Perceiving Our inner hum

B"H

A Jewish student at Boston University enrolled in a course on Philosophy. Interestingly enough, this particular Philosophy Professor tended to include many spiritual themes, like "G-d" & "soul" on a frequent basis.One day, as students dragged themselves to class, this student took his seat among them. As they settled down and slowly quieted their chatting and laughing, the Professor stood at his podium looking ready to begin. But what came was nothing but silence. Nothing happened. Minutes ticked by, and the Professor wasn't saying a word! Everyone looked at each other with confused looks, thinking that the Professor must be off his rocker. Time continued to tick. Finally, after much squirming and uncomfortable silence, the Professor opened his mouth: "
Do you hear that?" Now they were certain. This poor guy must have a screw loose somewhere. No one had said a word and there was definitely nothing to "hear"! After a few more minutes of silence, the Professor asked again: "Do any of you hear that?" Again, no one could understand.During this whole perplexing scene, this student began to think as to what the teacher was referring to. "Come to think of it, I never heard the humming of the fan in this room before." After the Professor asked a third time,
this student spoke up: "I can hear the humming of the fan..." "Excellent" said the Professor.
"It was always there, but when all of you were busy talking, you never noticed it. You never heard it.
All of you are dismissed, have a great day."Everyone jumped out of their seats, ecstatic with their early dismissal. But this particular student remained in his seat, bewildered. What message is this guy trying to get across here? After 2 weeks of pestering his teacher, the Professor finally revealed his thinking to his student: "We're so busy talking, moving, being distracted, that we never just take a second to stop and hear our own soul."
(As told by this student to Rabbi Yossi Jacobson) Author Tzvi Freeman once said, that often-times after attending a "farbrengen" (Chassidic gathering) led by the Lubavitcher Rebbe (where hours upon hours of deep material was shared), he would drive from Brooklyn to a secluded place somewhere to quietly think over all that he had heard. "Nowadays," says Tzvi, "if you see someone thinking deeply for a minute, someone will probably walk over to him and gently ask him if everything's alright!"

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We all have souls, souls which our mystics desribe as literally "a spark of G-d."
How come many of us fail to ever feel this extremely powerful force within us?
True, many of us would love to feel that side of us more; to connect more with that deeper, more spiritual part that we all possess inside. So how do we get in touch with it?

As the above stories illustrate, too often we are so immersed in the physical world, and our senses are so bombarded from all sides and angles, we never give our souls a second to make themselves heard in our lives. If we are constantly gossiping, watching TV, talking on the phone, and eating, how can we expect our spiritual side to ever surface?

We need to be able to take a minute from time to time in our busy day, and just stop.
This is by the way, what prayer helps us do. "I'd like to stop from the busying frenzy of my day, but how can I?" This is why prayer was instituted; to force us to take a minute (3 times a day) to re-focus on the deeper things in life, to reveal our spiritual side more.
In a broader sense, this is what Shabbat is. That time in our busy week when we're forced to quiet down our connections to physicality a bit (not completely - we still eat well!) and spend more time on meditation and reflection on the purpose of our lives, and of what's truly important.

It's very difficult at first for one to reveal his spiritual side, because to do so means to perceive the subtlety in life. Rabbi Yosef Y. Shneerson once remarked: "If you can't stop and gaze at a painting, and appreciate it's intricacies and its message, than you will have a tough time meditating on G-d." The same goes for appreciating the rhythm of music, and the harmony of nature. Appreciate that which isn't yelling for attention, but whose beauty is screaming to be noticed.
For myself, sitting in a secluded area in nature (for me it was ideally by the trees near the ocean on my UCSB campus :) and listening to calming music, saying Psalms or just meditating on the wondrousness and detailed beauty of G-d's Creation, all of this helps to feel our souls more and connect. To shut off the laptop and cell phone, I-phone and TV, and just praise Hashem for the ability to breathe and feel and taste, to have family and friends who we love.

We are 1/2 way through this special month of 'Elul', where our Mystics tell us that "the King is in the Field" - G-d is more accessible. Every night when we sleep, our souls ascend to Gan Eden and plead with G-d Asking why they had to leave and descend into this coarse, insensitive world. Let's take advantage of this opportunity to, as the rapper Matisyahu rightly puts it, "Strip away the layers and reveal your soul!"

Just to end off with a quick story: Spiritual yearning often leads many Jews to search in every direction but their own heritage, oftentimes to Eastern Philosophies found primarily in India.
But sadly, many fail to realize that it was always right under their nose!
My good friend here in yeshiva, Diego G. from Chile, a very special soul, told me the other day that he spent many years in India studying their philosophy and living that life. One day, he visited a monk. Upon hearing about Diego's Jewish roots, the monk told him: "Go back and explore your Judaism. It's the true path for you."
Let's cash in on the special diamond of a soul we have and not just ignore it. Let's taste the sweetness of that deeper reality that we all have the ability to actualize.
Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel
Yerushalayim, Israel

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May you be inscribed & Sealed for a good & sweet year!Remember: Your next deed will change the world. Make it a good one!