Chasidut su I Re 8:78

An additional reason why the holy Torah starts with the letter Beis, which the numerical value is two, is to teach that there are two Torahs, there is written and oral.

The dedication [chinuch] of the Tabernacle was on the first day of Nissan. The dedication of the First Temple was on Tishrei, the dedication of the Second Temple was on Kislev, each of them according to its aspect. The miracles that happened in the Tabernacle were connected to Nissan, and that is why the dedication happened on Nissan. And in the Second Remple the Hasmonean miracle was in Kislev, and therefore the dedication was on Kislev, and the dedication of the First Temple was on Tishrei. The general rule of the Tabernacle was that the body understands that there is a Creator of the World, Blessed! And the Temple is that the soul (neshamah) understands that there is a Creator of the World. And this, that the soul understands the that there is a Creator of the World happens on Tishrei because of the pardoning of sins, and then the soul comprehends the Creator of the World; and in Nissan the body understands that there is a Creator of the World because through all the miracles and wonders the body understands. And therefore the Temple is called "Eternal Place" [Beit Olamim see I Kings 8:13] because the soul is [complete] existence, and the body is not [complete] existence. And this is the hint of what our sages z"l said: "From where do we know that the Temple is called Tabernacle, and Tabernacle is called Temple?" (Eruvin 2a) because in truth this, that the body experiences enjoyment, it is also that the soul experiences enjoyment, since the existence of the body is also the existence of the soul in this world, to serve the Creator, Blessed, and Blessed the Name, and this, that the soul does, that the soul serves the Blessed Creator is also enjoyment for the body. And this is the hint in Tabernacle, that is the body, that is called Temple, and Temple, that is called Tabernacle. And sit with this thought.

With the splitting of the Red Sea, it is written, “and [the people] believed in God and in Moshe, His servant.” This is as it is written in the Zohar (Beshalach, 53b): It is written, “and they believed in God and in Moshe, His servant.” Did they not believe in God until now? We find that when Moshe first told of the redemption to the children of Israel, the verse says (Shemot, 4:21), “And the people believed; and when they heard that the God had remembered the people of Israel… they bowed their heads and prayed.” Furthermore, they must have believed after witnessing all of the mighty acts God did in Egypt. If so, what does it mean when the Red Sea split that the Torah says, “and they believed?” [The difference is that here] God told them (Shemot, 14:13), “Do not fear, stand still, and see the salvation of the God which He will show to you today.” … Rabbi Yeisa asked, “It is written (ibid, 14:13), ‘Do not fear, stand still… for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall not see again forever (ad olam),’ and it is also written (ibid. 14:30), ‘And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.’”³⁷⁹In other words, there is a contradiction in the verses. In verse 14:13, Moshe promises the Jewish people that they will never see the Egyptians again, yet verse 14:30 states that they did see them again, albeit dead on the shore. (In the original Zohar passage, verse 30 is cited before verse 13. The order is reversed here for greater clarity.) Rabbi Yossi said, “In the second verse, they saw them dead.” Rabbi Yeisa said, “If so, the verse should have said, ‘you shall not see them again alive.’” Rabbi Abba said, “You have asked a good question, but come and see. It is written (Divrei HaYamim 1, 16:36), “Blessed is God forever and ever’ – ‘min ha-olam ve’ad ha-olam,’ which could also mean, ‘from the world to the world.’ On this we are taught, there is a world above, and a world below. ‘The world above,’ is the place from which the candle is first lit. ‘The world below,’ is the completion, which includes everything.³⁸⁰The “world below” refers to the sefirah of Malkhut (“Sovereignty”), which is the last of the ten sefirot. Positioned directly above our material world, Malkhut receives all the spiritual light and energy from the upper worlds, and transmits it to us. From ‘the world below,’ God’s mighty acts wake up for the denizens of the lower realm.³⁸¹Malkhut, being feminine, is also a world of dinim – strict judgments. In this lower world, God does wonders for Israel, bringing about a miracle. When this [lower] world is aroused to perform miracles, it had the effect of drowning all of the Egyptians, and produced a miracle for Israel with the splitting of the Red Sea. For this reason it is said, you shall not see them again forever– ad olam. That is to say, “until the world which is below is aroused’³⁸²Thus, Rabbi Abba interprets the verse’s use of the word “forever” as an allusion to the upper words, reading ad olam – (“forever”) as ad d’itar hahu olam – “until that world (Malkhut) is aroused” to destroy the Egyptians. and they are delivered into the hands of its judgment. And since they are given over to it to be judged, it is written, ‘And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the sea shore’ as it is written “min ha-olam v’ad ha-olam” – from the time the lower world is awoken. This is the meaning of, ‘And they believed in God and in Moshe, his servant.’” The children of Israel believed, in the beginning of Moshe mission, as it is written, “and the people believed.”³⁸³Even though the statement “and they believed” refers to the Israelites immediately after the splitting of the sea, that Zohar also applies it retroactively to the belief of the Israelites after meeting Moses and learning of G-d’s intention to redeem them from Egypt (Mtok M’dvash). The faith was fixed in their hearts, and through their faith they connected to God. Their faith aroused God’s salvation in a place beyond all human understanding. This is the meaning of the statement in Parshat Beshalach, at the splitting of the Red Sea, “and they believed in God and in Moshe, His servant.”³⁸⁴This is an ironic rereading of the verses. The straightforward meaning is that the Jewish people believed more in G-d after they passed through the sea. According to R. Gershon Hanokh, it was their faith in G-d that actually caused the sea to split, as faith reaches a level above the laws of nature. This is as it is written in the passage in the Zohar above, that they clearly saw the revelation of the supernal light.³⁸⁵During the splitting of the sea. It was from this place that miracles happened for the Jews and defeat for the Egyptians, to the point where their entire redemption was miraculous. This is because miracles are the revelation of the Supernal light far above any revealed governance.³⁸⁶That is, the way G-d runs the world through the revealed elements of creation. This is as it is written in the Zohar (Beshalach, 54a): “Then Moshe and the children of Israel sang this song to God.” Rabbi Abba opened and said: I looked into all of the praises sung to God and saw that they all started with, “az (then).” “Az – Then Israel sang.” (Bamidbar, 21); “Az – Then Yehoshua spoke” (Yehoshua 10); “Az – Then Shlomo said” (Melachim 1, 8). Why is this? It is taught that with all of the miracles and mighty actions are performed for Israel, when the light of Atika Kadisha³⁸⁷Atika, or Atikia Kaddisha (the “Holy, Ancient One”) is one of the highest levels of reality, in the order of the supernal worlds. It lies at the interface between creation and transcendent Divinity. It is reflected in the consciousness by that which transcends all cognitive perception. When the light of Atika breaks into reality, it breaks the bonds of nature, causing miracles, and illuminates human consciousness with the ability to grasp that which is paradoxical and impossible. illuminated in its crowns, they are carved and inscribed with “Az – Then.” With aleph, and then aleph with zayin, pierces the darkness and illuminates all sides. When the two letters are joined, the illumination of the aleph reaches the zayin, … this is how miracles and mighty actions happen. When we say that miracles happen from a place that is above man’s ability to comprehend, we call this the light of “Atika Kadisha.” When this light illuminates and breaks through the border of man’s understanding and enclothes itself in a lower garment, then the governance of the supernal light is revealed in the world, and we can clearly see miracles.

