Hasidut untuk Ulangan 4:35

The following passages of the Zohar express the central principle that knowledge is the prerequisite to any true Divine service. Everyone who goes to the next world without knowledge will be thrown out of each and every gate of that world, even though he has many good actions to his credit. (Zohar Chadash, Shir HaShirim, 77a) If a person is in this world, and does not strive to know Him, it would have been better had he never been created. For this reason, be seen before the Holy King, in order to know Him in this world. Strive to serve God in the mystery of faith, as it is written (Devarim 4), “You have been shown in order to know that Hashem is Elo-him, there is none besides Him.” God brought man into this world precisely in order to know that God is Elo-him. This is the principle of every secret of faith in the entire Torah.²⁴Notice how this passage of the Zohar equates knowledge with faith – two concepts usually considered to be opposites. To R. Gershon Henokh, however, true knowledge means the realization that the compassionate and loving God, referred to by the name Hashem (Y-H-V-H) and the God that brings upon human beings trials and adversity (E-lohim), are really one, and that even life’s afflictions are an expression of God’s love and compassion. He will return to this theme later, in chapters six and seven. On a related note, the Mei HaShiloach explains that human beings suffer, due to a lack of knowledge. That is to say, if a person truly understood the meaning behind the fulfillment of the commandments, then there would be no suffering whatsoever in the service of God. (Terumah, 161b)

On the famous question, posed by the commentators: How could Choice be taken from [Pharaoh], when it was supposed to be free? And based on our way we should pay attention to read precisely the word these in [God’s] statement, that I may show these signs of mine among them (Ex. 9:1) – it is as if [God] points with a finger at the signs, that here they are before [Moses’] eyes; but in truth they were not visible to his eyes. However, the point of the Exodus from Egypt was that Awareness was in exile with Pharaoh; and that meant that the nation, although they were the Children of Israel, did not know God even though they had a tradition from the mouth of their holy ancestors, the fathers of the world. Nevertheless, since they were the fourth generation they had forgotten the true Awareness about which King David, peace be upon him, said to his son Solomon, know the God of your father (1 Chron. 28:9). And that is the essence of the exile, that Awareness was in exile in Egypt. And therefore wicked Pharaoh said Who is the LORD? etc. (Ex. 5:2), that he denied the essential principle and believed only in sorcery. For he was a great sorcerer and did not know God or that it is written, “there is none but [God] (Deut. 4:35), even sorcery,” “which contradicts the power of Heaven” (Sanhedrin 67b); they have no ability to act beyond Blessed God’s will, as is explained in the Talmud in the incident of Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa. And therefore when Blessed God wanted to redeem [God’s] nation the Children of Israel from Egypt so that they would have the true Awareness, and to teach them that the LORD is God (Deut. 4:35), powerful and master of all abilities and powers, [God] said that I may show these signs of mine among them. That is to say, it was with [Pharaoh] in exile, and through this combination the word “Elohim” will be in wholeness and, and it will be known that the LORD is God, [God] is powerful and master of ability, and there is none but [God], even sorcery as we have stated.

There were Nephilim in the earth in those days, etc.: Behold we have written at length in our book, Sidduro shel Shabbat (Root 3, Branch 1), and in this essay in several places, that it is an essential religious service of an intelligent man to connect the earth and the heavens; to see and to understand, about every single thing that is on earth, that the place of its roots is in the heavens of the heavens, and to know that there is nothing in the world besides the power of God, His light, His infusion, and His lifeforce which is implanted at the time of the creation. And from then until now, the Holy One, blessed be He, supervises and infuses this life force upon it, and it is preserved like this forever. And that is why, "one who benefits from this world without a blessing is as if he robs the Holy One, blessed be, and the Assembly of Israel" (Berakhot 35b). As the main root of everything is to connect it to the heavens and to raise the spark of God that sustains that thing to its root in the heavens above. And in this way, the Holy One, blessed be He, has given this thing to man to bring it up to its elevated resting place. And when he recites a blessing over it at the time of his benefit, he can afterward elevate it, since he made the light of God's holiness dwell upon it with his blessing, when he said, "Blessed are You, Lord, Creator, etc.," and placed the blessing of God upon it, saying that God, who makes everything exist, created it, formed it, and also made it [alluding to Isaiah 43:7]. And through this, the physical body of dust of that thing enters it, and the root of spiritual life that is in it arises. And [in turn,] through this, he can afterward elevate it to the place of its root from which it was hewn with the power of the intention of his benefit for the sake of God alone, and not for the sake of his [own] desire and benefit. However, if he does not previously recite a blessing upon it, behold it is impossible to elevate that thing any longer, since its physicality has not yet been subdued. So then, why is he benefitting from it if he cannot elevate it? Just the opposite, he will bring it further and further down; and God did not give it to him in this fashion, to do evil to it, with the holy spark that rests in that thing. So he is truly stealing that thing from the Holy One, blessed be He, etc. And it is about this that the verse (Leviticus 25:23) warns: And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity, and its translation [in Targum Onkelos] is, "an eternal severance [literally, a severance of the worlds]." This means, to sever, God forbid, the land/earth from the heavens, to say that God is in the heavens above but not in the earth. It is not like that! Rather, He is the Supervisor, who creates and forms all that is formed and also renews the act[s] of creation, in His kindness, always every day, who supervises everything and gives sustenance to everything. And were it possible to fathom a lack of His infusion and His lifeforce from everything that is found, the world would be as if it were not, and it would be void and nothing. However, His good word is always established in the heavens [alluding to Psalms 119:89] and the earth and all that there is in them. And therefore there is none besides Him [alluding to Deuteronomy 4:35]. For there is nothing in all of the higher and lower worlds, in the depths and in the heights, besides the power of His light, His infusion, and His life force. There is nothing else! And that is why the verse stated: There were Nephilim in the earth, meaning they fell from their status and from their level and were only in the earth. And they thought that they were in the earth and God was in the heavens and that He did not oversee what was on the face of the earth or its inhabitants. So they did not consider connecting the earth to the heavens, to believe with complete faith that the Lord is God in the heavens above and upon the earth below, there is none else [alluding to the Aleinu prayer]. And they removed the eye of His oversight from the earth and said, "Who will see me and who will know me." Therefore they did what they did and did not have the fear of God before their eyes at all, as [each one] flatters himself in his own eyes [alluding to Proverbs 36:2-3], saying that he has been allowed to do whatever he want on the earth, and God does not oversee him. Hence...