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In this shiur on Shabbat candles, Rav Dov Ber Cohen draws a luminous thread from the Or of creation all the way into the Friday night home. Light, he teaches, is not merely physical. It is the most ac
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So we are learning about Shabbat Kiddush. Baruch Hashem, the most important thing for us to be learning about and Baruch Hato Adonai. Yadim Alecha Elam, Shaakon, Yom B'Dorei. Amen. We have come on to what many would say is the symbol of Shabbat, which is candles. I forgot to send you the meditation, didn't I? Yeah, right. Okay, if you email me, you have to, every three days, be like, Hi. You just keep going. Yes, you can send it. Just keep going. I eventually answer at some point. If not in this world, then in the water cup. I'm going to send it right now. So we talk about Shabbat and we talk about candles, Ner and Or. And we said that Or and Ner, the candle and the light, is really the physical representation of spirituality itself. So we said the whole universe, the whole physical universe, is a Mashal. It's an analogy. It's a physical representation of a spiritual idea. So a hand with its five fingers that we have is a physical representation of whatever this thing that Hashem has, which is called a hand. And He took us out of Egypt with His strong right hand. And Rashi says on that Pasuk, Yad Mamish, it was a real hand. So people get a bit scared by that. And they say, what? Rashi thinks he had a real hand? No, Rashi is saying this is not a real hand. This is a physical representation of whatever Hashem has. And Hashem has a real hand. And Hashem is called Avinu Malkeinu. So we have physical fathers and physical kings just so we can understand what Hashem means by Avinu Malkeinu. So everything in physical creation is just a physical representation of a spiritual idea. Light is the physical representation of spirituality itself. Spirituality in physical form, God bless you, is light. As it says, the first thing that Hashem created was Or, Vayi Or. And obviously all the Svarim say, well before that He created the letters and before that He created time. But the first thing it says in the Torah that Hashem says is let there be light. And we know it's not the light of the sun because the sun was only created on the fourth day. So it's talking about the spiritual light, the Or and Sof. They're really the underpinning of all of physical reality. And we see quantum physics now is really breaking down all of physical matter into quarks and waves and energy and light. So it's all light. We're living in a world of light. But the light is covered up sometimes so that's called darkness. What is darkness? Darkness is when we can't see the light because we've got stuck on the physical external representation. And we've given it separate reality of its own. And we didn't realize that the external covering is meant to be revealing the light. And unfortunately it covers up the light. That's why in our last class we spoke a lot about Shabbat clothes. Because we said clothes either they both cover you up but they can also reveal you. But some people get so caught up on their clothes that they start identifying with their clothes. But really our clothes, especially on Shabbat, are meant to be a higher level of clothing. And we spoke about the Or Makif. We have a higher spiritual level on Shabbat. So we're going to carry on learning a little bit about lights and candles. And last time we said that the woman lights the candles. And the main reason the Zohar gives for the woman lighting the candle is that she really represents the Shekhinah. A woman is the physical representation of the Shekhinah in this world which is Hashem's divine loving holy presence. And she brings that energy into the house. I call my wife the Shekhinah. Especially on Shabbat she comes down to light her candle. You'll see my wife. She doesn't walk down the stairs. She floats over the stairs. Then she floats to the candle. Shabbat Shekhinah. And then she lights her candles without touching them. She just looks at them. And we actually told the story because I knew people it's very important to hear the story that when we were first married we lived in this cursed building in the Shuk. Next to where the natural choice is now. In that building now where the Mexican restaurant is actually a sushi restaurant now. That was where Tokyo. I lived in Tokyo. Actually the truth is I lived in Japan for a long time. But that's where we lived in Malot Daphna for three months first. When we got married it wasn't exactly our scene. So we moved to there. But everyone says it's been cursed by a Kabbalist. And the building's cursed because there used to be shops open on Shabbat in this building. And then all the shops closed down actually because of the curse of the Kabbalist. And so it got turned into apartments. But you should know it's cursed. But the first time my wife lit candles in that apartment then it lifted the curse of the Kabbalist. And now that's why you can have Tokyo