Chasidut zu Schemot 15:3
יְהוָ֖ה אִ֣ישׁ מִלְחָמָ֑ה יְהוָ֖ה שְׁמֽוֹ׃
Gott ist der Herr des Krieges, Herr — das ist sein Name.
Kedushat Levi
An alternate explanation of the line: אשה כי תזריע וילדה זכר, “when a woman orgasms before her partner, the resulting infant is a male.” (Compare Rashi based on B’rachot 60 and Niddah 25.)
This also helps to explain the disagreement between the sages if the universe was created in Nissan or in Tishrey, and that the final redemption will also occur in the month corresponding to the creation of the universe. (Compare Rosh Hashanah 10)
We subscribe to the rule that G’d, even without being aroused by man through his actions to extend compassion, will occasionally do so without prompting. On other occasions, He waits with manifesting His compassion until actions by His creatures, i.e. positive actions by the Jewish people, His people, encourage, i.e. “awaken” Him to do so. The “actions” we refer to are the dutiful and joyful performance of the commandments laid down in G’d’s Torah. When G’d’s compassion has been aroused through mitzvah performance, the result of G’d’s manifesting His compassion and providing His largesse will be far more impressive than if He had had to display it without having been “awakened.” The Torah occasionally refers to G’d as איש, “man,” albeit in the construct sense as an attribute, of course, not as part of His essence.
[Example: (Exodus 15,3) ה' איש מלחמה, “G’d is a man of war,” or when an angel appears to Joshua in the guise of a human being and is referred to as איש before identifying himself as an angel, (Joshua 5,13) and similar examples where the expression איש אלוקים, appears to minimize the difference between creature and Creator. Ed.]
Whenever the Torah uses the term איש as a simile for Divinity, the accompanying term אשה also is to be viewed as Divinity, i.e. the feminine receptive aspect of Divinity, or His creatures.
When the Talmud states that when אשה מזרעת תחלה, normally translated as “when the woman orgasms first,” the deeper meaning is when the woman initiates the conception of life, i.e. she has aroused G’d’s compassion, then the “birth” of the resulting זכר, male, did not have to contend with obstructions by negative forces in the universe, whereas when the part of the איש, the part that should have been the initiating part in this interchange has been reduced to that of merely being responsive, the product described is called נקבה, “a female,” i.e. reflecting the fact that it had not been initiated by man’s good deeds, but by G’d’s magnanimity in displaying His compassion without having specific reason to do so.
“Birth” of a נקבה, “female,” is a simile for obstacles of a spiritual nature having accompanied the preceding “pregnancy,” [and it is no wonder that the period of ritual impurity of the mother after she has giving birth to a female infant is so much longer than when she gave birth to a זכר, “male. Ed.]
According to our author the lengthy debate in the Talmud Rosh Hashanah about the month during which the final redemption will occur, does not reflect a dispute. [The introductory “argument” about the “month” in which G’d created the universe is used only as a parallel, seeing that “Time” had not been created at the point when G’d said: “let there be light.” Ed.]
According to our author there is not really any argument between Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua about the “month” when the final redemption will occur. The month of Tishrey is a symbol in which the letters appears in the reverse order of the aleph bet, reflecting the concept of the אור חוזד, G’d’s original light returning after having absorbed human input, especially human input welcome to G’d, i.e. teshuvah repentance. The month of ניסן symbolizing as it does אביב, spring, the letters אב appearing in their normal order, symbolizes the original light emanating from G’d, something that contained no human input. If the Jewish people at the time of the final redemption deserve it, the redemption is viewed as occurring in Tishrey, whereas if they do not deserve it, it is viewed as occurring in Nissan, a period when the attribute of Justice has no foothold as the world was created by pure חסד by G’d, there not having being any need to co-opt the attribute of Justice at that time. Neither of the sages claimed to be a prophet who had foreseen what the moral condition of the Jewish people would be at the time of the redemption.
This also helps to explain the disagreement between the sages if the universe was created in Nissan or in Tishrey, and that the final redemption will also occur in the month corresponding to the creation of the universe. (Compare Rosh Hashanah 10)
We subscribe to the rule that G’d, even without being aroused by man through his actions to extend compassion, will occasionally do so without prompting. On other occasions, He waits with manifesting His compassion until actions by His creatures, i.e. positive actions by the Jewish people, His people, encourage, i.e. “awaken” Him to do so. The “actions” we refer to are the dutiful and joyful performance of the commandments laid down in G’d’s Torah. When G’d’s compassion has been aroused through mitzvah performance, the result of G’d’s manifesting His compassion and providing His largesse will be far more impressive than if He had had to display it without having been “awakened.” The Torah occasionally refers to G’d as איש, “man,” albeit in the construct sense as an attribute, of course, not as part of His essence.
[Example: (Exodus 15,3) ה' איש מלחמה, “G’d is a man of war,” or when an angel appears to Joshua in the guise of a human being and is referred to as איש before identifying himself as an angel, (Joshua 5,13) and similar examples where the expression איש אלוקים, appears to minimize the difference between creature and Creator. Ed.]
