Tuesday Sivan 5, Erev Shavuot 5703, 49th day of the Omer **
Torah Lessons (5703)	Chumash: Nasso, Shlishi with Rashi. Tehillim: 29-34. Tanya: And this is (p. 279)...BLESSED AND EXALTED. (p. 281).

On the eve of Shavuot 5557 (1797) the Alter Rebbe taught:

"Sanctify them today and tomorrow and they shall cleanse their garments. [1]

"Sanctify them today and tomorrow," is done from Above, but "they shall cleanse their garments" - one must do himself."

This was the entire teaching.

The Tzemach Tzedek elaborated:

"Sanctify them" was said by G-d to Moshe. The extension of Moshe is in every generation [2] and they [3] are able to sanctify the "today" and the "tomorrow"; but for this is needed "..and they shall cleanse their garments" - the garments of thought, speech and deed. This must be done by each person on his own.

   

Notes:

1. (Back to text) Sh'mot 19:10.

2. (Back to text) Tikunei Zohar, Tikun 69.

3. (Back to text) I.e. the Moshe in each generation.

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Day seven of week 7

Malchut of malchut

Examine the sovereignty of your sovereignty. Does it come from deep- rooted inner confidence in myself? Or is it just a put-on to mask my insecurities? Does that cause my sovereignty to be excessive? Am I aware of my uniqueness as a person? Of my personal contribution?

Exercise for the day: Take a moment and concentrate on yourself, on your true inner self, not on your performance and how you project to others; and be at peace with yourself knowing that G-d created a very special person which is you.

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Conclusion

Upon concluding these forty nine days we come to the fiftieth day - Mattan Torah, when we have fully achieved inner renewal by merit of having assessed and developed each of our forty nine attributes.

What is the significance of the fiftieth day Mattan Torah? After we have achieved all we can accomplish through our own initiative, then we receive a gift (mattana in Hebrew) from above that which could not achieve with our limited faculties. We receive the ability to actually reach and touch the divine; not only to be cultivated human beings who have refined each of their personal characteristics, but divine human beings, who are capable of expressing above and beyond their defined hum an emotions, but actually express that which is unexpressable and undefinable in human terms; the most intimate emotions that transcend the forty nine defined attributes.

From:

A Spiritual Guide to the counting of the Omer

Forty-Nine Steps to Personal Refinement

The Forty-Nine Days of Sefirah

by Simon Jacobson

$7.95 Soft Cover

Copyright © 1996 by - Vaad Hanochos Hatmimim

788 Eastern Parkway - Brooklyn NY 11213

718-774-6448 - email: wisdomreb@aol.com

It is this love - [this latter manner of love, which may be generated by contemplation] - that Moses, our teacher, peace unto him, wished to implant in the heart of every Jew, in the passage, [28] "And now, Israel ..." in the verse [that speaks of G-d's greatness, "Behold, the heavens belong to G-d, your L-rd ...." [and likewise in the following verses that speak of G-d's love for His people: "Only in your fathers did He delight .... You shall circumcise.... With seventy souls [did your forefathers descend to Egypt, and now He has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven]."

[All the above inevitably leads to the first verse in the following chapter, namely]: [29] "You shall love [the L-rd your G- d ...]."

Hence [Moshe Rabbeinu] concluded his words [in the later verse quoted above] concerning this love, [30] ".... which I command you to do."

[Here, then, is the answer to the above query as to how it is possible to "do" or to create the spiritual emotion of love].

For this is a love that is produced in the heart through the understanding and self-involving knowledge of matters that inspire love.

[But if the verse is in fact referring to the kind of love that is created through contemplation, should it not first command one to contemplate?

Indeed so, the Alter Rebbe now goes on to say]:

And this he had commanded previously, [in the first paragraph of Shema]: [31] "And these words, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart," so that through this [meditation] you will come to love G-d, as is stated in the Sifri on this verse. [32].

An expression of command "[which I command you to do - to love]" can thus be applied to this second type of [intellectually-generated] love.

[It might seem that to command a person to experience love would be either fruitless or superfluous. Not so, however, with regard to the kind of love that is born of contemplation. Here, one can indeed be given a command], namely, to focus one's heart and mind on matters that arouse love.

But an expression of command is not at all applicable to the first kind of love, which is a flame that ascends of its own accord.

Furthermore, it is the reward of the tzaddikim, to savor a foretaste of the World to Come in this world.

[In the World to Come the righteous bask in the rays of the Divine Presence: they delight in their perception of G-dliness. And it is this delight that tzaddikim enjoy in this world when they serve G-d with love].

Concerning this [level of love] it is written, [33] "I have granted [you] your priesthood as a Divine service which is a gift,"" as will be explained in its proper place, [namely, where the Divinely-bestowed gift of ahavah betaanugim is discussed].

[The Alter Rebbe now goes on to explain what special quality lies in the lesser manner of service of "educating the child according to his way," so that "even when he grows [spiritually] older he will not to depart from it."

It is true that the lower level of love, that which is engendered by meditation, is a stage in one's educational preparation, so to speak.

Compared with the loftier level of essential and constant love that is revealed only within tzaddikim, it is a child's service, within the reach of all.

Yet there is something in it that must be retained even when one has graduated to the "adult" manner of love of G-d.

For it is possible that the superior kind of love will not always be manifest even when one is on the level of a tzaddik. Particularly so, since his mandatory advances from level to level demand that before reaching a higher rung he must first release his hold of the previous rung; otherwise, it will encumber his ascent.

When the tzaddik is bereft of his own level of love, he then nourishes his divine service with a resource that harks back to his spiritual childhood - with a love born of meditation, the lower level of love in which he was schooled before he attained the state of tzaddik].

   

Notes:

28. (Back to text) Devarim 10:12, 14, 15, 16, 22.

29. (Back to text) Ibid. 11:1.

30. (Back to text) Ibid., v. 22.

31. (Back to text) Ibid. 6:6.

32. (Back to text) The Rebbe Shlita notes that the above enables us to understand a related statement of the Sifri that is otherwise baffling. The Sifri states that the verse that teaches that "you shall love the L-rd your G-d with all your heart" does not explain how G-d is to be loved; the verse therefore goes on to tell us that "these words...shall be upon your heart," for "thereby you come to know G-d and cleave to His ways."

    The question here is obvious: How does "upon your heart" give a better explanation of how G-d is to be loved than "with all your heart"?

    According to the above explanation of the Alter Rebbe, however, the Sifri is thoroughly understandable: "upon your heart" refers to the kind of meditation that inevitably leads to the fulfillment of the commandment to "love the L-rd your G-d with all your heart."

33. (Back to text) Bamidbar 18:7.

Positive Mitzvah 7: Taking an oath in G-d's name
Deuteronomy 10:20 "And swear by His name"

In court, when the defendant is called to the stand, he or she is questioned again and again by the lawyers and the judge.

The defendant tries to convince the jury that he is not guilty of the crime he is charged with. The judge demands that he swear he is telling the truth.

The defendant chooses to swear by something he holds to be sacred and important. He hopes this will impress the jury of his sincerity and innocence.

In a Beit Din, a Jew may also be required to take an oath confirming that he is telling the truth.

When taking an oath, he is commanded to swear by the name of HaShem. He will be using HaShem's holy name to convince the court of his honesty.

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Isn't this the whole meaning of life in this world -- to choose between connecting to the material world and believing that your life comes from those many forces, or to choose true life and to believe that all your needs and all your concerns come only from the One G-d of Life?

From: Bringing Heaven Down to Earth by Tzvi Freeman - tzvif@aol.com