What is the ideal setting for a high-minded, spiritual person? What kind of life does a holy person aspire to?
A life without spiritual challenges.
A soul-focused person isn’t spending too much energy wishing he had a flashier car; he just wants a clear field – without obstacles – so that he’s able to lead a good life. One simply hopes for less distraction, less stress, less psycho-spiritual confusion. In the words of our morning prayers “Do not lead me….into trials and ordeals”.
Our Patriarch Jacob was a spiritualist par excellence. The Torah describes a person wholly committed to higher living, as the Scripture testifies “…Jacob was a fully committed man, residing in the tents [of Divine study]”.
So one can only imagine what it was like for him to spend his 'golden years', the last seventeen years of his life, in Egypt, the most depraved nation of its time. A moral paragon stuck in the bowels of societal immorality. It must have been very difficult to keep his virtuous focus, to stay prioritized.
Yet, the Torah tells us that those last years were his best, spiritually as well as physically. What was the secret of his success?
The Rebbe points out that Jacob, in preparation for his trip to Egypt, “sent Judah ahead to make advance preparations”, which the Talmud interprets to mean that Judah prepared houses of spiritual study in Egypt.
In other words, Jacob knew where he and his family were going, and he wanted to establish a healthy dynamic. He knew that If they maintained a reservoir of spiritual strength, they would be able to thrive in the spiritually-desolate Egypt.
There’s a profound lesson here.
G-d wants us live spiritually-conscious lives right where we are, not in isolation on a mountain-top. G-d gave us lives where we’re thrown daily curveballs, distractions and assorted fears. Yet we’re given the power to persevere, survive and thrive - even here ‘in Egypt’.
The key is maintaining our spiritual anchor, our bond with the Divine, who transcends life’s jungle.
If we take some moments for prayer in the morning, and a brief opportunity to engage our minds in Torah wisdom, we can insulate ourselves from the day’s scrapes and bruises.
We can grow from healthy engagement of a rough world, and we thereby actualize the purpose of our creation.
It’s the life we’re given. Use it well.