Hashkafa Intermediate

Over the many years of our history, we have encountered many questions concerning G-d's way in dealing with the world; can we see some kind of pattern in history? Can we see it leading to a certain objective, and can we understand why things have happened in history? Our goal is to perfect ourselves. G-d has given the information to open up the door of knowledge to a few individuals. We can take that information and use it on our level to open up the door into a deep insight into the inner nature and processes of reality itself, to answer all our questions. This shiur focuses on the episode with Adam and Chava.

G-d created the world through the mida of tov, He wants to do good and that is the purpose; how does He achieve this objective? One must have self-awareness to emulate Him. Learn how to follow in His ways. Study how it relates to zulato, a trait of Hashem. Learn how He combines hanhagas hatova and hanhagas hamishpat to fulfill the objective of din. Discover why the perfection of hanhagas hamishpat is to correct the problem of na'ama dechisufa.

What is Olam Haba? Explore and discover the most ecstatic relationship you could ever experience with Hashem. Feel innermost fulfillment in your life. Struggle with the yetzer hara and emerge triumphant. Learn how to grasp a taste of Olam Haba in this world.

What is involved in Olam Haba itself? Discover the secrets of a real everlasting friendship with G-d, one that will intensify your self-awareness. Uncover the enigma to a deeply-satisfying connection and love for G-d. Included are the four madregos of a Jew. Discover the essence of prayer, and its role in connecting us to G-d. To the extent that you build in this world, is the reward you will experience in the World to Come.

What is hanhaga? Through learning about the different behaviors of G-d, we can begin to understand the forces and activities G-d uses in order to achieve outcomes. Over time we develop increased awareness and self-respect, and only then can we begin to understand even the smallest portion of how G-d runs all of Creation.

Aspects of a prophet. How do prophets "read" their neshama? How do we know who is a prophet? The phenomenon of prophecy no longer exists; it left mankind at the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE or shortly thereafter. How do we know that the Torah was given to Moshe at Har Sinai? Why did the Jews at that time believe him? Discussion of the changes down through the ages until our time and our spiritual level now.

Introduction to the nature of the neshama. When discussing the nature of G-d we must discuss dependence and independence and what they mean. There is no other word to describe G-d as accurately as the word independent, whereas the neshama was created by G-d and is fully dependent upon Him for its existence. How does this play out in the world? Everything that has been created can be summarized in one word - hatava, the desire of G-d to be a benefactor. We were created to be the recipients of this Good.

Discussion of the reason behind G-d's creation of the world and the neshama's strengths and failings. The thoughts that just "pop" into our heads, where do they come from? What is really directing us in our actions? It is an illusion that we control our thoughts and are capable of coming up with new ideas. We collect new ideas, but we don't actually know how to go about creating, solving, thinking on our own. Most of our activities are below our conscious level. This shiur discusses what our conscious existence really is.

There are two aspects of time and existence. One is the nature of G-d and time, and the other is the nature of Man and time. What is time? Even from the first verse of the Torah we can begin to understand the relationship between G-d and time. What is free will and how does it integrate with our understanding of time and existence?

What is the intention of the neshama, the soul? What are some of the qualities need by the neshama to fulfil its objectives? G-d needed a recipient for everything He created and bestowed upon the world. When the neshama reaches Olam Haba, it is able to finally fully benefit from the toll that G-d has created for it. What is the difference between "object" and "subject" beings in G-d's creation, and where does the neshama fit in? We must learn to use our ability to experience, our ability to have self-awareness, in order to elevate our spirituality. We can use the study of Hashkafa to see how the hanhagos of G-d reflect His unity.

The theme of the world is justice or mishpat, and the theme of existence is based on mishpat. Hanhagas hayichud is very mysterious and few people are aware of what it really is. It is the hidden hanhaga, an understanding kept above what we are allowed to know. How does G-d act with the world based on His Yichud, not on his Mishpat? Mishpat is based on effort and on earning what you have, for the good or the bad. Yichud is based on a different objective process. What is its function and how does it do it?

Everything which exists in the world exists through hanhagos. Nothing can happen in all of Existence unless it corresponds to some hanhaga. When we look at the events of the world, we try to understand, where does this come from? Which hanhaga is this consistent with? What is the function of this event? Learning about more hanhagos, we come to hanhagas hatava. What is its objective and what does it actually do? G-d needs to look at you and your neshama and evaluate what you have done to see if you have earned the good, the tov - or if you have sinned and must be punished.

When we try to understand G-d, we look at how He operates and what He does. What do we mean by the hanhagos or the behavior of G-d? How G-d actually does something is beyond the way we conceive of existence. G-d creates a shefa which He projects, and that power emanates from Him. The power has the innate ability to create. What can we understand about G-d's shefa from the story of the Aseret Harugei Malchus?

Why did G-d give us free will? Some people are born with neshamas that have a very strong affinity to spirituality, and are therefore naturally drawn to mitzvos and G-d. One who does not have that will not be drawn to it. Due to differences in how our neshamas connect to G-d, we are judged differently and held to different expectations. Whatever appearance you give to your neshama, you will live with in Olam Haba. What you do with yourself in Olam Hazeh is vital.

Why is it called hanhagas hayichud? What can we learn about the nature of this behavior by its very name? The key to understanding hashkafa in an extraordinary way is to have the ability to extrapolate from your own experience. This experience may even be garnered through our souls' reincarnation over and over again.

The neshama feels that it cannot accept what G-d is giving to it, without working for it. In order for G-d to create goodness for a being, He had to create a being with self-awareness who knows and can appreciate what it receives. We will explore the reason why people have free will and angels do not. It becomes clear that the purpose of man is to use free will to achieve perfection, at which point free will is lost because it is no longer needed.

Hanhagas Hayichud is complex and contradictory, and is a hidden process which G-d unfolds through history. How can one have free choice with the presence of G-d that is absolutely manifest and imminent? Man's choice rests in his desire to connect with G-d or to disconnect from G-d. In order to give man free choice, G-d has to hide Himself in the most subtle way possible. If we concentrate on revealed yichud, we earn revealed yichud. An examination of how hanhagas hamishpat and hanhagas hayichud are intertwined.

A tzaddik, or a righteous person, is not just someone who is very observant of the commandments. Why not? That is a behavioral definition of a righteous person, but not their true essence. A righteous person is a level of experience and a G-d-fearing individual. What kind of experience? It is understanding who G-d is and having the ability to love Him. What does love of G-d mean? How can you love something so abstract? Explore the meaning of love of G-d, how it is accomplished and what a riighteous person really is.

All the pleasureful experiences we have in our bodies are really based on yichud. Gilui yichud, the revelation of G-d's unity and presence is established through the efforts of man. Many of the things we do are a revelation of what we think of ourselves in relation to G-d, reality and truth. Fulfilling mitzvos reveals G-d's presence, whereas sinning conceals His existence. Man has a choice about which path to take, as his actions have a universal impact. From the darkness of a sin, can come suddenly the ultimate light. Which will we choose?

How does hanhagas hayichud actually work? Every time someone commits a sin there is tigbores hara, an increase in the power of evil in the world. With each sin committed, the world is plunged into deeper and deeper darkness. What is the nature of this darkness? This subtle change cannot be recognized by the average person. Learn how to recognize and combat this increasing darkness in the world.

The Satan's sole task is to give you an increasingly hard time, so that you will be capable of earning greater and greater levels on your own. It is very easy for us to remain static in our level of observance. We need to put in avoda, labor in order to keep ourselves moving forward all the time. Because of the fact that our existence is contingent on G-d, we cannot do anything. Why is it that G-d can do things, and by mere will? Explore the dependance of mankind on G-d, and how we can keep ourselves constantly moving and growing.

Everything that is done in this world comes from the hashpa'a, the influence of G-d. The only being in the world capable of producing its own hashpa'a is Man. A human being is extraordinarily powerful in a world of automatons with no free will. How can we use our free will to be a positive influence on us, on all of Creation, and even on G-d Himself?

Tigbores hara is an extension of evil and darkness. The greatest manifestation of darkness in the world lies in the alteration of human consciousness, when the mind slowly begins to think differently without being aware that it's actually shifting in thought. That is the greatest punishment G-d gives man, as a direct consequence of his sins. It is the loss of ability to get in touch with their souls and spirituality, and gain the ability to get in touch with their bodies. What type of effect does this have on regular people versus on the righteous? Understand the difference between the two unique entities which are the body and the soul, and the separate needs of each. Learn to shift your awareness from the body to the soul.

G-d's essential reason for creating souls was to create a certain condition where He would give them eternal existence in an ecstatic state in the World to Come. The soul was granted the capacity for self-awareness, which gives it a certain similitude to G-d Himself. What is the soul's purpose? How does the soul "give back" to G-d? The soul must learn how to utilize its powers of creation without attempting to usurp G-d.

What kind of circumstance did G-d create in which to test this soul so that the soul would have to literally work to get to the World to Come? G-d wants us to become aware that He is One, that it is his being which is the substrate of all reality and all existence. There is nothing outside of G-d. He has taken His unity and fragmented it, with many variations. If you mistake your own powers of creation as divinity, then in the World to Come you have nothing. But if you realize that only G-d has divinity, then your soul will have eternal ecstasy in the World to Come.

