Parshas Vaeschanon^[1]

1^st Mamar “Vaeschanon El Hashem”

1. Vaeschanon El Hashem:^[2]
2. The purpose of creation – To know G-d:

It states in the Zohar that the purpose of creation of man was in order for him to know G-d. The intent of this statement is as follows: Our physical world was created in a way that G-dliness is completely concealed and darkened. In essence, one does not naturally know G-d upon living in this world. This is due to the many contractions and descents of the Divine light of G-d below into the lowly and utterly dark world. This concealment and darkness however is all for the sake of searching for G-d and finding Him within the darkness. Once found, then the darkness shines with a much greater light, similar to a dark room that has many candles lit inside of it. It is for this purpose that G-d created man, to serve as the light of the candle to shine the darkness of the world and turn darkness into light.

Every Jew is a candle: More particularly, every G-dly soul of a Jew serves as another candle to light the darkness of the world as each Jew is tasked with a mission of lighting some of the world’s darkness. Hence, the more Jewish people we have in this world, the more candles we have shining the darkness of the world. The 600,000 Jewish souls represent 600,000 candles. The amount of candles necessary is in accordance to the depth of the darkness, and hence the darker the world the more candles that are required to shine it.

How to accomplish knowing G-d: The Jewish soul ends up shining the darkness of the world through knowing G-d. In other words, achieving knowledge of G-d as stated in the Zohar is the way that one lights the candle and shines the darkness. Now, what is the meaning of knowing G-d? This doesn’t just mean that one believes in His existence, or even brings His existence to a point of factual knowledge, but that one arouses a love and passion to cleave to G-d to the point of expiry of the soul. Accordingly, it does not suffice to have a mere fleeting thought and contemplation about G-d and how He fills and encompasses all worlds, and rather one must contemplate matters that touch the essence of the soul to the point that he wants to leave the darkness of the world and all of its lusts in order to cleave to G-d. This is the true meaning of the Zoharic statement, “for the sake of knowing Him,” as knowledge in Hebrew doesn’t refer only to intellectual knowledge but to a complete penetration within one’s heart and emotions.

• The Divine lesson: First and foremost, one can learn from the above teaching the value and significance of the divine service of every single Jew. Every Jew contains both the ability and obligation to light a specific candle to shine the darkness of the world. This cannot be accomplished by anyone else other than you. Hence, every Jew has a purpose and is an essential part of bringing the world to perfection and redemption. The second lesson that we can learn from the above  is the importance in one exercising his mind and heart in loving G-d, as this is the light that shines the darkness of the world.

 

1. Channeling one’s passions and lusts for G-d:

Above we mentioned the concept of turning darkness into light. What does this actually mean? So, here is a tangible example of turning darkness into light within one’s own soul. One of the central elements of every animal soul is the element of fire. It is this element that is responsible for one’s lusts and passions for all the physical pleasures of the world, which are considered mundane and dark, being empty of holiness. The way it works is as follows: The element of fire within the animal soul becomes naturally heated which leads to the creation of a flame of passion. This flame of passion that comes from this element of fire needs to be quenched, and it hence begins lusting after all matters that give a person pleasure. Unfortunately, this often leads to one falling prey to pleasures that are either forbidden in their essence, or are superfluous and not for the sake of serving G-d, which is also a level of evil. This is the natural darkness that the soul lives with in this world. However, the good news is that this darkness can be turned to light. How? Through quenching one’s lust for pleasure of his element of fire with service of G-d, with igniting a powerful and intense passion to cleave to G-d. Cleaving to G-d is no less pleasurable than whatever physical pleasures one enjoys, and on the contrary, the pleasure in cleaving to G-d is infinitely greater than any worldly pleasure that one can experience. To accomplish this however one must first remove his passion from the physical pleasures of this world through cooling off his excitement for them and repulsing evil. This will naturally cause the passion that results from the heating up of his element of fire to be channeled towards G-dliness.

• The Divine lesson: The above teaching is most insightful. It explains why in life there are times that we are emotionless and apathetic, lacking excitement for anything including its pleasures, and other times we are filled with excitement and passion. This has to do with the element of fire in our animal souls being heated versus being dormant. What subconsciously heats it is beyond our control and understanding, and it could be based on mystical changes taking place on high regarding our soul, or based on a specific mission that we need to accomplish that day as known only to G-d. However, there also exists conscious ways of heating one’s spiritual element of fire, such as by drinking red wine, or speaking of, or observing, those things from which one receives pleasure. This explains why on Yom Kippur we ask for forgiveness for sinning with our evil inclination, as although all sin is with the evil inclination, at times we’re the ones who consciously arouse it. Now, the greatest part of the above teaching is that from it we learn that one is not expected to suppress and extinguish his heat and flame of passion that comes from the element of fire in his soul, but rather simply to re-channel it to a different pleasure, a pleasure of holiness that is experienced through cleaving to G-d. Hence, next time one is aroused with a passion for one of the worldly pleasures, try taking out a book of Tehillim and reading some of the passages with great emotion knowing that by reading it one is cleaving to G-d.

