If we had a foolproof way of overcoming destructive temptations and passions, life would be much simpler and more pious for all of us.
One of the biggest challenges humans encounter is overcoming emotional urges that lead us down destructive paths. When confronted by forbidden temptation, one may become gripped by illicit feelings of affection. When wronged, we may experience an intense desire to wreak revenge. Upon encountering another’s extreme success, we may be overcome with jealousy. Indeed success itself may breed inappropriate feelings of haughtiness.
A cryptic verse in this weeks Torah portion elucidated by Kabbalist and Chassidic master Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (1740-1810) gives us a life transforming solution to this very human predicament. Regarding the Menorah (candelabra) that was to be made for the tabernacle, God tells Moses, “And you shall make a Menorah of pure gold. The Menorah shall be made of hammered work; its base and its stem, its goblets, its knobs, and its flowers shall [all] be [one piece] with it (Exodus, 25:31).” The question is obvious: Why did God want that the Menorah be made out of one piece of gold? Would it not have been simpler to make each piece separately and then weld it together into one?
The Menorah was made with seven lamps – three on each side and one in the center. The Kabbalists explain that these seven lamps correspond to the seven emotions of the 10 divine attributes. In keeping with Biblical doctrine, which states that humans were created in the image of the divine, these seven emotions appear in the human psyche as well.
These seven emotions are, Chesed (love), Gevurah (severity), Tiferet (compassion), Netzach (ambition), Hod (devotion), Yesod (intimacy), Malchut (passivity). Each of the seven lamps and branches of the Menorah represent one of the seven divine/human emotions.
The fact that God wanted all of these branches to be made from one piece of gold demonstrates that all types of emotions are potentially good. Even an emotion that is destructive can be elevated. Here some uniquely Kabbalistic thinking comes into play. The Kabbalists see the world as multi-dimensional. When the mystic sees a material object, he or she sees more than just empirical reality; the mystic also perceives the divine energy that permeates the object and allows it to exist. In fact, for the mystic, the inner divinity of the object is more evident than its superficial corporeality.
From the mystic’s holistic perspective, lust for something forbidden is not problematic because that lust is redirected away from the prohibited object itself to the divinity inherent within it. If one is overcome with hate for something or someone, by taking the mystical approach, one can transform that hate into loathing the divine concealment rather than hating the person or object itself.
Similarly with all other emotions, one can direct the urge toward the inner divine element rather than its empirical facet. The mystic achieves this emotional transformation by contemplating on the divine component of the object or person and recognizing that as its true essence.
This is why the Menorah had to be made out of one piece of gold. All emotions, both negative and positive, can be transformed into a single vehicle for reaching a consciousness of the divine imminence. Indeed once one directs an emotion toward the inner divine reality, the physical outer shell looses its importance and appeal; one no longer desires or hates the empirical reality at all – the divine reality completely takes over.
The Talmud (Tractate Menachot 29) tells us that Moses had difficulty understanding God’s description of how the Menorah should physically look to make it a reality. Because of this, God illustrated the physical image of the Menorah to Moses.
Common wisdom tells us to distance ourselves from negative urges, and on the surface, the Bible seems like a book of dos and don’ts. The idea using a “do not” as a springboard for reaching a mystical experience seemed difficult to transform into reality. Thus, God had to show Moses how it could be done in actuality. This gives us the impetus needed to live a wholesome life, where rather than shunning negative emotions, we are able to use them holistically to reach a consciousness of the divine inner reality.