How to unlock spiritual energy
Recovering from a bout of flu (yes, I did get the shot,) I found myself asking for energy and thinking about it a lot. I thought of the different forms of energy, and how most of these different energy forms are encased in matter and need to be released. There is thermal energy in fuel, kinetic energy in movement, caloric energy in food, emotional energy in the human heart and spiritual energy in our souls and the souls of everything around us.
I thought of the Nefesh Hachaim's understanding of the term for G-d,Ellokim, as the source of all energy. I reflected on energy as a spiritual force, a force of G-d Himself, that through tzimtzum andhishtalshelus (two kabalistic terms for the materialization of spirituality) He has enclosed in different physical casings for us to access, unlock and release. We know how to unlock physical energy from fuel, food and even from a nuclear atom. But how do we unlock and access the spiritual energy encased in everything around us?
Yitzchak's beracha
And then I found it in a Midrash (Rabbah 64:3 on Yitzchak's blessing to his son Ya'acov) I would have missed were it not for the SeffasEmmes (Toldos 5639) highlighting it. The Midrash takes the word "Ha'ellokim" (G-d) in the verse: Ve'yitten lechah Ha'ellokim mittal hashomayim inishemanei ha'aretz (May G-d give you of the dew of the heaven and the fat of the land - Bereishis 27:28) not as the subject of the sentence but as it's object, and reads it in the following way: May He give you of his G-dliness (his Divine energy - see Rashi and Reb Ze'ev Volf on the Midrash) derived from the dew of the heaven etc. The blessing then is not for the physical dew but for the spiritual energy that Ya'acov is now able to extract from the dew and the fat of the land using the unique power given to him and his descendants by his father, Yitzchak. Eisav later also receives a blessing, but his is just for the physical fat of the land and dew from the heaven, not for the energy able to be extracted from them. Ya'acov's blessing is the gift of being able to unlock spiritual energy from its physical casing.
Aromas and fragrances
The Seforno (28:27) shows how Yitzchak actually demonstrates this skill of extracting spiritual energy from its material casing. He explains that fragrance is a sense that the soul appreciates, not the body, and how Yitzchak used the aromas of the dish Ya'acov had prepared to uplift his soul and stimulate it into a prophetic space so that he could more effectively bless his son. Accessing the finer tastes and aromas of food and the fragrances of herbs and spices is a useful exercise, and a first step in extracting the spiritual from the physical.
Korbanos: Food (unlocked spiritual energy) from G-d
The same Midrash also refers to the fat of the land mentioned in Yitzchak's beracha, as the korbanos (sacrifices) we would later bring in the Temple. This is because there is a close link between theavodah (Temple service) of the Kohannim and our everyday avodahas Mamleches Kohanim (a nation of Kohanim). Our avodah each day is to unlock the potential spiritual energy locked in every atom of theberiah (creation) and channel it into the world. Food is the set of objects most available to us for energy release. When food is combusted, whether by fire on the Mizbeach or by human consumption, its spiritual energy is released. The Kohannim, when they serve in the Temple, have the ability to capture the spiritual energy released from the korban and direct it to the wellbeing of the owner of the korban or the community as a whole. Korbanos are referred to as lechem ellokim (G-d's food), it does not mean food that G-d, so to say, consumes. Rather it means food of G-d that He gives to us not for its nutritional value but for the spiritual energy we can release from it through proper avodah.
In the same way, everything we eat or drink is lechem ellokim, it all contains ellokus, divine energy, and using Yitchak's beracha to us we can all access that energy and unlock it.
It is helpful to be mindful of this as we say our berochos over food. Reflect for a moment on the food, how it came from its origins to your table, the processes it has gone through, the people who have made it possible. Consider, notice and appreciate its myriad subtle tastes and aromas. And think about the spiritual energy, the elokkus locked in it, which, using the gift of Yitzchak, your act of eating it will unlock.
