How Can One Identify a Jew?

"That the flame should rise by itself"

Excerpt from the "Tzama Nafshi" leaflet - Parshas Tetzaveh 5774

They asked Rashbi (Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai): How is it possible to identify a Jew? How can one recognize who is a Jew? Why do all the nations not sway, sitting straight in their mosques without moving, while only the Jews sway and get enthusiastic? Rashbi sat for an hour and wept: "Those who do not sway, those who do not get enthusiastic—there is a question regarding their Jewishness! It is a question if they are Jews at all! Anyone who possesses a Jewish soul must be like a burning candle! Just as a candle flickers and constantly moves, never resting or staying quiet for a single second, so too, one who has a Jewish soul must move at every moment! He must be enthusiastic! He needs to be like a candle, like the flame of a candle where the flame moves every moment—that is how a Jew must be. 'That the flame should rise by itself.' If a person wants to reach true enthusiasm, it is only through Torah study. The Rebbe's whole point is the intellect (*sechel*); in almost every Torah lesson, Rebbe Nachman speaks about the intellect. A person needs to immerse his intellect in the Gemara. If not, then all the enthusiasm he has is absolute zero; it will end very soon. Rebbe Nachman says: Your enthusiasm is only the enthusiasm of a moment. Enthusiasm that is permanent comes only through studying the Gemara. The Torah is fire, the Gemara is fire. When a person studies Gemara, every letter is a fiery flame. Through every letter, he merits fire. When he learns, he swallows fire, he swallows coals of fire, and therefore he becomes enthusiastic and prays with fire as well. Rebbe Nachman says in Torah 21 (Likutey Moharan I:21): 'The enthusiasm of the heart is born from the movement of the intellect, for the nature of movement is that it generates heat. And according to the speed of the intellect, so it generates heat in the heart.' A person simply needs to activate his intellect so that he will have warmth in his heart, so that he will have enthusiasm, so that he will have a burning heart. The *brent* (burning fervor) comes from wisdom, from the intellect. If a person does not study Gemara, he cannot burn! He cannot burn! He cannot! Perhaps he will be able to clean tables, but to burn—he will not be able to! Burning is a deep, internal thing that comes from within the intellect, from the depth of the intellect! Only when a person studies Gemara and sharpens his mind can he burn. There is a person who needs to force himself to be enthusiastic, to force himself to be happy. And why is this? Because his intellect is not shining for him! The body is heavy, the heart is heavy, because the brain is not working for him! The intellect does not shine for him because he does not delve deeply into study; he does not learn Gemara. Therefore, he needs to force himself to be enthusiastic and happy. But if he were delving deeply into study, then the enthusiasm of the heart would come by itself! The joy would burst forth by itself! Because the movement of the intellect generates heat in the heart. True enthusiasm of the heart, true joy, bursts forth by itself only when a person studies Gemara, only when a person activates his intellect. If a person has a shining, pure, and clear intellect, then the flame of the heart will always rise by itself! It will always rise. If a person wants to have a flame that rises by itself, if a person wants to escape his *taavos* (lusts), it is only through the study of Gemara. The moment there is intellect and the person studies with depth and understands every detail and begins to feel vitality from the study, then he will exit the lusts! He will no longer blemish; he will begin to rectify everything he damaged. He will have intellect, he will have a flame rising by itself, he will have enthusiasm of holiness. He will merit to rectify all the blemishes of the 'enthusiasm of the heart of the *Sitra Achra* (Other Side).' Because before there is intellect, before a person studies Gemara, nothing will help him! He is simply working in a void! He has no intellect!! What... does he want to be holy and pure without a brain, without intellect?! One simply needs to put one's head into the Gemara. One must be stubborn! Stubborn! To tie oneself to the Gemara, to the shtender, to the table, to the chair, and study Gemara until the mind and heart open, until he merits that the flame of the heart rises by itself.

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