there now. And we love Tokyo. We love it. And it's crazy that a sushi restaurant should have the best fries in Jerusalem. Best what? Fries. Chips. Well I taste them sometimes. I have tasted them. He knows what they are. Anyway, so my wife comes and lights the candles and she brings the shalom and the holiness and the Shekhinah basically, Hashem's divine presence. And we said, and really this is a good time to speak about it, we're coming up to the three weeks in Tisha B'Av, that the Shekhinah is not so present now. Since the destruction of the temple the Shekhinah is less present and we dove in every day on the Shekhinah to Zion that you should return your Shekhinah and there's many places where it says when you learn Torah the Shekhinah comes, when there's Shalom Bayis the Shekhinah comes. There are things we need to do nowadays to bring the Shekhinah in. And there's nothing greater for bringing the Shekhinah in than a Jewish woman lighting candles. And Chabad says that they should really light from three years old. My daughter's been lighting her own candles since she was three years old. Other people have different customs but it's a very beautiful thing. So we carry on reading from this book called HaShabbos Shabbat by Harav Yosef I'm not sure how to pronounce his surname Karasik I don't know. He says here The Shabbat lights of the Shabbat candles they project peace and calmness and serenity and they help us let go of the troubles and the worries of the physical world and they bring upon us an atmosphere of joy Simcha, Tara and Kedusha they bring an atmosphere of Simcha, Tara and Kedusha joy and purity and holiness into our house and the Zohar we read last time says that a woman should light her Shabbat candles with huge Simcha what an amazing opportunity I know especially for my wife after a whole day of getting ready for the guests and everything that moment when she just can sit and light the candles and she sits in front of the candles it's like okay now really letting go of the week and I'm just entering into a whole other atmosphere of just a higher atmosphere a higher space a broadened consciousness peace of mind and that comes into the house and Tara and Kedusha Rashi says through the Shabbat candles the light of Torah is really brought into the world and we know that Torah is really Hashem's Ratzon and even on a higher level Torah is Anah Nafshi Kasavis Yehavis the first commandment says and the Gomorrah and the Zohar breaks it down and says it's saying I gave myself my soul I wrote it down and I gave it to you so the Torah is really an expression of Hashem's soul in the world yes a Tzaddik is called Shabbat we're all Tzaddikim so we're all called Shabbat so not only should you say good Shabbat during the week to everyone you should say good Shabbat Shabbat because that's acknowledging that they are Shabbat thank you for that I'm going to do that and hopefully by now just hearing the word Shabbat even during the week it just gives you a little like tingles of nice Shabbat it's just like oh it's just the word itself isn't there a difference between like good Shabbat and Shabbat Shalom? I kind of like Shabbat Shalom because it means peace but like do you have a feeling about it? I don't know I just think the Shabbat I don't know Shabbat for me just feels more like I'll tell you why because we spoke about this before especially on Shavuot we spoke about the sound the sound is very calming based on a Rashi in last week's part in Pashas Shlach it says that Caleb came up and he was the people and Rashi says he basically said that's how you make people be quiet and spiritually speaking the sound we have like what is it called? white sound for your child if you can't fall asleep how do you make a kid fall asleep? how do you calm yourself down? if your mind if your negative mind track and the soundtrack in your mind is just going you can just say it's okay it really actually works it really actually works it's so upset and why did they say and you just say it's okay so for me Shabbat has this like Shabbat feels very strong to me Shabbat Shabbat Shalom I also like Shabbat I like it as well but just I think I'm saying there's just something for me personally about Shabbat but if you prefer Shabbat Shalom that's also beautiful or
I don't know if I can be happy. He said, would you like to work on being happy now? And he was like, yeah, yeah, okay. It was cool. I enjoyed the conversation. So that's called darkness, immense darkness. I don't know what I'm doing, why I'm doing it. I'm just here. Listen. All of Torah and mitzvahs are called candles and light. As it says, So there's something called a mitzvah, the Torah is called light, mitzvahs are called ner. The Zohar says, when Mishlei says ner mitzvah, the main thing it's talking about is lighting Shabbat candles. It's the pinnacle of mitzvahs in a way. As we said before, all mitzvahs are tapping you into some spiritual reality, but light itself is the physical representation of spirituality. So it's the spiritual of spiritualities is really the highest level of just being