Tefillah - 160 Awakening Your Exaltedness

To Exalt The Name of Hashem

יתרומם ויתנשא– We pray that Hashem’s Name become exalted and raised.

Chazal say, “Prayer accomplishes half.” The other ‘half’, though, is for us to do the avodah we are tasked with as Klal Yisrael. When we pray that Hashem’s name become exalted, besides for praying for this, we also need to do our own share in trying to make the name of Hashem exalted.

A Jew’s Exaltedness: The ‘Neshamah’

The exaltedness of Hashem is present in each Jew’s soul; for we are exalted above all the other nations – "ורוממתנו מכל הלשונות".

When we awaken our own exaltedness which has been carved into our souls from Hashem, we attain the tool within ourselves to ‘exalt’ Hashem’s name.  When we are making use of our own exaltedness, that’s one half of the job; the other half is to pray that Hashem’s Name be exalted.

A person’s essence is his “neshamah” (a Divine soul), Hashem’s breathe of life that has been breathed into him. Man also contains four base elements in himself – fire, wind, water and earth. The element of earth is the lowliest of the elements, and our physical body was formed from it. However, that is only one side to the coin; it is but the lower aspect of our existence. The higher aspect of our existence is our neshamah. It is called the “daughter of Heaven”, and it is carved from Hashem’s Throne.

Two Extremes: Lowliness Vs. Conceit

When a person connects to lowly behaviors, it essentially means that he is too attached to his element of earth.

However, if a person goes in the opposite direction, and he is always feeling conceited about himself, this is stemming from the trait of conceit (gaavah), which usually stems from the imagination (dimayon). This is not the ‘exaltedness’ that comes from the neshamah.

Even if a person does mitzvos, learns Torah and performs spiritual actions, it is still very possible that his level of existence is still at the level of the physical body, and he is not in touch with the exaltedness of his neshamah. But when one feels himself as existing on a higher plane, and when it is coming from a truthful place in himself and not from conceit or imagination, it is the true power of romemus (exaltedness) which stems from our neshamah.

Feeling The Exaltedness

How, indeed, does one attain romemus?

The superficial way of how people get it is by feeling uplifted from others, like when another person smiles at us and we are made to feel good about ourselves. It awakens in us a feeling that we are exalted. However, this cannot be the true romemus that comes from our neshamah, because it is based on circumstantial factors.

The real romemus of the neshamah is when a Jew realizes that he is a “cheilek eloka mimaal”, a “portion of G-d above”, that he is elevated above the nations, and he is connected to a higher dimension.

Staying Grounded

However, in the end of the day, we still have a physical body. We cannot look at ourselves as being entirely a neshamah, because that would be denying the fact that we have a body. We are comprised of body and soul; there is no point in denying that we have a body. If one were to deny his physical body and its needs, first of all, he is being delusional. Even worse, the more he denies his physical body and believes he is completely spiritual, he will become full of conceit about himself.

So when the concept of romemus is misunderstood, it either becomes dimayon (imagination) or gaavah (conceit). Therefore, one must not ignore his body, even though he knows that he is a neshamah. He must acknowledge the existence of both, aware that his actual essence is his neshamah, while at the same time taking care of his body’s needs.

Self-Accounting: Knowing Yourself Deeply

Let’s try to explain this more deeply.

One must know himself really well – all the layers of his existence. There are four general layers of our soul: action, feelings\middos, thoughts, and the will.

1. Actions\ Mitzvah Observance.The outermost layer of our soul is our actions. These include our mitzvos – what we are commanded to do by the Torah, and what we are commanded not to do. One must know what his level of Torah observance is: how well he keeps the mitzvos. He must be aware of the mitzvos he keeps and the mitzvos he is lax in. He should be very clear about this. This is the first stage of knowing yourself.

2. Middos\ Character Traits and Feelings. After making that list, next a person needs to know what his middos and feelings are like. Included this is to get to know his personality[1], which middos he is best at and which are his weaker areas are; as well as the various middos that branch out from this.[2]

3. Machshavah\ Thoughts. After knowing this well, one must then become aware of his mental abilities:  how well his power of daas (understanding) is, how much chochmah (Torah knowledge) he has. He should know if he is strong or weak in these areas.[3]

4. Ratzon\Will. After gaining this general picture of oneself, the next step is for a person to get to know his retzonos (desires). He should make a list of all his retzonos; on one side he should list all his good retzonos, and on the other side of the list he should write all of his bad retzonos.

When it comes to our retzonos, it is more challenging, because some of the things we want are consciously revealed to us, while there are other retzonos that are deep in our subconscious; we aren’t aware of them in our conscious state. But one must try as much as he can to get to know them.

A Few Points About Self-Accounting

It can take a lot of time until one can get the full picture. One must look into himself deeply and see all of the good parts and bad parts contained in his actions, feelings, thoughts, and desires.

