The Source of Life

Before beginning the search for chametz on the night before Pesach, we scatter 10 pieces of bread, or cookies, or crackers, around the house. The practice was instituted by the master Kabbalist, the Arizal, so those of you who are frightened or ignorant of the secrets of Torah - beware!

Rabbi Leon Levi

The saintly Kabbalist, Rabbi Leon Levi, explains that the ten pieces of chamatz represent the 10 levels of spiritual impurity (kelipot) in the world, corresponding to the 10 sons of the wicked Haman. Chametz symbolizes the evil inclination in man (the yetzer hara) which we are to uproot from our lives before the start of the holiday. We should have this goal in mind when we burn the chametz in our pre-Pesach bonfires. To help people attain this lofty aspiration, most prayer books contain a Kabbalistic prayer which is beneficial to say after the burning.

Pre-Pesach class

“Nevertheless,” Rabbi Levi said this morning to a group of 300 married Torah scholars, “many people deceive themselves into thinking that by burning their chametz they have finished the job, when in fact their homes are still filled with destructive spiritual forces and kelipot which they themselves have created in their bedrooms by succumbing to the wiles of the yetzer hara.   

In simple terms, our good deeds create good angels, or positive spiritual forces, and our transgressions create bad angels, or negative spiritual forces.

Therefore, Rabbi Levi stressed, before burning one’s chametz, a person should recite special prayers, called “tikunim,” which are designed to deepen a person’s repentance and combat evil spiritual forces – the impure kelipot that he has created by his transgressions.

Tikunim do not come to replace the standard requirements of repentance, which include confessing ones sins before G-d, heartfelt regret over them, and a commitment not to repeat them in the future. Rather, Tikunim are additional ammunition in the battle against the yetzer hara which can help a person wipe out spiritual stains and blemishes that are difficult to rectify. This is especially true in the case of spilling semen in vain (zera l’batelah) which results from an assortment of sexual transgressions. Wasting and misusing sexual energy is like desecrating a Torah Scroll, Rabbi Levi explained, because contained in the zera are the 22 letters of the Torah that G-d used to create the world.  

22 Chromosomes

Without going into details, note the same number of 22 chromosomes in the photo, and the resemblance between the DNA double-helix and the “Tree of Kabbalah.”

DNA Double Helix

Hebrew letters and Kabbalistic Diagram

Tikunim like Rebbe Nachman’s “Tikun HaKlali,” Rabbi Aharon Rota’s “Tikun HaYesod,” the “Tikun HaYesod” of the Ben Eish Chai, and Rabbi Leon Levi’s “Tikun HaYesod Yeshuat Eliahu,” are structured to help a person understand the extent and gravity of his transgression, and to rectify the souls that were lost through the spilling of seed in vain. This is because G-d infuses every drop of semen with a soul.

Myriads of souls are lost with every transgression

This holy soul is a living vitality of its own, the source of life, cherished by G-d, who has commanded us not to waste it in pursuit of selfish personal pleasure. In addition, each soul possesses the potential to develop into a complete human being. For this reason, the Shulchan Aruch, the code of Jewish Law, states that masturbation is the gravest transgression (Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer, 23:2). Each microscopic drop of semen is more than a “potential” life – it is already a living soul (Niddah 13A).

The gravest transgression

In addition to helping a person undertake a sincere and heartfelt course of repentance, Tikunim contain Kabbalistic codes that are designed to rescue the lost souls from the realm of the kelipot and return them to their Heavenly source, making a person’s t’shuva complete, and erasing the spiritual blemishes he caused to himself, his family, and G-d’s creation.

The seed of life

All of these matters can be found in the writings of the Arizal. We follow his advice when it comes to the 10 pieces of chametz that we scatter around the house. Why not follow his teachings and the teachings of our holy Sages during the burning of chametz too?  

Now There Are Only Three

This year at our national Seder, one of the sons will be missing.

Funeral of Shlomo Nativ

The Four Sons

Let’s apply the famous Four Sons of the Pesach Seder to the mitzvah of living in the Land of Israel. Here’s what is written in the Haggadah:

“The Torah speaks of four children: One is wise, one is wicked, one is simple, and one does not know how to ask.

The wise child, what does he say? ‘What are the symbols, rules, and laws that the L-rd our G-d commanded you?’ Then you shall tell him the laws of Pesach up to: we do not taste anything after the Afikoman.”

