That is the question.
When we converted to Judaism we began a journey in refining many areas of our life. One of those areas was eating Kosher. I remember the first time I went to Israel, we went into a grocery store and I was so excited to be in a place that was all kosher. No looking at labels, I thought, or wondering if it was kosher or not, just freedom of putting whatever I wanted in the basket and not 'thinking' about it at all! What at relief, I thought!
For those who know, when you are living outside the Land of Israel and outside of a large Jewish community like our community does, we do not have many resources to choose from unless we travel long distances. In Israel and larger communities the availability for all things 'Jewish' is in abundance.
As I began picking up the boxes and cans of kosher food I quickly realized, albeit the hechsher (mark of kosher) is on the box, the ingredients in the box were far from what I considered kosher. Now in my unrefined mind in the area of 'kosher' I naturally assumed that the stringency to make sure the food was prepared properly and the proper animals were used was so important, then surely they would also want to consider good and healthy ingredients, life giving foods, I was wrong.
Now don't get me wrong, while some of the kosher food stuffs are tasty, we must remember that there is a lack of energetic quality to them. We must remember we not only need the proper energy for our body to be healthy, but also need it for our spiritual endeavors as well, which is really the root of the matter.
WHAT DOES KOSHER MEAN?
"Kosher does not mean something you are permitted to eat, and if it’s not kosher, you are not permitted to eat. That is not what kosher means" (3) (Albeit this is part of the halacha/law)
"What it does mean, in effect, when we discuss an animal as being kosher, we are discussing an animal which has two split hoofs, and it also chews its cud. And so the Zohar explains what does that mean? It means it contains the energy force of an atom. It contains three parts. It contains right and left, therefore the split hoof, and it also contains the segol, the third restriction, the aspect of restriction.
What does it mean that it chews its cud? When it eats, it returns it, not like man takes it in, devours it, and then there is only one other place where it goes out, waste bin. But as opposed to an animal like a shore (bullock) that eats and also immediately rejects the food and then rechews it again and nourishes from that food. That is called the Segol, the three energy points or energy intelligences.
You know the Segol in the Hebrew language, you have the vowel Segol which is two dots & the middle dot, which represents the power that we know to be the atom. Proton, neutron, and electron."
Get it? Now, we don't have time to go down the Rabbi hole on what is the Segol, in depth. That is for another time. I will give you a hyperlink for those who enjoy taking it one step further....'Letters of Light' Rabbi Raskin, pg. 234. A little deeper you say....another hyperlink. .https://www.inner.org/powlove/plove09
Why do we eat specific animals? Let's take the cow for instance. The kosher law makes it clear that the animal must chew its cud and have cloven, split hooves. Why both of these attributes. An answer is that this particular animal is extracting all the energy of the plant, therefore embodying this energy essence into its body, which we will then in turn eat, giving us the energy we need to live life in an optimal way. The split hooves is another weird one.
Why does it also have to have a split hoof? An answer is that the split hoof, runs energy through it as it touches the ground. The 'split' aspect in the Kabbalah is seen as the 'right' and 'left' aspect of the hoof. It is via this proper polarity that energy runs throughout the body in a healthy way. Just like our toes are split and not one solid foot. Did you ever ask why there are splits between your fingers and toes?
ENERGY IS THE NAME OF THE GAME!
Without proper energy nothing truly lives. We are speaking in general about proper energy & distorted energy. Proper energy is energy that is formed from natural means and brings the greatest quality of energy to you. You can live off distorted energy like (genetically modified food, pharmaceuticals (pharmakeia means poison and sorcery (distorting energy) dirty energy, but there is no true quality of life, it is like an illusion of life and in the end you are found wanting.
So we want proper energy! Energy that has gone through the proper circuitry and not short circuited somehow. We should demand it and take nothing less. Anything less is detrimental to body and soul.
That is what kosher really means. It means that if you eat a kosher animal, you are eating an animal that has the (proper) circuitry. Not a short circuit of energy but a circuitry of energy that produces the proper energy in the animal that you will eat and elevate.
For example the pig is not kosher, although it chews its cud, it doesn't have a split hoof, this means that the electro magnetic energy obtained from the hoof touching the ground is short circuited, because the three column system is not there. There is a perfect design the Creator made, this is the 'Three Column System.'
