Tzimtzum |G-d’s self-limitation

By Elisheva Tavor

The kabbalists have a principle they call “tzimtzum” which means G-d’s self-limitation. Part of this self-limitation is that HaShem our G-d and Creator makes space for us to be ourselves. We are His children not His robots, we are each unique and we each have our own challenges and our own choices.

I am continually blessed when I remember to keep my eyes open to all the G-d given opportunities around me…to continue to strive and to make good choices and to become the best I can be. And at the same time, to apply this self-limitation or restriction upon myself to allow those around me the space to be themselves…not what I think they should be.
This concept keeps coming back to me in different ways…I think because I need to solidify it in my mind and carry it out in my life. Rabbi Menahem Mendel put it quite succinctly when he said, “If I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you, then I am I and you are you. but if I am I because you are you and you are you because I am I, then I am not I and you are not you!” That is a mouthful, but it has a whole world of meaning and can take a lifetime to fully decifer.