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The Arizal on the Torah |
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Parashat Shoftim The portion of the Torah read this week begins with the commandment: “Appoint judges and policemen in all your gates which G-d your G-d gives you, according to your tribes, that they may judge the people equitably.”[1] Although it is not evident in English,[2] the imperative “appoint” as well as the pronouns “your” and “you” are in the singular. Why is this commandment phrased in the singular, rather than in the plural? We heard in the name of the esteemed Rabbi Chaim Vital, of righteous memory, that this is so in order to indicate that every individual Jew has several “gates.” These are: the gates of sight, the eyes; the gates of hearing, the ears; the gate of speech, the mouth; the gate of smell, the nose; the gate of touch, the hands and feet. Just the gate of a domain is a passageway through which one enters and exits, the “gates” of the person are his sense organs, through which stimuli enter his mind and he reacts to the outside world. The skin—here represented by the hands and feet, its principle loci of action, is in fact considered an “organ” in many biological contexts, no less than the other organs mentioned here. Thus, a person must position “judges” and “policemen” at each of these “gates,” in order to protect himself from looking at women forbidden to him, listening to untoward matters, speaking in a foul or malicious manner, smelling the perfume of a woman forbidden to him, touching such a woman or walking to commit a sexual sin, or walking to theatres or circuses. This is why “your gates” is phrased in the singular, in order to indicate the above. When a person guards his “gates” from sin, it is said of him, “Open up, O gates, that a righteous nation may enter,”[3] measure for measure.[4] Furthermore, the 310 worlds destined for every righteous person will open their gates for him, for every world has its entrance gate. The final section of the Mishnah begins:[5] “Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: The Holy One, blessed be He, will in the future bequeath every righteous individual three hundred and ten worlds, as it is written: ‘To bequeath substance to My beloved, and I will fill their storehouses.’”[6] The numerical value of the word for “substance” (yesh, yud-shin) is 310. Know as well, that [on the path] from here to heaven there are all sorts of accusing angels and angels of destruction, and there are a number of gates to each of the seven heavens, each of which is guarded. When the soul ascends it is inspected. If it is worthy, the gates are opened for it and it is permitted to enter. If it is not, it is pushed outside, the gates are closed before it and it is not allowed to enter. For this reason, every intelligent person should take [this teaching] to heart while he is still alive and control and guard his “gates,” as we said above. He will then merit to have the gates of righteousness opened before him, as we have said. The “accusing angels” and “angels of destruction” are the corresponding elements to “judges and policemen” on the side of evil. The accusing angels tally off the individuals sins, which were brought about by not properly guarding his “gates,” and the “angels of destruction” cause the ascending soul to suffer accordingly. The seven heavens are listed in the Talmud:[7]
* * * Further on, the Torah commands: “If something be too complicated for you to judge, whether it be between two types of blood, or two different cases, or types of plague, or an argument in your gates, go up to the place that G-d your G-d will chose.”[8] The “place that G-d will chose” refers to the site of the Temple in Jerusalem, where the high court, the Sanhedrin, met. They are the final judicial authority of the Torah. According to our sages, this verse alludes to an exchange between the Ministering Angels and the Holy One, blessed be He, when the Temple was being destroyed. The following exchange is based on the idea that “He declares His words to Jacob, His judgements to Israel,” i.e., that the commandments of the Torah are a description of the ways, customs, or behavior of G-d. In some abstract or spiritual way, He Himself performs all the commandments in the Torah, and commands us to do the same simply in order that we emulate Him. When the Temple was destroyed, according to the accusations of the angels in this exchange, G-d transgressed a number of His own commandments, so to speak. [The Angels began:][9]
“Master of the World, You wrote in Your Torah: …when you shed its blood you must cover [the blood] with dirt.[10] In this
case, however, it is written: [O G-d,
nations have come into Your inheritance, They
have defiled Your holy Temple, They
have laid Jerusalem in heaps. They
have given the dead bodies of Your servants to be
