A teaching of the Rebbe on the parsha
adapted for children
The Torah begins the Ten Commandments with the word “Anochi” (I Am). Our Sages Z ́ ́L tell us that this word is taken from the Egyptian language. How can it be that the most important and central part of the entire Torah begins with a word from the language of a low and impure people like the Egyptians? A people who subjected Israel to such a terrible exile! And what can we learn from this for our daily service to God?
The Torah wants to emphasize with this that it does not only belong to the "high beings", the ministering angels, separated from the materiality of the world. The main objective of the Torah is to allow the fulfillment of G-d's will in creating the world, "the desire of the Holy One, blessed be He, to possess a dwelling in this world." The Torah allows to reveal the light of G-d in the materiality of the world, and that was the novelty of what happened on Mount Sinai, "G-d descended to Mount Sinai", the Divine light descended and was revealed in the material world. Through the study of Torah and the performance of their mitzvot, the Children of Israel continue to reveal that light at all times. This is precisely why the Torah chose to begin the Ten Commandments with a word belonging to the language of the lowest and most corrupt people. That is the objective of the Torah, to enlighten, sanctify and elevate a place as low and corrupt as that.
The goal of the entire world is to rise from corruption, and transform into a sanctuary. The Torah guides us, for through its study we prolong G-d's light both on us and on our portion in the world, and thus help us to live more prepared to reveal the Divine light of true and complete redemption, the time in which what is written “And the earth will be filled with the knowledge of G-d” will be fulfilled, the Divine light will shine in the materiality of the world.
