Smallness and greatness in the Aleph

The first letter in the Hebrew alphabet is Aleph ~ א. The same letters that spell the name of this letter also spell the word for one thousand--Eleph. Correspondingly, there are one thousand verses in the book of Vayikra, the middle book of the Torah.

Aleph is the last letter of the first word in the book of Vayikra. In traditional Torah scrolls, this Aleph is written in miniature form, as if in superscript at the end of the word. The secrets behind the small Aleph have been expounded upon for centuries.

The small Aleph is the 5th letter of the book of Vayikra, in the verse "And God called (vayikra) to Moses". The 5th verse of the Torah also begins with the same word--Vayikra. "And God called the light day and the darkness he called light; it was evening, it was morning, one day." Like in English, the word called can mean both 'to name', as it does in the fifth verse of Genesis, or to 'get the attention of', as it does in Vayikra.

Interestingly, the 5th appearance this multifaceted word 'Vayikra' in the Torah is the first time the word Vayikra with the connotation of 'calling at' someone. "And God called to Adam, and said to him, Where are you?"

These numerological secrets of the letters of the Torah hint at one layer of secrets hidden in the small Alef of Vayikra. In 1 Chronicles the word 'Adam' is written not with a small or standard Aleph, but specifically with a large Aleph. Kabbalah teaches that the Large Aleph (Aleph Rabbati) of Adam is what brought to the primordial error of eating from the Tree of Knowledge before its time. The rectification of this error is brought about through the small Aleph of "And God c(a)lled to Moses".

Even though the small aleph of Moses rectified the fall of pride, our destiny is to return to the divine illumination that was available to Adam corresponding to the Large Aleph, now infused with the nullification of Moses, such that the fullness of God is both experienced through us and returned to its source. 

~ collected from the writings of Yitzchak Ginsburgh and R' Schneur Zalman of Liadi

 

Body of Light

In the Garden of Eden, you are robed in with the precious robe of a pure spiritual body. Was there ever something similar in this physical world, a person who appears here in their physical body that is similar to their spiritual body like in your world?

Esther was robed in the fashion of that world, in Malchut (royalty) ~Esther 5:1

She was robed in the same manner as in that spiritual world, in Malchut, the source of Ruach Hakodesh, the Divine Spirit. For the Kingdom of Heaven blows a wind (spirit) from the spirit of the air of that world, and it enclothed Esther. When she entered into the presence of King Ahasuerus and he saw that robe of light, her form seemed to him like an angel of G-d, and he lost his soul for an instant.

Mordechai too was likewise clothed, as is written: "And Mordechai went out from the presence of the king dressed in the garment of Malchut (royalty)"--literally dressed in Malchut, in the form of that spiritual world. Therefore, it is written: "Because the fear of Mordechai had fallen upon them" (Esther 9:3), the fear of Mordechai and not the fear of Ahasuerus [who was the source of his temporal power].

In the air of the Garden of Eden blows a Divine Spirit and it enrobes the righteous in a manner similar to the manner in which they were dressed in the physical world. Then, the Divine Spirit dwells upon the head of each individual. He is adorned with it and it becomes a crown to him. The same happened to Mordechai, since it is written: "in the garment of Malchut" (Esther 8:15), in the form of that world. After that, "and with a great crown of gold"; that is, in the crown that rests on the heads of the righteous in that world.

Two bodies together cannot exist. As long as the physical one exists, the soul cannot receive the other. When this one, gets removed, the other one is instantly ready. Assuredly, this one leaves and that one enters. It is similar to the good inclination and bad inclination in this world, both of which the Holy One, blessed be He, does not wish to exist simultaneously in one person.

~ Zohar Shelach 169b

Holy Doubt

 

In the soul, Da'at stands opposite the attribute of Doubt, which cries: nothing can be known for sure, we can not really count on anything.

The Klippa corresponding to doubt is the Klippa of Amalek--the nation we are commanded (today) to obliterate completely, leaving no trace. In Chassidus, Amalek is the "head of Da'at"--as Da'at includes all the sefirot, Amalek is the general klippa which contains all klippot.

