*"One of our jobs was to search for old shipwrecks 🛶🛥️⛴️,"* related one of the prisoners in the Soviet gulag to Rabbi Mendel Futerfas.
"Those boats carried lots of treasures and so when we would find one, we would need to raise it up ⚓ to the surface in order to salvage the cargo."
"How did you manage to do that🤔?" asked Rabbi Mendel curiously.
"Well, shlepping up the boat with one rope 🪝 wouldn't work because the boat could easily tilt and fall back into the water, and so we would send tens of divers 🤿🤿all the way down to the boat. They would find any sort of ledge or hole in the boat and attach ropes 🪢to all of them. Then, all of us together would pull all the ropes ✊✊and raise the boat to the surface."
Until now, we've been discussing how we elevate the specific item used in the performance of a mitzvah.
But what about the rest of the things that exist, those things we use in the course of just living our everyday lives?
Let’s say that for breakfast, you had some toast, an omelet 🥪, salad, ☕ coffee and a piece of cake 🥧. Of course, you carefully recited a blessing over the food before eating.
Is this the only connection to holiness that the food has?
Consider 👀 what happened next:
After breakfast, you went to visit your elderly neighbor. You cheered her up🤝 and ran some errands for her 🧓🏻.
All the physical energy ♨️ expended on that good deed becomes transformed!
That wholesome breakfast you enjoyed, which is now part of you 🤩🤩🤩, gets elevated!
Because *_food and drinknconsumed by a person becomes part of his blood_*, your very blood has become spiritual and holy.
It's as if a spiritual chemical reaction occurs. We take a common object or regular, everyday deed
And change it 💥 into *spiritual gold* ✨
The spiritual life force for these transformed items and deeds is no longer from the forces of impurity that oppose G-dliness, but rather, from holiness.
The Jewish nation all together is one complete unit which is split into
6️⃣0️⃣0️⃣,0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣
Chief Souls
We are each just a single component of one huge entity☝️
When all of us have successfully repaired the areas under our jurisdiction
There will be Worldwide Redemption!
We each have _a little corner_ of the world which is our section to raise and elevate into holiness. When each of us accomplishes what we are supposed to in the areas under our jurisdiction, it raises the entire parachute - i.e. the entire world 🌎 - bringing about the purpose of all of creation - to make this place a comfortable home for G-d.
It all begins with working on yourself.
Keeping your mini world - your body- in tip-top spiritual shape
The Torah contains
*248 positive commandments* to fulfill, corresponding to the *248 organs* of the body
*365 prohibitions* - actions to avoid - corresponding to the *365 ligaments* in the body
By observing all of them, we keep our bodies in perfect spiritual health.
The 365 prohibitions are like 365 channels through which impurity can latch on to a person. We need to avoid these behaviors in order to stay in top spiritual health.
When a person sins, his soul gets dragged down into the control of the forces of impurity.
It is difficult for the soul to escape from there because its channel is blocked like a clogged artery.
For this reason, the smartest choice is to totally stay away from these behaviors.
This is Part One of the job -
But not the end of it.
To draw down G-d's infinite light into this world, we’ve got to fulfill *the positive commandments*
Imagine the process of restoring an old, majestic castle.
First they scrub away the layers of filth and grime in order to reveal the original beauty of the place.
But the work isn't complete.
Now they have to update it - installing restrooms, piping, and wiring for electricity,
Finally, in the end, the castle becomes filled with light!
This physical world undergoes a similar transformation:
The goal is to fill this lowly world with divine light.
