The Jewish holidays are far beyond just observing traditions. They are interlaced with the present time much closer than we think. Jewish holidays are a trajectory of the nation’s destiny, a cardiogram of our common heartbeat.

Jewish holidays’ symbols convey the information that otherwise would be lost in the impenetrable labyrinths of history or distorted beyond recognition. The importance of the Jewish holidays extends far beyond! Our holidays deliver messages not only about our past but also our future.

5776 Years Ago

The first of the fall Jewish holidays, Rosh HaShanah (the head of the year), is the Jewish New Year. It denotes spiritual awakening. It appeared the moment people sensed an aspiration to things that are beyond their everyday routine.

The name of the first human being is Adam. He was the first one who ever thought about the meaning of life. The day Adam realized his strong desire to know what his purpose in life was is marked in the Jewish calendar as Rosh HaShanah. It is quite possible that it is the only event in ancient history for which the exact date is known. It happened on the 1^st of Tishrei (September-October), 5776 years ago.

Since then, Rosh HaShanah is not just a day on the calendar; rather, it is a developmental milestone. On this day we give an honest report to ourselves about how we lived and what we were supposed to reach during the previous year, and the coming judgment.

Getting to the Essence

Today, when the entire world is overwhelmed with a new wave of anti-Semitism, it is essential to understand what awaits us in the future. As never before, it is crucial to once and for all break this spiral of centuries of exile and unbearable sufferings that accompanied the Jewish people throughout history. The prophet Jonah’s story is always read on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). It helps us better understand the situation we are in now. We’ll get to this story a little later.

At the Festive Table

Rosh HaShanah symbolizes our aspiration to upper values, benevolent existence, sharing with and caring for each other. This is why there is a tradition to eat fish heads. It symbolizes our inclination to stand at the head of all positive changes.

Pomegranate with its many juicy seeds reminds that we are also like “seeds” and that it is high time for us to “ripen.” Our unity should result from our joint efforts. It will give us a qualitatively new boost.

We dip apple slices, an ancient symbol of “transgressions,” meaning detachment among us, in honey to “sweeten” (correct) the lack of unity among us.

How can we achieve this unity not out of fear, troubles, or despair, and sincerely desire to get closer to each other? How can we feel like we all are one family not only during wars that force us to involuntarily keep together, but also in the time of peace? For that, each one of us has to rise above our own self-interest to balance our fragmented nature by aspiring to establish positive, good relations between us. This is exactly what Kabbalists mean when it gets to description of the Jewish holidays.

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur comes after Rosh HaShanah, and for the Jews this is the most sacred day of the year. On this day we fast and pray. And the main part of the prayer is the reading in the book of the prophet Jonah. In fact, the code for the salvation of humanity is concealed in this book, even though the plot of the narrative resembles an adventure novel.

Jonah receives a task from the Creator: he must help the inhabitants of the city of Nineveh overcome mutual hatred and implement the principle “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

In his time, the patriarch Abraham realized this idea and established the Jewish people on its basis. How he achieved this is a separate subject in itself. Now something else is important: the Jewish people succeeded in doing something that, in principle, is impossible.

“What would have happened to the human race if Abraham had not had the higher foresight and had remained in Ur, if had kept his ideas to himself and would not have created any unique Jewish people? Without a doubt the world without the Jews would have been radically different from the world of today.” (Paul Jones, English historian.)

Today, more than ever, not only the Jews and Arabs, Russians and Americans, but the entire world requires, if not love, then at least, an elementary mutual understanding. But today, as in the past, similar ideas are unequivocally accepted as completely impractical. So it is not surprising that Jonah decided to escape across the sea. It seemed to him that in this way he could shirk the task that was imposed upon him.

We too, like Jonah, sometimes try to take refuge in the daily routine from the big “impregnable” problems.” Others will deal with them and we will deal with ours. But from time immemorial, a reminder comes that there is a special mission for the Jews, and it is impossible to escape it.

All of Us Are in One Boat

The ship upon which Jonah sailed was caught in a violent storm. The sailors worked hard to survive: They threw everything that was not necessary overboard, prayed to their gods, and understandably they began to search for who was to blame. And Jonah, meanwhile, goes to sleep, as if everything happening didn’t concern him.

