Music Symphony vs. Music Lesson
One of the most common concepts in Kabalistic and Chasidic thought is the idea of the two forms of Divine light: “Makif” and “Pnimi”, the encompassing light and the internal light.
Let us look at the Mitzvot of the holiday of Sukkot to help us understand these two forms of Divine energy.
In the Kabbalistic and Chasidic teachings, the Sukkah is “Makif”, it represents the encompassing light; the Lulav and Etrog represent the “Pnimi”, the light that can be internalized. When we shake the Lulav and Etrog in the Sukkah, we “draw down the encompassing light and assimilate it internally”.
What exactly does that mean?
There are two ways that we can be affected by music. One way is by going to a world-class symphony, the music played touches the core of our being, we feel uplifted and inspired. From this point on, we want nothing else but to be involved in the world of music.
A second option is, by looking through the phonebook, finding a music teacher, who will teach us how to hold a guitar and play a music note. The music lesson is utterly boring, we are uninspired, we cannot understand why anybody would enjoy spending time with this instrument, at this moment, we would prefer to be anywhere else other than with the guitar.
Which one of these experiences has a deeper effect on us, the symphony or the music lesson?
The answer, of course, is that they each one has a very different type of impact.
The symphony, changes the course of our life, it leads us to become a lifelong music fan. Yet, its impact is, in the language of the Kabbalah, “encompassing”, not “internal”. Meaning to say, that despite all the inspiration, we have not internalized the music. We still cannot play even one single note. In fact, we cannot reproduce any music; our music is completely dependent on the world outside of us. The symphony had a life changing impact on us, but is is encompassing, it was not internalized.
Now let us look at the music lesson. We have received no inspiration, no life altering experience, yet the lesson had an “internal” impact on us. We can now, on our own, without help from the outside, play a music note. We have internalized the music to the extent that we can now reproduce music. The skill is ours. It has become part of us.
In our relationship with G-d we experience both the encompassing and the internal light.
We sit in the Sukkah surrounded by the Divine energy, represented by the walls and cover of the Sukkah, we experience great inspiration and joy, the happiness and the spirituality present in the Sukkah can and should move us profoundly.
The Sukkah experience should change us, but the change is encompassing, once the holiday passes we cannot reproduce the feeling, we cannot reproduce the music of the Sukkah. Once we are back at home, we leave the spiritual symphony behind us. The Sukkah did not teach us to play the notes; it did not teach us how to internalize this great experience.
That is why we take the four species. We stand in the Sukkah and wave the Lulav and Etrog in all four directions, bringing them back to our heart, symbolizing to us, that as we stand in the Sukkah, basking in the encompassing light, we must take a limited measure of the light and apply it to our life. We must internalize some of the inspiration and make it part of who we are, we need to be able to reproduce a measure of this inspiration on a simple Tuesday in the cold winter.
We need to learn to play just one note, but that note will be internalized, we need to resolve to do just one more Mitzvah, but that one Mitzvah will become part of our identity.
For music to have the ultimate affect on our life we need to experience both the symphony and the music lesson. For the light of Judaism to have the ultimate affect on our life we need both the Sukkah and the Lulav.