Chasidut su Deuteronomio 4:78

The third level "acts of lovingkindness" - that behold in the upper worlds God set 'Compassion', which is love and 'beloved' that is the the Holy Blessed Name loves the righteous because of the righteous' holy deeds on the earth, yet in this world they are called 'lovingkindness', that even for a person who is not decent, the Holy Blessed Name does lovingkindness freely, providing for that person's needs. Nevertheless, the righteous who attain the level of rising up every physical thing, which is rising the holy sparks that exist in corporeality, which is in one's eating and drinking and so on, and all one's thoughts in the time of doing physical things are only to rise the holy sparks in them, and a righteous person such as this one does not need lovingkindness, meaning, free lovingkindness as explained above, giving the things needed in this world from the side of lovingkindness, because the Holy Blessed Name showers [the righteous] with their needs according to the deserved letter of the law because of their good deeds. And this is the explanation for "deeds of lovingkindness [roots g.m.l./kh.s.d.]": from the expression "the weaning [g.m.l.] of Yitzchak" (Genesis 21:8) - there is no need for the levels "lovingkindness" [kh.s.d.] just what is deserving to the righteous through the love of the Blessed God for the righteous, and through that the righteous connects him/herself above above to the eternal life, even while in this world the righteous attains the higher pleasure of the eternal life, and this is the explanation for the gemara "you will see your world in your lifetime" (Berakhot 17a), that through one's deeds and movements which are all done in holiness and purity and clinging to God and happiness and love and awe, from that one attains pleasures of the higher worlds in this world. And there is to say that this is also the intention of the verse "and y'all who cling to Hashem you God are all alive today" (Deuteronomy 4:4) . Meaning, through clinging that y'all cling to the Blessed Creator y'all will get eternal life, even "today", in this world, as explained above.

They pay no attention to that which the Torah admonishes us (Devarim, 4:39), “You shall know this day and take unto your heart that Hashem is Elo-him,¹²This famous verse expresses the deepest mystery of life, and is among the central tenets of the Hasidic movement. Although this verse was taught by Moshe on the very last day of his physical life, to the Hasidic master, the words are eternally relevant: “know this day.” This knowledge is not merely of the fact of revelation, but the very ongoing act of revelation. Thus, the knowledge is not merely intellectual, but mystical. It is the awareness that the Transcendant God is also immanent, and that the All-Powerful has the capability to reveal something of Himself through the vessels of finite creation. For R. Gershon Henokh, this verse is also the source of faith, which, to the Hasidic masters, was a trans-cognitive faculty that enabled one to breech the opposites of God and reality, infinity and finitude. As R. Gershon Henokh will explain below, faith is the realization God’s mercy and compassion, represented by the ineffable name YHVH is itself E-lohim, representing God’s judgment. God’s Judgment is God’s Mercy. Faith in God’s Goodness in the midst of adversity is the sign of a truly believing person. For God to ask man to know that Hashem is E-lohim requires man to know that there is a spiritual wisdom beneath or beyond the surface of the hard facts of life. This depth of belief opens up the ability to know mysteries of God and the Torah. The notion that God’s judgment is God’s mercy is termed in the Zohar as, “the mystery of faith,” as will be more fully discussed in chapters seven and eight. in the heavens above and on the earth below, there is no other. And you shall guard his statutes …”¹³In other words, knowledge of God’s unity, in heaven and earth, in good and bad, leads one to guard His statutes.

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.

And therefore, when we are waking from sleep, we must wash our hands with water. Water represents knowledge, as in, "the earth will be filled with knowledge as the waters cover the sea bed". Isaiah 11:9. We must evoke the waters of knowledge to evoke order and banish impurity, which is attached to disorder, which has become attached to the hands. The entire power of the forces of evil is only from disorder, when a person is not receiving perfect sustenance from order. This is represented by the darkness of night, by sleep, when the body, which corresponds to night, remains without sustenance from the intellect, which corresponds to day. During this time, the forces of evil are sustained from there, from disorder, become attached specifically to the hands. This is because the above rectification of binding and bridging disorder into order is represented by the Yud, which corresponds to the Kaf, which represents the hands, as in, 'you formed me backward and forward and placed your hand upon me', as brought on the verse "Open your hand". The entire world compared to G-d is in the category of disorder. G-d is exalted beyond all spiritual worlds, and all the worlds are in disorder before Him, since all the worlds are guided by Malchut as explained in the lesson as mentioned above, and the Malchut corresponds to disorder, and said above. This corresponds to "the world was created in the month of Tishri". Rosh Hashanah 27b. Tishri represents tav-shin-resh-kuf, disorder, Malchut. The world was created mainly so that we come to know G-d Zohar II 42B, so that we acquire perfect knowledge, which is knowing G-d. That is the true essence of knowledge, and only that is considered knowledge, as written, "you shall know today and restore to your heart that G-d is the Lord". Deuteronomy 4:39. The main purpose of creation was to bring disorder into order, to elevate all worlds to their root, so that disorder, representing the totality of all worlds, will become brought into order, which is knowledge, specifically the knowledge of G-d. That is the main purpose and what will remain at the very end. Everything else will become nullified into it. But how does one achieve this, binding and elevating all worlds corresponding to disorder, to the roots, into order, which is wisdom and knowledge? This is only possible in this world of action, by means of observing the practical commandments of the Torah. The Torah, as a whole, is held in the hands, which are the tools of action, as in "today to do them". Deuteronomy 7:11. This is alluded in "the two tablets of the covenant are in my two hands". Deuteronomy 9:15. Torah, represented by the two tablets of the covenant, is held within the two hands, which represent the tools of action, for the hands place all things where they are needed. This is true regarding the world as a whole: by means of the hands, the tools of action corresponding to the totality of the Torah, we take all the worlds, corresponding to disorder, elevating them and bringing them to G-d, so that they are absorbed within their root in order. This is why the Zohar tells of Rabbi Eliezer who lifted his two hands as he was about to die and said "woe that two Torahs are about to disappear from the world". Zohar I 99a. The two hands represent the totality of the Torah, represented by the written Torah and the oral Torah, which is why holiness is evoked mainly through the sanctity of the hands. This is represented by the washing of the hands in the morning. When we sleep, the life sustenance disappears and the forces of evil that are attached to disorder become attached specifically to the hands, for they are always seeking to be nourished from holiness. And since holiness – bringing all worlds to the root, bringing disorder into order - is by means of the hands, the main attachment of the forces of evil that always seek division and to separate disorder from order is specifically to the hands, the main site of sanctity. The hands are the main tools by means of which we are able to bind and elevate disorder into order, and therefore, they are also the main place where the forces of evil are attached. That is why we must wash our hands with water immediately upon awakening, to evoke the waters of knowledge and evoke order, so that the forces of evil attached to disorder will be banished. This is what our Sages said, "the evil spirit that rests on the hands as a princess and is particular not to leave unless the hands are washed properly". Shabbat 109a. This force of evil is rightly called a princess, for it is attached to a blemish of the Malchut caused by separating Malchut and saying 'I shall rule', which causes everything to be disordered, which is the source of judgments and evil forces. That is why it is called a princess.