Of course, one cannot ever know himself totally. This is because we all have ‘shochad’ (mental bribery) towards ourselves; we naturally like to always see ourselves in a good light and ignore our faults. So we are not able to see all of our faults. But even though we cannot know ourselves perfectly, we can still get to know ourselves as much as we can and try to lay out the picture of ourselves; to be aware of what we are good at and what we are weak at.

The Next Step: Awakening The Neshamah

After you have this picture of yourself, the next step is to reveal the romemus (exaltedness) of your neshamah.

In order to feel the great exaltedness of your neshamah, the first step you need to traverse is to know what your greatest personal quality or middah (character trait) is. Your best middah is a tool that helps you recognize your own soul and, eventually, the Creator.

It is only the first step, though. It cannot be enough to feel theexaltedness of the neshamah, because although there is a great gain in knowing what your best middah is, it can happen that a person falls from his spiritual level one day, and he loses his best middah with it, and then he has nothing to get his feeling of exaltedness from. So although it is essential for a person to know what his best middah or quality is, he needs more than this, because if he were to lose that quality somehow, he will be left with nothing to feel exalted about himself.

Therefore, the main aspect needed in achieving the exaltedness of the neshamah is for a person recognize the concept of the neshamah, that a person is a ‘cheilek eloka mimaal” (a portion of G-d above).  It is for one to realize that his very havayah (existence) is a piece of Hashem. This concept must be first be contemplated at least mentally, until it is internalized as a feeling, to the point that it is palpably felt.

We must realize that we are not solely a nefesh habehaimis (animalistic soul), and that we do not have the same souls as gentiles. We have a piece of Hashem in us! In that sense, it is as if we are actually “one” with Hashem. That is the romemus, the exaltedness,of a Jew’s neshamah.

Without going through the initial steps – to become aware of our own actions, middos, thoughts, and desires - it is detrimental to jump to the stage of thinking about the exaltednessof our neshamah.

This is because if we haven’t yet become aware of the more basic levels of our self, then we are still living through the prism of our physical body, and thinking about how exalted we are will only cause us to feel conceited or make us delusional.  At this level, we can think about our exaltednessof the neshamah at times, but we shouldn’t think of it on a consistent basis.

But once a person has become in touch with the outer layers of our soul as described above, then he can allow himself to think a lot about his romemus\exaltedness. There will still be a danger of imagining things at this stage, but it is far less likely to happen.

The Healthy Way To View Ourselves

It is because the person recognizes in the depths of his soul that he is a pure neshamah, a “portion of G-d above”, and that it is always pure and unblemished. It is forever pure, and not just because the past hasn’t affected its purity; it is pure in its very essence. The fact that one’s neshamah is a piece of G-d is man’s own personal exaltedness.

This doesn’t have to cause a person to forget about the other layers of himself that are not perfect. Rather, those imperfect parts of ourselves do exist, but the actual essence of who we are is perfect.

To illustrate, when we think about our head, we are still aware that we have hands and feet. Just because we have a head doesn’t make us think that our hands and feet are our head. We can know that our head is found in Heaven, while our feet stand on this earth. So too, we can know that our essence is that of an exalted and pure neshamah, while still being aware that there are other lower parts to our existence which need fixing.

The more a person lives in this clearer kind of existence, he is aware of his “tzuras adam” (ideal form of man). He is aware of the concept that our Sages say, that all of Creation is the makeup of the true tzuras adam. The Torah’s 613 mitzvos are parallel to the 613 parts of man, because the Torah represents the tzuras adam of man.

Therefore, one can know well that although he learns Torah in-depth, this doesn’t mean we don’t have a body. We have in ourselves a point is totally spiritual, but we also have a part in us that’s standing on this world with all its physical desires. Within ourselves, there is a nefesh habehaimis (animalistic layer of the soul) and a Nefesh Elokis (G-dly layer of the soul), and there are deeper parts as well than this.

Thinking about this will help us avoid the pitfalls of dimayon (fantasy)and gaavah (conceit). We can be very aware of our weaknesses, which saves us from delusion and from conceit, while at the same time attaching ourselves to our exaltedness.

Mistakes About ‘Gadlus Ha’Adam’

This is what it means to live a life of romemus\exaltedness.

When the concept of romemus is misunderstood, people form misconceptions about it, and they make the same mistake with the concept of “gadlus ha’adam” (greatness of man), thinking that it means for one to be conceited and only focus on his greatness.

Of course, the concept of gadlus ha’adam is a true concept, and it was taught by our Rabbis, but we must know what it means. When a person is not aware that he is a neshamah, he will use the concept of gadlus ha’adam as a way to ignore his human weaknesses.

But the truth is that the concepts of gadlus ha’adam (greatness of man), romemus ha’adam (exaltedness of man), romemus Yisrael (exaltedness of the Jewish people), and on a more subtle note the romemus nishmasan shel Yisrael (the exaltedness of the souls of the Jewish people), is only a correct perspective when we have the full picture of ourselves.

