Nachal novea; makor chochma -
A flowing river; the source of wisdom (Mish. 18:4)
In our own times, we are constantly bombarded by high-tech pornography with our every step. It attacks us in the movies, on TV, in books and magazines we read, on almost every billboard and advertisement, in the streets, and at the checkout counters of every supermarket, or doctors office waiting room. [We cannot estimate the damage caused by looking at, or even being in the presence of such materials - Ed]. Immoral dress, language, and activity is the norm. Anyone who does not follow the norm is "old-fashioned", "closed-minded" or has "hangups" and loses all credibility. In the Zohar, Rebbe Yitzchak taught that three sins which chase away Hashem's Divine Presence from the world: a Jew who has relations with a menstrually unclean woman, with a non-Jew, and a Jew who performs abortions. When a Jew has relations with a non-Jew, he causes holy sparks (invisible spiritual units of Hashem's light found in every living thing which provide life and power) and all the holy energies particular to Jews to fall into the realm of impurity. This empowers the nations of the world to control Jews and to severely damage their holiness and connection to Hashem, which is the essence of each Jewish soul. Immorality is tantamount to a total denial of Hashem [before whom nothing is hidden - Ed], and severs one's connection to Him. Nothing angers Hashem more than this type of behavior, since decency is the foundation of all holiness as the verse says, "...and Israel dwelt in Shittim and the people began to commit immoral acts with the daughters of Moab... And the intense anger of Hashem flared against Israel." (Numbers: 25:1, 3). If one has fallen into such sin, he should not despair for sincere repentance is always accepted and repairs the damage. In the merit of the Jews keeping themselves pure sexually, they were redeemed from Egypt. (Zohar: Exodus p. 3)
Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai taught in the Zohar that since Yosef HaTzaddik (the saintly) had purified himself against rampant immorality, he became the epitome of the aspect of holiness known as "Yesod", (foundation of holiness). The verse says, "There rose up a new king [after Yosef's death] over Egypt, who did not know Yosef," (Exodus: 1:8) which tells us that as soon as Yosef died, the political power was taken from the Jews and transferred to the Egyptians. The reason for this is that Yosef was the epitome of sexual purity. As long as morality, decency & modesty are present amongst the Jews, the Divine Presence rests upon them and the Jews can live in peace. When Yosef died, the perfected state of purity departed with him, opening way for the Jews and the Divine Presence to become subjugated, to experience the harshness and cruelty of the Egyptian exile. (Zohar: Exodus p. 16)
Considering of all of the above, why then does Hashem always force the Jews and the righteous into compromising positions where they are forced to confront and live in societies which threaten them with the most spiritually polluting and dangerous evil of all - sexual impurity. In the following paragraphs we will discuss this very important topic based on the insights of Rabbi Nachman and his chief disciple Rav Noson.
In order to maintain free choice in the world, holiness must be counterbalanced with impurity. Therefore, Ya'akov went down to Egypt with his family, seventy souls. The number seventy corresponds, on the side of holiness, to the 70 faces of the holy Torah, and on the side of impurity to the seventy nations of the world. [Note: This does not mean that the other nations of the world are necessarily evil. Every nation possesses good and bad characteristics. When the Torah says the nations of the world are impure, it means they are very strongly connected mentally and spiritually to physicality, which by definition means unholiness, and therefore unable to achieve the same spiritual heights and closeness to Hashem as the holy Jewish nation, as the verse says, "And you [only the Jews] shall be to Me [Hashem] a kingdom of priests and a holy nation [to the exclusion of all other nations]." (Exodus 19:6) When Jews have an intimate association with the materialistically rooted nations of the world, it can be harmful, because materialism usually pulls spiritualism down to its level. [Here, the word impure essentially means material oriented.] Rabbi Nachman taught that sexual impurity is the most prevalent evil in every one of the 70 nations of the world. Before any Jew can attain that next level of Torah knowledge, he must withstand the temptation of being affected in any way by sexual impurity and sexual immorality that surrounds us. Rabbi Nachman calls this being mentally exiled amongst all 70 nations. If one withstands temptation, he purifies and nullifies the evil which holds him in his current level and, by so doing, merits to perceive deeper spiritual insights on the next level, insights which are rooted in holiness and mandate higher levels of purity. We can see the truth in this if we realize that Moshe was the most purified man who ever lived, and it was he who was chosen to be the one to reveal and give the Torah and was called the Rabbi of all Israel, for all generations. [Rabbi Nachman adds that this kind of temptation is related to biological factors such as certain kinds of blood found in the spleen. He enumerates many ways how one can overcome this temptation, but this is beyond the scope of this sheet and may be found in] (1 Likutai Moharan 36)
Adam, to atone for his sin, separated from his wife for 130 years. During this time, according to Kabbalah, demons seduced him, causing his very holy sparks to be scattered throughout the world. Many of these sparks were drawn to Egypt because the land itself actually resonated with the same energy of impurity as the sparks. Therefore, since the Jews inherited the holy mission of rectifying the world of Adam's sin, they were enslaved in Egypt in order to reclaim Adam's fallen holy sparks.