 

3^rd Mamar “Veyadata Hayom Vehasheivosa”

2. Veyadata Hayom Vehasheivosa:^[3]

See Volume 1 of our Chassidishe Parsha Likkutei Torah Series under Parshas Vaeschanon where we covered the following matters of this Mamar in detail:

1. The Question

2. The two commands?
3. G-d’s existence is fact-not faith
4. What is Daas?
5. What type of G-d does the world testify to us?
6. Internalizing the Emunah of Soveiv Kol Almin
7. The Mitzvah of Veyadata Hayom

7^th Mamar “Vezos Hamitzvah”

2. Vezos Hamitzvah:^[4]
3. The difference between the lower and higher Gan Eden:[5]

In the realm of Gan Eden, in which the souls of the afterlife receive their temporary reward, there are two general levels; the lower Gan Eden and the Higher Gan Eden. The lower Gan Eden serves as an abode for souls to receive reward for the Mitzvos they fulfilled. The higher Gan Eden serves as an abode for souls to receive reward for the Kavana [concentration, love and fear] invested in the Mitzvos as well as for Torah study.

11^th Mamar “Viahavta”

3. Viahavta:^[6]
4. The Kabalistic correspondence of the Parshiyos of Shema and Vehaya Im Shamoa:[7]

The two Parshiyos of Veahavta and Vehaya found in the Shema correspond to two opposite Divine characteristics found in the Sefiros. Veahavta is a paragraph discussing the love of Hashem and its Divine root is in Chesed. On the other hand, the paragraph of Vehaya discusses the punishments that are received for lack of loving G-d and following the Torah, and its Divine root is in Gevurah. Despite this, we find the following paradox regarding the Divine names to which each paragraph corresponds to. The paragraph of Veahavta contains 42 words and corresponds to the 42 letter Divine name of מ”ב, which is a name found in Gevurah. The paragraph of Vehaya contains 72 words, and corresponds to the 72 letter Divine name of ע”ב, which is a name found in Chesed. Why does the Parsha of Chesed contain a name of Gevurah and the Parsha of Gevurah contain a name of Chesed? The explanation is as follows: Each Sefirah contains both a vessel and Divine light of G-d [i.e. Elokus], known as the Or and Keli. Prior to the world of Atzilus, both the vessel and Or of a particular Sefirah were of the same characteristics and could not be changed. Hence, the Sefirah of Chesed contained both an Or and vessel of Chesed; an Or of Gevurah could not be invested in the vessel of Chesed. However in the word of Atzilus a new order was established; the ability of Hiskalelus and Ischalfu Duchtaihu. These concepts mean that the vessels of a Sefirah can now also hold the Or of a different Sefirah, hence creating the concept of Chesed in Gevurah and Gevurah in Chesed. [An analogy can be taken from computer programing; in previous years one could not run a windows program [Or] on an apple computer [vessel], while in recent years the two have become compatible.] Now we can understand why the paragraphs of Shema contain a different characteristic than their Divine name.

Shema paragraph: The paragraph of Shema represents the Or of Gevurah, the Divine name of  ,מ”בas it resides in a vessel of Chesed. This is because its purpose involves a passionate love of G-d [i.e. Ratzo], which is a matter of Chesed, but aspires to achieve Mesirus Nefesh, which is an expiry of the soul to above, Bechol Nafshecha, which is an act of Gevurah.

Vehaya paragraph The paragraph of Vehaya represents the Or of Chesed, the Divine name of ,ע”ב as it resides in a vessel of Gevurah. This is because it involves drawing the Divine light of the Sefiros into their vessels [i.e. Shuv], which is a matter of Chesed, although it contains matters of retribution for lack of doing so, which is Gevurah.

 

1. The Parsha of Bilaam as part of Shema:[8]

The Gemara [Brachos 12b] states that the Sages originally desired to enter the prophecies of Bilaam into the daily Shema prayer. The reason for this is because in his prophecy, Bilaam mentioned that the Jewish people go to sleep and awake like a lion to recite the morning Shema. Another similarity between this verse and the Shema prayer is that the root of a lion contains opposite tendencies within the Sefiros; the spiritual root of the lion contains an Or of Gevurah within a vessel of Chesed, and is hence similar to the Shema prayer which also contains an Or of Gevurah with a vessel of Chesed, as explained above.

