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Seeing Through the Husk: Reb Meir & the Heretic

Pesach Sheni and the Power of Teshuvah

1 hr 58 min

Class Summary:

Reb Meir, the second-century Talmudic sage, was seen as one of the greatest scholars of his day. Yet, unlike his friends, he chose to remain loyal to his teacher, Elisha ben Avuya, who became a heretic. Why?

There are three schools of thought. We are a victim of our past; we are the fathers of our futures. The unique position of Judaism extends man’s reach not only forwards, but even backward in time. We can retroactively redefine or recast our previous bad deeds into good ones, by peering through the “husk” of the negative and seeing it from the vantage point of the Divine. This was the secret of Reb Meir.

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  • Anonymous -4 years ago

    Hi

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  • SC

    Shmuel C -9 years ago


    Thank you Rabbi for an awe inspiring and life altering perspective on Teshuva and a deeply rich insight into a great Talmudic personality.

    I'm not sure if it's worth citing, but the Ben Yehoyada on the Talmud Avodah Zara, you mentioned, Rashi there mentions the story of Rabbi Meirs wife's demise, and how her soul was deeply connected to Bat Sheva in a previous life, wife of kimd David.

    We know from the great kabbalist the Rema of Pano in his work Gilgul Neshamot that King david was a continuation of Adams life. Furthermore we know from the famed kabbalist Rabbi Yaakov Abichatzira in his work Machsof Halavan parshat vayechi how the story of Yehudah and later king David challenges with marriage and purity were all rectifying previous lifetimes connected with Adam and the serpent.

    There is many mysterious phenomena at play here in Rabbi Meirs life where he obviously elevated his life to the level where he was not subject to the curse of the original sin of Adam and his body was a translucent vehicle for Gds light אור. And not an eclipse of leather hide of the body obscuring the purity of the soul.

    Furthermore we see how Rabbi Meirs position even in halacha, jewish law, was a larger than life perspective addressing multiple dimensions of reality and having an outlook from an ethereal existence.

    Many examples including חוקקין להשלים מסכת שבת where Rabbi Meir is using imaginative details that aren't present as to conclude a Halachik ruling for laws involving shabbat and territorial domains.

    Another example which even underscores his broad perspective of Teshuva on a principle of Halacha as to finalize legal transactions of ownership on a subject entity that is yet to materialize, אדם מקנה דבר שלא בא לעולם תלמוד קידושין that a man can procure-claim ownership on something that is yet to assume a physical existence, your more of your potential than you think, your more righteous than you can imagine.

    Rabbi Meir helped us develop and live with a Gdly perspective in a human body.

    Thank you Rabbi for supplying us with a glimpse of Rabbi Meirs excellence!

    Reply to this comment.Flag this comment.

Pesach Sheni/Behaaloscha

Rabbi YY Jacobson

  • May 3, 2015
  • |
  • 14 Iyyar 5775
  • |
  • 5888 views

Dedicated by David Pisarevsky in the loving memory of Yaakov, 5, Sarah, 6, Moshe, 8,Yehoshua, 10, Rivka, 11, Dovid, 12 and Eliana, 16 – Sassoon. And for the complete and speedy recovery of their mother Gilah bas Frances and her daughter Tziporah bas Gilah

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