Karcha uKhsoves KaAka 1a. Prohibition of Tattoos and Other Self-Harm; What to Remember and What to Forget.
Speaker: Rabbi Nasan Maimon. Karcha uKhsoves KaAka 1 is based on Likutey Moharan 54.
02:43 – Reference to Likutey Moharan 54. NOTE about Chanukah and memory. Even though eating olives causes forgetfulness, olive oil strengthens memory.
05:35 – When a person forgets what they should forget, they will be able to remember the essential truth of Olam HaBa – the Future World.
06:50 – NOTE: Sipurey Masiyos – “The Seven Beggars”. The First Beggar remembers “nothing” because he is able to close his eyes to the material world.
*09:07 – When a person dwells on what they’re supposed to be forgetting, they forget what they should be remembering!
11:51 – NOTE: a newborn forgets the Torah he knew before he was born. Forgetting is an aspect of achieving holy memory. Chanukah.
16:32 – Q&R about Olam Haba.
17:30 – Q&R – How can we connect with something we don’t experience? The use of imagination to achieve spiritual advancement.
19:35 – Q&R about סור מרע ועשה טוב – Turning away from evil is the first step toward doing good.
21:11 – We do not delve into the halakhos of death unless a person is actually in the state of mourning. This is an aspect of forgetting about death in order to remember life.
26:54 – The main prohibition of excessive mourning is self-harm as an expression of grief. This is in contrast to non-Jewish customs of tearing out the hair of their head, or doing other kinds of self-harm. This behavior is forbidden by the Torah.
29:08 – The hair of the head is an aspect of malkhus. Reference to Likutey Moharan 30.
30:32 – The prohibition of tattoos or tearing out hair from the head. Self harm weakens memory.
31:52 – NOTE about Jewish customs in remembrance of those who passed away.
34:30 – Q&R about achieving balance in mourning.
36:07 – BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE about the conduct of Reb Michel Dorfman ז”ל during mourning.
38:08 – Closing blessings.
39:22 – NOTE about a song “Woe to us that we’re going to die!”
40:26 – NOTE about travel ads in Jewish magazines.
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