Parashat Yitro 2
From Torah Or
By Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Gedalia Potash and William Schecter, MD
Thursday January 20, 2022
Continuation from last year, page סז ,first column, line beginning with the first word הנפש
The vitality invested in all the worlds is none other than the power of action which is the external power. The contracted ray of light does not touch the essence of the soul at all. “The creator of the Holy Ones, may Your name be praised forever etc”
Comment: This passage is taken from the First of the two blessings preceding the Sh’ma in the Morning Service
“The Holy Ones” are the angels and the supernal souls which have the attribute of Name alone
which is also none other than the light and contracted ray etc.
Comment: The Souls have not yet been enclothed in the material body which occurs in the lower world of Asiyah.
They are not the work of your hands like the externality of the worlds because the power of action is invested in a certain vessel or remainder of a thing made by the hands of man. For example, here this power does not belong at all to the essence of the soul because it is made separate from it. The power does not draw the essence of man after it by grasping the vessel with the strength invested in it. This is not the case in calling His Name for the essence of man is drawn down. This Name is the ray of reduced light that touches the essence of the soul (of man) which is still bound and united with It. With all this, this is not but a ray of light.
Comment: The Elter Rebbe is distinguishing between the creations made by man which are by their very nature material as opposed to the G-dly Soul of man which has the energy of Divine Light, which has been reduced through the processes of Histalshalut (flowing down of the G-dly Energy to our world) and Contraction (of the G-dly Energy). The use of the word “Name” is a reference to G-d. We often refer to G-d as HaShem (the Name) in order to avoid reciting the tetragrammaton.
But G-d with His Glory and His Essence are elevated on high etc. He is the One who encircles all the worlds, above and below, they are equal before Him. As it is written “I am the L-rd I have not changed and therefore the soul will pour into the breast of its Father truly to be yearned for. For my soul will be ended and be truly nullified to Him alone as it is written: “Who is for me in the Heavens?” Meaning “I am the L-rd I have not changed and you the children of Jacob have not ceased to exist” (Malachi 3:6). Meaning that the Prophet (Malachi) is puzzled by Israel, after all “for I am the L-rd, I have not changed and what is the reason you have not expired - your soul has not ended. Something delays the soul and prevents the soul’s nullification as the passage indicates “and you the Children of Jacob have not expired”. Also when one contemplates the greatness of the Infinite Blessed be He because “I am the L-rd, I have not changed”, not every person merits the spiritual level of Abraham that is made “the Chariot” with the attribute of true nullification with the supernal love because of this contemplation.
Comment: Here the Elter Rebbe is responding to Malachi’s confusion about why the People of Israel have not completely nullified their material existence and become completely united with G-d losing their individuality. The answer, he says, is that few people have the spiritual merit of Abraham who was able to achieve self nullification and unite with G-d.
Here the reason is the weakness of the power of the soul which lacks the power to leave its sheath and prison (the body). As it is written “my strength fails because of my iniquity” (Psalms 31:11), the power of the soul failed and weakened. As it is written “But your iniquities have been a barrier between you and your God” (Isaiah 59:2), not the iniquities really but the corporeality of the body and its physicality, it became a screen which divides. It is the limitation and border that limits and enclothes the soul until it brings down (the G-dly Light) and draws after it. The soul cannot ascend to leave it. And about this it is said “You took note of our fathers’ affliction” in Egypt, meaning the attributes of love and fear etc. Abraham is the attribute of love, etc.
And for this the Torah was given to Israel. The Torah is called courage It gives strength and courage to the G-dly soul to overcome the materialism of the body, the animal soul and its vulgarity, to leave the imprisonment (in the material Klipot-peels or layers surrounding the G-dly Soul). This is what is meant by “G-d will give courage to His people and will bless His people with peace” ( Psalms 29:11 ) And the Sages of the Talmud said He makes peace with the Heavenly entourage and the earthly entourage. Peace meaning the connection with the Heavenly entourage, that is the attribute of revelation of the Infinite Light Blessed be He truly to be bound and united with the attribute of true nullification. And the earthly entourage means the illumination of the powers of the G-dly Soul which is enclothed in the body and the animal soul so that there will not be any impediment or delay from the body or the animal soul, only that all agree and desire this union and thus suppress and transform darkness to light because the Torah is called courage and is also the resourcefulness that exhausts the power of sitra achra ( the evil inclination ) from the body because ”One people shall be mightier than the other,” (Genesis 25:23)
Comment: This passage refers to the struggle of Jacob and Esau as fetuses within Rebecca’s wound. Esau being a metaphor for evil and Jacob a metaphor for good.
