Torah Ohr · Parshas Megillas Esther · Maamar 8
חייב אינש לבסומי בפוריא עד דלא ידע בין…
A person is obligated to become intoxicated on Purim
Kept on this device only. Sign in to save it on every device
The big idea
Amalek, and Haman after him, is the yesh, the sense of self, that hides the self-nullification of the Name’s yud-hei and cuts it off from the emotions and deeds of its vav-hei, leaving G‑d’s Name and throne incomplete. Only the “high hand,” the higher teshuvah of self-sacrifice that reaches above Name and throne alike, overcomes him; Purim reveals it, and the wine “until he does not know” gives it expression.
The maamar in brief
The Talmud obliges a person to drink on Purim “until he does not know between ‘cursed is Haman’ and ‘blessed is Mordechai,’” and the Sages say that while Amalek exists G‑d’s Name and throne are not whole. The maamar explains both. Amalek has a ‘first,’ the hidden root of the evil traits, and an ‘end,’ evil at its most open. In every Jewish soul is the Name Havayah: its vav is the emotive attributes, Avraham’s love, Yitzchak’s awe and Yaakov’s compassion, which in action become kindness, prayer and Torah. They must flow from the self-nullification of the Name’s yud-hei; emotion felt as one’s own is yesh, and that yesh is Amalek, which splits the Name and separates the alef from the Torah’s physical “throne.” The remedy is the “hand” above throne and Name: not the known hands of love and awe but the “high hand,” the higher teshuvah of self-sacrifice that reaches the soul’s source, which preceded creation. Haman hides the source of the negative commandments, yet once subdued becomes Mordechai’s garment. Israel’s self-sacrifice in Haman’s days reached this level, so Purim, like Yom Kippur, reveals it, through wine that rises above all distinctions.
Outline
- Amalek’s ‘first’ and ‘end’Purim’s drinking and the incomplete Name and throne; Amalek’s ‘first’ is amal, the hidden root of the evil traits, and its ‘end’ is evil at its most intense.¶1–3
- Love, awe and compassionHavayah in the soul: Avraham’s love (Chesed), Yitzchak’s awe (Gevurah), and Yaakov’s compassion, which lifts a person from the descent of awe.¶4–7
- The three lines in actionThe three attributes become kindness, prayer and Torah, all done with joy; awe comes from accepting G‑d’s kingship and is born of love; the Torah of truth is the middle line that returns everything “to Him.”¶8–14
- The letters of the NameThe vav (emotion) must be drawn into the hei (thought, speech and action), and both must come from the yud-hei, self-nullification; emotion that is yesh separates the Name, and that is Amalek.¶15–18
- The throne and its alefKisei is kes plus alef: the Torah’s physical covering and its inner wisdom; Torah learned lishmah draws in the alef, while learning that separates it is Amalek.¶19–20
- The three handsThe great and strong hands, love and awe, are known and felt (hence “pardon us, our King, for we have transgressed”); the high hand is the higher teshuvah of self-sacrifice, above Name and throne, from which G‑d’s war with Amalek is waged.¶21–27
- Haman, the garment and the horseHaman conceals the Name Yah, the source of the negative commandments; subdued through teshuvah in exile, he becomes garment and horse for Mordechai, the way of “I will hasten it.”¶28–30
- Purim, Yom Kippur and the winePurim, like Yom Kippur, is the higher teshuvah, reached through self-sacrifice; drinking “until he does not know” rises above both kinds of commandments, and the Shema gives a daily glimmer of it.¶31–33
Key concepts
- Amalekעמלק
- The force of yesh that hides the self-nullification of the Name Yah and separates it from the vav-hei; its ‘first’ is the root of the evil traits, its ‘end’ evil at its most intense.
- Yesh (‘something’)יש
- A sense of independent self. Emotion felt as one’s own, apart from self-nullification, is yesh, and gives the kelipos a hold.
- Self-nullification (bittul)ביטול
- Setting aside the self before G‑d: the yud of the Name, “a point in the palace.” Holy emotions and deeds must flow from it.
- Kes and kisei (throne)כס / כסא
- The throne is kes plus alef: the Torah clothed in physical matters, made whole when its inner wisdom, the alef, is drawn into it.
- The high hand (yad ramah)יד רמה
- The third “hand,” beyond what is known or felt: the soul lifted up to its source, above the Name Yah and the throne.
- The higher teshuvah (teshuvah ila’ah)תשובה עלאה
- Return to G‑d with self-sacrifice, reaching the soul’s source, which preceded the world; revealed on Yom Kippur and on Purim.
- “Running through from end to end”מבריח מן הקצה אל הקצה
- Yaakov’s attribute of compassion, and the middle line of truth, which joins the lowest end to the highest.
- Intoxicating wineיין המשכר
- Wine that sets aside knowledge and comprehension; on Purim it expresses the level above all distinctions, even between “cursed is Haman” and “blessed is Mordechai.”
Amalek’s ‘first’ and ‘end’ ¶1–3
1חייב אינש1 לבסומי בפוריא2 עד דלא ידע בין ארור המן לברוך מרדכי.3 כתיב כי יד על כס4 יה וגו׳. ואמרו רז״ל שאין השם שלם5 ואין הכסא שלם67 וכו׳.
“A person is obligated to become intoxicated on Purim until he does not know [the difference] between ‘cursed is Haman’ and ‘blessed is Mordechai.’” It is written, “For a hand is upon the throne (kes) of Yah,” etc. And our Sages, of blessed memory, said that the Name is not whole and the throne is not whole, etc.
The maamar opens with the Talmud’s ruling that on Purim a person must drink until he cannot tell “cursed is Haman” from “blessed is Mordechai,” and sets beside it the verse said after the war with Amalek. The Midrash teaches, and Rashi explains it from the verse’s shortened words (kes for kisei, throne, and Yah for the full Name), that while Amalek exists, G‑d’s Name and throne are incomplete; the maamar will show how these ideas belong together.
To understand this: it is written, “Amalek is the first of the nations, and his end shall be unto destruction,” [meaning] that within the level of Amalek there is a level of ‘first’ (reishis) and a level of ‘end’ (acharis).
To begin, the Alter Rebbe brings Bilaam’s words about Amalek, “the first of the nations” whose “end” is destruction. He reads them as two distinct levels within Amalek: a ‘first,’ its root, and an ‘end,’ its final outcome.
For “G‑d has made one opposite the other”: just as in holiness there is a level of ‘first’ and ‘end,’ as it is written, “I am first and I am last.”
The principle is that G‑d made the realm of evil as a counterpart of holiness, “one opposite the other.” So just as holiness has a ‘first’ and a ‘last,’ as in the verse “I am first and I am last,” so does its opposite.
פי׳ ראשון שהוא סוכ״ע ומקורא דכולא כו׳ ואני אחרון בחי׳ ממלא כל עלמין בשמים ממעל ועל הארץ מתחת ומתחת זרועות עולם.13
That is, “first” is the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin) and the source of all, etc.; and “I am last” is the level of the light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin), “in the heavens above and on the earth below,” and “beneath are the arms of the world.”
In holiness, “first” is the light that encompasses all worlds, too great to enter them, and the source of everything. “Last” is the light that fills all worlds, giving each its life from within, in heaven, on earth and even “beneath,” at the very lowest levels.
כך יש בקליפה וסטרא אחרא בחי׳ עמלק בחי׳ ראשית גוים הן שבע עממין הכנעני והחתי וגו׳ שהם ז׳ מדות רעות כו׳
So too in kelipah (the husk) and the sitra achra (the other side) there is the level of Amalek, the level of “the first of the nations.” [The nations] are the seven nations, “the Canaanite and the Hittite,” etc., which are seven evil traits (middos), etc.;
Within kelipah, the realm that conceals G‑dliness, Amalek is “the first of the nations.” The Alter Rebbe reads the seven Canaanite nations as the seven evil traits, the counterparts of the seven emotive attributes of holiness, and Amalek as the one that heads them.
וראשיתם הוא בחי׳ עמלק ובחי׳ אחרית עמלק עדי אובד הוא סוף מדרגות הקליפות ותמציתן שהוא ענין התגברות כח הרע שבכל מדה וגלויה ותוקפה.14
and their ‘first’ is the level of Amalek. And the level of Amalek’s ‘end,’ “unto destruction,” is the end of the levels of the kelipos and their concentrated essence, which is the intensifying of the force of evil within each trait, its revelation and its strength.
Amalek is the ‘first’ of these traits, their root. Amalek’s ‘end,’ “unto destruction,” is the lowest rung of the kelipos and their concentrated essence: evil at its most intense and most open, within every trait.
The maamar sets out its questions, Purim’s drinking and the incomplete Name and throne, and begins its answer with two levels in Amalek: a ‘first,’ the root of the evil traits, and an ‘end,’ evil at its most intense, mirroring ‘first’ and ‘last’ in holiness.
Kehot dates this maamar to 5564 (1804) and notes that the Mitteler Rebbe’s transcript of it is printed in the Siddur; Or HaTorah and the Rebbe Maharash’s Sefer HaMaamarim 5634 refer to it as “edited by our master.” A note of the Rebbe, quoted by Kehot, observes that our printed Talmud reads michayav, while the Shulchan Aruch, the Ma’or HaKatan on the Rif, Sha’ar HaKavanos, the Shelah and every Chassidic discourse the Rebbe had seen read chayav inish, as here.
Marei mekomos
- 1חייב אינש · משנת תקס״ד. הנחת כ״ק אדמו״ר האמצעי בסידור רפא, א. באוה״ת שה״ש כרך ב ע׳ תסג ובסה״מ תרל״ד ע׳ פא מציין למאמר זה: ”מוגה מרבינו הג׳ נ״ע זי״ע”. ראה לעיל בציונים לכ״ק אדמו״ר זי״ע. באוה״ת מג״א (הוצאת תש״נ) ע׳ חצר מצויין ”לתו״א ד״ה לבסומי בפוריא דרוש הראשון”. לד״ה זה ראה בסה״מ תרל״ג ח״א ע׳ קסח וראה גם סה״מ תרנ״ו ע׳ תלח וע׳ תרלג.
- 2חייב אינש לבסומי בפוריא · Megillah 7b:7–8
- 3חייב אינש לבסומי בפוריא עד דלא ידע בין ארור המן לברוך מרדכי · Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim 695:2
- 4כי יד על כס י״ה · Exodus 17:16
- 5שאין השם שלם · תנחומא ס״פ תצא. רש״י שמות יז, טז.
