Musar zu Tehillim 136:78

And all of this comes from the deception of the yetzer, which entices a man to say that his daughter will not achieve success or high station if she weds a Torah scholar, which would not be the case if she married this and this man. And, in truth, this is not so. For the Holy One Blessed be He, the G-d of the world and Provider of sustenance for all of His creatures, viz. (Psalms 136:25): "He gives bread to all flesh" — Would He withhold sustenance from a man, G-d forbid, because he learns Torah and fulfills its mitzvoth? Woe unto him who thinks thus of the Blessed Creator!

So, precisely, in our case. The Holy One Blessed be He, who apportions food to all of His creations, as it is written (Psalms 136:25): "He gives bread to all flesh," is the Father of Israel and they are His sons, as it is written (Devarim 14:1): "You are sons, etc." And He desires their peace and not their quarrel, as we find in Tanna d'bei Eliyahu 28: "The Holy One Blessed be He said to Israel: 'My beloved sons, do I lack anything that I ask it from you? And what do I ask from you? Only that you love each other and honor each other, etc., and that there not be found among you sin and theft, etc.'" Therefore, if one intrudes himself upon another and he [the second] asks him to stop, and he refuses, and he [the second] comes before the Blessed L-rd and entreats Him to give him a different portion so that he need not quarrel with his friend, he certainly will find favor in the eyes of the Blessed L-rd because of his holy trait, as they have said (Chullin 89a) on the verse (Iyyov 26:7): "He suspends the earth on nothingness [b'limah]." "Because of whom does the world exist? Because of him who muzzles [bolem (like b'limah)] his mouth in a time of quarrel, because of his trust in the L-rd" — and he receives a double portion.

I believe that Rabbeinu Bachyah has provided the most plausible reason for the spelling with the vowel kametz. He states that the purpose of the kametz is to demonstrate that G–d is self- sufficient, and that therefore no possessive form can be used concerning Him. His words are truly inspired. There is another allusion in that vowel, however, namely that the vowel kametz is really a combination of the two vowels patach and chirik. If one were to use only the vowel chirik, the word would apply to human beings, whereas if one were to use only the vowel patach, it would apply to all three men, i.e. it would be a plural, meaning "you (all) are my lords." The vowel kametz then is a combination of the singular and the plural. Abraham's intention then was to say: "Even though there may be many 'lords,' You O G–d are my only true Lord, the Lord of Lords." Psalms 136,3 also speaks of אדוני האדונים, "the Lord of Lords."

The reason all the מצות are called גזרות, "pieces," or "sections," is that they are like the souls, each one of which is a "section" of the Divine though separated from G–d Himself. Similarly then מצוות are like the egg laid by a hen that is about to be slaughtered for human consumption (compare Beitzah 2A). In other words, the commandments are an integral part of G–d though separated from Him. The word גזר is used in this way in Psalms 136,13: "Who divided the sea into pieces." We have the same meaning in Genesis 15,17, at the "covenant between the pieces, "where G–d (a pillar of fire) is described as passing between הגזרים, the pieces. We learn there what the כריתת הברית, making of the covenant between G–d and Abraham, G–d laying phylacteries, robing Himself in ציצית, studying Torah, etc., is all about. All these activities which our sages attribute to G–d are not merely symbolisms, but reflect the fact that we, our souls, are part of the Divine, and that what we are asked to do in this physical world is basically no different from what G–d does in the spiritual counterpart of our world. It is wrong to attribute the legislation of chasing away the mother-bird to considerations involving the welfare of the bird. What G–d wishes to teach us by means of the מצות, is something for our sake, something that makes it easier for us to operate on His "wavelength." We are to train ourselves to wear "His garments," to adopt His attributes. It is not surprising then that these גזרות are difficult to understand, and the same applies to the restrictive ordinances, גזרות, imposed by Rabbinic law which are designed to prevent our infringing Sinaitic law. We sometimes fail to see the rationale in some of these ordinances.

Our sages conveyed the same message when they explained that although the sacrifices on the Altar were consumed by Heavenly fire, yet the priests had to prepare the fire on the Altar on an ongoing basis. When man prepares the fire, G–d's fire will descend and consume the offerings, a sign of goodwill from G–d. The fire on earth "awakens" the Heavenly fire (Eyruvin 63). This is a rule which applied to everything in the Sanctuary with the exception of the Table and the Candlestick. The Candlestick with its seven lamps alludes to the ongoing existence of the universe which was created in seven days and alludes to the super-natural light that the universe was bathed in during those days and until Adam's sin. The Table teaches that G–d provides bread for all creatures, for His kindness is everlasting. The Table was not placed in the location which we would have expected in order to show that G–d neither needs our light nor our bread. What this means is that whereas in spiritual matters man must make the first move to come closer to G–d, G–d will make the first move when it comes to providing our physical needs such as food and light. We see that G–d continues to provide the universe and its creatures with its needs even though the Sanctuary is in ruins. We acknowledge this daily when we say grace after our meals. This is what the sages meant when they quoted G–d as saying: "I do not need the terrestrial Sanctuary either to enable light to be dispensed from Heaven or for food to be provided by My grace. If G–d nonetheless commanded the construction of a Candlestick and a Table, and commanded how they were to function, this was to attest that G–d's שכינה rested over Israel. It was an an assurance that even if there no longer were a Sanctuary this would not mean that G–d would withdraw His Presence, as we know from השוכן אתם בתוך טומאותם, "Who dwells amongst them in their state of defilement" (Lev. 16,16).

