IY'H, This Motzai Shabbos at ten pm, ny time we are meeting for our third time to learn the new material.
If you are on the call, please remind me to discuss the concept of our attachment to Hashem and how the inner redemption can be described - I have been told that i am describing it in a way that can be misinterpreted.
Please email Shira at geulafromwithin@gmail.com to join.
Thank you !
Here is the letter that I sent out to those of you whose emails i had, if you did not receive, then please email Shira if you are joining the new series.
Welcome to our new chaburah.
We are now taking the information we have been learning to date and integrating it on a deeper level (iyH)
So far: we have discussed the introduction and chapter one of the handbook: Inner Redemption , and the first 50 sections of Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh.
Here are some highlights:
Our purpose in this world is to have deveikus to Hashem.
He is the Creator, and all His creations are attached to Him.
When we feel this integration with Hashem, this is a form of geulah on an individual level.
(All feelings are a gift from Him. However, it is up to us to take the step.)
In order to help bring the geulah for the masses, our group is working together to create a “ripple effect” , by striving for an inner redemption.
This past week we discussed how there is a concept of giving over information in the name of the person that you heard the information from.
This is a step to the inner geulah, because it separates us from our ego, that knowledge is not ours, and we show that we don’t identify with it as such. In the same way, the geulah for the masses can come, when we all give over all that we are in the name of Hashem, meaning when we realize that He is everything and everything is from Him.
We are all in this together and it does not matter which step we are up to.
An important piece of the puzzle for all of us, however, is to know and sense that we are each a pure neshama.
(There are recordings of our chaburah discussing this idea over the past year and there will be a class given by one of our special chaburah members as soon as she is available (iyH.)
These are very deep concepts and also very simple, please allow these ideas to be absorbed into your neshama, without intellectually running after them.
Here is the next section that we will be discussing in the handbook/ and please read section 2 in Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh parts, 50-60.
2
Who Will Merit Moshiach?
(Adapted from Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh, Vol. V, p.256)
Waiting for Moshiach
One of our 13 principles of faith (listed by the Rambam) is that we believe that Moshiach will come, and “even though he tarries, I wait for him to come,every day.”
The Chasam Sofer asked: Why is belief in Moshiach one of the 13 fundamental beliefs? If a person doesn’t believe in Moshiach coming, does that mean that he doesn’t believe in G-d? Why is belief in Moshiach’s arrival so important that it is considered to be one of the 13 basic tenets of our faith?
Why We Wait for Moshiach
In order to be able to wait for something, we need to be able to conceptualize it. If we don’t know what something is, why should we wait for it? Through the knowledge of the concept of whatever it is that we are hoping for, we can then hope for it.
The more we know what a concept is, the more we await its revelation – and the less we know about it, the less we care about it.
Believing in Moshiach is not just a belief that he will come. There is more to this belief, and this is apparent from the fact that we have to awaken this belief every day. If we don’t know what Moshiach is all about, why should we care if he will come or not, and what would we need him for? Only if we know clearly what Moshiach truly means – what his purpose is, and what we are missing because he’s not here – can we await him with anticipation.
Anyone who is waiting for Moshiach, but doesn’t know who or what Moshiach is, is simply imagining things and fantasizing about a better world – he’s dreaming about the unknown. This isn’t belief in Moshiach, it’s just a fantasy. In order to really await Moshiach, we need to know who and what Moshiach is.
The Concept of Moshiach
Chazal state that the first redeemer will be the last redeemer (Bamidbar Rabbah 11:2). The first redeemer was Moshe Rabbeinu – so he will be our last redeemer as well. Why is Moshe Rabbeinu our redeemer?
Moshe has the same letters as the word lishmah (to act for the sake of Heaven). This is because Moshe reached a level in which he was divested of all physicality, any vestige of ulterior motives that stem from the body. He was connected to the Creator at all times with the greatest closeness, and all of his desire was about fulfilling his Creator’s desire. He did not live at all for himself – he considered his existence only as a connection to Hashem.
The redemption is rooted in the ability to act lishmah, and thus Moshe will be the redeemer, because he personified lishmah.
Who Will Merit Moshiach?
It is written (Yeshayahu 43:7), “All is called in My name, for My honor I created it”. All of Creation, everything in existence, was created for the sake of Hashem.
We are currently in exile. What is exile? Exile is essentially a situation in which we do not recognize how everything is all Hashem. In exile, we are either missing this recognition in our minds or in our hearts. But redemption will be a situation in which we recognize – both from our internal self and the rest of our external self – that everything is all for (and from) Hashem, and we do not live for ourselves.
This defines Moshiach. Moshiach is a recognition – a revelation of this recognition – that everything exists for Hashem.
If a person considers his life to be for himself – whether he’s looking for honor, or some other desire in life – he’s disconnected totally from the concept of Moshiach. His whole existence is contradicting the idea of Moshiach. Only when a person lives lishmah will he merit the revelation of Moshiach.
A person always has some part of him that isn’t lishmah. When Moshiach comes, only the lishmah aspect of a person will remain, while the rest of the person will disappear – the parts in us that are shelo lishmah. Our shelo lishmah will vanish from all of our senses.
Now we can understand why belief in Moshiach is one of our fundamental faiths – it is because Moshiach reveals the purpose of Creation.
If you have any questions please email me or call me anytime. This is serious and exciting material! Also, please email Shira at geulafromwithin@gmail.com if you want to be removed from the group list and/ or if you want to receive the recordings from the first series.
love, me
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