A Teaching from the Sfas Emes

The existence of life force in all the things of the world serves as a testimony and as a reminder about the existence of the Creator. The more revelation of liveliness and spirit there is in the world the more God's presence is revealed.

The Jewish People were told that, "You are my witnesses." Meaning that the Jews, merely by living with the Jewish spirit reveal the potent lifeforce hidden with in humanity.

The Mishkan was also called the Mishkan of Testimony. The Midrash teaches that it was only after the Jewish people fell in episode of the golden calf that they need the Mishkan in order to accomplish their mission of testimony. Previously their actual collective being in itself was a manifestation of the Spirit of the Universe. But now they needed the act act of the building of the Mishkan in order to do that.

They made a mistake with their involvement with the golden calf. Now the revelation comes through the gold and the silver and all sorts of physical beauty. In the area where they seemed to have failed they will now reveal the lifeforce.
There are no failures, only opportunities to testify through new mediums.

Inspired by the Sfas Emes parshas Vayakhel.

Business Tripping

Someone once asked Reb Naftali Tzvi of Ropshitz, "how come you daven so much longer than anybody else?"
The Rebbe answered, " You see, most people start praying and begin to imagine themselves doing a business deal. They reach the point where the've handed over the merchandise to the buyer and suddenly they've reaced the end of the shemona esre. I, however, don't finish so fast. I wait to until I've gotten the money, counted it and put it in my pocket, and only then do I finish davening.

Extreme Hitbodedut

A friend of Reb Eliezer Berland told the following story. Many years ago, before Rav Berland became famous, he spent Shabbos at the friend's home. On Shabbos afternoon he disappeared to the forest, without his Talit and Tefilin and with out food, to do Hitbodedut and did not return untill the following Shabbos. He later explained that he survived on berries. As for the lack of Tefilin, I guess that he felt that it was a spiritual emergency to run to fields and talk to God.

Powerful Thoughts

When the spirit falls into smallness,
and the person finds no satisfaction in himself
because of his limited good deeds,
because of his list of wrongdoings
and because of his limited diligence in Torah
he should streghthen himself with "the secret of thought."
He should know that one who understands a thing from within a thing
his thought is considered before the Holy One as more than all the offereings.
Which means that the sacred thoughts - the lofty intelligent conceptions have the qualities of all the offerings
and the qualities of all the practical forms of worship
and it also has the qualities of the bodily aspect of learning Torah
- the saying of the words.
He should be very much fortified with the knowledge that may times the lessening of activity and study is a direct result of his great inclination for " the secret of thought,"
and that it is possible that many of his failures happened because he did not sufficiently respect his power of thought.
Therefore he should strenghthen his inner understanding,
to understand that the fixing of the wole world,
and the healing of all the souls,
is all dependent on "the secret of the thought,"
and he will elevate his thought as much as he can,
and rise up to return from an inner love.

Rav Kook

The Rebbe and the Wolf

One of the chassidim of the Kotzker Rebbe once asked him, "Rebbe, please teach me what it means to fear God."

The Kotzker said, "You are a merchant and you often travel through the polish forests, did you ever meet a wolf in the forest?"

"Yes," he answered.

"Were you frightened?"

"Very much."

"And while being scared were you aware that you were scared?"

"No, I was too scared to think about that," said the chasid.

"That is what it means to fear God," concluded the Holy Kotzker.