"Garments" - And of Redemption - 5780

Think good; Will be good!

God gave us "Freedom of Choice". We express this freedom in 3 ways:
Free to think thoughts of one thing or another;
Free to speak words of one sort or another;
And free to do, one way or another.

In 3 ways we can align with, or misalign with, a given perspective.

You can think good thoughts or bad thoughts.
You can say good things or bad things, and
you can do either good or bad.

Thinking, saying and doing are referred to in chassidus as "garments". Just as you can choose which garment to wear or shed, so too you can decide to "wear" new thoughts and thereby abandon ("shed") your former thoughts; As you can say words that please in place of words that displease; And you can do favors and avoid crime, instead of proceeding otherwise.

Can emotions also be referred to as "garments"? No! There's no "free choice" for emotions. Emotions pursue thought, and not the other way around. Thoughts evoke emotions.

However, because emotions follow reflexively from thoughts, the garment of thought can be changed. This change of thoughts will trigger new emotions to supplant those that preceded.

Free choice, in light of chassidus, subdivides into thoughts, speech and behavior.

That bit of chassidus also sheds light on how to control emotions.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe wanted us well-versed in the topic of Moshiach because that's the Era we've entered, according to him. And if you think of it, thinking about Moshiach, whose revelation is approaching rather swiftly, will lead -- if you trust the Rebbe -- to good feelings during Moshiach's Eras.

The Rebbe so instructed us because he wanted us to see spectacles we'd otherwise never sense. Our panoramas are vast and exactly what to look for in this broad landscape to discern a moving target, among lots of activity, needs special attentiveness.

Learning about Moshiach and speaking and doing about Moshiach grows spiritual antennas. There are things happening locally and globally and to feel good amid these swirling events -- to be able to connect the dots of all these events in a refreshing light, they must be identified in proper context.

In other words, if we believe the Rebbe and do as he wishes, we'll discover that worldly events, which happen beyond our control, are actually benefiting us. We can begin to appreciate the good the Rebbe wants us to experience these days, much as father wants to impart his love to his child.

For those who think thoughts devoid of Moshiach, or have an entirely different perspective, the lesson of the Rebbe will be missed by them. Here's an example of this phenomenon today: What might appear to one person as a political fluke, as it might concern a politically-immersed person of the Democrat party, say regarding president Trump's election win in 2016, and he's expecting that already in 2020 Trump will be replaced by a "suitable" candidate -- to another person is a laughing joke. This other person, well-versed in Torah's views on Moshiach, sees that event as a palpable marker of a new era in history. This event was not at all a fluke. Rather, it was a sharp upturn in Moshiach's momentum.

This is an example of how "garments" of thought give one person agony for 4 long years, and to the other sheer ecstasy, under the same circumstances, seeing an altogether different pattern in the mosaic developing before him.

One will wallow while the other will thrive under the same circumstances. Think good; Will be good. Think Moshiach; Will sense Moshiach's imminence!

"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)!

The Secret of Jericho

Mechanisms in place can elevate the level of a Jew’s soul. Although it arrived into this world from one spiritual level, potential is available so it can now reach an even higher spiritual level than was upon entry.

He can achieve this in two ways: He can mend his emotive constitution, and, also, he can strategize the way he thinks, speaks and acts.

Thought, speech and action are entirely under a person’s control! Changing one’s emotional instincts, in contrast, takes inordinate efforts that cannot be relied upon.

This is why G-d did not command Moses to spy on the Land of Israel. Moses sent spies on his own accord. But before Joshua took the Jews into the Holy Land, that's when G-d commands that he send spies, and then - only that they spy the city of Jericho - not the entire country. Jericho is the key to unlocking Israel!

Why only Jericho and not the entire country?

Spying out Jewish territory implies, at the spiritual level, inspecting one's own self for Torah-true resilience. The Jew's soul is his personal Holy Land. Spying out the entire Jewish land means spying out both one’s temperaments as well as one's behavior. In turn, conquering the Canaanite land means to overhaul the entire terrain, both emotive and behavioral. However, only the conquest of Jericho, one's behavioral component, can be relied on for full control.

This is why G-d commanded that only Jericho be spied out, be investigated to see if one’s own “Jericho” subserves G-d’s wishes. Jericho, which comes from the Hebrew word “odor”, relates to smell; Just as smell affects us, but leaves no imprint, so too thought, speech and action do not reside within us.

These 3 behaviors do not "own" the person. Speech and action certainly can be good or bad, completely under full control. Even a bad thought too, should it arise, can easily and effectively be deflected with a good one. In contrast, a poor emotional response cannot so easily be mastered.

These capabilities or energies derive from an outside - higher - source made available for our use; They are not as integrative with our being as are our emotive facets. We use them to interact, but they are not tightly bound into our constitution. These faculties are tools, as "ropes" to climb with, available at our behest.  They provide us with choice under our full control. We can ascend with these ropes to draw ourselves higher. Other ropes, also of higher source, but of the negative kind, can also be used, only these would take the Jewish soul to a lower than original depth. The choice is either to climb up with them to noble loftiness, or use them to climb lower and deeper into a rut.

To analogize, think of a car. The car will not function unless gas “from the outside” is fed into it. Similarly, our souls access thought, speech and action from available external albeit higher divine sources.

Because of their higher point of derivation, these 3 faculties can raise the level of the soul to guarantee it attains a higher perch from the level it originated from in the first place. Why else was the soul sent down here into the nethermost of all worlds - if not to improve its lot?

(We spoke earlier of sources of divinity, how one is higher than the other - here.)

This is why how a person can better himself; By proper control of his "Jericho" - his thoughts, speech and actions. Like a circus acrobat who swings from rope to rope to reach a higher landing, so too the divine soul, by grabbing on to the right 3 "garments of the soul", can lift itself higher from where it initially stood.

Of course, the corollary of this configuration implies the person can also climb steeply downwards. For just as he can choose to deflect bad thoughts and change bad speech and behavior in favor of good ones, so too, by choosing the 3 garments purveyed by the Bovine Soul, his Divine Soul can be dragged to a level far lower from where it originated.

(adapted from ma'amorim of the Rebbe MH"M)