Likkutei Torah · Parshas Shir HaShirim · Maamar 14
ולהבין ענין מדלג על ההרים מקפץ על הגבעות…
To Understand “Leaping over the Mountains, Skipping over the Hills”
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The big idea
Mitzvos are “fruits”: like a seed sown in the earth, the physical deed below is the vessel through which the Infinite Light, which at creation came as a free gift, is now drawn down and revealed. The mitzvos bring both inner light, from the Gevuros, and encompassing light, from the Chasadim, and so they are the “hills” over which G‑d skips with both feet.
The maamar in brief
The Talmud, explaining the eglah arufah, says the “fruits” a murdered person was kept from producing are mitzvos. Fruit grows from the earth’s spiritual power of growth, yet only once a seed is sown and rots as its vessel. So too the Infinite Light, given freely at creation, is now revealed only through an arousal from below, the actual doing of mitzvos: “Light is sown for the tzaddik.” The counting of the omer is the example. After the leap of Pesach, light is drawn into Malchus day by day; the omer’s barley is food for Malchus as “animal,” and on Shavuos, with the wheat of the two loaves and the giving of the Torah, Malchus rises to “man.” The omer lamb’s doubled meal-offering is explained in several ways. Mitzvos are done with physical things whose root is the sparks of Tohu, and they are limbs, food and garments: inner light from the Gevuros of Atik and encompassing light from the Chasadim. So the mountains, the Patriarchs, are leapt over with one foot, and the hills, the Matriarchs and the mitzvos, with both feet together.
Outline
- Mitzvos are fruitsThe verse is approached through the eglah arufah, where the Gemara concludes that the “fruits” a murdered person could have produced are mitzvos.¶1
- The seed and the power of growthFruit grows from the earth’s spiritual power of growth, but only after a seed, a raising of mayin nukvin, gives it a vessel. So the Infinite Light, freely given at creation, is now drawn down through the deeds of the lower beings: “Light is sown for the tzaddik.”¶2–3
- The omer: from leap to countingPesach was a leap from the essence of the Infinite One over Malchus; afterwards light reaches Malchus through the daily count. Malchus is “man” in Atzilus and “animal” in the lower worlds, so the omer is barley, animal food, brought with an unblemished lamb.¶4–6
- The doubled meal-offeringThe omer lamb has two tenths of flour but the usual libations. A parenthesis gives several reasons: what rises from below is double, a tithe from below and from above, Malchus as both the tenth and Keser, and Ban as the “doubled” Name. The offering, like tzitzis and tefillin, is a seed that brings down fire from above.¶7
- From animal to manThe forty-nine days raise Malchus to Keser by Shavuos, when wheat, human food, is offered and the Torah, twenty-two letters, is given. Mitzvos work because they use physical things rooted in the sparks of Tohu, whose root, Ban of Sag, is higher than Mah.¶8–9
- Limbs, food and garmentsThe 248 mitzvos are the King’s limbs, filled with life from Keser. Their inner light comes from the Gevuros of Atik and nourishes like food, hence “fruits”; their encompassing light comes from the Chasadim and clothes like garments, hence tzedakah.¶10–11
- Leaping and skippingLeaping is with one foot, the mountains, the Patriarchs; skipping is with both feet, left and right, the inner and encompassing lights of the mitzvos.¶12
- The Matriarchs and the higher DaasThe Matriarchs, the mitzvos, are higher than the Patriarchs, as Ban will rise into Sag through boundless love and teshuvah. A closing parenthesis reads the two tenths as the higher and lower Daas, or as inner and encompassing light.¶13
Key concepts
- Power of growthכח הצומח
- The spiritual power in the earth, from the utterance “Let the earth sprout,” that makes everything grow. It shows itself only through a sown seed, which serves as its vessel.
- Raising of mayin nukvinהעלאת מ״ן
- Literally “feminine waters”: the Kabbalistic term for an arousal from below that calls forth a flow from above. The sown seed and the performed mitzvah are both mayin nukvin.
- Returning light (or chozer)אור חוזר
- Light that strikes the lowest point and rises back upward. Through it Malchus, the tenth counted from above, becomes Keser, the first counted from below.
- The Names Mah and Banשם מ״ה ושם ב״ן
- Two spellings of the Name Havayah, numbering 45 and 52. Now Mah refines Ban; after the refinement Ban, whose root is Ban of Sag, will rise higher than Mah.
- Inner and encompassing lightאור פנימי ואור מקיף
- Light that enters within a recipient, measured to it, and light that surrounds from outside. In the mitzvos the first comes from the Gevuros, like food, and the second from the Chasadim, like garments.
- Botzina dekardunisaבוצינא דקרדוניתא
- The Zohar’s “lamp of darkness,” the supernal Gevurah of Atik and the root of the five Gevuros. The maamar places the root of the mitzvos there, higher than the Chasadim.
Mitzvos are fruits ¶1
1ולהבין ענין מדלג על ההרים מקפץ על הגבעות כו׳ בביאור היטב.1 הנה יובן ע״פ מ״ש בעגלה ערופה וערפו אותה אל נחל איתן.2
To understand, with a thorough explanation, the meaning of “leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills, etc.”: it will be understood through what is written about the eglah arufah (the calf whose neck is broken), “And they shall break its neck at the nachal eisan.”
The maamar sets out to explain thoroughly the verse “Leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills” (Song of Songs 2:8). It begins with the law of the eglah arufah: when a murdered person is found and the killer is unknown, the elders break a calf’s neck at a nachal eisan (Devarim 21:4).
ופירשו במשנה ובגמרא פ״ט דסוטה (דמ״ו) נחל איתן שהוא קשה3 שאינו עושה פירות. אמר הקב״ה יבא דבר שלא עשה פירות ויערף4 כו׳
And they explained in the Mishnah and in the Gemara, in the ninth chapter of Sotah (folio 46), that the nachal eisan is hard, that it does not produce fruit. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: “Let a thing that did not produce fruit come and have its neck broken, etc.,
The Mishnah and Gemara in the ninth chapter of Sotah explain that eisan means “hard”: ground that bears no fruit. The Gemara gives the reason for the law in G‑d’s words: let a calf, which has produced no fruit, have its neck broken in a place that produces no fruit.
ויכפר על מי שלא הניח לעשות פירות מאי פירות אילימה פריה ורביה אלא מעתה אזקן ואסריס הכי נמי דלא ערפינן אלא מצות.5
and atone for the one whom he did not allow to produce fruit.” What are the “fruits”? If you say [they are] being fruitful and multiplying, then, if so, for an old man or a eunuch would we likewise not break [the calf’s] neck? Rather, [they are] mitzvos.
The calf atones for the victim, whom the murderer kept from producing “fruit.” The Gemara asks what these fruits are: not children, for then a calf would not be brought for a murdered old man or eunuch, who could not have had children anyway, and it is; the fruits are mitzvos, which any living person can still do.
The opening ties the verse about leaping and skipping to the eglah arufah, where the Talmud calls mitzvos “fruits.” Why mitzvos are called fruits will be the key to the verse.
According to the Kehot notes, another transcript of this discourse is printed in Sefer HaMaamarim 5569, and the Rebbe Rashab noted in his own hand, in Or HaTorah on Shir HaShirim, that it seems to belong to the discourse beginning “The voice of my beloved” in Likkutei Torah, the discourse that opens with this verse.
Marei mekomos
- 1ולהבין . . בביאור היטיב · הנחה אחרת בסה״מ תקס״ט ע׳ עב. וראה באוה״ת שה״ש כרך ג ע׳ תתפד שנרשם בגוכתי״ק מהורש״ב: ”נר׳ שייך לדרוש קול דודי שבלקו״ת”.
- 2וערפו אותה אל נחל איתן · Deuteronomy 21:4
- 3נחל איתן שהוא קשה · Sotah 46a:23
- 4
- 5
The seed and the power of growth ¶2–3
2והנה מבואר כאן שקורא מצות בשם פירות. ולהבין ענין המשל מפירות שדימה ענין המצות להם
Now, it is explained here that it calls mitzvos “fruits.” And to understand the analogy of fruits, to which it likened the mitzvos:
The Talmud has just called mitzvos “fruits.” The maamar asks what the comparison teaches, and looks for the answer in how fruit comes about: through sowing.
והיינו ענין הזריעה שזורעין הגרעין בארץ ונרקב הגרעין ההוא ואח״כ נצמח ממנו אילן ועושה פירות כדוגמת הגרעין ההוא כמו תפוחים וכיוצא.
this is the matter of sowing, in which one sows the seed in the earth, and that seed rots, and afterwards a tree grows from it and produces fruits after the pattern of that seed, such as apples and the like.
In sowing, a seed is put into the ground and rots there; then a tree grows from it and bears fruit of the same kind as the seed, so that an apple seed yields apples.