And now I must give awareness, education, and understanding regarding the matter of the three wells and their names, for the Ancestors looked through their great mind’s eye to the end of all the generations, with the tribulations that would befall them. It is known that during the time that the Temple stood there was an expansion of true awareness, how to draw close to the boundary in order to attach themselves to the aspect of a well of living water, more and more than in a time of exile; and even the Nations of the World would recognize a slight recognition, and would bring sacrifices as is written in the prayer of King Solomon, peace be upon him, And when the foreigner shall come etc. (1 Kings 8:41), and as we find that even just before the Destruction the Caesar sent them a sacrifice, as is known (cf. Gittin 55b-56a). However, even in the time of the Temple the aspect of Good and Evil was still in the world, until on account of Israel’s sins Evil overpowered [Good] and the Temple was destroyed. And therefore the aspect of the well was called Esek. And afterward they dug another well (Gen. 26:21), which is the Second Temple of Ezra’s days, when this awareness again expanded until they knew how to dig to the aspect of “well.” And they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah (Gen. 26:21) on account of the Satan’s accusation, for the power of materiality had overcome the awareness until he moved from there (Gen. 26:22) in the aspect of the passage of time, which is the lengthy exile, and dug another well (Gen. 26:22), which is the coming of our Righteous Messiah, speedily in our days, when there will be no Evil accusation at all as is written, I will remove from the land … the spirit of uncleanness (Zechariah 13:2), for then the world will be entirely Good. So he called its name Rehoboth (Gen. 26:22), for then will be expansion of awareness as the verse says, for the earth shall be full of awareness of the LORD (Isaiah 11:9). And we will merit to attach to the light of Blessed Infinity, to comprehend Blessed [God’s] Nature and to attach to Blessed God with eternal attachment. And that is [the meaning of] what is written after this, From there he went up to Beersheba (Gen. 26:23); for the Shekhinah is called “Beersheba,” we will merit to be on a high level, and understand this. However, every person must strengthen himself even in the times when Evil obstructs him and does not allow him to rise up to the aspect of “well;” nevertheless he should see through his mind’s eye that even in that place is a contraction of Blessed [God’s] Divinity, as we have said in a different place. And he should look at the obstruction and understand from it what is the root of his life-force, from which characteristic it is, whether from the aspect of Mercy [hesed] or Strength [gevurah]. And he should see to bring it to its root, for through this characteristic, which he arouses to bring it close, through it he begins to serve the Blessed Creator, whether in thought or in word or in deed; for these characteristics are Divinity, but they fell from their place in the breaking. And then Good will be made out of them as well. And similarly, if obstructions come to him from the side of judgments – coming to him from his root Above, the characteristic of Strength [gevurah], which is the characteristic of Isaac – he should understand through his awareness that these judgments are from the Upper Holy Place, except that they fell through the descent of the levels to the place of judgments, which is the place of broken cisterns (Jeremiah 2:13). And he should hold to the characteristic of Strength [gevurah], to revere Blessed God and to serve Blessed God immediately through this [characteristic], and to bring them to their roots and sweeten the judgments. For this is the secret: the judgments can only be sweetened at their roots, which is the characteristic of Isaac. For immediately when, through these judgments that came on account of his sins, he strengthens himself and serves with them at the root of their hold until they arrive at their root; for in that place is only absolute Divinity, the judgments are nullified and sweetened.