What The Torah Teaches Us About Spirituality/ Through Isaac's Own Spiritual Journey

What The Torah Teaches Us About Spirituality

Through Isaac’s Own Spiritual Journey

By Laura Weakley

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

What The Torah Teaches Us About Spirituality

Through Isaac’s Own Spiritual Journey

Published by Laura Weakley at Smashwords

Copyright 2010 Laura Weakley

ISBN: 978-1-4524-3979-2

Dedication

This book is dedicated with love to all seekers of

Truth, Knowledge, Spirituality, and most importantly,

Students and Teachers of Torah.

For my children, Brandon and Marilyn with love.

May you never stop searching for the truth, l’dor v’dor!

To my husband Kevin for all of his love and encouragement,

may you come to see all of your blessings!

Acknowledgements

Without the insights Adonai has shown me, this book would not have been possible. I thank Adonai every day for the gifts I have been given, which enable me to teach, write, and inspire others to learn and come to new levels of understanding. I hope questions about who Isaac was will start to be answered through this book.

I thank Adonai for enabling my soul to find the great rabbinic teachers I have studied under, along with my husband Kevin’s soul, as his interest, support, encouragement, and joyful readiness to be my study partner enable me to share my insights with others!

Thanks to all of the great sages who have preceded me.

It is my hope this book about Isaac’s Spirituality encourages others to not only seek to learn more Torah, but also to desire to know others better.

The Biblical passages I have included are of my own translation.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Just What Is Spirituality?

There are four different levels of Torah learning.

Chapter 2: The Torah’s Facts About Isaac

Chapter 3: The Metaphor of Water

Chapter 4: The Akeidah

Lech Lecha

We Need To Trust What We Know To Be True

The Akeidah From Isaac’s Possible Point Of View.

Genesis Chapter 22

Chapter 5: Understanding Isaac The Man

Chapter 6: Isaac and Adonai

The Importance Of Isaac’s Parent’s Role To His Relationship With Adonai

Rebecca, Isaac, and Adonai

Isaac On His Own

Chapter 7: Isaac Teaches Us Patience!

Waiting For A Woman Of Valor

How We Will Know When We Are On The Path of Our Destiny?

Following In Abraham’s Footsteps

Chapter 8: The Inheritance Of Isaac’s Sons

Genesis 27:34-36

Genesis Chapter 25:19-33 The Beginning of Toledot

Chapter 9: Isaac Parented Spiritually

Chapter 10: Isaac As A Businessman

What we know about Isaac’s integrity

Chapter 11: Isaac’s Travels Teach Spiritual Lessons

Isaac Dug Wells

Genesis Chapter 26

Chapter 12: Passing on the blessing

Genesis, Chapter 27

Genesis Chapter 28

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Book Reviews For What The Torah Teaches Us About Survival

About The Author

Introduction

Of the first three of our forefathers, Isaac is the one about whom the Torah records the least information and commentary. Sages and scholars have had little more to say about Isaac. I was compelled to write this book on spirituality, with Isaac as my main example, because of the inspiration I received from Adonai on parashah Toledot. For more on my Torah Commentary, please read my blog:

http://whatthetorahteachesusaboutsurvival.com/Torah_Commentary.html

There is much to be learned about spirituality from Isaac’s example, his decisions, his love and devotion for Adonai, and through the best example anyone can share: the way he lived his life.

When I wrote my Torah commentary on parashah Toledot, Adonai gave me such clear insights on the wealth of information contained in the Torah about Isaac. I feel blessed and am grateful for having been chosen by Adonai for the opportunity to receive this information, and for allowing me the ability to share it with the world. Everything happens for a reason, so I knew Adonai gave me these insights in order to teach. These insights on parashah Toledot inspired me to learn all I could about Isaac.

All of my insights have been based solely upon the Torah itself. I have included other sources’ ideas where they support my thoughts, and sometimes where they do not. I would like to make it clear to my readers that my process of writing is to first read the Torah - multiple translations in English as well as the Hebrew - and wait for Adonai to give me insights.

I type my ideas, and then after this process, I read from other sources. I become very excited when my insights are supported — intentionally or not — through other writings. I wrote, intentionally or not, because most of the time, the writers were making different points from mine, but a sentence they wrote completely speaks to the topic I am writing about.

My editing never involves changing an insight I was given by Adonai. This is also why when I find a source, which contradicts or goes in another direction than I do, I write it for my reader’s benefit. Torah learning is an ongoing process, and I choose to facilitate the process whenever I am able to do so! I do hope my readers will be inspired by what I have written and utilize the insights Adonai gave to me as a stepping stone for further Torah Study.

I have but opened a door; it is up to you, the reader, to go through the door towards learning, and towards Adonai. I have learned a lot about Isaac, and am pleased my readers wish to do the same! I welcome any and all questions, comments, and discussions you wish to share! I’d love to know what you think! If your e-reader format does not render the Hebrew correctly, I am sorry for the inconvenience, and I have provided a link for you to a page specifically for this purpose on my website: http://whatthetorahteachesusaboutsurvival.com/Hebrew_for_Isaac_Book.html

Spiritually Yours,

Laura Weakley

mailto:spiritual1rav@whatthetorahteachesusaboutsurvival.com

Chapter 1: Just What Is Spirituality?

Spirituality may be viewed as our actively connecting with Adonai. It comes down to a matter of perspective. We choose whether to open our eyes to see Adonai in everything. Sounds simple when you read this on paper; it is the practice of it which, at times, is occasionally difficult.

