PMF
Jewish Section - Rabbi Brandwein's Essays
The Advantages of the Inner
The inner force comes directly from the L-rd. That
force contains, within it, the power of unity and
influence, i.e., it gives the ability to see how all
of Creation functions with one harmony since the
inner soul is one and is divided only by the existence
of many bodies. Thus the inner force has the power to
influence. This is also so since this power comes from
the L-rd Who has no egoism and all of Whose actions
are derived from the force of pure altruism. Thus
when we act according to inner impulse, it also changes
our negative properties. In order to concretize the
difference between the performance of a Mitzvah in an
outer way and the performance of a Mitzvah in an inner
way, we shall take as an example prayer as is written
in the Torah "to worship Him with all your hearts."
"What is the work of the heart? It is prayer." This is
how Chazal explain it.
A person who learns to perform Mitzvot only externally
and doesn't know the inner meanings of the Mitzvot,
prays for himself or for his family and asks the L-rd
to improve the material conditions of his existence. But
for the true Kabbalist, prayer is for Clal Yisrael and
thus for the sorrow of the exile of the Shechina and
for lifting the honor of Israel and revealing the light
of the L-rd in the world.
The Secret of Prayer
The Shacharit service is also
divided into four parts. Birchot HaShachar (The Prayers
of Dawn) and the Korbanot (The Sacrifices) correspond
to the world of Assiyah. P'sukei D'Zimra (i.e., Mizmorei
Tehilim) from Baruch She'amar until Yishtabach
correspond to the world of Yetzirah. Birchat Yotzer Or
and Kriyat Shmah correspond to Olam HaBriah. Tefilat
Shmona Essrei corresponds to the world of Atzilut.
The world of Assiyah constitutes the practical world,
i.e., all our acts including physical work. This finds
expression in Birchot HaShachar where we give thanks
for the return of the soul to our body after sleep.
After that, comes the sacrifice of our mundane desires
in order that they be strictly for the edification of
the L-rd which is the meaning of Korban (Hakrava =
to draw close). One draws close to the L-rd through
self-sacrifice.
Among the sacrifices of the morning service is the
sacrifice of incense. Here we include, in the eleven
indications of the spices, the Chelvna that is a spice
with a bad smell symbolizing the wicked and the evil in
the world. Likewise, the Levona that has a good smell
symbolizes the good. The sacrificing of all the spices
together indicates that there is no completeness
without evil and, ultimately, everything must be
included in one harmony for a complete sacrifice. The
world of Assiyah is the lowest world and in which evil
is evident.
The second part of P'sukei D'Zimra (chapters from
Tehilim) corresponds to the world of Yetzirah. In these,
we praise the L-rd for the magnificent formation of the
cosmos, for nature, for the mountains, the sky, the
stars, the animals and the birds, etc., as these things
find expression in these chapters.
The third part corresponds to the world of Briyah,
i.e., the world of the angels and Seraphim and how
they all praise and extol the L-rd and His Creation to
one another along with the people of his world.
The fourth part is prayer that corresponds to the
world of Atzilut that emanates light and that is only
good and terminates with the "Sim Shalom" blessing
where "Shalom" points to unification and complete
merging with the divine where all contradictions are
resolved in unity.
Accordingly, we learn that the worlds of Atzilut,
Briyah, Yetzirah and Assiyah are not abstract worlds
but rather that the Mekubal, who worships the L-rd,
experiences all the lights that are found in each
world. In the world of Assiyah, he must unite all of
the mundane world with its evil and sacrifice his
selfish desires to the L-rd. In the world of
Yetzirah, he rises a step and sees, in spiritual
experience, how the whole cosmos functions in
marvelous harmony and its inhabitants sing songs
about the wonders of the works that the Creator
formed at the level of Yetzirah.
In the world of Briyah, they rise to a higher level,
to a spiritual world beyond the universe that is
visible to us, to the world of the angels and
Seraphim who stand in terror and in awe to do
the bidding of their Creator. From here, the
Mekubal passes to the world of Atzilut that is
called "the world that is all good." Thus in
Kriyat Shmah, prior to passing to the world that
is all good, he must devote all his heart, soul and
means to the holiness of the L-rd. Only on this
condition does one merit to reach the world of
Atzilut the meaning of which is "Etzlo" (together
with Him). That is to say, one becomes a part
connected with divinity the way the hand of a
human that was severed and is later reconnected
by a surgeon is reconnected with the intentions
that come from the head. Likewise, a person who
rose to the world of Atzilut is worthy of feeling
and experiencing divinity, permanently.
From all this, we see that the Mitzvoth concern,
principally, the inner work that we are to accomplish
and that Ta'amei HaMitzvot are really a way of life
that we must follow and that it requires concern for
all. The meaning of "Ta'am" (Ta'amei HaMitzvot) is
not only intellectual and logical but is like the
taste of eating. One cannot get the taste of food
with an intellectual explanation but only with
actual eating. Likewise, the hidden tastes can be
experienced only through the inner work of the L-rd.
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