Chasidut על דברים 6:4
Kedushat Levi
Another way of looking at this unusual utterance by Moses, in which, at least superficially, he appears to describe reverence for G’d as an attribute that is easily cultivated by man. We read in Deuteronomy 33,26 where Moses describes some of the phenomenal capacities of the Creator in the words: רוכב שמים בעזרך, “He rides the heavens in support of you (His people).” Although G’d’s abilities are unlimited, אין סוף, He has nonetheless imposed restrictions upon Himself out of His love for the Jewish people, so much so that when applying His many attributes in practice, He first compares the way in which His people, Israel, practice these same attributes down here on earth. When G’d observes the Jewish people excelling in the practice of loving kindness for their fellow Jews, He in turn, will also practice this attribute in a very generous measure. The same is true of other attributes such as displaying unforgiving hostility towards those who blaspheme and belittle G’d, or worse. He will deal with such people harshly, having taken His cue from the way His people behave toward them. This was implied when we mentioned earlier in connection with G’d being described both as Hashem and as elokim in the same verse, (Deut. 6,4) (compare page 732) that whereas the name Hashem is a “comprehensive” name including all of G’d’s manifold attributes, the name “elokim” is used when referring to a specific attribute of His being prominent at that time. When Moses, in our verse here, stresses the name of G’d as His attribute of אלוקיך, “your G’d,” this suggests that He applies His attributes according to the way His people practice this attribute on earth in their dealings with others.
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Kedushat Levi
Deuteronomy 6,4. “Hear O Israel!” it is a rule based on tradition that when the Israelites pray and address G’d as הא-ל הגדול, “the great G’d,” G’d responds by wrapping Himself in greatness, whereas when we add the words: הגבור, “the mighty One,” G’d drapes Himself in garments signaling that He is mighty. When we continue in our prayers to refer to G’d as הנורא, “the awesome One,” G’d garbs Himself in a robe symbolizing that adjective or attribute. The phenomenon of G’d garbing Himself in various robes in response to our prayers is known as אם, an abbreviated form of the word אמה, “cubit,” a basic unit in measuring lengths. [If I understand correctly, this is used as a device to interpose between the root, the essence, and visual image of the essence it hides. Ed.] The “essence” behind is known as מטי ולא מטי, “both capable of being found and not capable of being found;” [in the sense of “at one and the same time attainable and yet not attainable”. Ed.] Even this expression never appears without an accompanying modifying adjective, attribute.
When we recite the first line of the kriyat sh’ma, i.e. the verse above, we refer to G’d in His essence prior to His having garbed Himself in “robes,” in order to make it easier for us to visualize Him, seeing that His Essence is beyond our ability to visualize. The moment we add the word: אלוקינו, i.e. “our G’d,” we have already added something that reflects how G’d has imposed restrictions on Himself and the absolute freedom represented by His Essence. It is important for us to remember at all times that we do not address our prayers to the “visualized” version of “Hashem,” but to His Essence.
[In order to understand the concept of אם המדידה the “mother of measuring,” the reader may recall that there is a rod exactly one meter long preserved in Paris as a terms of reference whenever a dispute would arise about the accuracy of a device claiming to be exactly one meter long. Ed.]
When we recite the first line of the kriyat sh’ma, i.e. the verse above, we refer to G’d in His essence prior to His having garbed Himself in “robes,” in order to make it easier for us to visualize Him, seeing that His Essence is beyond our ability to visualize. The moment we add the word: אלוקינו, i.e. “our G’d,” we have already added something that reflects how G’d has imposed restrictions on Himself and the absolute freedom represented by His Essence. It is important for us to remember at all times that we do not address our prayers to the “visualized” version of “Hashem,” but to His Essence.
[In order to understand the concept of אם המדידה the “mother of measuring,” the reader may recall that there is a rod exactly one meter long preserved in Paris as a terms of reference whenever a dispute would arise about the accuracy of a device claiming to be exactly one meter long. Ed.]
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Kedushat Levi
Numbers 24,17. “a star emerging from Yaakov has begun its journey, a scepter from Israel. It smashes the corner posts of Moab the foundation of all the descendents of Sheth.” The poetic language of Bileam becomes clearer when we look at psalms 22,29 כי לה' המלוכה ומושל בגויים, “for dominion belongs to Hashem and He rules the nations;” This will be demonstrated when ועלו מושיעים בהר ציון לשפוט את הר עשו והיתה לה' המלוכה, “when the liberators (exiles that have been freed) will march up Mount Zion to wreak judgment on Mount Esau and dominion shall be the Lord’s.”(Ovadiah 1,21)
We need to understand the difference between the words ממשלה and מלוכה, both of which refer to the exercise of authority, rule. The word מלוכה, when used in Scripture, refers to rule by a king whose subjects have submitted to it willingly, whereas the word ממשלה is used in Scripture when the subjects are unwilling, but unable to shake off the rule by the monarch or dictator. As a general rule, only the Jewish people are described as willingly submitting to G’d’s rule, whereas the gentile nations described in these verses as being in exile, submitted to G’d’s rule under protest, and rebelled against it whenever possible. G’d imposes His rule upon them in order to frustrate their evil designs against His people. In the eras described, both in psalms and Ovadiah, this situation will have changed and the gentile nations will willingly appoint G’d as their king also. (Compare Rashi on Deuteronomy 6,4,on שמע ישראל ה' אלקינו ה' אחד.( He quotes both Zecharyah 14,9 and Tzefaniah 2,9 in support of his statement.
