AlgART / Papers / Tikun ha-Brit

Eli Talberg

Tikun ha-Brit

View of the Torah on Sexual Development of a Man

Translation from Russian by Daniel Alievsky

CONTENTS

“Tikun ha-Brit”: bringing the male sexuality to perfection is called so in the Jewish Kabbalistic literature. You may ask: do the Jewish sages devote the same attention to the female sexuality? Answer: to a much lesser degree. Why such “inequality”? As the sages say, — due to the greater proximity of women to perfection. A man needs more work on himself to restrain his sexual impulses. Maybe, for this reason the Jewish covenant of circumcision refers to men only.

The modern human has an ability to look at the sexuality subject through the prism of physiology, psychology, or teachings of the East. There are individual particles of the Truth in each approach, but advices of their representatives often contradict one another. The necessity of an integrated, complex approach is obvious, to most effectively help a person to cope with their problems.

A complex approach is impossible without the God concept, because he is God who is the Author both of the human body and of his soul, and his morals. That is the Torah — a teachings, based on the divine revelation, — is a system in which all aspects of human life fit organically.

Tikun ha-Brit, developed on the basis of a complex approach based on the Torah, includes, first of all, the proper sex education for a teenager, as well as the harmonization of intimate relationships in family life.

Part I. With a boy as an adult

Introduction to the secular reader

We came into this world, existing in some laws. We are trying to find our own way and to identify some regularities by trial and error. My grandfather, let the memory of him be blessed, said: “To find your own, you should try everything else.” But even he believed that it is better not to try in some situations. Really, there are things that can disorientate a man forever. After this, for something he pays ruined health, for something — a broken destiny, for something — the life itself.

As a rule, they felt shy to speak about sex in Europe. Those, who were not shy, usually spake some dirty and vulgar things. And namely those words imprinted in the minds of listeners and agitated their imagination. And then broke out of the same filth, vulgarity and, sometimes, crime. And all this did not go unpunished. This was repeated again and again: impure thoughts pulled by the same impure deeds, for which advancing retribution. Sons learned from their fathers, repeating their fate. A kind of “romance of impure” was formed. In a famous Russian movie “Gentlemen of Fortune”, the personage of E. Leonov says: “Stole — drunk — into prison. Stole — drunk — into prison. The romance.”

The present can be characterized by two phenomena: 1) removal of the taboo on discussing sex and sexuality, 2) brightly shown up yearning of people of the new generation to perfection. The modren man gained an ability to look at this subject through the prism of science, psychology, or teachings of the East. Some elements of Truth exist in each of the approaches. The science describes the human interest in sex with help of hormones, the psychology — with help of instincts and psychological complexes, the teachings of the East — with help of male and female energies. All these approaches operate with concrete facts, ignoring such concepts as “morality” (but namely violations of the laws of morality breaks fate and takes the lives in most cases) or ”love” (not everyone is satisfied by an explanation that it was ”emission into the blood of high doses of sex hormones”, or “the basic instinct”, or “energy exchange”). This indicates the absence of a complex approach in these systems. In addition, the recommendations of scientists, psychologists, and the men initiated in the eastern practices can essentially differ: for example, on teenage masturbation or retention of semen.

A complex approach is impossible without the concept of God, because only God is simultaneously the author of the human body, his soul and his morality. And if all these things come from the single Source, then at the level of clear information (“clear” in the sense of “cleaned” from the impurities of the subjective human ones) they must not contradict to each other, but should be packed into a single system. The Torah is such a system: the teachings, based on the direct transfer of information from God to man. The Torah is the only worldview system, which, on the one hand, speaks about the loftiest sentiments and regular sex between husband and wife, and on the other hand, about the necessity of the strict control over their sexual desire.

To come to more detailed study of the approach of the Torah, we must separate it from the approaches of the two religions grown out from it. Let's start with Christianity. Christianity is followed the way of limiting human sexual experience in order to achieve spiritual growth. The sexual desire was considered sinful, which greatly contributed by the concept of Original Sin. Islam went by another way by permitting to a man polygamy and any free woman on the side, that is no continence is required from men within the allowed by Quran.

Now let's talk about the approach of the Torah. Already in the second chapter the Torah tells how God has created the single man and divided it into the man and the woman, and the further states: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (the word for word translation of the last sentence: “...and they become to one flesh”). If to think about the meaning of this story, it becomes obvious that the issue here is the emotional and energetic unity of man and woman, available only to the human. Please note that does not say just “one flesh”, but “to one flesh”, that emphasizes the desire, yearning, movement, and not a static physical unity of two bodies. This description of the Creation of Man differs from the story of the first chapter of the Torah, which states that the Almighty has created man as a biological species like everything in the wildlife, namely as a male and a female (in Hebrew “Zakhar” and “Nekeva”). Every person decides for himself what kind of relationship with the opposite sex he builds: the relationship between men and women or the relationship between male and female.

Both the Written Torah and the Oral Torah give a lot of examples signing the love between a man and a woman. And the Torah raises the prohibited sexual connections to the category of most serious sins before God and before men.

Also we can say about the Torah that, on the one hand, it is well known to people with a European mentality, on the other, the secrets of the Torah, like the Kabbalah, only recently slightly reveal for a wide range of people.

How to become an adult?

What makes a man an adult? Is it really just age? The sages of Talmud discuss this issue, speaking of Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. As is known, when Adam and Eve have eaten the fruit of this tree, they have “opened the eyes”, that is the “adult life» has started for them. A question is raised in “Midrash Rabba”1: what was this tree (the text of the Torah does not specify what species of trees as it relates) or, in other words, the knowledge of what makes a person an adult? Sages give four answers.

Answer I.Tree of Knowledge is wheat. It absolutely does not matter that the wheat is not a tree, this response is figurative. Its sense is that the child becomes an adult, when he can earn his bread himself. First-earned money give some freedom from the parents, even if they are earned through hard work. The sages compared this with the fact, as a dove, released by Noah after the Flood, returns with an olive branch in its beak. But the olives — they are bitter? Yes, and the dove like says to Noah by this, that the bread, bitter as the leaf of an olive tree, is better than sweet as honey, but from someone else's hands.

Answer II. Tree of Knowledge is a grape. Grapes is a symbol of wine, and wine is a symbol of pleasure. Wine, cigarettes, drugs: all this is “older pleasures” in the eyes of children. So, they try them. Try “to be like adults”. These words evoke the irony in an adult man, but please think of yourself in childhood! And really, when a man experiences feelings unknown before, he changes. Becomes an adult? Maybe. I want to add from myself that having fun is a science that needs to learn and teach. The parents help the child from the birth to learn to sit, stand, speak, etc. Why they don't learn how to have fun? For example, a child can learn to speak on street. But at home they correct him: what and when to say, and what is better not to say at all. In addition, a child learns the first words at home anyway. I think that the same should be with the pleasure.

Answer III. So, we are approaching the subject of the book. Tree of Knowledge is a fig. You remember that Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves after eating the forbidden fruit. By the way, do you remember, what exactly did they cover up with those leaves? Right, not the head (so that the sun will not bake). Thus, the relationship between sex and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is set. The sense is the following: sexual experience makes a person an adult. It is especially true for girls. Not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings, I'll say: when the girl has become pregnant, then she has become adult.

Digressing the subject not for long, I note that we are discussing the Midrash, that is figurative model, which can not be understood literally. It does not lead from the Midrash that it is possible to equate the Tree of Knowledge and the sex. It is exactly that mistake which the early Christians committed, when declaring the sex “Original Sin” of the humanity, which sin (unfortunately for the church fathers) accompanies the human throughout all his history.

Answer IV. Tree of Knowledge is a etrog. The etrog is a tree of the family of citrus, the wood and the fruits of which are equally edible. The fruits symbolize the goal, the wood — a tool. If I understand the words of the sages correctly, the idea sounds so: one of signs of maturation is an ability not only to specify the dream, but also to offer a real plan for its implementation. Really, even in kindergarten a child can say “I want to become an astronaut”, but much later they begin to train and learn to make the dream a reality.

It is important to note that here is not a dispute of four positions, but four looks at the one phenomenon. I emphasize the word “one”. The process of maturation involves all four components.

And then all is individual: someone matures in 13 years, someone in 30, and someone did not mature at all.

Hormones and fantasy

Most boys start puberty in 12–14 years and end in 18–20 years. As a result of this process, the genitals more intensively produce sperm and male hormones, which leads to a change in the whole chemistry of the body. Sex hormones stimulate the work of hypophysis, and that, in turn, increases the activity of other endocrine glands. The whole body begins to develop more intensively. A good example is the muscle mass. The mass of skeletal muscles of teenagers is increased by 12% in two or three years, which is essentially higher than the rate of muscle growth in previous years.

Changes during puberty affect not only the physiology, but also the psyche of a teenager. Recent scientific studies have shown that sex hormones affect the cell structure of the brain. Hormones also begin to affect the thinking. The boy catches scenes from movies, pictures from magazines, the sayings of “knowing life” men — all that contains intimate details of communicating with women. This information is not simply accumulated, it becomes a food for fantasy, for the imaginary erotic scenes where the boy plays the main male role himself. These fantasies become more and more. By the way, young men, who play sports or visit different study groups, are less focused on the sex subject, because they have less idle power and free time.

Imagination requires new and new food, so the search activity of eyes is rising. Eyes of a youth eagerly caught the contours of a female figure, even if this woman is merely walking down the street or bussing near. About this look they saying: “He undresses her by eyes”. There are even a number of anecdotes on this subject. For example, a girl comes to such a youth herself and says: “And now please dress me by the same way” or: “After all, that was between us now, you're just obliged to marry me”.

Often at this age, especially for the sensual natures, the night involuntary ejaculation happens. “Night” because it happens during the night sleep; ”involuntary” because, in the opinion of many, the man does not control himself while sleeping. In fact, the ejaculation does not occur without the participation of higher nervous activity. The whole process looks like this: sex hormones reaches the brain in the bloodstream, there they like to make an order for dreams with sexual content, the arousal grows, and the brain gives the command to “open the valve” at some moment.

Is it good or bad? Different opinions take place among the people. One of them can be reduced to the following anecdote:

Doctor: “Tell me, do you worry about erotic dreams?”
Patient: “Well, but why ‘worry’?”

Many agree with the modern medical school, not considering the night involuntary ejaculation a pathology. Jewish Law strongly condemns the unavailing ejaculation, even if it occurred spontaneously, and holds the man responsible for insufficient control over himself. In “Kitzur Shulchan Aruch” a whole chapter (Ch. 151) is devoted to preventing unnecessary ejaculation and how to compensate its consequences. Here's how is it substantiated: “The sperm is the energy of the body and the light of the eyes. When too much is ejected, the body is destroyed and his life is lost” (Ch. 150:17). The chapter ends with the following words: “The wisest of the doctors said, One out of a thousand die out of all ill people, and that a thousand is from too much sex. Therefore a person should be careful.”

Note the phrase “the power of body”. Despite the fact that the modern medicine does not use this concept, it's clear to all that, for example, the body loses its vitality with the loss of blood. Intravenous infusion of other liquid never compensates for blood loss one hundred percent. And the reason is not a chemical composition here, but namely the vital energy. (The words “vitality” and “vital energy” are often used as synonyms. To satisfy a more captious reader I'll say: the thing, which is popularly called “the energy of the human body”, better fits the description of the physical concept of “force field”. The term “energy” is used here to simplify the perception of the reader.)

The sages of the East believed that one drop of semen is equivalent, by the vital energy, to hundred drops of blood. I, unfortunately, have no instrument to measure the amount of energy in different liquids, but please think over the fact: one portion of sperm — a few milliliters! — contains about 200 million spermatozoa. Each from them is charged with a reserve of energy, enough to be able to reach an ovule inside the female body, to impregnate it and to initiate the life of another human. Imagine the path of a spermatozoon and mentally multiply it by 200 million! It is a colossal energy, and it is within the body of a man. The organism spends this energy while each ejaculation, and spends for nothing, if there is no purpose to conceive a child. Moreover, after each sperm emission the body automatically produces a new portion. Intensive collection of vitamins, minerals, microelements, hormones, proteins, ferment and other vital matters, and, most importantly, of the energy from the entire body, begins for its production. And it is precisely those things which are so necessary for growing organism.

Er, Onan and onanism

Erotic and onanism. Where did these concepts originate? Many believe that “erotica” word is linked with the name of the Greek god of love Eros, and onanism is named after the biblical Onan. I think that the version, according to which both words have their roots in the Bible, is more probable. Really, if you think about it, the erotica has not become a synonymous with the love, but the story of Er gives us a key to deep understanding of this word.

Let's try to understand the words of the Torah: “And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him. And Judah said unto Onan, ‘Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother’. And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also.” (Genesis 38:6–10).

From the text it is clear that Onan spilled seed in vain. But what was wrong in the Er's behaviour? Rashi gives the comment, according to which in the sentence “...He slew him also” the word “also” means: for the same, for which he Er was slain, Onan was slain. So, Er spilled seed on the ground too. Then what's the difference between erotica and onanism? As the inducements. It's said about Onan that his goal was to avoid pregnancy of Tamar, and if he could, he generally did not get involved with her. Likewise “the descendants of Onan” try to have smaller affairs with the living women (they save time, money, nerves) and, therefore, solve their physiological problems “by hand”. Er also did not want Tamar to become pregnant, but his motives were different: he didn't want Tamar to conceive and, as a result, her beauty to fade (treatise Yevamos 34b). In other words, for Er the aesthetic pleasure from a woman was of the foreground, that is, he loved to watch! It is clear, that when a man watches, and a woman slightly exposes her body, a fantasy of the man brings him to such an arousal, that it will not be over by itself. As a result, seed will be spilled in vain again. Those, who claim that their goal is aesthetic pleasure only, are deceiving themselves. This is similar to how a person looks into the process of cooking food, inflaming his appetite, and at the same time claims that is not going to eat.

The habit of erotic fantasies and sensation, having become habitual to an onanist, will necessarily lead to difficulties while constructing a harmonious relationship with the real life's companion. But the main problem here is just the waste of semen in vain. It is interesting to watch, how not only Jewish but also Taoist sources (which have become available to European and American non-Jewish reader before the Jewish religious texts, despite the fact that Jews always lived in the neighborhood) do not only speak the same thing, but almost in same words. Judge for yourselves.

“With frequent ejaculation of sperm vitality ultimately plummets. The big spender loses stamina, his vision begins to weaken, hair tumbles from his skull: he grows old before his time. At first he will not feel drained, but after years of abuse his capacities will begin to drop alarmingly. When the hormonal secretions of the sexual glands are regularly leached out, the body is sapped at its root” (Mantak Chia, “Taoist Secrets of Love”).

And Jewish text says: “The sperm is the energy of the body and the light of the eyes. When too much is ejected, the body is destroyed and his life is lost. Any one who is addicted to having sex, old age comes upon him. His power fades, his eyes darken, and a bad smell comes from his mouth. The hair on his head and his eyebrows, and his eyelashes drop out... Many other troubles apart from these come upon him” (“Kitzur Shulchan Aruch”, 150:17).

The source of true knowledge is one: all knowledges come from God. But the ways of obtaining such knowledges are different: the Jewish wisdom is based on divine revelation, and the east one — on the studying the world, created by God. Here is another parallel: Mantak Chia uses “spender” word, and the author of “Kitzur Shulchan Aruch” writes that the man, who spills out the seed in vain, grows poorer (151:1). This, at first glance, contradicts the thoughts of the onanist, because it seems to him that he saves on women. Saving money, he does not save their seed at all. What's next? The attitude to his body gradually begins to be projected onto other areas of life, including the relation to money. There is a growing subconscious desire to spend money, and the saving mode, sooner or later, starts to fail. If a man thinks, “There are no reasons to regret for seed: I have this kind enough”, then as a result he loses both health and money.

What does it mean to “be a man”?

A man is not one who acknowledges high levels of male hormones, but one who knows how to control them. Not able to control himself is called “male”, as well as individuals of similar sex in other species of living beings. Men are not born, males are born. It is possible to become a man only as a result of self-education and working on oneself. There are someones who live all life as a male, never becoming a man. In this chapter we shall learn to work on ourselves.

The offered approach is multilevel. It will help youth to cope with certain problems, which, unfortunately, do not let go of many ones even after the wedding. For this reason, our advices will be helpful to married people also.

Examples of the practical benefits of the controlling ejaculation:

  1. Saving the life power, that allows proper physical, mental and intellectual development.
  2. Saving the health for all years of life, given by God.
  3. A way to protect yourself from the temptation to go for a sex crime or for lechery.
  4. A way to prepare yourself for the perfect relationship with your wife: an ability of the man to control himself will help women to enjoy intimacy with him.

Generic prevention of unnecessary2 ejaculation

1. Working with the thoughts. (It's clear that anyone can pick up logical arguments, closest to him. I give only an approximate line of thought.) Each portion of the seed, coming out, is a colossal loss of vital substances and trace elements, and most importantly is a huge energy loss. A man, who turns off the lights when going to sleep, saves electric energy. Why? Because he pays for it! A man, who spends a seed in vain, forgets that he had to earn money to buy and cook food for the production of this seed. And then the whole body is involved into digesting the food, assimilating it, the blood carries the split elements to all cells of the organism, the cells produce energy — that energy, a part of which goes to the production of seed. How a man, saving electric energy, can squander the vital energy of his own body, which cost him much more? The energy, often loss of which leads to early aging of the organism and to early death? The sages of Israel, carefully watched their seed, lived long and enjoyed good health and bright intellect for many years not by chance.

2. Working with the fantasies. As mentioned above, after the puberty sex hormones begin to flow into the blood. They are spread throughout the body by bloodstream and, in particular, reach the brain. The brain begins to produce sexual fantasies under the influence of sex hormones. But fantasies need a “living material” — and the eyes are looking for it in the surrounding space. Further, these fantasies push people to action on their implementation (which is, in most cases, either lechery or crime on the sex base), or to ejaculation in vain for temporary — just temporary! — quieting these fantasies. The Torah warns about this in the commandment about tzitzit, saying: “...and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring.” First the Torah says “heart”: what is at heart, i.e. desires and fantasies, and then “eyes”: i.e. the searching an object in the outside world, which can satisfy these dreams. It is also said about the control of the imagination in the tenth saying sounded at the foot of Sinai: “thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife”. This means that it is barred to represent yourself in the arms of another man's wife.