- 6שאין השם שלם ואין הכסא שלם · Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Teitzei 11:1
- 7שאין השם שלם ואין הכסא שלם · Rashi on Exodus 17:16
- 8ראשית גוים עמלק · Numbers 24:20
- 9שיש בבחי׳ עמלק בחי׳ ראשית ובחינת אחרית · ראה ד״ה זכור את אשר עשה לך עמלק תר״פ ע׳ רעח וע׳ רפז. ד״ה והיה כאשר ירים משה תש״ל.
- 10זלעו״ז עשה האלקים · Ecclesiastes 7:14
- 11אני ראשון ואני אחרון · Isaiah 45:6
- 12אני ראשון ואני אחרון · Isaiah 44:6
- 13ומתחת זרועות עולם · Deuteronomy 33:27
- 14לפני המאמר כתוב על גיליון ת״א מחסיד · מה שיש להבין בענינים הנזכרים בזה התורה ובפרט הפ׳ כי חלק ה׳ עמו.
This is the meaning of “a wicked man who has evil” (rasha vera lo). That is, “evil” in the sense of “evil toward Heaven and evil toward people,” which is wrath, anger and a cruel heart
In the Talmud, “a wicked man who has evil” is a wicked man who suffers. The Alter Rebbe reads this “evil” instead as the Talmud elsewhere describes the thoroughly wicked, “evil toward Heaven and evil toward people,” an evil that shows itself as wrath, anger and cruelty.
שבא מתוקף תגבורת הרע שיש לו ארס כנחש והוא בחי׳ עמלק ג״כ שהוא נחש הקדמוני ונק׳ אחריתו של עמלק.
that comes from the intensity of the evil’s dominance, which has venom like a snake. This too is the level of Amalek, who is the primordial serpent, and it is called the ‘end’ of Amalek.
This cruelty comes from evil at full strength, poisonous like a snake’s venom. That too is Amalek, who is the primordial serpent, and it is Amalek’s ‘end’: the most intense extreme of evil described in [1.6].
Amalek’s ‘end’ is identified as open, venomous evil, the wrath and cruelty of “a wicked man who has evil,” evil toward Heaven and toward people.
The “primordial serpent” is the serpent of the Garden of Eden, the first source of evil’s venom. The maamar returns to it in [28], where Haman is the viper that comes “from the root of the snake.”
Marei mekomos
- 1רשע ורע לו · Berakhot 7a:25–26
- 2מלשון רע לשמים ורע לבריות · Kiddushin 40a:9
3ובחי׳ ראשיתו הוא ראשית גוים הנ״ל מקור התהוות המדות הרעות וסבוב תולדתם ונק׳ בחי׳ עמל וע״ז נאמר1 ולא ראה עמל בישראל2 שעמל הוא בחי׳ עמלק
And the level of its ‘first’ is “the first of the nations” mentioned above: the source from which the evil traits come into being, and the cause of their birth. It is called the level of amal (travail), and of this it is said, “Nor has He seen travail (amal) in Israel,” for amal is the level of Amalek,
Amalek’s ‘first’ is the root from which all the evil traits come into being, before they show themselves. The text calls this root amal and applies to it Bilaam’s words, “Nor has He seen amal in Israel.”
כי עמלק אותיות עמ״ל לק״ה כו׳ ובחי׳ עמל הוא המסתיר אלהותו ית׳ ומפריד שאין השם שלם כו׳.
for עמלק (Amalek) is [made of] the letters עמ״ל (amal) [and] לק״ה, etc. And the level of amal is what conceals His G‑dliness, may He be blessed, and separates, so that the Name is not whole, etc.
The name Amalek (עמלק) contains the word amal; the text also lists the letters לקה and breaks off with “etc.” Amal is the force that hides G‑dliness and separates, so that, in the Midrash’s words, the Name is not whole; the coming paragraphs explain this separation.
Amalek’s ‘first’ is the hidden root of the evil traits, called amal: the force that conceals G‑dliness and divides the Name.
Marei mekomos
- 1שו״ה וסבוב — נאמר · בבוך 1824 נוסף: לא הביט ביעקב: ולא.
- 2ולא ראה עמל בישראל · Numbers 23:21
Love, awe and compassion ¶4–7
4וביאור הדבר הנה כתיב כי חלק1 ה׳ עמו שבכל נפש מישראל יש בחי׳ הוי״ה כי הוא״ו שבשם הוא בחי׳ ו׳ קצוות לך ה׳ הגדולה וגו׳.
The explanation of the matter: it is written, “For G‑d’s portion is His people,” [meaning] that in every Jewish soul there is the level of Havayah. For the vav of the Name is the level of the six extremities: “Yours, G‑d, is the greatness,” etc.
To explain how the Name can be “not whole,” the Alter Rebbe first shows the Name Havayah within every Jewish soul, since “G‑d’s portion is His people.” The vav of the Name, whose numerical value is six, stands for the six emotive attributes, which the verse goes on to list, beginning with “the greatness” and “the might.”
וכך בנפש האדם גדולה הוא בחי׳ חסד דרועא ימינא היא בחינת אברהם אוהבי2 שאהבתו ירושה לזרעו אחריו שיהא כל אדם יכול לעורר את האהבה אליו ית׳ למשוך אחריו ולדבקה בו והיא אהבה הטבעית וכו׳.3
So too in a person’s soul, “greatness” is the level of Chesed (kindness), “the right arm,” the level of “Avraham, who loved Me,” whose love is an inheritance to his descendants after him, so that every person can arouse love for Him, may He be blessed, to be drawn after Him and to cleave to Him; and this is the natural love, etc.
In the soul, “greatness” is Chesed, the right arm in the image of the Sefiros as a body, and it is Avraham’s attribute of love. Avraham bequeathed it to his descendants, so every Jew has a natural love of G‑d that can be aroused: a desire to be drawn after Him and to cleave to Him.
The Name Havayah is present in every Jewish soul: its vav is the six emotive attributes, beginning with Chesed, the love inherited from Avraham.
A chassid’s marginal note at the head of this maamar, in a copy of Torah Ohr, singles out this passage, “For G‑d’s portion is His people,” as one that especially needs to be understood.
Marei mekomos
- 1כי חלק ה׳ עמו · Deuteronomy 32:9
- 2אברהם אוהבי · Isaiah 41:8
- 3לך ה׳ הגדולה · I Chronicles 29:11
And Gevurah (restraint), “the left arm,” is the level of “the Fear of Yitzchak”: when one wishes to cleave to Him, may He be blessed, and sets his heart upon Him to contemplate His greatness, may He be blessed,
Gevurah, the left arm, is Yitzchak’s attribute of awe, which the verse calls “the Fear of Yitzchak.” It comes when a person who wants to cleave to G‑d sets his heart to reflect on G‑d’s greatness.
“terror and dread will fall upon him” as his heart understands that “His Name alone is exalted,” and only “His splendor is upon the earth and the heavens,” etc., as is explained elsewhere.
Then dread falls upon him, for he understands that G‑d Himself is exalted beyond everything, “His Name alone,” and that only His radiance, “His splendor,” reaches heaven and earth. Seeing how far above all creation He is, he draws back in awe.
The second attribute, Gevurah, is awe: the dread that comes from contemplating G‑d’s greatness, beyond anything the worlds can hold.
Marei mekomos
- 1פחד יצחק · Genesis 31:42
- 2
- 3כי נשגב שמו לבדו ורק הודו על ארץ ושמים · Psalms 148:13
6וכמו המלאכים שעונים באימה ואומרים ביראה קדוש שאימתם ויראתם הוא מחמת השגתם קדושתו יתברך שהוא קדוש ומובדל ולית מחשבה תפיסא ביה כלל.
It is like the angels, who “respond with dread and say with awe, ‘Holy’”: their dread and awe come from their grasp of His holiness, may He be blessed, that He is holy and set apart, and “no thought can grasp Him” at all.
The angels, who answer “with dread” and say “Holy” “with awe,” stand in awe because they grasp G‑d’s holiness: that He is utterly apart, beyond the reach of any thought.
וכן במ״ת דכתיב וכל העם רואים את הקולות ואת הלפידים וגו׳. מה כתיב בתריה וירא העם וינעו1 ויעמדו מרחק2 מחמת היראה והוא בחי׳ שמאל דוחה
So too at the Giving of the Torah, as it is written, “And all the people saw the sounds and the flames,” etc. What is written after it? “And the people saw, and they trembled and stood at a distance,” because of the awe. This is the level of “the left pushes away,”
At Sinai too, when the people saw the sounds and the flames, they trembled and stood far back. This is awe as “the left pushes away”: it makes a person withdraw.
כי מחמת התבוננותו בגדולת א״ס ב״ה וקדושתו ית׳ שהוא רם ונשא עד אין קץ דוחה ומשפיל א״ע לאמר מי הוא אשר ערב לבו לגשת3 כו׳ אך אין השמאל דוחה לגמרי ח״ו וכדכתיב ואימתך לא תבעתני.4
for, because he contemplates the greatness of the Infinite One (Ein Sof), blessed be He, and His holiness, may He be blessed, that He is high and exalted without end, he pushes himself away and makes himself low, saying, “Who is he whose heart would dare to approach?” etc. But the left does not push away entirely, G‑d forbid, as it is written, “And Your dread will not terrify me.”
Contemplating the endless greatness and holiness of the Infinite One, a person feels unworthy to come near and lowers himself, in the words of the verse, “Who would dare to approach?” Yet awe is not meant to drive him away completely, as the verse is quoted here: “And Your dread will not terrify me.”
פי׳ שהאימה לא תגרום להיות נבעת ונופל לגמרי ח״ו אלא ירידה זו צורך עלייה היא ע״י מדתו של יעקב שהיא הרחמנות על הריחוק וירידה הגדולה.
That is, the dread will not cause [him] to be terrified and to fall entirely, G‑d forbid; rather, this descent is for the sake of an ascent, through the attribute of Yaakov, which is compassion over the distance and the great descent.
Awe must not leave a person crushed and fallen. Its descent is meant to lead to an ascent, through Yaakov’s attribute of compassion: compassion over how far the soul is from G‑d and how low it has fallen.
