Halakhah zu Jeschijahu 4:8

And the world of souls, this is what is called ‘Garden of Eden’ (gan aden) among the sages, and they called it this by way of an allegory, using the example of how the body takes delight (mitaden) in a garden, and so it is written about the Garden of Eden in the land, ‘He set him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it,’ (Gen 2:5) – this heavenly Garden of Eden is the world of souls comparable but in contrast to it, and it is call ‘Garden of Eden’ too, and it is the reward for doing the mitzvot in which the soul takes delight, using the image of the body taking delight in a garden. And to the extent that the Torah does not specify explicitly anywhere the matter of the Garden of Eden being destined for the soul as a reward for the mitzvot, but does specify the bodily things destined for Israel when they return most certainly to their land, when they will have “all their rains in their season”⁹³Lev 26:4. and with the abundance of blessing and happiness – this matter is because the Torah was given to the masses of all of Israel, and the masses would not be able to understand the destined intellectual things. So even if the Torah would come to tell about this in brief, they would not find in it any way in to understand it, they wouldn’t be up to it, and it would be for them like a dream without an interpretation. And if the story of this went on at length in Scripture, wouldn’t more doubts be raised, the more was written about it? So for this reason, the Torah did not want to go down this road, neither in brief nor at length, because the masses wouldn’t believe in any of it, until they would see a sign or confirmation of it with their own eyes, and therefore the wisdom of the Torah comes in a story about physical rewards destined to come, to go on at length about them since they are preparation for the soul’s recompense, which is her “Garden of Eden,” and since they are a sign and confirmation for what they wouldn’t understand. And for this reason the Torah did not mention it explicitly in the story of the Garden of Eden, and by concealing it lest doubts multiply and confusion in understanding them ensue, but did mention openly what is the sign and confirmation of it. So this reason is correct and sufficient to all who understand and discern that the Torah was given to the masses. However, the “engaged intellectual” [maskil nilvav⁹⁴This expression from R. Bahya ibn Pakuda’s Duties of the Heart -(Hovot ha-Levavot), Sha’ar Yihud Chapter 1, plays on the connection to “heart”, and refers to someone philosophically trained but also “with a heart” – that is, emotionally engaged, not intellectually distant. He says the “maskil nilvav will strive to strip the shells of the words and their materiality from the subject.” In other words, it is out of emotionally longing to connect to God, that he will use philosophy to strip away the linguistic and material obstacles to that connection.] who delves deeply into it, will find everything in the Torah, “as milk under pressure produces butter”⁹⁵Prov 30:33. – whoever is found engaged in the Torah, the milk he suckles from the breast of his mother will produce the “butter” of Torah.⁹⁶Chavel thinks R. Bahya has in mind this midrash on Prov 30:33 in b. Berakhot 63b: “‘As milk under pressure produces butter’ – In whom do find the butter of Torah? In him who spits up the milk he suckled from his mother for it.” And so you who are an engaged intellectual – “Turn it and turn it because everything is in it!”⁹⁷M. Avot 5 (end). I think R. Bahya means by this analogy that the baby “churns” his mother’s milk in his mouth and turns it into butter, and similarly the engaged intellectual “churns” Torah by “turning it and turning it” and so turns it into “the butter of Torah.” Similarly, medieval Christian monastic educators described the active process of reading as “rumination.” You will find in the matter of Enoch that “And Enoch walked with God”⁹⁸Gen 5:24: va-yithalakh Hanokh et ha-elohim. And this “walking with God” is as the Targum translated it into Aramaic, “And Enoch walked in fear of the Lord.”