Likkutei Torah · Parshas Bamidbar · Maamar 11
וספרתם לכם ממחרת השבת וגו׳ תספרו חמשים יום
“And you shall count for yourselves from the morrow of the Shabbos”
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The big idea
The Counting of the Omer spans two kinds of divine flow. “Barley,” brought on Pesach, is a measured flow, the comprehension of G‑d that each soul receives according to its capacity. “Wheat,” brought on Shavuos, is the revelation of G‑d’s very essence, “I, Who I am,” above all understanding. By counting forty-nine days we draw that essence down, step by step, into the “barley,” even into the animal soul, and the fiftieth gate then comes of itself.
The maamar in brief
The maamar asks why the Torah says “fifty days” when only forty-nine are counted, and why we count “two days” rather than “the second day.” It answers through the two grains. Barley, the Omer of Pesach, stands for the flow that feeds the angels of Yechezkel’s Chariot. It comes from Malchus, the hei of the Name, divided like breath into the articulations of the mouth, so each angel stays at its fixed rank, and its love and awe burn openly, out of comprehension. In the soul it is understanding of G‑d’s greatness, “each according to his own measure.” Wheat, the Two Loaves of Shavuos, is a knowing above reason, like a baby’s bond with its father. At Sinai the revelation of “I, Who I am” took Israel beyond every limit of comprehension (“Egypt”), and it stays with us in the Torah and the mitzvos, the twenty-two letters. The Counting draws this essence into the barley, even into the animal soul. The forty-nine gates of Binah, seven attributes each comprising seven, are counted cumulatively as one flow from the fiftieth gate, which comes of itself on Shavuos.
Outline
- Two questions, and the Chariot’s separated wingsWhy “fifty days,” and why “two days” and not “the second day”? The Omer of barley and the Two Loaves of wheat frame the answer. The Chayos’ wings, their love and awe rising upward, are separated by rank, because their life comes from Malchus, the hei, which divides like breath into the articulations of the mouth. Their inner dimension, the palate, drawn from Chochmah, is shared by all of them, and their love and awe burn openly, like the Seraphim and the cows that sang as they carried the Ark.¶1–3
- Barley: the measured flowThe angels’ flow is “barley”: it is their food, it is “the measure of the hei,” which keeps each angel at its rank, and its spelling with a sin suggests trembling. It depends on the Omer offering of all Israel, for the G‑dly soul is “the first of His produce,” and it descends further, to the animal soul. In the soul, barley is comprehension according to each person’s capacity; wheat is a knowing above reason, like a baby calling “Abba.”¶4–5
- Wheat: the revelation of “I, Who I am”Hidden knowledge brings a love beyond comprehension. At Sinai the people’s souls flew out at each utterance, the self-sacrifice that the revelation of G‑d’s essence awakens. “Egypt” is every limit of comprehension and the body’s confinement, and the baal teshuvah breaks out of it. At Sinai they “saw what is heard”; the Torah and the mitzvos come from the Infinite Light itself and are its vessels. The Two Loaves are the twenty-two letters of the Torah, “My bread,” reached by walking beyond one’s present level.¶6–9
- The Counting and the fiftieth gateThe fifty gates of Binah are forty-nine levels, seven attributes each comprising seven, and a fiftieth gate that includes them all, rooted in Keser. Counting draws the revelation of “I” into the barley and into the animal soul. We count cumulatively because every day draws more of the one flow, and counting the forty-nine brings the fiftieth on Shavuos of itself.¶10–11
- Outer and inner lettersBarley is the five articulations of the mouth, wheat the twenty-two letters of the Torah, outer as against inner, as other discourses explain, and this is how the child learns through wheat to call “Abba.”¶12
Key concepts
- Barley (se’orah)שעורה
- The measured divine flow, “the measure of the hei” (Malchus). It nourishes the angels at their fixed ranks, and in the soul it is comprehension of G‑d’s greatness according to each person’s capacity. It is revealed on Pesach.
- Wheat (chitah)חטה
- A knowing above intellect, like a baby’s bond with its father. Its numerical value is twenty-two, the letters of the Torah, through which G‑d’s essence is revealed on Shavuos.
- “I, Who I am” (Anochi)אנכי מי שאנכי
- G‑d’s very essence, which no thought can grasp. It was revealed at the Giving of the Torah and remains enclothed in the Torah and the mitzvos.
- The revealed world (alma de’isgalya)עלמא דאתגליא
- Malchus, the hei of the Name, the level at which G‑dliness shows itself to created beings. It is the source of the angels’ revealed, burning love and awe.
- The fifty gates of Binahנ׳ שערי בינה
- The ways of contemplating G‑d’s greatness: forty-nine, seven attributes each comprising seven, counted in the Omer, and a fiftieth that includes them all and joins them to their Source.
- Mitzrayim, the “strait of the sea”מצרים — מצר ים
- Above, the narrowing of the “sea” of Chochmah to the limits of created comprehension. Below, the confinement of the body. The revelation of “I” brings a person out of both.
- The five points of articulationה׳ מוצאות הפה
- Throat, palate, tongue, teeth and lips, among which the breath of speech is divided. In the same way the “breath of His mouth” divides into the four camps of angels and a fifth, inner level.
Two questions, and the Chariot’s separated wings ¶1–3
1וספרתם לכם12 ממחרת השבת וגו׳ תספרו חמשים יום3. להבין כ״ז וכי חמשים יום סופרים והלא אין סופרים כי אם מ״ט יום4 (וע׳ מזה בתוספות במנחות פרק רבי ישמעאל דס״ה ע״ב).
“And you shall count for yourselves from the morrow of the Shabbos,” etc., “you shall count fifty days.” To understand all this: do we, then, count fifty days? Surely we count only forty-nine days! (And see on this the Tosafos in Menachos, chapter Rabbi Yishmael, folio 65b.)
The maamar opens with the verse that commands the Counting of the Omer from the day after Pesach, which says “you shall count fifty days.” In practice we count only forty-nine days, so the first question is why the Torah speaks of fifty. Tosafos, to which the parenthesis sends the reader, raises this same difficulty.
גם להבין פי׳ הספירה היום יום אחד לעומר היום שני ימים לעומר וכו׳ שהם שבוע אחד וכן שני שבועות וכו׳ וכן כולם.
Also to understand the meaning of the Counting: “Today is one day of the Omer,” “Today is two days of the Omer,” etc., “which are one week,” and likewise “two weeks,” etc., and so with all of them.
A second question concerns the wording of the count. We say “two days,” “three days” and so on, gathering all the days counted so far, and we also add up the weeks.
ולכאורה כך היה ראוי לומר היום יום ראשון לעומר היום יום שני לעומר היום יום שלישי כו׳.
And seemingly, it would have been fitting to say thus: “Today is the first day of the Omer,” “Today is the second day of the Omer,” “Today is the third day,” etc.
One would expect each day to be named as a new step: “the first day,” “the second day,” “the third day.” The maamar will answer this question near its end.
הנה ענין הספירה כי בפסח היו מקריבים העומר משעורים5 שהוא ראשית קצירכם6 בזמן ההוא ושתי הלחם7 מחטים8 בשבועות שהוא זמן בכורי קציר חטים9 ומקציר שעורים עד קציר חטים צריך לספור.
Now, the matter of the Counting is that on Pesach they would offer the Omer from barley, which is “the first of your harvest” at that season, and the Two Loaves from wheat on Shavuos, which is the time of “the first fruits of the wheat harvest”; and from the barley harvest until the wheat harvest one must count.
This is the plain background: on Pesach the Omer offering was brought from barley, the first grain to ripen, and on Shavuos the Two Loaves were brought from wheat, the first of the wheat harvest. The Counting spans the time from the one harvest to the other. The maamar will go on to explain barley and wheat as two kinds of divine flow.
וביאור ענין זה הנה במרכבת יחזקאל כתיב ופניהם וכנפיהם פרודות10 מלמעלה111213 (עיין מזה בזח״ג פנחס דרכ״ט סע״א14 ודף רכ״ג סע״א ובת״ז תיקון נ״ו בתחלתו15 וסוף תיקון16 ה׳ ובעה״ק ח״ד פי״ט).17
And the explanation of this matter: now, in the Chariot of Yechezkel it is written, “And their faces and their wings were separated above.” (See on this in the Zohar, Part III, Pinchas, folio 229, end of side a, and folio 223, end of side a; and in the Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 56, at its beginning, and the end of Tikkun 5; and in Avodas HaKodesh, Part IV, chapter 19.)
To explain this, the Alter Rebbe turns to Yechezkel’s vision of the Divine Chariot, the holy Chayos (living creatures) whose faces and wings were “separated above.” The parenthesis lists places in the Zohar, the Tikkunei Zohar and Avodas HaKodesh that discuss this verse.
פי׳ וכנפיהם עפיפתם והסתלקותם למעלה ליכלל במקורם באהבה ויראה וכדכתיב אחרי ה׳ ילכו כאריה ישאג.18
The meaning of “and their wings” is their flight and their withdrawal upward, to be included in their source, with love and awe, as it is written, “After Havayah they shall walk; like a lion he shall roar.”
The angels’ “wings” stand for their flight upward: their yearning to rise and be absorbed in their source. What carries them upward is love and awe, the two “wings” of all divine service. The verse “like a lion he shall roar” is brought as a picture of this upward drive.
פי׳ כאריה שבמרכבה ששואג והומה קדוש וגו׳ וכל חפצו וכל ישעו להתכלל ולהתבטל במציאות וכן שור גועה כו׳.
That is, “like a lion”: the lion of the Chariot, which roars and cries out, “Holy,” etc., and all its desire and all its salvation is to be included and to be nullified in [its very] existence. And likewise the ox lows, etc.
The lion-face of the Chariot cries out “Holy” because it longs to be absorbed and to lose its very existence in its source. The ox’s lowing expresses the same longing.
ועד״ז נאמר וישרנה הפרות19 כו׳ הלך וגעו (בש״א סי׳ ו׳ ב׳), הוא פני שור שבמרכבה
And along these lines it is said, “And the cows went straight,” etc., “lowing as they went” (in I Samuel, chapter 6, 2): this is the face of the ox in the Chariot.
When the Philistines sent the Ark back to Israel, the cows that pulled the cart went straight along the road, lowing as they went. Their lowing is linked here to the ox-face of the Chariot. (The Kehot note gives the verse as I Samuel 6:12.)
הנה בחי׳ זו של כנפיהם הם פרודות מלמעלה כל אחד ואחד לפי מדרגתו שמדרגת האחד מובדלת ומופרדת מחבירו וכדכתיב פני אריה אל הימין20 באהבה הוא מחנה מיכאל.21
Now, this level of “their wings” is “separated above,” each and every one according to its rank, for the rank of one is distinct and separate from its fellow, as it is written, “the face of a lion on the right”: with love; this is the camp of Michael.
These wings are “separated”: each angel rises according to its own fixed rank, kept distinct from every other. The face of the lion, on the right, is love; it is the camp of the archangel Michael.
The paragraph asks two questions about the Counting of the Omer: why the Torah says “fifty days,” and why we count by adding up the days. It begins the answer with Yechezkel’s Chariot, whose angels rise upward in love and awe (their “wings”), each separately, according to its rank.
According to the passages that the Kehot notes quote from Or HaTorah, the Zohar (Pinchas) draws the four faces from the four letters of Havayah and the four wings from the four letters of Ado-nai. Avodas HaKodesh explains “separated” as separated from the World of Atzilus, like the river that “from there divided and became four heads,” and it explains a “wing” (kanaf) as a covering. The end of Tikkun 5 calls the wings the letters, spread out to receive the vowel points.
