Torah Ohr · Parshas Beshalach · Maamar 3
אז ישיר משה ובני ישראל את השירה הזאת…
“Then Moshe and the Children of Israel sang”
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The big idea
Before G‑d’s Essence, “exalted over exalted,” the hidden world and the revealed world are equal, so at the sea even the letters of speech, the source of the revealed world, were raised into the hidden “sea.” Prayer and song bring this into a person: the blessing draws the hidden into the open, and the Levites’ song rises to G‑d beyond all worlds.
The maamar in brief
Why were the Jewish people led to the sea, off their route, so that “Egypt shall know,” when no Egyptian survived? Because there is an “Egypt” in every person and at every time. The answer begins with the service on which the world stands: the offerings, consumed by fire from Above, and prayer, which replaced them. “Blessed are You” draws G‑dliness from the hidden world, the “sea,” into the revealed world, the “dry land,” so that the light that encompasses all worlds rests in the soul of one who prays. Moshe’s soul belonged to the hidden world, and so he was “heavy of mouth.” The Kohen’s blessing draws down; the Levites’ song rises toward G‑d beyond all worlds, stirring the heart without ideas, as Pesukei deZimra should. G‑d is “exalted” above “exalted”: His Essence is beyond even the encompassing light. Speech, the “horse,” carries intellect and soul beyond their own reach, and at the sea the letters, the source of the revealed world, were “raised” into the hidden. The Egyptians sought that level and fell; the Jewish people, raised through Torah and mitzvos, walked through the sea on dry land.
Outline
- An “Egypt” in every personWhy the people were led to the sea, and how “Egypt shall know” could apply when every Egyptian drowned: there is an “Egypt” in every person and at every time, to be left anew in every generation.¶1
- Fire from Above and “Blessed are You”The splitting of the sea must be remembered too. The world stands on the service: the offerings, consumed by fire from Above, and prayer in their place. Every blessing, “Blessed are You … from the world unto the world,” draws G‑dliness from the hidden to the revealed, into the soul of the one who prays.¶2–4
- Sea and dry landSea creatures are hidden and live only within the sea; land creatures stand out on their own. So too souls: some are of the revealed world, with distinct levels, and some, like Moshe, drawn from the water, are nullified in the hidden world, which is why he was heavy of mouth. The blessing draws this hidden level into the open.¶5–7
- The song of the LevitesThe Kohen’s blessing draws down; the Levites’ service rises from below to G‑d beyond all worlds. Their melody stirs the soul without ideas and must reach the heart’s inner point, and Pesukei deZimra are meant to do the same.¶8–10
- Exalted above exalted“Exalted” is the light that encompasses all worlds; “exalted over exalted” is G‑d’s Essence, beyond all thought and beyond even His holiness.¶11
- The letters are horsesSpeech submits to the intellect as a horse to its rider, yet it carries the intellect higher than it could go alone. In prayer, speech surrounds the soul with a light that binds it to G‑d.¶12–13
- Not in the strength of the horseThe letters are G‑d’s gevuros, the contractions through which finite worlds come into being. Created delight, yesh, acquires its world within His one thought; His desire shines not in the letters alone but in those who fear Him, whose love seeks His kindness for the worlds.¶14–17
- Raised into the seaBefore G‑d hidden and revealed are equal, so the letters were raised into the sea and the sea became dry land. The idolaters sought this level and fell; the Jewish people, raised through Torah and mitzvos, walked through it on dry land.¶18–19
Key concepts
- The hidden world and the revealed worldעלמא דאתכסיא ועלמא דאתגליא
- The realm where everything is nullified within its source, like creatures covered by the sea, and the realm where things appear separate and distinct, like creatures on dry land.
- Blessed (baruch)ברוך
- Read as drawing down: bringing G‑dliness from concealment into revelation, so that G‑d is addressed as “You.”
- The light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin)סובב כל עלמין
- Divine light too great to enter the worlds, before which all is as nothing. In this maamar it is the hidden world and the level of “exalted.”
- Nullification of existenceביטול במציאות
- Having no sense of a separate existence at all. It was Moshe’s level, which is why speech and revelation were withheld from him.
- Melody (niggun)ניגון
- Song that moves the soul through its movements, not through ideas. It was the service of the Levites, which rises from below upward.
- The letters as horsesאותיות — סוסים
- The letters of speech submit to the intellect as a horse to its rider, yet can carry it beyond its own reach. They are G‑d’s gevuros, the contractions through which the worlds come into being.
- Yesh (“something”)יש
- Every delight a limited created being can receive, even the spiritual delight of the higher Gan Eden.
- Exalted over exaltedגאה על גאה
- G‑d’s very Essence, above even the light that encompasses all worlds, beyond all thought; even His holiness does not compare to Him.
An “Egypt” in every person ¶1
“Then Moshe and the Children of Israel sang this song to G‑d, and they spoke, saying: ‘I will sing to G‑d, for He is exalted, exalted; the horse and its rider He cast into the sea.’”
The maamar opens with the first verse of the Song at the Sea, which Moshe and the Jewish people sang after the Sea of Reeds split and the Egyptian army drowned. Two of its phrases, “He is exalted, exalted” and “the horse and its rider He cast into the sea,” are explained later in the maamar.
הנה להבין ענין קי״ס. וגם הלא לפי דרך בנ״י ממצרים לא״י לא היה להם דרך על הים אלא שצוה ה׳ וישובו ויחנו3 כו׳
Now, [we need] to understand the matter of the splitting of the Sea of Reeds. And also: surely, by the route of the Children of Israel from Egypt to the Land of Israel, they had no route by way of the sea; it was only that G‑d commanded, “that they turn back and encamp,” etc.
Before explaining the song, the Alter Rebbe asks why the splitting of the sea happened at all. The road from Egypt to the Land of Israel did not pass by the sea; the people came there only because G‑d told them to turn back and encamp beside it.
(וגם לא עברו את הים מעבר לעבר אלא באותו צד שירדו באותו צד עצמו עלו).45 הטעם כתיב וידעו מצרים6 כי אני ה׳.
(And also, they did not cross the sea from one side to the other; rather, on the very side where they went down, on that same side they came up.) As for the reason, it is written, “And Egypt shall know that I am G‑d.”
The parenthesis follows Tosafos on Arachin 15a (as the Kehot note shows): the people did not cross from one shore to the other but came up on the same side they went in, so the crossing did not even bring them closer to their goal. The Torah’s own reason for the whole event is “Egypt shall know that I am G‑d.”
וצריך להבין דהא כתיב ויכסו מים צריהם אחד מהם לא נותר.7 אלא הענין כי הנה יש מצרים בכל אדם ובכל זמן.
But this needs to be understood, for it is written, “The waters covered their foes; not one of them was left.” Rather, the explanation is that there is an “Egypt” in every person and at every time.
This raises a difficulty: every Egyptian who pursued them drowned, so who was left to “know”? The answer is that “Egypt” is not only a nation of the past but something present in every person and at every time.
ולכן אמרו בכל דור ודור8 חייב אדם לראות א״ע כאלו הוא יצא ממצרים וכתיב למען תזכור את יום צאתך9 מארץ מצרים כל ימי חייך.
That is why [our Sages] said, “In every generation a person is obliged to see himself as though he himself had come out of Egypt,” and it is written, “So that you remember the day you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.”
That is why the Mishnah (Pesachim 116b) obliges a person in every generation to see himself as though he himself had left Egypt, and why the Torah commands remembering the Exodus all the days of one’s life. Since there is an “Egypt” within each person, the words “Egypt shall know” still apply.
