Integral Torah Perspectives

When you say Ad-nai sefatai tiftach, you are asking for Hashem to open the door to his palace. (Ad-nai gematria 'heichal'. The lips are the gates, like it says, 'pitchu li sharei tzedek'.-open the gates or righteousness for me.) The malachim then check you to see if you are dressed properly in talit and tefilin (yeladim asher ein bahem kol mum... ve'asher koach bahem la'amod lifnei hamelech - youth who are not blemished and have the wherewithal to stand in front of the king), and if you come bearing gifts (of tzedaka that you gave to poor people).  -Tikun 18

Hashem sends a malach-angel to help a person who falls low. This help is from the highest level. This help is mitlabesh - expresses itself according to the need. When a person falls, if the help does not present itself in fitting with the lowly state they are in, they will not be able to relate or the help will miss its mark. This is like in the story of Esther. When this happens the klipa can correspondingly ascend to the highest level to try and get yenika - sustained. This is why Haman got so high. Really it was a preparation for his downfall as the descent of the divine help allows for the ascent of the klipa, but really it is one mechanism to overcome the downfall and lift one back up to the hights. -Mittler Rebbe

The First seuda Ester made just for the king but invited Haman, Haman was elaveted, but secondary. The second feast for both haman and the king, equating them.  This brought Haman up to the essence of the makif where he would fall from.  It says of Edom, 'Im tagbia ka'nesher, me'sham oridcha - if you lift yourself up high like an eagle, that is where I will bring you down from. In this context, Haman had to be elaveted to the highest level before he could be brought down. In this exalted state Haman really thought he could 'kovesh'  - conquer the queen, even in the presence of the king. It is from this highest hight that was his downfall. -Mittler Rebbe

Shisha chodashim be'shemen ha'mor - six months in Mher oil, mor as in bitterness over being far from Hashem. 6 months in 'besamim', nice smelling spices refers to the divince pleasure  we have in doing mitzovt. 'u'ba'ze ha'na'ara ba el ha'malech - that is how the sould prepares to go present in front of the king. However, lo biksha davar - we do not go into the king with our own agenda, rather, with kabalat ol. -Mittler Rebbe

Hadasim - myrtle is the same concept as the shoshana - rose, only when it is not amongst the thorns. The Rose's scent is specifically amongst/because of the thorns around it. The hadasim do not need the thorns to be fragrant. hadasa is malchut as it is in the higher world of Atz', shoshana amongst the thorns, as malchut descends into the lower worlds of bi''a to mevarer - purify. Hadasim are in a pure state on their own, while the special mission of Rose is to purify others. -Mittler Rebbe

Ve'natati esev be'sadcha is the part of shma that refers  to the mitzvah of tzedaka. -Mittler Rebbe

'Ve'hayita Rak lemala ve'lo tihiye lemata'- and you shall be only above and not below. This refers to a state of arousal that you achieve from below that is beyond being reciprocal to ones efforts in reaching upwards from below. - Kit Tavo -Mittler Rebbe 

We go up to the regel because bra kra de'avuha. We are Hashem's children and a child is the 'leg' of the father. The whole body rests on the legs, which shows how the leg is rooted in the essence. That is why the son is compared to a leg specifically and not any other body part, as the son comes from the essence of the father.   When a person is awake they will get upset even for a small thing, like their shoe getting dirty, in the same way they would get upset for a big thing.. When they are asleep they will only notice something big, like a poke in the eye. When we had theMikdash Hashem was 'awake', thefore it says that Yochanan Cohen Gadol was mevatel ha'meorerin - stopped the people who 'awakened' and said 'ura lama tishan Hashem' - 'wake up, why are you sleeping Hashem. He was correcting them since Hashem was in a waking state. During exile, Hashem is, so to speak 'sleeping', therefore he does not show he is u...

Mem-sofit is the ring, vov is the finger. When the ring is on the finger it is zayin, which are the seven times the kallah circles the chatan. -Tikun yud

In Mishlei it states, 've'lechem levav enosh yisad' - and bread satisfies the heart. Bread is the only food that has the ability to strengthen the heart to feel vigorously alive. Only the revealed parts of the Torah give a person the strength to overcome their evil inclination. A person might daven well and have much inspiration from the secrets of the Torah, but then fall into sin. Only the 'bread' of the Torah can strengthen your heart against the weakness of the yetzer. A person who does not study the revealed parts of the Torah is likened to a person has fasted for a few days, of course they will be weak... -Mittler Rebbe -Tzena u'rena

The fires, smoke and lightning at Har sinai were not there to terrify us. Rather they were an outward expression of the flaming fire of love to Hashem that was felt. The shofar sound, however, caused a state of nullification. -Mittler Rebbe - Tzena Urena