WHAT IS THE 'THREE COLUMN SYSTEM'
Let's dive a little deeper into the, 'Sea of Binah,' on the Three Column System. In order to extract the pearls of divine wisdom we must go to the deeper levels to understand what the Divine truly means.
Using the term the 'Three Column System' taught by the Kabbalists, we can get a better understanding of how energy works, how we obtain it and the circuitry necessary to draw, take in and hold energy in the world and in our body and the body of kosher animals.
The underlying mechanics behind the cosmos is this system. In order for the Infinite Being to bring forth its energy and light it must have a mechanism in doing so. Albeit, this is an energetic mechanism above, we can find these same types of mechanisms below to draw energy down and into creation and life itself.
In the Kabbalah this three column system is known as the sephirotic structure or what I call the Three 'Tree' System. Your body was built in the image of this Three Columned System, it has a right side, left side and middle, this is your circuit system and this is how we 'receive' the energy from above.
This is how the Infinite being connects to a finite world. It must get energy in the cosmos and in us. So we are built to be 'receivers' of this energy. There is always underlying real mechanics to the system, we are not dealing with magic or some mystical concept, these are divine science truths that can be confirmed in the physical sciences.
"Particular animals or creatures contain only the Right Column of energy and others the Left Column of energy. They do not however contain the Central Column of energy. The intrinsic nature of certain animals, by the Creator’s design, can short-circuit from our point of view because they are part of a two column system instead of three." (3)
Let me take this one step further, hue-mans are built in the image of the 'Three Tree Column System', but we must learn what that means, the mechanics of it and how to work it!
RULE:
Distorted Energy: = Disorts & drags down our Intellect, Emotions and Physical self. Examples are genetically modified food, pharmaceuticals, LED light bulbs, chemicals and pesticides in water and air. When bring these distorted things into our environment (ie. home/body) they cause deep imbalances.
Proper Energy=assimilation of energy that is properly processed by the body and soul. It comes to refine and elevate our Intellect, Emotions and Physical self.
I have seen first hand as a holistic practitioner what eating foods with distorted energy and pharmaceuticals does to a person on all three levels. Short term use of these distorted energy products are one thing, long term, it begins distorting you! This is part of what the kosher law is coming to tell us. We want the refined, pure aspects of the food and its energy which in turn refines, elevates us and in turn we elevate it. The opposite of this brings us down into a low state of energy. Working counterintuitive to the body, literally lowering our ability for more consciousness.
KOSHER ENDINGS NEED KOSHER BEGINNINGS
When food is marked with a hechsher we are assured that the processing and end result of the item we are buying has gone through the necessary stringencies. But what about the beginning of the process? What about the life of the cow, what it eats, how it lives, isn't that just as important. You bet it is!
We need more consciousness in our ecosystems. One way to gain more consciousness is raising our food sources properly as the Torah states. In turn when we consume these energy balanced animals & foods, then we become more consciously aware. For example, our current way of farming foods clearly is depleting, destroying and distorting the very life essence of the land, food and then us.
Modern government regulated farms and the food that are fed to these kosher animals is not good. Genetically modified corn is not life giving. Keeping them locked up in small spaces which breeds disease and doesn't allow the land they are on to rest is not life giving either. The meat may be kosher but the food they are feeding it & the environment they are raised in is far from energetically sound.
The sages make it clear that the food we eat has a profound affect on our very soul, not just the body. We need proper energy to do the 'Great Work' and 'Mission' in this life.
LUKE, USE THE FORCE!
How can you serve a living G-d and do your mission on earth if you do not have the 'energy' to do so. We must have the 'energy' to perform our life work (ie. mitzvoth) and mission (ie. specific soul work) and most today just seem depleted from the ability to do this. I hear on a weekly basis from patients and clients how 'tired' they are. We are doing less work today than we ever have, why are we so tired?
Because there isn't enough energy to sustain us. They have depleted it, stealing and distorting the very life force from us. Who is They? I will let you fill in the blank. It doesn't take much to see them as they are very blatant today to tell you their agenda.
Just ask one question. Who genetically altered your food? Just start there.
Torah wisdom clearly states that GMO is forbidden. The Creator understood man would come to a place in his knowledge (da'at) that he would begin altering the very genetics of creation, this is one reason for the prohibition to do so.