There are two basic ways to work with your own imagination: switching on the mind and the directed continuation of imaginary play.

I'll give some examples of switching to the mind. Here's an example from the Torah: “And it (the blue thread) shall be unto you for a fringe (tzitzit), that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring.” Here's how it works: tzitzits must be at four edges of the man's clothes as a symbol of the four cardinal points. Wherever a man looks, a tzitzit must catch his eye that will divert his thoughts towards God's commandments and will distract from the empty dreams. Another method of switching is suggested by the Jewish sages: seeing a beautiful woman, to bless God who created it. Pronouncing sentence beginning with the words: “Blessed are You, God...” as it turns on awareness of the man of the Creator's presence. And it leads to the next logical analysis: “There is God, and he forbids it, but allows another. In terms of the total Correction of the World, if what I've now imagined up will realize, is it good or bad?” Another method of switching is described in the book “Torat ha-Sehel” We must ask ourselves: “And what is beautiful in her? What exactly excited me in her? And what is true beauty?” The essence of the technique is simple: when you start to “disassemble something to spare parts”, the fragrance of charm goes away.

The second way of working with the imagination is a directed continuation of the fantasy. Erotic dreams usually end in an imaginary sex act in which “he got all he wanted”. In the real life, sustained efforts by both spouses are necessary to achieve harmony in the sexual sphere. No one invest the soul into casual relationships, and so the full satisfaction will not be got in any case. Now you need only to replace “a perfect act” in your imagination with a picture of coming dissatisfaction. Moreover, the sex act finishs all in such fantasies, but in the life it is not so. Real people are remaining, the continuing communications with which was not included in the plans. New problems are appearing. Note that most rapists were not going to kill their future victims, they did it out of fear of punishment for already committed rape... Thus, while controlling your imagination, you can imagine not only received less pleasure, but also the problems that then there is the danger to meet.

Working with the imagination is very difficult for anyone, but it is the most important, and its results are felt very quickly. Chasidism teaches that one who wins every battle with his imagination and therefore does not commit hasty acts is worthy to be called a good man, but one who managed to win the whole war is called righteous.

3. Working with the energy of the body. During the sexual arousal, large amount of energy is accumulated at the underbelly and is longing out through the penis. At this moment it is the best, closing the eyes for convenience, to imagine the underbelly as the bottom of a waterproof vessel, and to begin to pull the energy from the bottom of this vessel through the waist and the back up to the head. At first, the sensations of pulling energy up seem more imaginary than real. But after some time (note that anyone rarely obtains it at the first time) the man will feel strong pressure in the skull. Feeling the pressure means that the energy has reached the head. This sensation is unpleasant (head seems to be brimmed), and long staying in this state is dangerous, especially for people with high fragility of blood vessels. The energy should be immediately “dumped” from the head downward along the front line. Two central stations and two intermediate ones can be marked out in this way of the energy. The central ones are the heart and the underbelly in front, the intermediate ones are the throat and the navel. The central stations differ from the intermediate ones by an ability to hold more energy and to derive it from the body. Directing the energy downward, you can help yourself by hands firstly, like if brushing it on the ground. You should not be afraid of that the discomfort in the head is not ceased immediately; it will take a few minutes. Then a peculiar feeling in area of the solar plexus will appear: like the light from the sun, the energy will flow from it in all directions, there will be feeling of inner power. After this, the energy can be sent down to the small pelvic area. And once again feeling at the underbelly will be similar to feeling of sexual drive, but not as strong as at the first. If you will drive the energy up and down again, the feeling will become even weaker, and the whole body will get energy supply. For young men, whose wedding is not soon, I recommend lowering the energy down and driving it around the circle: upwards along the back line, downwards along the front line. It is good not only for the growing organism and developing personality, but also for the future harmony with the wife, because she will be involved in this circle of movement of the energy (we'll talk about this below for details). For young men, preparing for marriage, it is better to accumulate energy in area of the heart, because the man “glues” to his wife just by the heart (this will be below also).

4. Physical exercises. At the time of puberty, the muscle tone of the reproductive system of a youth is the highest for a lifetime without any extra efforts on his part. But it will be so relatively not long. Soon enough, the muscles will begin to weaken, the forces — to go away. The offered exercises are very simple. Their value is insensible at the young age, its awareness comes while growing older and aging. These exercises will help you:
a) learning how to manage the individual muscles that will be useful for future intimate life;
b) saving a man's strength for a long time.

Exercise 1. Do not urinate in a sitting position, even during the excretion of faeces. This exercise will help to control urethral sphincter separately.

Exercise 2. In standing or lying position, move the buttocks to the sides with the hands. Return the buttocks to the starting position by effort of buttocks, with resisting by hands (10–20 times).

Exercise 3. “Scissors”. Lie on your back. Lift the legs, without bending the knees, at 30–45° from the ground. Maximally move the legs to the sides, and then cross them in the air (15–20 times). Exercises 2 and 3 help to strengthen pelvic floor muscles.

Exercise 4. Standing position, feet shoulder width apart. On the inhalation, pull the eggs as possible upwards; on the exhalation, relax the muscles. Perform not more than 5 times. This exercise strengthens the scrotum diaphragm and is the prevention of inguinal hernia. In addition, hanging scrotum is a sign of senility and sexual weakness, but a strong and tucked up to the body one is a sign of youth and male power.

These exercises are good for men of any age, but the sooner they start practicing, the greater the effect can be expected.

Prevention of night involuntary ejaculation

  1. Do not eat a lot before going to sleep and do not eat fatty foods.
  2. Lying in bed, think of something good, not associated with sex.
  3. Falling asleep, set yourself the task of stopping erotic dreams.
  4. If you cannot stop an erotic scene of a dream and urge an erection have begun already, you need to quickly stand up on the floor, clench the muscles of the pelvic floor and thighs, and to intensively pull the energy through the backbone to the head, until the complete cessation of urges.
  5. If you cannot relax and stop the erection, you should apply the finger pressure: strongly press with fingers at the point midway between the scrotum and the anus. Thus a place, where the spermaduct connects to the urethra, is pressed, which prevents semen to go out. Let's suppose the finger pressure has prevented an ejaculation, but a part of the energy has still gone out, and the remaining part is “seething” at the underbelly. Then you need to pull the energy up to the head again.

The above technique is extremely useful: you just need to begin working on yourself.

About the love

Judaism is a religion of joy.
R. Hirsch

Love is one of the major (if not the most major) aspects of the life of any person. Whoever says that does not need love is just a hypocrite. The opposite extreme is the view that true love can be to God only, and the love between a man and a woman is, at best, a parody, a surrogate of true love, and is needless in general. Our inner sense of protest often alienates us not only from the people, speaking so, but also from the religion in whole, because we usually consider these people as the bearers of God's truths.

Certainly, the love to God takes center place in the Jewish worldview. Not in any way wishing to belittle the significance of this love, let's try to understand the place of the love between a man and a woman in Judaism.

So, at the very beginning, the Torah says that God has created Man. The Oral Torah says about the last, that he was the most perfect person, and his soul contained souls of all humanity descended from him. Let's imagine for a moment the greatness and perfection of the First Man, who lived in love and harmony with his Creator and all other His creatures. Despite all this, it's written in the Torah: “...And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone”. “How so?”, we'll object. “With the Man, there is God, loving him and beloved by him. Is it not enough?” But the fact of the matter is that these words are said not by the man, but by God! That is, God himself says that a man, besides the love of LORD, needs also the love of a woman, and a woman — the love of a man.

Another fact, confirming the high value of love between a man and woman in Judaism, is “Song of Songs”, written by King Solomon. The Jewish sages say that King Solomon sings the love between God and his nation in the “Song of Songs”, clothing it in a form of feelings of a man to his beloved. King Solomon uses this analogy not by chance. Namely the love between a man and a woman was an example, closest in its inner essence and pure, to describe the love between God and a person. If someone does not have enough intelligence to understand this truth, he can rely on King Solomon, who is considered to be the wisest of living ones on earth.

Jewish tradition distinguishes two kinds of love: passionate and growing. The passionate one begins immediately from the maximum heat of emotions and continues on the same level, the growing one takes a low start and gradually grows. Both types of love are found in the life history of the forefather Yaakov. The love of Yaakov and Rachel is a love at first sight until the last breath. Such a feeling does not depend neither on appearance, nor on the character of the object of love, and even inability to procreation cannot damage it (Rachel was not been able to get pregnant for a long time). The love of Yaakov and Leah is a partnership, which becomes stronger depending on the good that two do for each other. To start such a relationship, only the absence of antipathy towards the partner is required (even the sympathy is not needed), and also the desire to do him good. A love of the kind of the love of Yaakov and Leah grows gradually, becoming stronger with the appearance of joint children and the growth of efforts put into each other. Attitudes towards children is revealing too: Yaakov loves Yosef and Ben-Yamin, because Rachel presented them to him, and loves Leia for those children that she had presented to him. In spite of the fact that the passionate love looks much more attractive, the Torah shows us its short life: it either is interrupted with death (as in a case of the foremother Rachel), or is eventually transformed into a love of the second kind. Note also, that she is the foremother Leah who is buried in Machpelah cave in Hebron together with the forefather Yaakov.

Two kinds of love can be figuratively compared with two kinds of glue: slowly gluing and instantly grasping. The result is same. But there are differences: when using a slowly gluing one, a man has enough time to accurately position the glued items, while instantly grasping one leaves no room for error. It's interesting that the Torah also uses this comparison: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave (lit.: ‘glue himself’) unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). The word “dvekut” (the name of the process, formed from the root “devek”: “glue”) is used in the Jewish tradition both to describe the highest form of approachment of a man with God and to describe the relationship between husband and wife.

While discussing this subject it's impossible not to recall the commandment of the Torah: “...but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”. The famous Jewish sage of I–II cent., Rabbi Akiva said: “It is a great principle of the Torah”, and: “Achieving this level is possible only in the relationship [of the husband] with the wife.” As I understand, Rabbi Akiva keeps in mind that the Torah requires us to build a relationship with God and all his creatures, especially with the spouse, on the basis of love. It is also interesting a saying of another wise man, Ben Azay, about this commandment: “It is the history (lit.: ‘genealogy’) of the humanity”. Think over, how it's a great idea! Any history textbook is full of descriptions of wars, revolutions, epidemics, earthquakes, — in short, tragedies. We are accustomed to thinking of history in that way. Ben Azay offers a qualitatively different view: the history of the humanity is the history of love. More precisely, the history, during which the mankind learns to love. This is similar to the growth and maturation of a child: first, he thinks about himself only (how to satisfy their needs and get something from the others), but while his growing older he starts to think about other people, their needs and feelings. A person learns to give, a person learns to love. Kabbalah says that the [spiritual] root of “love” term is in the sefira of Chesed (the desire to do good to another). In the same way, the humanity as a whole gradually learns to love, until comes to the general harmony. And here, again referring to the words of Rabbi Akiva, we'll say that we must begin with the family.

Of course, both love and hatred occur in life. It depends only on the person, on what he calls attention and what he wants to learn.

Part II. Happy husband

The delight: luxury or necessity?

People treat the delight differently. There are three main approaches:

  1. Delight is a benefit, which should be achieved.
  2. Delight is an evil, from which should abstain.
  3. The approach of the Torah.

Let's consider all three approaches in more detail.

I. Man is so made that unconsciously has a longing for delights. A child, tasted sweet for the first time in his life, begins to demand it again and again. Got older, he learns more delights and longs to them — and, get one, immediately begins to strive to the next. Life is transformed into a continuous pursuit of delights in the result. Here is a quotation from Omar Khayyam3, glorifying this lifestyle:

I will enjoy, for as long as I live,
the tender face of a woman and the green grass.
I drank wine, I drink wine and, probably,
I will drink wine to my last minute.4

And here's another:

In this life, inebriation is best,
a tender houri's song is best,
ebullience of free thought is best,
forgetfulness of all prohibitions is best.4

Here the author mentions some “prohibitions”. It turns out that the continuous getting delights contradicts social norms. In addition there are also natural difficulties: there is no money, there is no desire of those people on whom it depends, etc. What should do in this situation: to go on a crime or to go to work? In any case, you have to pay for the delights, either before or after. There is an option: to take no action, just sit back and hope that one day the delight will come to hand itself. Many people live so all their life. Most of them die with a feeling that they have not seen delights of life at all; a small percentage of these people are driven on a crime due to a sense of lack of delights. It's a vicious circle. “Pleasure is a boon, when it does not cause repentance” (Antisthenes). And here is another of his sayings: “One ought to seek pleasures that follow toils, not precede them.” This approach seems most prudent: it does not prejudice the interests of others, as in a case of a crime, and at the same time active steps are taking, unlike the passsive waiting. But let's look more closely. The phrase “should aspire delights” means that the acquisition of delights is the goal of life. How will be the life of a man with such a worldview? Either he will be lucky, and his works will lead to the realization of the dream (but then what to aspire further?), or he will grow old with feeling that he was lacking delights in his life, or he will go to a crime. The circle is closed again.

Awareness of all this pushed some people to choose the second approach. Here is a saying of Socrates: “What person, when he is a slave to pleasures, would not pervert his body and soul?”

II. Delight is evil. “Nature did not give anything more dangerous and perilous to people than sensual pleasures. They cause betrayal of one's homeland, overthrow of state authority, secret dealings with enemies. There isn't a single crime, a single bad deed, in which the passion for pleasure would not involve one: indeed, dishonest acts, adultery and suchlike abominations are caused by nothing else but the bait of pleasure” (Archytas). And Aristotle comes to the following conclusion: “More than anything else, one should eschew pleasure and whatever brings it.” A person with such an approach to life is much more resistant to crime. But does this path lead to happiness? Such a person does not listen to the needs of his body and soul but tries to suppress them by the mind. He is deprived of delights, trying to convince himself that does not feel needs of them. His life goes in continuous struggle with himself. It is not easy to live near such a person, because he not only refuses himself to delight, but also tries to impose to his near ones an idea of their immorality. Such a person cannot be happy for two reasons:
1) its purpose is not positive;
2) happiness is itself a state of soul, but not an intellectual aim.

In the form of jokes I'll give another Omar Khayyam's quatrain:

I asked the wisest of men: “What did you get
from your manuscripts?” The wisest man replied:
“Happy is he who is far from bookish wisdom
at night, in the arms of a tender beauty.”4

Well, now seriously: is it possible that God has created delight (God has created everything, so, delight too) with the only purpose to prohibit a person to get it? The answer: no. It can be seen from the Torah commandment about Nazir (a person who voluntarily accepted additional restrictions in order to increase his level of spirituality). After a period of separation, he had to bring in the Temple two sacrifices to God: the burnt offering and the sacrifice for sin. The question is: what kind of sin in question, if the man tried to get closer to God? The Talmud answers: the sin in this case is receiving less delight.

So, deliberate objection to having delights is also not ideal neither in people's eyes (the majority of humanity), nor in the eyes of God (of course, it is a figurative expression, not literal).

III. The approach of the Torah sounds: delight is a necessary concomitant factor in the way to the goal. I accentuate: on the one hand, it is necessary, on the other, only a “concomitant... in the way to the goal”, not an end in itself. The goal must always be higher and greater than just having delight. This is a qualitative difference from the approach I. For clarity, let's consider this for sexual delight. It's not a secret for anyone that it is not necessary to create a family for getting delight of this kind. Really, why needs a family, if sexual delight is an end in itself? As someone joke, “the family costs more”. In this approach to life, the delight itself can become simple satisfaction of physiological needs. Torah sets the highest goal before a person: achieving perfection. And you cannot do it alone. At the beginning the Torah says that God created a person, and then divided it into a man and a woman. From this we can conclude that the “person” as a functional unit of the universe is just a couple, not an individual man and woman. Only Dvekut of man and women makes it possible further progress on the way to perfection. It is clear that Dvekut includes a lot of factors such as emotional, energy, economic community, the desire to have children together, etc. This whole set simply irrelevant in relationships without the intention of creating a family, as well as in relationships outside the family. Now, about intimacy. Harmony in this sphere is one of the most important factors of approach of husband and wife. The shared delight from sex strengthen the family. The feeling of unity, obtained with it, is reflected in other areas of family life and contributes to achieving family happiness. Thus, happy family is a goal, and sexual delight is a necessary concomitant factor. With this approach, sexual delight itself is filled with much higher sense than the simple satisfaction of physiological needs. Voltaire said on this and not only on this: “The true delights are impossible without true needs.” And these are the words of Rabbi Yehuda Halevi, spoken long before Voltaire: “Whoever is unable to pursue such a course, consider not his pleasure a human pleasure, but a brutish one” (Kuzari, 3:17).

At the same example, we'll show advantages of the approach of the Torah to the delight compared with the approach of “delight is evil”. If uncontrollable desire for sex lead someone to the lechery, it's not necessary to conclude from this, that the desire for the wife is evil too. Such an attitude will inevitably lead to increasing distance between the spouses. Despite the fact that such a family can look “very decent” outwardly, here is no a question about any Dvekute. The Jewish approach offers such a person, rather than spend his life in the struggle with his animality, to use it — it's clear, with carefully monitoring — in the way of service of God. Happy family is a necessary foundation for person's spiritual growth. The forefathers (read: the founders) of the Jewish nation give us examples confirming this rule: King David (the founder of the house, from which the Saviour of all humanity will be descended), Rabbi Akiva (the largest part of the Oral Torah, whichconnects us with the Sinai Revelation, came to us through the disciples of Rabbi Akiva), and many other great people who achieved their spiritual heights, being happy in marriage.

