However, the deeper meaning of this verse is that not only is Hashem our King because He is our Creator and Manager, but also because He is the only True Existence and the only Source of Life.
It is not just that Hashem is more important than people, and therefore His commands take precedence. There are no other beings that have any separate existence from Him to give us commands in the first place. They are all just like puppets in Hashem’s hands, whatever they do is only because Hashem is giving them that power for a certain reason known to Him.
(Even though people have free will to choose to do good or bad, they do not have the power to do good or harm anyone unless Hashem gives them that power. A person can only choose to try to do something good or bad to himself or others, but the actual result of his choice is not dependent on the person’s choice.)
This is the deeper meaning of “accepting Hashem’s Sovereignty” in Shema: To accept the idea that Hashem is the absolute only power in existence at all.
"וְאָּהַבְתָּּ" – ֲה" הֶיְהִּ יֶ שוָּ " ךיֶקֹלֱא הָּי (וָּאֶתְ חַנַּ ן ו, ה)
After the first verse of Krias Shema, it continues to say: “And you would love it if Hashem would reveal that He is your G-d,” i.e., your Life and Power, and that you are bound up with Him.
Meaning, that you would love to always be bound up with this idea, that the worlds are nothing other than an extension of the One that is enlivening them and bringing them into existence.
However, since the physical body cannot handle this true awareness of how it is nothing other than its Source of life and existence as described above,
therefore, during Krias Shema when he says, “And you shall speak of those words of Torah,” one should decide that he will actually learn Torah after he finishes praying.
This is because, when one learns Torah, his Divine soul becomes truly united with the Torah.
Torah and Hashem Are One
And because “the Torah and Hashem are one,” through this he becomes literally united with Hashem Himself,
since, on the one hand, “the Torah is derived from the level of Hashem’s Chochma-Wisdom Above in the World of Atzilus,” and, on the other hand, it becomes invested in matters of this world, dealing with physical mitzvos that we can comprehend while in the body,
therefore, when a person involves his Divine soul in the matters of Torah learning that relate to this world, this causes the root of his soul Above in the spiritual worlds to also become involved in the Torah as it exists Above, on the highest spiritual levels, and there, on that higher level of the soul and the higher level of the Torah, they completely merge.
In other words:
How does the Torah study accomplish uniting us with Hashem, that we should experience how we are nothing other than Him, just His Light and Power that is still included in Himself?
The answer is that the Torah has two opposite aspects. In its source it is Hashem’s Wisdom, the highest level of transparency to Him. But it descends to the lowest level, to discuss mitzvos performed in the physical world. We can learn the Torah in this world on a conscious level without becoming overwhelmed. But at the same time, the deeper parts of our soul, the subconscious hidden dimension of our Divine soul, can access the true source of the Torah as it exists as Hashem’s Wisdom Above, at the highest level of revealing Hashem’s Oneness. When that happens, the deepest part of our Divine soul does in fact perceive the true Oneness of Hashem as manifest in the Torah Above. This “trickles down” into our conscious dimension so that we should have some connection to Hashem’s True Oneness even in this world.
Hashem Sits and Learns Torah Opposite the Person
This is the meaning of (Yalkut Shimoni #1,035) “Hashem sits and learns Torah opposite the person learning Torah,” as explained above.
And this is the meaning of (Tehillim 121:5) “Hashem is your shadow,” meaning just like the shadow of a person reflects the shape of the person, Hashem reflects His Light corresponding to the person’s actions.
These two quotes are showing how when a person sits to learn Torah in this world, Hashem responds by bringing Himself down to the person. Hashem brings down the His Light in His Torah as it exists Above all the way to the person as he is in the physical world. Thus, by learning Torah in this world we also access the unlimited dimension of the Torah as it exists Above, where His Oneness is fully revealed.
Hashem Takes You Out of Mitzrayim
Now, it is written in the third parsha of Shema that we say in our prayers (from Bamidbar 15:41), “I am Hashem, your G-d, Who took you out of the land of Mitzrayim (Egypt).”
The idea of “Mitzrayim” (which is similar to the word for “limitations”) is not just physical slavery and limitations, but spiritual “slavery” and limitations of how the animal soul traps the Divine soul in physical temptations and tries to stop if from connecting to Hashem. Hashem is the one who frees us from both physical and spiritual slavery and captivity. (See the 47th chapter of Tanya for more on this.)
Meaning that one should not think, out of misplaced humility, “how will I attain such a level of unity with Hashem through Torah and prayer, since I myself am not yet completely detached from evil and selfish desires, and my selfish desires and tendencies are still fully active in me?”
This is what he should take to heart and tell himself: “Hashem is the one who takes me out of my own personal Mitzrayim.”
Meaning that Hashem separates the good within him from the bad, which is the Divine soul from the animal soul, as long as the person did not do actually do anything bad.
Even if a person’s animal soul has physical desires or even unholy desires, this does not stop the person’s Divine soul from uniting with Hashem. This is because Hashem “takes us out of Mitzrayim,” i.e., He takes out our Divine soul from the limitations and captivity of the animal soul.