והנה עיקר הצמיחה הוא מכח הצומח שבארץ ממאמר תדשא הארץ דשא1 כו׳ והוא בחי׳ רוחני ויכול להצמיח בלי שיעור
Now, the growth comes chiefly from the power of growth in the earth, from the utterance “Let the earth sprout vegetation, etc.”; and it is something spiritual, and it can make things grow without measure;
Yet the growth itself does not come from the seed. It comes from the power of growth in the earth, placed there by G‑d’s word “Let the earth sprout vegetation” (Bereshis 1:11); this power is spiritual and can bring forth without limit.
וגם התחלקות טעמים שיש בין הפירות מתוקים או חמוצים כו׳ הכל הוא מכח הצומח הנ״ל
and also the different tastes there are among fruits, sweet or sour, etc.: all of it is from the power of growth mentioned above;
Even the different tastes of fruits, sweet or sour, come from that same power of growth, not from the seed.
והוא לפי ענין ההרכבה והמזיג׳2 התכללות חסדים בגבורות או גבורות בחסדים כו׳ (כמ״ש במ״א בד״ה פתח אליהו)3 וא״כ צריך להבין למה הוא ענין זריעת הגרעין בארץ.
and it is according to the combination and blending, the inclusion of Chasadim (kindnesses) in Gevuros (restraints) or of Gevuros in Chasadim, etc. (as is written elsewhere, in the discourse beginning “Elijah opened”). If so, we must understand what the sowing of the seed in the earth is for.
אך ענין זריעת הגרעין הוא בחינת העלאת מ״ן4 לבחי׳ כח הצומח שהוא כח רוחני ואינו יכול להתלבש ולהתצמצם כי אם שיהיה מתחלה בחינת כלי
But the sowing of the seed is the raising of mayin nukvin (feminine waters) to the power of growth, which is a spiritual power and cannot be enclothed and contracted unless there is first a vessel;
The answer: sowing the seed is a raising of mayin nukvin, “feminine waters,” the Kabbalistic term for an arousal from below that calls forth a flow from above. The spiritual power of growth cannot clothe and contract itself in a particular form unless a vessel is there first.
ואזי הוא שורה ומתגלה בחינת כח הצומח ומצמיח כדוגמת הגרעין ההוא דוקא כנראה בחוש שלפי הרע שנזרע בארץ כמ״כ יהיה ענין הצמיחה וההולדה מן הארץ.
and then the power of growth rests and is revealed, and it makes things grow specifically after the pattern of that seed, as is seen with the senses: according to the seed that is sown in the earth, so will be the growth and what is brought forth from the earth.
Once the seed is there as a vessel, the power of growth rests in it and is revealed, and it brings forth specifically the seed’s own kind; experience shows that what grows depends on what was sown (the print has הרע, read as הזרע, “the seed”).
ועפ״ז יובן ענין המצות שדימה אותן לפירות. כי הנה כתיב אור זרוע לצדיק56 כו׳ שאור א״ס הנמשך ונאצל ממנו יתברך נקרא בשם זריעה כנ״ל
And according to this, the matter of the mitzvos, which it likened to fruits, will be understood. For it is written, “Light is sown for the tzaddik, etc.”: the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), which is drawn forth and emanated from Him, blessed be He, is called “sowing,” as above
This explains why mitzvos are called fruits. Psalms 97:11 says “Light is sown for the tzaddik”: the Infinite Light that is drawn and emanated from G‑d is called “sowing,” in keeping with the analogy above.
(and see the Zohar, Terumah, 166b). That is: in truth, in relation to His essence and being, blessed be He, “[He is] not of any of these attributes at all,” etc.
The text points to the Zohar on Terumah (166b), which speaks of the light that G‑d sowed in His garden. In truth, measured against His very essence, G‑d is “not of any of these attributes at all,” as the Tikkunei Zohar says in Elijah’s opening prayer.
ואפילו בחי׳ חכמה היא בחי׳ עשייה גשמיי׳ וכידוע מ״ש בע״ח10 ע״פ מאמר הזהר כד סליק ברעותא11 למברי עלמא.12
And even the level of Chochmah (wisdom) is at the level of physical action, as is known from what is written in Etz Chaim on the saying of the Zohar, “When it arose in the will to create the world.”
Even Chochmah, the highest of the attributes, counts before G‑d’s essence as no more than physical action. The Arizal’s Etz Chaim explains this on the Zohar’s words “When it arose in the will to create the world.”
פי׳ סליק ברעותא הוא ענין הצמצום והסתלקות בחי׳ עצמותו כדי שיאצלו בחי׳ י״ס דאצילות בחינת התלבשות אורות בכלים והוא ענין אריכות המוזכר בע״ח ענין קו וחוט וחלל כו׳
The meaning: “it arose (salik) in the will” is the tzimtzum (contraction) and the withdrawal (histalkus) of the level of His essence, so that the ten Sefiros of Atzilus (Emanation) might be emanated, the enclothing of lights in vessels. And this is the lengthy matter mentioned in Etz Chaim, the matter of the kav (line of light), the chut (thread) and the chalal (vacated space), etc.,
The Zohar’s salik, “arose,” is read here in its other sense, histalkus, “withdrawal”: G‑d’s will to create was a tzimtzum, a withdrawal of His essence, so that the ten Sefiros of Atzilus could be emanated as lights clothed in vessels. Etz Chaim describes this at length as the kav (the line of light), the chut (the thread) and the chalal (the vacated space).
שהוא בחי׳ צמצומים רבים ועצומים שיתהוה בחי׳ אצי׳ וזה הי׳ בתחלת הבריאה עולם חסד יבנה13.
which is many and mighty contractions, so that the level of Atzilus might come into being. And this was at the beginning of creation: “The world is built by kindness.”
All this involves many great contractions, needed for even the World of Atzilus to come into being. At the beginning of creation it came from G‑d alone, as “The world is built by kindness” (Psalms 89:3): freely given, with nothing from below.
אך עתה הכל תלוי במעשה התחתונים דוקא וכידוע סדר ההשתלשלות ובפרט כדי להמשיך אור חדש לזה צריך העלאת מ״ן ואתעדל״ת.
But now everything depends specifically on the deeds of the lower beings, as is known [from] the order of the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus); and especially, to draw down a new light, for this there must be the raising of mayin nukvin and an arousal from below (isarusa dilesata).
Now, after creation, everything depends on the deeds of the lower beings, according to the order of the chain of descent. Above all, drawing down a new light requires mayin nukvin, an arousal from below: the “seed” that people sow.
The paragraph builds the analogy: fruit grows from the earth’s spiritual power of growth, but only once a seed is sown as its vessel; so too the Infinite Light, which at creation came as a free gift, is now drawn down only through an arousal from below.
The Kehot note points to the end of Iggeres HaKodesh 20, where the Alter Rebbe writes that what grows through sowing and planting, the raising of mayin nukvin, is far finer than what grows from the earth’s power of growth alone, and that from this one can understand how supernal lights are drawn down through man. The other transcript of this discourse (Sefer HaMaamarim 5569) adds that a spiritual power takes form according to the matter prepared for it, and that this form is not its essence at all.
Marei mekomos
- 1תדשא הארץ דשא · Genesis 1:11
- 2והוא לפי ענין ההרכבה והמזיג׳ · בסה״מ תקס״ט ע׳ עג: ”כי זהו דרכו וטבעו של כח ההיולי הרוחני להתלבש בחומר המוכן ואז נעשה צורה לחומר ההוא כפי הכנת אותו החומר, אבל אין זה עצם מהותו כלל”.
- 3בד״ה פתח אליהו · תו״א יג, ד ואילך.
- 4זריעת הגרעין הוא בחינת העלאת מ״ן · ראה אגה״ק סי׳ כ בסופו (קלב, ב).
- 5אור זרוע לצדיק · Psalms 97:11
- 6אור זרוע לצדיק · Zohar, Terumah 74:734–76:742
- 7בזהר תרומה קס״ו ב׳ · הלשון נעתק בתו״א מד, ג.
- 8לאו מכל אינון מדות כלל · ת״ז שם.
- 9לאו מכל אינון מדות כלל · Tikkunei Zohar 17b:5–7
- 10וכידוע מ״ש בע״ח · ע׳ ש׳ התיקון פ״ב. וב׳ מ״ן ומ״ד דרוש ב׳. ובש׳ דרושי נקודות פ״ו. [כ].
- 11כד סליק ברעותא · זח״א פו, סע״ב. [כ].
- 12כד סליק ברעותא למברי עלמא · Zohar, Lech Lecha 22:225–24:237
- 13
3וזהו ענין אור זרוע לצדיק כנ״ל שהוא קיום המצות בפועל ממש דוקא עי״ז שורה ומתגלה אור א״ס להיות בבחי׳ כלי והשגה עד שיוכלו ליהנות מזיו השכינה בג״ע כאו״א לפי מדרגתו ועבודתו בקיום התורה ומצות שבעוה״ז.
