Shana Tova umetuka!

anne frank Then & Now - June 20 1942

Then & Now
June 20 1942
Writing in a diary is a really strange experience for someone like me. Not only because I've never written anything before, but also because it seems to me that later on neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl.

Modern Hebrew Language and Literature courses at Stanford

un mini-ulpan pentru cei care vor sa invete limba ebraica
foarte interesant si util
The Modern Hebrew Language and Literature courses at Stanford are part of the Taube Center for Jewish Studies and the African and Middle Eastern Studies section of the Stanford Language Center.
clik pe titlu

Am fost la Auschwitz prizonier cu numarul A-13221

Aceasta este biografia domnului Leopold (Lazar) Schobel (1918 - 2003), supravietuitor al Holocaustului. Leopold Schobel a fost deportat din Transilvania in 1944 si a petrecut aproximativ 8 luni la Auschwitz pana la eliberarea lagarului de catre rusi. Intors in Romania, el s-a stabilit in Pitesti, unde a fost presedintele Comunitatii Evreiesti Pitesti din 1993 pana in 2002.
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ISRAEL IS a nation-state; it is not a religious state or the state of a religious group.

cel mai de bun-simt lucru pe care l-am citit pe anul asta

Encountering Peace: Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people and all its citizens

By GERSHON BASKIN
JPost.com

ISRAEL IS a nation-state; it is not a religious state or the state of a religious group. The intention of the Zionist movement in calling for the creation of a state for the Jewish people was not to create a state for the Jewish religion. Israel is a civil state, and its laws are civil laws, not religious laws (with the exception of laws of personal status which have been inherited from the Ottoman Empire, and the time has come to remove that exception).
Peace between the State of Israel and the future state of Palestine will be based on two nation-states for two peoples, and just as there is a sizable Palestinian minority in the state of the Jewish people, we can all hope that there will be a sizable Jewish minority in the state of the Palestinian people, all living in peace, democracy and equality.

The writer is co-CEO the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, and an elected member of the leadership of the Green Movement party (www.ipcri.org).

sarbatoarea luminilor

cu intarziere, am descarcat pozele de la hanuka

Un tramvai denumit Israel

Un tramvai denumit Israel circula de marti prin centrul vechi al Vienei pentru a face cunoscut austriecilor statul evreu, conform un proiect al ambasadei Israelului in Austria.

"Este un mod original de a oferi informatii despre tara noastra, elementele culturale, stiintifice, viata nocturna si atractiile plajelor noastre", a subliniat Guy Feldman, coordonatorul acestui proiect, citat de AFP.

Doua vagoane ale unui tramvai traditional circula timp de o ora si jumatate, in zilele de marti, vineri si duminica, pornind de la Opera din Viena si trecand prin alte trei statii de pe celebrul bulevard Ring.

Accesul este gratuit la fel ca si degustarea falafelei, vinurilor israeliene si a altor specialitati culinare. Acestea sunt insotite de filme si fotografii din Israel.

Proiectul va dura pana in ianuarie, iar din septembrie va include expozitii si seri muzicale dansante.

din www.ziare.ro

A Matrix of Meaning:Level III – Outer/Physical

sursa:http://www.meru.org/letteressays/letterindex.html
Level III – Outer/Physical

A Matrix of Meaning:
Portraits of the Hebrew Letters, in Pictures and Words
©1996 Stan Tenen


QOF – COPY, SKULL, MONKEY
Qof is our outer, "mechanical", or Monkey Consciousness. It is the shell or physical COPy of our inner (YOD) consciousness. (When we "ape", we COPy.) That is why QOF means Monkey, COPy or Skull.

RESH – RUSH, REACH
Resh, as the outer part of BeT, represents the outer REaCHing of BeT. If KaF is what is in the Palm of the Hand, then ReSh is what Radiates from the Head. That is why ReSh means Head, REaCHing, RuShing and Radiation.
TogetherBuKeR means "first born son". These letters BReaK (– "bend the knee", bless) open Unity and signify the birth of distinction at each of their levels.

SHIN – STEP, SHINE
Shin, as outer Action, represents the ShINing of the candle flame as it spreads out in ever expanding shells of radiant energy, light, and learning, from its Source. ShIN is also the outer Vessel that holds the Flame. As such its three "heads" define the shape of a Tetrahedron – which, as the most compact symmetrical 3-D form, represents an idealized Tooth, Notch, or Step. Since every Tetrahedron defines a complete sphere-cycle, it can also represent a year (ShaNaH). BeT makes distinctions, ShIN, its AT-BaSH twin, represents distinctions. That is why ShIN means Tooth, Notch, and Step. As a tooth, ShIN represents a "toothy grin" which ShINes out.

Taf – MARK, ITSELF
Taf denotes external division and self-reference. ToF marks itself externally. It represents a Sign of itself, out of itself, or in itself. When we scratch marks on a ruler we are using ToF. That is why ToF is called a Sign or a Mark.
Together tmd designates the repeated divisions that we use for Measurement.Dividing From Itself . (The M-D root designates measurement.)


KAF FINAL – POSSESSION
Kaf-final connects the outside to us. KaF gathers and holds external things to us. That is why KaF final, at the end of a word, represents Holding and Possession.
Together KoHeN is a Priest connecting heaven & earth.KaNaH ("CaNE"; also), represents a plant’s shoot which connects (and is in the line of succession of) the seed with the rest of the plant.

MEM FINAL – EXTERNAL UNFOLDMENT
MeM final is external Unfoldment into the Expanse. Mem final represents a spreading and unfolding sea of hierarchy; it spreads and unfolds into the Expanse. That is why – ElokIM does NOT represent multiple Gods, but rather God’s connection to the Expanse (or – sea) of life—God understood in the aspect of ALL () – There – Is.
Togetheris SOMa, "blind-ness, occult, and poison" () to the materialistic; a mind-Expanding drug, or even a MUSe – to the spiritually advanced.

NUN FINAL – INFINITE PROJECTION
NUN final is Projection out to the Nth degree indicating an idea or action that goes to Infinity. It connects outwardly and endlessly as an open-ended connection with the infinite; it goes on & on & on.
Together(G-O-N- = gone, go-on) represents all types of GAIN; they all GO-ON-OUT;(O-G-N-) designates an osprey or other bird of prey; denotes anger or rage, which also go-on-out (as the – G, meaning axe, spear, arrow, weapon or GuN, indicates).

PEH FINAL – PUFF OUT
Peh final fills the outside – Peh final Puffs up and Fills. Peh final is like Peh, except instead of Puffing inward, Peh final Puffs out.
TogetherH-Ph-Ph (to cover or protect) HuFFs and PuFFs.

TZADI FINAL – UPRIGHT
TZaDI final represents the tallest in the physical world. tZaDI is EhtZ , a Tree, the STurDY. For us it is STuDY.
Together is the full Blossom or Flower– tZitZ of JuSTiCe (J, ST, C).

