 “You are My witnesses, a guarantee of HaShem” (Isaiah Chapter 43:10) “Na’aseh v’Nishmah” – Spiritual Practices and Their Benefits: The purpose of this column is to introduce readers to spiritual
practices, or ways of performing Mitzvot – that if practiced on an ongoing basis – will grant the person doing them an understanding and/or experiences of the deeper spiritual benefits that we accepted would be there in faith when we said, “Na’aseh v’Nishmah” at Sinai.
Introduction:
Every once in a while, my teacher Professor Chaim Sober would tell our class, “I’m about to give you a one billion, gazillion dollar lesson.” This is one of those types of lessons.
What if I told you there is a way to boost your spiritual energy almost effortlessly?
What would you say if I told you that the first level would take you no more than three to ten minutes a day?
Hard to believe? But even more amazing – it is really true.
In The Gate of Mitzvot, Parashat Va’etchanan, Rav Chaim Vital brings down the method that his master the Arizal employed to fulfill the instruction of instituting “set times for Torah study.”
In Sayings of our Fathers we are told that when we reach the world to come, one of the questions we will be asked is: “Kavat/a Itim la Torah? Did you establish a daily time for Torah study?” It may be based on Rav Moshe Cordevero’s tradition or on an earlier tradition handed down to them both, but regardless, the Ari’s practice was to study a daily portion from the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, Mishna, Gemara and Zohar. For after all, the Torah is comprised of both the written and the oral teachings, so to be able to answer, “Yes. I studied Torah.” one must have touched upon each section of Torah to be able to say they had done so in full. But is that the only reason – to cover one’s self? – or is there something much, much more to it? Something incredibly powerful and deep?
Na’aseh:
In Kabbalah, one way to express G-d’s name Y-H-V-H is to spell out its letters in this fashion:
Y – Yud – is spelled: Yud-Vuv-Daled
H – Hay – is spelled: Hay-Hay
V – Vuv – is spelled: Vuv-Vuv
H – Hay – is spelled: Hay-Hay
In Gematria, every letter of the Hebrew aleph bet has a corresponding numerical value. In this instance, the letters that fill out HaShem’s name are utilized to indicate how many verses are to be read each day of the week.
On Sunday: 6 (Yud-Vuv-Daled)
Monday: 4 (Yud-Vuv-Daled)
Tuesday: 5 (Hay-Hay)
Wednesday: 6 (Vuv-Vuv)
Thursday: 5 (Hay-Hay)
And optionally, but for those who wish an additional boost and to follow the system fully, Thursday night after midnight: 26 (The whole name)
Each week you will need to use the coming Shabbat’s Torah portion.
Level 1: Start from the beginning of the coming Shabbat’s Torah reading. Each day recite out loud the indicated # of verses for that day. Recite each verse twice and then recite the Aramaic translation of the sage Onkelos once. So, on Sunday one would read the first six verses, let’s say 1-6. On Monday, verses 7-10. Tuesday, 11-15, etc.
There is also a meditative component to the recitation. While reciting the verses verbally and out loud, mentally, one is to keep in mind the letter of G-d’s name for that day with a particular vowel – not to say the letter – but to literally, “keep it in mind.” The sequence is as follows:
On Sunday: 6 (Yud-Vuv-Daled) Vuv with the vowel “ay”, the two dots under it
Monday: 4 (Yud-Vuv-Daled) Daled with the vowel “ah”, the single line under it
Tuesday: 5 (Hay-Hay) Hay with the vowel “eh”, the three dots under it
Wednesday: 6 (Vuv-Vuv) Vuv with the vowel “aw”, the “little tee” under it
Thursday: 5 (Hay-Hay) Hay with the vowel “ee”, the single dot under it
Thursday night after midnight: visualize G-d’s whole name with the letters I this order V-H-Y-H with the single dot vowel “ee” under each letter.
Nishmah – part I:
Take a breath in. Then breathe in again before you exhale.
Do you see that with the first breath you did not utilize your full capacity? The lungs, the vessel for the air you inhale could hold more.
On Shabbat we are granted a Neshamah Yeteirah. Usually translated as, “an extra soul” it could just as well be translated as “more soul.” In a way, the body is a vessel, just like the lungs. It has more capacity for spiritual energy than it normally contains. On Shabbat it holds more than during the week.
There are three basic levels to the soul: Nefesh, Ruach and Neshamah. Nefesh animates the physical body. Ruach is an intermediate level. Neshamah is associated with the brain and the higher aspect of one’s soul.
On Sunday, when we recite the six verses and meditate on the letter Vuv with the “ay” sound, we are able to regain the Neshamah Yeteirah from the Shabbat that just passed. As we are only one day removed from Shabbat, we are able to regain an illumination of the Neshamah from the prior Shabbat.
On Monday, we are two days out. We can still regain an illumination, but now, it is a bit weaker and we can only re-illuminate the additional Ruach we enjoyed the previous Shabbat.
On Tuesday we are three days out. At this distance from Shabbat, we can gain an illumination for our Nefesh from the Shabbat that passed.
Wednedsay we begin our ascent towards the coming Shabbat. We are three days out, so again, the most we can do is gain an illumination of our Nefesh from the Shabbat that is forthcoming.
