Chasidut su Esodo 31:26

In the midrash Tanchuma "this day, Hashem, etc, commands you to do the decrees etc let us sing etc bow and kneel etc Moshe our teacher, peace be upon him, saw that in the future there would be no more first fruits, and so he established prayer etc" (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tavo 1:1). My master, my father, my elder, my teacher, my rabbi may his memory be for a blessing said that the explanation [for this midrash] is that prayer is also giving the first/best to the Holy Blessed One every day, just as the first fruits, see there (Pri Tzadik, Ki Tavo 9:1). Yet an explanation of the pertinence to "this day" is still needed. And in the midrash and in Rashi they explained: "this day[the mitzvot] should be in your eyes as new every day." And is it possible that a person would desire to make mistakes even if in truth there is no renewal, Heaven forfend? Yet, a person has the power to renew everything, since obviously there is in every thing the aspect of renewal, behold, the Holy Blessed One renews Creation continuously every day, and the explanation is that continuously means every moment. And also, there is no thing that doesn't have Liveness from the Holy Blessed One, and the Point from God forever, and so it can't become old since God's words are alive and flow constantly. However, when darkness covers the face of the land the external husks hides the Flowing Point. And this is why it is written "there is nothing new under the sun", and this is nature and this world, that hide the renewal. However, a person has the strength to illuminate the Point from the darkness, and this is why it is written "this day the One commands you to do" - meaning, to find the aspect of "this day" which is the uncovering and revealing the light, in the aspect of Mirror of Light. This is also true within an action, which can be what hides said Point. And this [revealing the Point] is done through mitzvot, since "a mitzvah is light" (Prov. 6:23), since a mitzvah is a physical action and it contains the Liveness of the Holy Blessed One, in the command to do it, in the strength of a person to cling oneself to the Hidden Light through the action of doing a mitzvah, as explained above and as I wrote in other places. And what is written "the decrees etc" which is to say through the mitzvot of the Blessed One, you are given strength to find the aspect of "this day" also in an action. And this is also the aspect of Shabbat, since it is written "to make the Shabbat" (Exodus 31:16). And the explanation of my grandfather, my elder, my teacher and rabbi, of blessed memory, [on the verse] "faces east" (Ezekiel 46:1) is as the issue that is written "the children of Israel came first in thought", see there (Chiddushei HaRim on Torah, Eikev 4:4). And it is as we explained above, that on Shabbat the Source and the Root from which New Aliveness continuously flows to all creatures is revealed. And one could also say that this is the explanation for "they are crowned with new souls" (Siddur Sefard, Shabbat Eve Maariv, Shabbat Eve Maariv 3), that the Aliveness is renewed in the souls of the children of Israel. And the explanation of "to make the Shabbat" is that we need to bring the aspect of renewal from the Shabbat to the days of making [ie, the week] as it is written in Sha'ar haKedusha, see there, and also as it is written in other places, that on Shabbat one opens the other days of the week through the aspect of Shabbat, as explained. And according to what a person sorts out and clarifies Aliveness in every thing, and in that person's eyes they are like new, truly Renewal is revealed to that person, and this is what is written: If you listened [shamo’a] to the old, then you will listen [tishma] to the new (Berakhot 40a), since given that one believes that there is an aspect of the Holy Blessed One hidden in every thing even in the most external, then one merits to reveal the internal, as we explained. And so too "we will bow and kneel" - meaning, bowing is one's desire to surrender, and kneeling, is a nif'al verb, which means that according to the will, truly one merits to reveal the truth, to surrender to the real, real truth.

