Daily Tanya Friday, 3rd Teves: Chapter 4-A Jew attaches to G-d even more than the souls in Olam Haba

(LY) 3^rd Teves

3.       A Jew below attaches to G-d even more than the souls in Olam Haba:

• The advantage of this world over the next one: Our sages teach us that one moment of repentance and good deeds in this world is greater than all of the world to come.
• The world to come contains limited comprehension of G-d: The reason for this is because the experience of pleasure in the world to come is a result of the comprehension of G-dliness that the soul obtains in that world. Now, it is not possible for any creation even of the most sublime level to comprehend more than a mere glimmer of the light of G-d and hence their experience in the world to come is limited to a mere ray and glimmer of G-d.
• In this world one can connect with G-d himself: G-d in His essential state cannot be comprehended, as He is beyond the grasp of any mind, with exception to when G-d is grasped through his Torah and Mitzvah’s in which case one actually grasps and becomes invested within G-d Himself as G-d and his Torah are one. Hence, in this physical world there is an advantage over the world to come, as in this world one can connect and attach to G-d himself while in the world to come one can only attach to a mere glimmer of His glory.

4.       How attaching to the physical connotations of Torah and Mitzvos can be viewed as grasping G-d:

• Embracing a king who is enclothed in his garments: Although the Torah as it is found in this world has descended into lowly corporeal matters, and hence its original holiness is not consciously felt and experienced during its study and fulfillment, nonetheless, this is similar to a garment that is worn by the king, in which there is no difference between one who embraces the king while he wears one garment or wears many garments, as the king himself is within it.
• Likewise, if the king embraces him with his arm, one pays no attention to the fact that his arm has a garment on it and nonetheless still experiences the same attachment to the king.
• Embracing G-d when enclothed in Physical Torah: Similarly, even when studying and fulfilling the Torah in this physical world with its physical connotations, one is still embracing and uniting with G-d himself who is invested within it, and the physical connotations are mere garments that do not demote or affect the unity accomplished. Indeed, the Talmud states that the Torah was given with G-d’s right hand, and on this Scripture states that His right side embraces me, hence hinting to the above unity experienced when a king embraces his subjects irrelevant of how many garments the king is wearing at the time of the embrace.