Parshat Devarim - The Secret of the Western Wall and the Foundation Stone

The Shechinah (Divine Presence) Has Never Moved from the Western Wall

The Holy Temple was destroyed twice! Twice the Sitra Achra (Other Side) overcame to destroy the Holy Temple! But Hashem never left the Foundation Stone! Hashem never left the Western Wall! The Shechinah (Divine Presence) has never moved from the Western Wall.

A person needs yearnings for the Foundation Stone! A person needs yearnings to reach the Western Wall! As it is written:

"My soul yearns, indeed it faints, for the courtyards of Hashem"

If a person loves someone, then surely he will make an effort to be in their presence! The same applies if a person loves the Western Wall and feels that it is his root! Then he will make an effort to be at the Western Wall as many times as possible.

The Stone the Builders Rejected

Why does a person not feel the holiness of the Foundation Stone? Why does a person not feel the holiness of the Western Wall? There are people who for years upon years do not come to the Western Wall! Half a million Jews live in Jerusalem, yet they are barely seen at the Western Wall!

The "Chatam Sofer" says – by not coming to the Western Wall, to the Foundation Stone, we are insulting the Western Wall! For that is the place of the Shechinah (Divine Presence)! This is an unforgivable insult! When Hashem sees that Jerusalem is neglected, that the Western Wall is neglected, and that people do not make an effort to arrive, it awakens anger and wrath.

And this is what is written:

"The stone the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone"

"The stone they rejected" - this is the Foundation Stone! This is the Western Wall! Because the greater and more exalted something is, the more it is despised and concealed. The Satan knows what is good for a person! He knows exactly what benefits him! Therefore, he works to distance him as much as possible from this thing!

"The stone the builders rejected" - everyone rejected the Foundation Stone, everyone was unaware of the secret of the Foundation Stone! All the tzaddikim who are called "the builders" did not merit this secret! Except for King David, who was the only one who merited to know the secret of this stone. He merited to know that without the Western Wall, without this stone, without its holiness, it is impossible to achieve any spiritual service! No service is accepted in perfection! All of David's efforts were solely for that stone. All his searching, all his yearnings, all his desires, everything was for the Foundation Stone, for the place of the Holy Temple.

The Root of Creation and the Nullification of Free Will

Before Hashem created the Earth, this world, the World of Action (Olam HaAsiyah), He created the Foundation Stone! He created the Temple Mount! He created the Western Wall! Reb Natan explains that the Foundation Stone is the root of creation! From this stone the world was created (Yoma 54b), and there lies the root of free will.

By merely going to the Western Wall, from this alone a person can transcend his free will and choose the path of good! The Western Wall is the crown of creation! It is the tenth level of holiness! It is the Sefirah of "Keter" (Crown), and therefore at the Western Wall, free will is completely nullified! There, one receives only good choices.

Entering the World of Atzilut and the Garden of Eden

When a person goes to the Western Wall, he is not standing in this world at all! He is not in this world at all! The Western Wall is the Holy of Holies! It is a completely different world! Even if it seems to you that you are standing in this world, that you are here in the world, know! That the moment you arrive at the Temple Mount, the moment you arrive at the Western Wall, you are already in the World of Atzilut (Emanation)!

You ascended straight to the World of Atzilut, and it only seems to you that you are here in this world, because you are in such a fog, in such an illusion, but in truth, you are now in the World of Atzilut. Every time you arrive at the Western Wall and give the Wall a kiss, you immediately enter the World of Atzilut. You arrive at the Western Wall and nature changes! Even the body changes! Everything changes, a person receives a different nature, a different body. Every time a person comes to the Western Wall, he merits that immediately all the lights from the World of Atzilut shine upon him.

The Western Wall is truly the Holy of Holies, it is truly the Foundation Stone. When a person goes to the Western Wall, he is truly going to the Garden of Eden! Especially at midnight, in the morning watch. Because the "river that flows out of Eden" – it flows beneath the Temple Mount, beneath the Western Wall. Therefore, when a person comes to the Western Wall, he truly feels the taste of the Garden of Eden, he sees the Garden of Eden, he smells the Garden of Eden, he feels that he is now in the Garden of Eden just as Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden.

The Root of All Miracles and Salvations

Reb Natan says (Hilchot Hoda'ah 6:50):

"And therefore, when they went out of Egypt with wondrous miracles and He split the sea for them with a wondrous and awesome miracle, they said in the Song, 'You will bring them and plant them on the mountain of Your inheritance,' which is the Holy Temple, for from there is the essence of the miracles of the Exodus from Egypt and the splitting of the Red Sea. For the main purpose was to come there, as it is written, 'And He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, etc...'"