A Matrix of Meaning:Internal / Spiritual

sursa: http://www.meru.org/letteressays/letterindex.html

Level II – Internal / Spiritual

A Matrix of Meaning:
Portraits of the Hebrew Letters, in Pictures and Words
©1996 Stan Tenen


YOD – PERSONAL CONSCIOUSNESS
Our personal individual consciousness is represented by the human Hand, YaD which projects our personal consciousness into the physical world. The YOD is the "seed" (and YOD is therefore also associated with the male organ and with semen) and it is a point (Iota, in Greek).

It is the point of consciousness, and as our Hand, YAD, it is our personal Pointer – pointing to us. YOD is an expression of our being (the psychologist’s Id). That is why YOD (or YaD) means Consciousness, Hand or Point/Pointer.

KAF – HOLD, LIKENESS
Kaf, as the inner aspect of BeT, represents holding in, as in CuPPing in the Palm of the Hand. CuPPing shapes the Palm like that which it holds. That is why KaF means Palm and why as a prefix it designates Likeness and Similarity.

LAMED – INNER ACTION: ABSTRACTION
Lamed, as inner Action, represents Abstr-Action. AbstrAction is an action, from all directions, that brings concepts TO (or FOR) a common center. As inner Action, LaMeD is like a Flame (Lah) that draws in fresh air from all around the base of the candle that supports it. That is why LaMeD designates Learning (to learn), and as a prefix it means To or For.

MEM – WOMB, SOURCE FROM WITHIN
Mem designates division From an Inner Source. MeM is the womb of the mother that produces new life. Mem is the ocean (YaM, the sea, and the waters (from the womb) in which new life divides and spreads. That is why MeM means Mother and Water and as a prefix, from, source of or out of.

NUN – NECK, NEXUS
Nun connects concepts internally. NUN is a Neck or Nexus; it connects AM (the morning) with PM (the afternoon) at NOON (the mid-point of the day). NUN also connects within a line of succession. That is why NUN means Prince. NUN is also the internal connector in the middle of the alphabet, it is aswim in the sea of letters, so NUN can also mean Fish.

SAMEK – SUSTAIN, PROP
SaMeK is a SMoKe-ring, the Torus, that maintains Continuous Creation. SaMeK is also S’MiKha—the laying on of hands that ordains a religious leader. That is the sense in which SaMeK is understood as a Prop or as Sustenance.

AYIN – EYE, WELL
AYiN is Inner Projection. AYiN goes to or comes from deep inside. AYiN is circular like an ONIoN, whose depth is in its encircling layers. That is why AYiN means Eye or Well.

PEH – ENGULF, SWALLOW
Peh encompasses inwardly – Peh Swallows and is Full. That is why Peh means Mouth (or Face), Swallow, or Eat.

TZADI – RIGHTEOUS, HIGEST
Tzadi represents the highest spiritual Completion. ZaDI is like the Zaddik, the righteous one who has his head in spiritual heaven among the stars of the ZoDIac. That is why Zadi denotes Righteousness, the highest and the best.

A Matrix of Meaning:daleth,heh,vav,zain,chet, tet

A Matrix of Meaning:
Portraits of the Hebrew Letters, in Pictures and Words
©1996 Stan Tenen

Level I – Archetype - last 6 letters


DALET – DIVISION
Dalet reflects Division. It Opens ALePh repeatedly and causes the continued action of GiMeL on BeT to make, and Disperse many from One. DaLeT is divided (– D) for (– L) itself (-T). DaLeT, like the Greek DeLTa, allows what happens at a Delta: The river DiLaTes & DiLuTes as it Divides down to, and Dispenses itself into the sea. It Pours out into an Open DeLTa as a Poor man (DaL means poor, alluding to the bent over shape of the DaLeT) Divides, DiLuTes and Dissipates his energies. This is why DaLeT designates an Open Door.

DaLeT Disperses its Dispensation into the connecting Hand of Heh. It is at the top "event horizon" of the APPLe.

HEH – CONNECTION

After the Diversity of DaLeT, Heh Interfaces between the parts of ALePh that DaLeT Dispersed by repetition of GiMeL’s Action and BeT’s Distinction. As the Interface (– E) Archetype (– A), Heh Frames the outer and the inner together. Heh inter-connects, mediates, heals, and re-Wholes. Heh refers to the thumb and the surrounding fingers of our Hand which Connects our conscious will to the physical world. Heh brings mind and matter, flame and vessel, wave and particle together; it is an abbreviation for HaShem, meaning "The Name" a stand-in phrase for God's Name. Heh is the Interface that provides a Framework for Connection. That is why Heh means Window and why, as a prefix, Heh means tHe. Heh encompasses the Earth-Plane (the outer, dispensed, part of the Heh) and the Primal Point (the inner, conscious, part of the Heh). It is the equatorial plane that window-frames and connects the center and the equator (just as with thumb and fingers) of the APPLe of Continuous Creation.


VAV – MULTIPLICATION

VaV, Multiplication, paired with DaLeT, Division, naturally denotes Rotation, Vibration, and Unfoldment. As rotation, VaV is the axis or the spine (or spin) around the axis. As Vibration, VaV is the FiFe or Flute (a source of Vibration-sound, and is modeled by the unit tetrahelical column with 33-tetrahedra paralleling the 33-vertebrae of the human spine). As Unfoldment, VaV is doing and doing and doing, each cycle following on the previous cycle. That is why VaV means Pin, Spine, and And. VaV is located between the Heh and the ZaYiN.

ZAYIN – PROJECTION

ZaYiN, Projection, paired with GiMeL, Action (within the limits of the "oases"), naturally denotes extended Action (beyond limits) like a sprout (– GRO, meaning "grow") that erupts or is thrown or ejected like a seed. That is why ZaYiN means Spear, Weapon or Arrow. ZaYiN is located opposite GiMeL as the World Mountain climbs back to the source at the center of Continuous Creation.

CHET – ENCOMPASSMENT

CHeT, Encompassment, paired with BeT, Distinction, naturally surrounds and covers distinctions. It is the "skin" of Life and an encompassing HuT/HaT. That is why cHeT represents a Fenced Field, the Perimeter of the Field, or its Surface. CHeT is the Perimeter of the Earth-Plane that Encompasses and surrounds the "seed" at the center of the idealized APPLe of Creation.

TET – COMPLETION

TeT, Completion, Wholeness and Bonding, paired with ALePh, Unity, naturally provides nourishment as the meat of the new fruit and the TeaT providing milk to the new child. TeT is the JeT at the Tip of the World Mountain. It is the sum ToTal of all the letters that came before. TeT Binds a mother to her child ("TEaT") and it re-Binds what Bet (distinction) first broke apart from Aleph’s Unity.
It is because TeT Binds and Bonds TIghT together, that, as a "constricter", TeT traditionally means Snake or Serpent. TeT is at the Top of the World Mountain, coincident with the new seed, but of the next generation.
In traditional Kabbalistic terms for the Sefirot, this is Malkut of the Archetypal level in Keter of the Spiritual level.

