Chasidut su Genesi 32:26
וַיַּ֗רְא כִּ֣י לֹ֤א יָכֹל֙ ל֔וֹ וַיִּגַּ֖ע בְּכַף־יְרֵכ֑וֹ וַתֵּ֙קַע֙ כַּף־יֶ֣רֶךְ יַעֲקֹ֔ב בְּהֵֽאָבְק֖וֹ עִמּֽוֹ׃
Vedendo che nol potea vincere, lo toccò [colpì] nell’estremità del femore; e l’estremità del femore di Giacobbe si slogò nel suo lottare con lui.
Kedushat Levi
[The following lengthy paragraph has been omitted in several editions of the Kedushat Levi. I have included it as I am puzzled why some publishers should have taken it upon themselves to omit such an impressive proof of the author’s lofty moral concept of how a Jew can become the personality which reflects that he has thoroughly “digested” what the Torah considers him capable of. Ed.]
“Here I have placed before you this day blessing and curse.” It appears somewhat strange that two opposites such as blessing and curse should have been lumped together by Moses in a single verse, instead of being treated in separate paragraphs, as is the case when the Torah, on two separate occasions in Bechukotai and Ki Tavo, lists the results of obeying or disobeying G’d’s commandments.
In order to understand this let us first explain an important rule concerning the works performed by man, something designed to prevent us from becoming overbearing and taking undue credit when we do serve the Creator by performing the various commandments that He has given us for our benefit. If we were to do that, we would be only a few steps away from generating physical desires that may overwhelm us.
Not only must we not compliment ourselves for our service of the Lord as being a major accomplishment on our part, but on the contrary, we must consider such service as being minimal, and as a result of this we must become conscious of the immense spiritual gap between us and the Creator, so that we wind up with a broken heart when we consider our relative impotence when compared to Him. The more we serve Him, the more will we realize that we are still at the beginning of gaining an understanding of the immensity of a Being that has called into existence the entire universe and keeps in constant touch with all His creatures, being aware of what they do at any place and at any time. If we merely take time out to contemplate that ours is not the only planet that G’d has created but that are millions like it, how can we not feel our relative insignificance in the scheme of things that G’d has created?
We get a glimpse of the feelings generated by servants of Hashem in the celestial regions when we recite daily in our morning prayers that in spite of their knowing that they are beloved, pure and mighty, i.e. כלם אהובים כלם ברורים, כלם גבורים, nonetheless, in spite of their “standing at the heights of the universe,” ברום עולם, they relate to the Creator in awe and dread, i.e. באימה וביראה. If this applies to the leading angels, how much more does it apply to us mortal human beings. It appears from the version quoted in our prayers that these angels did not experience the feelings of their inadequacy until they were actively involved in performing acts of service for the Creator.
Immediately following these lines in the morning prayers, the highest category of angels, the seraphim, chayot and ofanim, are described as having intensified and reinforced their worship by proclaiming the holiness of G’d three times, i.e. קדושה. When we serve the Lord in the proper manner, our spiritual progress will assume the nature of a “chain reaction,” each act of service resulting in a better understanding of the Creator by His creature. Our author sees in the command to serve the Lord by blowing shofar on New Year’s day, (Psalms 81,4) an “invitation” to spiritually improve ourselves, the word שופר from the root שפר, personifying the concept of beautifying, i.e. improving oneself. The word תקיעה, based on the root תקע, meaning “firmly pitching (tent),” see Genesis 31,25 when used with the blowing of the ram’s horn, suggests that this service of the Lord be something firmly embedded in our personality, [not an occasional visit to the synagogue. Ed.] The fact that it is performed symbolically on New Year’s especially, points to the effect it has in renewing our commitment to Hashem. The very idea that we need periodically to “renew” this commitment, suggests that we are still at the “beginning” of our spiritual ascent. This is also reflected in the psalmist urging us (psalms 98,1) to “sing a new song for the Lord.” The נפלאות, wonders, which G’d worked that the psalmist describes in psalms 98, are that He deepens the perceptive powers of His servants, the ones who sing new songs in His praise.
It is worth recalling an explanation of the Baal Shem Tov on psalms 48,15 where David describes G’d’s leading us forever with the words: הוא ינהגנו על מות, “He will lead us beyond death.” The Baal Shem tov, uses a parable to explain that verse. A father, when teaching his son to walk, ensures that he does not start by running but by taking slow steps. In order to encourage his son to walk more and more assuredly, he gradually distances himself from the son, so that the latter needs to cover more distance before arriving in the embrace of his father. The fact that G’d, i.e. His essence, appears very distant to us encourages us to make greater efforts to solve this mystery by getting closer to Him through serving Him better. This in turn, creates the feeling within us that although we have not achieved our objective in unraveling all the mysteries surrounding G’d, we nonetheless no longer consider our efforts as inconsequential. Every day we feel as if we enter a new chapter in our service of the Lord.
