Our sages certainly did. And they saw that yearning, that restless feeling, as a clue – a whisper from the soul itself. Because, as Da'at Tevunot, a profound work of Jewish thought, tells us, the soul, that spark within us, is "a part of the Lord above." Doesn't it follow, then, that its deepest desire is to return, to cleave to its source? It’s like anything of heavenly origin, naturally drawn back to the heights, finding no rest until it gets there.
This idea of "cleaving" – in Hebrew, devekut – is central to Jewish mystical thought. It's about so much more than just believing in something. It’s about an intimate connection, a merging, even, with the Divine.
But what does that actually mean? What does it look like to "achieve" this cleaving? Well, here's the humbling part: We, in our current state, immersed in our imperfections, simply can't fully grasp it. Try to imagine describing the taste of chocolate to someone who's never tasted anything. It's like that.
However! And this is important: just because we can't fully understand the destination doesn’t mean we can’t chart the course. The very fact that we recognize this longing, this yearning for devekut, reveals our own deficiencies. We know that completeness lies in this cleaving, therefore, we also know that our current state is defined by distance from it.
Think of it like static on a radio. The music is there, the signal is being transmitted, but something is interfering. Something is obstructing the connection. That obstruction, that "something that lays between us and Him, may his name be blessed," is the deficiency we need to address.
It's those obstacles – our ego, our distractions, our imperfections – that make it impossible to fully cleave to the Divine. But the good news is, these are things we can work on. We can strive to remove these obstructions and, in doing so, move closer to that completeness we mentioned.
And that, my friends, is where the real work begins. Because to understand how to do this, to truly understand how to clear the path to devekut, we need to delve into something truly fundamental. And that’s what we’ll explore next time. Are you ready?