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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 two commandments in these last three portions directly reflect these thoughts. The commandment of hakhel, demanding that all of Israel-women and children included-assemble in the courtyard of the Holy Temple to listen to a reading of the Torah, is rooted in the fact that all of Israel is perceived of a single body. Subsequently the Torah once more instructs every individual Israelite separately to write a copy of the Torah for himself. As long as Israel perform G-d's commandments they experience a close affinity with G-d both on a national and on an individual level. If, G-d forbid, they were to fail to observe the Torah's commandments, they would find themselves under the influence of el nachar, an alien deity, i.e. Satan, the evil urge (mentioned in reishit chochma, sha'ar anava 57). When this happens, the sinner will find himself in the domain of "the left side of the emanations," i.e. subject to influences similar to those which govern the lives of the Gentiles. G-d has, however, provided a remedy for those Israelites who have become subject to these influences. This remedy is known as tshuvah, repentance. Repentance possesses the power to bring such sinners "back into the fold," into the right side of the emanations which represents holiness. This was pointed out by Nachmanides; the relevant verse is 30, 11 which refers to repentance. The mystical dimension of repentance is part of the emanation binah. Students of Kabbalah are aware that this emanation cannot be accessed by the Gentiles. The latter can access only the emanations from chesed "downwards." Canaanites have access to these lower emanations. Ishmael was sired by Abraham who represented the emanation chesed. Ishmael was sired by Abraham who represented the emanation chesed. Hence Gentiles are able to relate to this emanation. Being offspring of Isaac, who represented the next "lower" emanation gvara, the descendants of Esau also could access that emanation. Having delineated the above exceptions, the 70 nations can access only the sarim u'mazalot which we have already described. The inability of these 70 nations to access the emanations of either chesed or gvura explains why the touching by members of such nations disqualifies wine, an expression of G-d's bounty. All this because of the pollutant of the serpent which spread through mankind as a result of Eve having squeezed out the fruit of the tree of knowledge (reputedly the grape). It thus became what is termed in our portion (29, 17) poreh rosh v'la'ana, "a fruit turning into poison weed and wormwood." Concerning this type of wine, Solomon (Proverbs 23, 31) has said: "Do not look at wine when it is red." Since the emanation binah is not exposed to the "touch" of the Gentiles, the wine we find in that domain is the kind of which our sages have said that it has been preserved in its original grapes ever since the six days of Creation, in order to be served up to the righteous in the Hereafter (Berachot 34). This is an allusion to the six "revealed" days of Creation remaining as they are, i.e. accessible to contact by the Gentiles. The six days of Creation known as the days of binyan, the concealed aspect of the work of Creation, serve as an area in which this wine is stored for the eventual enjoyment by the righteous. The penitent must elevate himself to a level that qualifies him to partake of that wine in the future. He is able to burst the confining shackles of the klipot, symbols of the constraints imposed upon him by the evil urge, so that he can rejoin the mainstream of the Jewish people. The ba'al tshuva together with the other righteous will then experience the revelation of G-d's secrets as a result of having partaken of this wine. This is the meaning of Psalms 25, 14: "G-d's secrets are reserved for those who fear him." |
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