The Secret of Holiness and Abundance: How Withstanding Tests Opens the Gates of Heaven

Class No. 219 | Cassette Archive No. 219, Motzaei Shabbos Kodesh Parashas Lech Lecha, Eve of 24 Cheshvan 5760 - 2 Classes - Melaveh Malkah at the home of the Rav

A profound discourse explaining how guarding one's holiness and withstanding tests are the key to physical and spiritual abundance. Through the stories of Yosef HaTzaddik, Avraham Avinu, and the parable of the salamander, it is revealed that lusts and evil inclinations are nothing but an illusion. Whoever overcomes them merits to subdue the entire world and gather sparks of silver and gold.

"House and wealth are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from Hashem" (Proverbs 19:14).

If a person merits, he receives a prudent wife. The Gemara states that every day a Heavenly voice (Bas Kol) goes forth and declares: "The daughter of so-and-so to so-and-so, the house of so-and-so and the field of so-and-so to so-and-so." This declaration takes place forty days before the formation of the embryo, even before the pregnancy begins. The Heavenly voice determines which house he will have and which field he will have, and the field—its secret meaning is parnassah (livelihood).

But the question arises: Why does a person not always see this abundance in his life? Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian zt"l of Kfar Chasidim would explain this based on the verse "You open Your hand," saying: "For only to Your full, open, holy, and expansive hand." Holiness is what builds the vessel. If a person lacks holiness, there is a hole in his vessel, and all the abundance that flows to him simply spills out.

Hashem wants to bestow all the abundance in the world; He wants to make us exceedingly wealthy, but for this, holiness is required. "The moment there is a drop of holiness and a person withstands tests, he then becomes the wealthiest person in the world." The Gemara in Tractate Sotah (2a) and Moed Katan (18b) says that every day a Heavenly voice goes forth and declares where your house and field will be. To merit this, a person must conduct himself with holiness and withstand tests.

Breaking the Husks in Egypt

When a person withstands tests, he merits abundance, exactly as Yosef HaTzaddik became "the provider for all the people of the land." Yosef guarded his holiness and withstood difficult tests. He specifically had to descend to Egypt, a place of impurity, exactly as Avraham Avinu descended to Egypt before him.

Regarding Avraham, it is stated:

"And Avram was very heavily laden with livestock, with silver, and with gold" (Genesis 13:2).

Why did he merit this? Because he broke the klipos (forces of impurity) in Egypt. Avraham stayed there for only three months, but he did not succumb to the impurity; he did not look, did not see, and did not feel anything of their impurities. He was at the peak of impurity and nullified it completely, as if it did not exist. In the merit of this, he emerged from there very heavily laden with possessions.

Yosef, on the other hand, descended to Egypt and stayed there for twenty-two years all alone—without a father, without a mother, without brothers and sisters—and he withstood tremendous tests. It is brought in the Midrash that a certain noblewoman (matronisa) told Rabbi Yosi that she did not believe Yosef actually withstood the test. Rabbi Yosi answered her that the Torah does not hide anything; the fact is that it recounts the sins of Reuven and David, and had Yosef sinned, the Torah would have written it.

The Power of Illusion: The Romans and the Flies

To understand how to overcome the forces of impurity, one must understand their essence. Once, Rabbi Shimon, the son of Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, saw a massive battalion of a hundred thousand Roman soldiers arriving from Antipatris. He became very frightened and said to Rabbi Chiya: "Look at this battalion! Look at these Romans!"

Rabbi Chiya said to him: "Why are you paying attention to them?" He took him to the market, to a place where grapes and figs were sold, showed him a swarm of flies, and said to him: "Do you see these flies? The entire battalion of Romans and the flies—they are the exact same thing." When Rabbi Shimon returned and related this to his father, Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, his father told him: "They are not even flies! They do not exist at all; it is only fog and illusion."

"The entire Sitra Achra (Other Side) and all the soldiers are all an illusion that comes because of blemishes of the Bris (covenant)." If we allow the illusion of blemishes of the Bris to take control of us, then the illusion of armies, terrorists, and enemies appears. When one breaks this illusion and merits holiness, one sees that there are no soldiers and no enemies.

