Chasidut su Salmi 89:78

It is written in the Zohar (Zohar Chadash, Shir haShirim, 77a): “What kind of wisdom does man need? One kind is the wisdom to know and look into the mystery of his Master. One kind is the wisdom man needs to know himself, to know who he is, how he was created, from where he came and to where he is going, the nature of the rectification of his body, and how in the future he will have to stand in judgment before the Master of all. One kind of wisdom is the ability to know and look into the mysteries of the soul … and after this, the supernal secrets of the upper world, in order to know his Master. Man can see all of these in the secrets of the Torah.” A person needs to know his Creator and his Creator’s attributes. Furthermore, whatever we are permitted to know about Him must be used to serve Him. For any knowledge of Him that does not add to His service is considered “too wondrous” for us to know.²⁵The author is connecting the knowledge of G-d with the worship of Him, and by this, dismissing purely abstract knowledge of the Divinity. There are many sources in the Torah that speak about levels of knowledge and awareness that are above human cognition, and are thus forbidden to delve into. Here, the author defines those levels as those that cannot enrich a person’s religious practice. This is as the Gemara says (Chagiga, 13a), “Do not seek that which is too wondrous for you, and that which is hidden from you do not investigate.”²⁶Following the sages of the Talmud (Hagiga, 13a), Rav Gershon Henokh sees a danger in delving into the outer realms of God’s mysteries. Yehezkel saw, “A form over the heads of the angels, a firmament like the awesome ice.” And the sages warned, “You are permited to speak up until this point. Beyond this point you are not permitted to speak. Thus it is written in the book of Ben Sira, ‘Do not seek that which is too wondrous for you. Do not investigate that which is concealed from you. Contemplate only what you are permitted to contemplate, for you have no business in hidden things.’ “ Rashi explains, “That which is too wondrous for you are matters that are divided and separated from you. God did not want to reveal these matters to you.” However, we are permitted to contemplate matters that lead to the knowledge of God’s existence and attributes. We may meditate upon how He created and arranged the creation to its final ends. How He created good and evil, and gave man the power to choose good and life. For this one needs to contemplate the nature of good and how God desires to bestow benevolence upon His creatures, as it is written (Tehillim, 89:3), “I said, the world shall be established on benevolence.” This is God’s intention for His creation, which we are permitted to contemplate. The intention from the very first moment of creation came forth from His simple will, as primordial as God Himself, with no initiative from the side of the creation at all, for nothing had yet been created that could bring about such an awakening.

The reason for the centrality of lust and generosity is that chesed, the Divine and elevated form of this drive, was the foundation of the world; as scripture states, olam chesed yibbaneh, “The world was built on chesed” (Ps. 89:3). God’s creation was an act of total love, and he placed chesed as the foundation of a Heavenly personality.¹²³See Pachad Yitzchak on Rosh Hashanah for his discussions of chesed, and see the Kuntres Ha-Chesed in Michtav Me-Eliyahu.

