Sod Yesharim, Parshas Vayeira

Sod Yesharim, by Rav Gershon Chenoch of Radzin.

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Parshas Vayeira.
Translated and Annotated by B. Edwards

וַיֵּרָא אֵלָיו ה' בְּאֵלנֵי מַמְרֵא וְהוּא ישֵׁב פֶּתַח הָאהֶל כְּחם הַיּוֹם:
“And God appeared unto him by the oaks of Mamre, and he was sitting in the tent in the heat of the day.”
The Gemara (Baba Metzia, 86b) tells us that this was on the third day after his circumcision.

(And then at the end of the Parsha we find it written) “On the third day, He saw the place from afar.”[1]
It is written, “After two days He will revive us, on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His presence.”[2] This is the third day of the shvatim, the tribal ancestors , the children of Jacob.

And Joseph said unto them the third day: This do, and live.[3]
On the third day of Revelation:
And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning.[4]
On the third day of Joshua’s spies:
And hide yourselves there three days.[5]
On the third day of Jonah:
And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.[6]
On the third day of those returning from the Babylonian Exile:
And we abode there three days.[7]
On the third day of resurrection:
After two days He will revive us, on the third day He will raise us up;
On the third day of Esther:
Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel (Est. V, I)
She put on the royal apparel of her ancestor.
For whose sake did the relief and rescue come on the third day? The Rabbis say: For the sake of the third day, when Revelation took place.
R. Levi maintained: in all of these instances, relief came on the third day in the merit of what Abraham did on the third day, as it says, “And it was on the third day, He saw the place from afar …”
What did he see?
He saw a cloud enveloping the mountain, and said: ‘It appears that that is the place where the Holy One, blessed be He, told me to sacrifice my son.’
When explaining “shlishi l’milah,” the third day after circumcision, The Holy Isbitzer teaches us that by the third day it is fixed permanently. The Orlah (foreskin) has to be completely removed. This represents things that man has no use for and has to totally remove from his life. The second component of Milah is “Priah,” separating and moving the thin inner membrane to the side. (In the performance of a bris milah this is actually done before the removal of the orlah.) Priah is not the orlah, it is just adjacent to it. This represents klipas Noga, of which it is said in the book of Mishlei (4:15), פְּרָעֵהוּ אַל תַּעֲבָר בּוֹ שְׂטֵה מֵעָלָיו וַעֲבוֹ- avoid it, do not pass by it, turn from it and pass on.

The Radziner Rebbe mentions the discussion in the Talmud, Yevamos, 21b, about the decree of “divrei sofrim”) of certain marriages called, “shniyos l’arayos,” or secondary levels of forbidden marriages. Examples of “shiyos l’arayos,” are marriages between a man and his grandmother, or between a man and his child’s daughter in-law. The verse just quoted in Mishlei – where it says, avoid it - is the proof text for this rabbinic prohibition. The idea is as follows. A primary level of prohibition (Isurrei D’Oraita) is antithetical or even detrimental to the Jewish soul. A secondary level is no less forbidden, but its prohibition comes by close association with the primary level. (Of the rabbinic commandments we say, “your goodness is sweeter than wine.”) At the third level, we are not only free from danger, but enriching our souls. .

(The Sod Yesharim continues) Therefore at the third level, the kedushah is permanently instilled in the Jewish soul. At the third level, mans desires are in total agreement with the service of God.
This is as it is said in the Zohar (Kedoshim, 87a) on the verse “And in the fourth year, all of the land’s produce shall be holy and giving praise to God.” (Vayikra, 19:24), “The earth only gives its fruits because of another power that acts upon it, just as a woman does not give birth except by the power of the man. … Come and see! The fruit of her womb is only complete after three births.” (Re: Yehuda. Bear in mind that this is a spiritual idea regarding how forces in the upper world are created, and should in no way cast aspersions on people who only have two siblings or less, or on parents who have only had three children.)

The Zohar writes (Vayera, 97a),
“And God appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, and he sad in the entrance to the tent in the heat of the day.” “Rabbi Chiya opened. “The buds are seen on the land, the time of pruning has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in the land.” (Song of Songs). “The buds are seen on the land.” When God created the world, he suited the perfect strength to each part of creation. Everything was in the land, but the land did not bring forth its fruits until man was created. Once man was created, all of the powers of creation appeared and the land brought forth its produce. In a similar way, the heavens did not give their powers to the land until the arrival of man. This is as it is written in Parshas Bereshis, “and all the plants of the fields had not yet grown from the land, and all the grasses of the field had not yet bloomed because Hashem Elokim had not brought the rains, and there was no man to work the land.” All of these generations were hidden and not revealed. The heavens were prevented and the rains did not fall because man was not on the land at that time … “The time of pruning has come,” (Zamir means both pruning and singing.) He established the power of singing in prayer before God, a power that was not there before man was created. “The voice of the turtledove is heard in our land,” this is the word of God that was not present in the world until man was created. (It was thought that) since man was there, everything was there. But when man sinned … the land was cursed. “when you work the land, it will not give of its powers, your efforts will grow thorns and thistles … Then Noach came and established with his plows and pruning hooks. He planted a vineyard and got drunk, exposing himself in his tent. Men came in the coming generation and sinned before God (with the tower of Babylon and the idolatry of Terach’s generation.) The powers of the earth departed once more. …
And then with the coming of Avraham, “the buds are seen on the land, the time of pruning has come, and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land.” The time of pruning refers to the bris Milah. When the time of this covenant arrived, the power was given to Avraham he circumcised himself. This bris Milah was the fulfillment of these words in the Song of Songs. The earth was sustained, and it bloomed. This revealed God’s word.

