{"id":44283,"date":"2018-11-19T13:10:34","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T11:10:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=44283"},"modified":"2022-06-13T15:33:16","modified_gmt":"2022-06-13T12:33:16","slug":"come-closer-go-higher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/come-closer-go-higher\/","title":{"rendered":"Come Closer &#8211; Go Higher"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[370,437,354,387],"acf":{"old_id":"44283","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33923,"related_cahpter":"93","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"To bring the animal element within us to be transformed through the Divine fire","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The laws of sacrifices that dominate the early chapters of the book of Leviticus, are among the hardest in the Torah to relate to in the present. It has been almost 2,000 years since the Temple was destroyed and the sacrificial system came to an end. But Jewish thinkers, especially the more mystical among them, strove to understand the inner significance of the sacrifices and the statement they made about the relationship between humanity and God. They were thus able to rescue their spirit even if their physical enactment was no longer possible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What exactly is it that we give God when we offer a sacrifice? The Jewish mystics, among them R. Shneor Zalman, spoke about two souls each of us has \u2013 the animal soul (<em>nefesh ha-behamit<\/em>) and the Godly soul. On the one hand we are physical beings. We are part of nature. We have physical needs: food, drink, shelter. We are born, we live, we die.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet we are not simply animals. We have within us immortal longings. We can think, speak and communicate. We can, by acts of speaking and listening, reach out to others. We are the one life form known to us in the universe that can ask the question \u201cWhy?\u201d We can formulate ideas and be moved by high ideals. We are not governed by biological drives alone.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Physically, we are almost nothing; spiritually, we are brushed by the wings of eternity. We have a Godly soul. The nature of sacrifice, understood psychologically, is thus clear. What we offer God is (not just an animal but) the <em>nefesh ha-behamit<\/em>, the animal soul within us.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The noun <em>korban<\/em>, \u201csacrifice\u201d, and the verb <em>le-hakriv<\/em>, \u201cto offer something as a sacrifice\u201d actually mean \u201cthat which is brought close\u201d and \u201cthe act of bringing close\u201d. The key element is not so much giving something up (the usual meaning of sacrifice) but rather bringing something close to God. <em>Le-hakriv <\/em>is to bring the animal element within us to be transformed through the Divine fire that once burned on the altar, and still burns at the heart of prayer if we truly seek closeness to God.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From: <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why Do We Sacrifice? (Covenant &amp; Conversation, Vayikra 5775<\/span><\/em><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":56754,"id":56754,"title":"isam1-prayer abstract","filename":"isam1-prayer-abstract.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/unyearned-for-blessings-unuttered-prayers\/isam1-prayer-abstract\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam1-prayer-abstract","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":56750,"date":"2019-06-03 16:28:11","modified":"2023-05-08 14:29:58","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Come Closer - 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