Musar su Neemia 9:78

The ninth quality: The pious man, even when good or evil happenings occur does not nullify his service. Thus our father, Abraham, peace be upon him, throughout everything that occurred to him, whether good or evil, was faithful in his heart, as it is said (Nehemiah 9:8), “And thou foundest his heart faithful before thee.”

Prayer, i.e. our thanks to G–d, our praising Him, as well as our petitioning Him, is part of what is called עבודת ה', as is our eating and drinking when it is designed to help us serve the Lord better. Nowadays, our "table" fulfills the mystical dimension of what used to be the Temple Service. Instead of the sacrificial offerings being consumed by the altar, we consume our meals after and before a benediction expressing our awareness of Who it is that supplies our needs. You will find more about this in my comments under the heading "ק" in my treatise on sanctity in conjunction with eating. We become like angels when the food we consume is of the right kind and we consume it in a state of sanctity. Just as physical food is the basis of our continued existence on earth, so the souls are the "food" of the angels and assure their continued existence. We know that they need to feed on something from Nechemiah 9,6: ואתה מחיה את כולם, "You provide sustenance for them all." [The subjects of this verse include the various beings that populate the different layers of the Celestial Regions. Ed.] As regards human beings, their consumption of food can become similar to the spiritual forces released by the offering of sacrifices.

To what may this be compared? To [the instance of] a king, who reigned over several hundreds of provinces and ruled over his kingdom with an abundance of strength and splendor, who had the wherewithal to sustain all the places of his rule and all the princes and appointees under him with an abundance of glory and strength. And afterwards there were found some individuals in one city, very few in number, who, in their haughtiness rebelled against the king. And the matter was reported to the king. And while they were yet deliberating the punishment of the rebels, the king went in the morning to promenade in his garden, where he heard a bird of beautiful form and voice singing and bade one of his attendants to take it immediately on that day and put it in his palace so that he could always enjoy it; and he did so. As he was taking it to the king's palace, it began to sing in a sweet beautiful voice — whereupon one of the fools said: "Beautiful bird, how much I would love to see you [always] and hear your beautiful song, and how great my sorrow when I bring to mind the great sorrow that will befall you. For whence will come your food now that we have heard that there are rebels against the king?" And the king's attendant answered: "You fool, with such a king — who reigns over several hundreds of provinces and numberless treasures — will the bird, whose appearance the king enjoys and whose song he rejoices in, have to worry about the few grains it needs for its sustenance because it is found in the province of a little city where one or two rebels have been found?" So, upon reflection, is it, exactly, in our case, a fortiori, many thousandfold: The Holy One Blessed be He, has created this world, the material world, and the higher world. And it is known that in the higher world many worlds are contained, almost without limit. But, as a whole, they are considered three worlds: the world of formation [olam hayetzirah], the world of the angels; above it, the world of creation [olam habriah]; and, above all, the world of Splendor [olam ha'atziluth], where the splendor of the Blessed One's holiness is found. As Chazal have said: "About this, Scripture states (Isaiah 43:7): 'All that is called by My Name [olam ha'atziluth] and which I have created for My glory [olam habriah, where the Throne of Glory is found] — I have formed it [olam hayetzirah, where are found the holy creatures (chayyoth hakodesh) seen by the prophet Yechezkel, and all the world of the angels] — I have also fashioned it [this world and all of the spheres].'" And it is known that this world and all of its spheres are as nothing compared to olam hayetzirah, for there [in the olam hayetzirah] are found classes of angels without limit. And in each class are found angels almost without number, as it is written in Daniel 7:10: "A thousand thousands serve Him. Ten thousand ten thousands stand before Him," about which Chazal have said (Chagigah 13b): "All this, in one class, and the classes are infinite, as it is written (Iyyov 25:3): 'Is there a number to His troops?'" And we find in Tanna d'bei Eliyahu 31 that 496,000 ten thousands of ministering angels sanctify the name of the Holy One Blessed be He always. From the rising of the sun until its setting, they say: "Holy, Holy, etc." And from its setting until its rising: "Blessed is the glory, etc." And it is known that all of the creations, even the highest of the highest, all require the Divine effluence, as it is written (Nechemiah 9:6): "You have made the heavens, the heavens of the heavens, and all their hosts, and You vivify all of them." But the effluence of their sustenance is not like ours. For it is rarefied, spiritual sustenance. As it is written (Psalms 78:25): "The food of the mighty did a man eat," concerning which Chazal have said: "This is the 'bread' [i.e., the Divine effluence] that the ministering angels 'feed' upon."

