Corona - Time to Reveal Your Inner Light

The Spiritual Significance of the Number 10

We are now in the month of Nissan. Chazal teach that the month of Nissan, was when the Mishkan was established and also when Hashem took back ten of His ataros (spiritual crowns).[1] This is the root of the 10 days between Rosh Chodesh Nissan and the 10^th of Nissan. From the 10^th day of Nissan until Pesach, a lamb was tied to the bedpost to be designated as a korbon pesach, and it was inspected for 4 days to check if it had any blemishes. There were 4 days of inspecting the lamb used for the korbon pesach, followed by bringing the korbon pesach on Erev Pesach on the 14^th of Nissan. Eating the korbon pesach was on the 15^th of Nissan, where there was a commandment that no one should leave his place.

The 10 “crowns” of the days between Rosh Chodesh Nissan and the 10^th of Nissan corresponds also to the 10 Commandments, the 10 Expressions which Hashem created the world with, and the 10 plagues in Egypt. Through the 10 plagues of Egypt, the forces of impurity were subjugated and this allowed for the word of Hashem to be revealed when the people stood to receive the Torah, where 10 Commandments of the Torah were revealed (corresponding to the 10 Expressions of creation).

Thus, the number 10 represents the level between the exodus from Egypt until receiving the Torah at Har Sinai. The spiritual power of the number 10 is manifest on an actual level in the Creation in a beis hakneses, a shul, where there must be at least a minyan of 10 people davening The Gemara says that when Hashem comes to the beis hakneses (the shul) and 10 people are not there, He becomes angry. The shuls, and the batei midrash, where at least 10 people gather in order to form a tzibbur, represents the power of 10.

Right now, we are in a trying time, where our shuls have become closed. The power of 10 in the Creation has become diminished - it has become covered over, hidden, and concealed.

The Power of 10 Has Now Become Diminished

There are two different approaches about the exodus from Egypt. One way to understand is that the night of the exodus from Egypt, the holy night of Pesach, where families of Klal Yisrael are found in their homes. There is also another approach: Upon the exodus from Egypt, Klal Yisrael was entering into the desert. The Sages teach that just as the first redemption was followed with journeying into the desert, so will the final redemption be preceded with a sojourn in the desert, according to some views of the Sages.[2] In the desert, the Jewish people were still a tzibbur, only that they weren’t in their homes, and they were found outside in the world.

That is what is taking place right now. Right now at this time, the connection between people is similar to the level of being in the desert, and it is not on the level of being in the house. Of the house, it is said, “Go my nation, come into your rooms, and close the doors behind you.” [3] As mentioned, both the shuls and batei midrash are now closed, and this means that the power of 10 has become concealed, because there is no place for the tzibbur to gather together right now.

[At the time this lesson was delivered, the Ministry of Health in Israel allowed only ten people to congregate together. The new instructions from the Ministry of Health are that only two are allowed. The Rav explained as follows: The Sages said in Ethics of the Fathers: "The world was created with ten utterances. … Certainly, it could have been created with a single utterance. However, this is in order to make the wicked accountable for destroying a world that was created with ten utterances, and to reward the righteous for sustaining a world that was created with ten utterances."

The external dimension of creation was "ten," whereas, the internal dimension of the Creation was "one."

From the viewpoint of  קלקול (spiritual damage) they cancelled "ten." But they left "ten" in the workplace which makes them "servants of their bosses." (an allusion to עבד לעבדים) . Slowly, slowly the inner dimension crumbled.

And for those who were infected by the virus, they have been forced into quarantine (a kind of leper). However, for everyone else, they are permitted to go "two by two." Because at the moment, the klippos full strength has not split "the two" into one. This alludes to the verse that "male and female were created together" זכר ונקבה בראם.

In pinimious "man" was created an individual. But the purpose of evil is to make each one an individual to deteriorate spiritually.

And when that situation comes, "one" (of holiness) will be revealed against "one" (of impurity). The "One" of Jacob "and Yacov remained alone" ויותר יעקב לבדו will be pitted against the one of Balaam, and "he walked back alone downtrodden" וילך שפי

In this last war holiness will overcome! The 50th Gate of the 50th Gate of holiness will be triumphant! The Oneness of Hashem will be revealed "ונשגב הוי"ה לבדו" – Hashem Alone is exalted (and only that).