Leviticus 25,2. “the land shall rest, a ‘Sabbath’ for the ‎Lord.” In order to understand the meaning of the line “the ‎land will rest for G’d,” we must refer to Exodus 31,13 ‎ואתה דבר אל ‏בני ישראל ....את שבתותי תשמורו‎ “as for you, tell the Children of ‎Israel to observe My Sabbath days, etc.‎‏"‏‎
According to the ‎writings of the Ari z’al, in the Tur, 242 on hilchot ‎Shabbat we find the following: [not in my edition, ‎Ed.] “while in Egypt, Moses argued with Pharaoh, ‎suggesting that if he wanted to increase the productivity of the ‎Jewish slaves he should allow them one day of rest each week, this ‎day to be the Sabbath.” [It is not clear if Pharaoh accepted ‎the suggestion. Ed.]‎
When the Torah commanded the Jewish people to rest on the ‎Sabbath, Moses felt happy for having been the one who had ‎already suggested this while he was in Egypt. He considered ‎himself as having had a share in this legislation. [Probably ‎this is meant when we say in our Sabbath prayers in the morning ‎ישמח משה במתנת חלקו‎, “Moses may rejoice having received his ‎share (of the Sabbath).”Ed.]‎
This is the reason why the Torah writes: ‎אתה דבר...את שבתתתי ‏תשמרו‎, “you tell the Children of Israel you are to observe My ‎Sabbath days.” The Jewish people were to appreciate that the ‎Sabbath rest, even though they may have enjoyed it in Egypt, ‎was not to be a physical rest from the labours of the week, but ‎was something decreed by G’d, to bring them closer to Him. ‎Seeing that it had been Moses who was responsible for their relief ‎on that day in Egypt, it had to be he who told them that the ‎Sabbath now assumed an entirely different dimension.‎
A similar, non-terrestrial dimension also underlies the ‎legislation of the sh’mittah year introduced in our chapter. ‎The land does not have to rest for reasons of being “tired.” The ‎land which had served man during the preceding six years, having ‎been at man’s disposal, will take out a year and revert to being at ‎G’d’s disposal, so to speak.‎

The sin of Adam was the failure to achieve what was spelled out in the previous section. This is explained in the Etz Hayyim and the Liqutei Torah (Bereshit) of the Arizal.²⁹⁰Namely, failing to draw Da’at – Consciousness into the lower attributes, and the mistake of creating a separation between Malchut – Kingship – and the upper attributes. Adam’s sin was that he wanted to magnify the size of the crown (Keter) of Zeir Anpin (which contains the six attributes) before its time, and did not draw light into it.²⁹¹The crown needs to receive the proper intensity of light in order to be adequately illuminated. Increasing the size of the vessel of the crown without increasing the intensity of the light only reduces the illumination. An analogy in this world would be a person opening a charity organization without having the funds to distribute. Similarly he sinned with regards to the Nukva (female) of Zeir Anpin, in that he turned the female away from the male. This is not the place to explain this complex Kabbalistic idea in full, and God willing, we will return to it in its place. The root of Adam’s sin is mentioned in the Tikkunei Zohar (Tikkun 69, page 117a): The central principle of the four letters and the ten letters²⁹²The “four letters” refers to the Tetragrammaton, spelled Yud Hei Vav Hei. The ten letters are the expansion of the name, with each letter spelled in full - Yud Vav Dalet, Hei Aleph, Vav Aleph Vav, Hei Aleph. is Malkhut – Sovereignty. Malkhut is comprised of ten Sefirot, and all must be included within Malkhut. Anyone who takes the nine upper Sefirot without Malkhut is, “cutting the plantings” (committing heresy). And similarly, in the Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 19: Rabbi Shimon said to Rabbi Elazar, “Elazar my son, they sinned in them all: in their thoughts, and in their hidden thought. The word “et”²⁹³This whole passage requires kabbalistic knowledge. The Zohar refers to the commandment to send away the mother bird (Devarim 22:7): “v’et habanim tikach lach – and take the chicks.” The chicks represents Kingship-Malkhut. Meaning to say, always take Malkhut together with the upper sefirot. In R. Gershon Hanokh’s terms, a person must exercise his free will in a balanced way – by allowing the light of the intellect to shine into the attributes. Adam’s sin lay in his eating impulsively from the Tree of Knowledge, rather than carefully examining his motivations, in light of G-d’s commandment. As R. Gershon Hanokh will explain, Adam did this because he assumed that his innate desires were G-d-given, and thus always accurate. In the verse from Devarim, the direct object “et” is understood to be referring to the Shechina, which went into exile when the Israelites sinned. is said in order to include the lower Shekhina. Meaning to say, within the totality of the six attributes can be found the trait of the Malkhut, which completes them all. This is said in several places in the Zohar and the Tikkunei Zohar. The three upper Sefirot are also found in the six lower attributes, as is said in the Raya Mehemna (section of the Zohar), Parshat Pinhas (257a): The seventh is only from the side of the letter Yud ( י ), the crown on his head, Supernal Wisdom is a sign,²⁹⁴“Ot,” as in a sign of the