Page 596 - 24107

24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 19 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Cyan
24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 19 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Black
#24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 19 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Yellow
24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 19 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Magenta
#
#
#24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 19 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Yellow 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 19 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Magenta 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 19 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Cyan 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 19 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Black
Orchard of Delights
Rebbe’s insight discussed above that the guardrail corresponds to the
aspect of awe and fear connected to the sefirah of Gevurah.) Thus,
we must realize that in the act of elevation the soul undergoes a dual
movement – directed both above (going up to the roof) and below (in
the orchestrated, but inevitable, “fall” of humbleness). In doing so,
the soul fulfills the mystic dynamic known as “run and return.”
King David – and by inference the Mashiach, his descendant – is
referred to in the Talmud as a miscarriage or, more literally, as a
“fallen one” (bar nafla) (Sanhedrin 96b). The Zohar (1:168a) explains
that David’s soul had not been apportioned time in this world.
When Adam prophetically foresaw this predicament, he gave David
seventy years of his own life. David in fact lived seventy years and
Adam, who was supposed to live a thousand years, lived only 930
years. Chassidut explains that David was constantly aware of this
gift, and of how tenuous his soul’s grasp on life was. This sensitivity
gave David both an unprecedented ability to praise God for every
breath of life, as well as a haunting ability to grasp the existentially
precarious nature of the soul’s presence in this transient world. David
felt as if he was constantly being born, as he says, “God said to me:
‘You are my son, this day I have given birth to you.’” (Psalms 2:7).
Proverbs (24:16) teaches us that “seven times a tzaddik falls, but
rises.” Although the wisest, not to mention easiest and safest, course
of action sometimes seems to be not going up to the roof at all, this
would defeat the very purpose God envisioned when He placed us in
this world. The soul is sent into this world to elevate, rectify, heal,
struggle, and purify. None of these processes are easy to perform, nor is
there a built in guarantee of success. Some people think that a tzaddik
is born righteous, that he or she is a paradigm of perfection from
inception, but King Solomon’s words in Proverbs refute this notion.
All people (including tzaddikim) most definitely fall; the question is
not whether or not they fall, but how hard the fall is and how many
times they get back up. A true tzaddik is one who keeps getting back
up. Paradoxically, in many cases the ba’al teshuvah (penitent) only
succeeds in changing his or her ways and drawing nearer to God
after the soul suffers a serious descent. Yet this very fall provides the
motivation, fueling the journey to true rectification and a new life.
596
19 Ki Teitzei
Judaism refers to this internal enemy as the evil inclination (yetzer
hara). As mentioned above in Re’eh, the portion of Ki Teitzei is always
read during the month of Elul when we are intensely committed to
spiritual introspection. The evil inclination by nature will not give
up ground without a fight, and fight we must if we are committed to
improving our lots and bettering ourselves. The Slonimer Rebbe often
writes that a day spent without confronting one’s evil inclination is
like a day wasted, a day not truly lived.
Where does the Jew find the strength to go out into the world and
fulfill the injunction to be a “light unto the nations” (Isaiah 42:6)?
As we learned in Bereishit, the actions of our forefathers engraved
this lesson on our collective consciousness. Abraham consistently
found the strength to follow God, no matter what stumbling blocks
were placed before him. He left his country and family to venture
forth into the unknown, wherever God directed him. After arriving
in the Land of Canaan, famine forced him to leave for Egypt, but he
returned wealthier than before. And, finally, he passed the test of the
Binding of Isaac. Abraham’s devotion paved the way for Israel to
leave Egypt in the middle of the night, to follow God into the desert
and the great unknown, and ultimately to enter the Land of Israel
as a strong nation.
When Abraham complained to God that he had no children to
continue his work God “took him outside” where he showed him the
stars and promised him that his progeny would be as numerous as
the stars. The Hebrew word for took (hotzi) has the same root as the
name of our portion (teitzei). As we learned in Lech Lecha, God taught
Abraham that he needed to go outside of his nature, to go above the
stars. This same soul power provided Joseph with the strength to
resist Potiphar’s wife, enabling him to run “outside” to escape her
clutches. This power is the inheritance of every Jew – but each and
every Jew must work hard to bring that potential to fruition in his
or her own life.
589