Likkutei Torah · Parshas Ki Seitzei · Maamar 3
ביאור כי תצא
An Explanation of “When You Go Out”
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The big idea
Man’s tzelem, the “image of G‑d,” has three levels named by its letters: the tzadi, G‑dliness clothed in the soul, which is the captive “woman of beautiful form”; the lamed, the soul’s mazal that remains above as a makif; and the mem, a still higher makif. The steps of the Torah’s passage on the captive woman describe how that captive G‑dliness is gathered, freed from the “garment” of kelipah and raised through ever higher levels of teshuvah.
The maamar in brief
This explanation reads the Torah’s passage on the captive “woman of beautiful form” through the three letters of tzelem, the image of G‑d. In Z’eir Anpin the tzadi (ninety) is the inner light of nine Sefiros, the lamed (thirty) the encompassing light of Chochmah, Binah and Daas, and the mem (forty) the higher encompassing light of Keser. In the soul, the tzadi is the G‑dliness clothed within it, the captive woman, while the lamed is the mazal above, which “sees” and hears the heavenly call to return. Section 2 gathers the soul’s scattered powers through uprooting the will and verbal confession, raising them to the encompassing light, “above your enemies,” as Esther chose the inner court. A higher teshuvah comes from the mazal, awakened by Torah, which brings the higher awe and the union of soul and Torah. Section 3 explains shaving the head and doing the nails as giving up excesses of intellect and emotion, above all over-cleverness in earning a living. Removing the captive garment strips away kelipah’s single makif; dwelling in the house brings the higher makif; weeping and union are the highest teshuvah, the level of Yom Kippur and Ne’ilah.
Outline
- The three letters of tzelemFollowing the Arizal, the tzadi of tzelem is the inner light of Z’eir Anpin’s nine Sefiros, the lamed the makif of Chochmah, Binah and Daas, and the mem the higher makif of Keser. In the soul, the tzadi is the G‑dliness that descends and is clothed within it, the “woman of beautiful form,” and the lamed is the mazal above, which hears the heavenly call to return and is called “beautiful of form.”¶1–3
- Gathering the captives, above the enemiesThe soul’s powers, scattered in mundane thought, speech and action, are gathered by uprooting the will and by confession, which removes both soul and body of the accuser created by sin. They are raised to the makif, “above your enemies,” where the external forces have no hold, as Esther would enter only the inner court. Raising the essence of the soul’s powers needs a higher teshuvah that begins from the mazal, drawn down through Torah and mitzvos.¶4–5
- Torah, awe and the brideTorah study awakens the mazal and brings the higher awe, as Daniel’s companions trembled at what only their mazal saw. Then “you take her as a wife”: the soul’s tzadi is the bride of the Torah, while the Torah, which is Chochmah, is the bride relative to the soul’s mem; the Torah’s own mem is its source, reflected in the forty days of its giving and drawn down by the blessing over the Torah.¶6–8
- Shaving the head and doing the nailsHair and nails are the excess of intellect and emotion. Only in the highest holiness, or in a great Torah scholar, is excess itself holy; others must give up excesses of food, clothing and honor, and the baal teshuvah needs fences. In practice, the excess of the intellect is over-cleverness in earning a living: work is a vessel for G‑d’s blessing, but relying on schemes is like a garment too long, which trips its wearer.¶9–11
- The captive garment and the houseKelipah has one makif, the “reflection,” a will above reason that pulls a person from sin to sin unawares, but not the second, the yechidah. Removing the captive garment lets the holy makif, the lamed, rest on the soul, and dwelling “in your house,” the higher makif, makes the change permanent.¶12–13
- Weeping and unionWeeping for her father is a still higher teshuvah, tears of closeness rather than melancholy, like Rabbi Akiva’s over the Song of Songs: the level of Yom Kippur. “And be her husband” is mesirus nefesh, nefilas apayim and Ne’ilah, when contemplation of G‑dliness is absorbed into the depth of the heart.¶14
Key concepts
- tzelem, the image of G‑dצלם אלקים
- The intermediary between G‑dliness and the created soul. Its three letters name three levels: the tzadi, inner light clothed in the soul; the lamed, an encompassing light above it; and the mem, a still higher encompassing light.
- makif and makif of the makifמקיף ומקיף למקיף
- Encompassing lights, too great to enter a vessel, that affect it from beyond. The first (the lamed, the “garment”) can sometimes enter the inner light; the second (the mem, the “house”) never does.
- mazalמזל
- The part of the soul that remains above as a makif: “even though he does not see, his mazal sees.” From the root of “flowing,” it lets influence, awe and the call to teshuvah flow down into the soul in the body.
- woman of beautiful formאשת יפת תאר
- The tzadi of tzelem, the G‑dliness that descends and is held captive in the soul and body; the main task of divine service is to raise her. The higher lamed itself is called yefas to’ar, beautiful of form, from Tiferes.
- reflection and reflection of a reflectionבבואה ובבואה דבבואה
- From the Talmud’s statement about demons. Holiness has both makifim, while kelipah has only the first, a will above reason, and lacks the second, the yechidah, which has no opposite.
- excess of the intellectמותרי מוחין
- What grows beyond the mind’s essential content, symbolized by hair: holy only at the highest levels or in a great scholar; for others, over-cleverness, especially in earning a living, which must be “shaved.”
- higher teshuvahתשובה עילאה
- Return that reaches the essence of the soul’s powers rather than only their garments. It begins from the mazal, is awakened by Torah, and culminates in weeping of closeness and in mesirus nefesh.
The three letters of tzelem ¶1–3
1ביאור כי תצא.12 ענין שהאדם נברא בצלם אלקי׳ וענין בבואה ובבואה דבבואה3 הנה כתיב ויברא אלקים את האדם בצלמו בצלם אלקים4 וגו׳. ומבואר בע״ח [בעץ חיים] ענין צ׳ דצלם5 ולמ״ד דצלם מ״ם דצלם.6
An explanation of “When you go out”: the matter that man was created in the image of G‑d (tzelem Elokim), and the matter of a reflection and a reflection of a reflection (bavu’ah and bavu’ah dibavu’ah). Now, it is written, “And G‑d created man in His image, in the image of G‑d,” etc. And the matter of the tzadi of tzelem, and the lamed of tzelem, [and the] mem of tzelem, is explained in Etz Chaim.
This is a biur, an “explanation” that expands the maamar before it, on the verse “When you go out to war” (Deuteronomy 21:10) and the Torah’s law of the captive “woman of beautiful form.” It names its two themes: that man was created in the tzelem, the “image,” of G‑d, and the Talmud’s pair “reflection” and “reflection of a reflection.” It opens with the verse in Genesis and notes that Etz Chaim, Rabbi Chaim Vital’s record of the Arizal’s teachings, explains each of the three letters of the word tzelem (tzadi, lamed and mem) as a distinct level.
The opening states the subject: the “image of G‑d” in which man was created, read through the three letters of the word tzelem, and the Talmudic distinction between a “reflection” and a “reflection of a reflection.” Both will be used to explain the Torah’s passage on the captive woman of beautiful form.
The Kehot note records that in the Mitteler Rebbe’s transcript of this explanation (Sefer HaMaamarim 5565) the teaching on the letters of tzelem is cited from Pri Etz Chaim, in the kavanos of Hoshana Rabbah, rather than from Etz Chaim. Pri Etz Chaim does discuss the tzelem there, together with the “reflection” and “reflection of a reflection,” which is why the two themes are announced together.
Marei mekomos
- 1ביאור כי תצא · הנחת כ״א אדמו״ר האמצעי בסה״מ תקס״ה ח״ב ע׳ תתלא. חלק ממאמר זה (עד להלן לז סע״א) נמצא ג״כ בשינויים אחדים בהמשך מים רבים תרל״ו פ׳ קפא-ב. וראה גם סה״מ תרל״ו ח״ב ע׳ רמח. מצות תגלחת המצורע בדרך מצותיך קד, ב.
- 2כי תצא · Deuteronomy 21:10
- 3בבואה ובבואה דבבואה · Yevamot 122a:9–10
- 4ויברא אלקים את האדם בצלמו בצלם אלקים · Genesis 1:27
- 5ומבואר בע״ח ענין צ׳ דצלם · בסה״מ תקס״ה ח״ב ע׳ תתלא מביא זה בשם ”בפע״ח בכוונות דהש״ר”. חלק מסעיף א נמצא באוה״ת פ׳ וישלח רמא, א. וראה גם באוה״ת פ׳ ואתחנן ע׳ ק ואילך.
- 6
2ובמבוא שערים שער ה׳ ח״א [חלק א׳] פי״ג כ׳ [כתב] המוחין דז״א הם בחי׳ נפש וחיות אל הז״א והוא דמות פרצוף זך ורוחני מאד שלם בי״ס [בי׳ ספירות]
And in Mevo She’arim, Sha’ar 5, Part 1, chapter 13, he wrote: The intellect (mochin) of Z’eir Anpin (the emotive attributes) is the level of a soul and life-force for Z’eir Anpin; it is the likeness of a configuration (partzuf), very pure and spiritual, complete with ten Sefiros,
The Alter Rebbe quotes Mevo She’arim, a classic presentation of the Arizal’s Kabbalah. Z’eir Anpin, the configuration of the six emotive attributes in the World of Atzilus, has an intellect (mochin) of its own, and this intellect serves it as a soul: a complete, very refined form with all ten Sefiros.
והוא מתפשט בתוך הכלים של ז״א בתוך גופו להחיותו והוא בחי׳ צלם א׳ שיש בו ג׳ בחי׳ כנגד ג׳ אותיות צלם. ל׳ [לשון] מ׳ מקיפים וצ׳ הוא אור פנימי.
and it spreads within the vessels of Z’eir Anpin, within its body, to give it life. And it is the level of one tzelem (image), which has in it three levels corresponding to the three letters of tzelem: the lamed and mem are makifim (encompassing lights), and the tzadi is inner light (or pnimi).
This soul-like intellect spreads into Z’eir Anpin’s vessels, its “body,” and gives it life, and the whole is called one tzelem (image). The three letters of the word name its three parts: the tzadi is the inner light that actually enters the vessels, while the lamed and the mem are makifim, encompassing lights that stay above and affect it from beyond.
Quoting Mevo She’arim, the paragraph defines the tzelem of Z’eir Anpin: its intellect, which gives it life like a soul, divided by the letters of the word into inner light (tzadi) and two encompassing lights (lamed and mem).
The distinction between inner light (or pnimi), which is absorbed by a vessel and takes on its measure, and encompassing light (or makif), which is too great to be absorbed and affects the vessel from outside, is basic to the Arizal’s system. The rest of the maamar applies this threefold division to the human soul.
3ופי׳ שהא״פ [שהאור פנימי] הוא בחי׳ צ׳1 היינו ט״ס [ט׳ ספירות] דז״א חב״ד [חכמה בינה ודעת] חג״ת [חסד גבורה תפארת] נה״י [נצח הוד יסוד] כל אחד כלול מעשר עולה צ׳. וכמ״ש במ״ח מסכת הגדלות ז״א פ״ג [פרק ג׳].
The explanation: the inner light is the level of the tzadi, that is, the nine Sefiros of Z’eir Anpin (the emotive attributes) — Chochmah (wisdom), Binah (understanding) and Daas (knowledge); Chesed (kindness), Gevurah (restraint) and Tiferes (beauty); Netzach (victory), Hod (splendor) and Yesod (foundation) — each one comprising ten, which comes to tzadi (ninety). As is written in Mishnas Chassidim, the tractate on the Gadlus (maturity) of Z’eir Anpin, chapter 3.
The letters are explained by their numerical value. Tzadi equals ninety: the inner light is the nine Sefiros of Z’eir Anpin, from Chochmah to Yesod, each including all ten, so nine times ten. The source is Mishnas Chassidim, a compendium of the Arizal’s teachings arranged like the Mishnah.
ולמ״ד הוא מקיף היינו ג׳ מוחין חב״ד [חכמה בינה ודעת] דאצי׳ אשר כל א׳ כלול מעשר עולה למ״ד אשר הוא בחי׳ מקיף לכללות הא״פ [האור פנימי] דט״ס [דט׳ ספירות] דז״א שהיא בחי׳ צ׳ ועמ״ש בביאור ע״פ ועשית ציץ23 גבי קדש למ״ד מלמטה.
And the lamed is a makif: that is, the three mochin, Chochmah, Binah and Daas of Atzilus (the World of Emanation), each of which comprises ten, which comes to lamed (thirty); it is the level of a makif to the inner light of the nine Sefiros of Z’eir Anpin as a whole, which is the level of the tzadi. And see what is written in the explanation on the verse “And you shall make a tzitz,” regarding “Holy” [and the] lamed below.
Lamed equals thirty: three mochin, Chochmah, Binah and Daas of Atzilus, each including ten, which stand as one makif over the whole inner light of Z’eir Anpin. The Alter Rebbe refers to his Torah Ohr explanation of the tzitz, the High Priest’s golden plate, where the inscription “Holy to Havayah” was arranged with “Holy” and the lamed on the lower line.
והמ״ם הוא בחי׳ כתר מקיף הכללי כולל כל הד׳ בחי׳ כחב״ד [כחכמה בינה ודעת] (ע׳ [עיין] בכוונת ברכת כהנים ובקידוש דשבת)
And the mem is the level of Keser (the Crown), the general makif, which includes all four levels, Keser, Chochmah, Binah and Daas (see the kavanah of the Priestly Blessing, and [that] of the Kiddush of Shabbos),
Mem equals forty: it is Keser, the Crown, a general makif that includes four levels, Keser, Chochmah, Binah and Daas, each comprising ten. The parenthesis points to the kavanos (mystical intentions) of the Priestly Blessing and of the Shabbos Kiddush as further places to see this.
והוא בחי׳ מקיף למקיף שהמקיף הראשון שהוא בחי׳ ל׳ [לשון] יוכל להתלבש לפעמים ליכנס בתוך הא״פ [האור פנימי] והכלים4 משא״כ המ׳ שהוא בחי׳ מקיף למקיף כו׳
and it is the level of a makif to the makif. For the first makif, which is the level of the lamed, can at times be clothed, entering within the inner light and the vessels; whereas the mem, which is the level of a makif to the makif, etc.
The mem is therefore a “makif to the makif,” an encompassing light that surrounds even the lamed. The difference between them is that the lamed, the first makif, can at times be clothed and enter the inner light and the vessels, while the mem does not.
