מה קשר פירוד פרשיות נצבים וילך ומידת ההסתפקות? – עוללות אפרים

ז”ל ספר עוללות אפרים לר’ שלמה לונטשיץ, ח”ב עמ’ כ”ז מאמר “למען תשכילו”:

על צד המליצה ליתן טוב טעם ודעת על מה שאמרו רז”ל שאם יחול ר”ה ביום ב’ או ביום ג’ מחלקין נצבים וילך וכן מה שאמרו שאין ר”ה חל באחד מימי אד”ו ונתנו סימן לדבר…

שבעסקי הנפש צריך האדם להוסיף תמיד על שלימות תבואתו ותמיד הוא צריך לילך ולהיות נעתק ממקומו כמו שנאמר באברהם הלוך ונסוע…

אמנם בעסקי הגוף לא כך היא המדה אלא צריך האדם להסתפק במה שבידו ולעמוד בשלו אם מעט ואם הרבה יאכל ממנו כדי שלא יבא לכלות בהבל ימיו ויתבטל מן העסק אשר שלחו ה’ לארץ מאפילה זו לזכות את נפשו העליונה ולקנות לה סמא דחיי חיים נצחיים ובדרך זו אמרו איזו עשיר השמח בחלקו הוא העומד בשלו ואינו מבקש מותרות כמ”ש שיתן אדם עיניו למטה ולבו למעלה כו’ כי העין הוא הרואה ראייה גשמית בחמדות העה”ז ובהם יסתכל במי שהוא למטה ממנו במדריגה ואז ישמח במתת חלקו ואינו מבקש להוסיף על ממונו…

הנה התוכן המלא מאתר היברובוקס:

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Download (PDF, 131KB)

Download (PDF, 134KB)

כתבנו בעבר בשבח מידת ההסתפקות, כגון כאן (אנגלית).

‘Gehennom Is FAR Worse Than You Can Imagine… So Do Tikkunim with JOY!’

One of our more conscientious readers was alarmed by the Big Bad Book of Tikkunim and its accompanying explanations of the crucial necessity of undertaking penances (see more here).

The following is a part of my response:

The Vilna Gaon’s mother once appeared to him in a dream and admonished him for excessive mourning over two sons who had passed away during his lifetime. She said, a man should be happy and joyous in the very fact he is yet alive (employing the language of Yechezkel 7:13, see there), and may still rectify his actions. The tribulations of  Gehennom are very great and contain no mercy whatsoever.

אמו של הגר”א מוילנא באה אחרי מותה להגאון והוכיחה לו על שהיה מתאבל יותר מדאי על ב’ בנים שמתו, אמרה, האדם צריך להיות שש ושמח על שעדיין עודנו בחיים חיותו ויכול לתקן, כי עונשי הגיהנם גדול עד מאד בלי רחמנות כלל.

מקור: “כתבי הצדיק רבי יוסף זונדל מלסנט ז”ל” עמ’ קיד.

C.I.A.’s Sydney Gottlieb: The Jew Who Worked with ex-Nazis to Destroy Countless INNOCENTS

Here is a shortened bio from Wikipedia:

Sidney Gottlieb (born Joseph Scheider; August 3, 1918 – March 7, 1999) was an American chemist and spymaster best known for his involvement with the Central Intelligence Agency‘s 1950s and ’60s assassination attempts and mind control program, known as Project MKUltra.

Gottlieb, the son of Hungarian Jewish immigrant parents, was born in the Bronx as Joseph Scheider in 1918. In 1951, aged 33, Gottlieb joined the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). As a poison expert, he headed the chemical division of the Technical Services Staff (TSS). Gottlieb became known as the “Black Sorcerer” and the “Dirty Trickster.” He supervised preparations of lethal poisons and drug experiments in mind control.

In April 1953 Gottlieb became head of the secret Project MKUltra, which was activated on the order of CIA director Allen Dulles. In this capacity, he administered LSD and other hallucinogenic drugs to unwitting subjects and financed psychiatric research and development of “techniques that would crush the human psyche to the point that it would admit anything”. He sponsored physicians such as Ewen Cameron and Harris Isbell in controversial psychiatric research including nonconsensual human experiments.

In addition to working with subcontractors like Lockheed, the CIA also worked with other branches of the government, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the Department of Defense and the Office of Naval Intelligence, though it is unclear what role Gottlieb played in these affairs other than authorizing them.

Wikipedia forgets to add how he pioneered the C.I.A.’s international, secret torture prisons.

