Sedra Acharei tells us about the service of Yom Kippur and near the end of this section it states ‘For on this day you will be atoned, purifying you... before G-d (Havaye) you will be purified’.
In Likkutei Torah on this Sedra – the Chassidic ‘Sedra of the week’ – it tells us that the words ‘before Havaye’ should be understood as ‘higher than Havaye’. It explains there that the concept of Teshuvah is to return one’s Divine Soul to its source, the way it was before it entered the downchaining of worlds in order to be clothed in a physical body.
We can understand this further by considering the morning prayer ‘My G-d, the soul which You gave me is pure, You created it, You formed it..’ This prayer depicts the soul as beginning at a level of ‘purity’ higher than the Worlds of Creation, Formation and Action. This means the source of the soul is at a level of G-dliness beyond existence, and even higher. For there are differing levels of G-dliness. The aspect which directly gives life to existence is the Name Elokim. The Tetragrammaton, Havaye, is higher than existence, but it still has a role in creation as we see from the fact that this Name means ‘He causes to be’, that G-d is the cause of existence. The source of the soul is on an even higher level, altogether beyond existence; it is from the Divine Essence, completely beyond all Names and all aspects of revelation.
Now, the fact that through its service in this world the soul connects with its original source is a very great achievement for the soul. Because, while its origin is on the very exalted level described, this was before it was enclothed in a physical body. After being enclothed in a limited physical body the situation is very different. However, the soul has the task to strive to create a ‘dwelling for the Divine’ in this lower world. This is a dwelling for the Divine Essence, without being veiled in any way, as will be achieved in the time of Moshiach, when ‘your Teacher will not be hidden’.
Through creating this dwelling for the Divine Essence, in this world, the soul is able to connect with the Essence – beyond all worlds and all Names – even while it is still part and parcel of our physical world, enclothed in a physical body.
This is the ‘ascent’ which is achieved by the soul, through the fact of its having descended into a physical body, as a reward. That even while it is in this world, in a physical body, it is connected to the Divine Essence. There are two aspects to this. One is that it shows the intense bonding, hitkashrut, of the soul with the Essence of the Divine. It can be compared with the idea expressed in Tanya that even at the moment that a person is sinning, their Divine Soul is faithfully close to G-d. This applies in general to the situation of the soul in the body, that the soul is still bonded to the Divine Essence, as expressed in the verse ‘the spirit will return to G-d Who gave it’.
The second aspect is that this has an effect on the body. This does not mean that the body ceases to have any significance, but rather that it becomes a full agent for the soul: the soul is dominant and the body is secondary, but it functions fully as a physical body, expressing the soul.
Conclusion
May it be the will of Hashem that through speaking of such matters, which are the Inner dimension of Torah, which means it is ‘the spreading of the wellsprings to the outside’, which also relates to Lag B’Omer, itself expressing the revelation of the Inner dimension of Torah and also manifesting tremendous joy, without limit, we will come to the true and complete Redemption, with eternal joy.
