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. …..