Integral Torah Perspectives

ב''ה Happiness has the ability to change your second nature, habits you have formed and other things you do regularly. The reason for this is that happiness is a "giluy hahelem of the neshama" - revelation of the hidden state of the soul. Happiness can also change first nature, essential inbred traits can be overcome by a state of joy (at least for a short while.) Happiness is able to acomplish this because it is a - "romemut of the etzem  hanefesh" a exalting and lifting up of the inner essence of your soul. Mittler Rebbe - Drushei Chatuna Beit - Samach Tesamach harishon

ב''ה Preparation for a Mitzvah is the garment of the King "Yevi'u Levush Malchut" - Bring a Royal Garment refers to the preparation for  a mitvzah. This reveals the level of the supernal garment, levush yakar elyon. "Ve'asher nitan keter malchut be'rosho" - and there is a crown of kingship placed on his head refers to when you actually do the mitzvah, a revelation of keter elyon - the supernal crown rests on you. The first level you must reveal through your efforts, therefore its says 'Yavi'u" - you should bring, while the revelation during the doing of the mitzvah is a revelation from above, therefore it is passive "and ... there is placed..." -Mittler Rebbe Sharei Orah Yeviu Levush Malchut

ב''ה [Free translation] ..."In the future the malachim - angels will say 'kadosh' - 'holy' in front of the tzadikim - righteous [just as we say in front of Hakadash Baruch hu." (ב''ב ע''ה ב) "This is at first glance a wondrous statement. How can tzadikim be compared to the essence of the divine to say "kadosh" in front of them? However, [the concept is that] it is known that 'kadosh' with a 'vov' is a concept of hamshacha - a small divine flow from the supernal  level of 'kodesh' [without a vov] from the hidden state of the essence to a small revealed state. This is like the concept of "levush malchut" - the garment of king that the king wore and the horse that the king rode upon etc. Refering, on a higher level, to the "levushei yakar d'kdushat ha'atzmut" - 'the garments of honor of the holiness of the essence of the divine' that are placed as garments for...

ב''ה The two yuds for Hashem's name refer the 10 mamaros the world is created with and the 10 commandments. Together they are 20 for kof - keter elyon,"Asara, asara ha'kaf"- 10 and 10 for the 'kaf'. These two yuds are also two levels of brit - covenant, hinted to by Yosef, when it says 'Va'yisem' (with two yuds) ba'aron be'mitzrayim.' -Sefer Eishel Avraham

ב''ה We were given three holidays in Exile: Chanukah, Purim and the 19th of Kislev. Chanukah is about Torah, since that is what the Greeks wanted to abolish. Purim is about Knesset Yisrael, since it was our people as a whole Haman wanted to destroy. The 19th of Kislev is the Kudshabrichu part... Reb Hillel Paritch  (There is a statement in the Zohar: Yisrael, Oraita ve'kudshabrichu kola chad)

ב''ה Love of Hashem is the first Miztvah, as the Rambam explains it brings one to do all of the others. Since you have a latent, hidden love of Hashem inside you can not be commanded to 'love' (since you already do). Rather the commandment is to bring it out into the open (by contemplating (deeply) the greatness of the Omnipresent in psukei dezimra and kriat shma). Tanya -Kuntres Achron - 'Hine lo tova...' -According to the Rambam the first mitzvah is to know and believe in the creator. Since it is through this knowing that bring you to love (or reveal the hidden love already there) and the love is the impetus for doing all the other commandments, therefore it makes sense to say that it is the first Mitzvah as the Tanya does here. The actual mitzvah of love (which according to the Rambam's count is 7) is not an actual command according to this but an automatic consequence of fulfilling the first mitzvah, and in-fact the whole point of fulfilling the fir...

How can you understand that sparks remain in the vessels that were broken in the world of Tohu? If the lights can be 'broken' and simply were nistalk - (removed themselves upwards) , how can any lights remain in the vessels? The mashal - an allegory to understand this are the sparks that remain from the letters of your thoughts and speech during the day that form the dreams you have at night. (Dreams are a birrur - purification/elevation of these netzuzot - similar to how mitzvot - good deeds are mevarer - purify the sparks in klipat noga) Rebbe Rashab - 1905 Ve'yigdelu ha'ne'arim