Baal HaTanya on Jewish Strength

Where did this come from? Where does Omartov and Machek and countless other simple Jews we've read about, we've heard about that are willing and were sacrificing their life. Where do they get this strength from? The Balatana, founder of Kabad, writes about it in his in chapter 18, the Balanya expands on the extraordinary strength within a Jew in order for him not to become a heretic, not to betray his God. And he talks about how the soul of a Jew is unique where they acquired it as a result of being descendants of our patriarchs of Yakov who were the chariot of Hashem. They what they call the and Jacob transmitted to their descendants this blessing forever of a nephesh and from the holy t. Now this means says the Tanya that even the most worthless of worthless men and the sinners of Israel are thus endowed at the time of marital union with at any rate a nephesh the neph of royalty in the world of action which is the lowest grade of holiness in the world of Assyah. Nevertheless, since the latter of the 10 holies, since it's it's the last of the 10, it's compounded of them all, including and so on. In so many words, the spiritual makeup of a Jew is different. Now, what is that? Translate to says the Tanya. Therefore, same chapter 18, even the most worthless of worthless and the transgressors of the Israelites in the majority of cases sacrifice their lives for the sanctity of God's name and suffer harsh tortures rather than deny the one God. although they be boores and illiterates and ignorant of God's greatness. Here he's telling us that your average Jew that may be a sinner may drive on Shabbat, maybe a thief, maybe somebody that you're not even sure he he's Jewish just by the way he looks. still has the power within his soul to make sacrifices unlike anyone else in mankind. You're never going to see a Chinese person sacrifice their life in order to protect their belief in uh communism or or Buddha or any of the beliefs there. You're not going to see people in America willing to sacrifice their life for their belief in uh Yoshk or in Islam or anything else. They may fight for it. They may argue about it. They may vote. They may uh censor, but they're not willing to die for it. Now, even if you can say, "Yeah, but some look, there's historical proofs. There's some murderers here." Yes, these are exceptions. Your average person, which we're referring to, is not willing to die for his beliefs. He may scri scream about it. He may argue about it, but he's not willing to die. But a Jew has the power within them. I'm not saying every Jew is willing to die for it, but they do have the power within them to die despite the suffering and agony they'll have to go through just for the sake of something that they're very very illiterate about. They don't know much about God. They don't know much about the Torah. They don't even know much about what makes them Jewish. But they're willing to sacrifice their life. Anda concludes this section by saying rather they do they suffer martyrdom without any knowledge and reflection but as if it were absolutely imp impossible for them to renounce the one God and without any reason or hesitation whatsoever. This is because the one God illuminates and animates the entire nephesh which is part of that soul they have through being clothed in its faculty of which is beyond any grasp beyond any graspable and understood knowledge or intelligence. In so many words, it's impossible to understand this power within each Jew if they choose to utilize it. So this gives us a little more clarity about the strength. But perhaps the next story will give us even more. We are meant to be a light unto the nations, not to follow their misguided practices. Remember, every Jew has to remember that he's a Jew and she's a Jew. We don't celebrate non-Jewish holidays. even if they seem harmless. It's a zil disrespect to the Torah and could lead to chal Hashem, desecration of God's name. Stick to our holy Torah and our own holidays. That's the path of a true Jew.