잠언 24:44의 Chasidut

For the tzaddik will fall seven times and rise while the wicked will stumble within Evil (Prov. 24:16).

In the Midrash Rabbah (Beshalach) we find the statement, “When God created the world, He made a condition with the sea that it would split when the children of Israel would leave Egypt.” If so, how is this considered a miracle, if it was instilled in the nature of creation? Pirkei D’Rebbi Eliezar (chap. 18) gives numerous examples of miracles that were programmed into the creation from its outset.³³⁵Such as the manna in the desert, the miraculous rock that gave water, the hole in the earth that swallowed Korach and his cohorts. See, also, Pirkei Avot 5:6. For, if it were said that they were not preprogrammed into nature, one could claim that God changed His will.³³⁶That is, G-d’s deciding to change the order of nature, which He established with the very creation of the world, implies a change in His will or intention in response to events in this world. Yet, G-d’s immutability is an axiom of Jewish faith. The Maharal of Prague discusses this at length in the introduction to his book, Gevurot Hashem, and provides many opinions on this subject. After presenting these opinions, he explains that there are two forms of Divine governance: a natural governance, and a miraculous governance. Both are worked into the general order of Divine governance. The difference is that natural governance is always happening, while miraculous governance is revealed only at the time of the miracle. Furthermore, the order can be changed in response to the recipient. For instance, if the Egyptians had repented, the sea would not have split, even though its splitting was set as a condition in the very fabric of creation. This is because the natural order follows the attribute of God’s judgment, and the miraculous order follows the attribute of God’s mercy. ³³⁷Again, the contradiction is, “If God made a condition with the Red Sea that He would create it only if it would split before the Children of Israel at the time of the exodus, then how could the Sages teach us that if the Egyptians had repented at the time, it would not have split?” This is resolved by seeing the splitting as a part of “natural governance,” or God’s judgment, and the revelation of the miracle as part of “miraculous governance,” flowing from God’s mercy. Ironically, the splitting of the sea was not a miracle, since it was preprogrammed in the creation. The miracle would have occurred had the Egyptian soldiers repented, and the sea not split. Because of this, the mode of governance can change according to the status of the receiver. This does not imply any change whatsoever in God’s essence, for no actions can affect any change in His essence.³³⁸As the verse states: “For I am G-d, I do not change” (Malakhi 3:6) Changes in the Divine governance of the world do not indicate a change in God’s essence. In the same passage, the Maharal explains the miracle of the sun standing still for Yehoshua (Yehoshua 10); for the sun was moving and standing still at the same time.³³⁹That is, the sun stood still in the sky for the Israelites, until they defeated their enemies in battle, while for the rest of the world, it moved through the sky normally. According the natural governance, the sun was moving as usual, and according to “miraculous governance’, it stood still. Two opposites existed in the same event. This is a synopsis of his words, which are correct, and (Mishlei, 24:26) “every man shall kiss the lips of one who gives a true answer.” There are many proofs and real wonders, for with miracles, two opposites can exist simultaneously.

And the reason why he must fall from his level is this: because there are fallen souls; those that fell during the six days of Creation and those that fell in each and every generation. And they are reincarnated, and they are fugitive and wanderer (Gen. 4:12) and can not come to Blessed God because they have nothing through which to come; for in their life of life-force they engaged in this world’s vanities and achieved nothing. But when the tzaddik falls from his level and afterward rises as in the verse, seven times the tzaddik falls and stands (Proverbs 24:16), when he stands and rises up to Blessed God he lifts with him those souls we have mentioned. Now, he can only lift those souls who are from his root; and therefore every person must fall from his level in order to lift up the souls that are from his root, and understand this.

