We shift to LISTENING to the divine voice rather than perceiving God. Hashem SEES Israel on the three pilgrimage festivals, but on Rosh Hashanah God listens to the shofar which elicits divine mercy
“Teshuva is a unique divine creation, whose source is the holy of holies. Just as the ark transcended space, teshuva transcends time – it can therefore expand and encompass even the past.” Rav kook
By blessing Hashem 100 times daily, we are connecting in the deepest way. Mindfulness of our actions makes us more aware of the Divine. It also serves to prevail over the forces of negativity, by attaching ourselves more closely with Hashem.
King David instituted 100 blessings when there was a plague in Jerusalem killing 100 people a day. After people began saying 100 blessings, the plague subsided. The plague as explained by Kaballah is representative of the sitra achra, the “other side” or in our terms “the dark side”. The power of each blessing, which invokes the four-letter name of Hashem, protects against the power of the the sitra achra, and draws us into a closer connection with Hashem.
This class based is based primarily on the work of the Ben Ish Chai discussing 100 blessings in greater detail and also outlining the way to achieve saying 100 blessings a day according to Jewish tradition.
I am currently teaching a four-part class on the Kabbalah and Halacha of summer. Each class is dedicated to a different Jewish month – Sivan, Tammuz, Av, and Ellul – and the Kabbalistic meanings embedding in each month. In addition, we are learning Halacha that is connected to summer time. Everything from what to do with a bee in the house to the laws of Tisha B’a Av and much more. Each class is between 1 and 1.5 hours long.
If you are in LA and want to attend the class please email jason.j.isaac at gmail.com.
In our next series on Kabbalah and Halacha we look at Tammuz and then the laws of the Travelers Prayer. Tammuz is vision… This means that the month of Tamuz is the best month of the year to learn to exercise our sight in the most positive way possible. Rectified sight involves both shying away from that which is negative and training ourselves to see things in a positive light.
The Gemorah in Berochos says when a person goes “on the way” he needs to say tefillas haderech – the traveler’s prayer. One should not be lenient with this requirement. The Levushei Mordechai says women are also obligated in this tefilla.The obligation of tefillas haderech does not only apply when traveling by foot, but also when traveling by car, boat, train and airplane.
Based on teachings of Omer Yisroel Furmanski, Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, Rabbi Moishe Dovid Lebovits and myself.