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'BLASTING AWAY THE FOGGING'
Shalom and Blessings
PINCHAS MERITS HASHEM'S COVENANT OF PEACE
1. 'Therefore [you Moshe] say [to Pinchas], "Behold I [Hashem] bestow upon him my Covenant of Peace".' [Parshat Pinchas chapter 25 verse 12]
It is no simple matter to receive Hashem's Covenant of Peace. The root of the word Shalom-peace is the word Shaleim--a state of being perfect or whole. The Kabbalah teaches that Pinchas went on to become Elijah the Prophet and Elijah never died! His body and soul went up into the Heavens in the presence of his main disciple, Elisha the Prophet. But he never died, and he continues until this day to come back in various bodies [not reincarnations] as a Divine messenger in a myriad of benevolent missions. What did Pinchas do to receive such a distinguished lot in life? He 'blasted away the fogging.' You may be presently saying to yourselves, 'There goes Yitzchak again, boldly recreating the English language to convey some esoteric concept---well, you're right and let me explain;
Let's define 'fogging' as transforming a perfectly clear, lucid, and self-contained reality into a mishmash, fogged over, chaotic mess!
THE CONNECTION BETWEEN PINCHAS AND THE 3 WEEKS
2. The Holy Zohar teaches that the episode that Pinchas was involved in, and that earned for him the "The Divine Covenant of Peace", was the most dangerous chapter in the history of our nation. Bilaam's and Balak's evil designs to 'fog' the pure and majestic level of the Israelites, was tragically succeeding. A part of the nation was publicly acting in a way that violated all that was held sacred. Total annihilation was close at hand G-d forbid. Pinchas rose to the occasion, and in an act of true zealousness, he nipped the potential devastation in the bud! Pinchas reinstated a state of peace between Hashem, and His people, and between Hashem and His Creation. The 'fog' cleared. How does this connect with the nature of the present calendar period which Parshat Pinchas always coincides with? We are now entering into a 3 week period referred to as 'In Between the Straits' [ Megillat Eicha].The 3 weeks are sandwiched in between 2 fast days---the 17th of Tamuz and the 9th of Av[Tisha b' av]. It's the harshest period of the entire Jewish calendar year. All that anyone would not want to go wrong, goes wrong! And, you guessed it the root-cause is 'fogging'. Let's look into it in a deeper way;
FOGGING AND THE 5 CATACLYSMS OF THE 17TH OF TAMUZ
3. The 5 events that occurred at various times in History, all on the 17th of Tamuz [ and which are complimented and completed by another 5 events which all take place on Tisha b'Av at the end of the 3 weeks], all had a 'fogging' element:
a. THE SIN OF THE GOLDEN CALF AND THE RESULTING BREAKING OF THE 10-COMMANDMENT-TABLETS-----if it weren't for the calf and the broken tablets, the Israelites and the entire world would’ve lived on the level of pre-sin-Garden of Eden paradise in all ways. Everyone would’ve been unified around the instantly accessible, infinite wisdom of the Torah. Instead 'fogging' resulted---chaos and unclarity rule the day in the areas of human consciousness, wellbeing, spirituality and interaction....
b. THE ROMAN CONQUEROR APOSTOMUS BURNED A SCROLL OF THE TORAH-----this is explained by the Holy Arizal as not only a burning of one isolated Torah scroll [which is certainly bad enough], but the ramifications are much more deep and far reaching than that. The burning of the Torah represents a situation called 'Torah in Exile’. The Torah, as explained by the Zohar, was what Hashem used as a blueprint to create the word. That means that all of the wisdom in the Universe is rooted in the Torah. Prior to this cosmic fallout [of the Torah being in Exile], there still existed the ability to easily access all the world's wisdom inside of Torah alone, without the need to refer to outside sources [granted that even this level was a lower level than that which would've been achieved had the Tablets not been broken]. Instead 'fogging' resulted----nowadays in order to access and reunify the exiled Torah, we need to understand the spiritual directives of how to redeem it [the subject of another essay].
c. THE BREAKDOWN OF THE OUTER WALL PROTECTING JERUSALEM'S HOLY TEMPLE-----after years of struggle for control of Jerusalem, 'fogging' resulted-----instead of Jerusalem properly serving as a 'Dira b'Tachtonim' [the main Dwelling Place on Earth of the Divine Presence], the city instead became a gathering place for many of the world's philosophies and religions, though in itself not necessarily a bad phenomenon, but in the case of Jerusalem, this was enough to drive away much of the unique Divine Presence that existed at the time, and also contributed in setting up the scenario for the 'Churban' [the destruction of the Temple and the Exile of the Jews, the Torah and the Divine Presence across the globe].
