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Now a lot of you are puzzling over this: What does Feivel have to do with me being a tzadik or not?
So let’s do this: Instead of me writing out another long-winded explanation of my kabbalistic intentions and poetic nuances, let’s see which of our viewers/readers can come up with the clearest, most enlightening and digestible solution to this question.
The winner receives, um, well...lots of recognition!
...and stay tuned for the next episode: "Tefillin Power"
Nun is the miracle. Miracles are certainly cool, but what's the big deal if G-d's the one that made them?! Nothing stands in the way of G-d, so of course he can perform a miracle. Nothing to get too excited about. A person, on the other hand, is a complicated being. While one part of you may have a certain goal in mind, another part of you can be holding you back. Usually, the only choice you have is to overcome that challenge. Break that opposite part of you. Then there are some exceptional individuals who are given the ability to actually transform the opposite part within, flipping it to become in harmony with their inner goal - that goal being, to be in harmony with G-d's goal. Now that's a phenomenon to get excited about. Unlike G-d, this person previously had something going against himself, yet he transformed that. That's true beauty: the fusion of different things. A dynamic, that allows flight. Varied aspects compose a single artwork, the Tzaddik. Can we do that to ourselves?
So now, for the answer to that question: chances are, you won't become a tzaddik. You can do all things right, and even feel like there isn't a part of you that resists that behaviour. But that doesn't prove you've transformed the "Feivish" within. Maybe that little troublemaker is still the one who will try getting in the way of your Divine mission, but is currently "asleep", lying dormant, inactive. But watch out, he may get up any moment. That's why Rabbi Infinity made sure not to get too sure of himself (although he feels that every part of him is happy to go along with his Kabbala-inspired lifestyle), for he wanted to stay prepared for the unexpected possibility that he can never be sure of... Reply if you have comments on my ones. Rabbi Freeman, it would be nice if you could let me know if this was accurate
Love this one! So clear and digestable. Keep em coming.
Feivel is the animal part of Rabbi Infinity and while it is sleeping we can´t really know if it is under control, which would be the case if Rabbi Infinity were a tzaddik. If Feivel wakes up and does whatever he wants without listening to the Rabbi, then the Rabbi is not a tzaddik, but if he shows to be under the control of the Rabbi, then he is a tzaddik :)
Tzadik meaning I just found this today 1/26/11 and although you have probably already answered it someplace. Here's my take on it... I think since the nun is the letter that the yud is being attached to, and we were told to make ourselves small and simple so that miracles can happen... God attaches his wings on us to help us fly higher to himself... He ataches the yud on the outside when we are good and kind to others... that's the miracle of flight...
Flying When we rise we do not look to people but to him who made them it makes for the best kind of upward mobility.
It depends It depends- if the desires of the heart are just sleeping, then he's not a tzaddik he's a beinoni, if the heart's desires have been channeled to act as a force of goodness then he's a tzaddik.
Feigele Maybe each one of us has a spark of a Tzadik; maybe each one of us has that legendary hero waiting to be more and more developed.
It’s all in your imagination!
Is there really an answer to it? Meanwhile, it gives you a chance to seek deeply into yourself for that answer.
For one, Feivel keeps him in control reminding him of his weaknesses. Too much on the right or too much on the left and everything collapses.
When I was very young and living in Paris, France, I read a French book, if I remember correctly, called “The Tzaddic (Tzadik). It belonged to my father. My mistake, I never asked any questions about it. But what I remember and what striked me the most was how the Tzadik was described as being someone who, not only knew all the wisdom in the world and compassion but mainly, knew and was able to absorb all the pain of the world being people, animals or nature. That someone was able to feel like it was his own pain in order to take it away from all. So, a Tzadik is not an ordinary human being, he is more like a legendary hero.
Oh rabbi infinity please tell us the answer! It's been rwo months and 26 day since the question was asked..... what does feivel have to do with rabbi infinity being a tzadik??? Oh rabbi infiniti we have been waiting in the desert for so long we need to be delivered into the light.
Didnt think of that
Wow, I didn't see it that way before.
it's a lot clearer now.
Thanks Eliyahu from LA
Whos is Flying? Flying is not just for birds. Flying doesn’t make anyone become a Tzadik. It’s being a Tzadik that makes you fly with all the knowledge you have learned to become one. I am sure when you have accomplished an amazing experience with your talent and skills, such as an artist or any other matter, to the best of your ability and get complimented and admired for it, that you feel so high, you could almost fly. But Feifel is there to remind you to keep your feet on the ground.
