(א) אין דורשין בעריות בשלשה .ולא במעשה בראשית בשנים. ולא במרכבה ביחיד, אלא אם כן היה חכם ומבין מדעתו. כל המסתכל בארבעה דברים, ראוי לו כאלו לא בא לעולם, מה למעלה, מה למטה, מה לפנים, ומה לאחור. וכל שלא חס על כבוד קונו, ראוי לו שלא בא לעולם.
(1) One may not expound the laws of forbidden sexual relations before three people, nor the account of Creation before two, nor the Divine Chariot before one, unless he is wise and understanding from his own knowledge. Anyone who looks into four things would be better off if he had not come into this world: what is above, what is below, what is before, and what is after. And anyone who has no consideration for the honor of his Maker would be better off if he had not come into the world.
(ל) וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל רְאוּ קָרָא יי בְּשֵׁם בְּצַלְאֵל בֶּן אוּרִי בֶן חוּר לְמַטֵּה יְהוּדָה. (לא) וַיְמַלֵּא אֹתוֹ רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים בְּחָכְמָה בִּתְבוּנָה וּבְדַעַת וּבְכָל מְלָאכָה.
(30) And Moses said unto the children of Israel: ‘See, Adonai has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. (31) And He has filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship.
א"ר שמואל בר נחמני א"ר יונתן בצלאל על שם חכמתו נקרא בשעה שאמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה לך אמור לו לבצלאל עשה לי משכן ארון וכלים. הלך משה והפך ואמר לו עשה ארון וכלים ומשכן. אמר לו משה רבינו מנהגו של עולם אדם בונה בית ואחר כך מכניס לתוכו כלים, ואתה אומר עשה לי ארון וכלים ומשכן. כלים שאני עושה להיכן אכניסם? שמא כך אמר לך הקב"ה עשה משכן ארון וכלים? אמר לו שמא בצל אל היית וידעת?!
אמר רב יהודה אמר רב יודע היה בצלאל לצרף אותיות שנבראו בהן שמים וארץ כתיב הכא (שמות לה, לא) וימלא אותו רוח אלהים בחכמה ובתבונה ובדעת. וכתיב התם (משלי ג, יט) ה' בחכמה יסד ארץ כונן שמים בתבונה. וכתיב (משלי ג, כ) בדעתו תהומות נבקעו.
Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani said in the name of Rabbi Yonetan: Betzalel was called because of his wisdom. In the moment that the Holy One Blessed be God said to Moses: Say to Betzalel: make for me a Mishkan, an ark, and vessels. Moses went and switched the order, and he said to him (Betzalel): make an ark, vessels, and a Mishkan. [Betzalel] said to him, our teacher, it is the custom of everyone that one builds a house, and afterwards places inside vessels, and you are saying, make for me an ark, vessels, and a Mishkan. Where do I place the vessels that I am making? Perhaps the Holy One blessed be God said to you: Make a Mishkan, an ark, and vessels? [Moses] responded: Perhaps you were in the shadow of God and you knew?!
Rav Yehuda said: Rav Said: Betzalel knew how to combine the letters that were used to create the Heavens and the Earth. It was written here (Ex. 35:31), “And He filled him with the spirit of God with Wisdom, Understanding, and Intellect.” And it was written there (Proverbs 3:19), “Adonai founded the land with Wisdom and established the Heavens with Understanding.” And it is written (Proverbs 3:20), “with his intellect, the depths were broken.”
