(from a recent lecture)

One of the unique things we have from the letters of Rav Brandwein to the Rav is the explanation of the power of Pesach. Rav Brandwein was very connected to Pesach and he left the world at this time.

When he is talking to the Rav, he says you have to be careful. The most important part of the connection is the joy, the happiness you have during the connection. The physical connection is not enough. If you do not have tremendous joy, happiness, you are not truly making the connection.

He quotes from the Ari, who asks a question. In the writings of the sages, there are many blessings that are said about connections, about long life, substance, righteous children. There are many places in the writings of the true Kabbalists that say if you make specific connections, you get specific blessings.

We see many people who make these connections and, chas v’shalom, it seems they are not true. The blessings don’t seem to flow. How do we understand this?

As Rav Brandwein tells the Rav, we have to remember every time we make the connection. The words in the original are very beautiful, and cannot be exactly translated.

When a person does the actions, he has to have joy, the type of joy as if you made millions and millions of dollars. The joy that has no end. An outpouring of the heart and the soul, with a tremendous yearning and excitement.

This is the key. If you do that, and depending on the amount of joy that you have in and during the connection, exactly to that degree you receive Light. This is a tremendous revelation.

It’s not just to have joy when making the connection, like spices to food. It’s an exact correlation. To the degree you have true internal joy, to that degree you will receive Light. Exactly. Exactly.

Any connection that is made without joy cannot draw Light. To the exact degree we feel joy during the connection, that is exactly the Light we will receive.

Look at the words of the Ari, repeat these words over and over again until they become second nature. Rav Brandwein told the Rav, and we need to remind ourselves over and over, that with any connection, the greater the joy and excitement, the greater the Light that we receive.