Shakespeare Sonnet 29 and a Teaching of Rabbi Nachman

There is a teaching of Rabbi Nachman, called “The Good Point” or “Nekudah Tovah.” When a person is in despair about his material position, personal life, or spiritual progress, he should try to find at least one good point in himself. To start, Rabbi Nachman reminds him that he is a Jew. Since one cannot “un-jew” himself, this good point is always there and can be used as a starting point. From there, one will probably remember another point, then another, and so on. (For more on this teaching, search for “Rabbi Nachman Nekudah Tovah”).

Shakespeare expresses the same idea in his sonnet 29. Here it is.

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least;

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

(Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;

       For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

       That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

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Sonnet 29 as read by John Gilgoud

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Here is my paraphrase of the sonnet

When I think of myself as a total loser

Who is all alone in the world

And heaven is deaf to my prayers that bring no results.

I may be ready to kill myself.

I envy one man who has a better future.

Or another one with more friends.

I may envy people with more shart analytics skills or broader knowledge.

I am ready to exchange my place with almost anybody, and I despise myself.

Suddenly I think that I have a good point, and then another one, and then -

I am ready to sing, and my song goes to heaven.

Then my state is better (I realize) than that of the happiest people on earth.

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There are many more things to note in this sonnet. The word “brings” at the end itself sounds like a song and resonates; the word “kings” alliterates with “sing.” To get the most benefit of the sonnet, one has to read it a few times, better even study by heart. For more on the sonnet, you can read “The Art of Sonnets.”

Shakespeare, the genius poet, conveys the message with unequal power. Too often, this teaching of Rabbi Nachman, going through multiple translations and adaptations, has more and more of the personality of an explainer who thinks that he knows the truth. However, once a person feels that he knows the truth - he loses it precisely at this moment - teaches Rabbi Nachman. On the other hand, Shakespeare can always be fresh, as he says in another sonnet, “and in fresh numbers number all your graces.”

Chayei Sarah - Dew is 39

When the first man, Adam, made the mistake of eating a fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad, he caused there should be 39 curses. Ten were for himself, ten for Eve, ten for the snake, and nine for the earth.

The number 39 in Hebrew is represented by the word "Tal," which means dew. To correct the curses, light from the highest spiritual levels, called "Arich Anpin," which shines down like dew, is needed.

The forefathers tried to draw down this light. Abraham did not wholly succeed, as evidenced by his imperfect son, Ishmael. Isaac, too, had a son Esau. Jacob was the first pure one who could begin the rectification (Tikkun). The word "dew" is mentioned in Isaac's blessing, "God should give you from the dew of the heavens..." and that is why he needed this blessing so much.

However, even that blessing he got from Isaac through deception, by pretending to be Esau. Rebecca took the risk on herself by saying that if it is discovered, "the curses should be on me." Rebecca was the reincarnation of Eve. Her words can be understood as if Eve was talking: "It's because of me that there are curses. Now I am taking the risk and fixing what I did wrong." Previously, Adam was punished "because he listened to his wife's voice." Rebecca says, "Listen to my voice, but this time for good."

Also, note that the first time Adam's mistake came through food. Now Jacob, Adam's reincarnation, is fixing his mistake, again through food - by bringing Isaac a meal.

If one continues, one can find many more parallels between what Adam did then and what Jacob did this time.

With gratitude to Rabbi Menachem Sholom Krantz, who provided the initial content.

Art: Esau and Jacob by Michel I Corneille

Zot chukat ha Torah

My good friend Rabbi Naphtali Buchwald of the Houston Kollel shares a one-minute Dvar Torah every Friday afternoon. Last week, he started as follows: "Zois chukas ha Toirah," (quoted in his pronunciation). The Torah seems to promise us an earth-shattering lesson but continues with the specific laws of purifying oneself from the impurity of the dead.

So it seems we don't get the promised earth-shattering lesson. But actually, we do. Look in the Zohar, the beginning of the same Torah portion Chukat.

Rabbi Yose starts by praising the words of the Torah, which are sweeter than honey, to those who study it. Then he asks why here it says "Zot chukat ha Torah" but elsewhere it starts with a vav, "V'zot ha Torah asher sam Moshe..."