⁹⁹Targum Onkelos Gen 5:24: Ve-halikh hanokh be-dahalta’ d’YHVH. Enoch was a “righteous man who rules in the fear of God,”¹⁰⁰2 Samuel 23:3.as it is said, “for God took him,”¹⁰¹Gen 5:24. – it is known that the “taking” was because of his virtue and goodness, because he was a righteous man. And if so, from here we get the explanation of the matter of “the Garden of Eden” for the soul of the righteous. And you will also find in the Torah in parashat “Im be-hukotai” that it is promise for the future, the world to come, for it is written there, “I will look with favor on you,¹⁰²Lev 26:9.” and this means that “My goodwill [ratzon]will be attached to you,” and the “goodwill” of Ha-Shem (may He be blessed) is the life of the world to come. This is what is referred to in what is written: “hayyim birtzono” – “When He is pleased, there is life,”¹⁰³Ps 30:6. and thus it is also written there, “I shall walk about – hithalakhti – in your midst.”¹⁰⁴Lev 26:12 And what is destined here is not to be understood in the category of things destined for the body, but rather from things destined for the soul in the world to come, which is what is referred to when it is written: “moving about – mithalekh – in the breezy part of the day.”¹⁰⁵Gen 3:8: “They [Adam and Eve] heard the sound of the Lord God moving about [mithalekh] in the garden at the breezy time of the day.” And our sages interpreted this in a midrash:¹⁰⁶Sifra Be-Hukkotai Chapter 3.”‘Va-hithalakhti be-tokhekham -I will walk about in their midst.’ In time to come the Holy One Blessed be He will stroll around with the righteous in the Garden of Eden.” And similarly they said, “In time to come the Holy One Blessed be He will arrange a “greenbelt”¹⁰⁷Mahol- untilled land surrounding a vineyard (Jastrow). However, mahol has the additional connotation of a chorus of singers and dancers, so R. Bahya may also be alluding to the “Mahanayyim dance” he mentioned in the First Gate. In any case, the main point of this image is that it is circular, with God in the center. The “choreography” of the souls of the “Garden of Eden”, is that they will be arranged in a circle with God in the center, as R. Bahya goes on to explain. for the righteous in the Garden of Eden, and His Presence will be among them.”¹⁰⁸B. Ta’anit 3a. The achievement of this joy for the souls is compared to an endless eternal “greenbelt,” because the circle goes around a point, and the point is in the center, which is why the Talmud says “His Presence will be among them –beynahem.” And similarly the Torah specified “in your midst – be-tokhekham,“¹⁰⁹Lev 26:12. because Israel is compared to circle, and He himself to the center point. And after it said, “I will walk about in your midst,” it said, “I will be your God,” ¹¹⁰Ibid. and our sages z”l interpreted this in a midrash,¹¹¹B. Taanit 31a. “And each and every one of them will point to Him with their finger, as it is said, ‘Behold! This is our God!”¹¹²Is 25:9. The word “this” is an allegory for nearing complete intellectual conception, like someone who has knowledge of something that exists and recognizes it clearly, and understands it as distinct from other things. And you should not understand “this” literally, like what you would mean if you were standing in front of a person and pointing them out, but rather, it is like what is meant when the Torah said, “For this man Moses…”¹¹³Ex 32:1: “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, ‘Come make us a god who shall go before us, for this man Moses, who brought us from the land of Egypt – we do not know what happened to him”who was not standing among them, but about whom they had specific knowledge. From here¹¹⁴From the expression “I shall walk about in your midst” in Lev 26:12. it should be clear to the enlightened that the world of souls is the “Garden of Eden” for the soul, but Scripture mixes it in the general list of things destined for the body, and depended on the intellect of the enlightened to discern it from them, that it would not be hidden from him as it would be from the masses.

