Shavuot Hallel III Paragraph Four

“As for the heavens – the heavens are God’s, but the earth He has given to mankind.” (Psalm 115:16) To what can this be compared? To a king who decreed that his citizens in Rome could not travel to Syria, and his Syrian subjects could not travel to Rome. So, too, when the Holy One, Blessed is He, created the world, He decreed, “the heavens are God’s, but the earth He has given to mankind.” When He desired to give the Torah He negated the first decree and He said, “Let the lower worlds rise to the upper, and let the upper worlds descend to the lower, and then I shall begin.” This is why the verse says, “And God descended onto Mt Sinai.” and then it says, “And to Moses He said, rise to God.” (Exodus 24) – Shemot Rabbah 12

Torah gives us the ability to rise to the highest heavens, and to bring the heavens down to us by transforming this world. This paragraph of the Hallel celebrates this ability to break the boundaries of heaven and earth, and live a heavenly life even while here on this earth.

Use this paragraph as an opportunity to pray to merit living a life of the World to Come even while on this world. This means to be able to create eternal realities with everything we do.