Mayim Achronim: Ten Rectifications for Judaism [Blueprint for Life]

 In his own “language” is the same “Message” ….. Return to Hashem and his blueprint for LIFE!

Ten Rectifications for Judaism
As we prepare to usher in another new year, we pray fervently that it will be the one in which we finally see the completion of the Geulah, the great redemption of our people, followed by the transformation of the entire world into a more wholesome, peaceful, and divine place. As we listen to the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, we hope it will be the great shofar that will herald the coming of Mashiach (Isaiah 27:13). We hope that it will be the final Judgement Day, and that we will all be inscribed in the Book of Life for good. But as we yearn for these things, it is vital to ask: what are we doing practically to bring about that reality? There are so many issues and threats confronting us both externally and internally. And we know that, at the end of day, all of these things come not from various political opponents, or antisemites, or military powers, or terrorists, or propagandists—but straight from Hashem.

God tells us over and over again in the Torah that if we follow his mitzvot properly then we will be safe, blessed, and prosperous. It’s only when we don’t that all the suffering and travails come upon us. So, as a nation, we are obviously doing something wrong here. Yes, as we all know, we are lacking unity. There is a lot of disagreement and infighting, and many within the house of Israel remain secular and disconnected. But we rarely ask why this is the case, and what we can actually do to fix it. It’s like we’ve helplessly accepted the status quo, as if there’s nothing we can do about it. When our Sages list all the things wrong with the world before Mashiach comes (Sotah 49b), they conclude by saying “there is no one to rely on except our Father in Heaven”. Some of our rabbis understood this concluding statement as being part of the list of things wrong with the world, ie. that people have given up and say there is nothing we can do but wait for Hashem!

The truth is that God is waiting for us. This was precisely the case at the Splitting of the Sea, when Moses prayed fervently to Hashem and Hashem replied: ma titzak alai?! “Why are you calling out to Me?!” (Exodus 14:15) It was Nachshon who understood what had to be done, and when everyone else stood back passively; crying, stressing, waiting; he decided to dive into the water. Only then did the Sea split. Today we are, yet again, at another splitting of the sea moment, right at the finish line of Geulah, and we all need to be Nachshon right now. So, what can we do? How do we actually solve the lack of unity? How do we address the widespread secularism and materialism? How do we bring people back to Hashem, back to Torah and mitzvot, to a “Geulah mindset”? How do we shift away from passively waiting to actively doing? In short, how do we bring Mashiach?

The Problem
Let’s first take a step back and describe the situation. We have disunity because there are so many factions within the Jewish world—secular and religious, left-wing and right-wing, liberal and conservative, Israeli and diaspora, Ashkenazi and Sephardi, Hasidic and Litvish, Ultra-Orthodox and Modern Orthodox, etc. We are a deeply fractured people with so many differences in opinions, philosophies, and even in Jewish law and practice. We have one God and one Torah—should we not have one Hashkafa and one Halakhah? Our Sages (Yevamot 13b) warned long ago not to divide up Jewish practice to the point where we become agudot, distinct “camps” all doing different things. They derived this alliteratively from the similar-sounding Torah mitzvah of lo titgodedu, “do not cut yourselves” (Deuteronomy 14:1). In other words, we’ve self-mutilated our people, and cut ourselves up into false factions that are only causing a terrible national hemorrhage.

And this is the reason why so many among us our secular. The vast majority of those who are secular are secular either because they have no knowledge of God and Torah and were never exposed to it properly, or because they have a wrong understanding of what it means to be Torah-observant. The latter might be because they were brought up in a false religious setting, maybe even in a cult, and ran away from it, or were traumatized by corrupt “religious” leaders, or were simply given a dry and terrible Jewish day school education. And then there are those who are religious and Torah-observant, but have been raised with various myths and falsehoods, deflating beliefs, and sometimes even inculcated with a set of incorrect practices posing as genuine halakhah.

Judaism is broken. How do we fix it?
What follows is an attempt to put together a clear and concise step-by-step plan to rectify Judaism from within. It is by no means definitive, and I don’t pretend to have all the answers. At the very least, I’d like to raise the key questions and start a critical conversation. How do we address the core issues? What can we do practically to make this new year, 5786, the year of the Final Redemption?
In the Jewish mystical tradition, “rectification”, or tikkun, is highly intertwined with the notion of the Ten Sefirot, the blueprint for all of Creation. They represent ten major aspects of the divine, and they are imbued within all things in the cosmos. They are commonly depicted in what is often called the “Tree of Life” diagram at right. And so, I arranged the following set of rectifications along the Ten Sefirot, from Keter down to Malkhut. To keep things brief and concise, I provided some examples under each category, and linked to previous essays and classes for more information and explanation.