Hebrew Letters- alef

A Matrix of Meaning:
Portraits of the Hebrew Letters, in Pictures and Words
©1996 Stan Tenen
http://www.meru.org/letteressays/alef.html
Level I – Archetype

Alef

Greatness – Mastery


AlePh stands for ALL, ALooF and an ALP – a high point, a high sacred mountain. It is ALL-ONE-Wisdom Conscious-ness. PheLA (ALePhin reverse) is a miracle and a mystery. ALePh represents the Whole, the General, the Great and Inclusive Wisdom of the Transcendent and the Immanent, together. ALePh, of all the letters, is the only one that is both the Unitary "seed" of Singular Consciousness and the Whole of Consciousness – Consciousness is always Singular and Whole. (What meaning is there to "half" of a thought?) Aleph, as the Singular, is the sun-seed-center (The Primal Point), the Source; ALePh, as the Whole, is the Idealized Fruit – the APPLe – and its fruition. ALePh represents the strongest, most coherent, and most encompassing Archetype; that is why ALePh means Ox (or Bull, the astrological symbol of the Taurean age when the alphabet was stabilized.)

ALePh is the Transcendent and exquisitely Singular "Primal Point" at the center of Continuous Creation. It is the tip of the Great Flame, the Seed, the Tao, the dew-drop ( the Manna – from Pirke Avoth’s description of the 10-Things Created on the Eve of the First Sabbath) and the "Grain that no granary comprehends" (from Rumi’s poetic description of the Mevlevi Sufi Round Dance. For additional Sufi imagery, see the poster, The Geometry of Rumi's Description of the Mevlevi Sufi Round Dance, in our section on Arabic, Moslem, and Sufi Material.)

Health is when mind and body are one.

We express our will to others by both gestures and words. When we wear this transcendental hand and make meaningful gestures, we see outlines of the model hand that match both the shapes and the meanings of the names of the Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic letters. For example, pointing to one’s mouth displays the letter Pe, which means "mouth." Because root meanings can be built from these universally recognized letter-gestures, a naive person can read the meanings of Hebrew words spelled out in gestures of this special hand. Thus this natural hand-gesture language, based on a philosophical interpretation of the ancient circle-squaring riddle, also explains biblical claims of a universal language lost at the Tower of Babel.

We live in a world of seeming duality:
Process/Structure Oral/Written

Wave/Particle Lily/Thorn

Female/Male General/Particular

Analog/Digital Yin/Yang

Continuous/Discrete Mind/Body

Dynamic/Static Spirit/Matter


http://www.meru.org/lightintent/lightin.html.

These qualities are complementary. They orbit, blend into, grow from and through each other, and together they resolve and define a unity, the Tao of their domain. When these complements are infinitely interpenetrating they are one whole; as pairs, they are the essential defining distinction of their whole. Each complement is dependent on and defined by its other. The set of all these dualities can be elegantly modeled by the polar distinction between total symmetry and total asymmetry. No complement is more separate, nor more bound, than the order of symmetry and the chaos of nothing same.

In three dimensions the most elegant economical structure exhbiting total symmetry is the tetrahedron. It has spin symmetry about all its elements
sursa

continuous creation

The Talmud, expanding on the Biblical account, tells us that Abraham discovered the One-God while he lived in the house of his father Terach. Terach, we are also told, was an educated professional knowledgeable in the skills, philosophies and spiritual practices known in his homeland in "Ur of the Chaldees," a civilized and sophisticated city-state in "Babylonia."

The Talmud is the "oral" Torah given to Moses with the written Torah - The Five Books of Moses - at Mt. Horeb-Sinai. From: The Handbook of Jewish Thought, by R. Aryeh Kaplan (Brooklyn, N.Y, Maznaim Publishing Co., ©1979) page 42, and Kaplan's footnotes, bottom page 42 (see Note 1).

"It was into this pagan atmosphere that a most unique individual was born. From his earliest childhood, Abraham transcended his pagan environment and recognized that the world was governed by one Supreme Being. As one of the greatest geniuses of his time,35 Abraham was able to use his keen mind to see through the sham and falsehood of the values of his generation,and understand the true purpose of creation."1
Abraham is at home. He is reflecting on the many idols of metal and stone and wood that his father makes and sells. He has a realization that these idols are dead and inert and he "discovers" the One-God. This is a paraphrase of the traditional story. How are we to understand it?
If we, as our scholars, assume that this story is to be taken literally, then Abraham realizes that the idols his father makes and sells are not alive, and thus not able to have any effect in the world no matter what or how they are prayed to and no matter what sacrifice is offered to them. We are assuming that a man whom we are told is educated and sophisticated would make and sell inert effigies as deities. If we met an educated and sophisticated person today we would not find it plausible that they would be in the business of selling idols. Why should we make that presumption about Terach?

Consider instead the following scenario. Terach, as an educated and worldly man, would know and appreciate the arts, sciences and spiritual beliefs of as many different peoples and cultures as were known in his world. We assume this of educated persons today. If this is so, then the "idols of metal and stone and wood" referred to in the traditional story are really the particular cultural embodiments of the arts, the sciences, and the sacred as they are known in various different cultures.

The "idols" of a sophisticated person are not, literally, stone effigies and statuettes. These "idols" are the cultural, political, social, and scientific paradigms comprising the world-views of the societies in which they (and we) live.

When we examine the spiritual beliefs and cosmologies of many ancient and modern cultures we find that they all include excellent models of certain essential qualities of life - albeit each in its own cultural context with its own particular perspective, emphasis and physical analogs.

The ancient Chinese developed a cosmology and an original ideographic alphabet based on the 28-mansions of the lunar zodiac.
The Greeks and the Persians modeled the cyclicity of life by a pantheon of gods, goddesses and their familial relationships based on the 12-houses of the solar zodiac.2
The Druids of northern Europe modeled the self-propagation of life on the life cycles of trees and other growing things.
Each and every culture has made accurate and effective models of the cyclic, self-propagating and self-referential nature of all life in terms appropriate to its needs and experience. These different cultural embodiments of the same universal principles underlying all life are referred to as "idols of metal and stone and wood." These "godlet" cultural paradigms are honored (and, literally, stone statues of these "idols" are worshipped) by the society that makes use of them.
All cultures model the same processes of the same overall unity of the natural world and each uses a different physical example to do it.
Abraham, seeing through each example to a Singular archetype, DEFINED the One-God as the Unity underlying all of them.
Abraham, in this view, acts as a mathematician: he postulates a meaningful and functional definition of Unity. The mathematician's model makes use of none of the "garments" of the many different cultural embodiments. Even though it is a mathematical model that must make use of geometry and form (or formalism) to be expressed, it (the model, not the sacred) MUST be understood as a complete abstraction without physical embodiment. A good mathematician tolerates no unneeded embellishments.