ומ״מ ב׳ מקיפים אלו דל׳ [דלשון] מ׳ הם לבד ענין הכתר דז״א5 ומאירים עליו מרחוק יותר מבחי׳ הכתר דז״א כמ״ש במ״ח שם פ״ו
Nevertheless, these two makifim of the lamed and mem are apart from the Keser of Z’eir Anpin, and they shine upon it from afar, farther off than the level of the Keser of Z’eir Anpin, as is written in Mishnas Chassidim, there, chapter 6.
Both of these makifim are distinct from the Keser of Z’eir Anpin itself. They shine on Z’eir Anpin from farther away than its own Keser does, as Mishnas Chassidim writes in chapter 6 of the same tractate.
(ועיין מענין מקיף ומקיף למקיף בפ׳ שמות בביאור ע״פ הבאים ישרש יעקב67 ובמ״ש במ״א ע״פ חנכת הבית לדוד89 בענין לבוש ובית כו׳ וע׳ לקמן פ׳ נצבים בפי׳ לא בשמים היא10 ולא מעבר לים היא11 כו׳ בחי׳ מקיף ומקיף דמקיף כו׳ ע״ש)
(And on the matter of the makif and the makif to the makif, see Parshas Shemos, in the explanation on the verse “Those who come, Yaakov will take root,” and what is written elsewhere on the verse “…the dedication of the House, of David,” on the matter of a garment and a house, etc. And see below, Parshas Nitzavim, on the meaning of “It is not in heaven… and it is not beyond the sea,” etc.: the level of a makif and a makif of a makif, etc.; see there.)
This parenthesis lists other discourses on the makif and the makif of the makif: Torah Ohr on Shemos; the discourse on the psalm of the dedication of the House, where the two are a “garment” and a “house”; and Likkutei Torah on Nitzavim, on “It is not in heaven, and it is not beyond the sea.”
וכן יובן למעלה יותר מריש כל דרגין הנה הא״פ [האור פנימי] הוא בחי׳ הקו כו׳ (וע׳ בביאור ע״פ יביאו לבוש מלכות1213 כו׳)
And so it is to be understood higher still, above the “Head of all levels”: the inner light is the level of the kav (line of light), etc. (And see the explanation on the verse “Let them bring royal garments,” etc.)
The same structure exists higher still, above the “Head of all levels”: there the inner light is the kav, the thin line of light drawn into the space left by the tzimtzum, and by implication the encompassing levels stand beyond it. The Alter Rebbe refers to his Torah Ohr explanation of “Let them bring royal garments” (Esther 6:8).
Now likewise, regarding the soul of man, it is also said, “And G‑d created man in His image, in the image of G‑d,” in the manner described above.
Now the Alter Rebbe applies all this to the human soul. The verse “And G‑d created man in His image” means that the soul, too, has a tzelem with a tzadi, a lamed and a mem.
ועיקר ענין הצלם הוא להיות ממוצע16 בין אלהות לנשמה כי הנשמה הוא בחי׳ נברא יש מאין ע״י התלבשות האור במל׳ דעשי׳ [דעשיה] בכלים.
The tzelem’s main function is to connect G‑dliness and the soul. The soul is a created being, brought into existence “something from nothing” through the divine light clothing itself in vessels in Malchus of Asiyah, so something must stand between it and G‑dliness.
וכ״זה [וכל זה] הוא עדיין אלקות כו׳ ולהיות התהוות הנשמה שהיא נברא הוא ע״י הצלם אלקים ומתחלק לב׳ בחי׳ צ׳ דצלם
And all this is still G‑dliness, etc. And since the coming into being of the soul, which is a created being, is through the image of G‑d (tzelem Elokim), it divides into two levels: the tzadi of tzelem,
Light even at that stage is still G‑dliness, while the soul is a created thing, so the soul comes into being through the tzelem, the “image of G‑d,” which divides into two levels. The first of them is the tzadi.
היינו בחי׳ אלקות שבתוך הנשמה (וע׳ בע״ח [בעץ חיים] שמ״א פ״ג [פרק ג׳]) ולמ״ד בחי׳ מקיף וזהו בחי׳ מזלא הנז׳ [הנזכר] בדרז״ל [בדברי רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] מזליה חזי.17
that is, the level of G‑dliness that is within the soul (and see Etz Chaim, Sha’ar 41, chapter 3); and the lamed, the level of a makif. And this is the level of the mazal mentioned in the words of our Sages, of blessed memory: “his mazal sees.”
The tzadi is the G‑dliness within the soul; the lamed is a makif above it. This makif is what the Talmud calls a person’s mazal: “Even though he does not see, his mazal sees” (Megillah 3a), a part of the soul that perceives what the person himself does not.
שמשם נמשך בחי׳ צ׳ להתלבש בנשמה וכנודע ממאמר הבעש״ט [הבעל שם טוב]18 נ״ע [נשמתו עדן] בענין הב״ק [הבת קול] שמכרזת שובו בנים19 דקשה מי הוא השומע20 כו׳. וא״כ מהו הפעולה מהכרוז.
For from there the level of the tzadi is drawn down to be clothed in the soul. And as is known from the saying of the Baal Shem Tov, whose soul is in Eden, concerning the heavenly voice (bas kol) that proclaims, “Return, O children”: for it is difficult — who is it that hears it? etc. And if so, what does the proclamation accomplish?
From the mazal the tzadi is drawn down and clothed in the soul. The Alter Rebbe cites the Baal Shem Tov’s question about the heavenly voice that calls “Return, O children” (Chagigah 15a): if no one hears it, what does it accomplish?
אלא היינו דמזליה חזי הכרוז ומזה נמשך ג״כ הרגשה בנשמה שבגוף שנמשך לה מלמעלה מבחי׳ מזליה וע״כ נק׳ מזל שממשיך ההזלה וההשפעה
Rather, it is that his mazal sees the proclamation, and from this a feeling is drawn also into the soul that is in the body, which is drawn to it from above, from the level of his mazal. And therefore it is called mazal, for it draws down the flowing (hazalah) and the influence
The answer is that the person’s mazal hears the call, and from it a feeling reaches the soul in the body, a stirring from above whose source he does not know. This is why it is called mazal, from the root of “flowing” (nozel): it lets the influence flow down to the soul.
(ועמ״ש בד״ה האזינו השמים21 בפירוש ונוזלים מן לבנון כו׳) והמזל הוא בחי׳ אלקות שאינו מתלבש בנפש כלל
(and see what is written in the discourse beginning “Listen, O heavens,” on the meaning of “and streams (nozlim) from Lebanon,” etc.). And the mazal is the level of G‑dliness that is not clothed in the soul at all,
The parenthesis refers to the discourse “Listen, O heavens,” later in Likkutei Torah, on “streams (nozlim) from Lebanon” (Song of Songs 4:15), the same root as mazal. The mazal itself is G‑dliness that does not clothe itself in the soul at all.
שהוא למעלה ממדרגת מלאך וכמ״ש הרח״ו [הרבי חיים ויטאל] בשער הקדושה והנבואה שהמדרגה הגדולה שבכולם הוא גילוי הנשמה שלו עצמו שהוא למעלה ממדרגת גילוי אליהו22 והיינו בחי׳ הנשמה שלמעלה מן הגוף למ״ד דצלם.
for it is higher than the rank of an angel; as Rabbi Chaim Vital wrote in the Gate of Holiness and Prophecy, that the greatest rank of them all is the revelation of one’s own soul, which is higher than the rank of the revelation of Eliyahu. And this is the level of the soul that is above the body, the lamed of tzelem.
The mazal is higher than an angel. Rabbi Chaim Vital wrote that the greatest of all revelations is the revelation of one’s own soul, higher even than a revelation of Eliyahu the prophet; that soul above the body is the lamed of tzelem.
ונק׳ בחי׳ יפת תואר23 שהוא מז״א עצמו (ר״ל [רוצה לומר] למעלה מבחי׳ מל׳ וע׳ בזח״א [בזהר חלק א]) (פ׳ ויחי דרמ״ה) ע״פ שימני כחותם24 בגין דאינון אתיין מסטרא דדכורא25 כו׳.
And it is called the level of “beautiful of form” (yefas to’ar), for it is from Z’eir Anpin itself (that is to say, above the level of Malchus; and see the Zohar, Part I) (Parshas Vayechi, folio 245), on the verse “Set me as a seal”: “because they come from the side of the male,” etc.
The lamed is also called yefas to’ar, “beautiful of form,” because it derives from Z’eir Anpin itself, above Malchus. The Zohar, on “Set me as a seal upon your heart” (Song of Songs 8:6), says that the souls of the righteous below awaken love above “because they come from the side of the King, the side of the male,” that is, from Z’eir Anpin.
וע׳ מ״ש לעיל פ׳ בשלח סד״ה וה׳ הולך לפניהם26 יומם27 במש״ש [במה שכתוב שם] ישראל נעשו אז למעלה מבחי׳ שכינה כו׳
And see what is written above, in Parshas Beshalach, at the end of the discourse beginning “And Havayah went before them by day,” in what is written there: Israel then became higher than the level of the Shechinah (Divine Presence), etc.,
The Alter Rebbe refers to his Torah Ohr discourse on “And Havayah went before them by day” (Exodus 13:21). It explains that at the splitting of the sea Israel rose above the level of the Shechinah, the Divine Presence associated with Malchus.
ועל דמות הכסא28 כו׳ לך הוי׳ הגדולה והגבורה והתפארת29 תפארת עיקר שהוא בחי׳ גוונין ש״ע [ש״ע (370)] נהורין30 כו׳
and “upon the likeness of the throne,” etc. “Yours, Havayah, are the greatness and the might and the beauty”: Tiferes (beauty) is the principal one, for it is the level of colors, “370 lights,” etc.
Ezekiel’s phrase “upon the likeness of the throne” (Ezekiel 1:26) points to a level above the throne, where, as part 22 says, the lamed of the soul remains. In “Yours, Havayah, are the greatness, the might and the beauty” (1 Chronicles 29:11), Tiferes, “beauty,” is the principal attribute because it is the realm of colors and of the “370 lights” that, in the Idra Rabba, Z’eir Anpin receives from Arich Anpin: this is the beauty of yefas to’ar.
וזה נמשך מבחי׳ למד שהוא חב״ד [חכמה בינה ודעת] וכמ״ש חכמת אדם תאיר פניו313233 עד״מ שצהבו פניו מהשכלת שכל חדש34 שהשכל החדש נמשך מבחי׳ משכיל שהוא הארת המקיף וזהו ענין יאר ה׳ פניו תרין תפוחין כו׳
And this is drawn from the level of the lamed, which is Chochmah, Binah and Daas; as it is written, “A man’s wisdom makes his face shine” — for example, that one’s face lit up from grasping a new insight; for the new insight is drawn from the level of the one who conceives it (maskil), which is the radiance of the makif. And this is the meaning of “May Havayah make His face shine”: the two apples, etc.
This beauty is drawn from the lamed, the intellect: “A man’s wisdom makes his face shine” (Ecclesiastes 8:1), just as a face lights up on grasping a new idea. A new idea comes from the maskil, the power that conceives ideas, which is the radiance of the makif; this is the meaning of “May Havayah make His face shine” in the Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:25), and of the “two apples,” the Zohar’s term for the cheeks of the divine face.
(הנז׳ [הנזכר] באד״ר [באדרא רבא] וכמ״ש ג״כ בפע״ח [בפרי עץ חיים] בכוונות ברכת כהנים בפי׳ יאר ה׳ פניו כו׳ שהוא המשכה מבחי׳ ל׳ [לשון] מ׳ דצלם כו׳ ועמ״ש מענין תפארת סד״ה יונתי בחגוי35 ובד״ה אם בהרת קדמה)36 והמ״ם הוא מא״א [מאריך אנפין] כו׳ כנ״ל.
(mentioned in the Idra Rabba; and as is also written in Pri Etz Chaim, in the kavanos of the Priestly Blessing, on the meaning of “May Havayah make His face shine,” etc., that it is a drawing down from the level of the lamed and mem of tzelem, etc.; and see what is written on the matter of Tiferes at the end of the discourse beginning “My dove, in the clefts,” and in the discourse beginning “If the bright spot preceded”). And the mem is from Arich Anpin, etc., as mentioned above.
The parenthesis cites the Idra Rabba of the Zohar, and the kavanos of the Priestly Blessing in Pri Etz Chaim, which explain “May Havayah make His face shine” as light drawn from the lamed and mem of tzelem; it also cites two discourses on Tiferes. The mem, the higher makif, comes from Arich Anpin, the outer dimension of Keser, as was said above when the mem was called Keser.
והצ׳ הוא בחי׳ אשת יפ״ת [יפת תאר] שיורד ומתלבש כו׳ ועיקר העבודה להעלות צ׳ דצלם אשת יפ״ת [יפת תאר].
And the tzadi is the level of “a woman of beautiful form” (eshes yefas to’ar), which descends and is clothed, etc. And the essence of the service is to raise up the tzadi of tzelem, the woman of beautiful form.
The tzadi, the G‑dliness that descends and clothes itself in the soul and body, is the “woman of beautiful form” captured in the Torah’s passage. The main task of divine service is to raise this tzadi back up.
וכמ״כ [וכמו כן] למעלה הצ׳ יורד למטה במל׳ ונק׳ אשת יפ״ת [יפת תאר] והלמ״ד נשאר למעלה ועל דמות הכסא
And likewise above: the tzadi descends below, into Malchus, and is called “a woman of beautiful form,” while the lamed remains above, and “upon the likeness of the throne” —
The same happens above in the Sefiros: the tzadi descends into Malchus, where it is called the woman of beautiful form, while the lamed stays above, “upon the likeness of the throne.”
וכמו בנשמה שמתחלקת לב׳ בחינות הארה שמתפשטת בגוף ומה שנשאר למעלה בבחי׳ מקיף שממנה באין ההשפעות והארות הנשמה כו׳ (ועיין בזהר ר״פ במדבר):3738
just as in the soul, which divides into two levels: a ray that spreads into the body, and what remains above as a makif, from which come the influences and illuminations of the soul, etc. (And see the Zohar, at the beginning of Parshas Bamidbar.)
Likewise the soul divides into two: a ray that spreads into the body, and the greater part that remains above as a makif and sends the soul’s influences and illuminations down to it. The Alter Rebbe refers to the opening of the Zohar on Bamidbar (3:117a, as the preceding maamar gives the page), which reads the double “in His image… in the image of G‑d” as two levels.