(The Sod Yesharim continues.) The world was created when God sent forth His word from His simple desire to create. In the place of His greatness, He brought forth His modesty and meekness. That is to say, He wanted rule over the lower world, known as the physical earth. He hid His Godly desire in the garments of the creation (with garment after garment) to the point where His Godly desire became completely hidden. He hid Himself with covering after covering, concealment after concealment, down to the creation of physical matter. The treasure of God’s desire was hidden so deeply in physical matter that the creation could not raise itself up and return face to face to unite with its source in God. For this reason God created man. Man was created so that the buds could be seen and the time of pruning and prayer could come to pass. That is to say, man was created in order to bring the power of the earth back God. He does this by using worldly and material existence, and raise them up through the path of Avodas Hashem. (Food is a simple example.)
Adam HaRishon’s sin (and the source of all deviation from God’s path) flowed from his mistaken belief that since the world is indeed conducted through man (Not just God’s partner, but as the direct creation of God, as Adam was God’s own handwork, as it were), then therefore he has a separate power to ascend, and also to elevate the entire creation. He mistakenly believed that there was nothing that he could not elevate and every place and every time. (This is “Tekifus.”)
Consider the commandment not to eat from the fruit of the tree of knowledge. The Pri Eytz Chaiim of the Arizal explains that this fruit was only forbidden until the onset of Shabbos. Once Shabbos came, it was to be permitted. This hints as how man becomes perfected through Avodas Hashem. (Practice makes perfect.) Completeness and perfection involves man taking the powers in the created world and using them in the service of God.
Everything in the creation is lacking. (See Sod Yesharim, Lech Lcha. People cannot exist without other people or without the powers of the earth.) This is as Isaiah said, “For with Yud Hei, Hashem formed the worlds.” (Why not with the complete four letter name? It is in order to show how the creation is incomplete.) This was in order to allow man to complete creation through his active service. “Everything that was created in the six days of creation needs fixing or preparation. Turmus (a kind of bean) needs to be cooked seven times before it can be eaten. It starts off inedible, and through man’s efforts, becomes sweet and nourishing.” We see how man needs to farm, mill, and make bread. He needs to grow flax and cotton in order to make clothing. In a similar way, God has to prepare His word in order for man to receive it. God’s word starts of as pure light (and light is only an analogy, we have no concept of God’s pure power), and is then dressed in layer after layer of concealment in world upon world, sefirah upon sefirah. The downward linkage and process of greater and greater concealment (tsimstusm) is the way God makes His word comprehensible to man.
Time is also a garment, or a force of concealment and preparation. God’s word must also pass through the garment of time. This is hinted at in Shabbos, the seventh day. Shabbos hints at the attribute of Malchus SHamayim, the sovereignty of Heaven. It is, “Reshis Chochma Yiras Hashem,” “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God.” (Yirat Hashem means refraining from action based the awe of the Almighty, or at least, the belief that God is faithful to punish all wrongdoing. Refraining from work on Shabbos is an expression of Yiras Hashem. The Idea is that we can only have any real wisdom if we stop and look see how God is in charge.) Yiras Hashem causes man to serve God. Man realizes that all power comes from God, and without God’s power, the creation would be nullified. This is Malchus Shamayim, when we feel God’s leadership in all facets of our life. Of Malchus Shamayim, the Zohar tells us, “d’leit lei megarma clum – it does nothing and effects nothing.” (Malchus is a vessel which is filled by God, whose whole life and existence depends on receiving from God.) God does not need the creation. He is not beholden to the creation in any way. He creates us purely because He wants to and not because He needs to. From our point of view, from the point of view of Malchus, we could forget that we are created, and all the power of our life could return and be subsumed within Godliness. (Re: story of moth and flame, lehavdil.)
Therefore, man needs a constant awakening of Avodas Hashem. This comes with the consciousness knowledge that God is always renewing the power within the creation, and without God’s providence on all details of creation the world would cease to exist. There is no life in the foundation of creation unless man wakes up and looks (hebit) towards the Creator. This consciousness is revealed on Shabbos, because on it God ceased from all of His work. This cessation also nullified all forces which conceal and darken the light of God’s constant creation. This is the Gate of Heaven that man needs to enter, where he may look into all places that the power of God’s creation spreads forth, and there see the Pride of God’s Majesty. (Hashem malach, Geut lavesh - see Psalms.)
This is how the Arizal explains the sin of Adam. Adam wanted to enlarge the crown of Zeir Anpin before Shabbos, when there is still the “power of work.” At this time, Zeir Anpin did not yet have mochin (spiritual intelligence). When man still has the power to work (and think that he is doing the work), then his mochin is not complete. Mochin Mochin has to do with the light that we receive and gives us the ability to return and look at the (source of the light.) As it was with Zeir Anpin in the metaphysical realm, so it was with Adam HaRishon. He did not have the power of awakening needed in order to know that nothing can exist without receiving a constant flow of God’s abundance and power.
The Arizal also says that Adam also sinned with regards to the female. The female power is the power of reception. In the upper worlds, the female was not yet face to face with the male. When the force of reception does not stand face to face with God, the source of giving, then man thinks that he is separate from God, and has his own separate power. He makes the mistake of thinking that God created him with a separate power. Since all forces of creation need a vessel like man to receive their power and use them, then (God’s power within) creation cannot exist without him. (This was his mistake.)

