Author: David Mark

David Mark is the founder and editor of Israel Rising. Besides Israel Rising, he heads up outreach for Ateret Cohanim in Jerusalem's Old City and acts as the Managing Director for Pulse of Israel. On the side he teaches classes that blend minimalism, mindfulness, and ecology with the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.
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Returning to Ourselves

In the cosmic struggle between our authentic divine expressions and our limited physical wrappings we allow this inner confrontation to disconnect us from our purpose and path in this universe. The trauma that each one of us feels to a certain degree stems from this disconnection, which has become the best means to sidestepping the tremendous pain our divine element feels while being “trapped” in this world.

Despite the reasons for this disconnection, it has ultimately resulted in a lack of memory for who we really are and what we are meant to be doing here – both as individuals and as a national collective.

Most of us disregard the feeling of yearning our soul has for where it came from. We stare at those who have made the leap to live a life of expanded consciousness and connection, looking at them as special. In return, we view ourselves as simply “not on their level.”

Yet, we must know that as far as the Creator is concerned, there are no differences between the myriads of people within the Jewish national collective and those who have risen above known as the tzaddikim. All yidden descend from lofty levels – from the world of emunah, simple faith.

The difference between the tzaddikim and those who have yet to unlock their eternal memories and their internal God wisdom, is the toil and effort the tzaddikim undertook to achieve great heights.

The “common” yid must know and believe that the disconnection he feels within, can be overcome when a decision is made to embark on repairing his inner memory and working on following the path of the true tzaddikim.

The Land of Israel is about memory. It is gateway both nationally and individually to our inner Godly awareness and wisdom, yet this gateway cannot be fully traversed unless one follows the light of the tzaddik, whose mission it is to unlock God awareness within each yid – no matter how far away he is.

The first step is realizing that each one of us is a child of the Creator – a prince or princess to the king. Only then we can begin to return to who we truly are.

(Based on Likutey Halachot Birchat HaShachar, Halacha 3.6)

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The End of Sleep and the Defeat of the Kingdom of Haman-Amalek

Originally published on BRI Breslov.org

Galus is more than a physical separation between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel –  it is a state of mind; a loss of conscious awareness of the Creator’s providence. To be in Galus is to be in a spiritual slumber.

This is our reality.

This was and has been the Jewish people’s predicament since the destruction of the first Temple and it is the paradigm in which the Purim story unfolds.

We are in a continuous state of Purim – an unfolding drama woven within the tapestry of politics and the mundane and yet when we stir from our slumber for just a moment we see the lost princess, Esther, the Shechina that was hidden from us. We are reminded in those moments that it is possible to awaken from our perpetual sleep.

As the Kingdom of Haman-Amalek grows, we remain asleep. It strengthens, inundating us with ambient information, uncontrolled desires, and false yearnings. However, we can awaken, we can reclaim our lives and authentic selves, but we have to cling to the Tzaddik – only he has the key to the story we need to hear.

Which story is that? Our story – special to each one of us. When we hear it – we awaken.

The Jews clung to Mordechai and were saved.  They recognized that Esther was theirs and freed the “lost princess” from the confines of the palace of the “no good” – ruled by Achashverosh – destroying Haman descendent of Amalek.

We too, must hold fast to the teachings and stories of the Tzaddik.  His stories and advice are specific to our generation – the generation meant to awaken and destroy the Kingdom of Haman-Amalek forever.

(Based on the Lost Princess; Likutey Halachot Purim Halacha Alef)

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Reclaiming Our National Soul

The final struggle over the Land of Israel is not rooted in the physical. While it’s true that Yishmael appears to be the violent opposing force to the yidden’s ability to draw closure to the galus, exile, the fact that we could crush our enemies in a matter of days or hours means that the key to the final redemption is not found in our military might.

So what’s holding us back?

Most of us have heard the famous gematria where the letters making up Amalek (עמלק) equal Safek (ספק) or doubt. While this concept has been applied to our personal relationship with the almighty in a daily sense for thousands of years – it is important to to see its connection to the current national predicament in the Land of Israel at the End of Days.

Rebbe Nachman teaches that the Kingdom of Haman/Amalek will use as its weapon the insatiable desire for money and material success. This weapon hangs over each of us and has penetrated the very makeup of our national enterprise. All of us have become pulled into its clutches and it has turned us from a nation of idealists to an extension of the Western consumer empire.

This safek, doubt about where we are heading flows from our fear of losing the material goals we have grown accustom to setting for ourselves. Zionism has in effect become pacified by its material success. Amalek has gained control. It is this pacification that prevents us from finishing the journey home, because home is not just a piece of land, but rather a recognition that the Land is above the material equation so often used when sizing the value of whatever it is one wants. The Land of Israel and the Nation of Israel are not quantifiable. We seek quiet and “normalcy,” but the more we seek these things the more Yishamel rises and pushes against us.

Amalek uses material pursuits not as a means to build vessels for holiness in our world, but rather as an end to themselves. This shift creates the space for doubt and the malaise that exists within us and the world. This doubt causes the perception that there is a disconnect between the divine and the physical world, which has caused us to pull back leaving us to clutch the material as the only meaning we feel we have created in our lives.

We can only rescue the Lost Princess from the castle and restore the Divine Presence to our Land by first removing the desire for the “castle of pearls on a mountain of gold” in its entirety. Doing this, will restore the pursuit of material wealth to just a means to create real holiness. This will naturally fill our national collective with a unifying Divine goal reclaiming our soul and Land forever.