Secrets of the Torah

HH

Secrets of the Torah

Some people consider the Zohar and the works of the Arizal to be “nistar” (hidden) – the “secrets of the Torah”. However this is a big mistake. The Yosher Divrey Emess (“Straight Words of Truth” an extremely powerful little book composed of two long letters. Recently I found out that I am actually a descendant of this great person. My brother-in-law who is a big Rosh Yeshiva has a great aversion to this amazing book, because he has witnessed some of his best students become broken from it. What a blessing these boys were saved from living lives of mediocrity and tasting in their hearts and souls the utter necessity for true existence. Yes, if it can't break you it can't make you.) contends that this is ridiculous. How can books that are readily available to the public be considered secrets?! Who has a secret that he divulges to anyone interested? The Yosher Divrey Emess asserts that those scholars who have mastered the TaNaCh (Torah and Prophets – Written Torah), the Talmuds, and Medrash, and purport to being complete scholars of the revealed Torah, just deficient in the Concealed Torah, waiting for when they are worthy, these people are completely deluded living in hypocrisy. A person who has not mastered the entire Zohar, works of the Arizal, and other such works can not pretend to be a scholar what so ever. These are books readily available and readily understandible for anyone who sets out to study them and know them. So what then is the Concealed Torah?

Rabbi Nachman says that the secrets of the Torah are such that even when they are spoken and revealed they remain secret. Sometimes they can be grasped by a person only in passing, and later a person will not merit to fathom that which was in his grasp.

The Baal HaSulam explains with a parable, if you see two people whispering, it won't really interest you, but if you hear them whispering your name – that they are whispering about you, then you will be completely intrigued and extremely curious to know what they are saying. When a person studies the Torah and hears his name being whispered – he senses how the Torah he is studying is directly speaking to him personally, he is in essence learning the secrets of the Torah.

[This is where chabad lubavitch philosophy went off. The original holy leaders felt that if they would exhaustively explain and describe their personal attainments, they could somehow jump start their followers to taste their experience. However the true tzaddikim of the generations did not feel that this approach was truthful. Consider explaining to someone how pizza tastes by offering them a ten volume treatise on its ingredients and similarities to other food etc.. Or consider explaining to someone the thrill of a rollercoaster.... The secrets of the Torah are very much levels of personality in the Supernal Man, how can one relate responsibility by skirting it - spoonfeeding someone who should be called to duty?!]

The main secret is: Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!