The evil inclination was created as the solution to a certain problem with the souls - apparent divinity versus real divinity. What exactly does the evil inclination do? How can we counteract it? What purpose does it ultimately serve?

One of the most important beliefs in Judaism is that of techiyas hamesim, resurrection of the dead. What exactly is it? The Torah tells us that there will come a time when all the dead shall arise. Dying will cease, and all those who have already died will become full conscious, living beings again. This makes no sense, because who wants to come back as a living body rather than a soul? The physical body is like a jail for the lofty spiritual soul, so how is it that resurrection is a reward and not a torture? Delve into the truth behind resurrection.

Resurrection of the dead is such a serious concept in Judaism that the Gemara even states, he who does not believe in the resurrection of the dead will not be resurrected. If the purpose of putting a soul into a body is for that soul to accomplish something, and when it accomplishes it the body dies and the soul returns to G-d, then why is it that the soul is placed into bodies over and over and over again? Wasn't the first time enough? Why does the soul even need a body? Explore how the body and soul change and complement each other in their quest for spirituality.

Our generation merits to have certain knowledge that even the biggest rabbis of history did not merit to have. We are at a different point in history, closer to Mashiach. G-d could have created us and expanded our physical perceptions, and yet He chose to create us with limited senses. Death is a super expansion of consciousness. The soul also remembers all of its many past physical existences, all the way back to when there was one single soul in Adam.

Your entire ability to create your World to Come rests on your willingness to do mitzvos or not. Once our consciousness is expanded, there is no more free will because if we already know and comprehend the full truth, there is no true free will anymore. We are in the last years before the coming of the Mashiach. We must take on more mitzvos. Even if we do not take them all on, we must at least try because this is our last chance.

The critical factors and processes involved in the entire creation of the world are: 1. The basic premises of the entire system and some of the key principles at the foreground of the system; 2. Attempt to understand the actual expression of that system in terms of the first man, Adam; 3.Adam's failure - he was meant to be the entirety of mankind, but he failed; 4. What were the rehabilitative processes G-d sent into the world after Adam's failure and made it part of reality to undo the damage that Adam did. If we understand this complete picture, then we can begin to understand the critical principles in which this world is governed.

If Adam had fulfilled the first mitzvah of adhering to G-d's will, he would have invigorated his soul with a new light with the power to transform his body and make it transparent to spirituality. In other words, he would have created the World to Come. Adam damaged the world because it was no longer capable of purification, and no longer capable of becoming the World to Come. That is called kilkul, or damage. Once evil is introduced into the world and good and evil become intertwined in a parasitic relationship, purification remains impossible.

Adam was created perfect, and then G-d took away part of his soul so that he would have to work to be perfect. G-d took away the soul's ability to elevate physical reality. Adam was put into a state of lacking when his soul was put into a body. Adam could earn back what was taken away by following the mitzvos. He must begin to listen to his soul instead of his body in order to be restored as a complete entity.

Shabbos is a reinstatement of our original primordial task, the elevation of physical reality. The desecration of Shabbos is so enormous and so powerful because it interferes with the key force of all creation, the force of zichuch. You choose, by keeping Shabbos or not, whether you want to become part of your original force that Adam should have been part of.

There are two main consequences of the sin of Adam: 1. The physical world is no longer capable of being purified; 2. The soul is no longer capable of elevating the phsyical world, even with its power, due to the shell of impurity or evil that surrounds the soul. In internalization of the impurity into the world itself results specifically in that purification can no longer take place. The World to Come cannot be created in such a circumstance, making this entire physical world purposeless. But we know it is not so; delve into the reasons why.

What is the process of tahara, of purification? How do we participate in this process? What is G-d's overarching plan for all of creation, for all time? The process of purification applies to souls, bodies, and the entire world - the three areas of tumah. Learn how the zohama and the impurities are removed from each of these three areas.

Our fasting on Yom Kippur is suffering to attain forgiveness. Fasting on Tisha B'Av, on the other hand, has nothing to do with forgiveness; it has to do with aveilus, mourning. What is the essence of this period of mourning? It goes much deeper than fasting. Explore the entire story of the Temple destruction in order to understand the full meaning of this day.

When G-d put the soul into a body, He gave man the reins for the World to Come. If Adam had not sinned, he would have brought a new light into his soul. It would have changed the world that we see and made it into a spiritual world. Why was the physical world created? How do we earn the World to Come?

When the world was first created it was in a state of shlemus, or completeness. The most important thing created at that time was the human soul. It was in a state of perfection. We are meant to take the physical reality and elevate it so that it is spiritual. Through our toil and striving for closeness with G-d through performing His mitzvos, we create the World to Come. How can we remove the imperfections that the snake introduced to the world?

Do the two major processes of history - Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David - occur consecutively or concurrently? Adam should have been the Mashiach ben David, because he was the climax of existence at the time. He sinned, however, and then had to toil to remove the stain he brought into the world. Everybody is now waiting for the redemption, which will be the purification of our souls. All of mankind will go through a purification process of our bodies as well, also known as the resurrection of the dead or zichuch. The redemption climazes the purification of the soul, while the resurrection of the dead climaxes the purification of the body. Understand these two separate and intertwined processes. Each one of the two Messiah's are connected to one of these processes.

Purification of the soul and purification of the body, two processes of the Messianic era, are concurrent processes. Once resurrection of the dead occurs, death and all its processes will be abolished. The redemption will begin with Yom HaDin, the ultimate Day of Judgment when every single soul will go before G-d to determine if it is worthy of entering the World to Come. Adam's soul was fragmented into a multitude of pieces after his sin. In what way is this a punishment? What power do all of these individual fragments now hold? What is shleimus? How was the soul originally made? Delve into questions of the soul's origin and power, and its eventual purification.

Mankind is so varied and different across the face of the world that sometimes it is amazing we are all a single species! What is responsible for this incredible variation in cultures, value systems and religions? What purpose does this variation serve? The basic information about the world and the objectives which G-d wants the world to reach are contained in the writings of the Talmud and the Midrash. These writings, however, are very esoteric. How do we understand the differences throughout the world? What end do they serve? Where is our place in this great patchwork of peoples and nations? What is the essence of the difference between Jews and non-Jews? Were Adam or Noach Jewish? Begin to understand the roots of the world variations through historical events.

Before giving the Torah to the Jewish People, G-d offered it to all the other nations of the world. Each one refused. A new entity was created at Mount Sinai, an entity that never existed before; a man that had no capacity to create the World to Come - a goy. What is a Jew? An individual with the capacity to convert this world into the World to Come. It was not until the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai that a segment of the world's population had that power stripped from them, and became the goyim. What is the impact of this on all the future workings of the world?

What is Rosh Hashanah really about? It is a unique holiday in many respects. Understand how the lunar Jewish calendar works and its correction to the solar calendar. Learn what astrology has to do with our holidays and seasons. What is the connection between Akeidas Yitzchak, the sacrifice of Isaac, and Rosh Hashanah? What happens in the Heavenly Courts on this holy day?

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Yom Kippur is a day of reflection and atonement. On Rosh Hashanah a judgment is passed about what will happen to you for the coming year. G-d then gives us a 10-day grace period, a last chance to erase whatever was decided on Rosh Hashanah. The way you comport yourself during those 10 days is carefully watched by G-d to see if the original decree will hold or be erased. On Yom Kippur, there is no evil inclination. It simply does not exist. How can this be? Discuss the mechanism of judgment and repentance during this holy time of the year.

There are two basic mitzvos on Sukkos - the sukkah itself and the daled minim, the four species. What do we accomplish by waving the four species around? It is an unusual mitzvah. What is the mitzvah of sukkah? What are the customs for the day of Hoshana Raba? When did the custom of Simchas Torah come along? Learn what concepts you should be focusing on while fulfilling the mitzvah of sukkah.

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When and where do the goyim, or non-Jews, come from? Adam was created with a certain set of spiritual powers. When he sinned he brought down both himself and the entire world. Discuss the enormously powerful abilities of the people who built the Great Pyramids at Giza over 4000 years ago. A nation can predetermine its destiny depending on the degree that it adheres to its humanity versus the divinity of G-d.

• Discussion of why 90% of Jews today are not religiously observant and why G-d is okay with that. • Learn about the 10 Lost Tribes and how countless Jewish souls are now hidden amongst the nations. • G-d created Adam in order to be a recipient of His good. So then why create Chava? • Why command them to have children? • Understand through the Holocaust how the Satan can only ask G-d to treat us in a way that we have treated others - if we put others down in the place of animals, we ourselves will be treated like animals and led like sheep to the slaughter. • Avraham in his spiritual growth created a whole new type of soul.

When Adam failed in his task, it was passed on to his descendants to complete the task. They had and have the power to create Olam Haba - but did they? There were two branches of descendants, the shorashim and the anafim. What is the relationship between themselves? What were the strengths and tasks of each branch? They had the capacity to create human spiritual breeds. If the "root" soul is righteous, then all those coming from him will have a very strong inclination to be righteous at birth - and vice versa.

The Torah is the essence of creation. How can this be, when it was not given all the way until the time of Moshe Rabbeinu, 2,000 years after the world's creation? The obvious answer is that the mitzvos are the spirit of creativity. Everything from Adam down to Moshe and receiving the Torah is nothing but alterations on the spirit of creativity, but the essential idea always remains the same. The single mitzvah given to Adam was in reality the entire Torah, wrapped up in a single package. And yet Adam failed, and altered humanity. If humanity is altered - the Torah must be altered to match. Avraham understood the structural variations between soul and mitzvah and that's why it says that he knew the entire Torah. Discuss what the existence is like in the World to Come and how G-d gives suffering to people in this world in order to give them only ecstasy in the next.

