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HH
Rashi brings from the Scriptures and Our Sages o.b.m. that the
decree to banish the ten tribes from Israel to be scattered around the world to
this very day was because of their rampant imbibition of alcohol. The Talmud
says that the high that one gets from alcohol is deducted from his portion in
the future world G"f. This certainly applies to the high of drugs.
Rabbainu was adamant and particular that even on Shabbos the drinking of
alcohol should be extremely restrained and kept in check. Rabbainu revealed in
Likutay Moharan (volume 2, Torah-teaching 7 – the very first Torah that Saba
learned from Likutay Moharan together with R' Yisroel Karduner) that it is our
task and duty to fill the world with people, and people are those with daas –
sense and reasoning, and one without daas is likened to an animal, see there.
In our times when a very significant percentage of humanity is very
dependent on drugs of all sorts and alcohol, there must be a parallel aspect in
holiness, for that is how God runs the world that there is always "zeh
li-oomas zeh" – equal opportunity on both sides, and of course the side of
holiness will obviously be much much more powerful. Also many have already
pointed out that the trend of more and more nakedness and less and less modesty
is also apropos to the great spiritual unveiling, as Rabbainu revealed, that many
things that were great secrets in the past are already now open and revealed,
and many awesome spiritual concepts are readily available and within grasp of
the public. There is a responsa from the time of the Gaonim (about 1000 years
ago) in answer to a request to reveal some secrets of the Kabala, and the Sage
writes that with great awe and trepidation etc. etc. he will begin by telling
the names of the Ten Sefiros. This was a great revelation for them that
demanded great awe and trepidation, today it is common knowledge not even given
a moments thought. Also with regard to music, one of the greatest pleasures in
life, as Rabbainu revealed in the story of Ancient Times of the exchanged
children, that there are melodies that transcend immeasurably all the pleasures
of this world, and elsewhere he revealed how there is an angel with a thousand
tongues and each tongue etc. etc. the melody being pleasurable beyond this
world. Today thank G-d almost everyone has access and ability to listen to the
music of their choice in very high quality, something that in the past was
extremely limited to either royalty or public occasions like weddings.
So people really have to start getting with the program, and start
to learn how to get the highs which are obviously part and parcel of our times –
they must start getting them from Nanach.
There is a tradition by chasidim that there is a special light one
gets when learning the commentary of the Muggen Avrohom (on Shulchan Aruch –
Code of Jewish Law, also known to frequently site the writings of the Arizal).
Where the Shulcha Aruch writes the halacha that it is forbidden to cry on
Shabbos, the Muggen Avrohom writes that this prohibition doesn't forbid they
crying out of dvaikus (-clinging to Hashem). Here the Muggen Avrohom reveals a
little secret, that one can really bliss out on dvaikus – to have tears of
ecstasy streaming down ones face, without any drugs or alcohol or anything,
just to bliss out on G-d – and this is straight up in the Shulchan Aruch.
Rabbainu revealed that one can sit and feel Hashem Yisburach's
looking upon him, to the extent that the person will blanch, all the blood will
rush out of his face in humiliation before the Infinite One blessed He. Imagine
the ecstasy of such an experience. Rabbainu sited the words of Our Sages o.b.m.
that a sigh breaks the body of the sigher, and Rabbainu said that he tested and
experienced this, he sighed and witnessed how his strength was depleted –
imagine falling into such surrender into the hands of Hashem Yisburach, like a
beloved falling languish in surrender into the strong powerful hands of her
lover. These are just a few examples, for in fact every word of Rabbainu is a
gateway to experience, not just in the future world, but mamash right here and
right now the most wondrous ecstasy, euphoria, exhilaration, excitement,
elation (the mnemonic is e=5th letter of the alphabet), bliss and so
much more, if one sets his mind to it and is committed to abnegating himself to
Hashem Yisburach and His Tzadik Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman and to His Torah.
Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!
