Rabbi Yitzchak Ginzburgh and the Twelve Senses

Photo: Miriam Woelke

B"H

Rabbi Yitzchak Ginzburgh came to the Chabad Hostel ASCENT in Zfat (Safed) and at least two hundred people arrived in order to listen to his two lectures. One in English and the second one in Hebrew.
It was packed and when you listen to Rabbi Ginzburgh, you have to sit in one of the front rows, as he speaks very gently and not too loud.

At Ascent, Rabbi Yitzchak Ginzburgh spoke about the twelve senses of the soul. Each sense has a connection with one of the twelve Jewish months of the year. According to "Sefer Yetzirah - The Book of Creation" every Jewish month represents a human sense, a horoscope, a Hebrew letter, a colour or a biblical tribe. How does this all apply to us and how does it influence each one of us ?

The first month of the calendar is the month of NISSAN (according to certain Talmudic aspects). Nissan mostly falls into April and the sense of Nissan is SPEECH.

Speech is a form of expressiveness. The power of a king are words and thus is the tribe of Yehudah the tribe of Nissan.

Expressiveness is an expression of the soul and already the way we speak or move can be a deeper sign of our soul which we don't even realize.

Rachel, Yaakov's wife is representing the sense of speech whereas her sister Leah represents the second sense: Thought.

THOUGHT is the sense of the month of IYAR (following Nissan). The tribe of Iyar is Yissachar who was a brilliant thinker. Yissacher was a great mind, rational and his task was to calculate the Jewish calendar. The Jewish calendar is one of the greatest secrets in Judaism.

Rachel is speech and Leah is thought meaning that Leah acted in an analytic way whereas Rachel was more intuitive. There is nothing wrong with being more analytic than intuitive or vice versa.

How do we know that Leah was into thought ?

She knew way before that she was supposed to marry Esav and she cried because she had heard that he was an evil fellow. Rachel, however, didn't worry. Not because she was destined to marry the younger brother and Zaddik Yaakov. But what Rachel did was thinking that everything will be fine. G - d is going to take care of everything, He is in charge and thus we don't have to worry. Intuition comes from the right side of the brain and stands for "Chochmah - Wisdom". Intuitive people fit into art jobs.

Leah stands for thought and rational thinking. She is the mother of spirituality and meditation. Her analytic thinking comes from the left side of the brain standing for "Bina – Understanding". Thought people make good scientists.

For instance, people say that the Babylonian Talmud is more analytic than the Talmud Yerushalmi which is intuitive.

The next month, Sivan (May / June), stands for the sense of WALKING. Never be stuck and satisfied in spirituality but go forward. A Jew can beat time.

Rabbi Ginzburgh was selling his books. The English

ones were much more expensive than his books in Hebrew. 

  

Photos: Miriam Woelke

Then comes the month of Tammuz (June) with its sense of SEEING. Perceiving, that what hits the eye.

The month of Av (July / August) has HEARING as its sense. People born in this month do absorb and try to integrate spiritually.

The sense of REPARATION refers to the month of ELUL (August). People born in this month repair and heal.

Tishrei, the month of Rosh HaShana, Yom Kippur and Sukkot has TOUCH as its sense. Ephraim is its tribe and people born in this month have the intuitive essence of choice.

The month of Cheshvan (Okt. / November) has SMELL as its sense. Sensitivity and consideration to another soul.

Kislev, the month we are in now, has includes the sense of SLEEP. Stability of the soul to enter tranquility. Trust in G – d that He will take care of us.

There is a passive trust when we simply trust and there is an active trust, as the Chashmonaim showed us during Chanukkah. Trust in G – d but you actually act.

Tevet (Dec. / January) is the month of ANGER. People born in this month care, they see injustice and they act. Positive anger comes from wisdom and we see that Chanukkah is divided by two months: Kislev and Tevet. Tevet when we see injustice and fight.

Shevat, the month I was born, has as its sense EATING. The tribe is Asher and Shevat symbolizes taste, sensitivity, integration of pleasure, caring and thinking.

Last but not least, the month of Adar. LAUGHTER stands for Adar. The tribe is Naftali and we will all laugh when Meshiach comes.

May this be soon !

You can find further details on the subject on the Rabbi's website !

Furthermore his lecture is getting published on his website and on the Ascent Facebook page.