The Torah teaches that Israel is not under the "mazalot", the astrological influences. What exacly are these influences?

Know this well. “The mazalot influence in the nefesh [which is the yetzer hara itself] is truly noteworthy, for the mazalot are under the dominion of the malachim [angels], ‘which are as souls to the stars’ [R’ Yitzchak Abarbanel z”l on Devarim 18:24], which operate directly under the Divine guidance. As the mazalot control the ‘fundamental elements’ [i.e, earth, water, air, and fire] and the nefesh is imbued of these elements, the power of control exerted by the mazalot is truly formidable and natural, to wit, instinctive… And for each attribute of the nefesh there is as much a good aspect and an evil one; and as the nefesh resides in the blood, and it fills the whole of the body, each organ of the body is differently irrigated by this blood, and in accordance of its physical and spiritual characteristics, receiving this nefesh influence as well” (R’ Avraham Chachamovits, “A Bondade para Avraham”, Bereshit). This control the mazalot exert over the nefesh cannot ever be underestimated! Regarding this it is written that, “In the center of the Firmament there is a bright path. This is the ‘firmament’s serpent’ [called Shvil HaChalav, the ‘Milky Way’], which controls 12 mazalot. There are an infinite number of stars on that path, and they are grouped together in condensations of small stars, which are so dense they seem having their own form, as infinite mountains. Each one of these stars is connected to an angel. The groups of angels connected to each one of the 12 constellations have the task to ‘coarse’ the souls born under that constellations, pre-conditioning them to certain behaviors and transgressions in accordance to the nature of each constellation” (Based on the Zohar I:125a-b, Chaiye Sarah). This means that, the person’s natural characteristics, a product of his body and soul, are impelled to be manifested – through the soul’s levushim [garments], to wit, thought, speech, and action – in accordance to the measure and strength of influence from the mazalot. This occurs in the same manner that, for example, the mazalot influence the development of harvests, impelling the earth to reveal its natural and necessary power for the plants to grow, while the plants themselves receive the blessing for this exact growth, as it is written: “Even a blade of grass here below possesses a [spiritual component which is the] mazal above which controls and touches it, and in an imperative way commands it: ‘Grow!’” (Bereshit Rabah 10:6; cf. Zohar I:251a, Pekude; Rambam, Moreh Nevuchim II:10; Tanya, Iggeret HaKodesh §20, end; Tanya, Iggeret HaKodesh §8). That means, “Hashem offers the kedusha for each blade of grass, so that each one may have a ‘spiritual component’ – a kedusha which is offered to the physical world to reside in that particular blade of grass” (R’ Shmuel Halevi of Köeln z”l, Machatzit HaShekel [on the subject of the Bereshit Rabah 10:6] commentary on the Maguen Avraham, R’ Avraham Abele z”l. Cf. the Ari”zal, Likkutei Torah, Devarim 8:3) which allows it to express its natural tendencies. Therefore, it is necessary to understand that the mazalot are an important channel connecting kedusha and the physical level of Creation. This channel favors the Divine Providence to descent towards the world. In fact, G-d’s providence operates through the angels who work through the stars and planets.

Now, once the tendencies of each man are manifested in accordance to the mazalot influences and his yetzer hara, he will need to choose with his sechel if his life’s path will be traversed with a pompous and affected walk of one who ignores G-d and lives only to serve these natural influences and debased desires, or contrary to that, he will seek to align himself humbly to the laws of Torah, so as to walk in a straight and dignified manner, worthy of a being with a holy soul. And as our Sages explain, “Who is strong? He who subjugates him yetzer hara” (Pirkei Avot 4:1). And how to subjugate it? Remembering that, “The yetzer hara can be compared to an iron rod over the flames of a strong fire. While it is over the fire, the object can be molded into any form the person desires. Such is the yetzer hara which can be subjugated through the words of Torah, which are as a fire” (Avot d’Rebi Natan 16:4), for as it is written, “The L-rd your G-d é a consuming fire” (Devarim 4:24), and “G-d and His Torah are one” (Zohar II:85b, Yitro).

