The Jew’s Inner Diamond2 min read

“And for the entire Jewish nation, there was light in their dwellings.”

The beauty of a diamond is inherent. The way it is cut and angled allows the diamond to reflect light in a manner that causes it to sparkle and shine with brilliant illumination. All it takes to appreciate the beauty of a diamond is to first ensure it is clean of any dirt and then to hold it up to a source of light. When mounted in an ornate setting of gold or silver, the diamond shines all the brighter. 

The Chassidic masters revealed that every Jewish soul contains a point of ultimate goodness within, an aspect of our personality which is inherently pure and intrinsically holy. Rebbe Nachman of Breslov famously referred to this as the “Nekudah Tovah”, the point of good. Other tzaddikim referred to it as the “Pintele Yid”, the innermost holiness of the Jewish soul. No matter how distant one may appear from a life of holiness and connection with our Father in heaven, there is a place of untainted innocence and purity that abides deep within the essence of each and every Jew – a “pilot light” of holy desire and yearning to at last break out of the lowliness and dirt and rise in communion with the Infinite One. Like the “pach shemen tahor”, the single jar of oil that was discovered among the shattered vessels of the Beis Hamikdash, this tiny spark of ever-sparkling goodness has the ability to miraculously light the lamp of our yiddishkeit, purifying our entire being and granting us the wings with which to escape the bonds of physicality.

Although we may believe in its existence, many find it difficult to perceive this point of yearning and holy desire within. We don’t feel its warmth, its holiness fails to move us. As the years plod on with little progress made, we begin to wonder whether our spark has been extinguished.

The holy Rizhiner explains that although it always retains its intrinsic holiness and abiding presence, in order to shed the miraculous light of spirituality on all aspects of one’s life, the Nekudah Tovah must be mounted in the setting of Torah and mitzvos and held up to the proper light source, the Master of the world. When exposed to the inner light of the Torah where Hashem’s presence is most tangible and surrounded by the grandeur of His mitzvos, the perfect point of holiness will reflect the light of its Source and burst with the fire of passion and joy. Referring to the light enjoyed by the Jewish nation while the Egyptians were struck with makkas choshech, the verse states Ul’chol b’nei Yisral haya ohr b’moshvosam – “And for the entire Jewish nation, there was light in their dwellings”. The holy Rizhiner teaches that this verse hints to our lesson. “Ul’chol b’nei Yisrael haya ohr”: Every single Jew contains light within his soul. “B’moshvosam”: Broken up, this word reads “b’moshav tam”, “a complete setting”. Here, the Torah is teaching that while every Jewish soul possesses a perfect point of light and purity, the only way to perceive its beauty and splendor is “b’moshav tam”, by ensuring that we provide it the proper setting and bring it close to the infinite Light of Hashem couched within the Torah’s inner dimension.