And that’s only what they failed to suppress…

Not Sure If This Fits With Rabbi Yosei in Perek ‘Lo Yachpor’…

Environmentalism and Economic Freedom: The Case for Private Property Rights

by Walter Block

Journal of Business Ethics 17: 1887–1899, 1998.

This paper shall attempt to reconcile environmentalism and economic freedom.

Before making this seemingly quixotic endeavor, we must be sure we are clear on both concepts. Environmentalism may be non controversially defined as a philosophy which sees great benefit in clean air and water, and to a lowered rate of species extinction. Environmentalists are particularly concerned with the survival and enhancement of endangered species such as trees, elephants, rhinos and whales, and with noise and dust pollution, oil spills,  greenhouse effects and the dissipation of the ozone layer…

Economic freedom also admits of a straightforward definition. It is the idea that people legitimately own themselves and the property they “capture” from nature by homesteading, as well as the additional property they attain, further, by trading either their labor or their legitimately owned possessions. Sometimes called libertarianism, in this view the only improper human activity is the initiation of threat or force against another or his property. This, too, is the only legitimate reason for law. To prevent murder, theft, rape, trespass, fraud, arson, etc., and all other such invasions is the only proper function of legal enactments.

At first glance the relationship between environmentalism and freedom would appear direct and straightforward: an increase in the one leads to a decrease in the other, and vice versa. And, indeed, there is strong evidence for an inverse relationship between the two…

How can environmentalism and economic freedom be reconciled? Simple. By showing that free enterprise is the best means toward the end of environmental protection. This appears a daunting task at the outset, given the emphasis placed by most environmentalists on socialism, and their hatred for capitalism. But a hint of the solution may be garnered by the fact that laissez-faire capitalism, as adumbrated above, strenuously opposes invasions, or border crossings, and that many environmental tragedies, from air pollution to oil spills, may be reasonably be interpreted in just such a manner. The reason for environmental damage, then, is the failure of government to protect property rights (omissions) and other state activity which either regulates private property, or which forbids it outright (commissions). Let us consider a few test cases…

Read the rest of the article here.

The Ramak’s Meditative Instructions for Friday Night Intimacy

Meditative Instructions For Friday Night Intimacy: Romantic Kabbalah in R. Moshe Cordovero

by Dr. Natan Ophir (Offenbacher)
Here is the English abstract [Massekhet, vol. 10, by Matan Jerusalem, October 2010, pp. 87-113, (English abstract 12-13)]:

How should love, intimacy, and joy be aroused? What is the secret for transforming physical love into a spiritual vehicle? In what ways can conjugal sex become a powerful tool to connect to the Divine? Such questions are addressed by RaMaK, R. Moshe Cordovero (1522–1570), one of the most prolific Kabbalist thinkers in Jewish history.  In Ohr Yakar, his commentary to the Zohar, and in Tefillah LeMoshe, his commentary and meditative manual to the liturgy, RaMaK provides guidance on why, when and how to make love.

RaMaK quotes with approbation a 14th century Kabbalistic dictum that a person who has not experienced physical sexual passion cannot truly discover spiritual love for God. He reprimands those who advocate pious sex by using the “hole in the sheet” method. In reality, they wedge an artificial separation between male and female and prevent a truly intimate union. Instead, relying upon the authority of the Zohar, RaMaK argues for a romantic-spiritual experience.

This article contrasts the tantalizing instructions of the RaMaK to the prevalent halachic-moralistic traditions of leading authorities such as the Rambam, Raavad, Tur and Shulhan Arukh who tended to mitigate the pleasure element in sex. In contrast, RaMaK justifies a romantic intimacy that breaks away from the ascetic trend.  He frames conjugal sex as a redemptive undertaking that creates harmony in both interpersonal relations and in the spiritual world of the Divine Sefirot.

RaMaK demonstrates the inherent value of love and sex at the proper time and place. He explains why Friday night is most conducive to creating the spiritual transformation. He details the Kabbalistic premises underlying the physical-mystical sexual intimacy as essential to both channeling erotic desire and facilitating the flow of Divine Influx (Shefa).

In sum, this article analyzes RaMaK’s exposition upon the Zoharic ‘secrets’ for arousing passion and then transforming it into a vehicle for spiritual unification. It demonstrates how this is part of a mindfulness practice inherent in the meditative Kabbalah developed by the RaMaK and his colleagues in 16th century Tzfat. The article concludes by suggesting that the RaMaK’s approach is a rudimentary model of what we might call “Kosher Tantra”.

Again, here’s Dr. Natan Ophir’s full article on Hyehudi.