spiritually conscious, tapping back into that light of creation. Because when a Jew consciously learns Torah and does mitzvahs and chesed and the tapping in, then they merit a revelation of just a bit of holiness. And even on a more simple level, I just feel good about myself. Then I'm tapped in, I'm doing the right thing. I feel good about myself. And the emunah in your heart gets even stronger. And then you get more and more connection into the matrix or out of the matrix. You've got to get out of the matrix, no? Don't want to be in the matrix. And this is what the Shabbat candles are doing. Because when the Gemara says the Shabbat candles bring shalom bias, the basic meaning is that if you can't see, you're going to bump into things and you're going to get very upset and angry. So it's good to light candles in every room you need to light candles in for Shabbat. That's the very basic meaning. But the deeper meaning, And this is the depth of when the Gemara says that the Shabbat candles bring shalom bias. What it really means is that you have peace within yourself. It's just a peace now. I'm just a peace. I'm a present. I'm not running around. I'm not trying to impress anyone. I'm not achieving and accomplishing stuff. I'm just a peace within myself. And also peace in another way. Between your two vehicles. There's more shalom between your body and your soul. During the week, your body and soul are often at odds with each other. Your body's very busy and you've got to answer your emails or not answer your emails. But I'll do better next time. You've got to do stuff and your body is very busy and stuff. All the days of the week, it feels like sometimes they're struggling against each other. The neshama doesn't want to go to an office. I guess the guv doesn't either. That's why I don't want to work in an office. But the neshama doesn't want to do this. For six days you shall work. The neshama is not into six days you shall work. The neshama is into Shabbat. But we said six days you shall work is an integral part of our avodah and you have to bring your neshama into that as well and you have to bring the neshama into your work and you have to have shachas bin kirmari and brachas and mitzvahs and Torah to bring Shabbat into your week but still there's a bit of a tussle. Through the Shabbat candles, the body itself is uplifted and comes closer to the soul, the holy soul. And it creates peace between them. Isn't that a beautiful idea? You're lighting your Shabbat candles and we always say that and we're going to see soon that Shabbat candles are made, all light, fire is made of these two things. There's the physical chomer, the material, the fuel. You have the fuel, you've got the wax or the oil or the wood and you've got the wick. That's all physical. The flame itself is physical because it can burn you but you can't grasp it. It's the most spiritual, physical thing we have. I don't even know what fire is. I know you could look it up and it would be like it's the combustion of oxygen. Yeah, whatever mate. That is weird. Fire is just amazing. That's why we get entranced by looking at fire because it's just flickering and then it disappears. A flame can go up and it just goes. We're going to see, the Tanya speaks about this, that the fire, the flame always feels like it just wants to jump away and it does sometimes. You see the fire jumps away and so too the neshama is just jumping. The neshama is just like, I kind of want to get away from the body. The body is holding me down. But it would be a big mistake because without the fuel there is no fire. So we need the body. You need the body otherwise you can't do mitzvahs. You can't have Shabbat meals if you don't have a body. You can't give tzedakah if you don't have a body. So the body is very, very, very important. We have to purify and sanctify the body as well to serve the soul. The body is meant to be serving the soul. So that's what happens. So we said that the candle, the nair is made up of three things. The flame is the nair and the wick is the petil and the oil is the shemen. Nair petil, shemen spells nefesh. So nefesh is that part of your soul that is holding your soul into your body. And we're going to see there's different parts of the flame, different parts of the soul. But it's really the point where the fire touches the wick. That's the nefesh. So we're lighting up that nefesh and then you've got the flame beyond that that's not actually in contact with the wick. You've got a part of the flame that's directly in contact with the wick. Usually it's a bit bluer maybe. You can see it. And then you've got the part of the flame that's not in contact with the wick at all. And so those are different parts of your neshama. We're going to learn about it. It's very, very sweet. What's the time, by the way? 30. 