Children of Kings... What is the impediment?

Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira in his book Conscious Community A guide to Inner Work (p 12,13,14) states that we must understand that We are the children of the King; we have an intimate bond with our father a private and personal relationship. He states that there are 2 basic limitations that keep us from living this reality.

1. We are blocked emotionally- He says that when we feel either excitement or sorrow we become immediately more open and alive. Even if we are moved just a little bit we have already transcended our mundane physical concerns. But when our hearts are constricted we cannot fathom thoughts that transcend our physical needs and perceptions. He says that this is especially true when we are anxious. He says that anxiety itself is a kind of obstacle. The Rav Schneur Zalman of Lyadi wrote that when you feel as if your heart could break on Yom Kippur, indeed your heart and mind are wide open. But the rest of the year when day-to day anxieties overtake you, you loose touch with the immediacy of the power of your heart and mind.

2. Our power of concentration is inadequate- ....He states when a person with developed awareness has moments of powerful clear perception he can see what the Israelite prophets saw: the presence of G-d. This person even after the moment of inspiration has passed can maintain the former perception and clarity. With the capacity for mindfulness and attention he can reawaken the initial inspiration at any time. If we have not developed this faculty of attention we are constantly limited by the lack there of. Since our sensitivity is blocked we focus on mundane considerations potatoes, bread and work. Any inspiration descends on us from above as it does on Yom Kippur. When it falls on us to awaken spirituality from below, that is where the difficulty lies.

*Stay tuned for the Peasetzna Rebbe's advice on how to work on these areas

Lighten the burden of Pesach Cleaning- Harnessing spiritual Will Power

Even the average Jewish person cannot foretell his potential for spiritual feats- the simplest of people would never be a
ble to accomplish any other time during the year what he does during Pesach...This is because the necessity and desire to perform this service now fill his consciousness and willpower and take control of his body. The latter with their free will then channel into his physical system a greater amount of energy. (To Heal the Soul, Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira)

With the grace and will of Hashem I was guided to this beautiful quote after having had many such experiences. Even yesterday morning, on Purim, I woke up very exhausted, and felt some anxiety as how to accomplish trying to finish cooking the meal, setting the table, hearing the megila, sending out mishloach manot, cleaning the house, doing some dishes, and attending to my two little ones before the guests arrived, all while feeling a little sick. On the spiritual plane my neshama was hard at work as well, a familiar Purim recurrence, doing its own spiritual preparation...releasing something from a deep place connected with the concept that Hashem did in the past and will again, save us from annhiliation.

Tov, where to start. After a good healing cry I put my energies into the tasks at hand. It seemed the physical and spiritual disunity of the morning was shifting and I could easily harness it into physical preparation for the meal. It did not stop there. The tiredness vanished and I began to receive more and more light until I felt giddy and high. After sharing my words of Torah where I felt so impassioned to remind my guests and myself what an INCREDIBLE GIFT IT IS TO BE A JEW. My friends even asked what I was drinking ( mango shpritzer of course).

The day after, the high and the light is still here, and my davening feels different. It reminds me exactly of the day of my wedding when I woke up in the morning after having slept only 1 hour, I hought I was going to have to move the wedding. Then too, Hashem gave me Koach through the wedding and beyond, into the whole week of Sheva Brachot. The lesson being if we are doing a Mitzvah or an action aligned with the will of Hashem there will be boundless energy available for it. Sometimes we just need a reminder to tap into it.

May we all keep this in my mind as we head into our Pesach cleaning.