| "You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying… whoever touches the mountain shall surely die." (Yitro 19:12) What a frightening warning—anyone who comes too close will die! What's the problem? All I want is to draw closer to HaShem, to come nearer to holiness. Why must there be limits? Reb Noson explains that this is where the greatest danger lies for a person. One can feel as though he is rising higher and higher, drawing ever closer to HaShem—almost as if HaShem is already right there with him—and he imagines that he now fully understands what HaShem wants from him. This is called "Ribui Ohr"—an excess of light. It appears as though one is serving HaShem, but in truth he is serving himself. In such a state, a person must know that no matter how close he feels, he is still very, very far, and has not yet truly begun to grasp HaShem at all. On the other hand, there is another form of Ribui Ohr. Sometimes the yetzer hara explains, very convincingly and rationally, how great HaShem is—wow, what overwhelming light! But after a person stumbles, the same voice tells him how small and insignificant he is, that because of the Creator's greatness and his own sins, there is no chance he could ever come close to Him. At the depth of this idea lies complete despair. At that moment, a person must remember: HaShem is infinitely great—and precisely because of that, He wants us, exactly as we are. Despite our falls, He wants us to strengthen ourselves and do whatever we are able to do. And He rejoices in every single effort we make to get back up. This is the Torah we received at Mount Sinai—not a new "Torah" whispered by the yetzer hara, which tells us either how hopelessly far we are and that there is no hope, or, on the other side, how careful we must be not to rush beyond our true capacities. May HaShem grant us merit. Shabbat Shalom. |
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