Search for Serenity - 001 Finding Serenity In Our Current Situation

“Menuchas HaNefesh” - The Soul’s Serenity

Menuchas Hanefesh – “serenity of the soul” – is a concept mentioned in the Torah[1] by the blessing given to the tribe Yissocher, of whom it is said, “And he saw that serenity (menuchah) was good.”

Menuchah does not mean to be slothful or to be sleeplike. It is rather to be in touch with a root power in the soul.

Inner Menuchas HaNefesh

There are three inner kinds of menuchas hanefesh which the soul can reach. The soul can find serenity in the Ein Sof (Endlessness) of Hashem, it can find menuchah in the Shechinah (Hashem’s Holy Presence), and it can find menuchah when one finds the root of his own soul, his shoresh haneshamah.

From all of these, the highest and most perfected kind of menuchas hanefesh a person can find is the menuchah in the Ein Sof of Hashem. This is because the ultimate serenity is to be above all possibility of movement, because movement contradicts the entire concept of menuchah; and since Hashem is above all of the movement of this world, connecting to the Infinite would give the soul the greatest possible serenity it can know of. This kind of menuchah is beyond this world, and it is only attainable through having absolute emunah [which, when accessed, would give the person the ability to transcend this world and connect one to this high dimension].

Lower than that level of menuchah is a kind of menuchah where a person connects to the root of all souls of the Jewish people, which is known as the “Shechinah”.

Lower than this level is where a person finds his own personal soul root, his “shoresh haneshamah”. We find this kind of menuchah in marriage, of which it is said, “And each woman shall find her husband.”[2]

The Lower Levels of Menuchah\Serenity

All of the above levels of menuchah are the “inner” kinds of menuchah. Lower than that on the spectrum we can find additional kinds of menuchah, which are closer to the physical body.

“Menuchah” has the same root as the word “chein” (favor), and the Gemara says that there are three things which find chein\favor to a person: “The chein of a wife to her husband, the chein of one’s hometown, and the chein of a bought item.”[3] These three kinds of chein give some level of menuchah to a person and they are more physical in their nature. [There is also a fourth kind of chein which is more hidden, which will be discussed at the end of this chapter].

Why do these three things have chein to a person? The Maharal[4] explains that all of these things involve some kind of feeling of connection. Chein is when a person connects to something, because there is a connection between the owner and what he buys, he wants to buy it. A husband and wife want to become connected to each other, thus they are able to get married. So chein is what connects two things together.

Chein and menuchah are interrelated concepts, and they share the same root letters. Chein is the menuchah which the physical body can delight in. Just like the soul can have menuchah, so does the body have menuchah in the things that have chein to a person, because it is a serene-like feeling of becoming connected to something.

Finding Your Root

The first kind of chein mentioned in the Gemara is, the chein of a person’s home place. A person feels connected to where he comes from, because that is his root. The Sages state that Eretz Yisrael has a special chein to the Jewish people, from all of the lands of the earth, to the extent that if not for the chein of Eretz Yisrael, people would be very unhappy with their allotted portions of its land[5].

Filling What You Are Missing

The second kind of chein which the Gemara mentions is, the chein of a wife upon her husband. Not only does a wife have menuchah when she finds a husband, but a husband also has a degree of menuchah when he finds her. Because she has chein to him, that is why he finds menuchah with her, and vice versa.

Here the menuchah is coming from the completion that they are feeling with each other, upon becoming connected to each other. When a man and woman come together in marriage, their physical bodies find menuchah, by being completed by the other. This is because when a person is missing something and he seeks to fulfill it, he doesn’t have menuchah, whereas when a person fulfills what he needs, he is content and has menuchah.

Shabbos is the prime example of this kind of menuchah. On Shabbos, “the day of menuchah”[6], we have menuchah because “all our work is done”.[7] Shabbos completes what we are lacking, it offers us a completion to the point that “all your work is done”, and that is why it is the time of menuchah.