Awe, like that of the angels and of Israel at Sinai, pushes a person back; but it is not meant to push him away entirely, for Yaakov’s compassion turns this descent into an ascent.
Kehot notes that the verse itself reads ve’eimascha al tiva’aseni, with al, while the maamar (and Likkutei Torah on Korach) quotes it with lo, which allows the reading here: the dread will not overwhelm. Likkutei Torah on Korach likewise explains that the left’s “pushing away” is not a true rejection, though it does truly push away the sitra achra.
Marei mekomos
- 1וכל העם רואים את הקולות . . וירא העם וינעו · Exodus 20:18
- 2
- 3מי הוא אשר ערב לבו לגשת · Jeremiah 30:21
- 4ואימתך לא תבעתני · Job 13:21
7ולכן נק׳ מדתו של יעקב מבריח מן הקצה אל הקצה. פי׳ שמעלה ומקשר מקצה התחתון אל הקצה העליון.
That is why the attribute of Yaakov is called “running through from end to end”: that is, it raises and connects from the lower end to the upper end.
The middle bar of the Tabernacle ran through all its boards “from end to end.” Yaakov’s attribute is called by this name because it joins the extremes: it lifts a person from the lowest point, the descent of awe, and connects him to the highest.
וכדכתיב ליעקב אשר פדה את אברהם1 וגו׳ שע״י מדת יעקב חוזר ומעורר את האהבה וכדכתיב מרחוק ה׳ נראה לי2 דהיינו מחמת הרחמנות על הריחוק כו׳:3
As it is written, “To Yaakov, who redeemed Avraham,” etc.: through the attribute of Yaakov one arouses the love again. And as it is written, “From afar G‑d appeared to me,” that is, because of the compassion over the distance, etc.
So the verse speaks of Yaakov “who redeemed Avraham”: Yaakov’s compassion revives the love of Avraham that awe had pushed away. And “From afar G‑d appeared to me”: the very feeling of distance, through compassion, brings G‑d near again.
Yaakov’s attribute, compassion, is the bar that runs from end to end: it raises a person from the descent of awe and restores Avraham’s love.
Kehot notes that the verse reads “to the house of Yaakov, who redeemed Avraham,” and that Tanya (chapter 32) quotes it in the same short form as here; there it shows that compassion cancels hatred and awakens love.
Marei mekomos
- 1ליעקב אשר פדה את אברהם · Isaiah 29:22
- 2מרחוק ה׳ נראה לי · Jeremiah 31:3
- 3
The three lines in action ¶8–14
Now, these three attributes are the six attributes corresponding to the vav of the Name. For in the chain of descent (hishtalshelus) of the attributes, down to the final deed, there are also three
These three, love, awe and compassion, contain all six emotive attributes of the vav. And as the attributes descend all the way into action, the same three appear again.
בחי׳ אלו והם בחי׳ תורה ועבודה וגמילות חסדים דהיינו הכנת הלב והערת המדות להיות תכלית שלימות המעשה שצריך להיות בשמחה ובטוב לבב.
of these levels. They are the levels of Torah, service (avodah) and acts of kindness: that is, preparing the heart and arousing the emotive attributes (middos), so that the deed may attain its ultimate perfection, for it must be “with joy and with gladness of heart.”
In action they are Torah, service (prayer) and acts of kindness. Their task is to prepare the heart and stir the emotions so that the deed is done perfectly, which means done with joy and a glad heart.
גמילות חסדים זו צדקה שנא׳ ולא ירע לבבך2 וגו׳. עבודה כתיב תחת אשר לא עבדת בשמחה3 וגו׳. תורה כמארז״ל וכן לדבר הלכה.4
Acts of kindness: this is charity, as it is said, “And your heart shall not be grieved,” etc. Service: it is written, “Because you did not serve with joy,” etc. Torah: as our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “And so too for a matter of halachah.”
Each of the three needs joy. Charity, the chief act of kindness, must be given without a grudging heart; service is faulted when it lacks joy; and the Sages teach that the Shechinah rests only amid the joy of a mitzvah, “and so too for a matter of halachah,” that is, Torah.
The three attributes reappear in action as Torah, prayer and acts of kindness, and each of them must be done with joy.
Torah, service and acts of kindness are the classic three pillars of Jewish life; the next paragraph shows them to be the three lines, right, left and middle.
Marei mekomos
- 1והנה ג׳ מדות · קטע מכאן ביהל אור ע׳ תקפג.
- 2ולא ירע לבבך · Deuteronomy 15:10
- 3תחת אשר לא עבדת בשמחה · Deuteronomy 28:47
- 4כמארז״ל וכן לדבר הלכה · Shabbat 30b:5
9והם ג׳ קוין ימין ושמאל ואמצע כמ״ש מימינו אש דת למו.1 מימינו הוא ג״ח וצדקה חסד דרועא ימינא אש היא בחי׳ גבורה דרועא שמאלא
They are three lines, right, left and middle, as it is written, “From His right hand, a fire of law (eish das) for them (lamo).” “From His right hand” is acts of kindness and charity, Chesed (kindness), “the right arm”; “fire” is the level of Gevurah (restraint), “the left arm,”
The three are the three “lines” of the Sefiros, right, left and middle, and the verse about the Giving of the Torah hints at all of them. “From His right hand” is Chesed, expressed in acts of kindness and charity; “fire” is Gevurah, the left arm.
והוא כנגד עבודה שהיא עבודת התפלה שעיקרה קבלת עול מלכות שמים היא היראה מפני מלכותו ית׳ כמלך שעומד עליו כו׳.
and it corresponds to service, which is the service of prayer, whose essence is accepting the yoke (kabbalas ol) of the Kingdom of Heaven: that is, awe before His sovereignty, may He be blessed, as before a king who stands over him, etc.
Gevurah corresponds to service, that is, prayer, whose heart is accepting the yoke of Heaven. That acceptance is awe before G‑d’s sovereignty, like the awe one feels before a king who stands over him.
Kindness, prayer and Torah are the right, left and middle lines, hinted at in “From His right hand, a fire of law”; prayer, on the left, is awe that comes from accepting G‑d’s kingship.
The middle line, “law,” and the word lamo are explained in [14].
Marei mekomos
- 1מימינו אש דת למו · Deuteronomy 33:2
As it is written, “You shall surely set a king over you”: that is, he should set [it] in his heart as though [the King] were standing before his eyes, and through this awe will fall upon him.
Accepting G‑d’s kingship means fulfilling “You shall surely set a king over you” inwardly: picturing the King as standing before one’s eyes. That sense of His presence produces awe.
כי ענין היראה הוא מחמת קרבת הדבר הנורא וכך כשישים אל לבו גדולת א״ס ב״ה
For awe comes from being near the awesome thing. So too, when he sets his heart upon the greatness of the Infinite One (Ein Sof), blessed be He,
Awe comes from being near something awesome. So a person contemplates the greatness of the Infinite One, blessed be He, as something close at hand.
שהוא עד אין קץ ותכלית ואעפ״כ מלא כל הארץ הלזו הגשמית הוא כבודו2 ואזי תקבע היראה בלבו ופחד אלהים לנגד עיניו.3
that He is without end or limit, and nevertheless the fullness of all this physical earth is His glory, then awe will be fixed in his heart, and “the fear of G‑d before his eyes.”
G‑d is without end, and yet His glory fills this very physical world. When a person takes in both, the infinite greatness and the nearness, awe is fixed in his heart and “the fear of G‑d” stands before his eyes.
Awe comes from sensing the infinite King as present right here, filling the physical world; this is what accepting His kingship achieves.
Marei mekomos
- 1שום תשים עליך מלך · Deuteronomy 17:15
- 2מלא כל הארץ הלזו הגשמית הוא כבודו · Isaiah 6:3
- 3ופחד אלהים לנגד עיניו · Psalms 36:2
11והנה ענין קבלת עול מלכות שמים דהיינו המשכת מלכותו ית׳ למטה בתחתונים הגם שאחר קבלת מלכות שמים בק״ש נאמר ואהבת.1
Now, as for accepting the yoke (kabbalas ol) of the Kingdom of Heaven, which is drawing His sovereignty, may He be blessed, down below into the lower realms: although after accepting the Kingdom of Heaven in the Shema it is said, “And you shall love,”
Accepting the yoke of Heaven draws G‑d’s kingship down into the lower world. In the Shema, the acceptance of His kingship is followed by “And you shall love,” the command to love.
מ״מ הרי לאחר מכאן נאמר פרשה שניה והיה אם שמע2 וגו׳ השמרו לכם3 וגו׳. רק שבתחלה נמשך מזה האהבה שירצה לדבקה בו.
nevertheless, after this the second paragraph is said, “And it shall be, if you will hearken,” etc., “Take heed for yourselves,” etc. It is only that at first love is drawn from it, so that he wishes to cleave to Him.
Yet after that comes the Shema’s second paragraph, with its warnings, “Take heed for yourselves.” So accepting His kingship first brings love, a desire to cleave to G‑d, and only afterwards, as the next paragraph explains, awe.
Accepting G‑d’s kingship in the Shema leads first to love, “And you shall love,” and afterwards to awe, the warnings of the second paragraph.
Marei mekomos
- 1ואהבת · Deuteronomy 6:5
- 2והיה אם שמע · Deuteronomy 11:13
- 3השמרו לכם · Deuteronomy 11:16
12ואח״כ כשרוצה לדבקה בו וישים לבו להתבונן בגדולתו ית׳ ושהוא למטה כמו למעלה אזי נמשך מזה היראה
Afterwards, when he wishes to cleave to Him and sets his heart to contemplate His greatness, may He be blessed, and that He is below just as above, then awe is drawn from this.
After love, when a person wants to cleave to G‑d and reflects on His greatness, and on His being as present below as above, awe follows. Awe thus grows out of love.
וכדכתיב אברהם הוליד את יצחק1 ומה בא הכתוב ללמדנו והלא כבר נאמר יצחק בן אברהם
As it is written, “Avraham begot Yitzchak.” What does the verse come to teach us? Has it not already said, “Yitzchak, son of Avraham”?
The verse “Avraham begot Yitzchak” seems redundant, since it has just said “Yitzchak, son of Avraham.” The repetition calls for a deeper reading.
אלא ללמדך שמדת יצחק נולדה ונמשכה ממדת אברהם שאין מדת יצחק היא היראה מדה בפני עצמה ומדת אברהם בפני עצמה אלא כל המדות שבקדושה הם אחדות א׳ ואין בהם פירוד ח״ו.