Emphasizing Our ‘Romemus’

Sometimes a person is very focused on his lowliness, thinking that he is a body with all its human weaknesses. There are indeed many human weaknesses that are created by our physical body.

When people get older, the body begins to get weaker, and then people begin to see how weak and pathetic they are. They begin to feel lowly about themselves, and even their thoughts, feelings, and character traits are viewed in a lowly light. A person eventually sees how he has katnus mochin (immaturity of man) and tzimtzum (confined thinking) he has had all his life, how the only thing worth desiring is to do Hashem’s will, and how it is just the yetzer hora and the subjugation of exile that prevents us from this. He feels how true it is.

The more a person focuses on his romemus, though, he avoids this lowliness, and he sees that there is more to him than human weaknesses. Our main emphasis in life should be on our romemus, at the same time recognizing our weaknesses so that we not fall into delusion or conceit.

The truth is that one needs to be aware of his qualities and weaknesses, all of them. But where is he consciously focused on throughout the day? Is he mainly dwelling on his weaknesses or on his exaltedness?

There were some tzaddikim who spent most of the time thinking about their imperfections, and there were others who mainly focused on their Jewish exaltedness, so there are different soul roots when it comes to this matter. But generally speaking, our Rabbis have written that now that we live in the End of Days, our avodah is to focus on our romemus.

But it doesn’t mean to be full of conceit and to ignore your weaknesses. You can know very well about your weaknesses, but you can keep your focus most of the time on the exaltedness of your neshamah, as was explained.

The Higher ‘Shiflus’: Reflecting on Hashem’s Endlessness

After a person has the full picture of himself – his greatness along with his weaknesses - comes the next step. Until now spoke about recognizing personal weaknesses in one’s actions, feelings, middos, thoughts, and will. But our Rabbis wrote of a deeper aspect as well than this kind of shiflus (lowliness).

Even when a person lives with a neshamah, he must be aware of the Ein Sof (Endlessness) of Hashem. We are so miniscule, in comparison to Hashem. So our entire being, including our great neshamah, is ultimately nullified against the backdrop of something much vaster and unfathomably greater. 

We are each a neshamah, a ‘portion of Hashem’; we are attached to Hashem at our root. But we can recognize that in comparison to Hashem, Who is endless, our neshamah is but a tiny speck of a larger picture.

That is the ultimate recognition of shiflus (lowliness) that man can realize. When one is deeply aware of this, he can then live a life of romemus. Without being aware of this shiflus, a person’s life will be spent frivolously and erroneously.

‘Romemus’: To Live A Higher Existence

Along with recognizing this, one needs to awaken his romemus. Through recognizing our romemus, we can lift ourselves above the lowly situation of this generation, above all the ‘depths of the grave’ of spiritual impurity in this generation, and instead we can live in a different dimension entirely.

When one has true romemus, and it is not coming from gaavah (conceit), one can live in this world and be among this final generation, yet he has a place in himself where he can isolate himself to, where he can separate himself from the generation.

Chazal compare the Torah to olive oil. When olive oil is placed in a liquid, no matter how much you mix it, the oil always rises to the top. So too, the Torah always raises a person above everything – when a person uses his power of romemus, he is raised and he is separated from the reality around him.

When the romemus is real and it is not coming from gaavah (conceit) or dimayon (imagination), it is the strongest power that one has to rise above any lowly situation he is found in.

These lowly situations are referring to anything that bombards us. It can be our various burdens and our responsibilities that bog us down and envelope us. Yet we can rise above all of this and be separate from it, living in a higher world.

Awakening Your ‘Romemus’ Each Day

Practically speaking, each person should ask himself how much romemus he recognizes in his life. He should first contemplate it mentally and then try to feel it.

The more a person recognizes his shiflus (lowliness\weaknesses), the less he is probably in touch with his romemus. At the beginning of a person’s Avodas Hashem, he can make use of romemus in order to feel like he is “shaking off the dust”. But after some time, he must become aware of his shiflus, so that he has the whole picture of himself. Shiflus should never be ignored in favor of romemus.

A person becomes more and more aware of his shiflus as he gets to know himself better. Therefore, one should have times every day where he thinks about the romemus of his neshamah. This connects a person to a source of vitality.

In Conclusion

The more a person is in touch with romemus and it is balanced with knowing his personal weaknesses, the more truthful his prayer is when he utters the words, יתרומם ויתנשא. When one recognizes his own romemus – the awareness that he is a neshamah – he then has the power to exalt the Name of Hashem.

The more a person lives his romemus – not because of his own personal qualities, but because there is a general romemus that all of Klal Yisrael possesses, who are all connected with Hashem at their roots – this will reveal, more and more, the romemus of Hashem. From recognizing our own collective romemus – the fact that our nation is exalted above all other nations – that is what will reveal the exaltedness of Hashem’s Name upon the world forever.[4]