I know it seems a little bit shocking for me to have written all that I've written and then to write this, but it's true all the same. God's divine presence makes perfect sense, but what's the dichotomy (why do we always come back to seemingly two entities, male and female?) that we always have to think about?
I was going to go ask my Rav, but before I got the chance, Today's Tanya straightened me out:
והנה ענין השראת השכינה הוא גילוי אלקותו יתברך ואור אין סוף ברוך הוא באיזה דברEssentially the idea is that the whole world is constantly filled with God, however this Godliness is hidden. This Godliness is The Holy One blessed be he. The Shechinah, or Divine Presence, is a revellation of that Godliness which is otherwise normally hidden.
Whenever we have the intent to unify the Holy One blessed be he, and the Divine Presence, we are focusing on revealing the hidden Godliness.
This jives really well with what the Maor Eynayim (Rebbe Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl) says about male and female aspects on Parashath VaYera. He explains that a man's will is normally hidden and is only exposed through his wife's actions. Basically, Men or the male aspect represent(s) the hidden world, and Women or the female aspect represent(s) the revealed world.
So too with God's revellation in the world. The Male aspect of HaShem's revellation The Holy One blessed be he is the hidden godliness that pervades all. The Divine Presence, the Female aspect of HaShem's revellation, is the revellation of that hidden godliness.
When we take into account that the sefirah Malchut and The Divine Presence are one and the same, this becomes much more clear. As Malchut is normally associated with speech. Speech (as explained in many places including the Tanya) is the revellation of hidden thoughts. Malchut literally means Kingship and as we learn in Megillat Esther, the word of the King is law. The decrees of the King are what establish his kingship.Comments