(The Blazing Fire! (Vayikra Rabbah 16:4
בן עזאי היה יושב ודורש והאש סביבותיו. אזלון ואמרון לרבי עקיבא... הלך אצלו ואמר לו: שמעתי שהיית דורש והאש מלהטת סביבך! אמר לו: הן. אמר לו: שמא בחדרי מרכבה היית עסוק? אמר לו: לאו, אלא הייתי יושב וחורז בדברי תורה. ומתורה לנביאים, ומנביאים לכתובים, והיו הדברים שמחים כנתינתן מסיני, והיו ערבים כעיקר נתינתן. וכן עיקר נתינתן מסיני לא באש היו נתנין?! הדא הוא דכתיב: (דברים ד) וההר בוער באש
Ben Azzai was sitting and expounding, and fire was blazing around him. They [his disciples] came and told Rabbi Akiva... [Akiva] went to him and said, "I heard that you were sitting and expounding, and fire was blazing around you!" [Ben Azzai] replied, "Yes." [Akiva] said to him, "Perhaps you are engaged in the chambers of the Chariot [the secrets of Ezekiel's vision of the Chariot]?!" [Ben Azzai] replied, "No, I am sitting and stringing words of Torah, from Torah to the Prophets, and from Prophets to the Writings, and the words are as joyous as on the day they were given from Sinai, and as sweet (sonorous, fragrant) as the essence [ikar] of what was given. And the essence that was given [that day] on Sinai, were they not [originally] given in fire?!" and the mountain burned with fire (Deut. 4:11).
Up All Night with the Bride (Zohar Vol. I, 8ab Pritzker Edition ~ Translation by Daniel Matt)
Rabbi Shim'on was sitting engaged in Torah on the night when the Bride is joined with Her Husband. For we have learned: All those Companions initiated into the bridal palace need - on that night when the Bride is destined the next day to be under the canopy with her Husband - to be with Her all night, delighting with Her... Rabbi Shim'on and all the Companions were singing the song of Torah, innovating words of Torah, each one of them... Rabbi Shim'on opened saying, Heaven declares the glory of God (Ps. 19:2). We have already established this verse; but at this time, when the Bride is aroused to enter the canopy the next day, She is arrayed and illumined with Her adornments, together with the Companions rejoicing with Her the whole night, while She rejoices with them... As soon as they join together, and She sees her Husband, what is written? Heaven declares the glory of God. Heaven - the Groom entering the canopy // Declares (mesapprim) - sparkles with the radiance of sappirim (sapphires), sparkling and radiating from one end of the universe to the other // The glory of God - glory of the Bride, who is called God, as it written, "God rages every day (Ps. 7:12)." Every day of the year, She is called God, but now that She has entered the canopy, She is called Glory as well as God, glory upon glory, radiance upon radiance, dominion upon dominion, Then, at the moment when heaven enters the canopy, coming to illuminate Her all those Companions who adorned Her are designated there by name, as it is written: The Sky proclaims the work of His hands (Ps. 19:2).
"The Adornments for the Sh'china on Shavuot need to be דברים חדשים עתיקים because she likes it Retro!"
- Dr. Melila Hellner-Eshed
(Illumination through the Ages (Kedushat Levi: R' Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev, 1740–1810
"And the Jews established and accepted [the Torah] upon themselves" (Esther 9:26), and they expounded (Shabbat 88a), "They established what they had already accepted." The desire behind this was that Mordechai was the last of the prophets, as it says in the Gemara [Esther is called] "Ayelet HaShachar" (Yoma 29a, which takes the term from Psalm 22:1) [because it is the end of the miracles in the Torah just as the dawn is the end of the nighttime]. We find that until Mordechai, the light was the light of the Written Torah, and from Mordechai on, when prophecy ceased, the illumination began to be the light of the Oral Torah. And from after the time of Mordechai, it was the era of the Great Assembly and the foundations of prayer.
And this is "they established and accepted," that they accepted upon themselves the Oral Torah from Mordechai onward, because prophecy ceased and the the Oral Torah began to be the source of illumination, because in truth, as long as there were prophets, the prophecy was written down, and after Mordechai and the end of prophesy things were not written, and it was the beginning of the illumination of the Oral Torah.
