Chapter 23 Tanya in Simple English
Based on all of the past information we now will understand clearly and with additional understanding why the Zohar says that “God and His Torah are completely one.”
And in Tikkunim it explains that “the 248 Mitzvos are the 248 limbs of the king,” and because the Mitzvos are the inner desire of God and His true will which is found or enclothed in all universes, above and below – to give them life – for all the energy and their existence depends on the people keeping the Mitzvahs below, as is known – and this means that the action of the Mitzvos is a expression of the inner will of God – in other words, that from this action, light and energy and the will of God will manifest in creating the world, and therefore they are called the limbs of the king.
For example, just like the limbs of a person are a garment for his soul and are completely humble to him….
For immediately when a person desires to stretch out his hand or his foot they obey his will.
They obey immediately without him even having to tell his hand or foot to stretch out….
There is no time lag between the desire and the action.
Similarly, the energy of the Mitzvahs is completely humble to the will of God, which comes into it and immediately becomes like a body to a soul.
Similarly the outer clothing of The Godly Soul in a person who does a Mitzvah and immediately becomes a body to a soul and becomes humble to it completely.
And therefore also the limbs of the body of the person that does the Mitzvah, And then the action part of The Godly soul is within them – during the action, they become literally an expression of God’s will, like the hand that distributes charity to the poor or does another Mitzvah.
And the feet that go to a Mitzvah, and the mouth that speaks words of Torah, and the Brain that thinks words of Torah and fear of God – and the greatness of God (at that moment, they are an expression of God’s will.)
This is what our sages said: that “the forefathers were a vehicle,” and all the limbs were completely holy and removed from pleasures of this world and only acted to fulfill the will of God their entire lifetime.
However the thoughts and the contemplation in the words of Torah in the mind, and when one speaks Torah in their speech, which is the inner will / garments of The Godly soul, and how much more so The Godly Soul herself – which at that time is clothed in them, they are all completely one in the will of God and they are not only a garment.
For the will of God is the actual law itself that the person is thinking or speaking about.
For all the laws are specific rays of God’s will, for so it arose in His desire that this thing should be kosher or permissible or the opposite….
Similarly all the combinations of the letters in the Torah, Prophets and Writings, are drawing from His will and wisdom which is one with Him.
And this is what it states that God and His Torah are completely one – that they are not merely limbs but they are him.
And as the will of God which is united in the Infinity of God with a complete Union is completely revealed and is not concealed at all in The Godly soul and her garments – her inner garments which are the thoughts and speech of Torah.
Therefore the Godly soul and these garments are completely one with God at the time of study and speech of Torah – with a complete unity.
This unity is like the unity of God’s speech and thought within Himself.
For there is nothing that is separate from God, only concealment (in other words, perception of separation.)
Furthermore this unity is very very strong – it’s even greater than the unity of Divinity in the higher universes – because the will of God is revealed in the soul and in His garments that are studying Torah.
For God is the Torah and all the universes above receive their energy from the light that comes from the Torah, which is the will and wisdom of God – like it says “you have made them all with your wisdom.”
As such the wisdom which is the Torah, is beyond them all, and this is the desire of God which is called “encompassing all reality” – this is a level which cannot go into the world, it rather gives life from beyond them, in an encompassing manner..
Yet this very level goes into the soul and her garments in a revealed way when you learn Torah.
Now though you may not sense it, but your soul does – (in fact this is why you can handle it – in contrast in heaven where the individuals perceived Divinity, they cannot handle such a great revelation.)
Now we’ll understand why the study of Torah is so great – greater than all the Mitzvahs and even prayer, which is the unity of the higher universes.
Somebody who has good contemplative power can now have a tremendous reverence for God when he studies Torah – when he understands how his soul and his garments of his thought and his speech are literally one with a complete unity with the desire of God, and the infinite light which are revealed in them –
a light which is beyond all the universes and all universes are considered as nothing compared to it – to the extent that it doesn’t go into these universes, rather hovers beyond it, to give them life – only a minute ray goes into them – a tiny ray that they can handle, that they should not nullify out of their existence completely.
And this is what it said, that God has commanded all these commandments to fear Him – and regarding this great fear / reverence our sages say – “if there is no wisdom there is no fear” and the Torah is called “the gateway to fear” as mentioned elsewhere.
However not every mind can truly understand this great reverence.
However even someone that his mind cannot understand this reverence nor a tiny bit of it, because his soul comes from a low level in the bottom part of the 10 Sefiros of Asiyah – nonetheless this lack of reverence does not stop the person from doing the right action, as will be explained.
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