SPARKS (Nitzotzot)
“Each person contains sparks that they must elevate. The sparks wait for him to come and elevate them.” — The Lubavitcher Rebbe
Sparks — Nitsotsot in Hebrew — are fragments of divine vitality that are far from their original place. According to the Kabbalistic myth, the universe suffered a cosmic trauma during its creation. This trauma is known as Shevirat Ha-kelim — the shattering of the vessels. The mystical teachings describe a process in which the vessels that were prepared to receive and contain the divine light were not strong enough to withstand its power, and shattered. As Rabbi Hayyim Vital writes: “The vessel could not endure all of them, and broke and fell downward.” When the vessels broke, sparks of light that they could not contain scattered.
Elevating these sparks is a process of rescuing the good and beautiful, and finding worthiness and contribution in our every encounter with people, ideas, and paths. It is a process of extracting the sparks from the outer shells that cover them and fulfilling the hidden divine potential that longs to be revealed and realized. The outer shells are the coverings that protect the inner essence, as a peel covers and protects the fruit within it. Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook describes it as follows: “When we find the kernel of good inside the depths of evil and grasp it, polish it, and expand it, and find that which must be taken from it and put into practice, this is how the sparks rise to their holy place.”
The task of human beings is to search for these lost sparks, elevate them by identifying them as divine sparks, and by doing so help to restore unity to the world. All people have the ability to elevate the sparks that are connected to the root of their souls. Whenever they redeem the sparks that belong to their soul-roots, the sparks come together to form a great light that expresses our partnership in Tikkun Olam — improving the world.
Sparks — Nitsotsot in Hebrew — are fragments of divine vitality that are far from their original place. According to the Kabbalistic myth, the universe suffered a cosmic trauma during its creation. This trauma is known as Shevirat Ha-kelim — the shattering of the vessels. The mystical teachings describe a process in which the vessels that were prepared to receive and contain the divine light were not strong enough to withstand its power, and shattered. As Rabbi Hayyim Vital writes: “The vessel could not endure all of them, and broke and fell downward.” When the vessels broke, sparks of light that they could not contain scattered.
Elevating these sparks is a process of rescuing the good and beautiful, and finding worthiness and contribution in our every encounter with people, ideas, and paths. It is a process of extracting the sparks from the outer shells that cover them and fulfilling the hidden divine potential that longs to be revealed and realized. The outer shells are the coverings that protect the inner essence, as a peel covers and protects the fruit within it. Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook describes it as follows: “When we find the kernel of good inside the depths of evil and grasp it, polish it, and expand it, and find that which must be taken from it and put into practice, this is how the sparks rise to their holy place.”
The task of human beings is to search for these lost sparks, elevate them by identifying them as divine sparks, and by doing so help to restore unity to the world. All people have the ability to elevate the sparks that are connected to the root of their souls. Whenever they redeem the sparks that belong to their soul-roots, the sparks come together to form a great light that expresses our partnership in Tikkun Olam — improving the world.
