Rav Daniel Kohn הרב דניאל כהן

Series: Be'erot, Love & Relationship with God.

Synopsis:  Establishing G-d and man's relationship in Gan Eden.

Episode Transcript:

What I want to explore with you is how we love and how that is a reflection of Gds love for us. I would like to do that in a way that will give us a real context for what that’s about by looking at Torah’s teaching for us in its broadest sense and how relevant it is, the experience of HKBhu’s love for us in terms of our overarching relationship with him and how crucial that is, how central that is for us as Jews.
Something of a chiddush of the Baal Shem Tov to put love back into the center of Jewish life. I’m not sure that’s still extent, I think recently that’s become more pronounced again. But many people are reluctant to notice or to admit that the centraliry of love is so pertinent to Jewish living. We’re very focused on living the law, on living the clarity of consequences for doing things wrong or right, but the broader concept of things, that we’re in a living relationship with HKBhu, which is grounded in His love for us and which is grounded in our love for Him is something which is less available to people.
So the way I want to go about this is by taking a look at, the very beginnings of what we’re in the world for, and getting a sense of what that’s about. The reason I want to do it that way, is because I think that the only way to get in contact with that experience of HKBu ‘s love for us and our love for Him embedded in context, is realizing(….) that it’s

primary to what we’re here for, and it is. And I’m going to do that by sharing some insights (…) of man and why he was created the way he was created, and from there to begin to explore how it is that the Chumash describes our obligations or our experience that are expected of us as the endpoint of what life on our planet is for. So we’re going to look at today at the very beginning and at the very end, just in the context of the Chumash (…) to explore this, and then we’ll begin to explore, having established that context, a clarity of that experience, when we refer to that experience of His love for us and our love for him. I intend to not make these things vague, but to make them as defines and available to us, and even to suggest some practices to enhance us and elicit this in our lives more and more.

So that’s the plan, I believe I have eight sessions to do that in, I’m not sure we’ll complete everything, or at least we’ll get a good start.

So I’d like you to take a look with me at the way man comes to be on the planet, and there are two telling things that I think are relevant for us. If you could open up your chumash, to chapter two of Bereshit, verse four. Verswe four tells us that we are about to get the history of Heaven and Earth, “Eleh toldot….shamayim” These are the generations of the unfolding of Heaven and earth, when they were created, the day that Gd made earth and Heaven. Heaven and earth, earth and Heaven, switching them around is something of great interest, but right now we’re not going to pick (?) it up, but we are going to come back to this verse in a couple of minutes. Now the Torah describes the following, Now this story comes after, remember, we’ve been told the story of Creation in the first chapter, we have through the first movement of giving life and creating light to the end point of Shabbat, it’s all done, and we see, apparently all complete, and yet verse 2, verse five tells us something else, “V’chall siach..) There was no plant life. There was no field growth in the land. “Vechal esev…” And all the grasses of the field had not grown. “Ki lo…” Because GD had not made it rain upon the earth, and there was no man to work the ground. Now I have a somewhat daunting pasuk here, because I am told that the reason why there is no growth is because why? Looks like, you could say, that there’s no man to work the ground. But you could say there’s a conjunctive vav, the vav connecting and

there was no man to work the ground and that’s “ki….aretz” that Gd hadn’t yet made it rain. So maybe the reason why things (aren’t going?) is because Gd hadn’t made it rain. The fact is you can go to some very beautiful places on the planet where no man worked the ground and things are growing just fine. (laughing) They’re probably growing better than where people have interfered but you can have some very verdant pastures without having man to make them grow. So that the Torah should tell us that things aren’t growing because there’ man to work the ground sound s like a misapplication of what the clause is. And yet the Torah take pain to point out that indeed that is so, and that it is a relevant factor, and it’s not just that it’s not raining. So which is it? Is it that it’s not raining? Or is it that there’s no man to work the ground? It’s very hard to tell, and we’ll come back to thins.

“There was a fog that came up from the ground and it watered the entire planet. Then G-d created man, or formed man, from the earth, and He breathed into His nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being.” All right. One thing’s for sure. That there’s some kind of relationship here between things not growing, there not being not rain, and man being created. Do we see that? I mean, whatever we are going to say about the verses, and however we are going to understand the relationship between it not raining and man not having been made, it’s clear that somehow man’s being created is connected to the fact that this planet needs to flourish. And until there’s going to be a human being on it, it’s not going to happen.

