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THE DIVINE ATTRACTION
B.S.D.
Rabbi David Aaron
Excerpt from "Seeing G-d"
 What is it about a person that truly is attractive? Kabbalah says that it's the quality of Hashem. A beautiful man or woman is a channel of Hashem's beauty in the world, just as a kind man or woman is a channel for Hashem's kindness in the world. Every human being is a unique vehicle of various Divine qualities. We are attracted to the special quality of Hashem in the person that we love. That's really what's going on. Therefore Kabbalah claims that all love is essentially directed only to Hashem. When I'm standing in front of the Grand Canyon, am I in awe of that big pit in the ground, or am I encountering the grandeur of Hashem through the Grand Canyon? Am I in awe of the stormy sea, water surging up and down, or is it the quality of power that is manifesting through the sea? The Kabbalah teaches that all awe is really only directed to Hashem. Particularly with human beings, we become confused about the real source of the qualities we love and admire. I hear an eloquent, brilliant speaker, and I am in awe of her wisdom, but her wisdom is really not hers at all, it's actually a ray of Hashem's endless wisdom.
When I see an athlete accomplish an incredible feat, I am in awe of his strength. But that strength is really a manifestation of Hashem's power. That's why it says in the Book of Jeremiah: "Let not the wise man take pride in his wisdom. Let not the rich man brag of his riches. Let not the strong man brag of his strength. Only the one who knows me." That's the greatest accomplishment I can achieve in this world-to know Hashem as Hashem is seen in everything. Otherwise, we are looking at the window, rather than through the window. This confusion, between what we think we love and its true Divine essence and source, is what idolatry was all about. When you read the Torah, you see that the sternest condemnations are reserved for the sin of idolatry. You think, What's the big deal about idolatry? Those primitive people liked to bow down to trees and stones, but when humanity evolved, they left behind that nonsense.
But the truth is, those idolaters were on a much higher level of sensitivity to Hashem than you and I are. They were so acutely aware of the Divine qualities shining through the phenomena of nature that they felt compelled to worship that tree and that rock as a manifestation of Hashem. Of course, the confusion, which the Torah warns us against, is to mix up Hashem with His manifestations. The sun really does express the power of Hashem. So worship Hashem, don't worship the sun! We, sophisticated, modern people, make the exact same mistake. We are attracted to something-the opposite sex, art, jewelry-and we could spend our lives chasing these things.
But we suffer from confusion. It's really Hashem we want. But we confuse Hashem with His manifestations. We confuse the presence with the packaging.
Sexuality is a cosmic drive. According to Torah, it's not something to be renounced. When a person has a sexual urge to unite with another person, it's not an urge for a body; it's a spark of the Divine yearning to unite with another spark of the Divine, an urge to become a channel to manifest Divine oneness. Precisely because sexual energy has such a powerful potential, it can be dangerous when it gets out of control, when it is misdirected. It's easy to forget that sexuality is
meant to be directed to the service of Hashem, to life, to revealing the connection to the All and the Ultimate. Albert, for example, is attracted to Gigi, and he's blown away by how gorgeous she looks. But when he gets to know her, he loses interest. Why? At first glance Albert is attracted
to the Divine beauty of which Gigi is a manifestation. But as they start to interact, Albert realizes that Gigi is missing other Divine qualities. She might have beauty, but she lacks wisdom,
truth, and kindness. She lacks love. So Albert loses interest because he wants a full manifestation of Hashem. Albert might then meet Henrietta, who doesn't embody beauty, and at first he is not attracted. But when he gets to know her, he becomes aware of her kindness, and then he becomes
attracted. Did Henrietta invent kindness? No, she is simply a vehicle for Hashem's kindness. That's what Albert is attracted to.
Kabbalah tells us that when we open the eyes of our souls, and begin to see Hashem, it actually intensifies our physical drives. A story is told in the Jewish Oral Tradition of a student who
hid under the bed of his rabbi with the hopes of learning the spiritual way to sexual intimacy. To his shock, he witnessed his rabbi having unusually passionate sex with his wife. This was a revelation to him, because he had assumed, like so many people, that the religious would be prudish. But he learned that holiness fuels and fires up physical pleasures instead of diminishing them.
In truth, consciousness of Hashem intensifies the physical world. When a person has consciousness of Hashem, then apples taste different. They taste ultimate. When I acknowledge Hashem by reciting a blessing before I eat an apple or anything else for that matter, I taste something much greater than the fruit. I've turned this apple into an opportunity for tasting one of the flavors of Hashem. A new dimension of experience opens up, which transcends the apple. In the Talmud, various sages debate how to regard a man who is an ascetic and frequently fasts. One sage calls him a
holy man. However, another sage disagrees vehemently, saying that such a person not only does not deserve to be called a holy man but should be called a sinner. What's going on here? It's a question of education. If I think I love this apple too much, I love this painting too much,
or I love this body too much, then I am confusing the manifestation of Hashem with the packaging, just like the idolaters did. If that happens, then fasting is appropriate to get me back on track. But denial of the physical is not meant to be a way of life; it's just a way of putting things in perspective. The better way is never to reach the state of confusion that requires such a bitter remedy. The better to way is to enjoy it as a gift from Hashem and taste the Divine presence within it-that's the way it was intended to be. The more we see Hashem in and through the Divine colors-
sefirot-the more this world and all its physical pleasures glow with ultimate radiance.
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