The Secret of Elijah the Prophet's Soul

Lesson #359 | *Friday Night, Parshat Ki Tavo, Eve of 15 Elul 5762 – Class for the Anan Groups, Part 2 (Continued from #358)

Elijah the Prophet merited to ascend to Heaven in a storm with his body, but what is the secret hidden within this? Rabbi Berland shlit"a explains the connection between guarding one's eyes and mouth and true Shalom Bayis (domestic peace), revealing how seeing the good in others is the key to drawing down supernal souls from the Tree of Life.

Benjamin the Tzaddik was without sin, yet he lacked the unique aspect of Joseph. Joseph the Tzaddik is the symbol of "guarding the eyes" – he withstands all tests, never opening his eyes [to forbidden sights] come what may. However, even though Joseph guarded his eyes, we find that he opened his mouth in speech regarding his brothers, and for this, he was punished.

Our Sages teach us that Pinchas, who is Elijah the Prophet, came from the daughters of Puti'el – from the seed of Joseph. Why? Since Joseph "chattered" (pitpet) with his inclination, there was a need for a tikkun (rectification) of speech. Pinchas came to rectify what Joseph had not yet completed. Joseph's eye was rectified to the ultimate degree, but the mouth still required rectification. To merit the upper levels, a person must work on all the senses: on the ears, on the eyes, on the mouth, and primarily on the mind – that "The beginning of Your word is truth," meaning the mind must be completely clean.

The Secret of Elijah's Ascent in a Storm to Heaven

When a person purifies himself, he merits bringing the aspect of Elijah the Prophet into the world. Elijah needed to perform all these rectifications, and even to humble himself. Had he humbled himself before Yiftach HaGiladi, it would not have been a true humiliation – on the contrary, they would have shown him royal honor, hung banners, and danced in his honor. Yet in his eyes, it seemed like a humiliation, and he had to overcome this imagination.

The holy Zohar asks: How does one merit a soul like Elijah's, which ultimately merited a chariot of fire and horses of fire? How does one merit for the body itself to become spiritual and ascend upward? The answer lies in the concept of being "clean in his soul."

"All the souls of the world, since they come literally from the Garden of Eden and are entirely from the Bundle of Life, death is not relevant to them."

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai reveals that a person can draw down souls literally from the Tree of Life. Such souls are so pure and holy that they contain no aspect of death whatsoever. If one performs the correct tikkun, death has no dominion over them, just as Elijah the Prophet took his body upward and transformed it into the "Bundle of Life."

The Darkness is Within Us

How does one merit to bring down such souls, which will take the body upward? The holy Zohar says: "And when female and male [are united]" – the matter depends on there being absolutely no conflict in the home.

When a person does not guard his eyes, he will inevitably have conflict in his home. Why? Because it is not enough that he fails to see the light in his home; he sees darkness. He sees everything upside down. Every forbidden opening of the eye burns his Da'at (knowledge/awareness), and he remains without a spiritual "eye" and without a spiritual "mind." In such a state, he sees only darkness, and it seems to him that the darkness is coming from his wife or the environment.

He does not see that the darkness is in his own mind. The darkness is within him. He thinks the darkness is his wife, but if a person knew that the darkness is he himself – then he would know how to do teshuvah (repentance).

The Tzaddik weeps and knows: "I am the source of the darkness." When a person understands this, he can bring down holy and clear souls. But when he does not know this, he lives in a state of strictness and baseless hatred. This is the great lesson: everything depends on true will, on joy and trust, without any strictness inside the home.

Seeing the Light in Others

Yaakov Avinu (Jacob our Patriarch), for instance, merited to see everything, yet there was a point where he did not see the light of Leah. The holy Torah describes this as "Leah was hated" – not, Heaven forbid, actual hatred, but rather that he did not see her virtue and her hidden light. From the fact that one does not see the light of the other, all conflicts and destructions sprout forth. A person sees only his own light and not that of his friend.

The parents of Elijah the Prophet merited to bring such a soul down to the world because, with them, there was absolutely no seeing of deficiency in one another. Neither saw a flaw in the other.

A person is forbidden to see any deficiency in the other at all. It must be "with one repentance on two sides" – from both sides.

Sometimes the husband sees light in his wife, but she does not see it in him, or vice versa. The Satan exerts great effort so that they do not see light in one another simultaneously. But the secret is to reach a state where both sides see only good and holiness in each other. When one merits this, it is possible to draw down souls literally from the Bundle of Life, souls that are "an enduring existence" – that live forever with the body, and ascend in a storm to Heaven.

Part 2 of 4 — Lesson #359
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