According to this it is clear that all that was mentioned in the above quote in the Zohar, Parshat Pinhas – that all of the names, appellations, and attributes, were all created for the purpose of directing the creation – falls within the realm of [God’s] desire to emanate the creation and everything that that includes,²⁴¹Note that the author now applies the concept of a contingent creation not merely to some past occurrence – the Genesis story of the Bible – but to an ongoing, constantly recurring state; meaning to say, just as God originally created the world and everything in it – including human cognition – so He continually creates and renews the world, so that their continued existence is also, at every moment, contingent and mutable. but not above this. For above this, there is no garment or attribute at all. This is as it is written in the Zohar (Parshat Bo, 42a): “To whom shall you liken me, that I shall be his equal, said the Holy One.” (Yeshayahu, 40:25) All of the holy Hayot (angels) are called in the letters of the holy name. This is as it is written (Yeshayahu, 43:6), “All that is called in My name, I have created for My glory.” Everything in the creation was created with the letters of God’s name, and there is no creation that does not have God’s name inscribed in it, in order that one may know who created it. For this reason it is written, “To whom shall you liken Me, that I shall be his equal, said the Holy One.” No creature shall be My equal. Even though I created it in the form of My letters, still, I can erase its form and re-create it as many times as I want, and there is no god above Me that can erase My “form.” Here it is clear that all created beings, even the holy Hayot (angels) and all the supernal powers, even the root of their spiritual forms are only arranged and ordered in holy likenesses, and renewed according to God’s desire. It is in the power of God’s desire to change these likenesses into different forms; for according to the changing of the supernal forms, so will the order of God’s governance change, from the loftiest of heights to the lowliest of levels. This is true even for the nature order of the physical world. There the Zohar concluded (Bo, 42b): If one were to propose a difficulty by quoting the verse (Devarim, 32), “for you saw no image,”²⁴²The verse says, “you saw no image,” not the letter yud, nor the letter vav, or any other letter. How, then, could one say, “Everything in the creation was created with the letters of God’s name, and there is not creation that does not have God’s name inscribed in it”? he will give the answer, “This image I did see, for it is written (Bamidbar, 12:8), “He shall see the vision of God.” “The vision of God,” but not any other vision that He created and formed out of letters.²⁴³That is, you see only the vision of the letters of creation, but no other vision. For this reason it is written (Yeshayahu, 40:25), “To whom shall you liken me, that I shall be his equal.” To whom can God be compared? What form could you possibly ascribe to Him? Even this “form” of God that is accessed by created beings through the letters of creation does not exist in God’s own place, but comes into being when He descends to reign over his creation. Then the vision spreads over the creation, and each one sees it according to his specific ability to perceive. This is as it is written (Hoshea, 12:11), “I have used images through the prophets.” For this reason, God will say to them that even though He appears to them in a vision that they can comprehend, still, “to whom can I be compared,” because before God created any image or formed any form in the world, God was alone without any form or semblance. We have mentioned how all names and appellations of God are created entities, and that before the creation, there was no name or form from the holy forms. This is as it is written Zohar (Bo, 42b): One who receives information about the state of existence before the creation²⁴⁴Despite the limited nature of human cognition, it can receive information about states of existence prior to creation; that is, beyond cognition. However, since that information pertains to unconstricted aspects of Divinity, it is forbidden to make an formal, limited likeness, even in terms of letters, Divine names or other abstract forms. – before there was any form of God’s being that was at all discernable to mankind – is forbidden to make any formal representation of that information, not with the letter Hei nor with the letter Yud. One cannot use a holy name, or even so much as a letter or point to describe this knowledge. This is as the Torah says (Devarim, 4:15), “You did not see any form.” You did not see anything which engenders a likeness or form. However, after God made the form of the holy merkava (chariot) of the supernal man, then God descended there, and He is called in the name of the Tetragrammaton (Yud Hei Vav Hei). This is in order that God may be comprehended through His attributes,²⁴⁵Seven lower Sefirot from Chesed to Malkhut, the supernal source of emotions such as love, fear, pride, and so forth. and perceived through each of His attributes.

The Written Torah utilizes human idiom to articulate the divine word, in that it speaks of, for examples, God’s of the eyes, hands, and feet. The prophet Ezekiel went further and described a human form sitting on the form of the Throne.³⁵⁷See Ezekiel 1. Our holy commentators explained that, God forbid, this does not mean to impute corporeality and human limbs to God; after all, the Torah says “For you have seen no image.”³⁵⁸Deuteronomy 4:15. Rather, the Torah and the prophets merely utilized such images as figures of speech to ease comprehension, though these things surely do not exist above [as described in material terms]. Indeed, Kabbalah is full of depictions of limbs and human forms: of the Primordial Man [Adam Kadmon], skulls, hairs, the ‘three heads,’ (that is, the three aspects of the head), throat, neck, heart, body, left and right arms, thighs, etc...The kabbalists clarified that these we are all spoken of metaphorically.

This is the meaning of the line: ‎ולא יחללו את קדשי בני ישראל ‏‎, ‎‎“so that they will not desecrate the sacred contributions of the ‎Children of Israel.” On this verse, (22,15) Rashi comments ‎that the desecration referred to is that of feeding sacred portions ‎to non priests. Verse 16 then takes up this theme and adds what ‎would happen if that law were violated is: ‎והשיאו אותם עון אשמה‎, ‎‎“the people having fed these sacred contributions to non priests ‎would burden the people eating same with a guilt which is liable ‎to keep getting more serious.” This is the meaning of the unusual ‎expression ‎והשיאו‎, “it will grow higher and higher.”‎
The reason why consumption of sacred contributions – other ‎than the ones specifically commanded to be eaten by the non ‎priests as part of “their” offerings- are forbidden, is to protect ‎these people against burdening themselves with a serious sin if by ‎eating them they would inadvertently err in the place or time or ‎state of ritual purity, all of which are prerequisites even for the ‎priests who are commanded to eat those portions.‎
The priests, who being the elite of the people, were familiar ‎with all the potential pitfalls that could cause desecration of these ‎sacred portions, could be trusted not to commit any of these ‎errors.‎
The subject of the holiness of the Tabernacle/Temple is ‎fraught with so many potential transgressions that every person ‎is exhorted to practice humility, i.e. not to flatter himself that he ‎is on such a high spiritual level that he can “ascend” -in the ‎allegorical meaning of the word- spiritual platforms for which he ‎has not yet qualified. If an individual sincerely feels that he has ‎excelled in the performance of some commandments, and that ‎this is proof of his belonging to an elite of the Jewish people, he ‎should instead of looking down on others, look up to those ‎individuals whose entire life revolves around serving G’d to the ‎exclusion of any “private” concerns. We have explained this in ‎greater detail on Deuteronomy 4,39 ‎וידעת היום כי ה' הוא האלוקים ‏בשמים ממעל ועל הארץ מתחת‎, “know therefore this day and keep in ‎mind that the Lord is alone in heaven above and on earth below.” ‎In earthly matters, although most people who have amassed, say ‎a million dollars, keep looking forward to the day when they can ‎double this, Jews are asked to make do with modest acquisitions ‎and not to chase values they cannot take with them to the world ‎beyond death of the body; concerning spiritual matters however, ‎we are asked to constantly look upwards and to forever ‎accumulate more merits, as these will stand us in good stead in ‎regions where money would not help us at all.‎
Our sages, in interpreting the verse quoted, understand the ‎words ‎בשמים ממעל‎,“ in the heaven above,” as an allusion to the ‎soul, whereas they understand the words ‎ועל הארץ מתחת‎, “and on ‎the earth below,” as an allusion to our bodies. Accordingly, the ‎overall meaning of the verse is that the expression “in the ‎heaven” refers to the requirement in heaven, i.e. the needs of the ‎soul, i.e. how the soul can best serve the Creator, and the answer ‎is to “look at those creatures,” i.e. the righteous, that are on a ‎higher level than we are and try to emulate them; and in looking ‎at earth, never to forget that there are poor people who are far ‎worse off than we so that we will not make the amassing of more ‎material wealth a priority in our short life on earth.‎