However the Zohar teaches that the tree of life of the Other Side, the Klippa, does not have the sefirah of Da'at. Evil does not have the inner connection of knowing to what it professes; its very nature is the suppression of the possibility to truly know.

In Gematria, Amalek עמלק is Safek ספק, Doubt. Doubt stands between the head and the heart, disconnecting mind's understanding from the heart's awakening and real character transformation. When doubt enters, the inner world is cooled and the soul becomes split in two: the mind doubts the possiblity of true good-heartedness, and the character traits become numb to external influence, leaving the personality in its original, unrectified nature.

The other klippot, which represent the other nations, can be rectified; every fallen attribute contains within it a holy spark, a core of holiness encased in a klippa of externality, and after the proper clarification one can access the essential goodness of a particular negative inclination. Amalek, pathological skepticism, however, undermines the very basis of this process--the ability to discern a point of truth in reality and to bond with it. This pathological cynicism has no place in holiness and should be entirely uprooted from the soul.

Still, the ability to doubt and the experience of doubt, are not entirely foreign to the rectified soul. Doubt is actually an important element of correction, when it is directed to the right purpose. Pathological skepticism doubts the existence of anything, the absolute value of any idea, and is based on the assumption that the only stable thing is my (ego's) ability to raise doubt, i.e. the power of my own mind.

Constructive skepticism "doubts" this very assumption: it threatens the solid walls around the "I" and advances my awareness that without changing, without truly bonding with otehrs, I cannot be at peace within my own walled existence. Holy doubt is the key to the entire process of Teshuva and Tikkun, as I begin to doubt my old assumptions and practices. Thus holy doubt is stronger than Amalek because it can doubt the doubt itself, and by way of doubt arrive at absolute certainty.

The King's Messengers

From the Torah it is not clear who initiated the sending of the spies to scout out the Land of Israel before Moses was to lead the people in triumphantly. In Numbers 13:2 it appears as if it was G-d's command: "Send for yourselves people" (As in "Go for yourself" that was said to Abraham). But how could this command, which ended up so tragically, have originated from God?

Rashi explains: "Send for yourselves"--by your own judgment; if you wish. This implies that the success of the spies depended on their inner identification and willingness to surrender to the task at hand.

In the case of a King's messengers, the will of the King is expressed more through the acts of his messengers than by the King's own actions, because in the act of comissioning messengers there is an inner bonding between the will of the messenger and the will of the King who sent them, and this power carries forth throughout the messengers' actions, enhancing the greatness of the King.

However, when there is hesitation among the people, who feel as if they are heading towards the unkown, and they will need a level of surrender that they have not yet known, they yearn for a King who will understand their weakness but also be able to provide them with strength and resolve. This is the test of Moses: can he activate messengers? Can he bring others to act according to their own internal compass, and in alignment with his will? And to electrify others with his spirit too? Moses has brought them out of Egypt, but can he inspire them with his vision to conquer the land? This was his real test.

Moses prepared his messengers with guidance, but the mission ultimately failed. We learn from Deuteronomy 1:37 that God considered the failure of the mission to ultimately have been Moses' failure. The spies felt that in their current situation, which was under Moses' leadership, they did not have the means to overcome the obstacles that they encountered in the Land during their scouting mission. Sure, they knew Moses as Prophet, Giver of the Torah, Judge and Ruler, clean of sin and of earthly desires, who had led them through the desert of mystical union, rather than through lands of military battles. Yet this experience left them feeling that they did not have enough desire and strength to leave the beauty of the desert, and cope with the inhabitants of the land, who drew from the land lives full of vitality and abundance. The world of the Oneness of Souls did not have the strength to overcome the separation of Existence (or so they supposed), and he who is comfortable in the land of separation will ultimately be victorious in battles fought there.

When the spies said "They are stronger than us" [regarding the Giants], the word "They" can also mean "He" in this context; in other words, the spies were in fact making a statement about God Himself; they sensed that identifying with God did not provide them with enough strength to protest and nullify the gross forms opposite them, and they renunciated that "even in the world to come He will not be able to pull us out of there" (G-d forbid).