However, when he stands face to face, then he has a connection to the supernal light. He then knows that his existence is just a gift of God’s Chesed. God desired to improve His creation. All of his power is only at the time when he receives God’s light.

This is the mystery of the case that the moon brought before God:
R. Simeon b. Pazzi pointed out a contradiction [between verses]. One verse says: And God made the two great light, and immediately the verse continues: The greater light . . . and the lesser light. The moon said unto the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘Sovereign of the Universe! Is it possible for two kings to wear one crown’? He answered: ‘Go then and make thyself smaller’. ‘Sovereign of the Universe’! cried the moon, ‘Because I have suggested that which is proper must I then make myself smaller’? He replied: ‘Go and thou wilt rule by day and by night’. ‘But what is the value of this’? cried the moon; ‘Of what use is a lamp in broad daylight’? He replied: ‘Go. Israel shall reckon by thee the days and the years’. ‘But it is impossible’, said the moon, ‘to do without the sun for the reckoning of the seasons, as it is written: And let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years’. ‘Go. The righteous shall be named after thee4 as we find, Jacob the Small, Samuel the Small, David the Small’, On seeing that it would not be consoled the Holy One, blessed be He, said: ‘Bring an atonement for Me for making the moon smaller’. This is what was meant by R. Simeon b. Lakish when he declared: Why is it that the he-goat offered on the new moon is distinguished in that there is written concerning it unto the Lord? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Let this he-goat be an atonement for Me for making the moon smaller. (Soncino Translation)

The case of the moon is compared to the sin of Adam. The moon was blemished in order that the power of reception in creation would feel its own incompleteness. When man feels his own incompleteness, he understand that from his own side he has nothing, and how God doesn’t have to sustain us, but rather He desires to sustain us and improve us. This is why there are different seasons. Summer will see that the world does not always have to be summer, it could also be fall or winter. The world can change and still exist. In this way, man was created incomplete to drive him to go back and look at the word with God’s light.


[1] Gen. XXII, 4
[2] Hos. VI, 2
[3] Gen. XLII, 18
[4] Ex. XIX, 16
[5] Josh. II, 16
[6] Jonah II. 1
[7] Ezra VIII, 32

Kever Rachel and the late Yitschak Rabin

Today, I heard an interesting story about Rachel's tomb and Itschak Rabin. Rachel was the wife of the Patriarch Jacob, and together with Leah, is the matriarch of the Jewish people. Her tomb, a holy site in Israel, is just south of Jerusalem in Bethlehem, a town in the land of Judea. Jews offer prayers to God every day and night by her tomb, which has been renovated into a synagogue and yeshiva.

The aniversary of her passing, or yahrtseit, is on the eleventh day of the month of Cheshvan (around october). On her yahrtzeit, thousands of devoted and righteous Jews flock to her tomb to pray for the welfare of Israel and the whole world. We call the yahrtseit of a Holy man or woman a "hillula," or wedding, as the power of the holy man to pray and intercede before the One and only is increased when he or she has shuffled off the mortal coil and reuintes with God in Heaven.

On one such "hillula" of the Matriarch Rachel I went with my wife and a friend of ours to pray at Rachel's tomb. Standing room only is an understatement. All of the devout were cleaved together and prayingwith one voice, filling the room with light and tears of fire.
When we got back to the car, we turned on the radio. Yitchak Rabin had just been assasinated. This was the last time I visited Rachel's tomb.