However, this ability to become fully united with Hashem during prayer and Torah study is only when a person does not actually sin, he just has a desire for sin. Because the unholiness of the animal soul’s desires are not expressed in the body, the body remains pure enough to be a vehicle and a vessel for the expression of the Divine soul and its unity with Hashem.
This is the concept of the Beinoni, discussed at length in the first section of the Tanya. The Beinoni is someone who has unholy desires in his animal soul but does not act upon them. Instead, during prayer he awakens a love for Hashem and those unholy desires are temporarily “put to sleep.” Even after those unholy desires reawaken, he continues to ignore them, due to the connection to the love and fear of Hashem he experienced in prayer. This person will also be able to feel some of the Light of Hashem shining into him when he studies Torah (at least on some level).
But someone who actually sins will have a harder time experiencing a love for Hashem in prayer until he does Teshuva, (as mentioned in Tanya chapter 42), and a harder time feeling the Light of Hashem in the Torah study.
Now the Alter Rebbe adds that even someone who sins and does not do teshuva still creates a connection to Hashem through Torah study, even though he cannot feel it:
And even someone who is completely wicked, he draws down Elokus into his Divine soul when he is involved in Torah study.
It is just that regarding him the verse states (Tehillim 50:16), “and to the wicked G-d said, ‘What gain do you have from talking of my statutes.’”
This means that there is no revealed benefit for the Divine soul, since the verse states regarding him (ibid. 50:17), “and you throw my words behind your back,” simply meaning that he disregards Hashem’s words, but the deeper meaning is that he is unable to internalize Hashem’s words of Torah, as though the words go right over his head and fall behind his back instead of going inside of his head.
In other words: Any time a Jew does a mitzvah or learns Torah he creates a connection with Hashem in his Divine soul. But if he sins, then the unholiness of the sin blocks out the Light of Hashem from being felt in his Divine soul. If he wants to sin but holds himself back, then Hashem will not allow those unholy desires to stop him from feeling the Light of Hashem in prayer and Torah study, Hashem will “take him out of his personal Mitzrayim.”
And this should suffice for one who understands.
The Eighteen Blessings of Shemona Esrei
Now, regarding the concept of the [eighteen] blessings of the Amida prayer which follows Krias Shema, which begin with the words “Blessed are You, Havaya (Hashem)...”
The meaning is as follows:
“Blessed” refers to an expression of drawing down and increasing Hashem’s revelation,
so that “Havaya,” which is Hashem’s Four-Letter Name that represents the entire four-step process of drawing His Light into creation which is 1- contraction of His Light into a singular point, and then 2- expansion of that point of Light, then 3- drawing down that expansion of the point of Light, and then 4- allowing the recipient to fully receive this drawing down of Light,
can be directly related to, so that we can refer to Him as “You,” in a revealed sense.
The Alter Rebbe analyzes the first three words of the Shemona Esrai, (which are also the first three words of all blessings):
- “Blessed” in reference to Hashem means that Hashem is the Source of all blessings, and that all blessings flow down from Him. This word is related to the word ‘המבריך-one who bends down,’ like someone who takes a grape vine and bends it down into the ground to have it grow in a new location. In our context this means that the word “Blessed” can also mean “drawn down” from a state of concealment to a state of revelation, i.e., that Hashem’s Light is drawn down and revealed to us. The word “Blessed” also connotes that something becomes greater, like someone who is “blessed” with an abundance of wealth, or many children etc. In our context this means that Hashem’s Light, as expressed in the name Havaya, becomes greater in terms of its revelation to us.
- “אַתָּּה- are You" is in how we refer to Hashem in the second person, showing that this drawing dawn of Hashem’s Light becomes revealed to us directly.
- “הֲ וָּ יָּ"-Havaya” refers to Hashem’s Four-Letter Name spelled with the same letters. This Name is so holy we do not pronounce it, and we do not even write it except when necessary. The four letters of this Name represent how Hashem draws down His Light to us through four stages of the Sefiros of Atzilus (known as 1-Chochma, 2-Bina, 3-Zeir Anpin, 4-Malchus) limiting the Light until can reach us.
Thus: “Drawn down and directly revealed is Your Light Hashem, from Your Name Havaya, from Your Sefiros of Atzilus, until it reaches us down here directly.”
In other words, the idea of the eighteen blessings of Shemona Esrai is that some of His Light is actually able to come down and be revealed to us. What are asking for in Shemona Esrai is that His Light should be fully revealed to us. When Hashem helps us with what we need we come to recognize Him in our life. This is the goal of Shemona Esrai, to bring the awareness of Hashem into our mind and heart.
Now, being that the body is what conceals and obscures the Light of Hashem, and only in the Future Times will Elokus be fully revealed “so that all flesh will see” and will become nullified to Hashem thereby.
However, now we must at least show this nullification to Hashem in a superficial way, by bending and bowing the head, as the Gemara teaches, that “one who bows, does so at the word ‘Blessed.’”