This perspective suggests why the Abrahamic faiths absolutely prohibit "graven images" of God. Any "graven image" would be a physical representation of only one culture's iconography during one historical period - it could never be a timeless model of a universal underlying Unity.

Once we understand this mathematician's idea of God as a DEFINITION necessary for universality we can, perhaps for the first time, see how and why it is possible that the Abrahamic faiths' insistence that God is the ONLY-GOD could be literally true, and not just the chauvinistic religious puffery of these faiths - and in a way that does not impugn the validity of other religions. The definition of Unity is in no way prejudicial to any other view.

Even before Moses was given the Torah, it is possible that Abraham realized that this ultimate, Singular, definition of the universal One-God is also identical with the personal meditational experience of God. That the Immanence of All-There-Is and the Transcendent Singularity in our experience of meditation are one and the same may be the basis of Abraham's understanding of and belief in the One-God.

This suggests the truly extraordinary possibility that our ancient sages also realized that there is one particular mathematical definition of Unity that is also a model of the sequence of feelings, the "Yoga" and the "Hero's Journey", that leads to the meditational experience of Unity. The meditational experience may be the gnosis that personally validates and empowers these spiritual tradition(s).

Further, although the particular details and depth of understanding of the idea of an explicit definition of the Unity of God may have been most fully developed by the Abrahamic faiths, the principle was known and considered fundamental in other cultures as well. Terach and Abraham did not live in a cultural vacuum.

MODELS OF WHOLENESS, SINGULARITY AND HIGHEST CONTRAST

How are we to model this ultimate, exquisite, unknowable UNITY representing our unique definition of the Singularity of the One-Living-God? Is there an entirely abstract - non-idolatrous - mathematical model that incorporates Singularity, Uniqueness, Self-organization, Universality, Infinitude, Elegance and Simplicity?

What is the most elegant and exquisite model of "highest contrast"?
Could this same model also represent the meditational process or the path and goal of the "Hero's Journey?"
In The Laws of Form, mathematician G. Spencer-Brown proposes the "mark of distinction" archetypally distinguishing INSIDE from OUTSIDE as a definition of maximal contrast. Mathematicians have shown that all of formal logic can be derived from G. Spencer-Brown's "mark of distinction." The following is from The Laws of Form, p. xxix (emphasis added):
"The theme of this book is that a universe comes into being when a space is severed or taken apart. The skin of a living organism cuts off an outside from an inside. So does the circumference of a circle in a plane. By tracing the way we represent such a severance, we can begin to reconstruct, with an accuracy and coverage that appear almost uncanny, the basic forms underlying linguistic, mathematical, physical, and biological science, and can begin to see how the familiar laws of our own experience follow inexorably from the original act of severance.
"Although all forms, and thus all universes, are possible, and any particular form is mutable, it becomes evident that the laws relating such forms are the same in any universe. It is this sameness, the idea that we can find a reality which is independent of how the universe actually appears, that lends such fascination to the study of mathematics."
The distinction between archetypal Symmetry and Asymmetry is also primary and of absolute contrast. Each co-defines the other. Without a representative standard of asymmetry how could we unambiguously define symmetry?

Archetypal symmetry can be represented by the most compact structural forms (in any given dimension). The five Platonic solids (Tetrahedron, Cube, Octahedron, Icosahedron, and Dodecahedron) and the Archimedian semi-regular solids can define fundamental symmetries in 3-dimensions. (Mathematicians and physicists derive the formal symmetry groups that they use from these polyhedral archetypes.)
Archetypal asymmetry can be represented by a dynamic form that continuously breaks symmetries as it unfurls. Meru Foundation research suggests that this form is a particular, explicit vortex, which we call "Naked Recursion" ("naked" in the mathematical sense - unadorned, without any other quality) and which has been traditionally associated with "the flame of consciousness", the archetypal living process of a "fruit tree yielding fruit whose seed is inside itself" (Genesis I.11.), and with its highest human embodiment - our hands.

As we will see later, besides its traditional association with the heart Chakra, what is most astonishing about the vortex-shaped model HAND is its direct relationship to both our personal consciousness and to our cosmological model of Unity, Singularity and Wholeness.

Confirmation, The Meruba Ashurit Rabbinic Hebrew Alphabet—also Greek and Arabic
When we combine the these two natural models of the source of information—the sun-sky source model that informs us, and the subjective mind-objective world model which we use to inform the world—we find the same form: our hands. When we place the sun-sky Dirac model hands on our real hands and then point to what we want, we see distinct 2-dimensional outlines of each of the letters of the fluid rabbinic form of the traditional "sacred" Meruba Ashurit Hebrew alphabet. (It is likely that this same abstract hand form also generates the letters of particular Greek and Arabic alphabets, using either the full Dirac String orbit or half of the orbit. This has been demonstrated only casually, but based on text references, it is highly plausible.)

When we see the outline of a particular Hebrew letter, we are making a left-right pair of gestures whose natural universal (human) meaning is the same as the meaning of the name of the letter. In this case, form and function are intrinsically linked by the geometry of choice (information) and by how we express our conscious choices (how we inform, in turn).* Thus, the shapes of these "sacred" Hebrew letters may not be arbitrary; their shapes may carry natural meaning in themselves, as is traditionally claimed. Each articulation of the model of the source of information represents a distinct pointing direction and gesture whose natural meaning is the name of the letter that is displayed.

When we spell Hebrew roots by means of the gestures that make the letters of the root, we (often) see a more complex, compound gesture that has the same universally recognized visual meaning as the Hebrew root.

For example, when we point to our mouth using the standard shouting "megaphone" gesture, thumbs in, fingers flared, we see an outline of the Hebrew letter Pe; Pe means "mouth" or "speak." When we outline the shape of a globe, melon, or basketball in our hands in order to designate something "round," we see, in sequence, the Hebrew letters Gimel and Lamed which form the root GaL, meaning "round."

It is highly unlikely that this constellation of results would occur if these "sacred" letter shapes were arbitrary, or the result of orthographic convenience alone. The letters are not orthographically reasonable: words are written right-to-left, while letters are drawn left-to-right; thus, without explicit care, the writing hand smears each new letter. It is important that these findings and conclusions be tested with native speakers, with many more examples, and to see if arbitrary letter shapes could reasonably be expected to enable the same results.

One confirmation that this model for generating the shapes of the Hebrew letters was known in the past can be found in the Sefer Yetzirah, the "Book of Formation." The Sefer Yetzirah is universally believed to be about the Hebrew letters. But, even though the title of the book (Yetzirah = "form") tells us that it is about "form," nowhere in any translation (nor in any extant commentary by academic or religious scholars, who read the original language) does any discussion of the form of the letters occur. This unsatisfying standard of translation would not be accepted in any other field of scholarship. No modern scholar would take seriously the translation of a book titled Chemistry, for example, that did not contain any reference to chemistry. This tolerance for illogic is one example of how some scholarship "damns by faint praise." Clearly there is a risk of demeaning traditional accomplishments when we accept traditional claims on lower standards than we insist on today.