This is that was repudedly said on the Israeli Radio in an interview with Chanan Porat, a former knesset member, and a founder of the national religious party (Mafdal). Rabin had just signed and agreement with the Arabs to give away certain terretories of the Jewish homeland. The land of Israel was to be divided into three areas, area A (under full Israeli soveriegnty), Area B (under Arab control but under Israeli military control), and Area C (Arab conrol and no Israeli Military presence). The Tomb of Rachel was designated as area B. Chanan Porat made and appointment to meet with Rabin in order to try to convince him to keep Rachel's tomb under full Israeli sovereignty (Area A). As he reached Rabin's office, he saw Rav Menachem Porush, a knesset member and leader of the Agudat Israel (charedi) Party. Rav Porush asked if he could join Porat in the meeting with the prime minister, to which Porat gladly agreed. As they sat before Rabin, Porat took out a number of maps and set out to work convincing Rabin to reconsider, to which Rabin responded by saying that the deals were already signed and sealed and there is no return (Of course, as a third hand story, I don't know exactly what was said.)
After several minutes of claims and counter claims, logical arguments and sighing about tied hands, Porush grabbed the prime minister by his shoulders, shook him and cried out from his broken heart, "reb yitchak, die mamae rachel vilst du ibber lozin bie die araber - Reb Yitschak, are you going to give our mother Rachel to the Arabs!!" Rabin started to cry together with Porush. After things calmed down, and the meeting ended, Rabin called the foriegn minister, who was at that time Shimon Peres, and discussed the possibility of renegotioating to place Rachels tomb in area A. Peres was against it, saying again how its already a done deal, signed and sealed. After Peres's rejections, Rabin told him, "look, he (Arafat) needs us more than we need him."

Chanan Porat and Rav Porush succeded in covincing Rabin, and it seems that Rabin covinced Peres. Rachel's tomb is an enclave of Area A just across the border from the Jerusalem municipality. All Israelis and visitors have free and unfettered access to go there and pray day and night. Rachel's tomb, bordering the Judean desert just down the road from Kibbutz Ramat Rachel, where I taught my kids how to swim. Someday I will take them to the synagogue at Rachel's tomb and Die heilige Mamme Rachel will teach them how to pray.

I don't know what God is trying to tell us, but who could not pause in wonder at how Rabin was killed on the same day that Rachel Imenu left the world, and the role he had in providing Jewish access to the tomb of their anscestor.

I was told by a student of a well known Rabbi, "the posek of chortkov," (I forgot his name), that Yitchak Rabin, of blessed memory, would "always," call the Rabbi when making significant decisions. What kinds of situations, what kind of questions? The student could not tell me.

Show me Yourself

Question: How do you translate the verse in the Torah, "haster astir es panai?"
Hester means concealment. The intensive "doubled form," one of God's favorites, takes a verb and intensifies its meaning by saying it twice, as in Deut: 'and it will be if you surely hearken (shamoah tishm'eu)," Or at the end of the song of ascents, "when God returns the captives we will be like dreamers" where he says, "he who is going and crying (haloch yelech, doubling the HL"Ch root)," meaning going with angst or intensely. And then in the next verse, "bo yavo," "he will surely come carrying his sheaves." This is literally translated, "come he shall come."

But I don't want to translate it as, "surely" because I keep thinking about that stupid joke from the movie, "Airplane," where one guy says, "Surely youre joking!!" and the other answers, "no I'm serious, and my name isn't Shirley." Yuk Yuk.


So what is the best way to translate, "haster astir es panai?"

"Hide will I Hide My face ..."

I will mammash hide My face ....

I will really really hide my face ....

I will hide my face to the max ....

None of the above .....

This has to do with the discoure of the Rebbe of Radzin in his work, Sod Yesharim, Parshas Lech L'cha. At the end of the discours, (in the previous post,) he talks about intense levety. Actually its more than that. Its scoffing and deriding the Torah and its followers ostensibly in order to entertain one's peers or even one's self. As a former clown (I am an old professor of goofing off,) well, not so former, this subject is close to home. As a kid, it became clear that making others laugh was not just a special gift that was prized at school and in the culture at large, but it was a power and a way to wield power. It was also a great way to hide from the world which I had determined was a nasty place. So lets roll up our sleeves and get into one of the deadliest subjects on the face of the planet, the "Theology of Humor."

In the last post I translated the following:

(King Solomon wrote in Misheli (proverbs), “(If you have been wise, you have been wise for yourself,) and if you are scoffer, you alone will bare it.” This is a case where a man holds on to concealment and amnesia. Scoffing (leitsanus in Hebrew) is the garment of concealment, where God’s light is not seen. The AriZal Calls it, “batei Elokim” (houses of Elokim - or a second outer shell which surrounds concealment. This is about as far as man can seem to be from God.) The powers that God dressed in the garments of creation are called “Elokim.” There are 120 permutations of the five letters of “Elokim.” The power of kedushah reaches as low as these levels, where God’s light may still be perceived. The garments where God’s light may not be seen are called, “Elohim acherim,” or false Gods. Wherever Gods light may not be seen is not “in the power of kedushah.” Even though God created all of the powers, as it is written (Isaiah,54), “I created a destroyer to destroy.” True, man must remove all of these garments, and illuminate the darkness, and when the light reaches so low, he will see how all is from God.