Whenever the Torah uses the term איש as a simile for Divinity, the accompanying term אשה also is to be viewed as Divinity, i.e. the feminine receptive aspect of Divinity, or His creatures.
When the Talmud states that when אשה מזרעת תחלה, normally translated as “when the woman orgasms first,” the deeper meaning is when the woman initiates the conception of life, i.e. she has aroused G’d’s compassion, then the “birth” of the resulting זכר, male, did not have to contend with obstructions by negative forces in the universe, whereas when the part of the איש, the part that should have been the initiating part in this interchange has been reduced to that of merely being responsive, the product described is called נקבה, “a female,” i.e. reflecting the fact that it had not been initiated by man’s good deeds, but by G’d’s magnanimity in displaying His compassion without having specific reason to do so.
“Birth” of a נקבה, “female,” is a simile for obstacles of a spiritual nature having accompanied the preceding “pregnancy,” [and it is no wonder that the period of ritual impurity of the mother after she has giving birth to a female infant is so much longer than when she gave birth to a זכר, “male. Ed.]
According to our author the lengthy debate in the Talmud Rosh Hashanah about the month during which the final redemption will occur, does not reflect a dispute. [The introductory “argument” about the “month” in which G’d created the universe is used only as a parallel, seeing that “Time” had not been created at the point when G’d said: “let there be light.” Ed.]
According to our author there is not really any argument between Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua about the “month” when the final redemption will occur. The month of Tishrey is a symbol in which the letters appears in the reverse order of the aleph bet, reflecting the concept of the אור חוזד, G’d’s original light returning after having absorbed human input, especially human input welcome to G’d, i.e. teshuvah repentance. The month of ניסן symbolizing as it does אביב, spring, the letters אב appearing in their normal order, symbolizes the original light emanating from G’d, something that contained no human input. If the Jewish people at the time of the final redemption deserve it, the redemption is viewed as occurring in Tishrey, whereas if they do not deserve it, it is viewed as occurring in Nissan, a period when the attribute of Justice has no foothold as the world was created by pure חסד by G’d, there not having being any need to co-opt the attribute of Justice at that time. Neither of the sages claimed to be a prophet who had foreseen what the moral condition of the Jewish people would be at the time of the redemption.
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Kedushat Levi
Numbers 23,19. “G’d is not man that He should lie, nor mortal that He should repent;” Our sages in Taanit 23, commenting on Job 22,28 ותגזור אומר ויקם לך ועל דרכיך נגה אור commonly translated as “You will decree and it will be fulfilled; and light will shine on Your affairs,” divide this verse into two halves, the first half referring to what man decrees on earth, and the second to what G’d fulfils in heaven. This is a way of explaining how it is that the tzaddik can “reverse G’d’s decree.” [The problem is that if so, how can Bileam say that the difference between man and G’d is that the latter does not “lie,” i.e. that His decrees cannot be upset by forces other than Him? The subject has to be studied in the Talmud where the sages debated the right of Choni ham’agel to pray insistently for rain, when apparently G’d had decree a drought. Ed.]
Our author tries to explain these apparent contradictions in a variety of ways. When Moses is referred to as איש האלוקים, in psalms 90,1 the reason is that he tried to be like G’d through invoking repeal of G’d’s harsh decrees against His people. We find something analogous in psalms 106,23 where the psalmist credits Moses with reversing G’d’s decree to annihilate the Jewish people. Our author views the use of the word אלוקים when applied to man as G’d “dressing up” in human garb and then complying with the requests made in the tzaddik’s prayerThis “dressing up” of G’d in human garb occurs only when the prayer of the righteous human being is for G’d’s help to the Israelites. Since wicked Bileam intended to enlist G’d’s support to curse the Israelites, he explains to Balak that לא איש א-ל, that G’d in such circumstances would not “dress up as a human being” in order to facilitate such prayers by Bileam. Subterfuge, i.e. ויכזב, does not qualify for G’d’s support.
This “dressing up” of G’d in human garb occurs only when the prayer of the righteous human being is for G’d’s help to the Israelites. Since wicked Bileam intended to enlist G’d’s support to curse the Israelites, he explains to Balak that לא איש א-ל, that G’d in such circumstances would not “dress up as a human being” in order to facilitate such prayers by Bileam. Subterfuge, i.e. ויכזב, does not qualify for G’d’s support.
This is also the meaning of the words: ה' איש מלחמה ה' שמו, “the Lord is a ‘man’ of war, his name is Hashem.” (Exodus15,3) Moses extols G’d’s “dressing up” in human garb when He destroys the mortal enemies of the Jewish people. He will perform what the tzaddik requests of Him when avenging the wrongs committed by the gentile nations against His chosen people. He will do so, since in the process His name will become sanctified and glorified.
