Bibbia Ebraica
Bibbia Ebraica

Chasidut su Esodo 20:15

וְכָל־הָעָם֩ רֹאִ֨ים אֶת־הַקּוֹלֹ֜ת וְאֶת־הַלַּפִּידִ֗ם וְאֵת֙ ק֣וֹל הַשֹּׁפָ֔ר וְאֶת־הָהָ֖ר עָשֵׁ֑ן וַיַּ֤רְא הָעָם֙ וַיָּנֻ֔עוּ וַיַּֽעַמְד֖וּ מֵֽרָחֹֽק׃

Tutto il popolo scorgeva i tuoni e le fiamme, il suono di buccina ed il monte fumante; ed il popolo, ciò vedendo, si scosse, e rimase da lungi.

Sha'ar HaEmunah VeYesod HaChasidut

There is a hint as to the secret of the Shem haMefurash (the Explicit Name)257God’s ineffable name, the Tetragrammaton, was audibly pronounced in the Temple only on specific occasions, such as Yom Kippur. as mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud (Yoma, Chapter 3, Halakha 7), “The High Priest would pronounce the name ten times during the course of the day of Atonement. Those who were close would fall on their faces, and those who were far would say, ‘Baruch Shem Kavod Malkhuto Leolam Va’ed,’ – ‘Blessed is the name of His glorious Sovereignty forever and ever.’ Both the High Priest and the people would not move from their places until it was hidden from them.” At the moment when the people heard the Shem haMefurash, they possessed a knowledge and understanding that is beyond time, space, and the laws of nature, as explained in the previous chapter. Then, when the name was hidden from them, this level of consciousness was also hidden from them, and they returned to the normal level of human understanding, based upon the laws of nature. However, a residue of the experience remained, as they remembered how they once understood. This is akin to the way the Torah says, after the experience of receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai, “now everyone shall go back to their tents.”258Meaning, after the prophetic experience of receiving the Torah at Sinai, where the people, “saw the voices” (Shemot 20:15) and surpassed the limits of human perception and consciousness, they had to “return to their tents”; that is, return back to normal human perception. Similarly, when the High Priest on the Day of Atonement would enter into the Holy of Holies, in a state of sanctity and purity, and with preparation of the heart, he would clearly understand how the Holy Ark did not take up any space. He would perceive this through human eyes. Since his very body reached such a level of purity, he could clearly see and understand that there is no logical contradiction in that the Holy Ark existed and yet did not take up any physical space. The Midrash and the Yalkut both interpret the verse (Vayikra, 16:17), “And no man shall be in the Tent of Appointed Meeting when he shall go in to the holy place to make atonement,” as meaning that a man did not go into the Holy of Holies, but rather an angel of the Lord of Hosts.259The Midrash inteprets the words of the verse, “no man shall be in the Tent of Appointed Meeting,” as including to the High Priest himself; yet it was he alone who was commanded to enter the sanctuary! The implication is that when the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies, he was no longer a man, no longer a human being. The revelation of Divinity was so powerful that he was transformed into an angelic being. But this was precisly what allowed him to perceive the paradoxical nature of the ark of the covenant, which existed, yet took up no space. It was said of Pinchas, the grandson of Aharon HaKohen, that when the Holy Spirit would rest upon him, his face appeared to be burning in flames. It is recorded in the Zohar Hadash (Midrash Ne’elam, page 18), “When the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies… It is taught, Rabbi Abba said in the name of Rabbi in the name of Rav, the innermost chamber (the Holy of Holies) is just like the Garden of Eden, and when the Cohen would enter, he would enter with his soul and not with his body.” This explains the passage in the Zohar (Parshat Pinhas, 117b-118a), which says that when God was called by his various names and attributes before the world was created, He was called with a view to the future and for the sake of the creation that was yet to be created. For with the creation of the world, the will of created beings would be limited, as explained above.
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Kedushat Levi

‎“And Avraham had aged, advanced in years;" the Talmud ‎‎Baba batra 16 understands the word ‎בכל‎ as meaning that ‎Avraham had a “daughter” by the name of ‎בכל‎. Commenting ‎further on this, the Talmud in Chagigah 15 states that a ‎heavenly voice i.e. ‎בת קול‎ [instead of ‎בת כל‎ Ed.] was heard at ‎Mount Sinai calling the Israelites to penance with the exception ‎of Acher, (Elisha ben Avuya) turned apostate.
[The text in my edition of the Talmud does not mention the ‎location where this heavenly voice was heard, and it would not ‎make sense that it was Mount Sinai, as the occasion appears to ‎have been at least 50 years after destruction of the second ‎Temple. Ed.]
We need to examine the nature of this “voice” somewhat ‎more closely. Since, according to the Talmud, this ‎בת קול‎ appears ‎to have been a visual manifestation rather than something heard ‎with one’s ears, the statement is enigmatic. Apparently, the ‎Talmud refers to a message that a person hears or is supposed to ‎hear daily as if it were as real as a vision. The true call to do ‎‎teshuvah had originated at Sinai when the people had heard ‎G’d address them directly during the first and second ‎Commandment, until they were so overwhelmed that they feared ‎to die and begged Moses to be their interpreter of G’d’s words. ‎Mount Sinai had been referred to as Mount Chorev in Exodus 3,1 ‎when Moses had his first vision of G’d at the burning bush. On ‎that occasion he had “heard” the voice of G’d. The term ‎בת קול‎ ‎has become the name for a derivative of that first communication ‎to His people through Moses their leader and prophet ever since. ‎At the revelation at Mount Sinai several months later, it had ‎become so real that the people were described as “seeing” the ‎voice rather than as merely “hearing it. (Exodus 20,15) We have ‎explained that the term ‎בן‎ or ‎בת‎ describes the receiving of G’d’s ‎largesse, when it has originated from G’d directly through the ‎merits of the patriarch Avraham. Just as G’d had to “reduce ‎Himself” in terms of His pure spirituality, man has to reduce his ‎‎“physicality,” i.e. his dependence on physical comforts provided ‎by our world somewhat, in order to qualify for receiving these ‎communications from G’d. Each human being desirous of coming ‎closer to G’d by this means has to do so in accordance with the ‎spiritual level he is capable of. The word ‎בת‎ in the language of the ‎‎Mishnah, is the preface used when describing the measure ‎of certain liquids or dry matter that a container can hold. Its use ‎in that sense originates in Ezekiel 45,10. [It may be correct to ‎understand the term ‎בת קול‎ which is usually associated with post ‎Biblical times, when there was no more direct communication ‎with G’d through prophets or even through the urim ‎vetumim on the High Priest’s breast plate, as a prophetic ‎communication from G’d, but at arm’s length. Ed.]‎‎‎
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