Body Love

When the Rebbe’s wife, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka passed away in 1988, the Rebbe who was typically reserved about his personal life, openly displayed sorrow over her passing.

It is easy to discount this as a normal human expression of emotion.  However, the Rebbe demonstrated throughout his life and leadership, that he was very much in control of his emotions and chose when and what to share and to what extent.

It is fair to say that the Rebbe was intending to teach something to the Chasidim; a lesson for all of us. In this week’s Parsha we read of the passing of Sara, our matriarch.  The Torah tells us, “and Abraham came to eulogize Sara and to cry for her”.

Here too we see a Rebbe (Abraham) expressing sorrow over the passing of his Rebbetzin (Sara).

The Zohar tells us that Sara represents the body and Avraham the soul.  As such, the soul is crying over the loss of the body.  The soul appreciates the body in a way perhaps that the body itself doesn’t appreciate.

When married to the body, the soul is able to go places and achieve heights that it can never accomplish in heaven.  While married to the body, the soul is able to use the vehicle of the body to do a Mitzvah, to connect with Hashem and to bring G-dliness into the physical world – this is something the soul cannot do on its own.

Marrying up is not necessarily marrying someone who is greater than you, more accomplished, smarter or wealthier.  Marriage is about appreciating that through marriage you can go places you could never go on your own.  In a healthy marriage, the connection alone inspires.  

When one experiences the loss of this marriage it is truly sorrowful. 

Perhaps Abraham and the Rebbe were sharing their sorrow with us to help us appreciate the gift that we have.  To appreciate our spouses and that our connection to them empowers us to go places that’d we’d never be able to go alone.

(Perhaps men need to hear this message more than women.)

Good Shabbos.

Ps. Here is a link to very powerful video released this week on Happiness In Hardship.

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