Holiness only rests upon something that is nullified to God. This is the difference between the Sitra Achra (the Other Side i.e. evil) and holiness. It is the way of Sitra Achra to consider itself independent of God – as if it is charge of itself. But the truth is that evil still acknowledges God. It just believes that it is in charge of things – while God (so to speak) is just there. As if they have no obligation towards God. The Sitra Achra maintains its own status – its own level of arrogance.
Chapter 23 begins by telling us that in truth God and the Torah are all one! The 248 commandments of the Torah are really the 248 limbs of the King. This means that when we engage in Mitzvah performance, we literally activate a limb of God – thus causing blessing to flow into this world and also into all the spiritual worlds above it.
In fact, all of the supernal worlds’ nourishment are dependent upon the Mitzvot that we perform in this world. It is as if we provide the food needed for those worlds to exist.
The Alter Rebbe compares this idea to how we activate our own bodies – in that our limbs function even before we can barely think about making them work. So too – the nourishment for all the worlds takes effect immediately at the time Mitzvot are performed in this world. Everything is connected – much like a glove that covers the hand inside it – or how the body covers the soul.
