Look at a sparkling gem; soak in its brilliance. Where does this stone come from and how did it get to this glorious state?
Gems usually start off in the earth, covered by earth and soil. But then we mine, purify, cleanse and polish a gem, making it worthy of
its glorious setting.
In the Torah program, we go through this process every day, preparing gems for ‘G-d’s Crown’.
Now, what kind of ‘Crown’ could G-d possibly wear, and how can we be the ones ‘crowning’ Him?
Scripture refers to “the Crown which His mother made for Him on the day of His wedding” (Song of Songs 3:11). The Midrash interprets this as referring to Israel (the mother) standing with G-d (the Groom) as we received the Torah at Sinai (the day of His wedding to us).
A similar ‘Crown’ quote appears in Jewish spiritual texts, which inform us that an Angel lifts our sincere prayers aloft and “weaves the letters into crowns for G-d”.
Chassidic thought looks at the struggle of prayer as an exhausting yet purifying exercise.
A. Focused, meditative thought, without any intrusion from the psyche’s ‘floating junk’, isn’t easy to maintain. When we pray, trying to forge a bond with the Divine, and we manage to find a commitment which enables us to pull through the static and connect with Higher, we come out stronger. Your bond has been strengthened and ‘cleansed’ by your internal battle.
B. Pouring your heart out to G-d, in a genuine - let it all flow – way, isn’t easy. It’s humbling to recognize that you don’t have all the answers, and that you need help from something higher than
yourself. Yet, perhaps paradoxically, it’s also liberating. On the other side of prayer of that caliber, you will have grown from all the
challenges and stress.
So words of genuine, committed prayer are seen as precious gems. They are morsels of your emotion and energy, taken from the ‘dirt’ of your
life. You’ve cleansed them, found their innate beauty and presented them to the Divine.
He couldn’t be prouder.
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