Essence of the Essence

Day by Day - Tevet 2 (See today's Hayom Yom here. )
Q. How do Torah and Mitzvot bring us closer to G-d if we are already a part of G-d above?

A. Torah is like water. Just as water flows from a high place to a lower place, Torah brings G-d’s unknowable will and wisdom - “no thought can comprehend Him” - down to this world so all minds can comprehend Him.

Now, why the comparison to water? If a concept is so subtle that we can’t grasp it, then a comparison to something more concrete is helpful. But we all know what downhill means (particularly us over forty) Torah was in Heaven and it came down like water, from high to low, downward, downhill, descending, from teacher to student. Okay, we got it!

Ah, but do we?

Knowledge flowing down from a teacher to a student gets filtered, suggesting it is diminished, altered to suit the student’s level of comprehension. The analogy to water reveals the unique nature of Torahs descent: Water arrives at bottom of the hill unchanged, unaltered, undiminished. So too, Torah, being G-d’s will and wisdom here on earth is the original unchanged product.

The Greeks in the Chanukah story had no idea. They naturally assumed that when G-d gave us the Mitzvot he gave them away. They were His in Heaven; G-d keeps the Mitzvot in some divine, celestial way. But when Mitzvot are given to humans, they become `humanized’, serving to raise the humans for their benefit in ways that their mind can appreciate.

The problem, they felt, was with the Jews who insisted that the Mitzvah, performed with physical material by physical bodies with human intelligence, is satisfying a divine need.

And that is the truth.

A Mitvah performed is not a fraction of his will or facsimile of what He really wants. It is all that He wants. It’s the whole thing. It fulfills His will. It satisfies His deepest, truest desire undiminished by its physical embodiment.

Our soul, by contrast, is a part of G-d above as it comes down into this world “from a lofty perch to a deep pit” it is diminished in some way; it is now a soul, where before it was just Him. By doing Mitzvot our souls are re-connected to Him as before their decent.

In its very essence, on the other hand, the soul has not changed at all. The core of the soul is immutable, essence of the Essence. In fact, the Jewish soul that performs the Mitzvah gives the Mitzvah its true divinity. Because the Mitzvah is His will, indeed a very intimate aspect of Him. The soul, however, is Him.

In conclusion: On the surface, Torah brings the Jew closer to G-d. On the deeper levels, Jews bring the Mitzvot closer to G-d. You now understand the Kabbalistic secret, “G-d, His Torah and His people are one.”

Be sure to check out the Hayom Yom and Tanya reading for today.