Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on October 14, 2013 by Deborah Renert
There is a high supernal spiritual level to which various exalted Jewish spiritual personalities subscribe, such as Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav. The crux of the idea i think is–is that if all comes from G-d and emanates from His Oneness, then all must necessarily be good irregardless whether we experience joy or we experience pain. And on a supernal level this may well be true, but, down here in this lower world of Assiyah I was physically robbed and I am hurting. i’m missing at this moment the gold heart bracelet from my deceased father, the silverware that belonged to my grandparents’ Shabbos table, the special 40th diamond birthday necklace from my mother and the jewellery I bought myself at special times from my New York salary. So I say to myself: There are times we experience Divine chesed and there are times that we must show compassion to ourselves and enjoy a glass of wine or an ice-cream cone or chocolate….
