Chasidut su Genesi 13:20
Mevo HaShearim
Therefore, hearken and hear the words of the living God, avreikh-hasid, lift up your eyes and see283Genesis 13:14. that God is with you wherever you are—when you sit in your home and travel on the road, when you arise and when you lay down284Deuteronomy 6:7.—if you will but toil in the Torah, i.e. performing both your learning and your avodah in the commandments with toil rather than superficially. Then, you will burrow and enter into the Lord, God of Israel, Who is garbed in the Torah. For, as we have told you, the Written Torah is enclothed in Asiyah, and our Sages of blessed memory have removed the clothing from the Oral Torah and revealed it on the level of Yetzirah and Beriyah, [revealing] even in its humanity. And—Who is dressed in all these? The Lord, God of Israel.
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Kedushat Levi
Once we take this into consideration we can understand a question raised by a member of our congregation regarding a statement in the Talmud Ketuvot 111.
On that folio we find a surprising statement by Rav Yehudah, that G’d had demanded three oaths from the exiled Jews one of which was that they would not return to the land of Israel by force of arms, (not having waited for the arrival of the Messiah) and that anyone doing so violated a positive commandment in his opinion.
Although the countries hosting Jewish exiles are complying with G’d’s will Who has not sent them a redeemer, nonetheless G’d also demanded an oath from the rulers of these host countries not to make the lives of the exiled Jews intolerable. The Talmud uses the expression בהן, “against them,” i.e. against the Jews under their control. According to the questioner this word is superfluous. When you consider what I have written above you will realize that the word בהן in the Talmud is not superfluous at all. The meaning of the word is reflexive, i.e. the gentile rulers of the host countries in which the Jews live are not to make the Jews’ lives difficult for their own benefit, but only to the extent that they fulfill G’d’s will that they remain in exile. As long as the gentile rulers adhere to that oath they will not be punished by G’d for preventing the Jews from returning to their ancestral land.
We have explained this in a parable of the servant of a king who inflicts painful physical punishment on the king’s son out of love for his King. Such a servant of the king experiences pain himself when disciplining the king’s son. The pain he feels himself acts as a restraint against his becoming too cruel when administering the punishment to the king’s son, (who had obviously deserved punishment for his misconduct). בהן The meaning of the word in the Talmud there is the same as when we speak of להם, “for them,” or “for themselves,” when using the word conversationally. We find this word (בהן) used in the sense that we suggested in the Tikkuney Hazohar where the letters in the word בראשית have been rearranged to read: ירא בשת, implying that the gentiles are to maintain a degree of shame when facing Jews, and must not be overeager to become G’d’s helpers in deepening their suffering in exile. Our author, referring the reader to Nachmanides’ commentary on Genesis 13,14 sees in G’d’s promise to Avraham that He will punish the people who have enslaved and tortured his descendant, in due course, a hint that once they overstep the boundary of G’d’s decree by performing persecution of the Jews enthusiastically, they will not only be punished for their excesses but also for keeping the Jews prisoners in their land at all. The experience of the Israelites in Egypt reflected the excesses that reflected that when maltreating the Israelites the last thing that they had in mind was to fulfill G’d’s decree revealed to Avraham in chapter 15 of Genesis.
On that folio we find a surprising statement by Rav Yehudah, that G’d had demanded three oaths from the exiled Jews one of which was that they would not return to the land of Israel by force of arms, (not having waited for the arrival of the Messiah) and that anyone doing so violated a positive commandment in his opinion.
Although the countries hosting Jewish exiles are complying with G’d’s will Who has not sent them a redeemer, nonetheless G’d also demanded an oath from the rulers of these host countries not to make the lives of the exiled Jews intolerable. The Talmud uses the expression בהן, “against them,” i.e. against the Jews under their control. According to the questioner this word is superfluous. When you consider what I have written above you will realize that the word בהן in the Talmud is not superfluous at all. The meaning of the word is reflexive, i.e. the gentile rulers of the host countries in which the Jews live are not to make the Jews’ lives difficult for their own benefit, but only to the extent that they fulfill G’d’s will that they remain in exile. As long as the gentile rulers adhere to that oath they will not be punished by G’d for preventing the Jews from returning to their ancestral land.
