Chasidut su Isaia 6:3

I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El-Shaddai etc. (Ex. 6:3). Rashi explained, “Alas for those who are lost and not to be found!” etc. The meaning, as is known, is that the secret of Egyptian Exile is that the True Awareness was in Exile; they could not grasp the Awareness to serve the Blessed Creator, along the lines of what is stated, Know the God of your Ancestor and serve Him (1 Chron 28:9). For in truth, Awareness is the essence that brings one to complete Reverence and Love. For once a person knows and believes that the whole earth is full of [God’s] Glory (Isaiah 6:3) and no place is void of Him, and [God] is the pleasure of all pleasures, Blessed is He and Blessed His Name, Life of Lives – if so, for any of the pleasures if you imagine, God forbid, the absence of the influence of [God’s] Blessed Light and Life-Force among the created things, Creation would return to unformed and void (Gen. 1:2). And similarly for all the Upper and Lower Worlds, if you imagine, God forbid, the absence of [God’s] Life-Force, they would be as if they never were. And if that is the case, then [Awareness of God’s presence] is the essence in all things...

So a person must, even in falling from his level, make an effort to rise up to God in the level at which he now stands; for one must believe that all the earth is full of God’s glory (Isaiah 6:3) and no place is void of Him, and even on the level at which he now stands, Blessed God is also there because no place is void of Him, only He is very contracted. And this is [the meaning of the verse] From the rising of the sun until it goes down [the LORD’s name is to be praised] (Psalm 113:3), for the tzaddik is called “the sun” as in the teaching, “Before Eli’s sun set, the sun of Samuel the Ramatite had risen etc.” (Yoma 38b), thus a tzaddik is called the sun. And this is [the meaning of] From the rising of the sun, which is when one’s mind is clear and pure and attached to Blessed God, until it goes down, which is when the clarity departs and he falls from his level. But one must always live by the LORD’s name is to be praised, and make an effort to rise up to Blessed God in the level at which he now stands.

Now we must understand the language of the verse, do not pass by etc. For it is impossible to say this about the Blessed Shekhinah since all the earth is full of God’s glory (Isaiah 6:3) and no place is void of Him; and how could he say, do not pass by etc., which implies that place (as if it were possible) is not a place of God’s glory, which is impossible. And, according to this, we must also understand the interpretation of Rav Yehudah, quoting Rav, who said, “Welcoming guests is more important” etc. – how can he prove from this verse that welcoming guests is more important? Perhaps [Abraham acted this way] because in fulfilling the mitzvah of welcoming guests he will also receive the Face of the Shekhinah. As is known, that is why they are called mitzvot – mitzvah on account of the Attachment with which the person attaches the Godly part that dwells within him to the collective Blessed Endless, from the terminology of Fellowship [tzavvta]. And if so, then it is possible that the mitzvah itself is not more important than receiving the Face of the Shekhinah, but only in [Abraham’s] case there was also receiving the Face of the Shekhinah and he could fulfill both of them. And regarding the interpretation of Rabbi Elazar as well, who said, “the character of the Holy Blessed One is not like … the lesser can not say to the greater, ‘Wait…’ but regarding Abraham” etc., it is difficult as we have explained – in [Abraham’s] case, was there not also receiving the Face of the Shekhinah [as well as welcoming guests]? And specifically, since tzaddikim are called Faces of the Shekhinah because the Blessed Shekhinah dwells within them as is known from the Book of the Zohar, when he received the guests, i.e., angels who appeared like people, he was certainly receiving the Face of the Shekhinah.

And this is also the meaning of the statement of Rabbi Elazar: “the character of the Holy Blessed One is not like the character of flesh and blood – the character of flesh and blood, the lesser can not say to the greater, ‘Wait,’” because in a place where he walks away his honor is no longer there; if he is here, he can’t be there. But regarding the Holy Blessed One it is written, all the earth is full of God’s glory (Isaiah 6:3) and therefore [Abraham] requested, do not pass by etc. because Blessed God’s Glory is there also, and there too may I not be divided from my Attachment to You. And [Abraham] could say this because he does not walk away from God no matter where he walks; his only request was not to be divided from Blessed God, because Blessed God is there, too, as He is here, and understand this.