Rather, it is to teach you that the attribute of Yitzchak was born and drawn from the attribute of Avraham. For the attribute of Yitzchak, which is awe, is not an attribute in its own right, and the attribute of Avraham [another] in its own right; rather, all the attributes of holiness are a single unity, and there is no separation among them, G‑d forbid.
The deeper reading: Yitzchak’s attribute, awe, is born of Avraham’s attribute, love. In holiness the attributes are not separate powers but one unity, each flowing from the other.
Awe is born of love, as “Avraham begot Yitzchak” teaches: in holiness all the attributes form a single unity.
This unity of the attributes is the opposite of what [17] describes: a love felt as one’s own, cut off from self-nullification, which separates the Name.
Marei mekomos
- 1אברהם הוליד את יצחק · Genesis 25:19
So too with the offerings, “a lion of fire that consumes the offerings”: [the lion is] the level of “the face of a lion on the right,” [and] “of fire” is the level of the Gevuros (the powers of restraint), etc.
The offerings show the same unity. The Zohar describes a lion of fire that came down to consume the offerings: the lion is Chesed, the lion’s face “on the right” in Yechezkel’s vision of the Chariot, and its fire is Gevurah.
וכן עבודת הלוים בשיר הוא בבחי׳ הסתלקות הגבורות ממטה למעלה והחיות רצוא ושוב4 ונק׳ בחי׳ מטי ולא מטי כו׳.
So too the service of the Levites in song is in the manner of the Gevuros withdrawing from below to above, “and the Chayos were running and returning,” and it is called the level of “reaching and not reaching,” etc.
The Levites’ song also belongs to the Gevuros, rising and withdrawing upward like fire. It is like the angelic Chayos “running and returning,” and is called “reaching and not reaching”: the rising yearning touches its goal and falls back.
The offerings’ “lion of fire” and the Levites’ song show Chesed and Gevurah joined, with the Gevuros rising upward like fire.
Kehot cites three places in the Zohar for the lion of fire. In the Zohar’s account the lion appeared on the altar when Israel were meritorious; when they sinned, the form of a dog appeared instead.
Marei mekomos
- 1ארי׳ דאשא דאכיל קורבנין · Zohar I, 6b
- 2אריה דאשא דאכיל קורבנין · Zohar, Vayikra 40:278–41:285
- 3פני אריה אל הימין · Ezekiel 1:10
- 4והחיות רצוא ושוב · Ezekiel 1:14
14וכל זה הוא בחי׳ אש. ובחי׳ דת הוא קו הממוצע הוא בחינת התורה שנק׳ תורת אמת על שם שאותיות אמת הם1 א׳ בראש האותיות.6
All this is the level of “fire.” And the level of “law” (das) is the middle line, which is the level of the Torah, called “the Torah of truth” because the letters of emes (truth) are alef, at the head of the letters,
All of this belongs to the left line, “fire.” The middle line is “law” (das), the Torah, called “the Torah of truth,” because the word emes (אמת) begins with alef, the first letter of the alphabet.
mem in their middle, and tav at their end; they are the level of “running through from end to end.” This is the attribute of Yaakov, as it is said, “You will grant truth to Yaakov.”
Its middle letter is mem, from the middle of the alphabet, and its last is tav, the alphabet’s last letter: emes spans the whole alphabet “from end to end,” like the Tabernacle’s middle bar. That is Yaakov’s attribute, as the verse says, “You will grant truth to Yaakov.”
וזהו למו פי׳ אליו כלומר שנמשך מימינו אש דת למו5 כדי לחזור ולקשר אליו ית׳ ע״י מדתו של יעקב מבריח מן הקצה אל הקצה:
And this is [the meaning of] lamo: it means “to Him.” That is, “from His right hand, a fire of law” is drawn forth “to Him” (lamo), in order to return and connect to Him, may He be blessed, through the attribute of Yaakov, “running through from end to end.”
Lamo, usually “to them,” is read here as “to Him.” Right and left are drawn down in order to return and connect to G‑d, and this happens through the middle line, Yaakov’s attribute, which joins the lowest end to the highest.
The middle line, “law,” is the Torah of truth, whose letters span the whole alphabet: Yaakov’s attribute, which joins the ends and brings everything back “to Him.”
Or HaTorah, quoting this passage, adds a reference to the Midrash on Vayishlach, where the letters of emes, first, middle and last, are tied to “I am first and I am last, and besides Me there is no G‑d.” Torah Ohr on Miketz also cites “You will grant truth to Yaakov.”
Marei mekomos
- 1שאותיות אמת הם א׳ בראש האותיות · Bereshit Rabbah 81:2
- 2ות׳ בסופן · באוה״ת שמות כרך ח ע׳ ג׳נג מוסיף ע״ז במוסגר: ”(ע׳ במדרש וישלח פ׳ פ״א שזהו ע״ש אני ראשון ואני אחרון ומבלעדי אין אלקים)”.
- 3מבריח מן הקצה אל הקצה · Exodus 26:28
- 4תתן אמת ליעקב · Micah 7:20
- 5מימינו אש דת למו · Deuteronomy 33:2
- 6ובחי׳ דעת הוא קו הממוצע · מובא באוה״ת שמות כרך ח ע׳ ג׳נג.
The letters of the Name ¶15–18
15והנה כל1 הו׳ מדות הנ״ל הוא בחי׳ ו׳ שבשם הוי״ה ב״ה. ובחי׳ הה׳ שבשם הנה תמונת וצורת הה׳ הוא ג׳ קוין2 שני קוין מחוברים שהם בחי׳ מחשבה דבור.3
Now, all six attributes mentioned above are the level of the vav of the Name Havayah, blessed be He. As for the level of the hei of the Name: the shape and form of the hei is three lines, two lines joined together, which are the levels of thought [and] speech,
All six attributes belong to the vav of the Name Havayah, and the hei that follows stands for their expression. The hei is drawn with three lines, and the two that are joined stand for thought and speech.
וקו הג׳ הוא בחי׳ מעשה וכמ״ש אף עשיתיו.4 וכמ״ש במ״א.5 והענין שצריך להמשיך בחי׳6 הו׳ לבחי׳ הה״א שהוא להיות מלובשים במחשבה דבור ומעשה שיהיו ממולאים מן המדות דקדושה.
and the third line is the level of action, as it is written, “I have even made it,” and as is explained elsewhere. The point is that one must draw the level of the vav into the level of the hei, that is, [the attributes] must be clothed in thought, speech and action, so that these are filled with the attributes of holiness.
The third line is action, as in the verse “I have even made it.” The task is to draw the vav into the hei: to clothe one’s holy emotions in thought, speech and deed, so that all three are filled with them.
The vav, the emotions, must be drawn into the hei, thought, speech and action, so that a person’s whole conduct is filled with holy feeling.
Or HaTorah on Va’eschanan comments that thought and speech are joined because thought is clothed in speech and there can be no speech without it; yet speech does not come into being from thought, but from the breath of the heart, the five organs of articulation and the soul itself. Kehot identifies the “elsewhere” as the opening maamar of Likkutei Torah on Balak.
Marei mekomos
- 1והנה כל הו׳ מדות · ראה אוה״ת תרומה ע׳ תקיד ואילך. וראה גם סה״מ תרל״ג ח״א ע׳ קנד.
- 2וצורת הה׳ הוא ג׳ קוין · בלקו״ת שמות ח, ג. אוה״ת תרומה ע׳ א׳תקיד. אוה״ת ענינים ע׳ קטז.
- 3שני קוין מחוברים . . מחשבה דיבור · באוה״ת פ׳ ואתחנן ע׳ קמה מציין ע״ז ”היינו מחוברין דוקא שהמחשבה מתלבשת בהדיבור וא״א לדיבור מבלי מחשבה כו׳ אבל עכ״ז אין הדיבור מתהווה מן המחשבה כ״א מהבל הלב וה׳ מוצאות הפה ומהנפש עצמה ע׳ באג״ה ד״ה ויעש דוד” עכ״ל. וראה גם אוה״ת פ׳ ויחי שפ, ב. סידור עם דא״ח רפב, א. המשך באתי לגני השי״ת פ״ח.
- 4אף עשיתיו · Isaiah 43:7
- 5וכמ״ש במ״א · לקו״ת ר״פ בלק.
- 6שצריך להמשיך בחי׳ הוי״ו לבחי׳ הה״א · באוה״ת חיי שרה שפ, א מציין לכאן.
16והנה יש ה״ה במילוי ה׳ אחרת שהמילוי שהוא ההעלם שהוא בחי׳ ה׳ המחשבה כי כמו שיש ה׳ מוצאות בדבור כך הם במחשבה שמה שהוא מחשב הוא מדבר.
Now, there is [the letter hei spelled out as] ה״ה, with a filling of another hei. The filling, which is the concealed [part], is the level of the hei of thought; for just as there are five organs of articulation in speech, so are they in thought, for what one thinks, one speaks.
When the letter hei is spelled out in full, it can be written ה״ה, hei with another hei. The added letter, the “filling,” is the hidden part, here the hei of thought: thought too has five articulations, for a person thinks in words, as if speaking inwardly.
ויש ה״א במילוי אל״ף שהוא בחי׳ ההעלם מאד נעלה בחי׳ אל״ף פל״א1 כו׳. אך הנה שרש בחי׳ הו״ה שבשם הוי״ה ב״ה הוא נמשך מלמעלה מבחי׳ י״ה שבשם.
And there is [hei spelled out as] ה״א, with a filling of alef, which is the level of the very lofty concealment, the level of אל״ף (alef), פל״א (pele, wonder), etc. However, the root of the level of the vav-hei of the Name Havayah, blessed be He, is drawn from above, from the level of the yud-hei of the Name.
The hei can also be spelled ה״א, with an alef, a far more hidden level, for the letters of alef (אלף) rearranged spell pele (פלא), “wonder.” But the root of the Name’s vav-hei lies higher still, in its first two letters, yud-hei.
יו״ד הוא בחי׳ נקודה עילאה הוא בחי׳ מה שכתוב ויצא כברק חצו2 דהיינו ראשית ומקור התהוות עולמות והתחדשותם מאין ליש ואפס המוחלט כי במחשבה אחת ברא את העולם3 שכל הבחי׳ ממכ״ע וסוכ״ע אינן אלא מחשבה אחת.