When the half-orbit spiral vortex model (and related geometry) is identified with controversial and obscure terminology in the Sefer Yetzirah, the text immediately "reads clear," and the form of the letter-generating spiral vortex—the apple-based model hand—is readily apparent and seen to have been described and specified with extraordinary (technical) elegance in the text, all along.*

The Sefer Yetzirah outlines the model hand by describing its minimal, essential, symmetry qualities in 1-, 2-, and 3-dimensions. Simultaneously meeting these three simple dimensional criteria immediately and elegantly defines the letter-generating model hand spiral vortex forms. It is clearly unrealistic to expect scholars not comfortable with geometry to recognize so elegant a set of geometric metaphors. (For details see Note 2.)

Idealized Apple, Sufi Dancer, and Conservation of Momentum
This Idealized Apple can be represented by a dimpled-sphere torus, with the womb and seeds in the center hole, the stem and trunk identified with the fruit at its stem end, and the entire fruit identified with the whole sphere. The seed-tree-apple life-process spans from the torus’s hole to the whole torus—from an in-sphere (womb with seeds) to an out-sphere (fruit). This mini-sun (womb and seeds) in a surrounding mini-sky (fruit) recapitulates the form of the source of the information that informs the life of the apple-tree system. They are "made in the image of" the source that informs them. Notice also that this relationship-topology is the same as the traditional religious claim that humans are "made in the image of God."

The dimpled-sphere torus (Edenic and Apollo "apple") had specific cosmological significance in the ancient world. Indeed, the word "world" is related to the idea of a "whirl", and the presence of consciousness in the whirled with the "whirlwind."

The spiral vortex on the dimpled-sphere torus—which strings out the 7 regions that topologically define the self-reference-modeling 2-torus—can also model the conservation of angular momentum. Again, Arthur Young shows how this self-referential process topology is useful in understanding angular momentum, and he suggests that these toroidal models are meaningfully related to the quantum mechanical unit of angular momentum, Planck’s constant, h, and to a "quantum" or "bit" of conscious volitional choice. [3]


A Universal Hand

Obviously, we, and perhaps some of the other primates, are the only self-aware beings that have human (or human-like) hands. This is one reason why an accurate, 3-dimensional, photo-realistic human hand is not good enough to be universal. In order to form the letters of a natural pointing alphabet suitable for extra-terrestrials, we must make use of an idealized model hand based on the natural form of the source of information, not a realistic human hand. (I’m guessing that the "hand" of any being with a self-aware volitional consciousness similar to our own—no matter what its form, substance, or medium in which it can point—would have to be topologically equivalent to our hand, and would have the ability to move and point in a space with the same degrees of freedom, as befits its similar mental dexterity.)

Likewise, if we were to attempt to investigate whether this symbol system could be of use with dolphins, who do not have physical hands but instead use acoustic pulses as their pointing, probing, and gesturing system, we would have to adapt these principles to the shape of acoustic pulses instead of physical human hands. (In this case, the connection may be fairly simple. Acoustic pulses can travel like soliton-tori, which might plausibly be represented by the Dirac half-orbit form(s). This experiment needs to be performed.)

Recent published reports by:

1. Anthropologists now tell us that pre-humans used gesture language before developing speech; [4]
2. Child development psychologists tell us that infants can learn to gesture meaningfully to their parents before they develop spoken language (and spoken language naturally flows from their earlier gesture language); [5]

3. Scholars investigating natural language tell us that persons blind from birth make gestures that they have never seen, even while speaking to other blind people who cannot see their gestures, and that these gestures are essentially the same as those used by sighted persons.[6]*

4. Other recent published work discusses the likelihood that all cognition is based on body movements and gestures and their results.[7](Also see Note 3)

The concept for the design of an elegant, natural, universal pointing gesture alphabet discussed here relies on the reasonable assumptions that self-aware volitional creatures evolve on a planet-like body in a solar-like system (with electron physics as described by Dirac), and that they have a bodily means of projecting their personal will into the consensus world.
I would like to propose the investigation of this system for finding abstract communications forms (letters, numbers, etc.) suitable for communication with extra-terrestrials. We could start by investigating the usefulness of these ideas for communication with our self-aware companions here on Earth.

Notes

1. We are neglecting second order effects that are also part of the information source system. For example, not only is there contrast between sun and sky; the earth between them is in yearly orbit, and rotates on a 24-hour day-night cycle. The day-night cycle rhythmatizes the sun-sky contrast, and this in turn provides a clock-and-carrier for the information. Rotation at this level recapitulates, and is represented by, angular momentum at the fundamental-particle level.

2. The pairing pattern of letters at the beginning of B’reshit (Genesis) leads to the Continuous Creation model, which consists of exactly six model "hands".**

The Continuous Creation model can be described with unusual and extraordinary elegance and precision by examining its 1-, 2-, and 3-dimensional symmetries. There is no more mathematically elegant and compact way to describe a fundamental form than to take but 3 "snapshots" of it, one in each of the three spatial dimensions. This is perhaps one of the most elegant mathematical descriptions possible, and to mathematicians it’s immediately striking.

This is a unique identification. It includes identification of the descriptive words, T’li, Gal-Gal, and Lav, as well as their unique geometric relationship to the three numbers, 3, 7, and 12.

3. In the February 2002 issue of Scientific American, Steve Mirsky reports on research published in the November 29, 2001 issue of Nature, as follows: "...A region within Broca’s area known as Broadmann’s area 44, critical for the power of speech, is larger in the left hemisphere of humans than in the right. A study has now found that the same asymmetry exists in other great ape species: chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas. [...T]he Emory University researchers conjecture that the area may have originally been associated with the production of gestures used by apes for communication. This area eventually became used as a source of speech in modern humans." [10]

References:

1. Penrose, Roger, The Emperor’s New Mind, Oxford University Press, 1989

2. Jaynes, Julian, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, 1976

3. Young, Arthur M., The Reflexive Universe, Anodos Books. Available through the Arthur Young website at www.arthuryoung.com/aybooks.HTML

4. Corballis, Michael, The Gestural Origins of Language, ©1999 Michael Corballis, published in The American Scientist, March-April 1999. This article is available at www.amsci.org/amsci/articles/99articles/Corballis.html

5. Acredolo, L. & Goodwyn, S. (1993). Symbolic gesture versus words: Is there a modality advantage for onset of symbol use, published in Child Development, 64, 688-701.

6. Iverson, Jana, and Goldin-Meadow, Susan, Why People Gesture When They Speak, published in Nature, Nov. 19, 1998. Excerpts available at www.meru.org/3220lecture/blndgest.html

7. Iverson, Jana, and Thelen, Esther, Hand, Mouth and Brain: The Dynamic Emergence of Speech and Gesture, published in the Journal of Consciousness Studies, Vol. 6, Issue #11-12, Nov/Dec 1999. Also see other published work linked to at www.meru.org/Gestures/gestures.html

8. Tenen, Stan, Man Bites Dog, published in the Noetic Journal, Vol. 2, No. 2, p.203, as an appendix to the essay The God of Abraham: A Mathematician’s View (see below).

