Chasidut zu Bereschit 21:1
וַֽיהוָ֛ה פָּקַ֥ד אֶת־שָׂרָ֖ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר אָמָ֑ר וַיַּ֧עַשׂ יְהוָ֛ה לְשָׂרָ֖ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר דִּבֵּֽר׃
Und der Ewige bedachte Sara, wie er gesagt, und der Ewige that an Sara, wie er gesprochen.
Kedushat Levi
All this is alluded to in the words: אלה פקודי המשכן משכן העדות. The word עדות is a reference to the Torah and its commandments; the word פקד means that a connection was established, a union, much as when a husband joins his wife in the marital bed in order to jointly produce a child which is the visible symbol of their union. [We read in Genesis 21,1 that Hashem פקד את שרה , as a result of which she became pregnant. In other words, the union of Avraham and Sarah was finally completed when Sarah conceived Yitzchok. Ed.]
If, G’d forbid, attributes such as love and awe, etc., instead of being utilized in accordance with Torah principles are “wasted” on unworthy objects or ideas, the Torah, or its representative the Tabernacle, is perceived as not enjoying מנוחה a state of calm satisfaction; similarly, if these attributes are abused by being squandered on useless objects or alien concepts and their representatives, G’d is in a state of restlessness, His mind not being at ease.
There is still another aspect to this subject of the attributes of G’d and our duty to emulate them. When the attributes of G’d are constantly being emulated by His creatures, in this case by the Jewish people, this results in this “union” influencing the dispensation of G’d’s largesse due to the connection to our Divine source being a constant, never interrupted for even a brief period. Putting the various vessels of the Tabernacle to use on a daily basis, seeing that each represented part of a Divine attribute, the unbroken connection was assured. Only in the desert, or subsequently in Jerusalem, the site of the Temple, was it possible to ensure that unbroken contact with the Divine origin of these attributes, which served as a reminder to G’d that His people were serving Him by trying to emulate His attributes. The distinction possessed by the city of Jerusalem in this regard, was also accorded to Shiloh and other locations where the Tabernacle stood before Solomon built the Temple, though only on an ad hoc basis.
The difference between the status of Shiloh and Jerusalem was symbolised by the Tabernacle in Shiloh, which, though not being a collapsible structure as the one in the desert, did not have a permanent solid roof (although it functioned for more than 300 years). (Compare Zevachim 112) The Torah had alluded to this distinction when speaking of מנוחה and נחלה as separate concepts in Deuteronomy 12,9. The stage of נחלה, ancestrally owned territory, would not be reached until the erection of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. [The capital of Israel that had been captured only during the latter part of David’s reign, more than 450 years after Joshua crossed the Jordon with the people. Ed.] The author sees an allusion to this already in Exodus 25,15, where the Torah refers to the poles that were to be used to carry the Holy Ark were to remain permanently in the rings attached to the Ark for that purpose, and that they were not to be removed even temporarily under any circumstances. The reader will ask himself why the Torah added this restrictive clause as applicable only to the poles used to carry the Ark, and not to the poles used to carry the Table, for instance? Our author suggests as an answer to this question that we remember that he had described the very trek of the Israelites through the desert as a spiritual ascent, i.e. return of the “sparks” that had fallen from the Shechinah in disgrace on a previous occasion, and that it had been the act of dismantling the Tabernacle that had enabled these “sparks” to grasp an opportunity to rehabilitate themselves. (compare pages 533-534). Clearly, the process of the fallen sparks could not continue indefinitely, for how long would G’d rebuke the same evildoers to return in penitence without finally giving up and subjecting them to their deserved punishment? On the other hand, it is perfectly plausible to hold up a reminder to sinners, that there is a method through which they could rehabilitate themselves.
The Holy Ark’s function is to serve as a reminder to man that at all times he must strive to repent and rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the Lord. The regulation that the poles that serve to carry the Holy Ark in the desert, [although once it had been positioned in the Temple, the Ark was never to be removed from there so that its poles became strictly symbolic in nature, Ed.] served as this reminder. The “sparks” themselves, are not only to be viewed as parts of the Shechinah which had somehow gone astray, but they symbolize parts of the human personality which had gone astray and were in need of rehabilitation. Man (and in the first instance the Jewish man) is supposed to be the “carrier” of the throne of G’d, in a sense similar to the poles of the Holy Ark on top of which were the cherubs between whose outstretched wings the Shechinah is presumed to reside while the Ark is within the Temple. [Some of these words are my own, but I am confident that they supplement the exegesis of our author. Ed.] It did not matter that the Ark, physically, once it had come to a place of מנוחה ונחלה as stated in Deuteronomy 12,9 would no longer be in motion. It is enough that we keep before our mind’s eye the picture of the Holy Ark to remind us of the need to constantly strive to rehabilitate any weakness in our personality that manifested itself through our not emulating one of G’d’s attributes by transgressing one of His commandments.
It is this thought that prompted our sages in Keritut 6 to state that whenever we pray we must always include the habitual sinners in our prayers, i.e. express the wish that they too turn to G’d for forgiveness of their sins by changing their lifestyles. This is our contribution to “repatriating” holy sparks that had gone astray.
If, G’d forbid, attributes such as love and awe, etc., instead of being utilized in accordance with Torah principles are “wasted” on unworthy objects or ideas, the Torah, or its representative the Tabernacle, is perceived as not enjoying מנוחה a state of calm satisfaction; similarly, if these attributes are abused by being squandered on useless objects or alien concepts and their representatives, G’d is in a state of restlessness, His mind not being at ease.
