Chasidut su Levitico 16:17

There is a hint as to the secret of the Shem haMefurash (the Explicit Name)²⁵⁷God’s ineffable name, the Tetragrammaton, was audibly pronounced in the Temple only on specific occasions, such as Yom Kippur. as mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud (Yoma, Chapter 3, Halakha 7), “The High Priest would pronounce the name ten times during the course of the day of Atonement. Those who were close would fall on their faces, and those who were far would say, ‘Baruch Shem Kavod Malkhuto Leolam Va’ed,’ – ‘Blessed is the name of His glorious Sovereignty forever and ever.’ Both the High Priest and the people would not move from their places until it was hidden from them.” At the moment when the people heard the Shem haMefurash, they possessed a knowledge and understanding that is beyond time, space, and the laws of nature, as explained in the previous chapter. Then, when the name was hidden from them, this level of consciousness was also hidden from them, and they returned to the normal level of human understanding, based upon the laws of nature. However, a residue of the experience remained, as they remembered how they once understood. This is akin to the way the Torah says, after the experience of receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai, “now everyone shall go back to their tents.”²⁵⁸Meaning, after the prophetic experience of receiving the Torah at Sinai, where the people, “saw the voices” (Shemot 20:15) and surpassed the limits of human perception and consciousness, they had to “return to their tents”; that is, return back to normal human perception. Similarly, when the High Priest on the Day of Atonement would enter into the Holy of Holies, in a state of sanctity and purity, and with preparation of the heart, he would clearly understand how the Holy Ark did not take up any space. He would perceive this through human eyes. Since his very body reached such a level of purity, he could clearly see and understand that there is no logical contradiction in that the Holy Ark existed and yet did not take up any physical space. The Midrash and the Yalkut both interpret the verse (Vayikra, 16:17), “And no man shall be in the Tent of Appointed Meeting when he shall go in to the holy place to make atonement,” as meaning that a man did not go into the Holy of Holies, but rather an angel of the Lord of Hosts.²⁵⁹The Midrash inteprets the words of the verse, “no man shall be in the Tent of Appointed Meeting,” as including to the High Priest himself; yet it was he alone who was commanded to enter the sanctuary! The implication is that when the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies, he was no longer a man, no longer a human being. The revelation of Divinity was so powerful that he was transformed into an angelic being. But this was precisly what allowed him to perceive the paradoxical nature of the ark of the covenant, which existed, yet took up no space. It was said of Pinchas, the grandson of Aharon HaKohen, that when the Holy Spirit would rest upon him, his face appeared to be burning in flames. It is recorded in the Zohar Hadash (Midrash Ne’elam, page 18), “When the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies… It is taught, Rabbi Abba said in the name of Rabbi in the name of Rav, the innermost chamber (the Holy of Holies) is just like the Garden of Eden, and when the Cohen would enter, he would enter with his soul and not with his body.” This explains the passage in the Zohar (Parshat Pinhas, 117b-118a), which says that when God was called by his various names and attributes before the world was created, He was called with a view to the future and for the sake of the creation that was yet to be created. For with the creation of the world, the will of created beings would be limited, as explained above.