      Everyone see that? Now there’s a little bit of a problem here in the order in the verse and that is that in the order of the verses and that is that in verse six the planet is getting water, it looks like the planet is getting water, I mean there is a mist that is coming up from the ground and is watering everything, so why are you telling me that nothing can grow, because there’s no rain, if there’s a mist that is watering it all? So now hear the very powerful way in which the rabbis describe this event. They say the following: You know, it’s true that nothing’s growing because it’s not raining. But the reasons why it’s not raining is because there’s no man to work the ground, that’s why it’s not raining. Now they really mean this? Now what does it mean that there is no man to work the ground and why will be what will bring rain?  And then they say, the meaning of the mist coming up

from the ground is in order to make it possible that man will be created. I”ll tell you what I mean by that. There’s this ground with all this dust and if you want to make a human being out of dust, you have to make all these particles of dust stick together, and how are you going to make them stick together if you don’t have water to the mixture? You have to put water in the mixture in order to form the dust into a body that’s going to hold the soul, and the way this is going to happen is by Gd bringing the mist from ground which is going to make it possible for man to be formed out of the dust. So hear it like this. You’ve got this planet, and listen carefully, so you’ve got this planet, nothing’s growing, well first of all, gee I thought that on the third day Gd made everything you know, in the plant kingdom, and everything was already growing on the third day. No, nothing's

growing, and I’ll tell you why, because there’s no rain. And I’ll explain to you why there’s no rain. Ah. Because there’s no human being to work the ground. I mean, human beings working the ground bring rain? And, in order to make a human being out of the ground, we’re going to bring water to the planet, and it will arrive from the bottom up, and it will emerge in a way that is going to water the top soil, so that that Gd will now take man and form him into a body, and there’s man. That’s the picture.

So, in order to appreciate how this works and why it’s going this way….’So here’s the picture. So Rashi says a crucial thing here, and it’s so important that it makes it worth it to me to teach, to share this with people. So many of us come into Judaism and practice it for many years, and f someone puts you to the test and says, What is it that you are in the world for? You know, here you are, it’s this mysterious phenomenon, you didn’t have to be here, and here you are, this conscious living breathing creature that has these astounding aspirations to sanctity and to justice and morality, and to doing good, experiencing relationships, coming into commitments with them, living and producing children, there’s a lot going on working hard, suffering, going through all of us, it’s not a simple matter, you know? And if you believe in the eternity of the soul, the presence of the soul, it becomes even more exacerbating considering that your soul is already in existence in the presence of Gd into a perfect and undivided relationship with Him and here you are, sent into this world and into this clod of dirt basically, which is your body and informed by the soul’s presence, and struggling always to achieve some kind of relationship with Him, a relationship with sanctity, a relationship with an inner life, and

my gosh, this is, You’ve got to have a good reason to do this to us. And most people, like when you ask them that, could you just give me an answer to that simple question, and it’s not so easy to find an answer to that question, but nevertheless, like if you were in business, and you needed to have a one liner. They have something called an elevator statement. You know, you get into the elevator with someone, and hey, he’s like a prospect for a sale, and you’re going to the sixth floor. The guy’s pressed sixth, so you’re going to the sixth floor. You have to tell him, before you get to the sixth floor, you have to be able to tell him what it is that you’re selling and convince him to buy it. So imagine you got into an elevator and someone says, “Look, I understand you’re Jewish. Tell me, what do you people say about why we’re here. Like, who are you, and what are you doing here. I mean really? So the elevator’s going up—second floor, third floor, fourth floor, you have something to say, so the best place to look to find where that statement is where man is created and here it is: So that there shall be rain.