'Hakadaosh baruchu' is put as a phrase together and the phrase is not 'kadosh u'boruch' because the vov in kadosh implys that the kedusha is already in a state brocha downwards. -tzaina u'rena

Often Nishma - 'We will listen' is translated as undertanding after you are already doing the Na'ase - 'we will do' .  However, the truth is that Nishma is also a concept of keter - crown just like na'ase. It is listening with kabalat ol and bitul - accepting the yolk of heaven.  The level of Nishma can be described as: Like someone who is listening to the shchina mamash.  Ta'an leshoni imratecha - we are only repeating over what the shchina says. When you do the mitzvot you are drawing down from ratzon into chochma. - osin Retzono. However, when you listen, nishma, you draw down from the mekor of ratzon into ratzon. Na'ase after nishma is even higher. With nishma you are batel - nullified to the ratzon - will.  With na'ase you are batel to the bal hartzon - the one who has the will, meaning whatever ratzon will come out, you are already batel - nullified to it, before it comes out. If nishma was before na'ase it would imp...

There is Shalom Rav or Sar Shalom, meaning 'a lot of peace', then there is "shalom ein keitz" - peace without end and finally, "Shlomo, melech she'hashalom Shelo" - Shlomo, the king to whom the peace belongs,  is a level higher than peace itself. -Mittler Rebbe - Biur Beis on Schora Ani

Hair that is 'ke'amar nekei' - like clean wool is on the side of chesed - kindness while - taltalim schorot ke'orev - locks dark like a raven is gevurah - strictness. The white (yeriot Shlomo) corresponds to mizvot as'e -positive commandments while the dark corresponds to the mitzvot lo-tase - negative commandments. Its compared to a raven, even though they are achzari - cruel, because the it is only with shlila and harchakos - pushing away the bad that you get closer to the atzmiut - essence.  Like a king who does not pay attention to even the things he likes, but you will catch his attention with something that he hates. The shlila - negative touches closer. 'ohr chadash al tzion tapir' - 'a new light on tzion will shine' refers to the chesed lifnei hatzimtzum being me'ir onto the chakika of tehira ila - 'yud de'sag' - in the lashon of the Emek Hamelech. K'e'aholei Kedar' - 'tents of Kedar' refers ...

The purpose of having a Jewish king is not like the other nations.  The other nations will select the person that has the best mazal and make him king. Since Ein mazal leYisrael, we are supposed to trust in Hashem directly and not relly on mazal. Since Shevet Binyamin was the only tribe to be born in Israel, he represents this idea more than the other shevatim. That is why the first king was chosen from him.  That is why it says "when you want king like all the other nations... you should take a king from amongst your brothers etc." -Tiferet Yehonatan

The magid saw in a silver cup he was given as a gift that the person who made it had only one eye.  This is like the letters that are a part of a word. Even after the letters are seperated they still retain part of the meaning of the word. This only works if the koach ha'poel be'nifal - strength of potential affecting the actual gives its pnimiut - true innermost effort into the thing.  Only an artisanal object, not just a simple one, will have this quality, where the person places a lot of effort, emotional and intellectuall, into the object. When an object like this is destroyed the person is pained for the part of him that is destroyed along with the object. -Mittler Rebbe

ב''ה The son has a perpetual connection to the father that never goes away and he always feels. The son's perpetual connection to the father is rooted in the pnimius - inner aspect of the kli ha'moach - father's brain. The son's ability to be separate from the father, even to the point of rebellion, is rooted in the chitzonius - external aspect of the father's brain. -Mittler Rebbe There are a few basic assumptions here: The brain is the seat of the first internal revelation of the soul into the body. The creation of a soul is a giving of the fathers essence, not just a small revelation of the soul in the seat of the intellect, like a teaching of a lesson. Rather, it is a giving over of the entire essence as it is revealed in the father's mind. Really it reaches even higher than as it is revealed into the mind. The physical drop from the father to the mother is first created in the brain and travels down the spine to the testis. Thus the spirit...

Mamalacha and Memshala, Shchina and Schinta Lecha Hashem Hamamlacha - To you Hashem is kingship refers to Malchut as it is in Atz'. Ve'ata Moshel Ba'kol - You rule over all refers to Malchut as it is revealed into lower worlds. 3 levels. Malchut de'ein sof - Asher Malach be'terem kol yetzur nivrah. Malchut as it is in atz' Malchut as it is goes down into time 'Hashem malach' - was king in the past tense refers to Malchut before the tzimtzum. Hashem Melech - is king refers to Malchut as it comes down into zman - time. This is why women are not obligated in mitzvot she'hazman grama - Mitzovot that are caused by time, because they come from this level. (They are rooted in the cause, so, free from the effect.) Hashem Yimloch refers to hamshacha - drawing down of higher than time into time, like "(ve'achal) ve'chai le'olam" - eating from the tree (under the domain of 'time') and living forever and David Melech Yi...