The Purpose of the Mystery of Faith
Having established that true knowledge is the knowledge of God’s revelation on earth, the author now shows how this to be the meaning of the Shema Yisrael prayer: “Hashem Elo-heinu, Hashem Echod.” That is, Hashem, the Transcendent God, is also Elo-heinu, the imminent God. In R. Gershon Henokh’s eyes, this defines the mystery of faith, for true faith is the ability to perceive God’s light and providence in each detail of creation. In the chapter following this one, R. Gershon Henokh refers to this knowledge as Ma’aseh HaMerkava, “the Workings of the Chariot.”⁴⁷In Hebrew, merkava is related to the word markiv, meaning “to join or assemble.” Thus, the “Work of the Chariot” means a perception of the union of God and creation. This was a term coined by the Sages of the Talmud in references to Yehezkel’s vision of a supernal throne, carried by angels, on which sat an image of the Divine. Talmudic mystics, who delved into the depths of this topic were known as “Descenders of the Chariot.” However, R. Gershon Henokh defines Ma’aseh HaMerkava in a novel way.⁴⁸In keeping with other teachings from the school of Izhitz. The merkava is not the chariot in Yehezkel’s, but the entirety of creation, which, when viewed through the lens of faith, becomes a dwelling place for the revelation of God in the world.
Concerning the meaning of the Shema Yisrael the Zohar writes (Terumah, 160b): The two words Shema Yisrael (Hear O Israel) express a unification of three sides, which are the three words Hashem Elo-heinu Hashem (Hashem is our God, Hashem), since it is all one. Further in the Zohar, it is written (Terumah, 161a): Rabbi Hiya spoke after him and said (Devarim 4:35), “It was shown to you, so you may know that Hashem is God, there is none other besides Him”; (Devarim 4:39) “And you shall know this day, and take into your heart, that Hashem is God, in the heavens above and on the earth below, there is none other.” The entire mystery of faith depends on these words. From this one can know the secret of all secrets, the most hidden of all mysteries, which is that “Hashem Elo-him,” is one full name, and it is all one. And in the Zohar (Pekudei, 260a): One who knows how to combine similar things (min b’mino) – to make connections, connecting chamber to chamber, level to level⁴⁹Meaning, he possesses the wisdom necessary to unite the effect with its cause. In this way, he unifies this world with the upper worlds. – has a share in the world-to-come, as we have established. Therefore, it is the completeness of all. And when the levels are completed, one joined to the other, then it is all one action, and the completeness that comes out of this combination (min b’mino) is called Ma’aseh Merkava,⁵⁰The root of the word, “to assemble, to combine” (הרכבה)and the word for chariot (מרכבה) is the same. the workings of the Divine Chariot. This is the secret of (Bereshit, 2:7), “and Hashem Elo-him formed man.” “Hashem Elo-him” is one complete name, and the resulting action of combining the two names into one is the formation of man. In this way we say, “Hashem is Elo-him.” This is as the Zohar states above, that the mystery of fatih is found in the commandment: “And you shall know this day, and take into your heart, that Hashem is God (which is the same as saying Hashem is Elo-him), in the heavens above and on the earth below, there is none other.”

The Purpose of the Mystery of Faith
Having established that true knowledge is the knowledge of God’s revelation on earth, the author now shows how this to be the meaning of the Shema Yisrael prayer: “Hashem Elo-heinu, Hashem Echod.” That is, Hashem, the Transcendent God, is also Elo-heinu, the imminent God. In R. Gershon Henokh’s eyes, this defines the mystery of faith, for true faith is the ability to perceive God’s light and providence in each detail of creation. In the chapter following this one, R. Gershon Henokh refers to this knowledge as Ma’aseh HaMerkava, “the Workings of the Chariot.”⁴⁷In Hebrew, merkava is related to the word markiv, meaning “to join or assemble.” Thus, the “Work of the Chariot” means a perception of the union of God and creation. This was a term coined by the Sages of the Talmud in references to Yehezkel’s vision of a supernal throne, carried by angels, on which sat an image of the Divine. Talmudic mystics, who delved into the depths of this topic were known as “Descenders of the Chariot.” However, R. Gershon Henokh defines Ma’aseh HaMerkava in a novel way.⁴⁸In keeping with other teachings from the school of Izhitz. The merkava is not the chariot in Yehezkel’s, but the entirety of creation, which, when viewed through the lens of faith, becomes a dwelling place for the revelation of God in the world.
Concerning the meaning of the Shema Yisrael the Zohar writes (Terumah, 160b): The two words Shema Yisrael (Hear O Israel) express a unification of three sides, which are the three words Hashem Elo-heinu Hashem (Hashem is our God, Hashem), since it is all one. Further in the Zohar, it is written (Terumah, 161a): Rabbi Hiya spoke after him and said (Devarim 4:35), “It was shown to you, so you may know that Hashem is God, there is none other besides Him”; (Devarim 4:39) “And you shall know this day, and take into your heart, that Hashem is God, in the heavens above and on the earth below, there is none other.” The entire mystery of faith depends on these words. From this one can know the secret of all secrets, the most hidden of all mysteries, which is that “Hashem Elo-him,” is one full name, and it is all one. And in the Zohar (Pekudei, 260a): One who knows how to combine similar things (min b’mino) – to make connections, connecting chamber to chamber, level to level⁴⁹Meaning, he possesses the wisdom necessary to unite the effect with its cause. In this way, he unifies this world with the upper worlds. – has a share in the world-to-come, as we have established. Therefore, it is the completeness of all. And when the levels are completed, one joined to the other, then it is all one action, and the completeness that comes out of this combination (min b’mino) is called Ma’aseh Merkava,⁵⁰The root of the word, “to assemble, to combine” (הרכבה)and the word for chariot (מרכבה) is the same. the workings of the Divine Chariot. This is the secret of (Bereshit, 2:7), “and Hashem Elo-him formed man.” “Hashem Elo-him” is one complete name, and the resulting action of combining the two names into one is the formation of man. In this way we say, “Hashem is Elo-him.” This is as the Zohar states above, that the mystery of fatih is found in the commandment: “And you shall know this day, and take into your heart, that Hashem is God (which is the same as saying Hashem is Elo-him), in the heavens above and on the earth below, there is none other.”

