Chasidut su Genesi 1:26

In the beginning (Bereshit) is a covenant/circumcision of fire (brit esh, which is made up of the same letters as bereshit, Zohar Chadash, Bereshit 276-280). This is in accordance with that which is written (Genesis 1:26), “Let Us make man,” in the plural. As it is found in the Gemara, that they asked Rabbi Yehoshua ben Channaniah, “Why was man not created circumcised?” And the reason is that for everything, there must be arousal from below by a human action; and then one merits assistance from the heavens. Hence by way of our being engaged with the commandment of circumcision, which is a major action, we give the child the merit with which to have a holy soul and a heart circumcised for Torah.

Therefore, a person must believe with perfect faith, and fix in his heart and soul the unalterable belief that all of his knowledge is a created consciousness: his intellect is a created intellect, his apprehension is a created understanding, and God runs the world at every moment, managing His creation with individual Divine providence every second of creation’s existence. It is God who gives life and existence to all of the worlds and to all of forces that are emanated, created, formed and made.²⁴⁶He uses four terms for creation, paralleling the kabbalistic concept of the four worlds, Atzilut, Beriyah, Yetsirah, Asiyah. This is a way of saying that God runs all of the worlds, from the most sublime spiritual realm down to the lowly physical world. Not only this, but so too does He gives life and existence in this world to man’s mind, including this very understanding. God’s desire is that we take our knowledge and power of understanding and then go on to serve Him with our free will, which we are required to exercise. This is as it is written in the Tikkunei Zohar (Tikkun 70, page 137a): “Let us make a man” (Bereshit, 1:26). Man is required to perform the mitzvot of the Torah. He must devote his efforts to the Torah in order to work at it and guard it.²⁴⁷Based upon Bereshit 1:15. In this way he will have a good reward, and dominance over you (the angels).²⁴⁸According to the Sages, when God said in the plural, “Let us make a man,” He was consulting with His angels. The Zohar adds to this rest of the verse: “and they shall rule over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the heaven,” which includes the angels themselves. Although they aided in man’s creation, his free will ultimately enables him to rule over them as well. This is why Israel is called (Yeshayahu, 60:21), “the branch of My planting, the work of My hands in which I will be glorified.” For even though the supernal angels are great in strength and always fulfill God’s word, still, their service is not ranked as truly mighty since they are programmed to serve and obey Him. They have no evil inclination that they may conquer, and do not have a body to contend with in order to serve God. For this reason, “let us make a man,” and he will rule over you. From this understanding and from this power of the intellect comes man’s power of choice, for it is God’s desire that man serve Him with his free will.

Shall it be that since, to the eyes of the corporeal human the world and human appear to be corporeal as well, these things are actually [entirely] corporeal, to the extent that we cannot use these terms to describe the upper worlds? If one has poor eyesight or is mentally unstable and a human appears to him to be an ape, but out of habit still calls this being ‘human’—would we say that this term is an inaccurate one for this being, and say that every person to whom this term is employed is thus derogatorily referred to as an ape? The dignified valence of the term remains in place, and the onus is on the ill person to be healed until he can accurately behold the human in his ‘form and image.’³⁶⁷Genesis 1:26. Since the Besht taught that when we gaze at the world we see God, each seeing divinity in the world according to his sanctification, why should we not call the upper worlds according to their true names, as in this world as well these distinctions and levels pertain? Is it because of dulled eyes or unstable mind which do not perceive the world as it truly is? But we know that in truth all is divinity, and these simply do not see accurately, and the onus is on them to raise their sight to truly see God’s world.³⁶⁸In truth, according to hasidism, the material world itself is constituted of divinity, as are the ‘upper worlds.’ As such, it is appropriate to utilize the same terminology to describe both worlds, as long as one recognizes that the significations are related yet distinct. The material ‘head’ is related to the supernal ‘head,’ mutatis mutandis.