The paragraph decodes the three letters of tzelem: tzadi (ninety) is the inner light of Z’eir Anpin’s nine Sefiros, lamed (thirty) the makif of Chochmah, Binah and Daas, and mem (forty) the higher makif of Keser. It then applies this to the soul: the tzadi is the G‑dliness clothed in the soul, the “woman of beautiful form” that must be raised, while the lamed is the person’s mazal above, from which awareness and the call to teshuvah flow down.
The Kehot note on part 4 quotes Hemshech 5672 (vol. 1, ch. 244): the lamed can enter the inner light because Chochmah, Binah and Daas are inner light in essence and are a makif only relative to Z’eir Anpin’s own mochin, which he compares to “mazal makes wise,” added light from the power of the maskil. Likkutei Torah on Shir HaShirim (24a) gives the Baal Shem Tov’s teaching on the heavenly voice in the same spirit: the thoughts of teshuvah that come to a person unbidden are that voice, an arousal from above.
Marei mekomos
- 1שהא״פ הוא בחי׳ צ׳ · ראה אוה״ת ויקרא כרך ב ע׳ תשיב.
- 2ועמ״ש בביאור ע״פ ועשית ציץ · תו״א פד, א.
- 3ועשית ציץ · Exodus 28:36
- 4בחי׳ ל׳ יוכל להתלבש לפעמים ליכנס בתוך הא״פ והכלים · ”וי״ל להיות שזהו בחי׳ מוחין חב״ד שהן בחי׳ או״פ בעצם רק שהן בחי׳ מקיף לגבי מוחין דז״א (ועמ״ש בסידור ע״פ השמים מספרים מענין עצמות המוחין ומוחין שבמדות) ע״כ נכנסים לפעמים בתוך האו״פ כו׳, ונראה שם בהביאור שזהו כענין מזל מחכים . . דהיינו בחי׳ תוס׳ אור וגילוי מכח המשכיל שנקרא מזל” — המשך בששה״ק תער״ב ח״א פרק רמד.
- 5ענין הכתר דז״א · בהמשך מים רבים שם נוסף: וע׳ מענין כתר דז״א בד״ה כי על כל כבוד חופה [לקו״ת סוף שה״ש].
- 6בביאור ע״פ הבאים ישרש יעקב · תו״א נד, ג.
- 7
- 8ע״פ חנוכת הבית לדוד · סידור עם דא״ח ולקמן פ׳ ברכה צח, ד.
- 9חנכת הבית לדוד · Psalms 30:1
- 10לא בשמים היא · Deuteronomy 30:12
- 11ולא מעבר לים היא · Deuteronomy 30:13
- 12בביאור ע״פ יביאו לבוש מלכות · תו״א צב, ב.
- 13יביאו לבוש מלכות · Esther 6:8
- 14ויברא אלקים את האדם בצלמו בצלם אלקים · Genesis 1:27
- 15ויברא אלקים את האדם בצלמו בצלם אלקים · Zohar, Bamidbar 1:1–7
- 16ועיקר ענין הצלם הוא להיות ממוצע · ראה מאמרי אדה״א פ׳ תצא ע׳ תקה.
- 17מזליה חזי · Megillah 3a:13–14
- 18ממאמר הבעש״ט · ראה לקמן פ׳ האזינו עא, ד. שה״ש טז, ד. ראה ג״כ כש״ט (הוצאת קה״ת) סקמ״ו. סרנ״ה. סש״ס. לקמן שה״ש כד, א. ובהנסמן בסה״מ תרל״ו ח״ב ע׳ תפח.
- 19הב״ק שמכרזת שובו בנים · Chagigah 15a:6
- 20מי הוא השומע · וכ״ה להדיא בס׳ חרדים לבסוף. [כ].
- 21בד״ה האזינו השמים · לקמן עא, ד.
- 22גילוי הנשמה . . למע׳ ממדרגת גילוי אליהו · בהמשך מים רבים (הנסמן לעיל בריש הביאור) נוסף: וע׳ במ״א בד״ה כל העוסק בתורה בלילה שהאר״י ז״ל זכה לזה ע״י בחי׳ שמחה של מצוה ע״כ (ראה גם שם ע׳ רז. וסה״מ תרל״ו ח״ב ע׳ תקיב). וראה ביאור בזה בד״ה להבין מ״ש בזהר תמיד בענין עסק התורה בלילה בביאוה״ז להצ״צ כרך א ע׳ קצו.
- 23יפת תואר · Deuteronomy 21:11
- 24שימני כחותם · Song of Songs 8:6
- 25בגין דאינון אתיין מסטרא דדכורא · Zohar, Vayechi 72:742–751
- 26סד״ה הולך לפניהם · תו״א סה, א.
- 27
- 28ועל דמות הכסא · Ezekiel 1:26
- 29לך הוי׳ הגדולה והגבורה והתפארת · I Chronicles 29:11
- 30ש״ע נהורין · ראה תו״א מח, א.
- 31חכמת אדם תאיר פניו · Ecclesiastes 8:1
- 32חכמת אדם תאיר פניו · Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 8:6–7
- 33יאר ה׳ פניו · Numbers 6:25
- 34שצהבו פניו מהשכלת שכל חדש · Menachot 18a:5–6
- 35יונתי בחגוי · Song of Songs 2:14
- 36אם בהרת קדמה · Mishnah Negaim 4:11
- 37בזהר ר״פ במדבר · ראה לעיל לו, א. אוה״ת פ׳ ואתחנן ע׳ ק.
- 38
Gathering the captives, above the enemies ¶4–5
4ב והנה בסדר העלאה זו מתחילה ושבית שביו1 דהיינו בהתפשטות הארת הנפש במודומ״ע [במחשבה דבור ומעשה] של הבלי העולם פיזור הנפש
2. Now, in the order of this ascent, it begins with “and you take his captives captive”: that is, with the spreading of the soul’s radiance into the thought, speech and action of the vanities of the world, the scattering of the soul;
Section 2 describes the ascent in stages, following the verse. It begins with “and you take his captives captive” (Deuteronomy 21:10): first one rescues the soul’s light that went out into worldly vanities through thought, speech and action, which the Alter Rebbe calls “the scattering of the soul.”
והיינו כחותיה והארותיה שנתפזרו ע״י מודומ״ע [מחשבה דבור ומעשה] דמילין דהדיוטא וכנודע מענין החלומות וכף הקלע שהם התפשטות הארת הנפש במודומ״ע [במחשבה דבור ומעשה] שלא נאבד כו׳ והארות אלו נתפזרו בכמה לבושין
that is, its powers and radiances that were scattered through thought, speech and action in mundane matters (milin dehedyota); as is known from the matter of dreams and of the hollow of the sling (kaf hakela), which are [a matter of] the spreading of the soul’s radiance into thought, speech and action, which is not lost, etc. And these radiances were scattered into many garments,
These are the soul’s powers, scattered through ordinary, mundane thought, speech and deeds. The Alter Rebbe compares dreams and the kaf hakela, the “hollow of the sling” through which, in Kabbalistic teaching, a soul is cleansed, as known processes concerned with such scattered light, so that none of it is lost; meanwhile it has become dispersed in many “garments.”
וצריך לקבצם ועל זה נאמר משם יקבצך2 כו׳ (ובפי׳ משם. עיין בד״ה אני לדודי) והקיבוץ היינו ע״י עקירת הרצון וגם ע״י וידוי דברים
and one must gather them. And of this it is said, “From there He will gather you,” etc. (And on the meaning of “from there,” see the discourse beginning “I am my Beloved’s.”) And the gathering is through uprooting the will, and also through verbal confession;
These scattered lights must be gathered, as the verse promises, “From there Havayah your G‑d will gather you” (Deuteronomy 30:4). The gathering is done in two ways: by uprooting the will that desired the wrong thing, and by verbal confession.
שהרי הם בחינת אותיות הנפולין וע״י אותיות אשמנו בגדנו כו׳ מעלים האותיות. ולכן לא די בעקירת הרצון לבד כ״א ג״כ וידוי דברים.
for they are at the level of fallen letters, and through the letters of “We have trespassed, we have betrayed,” etc., one raises up the letters. Therefore uprooting the will alone is not enough; rather, verbal confession too [is needed].
Confession is needed because the scattered powers are “fallen letters,” the letters of improper speech and thought; saying the letters of the confession, “We have trespassed, we have betrayed,” raises those letters up. So uprooting the will is not enough on its own.
Section 2 begins the order of ascent: the soul’s powers, scattered through mundane thought, speech and action, are “the captives” that must be gathered and raised, through uprooting the will and through verbal confession, which raises the “fallen letters.”
The two steps correspond to the two ways the soul’s light went astray: the will, which is inward, and the letters of thought and speech, which are its garments. Each must be undone in its own medium, the will by uprooting it and the letters by speaking other letters.
Marei mekomos
- 1
- 2משם יקבצך · Deuteronomy 30:4
5ועוד כי הנה מכל עון נברא קטיגור1 א׳ ויש בו ג״כ נפש וגוף. הנפש נעשה מן התאוה והרצון שלבו נתאוה לדבר ההוא. והגוף נעשה מהמעשה ההוא או מהדבור כו׳.
Furthermore: from every sin one accuser is created, and it too has a soul and a body. The soul is made from the desire and the will, in that his heart desired that thing; and the body is made from that act, or from the speech, etc.
A further reason for both steps: the Mishnah teaches that whoever commits a transgression acquires an accuser (Avos 4:11), and this accuser has a soul and a body. Its soul is made from the desire that led to the sin, and its body from the deed or the words.
ולכן כדי להיות מחיתי כעב פשעיך2 כו׳ הוא ג״כ ע״י ב׳ דברים שע״י עקרית הרצון מוציא הנפש וע״י וידוי דברים נמחה הגוף כו׳.
Therefore, for there to be “I have wiped away your transgressions like a cloud,” etc., it is likewise through two things: through uprooting the will one takes out the soul, and through verbal confession the body is wiped away, etc.
So for the sin to be erased, as in “I have wiped away your transgressions like a cloud” (Isaiah 44:22), both are needed. Uprooting the will removes the accuser’s soul, and verbal confession erases its body.
וההעלאה הוא3 לבחי׳ למ,ד דצלם בחי׳ מקיפים שהמקיף מסמא עיני החיצונים שלכן אחיזתם בין פנימי למקיף ואחוריהם למקיף שאין יכולים להסתכל בא״מ [באור מקיף] שהוא מסמא עיניהם. וזהו על אויביך דהיינו למקום שאין האויבים שולטים4 כו׳
And the ascent is to the level of the lamed of tzelem, the level of the makifim (encompassing lights); for the makif blinds the eyes of the external forces (chitzonim). That is why their hold is between the inner [light] and the makif, with their backs to the makif: for they cannot gaze at the encompassing light (or makif), since it blinds their eyes. And this is “above your enemies” (al oyvecha): that is, to a place where the enemies have no dominion, etc.
The scattered powers are raised to the lamed of tzelem, the encompassing lights. The external forces cannot face an encompassing light, which blinds them, so they cling only to the space between the inner light and the makif, with their backs to it. This is how the Alter Rebbe reads “When you go out to war al oyvecha”: not only “against your enemies” but “above your enemies,” to a place where they have no power.
(ובזה יש לתרץ קושיא במ״ש אסתר למרדכי כל עבדי המלך כו׳ יודעים אשר כל איש ואשה אשר יבוא אל המלך אל החצר הפנימית אשר לא יקרא כו׳ ואני לא נקראתי5 כו׳.
(And with this one can resolve a difficulty in what Esther said to Mordechai: “All the king’s servants,” etc., “know that any man or woman who comes to the king, to the inner court, who is not called,” etc., “and I have not been called,” etc.
In a long parenthesis the Alter Rebbe uses this to resolve a difficulty in the Book of Esther. Mordechai asked Esther to plead before the king, and she answered that anyone who enters the king’s inner court uncalled is put to death, and she had not been called (Esther 4:11).
דלכאורה אין זה תירוץ כלל דהרי עכ״פ [על כל פנים] יכלה לבוא אל החצר החיצונה ונערי המלך יגידו אליו מי בחצר וכמ״ש והמן בא לחצר בית המלך6 החיצונה לאמר למלך כו׳.
For seemingly this is no answer at all, since in any case she could have come to the outer court, and the king’s attendants would have told him who was in the court; as it is written, “And Haman had come into the outer court of the king’s house to speak to the king,” etc.
This seems to be no answer, since she could have gone to the outer court, where the attendants would announce her to the king. That is what Haman did when he came to the outer court to speak to the king (Esther 6:4).
אך אסתר קיימה כמ״ש בתורה כי תצא למלחמה צ״ל על אויביך דהיינו למקום שאין האויבים שולטים והוא בחינת חצר הפנימית משא״כ בבחינת חצר החיצונה הרי שם יש אחיזה למהן ג״כ כמ״ש והמן בא לחצר כו׳ החיצונה כנ״ל.
But Esther fulfilled what is written in the Torah: “When you go out to war,” it must be “above your enemies,” that is, to a place where the enemies have no dominion, which is the level of the inner court; whereas at the level of the outer court, Haman too has a hold there, as it is written, “And Haman had come into the court,” etc., “the outer,” as mentioned above.
The answer is that Esther kept the Torah’s principle that the war must be waged “above your enemies,” in the inner court, where they cannot take hold. In the outer court Haman too had a hold, as the verse shows him standing there.
כי חצר החיצונה הוא המשכת החיות לחיצוניות העולמות כמ״ש בפ׳ במדבר ע״פ וארשתיך לי7 כו׳ וע׳ בד״ה ונתתי לך מהלכים8 בפי׳ תשמור את חצרי כו׳ דלכך צריך שמירה כו׳.
For the outer court is the drawing down of life-force (chayus) to the outer dimension (chitzoniyus) of the worlds, as is written in Parshas Bamidbar on the verse “And I will betroth you to Me,” etc.; and see the discourse beginning “And I will give you places to walk,” on the meaning of “you shall guard My courts,” etc., that this is why guarding is needed, etc.
The outer court stands for life-force drawn into the outer dimension of the worlds, where the opposing forces can take hold. The Alter Rebbe refers to his discourses on “And I will betroth you to Me” (Hosea 2:21) and on “you shall guard My courts” (Zechariah 3:7), which explain why such a court needs guarding.