The doubled or intensive grammatical form in the Torah is not just a way to say, "surely," or "really." The classical commentaries, and "drashos" of the great Rabbis often explain a point about the repetition, or two levels, in order to show how there are two things going on, and this is hinted at in the repetition of the word. So God hides in the world He created. Take food, for instance. Once you have finnished the graduate seminar in Advanced Spiritual States, mazal Tov, you are now one of the cognoscenti, (and dont think for a Jerusalem second that just because I am scoffing at the Universities now by using what MW describes as "obsolete itallian," that this idea is also obsolete.) YOU KNOW that whenever you eat, God is sustaining you through the nutrients in the food. If you are a materialist, or as you might say, "the living dead," then you will say, "its chemical compounds sustaning an organism." But this would be shallow. How does something grow, how does a living organism live? No one really knows, but since we are alive, and life must be sustained somehow, so we see how, "God sustains all." We call the life force, "God's energy or soul." It is not God, God is hidden. The force which sustains life is an emanation flowing out of the source of all existence we call "God."


God's power or the soul that emanates from the source is hidden in the food we eat.

This is one level of concealment. The "Houses of Elokim" mentioned in the above quotation, based on the AriZal, Rav Luria, of blessed memory, are the second level of concealment, where not only is the Godly power concealed, but the living dead who poke fun at such ideas, with a hearty rotgreen laugh, are using their antagonism in the form of humor to deny it, that is to say, conceal it even further. Elokim equals 86 in jewish numerology. so does the word for "the nature," or HaTeva. The meaning is, "God hides in nature." This is Elokim. Scoffers (Leitsanim) conceal it even further. This is why God sighs in heaven, He who has no form, Raises His mighty arm that brough us out of Egypt, now used not as a sign of strenght but "netilas yadaim," or a sign of surrender, and says, "Hide I will hide my face when the clowns among you deride my Torah and my people." The study of Chassidus, in particular, the Chassidus of Isbitz-Radzin, is a way to console God, "NAchamu, Nachamu Ami." God is saying, console me that I have to hide my face in order for you to get credit for your belief and efforts in My service, and console me a second time when I hide my face in Divine shame because my creations insult Me. But I will be silent and thereby achieve atonement for having to be hidden at all. Chassidus is a path that breaks down the wall.

Once upon a time, the Maggid of Mezerich, Rav Dov Baer, was in his kitchen, and heard his little boy crying from inside a cabinet. He opened the door, and underneath a blanket, found his five year old boy sobbing. He picked him up in his arms and said, "my son, why are you crying? Why are you hiding in the cabinet?" "Father, we were playing hide and go seek. I hid here in the kitchen, and I hid so well, that the other boys gave up and stopped looking for me. I have been in here for an hour, Tatee, and they went to play somewhere else."

Tears started streaming down the Maggids cheeks. He cried and said,"Master of Heaven and Earth! Do you see what You have done! You have hidden your face from us. You hid yourself so well that your children have stopped even trying to find you. You have hidden Yourself so well that they have not only stopped looking for you, but they have forgotten that You are even there!"

Let me hear Your voice, let me see Your form,
for Your form is lovely ....

Rav Gershon Chenoch of Radzin - Parshas Lech L'cha

BS”D

Sod Yesharim.
Rav Gershon Chenoch of Radzin ZTs”L. Known as, "The Radziner Rebbe."
Here is one of his discourses on Parshas Lech Lcha (The story of Abraham.) The dude to the right is the blogger, if anyone asks.

It is written in the Torah ....
“And God said to Avraham, go from your land, from your birthplace, from the house of your father, to the land that I will show you.”

Zohar, Parshas Lech Lcha, 15b

Rabbi Abba opened (with the verse), “Listen to me, you stubborn of heart (abirei lev), who are far from righteousness (tsedaka).” (Isaiah, 46:12) How hard are the hearts of the wicked, who see the ways and paths of the Torah, and do not look into them! … Those who are far from tesdaka distance themselves from the Torah. Rabbi Chizkiya said, “they are far from haKadosh, Baruch Hu.(God) …
Come and see. Avraham wanted to come close to haKadosh, Baruch Hu, (and bring others close), and in doing so he brought himself close. This is as it is written (Tehilim, 45:8), “You love righteousness, and hate wickedness; (therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions.” The Zohar tells us that this statement in the psalms is in reference to Avraham)

(The Sod Yesharim explains.) “the stubborn of heart,” refers to those who rely on their foundations but have no actions. They assert that since God created a world where the Divine presence is concealed, then God must want it this way. God hides in a hidden garment (RE story of the Maggid and “hide and seek.”) His desires are not apparent in the garments of the world. If God wanted to reveal His desires with clarity, then why did He create these garments of concealment?

We find the following discussion in the Gemara.

