The Secret of the Souls of Fire: The Burning Heart of Avraham Avinu

Lesson No. 227 | Cassette 227, Kislev 5760 - Awakening Gathering in Tzfat, at the "Anan BeChavivuta Talya" Synagogue

How did Nimrod contend with every person's inner desire for holiness, and what is the secret of the "souls of fire" of the baalei teshuvah (returnees to Judaism)? A fascinating discourse on the path of Avraham Avinu, who shattered the idols of heresy and, through a heart burning for Hashem, merited to reveal all the secrets of the Torah.

The world reads and believes in vanities, while we have a Torah from Sinai, yet they sit and mock. Nimrod knew that everyone was about to follow Avraham and begin believing in the God of Avraham. After all, everyone truly desires holiness; the entire Jewish nation wants holiness. There are no exceptions—even the most compromised individuals yearn for holiness.

There are corrupt leaders all over the world who constantly feed the masses with impurity twenty-four hours a day, refusing to let them escape the spiritual sewer. The people genuinely want to get out, but these leaders drag them deeper and numb their minds. Yet in truth, every Jew wants to do teshuvah (repentance). Nimrod understood that if everyone were to do teshuvah, cast away their immorality and promiscuity, and begin walking in holiness and modesty, he would be left completely alone. In reality, even the nations of the world desire this holiness, but because they do not have the Torah from Sinai, they simply do not know how to actualize it.

Nimrod's Invention of a New Idol

When Nimrod saw that the masses were beginning to proclaim the existence of the God of Avraham—a God who despises lewdness and abominations and demands pure thoughts—he came up with a new invention. Realizing he was about to be left as the only scoundrel in the world, he declared: "We have discovered a new idol!" He fabricated an idol that could conquer fire, a sort of flesh-and-blood creature, a fireproof salamander, all to provide a counterfeit alternative to the belief in the God of Avraham.

At this stage, Hashem says to Avraham Avinu:

"Go forth from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you."

Hashem tells him to flee from there, because Nimrod's dominion was too strong and Avraham would not be able to exert his spiritual influence in that environment. He had to leave everything behind and seek another place where he could broadcast the voice of Hashem.

Souls of Fire

Eliezer, the servant of Avraham, had witnessed how Avraham and all his disciples left their homeland with the absolute certainty that Avraham had received a Divine prophecy. They departed in holiness, purity, and deep devotion. Yet suddenly, decades later, Avraham commands Eliezer to return to that very same land and birthplace to find a wife for Yitzchak. Eliezer was tearing his hair out in confusion, unable to understand: "Why on earth would we go back there?"

Eliezer did not know that specifically in that spiritually desolate place lived the great-granddaughter of Haran (Avraham's brother). The blazing fire that pulsed within Haran—the very fire that empowered him to leap into Nimrod's fiery furnace—had been passed down to his great-granddaughter, Rivkah. This fire was destined to ignite the Jewish nation and draw down into the world "souls of fire."

As Rebbe Nachman teaches, baalei teshuvah are souls of fire. With this holy fire, they break through all the boundaries, all the partitions, and all the illusory mirages that concealed the truth from them for decades.

Shattering the Idols and the Light of Emunah

Avraham Avinu was the first to break through it all. The Midrash HaGadol recounts that he shattered idols on two separate occasions: first in the shop of his father Terach, and later in Nimrod's grand hall of idols. When it was his turn to guard the idols, he destroyed them all. Nimrod summoned him for a debate and challenged him: "What makes you so smart? Are you making a mockery of the gods of fire, water, and wind?"

Ever since the generation of Enosh, the world had been submerged in heresy for approximately 1,675 years. All the nations worshipped idols and engaged in witchcraft and sorcery. And then, after so many years of absolute darkness, one man arrived and uprooted all the heresy in the world. This was Avraham Avinu, who brought the revelation of absolute Godliness into the world.

Tzur Levavi: The Heart that Revealed the Torah

Regarding this, the prophet Yeshayahu states:

"Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hollow of the pit from which you were dug. Look to Avraham your father..."

Avraham was that "rock" (tzur). Rashi explains that he possessed a tzur levavi (a rock-solid heart)—he had a heart that yearned and burned for Hashem. He did not have holy books, nor did he know how to study Torah in the way we do today. Yet, out of his burning heart for Hashem, the holy books were essentially created, and all the mitzvos were revealed to him.

Out of that inner burning, all the secrets of the Torah were revealed to Avraham, to the point that he observed even eiruvei tavshilin (the rabbinic enactment allowing cooking on a festival for Shabbat). Therefore, all the converts in the world are called by the name of Avraham, "generous of heart," because their hearts yearn and burn for Hashem, exactly like the heart of Avraham Avinu.

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