And so the inner work of today is to reveal the Oneness of Hashem. This is like the Cohen haGadol on Yom Kippur in the Holy of Holies with Hashem, the Shechinah, the Torah, the Aron]

The Closing of the Batei Midrash – The Revelation of Sod/Secret Understanding of Torah

Besides closing shuls now, there is also another aspect occurring: The closing of the batei midrash. What is the power of the beis midrash? It is the power of chiddush (novelty), because the Gemara says that “There is no beis midrash which has no chiddush in it.”[4] A chiddush, a novelty, is the idea of yeish m’ayin, to create something from nothing.

From a simple perspective, which is the lower perspective towards this situation, the closing of batei midrash is a punishment for “weakening their hands from Torah study”,[5] thereby preventing us from producing chiddushei Torah [as Chazal  teach that Amalek’s attack on the Jewish people came as a result of “weakening their hands from Torah study”].

But from a higher perspective, the closing of the batei midrash implies that there is now a “closing” of the level of understanding in Torah that is called drash (expounding)[6], as implied in the term beis midrash. Of the Torah learning in the beis midrash our Chazal  said, “Drosh, v’kabel schar”, “Expound it, and receive reward for it”.[7] In the beis midrash, only the level of drash in Torah is revealed. Now that the batei midrash are closed and we are forced to remain in our homes, the verse of “Go my nation, come into your rooms, close doors behind you” applies more powerfully to us, for the level of understanding in Torah that is called drash has become concealed.

In its place, there is now more of a revelation of a deeper understanding in Torah, the level that is called sod, the “secret” understanding of Torah. This is above the level of drash/expounding. This is the sod, the “secret” that is behind the closing of the batei midrash. The power of chiddush of the beis hamidrash has now become concealed, but in its stead, a more inner power has become revealed, the secret level of understanding in Torah that is called sod.

Whenever something is done in front of 10 people, it becomes known to the world. The Gemara says that the name of Hashem is only sanctified in front of a quorum of at least 10 people.[8] A secret, though, is all about being alone, by being individual.

On the external level, the closing of the shuls and batei midrash is all the doing of the Sitra Achra (the Other Side, the forces of impurity), which is particularly manifest today in the powers of tumah (impurity) that come from the “Erev Rav” today. But from a more inner perspective, the closing of shuls and batei midrash is actually revealing the level of sod, the secret understanding of Torah.

There is a verse, “With knowledge, rooms are filled”[9], one can become filled with daas when he must be confined to his private “rooms”, where he can be alone is his house and where he can access the secret levels in Torah.  And Chazal teach, “The heart is not revealed by the mouth”[10] (liba l’puma lo galya), matters of the heart are a secret which cannot be revealed to others. Now is the time to enter into the heart, to enter into the very “secret” of one’s soul.

A Time For Non-Action: Tasting The Light of the Eternal Shabbos of the Future

During the weekday, a person goes out of his home for action, and if a person works, he needs to go out to earn a livelihood, returning to his home at the end of the day. The weekday is a time when people go out of their homes. On Shabbos, there is a commandment for a person to stay in the techum (boundary), as the Torah says, “A man shall not go out from his place.”[11] Shabbos is the idea of staying in one place. Hashem said about Shabbos that it is “a good gift from My hidden treasury.”[12]

During the final plague in Egypt, makas bechoros (the plague of the firstborn), there was a commandment that no Jew should leave his place. On the external level, this was because there was a plague and Hashem was killing all of the firstborns, so everyone had to stay inside to avoid the danger. But the inner reason was because it resembled the idea of Shabbos, where “a man shall not go out from his place”, the idea of staying in one place. This was also similar to the state of the future, when each person will be learning Torah peacefully “under his grapevine”[13], staying in his place, with no need to go anywhere.

At present, we are being confined to our houses due to the pandemic. People are not leaving their houses. If a person lives his life superficially, he doesn’t leave because he is afraid of catching the virus. He is tense from constantly following all of the news of what's happening in the world, of all the repercussions, and he’s listening to all of the various different “false prophets of the Baal”. He is staying at home simply out of fear and worry.

But there is really an inner way to handle this entire experience. It is a time in which Hashem is giving each person a unique and inner kind of avodah, to be alone with your family in the house, and this is because the “light of Hashem” is shining strongly at this time now in our houses. It is the level of sod, the “secret” level of understanding in Torah, which above the level of drash, the level of the beis midrash.

