Q: What is a soul root and how can I reveal mine?
A: When a person is praying, learning Torah or performing mitzvahs and he feels that he is clinging to God, he has revealed his soul root. The main path to merit this is the secret of the holy Shabbat, when we receive an ‘additional soul’ (which is the manifestation of the soul root). Singing holy Shabbat songs on Shabbat manifests this, as is written in the Mishna Shabbat 5:1, “All the ba’alei shir go out with shir. In this Mishnah, the word ‘shir’ means the special ring-chain with which animal owners lead their animals. The mishnah says that those animal owners can go out with their animals on Shabbat with the ring-chain around their necks. But shir also means song. The Chassidic interpretation of this mishnah, then, is that soul-elevation is accomplished through song. The inner song of every person is the manifestation of his soul root. Righteous people – and Your Nation are all righteous people – are called “Shabbat” all week long, for the memory of the song remains.