And this is [the meaning of] “Light is sown for the tzaddik,” mentioned above: it is specifically the actual fulfillment of the mitzvos in deed. Through this the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof) rests and is revealed, so as to be in a vessel and in comprehension, until they can enjoy the radiance of the Shechinah (Divine Presence) in the Garden of Eden, each one according to his rank and his service in fulfilling the Torah and mitzvos in this world.
“Light is sown for the tzaddik” means the actual performance of mitzvos. Through it the Infinite Light rests and is revealed within a vessel and within comprehension, so that souls in the Garden of Eden can enjoy the radiance of the Shechinah, each according to his rank and his service in Torah and mitzvos in this world.
(ועמ״ש מענין משל הנ״ל דזריעת הגרעין ומהנמשל כו׳ בפ׳ ב הר בד״ה כי תבואו אל הארץ.12 ובד״ה כי כארץ תוציא צמחה3.4 ובד״ה הבאים ישרש.56 ובאג״ה ע״פ זורע צדקות.7 ומענין אור זרוע לצדיק בד״ה ששים המה מלכות):8910
(And see what is written on the analogy mentioned above, of sowing the seed, and on what it illustrates, etc., in Parshas Behar, in the discourse beginning “When you come into the land”; and in the discourse beginning “For as the earth brings forth its growth”; and in the discourse beginning “In days to come he shall take root”; and in Iggeres HaKodesh, in the epistle beginning “He sows righteousness”; and on “Light is sown for the tzaddik,” in the discourse beginning “There are sixty queens.”)
The text lists where it has written more about the seed analogy and what it illustrates: discourses in Likkutei Torah on Behar and Nitzavim, a discourse in Torah Ohr, the epistle in Iggeres HaKodesh on “He sows righteousness,” and, on “Light is sown for the tzaddik,” the discourse “There are sixty queens” later in Shir HaShirim.
The analogy is applied: the mitzvos people actually do are the sown seed through which the Infinite Light becomes revealed and grasped, and this is what the soul enjoys in the Garden of Eden.
In the discourse “For as the earth brings forth its growth” (Nitzavim), the Alter Rebbe adds a point to the analogy: a fruit has a good taste and delight that the seed never had, which shows that the growth comes from the G‑dly power in the earth and not from the seed. So the deeds of mitzvos, plain physical acts, can bring a revelation far above themselves.
Marei mekomos
- 1בד״ה כי תבואו אל הארץ · לעיל פ׳ בהר מ, ב.
- 2כי תבואו אל הארץ · Leviticus 25:2
- 3
- 4ובד״ה כי כארץ תוציא צמחה · לעיל פ׳ נצבים נ, ד.
- 5ובד״ה הבאים ישרש · תו״א נג, ד.
- 6הבאים ישרש · Isaiah 27:6
- 7ובאגה״ק ע״פ זורע צדקות · אגה״ק סי׳ ח (דף קיג, א).
- 8בד״ה ששים המה מלכות · לקמן לח, ב (ושם מציין לכמה מקומות בענין זריעה). וראה ביהל אור ע׳ שנד סעי׳ ח.
- 9ששים המה מלכות · Song of Songs 6:8
- 10
The omer: from leap to counting ¶4–6
4ב וכמו מצות ספירת העומר1 שנצטוו בנ״י עליו ביום המחרת של פסח והיינו כי ענין הפסח שהי׳ בלילה הראשון הוא בחי׳ דילוג כנ״ל מבחי׳ עצמות א״ס עצמות המאציל כו׳
2. Like the mitzvah of counting the omer, concerning which the children of Israel were commanded on the morrow of Pesach. That is: Pesach, which was on the first night, is the level of leaping (dilug), as mentioned above, from the level of the essence of the Infinite One (Ein Sof), the essence of the Emanator, etc.,
Section 2 gives an example of a mitzvah that works like sowing: counting the omer, which begins on the day after Pesach. The first night of Pesach was a “leap” (dilug), like the verse’s “leaping”: a revelation from the very essence of the Infinite One, the Emanator, that came all at once.
על הפתח2 שהוא בחינת מל׳ דאצילות ומכאן ואילך הוא ע״י המשכת האור במעשה [המצוה זו והוא ענין הספירה שאומרים היום יום א׳ וכו׳.
over the doorway, which is the level of Malchus (sovereignty) of Atzilus (Emanation); and from then on it is through drawing down the light by the performance of this mitzvah. And this is the matter of the counting, in which we say, “Today is day one,” etc.
On Pesach G‑d “passed over the doorway” (Shemos 12:23), and the doorway is Malchus of Atzilus, the lowest level of the divine world: the light leapt over it. From then on the light must be drawn down by doing the mitzvah, the counting in which we say “Today is day one,” and so on. (The print opens a square bracket here that it does not close.)
Yom (“day”) is in numerical value El Havayah, etc., and it alludes to the drawing down of the light from the level of the Infinite One to the level of Malchus, which is called omer, etc.
The word yom, “day,” equals 57 with the kolel (one added for the word itself), the same as El (31) and Havayah (26) together. So each “day” of the count alludes to light drawn from the Infinite One into Malchus, which is called the omer.
Counting the omer is the example: after the leap of Pesach, which came from above and passed over Malchus, light reaches Malchus only through the mitzvah done below, day after day.
Marei mekomos
- 1וכמו מצות ספירת העומר · בסה״מ תקס״ט ע׳ עה נתבאר ”ולהבין בתוס׳ ביאור בענין המצות איך שהן כדמיון הזריעה כנ״ל הנה אנו רואים במצות הקרבת העומר” ע״ש בארוכה.
- 2על הפתח · Exodus 12:23
- 3יום הוא בגימט׳ אל הוי׳ · נסמן לעיל פ׳ אמור לו, ב. בסה״מ תקס״ט ע׳ עו: ”כידוע דגי׳ דיום הוא נ״ז עם הכולל שהוא גי׳ דאל הוי׳”.
- 4יום הוא . . הנק׳ עומר · מובא באוה״ת פ׳ בהעלותך ע׳ תו.
5והיינו לפי שיש כמה בחינות ומדרגות. המל׳ שבבחי׳ אצי׳ נק׳ בחי׳ אדם כמ״ש ודמות פניהם פני אדם1 כו׳ ועל דמות הכסא2 כו׳.
That is, because there are several levels and grades. Malchus (sovereignty) at the level of Atzilus (Emanation) is called the level of “man,” as it is written, “And the likeness of their faces was the face of a man, etc.,” and “Upon the likeness of the throne, etc.”
The omer is Malchus, and Malchus has several levels. In Atzilus it is called “man” (adam), as in Yechezkel’s vision of the chariot, where the creatures had the face of a man and “upon the likeness of the throne” was a likeness like a man.
וכשמתלבשת בעולם הבריאה נק׳ בחי׳ בהמה כמ״ש מצמיח חציר לבהמה3 כו׳ בהמות בהררי אלף4 כו׳ והוא ענין מדרגה התחתונה שבמל׳ מל׳ שבמל׳ שיורדת ומסתתרת בבי״ע ותתן טרף לביתה.5
And when she is enclothed in the World of Beriah (Creation), she is called the level of “animal” (behemah), as it is written, “He makes grass grow for the animal, etc.,” [and] “the beasts on a thousand mountains, etc.” And this is the lowest level in Malchus, Malchus of Malchus, which descends and is hidden in Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah: “And she gives food (teref) to her household.”
Clothed in the World of Beriah, Malchus is called “animal” (behemah), as in “He makes grass grow for the animal” and “the beasts on a thousand mountains.” This is Malchus of Malchus, the lowest level, which descends and hides in Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah to give them life, as the woman of valor “gives food to her household.”
Malchus is “man” in Atzilus and “animal” where it is clothed in the lower worlds, and its lowest part descends into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah to sustain them.
In Likkutei Torah, Emor (the passage the Kehot note on yom points to), “she gives teref to her household” is the refinement of the 288 sparks, called teref, “prey,” because it is done through Gevurah, as a lion tears its prey.
Marei mekomos
- 1ודמות פניהם פני אדם · Ezekiel 1:10
- 2ועל דמות הכסא · Ezekiel 1:26
- 3מצמיח חציר לבהמה · Psalms 104:14
- 4בהמות בהררי אלף · Psalms 50:10
- 5ותתן טרף לביתה · Proverbs 31:15
6וזהו מנחת העומר מן שעורים שהוא מאכל בהמה פי׳ כמו ענין מאכל אדם שעל ידו יתחזק ומתפשט כח החיות שלו באבריו כן הוא ענין מנחת שעורים שהוא מאכל בהמה שעורה שעור1 ה׳.
