I was reading Akiva Tatz and the Tanya and it struck me that if I am part or one with god then how do I worship him? Aren’t I just worshipping myself? This seems so obvious to me. I want to worship god not myself but with big time rabbis telling me that “ayn od milvado” and “echad” mean I’m part of god whats the diff between that and eastern religions?

Dear Jerry,

The question you asked is an excellent one. HaShem ‘withdraws himself’ in order to ‘make room’ so to speak, for us to exist in a world that is filled with Himself. This is done so that we would learn what it means to ‘make room’ for another person in a world in which our ego-needs tend to fill the whole of our universe. This ‘withdrawal’ in order to ‘make room’ for another is referred to as ‘tzimtzum’ in the Kabalistic literature from what I’ve been told.

Best wishes,
edb