This conversation can be continued further, but I think it's a time to turn to the most frequently encountered problems on the road to the family happiness and finding ways to solve them.

“What could he need?”

Do you remember the proverb: “Takes two to tango?” I think you know that the tango is a pair dance. This phrase has become proverbial by the word “two”: successful dance needs the efforts of both. Now let's replace the word “tango” with the word “family”. This and the following chapters are addressed to the wifes, because the sharing happiness depends largely on their family wisdom.

The very title of the chapter hints that here we will go on men's marital infidelities. In this situation, public opinion is traditionally condemning the husband-a-traitor and is sorry to the wife, “innocent victim”. I'm not going to justify the husband, but if “takes two to family”, then we must consider the role of the wife in such a story. I am sure that most of the men's infidelities can be prevented by intelligent actions of the wife. To begin with, I would like to remember the saying of Pythagoras: “Prudent wife! If you want your husband to spend time with you, take care that he should not find such pleasurable sensations and tenderness in any other place.” No need to be Pythagoras to understand a simple truth: the wife should attend to her husband. So, the attention of the wife (at least a part of it) should be aimed directly at her husband. An incorrect thought did a bad turn to many women: “Really he does not understand that I'm busy with home and children? And really is it done not for him?” Certainly all this is very important. Every effort, spent on the family, is extremely valuable, but do not forget where all this began — the time when there was no home, no children yet, and all attention was directed entirely at one another. It was a time of romance. A time when both were trying to please each other. The girl was trying to look beautiful in the eyes of the fiancé... Years passed. Now there is a family “as all”. Continual cares. The wife “gives herself in the proper form” only when going to work or “appearing in society”. At home she can relax, be yourself, “my husband will recognize me!” Thinking of romance “is somewhat not serious”. And in such a “problem-free” family “a bolt from the blue” happens. But whether the sky was blue? Of course, there will be readers-women who will say: “What do you want? The life has changed. These days a woman learns and works and does not just sit at home. Husbands must accept this!” Ok, husbands will accept this. But then wives also should not be surprised if their husband “goes off the rails”. And if it happens, do not pretend to be an innocent victim and engage in self-consolation: “so, he didn't love” or “so, a frivolous man occurred”, or “well then, no luck”. Perhaps it sounds a bit cruel, but our goal is not to accuse or justify someone. Our goal is to prevent a situation in which they accuse and justify. If a strong family is also important for a woman, besides learning, working, home, children and anything else, then it's also necessary to allocate at least a modicum of time and efforts for this. In the last chapter we already discussed, that the delight of communicating spouses (here not talking about sexual delight only) is a necessary factor in maintaining a strong family. In other words, the family either may be happy, or the danger of divorce will hang over it always. Even those families, who have borne hardships, are happy yet, if the husband wants to please his wife, and the wife — to please her husband.

It is a good thing to take seriously the reasonings above, because they are based not on the worldly logic, but on the divine revelation. The Torah describes how the Jews stop near the borders of Moab and Midian to the end a 40-year wandering in the desert. Midian women lure Jewish men into them. The fee for a service is worship of an image. It might seem cheap to someone. A part of the Jewish men were ready to go for it “out of courtesy”, someone “tried” and returned to the wife, to someone a woman was taste, but an idol was not, and to someone both were taste. There were 24,000 of most ardent ones, and all they quickly die from the beginning epidemic 5. Although God punished them for their idolatry, it's clear that not it was the aim of men...

This story does not fit in with the image of a good family man, which has been secured for the Jewish husbands among the peoples of the Great Dispersion. This problem is further exacerbatedby the fact that we are talking about a generation of Jews, who walked through the desert for 40 years on the Word of God, about people who ate manna every day! To understand the reasons of the fact of such a mass lechery of Jewish men in the Sinai desert, we should remember another story from the Torah, the story of copper mirrors (see Rashi's commentary on Exodus 38:8). It began when the Jews were slaves in Egypt. Slave work took away almost all the physical forces. Wife attracted the attention of her husband only a short time after the wedding. How to provide the continuation of the family in such a situation? Jewish women, having in their arsenal no cosmetic products, available to the Egyptians, devised their “woman tricks”: they catched a fish in the Nile and brought something delicious to their husbands for a dinner. (Note that slaves in Egypt were fed, but something brought by the wife is another matter!) Then they sat side by side with the husband and peered together in a copper mirror: it was the beginning of the love games... Thus Jewish women became pregnant and gave birth to children. Became pregnant during the dinner break, because by evening the husband were no forces longer! Now we do not remember all their little tricks, but the results were impressive: the Jewish families were most strong, and the birth rate was very high.

With the escape from Egypt the situation has changed cardinally. The men, no longer employed in slave labor, gained much forces, and the attention to the wives has increased dramatically. Wife breathed freely. They did not more have to invent ways to please their husbands, they were already surrounded by their attention. Copper mirrors became not needed, moreover, they reminded of the terrible life in slavery. And Jewish women gave their copper mirrors to build the Portable Temple in gratitude to God for what He made easier their life so much. For a while everything was quiet, but one day young Midian girls occurred...

I think the conclusion is clear for all. And a simple answer is suggested itself to the question, submitted in the title: “He needs attention!”

“I feel nothing!”

While relations are good, the husband doesn't dare to say such a thing to his wife. The wife thinks: “He've come off — so, he is happy”. The husband thinks: “Is it really her fault? Everything is stretched out with age there, the vagina cannot become so narrow and resilient after childbirth, as it was before. This cannot be corrected. And if so, why to tell her about this? Why to offend her?” Thus, false modesty and false opinion, that there is nothing to do with it, create a negative tension in a lot of even problem-free families. And some men are incited by this situation to find young, nullipara, thin ones, hoping to get the desired delight. Someone goes further, and so the demand for child prostitution appears. Someone drops even lower, and he already takes an interest not only in girls, but also in boys. Destinies are broken so. This goes on for millennia. The struggle against such phenomena by police measures just raises prices of the services on the black market. And, anyway, struggling againts only the supply is ineffective: something must be done with the demand. Raising the level of public morality is, of course, a necessary thing. (The Torah offers an interesting educational method. It says: “Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore” (Leviticus 19:29). It is incredible that there will be a man, ready to send his own daughter to lechery! Many of those, who don't care if they have lechery with some girl, will shudder to think that this can be done with their child. The Torah appeals namely to such ones to awaken in them the pity for someone else's daughter, — because their own one could be in her place! Such an approach can itself stop many people.) But you have to admit thatthe problem cannot be resolved by the moral only. It's like struggling with external symptoms of an illness, while ignoring the cause. And it is well-known that the best treatment is the prevention. And then we're back into the family.

I would not talk about the problem, not knowing how to solve it. Meanwhile, the solution is very simple: strengthening the pelvic floor muscles of women. The tonus of pelvic floor muscles is very high in childhood and youth. It can be seen from the intensity of the urine jet of girles. Partly because of the natural aging processes, which usually begin earlier than generally thought, partly because of improper relationship to intimacy (it's necessary to teach to proper ones!), and also due to childbirth, certain muscles lose their tone. It is crucially important for intimacy, especially for a man. There is a lot of nerve endings at the head of the penis. Information, sent from them to the brain, is one of the most important links in the physiological process of the sexual intercourse (over-physiological phenomena will be discussed later). Ejaculation (sperm emission) can occur without these sensations, for example, due to strong common arousal of a man (say, due to imaginations) or vibrations from a strong rhythmic collisions with the pubic bones during the coitus. Ejaculation has occurred, — the husband “calmed down”, but the organism feels that it was deceived. All these nerve endings are needed for something. aren't they?! There has to be tough in the woman in order that the man felt something. If everything is soft there, the man just will not feel contact. A soft one feel contact with a hard, and a hard one does not feel (at least as much) contact with a soft.

The keenness of the physical sensations of the man during intimacy affects, in the end, the whole complex of relations between the husband and the wife. A conflict on that ground can arise not only after many years of family life, but immediately after the wedding. The Torah considers that situation: “If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her...” (Deuteronomy 22:13) If a man has married a girl, so he liked her? What was a reason that a husband hated his wife after the wedding night? The Torah puts the fact, that he hated her, in direct dependence on the fact that he goes in unto her. Is it necessary to explain something else?

I recommend the following exercises.

Exercise 1. “Scissors”. Lie on your back on a hard flat surface. Lift the legs, without bending the knees, at 30–45° from the ground. Maximally move the legs to the sides, and then cross them in the air 15–20 times.

Exercise 2. In the position, lying on stomach, move the buttocks to the sides with the hands. Return the buttocks to the starting position by effort of buttocks, with resisting by hands (10–20 times).

These exercises are simple, effective and accessible to all. Their purpose is to strengthen the muscles of the underbelly, which is important both for the saving woman's health and for strengthening relations with her husband. These exercises are also recommended for girls before marriage.

For young women, who will consider the exercises above to be not enough, we can recommend the exercise with a stone egg, which, according to a legend, was learned by wives of the emperors of China.

Between the body and the soul

By what criteria an individual in society is assessed? Of course, this much depends on the society itself. Well, nevertheless? Somewhere the beauty is most important, in other places they look at intelligence and business acumen. Curiously enough that all this is of only secondary importance in family relationships. An example of this is a lot of happy couples, where spouses do not fit together in the opinion of others. Attempts to bring up plain speaking by a question: “What did you found in her (him)?” are usually suppressed by an answer: “I feel good with her (him)!” Such an answer, as a rule, does not satisfy an asking one, causing suspicion about a lack of sincerity of the interlocutor. But it becomes clear that the person is really nothing to add. The secret of his happiness lies outside of “objective values”. It is at the level of sensations, at the level of a combination of emotional waves. But a third one cannot always feel these things, even if he is in the same room.

One of the most popular kabbalistic models (see, for example, “Nefesh HaChaim”), considering the human, distinguishes three levels:
– Sehel (Intelligence);
– Regesh (Feelings);
– Guf (Body).
So, in this chapter we'll be talking exactly about Regesh. If we try to give a enhanced interpretation for this word, I would formulate it this way: emotionally-energy state.

A woman, familiar to me, worked at one time with girls who went on shiduh (acquaintance with the purpose of marriage). For one or two meetings, sitting in cafes and strolling along a street, it's necessary to decide whether he or she is a person who is to connect your life forever. At my request, the friend interviewed girls after such meetings. At first, she naturally asked: “He or not?” The first question was followed by the second: “Why?” They answered the first question immediately and thought over the second one. But I was amazed most of all at answers to the second question: the reasons, it seemed, were quite unserious. I'll cite a few examples. Thus, one girl replied: “He was looking away continuously”, the other said: “He always hold his hands in the pockets”, the third: “He was coughing too loudly”. Do these things have really become decisive? No. Obviously, the answer to the first question arose from what a girl felt in presence of a young man. The second question was even not raised by her before herself, and it caught her unawares. And therefore the answers were not so impressive. The conclusion is clear: when choosing a life partner, feelings are more important than specific details.

The sages deduce from the Torah logically, that there are three ways to enter into marriage: Kesef (literally: “silver”, i.e. any material gift of the bridegroom to the bride, a ring is mainly used), Shtar (literally: “document”; in ancient times it was Shtar Kiddushim, in which the man wrote: “Behold, thou devoted to me”, in today's practice it is Shtar Ktuba, i.e. written financial commitments for a case of divorce) and Biya, intimacy (Babylonian Talmud, treatise “Kidushin”). I heard the following idea from Rabbi Yehudy Brandes: “Those things, by which the marriage is contracted, can be regarded as symbols of those things, on which it is hold.” It is obvious that Kesef is a symbol of family finances and Biya is a symbol of intimacy between spouses. A symbol of which is Shtar, as it is involved in case of divorce only? There are people considering Shtar to be a symbol of the status. “Married man”, “married woman” — it is a status. Talmud examines the question, which way to marriage is the strongest, and comes to the conclusion that it is Biya. Let's think, what is the strongest one in its maintenance and preservation. Everyone knows that the value of intimacy in relationships between spouses is reduced with age. It is equally obvious that not all families have material wealth, and though they do not come apart. What does support them? Is it really just the fear of divorce? But the fear of divorce or the fear of being alone are negative feelings, and I cannot believe somehow, that only negative things strengthen the family. There must be something positive! In my opinion, this is the unity feeling between the spouses, the feeling of presence of someone own. This is what people try to feel at the first meeting, the same thing becomes increasingly important year by year.

Further deepening the subject of relations between a man and a woman seems to me impossible without a serious study of the wisdom of the sacred Jewish texts. Comprehending it is associated with two most common difficulties for a secular reader:
1) the special terminology;
2) unusual methods of text analysis.
These difficulties can be overcome when the reader understands that the purpose of sacred texts is to make human life happy on Earth.

Part III. Ish (איש) and Isha (אשה)

Basis of Tikun ha-Brit according to the sacred Jewish texts

It is written in “Lev Eliyahu” book (Ch. Balak): “It says in the chapter ‘Kdoshim’: ‘Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy’. And Rashi [comments on this]: ‘Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel’ teaches that this section was announced at a meeting of the people, because most of the ‘gufey’ (literally: ‘bodies’) of the Torah depends on it. ‘Ye shall be holy’, that is avoid illicit sexual relations and [other] crimes, because wherever you find a fence of illicit sexual relations, you find holiness.” Then the authors continues: “Here is, in front of us, at the very beginning of the fundamentals of Torah, a warning about the holiness — the requirement to avoid illicit sexual relations, and [other] crimes.”

It is said in the Book of Zohar: “All Jews have a share in the future world...” The Zohar asks: “Why?” and answers: “Because they keep circumcision, which sustains the world, as it is written: ‘If not for my covenant (circumcision) day and night, I would not establish the laws of heaven and earth.’ (Jeremiah 33:25)” The Ba'al Sulam comments: “This means that they keep the covenant of circumcision in holiness, so as not to profane it by wastefull outpouring of semen and illicit sexual relations.” The Zohar continues: “Therefore Israel, who keep the covenant they accepted upon themselves, have a share in the future world” (Zohar, Hok le-Yisrael, Noah). The said can be understood as follows: while the conclusion of the Covenant of Circumcision Union with God it is incorrect to understand circumcision as a one-time procedure only, it is necessary to “keep circumcision” throughout all of life. And it is the purity of intimate relationships is one of the essential foundations not only in relationship with people, but also in a relationship with the Most High.

The Zohar also says (I, 62): “The punishment for all of a person’s sins can be corrected through repentance, except for the sin of spilling one’s seed upon the ground, which destroys himself and destroys the ground. About him it is said: ‘For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.’ (Psalm 5:5).” But it happens among young people, out of ignorance or misunderstanding! And it's impossible to say about this boy: “He is guilty himself!”, because it is not taught by his father. But perhaps the father had no one to teach him... “To teach” does not mean to moralize on how bad to spill the seed in vain. It means to give real tools to control the attraction and to explain how to use it in holiness and purity.

And also the Zohar teaches us that the purity of intimate relationships is one of the foundations of the existence of the whole world. As one, who controls his attractions, is called righteous, and the world is known to be on the righteous. Here are the words of the Zohar: “We learn from this that anyone who keeps the covenant that the world is established upon is called righteous. How do we know this? From Yosef, who kept the Covenant of Circumcision and resisted his master's wife, thus merited to be called righteous. And that is what is meant by ‘And your people all are called righteous...’. And thus Rabbi Hiyya explained the verse: ‘Noah was a righteous man,’ which means that Noah kept the Brit, and for this his descendants survived. This is why the verse says, ‘These are the generations of Noah6: Noah was a righteous man,’ because they depend one another (i.e. the righteousness of Noah is connected with the survival of his descendants).” (Zohar, Hok le-Yisrael, Noah).

And it is also said in the book “Kdushat Levy” (chapter “Bo”): “Man is a model that demonstrates the highest qualities. Legs symbolize the faith, in which there are two aspects. First: the person needs to believe with perfect faith that the Creator precedes the worlds created by Him, which are created and renewed by Him. Second: we need to believe that we, His people Israel, are close to Him. Therefore, we can achieve anything we wants by our prayer. These two aspects of faith symbolize two human legs. The sign of the holy covenant on the body indicates the quality of Hitkashrut (attachment). A human needs to bind himself to the faith. The body says about the quality of Tiphareth. A human needs to do everything to the Creator could be proud of Him... Two hands are the Love and the Awe. The right one is the love of God, the left is the awe of Him. The head is created to the Human to know the Creator's greatness. Myriads of angels, sacred hayot, sacred ofanim and sacred srafim stand before Him in fear and great awe! A human simply ceases to exist in his eyes. And only then the joy comes to him” [It can be incorrect: I don't know precise English translation of Kdushat Levy! — Daniel Alievsky] Creating the Spiritual Human, as we see, must go through the disclosure of the highest meaning, reflected in certain acts of human nature, and through involving all them into the complex service to God. “And only then the joy comes to him” — the joy of the final repairing the world.

Enough has been said for understanding the highest meaning of Tikun ha-Brit by the reader.

Why does it open today only

The Most High directs the movement of the world to perfection. As Omnipotent and Almighty, God initially was able to create the perfect world, but His wisdom has established so that when Creating the world had only a potential to achieve perfection. Every people (often unconsciously) performs its part of the work in the global Repairing the World. The task, entrasted to the Jewish people, is formulated in Kabbalah language as revealing the Sparks of Holiness. Here is what Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev writes (“Kdushat Levi”, Ch. Pekudei): “We know from the Ba'al Shem Tov what is the principle of revealing the sparks of holiness from Clipa (Shell). When a person sees a thing in the material world (as well as an idea, a cultural or social movement, etc.), which is attracting him, this attraction comes from two qualities: Ahava (Love) and Chesed (Mercy), the purpose of which, as of all in the world, is to serve the Creator. Showing to this desire, to this ‘fallen’ love, the real Love, Love of God, from which it comes, the person thus uses the desire in another direction, toward the Holiness, and raises up the full potential of the holy, laid down here.” [It can be incorrect: I don't know precise English translation of Kdushat Levy! — Daniel Alievsky] In other words, the task of the Jewish people is to show, how any thing can be used to serve the Creator, cleansing it of base passions, mercenariness and other negative, called the Shell.

