The Mysticism of Today and Tomorrow

Since tonight and tomorrow will be what is called Hoshana Rabba and Simchas Torah, I figured that I would share a quick vort (lesson) that I learned from the Lubavicher Rebbe, and then I'll share something personal.

As you know, for the last week, us Jews have been carrying around something called a Lulav, which is a palm branch and various other types of branches all bound together. Some have a smell, others have a taste, some have both, and some have none. The interesting part is that for these next few days, we have these branches bound together and we shake the Lulav in every direction.

I don't know why we shake it, but I do know that it causes a great upheaval in the spiritual realms. The effects here seem minimal, but in the spiritual realm, the effects are earth shaking.

The different types of branches symbolize the different types of people. The branch with taste correlates with someone who does G-d's commandments; the branch with a smell is someone who learns G-d's Torah. (Or vice versa). The important thing is that during this week, all of us somehow spiritually are bound together and we affect each other in magnitudes I cannot describe. The interesting thing is that tonight for Hoshana Rabba, we all say the whole [5] book[s] of Tehillim (Psalms) together, and tomorrow, we all dance together in the streets, which is a physical manifestation of what was until now symbolic and on the spiritual realm. And as Chassidus (the study of Jewish mysticism) teaches, specifically through physical actions do we bring about the greatest spiritual effects, and how much higher a Jew get by everyone of all religious and observance levels dancing together with the Torah?

As for my personal comment, the fact that we are saying the whole book of Psalms is a big deal spiritually. It does something -- what, I do not know. However, there are codes within the Psalms; if you say one combination, you get one result; if you say another combination, you get another result. These codes are no longer known to us, yet we still say selections each day -- we also say the whole book on the Shabbos Mevarchim (the Sabbath preceding every new month) and on select holy days such as today when the decrees of the new year (Rosh Hashanna) are signed, sealed, and delivered.

Lastly, regarding the clouds. As you've seen in the videos I put on the web, I learned the uncanny skill of melting big clouds in the sky. However, I couldn't explain why or how it worked, but it did. As you know, this is why I became religious (one of the reasons) -- I wanted answers to explain events such as this.

Finally, I cornered my rabbi into a conversation on a pseudo-topic where he described that things like this can happen, where righteous people can somehow reach into the spiritual realm and make a change at its source, and the physical world reacts by manifesting or de-manifesting something. However, he used very specific language saying that only Tzaddikim (righteous people) can do this, and you know me -- I am no righteous person. The fact that I sin proves this because by definition, a righteous person does not sin.

So how I am able to melt clouds is beyond me and still without an explanation as to how "I" can do it, but nevertheless, at least now I have more of an answer, that to do this, one needs to be living at a level that is not bound by physicality and physical rules. Maybe somehow I fit into the category, although how is beyond me.