Man as microcosm bridging two worlds

במד' או"ק צרתני.

In the Midrash: "Back and front You have formed me (achor va-kedem tzartani)."

The Sefas Emes opens with the pasuk in Tehillim (139:5) that the Midrash applies to the formation of man.

פי' האדם כולל כל צורת העולם הזה.

The explanation: man encompasses the entire form of this world.

The human being contains within himself the form of all of this world.

ונק' עולם קטן שכל העולם כלולין בו.

And he is called a "small world" (olam katan), for the whole world is included within him.

Man is a microcosm — a miniature universe that mirrors all of creation.

לכן כל הדברים הם צורך האדם והם מזונות לו א"כ ע"כ נמצא בו שורש מהם.

Therefore all things are needed by man and serve as nourishment for him; if so, perforce there must be found within him a root of them.

Since everything in the world serves man and sustains him, the root or source of each thing must already exist within him — that is why he can absorb and elevate them.

ולכן האדם כמו נשמה לכל הבריאה והם הגוף והחומר והוא הנשמה והצורה.

And therefore man is like a soul to all of creation, and they are the body and the matter, while he is the soul and the form.

Man relates to the rest of creation as soul to body: the world is the physical "matter," and man is its animating "soul" and form.

לכן קדמה כל הבריאה קודם בריאת האדם.

Therefore all of creation preceded the creation of man.

This is why man was created last — the rest of creation came first.

שהגוף קודם והבריאה קיבלה מקודם דברים הגופניים אח"כ קיבלה הנשמה שהוא האדם.

For the body precedes; creation first received the physical things, and afterward it received the soul, which is man.

Just as in a person the body is formed before the soul enters, so creation first received its physical components, and only then its "soul" — man.

וז"ש כדי שיכנס לשבת מיד שהוא יומא דנשמתין כדאיתא בזוה"ק.

And this is what is meant — that he should enter Shabbos immediately, which is "the day of souls," as is brought in the Zohar HaKadosh.

Man was created on Erev Shabbos so he could enter Shabbos at once. Shabbos is the "day of souls" (yoma di-neshmasin), fittingly received by man, the "soul" of creation.

וכמו שיש אלה המדרגות במעשה בראשית כן אח"כ בתורה.

And just as these gradations exist in the act of creation, so too afterward in the Torah.

The same body-then-soul order found in Maaseh Bereishis recurs in the structure of the Torah.

דאיתא האומר ועושה המדבר ומקיים.

For it is taught: "He who says and does, who speaks and fulfills."

He cites the liturgical phrase describing Hashem as the One who both speaks and brings to fruition.

שבעשרה מאמרות נברא העולם.

For with ten utterances the world was created.

Creation came about through the Asarah Maamaros — the ten divine utterances of Bereishis.

ובתורה ועשרת הדיברות מתקיים העולם.

And through the Torah and the Aseres HaDibros the world is sustained.

The world, created by ten utterances, is then sustained and given purpose by the Torah and its Ten Commandments.

לכן נמצא בתורה חלק לכל פרטי הבריאה.

Therefore there is found in the Torah a portion for every detail of creation.

Because the Torah is the world's sustaining "soul," it contains a corresponding portion for every element of creation.

כמ"ש זאת תורת הבהמה ועוף כו' אח"כ תורת האדם.

As it is written, "This is the law of the animal and the bird…" and afterward "the law of man."

The Torah itself follows the creation-order: it gives "the law of the animal and bird" first, and only afterward "the law of man" — the body before the soul.

אכן פי' אחור וקדם צרתני.

However, the meaning of "back and front You have formed me"…

He now returns to give the deeper sense of the opening pasuk.

כי האדם כולל העליונים ותחתונים.

…is that man encompasses both the upper and the lower realms.

Man is unique in bridging both worlds — the spiritual "upper" and the physical "lower."

וכמו שגוף האדם הוא צורת כל התחתונים כן הנשמה יש בה צורת העליונים.

And just as the body of man is the form of all the lower beings, so the soul contains within it the form of the upper beings.

The body mirrors the entire physical world below; the neshamah mirrors the spiritual worlds above.

והיא בחי' קדם.

And this is the aspect of "kedem" (front/before).

The soul, reflecting the upper worlds, is the "kedem" — the higher, prior dimension — while the body is "achor."

ולכן דרשו חז"ל וייצר ב' יצירות בעוה"ז ובעוה"ב.

And therefore Chazal expounded "va-yitzer" (with two yuds) as two formations — for this world and for the World to Come.

The doubled letter in "va-yitzer" (Bereishis 2:7) hints that man was formed for two worlds — corresponding to his "achor" (this world/body) and "kedem" (Olam Haba/soul).

וכמ"ש במדרש זכה נוחל ב' עולמות:

And as it says in the Midrash: if he merits, he inherits two worlds.

Because man bridges both realms, if he is worthy he inherits both this world and the World to Come — fulfilling the dual formation hinted at in "achor va-kedem tzartani."

Summary: Man is an "olam katan," a microcosm containing the root of all creation; he is the "soul" and form to the world's "body" and matter, which is why he was created last and could enter Shabbos, the day of souls. Just as creation proceeds from body to soul, so does the Torah (the law of animals before the law of man). "Achor va-kedem tzartani" teaches that man uniquely bridges the lower world (body, achor) and the upper world (soul, kedem), so that one who is worthy inherits both worlds.