That’s what the Torah says. Look, we’ve got a world that isn’t functioning. It’s missing something. I’ll tell you what it’s missing. It’s missing rain. How do we get the rain? We need a human being. And the reason is we want the rain is to get things to grow. If things don’t grow, it’s kind of a failed planet. So I’ll tell you why you’re here. Do you see those flowers? All those lovely trees? They need rain. That’s why you’re here. That’s what the Chumash has said. On the simplest reading of the Torah, that’s what it says, and I really believe in the simplest readings. I mean, that is very profound. First of all, who’s for who(m) on this planet. We’re used to assuming we’re here as the reason for creation, and that the planet serves us in that. It’s good that there’s a world, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to live, but the planet’s really here for us. But the Torah actually seems to right here, right now, seems to be giving a different perspective and that is it’s true that man is the last thing to be created, but it seems that he is created in order to allow all of that to function. So you really hear that the planet should really work. So who’s for who(m)? Is it me for the world or is the world for me? If you read (?) the verses, it looks like it’s we’re here for the world. student question and teacher comments)

Now it’s still not clear: How does working the ground make it rain? So I want to tell you I know it’s a better class with participation……

So it looks like we’re here in order to serve the world, but there’s this funny thing in the verse, “There is no man to work the ground.” So what’s going to happen when he starts working the ground. Apparently when he starts working the ground it’s going to cause it to rain. And at this point we’re a little stuck. Why would his working the round make it rain? Unless something happens when he works the ground that shifts in Creation such that now the avenue for rain is opened. Imagine yourself on this planet. Nothing growing. Completely desolate. There’s light out. There may be even clouds in the sky. But the ground is desolate, nothing growing. You start working the ground. Because somehow you have an embedded sense that working the ground is what you’re here to be doing and somehow that’s gonna make things grow. Where did that come from? Now let me remind you of something: You are the ground. You have been taken from the dust of the earth. So on whatever level ground knows its purpose, so do you. And yet now, you begin to actually act out, as a conscious creature, what the ground knows, that it is here that things should grow. And so you begin to work the ground driven by some mysterious force which is the very the ground itself from which you have been made. And now I’ll say something even more astounding, that you know you are actually the same you know you are actually the stuff you are made of. Quantity-wise, the water in your body is the same percentage of water that there is on the planet. That’s what the geologists and the biologists agree on, that it’s about 72% water on the planet and 72% water in your body, which is great for those who love gematria because 72 in the gematria of chesed, which is what water is the symbol of. Now chesed is the force in creation that is what holds things together. And we will begin to understand that more deeply as we progress. But chesed is the force in reality that holds things in unity. That’s what chesed is. That’s why it says in the Chumash that if a man marries his sister that he did her a chesed. That doesn’t mean that he did her a good deed, forget about chesed being good deeds, just follow me. That’s a chesed. Too much unity. Too much sticking together. Gotta get you out of the family into other possibilities, like other girls out there, not just your sister, not your mom, that’s really a force of reality which is a non-chesed force, to go and get married. Don’t ever mess that up. (student question) That’s because chesed holds things together. Gevurah pushes things apart. Getting married is an act of gevurah. Boy it is, also in an act of being

courageous and strong. It’s not an act of chesed. …That is why chesed is on a certain level a static principle and opposed to gevurah which is the dynamic of creation, which is what the rabbis teach, which is that the world was initially created in din, which means moving out into particularization, or particl-ization—is there a word like that, becoming particles? Anyway, so Gd added water to the ground in the exact quantity that is what this planet holds, the same 72%. That’s because we are the planet. And so the planet knows to work the ground, the planet knows that’s what it needs to happen. It doesn’t need some new additional element here. Now what? Now we have this conscious being, and it’s the consciousness of the planet, really. Now we’re being working the ground, and now there’s trouble. I’m working the ground, I know that things have to grow, and it needs to rain. No rain. There needs to be water for things to grow. Now I don’t know if there needs to be water, or what I know or don’t know, but I know that something’s not working. Now we’re really in it.