And this is [why] the meal-offering of the omer is of barley, which is animal food. Meaning: just as with a man’s food, through which the power of his life-force (chayus) is strengthened and spreads through his limbs, so it is with the meal-offering of barley, which is animal food: se’orah (barley) is shiur Hei (the measure of hei).
This is why the omer meal-offering is of barley, animal food. As a man’s food strengthens his life-force and spreads it through his limbs, so the barley offering nourishes the “animal,” Malchus in the lower worlds; the Zohar reads se’orah, “barley,” as shiur Hei, “the measure of hei,” the hei standing for Malchus.
פי׳ כי כדי שיתלבש בחי׳ מל׳ להחיות נבראים בחי׳ בע״ג ותכלית לזה צריך שיומשך הארה מלמעלה
Meaning: in order for the level of Malchus (sovereignty) to be enclothed so as to give life to creatures, which are at the level of limit and finitude, for this a radiance must be drawn down from above;
For Malchus to be clothed in creatures and give them life, since they are limited and finite, a radiance must be drawn into it from above.
והוא ע״י הקרבן שהקריבו ע״ג המזבח שנעשה ע״פ חכמתו ורצונו ית׳ דוקא כמו שנאמר בתורה כבש תמים2 כו׳.
and this is through the offering that they offered on the altar, which was done specifically according to His wisdom and will, blessed be He, as it is said in the Torah, “an unblemished lamb, etc.”
That radiance comes through the offering on the altar, done exactly according to G‑d’s wisdom and will as the Torah prescribes it: “an unblemished lamb,” the lamb brought with the omer.
The barley of the omer is food for the “animal,” Malchus as it gives life to the finite worlds, and the radiance Malchus needs is drawn down through the offering performed exactly as G‑d commanded.
Marei mekomos
- 1שעורה שעור ה׳ · Zohar III, 188b
- 2כבש תמים · Leviticus 23:12
The doubled meal-offering ¶7
And its meal-offering was specifically two tenths [of an ephah], whereas regarding the other offerings it is said, “and one tenth for each lamb,” and “its libation, wine, a quarter of the hin.”
The lamb brought with the omer had a meal-offering of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour (Vayikra 23:13), while the other offerings have one tenth for each lamb (Bamidbar 28:13), and its wine libation was the usual quarter of a hin. (The print has היין, “the wine,” for ההין, “the hin,” here and in the next part; the Kehot note quotes the verse with ההין.)
ואף השמן שניבלל עם מנחתו לא היה רק רביעית היין. שאף על פי שמנחתו כפולה לא היו נסכיו כפולים.
And even the oil that was mixed with its meal-offering was only a quarter of the hin; for although its meal-offering was doubled, its libations were not doubled.
Even the oil mixed into the doubled meal-offering was only a quarter of a hin, as for any lamb: the meal-offering was doubled, but the libations were not. The section goes on to ask why.
(ענין שמנחתו כפולה י״ל ע״ד אין לך טפה יורדת מלמעלה שאין טפיים עולים כנגדה6 כי העומר עיקרו העלאת ש׳ ב״ן כו׳. א״נ י״ל ע״ד מ״ש במ״א גבי צדקה שמדה בינונית ליתן מעשר ועשירי יהי׳ קדש.
(The fact that its meal-offering is doubled may be explained along the lines of “There is no drop that descends from above without two drops rising opposite it,” for the omer is essentially the elevation of the Name Ban, etc. Alternatively, it may be explained along the lines of what is written elsewhere regarding charity: that the middling measure is to give a tithe, “the tenth shall be holy,”
A first answer: “No drop descends from above without two rising to meet it,” a form of the Sages’ saying about rain and the waters below. The omer is essentially the elevation of the Name Ban, an ascent from below, and what rises from below is double. A second answer comes from the laws of charity, where the middling measure is a tenth, as in “the tenth shall be holy.”
ומצוה מן המובחר ליתן חומש כי נעוץ סופן בתחלתן ותחלתן בסופן.7 כמאמר עשר אעשרנו לך.8 ב׳ פעמים מעשר מלמטה למעלה ומלמעלה למטה. ועד״ז י״ל גם כאן.
and the choicest way of the mitzvah is to give a fifth, for “their end is wedged in their beginning and their beginning in their end,” as in the saying, “I will surely give a tenth (aser a’asrenu) to You”: twice a tithe, from below upward and from above downward. And along these lines it may be explained here too.
The finest way of the mitzvah is to give a fifth, which is two tenths: a tithe from below upward and a tithe from above downward, for, as Sefer Yetzirah says, “their end is wedged in their beginning.” Yaakov’s vow, aser a’asrenu, says “tithe” twice. The text applies the same to the omer’s two tenths.
כי לפי שהעומר היא בחי׳ מל׳ והמל׳ היא מלמעלה למטה בחי׳ עשירית. ומלמטה למעלה היא בחי׳ כתר. וכמ״ש ע״פ הראיני את מראיך910 כו׳ שהוא ע״י הפרסא המפסקת בסיום האצי׳ בוקע האור בבחי׳ אור חוזר כו׳ ע״ש.
For since the omer is the level of Malchus (sovereignty), and Malchus, from above downward, is the level of the tenth, while from below upward it is the level of Keser (the Crown); as is written on “Show me your appearance, etc.”: that through the partition (parsa) that divides at the end of Atzilus (Emanation), the light breaks through as returning light (or chozer), etc.; see there.
The omer is Malchus. Counted from above downward, Malchus is the tenth Sefirah; counted from below upward it is Keser, the first, as the discourse on “Show me your appearance” explains: at the partition (parsa) that closes Atzilus, the light strikes and breaks back upward as returning light (or chozer).
ולכן הואיל וענין העומר הוא העלאת ש׳ ב״ן בחי׳ א״ח לכך הכבש הבא עם העומר הי׳ מנחתו שני עשרונים כו׳ בחי׳ מל׳ ובחי׳ כתר כו׳ מלמעלה למטה ומלמטה למעלה כאחד.
Therefore, since the omer is the elevation of the Name Ban, the level of returning light, the lamb that came with the omer had a meal-offering of two tenths, etc.: the level of Malchus and the level of Keser, etc., from above downward and from below upward as one.
Because the omer is the elevation of the Name Ban as returning light, its lamb had two tenths: one for Malchus, the tenth counted from above, and one for Keser, the tenth counted from below, both directions at once.
א״נ ע״ד מ״ש בזהר פ׳ חיי שרה11 ובלק״ת שם12 דשם ב״ן נק׳ המכפלה.131415 וע׳ בפרדס בעה״כ בערך עשרון וברע״מ פ׳ פנחס דף רנ״ה)
Alternatively, along the lines of what is written in the Zohar, Parshas Chayei Sarah, and in Likkutei Torah [of the Arizal] there, that the Name Ban is called “the Machpelah” (the doubled). And see the Pardes, in the Erchei HaKinuyim, under the entry Asaron (“a tenth”), and the Raaya Mehemna, Parshas Pinchas, folio 255.)
A further answer: the Zohar on Chayei Sarah and the Arizal’s Likkutei Torah there (so the Kehot note) call the Name Ban “the Machpelah,” the doubled, for in Etz Chaim the Name Ban spelled out with the letter hei is a doubled Havayah. The text also points to the Pardes, which says all the Sefiros are called asaronim, “tenths,” in Malchus, and to the Raaya Mehemna on Pinchas; the parenthesis ends here.
והנה עי״ז שהיו מקריבים הקרבן ע״ג המזבח כהלכתו וכמשפטו ע״י הכהן שהי׳ יודע לכוין בזה הי׳ שורה ומתגלה אש שלמעלה על המזבח
Now, through their offering the sacrifice on the altar according to its law and its ordinance, by the kohen, who knew how to direct his intent in this, the fire from above would rest and be revealed upon the altar;
Back to the main point: when the kohen offered the sacrifice on the altar according to its law, with the proper intent, fire from above rested and appeared on the altar.
והוא ענ ין המשכת והשראת אור א״ס בבחי׳ מל׳ ע״י עשיית המצוה זו וכדומה בשאר
and this is the drawing down and resting of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof) in the level of Malchus through the performance of this mitzvah, and likewise with the other
That fire is the Infinite Light drawn down to rest in Malchus through this mitzvah. The same holds for the other mitzvos, as the next part says.
המצות ציצית ותפילין שהמה ממש כדוגמת זריעת הגרעין בארץ שנבלע ונרקב בארץ ועל ידם שורה ומתגלה כח הצומח בבחי׳ כלי שהוא בחינת מל׳.16
mitzvos, tzitzis and tefillin, which are truly like the sowing of the seed in the earth, which is swallowed up and rots in the earth; and through them the power of growth rests and is revealed in a vessel, which is the level of Malchus.
