we are thrust back into the cold world of materialism and survival, into a month with no holidays! Passing tests, making ends meet, meeting deadlines and responsibilities. Where is there any time now for family, G-d, study, growth? Save that for the holiday season!
We are told by the Sages to "live with the times," which doesn't really mean of the New York variety. Rather, we are to live with the message & inspiration of the week's Torah portion. It's interesting to note, that as Sukkot (& with it, the holiday season) comes to a close, we read about the great flood in the portion of Noach. Kabbalah likens these flood waters to the deluge of material worries that flood our lives, threatening to drown out the spirituality in our lives, to numb our soul's light, its love of G-d and aspiration for higher living.
Then comes the portion of "lech lecha" which introduces us to our forefather Avraham. "Lech lecha", in Hebrew, means "Go to yourself." Avraham was literally told to travel to an unknown land. But through his going (in accordance with his faith & trust in G-d's Command), Avraham would be "going" deeper within himself, tapping into & revealing his true being. Something that hadn't, couldn't, be revealed before. Not even during the his 75 years of contemplation and connection to G-d. Why not?
Because through the endurance of tests, of ordeals that G-d puts one into, a person reveals hidden abilities and depths he/she could never have revealed by living in a purely spiritual situation. This is the secret behind the reason why souls must come down into bodies from heaven, why the Jewish people had to leave the clouds of glory in the desert and enter the land of Israel to settle it, why we are meant to leave the inspiring holiday season and enter the year, why we have Shabbat for 1 day and then enter a 6 day work week, why we leave prayer & study to engage the world. For what may seem and feel like a descent, has hidden within it the ability for the ultimate ascent. For when a person not only survives material life, but actually elevates the mundane, he or she has fulfilled the ultimate intention for entering this world. How can one's strength ever be measured, revealed, when one lies on a couch? By lifting something, i.e. by challenging one's strength, that's what really brings it out.
Physicality mirrors spirituality; to reveal the depths of our being and of the physical world around us, we must deal with physicality, with a challenge, and reveal the hidden potential within. Through refining our character traits, going against the coarse nature within us and around us, we rectify. When we thank G-d for a piece of food or drink, we elevate the physical, revealing the hidden sparks within. When our patience is challenged, when sadness arrives, when the world seems to hide goodness and G-dliness, and we prevail with a smile, with faith, with a prayer - we've struck gold. For like a candle, whose real brightness is seen only in the dark, when we challenge life's challenges, our soul shines - even more than during the "holy" times.
As King Solomon, in his great wisdom, wrote in Shir Hashirim 8:7 (Song of Songs): "Many waters cannot extinguish the fire of this love, nor rivers wash it away."
Shabbat Shalom!
-Daniel
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