Daily Archives: June 26, 2009
12
By Rabbi Yoseph Kahanov Jax, Florida
Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi once received a silver snuffbox as gift. But the Rebbe did not want to put it to its intended use, remarking: “There is one part of the body which is not constantly seeking gratification – the nose. Should I train it, too, to be a pleasure-seeker?”
Instead, R’ Schneur Zalman found a more lofty use for the gift: he detached the snuffbox's cover and used it as a mirror to help him center the teffilin on his head.
This incident was once related to R’ Schneur Zalman's grandson, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch. In conveying the incident the person stated that R’ Schneur Zalman “broke off” the cover of the snuffbox. Rabbi Menachem Mendel remarked: “No, no, my grandfather never broke anyone or thing. He merely removed the hinge-pin which connected the upper part to the lower.”
There is deep significance in Rabbi Menachem Mendel's clarification, observed the Lubavitcher Rebbe: While R’ Schneur Zalman’s entire life was devoted to sublimating the ordinary and elevating the mundane, still, he taught that the way to deal with the material world is not to repress or crush it, but to gently detach the upper from the lower: to extract, by harmonious and peaceful means, its lofty potential from its lowly enmeshments. Hence the statement: Rabbi Schneur Zalman would never have “broken off” the cover.
Kabalah of Spirituality – How To Balance Our Dual Composition
By Rabbi Yoseph Kahanov Jax, Florida
Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi once received a silver snuffbox as gift. But the Rebbe did not want to put it to its intended use, remarking: “There is one part of the body which is not constantly seeking gratification – the nose. Should I train it, too, to be a pleasure-seeker?”
Instead, R’ Schneur Zalman found a more lofty use for the gift: he detached the snuffbox’s cover and used it as a mirror to help him center the teffilin on his head.
This incident was once related to R’ Schneur Zalman’s grandson, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch. In conveying the incident the person stated that R’ Schneur Zalman “broke off” the cover of the snuffbox. Rabbi Menachem Mendel remarked: “No, no, my grandfather never broke anyone or thing. He merely removed the hinge-pin which connected the upper part to the lower.”
There is deep significance in Rabbi Menachem Mendel’s clarification, observed the Lubavitcher Rebbe: While R’ Schneur Zalman’s entire life was devoted to sublimating the ordinary and elevating the mundane, still, he taught that the way to deal with the material world is not to repress or crush it, but to gently detach the upper from the lower: to extract, by harmonious and peaceful means, its lofty potential from its lowly enmeshments. Hence the statement: Rabbi Schneur Zalman would never have “broken off” the cover.
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