The Royal Wedding

“OMG! 2 Billion watched the royal wedding, CRAAAAAZZZZZYYY!!!

-       A buddy’s Facebook status

Crazy indeed. So what’s our fascination with royalty? Is it the Aston Martin’s and Bentleys? Maybe. The Alexander McQueen Gowns and Jimmy Choo Shoes? Possibly.

I’d be ok with any of the above; problem is it doesn’t fit with the famous adage from the Holy Kabbalist Rabbi Israel Baal Shem:

“Everything a person sees or hears, is an instruction to him in his conduct in the service of The Divine”

Perhaps our fascination with royalty is because the notion of Monarchy continues to hold some power over us.

Kabbala teaches that the terrestrial kingship is a reflection of divine kingship. This can be a complicated concept, since many a terrestrial king has engaged in very un-Divine activities. Be that as it may, Kabbala teaches that the power of kingship and thus its allure has its root in Divine kingship.

In fact, Jewish tradition tells us that Moses treated King Pharoah with deference because the latter was a monarch. Despite the incredible evil Pharoah was inflicting on his people, Moses understanding the magnitude of kingship, showed the appropriate respect.

Chasidic masters have taught that our soul is likened to a flickering flame, just as the flame by nature moves only upwards, so to our soul yearns only to move upwards and connect with that which is higher than it, namely - The Divine.

As much as we cannot fathom the thought, deep down on some subliminal level we are looking for a monarch, a higher power. This is our nature. This is our Soul.

With that said, here’s what the Royal Wedding instructed me in my divine service:

We must keep looking up and striving to connect to that which is above us spiritually – to the Divine.

Let’s follow the direction of our divine soul, and instead of enslaving ourselves to the material the shallow and the transient, let us bow to the holy, the spiritual and of course the Royal.