Rosh Hashanah celebration is the beginning of the new year according to the Jewish calendar. Like any other nation celebrating the new year, we hope that it will bring us a good renewal.

Rosh Hashanah is preceded by a period called Slichot (Repentance) when we make a critical analysis of everything we have done over the past year and check how well or poorly we treated people.

Judaism is built on the principle of love for one’s neighbor as for oneself, so a person is obliged to calculate whether he really behaved kindly toward all people in the world. Then he sees that he did not always comply with this principle, and therefore repents and asks for forgiveness for having offended people and committed a crime or an unintentional mistake.

After such repentance, we come to the beginning of the new year. Rosh Hashanah is a special day from which the new year begins. After all, according to the Torah the world was created five days before Rosh Hashanah. On the sixth day Adam, man, was created who, as it is known, sinned and was expelled from paradise. Therefore, we are obliged to correct Adam’s transgression, because we are all parts of his soul.

In fact, there are four beginnings of the year. The year really begins with the exit from Egypt, about which it is said: “And I will take you as My people and I will be a God unto you.” Therefore, the new year, the new period, should be counted from the moment of leaving Egypt, that is, in Pesach (Passover).

The second beginning of the year is Rosh Hashanah, which we are celebrating now. Then there will be a holiday celebrating the beginning of the year for trees—Tu biShvat (Arbor Day). There is another beginning of the year to commemorate the gift of the Torah.

It turns out that we are celebrating the four beginnings of the year. But the most traditional holiday at the beginning of the Jewish year is Rosh Hashanah.

The traditional symbols of Rosh Hashanah celebrations are apples with honey and a round challah (special bread). They express our hope for a good new year. It is also customary to eat pomegranate on the holiday, symbolizing with its seeds a large number of good deeds that we commit to do in the new year.

At the celebration, it is customary to eat a round challah since the circle is a symbol of perfection. Apples and challah are dipped in honey to celebrate a good, sweet year.

It is customary to eat the head of a fish and wish each other not to stay at the tail but to be the head. The fish also represents the creature that lives in the water and water symbolizes mercy, Hesed. The child at birth comes out of the mother’s waters in which he grew up.

All these symbols indicate that we are entering a new period, a new life.
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From KabTV’s “The World” 8/24/21

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My new article on Linkedin “Humanity’s Penitential Days”

This week begin the Ten Penitential Days. In those days, traditionally, Jews repent for their misdeeds during the past year and ask for forgiveness from both each other and the Maker of the world. Looking at the past year, however, it seems as though the whole world needs to go through a process of repentance. Instead of praying for the tragedies to stop, we must understand that we brought them on ourselves, so if we stop what we are doing wrong, the tragedies will stop, as well.

Repentance does not mean remorse. It means, first and foremost, a reflection on what we did wrong, and a commitment to change it going forward.

When I was a child, I could get away with almost anything. My parents and everyone around me forgave my naughtiness and attributed it to my age. As I grew up, people gradually changed their attitude toward me; they became stricter and harsher, and sometimes even punished me, and I didn’t understand why. When I asked my mother about it, she explained to me that I was no longer a little boy, and that since I was growing up, I had to behave accordingly. And when I didn’t, they reproved me.

We are all in that state now. We, the human race, are no longer children. We have grown up, become extremely powerful, yet we remain as mischievous as when we were children. As a result, everyone around us, the whole of reality, is telling us off. Just as grownups punished me when I did not meet the level of maturity they had expected of me, nature punishes us when our behavior is infantile compared to how we should behave.

The difference between a child and a grownup is in the relation toward others. A child sees only itself; a grownup sees the collective, and oneself as a contributing and positive part of the collective. A child enjoys getting what it wants; a grownup enjoys contributing to the collective, to the community, and finds reward and satisfaction in the joy of others.

Nature is urging us to go in this direction: to become more considerate and caring. The natural disasters of the past year (and the years before) are not nature’s punishments; they are the consequences of our previous thoughtlessness toward each other and toward nature. If we change our mindset, they will stop, as it is our self-absorbed mindset that causes them.

The Ten Penitential Days are a reminder for all of us to reflect on how we treat each other. It is a chance to acknowledge the harm that we are causing through our narcissism, and make a common effort to reform ourselves, for everyone’s benefit.

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My new article on Linkedin “Rosh Hashanah – a Chance to Conquer the Covid Separation”

A few days ago, a neighbor shared with one of my students that she was very sad because her daughters are arguing over the Covid vaccines. As a result, one of them, who opposes vaccination, won’t come to celebrate Rosh Hashanah [Jewish New Year’s Eve] with the family. What pained my student’s neighbor most was not her daughter’s objection to taking the shot, or even that she would not come to the festive meal. What really pained her was the hatred that erupted between her children. Disputes happen in all families, and so do spats, but the venomous burst of hatred devastated her.

