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From the upcoming book, Wisdom To Heal the Earth.

By Tzvi Freeman
Discuss (3)

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The Kabbalah of Investment

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Art: Yoram Raanan

Life as a human being is all about investments. Mostly high risk

investments.
We humans dont just do things. Or say things. Or even just
think things. We invest ourselves in them. We almost become
the thing we are doing. We are Homo Investus.
Sometimes we invest ourselves through the proxy of our
money. Sometimes its an investment of time. Or energy. Or
talents.
But if its something that matters to us, then, in some way or
another, all of us is in there. Whatever happens to that
investment of ours, whether its a gain or a loss or a roller
coaster ride, its as though its happening to our own selves.
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Soul Investment

Art: Yoram Raanan

There's a reason we are this way. The highest-risk investment

of all is life itself. The archetype
of all investments was when
G d invested your soul into a
body in this world.

The archetype of all

investments is life
itself.

Your soul began all bundled up in blissful union with the infinite
light, nurtured with eternal love. And then you heard a voice:
Come my little soul. It is time for you to leave. To
descend below.
Where is below? you asked.
It is a place of darkness, where only a trickle of a
reflection of a glimmer of this light can enter,
concealed by many veils. It is a body, a slab of meat
with two eyes and two legs. It is a place where each
thing believes it is a god, where ugliness beckons
you, dressed in the clothing of a temptress.
And why am I going there?
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Because it awaits you to purify it, to fix it, to raise it

to the place it belongs.
I suppose Ill give it a try, you replied.
You dont understand, said the voice. You are
going into that body, and your destiny is tied up with
its destiny. When that body shall accept your light,
you will rise to a place far beyond anything you can
know here above. But as long as that body remains
dark, you will be trapped in the darkness along with
it. Where it goes, you go.
Everything that works follows this model. Everything important
in life is an investment that requires taking real risks.
Everything that really matters
requires putting all of yourself
investing your very soulinto
the moment and tying yourself
to the outcome.

Any worthwhile
investment means
that all of you is in
there.

Why? Because that is how every life begins, and that is what
every life is about. And so that is how it is in business, and so
too in every investment in life.
You cannot help another person until you have felt that
persons pain. You cannot teach a student until you can hear
your words from within your students mind. You cannot bring
about real change in a community unless you identify yourself
as one of its members. You cannot solve any problem in the
world in a real, lasting way, unless it means everything to you.
Monique Sternin tells of the time she arrived in New Zealand on
a project to assist Maori women. One of the elder women told
her:
If you are here to help me, I dont need your help, and
your help is useless. But if your destiny is tied to my
destiny, then we can work together.
You can only fix things from the inside out. And so, real life
means living dangerously.

Creation Investment

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Art: Yoram Raanan

Is it fair? Is it worth the risk to send a pure and innocent soul

below and tie its destiny to that of this harsh world?
In truth, there is a precedent even to this archetype of the soul,
and that is the very creation of
all being.

Creation was the first

investment.

An unbounded Creator could

have created the world in any manner that He would so decide.
But He chose that in this act of creation He will invest His very
essence and being. In each thing, He will be found, all of Him.
He will suffer in the pain of His creatures as He will rejoice in
their gladness. He will be lost in their confusion as He will be
found in their beauty. He will be imprisoned in the cold, hard
cells of their hearts as He will be redeemed in the warm pulse
of their love and joy. He will lock Himself into His own creation,
and He will not come out of His cell until His creatures will
redeem Him from there.
And that is why there is hope for the soul. And that is why it is
not only fair, it is well worth the pain. Because, no matter where
it goes, the soul has never left its Beloved. They are in this

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together.

Beyond Investment

Art: Yoram Raanan

How do you stay above it all, while investing your entire being
within it all?
In the archetype, the Creator
remains beyond even as He
enters within. So too, the soul
remains a pure soul even as it
merges to become one with a

How do you stay

above, while
investing your all
within?

human body and its animal drives.

