The Talmud relates that when Moses ascended on high to receive the Torah, the angels protested to G-d:

“How can You give away Your lofty cherished treasure to lowly undeserving mortals?” they argued. “Your greatness belongs up here in heaven," the angels insisted.

Responding to the challenge, Moses showed how each of the Ten Commandments’ verses applied only to people but not to angels:

The Commandents state “I am G-d who has taken you out of Egypt” - the angels were never in Egypt. “You shall have no other gods” -angels do not live among Pagans. “Respect your father and mother,”- angels have no parents.

The angels acquiesced and Moses descended with the Torah for the Jewish people.

There is more to this story than meets the eye. Angels are not silly winged creatures frolicking among the clouds. Maimonides (Book of Knowledge, Chapter 2) describes an angel as an advanced superintellect, and if the angels felt that the Torah belonged to them, they obviously had good reason. Angels are certainly well versed, and surely intended to observe Torah on higher spiritual levels.

Yet Moses triumphed, and we mortals received the Torah. This crucial historic turning point reflects this Kabbalistic principle:

“The ultimate purpose of creation, of all worlds supernal and ephemeral, is that G-d desired a ‘dwelling place’ on the lowest level.”

This amazing inversion of the physical/ spiritual pyramid runs contrary to most philosophies and theologies which view spirituality's natural tendency as rising ever higher. Headed in the exact opposite direction, Torah sees the Creation's ultimate purpose and objective to realize the Divine Revelation even at the lowest levels. Otherwise, why create lower levels at all?

The Torah tell us that when Moses introduced the Jews to the upcoming revelation at Sinai, the Jews responded: "We will do, and we will understand!'

This unique declaration is not merely expressing a strong commitment and devotion of being ready to act without first understanding. On a deeper level, this is our response to the abovementioned angels who underestimated and denigrated the observance of Torah on a physical level. We responded that the physical level of action is more real and concrete than abstract conceptual thoughts.

This explains why, upon hearing Israel's response first “To Do” and only afterwards “to Understand,” G-d said: “Who revealed this great secret to my children?”

This is why most Mitzvos are performed primarily in the physical state, for action speaks louder than words, as explained in Tanya chapters 37 and 38.

Of course our Mitzvah performance should be complemented by the right spiritual attitude and proper intention and feeling. But by just meditating on Tefilin all day without actually putting on the leather boxes and straps on our arm and head, one has missed the point.

True, there are higher realms and venues to express His reality, but only the lowly physical world was chosen to express His essence.

A sage’s wisdom is not fully revealed by his advanced scholarly discourses with his colleagues, but by his ability to explain complex concepts to the simple. Similarly, a philanthropist’s benevolence is not expressed in generosity to his immediate family and close friends, but by his reaching out to the undeserving recipient. A beacon’s brightness is not measured by its immediate surroundings, but by the most distant point it can illuminate.

Similarly, Divine Infinity is not expressed by lofty spirituality, but by the sanctification of material earth. When the physical world, “where the wicked prevail” is made to express the Divine truth, it truly becomes a “dwelling” for G-d.

The Torah empowers us to sublimate material objects, transforming animal hide into tefillin, palm boughs and willow twigs into a lulav during Sukkot, and metal coins and paper bills into charity, elevating the mundane physical world to be a “Divine dwelling.”

Thus Moses asked the angels: Do you have to struggle with an evil inclination? Do you have to deal with the temptations of the marketplace? Only we, who must grapple with the deceit, strife and profanity in the lowliest stratum of creation, can house His essence.