Keter – the Will of God
The Ten Sefirot, from Keter on top to Malkhut on the bottom, intertwined with the 22 Letters of the Hebrew Alphabet

The first Sefirah is called Keter, literally “crown”, and represents the very will, or ratzon, of God. Our Sages teach to “do His will as if it were your will, so that He will do your will as if it were His will” (Avot 2:4). And God’s will is for us to fulfill His commandments, as He relayed to us in His Torah. The Torah contains a total of 620 commandments—613 of which are for Israel, and the remaining 7 for all nations of the world. In his commentary on the Ten Commandments passage (which contain a total of 620 letters!) the great Ba’al haTurim (Rabbi Yakov ben Asher, c. 1269-1343) points out that 620 is the gematria of keter (כתר) itself! One who fulfils God’s laws is “crowned”, while one who does not fulfil them is “excised”, karet(כרת), from God—the same letters, rearranged. The first tikkun, therefore, is to double-down on our observance of God’s commands, and to do them properly—without loopholes and cutting corners. This is true both for our 613 commandments, as well as for the 7 Noahide Laws that we should teach and encourage our non-Jewish neighbours to take on.

An example: today we once again have the ability to put tekhelet blue on our tzitzit. The Torah explicitly commands (as we say multiple times a day in the Shema) that our tzitzit should have a blue thread. The correct blue dye from the Murex snail is available today, and there is no good reason why we shouldn’t all have them on our tzitzit and tallits. Some critics argue that we are not sure if it’s the right blue, but the reality is that even if it wasn’t (but it is, because we have scientific and archaeological proof!) putting on the blue dye does not invalidate the mitzvah anyway. There is literally nothing to lose, and at the very least we are showing Hashem how we want to fulfil His mitzvot as punctiliously as possible, to the letter of the law.

Another example: the Torah has a major mitzvah of destroying one’s chametz before Pesach. This is of great significance, and most of us probably clean our homes extremely well and make sure to get rid of every last crumb. And yet, it has become customary for many to “sell” their chametz through a strange sham of a procedure, with thousands of innocent unsuspecting people being told they can fill out a form and their chametz will magically be sold to a Gentile—while it’s still in their house! Although there is indeed an ancient precedent for the sale of chametz (as explored in-depth here), it was only meant for emergency situations or for large commercial or industrial enterprises, and even then it looked nothing like today’s laughable “sale”. It has become nothing more than a silly loophole, and an entirely ineffective one at that. There is no fooling God.

Many more such examples abound. Suffice it to say that the first tikkun is making sure we are fulfilling God’s 613 mitzvot properly and accurately, with no loopholes—and sharing that information with our fellows. That includes sharing the wisdom of the 7 Noahide Laws with Gentiles, because the Final Redemption will be a global one after all. As Hashem told Isaiah, “it is too little that only [Israel] shall be my servant!” (49:6) At the End of Days, the whole world has to come to service of Hashem. “YHWH will be king over the entire Earth, in that day, Hashem will be one and His name one.” (Zechariah 14:9)

Chokhmah – Torah Study
The second Sefirah, Chokhmah, literally means “knowledge” (though it is often translated as “wisdom”), and is the domain of Torah study. The Torah is the chokhmah of God, and a Torah scholar is called a talmid chakham. What does Torah study actually entail? In many yeshivas today, the focus of the learning is Talmud (in Ultra-Orthodox yeshivas, it is often entirely Talmud!) What about the actual word of God, the Tanakh? What about the mystical tradition, or Kabbalah, the “soul” of Judaism? Even the realm of halakhah and the development of Jewish law is given scant attention. We must remember how our Sages told us to learn Torah: The Talmud (Kiddushin 30a) says that Torah study time should be divided into three: the first third for Tanakh, the second third for Mishnah (and halakhah more broadly), and the final third for Talmud. According to the Talmudic masters themselves, Talmud study should take up no more than a third of one’s learning time!

For the Sages in the times of the Talmud, they also spent a great deal of time in mystical contemplation, though they did not instruct others to learn it because it was thought to be too complex and difficult for the masses. By the 1500s, Jewish mystical teachings had been revealed to all, so it was necessary to add a fourth element to the Torah-learning agenda. The great Arizal (Rabbi Itzchak Luria, 1534-1572) said that one should divide his Torah learning into four, with the new quarter being the study of pnimiyut haTorah, the “inner” part of the Torah, the mystical and esoteric sphere. This is the part concerned with the soul and the mind, with connection to God, with the secrets of Creation and the cosmos. This is where Torah and science fuse together so nicely and don’t contradict, and where traditional Jewish psychology can heal today’s many ills. Today’s generation needs this particular dimension of Torah more than ever.

