To really get your head in this topic, think of what it might be like to take a journey on LSD. See, feel, hear, touch and taste. It's the most overwhelming sensational experience of your life. Now imagine having to change your entire identity, while on LSD. (Read: Har Sinai, Matan Torah.) Naturally, the blessing is all yours. But, if we assume this is a blessing, how do we create more out-of-body experiences (with or without the LSD)? What on earth changes our status for us, if we know that we can't always have control?
(יז) וַיּוֹצֵ֨א מֹשֶׁ֧ה אֶת־הָעָ֛ם לִקְרַ֥את הָֽאֱלֹהִ֖ים מִן־הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֑ה וַיִּֽתְיַצְּב֖וּ בְּתַחְתִּ֥ית הָהָֽר׃ (יח) וְהַ֤ר סִינַי֙ עָשַׁ֣ן כֻּלּ֔וֹ מִ֠פְּנֵי אֲשֶׁ֨ר יָרַ֥ד עָלָ֛יו יְהוָ֖ה בָּאֵ֑שׁ וַיַּ֤עַל עֲשָׁנוֹ֙ כְּעֶ֣שֶׁן הַכִּבְשָׁ֔ן וַיֶּחֱרַ֥ד כָּל־הָהָ֖ר מְאֹֽד׃ (יט) וַיְהִי֙ ק֣וֹל הַשּׁוֹפָ֔ר הוֹלֵ֖ךְ וְחָזֵ֣ק מְאֹ֑ד מֹשֶׁ֣ה יְדַבֵּ֔ר וְהָאֱלֹהִ֖ים יַעֲנֶ֥נּוּ בְקֽוֹל׃
(כו) עַל־כֵּ֡ן קָֽרְאוּ֩ לַיָּמִ֨ים הָאֵ֤לֶּה פוּרִים֙ עַל־שֵׁ֣ם הַפּ֔וּר עַל־כֵּ֕ן עַל־כָּל־דִּבְרֵ֖י הָאִגֶּ֣רֶת הַזֹּ֑את וּמָֽה־רָא֣וּ עַל־כָּ֔כָה וּמָ֥ה הִגִּ֖יעַ אֲלֵיהֶֽם׃ (כז) קִיְּמ֣וּ וקבל [וְקִבְּל֣וּ] הַיְּהוּדִים֩ ׀ עֲלֵיהֶ֨ם ׀ וְעַל־זַרְעָ֜ם וְעַ֨ל כָּל־הַנִּלְוִ֤ים עֲלֵיהֶם֙ וְלֹ֣א יַעֲב֔וֹר לִהְי֣וֹת עֹשִׂ֗ים אֵ֣ת שְׁנֵ֤י הַיָּמִים֙ הָאֵ֔לֶּה כִּכְתָבָ֖ם וְכִזְמַנָּ֑ם בְּכָל־שָׁנָ֖ה וְשָׁנָֽה׃ (כח) וְהַיָּמִ֣ים הָ֠אֵלֶּה נִזְכָּרִ֨ים וְנַעֲשִׂ֜ים בְּכָל־דּ֣וֹר וָד֗וֹר מִשְׁפָּחָה֙ וּמִשְׁפָּחָ֔ה מְדִינָ֥ה וּמְדִינָ֖ה וְעִ֣יר וָעִ֑יר וִימֵ֞י הַפּוּרִ֣ים הָאֵ֗לֶּה לֹ֤א יַֽעַבְרוּ֙ מִתּ֣וֹךְ הַיְּהוּדִ֔ים וְזִכְרָ֖ם לֹא־יָס֥וּף מִזַּרְעָֽם׃
(26) Wherefore they called these days Purim, after the name of pur. Therefore because of all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and that which had come unto them, (27) the Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to the writing thereof, and according to the appointed time thereof, every year; (28) and that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed.
When do the Jews actually receive the Torah, and is it an in-body or out-of-body experience?
How much control are we afforded in our 'receiving' actions at Har Sinai and on Purim?
Considering how we practice these holidays today, when do you think we exercise more control -- on Purim or on Shavuot? What is it that we are or aren't controlling?
Use Your Body:
Creating earth-bound, natural out-of-body experiences
We cover our eyes when we say "Shema Yisrael"
We bow forward during the blessings of the Amidah
We take 3 steps forward and 3 steps back
WHY?! Where are we going with this?
The Fiftieth Gate – Prayers That Pertain to Shavuot (Reb Noson)
Likutey Tefilot I, 56
Help us and deliver us, so that we may purify and sanctify ourselves at all times by immersing in the mikvah. Thus, may we cleanse ourselves of all forms of impurity – all sins, transgressions, and iniquities that we have committed before You, from our youth until today, and elicit great holiness through the mikvah.
Confer upon us higher consciousness and abundant mercy in the merit of immersing in the mikvah; and grant us the power to mitigate all harsh judgments against us, our offspring, and the entire House of Israel by immersing in the mikvah. Remove all afflictions, cancel all evil decrees, and constantly save us through the holy and awesome mikvah, in fulfillment of the verse, “O Hope (Mikvah) of Israel, its Redeemer in a time of distress...”
Grant us the privilege of drawing upon ourselves the holiness of the mikvah of Shavuot, which commemorates the Giving of Your Torah – when Israel came close to You, and were deemed worthy to receive the holy Torah through immersing in the mikvah. On Shavuot, may we all be granted the merit of being cleansed in the Supernal Mikvah: the mikvah of the Fiftieth Gate of Holiness, which is great and eternal mercy, sublime loving-kindness, and highly exalted consciousness.
Enable us to transmit the holiness of this mikvah of Shavuot to the entire year. May we purify and sanctify ourselves constantly, exit all Fifty Gates of Impurity, and enter the Fifty Gates of Holiness. As it is written, “I will sprinkle upon you pure water, that you may be cleansed; and from your contamination and from all of your idols, I will purify you!”
Aryeh Kaplan, The Waters of Eden.
Menachem Mendel Schneerson, The Essence of Chassidus.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe on Elokai Neshama
"LSD and the Rabbis: Conclusion." Sacred Matters. https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/sacredmatters/2014/12/08/lsd-and-the-rabbis-part-3/
Only a few weeks before hearing the exciting but somewhat unsettling news of Schachter and Carlebach’s impending LSD adventure, I had heard a talk by one of the ‘viesser yidden’ – Richard Alpert, formerly of Harvard University’s Psychology Department – a talk in which he and Timothy Leary waxed poetic about LSD use.
Alpert and Leary had descended from the Millbrook estate in Dutchess County New York (home of the ‘International Federation for Internal Freedom’) to enlighten Manhattanites about LSD. At the meeting I attended, at the Albert Hotel in Greenwich Village, hundreds of people crowded into a small ballroom to hear tales of an impending “psychedelic revolution” which would transform America. And those who became the vanguards of that revolution were warned that they had to take the drugs in a responsible manner – the ‘setting’ of the drug experience was all important. In retrospect, I realized that there was an oddly moral tone to Leary and Alpert’s warnings about taking responsibility for one’s actions – even when ingesting a chemical that might make your actions completely unpredictable!
When I walked out of the meeting, mulling over what I had heard, I thought: nothing (except the moralizing tone) could be more distant from the Orthodox Jewish world in which I had been brought up.