“Here I have placed before you this day blessing and curse.” It appears somewhat strange that two opposites such as blessing and curse should have been lumped together by Moses in a single verse, instead of being treated in separate paragraphs, as is the case when the Torah, on two separate occasions in Bechukotai and Ki Tavo, lists the results of obeying or disobeying G’d’s commandments.
In order to understand this let us first explain an important rule concerning the works performed by man, something designed to prevent us from becoming overbearing and taking undue credit when we do serve the Creator by performing the various commandments that He has given us for our benefit. If we were to do that, we would be only a few steps away from generating physical desires that may overwhelm us.
Not only must we not compliment ourselves for our service of the Lord as being a major accomplishment on our part, but on the contrary, we must consider such service as being minimal, and as a result of this we must become conscious of the immense spiritual gap between us and the Creator, so that we wind up with a broken heart when we consider our relative impotence when compared to Him. The more we serve Him, the more will we realize that we are still at the beginning of gaining an understanding of the immensity of a Being that has called into existence the entire universe and keeps in constant touch with all His creatures, being aware of what they do at any place and at any time. If we merely take time out to contemplate that ours is not the only planet that G’d has created but that are millions like it, how can we not feel our relative insignificance in the scheme of things that G’d has created?
We get a glimpse of the feelings generated by servants of Hashem in the celestial regions when we recite daily in our morning prayers that in spite of their knowing that they are beloved, pure and mighty, i.e. כלם אהובים כלם ברורים, כלם גבורים, nonetheless, in spite of their “standing at the heights of the universe,” ברום עולם, they relate to the Creator in awe and dread, i.e. באימה וביראה. If this applies to the leading angels, how much more does it apply to us mortal human beings. It appears from the version quoted in our prayers that these angels did not experience the feelings of their inadequacy until they were actively involved in performing acts of service for the Creator.
Immediately following these lines in the morning prayers, the highest category of angels, the seraphim, chayot and ofanim, are described as having intensified and reinforced their worship by proclaiming the holiness of G’d three times, i.e. קדושה. When we serve the Lord in the proper manner, our spiritual progress will assume the nature of a “chain reaction,” each act of service resulting in a better understanding of the Creator by His creature. Our author sees in the command to serve the Lord by blowing shofar on New Year’s day, (Psalms 81,4) an “invitation” to spiritually improve ourselves, the word שופר from the root שפר, personifying the concept of beautifying, i.e. improving oneself. The word תקיעה, based on the root תקע, meaning “firmly pitching (tent),” see Genesis 31,25 when used with the blowing of the ram’s horn, suggests that this service of the Lord be something firmly embedded in our personality, [not an occasional visit to the synagogue. Ed.] The fact that it is performed symbolically on New Year’s especially, points to the effect it has in renewing our commitment to Hashem. The very idea that we need periodically to “renew” this commitment, suggests that we are still at the “beginning” of our spiritual ascent. This is also reflected in the psalmist urging us (psalms 98,1) to “sing a new song for the Lord.” The נפלאות, wonders, which G’d worked that the psalmist describes in psalms 98, are that He deepens the perceptive powers of His servants, the ones who sing new songs in His praise.
It is worth recalling an explanation of the Baal Shem Tov on psalms 48,15 where David describes G’d’s leading us forever with the words: הוא ינהגנו על מות, “He will lead us beyond death.” The Baal Shem tov, uses a parable to explain that verse. A father, when teaching his son to walk, ensures that he does not start by running but by taking slow steps. In order to encourage his son to walk more and more assuredly, he gradually distances himself from the son, so that the latter needs to cover more distance before arriving in the embrace of his father. The fact that G’d, i.e. His essence, appears very distant to us encourages us to make greater efforts to solve this mystery by getting closer to Him through serving Him better. This in turn, creates the feeling within us that although we have not achieved our objective in unraveling all the mysteries surrounding G’d, we nonetheless no longer consider our efforts as inconsequential. Every day we feel as if we enter a new chapter in our service of the Lord.