covenant, like Shabbat or Brit Milah. Lower Wisdom is a sign … ²⁹⁵See Shemot 31:13, “The Sabbath is a sign – ot hi – beween you and Me.” The pronoun hi is spelled with the letter yud (היא), which represents Hokhmah – supernal Wisdom. The seventh sefirah - Malkhut, Kingship – is considered to be derived from the sefirah of Hokhmah (אבא יסד ברתא). The point on the top of the letter Yud represents the connection between the infinite and the lower finite world (“the crown on his head”). The implication is that the connection to the infinite is hidden within the world. When Malchut, which is the Shechina or the presence of God dwelling in the community of Israel, is revealed as, “the crown on His head,” meaning, when God’s sovereignty that was hitherto hidden among Israel is seen as connected to the Infinite and revealed in the supernal world and as a vehicle for the effluence of supernal wisdom, then malchut – G-d’s sovereignty – is complete. The author’s commentary on the Torah, the Sod Yesharim (Noah, beginning with the words “et kashti”), also heavily based on the Zohar, explains Adam’s sin in the following way: The Arizal writes that the sin of Adam was in attempting to enlarge the crown of Zeir Anpin before its proper time. This means that Adam wanted to draw Hokhmah – Wisdom – into the rest of his body in order for all of his actions would be a direct expression of God’s own will. In this way Adam seized Malkhut, meaning he held onto the power of nature disconnected from the nine upper Sefirot. If he had seized Malkhut through the nine Sefirot, he would have thus built the Kingdom of Heaven in a state of completeness together with the Keter-Crown of Zeir Anpin. In other words, then a permanent reverence for God would have been fixed in his being and in the being of all of creation. Then it would have followed automatically that the Keter of Zeir Anpin would have also been instilled with such awesome reverance. There would have been a complete state of consciousness (da’at shleima) in all one’s powers so that man would know where it was forbidden to enter, because that place would separate man from his roots and he would not see the presence of his Creator. So too, he would see where he was permitted to enter … However, since Adam took it before its time, rushing in with the desire to elevate the matters of this world at the outset, he fell into a state of concealed consciousness and forgetting, remaining in the physical aspect of the world. This is the meaning of, “taking Malkhut without the upper nine Sefirot.”

Construction of the Tabernacle in the desert was an act that ‎paralleled the creation of heaven and earth and corresponded to ‎all known aspects of the order in which G’d created the universe, ‎‎(B’rachot 55). Seeing that this was so, Betzalel, the chief ‎architect of the project was granted the wisdom to understand ‎how the letters of the aleph bet were to be used in carrying ‎out all the details of the task entrusted to him.
Nowadays, this ‎ability of Betzalel at the time of his building the Tabernacle, has ‎been granted to the righteous Torah scholars of varying degrees, ‎who are able to reveal insights into the Torah that have not ‎previously been revealed. By doing so, they become partners of ‎G’d in His creation of the universe. Betzalel also imposed ‎restrictions on himself in his use of the gift G’d gave him, so as ‎not to preempt the Torah scholars throughout the ages and to ‎thereby prevent them from revealing new insights. This is what is ‎meant by the word ‎והותר‎, “there was an overabundance,” i.e. ‎there was enough holy spirit that had been provided to enable ‎Betzalel and his assistants to build the Tabernacle, but instead of ‎exhausting it at the time, Betzalel, in his modesty, was content to ‎leave a surfeit of it to be used by Torah scholars, who in a way are ‎also Torah “architects,” to delight their audiences with their ‎insights in their respective generations.‎

Exodus 31,12. “Hashem said to Moses, to say: but ‎you are to observe My Sabbath days for the Sabbath is a sign ‎between Me and you, etc;” our sages in the Talmud ‎‎Beytzah 16 learned from this verse that when one gives a ‎gift to one’s fellow man one needs to inform him of this fact; they ‎quote the fact that G’d gave the Jewish people the gift of the ‎Sabbath, but made a point of informing them beforehand. In the ‎parlance of our sages, G’d told the people that He had kept a ‎valuable gift hidden in His treasure chamber, a gift called Sabbath. ‎What did G’d mean by referring to the Sabbath as a valuable gift? ‎He referred to the light and the holiness that emanates from the ‎celestial regions and supplies people with something we loosely ‎refer to as ‎רוח הקודש‎, holy spirit, also known as ‎ערבות‎, a name for ‎pleasurable sensations as experienced in the celestial regions.‎
Actually, we are meant to be looking forward to the special ‎gifts experienced on the Sabbath throughout the six working ‎days, and therefore we should concern ourselves with the ‎preparations for the Sabbath not only on the Sabbath but every ‎day. The degree in which we experience the gift of holy spirit just ‎described on the Sabbath reflects the efforts we have made during ‎the week to welcome the Sabbath when it comes.
