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I have wandered all my life, and I have traveled; the difference between the two is this — we wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment. -Hilaire Belloc
According to the Kaballah, the ancient Jewish mystical tradition, humans are a fusion between the physical and the spiritual. Our souls are merely tourists in this earthly realm, visiting for the time allotted, but eventually destined to return to our spiritual abode. What our body manages to do in this world together with its soul will determine the satisfaction and pleasure our spirits will enjoy in that ethereal world that is our ultimate home.
However, there is a time, when the wall that separates these two dimensions, the physical and the spiritual, is thinnest. A time, where with proper preparation and sufficient sensitivity we can touch the world of souls, we can feel the tendrils of the spiritual. For the Jewish people, that is the Sabbath.
The Sfat Emet in 5633 (1873) explains that the Sabbath is the day the soul has “visitation rights” – where it can connect with its home dimension. Where perhaps, tired of touring the earthly plane, it has a chance to return to its origin – in a limited way and for a limited time. A person who is attuned to his spirit will look forward to the weekly chance to return home. While busy working six days a week, he will become excited about the approaching Sabbath where our souls have the opportunity to taste and absorb something from its true source.
May we understand the reality of our spirits and the Sabbath and how the two go together.
Shabbat Shalom,
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