Before we can understand the connection of Torah and souls from an internal angle, we must understand the concept of justice. How does G-d judge the world? G-d created the world from absolute nothingness and keeps everything in continued existence. We have a similar power with respect to free will. Our choices come from non-existence; there's not a hint of where that choice will come from by virtue of anything in reality.

What kind of determination was made with the nations of the world? In order to understand why the nations were created in the first place, we have to have a better idea of the nature of justice. The attribute of justice itself changes depending on the stage of humanity. G-d created our physical universe in order to create the ability to remove the problem of nahama d'kisufa so that the soul has the ability to create his actual status in the World to Come. G-d created the world with inherent goodness, but man must earn that goodness - hence a world based on justice; what you do is what you get. G-d added mercy to Creation because He saw that in the future, people would not have the strength to refrain from sinning and He would be forced to destroy the world. Mercy tempers judgment, thereby keeping our world in existence.

How did G-d separate out the Jews and the goyim after giving the Torah? Physically everyone remained the same, but the inner core of what the goyim consisted of were altered substantially. Delve deeper into the concepts of justice, mercy and free will in order to better understand why things happen to people.

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A person's deeds determine the continuity of his own existence - he either creates or annihilates himself. Good deeds mean existence; bad deeds mean non-existence. Good and evil are a state of your existence. In-depth discussion of how G-d purifies our souls from the evil so that we may merit continued existence.

The question that is always on everybody's mind is, why did this happen to me? G-d shapes and determines your future based on what you have done. Good things and bad things happen to you because it's a way of shaping your ultimate destiny based on what you have already done. Why do good people suffer and bad people prosper? It is G-d's way of creating a perfect existence in the future. But we must remember that G-d created us in order to bestow goodness upon us - so not all goodness we receive in this world is directly contingent upon our good deeds. Our free will gives G-d an additional tool to judge us and to make us create our own futures.

The mitzvos are the medium through which a person can create or destroy himself. G-d must judge the person through an existential assessment to see what he has acquired, and if this person has somehow created the seeds for eternal existence or the seeds of annihilation. The World to Come is a place of perfection; there is only existence or non-existence. G-d must judge and purify souls so make them homogenous, so that they either merit to be in the World to Come or merit annihilation.

This is a topic that G-d tends to keep to Himself. If we knew a great deal about it, it would not work. That's justice.

G-d created the world so it could run on the basis of justice, so that man could perfect himself and create his own World to Come. Justice is nothing more than a creative process that is allowed to unfold and produce certain consequences. If mankind because structurally fragmented, then so does the World to Come, and it needs the activity of many people in order to be developed. The Messianic light should have been revealed to the Jews at Mount Sinai, but they lost the light after the sin of the Golden Calf. The light and the Torah were inextricably linked and when Moshe was begging G-d to still give the Torah even after the sin, he was begging for the Torah to be given in non-Messianic form. It's as if G-d took the Torah and changed it from only a soul to a body and a soul.

What is the mechanism of providence? Remarkably, the spiritual and the physical worlds are not as different as they appear. There are certain forces at work in the world which we can predict and we know how it works and what will happen. But the physical laws are not the only set of laws that govern our lives; we also must abide by the laws of the place we live. There is a vast difference between the incontrovertible laws of physics and the laws that men create. Why is the Torah written in the form of deeds? It is a description of how the supernatural occurs, brought down to a level that mankind can put into action. One who knows the nature of the reality behind the physical can perform miracles. A discussion of the laws of keeping kosher and their impact on our souls.

Torah is the physics of a supernatural reality. A person who eats something G-d says not to is essentially doing damage to his soul, even though the damage may be invisible. You can no more free yourself from the regulations of the Torah and from its consequences than you can from things which affect your physical reality. But if the Torah is the central essence of Creation, then why were only the Jews given those laws? Don't they pertain to everyone? After Adam's sin, different levels of souls were created with different spiritual capabilities. Only one type had the ability to accept and understand the Torah. The purpose of a non-Jew is to keep the seven mitzvos of Noah's sons and to enjoy the fruits of this world. The purpose of a Jew is to work on spiritual matters and create a World to Come.

The critical feature of a Jew is his ability to transform material reality into a different dimension. He is able to bring down certain spiritual forces within him. Sequentially analyze the development of the World to Come from this world. G-d started this world with the objective of man being to create his World to Come. The world was created with judgment (the process of existentialization), but as soon as Adam sinned the judgment was tempered with G-d's unity (externalization) -- otherwise, he would never have survived his failure! The application of these two different behaviors vary over time. Understanding the differences between how the social sciences attempt to understand human behavior, and the understandings that we can gain from the Torah.

What does G-d have to do with all the nations of the world besides the Jews? G-d is not Jewish, in the sense that His authority, will and power do not limit themselves to the Jewish nation. He is the creator of everything. Begin to create a Torah history and a Torah anthropology with principles unique from those of the secular social sciences, in an effort to understand the principles governing human history. The culture of each nation is an outgrowth of the certain type of spiritual energy that nation has collectively. That comes from where that nation fit on the scale of all the nations at the time of the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. What types of things do these spiritual energies effect? Learn how these national personalities come into play in the world's workings.

Delve into the basic principles of the concept of evil. Without having this understanding, we cannot begin to comprehend the course of human events. Chisaron, or insufficiency, is the essence of what we call evil. The world was created with an innate insufficiency -- to what purpose? Learn how we do (or do not) corrrect this insufficiency, and the different roles Jews and non-Jews play.

G-d created a physical world and then hid Himself. Our job is to find Him within the physical world all around. Evil is what is stopping us from finding Him. Mashiach's job is to bring G-d into this world, thus abolishing the evil inclination and helping mankind turn the physical world into the spiritual world. The evil inclination creates all sorts of illusions in this world to divert us from the path of pursuing G-d; we must learn to listen to the G-dly voice within us and not be led astray. If we evict G-d, we end our own existence. Going against His mitzvos is as good as condemning the world to eternal darkness.

The soul was created as a recipient, capable of receiving G-d's light. In a world run on judgment, a person's sin would be enough to incorporate evil into his soul and annihilate him. Once G-d added mercy, however, the evil became an externalized parasite and a single sin no longer leads straight to annihilation. Now that evil is a separate entity, it tries always to expand to assert its existence. The evil will begin to surround that person and bring him great pain and suffering. By allowing the evil to expand, it actually goes on to destroy itself and the soul can be purified. Gain understanding of this mechanism and how it protects us and is the ultimate mercy from G-d.

The non-Jews are given different energies and different levels of spirituality. Looking at the incredible majesty and dignity of the cathedrals and other houses of worship in the world, even from the outside you can sense a majestic awe. That is how they were given to represent G-d; but it is a cold, dead religion, lacking all the warmth and active spirituality of Judaism. The fire of the soul is with the Jews; the dignity and majesty of a divine presence lies with the non-Jews. It's a tragedy that most of us don't even realize. Why is this? We have evicted G-d from our synagogues with our lack of respect for G-d and Torah. Take an in-depth look at our history to understand how this came about -- and how we can reverse it.

In the Messianic era, the only holiday we will still celebrate will be Purim. The redemption at that time will come about the same way as the redemption in the Purim story, closed and hidden. We are not governed by the astrological signs; the redemption takes place on a far superior level. From the Purim story we see how G-d uses evil to bring about good.

What happens when we sin? How is spiritual equilibrium restored after the sin? How does the power of exile work to purify our souls are restore the equilibrium? After understanding this mechanism, how can we then apply this knowledge to the horrors of the Holocaust? After the Holocaust something changed in the world that had never changed in the course of 2,000 years. We can now see the beginning of the end of the exile. What plane are we on, what level of the merging or separation of essence and existence?

Understanding specific principles through the lens of history. G-d decided to divide all souls into two types -- Jewish souls, with the ability to change the physical world and give it an eternal essence; and non-Jewish souls, who have no ability to transcend beyond a physical world. The Torah is the instrument by which we can create an eternity. Learn the different characteristics of kedusha, holiness, and what they allow us to do. Even when you do evil deeds, you still are the instrument of G-d whether you want it or not.

Delve into dark and mysterious subjects, using history as a focus for understanding the world. When a Jew sins, some of his holiness is absorbed by the Satan. This holiness is then transferred via the Satan to the gentile nations, and there is a process before it comes back to the Jews. How did Ishmael and Esau arrive at the status of having both holiness and impurity in their souls? Their descendants, the Arabs and all of Christendom, are the people who can hold a power of holiness over the Jews today. So by what process do the Jews survive and the nations of the world fall? Discuss the mechanism in-depth.

Passover is a commemoration of the Jews' redemption from Egypt. Before thanking G-d for taking us out of Egypt, we must understand why He put us in there to begin with. Why could the 70 righteous people who went down to Egypt have done that would merit 210 years of servitude? Learn why most of the typical answers given to this question are inadequate, and gain insights as to the real reason. What role did the 10 plagues play in the story? Why is it significant that the Plague of the Firstborn was the final plague that finally brought about the Exodus?