Marei mekomos
- 1וספרתם לכם · משנת תקס״ד — ראה רשימת המאמרים שם ע׳ שמט הערה 59. הנחת כ״ק אדמו״ר האמצעי ממאמר זה נדפס בסידור שז, ג. הגהות באוה״ת במדבר ע׳ רי. כרך-ו ע׳ א׳תשכ. וראה אוה״ת אמור-ג ע׳ תתעב. תוספת ביאור שם ע׳ תתעג. המאמר באריכות מכ״ק אדה״א הוא ד״ה להבין ענין ספירה ומ״ת במאמרי אדה״א — כרך שבועות ע׳ שצו. כמה ענינים מהמאמר נתבארו בביאה״ז להצ״צ-א ע׳ שפא ואילך. ד״ה זה מובא כמה פעמים בדרושי הצ״צ בשם ”וספרתם לכם דגבי שבועות”.
- 2וספרתם לכם · Leviticus 23:15
- 3
- 4וכי חמשים יום סופרים והלא אין סופרים כי אם מ״ט יום · Tosafot on Menachot 65b:2:1
- 5העומר משעורים · Menachot 68b:2–4
- 6ראשית קצירכם · Leviticus 23:10
- 7ושתי הלחם · Leviticus 23:17
- 8ושתי הלחם מחטים · שם כג, יז.
- 9בכורי קציר חטים · Exodus 34:22
- 10ופניהם וכנפיהם פרודות · Ezekiel 1:11
- 11ופניהם וכנפיהם פרודות מלמעלה · Zohar, Pinchas 49:303–51:314
- 12ופניהם וכנפיהם פרודות מלמעלה · Zohar, Pinchas 32:178–35:188
- 13ופניהם וכנפיהם פרודות מלמעלה · Tikkunei Zohar 89b:5
- 14בזח״ג פנחס דרכ״ט סע״א · ”משמע ד׳ פנים נמשכים מד׳ אותיות הוי׳ וד׳ כנפים מד׳ אותיות אד׳” — אוה״ת נ״ך-א ע׳ שצג.
- 15ובת״ז תיקון נ״ו בתחלתו · ”ענפין דאילנא מתפרשין כו׳ וכנפיהם פרודות כו׳” — אוה״ת נ״ך-א ע׳ שצג.
- 16וסוף תיקון ה׳ · ”שהכנפים הם האותיות והם פרושות לקבל עליהם הנקודות” — אוה״ת נ״ך כרך א ע׳ שצג.
- 17ובעבה״ק ח״ד פי״ט · ”פי׳ פרודות שנפרדים מעולם האצי׳ וזהו ע״ד ומשם יפרד והי׳ לד׳ ראשים כו׳ ושם פי׳ כנף כסוי כנף אביו כסותא” — אוה״ת נ״ך-א ע׳ שצג.
- 18אחרי ה׳ ילכו כארי׳ ישאג · Hosea 11:10
- 19
- 20פני אריה אל הימין · Ezekiel 1:10
- 21בתו׳ מנחות סה, ב · ד״ה כתוב אחד. — ”ואם תאמר והלא לא ספרינן אלא מ״ט יום, וי״ל שלא צוה הכתוב לספור חמשים, דהכי אמר קרא עד ממחרת השבת השביעית שהוא יום חמשים תספרו, אי נמי חמשים יום תספרו אוהקרבתם דבתרי׳ קאי והכי קאמר עד ממחרת השבת השביעית תספרו ולא עד בכלל נ׳ יום והקרבתם מנחה חדשה” עכ״ל התוס׳. ובגיליון הגמרא שם מציין לעיין ברא״ש פסחים סוף פרק ערבי פסחים סימן מ׳ מ״ש על תירוצים הללו ותירץ באופן אחר.
And “the face of an ox,” the camp of Gavriel, [is] “on the left,” with awe. And “the face of an eagle” is an intermediate attribute, the level of compassion: “As an eagle stirs up its nest,” etc.
The ox-face, on the left, is awe; it is the camp of the archangel Gavriel. The eagle stands between the two as compassion, like the eagle in Moshe’s song that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young.
ועל זה נאמר ואשא אתכם על כנפי נשרים2 וגו׳ כי מחמת שהיו ישראל במצרים בחומר ובלבנים34 בגשמיות לא היו ראוים לזכות להמעלה הגדולה ויתירה שזכו במתן תורה פנים בפנים דבר5 ה׳ וגו׳
And of this it is said, “And I bore you on eagles’ wings,” etc. For since Israel had been in Egypt, in mortar and in bricks, in physicality, they were not fit to merit the great and surpassing distinction that they merited at the Giving of the Torah, “Face to face Havayah spoke,” etc.,
G‑d tells Israel at Sinai, “I bore you on eagles’ wings.” Sunk in the physical labor of Egypt, they were not fit by their own merit for the revelation at the Giving of the Torah, when G‑d spoke to them “face to face.”
כ״א ע״י בחי׳ רחמנות שהם כנפי נשרים שעי״ז ואביא אתכם אלי (ועמ״ש בפ׳ בלק סד״ה מי מנה עפר יעקב).
except through the level of compassion, which is “eagles’ wings,” through which “I brought you to Me.” (And see what is written in Parshas Balak, at the end of the discourse beginning “Who has counted the dust of Yaakov.”)
They reached it only through compassion, the “eagles’ wings,” by which G‑d brought them to Himself. The parenthesis refers to a discourse in Likkutei Torah, Balak.
והטעם שכנפיהם פרודות הוא מפני שכל שפעם וחיותם הוא מבחי׳ מל׳ ית׳ וכדכתיב מלכותך מכ״ע6 המרומז באות ה׳ משמו ית׳
And the reason that their wings are “separated” is that all their flow and their life-force is from the level of His Malchus (sovereignty), may He be blessed, as it is written, “Your kingship is a kingship of all worlds,” which is alluded to in the letter hei of His Name, may He be blessed,
Now comes the reason the angels’ levels are separate. Their life-force comes from G‑d’s Malchus, His kingship, “a kingship of all worlds.” Malchus is alluded to in the final hei of the Name Havayah.
and as it is written, “When they were created” (behibar’am): “with [the letter] hei He created them.” This is the level of “the breath of His mouth,” may He be blessed, for “by the breath of His mouth all their host” [were made]: like, by way of analogy, the breath that comes out of the mouth,
The Sages read the word behibar’am (“when they were created”) as “with a hei He created them”: creation came about through the letter hei, that is, through Malchus. This is divine speech, called “the breath of His mouth,” like the breath that carries a person’s words.
וכמאמר באתא קלילא11 דלית ביה מששא וה׳ זו הוא בחי׳ ה׳ מוצאות הפה דהיינו כמו שהבל הדיבור מתחלק לה׳
and as the saying goes, “with a light letter, in which there is no substance.” And this hei is the level of the five points of articulation of the mouth; that is, just as the breath of speech divides into five
The hei is called “a light letter, in which there is no substance,” because it is pronounced with breath alone. Its numerical value, five, also points to the five places of articulation in the mouth (the throat, the palate, the tongue, the teeth and the lips), among which the breath of speech is divided.
מוצאות עד״מ כך בחי׳ רוח פיו ית׳ מתחלק להיות מדרגות חלוקות ומובדלות זו מזו ד׳ מחנות שכינה מחנה מיכאל פני אריה כו׳ כנגד12 ד׳ מוצאות.13
points of articulation, by way of analogy, so the level of “the breath of His mouth,” may He be blessed, divides to become levels that are divided and distinct from one another: the four camps of the Shechinah (Divine Presence), the camp of Michael, “the face of a lion,” etc., corresponding to four points of articulation.
In the same way, the divine “breath” is divided into separate, distinct levels: the four camps of the Shechinah, led by Michael and the others, which correspond to four of the five points of articulation. The fifth is explained in the next paragraph.
The paragraph completes the faces of the Chariot (the ox, awe; the eagle, compassion, which carried Israel to Sinai) and gives the reason the angels’ levels are separate. Their life comes from Malchus, the hei of the Name, “the breath of His mouth,” which divides, as breath divides into the five articulations, into four distinct camps.
The Gemara in Menachos derives from behibar’am that this world was created with the letter hei. The phrase “with a light letter” comes from the opening of the Aramaic hymn Akdamus, as the Kehot note points out, and Or HaTorah explains it there.
Marei mekomos
- 1ופני שור · Ezekiel 1:10
- 2ואשא אתכם על כנפי נשרים · Exodus 19:4
- 3בחומר ובלבנים · שם א, יד.
- 4בחומר ובלבנים · Exodus 1:14
- 5פנים בפנים דבר ה׳ · Deuteronomy 5:4
- 6מלכותך מכ״ע · Psalms 145:13
- 7בהבראם · Genesis 2:4
- 8בה׳ בראם · Menachot 29b
- 9וברוח פיו כל צבאם · Psalms 33:6
- 10כמו עד״מ הבל היוצא מן הפה · ראה המשך בששה״ק תער״ב ח״ב ע׳ א׳כג. סו״ס דרמ״צ קצט, ב (בשולי העמוד).
- 11באתא קלילא · ריש אקדמות. נתבאר באוה״ת ויקרא-ג ע׳ תתנב.
- 12כנגד . . ד׳ מוצאות . . בחי׳ גיכ״ק · ראה סה״מ — תרס״ו ע׳ יב.
- 13כנשר יאיר קנו · Deuteronomy 32:11
3ומוצא הה׳ הוא בחי׳ גיכ״ק מוצא החיך בחי׳ עושה שלום במרומיו1 כי מיכאל שר של מים2 וגבריאל שר של אש ואין המים מכבים3 כו׳
And the fifth point of articulation is the level of [the letters] gimmel, yud, kaf, kuf, the articulation of the palate, the level of “He makes peace in His heights”: for Michael is the prince of water and Gavriel the prince of fire, and the water does not extinguish, etc.,
The fifth point of articulation, the palate (the letters gimmel, yud, kaf, kuf), corresponds to the level of which it is said, “He makes peace in His heights.” Michael is the prince of water (kindness) and Gavriel the prince of fire (severity), yet the water does not put out the fire.
מפני השפעה הכללית שבהם ממקור חוצבם אשר לבחינה זו כולם כאחד עונים באימה ואומרים קדוש4 כו׳.
because of the general flow in them from the source from which they were hewn, so that at this level all of them as one respond with awe and say, “Holy,” etc.
They live together because a general, encompassing flow comes to all of them from the one source from which they were hewn. At that level they are all one, and they answer “Holy” together, in the words of the morning blessing Yotzer.
וזהו בוערות כמראה הלפידים5 היא מתהלכת בין החיות כו׳ פי׳ היא מתהלכ׳ ה׳ מתהלכ׳ דהיינו לפי שנמשך בהם השפעת בחי׳ הה׳ לפיכך בוערים ואומרים קדוש.
And this is [the meaning of] “burning like the appearance of torches; it moves about among the Chayos,” etc. The meaning is: “it (hi) moves about”: the hei moves about. That is, because the flow of the level of the hei is drawn into them, therefore they burn and say, “Holy.”
Yechezkel says that the fire “moves about among the Chayos.” The Alter Rebbe plays on the word hi (“it”), reading it as the letter hei: because the flow of the hei, Malchus, moves among the Chayos, they burn and cry “Holy.”
(וז״ל הזהר בראשית דמ״א ע״ב היא מתהלכת מאן היא דא רוחא קדישא אתר דנפקו מינה ואיהי נהיר לון והיינו בחי׳ מלכות שהיא בחי׳ ה׳ דשם הוי׳
(And these are the words of the Zohar, Bereishis, folio 41b: “‘It moves about’: who is ‘it’? This is the holy spirit (rucha kadisha), the place from which they came forth, and it shines for them.” And this is the level of Malchus (sovereignty), which is the level of the hei of the Name Havayah.
The Zohar asks who “it” is and answers: the holy spirit, the place from which the Chayos came forth and which shines for them. The Alter Rebbe identifies this with Malchus, the final hei of the Name Havayah.