The question arises traditionally: why did the great saints and sages of the past not revealed all the Sparks of Holiness in the world before us? The answer is simple: every Spark has a time, scheduled for revealing, as King Solomon said: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Kohelet 3:1). Here are the words of Rabbi Nachman of Braslav: “The Rebbe said that all scientific discoveries and inventions come from on high. Without such inspiration, they could never be discovered. But when the time comes for an idea to be revealed to the world, the necessary inspiration is granted to a researcher from on high. A thought enters his mind, and it is thus revealed. Many people may have previously sought this idea, but it still eluded them. Only when the time comes for it to be revealed can the inspiration be found.” (“Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom”, 5). Only after a Spark is opened in the world and has become well-known, it becomes possible (and necessary) to show its connection with the Divine Source. Thus, in our time a large number of people in the world shows an interest in energies in the human body in general and in the sexual energy in particular. The task before us is to show the highest sense of these things and to teach using them for serving God.

It's also important to note that we are living in an epoch, of which it is said in the Book of Zohar (I, 117, 9): “And in the six hundredth year of the sixth millennium (the year 1840) the gates of wisdom above and the sources of wisdom below will open, and the world will repair itself, coming into the seventh millennium.” Rabbi Yoel Schwartz explains that “the sources of wisdom below” are all kinds of scientific discoveries, and “the gates of wisdom above” are discoveries (hidushim) in the Torah, made in our time. The Zohar emphasizes that all this is done for the world to repair itself. It is obvious that bringing the sphere of intimate relations of a human into accord with the Divine plan is one of necessary prerequisites for repairing the world.

The fairy story of Rabbi Nachman from Braslav “The Lost Princess” with explanations

In the creative legacy of Rabbi Nachman (1772–1810), the founder of Braslav branch of Chasidism, there is a book “Rabbi Nachman's Stories”. We'll give a few quotations from the preface to this book written by Rabbi Nathan, a student of Rabbi Nachman.

About fairy tale as a form of transmission of secret knowledge: “This was the way things were originally done in Israel, through redemption and interchanging. When people wanted to speak of God's hidden mysteries, they would speak in allegory and parable, hiding in many disguises the concealed secrets of the Torah, the King's hidden treasury... in ancient times when the Initiates discussed Kabbalah, they would speak in this manner. Until the time of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, they would not openly use explicit Kabbalistic terms.”

About requirements for the reader: “If a person's heart has attained perfection, and he is expert in the sacred works, especially in the books of the Zohar and the writings of the Ari, then if he fully concentrates his mind and heart on these stories, he will be able to understand and know a small portion of the allusions found in them.” And also: “Whoever has eyes will see, and whoever has a heart will understand. ‘It is not an empty thing from you’ (Deuteronomy 32:47). ‘If it is empty, then it is from you’ [that is, it is your own fault]. The words [of these stories] stand in the highest places. We heard [the Rebbe] say explicitly that every word of these holy stories has tremendous meaning, and that anyone who changes even a single word of these stories from the way that they were told is taking very much away from the story. [The Rebbe] also said that these stories are original concepts (chidushim) that are very wondrous and awesome. They contain extraordinary, hidden, deep meanings.”

About correction of folk tales: “Before [the Rebbe] began telling the first story in this book, he declared, ’Many hidden meanings and lofty concepts are contained in the stories that the world tells. These stories, however, are deficient; they contain many omissions. They are also confused, and people do not tell them in the correct order. What begins the story may be told at the end, and the like. Nevertheless, the folk tales that the world tells contain many lofty hidden mysteries.” In a fairy story “The Lost Princess” Rabbi Nahman has corrected a Russian folk tale “Enchanted king's daughter” (“Заколдованная королевна”, see the collection “Russian folk tales” by Afanasyev). The reader can himself see and appreciate the work, performed by Rabbi Nachman, by comparing these texts.

About the purpose of making up fairy tales: “There are some stories that are ‘in the midst of years.‘ However, there are other stories from ancient times... If you study the entire lesson well, you will have some awareness and understanding as to the lofty implications of these stories as well as [the Rebbe's] holy intent [in telling them].”

Below we are giving the first (of the book, and perhaps of the importance) from the stories of Rabbi Nachman.

The Lost Princess

[The Rebbe] said: Along the way, I told a story, that everyone who heard had thoughts of repentance. And it is as follows:

There once was a king, who had six sons and one daughter. This daughter was very precious in his eyes. He loved her exceptionally, and took great delight in her. One time, he spoke with her and lost his temper, and the words “May the no good one take you!” flew from his mouth. In the evening she went to her room, and in the morning, no one knew where she was. And her father was very distraught, and he went everywhere looking for her.

The second to the king stood up, for he saw that the king was very troubled, and asked that he provide him with a servant, a horse, and money for the journey, in order to search for her. He searched for a very long time, until he found her. (And following is the account of his search, until he found her.) He went from place to place, for a very long time, in deserts, fields and forests. And he searched for her a very long time.

As he was crossing a desert, he saw a path to the side, and thought to himself: ”Seeing that I've been going such a long time in the desert and I cannot find her, I'll try this path — maybe I'll come to a settled area.” And he went a very long time on that path.

Afterward, he saw a castle, with several soldiers standing guard around it. The castle was very attractive and well-built, and the soldiers were impressively aligned around it. He worried that the soldiers would not allow him to enter. But he said to himself, “I will go and try.” So he left the horse behind, and approached the castle. And the soldiers did not hinder him. He went from room to room without disturbance, and came to one reception hall, in which the king sat, wearing his crown. And there were a number of guards, and musicians with their instruments standing before him. It was all very pleasant and beautiful, and neither the king nor any of the others inquired about him at all.

And he saw there delicacies and fine foods, and he approached and ate and went to lie down in a corner, to see what would transpire there. He saw that the king ordered for the queen to be brought. They went to bring her, and there ensued a great commotion and joy. The musicians played and sang a great deal, being that they were bringing the queen. They placed a chair for her and sat her next to the king. And she was the above-mentioned princess, and he (the second to the king), saw and recognized her.

After that, the queen gazed about and saw a man lying in a corner, and recognized him. She stood from her chair and went over to him, nudging him, and asked him, “Do you recognize me?” He answered, “Yes, I do. You're the princess who was lost.” And he asked her, “How did you come to be here?” She answered, “Because my father blurted out the words ‘The no good one should take you’, and here, this place, is no good.”

So he told her that her father was very saddened, and that he had been searching for several years. And he asked, “How can I get you out of here?” She answered, “The only possible way to take me out is if you choose a place, and dwell there a full year. And the whole year, you must long to take me out. Any time that you have free, you should only long and request and hope to free me. And do fasts, and on the last day of the year, you should fast and not sleep the entire day.” So he went to do this.

On the last day of the year, he fasted, and did not sleep, and rose and began the journey back. And on the way he saw a tree, and on it were growing very attractive apples. And they were tantalizing to his eyes, and he approached and ate from them. Immediately after having eaten, he dropped and fell asleep, and he slept a very long time. His servant would try to wake him, but to no avail. Afterwards, he awoke from his sleep, and asked the servant, “Where am I in the world?” And the servant told him the story: “You were sleeping a very long time, several years. And I survived on the fruit.” And he was very pained upon hearing this.

So he returned there and found her. And she revealed her great distress to him. “If you had only come on that day, you would have removed me from here, and because of one day, you lost everything. Nevertheless, it is very difficult not to eat, especially on the last day, when the evil inclination is very overpowering. (That is to say, the princess told him that now she would make the conditions more lenient, that from now he would not be expected to fast, for that is a very hard condition to meet.) So now, choose a place again, and dwell there also a year, as before. And on the last day you will be allowed to eat. Only you must not sleep, and must not drink wine, that you should not fall asleep. For the essential thing is not to sleep.” So he went and did accordingly.

On the last day, he went there, and saw a spring, with a red appearance and the fragrance of wine. He asked the servant, “Did you see that spring, that ought to have water in it, but its color is red, and its scent is of wine?” And he went and tasted from the spring. And he immediately fell into a sleep that lasted several years — seventy, to be exact. And great numbers of soldiers passed with the equipment that accompanied them. The servant hid himself from the soldiers. After that passed a covered carriage, and in it sat the princess. She stopped by him, descended and sat by him, recognizing who he was. She shook him strongly, but he did not wake. And she started to bemoan, “How many immense efforts and travails he has undergone, these many years, in order to free me, and because of one day that he could have freed me, and lost it...” And she cried a great deal about this, saying “There is great pity for him and for me, that I am here so very long, and cannot leave.” After that, she took her handkerchief from off of her head, and wrote upon it with her tears, and laid it by him. And she rose and boarded her carriage, and rode away.

Afterwards, he awoke, and asked the servant, “Where am I in the world?” So he told him the whole story — that many soldiers had passed there, and that there had been a carriage, and a woman who wept upon him and cried out, that there is great pity on him and on her. In the midst of this, he looked around and saw that there was a handkerchief lying next to him. So he asked “Where did this come from?” The servant explained that she had written upon it with her tears. So he took it and held it up against the sun, and began to see the letters, and he read all that was written there — all her mourning and crying, and that she is no longer in the aforementioned castle, and that he should look for a mountain of gold and a castle of pearls. There he would find her.

So he left the servant behind, and went to look for her alone. And he went for several years searching, and thought to himself, “Certainly a mountain of gold and a castle of pearls would not be found in a settled area.” For he was an expert in geography. So he went to the deserts. And he searched for her there many years.

Afterwards, he saw a giant man, far beyond the normal human limits of size. He was carrying a massive tree, the size of which is not found in settled areas. The man asked him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am a man.” The giant was amazed, and exclaimed, “I have been in the desert such a long time, and I have never seen a man here.” So he told him the whole story, and that he was searching for a mountain of gold and a castle of pearls. The giant answered him, “Certainly, it does not exist at all.” And he discouraged him and said that they had muddled his mind with nonsense, for it surely does not exist. So he started to cry bitterly, for he felt certain that it must exist somewhere. And this giant discouraged him, saying that certainly he had been told nonsense. Yet he (the Second to the King) still said that it must exist.

So the giant said to him, “I think it is nonsense. But since you persist, I am appointed over all the animals. I will do this for you: I will call them all. For they traverse the whole world, perhaps one of them will know where is the mountain and the castle.” And he called them all, from the smallest to the largest, all the varieties of animals, and asked them. And all of them answered that they had not seen these things.

So he said, “You see that they told you nonsense. If you want my advice, turn back, because you certainly will not find it, for it does not exist.” And he pleaded passionately with him, saying, “But it absolutely must exist!”

So the giant said to him, “Behold, in this desert also lives my brother, and he is appointed over all the birds. Perhaps they know, since they fly at great heights — perhaps they saw this mountain and castle. Go to him and tell him that I sent you to him.”

So he went for several years searching for him. And again he found a very large man, as before. He was also carrying a massive tree, as before. And this giant also asked him as had the first. And he told him the whole story, and that his brother had sent him to him. This giant also discouraged him, saying that it certainly did not exist. And he pleaded with him as with the first. Then the giant said to him, “See, I am appointed over all the birds; I will call them, perhaps they know.” So he called all the birds, and asked them all, from the smallest to the largest, and they answered that they did not know anything about this mountain and castle. So the giant said to him, “You see, it certainly does not exist. If you want my advice, turn back, for it simply does not exist.” But he pleaded with him, saying “It certainly exists!”

So the giant said to him, “Further ahead in the desert lives my brother, who is appointed over all the winds, and they run over the whole world. Perhaps they know.” So he went several more years searching, and found also this giant, and he was also carrying a giant tree. And the giant asked him, as the others had. And he told him the whole story, as before. And the giant discouraged him, as before. And he pleaded with him as well. So the third giant said to him, that for his sake he would call all the winds and ask them. He called them, and all the winds came, and he asked them all, and not one of them knew about the mountain and the castle. So the giant said to him, “You see, they told you nonsense.” And the Second to the King began to cry bitterly, and said, “I know that it exists!”

As they were speaking, one more wind came. And the one appointed over them was annoyed with him, saying, “Why did you not come with the rest?” He answered, “I was delayed, for I needed to carry a princess to a mountain of gold and a castle of pearls.” And the Second to the King was overjoyed.

The one appointed asked the wind, “What is expensive there? (That is to say, what things are considered valuable and important there?)” He answered him, “Everything there is very expensive.” So the one appointed over the winds said to the Second to the King, “Seeing that you have been searching for her such a long time, and you went through many difficulties. Perhaps now you will be hindered by expenses. Therefore I am giving you this vessel. Every time you reach into it, you will receive money from it.” And he commanded the previous wind to take him there. The wind came storming, and brought him there, right to the gate. There were guards posted there, that would not let him enter the city. So he reached into the vessel, took out money and bribed them, and entered the city. And it was a beautiful city.

He approached a man, and rented lodgings, for he would need to stay there some time. For it would need much intelligence and wisdom to free her. And how he freed her, he did not tell, but in the end he freed her.

Explanation of the fairy story

The plot consists of four parts:

  1. The king banishes his daughter.
  2. The first attempt of liberation.
  3. The second attempt of liberation.
  4. The third attempt of liberation.

Characters:

The king — God. He is called the king, because he creates a development plan for the world, and everything in the world is under His direction (R. Kaplan).
The daughter of the King — Dvekut, a sense of nearness to the Creator; man's ability to experience, to feel God, the Divine spark. It is Shekhinah (God's Presence), kabbalists call it Sefira Malchus (R. Kaplan).
The second to the King — the Jewish people as the vanguard of humanity, chosen by God to learn how to reach Dvekut with the Creator and to teach this for all of humanity.
One appointed over all the animals, One appointed over all the birds, One appointed over all the winds — the forces of the universe.

Part I. Rabbi Nachman in the Haggadic form discusses one of the most complicated issues: how the Creator willed it happened so that humanity has lost the sense of an organic unity with the Creator (cf. with Adam's banishment from Gan Eden).

It's like Breaking the vessels (Shvirat ha-Kelim), when Broken Vessels (Malchus) fall into the power of evil forces (Qliphoth). This means that the world has lost an ability to fully perceive God (R. Kaplan).

Banishment of Malchus to the scope of evil was expressed later in banishment of Shekhinah while destruction of the Temple (R. Rosenfeld).

Part II. The first attempt to release the King's Daughter, or the First attempt to achieve unity with the Creator, was expressed in inhibition of the flesh to elevate the spirit. King's daughter demands from the Second to the King to get away from the worldly vanity (“you choose a place, and dwell there a full year”), to renounce the joys of life (“you must long to take me out”) and, most importantly, the physical limitations (“And do fasts, and on the last day of the year, you should fast and not sleep the entire day!”). All this, according to the ancients, purified a man and brought him closer to God (“and request and hope to free me”). The roots of this world view can be seen in the Torah: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). And also written: “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh...” (Genesis 6:3). This was the base of one of the most well-known views on man as an object of the struggle between soul and body. Staying in the Other World, where the soul is freed from the body, has been proclaimed the supreme pleasure for the soul, and various mortification of the flesh was considered the most good for the soul on This World. Here is what Rambam writes about it (“8 Chapters of the Rambam”, Ch. 4): “If those of our faith whose conduct resembles that of the gentiles protest and say that my words do not apply to them — that they are afflicting their bodies and refraining from pleasure for the purpose of training their bodies' powers to be inclined in a [desired] direction... they are making a mistake.” Rambam writes that the Torah never mentions asceticism as an ideal: “Rather, it [the Torah] desires that man should live naturally, following the middle path, eating a moderate portion of food that he is permitted to eat, drinking a moderate portion of what he is permitted to drink, engaging in permitted sexual relations in a moderate way, and creating a society [based on] righteousness and justice. He need not live in caves or on mountains, nor wear sackcloth and [coarse] wool. There is no need to weary the body, or to drain it or oppress it.” Rabbi Yehuda and Levy holds the same line: “Al Khazari: Give me a description of the doings of one of your pious men at the present time. The Rabbi: A pious man is, so to speak, the guardian of his country, who gives to its inhabitants provisions and all they need. He is so just that he wrongs no one, nor does he grant anyone more than his due. Then, when he requires them, he finds them obedient to his call. He orders, they execute; he forbids, they abstain. Al Khazari: I asked thee concerning a pious man, not a prince. The Rabbi: The pious man is nothing but a prince who is obeyed by his senses, and by his mental as well as his physical faculties, which he governs corporeally... He is fit to rule, because if he were the prince of a country he would be as just as he is to his body and soul...” (Kuzari, 3:2–5). King Solomon expresses the same idea: “A righteous man [tzadik] regardeth the life of his beast...” (Mishlei, 12:10). And King David said: “He giveth to the beast his food” (Psalm 147:9) (The word ”behema”, which is usually translated as “beast”, may be understood both as an actual animal and as the animality in man.)

Now the question arises before us: how to understand the stories about ascetic behaviour of some of the great righteous men? Rambam explains that some righteous men go to it to balance (bring to an equilibrium state) certain qualities of the soul. Here are his words: “At times, some of the pious have deviated toward an extreme at certain times by fasting, giving up sleep at night, refraining from eating meat or drinking wine, shunning women, wearing [coarse] wool and sackcloth, living on mountains, or seeking solitude in the deserts. These [deeds] were performed to correct [their conduct, as explained above]...” (“8 Chapters”, Ch. 4).

Rambam strictly warns that such behaviuor cannot lead masses of people to achieving harmony with the Creator: “When the fools saw the pious perform the above activities, they did not comprehend their indent, and thought that the activities were good in their own right. They began to emulate the behaviour [of the pious], thinking that through this they would become like them, [attaining inner refinement]. [With this intent,] they began afflicting their bodies through many different types of penance, thinking that they had reached peaks [of divine service], and that this brings them close to God, and if God were the enemy of the body and desired to destroy and crush it. They do not realize that these deeds are bad, and that they will lead a person to undesirable character traits. To use an analogy: They are like people who are untrained in medicine, who see an experienced physician administer potions of coloquintida, scammony and aloe to patients who are dangerously ill, and prevent them from eating ordinary food. [Through these herbs,] these patients were healed and saved from great danger. These fools, however, jumped to the conclusion that if these foods could heal the ill, they could surely maintain and enhance the wellbeing of the healthy. Therefore, they began to use them at all times and to follow [the diet] of the ill. [Such a person] will surely become ill. Similarly, such people will become spiritually ill from using remedies while they are healthy” (ibid.).

