I just learned from my rebbe that not only was Chabakuk haNavi the talmid of Elisha Hanavi, but, according to the Zohar, he was the very same son of the Isha Hashunamis, that Elisha Hanavi promised her, and who Elisha brought back to life.
The Zohar explains that he was called Chabakuk, from the lashon "Chibuk," "hug." However, Chabakuk is a double lashon of "hug," and therefore it should be translated at "Two hugs." One was the hug that Elisha Hanavi referred to when he promised the Isha Hashunamis a son by saying, (Melachim 2:4:16) "לַמּוֹעֵד הַזֶּה כָּעֵת חַיָּה אַתְּ חֹבֶקֶת בֵּן," "This time, next year, you will be hugging a son."
The second hug is the hug that Elisha himself gave Chabakuk, after he had died, while he was bringing him back to life. "וַיַּעַל וַיִּשְׁכַּב עַל-הַיֶּלֶד וַיָּשֶׂם פִּיו עַל-פִּיו וְעֵינָיו עַל-עֵינָיו וְכַפָּיו עַל-כַּפָּו וַיִּגְהַר עָלָיו וַיָּחָם בְּשַׂר הַיָּלֶד." (Melachim 2:4:34) "And [Elisha] went up and laid down on the boy['s body], and placed his mouth on his mouth and his eyes on his eyes, and his palms on his palms, and he warmed up the flesh of the boy."
My rebbe said that this reflects our way of life. Sometimes there are great lengths of time that go by before we feel that hug of Hashem in our lives. May it only be though, that we can merit to feel the warmth of Hashem's embrace without having to go through any aspect of death first, whether physical or spiritual!
-Dixie Yid
(Picture courtesy of amateurastronomy.org)
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9 comments:
Yeah, tell me about it...!
Dixie Yid,
Beautiful and inspiring posts!
There is always a spiritual challenge\ descent before any ascent however. The Kamarna calls this distance an aspect of death, since the descent makes one feels no inspiration from his avodah and is "as bitter as death" to him. If he perseveres despite this mini-death, he is imbued with a new neshamah and starts to feel an even stronger closeness to Hashem then before.
Thank you very much! I have also written about this idea here: http://dixieyid.blogspot.com/2007/07/one-must-destroy-in-order-to-build.html. But you know, even though we know that we must have yeridos in order to have aliyos, we still daven & pray not to have to go through them. As we say in hamapil, "Yehi ratzon shelo yecheteh ode..."
-Dixie Yid
thanks for posting from your rebbe- that and Bilvavi is the main reason I started coming here and you hadn't posted from him or Bilvavi for a while. Now that we have him back, give us some Bilvavi again
Well "coincidentally," I have a posting quoting Bilvavi coming up tomorrow morning actually. :-)
Thank you for your kind words!
-Dixie Yid
Dixie Yid,
Although the rule is klipah kadmah l'pri, a yereidah need not mean a sin. Helevay our greatest aliyos would be the yeridos of tzaddikim!
this is great...could you write more about the warm embrace of H'?
There is always a spiritual challenge\ descent before any ascent however. The Kamarna calls this distance an aspect of death, since the descent makes one feels no inspiration from his avodah and is "as bitter as death" to him. If he perseveres despite this mini-death, he is imbued with a new neshamah and starts to feel an even stronger
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