Flying Feivel
Oh come now, very straight forward remark. Does flying make you a Tzadik? -- looking towards Feival the shluffing Tzadik, "Well, it depends..."
How could the meaning of this have been a question in anyone's mind?!
Another Theory!
Most people have two sides, a good one (soul) and a bad one (animal) and until they learn how to differentiate and handle both, they will never be able to fly because one yod (soul) is up and one yod (animal) is down, holding them back. As opposed to a person who by studying thoroughly the Torah has learned to tame his downward yod (animal side) which then, gradually, rotates upward and allowes that person to become the wise and knowledgeable man that we call a Tzadik. As for his Feifel, nobody is perfect, so the Tzadik might still make, once in a while, some mistakes (his animal side)
I believe there is a soul (good person) in every animal (bad person)! Same with Napoleon whose intentions were good when he said he wanted to assimilate the Jews. He knew that it would be for the benefit of France. etc.
let sleeping dogs lie
Rabbi infinity keeps a little pet animal called Feivel.
He may be sleeping (so that he is not doing anything his animal insticts would tell him to do) but he has not turned towards actively doing good.
Everyone has two souls. An animal souls and a Godly soul.
Only in the true Tzadik has the animal soul turned to actually doing good.
Rabbi Infinity is great in his service of Hashem. Because his animal soul is effectively dormant. In this state we say the Rabbi is a Beinoni. Everyone has the potential to reach this level.
- How? By learning and increasing in Torah and Mitzvos.
and Chabad.org is a a good place to start.
Synchronization! The Mind and the Heart are in harmony with each other. One doesn’t go without the other. When the heart feels, the mind reminds why. When the mind reasons, it incorporates the heart's feelings. Therefore, you need the heart and the mind to work together as you need two wings to fly.
sp4rrowh4wk, Denver, USA
What I meant by Sacrifice was that when we have to act harshly , in that harshness there are our own components of hate and other ugly things, and when we are using those components consciently in order to change a stuck ,wrong ,ugly situation,thats a kind of sacrifice since we suffer by doing that and sometimes we lose for ever somebody dear to us or at least for a while till what was done is understood.
if ,G'od forbid,a child goes into drugs and into criminality,a mother and a father need to act very harshlly if they want to break that way,and even harsher if the wrong way is already rooted in the child.
In order to be severe ,one has to dig into his/her worst manners and feelings in order to get the strenght to do the "dirty job",and in that they are sacrificing themselves for something G'odly which is the cure of the child.
I guess we are sacrificing ourselves in every moment somehow ,in order to do the required Tikum Olam.
Excuse me for my English since thats not my first lang
Hi Carmen (cont'd)
Please forgive me. I do not understand the meaning of sacrifice about which you asked with regard to this Ktoon. We don't sacrifice our Yetzer haRah, we learn how to use it effectively. We train it so it becomes something productive 4 us instead of damaging 2 us.
Again, please forgive me if i have failed to clarify my earlier post, or just been confusing in general. i am sure not qualified to write about what tzaddikim do or do not, i was only trying to answer the riddles posed in the Ktoon as a method of expanding my awareness... u know, trying to figure out where Rabbi Freeman was coming frum. (i try to be the Besht i can.)
Thank you for addressing your comment to me. I sincerely hope your Yetzer haRah training/transformation goes well & is productive. May G-d bless you & give you many years of health & peace.
Hi Carmen i'm not sure the Yetzer haRah has a dirty job. It is neccessary 4 us, a neccessary part of our human existance. Yes, it can be scary, the YhR is trying to destroy us continually. But from this we can learn to be as strong as it is. Isn't the YhR doing the will of G-d also? When we r able to 'gear it w/harness' as you suggest (& portrayed in 1 of the other Feivel toons, & alluded to in my earlier comment) we will absolutely be able to use the drive & desire of YhR to help get us where we need to be. However, by this point in r development the YhR might not be as scary, & like Rabbi Infinity seems 2 be doing at the end of this toon, we may be able to contemplate our YhR w/affection. Not take it for granted, mind you, but not be so scared either. I agree completely, the YhR needs to be harnessed, trained in order to transform our desires into something positive. This transformation is symbolized by the downward Yud becoming an upward Yud. (cont'd)
Feivel Feivel represents the heart and if whether or not you are a tzadik depends on your heart means that whether or not you are righteous depends on your heart.
When our heart (Feivel, 1st Yod) is in line with our brain (Rabbi, 2nd Yod), we are able to use both of them so that we can climb higher and higher without the 1st Yod dragging us down.
This transforms an already great miracle (Nun) into an even greater miracle (Tzadik), one that keeps pulling us up and just doesn't stop!