Where the Essence Dwells

When every dimension of heaven was folded upon the Earth at the reception of the Torah, as fine bed sheets upon a mattress, it was then that G-d said, "I have come to my garden, the place I most desired from the beginning."

The angels were stunned. Here they are, praising their Creator in sublime harmony since the outset of existence. There is no jealousy or unpleasantness amongst them, only love and brotherhood. No ignorance, no confusion, only revelation and vision.

They look upon our world of savage atrocities, of cruelty between man and man, of blindness to the most obvious of truths, a place where each thing grabs its place and refuses to yield to another, and they say, "This place He desires?! This He calls a garden of pleasure?! This is the lowest of all possible worlds, the ultimate descent of His Holy Light! Concealment in its most absolute form! And this He chooses for His holy dwelling?!"

So the Almighty replies, "For Me, the most elevated of worlds is a descent. I began with Infinite Light that contained all things and is the perfection of them all. Within that light I imagined the shadows of many beings, and I withdrew the light so that the shadows could become real. And they are you and your worlds, sustained by a glimmer of a reflection of a ray of the Light that manages to squeeze its way in. Each world lower than the next, the Light successively diminished with many filters and contractions.

"In the minds of you, the creations of each world, the Infinite Light was withdrawn. But my Presence, that was never withdrawn. I remain untouched and unchanged, receiving nothing, losing nothing.

"Do I then have a need for the descent of light? There is nothing all the beauty of your worlds can provide me that I do not already have. I have no needs, nothing lacking, therefore I need no reason for anything I do, including the creation of all of you.

"I created your worlds not with a need, not from any cause, but nevertheless with a purpose and a desire: I decided that the Infinite Light should meet with the Absolute Darkness and in their marriage My Essence will be found. I chose to be found at home in the lowest of all worlds."

This is what is stated in the ancient Midrash: The ultimate purpose of creation of all worlds, upper and lower, is that the Holy One, blessed be He, desired a home in the lowest of all worlds.