The Avodah of the Year 5786 – “Becoming a Partner with Hashem”
5786 (תשפ"ו) – comprise the letters of the word “partner” (שותף). As our Sages said in several places (for example, Shabbos 10a, 119b, and others): “A person becomes a partner with the Holy One, blessed be He.”
This is man’s task — to make himself a partner with Hashem, to include Hashem in every aspect of his life, in everything, without exception. Through this, one merits that the year 5786 (תשפ"ו) itself expresses this idea: תש – פ"ו.
The letters ו"פ have the numerical value of Elokim (אלוקים), representing the attribute of judgment (din). תש means to weaken — thus, תש כח הדין, “the power of judgment is weakened.”
This is in line with what Rashi writes on Bereishis 1:1: “At first it arose in His thought to create the world with the attribute of judgment, but He combined it with the attribute of mercy.”
So too, as a person makes Hashem his partner, he weakens the power of judgment, and mercy is revealed. Then it becomes clear that the entire Creation exists within the “womb” (rechem) of the Infinite One — as it were.
The word rachamim (mercy) comes from the word rechem (womb). Just as the embryo is surrounded by the mother’s womb, so too all of existence is enveloped by the Infinite Light, the created beings are absorbed within it, and their entire being is contained and nullified within the Infinite One Who surrounds and fills them.
(Written by the Rav in Tishrei 5786)
