Soul Surfing
Women’s Torah from Zlata Ehrenstein
Author, Speaker, Mentor
Soul Surfing with Zlata
Zlata Ehrenstein presents Chassidic classes in Israel according to mystical Torah concepts and is the author of “Soul Surfing.” Her family is affiliated Chabad for the past five generations. She has always been involved in Jewish education whether in private classes or Machon Alte, a women’s seminary in Tsfat Israel.
To contact Zlata you can email her at zlatae@gmail.com
בס”ד
Parshas Noach and its messages
The story of Noah and flood is well known; a very adventurous experience & children get excited over it each year. However, it is indeed, recorded in the Torah, explicitly and deliberately, meaning, that it is a very definite instruction for all people, all ages and relevant at all times.
Here are a few lessons the Lubavitch Rebbe taught us from this story:
The Torah is eternal. Therefore, anything written in this story can and should be a practical message for us to handle our lives, till this very day.
The story of Noah is usually read the week of the 7th of Cheshvan. There must be a definite pronounced correlation between the two factors. The Torah tells us of all the Yiden fulfilling their obligation to come to the Bais Hamikdosh. They come to absorb holiness three times a year, Pesach, Shavuous and Sukkos. Sukkos is followed by Rosh Hashana and Yom, Kippur, marking the entire month of Tishrey a month sated and imbued with the love and loyalty caress and embrace of Hashem with the Yiden.
The month of Elul is when the King is in the field. Hashem comes to each one of the Yiden and showers him with Infinite love and warmth. When each one 'goes out' into the field to greet the King, He shows him such care and love that he makes an immediate resolution to do whatever the King will ask. Each one follows the King back to His palace, into His innermost chambers – with no opposition of any of the ministers. The love is so overpowering that the commitment is reciprocal.
Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Judgment becomes a day of absorbing love and compassion from the King of Kings.
The King invites each of us to remain in the royal palace for the remaining of the month. On Sukkos we celebrate our royalty. Coming from the field, mundane and physical activities are the normal mode of daily life. Living in the royal palace, we learn new behavior and accustom ourselves with prestigious and esteemed manners. After we accomplished this transformation, Hashem tells us - go back home. Your stay at the palace is finished.
One may become very heartbroken – we just managed to learn a new set of practical and emotional royalty, and now you are telling us to leave?
This is the message of the 7th of Cheshvan – this is the longest time on the road for the last person to reach his home. Until that point, you are still as if in the palace. You haven't reached your home/destination yet. You are still absorbed and totally imbued by the aura of the Bais Hamikdosh.
Now, I tell you what the purpose of all that love and bonding is: to bring that Bais Hamikdosh sensation to the entire world. Where ever you live, bring the Bais Hamikdosh to that place. Eventually, the entire world will be filled with holiness and the love of the Infinite King with the Yiden through observing Torah will be obviously noticeable. The whole point of Tishrei is Cheshvan. The sole purpose of the bond between the Yiden and Hashem is for each one make a rainbow in his neighborhood – the guarantee of the world's continued existence and flourishing.
The entire story in the Torah about Noah and the flood is a guide for us to bring home this peak of bond between the Yiden and Hashem.
1. Noah built a teivah, an ark and a place of salvation when the flood would come onto the entire world. It had all the animals which live today. Everything in the entire world was destroyed other than the fish, living in water. The first parsha, Bereshis, is the story of creating the world. The second parsha is the story of how the world exists. Noah was a tzaddik, in his time. He was chosen to save the entire world and start from the 'beginning' again. He was saved with his entire family, including the giant Og, who did teshuva/repentance at the last moment, and with all the animals in the teivah/ark including the fish in the waters. The fish were saved because near the teivah the waters were still cold, in their natural environment. Even if you are the only one in the entire generation who is a 'tzaddik', the entire world will be saved in your zchus/merit.
2. There is always a tzaddik in every generation to guide and save it from disaster. Identify him and follow his instructions accurately.
3. The flood for 40 days and nights are compared to a mikveh with purifying waters which is made of 40 sa'ah (a halachic measurement). Everything in life is intended to be for a good purpose, even though it may seem as though the world is being destroyed. Being purified in a mikvah demands self-nullification, bittul. In the times of Noah, the world was purified so that it would be prepared for Avraham spreading the truth of belief in one Creator.
4. The mabul/flood in the times of Noah had torrent rains pouring down from heaven and soaring waters upwards from the depths of the earth. Storms in life, today, can be from waters from above or waters from below – heavenly/spiritual matters or worldly/ material dreams. Heeding the tzaddik's words will help us remain focused so we do not lose perspective.