Tzitzis and tefillin are just like a seed sown in the earth, which is swallowed up and rots there. Through them the power of growth rests and is revealed in a vessel, Malchus, as the rotting seed brings out the power hidden in the ground.
The doubled meal-offering of the omer lamb is explained in several ways, each showing that the omer is an ascent from below; and the offering, like tzitzis and tefillin, is a sown seed through which the Infinite Light comes to rest in Malchus.
The discourse on “Show me your appearance” compares returning light to sunlight striking the earth: the air nearest the ground is warmer than the air in between. So the highest level, Keser, is revealed in the lowest, Malchus, outside the ordinary order of the levels, and this comes through teshuvah.
Marei mekomos
- 1ומנחתו שני עשרונים · Leviticus 23:13
- 2שני עשרונים · Pardes Rimmonim 23:16:66
- 3שני עשרונים · Zohar, Pinchas 118:800–120:811
- 4ועשרון א׳ לכבש האחד · Numbers 28:13
- 5ונסכה יין רביעית ההין · Numbers 28:14
- 6אין לך טפה . . שאין טפיים עולים כנגדה · Taanit 25b:7–8
- 7נעוץ סופן בתחלתן ותחלתן בסופן · Sefer Yetzirah 1:7
- 8עשר אעשרנו לך · Genesis 28:22
- 9ע״פ הראיני את מראיך · לקמן כא, א.
- 10הראיני את מראיך · Song of Songs 2:14
- 11בזהר פ׳ חיי שרה · קכט, א. ראה אוה״ת פ׳ חיי שרה כרך א קיח, א. ביאוה״ז להצ״צ כרך ב ע׳ תרמד.
- 12ובלקו״ת שם · להאריז״ל פ׳ ח״ש בדרוש ענין מערת המכפלה. וראה במאו״א מ, מג. וראה בביאוה״ז להצ״צ כרך ב ע׳ תרמד.
- 13דשם ב״ן נק׳ המכפלה · ע׳ ע״ח ש׳ רפ״ח ניצוצין (ספ״ג) מילוי ההין כפולה ונק׳ מערת המכפלה. וע׳ תו״א ד״ה יגלה לו טעמי ר״פ ח״ש. [כ].
- 14דשם ב״ן נק׳ המכפלה · Zohar, Chayei Sara 15:114–16:121
- 15דשם ב״ן נק׳ המכפלה · Sefer Etz Chaim 18:3
- 16ועשירי יהי׳ קדש · Leviticus 27:32
From animal to man ¶8–9
8וזהו ענין ספירת מ״ט יום שממשיכים הארה והמשכה לבחי׳ מל׳ במ״ט יום עד שבועות שהוא בחי׳ כתר להיות שוין בקומתן שהוא ענין עליית המלכות ואז נק׳ בחינת אדם.
And this is the meaning of the counting of forty-nine days: a radiance and drawing-down is drawn into the level of Malchus (sovereignty) during the forty-nine days until Shavuos, which is the level of Keser (the Crown), so that they become equal in their stature; this is the ascent of Malchus, and then it is called the level of “man.”
The forty-nine days of the count draw radiance into Malchus until Shavuos, the fiftieth, which is Keser. Then Malchus rises to be equal in stature with what is above it, and is called “man” instead of “animal.”
ובשבועות היו מקריבין שתי הלחם שהוא בא מחטים שהוא מאכל אדם כו׳ חט״ה הוא כ״ב אותיות התורה1 ואז הוא זמן מתן תורה.
And on Shavuos they would offer the two loaves, which come from wheat, which is human food, etc. Chitah (“wheat”) is the twenty-two letters of the Torah, and then is the time of the giving of the Torah.
So on Shavuos the two loaves were offered from wheat, human food, in place of the barley of the omer, animal food. Chitah, “wheat,” has the numerical value 22, the twenty-two letters of the Torah, and Shavuos is the time of the giving of the Torah.
The count lifts Malchus from “animal” to “man,” from the barley of the omer to the wheat of Shavuos, the festival of the Torah.
The Kehot note points to the Tikkunei Zohar (114b), where the wise “know the wheat of the Torah, which is twenty-two letters, the numerical value of chitah”: they throw away the straw and eat the wheat within; and to the Zohar on Balak (3:188b), which calls wheat “the sum of the twenty-two letters.”
Marei mekomos
- 1חטה הוא כ״ב אותיות התורה · ת״ז (תט״ז. תס״ט) דקי״ד ע״ב וע״ד, יעו״ש. וע׳ זח״ג (קפח, ב). [כ].
9והטעם לזה שע״י עשיית המצוה זו נמשך ונתגלה בחינת הארה מלמעלה לפי שקיום המצות הם נעשים מדברים גשמיים דוקא
The reason that through the performance of this mitzvah a radiance from above is drawn down and revealed is that the fulfillment of the mitzvos is done specifically with physical things,
Why does this mitzvah draw down light from above? Because mitzvos are done specifically with physical things.
כמו קרבנות מכבשים ועזים וכן ציצית מצמר ותפילין מקלף גשמיים ושרשם הם מבחינת רפ״ח ניצוצין שמעולם התהו ואלה המלכים1 כו׳
such as offerings from sheep and goats, and likewise tzitzis from wool and tefillin from parchment, physical [things]; and their root is from the 288 sparks from the World of Tohu (chaos), “And these are the kings, etc.”
Offerings are of sheep and goats, tzitzis of wool, tefillin of parchment. The root of these physical things is the 288 sparks that fell from the World of Tohu, alluded to in “And these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom” (Bereshis 36:31), the kings who died in the shattering of the vessels.
ועל ידי קיום המצות עולה ומתברר הטוב למקומו ושרשו הוא ב״ן דס״ג שלמעלה משם מ״ה2 המברר שם ב״ן
And through the fulfillment of the mitzvos the good is elevated and refined to its place; and its root is Ban of Sag, which is higher than the Name Mah that refines the Name Ban.
Doing the mitzvah raises and refines the good in these things back to its place. Its root is Ban of Sag, which is higher than the Name Mah, even though Mah is the Name that refines Ban (Mah and Ban are the Name Havayah spelled out in two ways, adding up to 45 and 52).
והוא ענין כל התורה כולה וידבר ה׳ אל משה לאמר משה הוא בחינת חכמה בחינת מ״ה גילוי אור א״ס בחכמה דבר אל בני ישראל כו׳ הם בחינת נצח והוד כו׳ סדר ההשתלשלות והמשכות מלמעלה למטה:
And this is the matter of the whole Torah: “And G‑d spoke to Moshe, saying.” Moshe is the level of Chochmah (wisdom), the level of Mah, the revelation of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof) in Chochmah; “Speak to the children of Israel, etc.” are the level of Netzach (victory) and Hod (splendor), etc., the order of the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus) and the drawings-down from above to below.
The whole Torah follows this order: “And G‑d spoke to Moshe, saying.” Moshe is Chochmah, the Name Mah, the revelation of the Infinite Light in Chochmah; “Speak to the children of Israel” is Netzach and Hod, the channels through which the flow comes down step by step from above to below.
Mitzvos draw down light because they are done with physical things whose root is the fallen sparks of Tohu; refining them lifts them to Ban of Sag, higher than the Name Mah that refines them.
This reverses the usual order: Mah refines Ban, yet the root of what is refined, Ban of Sag, is higher than Mah. The idea returns in section 3, where after the refinement the Name Ban rises into Sag, as “a woman of valor is the crown of her husband.”
Marei mekomos
- 1ואלה המלכים · Genesis 36:31
- 2ב״ן . . שלמעלה משם מ״ה · וע״ל בד״ה אם בחקותי הב׳ [מז, ג]. וש״נ. [כ].
Limbs, food and garments ¶10–11
10ג והנה לזאת נקראו הרמ״ח מצות בשם רמ״ח אברין דמלכ׳1 עד״מ כמו החיות המתפשט ומתלבש בכל אבר ואבר לפי מזגו הוא ע״י הדם.
3. Now, for this reason the 248 mitzvos are called “the 248 limbs of the King.” By way of analogy: the life-force (chayus) that spreads and is enclothed in each and every limb, according to its temperament, is through the blood.
Section 3 explains why the 248 positive mitzvos are called “the 248 limbs of the King.” In a body, the life-force spreads into each limb, according to its nature, by means of the blood.
כי הדם הוא הנפש2 והוא חום הטבעי וכידוע שעיקר חיות הנפש הוא ע״י חום הטבעי ורתיחת הדמים משא״כ ח״ו בהיפוך הוא הקרירות
For “the blood is the soul,” and it is the natural heat; and as is known, the soul’s life-force comes chiefly through the natural heat and the boiling of the blood, whereas, G‑d forbid, the opposite is coldness,
“The blood is the soul” (Devarim 12:23): the blood carries the body’s natural heat, and the soul’s life depends on that heat and on the warmth of the blood. Coldness is the opposite.