When we read in Exodus 16,5 –concerning the first Sabbath ‎the Israelites experienced in the desert when the manna did not ‎fall but they received an extra portion of the preceding day- ‎והכינו ‏את אשר יביאו‎, ”they are to prepare what they are going to bring ‎home on that day,” this is an instruction to prepare oneself for ‎the Sabbath on the weekday. Our sages have coined a famous ‎phrase when they said ‎מי שאינו טרח בערב שבת מהיכן יאכל בשבת?‏‎, “if ‎someone did not make the necessary effort on the Sabbath eve, ‎how he is going to have something to eat on the Sabbath?”‎
In spite of the fact that we human beings made an effort to ‎provide for our needs, the Sabbath is still considered a valuable ‎gift. The reason is that all man’s efforts notwithstanding, he is ‎not entitled to an automatic gift of holiness nor is he entitled to ‎be the recipient of outpourings of G’d’s largesse. If G’d’s gift of ‎the Sabbath is entirely gratuitous, why do we need to put in so ‎much effort into preparing for the Sabbath? The reason is that ‎G’d’s gift of the Sabbath is in danger of being wasted unless the ‎recipient has provided a receptacle that ensures that it can be put ‎to good use. [If someone receives a bouquet of flowers but ‎does not have a vase to put these flowers in to fill it with water to ‎preserve them, the gift is wasted. Ed.]‎
Observance of the Sabbath consists of two separate aspects, ‎called by the Torah: ‎זכור ושמור‎ “to remember,” and “to keep,” in ‎the two versions of the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 20 and ‎Deuteronomy 5 respectively) In kabbalistic parlance the ‎זכור‎ ‎aspect refers to the masculine side of the table of emanations, ‎whereas the ‎שמור‎ aspect belongs to the feminine side. [The ‎‎“masculine” aspect refers to the spiritual aspect, whereas the ‎‎“feminine” aspect refers to the materialistic aspect. Ed.] ‎Some people observe the Sabbath primarily on account of the ‎physical pleasures it affords, i.e. a rest from back-breaking labour ‎in the field during the weekdays, consuming more and tastier ‎food, spending “quality” time with one’s family, etc. Others view ‎the Sabbath as a day that affords them an opportunity to provide ‎their Creator with pleasure and satisfaction for having created ‎him.‎
The most revealing comment about the value of honouring ‎the Sabbath by sanctifying it through reciting Kiddush and ‎not violating any of its negative commandments, is found in the ‎Talmud (Shabbat 118) where the sages say that anyone ‎doing this will have all his previous sins forgiven even if he had ‎been the type of idolater that was current in the generation of ‎Enosh (Adam’s grandson). The reason why observance of the ‎Sabbath is such a powerful means of man rehabilitating himself in ‎the eyes of the Lord through observing its laws, is that each ‎transgression he commits, is an act of distancing himself from his ‎holy origins, his roots, leaving a stain on his soul. Observing the ‎laws of the Sabbath is an act of returning to one’s roots thereby ‎removing stains on his soul. The additional spiritual light that G’d ‎bestows on us on the Sabbath also acts as therapy for a soul that ‎has been injured. This then is the ‎מתנה טובה‎, “the valuable gift” ‎G’d bestows upon us every Sabbath. If someone observes the ‎Sabbath exclusively in order to take advantage of the “window” ‎for immediate forgiveness for his sins this is “good,” but it is a far ‎cry from observing the Sabbath optimally. Hence his observance ‎is called “observing the feminine aspect of the Sabbath.”
