The Secret of the Hairs and the Ears: The Power of a Cry to Sweeten Harsh Judgments
Class No. 24 | Class 1: Monday Morning, Parashas Pinchas, 12 Tammuz 5755 at the Yeshiva
An in-depth discourse explaining the spiritual reality during times of distress, and the need to cry out to Hashem to reveal the covered Upper Ears. The Rav explains the intention behind the Korbanos (sacrificial offerings) as literal mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice), and the Kabbalistic secret of piercing the ear of hearing in order to draw down new Mochin (spiritual intellect) to the world.
First of all, I wanted to state a simple halacha (Jewish law) that everyone who knows it must fulfill. It involves an effort of merely a third of a second, in the category of "shev v'al ta'aseh" (passive restraint). When saying the blessing of the Shema, "Baruch Atah Hashem Ga'al Yisrael" (Blessed are You, Hashem, Who redeemed Israel), one must know that the word "Yisrael" is not said aloud. There are those who say "Ga'al Yisrael" out loud, and this brings us into a doubt regarding answering "Amen" (for those who have not yet started the Amidah prayer, "Hashem sefatai tiftach"). In order not to enter into doubt, the halacha is to say the word "Yisrael" quietly. This is a minor effort of a third of a second, and I hope we can maintain it.
The Difficult Reality and the Cry of the Jewish People
We need to restrain ourselves during "Ga'al Yisrael," but the reality is that the Jewish people are currently facing harsh judgments. They say that the Jewish people are in terrible danger. The Torah leaders of a century ago, and the Satmar Rebbe zt"l forty years ago, already foresaw the situation where the Jewish people would be abandoned. We see Jews being stabbed and killed every day, while the ruling faction fills its mouth with laughter and mockery, and from their perspective, they do not care at all.
Perhaps this situation is meant to bring us back in teshuvah (repentance). Like that cowboy who arrived from California, from a kibbutz where he was educated that there is no such concept as a "Jew" in the world. He was like a "tinok shenishba" (a captive infant, raised without Torah knowledge). One day, his foreman, who was a Nazi, started to slander the Jews. The cowboy said to him, "Listen, I am also a Jew." The manager answered him, "You are sweet, except for you... but the rest need to be exterminated." This answer shocked him and brought him back in teshuvah. He grasped that a Jew and a non-Jew are not the same; the Jew loves the non-Jew, but the non-Jew wants to slaughter him.
The Secret of the Hairs Covering the Ears
In these moments, these seconds require sweetening (mitigation of judgments). Now we need to cry out to Hashem day and night. The holy Zohar says that at the time when the Children of Israel scream and cry out from their distress, the hairs are parted from over the Upper Ears.
"And at the hour when Israel cries out in distress, then the hairs are nullified above, from over the ears."
There are spiritual hairs that cover the ears of Divine Providence. Harsh judgments descend because of the accumulation of sins over decades, and now it is coming to fruition. Hashem waited for us, He waited for tzaddikim like Rabbi Shmuel Horowitz zt"l and Rabbi Shmuel Shapiro zt"l to protect the generation, but now they have been taken from us (passed away), and we are left with nothing but to cry out to Hashem. A person does not understand the meaning of standing before Hashem. He thinks, "Baruch Hashem, I am healthy, I eat well, I sleep well, what do I need to cry out for?" But in order to open the ears Above, we must cry out.
The Intention of the Korbanos – Literal Mesirus Nefesh (Self-Sacrifice)
Before approaching to make requests of the King, we must first sing, play music, and begin to open the gates through the recitation of the Korbanos (sacrificial offerings). When a person recites the Korbanos, he needs to think that he is being stoned and burned, "a fire offering of pleasing odor, completely for the fires." I need to literally feel that my skin is being flayed off me like Rabbi Akiva, and that I am being burned alive—because this is what I deserve for the spiritual blemishes I have caused.
A person commits sins, bringing impurity into the space of the world through forbidden thoughts and sights. If a person did not recite the Korbanos with this intention, he has accomplished nothing. How can you come to the King and say, "Give me, give me, give me"? First, do teshuvah! Ask for forgiveness for what you did in the last 24 hours in which you caused sorrow to the Shechinah (Divine Presence). Always say out loud: "I am willing to be burned, to be stoned, to be strangled." The very fact that you accept the judgment upon yourself and admit to it, this is the true intention of the Korbanos.
Piercing the Upper Ear of Hearing
The goal is to make a new piercing in the Upper Ears. The cry needs to enter inward, to pierce the ear, to pass through all the curves and twists of the ear (akima d'udnin) until it reaches the inner auditory nerves.
When a person asks quietly, Hashem indeed hears, but in order for the request to ascend and accomplish its action perfectly, a person needs to scream terrible cries. Only through the cries is the piercing of the ear broken through, and the voice reaches the very essence of Hashem's hearing. Then the voice ascends to Binah (Understanding), and like on Yom Kippur, he makes cries that can bring the Geulah (Redemption). Through the voice that cries out from distress, "new Mochin" (spiritual intellect)—Chochmah, Binah, and Daas (Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge)—are drawn down, illuminating the person and the entire world with new Daas.
Part 1 of 4 — Class No. 24