The entire architecture of creation, every world, every angel, every concealment of divine light, exists for one purpose: so that a human being in a physical body can choose to turn the darkness into light.
Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi describes three massive "contractions" of God's infinite light, each giving rise to an entire world. From Atzilut (אצילות), which is pure Godliness, comes the contraction that creates Beriah (בריאה), the world of higher souls and intellectual angels. From Beriah, another contraction creates Yetzirah (יצירה), the world of emotional angels. From Yetzirah, a final contraction creates Asiyah (עשייה), our world of physical action.
Each contraction is necessary because even the faintest light from the higher world would overwhelm the lower one. The diminished radiance of Beriah is still infinite relative to Yetzirah. And so on, all the way down.
Now apply the principle from Proverbs: "As water mirrors the face, so is the heart of man to man" (Proverbs 27:19). God has, as it were, set aside His great infinite light. He has stored it away behind three layers of concealment. He has, figuratively speaking, laid down everything for the sake of lowly human beings, out of love. "Love impels the flesh," the Talmud says (Bava Metzia 84a).
If God did all this for you, how much more should you be willing to set aside everything you possess, body, soul, money, comfort, even wife and children, in order to cleave to God without any hindrance?
This is the deeper reason behind the blessings recited before the Shema each morning. Those blessings describe the angels and the cosmic order. They are not preamble. They are preparation, showing you the full scope of what God contracted for your sake, so that when you declare "Hear O Israel," you know exactly what you are responding to.
Even though the particular aspects of the nature of the occultation and concealment of the light of the En Sof, blessed is He, in the descent of the worlds—until this material world was created—are too numerous to count and are of many diverse kinds, as is known to those who have tasted of the Tree of Life,1 The Kabbalah. yet in general there are three levels of powerful and comprehensive “contractions,” giving rise to three comprehensive worlds, each category consisting of myriads upon myriads of particulars. These are the three worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, for the world of Atzilut is G–dliness itself. In order to create the world of Beriah, which consists of the higher souls and angels, whose service to G–d is in the sphere of chabad [the intellectual faculties] which are clothed in them and are apprehended by them and from which they receive influence, there preceded a powerful “contraction,” as mentioned above. So, too, from Beriah to Yetzirah. For the minute portion of light which clothes itself in the world of Beriah is still in a category of infinity in relation to the world of Yetzirah and is unable to clothe itself in the latter except through a contraction and occulation. So, too, from Yetzirah to Asiyah. [An elaborate explanation of these three “contractions,” in order to make them more accessible to our poor intellect, is given elsewhere.2 The doctrine of tzimtzum is more fully discussed in Likkutei Amarim, Part II, ch. 4 ff. See also above, ch. 48, note 4.] 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,3 Chs. 35-37. for this is the purpose of the descent of the worlds. To quote [again] “As water mirrors the reflection of a face”: As the Holy One, blessed is He, has, as it were, laid down and set aside, figuratively speaking, His great infinite light and has stored it away and concealed it by means of three different kinds of “contractions”—and all this because of His love for lowly man, in order to raise him up to G–d, for “Love impels the flesh,”4 Bava Metzia 84a. how much more, and an infinite number of times more, is it fitting that a man also should relinquish and set aside all he possesses, both spiritually and physically, and renounce everything in order to cleave to Him, blessed be He, with attachment, desire, and longing, without any hindrance, within or without, neither of body nor soul, nor money, nor wife and children. Thereby will be understood the true reason and meaning of the Rabbinical enactment ordaining the recitations of the blessings of the Shema: two preceding it….5 Mishnah, Berachot 1:4. For it would appear, at first glance, that they have no connection whatsoever with the recital of the Shema, as Rashba6 Rabbi Solomon ibn Aderet, 13th cent. Spanish Talmud exegete and codifier. and other codifiers have stated. Why, then, were they termed “Blessings of the Shema?” And why were they ordained to be recited specifically before it? But the reason is that the essence of the recital of the Shema is to fulfill the injunction “With all your heart…,” namely, “with both your natures…,”7 Berachot 54a. that is to say, to overcome anything that deters from the love of G–d. For “your heart” alludes to the wife and children, to whom a man’s heart is, by his very nature, bound. So have the Rabbis, of blessed memory, commented on the