THE PATH OF THE KING
Dear Family,
I hope everyone is well, had a wonderful Pesach and safe journeys back home.
Mazal Tov to Batsheva on her birthday next week. Wishing you lots o f success in NY this year with much happiness Batsheva. Mazal Tov to Brian who has a birthday on Shabbos. Wishing you a happy and healthy year Brian with much achievement. Mazal Tov to Aaron who also has a birthday next week. Wishing you much success Aaron Mazal Tov to Chava who passed her driving test today BH.
The Frierdike Rebbe once gave an analogy of a person who finds himself wandering through a forest and is surrounded by dangerous animals. He said that this does not mean that the person just walked out of his home straight into the middle of the forest. Rather it means that he was walking along the path in the forest ('THE PATH OF THE KING - HASHEM'), and then he deviated from it very slightly. Following that slight deviation, he made another slight deviation, and so on, until he realised that he was nowhere near the path. Instead he was now in the middle of the forest among dangerous animals!
In a sicha from the Rebbe on Parshas Shemini (this weeks sedra), The Rebbe explains how the signs of a kosher animal relate to us, and can help us in our own service.
The 2 signs which Torah tells us regarding a pure animal are:
1. They have fully split hooves
2. They chew the cud.
The Ramban explains to us that the reason Torah allows us to eat certain foods and others not, is because the food becomes our own flesh and blood. Torah forbids those foods which have negative energies and permits those which have positive energies.
It therefore follows that the above 2 signs reflect positive energies, and because everything mentioned in Torah contains a lesson for ourselves, how do we therefore cultivate these aspects of purity within ourselves?
These signs would be relevant to our *animal* or physical natures rather than to our G-dly side.
*Feet*
Feet touch the ground.
This indicates that our lowest powers ie power of action, should be used for physical earthly matters. *The Head* The head of the 'animal' is above the ground and corresponds to our higher abilities such as emotions and intellect, which should be reserved for holy pursuits. *Hooves.* Furthermore a person should have a 'hoof' to separate even the lowest part of his animal soul from the earth ie not to become too stuck into the material world. And this hoof must be *split* so as to allow G-dliness *through* into his mundane activities (eg when we eat it should be for the sake of our bodies and in a holy way) *Chewing the Cud.* Having a split hoof however is not enough to make our 'animal' pure. We also need the second sign of 'chewing the cud'. This means that whenever we engage in a phsical activity, we must first examine it thoroughly. We must clarify over and over again whether this physical activity should be done and how it should be done. Only then will our activity be a pure one.
Wishing everyone a good and tasty Shabbos!