DailyHalacha.com

Rabbi Mansour 2010
Shabbat Morning Class

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The human body represents the name of Hashem. The head represents the letter ?', the right hand represents the ?', the body represents the ?', and the left hand represents the final ?' (the head resembles a ?', the body is long and resembles a ?', and the 2 hands that have five fingers are like the 2 ?'’s- ?' equals 5). The top of the ??? has a little "crown", this is called the ???? ?? ???. When a Jew puts on Tefillin, the Tefillin upon his head represents this crown of the ???.

What connects the head to the rest of the body (i.e. the ?' to the rest of the letters of Hashem’s name)? The neck. The neck is the connector between the ??? and the rest of the letters of Hashem’s name that are represented by the rest of the body. The neck is comprised of 2 tubes. One is called the ??? (the trachea) and the other is the ??? (the esophagus). The ??? is used to breathe and to facilitate speaking and usage of the voice. The ??? is used for eating, it is the tube that connects and passes food to the stomach. The ??? represents spirituality, since we use the voice to pray to Hashem and for the study of Torah. The??? represents the physical bodily needs, since it is used for eating. The righteous however, use both the ??? and ???to serve Hashem- since every action they do, even the physical acts of eating and nourishing the body are done strictly so that they may have the strength to continue to serve Hashem. They elevate both the ??? and ??? into holiness.

This is why a religious Jew is sometimes referred to as ??? ??? a "kosher" Jew. Why do we call him "kosher"? Kosher is a term normally reserved for food?! Since when slaughtering an animal in order to make it kosher, the requirement for a proper ????? is severing the 2 pipes of the throat the ??? and ???. A kosher Jew means that he has mastered these 2 pipes- the pipes that when properly severed renders an animal kosher. He has elevated his physical acts into spiritual ones by acting only for the sake of heaven.

This also explains why it says that at the end of time Hashem will slaughter the ??? ??? (????? ????) since the 2 pipes that are severed when slaughtered represents the 2 ways of life- the spiritual and physical- and in the end of time all will be only spiritual.

There is a story in the Gemarah Taanit ?? ?' of Rav Nachman and Rav Yishak who were once eating a meal together. Rav Nachman asked Rav Yishak to say some words of Torah, he answered "so says Rav Yochanan it is forbidden to speak during a meal – ‘’??? ????? ??? ????’’- "lest one’s windpipe precede the esophagus and receive the food". This can cause choking ?'?. After the meal Rav Yishak said to Rav Nachman "so says Rav Yochanan ???? ????? ???? – "Yaakov Avinu never died".

What was the deeper message that Rav Yishak was trying to convey to Rav Nachman? The ??? as mentioned represents the spiritual and ??? represents the physical, those who eat in a physical gluttonous manner that focus only on the enjoyment of eating the food, they must speak words of Torah in the course of their meal, in order to remind themselves of their purpose on this world. However the Sadikim who only eat in order that they sustain their bodies to be able to continue to serve Hashem, they need not and should not speak at all. Their act of eating in itself is a great Misvah! This is what R’ Yishak was saying, we should not speak lest it seem that we are ????? ??? ???? – we are showing priority to the ??? over the ???. Meaning it will seem that we only use our ???-windpipe to serve Hashem but not the ???-esophogus, and for that reason we need to speak words of Torah- since our eating is not on the same level as our service of Hashem that is done with the windpipe. Therefore R’ Yishak suggested they remain silent since this was not the time to speak, because they were already engaged in the Misvah of eating which they were obviously doing only ??? ????.

This also explains why R’ Yishak chose to tell R’ Nachman after the meal ???? ????? ????-Yaakov never died, since Eisav represents the ???- the physical, he was only concerned with his desires and his physical existence, as the Targum explains in the Pasuk that describes Eisav selling his birthright to his brother Yaakov "???? ??? ?? ??????" (he disgraced his birthright) the Targum says "??? ???"- Eisav personified the ???, he said "??? ???? ???? ????", he was focused only on the physical and therefore realized that when one only acts for his physical pleasures, nothing remains for him in ???? ???, since his existence becomes solely physical. Therefore when he passes from this world he is truly "dead’ since his life is over, the physical world is over. However Yaakov - who represented the spiritual- his existence is eternal, since his focus was always on his spiritual growth toward Hashem and therefore all of his acts- even his eating and bodily needs were elevated to spirituality. Even after the body ceases to exist on this world the ???? continues to thrive since it was the sole focus in this world. Yaakov never died, since everything he did was spiritual and there was nothing physical to die. This is the connection to what R’ Yishak was telling R’ Nachman earlier during the meal, that both the ??? and ??? must be elevated to spirituality and this is the aspect of eternal life.

Haman and Ahashverosh understood this secret of the importance of the ??? and ??? of the neck and its significance in its connecting to the letter ??? of Hashem’s name. This is why Ahashverosh made the feast for the Jews to partake of, he was trying to negatively affect the ??? and have the Jews use it to eat his food.

