Serenity – Through Happiness with Your Share, and Feeling Hashem’s Presence
To have a clearer understanding of this, to have serenity (menuchah) in your current situation includes two parts to it.
The first part of it is to be someiach b’chelko, “happy with one’s share”. Being happy with your share doesn’t just mean to be happy with whatever you have accomplished so far (which is also true), but even more so, to be happy with your current situation.
The second part of it, which is deeper, is that after a person has merited to penetrate into his soul and to reveal more of his neshamah, he merits “In any place in which My Name is mentioned, I will come to you” – that wherever a person is, at any level he is at, he merits the revelation of Hashem’s Presence with him. From there, he derives the deep, complete level of serenity.
When a person only has a superficial perspective, this is far from him. He will think of the revelation of Hashem’s Presence as something that is far away from him, something which comes only at the end of all the levels. But if the light of truth has become opened in his soul, in the depths of his neshamah, he will be able to recognize that Hashem is really found with a person in every situation.
Of course, the degree of this revelation and how much a person will feel Hashem’s presence will depend on the level of a person’s soul, so it will be experienced on a different level with each person. But in any case, a person can reveal Hashem’s presence in his situation, no matter what level he is at.
Hashem doesn’t only become revealed to the “perfected man” that the Ramchal describes in Mesillas Yesharim, which comes all the way at the end of the ladder of growth. Hashem can be revealed to a person at any level he is at, and the higher of a level a person reaches, the more clarity of His Presence there will be. But His Presence can always be felt, on some level.
There are 36 tzaddikim in every generation who merit “revelation of the Shechinah”, but the sefarim hakedoshim explain that there are many levels of “revelation of Shechinah”, so it is not experienced on the same level by each person. But at any level a person is at, there can be a degree of “revelation of Shechinah” – of feeling Hashem’s Presence.
When this awareness becomes revealed in the soul, a person becomes serene. This is the serenity we mention in the Shabbos Minchah prayer, כי מאתך היא מנוחתם – “For from You, comes their serenity.” It is a serenity that comes from Hashem, so to speak. The more a person recognizes Hashem’s Presence in his situation, the more menuchah\serenity he will have, in turn.
This is also the secret behind Shabbos Kodesh, and specifically, the menuchah of Shabbos – it is because on Shabbos, Hashem’s Presence is more revealed. A person derives the true, deepest menuchah (serenity) comes from this higher source. Hashem Himself is the absolute menuchah, so to speak.
In Summary
Thus, menuchah (serenity, namely in your current situation) contains two parts:
- Someiach B’Chelko - When one is “happy with his share” – not just to be happy with what you have reached until now, but namely, to be happy with what you’re dealing with now, for that is where your effort is, that is where your share is, and that is where you will be happy and serene.
- Through meriting a revelation of the light of the neshamah, a person reaches greater recognition of the Creator, and then in any situation where he is in, he feels how Hashem is near him and with him. The greater one feels His Presence, the more serenity he will derive from it.
