Hot soup for a cold heart

Hot soup for a cold heart

By Harav Y. R. Rubin Shlita

The following idea came to me without attribution. Its message is so poignant for our times that I wanted to share them with you.

“The moment the hot soup touched my lips, I felt the warmth spread through the core of my body. I then shuddered, shooing away the cold. I turned to my friends and said “wow, it’s so weird, before I started eating the hot soup, I was fine, but after starting eating it, I suddenly realized that I was cold!”

This is true whether you are still in school or long out of it. But thanks to the “artificial heat” being generated around us, via the temptation of keeping up with the latest styles, the newest mobile phone and other technology, and the other distractions from what really is important in life, we forget we are cold.

It’s only at those times when we are lucky enough to taste “hot soup”, when we inject some Torah warmth inside us, such as an inspiring drosha or when learning something that makes us smile, that we are conscious of the temperature.

We have to look for soup, for things to keep our souls warm. We need inspiration, and we need to act on it.”

These few words should open all our souls. The times demand fire, but instead we are giving ourselves frozen mimicry.

In the sefer Tzav VeZiruz from the Kodesh The Peasnetza Rebbe ztl writes:

“The human soul relishes sensation, not only if it is a pleasant feeling but for the very experience of stimulation. Rather sadness or deep pain than the boredom of non-stimulation. People will watch distressing scenes and listen to heartrending stories just to get stimulation. Such is human nature and a need of the soul, just like its other needs and predispositions. So he who is clever will fulfil this need with passionate prayer and Torah learning. But the soul whose Divine service is without emotion will have to find its stimulation elsewhere. It will either be driven to cheap, even forbidden sensations or it will become emotionally ill from lack of stimulation.”

We are living in times that prove the points the Rebbe made. We see youngsters who are lost to us because they have never been truly stimulated by Torah life. They may have gone to the right schools and their fathers certainly davened in a suitable shul, yet their souls were left in the cold.

The outside world thrives on instant gratification; its whole essence is quick fixes or what passes for entertainment. Some of our young become trapped in the web of this demoralizing mire and allow the bright lights of the imagery surrounding it to capture their souls.

I often explain to bewildered and troubled parents that they must offer their young ones true and vibrant Torah experiences. Kids need to see Gutta Yidden, stay up all night learning with a true Godol, visit Meron and immerse in the frozen waters of the Ari Hakodosh’s mikveh in Tsefas. We need to fill them with a love for vibrant Torah living. They should be immersed in the sights and sounds of lebedika Jewish life. Such actions would instill in their hearts a Yiddishkiet built on a world of emotional fire. Even at a young age our youth must witness lebedika Yiddishkiet in action. The davening they see must be real, not sleepwalked through so that kiddush can be served as soon as possible. Parents must live their Torah with a bren or else their young will seek fulfilment elsewhere.

As the Rebbe said, it’s in the very nature of the neshoma to need stimulation; our responsibility is to offer the proper kind.

Reb Mierel Premishlana asked, “How will we face Hashem our Father in 120 years if we haven’t done our best for the gift He gave us, our sweet children? The Angels will ask, “You were given a soul, we entrusted you with a shtick Himmel, what did you do?”

If we don’t warm ourselves with the hot soup of a living Yiddishkiet, not only will we remain frozen, but our young will become ever more isolated. Parents and teachers should not be afraid of offering a taste of warmth; after all, it’s the mainstay of our neshomas. Our children are begging for this warmth and they will reciprocate with nachas in the future if we only respond.

 

This week’s Parsha sheet is sponsored

In memory of

Mrs Yehudis Grodzinky O”H

Bas Harav Elimelech Dov Gordon Z”L.