9. Tenen, Stan, The God of Abraham: A Mathematician’s View, published in the Noetic Journal, Vol. 2 No. 2, p. 192.

10. Mirsky, Steve, Parts of Speech, published in Scientific American, February 2002, page 28.

Internet URLs and Links

Man Bites Dog
www.meru.org/manbitesdog.html

The God of Abraham, A Mathematician’s View
www.meru.org/GodofAbe/onegdpix.html

Squaring the Circle: The One and the Many, Mind and World
www.meru.org/3220lecture/contents.html

The Dirac String Trick: First Hand
www.meru.org/dirac.html

The Light in the Meeting Tent (poster)
www.meru.org/Posters/ColorLightinTent.html

The Light in the Meeting Tent (Meru Archive Draft Article: 1986)
www.meru.org/lightintent/lightin.html

Unity and Wholeness
www.meru.org/Posters/Unitywho.html

The Geometry of Rumi’s Description of the Mevlevi Sufi Round Dance
www.meru.org/Sufi/rnddance.html

An Idealized Embryonic Fruit and a Dancer’s Exchange of Angular Momentum
www.meru.org/Posters/angumomt.html

Hebrew Alphabet Hand Gestures
www.meru.org/Gestures/Atbashgest.html

Why People Gesture When they Speak (Excerpts) by Jana Iverson and Susan Goldin-Meadow
www.meru.org/3220lecture/blndgest.html (see Reference 6 above)

The Gestural Origins of Language, by Michael Corballis,
www.amsci.org/amsci/articles/99articles/Corballis.html (see Reference 4 above)

GEOMETRIC METAPHORS OF LIFE- THE GOD OF ABRAHAM:

THE GOD OF ABRAHAM:
A Mathematician's View
Is there a mathematical argument for the existence of one God?

In living things the Seed is INside and the Fruit is OUTside, the Sperm is INside and the Ovum is OUTside:
Flame and Coal
Light and Vessel
Seed and Fruit
Wave and Particle Female and Male
Spirit and Matter
Mind and Body
Transcendance and Immanence

In these embodiments the asymmetrical dynamic element is conceptually INside (Seed, Mind, Spirit) with its symmetrical projective complement OUTside (Fruit, Body, Matter). See Note #2. There are very many other examples.

***

The illustration of CONTINUOUS CREATION is an attempt to show how a range of spiritual metaphors from different traditions can be reconciled in one geometric model of the High Contrast of Wholeness and Singularity. It shows some of the names by which the DIMPLED SPHERE Torus is known in different cultures and spiritual traditions. In this model, Continuous Creation refers to the unbroken chain of life: ...Seed-Tree-Fruit / Seed-Tree-Fruit / Seed-Tree... It represents the reflexive self-organizing process that is the natural transformation and unfoldment of every "SEED" (Singularity, Tao, Sun) via its "TREE" (Unfoldment, Flame, World Mountain) into new "FRUIT" (Wholeness, Hand, World) of its kind. It represents the general principle of the projection of life from life, endlessly. It is a model of one cycle of Singularity, Unfoldment, and Wholeness.

The IDEALIZED meditational "Fruit tree yielding
fruit whose seed is inside itself," in
the form of a DIMPLED-SPHERE Torus, is
defined by pairing off the letters in the first
verse of the Hebrew text of Genesis.

It is the minimal, most compact and most elegant representation
of the sequence of letters in the first verse.


www.meru.org - sursa

City of David

History lives. The City of David encapsulates the Biblical City of Jerusalem where King David himself roamed over 3,000 years ago. This outstanding website brings remote visitors face to face with the protagonists and locations of the living Bible. Its fabulous visuals and the rich descriptions of the site in English, Spanish, Hebrew, French and Russian bring to life the only place on earth where the only guidebook actually needed is the Bible itself. The City of David is produced by a non-political and nonreligious organization located in the heart of the Old City in Jerusalem. Guided tours, a 3D movie, and a panoramic outlook of the town invite you to visit the City of David. See you soon!
Company: INKOD HYPERA Ltd.
castigatorul la sectiunea e-cultura editia 2008 a "UN-sponsored World Summit Awards (WSA)"
site-ul este incantator, il am in sectiunea de web, il pun si aici
m-am delectat de multe ori deschizand-ul...chiar ma bucur ca a castigat...
celelate site-uri premiate sunt interesante, merita sa dai o tura...

cimitire evreiesti

cimitire evreiesti...poze, marturii, aici,
aici,
aici,,

talit

digiuni nel ebraismo

Tutti i digiuni se capitano di Shabbat vengono anticipati o spostati. Il Kippur ovviamente fa eccezione, appartenendo alle feste comandate dalla Torah (Mideoraita).


Zom Ghedalià
Il digiuno di Ghedalià viene il 3 del mese di Tishrì e ricorda l'uccisione di Ghedalià, governatore di Gerusalemme, per mano dei babilonesi. La sua morte significò per gli ebrei perdere quel poco di autonomia che Nabucodonosor aveva loro concesso dopo aver distrutto il primo Bet Hamikdash.


Asarà Be-Tevet
Asarà Be-Tevèt (10 di Tevet) ricorda l'inizio dell'assedio posto dai babilonesi e dai romani a Gerusalemme. La tradizione vuole che sia la prima invasione (babilonese nel 586 a.C.) che la seconda (romana nel 70 d.C.) sia avvenuta nello stesso periodo dell'anno.


Taanìt Ester
Il digiuno di Ester cade il 13 del mese di Adar e ricorda il digiuno che fece Ester in seguito all'editto di Hamman (di cui parlerò in modo più approfondito nel topic riguardante la festa di Purim).


Shivà Asàr Be-Tamuz
Shivà Asàr Be-Tamùz (17 di Tamuz) ricorda l'entrata dei babilonesi e dei romani a Gerusalemme.

Tra Shivà Asar Be-Tamuz al successivo digiuno, Tishà Beàv (10 di Av) intercorrono tre settimane che si chiamano Ben Hammezarìm (tra le distrette) e vanno vissute in lutto: in questo periodo non si indossano vestiti nuovi, non si assaggiano cibi nuovi, non si celebrano matrimoni e non si fanno feste. Nei tre Shabbatòt che cadono in questo periodo si usa leggere come Haftarà dei capitoli in cui il popolo ebraico viene ammonito per le sue colpe e avvertito delle conseguenze di queste.

I segni di lutto sono ancora più sentiti a partire da Rosh Chodesh Av e soprattutto nella settimana di Tishà Beav: in questi giorni si usa astenersi dal mangiare carne, bere vino, tagliare i capelli e la barba. In ricordo dell'incendio che i romani appiccarono al Bet Hamikdash, che durò fino a mezzogiorno del 10 di Av non si mangia carne nemmeno la sera in cui termina il digiuno e il giorno dopo fino a mezzogiorno.