We have already spoken in Hakhsharat haAvreikhim, chapter 10, of the meaning of “The Lord is God in Heaven above and the Earth below, there is no other”⁴⁷¹Deuteronomy 4:39.—not only is there no other divinity besides Him, there is no existence besides Him. There is no existence other than divine existence, and nothing happens which God has done made happen. Everything is divinity and every occurrence, God has made. The avodah of the Israelite is to see, reveal, and expand His divine illumination- inside himself, in his surroundings, both exalted and lowly. There should be nothing in them other than His divinity, will, and instruction/Torah. As in says in Beit Aharon to Sukkot, “I have heard of R. Menakhem Mendel of Baar [a disciple of the Besht] that he would always pray with his eyes cast downwards, because he was searching for a very low place, for there as well is His divinity and lifeforce, ‘and there is no place free of Him.’”

Advanced student, I am concerned that you have been startled by my words here. Up until now, you thought that the improvement that we demanded of you before, and about which we said that you are not free and exempted, was only [regarding] how to cleanse your character traits and how to remove the poisonous dust that we just mentioned - and that this would be enough for you to do, in order to climb to the level of being a true Jewish adult - and that you understood us. But this can no longer the case; since even after the cleansing and improvement of bad traits, we are still demanding that you elevate yourself and come closer [to God]. We are demanding that you elevate yourself greatly - such that your whole being approaches God. Yet this is something [optional] in your eyes; something that only the most spiritual people and the great tzaddikim need to make efforts towards reaching, whereas every other simple Jew is exempt. [But then] you have made a big mistake. It is true that the closeness [to God] and elevation of the souls of the great tzaddikim is much greater than that of the simple Jew. Yet even every simple Jew - however he may be - cannot possibly be a Jewish servant of God with a dry heart and an old and covered over spirit. Hence he must raise himself, at least occasionally - above himself and above the whole world. Our teacher, Moses, said to the Israelites (Deuteronomy 4:35), "You have been shown, to know that the Lord is God; there is none else beside him." He did not say this to his generation alone. For the Torah is eternal and our teacher, Moses, is our eternal leader. So even now is he announcing and making it known to all Jewish hearts and spirits, "You have been shown, to know that the Lord is God; there is none else beside him." It is not enough for us to have the knowledge that God, may He be blessed, is found above, outside of us. Rather, you have been shown to know - what is central is that you sense and feel Him, may He be blessed. And you, advanced student, have already been shown a little bit to know this. And if you will not sense the Divine Presence of His glory in front of your eyes like the prophets and the great tzaddikim - our teacher, Moses, already hinted to us [what to do, when he said] (Deuteronomy 4:39), "And you shall know this day, and you shall set it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God, in the heavens above and on the earth below; there is none else." "And you shall set it to your heart" - so set it to your heart, and know that "the Lord, He is God, etc." For please note the nature of your trembling in your heart for God and your yearning for Torah, the commandments and true prayer. And why is it that when you think about how great it would be for me if I could be a great tzaddik that is close to God, like the tzaddikim of earlier days; and how happy I would be if I could make my prayers like those of the Maggid of Kozhnitz, may the memory of the tzaddik be for a blessing for life in the world to come, and I would be united with God in great purity through them - your heart trembles so much, and your entire body quakes from this yearning that is like a torch fire inside of you? From where does all of this come to you, if not from that which your spirit is struck by being in front of the Master, the Lord of hosts? It is for Him that you yearn and melt. "And you shall know this day, and you shall set it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God" - when you set [the matter] to your heart, then you will know that the Lord, He is God!

Advanced student, I am concerned that you have been startled by my words here. Up until now, you thought that the improvement that we demanded of you before, and about which we said that you are not free and exempted, was only [regarding] how to cleanse your character traits and how to remove the poisonous dust that we just mentioned - and that this would be enough for you to do, in order to climb to the level of being a true Jewish adult - and that you understood us. But this can no longer the case; since even after the cleansing and improvement of bad traits, we are still demanding that you elevate yourself and come closer [to God]. We are demanding that you elevate yourself greatly - such that your whole being approaches God. Yet this is something [optional] in your eyes; something that only the most spiritual people and the great tzaddikim need to make efforts towards reaching, whereas every other simple Jew is exempt. [But then] you have made a big mistake. It is true that the closeness [to God] and elevation of the souls of the great tzaddikim is much greater than that of the simple Jew. Yet even every simple Jew - however he may be - cannot possibly be a Jewish servant of God with a dry heart and an old and covered over spirit. Hence he must raise himself, at least occasionally - above himself and above the whole world. Our teacher, Moses, said to the Israelites (Deuteronomy 4:35), "You have been shown, to know that the Lord is God; there is none else beside him." He did not say this to his generation alone. For the Torah is eternal and our teacher, Moses, is our eternal leader. So even now is he announcing and making it known to all Jewish hearts and spirits, "You have been shown, to know that the Lord is God; there is none else beside him." It is not enough for us to have the knowledge that God, may He be blessed, is found above, outside of us. Rather, you have been shown to know - what is central is that you sense and feel Him, may He be blessed. And you, advanced student, have already been shown a little bit to know this. And if you will not sense the Divine Presence of His glory in front of your eyes like the prophets and the great tzaddikim - our teacher, Moses, already hinted to us [what to do, when he said] (Deuteronomy 4:39), "And you shall know this day, and you shall set it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God, in the heavens above and on the earth below; there is none else." "And you shall set it to your heart" - so set it to your heart, and know that "the Lord, He is God, etc." For please note the nature of your trembling in your heart for God and your yearning for Torah, the commandments and true prayer. And why is it that when you think about how great it would be for me if I could be a great tzaddik that is close to God, like the tzaddikim of earlier days; and how happy I would be if I could make my prayers like those of the Maggid of Kozhnitz, may the memory of the tzaddik be for a blessing for life in the world to come, and I would be united with God in great purity through them - your heart trembles so much, and your entire body quakes from this yearning that is like a torch fire inside of you? From where does all of this come to you, if not from that which your spirit is struck by being in front of the Master, the Lord of hosts? It is for Him that you yearn and melt. "And you shall know this day, and you shall set it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God" - when you set [the matter] to your heart, then you will know that the Lord, He is God!

This reality came into being at the time the Torah was given. As it says (Deuteronomy.4.10), "Gather the people to Me that I may let them hear My words" -- this was the needed preparation and illumination so that every gathering of Jews for all generations has the ability to awaken those words. As it says (Deuteronomy.5.19, see Targum): "A mighty voice that never stopped."