These four major aspects of Torah learning correspond to our Sages’ ancient description of Pardes (פרדס), literally an “orchard”, and the root of the English word “paradise” (Chagigah 14b). The pei stands for pshat, the simple and surface understanding of the Torah narrative. The reishstands for remez, “allusions”, the underlying message of the narrative. The dalet is for drash, “allegory”, referring to the deeper metaphorical and allegorical ideas coming out of the text. And finally there’s sod, “secrets”, the mystical and esoteric wisdom concealed in the Torah. The Arizal explained that fulfilling the mitzvah of Torah study means doing it on all four levels, and he even said that one who fails to cover even one of these aspects will reincarnate and keep coming back to this world until he learns Torah properly! (Sha’ar HaGilgulim, Ch. 16) Later, the great Chida (Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai, 1724-1806) pointed out that if one fails to learn the sod of Torah, then pardes (פרדס) will be left without a samekh, resulting in a pered (פרד), being a “mule”! The Arizal’s own recommended regimen for Torah study: “First one should read from the Torah, then the Prophets [Nevi’im] and then the Holy Writings [Ketuvim], and then learn Kabbalah, and then Mishnah, and then Talmud.” (Sha’ar haMitzvot, Va’etchanan)

That said, we have to ensure Jewish school curricula around the world adopt this model—whether a Haredi yeshiva or a community day school. First and foremost: a deep dive into the Tanakh, God’s revealed Word. Then understanding Jewish law (more on this below) and bringing Mishnah and halakhah to life. Of course, we then have to delve into Talmud, and not just the legalistic parts, but a deep understanding and appreciation for its aggadata. Finally, it is absolutely vital to infuse mysticism and psychology, science and philosophy, Midrash and Kabbalah. If we don’t do this, we risk having generations of Jewish students failing to properly fulfil the mitzvah of Torah study, and left without vital divine wisdom and inspiration. This inevitably leads to the issues described above in people leaving the religious fold or remaining secular and disconnected.

Binah – Customs 
In mystical literature, Chokhmah is always associated with masculine energy and even called Abba, the “father”. That might explain why, until recently, Torah study was exclusively the domain of men. Binah, on the other hand, is always associated with the feminine, and also called Ima, the “mother”. Binah literally means “understanding”. It is about contemplation, synthesis, and integration. It has an aspect of intuition, too. King Solomon advised to “keep your father’s mitzvot, and do not forsake your mother’s Torah.” (Proverbs 6:20) One way to understand the notion of “mother’s Torah” as distinct from “father’s mitzvot” is that it refers to the additional customs that the Jewish people have adopted over the centuries. Customs and traditions are, of course, a significant part of Judaism.

However, over the centuries a number of totally pagan customs that are antithetical to Torah have infiltrated Judaism. It is imperative to eliminate these customs, as our own rabbis have instructed. For example, the custom of kapparot before Yom Kippur (with the swinging chickens) is one that the Shulchan Arukh calls a “foolish custom” (minhag shetut) that should be abolished (see Orach Chaim 605, as well as the Beit Yosef, where Rav Yosef Karo writes that he made sure to expunge this custom from Tzfat). Kapparot has no basis in Tanakh or in Talmud, or in any genuine ancient text, and many of the rishonim described it as darkei Emori, pagan practice. (For an in-depth discussion of this practice, see here.) There is absolutely no good reason to perpetuate this false pagan custom—not even with money instead of chickens.

There are many more in this category of fake customs, including red strings on people’s wrists, and “Schlissel challah”, a relatively new addition based on Eastern European Christian practices around Easter. One can make the same case for upsherin or halake, originally adopted by Mizrachi Jews from their Arab and Muslim neighbours before being taken on and championed by Hasidim in recent centuries (see here). Every custom has to be carefully explored and analyzed to ascertain its roots and origins before being adopted.

You may have heard it said that a minhag (מנהג) has the same letters as Gehinnom (גהנם). Some say it is because one has to uphold every Jewish custom, or face Hell. But it can be interpreted just as easily the other way: It is the adoption of pagan customs antithetical to Torah that can, God forbid, lead a person to Gehinnom.
Chessed – Charity 
Thankfully, we live in a generation in which doing acts of Chessed and giving money to charity has become very easy and widespread. Opportunities present themselves regularly. There are so many wonderful charity organizations and non-profits out there doing tremendous work. We are undoubtedly living in the most charitable and generous time in Jewish history. Unfortunately, there are corrupt individuals who take advantage of this.

While it is, of course, good to give more charity if possible and donate more of our time to volunteer and help others, it is also just as necessary to ensure our funds and efforts go to the right places. Millions of Jewish charity dollars are being wasted each year and thrown into the pockets of thieves and charlatans. It is critical to ensure that one’s charity dollars go to vetted and worthy organizations. The priority should be, as the Torah says so many times, to take care of widows, orphans, and the impoverished. God says He specifically listens to their cries more than others. In fact, it’s one of the 613 mitzvot to take care of widows and orphans and to ease their suffering and not afflict them (Exodus 22:21-22).