Only then, having no choice, he admitted that he had fled from the task that was imposed upon him and asked the sailors to throw him into the sea. This means that Jonah was even ready to die, just so he wouldn’t have to carry out what he was assigned. But even this didn’t help. A gigantic fish swallowed the fugitive, and three days in the belly of the fish forced him to agree to carry out the established task.

Today, when the world has become a “global village,” all of us are apparently sailing in one boat on a stormy sea, and the nations of the world, the “sailors,” blame all the crises, wars, troubles and disasters on the “only Jew” onboard, the Jewish people.

But we are still sleeping, like Jonah. Immersed in daily business, trying not to notice that the nations of the world hate us more and more; we hope that everything will somehow calm down by itself. But every new wave of anti-Semitism shows more clearly that our fate is as unavoidable as was the fate of that fugitive due to whom the storm broke out. And if the crew of the boat first tried to save Jonah, today, “The sailors of the world ship” are just waiting for the right moment to throw us into the sea. We don’t even need to ask this “favor” of them.

The Beginning of the Changes

The Jewish holidays are more than just history. The Kabbalists established them in their time and through the symbols of the holidays they conveyed their message to us, their descendants. The message directly touches upon the fate of the Jewish people.

Rosh HaShanah points to the need for the desire for higher values and the establishment of good human relationships.

Yom Kippur reminds us that escape from carrying out this role cannot continue forever. In any case, we must acquire these values and pass all of this on to the other peoples, even if, like Jonah, we don’t want this.

We see today how hatred between people and between nations, pollutes our planet more and more. Everything we do, from new technology to social revolution, ultimately leads to a new disaster and makes the hostility between people more acute.

This problem can be solved only with the help of the Jewish people. After all, the idea of unity, equality, and mutual guarantee (Arvut) is its foundation. The people who followed Abraham lived according to the law of love, with a feeling of closeness to each other.

The world is not waiting for scientific discoveries or achievements in literature and art from the Jews, the world is waiting for the Jewish people to reach unity, and by providing an example for the rest of the nations, the method of Abraham will be transmitted to them. And this will bring peace and tranquility to all peoples, which will free the Jews from anti-Semitism and will put an end to all their troubles.
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From KabTV’s “Holidays. Rosh Hashanah” 8/6/15

Filed under: Holidays, Israel, Nations of the World - 1 Comment →

All nations of the world celebrate the new year as an ordinary earthy holiday. It is only special for Jews. We celebrate the creation of Adam. This is a very significant date.

The world was created five days prior to the New Year (Rosh HaShanah). Adam was created on the day of the New Year, the fifth hour of the onset of Friday.

All significant dates of the Jewish calendar do not designate material holidays, but rather various spiritual deeds, including the creation of the world and the creation of Adam. They were the ones that gave our people the general direction of advancement to the goal.

Adam is the soul, meaning it is a power structure, a network of forces that supposedly exists somewhere in space and represents the analog of the Creator.

It was created from above by the upper force—the force of goodness, love, and bestowal. Therefore, the structure itself is in the same state of bestowal, love, and mercy toward itself, and it is an internal and self-contained “cocoon” that existed on its own; it did not have a need to develop.

In order to force this structure to develop, there was a need to shake it up somehow, to introduce an element of interference, sharp external influences. This was done with the help of the additional system called Chavah or Eve. It shifted the inner balance of Adam and as a result this structure ruptured from inside.

For example, when there is an imbalance in the atomic bomb as a result of excessive rapprochement between the two halves, the critical mass is increased and it begins to self-destruct, which leads to a nuclear explosion.

The same happened here. It turns out that we celebrate the fall. One would say that we should be mourning, fasting, weeping, and covering our heads with ashes.

Not at all, we celebrate because this breakage allows us to assemble ourselves from the pieces of Adam and Eve and come to the state similar to the upper force that created them, and we can become equal to the upper force in perfection and eternity.

So we correct what the Creator purposefully broke for us, similar to how parents disassemble a puzzle for their child so he would get smarter while putting it together. Throughout this action it is necessary to see the Creator prepared this for us and is treating us with love, wanting us to reach His perfection, become equal to Him.

