Let My People Know

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz: “In order for a person to tolerate the connection with the Divine, he must be immunized and “anesthetized” to a certain degree.”

Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev was quoted as saying that if one string of  tzizit were brought into the Garden of Eden, the entire garden would be utterly incinerated.

The Garden of Eden is the place where the divine light is revealed.

Yet the revelation of the Divine that rests in the tzitzit would burn the garden itself!

If this is true, it begs the question: Why is a person able to wear tzitzit on his four-cornered garment and not be burned?

The answer is that the person is not in the Garden of Eden.

He is within a framework of divine concealment, of body and soul.

The combination of body and soul grants him an advantage that allows him to involve himself in things that would destroy the pure soul upon con- tact with them.

The problem that exists with this combination, which a person must be wary of, is that of balance.

In order for a person to tolerate the connection with the Divine, he must be immunized and “anesthetized” to a certain degree.

But if he is not careful, that numbness, so to speak, to the Divine can exceed the appropriate amount.

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz