The Secret of the Crow

Cheshvan 5777 The Secret of the Crow In the weekly portion of Noach it is written that when the mabul (flood) was over and the ark rested on land, Noach sent out a dove to scout for dry land. However, before he sent the dove Noach sent out the crow. The Torah tells us that the dove was sent to check if the waters had dried up from the land making it safe to exit the Teva (ark). But then it comes to the crow, the Torah does not specify the reason for sending the crow. It is written in our holy books that the there are no extra words in the Torah and here we need to look into the deeper meaning of the verse. The Torah is alluding to an awesome message for all generations. Rabbi Shimshon from Ostropoli writes that Noach did not send the crow on any specific mission but rather kicked him out of the ark. And here Reb Shimshon asks the question, why does Noach chase away the crow? What is the secret of the crow? It is known that every creation, animal and any reality in our physical world has a spiritual source in the upper worlds. The spiritual source of the crow is the klipa - evil spiritual force of Eisav. Noach knew all of the spiritual sources connected with each animal in the ark which was a place of Kedusha (holiness) and by sending out the crow Noach was intending to weaken the klipa of Eisav for all generations to come. King David or Eisav? The holy Zohar writes a completely different explanation about the crow. He tells us that the source of the crow is king David himself. What is the relation between the crow and king David? Our sages answer that Noach constantly chased the crow out of the holy ark and throughout king David s entire life, he was continually chased out, knocked down and disgraced by the world around him. Hashem would bring him into the Kedusha and then kick him out again, over and over. And no matter the hardships and oppression David felt and endured, He always ran to the forest to sing to Hashem, sing and praise the creator for all of his doings. King David was always in and out like it says about the crow. At a very young age David was kicked out of his home to go be a shepherd in the desert, to sleep alongside the herd. From age 28 till 30 after defeating Goliath, He was by king Shaul and then again, He was hunted down by Shaul himself who tried to kill David. Through his whole life, even at age 67 which was three years before he passed away. His own son Avshalom wants to murder King David forcing him to run away from his home. These two explanations of the crow need to be clarified. How can we say that the crow can mean the evil force of Eisav and at the same time be the spiritual source of King David? Granted that we know, there are seventy facets of the Torah and that, would be the simple way to answer this. However, us in Likutey Halachot Rebbe Natan tells that there is a huge connection between the two explanations. The klipa of Eisav as we know is extremely powerful and destructive and therefore there must be an opposing force to fight against Eisav, King David. This is why from one aspect the crow is Eisav and his evil force and on the other side it is King David and the kedusha (holiness). Hashem - Please Save Me! What exactly is the klipa (evil force) of Eisav and how does King David fight against it. The klipa of Eisav is composed of different aspects and many different strengths. The lower powers of Eisav are called fire and gevurot - might. The fire is the force burns in the heart for the lusts of this world as we saw by Eisav himself. And what would he do with that flame? He would be happy to have them and fulfill them to the fullest extent. 1

