moshe was all too human,
afraid of death, afraid of being forgotten.
“will they remember when i die,” he asked.
“they will.” God promised him.
it’s all revealed in the doing,
that’s how it is
in this world of concealment.
don’t save
all your remembering
for kaddish.
with every mitzvah,
with every word of torah you learn,
tie them to your heart.
isn't that all God wanted?
Parshat Pekudei, March 9, 1940
We learn in the holy Tikunei Zohar (Tikun 6:22b): “Lucky is the person who makes God a dwelling place in his heart.” It is also written (Exodus 25:8), “...and I will dwell inside them.” Our sages of blessed memory explain: “It says ‘inside them’ instead of ‘inside him,’ because the Holy One, blessed be He, dwells inside all Jewish people. This is not only to satisfy the need of every Jew; it is also God’s need, the need of the Shechinah, because besides the fact that God loves the Jewish people very much and so wishes to dwell among them, it is also His desire to be revealed and known in this world.”
....
If God, as it were, wants so much to dwell inside every Jewish person, how much stronger is the desire of the souls who have departed this world? They desire that some part of them dwell inside the Jewish people, to learn Torah and observe commandments together with them.
אבל הא שאיתא בזוה"ק זכאה מאן ומתקן לה דירה נאה בלבי' וכו' וכמו שאמר הפסוק פ' תרומה ושכנתי בתוכם ודרשו חז"ל בתוכו לא נאמר וכו' שהקב"ה שוכן בתוך כאו"א מישראל לא צורך איש הישראלי לבד הוא רק גם צורך השכינה חוץ מזה מפני אהבתו הרבה לישראל רק כיון שרצונו ית' להתגלות ועיקר ההתגלות הוא…
אם הוא ית' כביכול רוצה לשכון בתוך כל אחד מישראל ק"ו הוא איך טובה היא להנשמות לאחר פטירתן שהארה מהן ישכנו כישראל ועמהם יעשו תורה ומצוות.
