Kabbalah and Facebook - Part 1

In Kabbalah it says that the source of movement in the body is not in the hands or the feet. Where does movement begin? In the eyes. Eyesight. Even the two letter root for movement – nah (nun-ayin) – when written backwards is the two letter root for eye – ayin (ayin-nun).

It is said about a true Torah teacher and leader (a Moses figure) that he has the ability to instantaneously move from one soul to another soul. If one person is now passing before this leader, in his eyesight when he is looking at me right now, his entire soul is focused and directed and connecting with me and directing blessing to me with his eyes. He is giving blessing, not just with his words, but with his eyes he is giving blessing to me as well.

But then it only lasts for one split second, then the next second somebody is now in his focus, his vision, his eyesight. This is called the infinite agility of eye motion, the ability to instantly take your eyes off the previous soul and now instantly redirect the eyes to another soul. This infinite agility of the eyes is a property and function of the infinite love this leader has for every Jew. To continuously be on the move with the eyes.

Finding New Faces

Another quality of a true Torah leader is that every day he envisions his people for blessing, closing his eyes in order to think and contemplate all the Jewish souls that he knows and is connected to.

In Jewish thought, there is one person who loves looking at all the faces of the people and all the people love looking his face. The verse that describes this in the Torah is: "The beauty of a king your eyes shall perceive." That is the way to identify the king. This is an important example of what the Zohar means when it says that there is an opportunity to perceive the king. Whoever is a truly connected soul will run to see the king (and the King), and he does not want anything else but the opportunity to see the king in all of his beauty. The same is true of the king, who also does not demand anything; he just enjoys looking at his people. This is the principle of psychological complementarity stated in the verse: "As water mirrors a face, so the heart of a man reflects his fellow’s heart." (Proverbs 27:19) The king is he who loves to look at everyone.

Seeing faces is perhaps the greatest visual contact point between inner and external reality. To truly see the face of another means to be wise enough to perceive the whole life story of another. The book which they are now presently writing in this world.

When a king sees a new face they are seeing and appreciating another person within their kingdom. The more faces they see, the greater their individual appreciation of the individual members within their reign.

There is a Jewish adage that "there is no king without a people." In other words, a king is not a king if he does not have a kingdom, i.e., subjects. By looking at the face and into the eyes of each of his subjects, he is collectively amassing the great library of intellectual scope of his reign. The more people he includes within, the greater his intellectual capacity expands to cater to each individual member of his populace.

Good Opportunities for Good

This ability to bestow blessings or good tiding to people passing before us is a quality that each of us can emulate. The more we intend to bestow love and goodness with our eyes, the more true friendships we foster. Why is that we are motivated to Friend dozens or perhaps hundreds of people on social media forums such as Facebook? Perhaps we are seeking to awaken our spark of leadership potential within.

Each post we see from our Friends is an opportunity to think positively about that person. Is there any way I can help them today? Is there something that they need? But also, past any particular act of goodness, it’s an opportunity to pray for them. That they should have a good day filled with blessings and so forth.

Now the posts on these Walls move rather quickly. From one second to the next, it seems, the next friend comes with their post. As we stated above, the source of movement and agility is in the eyes. So when we think positively on one friend and then quickly on the next, we are emulating the agile eye movement of the greatest of Jewish leaders.

When two souls meet, it is meritorious that some good deed should come from it. Social media forums are a modern-day example that reminds us of the leadership potential in each of us.

This article is continued in Part 2 (click here).

[The content of this article was inspired by the teachings of Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh of Gal Einai (//Inner.org).]