אך חצר הפנימית הוא בחי׳ מפתחות הפנימית וכמ״ש בפ׳ ראה בד״ה כי תשמע שהוא המשכת אור א״ס ב״ה מבחי׳ סוכ״ע וז״ש [וזהו שכתוב] שער החצר הפנימית9 הפונה קדים.
But the inner court is the level of the inner keys, as is written in Parshas Re’eh, in the discourse beginning “If you hear,” that it is the drawing down of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He, from the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin). And this is [the meaning of] what is written, “The gate of the inner court that faces east (kadim),”
The inner court is the “inner keys”: light drawn from the Infinite One’s sovev kol almin, the light that encompasses all worlds. The Alter Rebbe cites his discourse in Re’eh and Ezekiel’s “gate of the inner court that faces east (kadim)” (Ezekiel 46:1).
שהוא פונה לבחי׳ קדמונו של עולם. וע״ז נא׳ [נאמר] סגור יהיה כו׳ וביום השבת יפתח וכמ״ש במ״א ע״פ ויקהל משה10 כו׳.
for it faces toward the level of the Primordial One of the world (Kadmono shel olam). And of this it is said, “shall be closed,” etc., “and on the Shabbos day it shall be opened”; as is written elsewhere on the verse “And Moshe assembled,” etc.
The word for east, kadim, is read as kadmon, “the Primordial One of the world.” That gate “shall be closed” on weekdays and opened on Shabbos, the time of a higher revelation; the discourse on “And Moshe assembled” (Exodus 35:1) develops this.
ולכן הוכרחה לבוא דוקא אל החצר הפנימית שהוא בחי׳ על אויביך אשר משם נמשך נצוח המלחמה לה׳ בעמלק11 כו׳) וכ״ז [וכל זה] הוא בחי׳ העלאות התפשטות פיזור הנפש במודומ״ע [במחשבה דבור ומעשה] שהן לבושים.
Therefore she had to come specifically to the inner court, which is the level of “above your enemies,” from which is drawn the victory of “Havayah’s war against Amalek,” etc.) And all this is the level of the raising up of the scattered outspreading of the soul into thought, speech and action, which are garments.
That is why Esther had to come to the inner court specifically: it is the level “above your enemies,” the source of victory in “Havayah’s war with Amalek” (Exodus 17:16), and Haman was of Amalek. Closing the parenthesis, the Alter Rebbe says that all this concerns raising the soul’s outer garments, its scattered thought, speech and action.
אבל להעלות עצמיות הצ׳ שהוא בחי׳ חב״ד [חכמה בינה ודעת] חג״ת [חסד גבורה תפארת] נה״י [נצח הוד יסוד] צ״ל תשובה יותר עילאה כי כמה מדרגות יש בתשובה
But to raise up the very essence of the tzadi, which is the level of Chochmah (wisdom), Binah (understanding) and Daas (knowledge), Chesed (kindness), Gevurah (restraint) and Tiferes (beauty), Netzach (victory), Hod (splendor) and Yesod (foundation), a higher teshuvah (return) is needed; for there are many levels in teshuvah
Raising the essence of the tzadi itself, the nine powers of the soul’s intellect and emotions rather than their garments, requires a higher teshuvah. Teshuvah has many levels.
(עיין בד״ה האזינו השמים12 הנ״ל בענין שבת אותיות תשב ומי שטרח13 בע״ש [בערב שבת] היינו התפלה שבכל יום כו׳ שהיא ג״כ בחי׳ תשובה כו׳ עי״ז יבוא לבחי׳ תשובה דשבת.
(see the discourse beginning “Listen, O heavens,” mentioned above, on the matter that Shabbos has the letters of tashev (“return”), and that “one who toiled on Erev Shabbos” is the prayer of every day, etc., which is also a level of teshuvah, etc.; through this he will come to the level of the teshuvah of Shabbos.
The parenthesis cites the discourse “Listen, O heavens”: the word Shabbos has the letters of tashev, “return,” and the Talmud’s “one who toiled on the eve of Shabbos [will eat on Shabbos]” refers to the daily prayers. Prayer is itself a kind of teshuvah, and it leads to the teshuvah of Shabbos.
ויש עוד בחי׳ שבת שבתון שלמעלה גם מבחי׳ תשובה דשבת כו׳ ע״ש ומשם יובן למש״כ [למה שכתוב]) והיינו ע״י המשכת למ״ד דצלם בחי׳ מזל14 שצריך להתחיל מבחי׳ מזל
And there is a further level, Shabbos Shabbason, which is higher even than the level of the teshuvah of Shabbos, etc.; see there, and from there what is written [here] will be understood.) And this is through drawing down the lamed of tzelem, the level of mazal: for one must begin from the level of mazal,
There is a level higher still, Shabbos Shabbason, above the teshuvah of Shabbos. This higher teshuvah comes by drawing down the lamed of tzelem, the mazal, and the process must begin from the mazal.
והיינו ע״י תורה ומצות מצות הם כתר ותורה חכמה אורייתא מחכמה נפקת כו׳ וכתיב חכמת אדם תאיר פניו15 ועי״ז יאר פניו אתנו סלה16 להיות גילוי פנימית הלב.17
and this is through Torah and mitzvos. The mitzvos are Keser (the Crown), and the Torah is Chochmah — “the Torah issues from Chochmah,” etc. And it is written, “A man’s wisdom makes his face shine”; and through this, “May He make His face shine upon us, selah,” so that there be a revelation of the inner dimension (pnimiyus) of the heart.
The mazal is drawn down through Torah and mitzvos: the mitzvos correspond to Keser, will, and the Torah to Chochmah, as “the Torah issues from Chochmah.” As “A man’s wisdom makes his face shine” (Ecclesiastes 8:1), so “May He make His face shine upon us” (Psalms 67:2): the inner dimension of the heart is revealed.
The paragraph explains why both uprooting the will and confession are needed (the accuser created by sin has a soul and a body), and why the soul’s powers must be raised to the encompassing light, “above your enemies,” where the external forces cannot reach, illustrated by Esther’s choice of the inner court. It then says that raising the essence of the soul’s powers needs a higher teshuvah, which begins from the mazal and is drawn down through Torah and mitzvos.
The principle that the external forces cling between the inner and the encompassing light, “with their backs to the makif,” explains why encompassing light protects: what they cannot face, they cannot draw from. The Esther parenthesis applies this to history: Esther would approach the king only where Haman had no hold, in the inner court facing kadim, the Primordial One, the place “above your enemies.”
Marei mekomos
- 1מכל עון נברא קטיגור א׳ · ראה אבות ד, יא
- 2מחיתי כעב פשעיך · Isaiah 44:22
- 3וההעלאה הוא · וע׳ במג״א [מגן אבות ברדיטשוב תרס״ב] ראה הא׳ סי״ג [כט, ד] באריכות. [כ].
- 4שאין האויבים שולטים · ראה אוה״ת שה״ש ד״ה לריח שמניך סעי׳ ג.
- 5כל עבדי המלך . . ואני לא נקראתי · Esther 4:11
- 6והמן בא לחצר בית המלך · Esther 6:4
- 7וארשתיך לי · Hosea 2:21
- 8ונתתי לך מהלכים · Zechariah 3:7
- 9שער החצר הפנימית · Ezekiel 46:1
- 10ויקהל משה · Exodus 35:1
- 11המלחמה לה׳ בעמלק · Exodus 17:16
- 12האזינו השמים · Deuteronomy 32:1
- 13מי שטרח · Avodah Zarah 3a
- 14למ״ד דצלם בחי׳ מזל · ראה המשך תער״ב פרק רמד.
- 15
- 16יאר פניו אתנו סלה · Psalms 67:2
- 17
Torah, awe and the bride ¶6–8
6וז״ש [וזהו שכתוב] לך אמר לבי בקשו פני1 את פניך ה׳ אבקש כו׳. וע׳ מ״ש בד״ה וידבר אלקים2 את3 כל הדברים האלה לאמר גבי אם אין חכמה אין יראה.45
And this is [the meaning of] what is written, “For You my heart has said, ‘Seek My face’; Your face, Havayah, I will seek,” etc. And see what is written in the discourse beginning “And G‑d spoke all these words, saying,” regarding “If there is no wisdom, there is no awe.”
This is the meaning of “For You my heart has said, ‘Seek My face’; Your face, Havayah, I will seek” (Psalms 27:8): seeking G‑d’s “face” (panim), which the paragraph links to the inner dimension (pnimiyus) just mentioned. The Alter Rebbe refers to his discourse on “And G‑d spoke all these words” (Exodus 20:1), which explains the Mishnah “If there is no wisdom, there is no awe” (Avos 3:17).
For this is the matter of the higher awe (yirah ila’ah), which is drawn from the level of “their mazal sees,” as mentioned regarding Daniel’s companions: “but a great trembling fell upon them.”
The awe meant there is the higher awe, which comes from the level of “their mazal sees.” The Talmud says this about Daniel’s companions: they did not see the vision, yet “a great trembling fell upon them” (Daniel 10:7), because their mazal saw it.
וגילוי זה בבחי׳ מזלייהו נמשך ע״י עסק התורה שעי״ז תתעורר שרש נשמתו למעלה בחינת מזליה ולכן אם אין חכמה אין יראה.
And this revelation, at the level of their mazal, is drawn down through occupying oneself with Torah; for through this the root of his soul above, the level of his mazal, is aroused. And therefore, “If there is no wisdom, there is no awe.”
This revelation of the mazal comes through Torah study, which arouses the root of the soul above. Hence “If there is no wisdom,” meaning Torah, “there is no awe”: the higher awe depends on Torah awakening the mazal.
The paragraph shows that the higher awe comes from the mazal, the soul’s root above, as with Daniel’s companions who trembled at what only their mazal saw, and that this mazal is awakened by Torah study: hence “If there is no wisdom, there is no awe.”
The higher awe described here is not fear of consequences but a trembling of the soul’s root before G‑dliness it perceives, felt even when the person sees nothing. Since the mazal is the lamed of tzelem, which is Chochmah, Binah and Daas, it is fitting that wisdom, the Torah, is what awakens it.
Marei mekomos
- 1
- 2בד״ה וידבר אלקים · Numbers 16:1
- 3
- 4אם אין חכמה אין יראה · אבות ג, יז.
- 5אם אין חכמה אין יראה · Pirkei Avot 3:17
- 6מזלייהו חזי · Sanhedrin 94a:2–3
- 7אבל חרדה גדולה נפלה עליהם · Daniel 10:7
7והנה עי״ז ולקחת לך לאשה12 שהצ׳ דצלם נקרא אשה לגבי תורה שהתורה הוא החתן ביום חתונתו3 זה מ״ת [מתן תורה].
Now, through this, “and you take her to yourself as a wife”: for the tzadi of tzelem is called a “wife” in relation to the Torah, for the Torah is the bridegroom — “on the day of his wedding: this is the Giving of the Torah.”
Through this higher awe comes “and you take her to yourself as a wife” (Deuteronomy 21:11). The tzadi of tzelem is the “wife” in relation to the Torah, the groom, as the Mishnah reads “on the day of his wedding” (Song of Songs 3:11) as the Giving of the Torah.
ולפעמים נקרא התורה כלה א״ת [אל תקרי] מורשה4 אלא מאורשה567 והיינו לגבי מ׳ דצלם (עיין בביאור ע״פ ששים המה מלכות89 כו׳ אחת היא יונתי10 כו׳ וע״פ יונתי11 בחגוי הסלע12 וצ״ל מ״ש בזח״ג [בזהר חלק ג] נשא)
And sometimes the Torah is called a bride: “Do not read morashah (‘inheritance’) but me’orasah (‘betrothed’)”; and that is in relation to the mem of tzelem. (See the explanation on the verse “There are sixty queens,” etc., “My dove is one,” etc., and on the verse “My dove, in the clefts of the rock.” And [so] one must explain what is written in the Zohar, Part III, Nasso)
Elsewhere the Torah is called a bride: the Talmud reads “The Torah that Moshe commanded us is an inheritance (morashah)” as me’orasah, “betrothed.” The Alter Rebbe says that in relation to the mem of tzelem, the higher makif, the Torah is the bride, refers to his discourses on “There are sixty queens … my dove is one” and “My dove, in the clefts of the rock,” and with this explains a statement of the Zohar.
(folio 134a), regarding “Everything depends on mazal, even a Torah scroll in the Heichal (sanctuary)”: this implies that the Torah, too, has in it the level of a makif, which is called mazala;
The Zohar (Idra Rabba, in Nasso) says that “everything depends on mazal, even a Torah scroll in the Heichal.” This implies that the Torah also has a makif above it, called mazala.
והיינו בחי׳ מ׳ שהתורה עצמה היא בחינת חכמה ובפ׳ בהעלותך (דקנ״ב ע״א) ונשמתא לנשמתא15 כו׳
and that is the level of the mem, for the Torah itself is the level of Chochmah (wisdom). And in Parshas Beha’aloscha (folio 152a): “and the soul of the soul,” etc.
The Torah’s makif is the mem, while the Torah itself is Chochmah. The Zohar in Beha’aloscha likewise speaks of “the soul of the soul”: the Torah is the soul, and above it is a higher “soul of the soul.”
ועד״ז י״ל [יש לומר] המדרש בשה״ש [בשיר השירים] רבה16 ע״פ אם יתן איש את כל הון17 ביתו באהבה18 שאמר ר׳ [רבי] יוחנן לר׳ [לרבי] חייא בר אבא שמכרתי דבר שניתן לששת ימים כו׳
And along these lines one may explain the Midrash in Shir HaShirim Rabbah on the verse “If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love,” where Rabbi Yochanan said to Rabbi Chiya bar Abba, “I sold something that was given in six days,” etc.,
Along these lines one can explain the Midrash on “If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love” (Song of Songs 8:7). Rabbi Yochanan, who had sold his fields so as to study Torah, told Rabbi Chiya bar Abba that he had sold something given in six days.
“as it is said, ‘For in six days [He] made’; but the Torah was given in forty days, as it is said, ‘And he was there with Havayah forty days.’”
The world was made in six days (Exodus 20:11), but the Torah was given over forty days, the forty days Moshe was on the mountain “with Havayah” (Exodus 34:28).
דענין ארבעים יום י״ל [יש לומר] כנגד בחי׳ כחב״ד [כחכמה בינה ודעת] הנקרא מ״ם כנ״ל ועמ״ש במ״א גבי מזמור לתודה21 הריעו22 לה׳ כל הארץ בענין התודה שהיו בה ארבעים חלות כו׳ ע״ש.23
For the matter of the forty days, it may be said, corresponds to the level of Keser, Chochmah, Binah and Daas, which is called mem, as mentioned above. And see what is written elsewhere regarding “A psalm of thanksgiving: Shout to Havayah, all the earth,” on the matter of the thanksgiving offering, which had forty loaves, etc.; see there.
