Sanctifying Ashes

The Rambam states:[308] "He who incinerates [on Shabbos] even the most minute quantity is guilty [of transgressing the prohibited labor of "Mavir," "causing a fire to burn"], provided that he desires the ash."

In spiritual terms, this law will be better understood by prefacing the following: The "thirty-nine prohibited Shabbos labors" are labors that were performed in the Mishkan, the Tabernacle.

Thus we understand that although these are mundane labors, for which reason they are prohibited on Shabbos, nevertheless, in their root and source within holiness -- and there is nothing that is not rooted in holiness -- they denote spiritual labors. In fact, these are all-encompassing and paramount spiritual labors of the Jew in his efforts to transform the world into a dwelling and residence for G-d.

The reason why one is guilty of Mavir solely when one needs the ash, directly results from the fact that in the positive spiritual context of this labor it is necessary for "the ash to be needed," as shall presently be explained:

The soul is likened to a candle -- "A man's soul is the candle of G-d,"[309] and in terms of man's spiritual service the labor of Mavir is that of the soul burning with a fiery love towards G-d.

The Alter Rebbe explains in Tanya[310] that "like the flame of a candle whose nature it is always to flicker upwards, for the flame of the fire intrinsically seeks to part from the wick to unite with its source above ... although thereby it would be extinguished, and would emit no light at all here below; also in its source, its identity would be lost within that of its source ... so also the neshamah of a Jew ... naturally desires and yearns to separate itself and depart from the body, and to unite with its origin and source in G-d."

Thus, the "fire" of the soul is its fiery love of G-d, a love so great that it causes the soul to rise upwards in a manner of supreme fiery love, to the point of its readiness to experience its own complete expiration and nullification.

This is also the inner reason why the labor of Mavir is consummated even with "the most minute quantity" -- one transgresses even if one burns the least possible amount:

Spiritually, the labor of Mavir involves the soul's desire to completely sacrifice itself for G-d, a desire that causes it to yearn to "separate itself and depart from the body, and to unite with its origin and source in G-d ... though thereby it would become null and naught and its identity would there be completely nullified with nothing at all remaining of its original essence and self."[311]

This degree of exquisite self-sacrifice derives from the soul's very essence, that of being "truly a part of G-d above."[312] On this rarefied level quantity has absolutely no value, since the soul exists there in a perfectly simple and elemental state, a state that transcends division -- even the "most minute quantity" possesses the qualities of the soul's quintessential essence.

The Rambam, however, goes on to note that although Mavir involves even the smallest possible quantity, it is nevertheless necessary to "desire the ash":

"Ash" is the most material and corporeal aspect of a burnt object. As the Alter Rebbe explains:[313] When an object is burned, its loftier elements "pass away and are consumed in the smoke," while the ashes that remain are "of the Earth, goes downward [and does not ascend with the smoke] and over which fire has no dominion; it is this that remains in existence ... for it is the most material of all."

This, then, is the stipulation that "he desire the ash": The ultimate purpose of the fiery flame of the soul is not for the sake of mere elevation ("fire") alone -- "to separate itself and depart from the body." Rather, it for the purpose of drawing down G-dliness within the coarse and corporeal world -- "he desires the ash."

In other words, the person is to feel that he needs to remain a soul within a body and occupy himself with the physical world, refining and elevating it. On the contrary, the primary end of this "fire" and "flame" is to provide the soul -- as it exists within its body and within this physical world -- additional robustness in its service of Torah and mitzvos.

This is because all the labors in the Mishkan -- the source of the thirty-nine labors -- were meant to fulfill the purpose of creation, G-d's desire to have a dwelling place in the nethermost level,[314] this physical world. So, too, regarding the individual Mishkan that resides within each of us: our labor consists of transforming the world into a dwelling and residence for G-d.

Thus, the labor of Mavir is incomplete until "he desires the ash," i.e., that the person feel that the purpose of the flame that burns so brightly and fiercely within him is for the sake of the "ash" -- providing a dwelling place for G-d in the nethermost level, within this coarse and corporeal world.

On a deeper level, the soul's "flame" and the material earth's "ashes" not only do not stand in opposition to each other, but moreover, "needing the ashes" demonstrates that the fiery flames of love are truly pure. For when the soul's "fire" is as it should be -- aware of G-d's desire of a dwelling below -- then the soul's "fire" itself will compel the "need for the ashes."

Based on Likkutei Sichos Vol. XXXVI, pp. 187-190.

   

Notes:

308. (Back to text) Hilchos Shabbos 12:1.

309. (Back to text) Mishlei 20:27.

310. (Back to text) Beginning of Ch. 19.

311. (Back to text) Ibid.

312. (Back to text) Ibid., beginning of Ch. 2.

313. (Back to text) Iggeres HaKodesh, Epistle XV (p. 121b).

314. (Back to text) Tanya, Ch. 36.