“And these are the names of Bnei Yisrael who came to Egypt” (Shemot 1:1)

Many Chassidic lessons are based on a verse in Mishlei (Proverbs), 24:16. כי שבע יפול צדיק וקם, a Tzaddik falls seven times and (then) rises. With the vicissitudes everyone’s life follows, the path is never one of constant progress. Everyone stumbles as they make their way, but to make a worthwhile life, we all have to get up and try again.

The Meor Eynayim brings a powerful insight and opens a new dimension, transforming a constant challenge all humans face to a unique opportunity each time we do fall.

Why do we necessarily fall, what do we do when we’re there and how do we reclaim our previous position, perhaps climb even higher?

God isn’t cruel or capricious. He doesn’t play games with us. Our falling, just as our rising, is aimed to the purpose engaging us as His partners in completing Creation, in bringing an intentionally imperfect world to perfection.

When we fall, it’s not merely to a void as there are no empty spaces in the universe. חיות, Chiuyut, Life Energy, the energy of existence is the matter of our world, and this chiuyut manifests itself in Neshamot, soul energy. Thus, wherever we fall, we find the presence of another who has previously fallen to this exact spot. The reason we fall, and then rise is to lift up the previously fallen soul we find there, a soul we uniquely are deeply connected to, and to restore it to it’s true place (which might be higher than it previously was and which also might be higher than our previous position.

Our falling and rising isn’t merely an exercise to boost our own standing, but it presents us with the opportunity and obligation to help another. Our subsequent elevation isn’t merely a matter of physics, like a bouncing ball, but a reward for our own efforts. Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Et Zeh, Every Jew is intimately interconnected with each other.

On a more cosmic, level, consider the state of humanity throughout history. Beginning with barely a subsistence way of life, we’ve formed societies, developed cultures, created civilizations while, along the same curve, we’ve inflicted incredible cruelties on each other, fought wars and destroyed both nations and the individuals that comprised them. But, over all, each time, human civilization comes back stronger with unimaginable advances in knowledge, the creation of new beauty, of new paths each of us can follow to maximize our human potential together.

As an Israeli, it seemed that after October 7 we couldn’t fall further. But our response as a nation, while it does necessarily include military action to undo the centralized concentration of evil, just as every generation is commanded to attack and destroy even the memory of Amalek, the personification of senseless evil, the war is a necessary duty and not something anyone looks forward to as an opportunity for glory or fame.

Much stronger in its expression is the unity, love and mutual support we show and experience every day. Compared to the sinat chinam, needless and arbitrary hate and rivalry that characterized Israel politics at least to one week before that tragic day, our society which unquestioningly fell, has risen.

In both the individual and the collective experience, the mechanism is the same. We’re put into a position where only we, do to our connection with them, can give a boost to someone else. Rather than merely gathering our own upward momentum, which raises us, we’re being rewarded for our service. Our setbacks, reverses, failures and downright disasters, even while some may be tied into the various reward/punishment mechanism, at the final analysis, each one becomes an opportunity to fill our finest purpose, which is to partner with Hashem, our Creator, to bring the universe closer to perfection.

Rather than fear our descent into slavery, look forward to our future triumphs. The current war must, indeed, be won, but we have no idea the heights we and all humanity can achieve as a result.

Shabbat Shalom