In the Torah portion of Seitzei we learn:
"If you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof; you will not place blood in your house if one falls from it." This applies not only to building physical structures, but to the erection of spiritual edifices as well:
There are many steps to erecting a structure, beginning with the initial stage of drawing the blueprints, continuing through actually building of the structure, until finally the building with all its many varied details and components is truly completed.
Having completed the house and having lived there for a time, it is distinctly possible that the person may eventually decide to build himself an even bigger and better new dwelling.
In the spiritual sense, "building a new house" refers to an individual who has already achieved a modicum of spiritual completion -- he has in the past fully erected a personal spiritual edifice. Having done so, he is now ready to go on to "bigger and better" spiritual degrees and levels, building ever newer and greater spiritual dwelling.
Having gone through the trials and tribulations necessary for erecting his first spiritual home, the person may well think to himself that he need not fear future spiritual impediments and stumbling blocks on the way to his new spiritual abode.
In other words, unlike his previous dwelling, his "new home" doesn't need the protection from a "fall" that a parapet offers. After all, thinks the person to himself, hasn't he already overcome everything there was to overcome during the time he built his first house?
The Torah therefore tells us that when one builds a "new" home he must build it with a parapet. That is to say, when an individual embarks on a new and higher level of service, he is once again subject to the various challenges and difficulties -- albeit on a higher plane -- that he was subject to when he erected his first spiritual abode. He must therefore erect a "parapet," a protective barrier, which will prevent a spiritual fall.
If a "parapet" is necessary even when a person embarks on a higher level of spiritual service, how much more so when his "new" manner of service involves a descent within the physical world. In this instance, it is obvious that the trials and tribulations the person is about to face are so much greater, and additional measures of spiritual protection are a must.
The above is particularly true, when one leaves the spiritual confines of the Beis HaKenesses and Beis HaMidrash, the Houses of Prayer and Study, and is about to build a new edifice through one's service within the physical world. Such an edifice must be built with a spiritual "parapet" so that the person does not "fall."
But what exactly is this spiritual parapet composed of? A roof-parapet is not only higher than the actual house, it is even higher than the roof.
Spiritually as well, for the "parapet" to prevent any untoward spiritual occurrences, it is necessary for the parapet to emanate from an even higher level than one's actual service, higher even than one's spiritual "roof."
This will be better understood in light of the directive of the Previous Rebbe with regard to Rosh HaShanah: On Rosh HaShanah one should resolve to take upon oneself an additional hiddur, an additional "adornment" with regard to fulfilling a positive command. Also, one should take upon oneself an additional stringency with regard to the fulfillment of a negative command, as well as an added "good practice," hanhagah tovah.
For as the Alter Rebbe explains, every Rosh HaShanah a new divine light, greater than ever before, is drawn down for the first time into the world -- a new spiritual edifice is to be built during the new year.
Since on Rosh HaShanah one embarks on building a "newer and better" edifice for the coming year, an accompanying new "parapet" composed of an additional "adornment," stringency and "good practice," is necessary as well.
The concept of a new "parapet" applies equally to when one begins any new form of service. Thus, whether it is leaving one's life as a yeshivah student and entering the working world, or whether it is the daily entrance into the world of commerce following one's morning prayers and Torah study, a "parapet" must be built.
This is accomplished by measurably enhancing one's level of spirituality and practice whenever one commences the construction of a newer and better spiritual abode.
Based on Likkutei Sichos, Vol. II, pp. 384-386.