Truly, one must know and understand, that from God’s point of view, it is all one, whereas the concealment of God’s presence and separation exist only from man’s point of view. God gave man the power to serve the Divine with his power of choice in order to unify all of the attributes and connect them to their source. Once this is done, he will see that they are, in reality, not even called attributes. This is how Ben Zoma shook the entire world in asserting, “Is it not written that that the Heavens were made by the word of God? And here, after God said, let there be a firmament, it is said, and God made the firmament. Thus, in this place, there is a difference between God saying, and God doing.” The conclusion in the Talmud, after reviewing this statement, was that, “Ben Zoma is still on the outside. But what is the actual distance between the upper and lower waters? Like the space between two garments spread one over the other; or as the space two cups fitted over one another.” That is to say, there is no separation whatsoever.³⁰⁸Likewise, there is no actual separation between God saying and doing. The separation is only an appearance in order to enable man’s ability to serve the Divine. A veil must conceal the source from its effects in the world we live in, for if the source were revealed there would be no impetus from the side of man to perform Divine service. Therefore, in Tehillim 148:4, which describes how all the elements of creation give praise to God, it does not say, “Halleluiah, all of the waters which are below the heavens,” but it says specifically, “all of the waters which are above the heavens,”³⁰⁹The full verses are: “Praise Him, you highest heavens and you waters above the heavens... Praise G-d from the earth, the great sea creatures and all the depths.” The “depths” are mentioned here (תהמות) but not the waters themselves. for the depth below is no more than a vessel,³¹⁰The depth below refers to the world of concealment in which man lives and exercises his free choice. and not the waters. If the waters are praising the Creator, then, by definition, they are called, “upper waters,” for at such a time of proclaiming God’s praises the lower waters have ascended and are in a state of complete unity with the upper waters. God is constantly occupied with healing the veil of separation, as was mentioned above, in Chapter Seven, with the Midrash Kohellet on the verse, “I have wounded, and will heal.” This is also hinted at in the Zohar (Vayigash, 207a): “God established the heavens with understanding.” (Mishlei, 3:19) What does the word, “establish,” mean? Rather, God establishes each day, never ceasing. He does not fix the world once, but rather fixes the world each and every day. God established that from the creation’s point of view a separation exists, and all that descends from the source in the upper realms to enclothe itself in the lower world takes on the appearance separation. This is as it is written in the Zohar (Bereshit, 22b): All of Rabbi Shimon’s fellowship stood up and said, “Rabbi, Rabbi, is there a separation between Abba and Imma,³¹¹The supernal personae (partsufim) expressing the Divine conduct of Wisdom (represented by the partsuf of Abba-Father) and Understanding (representing the partsuf of Imma-Mother) for Abba is in the path of atzilut (the World of Emanation), and the side of Imma in the world of beriya (Creation)?” Rabbi Shimon answered, “My friends, my friends, it is not like this. The Adam³¹²Meaning the partsufim (see previous note). of atzilut is male and female, from the side of Abba and Imma.³¹³The two are cleaving together as one, equal to each other. This is as it is said, ‘Let there be light, and there was light.’ ‘Let there be light,’ comes from the side of Abba, ‘and there was light,’ from the side of Imma.³¹⁴This follows the principle in the kabbalah whereby Abba represents speech and Imma represents action. This is the meaning of the teaching that Adam was initially created with two faces, one male and one female.³¹⁵See Bereshit, 1:27 However, the Adam of beriya has no image (tselem) or likeness (d’mut)³¹⁶See Bereshit, 1:26, “let us make a man in our image and after our likeness.” from Abba and Imma. Rather, the supernal Imma was called by the name whose numerical equivalent is Elo-him (86). This name is, ‘light and darkness.’ As a result of the darkness existing in this name, father said that Adam of beriya would sin in the future.” It is apparent from the Zohar in parshat Kedoshim (page 83a) and in the Tikkunei Zohar (Tikkun 67, page 98b) that sin cannot touch atzilut whatsoever.