The yud is the level of the supernal point; it is the level of what is written, “And His arrow shall go forth like lightning,” that is, the beginning and source of the coming-into-being of worlds and their renewal from nothing to something, and from absolute nonexistence. For “with one thought He created the world”: all the levels, the light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin) and the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), are nothing but one thought.
The yud, a single point, is the first flash, like lightning, from which worlds come into being out of absolute nothing. All of creation, both the light that fills the worlds and the light that encompasses them, is, in the Zohar’s words, a single divine thought.
וה׳ ראשונה היא בחי׳ התפשטות העולמות באורך ורוחב. והיו״ד נק׳ נקודה בהיכלא4 שהוא בחי׳ בטול וכו׳.
And the first hei is the level of the spreading out of the worlds in length and breadth. And the yud is called “a point in the palace,” which is the level of self-nullification (bittul), etc.
The first hei, wide and open, is the spreading out of the worlds in length and breadth. The yud, a mere point, is called “a point in the palace,” and stands for self-nullification (bittul).
The yud-hei of the Name, the point of creation and its spreading out, is the root of the vav-hei, and the yud is self-nullification.
A chassid’s gloss on a copy of Torah Ohr remarks that the letters yud-hei can be found here in the words “a point in the palace,” and refers to the discourse “Chayav Inish” in the Siddur. Or HaTorah’s discourses for Sukkos discuss alef as pele.
Marei mekomos
- 1אלף פלא · ראה אוה״ת דרושים לסוכות ע׳ א׳תשנז.
- 2ויצא כברק חצו · Zechariah 9:14
- 3במחשבה אחת ברא את העולם · Zohar II, 20a
- 4נקודה בהיכלא · על גיליון תו״א מחסיד נרשם: אותיות ו״ה נזכר מעבר לגוף, ואותיות י״ה תמצא בכאן בתיבות נקודה בהיכלא, ועיין בסידור בד״ה חייב אינש כו׳, עי׳ . . .
17והנה כל המדות ומחשבה דבור ומעשה דקדושה שהוא בחי׳ ו״ה שבשם נמשך מבחי׳ הבטול.
Now, all the attributes, and the thought, speech and action of holiness, which are the level of the vav-hei of the Name, are drawn from the level of self-nullification (bittul).
All the holy emotions, and the thought, speech and action that express them (the vav-hei), have their root in self-nullification (the yud-hei).
דהיינו שכאשר יתבונן בבטול השגת הנבראים לגבי הבורא ית׳ שאין תופסים מקום וכלא ממש נחשבו שאינן אלא מחשבה אחת וכו׳ אזי ישים אליו לבו רוחו ונשמתו1 להיות לה׳ לבדו.
That is, when one contemplates the nullification of the created beings’ grasp before the Creator, may He be blessed, that they occupy no place and are accounted as truly nothing, being nothing but one thought, etc., then he will set to Him his heart, his spirit and his soul, to be G‑d’s alone.
When a person contemplates how created beings, and all they can grasp, are as nothing before the Creator, mere products of one divine thought, he gives himself, heart, spirit and soul, to G‑d alone. This is the self-nullification from which holy emotions flow.
אך אם ירצה האדם לעורר את האהבה לה׳ בלבד במדותיו הטבעיים הרי הוא מפריד שם י״ה מו״ה שהמדות אצלו בבחי׳ יש ואהבה מורגשת יש מי שהוא אוהב בלבד כו׳
But if a person wants to arouse love for G‑d merely with his natural attributes, he separates the Name Yah from vav-hei; for with him the attributes are in a state of yesh (being something), and in a love that is felt there is someone who loves, and that is all, etc.;
But if he tries to arouse love for G‑d with his natural emotions alone, without that nullification, he separates the yud-hei from the vav-hei. His emotions are then yesh, a sense of self: a love that is felt, with a self who loves and nothing more.
ועי״ז יש אחיזה ויניקה לקליפות וסט״א לינק ולקבל חיות שיתהוו ג״כ ז׳ מדות רעות ח״ו.
and through this the kelipos (husks) and the sitra achra (the other side) have a hold and draw nourishment, to suck and receive life-force (chayus), so that seven evil traits also come into being, G‑d forbid.
Such self-centered emotion gives the kelipos, the forces that conceal G‑dliness, a foothold from which to draw life, and from it the seven evil traits come into being.
Holy emotions must flow from self-nullification; emotion cut off from it is yesh, ‘something,’ which separates the Name and gives the kelipos a hold.
This is the inner meaning of the Name being “not whole”: the yud-hei, self-nullification, cut off from the vav-hei, emotion and action. The next paragraph identifies this separation as Amalek.
Marei mekomos
- 1ישים אליו לבו רוחו ונשמתו · Job 34:14
18וזהו בחי׳ עמלק שהוא בחי׳ היש שהוא העושה ומגדיל היש הפך הבטול שנמשך משם י״ה והוא המכסה ומסתיר התגלות שם י״ה וע״י כן הוא ראשית התהוות השבעה מדות רעות
This is the level of Amalek, which is the level of yesh (“something”): it is what makes and magnifies the yesh, the opposite of the self-nullification (bittul) drawn from the Name Yah. It is what covers and conceals the revelation of the Name Yah, and through this it is the beginning of the coming-into-being of the seven evil traits.
Amalek is yesh: the force that creates and inflates a sense of self, the very opposite of the self-nullification drawn from the Name Yah. By hiding the Name Yah it becomes the ‘first,’ the root of all seven evil traits.
וכמארז״ל אין אדם עובר עבירה12 אלא א״כ נכנס בו רוח שטות שהוא רוח המכסה ומסתיר בחי׳ הבטול כי איזהו חכם הרואה את הנולד. מאין כו׳.3
As our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “A person does not commit a sin unless a spirit of folly has entered him”: this is a spirit that covers and conceals the level of self-nullification. For “Who is wise? One who sees what is born”: from nothing (me’ayin), etc.
The Talmud teaches that a person sins only when “a spirit of folly” enters him, and that folly is this force that hides self-nullification. Wisdom, by contrast, is “seeing what is born”: seeing how everything comes into being from nothing, which is the root of self-nullification.
Amalek is the yesh that hides self-nullification; it is the spirit of folly behind every sin and the root of all the evil traits.
Tanya (chapter 43) reads “Who is wise? One who sees what is born” in the same way, as seeing how each thing comes into being from nothing, and connects it with the higher awe that comes from Chochmah.
Marei mekomos
- 1אין אדם עובר עבירה · Sotah 3a:4–5
- 2אין אדם עובר עבירה · Zohar, Chayei Sara 8:37–39
- 3איזהו חכם הרואה את הנולד מאין כו׳ · Tamid 32a:7
The throne and its alef ¶19–20
And this is [what is meant by] “the Name is not whole.” And as for what they said, that the throne is not whole: the level of כסא (kisei, throne) is כס א׳ (kes, alef).
That is what “the Name is not whole” means: yud-hei cut off from vav-hei. The throne’s incompleteness is explained by reading kisei (כסא, throne) as kes (כס) plus alef (א).
פי׳ בחינת אל״ף אאלפך חכמה אאלפך בינה היא התורה ירדה ונתכסה בכסויים גשמיים כמו כל עניני זרעים ומועד כו׳.
That is, the level of alef, “I will teach you (a’alefcha) wisdom, I will teach you understanding,” which is the Torah, descended and was covered in physical coverings, like all the matters of [the orders] Zera’im and Mo’ed, etc.
The alef stands for the Torah’s wisdom, by a play on a’alefcha, “I will teach you.” The Torah descended and was covered (a play on kes) in physical garments: the laws of crops, festivals and the like.
ונקרא בלשון כסא כמו דרך משל כסא שיושב עליו האדם שמשפיל אחוריו לישב עליו כך הוא ענין התורה
It is called by the term kisei (throne) as, by way of analogy, a chair (kisei) on which a person sits, lowering his back to sit on it: so it is with the Torah,
It is called a throne because a person sitting on a chair lowers his back onto it. So too the Torah, as it comes down into physical matters, is like a lowered back.
שהוא בבחי׳ אחוריים ובחי׳ חיצוניות. ירדה ונתלבשה בעניני עוה״ז הגשמיים והכסא היא בחי׳ מרכבה לבחי׳ אחוריים שירדו ונשפלו.
which is in the level of the back (achorayim) and the level of the outer dimension (chitzoniyus): it descended and was clothed in the physical matters of this world. And the throne is the level of a chariot (merkavah) for the level of the back, which descended and was lowered.
The Torah in this world is its back and outer dimension, clothed in physical matters, and the throne is the vehicle (merkavah) of this lowered back. How the alef is drawn into this covering is the subject of the next paragraph.
The throne, kisei, is kes plus alef: the Torah clothed in physical matters is the kes, and its inner wisdom is the alef.
Marei mekomos
- 1שאין השם שלם · תנחומא ס״פ תצא. רש״י ס״פ בשלח.
- 2שאין השם שלם · Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Teitzei 11:1
- 3שאין השם שלם · Rashi on Exodus 17:16
20והנה בעסק התורה צריך להיות לשמה. פי׳ בשביל התורה עצמה להמשיך בה בחי׳ האל״ף כמ״ש ומי כעמך ישראל1 גוי אחד בארץ שממשיכים בחי׳ יחודו ית׳ אפי׳ בארץ.
Now, occupation with Torah must be lishmah (for its own sake): that is, for the sake of the Torah itself, to draw into it the level of the alef, as it is written, “And who is like Your people Israel, one nation on earth,” for they draw down the level of His unity, may He be blessed, even on earth.
Learning Torah lishmah, for its own sake, means drawing the alef, G‑d’s oneness, into the physical subjects of the Torah. Israel are called “one nation on earth” because they reveal G‑d’s oneness even on earth.
משא״כ האומר אין לי אלא תורה2 וכו׳. זהו בחי׳ עמלק המפריד אלף כו׳:
This is not so with one who says, “I have nothing but Torah,” etc.: this is the level of Amalek, which separates the alef, etc.
The Talmud speaks of one who says, “I have nothing but Torah.” Learning cut off from its divine purpose is Amalek, which “separates the alef” from the kes, so that the throne is not whole.
Torah study must draw G‑d’s oneness, the alef, into its physical subjects; study that separates the alef is Amalek.
