I Place Hashem Before Me Always



The Circle of Life



In the first siman of the Shulchan Aruch, the Rema writes, "I place Hashem before me always; this is a big concept in the Torah and it is the reason for the exaltedness of the Tzaddikim who walk before G-d..."

Both the Be'er Heitev and Mishna Berura explain as follows. A person should be aware that he is in the constant presence of The Creator, for the Holy One blessed be He fills the entire creation. A person should picture the letters Yod (and) Heh (and) Vav (and) Heh in front of his eyes with the same vowelization as the word yirah (fear). This is the real meaning of "I place Hashem before me always", and this practice has a great benefit in helping one gain fear of Hashem (fear of sin). The source given for this is in the writings of the Ari Z"L.

I was once learning this halacha in kollel and a gentleman sitting next to me who overheard this, shared an incredible story with me. He said that he had a secular nephew who after completing his duty in the Israeli army went off to India to experiment with meditation and spirituality. He found a group that was about to begin some sort of meditation and he joined in with them. They all sat in a circle and were given instructions of what to meditate on. This young man felt guilty about thinking of such unholy things and instead, an image of the name of Hashem popped into his head (he had grown up seeing a framed picture of a menorah in his house with the name of Hashem written on the top of it, so it was easy for him to picture it in his mind). A few minutes into the meditation, the group leader walked over to him and threw him out of the circle. Being determined to experience some spirituality, he went and found another meditation group. Again he was instructed on what to meditate on, and again he began to picture the name of Hashem. A few minutes later, the same thing happened and he was removed from the group again. He realized that this was not a coincidence, and he immediately returned to Eretz Yisrael and checked himself into a yeshiva where he began learnig Torah and eventually went on to become religious. 

Attached above is an image of the name of Hashem with the vowelization of yirah (as mentioned in the Be'er Heitev and Mishna Berura)

Try looking at it for a few minutes, and see if you are able to picture the four letters in your head with your eyes closed. It could take some practice, but it comes with many benefits.

As a young child, the Rebbe (Rebbe Nachman) wanted to literally fulfill the verse, "I have set G-d before me constantly (Psalms 16:8)." He continually tried to depict G-d's ineffable Name before his eyes, even while studying with his tutor. His thoughts were so occupied that he often did not know his lessons, making his teacher very angry.

Despite this, the Rebbe acted like a normal child his age, playing, jumping and taking walks. But he was also very constant in the above practice.

(Shevachay HaRan #2)

Importance of Zohar Study

Earlier this week I was very privileged to be present at a meeting between the Admor of Holmin - Rav Shalom Yehuda Gross and Rav Shalom Arush at the house of Rav Arush.

I will now do my best to recall what was happened at that meeting. Rav Arush was very happy to greet Rav Gross and he kissed his hand when he entered. Then Rav Gross kissed Rav Arush’s hand and they sat down at the table. Rav Gross started to explain about his operation (Mifal Zohar Haolami) which is involved in printing and distributing Zohar Hakadosh all over Israel and the world. He said that only in the merit of studying the Zohar Hakadosh will we be redeemed from this exile in mercy as Rebbe Shimon promised us in the Zohar. He also said that the study of Zohar is able to cancell any harsh decrees upon the Jews. Rav Arush agreed about the importance of the study of Zohar.
Then Rav Gross went on to say that the situation in the world is not very good at all right now, and we need Zohar study to help give us more merits. Rav Arush added that he had also heard a few times from his Rav, Rav Yehuda Zeev Leibovich zt”l that the situation in the world was very dangerous now. Then Rav Gross handed Rav Arush many of his Zohar sefarim and publications and Rav Arush was very happy to receive them. He picked one set of sefarim up “Zohar Shabbat” and he was admiring its beauty for a long time (no doubt he was getting pleasure from the burst of spiritual light in those Zohars).
Rav Gross began telling a story about the Baal Hasulam, a commentator on the Zohar in the last hundred years and about how in the last world war, in heaven they took away the power from Hitler (may his name be erased) to invade Israel exactly coinciding with the printing of the Baal Hasulam’s Zohar commentary. Rav Arush then spoke highly of the Baal Hasulam and said that Rav Leibovich was very close to the Baal Sulams Zohar commentary. Then Rav Arush mentioned how he wanted to have everyone in his yeshiva start reading the Zohar everyday. He said to Rav Gross, “Now that you have come here to me, we must begin learning the Zohar, we must have the yeshiva learning the Zohar.” Then Rav Gross handed him a letter endorsing the study of Zohar and Rav Arush wrote as follows,
It is very important for every single person to read the Zohar Hakadosh. We have a promise from Rebbe Nachman of Breslov that through the study of the Zohar, we will be redeemed with mercy from this exile.Rav Gross was very happy to hear this and even told Rav Arush that he would send more of the Zohars and other sefarim so that they could put them and learn them in the yeshiva.
They then got up and walked out of the Rav's house side by side.
A few days later, I brought Rav Arush a six volume set of the Zohar Hakadosh which is broken up to be read in the course of one year. The Rav was very impressed with it's beauity and he said that the Admor (Rav Gross) gives him such happiness. Then he said that he was going to begin that very day on the one year cycle of reading the Zohar.
May the promise of Rebbe Shimon and Rebbe Nachman be fulfilled and may we merit a merciful redemption in the merit of the study of Zohar Hakadosh, Amen.

I wanted to clarify a point that people often get confused, there is a big difference between the reading of Zohar and the study of Kabbala. Although the Zohar is the primary Kabbala text, when one reads it, one is in no danger of what is called delving too deep into the study of Kabbala. Although it is true that only fitting people should learn the Kabbala from fitting teachers, the study or reading of Zohar is quite the opposite. the words itself are able to spiritually arouse a person and have the ability to purify the soul even if one has no idea what he is reading and even if he is making many mistakes, it gives great pleasure to Hashem. Reading of Zohar is something that is fitting for men, women and even young children (heard from Rav Gross, and Rav Benayahu Shmueli, Rosh Yeshiva of Nahar Shalom and a close student of Rav Kaduri Z"L).

For more info on the study of Zohar, you can go to http://www.thezoharinenglish.com/. Not only that, but it also is able to cancell any harsh decrees upon Am Yisrael, G-d forbid, and there is a promise by Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai himself that with the study of this book (the Zohar) we will be redeemed from the exile with mercy, Amen.