But were the spies in fact corect [regarding Moses]? The severity of their sin and Moses' reproach indicates so, but in what did they sin? They sinned in the fact that they did not believe that Moses could, and desired more than anything else, to leave his own boundaries.

Moses achieved 49 Gates of Binah (Understanding), and at his death reached Sha'ar HaNun, the 50th Gate, the level of "no one knew", as Rebbe Nachman explains that Moses' soul departed out of his desire for the land of Israel, when he looked at Mount Nevo as a person desires a thing with infinite longing, until his soul expired from not being able to actualize his yearning. Moses is called "the faithful servant", sustainer, shephard and nourisher of faith in the souls of Israel. How does he sustain them? Through the Da'at (knowledge) that he sows in them. But even though knowledge cultivates faith, nonetheless a person must make a space in one's personality, as a result of the opening of knowledge, in order for faith to take hold. For faith, with all her silence and trasncendence of explanation, is infintely fiercer and more violent than knowledge, which is conditioned by human limitations, and therefore, the climate and immunity of Israel are fit for her.

This is why Moses yearns to move from knowledge of in the desert, to faith above knowledge in the land of Israel. For this the spies needed to believe that Moses of Israel was different than Moses of the desert, that he yearned to leave the word of speech (dibbur-midbar) to the word of the Hint (Remez), by which God had not yet been known, but which marks the place at which Faith shines, where the God's revelation transcends all conceptualizations and limits, and where humanity reaches, by way of knowing-not-knowing, an identification 

with God's validity and force.

This is in relation to the sin of the spies, but as for the leader--happy is the generation whose leader admits that the people's sin is his own. The spies did not believe that Moses could transcend his boundaries, precisely because he does not believe in them truly and purely that they too can trasncend themselves. Moses then sent the spies without full trust that they would complete their mission. He himself failed to fully identify with the Divine permission given to send messengers; and sent them instead as if it were a command. Only by imparting the strength of his own desire to his messengers can they succeed.

Moses was a stutterer, and already at the beginning of his path, it was clear how much he hesitated from being a messenger himself, how much we doubted that he could awaken the people to believe in redemption. Even after the Exodus, until accepting Jethro's advice, Moses assumed that everyone who wanted to speak to God had to go through him first. Moses was not convinced then that his approach, which derived from seeing God and his works, was going to be accepted fully and honestly (at least not to the point of emulation) by those who had not seen visions of God themselves regularly, who were burdened by slavery to physical reality, to its rules, conditions and limitations. Before the Flood, 'from the water I drew him' means that Moses was drawn from another world, from a dimension that was entirely Chesed and revelation, and that was the world he lived. Because of this, he stutters out of fear when he comes to speak things to those to whom this reality is foreign, his heart naturally telling him that he will not completely succeed in his own mission.

But he who truly wants to be a King must be able to rule like Moses rules when he applied the advice of Jethro. One must believe that every one, when the task is thrust upon them, will find the strength necessary to fulfill it; the identification with the one who sends will awaken this strength. When one comes to lead those who are far with an inner capacity that longs to lifts to them up and awaken in them identification with their King, there must be readiness to 'risk it all' for their hidden qualities, despite the limtiations of their revealed dimension, for without this there is no need in a king who will be exalted and elicit honor and awe; there could just as well be a tyranny. The thirst for the rule of a King is precisely the thirst for someone who will impart trust in the innermost, concealed point, forcing it to appear and draw the entire personality after it. Surely this entails great risk, and threfore there will be mistakes from time to time, as the Zohar states regarding the verse 'that a leader sins'-- Will a leader surely sin? Yes, a leader surely sins!

Moses sent spies but apparently did not believe enough that they could transcend themselves, that without him they could want to lead like him. And because he did not believe in them, they too did not believe in him, that he could too work outside of his own boundaries, and be filled with real desire for the Life of Israel, full of vitality, physicality, and engagement, the opposite of the equanimous, spiritual and unitary Life of the desert.