You will find also in the words of Moses at the end of the Torah a promise well-known to be about the world to come, which is what is written, “O happy Israel! Who is like you, A people delivered by the Lord.”¹¹⁵Dt 33:29. Because it specified above the destined physical rewards, when it said, “Thus Israel will dwell in safety, untroubled will be Jacob’s abode, in a land of grain and wine, under heavens dripping dew,”¹¹⁶Ibid., 33:28. so it connected it immediately to “O Happy Israel!” to say “don’t think that the only recompense and reward you’ll have for doing the mitzvoth will be in this world.” That’s why it said, “O Happy [ashrekha] Israel,” as our sages taught in a midrash, “‘You shall be happy [ashrekha] and you shall prosper,’¹¹⁷Ps 128:2. ‘You shall be happy’ – in this world, and ‘You shall prosper’ – in the world to come.”¹¹⁸M. Avot 4:1. And afterwards it said, “Who is like you?”¹¹⁹Dt 33:29. that is to say, who among all the nations is like you will be “delivered by the Lord” – which means the salvation [t’shua’at] of the soul in the world of souls, which is why it said, “delivered [nosha’] by the Lord.”¹²⁰Ibid. It’s like the similar expression of the prophet: “Israel has been delivered [nosha’] by the Lord, with salvation [t’shuat] everlasting.”¹²¹Is 45:17: literally “salvation of the worlds” – t’shuat olamim – the plural of which R. Bahya without a doubt understands as an allusion to salvation in both worlds – this world and the world to come. And it said, “your protecting shield”¹²²Dt 33:29. because after it specified the reward of the soul and its salvation in the world of souls, it gave a sign for this and said that Ha-Shem (may He be blessed) is their shield, their protection and their “sword triumphant” [herev ge’utam], ¹²³Ibid., literally, “the sword of your pride.”that is, something they could be proud [le-hitga’ot] about, hence “your protecting shield.”¹²⁴Ibid. And this would even include what midat ha-din above is called – magen – “shield”, because one usually holds a shield in the left hand, and He keeps us safe with it so that by protecting us, we need not be afraid of the enemy overpowering it, and so David said, “You have granted me the shield of Your protection – magen yish’ekha“¹²⁵2 Sam 22:36, or “shield of Your salvation.” – the shield which protects You. And he explained further, “For YHWH God is sun and shield,”¹²⁶Ps 84:12. that is, “the Great Name” [of YHWH], the quality of Jacob, which is called “sun.”¹²⁷E.g., in Joseph’s dream, Gen 37:9, where the sun clearly stands for Jacob. I think R. Bahya means that “sun” is expression for God’s other main attribute, His “right hand” – midat ha-rahamim. Thus, when David referred to “Lord God” as “sun and shield” in Ps 84:12, from a kabbalistic perspective, it’s a reference to God having both midat ha-din and midat ha-rahamim, the attribute of severity and the attribute of compassion. I.e., YHWH (“Lord”) = “sun” = “Jacob” = midat ha-rahamim, while Elohim (“God”) = “shield” = midat ha-din. And so our rabbis z”l taught in a midrash, “Jacob said, ‘Who revealed to him [Joseph] that my name [sh’my] was ‘sun’?”¹²⁸Bereshit Rabba 84:10. Or as R. Bahya interprets it, sh’my= shem Y’, “the great name of YHWH.” And he called the heavenly midat ha-din “shield,” and this what is meant by “For YHWH God is sun and shield;”¹²⁹Ps 84:12. this is why it is specified “Your protecting shield, your sword of pride”¹³⁰Dt 33:29. because of Israel having this eternal success and ultimate victory over all their enemies. So all this is a sign that they are attached to and will be delivered by Ha-Shem in the world of souls. If so, then the account of the things destined for the soul in the Torah are only there by analogy and as a sign, so set your heart to the words of Moses, how he wanted on the day of his death to “seal” his words in the upper world – understand this!

