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Hilchos Birchas HaRaiach v'HaHodaah — Halachah 3 All 8 Oaseyos COMPLETE · Based on LM I:65 ( Vayomer Boaz el Rus )

This edition is still in the rough draft stage. Regarding every fragrant thing, one must recite a berachah beforehand, but afterward one does not recite any berachah at all.

This follows what Rabbainu zichrono livrachah wrote in the discourse "Vayomer Boaz el Rus" ( Siman 65 , see there) regarding the radiance of the bitul [self-nullification]. Whoever merits gazing at every thing and seeing therein the radiance of the bitul — how this thing was previously nothing and was brought into being out of nothingness — thereby draws down and reveals the reshima [imprint] of the bitul to the Divine: the bitul toward the Holy One, Baruch Hu , through which everything was created. This is the essential Olam HaBa . See there well. § 1 — Smell = Olam HaBa Pleasure: The Bitul at the Root This is the aspect of smell. Smell is an exceedingly lofty aspect — the aspect of Olam HaBa pleasure, the aspect of the scent of Gan Eden , which is the pleasure of the neshamah . As our Sages zichronam livrachah said: "a thing from which the neshamah benefits and not the body — that is smell." When one merits gazing at the bitul toward the Creator in every thing — this is the essential Olam HaBa : the bitul of everything back toward Hashem Yisbarach — the essential and ultimate pleasure. This is the essential pleasure of Gan Eden and Olam HaBa : to gaze and be nullified in the radiance of the Shechinah . This pleasure is the aspect of the neshamah 's pleasure — from which the body has no pleasure at all. No physical person can grasp this kind of pleasure, only the neshamah alone — the aspect of smell, from which the neshamah benefits and not the body. § 2 — First Berachah and After- Berachah : Revealing the Creator's Greatness Therefore for all things one must recite a berachah both before and after. For the first berachah is in order to elevate the thing one eats and drinks to its source. In the first berachah , one reveals the greatness and goodness of Hashem — that He created this food and gave it its flavor and sustenance. Through revealing Hashem's greatness (that all sustenance and all good come from Him alone), the body of the food is elevated and connected to its source. In the after- berachah , one draws even further: the aspect of gratitude and acknowledgment of Hashem. Even after one has already eaten and digested and absorbed, one must still thank and bless — not because one needs something further, but because of the aspect of bitul , pure gratitude and acknowledgment that the good and all life-force are from Him. Through this, one merits the aspect of the bitul 's radiance — the aspect of Olam HaBa . § 3 — The After- Berachah = HaTov v'HaMaitiv : Drawing the Bitul 's Radiance Thus the essential after- berachah recited after eating and drinking is in order to merit the aspect of kulo HaTov v'HaMaitiv [entirely the Good and the Beneficent] — the aspect of the radiance and reshima of the bitul toward the Holy One, Baruch Hu . As one reveals through the after- berachah : even after eating, one recognizes that all good is from Him. Through this, the reshima of bitul is drawn — the essential Olam HaBa : gazing at the bitul in everything. At that level, there is no variety at all — it is all one and all good, for in the bitul itself everything is good and everything is one. There is no evil at all there. § 4 — Havdalah Spices: Shabbos = Olam HaBa ; Strengthening the Neshamah at Departure This is why one recites a berachah on spices at Motzaai Shabbos . Shabbos is a semblance of Olam HaBa , and then one delights in Hashem and cleaves to Him in the ultimate d'vaikus and bitul toward the Creator — the essential bitul of Olam HaBa . When Shabbos departs, the neshamah yesairah departs. The neshamah yesairah is the essential addition of d'vaikus and bitul toward the Creator that one merits on Shabbos . When it departs, one must strengthen the neshamah through smell — that the reshima of the bitul of Shabbos / Olam HaBa should remain in one's neshamah even during the weekdays. For the reshima is the essential thing, as explained there: the main point is the radiance and reshima of the bitul — that this reshima should illuminate even in one's worldly activities. Through the smell — benefit of the neshamah alone — one strengthens the neshamah 's reshima of Shabbos bitul to