It is written in the Midrash Rabbah (Kohelet, Parsha 1), “‘I wounded, and I will heal.’ (Devarim, 32:39) … Rabbi Yohanan said, ‘I struck’ is not written, but rather ‘I wounded.’ I created a wound²⁷⁵The word for wound – mahatsti – is similar to the word mehitsah, “divider.” in that I made a division between the upper and lower realms whereby the upper realms exist forever, and the lower realms are subject to death. Yet in the time to come, there will no longer be death, as it is written (Yeshayahu, 25:8), ‘He will destroy death forever.’ Rabbi Abba said, furthermore, in the time to come I will return and heal the wound. It is precisely through the division that I bring healing.” The matter of division hints at the positive aspect of separation, which necessitates the existence of free choice, as mentioned above. The result of choosing the good, despite the concealment of God’s presence, is the revelation of the God’s glory in the world. This is as the Gemara says (Rosh Hashanah, 31a), “[What psalm did the Levites recite] on the second day of the week? ‘God is great and greatly praised,’ (Tehillim, 145:3) because He divided His works and ruled over them.” The division of God’s attributes led to the birth of the attribute of Malkhut – G-d’s Kingship – by means of human beings using their power of choice. Before the division, God could not be called, “King.”²⁷⁶Before the division of heaven and earth, God ruled alone. R. Gershon Hanokh uses the term moshel - – a ruler – to define G-d’s reign at that stage. This is unlike a king, who rules through the consent of the people. Thus, it was only on the second day, after the division in creation was formed and something “other” than G-d existed, could the creation willfully crown Him as its King. Thus, on the first day of the week [the Levites recited]; “The earth is God’s and the fullness thereof” (Tehillim, 24:1).²⁷⁷The song that the Levites sung each day of the week corresponded to the six primordial days in which G-d created the world. Since, on the first day of creation, there was not yet a division between heaven and earth, nor was there an independent creation to coronate G-d as King, so, the Levites, on Sunday, sang “The earth is God’s and the fullness thereof.” At that point, the creation belonged solely to G-d. It was then that He acquired, gave over acquisition, and ruled in His world. What does it mean that God, “ruled,” on the first day? He ruled against the will of the creation, without having His sovereignty built upon the free choice of the creation. But since concealment is a prerequisite for choice, it also leads to absence, darkness, and the need for healing. This is hinted at in the Zohar (Bo, 35a), with the secret of the great sea creature:²⁷⁸See Bereshit, 1:21 Then, when the light was hidden above from the gardener,²⁷⁹The Zohar is revealing the secrets of the mystery of creation, which begins on the first day, where God “divided between the light and the darkness.” Before this passage, the Zohar introduced the concept of the Tsaddik (Holy Man, also, alluding to the sefirah of Yesod) who is described as a gardener, who tends, cultivates, and facilitates growth. It also represents Divine providence, which “cultivates,” humankind in particular and the creation as a whole. as mentioned, the first darkness emerged, hitting [the sea creature] on the hole that had been made in its head. And a single thread emerged from between the light that had been hidden and the emerging darkness. This is as it is written, “And God divided between the light and the darkness.” This sea creature,²⁸⁰The sea creature is the Leviathan (see Bereshit 1), representing the highest levels of Hokhmah - Wisdom (ChaBaD of Hokhmah), which are the concealed forces in the upper waters. The Midrash teaches us that there were two Leviathans, the largest creatures of the sea, a male and a female. The female was killed after being created, and its meat was salted and preserved for the Righteous in the time to come. with the separation of the thread, was then divided into the rivers that flow within the darkness.²⁸¹The thread of light that that the Zohar tells us is emerging from the darkness provides the power of choice and the ability for man in the lower world to choose the good, thereby revealing God’s glory in the world. God created the lower world purely out of His kindness. This is as it is written (Tehillim, 89:3), “For I have said, the world will be built on kindness.” God divided space into six directions.²⁸²North, south, east, west, up, down. Each direction representing one of the six lower attributes (Sefirot), and from the division of these six attributes comes the power of choice, which brings forth the seventh and final attribute of Malkhut – Kingship.²⁸³Malkhut is the ability to receive God’s light and thereby crown Him as King of the world. This is related to the statement in the Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer, that Kingship only comes about through choice and will. Now, the attributes are divided into Hesed - Lovingkindness, Gevurah - Strength, Tiferet - Beauty, etc.²⁸⁴The revelation of God’s sovereignty is achieved through man actively choosing through which of the six lower attributes that Sovereignty will be revealed. To reveal the aspect of Sovereignty in any one of the attributes, one must draw the light of ChaBaD into that attribute. We have mentioned above that each of the attributes on its own is not intrinsically good. Thus, when any one of the attributes is used without Da’at – Consciousness²⁸⁵Da’at, or Divine consciousness, originates in the intellect, or the upper three sefirot, and is ideally drawn down and infused into the lower revealed sefirot, the attributes of action. The drawing of divine consciousness allows for spiritual growth, much as water and nutrients that flows through the tree allows for the tree to grow. one could make grave blunders, such as showing mercy to cruel people.²⁸⁶This would be a misuse of the trait of Hesed - lovingkindness. See above, Part 2, chapter 2, for a discussion of the misuse or “unclarified” used of the attributes. However, when the six lower attributes²⁸⁷The six lower “revealed” Sefirot are Hesed – Lovingkindness, Gevurah – Strength, Tiferet – Beauty, Netzah –Eternity, Hod – Majesty, and Yesod – Foundation. Each of these corresponds, as well, to elements of the human personality. are illuminated with the light of HaBaD,²⁸⁸HaBaD is the initials of the three upper “intellectual” or “hidden” Sefirot, Hokhmah – Wisdom, Binah – Understanding, and Da’at – Consciousness. HaBaD is the spiritual root of man’s intellectual faculties. and as a result, the sum total of the attributes are used in their proper time and place, then the structure is complete. Then the attribute of Malkhut comes forth as the true completion and perfection of all the attributes, and the light of the Kingship of Heaven shines in its full completeness. Indeed, when a man reaches the point where he is drawing HaBaD into the lower attributes, which is possible only through his concerted efforts in Divine service and striving to know God, it must occur in the same way that Shabbat follows the six days of the week.²⁸⁹The six work days correspond to the six attributes (sefirot), from Hesed to Yesod, with Shabbat corresponding to the Sefirah of Malkhut. Just as free will needs the engagement of all six of these attributes (without which, a person would be emotionally imbalanced, and fall into idolatry, as explained above), which leads to the creation of Malkhut – the willing acceptance of G-d’s kingship – so too, does Shabbat follow the six days of the week. Similarly, with man, this is only possible through efforts at the service of God, crowning God over him as his King, and accepting upon himself the yoke of the Kingship of Heaven. In the world, this idea is hinted at in the place of the Holy Temple, which is a place of lucid Divine service, for it is at that place that God shines His light in its fullness.