Now I want to show you something in this story that I’m telling you that is the story of the first movements of things, and that there is knowing and there is knowing. And this is really important. ….(27:40)

There’re knowing when I pass on information to you and I tell you, you know what? This place needs some water, OK? Needs some rain. All right, and what’s next? What else are we going to talk about today? Well, I need it really needs to rain. OK, I already learned that fact, I know it really needs to rain, all right, next? I also need to eat. OK, uh, fine, what’s the next thing you want to teach me? You need to sleep, OK, good. Gee, this is fascinating, I’m writing it all down, I’ll study it tonight, are you going to test me on it tomorrow? I’ll make sure I got it all? Yeah, you know that, right? Everyone sitting there knows that. Do you?  You know when you know it? When you’re hungry. That’s when you know it. That’s not having it up here. That’s your whole being knows it. I’m hungry. And you know when you know it more? When you’re thirsty and hungry. And you know when you really know it? When there’s no water around and you haven’t drunk in three days. Or eaten in three days. And you know when you know it even more? When your life depends on it. There’s nothing else except that. That is da’at. That is what’s called da’at. Knowing in a way that you are at one with what is being known. And that’s the only real knowing. All other knowing is sort of a parable to knowing. That is

da’at which is perfect union with, as it appears, as I’m sure you all in the Chumash when we are told that man knew his wife. Nothing else is going on for them at that moment. Nothing else. That’s knowing.

So what would happen if Gd were have to informed man, so to speak, you know the planet needs rain. OK, fine, That’s a whole different picture than man working at the ground, toiling, and nothing’s happening. Now he knows that there needs to be rain. So let me read you a deep Rashi which is going to give us the answer to the question of What are we doing here and who we are. And Rashi says int on this verse. He says, You know, everything is ready in this world. We’re on the sixth day, that’s when man’s created. We’ve already got the plants growing. I mean, what’s the big deal? Why does it say here that there is no “siach ha sadeh”, that there’s no “esev hasadeh”? Why? So Rashi says the following: Now listen carefully to the way he says it, “Because there was no man to work the ground.” And then he goes on: No one was there to recognize the goodness of rain. And when man came and knew (da’at) that they are the world’s need, he prayed for them and they came down. And all of the trees and grass grew.” Beautiful. Let’s go over this, because this is not Judaism 101, this is Judaism 000. This is like where you have to begin, because this is the first time we are here on the planet. So we have to listen to the Rashi because he is telling us how to focus our lives. Because if you know why you are here and what you’re here for, then you are able to direct your living in a way which is oriented towards what your purpose is. It’s like a carpenter who’s been given a piece of wood. If he doesn’t know what the heck he’s been given it for, then he’ll just start with the saw and you know, we’ll just see what comes out of it, you know, it’ll be interesting to see what comes out of it. That’s what happens if you don’t have clarity of purpose. What are you supposed to do when you are walking down the street and got nothing going on in your head and suddenly all these thoughts start bubbling up. What are you supposed to do with that? How are you supposed to direct them? Are you supposed to direct them? Let alone things you do with people and how you treat them. I’m just talking about, like you know, in one of those moments of spare time. You wouldn’t want to get into a jet plane without a destination. (34:10)You’d just be playing around.

So here’s Rashi. Rashi says the following. Three things he teaches us, which could be divided into four. (34:33) So there’s three things that become four in Rashi. First thing,

there’s no man to recognize the good. So I understand that I’m put in the world, first of all to note the good, appreciate the good. Second, “kevan….olam” comes, man and he knows that the world needs him, aware compassion, compassion which derives from awareness…(he’s working the ground and he knows it with all of his being (36:18) he knows the world needs him and third, he prays, turns to his Source, for a blessing.

Appreciation, awareness, compassion, connection.

Acceptance, connection, perception, gratitude.

You know, those of you who know Hebrew, siach ha sadeh, is what Yitzchak does when he goes out lasuah ba sadeh. Rashi’s understanding, actually he knows from the Gemara, is that there is no conversation in the field. And more deeply, there’s no conversation in the field, in a sense, that there’s no field. A field, I mean, by which there is a context of meaning. Field in a sense not just where things grow, but field like in the mathematical sense, like in an energy field, you know like you’re in, Yitchak becomes a man of the field, by the way, because din is all about creating context in interconnections between different parts. That’s what a field is. So that there was no siach basadeh means that there was no conscious communication in the field. But anyway, I said I was going to be simple, so let’s get back to simple. That’s actually very simple, it’s even more simple that the overt part of the text, because it’s the abstraction of it. In Hebrew, to make something pashut is to undress it of its dressings. So when you get to the story within the story, you take away its dressings and make it more pashut.