Clearly, when someone observes the Sabbath for such ‎considerations it is a good thing, but even if he observes the ‎Sabbath for the sake of receiving spiritual rewards this is not yet ‎the “optimal” manner in which to observe the Sabbath, it is still ‎part of the aspect of the Sabbath we have called the “feminine” ‎aspect. We have mentioned a number of times that serving G’d, ‎i.e. including through Sabbath observance, that the highest level ‎of such service must always revolve around his “giving” ‎something to His Creator not around his “receiving” something ‎from Him. This “giving” must not be confused with presenting ‎sacrifices on the altar. It need not be a tangible gift; in fact it ‎cannot be a tangible gift seeing that G’d has no use for tangible ‎gifts, seeing everything in the universe is His by definition? ‎Sabbath observance, just as any other form of service, including ‎prayer, must be designed to please the Lord and give Him ‎satisfaction in order to qualify as keeping the “masculine, ‎זכור‎ ‎aspect of the Sabbath.” When David said in psalms 68,35 ‎תנו עוז ‏לאלוקים‎, “give might to G’d!,” he emphasized the need for man to ‎give something to G’d that will confirm and reinforce His power ‎as being actual not only potential through His creatures ‎responding to Him and seeking His nearness. This may be done ‎through performance of commandments physically.‎ ‎

Exodus 38,22. “and Betzalel, son of Uri, son of Chur, of the ‎tribe of Yehudah, executed all that G’d had commanded ‎Moses.” A look at Rashi will reveal that in fact it is ‎remarkable that the Torah did not write: “which Moses ‎commanded Betzalel”, but wrote “which G’d commanded Moses.” ‎This suggests that Betzalel had divined even the sequence of ‎things that Moses had not revealed to him either deliberately or ‎because he had forgotten. For example: Moses had instructed ‎Bezalel to construct the furnishings of the Tabernacle before he ‎had given him details for constructing the structure that was to ‎house these furnishings. (Compare Jerusalem Talmud Peyah ‎‎1,1 According to the version there when Moses instructed ‎Betzalel to first construct the furnishings, Betzalel queried this ‎wondering if Moses had heard it in that order on Mount Sinai.) ‎Upon hearing this, Moses reminded himself that G’d had in fact ‎told him to construct the structure housing the furnishings first. ‎He complimented Betzalel, saying that apparently he had stood in ‎G’d’s shade at the time G’d had spoken to Moses. As a result, ‎Betzalel constructed the structure, i.e. the boards and “carpets” ‎serving as the ceiling of the Tabernacle, before he proceeded to ‎fashion the furnishings.‎
I believe that it is in order to elaborate on this somewhat. ‎When a person gets out of bed in the morning he needs to wash ‎forthwith, i.e. as a prelude to reiterating that he accepts the ‎kingdom of heaven, i.e. the commandments of the Torah, anew. ‎This includes his faith in G’d, Who is the Creator of all the ‎phenomena that we can perceive with our senses. Subsequent to ‎this it is incumbent on the person to turn to G’d in prayer, and ‎after that to study some of the Torah. This is followed by the ‎performance of various commandments in the order in which the ‎opportunity to do so presents itself. All of this is designed to ‎teach us the attributes of the Creator and help us to have ‎absolute faith in Him and to enable us to emulate His attributes.‎
‎“Faith” in the Creator consists of two levels. It begins with ‎what we call “little faith,” i.e. faith based on the most basic ‎intellectual faculties every human being is endowed with, which ‎dictates that the universe as we know it could not have come into ‎existence on its on, but must have been created by a Supreme ‎Intelligence, that Intelligence which for want of a better word we ‎call “G’d.”‎
After having realized this and having accepted it, we proceed ‎to a more profound level of ‎אמונה‎, “faith,” a level which results ‎from our intellectual faculties having been refined through the ‎study of G’d’s Torah. The level of “faith” that results from ‎studying Torah is known as ‎השראת שכינה‎, Divine inspiration.‎