The paragraph asks why the Jewish people were led to the sea at all, and how “Egypt shall know” could apply when every Egyptian drowned. Its answer is that there is an “Egypt” in every person and at every time, which is why a person must see himself as leaving it in every generation.
According to the Tosafos the Kehot note gives, the people did not cross the width of the sea but went through it in a strip along its length and came out on the same side, turning toward the desert. The Kehot note also records that two other transcripts of this maamar, by the Mitteler Rebbe and by Rabbi Moshe, the Alter Rebbe’s son, are printed in Sefer HaMaamarim 5563.
Marei mekomos
- 1אז ישיר · הנחת כ״ק אדמו״ר האמצעי והנחת הר״מ בן אדה״ז — בסה״מ תקס״ג ע׳ קנג. ראה בציונים לכ״ק אדמו״ר זי״ע. ביאור באוה״ת כרך ז ע׳ ב׳תרסז. ראה ד״ה זה בסה״מ תרכ״ו ע׳ סג ואילך. ובסה״מ תרל״ט ע׳ קנב ואילך.
- 2אז ישיר משה · Exodus 15:1
- 3וישובו ויחנו · Exodus 14:2
- 4באותו צד שירדו . . עלו · Arakhin 15a:12
- 5וגם לא עברו את הים מעבר לעבר אלא באותו צד שירדו באותו צד עצמו עלו · Tosafot on Arakhin 15a
- 6וידעו מצרים · Exodus 14:18
- 7ויכסו מים צריהם אחד מהם לא נותר · Psalms 106:11
- 8בכל דור ודור · Pesachim 116b:3–4
- 9למען תזכור את יום צאתך · Deuteronomy 16:3
Fire from Above and “Blessed are You” ¶2–4
And it is found in the Tosefta that one must also remember the splitting of the Sea of Reeds. The explanation is that our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “The world stands on three things:
The Tosefta (Berachos 2:1) records the view that in the blessing after the Shema one must mention not only the Exodus but also the splitting of the Sea of Reeds. To explain why, the Alter Rebbe turns to the Mishnah’s teaching that the world stands on three things.
על התורה ועל העבודה ועל גמ״ח.4 עבודה הן הן הקרבנות שהיה אש שלמעלה יורד ע״ג המזבח ארי׳ דאכיל קורבנין.56
on the Torah, on the service (avodah), and on acts of kindness (gemilus chasadim).” “The service” is none other than the offerings, for the fire from Above would come down upon the altar, “a lion consuming the offerings.”
The three pillars are Torah, avodah (“service”) and acts of kindness. In the Temple, avodah meant the offerings, which were consumed by a fire that came down from Above; the Zohar describes it as the image of a lion consuming the offerings on the altar.
The paragraph begins to explain why the splitting of the sea must be remembered, starting from the “service” on which the world stands. In the Temple that service was the offerings, consumed by fire from Above.
The Zohar passages the Kehot note gives describe the fire on the altar: in earlier times the image of a lion was seen crouching on the altar, consuming the offerings (Zohar 1:6b); when Israel were meritorious the lion was seen, and when they were not, the image of a dog (Zohar 2:278a); a lion of fire came down to consume the offerings (Zohar 3:17a). According to the Kehot note, the Rebbe’s maamar VeHecherim (5734) connects the Tosefta’s requirement with the Alter Rebbe’s ruling that “the season of our freedom” is said on the last days of Pesach too, although the Exodus took place on the first days.
Marei mekomos
- 1ואיתא בתוספתא · רפ״ב דברכות. ראה שו״ע רבינו הזקן סי׳ סו סעיף יב. בד״ה והחרים תשל״ד (מהנחה בלתי מוגה) מציין ”דזה מתאים עם מש״כ אדה״ז בשו״ע שלו [או״ח סי׳ ת״צ סי״ב] דגם בשביעי ושמיני ש״פ אומרים בקידוש ובתפלה זמן חרותינו, אע״פ שיצי״מ היתה כבר בימים הראשונים בכ״ז אומרים גם בימים האחרונים זמן חרותינו.
- 2שצריך לזכור ג״כ קריעת ים סוף · Tosefta Berakhot 2:1
- 3על ג׳ דברים העולם עומד · אבות א, ב.
- 4על ג׳ דברים העולם עומד. על התורה ועל העבודה ועל גמ״ח · Pirkei Avot 1:2
- 5ארי׳ דאכיל קורבנין · Zohar I, 6b
- 6ארי׳ דאכיל קורבנין · Zohar, Vayikra 40:278–41:285
3ומשחרב בהמ״ק תקנו תפלה כנגד הקרבנות1 דהיינו למסור נפשו הבהמית שתוכלל באש של מעלה בחי׳ אהבה רבה הבאה מלמעלה ואתערותא דלעילא כו׳.
And since the Holy Temple was destroyed, [the Sages] instituted prayer corresponding to the offerings: that is, to give over one’s animal soul so that it be absorbed into the fire from Above, the level of “great love” (ahavah rabbah), which comes from Above, and an arousal from above, etc.
After the Temple was destroyed, the Sages instituted prayer to correspond to the offerings. Its inner work is the same: a person gives over his animal soul, the source of his natural drives, so that it is absorbed into the “fire from Above,” which is ahavah rabbah, a great love for G‑d that comes from Above, an arousal that begins on G‑d’s side.
ולהבין כיצד הוא מרומז בתפלה2 איך שיורד בחינת אש שלמעלה. אך הענין זהו אשר תקנו בש״ע לומר כל הברכות ברוך אתה כו׳.
Now, to understand how it is alluded to in prayer that the level of the fire from Above comes down: the explanation is this, that [the Sages] instituted in the Shemoneh Esreh that all the blessings be said [with the words] “Blessed are You,” etc.
The Alter Rebbe asks where prayer alludes to this descent of fire from Above. His answer is the formula the Sages placed in every blessing of the Shemoneh Esreh: “Blessed are You.”
Prayer takes the place of the offerings: as fire came down on the altar, prayer brings a love from Above down into the person’s animal soul. The words “Blessed are You,” said in every blessing, are where this descent is alluded to.
The Kehot note records that at this point the other transcript, by Rabbi Moshe, the Alter Rebbe’s son (Sefer HaMaamarim 5563, p. 154), explains the verse “The days of our years” here.
Marei mekomos
- 1תפלה כנגד הקרבנות · Berakhot 26b:5–6
- 2כיצד הוא מרומז בתפלה · בסה״מ תקס״ג ע׳ קנד נוסחא שני׳ (הנחת הר״מ בן אדה״ז, מבאר כאן הפסוק ימי שנותינו).
4והוא ע״ד מ״ש ברוך ה׳ אלהי ישראל מן העולם ועד העולם. פי׳ מעלמא דאתכסייא לעלמא דאתגלייא דהיינו מבחי׳ סוכ״ע לממכ״ע כי הוי״ה הוא האלהים וכשמקשר נפשו הבהמית לה׳ אחד
It is in the manner of what is written, “Blessed is G‑d, the G‑d of Israel, from the world unto the world”: that is, from the hidden world (alma d’iskasya) to the revealed world (alma d’isgalya), meaning from the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin) to the light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin), for Havayah is Elokim. And when one binds one’s animal soul to the One G‑d,
The blessing formula follows the verse “Blessed is G‑d, the G‑d of Israel, from the world unto the world,” read here as a movement from the hidden world to the revealed world: from the light that encompasses all worlds, beyond them, to the light that fills all worlds from within. “Havayah is Elokim” means that the Name of G‑d that transcends the worlds and the Name that is concealed within them are one, so the higher light can be drawn into the lower. The paragraph then turns to the person who binds his animal soul to the One G‑d.