In addition to fake charities that steal people’s money, there are two more major sources of wasted funds today. One is popular Torah lecturers who charge exorbitant speaking fees to give a shiur. Just in recent days I’ve heard of one rabbi charging $30,000 for a Shabbaton, and another that took a whopping $50,000 to do a class in someone’s house. (He did promise to give half to charity.) That money could have put a handful of Jewish kids through Jewish school for an entire year! How can we justify spending so much money on a single Torah class or Shabbaton when there are so many families out there resorting to public schools because they can’t afford Jewish school tuition?

It is well-known that the Rambam (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, 1138-1204) completely forbid charging money to teach Torah. He wrote that “Even a distinguished sage who becomes poor should involve himself in a profession—even a degrading one—rather than appeal to people at large. It is preferable for a person to skin the hide of animal carcasses, rather than tell people: ‘I am a great sage… grant me sustenance!’” (Hilkhot Matnot ‘Ani’im 10:18) While later halakhic sources permitted it out of necessity, and it is certainly reasonable to compensate a Torah lecturer for their time, transit, accommodations, and basic expenses, there is no justification for paying thousands of dollars for a shiur. This is a horrendous waste of money, and a crime against Jewish humanity. Whether you are a wealthy individual, a shul or Jewish school, or an event organizer, please do not submit to those who demand thousands of dollars for a Torah speaking engagement. And beware of those constantly asking for their shiurim to be “sponsored”. A Torah teacher should either give the shiurim for free, or arrange a sponsor discreetly, or have their own patron who supports their work. They should not be constantly demanding of the general public—“appealing to people at large”, as the Rambam writes—to pay for their own scheduled shiurim that the public didn’t even ask for.

It is worth remembering that the Zohar describes people who so egregiously use Torah for personal profit as one of the five types of Erev Rav sinners that delay the Redemption (Zohar I, 25a-b). The Zohar adds that those who build glorious synagogues unnecessarily are in the same category. They take on massive construction projects without the funds, and then have their communities foot the bill, constantly demanding money from their congregants. The same is true, the Zohar says, for those who commission fancy Torah scrolls when they are not needed.

Finally, it is important not to give charity to Torah learning institutions that are not properly teaching Torah or preparing students for the real world. Yeshivas that have no rigorous general studies program to ensure students have basic life knowledge and skills, and no proper gymnasium or physical education program for students to take care of their health, are not worthy of your money (or sending your children there). We must remember the Talmud that says a man who does not ensure his child has a career is turning him into a thief! (Kiddushin 29a) Yeshivas that don’t prepare students for parnassah and are instead geared towards producing full-time kollel learners are, according to the Talmud, producing thieves.
The Rambam’s language is even harsher: “Anyone who comes to the conclusion that he should involve himself in Torah study without doing work and derive his livelihood from charity, desecrates [God’s] name, dishonours the Torah, extinguishes the light of faith, brings evil upon himself, and forfeits the life of the World to Come.” (Hilkhot Talmud Torah 3:10-11) In light of this, it makes no sense to have kollels that keep grown men out of the workforce indefinitely. These fine gentlemen—who could be amazingly productive people and wonderful Jewish leaders—are instead trained for a life of idleness, weakness, and dependence on others. Torah learning is of supreme importance, yes, but let’s remember the dictum of our Sages (Avot 1:17) that lo hamidrash hu ha’ikar, ela hama’ase, “Study is not the most important thing, but action”. (For an in-depth analysis of this, see here and here.)

Gevurah – Stringencies 
The fifth Sefirah is Gevurah, “Strength” or “Restraint”, and commonly called Din, “judgement”. It is the realm of law and justice, of severity and stringency. It is the counterbalance to the kindness, openness, and generosity of Chessed on the right. Still, Judaism always prioritizes the right side of Chessed, which is why we are halakhically instructed to put on our right shoes first (or right anything, for that matter) and why the right tefillin strap is always longer than the left. Our Sages stated that koach d’hetera adif, it is preferable to permit something if possible, and it generally takes a lot more wisdom to permit than to forbid (see, for example, Gittin 41b). And yet, the natural trend over the centuries is that Jewish law has gotten more and more strict in practically every category. So many fences and additions have been added, we’ve nearly become a religion of fences, and have forgotten what’s actually fenced in to begin with!
Moreover, today we have a reality where asking three different rabbis an halakhic question typically results in three different answers. Jewish law has no clarity and no uniformity, leading to even more division and separation. This was prophesied long ago in the Talmud (Shabbat 138b), which states that “the Torah is destined to be forgotten from Israel”. The Sages debate what this prophecy means, with Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai ultimately declaring: “Heaven forbid that the Torah should ever be forgotten from Israel! …Rather, what will happen is that there will be no clear, singular halakhah.” This prophecy has tragically come true, with so many different approaches to halakhah and so many different forms of Jewish law, with totally different systems for Ashkenazim and Sephardim, Hasidim and Haredim, and so on, as if we are entirely different religions.

