We continue our review of the 9 Principles of Faith of the Torah’s inner dimension with the eighth principle: that all Jews are considered tzaddikim, meaning that all are given a Divine mission to connect the mundane with the supernal, to reveal Godliness in reality. As such, every Jew, whether man or woman, is like a pillar spanning the abstract distance between the heavens and the earth.
The contents of this series first appeared in Hebrew, in HaRav Ginsburgh’s book, Emunah VeMuda’ut (Faith and Consciousness). It is being translated here for the first time.
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The Eighth Principle of Faith of the Torah’s Inner Dimension
The eighth principle corresponds to the sefirah of foundation (yesod). This sefirah is famously connected with the figure of the tzaddik, the righteous and pious individual, following the famous verse, “And the tzaddik is the foundation of the world”[1] (וְצַדִּיק יְסוֹד עוֹלָם). Like a foundation or pillar unites the roof with the base of a building, so the tzaddik lives his life to unite the mundane aspect of reality with God above. The tzaddik is thus the embodiment of union and connection and is therefore described in the Zohar as, “connected in the heavens and in the earth”[2] (דַּאחִיד בִּשְׁמַיָּא וּבָאֲרַעא). But Isaiah goes one step further and informs us that the entire Jewish people are considered tzaddikim (plural form of a tzaddik) “And all your people are tzaddikim.”[3] Every single individual of Israel is a tzaddik because all are connected above and below and all are meant to guide the way for all of humanity to discover the connection between the supernal and the mundane.
Chelek and Chevel
When contemplating the abstract meaning of “above” and “below” in the context of their connection, let us turn to the Tanya’s statement that, “the second soul [the Divine soul] within Israel is a veritable part of God above.”[4] It is the Jewish Divine soul that connects the supernal and the mundane. How does this work? By the Ba’al Shem Tov (and earlier Jewish philosophers), it is established that by grasping a part of a substance, you grasp its entirety. The Divine soul of every Jew is a part of God Himself, or God’s substance, as it were. Thus, according to this principle, every Jew is an indivisible part of the whole.
The connection and oneness of the Jewish soul to God is alluded to by the verse, “For God’s portion is His people, Jacob is the lot of His inheritance.”[5] More deeply, “God’s portion” refers to the aspect of the Jewish soul being a part of God’s essence and the Infinite Light that precedes the contraction or concealment of that revelation, which was needed to create the finite world. “Jacob is the lot of His inheritance” refers to the ray of infinite light (revelation) that inserts a measured revelation that breaks through the contraction.[6] Thus, the Jewish soul is like a taut rope that connects the essential Infinite Light and the lower, dark world. Indeed, the word “lot” (חֶבֶל) in Hebrew means also means “rope.”
Each One Rectified by Another
Beyond the inherent essential quality of every Jew mentioned above, there is also an openly unique, individual excellence in each and every Jew that does not exist in any other Jew. The Alter Rebbe writes that we are required to have faith in the teaching of the sages that one must “Be exceedingly humble before every person”[7] because every Jew must know that there exists a good quality in his fellow that he himself lacks, and that he must himself be rectified by learning from the good attribute of his fellow. “For it is an established and proper matter that each individual is rectified by his fellow.”[8]
God Believes in Israel
The perfection of our love of God is expressed by our love of Israel. This is because when we love other Jews, we are loving those whom God loves, as it says: “I love you, says Havayah.”[9] Likewise, the perfection of faith is expressed when one has faith in Israel, faith in each and every Jew. For, once again, one has faith in those whom God has faith. We, the holy people of Israel, are “the emissaries of God [literally, He who loves].”[10] We are God’s emissaries entrusted with actualizing and fulfilling His desire in creating the world. And as is the nature of emissary and sender, the sender has faith in that his faithful emissaries will fulfill their mission.[11]
Our reality is known as “a world of deceit” (alma deShikra) because it fools us into thinking that it is autonomous, that it created itself (or has always existed), and that it governs itself, thereby concealing the revelation of Godliness that creates it and sustains it at every moment. The Jewish people including every Jewish soul was sent below to this world to become entangled in it and to redeem it. Certainly, the emissaries will not disappoint their sender, and in the end the “portion” or “part” of Godliness that has descended will find the “Whole,” i.e., its Godly source and reveal it in reality thereby connecting the heavens and the earth.
“In All Your Ways Know Him”
This principle of faith complements and completes Maimonides’ 12th principle of faith regarding the coming of the Mashiach. The essential innovation regarding faith in the coming of the Mashiach is that then it will be revealed that within every single Jew there is a spark of the King Mashiach. This spark drives every Jew to desire the redemption of the world and to contribute to that end by being a channel for the revelation of God in every detail of reality. Under the inspiration of the universal Mashiach, the spark of Mashiach—the personal aspect of Mashiach—within each and every one will be revealed. This unique quality of the Jewish people is shared by every single individual Jew, man or woman, and it is the crown of our faith that “your people are all tzaddikim.” Every Jew has the capacity to manifest their Divine soul and their spark of Mashiach in every detail of daily life: Torah study, observance of the commandments, and the elevation of the mundane to a level of sacred consciousness.
This includes elevating even that which seems secular or profane to the level at which its inherent Godliness is revealed.[12] Mundane wisdom and mundane technology are then brought into the service of the ultimate good that is God. The two Biblical figures who most exemplified the elevation of secular wisdom were Joseph and King Solomon. Joseph is the archetypal soul of the sefirah of foundation, and King Solomon is considered his most important Biblical reincarnation. When one approaches life and the world from this perspective, one merits to fulfill the injunction, “in all your ways know Him.”[13]
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[1]. Proverbs 10:25.
[2]. Zohar 2:116a.
[3]. Isaiah 60:21.
[4]. Beginning of ch. 2.
[5]. Deuteronomy 32:9.
[6]. The ray of infinite light and its illumination of reality is alluded to in the verse, “you’re your light shall break forth” (Isaiah 58:8).
[7]. Mishnah Avot 4:10.
[8]. Tanya, epistle 22.
[9]. Malachi 1:2.
[10]. Yoma 19a; Kiddushin 23b.
[11]. Based on the principle that: “it is presumed that an emissary carries out his mission” (See Eiruvin 31b and elsewhere).
[12]. In the idiom of the Sages, this is known as, “profane [produce] prepared with purity of the sacred” (חוּלִּין שֶׁנַּעֲשׂוּ עַל טׇהֳרַת הַקֹּדֶשׁ); Chagigah 21b.
[13]. Proverbs 3:6.