אזי גם בחי׳ אש שלמעלה מבחי׳ סוכ״ע שורה ומתגלה בנפשו. וזהו ברוך לשון המשכה מההעלם אל הגילוי להיות בבחי׳ אתה לנוכח:12
then the level of the fire from Above, from the level of the light that encompasses all worlds, also rests and is revealed in one’s soul. And this is [the meaning of] “Blessed” (baruch): it is a term for drawing down from concealment into revelation, so that it be at the level of “You,” in direct address.
When a person does this in prayer, the fire from Above, from the transcendent level, rests on his own soul and is revealed in it. That is the meaning of baruch, “blessed”: drawing down from concealment into revelation, until G‑d is addressed as “You,” present and revealed.
“Blessed” means drawing G‑dliness down from the hidden to the revealed, from the light that encompasses the worlds to the light within them. When a person binds his animal soul to G‑d in prayer, this transcendent fire comes to rest in his soul.
The same words, “from the world unto the world,” also appear in I Chronicles 16:36, which Sefaria links here; the Kehot note gives Psalms 106:48.
Marei mekomos
- 1ברוך ה׳ אלקי ישראל מן העולם ועד העולם · Psalms 106:48
- 2
Sea and dry land ¶5–7
5וביאור הענין כי הנה ארז״ל כל מה שיש ביבשה1 יש בים. ים הוא בחי׳ עלמא דאתכסיא ויבשה הוא בחי׳ עלמא דאתגלייא.
The explanation of the matter: our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “Whatever there is on dry land, there is in the sea.” “Sea” is the level of the hidden world (alma d’iskasya), and “dry land” is the level of the revealed world (alma d’isgalya).
The Gemara (Chullin 127a) says that whatever exists on dry land has its counterpart in the sea. The Alter Rebbe applies this to the two realms: “sea” is the hidden world and “dry land” is the revealed world, so the same things exist in both, hidden in one and revealed in the other.
והנה ההפרש שבין יבשה לים2 בגשמיות הוא שהברואים שבים אינם נראים לחוץ כי הים מכסה עליהם
Now, the difference between dry land and sea in physical terms is that the creatures in the sea are not visible on the outside, for the sea covers them;
The first physical difference: sea creatures cannot be seen, because the water covers them.
וגם חיותם וקיומם הוא בתוך הים3 דוקא וא״א להם לחיות ביבשה שמיד מתים משא״כ ברואים שביבשה הנה הארץ תוציא צמחה4 ועושה פרי למעלה.5
and also, their life-force and existence are specifically within the sea, and they cannot live on dry land, for they die at once. That is not so with the creatures on dry land: “the earth brings forth its growth” and produces fruit above [the ground].
The second: sea creatures live only within the sea and die at once on dry land. On land, by contrast, the earth sends up plants that bear their fruit above it, apart from the soil.
Sea and dry land are a model for the hidden and the revealed worlds. Sea creatures are hidden and cannot exist apart from the sea, while what grows on land stands out above the earth that feeds it.
Rabbi Moshe’s transcript in Sefer HaMaamarim 5563, quoted by Kehot, adds that sea creatures live only from the water itself: they are swallowed up in it, and the water is their very life, while land creatures live mainly from food, not from the earth itself. Or HaTorah, also quoted in the note, puts it this way: land creatures, though fed by what the earth grows, are distant from it, while sea creatures are included and united with the sea and cannot be separated from it.
Marei mekomos
- 1כל מה שיש ביבשה · Chullin 127a:12–14
- 2והנה ההפרש שבין יבשה לים · ראה ביאוה״ז מב, ג ואילך. מאמרי אדה״ז פרשיות ע׳ רנה. רסז. סה״מ תרכ״ח ע׳ קלז. סה״מ תרכ״ט (הוצאת תשנ״ב) ע׳ ריג. סה״מ תרנ״ב ע׳ מט.
- 3וגם חיותם וקיומם הוא בתוך הים · בסה״מ תקס״ג ע׳ קנה (בהנחת הר״מ בן אדה״ז): וגם יש עוד הפרש ביניהם שהברואים שבים אין חיותם רק מן הים עצמו שחיותם הוא רק בהמים שהמים מחייהם, וא״א להם לחיות בלתי מים . . שהם נבלעים בהמים והמים הוא חיותם ממש.
- 4
- 5הנה הארץ תוציא צמחה ועושה פרי למעלה · בסה״מ תקס״ג שם ע׳ קנה ”הברואים שביבשה אין עיקר חיותם הוא מן הארץ עצמו כ״א ממאכלים”. וראה באוה״ת פ׳ בשלח ע׳ תלא שמבאר ”דהברואים דיבשה אעפ״י שמקבלים חיות מצמח הארץ הרי הם בחי׳ ריחוק מן הארץ, משא״כ הברואים שבים הם כלולים ומתאחדים עם הים וא״א להם להפרד מן הים כו׳”.
6והגם שיניקותם ממנה הם נראים כאלו הן יש ודבר בפ״ע ומכ״ש שאר הברואים אשר בהם נפש חיה למינה1. ועד״ז יובן ההפרש ברוחניות למעלה ההפרש בין עלמא דאתכסיא לעלמא דאתגלייא.
And although they draw their nourishment from it, they appear as though they were an existence (yesh), a thing unto themselves; and all the more so the other creatures, which have “a living soul after its kind.” In the same way one can understand the difference above, in the spiritual realm: the difference between the hidden world and the revealed world.
Plants and creatures on land draw their life from the earth, yet they look like independent things, and animals, which have “a living soul,” even more so. The same distinction holds in the spiritual realm, between the hidden world and the revealed world.
כי הנה מבשרי אחזה2 שיש בנשמה שכל ומדות והשכל נחלק לג׳ והמדות לז׳ ויש עליהם ג׳ לבושים מחדו״מ
For “from my flesh I behold” that the soul has intellect and emotive attributes (middos): the intellect divides into three and the emotive attributes into seven, and over them are three garments, thought, speech and action.
Job’s words “from my flesh I behold” are used here to learn about the spiritual worlds from the structure of the human soul. The soul has intellect, divided into three faculties, and seven emotive attributes, and these are clothed in three garments: thought, speech and action.
וגם הם מתחלקים לפרטים רבים ובכללן הם ה׳ בחינות שכל ומדות ומחדו״מ כנגד נרנח״י וכמה מיני מדרגות גבוה מעל גבוה
These too divide into many particulars, and taken together they are five levels, intellect, emotive attributes, and thought, speech and action, corresponding to Nefesh, Ruach, Neshamah, Chayah and Yechidah. And [there are] many kinds of rungs, “one higher than the high,”
Taken together these make five levels, intellect, emotions, thought, speech and action, corresponding to the five levels of the soul: Nefesh, Ruach, Neshamah, Chayah and Yechidah. Within them there are many further gradations, one above another, in the words of Koheles.
וגבוהים עליהם3 כולם הם בבחי׳ נרנח״י כל אחד יש לו בחי׳ בפני עצמו מה שאין בחבירו יש מי שעובד בבחי׳ ומדרגת כלות הנפש כו׳
“and higher ones above them”: all of them are within the levels of Nefesh, Ruach, Neshamah, Chayah and Yechidah. Each one has a level of its own that the other does not have: there is one who serves [G‑d] at the level and rung of the soul’s expiry (kelos hanefesh), etc.