We have explained this in a parable of the servant of a king who inflicts painful physical punishment on the king’s son out of love for his King. Such a servant of the king experiences pain himself when disciplining the king’s son. The pain he feels himself acts as a restraint against his becoming too cruel when administering the punishment to the king’s son, (who had obviously deserved punishment for his misconduct). בהן The meaning of the word in the Talmud there is the same as when we speak of להם, “for them,” or “for themselves,” when using the word conversationally. We find this word (בהן) used in the sense that we suggested in the Tikkuney Hazohar where the letters in the word בראשית have been rearranged to read: ירא בשת, implying that the gentiles are to maintain a degree of shame when facing Jews, and must not be overeager to become G’d’s helpers in deepening their suffering in exile. Our author, referring the reader to Nachmanides’ commentary on Genesis 13,14 sees in G’d’s promise to Avraham that He will punish the people who have enslaved and tortured his descendant, in due course, a hint that once they overstep the boundary of G’d’s decree by performing persecution of the Jews enthusiastically, they will not only be punished for their excesses but also for keeping the Jews prisoners in their land at all. The experience of the Israelites in Egypt reflected the excesses that reflected that when maltreating the Israelites the last thing that they had in mind was to fulfill G’d’s decree revealed to Avraham in chapter 15 of Genesis.
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Kedushat Levi
Genesis 12,8. “Bet-El to the west and AI to the east;” it is understood by the Kabbalists that the tzaddik must always remain attached to the ayin, אין, i.e. to a negation of that which is primarily physical, יש or known as “reality,” in our parlance. He is able to ignore such “realities” due to his awe for the Creator; the word: והעי, is a variation of עי השדה, “ruins in the field;” (Micah 1,6). When the tzaddik is attached to this אין, he is able to draw down to our physical universe goodwill and blessings from the celestial domain of the universe. Our verse illustrates the concept of how a man of the caliber of Avraham is able to be a source of good for the entire human race.
[The author’s approach to our verse is again based (in my opinion) on the implied question of why the Torah would bother to inform us about such apparently irrelevant details about locations, details which we read in public year after year for over 3700 years. Compare author’s commentary on the measurements of Noah’s ark. Ed.] The moral/ethical message of the verse is that in order to enjoy the benefits available in this terrestrial part of the universe, one must first make certain that one maintains close links with the celestial parts of the universe, which is the source of these benefits. What was considered a ruin, עי, before the tzaddik had established close ties with the celestial domain, turns into בית אל, a “house of G’d on earth,” after he has done so. The Torah confirms this a few verses later after Avraham returns from Egypt, when he is described as very rich in livestock, silver and gold. (Genesis 13,2)
[The author’s approach to our verse is again based (in my opinion) on the implied question of why the Torah would bother to inform us about such apparently irrelevant details about locations, details which we read in public year after year for over 3700 years. Compare author’s commentary on the measurements of Noah’s ark. Ed.] The moral/ethical message of the verse is that in order to enjoy the benefits available in this terrestrial part of the universe, one must first make certain that one maintains close links with the celestial parts of the universe, which is the source of these benefits. What was considered a ruin, עי, before the tzaddik had established close ties with the celestial domain, turns into בית אל, a “house of G’d on earth,” after he has done so. The Torah confirms this a few verses later after Avraham returns from Egypt, when he is described as very rich in livestock, silver and gold. (Genesis 13,2)
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Kedushat Levi
This point is made even more clearly in Genesis 13,14 where we read: וה' אמר אל אברם אחרי הפרד לוט מעמו שא נא עיניך וראה מן המקום אשר אתה שם צפונה ונגבה וקדמה וימה, "and the Lord had said to Avram after Lot had separated from him ‘raise your eyes and look northward, southward, eastward and westward;’” this was a promise first and foremost that he would see in his lifetime three of the patriarchs of the Jewish people, i.e. himself, Yitzchok, and Yaakov. The first three directions mentioned here symbolize the attributes חסד , גבורה, and תפארת, referring to Avraham, Yitzchok and Yaakov in that order.
