This week I gave a Shiur for Tu B’Shevat to a wonderful group of young women. We analyzed the first sin after creation , which was Adam and Eve eating from the tree of knowledge. Rabbi Tzadok, a great Chassidic master from the late 1800’s explained that the sin was not that they ate the fruit from the tree. The sin was the intention behind the eating the fruit. They did it out of lust, gluttony and seeking power.
We discussed how PLEASURE is the number one moving force of the world. People won’t do anything that won’t give them pleasure. Think about it. Even if you do something which you don’t love to do like go to the gym, ultimately the endorphins kick in and make you feel good which gives pleasure.
The three driving forces are Desire,Will, and Pleasure, the last one being the highest one.
H”S created the world because it gives Him pleasure. He wants us to have pleasure too,this is why he created us with a need to eat, dress, shower, sleep,etc…
There are Holy pleasures and Unholy pleasures.
Let’s take eating, since we are in Shevat which is the month to rectify our way of the way we ingest food.
If we eat out of gluttony, anxiety, not mindfully we eat in an unholy way. If on the other hand we are mindful of G-d when we eat and our intention is to have the energy we need to be able to have energy so we can fulfill our purpose then we are eating in a holy way. Either way we eat it gives us pleasure, but if we do it in the right way we will feel healthy, the food will be assimilated differently. Otherwise look at how many people suffer from stomach and digestive issues.
Shabbat is a day in which we sit at our table and we are aware of the many blessings, we are more mindful of the Creator than the creation. This day is a microcosmo of the short time lived in the Garden of Eden, it is a tasting of Holy pleasure. This is why it is known as “Oneg Shabbat” (Delight in Shabbat) which is the ultimate pleasure of this world.
#shabbatshalom
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