Nine years ago, when the Chomesh Yeshivah was struggling to survive day by day, HaRav Ginsburgh gave a class on Likkutei Moharan in preparation for Rosh HaShanah. One of the messages from this class is universal and relevant every day of the year and provides a surprising (though not so surprising for those familiar with the Rav’s thinking) angle on the pursuit of spirituality. The following is an excerpt from the class as it appeared in this year’s Rosh HaShanah edition of Nifla’ot.
In Likkutei Moharan we find three full teachings on the verse, “Blow the shofar on the [first of the] month” (רָפֹוׁ שׁשֶדֹחַּ בּעוְקִּת), each focusing on another aspect which in short can be stated as: dominion (הָלָׁשְמֶמ), faith (הָנּמוֱא), and rebuke (הָחֵכֹוּת). Let us focus on the first of these teachings. Rebbe Nachman taught:
“Blow the shofar on the [first of the] month, at the time appointed for our festive day.”
The Jew is created to have dominion over the angels. This is Israel’s ultimate purpose and destiny, as the sages, of blessed memory, taught: The section of the righteous is destined to be inward of that of the ministering angels, as it is written, “at that time it will be said to Yaakov and to Israel, ‘What has God wrought?’” When the angels will want to know what God has wrought, they will need to inquire of Israel.
Every [Jew] must seek to achieve this ultimate purpose: having dominion over angels. Yet he has to guard himself carefully and see that he has the ability to maintain this dominion without being cast down, God forbid, through the angels’ envy. This is because the angels are extremely jealous of such a person who has dominion over them. Thus we find that the sages, of blessed memory, taught regarding a number of eminent individuals: “the ministering angels sought to push him away.”
To explain what he means by having dominion, Rebbe Nachman continued:
Nevertheless, a person must be very careful not to assume a position of authority. By attaining fear [of Heaven] one acquires a strong desire to influence others, because “anyone who fears Heaven, his words are heeded.” And because his words are heeded, he longs to be in a position of influence. But he must be very careful not to assume such a position, because being in a position of authority snuffs out the prophetic inspiration, namely, the angel created through fear [of Heaven].
This is what Joshua said to Moses, when [Moses] was told “Eldad and Meidad are prophesying in the camp.” [Joshua said,] “My master, Moshe, k l a’a i m [destroy them]!” Rashi interprets Joshua’s statement as: “burden them with community responsibility and they will perish [of their own accord].” This is because community responsibility, i.e., a position of authority [dominion], erodes and snuffs out the flow of prophecy. Thus rearranging the letters of “angel” (ְךָאְלַמ), making it into “destroy them” (םֵאָלְּכ).
You see, people have a craving for authority, they want to be appointed a Rosh Yeshivah, to be the head of a committee and Rebbe Nachman tells them, flee from this; exchange your craving for authority over other people with dominion over angels. If there are a group of angels present, its fine to have authority over them, but do not do the same with people.
Dominion Over Nature (Modern Science)
How can we understand this concept of dominion over angels today? To our modern ear, this sounds esoteric. Angels are spiritual beings. My first intuition would have been to say that angels represent the laws of nature. God created nature so that it would behave according to set laws, represented usually by the angels. So, to have dominion over angels is equivalent to seeking to control nature through its laws. Scientists today have this craving in a negative sense. That is what man has been trying to do since he was created through science, through technology. But history has shown us that this does not necessarily lead to good things; this type of dominion has yet to lead us to Redemption, the ge’ulah.
Dominion Over Spirituality
Therefore, we will interpret the angels here not as representing the laws of nature per se, but rather the spiritual side of reality. They are the spiritual forces. Even in a human being there is what we call the Divine side (my Divine soul), my physical side (my body), and in between, there is the spiritual. Some travel to India to seek spirituality. The Chabad shluchim that work there call it “seeking angels.” People travel to India seeking spiritual experiences.
An important principle is that when you crave something, you are placed under its dominion and you end up submitting and becoming dependent on it in a negative way. This principle is learnt from the words, “And to your husband, your craving.” This was the way in which God punished Eve. Since you will crave your husband, you will find yourself submitting to him. In truth, to have dominion over the angles means transcending the need for spiritual experiences referred to in the verse, “the fool does not desire understanding, but rather to reveal his heart.” In Chabad literature, this verse is explained to mean that a person should not seek to reveal his heart, i.e., to feel his heart because of a spiritual experience.
I would normally think that spirituality is positive, but the Ba’al Shem Tov taught that this is not the final goal. First, because there is no difference between the corporeal and the spiritual—they are one and the same relative to Godliness. God is not more spiritual than He is corporeal. A Jew needs to recognize that he or she has a “part of God above,” which allows them to identify with Godliness—this is not something spiritual and it is not something corporeal. Moreover, as Rebbe Nachman is teaching here, a Jew should seek to transcend and have dominion over the spiritual.