All these gradations remain within the five levels of the soul, yet each soul has a quality that is its own. Some, for example, serve G‑d with kelos hanefesh, a longing so intense that the soul seems to “expire” in its yearning for G‑d.
וכן הנשמה בפ״ע בג״ע יש כמה בחי׳ ומדרגות שונות. אך יש מהן בבחי׳ עלמא דאתגליא שנראים המדרגות מופרדים בגילוי.
So too, the soul on its own in Gan Eden has many different levels and rungs. But some of them are at the level of the revealed world, where the rungs appear openly as separate from one another.
Souls in Gan Eden also differ in their levels. Some of them belong to the revealed world: their levels are visibly distinct, each standing out as itself, like the creatures of dry land.
Like creatures on land, souls at the level of the revealed world have distinct, visible levels and qualities, each standing out on its own. The paragraph surveys the levels of the soul to prepare the contrast with souls of the hidden world.
Marei mekomos
- 1
- 2מבשרי אחזה · Job 19:26
- 3גבוה מעל גבוה וגבוהים עליהם · Ecclesiastes 5:7
7ויש מהם שהם עלמא דאתכסייא שהם בטלים במציאות במקורם שהוא בחי׳ סוכ״ע דכולא קמיה כלא חשיב ומבחי׳ זו היתה מדרגת משה רבינו ע״ה
And some of them are [of] the hidden world: they are nullified in their very existence within their source, which is the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), where “all before Him is considered as nothing.” From this level was the rung of Moshe our teacher, peace be upon him,
Other souls belong to the hidden world: within their source, the light that encompasses all worlds, before which everything is as nothing, they have no sense of a separate existence at all. Moshe’s soul was of this kind.
שנאמר עליו כי מן המים משיתהו1 מבחי׳ ים עלמא דאתכסייא ולכן היה כבד פה23 שבחי׳ דבור והתגלות נמנע ממנו לפי שהיה לו יתרון ומעלה בבחי׳ ומדרגת בטול במציאות במאד כמ״ש ונחנו מה4 כו׳.
as it is said of him, “for from the water I drew him out”: from the level of “sea,” the hidden world. Therefore he was “heavy of mouth”: the level of speech and revelation was withheld from him, because he had an advantage and superiority in the level and rung of utter self-nullification (bittul) of [his very] existence, as it is written, “And what are we?” etc.
Moshe was “drawn out of the water,” from the “sea” that stands for the hidden world. That is why he was “heavy of mouth”: speech, which is revelation, was withheld from him because his self-nullification was so complete, as his words “and what are we?” show.
וזהו ענין הברכה ברוך אתה כו׳ מן העולם ועד העולם שיהיה בחי׳ עלמא דאתכסייא ובחי׳ סוכ״ע שהוא בחי׳ בטול דכולא קמיה כלא חשיב נמשך בגלוי גם בעלמא דאתגלייא וראו כל בשר כו׳:
And this is the meaning of the blessing “Blessed are You,” etc., “from the world unto the world”: that the level of the hidden world and the level of the light that encompasses all worlds, which is the level of the nullification in which “all before Him is considered as nothing,” be drawn down openly into the revealed world as well, “and all flesh shall see,” etc.
Now the blessing formula can be understood: “Blessed are You … from the world unto the world” asks that the hidden world, the level of the light that encompasses all worlds, where all is nullified before G‑d, be drawn openly into the revealed world as well. Then, in the prophet’s words, “all flesh shall see.”
Some souls are of the hidden world, wholly nullified within their source; Moshe, drawn from the water, was such a soul, and so speech and revelation were withheld from him. The blessing “Blessed are You … from the world unto the world” draws this hidden level openly into the revealed world.
In the Likkutei Torah maamar the Kehot note gives (Eikev, “Lehavin Shoresh Taam”), the Alter Rebbe explains that Moshe’s root was in the source of Chochmah, the level of essential self-nullification, above the chain of descending worlds; that is why he was heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue, for that supernal wisdom cannot come into revelation within the chain of worlds. There too he reads “for from the water I drew him out” as the sea of supernal Chochmah, and G‑d’s answer, “I will be with your mouth,” as the revelation at Sinai, through which there could be a mouth and revelation.
Marei mekomos
- 1מן המים משיתהו · Exodus 2:10
- 2ולכן היה כבד פה · ראה סידור שער בהמ״ז בד״ה מנין לברהמ״ז מן התורה. לקו״ת פ׳ עקב בד״ה להבין שרש טעם.
- 3כבד פה · Exodus 4:10
- 4ונחנו מה · Exodus 16:7
The song of the Levites ¶8–10
8אך כל בחי׳ ברכה והמשכה מלמעלה למטה זו היא בחי׳ ומדרגת עבודת הכהן. אבל עבודת הלוים מדה אחרת היתה בם היא ממטה למעלה
However, every [form of] blessing and drawing down from above to below is the level and rung of the service of the Kohen. But as for the service of the Levites, a different quality was in them: it is from below to above,
Drawing down from above to below, which is what a blessing does, is the service of the Kohen, who blesses the people. The Levites served in the opposite direction, from below upward.
דכתיב ועבד הלוי הוא1 שבחי׳ עבודתו היא בבחינה עלמא דאתכסייא שלא יהיה בחי׳ ומדרגת עלמא דאתגלייא נראה לבחי׳ ומדרגה כלל ולא יהיה תופס מקום כלל
as it is written, “And the Levite, he (hu) shall serve”: the level of his service is in the level of the hidden world, so that the level and rung of the revealed world should not be seen as a level and rung at all, and should take up no room at all,
The verse “And the Levite, he (hu) shall serve” is read as placing their service in the hidden world: hu is taken as “He,” G‑d spoken of in the third person, as hidden, unlike the “You” of a blessing, which addresses Him as revealed. In the hidden world, the revealed world does not count as a level at all and takes up no room.
כמ״ש אתה הוא2 הוי׳ לבדך וגו׳ שאינו בגדר עלמין כלל לא בגדר ממלא ולא בגדר סובב ולזה היתה עבודתם בשירה וזמרה בנגון.
as it is written, “You are He, G‑d, alone,” etc.: He is not within the category of worlds at all, neither in the category of “filling” (memalei) nor in the category of “encompassing” (sovev). For this reason their service was with song and hymn, with melody (niggun).
This is the level of “You are He, G‑d, alone”: G‑d as He is beyond any relation to worlds, beyond both the light that fills them and the light that encompasses them. That is why the Levites served through song and melody.
כי ענין הנגון הוא שאין בו רק התפעלות הנפש3 מפני גילוי התנועות ולא מפני שיש בתנועות ההם מצד עצמם שום שכל והתחדשות אלא מפני גילוי התנועה מתעורר גילוי הלב.
For the nature of melody is that there is nothing in it but the soul’s being stirred, because of the expression of the movements [of the tune], not because there is, in those movements in themselves, any intellect or novelty; rather, through the expression of the movement, the expression of the heart is aroused.
A melody holds no ideas and no new information; it moves the soul only through its movements, the rise and fall of the tune. The outward expression of the tune awakens and brings out what is in the heart.
The Kohen’s blessing draws G‑dliness down, while the Levite’s service rises from below upward, toward G‑d as He is beyond all worlds, where the revealed world takes up no place at all. That is why the Levites served with song: melody stirs the soul without any intellectual content.
Rabbi Moshe’s transcript in Sefer HaMaamarim 5563, quoted in the Kehot note, says that physical song and melody is “neither wisdom nor anything new at all,” but only an arousal of the soul: no wisdom or intellect at all is clothed in the song one sings.