שהוא הסתלקות החיות מהגוף כן הוא ענין המצות ששרשם ומקורם מבחי׳ כתר תר״ך עמודי אור כו׳.
which is the departure of the life-force from the body. So it is with the mitzvos, whose root and source is from the level of Keser (the Crown), the 620 pillars of light, etc.
Coldness means the life-force leaving the body. So too the mitzvos carry life, and their root is Keser: the word keser equals 620, the 613 commandments of the Torah and the seven of the Sages, the “620 pillars of light.”
The mitzvos are compared to limbs filled with life by warm blood: they carry the life of the King, drawn from Keser, the 620 pillars of light.
Torah Ohr and Likkutei Torah, in the places the Kehot note cites, explain that a limb is a vessel in which the life-force from the brain is clothed, and so a mitzvah is a vessel for the Infinite Light clothed in it. Tanya (ch. 4) adds that love is the root of all 248 positive mitzvos.
Marei mekomos
- 1הרמ״ח מצות בשם רמ״ח אברין דמלכא · Tanya, Likkutei Amarim 4:3
- 2כי הדם הוא הנפש · Deuteronomy 12:23
11וכמשל העמוד שע״י נמשך מלמעלה למטה כו׳. כן ע״י המצוה נמשך אור א״ס להתלבש בבחי׳ כלי ועיקר המשכה זו הוא בחי׳ גבורה1 דוקא ולא בחי׳ דין ח״ו
As in the analogy of a pillar, through which [something] is drawn from above downward, etc., so through the mitzvah the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof) is drawn down to be enclothed in a vessel. And the essence of this drawing-down is specifically the level of Gevurah (restraint), but not the level of judgment, G‑d forbid;
As a pillar carries something from above to below, so a mitzvah draws the Infinite Light down to be clothed in a vessel. This drawing-down comes chiefly from Gevurah, the power of restraint, but not from judgment in the harsh sense.
אלא אדרבה הוא עיקר ההתפשטות החיות ושרשם מבחי׳ ה״ג דעתיק בוצינא דקרדוניתא2 שלמעלה מבחי׳ חסדים
rather, on the contrary, it is the main spreading of the life-force (chayus); and their root is from the level of the five Gevuros of Atik, the botzina dekardunisa (the “lamp of darkness”), which is higher than the level of the Chasadim (kindnesses).
On the contrary, Gevurah is what chiefly spreads life. The root of the mitzvos is the five Gevuros of Atik, the botzina dekardunisa, the “lamp of darkness” of the Zohar, which is higher than the Chasadim, the kindnesses.
(ועמ״ש בד״ה כי ביום הזה יכפר34 בענין ושמתיך בנקרת הצור5 ובד״ה שוש אשיש67 בענין תגל נפשי באלקי ובד״ה ושאבתם מים89 גבי כוס ישועות)10 כי מבחי׳ חסדים נעשה בחי׳ מקיף לבד.
(And see what is written in the discourse beginning “For on this day He shall atone,” on the subject of “I will place you in the cleft of the rock”; and in the discourse beginning “I will greatly rejoice,” on the subject of “My soul shall exult in my G‑d”; and in the discourse beginning “You shall draw water,” regarding “the cup of salvations.”) For from the level of the Chasadim there comes about only an encompassing level (makif),
The text refers to three discourses on this idea: on Yom Kippur, on “I will greatly rejoice,” and on drawing water on Sukkos. Kindness by itself produces only an encompassing light, a makif, which surrounds a person without entering within.
כמ״ש וימינו תחבקני11 כו׳ בחי׳ אחוריים לבד. ואף שבזה גדול בחי׳ כח החסדים שהמה מתפשטים למקום נמוך מאד כמו אברהם שיצא ממנו ישמעאל
as it is written, “and his right hand embraces me, etc.”: only the level of the back (achorayim). And although in this the power of the Chasadim is greater, in that they spread to a very low place, as with Avraham, from whom Yishmael came forth,
As the Song says, “and his right hand embraces me”: an embrace touches only from outside, the “back” (achorayim). Kindness does have the greater reach, spreading even to very low places, as Yishmael came forth from Avraham, the man of kindness.
אך עכ״ז הוא רק בבחי׳ מקיף לבד ולא בבחי׳ פנימי כמו שהשפעת הגבורות הם בבחי׳ פנימי דוקא כמו השפעת החיות בהאבר כו׳
nevertheless it is only at the level of an encompassing [light] alone, and not at the level of an inner [light] (pnimi), whereas the flow of the Gevuros is specifically at the inner level, like the flow of the life-force into the limb, etc.
Still, kindness stays outside, encompassing, while the flow of the Gevuros enters within, as life enters a limb.
ולזאת נקראו המצות בשם פירות שהוא עד״מ כמו המזון שהוא פנימי׳ והוא עיקר חיות הגוף
And therefore the mitzvos are called “fruits,” which is, by way of analogy, like food, which is inward and is the main life-force of the body;
That is why mitzvos are called fruits: fruit is food, which enters the body and is its main source of life.
כי לא יחי׳ בלי טרף ומזון אף שיתלבש בכמה לבושים אא״כ יאכל אז יתחזקו כוחות הגוף שלו
for he will not live without nourishment and food, even if he is clothed in many garments; only if he eats will the powers of his body then be strengthened.
Clothes do not keep a person alive, however many he wears; only eating strengthens the powers of the body.
(And see what is written about this too in the discourse beginning “Then sang, etc., ‘Spring up, O well,’” and at the end of the discourse beginning “For the mountains shall depart,” on how through the mitzvos inner light and encompassing light (or pnimi and or makif) are drawn down.)
The text refers to two more discourses, on the Song of the Well and on “For the mountains shall depart,” which explain how mitzvos draw down both inner and encompassing light.
וגם המצות נק׳ בשם לבושים כנודע מאמר הזהר ע״פ ואברהם זקן בא בימים16 שהם לבושים פי׳ בחי׳ מקיף.
And the mitzvos are also called “garments,” as is known from the saying of the Zohar on “And Avraham was old, coming with days,” that they are garments, meaning the level of an encompassing [light].
Mitzvos are also called garments. The Zohar reads “Avraham was old, coming with days” (Bereshis 24:1) as speaking of garments, and garments are encompassing light.
והיינו כי באמת אין הנשמה יכולה לקבל ולהיות נהנה מזיו ואור ג״ע העליון בלתי לבוש שהוא לבושי המצות וזהו מ״ש וגבעות בצדקה17 קאי על מעשה המצות
That is: in truth, the soul cannot receive and take pleasure from the radiance and light of the higher Garden of Eden without a garment, which is the garments of the mitzvos. And this is what is written, “and the hills, through tzedakah”: it refers to the performance of the mitzvos;
Without a garment the soul cannot receive or enjoy the light of the higher Garden of Eden, and its garments are the mitzvos. So “and the hills, through tzedakah” (Psalms 72:3) refers to doing mitzvos.
כי דרך כלל נקראו כל המצות בשם צדקה כמבואר בלק״א והאדם המקיים אותם נק׳ ג״כ בשם צדיק כו׳ שהוא עושה צדקה
for in general all the mitzvos are called tzedakah (charity), as explained in Likkutei Amarim; and the person who fulfills them is likewise called tzaddik, etc., for he performs tzedakah,
In general all mitzvos are called tzedakah, charity, as Likkutei Amarim (Tanya) explains, and one who keeps them is called tzaddik, a doer of tzedakah.
כמו עד״מ מעשה הצדקה בגשמיות שנותן פרוטה לעני ובזה מחייהו כן הוא הענין בקיום המצות נקראו המצות בשם צדקה
as, by way of analogy, with the act of charity in the physical sense, when one gives a perutah (a small coin) to a poor man and thereby gives him life; so it is with the fulfillment of the mitzvos: the mitzvos are called tzedakah,
One who gives a poor man a coin gives him life; the mitzvos, too, are called tzedakah because they give life, as the next part explains.
כי איהו צדיק ואיהי צדקה בחי׳ מלכות מקור הגבורות כו׳ ואז נק׳ צדק. אך ע״י הצדקה נמשך בה ה׳ ונק׳ צדקה כו׳.
for “He is tzaddik and she is tzedakah”: the level of Malchus (sovereignty), the source of the Gevuros, etc., and then she is called tzedek. But through tzedakah a hei is drawn into her, and she is called tzedakah, etc.
In the saying “He is tzaddik and she is tzedakah,” she is Malchus, the source of the Gevuros, and on her own she is called tzedek, strict justice. Through charity a hei is drawn into her, and tzedek becomes tzedakah.
Mitzvos draw down two kinds of light: inner light from the Gevuros, which nourish from within like food (hence “fruits”), and encompassing light from the Chasadim, which surround like garments (hence tzedakah, the “hills” of the verse).
In Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah (end of ch. 4), cited by the Kehot note, the Alter Rebbe writes that the five Gevuros divide the breath and voice into the letters, that their root is the botzina dekardunisa, the supernal Gevurah of Atik Yomin, and that the root of the Chasadim is also the Chesed of Atik Yomin. The Zohar’s own words on “When it arose in the will to create the world” (Zohar 1:86b, cited in section 1) speak of a flame of the botzina dekardinusa.
Marei mekomos
- 1ועיקר המשכה זו הוא בחי׳ גבורה · מובא באוה״ת באוה״ת ויקרא כרך ב ע׳ תרסו.
- 2ה״ג דעתיק בוצינא דקרדוניתא · ע׳ בסש״ב ח״ב שהיחוה״א ספ״ד. [כ].
- 3בד״ה כי ביום הזה יכפר · לעיל פ׳ אחרי כו, ג.
- 4כי ביום הזה יכפר · Leviticus 16:30
- 5ושמתיך בנקרת הצור · Exodus 33:22
- 6ובד״ה שוש אשיש · ראה לעיל פ׳ נצבים מח, ב.
- 7שוש אשיש · Isaiah 61:10
- 8ובד״ה ושאבתם מים · ראה לעיל סוכות פ, ג.
- 9ושאבתם מים · Isaiah 12:3
- 10כוס ישועות · Psalms 116:13
- 11וימינו תחבקני · Song of Songs 2:6
- 12בד״ה אז ישיר כו׳ עלי באר · לעיל פ׳ חקת סב, ג.
- 13אז ישיר כו׳ עלי באר · Numbers 21:17
- 14וסד״ה כי ההרים · לעיל פ׳ תצא מ, ד.
- 15כי ההרים ימושו · Isaiah 54:10
- 16ואברהם זקן בא בימים · Genesis 24:1
- 17וגבעות בצדקה · Psalms 72:3
Leaping and skipping ¶12
12וזהו ענין מדלג על ההרים1 שהם בחינת אבות ודילוג הוא ברגל א׳ משא״כ מקפץ על הגבעות שהקפוץ הוא בחי׳ ב׳ הרגלים כאחת
And this is the meaning of “leaping over the mountains,” which are the level of the Patriarchs: leaping is with one foot; whereas “skipping over the hills”: skipping is the level of both feet together,
Now the verse can be explained. “Leaping over the mountains”: the mountains are the Patriarchs, and leaping is done with one foot. “Skipping over the hills”: skipping is done with both feet together.
שהוא בחי׳ שמאל דוחה וימין מקרבת2 וכנ״ל שבבחי׳ המצות יש ב׳ בחינות אלו פנימי׳ ומקיפים ובחינת פנימי הוא שמאל דוחה שלא תהי׳ ההשפעה
which is the level of “the left pushes away and the right draws near.” And as mentioned above, in the mitzvos there are these two levels, inner [lights] and encompassing [lights]; and the inner level is “the left pushes away,” so that the flow should be
The two feet together are left and right, as the Sages say, “the left pushes away and the right draws near.” Mitzvos, as explained, have both inner and encompassing light, and the inner light is the left hand that pushes away, holding the flow back.
רק לפי ערך המקבל משא״כ בחינת החסדים שהוא שרש המקיפים יורדים ממקום גבוה למקום נמוך מאד.
only according to the measure of the recipient; whereas the Chasadim (kindnesses), which are the root of the encompassing [lights], descend from a high place to a very low place.
The inner light is given only as far as the receiver can take it. The Chasadim, the root of the encompassing lights, by contrast come down from a high place to a very low one.
Leaping, with one foot, belongs to the mountains, the Patriarchs; skipping, with both feet, belongs to the mitzvos, which hold both the measured inner light of the left and the far-reaching encompassing light of the right.
Marei mekomos
- 1מדלג על ההרים · Song of Songs 2:8
- 2שמאל דוחה וימין מקרבת · Sotah 47a:6–7
The Matriarchs and the higher Daas ¶13
13ולז את דימה האמהות שהן בחינת המצות כנ״ל לגבעות בצדקה1 שהם היו במעלה יותר מהאבות ולכך היו עקרות כי נשמותיהם היו בבחינת דכורא כו׳.
And therefore it likened the Matriarchs, who are the level of the mitzvos, as mentioned above, to “hills, through tzedakah”; for they were of a higher rank than the Patriarchs, and therefore they were barren, for their souls were at the level of the masculine (dechura), etc.
This is why the Matriarchs, who are the level of the mitzvos, are likened to “hills, through tzedakah.” They stood higher than the Patriarchs; the text gives this as the reason they were barren, for their souls were of the level of dechura, the masculine.
אך עתה הוא שם מ״ה המברר שם ב״ן אבל לאחר הבירור אז יהי׳ א״ח עט״ב ב״ן יתעלה בס״ג והוא ע״י בחינת ובכל מאדך2 שהוא בלי גבול.
But now it is the Name Mah that refines the Name Ban; but after the refinement, then there will be [the fulfillment of] “A woman of valor is the crown of her husband”: Ban will ascend into Sag. And this is through the level of “and with all your might (me’odecha),” which is without limit;
Now, in this world, the Name Mah refines the Name Ban. After the refinement is complete, “a woman of valor is the crown of her husband”: Ban will rise into Sag, which is above Mah. This comes through “with all your might” (me’odecha), love without limit.
משא״כ ובכל נפשך עדיין הוא בבחי׳ כלי אבל בחי׳ מאד הוא למעלה מבחי׳ כלי ע״י אתכפייא מבחי׳ גבורות דוקא כידוע מעלת בעל תשובה שהוא בחילא יתיר כו׳ וד״ל.
whereas “and with all your soul” is still at the level of a vessel; but the level of me’od is above the level of a vessel, through subjugation (iskafya), specifically from the level of the Gevuros (restraints), as is known of the superiority of the baal teshuvah (one who returns), who [comes] “with greater strength,” etc. And this is sufficient for one who understands.
“With all your soul” is still within a vessel, a measure, but me’od is above any vessel. It is reached through iskafya, subduing oneself, which comes from the Gevuros, as with the baal teshuvah, who comes “with greater strength.”
(ועמ״ש בד״ה ואלה המשפטים3 בענין וזרעתי את בית ישראל זרע אדם וזרע בהמה4 כו׳ אדם הוא בחי׳ דעת נשמות דאצילות.
(And see what is written in the discourse beginning “And these are the ordinances,” on “And I will sow the house of Israel [with] the seed of man and the seed of beast, etc.”: “man” is the level of Daas (knowledge), the souls of Atzilus (Emanation).
A long parenthesis begins. The discourse on “And these are the ordinances” explains “I will sow the house of Israel with the seed of man and the seed of beast” (Yirmeyahu 31:27): “man” is Daas, the souls of Atzilus.
בהמה ב״ן נשמות דבריאה ומשם ממשיך בחינת הדעת גם בבי״ע כו׳ ונתתי עשב בשדך לבהמתך5 והיינו לפי שהוא מבחי׳ דעת העליון כו׳
“Beast” (behemah) is Ban, the souls of Beriah (Creation), and from there one draws down the level of Daas into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah as well, etc.: “And I will give grass in your field for your cattle”; that is, because it is from the level of the supernal Daas, etc.;
“Beast,” behemah, has the numerical value 52, the same as the Name Ban: the souls of Beriah, through whom Daas is drawn even into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, as in “I will give grass in your field for your cattle” (Devarim 11:15). This is possible because it comes from the supernal Daas.
ע״ש ועד״ז יובן משנ״ת לעיל בענין עליית המל׳ מבחי׳ שנק׳ בשם בהמה לבחי׳ אדם והיינו בשבועות מתן תורה שהתורה היא מבחי׳ דעת היותר עליון כמ״ש הרמ״ז ר״פ קרח ועי״ז נמשך בחי׳ דעת בכנס״י.
see there. And along these lines one can understand what was explained above about the ascent of Malchus (sovereignty) from the level called by the name “animal” to the level of “man”: that is, on Shavuos, the giving of the Torah, for the Torah is from the level of the very highest Daas, as the Ramaz writes at the beginning of Parshas Korach; and through this the level of Daas is drawn into the Community of Israel (Knesses Yisrael).
In the same way, Malchus rises from “animal” to “man” on Shavuos, at the giving of the Torah, because the Torah comes from the very highest Daas, as the Ramaz writes on Korach; through it Daas is drawn into the Community of Israel.
והנה מבואר במ״א בפ׳ שלח בד״ה ואם האכל יאכל בענין מנחת נסכים שהסלת הוא המשכת הדעת והשמן והיין הם חו״ב כו׳.
