Question:
1) The sefer “Asiris HaEifah” of the Kamarna Rebbe writes that a person need to begin his avodah by first developing the element of “water” in his soul, which refers to pleasure and vitality in serving Hashem. Does this approach apply to all people, or not? It would seem that since he was writing this sefer for Klal Yisrael, this is the beginning of avodah for all people. But the Rav’s shiurim imply that each person has a different path, since each person needs to find his main element and mainly work with that element. 2) In the aforementioned sefer, it is written that the desire for marital intimacy comes from the element of fire. Does the Rav’s series “Fixing Your Water” also cover the subject of repairing the desire for intimacy? For example, when the Rav speaks about repairing the desire for eating food, is this also teaching self-control and repair of the desire for intimacy? Or is the desire for intimacy included in the element of fire (perhaps more specifically in fire-of-water), as the Kamarna says? If so, what is the way to repair this desire? Is the approach to this as the Rav says in “Da Es Atzmecha” and “Da Es Baisecha”, that physical desires of the body can be weakened through identifying oneself as a neshamah?Answer:
1) It is an approach for one whose main element is water. Most authors of sefarim wrote their works according to their soul root, and they intended their sefarim for those whose soul root is the same as theirs. It is the like what the Chazon Ish said regarding different ways of learning Gemara, of which there are many different approaches explained by our Gedolim of the past: each path was written according to the particular soul root of the Gadol who said it, and each path is intended only for one who has the same root as that Gadol.
2) This [the desire for marital intimacy] stems from fire-of-water, and it is in the category of “fiery love”. The way to repairbalance this desire is in the same way that one repairs fire-of-water. What is written in “Da Es Atzmecha” and “Da Es Baisecha” is a general repair of this desire, while the specific repair of this desire is through repairing fire-of-water [see Fixing Your Water_018_The Desire for Love].
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