The Dance of White Fire

An excerpt from Orchard of Delights

After the yearly Torah reading cycle is completed on the morning of Simchat Torah, we immediately begin the cycle again by reading the beginning of Bereishit, recounting the creation of the world. This practice connects the end of the Torah with its beginning, as discussed in the previous section. This ceremonial completion and immediate new beginning takes place following fourteen circuits of joyous dancing and singing with the Torah: seven of which occur Simchat Torah night and seven which occur on Simchat Torah morning. While the Torah scroll is rolled from its end to its beginning (or a second Torah scroll is readied for use), we find ourselves in a very unique situation, a sort of spiritual no man’s land, suspended somewhere between the end and the beginning. Although it only takes a few minutes to roll or ready the Torah scroll for use, symbolically speaking, these moments reflect an emotion that Simchat Torah is imbued with – a sense of anticipation. For during the entire three week period since Rosh Hashanah we have been living in suspended animation, waiting for the new year to finally show its true face. Since this will finally happen on the day after Simchat Torah – at the end of the holiday season – we are now ready to conclude the Torah and begin reading it again.    

     The Midrash teaches that the letters of the Torah are like black fire engraved on parchment that is analogous to white fire (Yalkut Shimoni, Yitro 280). To understand even a small part of the wisdom encoded in the black fire takes a life time; the wisdom engraved in the white fire is at present beyond human comprehension. On Simchat Torah we do not emphasize studying Torah. Instead we dance on the white fire as if all is an open book waiting to be revealed. This dancing connects us in a most profound way to the Torah as an Orchard of Delights.

     The sense of suspended animation we are in is symbolized by our dancing for hours in circles with the Torah scrolls; this, in turn, recalls the verse from Job (26:6): “He hangs the world on nothingness.” The numerical value of the Hebrew letters in this phrase is 913, the same as the numerical value of the Torah’s first word, “bereishit” (“in the beginning”). Dancing at the beginning of a year full of promise, we are imbued with joy, trust, and faith in what the new year will bring to us as individuals and as Jews. Although the script of the Torah is written and God has rendered and sealed our judgments for the upcoming year, Judaism firmly believes that in some sense the script is still blank as we all continue to write our own script every day of the year. Paradoxically, far from being closed books, our lives are open to change; we still have the ability to determine much of what we will experience in the upcoming year. This realization brings with it great joy and power, as we symbolically roll the Torah back to Bereishit and acknowledge our ability to choose to begin again.

     The Talmud states that everything goes after the sealing (Berachot 12a). The manner in which we conclude any journey in life affects how we will remember it and how it will impact on our lives. Therefore, the Sages decided that we should conclude the yearly reading of the Torah and the High Holiday season with great joy and celebration, so that this energy would remain with us and carry over into the new year.

     At one of the most climatic moments during the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur prayers, we declare that repentance, prayer, and charity have the power to nullify negative decrees. Immediately following the Ten Days of Repentance, the joyous holidays of Sukkot and Simchat Torah teach us that joy also has the power to nullify negative decrees, wiping the slate clean, and allowing a truly new year to begin.

Rebbetzin Rachel's Recipes for a Super Sweet Sukkot!

One of my neighbors told me her family didn’t like Tzimmes - a traditional sweet dish served at this season. Tzimmes in Yiddish means “a big deal” but this recipe is no big deal it’s actually easier than pie. She asked me if I had a twist on the old classic. This recipe was such a hit I just had to post it on our Ohr Chadash Blog!

Put a package of red turkey chunks (found in the frozen meat section of your local store - in Hebrew הודו אדום on top of some sliced onions and fill the pot with water up to half the height of the meat. Sprinkle on top some onion soup powder,sweet paprika and black pepper and let it steam on a very low fire for about an hour. Then add chunks of those wonderful vitamin A rich veggies such as pumpkin, carrots, butternut squash and sweet potatoes and a generous handful of pitted prunes and there it is. Let it all steam until tender. Add a tablespoon of honey a pinch of cinnamon a dash of Allspice known locally as English pepper פלפל אנגלי  (I guess the Middle Eastern pepper temperature tolerance is fiery hot as compared to the mild mannered and not so spicy Anglo). The sweet potatoes should break down and make delightful gravy; the meat should be so tender it just falls apart.  

Sweet Chag Sameach to ya’ll, LOL Rachel

Yom Kippur and the Four Letter Name of God

As part of the religious decorations in many synagogues around the world there is found the following verse from Psalms ( 16:8 ): “I put God before me at all times.” In Kabbalah this verse is interpreted to mean that the essential four letter name of God appears in the form and process of every aspect of reality and is used as a model through which we understand the Divine, as it manifests itself in all areas of life.