אך פי׳ רוחא קדישא היינו כדאיתא בפרדס ערך רוח שהמל׳ נקרא רוח הקדש כשמקבלת מחכמה שהיא נק׳ קדש ולכן בחי׳ זו היא גיכ״ק מוצא החיך שהוא נמשך מבחי׳ חכמה כמבואר בסמוך),
But the meaning of “holy spirit” is as is found in the Pardes, under the entry “Ruach,” that Malchus is called ruach hakodesh (the holy spirit) when it receives from Chochmah (wisdom), which is called kodesh (holy); and therefore this level is [that of] gimmel, yud, kaf, kuf, the articulation of the palate, which is drawn from the level of Chochmah, as is explained shortly.)
Following the Pardes, Malchus is called “the holy spirit” when it receives from Chochmah, which is called kodesh (“holy”). That is why this level is the palate, which draws from Chochmah, as the next lines explain.
והמשכה והשפעה זו נרמזת במלת ופניהם שיש עליו טעם זקף גדול6 שהוא הפסק מאמר להפסיק בין ופניהם לוכנפיהם כמ״ש רש״י לומר שפניהם פי׳ פנימיותם אינם פרודות
And this drawing down and flow is alluded to in the word “ufneihem” (and their faces), which bears the cantillation mark zakef gadol, which is a break in the statement, to separate “and their faces” from “and their wings,” as Rashi writes; that is to say, that their faces, meaning their inner dimension (pnimiyus), are not separated
In this verse the word “ufneihem” (“and their faces”) bears the cantillation mark zakef gadol, which sets it apart from “and their wings,” as Rashi points out. The Alter Rebbe reads this to say that their faces, their inner dimension, are not separated.
as their wings are; for their inner dimension is the level of gimmel, yud, kaf, kuf, the articulation of the palate, for it is written, “His palate is sweetness,” for there is the level of the sweetness and the tastes (te’amim),
The angels’ inner dimension corresponds to the palate, of which it is said, “His palate is sweetness.” The palate is the place of sweetness and taste.
כי חיך אוכל יטעם9 שהוא בחי׳ חכמה כו׳, ולפי שהשפעת אהבה ויראה הנמשך להם להיות כגחלי אש בוערות10 ולומר קדוש וברוך וימלוך כו׳
for “the palate tastes food,” which is the level of Chochmah, etc. And since the flow of love and awe that is drawn down to them, to be “like burning coals of fire” and to say “Holy” and “Blessed” and “He shall reign,” etc.,
“The palate tastes food”: tasting is the level of Chochmah. The sentence goes on to the source of the angels’ love and awe, which makes them like burning coals and moves them to the praises “Holy,” “Blessed” and “He shall reign.”
הוא מבחי׳ ה׳ זו שהוא עלמא דאתגליא דהיינו מחמת השגתם באור א״ס ב״ה הנמשך בעלמא דאתגליא ושהוא ממכ״ע וסוכ״ע כו׳.
is from the level of this hei, which is the revealed world (alma de’isgalya), that is, by virtue of their comprehension of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He, that is drawn into the revealed world, and that it is the light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin) and the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), etc.,
This love and awe come from the hei, called the “revealed world” (alma de’isgalya), the level where G‑dliness shows itself to created beings. The angels grasp the Infinite Light that is drawn into this level: how it fills all worlds and encompasses all worlds.
ולכן גם אהבתם ויראתם הוא בהתגלות ובתשוקה מורגשת. וכמ״ש מראיהם כגחלי אש בוערות1112 כו׳ כלומר כגחלי אש אשר האש עודנה קשורה בגחלת ומתלהטת בו.
therefore their love and awe, too, are in a revealed way and with a felt yearning. As it is written, “Their appearance is like burning coals of fire,” etc.; that is to say, like coals of fire in which the fire is still bound to the coal and blazes in it.
Because their love and awe come from comprehension, they are revealed and felt, a conscious longing. They are like burning coals, in which the fire still clings to the coal and blazes in it, kept alight by what feeds it.
(ועיין מזה ברבות בהעלותך פט״ו דרס״ג ע״ד13 ובשה״ש רבה14 ר״פ צאינה וראינה ובזהר ח״ג פ׳ צו ד׳15 א׳ ב׳ ובת״ז ד״ג סע״ב ד׳ ב׳ ועמ״ש מענין אש בד״ה בפ׳ נסכים)16
(And see on this in the Rabbos, Behaalosecha, chapter 15, folio 263, column d; and in Shir HaShirim Rabbah, at the beginning of [the section] “Go forth and gaze”; and in the Zohar, Part III, Parshas Tzav, folio 4, sides a and b; and in the Tikkunei Zohar, folio 3, end of side b, [and folio] 4b; and see what is written on the subject of fire in the discourse in the passage on the libations.)
The parenthesis gathers parallel sources: the Midrash on the Chayos’ appearance like coals of fire, the teaching that fire and snow above do not extinguish each other, the Zohar and the Tikkunei Zohar on this verse, and a discourse in Likkutei Torah on the theme of fire. (The folio printed for the Zohar cannot be right, since Parshas Tzav begins at folio 27; the Kehot note gives it as Part III, Parshas Tzav, folio 31b.)
וזהו ענין שרפים עומדים ממעל לו17 פי׳ ממעל כלומר במקום פתוח לרוחה דהיינו בגילוי עוז ותעצומות האהבה וכן בפרות שנשאו את הארון בימי דוד18 כתי׳ וישרנה הפרות192021 כו׳
And this is the matter of “Seraphim stand above Him”: the meaning of “above” is, that is to say, in a place wide open; that is, with the revelation of the might and the intensity of the love. And so too of the cows that carried the Ark in the days of David it is written, “And the cows went straight,” etc.,
Isaiah saw “Seraphim standing above Him.” The Alter Rebbe reads “above” as a wide-open place: the might of their love shows itself openly. The cows that carried the Ark are a similar case.
הלוך וגעו22 מפני שנשאו23 את הארון שהוא בחי׳ עלמא דאתגליא נשפע עליהם שפע אלקי להיות משוררות וגועות וכו׳
“lowing as they went”: because they carried the Ark, which is the level of the revealed world, a G‑dly flow was bestowed upon them, so that they sang and lowed, etc.
Because the cows carried the Ark, which stands for the revealed world, a G‑dly flow came upon them, and their lowing became song. According to the Kehot note, the Sages identify the song they sang.
(עיין ברבות וירא ס״פ נ״ד ובפרק אין מעמידין דכ״ד ב׳24 ובזח״א פ׳ חיי שרה דקכ״ג ובפ׳ תרומה דקל״ח25 א׳):262728
(See in the Rabbos, Vayera, end of chapter 54; and in chapter Ein Ma’amidin, folio 24b; and in the Zohar, Part I, Parshas Chayei Sarah, folio 123; and in Parshas Terumah, folio 138a.)
The Midrash and the Talmud discuss what song the cows sang. According to the Kehot note, the Zohar compares the cows carrying the Ark to the Chayos that carry the Divine Throne.
The fifth articulation, the palate, is the inner dimension shared by all the Chayos, drawn from Chochmah, where Michael and Gavriel are at peace. From this hei, the revealed world, the angels receive a revealed, burning love and awe, which shows itself in the Seraphim and even in the cows that sang as they carried the Ark.
Iggeres HaKodesh 12 explains “He makes peace in His heights” in the same way: Michael (kindness, water) and Gavriel (severity, fire) are opposites, but a great light from the Infinite One, higher than all the attributes, includes them in their source and they become one. Likkutei Torah, Shelach (on the libations) explains that the Seraphim come from the divine element of fire and therefore burn continually. On the cows and David, the Kehot note observes that the episode took place before Saul’s reign; by the chronology of the verses David was then seventeen, and some of the Sages say the cows sang “Give thanks to Havayah,” the song David later commanded to be sung before the Ark.
Marei mekomos
- 1עושה שלום במרומיו · Job 25:2
- 2מיכאל שר של מים · שהש״ר ג, ד״ה צאינה וראינה. השמטות לזח״א רסג, א. ע׳ באגה״ק שלו (רס״י יב). ועל״ק ואתחנן (ח, א). שהש״ר פ׳ צאינה מיכאל שר של שלג, גבריאל שר של אש. תנחומא ויגש סי׳ ו מיכאל מן המים וגבריאל מן האש והן עומדין לפני השכינה כו׳ — אר״ש כל הרקיע של מים והמלאכים של אש ומשרתיו אש לוהט ואין המים מכבין את האש וכו׳, ואפשר ע״ז כוונתו הק׳ מ״ש כאן. [כ].
- 3מיכאל שר של מים וגבריאל שר של אש ואין המים מכבים · Shir HaShirim Rabbah 3:11:1
- 4עונים באימה ואומרים קדוש · ברכת יוצר.
- 5כמראה הלפידים · Ezekiel 1:13
- 6ופניהם שיש עליו טעם זקף גדול · Rashi on Ezekiel 1:11
- 7חכו ממתקים · Ezekiel 1:13
- 8חכו ממתקים · Song of Songs 5:16
- 9חיך אוכל יטעם · Job 12:11
- 10כגחלי אש בוערות · Ezekiel 1:13
- 11מראיהם כגחלי אש בוערות · Bamidbar Rabbah 15:7
- 12מראיהם כגחלי אש בוערות · Tikkunei Zohar 4b:7
- 13ועיין מזה ברבות בהעלותך פט״ו דרס״ג ע״ד · ”א״ר ברכי׳ הכהן בי רבי: הברק הזה תולדות האש שלמעלן הוא, והוא יוצא ומבהיק את כל העולם כולו, שנאמר ודמות החיות מראיהם כגחלי אש כו׳ ומן האש יוצא ברק ומבהיק את כל כל העולם כולו, ואני צריך לאורה שלכם ולמה אמרתי לך כדי להעלותך עכ״ל” — אוה״ת נ״ך-א ע׳ שצג.
- 14ובשה״ש רבה ע״פ צאינה וראינה · ”תני רשב״י הרקיע של שלג כו׳ שנאמר רקיע כעין הקרח הנורא החיות של אש שנאמר ודמות החיות מראיהן כגחלי אש כו׳ ולא זה מכבה זה כו׳” — אוה״ת נ״ך-א ע׳ שצד.
- 15ובזהר ח״ג פ׳ צו ד׳ ל״א ב׳ ובת״ז ד״ג סע״ב ד׳ ב׳ · ”ודמות החיות מראיהם כגחלי אש, בנקודי אורייתא דעלייהו אתמר, ודמות החיות מראיהם כגחלי אש, אלין אינון נקודין בוערות כמראה הלפידים אלין אינון טעמי כו׳ ושכינתא כלילא מכולהו עלה אתמר היא מתהלכת בין החיות עכ״ל” — אוה״ת נ״ך-א ע׳ שצד. ושם ע׳ שצג ”בת״ז שם פי׳ החיות שרשם מחכ׳ והחכמה תחי׳ והם חיות האותיות והם הנקודות כו׳”.
- 16ועמ״ש מענין אש בד״ה בפ׳ נסכים · לקמן פ׳ שלח מ, ב.
- 17שרפים עומדים ממעל לו · Isaiah 6:2
- 18בפרות שנשאו את הארון בימי דוד · I Samuel 7:2
- 19וישרנה הפרות · I Samuel 6:12
- 20וישרנה הפרות · Zohar, Chayei Sara 5:23–6:28
- 21וישרנה הפרות · Zohar, Terumah 20:211–22:219
- 22וישרנה הפרות כו׳ הלוך וגעו · Bereshit Rabbah 54:4
- 23מפני שנשאו הארון שהוא בחי׳ עלמא דאתגליא · בסה״מ תרכ״ו שם ע׳ סז שיכלו לומר שירה היינו מצד שהוליכו הארון שהוא בחי׳ תורה קו האמצעי המבריח מן הקצה אל הקצה לכן יכלו לומר שירה, ע״ש. וראה יהל אור ע׳ שנד.