Come see what is written in the Zohar (Parashas Balak, 200b- 202b): Rabbi Pinchas went to visit his daughter, the mother of Rabbi Elazar, who was ill. He was riding upon a donkey, accompanied by his companions. Along the way they came upon two Arabs. He inquired of them, “Has any voice ever been heard coming from this field?” They said, “We do not know about ‘ever,’ but we do know about our own time. One time some highwaymen passed through this field and spied a group of Jews. They were intent on robbing them when the sound of this donkey was heard coming from the field. It brayed twice and then a flame came and consumed them, saving the lives of those Jews.” “O Arabs!” Rabbi Pinchas exclaimed, “In the merit of what you have related to me you shall be saved from other bandits who are lying in wait for you!” Then Rabbi Pinchas wept, exclaiming, “Master of the Universe! You performed this miracle to save those Jews in my merit and I was not even aware of it!” He then recited the verse, “To the One who performs great wonders alone, for His lovingkindness is forever!” (Tehillim 136:2). “How many good things does the Holy One Blessed is He do for people, yet no one knows of them other than Him alone! A person is traveling along the road and bandits are lying in wait to kill him. Then along comes another person who has been sent to serve as ‘redemption money’ so that he may be spared. Yet he is not even aware of the goodness that the Holy One Blessed is He has performed for him. Only the Holy One Blessed is He alone knows. “This is the meaning of the verse, ‘To the One who performs great wonders alone, for His lovingkindness is forever!’ ”

והיה כי יביאך ה' אלוקיך אל הארץ אשר אתה בא שמה לרשתה . "When the Lord your G–d will bring you to the land to which you will come in order to inherit it." The Torah speaks of terrestrial ארץ ישראל which is similar to its celestial counterpart. The word הארץ refers to the "earth" after one's death in which one "sleeps," i.e. refines the body through metamorphosis in order to be able to take one's place in one's original inheritance, the one intended for Adam before the sin. Just as on our earth there are two mountains, Mount Gerizim and Mount Eival, which symbolize blessing and curse respectively, so there are two parallel mountains in the Celestial Regions. One is generally known in our scriptures as ההר הטוב, or הר ה', "the Mountain of ‘good,’ or the Mountain of G–d," the one which can be climbed only by people who have complied with the criteria set down in Psalms 24,4. The other Mountain is known as הר שעיר, the Mountain of Se'ir, symbolizing darkness exuded by the evil urge. Our rabbis describe it as a "Mountain" because they view the overcoming of the evil urge as similar to the scaling of a mountain. The wicked, on the other hand, consider the evil urge as something they can easily control and therefore the evil urge appears to them merely as high as an hair, hence the name הר שעיר, "the mountain no higher than an hair." Were it not for the "good angels" created by our various מצות, our access to the Mountain of G–d would be severed completely. G–d in His great mercy decided to pay more attention to the "voice" of what these good angels relate about us than to the foul deeds we commit with our hands, i.e. הקול קול יעקב והידים ידי עשו, "though the hands are the hands of an Esau, the voice is that of Jacob." [A homiletical explanation by Midrash Shmuel of Genesis 27,22 applied to Akavyah's statement in Avot 3,1. Ed.] The words ואין אתה בא לידי עברה mean that if you have קול יעקב going for you you are in no danger at the hands of Esau, the hands of Satan. The meaning of the name הר גריזים is similar to the meaning of Psalms 31,23: ואני אמרתי בחפזי נגרזתי לפניך, "I said in my haste I am thrust out of Your sight." The Psalmist goes on to say that David learned that he had not been cast out by G–d after all. The function of Mount Gerizim then is to reassure us that Paradise lost is recoverable. Our deeds create the "good angels" whose pleas reach the throne of G–d. there are also barriers in the heavens between the different categories of צדיקים. Every righteous person occupies a station appropriate to his conduct while he lived on earth. Our Rabbis (Tanchuma Beshalach 10) explained that G–d made separate lanes when the tribes of Israel crossed the Sea of Reeds. They base this on Psalms 136,13: "Who divided the Sea of Reeds into גזרים, sections." The same happened when the Jewish people crossed the river Jordan into the Holy Land. This was one of the reasons twelve stones were erected in the river-bed; they marked where each tribe crossed.