Marei mekomos
- 1ומי כעמך ישראל · I Chronicles 17:21
- 2האומר אין לי אלא תורה · Yevamot 109b:4–5
The three hands ¶21–27
But the counsel prescribed against Amalek is what is written, “For a hand is upon the throne (kes) of Yah,” etc. The meaning:
The remedy against Amalek lies in the same verse: “a hand” upon kes and Yah.
כי בחי׳ יד הוא למעלה מבחי׳ כס ומבחי׳ י״ה. והענין כי יש ג׳ ידות. יד הגדולה. יד החזקה. יד הרמה.
that the level of “hand” is above the level of kes and above the level of Yah. The point is that there are three hands: the great hand, the strong hand, the high hand.
The “hand” is a level above both kes, the throne, and Yah, the half Name, and so it can overcome what Amalek damaged. The maamar distinguishes three “hands”: the great, the strong and the high.
The answer to Amalek is the “hand,” a level higher than both throne and Name; there are three such hands.
Marei mekomos
- 1כי יד על כס יה · Exodus 17:16
22והנה ביד הגדולה כתיב וירא ישראל את היד הגדולה1 בה׳ הידיעה שהיא ידועה ומושגת כי יד הגדולה היא אהבה שמעורר האדם לדבקה בו ית׳ היא מושגת ומורגשת בלב.
Now, of the great hand it is written, “And Israel saw the great hand,” with the hei of knowing (the definite article), for it is known and grasped: the great hand is the love that a person arouses to cleave to Him, may He be blessed, which is grasped and felt in the heart.
The great hand is love, felt in the heart. The verse says “the great hand” with the definite article, which Hebrew grammar calls the “hei of knowing”: this love is “known,” grasped and felt.
וכן ביד החזקה כתיב ולכל היד החזקה2 בה׳ הידיעה שיד החזקה היא היראה גבורה דרועא שמאלא ושמאל דוחה שע״י קבלת עומ״ש בק״ש דוחה ומשפיל א״ע.
So too of the strong hand it is written, “and all the strong hand,” with the hei of knowing, for the strong hand is awe, Gevurah (restraint), “the left arm,” and “the left pushes away”: through accepting the yoke (kabbalas ol) of the Kingdom of Heaven in the Shema, he pushes himself away and makes himself low.
The strong hand, also with the definite article, is awe: Gevurah, the left that pushes away, as when a person accepting G‑d’s kingship in the Shema makes himself low. It too is felt and known.
Love, the great hand, and awe, the strong hand, are both known and felt, as the definite article in their verses shows.
Marei mekomos
- 1וירא ישראל את היד הגדולה · Exodus 14:31
- 2ולכל היד החזקה · Deuteronomy 34:12
23ולכן אומרים בשמונה עשרה סלח לנו1 אבינו כי חטאנו2 מחל לנו מלכנו כי פשענו. וענין הפשע לא בשופטני עסקינן
Therefore we say in the Shemoneh Esreh, “Forgive us, our Father, for we have sinned; pardon us, our King, for we have transgressed.” As for transgression (pesha): we are not dealing with fools;
The Amidah’s blessing for forgiveness asks pardon of “our King” for pesha, transgression. But pesha is deliberate rebellion, and those praying are not such fools as to rebel; in what sense, then, do they say “we have transgressed”?
אלא פשעים אלו המרדים.3 ומרד הוא ענין פריקת עול כלומר שהפריקות עול בלבד נחשב לו כפשע.
rather, “transgressions (pesha’im) are rebellions.” And rebellion is casting off the yoke; that is, casting off the yoke alone is counted for him as transgression.
The Sages define pesha’im as rebellions, and rebellion is casting off the yoke. So even merely casting off the yoke of Heaven, without any further act, counts for a person as transgression.
Pesha, transgression, is rebellion, and rebellion is casting off the yoke; so even a lapse in accepting G‑d’s kingship counts as pesha.
Likkutei Torah on Beha’aloscha explains why this blessing was set after the Shema, where the yoke of Heaven is accepted; Likkutei Torah for Rosh Hashanah explains why it says “for (ki) we have sinned,” as though giving a reason for forgiveness, rather than “for that which we have sinned.”
Marei mekomos
- 1ולכן אומרים . . סלח לנו · נתבאר בלקו״ת פ׳ בהעלותך ל, ב ובכ״מ. וראה גם ספה״מ תער״ב ח״ג ע׳ א׳שמג.
- 2כי חטאנו · ולא אשר חטאנו נתבאר בלקו״ת ר״ה נד, ב.
- 3פשעים אלו המרדים · Yoma 36b:6
24ולכן קודם ק״ש אינו מרגיש בנפשו ואומר חף אנכי בלא פשע1 רק אחר קבלת עול מלכות שמים בק״ש שמקיים שום תשים עליך מלך2 עליך ממש
Therefore, before the Shema he does not feel it in his soul, and says, “I am innocent, without transgression.” Only after accepting the yoke (kabbalas ol) of the Kingdom of Heaven in the Shema, when he fulfills “You shall surely set a king over you,” truly over you,
Before the Shema, a person feels innocent. Only after he accepts G‑d’s kingship in the Shema, setting the King over himself in earnest, does his view of himself change.
אזי נדמה בעיניו מחשבות לבו כל היום שלא המשיך עליו יראה זו והסיח דעתו ממנה כאלו פשע ומרד ופרק עומ״ש מעל צוארו.
then the thoughts of his heart all day long, in which he did not draw this awe upon himself and turned his mind away from it, seem in his eyes as though he had transgressed and rebelled and cast the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven off his neck.
Then every moment of the day in which he did not draw this awe upon himself, and turned his mind from it, looks to him like rebellion, as if he had thrown off the yoke of Heaven.
וזה מחל לנו מלכנו כי פשענו. כלומר לפי שאתה מלכנו שקבלנו עול מלכותך עלינו. לכך אנו אומרים כי פשענו.
This is [the meaning of] “Pardon us, our King, for we have transgressed”: that is, because You are our King, for we have accepted the yoke of Your sovereignty upon ourselves, therefore we say, “for we have transgressed.”
So “pardon us, our King, for we have transgressed” means: precisely because You are our King and we have accepted Your kingship, we recognize our lapses as transgression.
Only after accepting G‑d’s kingship in the Shema does a person feel his lapses of awe as rebellion, and so he asks pardon of “our King.”
Marei mekomos
- 1חף אנכי בלא פשע · Job 33:9
- 2שום תשים עליך מלך · Deuteronomy 17:15
25והנה השמאל הדוחה בבחי׳ זו היא בבחינת הרגשה בנפשו. אך בבחי׳ יד רמה כתיב ובני ישראל יוצאים ביד רמה.12 בלא ה׳ הידיעה.
Now, the left that pushes away, in this respect, is in the mode of a feeling in his soul. But of the level of the high hand it is written, “And the children of Israel were going out with a high hand,” without the hei of knowing.
The pushing-away of the left, awe, is something a person feels in his soul, like the great and strong hands that are “known.” The high hand is different: its verse has no definite article, for it is beyond what can be known.
כי יוצאים כתיב פי׳ שיוצאים מן הכלי וגבול והוא בחי׳ נשיאות נפש לקיים מה שכתוב אליך ה׳ נפשי אשא3 והוא בחי׳ תשובה עלאה שעליה אמרו רז״ל תשובה קדמה4 לעולם5
For it is written “going out”: that is, they go out of the vessel and the limit. This is the level of the lifting up of the soul, to fulfill what is written, “To You, G‑d, I lift up my soul.” And it is the level of the higher teshuvah (return), of which our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “Teshuvah preceded the world”;
The Israelites were “going out” with a high hand: going out of every vessel and limit. This is the soul lifting itself to G‑d, the higher teshuvah, which the Sages count among the things that preceded the world.
כי ע״י התשובה מעומקא דלבא ובמסירת נפש הרוח תשוב אל האלהים אשר נתנה6 היא העולה למקור חוצבה ממש.
for through teshuvah from the depth of the heart, and with self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh), “the spirit returns to G‑d who gave it”: it is [the spirit] that rises to the very source from which it was hewn.
Teshuvah from the depth of the heart, with self-sacrifice, returns the spirit “to G‑d who gave it,” to the very source from which the soul was hewn.
The high hand is the higher teshuvah: a return with self-sacrifice that goes beyond every limit, back to the soul’s source, and so precedes the world.
The Midrash counts both teshuvah and Israel among the things that preceded the creation of the world; this paragraph uses the first, and the next paragraph the second.
Marei mekomos
- 1ובני ישראל יוצאים ביד רמה · בשלח יד, ח.
- 2ובני ישראל יוצאים ביד רמה · Exodus 14:8
- 3אליך ה׳ נפשי אשא · Psalms 25:1
- 4תשובה קדמה . . ישראל עלו במחשבה · ב״ר בתחלתו.
- 5תשובה קדמה לעולם · Bereshit Rabbah 1:4
- 6הרוח תשוב אל האלהים אשר נתנה · Ecclesiastes 12:7
Now, Israel “arose in thought.” That is, “with one thought He created the world,” and Israel came first, being in that very thought.
The world was created with one divine thought, and Israel “arose in thought” first, preceding everything else in that very thought.
וכמארז״ל בנשמותיהם של צדיקים נמלך23 כו׳. והרי הם למעלה מבחי׳ המחשבה ולכן התשובה של נשמות ישראל למקור חוצבם קדמה במעלה לבחי׳ העולם.
As our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “He took counsel with the souls of the righteous,” etc. Thus they are above the level of thought, and therefore the teshuvah (return) of the souls of Israel to the source from which they were hewn precedes the level of the world in rank.
The Midrash says that G‑d took counsel with the souls of the righteous before creating the world, which places them above the thought of creation itself. Therefore their return to their source ranks above the world.
The souls of Israel preceded even the thought of creation, so their teshuvah to their source stands above the whole world.
Kehot notes that manuscript 1824 has the word order nimlach benishmos shel tzaddikim, “He took counsel with the souls of the righteous,” with the verb first.
Marei mekomos
- 1והנה ישראל עלו במחשבה · Bereshit Rabbah 1:4
- 2בנשמותיהם של צדיקים נמלך · רות רבה ב, ג. בבוך 1824: נמלך בנשמות של צדיקים.
