SOULBOUND: HOW MATCHES ARE MADE ON HIGH

SOULBOUND: HOW MATCHES ARE MADE ON HIGH is an anthology from the teachings of the Chabad Rebbes on how matches are made in heaven and manifest in this world. We learn of the spiritual side of shidduchim, or zivugim (matches) — revealing the deep mystical roots behind the human experience of finding one's intended.

R. Schnuer Zalman of Liadi, founder of Chabad, explains that although marriage is most natural, it nevertheless involves the supernatural. It is, at its essence, something miraculous, transcending logic and reason. Accordingly, bringing it about requires rising above logic and reason.

R. Shmuel, the fourth Lubavitcher Rebbe, focuses on the unbridled joy felt at weddings and its spiritual roots. Two people are joining as one in marriage; two halves of one soul that were separated from each other are being Divinely reunited. This calls forth great rejoicing.

R. Shalom Dovber, the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, elaborates on the “splitting” of the soul that occurs before people are born, tracing it back to the creation of Adam and Eve. The purpose is to come together in marriage with a unity more profound and unshakeable than their original oneness.

R. Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, father of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, R. Menachem M. Schneerson, discusses the mystical unions of the Divine sefirot, and the G-dly energy that emanates into these sefirot and filters through them into all of creation.

The Rebbe, R. Menachem M. Schneerson, discusses how marriage is a reflection of our collective union with G-d. The harmonious interaction between the higher and lower sefirot is likened to a marriage, and is referred to as the union of the Holy One and His Presence within creation.

This is, in fact, the goal of every mitzvah: transmuting everything that appears as “other” into something sacred, making the lower realms into a dwelling place for G-d.