This article was originally published in 2016.
We have previously discussed that one of the great gifts available to us on Rosh Chodesh Tevet, or the New Moon of Capricorn, is the gift of wisdom. I want to add an important understanding about this. We study Kabbalah, we study wisdom, and yes, we can connect through Chanukah, but we have to do the spiritual work. And this gives us an opening to understand the entire purpose of the spiritual study of Kabbalah and the spiritual work. We cannot be someone who still maintains ego or anger or does not put full effort into transformation of the spiritual work and attain true wisdom. Doing so, yes, will cause us to have more information after many years, but we will never have wisdom.
So it is true that on the New Moon of Capricorn we have the ability to begin our connection to the true wisdom to change our experience of life, but that is not enough. What is more important is that we re-focus all of our spiritual study and work in such that we say, "I want my experience of life to be constantly a positive one. I do not want to be connected to what is called Tree of Knowledge Good and Evil, positive days and negative days. I want to be connected to the realm that is called the Etz Chaim, the Tree of Life, where no matter what is occurring externally, my experience is of a connection to the Light of the Creator and that pleasantness."
All of our spiritual work, all of our spiritual study and transformation, must be focused in that way, because if we study but do not change, we do not have wisdom. The kabbalists promise us that we can bring a life for ourselves where no matter what is occurring, our experience of it is pleasant. Yes, we connect by attaining and touching true wisdom on Rosh Chodesh Tevet, but just as important is re-focusing all of our work and study in this direction.
Ask yourself: since you began studying, since you began your spiritual work a year ago or five years ago, from month-to-month and year-to-year is your experience, because you have attained some connection to wisdom and to what we call the Tree of Life, more of a constant pleasantness, or are you still experiencing the ups and the down, the positive and the negative?
If we are still experiencing the ups and the downs and the positives and negatives to the same degree, we are not attaining wisdom; we are attaining information and doing a little bit of spiritual work. The purpose of the spiritual work, the purpose of the study of Kabbalah, is only one thing: a connection to what we call the Etz Chaim, the Tree of Life, a connection that we understand to true wisdom which makes our experience of life a constant pleasant one. And if the answer to that question is no, then there is something wrong with how we are studying and how we are working.
Therefore, on the New Moon of Capricorn, and on Chanukah, as the Light of Wisdom is available, as we connect to the oil which has the energy of Wisdom, and if we ask for it, even if do not do anything else, we can receive greater wisdom. And, again, what does wisdom mean? It means that from this moment on, we will experience life, especially those moments that prior to this might have seemed negative, with a little bit more pleasantness.
But that is not enough. We need to use this connection as a springboard to true spiritual work and study. That is the focus. We gain that Light, and use it to push us even stronger, because that is the end goal. That is the ultimate revelation of the Light of Chanukah and the ultimate purpose of the study of Kabbalah: to experience life without the ups and downs, no matter what is occurring physically. Our receiving of it, our experience of it, should be - and can be - constantly pleasant, and constantly of the Light of the Creator. That is available to us on the New Moon of Capricorn: both the connection to that level of wisdom and the strength to focus all of our life, work, and study in that direction.
