Chasidut su Salmi 32:78

The Gemara³⁰⁶Sanhedrin, 64a tells us that the word, “cleaving (d’veikim)” means an intensely close connection.³⁰⁷“Devekus” is the act of joining and uniting oneself with God. It could be described as an intense feeling of connection to God. Man indeed has the ability to unite with the Omnipresent, each at his own level, and reaching a state of deveikus is one of the primary goals of Avodas Hashem. In order to understand the phenomenon, the Rebbe points us first to the way Chazal used the term deveikus. It is not simply being close together, like a lid tightly fastened to a jar that can be removed with little effort, but in the imagery of the Gemara, “like two date palms that grew together.” wedged together, inseparable. It is the difference between a mere association and a long standing relationship where the two grew together, like a man and wife or a child and parent. When you achieve devekus you cannot be taken away from God, or even distracted from being conscious of His presence. The Toldos Yaakov Yosef³⁰⁸Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye, the “top student” of the Baal Shem Tov, published in 1780 (5540) the first sefer to quote teachings of his master Rabbi Yisrael. tells us in the name of the Rambam that the ultimate purpose of Torah observance is for man to reach the point where he fulfills the words, “and you shall cleave unto Him,” in all aspects of his Torah observance. With this in mind, we can understand how the teachings of Chassidus are not an optional avodah that the man of Israel can “get by” without. It is the central point of the Torah - its very culmination - and without it, man’s Torah observance is somehow incomplete.³⁰⁹Deveikus happens when there is a harmony and union between your desires and God’s desire. You can reach deveikus in learning and in davening, but it must be clear that an eved Hashem can reach deveikus in the performance of just about any commandment. Those who know little about Chassidus might have an image in their minds of Chassidim reaching deveikus by davening, singing, and dancing for long periods of time. Though Chassidus stresses avodah b’simcha, still, being a chassid does not mean dancing around and clapping your hands, “drinking l’chaims” and davening late. A chassid is a baal nefesh, and once in possession of your soul you yearn to cleave it to the source of all souls in everything you do. How is it possible to truly cleave God through avodah if that service is done without soul, or with a soul that is covered up, or with a soul that you have not yet mastered? One can only reach deveikus (intense closeness or cleaving) through the avodah of Chassidus through some mastery of a revealed soul. Once you succeed in revealing your soul you can then truly feel deveikus with Hashem, each according to his own level. There is a concept and practice of mesiras nefesh in avodah. Mesiras nefesh means delivering over of your whole soul in any service of God, as we mentioned in Chapter Five when we quoted the Beis Aharon.³¹⁰Rav Aharon of Karlin, a generation after the Baal Shem Tov. When a man, God forbid, comes to a trial of faith at the hands of the oppressor, then he must relinquish himself in martyrdom and allow the destruction of his body and his life. It is only under highly rare conditions that we are asked to deliver our very lives to the avodah. And yet, every day, we have the ability to deliver our souls. For this reason it is called mesiras nefesh, (relinquishing the soul) and not mesiras hagoof (relinquishing the body). Mesiras nefesh is done when man’s desire, thoughts, behavior, and body are whole-heartedly offered to God in the context of the avodah. With the work of days and years, the eved Hashem directs all of his energies into the avodah. In this way he is really giving himself over to God. He still lives and walks the earth, but still, he delivers his body, soul, and all of his powers to God. After days and years pass he attains greater levels of devotion, until he reaches a point where he puts his life and soul³¹¹Here, as in many other places, the Rebbe Zts”l says, nefesh, ruach, and neshama, which we call, “soul.” into every act of kindness, every tefillah, and every line of Torah, every moment of the day. In his very lifetime he is wholly given over into God’s hands. And then, “at a time when God is found,”³¹²Tehillim, 32:6. “a time when God is found … Rav Nachman bar Yitschak says, this is when one passes on.” (Gemara, Brachos 8a) after the length of days and years, he is then altogether given over to God.