- 24ברבות וירא ס״פ נ״ד . . ובפרק אין מעמידין דכ״ד ב׳ · ”שהשירה שאמרו הוא אז ישיר משה ובנ״י את השירה הזאת, ובמד״ר למדו זה מג״ש שנא׳ בשירה זו כי גאה גאה ונאמר בפרות הלוך וגעו, שאותיות אחה״ע מתחלפין כנודע” — ד״ה וישרנה הפרות תרכ״ו ע׳ סג. ראה אוה״ת סידור ע׳ יא ע״ש ובסה״מ תרכ״ז ע׳ מז. סה״מ תר״ל ע׳ קיח ואילך. סה״מ תרל״ה-א ע׳ קע.
- 25ובזח״א פ׳ חיי שרה דקכ״ג ובפ׳ תרומה דקל״ח ע״א · דשם פי׳ שזהו דוגמת חיות הנושאות את הכסא. — אוה״ת בשלח ע׳ תקו. וראה סידור עם דא״ח לאדה״א דף קפו, א. ובבאה״ז לאדה״א דף יג, ב. לשון הזהר נעתק באוה״ת מטות ע׳ א׳רסט, ע״ש.
- 26כנגד . . ד׳ מוצאות . . בחי׳ גיכ״ק · ראה סה״מ — תרס״ו ע׳ יב.
- 27
- 28
Barley: the measured flow ¶4–5
4ב והנה השפעה והמשכה זו שנמשכת במלאכים להיות אריה שואג ושור גועה ולהיות בוערים כו׳ ועונים ואומרים קדוש כו׳
2. Now, this flow and drawing down that is drawn into the angels, so that the lion roars and the ox lows, and so that they burn, etc., and respond and say “Holy,” etc.,
The second section begins by giving a name to the divine flow described so far: the flow into the angels that makes the lion roar and the ox low, sets them burning, and moves them to answer “Holy.”
נקרא בשם שעורה כי שעורה הוא מאכל בהמה1 פי׳ מאכל והשפעת המלאכים הנקראים בשם בהמות וחיות פני אריה פני שור כו׳
is called by the name se’orah (barley), for barley is the food of animals; that is, the food and the flow of the angels, who are called by the names “beasts” and “living creatures” (chayos): the face of a lion, the face of an ox, etc.
This flow is called “barley,” because barley is food for animals (the Talmud speaks of barley as feed for horses and donkeys). The angels are called “beasts” and “living creatures,” since the faces of the Chariot are a lion, an ox and so on, so the flow that nourishes them is their “barley.”
ונקרא שעורה על שם שעור ה׳ פי׳ שיעור2 ומדה הנמשך מבחי׳ הה׳ (ועמ״ש בענין בה״א נברא העוה״ז בד״ה ראו כי3 ה׳ נתן לכם השבת)
And it is called se’orah after shi’ur hei (the measure of the hei): that is, the measure and limit that is drawn from the level of the hei. (And see what is written on the subject of “this world was created with the hei” in the discourse beginning “See, for Havayah has given you the Shabbos.”)
A second reason for the name: the word se’orah can be divided into shi’ur (measure) and hei. It is the measured flow of the hei, Malchus. The parenthesis refers to the discourse in Likkutei Torah, Beshalach, that discusses how this world was created with the letter hei.
והיינו בחינת היא מתהלכת בין החיות להיות בוערים ולהיות מראיהם כגחלי אש ונמשך בשיעור ומדה להתחלק לד׳ מחנות השכינה לכל אחד במדרגתו ולהיות מדרגת האחד מובדל ומופרד מחבירו
This is the level of “it moves about among the Chayos,” so that they burn and so that “their appearance is like coals of fire”; and it is drawn down in measure and limit, to be divided into the four camps of the Shechinah (Divine Presence), to each one at its rank, so that the rank of one is distinct and separate from its fellow.
This measured flow is what “moves about among the Chayos” and sets them aflame. Because it comes in measure, it divides into the four camps, each kept at its own rank, and this is why the angels’ wings are “separated.”
וכן מדרגת כל אחד ואחד היא נקצבת במדה שנמדד לו מששת ימי בראשית שלכן נקראו המלאכים עומדים4 שעומדים כל ימיהם במדרגה אחת בלי שום גירעון ותוספת ובלי שום שינוי.
And likewise, the rank of each and every one is fixed in the measure that was measured out to it from the six days of Creation; that is why the angels are called “standing ones,” for all their days they stand at one rank, without any decrease or addition and without any change.
Each angel’s rank was fixed at Creation and never rises or falls. That is why the prophet Zechariah calls the angels “these who stand,” while the person to whom he speaks is given “places to walk” among them.
ושעורה בשין שמאלית כתיב מלשון וסביביו נשערה מאד5 וקדמונים אחזו שער6 (איוב י״ח כ׳) ודומיהם שהוא ענין רעדה כי וגבורתך ידברו7 וזעים וחלים מחיל כסא וכו׳
And se’orah is written with a left-dotted shin, from the expression “and round about Him it storms (nis’arah) greatly” and “and those who came before were seized with horror (sa’ar)” (Job 18:20), and the like, which is the idea of trembling; for “they speak of Your might,” and “they quake and tremble from the dread of the Throne,” etc.
The word se’orah is spelled with a sin, which links it to words for storm and shuddering in Psalms and Job. The angels’ service is one of trembling and awe: they “speak of Your might” and quake before the Divine Throne.
(ועמ״ש עוד מענין שער בשמאל ושער רישיה8 ושער בימין זה השער9 בפ׳ שלח בפ׳ ציצית ע״פ אני10 כו׳, ומזה יובן גם כאן שאח״כ בימי ספירת העומר ממשיכים מ״ט שערי בינה11 הוא שער בימין בחינת חסדים כו׳).
(And see further what is written on the subject of se’ar with the left [dot], “and the hair (se’ar) of His head,” and sha’ar with the right [dot], “this is the gate (sha’ar),” in Parshas Shelach, on the passage of tzitzis, on the verse “I…,” etc. From this it will be understood here too that afterward, in the days of the Counting of the Omer, we draw down the forty-nine gates (sha’arei) of Binah (understanding), which is sha’ar with the right [dot], the level of chasadim (kindnesses), etc.)
The parenthesis contrasts se’ar (“hair”), spelled with a sin, on the left, with sha’ar (“gate”), spelled with a shin, on the right, and refers to a discourse in Likkutei Torah, Shelach. It follows that the forty-nine gates of Binah drawn down during the Counting are a “gate on the right,” a flow of kindness, unlike the trembling “barley” of the angels.
והנה השפעת והמשכת בחינת שעורה הנ״ל במלאכים תלויה בעבודת ישראל למטה שבזמן שבית המקדש היה קיים היו מקריבים עומר השעורים והניף הכהן את העומר12 ובאתערותא דלתתא
Now, the flow and drawing down of the level of barley mentioned above into the angels depends on the service of Israel below. For when the Holy Temple stood, they would offer the Omer of barley, and the kohen would wave the Omer; and through the arousal from below
The angels’ “barley” depends on what Israel does below. In Temple times this was done through the Omer: the barley offering that the kohen waved before G‑d.
אתעדל״ע הוא חסד עליון שע״י הארת בחינת חסד עליון מלמעלה מאור א״ס ב״ה נעשה העלאת בחי׳ עומר היא בחינת עלמא דאתגליא ומקטיר הקומץ13 באש של14 מעלה כו׳,
[there comes] an arousal from above, which is the supernal Chesed (kindness): through the illumination of the level of the supernal Chesed from above, from the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He, there comes about the elevation of the level of the Omer, which is the level of the revealed world, and he burns the handful in the fire from on high, etc.;
In the Zohar’s words, an arousal from below brings an arousal from above. Here this is the supernal Chesed from the Infinite Light, which lifts the Omer up. The kohen then burned a handful of it on the altar, where it was consumed by the fire that came down from heaven.
ועי״ז נשפע בחי׳ השעורה להיות מאכל בהמה במלאכים שיהיה להם בחינת בוערים כמראה הלפידים ולהיות שואגים קדוש וברוך וימלוך כו׳.
and through this the level of barley flows down to be the food of animals for the angels, so that they will have the quality of “burning like the appearance of torches,” and so that they roar “Holy” and “Blessed” and “He shall reign,” etc.
Through this offering, “barley” flows to the angels as their food. It gives them their burning, like torches, and their praises of “Holy,” “Blessed” and “He shall reign.”
Therefore the Omer came from the terumas halishkah (the contribution to the Temple chamber), in which all Israel had a share, so that this flow would come through all Israel.
For this reason the Omer was bought with the funds of the Temple chamber, which came from the contributions of the whole people. Every Jew had a share in it, so the flow to the angels came through all Israel.
כי קדש ישראל17 לה׳ ראשית תבואתה (בירמיה סימן ב׳ ג׳) ופירש״י ות״י שם קדש היינו תרומה ראשית תבואתה זהו העומר18 והיינו
For “Israel is holy to Havayah, the first of His produce” (in Yirmiyahu, chapter 2, 3); and Rashi and the Targum Yonasan explain there: “holy” means terumah; “the first of His produce” is the Omer. And this is
Yirmiyahu calls Israel “holy to Havayah, the first of His produce,” and Rashi and the Targum explain it in terms of the terumah and the Omer. Israel themselves, then, are like the terumah and the Omer.
כי עצם נפש האלקית היא בחינת תרומה (כמ״ש ברבות פ׳ בראשית ר״פ י״ד ע״פ וייצר19 כו׳)
because the very essence of the G‑dly soul is the level of terumah (as is written in the Rabbos, Parshas Bereishis, at the beginning of chapter 14, on the verse “And He formed,” etc.),
The very essence of the G‑dly soul is like terumah, the holy portion set apart from the produce. The Midrash on “And He formed [man]” calls the first man the challah of the world, and challah is called terumah.
וגם כי תרומה גדולה ניטלת באומד ובמחשבה20 כמ״ש במשנה פ״ק דתרומות מ״ז ובגמרא פ״ק דגיטין (דל״א א׳) והוא ענין נשמות עלה במחשבה,2122
and also because the great terumah is taken by estimate and by thought, as is stated in the Mishnah, chapter 1 of Terumos, mishnah 7, and in the Gemara, chapter 1 of Gittin (folio 31a); and this is the idea that “the souls arose in thought.”
The great terumah may be set apart by estimate, and even by thought alone. This matches the souls, which “arose in thought” before the world was created.
אך יש בה ג״כ מבחינת ראשית תבואתה עומר שעורים מאכל בהמה ע״ד מ״ש אדם ובהמה תושיע2324 הוי׳ ופי׳ בגמרא פ״ק דחולין (דף ה׳ ע״ב)
But there is in it also [something] of the level of “the first of His produce,” the Omer of barley, the food of animals, in the manner of what is written, “Man and beast You save, Havayah,” which the Gemara, in chapter 1 of Chullin (folio 5b), explains:
The soul also has a second side, like the barley Omer, food for animals. The verse “Man and beast You save” hints at this, as the Gemara in Chullin explains.
שמשימים את עצמם כבהמה דכאי רוח ועוד כמ״ש לקמן דבתחלה נמשך הנפש מבחינת אופנים מסטרא דבעירו דכיא כו׳ ולזאת
that they make themselves like a beast, crushed in spirit. And further, as is written below, at first the soul is drawn from the level of the Ofanim, “from the side of the pure animal,” etc. And therefore
The Gemara explains that these are people wise in knowledge who make themselves like a beast, humble and crushed in spirit. Further, as the maamar will explain below, the soul is first drawn from the Ofanim, a class of angels, from “the side of the pure animal.”