It was explained above that miracles have been programmed into nature from the creation of the world. Now, you may ask, “How can a person arrive at a place above the natural order revealed in the world?” It all depends upon one’s service of God and upon one’s faith. If one’s service and faith are strong, he can ascend to a place above the system of governance, and draw down a transcendent light that can be fixed within the mind’s grasp.⁴⁰¹Similar to the revelation that occurred at Akeidat Yitzchak, discussed in the preceding chapter. If he makes the absolute most of his Divine service and faith, then the supernal light will be revealed and fixed within the system of revealed governance.⁴⁰²According to this (and as explained previously), faith changes the very nature of a person’s perception of reality (a phenomenological shift), so that even the mundane is perceived as miraculous. This, in turn, allows for actual (ontological) changes in the nature of reality itself; i.e. the occurrence of an actual miracle. Then it will be explicitly revealed that this was the way God had originally conceived it.⁴⁰³“Ala be’makhsava” – literally, “ascended in His thought.” Meaning, the person will see that the miraculous occurrence did not entail a change in the natural order, but was always part of G-d’s primordial plan for the world. However, if a person does not prepare his heart, he will remain under the influence of the revealed order of nature. This is the meaning of the Gemara’s statement (Sotah, 36a), “The Jews in the days of Ezra were worthy of witnessing miracles the magnitude of those seen in the days of Yehoshua, yet their sins prevented it.” Instead of revealed miracles, they experienced hidden miracles. That is to say, miracles that occurred through natural processes and a series of everyday events: The Jews found favor in the eyes of King Korash (Cyrus), and he commanded them to build the Holy Temple. However, had they not sinned, they would have witnessed revealed miracles instead. So too, with all miracles, they depend upon the worthiness of the one receiving them, and to that same degree is the miracle proclaimed in the world. We explained this in our introduction to miracles, with the discussion of the splitting of the Red Sea. Similarly, the miracles performed for the Tanaim and Amoraim.⁴⁰⁴Early and later sages in the Talmud. Some were worthy of experiencing only private miracles; however, the more the miracle worker prepared his heart, the more the miracle was experienced and revealed in the world at large.⁴⁰⁵This seems to be a contradiction to what the author said earlier, that one cannot reveal miracles before an unenlightened public. This is as Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai said in the Idra Zuta (289b), “By God’s knowledge the depths were split” (Mishlei 3:20), and filled all of the chambers and passageways of the body, as it is written (Mishlei 24:4), “And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled.” These lights shine from the supernal hidden brain, which illuminates the mazal (Atika Kadisha), and they all depend on each other, and connect to one another, until it is known that they are all one. They are all Atika, the Ancient, and are not at all separate from him.⁴⁰⁶This means that everything is seen from the perspective of Atika, which transcends nature.

But nevertheless, even when the aspect of Divinity that he had leaves him, nevertheless an imprint of Holiness is left in him through which he can strengthen himself as we have said. For without this he would remain Below, God forbid, after the Holiness leaves; and through the remaining of the imprint he strengthens himself as we have said. For that is the nature of Holiness: that even after it leaves an imprint remains behind, as our Sages of Blessed memory said, “The Shekhinah has never moved from the Western Wall” (Exodus Rabbah 2.2). And that is [the meaning of the verse], for the tzaddik falls seven times and rises (Prov. 24:16), meaning that he falls in order to be rising to an even greater level. And all of this is for a tzaddik; but someone who is not within the bounds of tzaddik, the Holy Blessed One devises plans so that the banished one will not remain an outcast (2 Sam. 14:14) and wants to draw him close to God. But because he is not attached to the Blessed Creator he falls to a place of Judgments. For there are no Judgments upon someone who is attached to the Blessed Creator, since he is attached to the Source of the Life of Lives, where there is no Judgment. But in the opposite case, one who is not attached, then [God] contracts Godself, as if it were possible, to the human, [God’s] Divinity to the place where that person is, in those Judgments that come upon him. For through this [the person] will draw closer to Blessed God and will come to the aspect of Beersheba, which is to attach to [God’s] Blessed Reverence, which is called “The Well [be’er] of Living Water,” for one who is attached to this is sated [save’ah] from all the Eternal Good.