לזכות הרב הערש יונתן בן ר' מרדכי אפרים וכל בני ביתו!
לרפואת אסתר רות בת נעמי שרה בתוך שח"י!
The exalted neshama must push away all lowly qualities. The pleasure of the light of understanding elevates a person from the depths of servitude to imagination to which he is constantly connected. A clear mind cannot be established unless the dross of softness of heart [i.e. fear], of flattery and self deception, is removed from within a person.
As the Rav ztz"l says:
A person lives in the world of imagination. For example, he imagines [without realizing] how a certain food will taste good and then he has to eat it. He then descends into a world of hedonism where life becomes just about pleasure. There are degrees to this, some people more some less, but to a certain extent we are all subjugated to our imagination. We deceive ourselves that we are spiritual people when we are often not aware how bound we are to our physicality and desire for pleasures.
On Yom Kippur we attempt to rise above our bodies and imagination. We face ourselves for who we really are and thereby stop deceiving ourselves and do teshuva shleima.