Discussion of Amalek and the Germans of the 20th century. Hetler himself was a spiritual genius, only coming from the other side, not from the side of good. The Germans had been culturally on top of the world and so advanced. How could they fall so far as to commit genocide against millions of men, women and children? Amalek has no inherent holiness of its own; the only way it can exist is when it is inflated with the holiness of the Jews. Learn in-depth about how Amalek keeps its hold on the Jewish people and how it can be so high and yet so debased at the same time.

When the Jews were redeemed from Egypt, a group of people came with them called the erev rav. What did they do? What kind of nature did they develop at this point in time as a result? These people have always been separate and yet a part of us. Nowadays we are under their power. Who are they? They differentiated themselves from the rest during the sin of the Golden Calf. Discuss in depth the ultimate error the People of Israel made by creating the Golden Calf.

Why have the Jews been suffering for so many years? Why were the Jews killed in the Holocaust in the fashion they were killed? Why are we in exile? We endure such suffering due to sinas chinam, baseless hatred among Jews. This is a critical reason why G-d refuses to bring the redemption until its time comes. The leading cause of the exile is slander and gossip. Why does this so infuriate G-d? This issue amongst men goes all the way back to Cain and Abel. Can we turn ourselves around in time?

While we speak about Mashiach almost non-stop in this day and age and believe that we are already in the beginning of the Messianic era, very few people know what the Mashiach is about, what he will do when he arrives, where he's coming from, etcetera. In reality, the Messianic process changes according to our behavior. G-d has left up to us what the Messianic process will look like. Since we don't have a clear picture of who or what he will be or what he will do for us, will we even notice his coming?

All pleasure can only come from G-d. When G-d is revealed, the sense of pleasure is infinitely greater than when He's hidden. How can we remove the mask that hides the existence of G-d or the existence of the spiritual world? Fundamentally speaking, the Mashiach is a process rather than an individual person. We must guard ourselves against getting too arrogant, too egotistical, to believe too much in our own power and technology. For where did everything come from except from G-d?

What is the essential characteristic of the Messianic era? It is different than now in the sense that the perception, awareness and sensitivity to the existence of G-d is on a much higher level. Return to Israel and end of exile are secondary characteristics. What is the purpose of man in this world? Discuss why there can be no more free will in the Messianic era, and how such an era can still belong to the physical universe and not the World to Come. What are the essential principles that G-d uses as He guides the world from beginning to end? What determines those principles to exist? What are they accomplishing?

Where is G-d? Who is G-d? How is it possible for G-d to hide from existence, when He is existence itself? G-d isn't actually hiding, there is just a thick barrier blocking certain aspects from our consciousness. At the beginning, G-d's presence in the world was very great and He was only a little bit hidden. Once Adam sinned, however, he damaged things and G-d's overt presence began to shrink. The Messianic era will not be the same as the world before Adam sinned. Why not? What are the differences?

The function of Man is to perfect a world which was created imperfectly, a world where the spirituality of G-d becomes evident. With Adam's failure to do this, the onus has fallen upon mankind as a whole to do it. Generation after generation we must work to reveal G-d's presence. Man must simultaneously stop the downward trend of spirituality, and join the upward trend. The Messianic era is when man has finally fixed all the damage first introduced by Adam. We are constantly improving our world and making it greater, because we are much closer to the elevation.

The concept of Mashiach is not a person; it is actually two rectification processes. Mashiach ben David is the process of raising the world up to a level of shleimus, of perfection; this is the reason why Man was created. Mashiach ben Yosef is man's correction of the damage caused in the world by sinning. How do free will and divine providence interact? Life is nothing more than an experience where you're either involved in activities which are essentially routine, or activities which lead you to choices where you feel the impulses of do or don't. What happens when you choose wrong and go in a negative direction? You have caused damage to the world, which then needs to be removed and repaired. Which of our experiences come from Above to below, and which come from within our control - from below to Above? The more your life is involved with passive experiences, the less it is involved with active experiences. The essence of Torah is that life is a struggle to go higher, and it is only in this life that you will be able to go higher. Once Mashiach arrives, whatever status you have earned becomes your permanent status. Sieze the day to do mitzvot!

What exists on a personal level also exists on a national level. G-d Himself has one fundamental problem: if He is the source of all existence, how can He create an existence in which he can in some way hide? Free will is the only thing in this world which is beyond cause and effect. What is the extent of free will that Man has? How do we see that what occurs in an individual's life on a microscopic level, has occurred throughout all human history on a macroscopic level? Discussion of the ratio between non-free will versus free will activities and how this ratio is affected by the way you exercise your free will. In previous generations, the spiritual forces in the world were understood by all and thus people were able to perform what we today would consider to be miracles, but what was commonplace at the time.

Mashiach can arrive either because we have earned him through our good deeds, or he will arrive because of what G-d has done, i.e. the time has come one way or the other. The Messianic era will look very different depending on which of these two processes is the one that occurs. Every generation is capable of bringing the Mashiach, and in each generation two special people are born with vessel souls of the Mashiach. Understand the concept of a vessel soul and discuss why it is that the current generation of assimilated Jews is exactly the type of generation that could merit to see the Mashiach.

A survey of four separate periods in history when the Jewish People could have brought the Mashiach - but failed to pass the Satan's last test. 1) Adam, 2) Receiving of the Torah, 3) Yeravam ben Nevat, 4) Rabbi Akiva. Why was the soul of the Mashiach brought about through a series of incestuous relationships? Why did the soul of the Mashiach ben Yosef reside among the non-Jews for 10 generations?

What does it mean when we say the Mashiach "could have" come at a certain time? Why did G-d imprison the soul within the body? What is the World to Come? How do we bring the Divine presence into this world? Why are we still suffering for Adam's mistake?

The Messianic process is to make the world complete. Whoever lives where they don't belong and is in a state of pain or agony as a result is said to be in exile; the undoing of this is redemption. To free the Jews from their exile and bring them back to a state of holiness is the job of the Mashiach ben Yosef. To take the Jews and build them into a nation where they reflect complete holiness is the job of the Mashiach ben David. What is the connection of the rainbow to this process, and why are we not meant to have joy when looking at the beautiful sight?

How is the concept of Mashiach manifest in the Torah itself? What is the purpose of holiness? What is evil? Why did G-d create it? What effect does impurity have? G-d's ultimate objective is that Man should inherit an eternal world. Anything used to achieve that objective is called mashiach. Suffering is an involuntary purification, whereas repentance is a voluntary purification - the choice of which we go through is up to us. Everything which happens in the world is in some way connected to the processes of holiness and purity. Survey stories through the Torah and history and examine where the Messianic processes are holding at each specific point. Why did G-d "hire" the Satan? Understand the Satan's role and why it is to our ultimate benefit.

G-d's intention was that there would be one single redemption, the redemption from Egypt. So what went wrong? After the Jews heard the first two commandments, it was so overwhelming for them that they all died and were subsequently resurrected by G-d. They had already entered into the threshold of the Messianic era, where death is abolished. The sin of the Golden Calf returned the damage to the world. What is the balance of judgment and mercy in this world?

Death was not introduced to the world as a punishment. Rather, it was a secondary and easier way for a person to achieve the World to Come. Every minute of our lives we are involved in a process of either holiness or purification, as G-d tests us to see what we will do. The test levels for each type of person are different; while one person may be tested to see if he will uphold all the mitzvos, another's test may be to see if he will retain even the tiniest scrap of his Judaism or if he will let it all fall behind him. As time goes on and we become purer and purer, we are then entitled to know deeper parts of the Torah and they become within our reach.

The ultimate goal is to raise your level of awareness so that you can become conscious of spirituality. Once you have that consciousness, why do you live in your body? The evil inclination convinces us that we are our body and that we must pursue our physical needs, but in reality we are a spiritual being trapped in the jail of a physical form and must eventually break out of it. Most people only ever catch small glimpses here and there of what true spirituality is. A person must constantly examine his own deeds in order to understand what is happening in his life. If a person is suffering, he must evaluate if he is spending the proper amount of time learning Torah.

Through taking a look at important events in Jewish history, gain an understanding of Messianic processes. Who was Yeravam ben Nevat and what role does he play in today's world, despite the fact that he lived over two millenia ago? Explore the story of this king who could have been the Mashiach. What went wrong? How did he manage to damage not only himself, but even the soul of the Mashiach itself? What purification process was needed after his rise and his great fall?

What was really going on in the time of Rabbi Akiva? Weave together the different stories of the time recorded in the Gemara in order to form a little-understood picture. What do we learn about the Ten Martyrs, of which Rabbi Akiva was the last? If they were meant to be against the brothers who sold Yosef, then why were there ten martyrs when only nine brothers sold Yosef? What do each of the stories of Rabbi Akiva's life teach us?

The failure of Rabbi Akiva to bring Mashiach resulted in the next two millenia of exile. What does holiness give us? Why is our success based on it? Why does the Satan require holiness in order to do what he needs to do? What are the main principles that determine the course of human history and human events? Take a look at the happenings in the Jewish world of the 16th and 17th centuries. What is the significance of the months in which different historical events happened as opposed to the zodiac?

Who wrote the Zohar? It was a book that was largely not understood until the Ari came along and understood it. Go through the events of the Ari's life and times to see how he was very close to being a Mashiach himself. What was going on in the secular world at the time? What new astronomical understandings came at the same time as the Ari?