The forty days, the Alter Rebbe suggests, correspond to Keser, Chochmah, Binah and Daas, called mem, whose value is forty: the Torah’s own makif. He also refers to his explanation of “A psalm of thanksgiving” (Psalms 100:1), on the forty loaves of the thanksgiving offering.
The paragraph explains “and you take her as a wife”: the soul’s tzadi is the bride and the Torah the groom, yet relative to the soul’s mem the Torah is the bride. The Zohar’s “everything depends on mazal, even a Torah scroll” shows that the Torah too has a makif, the mem, which the Alter Rebbe finds in the forty days of the Giving of the Torah.
The Zohar in Beha’aloscha (152a) describes garment, body, soul and “soul of the soul”: the soul is Tiferes Yisrael, the Torah itself, and the soul of the soul is Atika Kadisha. This fits the maamar’s point that the Torah itself is Chochmah, while above it stands a makif, the mem, from which it was given.
Marei mekomos
- 1ולקחת לך לאשה כו׳ ולפעמים נק׳ · ראה אוה״ת בשלח ע׳ תקכו.
- 2ולקחת לך לאשה · Deuteronomy 21:11
- 3ביום חתונתו · Mishnah Ta'anit 4:8
- 4מורשה · Deuteronomy 33:4
- 5א״ת מורשה אלא מאורשה · Berakhot 57a:4
- 6מורשה אלא מאורשה · Pesachim 49b:10–11
- 7מורשה אלא מאורשה · Shemot Rabbah 33:7
- 8בביאור ע״פ ששים המה מלכות · לקמן שה״ש לט, ד.
- 9
- 10אחת היא יונתי · Song of Songs 6:9
- 11וע״פ יונתי · לקמן שה״ש טז, ד.
- 12יונתי בחגוי הסלע · Song of Songs 2:14
- 13הכל תלוי במזל · Numbers 16:2
- 14הכל תלוי במזל אפילו ספר תורה בהיכל · Zohar, Idra Rabba 17:147–21:157
- 15ונשמתא לנשמתא · Zohar, Beha'alotcha 12:56–13:65
- 16המדרש בשה״ש רבה · ראה גם אוה״ת פ׳ דברים ע׳ יח.
- 17
- 18אם יתן איש את כל הון ביתו באהבה · Song of Songs 8:7
- 19כי ששת ימים עשה · Exodus 20:11
- 20ויהי שם עם ה׳ ארבעים יום · Exodus 34:28
- 21ועמ״ש במ״א גבי מזמור לתודה · בסידור עם דא״ח שם. ובאוה״ת פ׳ דברים ע׳ יט.
- 22
- 23זח״ג קנ״ב א׳ · ראה אוה״ת נ״ך כרך א ע׳ תקנה.
8וא״כ לכאורה אינו מובן מש״כ [מה שכתוב] שהתורה נקרא מאורשה לגבי בחי׳ מ״ם שבנשמה אך י״ל [יש לומר] דמה שבתורה עצמה יש ג״כ בחי׳ מ״ם היינו מקור ושרש התורה שמשם ניתנה וכמ״ש במ״א בפי׳ וממדבר מתנה1 סד״ה צאינה וראינה.2
If so, what was written — that the Torah is called “betrothed” in relation to the level of the mem in the soul — is seemingly not understood. But it may be said that [the fact] that the Torah itself also has a level of mem refers to the source and root of the Torah, from which it was given; as is written elsewhere, on the meaning of “And from the wilderness, Mattanah (a gift),” at the end of the discourse beginning “Go out and see.”
A difficulty: if the Torah itself has a mem, how can it be called “betrothed” in relation to the soul’s mem? The answer is that the Torah’s mem is its source and root, from which it was given, as the Alter Rebbe explains on “And from the wilderness, Mattanah” (Numbers 21:18) at the end of his discourse “Go out and see.”
אבל התורה עצמה היא בבחי׳ חכמה אורייתא מחכמה נפקת כו׳. וזהו ענין ברכו בתורה תחלה34 שהוא על המשכת אור א״ס בח״ע [בחכמה עילאה]:
But the Torah itself is at the level of Chochmah (wisdom) — “the Torah issues from Chochmah,” etc. And this is the matter of blessing over the Torah first, which concerns drawing down the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof) into the higher Chochmah (Chochmah Ila’ah).
The Torah itself is Chochmah, as “the Torah issues from Chochmah,” so relative to the soul’s mem it is the bride. This is the point of blessing over the Torah first, which the Talmud stresses: the blessing draws the Infinite Light into the higher Chochmah, the Torah’s source.
The paragraph resolves the difficulty raised by the Torah’s own mem: that mem is the Torah’s source above, from which it was given, while the Torah as we have it is Chochmah, the bride. The blessing over the Torah is what draws the Infinite Light into that Chochmah.
The blessing before study thus links the Torah as it is learned, which is Chochmah, with its root above, the level the maamar calls the mem. The Talmud’s teaching that the land was lost “because they did not bless over the Torah first” shows how much depends on this link.
Marei mekomos
- 1וממדבר מתנה · Numbers 21:18
- 2צאינה וראינה · Song of Songs 3:11
- 3ברכו בתורה תחלה · Bava Metzia 86a
- 4ברכו בתורה תחלה · Bava Metzia 85b:1
Shaving the head and doing the nails ¶9–11
9ג וגלחה את ראשה.1 מותרי מוחין כי הנה במדרגות העליונות דקדושה המותרי מוחין הוא בחי׳ קדושה עליונה שהוא בחי׳ י״ג מדה״ר [מדות הרחמים] שהן נמשכין מבחי׳ שערות כו׳ משא״כ בלוים והעבירו תער2 כו׳.
3. “And she shall shave her head”: [this is] the excess of the intellect (mosarei mochin). For in the supernal levels of holiness, the excess of the intellect is the level of supernal holiness, which is the level of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, which are drawn from the level of hairs, etc.; whereas with the Levites, “and they shall pass a razor,” etc.
Section 3 turns to “and she shall shave her head” (Deuteronomy 21:12). Hair is the “excess of the intellect” (mosarei mochin), what grows out beyond the mind’s essential content. In the highest levels of holiness this excess is itself supernal holiness: the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy flow from the supernal “hairs.” Below it is otherwise, as the Levites at their consecration had to “pass a razor” over their flesh (Numbers 8:7).
Section 3 opens: shaving the head means removing the “excess of the intellect.” Only in the highest holiness is such excess itself holy, where the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy flow from the supernal “hairs”; below, as with the Levites, it must be shaved away.
A Kehot note points to the Alter Rebbe’s discourses of 5565, which also discuss the difference between the Levites, who shaved, and the nazir, who lets his hair grow. The contrast fits the paragraph’s point: shaving or growing hair depends on whether the “excess” stands at a level where it is holy.
Marei mekomos
- 1וגלחה את ראשה · Deuteronomy 21:12
- 2והעבירו תער · Numbers 8:7
10והוא עד״מ כמכו שיחת חולין של ת״ח [תלמיד חכם / תלמידי חכמים]1 כו׳ והיינו לת״ח [לתלמיד חכם / לתלמידי חכמים] דייקא2 משא״כ לשארי אנשים הם דברי הבאי
By way of analogy, it is like the mundane conversation of Torah scholars, etc.; and that is for a Torah scholar specifically, whereas for other people these are empty words,
An analogy: the Talmud says that even the casual conversation of Torah scholars requires study (Sukkah 21b). That holds for a Torah scholar specifically; the casual talk of other people is simply empty words.
והיינו לפי שהת״ח [שהתלמיד חכם / שהתלמידי חכמים] הוא בבחי׳ מוחין דגדלות לכך אף השיחת חולין שלו שזהו כמו מותרי מוחין ימצא בהם טוב וקדושה
and that is because the Torah scholar is at the level of mature intellect (mochin degadlus). Therefore even his mundane conversation, which is like the excess of the intellect, will be found to contain good and holiness.
A Torah scholar lives at the level of mature intellect (mochin degadlus). So even his surplus, his casual talk, which is like the “excess of the intellect,” contains good and holiness.
וזהו ענין ועלהו לא יבול3 אפילו בחי׳ העלין שהם אינם עיקר הפרי אעפ״כ [אף על פי כן] כו׳ שלגודל חכמתו לכך גם בשיחת חולין שלו מלובש חכמה מה שאין כן לשארי אנשים
And this is the matter of “and its leaf shall not wither”: even the level of the leaves, which are not the chief thing, the fruit — nevertheless, etc.; for because of the greatness of his wisdom, wisdom is clothed even in his mundane conversation, which is not so for other people
This is the verse the Talmud brings for the teaching: “and its leaf shall not wither” (Psalms 1:3); even the leaves, which are not the fruit, have worth. Rashi there, as the Kehot note quotes, says that even the tree’s waste is needed, and so is the talk of scholars. Because the scholar’s wisdom is great, it is clothed even in his ordinary words.
(והוא קרוב לענין מ״ש במ״א גבי ענין משלי שלמה דדוקא שלמה היה יכול להלביש השכל במשל גשמי וכן ר׳ [רבי] מאיר ולכן אמרו משמת ר״מ [רבי מאיר] בטלו מושלי משלים45 כו׳. וע׳ בפרשת לך לך בד״ה והבדילה הפרכת).6
(and this is close to what is written elsewhere regarding the proverbs of Shlomo: that specifically Shlomo could clothe the intellect in a physical parable, and so too Rabbi Meir; and therefore they said, “When Rabbi Meir died, the tellers of parables ceased,” etc. And see Parshas Lech Lecha, in the discourse beginning “And the curtain shall divide”).
This resembles what is said of King Shlomo’s proverbs: only Shlomo could clothe wisdom in a physical parable, and Rabbi Meir could too, of whom the Mishnah says that when he died the tellers of parables ceased (Sotah 9:15). The Alter Rebbe also refers to his discourse in Lech Lecha beginning “And the curtain shall divide.”
ולכן עד״ז אמרו ע״ה [עם הארץ] אסור לאכול בשר7 שהבשר שהוא מותרות מפיל אותו משא״כ צדיק אוכל לשובע נפשו8 כו׳ וכן עד״ז בבגדים
Therefore, along the same lines, they said, “An unlearned person (am ha’aretz) is forbidden to eat meat,” for meat, which is an excess, makes him fall; whereas “The righteous man eats to the satisfying of his soul,” etc. And likewise, along these lines, with clothing:
In the same way the Talmud says an unlearned person may not eat meat (Pesachim 49b): for him meat, a luxury beyond need, causes a fall, while “the righteous man eats to satisfy his soul” (Proverbs 13:25). The same applies to clothing.
הנה בכה״כ כתיב ועשית בגדי קדש9 לאהרן אחיך לכבוד ולתפארת כי כה״ג [כהן גדול] שהוא מבחי׳ חכמה כח מה בחי׳ ביטול לכך כבוד חכמים ינחלו.10
regarding the Kohen Gadol it is written, “And you shall make holy garments for Aharon your brother, for glory and for beauty”; for the Kohen Gadol, who is from the level of Chochmah (wisdom) — koach mah (“the power of ‘what’”), the level of self-nullification (bittul) — therefore “the wise shall inherit honor.”
Of the Kohen Gadol it is written, “Make holy garments for Aharon your brother, for glory and for beauty” (Exodus 28:2). He stems from Chochmah, read as koach mah, “the power of ‘what,’” a state of self-nullification, so honor suits him: “the wise shall inherit honor” (Proverbs 3:35).
משא״כ לשארי אנשים הרי התאוה והכבוד מוציאין את האדם11 מן העולם12 (וכמ״ש בפ׳ אחרי ע״פ כי ביום הזה יכפר13 כו׳) וכה״ג [וכהאי גוונא] הבעל תשובה צריך לסיגופים.
Whereas for other people, “desire and honor remove a person from the world” (as is written in Parshas Acharei on the verse “For on this day He shall atone,” etc.). And likewise, the baal teshuvah (penitent) needs self-mortifications:
For other people, “desire and honor remove a person from the world” (Avos 4:21), as the Alter Rebbe explains in his discourse on “For on this day He shall atone” (Leviticus 16:30). Likewise a baal teshuvah needs sigufim, acts of self-denial.
תשובת הגדר שלא יפול ח״ו [חס ושלום] משא״כ מי שלא חטא כו׳. וזהו וגלחה את ראשה. דהיינו המותרות ולהסתפק בהכרחי:14
the teshuvah of a fence (teshuvas hageder), so that he not fall, G‑d forbid; whereas one who has not sinned, etc. And this is “and she shall shave her head”: that is, the excesses, and being content with what is necessary.
These self-denials are teshuvas hageder, a “fence” that keeps him from falling again; one who has not sinned does not need them. This is “she shall shave her head”: giving up the excess and being content with what is necessary.
The example of the scholar’s casual talk shows that “excess” is holy only for one whose intellect is great; for others, excesses of food, clothing and honor cause a fall. So the baal teshuvah must “shave the head”: give up excesses and be content with what is necessary.
The Kehot notes quote Or HaTorah that a talmid chacham is a “student” and receiver of the higher Chochmah, which is bittul, and the discourses of 5565 that the casual talk of one who is not a scholar is truly “droppings,” entirely idle words. Likkutei Torah on Nitzavim (52b) applies the same teaching to hair: like casual talk it is a contracted outflow rather than the essence of the mind, yet at the highest level hair is supernal holiness, the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy called the tikkunei dikna.
Marei mekomos
- 1שיחות חולין של ת״ח · Sukkah 21b:8–9
- 2והיינו לת״ח דייקא · ”והנה ענין ת״ח הפי׳ שהוא תלמיד ומקבל מחכמה עילאה שהיא בחי׳ ביטול” — אוה״ת נ״ך כרך ב ע׳ תתקיז. ”אבל באדם אחר שאינו ת״ח שיחת חולין שלו ומלתא דבדיחותא שלו הוא מותרות ונובלות ממש דהיינו דברים בטלים לגמרי” — סה״מ תקס״ה ע׳ תתלז.
- 3ועלהו לא יבול · Psalms 1:3
- 4משמת ר״מ בטלו מושלי משלים · סוף סוטה.
