CHAPTER TEN
ANY TORAH STUDY AND MITZVAH PERFORMANCE
JOINS THE SOUL WITH HIS CREATOR AND BRINGS A
SPIRITUAL AND HOLY BOUNTY FROM HASHEM
AN ANSWER FOR THOSE WHO CLAIM THEY DON’T
FEEL THIS
- It is written in numerous places in this work how for bit of
Torah that a person learns, and through every mitzvah that a
person performs, a spiritual bounty is created and pours from
Hashem to the person’s soul, sanctifying it and linking it to the
Creator Himself. [The opposite is brought about, Hashem forbid,
with an aveirah.] - There are those who claim that they don’t feel this at all, or
at least not keenly enough, especially when referring to a short
amount of study etc. - The truth is however, that with every small amount of study
or mitzvah performance, there is a powerful outpouring of
bounty. Hashem however created the world in a way that in this
world the body is like a screen which blocks the soul from
feeling any changes in it. [Not everyone is equal in respect to
this screen, for some the barrier is greater and for some it is
less, no place here for further elaboration]. The reason for this is
so that the world be a world of challenges as the Mesillat
Yesharim details in the first chapter. Were we to significantly
feel the influence of mitzvot and aveirot on the soul, the
existence of a test or challenge would be almost impossible. - Only after a hundred and twenty years, when there is no
longer the obstruction of the soul by the body, then a person
will see the reality of how every moment of Torah study and
every part of mitzvah performance brought intense light to his
soul. This light does not just appear at the time when he sees it
in heaven; rather it is then that he sees how the light had
already come at the actual time of the learning and the mitzvah
performance. Indeed the strength of these very lights enabled
and assisted him to achieve many things in this world. It was
just the screen that prevented him from seeing reality. Many
times one can actually feel the good resulting from this strength
but doesn’t realize to connect it to the Torah that he learned or
the mitzvah that he did. - This can be compared to a person undergoing an operation
under the effects of general anesthesia, and the surgeon asks
him at the end of the operation if he can cut a further few more
cm deeper than necessary. If the patient is a fool he will agree
since he anyway can’t feel anything now due to the strength of
the general anesthetic. However if he is a clever person he will
refuse this since even though now he cannot feel anything, he
knows that when he awakens from the anesthesia every extra
cm cut will hurt tremendously. Were they to cut him when he
was anaesthetized, then when he comes around he will see that
the incision was made at the time when they cut him and not
when he woke up. It is exactly the same with aveirot and
mitzvot. Of course many times a person merits this elevated
feeling from mitzvot already in this world. [This is non
comparable to the natural feeling of satisfaction that comes
when a person does something that he thinks to be correct – see
‘Chayei Olam’ from the Kehilot Yaacov.]