d. THE CESSATION OF THE DAILY 'TAMID' OFFERIND AND OTHER OFFERINGS-----the 'Tamid' [literally 'Always'] offering was instituted for the sake of achieving atonement for the sin of the Golden Calf. Therefore it's cessation represented the 'fogging' effect of being exposed to all the negative influences we spoke about concerning the Calf and the broken Tablets.
e. THE SETTING UP OF AN IDOLATROUS OBJECT OF WORSHIP IN THE 'HEICHAL [MAIN HALL] OF THE TEMPLE-----The 'fogging' effect here is obvious. The Holy Temple, the single most powerful place of G-d's omnipotence became invaded by idolatry which represents the possibility of thinking that there are powers other than G-d [G-d forbid].
'ALL WHO CHASE IT CATCH IT IN-BETWEEN THE STRAITS'
4. There is contained in the prophetic writings of Jeremiah, a pivotal verse, 'All who chase it [or her] catch up to it in-between the straits'. The simple meaning is that these 3 weeks are dangerously vulnerable for bad tidings to occur more so than the rest of the year. However a deep Chassidic explanation explains this verse very differently; All those who chase G-D during these three weeks can catch up to Him more so than the rest of the year! We’ve explained recently in' Parsha Tools', the esoteric concept of 'opposites'----just beyond and deep inside the worst negativities and darknesses of life, hides Hashem's Presence, to be accessed by those who truly reach out! Ironically these 3 weeks are meant to eventually turn out to be the 3 happiest weeks of the year in Messianic times [soon in our day please G-d]. Tradition teaches that the Mashiach is born on Tisha b'Av at the peak of all of this darkness. If we look deep inside of the 'foggings' of all 5 cataclysmic events, there lays hidden incredible Divine light and salvation. We just need to know how to access it...ie...to Blast away the Fogging.
THE FOGGING BLASTING TOOL
5. a. Identify the 'Foggings' in your life...ie...those area in your life that could potentially be powerfully lucid and enlightened, but instead are a darkened chaotic mess...
b. Merge with Hashem. This can be done in many ways---prayer, asking Hashem to be with you, trusting in Him, keeping up a written correspondence with Him [ie.. simulating what you think Hashem would reply]...
c. Co-create a reality where Hashem is guiding you step by step to blast away the 'foggings' of your life...
d. Now commit to be Hashem's chief agent or 'right-hand' person in making your co-creation happen. Listen to your inner guiding voice and trust it. This stage is perhaps also best accomplished by exchanging written correspondence with Hashem--the Divine Guidance Counselor....
KISTA D'CHAYUSA
[the last vestige of life—resurrected]
***a seed decomposes in the dark rich earth
hidden from the eye-nothing left of it except for the kista d'chayusa
the last vestige of life and that last vestige
is what builds up a whole new life form
a whole new redwood tree a whole new forest
a whole new universe
***a person loses it loses
their hold on reality on proper perspectives on proper proportions
on any desire to carry on
they bury themselves in the foggy netherworld
of compressed , depressed impressions
of what could've been what should've been
what would've been if only......
***ahhhh what's the use and the self abuse dominates the day
they can't find any other way
there's really nothing left of them
except for the kista d'chayus
a last vestige a distant dim ray of hope
***they don't know why
but they close their eyes and take a baby step
a baby step that leads to another and another
and pretty soon they see things a bit differently
things don't necessarily have to be stuck in rigidity
and they slowly and surely emerge with a new power
a power that towers over anything they've ever known before need I say more?
I think we've all heard this story before.....
but the little wide eyed baby boy inside of me
urges me to tell some more and more and more.....
***and sometimes we fall where we fall
to help lift up all of those souls
who have nowhere else to go
and have been waiting
since who knows when for us to fall
into their small-minded place
to their imprisoned space
and together with us
they rise high above the skies to reclaim their lives
and we trust in the process
that continually leads us
with hearts open and closed eyes
and those who are truly wise
learn how to see life in hindsight
***and when you know this clearly
then you can be set free to navigate an alternative reality
where you know with crystal clear clarity
that even when things don't turn out
the way you planned them to be you can trust that this is way
the Creator meant for it to be and even the worst of mistakes
the most unfortunate breaks the stupidest blunders will never tear us asunder
from just where we're supposed to be
it's been thusly decreed from the beginning of time
beyond reason or rhyme
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