Before one can return to God they must first return to themselves. The naked self requires clothing to live in a world where nothing is as it appears. Clothing intimates at the body beneath; unlike the animal, only the human being has the experience of nakedness—an indication that the human being has the capacity to understand truth. Without the naked truth of who we are how can we approach the Almighty?

Just as the body requires clothing to interface in society so too does the soul need clothing for the same purpose. The body and the soul are the two extremities of creation: one heavy and mutable, the other lighter than a thought. Thought is the inner clothing of the soul which is connected directly to speech, but the outer garment of the soul is seen in the action of the limbs. These three garments hide the essential nature of the soul.

The problem with clothing is it becomes warn and dirty, if not cared for filth encroaches and disease spreads. This generality is as true for our physical clothing as is true for the garment of the soul. The inner garment of thought becomes soiled easiest because of the constant activity from the feet of the soul running in the mind of the person. If not reflected upon and fixed the inevitable result will be inane words or actions without meaning.

The underclothing of the person needs constant scrutiny and multiple changes since the outer garments are constantly reflecting the inner reality. Some politicians were known as people with white shirts, but dirty underwear—the sign of the hypocrite. The naked body is the garment of the soul which in turn requires a garment and then a garment upon a garment.

As the garment wears upon the skin and the skin wears upon the soul eventually the garment becomes part of the body as the food we internalize becomes part of the body; a vessel is forged from within and from without from the substances we consume and wear. This is the truth of the person; it is what is conveyed to us and what we convey in return which determines who we are as a person.

Love in Hebrew, Ahev, is built from the word Hev/Give the Aleph makes the word into I Give. When the garments of the soul housed in the confines of the body converge with the light of the soul the vessel is forged. Life is about forging this vessel; it is through the vessel dispensing goodness in this world that we are able to approach the Creator.

There is an ancient metaphor pervasive throughout the world of a man coming with an empty cup to his master. In Cabala the letter Cof which is shaped in the form of a cupped hand denotes the level of Keter/Crown conveyer of light at every level of the Ten Seferot; even more humbling than coming with a cup is coming with cupped hands, but it is only through the act of humility that the human being can even think of approaching the Creator and Giver of Life.