At the time of the creation of the world all the objects of nature were created on the condition that they obeyed the will of righteous men, even if it ran counter to their normal physical laws. So that if they did not do so, not only would they cease to exist: It would be as if they had never been created. In other words, had the Red Sea not divided, it would not only never have water again, its whole previous existence would be obliterated. So that when the verse tells us “the sea returned to its former strength,” it is conveying that in the fulfilling of its agreement with G‑d it both assured its future continuity and at the same time ratified its past existence
Before the Baal Shem Tov began to teach Chassidism, people regularly practiced self-affliction—excessive fasts and even rolling in the snow—as part of their Divine service. The purposes for these afflictions were: (a) to teach the body obedience, so it would agree to follow the laws of the Torah, (b) to purify the body from the blemish of sins, (c) to weaken the yetzer hara, (d) to protect oneself from needing to be punished more severely from Above.
But this was not Rebbe Elimelech’s way.
“Rebbe Elimelech commanded us not to fast except for the fasts established by the rabbis,” wrote his student, “because in today’s day and age, we don’t have the strength to fast …”
So, how can we attain the benefits which come from affliction?
One way is to undergo very minor discomforts, for example, “When a person wants to eat, but postpones the meal for an hour or less, and in the meantime, he studies Torah… And when a person refrains from speaking something he wants to say…”
However, Rebbe Elimelech, himself, fasted and afflicted his body all the time. Tzaddikim said, “From Avraham until Rebbe Elimelech, no one undertook so many afflictions.”
Rebbe Elimelech said that because of his own frequent self-affliction, from now on others can use very minor self-discomforts to reach the same spiritual level as those who used to afflict themselves immensely.
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