What is the Mashiach really going to do? What is his role? What is the ability that he possesses? To discover the answer, we must look through the essence of the Torah itself. What is the Torah? How does the Mashiach relate to the Torah? Did Adam have the Torah? Through the changes in history, we see that the Torah itself is subject to transformation. The Torah is the instrument of correction and it is through the Torah that Man achieves the World to Come.

What is the light of the Mashiach? This light will be the end of the Satan in this world. The soul must earn the light which G-d wants to give. Why does the Satan have the ability to seduce? What is the evil inclination and where did it come from? The Messianic light is the antidote to the Satan's seductive force, the evil inclination; and the damage it does. What is the purpose of the mitzvot? When we look in the Torah, can we clearly see G-d's presence or is it hidden?

What does the light of Mashiach look like now that it's with us? What is the relationship of this light to Mashiach himself in terms of the different generations and to what he really is right now? Through performing the mitzvot, we are allowing the spiritual reality within us to expand and we are minimizing the physical reality. What is holiness? The essence of a sin is to lose holiness, whereas the essence of a mitzvah is to take it back.

Events happen to a person because there is a test situation or because of the acquisition of perfection for the World to Come. This world is a place of opportunity where good and bad mix; the World to Come can only be good. Why do righteous people suffer in this world? And why do evil people seem to succeed and receive all good? People suffer in this world for several reasons; either as punishment or to attone for something that the person did. It is all suffering coming out of love.

The suffering of Mashiach is not physical; it is a spiritual, mental agony. As it says in Tehillim, an iron yoke enters into his soul. Every Jew is in some way connected to the light of the Mashiach. We all have aspects of both of the Mashiachs within us, because Adam was the primordial Mashiach and it was his single soul which was split into millions of pieces, and each one of us received a piece. In certain ways we must be part of G-d, and in certain ways we must be separate of Him. Why does the soul have the job it does? Why was it placed into this framework? There are many things we think are unknowable, but really it's a matter of looking at it the right way and asking the correct questions. The world is capable of giving great goodness. Suffering hides much of the goodness, and this is why the redemption is hidden within great suffering.

The more the Jews sin, the darker the world gets and the more hidden G-d becomes. The Mashiach ben Yosef will reveal the Torah in its entirety, and the Mashiach ben David will elevate it to its highest level of revelation before the World to Come. G-d gave us the World to Come on the condition that we earn it. Who represents justice in the world? What is the Satan's role in the world? What will happen to the Satan in the Messianic era? What power will he hold - or not?

What events are likely in the time of the redemption? What will happen? What changes will happen to human beings? The Messianic era is characterized by the presentation of the information of G-d's omnipresence, and the ability of the people of the world to receive it. What happens if the Jews are not worthy of the Mashiach? What are the "labor pains" of the Mashiach? Does the Mashiach know that he is the Mashiach?

What do the last generations before the Mashiach look like? What characterizes the beginning of the redemption? We always ask what happens to the Jews in the Messianic era. But what happens to the Mashiach himself? What is his process like? Is the change going to be in the external world, or in the internal consciousness of man? Will the change be gradual or sudden? How will societal structure and class distinctions change?

The redemption is a complete series of steps occurring at two different foci. How do these steps relate to Mashiach and how do they relate to the Jews? What are the last steps in this process? What will be the new preoccupations of man in the beginning of the Messianic era? Once the beginning of the redemption arrives, everything will begin to happen very quickly. Look at the exodus from Egypt as a prototype to help understand the eventual redemption. What is really the concept of the Land of Israel? What is the ingathering of the exiles, and why is it so important? Why is a country connected to the soul of a Jew? What is the reaction that all the non-Jews will have to our redemptive processes? What is the war of Gog and Magog?

What is the reaction of the world to the appearance of our Mashiach? How do we understand the concept of time as it relates to the concept of spirituality? The time in this world symbolizes changes and movements in different directions. The nature of time is different in the World to Come. The war of Gog and Magog is a spiritual war, not a physical war. After the war it will be obvious to the world that the G-d of the Jews is the one and only G-d.

How did the concept of the World to Come change due to the sin of Adam and other such sins? We have been given 6,000 years to try to correct the damage through various tikkunim. Find out about how this is accomplished and what is the definition of this world? What then is the definition and the essence of the World to Come? What is the connection between mercy and judgment? What is the essence and purpose of our lives in this world and why? What is the purpose of the evil inclination?

What exactly was the sin of the Golden Calf and what was its significance versus other idols of early history? What was different about the Golden Calf's power versus the idols before it? Where did its power come from? Was it really all just a failed test? What is the Messianic light and what is its purpose? Learn the outcome and consequences of that sin. Learn about some of the other tests the Jews were tested with and why this is necessary at all.

Learn about the purpose of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and what blowing the shofar has to do with it all. Learn about the purpose of the calendar days. What is the purpose of having a week, month and a year? This leads to an understanding of why the holidays are on certain days. Learn about the essence and purpose of the Days of Creation. Learn about how the binding of Yitzchak ties in and what we can learn from that connection. Why are we sometimes afflicted with problems and how do they lead to the redemption?

Learn about the meaning and essence of Chanuka in connection with history. What really happened in the time of Chanuka? Learn about the Jews' situation in the time of Chanuka versus other periods in history. Learn about how the Jewish person has changed throughout history and why. What is the essence of Torah and G-d's attribute of mercy?

What is the purpose of Tisha Be'Av and how should we relate to this very important day? Why were both Temples destroyed? What is a kitrug? We aren't mourning something that happened 2,000 years ago; we are mourning the continued status of that event that we haven't yet changed. What is the purpose of saying the kinnos? What is the relation of some of the other historical sins to Tisha Be'Av? Why does the Satan have an open platform on this day? Learn about a person's barometer of fear of Heaven. What is the definition of tiferes?

The awareness and understanding the concept of His oneness in the sense that there is no other like Him.

1. True fear of Heaven consists of understanding השגת יחודו.
2. The greater the understanding of hasagas yechudo, the greater the capacity is for fear of Heaven.
3. The evil inclination attempts to conceal hasagas yechudo by creating a situation of hiding His oneness by the creation of this world through the five senses, nature, and coincidence.

Fundamentally, the strength of G-d exists in the fact that He is, that He is the only true power, His will is the only true will, and everything which occurs only occurs through His activity. This is defined by understanding that He alone exists, He alone has the power and the ability to do something, only His will can truly exist and only He is involved in actually affecting things in reality. Only His force moves all time and history. Understanding the oneness of the Creator can be attained by diligently learning the Torah, the prophets, their prophecies, and how to know who is a real prophet.

Hashkafa essentially is the understanding of the hashgacha of creation itself, what we understand about G-d, the purpose of the creation, its composition, and the purpose of man. Understanding the concepts of G-d's essence and existence is to see that G-d is existence itself. It is ultimately beyond our comprehension, but we must realize that it is out of our reach. Man must come to an understanding that there are things that exist in this world that are beyond our comprehension, and just because we don't understand doesn't mean that they don't exist.

No matter how it is that G-d exists, it cannot be understood by man's limited mind. The whole essence of G-d is beyond existence, because His existence is beyond human understanding. Through understanding the way His existence is different and distinct from ours, we gain a much better concept of who we are in contrast to who He is.

G-d wanted to be metiv, so He needed an "other", which is the soul. The aim is to build an intimate relationship with G-d, where you experience an actual feeling of love. There is tremendous pleasure in this feeling, which is referred to as dvekus or cleaving. Everyone is capable of achieving dvekus with G-d. Through developing this intense love, the soul is capable of becoming aware of G-d not only in thought but in feeling, in hargasha.

We see that the world is filled with pain and suffering. Why? What purpose does it serve? Nahama d'kisufa, bread of shame, is that the soul was constructed in such a way that it cannot just take and take. A person who has not in some way earned that which he has received, feels a lack of pride and respect. The soul also was created so that it would not be able to take without earning. G-d had to create a situation where the soul will get His hatava, and He had to create another situation prior to that for the soul to earn what it would receive later on. We earn in this world for the hatava, the World to Come.

Hashkafa is normally learned in a very fragmented way. Each verse in the Torah is a universe unto itself. This is why the Torah is learned verse by verse. Everything in Torah and in life has a reason and a cheshbon and everything is interconnected. Therefore, it is best to understand the scope of it in a very connected framework.

Everything comes to be only by the will of G-d, and yet we sometimes erroneously believe in the illusion of control over actions or time. Everything is from Heaven except for fear of Heaven. G-d wants to know how much you want to do what you want to do. Awareness is the conscious mind, and that is the emanation of self. Most of the body's actions are done without the self being aware of it. The self is aware of it when it concentrates on it after the effect, but the self does not determine all the actions of the body. It's all automatic. Without noticing, we are being externally controlled.

There are some things that we can understand about G-d, even though most things are far beyond our comprehension. Torah is no less important than any wisdom or any profession. If you want to truly know and understand it then you must study it, which requires a significant devotion of time. Regarding free will, even though G-d knows the future does not mean it is determined. We know that G-d's existence is outside of time. Everything that occurs in the world except for free will is call hashpa'a mi'lamala lemata, influence from Above to below. G-d tells everyone and everything in creation what to do, but in the case of free will G-d must wait for us. It's separate from G-d, so the future is not set yet because it's dependent totally on us.

