31. Korach 5799 : Caviar and Marmalade -Balancing Our Modus Operandi

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/2088999631395351/ Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/phyf9esay4m000s/31.%20Korach%205779%20Caviar%20and%20Margarine%20-Balancing%20Our%20Modus%20Operandi.pdf?dl=0 -- Sir Noël Peirce Coward is quoted for saying, “Wit ought to be a glorious treat like caviar; never spread it about like marmalade.” What Coward was saying is that in order for things to maintain their glory, they need to be withheld, and used wisely and sparingly. For, when not used as such, they lose their glory and value. Chassidus, explains that there are, within the infrastructure our souls, and thus within our psyche, two specific faculties, whose jobs it is to work out the delicate balance between glory and victory. The precise names of these two faculties are actually, Hod -Glory and Netzach -Victory. Netzach is on the Right Column of Chessed -Kindness; Revelation. Thus, the motto of Netzach is, “At all costs, me most prevail!” Hod, on the other hand, is on the Left Column of Gevurah -Strength, Strictness, Justice and Concealment. Therefore, the motto of Hod is, “Protect the glory and value by measured constraints!” Let’s get practical about this. If someone is holding a gun to the head of your child, all bets are off, and glory is out the window! You will get on your knees, beg, cry, and do whatever self-demeaning act the man with the gun to your child’s head is demanding. Not so, for $1000. Many struggle with finding the fine balance between maintaining the glory of our G-dly image, and with doing whatever it takes in order to get what we want. Thus, this lecture is titled Caviar & Marmalade, and will explore the modern-day issue of finding the G-dly balance in our Modus Operandi. This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1965, exploring the Modus Operandi of Korach, in his uprising against Moses.