Exodus 31,16. “the Children of Israel are to observe the ‎Sabbath, etc.;” this verse helps us understand a statement ‎by the Talmud in Shabbat< 118 according to which “if the ‎Jewish people were only to observe two Sabbaths the Messiah ‎would already have come.” When an Israelite observes the ‎Sabbath properly, the spiritual uplift derived from that ‎experience will leave its mark during the six weekdays following, ‎so that in effect he has observed two Sabbaths, i.e. on the day ‎that G’d had sanctified at the end of His creative activity, and the ‎one to which His creatures, have given sanctity during the days ‎following. Not only that; if one has served G’d during the six ‎working days, “observing” the negative commandments of the ‎Sabbath on the following Sabbath becomes very much easier. As a ‎result, he will almost automatically observe every Sabbath in the ‎future also and be looking forward to it.‎
When we keep these considerations in mind we will also have ‎less difficulty in answering a question posed in the Jerusalem ‎Talmud Taanit 1,1 that even the observance by the Jewish ‎people of a single Sabbath is sufficient to usher in the messianic ‎age. [The question raised by the reader of this statement is ‎if the Jerusalem Talmud disagrees with the Babylonian Talmud in ‎‎Shabbat 118 that we quoted previously. Ed.] What ‎the Jerusalem Talmud means is simply that once the first ‎Sabbath has been observed optimally, observing the next Sabbath ‎is so easy that it represents no additional achievement in terms of ‎overcoming Satan’s attempts to deflect us from our purpose. At ‎any rate, essentially it is the collective observance by the Jewish ‎people of a single Sabbath which will result in the messiah ‎coming shortly thereafter. This is the meaning of the words: ‎ושמרו בני ישראל את השבת לעשות את השבת‎, “the Children of Israel ‎are to observe the Sabbath to ‘“make it into a Sabbath.’”‎

Keeping such considerations in mind, we can ‎understand the comment in the Talmud ‎‎Beytzah 16 that with the onset of the Sabbath ‎the Jew enjoys the presence within him of an additional ‎‎“soul.” This additional soul is taken away again at the ‎end of the Sabbath. The Talmud bases itself on the ‎word ‎וינפש‎ in Exodus 31,17, where G’d’s state of mind ‎on the first Sabbath after the six days of creation has ‎been described as ‎וינפש‎, “He was endowed with a soul.” ‎Since G’d most likely had a “soul” during the six days ‎of creation also, this word must refer to an additional ‎soul. [Rashi (in his commentary there on the ‎Talmud as opposed to his commentary on the Torah) ‎understands the word as the regret experienced at the ‎departure of the additional “soul.” Ed.] It is ‎peculiar that according to the text in the Talmud, the ‎sense of loss felt by the soul on the Sabbath was due to ‎its owner observing rest on the Sabbath, whereas in ‎fact this sense of loss surely was due to the loss of the ‎additional soul at the end of the Sabbath? We must ‎therefore resolve this puzzle by falling back on the ‎Talmud in Shabbat 118 where we are told that ‎if only the Israelites were to observe two consecutive ‎Sabbaths in all its details the messiah would come ‎immediately. In another place we are told if only all ‎Israelites had observed the first Sabbath [in ‎the desert at Marah (Exodus 17,20)] they ‎would have been redeemed at once. In order to ‎reconcile these two statements we must remember that ‎the meaning of the word ‎שבת‎ is not only “to rest,” but it ‎also means “to return, i.e. to repent.” The three root ‎letters ‎תשב‎ when read in this order spell the word ‎‎“teshuva.” This is a clear allusion that the Sabbath is ‎meant to facilitate repentance. This repentance ‎involves recognition that the objectives pursued during ‎the six working days were in the main the pursuit of ‎transient values as opposed to the enduring values that ‎the Sabbath is to help us pursue by our abstaining ‎from the “rat race” that we are part of during the week. ‎When the Israelite becomes aware of this during the ‎course of the Sabbath, he naturally bemoans the ‎departure of the additional spiritual dimension that he ‎had enjoyed during the Sabbath, the dimension the ‎Talmud calls ‎נשמה יתרה‎, an additional soul. The Israelite ‎bemoans the fact that he does not enjoy this additional ‎spiritual dimension during the six days he must face at ‎the end of making ‎הבדלה‎, the ritual signifying the ‎departure of the Sabbath. In light of this, we ‎understand that the Israelites require two Sabbath ‎‎“days” in order to secure the arrival of the Messiah. The ‎first Sabbath will serve as the day when they will do ‎‎teshvuvah, after which they will understand ‎the significance of this day for their spiritual well ‎being. The “second” Sabbath will teach them to enjoy ‎the additional spiritual dimension that concentrating ‎on the study of the Torah brings with it. (On the same ‎day).