Therefore, we see that one’s decisions have great impact on his physical and spiritual, for “know that exactly corresponding to the impulses of man here are the influences which he attracts to himself from above. If his impulse is towards the side of kedusha, he attracts to himself the kedusha from above and in this manner, he sanctifies himself. However, if his tendency is towards the side of impurity, then he brings a impure spirit down to himself, and becomes thus polluted and blemished” (Zohar I:125b, Chaiye Sarah).

Thus, choosing is a vital activity, for in the first case, man is subjugated and becomes enslaved by the cold stars and planets, and his destiny is thus set. While in the second, he establishes a direct contact with Hashem in accordance to the spiritual law: “You shall be perfect with the L-rd your G-d” (Devarim 18:13); thus being subjugated only by the Ribono Shel Olam and remaining completely ignorant his future, which after all, will depend on his actions here and on the Divine mercy! Now we understand the Talmudic dictum, Ein Mazal L’Israel (Shabat 156a) to be interpreted by the holy Ba’al Shem Tov as Ayin Mazal L’Israel, to wit, contrary to the non-Jew and his connection with destiny, the Jewish connection is direct and unique with the level of Ayin, the ‘Divine Nothing’, allowing for a complete transcendence of the lower level of the mazalot. As explained by HaRav Yitzchak Ginsburgh שליט"א, “The Ari’zal reveals in the Etz Chayim that the non-Jewish astrology only reaches up to the 12 constellations or signs of astrology, but there are many other levels above that one. The highest level is the 12 permutations of the Name of G-d Havayah. Only the Jewish People is connected to this level. In being connected to this level, they have the power to recreate, for the name Havayah signifies ‘creation continues’”. Hence, “Israel’s own destiny is an eternal and indefinable state of Ayin. Only its connection to the Ayin Sof exists, with this abstract Origen, and from this Origen only this people [which does not accept the mazalot] depends and persists” (Ibid. “A Bondade para Avraham”). As G-d cannot be defined, the destiny of the Jew cannot be defined. And this is the greatest gift for this people having accepted the Torah – its true freedom.

ETZ L'SHLIACH - Rabbi Avraham Chachamovits's new book in English

Today, Rosh Chodesh Iyar, is the Yarzheit of Rabbi Chayim Vital zt"l, the greatest talmid of the Ari"zal our holy teacher, and my spiritual guide.

Exactly today, my first English book was unveiled in the Unites States, at the site www.seforimcenter.com, under Kabbalah books. 

I am truly, very pleased with this, baruch Hashem.

It is forbidden for a Jew to work on Shabbat. What is the esoteric reason for this prohibition?

It is important to understand that working on Shabbat implies on a “decree of death” (Shemot 31:15), chaz v’shalom. The Sod or mystical aspect of this subject is extraordinary, and I shall reveal only a small degree while hiding much more, merely summarizing in a simple form, all based on the Kabbalah of the Ari”zal (Sefer HaLikutim, Parashat Behar, et. al.). Although it is not ideal to reveal such things to such unprepared recipients, here follows my kavanah, may the Heavens witness this, to help those that still have any doubts regarding the prohibitions of work on Shabbat, so they may quickly do teshuvah and receive the kabbalat ol. As the Talmud says, “the person should do teshuvah one day before his death, e since we do not know when is this day, it is vital do be always doing teshuvah” (alluding to Shabbat 153a).

