Will We Ever Get to Feel the Absolute Unity With God That a Mitzvah or Torah Study Creates?
Question:
I was giving a Tanya shiur to people who are not Lubavitch, and when we finished chapter 4, someone asked a question that genuinely shook me—despite the fact that I’ve taught this chapter many times. One of the rabbis who attends the class pointed out that Tanya states that the unity with Hashem achieved through doing a mitzvah or learning Torah in this world is infinitely greater than all of Olam Haba, since Olam Haba is only a ray of the Divine, whereas in this world we grasp Hashem’s very essence.
He then asked: What practical benefit is that to me if I can’t feel it? In Olam Haba, the pleasure is tangible—you experience closeness. But here, during a mitzvah or during Torah study, you don’t feel anything. It’s just something you believe is happening, without any emotional experience at all.
He pressed further: If the whole value is that we “unite with Hashem,” but that unity has no emotional sensation—no passion, no feeling, no inner experience—then how is a person meant to be excited about it? Would anyone desire a marriage where the couple is united in theory but there is zero emotional connection? How can Tanya describe something as the ultimate closeness when it feels like the opposite?
Answer:
This is indeed an intriguing and powerful question, and I want to bless you with much success in your learning and teaching of Tanya. The deeper essence of the Alter Rebbe’s words can only emerge through sincere questions like this and through working them out together. Although I too have not found any commentary that directly addresses this exact question, I believe it can be answered in two complementary ways.
- The Alter Rebbe is not speaking about experience—he is speaking about reality.
When it comes to experience, even one moment of Olam Haba is greater than anything in this world—even greater than doing Torah and mitzvos—because in Olam Haba one actually feels closeness to Hashem. In this world, the unity accomplished through a mitzvah is completely non‑sensory.
However, when we speak of actual unity—the essential bond between the soul and Hashem—then the Alter Rebbe emphasizes that this world is incomparable. Here, through Torah and mitzvos, a Jew grasps Hashem’s very essence, something infinitely higher than the ray and glimmer perceived in Olam Haba. This teaching is not meant to describe a feeling, but to motivate a Jew who has aroused love for Hashem in davening:
If your deepest desire is to unite with Hashem Himself, then the only way to achieve that union is through doing a mitzvah.
In other words, the issue is not whether the marriage feels passionate—it’s whether the spouses are truly embracing.
To illustrate: imagine a man who has not seen his wife for ten years. He treasures a beautiful photograph of her and feels warmth looking at it. Suddenly he has the opportunity to embrace her—but she is wearing many layers of clothing and even a full covering, so he cannot see her at all. Emotionally, the picture might feel more gratifying. But which is the real union? The hug—despite not “feeling” as exciting—achieves the actual closeness that the picture can never provide.
So too, Olam Haba is the “picture”—a shining ray. Torah and mitzvos here are the embrace—the essential unity.
- A deeper answer: In the future we will experience this unity.
The statement of Chazal—that one moment of Torah and mitzvos in this world is greater than all of Olam Haba—refers specifically to Gan Eden. In Gan Eden, we indeed receive only a radiance of the Shechinah. But after the resurrection, in the ultimate world to come, we will experience the very unity that we created through Torah and mitzvos in this world. The essential bond formed here, which now remains hidden from us, will then be revealed in full experiential clarity. In other words: Now we create the unity; later we will feel it.
Sources:
Tanya Chapter 4; Igeres Hakodesh 18; Sefer Hamamarim Melukat Lehavin Inyan Techiyas Hameisim 3 P. 221 “And one can say that in the revelation that will take place at the time of the Resurrection of the Dead, there will be two dimensions: (1) The reward for the service involved in the fulfillment of the mitzvos; and (2) “And Your nation are all righteous”—meaning that the spiritual revelations that the Jewish people drew down through the mitzvos they fulfill now will then be revealed openly.” And the reason for this is as follows: In Gan Eden, the revelation is of the Or HaMemalei—a limited, measured Divine light—and therefore it does not extend downwards into the physical world. In contrast, in the days of Moshiach there will be a revelation of the Ein Sof light that is not limited, and therefore the revelation will reach even this lowest world.”