The spiritual light that is shining now resembles the “day that is entirely Shabbos.”[14] In our current level of Shabbos, we desist from work and then we return to work on Motzei Shabbos and the six days of the week. But there is a deeper level of Shabbos, which is not followed by any action, work, or weekday. That will be the Shabbos of the future, which will be entirely Shabbos, the level of the Next World, where there is no return to work afterwards. In the Shabbos of the future, there is no Motzei Shabbos, there is only Shabbos. In Olam HaBa, each tzaddik has his own chamber[15] which no one else can enter. In the time which we are in now, we are able to have a semblance of this perfect Shabbos in the future, which is not followed by any weekday or work.

The light of the perfect Shabbos of the future is currently shining now. In our own souls as well, everyone has the bechirah right now of how he will go through this period. Either a person will choose to go through this entire period with fear, tension, and worry, or one will choose to connect deeply in his soul with Hashem, to the inner “secret” in one’s soul, to the inner world, of the spiritual light that is “a day that is entirely Shabbos.”

Hashem has now made a reality in which many don’t have what to do with all of the time that they have now at home. For those who were anyhow immersed in the tumah of the Internet, nothing has changed for them, because they can ease their boredom by spending all their time on the Internet and connecting to social media and all of the news. But those who are not so immersed in the tumah of the Internet are currently facing a difficulty: They are terribly bored, and they don’t know what to do with all of their time.

People are so used to working and being involved with action, that they can’t handle the change of not working. It is similar to the pain which the soul experiences upon transferring to the next world, when a person was too connected to This World of action, and he doesn’t want to let go of it. If a person lived his entire life for work and action, it is too difficult for him to suddenly disconnect from all of that work and action.

(For this reason, there are also many people who have a hard time on Shabbos, because they love work and action, and Shabbos makes them feel confined, and they suffer from boredom and lack of meaning and purpose to their life on Shabbos, where there is nothing for them to “do”).

The reality is that most people are too connected in their souls to the world of “action”, and therefore they have difficulty now not being able to do anything they want to do.

The general state of our world, (which will last up to the year 6000) is that we live on a “world of action”. This world is mainly about action and work. In the next world, there is no action, there is no eating and drinking or any physical activities of enjoyment, there is only enjoying the rays of the Shechinah. In order to enjoy the Next World, the soul first needs to go through a stage of disconnecting from This World, to disconnect from this entire world of action, so that it can enjoy a spiritual world in which there is no action.

Right now people for the most part cannot really do anything. Of course, it’s not totally like that, and people are certainly doing some things, but most people feel like they can’t do anything. They are not getting all of the work and action that they are used to. Many people are looking for what to do with all of their time found at home, and they are desperate to fill their boredom. But what people need to understand is that we really live for the next world, where there is no action. This is the stage which the world is traversing right now – a preparation stage for the next world, where there will be no action. Hashem is directing each person now on a path in which he can be led towards the true perspective: that we do not live for this world of action.

When people can’t do all of the action they are used to, they are naturally bored. They feel a void, which in Hebrew means “chalal”, which is from the word chol, weekday, because the entire concept of work in the weekday essentially represents the spiritual void in our world. Boredom is a terrible void to be found in, and Chazal  teach that “Boredom leads to sin”.[16]

Instead, a person can use this current period of no action in an entirely different way. One can find how Hashem’s really glory fills every space of our world, as it is written, “And His Glory fills the world”[17], and how there is really no void at all. This is all because, in the deeper reality of things, “There is no place empty from Him” (Les asar panuy minei).[18]

Utilizing The Current Time Properly

When a person is found at home all day, there are mostly one of two very bad outcomes: Either a person becomes further immersed in tumah, [in the Internet and social media], or a person becomes immersed in boredom, the chalal (void). The avodah now for each person is to enter into the inner world, to enter within you, and to find a whole world of how “The secret of Hashem, is revealed to those who fear Him.”[19]

The inner light which is shining now in the world is that a person is not found in the “world of action”. Simply speaking, this means that a person is not involved with any work or action, and therefore he can get more in touch with the layers in the soul that are beyond action, such as one’s emotions, feelings, middos, and thoughts. But on a deeper level, it is so that a person can enter inward, to find the hidden gift, a state of Shabbos, to desist from action, to separate from all of the action of the world, to connect to the level of the “day that will be entirely Shabbos”, which is not followed by any weekday or work. The light of the future level of Shabbos is shining, and this is similar to the state when Hashem was an Individual before Creation.

