Mission

11 Kislev 5782

“Jacob remained alone” (Bereishis 32:25)

The Talmud in Chullin 91a states that “He remained for the sake of some small jars he had left behind. Hence it is learned that to the righteous, their money is dearer than their body.” How are we to understand this? The Chassidic masters explain that, “This is because the righteous know that their material possessions contain ‘sparks of holiness’ which are redeemed and elevated when the object or resource they inhabit is utilized to fulfill the divine will. The righteous person sees these sparks of divine potential as virtual extensions of his own soul, since he understands that the very fact that Divine Providence has caused them to come into his possession indicates that their redemption is integral to his mission in life.”

“Even when they descended to be clothed in created beings, they are in malchut of Beriah and Yetzirah of the specific [G-dly] state of neshamah, which is of the vessels of Atzilut” (Lessons in Tanya, Kuntres Acharon, middle of Essay 4)

Even when the rationales for the laws, that essentially derive from visages of Atzilut, descended to become rationales for laws for created beings they did not leave the malchut of Beriah and Yetzirah. This is so because the function of the chochmah within them is the rectification of the visages of Atzilut. To achieve this lofty purpose they cannot descend into this lowly world except as transcendent rationales that never vest themselves within created beings. Nonetheless, they inform and animate a persons actions from their exalted place, helping him to draw transcendent G-dliness into his physical actions and possessions. This is part of the kabbalistic explanation for the above concept that “to the righteous, their money is dearer than their body.”

“Men are but vanity; people [but] transients. Were they to be raised upon the scale, they would be lighter than vanity.” (Tehillim 62:10)

The righteous know that their existence on this earth is but a transient state in which they find themselves in to fulfill a specific mission. On this path they do not fall prey to distractions, instead seeing everything that comes their way as a tool to fulfill their specific mission. When one follows this way, one is assured success, as the chapter in Tehillim continues, “G-d spoke one thing, from which I perceived two: That strength belongs to G-d; and that Yours, my Lord, is kindness. For You repay each man according to his deeds.”