איכה: where are you

After Adam and Chava sinned they 'heard' Hashem go through the garden and out of embarrasment, they hid. Hashem then called to them, "Where are you?"

Story of Alter Rebbe:

In 1798, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi was imprisoned on charges, put forth by the opponents of Chassidism, that his teachings undermined the imperial authority of the czar. For fifty-two days he was held in the Peter-Paul Fortress in Petersburg.

Among the Rebbe’s interrogators was a government minister who possessed broad knowledge of the Bible and Jewish studies. On one occasion, he asked the Rebbe to explain the verse (Genesis 3:9), “And G‑d called out to the man and said to him: ‘Where are you?’” Did G‑d not know where Adam was?

Rabbi Schneur Zalman presented the explanation offered by several of the commentaries: the question “Where are you?” was merely a “conversation opener” on the part of G‑d, who did not wish to unnerve Adam by immediately confronting him with his wrongdoing.

“What Rashi says, I know,” said the minister. “I wish to hear how the Rebbe understands the verse.”

“Do you believe that the Torah is eternal?” asked the Rebbe. “Do you believe that its every word applies to every individual, under all conditions, at all times?”

“Yes,” replied the minister.

Rabbi Schneur Zalman was extremely gratified to hear this. The czar’s minister had affirmed a principle which lies at the basis of the teachings of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, the very teachings and ideology for which he was standing trial!

“‘Where are you?’” explained the Rebbe, “is G‑d’s perpetual call to every man. Where are you in the world? What have you accomplished? You have been allotted a certain number of days, hours, and minutes in which to fulfill your mission in life. You have lived so many years and so many days,”—here Rabbi Schneur Zalman spelled out the exact age of the minister—“Where are you? What have you achieved?”

“Ayeka” with different vowels to form word “Eicha,” which is the first word of the book of Lamentations in the Bible. Eicha is read on the 9th of Av and describes the destruction of Jerusalem. The Midrash is implying that either a person is willing to answer the question of “Ayeka” – “where are you” honestly and openly, or else begins a path of “Eicha,” of calamity and misfortune.

Obviously, the word has tremendous meaning. So what does איכה mean on a deeper dimension and how it clarifies the nature of all sins.

First there is a concept that we must understand:

Many people say "לשם יחוד קודשא בריך הוא ושכינתיה" before doing different מצוות. This means that the purpose of doing the mitzva is to unite these 2 aspects of Hashem; הקב"ה and the שכינה. When we do a mitzva we bring שפע into the world as it flows from ה' to the שכינה and then into this world. ח"ו when you do an עבירה you hurt yourself on an individual level but also the whole world as you create a separation of Hashem and the שכינה making less שפע able to flow. The שכינה has many names, one particular name it "כה". Look in the source below.

What we learn from the Zohar is that when we do a Mitzva it is not only for our personal benefit but we must remember that we are effecting the whole world. First Hashem made Adam aware of the global consequences of his actions and then went onwards to give him his personal punishment he will receive(?).