Reb Yakov Leib HaKohain, Founder & Spiritual Director
DONMEH WEST
1. In Smyrna, I had a dream: I stood at the Gates of a Palace, you know the one I mean, and the Gatekeeper said to me, "Wipe your feet before you enter," and pointed to a Tallis [prayer shawl] lying on the ground. "God forbid!" I cried and picked it up, and clutched it to my heart, and ran with it through many streets, offering it to every Jew and Gentile I met along the way.
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2. I'm told there's a Gemara [Talmudic Commentary] that says: "A pile of palm-fronds are muksa [untouchable] on Shabbat. But if, before Shabbat begins, one says, 'These palm-fronds are not muksa to me,' then one may use them even as a couch to rest upon." What does this saying mean? That by his kavanah [mystical intention] one can make forbidden things acceptable. This is why The-First-Who-Came [Sabbatai Zevi] said this brocha [blessing] over the fat of the lamb's kidney: "Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, who makest the Forbidden Things permissible."
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3. The Rabbis of this city don't want you to know that a Torah Commandment can be fulfilled by breaking it. But I, an ignoramus in your eyes, reveal to you what they keep hidden: To eat an almond, you must crack its shell.
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4. [A DISCIPLE ASKS HIM:] "Is it true that Mashiach [the Messiah] will come in a generation that is either wholly good or wholly evil?"
"Yes."
"Then which direction should we take?"
"The Evil Inclination is the Mother of the King; but Holiness will be the first to greet Him when He rises from the dust."
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5. When I was a boy I read a Midrash [explanation of Scripture] that says: Because the dogs of Egypt did not bark when the Children of Israel fled to the desert, God rewarded them with the unkosher hind-quarters of cattle. Therefore, when a person who eats unkosher meat dies, he is met at the Gates of Heaven by dogs who say, "You may not enter because you ate our portion." What does this mean? That from the lowest to the highest there is Soul.
Otherwise, how could dogs be standing at the Gates of Heaven? From this we learn why The First [Sabbatai Zevi] entered into the Maw of Samael [Satan], and why I will lead you to the Place of Esau.
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6. A Jew once saw me eating pork. "What are you doing!" he cried. I answered, "Here, too, are Holy Sparks, yearning to return from whence they came. If I don't lift them up, will you?"
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7. Can only a Jew raise up the Fallen Sparks? No more than only a carpenter can saw a piece of wood.
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8. You ask me why I sat on the Torah-Scroll in Salonika. Because the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded me to show the world how they shit on His Beloved Bride.
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9. My mother tells me I had this dream: I was in a great hall, filled with emissaries from every nation, all dressed in their native dress. Each was shouting at the other, "I am Jacob, you are Esau!" So I leapt up onto the podium and began sorting them, "You, to the left; you, to the right!" until I separated the Holy Sparks from their Evil Shells, just as the Christian [i.e., Jesus] had done before me.
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10. On his death-bed, the Holy Second, Baruchia, asked me, "And those whom God loves?"
"He afflicts with suffering," I answered.
"Well answered. But those whom He hates?"
"The Prophet says, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated'."
"And the descendants of Jacob?"
"Every hand is turned against them."
"And those of Esau?"
"They wear fine robes and swords on their belts, and every man calls them Lord."
"Again, well answered, Yankif Leib. Go, then, and become a Gentile. Save the Jews from the curse of God's love, and receive the blessings of His hatred."