This worrying trend already existed in the time of the Rambam. This is why he undertook to produce his monumental Mishneh Torah, which remains to this day the only comprehensive code of Jewish law that covers all aspects of Judaism and Torah. In his introduction, the Rambam wrote how Jewish law was fracturing far too much, taking on all kinds of local customs and stringencies, with “one claiming this and one claiming that”, producing great confusion in halakhah. So, he undertook to put together a clear and concise code based on the actual laws, from the Torah through the Talmud and beyond. His goal was to make it so that

a person will not need another text at all with regard to any Jewish law. Rather, this text will be a compilation of the entire Oral Law, including also the ordinances, customs, and decrees that were enacted from the time of Moses, our teacher, until the completion of the Talmud, as were explained by the Geonim in the texts they composed after the Talmud. Therefore, I have called this text Mishneh Torah with the intent that a person should first study the Written Law, and then study this text and comprehend the entire Oral Law from it, without having to study any other text between the two.

Yet, today’s “halakhot”, as commonly taught, hardly resemble the Mishneh Torah. In just about every aspect we’ve gotten far more stringent. There are countless things expected of us today that were not mentioned at all in the Mishneh Torah—from reciting Kaddish for a parent for an entire year, to “mourning” during Sefirat haOmer. Whether it’s Shabbat, kashrut, or niddah; cleaning for Pesach or checking for bugs in food, so many extras and stringencies have been added that serve practically no purpose, and only make people miserable and drive them away from Torah observance. This is yet another reason for why secularism runs rampant in the Jewish world today; why so many leave the religious world, why young Orthodox Jews do not wish to remain Orthodox, and why many want nothing to do with halakhah at all.

We have to restore sanity to halakhah, and go back to the wise words of the Rambam—the same Rambam who was compared to Moses himself, and of whom it was said that “from Moses to Moses [Rambam] there arose none like Moses”. The Mishneh Torah should be the primary code of Jewish law—as indeed it was for many communities throughout history, including the Yemenites. Even the Lubavitcher Rebbe instructed his Hasidim to learn Mishneh Torah daily (and surprisingly not, as one might expect, Chabad’s own code of law, the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Arukh haRav). It is important to note that the Rambam was not lenient at all, and actually ruled stringently on most matters. One can therefore argue that the Rambam’s position should be the final word on halakhah, not the first; the most stringent option, not the least.

Another beautiful thing about the Mishneh Torah is that it is arranged by Torah mitzvah, clearly subcategorizing every single halakhah under one of the Torah’s 613 commandments. It is the only law code that does this, showing a clear link between the Written and Oral Torahs, and demonstrating how each halakhah directly relates to a mitzvah from Hashem.

Where the Mishneh Torah might lack clarity or miss a particular point, we have a secondary support for halakhah in the Shulchan Arukh. This was the more concise version of the Beit Yosef, composed by Rabbi Yosef Karo (c. 1488-1575) in an attempt to produce one final authoritative code that would be universally accepted. Between the Mishneh Torah and the Shulchan Arukh, we have everything we need when it comes to Jewish law. Any practices, customs, rituals, and stringencies which do not appear in either of these texts should hold no water at all, and be treated as optional at best.

Instead of today’s reality where asking three different rabbis gives you three different answers, we have to work towards a world where every rabbi who is posed an halakhic question should answer the same way—based on Mishneh Torah and Shulchan Arukh. Again, we have one God and one Torah, we should have one clear halakhah. There will not be unity among our people until there is unity in our laws. And it makes no difference whether one is Ashkenazi or Sephardi, Modern or Haredi. The law should be the same for all.

Tiferet – Unity & Harmony
The sixth Sefirah, Tiferet, sits at the middle of the mystical “Tree of Life”, the array of Sefirot intertwined with the 22 letters of the divine Hebrew alphabet. It is the only one intertwined with all other Sefirot, and is often described as the “heart” of the Sefirot. Just as the heart is interconnected with just about every cell of the human body through arteries, veins, and capillaries—and supplies vital oxygen and nutrients to all parts of the body—so too does Tiferet intertwine with all the other divine energies and pulses with life. Tiferet literally means “beauty” or “symmetry”, and is also called Emet, “truth”, as well as Rachamim, “compassion”. It represents balance and unity. The Land of Israel is called eretz tiferet, and the soul root of the nation of Israel lies in Tiferet, too. The Torah itself is rooted in Tiferet.

