The Burning Flame

During the third meal of Shabbos, the Beis Yisrael of Gur, zt”l, was known to deliver very inspiring Torah that was strong enough to fire his chassidim for at least the coming week. One week he gave a lesson from a statement on today’s daf. “On Zevachim 43 Rav Yitzchak teaches that pigul, nosar or tamei which was brought up on the altar has their prohibition removed from them. Rav Chisda makes an oath and bemusedly wonders, ‘How can the altar remove issurim?’ Rav Zeira explains that it is discussing a case where the various offerings actually caught fire.
“This teaches us a very important lesson in avodas Hashem,” the rebbe enthusiastically exclaimed. “When one is filled with holy fervor, all inner evils that are like pigul, nosar, and tumah, fall away. All the filth and dirt is removed.”
We can understand this in light of a parable brought in the Toras Avos: “Once there was a man who owned a huge forest. Since developing the area was the best way to earn money from his land, he decided to remove the trees. To this end, the owner began to cut down the forest tree by tree. After many long days, he noticed that he was hardly making any progress. If he did not manage to increase his efficiency, it was quite plausible that the trees would grow back before he had a chance to cut down the rest. What did he do? He set fire to the forest and within a short time he achieved his goal.
“The same is true in spiritual terms. One who fights day in and day out against each illicit thought and spiritual challenge eventually realizes that he must find a better method to overcome his base nature. He will only prevail if he ignites a holy fire in his heart. As long as he is on fire with longing for Hashem, he will soon incinerate every base thought and failing.”

Don't Let Enthusiasm Prevent Lasting Change

Rav Yisrael Luria, shlit”a, explains the words of our sages with a fascinating parable brought in the Toras Avos:
“We find in Mishlei 25:4, 'הגו סיגים מכסף ויבא לצרף כלי'—‘Take away the dross from the silver, and there comes forth a vessel for the refiner.’ This can be explained in terms of avodas Hashem. If a person puts silver in the fire to remove impurities, doing so was worthwhile. But if a person places silver into a fire which does not remove any impurities, this is simply a waste of time. To an ignorant bystander, it might appear that in both cases the same worthy action has been done, but this is not the case at all.
“The same is true with what each person accomplish by firing up his emotions. Some people learn and daven with enthusiasm to better themselves and smelt out their character defects. Sadly, others wish to live a life immersed in materialism. But of course sometime these people feel guilty when they see that they are not upwardly mobile in spiritual terms. So what do they do? They daven or learn with enthusiasm to prove to themselves that they are on a high spiritual level. In this manner they mollify themselves and are able to continue to plod along in the same pedestrian path, with limited or no spiritual growth.
“Our sages teach that diluted wine is not really wine at all. Tosafos explains that when wine is only a sixth of the total liquid mixed with five-sixths of water, it merely manages to ruin the taste of the water, not confer on the water the taste of the wine. Wine represents spiritual enthusiasm, as the verse states, 'הביאיני אל בית היין, כי טובים דודיך מיין'—‘He brought me to the “house of wine,” Your love is better than wine...’ But this enthusiasm must pervade one’s day to such an extent he is elevated as a result of it. It cannot be so dilute that it ‘ruins the water,’ that it just serves as a foolish excuse to avoid genuine change!”