So far we have studied here two kinds of physical menuchah. The first kind of menuchah mentioned, the menuchah that one has in his home place, provides a person with serenity because that is where he finds his roots. The second kind of menuchah, the chein of a wife to her husband (and vice versa), gives a person menuchah because he finds what he’s missing.

Gathering Together Your Parts

The third kind of chein mentioned in the Gemara is that of a bought item to its owner. Why is there chein between the buyer and his item?

To understand this deeply, when man was created, he was created perfect; after the sin, man’s soul became spread out all over the earth, and our holy sefarim write that a person’s financial assets are part of the makeup of the soul (tzuras adam). In every generation there are a few righteous individuals who merit to have all of their acquisitions in one place, but most people do not merit this, and their acquisitions are scattered. The money of a person is considered to be a part of his soul.  This is why “Anyone who steals from someone else, it is considered as if he stole the person’s soul”.[8] Thus, any bought item has chein to its buyer, because when a person buys something, his assets have become further unified into one place.

It seems that this kind of menuchah is the same as the first kind of menuchah (finding one’s root), because when a person buys something his assets are gathered together and have found their root.  In actuality, however, it is a different kind of menuchah. In the first kind of menuchah, a person has his roots (i.e, a home) come to him; but when a person buys something, his assets haven’t come to him, and it is rather that they have become more gathered.

[To illustrate, there is rule that for everything in Creation, there are ‘roots’ and ‘branches’. When branches are furthered from their root, the disconnection from their root reflects a lack of menuchah in the branches. When branches find their root, we can say that the branches have menuchah, because they have found their root. However], even when the branches haven’t yet found their root, the fact that they are gathered together in one is a degree of menuchah.

As an example of this kind of menuchah, when the Jewish people were enslaved in Egypt, or even when they were exiled to Bavel, although they were exile and they were furthered from their root (their home place, Eretz Yisrael), they at least had the menuchah of being gathered together into one unit. They were not in their true place, they were far from their roots, but they were still all together. This was some degree of menuchah. So even when isn’t connected to a root, he can still have menuchah on some level, if his “parts” are gathered together.

If a person is an exceptional tzaddik, he merits to have his roots come to him. But most people have to go out and gather together their “parts” and then sort them all out. If a person’s “parts” are scattered, he is like a person who puts his dining room table in the restroom. A person can own many things, but he will need to put them all in their proper place, or else he cannot be at peace with this. When each “part” of a person is in its proper place, he will have some menuchah.

How Menuchah\Serenity is attained through Shalom\Peace

We have explained this third kind of menuchah as the Maharal explains it [the menuchah of gathering together your parts], but there is another way to understand it as well, from the Alter of Kelm[9]: that this kind of menuchah is otherwise known as shalom (peace).

When a person is scattered and his ‘branches’ have no ‘root’ to them, he cannot feel any shalom (peace) in his life. When everything in a person’s life is separated and there is no point unifying them together, he has no peace in this. “Peace” is only achieved when a person has a root that unifies all his many aspects.

The future redemption will be the situation where we totally find our roots, and all of our many parts and ‘branches’ will be connected to our root. That will be the total menuchah. Yet, even before the redemption, we can still have some degree of menuchah - even in this world, and even with menuchah of our physical body - when we have the “peace” of gathering together all of the parts of our life, in spite of the fact that we haven’t yet found our root.

An example of this kind of peace is what we find with the arguments between the schools of Hillel and Shamai, who constantly disagreed, yet they always respected each other. The students of Hillel always quoted the students Shamai first, out of respect for them, before arguing with them. Another example of peace is what the Talmud[10] says about a father and son, or teacher and student, who learn with each other and debate with each other.  They begin as enemies, but eventually come to love each other. Each person is allowed to keep his own opinion, yet still be at peace with his opponent. This is the idea of peace.

Another example of peace is what we find by Aharon HaKohen, who would make peace between two people who were quarrelling. Instead of disproving each person, he let each person remain with his opinion, yet be at peace with each other. Peace doesn’t come and negate each person’s view; rather, each person is allowed to remain with his opinion, without ruining the peace between them.

