Today, as we all feel the joy of him finally being liberated from the physical prison walls, it is a time, perhaps, for each of us to focus on our own liberation. Let us take the time to identify our own spiritual prisons, - the forces that are holding us back from achieving what we want and need to achieve. Just as we are all participants in the simcha and the celebration of Sholom Mordechai’s liberation, let us also be active participants by working hard to achieve our own spiritual liberation.
Diagnosing the illness is the first step towards curing it, as Chazal teach us. The first step is Rofeh Cholim; - to get our perspective and outlook straightened out. Let us become clear about what are truly our priorities, what things are really important to us and, by extension, what are the things that are in fact unimportant, or even undesirable.
Once we are clear about what our true goals and objectives are, then we can determine what spiritual faults we have that stand in the way of us reaching these goals. Those are our prisons, which we need to be freed from. We need Hashem’s help for this, but we have to also do our part, in turning to Him and requesting His help, and in making the effort, on our part, to break free.
And, a big part of His help is contained in the very celebration that we’re all experiencing now. For the biggest barrier to opening our hearts and souls to properly serve Hashem is the very nature of the world we live in. The darkness and concealment that are the very makeup and nature of the world (olam milashon helem vehester) make it very challenging for us to truly be aware and conscious of the truth of Ein Od milvado. But the Eibishter created an antidote for this:
Chazal say, Hashem thought to create the world with midas hadin, but He saw that such a world will not be sustainable, and therefore שתף עמו מדת הרחמים. The Alter Rebbe explains that the “midas hadin” is the state of concealment that defines the very nature of the world, that makes the recognition of G-dliness such a challenge. And the “midas orachamim” that the Eibishter put into the world is “hisgalus Elokus al yedei Tzaddikim ve’osos u’mofsim shebaTorah.”
In other words, the result – even the very purpose – of a miracle is to counteract the effects of the Tzimtzum, to allow us to recognize and realize that despite the tzimtzum that impacted the whole existence of the world, we can still look beyond the surface and know and acknowledge that it is all, in truth, Hashem.
So the very miracle, the event that we are all celebrating is not only our source of joy and thanksgiving, it is also our most powerful and potent tool for us to be liberated from our own spiritual jails. Because the common denominator of most imprisonments is the state of being confined in our materialistic needs and pursuits and mindsets; - being able to rise above them is, therefore, the ultimate yetzias Mitzrayim!
This then, I think, is the theme of our celebrations. It is a time for us to refocus on what we really want and need to achieve in our life. And as difficult and insurmountable the obstacles to getting there appear to be, we have to remember that Hashem is matir assurim. He empowers us to rise above our limitations and connect with Him. And every miracle, every yom depagra and every event of thanksgiving is a tool and an opportunity to elevate ourselves further, to become ever closer to reaching our goal.
Today we all listened with great excitement as R’ Sholom Mordechai recited the brocho of hagoimel. The thundering Omein reflected the fact that everyone felt as if it was their own geulah and their own hagoimel.
Chassidus and the Four Who Must Give Thanks
Chassidus explains the idea of the ארבעה שצריכים להודות. It explains that “hoda’ah” is the idea of bitul, and that experiencing an ess, a miracle exposes us to the level of Elokus, of G-dliness, that is above the world, that results in our going out of our inhibitions and our boundaries because they become annulled.
Once again, it is the experience of the ness itself that does the most to liberating all involved from the prison chains of their own human nature. But it is up to each of us to utilize this opportunity, to focus on the miracle in the right way, and enable it to elevate us as it is meant to.
This Shabbos we will celebrate the very special Yom Tov of Hei Teves, Didan Notzach. We will, once again, dance and sing and farbreng and thank Hashem for His miracles; - להודות ולהלל לשמך הגדול על ניסיך ועל נפלאותיך ועל ישועותיך! Once again we have to remember that the focus of the celebration is the impact that it has on each of us, the way the realization of Hashem’s yeshuos and contemplating them, empowers us to break free of our own internal bondage, and to experience “didan notzach” in our own lives through our nefesh hoElokis defeating our nefesh habehamis.
This was the theme of the historic sicha that the Rebbe said on the day of the celebration: The Rebbe emphasized that the didan notzach is about the victory of holiness over impurity, it is about the nitzachon, the victory, of the seforim. It needs, if so, to be recognizable in every person by an increase in his own holiness’ victory over his own internal impurity.
As we join together to celebrate and to thank Hashem for His tremendous miracles, let us be sure to channel all of the celebrations into a force that brings each of us a step closer to our own liberation. Then we can truly proclaim Didan Notzach, and that is the sure means of bringing about the complete and ultimate Didan Notzach with the hisgalus of Moshiach Tzidkeinu TUMYM!
L’chaim! May we each use out the special days appropriately, and ensure that they are reflected by a Didan Notzach within our own lives, and may the Eibishter in turn bring about immediately the complete and final Didan Notzach, the complete and ultimate matir assurim, by liberating each and every Jew and all Jews from the golus prison through the immediate revelation of Moshiach Tzidkeinu TUMYM!!!
Rabbi Akiva Wagner
