Musar su Isaia 66:76

And the seventh principle is whole-hearted submission and lowliness. For the one who knows his Creator knows how one who transgresses His words is crooked and lowly - so he is lowered in his worth, like the matter that is stated (Psalms 15:4), "for whom a contemptible man is abhorrent." And it is [also] stated, (Job 15:16), "What then of one loathsome and foul man, who drinks wrongdoing like water"; [and] (Jeremiah 6:30), "They are called rejected silver." Therefore he will be submissive and lowly in his [own] eyes. And when King David, peace be upon him, confessed after Nathan the prophet came to him, he said at the end of his words (Psalms 51:19), "True sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit; God, You will not despise a contrite and crushed heart" - "a contrite spirit" is a lowly spirit. From this we have learned that submission is from the principles of repentance, since this psalm is wholly founded upon the principles of repentance. And with submission, a man is acceptable to God, as it is stated (Isaiah 66:2), "To the poor and brokenhearted." And it is stated about the matter of repentance, (Isaiah 57:14-15), "[The Lord] says, 'Build up, build up a highway, etc.' For thus said He who high aloft forever dwells, whose name is holy, 'I dwell on high, in holiness; yet with the contrite and the lowly in spirit - reviving the spirits of the lowly, reviving the hearts of the contrite." We learn [also from here] that submission is from the principles of repentance. And likewise does the entire remainder of this section speak about penitents: "For I will not always contend, etc. For their sinful greed I was angry, etc. I see their ways, and I will heal them and I will guide them, etc." (Isaiah 57:16-18). Its explanation is, I see that their ways are [grounded] in submission, as it stated, "yet with the contrite and the lowly in spirit"; and with bitter-heartedness, as it stated (Isaiah 57:16), "when spirits in front of Me cover themselves"; "and I will heal them," as I will forgive his iniquity, like [in] (Hosea 14:5), "I will heal their affliction," [and in] (Isaiah 6:10), "and repent and save itself"; "and I will guide them" - I will help him to leave the sin, and give him strength against his impulse.

Let me first quote some words of the saintly author of Shaarey Or on the subject of the Holy Temple. The following is a quotation from the first chapter of his book entitled Shechinah: After the erection of the Tabernacle the שכינה, manifestation of G–d's Presence, was visible at all times over the camp of the Israelites. We derive this from the verse: "They shall make a Temple for Me so that I may dwell in their midst" (25,8). You need to appreciate an important rule. G–d's principal residence was in our world when He first created the universe and man. Although the "upper" regions had been allocated to the creatures of those regions and the "lower" regions to the creatures of the terrestrial universe, because G–d had His principal residence on earth, He thereby provided the unification of heaven and earth, allowed for unimpeded communication and transfer to our world of sources of blessing from the inexhaustible pools of the upper regions. All this is alluded to in the verse: "And the heavens and the earth were completed together with all their hosts" (Genesis 2,1). This means that each part of the "lower" universe was also a part of the "higher" universe and thus contributed to the other's existence. The conduits supplying sources from one region to the other worked perfectly without hindrance. This is what the prophet referred to in Isaiah 66,1: "The heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool." G–d is perceived as halfway between the earth and heaven, or, between terrestrial and celestial beings.

The written Torah concludes with the word ישראל and commences with the word בראשית. We may view the end as firmly connected with the beginning and the beginning as firmly connected with the end. We demonstrate this on שמחת תורה by reading from the beginning of פרשת בראשית as soon as we have concluded the last passage in וזאת הברכה. Our sages have provided an allusion for this when they said: בראשית ברא בראשית, i.e. בשביל התורה וישראל שנקראו ראשית. Israel is the whole purpose of the creation of the universe. It is appropriate therefore that the Torah begin with the word בראשית and end with the word ישראל. The Torah commences with the letter ב, which our sages in the Midrash describe as the letter symbolizing ברכה, blessing. The essence of any blessing is the expansion and the intensification of the prevailing abundance provided by G–d. The purpose of the benediction is to ensure the continuance of these abundant blessings by G–d indefinitely. Torah too is eternal, hence it represents the essence of all blessings. This idea is also alluded to in Psalms 29,11: ה' עוז לעמו יתן ה' יברך את עמו בשלום, "May the Lord grant strength to His people; may He bestow well-being on his people." A question is asked in the Sefer Ha-Bahir as well as in the Ziyoni "Whence do we know that the Torah itself is a blessing?" As an answer the authors cite Moses' blessing in 33,23: "And full of the Lord's blessing the West (sea) and the South, conquer it!" We have a tradition that "West" is a hyperbole for Torah because it is written in Job 11,9: "and broader than the West (sea)." Thus far the Tziyoni.

