Likkutei Torah · Parshas Masei · Maamar 6
וירד הגבול ומחה על כתף ים כנרת קדמה כו׳
“And the border shall descend and shall touch upon the shoulder of the Sea of Kinneres”
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The big idea
The Jordan, which “takes from this one and gives to that one,” is a person’s work of raising the fallen sparks by turning the heat of his natural emotions into fiery love of G‑d. Yet even this love from below succeeds only through light drawn from above, from the Sea of Kinneres, the sparks’ own root before the shattering.
The maamar in brief
The maamar reads the eastern border of the Land of Israel, which touches the Sea of Kinneres and descends along the Jordan, as a map of divine service. The Jordan, which the Sages say “takes from this one and gives to that one,” is the ascent from below: raising the unrefined remnants of the shattered “kings” of Tohu out of kelipas nogah. These are the seven emotive attributes fallen into the “heat” of Cham and Canaan, and the work is to make that very heat into “flashes of fire,” the heart’s ardor for G‑d. Such service, an arousal from below at the level of “world” (the six extremities), changes as physical things change. Above it is “great love,” which comes wholly from above the world, like the Torah that preceded it by two thousand years; it is the Land of Israel and Chochmah, and Aharon, the Queen’s groomsman, draws it down. Yet even the lower love cannot come from the world alone, for the nations also eat and their eating does not become holy. It needs light from above: the border descends from Kinneres, the supernal sea of Nekudim where the sparks are rooted, into the Jordan.
Outline
- The Jordan: turning heat into fireThe verses of the eastern border. The Jordan “takes from this one and gives to that one”: the ascent from below that raises the unrefined remnants of the kings of Tohu out of kelipas nogah, the seven emotive attributes fallen into the heat of Cham and Canaan, and makes that heat into “flashes of fire” in the service of G‑d.¶1
- Two kinds of loveThe Jordan’s love is an arousal from below at the level of “world,” the six extremities, and it changes with eating, drinking and other bodily matters. “Great love” needs nothing from lower things: it comes from above the world, like the Torah created two thousand years before it, where there are also “flashes of fire.”¶2
- The Land of Israel and AharonThe higher love is the Land of Israel, on which “the eyes of Havayah your G‑d” rest: Chochmah, the “two thousand” of “I will teach you wisdom, I will teach you understanding.” It comes only from above, through Aharon, the Queen’s groomsman, who draws great love down to her.¶3
- Kinneres above the JordanEven the lower love needs an illumination from above, since the nations also eat and their eating is not turned into holiness. Kinneres, sweet as a harp, is the chasadim from Eden (Chochmah) and stands “before the eye”; it is the supernal sea of Nekudim, the root of the 288 sparks that fell into the Jordan, and from there the power to raise them is drawn down.¶4
Key concepts
- The Jordan (Yarden)ירדן
- The river that “takes from this one and gives to that one”: in the maamar, the ascent from below that takes sparks out of kelipas nogah and gives them to holiness.
- The remnants of the kings of Tohuשיורי מלכים דתהו
- The fragments of the World of Tohu (Chaos) that fell in the shattering and have not yet been refined; they lie in kelipas nogah and are the material of a person’s service.
- Kelipas nogahקליפות נוגה
- The husk that is not wholly evil, in which the fallen sparks are held; what is in it can be raised and turned into holiness.
- Heat (chamimus)חמימות
- The heat suggested by the name Cham, root of the seven evil emotive attributes of the land of Canaan; the very heat that is to be made into “flashes of fire” of love for G‑d.
- World (olam), the six extremitiesעולם / ו״ק
- The level of the emotive attributes, where the love from below, the arousal from below, takes place.
- Great love (ahavah rabbah)אהבה רבה
- A love that is not taken from lower things but comes wholly from above the level of “world”; it is the level of the Land of Israel and Chochmah, drawn down through Aharon.
- Groomsman of the Queenשושבינא דמטרוניתא
- Aharon’s title: the one who draws great love from above down to the Queen (Matronisa).
- Nekudim and the 288 sparksנקודים / רפ״ח ניצוצין
- Nekudim (Points), the supernal sea of Kinneres, is the world whose vessels shattered; the 288 sparks that fell from it into kelipas nogah are the Jordan, and their root before the shattering remains above.
The Jordan: turning heat into fire ¶1
1וירד הגבול ומחה על כתף ים כנרת קדמה1 כו׳. וירד הגבול הירדנה23 כו׳. הנה בחי׳ ירדן הוא זה כמארז״ל [כמאמר רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] שנוטל מזה ונותן לזה.
