Musar zu Rut 4:24

Bamidbar Rabbah 6,1, commenting on Proverbs 3,15, "she is more precious than rubies," speaks of Kehat. Although we normally accord first rank to the natural firstborn (in this case Gershon), the order was reversed here since the Kehatites carried the Holy Ark which contained the Torah. When Proverbs talks about פנינים, the reference is to something that comes first, as we know from Ruth 4,7, וזאת לפנים בישראל. [The unusual spelling of the word in Proverbs as פניים, is the reason the Midrash explains it that way Ed.]So far the Midrash.

[What had happened to Noach was similar to what happened to the colleague of Rabbi Akiva who investigated the mysteries of the link between G–d and man only to emerge with his mind deranged (Chagigah 14). One must not overestimate one's spiritual capacity, just as one must not underestimate it. Ed.]. In spite of all this, G–d swore not to cause the extinction of the human race again, as had occurred during the deluge. When G–d promised this, He alluded to His previous statement of קץ כל בשר, in Genesis 6,13; this suggests that the present condition of immortality of the species only will continue during the length of mankind's natural history. Only after the arrival of the Messiah will there be a change, and when "G–d will rejoice in His handiwork again" (Psalms 104,31), the state of the universe will revert to what it had been at the time Adam was created. We will return to this later. The "descendants" which are the true descendants G–d had wished to see will not occur till the Messiah; this is indicated in Ruth 4,12 ואלה תולדות פרץ, where we find the word תולדות, descendants, spelled with two letters ו, to indicate that such descendants will correspond to all that G–d has hoped for from mankind. Peretz, of course, is another name for the Messiah.

[What had happened to Noach was similar to what happened to the colleague of Rabbi Akiva who investigated the mysteries of the link between G–d and man only to emerge with his mind deranged (Chagigah 14). One must not overestimate one's spiritual capacity, just as one must not underestimate it. Ed.]. In spite of all this, G–d swore not to cause the extinction of the human race again, as had occurred during the deluge. When G–d promised this, He alluded to His previous statement of קץ כל בשר, in Genesis 6,13; this suggests that the present condition of immortality of the species only will continue during the length of mankind's natural history. Only after the arrival of the Messiah will there be a change, and when "G–d will rejoice in His handiwork again" (Psalms 104,31), the state of the universe will revert to what it had been at the time Adam was created. We will return to this later. The "descendants" which are the true descendants G–d had wished to see will not occur till the Messiah; this is indicated in Ruth 4,12 ואלה תולדות פרץ, where we find the word תולדות, descendants, spelled with two letters ו, to indicate that such descendants will correspond to all that G–d has hoped for from mankind. Peretz, of course, is another name for the Messiah.

But if we reflect further, we see the greatness of the goodness of the Holy One Blessed be He, that the punishment itself results in great good. For a place was prepared for her to restore her tranquility and to sustain her old age. For in the death of the wife of Boaz, it was ordained by Heaven that he marry Ruth, as it is written (Mishlei 19:14): "And from the L-rd, an understanding wife." And through this Oved was born to her, who, as it is known, was Machlon, as the Kabbalists wrote, wherefore it is written (Ruth 4:17): "A son was born to Na'ami" [(and not "to Ruth," Machlon having been the son of Na'ami [viz. Ibid. 1:2])]. In sum, a man must believe that "from the mouth of the Almighty evil does not emerge, and if suffering does result we must know that good lies in it.

We will explain part of the mystical dimension of the concept of reincarnation, in order to clarify the concepts זווג ראשון and זווג שני which are mentioned in Sotah 2a. Once we understand these concepts we will also understand the deeper meaning of the יבום and חליצה legislation. The Zohar, commenting on the reason why the corpse of a person hung after execution (21,23) [and the same applies to anyone who dies from natural causes Ed.] must be buried within less than 24 hours, writes as follows: Rabbi Yehudah derives from this law that if a body were allowed to remain unburied for a period of 24 hours this would cause a deterioration in the שאברי המרכבה. [I believe the term refers to man's distinction as compared to the animal to serve as the carrier of the entourage of the Divine Presence, שכינה. Ed.] Non-burial would reduce man to the level of the animals as per Psalms 49,13 that "man must not be allowed to remain unburied overnight, lest he be like an animal." All of this is connected to the fact that man was created in G–d's image and form. Were this deterioration to occur it would on occasion prevent G–d from assigning the soul of that body to transmigrate to another body He had singled out for it. The soul of the departed must appear before the Heavenly Tribunal before it can be transferred to another body. Until the body that this soul inhabited has come to burial, the soul does not appear before the Heavenly Tribunal. The Rekanati connects the subject of transmigration to the mystical dimension of man's creation and hence his burial. He writes that one must not imagine that G–d sets out to create a human being and has great plans for such a human being only in order to forsake it. The very reason that G–d ordered the prompt burial of a human being is so that He need not delay carrying out His decrees. Transmigration of the soul of the departed to another body is impossible as long as burial has not taken place. The matter is similar to a husband whose wife has died and who would not remarry until his first wife had been interred. The urgency of the burial is determined by the possibility that G–d has another body on hand waiting to receive the soul of the person recently departed. Rekanati finds support for his theory in the fact that immediately after the passage requiring the burial of the corpse of a legally executed sinner the Torah legislates the concern that must be shown for an animal that has lost its way home (22,1). The passage has an allegorical meaning above and beyond the immediate legislation. If G–d is concerned with restoring lost animals or objects to their owner, it follows that G–d is at least as concerned in providing an opportunity for even a sinner who had to be executed to "find" his way back and cleave to G–d and His commandments. This can be accomplished by גלגול נשמות. The aforementioned helps us to understand the expression נדחים, "outcast," which the Torah uses in our verse, in contradistinction to the end of the passage (verse 3) where the Torah simply refers to אבדה, "a lost object." Rekanati concludes by referring to his own comment in this vein on the סוד העבור on Ruth 4,7.