Now it becomes clear why the First attempt of the Second to the King to release the King's Daughter did not lead to success.

Part III. The second attempt to release. At this time, Imagination is declared to be the main enemy of humanity. Indeed, the human perception of the world is biased: information from the sense organs is integrated and arranged in a single picture (dynamic, not static) with help of Imagination. Sense organs are not able to cover all the details of any situation, and then Imagination fills in the gaps itself. An interview of witnesses of some incident can illustrate this: differences occur not only in describing small details, but also in something substantial. Rambam explains: “The element of imagination: this power [relates to the faculty of memory and makes it possible to] recall the impression of various incidents after they are no longer perceptible by the senses.” (“8 Chapters of the Rambam”, Ch. 1). Please look, how accurately it is said: not “bare” information from the sense organs is retained in the human memory, but “impressions”, that is an image drawn by Imagination. “[The imagination encompasses the capacity...] to compound some and separate others [impressions]. It is the capacity that enables a person to combine certain experiences he has had along with others he never had nor ever could grasp” (ibid.). That is why the test, which the hero of Rabbi Nahman's tale cannot stand, is a source of red water with smell of wine. A man is often so immersed in his own images, that is no longer able to distinguish between reality and fantasy. RabbiNachman says in Likutey Moaran (60) that seventy years of sleep of the Second to the King symbolizes a state of human consciousness, in which all seventy faces of Torah are hidden from him7. Own subjective impressions can fill in all human consciousness, leaving no room for objective knowledge. But without it the goal, unity with God, is impossible.

Rabbi Nachman points out the sleep and the wine. “Sleep” is a state in which Imagination is freed from the control of Intellect. Today, it is possible to reckon among “sleep” category aimless sitting in front of a TV screen, as well as spending many hours in Internet chats or with primitive computer games. “Wine” is chemical (or some other) means, facilitating emancipation of Imagination; you can also include here drugs and all kinds of hallucinogens.

I'll give only several sayings of eminent persons from different nations about imagination. “The human race is governed by its imagination” (Napoleon I). “Imagination is a second life with a lot of options” (E. Sevrus). “Never give full faith to your imagination: it will make the monsters” (Pythagoras). [The last is incorrect: I didn't find this aphorism of Pythagoras! — Daniel Alievsky]

Now I want to ask: if Imagination is so bad in itself, then why, according to Rabbi Nahmani, the struggle with Imagination did not lead humanity to a cherished purpose? Is evil inherent in Imagination itself, or is the matter that while struggle with it we lose sight of the underlying phenomena? In my opinion, the saying of the French writer Yosef Joubert can be a key to answer these questions: “Imagination is the eye of the soul”. Imagination is out of control only at first glance, but actually it depends on the two things. Firstly, on what he saw and heard. In other words, Imagination is easier to work with the information, received through the sense organs, than with imagined images. Recall: “The eyes see, the heart desires, and the body commits the crime” (Midrash Tanhuma). Secondly, the imagination depends on the purity of the human soul. That is just what the Torah teaches us in the section about tzitzit, emphasizing: “...and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring” (Numbers 15:39). The “heart” is named first, the “eyes” is called after. First, passions are raging in the human heart, and then he seeks out by the eyes something that can satisfy them. The simple meaning (pshat) of the commandment “Thou shalt not covet...” (Exodus 20:17) also says about this. Really, if we take, for example, “thy neighbour's wife”, then the prohibition of any practical acts in this direction can be logically derived from other parts of the Torah, for example, from the commandment “Thou shalt not commit adultery”. Uniqueness (hidush) of this fragment of the Torah (“Thou shalt not covet...”) is that the Torah prohibits the imagination (for example, sexual), in which a person takes delight from something belonging to another one (for example, from another man's wife). And not something, what he saw, generates a passion, but physical passions get material for their fantasies from what he saw. You can find a hint of this in the fact that Moshe Rabbeinu, while repeating the Ten Sayings (Deuteronomy 5), in addition to the phrase “lo tahmod” (from “hemda”, “pleasantness”) is also using “lo titave” (from “taava”, “passion”). The conclusion: the Torah requires a person to stop criminal fantasies — including by the volitional decision of Intellect. It is a correction of the situation ex post facto, but initially you should purify the qualities of your soul, in order to create more sublime fantasies. All this is very important things. Rambam writes that the (purified) Imaginative Faculty (Koah a-Medame) is used while receiving the prophecy (“Moreh Nevuhim”, Part 2, Ch. 36).

Part IV. The third attempt to release the King's Daughter. It is qualitatively different from previous attempts: another scale, another level of consciousness. Prior to that, it was considered that it is necessary to “choose a place and dwell there”, that is, self-isolation from the outside world is a necessary condition for spiritual growth. Now all this is realized through the path, the search and communication with the world. Communication not only with people goes on, but also with animals, forces of nature (in the tale: winds) and even with spiritual beings at different levels (in the tale: ones appointed over all the animals, all the birds, all the winds). Previously Body was suppressed by fasts, now it is compliantly serving the ultimate purpose. Previously Imagination was struggled against, but now the image of “a mountain of gold and a castle of pearls” supports the faith in the Second to the King and doesn't allow to give up search. I'll briefly dwell on this image. One of the ideas, which the Jews have received under Sinai mountain and the rest of mankind have received from the Jews, is the idea of the coming of the Mashiach. All the while, until it finally realized, this idea remains the property of Imagination. Jewish people have carried this “fantasy” through all its history. It was especially hard to believe in the Mashiach in the exile, when everyone said to the Jews the words of the One appointed over all the animals: “Turn back, because you certainly will not find it, for it does not exist.” “And he pleaded passionately with him, saying, ‘But it absolutely must exist!’” — the Jews were more oppressed, the faith of the Jewish people in the proximity of the End Deliverance was more strengthened.

...Now everything is different. The Jews have found their “mountain of gold and castle of pearls”. “‘What is expensive there?’ He answered him, ‘Everything there is very expensive.’” Indeed, everything: the thoughts, turned to God, and the power of imagination, creating a feeling of nearness of the Creator, and the body, performing His will.

Rabbi Nachman has not finished his tale, because all the details of the Tikun were not revealed in his generation yet (the final stage of Tikun ha-Olam, according to the tradition, is Tikun ha-Brit). Maybe we shall able to “finish the tale”.

From Yosef to Rabbi Nachman

Now let's talk about changing the attitude to Tikun ha-Brit at different times.

For a start, it's impossible not to remember our forefathers Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. They, Rambam writes, were always in a state of Dvekut with the Creator, and this state, as we have already seen when analyzing the tale of Rabbi Nachman's “The Lost Princess”, cannot be achieved without purity and harmony of all aspects of personality. Purity of the forefathers in the intimate sphere was absolute, their Dvekut with the wives was complete (“Shalem” — “perfect”), because, according to Kabbalah, by the Dvekut with the wife a man deserves the Dvekut with Shekhinah (“Igrot Ramchal”). We can judge about Dvekute of Avram and Sarai (before they will become Avraham and Sarah) by the story of their forced descent to Egypt (Genesis 12:10–20): “And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon”. What does it mean, that, after tens of years of living together, Avram only now had found out that his wife is beautiful? The answer is simple: all these years they were in a state of Dvekut, and in a state of absolute unity there is usually no rating from the side. Now, in the face of danger, Avram is trying to look at his wife “objectively”, by “men's eyes”, — and here he is detecting that his beloved Sarai is also beautiful as a woman! But an even deeper meaning is laid in this passage: the forefather Avraham knew that Dvekut between husband and wife attracts Shekhinah, which causes sympathy of the people around to each of the spouses. And the Scriptures points out this: “And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.” (Genesis 12:14). It is written: “he” (“הוא”), and it is read “she” (“היא”), that is the spiritual beauty of Avram attracted the Egyptians in Sarai, which was in Dvekut with him.

The perfection of the forefathers in the intimate sphere expressed also in the control of their seed. How do we know this? The language of the Torah is brief and laconic, and only in the dying blessing of the forefather Yaakov this subject is brought up: “Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength...” (i.e. the virile strength). The Oral Torah tells us that “the beginning of my strength” is the first drop, because Yaakov never saw ejaculation before (Yevamos 76a, Rashi on Genesis 49:3). To better understand the meaning of these words, it is enough to compare Yaakov with the twin brother Esau, who took his first two wives in 40 years (Genesis 26:34) and took another wife by the time when Yaakov left the house of his father (Genesis 28:9), but Yaakov spent some time after this on the road and worked at Laban for the first wife during another 7 years. And he had not even an involuntary ejaculation throughout this time!

It is important to emphasize that the purity of our forefathers in this area was a part of the overall perfection of their personalities and did not require any specific efforts. But the case was somewhat different with sons of Yaakov. We do not know, by what Yehuda was guided when going to the woman beside the road, but only the merits of the fathers have leaded to that the royal line of the House of David was descended from this relation, whereas Yehuda himself had received no reward for his actions in This World. Another case is his brother Yosef, who had to mobilize all its moral strength to resist the temptation of Potiphar's wife. Yosef was called Righteous just for this act, performed at the age of 17. According to the Midrash, the royal honours, that he will be awarded later, will become the reward for the same thing. We can conclude from the history of Yosef that the efforts to maintain purity in the intimate sphere (Shmirat ha-Brit) allows a person to receive a reward already in This World.

What makes Yosef to resist the temptation? Only the power of thought. The only thing, connected Yosef with the house of his father at that period of life, was the thoughts-memories and the father's upbringing. The upbringing is a system of principles, what is allowed and what is not allowed; the thoughts-memories are images of the past life. Yosef resisted by the power of thought: at the beginning he forbade to himself to approach another man's wife by his mind, and when the attraction force started to prevail, he had hooked up Imagination: he had seen an image of his father, then had run away. Midrash draws for us an important detail: “The seed was oozed from under his nails.” You should understand this so: Yosef craved Potiphar's wife by all his body, but the morality had won in him. The victory of the morality over the sexual attraction had become as if “Yosef's method” and had marked the first epoch of Tikun ha-Brit.

The Yosef's method was the only way during 2500 years. But there was one problem: very few ones were able to refrain from sexual crimes only by the force of morality. The Talmud (Avodah Zarah) tells about an attempt of the sages to solve the problem on a global level, turning to God in prayer on the withdrawal of Yetser ha-Min (sexual desire) from the world. As a result of that story, only the attraction to close relatives has weakened in the world, but all other sexual attractions, prohibited by the Torah, remained at the same level. The Talmud gives several stories about the sages, who fled from the temptation after the example of Yosef, but Talmud does not suggest other methods. The same can be said about the Book of Zohar, speaking of the great harm to a man, caused by emission of seed in vain.

The second epoch in continuation of the subject of Tikun ha-Brit is associated with the name of Rambam. Rambam initially views a person as a whole. Here is what he writes: “Know that the soul (nefesh) of a person is a single entity and it has many means of expressions [because they are general in scope] are referred to by certain individuals as ‘souls’. Thus, some individuals think that there many souls (nefashot)” (“8 Chapters of the Rambam”, Ch. 1). Rambam uses the word “nefesh” (“soul”) as a synonym of “person” word, because he attributes to the soul the ability to think logically on the one hand and the functioning of the organism on the other hand. Thus, Rambam consideres the low expression of the soul to be responsible for the delivery of food to all parts of the body, for digestion, for development of the organism, for procreation, etc. The ability to think, Rambam believes, is the higher aspect of the soul. Further (“8 Chapters”, Ch. 5) Rambam describes the dynamic unity of all aspects, saying that the emotional, sensual and intellectual life of the man derives strength from the animal forces of the organism. Here are his words: “A person's intent when he eats, drinks, sleeps, engages in sexual relations, wakes, performs activity and relaxes should be for the sake of his physical health. And the intent of the pursuit of health should be this his soul will have healthy and whole vessels to use for study and for acquiring the intellectual and ethical virtues, so he will reach the above goal.” Rambam condemns those ones who monitor their health, but at the same time do not use available forces for developing higher aspects in themselves: “This is also not a sign of personal development... None of these represents a true goal for our conduct. Instead, it is proper that a person directs all his activities, his physical health, and the maintenance of his existence so that the limbs [of his body] serve as perfect media for his soul. The his soul will be able to exercise the ethical and intellectual virtues without any impediment.” (ibid.)

In terms of Tikun ha-Brit, the two strategically important discoveries belong to Rambam.

1. Surplus of physical forces, which gushes out in a form of unbridled sexual desire, should be used as building material for the soul and intellect. (Even in the Talmud there is, for example, a mention of the fact that men, immersed into studies, are recommended to reduce the frequency of intimacy with the wives to one time per week, but Rambam brings theoretical basis under all such statements.)

2. Heavy physical activity is is an original kind of “ambulance” while strong sexual arousal. (Rambam directly says about this in another place. An idea of the relationship of physical activity and frequency of sexual relations was expressed by the Jewish sages before Rambam yet, but in somewhat another context: see Rashi's commentary on Genesis 32:14).

The above finds support in the story of slavery in Egypt. Thus, the Oral Torah tells that the Jewish men have no strength for their wives after a day of arduous toil, and then the Jewish wives started visiting their husbands during the lunch break, and so became pregnant. This indicates a relationship between physical and sexual energy in the organism. We can draw a conclusion about dependence of elevated human needs upon physical energy from the story of the first arrival of Moshe to the Pharaoh. He responds to a request to release the Jews for three days, to make sacrifices to God, by worsening their working conditions. He explains his decision so: “...for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let here more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.” (Exodus 5:8–9). And it yielded results: “Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you... And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage” (i.e. for hard work) (Exodus 6:6–9). You can understand faintheartedness (“anguish of spirit”) of the Jews at that time: they were afraid of physical violence. But how hard work in slavery can deprive people of the dream of freedom?! It sounds very illogical on the surface. Thanks to the Rambam, we can understand that the logic of the Pharaoh was as follows: “If the Jews have thoughts of God (i.e. over-animal needs), so they little tire at work. If the work will take away all the physical forces, thoughts about God and freedom will simply disappear.” The history shows that “the Pharaoh's method” was used repeatedly later. Prisoners of Stalin's and Hitler's concentration camps say the same thing: hard physical work and malnutrition in a short time brought the people, that were highly cultured and highly intellectual in former times, almost to the animal state. God grant that this knowledge will never be used against the human!

But back to Tikun ha-Brit. The next epoch is associated with the name of Rabbi Nachman of Braslav and his conception of happiness. Rabbi Nachman considered the state of sadness and depression as the main internal enemy of a man. The man's control over his imagination is weakened in this state. The uncontrolled fancies, combined with a feeling of suppression by external conditions, give riseto an acute sense of the lack of positive emotions, which can get out in a form of pollution at the physical level or even drive a man to sexual crimes. Happiness, even if artificially induced, can withstand the depression, and thus to keep from sexual problems. Here are the words of Rabbi Nachman: “However, a man must strengthen himself in joy at all times, and not let anything depresss him, no matter what happens. If he is strong in his resolve, he will not be afraid at all, and will not dwell upon such (sexual) thoughts. He will travel in his simple way with joy, and he will overcome everything in peace.” (“Rabbi Nachman's Stories. Two Palaces”). “His main teaching was that a person not be afraid or terrified by this (pollution). One should not think about it at all. One should be like a mighty warrior, standing up against one's desires, utterly fearless, and not thinking of them at all.” (ibid.). “[Rabbi Nachman] laughed at Chasidim and God-fearing men who were terrified whenever they had an untoward thought, lest they experience a nocturnal pollution. However, the fear itself can often bring that which they they wished to avoid” (ibid.).

“[Rabbi Nachman] told his followers that whenever they experienced a nocturnal emission, they should immediately immerse in a mikvah. As a result of this nocturnal pollution, whatever [damage] was done, was done. However, before a permanent impression is made, one should immerse and purify oneself. [Rabbi Nachman] warned that one should not be frightened by this at all. Fear, worry, and depression are very harmful as far as this is concerned. This is especially true now that he has revealed the Ten Psalms that have the specific power to rectify this sin. [The Ten Psalms] are Psalms 16, 32, 41, 42, 59, 77, 90, 105, 137, and 150” (ibid.). Rabbi Nachman investigated the Ten Psalms just for remedy of the above problem: “But even in this case (when the pollution occured), saying the Ten Psalms will do much to remedy the spiritual damage. Many great Tzadikim sought this remedy and worked hard to find it. Some never had any idea at all of the true remedy. Others began to perceive it, only to be taken from the world before they could grasp it completely. This is entirely new and is a wonderful and awesome remedy.” (“Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom”, 141). Then, Rabbi Nachman was discovered universal significance of this list of Psalms: “The Ten Psalms should be recited in the order that they appear in the Bible. The Rebbe also said, ‘This is the Tikun HaKelali — the general remedy. There is a specific remedy for each sin, but this is the general remedy” (ibid.). In the same conversation Rabbi Nahman talks about these Ten Psalms: “Ten Psalms correspond to the ten types of song.” Here he hints at the ending of the fairy tale “The Seven Beggars”, where it is figuratively told about the healing of Shekhinah with ten melodies, and a personage of the tale, symbolizing the Mashiach, says: “I could then heal her through the ten types of melody. I thus heal her.” Rabbi Kaplan comments this place: “The ten types of songs are included into the Song on the Red Sea, which, according to the Talmud (Sanhedrin 91,b), Moshe will sing in the Messianic age. Therefore, the song literally begins, ‘Then Moshe will sing’ (Exodus 15:1). The Mashiach (Messiah) is an aspect of Moshe, and when he comes, he will sing this song which includes all ten songs, and the Shekhinah will be healed.” Confirming the words of Rabbi Kaplan, we can give the Midrash, which Maharal from Prague gives: “will sing” (in Hebrew: “yashir”) can be read as “yud” (numeric value: “10”) and “shir“ (“songs”). This means that the Song on the Sea includes all kinds of pleasures existing in the world.