Everyone has the ability to be spiritual; one only needs to desire to receive Adonai. Once you start down the path of connecting with Adonai, the things you will learn are wondrous!

Judaism teaches us the importance of learning and practicing (or being), Torah. The reality is, while it may be relatively easy to understand what we learn; practicing what we have learned is a completely different ball game. Jewish spirituality is called Kabbalah. Similar to the Talmud, its basis is the Torah. The Zohar is the main collection of spiritual information, but there are others as well. One cannot begin, nor should begin learning and studying Kabbalah by oneself. Adonai, however, is always available to connect with simply by asking.

There are four different levels of Torah learning.

Pashat - This is the plain, or literal, meaning of the Torah.

Remez - This is the level of allusion, or what can be derived from the pashat.

Derush - This is derivation in analogy, or the metaphoric level.

Sod - This is the mystical, or hidden level of understanding. This is the level of Kabbalah. It may be accessed through Gematria too, which can be studied separately or together with Kabbalah.

What most of us like to call reality — what we see, touch, taste, smell, and/or hear — is in actuality only 1% of true reality. Even science is starting to discover some of the whole of reality. This is such an exciting time in which to live because not only is science, and therefore scientific evidence, growing by leaps and bounds, but the more the scientists discover, the more science is only beginning to catch up to what our mystical tradition and our rabbis have been teaching and have known for thousands of years!

Mindfulness is a way to access one’s spirituality. Being mindful of the environment and the here and now enables the soul to receive Adonai. Meditation is one way to access mindfulness. This will sound a little strange to those of you who are new to meditation, but in order to really meditate, one should remain unattached to people, things, and ideas, while simultaneously attaching to the sparks of G-d we find everywhere.

Connecting with Adonai is a constant process. Being human, we have egos. The ego is your personality, which has life experience and perspectives gained from experiences. Your soul and your ego are constantly vying for attention. The soul is attached to (or a part of) G-d, which is also part of each one of us. We receive messages from the soul all the time. Our ego is the part of us which tries to apply logic to those messages.

The messages our soul gives us are sometimes called our gut instinct, intuition, or sixth sense. Once we start thinking about these messages, the ego is involved.

What keeps us from being able to perceive the whole of reality is called in Hebrew Klippot, or veils, because they keep us from seeing. Klippot are mostly of our own making. More to the point, they are mostly created by the ego. Spiritual people constantly strive to release the Klippot (veils), which keep us from seeing Adonai is in fact the only reality, and therefore all of reality. While we are alive, it is impossible to ever see all of reality, because we are not G-d and cannot fully know or understand G-d’s ways. I do not know if we will be able to see all of reality when we leave our earthly bodies.

Our possessions and experiences on Earth are fleeting, and constantly changing. Ownership of anything is an illusion. One reason for receiving the Torah in the desert was to teach us the Torah was given to us to be shared. If we had received the Torah while settled in the Promised Land, we could easily have felt ownership of it. By giving us the gift of Torah while we had no place to call home yet, teaches us we can pray, learn, and actively connect to Adonai everywhere and anytime. G-d is always with us because G-d resides inside of us.

It is during our dark times here on Earth when it may be the most difficult to remember to turn to Adonai for a better perspective. Simply stated, we should know and feel with every fiber our being Adonai is all that matters. During the times when we need to be calm and mindfully attach to Adonai with love, faith, and trust; ironically, this is also when it is most difficult.

In order to be spiritual, it is necessary to step back from the pain, fear, and/or confusion in order to listen to the voice inside of us: the voice of our soul, which is our own G-d spark. There is a G-d spark inside of everyone and every thing. It is our choice whether to believe and connect.

The spiritual person is aware our souls are forever, but situations always change and pass. While on this plane of existence, our bodies exist for a finite amount of time, and can be hurt, injured, damaged, and even killed; our souls are forever and no human can destroy our souls. When we access detachment and start to calm down, we are then able to listen to the voice inside, which knows what to do. Some ways to achieve detachment are to pray, stay silent, or meditate in order to be open to receiving Adonai. The voice inside of you is sometimes referred to as your intuition, or gut instinct. Call it whatever you like, it is your G-d spark, your soul, your connection. In the midst of chaos, or crisis, detachment is both the hardest thing to do and the most important thing we can do.

Inherent in everything is positive and negative energy. One cannot truly exist without the other. Being human, the spiritual person, of course, experiences the gamut of feelings, but also recognizes the need for the soul to learn from all experiences. You must let yourself feel whatever you are feeling in order to eventually let go, and move on. It is true, the only way out of a situation is to go through the pain and face the obstacle we perceive is in our way.

If we do not acknowledge our feelings and emotions, and pretend everything is okay, we will continuously be challenged with similar situations until we truly learn to change. There is evil in this world. When faced with it, we must ask G-d for protection, and act to remove ourselves from sources of evil. If we do not acknowledge our feelings and emotions, and pretend everything is okay, we will continuously be challenged with similar situations until we truly learn to change.

This may mean leaving a job, moving, or having nothing to do with a family member/s, or others who are evil. If someone is perpetually negative, it does not make him or her evil per se, but their negative energy does them, and you, no good. All of these things are difficult. However, you must protect the G-d spark within you. Know you are important to and loved by G-d. You deserve happiness and a life free from fear. Only when you are calm will you achieve a positive perspective and be able to generate hope. With hope in our hearts, we come alive and attract positive outcomes and people to us. Is it as simple as that? Yes, and No. When we feel overwhelmed with problems, it is most definitely difficult. The funny thing is, in the midst of