Tishà Beav
Questo digiuno, che cade, come già detto, il 9 del mese di Av, è il più rigoroso perché ricorda l'avvenimento più nefasto della storia del popolo ebraico: la distruzione del Bet Hamikdash, avvenuta in questo giorno nel 586 a.C. per mano dei babilonesi e nel 70 d.C. per mano dei romani. Inizia la sera precedente al tramonto e termina la sera del 9 di Av (gli altri digiuni invece durano dall'alba al tramonto).

In questo giorno si celebrano gli stessi atti penitenziali di Kippur, anche se si può accendere la luce, prendere l'auto, lavorare (tranne la mattina), ecc. Non si indossano il Talled e i Tefillin la mattina (il pomeriggio invece è permesso).

Nel pomeriggio che precede Tishà Beav si usa fare un pasto abbondante chiamato Seudà Mafsè, in cui si mangia, al termine, un uovo sodo (segno di lutto).

La mattina del 9 di Av si legge nella Torah un passo in cui viene preannunciato l'esilio del popolo ebraico e la Meghillà di Echà (Lamentazioni). Quest'ultima si legge anche la sera.

Tutti gli adulti sono obbligati a digiunare: solo i malati o coloro a cui non mangiare può provocare problemi di salute ne sono esentati.

dorohoi...

Pe 2 iulie 2008 a avut loc comemorarea anuala a Holocaustului dorohoian. S-au întâlnit în număr de câteva sute de persoane în munţii Ierusalimului lângă aşezarea numită Shoresh, în pădurea dedicată victimelor Holocaustului din Dorohoi şi împrejurimi. Această padure împreună cu monumentul cu şase braţe a fost ridicată de puţinii supravieţuitori dorohoieni care s-au stabilit în Israel.


Raportul final asupra Holocaustului si raportul final asupra dictaturii comuniste in Romania (RUXANDRA CESEREANU) preluat din Revista 22

Pentru prima data, in Romania, a avut loc o dezbatere stiintifica publica pe marginea a doua dintre temele traumatice ale secolului XX: Gulagul si Holocaustul, analizate intr-o perspectiva comparata, cu aplicatie pe cazul romanesc. Dezbaterea a avut loc sub auspiciile unui simpozion intitulat Gulag si Holocaust in constiinta romaneasca, in perioada 25-26 mai 2007, organizat de Centrul de Cercetare a Imaginarului din Cluj, functionand in cadrul Facultatii de Litere a Universitatii "Babes-Bolyai". Dintre participantii la simpozion, ii amintim pe Marius Oprea, Dorin Dobrincu, Adrian Cioflanca, Doina Jela, Michael Shafir, Marta Petreu, Mihai Dinu Gheorghiu, Andrei Cornea, Ion Vianu, Caius Dobrescu, Doru Radosav, Stefan Borbély, Ovidiu Pecican, Lidia Bradley, Maria Bucur, Octavian Roske, Cristina Anisescu, Doru Pop si multi altii. Centrul de Cercetare a Imaginarului a avut ca parteneri in organizarea simpozionului urmatoarele institutii: Institutul de Investigare a Crimelor Comunismului din Romania, Institutul Cultural Roman, Fundatia Aspera si Uniunea Scriitorilor din Romania (filiala Cluj).
La 22 octombrie 2003, la initiativa presedintelui Romaniei din acea perioada, Ion Iliescu, a fost constituita o Comisie Internationala pentru Studierea Holocaustului in Romania (sub presedintia laureatului Premiului Nobel pentru pace, Elie Wiesel, scriitor american de origine romana)¹. In primavara anului 2006, la initiativa presedintelui Romaniei, Traian Basescu, a fost constituita o Comisie Prezidentiala pentru Analiza Dictaturii Comuniste din Romania (CPADCR, sub presedintia politologului american de origine romana, Vladimir Tismaneanu)². Scopul concret al constituirii ambelor Comisii a fost realizarea cate unui raport final legat de cele doua forme ale totalitarismului (extrema dreapta si extrema stanga) care au functionat in Romania, intre 1940-1944, respectiv 1945-1989. Ambele Comisii au avut un fundament legal si etic si au raspuns unor asteptari si dileme ale romanilor legate de istoria lor recenta. In cazul Raportului Final legat de analiza dictaturii comuniste (care trebuia sa marcheze sfarsitul unei epoci, la 1 ianuarie 2007 urmand ca Romania sa fie acceptata in Uniunea Europeana), a mai existat un scop manifest: masivul document ar fi putut sa ii ofere presedintelui Traian Basescu o baza stiintifica pentru condamnarea oficiala a comunismului in Romania, ca ilegitim si criminal. Acest lucru s-a si intamplat la 18 decembrie 2006. Condamnand regimul comunist drept ilegitim si criminal, Traian Basescu a facut un gest similar celui al lui Jacques Chirac, primul presedinte care a condamnat in numele statului francez regimul de la Vichy, ca parte a experientei istorice a acestui stat (aceasta comparatie la nivelul gesturilor etice a doi presedinti ii apartine lui Vladimir Tismaneanu).
Premisa ambelor rapoarte a fost cercetarea si stabilirea adevarului privind cele doua tragedii, ale Holocaustului si Gulagului, cu toate implicatiile politice, sociale, psihologice, istorice, umane ale acestora. De asemenea, ambele rapoarte au vizat o sanctionare oficiala (girata de autoritatile romane) a celor doua extremisme (ororile petrecute intre 1940-1944 si 1945-1989 fiind imposibil de cuantificat si decamuflat in timpul perioadei comuniste). Din componenta Comisiei Wiesel au facut parte in principal istorici si sociologi; din componenta Comisiei Tismaneanu au facut parte, de asemenea, istorici, sociologi si politologi, dar si jurnalisti, oameni de litere, personalitati civice, caracterul acesteia fiind mai eterogen decat al Comisiei Wiesel. De mentionat: doi dintre membrii Comisiei Wiesel au facut parte si din Comisia Tismaneanu, este vorba despre istoricii Andrei Pippidi (membru propriu-zis) si Adrian Cioflanca (expert). De remarcat, de asemenea: din Comisia Wiesel au facut parte doi consilieri prezidentiali ai lui Ion Iliescu, Ioan Scurtu si Victor Opaschi (prin urmare, macar un minim control tutelar al lui Ion Iliescu a existat, cei doi istorici amintiti putand monitoriza pentru presedinte activitatea Comisiei Wiesel); in schimb, desi CPADCR a fost creata de presedintele Traian Basescu, din Comisia Tismaneanu nu a facut parte vreun consilier prezidential, astfel incat nu a existat vreo interferenta a autoritatilor cu activitatea Comisiei; din Comisia Tismaneanu a facut parte, totusi, un consilier, dar al adversarului presedintelui Basescu, primul ministru Calin Popescu Tariceanu, este vorba despre remarcabilul istoric Marius Oprea (specializat pe analiza Securitatii). Singurul lucru in care Administratia Prezidentiala s-a implicat a fost acela de a cataliza accesarea Arhivelor de catre expertii CPADCR.
La 11 noiembrie 2004, Raportul Final realizat de Comisia Wiesel i-a fost prezentat lui Ion Iliescu; acest raport a fost semnalat public, dar nu a si fost dezbatut public decat minimal; raportul produs de Comisia Wiesel a avut putini detractori, iar acestia au fost exclusiv din varii factiuni ale extremei drepte care se manifesta politic si cultural in Romania postcomunista. Raportul Final realizat de Comisia Tismaneanu i-a fost predat in noiembrie 2006 lui Traian Basescu - acesta a prezentat concluziile respectivului raport in fata Camerelor reunite ale parlamentului, in 18 decembrie 2006, fiind boicotat de reprezentantii catorva partide alergice la ideea de sanctionare a comunismului: PRM in principal, PSD in plan secundar (desi raportul nu a avut coloratura revansarda, ci a fost redactat in spiritul liberalismului civic, el a fost perceput, uneori, ca un document coleric-politic menit sa produca discordie). Daca raportul Comisiei Wiesel a avut un caracter amplu istoric si factual, raportul Comisiei Tismaneanu a mizat pe caracterul politologic legat de deconstructia ideologiei comuniste, neuitand, fireste, de factualitatea necesara unui asemenea raport in legatura cu victimologia aferenta (raportul a pedalat pe un caracter initial prioritar politologic, intrucat acesta a fost documentul cathartic dorit de Presedintie