- 5בטלו מושלי משלים · Mishnah Sotah 9:15
- 6והבדילה הפרכת · Exodus 26:33
- 7ע״ה אסור לאכול בשר · Pesachim 49b:3
- 8צדיק אוכל לשובע נפשו · Proverbs 13:25
- 9ועשית בגדי קודש · Exodus 28:2
- 10כבוד חכמים ינחלו · Proverbs 3:35
- 11התאוה והכבוד מוציאין את האדם · אבות ד, כא.
- 12התאוה והכבוד מוציאין את האדם מן העולם · Pirkei Avot 4:21
- 13כי ביום הזה יכפר · Leviticus 16:30
- 14
11ועשתה את צפרניה.1 היינו מותרי המדות2 חסד דרועא ימינא אברהם שיצא ממנו3 כו׳ שאחיזתם הוא בצפרנים פסולת. אך פי׳ וגלחה את ראשה.4
“And she shall do her nails”: this is the excess of the emotive attributes (middos) — Chesed (kindness), “the right arm,” Avraham, “from whom came forth,” etc. — for their hold is in the nails, the waste. But the meaning of “And she shall shave her head”
“And she shall do her nails” refers to the excess of the emotive attributes. Chesed, the “right arm,” is Avraham’s attribute, yet from Avraham came out Yishmael (Pesachim 56a), an example of the waste of Chesed; the external forces hold onto such waste as onto the nails. The Alter Rebbe now explains what “shaving the head” means in practice.
דהיינו מותרי מוחין הוא ענין ההתחכמות היתירה במילי דעלמא. והוא ע״ד מ״ש לא לחכמים לחם.5 כי הגם דכתיב וברכך ה׳ אלקיך בכל אשר תעשה.
— that is, the excess of the intellect (mosarei mochin) — is the matter of excessive cleverness in worldly affairs. This is along the lines of what is written, “Bread is not to the wise.” For although it is written, “And Havayah your G‑d will bless you in all that you do,”
The excess of the intellect is excessive cleverness in worldly affairs, of which Koheles says, “Bread is not to the wise” (Ecclesiastes 9:11). Yet the Torah also says, “Havayah your G‑d will bless you in all that you do” (Deuteronomy 15:18), which seems to call for effort.
שהברכה וההמשכה נמשך בכל אשר תעשה דוקא שהוא כלי וסיבה שבזה יומשך לו מה שנקצב לו בר״ה [בראש השנה]6 ויוה״כ [ויום הכפורים] פרנסה משא״כ אם ישב בטל
[meaning] that the blessing and the flow are drawn down specifically “in all that you do,” which is a vessel and a cause through which what was allotted to him on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, [his] livelihood, will be drawn to him; whereas if he sits idle
That verse means the blessing comes specifically through “what you do”: a person’s work is the vessel and the means by which the livelihood allotted to him on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur (Beitzah 16a) reaches him. One who sits idle, by contrast, makes no such vessel.
ולא יעסוק כלל באיזה פרנסה לא יומשך ההמשכה בגשמיות והיינו משום שבעוה״ז הגשמי נמשך ההשפעה בלבוש והסתר עד שאותותינו לא ראינו7
and does not engage at all in any livelihood, the flow will not be drawn down into physical [form]. And this is because in this physical world the influence is drawn down in a garment and in concealment, until “our signs we have not seen”
If a person does no work at all, the blessing does not take physical form. In this physical world divine influence comes clothed and concealed, so much so that “we have not seen our signs” (Psalms 74:9).
(וכמ״ש במ״א בד״ה ומרדכי יצא89 כו׳ ע״ש ובד״ה וברכך10 הנ״ל וע׳ ג״כ בפ׳ מסעי בד״ה לבאר ענין המסעות11 במש״ש [במה שכתוב שם] לכן שם אל אד׳ המחיה עשייה כו׳)
(as is written elsewhere, in the discourse beginning “And Mordechai went out,” etc.; see there; and in the discourse beginning “And He will bless you,” mentioned above. And see also Parshas Masei, in the discourse beginning “To explain the matter of the journeys,” in what is written there: therefore the Name E-l Ado-nai, which gives life to Asiyah, etc.).
The Alter Rebbe refers to his discourses on “And Mordechai went out” (Esther 8:15) and “And He will bless you,” and to Likkutei Torah, Masei, on the divine Name E-l Ado-nai, which gives life to the World of Asiyah (Action).
אך מ״מ ההשפעה עצמה נמשך מלמעלה וברכך ה׳ בכל כו׳ אלא שהאדם מחויב לעשות כלי שבזה יומשך הברכה לפי שכך הוא סדר ההמשכה כנ״ל.
Nevertheless, the influence itself is drawn from above — “And Havayah will bless you in all,” etc. — only that a person is obliged to make a vessel through which the blessing will be drawn down, because such is the order of the flow, as mentioned above.
Still, the blessing itself comes from above, as the verse says, “Havayah will bless you.” A person must only make a vessel for it, because that is the order by which divine flow descends.
אך ריבוי ההתחכמות בזה הוא מותרי מוחין אשר ע״ז נאמר לא לחכמים לחם. כי בזה מראה שעולה על דעתו שהסיבה והלבוש ההוא והתחבולה היא עיקרית בהשפעה זו והוא בחי׳ נפרד כו׳
But much cleverness in this is the excess of the intellect, of which it is said, “Bread is not to the wise.” For by this he shows that it occurs to him that that cause and garment and stratagem are the essential thing in this influence; and this is the level of [being] separate, etc.
Piling up cleverness in one’s work is the “excess of the intellect,” of which “Bread is not to the wise” was said. It shows that he thinks the means, the “garment” and the scheme, are what really produce the blessing, and this is a state of separateness from G‑d.
(וכמ״ש בד״ה שובה ישראל12 כו׳ שעי״ז גורם להיות לו לב האבן כו׳ ע״ש) והוא כמשל מי שתופר לו לבוש כמדה הצריך הוא טוב
(as is written in the discourse beginning “Return, O Israel,” etc., that through this he causes himself to have a heart of stone, etc.; see there). It is like the analogy of one who sews himself a garment: to the measure needed, it is good;
Such an attitude produces a “heart of stone,” as explained in the discourse “Return, O Israel” (Hosea 14:2). The analogy is a garment: one sewn to the measure a person needs is good.
אבל אם מאריך אותו יותר מדאי גורם שיפול מחמתו ח״ו [חס ושלום]. (והא דארז״ל [דאמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] נדה) (דף ע׳ [עיין])13 מה יעשה אדם ויתעשר14 ירבה בסחורה כו׳
but if he lengthens it too much, it causes him to fall because of it, G‑d forbid. And as for what our Sages, of blessed memory, said (Niddah, folio 70): “What should a person do to become rich? Let him increase his commerce,” etc. —
A garment that is too long trips its wearer, and too much cleverness in business does the same. The Alter Rebbe then addresses the Talmud’s advice (Niddah 70b): “What should a person do to become rich? Let him increase his commerce.”
זהו כמש״ש [כמה שכתוב שם] כשמבקש רחמים מיי שהעושר שלשו על עושר אז ודאי צריך ג״כ לעשות לבוש וכלי שיוכל לשרות בזה הברכה.
this is as it says there: when he asks for mercy from the One to whom wealth belongs, for wealth, then certainly he also needs to make a garment and a vessel in which the blessing can rest.
The Talmud there continues that many did so without success, so one must ask for mercy from Him to whom wealth belongs. The Alter Rebbe explains that when a person prays for wealth, he must also make a garment and a vessel for the blessing to rest in.
וגם זאת רק ירבה15 בסחורה ולא ריבוי ההתחכמות יותר מדאי וההעמקה דאדרבה לא לחכמים לחם כו׳
And even this, only “let him increase his commerce,” and not too much cleverness and delving deep, for on the contrary, “Bread is not to the wise,” etc.
Even then the Talmud says only “increase commerce,” not excessive cleverness and deep scheming. Those, by “Bread is not to the wise,” work against him.
וכ״ש [וכל שכן] מי שאינו אץ להתעשר רק מסתפק בהכרחי או אף אם רוצה להתעשר אלא שלא בקש רחמים ע״ז אז רבוי הסחורה ג״כ ה״ל [הוה ליה] כלבוש ארוך יותר מדאי כו׳.
And all the more so one who is not hasty to become rich, but is content with what is necessary; or even if he wants to become rich, but has not asked for mercy for this: then much commerce, too, is like a garment that is too long, etc.
All the more so for one who is not hasty to get rich and is content with what he needs, or who wants wealth but has not prayed for it. For him, much commerce is a garment that is too long.
אלא דכשמבקש רחמים ע״ז אז לא סגי בלי שירבה בסחורה כמש״ש [כמה שכתוב שם] בגמ׳ [בגמרא] דהא בלא הא לא סגי.
But when he asks for mercy for this, then it does not suffice without his increasing his commerce, as it says there in the Gemara, “for this without that does not suffice.”
Only when he prays for wealth is increased commerce necessary. As the Talmud concludes, “this without that does not suffice”: prayer and effort go together.
והיינו מטעם הנ״ל שההשפעה בעשייה נמשך על ידי לבוש כו׳ בכל אשר תעשה. וזהו ענין וגלחה את ראשה המותרי מוחין הנ״ל
And this is for the reason mentioned above, that the influence in Asiyah (Action) is drawn down through a garment, etc. — “in all that you do.” And this is the matter of “and she shall shave her head”: the excess of the intellect mentioned above
The reason is the one given above: in Asiyah, the world of action, divine influence comes through a garment, “in all that you do.” This is the meaning of “she shall shave her head”: removing the excess of the intellect.
(שהם נמשלו לבחינת שערות שמהם יניקת החיצונים ע״ד שער באשה ערוה16 משא״כ בתורה כתיב סלסלה ותרוממך17 כי התורה שרשה מח״ע [מחכמה עילאה] וכתר עליון אשר משם ההמשכה דייקא ע״י בחי׳ שערות כו׳.
(which are likened to the level of hairs, from which the external forces draw nurture, in the manner of “a woman’s hair is nakedness”; whereas regarding the Torah it is written, “Exalt her (salseleha) and she will raise you up,” for the Torah’s root is from the higher Chochmah (Chochmah Ila’ah) and the supernal Keser, from which the flow is specifically through the level of hairs, etc.;
The closing parenthesis explains why this excess is likened to hair: the external forces draw nurture from hair, as the Talmud’s “a woman’s hair is nakedness” (Berachos 24a) indicates. Of the Torah, by contrast, it is written “Exalt her (salseleha)” (Proverbs 4:8), a word associated with curling, as of hair, because the Torah is rooted in the higher Chochmah and the supernal Keser, whose flow comes down specifically through “hairs.”
שאל״כ [שאם לא כן] לא יוכלו העולמות לקבל כו׳. ועיין מ״ש במ״א ס״פ לך לך בד״ה שרי אשתך1819 והנה למעלה כך היא המדה כו׳ ע״י צמצום דוקא כו׳ משא״כ למטה בבחי׳ שרה כו׳
for otherwise the worlds would not be able to receive, etc. And see what is written elsewhere, at the end of Parshas Lech Lecha, in the discourse beginning “Sarai your wife”: “Now above, such is the measure,” etc., “through tzimtzum (contraction) specifically,” etc.; “whereas below, at the level of Sarah,” etc.,
Without such contraction into “hairs” the worlds could not receive the light. The Alter Rebbe cites his discourse on “Sarai your wife” (Genesis 17:15): above, new life comes about specifically through tzimtzum (contraction), while below, at the level of Sarah, the order is reversed.
הוא להיפך ממש כו׳ וע׳ בפ׳ תצוה בד״ה ועשית בגדי קדש2021 במש״ש [במה שכתוב שם] אבל בחי׳ ורב חסד כו׳ ודרך גילוי זה והמשכה זו כו׳ הוא כמ״ש כשמן ה טוב על ראש יורד על הזקן כו׳ ע״ש.
“it is the very opposite,” etc. And see Parshas Tetzaveh, in the discourse beginning “And you shall make holy garments,” in what is written there: “But the level of ‘and abundant in kindness,’” etc., “and the way of this revelation and this flow,” etc., “is as it is written, ‘Like the good oil upon the head, running down upon the beard,’” etc.; see there.
He also cites his discourse on “And you shall make holy garments” (Exodus 28:2): the level of “abundant in kindness” (rav chesed) flows down like “the good oil upon the head, running down upon the beard” (Psalms 133:2), that is, through the hair of the beard.
And see Parshas Emor, in the discourse beginning “And I shall be sanctified in the midst,” etc., and Parshas Nitzavim, in the explanation on the verse “For as the earth brings forth its growth,” etc.)
Two more references close the parenthesis: the discourse in Emor beginning “And I shall be sanctified in the midst [of the children of Israel]” (Leviticus 22:32), and the explanation in Nitzavim of “For as the earth brings forth its growth” (Isaiah 61:11).
The paragraph explains the excess of the emotive attributes (the nails) and, at length, the excess of the intellect (the hair): excessive cleverness in worldly affairs. A person must make a “vessel” for G‑d’s blessing through ordinary work, but to rely on scheming is to think the means produce the blessing; like a garment that is too long, it trips him.
The Kehot note records that in the 5565 discourses, and in the Mitteler Rebbe’s discourses on this passage, the Alter Rebbe adds: “Even so, a person is judged every day,” as we say in the Grace after Meals, “and sustains us always, every day, at every time and every hour.” The parenthesis on hair turns the image around: below, hair is where the external forces draw nurture, but at the root of the Torah the flow comes specifically through “hairs,” as birth above comes through tzimtzum.
Marei mekomos
- 1ועשתה את צפרניה · Deuteronomy 21:12
- 2ועשתה את צפרניה היינו מותרי המדות · ראה אוה״ת שה״ש כרך ב ע׳ תלח. וראה בסידור ק, ג ההפרש בין מותרי מוחין למותרי מדות.
- 3אברהם שיצא ממנו · Pesachim 56a:7
- 4אך פי׳ וגלחה את ראשה · מובא באוה״ת ויקרא ע׳ קכה.
- 5לא לחכמים לחם · Ecclesiastes 9:11
- 6שנקצב לו בר״ה · Beitzah 16a
- 7אותותינו לא ראינו · Psalms 74:9
- 8בד״ה ומרדכי יצא · תו״א צג, א.
- 9ומרדכי יצא · Esther 8:15
- 10ובד״ה וברכך · סה״מ תקס״ה ח״ב ע׳ תרמח. דרך מצותיך קו, א.