When the wise Jew looks at modern history and sees that G-d has brought about World Wars and international treaties to bring His scattered children back to the Land of Israel after an exile of nearly 2000 years, and sees the incredible rebirth of the previously barren Land, and the miracle of rebuilding, technological development, military might, and sees how Israel has become once again the center of Torah learning for the Jewish People, he seeks to understand what is taking place and how he can place his life in line with G-d’s will for the Nation. Faced with the clear realizations of ancient prophecies promising the ingathering of the outcasts and the resettlement of the Land, and the tangible rebuilding that everyone who visits the country can see, he understands that it is G-d’s unfolding game-plan that Jews abandon the Diaspora and come on aliyah.

So he seeks to learn how he can best perform the mitzvah.  He does this by asking the Sages in Israel who can explain these matters to him, by reading the writings of Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaCohen Kook, by studying books like “The Kuzari,” “Am HaBanim Semicha,” the writings of Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook, and by listening to Torah lectures on websites like Yeshivat Beit El and Machon Meir. Part of his wisdom is his humility. In realizing that he does not have all the answers, he seeks explanations from people who do. He longs to be a part of the great national Jewish undertaking that he sees unfolding before his eyes in Israel, and he longs to join with those who are working with G-d to bring about the promised Redemption by coming to live in the Land.

Passover Seder

The Haggadah continues:

“The wicked child, what does he say? ‘What is this service to YOU?’ To YOU, but not to me! Because he removes himself from the community, he denies everything. Thus, you should also give him a blunt answer [literally: smash him in the teeth] and say, ‘Because of this, G-d did things for me – but not for YOU! If you had been there, you would not have been saved.’”

These wicked children are the scorners, the talkbackers who always find things wrong with Israel. This wicked child removes himself from the wondrous ingathering that G-d is bringing about because it is not to his liking. It doesn’t match his way of doing things. He doesn’t agree with G-d. He would do things better. In the meantime, he’s staying put in Vienna, England, Cyberspace, and Japan. Once again, we are not talking about Jews who can't come on aliyah because of pressing financial, health, or psychiatric problems, but about those who could but don't and discourage others from coming as well.

Regarding this child, the “Me’am Lo’ez” commentary on the Haggadah writes: “By excluding himself from the observance, this child is considered to have denied the essence of Judaism. You must therefore give him a blunt answer as to set his teeth on edge. He is not allowed to taste the Pascal lamb. Let him watch you eat the fragrant, tasty lamb, and sit there grinding his teeth. G-d did this for me – for me and not for YOU. If you had been in Egypt, you would not have been delivered. A wicked person like you, who does not believe in the commandment of the holy Torah, would certainly have died during the three days of darkness. During those days, many people like you died. G-d does not perform miracles for people like you.”    

The Haggadah continues:

“The simple child, what does he say? ‘What is this?’ You shall say to him, ‘With a strong hand, G-d took us out of Egypt, from the house of slaves.’”

The simple child has good intentions. He sees that G-d is indeed bringing the Jewish People back to the Land of Israel from the four corners of the globe. He is interested to know more about it. He hasn’t learned these things in the past, and he isn’t accustomed to Torah learning, so you answer him by telling him the full historical story, from our beginnings as a People, how G-d gave us the Land of Israel, and how we lost it due to our sins, how we suffered in the exile at the hands of the gentiles, and how G-d is bringing us back now, through the developments of modern history and the establishment of the State of Israel.

The Haggadah goes on:

“And as for the one who does not know how to ask, you must begin for him, as it is written, ‘You shall tell your child on that day, Because of this, G-d did things for me when I left Egypt.’”

This child is so out of things that he knows absolutely nothing. He never learned. No one ever taught him. To him, Israel is no different from New Zealand or Thailand. To stimulate his imagination, you have to tell him about the miracles of the Exodus, how G-d overturned all of the laws of nature to bring the Jewish people out of Egypt to the Land of Israel. Once he is interested, you can encourage this child to learn more about his Jewish identity and his G-d given destiny.

And then, as the holy Rebbe of Chabad explained, there is the fifth child, who doesn’t show up at the Seder at all. He’s either stoned out of his mind in some disco in Bangkok, or busy hiding Easter eggs for his gentile children to find after the parade.

Easter Bunny

May Hashem have mercy on us and redeem us from all of our screwed up notions, both here in Israel and abroad.