A Marriage Made on Earth

ESSAY: A Marriage Made on Earth
When a man and woman pledge to marry, they recall the primordial fissure of divine light that gave birth to the universe

THE WRITTEN WORD:
Moral Outrage
Can there be such a thing as an outraged atheist?
Medical Truths
Medical science discovers the soul

A Marriage Made on Earth

In the beginning, a simple divine light filled the entirety of existence... When there arose in His simple will the desire to create the worlds, He contracted His light, withdrawing it to the sides and leaving a void and an empty space in its center, to allow for the existence of the worlds. (However, this was not an absolute void, for there remained a residue of the divine light within the void.) He then drew a single line of His infinite light into the void to illuminate the worlds....

Rabbi Isaac Luria (the “Ari”)[1]

First of all, [...] will marry [...] in accordance with the law of Moses and Israel. They will not hide away nor conceal anything from each other. They will live together in love and affection, as is the way of the world...

From the text of the pre-marital contract (tena’im)

A man without a wife, say our sages, is but “half a body.”[2] For man was created in the image of G-d, and the divine image has both a male and female aspect. As the book of Genesis states: “And G-d created man in His image, in the image of G-d He created him; male and female He created them.”[3]

Man was initially created “male and female”—as a “single being with two faces.”[4] Soon after, however, G-d separated the female side from the male, recasting them as two distinct beings, man and woman. From that point on, man seeks woman and woman yearns for man. In marriage, the divine analogue is made whole again, as man and woman regain their original state as a single entity.[5]

The separation of the female from the male, creating the tension that draws them to each other and to their ultimate reunion, is a theme that runs through the entire process of creation, all the way to its very beginnings in the primordial will of G-d.

In the teachings of Kabbalah, the act of creation is described as an act of tzimtzum—an act of contraction, concealment and withdrawal. In the beginning, the “light” of G-d (i.e., the manifest expression of His omnipresence and omnipotence) filled the entirety of existence. A world such as ours—finite, self-defined and independent, with the capacity to turn away from and even deny its Creator—could not exist, for it would have been utterly nullified within the divine light. In order to allow for the existence of the world, G-d “contracted” His light, creating a “void” and “empty space” within which His infinite being and power is not manifest. Into this void G-d then allowed a single “line” (kav) of light to penetrate, through which flows a divine energy that is meted out to every level of reality in accordance with its capacity to receive it.

But the “line” is not the only source of divine energy in our world. For the withdrawal of divine light that occurred at the time of the tzimtzum was not absolute; rather, a “residue” (reshimu) of light remained within the “void.” This “residue” is the divine power of concealment and limitation (as opposed to the power of revelation and infinite expansion withdrawn by the tzimtzum). This divine energy does not contradict the existence of our finite and material word; on the contrary—it is the very source of its finiteness and materiality.

In other words, the divine light, as the expression of G-d’s infinite power and perfection, also includes the divine capacity for finite self-expression. In the words of the Kabbalist Rabbi Meir ibn Gabbai, “Just as He possesses the power of infinity, so does He possess the power of finiteness. For should you say that He possesses the power of infinity but does not possess the power of finiteness, you are detracting from His perfection.”[6] What to our perception was a tzimtzum—a contraction and concealment—was actually the separation of the divine power of finiteness from within the omnipotence of G-d. Originally, the divine light was utterly “simple” (i.e., not comprised of components or parts): the power of finiteness was not a distinct force, but simply a factor of the divine omnipotence. With the tzimtzum, the manifestation of the divine infinity was withdrawn beyond the parameters of the “void,” leaving behind the divine potential for limitation and definition, which is the source of finiteness and definitiveness of our reality.

Our purpose in life is to undo the tzimtzum—to refill the “void” with divine light. There are two ways in which this is achieved. One way is to draw into the world the divine light that was withdrawn at the time of the tzimtzum. This means increasing the intensity of the light that flows through the “line” by gradually increasing our world’s capacity to receive it. Every time we do a mitzvah, we make the world more receptive to the divine truth, stimulating a greater infusion of infinite light via the “line.” Ultimately, the world is elevated to the point that it can receive the full intensity of the light coming from beyond the parameters of the “void,” and the area of the “void” is as saturated with the manifest presence of  G-d as it was before the tzimtzum took place.

Another way of undoing the tzimtzum is to uncover the divine light already implicit in our world. Every time we exploit the very qualities that make our world “unspiritual”—its finiteness, physicality and materiality—toward a G-dly end, we bring to light its divine essence. The “residue” of the divine light that remained behind at the time of the tzimtzum, concealed and obscured by the coarseness of the worlds and the realities that derive from it, is thus revealed. The finiteness and physicality of our world is thus revealed as no less an expression of the divine truth than the infinity and spirituality that fills it from “above.”

The power of infinity invested in the “line” is the male element in the divine light; the power of finiteness implicit in the “residue” is its female aspect. Originally they were one, a singular expression of the omnipotence of the divine. Then came the tzimtzum, separating them into two distinct forces.

Thus the endeavor to undo the concealment of the tzimtzum includes both a “male” and a “female” dynamic. On the one hand, we strive to overcome the limitations of our existence, to break free of the confines of the material. We strive to impose a higher, spiritual truth upon our world, to infuse the infinity of G-d into our finite lives. This is the “male” active/aggressive effort to overcome the nature of reality, to expand its frontiers, to draw in “new” G-dliness from the outside via the “line” that links our world to the infinity of G-d.