What it means practically for us as a people is that Tiferet is the space of unity and compassion, the place where all of Israel must come together as a people. This is where we need to demonstrate true ahavat hinam, love and compassion for one another. We have to avoid the infighting, the slander, the separation, and the division, and instead have more dialogue, more interaction, and more respect and understanding. We must do whatever we can to repair relationships and bring people together. We should forgive, and ask for forgiveness, bury past conflicts, and let go of old grudges. A Jew should be on good terms with every other Jew. As our Sages taught: “One with whom his fellows are pleased with, God is pleased with; and one with whom one’s fellows are not pleased with, God is not pleased with.” (Avot 3:10) Now, in the midst of the Forty Days of Repentance before Yom Kippur, is a particularly good time to mend relationships.

All of this begins at home, healing relationships between spouses, parents and children, siblings and friends. National harmony is impossible without harmony at home. This is one reason why the Torah begins with Adam and Eve—God created the whole world for a single couple, and the whole world is dependant on each and every couple. When a married couple has a peaceful home and a “Garden of Eden”, their whole world is wholesome and peaceful, too. In fact, the Zohar (I, 145b) says that the Final Redemption won’t come until “a man like Adam and a woman like Eve will outwit the Serpent”. In the narrow sense, it refers to Mashiach and his wife, but in the larger sense, it applies to each and every one of us. Broken people tend to come from broken homes, and there can be no national rectification without rectifying every home in Israel. (Yet another reason for many people leaving the religious fold is due to a reaction to the “religious” home they grew up in—more on this below.)

Netzach – Connecting (Only) to Hashem
Netzach literally means “Eternity”, and God Himself is called Netzach Israel, the Eternal One of Israel. The Sefirah of Netzach is associated with connection to our infinite Creator, whether through faith, prayer, or prophecy. What made Israel unique in ancient times is strict monotheism. We recognize the one true God, Master of the Universe and maker of Heaven and Earth. We have one God, and that’s it—in Judaism, there can be no intermediaries or intercessors, no saints and no magicians. We are meant to have a direct relationship with the Creator. Israel (ישראל) is Yasher-El (ישר אל), “straight to God”!

Unfortunately, in recent centuries, it has become normal to adopt intermediaries and intercessors in Jewish practice, particularly rebbes (dead or alive). We have to remember that we are forbidden from having anything at all between us and Hashem. We should be praying only to Hashem. We should be asking for miracles only from Hashem. We should not be directing anything to any “saints”.

Relatedly, the Torah has a clear mitzvah, again one of the 613, to not be doresh el hametim, or seeking to communicate with the dead. There are a handful of mitzvot associated with this, as we are commanded: “Let no one be found among you who consigns a son or daughter to the fire, or who is an augur, a soothsayer, a diviner, a sorcerer, one who casts spells, or one who consults ghosts or spirits, or one who inquires of the dead.” (Deuteronomy 18:10-11) It is absolutely forbidden to try to channel the dead in any way, or attempt to communicate with them or seek answers from them. Tragically, these very practices have become widespread in the Hasidic world—and through their outreach efforts, spread to innocent Jews everywhere who are unaware that it is an explicit violation of Torah law.

While it is okay to visit the graves of tzadikim out of respect or commemoration or even for some spiritual inspiration, it is not okay to pray to the tzadikim at their graves. Our prayers must be directed only to Hashem. While it is okay to light a commemorative yahrzeit candle (as King Solomon says in Proverbs 20:27 that the “candle of God is the soul of man”), it is not okay to do so while making wishes for the deceased tzadik to work miracles on one’s behalf. And it is certainly not okay to write letters to a dead person, whether a rebbe or otherwise. Writing letters to the dead is a form of doresh el hametim, and a violation of basic Torah law. Always remember that God is the only one we should be directing our prayers to, and the only one we should be asking miracles from. In what is probably the most famous of King David’s words, he asks “from where will my help come?” (Psalm 121) And the answer is only from Hashem, Creator of Heaven and Earth. There is no room for idolatry in Judaism.

Hod – Presenting Ourselves to the World 
Hod is the eighth Sefirah, literally meaning “majesty” or “splendour”. It is often translated as “acknowledgement”, being the root of lehodot, meaning to thank and to be grateful. It is associated with gracefulness, too, and how one carries and presents himself or herself to the world. Jews are meant to be role models for the world, a “light unto the nations”; a mamlekhet kohanim, or “kingdom of priests”. Every Jew must strive to be majestic and graceful, and to do kiddush Hashem, to sanctify God’s great name. This is what will make the nations declare “surely that great nation is a wise and discerning people!” (Deuteronomy 4:6) When we don’t do this, and desecrate Hashem’s name, God forbid, then the nations ridicule us, and it adds fuel to the flame of antisemitism. Every Jew has to be extra careful in the way they present themselves to the world, in their behaviour in public—especially when wearing garb that clearly identifies them as Jews. When one Jew does something embarrassing publicly, the entire nation feels “second-hand” embarrassment.