On the other side, King David s heart would burn in the same manor for the lusts of the world, He had great trials and tribulations in this aspect. King David had a tremendous evil inclination. We find many instances that King David went through great tests with His yetzer hara. David had the same evil inclination as Eisav. Eisav is the peak of impurity and David is the peak of Kedusha. In essence, what is the actual difference between them. Says Rebbe Natan: When the yetzer hara would attack Eisav He would fulfill his lusts and desires of this world. But when the yetzer hara attacks King David He went to the forest to pray and to scream to Hashem to save Him from his lusts and desires. From here we learn a tremendous lesson in our everyday life. When we see that our tests and hardships, lusts and desires are overpowering us Do not panic! it is Hashem s will As one of the big tzaddikim once said, when you see that you have bad traits and desires, know that you are not at fault for this Hashem is the one that gave them to you. The tests and hardships themselves are not a deficiency or blemish in a person. The question is what do we do with these lusts? Do we go in the way of Eisav and fulfil them with or do we choose to walk in the path of King David and take them to the field or a forest and scream to Hashem Hashem! PLEASE SAVE ME! This is the reason David merited to be the sweet singer of Israel He merited to reach the highest places in prayer and all only because of his trials and tribulations. He used all His hardships and tests as fuel for his prayer and to scream to Hashem our creator! Fixing the Animalistic Soul This is the rectification of Mashiach ben David to take all of our hardships and our extreme difficult situations and form a connection to Hashem via prayer. King David says in Tefillin: like animals I have been with you. From within all of my craziness that comes from the animalistic soul I connected with you! The Godly soul wants the connection with Hashem no matter what. The will and desire to do good to pray to study Torah to go to grave site of tzaddikim, all come from the soul. The animalistic soul however wants all of the enjoyments of this world. The Baal Hatanya says: if you merit to cleanse your animalistic soul. To take all your evil desires and turn them into prayer and cries to Hashem then you will merit to a higher connection with Hashem than with the Godly soul itself. They are Wise to do Evil The battle of the klipa of Eisav against David is only one aspect of its evil force. There are higher levels smarter and more spiritual aspects to the klipa of Eisav. The off springs of Eisav are usually wise people with great wisdom which are called they are wise to do evil. We find the source of Eisav in Christianity. Their basic book of tumah is called the new testament and if we ask them why it s called new what was the old testament? They will answer that indeed Hashem made a testament with the Jews at mount Sinai, gave the Jews the torah and the role to be the nation of G-d. He wants the Jews to teach torah to the entire world, gave them tzaddikim, Moshe Rabenu, elders and prophets and gave them the first and second temple. The first temple was destroyed because of their sins and the second destroyed for hatred between one another. They will continue and say that for a thousand years between Matan Torah and the destruction of the second temple G-d waited for the Jews to reveal His torah and teachings to the world and not only do they don t reveal it but the Jews themselves do not fulfill the torah they were given. Therefore G-d saw you re not fulfilling your purpose in this world and despaired from you. And that s when He made a new testament. Each and every one of us can understand that this claim is nonsense and delusional however, it is written in our holy books that even though we don t accept their ridiculous claim we must know that their klipa - force of evil, manifests itself through into every Jew s mind on a personal level. In the personal manifestation there is a little priest that sits in the left side of our brain and tells us: look, Hashem really doesn t give up on the nation of Israel, He promised the general public that He will never abandon them. However, on you! He has despaired and lost hope from you! Look how many chances Hashem has given you and all you do is go against Him. You keep messing up, falling and blemishing your soul. You have no hope! (G-d forbid) There is No Despair in the World All of your spiritual downfalls and weaknesses stem from the a deep yetzer hara of not believing in yourself - Not believing that Hashem is happy with you and that you are important to Him no matter what! And this is one of the voices of the klipa (evil force) of Eisav that is inside our brain. This voice inside of your brain works precisely on this point of believing in yourself. The klipa of Eisav knows that If you believe in yourself and in the tzaddikim that teach you how much Hashem really loves you, you would accomplish great amazing things in the serving Hashem. This is the secret of the crow who is really the klipa of Eisav and on the other side King David. Throughout His entire life 2

King David was pushed away from the kedusha and yet never gave up. How did He merit to reach that level of there is no despair? Rebbe Natan tells us: King David and all the tzaddikim of His kind were always faced with amazing challenges when getting closer to the kedusha, even those who actually fell while in the process. They never gave in to the thought of despair, they got up and returned to Hashem and therefore merited to the knowledge of there is no despair in the world It is from the strength of those tzaddikim that you can continue to fight and never give up on yourself. To know that Hashem loves you no matter what you ve done or doing. He never left and will never leave any Jew! May we merit. It is good to gaze at the sky each morning, by doing so one draws down wisdom. Rebbe Nachman Mimamakim - From the Depths Excerpt from R Ofer Erez. To be happy with our limited service... In truth it is certainly appropriate that our heart should burn continuously for Hashem and we should sanctify ourselves with many holy things. However, nevertheless, every holy thing we do manage to do for Hashem, even the smallest thing, certainly is not lost. Even one word of Torah or prayer or one coin to charity. All the more so in our generation, when the difficulties and obstacles stand in the way of every mitzvah. Therefore, particularly now, every single word is much more precious and important in the eyes of Hashem. Every time a person puts on Tefillin, says a word of Torah or does any small kindness, it is considered very precious by Hashem. Don t minimize in your own eyes any good things that you have done, because what is small for you is great for Him. Just look for and search for your good points and be happy with them, just life Hashem is happy with them. This will give you power to continue and to do more good in the world. 3