- 3בנשמותיהם של צדיקים נמלך · Ruth Rabbah 2:3
27ולכן נק׳ יד רמה שמרוממת ומנשאת למעלה במדרגה גבוה מאד מאד למקום שאינו ידוע ומושג בהשגת הנבראים.
That is why it is called “a high hand”: it raises and lifts up to a very, very high level, to a place that is not known or grasped by the comprehension of created beings.
Hence the name “high hand”: this teshuvah lifts the soul to a level beyond anything created beings can know or grasp.
וזהו כי יד בלא ה׳ הידיעה דהיינו בחי׳ יד רמה הוא למעלה על כס ועל בחי׳ י״ה
This is [the meaning of] “For a hand,” without the hei of knowing: that is, the level of the high hand is above, over kes and over the level of Yah,
So the verse’s “a hand,” without the definite article, is the high hand, and it is above both kes, the throne, and Yah, the half Name.
כי ביה1 ה׳ צור עולמים שהוא ראשית הבריאה במחשבה אחת ברא את העולם. אבל בחי׳ יד רמה היא למעלה מעלה מהם.
for “with Yah, G‑d formed the worlds,” which is the beginning of creation: “with one thought He created the world.” But the level of the high hand is far, far above them.
With Yah G‑d formed the worlds: Yah is the beginning of creation, the “one thought.” The high hand, the soul’s root that preceded that thought, is far above it.
ולכן יש בזה מעלה יתירה להיות משם מלחמה לה׳ בעמלק2 שלא יעמוד עמלק להתייצב על בחי׳ הוי״ה להיות מכסה ומסתיר ומפריד אלא יהיה גילוי. השם שלם והכסא שלם:
Therefore there is a special superiority in this: that from there should come “G‑d’s war with Amalek,” so that Amalek will not stand to set himself against the level of Havayah, to cover, conceal and separate; rather, there will be revelation: the Name whole and the throne whole.
Therefore G‑d’s war with Amalek is waged from there, from a level higher than anything Amalek can hide. Then Amalek can no longer conceal and divide the Name, and the Name and the throne become whole.
The higher teshuvah, the “high hand,” is above the Name Yah and the throne, so from it comes the victory over Amalek and the wholeness of Name and throne.
This answers the maamar’s opening question: the Name and throne, left incomplete by Amalek, are made whole from a level above both, the “hand” of the verse, which is the soul’s teshuvah with self-sacrifice.
Marei mekomos
- 1כי ביה ה׳ צור עולמים · Isaiah 26:4
- 2מלחמה לה׳ בעמלק · Exodus 17:16
Haman, the garment and the horse ¶28–30
Now, “from the root of the snake,” which is Amalek, “came forth a viper”: this is Haman, who is himself the level of Amalek, and his hold and his nourishment are from the Name Yah.
Yeshayahu’s words, “from the root of the snake came forth a viper,” are applied to Amalek and Haman: Amalek is the snake, and Haman, Amalek’s descendant, is the viper. Haman draws his hold from the Name Yah, which he conceals.
This is [the meaning of] “And Haman took the garment and the horse, and dressed Mordechai.” For our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “‘My Name’ (shmi) with Yah [equals] 365,” etc.,
That is why it was Haman himself who took the garment and the horse and dressed Mordechai. To explain this, the Alter Rebbe brings the teaching that “My Name” (shmi, 350) with Yah (15) equals 365, the number of negative commandments.
ששמירת מצות לא תעשה הוא גילוי בחי׳ שם י״ה כי עיקר הל״ת שלא להיות כסוי והסתר אור א״ס ב״ה.
[meaning] that keeping the negative commandments is the revelation of the level of the Name Yah, for the essence of the negative commandments is that there be no covering and concealment of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He.
The negative commandments reveal the Name Yah, because their essence is to prevent anything from covering and concealing the Infinite Light.
ורמ״ח מצות עשה הן המשכת אוא״ס ב״ה ודירתו בתחתונים וגדול כח גילוי הכסא והסתר עיקר האור מהמשכת השתלשלות האור שאינו אלא זיו והארה בעלמא.8
And the 248 positive commandments are the drawing down of the Infinite Light, blessed be He, and His dwelling place among the lower realms. But the power of uncovering the covering (kisei) and concealment of the essential light is greater than the drawing down of the chain of descent (hishtalshelus) of the light, which is merely a radiance and a glimmer.
The 248 positive commandments draw down the Infinite Light and make it a dwelling place below. Yet removing what conceals the essential light is a greater power than drawing light down through the chain of descent, which is only a glimmer. The word the text uses here for the covering is kisei, “throne,” which [19] connected with being covered.
Haman, the offspring of Amalek, conceals the Name Yah, which the negative commandments reveal; and uncovering what is concealed is greater than drawing down light.
Or HaTorah on Shir HaShirim quotes this passage and adds: although the prohibitions only restrain a person from evil, while the positive commandments actively draw down the light, the prohibitions are greater, because they remove the covering that hides the essential light. In the Zohar the teaching continues: “My remembrance” (zichri, 237) with vav-hei (11) equals 248, the positive commandments.
Marei mekomos
- 1משרש נחש . . יצא צפע · Isaiah 14:29
- 2משרש . . עמלק יצא . . המן · ראה מס׳ סופרים פי״ג ה״ו.
- 3המן שהוא הוא בחי׳ עמלק · Tractate Soferim 13:6
- 4ויקח המן את הלבוש ואת הסוס · Esther 6:11
- 5שו״ה ואת הסוס — הנה אמרו רז״ל · קטע מכאן מובא באוה״ת שה״ש כרך ב ע׳ תסג.
- 6שמי עם י״ה שס״ה · Zohar I, 24a
- 7שמי עם י״ה שס״ה כו׳ ששמירת מצות לא תעשה · Zohar, Addenda, Volume I 6:58–62
- 8אמרו רז״ל . . אלא זיו והארה בעלמא · מובא באוה״ת שה״ש כרך ב ע׳ תסג ומוסיף: פי׳ דאף שהל״ת הוא רק ענין מניעה מלעשות הדבר הרע המכסה ומסתיר על גילוי אוא״ס ב״ה, משא״כ מ״ע שהוא קום ועשה טוב הוא ממש המשכת גילוי האור, מ״מ גדול כח המל״ת יותר, משום שהוא הסרת הכיסוי המסתיר על עיקר האור. ע״ש.
29והנה המן הוא הקליפה המכסה ומסתיר בחי׳ שם י״ה שהוא מקור הל״ת.
Now, Haman is the kelipah (the husk) that covers and conceals the level of the Name Yah, which is the source of the negative commandments.
Haman is the kelipah, the husk that hides the Name Yah, the source of the negative commandments.
ולכן1 כד אתכפייא סט״א ואתהפך חשוכא לנהורא נעשו בחי׳ לבושין וסוסים לבחי׳ מרדכי שהוא בחי׳ מקור המשכת מצות עשה שהלבוש נמשך ממדרגה עליונה יותר כמ״ש במ״א:
Therefore, when the sitra achra (the other side) is subdued and darkness is turned into light, they become the level of garments and horses for the level of Mordechai, which is the level of the source of the drawing down of the positive commandments; for the garment is drawn from a higher level, as is explained elsewhere.
When this other side is subdued and its darkness turned into light, it becomes garments and horses for Mordechai, the source of the positive commandments. A garment, the text adds, is drawn from a higher level, as is explained elsewhere.
Haman’s concealment, once subdued and transformed, becomes Mordechai’s garment and horse, which come from a higher level.
Kehot notes that manuscript 1824 reads lachach for velachen; both mean “therefore.”
Marei mekomos
- 1שו״ה שהוא — ולכן · בבוך 1824: ולכך.
And this is [the meaning of] “Hurry, take the garment and the horse,” etc. For our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “If they merit, ‘I will hasten it’; if they do not merit, ‘in its time.’”
Hence the king’s command, “Hurry, take the garment and the horse.” The Sages teach that the redemption comes early, “I will hasten it,” if Israel merit, and otherwise “in its time.”
והנה בבא עת קץ המשיח במהרה בימינו כתיב בלע המות לנצח3 ואת רוח הטומאה אעביר4 וגו׳ שיהיו כלים ואבודים לגמרי שלא יהיה מהם עלייה לקדושה.
Now, when the time of the Messianic end arrives, speedily in our days, it is written, “He will swallow up death forever,” and “I will remove the spirit of impurity,” etc.: they will be utterly consumed and lost, so that there will be no ascent from them to holiness.
When the redemption comes in its time, death and the spirit of impurity will simply be swallowed up and removed; the kelipos will vanish, with nothing raised from them to holiness.
משא״כ ע״י תשובתן של ישראל בימי הגלות דאתכפייא סט״א ואתהפכא חשוכא לנהורא נעשו מהם בחי׳ לבושין כנ״ל.
That is not so through the teshuvah (return) of Israel in the days of exile, when the sitra achra (the other side) is subdued and darkness is turned into light: from them is made the level of garments, as mentioned above.
But when Israel do teshuvah during the exile, the other side is subdued and its darkness transformed, and it becomes garments for holiness.
ולכן אמר מהר דהיינו שיהיה בבחי׳ אחישנה ואזי יכול להיות מזה את הלבוש ואת הסוס משא״כ כשיהיה בעתה תאבד לגמרי:
That is why he said “Hurry,” meaning that it should be in the manner of “I will hasten it,” for then the garment and the horse can come from this; whereas when it is “in its time,” it will be utterly lost.
That is why the verse says “Hurry”: in the way of “I will hasten it,” the kelipah becomes garment and horse; “in its time,” it will simply be lost.
The kelipah becomes a garment for holiness through teshuvah in exile, the way of “I will hasten it”; at a redemption “in its time,” it would simply be destroyed.
Marei mekomos
- 1מהר קח את הלבוש ואת הסוס · Esther 6:10
- 2זכו אחישנה לא זכו בעתה · Sanhedrin 98a:12–13
- 3בלע המות לנצח · Isaiah 25:8
- 4ואת רוח הטומאה אעביר · Zechariah 13:2
Purim, Yom Kippur and the wine ¶31–33
31והנה פורים ויוה״כ הוא בחינה אחת (יום כפורים פירושו כמו פורים).12 ונקרא פורים על שם הפור כי התנשאות המן שהפיל פור הוא הגורל שרצה לדמות לאותו הגורל שביוה״כ כו׳.5
Now, Purim and Yom Kippur are a single level. (Yom Kippurim means “like Purim.”) It is called Purim after the pur, because the self-exaltation of Haman, who cast “pur, that is, the lot,” was that he wanted to imitate that lot which is on Yom Kippur, etc.
