Adapted from the Komarna Rebbe’s sefer, Nesiv Mitzvosecha
The Gemara (Gittin 47a) records the following story: sold himself to a group of cannibals. He took with him a bag containing a stone. Before they killed him, they offered him the chance to make one final request, which they would honor, as was the tradition among these cannibals. Reish Lakish requested that they all sit on the ground and allow him to tie them up, promising to strike each of them one and a half times with the stone in his bag. He struck the first one once, and because of his tremendous strength, that single blow killed him. Reish Lakish gritted his teeth in anger and exclaimed, “Are you laughing at me? I still have half a strike remaining!” He then proceeded to kill each of them, one by one, and escaped.
Beyond its surface-level strangeness, this story begs for a deeper, pnimius explanation. The Komarna Rebbe, in his introduction to Nesiv Mitzvosecha, shares practical lessons we can draw from a deeper understanding of this episode, based on an idea passed down from the Baal Shem Tov in Toldos Yaakov Yosef.
The Gemara in Bava Metzia tells us that Reish Lakish was originally a thief before he did teshuvah and became a great Amora. This deeper interpretation of the story reflects the challenges Reish Lakish faced on his path of return. When he chose to return to Hashem and accept the yoke of Torah, avodas Hashem, and kedushah, he “sold himself to the cannibals” which means he found himself immediately surrounded by klippos
(negative forces) that sought to destroy him through temptation and sin, trying to prevent his spiritual growth. As the Zohar teaches, “When a person decides he wants to do teshuvah, the yetzer hara overwhelms him by seducing him with temptations.”
“The cannibals were about to kill him.” This symbolizes how the klippos succeeded in dragging Reish Lakish into negative thoughts and desires. Recognizing this, he took on additional levels of holiness and self-restraint from worldly pleasures. Through this, he “struck the cannibals with a rock and killed them.”
The Baal Shem Tov teaches that when we strive to come closer to Hashem, the klippos will not go down without a fight. It is common that after making a new spiritual commitment or reaching a higher level of avodas Hashem, we may find ourselves under siege by spiritual resistance, surrounded by these klippos who do not want to let us go and will try everything to pull us back down.
The way to “smash the klippos in the head with a stone and kill them in one blow” is by pushing forward even more. “Mekabel al atzmo kedusha yeseira“, accepting upon ourselves an added level of holiness. The Komarna continues that when the Tzadik presses on with strength, the klippos are destroyed, and he escapes their grasp. Then a great spiritual light shines upon him, and he can serve Hashem with joy and gladness of heart. Even if he occasionally experiences a spiritual descent (katnus), it will not compare to the earlier experience of being surrounded on all sides by the “cannibals.”
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 34 Komarna Yahrtzeit Edition.