Time is separate from free will. How can G-d know everything and still allow free will? G-d is existence, and therefore His knowledge is existence and He knows what everyone will do. Free will means that we determine it, that our will is not connected to any reality. To know why they cannot be answered is to know the difference between us and G-d clearly. It's the knowledge of the difference of two things.

Series 2 - Lecture 1

• Concept of the הנהגת היחוד

• Purpose of the הנהגת היחוד

• The relationship between the הנהגת המשפט and the הנהגת היחוד

 

There is another attribute emanating from G-d by virtue of who He is, and that is hanhagas ha'yichud or hanhagas ha'shlita. When man comes to the point that something goes wrong, hanhagas ha'yichud enters into the creation and in some way modifies the structure of hanhagas ha'mishpat. G-d wants man to achieve his objective through his own efforts, through hanhagas ha'mishpat. If man doesn't achieve it by his own efforts, then he will achieve it through the hanhagas ha'yichud. Hanhagas ha'yichud means that Hashem wants man to merit the World to Come, and in order to do it there's a certain amount of free will that's necessary.

Series 2 - Lecture 2:

• The הנהגת המשפט and הנהגת היחוד as inverse השגחה manifestations

• The הנהגת היחוד as a design principle and a השגחה process

 

The first attribute which emanated from G-d was (הנהגת החסד (הטבה. Once נהמא דכיסופא (bread of shame), comes in, הנהגת החסד must take place through הנהגת המשפט, which creates the situation where the person must earn his own World to Come. If you create your World to Come, you have your World to Come; if you don't create it then you have no World to Come. This means that there is a REAL possibility that there will be no World to Come. The guarantee of הטבה means that there has to be a מטיב to an "other" a זולתו, someone else to be metiv to.

Series 2 - Lecture 3

• The non-observant majority in Judaism today: an explanation

 

The time limit that G-d has put on this world is 6,000 years, and it's during these years we earn our World to Come. Yichud and mishpat are opposing forces. Mishpat works with its feet on the ground and its head in the air; yichud works with its head in the ground and its feet in the air. They work concurrently, but yichud enters in through mishpat. Mishpat works to correct the bread of shame, while yichud works to ensure that the hatava will be manifested in the end.

Series 2 - Lecture 4 

•  The structural approach to the study of Hashkafa

•  The way of the הנהגת המשפט

•  The concept of חסרון and שלימות

•  G-d's revealed operative mode: הארת והסתר פנים

•  The acquisition of שלימות

•  The essential purpose of the יצר הרע

 

Hanhagos ha'mishpat are those series of activities whose specific objective is to correct the shortcoming of the bread of shame. Hanhagaos ha'yichud are those series of activities which G-d performs whose specific objective is to ensure that the tikun of the bread of shame takes place and to make sure somebody reaches the World to Come. In the World to Come, there is only hanhagas ha'mishpat and no hanhagas ha'yichud. If you want to complete yourself, to achieve a level of perception, the way to do that is by becoming davek, by cleaving to G-d. The way G-d works in the way He creates everything is through her'a and hester, showing or hiding Himself. Her'as panav means that G-d allows His presence to be felt or to be projected out upon us.

Series 2 - Lecture 5

• The purpose of the גוף

• The Yetzer Hatov and the intellect

• The concept of evil or רע 

The soul and the body are two opposites, one pulling toward G-d and one pulling away from him. Originally, the soul had the strength to lift up the body and purify it. After Adam's sin, the soul is given with a certain lack such that it cannot overpower the body and the body has just as much strength to pull down as the soul has to pull up. The aim of this world is to purify the body while being distracted by the evil inclination. If Adam had not sinned, he would have witnessed the change in his body and the entire Gan Eden around him. Now, we must fight our desires to be able to purify our bodies in this world so that we're able to achieve the World to Come.

After Adam's sin, what previously he could have attained through performing a single mitzvah, would now take many mitzvos to accomplish. If one were to take all the souls and put them together, they would equal Adam before he sinned. If Adam hadn't sinned, then he would have been the Mashiach. Before the sin, the evil inclination or the "other side" was outside of him. Once he sinned, the yetzer hara became part of his consciousness and all of creation and the world is said to be in a state of irbuvya, where good and evil are mixed together. As each generation sins more and more, people retain less free will. Death comes to repair the corruption, after which the soul would be allowed to go to the World to Come.

The one who is meant to accept the Torah from G-d is man, and man is composed of a soul and a body. Once the soul is placed in the body it becomes imprisoned in terms of its ability to experience certain realities. It can no longer experience its own reality, which is ruchniyus or spirituality. Even though G-d's presence is hidden and no longer known, the soul is still able to connect to its own reality and it can feel aspects of spirituality filtered through the sechel, the mind. G-d's intention was that the soul and the body together would both enter the World to Come. In order to do this, the soul must purify the body through Torah and mitzvos.

The fundamental principle is that G-d had a purpose for Adam. Adam failed, which was disastrous both for himself and for the entire world. G-d decided that such power will no longer belong to a single individual, so He took Adam's soul and fragmented it into many different souls. All men come from Adam and all women come from Chava. The evil inclination was originally created with enormous power, but was very small. After Adam's sin, the evil inclination became very great when it became interwoven through all of creation, which is called tigbores hara. When the evil becomes greater, it is now necessary to remove the corruption through action.

Whenever one does mitzvos, oros come down on the soul and it becomes more perfect and powerful. It now has the power to take the body, which is much more base, and purify it. That is the zikuch, the purification. This constitutes the setting for the World to Come, because not only is the body purified, but the world itself becomes purified. This world in a purified state would become the World to Come.

True wisdom means to gradually develop a set of ideas and to understand the consequences of these ideas and how they interrelate. As we build, we begin to see how the new ideas relate to the old ideas and vice versa. Yechida is the soul that gives a person the capacity to see from one end of the world to the other. The process of Mashiach Ben David is to bring down light by doing mitzvos through free will. The process of Mashiach Ben Yosef is to do a mitzvah when it's much more difficult, which requires a much more powerful level of devotion and self-sacrifice. If you can manifest free will in a klipa, the test is bigger because of the consequences involved.

There are many different kinds of nations in the world and we see that most of the world does not know anything about the Torah. The fact that there are Jews and non-Jews is a consequence of Adam's sin, which means that originally G-d never had the intention to divide mankind between Jews and non-Jews. It was the purpose of Adam to reach the World to Come through performing a single mitzvah and Adam failed. This failure was continued on to his descendants. They too failed, and therefore his descendants were separated into two different groups - those who failed, the eventual non-Jews; and then there was Avraham. Avraham and his descendants retained the goal of the World to Come. Yet it was only after all the nations refused the Torah that they were eventually cut off from the World to Come.

To understand the interrelationships of all souls is to understand all of human history. Once the collective becomes fragmented, it never comes together again. We enter the World to Come as we are, with our minds, our consciousness. When the whole of Israel commit certain sins they lose their spirituality, and all the great power that should come from it is lost to the nations of the world. It is possible for the whole of Israel to reclaim this power through hardships at the hands of those other nations. The ones who are responsible for the spiritual destruction of the whole of Israel today are other Jews who sin and cause others to sin.

By the time Avraham Avinu came upon the scene, the midas ha'din said that all the people in the world did not have the good deeds to reach the minimum level of the World to Come. The World to Come demands a certain minimum level of holiness. Since Adam there has not been anyone with enough to merit the World to Come until Avraham Avinu. Through Avraham, G-d would retain the goal of the World to Come.

The Satan essentially received his power from a source of holiness, because nothing can exist in the world unless it in some way draws on holiness. Holiness is true substance and everything in the world must have some spark of it to survive. Holiness is that substance which G-d infuses into beings to give it existence. Therefore, the Satan also requires holiness. Through the seven original mitzvos of Noach, non-Jews can get spiritual strength and merit in this world. When a non-Jew is born into a certain nation and he has that spiritual strength, he already has described to a certain degree what accomplishment he's going to have. A non-Jew who merits the World to Come is different that a Jew who merits the World to Come.

History books usually detail information about different governments and the rise and fall of empires. Most people think that what happens to any given nation is controlled by what its government decides. If a harsh dictator rises to power, it is only because G-d is punishing that specific nation. There are many different nations, people, and cultures and each is totally unique from the next. The Torah explains that this is a direct result of divine providence. If you could put your finger on the process in each generation, you would understand the basic roots of the entire divine providence at that time and how it influenced the next generation.

The Satan knows when he's getting stronger, but he doesn't know when he's getting weaker. Through hardships and suffering, we are able to take back the oros that the Satan gained from our sinning. To seduce, to prosecute, and to destroy are the three functions of the Satan. When a person sins, a klipa comes on him and he loses the oros to the Satan. The retrieval of these oros are dependent on the suffering that comes upon the sinner.

The nations of the world have a special relationship with the Satan because they all became evildoers and cleave to imputiry, such that they now derive their power from the Satan. The whole of Israel get their power from holiness. Certain nations have much greater oros and power than others and that's because of free will. When the holiness is in the hands of the nations of the world, then in the oz mode it's manifested as success. In the tiferes mode it's manifested as wisdom in materialistic areas. The nations of the world only get the oros of the whole of Israel when they sin. If the whole of Israel do mitzvos, then they get the oros from the source of holiness itself.

