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Viruses Freud & Judaism
Since the dawn of human existence the curious mind has been grappling with a basic question:
What’s the point of life?
Freud concluded that man lives for pleasure . Adler concluded that man lives for power.
What does Judaism say?
Chabad philosophy explains:
Since our soul is a part of G-d, then for what benefit does our soul descend from the comfort of heaven to be born into the challenges on earth?
The classic book of Chabad “Tanya” deals with this question at length. Tanya concludes that our soul indeed does not come down to our physical world for the benefit of our soul.
We come down to earth to help our body!
As the Zohar says: “the soul herself does not need any rectification”. Our soul came down to earth in order to purify and elevate our body. To transform the physical, from being mundane to being holy.
Some background:
The creator is the only source of life. There is no life outside of the creator. The creator chose two channels thru which the creator facilitates life.
1) The channel of “Kedusha” Holiness.
2) The channel of “Tum’ah” impurity.
Holiness is when G-d gives life and energy happily. Impurity is when G-d gives life and energy reluctantly. Holy energy needs to be earned. Impure energy is easily accessible.
Honest money needs to be earned!
A virus and parasites suck life out of healthy cells. Without it they can’t exist.
Since the virus and parasites endanger the health of the body, therefore the body mounts a counter attack in order to protect the body and it destroys the invading virus and parasites.
“Impurity” is like a virus. An invading parasite. Impurity wants "a free lunch" by sucking free life out of healthy cells. Manipulating the healthy cells to multiply and mutate. Impurity want’s to “bypass G-d and steal life from holiness”.
Holiness is like the healthy cells and antibodies who counter attack. Essentially holiness is saying: “no you cannot bypass G-d by stealing life”. If you want life then surrender to the will of G-d.
When we as human beings do a Mitzvah, a Divine good deed, it requires us to use our body to perform the Mitzvah.
From putting on Teffilin to lighting Shabbat candles, from eating Kosher to giving
hard-earned money to charity. It all requires the participation of our body.
By using our body -and the energy of our body- to perform holy good deeds, we transform our mundane body energy to holiness. Our body becomes infused with the will of G-d.
Now we have the answer to our opening question:
Judaism says that our soul wants to find meaning in life.
In order to justify the descent of our soul from heaven to earth, the human being seeks holiness and spirituality. By doing Mitzvot we draw down the pure will of G-d into our physical body.
Suddenly our body is no longer receiving it’s life and energy from the channel of impurity. No more “free lunch”. We have the power to transform our physical body to become a beautiful comfortable home for G-d.
Before creation there was nothing but G-d. Then G-d had a desire and chose to create heaven and earth and to send our soul into the physical world in order to make our world a comfortable home for G-d.
As the Rebbe told a group of collage students:
Freud dug into the human psyche and found dirt. Adler dug into the human psyche and found a will to power. Torah says that we are
G-d’s precious real estate property.
If you dig into the earth you will find precious diamonds and riches. Dig into your soul and you will discover beautiful diamonds and riches.
Interesting to note: The famous holocaust surviver Dr. Victor Frankel author of the book “Man’s search for meaning” concludes that man must have meaning in life in order to be happy.
As we approach Pesach, let us remember the timeless message of Passover:
Freedom is to choose to live in accordance with G-d’s will. The freedom to choose.
Modern secularism and Madison Avenue advertisement try to manipulate us to purchase the products of their advertisements.
Passover inspires us to proudly say: no thank you, I will proudly choose to live with 3300 years of Jewish heritage and tradition.
I am a free person. Free from outside manipulation. I am a Jew and I am proud and I will sing it out loud. Because forever a Jew I will be!
This is why one of the thirteen principles of Jewish faith is the belief in the coming of Moshiach:
Because the entire purpose of creation is to bring our world to a state where the physical and the holy become harmonized into a world of G-dly reality. With universal peace and eternal health and the wisdom and presence of the creator will be revealed!
The keys are in your hands! You have the power to make it happen!
Lchayim
Velvl
Rabbi Velvl Butman
Executive Director
Chabad Lubavitch of Westchester County
Sharing the joy and meaning of Judaism unconditionally!
