Intimate Mitzvot

The anology of the husband/wife relationship has been swirling in my head and heart recently while reflecting on t'shuvah. The classical image ("classical" in Judaism) has God as the husband, Israel as the wife, and the Torah as the ketubah. Presumably, each mitzvah is then seen as a stipulation within the ketubah. While I hold this image very dear, I want to offer an additional one (though not entirely novel)...

The mitzvot came to the Jewish people as a result of divine encounter. Shir haShirim Rabbah relates the Sinai experience, in various ways, to "kisses" from God. In fact, words of Torah between two people are also related to "kissing." The point is that the mitzvot are manifestations of an intimate encounter (Sinai) that resembles yichud as much as it represents the signing of the ketubah. If the giving of the Torah was a kiss from God, then our mitzvot are kisses in return. Without being crass (k'viachol), the mitzvot are zivugim (relations) between us and God. Every mitzvah we perform is a unification of our will with God's that is meant to bear fruit...God made it known to Adam and Chavah that his will for us was to be fruitful :-)

In many ways, t'shuvah is a renewal of vows. Each return to a mitzvah is an opportunity to renew intimacy with God, and bring new life into creation