Marei mekomos
- 1ועבד הלוי הוא · Numbers 18:23
- 2אתה הוא הוי׳ לבדך · Nehemiah 9:6
- 3שאין בו רק התפעלות הנפש · ראה תורת חיים בראשית דף נח. בסה״מ תקס״ג ע׳ קס בהנחת הר״מ בן אדה״ז ”שהזמר והניגון הגשמי שאינו לא חכמה ולא דבר חדש כלל, כ״א הוא רק בחי׳ התפעלות הנפש בלבד [פי׳ שבהזמר שמזמר אין מלובש בו בחי׳ חכמה ושכל כלל כ״א רק בחי׳ התפעלות הנפש בלבד . . .]”.
9ולכן אפילו בנגון ישן יש התעוררות והתפעלות מפני גילוי התנועה שבה כך הוא ענין עבודת1 הלוי בשירה להיות בחי׳ התפעלות הנפש מצד עצמה ולא מצד השגה להוליד מבינתו כו׳
Therefore, even with an old melody there is arousal and stirring, because of the expression of the movement in it. Such is the service of the Levite in song: to be the level of the soul’s being stirred of itself, and not through comprehension, giving birth [to feeling] from one’s understanding, etc.,
Because a melody works through its movements and not through ideas, even an old, familiar tune still stirs the heart. So too the Levite’s song is meant to stir the soul from within itself, not as feeling born of understanding, as when contemplation gives rise to emotion.
מאחר שעבודתו בבחי׳ הוא בחי׳ אתה הוא2 ה׳ לבדך וגו׳ דלית מחשבה תפיסא ביה כלל
since his service is in the level of “He” (Hu), the level of “You are He, G‑d, alone,” etc., Whom no thought can grasp at all,
His service is at the level of “He” (hu), as in “And the Levite, he shall serve”: the hidden level of “You are He, G‑d, alone,” which no thought can grasp at all. Since understanding cannot reach there, the service cannot come through comprehension.
אלא התפעלות רעותא דלבא שיהיה נוגע עד הנפש נקודת הלב ולא להיות בחי׳ מקיף לבד.
rather, [it is] the stirring of the heart’s desire (re’usa d’liba), so that it touch the soul, the point of the heart, and not be merely at the level of something that encompasses (makif).
What remains is the heart’s inner yearning (re’usa d’liba), which must reach the very point of the heart and the soul. It must not stay a makif, something that only surrounds a person from outside without entering him.
The Levite’s song stirs the soul without comprehension, because it is directed to G‑d as He is beyond all thought. What it requires is a yearning of the heart that reaches the heart’s innermost point.
Marei mekomos
- 1כך הוא ענין עבודת הלוים · מובא בד״ה עבדו את ה׳ בשמחה תרל״ט ע׳ שפז.
- 2אתה הוא ה׳ לבדך · Nehemiah 9:6
10ועד״ז נתקן פסוקי דזמרה קודם ק״ש ולכן קוראין אותן פסוד״ז שהם כעין בחי׳ נגון שהוא רק הרחבת הדבור
In the same way, Pesukei deZimra were instituted before the reading of the Shema, and that is why they are called Pesukei deZimra (“verses of song”): for they are something like the level of melody, which is only an expansion of speech
Pesukei deZimra, the psalms and verses of praise said in the morning prayer before the Shema, follow the pattern of the Levites’ song. Their name means “verses of song,” because they are like a melody: speech drawn out and expanded.
וביאור הענין בתוספת ביאור לפרש הדבר היטיב להלהיב לבו ונפשו שיתפעל מזה משא״כ כשאומר הפסוקים ואינו נוגע לנקודת לבבו אין זה בחי׳ זמרה ונגון ואין זו עבודה תמה.
and an explanation of the matter with added explanation, to set out the matter well, so as to set one’s heart and soul aflame, that one be stirred by it. But when one says the verses and it does not touch the point of one’s heart, that is not the level of song and melody, and that is not complete service.
As a melody draws out the words, these verses elaborate and explain, so that the subject becomes clear and sets the heart aflame. Saying them without letting them touch the heart’s inner point is neither song nor complete service.
Pesukei deZimra are a melody in words: expanded speech meant to set the heart aflame before the Shema. Said without feeling, they lose the quality of song.
Exalted above exalted ¶11
11וזהו אשירה לה׳ כי גאה גאה.1 פי׳ שבחי׳ אשירה הוא מפני כי גאה למעלה מגאה וגאה הוא2 בחינת סובב כל עלמין דכולא קמיה כלא חשיב.
And this is [the meaning of] “I will sing to G‑d, for He is exalted, exalted.” That is: the level of “I will sing” is because He is “exalted” above “exalted.” And “exalted” is the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), where “all before Him is considered as nothing.”
Now the opening verse can be explained: “I will sing” because G‑d is “exalted” above “exalted.” “Exalted” alone is the level of the light that encompasses all worlds, before which everything is as nothing.
וגאה על גאה הוא יתברך בעצמו ובכבודו אין סוף ברוך הוא ממש דלית מחשבה תפיסא ביה כלל בחינת אתה הוא3 ה׳ לבדך וגו׳ לא נערוך אליו קדושתו.
And “exalted” over “exalted” is He, may He be blessed, in His very Self and glory: the Infinite One (Ein Sof), blessed be He, Himself, Whom no thought can grasp at all, the level of “You are He, G‑d, alone,” etc. “We cannot compare His holiness to Him.”
“Exalted over exalted” is G‑d’s very Essence, the Infinite One Himself, beyond the reach of all thought, the level of “You are He, G‑d, alone.” The closing words come from the hymn Yigdal, “We cannot compare His holiness to Him”: even His holiness falls short of Him.
פי׳ שאפילו קדושתו שהוא קדוש ומובדל כו׳ לא נערוך אליו לפי שאינו בגדר עלמין כלל:
That is: even His holiness, that He is holy and set apart, etc., we cannot compare to Him, because He is not within the category of worlds at all.
Holiness means being separate and set apart from the worlds, yet even this is defined in relation to worlds. G‑d’s Essence is not in the category of worlds at all, so even “holy and separate” does not describe Him.
The song at the sea is sung to the level “exalted above exalted”: beyond even the light that encompasses all worlds, to G‑d’s Essence, which has no relation to worlds at all, so that even the term “holy” falls short of it.
The next maamar in Torah Ohr, to which the Kehot note refers, reads “exalted, exalted” as the level of the “Master of wonders,” the Infinite One Who encompasses all worlds, before Whom small and great, above and below, are equal.
Marei mekomos
- 1אשירה לה׳ כי גאה גאה · Exodus 15:1
- 2וגאה הוא בחי׳ סוכ״ע · ראה המאמר דלהלן, ובתו״ח ד״ה אשירה לה׳ רלז, א. רנג, א ואילך. באוה״ת מגלת אסתר ע׳ קפ מביא קטע מכאן. וראה גם סה״מ ה׳תש״י ע׳ קנג.
- 3אתה הוא ה׳ לבדך · Nehemiah 9:6
The letters are horses ¶12–13
12ולכן סוס ורוכבו רמה בים.1 כי הנה כתיב כי תרכב על סוסיך2 מרכבותיך ישועה. וביאור הדבר דהנה האותיות נקראים סוסים3 כמו שסוס בטל לגבי רוכבו והרוכב מנהיגו.