When one arises the other falls. We must understand how it is that the courage of the Torah gives strength to the G-dly Soul to exhaust the power of bodily materialism and physicality. Is not the Torah enclothed with physicality such as Trumot (contributions to the sanctuary), tithing, etc? Nevertheless, it is known that source of the Torah and its foundation is in the Supernal Holy Mountain from the Infinite Light Blessed be He in His Essence and Glory which surrounds all the worlds “I am the L-rd I have not changed” and the Torah and the L-rd are all One Entity. The purpose of the receiving of the Torah is what is written in the Ten Commandments and G-d spoke all of these words to say “I am the L-rd thy G-d”. It is clear that this word “to say” is incomprehensible, it is unlike all the other “to say” expressions in the Bible where one person speaks to another. This is not the case with the Ten Commandments. It is impossible to interpret “to say” this way in the Ten Commandments for all of Israel heard, face to face, the Word of G-d, he who was here and he who was not here etc.
Comment: The last sentence above refers to the tradition that all the souls of Israel, both those that were alive during the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai and those souls that were as yet unborn, including our own, were present and heard the Word of G-d.
But the meaning is “to say” and “to speak” all the words of the Torah which were already said to Moses at Sinai because the entire written Torah, the Mishnah, the Laws and the legends, all were told to Moses at Sinai as well as the names of the Tannaim and Amoraim ( ) who spoke the Laws in the Gemorrah (the Talmud) with the Talmudic dialectic.
Comment: The word Tannaim refers to the Rabbinic Sages (approximately 10-220 CE) whose views are recorded in the Mishnah. The word Tana is Aramaic for teacher. The word Amoraim is Aramaic for those who say or speak over the people. The Amoraim were the Rabbinic Sages who lived from approximately 200-500 CE. They debated the laws of the Torah and expounded on the Mishnah. Their debates are recorded in the Gemorrah (an Aramaic word for completion) Together, the Mishnah and the Gemorrah comprise the Talmud although the Talmud is sometimes referred to as the Gemorrah.
In this way, a specific G-d given law given orally to Moses at Sinai was actually spoken by the the Tannaim and Amoraim and later (second century CE and thereafter) recorded in the Talmud.
And as the issue of the words which I placed in your mouth and this power was given to Israel to be halacha (the law) which leaves their mouths (is spoken) is truly the word of G-d which was given to Moses at Sinai and was given at the time of the receipt of the Torah with the Ten Commandments saying what had already been said. This means that the nullification to G-d. No word is made separate by man to be spoken from the mouth of his essence as if it is his. Only as it is written “My tongue shall declare Your promise, for all Your commandments are just.” (Psalms 119:172) The Torah is your declaration but that my tongue shall answer with a different response which says what it says. (interprets the meaning of the Torah).
Comment: This last paragraph refers to Pharasaic Judaism which became the dominant form of Judaism which we have all inherited. However during the Tannaic Period there was great disagreement about whether the Oral Law, as subsequently recorded in the Talmud, was actually the Word of G-d transmitted to Moses at Mount Sinai. There were several groups of Jews that rejected this view. The three that come to mind are the Karaites, the Samaritans, and the Sadducees (the Tsadokim who were generally members of the Priestly caste). All three of these groups accepted the written Torah as the Word of G-d but rejected the Oral Torah. Therefore, they all were dependent upon the Temple and its sacrifices. Once the Romans destroyed the Temple in the year 70 CE, thrice daily prayer replaced the thrice daily sacrifices and Jewish culture was preserved in the Talmudic Academies both in Bavel and Eretz Yisroel. Small groups of Karaites and Samaritans persist to this day, some still living in Israel. The last comments of the Elter Rebbe connect the Holiness of the Torah with the Talmud making both documents one entity transmitted to orally Moses at Mount Sinai and subsequently written down.