הנה בחי׳ נפש האלהי׳ שבישראל הוא בחינת ראשית ההמשכה שעל ידה נמשך בחינת התבואה והשעורים הנ״ל לעולם המלאכים בתוספת אור וגילוי זיו המתחדש מדי שנה בכל פסח כמארז״ל בפסח על התבואה2526
the level of the G‑dly soul in Israel is the level of the first of the drawing down, through which the level of the produce and the barley mentioned above is drawn down to the world of the angels, with an addition of light and a revelation of radiance that is renewed each year, on every Pesach, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “On Pesach, for the produce.”
Therefore the G‑dly soul is the “first” through which the barley flows to the angels, and it brings them added light, renewed every Pesach. This is when, according to the Mishnah, the world is judged concerning the year’s produce.
(ועיין בזח״א ויחי דרכ״ו ע״ב27 בפי׳ תבואתה בה״א.28 וע׳ מק״מ שם) ומתוספת וריבוי גילוי אור והזיו שבעולם המלאכים נמשך ומשתלשל למטה מטה לנפש הבהמית שבישראל (ועיין לקמן סוף הדיבור) שתתהפך מחשוכא לנהורא וכו׳
(And see in the Zohar, Part I, Vayechi, folio 226b, on the explanation of “tevu’asah” (His produce) with a hei; and see the Mikdash Melech there.) And from the addition and increase of the revelation of light and radiance in the world of the angels, [light] is drawn and descends further and further down, to the animal soul in Israel (and see below, at the end of the discourse), so that it be transformed from darkness to light, etc.,
The Zohar notes that tevu’asah (“His produce”) in that verse is written with a hei; according to the Kehot note, it alludes to the final hei of the Name. From the angels’ increased light a flow descends further, to the animal soul, so that its darkness may be turned to light.
that is, into the seven holy attributes (middos), which we draw down in the seven weeks of the days of the Counting, each one comprising seven, etc. (as is written below).
The animal soul is refined into the seven holy attributes, which are drawn down in the seven weeks of the Counting, each attribute comprising all seven: forty-nine in all.
The paragraph names the angels’ flow “barley”: it is their food, and it is “the measure of the hei,” the measured flow of Malchus that keeps each angel at its fixed rank, and its spelling suggests trembling and awe. This flow depends on Israel’s Omer offering, since the G‑dly soul is “the first of His produce,” and from the angels it reaches the animal soul, to be refined into the seven attributes counted over the seven weeks.
The Kehot note brings Or HaTorah and the Tzemach Tzedek’s Biurei HaZohar on the Zohar’s remark about tevu’asah: the hei is the final hei of the Name, which is the first when one counts from below upward. That fits the soul as “the first of His produce,” the beginning of the flow from below. The discourse on “See, for Havayah has given you the Shabbos,” to which the text refers, discusses that the World to Come was created with the yud and this world with the hei.
Marei mekomos
- 1שעורה הוא מאכל בהמה · Pesachim 3b
- 2שעור ה׳ פי׳ שיעור · Zohar, Balak 6:67–78
- 3בד״ה ראו כי ה׳ נתן לכם השבת · לקו״ת פ׳ בשלח א, א.
- 4נק׳ המלאכים עומדים · Zechariah 3:7
- 5וסביביו נשערה מאד · Psalms 50:3
- 6
- 7וגבורתך ידברו · Psalms 145:11
- 8ושער רישי׳ · Daniel 7:9
- 9זה השער · Psalms 118:20
- 10בפ׳ שלח . . ע״פ אני · לקמן מז, א. ועיין באוה״ת ויקרא אמור ע׳ קעד.
- 11מ״ט שערי בינה · Rosh Hashanah 21b:11–12
- 12והניף הכהן את העומר · Leviticus 23:11
- 13ומקטיר הקומץ · Menachot 67b
- 14באש של מע׳ · Eruvin 63a
- 15העומר בא מתרומת הלשכה · שקלים רפ״ד.
- 16העומר בא מתרומת הלשכה · Mishnah Shekalim 4:1
- 17
- 18קדש היינו תרומה ראשית תבואתה זהו העומר · Rashi on Jeremiah 2:3
- 19וייצר · Bereshit Rabbah 14:1
- 20תרומה גדולה ניטלת באומד ובמחשבה · Gittin 31a:1–2
- 21נשמות עלה במחשבה · Bereshit Rabbah 1:5
- 22נשמות עלה במחשבה · Bereshit Rabbah 1:4
- 23אדם ובהמה תושיע ה׳ · Psalms 36:7
- 24
- 25כמארז״ל בפסח על התבואה · ר״ה פ״א, מ״ב.
- 26בפסח על התבואה · Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:2
- 27ועיין בזח״א ויחי דרכ״ו ע״ב · ”תבואת ה׳ כתיב רמיז לה׳ אחרונה דשם” — אוה״ת אמור ע׳ קסג. וראה גם ביאה״ז להצ״צ-א ע׳ שפא. ע׳ שפג” ר״ל ה׳ אחרונה דשם שהיא קדמאה מלמטה למעלה”. וראה גם ביהל אור ע׳ רעא.
- 28בפי׳ תבואתה בה״א · Zohar, Vayechi 33:347–34:356
- 29ובאתדל״ת אתעדל״ע · Zohar II, 135b
- 30
- 31
5ג והנה כל זה הוא בחינת שעורה שמתגלה בפסח ראשית קצירכם12 שהוא ענין השגת הנפש בחי׳ גילוי אור א״ס ב״ה בעלמא דאתגליא איך הוא ממכ״ע וסכ״ע וכו׳ לכל נפש כפי אשר תוכל שאת השגתה.
3. Now, all this is the level of barley, which is revealed on Pesach, “the first of your harvest”: that is, the soul’s comprehension of the level of the revelation of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He, in the revealed world, how it fills all worlds (memalei kol almin) and encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), etc., for each soul as much as it is able to bear in its comprehension,
The third section sums up: “barley,” revealed on Pesach, is comprehension. The soul grasps G‑dliness as it appears in the revealed world, how the Infinite Light fills and encompasses all worlds, each soul as far as it is able to grasp.
כאשר יעמיק האדם בדעתו ויתבונן בגדולתו ית׳ כל חד לפום שעורא דיליה3 (וע׳ בפי׳ קצירה במא״א אות ק׳ סל״ב4 ועמ״ש בד״ה והי׳ מספר בנ״י5 לידת המוחין כו׳).
when a person goes deep with his mind and contemplates His greatness, may He be blessed, “each one according to his own measure (shi’ura).” (And see the explanation of ketzirah (harvest) in Me’orei Or, letter kuf, section 32; and see what is written in the discourse beginning “And the number of the children of Israel shall be,” on the birth of the intellect (mochin), etc.)
This comes when a person contemplates G‑d’s greatness in depth, “each according to his own measure,” in the Zohar’s words; the word for measure, shi’ura, echoes se’orah, barley. The parenthesis refers to Me’orei Or on “harvest,” which, as the Kehot note quotes it, calls the harvest Malchus’s giving birth to the souls, and to the discourse “And the number of the children of Israel shall be” earlier in Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar.
אך בשבועות הוא גילוי בחינת חטה שהוא גילוי מה שלמעלה מהדעת והשגה וכמארז״ל עץ הדעת חטה היתה שאין התינוק6 יודע לקרות אבא עד שיטעום כו׳
But on Shavuos there is the revelation of the level of wheat, which is the revelation of what is above knowledge (daas) and comprehension, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “The Tree of Knowledge was wheat,” for “a baby does not know how to call ‘Abba’ (father) until it tastes,” etc.
Shavuos reveals “wheat”: what is higher than knowledge and comprehension. The Sages said that the Tree of Knowledge was wheat, since a baby cannot yet say “Abba” until it tastes the taste of grain.
שידיעת התינוק שקורא אבא ואימא אינה ידיעה נגלית בהשגה והבנה המושכלת בטעם מושג ומובן שהרי אינו יודע איך הוא אביו ולמה צריך לאהוב אותו
For the baby’s knowing, when it calls “Abba” and “Imma,” is not a revealed knowing, with comprehension and intellectual understanding, through a reason that is grasped and understood; for it does not know in what way he is its father, or why it must love him.
A baby’s knowledge of its father is not a matter of understanding. It cannot explain in what way he is its father or why it should love him.
אלא שקורא אבא מפני שנפשו קשורה בנפש אביו בלי שום טעם ודעת ולא עוד אלא שההתקשרות ההוא חזק מאד שיש לו געגועים אחר אביו וקשה עליו פרידתו עד שגועה בבכיה ונותן את נפשו ממש בבכייתו.7
Rather, it calls “Abba” because its soul is bound up with its father’s soul, without any reason or knowledge. Moreover, that bond is very strong, so that it longs for its father, and parting from him is hard for it, until it wails in weeping and gives over its very soul in its weeping.
It calls “Abba” because its soul is bound up with its father’s soul, beyond any reason, as the Torah says of Yaakov and Binyamin that one soul was bound up with the other. The bond is so strong that it longs for its father and cries its heart out when they are apart.
The paragraph contrasts the two grains. Barley, revealed on Pesach, is comprehension of G‑dliness, measured to each person’s grasp. Wheat, revealed on Shavuos, is a knowing above intellect, like a baby’s bond with its father, which has no reason but is very strong.
The Kehot note brings Or HaTorah’s comment that “harvest” here also means the light drawn into the soul’s revealed comprehension, and that the Gemara at the end of the fourth chapter of Sukkah speaks of harvest as the reward that is drawn down.
Marei mekomos
- 1ראשית קצירכם . . שעו״ד · נמצא מפרש ג״כ קציר מה שנמשך האור בגילוי בהשגת הנפש, וכ״מ בגמרא ספ״ד דסוכה דקצירה זהו השכר הנמשך — אוה״ת ויקרא-א ע׳ קנח. וראה שם בכרך-ב ע׳ תקפח.
- 2ראשית קצירכם · Leviticus 23:10
- 3כל חד לפום שיעורא דילי׳ · Zohar I, 103b
- 4במאו״א א׳ ק׳ סל״ב · ”קצירה נק׳ לידת המל׳ את הנשמות כי הזריעה היא הורתן והקצירה לידתן” — אוה״ת ויקרא-א ע׳ קנח. וראה שם ע׳ קצח. שם כרך-ב ע׳ תקפח.
- 5בד״ה והי׳ מספר בנ״י · לעיל ה, ד .
- 6עה״ד חטה היתה שאין התינוק · Berakhot 40a:14
- 7
Wheat: the revelation of “I, Who I am” ¶6–9
6והיינו מפני שהדעת ההוא שנתחדש בתינוק מחמת החטה הוא ענין גילוי הדעת הנעלם שלמעלה מעלה מן הדעת המושג והמובן ולכן ההתקשרות שלו חזקה מאד עד מיצוי הנפש ממש,
This is because that knowledge (daas) which is newly formed in the baby by virtue of the wheat is a revelation of the hidden knowledge, which is far, far above the knowledge that is grasped and understood; and therefore its bond is very strong, to the point of the actual outpouring of the soul.
The Alter Rebbe explains why the baby’s bond is so strong. The knowledge that wheat awakens in it is a “hidden knowledge,” higher than knowledge that the mind grasps, so the bond reaches the point where the soul pours itself out.
כי אהבה זו נפלאתה מאד מכאשר תוכל הנפש שאת השגתה ואין כח בנפש לכלוא את הרוח האהבה שיסודתה ושרשה שממנה לוקחה הוא הדעת הנעל׳ שהוא עליון וגבוה מהדעת המתפשט בכחות הנפש והשגתה
For this love is exceedingly wondrous, beyond what the soul is able to bear to comprehend, and the soul has no power to hold back the spirit of the love, whose foundation and root, from which it was taken, is the hidden knowledge, which is higher and loftier than the knowledge that spreads into the powers of the soul and its comprehension;
A love like this is beyond anything the soul can comprehend, and the soul cannot hold it back. Its root is the hidden knowledge, which stands above the knowledge that spreads into the soul’s faculties.