And it’s important to touch on the garb of a Jew: There is no formal definition of what constitutes “Jewish dress”. The only real Jewish accoutrement today is a kippah or head covering. What Jewish law does state is that a Jew must always be presentable, dressing modestly and respectably, with hair neatly trimmed. Aside from this, the type of dress is not regulated. That said, the specific clothing one wears makes a big statement about who they are. In the Ultra-Orthodox world, the dress of Eastern European nobility was adopted in the 1700s, including the salient shtreimel (and related fur hats), and various bekishes and kaftans. It appears to have first been formally adopted by the heretic Jacob Frank (1726-1791), who deliberately wanted to take on the “garments of Esau” (more on this here). One has to ask if it makes sense to continue wearing such galut clothes today, especially considering their origins, not to mention the fact that they are designed for cold Eastern European climates and not the heat of Israel or the humidity of New York summers. It is worth remembering the Midrash that says Israel was saved from ancient Egypt because they did not adopt the “dress, diet, and language” of the Egyptians (Midrash Lekach Tov, Ki Tavo 46a).

A similar teaching states that we were saved from Egypt in the merit of the righteous Israelite women (Sotah 11b). Today it has become common for righteous religious women to wear fancy wigs as a head covering. Going back to our first point about loopholes and cutting corners, does it make sense to cover one’s hair with someone else’s even more beautiful hair? An honest person will admit that this is just another loophole, and one that accomplishes very little, if anything. (For a detailed analysis on hair covering for women, see here.)

Yesod – Love & Marriage 
The ninth and penultimate Sefirah is Yesod, literally “foundation”. It is always described as the place of intimacy, reproduction, and sexuality. Our Sages saw it as the greatest test of righteousness, and thus also called this realm Tzadik Yesod Olam, or just Tzadik. It was best embodied by Joseph, called Yosef haTzadik. He was able to restrain himself from the advances of Potiphar’s wife, and later had a fruitful and strictly monogamous marriage with Osnat. In the Kabbalistic tradition, the final test before the Messianic Age is that of Yesod, situated right before Malkhut (“Kingdom”) on the tree of Sefirot. To get to a holy kingdom on Earth, we have to overcome the challenges in the sphere of Yesod. This would explain why some of the greatest social and personal issues in the world today are associated with Yesod, whether it’s addiction to pornography or hypersexualized content in music, literature, and media; the LGBTQ movement or the MeToo movement; sky-high divorce rates and low marriage rates, feminism and gender issues, etc.

What has suffered most from all of this is the traditional family unit and traditional gender roles. Both on the extreme left and extreme right of the social and religious spectrum, we find the Torah’s gender roles reversed, with men emasculated and women made more masculine. Surprisingly, it’s not just among Reform, liberal, and secular communities as one might expect, but also in the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish world. In the latter, it has become common for men not to work at all but stay indoors and learn Torah all day, while the women go out into the workface and provide for the family (and also take care of the motherly and household duties). The women are overloaded, overburdened, and overworked. Meanwhile, the whole setup is deeply damaging to the male psyche, too, into whom God infused a natural need to be a provider and protector. God put man on Earth l’ovdah v’l’shomrah, “to work and to safeguard” (Genesis 2:15), to till and tend to the Garden. In fact, our Sages said that one of the cruel things the ancient Egyptians would do during the Israelite servitude was “to make women do men’s work and men do women’s work” (Sotah 11b). This is a deeply unhealthy state, and further contributes to the breakdown of marriages, lack of shlom bayit, and sky-high divorce rates.

The problem is further exacerbated by the shidduch system in the religious world, which often sets up marriages for failure. We’ve gotten to the point where people are writing resumes and calling references just to go on a date, and treating love and marriage like a business transaction or an industrial assembly line operation. The result is couples getting married having no clue who they are actually marrying. Some do end up with the right chemistry and build a happy, loving, and passionate marriage. Many don’t. I know far too many people who married and got divorced within months. And many more stuck in loveless marriages year after year, or even in abusive marriages, God forbid (not to mention the tragic cases of agunot). What happened to couples meeting organically in social settings, getting to know each other slowly and properly, and falling in love?

