There is a Possuk that states: מַיִם רַבִים לֹא יוּכְלוּ לְכַבוֹת אֶת הָאַהֲבָה וּנְהָרוֹת לֹא יִשְׁטְׁפוּהָ – ‘Mayim Rabim’ - Many waters cannot quench the love, nor can rivers flood it. The Alter Rebbe explains in Torah Ohr of our Parsha (The Possuk: Shir HaShirim (8:7) מַיִם רַבִים לֹא יוּכְלוּ לְכַבוֹת אֶת הָאַהֲבָה וּנְהָרוֹת לֹא יִשְׁטְפוּהָ אִם יִתֵּן אִישׁ אֶת כָל הוֹן בֵּיתוֹ בָאַהֲבָה בוֹז יָבוּזוּ לוֹ “Many waters cannot quench the love, nor can rivers flood it; should a man give all the equity of his house for love, they would despise him”) in other words the love of the B’nei Yisroel for HaKodosh Boruch Hu is comparable to a great strong fire that even many waters cannot extinguish it and even rivers cannot flood it out and put it out. On another level with a deeper understanding the Maamor will explain that these waters are associated with the waters of Noach and therefore this Possuk is associated with this week’s Parsha.
Chassidishe Parsha) that the ‘Mayim Rabim’ refer to the hassles of earning a living and the thoughts regarding worldly things. With all of these disturbances they cannot extinguish the love, which refers to the hidden love that every single Jew naturally has for HaShem deep within his heart.
Mayim Rabim: Many waters. Analogous to the many hassles a person has in pursuing a livelihood. As well as to the flood of thoughts a person has that are not about HaShem and are therefore disturbances to his personal Divine service of HaShem.
Thoughts of worldly things: which bother him, tire him out and make his life difficult and disturb him from his Avodas HaShem.
Disturbances: That come between a person and his focus on HaShem and His commandments. Although they are many.
Hidden love: Usually this love is concealed within a person’s heart. This is different to the love that is developed through contemplation and meditation on HaShem’s greatness and kindness.
(Similarly, the love that the Neshomoh has for HaShem also remains intact in spite of the external distractions) The above mentioned ‘Mayim Rabim’ also cannot extinguish the heart from being in a continuous state of love for HaShem. To the contrary, as a result of the above-mentioned ‘Mayim Rabim’ an addition is gained in one’s Avodah which is why it is referred to as the ‘waters of Noach’ from the word in Aramaic נַיְׁח אָ דְׁרוּח א meaning pleasure since they cause an added virtue.
As in the well-known parable (explained elsewhere in Chassidus) of flowing water. That when the water flow gets blocked it will eventually accumulate behind the dam and then not only does the water break through the blockage but because of the blockage the water flow builds up a tremendous force that the blockage itself flows away together with the water and adds to the force of the water flow.
Similarly, the concealment and blockage of the above-mentioned ‘Mayim Rabim’ which generally refers to the animal soul and specifically to the hassles of earning a livelihood that specifically because of these obstacles the Neshomoh is thus able to attain the love at the level of בְכָל מְאֹדֶךָ.
The way to achieve this (That not only the ‘Mayim Rabim’ will not extinguish the love but that on the contrary it shall arouse a deeper more meaningful love) is by doing as the words of the Possuk בֹא אֶל הַתֵּבָה “Come into the Ark”. (As the Baal Shem Tov says) the word תֵּבָה which we have translated as ark also translates as ‘word’ so come into the ‘word’ means ‘enter into the words of prayer’ since prayer arouses one’s love.
As it is explained at length in the Rebbe RaShaB’s ‘Kuntres Ho’avodah’ that the primary focus of Avodah is love as the Zohar says ‘there is no Avodah like the Avodah of love’. (This means that fear of HaShem is not specifically related to prayer being that one needs to fear HaShem all day (and indeed one can fear HaShem all day) whereas the Avodah of prayer is to arouse love).