The fourth path is [that] when a man meditates upon the Torah of God and reads the words of the Prophets and the Writings and understands the pleasantness of the reprimands and sees the warnings and the punishments - he trembles and prepares his heart to improve his ways and his plans and become acceptable to God, as it is stated (Isaiah 66:2), "Yet to such a one I look - to the poor and brokenhearted, who trembles about My word." And likewise is it written about the matter of Yoshiyahu (II Kings 22:11), "And when the king heard the words of the scroll of the Torah, he rent his clothes." And about the matter of Ezra is it stated (Nehemiah 8:9), "for all the people were weeping as they listened to the words of the Torah." And the one that does not pay attention to the words of God will have his transgression become greater for him, like the matter that is stated (Jeremiah 36:24), "yet they showed no fear and did not tear their garments." And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Yerushalmi Berakhot 1:1), "Anyone who studies but does not uphold [what he learned] - it would have been better that his placenta would have flipped itself on his face, and he had not come out to the light of the world." And it is stated (Hosea 8:12), "The many teachings I wrote for him have been treated as something alien." And it is [also] stated (Jeremiah 8:8), "How can you say, 'We are wise, and we possess the Torah of the Lord'; assuredly, for naught has the pen labored, for naught the scribe."

And he who makes his heart as nothing but flesh — his prayer will be heard, as it is written: "All flesh will come to bow before Me, said the Lord" (Is. 66:23) (See Sotah 5a). And it is written: "O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee does all flesh come" (Ps. 65:3).

And Ezekiel, peace be upon him, spoke about the group of those inflicting fear in the land of the living - “who inflicted fear in the land of the living, etc. and their iniquities are upon their bones” (Ezekiel 32:24-27). We learned from this that death does not atone for them. Indeed, their iniquities are upon their bones forever. And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Rosh Hashanah 17a), “The heretics; [...]; and the apikorsim; and those who denied the Torah; and those who denied the resurrection of the dead; and those who separated from the ways of the community; and those who inflicted their fear in the land of the living” - like those community leaders that put too much dread on the public, not for the sake of the Heavens; “and those who sinned and caused the masses to sin - for example, Jeroboam, son of Nebat, and his company - descend to Gehinnom and are judged there for generations and generations, as it is stated (Isaiah 66:24), ‘And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have rebelled against Me; [their worms shall not die, etc.]’”

The prophet Yeshayahu, peace be upon him, said, “For as the new Heaven and the new earth that I will make stand before Me, etc.” (66:22). The Zohar explains in Parashas Bereishis (Introduction 5a) that when a person goes along the path of innocence and righteousness, serving Hashem with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his might, studying Torah with pure motives and revealing true insights according to his intellect, based upon true and clear premises, being extremely careful that there is no doubt or falsehood, Heaven forbid, in his insights. Then the Holy One Blessed is He rejoices greatly both in that man and in his Torah.

Therefore, one should concern himself and weep because of the Torah which is forgotten and should lament for those who revere God, Blessed be He, and have been rejected by men, and should complain bitterly over the little piety that exists and over Israel, the people of the Lord, trodden under foot, and he should raise Jerusalem over his greatest joy and may he merit to behold her joy, as it is written : "Rejoice for joy with her; all ye that mourn for her" (Is. 66:10).

The Jewish servant maid leaves her employ after six years, the advent of the Jubilee year, or at the onset of puberty, whichever occurs first. We read in Deut. 22,23, כי יהיה נער בתולה, "when there will be a virgin girl, etc," and the word for maiden is spelled without the customary letter ה at the end of that word. The Zohar page 131 on פרשת בא (Sullam edition), explains that as long as a girl is a virgin, has not joined a male, she is called נער. Once she has lost her virginity through sleeping with a male, she is called נערה. Before creation G–d had been alone, solitary. Through the creation of the universe, the very universe became His throne, i.e. Isaiah 66,1, "the heaven is My throne, and the earth My footstool." The שכינה is referred to as both נער, and נערה, i.e. it is spelled נער but read as נערה. In chapter two of Pardes Rimonim, called ta-am ha-a-tzilut, this נערה is described as a very exalted concept.

