The Trial That Refines

As noted earlier, everything in the world contains a Divine spark—the point of holiness from which it receives existence and life. The task of the Jew is to refine and elevate that spark.

Here is where the difference in spiritual service appears:

Sparks that fell into Klipat Nogah are elevated through use—through engaging with the world in a holy way.

Sparks that fell into the three impure klipot can be elevated only through rejection—by refusing what the Torah forbids.

Let us explain:

The saintly Rashash (Rabbi Shalom Sharabi), of blessed memory, explains (Nahar Shalom, 20b) that with every mitzvah, every act of worship, and every blessing, a person draws down a flow from the most exalted heights, and thereby refines and elevates aspects of the 288 fallen sparks.

In other words: when a Jew takes physical objects and uses them to perform mitzvot, or when he recites blessings, he is redeeming the Divine sparks hidden within those objects and raising them back to their spiritual source.16

But what, then, is to be done with the Divine sparks embedded in things the Torah forbids—such as a pig, shatnez, yayin nesech, or illicit sights?

These objects clearly exist; therefore, they too must contain Divine sparks. And in fact, as we explained earlier—the higher the source, the lower the fall—the sparks hidden in forbidden things are rooted even higher than those found in permitted things.

However, those sparks cannot be elevated through positive engagement. They can be elevated only negatively—through resistance. When a Jew encounters something the Torah forbids, his task is to turn away from it and keep it outside his boundaries.

Only in the future, when G-d removes the spirit of impurity from the world, will those sparks be redeemed and fully restored to their source.

The holy Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch, of blessed memory, adds (Derech Mitzvotecha, p. 190a):

Even today, it is possible to refine sparks from the three impure klipot in a positive way—namely, by withstanding trials.

When a person faces a test, the Divine light is hidden from him—almost completely. In the moment of trial, the spark of G-dliness is concealed deep within the three impure klipot. But when a person withstands the test, he breaks through the concealment, shatters the barriers, and from within them the loftiest and most exalted sparks ascend and are refined.

Through this, a heightened light begins to shine within the person’s soul—beyond the original level of his own soul. For that spark, rooted in the world of Tohu, is higher than the human soul, which comes from the realm of Tikkun.

This is the meaning of the verse: “For the L-rd your G-d is testing you—to know” (Deuteronomy 13:4):

By withstanding a trial, a person attains a knowledge—an inner clarity—that he did not possess before. The test, though it feels like a terrible hiding of the Divine Face, contains within it a spark of immense holiness. The person’s task is to endure the test, tear away all the layers of concealment, and draw that hidden vitality from darkness into light—a revelation that then shines within his own soul.

Now we can return to the question posed at the beginning of the discourse:

Why was it only after Rabbi Yehoshua withstood the trial that the Holy One, blessed be He, smiled and declared: “My children have defeated Me, My children have defeated Me”?

The answer is now clear:

Within that test—within that profound concealment—there lay a Divine spark of immeasurable loftiness. When Rabbi Yehoshua successfully endured it and held steadfast to Torah’s principles, not being swayed by wonders and supernatural forces, he broke the klipah, shattered the barrier of nature, and released from within it a new, higher kind of knowledge—one that revealed a power of eternity within the souls of those who study Torah.

16 Likewise, one refines sparks through Torah study and prayer, as explained at length in Tanya (Kuntres Acharon).