Chasidut sobre Exodo 33:11

This proves that their intellect was not of human origin, but rather an expression from Above: God expressing His spirit to Israel. It is an eternal expression, initially through the prophets, then the Men of the Great Assembly, then to the Tannaim etc. Since the generations decline and God’s light becomes more and more concealed. Thus, the intellect of the Torah, which is an expression of God’s spirit, also becomes more and more minimal and constricted. Yet we do not require intellectual proofs for this, for.²³⁶R. Shapiro’s note ends here, with a closing bracket in the manuscript before the word “one” [ahat], picking up in the body of the text. It is unclear if the sentence was left unfinished, or if it was meant to segue directly into the midst of the next sentence. One of the tenets of Torah and Israel is to truly believe that Torah is from Heaven, including the Oral Law given at Sinai and revealed to us through the talmudic sages, and that they too were windows of heaven shedding light on Israel.“‘And God spoke to Moses face to face.’²³⁷Exodus 33:11. R. Isaac says, God said to Moses, ‘Moses—you and I shall explicate the Law.” (Talmud Berakhot 63) Both the primary and homiletic meanings of Torah are not merely intellectual, but are rather constituted of divine light. For through Toray [study], there exists the aspect of ‘face to Face.’

On the other hand, the ‎wicked people on this earth, i.e. the overwhelming ‎majority of the gentile nations, if and when they ‎become exposed to an intensity of light that they are ‎not accustomed to, will be blinded by it and will die. ‎The Talmud alludes to this when saying that someone ‎‎“set his eyes on him,” [in that case the teacher, ‎Ed.] as a result of which the person ‎concerned died from overexposure to light of an ‎intensity for which he had not been prepared.‎
When the Torah, in describing the impact of the ‎plague of darkness on the Egyptians, speaks of ‎‏ וימש חשך‎ ‎the word ‎ימש‎ was used in the sense of ”a removal,” ‎withdrawal, of the protective screen we humans enjoy ‎against overpowering brilliant light. [The word ‎ימש‎ will be familiar to the reader in that sense from ‎Exodus 33,11 where Joshua’s not departing from ‎Moses’ tent is described as ‎יהושע בן נון נער לא ימיש מתוך ‏האוהל‎, as well as from Joshua 1,8 where Joshua is ‎commanded never to be without a Torah scroll with the ‎words: ‎לא ימיש ספר התורה הזאת מפיך והגית בו יומם ולילה‎, “this ‎Book of the Torah must not be removed from your lips, ‎but you shall recite from it daily, etc.” Ed.] We ‎can now understand why the Talmud describes the ‎result of the protective screen consisting of his Torah ‎knowledge, etc. being withdrawn from the student ‎mentioned in the Talmud, being that this student ‎turned into a heap of bones, his body having been ‎burned in a flash from the excessive brightness to ‎which he had become exposed. In light of what we ‎have just explained it is also easy to understand why ‎the Torah chose to describe the situation of the ‎Israelites during the period of this plague as being one ‎that enjoyed light in their dwellings. They continued ‎being protected by the screen against excessive light ‎that people who deserve the appellation ‎בני ישראל‎, ‎‎“Children of Israel,” are entitled to by their birthright, ‎by being descended from the patriarchs.‎
These considerations also help us understand a ‎statement in ‎נדרים‎ 8, ‎לעתיד לבא יוציא הקב'ה את חמה מנרתיקה ‏צדיקים מתרפאים בה ורשעים נדונין בה‎, “in the future (messianic ‎or post messianic times) G’d will take the sun out of is ‎usual orbit, as a result of which the righteous (who are ‎sick) will be healed, whereas the wicked will be judged ‎by this (burned to death).‎‏"‏‎ The word ‎נרתיק ‏‎ in the ‎Talmud there is an allusion to the protective screening ‎against excess light/heat that G’d had provided when ‎He created the universe.‎

