Veritably Equated

9 Iyar 5782

“‘And I am foolish and know not; I was as a beast before You. [Yet] I am continually with You.’ This means that even though I am as a ‘beast’ when I am with You, my soul being unaware of, and insensitive to, this union achieved between my soul and G‑d through performing a mitzvah … Nevertheless, ‘I am continually with You,’ for the corporeality of the body does not prevent the union of the soul with the light of the blessed Ein Sof, Who fills all worlds” (Lessons in Tanya, Likutei Amarim, end of Chapter 46)

This excerpt from Tanya speaks for itself. It carries with it a very simple yet powerful idea: Just because we are insensitive to the great union a mitzvah creates above doesn’t take away in the least bit from it, such that it can truly be compared to that effected by the greatest sage. Tanya continues, “Similarly, the transgression involving the slightest amount of leaven on Passover or the moving of muktzeh on Shabbat, blemishes the sanctity which rests on his (the uncultured person’s) soul just as it would the sanctity of the soul of a tzaddik, for we all have one Torah: the laws of the Torah apply equally to all Jews.”

“You shall not desecrate My Holy Name. I shall be sanctified amidst the children of Israel. I am the L‑rd Who sanctifies you” (Vayikra 22:32)

This verse, as Rashi explains, contains a positive commandment to accept death rather than to transgress any prohibition “amidst the children of Israel” (in the presence of ten Jews) even under duress. As is clearly apparent, the Torah sees every Jew as capable of fulfilling all the commandments, even ones as lofty as sacrificing one’s own life for the sanctification of the Divine name. Without chassidus this would be difficult to understand. But from the Alter Rebbe’s teachings we learn that every Jew, no matter what level of observance he has outwardly, has in him the same nature of soul as the greatest tzaddik of the generation. So much so that his mitzvos (and transgressions, G‑d forbid) can be veritably equated with those of the tzaddik.

“Man [can live] in glory but does not understand; he is likened to the silenced animals.” (Tehillim 49:21)

Our avodah now is only one of revealing what is already present, taking ourselves out of the gross corporeality that obscures holiness, recognizing the Divine glory amidst which we live, and sensitizing ourselves to the mitzvos and their effects.