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Rabbi Chanania the son of Akashiah would
say: G-d desired to refine the people of Israel; therefore,
He gave them Torah and mitzvot in abundance....
Talmud, Makot 23b[1]
The purpose of creation, say our sages, is to “make
a dwelling for G-d in the lowly realm” of our physical
world.[2] To this end, the Almighty invested His wisdom
within the teachings of the Torah and formulated the mitzvot
to express His will. When man employs his physical mind to
study and understand Torah, and when he uses the elements
of his physical environment to observe the mitzvot, he fashions
of these “lowly” substances an abode to house the
manifest presence of his Creator.
But why so many mitzvot? Why so many dimensions to Torah?
We have positive and negative commandments. The mitzvot also
include logical laws, logic-defying laws, and everything in-between.
We have intellectual mitzvot, emotional mitzvot, agricultural
mitzvot, business mitzvot, mitzvot dealing with food, dress,
housing, and family life. The Torah includes every medium
of teaching known to man: stories, legal codes, numerological
calculations, history, philosophy, ethics, poetry, metaphorical
and mystical works.
G-d is the ultimate singularity. Would it not have been more
appropriate for Him to express His wisdom in a single venue?
To have man fulfill His will with a single mode of action?
This is the question that Rabbi Chanania addresses in the
above quoted mishnah: Why an abundance of mitzvot? The answer:
G-d desired to refine the people of Israel. G-d desired “a
dwelling below,” and the “below” is diverse
and multifaceted.
So if the “below” is to truly become a dwelling,
then the divine presence must permeate its every aspect. If
the human mind is to house the divine wisdom, then every genre
of thinking must be employed. If the physical life of man
is to become a vehicle for the fulfillment of the divine will,
then every facet of life is to be involved. The refinement
of man, down to his every element and component, is crucial
to the realization of G-d’s purpose in creation.
This is an excerpt from "Beyond the Letter of the
Law" by Yanki Tauber published by The Meaningful Life
Center.
[1] This mishnah is studied at the conclusion of each
weekly lesson of the Ethics of our Fathers.
[2] Midrash Tanchuma, Naso, 16; see Tanya, ch. 36.
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