In order for a nation to become a repository of the oros of the whole of Israel, it must have a certain amount of holiness and impurity as well. The impurity level corresponds to the impurity that the whole of Israel bring in by their sins. The worse the sin, the higher the level of impurity. Therefore when you lose the oros to the impurity, the oros are embedded in deeper levels of impurity. In order to get them back, you must go just as deep to retrieve those lost oros. The kind of sin the whole of Israel does determines the kind of nation it will interact with, and therefore determines to which nation it will be exiled into. The impurity that the whole of Israel produces can never exceed that of the nations of the world because then those oros would be lost forever. For the whole of Israel to begin the process of redemption they must be consumed by the nation which can hold the highest level of impurity, and that nation is Amalek.

In terms of the evil inclination, it is the function of the Mashiach ben Yosef to remove the disfigurement of the snake and it is the function of Mashiach ben David to remove the snake, which is the World to Come. In terms of creation, Mashiach ben Yosef has to take back all the oros and restore the creation to a state of purity, and then Mashiach ben David has to take the creation and raise it to a level of holiness, which is the World to Come.

The purpose of the exile in Egypt was to take away the impurity that went into creation because of Adam's sin and to restore the oros. The process of leaving Egypt was the redemption of Mashiach Ben Yosef at the hands of Moshe. The nation of Israel understood and believed completely that leaving Egypt was part of the Messianic process. Only the Mashiach Ben Yosef could separate Israel from the impurity and bring them into a state of redemption. The Mashiach Ben David process is to bring the world from a level of the Messianic era up to a level of the World to Come, which is the matter of Adam before the sin. The vision of Moshe dying was a test of the whole of Israel being a choice of believing in what G-d said. When they constructed the Golden Calf, the reasoning was that if Moshe was dead then they needed another Mashiach Ben Yosef - and that is fundamentally symbolized by a bull. Just like the power of Yosef took us out of Egypt, so too will this golden calf go on and represent the power of Yosef to bring us to the Messianic era. Klal Yisrael had the power to choose in what G-d said instead of believing in the vision that the Satan showed them. The Satan actually made the matter of Mashiach an evil inclination in and of itself.

When a mitzvah or a sin comes to your hand, it would be extremely beneficial to realize this aspect, but it's not easy. "Im lo achshav aymasai," if not now, when? Free will is only in the present and this moment is in your control. Since a person lives only from moment to moment, the existence in which you're living at any particular point in time is the total existence for you and all reality. By doing a mitzvah, you infuse all of existence with holiness and when you sin, you infuse all of existence with impurity.

Avraham was told hundreds of years before that his children would go into Egypt for 400 years and then they would come out with "great wealth". The entering of the Jewish nation into Egypt was a premeditated affair. The test of Adam after his sin was a test in the reshus, or authority, of the Satan. This meant that Adam had to be omed be'nisayon be'reshuso which is much more difficult than doing shelo be'reshuso. If you're omed be'nesayon be'reshuso, you weaken him and cripple the Satan so that he begins to withdraw out of creation. This is the process of purification. When G-d created the world, He basically constructed two entities, the World to Come and mankind. Before the sin mankind was completely symbolized by Adam; therefore Adam was the one who was supposed to be the sole recipient of the World to Come. Obviously, there was a certain amount of the World to Come created for Adam. Had he withstood the test, he would have merited that amount of the World to Come. After the sin, Adam's soul was fragmented so it was no longer a single soul that merited the World to Come. Instead, the World to Come was also framented in a parallel transformation. With each step of mankind, there is a parallel step in the World to Come because the two are inextricably connected. The World to Come was fragmented in correlation to Adam's soul, so that each part of his soul would receive an equal part in the World to Come.

Moshe told the whole of Israel when leaving Egypt that if at any point they failed to uphold the Torah in some way, Egypt would no longer be involved. Instead, G-d would choose another nation since Egypt had already served its purpose. After the nation failed through the sin of the Golden Calf, Amalek was chosen as the ikar uma notel kilkul kulam was because they were mekareres ha'kedera. The Nation of Israel would to go into the hands of this new nation to merit the time of the Mashiach and to restore creation. Israel became the exclusive owners of the World to Come after G-d offered all the nations of the world their portion in the World to Come and they refused. This was through the tests of the exodus from Egypt and the splitting of the Red Sea.

By the time Egypt was subjected to the plague of darkness, they already knew it was over because that plague essentially told the Egyptians they had no power. Once they lost the power of the sun, they realized that they were impoverished from their power. The plague on the firstborn was the greatest and most powerful of all the plagues in Egypt. The firstborn of every family is the main spiritual power in that family. Adam was the first firstborn to exist and because of his corruption, that firstborn right was given out to his descendents. It went on to Avraham, but he had to purify it for it to have any use. Through Egypt, the firstborn of creation was restored. Israel went into Egypt itself and through the enslavement they purified this tremendous corruption the nations of the world brought on the Shechina and the entire light of spirituality itself. The plague on the firstborn is the loss of the firstborn of creation from Egypt which they had from the power of being notel kilkul kulam. They lost it to the People of Israel, who became the firstborn of creation.

The Mashiach has two functions, one when he becomes Mashiach and one before he becomes Mashiach. The Mashiach has certain things he must do before becoming the Mashiach. The era of Mashiach is a certain period of time which exists right before the year 6000. From the year that Mashiach comes until the year 6000 is the time of the Messianic era. The world before and after Mashiach are very different periods. The period before has a certain quality of hiddenness; the period after has a tremendous amount of revelation. The World to Come is only after the year 6000 and is much more powerful than the Messianic era.

The matching of Yaakov and Leah separated the component of the Mashiach Ben David, and their son Yehuda was born with the power of the Mashiach Ben David. Rachel took from Yaakov the component of the Mashiach Ben Yosef when she had Yosef. The reason why it's not called the Mashiach Ben Yehuda is because he sinned with the sale of Yosef. Yosef accomplishes his purpose through leadership, and leadership is a quality that can be attached to any man. The Mashiach Ben David performs his job through kingship, and kingship is dynastic.

Mashiach can be brought about either through free will or through pain and suffering. When an opportunity arises for Mashiach to come and we fail to bring him, then it brings about even greater suffering. The fundamental characteristic of the Messianic era is the concept of giluy yechido, that the knowledge and understanding of G-d will be such that all people will know of the existence of G-d, the way He exists, His attributes, etc. All other religions will disappear from the earth and the purpose of Judaism will be clearly understood by every person alive at that time. The level of the Messianic era will be greater than the level of Adam before his sin, due to the removal of all the impurity inflicted upon creation.

The function of the Torah of Adam was to correct the snake because there was not yet corruption in creation. After his sin there was a spreading of foulness in his body, in creation, and in the various different activities or areas of human experience, which meant that there were more mitzvos. It went from one mitzvah to seven mitzvos. The Torah of Noach until the time of Moshe was fundamentally concerned with the correction of foulness and the fixing of the snake as well. By the time of the giving of the Torah, the sitra achra had been spreading in 613 areas of human experience, thus the 613 mitzvos to be correct the entire situation.

The Torah that will be revealed in the Messianic era is referred to as the light of Mashiach. It is mentioned many times in the Prophets and Writings and in our prayers. It is a new light in the sense that it has never been revealed before, that it is the most powerful light, it is the most powerful truth that the world will ever experience. This light is very unique in the way that when you see it and you attain the truth of this particular revelation, you see very clearly with an absolute certainty that G-d exists and that His will is the sole will that guides creation. It will be known and clearly seen with absolute certainty that G-d is Lord, there is none other besides Him.

The appearance of the Mashiach depends on the appearance of Israel. If Israel merits the Mashiach because of the righteous of the generation, then the Mashiach who appears is in the form of a righteous man himself. If, however, Israel merits the Mashiach because the time has arrived, then the Mashiach appears as a sickly person. The Ramchal says that fundamentally every gadol ha'dor from the beginning of time has the a certain power of the Shechina, but the Mashiach will have the Shechina dwell upon them like it did in the Temple.

The Mashiach Ben Yosef does not appear until all of creation is at the point where it has one more jump left to total purity, because he is the climax of that process and he brings the end. Since Adam's sin, the snake exuded a foulness which constituted his transformation into a different agent who's at war with man, whose sole goal is to destroy man. His power entered into the very nature of man and by doing this he is able to manipulate a person in such a way as to cut off certain elements of his free will. That foulness invades the Mashiach Ben Yosef as well. It is a cloned copy of the invasion of the foulness into Adam himself. In order for redemption to occur, all men must be restored to the level of Adam before the sin. It means the foulness must be removed not only from creation, but also from the inner nature of man and restoring all men to having 100 percent free will. Mashiach will remove the foulness first from himself and then from everyone else. The Mashiach will be the first man to resemble Adam since his time. By freeing himself, he will understand how to free all of mankind at the same time. Just as the nation of Israel and the Mashiach are in the klipa, the Torah is also in the klipa so that Israel does not merit to attain the light of truth of Torah or to attain His oneness. When the foulness is cleansed from the Mashiach Ben Yosef, the Shechina is lifted out, and it leaves the light of exile.

To understand the redemption you must understand Adam's sin, because the process will take place precisely in reverse of the process in which the exile took place. It's the removal of the foulness, therefore it's the reverse of the entire situation. Redemption is the final release and the final freeing of the world from the impurity. In the time of Adam before the sin there was no such thing as redemption because Adam was not in state of exile. The snake will only be removed completely at the end of the Messianic era. The World to Come is the finished state, where the world will be in a state of perfection.