When one connects to Hashem on this level, it is the level of the soul that is called sod, the “secret”. It is the secret level which reveals to a person the taamei Torah, the inner reasons, understandings, and tastes of matters of Torah, and to enjoy the rays of the Shechinah.

The Avodah Of Each Person Now

The avodah now for a person is to connect to a spiritual world in which there is no need for any action or work. If a person doesn’t do that during this time, then a person will simply be afraid of the virus that’s circulating. When that is all that’s on his mind, either he will find himself connecting further to the tumah of internet, news and social media, or a person will become wrapped further and further in boredom, which is the chalal, the void of the world.

One needs to find the inner light which is found within oneself, to bond simply with Hashem at this time, to know and be aware that Hashem’s presence fills everything, that “There is no place empty from Him.” There, a person encounters only the presence of Hashem and nothing else.

Most people of course cannot live all the time at this level. But every person needs to be able to touch it at times. There is a rule of ratzu v’shov (advancing and retreating), which means that a person needs to access the higher level, then return to his normal level, and then at a later time to access the higher level again, in a cycle, back and forth. So even though a person cannot live all the time with such a high level of awareness that Hashem fills the entire world, a person still needs to have times of the day in which he is in touch with this exalted level.

This is really a taste of the Next World, which is eternal, where a person is alone with Hashem, with no one else other than Hashem. Now, if a person would be told that he will be spending his eternity alone with Hashem, would most people want this…? This is not what most people have in mind. Most people would wonder, “But what will I do then? I will be bored. There’s nothing to do…”

This period is not simply a time to stay in the house, avoid catching the virus and being cautious, nor is it a time to simply clean and organize the house and prepare for Pesach. Certainly a person needs to organize and clean the house and prepare for Pesach, but that’s not what this period is mainly about. It is mainly a time to connect on the deepest level to Hashem. It is about spending your life with Hashem, to realize that there is more to life than going to weddings and attending simchas, and running to places to take care of all your different necessities.

May Hashem bring the wondrous and spectacular final redemption, in which we will merit miracles and wonders as we had when we left Egypt. And may our stay at home not only be spent with contemplating the hashgachah peratis of Hashem, but also to connect inward, to a deep place in ourselves, to enter within the secret of our souls, to find our individuality, to recognize Hashem on our own private and secret level that no one else can know of.

Being in the house all day clearly is a challenge for us to connect inward with ourselves, and it is certainly noisy with the family, and that is all a part of the galus we are in now. This is due to the pandemic in the world today which is forcing the entire world to go into galus. This is the external layer of this entire experience - the fact that the virus is causing everyone to go into a state of exile within their homes, and to endure all of the challenges that are involved with spending all day at home with the family. This is not always easy, and a person needs to learn how to get along with everyone peacefully. Everyone needs to go about this with seichel to be able to manage with the family.

But we also need to understand that behind all of this is a very inner spiritual light which Hashem is shining now upon the world. One who has this perspective lives with gadlus mochin (expanded consciousness). One will then live in a joyous state of being close to Hashem. Instead of going through this experience simply in a state of panic and worry, one can experience it all with joy. Certainly the situation is complicated and every person needs to deal with that, but at the core of all of this is the opportunity to enter into the world within oneself. 

That is the depth of the bechirah which we each have now. On one hand, the shuls and the batei midrash have been closed, and on some level this resembles the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash. But we also know that Moshiach is born on the day of destruction of the Beis HaMikdash.

When we view today’s situation from the external perspective, we see it all as the “doing of the Satan”, and how it is all coming from the forces of impurity of the Erev Rav which dominates. But when we view it all from an inner perspective, we can actually learn to see that this is all just the “messengers of Hashem” who have brought it all about. Had we been zocheh, we would have been zocheh (meritorious), that our redemption should come through Moshe Rabbeinu, but since we were not zocheh, it is all coming to us in the garment of the “Erev Rav” and in the form of an pandemic raging through the world.

