BS’D
Today’s daily dose of emuna is dedicated to the refuah shleimah of Daniel Moshe ben Rochel Hatun. May Hashem open the eyes of his doctors to clearly see and diagnose his medical issues and may he merit a complete healing b’karov, b’rachamim, Amen.
Sefer Pirkei Eliezer (a Midrashic work originated with the Tanna Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurcanus, a disciple of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai) teaches many beautiful lessons concerning the two battling forces in our nefesh. They are called koach hasechel (intellectual force) and koach ha’emuna (force of emuna). Chazal teach that the force of intellect alludes to water and the force of emuna refers to earthiness.
The power of water is portrayed in its desire to go beyond its limits; to cleanse and purify its surrounding in spite of its borders attempting to contain it. We witness this phenomenon on the shores as we see the sea attempting to push its way onto the sand. Human intellect is similar. It wishes to break all boundaries and grasp every corner.
Undoubtedly this is by G-dly design and for great purpose, yet one must be careful not to allow intellect to take over one’s life. The danger in allowing intellect to conquer our lives becomes clear when exploring its origin; gaiva (arrogance). Just as the sea waves look to force their way beyond their borders not concerned with the likely destruction it will cause, so too a limitless level of intellect eventually causes self-destruction.
Here we find a hidden pearl of Torah wisdom. In Hashem’s Infinite wisdom He placed a limit on human intellect to enable us to benefit from it without harm. The soul’s force called Emuna is the boundary which Hashem created to safeguard us from misusing our intellect and use it to improve and grow. More tomorrow…