Exodus 8:4 “and this is how the lampstand (candlestick) ‎was made, etc.” [I have not figured out, why our author ‎suddenly quotes a verse from Numbers 8,4, instead of using a ‎verse from our portion. Ed.]
We have a rule that ‎there are three types of “love” in the universe, (objects of love). ‎‎1) The most common object of love are tangible phenomena. The ‎Torah warns not to “love” certain tangible phenomena. 2) There ‎are some tangible phenomena, which at first glance appear as ‎permissible objects to be loved, but which on closer examination ‎are only symbols of what is permitted to love, i.e. not the object ‎itself but the concepts which the object represent. Therefore, the ‎third type of love is our love for the essence behind the external ‎symbols, the mitzvoth, in this instance, i.e. our love for ‎‎Hashem.‎
When we love G’d in this manner, we succeed in helping the ‎‎“sparks” to return to their original habitat as part of the ‎‎Sh’chinah, (as explained in our translation on pages 21-23.)‎
It is not permissible for us to ever claim that there exist ‎phenomena in our universe that are totally apart from their ‎origin, from their holy roots. It is up to us to try and find behind ‎phenomena that appear totally divorced from their holy roots, ‎the point of contact through which such a thread, however ‎slender, still exists. According to our author, the ‎פנימיות‎, inner ‎essence, of any phenomenon, is a reflection of this “love.” In ‎order to serve the Lord properly, the worshipper must get hold of ‎this “love” and use it as the vehicle with which he relates to his ‎Creator. He considers that other ‎מדות‎, attributes, virtues, must be ‎used in a similar manner. He claims that there are a total of seven ‎such ‎מדות‎, virtues, and that the seven arms of the lampstand, or ‎candlestick in the Tabernacle, symbolized these seven virtues. He ‎considers Numbers 8,2 as the key phrase in the Torah referring to ‎this concept, when the Torah writes: ‎בהעלותך את הנרות אל מול פני ‏המנורה יאירו שבעת הנרות‎, “when you elevate the lights of the ‎lampstand they shall be focused on the center shaft so that all ‎seven lamps will be providing light.” The “centre shaft” ‎symbolizes the Sh’chinah, presence of G’d.‎
At that point the Torah continues with the words: ‎וזה מעשה ‏המנורה מקשה‎, “and this is the essential ingredient of this ‎lampstand, it is hammered out of a single piece (of gold)”. This ‎verse teaches that true Judaism when it is practiced with all the ‎required virtues, will result in a completely unified, harmonious ‎personality of the worshipper. It is our task in this multifaceted ‎material universe, to reflect the unity of the Creator by emulating ‎His virtues to the best of our knowledge and ability.‎
The Torah underlines this by adding: ‎עד ירכה‎, “to its physical ‎foundation;” this is an allusion to physically permitted love when ‎it serves duly married couples to engage in marital intercourse for ‎the purpose of “uniting” their input through bringing into this ‎universe a child that combines the parents’ best qualities in a ‎single body. [Some of these words are mine, but I trust ‎they reflect the author’s meaning. Ed.] ‎
When the Torah relates how G’d set about creating the first ‎human being, (Genesis 1,26) ‎נעשה אדם בצלמנו‎, “let Us make man ‎in our image, etc.” the words ‎בצלמנו כדמותנו‎, “in our image, ‎similar to Our likeness,” are parallel to the description of the ‎candlestick being out of one chunk of gold, ‎עד ירכה עד פרחה‎, ‎colloquially speaking “from head to toe,” i.e. all of it. Although ‎the human being contains parts difficult to associate with ‎sanctity and holiness, as their function is to turn excess food into ‎excrement, for instance, in the final analysis even dung is ‎connected and remains connected to its Creator in heaven. We ‎are asked to relate with love to that aspect of the phenomenon ‎even if its exterior disgusts us. The word ‎פרחה‎ in Numbers 8,4 ‎whose numerical value is 288, clearly is a hidden reference to the ‎‎288 sparks of which we wrote on pages 21-23. The words ‎מקשה ‏היא‎ are an allusion to the ultimate unity of the Sh’chinah, ‎when all of these sparks have returned to its holy origin.‎

They established [reading of] Ruth on Shavu'ot, to say that, by means of B'nai Yisrael being chosen through the Giving of the Torah, they are instruments to draw near the converts, because B'nai Yisrael are called the First of His Crop which is the fruit for which everything was created. This is as it says (Gen. R.), "B'reishit -- for the sake of Israel which is called 'reishit.'" The meaning is that "reishit" is the beginning and the inner essence, as it says (Prov.), "The 'reishit' of wisdom is the awe of God." Therefore it is called the Day of Bikkurim, when the fruit is ripe. But B'nai Yisrael "are excepted from the generality in order to teach to the entire generality" (Sifra, principles of R' Yishma'el), as it will be in the future (Zeph. 3:9), "For then I will make the peoples pure of speech, etc. [so that they all invoke Adonai by name and serve Him with one accord]." And then (Eccl. 7:8) "The end of a matter is better than the beginning of it" [see Ruth 3:10]. And in truth, according as B'nai Yisrael elevate from the nations, they are themselves exalted even more. And this itself is the meaning of putting "na'aseh" before "nishma," for B'nai Yisrael understood this, that they were chosen in order to draw everyone near, and they said (Ex. 24:7), "Everything that Adonai has spoken we will do." It is written here "na'aseh" and it is written there (Gen. 1:26), "Na'aseh adam," as it says (Gen. 12:5) "the souls that they had made," which Onkelos translated "that they had subjugated to the Torah", and it is through this that "we will hear." As it is with the particular -- as the improvement [tikkun] of the deeds, in order to draw each physical deed close to the spirit so that the soul shines in the person -- so it is in general -- as the improvement [tikkun] of K'lal Yisrael to draw near from the nations, so that the Torah shines in them. It is written (Micah 7:20), "You will give truth to Ya'akov, hesed to Avraham," for B'nai Yisrael are in truth God's portion and His Torah, but it is also part of the aspect of Truth to do hesed, to bring near those who are far off and who come for the sake of Heaven: "truth to Ya'akov" is the Torah, "hesed to Avraham" is that we should draw close also from the descendants of Lot -- Ruth the Moabite....