Musar su Isaia 65:71

But a man with the quality of modesty and humility attains all good for it is said: "But unto the humble He giveth grace" (Prov. 3:34). And, inasmuch as he has grace in the eyes of the Holy One, Blessed is He, when he cries out, he is answered at once, as it is said: "Before they call, I will answer" (Is. 65:24). And when a humble man performs the precepts they are received with pleasure and joy, and it is said: "For God hath already accepted thy works" (Eccl. 9:7), and not only this, for God longs for them, as it is said: "Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant with the Lord" (Mal. 3:4).

But a person who feels humility before the Creator, Blessed be He, only when he becomes ill in body or in any limb, or when his children or friends die, or when he loses his wealth or high position, or when he grows old, this may belong to the realm of modesty and humility, and is accepted by God, Blessed be He, but does not reach the essence of modesty.

Know that the world to come is the place of the souls of the righteous, and their nearness to the Creator is according to their virtue. But the soul of the wicked does not go forth from this world until it has been punished and cleansed; then it can easily ascend to its place, when God wills it. As for the souls that ascend to the world to come, their work is the work of the angels, at the time that they separate from the body until the Creator wishes to restore them to their bodies as at first. That will be at the time of the resurrection of the dead, when He decrees that some of them may return to their bodies. Then this world will be renewed because of its people being renewed, and on this theme the prophet said (Isaiah 65:17), “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.” And it is possible that after the Creator renews the bodies after they have separated and decayed, and the souls after they have ascended, there will likewise be renewed in the heavens a power which the heavens do not now possess. So will He renew in the earth another power. Just as a king does when he wishes to make a great feast for those who love him. He commands that the house be made empty for them and that everything that is in the house be removed in order to renew it, to plaster it, and to place therein delightful objects in honor of his allies who are coming to his feast. This world which He will renew at the time of the resurrection is also called the world to come. There will stand the pious ones and holy ones of God, each because of his desire to stand and to serve Him and to praise His Name and to learn new and holy wisdoms, like the wisdoms of the prophecies and things similar to it. They will neither eat nor drink, just as Enoch and Elijah stood before Him without food or drink, and like Moses, our Teacher, of blessed memory, who stood before Him for forty days without eating or drinking. For food and drink are a bad mixture in the body, and it is impossible that a man should be in the utmost degree of piety and holiness when he is still eating and drinking. For it is not a matter of eating and drinking alone, but that men are drawn by them to other and evil pleasures and sweet delights, enjoyments, and flatteries. But when eating and drinkings are removed, then all these wicked deeds are also removed, and therefore Scripture says (Ezekiel 36:27), “And I will put My spirit within you.”

At these five times, which we have previously mentioned, when a man seeks God—in those times his Creator will be found by him. Even before he calls upon Him, the Lord will answer him, as it is said (Isaiah 65:24), “And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer,” and therefore it devolves upon the rational person to be warned about these times before they are lost out of his control and no repentance will avail him. It is important for the intelligent person to know and to see how many occasions of repentance he has lost, and let him hasten in those times of repentance that are still left to seek in them the will of his God before they are lost, as the other occasions of repentance were lost. May the Lord help us to do what is good in his sight, and may He be found by us when we call unto Him.

How excellent is the quality of repentance. Last night this one was separated from the Lord, the God of Israel, Blessed be He. As it is said, "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God" (Is. 59:2). He cried and he was not answered, as it is said, "Yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear" (Is. 1:15). And he fulfilled precepts and they were torn up before his face, as it is said, "Who hath required this at your hand, to trample my courts" (Is. 1:12), and, "Oh that there were even one among you that would shut the doors" Mal. 1:10), and, "Hold your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices and eat ye flesh" (Jer. 7:21). Yet today he is closely attached to the Divine Presence, as it is said, "But you, who hold fast to the Lord your God" (Deut. 4:4). He cries out and is answered at once, as it is said, "And it shall come to pass that, before they call, I will answer" (Is. 65:24). He fulfills the commandments and they are received with pleasure and with joy, as it is said, "For the Lord hath already accepted thy works" (Eccl. 9:7). Moreover, his commandments are desired, as it is said, "Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in days of old and in ancient years" (Mal. 3:4).

Suffice it to say that this is what the Midrash Tanchuma had in mind when it said that the function of the Candlestick is to light up for us the period of darkness preceding the ultimate redemption. "When that time arrives it will be those who have darkened our lives who will experience darkness whereas Israel will experience an abundance of light and the universe will undergo a complete rejuvenation. This eventual rejuvenation of the universe was already hinted at in the first words of the Torah's report about מעשה בראשית, the work of Creation, where the Torah speaks about , תהו, ובהו, חושך, על פני תהום, and our sages see in this an allusion to the four exiles the Jewish people would experience before there would be an ideal type of universe (Bereshit Rabbah 2,4). The Table also alludes to the future as indicated in Isaiah 65,13: "Here My servants will eat whereas you will starve; My servants will drink and you will thirst."

Considering the above, we see that both statements in the Talmud are quite true. The level of those people who have access to the תורה הקדומה is superior to the level of the Torah that has been revealed, since they are the people whom G–d had in mind way before He created the universe. Kohelet 1,4 alludes to this when he says והארץ לעולם עומדת. The Midrash on that verse says that Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai quoted Isaiah 65,22: כי כימי העץ ימי עמי, "For the days of My people shall be as long as the days of the tree." We know that "the tree " refers to Torah from עץ חיים היא למחזיקים בו, "For she is a tree of life to all who grasp her" (Proverbs 3,18) [The subject matter in that chapter is wisdom=Torah Ed.]. Who was created for whose sake? Was the Torah created for the sake of Israel, or was Israel created for the sake of the Torah? Torah was created for the sake of Israel. If Torah, which was created for Israel's sake endures forever, how much more so must Israel live forever?" We find a similar statement in Bereshit Rabbah 1,4 where Rabbi Abba bar Kahane is quoted as saying that Torah preceded the throne of G–d. He supports this statement with the scriptural quotation ה' קנני ראשית דרכו, "G–d has acquired me at the beginning of His way" (Proverbs 8,22). Also, Rabbis Hunna and Yirmiyahu say in the name of Rabbi Shmueli bar Yitzchak that Israel was the original concept that G–d entertained in His mind. They explain this by a parable: A king was married to an aristocratic lady who bore him no children. When the king once strolled in the market-place, he instructed his servants to purchase reeds and ink for his son. People who saw this were heard to comment that this was strange seeing the king did not have a son. Upon reflection they concluded that the king must be a great astrologer seeing that the purchase reflected his certainty that he would have a son from his present wife otherwise he would not have given such instructions. The same is true of G–d. He was aware that after twenty-six generations Israel would accept the Torah at Mount Sinai, otherwise how could G–d have written in the Torah such lines as: "Speak to the Israelites," "command the Israelites, etc?" This concludes our second premise that Torah is the soul of Israel.