출애굽기 6:3의 Chasidut

Genesis 6,3. Hashem.” We need to understand ‎where and when G’d “appeared” to the patriarchs in His ‎capacity as the G’d of Shaddai. We do not find ‎the word ‎וירא‎,‎‏ ‏‎“Shaddai appeared,” in ‎connection with G’d’s addressing any of the patriarchs. ‎Moreover, why did G’d speak of ‎ידיעה‎, a form of ‎intimate knowledge, in connection with His ‎communicating with Moses and the Israelites at this ‎time?
We have learned in Sifri, Mattot, 2 that all the ‎prophetic revelations that subsequent prophets ‎experienced were due to the residue of Moses’ ‎prophetic experiences who had preceded them in this. ‎In other words, no prophet was granted a type of vision ‎that had not already been granted to Moses before ‎him. Elaborating on that subject, we read in ‎‎Yevamot 49, that all the subsequent prophets ‎were only granted blurred visions whereas Moses had ‎been granted clear visions.
It is not possible to absorb “clear” visions of the ‎Creator unless the Creator had first garbed Himself in ‎garments that diffuse the powerful light that emanates ‎from Him. [Prophets of lesser stature than ‎Moses would become too blinded by being exposed to ‎G’d before he had thus screened Himself. Ed.] ‎G’d “garbs” Himself in accordance to whom He ‎dispenses His blessings, the most minimal of these ‎‎“screens” within which He garbs Himself is known in ‎the language of our sages as ‎מאירה‎, literally, ‎‎“illuminating” but in the sense of hiding the minimum ‎possible. It is this “minimal” screen that hid G’d’s ‎essence from Moses when He communicated with him. ‎All the other prophets received their visions as ‎derivatives of the visions which Moses had received. ‎Although Moses himself “dispersed” some of his ‎prophetic powers, [notably when the 70 ‎elders were chosen to assist him, and he “dispersed” ‎some of his holy spirit to them. (Numbers 11,17) ‎Ed.] ‎‎

I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El-Shaddai etc. (Ex. 6:3). Rashi explained, “Alas for those who are lost and not to be found!” etc. The meaning, as is known, is that the secret of Egyptian Exile is that the True Awareness was in Exile; they could not grasp the Awareness to serve the Blessed Creator, along the lines of what is stated, Know the God of your Ancestor and serve Him (1 Chron 28:9). For in truth, Awareness is the essence that brings one to complete Reverence and Love. For once a person knows and believes that the whole earth is full of [God’s] Glory (Isaiah 6:3) and no place is void of Him, and [God] is the pleasure of all pleasures, Blessed is He and Blessed His Name, Life of Lives – if so, for any of the pleasures if you imagine, God forbid, the absence of the influence of [God’s] Blessed Light and Life-Force among the created things, Creation would return to unformed and void (Gen. 1:2). And similarly for all the Upper and Lower Worlds, if you imagine, God forbid, the absence of [God’s] Life-Force, they would be as if they never were. And if that is the case, then [Awareness of God’s presence] is the essence in all things...

"And I appeared" (Ex. 6:3) - And Rashi, Z"l, wrote "And I appeared to the patriarchs". And at a first glance, what does Rashi want with this, doesn't the verse explain [itself] 'Avraham, Yitzchak etc' and we know that they are called 'patriarchs'. And it seems that the intention of Rashi with this is that Avraham was the attribute of Love (chesed), Yitzchak the aspect of Strength (gevurah) and Yaakov, Balance (tif'eret) and they influenced one another in their aspects, and if so, how was it applicable that El Shadai was seen to all? Isn't it that holiness (kedushah) comes from above according to a person's level? However, the root of this issue is this: from the side of the Blessed Creator there is no change whatsoever, rather, according to the service done by a person in their level [holiness] continues on them. We find that Avraham continued on himself the attribute of Love, and so Yitzchak in his attribute, and also too Yaakov, but from the side of the Blessed Creator, there is unified unique simplicity, and this is why Rashi z"l explained "I appeared to the patriarchs" meaning, that with regards to the Blessed Creator there is no separation or division between them at all, and everything is one, therefore [God] appeared to them in one aspect, as El Shadai. And this is easy to understand.