This is why we celebrate this opportunity given to us as a holiday. This is the New Year.
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From KabTV’s “Holidays. Rosh HaShanah” #1, 8/6/15

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The New Year in Hebrew is called Rosh Hashanah, which means the head of the year, its beginning. The year ahead of us depends on how we start it, what goals we’ll set, what intentions we have, on our plans.

This is why we have to clearly understand why we need this year, why we exist, and what we really need to achieve.

Fortunately, we live in the world that demonstrates to us its uselessness and absolute insignificance. This is why it is much easier for us to navigate in it than it was 100 or even 50 years ago.

What can we wish for ourselves for the new year? We see how throughout all of history, humanity has constantly erred. We have tried to do something and erred; again we tried and again missed, and so it has been every time.

We cannot make one correct step. In the wisdom of Kabbalah this is explained very simply: Humanity doesn’t know its past, from where it came, and towards what it is going.

The idea is that we descended below from the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) into our world, and now we must ascend upward again. But we are not conscious of the descent nor of the future ascent, and so we are found in a pitiful state.

Kabbalah tells us that if we want to be different, we need to work on the unity of our people, meaning on what Abraham did in the past in ancient Babylon, when he called to all who were interested in uniting and gathered them into a single unique group called the people of Israel.

Israel, means “Yashar-El” (Straight to the Creator) and is also “Li-Rosh” (I have a head), meaning that I am going head first. Rosh Hashanah means the same thing—head first.

It means that I begin to understand that I will always be mistaken and will receive a blow with every step forward, even with the smallest step, if I don’t know the program of creation and the way that it is leading me.

This way is concealed from the ordinary person, and if I don’t progress towards where nature is leading me but go in the opposite direction, nature will drag me back by the neck and push me in the right direction. This is the way of suffering. A correction like this is very cruel.

So it is up to us to understand the program of creation and to begin to apply it correctly; this is what the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us.

The application is very simple; it is summed up by connection and unity. This was said to the people at the time of receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai: “Do you want to be as one people with one heart, to be found in full Arvut (Mutual Guarnatee) for this, not doing to your friend what is hateful to you and loving your friend as yourself?”

All of these Mitzvot (commandments) deal with our people, within which we need to unite correctly. And in the connection between us, we discover the Creator, the upper world, the next stage of our development. The more we unite, the more we ascend above our world and begin to feel the next level of existence, the next dimension.

In principle, this is our role. Kabbalah gives precise instructions about how to do this and teaches us according to the original Kabbalistic sources.

I hope very much that the old year that has ended will teach us how to properly treat the new year, and from this day on we will learn to direct ourselves towards clear and correct development in harmony, in the connection and union between us.

If the Jewish people will do this, then it will influence the entire world positively, will annihilate anti-Semitism, and will bring humanity to prosperity by raising it to the next level of existence. Everything depends on us; only we determine the future of the world.

Let’s do this so that this new year will be good as has been determined for us from above, so that we can bring the entire world to the new state, and as it is written in the Torah, we will become a Light to the nations, we will realize ourselves in the best way. This is our destiny. Let’s ascend in this year to level of eternity and wholeness.
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From KabTV’s “Holidays. Rosh Hashanah” 8/6/15

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Adam discovered the secret of life 5,776 years ago and the fact that man can discover the upper world while living in this world. He taught it to his students, and twenty generations later, Abraham came along and completed the teachings of Adam and turned it into a method that was vital to all of mankind in his days.

Abraham was the first who actually implemented the teachings of Adam. He gathered the ancient Babylonians around him and told them the reason that their life was so difficult and why there were so many problems after the building of the Tower of Babel when people ceased to understand one another.

Abraham said that it was possible to rise above our ego and build a wonderful life for everyone because this method enables us to get closer to one another. People understood that their life would be better if they treated each other more nicely, but they couldn’t overcome the hatred they felt.

Abraham’s group that implemented the method grew and became known as Israel. 1,500 years from the time of Abraham until the destruction of the Temple people live in the attainment of the upper force while living in this world, having acquired the upper spiritual life.

They lived according to the law of “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” but the time came when they fell from this high level and instead of brotherly love, felt unfounded hatred toward one another. This is called the destruction of the Temple.