And, if we have an even more inner perspective, we can view the closing of shuls and batei midrash as the birth of a new, inner spiritual light, which demands us to enter inward, and to connect to the inner reality behind all of what’s taking place now.

In Conclusion

We need to live these words, not just to know about them but to really live these words, and to the extent that we are living these words, we will pass through this entire period in the correct way. How much we succeed in entering inward into ourselves is already the second step, but the first step for us is to become clear about all of this. It should be with the same clarity as a person who goes to a wedding, who is fully aware that he is going to a wedding. So too, we are going towards the great “wedding” that will take place between the Jewish people and Hashem, to that great, inner union.

May the Creator merit us that the situation now should become transformed, not simply that the pandemic should go away, not simply because “When there is a plague, bring your feet inside,”[20] but because we want to have the time which will resemble the verse “Follow Me into the desert”[21], when we had tremendous closeness with Hashem. May we merit to transform this dever/plague into dvar Hashem, into the world of Hashem, by hearing the word of Hashem that is ringing throughout the world now. It should be like the verse, “The King has brought me into His chambers.”[22] One who hears this inner sound now will be able to live through and cope properly with this current period in the most complete way.

Understandably, this is a complicated period to deal with, but one can pass it all with the light of Hashem accompanying him, to bask in the pleasantness and radiance of Hashem, with the complete revelation of Hashem’s presence, in one’s heart and in the heart of every Jew and throughout the entire world, so that all of the world will know Him, from the most prominent to the least prominent person.

Q and A

The War Of Gog And Magog

Q 1) The Rav has said recently that we are currently in the war of Gog and Magog. How is this possible? Who is Gog and Magog today? 2) Also, there are views in Chazal that the Jewish people will be exiled to the desert for 40 years before Moshiach comes. Will this happen soon?

A 1) “Gog and Magog” exists both internally as well as externally.

On the inner level, the “war of Gog and Magog” is when all [of one’s inner] forces are clashing and “warring” with each other (all of them without exception). It is when each force contradicts another force in the soul and an internal war is created. This is because the light of individuality is right now radiating in each person’s soul, due to the light of the “Yechidah” level of the soul which is right now shining strongly in the world. When one’s individuality is being revealed more strongly, even though this is all taking place on an unconscious level, it brings out the differences between all of the contradicting forces between one and another. Therefore, everything [every single force of the soul] is at war with one another.

On the outer level [the war of Gog and Magog means as follows]. There is the root, the secret of oneness, which is the nation of Yisrael. Branching out from this root are two branching nations, Esav and Yishmael. The exile of “Edom” refers to Western society, and the exile of “Yishmael” refers to the Muslim world. However, it is now being revealed that both Edom (Esav) and Yishmael are rooted in Amalek, and to be more precise, they are both rooted in the “Erev Rav”. This allows for the union of Edom and Yishmael, where both Western and Muslim cultures are becoming mixed together. That is why we see today Christian Arabs, and on the other end of the spectrum we find a faction of Muslims such as in Saudi Arabia and other Arabic countries who are joined with America, in the fight against Iran. This is because Islam divides generally into two sects, and part of it is joined with Western society. Even Edom (Esav) is called “Western” society, and west in Hebrew is maarav, from the word taaruvos, “mixture”, which is a hint to the mixing together of Islam and Western culture. And the Muslims themselves are called Aravim (Arabs), which is also from the word maarav, from the word taaruvos/mixing.

2) The inner definition [of being exiled to the desert for 40 years before Mashiach arrives] is that we need to return to the exact way that our ancestors were like when they were exiled in the desert for 40 years. And that is to personify that which Bilaam said, “They are a nation that dwells alone.” That is the way which is becoming revealed now, where each person is now dwelling “alone” [at home].

How To Spend Time Alone

Q 1) Now that the Rav has explained that we are in a period which is about revealing the “Yechidah” level of the soul, which is about a constant and deep bond with Hashem and which is also about having mesirus nefesh, my question is as follows. Throughout this year, I have only been learning and I never did any hisbodedus. I have been ‘pushing off’ creating a simple bond with Hashem. So I understand that I now need to inspire myself to reveal a simple bond with Hashem. On the other hand, until now I had been working on developing my mind. On what areas of avodah should I now place priority on, and how can I go about this practically? Should I now be spending time learning the Rav’s sefarim of Bilvavi Parts 8, 9 and 10?

