A Message from Rabbi Avraham Arieh Trugman
Dear Friends: This Tuesday night and Wednesday, the 18th day of Elul (Chai Elul) is the birthday of the Ba'al Shem Tov. He is with no doubt one of the most influential figures of the last 1000 years and even longer. He founded the Chassidic movement and especially through Chabad his teachings are continuing to be spread literally all over the globe. One of his many important teachings is that each person has a spark of Mashiach in them.
The Mashiach, like King David, will experience many falls and will deliberately descend in order to redeem all the fallen sparks of holiness trapped in the impure shells and illusions of this world. The Ba’al Shem Tov explains that in order to elevate others who have sunk to low spiritual levels, one must at times risk lowering one’s self, in a certain sense, to their levels. The Ba'al Shem Tov taught that even falling on a personal level can be seen in a positive light if we learn the lessons we need to. Since we all fall on occasion, knowing we can get back up again and be even stronger for it has the power to change how we look at life. This dynamic of life is called “descent in order to ascend,” and applies to each and every person, especially in the descent of the soul into a physical body.
The numerical value of the word “Mashiach” is 358, which is the same as the numerical value of the word “nachash” (the primordial snake of the Garden of Eden). When the energy of the snake is clarified, rectified and inverted, its power will only be used for the good. The Ba’al Shem Tov taught, as mentioned above, that each individual contains a spark of Mashiach and he or she must work at revealing this spark of potential in the world. When a critical mass of sparks has been revealed, the Mashiach’s soul will be drawn into the world. Until then, we all must work constructively and ask for God’s assistance in overcoming all the obstacles blocking our paths to fulfilling our own individual roles as well as the ultimate mission of the Jewish people.
