Chassidut on the Torah
The week of Parshas Noach, 5762
Overview
(Genesis 6:9-11:32) G-d told Noach that the world was filled with perversion and He will destroy it through a flood. He ordered Noach to build an ark, promising to save him and his family. He also told him to bring into the ark seven pairs of every clean animal and two pairs of every unclean animal, and seven pairs of every bird, as well as food for his family and for the animals. It rained for 40 days and nights, and all was destroyed. The water remained for a year. G-d then commanded Noach to leave the ark, and promised that He would never again cause such mass destruction by flood on earth. Noach offers sacrifices from the clean species. G-d placed a rainbow in the sky as a sign of this covenant. As a result of an unpleasant incident, Noach cursed his son Cham, whose son was Canaan, that he would always be slave to his brothers. Noach died at the age of 950. The Parasha then chronicles the generations of Noach's sons. The earth had one language, and the people decided to build a tower to heaven. G-d saw this, and made the people speak different languages so that they could not understand each other. He then scattered them across the world. The chronicle of generations continues through to Avram, who married Sarai. They settled in Charan.
Insights
The Rebbe points out an interesting parallel to a verse in our parsha to a similar verse in the Zohar. In reference to the flood, our parsha writes, "In Noach's 600th year…all of the fountains of the great deep and all of the windows of heaven were opened" (7/11).
1800 years ago, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai writes, "In the Sixth century of the sixth millennium the upper gateways of wisdom will open as well as the fountains of wisdom below. Through this the world will be prepared/adjusted to enter the seventh (and final) millennium" (Zohar V1, 117,A). The Zohar is referring to different aspects of the revelation of knowledge: first, divine supernal wisdom of the Torah, and secondly to the revelation of the lower wisdom, secular knowledge of nature and the world. This statement proved prophetic. At the predicted time, 262 year ago, there was the revelation of Torah Chassidus which swept through the Jewish world as well as the simultaneous revolution in secular knowledge. The Zohar says clearly that this will affect a rectification of the world to prepare for our entering the 7th millennium: Mashiach times.
That there will be a need for new Torah knowledge to usher in the 7th millennium makes sense. We are taught that before the 7th millennium "The earth will be filled with knowledge of G-d like water fills the sea" (Yeshaya 11/9). The Chassidic fundamentals of the connection between the divine to the physical is a preparation for this era. What is not clear is why do we also need a similar occurrence with secular knowledge?
The prophet Yeshaya (40/5) tells us that among the principle events in the days of Mashiach will be that "the honor of G-d will be revealed and together all flesh will see that G-d is speaking". Chassidus explains that the expression 'all flesh' means that every aspect of the physical world itself will grasp that ITS essence and continuation is from G-d. The knowledge of G-d will no longer be only a spiritual perception. It will be a physical experience. The physical world itself will become a vessel for revealing G-dliness.
The preparation for this is the revolution in secular knowledge. We already see how secular and divine knowledge are beginning to touch on what was once only in the spiritual realm. From psychology to physics, 'secular' fields move in and out of spiritual and physical concepts. Not long ago, each physical force was seen as something separate and independent. More and more we are seeing that the essential source of everything is based on one foundation, pointing towards G-d's unity. It is becoming clearer and clearer that instead of secular knowledge being a contradiction to Judaism, it can now be used to serve and support spiritual ideas.
When a Jew also utilizes secular wisdom to serve G-d, he or she is clearing away another obstacle and bringing the world one step closer to Mashiach times. (The Rebbe made the point that his intention was not to promote university education, primarily due to the negative moral influences there. This is a separate issue to be discussed with a family's chosen advisor). It was for this reason that these wisdoms were revealed now, so close to the coming of Mashiach, in order to allow each of us individually to take advantage of the secular world to serve G-d, and to help hasten the redemption.
Shabbat Shalom, Shaul