food to the birds of the sky, The
flesh of Your pious ones to the beasts of the earth.] They
have shed their blood like water around Jerusalem, And
there was no one to bury them.[11] For the
blood she shed is still in her; She set
it upon a bare rock; She
did not pour it out on the ground to cover it with earth.[12] You
wrote in Your Torah: You
shall not slaughter [any animal] and its young on the same day.[13] In this
case, however, it is written: Mothers
and babes were dashed to death together.[14] You
wrote in Your Torah: And
the priest shall command that they empty out the house…[15] In this
case, however, it is written: They
burned the House of G-d and
tore down the wall of Jerusalem, burned
down all its mansions, and
consigned all its precious objects to destruction.”[16] G-d
answered them: “Is there any peace in the world, then? Since there is no peace,
there is nothing.” It is stated in the Mishnah that peace is the vessel for all blessing, meaning that without peace, there is no point in G-d bestowing His blessing on the world, for inasmuch as there is no vessel to contain it, it will just dissipate. We are taught specifically that it was the second Temple that was destroyed on account of the causeless hatred amongst the Jewish people (whereas the first Temple was destroyed on account of other sins), yet the verses quoted all refer to the destruction of the first Temple (which occurred during Biblical times, while that of second Temple was post-Biblical). However, that the same sorts of suffering occurred in the second destruction, and there is also no reason to assume that the verses referring to the first destruction do not refer prophetically to the second destruction as well. All this alluded in this verse quoted above, as follows: “If something be too complicated for you to judge, whether it be between two types of blood”—this refers to the angel’s query regarding why G-d did not follow His own law regarding shedding blood [and did cover the blood with dirt]. “…or two different cases…”—this refers to the angel’s query regarding why G-d did not follow His own law regarding not slaughtering an animal and its young on the same day. “…or types of plague…”—this refers to the angel’s query regarding why G-d did not follow His own law regarding saving property and possessions. The answer to the angels is alluded to in the next phrase: “…an argument in your gates…”—arguments and lack of peace brings all this about. The verse then concludes: “…go up to the place that G-d your G-d will chose”—for Jerusalem is “the city that is altogether united”[17]; in it all become friends. Jerusalem existed before the Temples were destroyed, of course, so what is meant here is obviously more than a physical ascent to the physical city of Jerusalem. Rather, what is meant is an ascent to the ideals embodied in the idealized vision of Jerusalem as the center of the Torah and Divine revelation on earth. This is embodied in the name Jerusalem, which means “total awe” (Yerushalayim -> yirah shalem), or absolute awareness of being in the presence of G-d. Also, the study of the Torah unites and makes peace amongst people. —translated from Sha’ar
HaMitzvot and Ta’amei HaMitzvot by Rabbi Moshe Wisnefsky [1] Deuteronomy 16:18. [2] At least in Modern English. Archaic English would use “ye” to distinguish the plural “you” from the singular “you.” [3] Isaiah 26:2. [4] Meaning: the reward is of the same nature as the commandment fulfilled. [5] Uktzin 3:12. [6] Proverbs 8:21. [7] Chagigah 12b. [8] Deuteronomy 17:8. [9] Similar (although not identical) passages to this occur in Eichah Rabbah 1; Midrash Tehilim 119:32. [10] Leviticus 17:13. After any animal is slaughtered in the ritual manner, its blood must be covered with dirt. [11] Psalms 79:3 [12] Ezekiel 24:7, referring to the population of Jerusalem as an errant woman. [13] Leviticus 22:28. [14] Hosea 10:14. [The source text here quotes a passage I could not identify with any specific Biblical verse: “the children are slaughtered…. ” The verse quoted here is the one used in the Midrashic passages on which this citation is based.] [15] Leviticus 14:36. When a house is about to be declared defiled by reason of a plague having attacked its walls, the officiating priest is required to direct those present to first empty the house of all its movable items. This is in order that they not fall under the same declaration of impurity as the house he is about to sentence, for if they were, it would be necessary to purify them or destroy them (if they could not be purified, as is the case with earthenware vessels). We see from this law that G-d is concerned with not causing unnecessary monetary loss to any Jew. [16] 2 Chronicles 36:19. [17] Psalms 122:3. |
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Ascent of Safed
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