The shira (poetry) written in Shmuel 2 (ch. 23), a book of the Prophets, is different from the same poem as it appears in Sefer Tehillim (ch. 18), because Sefer Tehillim possesses the sanctity of the Writings.⁶⁷For example, Shmuel, verse 51 reads, “מיגדול ישועות מלכו - He is a tower of the king’s salvations.” In the book of Psalms, the same verse reads, “מגדיל ישועות מלכו – He magnifies the king’s salvations.” So too do we find differences in the words of David and Shlomo as they appear in the books of Shmuel and Melachim, and as they appear in Divrei HaYamim (Writings). This is because there is a difference in the sanctity of the prophets and the sanctity of the writings. It is said in the Zohar (Vayehi, 215b): “Whenever David HaMelech did not speak from under the wings of the Shekhina, but rather prophesized of things to come, it is called zot.”⁶⁸As it is written (Devarim 4:44): “And this – v’zot - is the Torah.” The feminine form of the pronoun “this” - זאת -- implies that the prophetic spirit was initiated from below (through David’s prayers or meditations). When the masculine form of “this” is used – זה – it means that the prophecy descended spontaneously from above. There is a distinction between prophecy and the ruach hakodesh (prophetic spirit) which was used to compose the sacred writings. It is said in the Zohar (Terumah, 156a): When David HaMelech died, the moon gathered in its light, and the Torah SheBaal Peh (oral tradition) gathered in its light. From that time on, the light of the Torah was hidden. Argument in the Mishnah and disagreement among the sages became widespread. The brave of heart were enveloped in confusion.

And therefore, you, avreikh, besides those esoterica which you have heard from the Zohar, “as has been clearly demonstrated to you”⁵⁹³Deuteronomy 4:35. that hasidism is entirely dependent on avreikhim. For to serve God passively, by avoiding transgression and fulfilling commandments,⁵⁹⁴It is striking that R. Shapiro categorizes fulfillment of positive commandments alongside avoidance of violating negative prohibitions, terming both ‘passive.’ the elderly along with the avreikhim are capable. But to enter all our warmth, feelings, actions, and even human imaginative faculty into God’s house, turning them into wings and soaring as angels- for all this, avreikhim, with their warmth, feelings, actions, and human imaginative faculties, are more capable. Is such avodah, with its exercises, possible, if not for avreikhim supported by their parents, free from labor and business?

Deuteronomy 9,15. “I turned around and descended ‎from the Mountain, etc.;……….. “I placed the tablets inside ‎the ark which I had constructed as G’d had commanded me.” ‎‎(Deteronomy 10,5)‎
Seeing that the entire Book of Deuteronomy consists of words ‎of rebuke by Moses to the people or commandments he relays ‎that G’d had told him to teach the people, why, all of a sudden, ‎does Moses relate something that does not fit either of the other ‎two criteria?
‎[The following, a concept that first occurs in the ‎‎sefer yetzirah the oldest Kabbalistic text, is based on the ‎need to define everything that G’d has created in terms known as ‎עולם,‏‎ ‎שנה, נפש‎, loosely translated as “space, location,” “time, ‎year,” “spiritual dimension.” Ed.]‎
The Torah prescribes that a number of occurrences must be ‎‎“remembered” at regular intervals. This includes the Exodus from ‎Egypt, an event notable for where it took place, i.e. Egypt. The ‎Sabbath must be remembered (in the Kiddush) primarily as ‎symbolizing the dimension of “Time.” The attack and eventual ‎defeat of Amalek must be remembered primarily as symbolic of ‎the struggle between opposing worlds of the Spirit. In order for ‎the Book of Deuteronomy to represent all these three elements of ‎G’d’s creation, the fact that the Essence of the written Torah, the ‎Tablets with the Ten Commandments had to be hidden, instead of ‎revealed, is symbolized by Moses having been commanded to ‎‎“hide” this spiritual heritage in the Holy Ark. Had the Jewish ‎people not been guilty of the sin of the golden calf, the Tablets ‎with the Commandments would have remained on display. [I ‎have taken the liberty to present this in an abbreviated version so ‎as not to confuse the reader. Ed.]‎ ‎

Deuteronomy 4,2. “and as far as you who have cleaved ‎to the Lord your G’d is concerned, etc.;” when the Torah ‎employs the name elo-him when referring to G’d, this ‎means that it refers to Him as the ultimate root cause of every ‎phenomenon and as the ultimate height of all that has been ‎spiritually elevated. Our G’d combines within Himself all aspects ‎of all that surrounds Him. All this is due to the existence of the ‎Jewish people, so that indirectly the Jewish people have a hand in ‎whatever occurs in the world.‎
This answers a question which has bothered members of ‎ancient cultures when they look at the first line of the k’riyat ‎sh’ma ‎שמע ישראל ה' אלוקינו ה' אחד‎, “hear O Israel the Lord our ‎G’d the Lord is One.” They could not understand the need for the ‎words: ‎אלוקינו‎ ‎ה'‏‎ “the Lord is our G’d,” when they had already ‎been told that there is only One G’d. The simple answer to this ‎question is that the words ‎ה' אלוקינו‎, mean that this G’d of ours ‎combines within Him all the subsidiary causes in the universe. ‎None of these so-called “causes,” are independent and do not owe ‎an accounting to Hashem. Seeing that this is not something ‎that is visible and traceable by scientists, the Torah had to assert ‎that it is so nonetheless. Due to the fact that Israel is the vehicle ‎through which the entire human race will eventually realize the ‎unique Oneness of G’d, Moses tells them that they have this ‎distinction with the words: ‎ואתם הדבקים בה' חיים כולכם היום‎, “and ‎you who have cleaved to G’d are therefore alive this day.”‎

Deuteronomy 4,2. “and as far as you who have cleaved ‎to the Lord your G’d is concerned, etc.;” when the Torah ‎employs the name elo-him when referring to G’d, this ‎means that it refers to Him as the ultimate root cause of every ‎phenomenon and as the ultimate height of all that has been ‎spiritually elevated. Our G’d combines within Himself all aspects ‎of all that surrounds Him. All this is due to the existence of the ‎Jewish people, so that indirectly the Jewish people have a hand in ‎whatever occurs in the world.‎
This answers a question which has bothered members of ‎ancient cultures when they look at the first line of the k’riyat ‎sh’ma ‎שמע ישראל ה' אלוקינו ה' אחד‎, “hear O Israel the Lord our ‎G’d the Lord is One.” They could not understand the need for the ‎words: ‎אלוקינו‎ ‎ה'‏‎ “the Lord is our G’d,” when they had already ‎been told that there is only One G’d. The simple answer to this ‎question is that the words ‎ה' אלוקינו‎, mean that this G’d of ours ‎combines within Him all the subsidiary causes in the universe. ‎None of these so-called “causes,” are independent and do not owe ‎an accounting to Hashem. Seeing that this is not something ‎that is visible and traceable by scientists, the Torah had to assert ‎that it is so nonetheless. Due to the fact that Israel is the vehicle ‎through which the entire human race will eventually realize the ‎unique Oneness of G’d, Moses tells them that they have this ‎distinction with the words: ‎ואתם הדבקים בה' חיים כולכם היום‎, “and ‎you who have cleaved to G’d are therefore alive this day.”‎

And that is [the meaning of the verse] you who are attached to the LORD your God, [you are all alive today] (Deut. 4:4), and we must understand why it is written with both names, to the LORD your God, when it should have said you who are attached to the LORD and no more. And according to our words above we can understand well that God [Elohim] in all contexts connotes judgment and contraction; and that is [the meaning of] you who are attached to the LORD your God, meaning even when He is contracted for you, when you have fallen from your level, nevertheless you are attached to Blessed God by means of [the question], “Is it not the case that you are all alive today? And who is your life-force? It is He, may His Name be Blessed and His Mention Elevated!”

