Hashem has granted each one of us the greatness of the Holy of Holies to fulfill our Shlichus
By Rabbi Shimon Raichik
In Pirkei Avos Chapter 4 Mishna 3 it states:
הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, אַל תְּהִי בָז לְכָל אָדָם, וְאַל תְּהִי מַפְלִיג לְכָל דָּבָר, שֶׁאֵין לְךָ אָדָם שֶׁאֵין לוֹ שָׁעָה וְאֵין לְךָ דָבָר שֶׁאֵין לוֹ מָקוֹם
He would say: Do not disparage anyone, and do not shun any thing. For you have no man who does not have his hour, and you have no thing that does not have its place.
The Previous Rebbe asks why the Mishnah brings the statement that there is no man that does not have his hour together with the statement that there is no thing that has that does not have its place. What relationship do these two statements have one to the other? (See Igros Kodesh v.5 page 108).
The Rebbe explains that the physical world and everything within it has six extremities (up down, right left, front back). This is hinted to in the fact that the world was created in 6 days which refer to the six sefiros, the six Divine emanations from which creation originates. When any thing in the physical world is elevated by clarifying its sparks, it goes up and becomes included the sefiros which is it’s true place and origin. Everything that was created in this world was for the purpose that man should clarify and purify its physicality through learning the Torah and doing mitzvos which elevates it to its place.
This is the purpose of very soul that comes down into this world and enclothes itself within the body. Hashem wants to increase the merit and the reward for the soul for all the goodness and kindness it performs while in this world. This is why Hashem has granted man freedom of choice and is what the Mishna means when it says that there is no man, meaning the soul that has no hour, ‘sha’a’. The word hour ‘sha’a’ also means ‘to turn’ which has a double meaning. It means to turn away from that which is not good, and it also means to turn towards the good. We all have this freedom to turn away from what is not good and to focus solely on the good.
One very good way to turn away from what is not good and to focus on that which is good is to attend a Fabrengen. In the letter mentioned above the Rebbe goes on to tell a story about an individual that came before Pesach to visit with the Rebbe. He was an elderly retired lawyer after 40 years in practice. He was originally from Poland but now he was a secular intellectual both in his outlook and his lifestyle. He spoke with the Rebbe about his friends from his 20s and how they lived independent lives of indiscretion oblivious if not cynical of Judaism. It's not that they were intentionally going against G-d rather they were rebellious youth with no regard Judaism. He also mentioned in passing about his early childhood in Poland.
The Rebbe recounts asking him: Do you remember your early youth, when you were 8 or 10 years old back in Poland? Do you remember your Zeide and Bubby, their house, and the times you went with them to visit with the Rabbeim (The two Rabbeim that the family was connected)?. Do you remember the Seuda Shlishis’ and the Melava Malkas in the Shteibel?. Do you remember Erev Yom Kippur and the way your Zeide would say ‘Al Cheit’ after the hot mikveh? Do you remember the burning passion of Simchas Torah with all the dancing?
The Rebbe then said: With every question and with every word I could see that I was peeling off another layer fat which had coagulated over his heart. I was getting closer and closer to revealing the point that was hidden deep within his soul covered by the dirty waters of the culture and his lifestyle until I finally saw that I had lit a candle, an awakening of his soul from a deep slumber. I said:
It is within the very nature of every person to believe. Even someone who doesn't have any belief in the G-d of Israel (Elokei Yisroel) believes in G-d and in G-dliness, he just refers to it by a different name. Every single person by the fact that they are a person needs their own Mikdash, their own holy inner sanctuary. In this holy inner sanctum there is a an altar and a holy of holies. The altar represents one's meditation upon what one has devoted their life. The holy of holies is the most sanctified place of a person. If one is happy with life then it is from here that he thanks the source of that good. If he's not happy with his life, from this place he does teshuva and becomes the way he should.
The Rebbe continues in the letter that in the middle of the month of Sivan that year this man returned for another visit. He said that this past Pesach was the first Pesach in almost 50 years since he left his parents home that was ‘kulo matzah’ (meaning kosher l'pesach). He said: I put on tefillin, I daven three times a day, I eat kosher food and I keep the Shabbos. My children (he was at the time a widow living in a hotel) are very surprised at my life change and my new manner of living. They have no idea why I have become this way. I have come to find the best way to describe to them what is doing with me.
We can all take a profound lesson from this letter of the Previous Rebbe. Every one of us has a purpose and every one of us has a specific shlichus in this world. Our challenge is to remind ourselves everyday of our life of that purpose and of our shlichus. Perhaps we need to take the time to peel back the layers of fat, the fat of worldly perspectives and perceptions which create distance estrangement and indifference from G-dliness which covers over our souls. Once we have done so and we once again feel our connection, we are then able to share this with our children our families and the world at large, and thereby prepare the world for the revelation of Moshiach.
A Good Shabbos, A Good Chodesh