5. Turbulence is part of natural life. The fact that many a person feel like they are drowning in debts/tasks/responsibilities/commitments is the way the world was created. Life is turbulent, in its natural state. The word mabul/flood comes from the root word of bilbul/confusion. In a world of defiance, falseness, and dishonesty, where each one feels they have the right to do whatever they desire because there is no Supreme Authority evident, darkness sets in. There is no truth to be found, unless one digs deeply in his inner psyche. One must accept the fact that whatever he see or hearsor reads is only a certain percentage of the whole story. There must be some haven somewhere to develop purpose and spread its message.
Concealment of light is compared to glass—a natural nature of seeing through object. This enables us to see clearly, whatever is on the other side or even outside. However, when one puts a sheet of aluminum on the back of the glass, then it becomes a mirror. One cannot see what is on the other side. And at the same time, he can only see himself. Egoism and narcissism, leading to each one living in his own world and apathetic to anyone else around him is the obvious and inevitable result of any concealment.
The clue to success is having a teivah (a safe spiritual haven where we can absorb a higher meaning and goal to life, found in the letters of Torah and davening). Teivah literally means a built 'home' for Noah and all those creations saved from the flood. The Baal Shem Tov explains that it can also mean a letter plus a vowel. Do you have a fixed time each day for devotion for davening and Torah study? Come into the teivah! Leave your previous state of mind and troubles and go into the safe haven where you can receive all the necessary strengths. Don't just daven by mumbling the words. Make it meaningful!
6. We can easily test ourselves to know whether we are in the 'teivah' or in the stormy flood. If we feel overwhelmed/exhausted/burned out/fearful or any other negative emotion then we are in the stormy waters. If we feel calm and serene so we can go ahead and perform our obligations then we are anchored in the teivah. Choose life!
7. One may ask: What can I, one individual, do to save the entire world? I always have ways to rationalize that it is really 'his' problem! I have enough to do to take care of myself! Dealing with daily challenges (confronting the stormy waters) is the very factor, which will lift us to a higher plane.
The teivah rose as the waters became more intense. The stormier the waters, the higher the teivah became.
I have everything to gain if I take responsibility even though it might be another one's problem or fault. Ultimately, I am the one who becomes a better/more refined person from rising above the situation. I live a more quality life. I am closer to the purpose of creation and to purpose of my life.
8. One may think that being in the teivah should be my goal. If I found my comfort zone where I can be productive, then I should remain there. However, let us look at a pearl, hidden inside a shell. It grows and shines. It is precious but the goal is to make it into jewelry, set it in new place. Leave your comfort zone to shine your light!
9. The waters came pouring down from above and shooting up from the depths of the earth. There are two factors causing turbulence and confusion in our lives. The upper waters symbolize confusion in the spiritual holy spheres in our lives. Many times, we are in a positon where the area is so blurred and foggy that doing the right thing and making the proper choices become difficult. We do not see the right from the wrong. Should I make dinner for my family or go to help a neighbor? Both are proper healthy acts, but which is the right one for me right now? Should I make another salad for Shabbos dinner or rest so that I would be able to be relaxed and the Shabbos table? Really, the yetzer hora/evil inclination wants to upset the harmony at the table so he will make us think that making that salad is a wonderful choice. The lower waters symbolize the hardships of making a living, earning money to make ends meet. They can push a person to the end of his nerves and tension will then spread to other areas of life as well.
What did Noah do to be saved from the flood of confusion? Whatever he did must work for me as well. After all, the Torah is the blueprint for the world at large, and for my personal life, as well. He was told come into the teivah. The word teivah in Hebrew is the combination of a letter and a vowel. The pronunciation of the letter is what gives it distinction. The 'above waters' is the words of Torah and 'lower waters' is the letters of davening/praying. Davening is where we are at that moment in our physical state. It is compared to a ladder that we can ascend to reach the heavens. Davening can take us on the journey from wherever we are at that moment, (with all our turbulence in our hearts and minds) to the heights of holiness, where there is only light, purity, total absolute utopian serenity and truth. One needs to take these holy letters of the siddur and combine them with the vowel – movement/vitality/ energy. Only a person who is alive can move.
'Go onto your davening'; Make your davening alive, potent and vibrant. After you have such a davening, then take that energy/light/clarity/connection/devotion with you all day. Perhaps, towards the afternoon you will need another boost? So then, we have the mincha prayer. Mincha is known to be the most precious part of davening because then we are at the height of our daily living and we infuse the holiness from our prayer into the afternoon. We become redirected and fastened in place again. This gives us fortitude and confidence so we will not lose focus in life. We will remember who we are, why we are here, and receive strength to do whatever we should. This is the entire purpose of creation: bonding and imbuing every particle of natural life with Hashem.
10. Inside the teivah, there was perfect harmony. One time, out of the entire year, when everyone was in the teivah, we hear the episode where Noah brought food to the lion a bit late. No spa. No air to breathe. No leaving to take a break. No friction. Full responsibility each day and night. No animals hurting each other. Perfect serenity. Ultimate utopia.