If the nation of Israel unites again, they will feel as if they live in Paradise. This is possible, and there is no need to die in order to achieve that. We simply need to connect according to the method of the wisdom of Kabbalah, which is very simple. Let’s do it, and let’s all live a wonderful, peaceful life, a secure and tranquil life.

Question: It is hard to believe that the nation of Israel can unite because it is the most divided nation with many different streams and factions.

Answer: This division is typical of the nation of Israel because the advantage of Light from darkness is revealed. We are so hostile toward one another because we must feel how much we need the method of connection and unity, which means the wisdom of Kabbalah.

The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about nothing but connection and unity. All of the holidays, customs, and the commandments of the Torah are about the connection and unity among us.

Yom Kippur symbolizes the dissemination of the method of correction all over the world. After all, the nation of Israel is obliged to be “a Light to all the nations,” first to connect with each other and then lead the unification of the entire world.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 9/6/15

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The discovery of evil is called the sin of Adam. But, this was in fact not a sin, for the Creator Himself says that He created the evil inclination. This means that Adam did not sin, rather he only discovered the sin, his evil, egoistic nature.

From the start we were created with a nature such as this so that we would have the opportunity to rise above it, and from this evil, become aware of the good, the Creator. It is impossible to discover this without that nature, “As the advantage of Light over Darkness,” (Kohelet Rabbah 2:13).

In the New Year (Rosh Hashanah) we celebrate the opportunity to rise up and attain the upper force, the Creator, to become Adam (Man), meaning the person who resembles Him. This is within the power of everyone, for Adam was simply the first who did it. As it is said, “for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them” (Jeremiah 31:33), and “…for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” (Isaiah 56:7). So Adam is an image that is relevant to all of humanity.

If during this holiday we make the right accounting of the past year, we clarify that we have still not attained correction and that we have not ascended with all of humanity to the peak of our existence, the spiritual world, the level of resembling the higher, eternal and perfect power. And for this we ask forgiveness, meaning we judge ourselves that we could have discovered our evil inclination and corrected it, rising above it and uniting between us, but we didn’t do it. So we ask in the beginning of the year that we be given the power that makes it possible to correct ourselves and reach the goal of creation.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 9/6/15

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Question: How many more times will we celebrate Rosh Hashanah?

Answer: A total of 6,000 times, after which the closure of this universe will take place; just as it once opened, so it will close. Even the physicists say that the universe is finite.

Its spherical character will gradually begin to disappear; it will stop being distorted by its three-dimensional character. It will first become two-dimensional and then contract to a single point. Just as a television signal is developed when it enters a television, the same thing will also happen here, but with the opposite effect: the universe will fold and collapse, because the characteristics that develop its picture for us will disappear. I hope that we will be witness to how the universe will collapse, along with all of our bodies and this entire world. Only the loftiest characteristics will be left, which in the meantime, don’t exist today within our substance, those being the characteristics of bestowal, love, and unity. And that is how we will move to a higher dimension.

The idea is that everything that is happening within us is the internal perception of ourselves and of the substance of the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels. The whole world is within us. So we cannot talk about it objectively having existed outside of us for billions of years. On the contrary, it doesn’t exist! What does it mean that our universe folds, the earth, humanity, and society? Within me, the entire program according to which I work today, folds back, everything disappears and contracts within me into a single state of unity. With this, our mundane stage of existence ends, and we go out to a new level.

Comment: Which means that I have been shown a film that now is ending.

Answer: But you need to realize it! The end of the world is the end of the incorrect perception of a person. It is necessary to understand that this is a movie and to stop projecting it inside yourself. Instead of this, it is necessary to project the next stage, and always be present, knowing that our world is only one continuous film, and that in reality, all of this doesn’t exist. In In the meantime, all the worlds are incomplete images of our most natural, highest state, which is called the world of Ein Sof (Infinity).

So Rosh Hashanah is a festival that includes within it absolutely everything. From it emerge all the rest of the holidays and the entire history of humanity. It is the beginning of everything. It is the head! And so in Hebrew it is called Rosh Hashanah (the head of the year). Let’s hope that we will have a good beginning for the next stage!
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From KabTV’s “Holidays. Rosh Hashanah” 8/6/15

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Question: We usually celebrate our birthday and that of our relatives. What is the meaning of celebrating Rosh Hashanah, which is the birthday of a person who lived thousands of years ago?

