{"id":84718,"date":"2020-12-09T13:01:30","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T11:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=84718"},"modified":"2020-12-09T13:01:30","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T11:01:30","slug":"fire-in-the-divine-soul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/fire-in-the-divine-soul\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire In The Divine Soul"},"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":[],"acf":{"old_id":"84718","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"630","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The Alter Rebbe elaborates on spiritual longing\r\n\r\n","content":"

Our psalm, which is headed: \u201cA psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah\u201d (<\/span>Psalms 63:1<\/span><\/a>) seems to have been composed when David was hiding out in the wilderness (<\/span>midbar<\/span><\/em>) from Saul, who was seeking to kill him (see<\/span> I Samuel 23:14-15<\/span><\/a> and<\/span> 24.1-2<\/span><\/a>). The desert provenance of Psalm 63 is further suggested by<\/span> verse 2<\/span><\/a>: \u201cGod, You are my God. I search for You. My soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You, as a parched and thirsty land that has no water\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Verses 2-3 of our Psalm are<\/span> sung by the Chabad Chasidim<\/span><\/a> to a melody attributed to the founder and first Rebbe of Chabad, Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1815), known as the<\/span> Alter Rebbe<\/span><\/a>. This <\/span>niggun<\/span><\/i> begins: <\/span>Tzamah Lekha Nafshi <\/span><\/em>\u2013<\/span><\/i> \u201cMy Soul Thirsts for You\u201d. In his most influential work, the<\/span> Tanya<\/span><\/a>, the Alter Rebbe elaborates on the longing of the soul for God: \u201c\u2026For when the intellect in the rational soul deeply contemplates and immerses itself exceedingly in the greatness of God, how He fills all worlds and encompasses all worlds, and in the presence of Whom everything is considered as nothing\u2014 there will be born and aroused in his mind and thought the emotion of awe for the Divine Majesty\u2026Then, his heart will glow with an intense love, like burning coals, with a passion, desire and longing, and a yearning soul, towards the greatness of the blessed <\/span>En Sof <\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/em>[\u201cThe Infinite One\u201d]. This constitutes the culminating passion of the soul, of which Scripture speaks: \u201cMy soul thirsts for God, the living God; O when will I come to appear before God!\u201d (<\/span>Psalms 42:3<\/span><\/a>) and \u201cMy soul thirsts for You\u201d(<\/span>63:2<\/span><\/a>). This thirst is caused by the Fire in the divine soul.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n