Hatred is indeed the bane of our generation. It destroys everything and rips apart communities and families. Because of it, we need to work on our connections and conquer the hatred in order to keep our families and communities together.

We all have different views. The problem begins when different views expose deeper rifts that were hidden until now.

If a member of the family does not want to be vaccinated, as in this case, and therefore cannot attend a Rosh Hashanah meal, so as not to put others at risk, we should not hate that person.

We should approach disagreements not as reasons for hatred, but as opportunities for bonding. When we rise above differences and disputes, we strengthen our bonds and increase our love and unity even more than before the rift occurred. Our conscious effort to unite solidifies and strengthens our ties.

When we talk about conquering separation, we do not mean suppressing it as though it does not exist. Conquering separation means recognizing it, accepting it, and uniting above it nonetheless. That new unity, which had to be formed over division, will invariably be stronger than unity that has never been challenged.

Therefore, whenever division emerges, we should examine how much we value our connection with the person at odds with us. In the case that my student told me about, the mother’s pain evidently showed that she valued her connection with her daughters, and their connection with each other, more than she valued anyone’s opinion about Covid-19 vaccines. If she can pass her feelings to her daughters, they will be able to rise above their division and strengthen their ties. If not, their connection will break, to everyone’s regret.

Today’s society presents countless situations where we disagree with people. If we value our connections with them, we should treat them as opportunities to tighten our bond with them. If we do this, we can turn the bane of hatred into a boon of mutual love and closeness.
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My new article on Linkedin “Rosh Hashanah, a New Beginning”

“Man is a wolf to man,” reads the Latin proverb Homo homini lupus. This aptly describes the way we treat each other in today’s society. One may have reached the point where we think that we have nothing to rejoice over—we have destroyed Earth, families, countries and peoples, culture and education. We have reached a very bad juncture. But on the other hand, this low point could serve as an opportunity to scrutinize our state, restart and ascend from this situation on Rosh Hashanah, this new year.

It all depends on how keenly we judge ourselves, evaluate the time we have wasted to amend our state, declare “Enough!” and take the necessary steps to a new life. And this new life does not necessarily imply building anything new other than good relationships between us.

Rosh Hashanah, from the words “head” or “start”[“Rosh” in Hebrew], and “change” [“Shinui”], signify the beginning of change, the ability to transform our current direction of suffering, insecurity, and emptiness into a new path in life characterized by happiness, confidence, and fulfillment.

The symbols of the Rosh Hashanah holiday resemble the state we aspire to attain. Apples with honey represent the desire for a sweet and happy new year. Eating a pomegranate with all its seeds symbolizes to us all the good deeds we need to do toward others. A baked round loaf of bread is the whole, complete life we want to achieve. And the head of a fish reminds us “to be the head and not the tail.” The fish also symbolizes to us the animal that lives in water, and water is grace. It is like getting a newborn child who was surrounded by water inside his or her mother’s womb. So, all these are signs that we stand on the threshold of a new era, a new life.

Where exactly should we begin this process of change? The first step toward a new beginning is through gaining awareness. It is important to realize that human relationships—either bad or good—determine our whole life. They affect not only us but all the other levels in nature as well: inanimate, vegetative, animate. The human level is the highest on the scale of nature, so if we repair the dysfunctional and reckless way we treat each other, this correction will permeate the rest of the system.

The increasing problems that we are experiencing globally should awaken within us a deep introspection to the point that we realize that everything depends on us, on our attitude toward our fate, toward nature, toward everyone. A thorough assessment of the quality of the relationships between us will reveal just how harmful we have been to each other during the last year, the root cause of the pains and sorrows we experience in return.

Consequently, a good new year will be determined by our desire to implement the great rule of the Torah, “love thy neighbor as thyself.” We have to scrutinize ourselves according to this tenet, whether we have behaved correctly or badly toward others.

With all the evil forces being revealed in human society and in nature, let’s hope that we will be smart enough to realize that our strength lies in our unity. Therefore, it is in our best interest to hasten our change of direction, from separation to integration. Then, instead of devouring one another like wolves, we will behave as a strong community of caring human beings who constantly support and cherish each other. Happy Rosh Hashanah!
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My new article on Linkedin “Elul: A Month of Reckoning”

The month of Elul is the last month in the Hebrew calendar preceding Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) which is characterized by soul searching. It is no coincidence that this year, at this time, special conditions such as intensive wildfires, devastating floods, extreme heat, hurricanes, wars, and terrorism, are revealed. The state of the world is putting extra pressure on us to do the math, to examine what we have done wrong, to figure out what we should ask for forgiveness for, and to decide to amend our faults in preparation for the new year.