Before revealing the reasons for all this we must still refer to Bereshit Rabbah 29,3, and we shall then see that all these statements are in accordance with what we have written above. The Midrash in question states: Rabbi Simon states that G–d made three "discoveries." He "found" Abraham, as we know from Nechemiah 9,8: "You found his (Abraham's) heart trustworthy before You." He "found" David since we read in Psalms 89,21: "I have found My servant David." He also "found" Israel as we know from Hoseah 9,10: "I found Israel like grapes in the desert." When his colleagues asked him why he did not include Noach in G–d's "discoveries," seeing the Torah says "Noach found favor in the eyes of G–d," Rabbi Simon responded that Noach did indeed "find," whereas G–d did not "find." There are several difficulties here. Why does Rabbi Simon not list G–d's "discoveries" in their chronological order, i.e. Abraham, Israel, David?

This is the secret dimension of Deut. 5,5: ואנכי עומד בין ה' וביניכם "I stand between G–d and you." It is well known to students of the Kabbalah that the root of אנכי stems from the emanation בינה. We have explained that בינה=יובל=דרור=50, freedom, i.e. גאולה = redemption. When Moses was in Heaven, i.e. had attained the 50th level of בינה, he had a "clear vision." This means that he viewed things through the original light which G–d had withdrawn from earth after Adam's sin. This is another way of explaining that G–d spoke to both Moses and the people of Israel פנים בפנים דבר ה' עמכם, "G–d spoke to you face to face" (Deut 5,4). If the Jewish people were on such a level it suggests that there were no מחיצות, no barriers between them and G–d. How do we explain that Moses is supposed to have provided a barrier between them, i.e. "I was standing between G–d and you?" We must conclude that there was indeed no barrier, that once Moses utilized the original light this removed his presence as a barrier. By receiving the Torah and attaining the above described level of בינה, Moses had fulfilled his mission as the re-incarnation of הבל. He added the letter ה from הבל to his name. He ascended the Mountain which was burning with fire until the very heart of Heaven, i.e. עד ל"ב השמים (Deut 4,11). The word לב is a reference to the total of 32 paths that lead to these insights, the basis of the whole Sefer Yetzirah (chapter 1, section 1) The letter ה which was added to Moses' name further symbolized that he had received and assimilated all the five books of the Torah. I have found the following in the writings of the Arizal: When the Torah quotes Moses saying: בבעלותי ההרה לקחת לוחות האבנים "When I ascended Mountain in order to receive the stone tablets, etc." (Deut 9,9), you can take the first letters of the first three words and construct the acronym הבל. This supports our contention that Moses completed the task of הבל by attaining the fiftieth level of בינה.