On this fear Moshe Rabeinu, peace be unto him, said: "in order that His fear shall be upon your faces, so that you shall not sin" (Shmot 20:17). For this is the primary fear - that a man fear and tremble always until this fear never leaves Him. For through this, certainly, he will not come to sin, and if he does come to sin, it will be considered as accidental. Isaiah said in his prophecy: "this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word" (Isaiah 66:2). And king David extolled in this: "Princes have pursued me for nothing, but my heart feared [only] Your word" (Tehilim 119:161).

This is what our sages said: "Know what is above you: an eye that sees, an ear that hears, and all your deeds are inscribed in a book" (Avot 2:1). For since the Holy One, blessed be He, watches over every thing, and He sees everything and hears everything, certainly every action will leave an impression. And all of them are inscribed in a book, whether for merit or for debt (punishment).

The seventh principle is submission with all one's heart and with humility. For he who knows his Creator knows how much anyone who transgresses against His words lowers himself, and he will therefore be humble, as it is written, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise" (Ps. 51:19). A "broken spirit" means "a lowly spirit," and humility is one of the principles of repentance; through humility will a man draw near to God, Blessed be He. As it is said, "But on this man will I look, even on him that is poor and of a contrite spirit" (Is. 66:2). The highest step in humility which is obligatory in the path of repentance is that he should magnify and glorify the service of the Creator and should not claim any merit for himself, but everything should be small in his eyes as compared to what he must do in the service of God, Blessed be He. Therefore, he should be humble and should serve with modesty, and he should not covet honor for his good deeds.

When Moses (in his parting address to the Jewish people in פרשת וזאת הברכה) wanted that his blessing should apply to the people of Israel, he "awoke," or activated the six "pillars." The word אשדת in 33,2 is to be read as two words אש דת. The letters in those two words represent the first letters each of the four pillars אמת-שלום-דין תורה. The other two "pillars" חסד-עבודה are mentioned by Moses a little while later in verse 8 where Moses speaks of תמיך ואוריך לאיש חסיד"ך, referring to the tribe of Levi. Moses goes on to say in verse 10: ישימו קטורה באפך. We know that the choicest of all sacrifices i.e. עבודה is the incense, קטורת. At the very end of his blessings (verse 26), Moses speaks of רכב שמים בעזרך, that with Israel's (i.e. Yeshurun, Israel in its most ideal state) help G–d "rides" the heavens. When Isaiah 66,1 has G–d describe the Heaven as His throne, this is a reference to "G–d riding." When Moses says in 33,25 at the end of the blessings: וכימיך דבאך, "Your strength corresponds to Your days," this is an allusion to the six days of Creation. The six pillars are also called days. Torah is called "day," as we know from Exodus 19,1 where Israel's arrival at Sinai- the source of Torah- is described as occurring ביום הזה, "On 'this' day they arrived in the desert of Sinai." Rashi comments that the reason the Torah employs the words ביום הזה, "on this day," instead of the more appropriate ביום ההוא, "on that day," is to urge us to love the words of Torah as dearly to-day as on the day they were first received thousands of years ago. We know that עבודה is called "day" because the Torah (Leviticus 7,38) writes in connection with the service in the Temple: ביום צוותו, from which we derive that the service has to be performed by day. The connection between the pillar גמילות חסדים and "day" is found in Psalms 42,9: יומם יצוה ה' חסדו, "May G–d command His kindness by day." Our sages (Chagigah 12b) say that anyone who is preoccupied with Torah study at night will have a thread of G–d's kindness extended across to him from the day. We know that the pillar דין is related to "day" from Deut. 21,16: והיה ביום הנחילו את בניו, "On the day he will transmit his estate to his sons as an inheritance, etc." Judgments are not handed down at night. The pillar אמת is the integration of two opposing forces. This corresponds to the concept "day" which is the harmonious blending of opposites i.e. evening and morning into a single unit (Genesis 1/5).