"And I appeared etc as El Shadai etc" (Ex. 6:3) - And we seek to explain with what appears in the Gemara "Shadai - that said to the world, 'enough (dai)'" (Chagigah 12a:15) so it would not keep expanding. And the issue is that our sages z"l made us listen to the great goodness that the Blessed Creator did to us: it is known that the Lofty one is more realized the farther it is from the one to whom [the Lofty one] delegated [action], and it is found that were it not for the fact that [God] said to God's world 'enough!' the world would continue to expand to no end, and the husks (kelipot) from the Depths of the Great Void (Nukvah deTehomah Rabah) would have become present in the world, and now that God said 'enough!' - this is the goodness, that the husks would not become so present. And there is also "SHaDDai - " that is, that this name loosens (meShaDeD) [the laws of] Nature for the good of Israel. (see Ramban on Genesis 17:1:1)

And this is "and I appeared etc as El Shadai" (Ex. 6:3) meaning, when I appeared to the patriarchs to promise them regarding the Land of Israel, I promised to them in the name El Shadai, which loosens the divisions, so that the husks and the nations will not have a grip on the Land of Israel, even if, God forbid, Israel aren't deserving. "And My name H' I did not make known to them", meaning, I did not promised them in the name Havaya, Blessed be the One and Blessed be the Name, lest, God forbid, they come to sin, and there is strengthening of the husks and the nations will grip, God forbid, the Land of Israel - therefore God was visible to them as El Shadai. And sit with this (think about it deeply).

Another aspect of the words: ‎וארא אל אברהם אל יצחק ‏ואל יעקב‎, “I used to appear to Avraham, Yitzchok, ‎and Yaakov, etc.” We find among the writings of the ‎‎Ari z’al that he does not understand Exodus ‎‎34,7 ‎נוצר חסד לאלפים‎ “He extends loving kindness to ‎thousands,” in the generally accepted meaning, but ‎that he understands the word ‎אלפים‎ as attributes of G’d ‎beginning with the letter aleph. These ‎attributes, though all being variations of the attribute ‎Justice, are “sweetened” by G’d through an addition of ‎a dose of ‎חסד‎, loving kindness.‎
In order to understand the Ari z’al we refer ‎first to a statement in Sh’mot Rabbah 47,11 ‎according to which Moses acquired the ability to make ‎the skin of his forehead shine, give forth light, (Exodus ‎‎34,29) because a drop of ink was left over from his ‎quill when he had completed recording the portion of ‎the Torah in writing. [Difficult to understand ‎as Moses did not write the Torah on Mount Sinai. ‎Ed.]‎
The author of the Or hachayim;Midrash had in mind ‎when writing that Moses merited this reward from left ‎over ink.‎
In order to illustrate the difference between a ‎‎“humble” person spelled with the letter ‎י‎, and a ‎‎“humble” person spelled without the letter ‎י‎, we need ‎to make a few introductory remarks. On the Torah’s ‎imperative for the Jewish people to strive to be “holy,”: ‎‎(Leviticus 19,2) to be “holy,” i.e. ‎קדושים תהיו כי קדוש אני ה'‏‎, ‎‎“be holy for I the Lord am holy,” we could have ‎misunderstood this line to mean that we must strive to ‎be as holy as G’d. Midrash Rabbah Vayikra ‎Rabbah 24,9 therefore writes that the words: ‎כי ‏קדוש אני‎, “for I am holy,” in that verse are a reminder ‎that only G’d is truly holy. G’d’s holiness transcends ‎anyone else’s holiness. Anyone who endeavours to ‎sincerely sanctify himself discovers that in spite of all ‎the progress he makes in this direction that he is still ‎far removed from his objective, i.e. total holiness. If a ‎person is under the illusion that he is already a worthy ‎servant of the Lord, this is proof that he is still far ‎from having reached his goal, that in fact he has not ‎even begun the journey leading to holiness. Anyone ‎who has begun this journey is painfully aware of how ‎far he still has to travel on that road. This is what the ‎Midrash had in mind when the author wrote, ‎explaining the words: ‎כי קדוש אני ה' אלוקיכם‎, “for I the Lord ‎your G’d am holy, ‎קדושתי למעלה מקדושתכם‎, “My holiness is ‎superior to your holiness.” [The author’s ‎version of this Midrash apparently had the ‎word ‎מסתלקת‎, “is receding,” instead of the word: ‎למעלה‎ ‎‎“is superior”. Ed.] ‎
Alternatively, this concept, instead of being ‎expressed negatively, may be expressed positively, as ‎we find in Eychah rabbah 11,3 where the ‎author writes that whenever the Jewish people sanctify ‎themselves they thereby strengthen the celestial ‎entourage of the Lord, i.e. they add holiness to His ‎holiness. The Midrash quotes psalms 60,14 in ‎support of this where the psalmist writes ‎באלוקים נעשה ‏חיל‎, “we will strengthen G’d by acting valiantly.” ‎‎(Compare likutim on that statement in the ‎‎Midrash) ‎