endure even during the weekdays. § 5 — Why No After- Berachah on Smell: It Is Already the Bitul Itself Therefore one does not recite an after- berachah on smell. The essential after- berachah is to draw the life-force of the neshamah — to merit the aspect of the bitul as above, the aspect of kulo HaTov v'HaMaitiv . This is not needed for smell, for smell is itself the aspect of Olam HaBa pleasure — the pleasure of the neshamah alone — the radiance of the bitul . Therefore it has no need for an after- berachah to continue drawing down, for it is already there, at the aspect of bitul itself. But food and drink, which enter the body and are distributed among the limbs — the body benefits from them — they still need the after- berachah to elevate them further, to the neshamah 's level: the reshima of the bitul , kulo HaTov v'HaMaitiv . For the first berachah elevates only to the level of this specific force — the particular food's source. But to reach the root of the root, where all is one — the bitul — one needs the after- berachah . For smell, the first berachah alone suffices — it is already at the root. § 6 — Birchas HaMazon : Mentioning Eretz Yisrael = Drawing the Bitul This is why we mention Birchas Ha'Aretz [the blessing of the Land] in Birchas HaMazon , as it says: "and you shall eat, and be satisfied, and bless Hashem your G-d for the Land, the good..." For Eretz Yisrael , where the Shechinah dwells, is the place of the bitul in the ultimate sense — the ultimate d'vaikus . Therefore we mention Birchas Ha'Aretz in Birchas HaMazon , for through the after- berachah we draw the reshima of the bitul , the aspect of Eretz Yisrael . Everything merited in food through Birchas HaMazon — to elevate food to bitul , to connect it to its source, to the radiance of bitul — is all in the aspect of Eretz Yisrael , the place of the Shechinah 's dwelling. On this depends the entire tikkun of eating in holiness: bringing everything to bitul before Hashem — the aspect of Eretz Yisrael . § 7 — Ketores [Incense] Atones: At the Level of Bitul , All Is Good Therefore ketores atones. For there, at the aspect of bitul , everything is good, everything is one — there the evil is nullified completely. Therefore through the smell of the ketores , the Kohain Gadol could enter the Kodesh HaKodashim on Yom Kippur — the essence of atonement. For ketores is the aspect of smell — Olam HaBa pleasure — the bitul where all is good. There, evil has no place and all sins are atoned. "The cloud of the ketores shall cover the Kapores that is upon the Aron, and he shall not die." Through the cloud of the ketores 's smoke — the aspect of the bitul , the reshima of bitul — the Kohain can enter the Kodesh HaKodashim and effect atonement. Therefore ketores atones for lashon hara , as our Sages say: "let something done in secret atone for something done in secret." For at the level of bitul — to which ketores ascends — all evil speech is nullified and rectified. Even the judgments and prosecutions caused by evil speech are silenced and nullified there, for there all is one and all is good. § 8 — Mashiach : When All Will Recognize Hashem Through the Bitul This is the aspect of Mashiach , when all the world's inhabitants will recognize and know Hashem's greatness. Mashiach will open the eyes of all to know that Hashem is G-d, as it says: "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Hashem as waters cover the sea." This is itself the aspect of the bitul 's radiance — to see in every thing how it was previously nothing and was created out of nothingness. Through this, one recognizes and knows Hashem's greatness and grasps that He alone does, did, and will do all things. When this recognition is drawn down, all evil is automatically nullified, for in the radiance of the bitul there is no room for evil at all. This is the aspect of Mashiach who judges by smell — morich v'dayain . For smell is the aspect of Olam HaBa — the bitul — where everything is rectified. Mashiach will bring the whole world to this recognition and bitul , and then: "death will be swallowed up forever, and Hashem Elokim will wipe away tears from all faces." All suffering, all exile, all concealment — all comes from the absence of bitul . When Mashiach illuminates the bitul 's radiance throughout the whole world, everything will be rectified. May it be speedily in our days, Amain. ✦ End of Birchas HaRaiach v'HaHodaah, Halachah 3 — All 8 Oaseyos Complete ✦ Na Nach Nachma Nachman May'Uman