Therefore, “the horse and its rider He cast into the sea.” For it is written, “When You ride upon Your horses, Your chariots are salvation.” The explanation of this: the letters are called “horses,” for just as a horse is nullified (batel) before its rider, and the rider directs it,
This leads to “the horse and its rider He cast into the sea.” Habakkuk’s verse about G‑d riding on His horses introduces the image, and the Alter Rebbe explains that the letters of speech are called “horses”: a horse submits to its rider, who steers it.
כך הנה אותיות דבורו הם בטלים לגבי השכל והשכל מנהיגו לכל אשר יחפוץ יטנו4 אך מ״מ יש יתרון מעלה בסוס שיכול להוליך את הרוכב למקום שאין הרוכב יכול לילך שם.
so the letters of one’s speech are nullified before the intellect, and the intellect directs it: “wherever it wishes, it turns it.” Yet nevertheless the horse has a superior advantage: it can carry the rider to a place where the rider cannot go.
In the same way, the letters of speech submit to the intellect, which steers them wherever it wishes. Yet a horse can also carry its rider to places he could never reach on his own.
The letters are “horses”: speech serves the intellect as a horse serves its rider. Yet a horse can take the rider farther than he could go alone, a point the next paragraph applies to speech.
The Tikkunei Zohar passage the Kehot note gives (Introduction, 8a) speaks of the letters as being like horses to the vowel points, with the cantillation marks leading them.
Marei mekomos
- 1סוס ורוכבו רמה בים · Exodus 15:1
- 2כי תרכב על סוסיך · Habakkuk 3:8
- 3האותיות נקראים סוסים · ת״ז בהדמה ח, א (כ, ב). ראה ד״ה באתי לגני תשכ״ז אות י.
- 4לכל אשר יחפוץ יטנו · Proverbs 21:1
13וכך יש יתרון ומעלה באותיות הדבור שיכולים להגביה את השכל למדרגה מאד נעלה מה שאין ביכולת השכל להשיג מצד עצם השכלתו כמו שנראה בחוש שע״י הדבור יתוסף השפעת שכל בשכלו.
So too, the letters of speech have an advantage and superiority: they can lift the intellect to a very exalted level, which the intellect cannot attain by its own reasoning, as one sees from experience that through speech an added flow of insight comes into one’s intellect.
As a horse carries its rider farther, the letters of speech can lift the intellect to heights it could not reach by thinking alone. Experience shows this: putting an idea into words brings new insight.
וכך הוא הענין בנפש האדם המדברת בתפלה הגם שהדבור הוא רק מלבושי הנפש ואין לו ערך כלל לגבי מהות הנפש עצמה שהאר׳ ממנה בלבד היא מתפשטת להיות שכל ומדות כו׳
And so it is with the soul of a person who speaks in prayer: although speech is merely [one of] the garments of the soul and bears no comparison at all to the essence of the soul itself, only a glimmer of which spreads forth to become intellect and emotive attributes (middos), etc.,
The same holds in prayer. Speech is only an outer garment of the soul and bears no comparison to its essence, of which only a glimmer becomes intellect and emotions.
מ״מ מבחי׳ הדיבור נעשה אור מקיף להנשמה שמקיפה מראשה ועד רגלה להיות צרורה בצרור החיים את1 ה׳ ממש וכו׳ כמ״ש בלק״א2 מה שלא היה כח בנשמה מצד עצמה.
nevertheless, from the level of speech an encompassing light (or makif) is made for the soul, which encompasses it from its head to its foot, so that it be “bound up in the bond of life with G‑d” Himself, etc., as is written in Likkutei Amarim: something the soul had no power [to reach] on its own.
Even so, the words of prayer create an encompassing light (or makif) around the whole soul, from head to foot, binding it “in the bond of life with G‑d,” as Likkutei Amarim (Tanya) explains. The soul could not achieve this by its own power.
The very limitation of speech is also its advantage: like a horse, it can carry the soul beyond its own reach. The words of prayer surround the soul with a light that binds it to G‑d, which the soul could not do alone.
Marei mekomos
- 1צרורה בצרור החיים את ה׳ · I Samuel 25:29
- 2כמ״ש בלק״א · פרק ה.
Not in the strength of the horse ¶14–17
Now, it is written, “Not in the strength of the horse does He desire, nor in the legs of a man does He take pleasure; G‑d takes pleasure in those who fear Him,” etc.
A new verse enters the discussion: G‑d does not desire the strength of the horse or the legs of a man, but takes pleasure in those who fear Him. The next paragraphs read it in light of the letters as “horses.”
כי בחי׳ אותיות שהם בחי׳ סוסים הם בחי׳ גבורות וכענין וגבורתך ידברו. וגבורותיך יגידו.3 להודיע לבני האדם גבורותיו.45
For the letters, which are the level of “horses,” are the level of gevuros (powers of might), as in “and they shall speak of Your might,” “and they shall declare Your mighty acts,” “to make known to the sons of man His mighty acts”:
The letters, the “horses,” are gevuros, powers of might and restraint. The verses of Psalm 145 join speech with G‑d’s mighty acts: “they shall speak of Your might.”
שהם בחי׳ צמצומים ומסכים הרבים מינים ממינים שונים כדי להתהוות עולמות עליונים ותחתונים שבאמת הן הם גבורותיו כו׳
they are the level of the many contractions (tzimtzumim) and screens, of kinds upon different kinds, so that higher and lower worlds may come into being; for in truth these are “His mighty acts,” etc.,
These gevuros are the many contractions and “screens,” of many kinds, that limit and filter G‑d’s light so that higher and lower worlds can come into being. In truth they are His “mighty acts.”
דכולא קמיה כלא חשיב והוא צופה ומביט עד סוף כל הדורות6 וקורא הדורות מראש7 ובמחשבה אחת ברא את העולם8 כו׳ כמ״ש במ״א:
for “all before Him is considered as nothing,” and He “sees and looks to the end of all generations,” and “calls the generations from the beginning,” and with one thought He created the world, etc., as is explained elsewhere.
They are mighty acts because before G‑d everything is as nothing: He sees all generations to their end, calls them from the beginning, and created the world with a single thought, so bringing out many separate worlds requires great contraction. The words “sees and looks to the end of all generations” come from the Zichronos blessing of the Rosh Hashanah prayers, as the Kehot note shows.
The letters of speech, the “horses” of the verse, are G‑d’s gevuros: the contractions and screens through which finite worlds come into being. They are called mighty acts because before G‑d, Who sees all at once and created with one thought, everything is as nothing.
The Zohar passage the Kehot note gives (2:20a) says that when it arose in G‑d’s thought to create His world, all the worlds arose in one thought, and with this thought, which is wisdom, all of them were created.
Marei mekomos
- 1לא בגבורת הסוס יחפץ · Psalms 147:10
- 2רוצה ה׳ את יראיו · Psalms 147:11
- 3וגבורותיך יגידו · Psalms 145:4
- 4וגבורתך ידברו. וגבורותיך יגידו. להודיע לבני האדם גבורותיו · Psalms 145:11
- 5להודיע לבני האדם גבורותיו · Psalms 145:12
- 6צופה ומביט עד סוף כל הדורות · נוסח ברכת זכרונות דר״ה.
- 7וקורא הדורות מראש · Isaiah 41:4
- 8ובמחשבה אחת ברא את העולם · Zohar II, 20a
15וזהו יש קונה עולמו בשעה אחת.1 פי׳ שכל בחי׳ תענוגי הנבראים מה שיכול להיות נמשך לנברא בעל גבול להיות מקבל תענוג מזה ואפילו תענוג רוחני וג״ע העליון נק׳ בחי׳ יש. וכמ״ש להנחיל אוהבי יש.2
And this is [the meaning of] “There is (yesh) one who acquires his world in a single hour.” That is: all the delights of created beings, whatever can be drawn down to a created being that has limits, so that it receives delight from it, even spiritual delight and the higher Gan Eden, are called the level of yesh (“something”). As it is written, “to bequeath yesh to those who love Me.”