...Exodus 6:3: Rashi explains that Hashem "appeared to our forefathers." The explanation: Hashem told Moshe that Aaron will be happy to hear about Moshe's appointment [as leader] and won't be jealous. [Normally,] when a person sees another elevated, they, filled with jealousy and hatred, say "how did you merit this?". However, a real, G-d-fearing friend will rejoice, exclaiming "I didn't merit to be a tzaddik before Hashem, and it brings great joy to me that my friend, who serves Hashem and does His will, will be rewarded in heaven." In fact, we pray "Let us see the virtue of our friends and not their faults, and we should merit to see the virtue of our friends in heaven" [this is a prayer that's said in certain Hasidic groups]. This explains the statement of the Talmud that "every person is jealous of the chuppah of their friends". This means that if he was jealous of his friend today, he'll also be jealous of him in the future. It's important to note that he'll be jealous 'of his friend chuppah' but won't be jealous of the original tzaddikim [Abraham, Yitzhak, Yaakov] because he won't merit to see their virtue. This is the meaning of Rashi's comment that "Hashem appeared to the forefathers."

When G’d tells Moses in Exodus 6,3 “I appeared ‎to Avraham,” He means that the patriarchs were ‎not privy to the “second” level of ‎ראיה‎ ‎‎“seeing=understanding,” only to the level of ‎revelations originating in a domain in which Justice, ‎דין‎ ‎is at home. This level is defined by G’d as ‎ב-אל שדי‎, the ‎power known as the “G’d Shaddai.” This name of G’d is ‎widely known in many parts of the physical universe, ‎and is an allusion to the G’d, Who, at the end of the ‎sixth day of creation said: ‎די‎, “enough,” before He ‎sanctified the seventh day, the Sabbath. G’d added ‎explicitly, that He had not revealed His name ‎‎“Hashem” to the patriarchs, i.e. ‎ושמי ה' לא נודעתי ‏להם‎. The precise meaning of the word ‎נודעתי‎ is “I ‎became revealed on the level of man gaining intimate ‎knowledge of Me,” the dimension of Me that is ‎manifest only in the regions “above” the world of ‎אותיות‎, ‎‎“letters.” In that region, as we have explained already ‎there is no ‎דין‎, attribute of Justice,” but only ‎חסד‎ the ‎attribute of love, kindness. G’d implies that it was ‎impossible for Him to reveal this aspect of Himself to ‎the patriarchs as long as He had not proven its ‎existence through His having redeemed the Israelites ‎from their miserable fate.‎
This is also the reason why G’d did not say to ‎Moses: ‎לא הודעתי להם‎, “I have not made known to them,” ‎‎(active mode), but He said ‎לא נודעתי להם‎ I have not ‎become known to them, (passive mode). ‎חסד‎, loving ‎kindness, must be experienced by the recipient ‎passively; doling it out when the recipient is not aware ‎of it, i.e. something whose seed will take time to ‎blossom and eventually ripen, cannot be defined at the ‎outset in terms of its ultimate manifestation. This ‎dimension if and when it manifests itself, does not ‎require intervention by G’d in the affairs of men ‎through miracles, but is a natural development, easily ‎recognized by those who are privileged to experience ‎it. [Some of the words in this paragraph are ‎mine. Ed.]‎

