* Translated by Janine Muller Sherr
The funeral for Lieutenant Hadar Goldin Hy”d will take place tomorrow in Israel.
For eleven years our enemies wanted to desecrate his memory; now we will honor him by sharing his words of wisdom. When Hadar was just nineteen years old, he began to study the classic text, Mesillat Yesharim (The Path of the righteous), a step-by-step guide to spiritual and ethical perfection, composed by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzatto.
Hadar had listened to classes given by Rav Eliezer Kashtiel from Mechinat Eli on Mesillat Yesharim and wrote notes for himself that were subsequently published in a remarkable book.
At the beginning of Mesilat Yesharim, Rabbi Luzatto writes: “Man was created solely to delight in God.”
What do these words mean?
In his notes, Hadar defined for himself the meaning of true delight:
“A person feels delight when his experiences align perfectly with his soul, but when his experiences do not align with his soul, he does not feel pleasure. In the course of our daily lives, we focus primarily on the outside world and feel the impact of our surroundings, but we seldom glimpse into our own soul. The outside world obscures a person’s soul, his personality, and his very essence.
If I choose to pursue fleeting pleasures and passing thrills, I miss the opportunity to discover the source of continuous joy: my own soul. It is imperative that a person discover his own self and reveal the essence of his soul.“
May we merit to discover this source of true delight and to raise ourselves up by following in the path of the righteous.
May Hadar Goldin’s memory be a blessing.
