Shavuot

Artwork by Rivka Lemberg

How many times have we exerted our best effort to change our character traits to no avail?

Why does the animal soul not get changed even when we do all the right things?

This is because, if we don't do it in the precise manner it won't affect the change.

Our G-dly soul may be excited to learn Torah but it isn't necessarily fixing the animal soul. We NEED TO AROUSE LOVE OF HASHEM IN DAVENING.

This love is the key ingredient to refine ourselves after Davening, to speak the words of Torah that we need to speak, it is the key to understanding what we're saying. However, without the love aroused, without the speaking, without understanding, it just doesn't have the effect of refining us.

I always say, ‘so many people seem to be doing the right things, yet it doesn't seem to have an effect on them.’ Whatever holy endeavors we do, praying, learning Torah etc, do in fact effect Miracles and blessings, and lives can be saved from our davening and learning.

However, to affect a change in our animal soul we need to be doing these things in a specific way, then we'll start seeing changes, then the light will be drawn inwardly. We've been trying so hard during Sefiras Ha'Omer to do Tikun Hamidos but it really needs to happen by the process of what Hashem describes. This is, possibly, the missing link in our refining of our middos and animal soul. I compare it to Heart surgery.

A surgeon cannot simply prepare the heart and not perform surgery. Likewise, the surgeon cannot perform surgery without opening the heart. To do both the heart preparation for surgery and performing the surgery correctly in our davening, we allow ourselves to be like a ‘beast’ and always humble ourselves to Hashem. Like an animal that robotically abides by its natural instincts, we have a natural instinct to love Hashem.

There’s the higher beast-like level that is reached after learning and davening and meditating, putting the effort in, we get to the level of a beast that is capable of going beyond the limited intellect and have such faith and emunah and tap into such energy that only comes from delving into all of this incredible information and knowledge of Hashem.

The more we learn about Hashem, the more we can meditate on how great He is, the more we love Him.

The Alter Rebbe teaches us that this is why we say all of the brachos, especially the few brachos right before the Shema. The Brachos which speak about the angels, that they are perfect and humble and stand praising G-d. Hashem doesn't choose them, because their service and closeness to Him are instinctual, robotic they don't have free choice. Whereas when we use our free choice to delve into prayer and mediating and learning, we can reach even greater heights, this free choice is why Hashem choses us. That’s why we have to meditate, visualize the Angels standing, whereas we are constantly changing and growing and reaching higher heights.