출애굽기 6:3의 Musar

וידבר אלהים אל משה ויאמר אליו אני השם. I have expounded at length in my treatise on Passover, as well as in my commentary on the Haggadah shel Pessach on the opening lines in our portion, commencing with Exodus 6,2 until the words לא נודעתי להם in verse 3. All the miracles performed by G–d in Egypt which defied all known laws of nature, were invoked by the Ineffable Four- lettered Name י-ה-ו-ה which symbolises G–d as היה, הוה, יהיה the One who created the world ex nihilo and who is eternal.

G–d had planned for the Exodus to become mankind's renewal, and this was the revelation to Moses when He taught him that He had not truly revealed His name i.e. the four-lettered name (Exodus 6,3). All this had been in answer to Moses' question "when they say to me what is His name, what shall I tell them?" (Exodus 3,13). At that time G–d had revealed to Moses the concept of חידוש העולם as I have explained at length in my commentary on the Haggadah Shel Pessach.

The Zohar (Sullam edition Balak page 64), is very explicit in describing Bileam's low character, giving many examples of his appearing to credit himself with great insights and thereby misleading those who considered him a great Seer. Here are a few quotes from that passage in the Zohar "This wicked man took great pride in claiming to know everything. By doing so he misled people into believing that he had attained a very high stature. He blew up every little achievement of his. Whatever he said concerned the domain of the forces of impurity. He spoke the truth, literally speaking. Anyone listening to him would form the impression that he was the most outstanding of the prophets of the world. When he described himself as שומע אמרי קל, ויודע דעת עליון, "privy to the words of G–d, aware of the knowledge of the Supreme One," the impression is formed that he spoke about the G–d in Heaven, whereas in fact he was privy only to אמרי קל, as distinct from אמרי הקל. Had the Torah added the letter ה, we would have credited Bileam with being addressed directly by G–d. As it is, he communicated with the forces of טומאה, forces considered by the nations as deities, though they really were אל אחר, forces of nature that are no better than idols. When he speaks about knowing the דעת עלין, the listener forms the impression that Bileam claimed to be privy to G–d's range of knowledge, whereas in fact he was privy only to the עליון "the highest" of the forces of impurity that G–d has allowed to govern part of nature. Bileam, technically speaking, spoke truthfully, since he was privy to a power which in its field was considered supreme. However, the listener did not know that this power had no independent authority at all but was only an agent of G–d. When Bileam described himself in 24,4 as אשר מחזה שדי יחזה "someone who has visions of G–d, a reader would assume that this was really so, that Bileam could see what no one else could see. However the term מחזה שדי refers to a branch of the three branches that originate in the name Shaddai, corresponding to the three letters in that word. He would have some access to the domains of חסד, גבורה, תפארת. The Zohar continues that עמלק employed these three spiritual domains in his attack against Israel, and that Balak, whose name contained the last two letters of עמלק, felt encouraged that it would help him in his confrontation with the Patron of Israel.

The Torah writes in Deut. 4,5: “ראה למדתי אתכם חקים ומשפטים,” "See I have taught you statutes and social laws, etc." G–d has taught us both the kind of laws the meaning of which it is given to us to perceive, and others whose meaning is not given to us to perceive. The reason why we have been taught laws the meaning of which we are able to understand, is so that we should be ready to accept on trust those laws which are beyond our understanding. Put differently: the very nature of גזרות, those laws detached from direct contact with the highest domain of רשימה, lead us to faith in the validity of חק. Now we will explain the 4 domains briefly referred to when we first introduced the Midrash on the meaning of the red heifer legislation. "Torah" is referred to in four different expressions, i.e. 1) תורת ה'; 2) תורת אלוקים, as we know from Nechemiah 8,8: ויקראו בספר בתורת האלוקים מפורש, ושום שכל, ויבינו במקרא, "They read from the book of the Lord's Torah, and explained it, putting their mind to it, and they understood the reading." 3) We find Torah referred to as תורת אמת; 4) We find Torah referred to as תורת האדם. These four expressions are in reality four nuances of what are basically two "Torahs." The first two are נסתרות, concealed matters, whereas the last two are נגלות, aspects of Torah whose meaning has been revealed. Each category has its subcategories. The first concealed "names" of Torah refer to the respective meanings of the Ineffable four-lettered Name of G–d, as well as to the meaning of the name אלוקים. The former contains the secret of ה' אחד ושמו אחד; as such it is applicable to the abstract spiritual world. The latter, on the other hand, which is equal in numerical value to the word הטבע, "nature," clearly describes G–d or Torah respectively being manifest in our physical world. In Exodus 18,11, we find that Yitro said עתה ידעתי כי גדול י-ה-ו-ה מכל האלוקים. He had realized that the dimension of G–d when He is called Yedud, (we will use this description when we mean the four-lettered Ineffable Name) is beyond the one when He manifests Himself as אלוקים. 2) We find in Exodus 9,16, that G–d told Moses that the purpose of the final three plagues was "למען ספר שמי," and the "name" referred to was Yedud. 3) G–d describes His name as Yedud in Exodus 6,3. In that instance, He makes it plain that this had been an aspect of Him that had not previously been revealed. 4) When the activities of Moses are described in the concluding verses of the Torah (Deut. 34,11), Moses is described as the messenger of the Yedud dimension of G–d. His function in performing the miracles referred to there had been to expand Israel's consciousness of G–d as the Master of טבע, i.e. the dimension of אלוקים, and to teach them that there are dimensions to G–d which are far beyond that realm. This aspect of G–d we have earlier referred to as רשימו.

Moses therefore had good reason to complain that G–d had not indicated whom exactly He was going to send with him now -since the promise in 23,20 referred to the angel who would accompany Joshua when he invaded the land of Canaan. When the angel arrived in Joshua's time he identified himself as the angel G–d had spoken about in 23,20 saying "now I have come" (Joshua 5,14). He implied that he had not had permission to come during the lifetime of Moses. Although Moses had not yet been told that Joshua would lead the Jewish people in the conquest of the Holy Land and still thought that he himself would conduct that campaign, he did realise that the statement by G–d that He would send an angel presaged a sin on the part of the Jewish people and that as a result the שכינה would announce that G–d's direct Presence would not accompany them, just as Rashi explains. At that time Moses thought that the sin referred to would be something Israel would become guilty of in a far distant era, a time when the Temple would be destroyed and would subsequently be rebuilt and that at the time of this future redemption an angel would accompany the people of Israel back out of exile. He was certain, however, that as far as the present was concerned, G–d personally would lead the Jewish people in their ascent to the land of Canaan. This is why he was non-plussed saying: "You have not informed me," because he was not willing to accept the promise in 32,2 as, adequate. He explained the reason for his dissatisfaction with the words: "You have told me that I am persona grata." You might ask why it should have mattered so much whether an angel or G–d's personal presence would accompany the Jewish people on this journey. Moses reiterated that G–d had told him that he had become close enough to His Ineffable Name, i.e. ידעתיך בשם. This expression reflected the דבקות, affinity with G–d, which had been achieved. When the people left Egypt the plan had been to march to the land of Canaan without delay, a land in which the Ineffable Name is at home.