And all of our words are included in the [aforementioned] verse, in short, viz. (Isaiah 26:4): "Trust in the L-rd forever" — even when Jerusalem is in ruins and Israel is in exile, wherefore there are many rebels against the Holy One Blessed be He — even so, trust in the L-rd and He will help you. For the ability is still in His hand as before, and He certainly did also not remove His will completely from the world. For if not so, the creation would have been entirely annulled. For it is known that the Holy One Blessed be He vivifies the whole creation, as they have formulated for us in the blessing of Yetzer ["Yotzer hameoroth"]: "Who renews in His goodness, every day, always, the act of creation." And, as it is written (Nechemiah 9:6): "and You give life to all of them [the heavens, etc.]." It is not written "You gave life" (as stated in the Zohar.) And this is the intent of the ending of the verse (Isaiah, Ibid.): "For in Kah, the L-rd, is the Rock of the worlds." As Chazal have stated (Menachoth 29b), that the Holy One Blessed be He created this world with the letter "heh" from His name; and the world to come, with the letter "yod." And "Rock" [tzur] signifies strength. That is, His name, "Kah" [yod-heh] is, up to this day, the strength of the world. (As we find in Othioth d'R. Akiva, that the ends of heaven and earth are sealed with His holy name.) And if He removed His will from them [heaven and earth], they would revert to vacuity and void, as before the creation. From all this we can understand the greatness of the trust that one should put in the Holy One Blessed be He.

Nechemiah 9,6-8 is even more convincing. He says: "You made the heavens and the heaven's heaven, and all their host, the earth and everything upon it, the seas and everything in them… You are the Lord G–d who chose Abram, who brought him out of Ur .. and changed his name to Abraham.” Why does Nechemiah bother to mention that Abraham used to be called Abram? The reason is that he wanted to allude to the fact that heaven and earth were created for the sake of Abraham, and to make us take note that Abram's name had been changed. Once you appreciate this, you will also find a hint of this transformation already in the report of creation, i.e. Genesis 2,4. Just as Adam's abode was in גן עדן, and he was expelled from there only because of his sin, Abraham's true abode was the Holy Land, the land which according to Ezekiel 36,35 will become once more like גן עדן. We find that prior to the destruction of Sodom and the neighboring towns, the valley is referred to in the Torah as כגן ה' כארץ מצרים "like a garden of G–d, like the land of Egypt." There is, however, a difference between something described as גן, "garden," and גן עדן.

On Genesis 6,7 and 8, “כי נחמתי כי עשיתם. ונח מצא חן בעיני השם," Rav Kahana comments in Bereshit Rabbah 29,1 that the end of verse 6 shows that even Noach had not really been found to be worthy. He was "lucky" to have found favor in the eyes of G–d. Whereas Noach מצא, "found," G–d did not "find " The meaning is that Noach "found" that G–d awakened him, G–d however, did not "find," i.e. did not see in Noach, something He felt he had to "respond" to. The reverse was true of Abraham, as demonstrated by the verse we have quoted. This is also the meaning of ומצאת את לבבו נאמן לפניך, "You have found his (Abraham's) heart loyal before You." (Nechemia 9,8)

Why do people not consider that the Holy One Blessed is He has only created them for His honor and not to fulfill their appetites? If only a person would take to heart how they curse him On High for his lack of concern over his Creator’s honor. And how fitting it is that a person should run to see his Creator’s deeds. Thus the Zohar relates (ibid. 23a): Rabbi Elazar the son of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai said: When the sun inclines its wings to go forth by the might of its wheels, trampling with their hooves upon the leaves of the trees of Gan Eden, then all the holy Beings, the King’s Throne of Glory, the spices of Gan Eden and the trees, Heaven and earth and their hosts — all of them tremble and give praise and acknowledgement to their Master. They arise and see the explicit holy Name engraved upon the sun in its journeys and they give praise to the Master of the Universe. Then a voice is heard, proclaiming, “Woe to the creatures who do not contemplate the glory of the King!” As it is written, “And all the hosts of Heaven bow to You, etc.,” (Nechemyah 9:6). It is also taught (ibid.): When the Holy One Blessed is He enters Gan Eden after midnight together with the righteous then all the gates of Heaven are opened and it is a favorable time to engage in study. At that time bands of ministering angels and all the spices of Gan Eden burst out in exultation and song along with the righteous before the Holy One Blessed is He.

Before revealing the reasons for all this we must still refer to Bereshit Rabbah 29,3, and we shall then see that all these statements are in accordance with what we have written above. The Midrash in question states: Rabbi Simon states that G–d made three "discoveries." He "found" Abraham, as we know from Nechemiah 9,8: "You found his (Abraham's) heart trustworthy before You." He "found" David since we read in Psalms 89,21: "I have found My servant David." He also "found" Israel as we know from Hoseah 9,10: "I found Israel like grapes in the desert." When his colleagues asked him why he did not include Noach in G–d's "discoveries," seeing the Torah says "Noach found favor in the eyes of G–d," Rabbi Simon responded that Noach did indeed "find," whereas G–d did not "find." There are several difficulties here. Why does Rabbi Simon not list G–d's "discoveries" in their chronological order, i.e. Abraham, Israel, David?