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Sh'lah on the Torah |
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(3 parshas together) The following translation by Mr. Eliyahu Munk is an excerpt from the book Shney Luchot HaBrit -- the Sh'lah The numerical value of the word sod, secret, is 70. It alludes to the 70 who formed the nucleus of the Jewish people who first went down to Egypt. Because they were all a single "person," nefesh, they all have a share in the World to Come. It is known to Kabbalists that the emanation binah is the mystical dimension of the World to Come, a domain where G-d and His name are One and where a unified people of Israel cleave to Him. It is only the people of Israel who are referred to by the title Adam; by describing the creation of Adam as "in G-d's likeness" (Genesis l,26), the Torah concurrently refers to the creation of the Jewish people. When we reflect on the respective meanings of Adam and Adamah, earth, we must conjure up in our minds that it is the function of this Adam to serve as the Merkava, carrier, or better Adamah of G-d's Presence. G-d is perceived as sitting on a throne. The throne is standing on this Adamah, i.e. is supported by Adam, the Jewish people. It follows that any misconduct by Israel in our terrestrial spheres undermines the "floor" on which G-d's throne is based. 32,4 and 5 allude to the holy origin of Man/Israel and its eventual corruption by the dual spelling of the word 'lo' both with the letter vav and with the letter aleph. The Zohar on 32,3 (Sullam edition Ha-azinu page 92) states: "What is the meaning of 'For I will proclaim the name of the Lord?' Rabbi Shimon answers: "give glory to our G-d!" Rabbi Abba comments as follows: "The words 'give glory' are a reference to gedulah or the emanation chesed." The words: 'hatzur, tamim pa'alo', "The Rock, whose works are perfect," are a reference to the emanation gevurah. The words: 'ki kol d'rachav mishpat', "for all His ways are justice," are a reference to the emanation tiferet. The words: 'el emunah', "a faithful G-d," refer to the emanation netzach, whereas the words 'ein ol', "never false", refer to the emanation hod. The word: 'tzaddik', "the righteous One," alludes to the emanation yesod, whereas the word: 'v'yashar', "the upright One," refers to tzedek, another name for the emanation malchut. All these expressions combined form the name of G-d. This is why Moses said: "I will proclaim the name of G-d." Rabbi Chiyah added that he had learned a great deal from this verse and that what Rabbi Abba said was certainly appropriate. In view of the fact that so many attributes are all part of G-d's name, it would be easy to err and to think in terms of a number of different powers instead. In order to prevent us from making such an error the Torah employs an apparently superfluous pronoun when it write the word 'hu' at the end of verse 4. This pronoun is to emphasize that, the various attributes notwithstanding, they are all qualities of one and the same G-d. He was, He is, and He will be forever. Thus far the Zohar. The Torah continues: 'Shachat lo (with a vav) lo (with an aleph) barav momaim', "It (Israel, Adam who had been created in the image of G-d), became corrupt, etc." when they departed from the ways of the Torah. The reason we have the word 'lo' here spelled with the letter vav is an allusion to the damage Israel's perversions cause to the throne of G-d. So as to forestall the impression that this "damage" is actual, the Torah quickly "corrects itself" by repeating the word as a negative, i.e. lo (with an aleph). This emphasizes that our actions do not cause corruption in the Celestial Regions, though G-d's image is impaired when His chosen people do not live up to His expectations. The Torah next explains how Israel become blemished precisely because they are G-d's children and G-d loves them. He only has their welfare in mind and wishes to shower them with His goodness, but is prevented from doing so through the crooked and perverse behavior of a certain generation. To sum up: Whenever Israel conduct themselves in accordance with G-d's laws they add power and glory to His stature in the Celestial Regions. |
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