In commenting on Ruth 4,7: "Now this was formerly done in Israel in cases of redemption or exchange, to validate any transaction, one man would take off his sandal and hand it to the other," the Zohar on פרשת חוקת enlarges on the theme of נעל. I will content myself with copying a synopsis of his comments. [actually the author copied the entire passage of the Zohar. Ed.] "In Exodus 3,5 at the Burning Bush, G–d tells Moses: אל תקרב הלום, של נעלך מעל רגליך, "Do not come close, remove your shoes from your feet." What was the point in involving Moses' shoes in this revelation? The shoes G–d referred to represent Moses' wife. G–d suggested to Moses that in order to qualify for what He had in mind for him, he should divorce his wife and marry another. This alternate "marriage" was to be to a source of greater light, i.e. the שכינה. The true "wife" for Moses would be found in a higher world. The נעל, shoe, Moses removed from his foot – and which is described in Ruth 4,7 as a time-honored medium (symbol) for effecting transfer of ownership of something between two people – is the medium of effecting transfer from one world to another, i.e. death in this world and transfer to the Hereafter. This is why the sages have a tradition that a dream that one is given something by a person who has died is a good sign, whereas a dream that a dead person takes something away from one such as a shoe, is a bad sign (Berachot 57). The taking of one's shoe symbolizes that one will shortly be transferred to another world, i.e. one will die. We have an allusion to this in Song of Songs 7,2: מה יפו פעמיך בנעלים בת נדיב, "How lovely are your feet in sandals, O daughter of nobles!" (The mystical dimension of this allusion is jealously guarded by the initiated). What we have stated above is true when it is the departed person who takes the shoe. This is a symbol of transferring something to the world of the dead. If a living person takes a shoe in order to confirm an acquisition he does so at the behest of Heaven, i.e. to carry out G–d's decree to transfer a certain possession to another. The shoe used in performing the rite of חליצה has a different significance; all has a common mystical denominator. Consider that the husband in question who has died without having children is not welcomed by the בת נדיב (the emanation מלכות) in her world. The spirit is therefore moving about aimlessly, with no place to rest. G–d has taken pity on this spirit and commanded the brother of the departed person to release him from his misery. He is to do this by enabling the spirit to enter another "dust" i.e. body in accordance with Job 34,15: "and mankind would return to dust." If this redeemer is not willing to "revive" his departed brother [through the vicarious means of the levirate marriage and the siring of a male heir. Ed.] the latter has to receive an alternate נעל. This is the נעל which the widow removes from the foot of her brother-in-law to receive it on behalf of her late husband; her receipt of the shoe indicates that her late husband has returned to the world of the living. What happens in this procedure is the exact opposite of what occurs when a person dreams that a departed person has taken his shoe away from him. In the case of חליצה the living is perceived as taking from the dead. This is why the dead is able to return to be among the living by means of this sandal. The widow is seen as the crown of her late husband. The "wife" is understood as a metaphor for the שכינה which now accepts the spirit of the departed in its domain. This sandal has to be thrown to the ground to demonstrate that the widow wishes this body to be revived. G–d will take pity on this spirit either immediately or after a suitable interval and accept it in His domain. Throwing the sandal down on the earth also symbolizes that this departed person will be reconstituted from another source of dust. In the meantime the departed first returns to the earth he originally came from, thus releasing his widow to remarry anyone else suitable for her. Thus far the quote from the Zohar.

When we consider the death of the first two sons of Yehudah, Er and Onan, who were eventually replaced by two sons born by Tamar, i.e. Peretz and Zerach, and we reflect on the fact that the Torah reports those events immediately after the גלגולים that happened to Joseph, we must seek a reason for this. Bereshit Rabbah 12,6 draws our attention to the fact that the word תולדות, descendants, is always spelled without the letter ו after the ת, except when the Torah describes תולדות השמים והארץ in Genesis 2, 4, and when the descendants of Peretz are described in Ruth 4, 18. The reason is that when the Messiah arrives the world will be renewed. Progress was deficient in some way during all the years between Genesis 2, 4 and the arrival of the Messiah, a direct descendant of Peretz. The reason the Torah appends the report about Yehudah, his sons, etc to the sale of Joseph is to underline that both Joseph and Yehudah played a part in the resumption of the trend towards a more perfect world, towards realizing the Creator's objective in creating the universe.

In our portion the word איה in verse 21 is the allusion to such an event in the future. When the Torah discusses the ערכין and תמורה legislation in Leviticus 27,10 we are told: והיה הוא ותמורתו קודש, (if one did substitute one animal for another) "both the one originally vowed and its substitute will be deemed holy." The word תמורתו can be perceived as symbolizing תמר and ורות whose letters make up the word תמורתו. Both Tamar and Ruth may certainly be viewed as "substitutes," seeing they had not been deliberately chosen for the role they were destined to play. Our sages also say that when Yishai (David's father) slept with David's mother and David was conceived, this was due to an error on Yishai's part. He had thought that he was sleeping with a maid or concubine (Psalms 51,7 Metzudat David). [The verse reads –David speaking – "Indeed I was born with iniquity; with sin my mother conceived me." Ed.] David himself then was also a substitute as far as his mother was concerned. All of these extraordinary circumstances were designed by G–d to demonstrate that the impure is capable of being redeemed and becoming pure. The sperm that impregnated the various mothers mentioned originated in purity, could be called זרע קודש, holy seed. [In a gloss the author draws our attention to Ruth 4,7 where we find the expression על הגאולה ועל התמורה, placing the words "redemption and substitution" side by side. He finds a deep significance in this and speculates that it alerts us to the lesson that through the process of תמורה, substitution, the impure can achieve purity.] Er and Onan died because they defiled such sacred seed. Eventually Yehudah himself had to impregnate Tamar in order to enable the dynasty of David to have its beginnings. When, later on in 38,26, Yehudah acknowledged that he was the father of the infant Tamar was carrying, the Torah adds the word ממני, which our sages in Targum Yerushalmi interpret as a Heavenly voice calling out that the outcome conformed with a Heavenly plan and that neither Yehudah nor Tamar were guilty of misconduct.