The Gemara asks "??? ?? ????? ????" "Where is Haman hinted to in the Torah"? From the Pasuk in Bereshit that says "??? ??? ??? ?????? ????? ??? ???? ????"-"have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat?!" the letters ??? (hamin) are the same as ??? (haman). What is the deeper significance in why this Pasuk was chosen to allude to ???? This Pasuk shows us the gravity of the sin of improper eating, and therefore shows us why the Jews were punished so severely for eating from Ahashverosh’s party. It also hints to the devious scheme of Haman. Haman realized that the punishment for the sin of eating from the ?? ???? is usually relaxed. However sometimes the sin is irritated and "woken up" to cause punishment to the Jews on its behalf. The ??? ????? says that at the time that Chava ate from the tree and used her ??? for the sin of eating, the ?' from the word ??? became elongated and turned into a ?' thus containing the letters of the word ???! She "created’ the ??? by improperly using her ??? !! Our job is to obliterate the ??? by properly utilizing our ??? and turn ??? back into ???! This is why it says "??? ????? ?????"-"a wise man sees ahead"-??? a wise ????, his focus is ?????-????-?' to put the letter ?' to the front (the ???) of the word (to take the ?' of ??? located at the end of the word and turn it into the ?' of ??? located at the beginning of the word). This should be the focus of every good Jew! Haman was trying to reawaken the original sin of eating from the tree and destroy the Jews by severing their ??? - there connection to the ??? of Hashem- by forcing the Jews to misuse their ???.

Ahashverosh was also behind this plan as we see he told Esther she may have anything she wants "until half my kingdom", in which he was referring to the Beit Hamikdash. Ahashverosh was telling Esther; ask me for anything except to rebuild the Beit Hamikdash. Why was Ahashverosh so afraid to rebuild the Mikdash? Because the Beit Hamikdash represented the neck of the world! The Pasuk in Shir Hashirim says "????? ??? ?????"- the Mikdash is like a neck (we also see that Yosef cried on Binyamin’s neck over the future destruction of the temples). This was exactly what Ahashverosh was trying to destroy, the neck and the connection of the people to Hashem!!

The Jewish people however repented with ????? ???? and "repaired the neck". The two pipes of the neck represent two ?'’s (since they are both long and "shaped" like a ?') in addition, the ???-which represents ??????? has 6 rings, these 6 rings correspond to the six books of the ???? that represent the ???? ???? ??. The Jewish people reaccepted upon themselves the ???? ???? ?? (symbolized by the ???) and recommitted themselves to spiritualize even their mundane affairs (symbolized by the ???).

This is what it means ???? ?????? which can be read ???-? ????-?. They reaccepted and fulfilled the 2 vav’s that make up the throat, which attaches us to Hashem.

This was the downfall of Haman who in his attempt to turn the ??? into ??? (a ?' into a ?'), he created a tree 50 ???- for the letter ?' (which equals 50). In the end he himself was hung on this tree and his attempt to disconnect the Jews from Hashem backfired. The holiday of Purim represents the day that we eat and drink and use our ??? to elevate us closer to Hashem. This elevates the Vav’s of the neck and what they represent.

These vav’s are also elevated every Shabbat, since on Shabbat we pray to Hashem and study Torah with the ???, and we also eat and enjoy with the ???, all in a spiritual manner ????? ???. This is what is meant in the ???? ?????? (written by the Arizal) that says ????? ????? with the ??’s they are bound. The Shabbat elevates both Vav’s and both aspects of the neck (this is why some have the Minhag to arrange the Challot into 2 sets of 6 to represent the two Vav’s [?' equals 6]).

This explains what it is written that the Torah alludes to the rabbinic holidays of Purim and Hanukah. In Parashat Emor the Torah lists all of the holidays, and afterwards speaks of the Menorah, then speaks of the Shulhan (the table that the showbreads were placed). The Menorah obviously alludes to Hanukah and the Shulhan represents Purim. How so? (One answer from the Hatam Sofer is that on Purim we eat and drink- which is done on a table – a Shulhan. Therefore the Shulhan represents Purim). The Menorah and Shulhan were placed inside the Mikdash. The Menorah was on the south and the Shulhan was on the north side. The ???? (alter) was between them, slightly recessed. The Menorah represents Torah; since it represents light, and it says ???? ?? ???? (light is Torah). The Shulhan represents the physical ????, activities (since it represents a table that is eaten on). Therefore the Menorah represents the ???,(this is why we use our voice to say Hallel during Hanukah) and the Shulhan represents the ???. This is why when a person walked into the Mikdash and faced them, the Menorah was on the right and the Shulhan was on the left- just as it is in the throat. This is also why the ???? had to be slightly recessed; (instead of directly between them) since the Menorah and Shulhan have to be next to each other as they are in the throat! This explains why the Shulhan corresponds to the holiday of Purim, since as mentioned, Purim is when we eat and drink and spiritually elevate the ???, which is represented by the Shulhan! In addition, the Shulhan had twelve loaves of bread corresponding to the elevation of the 2 Vav’s (6+6=12).

This also explains why towards the end of the Megillah the name of ??????? is spelled ?????- missing it’s two vav’s- since the two vav’s of the throat that connects us to Hashem is exactly what Ahashverosh was trying to take from us, but we were successful in taking them from him! "???-? ????-?" we elevated our physical into spiritual, reaccepted the Torah, and rededicated our lives to only serve Hashem.