Hashem's plan was to give the holy Torah to the Jews, so they first had to purify themselves by withstanding immorality, indecency and immodesty in order to build a holy foundation to merit to receive the Torah. Therefore, it was necessary for the Jews to descend specifically into the land of Egypt, as opposed to any other land, because Egypt was the most immoral of all of the seventy nations combined. By breaking the power of this greatest evil, in the most spiritually polluted land, the Jews would ensure that when they received the holy Torah, they would keep it in purity. For the knowledge of Hashem must be accompanied by deeds, and the discipline of purity. This allegorical understanding of the story of Egypt applies at all times and to all people. (Lekutai Halachoth: Orach Chaim: Hilchoth Pesach 5:1)
The mind, [specifically the ability to make analogies - Ed], is the most important possession that a person has. Through a purified mind, one can find and connect oneself to Hashem. The mind is the most powerful faculty that one possesses. Rabbi Nachman wrote quite extensively about the faculty of thought. We will mention a few brief teachings to help clarify and shed light on our subject.
To rectify and create vessels that can contain Hashem's light, one must first be pushed away or distanced from Hashem. Closeness to Hashem draws forth too much Divine light preventing the physical vessels from forming which would enable people to bear this light. This is why the Jews were forced into exile and were not able to draw close to Hashem, when they were enslaved in Egypt. Their distance from Hashem created very strong vessels to contain the immense light of Hashem's revelation on Mount Sinai. When these vessels were completed, the Jews were redeemed and brought very close to Hashem as evidenced by all the unprecedented miracles that were performed for them. The same thing will occur when we are redeemed by the Messiah. The centuries of darkness the Jews have experienced were all meant to create the necessary vessels to contain the light of the final redemption.
Since Hashem placed His essence into the 600,000 letters of the Torah, there had to be at least an equivalent number of Jews, who would act as vessels, enabling the great light of the Torah to be contained in this world. Every individual Jew is a vessel to contain this great light. Therefore, the most important commandment of all is, "Love your fellow Jew as your own self." (Leviticus 19:18) By fulfilling this all important commandment one merges and unites all Jews into one unit enabling Hashem's great light from the Torah to be contained, producing blessing and fruit. Disunity causes Hashem's light contained in the Torah to feed the forces of evil, causing the tragedies that we have experienced throughout our exiles. Rabbi Nachman taught that someone who hates his fellow Jew is unable to comprehend the inner essence of the Torah, because he doesn't access the necessary vessels from his fellow Jews that are needed to contain the immense light of the Torah in order to comprehend it on the deeper level. A person cannot bear this light alone. He must connect to his fellow Jews. Therefore, it is essential to get together with friends to discuss spiritual topics, so that the different aspects of Hashem's light stored in vessels of each Jew can be shared, enabling a better understanding of the Torah and of Hasbem. To balance this also, there are times when a person should distance himself front his friends in order to create new vessels for himself. This balance prevents drawing forth too much light which is unhealthy.
Now we can understand why the Jews, throughout their many exiles, especially our present one, have always encountered severe temptations. The Jews were redeemed from the Egyptian exile because their purity harnessed so much of Hashem's power and light. Only by resisting the spiritual filth to which we are always subjected will we be able to draw forth and contain the vast amount of Hashem's light which will bring the Messiah. The Messiah himself will be extremely purified and will wipe out all traces of the great darkness of sexual impurity in the world. This will then wipe out the root causes of all sadness and depression in the world and will enable all people to connect to and bask in the bliss of Hashem's light for eternity. Amen! (Lekutai Halachoth: Choshen Mishpat: Hilchoth Niz'kay She'chay'nim 2:1-4)