Our world is filled with attraction.³⁷³According to the Midrash, even the earth has desires. The ground was called eretz for she desired to fulfill the will of her Maker (Bereishis Rabbah 5:8, Yalkut Shimoni, Parashas Bereishis, lesson 8). The mystics teach that the ground desires to be used for observance of God’s precepts. The cement in front of the yeshivah is whispering, “Please walk on me to go study God’s Torah.” And Jeremiah wrote that the “paths of Zion are in mourning,” for her children no longer visit during the festivals (Rav Wolfson’s lessons about prayer). There are masculine trees and feminine trees, male animals and female animals, and the force of attraction between genders can be overwhelming. The reason why this force is so potent is that attraction is a form of chesed. The foundation of the world is chesed. Consider the verse, olam chesed yibbaneh, “The world will be built on Kindness” (Ps. 89:3). A deep analysis of the Divine creation reveals that God’s purpose in creating us was to perform an act of love, to give pleasure to mortals.³⁷⁴Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan writes:
God had absolutely no need to create the world. God Himself is absolute perfection, and He has no need for anything, even creation. Thus, to the best of our understanding, we can say that God created the universe for the purpose of bestowing good upon man. God Himself calls His creation an act of goodness. It is for this reason that, at the end of the first six days of creation, after making man, the Torah says, “And God saw all that He had made and behold it was very good” (Gen. 1:35). We are being told that the creation of the universe was an expression of His goodness (Innerspace, pg. 9). Since love is God’s purpose for this world, all forms of love, the righteous forms such as generosity to the poor or love for God, and the wicked forms like lust and selfish pleasure-seeking, are potent.

The first stage in the creation of the physical world was a display of Divine chesed. King David expressed this fact with his phrase olam chesed yibbaneh, “The world is built on kindness” (Ps. 89:3). The first place that God created was the Temple mount in Jerusalem. The Temple mount contains a stone, called even shesiyah—the foundation stone—for it was the foundation of the world. Since the world began with kindness, the Temple mount is a place where there are continual downpours of Godly generosity. That is why Moses called it Levanon (Lebanon), from the root lavan, “white.” White is the color of giving and the Temple, and its moun- tain are the places where Divine gifts, accompanied with tender feelings that resemble a mother’s concerns for her newborn, continually appear.⁴⁴⁸In the realm of time the world began on Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the month Tishrei (Tikkunei Zohar pg. 81b). The numerical value of Rosh Hashanah (861) equals the value of the words for Jerusalem’s Temple, Beis Ha-Mikdash (Emunas Etecha, Parashas Ki Savo pg. 2, s.v. u-matzasi, quoting the Imrei Noam). Rav Yitzchak Hutner in his work Pachad Yitzchak (Rosh Hashanah, Kuntres Ha-Chesed) posits that the very nature of Rosh Hashanah demands that observant Jews perform acts of kindness. Since Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the world, and the beginning was an appearance of Godly kindness, man must emulate his maker and at the time of beginning give gifts to all.
One might ask on this lesson of Rav Hutner and on what was written in the text the following question: As first beginnings one would think that Rosh Hashanah and the Temple should be manifestations of keser? The text described their essence as chesed? In a private conversation, the Stitchiner Rebbe told me that, in truth, both keser and chesed are displays of kindness. Keser is the love and kindness that transcends reason while chesed is acts of kindness that emerge from intuition, understanding, and internalization. If I feel that it makes sense to help someone and then I help him, it is chesed, while instinctual, trans-logical giving is keser. Thus, Rosh Hashanah as the day of keser demands a display of kindness that is above logic and justification and the Temple Mount as the place of keser is the place where there are constant flows of spiritual gifts, emerging from a Love that transcends logic, understanding, or explanation.

222 And it said: "in front/on the face of the Menorah, the seven lights will illuminate" (Numbers 8:2). Meaning - the the leader of the generation that intends to raise the people is called "the face of the Menorah", just as they are "the face of the generation." And when a person looks at the illuminated face of their friend, through their unity and their integration with one another, the leader of the generation with the generation of their people, and the people of the generation with the leader of the generation, then through the clinging of one to another they raise, as it is written in the verse "and there Israel encamped" and then "Moshe went up to E-lohim" see there in my writings. And this, that is written here, under a condition "in front/on the face of the Menorah, the seven lights will illuminate" - "because the world is built through lovingkindness [chesed]" (Ps. 89:3), and this is called the seven days of building , and through that we know there are seven levels in Israel, and through their integration in front of the Menorah [which also teaches this to be in front of the Upper Menorah, as known] the lights will illuminate, to continue the essence also through soul and spirit, and the Tabernacle of the essence is also in the head of a person, that has seven shafts of the menorah, which are the secret of the seven gates mentioned in the Sefer HaYetzirah (Sefer Yetzirah 4:4).