{"id":65445,"date":"2019-11-09T08:23:54","date_gmt":"2019-11-09T06:23:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=65445"},"modified":"2023-06-04T14:38:14","modified_gmt":"2023-06-04T11:38:14","slug":"how-to-enlarge-a-shortened-soul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/how-to-enlarge-a-shortened-soul\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Enlarge \u2018A Shortened Soul\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[447,743,606,585],"acf":{"old_id":"65445","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34250,"related_cahpter":"346","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Increasing joy will increase emotional space","content":"

\u201cAnything that is difficult for a person, the phrase \u2018shortening of the soul\u2019 (kitzur nefesh)<\/em> applies: like a person for whom troubles come, and his mind is not wide enough to accept it; he has no space within his heart for that pain to dwell.\u201d (Rashi, Numbers 21:4)<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether we speak in terms of heart, mind, or soul, coping with a challenge requires the \u201cspace\u201d to hold that challenge within us. If I have an object that cannot simply be discarded, but no attic or file cabinet or unused corner in which to place it, that object will confront and confound me. With no way to compartmentalize it, I will be forced to reckon with it constantly \u2013 dumped on the kitchen table, it will have to be moved so we can eat dinner; dropped on the floor, I will have to step over it, which might itself be impossible if there is more junk on the floor around it. So too, if a challenge is too great to fit into our current capabilities, we will be unable to meet and move past it. We might try to ignore it, shift it around in our consciousness as we attempt to go on with other things \u2013 but it\u2019s always there, in the way.<\/span><\/p>\n

When it comes to physical items, it can be relatively easy to make more space: we might get rid of something else; if we have the means, we might acquire more storage units or even add on to our homes.<\/span><\/p>\n

But how do we increase mental or emotional space?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0And you will draw water with joy, from the wellsprings of salvation (Isaiah 12:3).<\/span><\/p>\n

Rashi here explains that \u201ctheir hearts will be broadened by the salvation that arrives for them, and secrets of Torah will be revealed to them that were forgotten in Babylonia[n exile] because of troubles.\u201d Challenges might narrow our mental or emotional \u201cspace\u201d \u2013 and successes, perhaps finding support from another (or Another, if we are fortunate to perceive that support in our lives), can enlarge it. The more \u201csalvation\u201d we experience, the more space we have to expand our minds and hearts, to hold onto and cope with more than we thought possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

And there is one more word here, that Rashi doesn\u2019t address but that seems to offer another means by which one might create space: \u201cwith joy.\u201d Marie Kondo famously advises letting go of those items that don\u2019t spark joy, but perhaps she has it backwards: If we can find ways to increase joy (and perhaps one method is by searching out those bits of \u201csalvation\u201d in our lives), we might discover we have created the space to handle more than we thought we could fit.<\/span><\/p>\n

image:\u00a0Old Woman who lived in a shoe, Joseph Martin Kronheim, c. 1875 \/ wikipedia<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":65451,"id":65451,"title":"is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim","filename":"is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/how-to-enlarge-a-shortened-soul\/is12-old_woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-kronheim\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is12-old_woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-kronheim","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":65445,"date":"2019-11-09 06:26:52","modified":"2019-11-09 06:27:10","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1248,"height":1763,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim-212x300.jpg","medium-width":212,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim-725x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":725,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim-725x1024.jpg","large-width":725,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim.jpg","1536x1536-width":1087,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim.jpg","2048x2048-width":1248,"2048x2048-height":1763,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim-849x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":849,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim-297x420.jpg","home_baner-width":297,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"How To Enlarge \u2018A Shortened Soul\u2019","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Increasing joy will increase emotional space","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":65451,"id":65451,"title":"is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim","filename":"is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/how-to-enlarge-a-shortened-soul\/is12-old_woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-kronheim\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is12-old_woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-kronheim","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":65445,"date":"2019-11-09 06:26:52","modified":"2019-11-09 06:27:10","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1248,"height":1763,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim-212x300.jpg","medium-width":212,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim-725x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":725,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim-725x1024.jpg","large-width":725,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim.jpg","1536x1536-width":1087,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim.jpg","2048x2048-width":1248,"2048x2048-height":1763,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim-849x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":849,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is12-Old_Woman_who_lived_in_a_shoe-Kronheim-297x420.jpg","home_baner-width":297,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65445"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65445"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115788,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65445\/revisions\/115788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}