This is the meaning of: Send--by your own judgment. For there can be no absolute commandment to appoint messengers, for this would deny the freedom of choice of the one who sends whether or not to believe in his messengers. Still, God did want Moses to send them, and the command was God's desire for Moses to rule from his own freedom and readiness to rule, rather than out of obedience alone to the God's will.

The paradox of being commanded by God to choose can be explained as follows: 

Even though I am an entity on own, full of validity, freedom, and power of decision, in all this, I am You, not really separate at all, my Will is like Your Will, wherever you send me, to the hidden stairways and depth of concealment, the essential truth of my being--which appears so separate--is your Being; it only requires a wise and enlightened being to discern that I am nothing but a Hint to You, one who may approach my soul so as to redeem her. After Him we will surely go! 

Adapted to English from Yiztchak Ginsburgh, Rucho Shel Mashiach: HaTkufa B'Re'i Ha'Chasidut [The Spirit of Mashiach: The Contemporary Era in the Light of Chassidut], compiled by Yisrael Ariel, (c) 2004, pp. 193-199

The spiritual service required of our generation

The work of Sifting good from evil stretches from the sin of the Tree of Knowledge until the period perceding the coming of the Messiah. In our generation--the last generation of exile and the first generation of Redemption--the Lubavitcher Rebbe said that "the work of Sifting has been completed" (from a talk on Rosh Hashana 1987).

The determination that the work of Sifting was complete requires further explanation, because on a practical level it appears as if the world is not perfect, and there is still a reality of evil -- beginnning with the reality of consciousness itself as existent, without subjugating itself to God, all the way to the reality of real evil that operates according to God's will.

On a basic level, we must understand the words of the Rebbe as a directive that although there is still work - after all there is still a reality that requires rectification and upliftment - it is the NATURE of our work that changes as we approach the coming of the Messiah. We are no longer taking part in the work of Sifting that was known throughout all generations; our generation has a different task altogether.

What is the additional work, that is left after the work of Sifting? According to the Rebbe there are three accepted interpretations by way of Kabbalah for the new, additional work that takes place after the work of Sifting with which we were occupied throughout our Exile

A) The Stages of Sifting through good & evil

The work Sifting is the general name for the raising of the holy sparks scattered throughout physical reality back to holiness, but when we look closer at the content of this work it becomes evident that there are two major phases, as explained in Kabbalah and Chassidut, that the work of Sifting is comprised two separate "clarifications", and that when the Rebbe said that the work of Sifting was completed, his intention was that the work of the first stage had culminated, and that now our work is to move to the next stage of the work.

The beginning of raising up a holy spark within the mundane reality that hides G-d, is clairfying that part of reality that is "willing" to surrender itself to G-d--that point of reality which "feels" its dependence on G-d and is ready because of this to nullify itself to Him, to nullify its individual experience for the sake of fulfilling G-d's will. This subservience to Hashem is not identification with G-d's will and complete nullifcation to Him, but rather an awareness that despite my will to do otherwise, I must fulfill G-d' will--this is "nullification of What Is", which "feels" itself as existant and possessing of a searate will, but nullifies itself and subjugates itself to God's will. Finding this point of "nullification of What Is" in reality is the first clarification--the sifting and extrication of the element ready to nullify itself to G-d, amidst the evil that opposes G-d.

After the first clarification, the spark itself is not yet experienced as God, and therefore the second clarification is necessary to raise the spark up to be reunited with the divine will and to identify with it. After the second clarification, there is no subjugation of an existant, independent reality to God's will, but rather a desire, a longing for G-d, an identifying with His will, all the way to a complete nullification before G-d's presence--"nullification in reality". The second clarification takes place in Atzilut, where there is no reality other than G-d.

B) The Beinoni and the Tzaddik

The transition from the first to second clarification is in essence the transition from the work of the Intermediate (Beinoni)--"the level accessible to every person, for which everyone should strive"--to the work of the Tzaddik. First, when we compare the two levels of clarification to the different levels in spiritual service, the first clarification is parallel to the level of Itkafya (Subduing)--the self-imposing work of the intermediates, who do not identify with the will of God but who submit themselves to act against their nature--whereas the second clarification is parallel to the work of Ithapcha (Transmuting) -- the work of tzddikim who turn their animalistic traits into divine attributes, who desire on their own accord in the existence of divine goodness.

