Bibbia Ebraica
Bibbia Ebraica

Musar su Numeri 11:5

זָכַ֙רְנוּ֙ אֶת־הַדָּגָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־נֹאכַ֥ל בְּמִצְרַ֖יִם חִנָּ֑ם אֵ֣ת הַקִּשֻּׁאִ֗ים וְאֵת֙ הָֽאֲבַטִּחִ֔ים וְאֶת־הֶחָצִ֥יר וְאֶת־הַבְּצָלִ֖ים וְאֶת־הַשּׁוּמִֽים׃

Ricordiamo il pesce, che non dovevamo mangiare in Egitto per nulla; i cetrioli, i meloni, i porri, le cipolle e l'aglio;

Shenei Luchot HaBerit

I have used this approach to explain why the Manna did not have the taste of cucumbers and melons, etc. as in Numbers 11,5. The Talmud in Yuma 75, and the Sifri on that verse explain that these fruits were harmful to nursing mothers. Since the Rabbis are on record stating that the Manna was capable of assuming any taste a person wanted, we must ask whether nursing mothers are not included in the definition of כל אדם, i.e. anybody? The real reason then is that in its primordial state the Manna was capable of assuming any taste. This potential was activated by the thoughts of the person about to consume it. Because of the fact that at least a minute amount of the other possible tastes would have been present at all times, and this could have had harmful effects on nursing mothers, G–d already had to exclude the taste of cucumbers, etc. from the primordial potential, i.e. כח היולי, of the Manna. Since we have stated that the total potential reposing in each of the seven days of Creation was used on subsequent days to further the creative activity on such day, we have 7 times 7=49 such potentials. By adding the primordial potential of all these individual potentials we get 50. When you consider the individual potentials of the various acts of Creation and combine them with more generalised potentials you will get a total of fifty. Rashi on Genesis 1,14, already tells us that on the first day of Creation, everything was created in כח, in its potential, though it was not actualised, i.e. did not become functional until the day the Torah reports about it in detail. Similarly, the last day of Creation, i.e. the Sabbath, combined all the potential creative forces within it. This is why the Sabbath is also called "week," seeing it comprises all the elements that make up the week. We therefore have five days of creative activity left, each one of which comprised 7 of the potentials (known as שערי בינה) mentioned previously. This gives you 35. By adding a small part of the three "general potentials" to each of these five intermediate days, i.e. the general potential of the first day, the Sabbath, and the primordial כח היולי, you will get a total of fifty. In this fashion we arrive at a different aspect of the relationship between the spiritual and the physical, i. e. the relationship of "five" and "ten" respectively. Five multiplied by ten makes fifty. This is a very ancient allusion to the ספירות, emanations of יסוד, the lowest of the emanations of the world of יצירה, and the emanation מלכות, the world of עשיה, respectively. The verse in which this is alluded to is Chronicles I 29,11, לך ה' הגדולה, הגבורה, והתפארת, והנצח, וההוד. "Yours O Lord are the greatness, might, splendour, triumph and majesty, yes, all this is in Heaven and on earth." Every one of these five (emanations) is made up of ten aspects, so that between them they total the fifty שערי בינה. This is supported by the end of the verse כי כל בשמים ובארץ. According to the Pardes Rimonim, this is a clear allusion to the "lowest" two ספירות. The word כל has a numerical value of fifty, and as such alludes to those fifty שערי בינה that between them account for all the potentials that exist. This is also the mystical dimension of the letter ה in the word “הששי,” in Genesis 1,31. It alludes to the seven times 7 days plus the כולל, general potential, which combined makes 50. The number 50 must be understood as five times 10, i.e. with the creation of the Sabbath, the material world, עולם הזה, had, so to speak been stamped with the seal of the spiritual world, the עולם הבא.
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