Let's address a concept that has been discussed throughout Judaism for millennia.
In a previous post, Rebbe Akiva Rabinovitz was quoted by Rav Ofer Erez in Ahavat Kedumim, page 170:
In a previous post, Rebbe Akiva Rabinovitz was quoted by Rav Ofer Erez in Ahavat Kedumim, page 170:
Hakadosh Baruch Hu holds absolutely no hakpadah [strict judgement, condemnation] against a Jewish person who possess evil traits and lusts.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu does not come in accusations about this since He implanted these within him, and He brought us down here for this purpose.
***
The hakpadah occurs when the Jewish person does not strive to seek out the path and the counsel as to how to get out of [those evil traits and lusts].
"He brought us down here for this purpose."
In other words, our purpose in life is to possess negative qualities and then strive to rid ourselves of these negative qualities.
Having negative qualities, no matter how awful, does not actually say anything bad about you, the real you at your soul level, although other people and even self-help books may tell you that it does.
Sometimes, they will even tell you with great vehemence that it definitely means something bad about you.
But it doesn't!
Why?
Because your entire purpose of existence is to possess ugly stuff within you...
...and then struggle to scrub that ugliness out of you.
Rebbe Akiva Rabinovitz wasn't just saying what he thought (although he does think this). This is found throughout Judaism. It's been written many times. He's quoting earlier Sages, not bringing down his own chiddush.
Whether your negative qualities are a result of your upbringing or environment or whether you were just born that way, Hashem implanted those qualities within you.
You are meant to have bad qualities and taavot! You're supposed to have them.
This means that you need not fear when you encounter these qualities within yourself.
Anything about you that is ugly, filthy, hateful, or mortifying was given to you by Hashem.
This means that you can just ask Hashem to take these things back!
They don't belong to you anyway.
"TAKE IT BACK HASHEM!!! I DON'T WANT IT!!!"
Seriously.
And just by doing that, you are fulfilling your primary purpose in life.
To recap:
How do you fulfill your core purpose in life?
In other words, our purpose in life is to possess negative qualities and then strive to rid ourselves of these negative qualities.
Having negative qualities, no matter how awful, does not actually say anything bad about you, the real you at your soul level, although other people and even self-help books may tell you that it does.
Sometimes, they will even tell you with great vehemence that it definitely means something bad about you.
But it doesn't!
Why?
Because your entire purpose of existence is to possess ugly stuff within you...
...and then struggle to scrub that ugliness out of you.
Rebbe Akiva Rabinovitz wasn't just saying what he thought (although he does think this). This is found throughout Judaism. It's been written many times. He's quoting earlier Sages, not bringing down his own chiddush.
Whether your negative qualities are a result of your upbringing or environment or whether you were just born that way, Hashem implanted those qualities within you.
You are meant to have bad qualities and taavot! You're supposed to have them.
This means that you need not fear when you encounter these qualities within yourself.
Anything about you that is ugly, filthy, hateful, or mortifying was given to you by Hashem.
This means that you can just ask Hashem to take these things back!
They don't belong to you anyway.
"TAKE IT BACK HASHEM!!! I DON'T WANT IT!!!"
Seriously.
And just by doing that, you are fulfilling your primary purpose in life.
To recap:
How do you fulfill your core purpose in life?
- You acknowledge to Hashem the negative qualities implanted within you.
- You actively try to rid yourself of them by asking Hashem to help you do so.
We'll be going into this more in future posts, but this is the nitty-gritty of it.
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