Hacham Yitzhak Eliyahu Laniado


THE DAILY SAGE CALENDAR:
< Kislev 5785 December 2024 >
אבגדהוש
ל/1א/2ב/3ג/4ד/5ה/6ו/7
ז/8ח/9ט/10י/11יא/12יב/13יג/14
יד/15טו/16טז/17יז/18יח/19יט/20כ/21
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כח/29כט/30ל/31    
A few quotes from the Rabbi on 'Love of Israel'
in which he teaches that even one who fulfills [a mitzvah] without kavvanah [devotional intent] yet takes pleasure in it, repairs the approach to Atzilut [the Kabbalistic sphere of Divine emanation]
The world-repair by the Torah, of the Holy One blessed be He, through what one studies in the Torah, which is called 'light', and sets his mind, since Torah has literal, hinted and mystical [levels of meaning] the Hebrew initials of which spell P'R'D', also contains [the hidden] Sod, called secret light. And one sets one's intent to please He who commanded us to it. Just as I, your servant, do not know the nature of the kavvannot, and have not delved nor traversed but rather, I do these things, meaning Tefillin and Torah study, for the sake of their Creator and with intention, for the sake of their Maker. This is not, indeed, the case with my teachers and superiors, who did delve and traverse, and who most certainly fulfill the commandments and study Torah with true kavvanah, restoring [tikun] the [Kabalistic] celestial father and mother, the father being restored [tikun] by the study of Torah that was uttered, and the mother restored by the fulfillment of the mitzvah. In the mystical [sphere], the father speaks and the mother acts.
So for the remaining simple folk who wear Tefillin out of routine or as part of social norms, without even any literal intent or inner awareness, yet take pleasure in their [Tefillin] boxes, knots and straps, and 'fastening them, fastening them thoroughly', on their arms, they are those who restore the worlds of Creation, Formation, Action – that are called the entrance and path to the World of Atzilut [Emanation].
Vayizra Yitzhak, sermon on Tefillin, p. 106, Ezra Haim Press, Damascus, printed in Aram Tzova [Aleppo], 1928
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