At the time when the Torah was given to Israel, the pshat (simple meaning) and the sod (secret) were given together. Each person understood the pshat and the sod according to his particular level. This is as it is written in the Zohar (Yitro, 83b): All of the various meanings, secrets, mysteries, decrees, and punishments, were all given as an inheritance to all of Israel. This is learned from the words preceding the Ten Commandments (Shemot 20:1), “and God spoke all of these words,” (meaning the pshat and the sod, for the specific purpose,) “to say” (meaning in order to be said and given as an inheritance to all of Israel). The knowledge of the Torah increased in the generation of the desert, for we call this generation the, “dor de’ah” meaning, the generation of knowledge, or the generation of the consciousness of the Torah. With the death of Moshe Rabeynu, the light of the written Torah receded, as it is written in the Zohar (Terumah, 156a), “At the time Moshe died, the sun was darkened in the midst of the day, and the written Torah, which is the aspaclaria d’meira (illuminating mirror),⁶³אספקלריא דמאירה – “A clear lens” means a perfectly lucid source of illumination, a level of clarity unique to the prophecy of Moshe Rabeynu, as the verse says (Shemot 33:11): “And God spoke to Moshe face to face.” This is contrasted with the אספקלריא דאינה מאירה – an unclear lens, or imperfect source of illumination, which is the level of all subsequent prophets, who received their prophecies in visions and dreams, and expressed them using metaphors. Nor were they consciously aware of their own prophecy, as was Moshe. was sealed and locked.” The sanctity of the prophets is inferior to the sanctity of the Torah. This was the beginning of the illumination of the Torah She’ba’al Peh (oral tradition). The Torah She’ba’al Peh is compared to the moon which receives its light from the sun. As long as the sun is shining, we do not see the light of the moon. When the sun sets, then the light of the moon is revealed. The prophets illuminated the light of the Torah She’ba’al Peh. This is as it is written in the Zohar (Kedoshim, 82b): There is a difference between receiving from one’s master, and receiving from the messenger of one’s master. What is the difference? It is written in the beginning of the Pirkei Avot, “Moshe received the Torah at mount Sinai and delivered it over to Yehoshua.” He received it, and then afterwards, transmitted it to everyone. When one receives from another, it is like the reception of the moon from the sun. The light of the moon is entirely a received illumination of the light of the sun.

It seems quite clear from several places that the Rambam had possession of a clear tradition of the mysteries of the Torah. Another example is the following. He wrote in the Guide in chapter 45 of the second section, that the eleventh level of prophecy involves, “seeing an angel speaking to one in a vision, as experienced by Avraham Avinu during the binding of Yitzhak. In my opinion this is the highest of the degrees of the prophets – with the exception if Moshe Rabeynu - whose states are attested by the prophetic books, provided he has, as reason demands, his rational faculties fully developed.” In this the Rambam is saying that the level of prophecy experienced by Avraham is the highest degree of prophecy. It follows that the prophecy (of Avraham) recorded in the Torah is of the highest degree known to mankind, save that of Moshe himself, who possessed the absolute highest prophetic perceptions ever. This is what is meant when God describes Moshe by saying (Bamidbar, 12:8), “I will speak to him mouth to mouth,” which attests to the fitness and worthiness of Moshe’s soul. The Mishnah Torah further explains the difference between the prophecy of Moshe and all other prophets.¹¹³See Mishnah Torah, Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah (7:6), which spells out the difference between Moshe and other prophets. According to the Rambam, the difference lay in the degree to which the imaginative faculty played a role. When other prophets experienced God speaking to them, they did so through the power of the imagination. Moshe, however, had a direct, intellectual perception of the Divine, without the intermediary of the imaginative faculty, as the verse implies: “And God spoke to Moshe face to face…” (Shemot 33:11) When studying the passages of the Torah concerning prophecy, it is understood that the highest level of prophecy is that which is emanates from the supreme source of prophecy. This is in line with the following passage in the Zohar (Idrat Nasso, 130a), “We have leaned that the name of Atika (the Ancient Holy One)¹¹⁴Atika is one of the highest of the Divine Partsufim (modes of God’s governance) representing absolute and total compassion, beyond the distinctions of good and evil. is hidden above all the rest. It is nowhere explained in the Torah save one place. This is in God’s promise to Avraham (Bereshit, 22:17), where the Lord says, ‘I swear on Myself, saith the Lord.’ Myself is Atika, meaning Ze’ir Anpin¹¹⁵Ze’ir Anpin is the lower more accessible of the Divine Partsufim. It is a level where God’s concealment is broken only through the performance of Mitsvot, prayer, and ethical behavior. swore on Atika.” This is explained in the Beit Yaakov (haKollel, parshat Vayeira, sec. 57).