Answer: We celebrate the anniversary of the day that the opportunity to discover the secret of life, the purpose of our life, and the meaning of life, which makes it worth living, was first revealed to mankind.

These questions about the meaning of life awaken in many people today. Adam HaRishon (First Man) was the first to discover this secret. He explored it and found out that we are living in this world in a special reality so that we will ascend from it to an upper level, to a whole and eternal existence.

We can actually attain this existence right now and don’t have to die in order to do so. Death itself doesn’t provide us with the right to enter the upper world. If it were so, why would it be worthwhile to do anything in this life?

People think that by living without the revelation of the upper world they will be able to enter it after they die. So what do we need this world for?

Many don’t even believe that there is anything else other than this corporeal world. This is exactly the secret that Adam discovered. And this is the event that we celebrate when the Jewish new year begins.

It is because we discover that we have nowhere to advance to since this world is only a passageway, a corridor, through which we can arrive at the revelation of the Creator (Bore), which means to come and see (Bo – Re).

Question: Will this happen after we die?

Answer: It will not happen after the death of our body, but after the death of our ego. It says “you shall see your world in your lifetime.” So please see it while you are alive!

Adam discovered that anyone who wants to has the opportunity to discover the upper world, that is, the next level according to the order of our evolution, here and now in this world.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 9/6/15

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Question: Every year we wish each other a good year, and at the end of the year it turns out that it wasn’t particularly successful. In what way are we mistaken? All of us want things to be good, but we don’t know how to do this.

Answer: We don’t understand that to the degree of our rapprochement with each other, we are approaching the higher power, the good and beneficent force. The formula is very simple: the closer we are to each other, the closer we become to the Creator.

It would seem that there is no simpler formula than this, but it is not possible to carry it out through human powers. And so the wisdom of Kabbalah was revealed to help in doing this through the higher power. The upper force will help a person in this way only, and not in anything else. It is only waiting for this request from us.

Question: If Adam already opened the way to the good life 5,776 years ago, why didn’t he show it to everyone? Why was it necessary to go through all the wars, exiles, and troubles through which humanity has passed for thousands of years?

Answer: Adam taught his method because the Kabbalists in all generations were followers of the students of Abraham. To this day Kabbalists study the discovery of Adam so that in each and every generation further and further new details were added to the study.

Kabbalah develops like every other science, and ultimately we received knowledge about what kind of upper world is found above us, how it influences us and manages us, and how it is possible to influence it from below to above.

We clarify that the upper world and our lower world are completely interconnected, and within our relationships with each other we discover the upper force driving both these worlds called the Creator. The wisdom of Kabbalah deals with the discovery of the upper force and the establishment of a mutual connection with it.

The problem is that it is possible to discover the upper force only on condition that we resemble and become equivalent to its characteristics, like everything else in our lives. I will not be able to understand another person if he is talking in a language that is unknown to me or he talks about things that are understood only by a professional, or we have such different perspectives that we cannot communicate.

All of our senses, sight, hearing, smelling, taste, and touch are arranged to absorb only what we are ready to perceive in the range of frequencies of their sensitivity. But we have no sensitivity regarding the upper world; we still need to develop this within us. And this is what Kabbalah teaches us.

And so there is a name for this, Kabbalah,  from the word, “LeKabel” (to receive); it is a wisdom about how to receive, grasp, understand, and feel the upper world. Adam left us this knowledge, and all the Kabbalists that came after him developed his discovery more and more and added to it, similar to how physics develops from generation to generation.

As a result, today there is a developed, unique, and powerful science in our hands that explains how we must discover the essence of life and its purpose practically, meaning to implement it. The Kabbalists from the past wrote about our generation, pointing to it as the “Generation of the Messiah,” that is, those who could draw upon all of the wisdom and use it, ultimately attaining and knowing the purpose of our existence on the face of this Earth.

