"Garments" - And of Redemption - 5778

מחשבה דיבור ומעשה
These Garments Can Lift the Soul ...

Whether at any moment you are thinking, speaking or taking action, you are using these 3 faculties as a generous gift offered by God to mankind.

These are faculties that do not belong to the soul; That is, because they can be expressed in more ways than one, they can be used by the soul in a non-deterministic way. There is no instinct for us to think, talk or act in specific ways under such restrictions.

You can, for example, change garments, as when you catch yourself thinking, saying or doing negatively and then you quickly revert to thinking (speaking or doing) positively!

These 3 faculties the Ba'al HaTanya calls "Garments of the Soul".

Besides being independent of the body's soul's makeup, these 3 garments are also independent in that they can be controlled by one of the body's two souls. They can succumb to the will of the Animal Soul, that soul that comes with the body as a built-in feature. Or, they do the will of the Godly Soul that resides in every Jewish body as well.

An analogy might be: It's like when you step onto an escalator - but here, in our case, you can either take the "up" escalator, or the "down" escalator. One way or another you operate. But - either the product of thought, speech or action elevates you, or it denigrates you.

Your decision can lead to two paths of expression, two paths before they are emitted. The two represent your human choice. (More on "garments", here.)

So what's a good thought to now have, for example? Well, that the Era of Redemption is quickly unfolding before our very eyes - this year already being 5778! But unless you're tuned in to see, you may well miss it.

But thoughts of redemption, or words that express the phenomenon, demand a compatible perspective from current events. So here's one for you:

It says in Yeshayahu (49:23),

והיו מלכים אמניך ושרותיהם מיניקתיך אפים ארץ ישתחוו לך ועפר רגליך ילחכו וידעת כי אני יהוה אשר לא יבשו קוי

"And kings shall be your nursing fathers and their princesses your wet nurses; they shall prostrate themselves to you with their face on the ground, and they shall lick the dust of your feet, and you shall know that I am the Lord, for those who wait for Me shall not be ashamed."

Seems the world is finally headed in that direction!

Take the election of November 2016. Had it not been for that miraculous election of Trump to the White House a year ago that disposed the Clinton machine, the free world would surely have been overwhelmed by corruption and evil. Had Hillary grabbed the reins, Muslim terrorism would have had intimate governmental effect. She took money from the sheiks and had as her right-hand lady the daughter of a founder of the Moslem Brotherhood. Suddenly, out of nowhere it seems, came a miraculous turnaround, all in a matter of a few hours. It was very much like the Purim story, now with a Jewish princess in the office instead of Orwellian overseers.

But instead of a Muslim presence that was taking hold of the White House, we now have one where Jewish interests are at heart. The Trump administration subserves the waxing glory of God and His Jewish People for the good of mankind.

We see too how the Rebbe plays an important role, albeit, under the radar, in all of this (link).

Then there is, for example, the recent trip of Trump's Jewish son-in-law to Saudi Arabia. This came after Trump visited and spoke to the older Saudi King. Next thing we know, terrorism is being strangulated financially. Qatar is ostracized. Terrorism in Saudi Arabia, where oil money long cultivated evil octopuses, was being choked off. Now too seems to begin a new era wherein Muslims too feel the need to forge better ties with Israel and the Jews.

If that's not what the above verse is intimating, then maybe your vision of the upcoming Era of Ultimate Redemption of the Jewish People and the world at large is still buried in textbooks.

As the Malbim explained the above verse regarding the Jewish People's future - that they will be as the newborn, care given to have him breast-fed, and raised under complete protection from harm, so the world will know God is in full control.

Reminds me too of what the Rebbe said of this Era back in 1980 - that Israel's rise to glory in these days of Gog and Magog will be under full immunity from harm (Link)!