So what we have here now is the seminal statement of why we’re here. So you’re in that elevator with someone and they say to you, like, “So who are you and what are you doing here?” So I’ll tell you, I’m here to appreciate the life I’ve been given, to appreciate good. I’m here to be aware, in a compassionate state, to really know things deeply, in a way which is compassionate knowing, and to connect to my Creator. “Gee, how do you know that?” Oh, the Torah said so.

That’s what it means “there was no man to work the ground.” There needed to be a conscious element of Creation, a conscious creature in Creation who would come to work the ground, and only in working the ground would he ever achieve the possibility of the kind of knowing, which is the knowing that I described before, where it’s real life stuff, not just some intellectual quantity. Yeah, and why is that important? ‘Cause that’s how

you connect. That’s how we connect. I know we connect by touching each other, that’s one level of connecting, but it’s a much deeper level of connecting when we’re also touching each other and we’re also really knowing each other in a way in which we are deeply aware and fully given over to and involved with in a completely integrated way with the other whom we’re touching. Do we all agree that that’s a different kind of knowing and a different kind of connecting? See, that won’t happen between man and the planet, and that won’t happen between man and himself, for he is of the planet. And it certainly won’t happen between man and his Maker unless he is fully in da’at of what is, what the need is, compassion, and caring about it and turning to Him. Now there’s a lot of elements there, but they primarily boil down to a word which we use often and which is ahavah. So it has a lot to do with love. Compassionate, knowing, awareness, being given over to, connecting with. We’re not done, but there’s a lot here, which means we’re in one of the most powerful verses in the Chumash because it tells us so much.

That’s stage one. I said today that we were going to see the beginning and that we’re going to see the end. Right? And that we have a bunch of classes in the middle to fill in stuff that happens as it spreads out. This, by the way, is one of the more abstract classes, because when you want to make something that’s broad and inclusive, so you need to sort of abstract the principles, and you can fill in the details and you come down into the picture and stories, and people in the stories, etc.

(43:15) Questions

Love is not just about sticking things together and being committed to their existence, which is what chesed is… and ahavah is something more than that, so therefore I don’t want to identify ahavah with chesed.

The soul is a still small voice, but when it’s accessed powerful things happen from there and then it can be heard more powerfully. That’s on the level of just being conscious of what’s going on…The soul speaks through many pathways, but to answer you simply, It’s a lot easier to be aware that you’re hungry than to be aware that you have a yearning for Gd.

So now let me tell you a little about the end also, so that we can have the story, so to speak, complete. But before I get there I want to point out something that is crucial in the way Rashi describes things to us, and that is, he says, that the reason why there wasn’t

any rain is because there wasn’t anyone who would be “makir b’tovatam” Listen to this picture, this is like a wild picture that we’re getting. Gd has created this planet, right? And the place is not functioning right. Things aren’t growing. So God, this all-powerful Creator, is up in Heaven or wherever He is, waiting. What’s He waiting for? He’s waiting for someone to see the good that He’s waiting to give. It’s not going to be worth it to Him, so to speak, to do anything more, if there’s not going to be someone who’s there to see the good He has made Himself, so to speak, dependent upon us. And this isn’t the only place Gd does this. The other place Gd does this is with Himself. What’s the first thing Gd does when He creates light? He sees that it’s good, that’s all. Gd simply looks at His Creation as says, “vyar Elokim et haor, ki tov.” How lovely. It’s good. Gd is The makir tove. He’s the One who recognizes good. That’s a divine act. It’s not only a divine act. It’s the first divine act in relationship to the world. He makes the light and then He sees that it’s good. This is really important. I’m doing this very simply but these are life guides. Then He makes the Heaven—and there’s a reason he doesn’t look down and says that it’s good because it’s about division and machloket and problems, etc. but then on the third day He makes plants, etc. and He sees them that they are good, and then on the fourth day He makes the orbs and the Heavens and He sees them that it’s good, and then on the fifth day He makes the birds and the fish and He sees them that they are good, and then on the sixth day He makes the animals and He sees that they are good, and then He looks at it all and He sees that it’s very good. And now He’s waiting for someone who will be in His image. How are you in Gd’s image? What the first that Rashi says that we’re created to do? To do what Gd does—see that it is good. That’s all. The deepest and the simplest thing that could be.