Rabbi Shimon admits the awesome sanctity of the teachings which preceded him, such as the Sefer Yetzira, the Sefer haMalbush, and the Sefer of Hanokh. Rabbi Shimon was expert in them and quoted them many times in the Zohar. In the Zohar (Pinhas, 217a) Rabbi Shimon mentions the holy covenant called, “Shemesh (sun).” Elsewhere in the Zohar it says (Shemot, 3b), “Sun and shield (from Tehillim, 84:12) is a holy covenant.” So too, the Zohar calls the attribute of Malkhut (Divine Sovereignty), “Tsedek (righteousness).” “‘He met righteousness wherever he set his foot,’ (Yeshayahu, 41:2) this is the lower firmament. (Lech Lcha, 86a)” See also the Zohar, Parshat Nasso (145b), “The word v’Zot (and this) is called righteousness.” In all of these instances, when the Zohar uses these expressions for God, it is doing so only in the context of a homily, or to hint at something. In the early teachings, however, they were expressions for God. Before the giving of the Torah, God’s names were not yet revealed. At this time, God would reveal his name according to the level of the particular generation. This is as it is said (Shemot, Ch. 6), “And I appeared to Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaakov as ‘E-l Shaddai (the Almighty).’ “ This is because the appearance of Avraham in the world heralded in what our sages call, “the two thousand years of Torah.” Truly, there are many discourses in the Tikkunei Zohar on why God is called, “Shamayim (Heavens),” and it is learned from this very verse, “And I appeared.” Yet in these discourses, no active Godly force is ascribed to the name, “Shamayim.” Notwithstanding, we know that God’s name is hidden in every force. Yet for something to be called a name of God, meaning a name which expresses the force of God, the light must be totally revealed and seen clearly as separate from any created force. That is to say, God’s name represents a direct expression flowing from God’s essence. Anything that hides God’s light, and could be considered as a separate force cannot be termed as a Godly force or a name of God.⁷⁹This chapter is essentially clarifying the difference between Monotheism and idolatry. Idolary is defined as identifying any created force as the source of power or object of veneration. The author taking great care in this passage as a misunderstanding of verses like, “Your God is a sun and a shield,” could be problematic if not properly understood. This is why the Talmud only mentions the term, “Shamayim,” referring to God in a context where it does not want, for some reason, to mention God’s name directly. When the Talmud discusses the transgression of mentioning God’s name in vain, or for no good reason, it calls it, “mentioning the name of Heaven (Shamayim) in vain.” Here the Talmud does not say God’s name out of respect. From this, it is well for one to admonish those who are accustomed to saying, “Heaven help me.” In a situation where one is simply mentioning God, it is fitting to say, “Heaven.” Yet it is forbidden to call God, “the Heavens,” in a context where one is evoking God’s force of power and influence, because the Heavens are not Godly. One could instead say, “may He be merciful from the Heavens.” “From the Heavens,” is referring to God who dwells in the Heavens, and not to the Heavens themselves. It seems that there is an error in understanding the above mentioned Zohar where Rabbi Yehuda says that the Holy One, blessed be He, is called, “The Heavens.” Yet it must be clear that when Rabbi Shimon concludes, “we are not following these early teachings, we are following the way of the Torah,” he was correcting the statement of Rabbi Yehuda.