     For example, the four letters of God’s name - yod, heh, and vav, heh - form the words we use in Hebrew for the passage of time: past (heh, yod, heh,) present (heh, vav, heh) and future (yod, heh, yod, heh.) The aspect of time when added to the three coordinates of space make up the four dimensions of perceptible reality as taught by Einstein. Many other aspects of time, space and material reality are based on the number four as well, such as the four seasons (autumn, winter, spring and summer,) the four cardinal directions (north, south, east and west), the four basic elements (fire, earth, water and air), the four basic forces of the universe (gravity, electromagnetic, the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force,) the four states of matter (solid, liquid, gas and active combustion) the four aspects of creation (inanimate, vegetable, animal and human) etc…

    In addition to the physical universe, the four letters of God’s name manifest throughout the spiritual worlds as well. In Kabbalah we are taught that there are four worlds encompassing all levels of created reality, from the spiritual to the physical: Atzilut - the world of emanation; Briah - the world of creation; Yetzirah - the world of formation and Assiyah - the world of action.

     A beautiful allusion to the four letters of God’s name is found in four major components of the holiday of Yom Kippur. The yod, the first letter of God’s name, numerically equals ten, corresponding to the date of Yom Kippur, the tenth of Tishrei, and the culmination of the ten days of repentance. An additional correspondence relates to Moses bringing down from Mt. Sinai the second tablets of the law with the ten commandments on Yom Kippur.

     The first heh of God’s name numerically equals five, corresponding to the five prayer services of Yom Kippur. We pray three prayer services daily and four times on Shabbat and holidays. The only time of the year we pray five prayer services is on Yom Kippur. This further relates to the five levels of soul (nefesh, ruach, neshama, chaya and yechida,) of which the fifth one, yechida, the super-conscious level of soul, is more accessible on Yom Kippur than any other time of the year.

     The third letter of God’s name, the vav, numerically equals six, corresponding to the six divisions of the Torah reading of the day. This is also an unique aspect of Yom Kippur, as it is the only time of the year there is such a division. The number six in Kabbalah relates to the six cardinal emotional characteristics within a person. On Yom Kippur we attempt to rectify and seek forgiveness, especially for the mistakes and shortcomings we have in these areas of our lives. The letter vav in Kabbalah also symbolizes sexual energy. This is reflected by the fact that the Torah reading of the afternoon service of Yom Kippur deals exclusively with this topic.

     The final letter in God’s four letter name, the final heh, numerically equals five, corresponding to the five prohibitions of the day: eating and drinking, bathing, anointing with oil, wearing leather shoes and marital relations.

     The above example is but one of an almost infinite number of ways we can see the four letter name of God reflected in creation. The more we learn of these correspondences, the more we come to appreciate the deeper meaning of “I place God before me at all times.”

Rebbetzin Rachel's Recipes for a Sweet New Year!

The theme of Rosh Hashana cooking is Sweetness – like sweet noodle kugel with fruit cocktail and raisins, sweet tsimmes with prunes and butternut squash along with the sweet potatoes, and of course the sweetest honey cake. How about some unexpected dips for the sweet round challah? 

Here’s a recipe with a surprisingly sweet twist substituting honey instead of the usual garlic! 

SWEET TECHINA:

½ cup sesame paste (techina)

½ cup water & blend till smooth and creamy adding more techina to thicken or water to thin the mixture

Add the juice of one lemon

1 Tablespoon honey

A pinch of salt

A pinch of ground cumin

You can spread some SWEET TECHINA or get really adventurous and go south of the border for some...

SWEET GUACOMOLE:

Mash 2 ripe avocados add a pinch of salt, the juice of one lemon and of course Honey to taste!

A bride and groom dip in honey instead of salt for their entire first year of marriage! 

We start dipping our sweet challah with raisins into honey on the first night of Rosh Hashana, and continue through Simchat Torah, each time symbolically wishing each other and all of Israel a very Sweet New Year filled with love and gratitude.

Shana Tova!

Two Shofars, One Heart

A Story

     When Moshe woke up on Rosh HaShanah morning he didn’t realize that he had slept so late. For a few minutes he laid in bed thinking about the night before. Who could forget the shining faces and the candles glowing, the table set with all his holiday favorites and the special songs. Moshe began to compare all the holidays to see which one he liked best, but quickly decided that they were all so special, how could he possibly choose.

