Heaven and Earth ... the Seas and All That Moves Within Them

13 Adar II 5782

“Now that one fulfills G-d’s commandment and will with these objects, the vitality within them ascends and is dissolved and absorbed into the blessed Ein Sof-light, which is His will that is clothed in the mitzvot” (Lessons in Tanya, Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 37)

When one fulfills a mitzvah with a physical object, one elevates both the object’s vitality and the power of one’s own vitalizing animal soul to holiness. Both of these stem from kelipat nogah, whose dual nature allows us to tip the scales of the world towards holiness the more of it we elevate towards holiness. Furthermore, by elevating parts of the animal soul’s vitality to holiness one weakens their power, thus making it easier to perform mitzvos in the future.

“Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and the sin offering bull, and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread” (Vayikra 8:2)

“These are the objects mentioned in the section dealing with the command of the investitures in parashath Tetzaveh” (Rashi). The Torah here lists the different physical objects to be used in the investiture of the high priest and his sons. One might ask, “Why does such an elevated spiritual service require a connection to physical beings like bulls and rams?” This can be understood from today’s Tanya. “The divine soul [being entirely spiritual] cannot express itself with the physical lips, mouth, tongue, or teeth, the instruments of speech, except by way of the vitalizing animal soul actually clothed in the organs of the body.” So too, Aaron and his sons require a connection to the physical world, to effect change within it and refine its ambivalent vitality stemming from kelipat nogah.

“Let heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and all that moves within them” (Tehillim 69:35)

G‑d desires that the entire world, the “heaven and earth … the seas and all that moves within them,” praise Him. Jews have an integral part in realizing this goal, by using the physical world, the “heaven and earth … the seas and all that moves within them,” to perform physical mitzvos and glorify Hashem through them.