two helos holla at that point to Ferris descends down to connect to Malthus what's this refer referring to the fact that he was engaged in learning Torah throughout the day certainly at the beginning of the day and if it wasn't able to drawing the day he is supposed to return to some type of learning in the in the afternoon and this is to fulfill what it says in the topic teaching that a person should always be engaged in Torah at the times when day touches night so between let's say the period before sunrise and sunrise and the period of sunset basically we're calling Benesch muscles vanish muscles is the the period of twilight between between what is business Russians between the shemesh between the sun's the rising of the Sun and the setting of the Sun what was that the color that's why its own yeah that's what we're doing here the twilight zone yeah so the twilight zone is a potentially danger danger zone right the twilight zone so learning torah during the twilight zone was a crappy TV show to fit again yeah so so it's important when when a person is entering the twilight zone to to engage in Torah study Torah study will ensure a proper I don't know what's the word I'm looking for a proper expedition through that twilight zone in order to get from one side to the other and that's that's referring here to as well going back to tour study towards the end of the day in order to be the cob air that we say meet us yamba lie live Evita slightly beyond Larry hui more but colossal Isla and now he is going to be with the Torah then at the beginning of the night because he's engaged in he goes back to Torah study if he was interrupted he goes back to torah study towards late afternoon sunset and in the onset of night the kosher arts my boy and he connects himself to the power of the tour at that time as well the Nick master basic analysis emic ivana Hannah scarcely L at that point he goes into the synagogue in order to pray his evening prayers vikash wats Mohammed or two ferrous ba the base Milan oi in order to connect himself in that bed Knesset and fixing his tour study in the bed Knesset has a result of bringing the two ferret down back into Marcos where to ferret we said is the influence of Torah into the world right and the bed Knesset is the Malkus that's the place where the influence is received people pray their their prayer goes into the spiritual realm that prayer is answered and brings down the benefit that the person is praying for into into the world and the focal point for that the synapse for that is the is the synagogue so learning Torah and praying at this time then brings to Ferris down into mouth us and that's what it means here to fairs ba the base milano the first brought down into its place it comes to rest the Malone yeah yacht only basic NSS at this point after praying the evening prayer he goes outside of the bed Knesset meaning he departs the Essex the exits the beit knesset Yahud ottsville monish but mal close lavada at this point he will designate himself specifically with marvelous alone basalt cabela's Oh Martha Tremaine how does he do so how does it connect to this how does he again kind of ascertain and ensure that the divine presence will be with him throughout the night despite the fact that the night where one doesn't see as well it's a time when the Sun is not introducing its productive energy into the world it's a time of doubt and uncertainty because you can't see well it's a time of in productivity because you can't do anything how can you have certaine that ensure that at this time there's going to be a productive there's going to be a protective type of presence of God in one's life like we say the Haggadah vodka has their club in Moscow ballet Louis we're going to tell God's praise in the day why because we see the presence of God right very clearly just like in the days thinking very clearly and when all Scapa de los but we're going to nevertheless espouse faith in you during the night beginning during times when there's doubt and uncertainty the faith and belief that we have in God will enables to espouse our belief in him even at those times so that going into 9th is a time where the presence of God is less visible it's less present how are we going to ensure then that God is nevertheless with us at that time he does it by doing what he says here basalt kibazo mucha my aim he does it by bringing upon himself the yoke of heaven and this brings us back to full circle where we started how so where the person starts his daily cycle at night by saying the Sh'ma Schmeisser harkin here god the jewish people take to heart the following declaration Hashem el que no Asha Mohan God is our God and that God is one and then affirmation of faith the declaration of the belief in God's kingship over the universe that's called being makabe oil malluci mine except upon ourselves the yoke of the kingship of heaven this brings Malkus into a person's life before going to sleep encapsulating his soul as it ascends through sleep in the dream state ascending into the spiritual realm in order to come rejuvinated at the pinnacle of sleep before getting up visio to fossil biome interfaces Fira this then connects the person these teachings enable a person to connect a particular time of day with the influence of the particular sphera which reigns at that time with ollahm davek but or a shallot and in this way a person is always in tune with the particular energy that is resonating into the world at that time so that when a person lives his daily life according to the teachings that he is presented here so he's becoming like a spiritual tuning fork thing yeah where he is resonating with the influence of God in the world at that particular time sometimes that influence is more benevolent sometimes that influence is more strict sometimes that influence has more bounty sometimes that is more limited or restricted sometimes it's happy sometimes it's said it has many different aspects primarily corresponding to the ten sphero's that we've been learning here when a person is connecting during these day connecting during the day during these activities that he's doing with the proper sphere that associated with those activities he's actually resonating with the forces of that are in the world at that time and therefore we mentioned after saying the Sh'ma he goes to sleep because dini more operative at that time and the courage ma that he said and the other protective verses that he has done and velop his soul with this protective influence was going to help him elevate during the period of sleep this is the main thing though that a person should be resonating right in he's really in tune with the times and the other way putting it yeah should be in tune with the times he spiritually in tune where with the influence that's operative in the world at that particular time aight zoe kaga the parish's gracious the teachings here that we've been going through are primarily located in the Zohar in partial spray she's mushara mokuba to mccomas robin mia xara and the rest of the teachings that he's incorporated here in this chapter are basically eclectically chosen throughout the the work of the Zohar the eighth circle Ellis discussion Adam Tamid Baku Ducie and this is a general way of advice a pattern of of living which is going to keep a person constantly connected to holiness fellow yaxha eat oh gosh penile rochelle and if he lives his life according to this way in general he goes through his daily rhythm in this way then he's guaranteed that the crown of the Divine Presence will not depart from upon his head and with this we conclude the book tomorrow you