Parashat Acharei Mot: Sparks of holiness

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

The Midrash P’sikta Rabati in this week's parasha, Achareh Mot ( 3) says, fortunate is the person who, when going through a difficulty, does not complain about what's happening to him. The Midrash goes on to describe the great levels people could reach by accepting their yisurin without complaint. The Shomer Emunim writes in his ma'amar on hashgacha pratit that a person should train himself to immediately thank Hashem for every little affliction that takes place in his life. It is a tried and tested segula that embracing the way Hashem deals with a person removes the necessity to have more afflictions. It sweetens judgments and brings a great deal of kapara . The first step is to admit that whatever happened, no matter what it seemed like, came directly from Hashem. Not only does every little thing that happens to a person come from Hashem, anything that will affect a person in one way or another is also b’hashgacha pratit . Whether something happens to a person's possessions or his animals, whether an animal gets sick, how long it will be sick for, and which animal it will happen to is all min haShamayim . Rav Tzvi from Zidichov was once walking with his students and they saw a wagon with straw passing by them. The wagon was going fast and little bits of straw were falling off the back along the way. The rabbi told his students, “Every piece of straw that fell off this wagon was b’hashgacha pratit . It was determined which piece of straw needed to fall in which exact spot based on the people in the city nearby who were going to be the ones to find them. They were going to use the straw to make bricks and it was determined which brick the straw needed to be in, based on where the brick was going to be placed in the building in which it was going to be built in.” There are sparks of holiness in many inanimate objects and certain sparks need to connect to certain people's neshamot by being in their presence. These are from the deep secrets of Hashem that we can't possibly comprehend. The Shomer Emunim writes further, every leaf that falls off a tree is b’hashgacha pratit . Which leaf will fall in which order. How many people will step on each leaf. There are so many things that we can't see. There could be parts of a neshama that need tikkun inside of a leaf, as the Arizal taught us, and there is an exact order of operations that the neshama needs to achieve to make that tikkun . It's decided which fruit a worm will go inside of and eat. It's decided which fruit ends up on which person's table. It's brought down in the name of the Baal Shem Tov that if a person believes in Hashem's exacting hashgacha in every single thing that takes place, then Hashem will help him gather all of the objects that have the sparks of holiness that are necessary for his neshama and he'll be able to achieve his full tikkun in this world. This is yet another benefit that is gained by a ba’al emunah. On the other hand, if a person doesn't believe in this type of hashgacha, then chas v’shalom , he may miss out on attaining all of the nitzotzeh kedushah that his neshama needs. There are hundreds of pieces of meat in a butcher shop. A person needs siyata d’Shamaya to choose the piece that is necessary for him and his family members to eat according to their shoresh neshama . The more a person believes, the more Hashem will help him always get exactly what he needs. He'll buy the clothing that are necessary for him. He'll eat the foods that are necessary for him. And he'll be in all the right places at the right times. We don't know enough to fathom how deep the hashgacha of Hashem goes in this world, but the more we believe in it; in every last thing that happens, in every last detail, that it's all b’hashgacha , and especially if we accept the way that Hashem deals with us, the more benefits we'll have both in this world and the Next. Shabbat Shalom.