Kabalah of Spirituality – How To Balance Our Dual Composition

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.

The Weekly Sicha of the Rebbe – Parshas Korach

The Rebbe says:

1. In this week’s Torah portion Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our teacher) and Aharon Hakohen (Aaron the High Priest) plead with Hashem not to destroy Korach’s entire congregation; rather, Hashem should just destroy Korach because he was the one who incited and convinced everyone to rebel against Moshe Rabbeinu.

The Torah says, “Hashem spoke to Moshe and Aharon, saying: ‘Separate yourselves from among this congregation and I will annihilate them in an instant’. They (Moshe and Aharon) fell upon their faces and they said, ‘Almighty, the G-d of the spirits of all flesh; if one man sins shall You be angry with the entire congregation?’”

Rashi comments on this verse and explains why Moshe and Aharon prefaced the words, “Almighty, the G-d of the spirits of all flesh”, before their actual argument of, “if one man sins shall you be angry with the entire congregation?”. Rashi explains that Moshe and Aharon were saying, “(Hashem You are the) Knower of thoughts. Your attributes are not like mortal attributes. A mortal king against whom some of his kingdom acted insolently does not know who the sinner is and therefore when he is angry he punishes them all. But You- to You all thoughts are revealed and you know who the sinner is. Therefore, “if one man will sin will You be angry with the entire congregation?”