And you need to understand the statement our rabbis z”l made: “The righteous who in time to come will live again do not return to their ‘dust,’ but rather will keep on lasting, as it is said, ‘And those who remain in Zion, and are left in Jerusalem…shall be called holy.’¹⁴⁴Is 4:3. Just as the Holy lasts forever, so the righteous in time to come will live and last forever, as they explained in a midrash in the Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin.¹⁴⁵B. Sanhedrin 92a: “Raba said: Whence is resurrection derived from the Torah? … Rabina said, [it is derived] from this verse, ‘And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.’ (Dan 12:2.) And in another place they taught in a midrash: “The dead whom the Holy One Blessed be He will in time to come bring back to life do not return to ‘their dust,” but rather will last forever, and delight themselves in seven huppot – wedding canopies.¹⁴⁶B. Baba Batra 75a. And this is the explanation of the matter and the secret of the statement, for the decree of Scripture: “For dust you are, and to dust you shall return,”¹⁴⁷Gen 3:19. is only from the perspective of the original sin, but when sin is taken away and “He will destroy death forever,”¹⁴⁸Is 25:8. and the day “will return to its normal state [le-eitano] in the morning,”¹⁴⁹An allusion to the miraculous parting of the Red Sea in Ex. 14:27, playing on the verbal similarity between yom – “day” and yam – “sea.” I.e., Ex 14:27: “the sea [yam] returned to its normal state in the morning.” that is, the strength of the world,¹⁵⁰Because according to Mekhilta Be-Shalah on Ex 14:27, eyn eitano ela’ tokfo, wherever it says eitano, it means “its strength” – tokfo. and no one will be able to lead into sin any work of the hands of the Lord (may He be blessed), for the Accuser will be gone in the blink of an eye – therefore they do not return to the dust forever. For when sin is taken away and cancelled, so the decree is cancelled, and so they do not return to ‘their dust.” But even though they never return to their dust, you shouldn’t understand this to mean that their bodies keep existing as real flesh and blood, with muscles and bones, as we are now. But rather, they will have earned the capacity to take on some sort of transformation, but it won’t ever be returning back to their dust. Thus, it is necessary for anyone with a clear mind to understand, and not to deceive himself with the “king’s food” of his desires and “wine he drank,”¹⁵¹An allusion to Dan 1:5. nor be seduced by the sort of things fools and those stuck in the “slimy depths”¹⁵²Ps 69:2. of their ignorance are seduced by.

And you ought to know that at the intellectual meal which is for the soul alone, prepared for the righteous in the world of souls or in the life of the world to come, the righteous are not all equal in this, but there is a hierarchy of status, one above the other. And thus they interpreted “sove’a’ semahot“¹⁵³An expression in Ps 16:11: “You will teach me the path of life. In your presence is perfect joy – sove’a’ semahot.” – “perfect joy” in a midrash in Sifre:¹⁵⁴Sifre Devarim 10. “The faces of the righteous in time to come will be like the sun, the moon, the horizon, the stars, lightning, flowers, and the menorot of the Temple.” And likewise they said in Seder Eliahu Zuta,¹⁵⁵Chavel says he couldn’t find this tradition in Seder Eliahu Zuta, but it is in b. Baba Batra 75a. “The righteous have seven huppot in the Garden of Eden, as it is said, ‘The Lord will create over the whole shrine and meeting place of Mt. Zion cloud by day, and smoke with a glow of flaming fire by night, etc.”