Every Situation Is a Step of a Larger Process
So far, we have spoken about one side of the coin – the serenity you can have in your current situation. The other side of the coin, we mentioned, is to be aware that every situation you are in is but a step in a process. There is always another step afterwards to reach.
Example: Contemplating the Third Beis HaMikdash
For example, in the days of mourning we are in, where we mourn the Beis HaMikdash, you can reflect about the following. In the times of the second Beis HaMikdash, when the Beis HaMikdash was rebuilt from its ruins, can we say that they were totally serene in that situation, just because they got back the Beis HaMikdash again? The Sages said that their happiness wasn’t complete, because five things were missing since the first Beis HaMikdash. There was still a lot left to be desired.
Even by the first Beis HaMikdash, which was built by Shlomo HaMelech, who was called the “ish menuchah” (man of serenity), it wasn’t like the third Beis HaMikdash, which will descend from a fire in Heaven and which will never be destroyed. Therefore, both the first and second Beis HaMikdash were each a step of a greater process, and they were each an incomplete situation.
And in fact, even the third Beis HaMikdash, which Chazal guarantee will never be destroyed, is also but a step of a larger process, so it will not be a completed situation. During these days of mourning, when we pray for the rebuilding of the Beis HaMikdash, we should realize that the third Beis HaMikdash is just another step in the process. The Sages said that the world will last for 6000 years and then destroyed for the next thousand years. So even the third Beis HaMikdash will not be here forever! Chazal said that it will not be destroyed, but this means that it cannot be destroyed due to any sins of the Jewish people; but Hashem will destroy the world after 6000 years, so the third Beis HaMikdash will be included in this as well. The entire Creation will be destroyed [and Hashem will renew the Creation]; we will go from “And they journeyed” to “And they camped.” So even the third Beis HaMikdash is not the final state – it is but a step of a larger process.
Thus, when our souls yearn and hope for the redemption, it should not be entirely about the building of third Beis HaMikdash. If that is a person’s entire yearning for the future, it is a form of katnus (small-mindedness).
Taking this further, the Ramchal (in sefer Daas Tevunos) explains that after This World ceases at the end of the sixth millennium, there will then be a seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth millennium, which will be the situation of the World To Come. So even the World To Come is not the end goal. Also, the Gemara says that Torah scholars do not have any serenity, not on this world and not on the next world.
So even in the World To Come, they have no serenity. Whatever stage a person is at, there can never be complete serenity, because there is always another stage to rise to after that – whether a person is in This World, or in the next world.
When a person is content in his current situation, he enjoys it there, and he won’t want to leave it. This is true both about physical pleasure as well as spiritual pleasure. When a person has deep, spiritual pleasure and serenity in his situation, he will not want to leave it.
This is the deep reason of why there is sadness of the soul on Motzei Shabbos, when it is sad that Shabbos has gone. When the soul enjoyed the serenity of Shabbos, it finds such pleasure there that it doesn’t want to leave it. Yet, there is an even deeper level than this: a person can understand on Motzei Shabbos that the past Shabbos was but a step that leads to the next Shabbos. [When that is the perspective, his soul will find true solace on Motzei Shabbos].
No Situation Is Forever
If a person has serenity in his situation, he wants to remain there, and even if he also has aspirations to rise above it and go to a higher level, deep down, he still wants to remain there, because he is enjoying it so much. But a person must understand that he can never remain forever connected to any given situation, even a spiritual one.
For example, on Succos, there are seven days of sitting in the succah, and after that, we leave the succah. If a person sits in the succah for another day, he transgresses the sin of bal tosif (“do not add”).
Whether on this world or on the next world, a person must have the attitude of “I am a stranger to this land”. Not only must we feel like a stranger towards This World, but even when it comes to the spiritual, we must also recognize that we are ultimately a “stranger” that dwells in it temporarily. Therefore, we need to understand that someday, we will take leave of it all, where we will go to the next “step” of the process.
There is the Creator, and there are His creations. If a person cannot part from a certain situation because he is serene there, it is like bal tosif, because at a certain point, one must be able to take leave of the situation and go to the next one – even in the spiritual realm [thus enabling one to achieve integration with the Creator].
The Only Lasting Connection – To Hashem, Torah, and the Souls of the Jewish People
If a person is not connected to any one situation, what is he is connected to, then? He can only be connected to Hashem, His Torah, and the souls of the Jewish people. There is no other “situation” to be forever connected to. One cannot remain forever with his spouse, or his children, or his various acquisitions. In order for a person to be fully connected to Hashem, Torah, and the souls of the Jewish people, he cannot remain forever in any one situation – whether in this world, or in the next world. A person must not become dependent on any given place or time.
The more that a person is someiach b’chelko (happy with his current situation), together with a connection to Hashem, Torah, and the souls of the Jewish people – recognizing well that each situation we are in is always a step in the process, leading us to another step – this enables a person to feel “I am a stranger in the land”, both in this world and in the next.
Of course, if a person has a misunderstanding about this concept, he will only become melancholy when he hears of these concepts, feeling that the future of his existence is uncertain and hanging in the balance, like the beinonim whose fate hangs in the balance in the ten days between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. But if a person has absorbed this concept well, he has come to recognize the depth behind the ultimate purpose of creation.
In Conclusion
In these days of mourning, on one hand, one needs to hope and pray that the third Beis HaMikdash be rebuilt, speedily in our days; and, along with this, in the depths of the soul, one needs to await the greater purpose of it all, which is the revelation of Hashem that will come to the world, which will be experienced in the heart of each individual.