ONE STEP FURTHER...
If it wasn't enough that we need to make sure we have the proper energy to live quality of life, the Sages, of blessed memory, tell us that we must have the 'Kavanah' in doing so. Kavanah is the Hebrew word for direction, intention, or purpose. In its simplest meaning, it refers to concentrating the mind in the performance of a religious act, ensuring that it doesn’t devolve into rote, mechanical action. (1)
As the Kabbalists see it, kavanah is ESSENTIAL to the performance of a person's life mission. You may say 'ok, I have directed my attention and intention to the work I am doing' but are you? The acts you do, especially sacred acts like prayer and mitzvoth, require kavanah which allows for the soul and body to connect to affect the person in a deeper way.
The kavanah is there to produce a 'relationship' between the act being performed and the person performing it. Just like if you don't have the energy for cultivating a marriage and on top of that you don't have the 'kavanah' to do so, then the profound thing that G-d desires for us to experience is not manifesting.
So we see not only does the food we eat affect our physical life, it is now going to affect our spiritual life and the ability to achieve higher levels of consciousness.
“Prayer without kavanah is like a body without a soul.” (1)
In the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides (Ramban) includes kavanah as one of five essential elements of proper prayer
1. Clean Hands
2. Covered Body
3. Clean Space
4. Removal of Distractions
5. Kavanah
Kavanah requires both freedom from extraneous thoughts and distractions and the cognizance that a person is standing before the Divine presence.
Jewish mystics, who devoted much energy to the goal of transforming and directing human consciousness, naturally had much to say about kavanah, expanding it from the general idea of concentration and intent to specific meditations — kavannot, is plural — on the various manifestations of divine energy or the esoteric meanings of particular prayers.
Kavanah is intended not merely to ensure mitzvot are performed with proper intention, but to elevate consciousness itself and achieve connection, or d’vekut, with God and the unity of the divine essence, which we call Yichudim.
So it is most important to us to assure we are receiving proper energy so we can have a balanced physical body so we can do our spiritual work.
KOSHER WHOLE FOODS
Kosher Whole Foods is the answer. Stay away from processed food. If you can't read the ingredients don't eat it. Many additives to food marked 'kosher' are very toxic to the body. The list is long and I will let you do the research on all the toxic additives that are put in foods to make them look or taste better.
The key to eating 'Whole Foods' is eating them in their whole form like kosher meats, veggies, fruits, whole grain and heir-loom breads this is where we get the 'energy' that the Divine Being desires for us to obtain from the food. Denatured and processed food stuffs no longer have the divine spark in them, it has been processed and refined out before we get to eat it. The value of the food is gone.
WHY DOES GOD CARE WHAT I EAT?
The question we must ask when we study Torah or are wrapping our head around the many laws the the Holy One has decreed, is..'What does G-d care about what I eat?" Who cares right? Why does this infinite being care about what you decide to eat for dinner? ENERGY!
In order to have the kavanah to do your work and to do it seriously and to do it with deep meaning and transformation to your body and soul, you need to have the ENERGY to do it. We take this life force in our body and it is what we extract, refine and elevate. In that process our body is ENERGIZED and we now have the ENERGY to do our great mission our soul came into this world to do.
Another question we get lot at the Adamic Center, is eating kosher relative to those that are not Jewish? The laws of Torah are applicable on all levels. If someone chooses to eat at least kosher beef, he is taking on the attributes and essence of that animal that was properly prepared, so there are gains for sure! Eat Kosher Whole Foods when possible, maybe if all the world gleaned some of these energetic teachings we would have the consciousness we need to make the world a better place and usher in the fulfillment of the Messianic Era.
THE WHITE RABBI SAYS:
"We must ask the questions! What is Energy? How do we obtain it? Why do we need it?Where does it come from? When does it come to us? Who can receive it? Now more than ever we must understand energy in its roots and how it manifests physically.
Nikola Tesla said "If you want to find the Secrets to the Universe and (You) think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration" This is the true essence of the matter. These are the questions someone who is truly seeking out truth in life should ask and guess what, the answers are here, NOW!
Want to learn more about the Secrets of Torah. Join us at the Adamic Center for our private and group classes.
(1) My Jewish Learning, "Kavanah"
(3) -Rav Berg, April 30, 1987