We left off yesterday with the analogy of an oil lamp 🪔:
Your body is the wick 〰️ G-d’s presence, is the flame 🔥 The oil that keeps the two connected are your good deeds 🙌🏻. But why can't your *divine soul* be the oil which connects the divine presence with your physical body?
In fact, here’s an even better question: Your soul itself is a piece of G-d🌟. Why isn't that enough by itself to connect you with G-d? Why do you need to fulfill 👐 commandments in order to connect with Him 🤷♀️❓❓
At first glance, what is closer to G-d - a soul or a mezuzah scroll 🤔? The soul, no? 🙄 The soul is a piece of G-d✨, while the mezuzah is a piece of processed animal 🐄 hide… Why does the soul need the mezuzah in order to become closer to G-d?
Thinking this over makes you wonder about something else 🙋♀️: You know who you are - a Jew! A proud one! You are a beloved child of the Creator 👑 and possess a pure divine soul. Why isn't it enough to be *Jewish in your heart*❓❓ You are already essentially connected with G-d! What difference do your actions 🤲🏽 make?
This question is even greater regarding *a righteous person*. His soul originates from a really sublime level of G-dliness, so why is he forced to limit his connection to G-d to a regimen of physical actions❓
All these queries will be answered by understanding the analogy of the oil🕯️in the lamp and how that corresponds with our souls:
So first let’s clarify: what is the purpose of the oil in a lamp 🪔❓
The oil:
1. Determines the clarity and purity of the fire ✨
2. Ensures that the wick doesn't instantly get consumed by the fire. Only a material *that is completely combustible* makes a good fuel☝️since the fuel of the lamp gets totally consumed by the fire ♨️. It actually turns into fire. Iron🪝 or concrete⛩️, for example, are too durable and stable 💪. They can't be used as fuel since they won’t become fully consumed 😊.
What does this have to do with your soul? You *body* 🧍is a wick. You *don't* want it to be consumed. It needs to maintain its identity and existence in order to be the place that G-d's presence can rest ✨🧍🏻♀️✨. The *oil* loses its existence and becomes consumed by the fire🔥. Therefore, your soul _cannot_ be the oil of the lamp. Your soul has its own *separate* entity.
How do you see this? When you love someone ❤️, there is *you* and there is *them*. Usually this means that you are ready to do anything for them… But it also means that you exist as an identity separate from that other person. There is a “you” who loves 😍. A righteous person loves G-d 😌. This means that he exists as a separate being who loves G-d, who is outside of himself.
Therefore, even a super lofty soul ❌cannot ❌ serve as the fuel to connect his wick (the body) with the fire (G-d's presence). Instead, we need something else to act as the fuel that attaches G-d’s presence with our bodies.
How do the mitzvot, G-d’s commandments, act as the oil for the lamp 🤔? Mitzvot are G-d’s will and desire. *They are the purpose for which all the worlds were created*. A mitzvah has no other purpose other than expressing G-d’s will.
The details and parameters of a mitzvah are precisely so because that is what G-d desires:
A mezuzah made only from animal hide 🐮,
Kiddush on Shabbat made specifically on wine🍷,
A Sukkah for the holiday of Sukkot with walls of the proper measurements 📏 and vegetation as its roof 🌿🍃…
In a world which hides G-d 🌥️, His commandments reveal to us how to access and maintain a connection with Him. By fulfilling His will, we transform our bodies and environment into a place that is welcoming to G-d ✨- an abode for Him down here in this physical world.
