Daily Tanya 7th Iyar-Chapter 46: Hashem abandoned the upper worlds and redeemed us from captivity, so He can be with us

(LY) 7th Iyar

1. Hashem abandoned the upper worlds and redeemed us from captivity, so He can be with us:

• Now, all the angels ask, “Where is the place of Hashem’s glory?” [where does Hashem reside Himself], and they answer, “The entire earth is filled with His glory”, this referring to the Jewish people. This rhetorical question and answer of the angels is describing how Hashem abandoned the upper worlds and lower worlds and did not choose any of them with exception to the Jewish people, His nation.
• Hashem Himself took us out of Egypt to unite with us: Hashem took us out of Egypt, which is the obscenity of the earth, an area filled with impurity and spiritual toxins. He did so not with an angel or other messenger, but He Himself with all His glory descended to there to remove us, as the verse states “I will descend to save him.” Now, the reason Hashem redeemed us is in order to draw us close to Him with true closeness and unity, in the spiritual equivalence of hugs, kisses, and soul attachment, as explained next.

2. Uniting with G-d in a true unity of hugging and kissing, and spiritual attachment:

• Kissing Hashem through verbally studying Halacha: Hashem desired for us to have a connection of the actual soul to Him in a way of kisses, mouth to mouth. This is accomplished through speaking the word of G-d which is Halacha. [By doing so, the breath of our mouth attaches to Hashem’s breath expressed in His words of the Torah, and thus we have an attachment similar to a kiss in which our breaths become united.]
• Attaching our spirit to Hashem through comprehending Torah: Likewise, Hashem desired we attach our spirit to His spirit, which is accomplished through the comprehension of the Torah and attaining knowledge of His will [i.e. the Halacha] and wisdom [i.e. its source and reasons], which is all one with Him.
• Embracing with Hashem through Mitzvah fulfillment: We also attach to Hashem in a form of an embrace, through fulfilling the physical Mitzvahs with one’s 248 limbs which correspond to the 248 spiritual counterpart limbs of Hashem [as Hashem has 248 channels of G-dliness that He emanates, and each Mitzvah corresponds to one of those channels. When one performs a Mitzvah, he becomes embraced by that corresponding channel of G-dliness that G-d shines.] In a general manner, the 248 Mitzvahs fall under one of three categories; right which is Chesed, left which is Gevura, and the middle which is mercy. This is similar to a body and its two arms. [Thus, by fulfilling the 248 commands we enter a full body embrace with Hashem including both arms and the body itself.]

3. The meaning of the blessing we say before Mitzvahs “Asher Kidishanu”:

• A Mitzvah is like marriage: Based on the above we can understand why we say [the following words] “Asher Kidishanu Bemitzvosav” [in a blessing which is said prior to the performance of a Mitzvah]. This wording follows the same wording used to describe one who is consecrating a woman so she be united with him in a complete unity, as the verse states “Vedavak Beishto Vihayu Lebasar Echad/and one shall attach to his wife and become one flesh.” The reason for this is because also when one performs a Mitzvah, he becomes united with G-d.
• The greatness of the unity: In fact, the unity achieved during Mitzvah performance is infinitely greater than the physical unity of marriage, as during the fulfillment of the Mitzvah one achieves unity of the G-dly soul which learns Torah and fulfills Mitzvahs, as well as the enlivening soul [i.e. animal soul] and their garments [thought, speech, and action], with Or Ein Sof.