48. Crying While Dancing, Dancing While Crying

Can a tear fall in the middle of joy? Can a smile rise up from the center of pain?

Rav Shlomo Katz brings us to the heart of Chassidus, the place where opposites meet and dissolve in truth. A niggun becomes the soul’s confession, a mikveh of melody, where we don’t explain ourselves; we reveal ourselves. The Piaseczner Rebbe shows us that real avodah doesn’t wait for the perfect moment. It’s not reserved for a fabrengen or a Friday night. The door is always open.

Whether whispered at your kitchen table or sung in a crowded street, your soul’s song is sacred. And in that moment, dancing or weeping or both, you come face to face with who you really are, and who you yearn to become.

What is Bnei Machshava Tova?

Diving into the essays by Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, in which the establishment of a “conscious community” is promoted and aimed at attaining spiritual growth.

Why is there a need for a “conscious community”? Could the individual not achieve this aim on his own? R. Kalonymus insists that belonging to a chavura is a precondition for self-improvement and chasidic service: “That which can be achieved by the group cannot by any means be achieved by the individual.”

The group is open to anyone seeking to draw close to God – people who have had enough of their mundane, contemptible lives of “lowly spirit”; people who are ready for uncompromising psychological and spiritual exertion.

The shiur was recorded at Shirat David (Efrat,Israel). To learn more about Shirat David and various learning opportunities:
www.shiratdavid.com, [e-mail]