During the regular weekdays, there are spiritual forces that descend to our world’s level of reality in order to allow that tikkunim (“rectifications”) be made into effect through the permitted works to a Jew. In a more specific manner, every permitted work done during the week serves, in a way or another, to raise netzuzin kedoshim (“Divine sparks”) fallen in the physical level when the order of reality was not our current order of rectification, the Olam HaTikkun, but rather, the preceding order of the Olam HaTohu (“World of Chaos”). The order of the Olam HaTohu was broken apart, so to speak, through a deep and fundamental process of the Divine plan for the revelation and  ultimate evolution of Creation, particularly man, as it is taught by the Ari”zal. These spiritual forces that are the vehicle, through which all of these spark-elevations occur, return to their spiritual degree and level on Shabbat. On Shabbat, all is new, signifying that there is no need for spiritually elevate anything that has fallen from the destroyed primordial world of Tohu. Hence, there is no need for tikkunim on Shabbat. All is in order, truly perfect on Shabbat. Not even the work of boreh (“separation of food”) is allowed, for separating that which is not good in the food from the good part in it of itself implies in a removal of a negative element from a positive one, and that does not exist on Shabbat when after all, everything is in the category of the desired and rectified. Now, when the Jew performs a melachah (“forbidden work”) on Shabbat, chaz v’shalom, he elicits these spiritual forces that normally should operate only on weekdays to descend to the physical world in order to make into effect the appropriate spark-elevations.

However, as nothing can be elevated on Shabbat, these forces become as ‘forces in vain’, chaz v’shalom. Through this, the klipot, the negative forces that block the revelation of Divinity in the material world, can steal these spiritual powers, this holy light, and make use of them for its own negative uses, chaz v’shalom. Moreover, the klipot are called the “power of death”, and when the Jew profanes the Shabbat through some forbidden work, he receives the celestial decree of punishment through death, chaz v’shalom, since, worse than not using these forces for the elevation of fallen sparks, is the fact that they may fall under the domain and “clutches” of the klipot. This has the effect of literally nourish the klipot and sitra achra, the person then becoming a “partner of evil”, may Hashem have mercy on his soul. This nourishment has the additional effect of blocking the benefiting purpose of the Or Ayin Sof, thus causing a diminution of spiritual shefa (“flux of blessings”) to the world at large. This has the further effect of causing severe decrees (in the form of afflictions) to befall the person (and those close to him) who performed the transgression, the community, and the whole world, chaz v’shalom.

What is the spiritual origin of diseases in man?

Why are the Jews called Yehudim in Hebrew? As it is written in reference to the matriarch Leah when she went to name her son Yehudah, “This time I ‘thank’ Hashem” (Bereshit 29:35). The name Yehudah as well as the word Yehudi, both have their origin in the word Hoda’ah, which means ‘recognition’, thus ‘thanksgiving’ as well. This is an essential characteristic of bittul (the process by which a person’s sense of his independent existence is subsumed within and elevated to an awareness of a greater, more inclusive existence, the existence of G-d), to wit, the recognition and sincere thanksgiving that Hashem is Who truly and only exists, and the world and all of us are nothing and nill before Him. Hence, the word Yehudim is applied to the Jews for it summarizes this essential quality of bittul before G-d (a quality that must be emulated by the Nations). The Jews are literally the nation of those who recognize and admit the greater reality of unicity and omnipresence of G-d, while keenly aware of its own particular reality of “dust and ashes” (Bereshit 18:27).