During exile, the intermediate was instructed that it was not within his reach to reach the level of true trasmutation, to an essential shift in the character traits of his animal soul, and that at the most he could submit them through Subduing.

Yet in order to bring the Messiah every member of Israel is required to do perform the spiritual service of the tzaddik--to reveal the level of soul about which was said "all of your people are righeous"==and everyone can reach Transmuting. After all, after the work of Subduing, the person is left--his mind and character traits (as opposed to his thoughts, speech and action) are in Inner Exile, unredeemed from the negative desires of the anmalistic soul, and he does not "flow" with the stream of Divine Goodness. In order to reach Redemption in the world, a person must reach the Inner Redemption of the Soul--complete liberation from the evil impulses and desires, and identification with the divine will.

to be continued...

~ The Jewish Nature: the Way to Natural Consciousness, by Rav Yitzchak Ginsburgh, pp.199-202, adapted to English

The Greater Chesed

Art by Josephine Wall

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935), a modern philosopher and mystic, and the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, composed a line-by-line, word-for-word commentary on ana b’khoach, a Kabbalistic acrostic for the 42-letter name of God. For Kook, the first line of the prayer, “ana b’khoach gedulat yemincha”, “Please with the Power of Your Great Right,” is calling upon the Right side, which in Kabbalah refers to chesed:

The exalted Right of God -- The stronghold of chesed that cycles through the world, and the fundamental trajectory of all of existence, For “a world will be built on loving-kindness (chesed).

Thus in opening the prayer by calling on God’s Right, we are calling upon the ultimate source of Chesed in the world, and in doing so, invoking the fundamental purpose of this world—the desire to bestow good upon an Other. For Kook, invoking God’s Right and the original intent of creation are key, since the world, “which emerged contracted and degraded,” is characterized, in contrast, by boundaries. While absolute loving-kindness may have been the initial impulse of creation, the means to dispensing this goodness was limitations (gevurah). In the words of Chagigah 12b, “When God said ‘Let there be a firmament’, the world kept stretching and expanding, until God said, ‘Enough!’ and it came to a standstill.” Our very existence as independent autonomous beings seems to be predicated on a degree of separateness from God, on the concealment of His light from some places. Just as water requires a vessel to be useful, so goodness requires boundaries in order to be fully appreciated. Yet although limitations may be necessary for our separate existence, we open the prayer by invoking the original impulse to create the world, and the goal of existence, which is and always was loving-kindness.

Kook continues to delineate three levels of chesed: Yemin, Gedulat HaYamin, and Koach Gedulat HaYamin (the Right, the Great Right, and the Power of the Great Right), the third of which is the most precise address of this prayer. In the first distinction, Kook explains the difference between koten hayamin, the Lesser Right, and Gedulat HaYamin, the Greater Right:

Indeed, the Right has both Great and Small: The Lesser Right, is when goodness is allotted according to the limited capacity of the receiver, to the extent that one can bear. But the Greater Right, is the aspect of goodness that gives love greater than the capacity of the receiver, and if one cannot bear the excess of love, then the love is so great, that it gives over from its love also the ability and strength to hold the receiving of the good and the love.

Whereas the Lesser Right gives according to what a person can bear, and no more, the Greater Right gives in such a way that lifts up the receiver so that he or she can receive even more than their capacity. The lesser chesed may correspond to the notion of middah k’neged middah, giving based on what a person deserves, or more broadly, giving according to what a person can appreciate. The greater chesed blurs the boundaries between giver and receiver, by refusing to take the receiver’s qualities as a given, and withholding nothing from the act of giving. In the human realm, the greater chesed may correspond to the love of a parent to a child, or a lover to a beloved, in which one gives of the deepest part of oneself to the other, and changes the receiver in the process. Thus we pray not only to the Right, but to the Greater Right, to lift us up to a place where we can receive even more, as it says in Kiddushin 100a: “The Blessed Holy One gives strength to the Righteous to receive their portion.”

