To Listen to Absorb and then to Apply what we learn
is the key to our Success
By Rabbi Shimon Raichik
The Hayom Yom for the 18th of Tammuz states:
“The Alter Rebbe said of R. Moshe Vilenker: "Moshe has mochin d'gadlut, magnitude of intellect and in his ten years of toil, he has attained through his labors a powerful, capacious, wide-ranging intellectuality - (mochin rechavim)."
For three years R. Moshe Vilenker prepared himself for yechidus with the Alter Rebbe. Afterwards he remained in Lyozna for seven years to translate the yechidus into actual avoda.”
What does this Hayom Yom teach about how to live today? How does recounting the lofty spiritual goals and attainments of the great Chassidim of yesteryear impact us to the point that Rebbe decided to place it in the sefer Hayom Yom for us to learn? Was the Rebbe only trying to show us greatness of the Alter Rebbe’s Chassidim and no more, or is there an additional lesson?
We see that the Chassidim of the Alter Rebbe had a feeling that their private audience with the Rebbe would provide the all important personal guidance their lives depended upon. They knew that in order for this audience to be effective they had to be prepared and ready not only to hear, but also to absorb and then to apply what they learned into their daily living. They were sensitive to and acutely aware that their entire being would need to be drafted into this effort to facilitate a goodly outcome. How does all of this kind of thinking, feeling and acting apply to us living in a generation that seems so removed from their spiritual stature?
We begin by approaching the study of Chassidus not as a subject whose knowledge we need to absorb as we would other forms of information. Rather we look to Chassidus as our life concern. From Chassidus we come to realize and know who we are, it is how we come to feel our purpose in life and come closer to Hashem.
Chassidus teaches us that we are made up of three parts. We have a G-dly soul that wants only to serve Hashem, an animal soul which wants nothing other than to take part in the pleasures of life, and then we have an intellectual soul. Our mission to fulfill is for the G-dly soul to work with our intelligent soul to facilitate its dominance over the animal soul. Our purpose in this world to overcome the power and inclination of the animal soul to indulge in worldly pleasures and instead harness it's energy and channel it to fulfill the will of Hashem and make His presence apparent to all.
Take for example this week's parsha of Pinchas which includes a section about the daily sacrifice, the korban tamid. There were two daily sacrifices brought, one in the morning and then one in the afternoon, first at the beginning and then at the end of the day. They correspond to the daily prayers of Shacharis and Mincha.
The Rebbe explains that the beginning of our day starts with the recitation of the Modeh Ani which is similar to the first daily sacrifice of the day. We admit and realize that Hashem is real and is sovereign over the entire world. He gave us our soul and entrusted us to fill the purpose for which we were created.
The Hayom Yom mentioned above teaches each one of us as an individual that when i woke up that it is my neshama that was returned to me by Hashem to fulfill my purpose. That Modeh Ani, that morning sacrifice is the cornerstone that will shape the entire day.
When we learn but we don't internalize what we learn, when we view our studies as information instead of what it is meant to be, direct communication, it's because our G-dly soul is not communicating with our animal soul. This happens when we don't relate to it as if it's personal guidance directed towards us. This Hayom Yom encourages us to treat it properly, in a way that our life depends upon it to succeed in its mission in this lifetime, just as the Chosid R. Moshe Vilenker did. This is what the lives of the Chassidim of the Alter Rebbe and R. Moshe Vilenker teaches us today as brought in the Hayom Yom for the 18th of Tammuz. We learn to have a personal stake in how we internalize the Torah we learn, Chassidus in particular and the mitzvos we do. This is how we carry our life mission to fruition and this is why this is such a relevant message today more than ever. By listening, absorbing and then applying what we learn we achieve our life's mission and purpose.
Although we may seem so far off course from this ideal, especially when we look back at all of the great Chassidim of yesteryear their stature and their achievements such as R. Moshe Vilenker, nevertheless Hashem has placed us in this situation in our specific condition for a purpose. When we take to heart all that we learn and apply it with Hashem’s help and the Rebbe’s guidance and brochos we are able to transform our lives into what it was designed by Hashem to be,we fulfill our purpose which is to bring about the revelation of a Moshiach Now!
A Good Shabbos