Email: chabadofwestchester@gmail.com
Viruses Freud & Judaism
Since the dawn of human existence the curious mind has been grappling with a basic question:
What’s the point of life?
Freud concluded that man lives for pleasure . Adler concluded that man lives for power.
What does Judaism say?
Chabad philosophy explains:
Since our soul is a part of G-d, then for what benefit does our soul descend from the comfort of heaven to be born into the challenges on earth?
The classic book of Chabad “Tanya” deals with this question at length. Tanya concludes that our soul indeed does not come down to our physical world for the benefit of our soul.
We come down to earth to help our body!
As the Zohar says: “the soul herself does not need any rectification”. Our soul came down to earth in order to purify and elevate our body. To transform the physical, from being mundane to being holy.
Some background:
The creator is the only source of life. There is no life outside of the creator. The creator chose two channels thru which the creator facilitates life.
1) The channel of “Kedusha” Holiness.
2) The channel of “Tum’ah” impurity.
Holiness is when G-d gives life and energy happily. Impurity is when G-d gives life and energy reluctantly. Holy energy needs to be earned. Impure energy is easily accessible.
Honest money needs to be earned!
A virus and parasites suck life out of healthy cells. Without it they can’t exist.
Since the virus and parasites endanger the health of the body, therefore the body mounts a counter attack in order to protect the body and it destroys the invading virus and parasites.
“Impurity” is like a virus. An invading parasite. Impurity wants "a free lunch" by sucking free life out of healthy cells. Manipulating the healthy cells to multiply and mutate. Impurity want’s to “bypass G-d and steal life from holiness”.
Holiness is like the healthy cells and antibodies who counter attack. Essentially holiness is saying: “no you cannot bypass G-d by stealing life”. If you want life then surrender to the will of G-d.
When we as human beings do a Mitzvah, a Divine good deed, it requires us to use our body to perform the Mitzvah.
From putting on Teffilin to lighting Shabbat candles, from eating Kosher to giving
hard-earned money to charity. It all requires the participation of our body.
By using our body -and the energy of our body- to perform holy good deeds, we transform our mundane body energy to holiness. Our body becomes infused with the will of G-d.
Now we have the answer to our opening question:
Judaism says that our soul wants to find meaning in life.
In order to justify the descent of our soul from heaven to earth, the human being seeks holiness and spirituality. By doing Mitzvot we draw down the pure will of G-d into our physical body.
Suddenly our body is no longer receiving it’s life and energy from the channel of impurity. No more “free lunch”. We have the power to transform our physical body to become a beautiful comfortable home for G-d.
Before creation there was nothing but G-d. Then G-d had a desire and chose to create heaven and earth and to send our soul into the physical world in order to make our world a comfortable home for G-d.
As the Rebbe told a group of collage students:
Freud dug into the human psyche and found dirt. Adler dug into the human psyche and found a will to power. Torah says that we are
G-d’s precious real estate property.
If you dig into the earth you will find precious diamonds and riches. Dig into your soul and you will discover beautiful diamonds and riches.
Interesting to note: The famous holocaust surviver Dr. Victor Frankel author of the book “Man’s search for meaning” concludes that man must have meaning in life in order to be happy.
As we approach Pesach, let us remember the timeless message of Passover:
Freedom is to choose to live in accordance with G-d’s will. The freedom to choose.
Modern secularism and Madison Avenue advertisement try to manipulate us to purchase the products of their advertisements.
Passover inspires us to proudly say: no thank you, I will proudly choose to live with 3300 years of Jewish heritage and tradition.
I am a free person. Free from outside manipulation. I am a Jew and I am proud and I will sing it out loud. Because forever a Jew I will be!
This is why one of the thirteen principles of Jewish faith is the belief in the coming of Moshiach:
Because the entire purpose of creation is to bring our world to a state where the physical and the holy become harmonized into a world of G-dly reality. With universal peace and eternal health and the wisdom and presence of the creator will be revealed!
The keys are in your hands! You have the power to make it happen!
Lchayim
Velvl
Rabbi Velvl Butman
Executive Director
Chabad Lubavitch of Westchester County
Sharing the joy and meaning of Judaism unconditionally!
Email: chabadofwestchester@gmail.com