First thing, tov. Of course we want to go deeper into what “tov” is. What do we mean by “good”? It’s going to be really important. But G’d ‘s not going to continue this creation unless there is an aware being that is going to see and appreciate the good. So you see, it’s embedded right there. That Gd wants that there should be those who will connect to His goodness. And as we are going to learn, there is no higher pleasure that that, to connect to what is good. On all levels, whether it be physical life, or an ethical life, or in spiritual life, to connect to what is good. So Gd is not going to move at all until that happens.

There are two things embedded in that. One is what we are called upon to, and the other, that Gd is, so to speak, vulnerable, He has made Himself vulnerable, He can’t get done what He wants to have done, unless we respond by becoming like Him. In becoming like Him, we connect to Him in a very deep way. But is there is not a recipient for His goodness, then the whole point will be undone. Vulnerability, then, is the beginning of Gd’s relationship with His world. And that is the opening to the possibility of relationship. You can’t have a relationship if it’s all you forcing the other. There will be no love or connection if it’s all you forcing the other.

So I’ll tell you something really deep. And that is the way that Gd speaks to man the very first time, I’ll tell you a most astounding thing, if you take a look in the Chumash, just a little ahead of where we were. So Gd has created man, right, chapter 2, verse 6, 7 He’s made man, man is the consciousness of the planet now, Gd is awaiting that the planet come to know Gd and His goodness, so I’m actually saying it this way in a sense that dulls a little bit of the issue of who is for who, exactly. Are we for the planet? Or is the planet for us? Oh, are you something other than the planet? Gee, I didn’t know that you were something different than the planet is. You’re going to ask if you’re for the planet or if the planet is for you—what the heck are you talking about? What kind of Western dichotomous way of looking at things is that? You are the planet, man! You were brought out of the planet, you are the dust of the earth! That’s what you are! Cut that stuff out! That’s one. Now, two. Now watch what happens when Gd has now made man, gave him a soul, planted the Garden of Eden,  he’s got this beautiful place. Beautiful Garden of Eden, it’s really lovely. Beautiful trees growing there, rivers flowing through it, and then in verse fifteen, Gd takes man to put him into the garden. And He puts him in and rests him in the Garden of Eden, to work it and to cherish it, to guard it. What’s of great interest to me is the word He “took” man. It’s the first time Gd interacts with man. He’s made him. Now there’s this human being on the planet. So just like we’re looking at that first creation to get a sense of what we’re here for, so now I want to look at the first interaction. To get a sense of how that interplay occurs between us and Gd. Makes sense? It’s always the way to go. Trust me.

So then we have, verse fifteen we have Gd commanding man, you can eat from all the trees, but don’t eat from the etz ha data tov v’rah. I once read by someone of a deep

halachic orientation, is that the first time man interacts with man is when He commands him, as it says in verse 16, “He commanded him”. That’s a Nomian vision of Judaism. An orientation of being commanded and responding to the command, that is true, but I want to claim that it’s secondary. Because before Gd commands man, He does something else. And that is He “takes” man to put him in the Garden of Eden. Now here I’m going to rely on how the rabbis teach us this. And Rashi says something that is so crucial. And that is: And that is, what does it mean by “vayikach Elokim et haAdam?” How did He take him? Are you telling me He picked him up and put him down in Gan Eden? “That’s where you live, boy! Been somewhere else ‘til now, now you’re here!” Is that what that means? It could mean that. And now let me tell you something. You can eat from all the trees, but don’t eat from that one! That’s one picture. That’s many people’s picture. That is not chazal’s picture, and they note the deepest thing. That word vayikach appears again and again in the context of marriage, and it becomes the word for marriage in the Chumash later in parshat Ki Tetze when we are told ki yikach ishah That’s the only place in the Torah where we’re told about a man marrying a woman. He takes her. So I don’t know what you think about marriage, if that’s the way it works too. But if you don’t then you’re on the right side of the picture because Rashi says, What does vayikach mean? So listen to this beautiful Rashi. He took him in the sense of I’m taken by you. Something very attractive drew me towards that person. SO he was taken by words, beautiful words that Gd spoke to him. And then He seduced him, or tempted him to go into the Garden of Eden--Wow! That’s first contact. Gd speaks to him, saying, “Adam, what a beautiful place, that Gan Eden. What marvelous possibilities it offers you.” I don’t know what He said. I would love to know what He said. Go in there. That’s Vayikach. That’s first contact between Gd and man. So now Gd has to wait. Will he go in? Won’t he go in? What’s going to happen? It’s up to him.