¹⁵⁶Is 4:5: “The Lord will create over the whole shrine and meeting place of Mt. Zion cloud by day, and smoke with a glow of flaming fire by night. Indeed, over each ‘glory’ (kavod) will hang a huppah.” Cf Is 4:1: “In that day seven women shall take hold of one man…” You can see where the midrash gets the idea of seven wedding huppot in the future to come. So Rashi explains in a comment to b. Baba Batra 75a: “Indeed over each glory (or honor ) will hang a huppah: (1) “the cloud by day,” (2) “smoke”, (3) “glow”, (4) “fire”, (5) “flaming”, (6) “over each glory”, and (7) “huppah.” But “over each glory” doesn’t seem to belong to this count, but rather the “sukkah which will serve for shade by day” which follows immediately in the next verse (Is 4:6), making seven. It was this that was referred to when the Holy One Blessed be He promised Abraham Our Father in the “Covenant between the pieces” when He said to him, “Count the stars,” and “So shall your offspring be,”¹⁵⁷Gen 15:5. that is to say, just as the stars are arranged by levels, each star’s light greater than its neighbor, with some below it and some above, so in time to come your offspring will be arranged in levels, based on their light of Torah and wisdom, each one greater than the other, each one above the other. And thus in the light of the world to come, the level of the righteous will be one above the other, some of them worthy of the “glass that does not reflect”¹⁵⁸That is, the least obstructed view of God. See the Second Gate (pp. 492-3)., others “the glass which does reflect,” some that go up inside, that is, have permission to, and others who do not go up inside. And all of this they described in a midrash in Tractate Sukkah,¹⁵⁹B.Sukkah 45b. “The row [of righteous men immediately] before the Holy One, blessed be He, consists of eighteen thousand, for it is said, ‘It shall be eighteen thousand round about,'”¹⁶⁰Ez 48:35. which Rashi explained as “eighteen thousand of the righteous surrounding the Shekhinah.”¹⁶¹Rashi’s comment to B.Sukkah 45b. And the explanation of his explanation is that they do so at each of the four winds of the world, and if so, each wind has four thousand five hundred righteous people, and this is what “eighteen thousand round about”¹⁶²Ez 48:35. refers to.

(Hay) ”Before the soul descends, it is made to swear, ‘Be righteous and do not be evil. But even if the whole world tells you that you are righteous, you should be like an evildoer in your [own] eyes.’” And this is a statement of the Talmud in Niddah 30b in the chapter [entitled] HaMapelet. And this ostensibly contradicts that which they said in Avot 2:13, “Do not be evil in front of yourself (bifnei atsmecha, which can also be understood as, in the face of your essence).” And it appears to me [that this can be explained by noting what is written] in Ps. 62:10, “Men are mere vanity; mortals, deception; placed on a scale all together, they weigh less than vanity.” And [it is written] in the Yalkut (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 645), “The deceptions and vanities that Israel does are worthwhile – as they are men, the sons of Avraham, who was the greatest man among the giants – to be raised upon the scales, in the month of Tishrei,⁸²The month in which the High Holidays fall and which is traditionally associated with yearly judgement. the sign of which is Scales (Libra) – to be raised together above the vanity.” And this requires elucidation, as there is nothing worse than the sin of deceptions and vanities. And it appears [that it can be explained according to that] which is [found] in the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 48: 10):
“Let a little water be taken” (Gen. 18:4) – Rabbi Eliezer said in the name of Rabbi Simai, “The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Avraham, ‘You said “Let a little water be taken” – by your life, I will repay your children’; this is that which is written (Num. 23:17), ‘Then Israel sang, “Spring up, O well; sing to it, etc.”’⁸³Traditionally understand as a reference to a well that accompanied the Jews throughout their sojourning in the wilderness. See Rashi ad loc. ‘You said “wash your feet” – by your life, I will repay your children in the wilderness, in their settlement (in Israel) and in the future to come.’ In the wilderness, from where [do we know it]? As it is stated (Ezek. 16:9), ‘I will wash you in water.’ In their settlement, from where [do we know it]? As it is stated (Isaiah 1:16), ‘Wash yourselves, purify yourselves.’ In the future to come, from where [do we know it]? As it is stated (Isaiah 4:4), ‘When the Lord washes the, etc.’”