Hearken unto Me, you hard-hearted, who are far from righteousness. Rab and Samuel — according to others, R. Johanan and R. Eleazar — interpret this differently. One says: The whole world is sustained by [God's] charity, and they are sustained by their own force. The other says: All the world is sustained by their merit, and they are not sustained even by their own merit. This accords with the saying of Rab Judah in the name of Rab. For Rab Judah said in the name of Rab: Every day a divine voice goes forth from Mount Horeb (Sinai) and proclaims: The whole world is sustained for the sake of My son Hanina, and Hanina My son has to subsist on a kab of carobs from one week end to the next. This [explanation] conflicts with that of Rab Judah. For Rab Judah said: Who are the ‘hard-hearted’? The stupid Gubaeans.

(The Sod Yesharim continues.) Truly they are both true. (Abirei Lev means has the pejorative connotation of callous and heard-hearted, as well as the positive connotation of righteous and brave-hearted.) On the one hand, there is no shortage of heard hearted people who believe that since God created all kinds of pleasures in the world, then He must want us to extend ourselves in whatever suits our fancy. They put forth erronious ideas, saying, "If God had not wanted us to extend ourselves, then He would not have made the ways in which He is concealed so enticing to mortal men." In this sense they are, “far from righteousness,” for as we have found in the Zohar, “far from righteousness" means not wanting to come close to haKadosh Baruch Hu, and this is tantamount to not wanting to come close to the Torah. “Since they are far from tsedaka, they are far from Shalom, and they have no peace.”

“Tsedaka,” means connecting to another person in order to shine into a place that was lacking light. A poor person lacks sustenance and is forced to receive it from a person who is able to help. God arranged the entire creation on this principle. Everyone is incomplete. Everyone must necessarily receive from other people in one way or another. The Midrash teaches us that even the heavens is in need of peace. (Midrash Rabba, 96:9) God arranged the creation where completeness is only possible when people come together. When there is a willingness to give, then God shines his light into this place of giving and receiving. This is as it is written (Yeshayahu 6), “and they called out one to another,” where the Aramaic translation reads, “and they received one from the other.” (Received permission from the fellow angels in the heavenly choir to proclaim God’s holiness). Only when they received one from the other does God illuminate them with His light.

For this reason, God created a general incompleteness among his creation. God created the attribute of concealment (hester) – which is in itself Malchus Shamayim (the Sovereignty of Heaven), of with the Zohar tells us, “d’leit lei megarma clum – it does nothing on its own. (Malchus effects nothing from its own side, but rather is all about receiving from above. Malchus, or the Shechina, is a vessel for God’s abundance and light.) Only after the creation as a whole reaches a spiritual refinement (through Avodas Hashem, Tefilla, and Torah) and thereby returns to see the creation with God’s light (uses God’s light to see within the concealment of the garments), then, from the side of the creation, light will be drawn into that particular middah (sefirah) and facet of creation.

Man will then see that this concealment is also one of God’s creations and has an essential purpose. The concealment, like everything, is also created for God’s glory and honor. The greatest Glory of Heaven comes from seeing in this way. It all happens because the creation is lacking, and desires to unite with the source in order to fill the lack and reach wholeness. In this way the darkness is illuminated. This consciousness inspires Avodas Hashem and the desire to return and see the world with God’s light even amidst the greatest darkness. Now is becomes clear that the darkness is filled with God’s light.

For God’s point of view, the whole world is a complete unity, without any separation at all. Separation is only from the side of the creation. All who desire God’s light are filled with a giving spirit for the entire creation. This is because one who sees in this way is closer to the source, and at the source there is a complete wholeness and oneness. It is the, “Clall.” The closer you are to the source, the more you feel how you are a part of the source. The one who is closer to the source sees how the source also includes the concealment (and its purpose). He then sees how no matter how dark the evil, nothing in the world is not illuminated by God’s light.

Even one who thinks he is “his own man,” going after the desires of his own closed heart, and acting upon his own free choice, is unknowingly being led by God in a place beyond his comprehension. (this is the ohr makif – the surrounding light, which is akin to the phrase in the psalms, “yarumu selah” – it is above and beyond”)

Then he understands that even his Avodas Hashem is only something he is doing with regards to himself. This is as it is said, “If you have been wise, you have been wise only for yourself.” (Mishlei, 9:12) The Isbitzer Rebbe explained this by saying that if a man succeeded in understanding a matter of Torah, and reached even a sublime level of wisdom, he only really merited for himself, in the sense that he sees how the root of his own soul is in the wisdom of Torah that he revealed. Yet he did not add one iota to the Torah and its knowledge. For truly, all new understanding of the Torah, “even that which a seasoned scholar devises,” was already revealed to Moshe Rabeynu, who is the Daas (knowledge or consciousness) of All of Israel, meaning that it is all included in the words of Torah. That which David HaMelech said, “(Tehilim, 71), “I will always yearn, and I will add to Your praises (to the Torah),” In this case, David HaMelech is only illuminating within the darkenss, and showing how even there exists the light of the words of Torah. God then rewards him for his efforts in revealing the light, measure for measure, as it is considered the work of man’s own hands.