אלא הוא גילוי בחינת ההעלם עצמו להיות ביטול כחות הנפש שתהא הנפש נכספה וגם כלתה1 כו׳
rather, it is a revelation of the level of the hidden itself, so that there be a self-nullification (bittul) of the powers of the soul, so that the soul “yearns and even pines,” etc.
What is revealed is the hidden itself, and so the soul’s faculties are nullified before it. The soul “yearns and even pines,” in the words of the Psalm.
(ועמ״ש מענין פי׳ מוחין דאבא שלמעלה מדעת המושג בד״ה להבין מ״ש בהגדה2 מצה זו כו׳).
(And see what is written on the subject of the meaning of the intellect (mochin) of Abba, which is above the knowledge that is grasped, in the discourse beginning “To understand what is said in the Haggadah, ‘This matzah,’” etc.)
The parenthesis refers to a discourse in Likkutei Torah, Tzav, on “This matzah” of the Haggadah. It explains the mochin of Abba (the intellect of Chochmah) as higher than knowledge that is grasped.
והנה3 ככל הדברים האלה וככל המשל הזה כך הוא ענין גילוי בחי׳ חטה בשבועות ע״י מתן תורה שעל כל דבור פרחה נשמתן4
Now, in accordance with all these words and with all this analogy, so is the matter of the revelation of the level of wheat on Shavuos through the Giving of the Torah, when “at each utterance their souls flew out”;
Shavuos’ “wheat” is like the baby’s knowing. At the Giving of the Torah, as the Talmud says, at each of G‑d’s utterances the people’s souls flew out of them.
והיינו בחי׳ מסירת נפש למסור נפשו באחד5 מחמת גילוי בחי׳ אנכי מי שאנכי הוא בחי׳ עצמותו ומהותו שאינו בגדר תפיסא והשגה כלל דלית מחשבה תפיסא בי׳6 כלל.7
that is, the level of self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh), to give over one’s soul at [the word] “One,” by virtue of the revelation of the level of “I (Anochi), Who I am,” which is the level of His essence and being, which is not within the bounds of grasp and comprehension at all, for “no thought can grasp Him” at all.
This is self-sacrifice, the readiness to give over one’s soul when declaring G‑d “One” in the Shema. It comes from the revelation of “I (Anochi), Who I am,” G‑d’s very essence, which, in the words of the Tikkunei Zohar, “no thought can grasp at all.”
The paragraph explains “wheat” as the revelation of a hidden knowledge above intellect, which awakens a love beyond comprehension in which the soul’s faculties are nullified. This is what happened at Sinai: the revelation of G‑d’s essence, “I, Who I am,” made the people’s souls fly out, the level of self-sacrifice.
The discourse in Likkutei Torah, Tzav, to which the text refers, links the matzah of Pesach with the mochin of Abba and brings the same teaching, that a baby cannot call “Abba” until it tastes the taste of grain. On giving over the soul at “One,” the Kehot note refers to the responsa of the Rashba, the Bach on the Tur (Orach Chaim, beginning of section 61), and Pri Etz Chaim (Sha’ar Kerias Shema, chapter 12).
Marei mekomos
- 1נכספה וגם כלתה · Psalms 84:3
- 2מענין — בד״ה להבין מ״ש בהגדה · לעיל צו יב, ב.
- 3כי הנה מצרים למעלה · ראה לקו״ש חי״ח ע׳ 428.
- 4שעל כל דבור פרחה נשמתן · Shabbat 88b:6–7
- 5למסור נפשו באחד · ראה שו״ת הרשב״א ח״ה, נה. ב״ח טור או״ח רסס״א. פע״ח ש׳ הק״ש פי״ב.
- 6דלית מחשבה תפיסא בי׳ · ת״ז בהקדמה (פתח אלי׳ ואמר).
- 7דלית מחשבה תפיסא בי׳ כלל · Tikkunei Zohar 17a:10–12
7ובזה יובן מ״ש אנכי ה׳ אלהיך אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים. ולכאורה אין זה שבח ומעלה כ״כ לפני המקום שהיה הוצאת יש מיש.
With this we can understand what is written, “I am Havayah your G‑d, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” Seemingly, this is not such a great praise and distinction before the Omnipresent, since it was a bringing forth of something from something.
The maamar now turns to the first of the Ten Commandments. Taking Israel out of Egypt seems a lesser feat than creating the world: it moved a people that already existed from one place to another, “something from something.”
והלא גדלה מעלתו אשר עשה שמים וארץ שבריאתם הוא יש מאין וגם שמים לרום וארץ לעומק1 וכו׳.
Surely His distinction is greater in that He made heaven and earth, whose creation is something from nothing, and also “the heavens for height and the earth for depth,” etc.
Making heaven and earth out of nothing, vast in height and in depth, seems the greater praise. So why does G‑d introduce Himself at Sinai through the Exodus?
אך יובן עם הנ״ל כי הנה מצרים למעלה הוא מצר ים דהיינו מה שים החכמה הוא בבחי׳ מצר וגבול בגדר השגת הנבראים בגדולתו ית׳ והיינו בגילוי זיו והארתו הודו על ארץ ושמים2 כו׳.
But it will be understood in light of what was said above. For Mitzrayim (Egypt) above is meitzar yam (the strait of the sea): that is, that the sea of Chochmah (wisdom) is in a state of strait and limit, within the bounds of the created beings’ comprehension of His greatness, may He be blessed; and this is in the revelation of His radiance and light, “His majesty is over earth and heaven,” etc.:
Above, “Mitzrayim” is read as meitzar yam, “the strait of the sea.” The boundless “sea” of Chochmah is narrowed to fit what created beings can grasp of G‑d’s greatness: His radiance that shines over earth and heaven.
איך שהוא ממלא כל עלמין וסובב כל עלמין וכו׳, אבל בהתגלות אנכי מי שאנכי הרי הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים למעלה מעלה מגדר ההשגה
how He fills all worlds (memalei kol almin) and encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), etc. But with the revelation of “I, Who I am,” thus “I brought you out of the land of Egypt”: far, far above the bounds of comprehension.
Even the understanding of how G‑d fills and encompasses all worlds is still such a “strait.” The revelation of “I, Who I am,” G‑d’s essence, took Israel out of it, far beyond the bounds of comprehension, and this is greater than the creation of the world.
וכן יש בחי׳ מצרים למטה כשהאדם בבחי׳ מצר וגבול כל אחד לפי מה שהוא נתון בתוך מאסר הגוף המגבילו שלא לצאת חוץ לגדרו וגבולו.
And likewise there is a level of Mitzrayim below, when a person is in a state of strait and limit, each one according to how he is placed within the prison of the body, which confines him so that he does not go out beyond his bounds and limits.
Below, each person has a “Mitzrayim” of his own: the body, like a prison, confines him to his limits, and how much it confines him differs from one person to another.
משא״כ בהגלות נגלות בנפשו בחי׳ אנכי מי שאנכי אזי תכסוף ותכלה אליו לצאת מנרתיקה הוא מאסר הגוף במסירת נפש ממש למסור נפשו באחד וזהו מעלת ומדרגת3 בעל תשובה כו׳.4
But when the level of “I, Who I am” is truly revealed in his soul, then it yearns and pines for Him, to go out of its sheath, which is the prison of the body, with actual self-sacrifice, to give over one’s soul at [the word] “One”; and this is the distinction and rank of the baal teshuvah (the one who returns), etc.
When “I, Who I am” is revealed in his soul, the soul yearns to leave the “sheath” of the body, with self-sacrifice, at “One” of the Shema. This is the special greatness of the baal teshuvah, who, the Talmud says, stands where even the completely righteous do not.
The paragraph explains why “Who brought you out of Egypt” is G‑d’s great praise. “Egypt” is every limit of created comprehension, and the revelation of G‑d’s essence at Sinai lifted Israel beyond it. In a person, Egypt is the confinement of the body, broken through by the yearning of self-sacrifice, the level of the baal teshuvah.
The Talmud (Berakhot 34b), to which the Kehot note refers, proves the greatness of baalei teshuvah from “Peace, peace, to the far and to the near”: the one who was far is greeted first. The same verse is the subject of the discourse to which the next paragraph refers.
Marei mekomos
- 1שמים לרום וארץ לעומק · Proverbs 25:3
- 2הודו על ארץ ושמים · Psalms 148:13
- 3מעלת ומדריגת בע״ת · Berakhot 34b
- 4אנכי ה״א · Exodus 20:2
Therefore, at the Giving of the Torah, “they saw what is heard and heard what is seen”: that is, what had been at the level of hearing from afar,
At Sinai, according to the Mechilta, “they saw what is heard and heard what is seen.” Hearing stands for knowing from afar, knowing what one cannot see.
שהוא בחי׳ ההעלם בא לידי גילוי וראיה ומה שהיה בבחי׳ ראיה והשגה נסתלק למקורו לבחי׳ ההעלם בחינת שמיעה לפי שאז היה גילוי ההעלם עצמו כנ״ל (ועמ״ש בד״ה וידעת היום3 בענין שלום שלום לרחוק ולקרוב).4
which is the level of the hidden, came to revelation and sight, and what had been at the level of sight and comprehension withdrew to its source, to the level of the hidden, the level of hearing; for then there was the revelation of the hidden itself, as mentioned above. (And see what is written in the discourse beginning “And you shall know this day,” on the subject of “Peace, peace, to the far and to the near.”)
What had been hidden, known only as hearing, became revealed as sight, and what had been seen and grasped withdrew into the hidden, because the hidden itself was then revealed. The parenthesis refers to the discourse “And you shall know this day” in Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan, on “Peace, peace, to the far and to the near.”
והנה בחי׳ ומדרגה זו נמשכה לישראל במתן תורה שנתינת התורה היא גילוי בחי׳ זו שהתורה והמצות הם נמשכין מאור א״ס ב״ה עצמו ממש מבחי׳ ההעלם
Now, this level and rank was drawn down to Israel at the Giving of the Torah, for the giving of the Torah is the revelation of this level: for the Torah and the mitzvos are drawn from the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He, itself, truly, from the level of the hidden
This level was given to Israel through the Giving of the Torah, because the Torah and the mitzvos come from the Infinite Light itself, from the hidden.
עצמו שלמעלה מעלה מבחי׳ הארה שבירידת המדרגות וסדר ההשתלשלות בעלמא דאתגלייא כי התורה והמצות עליהם נאמר אם בחקותי תלכו5 בחי׳ אותיות שבחקיקה כו׳ כמ״ש במ״א.6
itself, which is far, far above the level of the radiance that is in the descent of the levels and the order of the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus) in the revealed world. For of the Torah and the mitzvos it is said, “If you walk in My statutes (bechukosai),” the level of engraved (chakikah) letters, etc., as is explained elsewhere.
They do not come from the radiance that descends through the chain of worlds into the revealed world. That is why it is said of them, “If you walk in My statutes”: the word for statutes (chukim) suggests engraved (chakikah) letters, which are one with what they are engraved in, as another discourse explains.
הגם שמלובשים בענינים גשמיים מ״מ הרי אור א״ס ב״ה עצמו מלובש בהם כמו עד״מ הנשמה שמתלבשת בגוף וכח הראיה שבמוח מלובש בעין וכח השמיעה המלובש באזן גשמי שהעין והאזן עם היותם
Although they are enclothed in physical matters, nevertheless the Infinite Light, blessed be He, itself is enclothed in them; as, by way of analogy, the soul that enclothes itself in the body, and the power of sight in the brain that is enclothed in the eye, and the power of hearing that is enclothed in the physical ear: for the eye and the ear, although they are
Although the mitzvos are clothed in physical things, the Infinite Light itself is clothed in them. It is like the soul in the body, or the brain’s powers of sight and hearing, which are clothed in the physical eye and ear.
