Expanding the Flaming Coal Within

 

והנה החכמה כבר ניתנה מן הקדוש ברוך הוא בלב כל בני האדם”

And behold chochma [undifferentiated wisdom] has been given from The Holy One Blessed Be He into the heart of all [elevated] human beings

אך כדי שתתגבר צריך שאותו הפה המקיים אותה ינשב בכח

However, in order for that Chochma to be empower[ed] it is essential that there…be this constant breath blowing on it

ואז נעשה ממש כמו האש גם כן

Then it [the Chochma planted by Hakadosh Baruch Hu in the heart] becomes literally just like the flame (in my understanding, earlier in his work, the Ramchal describes the letters of the Torah to inflamed coals waiting to be blown on) as we described before[-] when you blow on it, it flames.

כשמנפחים בה מתלהבת – כן כשזאת ההשפעה תרד מן הפה כמו נשיבה

If , when I am learning, I am saying the words aloud , not just to say them aloud,  but I am blowing on them so to speak to awaken the flames, the secrets, the lights, the illuminations  that are  hidden  inside. Or when I am sharing Torah with a child I am not just repeating the words, my intention is to stir the energy, the light, the passion that is in these words of Torah to awaken them inside my children as well…

But if when I am communicating with someone and I am listening to someone and when I speak I am considering my words, and I want my words to be words that will open up the other person’s heart to a new perspective…that is considered using the mouth to blow on it [the fiery coals] and then….

תלהט החכמה

 It will begin to  flame, it will burn.”

Ramchal Derech Etz HaChaim with translation and commentary by HaRav Simcha Weinberg n’y

 

תבה לעצמה היא תבת חנוך, ונאמרה על הוצאת ההכשרה אשר באדם או בכלי מן הכח אל הפעל, אם לא נוציאה תשאר בהעלם וצריכים אנו להוציאה ולחנך את האיש הזה שיעשה לבעל מלאכה זו, והבית או הכלי לתשמישם, כל חדר לתשמישו אשר הוא מכשר והכלי לתשמישו אשר הוא מכשר

The word, chinukh, is specific (it is not the same as beginning). It is said about bringing out the readiness that is in a person or a thing from the potential to the actual. If we do not bring it out, it will stay hidden. So we need to bring out and ready (lechanekh) a particular man to do a particular craft, or a house or a vessel for its use – every room for the use for which it is meant; and [every] vessel for the use for which it is meant.

וכשנאמרה תבה זו על חנוך הבנים, אז הכונה היא לגדל ולפתח את טבעו והכשרתו של הילד שנמצאה בו במדה קטנה או בכח או בהעלם לבד ולגלותה. וכיון שהאיש הישראלי עוד בילדותו רוח ד’ נשמת שדי טמונה וגנוזה בו. צריכים לגדל ולחנך אותו להוציאה לגלותה ולהפריחה והיה ליהודי נאמן עבד ה’, בתורתו מעצמו יחפץ, ומדרכו גם כי יזקין לא יסור, והמצוה אף המרגיל אינו בטוח שהבן או התלמיד המצוה והמתרגל יעשה כמצותו, גם כשיגדל ויהיה ברשות עצמו. ועל זה צוה שלמה המלך “חנך לנער” וכו’ תחנכו, אל קרבו תחדר, ואת קדשת הישראל אשר בו בהעלם – תגלה, ורק אז גם כי יזקין לא יסור ממנה

And when this word is used about educating children, the intention is to expand and develop the nature and talent of the child found in small measure, in potential or even in hiding – and to reveal it. And since the essence of God and a Godly soul is hidden and stored away in a Jew even when he is a child, we must raise him and educate him to bring it out, to reveal it and to have it flourish – so that he will be a faithful Jew to God. [Then] he will desire His Torah on his own, so that also in his old age he will not veer from His path. But one who commands or habituates the son or student cannot be sure that [the child] will do according to his command also when he grows up and becomes independent. And that is why Solomon commanded, ‘Teach (Chanokh) the lad, etc.’ – you must delve inside him and reveal the Jewish holiness that is hidden there. And only then, ‘also in his old age he will not veer from it.’”

Introduction to Chovat HaTalmidim by the Aish Kodesh

I apply the Ramchal , the Aish Kodesh (Rav Kalymonous Kalman Shapira) and my Rebbe (Rabbi Simcha Weinberg n’y) to the bracha of hamelamed Torah l’amo Yisrael (Who teaches Torah to His nation Israel). I picture the soul of a Jew as a fiery coal whose flame is awaiting expansion. I picture the chochma Hashem planted in his heart, His Torah, erupting from within them as I am sharing an insight that speaks to them only (bli neder) because that is what my Rebbeim do for me; that is what real chinuch is to me. It should be the will of the Infinite One that every idea we share with our brothers and sisters be a constant breath igniting their souls and for us to realize that that is a matanah (gift) from the hamelamed Torah l’amo Yisrael.

Amein, Ken Yehi Ratzon,   Very Beautiful .  It seems as if what you are describing is the process of redemption; the transition from all this potential being  locked up in a coal, until it is properly nurtured and expanded.   Thank you.