There is still another aspect to this subject of the attributes of G’d and our duty to emulate them. When the attributes of G’d are constantly being emulated by His creatures, in this case by the Jewish people, this results in this “union” influencing the dispensation of G’d’s largesse due to the connection to our Divine source being a constant, never interrupted for even a brief period. Putting the various vessels of the Tabernacle to use on a daily basis, seeing that each represented part of a Divine attribute, the unbroken connection was assured. Only in the desert, or subsequently in Jerusalem, the site of the Temple, was it possible to ensure that unbroken contact with the Divine origin of these attributes, which served as a reminder to G’d that His people were serving Him by trying to emulate His attributes. The distinction possessed by the city of Jerusalem in this regard, was also accorded to Shiloh and other locations where the Tabernacle stood before Solomon built the Temple, though only on an ad hoc basis.
The difference between the status of Shiloh and Jerusalem was symbolised by the Tabernacle in Shiloh, which, though not being a collapsible structure as the one in the desert, did not have a permanent solid roof (although it functioned for more than 300 years). (Compare Zevachim 112) The Torah had alluded to this distinction when speaking of מנוחה and נחלה as separate concepts in Deuteronomy 12,9. The stage of נחלה, ancestrally owned territory, would not be reached until the erection of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. [The capital of Israel that had been captured only during the latter part of David’s reign, more than 450 years after Joshua crossed the Jordon with the people. Ed.] The author sees an allusion to this already in Exodus 25,15, where the Torah refers to the poles that were to be used to carry the Holy Ark were to remain permanently in the rings attached to the Ark for that purpose, and that they were not to be removed even temporarily under any circumstances. The reader will ask himself why the Torah added this restrictive clause as applicable only to the poles used to carry the Ark, and not to the poles used to carry the Table, for instance? Our author suggests as an answer to this question that we remember that he had described the very trek of the Israelites through the desert as a spiritual ascent, i.e. return of the “sparks” that had fallen from the Shechinah in disgrace on a previous occasion, and that it had been the act of dismantling the Tabernacle that had enabled these “sparks” to grasp an opportunity to rehabilitate themselves. (compare pages 533-534). Clearly, the process of the fallen sparks could not continue indefinitely, for how long would G’d rebuke the same evildoers to return in penitence without finally giving up and subjecting them to their deserved punishment? On the other hand, it is perfectly plausible to hold up a reminder to sinners, that there is a method through which they could rehabilitate themselves.
The Holy Ark’s function is to serve as a reminder to man that at all times he must strive to repent and rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the Lord. The regulation that the poles that serve to carry the Holy Ark in the desert, [although once it had been positioned in the Temple, the Ark was never to be removed from there so that its poles became strictly symbolic in nature, Ed.] served as this reminder. The “sparks” themselves, are not only to be viewed as parts of the Shechinah which had somehow gone astray, but they symbolize parts of the human personality which had gone astray and were in need of rehabilitation. Man (and in the first instance the Jewish man) is supposed to be the “carrier” of the throne of G’d, in a sense similar to the poles of the Holy Ark on top of which were the cherubs between whose outstretched wings the Shechinah is presumed to reside while the Ark is within the Temple. [Some of these words are my own, but I am confident that they supplement the exegesis of our author. Ed.] It did not matter that the Ark, physically, once it had come to a place of מנוחה ונחלה as stated in Deuteronomy 12,9 would no longer be in motion. It is enough that we keep before our mind’s eye the picture of the Holy Ark to remind us of the need to constantly strive to rehabilitate any weakness in our personality that manifested itself through our not emulating one of G’d’s attributes by transgressing one of His commandments.
It is this thought that prompted our sages in Keritut 6 to state that whenever we pray we must always include the habitual sinners in our prayers, i.e. express the wish that they too turn to G’d for forgiveness of their sins by changing their lifestyles. This is our contribution to “repatriating” holy sparks that had gone astray.
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Sippurei Maasiyot
[The Burgher's Son and the Pauper's Daughter; the Match; Rise of the Pauper]
The burgher, because he had done such a thing, and in addition had withstood trial (passed the test) with her (that is, he had the fear of God and did not touch her), therefore he was "remembered" (that is, "thought about" by Hashem Yithbarakh) [nifkad; see Gen. 21:1 etc.] and that year he had a son.
The burgher, because he had done such a thing, and in addition had withstood trial (passed the test) with her (that is, he had the fear of God and did not touch her), therefore he was "remembered" (that is, "thought about" by Hashem Yithbarakh) [nifkad; see Gen. 21:1 etc.] and that year he had a son.
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Kedushat Levi
A different approach to understanding the verse וה' פקד את שרה כאשר אמר, ויעש ה' לשרה כאשר דבר, “G’d remembered Sarah as He had said, and He did for her as he had stated.” Why is it necessary for the Torah to state twice that G’d kept His promise? Who had doubted it? The Talmud Taanit 20 states that when G’d goes out of His way to perform a miracle for an individual, this is used to deduct from the merits that individual had accumulated up to that point. If G’d had performed a miracle for Sarah and made her become pregnant and bear a son, this would have been held against her accumulated merits. In order to avoid this, G’d announced to Sarah and Avraham beforehand that they would have a son, etc., so that when the time came for Sarah to give birth, this was first and foremost not a miracle, but G’d was simply fulfilling a duty, a promise He had made previously. This is why the story of Yitzchok’s birth is prefaced by the verse above in which the Torah reminds us of the promises G’d had made concerning that subject. The line commencing with ויעש ה', “G’d carried out, etc.” is a reminder that what follows is merely the fulfillment of something that had been promised much earlier.
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