“And the border shall descend and shall touch upon the shoulder of the Sea of Kinneres, eastward,” etc. “And the border shall descend to the Jordan,” etc. Now, the level of the Jordan (Yarden) is this, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said: that it takes from this one and gives to that one.
The maamar opens with two verses that trace the eastern border of the Land of Israel: the border reaches the Sea of Kinneres (the Sea of Galilee) and then runs down along the Jordan. The Alter Rebbe begins with the Jordan (Yarden), which the Sages describe as a river that “takes from this one and gives to that one,” and he will read this as a spiritual process of taking from one realm and giving to another.
פי׳ הוא ענין העלאה מלמטה למעלה להעלות מהשבירה משיורי מלכים דתהו שלא נתבררו שהוא ענין קליפות נוגה. להפכם לקדושה.
That is, it is the matter of ascent from below to above: to raise up, from the shattering, from the remnants of the kings of Tohu (Chaos) that were not refined, which is the matter of the kelipos (husks) of nogah, so as to turn them into holiness.
Taking from one side and giving to the other is an ascent from below to above: raising up the fragments left from the shattering of the vessels in the World of Tohu (Chaos), called “the remnants of the kings,” that have not yet been sifted and refined. These unrefined fragments are kelipas nogah, the husk that is not wholly evil, and the task is to turn them into holiness.
דהיינו הז׳ מדות שנפלו בקליפות חם וכנען חמימות שרש הז׳ מדות רעות שבארץ כנען ולעשות מזה החמימות גופא רשפיה רשפי אש4 התלהבות הלב לעבודת ה׳.
Namely, the seven emotive attributes (middos) that fell into the kelipos of Cham (Ham) and Canaan, [that is,] heat (chamimus), the root of the seven evil emotive attributes that are in the land of Canaan; and to make, out of this very heat, “its flashes are flashes of fire,” the ardor of the heart for the service of G‑d.
What fell are the seven emotive attributes, into the husks represented by Cham (Ham) and his son Canaan; the name Cham suggests chamimus, “heat,” and this heat is the root of the seven evil traits found in the land of Canaan. The service is to take that very heat, a person’s natural passion, and make it into the “flashes of fire” of the Song of Songs: the heart’s burning love in serving G‑d.
The maamar opens by reading the eastern border of the Land of Israel as a map of divine service: the Jordan, which “takes from this one and gives to that one,” is the work of raising the fallen fragments of Tohu out of kelipas nogah and turning the heat of the natural emotions into fiery love of G‑d.
The seven “kings” of Tohu correspond to the seven emotive attributes, which is why the text speaks of seven middos that fell. Their transformation is not suppression: the very heat of Cham, the passion itself, becomes the fire of love for G‑d.
Marei mekomos
- 1וירד הגבול ומחה על כתף ים כנרת קדמה · Numbers 34:11
- 2
- 3וירד הגבול הירדנה · Numbers 34:12
- 4
Two kinds of love ¶2
2וזהו בחי׳ ירדן שנוטל מזה ונותן לזה מלמטה למעלה באתערותא דלתתא כו׳ וזהו נק׳ עולם שהוא ו״ק [ו׳ קצוות].
And this is the level of the Jordan, which takes from this one and gives to that one, from below to above, through an arousal from below, etc. And this is called “world” (olam), which is the six extremities (vav ketzavos).
This ascent, in which a person takes the energy of the lower world and gives it to holiness, is “the Jordan,” and it begins with the person himself: an arousal from below. This level is called “world” (olam), which corresponds to the six extremities, the six emotive Sefiros from Chesed to Yesod.
ובעבודה זו מוכרח להיות שינויים מחמת שינוי דברים התחתונים ועניני גופנים אכילה ושתיה כו׳. ויש עוד בחי׳ עבודה (מדברים תחתונים)
And in this service there must be changes, on account of the changing of the lower things and of bodily matters, eating and drinking, etc. And there is yet another level of service ([beyond that which comes] from lower things),
Because this service depends on lower, physical things such as eating and drinking, which themselves change, the service changes with them and is not constant. The Alter Rebbe now introduces another kind of service, one that does not draw its fire from lower things.
