Chasidut zu Bereschit 49:1
וַיִּקְרָ֥א יַעֲקֹ֖ב אֶל־בָּנָ֑יו וַיֹּ֗אמֶר הֵאָֽסְפוּ֙ וְאַגִּ֣ידָה לָכֶ֔ם אֵ֛ת אֲשֶׁר־יִקְרָ֥א אֶתְכֶ֖ם בְּאַחֲרִ֥ית הַיָּמִֽים׃
Und Jakob berief seine Söhne und sprach: Versammelt euch, ich will euch künden, Was an der Zeiten Ende einst euch trifft!
Kedushat Levi
Deuteronomy 31,1. “Moses went and spoke all these words to the whole people of Israel.”
This verse [seeing that the Torah does not tell us from where Moses walked to where, Ed.] may become easier to understand when we consider that our sages, when referring to the man leading the congregation in prayer sometimes refer to him as descending in front of the Ark, whereas on other occasions they describe him as עובר לפני התיבה, ”walking past” the front of the Ark.
When a tzaddik is engaged in prayer he needs to attach himself to the letters of his prayer, i.e. תיבות, [an alternate meaning of תיבה,] which in turn gives his prayer guidance and direction as a result of which his prayers focus better on their objective. There are some outstanding tzaddikim who are not in need of this guidance, but on the contrary, give deeper meaning to each of these letters and words. The latter type of tzaddik was Moses, who, in the celestial hierarchy represented the Matronita, as we know from the Zohar where Moses is described as the Matronita’s husband in the sense of “dominant companion of this Matronita who is portrayed as a combination of the emanation of malchut and Torah.”
At any rate, the expression יורד לפני התיבה, “descending beneath the Ark,” i.e. the word or letter, means receiving one’s spiritual inspiration from above, whereas people leading the congregation in prayer who are being described as עובר לפני התיבה, are presumed to be at least on the same spiritual level as the “ark,” so that they can inspire the Ark, i.e. words or letters, with some of their holiness. Moses was an individual belonging to this second group of tzaddikim, so much so, that after descending from Mount Sinai with the second set of the Tablets, his forehead exuded so much spiritual light that he had to “screen” it as it frightened the people who saw in him a supernatural phenomenon. We have explained repeatedly that the level of his prophecy was such that he saw clear visions whereas other prophets saw only unclear, murky visions. (Yevamot 49) This enabled him to relate the words G’d had spoken to him, verbatim, without having to paraphrase them.
Just as Yaakov lost his prophetic ability when he was about to reveal details of the eventual redemption to his children on his deathbed (Genesis 49,1-2) so Moses’ prophetic pre-eminence was taken away from him shortly before his death, as most of this was transferred to his successor Joshua. This is why his parting “song” האזינו, is full of allusions, many of which are difficult to decipher. Our verse above alludes to the process of the transition of Moses’ spiritual powers to Joshua.
This verse [seeing that the Torah does not tell us from where Moses walked to where, Ed.] may become easier to understand when we consider that our sages, when referring to the man leading the congregation in prayer sometimes refer to him as descending in front of the Ark, whereas on other occasions they describe him as עובר לפני התיבה, ”walking past” the front of the Ark.
When a tzaddik is engaged in prayer he needs to attach himself to the letters of his prayer, i.e. תיבות, [an alternate meaning of תיבה,] which in turn gives his prayer guidance and direction as a result of which his prayers focus better on their objective. There are some outstanding tzaddikim who are not in need of this guidance, but on the contrary, give deeper meaning to each of these letters and words. The latter type of tzaddik was Moses, who, in the celestial hierarchy represented the Matronita, as we know from the Zohar where Moses is described as the Matronita’s husband in the sense of “dominant companion of this Matronita who is portrayed as a combination of the emanation of malchut and Torah.”
At any rate, the expression יורד לפני התיבה, “descending beneath the Ark,” i.e. the word or letter, means receiving one’s spiritual inspiration from above, whereas people leading the congregation in prayer who are being described as עובר לפני התיבה, are presumed to be at least on the same spiritual level as the “ark,” so that they can inspire the Ark, i.e. words or letters, with some of their holiness. Moses was an individual belonging to this second group of tzaddikim, so much so, that after descending from Mount Sinai with the second set of the Tablets, his forehead exuded so much spiritual light that he had to “screen” it as it frightened the people who saw in him a supernatural phenomenon. We have explained repeatedly that the level of his prophecy was such that he saw clear visions whereas other prophets saw only unclear, murky visions. (Yevamot 49) This enabled him to relate the words G’d had spoken to him, verbatim, without having to paraphrase them.
Just as Yaakov lost his prophetic ability when he was about to reveal details of the eventual redemption to his children on his deathbed (Genesis 49,1-2) so Moses’ prophetic pre-eminence was taken away from him shortly before his death, as most of this was transferred to his successor Joshua. This is why his parting “song” האזינו, is full of allusions, many of which are difficult to decipher. Our verse above alludes to the process of the transition of Moses’ spiritual powers to Joshua.
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