Connecting to This Avodah
So, how can we all tap into this exalted worldview of Rashbi? We began with the Zohar HaKadosh in which Rabbi Shimon testifies that he was tethered to the Ribbono shel Olam for all his life with one tight knot—and therefore merited all these lofty perceptions and revelations.
When does a person merit to understand a concept better, on a deeper level? It is when he relentlessly pursues the mastery of that concept, on a constant basis. We see this in שמע קריאת. The famous question is asked, how can we be commanded to love Hashem? Love is a feeling... how can we be commanded to feel an emotion? The answer is that הדברים והיו לבבך על האלה, these words must constantly be on our hearts—eventually transforming our feelings, too, to love Hashem. When a person sits with a connection to the Ribbono shel Olam on an uninterrupted basis, he will eventually attain deveikus and love.
This principle applies to attaining פנימיות. Rabbi Shimon remained tethered constantly—completely focused on the Ribbono shel Olam. He wasn’t in one minute and out the next.
Constantly Tethered
The Ribbono shel Olam tells every Yid: If you will be tethered constantly, you will be able to perceive התורה פנימיות more deeply. If you daven in the morning, then you idle away some time... you learn a bit, and then you’re back out... then you daven Minchah, and again you’re shmoozing idly with friends—this will not help you attain the depth you’re seeking.
Just as when we seek to boil a pot of water, but we keep turning the heat on and off, we can’t expect the water to reach a boiling point—the heat must be sustained—so too, the idea is to be tied and tethered, never letting go. The more a person is tied, the more the inner Torah will be revealed to him, each person according to his level. A person may be tied for two hours... and another person may be connected for five hours. Even when a person goes to eat, he may be thinking about mitzvos that he’s performing.... Sometimes a Yid remains in this exalted state throughout an entire Yom Tov—constantly going from learning to davening to dancing to rejoicing in Hashem.
We must contemplate a Shabbos in which we experienced heightened and sustained connection for a long period, and what it did for us. Conversely, we can’t spend our Shabbos afternoon sleeping and then expect sparks to fly at shalosh seudos.
True Pleasure
The Ribbono shel Olam placed us into a world of Olam HaZeh, and there are forces here that can drag a person to forget about the Ribbono shel Olam. For years, a person may go on completing masechtos and succeeding in other spiritual milestones—but his successes will be in quantity, not in quality and depth (i.e., increased connection to Hashem). When it comes to eating, for example, this person says, “Leave me alone with your lofty madreigos... eating is eating.” But the truth is that if a person doesn’t work on his האכילה תאוות his eating becomes an interruption in his connection to the Ribbono shel Olam.
This translates to many other areas of avodas Hashem. This person will constantly interrupt the connection—and there’s thus no way that he can attain deveikus and pnimiyus.
This work may be difficult at first, but a person must understand that all the great pleasures mentioned in sifrei kabbalah, sifrei chassidus, Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh, and so forth—all of them come to a person who works on maintaining a sustained connection across all areas of his life, and they’re infinitely greater than any conceivable material pleasure.