The Gemara’s saying “There is one who acquires his world in a single hour” is read with yesh, “there is,” as a noun, “something.” Every delight a limited creature can receive, even spiritual delight and the pleasure of the higher Gan Eden, is called yesh, as in the verse “to bequeath yesh to those who love Me.”
All created delight, even the highest pleasure of Gan Eden, is “yesh,” something a limited being can receive. The next paragraph explains how this yesh “acquires its world in one hour.”
In the Gemara (Avodah Zarah 10b), Rebbi weeps and says this when a heavenly voice declares that Ketia bar Shalom is destined for the World to Come: “There is one who acquires his world in a single hour, and there is one who acquires his world in many years.”
Marei mekomos
- 1יש קונה עולמו בשעה אחת · Avodah Zarah 10b:15–16
- 2להנחיל אוהבי יש · Proverbs 8:21
16והנה בחי׳ יש זה קונה עולמו כשנכלל בבחי׳ שעה אחת שהוא בחי׳ מחשבה אחת שבה כו׳ ברא את העולם.
Now, this level of yesh “acquires its world” when it is included in the level of “one hour,” which is the level of the “one thought” with which, etc., He created the world.
This yesh, all created delight, “acquires its world” when it is included in “one hour,” which stands for the single thought with which G‑d created the world. In other words, the yesh, the “something” a created being receives, gains its world when it is absorbed into that one thought, its source, rather than standing apart as a thing of its own.
וזהו לא בגבורת הסוס יחפץ.1 פי׳ שאינו מאיר חפץ ה׳ בגבורות וצמצומים בחי׳ האותיות לבדם כי האומר אין לי אלא תורה2 כו׳.
And this is [the meaning of] “Not in the strength of the horse does He desire”: G‑d’s desire does not shine in the gevuros and contractions, the level of the letters, by themselves, for “one who says, ‘I have nothing but Torah,’” etc.
Now “He does not desire the strength of the horse” can be explained: G‑d’s desire does not shine in the letters and contractions by themselves. The Gemara’s teaching that one who says “I have nothing but Torah” does not even have Torah is cited to the same effect.
וכן לא בשוקי האיש המחזיקים בחי׳ הסוסים דהיינו הדעת והמחשבה הצריך לדבור ומעשה בלבד בזה אין חפץ ורצון ה׳ מאיר כ״כ.
Likewise, “nor in the legs of a man,” which grip the “horses”: that is, the knowledge (daas) and thought that are needed only for speech and action. In this, G‑d’s desire and will do not shine so much.
Nor does He take pleasure in “the legs of a man,” the legs that hold the horse: the knowledge and thought used only to produce speech and action. G‑d’s will does not shine much in them either.
אלא רוצה ה׳ שמאיר חפצו ורצונו בפנימיותו את יראיו דהיינו מי שהוא בבחי׳ בטול כמו שאמר משרע״ה ונחנו מה3 והוא מצד התפעלות הנפש מפני עצמותו ומהותו ית׳:
Rather, “G‑d takes pleasure,” His desire and will shining in their inner dimension (pnimiyus), “in those who fear Him”: that is, one who is in a state of self-nullification (bittul), as Moshe our teacher, peace be upon him, said, “And what are we?” And this comes from the soul’s being stirred before His very Essence and Being, may He be blessed.
Rather, G‑d’s desire shines in its innermost dimension in “those who fear Him,” those who are nullified before Him, like Moshe, who said “and what are we?” Their self-nullification comes from the soul’s being moved by G‑d’s very Essence.
G‑d’s desire does not rest on the letters and contractions alone, nor on thought that only serves speech and action. It shines most inwardly in those who fear Him, whose self-nullification comes from being moved by His very Essence.
Marei mekomos
- 1לא בגבורת הסוס יחפץ · Psalms 147:10
- 2האומר אין לי אלא תורה · Yevamot 109b:4–5
- 3ונחנו מה · Exodus 16:7
And this is [the meaning of] “those who hope for His kindness.” That is: they do not have love on their own account, such that their yearning to cleave to Him, may He be blessed, would be only to quench their thirst;
The verse continues: “those who hope for His kindness.” Their love is not for their own sake: they do not long to cleave to G‑d only to quench their own thirst for Him.
אלא להיות המשכת חסדו חסד עולם מעולם ועד עולם ומיחלים כאשר ירד ויומשך מלמעל׳ ולא שהדבר נוגע לעצמם.
rather, [they long] that His kindness be drawn down, an everlasting kindness, from world unto world, and they hope for it to descend and be drawn down from Above, and not because the matter concerns themselves.
Their wish is that His everlasting kindness be drawn down from world to world, and they hope for it to come down from Above. Their concern is not for themselves at all.
Those who fear Him are those whose love is selfless: they want G‑d’s kindness to flow into the worlds, not to satisfy their own spiritual thirst.
Marei mekomos
- 1המיחלים לחסדו · Psalms 147:11
Raised into the sea ¶18–19
18וזהו סוס ורוכבו רמה בים.1 פי׳ שבחי׳ האותיות דומ״ח מקור דעלמא דאתגליא שהן הן בחי׳ צמצומים וגבורותיו רמה והגביה2 עד בחי׳ ים הוא עלמא דאתכסייא
And this is [the meaning of] “the horse and its rider He cast (ramah) into the sea.” That is: the level of the letters of speech and thought, the source of the revealed world, which are none other than the level of the contractions and His gevuros, He raised high (ramah) and lifted up to the level of “sea,” which is the hidden world.
Now “the horse and its rider ramah into the sea” is explained. Ramah usually means “cast,” but it is read here as “raised high”: the letters of speech and thought, the source of the revealed world, which are themselves G‑d’s contractions and gevuros, were raised up to the level of “sea,” the hidden world.
והיינו מפני כי גאה גאה שאתה הוא3 ה׳ לבדך כולא קמיה כלא חשיב לפניו כחשיכה כאורה4 דעלמא דאתכסייא ועלמא דאתגלייא שוין.
This is because “He is exalted, exalted”: for “You are He, G‑d, alone”; “all before Him is considered as nothing”; before Him “darkness and light are alike,” for the hidden world and the revealed world are equal.
This is possible because G‑d is “exalted, exalted”: before His Essence, everything is as nothing. For Him darkness and light are alike, and so the hidden world and the revealed world are equal.
At the sea, even the letters, the source of the revealed world, were raised into the hidden world. This could happen because before G‑d’s Essence, “exalted over exalted,” hidden and revealed are equal.
The next maamar in Torah Ohr says explicitly that ramah has two meanings: being raised up and being cast down.
Marei mekomos
- 1סוס ורוכבו רמה בים · Exodus 15:1
- 2שבחי׳ האותיות . . רמה והגבי׳ · ראה לקמן סה, ב. ובאוה״ת פ׳ זו בהגהות על ד״ה אשירה לה׳ בסופו.
- 3אתה הוא ה׳ לבדך · Nehemiah 9:6
- 4כחשיכה כאורה · Psalms 139:12
19ולכן הפך ים ליבשה וזהו בנהר יעברו ברגל שם נשמחה בו. פי׳ בעצמותו ומהותו כביכול אך מפני כי בבחי׳ זו גם האויב אמר ארדוף1 כו׳.
