201. Raising MAN – 1
Question: Raising MAN is regarded as raising a deficiency upward. Thus, why does he write that raising MAN is called Mitzvot [commandments] and good deeds?
MAN is called “a deficiency.” But what does the lower one lack by which to add abundance in the worlds? When one engages in Torah and Mitzvot, the Torah and Mitzvot first create MAN in a person, meaning he receives a deficiency and sees that he is lacking Torah and fear of heaven because of the concealment and hiding in the world due to the Tzimtzum [restriction]. At that time, a person receives a lack, and raises that lack upward so as to be filled. It therefore follows that through the Torah and Mitzvot, a person receives MAN, and he elevates that MAN and causes revealing in all the worlds.