30? I enjoyed it. Is this going to be a question about free will? Because I don't want to do that right now. I meant by saying that we need the body in order to perform mitzvahs means that the soul is the essence of who we are. But if soul, just in heaven in spiritual form, for example, tefillin. If you don't have an arm, you can't put on tefillin. So that's why I have arms. The only reason I have arms is to pick up my children, is to help people when they're sad, is to give tzedakah, is to put tefillin on them. That's the only reason I have arms. So I don't identify it as my body at all. I'm just seeing my body. It's like a robot. It's like a car. It's like something I'm using to get done what I need to get done. And my eyes are just there to see the pain of other people and do something to help them and have compassion and to learn Torah and to see God's beautiful world. And my nose is there to smell spices to connect me to my soul. And my mouth is there to say words of uplifting sweetness and beauty and eat holy food and matzah and mayonnaise on Shabbat. That's it. And my legs are there so I can run to help people in need and I can walk to the Beit Knesset. My whole body is literally there to help me do mitzvahs. It's a mitzvah machine. It should be. But we're completely misusing it. But it's a mitzvah machine. That's all it is. And we said before that the body itself is a representation of Hashem. The head is a yud. The head is a yud and the arms are a hei. The arms across the hei and the torso is a vav. And the legs are the other hei. So the body itself is a representation of Yud and Hei and Vav and Hei. And we have to be using it for the right thing. I have a question about lighting candles. Is there anything in Judaism about lighting in front of a mirror? Because I like to light candles in front of a mirror because of the reflection. Interesting. We do have this idea that when we pray or say brachas we shouldn't have a mirror in front of us. But if it's a small mirror where you can't see your face but you can see the light of the candles, that sounds nice. So I have a mirror like this. It goes through the whole section of this table that I have and I put my candles there. And I like how it reflects into the mirror. It brings light. There is another realm, two other dimensions, and in the reflections in the mirror there is... You should put one mirror there and one mirror there and then it would be like infinite. My house is filled with light reflections. That would be cool. I didn't do that, yeah? Wow. But in general, for example, we don't daven in front of a mirror. Don't even daven in front of a window. Don't daven where we can see ourselves. But to increase the light, I think that's good. So we said, really, what did we say? There were six things. I wrote them down so we don't have to learn them all again. Hashem is compared to a candle. It says, And it says that spirituality, the divine light, is called orot, is called light. Light is the first thing that was created in the world. The soul of a person is called ner, as it says, Torah and mitz
...and fire, I think their whole essence is for the other. The other. It's not for themselves. For the other. Other. It's for the other, which means salt on its own is useless. The purpose of salt is to preserve other things or to bring out the taste of other things. It's not there for itself. What is it doing on its own? It doesn't do anything. Trees. What are they doing? They give light, they give shade, they give wood. They're just giving, giving, giving. Trees are giving all the time. Oxygen. Thank you. And light as well. Light gives light. Light lets us see everything else. No light, we wouldn't, we'd be walking in darkness. Literally physical darkness and warmth. Remember, before electricity, all light and warmth came from fire. So it's just, it represents this thing that is mevater. It's nullified itself. It has no self-interest. Light, fire, has no self-interest. It's just giving. It's giving all the time. So that's why Hashem is compared to light. For this reason, light is a sign of Hashem. Because out of every physical thing in the universe, in all of creation, light, fire, is the thing that is closest to what we know Hashem is, which is without limitations, and it doesn't change, and it doesn't change over time, and it just gives to others. When we want to use and speak about an expression, when we want to express Hashem, how do we express Hashem? We express Hashem as father, as king, as all these things, but really or, or in itself, the divine light. Fire can't be dangerous. Everything, the Torah can be dangerous. If something is misused, it can be dangerous. That's why, in fact, it says when the first initial light was created, Hashem hid it away. For the Tzaddikim, it was called Or HaGanun. Because everything can be dangerous. The expression, the most physical expression that expresses Hashem is fire and light. Fire and light. We should have an organization called Eish HaTaira. Wouldn't that be unbelievable? Eish HaTaira, the fire of Torah, lighting up the world. What is the time, please? Okay, I think we'll stop here for today, but I'm going to carry on with this chapter. Hashem can't be dangerous in itself, but we can misuse. People misuse God all the time. People create terrible, horrible things in the name of God.