Thus, the method of Rabbi Nachman of Braslav is simple: you need to excite the sense of joy (with the help of Tikkun HaKelali or any other means), and “With joy you can become another person” (“Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom”, 43), and that “other person” will be much pure both in soul and in body.

We have considered three methods of Tikun ha-Brit, developed by the great men of past times. Each method works, their efficiency is confirmed by hundreds of years and thousands of people. Regretfully we must acknowledge that there are ones, who sincerely tried to work on themselves by the methods described above, but this had not led them to eventual correction of sexual problems in them. They lacked something. What is it? We'll discuss anout this in the next chapter.

The Complex approach of Kind David

Each of the methods of Tikun ha-Brit, listed in the last chapter, is logical, but involves only one of aspects of human nature. It remains unclear, how all these aspects accord. And also: what is the correct sequence of using different methods? Despite the fact that Rambam speaks of integrity of man in his works and offers his model “the five aspects of the soul” (“8 Chapters”), even he does not explain interrelation mechanisms of these aspects clearly enough. In addition, Rambam, while developing his model, relies more on scientific knowledge about man than on the text of Scripture.

The sages teach that you can find in the Tanakh answers to all questions concerning a man while careful studying. Hence, you can find there a complex view of the structure of man. Where is the answer to our question in the Tanakh? In the Psalm 16.

A lot of Divine wisdom is concealed in this psalm. We'll consider only that part which directly concerns the internal order of man. David devotes the propositions 2–7 to his thoughts. There are the thoughts of God among them: “O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee” (16:2), “The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot” (16:5), “I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons” (16:7); the thoughts of righteous men: “But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight” (16:3); thoughts of sinners: “Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another [god]: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips”(16:4); thoughts of his own life: “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage” (16:6). After the detailed description of the thoughts, King David speaks of Imagination: “I have set the LORD always before me: because [He] is at my right hand, I shall not be moved” (16:8). Positive emotion is the result of positive thoughts and positive images: “Therefore my heart is glad”. Further, down the chain, a burst of energy: “and my glory rejoiceth”. And all this is reflected in the physiology: “my flesh also shall rest in hope” (16:9).

Let us consider the phrase “my glory rejoiceth” more in detail and examine how it relates to energy. In Hebrew it sounds so: “vayagel kvodi”. The verb “vayagel” comes from the noun “gal”, “wave” (cf. “galgal”: “wheel”). This verb, which has no exact translation in Enlgish language [Don't sure: the author speaks of the Russian language! — Daniel Alievsky], in itself speaks about the movement, associated with the subsequent noun “kvodi”, “my glory”. The word “kavod” is used in the Tanakh in several senses, and the correct understanding follows from the context. For example, in a prophetic vision of Yechezkel (3:12) the prophet hears the voice saying: “Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place”, and in Psalm 63 it's said: “To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee (‘hazotiha’) in the sanctuary” (63:3). The meaning of “glory” word in this case is clearly different from its meaning in the commandment: “Honour (‘kabed’, the imperative of ‘kavod’) thy father and thy mother” (Exodus 20:12). We see that “kavod” word describes sometimes an external relation to an object, and sometimes its internal state, such as: “the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:34,35). Likewise, the phrase “vayagel kvodi” in the discussed 16th Psalm describes an internal state of a man — namely its energy state8. For a self-test, let's substitute the meaning “honor, respect” into the 16th Psalm. The result is absurd: honor and respect depend on the emotional state (“Therefore my heart is glad”), but it is false9.

Thus, the Complex approach of King David, formulated in the 16th Psalm, schematically looks like this:

Thought → Imagination → Emotion → Energy → Physiology

It is seen From the Pharaoh's “patent”, that this chain works not only “top-down”, but also vice versa. The Conception of happiness of Rabbi Nachman of Braslav shows that working with emotions can draw off the energy from below and clean it, moreover, give a new task for Imagination. Thanks to these two examples, it becomes clear that the Complex approach helps to understand workings of each method on the base of the knowledge of the internal logic of the Divine order of man.

And yet, King David's Complex approach allows us to understand what other levels we have to use (in addition to the methods described in the previous chapter) to achieve Tikun.

Important note. Despite the fact that the Complex approach is discussed in this book in a context of Tikun ha-Brit, its value is much wider. This King David's Psalm provides a comprehensive method of diagnosis and proper selection of ways of eliminating problems in the way of achieving complete psychical and physical health. It's planned to speak of this, with the help of God, in another paper.

The language of mysteries

Soon we will disclose one of the mysteries of the main books on practical Kabbalah, “Sepher Yetzirah” (“Book of Creation”). But first need to say a few words about “Sepher Yetzirah” itself.

From the very beginning it is important to emphasize that “Sepher Yetzirah” describes not abstract concepts, but objectively existing laws in the world. Rabbi Yehuda ha-Levi writes in his “Kuzari” book:

“Al Khazari: I ask thee now to give me an explanation of the relics of the natural science which thou hast stated existed among you.
The Rabbi: To this belongs the ‘Book of Creation’ by the Patriarch Avraham. Its contents are very profound, and require thorough explanation.” (4:24–25).

Indeed, if we'll compare with the textbook of mathematics, the “Sepher Yetzirah” can be compared not with the book itself, but with a few pages at the end, which lists all of the formulas used in the book. This is the reason of so long comments: their authors as if trying to restore a textbook with these formulas, which has been never written before.

Comparison with mathematics is not accidental. It's said in already the first Mishna of “Sepher Yetzirah”: "...and He has created His universe by three Sefarim: Sēfer (writing, a text, a book), and S'fār (counting, measuring), and Sippūr (speech, narration).” And if everything in the world was created by these three sefarim, so everything can be also described by them. Below is what “Kuzari” book says about S'fār: “As to S'fār it means the calculation and weighing of the created bodies. The calculation which is required for the harmonious and advantageous arrangement of a body is based on a numerical figure.” (4:25). Simply speaking, the forms and ratios of all the “bodies”, the “weighing”, and also the proportion of movements and the structure of music can be described by means of mathematics (reading these lines, please consider the age of this text).

While S'fār describes external and internal structure, Sēfer and Sippūr are used to describe deeper phenomena: namely, the inner essence of creations. “‘And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof’ (Genesis 2:19). This means that it deserved such name which fitted and characterized it. This shows the excellence of the ‘holy tongue’... The shapes of the letters are not the result of accident, but of a device which is in harmony with the character of each letter. Thou shouldst not, now, deem it impossible that names and combinations of letters, whether spoken or written, have certain effects” (Kuzari 4:25). Let's analyse this quotation from the beginning. Does really so matter for us, what name Adam gave to one or another animal? The key to understanding this is the previous sentence of the Torah: “And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them” (Genesis 2:19). The sense of the said: God created animate beings with various combinations of sounds-letters, and then brought them to Adam to check how precisely can he recognize the Divine code, by which every creature is created. Adam passed this test perfectly, not without reason is it said: “And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof”. I'll give one example as an illustration. Dog in Hebrew is “kelev”: a word, which, separated into syllables, can be read as “ke” (“as”) and “lev” (“heart”), i.e. the inner essence of dog is sensitiveness to emotions. It is clear that this description of dog differs from a possible description while using S'fār method. It is also obvious that we are unable to bring into being a living creature by simply writing or uttering “kelev“ word, because the letters of the alphabet, that we use, are only schematic reflections of the letters (i.e. spiritual strengths), by which everything is created. “The book further states with regard to God: He created His world with three Sefīrāh factors: S’fār, Sippūr, and Sēfer. In God's nature they are all one, but this one forms the beginning of the ‘thirty-two miraculous and mysterious ways of the divine wisdom,’ composed of the ten Sefirōth and the twenty-two letters” (Kuzari 4:25).

Three letters אמ"ש

Now let's attempt to delve into “Sepher Yetzirah” and try to understand the meaning of certain passages with help of the comments.

“Twenty-two foundation letters: three Mothers, seven Doubles, and twelve Elementals.” (2:1)
עשרים ושתים אותיות יסוד שלש אמות ושבע כפולות ושתים עשרה פשוטות

“Three Mothers, אמ"ש: A great, mystical, concealed secret, sealed with six rings. And from it emanate Air (Avir), Fire (Esh), and Water (Mayim), separating themselves as Male (Zahar) and Female (Nekeva).” (3:2)
שלש אמות אמ"ש סוד גדול מופלא ומכוסה וחתום בשש טבעות וממנו יוצאים אויר מים ואש מתחלקים זכר ונקבה

“Three Mothers, אמ"ש, are their foundation, and from them are born the Fathers, from which everything was created.” (3:2)
שלש אמות אמ"ש יסודן ומהן נולדו אבות שמהם נברא הכל

“Three Mothers, אמ"ש, in the universe are Air, Water, and Fire. Heaven was created from Fire, Earth was created from Water, and the Air was created from Ruah (lit.: ‘spirit’, ‘wind’), which decides between them.” (3:3)
שלש אמות אמ"ש בעולם אויר מים אש שמים נבראו תחילה מאש ארץ נבראת ממים ואויר מרוח מכריע בינתים

“Three Mothers, אמ"ש, in the year are Fire, Water, and Ruah. The Hot is created from Fire, the Cold is created from Water, and the Saturation (‘revaya’, רויה) from Ruah, which decides between them.” (3:4)
שלש אמות אמ"ש בשנה אש ומים ורוח חום נברא מאש קור ממים ורויה מרוח מכריע בינתים

“Three Mothers, אמ"ש, in the human (in Hebrew ‘nefesh’, lit.: ‘soul’, more exactly, ‘vital breath’) are Fire, Water, and Ruah. The Head is created from Fire, the Belly is created from Water, and the Chest (‘gviya’; lit.: ‘body’, ‘torso’) is created from Ruah, which decides between them.” (3:5)
שלש אמות אמ"ש בנפש אש ומים ורוח ראש נברא מאש ובטן נברא ממים וגויה נברא מרוח מכריע בינתים

“He made א king over Ruah, bound a crown to it, and combined one with another (i.e. the letters). And with them sealed Air in the universe, the Saturation in the year, and the Chest in the human; the male with אמ"ש, and the female with אש"ם‎.” (3:7)
המליך אות אל"ף ברוח וקשר לו כתר וצרפן זה עם זה וחתם בהם אויר בעולם ורויה בשנה וגויה בנפש זכר באמ"ש ונקבה באש"ם

Now let's turn to the comments. “Nefesh HaChaim” book of rabbi Chaim of Volozhin contains a section made by Maharitz, speaking very much about אמ"ש. Before considering this subject, Maharitz resolves the contradiction between “Sepher Yetzirah”, which uses the model of three main elements (Fire, Water and Air), and the Book of Zohar, speaking about the four elements: “The Holy One, Blessed be He, when created the world, has created man exactly like Himself and gave him His structure, etc. Rabbi Shimon said: ‘“Come and See: Four are beginnings of the foundations of faith, and they are the fathers of all the worlds, and the mystery of the High Holy Chariot, and those are: Fire, Air (Ruah), Water, Earth (Afar, meaning ‘ashes’). They are the highest secret and they are fathers of all the worlds’” (Zohar, Va'era, 23b).

The original in Aramaic:
דהא קודשא בריך הוא, כד ברא עלמא, עביד ליה לבר נש בדיוקנא דיליה, ואתקין ליה תיקונו וכו. אמר רבי שמעון, תא חזי, ארבע אנון קדמאי רזא דמהימנותא ואינון אבהו דכלהו עלמין, ורזא דרתיכא עלאה קדישא, ואנון אש,רוח,מים,עפר, אלין אינון רזא עלאה, ואלין אינון אבהן דכולהו עלמין וכו'
In Hebrew:
הקב"ה כשברא את העולם עשה את האדם בדיוקנו והתקין אותו בתיקוניו וכו' אר"ש בוא וראה, ארבע הם ראשונות סוד האמונה, והם אבות של כל העולמות וסוד המרכבה העליונה הקדושה, והם: אש, רוח, מים, עפר, אלה הם סוד עליון ואלה הם אבות של כל העולמות וכו' (זוהר כ"ד ע"א)

The contradiction is resolved with another quotation from the Zohar: “Come and see: Fire, Air, Water and Earth are the beginnings and roots from above, upon which the the lower world and the higher world stand... Earth is cold and dry, and thus it accepts all them, and all carry their function in it, and it takes from all of them to bring forth from by their power” (ibid., 24a).

The original in Aramaic:
תא חזי, אש, רוח, מים, עפר, אלין קדמאין ושרשין דלעלא, ותתאין ועלאין עלייהו קימין, ואלין אנון ד', לד' סטרי עלמא וכו'. 'עפר' איהו קר ויבש ועל דא מקבל עליה כולהו, וכלהו עבדי' ביה עבידתיהו ומקבלא מכלהו לאפקה בחילהון
In Hebrew:
בוא וראה, אש, רוח, מים, עפר, אלו הם הראשונים ושרשים שלמעלה, ותחתונים ועליונים עומדים עליהם, ואלה הם ארבעה, לארבעה רוחות העולם. עפר הוא קר ויבש, ועל כן הוא מקבל עליו את כולם וכולם פועלים בו פעולתם ומקבל מכולם כדי להוציא בכוחם

Maharitz writes further: “And this, as said above, the major force that operates in the universe and within man are the three elements: Fire, Air and Water. And by means of Earth element, the operation of these three elements appears in the universe. And also in man, the operation of these three elements appears in the body, whose base is of the Earth.&rdquo

The original of the Maharitz's saying in Hebrew:
והוא כנ"ל, שעקר הפועלים בעולם ובנפש, הם הג' יסודות אש רוח מים, ועל ידי יסוד העפר נגלה כח פעלות הג' יסודין בעולם, וכן בנפש נגלה על ידי גוף האדם שיסודו מעפר פעלת כח הג' יסודות.

Maharitz often uses “forces” word while describing the work of אמ"ש. Furthermore, he uses אמ"ש model for the two directions: vertical and horizontal. He means the following under the vertical direction: using the classical Kabbalistic model of Nefesh, Ruah, Neshama (and Yechida), Maharitz says that the bottom-up movement is classified as Fire category, and the top-down one as Water category. In fact, the Complex approach of King David is described here in other words. While examining the horizontal direction, Maharitz notes that אמ"ש model operates at every of levels, that is Nefesh, Ruah, Neshama.

The next important key to understanding “Sepher Yetzirah” is the comment “Kol Yehuda” to the fourth chapter of “Kuzari”. The author of the comment writes that מ should be replaced with י in אמ"ש , and מ with ה in אש"ם. The result is איש (“ish”, man) and אשה (“isha”, woman). I understand that the sense of this commentary is not clear for all, and, therefore, I'll focus on it more in detail.

איש and אשה

We are so accustomed to these words that many people do not even think about the question, what sense they have themselves. Already in the first chapter the Torah describes the creation of man as “zahar” and “nekeva” (male and female). If all gender differences in humans can be described in “zahar” and “nekeva” words, why did the Torah introduces additional concepts: “ish” and “isha”? In this regard, let's recall the words of “Kuzari” (4:25): “Spoken or written words have certain advantages over each other. In some cases the name fits the object exactly; in others less so. The language created by God, which He taught Adam and placed on his tongue and in hisheart, is without any doubt the most perfect and most fitted to express the things specified”. All of this pushes us to a deeper analysis of the text of the Torah.

We'll start from the differences between the two stories about creation of man. It is said in the first chapter of the Torah, where it refers to the creation of the material world and all, filling it: “So Elohim created man in his own image, in the image of Elohim created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27). “Elohim” name, as we know, symbolizes the manifestation of God as the Creator of the laws of nature, realizing his plan in the world by means of the same laws. As the sages taught, the similarity of the gematria of “Elohim” name and “הטבע” word (Nature) points to this. So, the first chapter of the Torah speaks about creating the human as a biological species, that is, the human, like all in the wildlife, is created as a male and a female. The second chapter of the Torah, telling of the creation of one man and his division into man and woman, has already misled many ones. It is necessary to refer to the Names of God to understand the sense of this story correctly. The name “HaShem10 Elohim” already appears in this chapter. When “HaAhem” name is used in the Torah alone, it symbolizes the supernatural aspect (for example, in the story about the burning bush), that is such manifestation of God in the world, which is not constrained by the laws of nature. But in this chapter “HaShem” name is used not alone, but in combination with the Name “Elohim”, which points to inseparable connection between the Supernatural and the Natural. Is is spoken about man in the singular in namely this context, and the concepts of “ish” and “isha”, appearing in this regard, also speak about going beyond the biological forms.

So, what information the words “ish” and “isha” contain? Let's turn to the text: “...she shall be called אשה, because she was taken out of איש” (Genesis 2:23). The “plain sense” raises many questions. Why אשה was taken out of איש, but the word איש appears in the text only after the word אשה? Why the two letters are common for them, and one is different? Why do different letters occupy different places in the word?

It's the time to return to “Kol Yehuda”. The author of this comment says about identity of אמ"ש and אש"ם concepts in “Sepher Yetzirah” and of איש and אשה concepts in the Torah. If, in אמ"ש word, we shall replace מ letter, symbolizing Water, Cold and Belly (or, rather, underbelly) according to “Sepher Yetzirah”, with י (yud, a symbol of masculinity), we'll get איש word. If, in אש"ם word, we shall replace the same מ letter with ה (hey, a symbol of the feminine), we'll get אשה word. Using this key, we'll be able to understand the said in the Torah with help of “Sepher Yetzirah”, and the said in “Sepher Yetzirah” — with help of the Torah.