Of course, that does not mean that couples should be intimate before marriage. This is an even larger issue on the other side of the spectrum, where promiscuity ends up ruining future marriages, too. To paraphrase our Sages, when you have a couple who have each had a previous intimate partner, there are not two heads in their bed, but four! (Pesachim 112a) And then there’s the other major issue in the secular part of the Jewish world: the rampant intermarriage, as high as 80% in some communities. When people don’t have a strong connection to Hashem, the Torah, or their Jewish community, they inevitably marry out, typically leading to the extinction of yet another Jewish lineage. (On that note, if people we know are already committed to an intermarriage, we shouldn’t shut them out, but instead do whatever we can to at least get them to consider a proper halakhic conversion. And by being religious role models ourselves, we can make that option far more attractive.)

We cannot get to Malkhut without first fixing Yesod, and that means ensuring couples have loving, meaningful, supportive, and passionate marriages. It means reclaiming the traditional Torah family, with traditional gender roles that are already deeply ingrained in our psyches, our genes, and our souls. It doesn’t mean men have to be out working all day and women have to be full-time housewives; rather, it means appreciating the obvious gender differences and, instead of ignoring them, embracing them.

Malkhut – Divine Speech 
The tenth and final Sefirah is Malkhut, “kingdom”, “kingship”, or “royalty”. It is also referred to as shiflut, “lowliness”, or humility. This is the realm associated with speech. After all, what is a king but someone who leads through speech? Who inspires and rouses his people with words, who pronounces royal decrees. In Hebrew, many of the words for a leader are related to words dealing with speech. Melekh (“king”) is nearly identical to malakh, a “messenger”. Nagid (“ruler”) is from the root lehagid, “to say” or “to recite”. Nasi (“prince”) is related to the expression of raising, isa, one’s voice. Speech is absolutely integral to the cosmos—God brought the universe into existence by speaking it! And He spoke Lashon haKodesh, the divine Hebrew language of the Torah.

We, too, are supposed to speak Hebrew. A Jew should think with Hebrew, see the world in Hebrew, breathe and live Hebrew. Recall the famous Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis in psychology: We generally think in words—an endless stream of words in our minds—and so, one’s language and vocabulary will inevitably affect one’s thoughts. One’s mind is only as expansive as one’s vocabulary. And one’s language will impact how a person thinks, because every language has its own unique structure, grammar, words, expressions, and idioms. If one wants to have Godly thoughts, one needs to have the language of God in his mind. If one wants Geulah and a return to the Holy Land, one needs to speak the language of the Holy Land. Conversely, if one only speaks galut languages (whether English or Yiddish or otherwise), they will always be confined to a galut mindset.

Remember the Midrash quoted above about the three things that the ancient Israelites did to merit Redemption: dress, diet, and language. They retained the holy Hebrew tongue and spoke it regularly, instead of adopting the Egyptian tongue. We must do the same. (With this in mind, we can see how problematic it is when whole Jewish communities insist on wearing Eastern European dress and speaking an Eastern European dialect—Yiddish—that is based on German and Russian! This is not helping to bring Geulah.) Any Jew who is not already fluent in Hebrew needs to learn immediately. Every Jewish school—whether a nursery or day school, a yeshiva or a beit midrash—needs to have a rigorous Hebrew learning program. God will listen more closely when we speak His language. (For lots more on this, see here.)
Finally, just as important as the language we speak is what we say. A Jew’s speech should be refined. That means clean and positive language—gratitude, compliments, smiles, encouragement—and also constructive criticism when necessary. It means no lashon hara, of course, and thankfully there are many programs today that address this problem. That said, a gentle rebuke is not lashon hara, and the Torah commands to “rebuke your fellow and do not bear a sin because of him.” (Leviticus 19:17) If we don’t rebuke our fellows—kindly, not angrily or aggressively—God will hold us responsible for their sins, too. Even more importantly, it is not lashon hara to call out serial child abusers and criminals. We have to protect each other, and protect our most precious individuals.

Malkhut is kingdom, and we all want to bring the ultimate kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Let’s speak as if we are already in that heavenly kingdom. After all, our words create our reality. In Hebrew, “mouth” is peh (פה) and the “here” and now is po (פה), spelled the exact same way. What you speak you bring into existence, just as Hashem spoke the world into existence. Let’s speak into existence the holy kingdom on Earth that we all want and yearn for.

I believe if we embrace the ten tikkunim outlined above (helpful summary chart below), and resolve to put them into action, we can truly bring Mashiach this year. (You might even call it something of a “Mashiach Manifesto”!) Share it with others, and have these difficult but important conversations with family, friends, and community. Let’s make this year the year of Geulah fulfilled.

Wishing everyone a ketiva v’chatima tova and a happy, healthy, and sweet new year!

TO SEE ALL THIS IN CHART / DIAGRAM STYLE GO

HERE https://www.mayimachronim.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Ten-Rectifications-for-Judaism.pdf