As mentioned above, the word “Blessed” also means to bend down, thus an appropriate moment for us to bend down in submission to Hashem.
And the idea of the blessings of Shmona Esrei, “He Who heals the sick,” and “He Who redeems Israel,” and “He Who blesses the years,” are vessels to receive the drawing down revelation of Elokus.
When Hashem helps us with health and livelihood etc. this shows us His presence in our lives. This is called “revelation of Elokus,” i.e., our ability to perceive Hashem.
And it says in the Gemara (Brachos 28b): “one who bows during Shemona Esrai must make visible the vertebrae opposite the heart at least the size of a small coin called an ‘issar.’”
Rashi explains that the when someone bows down, there appear bumps on ones back from the vertebrae. When bowing during Shemona Esrai, a person should bend his back so that two “bumps” would theoretically appear on his back (if his shirt would be off, but one is required to wear a shirt during Shemona Esrai), and between these two bumps there is a space the size of small coin called an issar.
This means that the main process of drawing down an awareness of Hashem in Shemona Esrai is into his brain, which then must extend into his heart, even slightly, which is the idea of an ‘אִּיסָּּר-issar,’ which represents the desire for connecting to Hashem as it exists in the mind, before it is emotionally felt.
When a person wants something, this desire happens in a few stages. First, he learns about something being good in general. Then he realizes that this is something that he should personally want. Then he comes to have an emotional attachment to that that thing.
When a person comes to an awareness of Hashem in Shemona Esrai, he mainly experiences this in his mind. He needs to bring that awareness into his heart, so that he translates that awareness of Hashem’s presence in his life into a desire to connect to Hashem more through Torah and mitzvos. Even if he cannot bring himself to an emotional feeling of desire for connection to Hashem, he can at least come to an intellectual level of desire, to realize that this is what he should really want.
This is referred to an “‘אִּיסָּּר-issar,’ since the word ‘אִּיסָּּר’ is the same letters as אוסר י', tying down the letter י'. The י' represents Chochma, the total submission and giving yourself over to Hashem, where you feel like a singular point, like a י' before Hashem. ‘אוסר י'-to tie down the י'’ means to bring that awareness of Hashem and submission before Him into the heart, that a person should want to connect with Hashem throughout the day after Shemona Esrai. This is why he needs to show an איסר opposite his heart, meaning he need to tie down the י' to his heart, at least on some level.
And it is written (Tehillim 148:13), “His Splendor is exalted above the earth and the heavens,” meaning, that even only the level of the ray and radiance of lifeforce of Elokus that becomes invested within the worlds is still “exalted” above their perception, since (outside of Gan Eden) the creations have no direct perception of it whatsoever.
After Shemona Esrai, a person should take to heart:
On the one hand, he cannot have any direct perception of Elokus in this physical world, not even the Elokus that creates the physical world.
On the other hand, it is here in this physical world that he can perform mitzvos, which connect him to Hashem on a deeper level than the Light of Elokus that shines in Gan Eden.
However, even though he cannot perceive even the Elokus invested in creation, the ultimate purpose of creation is to make for Hashem a dwelling in the lowest world through fulfilling mitzvos, which can only be done in this world.
And it we say in the Shabbos evening prayers: “the final deed of the mitzvos was the original intention” of Hashem behind creation, and it says in Sefer Yetzirah (1:7) “the end deed of mitzvos is bound up in the beginning of Hashem’s thought to create the world.”
Therefore, our Sages say (Chagigah 12a) that “the earth was created first before the heavens.”
Even thought the heavens were actually created before the earth, but the desire to create the earth came before Hashem’s desire to create the heavens, since the His Ultimate Desire to have a “dwelling place” on earth through mitzvos that we do.
Summary of the Maamar
- Based on the Zohar it seems that the purpose of Torah and Mitzvos is to create “garments” for the soul in Gan Eden to perceive the Light of Hashem there. If so, what is the meaning of what it says in Pirkei Avos that “one hour of Teshuva and mitzvos in this world is better than all of the life of the World to Come” in Gan Eden?
- To answer that, let’s ask another question: The lifeforce of Elokus that creates and enlivens the worlds is not revealed and seen. In fact, this power of Elokus is not limited based on the parameters of the worlds it creates, it remains beyond the limitations of time and space even as it descends to create the world.
- If so, how is it possible that the soul of a person, that was bound up with limitations of creation, can perceive the actual power of Elokus creating the world? We can ask the question even stronger: How can this soul perceive the Infinite Light that shines in the Ten Sefiros of Atzilus after it leaves the body and ascends to Gan Eden?
- The words of Torah and the action of Mitzvos the person says and does in the physical world are actually a deeper level of connection to Hashem than all of the Light of Elokus that shines in Gan Eden, both the Elokus that creates the world, and the Elokus shining in Gan Eden from the Ten Sefiros of Atzilus. This is because they are the Essential Will and Wisdom of Hashem that transcends the Elokus invested in creation, and are even greater than Light of Atzilus that shines into Gan Eden.
