Our Gemara on Amud Aleph uses the following phrase to explain why a naturally Occurring bundle of reeds is still kosher for schach even though, in general, bundles are not kosher for schach:
אֶגֶד בִּידֵי שָׁמַיִם לָא שְׁמֵיהּ אֶגֶד
Binding at the hand of Heaven is not considered a binding
The Sod Yesharim (Succah 1, and Succah 15) interprets this phrase allegorically. The Zohar (I:85b) famously tells us that a husband and wife are really one soul separated at the moment of creation, brought down to this earth, and destined to find each other. Yet Sod Yesharim says, “a binding at the hand of Heaven is not considered a binding”. Meaning, it is God’s will, specifically, that humans work to discover their soulmate and God will not do it for them. It takes Character, piety and prayer to be able to achieve merit for divine assistance and guidance in finding the soulmate.
But there’s a problem with what the Sod Yesharim is saying. It is a fair presumption that many of us will not merit special Divine assistance. And if we do not believe we found our soul mate, are we to believe that it’s God’s will to divorce? Yes, of course people get divorced in situations of irreconcilably deep problems, but should one get divorced because they “Didn’t find their soulmate?“ That would be ridiculous, because how can you be sure you would get your soulmate the second time around. This is analogous to the halakha that though strictly speaking one should repeat the Amidah prayer if he did not have intention during the first blessing, in reality, one does not repeat it because who says he will have intention the second time around either! (See Rama OH:101:1)
The only reasonable conclusion to my mind is that every moment with another person, whoever we end up with, ends up being a potential soulmate. If our souls are in some way considered a part of God (See Tanya Part One, Sefer Benonim 2), then within the soul of another is everything and everyone. It is our job to find the actual soulmate that is potentially within the soul of our mate.
Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation
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