3. Veasisa Tzitz Zahav Tahor Ufatachta:^[1]

A. The Tzitz corresponds to cracks in the border wall:

The Tzitz was a gold ornament with the name of G-d engraved in it and was worn by the high priest over his forehead. It wasn’t just a majestic ornament that beautified the high priest and gave him elegance, but it had the actual capability of atoning for the sins of the Jewish people. What is the mystical correspondence of this gold band today? So, the term Tzitz comes from the word Yatzitz, such as in the verse Yatzitz Min Hacharakim, which means to peek or spy from the cracks. In service of G-d, this refers to the following: In temple times, every Jew enjoyed a consciously felt love and passion for G-d. [When they fulfilled a command it wasn’t dormant as it is today with regards to its experienced effect, but rather draw down a jolt of Divine energy to the individual who experienced it at that very moment. The same applies regarding Torah study, that the Jewish people felt and experienced the Divine connection with G-d during the study. It was similar to the effect of a working light switch that when it is turned on a person readily sees the lightbulb give light as a result.] Ever since the destruction of the Temple, however, there exists a wall and barrier of iron and metal which separates between the Jewish people and their father in heaven. This means that they have lost the natural conscious love that they had felt for G-d [and in turn do not feel any effect of their Mitzvah fulfillment and study of Torah, similar to the light of a lamp which is not seen to turn on even when the switch is pressed]. This wall and barrier of iron is composed of the sins of the Jewish people which create a dark cloud that conceals G-d from the Jew and prevents the Jew from experiencing Him. Nonetheless, the good news is that this wall and barrier of iron is penetrable and it is possible for windows and cracks to be carved within this wall so some light of G-d can shine through. Thus, even today it is possible for one to experience some Divine revelation and feeling of love and connection with G-d, through the cracks and windows that he makes in this wall. This is the mystical application of the Tzitz ornament even in today’s times. Now, how does one make cracks in the wall so he can receive some of the Divine light? With a spiritual sledgehammer. Just as a sledgehammer crushes parts of the wall, so too a person must break his heart through contemplating thoughts of repentance that come to each person on his level.

B. The problem is us, not Him:

Above we stated that during times of exile there exists an iron wall between us and G-d in heaven. It’s important to note that it is not G-d who built this wall but us, the Jewish people, with our sins. In truth, even during exile G-d radiates his Divine life and love to the Jewish people just as before, although we are blocked from seeing and experiencing it due to the wall that we put up. We are the ones who put it up and we’re the ones who have to take it down, and that’s why even today we have permission to make cracks in the wall in order to merit to receive some of the revelation that already shines to us from G-d. It is for this reason that our sages specifically state that there is a wall of iron between us and G-d in heaven, and not between G-d in heaven and us, as in truth from His perspective there is no wall and He continues shining His light just as before.

• The Divine lesson: In relationships, we often mistake our feelings of dislike or animosity for another to be mutual, and sometimes even create and initiate such feelings due to imagined animosity that one feels the other person has towards him. While of course at times animosity is mutual, at other times, it isn’t, and is simply the growth of a paranoid imagination and low self-image. People often make this same mistake regarding Hashem. More than the evil inclination wants one to fail a battle and succumb to sin, it desires to make him give up fighting the war. Its main evil intentions arrive after a sin is committed by the person, in which he tells the person that he is no longer worthy of G-d’s love or closeness and that G-d despises him, and that as a result G-d has now put up a brick wall between him and G-d. So if he feels kicked out of G-d’s house figuratively he’ll go look for a different house to take refuge. This cannot be further from the truth. The above teaching emphasizes that no matter what the sin and how much one has sinned, G-d who is our loving father in heaven continues to shine His benevolence and love towards us. It is we who put up the divider between us and Him to make us feel unconnected and unworthy. We put it up by doing the sin, and we could take it down by retracting the sin through repentance and then once again become susceptible to the Divine love and light of G-d that He always continued and continues to shine upon us.

[1] Torah Or p. 83a-b