Peace is called the “vessel which contains blessing”[11]. Peace is only a “vessel”, not a root, yet it can be a tool for bringing things together. When something is unified under peace, it is at peace, even though it hasn’t been connected to its root.

Serenity on Shabbos and Serenity In The Six Days of the Week

There are essentially two different kinds of menuchah found on this world. The first one, as we mentioned, is in finding one’s root. The second type of menuchah is in making “peace” between one’s ‘branches’, even when there is no ‘root’ to unify them; when there is peace within the ‘branches’ themselves.

This is also the difference between the six days of the week and Shabbos. Shabbos is a “day of menuchah” for the entire world. Why? (Earlier we explained how Shabbos is menuchah for a person, but now we will explain why it is menuchah for the entire world as well). The reason for this is because Shabbos is the root of all creations. Shabbos is the “source of blessing” for all that is in Creation, and therefore the six days of the week are the “branches” of its root, Shabbos. The six days of the week ‘wait’ for its ‘root’, Shabbos, and on Shabbos it finds its root and then the six days of the week have menuchah in their root.

But the six days of the week can only have menuchah with itself when there is ‘peace’ within itself. The six days of the week represent the six different directions (north, south, east, west, up, and down), so they are six different ‘branches’ with no root. The only menuchah to be found in the six days of the week is when one can has access to “peace” within the six days of the week.

Shabbos, though, is the menuchah of finding one’s root. This is similar to the menuchah that one has in connection to his home place, which is his root. Therefore, if a person hasn’t yet merited to discover his own soul’s root, he will only know of the menuchah that can be found in the six days of the week can, which is the menuchah of finding “peace” (shalom), and this is how the Alter of Kelm explained the chein\menuchah a person has when he buys an item.

Practically Applying These Concepts

Now that we have explained the concept of menuchah when one gathers his ‘parts’ together, let us learn of how to apply this practically in our life.

There are different many forces within our soul – many ‘branches’. When a person knows how to use each ability of his soul properly, even if he hasn’t yet revealed his soul’s root (shoresh haneshamah) and he only knows of his soul’s branches, he will be able to have menuchah, because he at least knows how to utilize his soul’s abilities properly. But if a person doesn’t know how to use his soul’s abilities, he lives constantly with inner contradictions. One part of his soul opposes a different part of his soul, and this causes a person to feel an inner turmoil.

The classic example of a person who lacks menuchas hanefesh is someone whose thoughts often digress to either the future or the past, where he is never focused on the present moment. A person really needs to be in the here and now, but if he is thinking about the future, he is mixing the future into the present moment. When a person spaces out like this, there are inner forces in his soul that are at a contradiction with each other. This obviously prevents a person from having menuchas hanefesh.

Another lack of menuchas hanefesh, related to the above, is when a person’s soul experiences contradicting emotions. In the soul, there are many forces that can oppose each other. A person’s soul has feelings that expand, such as the feeling of happiness and enthusiasm, and feelings that contract, such as sadness and laziness. Each emotion has a rightful time when it should be used. When a person doesn’t use each ability properly, there is clashing within the soul, and then there won’t be any menuchas hanefesh.

For example, take the emotions of laziness, haughtiness and lust, which are normally detrimental. Each of these feelings has times where they can be used for holiness. A person needs to be “haughty” when it comes to believing in himself that he can reach high levels of avodas Hashem, as it written, “And his heart was high in the ways of Hashem”. A person can use the trait of lust to have a great desire to connect himself to Hashem. But when a person uses the wrong emotion in the wrong place, there is an inner turmoil which doesn’t allow him to have menuchas hanefesh.

The first example we discussed was a person who isn’t present.  He is either imagining about the past or the future. It is easy to understand why this is a lack of menuchas hanefesh. Any person, as long as he can think clearly, can catch his thoughts and realize that he isn’t focusing on the present moment.  But it’s hard to be aware of what’s going on inside one’s soul, because the soul is hidden from us. And when a person doesn’t understand his soul’s abilities, he misuses them in the wrong place and in the wrong time – and this clashing of the soul’s abilities is a lack of menuchas hanefesh.

