IS YOUR HEART AFLAME?

Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, former chief rabbi of Israel, related when he met the Rebbe shortly after the Yom Kippur war. The Rebbe asked what Jews in Israel were asking. Rabbi Lau replied they were asking, “What will be?” The Rebbe said, “A Jew doesn’t ask, ‘what will be,’ a Jew asks, ‘what must we do?’”

We are surrounded by evil; every so often, it rears its ugly head as it did on the October 7 massacre. Pure evil raped Jewish mothers, burned Jewish babies alive, mutilated their fathers, and beheaded their neighbors. Pure evil burned loving couples clinging to each other, to a crisp.

Our mandate is to fight evil. Never to surrender, never to succumb. To keep the flame of righteousness burning in our hearts even when we see no light. Even when we are surrounded by utter darkness.

"The fire on the altar shall remain aflame on it… A constant fire shall burn upon the Altar; it shall never go out.”

With these words the Torah describes, in this week’s Torah portion Tzav, the instruction to continuously maintain a flame on the altar which stood in the Tabernacle, and then later in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

Each mitzvah (commandment) in the Torah contained, in addition to its concrete and simple meaning, many symbolisms relating to the inner psyche of the human being. This mitzvah is no exception, and it captures a simple but profound truth about our daily patterns.

The altar, in the writings of Jewish mysticism, is symbolic of the human heart, the space in each of us most capable of sacrifice. The heart however needs a continuous fire burning in it. For the human heart to live deeply and feel empathy and experience the depth of love, it needs to be on fire, passionate, aflame.

But how? Sometimes our hearts and souls are inspired and aflame, but often we feel numb and apathetic. Sometimes we get cynical and detached. How do we maintain the flame and the inspiration in our inner altar?

There is only one way: “The Priest shall kindle wood upon its morning after morning.” We must place “wood” on our altar every morning to feed its potential flame. Fire cannot exist in a vacuum; the fire in our hearts and souls, too, requires “wood” to sustain it.

What is the “wood” that can feed the soul’s flames each morning? Study Torah, prayers, and charity. They are the morning encounters with the living G-d that allow the fire of the soul to hold on to something and take root in the human psyche.

A delicious piece of cheesecake, reading and answering your e-mails, listening to the news – they don’t do the trick of turning on your soul, your inner depth. They lack the properties to bring out the flame of the soul. In the morning, before you do anything else, you need to engage in a labor that will let the flame of your soul emerge. Good Morning Soul must precede Good Morning America. Then you’re set for the day because as Goethe said, a man sees in the world what he carries in his heart. If your heart is aflame, your world that day will be on fire.

And you must place the wood on your altar each morning, no exceptions. Consistency is the key to a meaningful and inspiring day. There are no shortcuts to inspiration; everything comes with a price. The only job where you start at the top is digging a hole. Bur life is about climbing mountains, not digging holes. And in climbing mountains, you must begin at the bottom.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yoseph Geisinsky