Humanity has reached a state where it must answer this question, otherwise our situation will be hopeless. Kabbalah opens up all the possibilities within us, so we have a reason to celebrate the new year and be happy; we just need to correctly use the gift that we received from Adam HaRishon (The First Man), Adam.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 9/6/15

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Question: How is it really possible to reach recognition of evil, to express remorse, and repent in this world where it has become the norm to harm each other, disregard others, and deceive every day?

 Answer: Humanity developed for thousands of year in order to reach the recognition of evil in our time. All of nature around us is starting to “round off” and put pressure on us, forcing us to connect to one connected system, similar to the world of still, vegetative, and animate that is united in one symbiotic system, and people need to be connected with each other like that. This state is created now, the first time in all our history.

The Kabbalists pointed to the 20^th Century as the time that humanity would start connecting. To this end, the wisdom of Kabbalah is revealed, the method of connection, unity, and correction. But the correction is not possible as long as the ruin is not revealed, and that’s why so many problems—hatred of each other, separation, parents and children unable to find a common language, people not getting married and establishing families or divorcing—are revealed in the world.

All these are signs of the time that Kabbalists described precisely like that many years ago. Evil, hatred, and separation is revealed and people are looking for every opportunity to retreat and hide in order to take a break from each other. But we need to understand that nature obliges us to unite, leaving us no choice. We are in the framework of the laws of nature. Just as you cannot go against the laws of physics, chemistry, biology, anatomy, there cannot be disregard for the internal laws of human behavior, that is, the soul.

The wisdom of Kabbalah tells about the laws of the soul: how to assemble it all together from the separated parts of the broken Adam HaRishon. We all must connect, but not in physical bodies, but in our inner desires in order to complete each other. When we unite and connect, one mutual general virtual creature comes out that is called Adam (Man). We all work for this virtual unity and make efforts to improve it, and then inside it we will feel the upper spiritual world.

Question: What can I do if I curse everyone on the road, argue with the cashier in the supermarket, insult people that are near me in my egoistic attitude?

Answer: Everyone behaves like that. The main thing is to understand that this is bad, that is, to reveal what benefit we would receive due to our unity, for example, a million dollars. For example: if a few people unite together and each of them would receive a prize of a million dollars, everyone would run to unite if they would see such a benefit from connection.

Imagine that ten people are sitting around a roundtable. Ten is the number required for a complete measure of connection. And if we succeed in connecting, then from above a sack with $10,000,000 falls on the table, one million for each.

Then I realize that my inability to connect with others is my evil nature, my enemy. I could have gained, but my ego did not let me connect. Only this recognition is lacking.

The wisdom of Kabbalah reveals a little of what is the upper world to us. How good it is, but the condition to enter it is that we scrutinize our main obstacle, our egoism, calling it the evil inclination. We are only lacking this recognition; otherwise, we don’t think that our egoism is bad. And this is whole purpose of repentance, which is customary to do in the month of Elul before the new year. Repentance is the revelation in me of the disturbances against good connection with everyone.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 8/30/15

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Question: What is the meaning of the symbols of Rosh Hashanah: apples in honey, a fish head etc.?

Answer: A fish head symbolizes our desire to be a head and not a tail. It is because we want to determine our life by ourselves and not allow ourselves to draw us in the direction of the ego. We want to know what this life was given to us for, what the purpose of our life is, and how to fill it with meaning and make it worthwhile and significant. This is the difference between a head and a tail.

The pomegranate symbolizes the nation of Israel, the unity of all the souls in one body. This is exactly how we want to feel, united in one soul.

The apple in honey symbolizes our desire to fill our life with meaning and sweetness. It is the same apple that Adam ate and sinned because of his calculations. He meant to perform a correction for all of humanity at one time because he included all the souls in him. This is how great the egoistic desire was that was revealed in him.

But Adam didn’t succeed in performing the correction. To correct means to fill with sweetness and to ascend above our ego. The apple symbolizes our egoistic desire that was created by the Creator and when we dip it in honey and correct it we reach a good life.

Adam tried to perform this correction at one time and didn’t succeed, and so we perform it gradually—many people throughout history, one correction after another, gradually attaining the end of correction.

The apple dipped in honey is the symbol of the correction and the sweetening of the ego that allows us to use it for good.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 9/6/15

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