One of the Rebbe's revolutions in Jewish thought was the shift in seeing the material world as the enemy to seeing it as the objective. This idea wasn't novel, it was taught by the Baal Shem Tov as a fundamental of Judaism and of the objective of creation. The Baal Shem Tov exposed this idea as a Torah idea, the Rebbe took it to the next level of bringing it into our consciousness.

In recent years as material wealth has expanded and as awareness around our body and emotional systems has become more prevalent (both deep expressions of the material world) the goal around this shift in perspective has become more alive and challenging at the same time.

The Baal Shem Tov taught the following on a verse from this week's Torah Portion:

"When you see chamor, a donkey" - when you carefully examine your chomer ("materiality"), your body, you will see...

..."your enemy" - meaning, that your chomer hates your Divine soul that longs for G‑dliness and the spiritual, and furthermore, you will see that it is...

..."lying under its burden" placed upon it - (the body) by G‑d, namely, that it should become refined through Torah and mitzvot; but the body is lazy to fulfill them. It may then occur to you that...

..."you will refrain from helping it" - to enable it to fulfill its mission, and instead you will follow the path of mortification of the flesh to break down the body's crass materiality. However, not in this approach will the light of Torah reside. Rather...

..."you must aid it" - purify the body, refine it, but do not break it by mortification.

These days our bodies and emotional systems are front and center in a way that perhaps we have not experienced prior. Whether we are in a moment of consciousness or not, each day the news from Israel touches us deeply in our emotional, intellectual and physiological systems - all expressions of the material world referenced in the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov.

One may be inclined to minimize, dismiss, ignore, or unhealthily act out on these feelings. But that would be escapism at best or extremism at worst. We need to recognize that these feelings are not our enemy. They are to be validated and harnessed to move us forward in a positive way. Doing a Mitzvah for Israel. Being a voice of support and advocacy. In general becoming nicer and kinder, more connected Jews. All of these create the transformation that the Baal Shem Tov taught.

The Kotzker Rebbe once said: "When I was younger I thought I would change the world. I then realized that I couldn’t change the world, instead I would work on changing my city. Later I realized that I couldn’t change my city but rather should just concentrate on changing my family. But now I have decided just to try and change myself."

When we change ourselves we actually change the world. If the goal is the transformation of the material world, the physicality of the world, the physiology of our bodies and emotional systems, then doing this hard work will bring us that much closer to the transformation of the world.

Good luck, good Shabbos and Am Yisrael Chai!