Chasidut su Salmi 81:78
Kedushat Levi
In that book this matter is illustrated by means of a parable. When a very wise man asks someone a question about something that is beyond his field of expertise, and he ignores the advice given by proceeding to follow his own intuition, and it turns out that he was wrong, this “wise man,” will no doubt feel deeply ashamed for not having followed the sage counsel he had received.
At the time when G’d was occupied with creating the universe and all that it contains, He had consulted with the angels about the advisability of creating the human species, i.e. a species who was granted free will in determining if to obey the Creator’s directives. (Compare Bereshit Rabbah 8,5). At that time, G’d following His preponderant attribute of mercy, had decided to ignore the advice given to Him by the angels who had foreseen all of the imperfections of the human species and the “heartache” this would cause the Creator so that they had advised against this species being created. Now that unfortunately the advice of the angels had proven far sighted, the Creator felt עלוב. [King Achav, though a nationalist, and repeatedly willing to give up his own life in order to protect his people, had nonetheless committed a foul judicial murder by framing the owner of an ancestral vineyard as being guilty of a crime that Navot, the owner of that vineyard had not committed. His only “crime” had been his refusal to sell to the King. The verse cited from Kings I 22,19 is the prelude to G’d sitting in judgment of Achav for his crime. Ed.]
Incidentally, the parable from the sefer Rezie’l also accounts for an anomaly in psalms 81,5 כי חק לישראל הוא ומשפט לאלוקי יעקב, “for it is a statute (immutable) for Israel and a ruling (depending on circumstances) by the G’d of Yaakov” (compare Rosh Hashanah 8) in that verse. The psalmist could have been expected to write: כי משפט לאלוקי יעקב הוא וחק לישראל. The Talmud there explains the wording in that verse as meaning that the first day of Tishrey serves as a date on which all mankind is judged in heaven provided that Israel will be the first nation to be so judged. For the Israelites who are basically observing G’d’s laws and are therefore a holy nation, the meaning of the word חוק is that their livelihood for the following year is determined on that day as the sages taught in Beytzah 16 (Compare Proverbs 30, 8 הטריפני לחם חוקי, “feed me with the bread allotted to me.” Or: Leviticus 10,13 חוקך וחוק בניך היא מאשי ה', “it is your portion from the Lord’s fire-offerings and that of your children.”) [The verse just quoted, addressing the priests, begins with the words: ואכלתם אותה במקום קדוש, “you are to consume it in a sacred location.”] This leaves open the possibility that in our verse in psalms the word might mean “statute,” or something similar. How do we know that in psalms too it means the same as in the verses we quote from Leviticus and Proverbs, i.e. that it refers to parnassah, livelihood? The unusual sequence of חוק לישראל משפט לאלוקי יעקב provides us with the answer to this question.
The subject concerning which Israel is to be judged on New Year’s day is their livelihood. The psalmist rejoices in the fact that these decisions are not made by Israel’s detractors but are the exclusive domain of אלוקי יעקב. According to the Zohar, as soon as our enemies understand this, they cease to demonize us.
The appropriate translation of the verse in psalms 81,5 therefore is: “if our enemies, (be they celestial beings who opposed the creation of mankind altogether, or just our perennial opponents the forces of Amalek (in whatever guise they appear) want to sit in judgment of Israel, משפט לישראל, they are advised by the psalmist Assaph that our חוק, livelihood, is decided by the G’d of Yaakov, לאלוקי יעקב, no one else. As a result of this, our detractors are seized with חיל ורעדה יאחזון they (our adversaries) are seized with fright and trembling for (Deut. 29,19) G’d’s anger would be aroused against them etc.; this is also what Job spoke about in Job 15,15 when he stated that even His heavenly entourage did not find favour in His eyes.
At the time when G’d was occupied with creating the universe and all that it contains, He had consulted with the angels about the advisability of creating the human species, i.e. a species who was granted free will in determining if to obey the Creator’s directives. (Compare Bereshit Rabbah 8,5). At that time, G’d following His preponderant attribute of mercy, had decided to ignore the advice given to Him by the angels who had foreseen all of the imperfections of the human species and the “heartache” this would cause the Creator so that they had advised against this species being created. Now that unfortunately the advice of the angels had proven far sighted, the Creator felt עלוב. [King Achav, though a nationalist, and repeatedly willing to give up his own life in order to protect his people, had nonetheless committed a foul judicial murder by framing the owner of an ancestral vineyard as being guilty of a crime that Navot, the owner of that vineyard had not committed. His only “crime” had been his refusal to sell to the King. The verse cited from Kings I 22,19 is the prelude to G’d sitting in judgment of Achav for his crime. Ed.]