We too can reach a point where it seems to be total destruction and heights of tension around us, yet, we can remain perfectly calm and focused. When we know what we should do, knowing who we are and why we are in this particular place, then we go forward and do the call of the hour. The fact that there is someone losing his temper or equilibrium right near us is just like the walls of the teivah. Right on the other side, there is overall tragedy and devastation, however if I am inside the teivah (If am under the influence of my davening and directives of Torah) then I know that the problem is with the distraught person. The episode should and cannot swerve my mind nor coercing a negative reaction.
I can remain calm and react maturely and attentive to correcting a problem. Stay focused and think how I can make this world a better place. Thoughts about whose fault it is, or why me, or why should I succumb to another's fetish obsessions, are all counterproductive, worthless, and futile. I am not succumbing to his seeming stupidity; I am doing whatever I can so that normal life can resume. Imagine Noah!
11. The entire year Noah was in the teivah, the solar system did not operate. There was darkness throughout, day and night. There was no difference between daylight hours or night. Noah was told make tzohar in the teivah. If there is no light from the outside, then what benefit would there be to have some window (to allow the light to penetrate)? That is precisely the message from Hashem: even if there is total darkness, you make light. The Baal Shem Tov told each of his followers be a lamplighter. In our minds, we do whatever we can. We should not stop from taking action just because it is not logical to solve a dilemma.
12. When Noah came out of the teivah, he drank wine and got drunk. His son, Cham, saw him and went to tell his brother about their father's shame. The verse tells us that Shem covered his father and did not see his nakedness. So how did he know where to cover his father if he did not see? The Torah wants to teach us that each person mirrors each other. Whatever I see in another person is just like looking in the mirror. Whatever I see is really what I have inside myself. So if I see anything unfavorable, I should know that it is really within me.
However, this approach can be problematic, knowing that the Torah says that the world was created for me and yet here it alludes to the notion that the other person is showing me what I should correct. The other person is here for me, and not for himself. The rule of thumb is this: whenever the Torah wants to give a command of action, the wording is clear, even if it needs to be in the negative. One should know exactly what is holy or impure; what should be eaten and what should be avoided. So if I see something negative in myself and I see the 'nakedness, then I have that in some form or other within myself. If I see what needs to be done to correct the situation (to cover his father) then he does not see the negativity. He sees the directive! If I notice the nakedness, then my external action is a sign for me to correct myself internally. Then, if I see the directive, then I am here to help the other person. Either way I have a fixing that needs to be done.
13. The promise that there would never be another flood nor total destruction of the entire universe, is the sign of the rainbow in the cloud. The rainbow is always a minor part of the cloud. The truth is always with the minority. Ironically, this is the promise of continual existence of the world – the rainbow, not the cloud. The Jews seemed always to be in the minority. Within the Yiden, truth did not always seem to be so rampant. These facts should not stop us from living with integrity. No Jew should be deterred and to leave the truth of the Torah in order to feel more accepted. In the long run, the truth will always prevail. In fact, the existence of the world is guaranteed because of this minority. Are you one of them?
14. The rainbow is not a creation. It is a natural phenomenon when there is rain. The light of the sun pierce through the clouds and is reflected in the droplets of water on the earth. In fact, there is only a rainbow when the skies are cloudy. It is the accomplishment of what nature, the lower natural geographical areas, can bring back to Hashem after it receives its light. This is the promise of creation and continual existence. A person may be in a foggy rainy life but there is always the possibility for him to take whatever Hashem gives him and make a rainbow, a reflection of our inner yearning. Use your innate personality to bring light and shine the world. Show Hashem, “This is what I created and invented from what You gave me. This is my creation to make Your world so colorful and exquisite!” The guarantee to life is not what we receive, like the sun’s rays, but rather what we make of a situation and what we return to Hashem’s world that counts the most.
15. After the waters resided, Hashem told Noah to leave the teivah. If it was so wonderful, such a utopian style: why leave? The purpose of creation is to make light and transform nature into a G-dly haven. My contribution to making this world a heavenly abode for Hashem is the purpose; not to receive everything and work accordingly. Use your talents/personality/uniqueness and make this a beautiful garden befitting for a King. Use Torah as a guideline and become a multi-prismed rainbow to shine!
An excerpt from “Soul Surfing…..
The Baal Shem Tov reiterates that every person is like a mirror to any other person. Zlata writes that whatever we have within ourselves is exactly what we see in another person. A good baker, for example, will notice food items. A real estate person will take note of a location of a beautiful home. The same thing happens on an emotional level; a critical person will always find something to criticize.
The Baal Shem Tov emphasizes that we should always see ourselves as the purpose of Hashem’s creation and to always do what we can, despite the world’s obstacles, to bring goodness and kindness into it.
The surrounding hills and mountains of Tsfat, Israel