By Cailin Acosta in San Diego
The final session of Brandon Fisher’s “Four Elements of Teshuvah” series at Beth Jacob Congregation introduced participants to what Fisher called a “secret fifth element,” the neshama, or soul.
Fisher, Beth Jacob’s director of operations and outreach, had spent the preceding classes examining earth, water, fire and air as metaphors for different aspects of personal growth and teshuvah. In the final class, he argued that the spiritual element underlying all four is the most important.
“The element of spirit, the secret fifth element, is the element that people don’t see because it’s not the physical element,” Fisher said. “It’s the one that’s inside of us.”
The discussion began with the sukkah and its openness to the natural elements. Unlike a conventional structure designed to shield its occupants from the outside world, the sukkah intentionally leaves people exposed to the earth, water, fire and air. Fisher connected that openness with trust in Hashem.
The sukkah also recalls the Israelites’ years in the desert, where they lived in temporary shelters and relied upon Hashem for protection. Its temporary nature provides a physical reminder that security does not come exclusively from walls and roofs.
From there, Fisher shifted the discussion from the physical world to the spiritual one. A cube has six sides, he noted, but the space inside is what gives the structure its purpose. Similarly, the physical world can be understood through its physical dimensions, while the spiritual dimension represents what lies beyond what can be seen.
The connection to Shabbat reinforced the idea. Hashem created the world in six days, while the seventh day completed the process of creation. For Fisher, the neshama represents that deeper dimension, the part of a person that gives existence meaning and purpose.
The fifth element was also connected to teshuvah gemorah, or complete teshuvah. The goal is not merely to correct an individual action, but to undergo such a fundamental transformation that the person is no longer defined by the mindset or behavior that created the original problem.
Fisher compared the process to advancing through levels of a video game. Each stage presents a new challenge, and overcoming it develops new abilities. Eventually, however, a person may encounter a final challenge that combines elements of the earlier ones. That can happen in life as well. A person may believe they have overcome a particular struggle, only to find the same challenge returning in a different form. The answer, Fisher said, is remembering the purpose behind the process and maintaining a connection with Hashem.
The class described the Yetzer Hara as a force that attempts to interfere with that connection. The neshama itself remains beyond the reach of those challenges, Fisher explained. Instead, people can lose access to it by becoming disconnected from their spiritual purpose. “It’s like protected in a vault,” he said. “The problem is sometimes we keep it locked in the vault and we never free it.” Connection, therefore, becomes an important spiritual tool, connection with one’s neshama, with Hashem and with other people.
Fisher identified isolation, loneliness, ego and unhealthy dependency as forces that can contribute to spiritual disconnection. In contrast, he described spiritual “light” as connection, community, purpose, imagination and an awareness that one’s life is part of something larger. The class also considered how people can lose their sense of possibility as they grow older.
Fisher referenced the Pixar film Onward, whose opening sequence depicts a world in which magic was gradually replaced by easier, more convenient technology. He used the story as a metaphor for what can happen to people as they mature. Children often approach the world with an expansive imagination. Over time, however, failure, criticism and being told they are not good at something can cause people to place limitations on their own potential. “You haven’t mastered it yet,” Fisher said. “You still have it inside of you.”
The final portion of the class examined what Fisher described as a seven-step continuum of spiritual decline, based on an interpretation associated with Rashi’s commentary on Leviticus 26:15 and further developed by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. The progression begins with failing to study and understand the reasons behind Jewish practices. That can lead to neglecting observance, followed by resentment toward people who continue to observe. The stages eventually progress from despising those who observe, to hostility toward scholars and teachers, actively opposing the system, renouncing the commandments and, finally, denying the existence of the Creator.
Fisher emphasized that the progression is not irreversible. At any point, he said, a person can stop the downward movement and reconnect spiritually. “You always have a chance to have a spiritual moment,” he said. “You can always create those spiritual moments.” Rather than continuing down what Fisher described as an “escalator of doom,” a person can turn around and begin moving toward Hashem.
His final metaphor was one of accessibility: A person does not necessarily have to climb the entire ladder alone. “Hashem has an elevator for everybody to just connect to Him,” Fisher said. “Just say, ‘Hineni, I’m here. I’m here to serve You. I’m here with You.’”
The final lesson brought the series back to its central theme: Teshuvah is not simply about overcoming individual challenges. It is about discovering the spiritual potential within oneself and strengthening the connection to the neshama that gives that journey its ultimate purpose.
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Cailin Acosta is the assistant editor of the San Diego Jewish World.