 

1. Every Jew can attain prophecy while reciting Shema:[9]

In the Shema paragraph of Vehaya Im Shamoa we find a rather peculiar statement made by Moshe Rabbeinu. In this paragraph Moshe orates to the Jewish people the rewards and punishments that are met for serving G-d and lack of doing so. Throughout the entire paragraph of Shema, G-d is referred to in third person, “To love your G-d, to serve Him”, and it would thus befit for the rewards and punishments to also be said in third person such as “He will give you vegetation in your fields.” Strangely, however, we find that the first reward mentioned is recited in first person “I will give you vegetation in your fields”, which implies that Moshe himself will give the Jewish people vegetation, and cause it to grow in their fields, and not G-d. How could Moshe promise to personally provide matters which are purely within the hands of G-d? In answer to this question the Midrash states that the Shechina, Divine presence, was speaking through the mouth of Moshe, and hence although it was Moshe’s voice box who sounded the words, it was Hashem who spoke them. It requires explanation however for why suddenly by this statement Moshe merited to have the Shechina speak through his mouth, and not by any of the previous statements in Shema. The reason is as follows: This part of Shema is in continuation to the previous section of Veahavta, Bechoil Meodecha, which represents the incorporation of one’s soul into G-dliness, the service of Mesirus Nefesh. After Moshe experienced the Mesirus Nefesh found in the previous section, he now reached a state of unification with Hashem that Hashem could speak through his very mouth. This level of unification to the point of the Shechina speaking through one’s mouth, can be achieved by every Jew through preceding the Avoda of Mesirus Nefesh found in the first paragraph. It is for this reason that every Jew also recites the same words recited by Moshe in the first tense “and I will give you vegetation in your fields.”  

 

1. Rain is Gevurah or Chesed?[10]

Rain is mentioned in Shemoneh Esrei within the second blessing of Ata Gibor, in which we say Mashiv Haruach Umorid Hageshem. This second blessing of Shemoneh Esrei corresponds to the Sefirah of Gevurah, hence the words “Ata Gibur”. Why however do we mention in it the concept of rain, which seemingly is Chesed? The explanation is that although rain is certainly an act of Chesed from Hashem which allows vegetation to grow, it requires a measure of Gevurah for it to be receivable below in the world. If rain were to fall in one lump rather than in drops, it would have disastrous effects, and cause flooding and destruction within the world. Likewise if the rain were not pushed down with force it would simply remain above in the heavens. Hence Gevurah is needed in order to turn the rain into drops and force it to come down.   

 

1. Even the Sefiros are created Ex nihilo every moment:[11]

A known teaching of the Baal Shem Tov is that all creations are created ex nihilo at every moment, and if the Divine light were to cease to exist even momentarily within the creation, it would return to absolute non-existence and nothingness. In truth this phenomenon does not only apply to the creations, but even to the Sefiros themselves. The Divine Sefiros of Chochmah and Bina must be constantly recreated at every moment, and lack thereof will return the Sefiros to absolute nothingness and non-existence.

 

1. The cry of the angels after the Churban:[12]

The destruction of the Temple did not just affect the Jewish people here below, but effected also all the creations found in the supernal worlds of angels and souls. Prior to the destruction, the spiritual beings enjoyed a superior revelation of G-dliness that derived from the unity found in the Sefiros of Za/ז”א [Zeir Anpin, the male aspects of the Midos] and Nukva [Malchus, the female aspects of the Midos], called Zun/זו”נ. The destruction of the Temple however caused a break of this unity, which consequently affected the revelation of G-dliness experienced by the spiritual beings and angels. The angels could no longer receive the revelation that they once experienced, and this caused them tremendous pain and anguish. On this the verse states “The angels of peace cried bitterly”, as they cried on the loss of their revelation.

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[1] Likkutei Torah p. 2a-13b

[2] Likkutei Torah p. 2a-4a

[3] Likkutei Torah p. 4a-5a

[4] Likkutei Torah p. 9a-10b

[5] Likkutei Torah p. 9a

[6] Likkutei Torah p. 12b-13b

[7] Likkutei Torah p. 12b-13a; Addition clarifications taken from Toras Shmuel 1869 p. 245

[8] Likkutei Torah p. 13a; Addition clarifications taken from Toras Shmuel 1869 p. 245

[9] Likkutei Torah p. 13b

[10] Likkutei Torah p. 13b

[11] Likkutei Torah p. 12b

[12] Likkutei Torah p. 12b