Thursday we are two days away. We can gain an illumination of the Ruach from the Shabbat this is forthcoming.
Thursday night/Friday morning: we can again enjoy an early illumination of our Neshamah.
Commentary:
What has been described above is the first level of a system of studying all the sections of the Torah on a daily basis called Chok L’Yisrael. By far, the easiest way to start practicing this system is to purchase a set via your local Jewish bookstore. Not everyone has a library with all these books available and certainly it is not convenient to carry a library around with you every day. Baruch HaShem, there are several fine editions of Chok L’Yisrael available via your local Jewish bookstore. My personal favorite is the pocket sized, five volume “HaMaor” edition.
Na’aseh part II:
Level 2 is reading the indicated number of verses from one of the books of the Prophets, usually that week’s Haftorah and the same number of verses from either the book of Mishlei or Psalms. When reading verses from these books, it is only necessary to recite them once in Hebrew and once in their Aramaic translation. (You can either find the Aramaic in a Mikra’ot Gedolot or in a set of Chok L’Yisrael.)
Level 3 is to read a Mishnah that day – or for an even greater spiritual effect – a whole chapter of Mishnayot.
Nishmah – part II:
It is remarkable to learn that there are six orders of Mishnah. These six orders correspond to the six days of the week and the six sefirot: chesed, gevurah, tiferet, netzach, hod and yesod. On Sunday one reads from the first order of Mishnah, Monday the second, etc., etc. This is Torah magic, pure and simple. Never before was it so clear that the Torah is the very fabric of Creation, the six days of the week.
Na’aseh – part III:
Level 4 is to read Talmud that relates to the Mishnah studied that day. A few years ago a young scholar, Rav Asaf Rybak from Yerushalayim published a sefer entitled Sha’agat Ha’Ari – The Roar of the Lion. In it he pointed out that all the published editions of the Chok L’Yisrael have an incredible error in them: the majority of the selections of Talmud study have nothing to do with the Mishnayot of that day! This is a direct contradiction of what is written in the Ari’s teachings in Sha’ar HaMitzvot.
Level 5 is to study a selection of the Zohar.
Alas, you will not find an edition of Chok L’Yisrael without the erroneous Talmud selections (after centuries, the work is locked by tradition), so you will need to compensate on your own by perhaps photocopying a mishnah and the beginning of the gemara on it from each day of the week, meaning, each order, for example: Brachot, Shabbat, Kedushin, Shevuot, Bechorot. Yes – you can learn the same Mishnah and Gemara each week. In fact, the only portion that must be different each day is the Torah portion from the forthcoming Shabbat’s Torah reading. As such, we are privileged to make available to you a pdf file from Rav Rybak which contains a selection from every part of the Torah. You can use it in a crunch. While it would be ideal to learn Mishnah and Gemara corresponding to the day of the week, you can use the selection from Brachot to fulfill the system.
A second thing you should know is that the translation of the Zohar in every published edition of Chok L’Yisrael that I’ve seen leaves much to be desired and can even be harmful with regard to the proper study of the Zohar. One would be well advised to either read the Aramaic alone – or better – purchase a set of the Zohar with the commentary Matok MiDvash. (When the Yedid Nefesh edition is back in print, and you are ready to advance, go for that one.) The Matok MiDvash is an excellent entre into the world of the Zohar and is also available in a set of 26 books in either full or pocket/travel size.
Nishmah Part III:
In the course of studying according to this practice it becomes apparent that there is much more to it than just filling up “reserve soul capacity.”
One additional finding is this: different portions of the Torah activate different parts of the brain.
That is why I included the Prophets and Writings together as part of Level 2. Just the Prophets alone does not accomplish the same illumination.
Level 1 – the Torah – will light up the frontal lobes of your brain.
Level 2 – the Prophets & Writings – will light up the sides.
Level 3 – the Mishna – will light up the central core.
Level 4 – the Gemara – will light up a ring around your mind.
Level 5 – the Zohar – is (to me at least) evidently non-physical.
The bare minimum of daily study to receive the illumination for your soul is the Torah study, Level 1. It only takes 3-10 minutes a day. (If you study it over lunch, you will transform your meal from “zivchei meiteem, an offering of the dead” to “zivchei chaim, a meal of one who is alive, i.e., through Torah study.) The practice of both Baba Sali and the Arizal was to study it immediately after davening.
Going to Level 2 can take anywhere from an additional 5 to 15 minutes. One may not always have the time, but it’s painful to know that with just a little more time more of one’s mind would be activated.
With this knowledge in hand, it can be quite useful to study all the sections on days that a serious decision needs to be made. As the expression goes, “otherwise, it’s like an engine running on four out of eight cylinders.” But this is an ugly suggestion in that it implies studying the different sections of the Torah for personal use per se. The practical benefits should remain a pleasant side effect and perhaps a secondary motivation for the practical benefit studying Torah imparts to her students.
The true goal is to be a Jew and that means to fulfill the dictum to set times for daily Torah study. One way to do so is to follow the Ari’s practice, which has been described above.
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© Copyright 2009 Moshe T. Eliovson
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