גשמים נעשים כלים להיות פועל בהם כח הראיה והשמיעה שבמוח לצאת מן ההעלם אל הגילוי כך התורה והמצות הם בחי׳ כלים לאור א״ס ב״ה המלובש בהם שבהם ועל ידם מתגלה אור א״ס ב״ה בגילוי ממש.7
physical, become vessels for the power of sight and of hearing in the brain to act in them, to go out from concealment into revelation. So the Torah and the mitzvos are vessels for the Infinite Light, blessed be He, that is enclothed in them, so that in them and through them the Infinite Light, blessed be He, is revealed in actual revelation.
The eye and the ear, though physical, become vessels through which the powers of the brain act and come out into revelation. In the same way the Torah and the mitzvos are vessels in which the Infinite Light itself is truly revealed.
At Sinai seeing and hearing were exchanged, which shows that the hidden itself was revealed. This revelation remains with Israel in the Torah and the mitzvos, which come from the Infinite Light itself and not from the chain of worlds, and which, like the eye and the ear, are vessels in which that Light is actually revealed.
The Kehot note (from Likkutei Sichos) observes that in the Mechilta’s wording “they saw” seems to refer only to what is heard and “they heard” only to what is seen, as this maamar takes it. Another passage in Likkutei Torah (Haazinu) and the maamar “Vechol ha’am” of 5704 imply instead that they both saw and heard what is seen and what is heard.
Marei mekomos
- 1רואים את הנשמע · מכילתא יתרו רפ״ט.
- 2רואים את הנשמע ושומעין את הנראה · Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Bachodesh 9:1
- 3בד״ה וידעת היום · לקו״ת ואתחנן ח, א.
- 4שלום שלום לרחוק ולקרוב · Isaiah 57:19
- 5אם בחקותי תלכו · Leviticus 26:3
- 6בחי׳ אותיות שבחקיקה כו׳ כמ״ש במ״א · ראה לעיל פ׳ בחקותי מה, א.
- 7הלשון במכילתא היא · רואין ושומעין הנראה. משמע ש”רואין” קאי רק על הנשמע, ו”שומעין” רק על הנראה וכן מוכח בלקו״ת במדבר י, ג. סה״מ — תרכ״ט ע׳ קצח. ד״ה שלח תער״ב. ועוד. (אבל בלקו״ת האזינו (עז, ג) משמע (וכ״ה בד״ה וכל העם תש״ד פ״ג) שהיו רואין ושומעין בין הנראה ובין הנשמע). — לקו״ש ח״ו ע׳ 120 הערה 6.
9וזהו בחי׳ שתי הלחם שהיו מקריבין מחטה בשבועות כי חטה היא בחי׳ כ״ב אתוון1 דאורייתא ושתי הלחם על שם הפסוק לכו לחמו בלחמי2 וגו׳
And this is the level of the Two Loaves that they would offer from wheat on Shavuos: for wheat (chitah) is the level of the twenty-two letters of the Torah, and the Two Loaves [are so called] after the verse, “Come, eat (lachmu) of My bread (lachmi),” etc.
The Two Loaves of wheat on Shavuos express this. The word chitah (wheat) has the numerical value twenty-two (ches 8, tes 9, hei 5), the number of the letters of the Torah, and the Zohar calls wheat the general expression of the twenty-two letters. The loaves recall the verse in which wisdom invites, “Come, eat of My bread.”
פי׳ לחמו אתם לחם תורתכם בלחמי דוקא דהיינו להיות גילוי תורתו בחי׳ אנכי מי שאנכי.3
That is, “lachmu”: eat, you, the bread of your Torah, “of My bread” specifically; that is, that the revelation of His Torah be the level of “I, Who I am.”
“Eat of My bread” means that the Torah a person studies should be “My bread,” G‑d’s own. In it is revealed “I, Who I am,” G‑d’s essence.
As it is written, “And these words, which I (Anochi) command you,” etc. And this is through the level of “Come (lechu).” As it is written, “If you walk (telechu) in My statutes,”
So the verse says, “these words which I (Anochi) command you”: the word Anochi hints that the Torah’s words carry “I, Who I am.” This comes about through “Come” (lechu), that is, through walking, as in “If you walk (telechu) in My statutes.”
דהיינו להיות בבחי׳ הליכה מן המקום אשר עמד שם ולמסור נפשו באחד וכמ״ש שמע ישראל6 וגו׳ ה׳ אחד. והיו הדברים וגו׳:
that is, to be at the level of walking from the place where one stood, and to give over one’s soul at [the word] “One,” as it is written, “Hear, O Israel, etc., Havayah is One. And these words shall be,” etc.
“Walking” means leaving the place where one stood, not remaining at one’s present level, and giving over one’s soul at “One” in the Shema. Right after the Shema comes “And these words shall be,” the Torah that carries G‑d’s essence.
The Two Loaves of wheat stand for the twenty-two letters of the Torah, through which the essence of G‑d, “I, Who I am,” is revealed. One reaches this by “walking” beyond one’s present level and by self-sacrifice at “One” in the Shema.
For wheat as the twenty-two letters, the Kehot note also refers to the Arizal’s Ta’amei HaMitzvos (beginning of Emor) and Pri Etz Chaim (Sha’ar Chag HaShavuos, chapter 1). The Zohar passage cited there (Balak) also explains barley as “the measure of the hei,” the same reading given above in the second section.
Marei mekomos
- 1חטה היא בחי׳ כ״ב אתוון · Zohar III, 188b
- 2לכו לחמו בלחמי · Proverbs 9:5
- 3אנכי מי שאנכי · ראה ס׳ מאמרי אדה״ז — פרשיות ע׳ רט. וש״נ.
- 4והיו הדברים האלה · Deuteronomy 6:6
- 5אם בחקתי תלכו · Leviticus 26:3
- 6שמע ישראל · Deuteronomy 6:4
The Counting and the fiftieth gate ¶10–11
10ד אך כדי להגיע למעלה ומדרגה זו להיות בחי׳ גילוי אנכי מי שאנכי בשבועות זמן מתן תורתנו צריך לספור ספירת העומר והוא שהכתוב אומר תספרו חמשים יום12 כי
4. But in order to reach this distinction and rank, that there be the level of the revelation of “I, Who I am” on Shavuos, “the time of the Giving of our Torah,” one must count the Counting of the Omer. And this is what the verse says, “you shall count fifty days.” For
The fourth section turns back to the opening question. To reach the revelation of “I, Who I am” on Shavuos, the Counting of the Omer is needed, and this is the meaning of “you shall count fifty days.”
הנה נ׳ שערי בינה שהוא ענין גילוי אור א״ס ב״ה להיות בחי׳ התבוננות בגדולת א״ס ב״ה הם מ״ט בחינות והם מרומזים בפסוק לך ה׳ הגדולה וגו׳
the fifty gates of Binah (understanding), which are the revelation of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He, so that there be contemplation of the greatness of the Infinite One (Ein Sof), blessed be He, are forty-nine levels, and they are alluded to in the verse, “Yours, Havayah, is the greatness,” etc.,
The “fifty gates of Binah” are the ways of contemplating G‑d’s greatness, the understanding through which the Infinite Light is revealed to the mind. Forty-nine of them are hinted at in the verse “Yours, Havayah, is the greatness, the might, the beauty…,” which names the seven attributes.
שהם ז׳ מדות עליונות וכל אחד כלול מז׳ הרי מ״ט ושער החמשים הוא שער העליון הכולל כל הבחינות שבשער ההוא כלולים כל המ״ט בחינות והיו לאחדים3 באחדות אחד ואינן ענפין מתפרדין
which are the seven supernal attributes (middos), each one comprising seven; thus there are forty-nine. And the fiftieth gate is the highest gate, which includes all the levels: in that gate all the forty-nine levels are included, and they “become one” in a single unity, and they are not “branches that separate”
Seven attributes, each comprising all seven, make forty-nine. The fiftieth gate is above them all and includes them all: in it the forty-nine are one, not separate branches.
כמו למטה (וז״ל הע״ח שער א״א פי״ד ויש שער נ׳ הכולל כל המ״ט כו׳ וכ״ה בהרמ״ז פ׳ אמור בדף צ״ו ע״ב ובפ׳ פנחס בדף רנ״ג ע״א ובפ׳ בראשית4 בדף ח׳ ע״א בד״ה אזדמנת למהוי.
as below. (These are the words of Etz Chaim, Sha’ar Arich Anpin, chapter 14: “And there is a fiftieth gate, which includes all the forty-nine,” etc. And so it is in the Ramaz, Parshas Emor, folio 96b, and Parshas Pinchas, folio 253a, and Parshas Bereishis, folio 8a, in the comment beginning “Izdamnas lemehevei.”
Below, the levels branch out and are separate from one another. The parenthesis cites Etz Chaim and the Ramaz’s commentary on the Zohar for the fiftieth gate that includes all forty-nine.
וכן הוא ג״כ באריכות בפרדס שער השערים פ״ה) והשער ההוא הוא שער המחבר כל המ״ט שערים למקורן ושרשן במאצילן ב״ה
And so it is also, at length, in the Pardes, Sha’ar HaShe’arim, chapter 5.) And that gate is the gate that joins all the forty-nine gates to their source and root in their Emanator, blessed be He,
The Pardes discusses the same at length. The fiftieth gate joins all forty-nine gates to their root in G‑d, their Emanator.
כי בו ועל ידו נמשך גילוי בחי׳ אנכי מי שאנכי הוא בחי׳ עצמיות אור א״ס ב״ה לכל המ״ט שערים
for in it and through it is drawn down the revelation of the level of “I, Who I am,” which is the level of the very essence of the Infinite Light, blessed be He, to all the forty-nine gates.
Through the fiftieth gate the very essence of the Infinite Light, “I, Who I am,” reaches all forty-nine gates.
(ע׳ בפרדס5 שם פ״ז בשם הת״ז והוא סוף תיקון כ״ב כ״ע איהו שלימו דחמשין שערי בינה6 כו׳ וכ״ה בע״ח שם ועיין לעיל בפ׳ יתרו בד״ה מראיהם ומעשיהם)
(See in the Pardes there, chapter 7, in the name of the Tikkunei Zohar, and it is at the end of Tikkun 22: “Keser Elyon (the Supernal Crown) is the completion of the fifty gates of Binah,” etc. And so it is in Etz Chaim there. And see above, in Parshas Yisro, in the discourse beginning “Their appearance and their workings.”)
The Tikkunei Zohar teaches that Keser, the Supernal Crown, is the completion of the fifty gates of Binah, so the fiftieth gate reaches above intellect. The text also refers to a discourse on Parshas Yisro (in Torah Ohr).
ולכך כתיב תספרו חמשים יום להיות אחוזים בשער החמשים שבו ועל ידו7 יהיה גילוי אנכי וספירה זו היא המשכה למטה לבחי׳ עומר השעורים שיהא גילוי אנכי גם בבחי׳ עומר השעורים למטה.
Therefore it is written, “you shall count fifty days”: to be bound to the fiftieth gate, in which and through which there will be the revelation of “I” (Anochi). And this Counting is a drawing down below, to the level of the Omer of barley, so that there be the revelation of “I” also in the level of the Omer of barley below.
That is why the Torah says “count fifty days”: by counting, one holds on to the fiftieth gate, through which “I” is revealed. The Counting draws that revelation down to the level of the barley Omer below.
כי הנה כל אדם יש לו נפש החיונית שהיא הבהמיות מבחי׳ בהמה וגם נפש אלהית כד אתיליד יהבין ליה נפשא מסטרא דבעירא דכיא זכה יתיר8 כו׳
For every person has a vital soul, which is the animal nature, from the level of an animal; and also a G‑dly soul: “When he is born, they give him a soul from the side of the pure animal; if he merits more,” etc.,
Every person has a vital soul, which is animal in nature. Even the G‑dly soul, at its first level, comes “from the side of the pure animal,” as the Zohar teaches, and with greater merit a person receives higher levels of soul.
