When a person falls from their spiritual level, the external, but true, perspective and reaction to this disappointing situation is to find a way to pull oneself out of the descent, and to return to their previous level. Also, one should ponder: What happened that caused this fall, and what can I do to avoid future, spiritual descents?
There is also a fascinating internal perspective to “falls”. The holy sefarim tell us that one didn’t fall, at all. One climbed to a higher level! (There is an allusion to this concept in the second chapter of Makos, 7b). It is called yeridah l’tzorach aliyah, one fell, in order to reach a higher level.
The holy sefarim explain in various ways how this can be, often with kabalistic explanations, but it can also be explained rationally. The person who fell from their level will seek to become even better than before, to make up for their error and descent, and to prevent it from occurring in the future.
For example, a person’s spiritual descent was that they began developing a trend of anger. To improve their ways, one studies a sefer on anger control. One now is better than before. Therefore, in retrospect, the fall can be viewed as an ascent. It led to improvement. There are endless other examples of how one can utilize the fall to do more and better things than before.
One deserves the title “Ben Aliyah”, because one is always growing higher, from every situation.
Practical Application
After a spiritual descent, one should strive to return to one’s previous level, where one was before the fall. In addition, one should ask themself, “How can I use this “fall” to become even better than before?”
”He called for Yosef, and they rushed him out of the dungeon...” (Bereishis 41:14)
Descent for Ascent
The external perception on descents is a truthful perception. There is disappointment for the decline, and to ponder and to investigate the reason he fell. Then, to rectify the outcome, which is the fall, and to rectify the origin, which caused the fall.
In addition, there is an internal perception, which parallels the external one. This is because with every fall, there is a way to look at it as a stage for going higher. As our Rabbis say, “yeridah l’tzorach aliyah”, the descent is for the purpose of ascent. Halachah also calls it aliyah, ascent (see second chapter of Makos, 7b). When a person considers the descent as a step towards growth, then the yeridah, the descent, itself, is essentially an aliyah, an ascent. He is called “Ben Aliyah”, because he perceives every situation as growth. Obviously, mostly the ascents are growth, however, even the descents.
In Practice: Every time a person falls from his level, he must amend it. In addition, he must search and seek how this descent can result in an ascent.