למעלה מזה ונק׳ אהבה רבה שאינו צריך שתלקח אהבה מדברים תחתונים חם אבי כנען1 הנ״ל.
higher than this, and it is called great love (ahavah rabbah), in which there is no need for love to be taken from lower things, “Cham, the father of Canaan,” mentioned above;
This higher service is called “great love” (ahavah rabbah): a love for G‑d that does not have to be taken from lower things, from the heat of “Cham, the father of Canaan,” mentioned above. It does not depend on transforming a person’s natural passions.
רק הכל מלמעלה מן בחי׳ עולם הנ״ל. שהתורה נבראת אלפים שנה קודם בריאת העולם ושם נאמר ג״כ רשפיה רשפי אש2 כו׳.
rather, all of it is from above the level of “world” mentioned above. For the Torah was created two thousand years before the creation of the world, and there, too, it is said, “its flashes are flashes of fire,” etc.
This love comes entirely from above the level of “world,” that is, from higher than the six emotive attributes. The Alter Rebbe ties it to the Torah, which was created two thousand years before the world; at that level too there are “flashes of fire,” but their fire is not drawn from below.
The paragraph distinguishes two loves: the “Jordan” love, an arousal from below that grows out of refining physical life and so changes with it (the level of “world,” the six emotive attributes), and “great love,” which comes entirely from above the world, like the Torah that preceded it.
The level of “world” (olam) is the six extremities, the emotive attributes; what is “above the world” reaches into the intellect, which the next paragraph identifies with Chochmah and with the “two thousand years” by which the Torah preceded creation.
Marei mekomos
- 1חם אבי כנען · Genesis 9:22
- 2רשפיה רשפי אש · Song of Songs 8:6
The Land of Israel and Aharon ¶3
And this is the level of the Land of Israel, “the eyes of Havayah your G‑d are upon it,” etc.: the level of Chochmah (wisdom), which is the two thousand (alpayim) years, “I will teach you (a’alefcha) wisdom, I will teach you understanding.”
The higher love corresponds to the Land of Israel, of which the Torah says that “the eyes of Havayah your G‑d are upon it”; the eyes, the faculty of sight, stand for Chochmah. Chochmah is the “two thousand” (alpayim) years through a wordplay: the root alef means both “thousand” and “teach,” as in “I will teach you (a’alefcha) wisdom, I will teach you understanding,” so the two “thousands” are Chochmah and Binah.
ואהבה זו היא רק מלמעלה על ידי אהרן שושבינא דמטרוניתא. הממשיך אהבה רבה מלמעלה למטרוניתא הנ״ל ודו״ק [ודוק].
And this love is only from above, through Aharon, the groomsman of the Queen (shushvina deMatronisa), who draws great love from above to the Queen mentioned above; and consider this carefully.
This love comes only from above, and it is drawn down through Aharon, called “the groomsman of the Queen.” The Queen (Matronisa) is Malchus, the Community of Israel, and Aharon, as her groomsman, draws the great love down to her from above.
The higher love is identified with the Land of Israel and with Chochmah, and its channel is Aharon, who draws great love from above down to Malchus, “the Queen.”
Because this love is not produced by a person’s own effort from below, it needs a channel to bring it down; that is Aharon’s role as the Queen’s groomsman.
Marei mekomos
- 1עיני ה׳ אלקיך בה · Deuteronomy 11:12
- 2אאלפך חכמה · Job 33:33
Kinneres above the Jordan ¶4
4ואף האהבה שהיא בתוך העולם מלמטה למעלה לא שנלקחת רק מן העולם שהרי גם האומות אוכלים כו׳.
And even the love that is within the world, from below to above, is not taken only from the world; for the nations, too, eat, etc.,
Even the lower love, which rises from within the world, cannot come from the world alone. The proof is that the nations, too, eat and drink.
ולא נהפך לקדושה. אלא מוכרח שיהיה הארה מלמעלה למטה. שיהי׳ [שיהיה] ביכולתו להעלות המדות לקדושה וזהו וירד הגבול הירדנה1 ומחה על כתף ים כנרת קדמה2 כו׳.
and it is not turned into holiness. Rather, there must be an illumination from above to below, so that he will have the ability to raise the emotive attributes (middos) to holiness. And this is [the meaning of] “And the border shall descend to the Jordan, and shall touch upon the shoulder of the Sea of Kinneres, eastward,” etc.
Their eating is not turned into holiness, so there must first be an illumination from above that gives a person the power to raise his emotive attributes to holiness. This is the verse read together: the border comes from the Sea of Kinneres and descends to the Jordan, that is, a light from above flows down into the Jordan’s work of refinement.
