A HOME, A MOUNTAIN, AND SOME UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

In Torah 10 Rabbeinu describes the following sequence of stages in attaining some understanding or ability: a mountain, a field, and a home. At first it is something very lofty and distant from a person's ordinary life, like a mountain; then it gets closer, but still requires much toil, like a field, until, at last, it really becomes familiar and accessible, like a home. 

In this Torah Rabbeinu discusses this sequence in relation to prayer, but I've seen it applied to other things as well, for example, to Torahs in "Likutei Moharan". At first a new Torah a person is trying to learn seems too lofty and vague; then, gradually, it becomes much clearer, until finally they reach a stage where they can apply it to their own life as well as explain it to others.

But now I'd like to talk about these stages as they relate to the period we are in now. Reb Noson explains in "Likutei Halochos" that reading parashas "Shekalim" this past Shabbos started a whole new period that includes Purim, Pesach, Sefiras HaOmer , and ends with Shavuos.

So I've thought that the sequence described in Torah 10 can also be applied to attaining what we're supposed to attain during this period. And indeed, I found some proof in the gematrias.

Right now we're in the month of Adar. The name of this month in Hebrew - אדר - has the same gematria as the word "הר" ("a mountain"). I think this is related to the joy we're supposed to increase during this month. This is by no means an easy process but rather a steep climb. After all, Rabbeinu famously said that true simcha is one of the most difficult things to attain in serving Hashem.

Then, on Purim, we reach a new stage. As Rabbeinu said in "Sichos HaRan" (#131), when Jews dance on Purim, they can mitigate all kinds of decrees. This is the stage of a field (which is, after all, is better suited for dancing than a mountain). And, indeed, the word "שדה" ("a field" in Hebrew) plus 1 for the word itself has the same gematria as the "רקוד" ("a dance").

It gets better. The final stage of this tikkun, at least according to the gematirias, takes place during the Pesach seder. The words "סדר פסח" (the Pesach seder) have exactly the same gematria as "בית" ("a home").

I realize, of course, that this seems a bit off because, really, the Pesach seder is just the beginning of a long process that only reaches its completion on Shavuos. Then again, why can't the end of one process signify the beginning of a new one? So there is a lot of food for thought here, and I hope to uncover much more. Stay tuned!