From the depths of my heart I pray to God: Please, merciful Father, who has mercy on his lowly children that they not be banished, and on his righteous children-prophets and servants—that they not be pushed aside. Have mercy also on me and draw me close to sanctify and serve You. Enlighten my eyes so that they see my innards and soul’s secrets, that I may see each path unbeknownst to the eagle’s eye, each vein revealed to me, and I will return it and myself to You. And via my gaze so too may others gaze at themselves, and in my return may they return. May I be built from them, and in their merit may I merit as well. In Your holiness may we all be sanctified, and may the glory of Your kingdom be revealed upon us all, those dwelling on high and below; ‘and all the people of the earth shall see that the Lord’s name is proclaimed’⁵⁹⁵Ibid. 28:10. upon us; and may they say, God, Lord of Israel, is King⁵⁹⁶From the Rosh Hashanah liturgy., and ‘His presence fills the entire earth!”⁵⁹⁷Isaiah 6:3.

The Zohar asks a good question. How can one run away from the omniscient, omnipresent God? And even more so, how can a prophet of this God say that he is running away from His presence? Yonah only sought the welfare of all of Israel. He thought that it was in the best interests of Israel that he not experience prophecy. This is as it is written in the Mekhilta (beginning of Parshat Bo), “Yonah sought the honor of the son and did not seek the honor of the Father.“ For this reason, Yonah deliberately brought his mind to a state of chaos, in such a way that he would not receive prophecy. Both the Mekhilta and the Midrash Tanhuma (end of Parshat Vayikra) have Yonah saying, “I am fleeing from before Him to a place where His Glory is not. But where shall I go? If I ascend to Heaven, ‘His Glory is upon the Heavens.’ (Tehillim, 112) If I wander the whole earth, ‘the whole earth is filled with His Glory’ (Yeshayahu, 6). Therefore, I must run to the sea where there is no mention of His Glory.” Why does it say that the sea is not a place that reveals God’s Glory? Because the sea is a place where man’s mind is ill at ease. It is written in the Talmud (Tamid, 32a), “When one goes out to sea, his mind is ill at ease until he returns to dry land.” For a person to experience prophecy, he must possess wisdom, and his mind must be settled and secure. Therefore, Yonah deliberately brought his mind into a state of turmoil, in order to prevent his prophetic faculty. This is what the Zohar means by saying, “milifnei - from before,” and not, “lifnei - before.” That is to say, it is not within man’s power to hide himself from God. The best he can do is disturb his own perception. Such mental turmoil only takes effect within the borders of his own scope of understanding. This is the meaning of, “‘milifnei - from before’ means two distinct levels of prophets.” This is also as the Tikkunei Zohar (Tikkun 21, page 49a) says, “Prophets come from Binah - Understanding, and they are Netzah – Eternity, and Hod – Majesty.”

