August 2 — 8
There's a great story about two men who had been students of the great Kabbalist, Rav Elimelech of Lizhanzk, who lived in the 1700's.
Rav Elimelech passed away 16 years before his brother and fellow kabbalist, Rav Zusya. These two men decided to travel to meet their teacher's brother, because they felt they needed a new teacher. On their journey they stayed at a shady inn of sorts, full of unruly folk and without even the simple amenity of running water.
In the kabbalistic tradition, they washed their hands upon rising in the morning, to remove the negativity of the night before (for more explanation, you can read "The Way of the Kabbalist"). However, without running water, this would be impossible. One of the men snuck out of the room in the middle of the night in search of water. He found a bottle of liquor, went back to sleep in their room and rose early to wash his hands with the liquor before his friend could awake to see him.
When both were awake, they set off again to meet their teacher's brother, all the while wondering if this man would become their teacher.
When they reached their final destination, and met Rav Zusya, he somehow knew that one of the men had not spiritually cleansed his hands of the night's negativity upon rising in the morning. Rav Zusya told him, "All of the negativity that my brother cleaned from you, from your soul, you brought it back." At that very moment those two men knew they had found their teacher.
Only a truly lofty soul could sense the presence of such slight spiritual darkness. The way these students merited their teacher is because one of them made a mistake and didn't wash their hands.
Most of us do worse than that. But what gives us the chance to have a teacher, to follow this path of a great kabbalist, is actually the mistakes we make. Mistakes are part of who we are. In our DNA, in the depths of our soul, we know we are going to make mistakes in this life. We are going to fall.
On this path, we have to be willing to make mistakes. I make mistakes, all of the teachers at The Kabbalah Centre do too. None of us are perfect. We don't have all the answers. But when the answer eludes us, we know who to ask. We ask our teachers.
I see all too often people who feel guilty, shy away from their Kabbalah studies or their Kabbalah teacher, because of the negativity they cause while walking this path. The fact that you still have blockages, that you still make mistakes is how you merit staying on this path.
Consider this email a confession: We all make mistakes. And we'll continue to make mistakes.
But you cannot let that deter you.
This week, in the midst of one of the darkest times in the kabbalistic year, forgive yourself your shortcomings. Consider your mistakes insurance that you can forge a path toward a better version of yourself. Because if you thought yourself perfect, or even in a really good spot, you're in bigger trouble than those of us making mistakes ... at least we know where we stand.
So if you're standing on mistakes right now, reach out to your teacher. If you don't have a teacher yet, now's a better time than ever to begin that partnership that the kabbalists have been encouraging for thousands of years. Rav Shimon bar Yochai had a teacher, made mistakes, and still managed to author the Zohar. Let's follow in his footsteps of greatness.
All the best,
Yehuda
72 Name of the Week
This Name raises my awareness of the long-term effects of all my actions. I gain the ability to see the spiritual challenges in every moment, before they become the foundations of chaos and crises.
For dates and locations click or copy and paste the following link:
http://www.kabbalah.com/lks/register.html?cid=20090209d
