The Middle Path

Bs"d

Be on the lookout for upcoming Shiurim this month to prepare for Rosh Hashana.

Guaranteed to change your Rosh Hashana experience or your money back.

The Entire Set of Shiur 3 covering everything Chassidus! Enjoy!

http://www.sepherio.com/themiddlepath.co.il/TheMiddlePath.co.il-The-Life-of-the-Baal-Shem-Tov-by-Rav-Chaimowitz-1.mp4

http://www.sepherio.com/themiddlepath.co.il/TheMiddlePath.co.il-The-Life-of-the-Baal-Shem-Tov-by-Rav-Chaimowitz-2.mp4

http://www.sepherio.com/themiddlepath.co.il/TheMiddlePath.co.il-The-Life-of-the-Baal-Shem-Tov-by-Rav-Chaimowitz-3.mp4

http://www.sepherio.com/themiddlepath.co.il/TheMiddlePath.co.il-The-Life-of-the-Baal-Shem-Tov-by-Rav-Chaimowitz-4.mp4

http://www.sepherio.com/themiddlepath.co.il/TheMiddlePath.co.il-The-Life-of-the-Baal-Shem-Tov-by-Rav-Chaimowitz-5.mp4

http://www.sepherio.com/themiddlepath.co.il/TheMiddlePath.co.il-The-Life-of-the-Baal-Shem-Tov-by-Rav-Chaimowitz-6.mp4

Bs"d

As you know, every week of sfiras haomer we work on a specific middah – character trait. This week's middah is "Middas Tiferes". But what is Tiferes, and how do we work on it?

The root of the Hebrew word Tiferes is "Pe'er" (Peh, Alef, Reish). The word Pe'er means beauty, but it can also mean a branch (of a tree). Now, what could possibly be the connection between beauty and a branch? We know that in Hebrew, all the words that have the same letters are somehow related, so there must be some connection between the concept of beauty and branches of a tree. And even once we understand that, what does all this have to do with a character trait?

The Sefer Derech Mitzvosecha (written by the Tzemach Tzedek, the third Lubavitcher Rebbe zy"a) explains¹, that beauty is perceived only when there exists a contrast. For example, imagine a flowerpot that holds in it some beautifully formed tulips – but everything around them is all the same color. Imagine that  the tulips are white, the stems and leaves are white, the soil is white, and even the flowerpot itself is white,. Would that be beautiful? It really wouldn't be very nice at all. Rather, the beauty is exhibited only when there is contrast. When the flowerpot is a red-brown and some of the tulips are white but some others are pink and red, and the leaves are green and the soil is brown – that contrast is what awards the perception of the flowerpot and its flowers its beauty.

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Bs"d

The Ohev Yisroel¹ says in his explanation of Shabbos Hagadol² : [The Egyptians] would worship the constellation of "tleh" – the head of all the constellations, the b'chor ("firstborn") of all of them.  Hashem slew all the b'chorim that were in Egypt, and that was the idea of the smiting of the firstborn…The idea of b'chor, is the first strength and starting point. It is the [level of] Chochma".

We know that in the creation of the natural world, the level of Chochma was the first point of "creation". In regard to the constellations – those realities that have become conduits for energies to enter the world – "Tleh" [literally, a young sheep] – is the fist and starting point of those conduits that comprises within it the essence of all the other constellations.

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