כנרת מתוק ככנור. בחי׳ חסדים יצא מעדן3 חכמה וד״ל [ודי למבין]. מקדם לעין למעלה מבחי׳ עיני ה׳ אלהיך כו׳.
Kinneres: sweet like a harp (kinnor). The level of the chasadim (kindnesses) “going forth from Eden,” [which is] Chochmah (wisdom); this suffices for one who understands. “Mikedem la’ayin” (“east of Ain”): above the level of “the eyes (einei) of Havayah your G‑d,” etc.
The Alter Rebbe reads the place names. Kinneres is linked to the kinnor (harp), being sweet like a harp, and this sweetness is the chasadim (kindnesses) that “go forth from Eden,” Eden being Chochmah. “Mikedem la’ayin,” which in the verse means “east of Ain,” is read as “before the eye”: higher even than “the eyes of Havayah your G‑d,” the level of Chochmah identified with the Land of Israel.
ים כנרת ים עילאה בחי׳ נקודים. והירדן הוא בחי׳ הרפ״ח ניצוצין שבקליפות נוגה שירדו בשבירה.
The Sea of Kinneres is the supernal sea (yam ila’ah), the level of Nekudim (Points). And the Jordan is the level of the 288 sparks in the kelipos (husks) of nogah, which descended in the shattering.
The Sea of Kinneres stands for the “supernal sea,” the World of Nekudim (Points), the world of Tohu whose vessels shattered. The Jordan, flowing down from it, stands for the 288 sparks of holiness that fell in that shattering into kelipas nogah.
אבל שרשם קודם שבירה שם הוא שרשם. ובזה המשכה לירדן שיוכל להעלות וליטול מזה וליתן לזה וד״ל [ודי למבין] והמ״י [והמשכיל יבין]:4
But as for their root before the shattering, there is their root. And through this [there is] a drawing down to the Jordan, so that it will be able to raise up, and to take from this one and give to that one. This suffices for one who understands, and the discerning will understand.
Yet the sparks’ root, from before the shattering, is up there in the supernal sea of Kinneres. Because the border runs from Kinneres down into the Jordan, light from that root is drawn into the Jordan, and this is what makes it possible to raise the sparks: to “take from this one and give to that one.”
Even the lower love needs light from above, and the verse shows how: the border descends from the Sea of Kinneres, the supernal sea of Nekudim where the sparks are rooted, into the Jordan, where those sparks lie in kelipas nogah, so the light of their root empowers their ascent.
The sparks fell from Nekudim into kelipas nogah, and they are raised by a light drawn from that same root as it was before the shattering. Kinneres, the chasadim that go forth from Chochmah and stand “before the eye,” is placed even above the Chochmah of the Land of Israel discussed in the previous paragraph.
Marei mekomos
- 1וירד הגבול הירדנה · Numbers 34:12
- 2ומחה על כתף ים כנרת קדמה · Numbers 34:11
- 3יצא מעדן · Genesis 2:10
- 4עיני ה׳ אלהיך · Deuteronomy 11:12
Finished the maamar?
Mark it as learned; it counts toward the week and the year’s siyum.
In one’s avodah
A person’s own heat, the passion that drives him in bodily matters, is not to be discarded but made into the “flashes of fire” of the heart’s ardor in serving G‑d. Yet this love from below rises and falls with physical things, and it succeeds only through an illumination from above; beyond it stands the “great love” that comes wholly from above.
Questions for discussion
- Why does the work of refinement belong to the Jordan, while the Sea of Kinneres is its root?
- What does it mean to make “flashes of fire” out of the very heat of Cham and Canaan, rather than simply to suppress it?
- Why must service that depends on eating and drinking involve changes, and how does “great love” differ from it?
- How does the wordplay of alef and elef (“thousand”) connect the Torah’s two thousand years with Chochmah and Binah?
- If eating as such does not become holiness, what, according to the last paragraph, makes it possible to raise the emotive attributes to holiness?
Key terms in this maamar
- Kelipah (the husk)קליפה
- The forces of concealment that oppose holiness.
- The emotive attributes (middos)מדות
- Love, awe, compassion and the rest. ×3
- An arousal from belowאתערותא דלתתא
- Human initiative that draws down a divine response. ×1
- The Name Havayahהוי׳
- The Tetragrammaton: G‑d as transcending time and bringing all into being.
- Chochmah (wisdom)חכמה
- The first flash of insight. ×3
- Binah (understanding)בינה
- Developing and grasping an insight in detail. ×1