When the World Submits Before Holiness

When a person guards his holiness, the entire world submits before him. So it was with Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, who never lowered his hands below his navel and maintained supreme holiness. In the merit of this, Antoninus, the Roman Emperor who ruled over the entire world, would come and bow before him, and even asked Rebbe to step on him.

Antoninus said to Rebbe: "Would that I merit to be a footstool beneath you in the World to Come! Step on me, and perhaps in the merit of this I will merit to be a footstool in the World to Come." "The moment a person is a drop holy, then everything is nullified before him; the entire world is nullified before him." All of our spiritual work is to merit holiness, and then the Divine light shines and burns away all physicality, which is revealed to be nothing but an illusion.

So too, Yosef merited to be the provider for all the people of the land. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer (Chapter 11) writes that Yosef was king in Egypt for eighty years, from the age of thirty until the age of a hundred and ten. For the first forty years, he was the viceroy, and for the second forty years, after Pharaoh died, he was an actual king over all of Egypt. The entire land came to buy grain from Yosef, because in the merit of his holiness, the entire nation was nullified to him.

Regarding Pharaoh, it is brought down that this is the same Pharaoh from the days of Avraham Avinu (our Patriarch Abraham). Avraham went down to Egypt at the age of seventy. Yitzchak was born when Avraham was a hundred years old, and Yaakov was born when Yitzchak turned sixty. Yaakov went down to Egypt at the age of one hundred and thirty, and Yosef had already been ruling there for nine years prior. The calculation shows that Pharaoh ruled for at least two hundred and eleven years, and together with another forty years mentioned by the Midrash, he lived for two hundred and fifty-one years – the numerical value (gematria) of 'Ner' (candle). Afterward, Yosef ruled in his place.

The Secret of Commerce: Extracting Silver and Gold from the Fair

A story is told of a great merchant who came from Danzig to a tzaddik (the Ohev Yisrael of Apta or Rebbe Nachman), and did not bring any profit with him from his commerce. The tzaddik asked him: "What do you mean you didn't succeed? You didn't do any birurim (spiritual elevations of holy sparks)! This is a sign that something is wrong with you. If you had withstood the tests and not looked at the streets, you should have returned like Avraham Avinu – very heavy with silver and gold."

The tzaddik explained to him: "How can you go to the fair, a place of immodesty and corruption, and not bring back silver and gold? If you do not look and do not pay attention to the impurity, you elevate the holy sparks. When you work in an office, in a bank, in the market, or in the supermarket, and you do not look at anything forbidden – you extract silver and gold from there. The moment you do not look, the kelipah (husk of impurity) falls away, and souls, silver, and gold emerge from there."

"A Jew elevates holy sparks everywhere, and the ultimate elevation is silver and gold." If a person goes to places of commerce and does not return with abundance, it is a sign that he failed and caused a spiritual blemish. A Jew must leave the Egypt of our days being "very heavy," full of sparks of holiness.

Living Inside the Fiery Furnace

Midrash Tanchuma brings up the concept of the salamander in connection with Yosef's descent to Egypt. The Gemara relates that there are creatures that grow in the sea, and if they go up to dry land, they will die; and there are those that grow on dry land, and if they go down to the sea, they will die. And there is a creature called a salamander, which is created and grows inside a fiery furnace. If it leaves the fire – it will die.

What is the connection between the salamander and Yosef going down to Egypt? The answer is that this is an allusion to Yosef living inside the fire. Master of the Universe, how is it possible for a person to be alone in Egypt, without friends and companions, and withstand all the temptations? To live alone in Egypt is like living inside a fiery furnace of tests and trials.

Only a salamander can emerge alive from such a furnace. "A person's life is to live inside a fiery furnace of lusts and evil inclinations. The more he subdues this, the more he extracts the holy sparks." When a person overcomes the fire of desires, he emerges alive, subdues the fire, and merits to come out heavy with silver, gold, souls, and righteous and holy children – all according to the measure of his overcoming and subduing the evil inclination. May Hashem help us merit this.

Lesson No. 219