CHASSIDIC PEARLS BY RABBI LAZER BRODY PARSHAS NASO
"Your midsection distended" (Bamidbar 5:22).
From the above passage, we learn Hashem's policy of measure-for-measure: A faithful wife's midsection is intended to expand while taking part in the wonderful mitzvah of bearing children. Alternately, if a woman is unfaithful, her midsection also swells and distends, but leads to her imminent death.
Our passage at hand conveys an additional eye-opening moral: The same exact limb or action can be used either way – to perform a mitzvah or to commit a sin. Hashem gives us the option to utilize not only every part of our bodies, but each of our possessions, as we see fit; this is the foundation of free choice. Without free choice, the framework of reward and punishment makes no sense.
Rebbe Nachman of Breslev elaborates on the principle of using one's powers for the good. In Likutei Moharan II:23, he writes, "Sometimes when people dance and rejoice, they grab a person from the outside – that he's sad and depressed – and they force him into the circle of dancers, and force him to rejoice with them."
Rebbe Nachman continues to explain two important ploys in overcoming sadness or depression (neither of which includes pills or doctors): On a basic level, a sad person can chase away sadness by resorting immediately to doing something that makes him or her happy. For example, if a person feels melancholy, he or she should run to their stereo or disc-man and play their favorite music! Sadness and bitterness run away at the first sign of happiness, says Rebbe Nachman.
On a higher level, a person can seize the power of sadness and depression, and bring it directly into the joy; as such, the power of the negative emotion becomes a positive emotion in itself. Rather than chasing the sadness away, says Rebbe Nachman, we should run after it and harness its power for the good.
Maybe at this point you're asking, "How can this be? How can one chase a negative emotion and harness its power for the good?"
"Your midsection distended" (Bamidbar 5:22).
From the above passage, we learn Hashem's policy of measure-for-measure: A faithful wife's midsection is intended to expand while taking part in the wonderful mitzvah of bearing children. Alternately, if a woman is unfaithful, her midsection also swells and distends, but leads to her imminent death.
Our passage at hand conveys an additional eye-opening moral: The same exact limb or action can be used either way – to perform a mitzvah or to commit a sin. Hashem gives us the option to utilize not only every part of our bodies, but each of our possessions, as we see fit; this is the foundation of free choice. Without free choice, the framework of reward and punishment makes no sense.
Rebbe Nachman of Breslev elaborates on the principle of using one's powers for the good. In Likutei Moharan II:23, he writes, "Sometimes when people dance and rejoice, they grab a person from the outside – that he's sad and depressed – and they force him into the circle of dancers, and force him to rejoice with them."
Rebbe Nachman continues to explain two important ploys in overcoming sadness or depression (neither of which includes pills or doctors): On a basic level, a sad person can chase away sadness by resorting immediately to doing something that makes him or her happy. For example, if a person feels melancholy, he or she should run to their stereo or disc-man and play their favorite music! Sadness and bitterness run away at the first sign of happiness, says Rebbe Nachman.
On a higher level, a person can seize the power of sadness and depression, and bring it directly into the joy; as such, the power of the negative emotion becomes a positive emotion in itself. Rather than chasing the sadness away, says Rebbe Nachman, we should run after it and harness its power for the good.
Maybe at this point you're asking, "How can this be? How can one chase a negative emotion and harness its power for the good?"
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