pesach and shavous

In the Hagada we find four son's and the Rasha (wicked) son asks a question "What is this avodah (divine service) for you?" The hagada is troubled by this question.
In the hagada Kol Aryeh he explains that the holy zohar and holy ari' talk at great lenth about the spiritual redemtion. Klal yisroel descending to 49th level of tumah (impurity) and so they escaped and in 49 days to shavous they were metaken those levels. SO the Geula is on two levels. Geulas hakuf vhanefesh. The rasha does not deny the geulas haguf. He would a historical revisionist a denier. But he does not care for and accept the geulas hanefesh and because he does not care he would have not made it out of metzrayim. The ikkur geula is the geulas hanefesh. But why must we knock out his teeth what does his teeth have to do with it?
In the hagaada shel immrei emes from the spinka dynasty, it explains many peshatim. One is that the rasha does mitzvos, but when it comes to his teeth to eating and drinking he does not care to engage in a seudas mitzva. Perhaps he is a nice guy but he has not used his teeth for avodas hashem so we have issues with his teeth. Another pshat is that the teeth are sometimes revealed sometimes concealed. This hints that he is a rasha who is both revealed and concealed. We must bring the reshus out into the open in order to correct it.
May we be zoche to the geula shlema bmhara vyameinu.
Good yom tov.
Modern Chassidish.

Torah and blogs:

Aside from websites there are torah oriented blogs like this one.
Hirhurim.blogspot.com offers litvish yeshiva learning at its best. I have learned a lot from the blog and I hope you will to.
Deralter.blogspot.com has a wide range of guest columnist. His site is dedicated to disseminating authentic mussar. As chassidus teachings, when mussar is done right it can help our avodah. Additionally, the site often discusses chassidus in its relation to mussar. I plan on writing about mussar in comparision to chassidus at a later date. For now let me share with you a posting by Rabbi Yakkov Feldman. For your conveince it is posted here with reshus from the blogmaster and Rabbi Feldman.


Sunday, April 10, 2005

Humility in the Midst of It All
We're told to da'aven with "eyes lowered" and "heart raised high" (Yevamos 105b), which I'd always taken as simply meaning, humbly and with the Ribbono Shel Olam in mind. But the Tzemach Tzeddek offers a splendid insight (in Derech Mitzvosecha, Mitzvos Chametz uMatzah, p. 24b) which also feeds into the Mussar idea of picturing things in order to be aroused to action.He takes "heart raised high" to mean that we're to reflect at length upon the Ribbono Shel Olam's Mahus and Atsmus then -- on how "transcendent of and above all worlds He is" etc. And he warns us to *likewise and at the same time* keep our "eyes lowered" by realizing just how "yeshi" and "davari" (i.e., tangible, carnal, temporal) the universe is, and how it comes into being out of nothingness each and every moment by dint of Hashem's will alone. We're to do both at the same time because if we only reflect upon the Ribbono Shel Olam's Mahus and Atsmus then we're likely to fall for the world and all of its trappings when we finish da'avening, lapse into ta'avos and all sorts of delusions, and accept the physical as of primary importance (as we all do). But we won't fall for that just as long as we keep our "eyes lowered" at the same time and see the world for what it is in relationship to the Ribbono Shel Olam and His presence all over.It occurs to me that the best way to do that would be to picture oneself somehow suspended aloft in the very highest of Heavens and staring both at earth below and at the Ribbono Shel Olam far, far above (kaveyochol) at the same time, and marking the difference. I tried it and found the experience to be very ... uplifting.-- Yaakov Feldman

I posted this because it illustartes the importance of medidative practices in one's quest for balance and spirituality. At inner.org there are some classic meditiations that I plan on discussing.
Your comments are always welcome.
Modern Chassidish