I made a fascinating discovery.
I am only starting to work with this in my own life.
I am noticing the parallels and almost mystical connection between my own feminine nature (i.e. the way I relate to the world), and the feminine part of my mind.
Because we know that Hashem has 10 sefirot (10 different ways He interacts with the world,) and that we are created b’tzelem Elokim (in His image and with His likeness), we understand that we, too, have these 10 aspects of inner functioning.
Some of these middos or capacities, the way we interact with our worlds (inner and outer), are feminine and some are masculine. And some are a confluence of the two.
The primary feminine aspect of our make-up in the mind is called Binah.
In the Tefilla series, we really get to know her.
And what we discover is that she, when operating in perfect harmony with her “mate”, known as chachma in Chassidus and Toras HaSod, is the perfect Aishes Chayil.
There are times, though, specifically because of her emotional, imaginative, and passionate nature (sound familiar?), that she veers off to somewhere else, very very far away.
Science has different terms for the feminine and masculine capacities of the mind.
Contemporary wisdom calls them the right and left brains*.
In a freak incident where one woman experienced the temporary shutting down of her left-brain, and only her right brain remained, she reported feeling totally at peace and a sense of transcendence.
What is going on here? What do we need to learn about the “left” brain, or the “feminine” of our minds?
How do we make peace with our biggest gift and feminine power of “Binah”?
Put differently, how does our inner “Binah”, the verbal and associative part of our brain, become the true Aishes Chayil that she is, so that when we daven, she doesn’t stray afar afield and interfere with our prayers, leaving us feeling disappointed and alone?
You guessed it. When we marry Binah to her true beloved, Chachma, we get what is known in Chassidus and Kabbalah as Da’as.
Join us as we learn the Tefilla series, a comprehensive intro to Chassidus, together as a community.
6 classes that you can watch/ download and listen at your own pace plus a 7th, live closing session where we will turn all the theory into practice BeH.