Now, it is explained elsewhere, in Parshas Shelach, in the discourse beginning “And if it is at all eaten,” on the meal-offering of the libations, that the fine flour is the drawing down of Daas, and the oil and the wine are Chochmah (wisdom) and Binah (understanding), etc.
The discourse in Shelach on “And if it is at all eaten” explains the meal-offering brought with the libations: the fine flour is the drawing down of Daas, and the oil and the wine are Chochmah and Binah.
וא״כ לפ״ז הכבש הבא עם העומר שמנחתו היתה כפולה שני עשרונים6 סלת י״ל שהוא ענין המשכת הדעת ממדרגה עליונה יותר.
If so, according to this, regarding the lamb that came with the omer, whose meal-offering was doubled, two tenths of fine flour, it may be explained that this is the drawing down of Daas from a higher level.
Accordingly, the doubled meal-offering of the omer lamb, two tenths of fine flour, may mean Daas drawn from a higher level.
ואפשר לומר ע״ד שנת׳ בד״ה ואלה המשפטים הנ״ל שכדי להמשיך הדעת גם בבחי׳ בהמה היינו בבי״ע צ״ל מקור ההמשכה מלמעלה מאצי׳.
And it is possible to say, along the lines of what was explained in the discourse beginning “And these are the ordinances,” mentioned above, that in order to draw down Daas also into the level of “animal,” that is, into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, the source of the drawing-down must be from above Atzilus.
Following the discourse on “And these are the ordinances,” to bring Daas even into the “animal,” into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, its source must be above Atzilus.
והיינו כמ״ש כי אל דעות7 הוי׳ שכולל ב׳ בחי׳ דעת כו׳ וכמ״ש ג״כ ע״פ משה ידבר8 שמשם דייקא נמשך הכח שיהי׳ הגילוי גם למטה כו׳.
That is as it is written, “For G‑d is a G‑d of de’os (knowledges),” which includes two levels of Daas, etc.; and as is also written on “Moshe would speak,” that specifically from there the power is drawn for the revelation to be below as well, etc.
So “a G‑d of de’os,” knowledges in the plural (I Shmuel 2:3), includes two levels of Daas. The text also recalls its explanation of “Moshe would speak” (Shemos 19:19): from that higher level specifically comes the power for revelation below.
וזהו ענין שני עשרונים לרמוז לדעת עליון ודעת תחתון. שעם היות הדעת המתפשט לקיום המדות וחיותן נק׳ דעת תחתון אך כדי שיומשך ויתפשט גם בבי״ע צ״ל מקור ההמשכה מדעת עליון כו׳
And this is the matter of the two tenths: to allude to the higher Daas and the lower Daas. For although the Daas that spreads to sustain the emotive attributes (middos) and give them life is called the lower Daas, in order for it to be drawn down and spread also into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, the source of the drawing-down must be from the higher Daas, etc.
The two tenths, then, are the higher Daas and the lower Daas. The lower Daas sustains the emotions, but for it to reach Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah it must draw on the higher Daas.
והגם דבחי׳ זו שמבחינת בהמה מתעלה בבחי׳ אדם הוא בשבועות דייקא י״ל דגם בקרבן העומר וספירת העומר צ״ל הכנה לזה להמשיך בחי׳ דעת שהרי גם להפך המדות דנה״ב הוא ע״י הדעת דייקא.
And although this level, in which from the level of “animal” it is elevated to the level of “man,” is specifically on Shavuos, it may be said that in the omer offering and the counting of the omer too there must be a preparation for this, to draw down the level of Daas; for even transforming the emotive attributes of the animal soul is specifically through Daas.
Although the rise from “animal” to “man” happens on Shavuos, the omer offering and the counting must already prepare for it by drawing down Daas, since even refining the emotions of the animal soul is done through Daas.
ועוי״ל בענין שני עשרונים סולת ע״פ מ״ש בפע״ח שער ספירת העומר פ״ג כי מן הדעת כו׳ הוא כפול בבחי׳ א״פ ובחי׳ א״מ9 כו׳. ועיין עוד בפרדס בעה״כ בערך עשרון):
And it may further be explained, regarding the two tenths of fine flour, according to what is written in Pri Etz Chaim, Sha’ar Sefiras HaOmer, chapter 3, that from Daas, etc., it is doubled, at the level of inner light (or pnimi) and the level of encompassing light (or makif), etc. And see further in the Pardes, in the Erchei HaKinuyim, under the entry Asaron.)
Another explanation: Pri Etz Chaim (Sha’ar Sefiras HaOmer, ch. 3) says that what comes from Daas is doubled, as inner light and as encompassing light. The text again refers to the Pardes on asaron, “tenth,” and the parenthesis closes.
The Matriarchs, the mitzvos, are the “hills,” which will rise above the “mountains” when Ban ascends into Sag through boundless love and the strength of teshuvah; a closing parenthesis links the omer lamb’s two tenths to the drawing down of a higher Daas.
Marei mekomos
- 1לגבעות בצדקה · Psalms 72:3
- 2ובכל מאדך · Deuteronomy 6:5
- 3ואלה המשפטים · Exodus 21:1
- 4וזרעתי את בית ישראל זרע אדם וזרע בהמה · Jeremiah 31:27
- 5ונתתי עשב בשדך לבהמתך · Deuteronomy 11:15
- 6שני עשרונים · Pardes Rimmonim 23:16:66
- 7כי אל דעות הוי׳ · I Samuel 2:3
- 8משה ידבר · Exodus 19:19
- 9כי מן הדעת כו׳ הוא כפול בבחי׳ א״פ ובחי׳ א״מ · Pri Etz Chaim, Gate of the Omer Count 3:2
Finished the maamar?
Mark it as learned; it counts toward the week and the year’s siyum.
In one’s avodah
The light is drawn down by the actual doing of mitzvos with physical things, as a seed must actually be sown, and not by understanding or feeling alone. And the highest level, “with all your might,” above every vessel, is reached through iskafya, subduing oneself, as with the baal teshuvah, who comes with greater strength.
Questions for discussion
- Why does the maamar insist that the seed must rot before the power of growth can act, and what does that suggest about the mitzvos?
- Kindness reaches lower than restraint, yet the maamar calls restraint the main spreading of life. How does it resolve this?
- What does the omer lamb’s doubled meal-offering, with libations that are not doubled, show about the omer as an ascent from below?
- Why are mitzvos called both “fruits” and “garments,” and how do the two names fit the two feet of “skipping”?
- In what sense are the Matriarchs higher than the Patriarchs, and what will change “after the refinement”?
Key terms in this maamar
- The Holy One, blessed be Heקב״ה
- Chesed (kindness)חסד
- Expansive giving. ×1
- Gevurah (restraint)גבורה
- Measure, limitation and judgment. ×1
- An arousal from belowאתערותא דלתתא
- Human initiative that draws down a divine response.
- The Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof)אור אין סוף
- G‑d's light as it is, beyond all limits, before any contraction.
- Chochmah (wisdom)חכמה
- The first flash of insight. ×3
- Tzimtzum (contraction)צמצום
- The self-concealment of the Infinite Light that makes room for finite worlds. ×1
- The Sefirosספירות
- The ten divine attributes through which G‑d relates to creation.
- The World of Atzilus (Emanation)אצילות
- The highest world, still one with G‑d. ×3
- The kav (line of light)קו
- The thin ray of light drawn into the space left after the tzimtzum. ×1
- The chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus)השתלשלות
- The step-by-step descent of divine light from the highest level down to this world. ×2
- The Shechinah (Divine Presence)שכינה
- G‑d's presence as it dwells in the world. ×1
- The Infinite One (Ein Sof)אין סוף
- G‑d's own boundless essence.
- Malchus (sovereignty)מלכות
- Kingship: the level through which G‑d's word creates and rules the worlds. ×4
- The Name Havayahהוי׳
- The Tetragrammaton: G‑d as transcending time and bringing all into being.
- The World of Beriah (Creation)בריאה
- The first world of separate existence. ×3
- The World of Yetzirah (Formation)יצירה
- The world of the angels and emotions.
- The World of Asiyah (Action)עשיה
- The lowest world, including our physical one.
- Life-forceחיות
- The divine vitality that sustains every creation. ×8
- Keser (the Crown)כתר
- The level above intellect: divine will and delight. ×4
- Netzach (victory)נצח
- Perseverance, the drive to overcome. ×1
- Hod (splendor)הוד
- Acknowledgment and yielding. ×1
- Teshuvah (return)תשובה
- Returning to G‑d; not only repentance. ×1
- Daas (knowledge)דעת
- Deep connection to an idea, bridging intellect and emotion. ×17
- Binah (understanding)בינה
- Developing and grasping an insight in detail.
- The emotive attributes (middos)מדות
- Love, awe, compassion and the rest. ×3
- The animal soulנפש הבהמית
- The soul that animates the body and its drives.