If the Mashiach appeared now and suddenly revealed himself, Israel would become very frightened. Before the Mashiach comes, Klal Yisrael are in a very low state, heavily covered by a klipa. Their sensitivity to spirituality is dulled, their motivation to spirituality is very weak, and the sudden appearance of Mashiach would be threatening to them. There will be a specific action to raise Klal Yisrael out of the inyan of the klipos and give them an extraordinary sensitivity. There is additional dimension of a new spirit that comes down from the Heavens to us that suddenly every soul is activated and sensitized to a new level of Truth.

One of the things that the Satan does is that he convinces us that our current emotional and physical states is synonymous with our reality and it never was different, nor will it ever be different. The way we are now is not the way that we are by nature, nor is it the way that we will be, nor was it the way we were. One of the curses after Adam's sin was the effort that man has to put in to eat. Before the sin, there was no effort needed. The same goes for Torah, you must put in effort to understand it. In the Messianic era, such a thing will no longer exist. The Mashiach will be able to explain everything according to Torah, be able to cure every man on earth from every internal conflict and free him completely.

The midas ha'yichud means a certain aspect of the revelation of G-d's oneness. The midas ha'yichud of each generation changes and that becomes the pivot of the free will of that generation. In other words, each generation is attains His oneness differently and with each descending generation, the ability of the generation to attain His oneness decreases. The level attained also determines the nature of that world, meaning the actual physical laws and the actual personality of man. The psychological, intellectual, and physical status of the world at that time is determined by the midas ha'yichud.

Before Moshe Rabbenu, the only Torah was the seven mitzvos of Noach's sons. Moshe succeeded in removing the Torah from a bigger klipa than it was before, but it was only a partial success. The Torah that he left us with, the Second Tablets, was a greater Torah than what the world had known before. He could not carry it to its fullest aspect because of the sin of the Golden Calf and the internalness of the Torah itself was missing. The main argument that Moshe had with G-d was the descration of G-d's Name when it came to saving them after the sin of the Golden Calf. The nations of the world would claim that G-d didn't have the ability to bring them to the Land of Israel and therefore destroyed them in the desert. Destroying Klal Yisrael in the desert would show that there are two authorities, G-d forbid, and that G-d didn't have the power to have mercy on them. Allowing Klal Yisrael to be saved whether or not they were meritorious would reveal G-d's oneness in a much greater way than their destruction and the subsequent creation of a new nation.

The Yom Ha'din or Day of Judgment of Rosh Hashanah is concerned with continuity in the matter of our efforts and whether there is more to accomplish. The Day of Judgment after death is a determination of what was accomplished and and whether enough was accomplished or if there is a need to repair or improve anything. The Day of Judgment of the year 6000 is the final one because it is concerned with whether or not the repair was accomplished within the allotted time. At the end of 6000 everything is taken into account, including things that took place after death. After the Day of Judgment, this world will no longer exist because it is the day when everything and everyone is judged for merit to enter the World to Come. Those who merit to go may begin the process. Those who do not merit cease to exist.

Christianity is false because of its source and its concepts. It's much easier to see the falsehood of Christianity from its origin than from its philosophy because the philosophy is very subtle. Many ideas in Christian theology were borrowed from Judaism and then distorted. The source of Christianity comes from the experience of two or three people who said there was a man who arose and he created a new religion. When it first started, it was the belief that Jesus was a Mashiach and a cult was formed around this concept. Later on, this became much wider and began to be built around a new cult that believed that not only was he the Mashiach, but also an aspect of G-d. The experience of one man which is open to question cannot negate the experience of an entire nation which is not open to question.

Shabbetai Tzvi said that the Mashiach is an individual who is that last climax of the inyan of the holiness within the klipos. Therefore, in order to do his job he must go into the klipa itself, remove the oros in that klipa, and restore the last of the oros to Israel. He said it's the avoda of the Mashiach to go into the klipos consciously and voluntarily and this is a sheker ve'chazov. The inyan of the Mashiach be'soch ha'klipos is not a voluntary act. The Mashiach is born in the klipos and he can't get out of it. The Ramchal writes about this that the inyan of the Mashiach in the klipos is an involuntary inyan and it's something which causes immense suffering to the Mashiach as such, but it's not something that he G-d forbid would want to enter into. Shabbetai Tzvi felt, believed, and promoted the idea that he had to willingly go into the klipa itself in order to be clarify the last of the oros.

A person is born with certain spiritual strengths and a certain status of soul. Certain spiritual strengths are given and others are only potential. In order for G-d to be metiv, He has to influence a certain abundance which produces good. On the other hand, if G-d wants to bring suffering to the world He brings down an abundance of evil through the Satan. Our world is influenced by abundance which can either be for good or can come from evil, depending upon its objective.

The Gemara in Tractate Shabbos speaks about David's deed with Batsheva. David originally wanted to be one of the Forefathers and asked to be recognized as one. Just as the Forefathers were tested, so too David would have to be tested to be counted in their number, and G-d even told him he would be tested in the area of illicit relationships. We know the purpose of Adam was to bring the tikun to the world. Instead of fixing the world, he brought impurity into the world. Now, the impurity must be removed so the world can be prepared for the World to Come. These two actions need to be taken by the two Mashichim, one through Yosef and the other through David. Mashiach Ben Yosef will eradicate the impurity from creation and Mashiach Ben David will sanctify this world for the World to Come.

It is difficult to relate to Tisha be'Av these days since there is so little connection to all the suffering that happened so long ago. The reason why we have to afflict ourselves on Tisha be'Av is because of the fact that we ourselves destroyed the Temple, because every year that it isn't built it is as if it has been destroyed anew. We are not mourning what was; it is a day to realize that our failure to build it has destroyed it once again.

Creation was established in what's called the cycle of time and G-d established the world in seven days. The day after the seventh day is not called the eighth day, but called the first day. We have weeks, months, and years that come in a repetitive cycle. The first six days the hashpa'a created the secular; on the seventh day, it created spirituality. Every hashpa'a which exists in this world is a result of two hashpa'os. Either it's a result of the hashpa'a of the hanagas ha'mishpat or it relates to the hashpa'a of the hanagas ha'yichud.

The Ramchal says each one of these events which Klal Yisrael commemorates is not an historical event, rather a certain tikun that was established in the world at that time. These events reflect certain tikunim or certain levels which Klal Yisrael reached at that point in time when there was a certain abundance that came down to creation as a result of that tikun. When we keep these holidays today, we're attempting to recapture the abundance of that tikun that existed then for today and by doing that to activate a similar tikun in creation now. Normally it would be impossible, but when G-d gave us the mitzvos of the holidays He allowed this abundance that once existed to revisit the world every year.

The common factor that we see in the Torah is known as the tikun ha'shrashim and this is the essence of the history of the entire Torah. When Adam was created, he was created to do his avoda, to be mishtadel of the mitzvos, and to merit the World to Come. Adam was the type of soul that whatever he did not only affected him but everyone that came after him, because all souls come from Adam. For this reason he was called a shoresh or a root. His actions of mitzvah or sin can influence the purpose of all souls after him. When Adam failed, that purpose was given over to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov and their descendants.

When Klal Yisrael said "We will do and we will hear", they were referring to the written Torah and not the oral Torah. G-d created us with an intellect, a mind, so as not to follow instructions blindy. "We will do" means that G-d expects Klal Yisrael to uphold the Torah even without understanding it, and "we will hear" refers to the open miracles that they believe in. Klal Yisrael is the only nation that can correct Adam's sin. To destroy Klal Yisrael is to destroy the entire creation.

The laws of the Torah are not behavioral descriptions, they are laws of reality. The universe is built in such a way where there are forces called nature and reality is constructed that way. There is a reality that's subject to the five senses, which is the reality of our universe. The behavior of the physical universe is understood through the laws of science. There is another reality that is beyond the senses which is composed of spirituality and there are beings and there are things that are going on that exist on that plane that we cannot begin to fathom.

When most people sit and learn, they're concerned with finding out understanding the commandments. They'll start from the Gemara, learn Rashi, Tosafos, the Rishonim, the Mishne Torah and they'll see what the actual laws are. Every mitzvah is composed of certain realities and because of these realities, certain laws apply. These laws are actually expressions of the inner reality of a mitzvah. Each mitzvah is different with different realities and laws. One cannot understand the generalities until the specifics are understood. The senses see specifics, while the mind sees generalities.

When we encounter an idea, the first thing we do is find out what that idea is composed of and analyze the entities involved and its characteristics. The halachos describe these characteristics and are the definition the Torah gives to any specific entity. Every mitzvah has different characteristics that make up its essence and it's through its fulfillment and understanding of its specific halachos that you come to a full understanding of each mitzvah.

Halachos are concerned with how the spiritual reality interacts with the materialistic reality of any commandment. History is nothing more than the manifestation of hashkafa. The process of he'ara will manifest through certain instruments which are called osiyos. Each os is a certain he'ara and that's why everything in the world is understood through a concept and labeled by a word. When Adam was first made, G-d asked Adam to name everything because Adam understood the way of the Torah and named everything through understanding them with the osiyos. All the sections of the Torah were written in a certain way and that way is the instrument of creation.