When telling Avraham that he would see את כל הארץ, “the whole of the land” (future Eretz Yisrael), this refers to David, whose attribute is מלכות, Royalty, David representing this symbol on earth, the Jewish people. David is directly linked to the patriarch Avraham, was shown “the whole land,” so that he would be aware that the glory of the Kingdom of David would be directly traceable to him. This is the reason why north and south, east and west are listed here in this order. According to Ari za’l, ימה, “west,” refers to the emanation יסוד, the emanation directly above the emanation מלכות, the one symbolized by the kingdom of David.
[Malchut, as the “lowest” of the emanations, is the one closest to the physical universe. Rabbi Elie Munk (Ascent to Harmony) has described the emanation Malchut as “History” (of man), thus seeing it as the bridge between the actual physical universe and the celestial domains, since when something becomes “history,” it has either receded or ascended (depending on whether the persons making history made constructive or destructive contributions) to a domain beyond the physical but robbing it of the “substance” common to phenomena in the earthly domain of the universe. Ed.]
According to the Zohar, tzaddik and tzedek, the righteous person and the performance of righteous deeds, are indivisible, i.e. the emanations מלכות and יסוד always go hand in hand. We find this concept first alluded to in the Torah when Malki Tzedek, King of Shalem, (Jerusalem) in Genesis 14,18 congratulates Avram on his victory, blesses him in the name of the Lord, and presents him with bread and wine. The word לחם, commonly understood as “bread,” is used to describe חכמה, “wisdom,” whereas the word יין, commonly understood as “wine” means בינה, “insight,” in this context. Malki Tzedek presented these items as symbols of the two highest emanations man can usually attain, both of which Avraham employed in his service of the Lord.
[As on previous occasions, the author sees in such apparently irrelevant details as a King bringing bread and wine from hundreds of kilometers from Jerusalem. According to Genesis 14,15, Avraham had pursued the armies of Kedorleomer all the way to Damascus) an allusion to something far more profound. Ed.]
The Zohar I,199 traces the fact that a tzaddik serves the Lord with חכמה and בינה to Job 28,28 יראת ה' היא חכמה וסור מרע בינה, “Reverence for the Lord is wisdom, to shun evil is understanding, insight.” The two blessings that Malki Tzedek, who was viewed as G’d’s High Priest in those days, most likely Shem, Noach’s oldest son, bestowed on Avram, represent the two emanations that Avram had been able to use in his service of the Lord, and are reflected in Targum Yonathan’s translation of the Torah, in the first verses of the Torah in which they appear. [In our verses, instead of commending Avraham to G’d, as we would translate the words ברוך אברם ל.., Yonathan ben Uzziel translates: ברוך אברם מ..., “Avram has been blessed by the supreme G’d, etc.” Ed.] Targum Yerushalmi translates already the first words of the Torah, i.e. בראשית ברא אלוקים את השמים ואת הארץ, as “in the beginning G’d used the emanation of חכמה to create heaven and earth.”
When telling Avraham that he would see את כל הארץ, “the whole of the land” (future Eretz Yisrael), this refers to David, whose attribute is מלכות, Royalty, David representing this symbol on earth, the Jewish people. David is directly linked to the patriarch Avraham, was shown “the whole land,” so that he would be aware that the glory of the Kingdom of David would be directly traceable to him. This is the reason why north and south, east and west are listed here in this order. According to Ari za’l, ימה, “west,” refers to the emanation יסוד, the emanation directly above the emanation מלכות, the one symbolized by the kingdom of David.
[Malchut, as the “lowest” of the emanations, is the one closest to the physical universe. Rabbi Elie Munk (Ascent to Harmony) has described the emanation Malchut as “History” (of man), thus seeing it as the bridge between the actual physical universe and the celestial domains, since when something becomes “history,” it has either receded or ascended (depending on whether the persons making history made constructive or destructive contributions) to a domain beyond the physical but robbing it of the “substance” common to phenomena in the earthly domain of the universe. Ed.]
According to the Zohar, tzaddik and tzedek, the righteous person and the performance of righteous deeds, are indivisible, i.e. the emanations מלכות and יסוד always go hand in hand. We find this concept first alluded to in the Torah when Malki Tzedek, King of Shalem, (Jerusalem) in Genesis 14,18 congratulates Avram on his victory, blesses him in the name of the Lord, and presents him with bread and wine. The word לחם, commonly understood as “bread,” is used to describe חכמה, “wisdom,” whereas the word יין, commonly understood as “wine” means בינה, “insight,” in this context. Malki Tzedek presented these items as symbols of the two highest emanations man can usually attain, both of which Avraham employed in his service of the Lord.
