Did
you ever try hanging yourself upside down? It’s fun for a few seconds, but
after a while it will become difficult because the blood will rush straight to
your head. There is one mammal, one animal, that sleep upside down: bats.
The
reason is fascinating. The only mammal in the world that can fly are bats. But
while bats can fly, they can’t take off. Technically they are mammals and
not birds, or insects, so they can’t just take off and fly. Birds can take off
from a dead stop by simply flapping their wings, and raising themselves, but
bats can’t. Birds’ wings are long and feathered and can
generate enough thrust to achieve liftoff, but bats’ wings are basically
large, webbed hands. Once airborne, a bat can use these webbed hands to
sustain the flight over long distances and steer seamlessly, but they
have a problem: they can’t do the necessary flapping to take off. Bats also cannot run so it would be almost
impossible for them to take off from the ground.
So
what do bats do if they can fly, but can’t take off? The answer is they
don’t take off -- they fall down!
Bats
sleep upside down. Their claws effortlessly “click on” to the branch they want
to hang from, and they enjoy a peaceful, relaxed rest. (Because they are so
compact, the circulation is also not a challenge.) When they wake up and want
to begin their “day,” bats do not need to generate lift to begin flight. They
just drop out of their bed, open their wings and off they go. In fact, the
momentum generated by their fall becomes the impetus that allows them to fly!
Creating
the Thirst
Now
we can understand the words of the Talmud about repentance. When I repent out
of fear, my sins are considered mistakes. Because as it turns out, I did not
understand the implications, hence I transgressed. So it is considered an
accidental fall. I hurt myself, but it was an accident. It was not malicious.
It was ignorance. G-d forgives mistakes.
But
if I do teshuvah with love, with enthusiasm and excitement, when I find a
passion in my relationship with my soul, my G-d, my spouse, my
authenticity—says the Alter Rebbe—then I discover that the very falling down is
what allowed me to fly!
Because
the very downfall creates a thirst, an honesty, humility, yearning,
authenticity, pining, that allows me to connect with my own truth, with other
people, and with G-d, in a way I could have never achieved before. Knowing the
pain of darkness, is what fuels my passion for the good and the true.