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Kedushat Levi
Genesis 32,25. “when he realized that he could not overcome him he injured his hip joint.” The subjects alluded to here are the three parts of the universe, 1) the world of the disembodied spirits, angels, collectively known as שרפים 2) the inert “stars,” planets and galaxies in outer space, and 3) the living creatures in our own “lower” part of the universe. In our part of the universe, i.e. in man, the head represents the domain of the angels in the “upper” part of the universe, the part of man that enables him to recognize his Creator.
The heart (within man) symbolizes the region we call outer space, home to galaxies in the domain known as עולם הגלגלים, the world of the orbiting planets and galaxies. According to the Sefer Yetzirah, heart, soul, enable man to recognise the recurring seasons, and what makes up a year by observing them in motion and realizing that a Creator must have directed their orbits. Finally, the thighs of man ירכים, represent the “lower universe,” a domain in which G’d must be served by means of His creatures having faith in their Creator. ירכים, thighs, are viewed as tools by means of which man is able to recognize the presence and power of a Creator. ירכים is another word for רגלים, which does not only mean “legs,” but is related to הרגל, habit, the danger that man serves G’d only from rote, lip service. When Yaakov is described as “the sun was shining for him”, ויזרח לו השמש, this is a hint that from that point on Yaakov worshipped G’d also by means of his intellect. His faith henceforth was more or less secure against arguments by the evil urge that could have confused him in his faith. The word י-עקב, was an allusion to his serving G’d as an עקב, an appendix, similar to the heel; once he had the name ישראל added to his name, he had acquired the letters ראש, (head) as part of his name, signifying the far loftier spiritual plateau that formed the basis of his faith.
The heart (within man) symbolizes the region we call outer space, home to galaxies in the domain known as עולם הגלגלים, the world of the orbiting planets and galaxies. According to the Sefer Yetzirah, heart, soul, enable man to recognise the recurring seasons, and what makes up a year by observing them in motion and realizing that a Creator must have directed their orbits. Finally, the thighs of man ירכים, represent the “lower universe,” a domain in which G’d must be served by means of His creatures having faith in their Creator. ירכים, thighs, are viewed as tools by means of which man is able to recognize the presence and power of a Creator. ירכים is another word for רגלים, which does not only mean “legs,” but is related to הרגל, habit, the danger that man serves G’d only from rote, lip service. When Yaakov is described as “the sun was shining for him”, ויזרח לו השמש, this is a hint that from that point on Yaakov worshipped G’d also by means of his intellect. His faith henceforth was more or less secure against arguments by the evil urge that could have confused him in his faith. The word י-עקב, was an allusion to his serving G’d as an עקב, an appendix, similar to the heel; once he had the name ישראל added to his name, he had acquired the letters ראש, (head) as part of his name, signifying the far loftier spiritual plateau that formed the basis of his faith.
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Kedushat Levi
Genesis 32,26. “He said: ‘’let me go for dawn is breaking’”. A look at Rashi on this line reveals that he considers this a request by the spiritual alter-ego of Esau to take his turn in the heavenly choir praising the Lord in the world of the שרפים, disembodied creatures, every morning. The Midrash, (Bereshit Rabbah 78,2 and Chulin 91) commented that this “angel’s” turn to recite these praises of the Lord had not previously occurred so that he was most disturbed not to miss this opportunity of doing so. We need to understand why this angel’s turn to recite these praises of the Lord had come just then.
It seems that the spiritual representatives in heaven of all the nations sing the praises of the Lord. The timing of their doing so, usually coincides with whenever one of the nations on earth whom they represent in the celestial spheres, had performed an act of kindness for the Jewish people. This enables their respective representative at the heavenly court to act as a powerful advocate on behalf of their charges down on earth. Esau at that time had done a kindness for Yaakov, which enabled his celestial representative to stake his claim to take his turn in the lineup waiting to sing these praises in the heavenly choir. As this had been the first time Esau had done something kind for Yaakov, his spiritual representative had never yet had an opportunity to be part of that choir.
It seems that the spiritual representatives in heaven of all the nations sing the praises of the Lord. The timing of their doing so, usually coincides with whenever one of the nations on earth whom they represent in the celestial spheres, had performed an act of kindness for the Jewish people. This enables their respective representative at the heavenly court to act as a powerful advocate on behalf of their charges down on earth. Esau at that time had done a kindness for Yaakov, which enabled his celestial representative to stake his claim to take his turn in the lineup waiting to sing these praises in the heavenly choir. As this had been the first time Esau had done something kind for Yaakov, his spiritual representative had never yet had an opportunity to be part of that choir.
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