[As on previous occasions, the author sees in such apparently irrelevant details as a King bringing bread and wine from hundreds of kilometers from Jerusalem. According to Genesis 14,15, Avraham had pursued the armies of Kedorleomer all the way to Damascus) an allusion to something far more profound. Ed.]
The Zohar I,199 traces the fact that a tzaddik serves the Lord with חכמה and בינה to Job 28,28 יראת ה' היא חכמה וסור מרע בינה, “Reverence for the Lord is wisdom, to shun evil is understanding, insight.” The two blessings that Malki Tzedek, who was viewed as G’d’s High Priest in those days, most likely Shem, Noach’s oldest son, bestowed on Avram, represent the two emanations that Avram had been able to use in his service of the Lord, and are reflected in Targum Yonathan’s translation of the Torah, in the first verses of the Torah in which they appear. [In our verses, instead of commending Avraham to G’d, as we would translate the words ברוך אברם ל.., Yonathan ben Uzziel translates: ברוך אברם מ..., “Avram has been blessed by the supreme G’d, etc.” Ed.] Targum Yerushalmi translates already the first words of the Torah, i.e. בראשית ברא אלוקים את השמים ואת הארץ, as “in the beginning G’d used the emanation of חכמה to create heaven and earth.”
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Kedushat Levi
Genesis 13,16. “so that if one can count the dust of the earth then your offspring too can be counted.” G’d’s comments were triggered by Avram having seen in his astrology charts that he was not going to have offspring. G’d taught him that “science” such as astrology is valid only in terms of the terrestrial part of the universe. Astrologers therefore are able to decipher only matters accessible to ordinary people’s powers of perception. The Jewish people’s fate could not be predicted on the basis of such limited powers of perception. This is why Jews are not allowed to attempt to count the stars as we know from Yuma 22, where the Talmud states כל המונה את ישראל עובר בלאו, “anyone making a headcount of Israelites transgresses a negative commandment.” The Talmud quotes Hoseah 2,1 in support of this. The result of such a count would be misleading, as the yardsticks that apply to other nations do not apply to the Jewish people. Avram who had not yet been aware of this, had therefore misread what appeared to be written in the stars concerning his future. The Talmud Shabbat 156 cites our verse in support of this. [The verses cited there are Genesis 15,4 and 5. Ed.] Basically, seeing that our prayers and/or repentance have the power to alter G’d’s decrees, how could constellations in the sky that are predictable in advance have any bearing on our fate?
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Kedushat Levi
Genesis 13,16. “so that if one can count the dust of the earth then your offspring too can be counted.” G’d’s comments were triggered by Avram having seen in his astrology charts that he was not going to have offspring. G’d taught him that “science” such as astrology is valid only in terms of the terrestrial part of the universe. Astrologers therefore are able to decipher only matters accessible to ordinary people’s powers of perception. The Jewish people’s fate could not be predicted on the basis of such limited powers of perception. This is why Jews are not allowed to attempt to count the stars as we know from Yuma 22, where the Talmud states כל המונה את ישראל עובר בלאו, “anyone making a headcount of Israelites transgresses a negative commandment.” The Talmud quotes Hoseah 2,1 in support of this. The result of such a count would be misleading, as the yardsticks that apply to other nations do not apply to the Jewish people. Avram who had not yet been aware of this, had therefore misread what appeared to be written in the stars concerning his future. The Talmud Shabbat 156 cites our verse in support of this. [The verses cited there are Genesis 15,4 and 5. Ed.] Basically, seeing that our prayers and/or repentance have the power to alter G’d’s decrees, how could constellations in the sky that are predictable in advance have any bearing on our fate?
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Kedushat Levi
A different approach to the verses commencing with אהיה אשר אהיה. What follows is based on the common perception that the name of G’d (tetragram) known as הויה, refers to His activity in the present, whereas the name אהיה suggests G’d’s being active in the future, as we know from Sotah 14 where the Talmud quotes Deuteronomy 3,25 in which Moses pleads to be allowed to cross the Jordan before his death. The Talmud there examines what prompted Moses to be so anxious to cross the Jordan, and concludes that Moses was concerned to perform commandments of the Torah that are only capable of fulfillment when on the soil of the Holy Land.
