Chasidut su Salmi 19:12

At the time of our service we may feel our souls running towards God, like the reunion of the father and the son mentioned above. He longs for his father day and night, seeking him, his heart melts, our soul melts as it is poured out before our father in Heaven. It is not only at the time we are involved in prayer and divine service that we feel that we are coming close to God, rather it were well to be so close at all times. If a person leads a humdrum existence, where his soul is, so to speak, buried away under the carpet, then his prayer and divine service will also be routine. If he does not constantly take care of his soul and desire God, then he will not find inspiration when he turns to pray or engage in any holy endeavor. All day he must be a Yehudi,¹⁰A “Yehudi,” is a holy, self-actualized Jew. striving to be close to God. At times more, and at times less, but he is always a Yehudi, and he will always be on the level of a son to God. All his actions may be imbued with soul to the point where even his thoughts are always pure and strong - connected to God’s sanctity. Then he will reach a level where the soul overpowers his senses. In our service, it is not enough to bar our senses from confusing and seducing our thoughts, saying to us, “you see the world, and you feel real physical senses,” but rather our senses shall be subdued before our thoughts. Then our senses will feel the sanctity of God spread over all existence, and man will know and see in his very life how he lives in God’s garden of Eden before the throne of His glory, may He be blessed. How else may we merit such a complete service unless we are drawn, even slightly, after God’s knowledge on the heels of the Prophets, Kabbalists, and Tsaddikim among the Hasidim! “Follow after the hoofprints of the flock!” (Shir HaShirim 1:8). At least we will see the footprints of their kedushah¹¹Kedushah = Holiness , and our wrestling will kick up the dust on the path of God.¹²A play on words, When Yaakov wrestled with the angel, the word for wrestling “misavek” is etymologically connected to the word for dust, “avak,” as if to say, when two people wrestle they kick up the dust with their movements. It is with this struggle that Yaakov received the name Israel, which has the connotation of, “one who wrestles with God.” Dust is also a symbol of meekness, as Abraham said, “What am I but dust and ashes.” So when one subdues himself before the great spiritual masters of Israel and struggles to follow their ways, he is then truly on the way to a complete service of God which transforms his consciousness to one of feeling the Divine presence in all walks of his life. Then the path and the sensation of God’s presence will truly be internalized. Now we need to examine the great reward reserved for this holy enterprise,¹³Again multiple meanings are implied in the author’s word choice. “Mahu Ekev” could be, “what is the purpose (what are the ends),” “what is the reward,” and even, “what is the heel” (reminiscent of the heels of the wrestlers, as well as Yaakov, who was holding onto his brother Eisav’s heel as he emerged after him at birth.) There are abundant homiletical explanations for the word, “ekev,” in Chasidic writings. See Psalm 19:12, “in keeping them is a great reward.” and the proper training that the aspiring young man who yearns to be a Chasid¹⁴A Hasid, literally “pious one,” loosely means someone who is a member of a community of Orthodox Jews which espouses the practices and flavor of the Divine service upheld and taught by the Baal Shem Tov and his students. must undergo in order to achieve this goal.