The Delight of the Shechinah's Glow
Only a tzaddik who has shed every trace of physical craving can truly taste the glow of the Shechinah.
A teaching ofRav Yekusiel Yehuda Halberstamהרב יקותיאל יהודה בן צבי הירש הלברשטאםProfile ›
One week, in his Chumash and Rashi shiur, the Rebbe took up the phrase about taking delight in the radiance of the Shechinah and asked how far most of us are from understanding it. A person whose pleasure comes from food and drink, he said, cannot feel what these words mean at all. This delight belongs only to the holy tzaddikim, who have shed every trace of physical craving and cut their ties to this world. As an example he pointed to the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh. When that sage wrote about clinging to Hashem, he piled one image upon another in the language of love, longing and devotion, and a reader who studies his words can sense that his soul was leaving him as he wrote.
Source: Shefa Chaim, Chumash Rashi 5742, Terumah, p. 234
Today, notice one moment when your body is satisfied, at a meal or at rest, and ask yourself whether your soul is satisfied too. Then give it something to enjoy. Stay a minute longer at a berachah, learn a few lines of Chumash with Rashi, or sit quietly and think of how much Hashem loves His people. The Rebbe teaches that a person can learn to want that closeness more than any physical pleasure, and it begins with a small taste.