וכמ״ש בזהר ר״פ משפטים (דצ״ד ע״ב) ושפעה וחיותה מבחינת שעורים מאכל בהמה כו׳, וכדי שתהא גם נפשו הבהמית ברצונה ליכלל באחד ולמסור נפשו כו׳
as is written in the Zohar at the beginning of Parshas Mishpatim (folio 94b); and its flow and life-force is from the level of barley, the food of animals, etc. And in order that his animal soul too should willingly be included in the One and give over its soul, etc.,
The life of this soul comes from “barley,” food for animals. The aim is that even the animal soul should want, of its own will, to be included in the One and give itself over.
ולאתהפכא חשוכא לנהורא צריך שיהיה גם בה גילוי בחי׳ אנכי כדי שעי״ז תכסוף ותכלה אליו ית׳ בביטול מהותה כו׳.9101112
and that darkness be transformed into light, there must be in it too a revelation of the level of “I,” so that through this it will yearn and pine for Him, may He be blessed, with the nullification of its very being, etc.
For the animal soul’s darkness to be turned into light, the revelation of “I” must reach it too. Then it, too, yearns for G‑d until its very being is nullified.
The Counting is the way to reach “I, Who I am” on Shavuos. We count the forty-nine gates of Binah, seven attributes each comprising seven, while the fiftieth gate, which includes them all and is rooted in Keser, joins them to G‑d’s essence. By counting, that revelation is drawn down to the “barley,” so that even the animal soul comes to yearn for G‑d.
The Kehot note quotes Or HaTorah: following the Ramaz, Shavuos is named for the forty-nine levels that are revealed on it as included in the fiftieth gate, while the seven weeks of the Counting are the forty-nine gates of Binah themselves, not the fiftieth gate, as the Pardes explains in Sha’ar HaShe’arim, chapter 5.
Marei mekomos
- 1אך כדי . . תספרו חמשים יום · ראה לקו״ש ח״ג ע׳ 996.
- 2
- 3והיו לאחדים · Ezekiel 37:17
- 4כלולים כל המ״ט . . בהרמ״ז פ׳ אמור . . ובפ׳ בראשית · מובא באוה״ת אמור כרך-ג ע׳ תתעג, וכ״ש ”וי״ל דמשנ״ת שם [= הכוונה ללקו״ת כאן] הוא ע״ד שכ׳ הרמ״ז שם [בפ׳ בראשית] ובפ׳ אמור דצ״ו שחג השבועות ע״ש שבו מתגלים המ״ט בחי׳ הכלולים בשער הנ׳ אבל שבעה שבועות דספירת העומר הם מ״ט שע״ב ממש ולא בחי׳ שער החמשים וכמבואר בפרדס שער השערים פ״ה”.
- 5ע׳ בפרדס . . כתר עליון איהו שלימו דחמשין שערי בינה כו׳ · נתבאר באוה״ת פ׳ אמור-ג ע׳ תתעד.
- 6איהו שלימו דחמשין שערי בינה · Tikkunei Zohar 68b:5
- 7שבו ועל ידו יהי׳ גילוי אנכי · ובאוה״ת פ׳ אמור-ג ע׳ תתעג ”ואין זה סותר למ״ש במ״א ששער החמשים אין בנו כח להמשיך אלא שנמשך ממילא בחג השבועות כו׳” ע״ש.
- 8כד אתיליד יהבין ליה נפשא מסטרא דבעירא דכיא זכה יתיר · Zohar, Mishpatim 2:4–13
- 9לך ה׳ הגדולה · I Chronicles 29:11
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11והמשכה זו היא מעט מעט מתחלה יום אחד כו׳ ואח״כ אומרים שני ימים כו׳, הרי יש כאן שני ימים שנמשכו למטה ואין אומרים יום שני לפי שאין זו בחי׳ והמשכה מדרגה אחרת
And this drawing down is little by little: first “one day,” etc., and afterward we say “two days,” etc. Thus there are here two days that have been drawn down below; and we do not say “the second day,” because this is not another level, the drawing down of another rank;
This answers the second opening question. The drawing down comes little by little, and we say “two days” rather than “the second day,” because each day is not a new level but more of the same flow.
אלא הכל הוא המשכת בחי׳ ומדרגות שער החמשים הכולל ומיוחד במקורו רק שנמשך מעט מעט וכשסופרין וממשיכין כל המ״ט בחי׳ ממילא מגיעין בשבועות לשער החמשים ונעשים חמשים יום בשבועות,
rather, all of it is the drawing down of the levels and ranks of the fiftieth gate, which includes [them all] and is united with its source, only it is drawn down little by little. And when we count and draw down all the forty-nine levels, we arrive as a matter of course, on Shavuos, at the fiftieth gate, and they become fifty days on Shavuos.
All forty-nine levels are drawn from the one fiftieth gate, which is united with its source. Once all forty-nine have been counted, Shavuos arrives at the fiftieth gate of itself, and so the verse can speak of “fifty days.”
אך א״צ לספור ולהמשיך לעומר אלא מ״ט בחינות כדי לחבר ולקשר ענפין דמתפרדין למטה ולהעלותן ולקשרן למקורן ושרשן ולייחדן במאצילן ב״ה ע״י שער החמשים וכו׳:
But for the Omer one need count and draw down only forty-nine levels, in order to join and bind the “branches that separate” below, and to raise them and bind them to their source and root, and to unite them with their Emanator, blessed be He, through the fiftieth gate, etc.
We count only forty-nine, because the work of the Counting is to bind the separate “branches” below to their root. The fiftieth gate, through which they are united with G‑d, needs no counting.
The paragraph answers both opening questions. We count cumulatively (“two days,” not “the second day”) because every day draws more of the one flow of the fiftieth gate, and the Torah says “fifty” because counting the forty-nine brings the fiftieth on Shavuos of itself.
As the Kehot note on the previous paragraph quotes from Or HaTorah, it is said elsewhere that we have no power to draw down the fiftieth gate, which is drawn of itself on Shavuos, and Or HaTorah explains that this does not contradict the present maamar.
Outer and inner letters ¶12
12ועוד יובן ענין ההפרש בין בחי׳ שעורה שעור ה׳ מוצאות הפה ובין בחי׳ חטה שהוא ג״כ כ״ב אותיות התורה שזהו ע״ד שנתבאר בד״ה
And further, the difference between the level of barley, “shi’ur hei,” the measure of the five points of articulation of the mouth, and the level of wheat, which is also the twenty-two letters of the Torah, will be understood: for this is along the lines of what was explained in the discourse beginning
A closing note gives another way to see the difference between the grains. Barley is “the measure of the hei,” the five points of articulation of the mouth, while wheat is the twenty-two letters of the Torah. Both are letters, but of different kinds, as other discourses explain.
כי תשמע בקול בענין מפתחות החיצוניות ומפתחות הפנימיות1 ועמש״ל בד״ה וארשתיך לי בענין חצר החיצונה וחצר הפנימית כו׳
“For you shall listen to the voice,” on the subject of the outer keys and the inner keys; and see what is written above, in the discourse beginning “And I will betroth you to Me,” on the subject of the outer court and the inner court, etc.;
The Talmud compares Torah without fear of Heaven to a treasurer given the inner keys but not the outer ones, and the discourse on “For you shall listen to the voice” explains these two kinds of keys. The discourse “And I will betroth you to Me” (the previous maamar) explains the outer court and the inner court.
ע״ש ועמ״ש בד״ה אני ישנה2 בענין האותיות שאלוני על בני3 כו׳ והיינו מ״ש כאן שע״י בחינת חטה יודע לקרות אבא כו׳:
see there. And see what is written in the discourse beginning “I am asleep,” on the subject of “the letters (ha’osiyos): ask Me concerning My children,” etc. And this is what is said here, that through the level of wheat [the child] knows to call “Abba,” etc.
The discourse “I am asleep” discusses the letters, reading the verse “Ask Me… concerning My children” with ha’osiyos as “the letters.” This is what the maamar meant in saying that through wheat the child knows to call “Abba.”
The closing paragraph points to other discourses that explain the difference between barley and wheat as outer and inner letters: the five articulations of the mouth as against the Torah’s twenty-two letters. This is tied back to the child who learns to call “Abba.”
Marei mekomos
- 1מפתחות החיצוניות ומפתחות הפנימיות · Shabbat 31b:1
- 2אני ישנה · Song of Songs 5:2
- 3האותיות שאלוני על בני · Isaiah 45:11
Finished the maamar?
Mark it as learned; it counts toward the week and the year’s siyum.
In one’s avodah
Contemplating G‑d’s greatness gives each person “barley” according to his own measure, but that is not the goal. One must “walk,” go beyond one’s present level, and be ready to give over one’s soul at “One” in the Shema, so that the revelation of “I” reaches even the animal soul. The Counting, day by day, draws that essence into the seven attributes of the heart, until it is transformed from darkness to light.
Questions for discussion
- Why does the Torah say “fifty days” when only forty-nine are counted, and how does the fiftieth gate resolve this?
- How does a baby’s calling “Abba” show the difference between barley and wheat, between comprehension and a knowing above reason?
- Why is bringing Israel out of Egypt, “something from something,” a greater praise than creating heaven and earth from nothing?
- In what sense are the Torah and the mitzvos “vessels” for the Infinite Light, like the eye and the ear for sight and hearing?
- Why does the angels’ flow depend on the Omer brought by all Israel, and what does the G‑dly soul being “the first of His produce” add?
Key terms in this maamar
- Love and aweאהבה ויראה
- The two 'wings' of divine service. ×2
- The Name Havayahהוי׳
- The Tetragrammaton: G‑d as transcending time and bringing all into being.
- Malchus (sovereignty)מלכות
- Kingship: the level through which G‑d's word creates and rules the worlds. ×1
- Life-forceחיות
- The divine vitality that sustains every creation. ×3
- The Shechinah (Divine Presence)שכינה
- G‑d's presence as it dwells in the world. ×2
- Chochmah (wisdom)חכמה
- The first flash of insight. ×4
- The inner dimension (pnimiyus)פנימיות
- The innermost core of a level. ×1
- The Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof)אור אין סוף
- G‑d's light as it is, beyond all limits, before any contraction.
- The light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin)ממלא כל עלמין
- Divine light that enters each world and gives it life according to its measure. ×1
- The light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin)סובב כל עלמין
- Divine light too great to enter the worlds; it 'surrounds' them and affects them from beyond. ×1
- Binah (understanding)בינה
- Developing and grasping an insight in detail. ×3
- Chesed (kindness)חסד
- Expansive giving. ×2
- An arousal from aboveאתערותא דלעילא
- Divine initiative, unprompted by us.
- An arousal from belowאתערותא דלתתא
- Human initiative that draws down a divine response. ×1
- The G‑dly soulנפש האלקית
- The soul that is 'a part of G‑d above'. ×1
- The animal soulנפש הבהמית
- The soul that animates the body and its drives. ×1
- The emotive attributes (middos)מדות
- Love, awe, compassion and the rest. ×2
- The intellect (mochin)מוחין
- Chochmah, Binah and Daas as a whole. ×2
- Daas (knowledge)דעת
- Deep connection to an idea, bridging intellect and emotion. ×9
- Self-nullification (bittul)ביטול
- Setting aside one's own sense of self before G‑d. ×2
- Self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh)מסירות נפש
- Giving oneself over entirely to G‑d.
- Teshuvah (return)תשובה
- Returning to G‑d; not only repentance. ×1
- The chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus)השתלשלות
- The step-by-step descent of divine light from the highest level down to this world. ×1
- The Infinite One (Ein Sof)אין סוף
- G‑d's own boundless essence.
- Keser (the Crown)כתר
- The level above intellect: divine will and delight.