2) Also, now that I have to be secluded at home, does that mean I need to be doing hisbodedus for many days now? What should be the balance?

3) Also, the Rav once wrote to me in a response that a person is generally not supposed to work with the path of mesirus nefesh, because it is like jumping levels, and instead a person needs to build himself step by step. Does all that change now, since now is a time for mesirus nefesh? Do I now need to abandon the path of gradual self-development and instead put all my energy into having mesirus nefesh?

A 1) No [do not immerse yourself entirely in hisbodedus now]. The intention is that every day, set aside a few minutes to simply bond with Hashem.

2) A lot of your time should be spent on being immersed in the depth of Torah thoughts. A small part of your time should be devoted to hisbodedus and inner silence (but only for a small amount of time).

3) Don’t change your approach. Chazal said, “Whatever is in your power, do”. Hashem will do the rest. And Chazal said, “One who says, “I toiled and I found, is believed.”

Keeping a Calm  & Happy Atmoshpere in the Home

Q I see many people, including my own family, who are full of tension and sadness because of the situation going on now [of the coronavirus epidemic]. I feel that I can create a calm and happy atmosphere in the house, and I think I have the bitachon to empower me do that. But according to the Rav’s guidance on the current situation I am not sure what the mood in the house is supposed to be like…

A Generally a person needs to create a calm and happy atmosphere in the home. From that calm atmosphere you are able to uplift the souls of your family and inculcate them with emunah in Hashem and that He watches over everyone and that everything He does is good. And you can also inspire them to love Hashem, which will lead each of them to improving themselves in whatever they personally need to improve in.

The Refuah For Corona Is Ayin – Self-Nullification

Q Yasher Koach to the Rav for all of the sefarim and shiurim which have strengthened me and which has given me clarity in avodas Hashem. I want to ask the Rav the following.

It says in Mishlei (18:14), “The spirit of a man can overcome his maladies, but a crushed spirit, who can endure.” The Targum explains that the mood of a person can heal his diseases. The Yaavetz, in the commentary of Migdal Oz Chalon Tzuri (chalon 2) explains that the mood comes from the elements in one’s blood, and the white moisture found in the liquid of the bloodstream is what affects a person’s mood, and that most diseases come from a dominance of this moisture. He further explains that a person’s lifetime is divided into different stages, and during childhood, the blood is more dominant, whereas bile is more dominant in old age.

Based upon his words, would it make sense that the bacteria of corona is more harmful to older people because older people are weaker in the elements that come from their blood? And if my assumption is correct, perhaps they should eat things that improve their blood, as the Gemara says that meat and wine is good for the blood (Talmud Bavli Shabbos 129a)? Or perhaps they could get healed [from corona] by receiving blood donations from others, and maybe it would be most effective if they would get blood from younger people [who have healthier blood than they do]?

A The root of the coronavirus is very spiritual, in the highest place in the heavens. Its source is in the kutzo shel yud, the “tip of the letter yud,” which is above the 4 elements [fire, air, water and earth]. Therefore, the remedy for it does not come from using any of the 4 elements. This disease, corona, corresponds to the point known as Keser [the highest of the Ten Sefiros] which is also called ayin [the dimension of nothingness]. Therefore, the remedy for it lays in the realm of ayin, in nothingness, and even more so, in efes, absolute nothingness.

Editor’s Note: The term “ayin” (nothingness) refers usually to bittul, self-nullification. The term efes literally means “zero”, a term that implies absolute nothingness, and a level higher than ayin. The Rav explains about ayin and efes in the shiurim on sefer Nefesh HaChaim shaar II. Although ayin and efes both refer to the concept of bittul, perhaps we can also understand the difference between ayin and efes as follows. The Rav explains in sefer Da Es Nishmasecha that there are different levels of bittul (self-nullification). The ‘standard’ level of bittul is when nullifies his desires to Hashem, when one feels that his existence is nullified by Hashem’s. At this level, one acknowledges that he has an “I”, a self, and it is just that his nullifying that self to Hashem. The higher level of bittul is Ain Od Milvado, which is when one does not feel his existence at all, because he is aware that there is only Hashem and nothing else. At this higher level of bittul, there is no sense of one’s self at all, because there is only the awareness of Hashem’s presence and nothing else. ■