(The verse in Mishlei continues), “and if you are scoffer, you alone will bare it.” This is a case where a man holds on to concealment and amnesia. Scoffing (leitsanus) is the garment of concealment, where God’s light is not seen. The AriZal Calls it, “batei Elokim” (houses of Elokim - or a second outer shell which surrounds concealment. This is about as far as man can seem to be from God.) The powers that God dressed in the garments of creation are called “Elokim.” There are 120 permutations of the five letters of “Elokim.” The power of kedushah reaches as low as these levels, where God’s light may still be perceived. The garments where God’s light may not be seen are called, “Elohim acherim,” or false Gods. Wherever Gods light may not be seen is not “in the power of kedushah.” Even though God created all of the powers, as it is written (Isaiah,54), “I created a destroyer to destroy.” True, man must remove all of these garments, and illuminate the darkness, and when the light reaches so low, he will see how all is from God. Therefore, with Rabbi Chanina ben Dossa, even though power of his merit and Avodas Hashem sustained the whole world, he only saw how everything is only from God. This is called, “sustained by their own force.” (see Gemara Berachos above) He saw how everything was in the hands of Heaven, and did not want to enter into any worldly concealment. For this reason he did not want to benefit from his own portion. He did not even want to benefit from the fruits of the world. …..

Sod Yesharim - Parshas Noach

BSD


PARSHAS NOACH
A discourse by HaGaon Rabeynu Gershon Chanoch of Radzin ZTs"L
(The photo to the left is of a friend of Isbitz-Radzin in Israel Today.)
“These are the generations of Noach. Noach …”

Zohar, Noach, 59b

“Rabbi Chiya opened and said, “And Your people are all righteous – they will forever inherit the land. They are the bud of My planting, the work of My hands in which I will take pride.” (Isaiah, 60). Fortunate are you, Israel, who study the Torah, and know the ways of the Torah. For this you will inherit the world to come. Come and see. All of Israel has a portion in the world to come. Why? Because they guard and receive the covenant which the world exists upon, as it is written, “If it were not for My covenant day and night, I would not have established the laws of heaven and earth (that is to say, the laws of nature.)” (This verse tells us that Torah observance of the Jews does no less than make the laws of nature possible. However, you may understand the “laws of heaven and earth in a different way.) …

Rabbi Elazar said, “when the verse says, “these,” (as in “these are the generations of Noach”), it comes to disqualify whatever came before. What came before in Parshas Bereshis that “these” comes to disqualify? “And a river came forth from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided into four branches (“heads.”) The river flowed forth and entered the garden, watering above, satisfying it, allowing it to produce fruits (souls) and increase its seeds. In this way the river satisfied the garden, and in doing so satisfied itself. (Providing for the fruits gave the river contentment.) This is the meaning of the two verses (in the second chapter of Bereshis), “for on it He rested,” (meaning the river), “and He rested on the seventh day.” (Meaning the garden). This is the secret of how it (the river) brings forth generations and no other.

(The River watering the Garden is the secret of the zivvug of Yesod and Malchus)

Questions on the Zohar.


2. “What does Noach and his generations have to do with the way the existence of the world depends on the fulfillment of the covenant, which we call, ‘the Torah?’ ”

3. According to the Zohar, what does “these” in first verse in parshas Noach come to disqualify from parshas Bereshis, and why?

4. According to the Zohar, what is the connection between the river which flowed forth from Eden and the mention of rest in parshas Bereshis?





While learning this passage of the Sod Yesharim, consider the questions,

1. What is the difference between the covenant that God made with Noach, the covenant that He made with Avraham, and the covenant at Mount Sinai?

2. What are human actions that last forever? What does it mean to be connected on the inside, and what does it mean to be connected on the outside?

Sod Yesharim, Continued.

With this, the Zohar is explaining the difference between the covenant that God made with Noach and the covenant that God made with Avraham Avinu. Desire is a part of life. Man's desire drives him to satisfy physical pleasures, magnify his wealth, and increase his honor. If you limit your own desires, and give honor to God and His desires, then measure for measure, God will send the Shechina to rest upon you. The more you give honor to God, the greater you will experience a revelation of Godliness in your life. The people of Noach’s time, hedonists par excelance, were prodigious in running after their own desires and pleasures. They were the epitome of selfishness. The thought of restricting your own desires and fulfilling God’s desire was considered ludicrous. Noach was the only one of his own Generation who put himself and his desires aside in order to give honor to God. This is why Noach is called an, “Ish Tsaddik Tamim,” a whole-hearted, righteous man. This is why God chose him to be the sole progenitor of mankind.

(Examples of limiting man's own desires in deference to God's desires is really very simple. God's desires are one and the same with the commandments, the seven noachide laws which are binding upon all of mankind, and the 613 laws commanded to the Jewish people. Let me offer a simple example. If I want to drive to the beach, but it is saturday, then refraining from using the car out of respect for God's law is a way of limiting my own desire and fulfilling God's desire. If I just ate meat, and want to drink milk an hour later, but my religious senseblility keeps me waiting the full six hours required by the Rambam, then again, I am limiting my own desires and giving honor to God.)