- 11בד״ה לבאר ענין המסעות · לעיל פ׳ מסעי פט סע״ב.
- 12שובה ישראל · Hosea 14:2
- 13והא דארז״ל נדה דף ע׳ · וראה בארוכה בדרך מצותיך קו, ב ואילך.
- 14
- 15וגם זאת רק ירבה · ראה דרך מצותיך קז, ב. הקדמת אדה״א לדרך חיים.
- 16שער באשה ערוה · Berakhot 24a:17
- 17סלסלה ותרוממך · Proverbs 4:8
- 18בד״ה שרי אשתך · תו״א יג, ב.
- 19שרי אשתך · Genesis 17:15
- 20בד״ה ועשית בגדי קודש · תו״א פב, ב.
- 21ועשית בגדי קדש · Exodus 28:2
- 22ונקדשתי בתוך · Leviticus 22:32
- 23כי כארץ תוציא צמחה · Isaiah 61:11
- 24וברכך ה״א בכל אשר תעשה · Deuteronomy 15:18
- 25כשמן הטוב על הראש · Psalms 133:2
The captive garment and the house ¶12–13
12והסירה את שמלת שביה.1 שמלה הוא בחי׳ מקיף ויש מקיף גם בזלעו״ז [בזה לעומת זה] כי בבואה דבבואה23 לית להו
“And she shall remove the garment of her captivity”: a garment is the level of a makif (encompassing light). And there is a makif in the opposing side as well; for “a reflection of a reflection they do not have,”
“And she shall remove the garment of her captivity” (Deuteronomy 21:13): a garment surrounds the body, so it stands for a makif. The opposing side, kelipah, also has a makif, as the Talmud says of demons that they have no “reflection of a reflection” (Yevamot 122a).
אבל בבואה לחודא אית להו (ועיין מזה בפע״ח [בפרי עץ חיים] בכוונת הושענא רבה4 אך שם נת׳ [נתבאר] ענין בבואה דבבואה באופן אחר)
“but a reflection alone they do have” (and see on this Pri Etz Chaim, in the kavanah of Hoshana Rabbah, though there the matter of a reflection of a reflection is explained in another way);
The same Talmudic passage says they do have a “reflection” alone. Pri Etz Chaim, in the kavanos of Hoshana Rabbah, also discusses the reflection and the reflection of a reflection, but explains them differently.
והיינו כמבואר למעלה שבקדושה יש ב׳ מקיפים ל׳ [לשון] מ׳ והם בחינת מקיף ומקיף דמקיף והם בחינת חיה יחידה שהם ב׳ מקיפים ונר״נ [ונפש רוח נשמה] הם פנימים וע׳ בפי׳ הרמ״ז [הרב משה זכות] פנחס (דר״כ סע״א [סוף עמוד א])5
and this is as explained above: that in holiness there are two makifim, the lamed and the mem, and they are the level of a makif and a makif of a makif; and they are the level of chayah and yechidah, which are two makifim, while nefesh, ruach and neshamah are inner [levels]. And see the commentary of the Ramaz on Pinchas (folio 220, end of side a),
In holiness there are two makifim, the lamed and the mem: a makif and a makif of the makif. In the soul they are chayah and yechidah, its two encompassing levels, while nefesh, ruach and neshamah are its inner levels; the Alter Rebbe refers to the Ramaz’s commentary on the Zohar, Pinchas (220a).
regarding one who answers “Amen, may His great Name be blessed” with all his strength; and see what is written in the explanation on the verse “For as the new heavens.”
The Ramaz’s comment there is on the teaching about one who answers “Amen, may His great Name be blessed” with all his strength (Shabbos 119b). The Alter Rebbe also refers to his explanation of “For as the new heavens” (Isaiah 66:22).
ובקליפה אין להם בחי׳ בבואה דבבואה שהוא בחי׳ המקיף למקיף. וז״ש [וזהו שכתוב] ומכפירים יחידתי8 שהוא יחדה ממש שאין לה לעומת זה בקליפות.9
And in kelipah (the husk) they do not have the level of a reflection of a reflection, which is the level of the makif to the makif. And this is [the meaning of] what is written, “and from the young lions, my only one (yechidasi)”: for it is truly single, having no counterpart opposite it in the kelipos.
Kelipah lacks the “reflection of a reflection,” the makif of the makif. That is why the soul’s yechidah is called “my only one” (Psalms 35:17): it is truly single, with no counterpart in kelipah.
אבל בחי׳ בבואה לחודא היינו מקיף א׳ יש להם (ובזה יתורץ איזה דרושים הסותרים לכאורה זא״ז [זה אל זה / זה את זה] דבמ״א נת׳ [נתבאר] דבחי׳ אהבה רבה אין כנגדה לעומת זה כמ״ש ע״פ חכלילי עינים1011 כו׳
But the level of a reflection alone, that is, one makif, they do have. (And with this, some discourses that seemingly contradict each other are reconciled: for in one place it is explained that the level of great love (ahavah rabbah) has no counterpart opposite it, as is written on the verse “His eyes are red,” etc.;
Kelipah does have the “reflection alone,” one makif. This, the Alter Rebbe notes, reconciles two discourses that seem to contradict each other; the first, on “His eyes are red” (Genesis 49:12), says that ahavah rabbah, “great love,” has no counterpart in kelipah.
ובמ,א נת׳ [נתבאר] שכמו כן בקליפה יש מבחי׳ הרצון שלמעלה מהשכל שהוא עומק ההתקשרות בהבלי העולם כו׳ וכמ״ש בד״ה ושמתי כדכד1213 כו׳ בעין ומכפירים יחידתי. ולפמש״כ [ולפי מה שכתוב] א״ש [אתי שפיר] דבחי׳ מקיף א׳ יש להם ובחי׳ מקיף היינו מה שלמעלה מהשכל.
and elsewhere it is explained that likewise in kelipah there is something of the level of the will that is above intellect, which is the depth of attachment to the vanities of the world, etc., as is written in the discourse beginning “And I will make … of kadkod,” etc., on the matter of “and from the young lions, my only one.” But according to what has been written [here], it is well: for one makif they do have, and the level of a makif is what is above intellect.
The second discourse, on “And I will make [your windows] of kadkod” (Isaiah 54:12), says that kelipah does have something of the will above intellect: a deep, irrational attachment to worldly vanities. The resolution is that kelipah has one makif, and a makif is what is above intellect.
אך בחי׳ מקיף השני שהוא עיקר בחי׳ המקיף עליון בחי׳ יחידה ממש והוא נקרא תעלומות לב14 לית להו רק בקדושה יש בחי׳ זו כו׳)
But the level of the second makif, which is the essence of the level of the supernal makif, the level of yechidah itself, and which is called “the hidden recesses of the heart” — this they do not have; only in holiness is there this level, etc.)
What kelipah lacks is the second makif, the essence of the supernal makif, yechidah itself, called “the hidden recesses of the heart” (Psalms 44:22); that exists only in holiness. The love that has no counterpart therefore belongs to this second makif.
And this is the level of the lamed. And it is the matter of “one transgression draws another transgression,” and the matter of “if a person defiles himself a little, he is defiled much”
Kelipah’s one makif corresponds to the lamed. It explains the Mishnah “one transgression draws another” (Avos 4:2) and the Talmud’s “if a person defiles himself a little, he is defiled much” (Yoma 39a): a pull that surrounds a person from beyond his awareness.
(עיין בר״ח פ׳ ד׳ משער הקדושה) והיינו מה שאינו מרגיש בנפשו שזה נמשך לו מבחי׳ המקיף דקליפה.
(see Reishis Chochmah, chapter 4 of the Gate of Holiness); that is, he does not feel in his soul that this is drawn to him from the level of the makif of kelipah.
The Alter Rebbe refers to Reishis Chochmah, Gate of Holiness, chapter 4. The person does not feel that this pull comes to him from the makif of kelipah, because a makif works from outside conscious awareness.
וזהו ענין והסירה את שמלת שביה שצ״ל הסרת המקיף דקליפה בכדי שישרה המקיף דקדושה בחי׳ למ״ד כנ״ל:
And this is the matter of “and she shall remove the garment of her captivity”: there must be a removal of the makif of kelipah, so that the makif of holiness, the level of the lamed, may rest, as mentioned above.
This is “she shall remove the garment of her captivity”: the makif of kelipah must be removed so that the makif of holiness, the lamed, can rest upon the person.
The paragraph reads “the garment of her captivity” as the makif of kelipah. Kelipah has one makif, the will above intellect that draws a person from sin to sin without his feeling it, but not the second, the yechidah; so the garment of kelipah must be removed for the makif of holiness, the lamed, to rest on the soul.
Pri Etz Chaim (Gate of the Lulav, chapter 5) explains the two “shadows” differently: a person has one from the male and one from the female, while demons, which come from the male alone, lack the second. The resolution here, that kelipah has a will above intellect but not the yechidah, explains both why attachment to vanities can run deeper than reason and why the soul’s innermost point, the yechidah, has no opposite in kelipah.
Marei mekomos
- 1והסירה את שמלת שביה · Deuteronomy 21:13
- 2בבואה דבבואה · Yevamot 122a:9–10
- 3בבואה דבבואה · Pri Etz Chaim, Gate of Lulav 5:1
- 4בפע״ח בכוונת הושענא רבה · שער הלולב פרק ה.
- 5בפי׳ הרמ״ז פנחס דר״כ סע״א · ראה גם לקמן לט, ג. נ, ב. חקת סה, ד.
- 6העונה אמן יהא שמיה רבא מברך בכל כחו · Shabbat 119b:5
- 7כי כאשר השמים החדשים · Isaiah 66:22
- 8ומכפירים יחידתי · Psalms 35:17
- 9שהוא יחידה ממש שאין לה לעומת זה בקליפות · ראה גם מאמרי אדה״א דברים ח״ב ס״ע תקמב ואילך.
- 10ע״פ חכלילי עינים · תו״א מז, ב. וראה בספר הערכים-חב״ד כרך א ערך אהבה מסותרת במילואים הערה 380 — מהביאור באוה״ת דברים ע׳ לג.
- 11חכלילי עינים · Genesis 49:12
- 12בד״ה ושמתי כדכד · לעיל פ׳ ראה כה, א ואילךם.
- 13ושמתי כדכד · Isaiah 54:12
- 14תעלומות לב · Psalms 44:22
- 15עבירה גוררת עבירה · אבות פ״ד מ״ב.
- 16עבירה גוררת עבירה · Pirkei Avot 4:2
- 17אדם מטמא עצמו מעט · Yoma 39a:3–4
13וישבה בביתך.1 בקביעות שתתיישב היטב בנפש בל תמוט לעולם ועד.2 (ועוי״ל [ועוד יש לומר] בפי׳ והבאתה אל תוך ביתך3 כו׳ וישבה בביתך כו׳.
“And she shall dwell in your house”: permanently, so that it settles well in the soul, never to be moved, forever and ever. (And one may further say, on the meaning of “and you shall bring her into your house,” etc., [and] “and she shall dwell in your house,” etc.:
“And she shall dwell in your house” (Deuteronomy 21:13) means permanence: the change must settle firmly in the soul so that it never wavers. A parenthesis then offers a further reading of “and you shall bring her into your house” (Deuteronomy 21:12) and “she shall dwell in your house.”
היות ב׳ בחי׳ מקיפים הנ״ל נקראים ג״כ לבוש ובית אשר הלבוש הוא בחי׳ מקיף הקרוב ובית הוא מקיף למקיף וענין ב׳ מקיפים אלו בקדושה מבואר ג״כ לעיל פ׳ ואתחנן ע״פ וזאת המצוה4 כו׳
since the two levels of makifim (encompassing lights) mentioned above are also called a garment and a house — the garment is the level of the near makif, and the house is the makif to the makif. And the matter of these two makifim in holiness is also explained above, in Parshas Va’eschanan, on the verse “And this is the commandment,” etc.;
The two makifim described above are also called a “garment” and a “house”: the garment is the near makif, the lamed, and the house is the makif of the makif, the mem. The Alter Rebbe notes that this is also explained in Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan, on “And this is the commandment” (Deuteronomy 6:1).
וע׳ בד״ה השמים כסאי5 בענין איזה בית כו׳ ובשאר דוכתי. וז״ש [וזהו שכתוב] כאן על וראית בשביה6 אשת יפ״ת [יפת תאר] כו׳ שהוא להפך עצמות המדות בחי׳ צ׳ כנ״ל הנה שמירה זו הוא ע״י והבאתה אל תוך ביתך בחי׳ מקיף העליון כו׳
and see the discourse beginning “The heavens are My throne,” on the matter of “What house,” etc., and in other places. And [regarding] what is written here concerning “and you see among the captives a woman of beautiful form,” etc., which is [about] transforming the essence of the emotive attributes (middos), the level of the tzadi, as mentioned above: this guarding is through “and you shall bring her into your house,” the level of the supernal makif, etc.;
It is also discussed in the discourse on “The heavens are My throne … what house could you build for Me” (Isaiah 66:1), among other places. The passage of the captive woman concerns transforming the essence of the emotive attributes, the tzadi, and to guard that change one needs “bring her into your house,” the higher makif.
וגם המקיף דבחי׳ ל׳ [לשון] שנק׳ לבוש שלכך בלעו״ז [בלעומת זה] נקרא שמלת שביה וצ״ל והסירה שמלת שביה שעי״ז ישרה הלבוש ומקיף דקדושה כו׳ מ״מ צריך להיות וישבה בביתך דוקא וכמשנ״ת [וכמו שנתבאר] ע״פ וזאת המצוה כו׳ לשמר כו׳ ושמרת כו׳ ע״ש):
and as for the makif of the level of the lamed, which is called a garment — which is why, on the opposing side, it is called “the garment of her captivity,” and there must be “and she shall remove the garment of her captivity,” so that through this the garment and makif of holiness will rest, etc. — nevertheless, there must be “and she shall dwell in your house” specifically; and as was explained on the verse “And this is the commandment,” etc., “to keep,” etc., “and you shall keep,” etc.; see there.)
Removing “the garment of her captivity” lets the holy garment, the makif of the lamed, rest on the person, but that is not enough. “She shall dwell in your house,” the higher makif, is also needed, as explained on “And this is the commandment … to keep … and you shall keep.”
