Chapter 49: Love That Made Room: Answering G‑d’s Love

The specific ways in which the light of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, is hidden and veiled, all along the descent of the worlds down to the creation of this physical world, are countless and take many forms, as those who have tasted from the Tree of Life know well. Broadly, though, there are three sweeping kinds of great contractions (tzimtzumim), matching three broad kinds of worlds, each holding countless myriads of details: the worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. Atzilus is not counted among them, since it is G‑dliness itself.

Bringing into being the world of Beriah, made up of souls and lofty angels who serve G‑d with the chochmah, binah and daas enclothed in them, so that they comprehend and absorb from them, required a great contraction first, as said above.

The same holds from Beriah down to Yetzirah: the tiny light enclothed in Beriah is still boundless compared with Yetzirah, and can only enclothe itself there by being contracted and concealed. The same again from Yetzirah to Asiyah. [These three contractions are discussed at length elsewhere, to bring the idea nearer to our limited grasp.]

All these contractions exist for one aim: to bring into being the material human body, to overpower the sitra achra, and to produce the special quality of light that emerges from darkness, when a person raises his G‑dly soul and his vital soul, with their garments and every faculty of the body, to G‑d and to Him only, as explained at length above. That is the whole point of the descent of the worlds.

Now, “as water reflects a face to a face” (Mishlei 27:19). Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, so to speak, laid aside and left “to one side,” figuratively speaking, His great, infinite light, and stored it away and hid it with three kinds of contraction, all out of love for lowly man, to raise him up to G‑d, for “love presses back the flesh” (Bava Metzia 84a), how much more so, many times over without end, is it fitting that a person also lay aside and leave everything he has, from soul to flesh, and give it all up, in order to cling to Him with attachment, longing and desire, with nothing holding him back, from inside or from outside: not body, not soul, not money, and not wife and children.

This offers a fine explanation of why the Sages instituted the blessings of the Shema, “two before it, etc.” On the surface they have nothing to do with the Shema itself, as the Rashba and other halachic authorities noted. Why then are they named “the blessings of the Shema,” and why were they placed specifically ahead of it?

The core of the Shema, though, is carrying out “with all your heart, etc.,” meaning “with both your inclinations, etc.”: holding firm against anything that keeps a person from loving G‑d. “Your heart” refers to wife and children, whom a man’s heart naturally clings to, as the Sages taught on the verse “He spoke and it came to be” (Tehillim 33:9): this is a wife; “He commanded and it endured”: these are children (Shabbos 152a). “Your soul” and “your might” are meant literally: your life and your means. All of it is to be surrendered for love of G‑d.

Yet how can a flesh-and-blood person rise to this? To prepare him, they placed first the blessing of Yotzer Or, which describes again and again, in detail, the ranks and order of the angels “who stand at the summit of the universe”, to show the greatness of the Holy One, blessed be He: that all of them dissolve before His light, and “in awe proclaim, etc., and sanctify, etc., and with awe say: Holy, etc.” That is, He is apart from them and not openly enclothed in them; rather, “all the earth is filled with His glory,” namely the Community of Israel on high and the Jewish people below, as said above.

Likewise “the Ofanim and the holy Chayos, with a mighty roar, etc., [say:] Blessed be G‑d’s glory from its place,” since His place is beyond their knowledge and grasp, as we say, “for He alone is lofty and holy.”

Next comes the second blessing: “With everlasting love (ahavas olam) You have loved us, L‑rd our G‑d.” That is, He passed over all the holy hosts on high and made His Shechinah rest on us, so that He is called “our G‑d,” like “the G‑d of Avraham, etc.,” as said above. For “love pushes the flesh aside.” It is named ahavas olam because it is the contracting of His great, infinite light to enclothe itself in limitation, called olam, “world”, all out of His love for Israel His people, to draw them close so that they merge into His Unity and Oneness.

This is what we say: “great and abundant compassion,” abundant, that is, beyond His nearness to all the hosts above. “And You chose us from every nation and tongue”: this is the material body, which in its materiality is like the bodies of the nations of the world. “And You brought us near, etc., to thank, etc.” (the meaning of “thanks” will be explained elsewhere), “and to proclaim Your Oneness, etc.”: to be absorbed into His Unity, as mentioned above.

Now when the thinking person sets these things deep in his heart and mind, then of itself, “as water reflects a face,” his soul will catch fire and put on a spirit of generosity, to volunteer to lay aside and leave everything he has, only to cling to Him and be absorbed into His light, with attachment and longing, etc., in the manner of a “kiss,” the joining of spirit to Spirit, as mentioned above.

How does one arrive at this joining of spirit with Spirit? For this the verse continues: “These words shall be, etc., on your heart, and you shall speak them, etc.” (Devarim 6:6–7). Etz Chaim teaches that the union of the kiss is at root the union of chochmah, binah and daas with chochmah, binah and daas, which is deep study of Torah. And the mouth is where the breath leaves and shows itself: that is, speaking words of Torah, “for man lives by everything that issues from G‑d’s mouth” (Devarim 8:3).

Still, thought and study alone do not discharge one’s duty; the words must be pronounced with the lips. The point is to bring the light of the Ein Sof all the way down, into the vital soul too, which lives in the blood and is built from mineral, plant and animal, so as to raise them all to G‑d along with the entire world and merge them into His Unity and light, which will then shine openly over the earth and its inhabitants: “G‑d’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it as one, etc.” (Yeshayahu 40:5). This is why all the worlds descended at all: so that G‑d’s glory should fill this lowly earth specifically, openly, turning darkness to light and bitter to sweet, as explained at length above.

So the aim a person should hold in his service is to bring the light of the Ein Sof down below. First, though, must come the raising of mayin nukvin (“feminine waters”): surrendering to Him his soul and everything he has, as said above.