Deuteronomy 4,5. “See, I have taught you statutes and ‎civil laws as the Lord my G’d commanded me, for you to do once ‎you are in the midst of the land.”
This verse is best ‎understood on the basis of what we have explained on Exodus ‎‎12,28: ‎ויעשו בני ישראל כאשר צוה ה' את משה‎, “the Israelites did in ‎accordance with what G’d had commanded Moses.” [At the ‎time, we would have expected the Torah to write that the ‎Israelites did as Moses had commanded them, as they had not ‎heard G’d’s command to Moses. Ed.]‎
We abide by the rule that G’d told Moses the details of the ‎commandments in order for him to relay these to the people, i.e. ‎the meaning of the word: ‎לאמור‎, “to say.” [We must ‎always remember, however, not to equate the person who learns ‎something through his own efforts to someone who learns it ‎from his Rabbi. It is better to have learned it from one’s Rabbi. ‎Ed.] (Ketuvot 111). The Israelites, upon hearing ‎Moses’ instructions in the name of the Lord, did not generally ‎understand the value of these commandments. It was only after ‎they performed them personally that their meaning dawned ‎upon them. At that time their perceptive powers were enhanced ‎so that they could be described as having “heard” the ‎commandments from Moses as clearly as Moses had heard it from ‎G’d Himself. This is the deeper meaning of the verse in Exodus ‎‎2,28 which reports the Israelites carrying out the ‎commandments. From that moment on, it was as if they had ‎heard the commandments from G’d’s mouth. In the event that ‎some reader might understand that the insights gained by the ‎Israelites came from Moses performing them rather than by ‎their performing them, the Torah in our verse adds the word ‎לעשות‎, “to do,” i.e. they had not been performed yet.‎

[First Day]
And just as they were longing very much for the blind beggar he immediately calls out and says: I am here. I have come to you for the wedding, and I'm presenting you with a derashah geshenk [commonly meaning gifts given to the groom in reward for his pre-chuppah derashah, lecture; but possibly meaning a gift that is free for the seeking, derashah, as per Ps. 24, Deut. 4:29 etc.], that you should be old as I. For previously I had blessed you with this, that you should be as old as I; now I present it to you as a completely free gift, derashah geshenk, that you should live as long as I. You think that I am blind. I am not blind at all, except all the time of the whole world does not come across me as much as an eye blink (thus he appears blind, for he doesn't peek into the world whatsoever, for all the entire world's time doesn't come across him whatsoever, even as an eyeblink, therefore no sight or any glimpse of the world at all is relevant to him), because I am very old and I am yet entirely young [Heb. yanik, suckling, i.e. infantile] and have not yet begun living at all — but I am still very old. And it is not I alone that say this; on the contrary I have an approval upon it from the Great Eagle. I will tell you a story. (All this the blind beggar is saying.)

Still on the subject of ‎ועתה מה ה' שואל ממך‎, we know that it is ‎an ironclad rule neither to add to the basic laws of the Torah nor ‎to detract from them, (Deut. 4,2) such as adding extra ‎‎tzitzit, or putting fewer than the required number of the ‎fringes of a four-cornered garment, for instance. There is only one ‎exception to this rule, and that is to keep increasing the ‎qualitative and quantitative degree or amount of reverence and ‎awe for our Creator.‎