This month people feel in a way that they are closer to their destiny and want to be more serious about life, plans, and goals and wish that everything will work out better and more successfully for them in comparison to last year. Humanity is currently facing raging situations where worrying events unfold every moment. We are beginning to fear that we literally will not be able to hold on to the Earth.

I see how the Creator is getting closer and closer to human beings demanding repentance for the way we treat each other and for our selfish relation to nature. First of all, we need to understand that everything is determined by human beings and the Creator hears and performs our will. If our thoughts and actions are for the sake of others, if we open our arms to each other and want to benefit everyone, the Creator will do good upon us.

But if we continue to behave contentiously as we do today, in conflict and quarrels with each other, then we will definitely have a very unpleasant fate. So it is really up to us to turn things around for the better. As it is written, “from the love of people to the love of the Creator.”

The acronym “ELUL” stands for “I am for my Beloved, and my Beloved is for me.” (Song of Songs 6:3) This means that in the good connection between us, we generate a common loving attitude to each other and then to the upper force of nature, the Creator. In response, He is revealed in our unity.

Our soul searching is about why we quarrel with each other endlessly, why we were created with such an evil inclination. All the species in nature operate according to their instincts and so they are never wrong. Conversely, we fail over and over again. Why is that so? Because we try to use our emotions and our mind in order to harm others and it backfires on us.

In the additional mind and emotions we were given compared to the animals, we have freedom of choice. Therefore, our role as human beings is to find the way to connection and unity. We look for the way, but each time, we discover that really we don’t want to unite and we don’t yearn for connection. This is actually our only sin or transgression; it is what stands in our way of achieving unity among us. Discovering this notion is what correction is about.

It is precisely during this time of the year when Selichot or days of repentance take place when we ask for forgiveness. First of all we ask forgiveness between us for our separation and harmful relations, and then we turn to the Higher Power asking Him for forgiveness. This way we finish our account for our deeds of the past year and start a new year with a clean sheet.

A prayer, then, is judging ourselves; it is the desire to discover and bring out all your sins and transgressions so that they can be corrected. Regret and repentance are not tears but the recognition of the need to unite. We see that the world is beginning to realize that without cohesion we simply will not be able to survive.

The conclusion of the month of Elul is that we want to reach a state of balance, the state of “love thy friend as thyself.” In order to achieve this goal and attain an inner transformation from egoistic to unselfish and compassionate we just need one thing— to open our hearts to each other. It is worth the effort.
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The 15th of Av is a special holiday called “The Day of Love” because love is the ultimate goal of our corrections. It is said that there has never been a happier and better day than this. And we are not talking about earthly love between a man and a woman. This is the day of everyone’s love for everyone and for the upper force that also envelops us with its love.

This has a completely different meaning. The day of love is not even a day but a state to which we come after destruction and problems. And when we turn to the Creator for help and with His help establish unity and love between us, this state continues forever.

In the Mishnah it is written that on the 15th of Av the girls would put on white dresses and go out into the garden and sing and dance in circles and the young men would come to choose their brides. However, we are not talking about young people but about aspirations of our soul, about the power of reception and the power of bestowal, which we must try to unite in order to come to their unification and the birth of a new world.

If we want to achieve correction, we must unite the two opposite forces so that the force of reception and the force of bestowal work together and give birth to a new state, a new generation created by the union of the right and left, masculine and feminine principles. It is the woman who gives birth to a new state, a new generation, and leads to the correction of the world. The color white symbolizes the property of the upper force, full surrender, pure, good intention, and openness. And all this takes place in orchards where grapes and fruits ripen, which testifies to the renewal of life.

Before this, we believed that we were living, but it was not life but continuous suffering. We considered it life only out of hopelessness. But now we really understand what life of love, union, and devotion to each other and the Creator is. And now we all unite with each other and with the upper force into one whole, one Kli, and then we really feel that we are beginning to live.

Everyone is looking for the opportunity to bestow, to get closer, to love, to give to everyone impartially, without any boundaries. So we come to the union from which a new life is born; from two forces, right and left, a third is born—the middle line, which opens the heavens to us and allows us to see life at a perfect spiritual level.
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From KabTV’s “The World” 7/20/21

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Question: Is there a difference between the day of love and Purim? Both speak of the final correction. Which of them is the most final?

Answer: The most final is Purim.

