Natural Light
The story of Noach (Noah) and the flood is not a legend from ancient history. It is the story of the life of every soul’s journey on this earth. The word Noach is derived from the Hebrew word for rest. The soul, prior to its voyage on the journey we call life is in a state of peace and tranquility. In the state of Noach, the state of rest, there is clarity of purpose, there is no worry and no inner conflict.
Then, the soul is sent down to a stormy world, a world filled with challenges and turmoil, confusion and tension. Like the Biblical Noach, the soul rides the turbulent waves in its ark. The soul must overcome torrents of distraction, survive in a materialistic world, and stay true to its inner self despite the external challenges.
In order for the soul to stay on course, to keep inspired, to remain connected, to discover spiritual light, it must turn to Noach and his ark to see how Noach himself was able to illuminate his ark.
When commanding Noach to build the ark G-d said: “You shall make a light (“Tzohar”) for the ark”.[1] The big question was, what kind of light should Noach use? How does one create light amidst the darkness of the flood? Rashi, the primary Biblical commentator, quotes the Midrash which offers two opinions as to the meaning of the word “Tzohar”, light, in G-d’s commandment to Noach:
a light: Heb. צֹהַר, lit. light. Some say [that it was] a window, and some say [that it was] a precious stone, which gave them light.
These two opinions, a window or a precious stone, Chasidic Philosophy explains, represent two approaches on how to bring spiritual light into one’s life. A window, allows light to enter from the outside. In life, there are “window” moments. Moments when we experience the extraordinary. A moment of deep inspiration, the birth of a child, a new discovery, and the like. “Window” moments are moments of small miracles, moments when the ordinary is pulled away, a window is created, and we feel the light from above, we feel the touch of the Divine, the warmth of inspiration from above.
That is the first step, and the first opinion of the “light” in the Ark.
Then, as Rashi continues, there is a second opinion. “Some say”, after the first, more obvious light is attained, after we learn to celebrate, appreciate and derive inspiration from the miraculous moments of our lives, “some say”, some reach a more profound perspective and say that there is no need to wait for the light from above, there is no need to depend on the extraordinary for inspiration. “Some say” that the light in the ark was that of “a precious stone, which gave them light.” According to the second opinion the light does not come in from above, but rather, one can find light within the ark itself. The “precious stone” moments, are within day-to-day existence itself.
After learning to identify the extraordinary experiences, “the windows” of our lives, we can learn to find “precious stones”. We can learn to see the Divine in the mundane, the miracle in the natural reality, in the seemingly mundane, we learn to see the remarkable Divine touch.[2]
[1] Genesis 6:16.
[2] Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Lekutey Sichos Noach vol. 10 Sicha 1.