Though faith contains a kernel spark of love at its core, it is ultimately faith that provides a relationship of love with the proper foundation upon which to build. When faith is broken, the bonds of love become quickly untied.
The book of Esther, read on Purim, describes how Mordechai cared for his niece, Esther (Esther 2:7): "and he raised [oman] Hadassah [Esther's Hebrew name]." This same root (oman) is also the root of the word for a nursing mother. An extraordinary verse in the book of Numbers depicts Moses in a rare moment of frustration with the people, complaining to G-d (Numbers 11:12): "Have I conceived all this people? Have I given birth to them, that You should say to me: 'carry them in your bosom as a nursing father carries the sucking child?…'"
The fact that Moses uses this analogy indicates that, at some level, he conceived of himself as "breast-feeding" and caring for the people. Upon deeper thought, this physical parable enclothes the very ideas we have now presented. A nursing mother contains hidden within her breast, milk that the baby needs to develop. Only by nullifying her self-orientation and becoming "nothing" can a mother relax enough to allow the milk (the hidden potential, the true "something") to flow down to the baby, the symbol of the worldly "something."
This is an example of how physical reality enclothes deep spiritual concepts, and how the microcosm mirrors the macrocosm. In a similar but obviously nonliteral comparison, G-d manifests a level of nothingness or tzimtzum, which allows His infinite supply of love and energy emanating from within His essence to flow down to the worlds, like milk to a baby.
true "something" | G-d | milk | Torah |
"nothing" | tzimtzum | mother | Moses |
"something" | Creation | baby | Israel |