But as we enter the world as citizens of the world to change the
world, how do we stay beyond the world? Because if we do not
stay beyond, we will have no power to make any change at all.
For this, we are sent tzadikim. Souls that stay connected
directly to their source no matter where they are found. And so,
they can connect others to their own source, no matter where
they may have fallen.
A tzadik is not here to do your job. The true tzadik, like the soul,
like G d Himself, invests in you. And with that investment, you
are empowered.
Rabbi Moshe Yitzchak Hecht had been the investment of the
Rebbe and his predecessor, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak
Schneerson, in New Haven, Connecticut, since 1941. The
demands on him grew year by year, with a synagogue, a
school, a yeshiva, and many other responsibilities that required

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a staff several times that which he could afford.

In 1974, he wrote to the Rebbe complaining that after 33 years
of work he felt he was back at the same place as when he
started. He simply could not continue.
He signed off the letter with a heart-rending plea: The Rebbe
should send help and do all he can.
The Rebbe responded, much as any good investor would have
responded:
Even before you asked, Ive already followed your
advice. Ive sent there Rabbi Moshe Yitzchak Hecht.
But it appears from your letter, and from those
preceding it, that you still are not familiar with him
and with the capabilities with which this person is
endowed.
Whatever the case, you should get to know him now.
Immediately, everything will changeyour mood,
your trust in G d, everyday happiness, etc., etc.
The tzadik shows you something about yourself that you could
not discover on your own. He shows you the power of your own
soul. Because he sees how it is connected above.

Final Investment

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Art: Yoram Raanan

In his last years, the Rebbe spoke about how every one of us
must be that tzadikeach in our small way. We must each be
one who stands above even
while entering within, shedding
light wherever light will enter,
connecting all those that we

When youre
connected above,
you dont fall down.

can reach with their own true selves.

But to do that, you need to be connected to a true tzadik, one
whose place is entirely above.
The Rebbe would tell the story of Rabbi Meir of Premishlan:
Each day, Rabbi Meir would climb a steep mountain
to purify himself by immersing in a spring of water.
Even in the snow and ice, he would climb, steadily
and with ease.
The townspeople saw this feat as miraculous. But a
few young men balked. One winter day, they followed
Rabbi Meir, just to show that they could climb with
the same ease as the old man.
And, of course, they slipped and fell.
The young men asked, Rabbi Meir, how do you do
it? Why dont you fall?
When you are connected above, answered the
elderly tzadik, you dont fall down.
The last sparks remain to be rescued. We must travel deep
within their cavern. To do so, we must stay yet more connected
above.Yet higher. Yet tighter.
Previous
Who Will Fix the World?

Next
Who Needs Miracles?

BY TZVI FREEMAN
Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, a senior editor at Chabad.org, also heads our Ask The Rabbi team.
He is the author of Bringing Heaven Down to Earth. To subscribe to regular updates of
Rabbi Freeman's writing, visit Freeman Files subscription. FaceBook @RabbiTzviFreeman
Periscope @Tzvi_Freeman .
Yoram Raanan takes inspiration from living in Israel, where he can fully explore and
express his Jewish consciousness. The light, the air, the spirit of the people and the land
energize and inspire him. His paintings include modern Jewish expressionism with a wide
range of subjects ranging from abstract to landscape, biblical and Judaic.
More from Tzvi Freeman | RSS

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 Copyright, all rights reserved. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to
distribute it further, provided that you comply with Chabad.org's copyright policy.

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DISCUSSION (3)

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January 18, 2017

Thank you for investing so much of your soul and wisdom into your writing
and for also adding the soulful paintings!
Meira Raanan
israel

wow
January 16, 2017
thank you - for both the words and art work - both touched me deeply. may
Hashem bless more all those who will read after me and may we all cling to
Him throughout
Michelle
UK

Speachless
January 15, 2017
This writing was so deep and touching. Oddly enough today I happened to
be reflecting on the Rebbe and his thoughts of the Jewish spark. Thank
you.
Regards,
kay
richmond

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