Therefore “He turned the sea into dry land,” and this is [the meaning of] “they passed through the river on foot; there we rejoiced in Him”: that is, in His very Essence and Being, as it were. But because at this level even “the enemy said, ‘I will pursue,’” etc.:
Because hidden and revealed are alike before G‑d, the sea, the hidden world, could be turned into dry land, the revealed world. “There we rejoiced in Him” means rejoicing in G‑d’s very Essence, as it were. But at this level the enemy too said, “I will pursue,” as the next part explains.
פי׳ שגם עכו״ם רוצים להיות יניקתם ואחיזתם משם מאחר שלפניו ית׳ כחשיכה כאורה2 וסוס ורוכבו רמה בים3 ולזה אמר עיניו בגוים תצפינה והסוררים אל ירומו למו סלה45 שאין לעכו״ם התרוממות זו
that is, the idolaters too want to draw their nourishment and their hold from there, since before Him, may He be blessed, “darkness and light are alike,” and “the horse and its rider He raised high (ramah) into the sea.” For this reason it says, “His eyes keep watch on the nations; the rebellious shall not be raised up, Selah”: for the idolaters do not have this elevation;
The idolaters, too, wanted to draw their life and their hold from this level, where darkness and light are alike and even “the horse and its rider” are raised. To this the psalm answers, “the rebellious shall not be raised up”: the idolaters have no share in this elevation.
rather, “the waters covered their foes,” and from this very level they have nothing but descent, for “G‑d is high above all nations,” and this is the cause of their downfall.
Instead, “the waters covered their foes”: from this very level they have only descent, because G‑d is “high above all nations.” This was the cause of their fall.
אבל ובני ישראל הלכו ביבשה בתוך הים כי המים להם חומה מימינם ומשמאלם8 פי׳ כי הנה ארז״ל על ג׳ דברים העולם עומד9 על התורה ועל העבודה ועל גמ״ח.10
But “the Children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, for the waters were a wall for them on their right and on their left.” That is: our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “The world stands on three things: on the Torah, on the service (avodah), and on acts of kindness (gemilus chasadim).”
The Jewish people, by contrast, walked on dry land inside the sea, with walls of water on their right and left. The Alter Rebbe connects these walls with the three things on which, as the Sages say, the world stands: Torah, avodah and acts of kindness.
This is the level of right and left. And “Israel arose in [G‑d’s] thought”; therefore we say, “Who has sanctified us with His commandments,” for through the mitzvos they are elevated
Torah, service and kindness are the “right and left” that guarded the Jewish people in the sea. Israel “arose in G‑d’s thought” before creation, and so in each blessing over a mitzvah we say “Who has sanctified us with His commandments,” for through the mitzvos they are raised.
בקודש העליון שמשם שרש נשמתם ורוח אייתי רוח13 ואמשיך רוח ולכך אצלם סוס ורוכבו רמה בים והלכו ביבשה משא״כ הסוררים אל ירומו כו׳ כנ״ל:
into the supernal holiness, from which is the root of their souls; and “spirit brings spirit and draws down spirit.” Therefore, for them, “the horse and its rider He raised high (ramah) into the sea,” and they “walked on dry land,” which is not so with “the rebellious,” who “shall not be raised up,” etc., as said above.
Through the mitzvos they rise into the supernal holiness in which their souls are rooted, for “spirit brings spirit and draws down spirit.” That is why for them “the horse and its rider” are raised into the sea and they walk on dry land, while “the rebellious” are not raised.
At the sea, hidden and revealed became one, and the sea turned into dry land. The Egyptians sought to draw from that level and fell, while the Jewish people, rooted in G‑d’s thought and raised through Torah and mitzvos, walked through it on dry land.
In the Zohar passage the Kehot note gives (2:162b), all the matters of the world depend on desire: “spirit draws spirit and brings spirit.” In Bereshit Rabbah, Israel is among the things that “arose in thought” to be created before the world was made.
Marei mekomos
- 1האויב אמר ארדוף · Exodus 15:9
- 2כחשיכה כאורה · Psalms 139:12
- 3סוס ורוכבו רמה בים · Exodus 15:1
- 4בנהר יעברו ברגל . . עיניו בגוים תצפינה והסוררים אל ירומו למו סלה · Psalms 66:6
- 5עיניו בגוים תצפינה והסוררים אל ירומו למו סלה · Psalms 66:7
- 6ויכסו מים צריהם · Psalms 106:11
- 7רם על כל גוים ה׳ · Psalms 113:4
- 8ובני ישראל הלכו ביבשה בתוך הים כי המים להם חומה מימינם ומשמאלם · Exodus 14:29
- 9על ג׳ דברים העולם עומד · אבות א, ב.
- 10על ג׳ דברים העולם עומד על התורה ועל העבודה ועל גמ״ח · Pirkei Avot 1:2
- 11וישראל עלו במחשבה · ב״ר בתחלתו.
- 12וישראל עלו במחשבה · Bereshit Rabbah 1:4
- 13ורוח אייתי רוח · Zohar II, 162b
Finished the maamar?
Mark it as learned; it counts toward the week and the year’s siyum.
In one’s avodah
Prayer is today’s offering: one gives over the animal soul so that a love from Above can rest in it, and the words of prayer surround the soul with a light it could not reach on its own. Pesukei deZimra should be said like a melody, dwelling on the words until they set the heart aflame; said without touching the heart, they are not complete service. And one’s love for G‑d should seek His kindness for the worlds, not only the quenching of one’s own thirst.
Questions for discussion
- Why does the Alter Rebbe answer “who was left to know?” by saying there is an “Egypt” in every person and at every time?
- How does the Kohen’s blessing, which draws down from above, differ from the Levite’s song, which rises from below? Which parts of our prayer are like each?
- Why can an old melody still stir us, and what does that teach about serving G‑d beyond understanding?
- In what sense is speech both a “horse” that submits to the intellect and a way of carrying it higher than it could go alone?
- Why could the Egyptians not share in the elevation at the sea, while the Jewish people walked through it on dry land?
Key terms in this maamar
- The animal soulנפש הבהמית
- The soul that animates the body and its drives.
- An arousal from aboveאתערותא דלעילא
- Divine initiative, unprompted by us. ×1
- The light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin)סובב כל עלמין
- Divine light too great to enter the worlds; it 'surrounds' them and affects them from beyond. ×1
- The light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin)ממלא כל עלמין
- Divine light that enters each world and gives it life according to its measure.
- The Name Havayahהוי׳
- The Tetragrammaton: G‑d as transcending time and bringing all into being. ×1
- The Name Elokimאלקים
- G‑d as concealed within nature, measuring and limiting.
- Life-forceחיות
- The divine vitality that sustains every creation. ×1
- The emotive attributes (middos)מדות
- Love, awe, compassion and the rest. ×4
- Self-nullification (bittul)ביטול
- Setting aside one's own sense of self before G‑d.
- The Infinite One (Ein Sof)אין סוף
- G‑d's own boundless essence. ×1
- Tzimtzum (contraction)צמצום
- The self-concealment of the Infinite Light that makes room for finite worlds.
- Delightתענוג
- Pleasure; the inner root of will. ×2
- Daas (knowledge)דעת
- Deep connection to an idea, bridging intellect and emotion. ×1
- The inner dimension (pnimiyus)פנימיות
- The innermost core of a level.
- Chesed (kindness)חסד
- Expansive giving. ×1
- Willרצון
- Desire; in G‑d, the level above intellect. ×1