“He accosted her in the outdoors. The maiden cried out, but no one was there to save her.”—Deuteronomy 22:27
Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch explained:
The maiden is the divine soul, the G‑d point within each of us.
Who is this man that accosts that divine soul in the outdoors?
It is Esau, “a man of the outdoors,” a wild man. It is the wild beast within each of us.
Raped and abused by that inner beast, captured by its brute force, the soul cries and screams for rescue.
And no one is there to save her.
No one? But isn’t G‑d there? Doesn’t He hear?
Yes, G‑d hears. G‑d as He is beyond all understanding. G‑d as He is the ultimate unknown—a “no one.” There, her cry is heard.
Because the lower a soul has fallen, the deeper her cry is heard on high.
As the desperate screams of a captive fair maiden stir her hero to rescue her at any risk, so the cries of the soul from her captivity within the body reach to the core of the Infinite Above.
Out of Nothingness, anything could happen.
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