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Rabbi Chaim Walkin

Sefer Da’at Chaim

34th Ma’amar

Spirituality – the true essence of a person
hidden within him.

It is appropriate here to add and explain these words based on the very
fundamental theme that we’ve elaborated on many times – that within
the inner essence of a person is a drive to holiness and spirituality,
but the negative influences of his surroundings that attach themselves
to him distract him and pull him away from his true inner service to
Hashem. Sefer Kohelet addresses this (Kohelet 7:29) as “…Hashem
created man straight, and they are the ones who wanted to follow
many other different paths.”

Please study the 8th ma’amar in this sefer entitled “The path to follow
in learning that leads a man to become great in Torah” where we
quoted the Midrash at the beginning of perashat “Be Holy!” \ “‫קדושים‬
‫תהיו‬,” that the Jewish people in their essence are holy. And the reason
why they don’t reach the levels of holiness that they should is because
we do not distance ourselves from those things which interfere with
holiness, and we become trapped in the clutches of our Yetzer Hara.
Please see that reference in this sefer where we quoted the words of
the Saba from Kelm ZT”L who compares this to the art of “healing”
in which the “goal” of medicine is to evoke the natural antibodies
found in a person’s body which have the curative power to erase
the disease – and cause the body itself to marshal its own strengths
to conquer the disease using the body’s own physicality embedded
within the person. This analogy parallels the words of the Midrash,
that holiness \ sanctity is embedded within the essence of the Jewish
people. Even in the context of curing one’s own Nefesh, someone
who serves Hashem who is introspective and studies carefully his own
spiritual sicknesses, and he removes from himself the interferences
and negative influences that prevent him from serving Hashem, he will
be able to easily actualize the character strengths embedded within the
core of his Nefesh to learn Torah and fulfill the mitzvot, and grow to
elevate himself in his Fear of Heaven, and correct his actions to reflect
good character traits.

And in another place we explained the meaning of the concept brought
down in the Holy Zohar that “Chametz” and “Matzah” are allegories
which represent the true life of Torah and Fear of Heaven. Service to

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