ליקוטי מוהר"ן תורה ס"ד
וְדַע, כִּי מַחֲלקֶת הִיא בְּחִינוֹת בְּרִיאַת הָעוֹלָם כִּי עִקַּר בְּרִיאַת הָעוֹלָם, עַל יְדֵי חָלָל הַפָּנוּי כַּנַּ"ל כִּי בְּלא זֶה הָיָה הַכּל אֵין סוֹף, וְלא הָיָה מָקוֹם לִבְרִיאַת הָעוֹלָם כַּנַּ"ל וְעַל כֵּן צִמְצֵם הָאוֹר לִצְדָדִין, וְנַעֲשָׂה חָלָל הַפָּנוּי וּבְתוֹכוֹ בָּרָא אֶת כָּל הַבְּרִיאָה, הַיְנוּ הַיָּמִים וְהַמִּדּוֹת, עַל יְדֵי הַדִּבּוּר כַּנַּ"ל "בִּדְבַר ה' שָׁמַיִם נַעֲשׂוּ" וְכוּ'. וְכֵן הוּא בְּחִינַת הַמַּחֲלוֹקוֹת כִּי אִלּוּ הָיוּ כָּל הַתַּלְמִידֵי חֲכָמִים אֶחָד לא הָיָה מָקוֹם לִבְרִיאַת הָעוֹלָם רַק עַל יְדֵי הַמַּחֲלקֶת שֶׁבֵּינֵיהֶם, וְהֵם נֶחֱלָקִים זֶה מִזֶּה וְכָל אֶחָד מוֹשֵׁך עַצְמוֹ לְצַד אַחֵר עַל יְדֵי זֶה נַעֲשֶׂה בֵּינֵיהֶם בְּחִינוֹת חָלָל הַפָּנוּי שֶׁהוּא בְּחִינוֹת צִמְצוּם הָאוֹר לִצְדָדִין, שֶׁבּוֹ הוּא בְּרִיאַת הָעוֹלָם עַל יְדֵי הַדִּבּוּר כַּנַּ"ל כִּי כָּל הַדְּבָרִים שֶׁכָּל אֶחָד מֵהֶם מְדַבֵּר הַכּל הֵם רַק בִּשְׁבִיל בְּרִיאַת הָעוֹלָם שֶׁנַּעֲשֶׂה עַל יָדָם בְּתוֹך הֶחָלָל הַפָּנוּי שֶׁבֵּינֵיהֶם כִּי הַתַּלְמִידֵי חֲכָמִים בּוֹרְאִים אֶת הַכּל עַל יְדֵי דִּבְרֵיהֶם "וְלֵאמר לְצִיּוֹן עַמִּי אַתָּה" 'אַל תִּקְרֵי עַמִּי אֶלָּא עִמִּי, מָה אֲנָא עֲבַדִי שְׁמַיָּא וְאַרְעָא בְּמִלּוּלִי אַף אַתֶּם כֵּן' .
Likutei Moharan I:64
Know this: that disagreement [machloket] is analogous to the creation of the world, which consisted of creating an empty space, as we have shown. For were it not so, everything would be infinitely divine [ein sof], and there would be no space left for the world. Therefore, He contracted the light to the sides, and an empty space was left in which the world could be created, with all its time and spatial dimensions, all done by the act of speech - as it is written: “By the word of God were the heavens made, etc.” [Psalms 33]. So too is the case with disagreement, for if all the scholars were united, there would be no creation of the world. It is only when there is disagreement between them, and they divide and each draws to one side, a space is created between them which is analogous to the empty space and the contraction of the lights, by the which the world itself was created by the act of speech, as we have shown. And all the arguments they each use are only in order to allow the world to be created by them [...] just as [God] created the heaven and the earth with words, so too can [scholars]!
אמר רב יהודה לא איברי ליליא אלא לשינתא אמר רבי שמעון בן לקיש לא איברי סיהרא אלא לגירסא.
Rav Yehuda said: Night was created only for sleep. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: The moon was created only for Torah study by its light.