By: Rabbi Shlomo Ezagui
On the 6th of Sivan we celebrate the second of the three major Holidays – Shavuot, the season when the Torah – (the laws from G-d) were given in the year 2448 from the creation of the world. These include the famous Ten Commandments, and, all 613 commandments.
Shavuot is the plural of oath, two oaths. This is the holiday that marks our promise, that we would abide by these laws, we would follow its’ directives, and G-d promised, He would never break his covenant with us. This Holiday, we celebrate, we commemorate, we relive, G-d “giving us the law”. That’s because G-d gave it once, and will never give it again. The giving of the Ten Commandments, was a an event that makes its impact forever on an ongoing basis, while we, continue receiving and discovering, more and more of this eternal infinite, G-dly wisdom, hidden in the immortal words of the Bible.
In preparation to receiving the Torah we were commanded to sanctify the day and “wash their clothes”. In order for a person to become a receptacle for G-dly spiritual wisdom, he must separate himself from the mundane world. He must elevate himself from the pursuits of materialism to become holy and sanctified.
Becoming holy doesn’t mean necessarily that a person has nothing to do with this world. What it means and where it starts, is by cleaning our clothes. In mysticism it explains that the soul inside of us, the energy that gives our bodies life, communicates by way of garments. Just as a person protects his body, by way of clothes, and communicates through his clothes, the way he thinks, and feels, loud colors or subtle conservative styles, the same is also with the soul.
The soul has garments, and they are, thought, speech, and action. In the same way that you decide when to put on your clothes, and what type of clothes to put on, the same is also with the spiritual clothes of the soul.
Every person makes a choice what thoughts he is thinking, and what words he is using, and what actions he is doing. There is no such thing as I can’t control my thoughts, or those words just fell out of my mouth, or, I just couldn’t control myself and had to do it. A person is held responsible, even for the thoughts that he entertains.
As matter of fact, it all starts with the thought garment a person allows inside his head. These thoughts become the garment in which we enclothe our soul and this affects the quality of our actual lives. If you put your body in a straitjacket, or the clothes is way too big, or the style is loud, all this has an effect on the person. The same is also with the soul.
In order to shape and influence our souls appropriately and correctly, to appreciate and be sensitive to deeper and a higher spiritual awareness, we must be conscientious of how clean are our clothes. If we think thoughts that are negative, impure, and unclean, if we use words that are inappropriate, and pessimistic, if we do things, even for a joke or for fun that are off the mark, this will negatively blemish and damage the soul, making it not befitting, and not open, to receiving “the light.”
When a person sees to it that only upbeat, clean and holy thoughts pass through his head, words that are constructive, positive and clean come out of his mouth, and his actions are those that even G-d would approve of, his soul is then shaped and prepared to be a receptacle to receive communication from the One on High.
This is the power G-d granted when He “descended down to the mountain of Sinai and gave “the Law”. G-d made it possible for the very first time, that the above, spirituality, and the below, the physical world can be connected. We can a live in a physical world and be totally elevated from materialism. This happens, when we make sure our clothes are clean, and the day is sanctified.
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