However, the progeny of Noach was not connected to the inner light. Noach’s descendants (until Avraham) where just the garments, even though from God’s point of view even the garments contain eternal life. Yet from man’s point of view, man can only acquire something in which he has a deep grasp and tangible understanding.

(On 8 oct. 07 Rav Brandvine Shlit"a discussed how the surrounding light, or as the Sod Yesharim puts it, the "garments," represents a general feeling of sanctity without any deep understanding of the meaning. The inner light is a deep understanding of the meaning.)

This has an Halachic application. The Rosh brings the following scenario. (Baba Metzia, quoted in the hagahaos oshr”i, ch. 2, siman 9) A Jew bought tin from a Gentile supplier to make his roof. He and the supplier both assumed that it was tin. He changed his mind and sold it to a different Jew. After the transaction, the second Jew discovered that it was tin plated silver. Rabbi Eliezar of Mitz said the second Jew was exempt from returning the metal, since the Jew who bought from the Gentile didn’t know, and had no intention in buying the silver. Rabeynu Tam agreed with Rabbi Eliezar of Mitz.

The point is that his acquisition reached only as far as his knowledge of what he was acquiring. He paid him the rate for tin (and not for silver.) This case in the Rosh is based on the mishna in Baba Metzia (second chapter, or in the B.T. on daf 25b), “If he found a treasure in a pile of stones or in an old stone wall, he can keep it. (he has acquired the lost treasure.)” The Gemara explains, “if you bought a house, and then you found a treasure in one of the walls, or in a pile of stones on the property, then you don’t have to return it to the previous owner, because it could have been there for ages. ”

Noach didn’t have a real apprehension in the depths of the covenant because the birrur in the world was not yet complete. (Birrur is the refinement, or the clarification between the significant and the extraneous, between good and evil.) Noach only had an understanding of the garments, the external elements of the world. Still, Noach merited eternal life. The internal aspect of life was apprehended with the covenant that was forged with Avraham. It is an all-encompassing covenant (not only external), and it endures forever. This is as it is said of Avraham (Bereshis, 18:19), “For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, (and they shall keep the way of God, to do justice and judgment …)”

A permanent acquisition was rooted in Avraham whereby he would only be content with something that was eternal and all-encompassing. (Eternal actions are actions that fulfill the desires of the Eternal One.) We see that this is not the case with Noach, for the moment he left the Ark and saw that he had a future (was a “ben olam haba”), the moment he was sure that he would not be decimated by the flood, his mind was put at ease. But this ease and surety actually disturbed him, as we see, “he made wine (and became drunk.).” All of his contentment was in the wine, even though wine is only a temporary enjoyment. Therefore most of his descendants were also given over to temporary enjoyment. Many wicked men came from his descendants, which is something we do not find with the Patriarchs. Even though Yishmael came from Avraham, still, Yishmael is not called, “the seed of Avraham,” but rather a decendant of Noach, for God said to Avraham, “your progeny shall be called through Yitschak.”

We find that Avraham always limited activities that were not, “eternal.” This is why the Zohar in parshas Noach begins with the verse, “and Your people are all righteous, the will always (eternally) inherit the land ...” and follows by commenting, “Fortunate are you, Israel, who study the Torah, and know the ways of the Torah. For this you will inherit the world to come. Why? It is because they guard the covenant.” This distinguishes Israel from the peoples of the earth. Every way in which Israel limits themselves (in avodas Hashem) is an expression of their connection to the source. They are united (devukim) with the Torah, and the Torah is the center column (which unites all of the sefiros). By virtue of Israel’s connection to the source which is all-inclusive, they only delight in matters which are eternal and all-inclusive. Truly, God rewards all the people of the earth for good behavior, as we find in the Talmud, “God does not withhold the earnings of all of his creations.” God is absolutely fair, and does not defraud anything or anyone. Noach, too, rejoiced in his portion.

The creation of the world, and the generations of Adam were like a fruit that only ripened with the coming of Avraham. With Avraham, the time was ripe to forge a deeper covenant with God. (This is a covenant that allows deeper understanding of God's desires as expressed in the Laws of His Torah. The fullfilment of such laws with fear and love allows a man to know God.) Avraham received the reward of all of the generations from Noach until his lifetime, including the reward of Noach. All of Noach’s reward was that Avraham would be born ten generation later among his descendants. In the merit being Avraham’s progenitor, Noach too merited the world to come. (Avraham was Noach’s “future.”) Only because of Avraham, Noach was also “eternal.” However, the light and the understanding was given only to Avraham, so the main acquisition of the inheritance of God and the knowledge of God in the world was exclusively with Avraham. This is why Rabbi Chiya opened parshas Noach by saying, “and Your people are all righteous,” because the covenant that God forged with the Patriarchs includes all of Israel, and in the merit of this covenant, “nothing will be pushed into exile.” (See Shmuel 2, 14:14) and they will forever inherit the land, meaning that the covenant that God formed with the Patriarchs is an eternal covenant, as opposed to a temporary agreement.