And ostensibly these repayments are not equal to one another. As in the wilderness, it is well stated – “I will wash you”; and also in the future to come, “When the Lord washes, etc.” – and its understanding is that the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself, washes [them]. But this is not the case in the settlement, about which it is written, “Wash yourselves.” How is this a repayment of reward, if they are washing themselves – without ‘His bounties?’ And in my humble opinion, it appears that [it can be explained according to that] which is [found] in Midrash Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:6:3:
[“Don’t stare at me because I am swarthy” (Song 1:6)] – Rabbi Yitschak said, “[There is] a story about a townsman who had a black maidservant who went down to fill water from the spring with her companion. She said to her companion, ‘Tomorrow my master will divorce his wife and take me for a wife.’ [The companion responded] to her, ‘Why?’ ‘Because he saw that her hands were charred.’ She said to her, ‘There is no [greater] fool in the world [than you]. Let your ears hear what your mouth is saying: If you say that he wants to divorce his wife who is so beloved to him because he saw that her hands were charred for a short time, it is all the more so with you – as you are totally charred, black from your mother’s innards.’ [‘As the sun has tanned me, etc.’ (Song 1:6) ] – To what are we (i.e. Israel) similar? To the son of a king who went out to the wilderness of a city and the sun beat down upon his head and his face darkened. But when he returned to the city and washed with a little water and went to the bathhouse, he regained his beauty. And behold he is as he was, etc. But you (the other nations) are tanned from the innards of your mothers, etc. [See there.]
And with this it is understood: In the merit of Avraham, his descendants were pure and clean like him. As the father gives over to the child his appearance, his beauty, etc.⁸⁴Mishnah, Eduyot 2:9. And even if their form was damaged afterwards through sins, behold this is like the tanning of the skin, which only covers the fine appearance for a short time. But after a little washing, it returns to its fineness – to its original essence (etsem). And this was the promise of the Holy One, blessed be He, to Avraham – “Wash yourselves,” the explanation of which is that they will be able to wash and remove the dung from upon them, like that townswoman who returns to her beauty. And it appears that this is the intention of the lamenter (Lam. 4:7-8), “Her elect were purer than snow […]; their etsem ruddier than corals. Now their faces are blacker than soot.” And [this is] meaning that their essence (etsem) was beautiful and pleasant – their ‘stump is a holy seed.’ And this is [the meaning of] “their etsem ruddier than corals.” However “Now their faces are blacker than soot” – meaning their external appearance.

The interpretation of “ḥupah” is from the expression: “He covers (protects) him all day” (Deuteronomy 33:12); this is an expression of covering and separating (them) from other people. And in the Aggadic literature, our sages, may their memories be for a blessing, wrote: “The Holy One, Blessed be He, is destined to make for each righteous man seven ‘ḥupot’ ” (Baba Batra 75a), meaning (special) coverings of honor, to distinguish them from other people, as it is written: “For on all glory shall be a ‘ḥupah’ ” (Isaiah 4:5). It was established to make a “ḥupah” of honor, and to recite the seven benedictions over them, and with this she is (considered) married completely. The (omission of) intercourse will not hinder (the validity of marriage) “everyone knows why the bride enters the ‘ḥupah’ ”. (Ketubot 8b). So there is no need for witnesses to the “yiḥud”, or ten men (to witness) the wedding benedictions, (because) immediately afterwards they will have intercourse, and this would be indecent (for others to be present).
Every kind of “ḥupah” that has been customary constitutes acquiring (a woman) through marriage, since their intent is (always) marriage, and now they are separated from other people. The two of them stand in one place for the sake of marriage, for example, when he leads her into his house and has “yiḥud” with her, as the Rambam wrote (Cf. III). And it would appear to me that the Rambam’s intention is also not that it is a complete “yiḥud” if the two of them are alone in one room, rather (when) they have “yiḥud” to live together as a man and his wife; they stand next to each other, and the seven benedictions are recited for them. Therefore, the opinion that we wrote in paragraph 6, viz. that “ḥupah” is not (only) “yiḥud” but the bringing her into his house for the sake of marriage, is essentially the opinion of the Rambam; for it is obvious that this opinion also acknowledges that, if he brings her to his house but is not with her, this is nothing. It is also obvious that he must be together with her, and recite the seven benedictions for then.
However, regarding this opinion, what the Halakhic authorities worte with respect to the opinion of the Rambam, that he holds that complete “yiḥud” in one room is necessary, and that no one else should be with them - this is the opinion concerning which there is disagreement. But, (in) our interpretation of the opinion of the Rambam: this and this are one (the same).