Che cos'è la Tfilà - Preghiera nella Kabbalah?

http://www.kabbalah.info/italykab/Testi_Autentici/La_Tfila.htm
Dal libro "Discorsi sui gradini della Scala", Volume A
Discorso sull'articolo "Che significa la metà dello Shekel nel Lavoro?"

Tfilà vuol dire il rapporto verso il Creatore. E' ciò che in questo momento l’uomo sente verso la Forza Superiore che lo conduce. L’uomo, volente o nolente, si rapporta sempre al Creatore dal punto più interiore del cuore. Anche se non crede all’esistenza del Creatore, e non Lo percepisce, il cuore di ogni creatura riceve i riempimenti che sente esclusivamente dalla sorgente. Il che equivale a dire, che l’uomo sente sempre il Creatore.

Perché il rapporto verso il Creatore si chiama Tfilà?

Tutte le emozioni che l’uomo sente nel cuore, sorgono dal Creatore, e perciò la sensazione che egli ha nel cuore non viene considerata una preghiera. La Tfilà é l’appello dell’uomo al Creatore, e infatti la parola ebraica “Tfilà” viene dalla radice “palal” che significa “incolparsi”, cioè giudicare me stesso rispetto al tipo di connessione che ho con la sorgente delle mie sensazioni - il Creatore. E dato che l’origine delle sensazioni dell’uomo é il "Buono e benefattore" (Tov umeitiv), ecco che nella preghiera l’uomo esprimerà la differenza tra la propria sensazione e il "Buono e benefattore". Così l’uomo scopre quanto é guasto il suo cuore. La preghiera é la percezione della differenza tra l’uomo e il Creatore.

In altre parole, se l’uomo misurasse la differenza tra ciò che il Creatore influenza nel cuore, e ciò che il cuore sente, e come poi egli reagisca, (l'uomo) si accorgerebbe quanto é degradato. Poiché se l’uomo fosse corretto al cento per cento, percepirebbe il "Buono e benefattore" al cento per cento. E più la sua sensazione sarà opposta a ciò, più testimonierà la misura della sua degradazione.

E non é solo su questo che ciò testimonia, ma anche sulla posizione dell’uomo. Dal momento che il Creatore "Buono e benefattore" dona all’uomo in tutti i 620 canali, l’uomo sa in quali dei canali percepisce di più o di meno, e in quali sente bene o male.

Se l'uomo ha un quadro generale dell'anima, vede e percepisce tutto. A ogni gradino egli sa dove si trovi e quale sia il quadro dello stato finale, che gli mostra la differenza tra il suo stato corretto e il suo stato attuale.

Tutte le cose sulla cui base l'uomo giudica il suo rapporto verso il Creatore - il loro completo insieme si chiama "Tfilà - Preghiera".

La Tfilà erompe dal cuore dell'uomo come conseguenza delle sue sensazioni. La Tfilà deve erompere dalla profondità del cuore prima ancora che l’uomo cominci a controllare con la mente la sensazione del cuore - prima ancora che egli cominci a comprenderla e a pensarvi.

E' la sensazione latente nel cuore, prima ancora che l’uomo provi a controllarla, che si chiama "Tfilà".

Ma se la preghiera anticipa il controllo dell’uomo, come mai all’uomo é stato detto di pregare, di raggiungere lo stato di "Tfilà", come se la preghiera dipendesse dai suoi sforzi o dalla sua libera scelta?

La risposta é, che l’uomo deve raggiungere il desiderio che si chiama Tfilà tramite vari tipi di azioni e mezzi che conducono al desiderio giusto. La preghiera é il riassunto, é il risultato, oramai esistente, delle preparazioni che l'uomo ha svolto. E allora, ogni volta che prega, quando sente nel cuore una certa relazione con il Creatore, allora la sua preghiera al Creatore é sempre nuova.

Quali elementi della preghiera possono essere sotto il controllo dell'uomo?

E' scritto: “Iagati umatzati” (Faticavo e avevo trovato). Lo sforzo é sotto il controllo dell’uomo, mentre il risultato non lo é. Come mai? Perché noi svolgiamo il lavoro sulla nostra anima anche quando non ne conosciamo la struttura e le vie di sviluppo. L’uomo deve solamente fare del suo meglio e sforzarsi, dedicandosi sia in quantità che in qualità rispetto allo sforzo; e non preoccupandosi dei risultati, della strada e delle situazioni che dovrebbe attraversare, né del ritmo del suo progresso e né della sua forma finale. Poiché non solo l’uomo non può conoscere la propria forma finale, ma anche ad ogni innalzamento in uno stato nuovo, egli non sa dove finirà. Questo avviene perché all’uomo si rivela ogni volta una parte nuova della propria anima, che prima invece gli era nascosta. Perciò, nell’elevazione spirituale lo sforzo deve essere diretto oltre la ragione, cioè all’opposto della nostra ragione nel suo stato attuale - all’opposto di ciò che pensiamo e comprendiamo.

Che cos’é la "Tfilà totale"?

L'uomo arriva allo stato di "Tfilà totale", se il suo cuore é in assoluto accordo con il Creatore, e allora tra lui e il Creatore non c'é alcuna cosa che degradi la percezione del "Buono e benefattore". Ne consegue, che la sua preghiera sarà identica a quella scritta nel "Sidur" (il libro delle preghiere), o con ciò che é scritto nella parte dodicesima dello "Studio dei Dieci Sfirot".