Exodus 3,10 “come, therefore I will send you to ‎Pharaoh, etc.;” In order to understand the ensuing ‎developments, i.e. interminably long negotiations between Moses ‎and Pharaoh about the release of the Israelites, the author ‎suggests that we look at psalms 117,1 ‎הללו את ה' כל גוים שבחוהו כל ‏האומים כי גבר עלינו חסדו ואמת ה' לעולם הללויה‎, “praise the Lord all ‎you nations, extol Him, all you peoples; for He is great and ‎steadfast toward us; the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.” ‎The Talmud Pessachim 118 appears to understand David’s ‎words as meaning that if the gentiles acknowledge the miracles ‎G’d has performed for them, then they surely must acknowledge ‎and praise the Lord even more for the miracles He has performed ‎for the Jewish people, i.e. ‎וגבר עלינו חסדו‎, “for great is His steadfast ‎love toward us;” at first glance this line is difficult, as we would ‎have expected David to refer to the miracles G’d has performed ‎for us, the Jewish people. According to the Talmud, David meant ‎that the nations are requested to acknowledge the miracles ‎performed by G’d for His people. From this it follows that they ‎must all the more acknowledge the miracles G’d has performed ‎for them.‎
After all, we have proof of this in Deuteronomy 4,34. When ‎Moses there extols the mind-boggling nature of the miracles ‎performed by G’d for us, he compares these miracles to others ‎that G’d, on occasion, has performed even for the gentiles. These ‎mind-boggling miracles performed on behalf of His people have ‎usually been predicted by a prophet announcing time and ‎location of each miracle. They usually took the form of penalizing ‎the enemies or oppressors of the Jewish people at the same time.‎
It is quite out of the question that in psalms 117 or ‎elsewhere, David intended for the gentiles to salute and praise the ‎Lord for miracles He had performed for them.‎
We will try therefore, with G’d’s help to explain what the ‎Talmud had in mind when speaking of miracles G’d performed for ‎the gentiles. In order to do this plausibly, let us remember a ‎statement from the Haggadah shel Pessach, where the ‎author refers to: ‎והכיתי כל בכור בארץ מצרים אני ולא מלאך, אני ה' הוא ‏ולא אחר‎; ”I will smitten every firstborn in the land of Egypt, ‘I and ‎not an angel, I the Lord, it is I and no one else.’” [The ‎author presents a slightly condensed quote, which does not ‎detract from the point under discussion. Ed.]. Why was ‎the killing of the firstborn carried out by Hashem ‎personally, whereas for all the other plagues He employed ‎‎“angels,” i.e. terrestrial phenomena, though all were G’d’s ‎messengers, agents?‎
We must explain however, that harmful phenomena never ‎originate with G’d. Only beneficial phenomena originate with ‎G’d. When our eyes will be opened to see the great troubles that ‎befall the wicked, we will realize that the wicked themselves have ‎been the architects of their problems, or even destruction. If they ‎would be intelligent enough to realize that all of these ‎phenomena are warnings, they would, instead of cursing the day ‎they had been born, turn to G’d in love, grateful to have been ‎given such opportunities to improve their ways. These ‎‎“disciplinary measures” by G’d are designed to lead to His name ‎becoming sanctified and aggrandized throughout the universe, ‎especially the part of it where His name had not been known ‎previously. Not only will His existence be revealed to them by ‎such disciplinary actions, but the fact that He is involved in the ‎personal fates of all His creatures will also be demonstrated by His ‎intervention in the affairs of man by means of miracles. ‎‎[The plagues that the Egyptians were afflicted with had ‎far-reaching consequences, so that 40 years later Rachav, the ‎innkeeper in Jericho told Joshua’s spies that all her friends and ‎acquaintances were still in awe of how G’d had split the sea to ‎allow the Israelites to pass through, while at the same time ‎drowning the pursuing Egyptians in it. (Joshua 2,10) Ed.]‎
An intelligent Jew or gentile, using his brain without ‎prejudice, will, instead of being frustrated by misfortune, use ‎same as a jumping off board to establish closer ties with his G’d, ‎Who had been kind enough to alert him to His existence in ‎heaven by inflicting harsh penalties on him instead of summarily ‎condemning him to eternal perdition without warning. The ‎Jewish people did not realize all this until after the plagues that ‎G’d visited upon the Egyptians, they had not only been spared, ‎but had seen how G’d had elevated them to become His ‎עם סגולה‎, ‎especially precious people.‎
Some leading personalities in our history used this concept to ‎wish for the day when they could demonstrate that they had ‎learned this lesson. The Talmud in B’rachot 61 relates a ‎conversation between Rabbi Akiva (aged 120 at the time) in which ‎the students are quoted as asking their mentor, who at that time ‎was undergoing torture at the hands of the Romans for having ‎publicly violated the decree not to teach Torah, “how long are ‎you going to praise the Lord under such conditions?” He ‎answered them that far from being disheartened, he had been ‎waiting for a lifetime to be able to fulfill the commandment to ‎love G’d ‎בכל נפשך‎, “with your entire life force,” i.e. at the price of ‎a painful death. How could he possibly allow himself to succumb ‎now when finally this opportunity had presented itself for him? ‎Rabbi Akiva’s final lesson to his disciples was to teach them to ‎make use of adversity, even the most painful adversity, to rise to ‎spiritual levels that would have remained in the realm of a ‎potential only, had they not been able to fulfill this ‎commandment publicly.
‎[It is doubtful, in my opinion, that we are obligated to ‎wish ourselves such opportunities as Rabbi Akiva had deliberately ‎invited by public disobedience of Roman decrees, as the sages tell ‎us that when David wished to become one of the patriarchs, G’d ‎warned him that in order to do so one had to successfully cope ‎with difficult temptations. Since David had insisted, he was ‎tempted by the matter of Bat Sheva, and, having been unable to ‎resist the temptation, he did not wind up as one of the patriarchs ‎mentioned in our daily amidah prayer at the very outset. ‎‎(Sanhedrin 107) Ed.]‎‎
To sum up, the principal purpose of our existence on earth is ‎to mobilize all our faculties to serve the Lord in the best way we ‎know how. Fondness of the Lord cannot be better demonstrated ‎than to walk through fire or water when necessary, and to see in ‎this an opportunity to prove to Hashem that we love Him ‎and are convinced that what He has decreed for us is for our ‎ultimate benefit, even if we cannot realize this at the time when ‎we are suffering the afflictions concerned.‎
Expressed slightly differently, we must train ourselves to view ‎trials and tribulations not as “afflictions, attempts to make our ‎lives uncomfortable or even unbearable,” but as medicines ‎designed to cure our ills, especially the ones (like high blood ‎pressure) that we were totally unaware of. Just as none of us ‎would refuse to swallow a bitter tasting medicine prescribed by ‎his favourite physician, so we must not refuse to accept with ‎good cheer the medicine prescribed for us by the “Healer” of the ‎universe, its architect. [The reader may have guessed that ‎I paraphrased some of the author’s words. Ed.]‎
As to the plagues in Egypt, the Jewish people experienced ‎this lesson by watching how G’d dealt with the Egyptians; we ‎learned vicariously, instead of our having to learn this on our own ‎bodies.‎
‎[As the author proceeds to describe the ideal Jew as ‎eagerly looking forward to more yissurim, afflictions, and ‎this editor recalls numerous prayers that include specifically the ‎plea not to elevate us by means of painful yissurim, I will ‎omit part of this chapter, as it is not addressed to the average ‎reader like myself. Ed.]‎
The author, coming back to his original question of why the ‎killing of the firstborn had to be orchestrated by G’d Himself, ‎points to our opening statement that nothing bad ever originates ‎with G’d Himself. If G’d therefore, personally carried out the ‎killing of the firstborn, this too could not have been something ‎bad, something negative, else He would have had to entrust it to ‎one or more of His angels.‎
When G’d concludes with what appears as if a repetition, that ‎it is He and no one else who has done this, He means that by ‎orchestrating this “plague” Himself He achieved that His name ‎became great and well known all over the inhabited parts of the ‎globe. If the death of the Egyptians served the purpose of ‎sanctifying the holy name of the Lord, they themselves had ‎served a holy purpose, though unwittingly.‎

Deuteronomy 4,39. “You will know this day and keep it ‎in mind that the Lord alone is G’d in the heaven above and on ‎the earth below; there is no other.”
Most of you are ‎familiar with the disagreement between Rashi and ‎‎Rabbeinu Tam concerning the order of the four parchments ‎containing excerpts from the Torah in the phylacteries that are ‎worn on the head. [Since Rabbeinu Tam was only 5 ‎years old when his grandfather Rashi died, the former was ‎not aware of a disagreement with his grandson. Ed.]‎
One of the “proofs” cited by Rabbeinu Tam that he was ‎correct, is based on the wording in the Talmud Menachot 34 ‎according to which the order is: ‎קדש, והיה כי יבאך,‏‎ on the right, ‎and ‎שמע,‏‎ plus ‎והיה אם שמוע‎ on the left. [The Talmud there ‎immediately quotes a baraitha saying the opposite. ‎Ed.] The word: ”on the right,” is understood to mean “on ‎the right side of the reader.” If the meaning had been “to the ‎right side of the person wearing the phylacteries,” the order ‎would have to be the reverse, as is Rashi’s opinion. ‎‎Tossaphot there rules according to the former view, ‎claiming that if the latter version were correct the wording of the ‎first opinion quoted should have been: “‎קדש‎ on the right and ‎whatever follows (sequentially in the Torah) on the left,” or: the ‎first three paragraphs should be arranged on the right with the ‎paragraph commencing with the words: ‎והיה אם שמוע‎ on the left ‎outside.‎
Why do the two opinions both require that two of the four ‎paragraphs be paired, i.e. the two paragraphs from the Book of ‎Deuteronomy appearing next to one another in the order in ‎which they are written in the Torah? According to a number of ‎codifiers the paragraph commencing with ‎שמע ישראל‎, is perceived ‎as our accepting the Uniqueness of the Creator, whereas the ‎second paragraph represents our acceptance of the yoke of the ‎commandments written in the Torah.‎
The author lists different views on this and tries to explain ‎the divergence of opinions as being based on whether the author ‎views us collectively as on the level of receiving unclear visions as ‎opposed to clear visions, as we explained on 4,5.‎
‎[I have abbreviated as the author is lengthy, and it is ‎not really his style to devote so much space to a discussion of the ‎text as if the halachah were truly based on the text rather ‎than our oral tradition. Ed.]‎

