Note: Due to a Blogger.com outage I was unfortunately unable to post this ma'amar before Shabbos.
"ובכל ארץ אחוזתכם גאולה תתנו לארץ/In all the land of your holdings, you must allow redemption of the land." (VaYikra 25:24) The Sfas Emes understands this pasuk as a metaphor, teaching us how to reach personal redemption. The Sfas Emes explains the different words in this pasuk and the concepts as follows:
· The word ארץ/land is closely associated with the word רצון/will or desire. In fact the Midrash[1] makes this connection explaining that the reason the land is called ארץ is because it wants to do God's will – רצון.
· אחוזתכם/your holdings refers to our spiritual source, that which holds us to the Source of life.
· Finally, the Sfas Emes explains elsewhere that redemption is equivalent to God's revelation. Exile is equivalent to God's concealment.
How can we experience personal redemption? How can we experience God in our lives? We can experience closeness to God by cultivating a strong desire to connect with Him. The very act of pining for a personal relationship with God opens us up and redemption comes.
The pasuk can thus be interpreted as, "Pine for a connection with our spiritual source for redemption comes to those who cultivate this desire."
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