Purim and Yom Kippur are the same level, and Yom Kippurim is read as yom ki-Purim, “a day like Purim.” Haman’s pur, his lot, was an attempt in his arrogance to imitate the lots of Yom Kippur.
שכמו שיוה״כ הוא בחי׳ תשובה עלאה לפני ה׳ תטהרו כך בפורים זכו ישראל לתשובה עלאה על ידי דברי הצומות וזעקתם3 במסירת נפש ממש ע״י קדוש השם
For just as Yom Kippur is the level of the higher teshuvah (return), “before G‑d you shall be purified,” so on Purim Israel merited the higher teshuvah through “the matters of the fasts and their cry,” with actual self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh), through sanctifying the Name;
Yom Kippur is the higher teshuvah, “before G‑d you shall be purified.” On Purim, Israel reached that same teshuvah through their fasts and their cry, with real self-sacrifice, ready to give their lives to sanctify G‑d’s Name.
שהרי המן לא ביקש אלא לאבד את היהודים ואם היו כופרים ח״ו לא היה עושה להם כלום.
for Haman sought only to destroy the Jews, and had they renounced [their faith], G‑d forbid, he would not have done anything to them.
It was true self-sacrifice, because Haman sought only to destroy the Jews as Jews: had they renounced their faith, he would not have harmed them.
וכמארז״ל שבימי אחשורוש4 קבלו את התורה ברצון ועי״ז היה נשיאת נפשם למקור חוצבם הגבה למעלה בבחי׳ עלה במחשבה ותשובה קדמה לעולם.67
And as our Sages, of blessed memory, said, in the days of Achashverosh they accepted the Torah willingly; and through this their souls were lifted up to the source from which they were hewn, very high above, in the level of “arose in thought” and “teshuvah preceded the world.”
The Talmud says that in the days of Achashverosh, Israel accepted the Torah anew, this time willingly. This lifted their souls to their source, the level that “arose in thought” and that “preceded the world.”
Purim, like Yom Kippur, is the higher teshuvah: through self-sacrifice in Haman’s days, Israel rose to the very source of their souls.
The Tikkunei Zohar is the source for reading Yom Kippurim as “like Purim”; Kehot adds that the parenthesis is found also in manuscript 1824, written in 5569. Yahel Or ties the two days to “turning”: “as on Yom Kippur, ‘and He turned,’ so on Purim, ‘You turned,’ and the main revelation is in the future, ‘then I will turn’”; and Torah Ohr earlier speaks of the Purim miracle as Achashverosh’s heart being turned to good.
Marei mekomos
- 1יום כפורים פירושו כמו פורים · Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 21 · 47a:4–5
- 2יום כפורים פירושו כמו פורים · Tikkunei Zohar 57b:6–8
- 3דברי הצומות וזעקתם · Esther 9:31
- 4שבימי אחשורוש · Shabbat 88a
- 5פורים ויוהכ״פ הוא בחינה אחת · ראה ביהל אור ע׳ קיד ”כמו ביוהכ״פ ויהפוך כו׳ כן בפורים הפכת כו׳ ועיקר הגילוי לע״ל אז אהפוך”. וראה לעיל צד, ב ”שנתהפך לב אחשורוש” ע״ש.
- 6(יום . . פורים) · המוסגר נמצא גם בבוך 1824 שנכתב בשנת תקס״ט.
- 7לפני ה׳ תטהרו · Leviticus 16:30
32והנה גלוי בחי׳ זו בנפש ביום הכפורים אין בו אכילה ושתיה אבל בפורים שהוא בזמן הגלות הוא ע״י שתיית היין דוקא שהוא בחי׳ יין המשכר דהיינו בטול הדעת והשגה כו׳ כמ״ש במ״א:
Now, as for the revelation of this level in the soul: on Yom Kippur there is no eating or drinking; but on Purim, which is in the time of exile, it comes specifically through drinking wine, which is the level of “intoxicating wine,” that is, the nullification of Daas (knowledge) and comprehension, etc., as is explained elsewhere.
On Yom Kippur this level is revealed by holding back from food and drink. On Purim, in exile, it comes through drinking wine, “intoxicating wine” that sets aside ordinary knowledge and understanding.
Yom Kippur reveals the higher teshuvah by fasting; Purim, in exile, reveals it through wine that sets aside the mind’s grasp.
And this is [the meaning of] “A person is obligated to become intoxicated on Purim,” with the level of “intoxicating wine,” “until he does not know [the difference] between ‘cursed is Haman’ and ‘blessed is Mordechai.’”
This explains the obligation to drink on Purim “until he does not know.” The drinking is meant to reach the level of “intoxicating wine,” beyond the mind’s distinctions.
כי ארור המן הוא הקליפה המכסה ומסתיר שם י״ה בחי׳ הלא תעשה. וברוך מרדכי הוא המשכת מצות עשה בחי׳ ו״ה.
For “cursed is Haman” is the kelipah (the husk) that covers and conceals the Name Yah, the level of the negative commandments; and “blessed is Mordechai” is the drawing down of the positive commandments, the level of vav-hei.
“Cursed is Haman” is the kelipah that hides the Name Yah, the realm of the negative commandments; “blessed is Mordechai” is the light drawn down through the positive commandments, the vav-hei.
וע״י בחי׳ יין המשכר הוא בחי׳ בטול ההשגה כו׳ ובחי׳ תשובה עלאה עולה למעלה מבחי׳ י״ה ומבחי׳ ו״ה.
And through the level of “intoxicating wine,” which is the level of the nullification of comprehension, etc., and the level of the higher teshuvah (return), one rises above the level of yud-hei and above the level of vav-hei.
The setting aside of understanding, like the higher teshuvah, rises above both yud-hei and vav-hei, above both kinds of commandments. There the difference between “cursed is Haman” and “blessed is Mordechai” no longer registers.
ובפורים מתגלה בחינה זו בכל נפש2 בכלל והארה מבחי׳ זו מתגלה קצת בכל יום בפרט בק״ש במסירת נפש באחד ובואהבת לכל חד לפוש״ד:
On Purim this level is revealed in every soul in general; and a glimmer of this level is revealed a little every day, in particular in the Shema, with self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh) at “One” and at “And you shall love,” for each one according to his own measure.
On Purim this level is revealed in every soul. Every day a glimmer of it appears in the Shema, when a person is ready to give his soul at “One” and at “And you shall love,” each according to his own measure.
Drinking until one cannot tell Haman from Mordechai reaches the higher teshuvah, above both kinds of commandments; Purim reveals it in every soul, and the Shema gives a glimmer of it daily.
Or HaTorah on Vayetzei explains this level: it is above the drawing down that comes through the positive and negative commandments, and it is the revelation of Keser, the level above intellect.
Marei mekomos
- 1חייב אינש לבסומי בפוריא · Megillah 7b:7–8
- 2ובחי׳ תשובה . . בכל נפש · דהיינו למעלה מהמשכה שע״י עשה ול״ת, וזהו התגלות הכתר. — אוה״ת פ׳ ויצא (כרך ה) תתנד, א.
Finished the maamar?
Mark it as learned; it counts toward the week and the year’s siyum.
In one’s avodah
Love and awe of G‑d should grow from self-nullification, from contemplating that all created beings are as nothing before Him, and not from natural feeling alone, which becomes yesh. Accepting G‑d’s kingship in the Shema should be real enough that every moment of the day without that awe is felt as a lapse, so that “pardon us, our King, for we have transgressed” is said sincerely. Torah should be learned lishmah, drawing G‑d’s oneness into it. And each day, in the Shema, at “One” and at “And you shall love,” a person can touch, according to his own measure, the self-sacrifice that Purim reveals.
Questions for discussion
- Why is a love of G‑d aroused through one’s natural emotions alone called yesh, and how does it “separate the Name”?
- How can a person who has done nothing wrong rightly say “for we have transgressed” after reciting the Shema?
- What distinguishes the high hand from the great hand and the strong hand, and why must the war against Amalek come from there?
- Why does the kelipah become a garment for holiness through teshuvah in exile, but is simply destroyed at a redemption “in its time”?
- How does drinking “until he does not know” express the higher teshuvah, and how is Purim related to Yom Kippur?
Key terms in this maamar
- 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.
- The light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin)ממלא כל עלמין
- Divine light that enters each world and gives it life according to its measure. ×1
- Kelipah (the husk)קליפה
- The forces of concealment that oppose holiness. ×3
- The sitra achra (the other side)סטרא אחרא
- The realm opposed to holiness. ×1
- The emotive attributes (middos)מדות
- Love, awe, compassion and the rest. ×13
- The Name Havayahהוי׳
- The Tetragrammaton: G‑d as transcending time and bringing all into being.
- Chesed (kindness)חסד
- Expansive giving. ×2
- Gevurah (restraint)גבורה
- Measure, limitation and judgment. ×3
- The Infinite One (Ein Sof)אין סוף
- G‑d's own boundless essence.
- The chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus)השתלשלות
- The step-by-step descent of divine light from the highest level down to this world. ×2
- Accepting the yoke (kabbalas ol)קבלת עול
- Submission to G‑d's will beyond understanding. ×3
- Self-nullification (bittul)ביטול
- Setting aside one's own sense of self before G‑d.
- Life-forceחיות
- The divine vitality that sustains every creation. ×2
- Chochmah (wisdom)חכמה
- The first flash of insight. ×1
- Binah (understanding)בינה
- Developing and grasping an insight in detail. ×1
- The outer dimension (chitzoniyus)חיצוניות
- The external, expressive aspect. ×1
- Teshuvah (return)תשובה
- Returning to G‑d; not only repentance. ×8
- Self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh)מסירות נפש
- Giving oneself over entirely to G‑d.
- The Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof)אור אין סוף
- G‑d's light as it is, beyond all limits, before any contraction.
- Daas (knowledge)דעת
- Deep connection to an idea, bridging intellect and emotion. ×1
- Malchus (sovereignty)מלכות
- Kingship: the level through which G‑d's word creates and rules the worlds. ×4
- The kav (line of light)קו
- The thin ray of light drawn into the space left after the tzimtzum. ×2