We must know that the Western Wall is the root of all the miracles in the world! All the miracles from the days of old are drawn from the Western Wall. Abraham performed miracles! Moses performed miracles! Even the miracles of the Exodus from Egypt were drawn from the Western Wall! All the miracles that occurred in Egypt, the Ten Plagues, the splitting of the Red Sea, it is all drawn from the Holy of Holies, it is all drawn from the Western Wall. This is the novel teaching of Reb Natan!

"You will bring them and plant them on the mountain of Your inheritance" - Moshe Rabbeinu bound himself to "the mountain of Your inheritance"! To the Holy of Holies! Moshe Rabbeinu connected himself to the Western Wall! To the Foundation Stone! And thus he drew down all the miracles and wonders.

So how can a person not go to the Western Wall?! After all, it contains all the miracles! The miracles of the splitting of the Red Sea! The miracles of the Ten Plagues! The miracles of the Clouds of Glory! The miracles of the Pillar of Fire! Miracles of flying in the air! The Western Wall is the root of all miracles! The root of all wonders! The root of all salvations! All healings! All deliverances! All parnassah (livelihood)! Everything comes from the Western Wall! If a person arrives at the Western Wall, he can bring about any miracle in the world.

Torah Tidbits: How to Rebuke a Transgressor?

Rabbi Meshulam Zusha of Anipoli, the younger brother of Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk, was known all his days as an earnest tzaddik, careful with the honor of every person. And when he would encounter a transgressor and wish to rebuke him for his sins in order to bring him back to the good path, he would not direct words of moral reproof directly at that sinner and wrongdoer.

Rather, he would stand near that person in whom he wanted to awaken thoughts of teshuvah (repentance), and he would begin to rebuke himself with the following words: "Zusha, Zusha! How could you be so foolish as to surrender to the Evil Inclination, and do such and such against the law and the statute?! (And here Rabbi Zusha would mention the sins that the person had stumbled into, which Zusha saw through his great holiness). Woe to you, Zusha! What will you answer in the Heavenly Court when you give a judgment and accounting for your deeds in this world? Repent, Zusha, for the gates of teshuvah (repentance) are not locked as long as the pure soul has not been taken from your body!".

These words and similar ones Rabbi Zusha would call out with a broken heart and tearful eyes, and he would repeat them time and time again, until he felt that the words had entered the heart of that sinner standing beside him, awakening him to return in complete teshuvah (repentance). (Bnei Tzion)

Eicha Eicha... (Alas, Alas...)

Once, on the eve of Tisha B'Av, Rabbi Yitzchak of Radvil visited the home of Rabbi Avraham Friedman, who was known by the nickname "The Angel." At the conclusion of the Seudah Hamafseket (the final meal before the fast), they both went to the synagogue for the reading of the Book of "Eicha" (Lamentations) and the recitation of the Kinot (elegies). After the Maariv (evening) prayer, the chazzan began reading the verses of "Eicha," and immediately a great sigh was heard from Rabbi Avraham, who cried out from time to time, "Eicha! Eicha!", with his head bowed and placed between his knees.

At the end of the reading and the recitation of the Kinot, the congregants went to their homes, but Rabbi Avraham did not move from his place. Instead, he sat hunched on the ground, crying out again and again – "Eicha! Eicha!". At midnight, Rabbi Yitzchak grew weary from waiting for his host, and retired to Rabbi Avraham's house to sleep for a few hours. When he returned to the synagogue in the morning, he was astonished to find the great tzaddik with his head placed between his legs, and from his mouth the cry was heard from time to time: "Eicha! Eicha!".

The next day, Rabbi Yitzchak returned to his home and said to his close followers: "I have seen in my lifetime many tzaddikim and greats in Torah and Chassidut. But what my eyes have just seen with Rabbi Avraham, I have never seen anywhere else, and it is not for nothing that they call this noble tzaddik 'The Angel' – for he does not conduct himself like an ordinary person, but like an angel of Hashem of Hosts..." (Bnei Tzion).

A Prayer for the Poor – To Recite at the Western Wall

Master of the Universe, Awesome and Fearsome, as I approach the Foundation Stone, the Holy of Holies, the place where the Shechinah (Divine Presence) rests for all eternity, I am entirely gripped by trembling, awe, quaking, and shuddering.

Please, Merciful and Gracious One, transform my body here to the level of Neshamah (Soul) and my soul to the level of Yechidah (the highest level of the soul), and may I see only You, and may I not hear any voice or speech other than Yours, and may I not see any sight other than You.

And may the verse be fulfilled in me as I stand here in prayer before You:

"And he gazes upon the image of Hashem"

And may I merit here that:

"The heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God"