Returning the Sparks

Force never moves in a straight line, but always in a curve vast as the universe, and therefore eventually returns whence it issued forth, but upon a higher arc, for the universe has progressed since it started. –attributed to “Kabbalah”

The commandment to return a lost object is legislated in Deuteronomy 22:1. Unsurprisingly, the Sfat Emet takes a mystical view as to a deeper meaning to what Moses is saying.

In 5631 (1871) the Sfat Emet states that every good action we do, that every commandment that we perform, in some fashion is akin to returning a lost object to God. In 5634 (1874) he explains that we are in fact returning divine sparks back to God. Every item in this world and every action taken have within it a divine spark. By having a positive interaction we release the spark from its material bondage and elevate it back to the spiritual realm where it belongs. We are in essence returning to God these divine entities He scattered and hid all around the world for us to find.

But we can only successfully return something to its rightful owner when we understand and acknowledge who that owner is. When we comprehend and accept that God is the source of All, that he is the Creator, the Boss, the Master of the Universe, only then do we have a chance of fulfilling the mission He entrusted to us of finding and freeing these divine sparks.

May we keep encountering and liberating spiritual entities and reuniting them with their proper divine proprietor, God.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To Rafi, Ronit, Sarina and Nikki, the outstanding madrichot of Midreshet Torah V’Avodah on an incredible beginning to what is sure to be a divine year.