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The Wise Google There was a well-known rabbi giving a class on the laws of slaughtering, non-kosher, and application. The class was mainly rabbis and heads of centers for Torah (Kolel) that learn in depth these topics. During the course of the class a very difficult question arose. The question was offered to all to see if anyone knew the answer. One man stood up and said he knew the answer. He began quoting sources and places on the topic where the answer is found. The rabbi that was giving the class said that he himself didn t even know all this and asked him from where he knew all these answers. The rabbi started to stutter until finally he blurted out that he learnt it from the Wise Google - the internet. He explained, You write the questions, and it quotes for you all the sources on exactly the topic, and on any topic. The head of the class was a Jew that was very zealous for Hashem and in a strong tone he answered, in this class there is no allowance for internet users, or else you can leave the class. And this rabbi that was sourcing the internet left the class and said that from the Wise Google he can learn much more As he was leaving, the head rabbi replied, remember well, there will come a day that you will regret this and you will cry over your words. One year later this same rabbi came to one of the greatest kabbalah experts in Jerusalem to ask for a soul redemption. The great kabbalah rabbi had heard about this rabbi and what had occurred the previous year. A few years later, the wife of this rabbi calls this exact kabbalah expert crying in tears. Requesting of him to save her husband, her house, and her children. She explains that he is no longer a head of a Torah center, that he s not anything, barely even Jewish A few weeks ago, I had the privilege to go to the tomb of king David. After a half hour of praying a respectable man caught my eye. He stood in the corner (where there is just enough room for one man to stand) and he prayed with a sweetness I ve never came across in my life. I stayed by the tomb for two hours reciting psalms mostly by heart. And he - it was as if no one else was there. Engrossed deeply in his prayers, no way to even describe it. He cried bitterly, and he danced and sang, and his face was glowing a special glow. This was pure and simple serving of Hashem without relating to what is happening around him. People came and went, took pictures and laughed, prayed the afternoon prayer and the evening prayer...and him, he was still in himself, glued to his hidden place. When he finished praying, he kissed the tomb and planned to leave. Obviously, he only thought he would be able to leave and leave me there. I felt I had no other time or chance to waste. And so, I simply stopped him and compassionately started a conversation with him. The wonder that awaited me after the two hours of watching him, was the difference between his outside appearance and his spilling heart. On the outside, he was dressed just like most rabbis. He looked around 60 with a mostly white beard, a tie, trimmed and tailored. Usually we find that honorable people like that don t sprawl out of a tomb like that and even more so to spilled their heart without paying attention to their surroundings at all. But this rabbi, with all the attire, poured his heart like a simple Jew with a broken heart. If I didn t see him and only heard his prayers, i would have been certain he would have been dressed differently. But with a tie...i would have never imagined. He acted towards me with such light and kindness, as speaking with a simple young child of five. He didn t try to act as if he was a rabbi, or put on a face. This is how we sat for two hours in conversation. And it was then that I received the greatest lessons, in everything. I understood how much I don t understand at all. Although maybe I would be able to describe it. I understood how merciful Hashem is, and how much so there is none other than Hashem, and simply there is no other website. I don t have the ability to give over the light in my words or to write the two uplifting hours with a pen and paper. Even an entire book wouldn t be enough. In any case I will put my whirling hear aside and I will write according to memory. He told me about his honorable career in the world of rabbis, knowledge of Torah laws in every way possible. He held an important position in the congregation that he had left just a year before so that he can serve Hashem calmly. Between his words he spoke many topics from kabbalah, but what i was able to understand was this In the Ari s holy books, Otzrot Chaim and V etz Chaim it is explained that before the world was created there was a progression of the worlds. The order goes as follows - the shattered worlds, in them occurred the breaking of vessels. After followed the redeemed worlds. The principle - that it is not possible to come to complete correction without the shattered worlds. And this was the beginning of the story he began to tell me. With details slightly changed but still the same story he told me. We won t go back as he didn t discuss much about his falls since this won t help anyone. Rather he spoke 5

mostly about repentance and the correction necessary. He told me that Hashem merited him with the trait of truth and didn t leave him to stay In the darkness forever. He had always prayed to Hashem to save him from this. Even while in the sin, have mercy Hashem, I would scream in my heart to Hashem; Save me. Open the ground and swallow me. I don t want to anger you, I only want to make you happy. I asked him about the kabbalah expert that had done for him the soul redemption, and he responded with half a smile, The soul redemption redeemed the grave sins I did, but not me. I was like a dog sitting in its throw up. They washed a bit of his foot but he is completely filth/y, and any minute he would become completely filthy again. You want to hear what redeemed me?! He smiled when he asked and pointed upward. Only the mercy of Hashem. It is understood that there is no allowance to sin and to rely on this that at the end it will be revealed that it was all part of the correction because serving Hashem is part of a life full of choosing the good for as much as we are able to reach. But in hindsight alone, after we have sinned, we should think that we are a nothing and have no hope that it would be better to die. Because this is will only cause us to fall further and further. Rather at the time after we have fallen, in the depths of the concealment, we have to know that it was Hashem. And not any website, or the internet all this was a part of his correction. To teach us that it is not understand why and how. From belief like this, that everything is from Hashem, we can get up and start again. We rejuvenate ourselves and begin to serve Hashem without past weights weighing us down. Because the evil inclinations whole purpose is to distance us more and more from serving Hashem and keeping mitzvot (commandments). Everything was for the best! Once a person draws closer to Hashem, he realizes in hindsight that all of his failures and all the depths he sank to, were actually part of Hashem's plan for him. More so, he realizes that all that he went through actually elevated precious treasures that had gotten lost in those depths, and raised them up to a level of holiness. Mountain of Myrrh- R Ofer Erez Taken from the book Eich Tikvah? by R Yitzchak Gabai. 6

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