“She shall dwell in your house” means that the change becomes permanent. Read through the two makifim, the garment is the lamed and the house the mem: removing the captive garment lets the holy garment rest on the soul, but guarding the transformed attributes requires the higher makif, the “house.”
The verses follow the letters of tzelem in order: the tzadi, the soul’s attributes, is the captive woman; the lamed is the garment, first the captive one and then the holy one; and the mem is the house in which the transformation is kept.
Marei mekomos
- 1וישבה בביתך · Deuteronomy 21:13
- 2בל תמוט לעולם ועד · Psalms 104:5
- 3והבאתה אל תוך ביתך · Deuteronomy 21:12
- 4וזאת המצוה · Deuteronomy 6:1
- 5השמים כסאי · Isaiah 66:1
- 6וראית בשביה · Deuteronomy 21:11
Weeping and union ¶14
14ובכתה את אביה.1 היא בחי׳ תשובה עילאה2 יותר וכנודע ממ״ש האריז״ל [האר״י זכרונו לברכה] מי שאינו בוכה3 בר״ה [בראש השנה] ויוהכ״פ [ויום הכפורים] אין נשמתו שלימה ואין בכיה זו באה מצד מרה שחורה.
“And she shall weep for her father”: this is the level of a still higher teshuvah (return), as is known from what the Arizal, of blessed memory, said: one who does not weep on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, his soul is not complete. And this weeping does not come from melancholy (marah shechorah),
“And she shall weep for her father” is an even higher teshuvah. The Arizal said that one who does not weep on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur has an incomplete soul, but this weeping does not come from melancholy.
אלא כענין שאמרו רז״ל [רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] גבי רבי עקיבא שכשהשיג סודות התורה בשיר השירים זלגו עיניו דמעות והיא מעלה האמורה לעתיד לבא בבכי יבואו4 כו׳ שהיא מדרגה גדולה כי והנה נער בוכה5 ותחמול עליו.
but rather like what our Sages, of blessed memory, said concerning Rabbi Akiva: that when he grasped the secrets of the Torah in the Song of Songs, his eyes streamed with tears. And this is the virtue spoken of for the Time to Come — “With weeping they shall come,” etc. — which is a great level; for “behold, a lad weeping, and she had compassion on him.”
It is like Rabbi Akiva’s tears, which streamed when he grasped the secrets of the Torah in the Song of Songs: tears of closeness, not of sadness. It is the virtue promised for the future, “With weeping they shall come” (Jeremiah 31:9), and it is like the infant Moshe: “behold, a lad weeping, and she had compassion on him” (Exodus 2:6).
והוא בחי׳ יוהכ״פ [יום הכפורים]. (ועמ״ש מענין בכייה בפ׳ וישלח סד״ה ויקח מן הבא בידו6 מנחה7 כו׳ ובד״ה וקבל היהודים89 במש״ש [במה שכתוב שם]. אך לע״ל [לעתיד לבוא] נאמר עין בעין יראו10 לפי שאז נאמר בבכי יבואו כו׳ ע״ש).
And this is the level of Yom Kippur. (And see what is written on the matter of weeping in Parshas Vayishlach, at the end of the discourse beginning “And he took from what came into his hand a gift,” etc., and in the discourse beginning “And the Jews took upon themselves,” in what is written there: but in the Time to Come it is said, “Eye to eye they shall see,” because then it is said, “With weeping they shall come,” etc.; see there.)
This weeping is the level of Yom Kippur. The Alter Rebbe refers to his Torah Ohr discourses on “And he took from what came into his hand a gift” (Genesis 32:14) and “And the Jews took upon themselves” (Esther 9:23): in the future “eye to eye they shall see” (Isaiah 52:8), because then “with weeping they shall come.”
ואח״כ תבא אליה ובעלתה היינו ענין מס״נ [מסירות נפש] והוא ענין נפילת אפים11 ובחינת נעילה שהוא גמר העליות כמ״ש במ״א12
And “afterwards you may come to her and be her husband”: this is the matter of self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh); and it is the matter of falling on the face (nefilas apayim), and the level of Ne’ilah, which is the culmination of the ascents, as is written elsewhere
“And afterwards you may come to her and be her husband” is mesirus nefesh, complete self-giving. It corresponds to nefilas apayim, “falling on the face” in prayer, and to Ne’ilah, the closing prayer of Yom Kippur, the culmination of all the ascents.
(וע׳ בפע״ח [בפרי עץ חיים] בענין נפילת אפים וע׳ מ״ש במ״א ע״פ לריח שמניך1314 שכנ״י [שכנסת ישראל] נק׳ כלה וכשמאיר אור אלקות בנש״י [בנשמות ישראל] בתוך לבו בעומק לבו זה נק׳ כד קבילת דכר כו׳ וע׳ מ״ש במ״א ע״פ עיני כל1516 איך יש בחי׳ ארוסה ונשואה.
(and see Pri Etz Chaim on the matter of falling on the face; and see what is written elsewhere on the verse “For the fragrance of your oils,” that the Community of Israel (Knesses Yisrael) is called a bride, and when the light of G‑dliness shines in the souls of Israel, within one’s heart, in the depth of one’s heart, this is called “when she has received the male,” etc. And see what is written elsewhere on the verse “The eyes of all,” how there is a level of betrothed and of married:
The parenthesis cites Pri Etz Chaim on nefilas apayim, and the discourse on “For the fragrance of your oils” (Song of Songs 1:3): the Community of Israel is called a bride, and when the light of G‑dliness shines in the depth of a Jew’s heart it is called “when she has received the male.” It also cites the discourse on “The eyes of all” (Psalms 145:15), which distinguishes betrothal from marriage.
דהיינו כשההתבונונת נקלט בעומק הלב ע״ד בכל לבי דרשתיך17 זהו הנק׳ בחי׳ נשואין וז״ש [וזהו שכתוב] נודע בשערים בעלה18 כו׳. ומזה יובן מש״כ [מה שכתוב] ובעלתה היינו ענין מס״נ [מסירות נפש] כו׳ וע׳ בפ׳ מטות סד״ה ואשה כי תדר19 כו׳):20
that is, when the contemplation is absorbed in the depth of the heart, in the manner of “With all my heart I have sought You,” this is what is called the level of marriage; and this is [the meaning of] what is written, “Her husband is known in the gates,” etc. And from this will be understood what was written, that “and be her husband” is the matter of self-sacrifice, etc. And see Parshas Matos, at the end of the discourse beginning “And if a woman vows,” etc.)
Marriage is when contemplation is absorbed in the depth of the heart, as in “With all my heart I have sought You” (Psalms 119:10); so “Her husband is known in the gates” (Proverbs 31:23), which the Zohar reads as “according to what he measures in his heart.” “And be her husband,” the full union, is therefore self-sacrifice; the Alter Rebbe also refers to his discourse “And if a woman vows” (Numbers 30:4) in Matos.
“And she shall weep for her father” is a still higher teshuvah: tears that come not from melancholy but from closeness, like Rabbi Akiva’s over the Song of Songs, the level of Yom Kippur. “And be her husband” is mesirus nefesh, as in nefilas apayim and Ne’ilah, when the contemplation of G‑dliness is absorbed into the very depth of the heart, like marriage after betrothal.
A Kehot note quotes Likkutei Sichos: here the Arizal’s saying is cited without the word “whoever” (kol), unlike at the end of the previous maamar, because this passage excludes weeping out of melancholy, so the beinoni and the wicked are not included. Likkutei Torah on Nasso (24b) quotes this passage, that “and be her husband” is mesirus nefesh, nefilas apayim and Ne’ilah, “the culmination of the ascents.”
Marei mekomos
- 1ובכתה את אביה · Deuteronomy 21:13
- 2ובכתה . . בחי׳ תשובה עילאה · ראה בארוכה במאמרי אדה״א כאן ע׳ תקמו ואילך.
- 3ממ״ש האריז״ל מי שאינו בוכה · ראה לעיל לו, ג ובמ״מ לשם. ”וכ״כ [— לעיל] לו, ג (אלא ששם אינו שולל הענין דמרה שחורה”. לקו״ש ח״ט ע׳ 208 הערה 36 ומציין לעיין בהערה 41 ”ע״פ מ״ש בפנים [— לקו״ש שם] מובן מה שבלקו״ת שם [— כאן] (לז, ד) הובא הלשון ”מי שאינו בוכה כו” (בהשמטת תיבת ”כל”) — אף שלפנ״ז (לו, ג) איתא ”כל מי כו׳” [ובפרט שבשני המקומות מבאר שבכי׳ זו היא כענין שאמרו גבי ר״ע. ויתירה מזו: מאמר הב׳ הוא ביאור על המאמר דלפניו] — כי בהביאור (לז, ד) ששולל הבכי׳ שמצד מ״ש הרי בינוני ורשע אינם בכלל זה [וי״ל שזהו גם הטעם מה שבלקו״ת נצבים (מה, ד) משמיט תיבת ”כל” — כי הבכי׳ (שמבאר שם) על ”הפגם והחסרון” אינה שייכת בצדיק. אבל בדרושי ר״ה (נה, ד) ובד״ח שם כותב ”כל כו׳” כי הבכי׳ על מה שהנשמה ”ירדה ממקום כבודה ונתגשמה” (ועד״ז בד״ח [יג, ב] שייכת בכולם] משא״כ בהמאמר (לו, ג) שמפרש את מאמר האריז״ל אבל אינו שולל עוד פירוש כותב כל מי” ע״ש עוד בארוכה.
- 4בבכי יבואו · Jeremiah 31:9
- 5והנה נער בוכה · Exodus 2:6
- 6סד״ה ויקח מן הבא בידו · תו״א כו, א.
- 7ויקח מן הבא בידו מנחה · Genesis 32:14
- 8ובד״ה וקבל היהודים · תו״א צו, ג.
- 9וקבל היהודים · Esther 9:23
- 10עין בעין יראו · Isaiah 52:8
- 11והוא ענין נפילת אפים · ראה אוה״ת קרח ע׳ תשז.
- 12ואח״כ תבא אליה . . ענין מס״נ . . כמ״ש במ״א · מובא לעיל פ׳ נשא כד, ב.
- 13ע״פ לריח שמניך · Song of Songs 2:4
- 14לריח שמניך · Song of Songs 1:3
- 15ע״פ עיני כל · לעיל פ׳ מטות פה, ב ואילך.
- 16עיני כל · Psalms 145:15
- 17בכל לבי דרשתיך · Psalms 119:10
- 18נודע בשערים בעלה · Proverbs 31:23
- 19ואשה כי תדר · Numbers 30:4
- 20גבי ר׳ עקיבא . . זלגו עיניו דמעות · Zohar I, 98b
Finished the maamar?
Mark it as learned; it counts toward the week and the year’s siyum.
In one’s avodah
Gather what was scattered in idle thought, speech and action, by uprooting the desire and by saying the confession aloud, and raise it to where the opposing forces have no hold. Study Torah to awaken the root of the soul above, from which the higher awe and a deeper teshuvah come. In earning a living, make an honest vessel for G‑d’s blessing through ordinary work and prayer, but do not rely on scheming or overextend; be content with what is necessary, and let one who has stumbled set fences for himself. Make the change permanent, and reach toward the weeping of closeness and the self-giving of Ne’ilah.
Questions for discussion
- Why does the soul need an intermediary, the tzelem, between itself and G‑dliness, and how do the tzadi and the lamed divide that role?
- According to the Baal Shem Tov’s question, who hears the heavenly voice that calls “Return,” and what does this suggest about thoughts of teshuvah that come to a person unbidden?
- Why are both uprooting the will and verbal confession needed, and how does the image of the accuser’s soul and body explain this?
- Where does the line run between making a vessel for blessing and the “excess of the intellect” in earning a living, and how does prayer change the picture in the Talmud’s advice on becoming rich?
- How does the weeping of “she shall weep for her father” differ from weeping out of melancholy, and why is it linked to Yom Kippur and to mesirus nefesh?
Key terms in this maamar
- The intellect (mochin)מוחין
- Chochmah, Binah and Daas as a whole. ×9
- Z'eir Anpin (the emotive attributes)ז״א
- The six emotive Sefiros as one configuration.
- Life-forceחיות
- The divine vitality that sustains every creation. ×2
- The Sefirosספירות
- The ten divine attributes through which G‑d relates to creation.
- Chochmah (wisdom)חכמה
- The first flash of insight. ×9
- Binah (understanding)בינה
- Developing and grasping an insight in detail.
- Daas (knowledge)דעת
- Deep connection to an idea, bridging intellect and emotion.
- Chesed (kindness)חסד
- Expansive giving. ×2
- Gevurah (restraint)גבורה
- Measure, limitation and judgment. ×1
- Tiferes (beauty)תפארת
- Harmony of kindness and restraint; associated with compassion. ×4
- Netzach (victory)נצח
- Perseverance, the drive to overcome.
- Hod (splendor)הוד
- Acknowledgment and yielding.
- Yesod (foundation)יסוד
- The channel that connects and transmits.
- The World of Atzilus (Emanation)אצילות
- The highest world, still one with G‑d.
- The Name Havayahהוי׳
- The Tetragrammaton: G‑d as transcending time and bringing all into being.
- Keser (the Crown)כתר
- The level above intellect: divine will and delight. ×5
- The kav (line of light)קו
- The thin ray of light drawn into the space left after the tzimtzum. ×1
- Malchus (sovereignty)מלכות
- Kingship: the level through which G‑d's word creates and rules the worlds. ×2
- The World of Asiyah (Action)עשיה
- The lowest world, including our physical one.
- The Shechinah (Divine Presence)שכינה
- G‑d's presence as it dwells in the world. ×1
- Willרצון
- Desire; in G‑d, the level above intellect. ×5
- The outer dimension (chitzoniyus)חיצוניות
- The external, expressive aspect. ×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 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.
- Teshuvah (return)תשובה
- Returning to G‑d; not only repentance. ×7
- The inner dimension (pnimiyus)פנימיות
- The innermost core of a level.
- Self-nullification (bittul)ביטול
- Setting aside one's own sense of self before G‑d. ×1
- The emotive attributes (middos)מדות
- Love, awe, compassion and the rest. ×2
- Tzimtzum (contraction)צמצום
- The self-concealment of the Infinite Light that makes room for finite worlds. ×1
- Kelipah (the husk)קליפה
- The forces of concealment that oppose holiness. ×4
- Self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh)מסירות נפש
- Giving oneself over entirely to G‑d.
- The Name Elokimאלקים
- G‑d as concealed within nature, measuring and limiting. ×6