BILVAVI-STYLE EMUNAH
I don’t understand the Rav’s style in sefer Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh teaches that we need to develop our emunah in a question-and-answer format by asking ourselves questions how the world got created and then clarifying that Hashem created it, etc. This sounds like an intellectual and philosophical approach towards emunah, which is very different from the emunah I was taught as a child, which is that we need to simply believe that Hashem is here, there, everywhere and without clarifying how this is true and without getting into questions.
ANSWER It is like when we say the questions of the Mah Nishtanah by the Pesach seder, which is in question-and-answer format. We are not asking the questions because we are honestly questioning it and looking for an answer [rather, we already know the answer and we are just clarifying it to ourselves so that our knowledge can internalize].
FINAL PLAGUE OF EGYPT & TODAY
It seems we have gotten past the “plague of darkness” and that the latest epidemic is “smiting of the firstborn” (makas bechoros). What will that mean for us?
ANSWER Unlike by the plagues in Egypt, in which there was a plague of darkness that ended and which was then followed by the smiting of the firstborn, which was a night that shone like the day for the Jewish people [the night of Pesach], the current plague is a continuous plague of darkness, like “light and darkness serving together in a mixture”, where the darkness has entered together with the smiting of firstborns. (This represents the “two beginnings”, Keser and Chochmah, together.)
The “plague of the firstborn” right now is essentially the striking down of the “firstborn”: the striking down of beginnings. In Egypt, both the firstborn people and firstborn animals were smitten, and now, all of the “beginnings” of the world of falsity are being smitten down, and presiding over all of them is the beginning of all the nations: Amalek, whose end will be destruction. Hashem is striking down and uprooting every “head” [ruler] of the world – every evil beginning point, in all three dimensions of place, time, and soul, and in every kind of creation: the inanimate creations, the animate creations, the animals, and people. The topic is long and deep.
RETURNING TO A HIGHER EXPERIENCE
Is the purpose of all of the Rav’s teachings about inner avodas Hashem so that we can bring Mashiach? It is hard for me to understand how the Rav’s approach will help people bring Mashiach, because I am under the impression that all of one’s avodas Hashem is supposed to excite a person and feel a great yearning that Mashiach should come. Yet I don’t see the Rav’s approach emphasizing this. Maybe I’m mistaken. Can the Rav help me understand?
ANSWER It is similar to the night of Pesach, which is a high level that we experience and the day after it is gone, and we need 49 days afterwards of purifying our middos in order to return to it, so that we will be able to live with it correctly.
THE SOUL AFTER DEATH
QUESTION 1) What does the soul see at the first moment it leaves the body?
ANSWER It depends on what the person’s level is. If one is zocheh, he sees the light of the Shechinah and he melts into it, and then he leaves [the world]. If one is at a lower level, he sees his relatives or those whom he was close with, who come to greet him. There are others who see both [the light of the Shechinah and also their relatives/close friends].
QUESTION 2) Is the soul afraid at death?
ANSWER Refer to the previous answer, regarding the soul’s fear. However, that is only after the soul leaves the body. But before that, if one is not zocheh, he sees the Angel of Death wielding its sword, as the Gemara says. See sefer Raishis Chochmah, shaar haYirah, and Maseches Chibut HaKever.
QUESTION 3) If a person sees himself as a soul (neshamah) even during this lifetime, will this ease the process for the soul at death?
ANSWER Yes, certainly. Part of the fear is because the soul is separating from the body, and therefore when one learns to identify himself as a soul already in his lifetimes, it makes the transition a lot easier.
QUESTION 4) Is there anything the Rav can tell me to see all of this [the transition of the soul at death] in a way that’s not frightening?
ANSWER Feel that you are with Hashem, constantly, at all times and in every place, and He is watching you, with His endless love.
QUESTION 5) When the soul leaves the body, does it realize that it woke up from a dream, now that it has left the world and it is at the true kind of life?
ANSWER Yes. It is like what is written about the future, that when we return to Tziyon we will realize that during the exile “Then, we were like dreamers.” Life on This World is all a dream, compared to life in the Next World. As an aside, only think about these topics for a little bit of time during the day, but for the rest of the time, be happy with all the good things that Hashem does.
