The Secret of the Inner Point: The Blazing Fire in the Heart of Every Jew
Lesson No. 129 | * Wednesday, Parashas Beshalach, Eve of 9 Shevat 5758 - Lesson at the 'Simcha V'Emunah' Yeshiva (Ein Kerem neighborhood)
On Chanukah, we merit to illuminate the inner point of light that exists within every Jew, even the most distant. By removing [the concealments]...
A person cannot know who they were in their previous incarnation. Sometimes, a person wonders why they were thrown into the "miry depths" (a reference to spiritual exile), to such remote and distant places. The answer is that everything is orchestrated according to what they must rectify from previous lifetimes. Someone who passed away as a tzaddik in a previous incarnation, who had already done true teshuvah (repentance) and was clean of all sin, now merits to be born in a holy place, to righteous parents. However, those of us who were in distant places in previous incarnations must now pass through all those terrible places once again in order to rectify everything. Baruch Hashem (Thank God), we have merited to reach a place of holiness, from which the light of Moshe will come forth and the complete Geulah (Redemption) will sprout.
Ascending to the Root of Creation
On Chanukah, we merit to elevate ourselves above all boundaries and constraints. We pass through all four spiritual worlds until we merit to reach the World of Atzilus (the highest realm of Divine Emanation). Through the spinning of the dreidel, Rebbe Nachman explains, our intellect is elevated and ascends to the very roots of creation. On Chanukah, we merit to ascend to a place where all the laws of nature are nullified:
"The strong into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few, the impure into the hands of the pure, and the wicked into the hands of those who occupy themselves with Your Torah."
Rabbi Yechezkel Abramsky zt"l made a precise observation, noting that the wicked—those who act with malicious intent—fall exclusively "into the hands of those who occupy themselves with Your Torah." Nothing else will help against them except the power of those who immerse themselves in Torah study, because the entire essence of Chanukah is the light of the Torah.
The Mountains of Sand Covering the Point of Fire
Reb Noson explains that the secret of Chanukah lies in that small, illuminating candle. This small candle is the point of light that exists within every Jew. Even in the most distant Jew in the world, there is an inner point of light. It is just that many kelipos (spiritual impurities or husks) have piled up over that point.
As explained in Likutey Moharan (Part II, Torah 9), there are "mountains of sand" that cover the Jewish point within each and every person. Our spiritual work is to remove those mountains of sand and dullness. The moment we succeed in removing the mountains of sand that conceal this point, Rebbe Nachman says, such a flame will be revealed—such a focal point of blazing fire—that it could burn up the entire world.
This fire blazes in the heart of each and every Jew, and the entire purpose of Rebbe Nachman's teachings is simply to reveal that burning point of fire. Reb Noson explains (Hilchos Bircas HaMazon, Halacha 3) that this is exactly the spiritual work of Chanukah: to reveal the blazing fire in the heart of every Jew. Even within a person who appears very distant, a flaming fire burns. Regarding this, it is said:
"And the house of Yaakov shall be a fire, and the house of Yosef a flame, and the house of Esav for stubble."
This inner fire burns all the stubble of Esav and the Sitra Achra (the forces of impurity). The entire Sitra Achra is built on stubble. Our Sages say that the angel Gavriel descended and planted a reed in the sea—a reed of stubble—and a sandbank gathered around it, upon which the great metropolis of Rome was built. The entire power of Rome is built upon a reed of stubble, and the only thing that will burn it is the inner point blazing in the heart of every Jew.
Illuminating Until the Foot Departs from the Marketplace
This is the secret of the Chanukah candle—to reveal the blazing fire. This point is the secret of the unification of the Holy Names (Havayah, Ekyeh, Adnus, and Elokim), whose combined numerical value (gematria) equals "Ner" (candle). Therefore, our Sages said: "The mitzvah of the Chanukah candle is one for a man and his household," and those who are most meticulous (mehadrin min hamehadrin) light a candle for each and every individual. This is the only mitzvah that the entire Jewish people, without exception, has taken upon themselves to fulfill in the most meticulous manner possible. Why? Because this involves igniting the inner point that blazes in the heart of every Jew.
This candle must be lit "until the foot departs from the marketplace" (ad shetichleh regel min hashuk). The marketplace symbolizes all matters of worldly desires. A person sees seventy bonfires of burning desires around him, and he asks himself: "How can I extinguish these seventy bonfires?" But Rebbe Nachman reveals that the holy fire, the point of light in the heart of every Jew, is stronger than all seventy bonfires of desires, and it will overcome them and burn them away.
We only need to ignite the inner point that burns in the heart, about which it is said:
"Many waters cannot extinguish the love, nor can rivers wash it away."
All the rivers of the world and all the nations of the world cannot extinguish the fire blazing in the heart of every Jew, a fire of "flashes of fire, a flame of God."
When a person lacks this light, they do not know where to receive their life-force. Because people are so thirsty for the Divine light, they are liable to drink cesspool water and sewage. A thirsty person sees a yellow liquid and thinks it is juice, drinking soap out of sheer thirst. All the desires in the world stem from an overwhelming thirst for Hashem, may He be blessed, when the tzaddik has not yet come to illuminate the light of this point for them.
Endless mountains of sand have been piled upon the burning candle within the heart of every Jew. Deep inside, there is burning lava, and only the kilometers of mountains prevent it from erupting. Therefore, we need a tzaddik, about whom it is said, "a man in whom there is spirit," who knows how to remove the mountains of sand from the heart of every Jew, until the flame of the heart rises on its own.
Part 3 of 4 — Lesson #129