‎When the Jewish people left Egypt in great haste, ‎בחפזון‎, as stated by the Torah, (Deuteronomy 16,3) they ‎were not in the frame of mind to appreciate such lofty ‎concepts, seeing that according to all our sources they ‎had descended to the 49th level of impurity, and if they ‎had descended one more rung they would have been ‎beyond redemption. They had been in a state where ‎they greatly enjoyed the taste of the forbidden, the ‎abominable in G’d’s eyes. Hence G’d said to them: “I ‎am the One Who takes you out from this moral ‎morass,” i.e. the ‎סבלות מצרים‎. G’d promised that ‎henceforth they would no longer find these ‎abominations enjoyable but would shun them like ‎death. Instead they would learn to enjoy spiritually ‎uplifting experiences such as the study of G’d’s Torah ‎and observance of its commandments. They would find ‎satisfaction in prayer and the fact that G’d listens to ‎their prayers, and responds positively to their good ‎deeds. It is clear therefore that at that junction in their ‎lives Moses had to address them by using the formula ‎כה אמר ה'‏‎, as they had not yet qualified for the benefits ‎of prophecy from the lofty platform represented by ‎זה‎, ‎a communication from G’d directly without screen. ‎Once they had ascended to far higher spiritual levels ‎they would indeed be addressed by prophecies that ‎had come to Moses under the heading of ‎זה‎.‎

Exodus 12,2. “This month is for you the ‎beginning of the months;” in order to ‎understand the word “for you, i.e. yours,“ it will be well ‎to recall Exodus 31,14 where we read: ‎ושמרתם את השבת כי ‏קדש היא לכם‎, “you shall observe the Sabbath as it is holy ‎for you.”‎
We have a rule that G’d complies with the wishes of ‎the righteous, the ones who revere Him. Just as the ‎Israelites desire that G’d will deal with the inhabitants ‎of the various parts of His universe with kindness and ‎mercy, so we, His creatures, are desirous of causing ‎Him joy and satisfaction in all parts of His universe. ‎This is the meaning of the line quoted above, the ‎words ‎קודש היא לכם‎, “the Holy One is active for your ‎benefit.” [I presume the basis for this exegesis ‎is that the Sabbath, something inactive by definition, ‎and even more inactive seeing that it represents ‎repose, rest, can hardly “do” something for us. In other ‎words, “the sanctity of the Sabbath is due to what G’d ‎does for you.” Ed.]‎

The students of the Great Maggid spread out to many different locations and were known as seekers of the knowledge of God. They were all masters of the mysteries, and all holy. Each one taught a path in the service of God according to his own particular qualities, using this path as the central method in his students. Among the Baal Shem Tov’s students, there were those who taught a way of Divine service based on great fervor in the fulfillment of the Torah, together with the nullification of worldly existence and the unification with the mysterium tremendum during prayer. There where others who emphasized the centrality of the love and unification of all of Israel, in order to draw Divine effluence and blessings down to the Jewish people. Their great love gave them strength in order to unite the hearts of Israel, inspiring them with words that drew their students to follow in the path of God. There were still others who taught a mystical form of exegesis, with discourses full of hints, numerical equivalents, acronyms, revealing holy names in the words of the Torah. There were even those who taught the Torah in an enigmatic language, even though they were disciples of masters whose entire aim was to explain and elucidate the Torah, bringing it within the borders of man’s intellect. Those who saw fit to hide their language did so due to the root of their souls and their particular locations, in seeing so many students and wary of the real possibility of misunderstanding, took care not to explain their teachings in a revealed language. Even though they spent much time in this holy and protective manner, there was a great lack of understanding on the part of their listeners. Such is the case when the mystery is wrapped in the enigma and expressed in a hidden language. Due to this, their opponents would incorrectly interpret their words. These students of the Baal Shem Tov were using all of their powers to instill the faith in the hearts of Israel to know that God fills the whole world with His glory, using the perfect words of Torah such as those found in the Zohar, which shows us how God fills all the worlds and surrounds all the worlds.