verses, “For He spoke, and it came to be,”8 Psalms 33:9. that this refers to the wife; “He commanded, and it endured,”9 Ibid. that this refers to the children;10 Shabbat 152a. and by “your soul and your might” is understood, literally, your life and sustenance—renouncing everything for the love of G–d. But how can physical man attain to this level? It is, therefore, to this end that the blessing of Yotzer Or11 Liturgy, First Blessing Preceding the Morning Shema. was introduced first, for [in this blessing] there is said and repeated at length the account and order of the angels “standing in the heights of the universe” in order to proclaim the greatness of the Holy One, blessed is He—how all of them are nullified in His light, blessed be He, and “proclaim in awe…and hallow…declaring in reverence, ‘Holy…’12 Isaiah 6:3.” meaning that He is apart from them, and He does not clothe Himself in them in a “revealed” state, but “the whole earth is full of His glory,” namely, the community of Israel above and Israel below, as has been explained earlier. So, too, “the Ofanim and holy Chayot with a mighty sound…[declare] ‘Blessed be the glory of the L–rd from its place,’”13 Ezekiel 3:12, cited in the aforementioned blessing. for they neither know, nor do they apprehend His place, as we say, “for He alone is exalted and holy.”14 Liturgy, ibid. Then follows the second blessing, “With an everlasting love You have loved us, L–rd, our G–d.”15 According to the Lurianic rite—אהבת עולם. In the Ashkenazic rite—אהבה רבה. That is to say that He set aside all the supernal, holy hosts and caused His Shechinah to dwell upon us, so that He be called “our G–d,” in the same sense that He is called “the G–d of Abraham,” as explained earlier.16 Chs. 46 and 47. This is because “love impels the flesh.” Therefore it is called ahavat olam (“worldly love”), for this is the so-called “contraction” of His great and infinite light, taking on the garb of finitude, which is called olam (“world”), for the sake of the love of His people Israel, in order to bring them near to Him, that they might be absorbed into His Unity and Oneness, blessed be He. This is also the meaning of “[You have bestowed upon us] exceedingly abounding mercy,”17 Liturgy cited in note 16. namely, exceeding the nearness of G–d toward all the hosts above; “…and You have chosen us from among all nations and tongues,” which refers to the material body which, in its corporeal aspects, is similar to the bodies of the gentiles of the world; “and have brought us near…that we may thank You…”—the interpretation of “thanks” will be given elsewhere; “and proclaim Your Unity…”18 Ibid.—to be absorbed into His Unity, blessed be He, as has been explained above. When the intelligent person will reflect on these matters in the depths of his heart and brain, then—as water mirrors the image of a face—his soul will spontaneously be kindled and it will clothe itself in a spirit of benevolence, willingly to lay down and resolutely to abandon all he possesses, in order only to cleave to Him, blessed be He, and to be absorbed into His light with an attachment and longing, and so forth, in a manner of “osculation” and the attachment of spirit to spirit, as has been explained earlier. But how does the attachment of spirit to spirit take place? To this end it is stated [further on], “And these words shall be…upon your heart. And you shall speak of them….”19 From the first portion of the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). As is explained in Etz Chaim that the union of “osculation” is essentially the union of chabad with chabad,20 The attachment of the intellectual faculties of man to those of G–d embodied in the Torah. that is, concentration in the Torah; while the mouth, as the outlet of the breath and its emergence into a revealed state represents the category of speech engaged in words of the Torah, for “By the word that proceeded out of the mouth of G–d does man live.”21 Deuteronomy 8:3. However, one does not fulfill one’s duty by meditation and deliberation alone until one expresses the words with his lips in order to draw the light of the En Sof, blessed is He, downward [even] to the vivifying soul which dwells in the blood of man—which is produced by [the intake of food from] the mineral, vegetable, and animal [worlds]—thus to raise them all to G–d, together with the entire Universe and to cause them to be absorbed in His Unity and Light, blessed be He, which will illumine the world and its inhabitants in a revealed manner, “And the glory of G–d will be revealed, and together all flesh will see ….”22 Isaiah 40:5. For this is the purpose of the descent of all the worlds, that the glory of the L–rd may pervade this world especially, in a revealed manner, to “change darkness to light and bitterness to sweetness,” as has been explained above at length.23 Chs. 36, 37. And this is the essence of man’s kavanah in his service: to draw the light of the En Sof, blessed is He, down below. However, the initiative must come through the elevation of the mayin nukvin24 Feminine waters. See above, end ch. 10. to surrender to Him his soul and possessions, as has been explained above.