Yet for Kook, the greater chesed is still limited in some way: no matter how grand the love may be, all chesed, once actualized and applied to our reality, becomes inherently limited, marred somewhat by the “characteristic limitations and constrictions of the world.” For Kook, it is only chesed in Potentiality, the koach of gedulat yemincha, that carries within it the full range of possibilities and the most potent potential of God’s desire to give. Only potential chesed will be free of the inherent restraints of reality, and will offer a truly satisfactory resolution to boundedness. If the world was initially created with the goal of chesed, but boundaries and limitations accumulated in the process, we are praying to renew the world with its original intent: that chesed flow uncompromisingly into this world. Thus, we pray: With the Power of Your Great Right, Release the Bound.

Can ultimate chesed penetrate a world defined by limitations, or egos predicated on separateness? In praying to “release the bound,” are we asking to undo the very nature of reality? In his commentary on the prayer’s closing line, Kook describes the final goal:

And when the Power of the Great Right releases the binds, then everything will be drenched in complete freedom, with absolutely no limitations and constrictions. And life will ascend to the exalted heights to be reunited with the body of the king (l’ishta’ava begufa d’malka), and to be illuminated with the light of all life. Then all hindrances, which at some instance could impede the flow of holiness and the upper wholeness from appearing, will be subdued. And forever and ever blessing will abound, and all of existence will sparkle in God's light.

Apparently, while this world may be inherently limited, existence in general is not inherently limited. According to some schools of Kabbalistic thought, this “contracted and degraded world” was not the only possibility for existence, nor was it the original intent. Rather, because of a cosmic accident (the shattering of the vessels) or human error (eating from the tree), the world in its perfect, ideal state became severely contracted. Thus, in looking ahead to the future, we can yearn for a world that both allows our individuality and existence as others, and at the same time, one that openly demonstrates the unity of the world with its source, and enables Benevolence to emanate unobstructed. As in Sefer Ha-Pliah, the world began with ‘A world will be built on loving-kindness,’ (chesed) progressed to ‘In the Beginning Elohim created’ (din), and reached a resolution with ‘“On the day that YHVH Elohim made earth and heaven.” The power of this prayer is to ask that God overcome the very limitations that currently restrict reality, so that this world itself can become a container for God’s infinite chesed: 

And the light of Shechinah (the indwelling Presence) will be illuminated by the light of Ein Sof (the Infinite), without any limitations.

For the history of the forty-two letter name of God and the prayer Ana B'Choach in the Jewish Mystical tradition, see here

On Leadership

'And Moses was the shepherd of Yitro's sheep' (Ex 3:2)

God does not bring a person to greatness, unless He has tested him first, as it says 'God tests the righteous; with what does he test them? By making them shepherds.' (Midrash)

In the verse above the Torah could have said that Moses "became" Yitro's shepherd, at this very point in time, but it speaks in past tense, telling us Moses already was a shepherd, to teach that because he already was a faithful shepherd, God revealed Himself to Moses at the Burning Bush, and the people of Israel were given to him to lead.

Even though God is omniscient, and nothing is hidden from Him, it is still the case that when a person's level is actualized, in reality, as in the case of the faithful shepherd leading his sheep, this serves as grounds for this person to rise to greatness, in actuality. If there was not something to test him, his righteousness would not be revealed at all, and there would be no grounds by which he could rise to greatness on a practical level. For greatness on a practical level, must have a cause on a practical level.

Because everything comes from God in the appropriate amount: if one's righteousness is found on practical level--his greatness will be found on a practical level. If there is no revealed righteousness--there will be no revealed greatness. Therefore, he was tested to begin with, and when he was found to be righteous in a revealed way, he was great in a revealed way as well.

And this will explain why there are people who raise theological questions regarding the tests given by God to the righteous. They say, God knows the future, so he already knows the outcome of the test! Surely, this is true. But for something to be revealed, there needs to be a cause as well that is revealed (not only in potential), and if a a righteous person's virtues are not actualized, the reward of the righteous could also not be actualized, and so with every thing that is drawn to the righteous person.

And this matter is very deep, and this matter is very clear.

~ The Maharal of Prague