Now, while there is such singular and intrinsic attribute in the B’nei Israel (called Hod in Kabbalah), and its cosmological potential that needs to be revealed throughout the nations of the world, there is also a possibility of alienation from the attribute. In its physical expression, literally in the material life of man, the manifested phenomenon of this alienation or separation is the disease. Alienation from G-d reflects a “blemished” (i.e., corrupted) state of the attribute of Hod. This is so in the manner in which this attribute corresponds to the spiritual structure of the soul (which is in fact configured by various others attributes and powers, Hod being only one of them). The fact that the attribute of Hod is corrupted – characterized by the insensibility to the spiritual realities – results in ‘spiritual confusion’, a true chaos that can progressively spread through the individual’s normative consciousness and physiology. This implies in the person’s inability to distinguish “friend from foe”, or the ‘I’ e the ‘not I’, so to speak. Moreover, this confusion leads to spiritual blindness resulting even in the insensibility towards other people, to wit, in the inability to perceive and recognize the truth in the words of others, failing thus to thanks then for their acts of kindness. Therefore, the blemish in the attribute of Hod brings the person to a state of alienation both with (the benevolent) others and with G-d. In the human physiology this is expressed in the immunological system’s mistakes, that is, in its confusion of “invaders from allies” resulting in the generation of various types of health problems. As such, failing to perceive that all we have comes form G-d – as undeserved and unexpected gifts – implicates in the possibility of this misalignment to manifest as a disease, chaz v'shalom. After all, the disease is the actual physical expression of the spiritual unbalance in its ‘final stage’! This is paramount to understanding the spiritual causes of diseases, for it means that, by the time the problem has become physical, it is already in its final level (and not initial) – and if a disease has a spiritual cause, its cure must come spiritually as well in the form of a ‘realignment’. And the most important manner to maintain the person’s Hod aligned, his immune system healthy, is to strengthen his bittul in order to have a true kabbalat ol, meaning that, nothing is more powerful in the whole universe than the acceptance of the Divine Ordinance. For the Nations, it is imperative to fulfill the Shevah Mitzvot Shel B’nei Noach, which bring a great light to the world and to each one who is bound by these Divine Ordinances. Now, for the Jews, 'all' mizvot are vital, and noteworhty, the mitzvah (of the fulfillment of) Shabbat even brings the promise of refuah (cure)! In fact, Kabbalah explains that, due to the chet ha-egel ("the sin of the golden calf"), “The extraordinary spiritual state that Moshe had attained when he ascended Mt. Sinai was reduced a thousand degrees” (the Ari”zal, Sha’ar Maamarei Rashbi, daf 212). Essentially, Moshe had become “diseased” from the sin of his people, even though he obviously did not participate in this most blatant act of opposition to G-d. However, in the Shabbat, these ‘spiritual lights’ were restored for him, and he was truly and completely cured! And as it is written, “The gematria of Vayikra El Moshe [Vayikra 1:1] is equal to 693, together with the number of letters [which total 10], it is equal to the word Shabbat plus the kolel [702+1 = 703]. This is a hint that the lights were restored for Moshe on Shabbat” (R’ Ya’acov Abuchatzera zt”l, Pituchei Chotam al HaTorah, Vayikra). Finally, it is necessary to understand that in view of all that occurs in the person’s life, he should truly assume an existential attitude exactly as taught by the matriarch Leah: to recognize and affirm on all that comes to him that, ‘This time I will thank Hashem’. Know this lesson well.

Are there a spiritual causes for extreme events in the world, such as natural catastrophes?

Now for a new series of posts, which I would like to call Raza d’Mehemnuta (“The Secret of Faith”). May it help bring each one of you ‘from strength to strength’ in your avodat Hashem, selah.

The Hashgachah Pratit acts constantly in the world. The decrees of G-d balance men’s transgressions midah keneged midah. Note that the devastation which led almost 8.500 from being forcefully removed from Gaza, in Eretz Israel (which is holy land and thus, it is not to be “returned” to anyone), reflect Heaven’s punitive decree multiplied 100 times, as it shall be explained, over those who supported this secular movement of dilution and removal of Jewish right to settle in this area of Israel, to wit, the United States of America. This occurred in the (recent) deluge - estimated of having affected 850,000 people – called קטרינה (Katrina). Now, this word has gematria of 374. There are two pasukim in the Torah that share this same exact number:  Raa gemalucha, “They did to you evil” (Bereshit 50:17), and Yam bayabasha, “ground through the midst of the sea” (Shemot 14:16). While the first pasuk seems to indicate the spiritual cause for the Katrina (i.e., in relation to those who supported this terrible movement in Israel), the second pasuk describes the actual physical manifestation of the deluge. Ribono Shel Olam!