Incidentally, the parable from the sefer Rezie’l also accounts for an anomaly in psalms 81,5 כי חק לישראל הוא ומשפט לאלוקי יעקב, “for it is a statute (immutable) for Israel and a ruling (depending on circumstances) by the G’d of Yaakov” (compare Rosh Hashanah 8) in that verse. The psalmist could have been expected to write: כי משפט לאלוקי יעקב הוא וחק לישראל. The Talmud there explains the wording in that verse as meaning that the first day of Tishrey serves as a date on which all mankind is judged in heaven provided that Israel will be the first nation to be so judged. For the Israelites who are basically observing G’d’s laws and are therefore a holy nation, the meaning of the word חוק is that their livelihood for the following year is determined on that day as the sages taught in Beytzah 16 (Compare Proverbs 30, 8 הטריפני לחם חוקי, “feed me with the bread allotted to me.” Or: Leviticus 10,13 חוקך וחוק בניך היא מאשי ה', “it is your portion from the Lord’s fire-offerings and that of your children.”) [The verse just quoted, addressing the priests, begins with the words: ואכלתם אותה במקום קדוש, “you are to consume it in a sacred location.”] This leaves open the possibility that in our verse in psalms the word might mean “statute,” or something similar. How do we know that in psalms too it means the same as in the verses we quote from Leviticus and Proverbs, i.e. that it refers to parnassah, livelihood? The unusual sequence of חוק לישראל משפט לאלוקי יעקב provides us with the answer to this question.
The subject concerning which Israel is to be judged on New Year’s day is their livelihood. The psalmist rejoices in the fact that these decisions are not made by Israel’s detractors but are the exclusive domain of אלוקי יעקב. According to the Zohar, as soon as our enemies understand this, they cease to demonize us.
The appropriate translation of the verse in psalms 81,5 therefore is: “if our enemies, (be they celestial beings who opposed the creation of mankind altogether, or just our perennial opponents the forces of Amalek (in whatever guise they appear) want to sit in judgment of Israel, משפט לישראל, they are advised by the psalmist Assaph that our חוק, livelihood, is decided by the G’d of Yaakov, לאלוקי יעקב, no one else. As a result of this, our detractors are seized with חיל ורעדה יאחזון they (our adversaries) are seized with fright and trembling for (Deut. 29,19) G’d’s anger would be aroused against them etc.; this is also what Job spoke about in Job 15,15 when he stated that even His heavenly entourage did not find favour in His eyes.
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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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Sha'ar HaEmunah VeYesod HaChasidut
The Zohar (Emor, 100b) teaches us that the completion of the Divine service on Rosh Hashanah comes fifteen days later with the festival of Succot. On Rosh Hashanah, which falls on the new moon, the light of the moon is covered. Ten days later, on Yom Kippur, the moon is not yet full. This means that on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur the moon is still close to the sun, receiving her light at points closer to the source. This is as it is said (Ibid.): Rabbi Abba sent a question to Rabbi Shimon asking, “When is the union of Knesset Yisrael (the Shekhina) with the Holy King?” He sent back to him, “(As Avraham said of Sarah:) Indeed she is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. And she became my wife.” (Bereshit, 20:12) This is explained: “On the covering of the day of our festival.”452This refers to Rosh Hashanah, when the new moon is still hidden (i.e. “covered.”) (Tehillim, 81:4) On this day the moon is covered… And it illuminates everything with the light of repentance… Come and See! On this day the moon is covered, and does not shine until the tenth of the month, on Yom Kippurim… Why is the name of the day of Atonement voiced in the plural (Kippurim – Atonements)? It is because on this day, two lights shine as one. The upper luminary shines to the lower luminary. And on this day the upper luminary shines, and not from the light of the sun. God established the service for Israel according to the seasons, each time according to its system. Therefore, by Yom Kippur the Divine service has not yet been completed, to unite God’s will with the service of Israel. Since on the tenth of the month the moon is not yet full, therefore the Divine service cannot yet be totally complete. For this reason, the Divine service performed by Israel on Yom Kippur is through restraint and afflictions.453The five afflictions one must perform on Yom Kippur: not eating, not drinking, not washing, not anointing, and not engaging in marital relations. This is evinced in how the moon does not yet fully receive the light of the sun, since it still too close to the source. On Succot, however, when the moon is full, the Divine service is fulfilled through active service, through the joy of the festival and all of its delights.454On Succot there are active commandments such as sitting in the succah, waving the four species, and rejoicing in the feasts of the festival. In the days of the Temple there was also the joyous ritual of water libations. Then the Divine service is truly complete. This is as it is written in the Midrash (Kohellet, 4), “Man’s desire is to work and receive the fruits of his labors.” When man receives, he wants to have earned his reward by his own efforts. In this way he doesn’t suffer the shame of receiving an undeserved gift.455In other words, on Succot, the moon is the furthest from the sun. Yet precisely for that reason, it shines the brightest. In our terms, it is precisely when a person is furthest from G-d that he has the ability to serve him. And as a result of that service, comes the joy of receiving a hard-earned reward – the opposite of the shame a person feels when he receives a gift that he does not deserve.
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