But there is also another aspect to our mission in life, another source of G-dliness for our world. A source that is to be found within, in the “residue” of divine light that underlies our reality. This is the “female” endeavor to seek the divine in what is, to stimulate our inner essence instead of overwhelming it with light from without. To cultivate rather than to conquer, to be rather than to do.

Ultimately, the goal is to effect the marriage between the male and female. When the light that was withdrawn from the void is reinfused and the “residue” of light left behind is revealed, the divine light will again be one. The “power of infinity” and the “power of finiteness” in our world will again constitute a singular expression of the quintessential truth of G-d.

According to Jewish custom, when a man and woman become engaged to marry, a contract—called tena’im (“conditions”)—is drawn up, in which the obligations of each side to the other are specified. The traditional text of the tena’im begins: “First of all, [...] will marry [...] in accordance with the law of Moses and Israel. They will not hide away nor conceal anything from each other. They will live together in love and affection, as is the way of the world....”

A marriage between two human beings is an analogue of the marriage of divine forces that is the purpose of creation. This is alluded to in the opening lines of the tena’im: the very first thing the parties promise each other (after declaring their commitment to marry each other) is that “they will not hide away nor conceal anything from each other.” Here we have the male and female elements of the cosmic marriage: that the divine light which was “hidden away” by the tzimtzum—withdrawn from the void—should be restored, and that the divine light which was “concealed” within the world should be revealed.

The achievement of these two aims will herald the era of Moshiach, when the diverse forces of creation “will live together in love and affection, as is the way of the world,” in harmony with itself and its G-d, envisioned by the Creator.

Based on a letter by the Rebbe dated Adar 18, 5704 (March 13, 1944)[7]

The following is a freely-translated excerpt from a letter by the Rebbe to a young woman who wrote to him with several questions regarding faith and religion, and prefaced her letter with the statement, “I do not believe in G-d, having found no convincing proof of His existence.” In his reply, the Rebbe discusses, at some length, the logical and moral necessity for belief in G-d, and addresses her questions, which included the protestation, “Where was G-d during the Holocaust?” He then adds:

I have written all of the above in reply to your letter. In truth, however, not only do I not believe you when you say that you do not believe in G-d (G-d forbid), but it is also clear to me that you do not believe so either.

My proof of this is that on every occasion that you witness injustice in your surroundings, or when you think of the Holocaust perpetrated by Hitler (may his name be blotted out), as you mention in your letter, you are outraged. But if it were the case that the world has no Ruler and Planner, why should it surprise you that there transpire unjust things, and that whoever is bigger and more powerful than his fellow swallows him alive?

This applies not only to events on the scale of the Holocaust, but to the routine flow of our daily lives, in which every time we perceive something that is wrong and unjust, this disturbs our tranquillity, since we are convinced that things should not be this way. But why shouldn’t they? The physical substance of the universe is not moral, and neither are the plants and animals... Obviously, our outrage over the injustice we see derives from something higher than the physical reality - higher, even, than man. This “something” exists within every human heart and is the source of the conviction, shared by every human being, that there is right and wrong, and that the world ought to conform to what is right. Thus, when we witness a wrong, we immediately seek an explanation: Why is it so? What has caused something to be other than what it ought to be?

From a letter by the Rebbe dated Iyar 14, 5723 (May 8, 1963)[8]

The following is a freely-translated excerpt from a letter by the Rebbe addressed to “the meeting committee for religious doctors of New York” dated  “2nd Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, 5715” (June 21, 1955):[9]

It was with pleasure that I received the news about your meeting, whose purpose is to organize an association of religious doctors. If the assembly of G-d-fearing individuals is a positive thing at any time, how much more so is this the case in our generation, a generation deeply confused as a result of the convulsive events [it has experienced] which have brought about in many an utter disappointment in the false doctrines and ideologies they held and which have aroused them to embark on an earnest search for the truth.

An association of religious doctors can encourage this tendency by publicizing its views on several matters regarding which there is much error and confusion:

[As scientists:] to declare that true science, whose sole purpose is to learn the truth, cannot be in contradiction with our Torah, which is the “Torah of truth.” On the contrary: the deeper science delves, the more it corroborates the principles, as well as the particulars, of our faith, the faith of Israel.

Specifically as doctors: to utterly refute the “materialist” school of thought, in light of the extent to which the health of the body is dependent upon the health of the soul. If in earlier times the medical adage stressed “a healthy soul in a healthy body,” in our day it has been recognized how much a slight flaw in the soul is the cause of a great flaw in the body; that the healthier the soul, the greater its control of the body and the greater its ability to repair the body’s deficiencies; that many physical remedies are far more effective and successful in healing the body if they are accompanied by a strong will and spiritual fortitude on the part of the one being healed.

This principle of the supremacy of spirit (quality) over matter (quantity) is also emphasized by the fact that even in regard to purely physical processes, the emerging consensus is that quantity is of limited significance. The things most vital to the functions of the body—the glands, the hormones they produce, the vitamins, etc.—are all of minute quantity.

Also note that [the verse declares], “From my own flesh, I perceive G-d”[10]: from a recognition of the sovereignty of the soul over the body (the micro-universe[11]) is but a small step to recognizing the sovereignty of G-d over the world (the macro-body). In the words of our sages: “In the same way that the soul fills the body ... bears it ... sees but is not seen ... so does G-d fill the world ... bear it ... sees but is not seen.”[12]

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe by Yanki Tauber