Exodus 7,16. “and behold so far you have ‎not listened.” The words: “so far,” appear ‎strange, and sound as if G’d had already performed a ‎number of miracles, whereas in fact He had only ‎brought on one plague, i.e. the waters of the Nile ‎turning into blood. We may be able to understand this ‎turn of phrase when considering a statement by our ‎sages when they compared Moses’ prophecies as ‎characterized by the word ‎זה‎ and that of the other ‎prophets by the word: ‎כה‎. (Sifri Mattot, 2) On ‎the face of it this statement appears strange as Moses ‎frequently introduced his prophecies with the words: ‎כה ‏אמר ה'‏‎.‎
This apparent contradiction has been dealt with by ‎the Rivash, (Rabbi Yitzchok bar Rabbi Sheshet) ‎in his commentary on Exodus 19, 9 ‎‏ בעבור ישמע העם בדברי ‏עמך וגם בך יאמינו לעולם‎ “in order that the people can hear ‎when I speak with you (Moses‏(‏‎ and they will also have ‎complete faith in you forever.” The Rivash writes that ‎there is a difference between what a person sees with ‎his own eyes and between what he knows through use ‎of his intelligence to be the truth. In spite of what his ‎brain tells him is the truth, he still tends to trust his ‎eyes more than he trusts his intellect. This principle ‎also became manifest during the Exodus of the Jewish ‎people from Egypt, and again during the revelation at ‎Mount Sinai when they received the Torah. In spite of ‎the people having witnessed any number of miracles ‎during the period immediately preceding the Exodus ‎so that their faith in G’d should have become absolute, ‎there was a further need to strengthen their belief at ‎Mount Sinai. In spite of all the miracles that Moses had ‎been instrumental in performing ever since he ‎returned from Midian to Egypt, G’d still found it ‎necessary to make the people hear Him speak to Moses ‎directly, before they would believe in him absolutely. ‎The famous proverb: “seeing is believing,” applied to ‎the Jewish people also.‎

To understand this matter we will begin with the verse, they have forsaken me, the source of living waters (Jeremiah 2:13). Its meaning is that Blessed God is the source from whom comes the flow of life-force to all living things in all manners, there is no other besides [God] (Deut. 4:35); and anyone who is attached to [God] is attached to the root of life-force whose waters do not fail (Isaiah 58:11) – but only so long as there is no blockage from his side. For if, God forbid, on account of his sins he blocks himself from the source, his life-force will become absent; but from Blessed [God’s] side there is no blockage as the verse says, but your iniquities have made a separation [between you and your God] (Isaiah 59:2). But one whose life-force is from the Other Side, who are called broken cisterns (Jeremiah 2:13) since they are gathered waters into which fell sparks of life-force at the moment of breaking, and for this reason they are called broken cisterns – such a person is blocked from his Upper Root and is called separator of close friends (Proverbs 16:28, 17:9). And therefore the Ancestors of the World, who opened the pipelines of intelligence in the world and taught awareness to all people, how to dig himself into the aspect of a well of living water (Gen. 26:19), to be attached to the source from which comes the root of his life-force. And [the Ancestors’] disciples are called by the name “servants,” as the verse says, Isaac’s servants (Gen. 26:32), since their service of the Blessed Creator came by way of the Ancestors.

But after Abraham’s death, these springs of wisdom were stopped up, because they were stopped by the Philistines (Gen. 26:18) who are the aspect of evil which is set in a person, who had overpowered the world; and the element of Earth had overpowered [the others] and in proportion the spiritual and intellectual powers weakened. But when Isaac, his son, came and held to his father’s path, he taught this awareness to the people of his generation as well – to return and dig to the aspect of a well of living water through many types of intelligences and great and concealed counsels – until Isaac dug again the wells of water (Gen. 26:18). All this comes by way of faith, which is the precursor to this: that one believes with complete faith that Blessed God, the whole earth is filled with [God’s] Glory (Isaiah 6:3) and no place is void of [God], there is no other besides [God] (Deut. 4:35). And then, by way of this faith, he yearns for [God] and desires to hold to and attach himself to Blessed God, who has the aspect of valley [nahal] (Gen. 26:19), which is an acronym for Our soul waits for the LORD [nafsheynu hiktah la-ADONAI] (Psalm 33:20), which [means] by way of faith. And then, through this, he comes to his root, which is the spring of the well of living waters that we have described. And that is [the meaning of] when Isaac's servants dug in the valley (Gen. 26:19) – the aspect of valley as we have stated – and found there a well of living water (Gen. 26:19), etc., The herdsmen of Gerar quarreled … so he called the name of the well Esek etc. (Gen. 26:20), Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah (Gen. 26:21), And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now [the LORD has made room for us]” etc. (Gen. 26:22).

We read the following in Sh’mot Rabbah ‎‎23,1 concerning psalms 93,2 where the psalmist ‎describes G’d’s throne as having been firmly ‎established since “‎אז‎,” that Rabbi Berechyah, citing ‎Rabbi Avahu says as follows:” what the psalmist has in ‎mind is that You (the Lord) have never sat securely on ‎Your throne, and Your Name has not become a byword ‎amongst mankind until after Your children, the Jewish ‎people, aggrandized Your Name in song and poetry, ‎i.e. with the song commencing with ‎אז ישיר‎. The sages in ‎the Midrash explain that a king, until he has ‎won impressive victories in battle, may be a king in ‎name only. Once he has won impressive victories he is ‎no longer referred to only as “king,” but as “Emperor.” ‎The Israelites conveyed this idea in the shirah, ‎by recalling that prior to the experience at the sea of ‎reeds, G’d was perceived like a king who is standing ‎upright, measuring the contours of the earth ‎‎[compare Chabakuk 3,6). Now that He had won ‎impressive victories, He is perceived as sitting on His ‎throne, [resting on His laurels. Ed.] The song ‎that the Israelites sang after the Egyptians had been ‎drowned may be viewed as an accolade to the newly ‎revealed aspect of G’d the Creator.‎
What precisely was the new aspect of G’d that the ‎people had experienced so that the Torah described it ‎as:‎וירא ישראל את היד הגדולה....ויאמינו בה' ובמשה עבדו‎, “Israel saw ‎the great hand of the Lord, etc,….and they had faith in ‎the Lord and in His servant Moses?” After all, they had ‎already witnessed the splitting of the sea, the marching ‎through the sea’s bed as if marching on dry land, the ‎sea’s reversing direction and drowning their enemies.” ‎What new dimension was revealed to them as a result ‎of which they decided to break out in song?‎
Surely, the word ‎אז‎, “then,” as well as the word: ‎ישיר‎ ‎in the future mode must contain the answer to our ‎question! Nowhere else in the Torah has the word ‎אז‎ ‎been coupled with an event in the future! [not ‎quite correct, compare Leviticus 26,34 where the Torah ‎predicts, ‎אז תרצה‎, then the land will rest” after the ‎many shmittah years which have been ‎disregarded, neglected by the Jewish people. Compare ‎also Deut.4,41 ‎אז יבדיל‎, Ed.]