From this we learn that the Jewish people while in Egypt had acquired only the potential merit of performing these commandments, a merit which could not be fully acquired until after their arrival in the Holy Land. G’d explains this to Moses when He tells him in verse 12 that once He will let Moses take the people out of Egypt, this is preparatory to their serving the Lord i.e. בהוציאך את העם ממצרים תעבדו את האלוקים. He thus links the people’s serving G’d to Moses’ taking them out of Egypt and (presumably) bringing them to the Holy Land where they will be able to claim the credit for fulfilling the Torah. Actually, it had been G’d’s desire to bring the people to the Holy Land in order that they could “cash” His I.O.U. there by performing the commandments. Seeing that the capacity of the Jewish people to understand such lofty ideals was limited by their present sorry condition, G’d first stressed the physical qualities of the land of Israel, comparing it favourably with the land of Egypt which has been described in Genesis as “like a garden planted by G’d.” (Genesis 13,11) By describing the land of Israel as a land flowing with milk and honey, a land in which rain falls regularly, without farmers having to bring water for irrigation to their fields, G’d had to arouse the people’s desire to leave a land which was as excellent for its owners as Egypt.
[We know that even after the Egyptians had been drowned in the sea the Israelites wanted to return there and take over that land, rather than to march through the desert to a land they did not know. (Compare Exodus 15,22, ויסע משה את ישראל “Moses forced Israel to journey forward.”)] Once the Israelites would reach their destination they would appreciate that life in the land of Israel involved much more than their bodies being “elevated;” their spiritual horizons would be broadened due to their performing the commandments applicable only in that land. This is the reason why in verse 13 in our chapter G’d stresses the fact that the patriarchs had lived in that land, i.e. the fact that they lived in that land had enabled them to become the founding fathers of this holy nation. This is why in connection with the patriarchs we find the name of G’d, i.e. הויה, present tense, whereas in respect to their descendants, at this stage G’d has to speak of His name as something primarily still in the future, אהיה.
From this we learn that the Jewish people while in Egypt had acquired only the potential merit of performing these commandments, a merit which could not be fully acquired until after their arrival in the Holy Land. G’d explains this to Moses when He tells him in verse 12 that once He will let Moses take the people out of Egypt, this is preparatory to their serving the Lord i.e. בהוציאך את העם ממצרים תעבדו את האלוקים. He thus links the people’s serving G’d to Moses’ taking them out of Egypt and (presumably) bringing them to the Holy Land where they will be able to claim the credit for fulfilling the Torah. Actually, it had been G’d’s desire to bring the people to the Holy Land in order that they could “cash” His I.O.U. there by performing the commandments. Seeing that the capacity of the Jewish people to understand such lofty ideals was limited by their present sorry condition, G’d first stressed the physical qualities of the land of Israel, comparing it favourably with the land of Egypt which has been described in Genesis as “like a garden planted by G’d.” (Genesis 13,11) By describing the land of Israel as a land flowing with milk and honey, a land in which rain falls regularly, without farmers having to bring water for irrigation to their fields, G’d had to arouse the people’s desire to leave a land which was as excellent for its owners as Egypt.
[We know that even after the Egyptians had been drowned in the sea the Israelites wanted to return there and take over that land, rather than to march through the desert to a land they did not know. (Compare Exodus 15,22, ויסע משה את ישראל “Moses forced Israel to journey forward.”)] Once the Israelites would reach their destination they would appreciate that life in the land of Israel involved much more than their bodies being “elevated;” their spiritual horizons would be broadened due to their performing the commandments applicable only in that land. This is the reason why in verse 13 in our chapter G’d stresses the fact that the patriarchs had lived in that land, i.e. the fact that they lived in that land had enabled them to become the founding fathers of this holy nation. This is why in connection with the patriarchs we find the name of G’d, i.e. הויה, present tense, whereas in respect to their descendants, at this stage G’d has to speak of His name as something primarily still in the future, אהיה.
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