Vav is the hint to Zeir Anpin and its inseparable connection to the Malchut (zot), or Knesset Israel. What is needed to make this happen? - Go and learn the Metok Midvash commentary.

Art: Woman Milking a Red Cow by Karel Dujardin

Balak – The son of a bird

“And Balak saw all that Israel had done...” – what did he see? Balak was a wizard who saw things, just as Avimelech was able to see what happened inside the house of Isaac. The fact that Abimelech looked “through the window” is impossible – did Isaac “enjoy with his wife” during the day? And with open windows?” – Rather, this “window” is a name of wizardry. Balak used the same.

Balak is called the son of a bird because he had this magic bird with iron wings who would fly around the world and tell him the news. He got this news from Aza, one of the two fallen angels. However, this time, the bird was late in coming back, and when it did come, it had its tail singed with fire. It also argued with Balak. He would say, “a certain people came out of Egypt,” and it corrected, “They are called Israel, which means “Isra El,” prince of God. He said "big," and the bird corrected him "great." That is what made Balak and his nation very much afraid.

Art: Open Window Lilacs Study by Valentin Aleksandrovich Serov

Chukat – What does the letter “vav” mean

And (“vav”) this is the law of the Torah – to burn the red heifer.

To explain this, Rabbi Yose started by praising the words of the Torah and those who study them. Then, Moses said, “Today, you are becoming a nation since you have the Torah.” But really, the Torah was given forty years ago; what did Moses mean? – Rather, this teaches that the Torah is beloved to those who learn it, every day just as the first time.

Now he could continue: the letter “vav,” which means “and,” joins subjects together: the Torah, which is symbolic of the community of Israel, and the Holy One Blessed be He, which usually denotes the Zeir Anpin, the “Supreme Man,” or the communication between God and this world. These are all united with the letter “vav.”

Those who read the daily prayers remember one of the phrases in the beginning, “All and some detail and then all again – the last 'all' includes only those things that were mentioned in detail.” That is a rule of the understanding the Torah, but it is also a means of connecting the Knesset Israel and God – since Malchut (or Shekhinah, God's presence) is called “All,” and Beauty is called “detail,” since it “details” the six directions of Zeir Anpin. Thus one does not exist without the other, and the other does not exist without the first.

Art: Rabbinical Students In A Classroom by Edouard Brandon

Naso – What happens at night

"God spoke to Moses, saying: 'Also take a census (raise their heads) of Gershon's descendants by families...'"

To explain this, Rabbi Abba quoted, "Happy is the man for whom God does not account his wrongdoings, and whose soul is pure" - and said that it does not make sense. If God does not count his wrongdoings, then they must exist. If so, why is his soul pure?

However, he explained that the world experiences judgment in the afternoon, which continues into the evening. The man's soul goes up and, free from the body's restrictions, testifies about his actions during that day. At midnight the righteous praise God and study Torah, and cause joy to the spiritual beings. Meanwhile, the soul that testifies retells man's words spoken during that day, and if they were only good and if he said nothing wrong about his fellows that he was not permitted to say, then his soul is pure. So now we understand that when is it that "God does not account his wrongdoings?" – When his soul is pure because he does not recount the wrongdoings of others.

Now here is what God said to Moses: Raise the righteous in the spiritual world where they cause joy, called 'head,' for the service that they do in Dispersion (Gershon is a hint to this since that word means 'I am a stranger here.')

Art: Procession of Souls By Louis Welden Hawkins

Bamidbar – Why count the community of Israel?

“God spoke to Moses in the Sinai Desert, in the Communion Tent...saying 'Take a census of the entire community of Israel.'”

To explain this, the Zohar goes all the way back to God creating a man and a woman, the man violating the first commandment, and how the rectification of his act was started with Adam's son, then continuing with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and still not be completed until the descendants of the twelve tribes accepted the Torah. It was not completed until the building of the Communion Tent, with its most important part – the Ark, containing the Tablets.

The actual means of correction was God's love to Israel, exhibited through counting the community three times. This counting served to bind their souls to the spiritual worlds above and correct both the souls and the worlds. Thus the words “in the Sinai Desert" and "in the Communion Tent,” which seem to be redundant, in reality, denote different worlds – giving Israel connection to both the theory and the practice of the Divine love.

Art: Adam and Eve Mourning for Abel By Johann Liss