Tu B’Av (the day of love) and Purim exist in polarity, opposite each other. Achieving correction on Tu B’Av (15th of Av) leads to the fact that we have the celebration of Purim.

The 15th Av is a connection on the spiritual level and Purim is a connection on the physical level. Physical, means connection not at the bodily level of our world, but in the desires themselves.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual states. Day of Love – Tu B’Av“

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Question: On the 15th of Av, the following events took place in our world: the plagues of the generation that exited Egypt stopped; the ban on the marriage of the Benjamin tribe to girls from other tribes was lifted; the general ban on marriage between the tribes ceased to exist; the border guard between the northern and southern kingdoms was abolished, and so on.

Why did the elders revoke the laws of the Torah that prohibited mixing the tribes?

Answer: The fact is that there are laws that can be implemented during a certain historical period, and there are laws that are permanently in effect.

Therefore, there should be absolute and complete freedom in merging the male and female parts, because in the end receiving and bestowing should come to complete merging with each other.

Until then, certain mutual corrections exist sequentially at different levels. That is, the right and left lines unite there separately, here separately, and by levels from bottom to top. Therefore, there are laws that are somewhat and somewhere partially canceled, and there are laws that are still preserved and will be canceled in the future.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States. Day of Love—Tu Be-Av“

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Question: You always say “Love will cover all crimes.” That is, we are talking about the fact that first there was the Ninth of Av, destruction, separation, and the next stage is already connection. What crimes are we talking about that we should cover by love?

Answer: About the evil that is in our every desire. However, an ordinary person does not even feel this. This is the problem.

If he begins to examine himself correctly, he will see that in all his thoughts and actions there is only one desire, to receive, to acquire, to possess, to rise relative to others.

Question: There must be some kind of standard, regarding which I constantly check myself. Let’s say that this standard is the Creator. However, until He is revealed, I will not be able to understand what is evil in me, what should I correct, right?

Answer: The Creator is revealed gradually. In this measure, we begin to feel how much evil there is still within us.

Question: You said that in the spiritual world there is no difference between love for a man and love for a woman. What is that about?

Answer: It is about connection above separation, above rejection between us. Mutual rejection is called hatred, and mutual attraction for the sake of reaching the revelation of the Creator in order to bring Him contentment is called love.

Question: Does it mean that spiritual work is the same for men and women?

Answer: Yes, gender differences do not matter at all.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States”

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There comes Tu B’Av (the 15th of Av)—the day of love. It is known that the 9th of Av is a day of sorrow, destruction, catastrophe, a day in which all evil is revealed. And six days later comes Tu B’Av, a completely opposite day when we celebrate the day of joy, the day of love.

All this joy is built on the sorrow of the 9th of Av. Those people who discovered and felt the 9th of Av as destruction will now be able to reveal the day of the 15th of Av as a day of joy and love, connection.

We want to build good, kind relations between us, but we are not able to do this, and two times our hopes are crushed (the destruction of two Temples). First, the hope of living in friendship collapses, which is called a Temple at the level of Mochin de Neshama, and then we even make an attempt to come to love, which also collapses, a Temple at the level of Mochin de Haya.

We fail twice; we build a connection and it collapses, and we build again—and again destruction. But each new construction takes place on the ruins of the previous destruction, and therefore, after these two ruins, for the third time, we manage to build a Temple of love, unity, solidarity, and connection.

We go through the stages of construction and destruction, revealing all the shattering of the 9th of Av and against it, by making efforts, we will be able to reveal the connection and love, the revelation of the upper force between us of the 15th of Av.

It seems, how can one come from destruction to construction and love? But the fact is that both of these states come from one root. We are not talking about a building, but about building inside the heart. At the moment when we feel a shattering in our heart, hatred and rejection, breakage on breakage, and really do not want to be in this state anymore, the turnover from hatred to love happens very quickly.

To do this, you just need to understand that all the destruction is happening between us, we are destroying the Temple by not wanting to get closer to each other. And then comes the realization of evil, that our egoism is the cause of everything and it is necessary to break it in order to rise above it from hatred to love. This is called a “return to the answer,” and it can happen instantly. That is why the day of sorrow is so quickly replaced by the day of love.

First of all, we need to feel that we are really in destruction, in hatred, which causes all the troubles in our life, all the misfortunes. And so we come to the need to achieve love.

The 9th of Av symbolizes the destruction of the First and Second Temples, and the 15th of Av (Tu B’Av) represents the Third Temple and is therefore called the day of love. Love, the strongest connection, is the result of all our corrections. And we need to understand that it is not about the building, we don’t need to build it out of stone. This is a Temple that must be built in our heart.
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From KabTV’s “The Peace” 7/20/21

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