A couple of weeks ago I had a seminal experience with my 3-year old granddaughter. “Come on over, Hallel! Come on over.” “No!” “Come on, give Saba a kiss.” “No!” “Hallel, Maybe a hug?” “No!” Oh well. Now I could of grabbed her. But it wouldn’t have been the same. HKB hu actually put himself into the situation. Come on, Adam, it’s a nice place. Rashi tells us that He used beautiful descriptions. … na’im, me lashon na’eh. Why? Because his heart won’t be in it. Because this isn’t a planet in which

Gd is forcing upon us. It’s a life in which we are guided to a chosen relationship. And that requires also the vulnerability of a partner who can say “no”. The vulnerability I’m now talking on the part of the one who is seeking it. If you are not going to be open to that then you’ll never be able to live relationship.

Just yesterday my parents were recounting an old friend, guy’s fifty-five years old, never got married. Why? Well, he’s a lawyer and he saw too many people get divorced. I hold that’s why you read the ketubah under the chuppah. Hey, it’s all very beautiful right now, but guess what, it can end. Some people hang it on the wall. I used to think that was a weird thing. Why are you putting your ketubah on the wall, isn’t that what he’s got to pay her when they get divorced? It’s also about the thing she owes her when they’re married, but what’s that doing on the wall? Hey, buddy, she can say “no”, OK? He can say “no”, OK? That accompanies a life of love, and if you’re afraid of that, you’ll never have it. May it never be. So HKB hu ‘ls first contact with man is vayikach , it’s like a marriage, and I’m not playing chassidish games with the words. That’s what the word is in the Chumash. And Rashi tells us, it was all about opening up the pathway to a aconnection whicha human being would be able to be drawn in by choice. And where HKB hu would wait for someone who would be able to recognize the goodness, and thereby live in relationship. So this is the beginning, I guess we didn’t get to the end today…..

More teaching from Rav Daniel on our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ravdanielk

A Series of sessions with Rav Daniel Kohn on Shir Hashirim, the Song of Songs, Shlomo Hamelech's song of love, which rests on the Shalom and Malchut that Shlomo Hamelech and his nation embodied. It's the song of Masculine and Feminine, Sun and Moon, Creator and Created. It's the song of Malchut

More teaching from Rav Daniel on our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ravdanielk

A Series of sessions with Rav Daniel Kohn on Shir Hashirim, the Song of Songs, Shlomo Hamelech's song of love, which rests on the Shalom and Malchut that Shlomo Hamelech and his nation embodied. It's the song of Masculine and Feminine, Sun and Moon, Creator and Created. It's the song of Malchut

More teaching from Rav Daniel on our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ravdanielk

A Series of sessions with Rav Daniel Kohn on Shir Hashirim, the Song of Songs, Shlomo Hamelech's song of love, which rests on the Shalom and Malchut that Shlomo Hamelech and his nation embodied. It's the song of Masculine and Feminine, Sun and Moon, Creator and Created. It's the song of Malchut

More teaching from Rav Daniel on our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ravdanielk

A Series of sessions with Rav Daniel Kohn on Shir Hashirim, the Song of Songs, Shlomo Hamelech's song of love, which rests on the Shalom and Malchut that Shlomo Hamelech and his nation embodied. It's the song of Masculine and Feminine, Sun and Moon, Creator and Created. It's the song of Malchut

More teaching from Rav Daniel on our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ravdanielk

A Series of sessions with Rav Daniel Kohn on Shir Hashirim, the Song of Songs, Shlomo Hamelech's song of love, which rests on the Shalom and Malchut that Shlomo Hamelech and his nation embodied. It's the song of Masculine and Feminine, Sun and Moon, Creator and Created. It's the song of Malchut

More teaching from Rav Daniel on our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ravdanielk