There's a Chabad Chasidic saying "when two get together to talk of their spiritual failings, it is two Godly souls vs. one animal soul." The reasoning is, the Godly souls are selfless and are more than happy to unite and help each other in the spiritual failing at hand. However, the animal soul is innately selfish and thus each animal soul will not join forces. Thus, at a farbrengen, when Chassidim get together to inspire one another, they have the help of each others' Godly souls, greatly out-numbering the animal souls.
The farbrengen was one of my first, first hand encounters with Hasidim and will always have a place in my heart. Reading that reminded me of many, many, many wonderful afternoons and evenings gathered around a table with friends and strangers alike singing various niggunim, listening to hassidic stories/midrashim and eating and drinking into the wee hours. If you've never experienced such an event then your missing out on something very special. Shalom Alechem!
0 comments:
Post a Comment