If we'll put אמ"ש and אש"ם over the body image, we'll get:

Arrows indicate the sequence of the letters in אמ"ש and אש"ם. What this sequence symbolizes? As stated above, Maharitz calls the אמ"ש “forces”. Hence, here the issue can be either in the sequence of “turning on” of forces, not connected with each other (like traffic lights), or in movement of forces. “Sepher Yetzirah” itself (3:2) points to the correctness of the second understanding, calling the different sequences of three אמ"ש letters “rings”. Yechezkel also points to the movement in a circle in his vision, repeating twice: “...for the spirit (Ruah) of the living creature was in the wheels” (Ezekiel 1:20, 21). Under Maharitz, we can consider this movement at different levels. In this paper, we'll limit ourselves by Nefesh level (according to the classical kabbalistic system) or the energy level (according to the scheme, described in the chapter “The Complex approach of Kind David”).

Let's proceed to the next stage: we shall join אמ"ש and אש"ם schemes.

We see from the figure that the power contact, which began with א, has looped the energy of two beings in one circle, one energy entity. It remains to replace אמ"ש and אש"ם with איש and אשה — and then it becomes clear not only why the Torah speaks in the second chapter about the creation of man in the singular, but also the said after: “Therefore shall a man (ish) leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife (ishto11): and they shall be one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24). “And shall cleave” in Hebrew וידבק, from the noun דבקות (Dvekut), the word used to describe the highest degree of unity. “Shall be one flesh” is a literary translation, the original in Hebrew carries a much deeper sense: “shall be to the united flesh” (לבשר אחד). The preposition “to” indicates directed movement (of energy, emotions, etc.) on the one hand, and makes it impossible to understand this phrase in a physical sense on the other.

So, the given scheme describes the harmony between man and woman, and puts these relationships beyond the scope of biological connection between the two sexes (male and female).

What King Solomon did not know

Anyone knows that King Solomon was the wisest of men have ever lived on earth. In the prime of his life he writes “Mishle” book (“Proverbs”), containing the following words: “There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: the way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man (גבר from the word גבורה: “courage”) with a maid (עלמה‎)” (30:18–19). Indeed, even the wisest man cannot foresee neither the way of an eagle in the sky, nor the way in which a serpent crawls upon a rock, nor the exact path of a ship at sea. The fourth thing is surprising at first glance. It is clear that here cannot be any question of the physical level. But if the energy contact of man and woman can always be described as איש and אשה, then what could be unknown here to King Solomon? We can find the answer to this question also with the help of ”Sepher Yetzirah”.

“He made מ king over Water, bound a crown to it, and combined one with another (i.e. the letters). And with them sealed Earth in the universe, the Cold in the year, and the Belly in the human; the male with מא"ש, and the female with מש"א‎.” (3:8)
המליך אות מ"ם במים וקשר לו כתר וצרפן זה עם זה וחתם בהן ארץ בעולם וקור בשנה ובטן בנפש זכר במא"ש ונקבה במש"א

“He made ש king over Fire, bound a crown to it, and combined one with another. And with them sealed Heaven in the universe, the Hot in the year, and the Head in the human; the male with שמ"א, and the female with שא"ם‎.” (3:9)
המליך אות שי"ן באש וקשר לו כתר וצרפן זה עם זה וחתם בהן שמים בעולם וחום בשנה וראש בנפש זכר בשמ"א ונקבה בשא"ם

Let's represent the read schematically. If we replace מ letter with י or ה according to the said in “Kol Yehuda”, then these letter combinations themselves become meaningful words:

As we can see, the Torah describes the ideal state only, while ”Sepher Yetzirah” gives non-ideal options also. (It is interesting that the brief version of ”Sepher Yetzirah” gives only אמ"ש and אש"ם too.)

Now let's try to represent the combinations of all “male” diagrams with all “women” ones:

אמ"ש + אש"ם

Description: there is an energy exchange; אדם‎ = איש + אשה; everyone feels Shlemut sense (integrity); harmony.

מא"ש + מש"א

Description: there is no energy exchange; he feels the despair, she feels the rise, but there is no feeling of satisfaction.

שמ"א + שא"ם

Description: there is no energy exchange; she feels the devastation, he feels the apogee, but not the hartmony.

מא"ש + אש"ם

Description: the directions of the energy are same, so there is an exchange; he feels the despair, but she feels hereself like Woman.

שמ"א + אש"ם

Description: there is an exchange of energy, however not simultaneous, but sequential; each “gets one's own back” in turn; both feel dependence on each other; when he gives her a chance to feel herself like woman, then he feels easy despair himself, but at another time she lets him to feel himself at the top level.

שמ"א + מש"א

Description: “on a razor's edge” — every time the relations lead either to harmony, or to conflict.

מא"ש + שא"ם

Description: he feels the despair, she feels the devastation at the end, with the conflict in the process; both unhappy: “they make a pair”.

אמ"ש + מש"א

Description: there is an exchange of energy, but there is no harmony and easiness; everyone “stays himself”; the energy moves in an infinite circle, causing some feeling of tiredness (due to descend on the front line, reminding the movement on אש"ם).

אמ"ש + שא"ם

Description: there is an energy exchange, and he feels like man, but she feels the devastation.

”Sepher Yetzirah” says itself about the fact, that the real states of man stand behind permutations of the letters: “...and the circle rotates forward and backward, and this is the sign: there is no good higher than Oneg (ענג: ‘pleasure, delight’), and there is no evil lower than Nega (נגע: ‘wound, damage, misfortune’).” (2:4)
וחוזר הגלגל פנים ואחור וזהו סימן לדבר אין בטובה למעלה מעונג ועין ברעה למטה מנגע
As we see, both words ענג and נגע consists of the same letters, but “the circle rotates forward and backward”. In the same way “six rings” אמ"ש describe six directions of the energy in man: three in him and three in she.

Now the words of King Solomon: “I know not... the way of a man with a maid” become understandable for us. Indeed, the flow of energy is such a thing which is hidden from our eyes, and it is impossible to identify it with a person's appearance. This problem stands not only before the King Solomon.

What does it depend on?

What can it depend on, according which type the energy flows in a person?

1. On the harmony between parents.
Rabbi Yoel Schwartz writes in his book “Secrets of a happy marriage” (p. 9): [It's incorrect: I don't know the page in English translation, if it exists! — Daniel Alievsky] “Also Kabbalah teaches a very important thing, that each of intimacies between man and woman, even if a child was not conceived from it, still gives birth to spiritual forces, that are a (specific) kind of souls”. [It can be incorrect: I didn't find this book in Egnlish! — Daniel Alievsky] First, let's consider a variant when the intimacy was crowned by conceiving a child (a more detailed analysis of the rabbi Y. Schwartz's sentence will be given below). The rabbi's words can be understood in the following way: as the physical intimacy joins a spermatozoid and an ovule and thuslays foundation for the development, so the accompanying emotional and energeticcontact lays foundation for energy profile of the future person. Are you acquainted with “fruit of love” expression? Its meaning is that a person, born in harmony (referring to the moment of conception and beyond), is a bearer of this harmony, thereby is exciting an intuitive sympathy among the surroundings. The Torah teaches that there are kinds of intimate relationships, that can give rise to such handicap, which will not be blotted out over many generations of descendants. I'll give only two examples: incest and illegitimate child (this subject can be learned more completely from the Torah). Incest is intimate relationships between close relatives, forbidden by the Torah. The story of two daughters of Lot, which became pregnant by their father, can be an example of incest (and with pure intentions). The nations Amon and Moab came from them. Illegitimate child (mamzer) is someone born by a married woman from another man. That's what Torah commands Jews: “A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD. Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever” (Deuteronomy 23:2–3). The sages taught (Talmud Yevamos, 76a) that “enter into the congregation” expression means a permission to enter into a marriage with them. Of course, these people are not guilty that they were born like that, but even more their potential spouses are not guilty...

2. On the season of birth.
Really, much is laid at the moment of conception, but it's possible to talk about “a full-fledged human” only after the birth. The Talmud teaches these things by reviewing painful issues concerning life and death: until what moment, while difficult childbirth, the feticide is permissible to save the mother's life (Rashi on Sanhedrin 72b); is a delay provided for the period of childbirth of a pregnant woman, condemned to death by a court decision (Arachin 1:4; Tosephta, ibid (1:4), the Babylonian Talmud at the same place, 7a; see also Nazir, 51a). In the discussed context, the words of the sages (especially Rashi, who believed we cannot yet talk about Nefesh before the head comes into the world) can be interpreted as follows: the foetus is like a mother's part in the mother's womb. During this period, his relationship with the outside world on the physical, energetic and emotional level are carrying out only through the mother. Since the birth moment, his relationship with the outside world becomes direct, which means that from that moment the person becomes directly affected by external forces. We can recall here such seasons as Cold, Hot, and Temperate, and all that “Sepher Yetzirah” says in this regard.

3. On the initial thought at the moment of meeting.
Let's recall that, according to Maharitz, אמ"ש can work vertically. Now let's try to correlate this model with another model, used in “Nefesh HaChaim” book, namely:
    Sehel (שכל: intelligence) — Regesh (רגש: feelings, emotions) — Guf (גוף: body).
We come to the following correspondences:
    ש‎‎ — ראש (“rosh”, head)‎ — שכל — intelligence, logic, calculation;
    א‎ — רויה (“ruah”)‎ — רגש — emotional attraction;
    מ‎ — בטן (“beten”, belly)‎ — גוף — physical (sexual) attraction.
The sequence of inner experiences of the person himself depends on a “letter”, from which the attraction to a partner begins, and the harmony of the following relationships depends on the mutual correspondence of the scenarios. Let me remind that there are only six scenarios (three for the male sex and three for the female) and their combinations. The reader can easily complete the details himself.

Note. Here it is useful to recall that Jewish tradition gives preference to an introduction with an assistance of a third person before an accidental encounter. Such introduction supposes a possibility of pre-setting for a crucial meeting, that is absent while a meeting by accident.

4. On the first intimacy.
Let's start the conversation with a seeming contradiction in the Tanakh: intimate relationships are not considered as sin themselves, yet virgins (man and woman) stand as symbols of purity and chastity. To resolve this contradiction, let's suppose that the energy circulates in a circle before the first intimacy, like in Adam before the division into man and woman. A tendency to a certain flow of energy is already beginning to appear in the period between pubescence and the first intimacy under the influence of the listed factors, but it is still not final. It is the first intimacy breaks the circle of energy: from that moment the person becomes not self-sufficient in terms of energy, and one of the types of energy movement, described in “Sepher Yetzirah”, is fixed in him/her. The Scriptures hints at this to us, speaking of the foremother Rivka: “...a virgin, neither had any man known her” (Genesis 24:16). Here is Rashi's commentary to this sentence: “‘a virgin’: at her maidenhood (ממקום בתולים); ‘neither had any man known her’: [she had no] unnatural relations (שלא כדרכה). Since the gentile maidens guard their maidenhood and are promiscuous in unnatural ways (ממקום אחר), Scripture therefore testifies about her that she was innocent of all this.” We can conclude from Rashi's words, that intimacy, even with preserving the hymen, changes the state of energy in the organism. A lot of factors affect a person at that moment: environment, energy of the partner, personal spirits, etc. And later the person carries the given energy “impress“ for life. And after this it is very difficult then to hope to find another partner to match him energy-wise.

Probably the knowledge of these things can explain the fact, that the forefather Avraham sent a caravan for Rivka and did not take a bride for his son from the daughters of Lot, even despite that Rivka's family worshiped idols, but Lot, a nephew of Avraham, was one of the few monotheists at that time. Hence, it is easier to correct the world outlook than the flow of energy.

I have listed four answers to the formulated question in this chapter. Which one is more important, which is less — I do not know. I think that it is more important to know the answer to the following question.

Is it possible to change the nature of my energy?

“Sepher Yetzirah”, as we saw above, describes the laws of the universe as an objective reality, but does not say about an ability to change anything. Another source tells about this: the midrash about the dispute of Avraham and Nimrod (B'reshith Rabba, 38). Not by accident both “Sepher Yetzirah” and this midrash are associated with Avraham's name: they seem to supplement each other.

Here is a summary of the midrash. Nimrod commands Avraham to worship the fire. Avraham replied: “Do not the water puts off the fire?” Nimrod offers to worship the water, on which Avraham notes: “The cloud carries the water.” Nimrod agrees and offers to worship the cloud. Avraham continues: “The wind (Ruah) scatters the clouds.” And on an offer to worship the wind, he objects: “The human withstands the wind.” Nimrod does not stand up and orders to throw Avraham into the fire, but Avraham goes out of the fiery furnace alive and unharmed.

Before we'll proceed to the analysis of the midrash, I remind that as far back as Rambam warned against a literal understanding Haggadah (Midrash) on one side and a neglectful relation to it on the other (see the preface to “Pereq Helek”).

Now let's try to ponder over the meaning of our midrash. What does the offering to worship the fire mean? To fall on the knees in front of a candle or to make bows to a gas burner? It is clear that here is speaking about recognizing the power of the Fire Element, that is about the metaphysical root of the physical fire. Similarly, all other terms, used in the dispute by forefather Avraham, should be understood not as physical forces of nature, but as their metaphysical roots, and they should be written with a capital letter: Fire, Water, Cloud, Ruah (Wind), Human. Do you not seem strange the presence here of all three — Fire, Water, Ruah — elements of the universe (according to “Sepher Yetzirah”)? I draw your attention also to another oddity, emphasizing the absurdity of a literal understanding of the midrash: is the human body really withstands the wind most successfully? Is a tree or a brick house not better in this regard? What does the cloud indicate? I do not know. Possibly, it corresponds to the eastern Tree Element, which also has an ability to carry water. And it's possible that the cloud is only a literary device used to make the story concise in its simple perception. (We should not forget that an external form of this kind of Jewish wisdom is legend, proverb, fairy tale.)

We see that both the worldview of Nimrod and the worldview of Avraham are based on the same foundation: the teaching about the basic elements of the universe. Their positions differ only in one: in the question about abilities of human. Can a human influence to metaphysical processes? Avraham's answer: yes! This idea is not obvious for Nimrod. In his opinion, it is logical Avraham to confirm his rightness with an experiment, because if the idea is true, it should work in the same way both on the metaphysical and on the physical level (remember the Maharitz's words that אמ"ש operates at every of levels).

Avraham's victory in the dispute with Nimrod gives us a hope that a human can change his energy nature. By the way, this midrash has a supplement: “After Avraham came from the furnace unharmed, Haran (his brother) entered into the fire and had burned down there.” Perhaps this end hints at the fact that only the faith (in the human's ability to change his energy nature) is not enough, he also needs the knowledge how to do this.

Each intimacy gives birth to a soul

We are returning to studying Rabbi Yoel Schwartz's book “Secrets of a happy marriage”: “Also Kabbalah teaches a very important thing, that each intimacy between a man and a woman, even if a child was not conceived in it, still gives birth to spiritual forces, which are a (certain) kind of souls. And so the intimacy was not in vain even for those, who were not awarded to give birth to a child. Based on this, (the sages) explained the following, as stated in the Torah: Avraham is ‘a father of many nations’ (Genesis 17:5), and he is not only their spiritual father (as he has become the father of the mankind in matters of faith in God because he propagated it around the world), but he is still, in a sense, the actual father of those geirs, who take giyur, and (it's said) about them that everyone, taking giyur, adds a spiritual level to his soul, — and this level is the result of intimacy of Avraham and Sarah, which they carried for tens of years before Sarah had become pregnant and had given birth to Yitzchak.” Each intimacy gives birth to independent immaterial essence, which, in other words, is called soul. At first glance, the said above contradicts the words of the sages that three are involved into the birth: father, mother and God, who gives the soul (treatise “Kidushin” 30b). As a result, it is unclear what is the soul: God's gift or the product of parents' intimacy. This contradiction is resolved simply: we are talking about different levels of the soul. The soul — the gift of God — is a bearer of such qualities as the desire to do good, aspiration to justice, etc. The soul from the parents is an emotional-energy formation. The parents' soul together with the body forms the vessel, to which the Divine soul descends. It sometimes happens that a very pure and lofty Divine soul descends into a harmonious parents' soul (for example, King Solomon), and sometimes — into disharmonious parents' soul (for example, King David). The sages taught this (Vayikra Rabba, 38): “Rabbi Aha interpreted: David said this in front of the Lord: ‘Lord of the Universe, Yishai did not intend to create me, he only satisfied his passion. And as soon as the passion had been satisfied, the father turned his face to one side, and the mother — to another. And You has collected every drop.’ And about this David said: ‘When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.’ (Psalm 27:10)”. Perhaps the sages wanted to explain to us with this Midrash, how the same man has become the author of such lofty book as “Tehilim” (“Psalms”) and had sinned with another man's wife at the same time. We can also understand from the words of Rabbi Yoel, that in the cases, when conception has not occurred, a bundle of energy (the parents' soul) is still formed in space.

We are continuing to quote Rabbi Yoel: “We can teach in the opposite direction in the same manner, how difficult are (the consequences) of an intimacy, prohibited by the Law of God, and also the emission of semen in vain; they create negative spiritual forces in the world, that cause various harm, especially to who generated these forces. Often a person suffers from these forces, even without understanding why (different types of bad) things happen with him, — we are talking about this world. But the main harm is inflicted to a person by these forces after the death, when they (forces-souls) chase his soul and cause it suffering, which is considered a part of the suffering of Hell” (ibid.). [It can be incorrect: I didn't find this book in Egnlish! — Daniel Alievsky] We can conclude from reading that an intimacy not only with a real partner, but also with a virtual one (as in the case of spilling semen in vain, when warming up himself with fantasies of partner) gives birth to an independent emotional-energy essence, which can be called the souls of the lowest order. These souls are not just come into the world, but are able to return good for good or evil for evil to their parents.

