🌙 Tonight: 17th of Teveth
The gateway to the first week of Shovavim (Parashat Shemot)
💡 Hayom Yom (Keter)
17th of Teveth The reason for not studying Torah on nittel-night (the non-Jewish festival commonly celebrated on December 25th), I heard from my father, is to avoid adding vitality [to the opposing side]. My father once said: "Those diligent students who begrudge those eight hours and cannot tear themselves away from study—I am not fond of them." This abstaining from study applies only until midnight.
🪜 The 15 Steps to the Sanctuary
🧠 Chochma & Bina (Wisdom & Integration)
1. Alef-Bet Combination: Tonight is Day 22 (Tav) of 22-Day Cycle 5 (Tet and Yud). The combination is Tav with Tet (forming the word for the letter Tet itself).
Acrostic Verse (Psalm 111): תְּ֜הִלָּת֗וֹ עֹמֶ֥דֶת לָעַֽד; "His praise endures forever."
2. Sefirah (Inner Refinement): Day 5 of Week 16 (Hod shebeGevurah [shebeTiferet]).
❤️ Chesed (Expansive Love)
3. Light and Fire of the Baal Shem Tov: Summary: While the Baal Shem Tov lived in seclusion, his wife protected his secret identity. One night, Rabbi David of Kolomaya stayed at their inn. At midnight, he awoke to see an intensely bright light behind the oven. Approaching, he saw the Besht sitting in a rainbow of brilliant rays. The vision was so powerful that the Maggid fainted. The Besht, deep in a trance, had to be shaken awake by his wife to help revive their guest, yet he continued to maintain his disguise as a simple man the next morning.
4. Jewish Spiritual Practices (Greetings & Kindness): Summary: The greatest thing in the world is to do someone a favor. By stating the intention, "I am doing this to fulfill 'Love your neighbor as yourself,'" we elevate a natural good tendency into a holy act. This includes warning others of harm, returning lost objects, or helping with daily tasks. Furthermore, true love and humility are shown by nullifying our own will to fulfill the will of our fellow man, seeing their need as an expression of God's will.
⚔️ Gevurah (Strength & Discipline)
5. Talmud (33 Tractates): 5b Ta'anit (29a - 31a). Summary: This section details the tragic timeline of the Spies and why Tisha B'Av became a day of mourning. It reconciles the dates of the Temple's destruction and outlines the laws of grief, such as restricted study and the "meal of separation." It concludes with the joy of the 15th of Av, celebrating the end of the desert deaths and the lifting of tribal marriage restrictions.
6. Tanach Study (2 Chapters): Jeremiah 6 & 7. Summary (Chapter 6): Jeremiah warns Benjamin to flee Jerusalem as an army from the north approaches. He laments a people whose ears are "clogged" and who reject God's word, choosing robbery and falsehood instead of the "good way." Summary (Chapter 7): Standing at the Temple gate, Jeremiah rebukes those who rely on the Temple's physical existence while committing abominations. He warns that God will do to Jerusalem what He did to Shiloh, turning the land desolate because the people obeyed their own evil hearts rather than God’s voice.
⚖️ Tiferet (Harmony & Beauty)
7. Mishnah: Moed Katan 2 & 3. Summary (Chapter 2): Discusses labor permitted on the intermediate days of a Festival (Chol HaMoed) to prevent significant financial loss, such as pressing olives or harvesting flax. While one may act to prevent damage, one may not intentionally plan work for these days. Summary (Chapter 3): Outlines who is permitted to shave or launder clothes on Chol HaMoed—specifically those who could not do so before the Festival (e.g., travelers or those released from prison). It details how Festivals interrupt or nullify formal mourning periods (Shiva and Shloshim). It concludes with the promise that God will eventually "destroy death forever."
8. 13 Attribute Combination (Divine Mercy): Day 6 of 13-Day Cycle 9.
ki chafetz chesed hu — For He desires kindness.
vetashlich bimtzolet yam kol chatotam — Casts our sins into the depths of the sea.
🏹 Netzach (Victory & Ambition)*
9. 41-Day Combination: Day 28 of 41-Day Cycle 3. Understanding the 7th Commandment (against Adultery) on the Fourth, Physical level (Nefesh, World of Asiyah).
10. Living Likutei Moharan (Torah 110): Summary: Torah is essentially spirituality. Pure actions and a spiritual mind allow one to grasp the entire Torah and not forget any of it. This connects to the themes of Teveth: the danger of treating the Torah as material rather than spiritual. This is exemplified by the Bnei Yissasschar (yahrzeit 18th Teveth), whose Kabbalistic teachings emphasize this spiritual depth.
🕯️ Hod (Submission & Sincerity)
11. M’Ein Ganim: Summary: The only cure for "going off the tracks" is an hour of Hitbodedut (secluded prayer). Divine Providence doesn't mean life is always smooth; it means there is a specific track—only known to the Creator—that leads a person to their destination. True "staying on the tracks" means living with joy and trusting that every challenge is for the sake of drawing closer to God.
12. Shulchan Arukh: Reviewing laws in Orach HaChayim 219 and 220. Summary (Siman 219): Details the laws of Birkat HaGomel, the blessing of gratitude recited after surviving danger (illness, imprisonment, sea-travel, or desert-crossing). It requires a Minyan of ten men and serves as a public acknowledgment of God's kindness. Summary (Siman 220): Explains the rituals for "improving" a bad dream (Hatavat Chalom) through positive affirmations from friends and the spiritual efficacy of fasting to annul negative decrees.
🤝 Yesod (Foundation & Connection)
13. Zohar Study: Vayechi, Folios 243 and 244. Summary: The Zohar explains that the physical arrangement of the Tribes of Israel, led by Judah and ending with Dan, mirrors a celestial hierarchy that governs the flow of divine energy. Dan is characterized as a "serpent," a protective force that guards the "rear" of the camp and personifies the raw strength of judgment seen in figures like Samson. Central to this text is the principle of the "Impulse from Below," which teaches that human prayer and sacrifice act as a catalyst to unite divine forces and bring blessings down to Earth. Finally, the bond between God and Israel is described as a "seal" upon the heart, an eternal connection of love and "holy jealousy" that persists even during the darkness of exile.
14. Shovavim (Parasha Shemot): Day 3 (Mordechai / Tzedakah-Mesirat Nefesh) of Parasha 1 (Moshe / Torah) of Cycle 3 (Mordechai / Tzedakah-Mesirat Nefesh).
🌍 Malchut (Actualization)
15. The Parasha Study (Shemot): Culminating with the study of the new book and the teachings of the Noam Elimelech.
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