     Just then his mother came in the room. “I thought you’d never get up. Everyone left for shul long ago.” Moshe jumped out of bed, washed his hands and got dressed quickly. “I hope I didn’t miss shofar blowing” he said. “No, no you’re not that late,” his mother said. “I’ll be walking to synagogue soon because I want to be there to hear the shofar, but if you want you can go now. Just make sure not to go through the forest, but take the long way around. I want to make sure you get there.”

     Moshe put his little shofar his parents had bought him that year and his prayer book in his pack and started off. As Moshe came to the forest he forgot all about what his mother had said. He also forgot that just three weeks before his older sister had to go look for him in the forest because he got mixed up and didn’t know which way was home. Moshe was too busy thinking about hearing the shofar and started through the forest.

     He imagined how one day the whole world would stop and listed to the great shofar of redemption and how peace and happiness would fill the world. As if suddenly waking from a dream he looked around but could not remember which way he came from and which way to go. Why didn’t I listen to my mother, he thought, as he kicked a stone in anger. Now I will miss the shofar blowing and everything. Moshe sat down and began to cry, “What will I do now?”

     Just at that moment in a town far away another person also felt like crying. But this was no little boy and he knew exactly where he was. His name was Rabbi Yitzchak and in a few minutes he was to blow the shofar for the entire congregation. He was a very rich man and a great leader in his town. Everyone looked up to him and his advice was widely sought out. So why was he sad? He didn’t know exactly why, but he felt deep down inside that on this Day of Judgement, when God looks into the heart of every person, that somehow he could be a better person. Rabbi Yitzchak pulled the tallit, the prayer shawl, over his head so no one could see. He remembered how he had once learned that sometimes we need to be like little children and cry for what we want. Then he remembered that our wise teachers said that the gates of tears are always open. Very quietly Rabbi Yitzchak pulled the tallit further over his face and began to cry. He prayed to God to be deserving of the respect and honor people gave him. He wanted only to be worthy of God’s continual blessing. “Please let my shofar blowing somehow make us all better people.”

     In the meantime, Moshe had been crying for who knows how long. Suddenly he remembered what his father had told him: “In a place where there are no leaders- try to be a leader” (Pirkei Avot  2:6 ). Moshe stood up and wiped his tears. “If I can’t make it to synagogue to hear the shofar, well, I’ll just have to blow it myself!” He took out his little shofar and prayed that God would send the Messiah this year. He took a deep breath and blew the shofar like never before. It was so loud that the sound seemed to travel forever.

    Far away Rabbi Yitzchak stood up. He had not cried like that in years and felt like a new person. Everyone watched as he took out his shofar, said the blessings and began to blow. The shofar blasts were so loud and pure that everyone in the synagogue trembled. Every person felt as if God was looking right into their heart. Tears poured out of everyone’s eyes as they  promised to be a little better than last year.

     Back in the forest, Moshe had just finished blowing his shofar and he felt about a hundred feet tall. Just then in the distance he heard the sound of people singing. “It must be the synagogue” he said to himself. Moshe ran as fast as he could and sure enough he got there just in time for the blowing of the shofar. His father gave him a big kiss as he ran in to stand next to him. Moshe’s father couldn’t help notice how his little boy was growing up.

     Far away Rabbi Yitzchak finished saying shana tova, a good year, to the last of the congregation before returning home. As he came into his house his wife and children couldn’t help notice how young and happy he looked.

For Moshe and Rabbi Yitzchak it was a very good year indeed.

Before the Shofar is Blown

The old makes way for the new,

while the new makes way for the old;

where one begins another ends,

nothing ever stops at all,

it is renewed in the shofar call.

There is just so much you can do -

the rest must come from the heavenly dew.

The King is merciful,

surely He will hear us

and then we will be renewed -

Yes! this year will be new.

There is just one thing we ask of You -

to show us what is really true.

On the Day of Judgment

surely You will guide us,

to show us the straight way through,

to a place with the clearest view,

and then we will be renewed -

Yes! this year we will start anew.

Though time is forever water that flows,

our lives are merely melting snow;

a seed in the springtime

is a flower in summer,

but eventually it must fall -

to be reborn in the King’s hall.

And now the shofar must be blown

to remind us of preciousness grown.

While life is for the living,

love is for the giving;

so let us stand before the All Knowing eyes,

in the palace of the Most High.

The old makes way for the new,

while the new makes way for the old;

where one begins another ends,

nothing ever stops at all -

may our hearts be a shofar call!