All this leads us to think seriously about the importance of purity of thoughts while intimacy. For this reason, we'll give a passage from the Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu's book “The Road to Purity”:

“Nine cases of prohibited intimacy between spouses are listed in the Talmud (Nedarim 20b), in which children with vicious tendencies can be conceived. These includes sexual relationship:

  1. Against the wishes of the wife.
  2. In a case when the husband hates his wife.
  3. In a case when the husband or the wife are separated from community.
  4. In a case when the husband, during sexual intercourse with his wife, is thinking that he carries intimacy with another woman (‘substitution’).
  5. In a case when the wife does not want to stay married.
  6. In a state of alcohol intoxication.
  7. In a case when the husband is going to divorce his wife.
  8. In a case when the husband or the wife, during sexual intercourse, are thinking about other partners also (‘mixing’).
  9. In a case when the wife is openly (in words) expressing the requirement of sexual intimacy.

According views of some authorities, this group also includes:

  1. In a case when the wife is sleeping during sexual intercourse.

They spoke about children, born as a result of such prohibited sexual relations, that they are like “mamzers” (born of adultery), although, of course, they are not “mamzers”. And while the destiny of such children, of course, is not predetermined (it is not necessary that they will become villains or criminals), yet they will have strong vicious tendencies, and the righteous life will be difficult for them.” [It can be incorrect: I didn't find this book in Egnlish for free! — Daniel Alievsky]

Intimacy for the conception and intimacy for strengthening the family

The first commandment of the Torah, given to all humanity, is: “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth...” (Genesis 1:28). In other words, there is a commandment of God to bring children into the world. As the minimum, this commandment is considered to be fulfilled when a man gave birth to at least one boy and one girl. The maximum is not specified. I hope the way to fulfil the commandment is already known to the reader. (Even those, who will think of the artificial insemination, will agree that it is not comparable to the natural one in quantitative terms.) Not only people, but also animals know how to “be fruitful and multiply”. For they and others it is associated with having delight, which acts as a such powerful stimulus that it becomes an end in itself for many. (Note that, according to the Written and Oral Torah, the sexual delight is at the second place in the force of sensations after the delight, felt by a man at the time of getting a prophecy. The idolatry was an attempt to artificially get such delight. More information can be found in the book “Torat ha-Sehel”.) So, for animals the sexual delight is the highest of the available pleasures, and continuation of the species would stop in nature without it (see the Talmud story about withdrawal of Yetser ha-Min from the world (“Avodah Zarah” treatise)). No one registered yet that animals are driven by recognition of duty to bring a living soul into the world. As for the human, he is able to choose for himself very different models of behaviour in the given situation, and an ability to behave like animalis always preserved for him. The Torah, seeking to develop pure and lofty feelings in a person, however not only doesn't prohibit the intimacy, but, if it is carried out with the aim of conceiving a child, consider it fulfilling the will of God (mitzvah). According to the Torah, intimacy is not a sin, and getting delight from it is also not a sin.

On the other hand, Jewish law warns: “The sperm is the energy of the body and the light of the eyes. When too much is ejected, the body is destroyed and his life is lost. Any one who is addicted to having sex, old age comes upon him. His power fades, his eyes darken... Many other troubles apart from these come upon him. The wisest of the doctors said, One out of a thousand die out of all ill people, and that a thousand is from too much sex. Therefore a person should be careful.” (“Kitzur Shulchan Aruch”, 150:17).

Maybe only intimacy to conception is justified, but not to conception is prohibited? No. An example of this is an intimacy with the pregnant wife. “Our sages said: The first three months intercourse is hard for the woman and hard for the fetus, the middle is hard for the woman and good for the fetus, the last (3 months) is good for the woman and good for the fetus, for due to this it comes out white and quickly” (“The Road to Purity”, Part 3, Ch. 16; “Kitzur Shulchan Aruch”, 150:9). This intimacy is no longer needed for the conception, so for what is it? Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu (“The Road to Purity”, ibid.) answers: “Thus, although the wife is pregnant, the husband fulfils the commandment of sexual intimacy”. [It can be incorrect: I didn't find this book in Egnlish for free! — Daniel Alievsky] The Torah separates the regular marital intimacy as an independent commandment, not always tied to the commandment to be fruitful and multiply: “...her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish” (Exodus 21:10). Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu comments this so: “When a man wants to advance in godly behaviour, he must understand that in so doing he must not abandon the actual law of the Torah and Sages even one iota, both in regard to himself and in regard to his relationship with his wife. And so, those who refuse to fulfil the commandments of the consummation of the marriage, specified in the Torah, from their ‘godly considerations’, will be responsible for it” (“The Road to Purity”, Part 3, Ch. 19). [It can be incorrect: I didn't find this book in Egnlish for free! — Daniel Alievsky] And also: “If a husband feels that his wife is trying to please him and is dressing up to draw his attention to her, he must enter into intimacy with her” (ibid.). [It can be incorrect: I didn't find this book in Egnlish for free! — Daniel Alievsky] The reverse situation is also considered in Jewish law: “If a man sees, that his own sexual desires prevail over him, and fears, that he will think about other women or that spilling his sperm in vain will occur, he can enter into intimacy with his wife.” In this case, the wife needs to go towards meeting her husband this time. An example of this is the story from the Talmud (Ketubot, 65a) about that the widow Abaey came to the Rava's court. Rava felt attracted to her and, to cope with himself, ran home (in the middle of the day) and asked his wife (a daughter of Rabbi Hisdy) to enter into intimacy with him.

Summing up:

  1. According to the Torah law, the intimacy to conceive a child (which also strengthens the family) and the intimacy for family strengthening is recommended.
  2. The main reason of restrictions, recommended by the sages, in the allowed (or rather, commanded by God) intimacy, is the loss of sperm by the man seed and the resulting loss of vitality.

The proposed solution: intimacy without sperm emission in the cases, when the intimacy is carried out not for conceiving a child.

It is interesting that the word שכב (“[he] lay”) occurs in the Tanakh more than two hundred times, in the sexual sense among them — less than fifty, and only in four cases it is said: “lay with the emission of seed”. Here are these places. “The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the even” (Leviticus 15:18). “Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour's wife, to defile thyself with her” (Leviticus 18:20). “And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free” (Leviticus 19:20). “And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner...” (Numbers 5:13). In other cases, when the Scripture uses “lay” word, nothing is talked about the emission of seed. They may object me that the logical principle of “equal cut” from the Baraita of Rabbi Ishmael is used here: as well as in the cases when it's stated that he lay with the emission of seed, in the cases when it's simply said “lay” (but the emission of seed is not mentioned) the emission of seed it also meant. For example, in the story of David and Bathsheva (2 Samuel 11:4) Scripture does not speak directly about the emission of seed, but then the text says about the pregnancy. I answer with the question: for what reason this logical principle applies only to the 50 cases, but not to all 200? As not all lying implies the emission of seed, so not every intimacy must necessarily imply the emission of seed. Perhaps another logical principle is more applicable here: “how much more”. Then the conclusion can sound so: if the intimacy without emission of seed is prohibited by the Torah, all the more it is prohibited with emission of seed. And the four cases, mentioned above, carry some additional information that requires more careful study.

Tikun ha-Brit for married ones

Let me give some practical tips to help a man not to emit the seed during the intimacy to strengthen the family:

  1. stop when feeling the approach of erection;
  2. half go out (to avoid pressure on the pubic bone);
  3. squeeze the sphincter of the urethra (at the end of the penis) as much as possible and pull the energy through the loin on the spine upward to the crown of the head;
  4. if it failed to appease the wave of excitement, you should press with three fingers of the hand (forefinger, middle and ring) the place, where the spermaduct connects to the urethra, by pushing between the scrotum and the anus — either until the complete ceasing of the “pulse”, or until returning control of yourself.

In any case, you should continue to stay inside for the reason, that if a drop of sperm still will leak, it will come into the vagina and will not be considered to be emitted in vain.

A few advices for maintaining and strengthening the male power

1. In the Tanakh the representatives of the male are called “pissing against the wall” in six places (1 Samuel 25:22, 34; 1 Kings 14:10, 16:11, 21:21; 2 Kings 9:8). Here is a hint that the jet should be strong. For this reason, it is recommended:
a) to piss in the standing position only;
b) to launch the jet, stronger as possible;
c) for more loads, to piss while standing on the toes.
This will make it possible to strengthen and improve the entire genito-urinary system.

2. It is useful to do abrupt stops during urination, strongly squeezing the sphincter of the urethra. You can repeat it several times during one visit to the toilet. The exercise will help to strengthen the sphincter, which will be useful while intimacy.

WITH GOD'S HELP, TIKUN HA-BRIT IS FINISHED!

Applications

Application 1. Women's commandments

We are living now in an epoch of post-feminism. Feminism is a movement for women's equal rights with men, crept over all civilized world in the XIX–XX centuries. It has forced reconsideration of the role of women in society and family. The merits of this movement are very large. But, of course, there were local excesses. So, besides women — members of the Government and women-astronauts, also women — asphalt layers, women-weightlifters, etc. appeared. Incidentally, trousers for women in Europe and America have come out just to erase the distinction between man and woman, but not because “it is convenient”.

It is now obvious to many that the Divine Spark of feminism is in the fact that woman has become able to realize her creative, business and other abilities, and that she is appreciated by men at true value, but does not try to become similar to them. The men and the women have different functions in the world, and because of this — different duties. Thus, “according a general principle (of the Jewish law), women are exempt from the those positive commandments, fulfilment of which is connected with a concrete time” (the Siddur “Gates of Prayer” by Machanaim, Introduction). Woman is exempt from the commandments to wear tefillin, to wear tzitzit at the edges of clothing, to sleep in the sukkah, and many others.

It is interesting that the commandment to be fruitful and multiply, too, “is no concern” of women. I see the astonishment on your face and shall quote Rambam to strengthen the effect: “Women are exempt from this mitzvah, as our Sages said explicitly (Talmud, Yevamos, 65b): ‘Men have the obligation to be fruitful and multiply, not women’” (Rambam, Book of Commandments, commandment 212). Do not think that men are able to multiply without women ☺.

The Talmud explains that the woman has a physical necessity to “give life”, so it's not necessary to command her this. It is not accidentally that not Adam ha-Rishon, but just his wife takes the name Chava, because she was the mother of all living (Genesis 3:20). Listen, how lofty is sounding: “because she was the mother...”

Below is what “Midrash Tanhuma” says about Noah chapter: “Thus have our masters taught us: Women die during childbirth for failure to observe three duties decreed in the Torah. These are: The duty with regard to menstruation (Niddah); the duty of the levy of dough (Challah); and the duty of lighting the Shabbath lights”. [It is quoted from Google Books — Daniel Alievsky] I recall that the midrash is a figurative understanding of the words of the Torah. Midrash is a virtual model. You should represent it and should not understand literally. Then how to understand “women die during childbirth”, and how are these three commandments saving? She “dies” for everyone except the child. The child becomes the main, and for many women the only value. It's so natural. Is it really bad that a woman commits herself to the children? But there is a counter-question: why do the sages use the word “die” in this case? And what does not allow to “die”? Fulfilment of the so-called “women's commandments”. Niddah (laws of purity of the intimate relations) is a symbol of the wife's duty to her husband. Challah (symbolic separating a piece of dough; at the time of the Temple, this bread was separated not symbolically and was given to Kohanim) is a symbol of woman's duties to the society. And finally, the lighting of Shabbath candles is a symbol of duties before God. Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau writes in the book “Practical Judaism”: “The abbreviation of their titles (hadlakat neroth, challah, niddah) is the word HaCHeN (charm, sympathy)”. [It can be incorrect: I didn't find this book in Egnlish for free! — Daniel Alievsky] I can only wish to all women: Be charming!

Application 2. Ruah concept

One of the fundamental concepts in the teachings of the East is that which is called “Tzi” in China, “Chi” in Vietnam, “Ki” in Japan (depending on pronunciation). What is meant by this word?

“Ki is the world-forming energy which also lies at the core of each human being, waiting to be realized and actualized... The original idea of ki developed as a metaphysical principle in a number of Chinese schools of thought. Ki was, for example, the essential principle of harmony, and it was the source of creativity expressed in the form of yin and yang (Lao-tzu), the vital fullness of life (Huai-nan-tzu), the courage arising from moral rectitude (Mencius), the divine force that penetrates all things (Kuan-tzu). As a term, it was never clearly defined. Sometimes it was equated to empty space (the void) or nothingness (Lao-tzu), at other times to the formative energy emerging out of chaos (Chuang-tzu). It was regarded by some philosophers as a dualistic principle that structures the universe.” (Kisshōmaru Ueshiba, the book “The Spirit of Aikido”).

However, representatives of eastern teachings can not answer the question about the origin of “Ki” doctrine. Kisshōmaru Ueshiba expresses the generally accepted opinion: “When ancient people used their intellectual and imaginative powers to discern the workings of the universe, the source of all life, they came up with the concept of ki.” And we found no more details about those “ancient people”.

In recent years, many people say that all the teachings come from the one Divine Source.

For Jews, the Divine Truth manifests itself in the form of the Torah. And the thing, called “Ki” at the East, is called by the word “Ruah” in the Torah.

“Ruah” word have the following meanings in the Tanakh (taken from the Tanakh Concordance edited by A. Even-Shoshan):
a) air movement;
b) the soul of all living things, the soul;
c) feeling, inspiration;
d) vanity, emptiness, nothing;
e) side.
The word “Ki”, that widened the vocabulary of a civilized human, is multi-aspect too: “Since we lack a precise equivalent, the translation will depend on the emphasis we place on the diverse dimensions of Ki. That is, we can stress the spiritual aspect (spirit, soul, ethos), the affective aspect (sense, intuition, feeling), or the psycho-physiological aspect (breathing, breath).” (Kisshōmaru Ueshiba, “The Spirit of Aikido”).

It is also interesting to note that both “Ruah” and “Ki” have no personality nature, in contrast to the Christian understanding of the word “Spirit”.

What role is given to a person in all this teaching?

The Japanese see two aspects here:

1) Achieving the personal harmony with the world via “Ki”.

Thus, the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, speaks about this in the following verse:

Standing amidst heaven and earch
Connected to all things with ki,
My mind is set
On the path of echoing all things.

2) Transmission of “Ki” through yourself further, on purpose to harmonize another person or situation (Reiki).

This issue is elucidated in Judaism in the following way. HaRan (Rabbi Nissim ben Reuven), while analyzing the verse of the Torah (Deuteronomy 8:18), writes: “‘But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth’ — it is not said: ‘But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee wealth’. And if so, the power given to man — it is the cause and means to achieve wealth, but it is not so. Therefore it is said: “Thou have gotten this might with thine forces, remember the Giver of the force, Blessed be He.’” [It can be incorrect: I didn't find HaRan's texts in Egnlish! — Daniel Alievsky] (It is clear that the word “wealth” should be understood in a wide sense.)

You see that the Jewish approach differs from the east one, according to which the source of power is not personified. As Zen monk Takuan writes (1573–1645): “Penetrating to a place where heaven and earth have not yet divided, where Yin and Yang have not yet arrived, I quickly and necessarily gain effect.” I.e. the only personality in this process is a man. But Judaism insists that there is another person “in this game”: God! And it means that He gives “power” to man, but not serves him as only “raw materials base”.

In addition, if we are dealing with Person and if we are depending on Him, so we are interested in a dialogue with Him, and the only form of dialogue with God is the observance of His commands (commandments).

It is also necessary to note that God is not only the source of “Ruah–Ki”, but also the source of information about “Ruah–Ki” (exactly God, not people, as stated in one of the quotes above). We do not know for sure, when God gave people this knowledge and how it was spreaded on Earth, but maybe the following will help us to settle this matter.

It is said in the Torah that the forefather Avraham, before his death, sends all his children except Yitzchak (Ishmael is not mentioned in this passage) to the East with the gifts. The Midrash says that the gifts in question are the teachings of the East. Perhaps here is a connection to the theme, touched above.

  1. Midrash is a figurative model, based on which the man can understand one of aspects of the world structure. In other words, Midrash is a divine idea, shaped in the form of a fairy tale. “Midrash Rabba” was written by sages, the authors of the Talmud, in the IV century.
  2. Ejaculation is necessary for family relationships with only a goal to conceive a child. A man can get sexual pleasure without ejaculation (this will be discussed in the second half of the book).
  3. Quoting someone's words, I don't try to give some estimates to the author in any way, but only use someone's ability to formulate an idea, which dominated many people. And it does not even matter what the author thought, expressing a particular idea. Being born by someone, an idea lives by an independent life.
  4. Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam are translated by Vlanes from the Russian book «From Omar Khayyam to Ecclesiastes» by German Plisetski (Герман Плисецкий, От Омара Хайама до Экклезиаста, “Фортуна Лимитед”, Москва, 2001).
  5. To imagine the scales of the tragedy, remember that in a story with the golden calf “only” 3,000 people perish (Exodus 32:28).
  6. Listing the descendants is started with the word “Toldot” usually, and at this point the Torah says about Noah himself.
  7. Seventy faces of Torah is a symbol of all true knowledge about the world and about man, compressed by God into a relatively short text: the Written Torah. This knowledge can be obtained by analyzing the text of the Torah in different ways. Thus, it is emphasized that the Divine reality, embodied in the world or reflected in the Torah, has only “seventy faces” and not “how many people, so many opinions”.
  8. Besides “Kavod” word, Tanakh uses also a number of terms related to energy, such as the Ruah, Oz, Koah, Hail, Tuma, Tahora.
  9. Over the centuries, Jewish sages struggled with the literal understanding, among the people, anthropomorphisms used in the Torah in relation to God. Now no one interprets such expressions as “Hand of God” and “Eye of God” literally. The problem, acute in our time, is interpretation of some terms of the Torah in form of abstract concepts. This delusion is not less dangerous than the previous one, because it makes the Torah, in people's eyes, from the description of the Divine order of the world into an abstract system, God forbid! It is necessary to understand that such words as Ruah, Shekhinah, Kavod, Tuma, Tahora and others are terms, which indicate objectively existing phenomena.
  10. This intends the unutterable Four-letter Name, called the Tetragrammaton.
  11. “Ishto” is the same thing as “isha shelo”, that is, “his wife”.

Tishri 5770

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