The Secret of Submission and Tears: The True Path to Conquering the Land
Lesson No. 165 | Thursday, Parashas Toldos, Eve of 1 Kislev 5759 - Hachnasas Sefer Torah (Torah Scroll Dedication) to the Yeshiva
The true path to merit the Land of Israel and to feel the presence of Hashem in the world passes through absolute submission and a broken heart. Through the spiritual level of Moshe Rabbeinu and the story of the awakening of Rav Saadia Gaon, it is explained how tears and supplications are the only tool for creating the angels that will bring the complete Geulah (Redemption).
The tzaddik receives his strength from the soul of Miriam, and therefore he always operates through crying, mercy, and supplications. The elder of holiness always wants to hide and diminish himself, in the aspect of "that which is unseen," out of a feeling of "I am but dust and ashes" and "what are we." He must always know that everything is built upon mercy and supplications, and everything is a free gift from Above.
Such was Moshe Rabbeinu, who felt as if he had never done teshuvah (repentance). When Hashem sends him to Pharaoh, he says:
"I am not a man of words, neither from yesterday nor from the day before."
The speech of Moshe was a speech of charity and teshuvah (repentance), yet he argued before Hashem: "I have no speech; I have not yet done teshuvah for yesterday." Anshei Shlomeinu (our Breslov brethren) would expound on the verse "and let yesternight reprove" — that yesterday will reprove you. Moshe argued: "How can You send me? After all, yesterday I did not serve You properly!"
The Awakening of Rav Saadia Gaon
To understand this feeling, one can reflect on a story that happened with Rav Saadia Gaon. Once, his students saw him returning from exile while performing severe self-mortifications, rolling himself in the snow and placing his hands into fire. The students were terrified and thought that perhaps he had stumbled in a sin, Heaven forbid. When they asked him to explain his actions, Rav Saadia Gaon explained to them what had occurred.
During the exile he had decreed upon himself, he arrived at a certain village hidden and unrecognized by anyone. The innkeeper treated him like a simple man, putting him to sleep on a bed of straw and a simple mat. Suddenly, his identity was revealed, and all the rabbis of the surrounding area, the community leaders, and the Admorim began flocking to the village to see the Gaon.
When the innkeeper saw this, he was seized with anxiety. As Rav Saadia Gaon climbed onto the wagon to travel, the innkeeper prostrated himself before the horses and cried out: "Rebbe, forgive me! I did not know that you were Rav Saadia Gaon!"
Rav Saadia Gaon said to his students: "When I saw his shock, I began to think — Master of the Universe, I do not truly feel that Hashem is in the world! If a person is so deeply shaken by the fact that he did not know who I am, how can I eat and drink and not be shaken by the fact that I do not truly feel the presence of the King of Kings?" Because of this, he took it upon himself to serve Hashem anew with fresh strength and new self-mortifications.
Feeling the Creator of the World
This is exactly what Moshe Rabbeinu said: "I do not feel You at all the way I need to feel You, so how do You want to send me to Pharaoh?" A person can eat and drink, and there is abundance, Baruch Hashem, until the end of the sixth millennium, but to truly feel Hashem — that is something else entirely.
Only one who makes himself into 'nothingness and naught,' in the aspect of dust and ashes, can truly feel that Hashem is in the world. Through this self-nullification, he merits a connection with the souls of the tzaddikim who cover and protect him from every side. Then the openings of his heart are unlocked, he begins to cry to Hashem, and from the mercy of the Supernal Heart, warm words are poured upon him, literal words of fire — "a feier oif vasser" (fire upon water).
The Secret of Conquering the Land of Israel
Through those words of mercy and supplications, we conquer the Land of Israel. It is impossible to conquer the Land by the strength of the arm. We have seen that when they went with the strength of the arm, they were forced to return everything. Nothing helps — not rallies, not protests, and not demonstrations. When acting by force, everything is returned like a small child who took something and is told, "Now give it back." This shows that from the very beginning, they truly took nothing at all.
Now we must start everything anew, with mercy and supplications. We need angels to come and build the Land of Israel for us, and these angels are created only from tears and weeping. Only they can give us the Land. When we cry, words flow like coals of fire, and this is the secret of the Giving of the Torah — to turn the torches into rivers of water.
Tears of Redemption
Hashem is exacting with the tzaddikim to a hairsbreadth. Therefore, we must take the Torah and exert ourselves in every single letter. Everything depends on the point of the heart — to wake up for Chatzos (the midnight prayer), to continue weeping until the morning, to go out for Hisbodedus (personal prayer) in the fields, and to cry to Hashem to open our minds and our eyes.
We must shed tears like water in the field, until we see the angels right before our eyes. As long as we do not truly shed tears, Hashem will be exacting with us, and we will not succeed in creating the angels that will give us the Land of Israel.
But when we shed tears like water, we will merit words as hot as fiery coals, in the aspect of:
"And around Him it is very stormy."
Then we will receive tremendous power, and the secret of "fire upon water" will be revealed. When we merit to truly receive the Land of Israel, through tears and weeping, then it will truly be ours, and even Edom themselves will help us conquer the land. In this way, we will merit the complete Geulah (Redemption) speedily in our days, Amen.
Part 2 of 2 — Lesson No. 165
All parts: Part 1 | Part 2 (current)