While at first glance it may appear strange that G’d will assume the role of a “warrior” at the behest of one of His tzaddikim when this results in the destruction of His creatures, [something He is so loath to do this that His angels are not allowed to applaud it by singing a song, Ed.], the fact remains that the destruction of the wicked at the hands of G’d represents a major sanctification of G’d’s name, and this is why in the victory song of Moses in Exodus 15, He is described not as אלוקים, the attribute of Justice, but as Hashem, the attribute of Mercy, as the merits of this sanctification of His Name accrue to the “victims”, though not knowingly, seeing that at least their death has resulted in the sanctification of G’d’s Name. He thus performed an act of loving kindness for His enemies even while depriving their bodies of their lives.
Our author tries to explain these apparent contradictions in a variety of ways. When Moses is referred to as איש האלוקים, in psalms 90,1 the reason is that he tried to be like G’d through invoking repeal of G’d’s harsh decrees against His people. We find something analogous in psalms 106,23 where the psalmist credits Moses with reversing G’d’s decree to annihilate the Jewish people. Our author views the use of the word אלוקים when applied to man as G’d “dressing up” in human garb and then complying with the requests made in the tzaddik’s prayerThis “dressing up” of G’d in human garb occurs only when the prayer of the righteous human being is for G’d’s help to the Israelites. Since wicked Bileam intended to enlist G’d’s support to curse the Israelites, he explains to Balak that לא איש א-ל, that G’d in such circumstances would not “dress up as a human being” in order to facilitate such prayers by Bileam. Subterfuge, i.e. ויכזב, does not qualify for G’d’s support.
This “dressing up” of G’d in human garb occurs only when the prayer of the righteous human being is for G’d’s help to the Israelites. Since wicked Bileam intended to enlist G’d’s support to curse the Israelites, he explains to Balak that לא איש א-ל, that G’d in such circumstances would not “dress up as a human being” in order to facilitate such prayers by Bileam. Subterfuge, i.e. ויכזב, does not qualify for G’d’s support.
This is also the meaning of the words: ה' איש מלחמה ה' שמו, “the Lord is a ‘man’ of war, his name is Hashem.” (Exodus15,3) Moses extols G’d’s “dressing up” in human garb when He destroys the mortal enemies of the Jewish people. He will perform what the tzaddik requests of Him when avenging the wrongs committed by the gentile nations against His chosen people. He will do so, since in the process His name will become sanctified and glorified.
While at first glance it may appear strange that G’d will assume the role of a “warrior” at the behest of one of His tzaddikim when this results in the destruction of His creatures, [something He is so loath to do this that His angels are not allowed to applaud it by singing a song, Ed.], the fact remains that the destruction of the wicked at the hands of G’d represents a major sanctification of G’d’s name, and this is why in the victory song of Moses in Exodus 15, He is described not as אלוקים, the attribute of Justice, but as Hashem, the attribute of Mercy, as the merits of this sanctification of His Name accrue to the “victims”, though not knowingly, seeing that at least their death has resulted in the sanctification of G’d’s Name. He thus performed an act of loving kindness for His enemies even while depriving their bodies of their lives.
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Kedushat Levi
Exodus 15,3.“The Lord is a man of war, nonetheless His name is Hashem, i.e. the Merciful One.” The author refers to a commentary of his on psalms 90,1 תפלה למשה איש האלוקים, “a prayer by Moses, the man of G’d.” He repeats a theme he has dwelled on repeatedly, that it is the primary effort of the righteous during all of their lives to make their contribution to G’d dispensing the maximum amount of His largesse for His creature. The prayers of the righteous are not concerned with asking for their personal well being, but with asking for the well being of the community within which they live. We perceive of G’d as “garbing” Himself in the mantle woven by the prayers of the righteous. This explains why Moses referred to G’d as איש, “man.” A righteous person in our time is comparable to Moses in his time. The Talmud in Shabbat 101 confirms this by saying that every righteous person in our time may be called “Moses,” hence the commencement of psalm 90 with the words תפלה למשה, do not refer only to the original Moses. The message of the psalm is that the prayers of the righteous in our generation are as effective in their effect on G’d as the prayers of Moses in his time. G’d garbing Himself with the prayers of the righteous is something that is the case only when the result (G’d’s largesse) is to become manifest immediately as beneficial. When G’d responds negatively to our prayers He is never referred to as איש. Hence the meaning of Bileam’s blessing in Numbers 23,19 לא איש א-ל ויכזב, “G’s is not like man who deceives,” teaches that the negative virtue of deceiving is called כזב. We never find the term איש applied to G’d when He is active in His attribute of Justice, decreeing punishment on His people. This remains true even if in answer to the prayers of the righteous He decrees judgment on our adversaries. In such instances He may be referred to as גבור, Warrior, or some other name depicting His attribute of Justice. [This is the difference between G’d as איש מלחמה and elsewhere as גבור מלחמה, (Isaiah 3,2; psalms 24,8) To make the distinction clear, Moses, repeats ה' שמו, His name, predominantly is Hashem, the Merciful One].
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