Igniting a Flame of Spirituality | Rabbi YY Jacobson

Tosfos asks a gevaldige question on Maseches Sukkah Daf 51. The Mishna says that the wicks with which they ignited the large flames for Simchas Beis HaSho’eva in the courtyard of the Beis HaMikdash which illuminated the whole Yerushalayim, there was not a courtyard in Yerushalayim that wasn't illuminated from the flames of Simchas Beis HaSho’eva, what did they make those wicks out of? So the Mishna says they made it from the pants of the Kohanim and from their gartlech, from their belts. When they got older, they used the material to weave them into wicks, and those פתילות they used for the Menorahs of Simchas Beis HaSho’eva. Asks Tosfos, What about the כתונת? Why do you ignore the כתונת, the shirt? Tosfos Yom Tov says: What about the מצנפת? The Kohanim also had a hat. Why do you ignore that? A gevaldige vort I want to share with you that the Lubavitcher Rebbe once shared at a Simchas Beis HaSho’evadike farbrengen. And he said that he searched על פי נגלה, he never found a good, satisfactory answer for the question of Tosfos, but על פי פנימיות התורה, there is a very profound message here. And that is the purpose of the אבנט, of the belt, as Chazal say, is to create a separation between the higher self and the lower self. The pants of the Kohanim were מכנסי קודש, just like the אבנט was אבנט קודש. So the Rebbe says, When you bring in holiness into the belt, when we bring Kedushah into every aspect of our life, of our body, from the highest to the lowest places, that's how you can create the flame of Simchas Beis HaSho’eva, that מי שלא ראה שמחת בית השואבה לא ראה שמחה מימיו and that there was no חצר in Yerushalayim that wasn't brightened and illuminated by the physical and spiritual light of Simchas Beis HaSho’eva, the greatest light in all of the year. What made that light? The pants and the belt of the Kohanim. When we bring in Kedushah, when we bring in godliness and holiness, the light, the spiritual light that you generate is infinite.