The 4 batim in the head tefillin and the 1 bayit of the hand teffilin are like the 5 stones that david placed in his slingshot, which is like the straps of the tefillin. The straps of the hand teffillin are like a chain to tie the S"M compared to a bad dog.  The straps of the head teffilin are like tying down the horns of a shor mu-ed -goring ox, that the S"M is also compared to. Shma is compared to a sword with to sharp sides to kill the S"M. The 248 words of shma are like the Romach when you add a vov (from Hashem's name). The 5 stones in the slingshot are the hey, that they become one stone is like the yud. -Hakdamat Tikunei Zohar

'Shemen turak' refers to oil that smells better as you pour it out.  All the spices on the bottom smell the best and as you pour it out they are now on top. This is like Torah, specifically, as it is en-clothed in physical concepts to purify the physical, that is rooted in the highest level. Sheyored al hazakan, zakan aharon, -"it (the poured oil) descends upon the beard, the beard of Aharon". They descend because they are higher than the 13 attributes of mercy  the tikunei dikna of Aharon, they bring the 13 midot out to a revealed state. -Mittler Rebbe - Le'reach Shemanecha

Eretz Yisrael is on the level of Leah (in general, 'thought' or 'Nevua') be'gilui, while outside of Israel is on the level of Rachel ( in general, ' speech' or Ruach Hakodesh).  In Israel it is harder to find inspiration and go up, while outside Israel it is easier to begin avodat - service of Hashem.  In Israel, however, the great tzadikim are able to reach levels that you can not outside of Israel, like we see with the Arizal, the beit Yosef and the like. Nevu'a is intermittent and goes away with the first hint of sin. Ruach Hakodesh is constant and does not go away as easily, like Dovid with the his sin.  It is there even when involved with the world, like yosef hatzadik was still attached even when ruling over Egypt etc.  Yosef and David were both from Rachel, and therfore had this quality. In a sense the the state of ruach hakodesh is higher, since it does not go away.  This is why the kings are from Yosef and Dovid. In a sense L...

Since we bring in shabbos with two candles and it is going away we light havdala with two candles.  We look at our fingernails in the fire as well because they are like the garment of adam harishon that shined like the ananei kavod - clouds of glory, just like our fingernails shine when reflecting the fire. -Hakdamat Tikunei Zohar

Midat ha'yesod or 'tov'  - goodness as in, "imru tzadik ki tov" - 'say of the tzadik that he is good' is a measure of how much the person wants to give over. That is, regardless of the measure of chesed - kindess or gevura - strictness that a person measures in there heart before deciding to give there is yesod. Kindess says to give because of such and such, strictness says not to because of such and such.  You then may give anyways out of the 'goodness' in your heart (or out of mercy). The good person gives because it is simply in his nature to give more. This is different than the giving anyways because of midat ha'tiferet - having mercy.  when they do not deserve to be given: 'Mercy' is giving anway because you are concentrating on their lowness, regardless of whether or not you inherently want to give. 'Goodness' is giving regardless of where they are holding since it is in your nature to give. The gi...

'Be'chol Tzaratan lo tzar' - in all of their (the nation of Yisrael) pain to him (or not to him) is pain (with the kri and ktiv -lo has an alef or a vov).  Hashem is with us in our pain, but as long as Hashem is with us (his beloved), it is not painful for him.  -Hakdamat Tikunei Zohar Like a person who can overlook the difficulties they are in because they are with their loved one. 

The letters that make up the letter 'Bayt' represent the parts of the a home -  The Beit iteself is the binyan - the building itself, yud is for the yesod - foundation, tuf is for tiferet - 'ketiferet adam lashevet bayit' - the beauty of the concept of a person dwelling in a home -Tikunei Zohar

"Hariu La'Hashem Kol Ha'aretz" - the whole earth should sound a 'teru'a' for Hashem. This first letters in this pasuk are an acrynom for "Halacha" The teru'a of the shofar is a voice that comes divided into many parts.  Both sadness and laghter express themselves in short bursts of voice one right after the other. Both can bring you to tears. The reason for this is that it is a reveltion from the deepest part of the heart that is too much for you to handle, so it goes away, then attempts to express again, then again. This is called 'mati ve'lo mati' -extending, then non-extending. This is also the concept of the 'mayim tachtonim bochin' - the waters below are crying to go upward'. Halacha is the same way, it comes down from so high that it must be broken in to small parts to be revealed. The pesukim in chumash are even further divided. -Mittler Rebbe - Mizmor Letoda The paragraphs of the gemara...