Chasidut sur Les Nombres 16:5
וַיְדַבֵּ֨ר אֶל־קֹ֜רַח וְאֶֽל־כָּל־עֲדָתוֹ֮ לֵאמֹר֒ בֹּ֠קֶר וְיֹדַ֨ע יְהוָ֧ה אֶת־אֲשֶׁר־ל֛וֹ וְאֶת־הַקָּד֖וֹשׁ וְהִקְרִ֣יב אֵלָ֑יו וְאֵ֛ת אֲשֶׁ֥ר יִבְחַר־בּ֖וֹ יַקְרִ֥יב אֵלָֽיו׃
puis il parla à Coré et à toute sa faction, en ces termes: "Demain, le Seigneur fera savoir qui est digne de lui, qui est le saint qu’il admet auprès de lui; celui qu’il aura élu, il le laissera approcher de lui.
Kedushat Levi
Numbers 16,5. Come morning, the Lord will make known who is His and who is holy, whom He has granted access to Himself. Him whom He will choose He will bring close to Him."
We need to understand why, in the first half of the words Moses (G’d) speaks of “whom He had brought close to Himself” in the past tense, whereas immediately afterwards, “He will bring close to Himself” he changes to future tense. This verse contains an allusion to the proper manner in which to serve Hashem.
The subject is discussed in Rosh Hashanah, chapter 2, mishnah 7 where the mishnahreports that after the court had examined the witnesses who reported having seen the new moon and their testimony had been validated, the court proclaimed: מקודש, “the new month has been sanctified.” The people present then repeated the declaration of the court saying twice: מקודש מקודש. Why did the head of the court say the word מקודש only once, whereas the people were required to say it twice?
We have a general rule that when someone wishes to engage in service of the Lord, he has to distance himself first from any sins he had been guilty of, i.e. take his leave from a lifestyle that opposes G’d will, before he can be enrolled in the class of people actively serving the Lord, i.e. by performing His will. This will be a process that intensifies gradually. During every step of the way, the person who has left behind him a sinful lifestyle must be on his guard to serve the Lord by studying Torah, praying, and by sanctifying His name in various ways through his dealings with his fellow man, causing Him continuous pleasure when observing him. When keeping this in mind we can interpret the text of the Mishnah as follows: when the head of the court proclaimed the word מקודש, he thereby indicated that the separation from a negative lifestyle had been accomplished. When the people responded by saying the same word twice, they indicated that they were on the way to serving the Lord, reminding themselves at each stage how they were supposed to do this, i.e. that they needed both to keep distance from sin, and at the same time to maintain their awe of the Almighty, never to become too familiar with Him in the sense that they would permit themselves the kind of familiarities one does when in the company of mortal human beings. Moses refers to this when saying: ואת הקדוש, meaning that once one has attained this level of holiness one must remember with Whom one consorts. This person described as הקדוש in the verse above, is one who had already attained a certain level of sanctity, קדושה by his own efforts, and was no longer in need of being led by the hand all the time. (as Rashi explains in Parshat Noach on the words: את האלוקים התהלך נח, “Noach walked with G’d.”) (Genesis 6,9) When describing Avraham’s level of proximity to G’d the Torah (wrote Genesis 17,15) התהלך לפני, “strive to walk ahead of Me!”
When Moses (G’d) added ואת אשר יבחר בו, “and Whom He will select,” he indicated that the person concerned would require further support from the Almighty to lead him to his desired destination in his relations with G’d. The words יקריב אותו are the assurance by G’d that He would help that person along his chosen path to enable him to serve Him with a sincere heart.
We need to understand why, in the first half of the words Moses (G’d) speaks of “whom He had brought close to Himself” in the past tense, whereas immediately afterwards, “He will bring close to Himself” he changes to future tense. This verse contains an allusion to the proper manner in which to serve Hashem.
The subject is discussed in Rosh Hashanah, chapter 2, mishnah 7 where the mishnahreports that after the court had examined the witnesses who reported having seen the new moon and their testimony had been validated, the court proclaimed: מקודש, “the new month has been sanctified.” The people present then repeated the declaration of the court saying twice: מקודש מקודש. Why did the head of the court say the word מקודש only once, whereas the people were required to say it twice?
We have a general rule that when someone wishes to engage in service of the Lord, he has to distance himself first from any sins he had been guilty of, i.e. take his leave from a lifestyle that opposes G’d will, before he can be enrolled in the class of people actively serving the Lord, i.e. by performing His will. This will be a process that intensifies gradually. During every step of the way, the person who has left behind him a sinful lifestyle must be on his guard to serve the Lord by studying Torah, praying, and by sanctifying His name in various ways through his dealings with his fellow man, causing Him continuous pleasure when observing him. When keeping this in mind we can interpret the text of the Mishnah as follows: when the head of the court proclaimed the word מקודש, he thereby indicated that the separation from a negative lifestyle had been accomplished. When the people responded by saying the same word twice, they indicated that they were on the way to serving the Lord, reminding themselves at each stage how they were supposed to do this, i.e. that they needed both to keep distance from sin, and at the same time to maintain their awe of the Almighty, never to become too familiar with Him in the sense that they would permit themselves the kind of familiarities one does when in the company of mortal human beings. Moses refers to this when saying: ואת הקדוש, meaning that once one has attained this level of holiness one must remember with Whom one consorts. This person described as הקדוש in the verse above, is one who had already attained a certain level of sanctity, קדושה by his own efforts, and was no longer in need of being led by the hand all the time. (as Rashi explains in Parshat Noach on the words: את האלוקים התהלך נח, “Noach walked with G’d.”) (Genesis 6,9) When describing Avraham’s level of proximity to G’d the Torah (wrote Genesis 17,15) התהלך לפני, “strive to walk ahead of Me!”
When Moses (G’d) added ואת אשר יבחר בו, “and Whom He will select,” he indicated that the person concerned would require further support from the Almighty to lead him to his desired destination in his relations with G’d. The words יקריב אותו are the assurance by G’d that He would help that person along his chosen path to enable him to serve Him with a sincere heart.
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