We are aware that it is impossible for mortal man to have a true concept of the essence of G’d as we know from Tikkuney Hazohar chapter 11. When we recite daily in our prayers the line ברוך אתה ה', “blessed are You Hashem,” this is because through making judicious use of the letters, i.e. concentrating on the written text of our prayers, Jews can achieve comprehension of concepts that are incapable of comprehension to human beings if one would think about them only in the abstract. The letters, i.e. the sacred letters of the printed or written words: אתה וגו', illuminate for us the concept of G’d’s dominion over the Jewish people. As a result of this advantage we possess, tzaddikim are able to use the 22 letters in the aleph bet at will for the furtherance of loving kindness, mercy and life through our prayers which will then become engraved in the throne of Hashem.
The numerical value of the tetragram, i.e. י-ה-ו-ה is 26. When you add to this the 22 letters in the aleph bet, you will get the numerical value of the word כוכב, “star” in our verse. Homiletically speaking, Bileam refers to the emergence of a person in Israel who, by judicious use of the name of the Lord and the 22 letters He has used to create the universe, has tremendous influence on the decision making process in the celestial regions. His power will extend to smashing Moab and other enemies of Israel. When Bileam speaks of וקם שבט בישראל, the word שבט is to be understood as a simile for the rule by the Jewish people, whereas the word פאתי in the line ומחץ פאתי מואב, refers to צמצום, contraction as opposed to largesse, i.e. a major aspect of דין, application of the attribute of Justice, which severely impairs the freedom granted to human beings as long as they have not abused it (grossly) by rebelling against G’d. [Some of these words are mine. Ed.] The word מואב in our verse also alludes to the source of these disasters befalling Moab being G’d, i.e. Israel’s spiritual “Father,” מ-אב emanating from the father.
A recurring theme in the author’s definition of true service of the Lord is that when pertaining to service of the Lord, ecstasy is not only permitted but desirable, whereas ecstasy when applied to anything material, secular, is strictly forbidden. Furthermore, true service of the Lord is performed in a “hidden” manner, i.e. must not attract public attention, so as not be seen as arrogant behaviour. Whatever man does publicly, i.e. to draw attention to himself, is by definition חצוניות, externalism, not reflecting the sanctity of the soul. Bileam refers to the קרקר, extreme coldness, to be maintained when engaged in secular but necessary activities, so that any show of enthusiasm for the performance of such tasks will not be mistaken as religiously inspired.
We need to understand the difference between the words ממשלה and מלוכה, both of which refer to the exercise of authority, rule. The word מלוכה, when used in Scripture, refers to rule by a king whose subjects have submitted to it willingly, whereas the word ממשלה is used in Scripture when the subjects are unwilling, but unable to shake off the rule by the monarch or dictator. As a general rule, only the Jewish people are described as willingly submitting to G’d’s rule, whereas the gentile nations described in these verses as being in exile, submitted to G’d’s rule under protest, and rebelled against it whenever possible. G’d imposes His rule upon them in order to frustrate their evil designs against His people. In the eras described, both in psalms and Ovadiah, this situation will have changed and the gentile nations will willingly appoint G’d as their king also. (Compare Rashi on Deuteronomy 6,4,on שמע ישראל ה' אלקינו ה' אחד.( He quotes both Zecharyah 14,9 and Tzefaniah 2,9 in support of his statement.
We are aware that it is impossible for mortal man to have a true concept of the essence of G’d as we know from Tikkuney Hazohar chapter 11. When we recite daily in our prayers the line ברוך אתה ה', “blessed are You Hashem,” this is because through making judicious use of the letters, i.e. concentrating on the written text of our prayers, Jews can achieve comprehension of concepts that are incapable of comprehension to human beings if one would think about them only in the abstract. The letters, i.e. the sacred letters of the printed or written words: אתה וגו', illuminate for us the concept of G’d’s dominion over the Jewish people. As a result of this advantage we possess, tzaddikim are able to use the 22 letters in the aleph bet at will for the furtherance of loving kindness, mercy and life through our prayers which will then become engraved in the throne of Hashem.
The numerical value of the tetragram, i.e. י-ה-ו-ה is 26. When you add to this the 22 letters in the aleph bet, you will get the numerical value of the word כוכב, “star” in our verse. Homiletically speaking, Bileam refers to the emergence of a person in Israel who, by judicious use of the name of the Lord and the 22 letters He has used to create the universe, has tremendous influence on the decision making process in the celestial regions. His power will extend to smashing Moab and other enemies of Israel. When Bileam speaks of וקם שבט בישראל, the word שבט is to be understood as a simile for the rule by the Jewish people, whereas the word פאתי in the line ומחץ פאתי מואב, refers to צמצום, contraction as opposed to largesse, i.e. a major aspect of דין, application of the attribute of Justice, which severely impairs the freedom granted to human beings as long as they have not abused it (grossly) by rebelling against G’d. [Some of these words are mine. Ed.] The word מואב in our verse also alludes to the source of these disasters befalling Moab being G’d, i.e. Israel’s spiritual “Father,” מ-אב emanating from the father.
A recurring theme in the author’s definition of true service of the Lord is that when pertaining to service of the Lord, ecstasy is not only permitted but desirable, whereas ecstasy when applied to anything material, secular, is strictly forbidden. Furthermore, true service of the Lord is performed in a “hidden” manner, i.e. must not attract public attention, so as not be seen as arrogant behaviour. Whatever man does publicly, i.e. to draw attention to himself, is by definition חצוניות, externalism, not reflecting the sanctity of the soul. Bileam refers to the קרקר, extreme coldness, to be maintained when engaged in secular but necessary activities, so that any show of enthusiasm for the performance of such tasks will not be mistaken as religiously inspired.
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Flames of Faith
Shema: The Jewish prayer beginning with, “Hear, O Israel, God the Lord is our God, the Lord is One” (Deut. 6:4), which Jews recite to declare their faith and accept upon themselves the sovereignty of Heaven.
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