The Earth and Its Fullness

17 Iyar 5782

“If your brother becomes destitute and sells some of his inherited property, his redeemer who is related to him shall come forth and redeem his brother’s sale.” (Vayikra 25:25)

“The laws of redeeming land prior to the Jubilee year are based on the principle given two verses ago (Vayikra 25:23): ‘The land must not be sold [in such a way as] to sever it [permanently from its original owner], for the land belongs to Me.’ The prohibition of a permanent sale reminds us that the land ultimately belongs to G‑d, we should never consider ourselves its true owners.

The same applies to whatever wealth or property we may accrue during our lifetimes. ‘The earth and its fullness are G‑d’s.’ We should never lose sight of the fact that G‑d has given us whatever we possess only as His partners, in order to refine it, elevate it and transform it into His true home.” (Daily Wisdom, Lubavitcher Rebbe)

“The purpose of all the ‘contractions’ is the creation of the material human body and the subjugation of the sitra achara to bring about the pre-eminence of light supplanting darkness when a person elevates his divine soul and his vivifying soul together with their garments and all the powers of the body to G‑d alone, as has been discussed earlier at length, for this is the purpose of the progressive descent of the Worlds.”

“The ultimate purpose of all the descents from level to level and World to World is this physical world. It is here that a Jew is able, through his divine service, to effect the subjugation of evil and the pre-eminence of light supplanting darkness.”

“And they will know that You, Whose Name is the L‑rd, are alone, Most High over all the earth.” (Tehillim 83:19)

How does a Jew accomplish the above? By using all his spiritual and physical powers in serving G‑d, overcoming all obstacles in his way, even those inherent in the world’s very nature, just as G‑d Himself overcame all obstacles to creating this world in the first place. This of course includes using his physical possessions, his material wealth, as a tool to subjugate the sitra achara, thereby incorporating the kelipot into holiness and bringing about the ultimate purpose of creation, for the “earth and its fullness” to be G‑d’s in a revealed way.