Being Content In Your Current Situation

Earlier we brought from the Gemara that that there are three kinds of chein, but there is also a fourth kind of “chein” we find [in addition to those three], which also shows us another kind of menuchah that exists.

The Sages state that Yosef found chein by others, even though he was imprisoned, for he was above the influence of the evil eye.[12] We can see from this that a person can have menuchah even if he was “imprisoned”. When a person is released from prison, that is a kind of menuchah which is obvious, but even when a person is imprisoned, he can still find a degree of menuchah.

How can a person have menuchah if he is imprisoned? Chazal say that a bear has no menuchah[13], because even if it is in its rightful place, it still wanders around and it is never content. But this implies that if one does have menuchah in the place where he is currently found in, he can find menuchah right now where he is. This is a menuchah of being content with one’s current situation.

Yosef had chein to others even when he was in prison, because he was content with the situation; and since chein and menuchah bear the same root [as we explained before], this meant that he also had menuchah there. He was content there and he didn’t seek to escape it. When a person is in a predicament and he always wants to escape it, he will not have menuchah. However, if he is content with his situation, in spite of the fact that he knows he is in a predicament, he will have menuchah there.

There were two kinds of menuchah that the Jewish people experienced as a whole. One kind of menuchah was when we left Egypt to receive the Torah and settle in Eretz Yisrael. We had menuchah when we settled in Eretz Yisrael because we found our home place, our roots. But there was another kind of menuchah we had: when we were still in Egypt! Even during the Egyptian exile, where we hadn’t yet been freed from this great prison, we merited the revelation of Hashem in the land of Egypt, by the final plague, the death of the firstborn, where Hashem revealed His open Presence and proclaimed, “Behold, I am going out amidst Egypt.” The death of the firstborn was a certain kind of menuchah to us, showing us with clarity that Hashem is here, right now, amidst our exile.

Being that we know Hashem wants us to get out of this exile, and we are required every day to wait for Moshiach’s arrival, as we recited in the Ani Maamin, “Although he tarries, I still wait for him” -  it would seems contradictory for us to feel menuchah in our current situation today, where we are in exile and we are longing for the future redemption. If we are able to have menuchah in our current situation because we know that Hashem is always with us, how do we reconcile this with the fact that we must long to come out of it and await the redemption?

The answer to this is that our soul contains two different kinds of menuchah. There is the menuchah of the perfect Shabbos, which is to find our soul’s root, the Ein Sof of Hashem. That is what we will have in the future, and it is that that we long for. However, there is still another kind of menuchah which is not as sublime as this, yet it can still give us some degree of menuchah, even in our current situation. This is the menuchah that is attainable with “the six days of the week”, as we explained about before – the ability to have some level of menuchah in spite of our current exile.

How can we have access to this kind of menuchah? It is when we are content with whatever situation we happen to be in. For example, if a Jew knows that he has must be exiled to Persia or Babylonia, exile, and he accepts this situation [as the will of Hashem], he accesses a level of menuchah where he is content with whatever situation Hashem has sent him.

These two kinds of menuchah (connecting to our root, and being content even before we have found our root) are really very deep abilities in our soul. We have an ability to get out of our situation and desire a more perfect one, while we also have an ability to be content in whatever situation we are in, from knowing that Hashem has put us into the situation for some purpose.

Three Levels of Being Content – Higher, Lower, and Intermediate

This particular idea of menuchah, where we feel content in our situation, has three levels to it.

The higher manifestation of it is transcendental, where we connected to the Ein Sof of Hashem in our current situation, through having complete emunah. [In the beginning of this chapter, we explained that this kind of menuchah is beyond this world, but it can be attained through having powerful and absolute emunah].

When it is brought down to a lower level, it is a power that is used for evil - when a person becomes so content with his situation that he acts sleeplike and lethargic.

But the middle level of it is an ability that every person can have: the ability to be content with your situation when we know that this is the place where Hashem desire us to currently be in.