¹⁴⁹See Zohar, Parshat Pinchas, 225a. So their opponents found a dark and narrow place in which to explain his words as the same as one of the foreign concepts in the belief in God’s providence that the Rambam quotes in the Guide (Section 1, Ch. 73) as, “the view of some of the Mutazilites.” They believed that existence and the absence of existence are accidents newly created at every moment. However, anyone seriously studying this matter in the Guide would see how at the end of the sixth argument of that same chapter the Rambam refutes their view, a belief that would do away with any need for Divine service or prayer. So of course neither the Rambam nor the disciple of the Maggid under discussion ever intended to claim that this foreign view is in agreement with the view of the Torah. This is not the direction any Torah leader such as the Rambam would take. Just as the Rambam, the disciple of the Maggid confronted these foreign ideas as a result of being exiled in a place of evil waters,¹⁵⁰The Zohar compares the study of secular philosophy to drinking “bitter and cursing waters,” as described in the section of the Torah that deals with the suspected adulteress. (Numbers 5:5) where the denizens of which would drink and swallow¹⁵¹See Ovadia, 1:16. from their local well. The attacks of their opponents are really as trivial as the drool dripping from a dreamer’s mouth. In their attacks they claim that the servant of God need not think that God fills all of the worlds, but only needs to know that God surrounds all of the worlds.¹⁵²R. Gershon Henokh alludes here to a major theological debate between the Hasidim and their opponents. To the Hasidim, God’s present not only “surrounds” the worlds (that is, creates it and directs it from above), but actually “fills” the worlds; meaning, the entire world is filled with Divinity, one only needs to remove the veils that conceal it. To the opponents of Hasidism, since God is exalted above creation (as it were), one can only serve Him by transcending the mundane, and choosing those paths and practices given specifically by God to man to this end – the Torah and mitzvot. However, to the Hasidim, God’s presence was immanent in creation; thus, He could be served even through mundane acts, such as eating, drinking, singing, and dancing. But in making such a misguided comment he is in fact voicing the view of the idolaters mentioned in the Talmud Menahot, 110a), “They call God, ‘god of the gods.’ “ This view is contrary to the view of the Torah, for our Torah says, “know that I am God who makes you holy.¹⁵³Shemot 31:13. “ Yet do not cast aspersions on these opponents. Their attacks are just a result of an inferior understanding of the fundamentals of these matters. They merely dressed their language in ill-fitting garments, totally unsuited for the one wearing them. Their attacks were a result of a musing of the heart which they were not able to adequately able to pronounce.

Betzalel: The architect who constructed the Tabernacle in the desert (Exod. 31:1-6).

Another approach to the line:‎ מי כמוך באלים ה'...נורא ‏תהלות עושה פלא‎, “Who is like You o Lord, among the ‎celestials, …awesome in splendour, working wonders!” ‎It is an accepted criterion of our faith that when a ‎person denies his ego the way is paved to his ‎becoming wise. This concept is spelled out in Job ‎‎33,33: ‎אם אין אתה, שמע לי החרש ואאלפך חכמה‎, “if you are ‎‎(prepared to be) ‘nothing’, listen to Me, and be still, ‎and I will teach you wisdom.” As the author has ‎mentioned several times, ‎חכמה‎, true wisdom, is the ‎result of divesting oneself totally of one’s “ego;” as we ‎know from another verse in Job 28,12 ‎והחכמה מאין תמצא‎, ‎‎“and wisdom you will find through negating “ego”, ‎becoming “nought,” i.e. ‎אין‎. A closer look at the word ‎אלף‎ which symbolizes the beginning of everything in ‎our world, will show you that when read backwards it ‎reads ‎פלא‎, “something transcendental, miraculous.” ‎Moses alludes to this when describing G’d as the ‎source of ‎פלא‎, “wonders.” What we have previously ‎described as ‎אין‎, is also a reference to ‎בינה‎, insight, ‎which, as the word indicates, is something internal, ‎therefore invisible, hidden, another aspect of the root ‎פלא‎ or ‎מופלא‎. Negation of self, of ego, results in one’s ‎becoming privy to the hidden insights, ‎פלא‎.‎
The author sees in Exodus 31,14, ‎‏ ושמרתם את השבת כי ‏קודש היא לכם‎, “you shall “observe” the Sabbath for it is ‎holy for you,” an allusion to our “viewing” the concept ‎of the Sabbath as our looking at its holy origin. The ‎word “seeing” is understood as the person who “sees” ‎receiving an image, i.e. he is a recipient of revelations ‎of one sort or another. A painter cannot paint a ‎painting until he has first seen an image which he tries ‎to reproduce on canvas, or paper, or any other suitable ‎surface. In the case of “observing” the Sabbath, we are ‎privy to receiving “images” from the ‎אין‎, from a ‎dimension of the universe, the celestial dimension, ‎that is devoid of a body and its attendant limitations. A ‎Sabbath properly “observed,” is a day in which we ‎distance ourselves from most of our physical needs, ‎‎[except, of course, fulfilling the ‎commandments that are prescribed and make our ‎bodies participants in this holy experience. ‎Ed.].‎