But after Abraham’s death, these springs of wisdom were stopped up, because they were stopped by the Philistines (Gen. 26:18) who are the aspect of evil which is set in a person, who had overpowered the world; and the element of Earth had overpowered [the others] and in proportion the spiritual and intellectual powers weakened. But when Isaac, his son, came and held to his father’s path, he taught this awareness to the people of his generation as well – to return and dig to the aspect of a well of living water through many types of intelligences and great and concealed counsels – until Isaac dug again the wells of water (Gen. 26:18). All this comes by way of faith, which is the precursor to this: that one believes with complete faith that Blessed God, the whole earth is filled with [God’s] Glory (Isaiah 6:3) and no place is void of [God], there is no other besides [God] (Deut. 4:35). And then, by way of this faith, he yearns for [God] and desires to hold to and attach himself to Blessed God, who has the aspect of valley [nahal] (Gen. 26:19), which is an acronym for Our soul waits for the LORD [nafsheynu hiktah la-ADONAI] (Psalm 33:20), which [means] by way of faith. And then, through this, he comes to his root, which is the spring of the well of living waters that we have described. And that is [the meaning of] when Isaac's servants dug in the valley (Gen. 26:19) – the aspect of valley as we have stated – and found there a well of living water (Gen. 26:19), etc., The herdsmen of Gerar quarreled … so he called the name of the well Esek etc. (Gen. 26:20), Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah (Gen. 26:21), And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now [the LORD has made room for us]” etc. (Gen. 26:22).

Go yourself (Gen. 12:1): Rashi explained, “For your pleasure and your benefit.” Now, our Sages of Blessed Memory said, regarding the verse, Do you indeed, who are mute, speak righteousness? (Psalm 58:2): “How should a person act in this world? Let him make himself as a mute. Could this even apply to words of Torah? The verse teaches, speak righteousness” (Hullin 89a). For it is known that it is written, Lord, open my lips (Psalm 51:17), because the Blessed Creator, the whole earth is full of [God’s] glory (Isaiah 6:3), no place is void of [God]; but [God’s] glory connotes cloaking as is known, that Blessed [God] is cloaked in each thing. And this aspect is called Shekhinah because it dwells [shokhein] in each thing; and that is the Blessed Name Lord. And it is also called the world of speech since By the word of YHVH the heavens were made (Psalm 33:6) and “the Holy Blessed One created the world through Torah” (Zohar 1:5a), meaning through the twenty-two letters of the Torah – the world of speech – all the creations were created. And it is stated in Sefer Yetzirah, “They were set in the human mouth” (Sefer Yetzirah [Luria ver.] 2.3), and that is the meaning of Lord, open my lips. And therefore our Sages of Blessed Memory said that “Evil speech is equivalent to idolatry” etc. (Arakhin 15b), for a person who speaks evil speech does not believe that his words are the world of speech, the charateristic of Lordship. And that is [the meaning of the verse], With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us? (Psalm 12:5), as we have explained elsewhere. And that is [the meaning of the Talmud’s statement], “Make himself as a mute,” meaning his essence. That is, he should not speak any speech unless he believes that of his own account he is mute, and his only speech is the world of speech, the characteristic of “Lord” as we have explained. And they ask: “Could this even apply to words of Torah,” that a person should not learn unless he believes as we have explained? “The verse teaches, speak righteousness,” it is a mitzvah to learn even if it is not for its own sake. And that is [the meaning of] what our Sages of Blessed Memory said, “Someone who converses meaningless conversation transgresses a positive commandment, as it says, you shall speak of them (Deut. 6:7) and not of meaningless things” (Yoma 19b). And it would seem, how could it be possible that a person should speak no speech other than words of Torah as is implied by the language of you shall speak of them etc.? But the explanation is this: you shall speak of them means to say that whatever you speak, you should believe that you speak with the Torah, whose speech is the world of speech, the twenty-two letters of the Torah as we have explained. And when you speak through world-guiding, do not worry, for the Holy Blessed One created the world through Torah and guides the world through Torah; all the world are led by the twenty-two letters of Torah, the world of speech, but only if you believe this as we have explained. But if you speak not for the sake of world-guiding, that is called “meaningless things.”

I heard from the Rebbe that the time for giving charity for the Land of Israel is in the month of Adar. The Rebbe said that the main reason people fall is because of pride. In actual fact, there is no such thing as a fall, because God is present in every place, for “the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3). But when a person has pride, God then says, “I and he cannot both dwell in the world” (Erachin 15b). This shows that all falls come about because of pride. (Hilchos Shechitah, Halacha 3, Likutei Halachos)