Chasidut do Izajasza 51:78
Likutei Halakhot
1. Regarding washing the hands in the morning upon awakening from sleep. This can be understood according to the Rebbe z"l's teaching in Likutei Moharan 250 regarding the necromancer who answered the question (Berakhot 59b) "What is an earthquake?" by saying "When Hashem recalls His children who are in distress among the nations, He sheds two tears into the great sea, and the sound reverberates through the world. See there. The essence of all of the tribulations that befall mankind, G-d forbid, is only from a lack of da'at/knowledge. He who has da'at and knows that everything is divine providence from Hashem Yisbarach has no tribulations and does not feel any suffering, etc. The essence of the Jewish people's pain in exile is only because they fell from da'at and attributed things to nature and fortune, G-d forbid {Note: R' Nassan means here that instead of believing that everything is determined by Hashem, we have relied upon the natural sciences}. Because of this they {we} have sadness/pain. And this is because we have dwelt among the gentiles and learned from them, etc. In truth, the Jewish people are above nature, only when they sin, G-d forbid, then, etc. {This sentence is unfinished}. When Hashem wants to save the Jewish people from their exile, he then bestows upon them divine providence from the ends of the earth. In the future, nature will be nullified completely and there will be nothing except divine providence alone, as it is written (Isaiah 51:6) "for the heavens shall vanish like smoke", etc. In other words, nature - which depends upon the arrangement of the constellations - will be no more, etc. Then the Jewish people will be above {nature}. Therefore even now, when Hashem Yisbarach wants to bring down the gentiles and lift up the Jewish people above, He evokes divine providence upon them from the ends of the earth, so then there will be nothing but providence. Because of this divine providence, Israel is elevated and makes, etc. See there very well. And this is 'G-d recalls', see there.
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Mevo HaShearim
How was Jeremiah to do all this? God did not grant him might nor power, but merely his mouth and the capacity for the divine to flow through him. He even caused His holiness to flow, via the prophet, onto the non-sentient world, which does not have ears with which to hear the words of the prophet and the rebuke which he issued to human beings. What does the world itself have to do with observing shabbat or the ordinances, which humans violate and the prophets chastise about? And yet, in the Shaarei Kedushah (ibid.) it says that the prophets draw forth holiness to the [non-sentient] world as well. Thus he says (Part III, end of Chapter Two and beginning of Chapter Three): “And this is the secret of ‘and I will place my words in your mouth...to build the heavens (Isaiah 51:16),’ for the human...draws life to heaven and earth...he is My partner, I create and he fulfills; and therefore do not find it difficult, the issue of prophecy and its impact on the lower spheres...on the contrary, prophecy is necessary in the world in order to straighten man and fix his deed and draw bounty to all the worlds.”
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Yismach Moshe
The Hanochites (Numbers 26:5). And see Rashi (first word: family of) that explains this through David (Psalms 122:4) the tribes of Yah are a testimony to Israel etc. see there. And we have to understand what is hinted at by this testimony being given by the name Yah, precisely. And we can explain through what the Alsheich explained in the verse (Isaiah 51:1) "Look at the Rock from which you were hewn" - because Israel's root is from Avraham and Sarah, and both had no strength to conceive, so the father who gave birth to Israel is the letter Hey of the name of the Holy One of Blessing that was added to Avraham, as to say 'Avram does not give birth, but Avraham does' (Bereshit Rabbah 44:10), and the mother giving birth is also through hey, that changed from Sarai to Sarah (Genesis 17:15). And look, it was explained in the books that the Yud of Sarai was separated into two Heys, and pay attention to this to understand. And it is known that the quarry is called Tzur, and the stones quarried from it are called by the names Sela and Even. And according to this, the essence of the quarry of giving birth s the Yud, and the strength to give birth is the Hey, and the fact that they are double each other should not come to mind, just the separating of the letters: we find [that there is] the essence of conception of Israel, and the strength to give birth to them are both Yud and Hey, Y"ah. And this is the tribes of Yah, just as the branches separated out of the body of the tree, so too they separate out from, and seize, the name Yah; and so the name Yah is written in their families to explicit that they are children of Yah, and from Yah they come out, and not from a different people. And this is the explanation for the verse "And Yah chose for Him Yaakov" [can also be read "And Yaakov chose for him Yah"] and understandm because this is true, with the help of Heaven.
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Kedushat Levi
The Talmud in Shabbat 133 urges each one of us to “attach” ourselves to the virtues manifested by Hashem, by emulating them whenever possible, giving as an example: “just as He is merciful, you are to be merciful also.”
The problem with this “moral imperative” posited by the Talmud is that one of the attributes G’d has revealed to Moses in our portion is called א-ל, usually understood as a reference to G’d being omnipotent, תקיף; (compare Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 5) how are we to emulate such an attribute? We need to understand this slightly differently, i.e. that G’d has given the tzaddik the power to “compel” Him to carry out the tzaddik’s wishes. This is what the Talmud in Megillah 18 had in mind when it posed the rhetorical question of “how do we know that G’d called Yaakov by the attribute א-ל?” What possible “omnipotence” did Yaakov possess, seeing that all he could do was to abide by rules established in the Torah? Our sages in the Talmud in Ketuvot 111 alluded to this problem when they taught us that G’d made the Jewish people swear three oaths at the time of the destruction of the Temple. One of them was: “do not pressure Me to postpone the date of the coming of the messiah.” [Our author prefers an alternate version of that oath with the word ירחקו being replaced by the word ידחקו, i.e. pressuring G’d to advance the date of the coming of the messiah. Ed.] The root דחק is well known as referring to someone “hastening an event,” the best known example being the saying in B’rachot 64: כל הדוחק את השעה השעה דוחק אותו, “whosoever tries to advance the timetable for events destined to occur later, will find that it proves to have been counterproductive.”
Concerning the appropriate time for the coming of the messiah, the prophet Isaiah had predicted in Isaiah 51,4 כי תורה מאתי תצא , “for a teaching will come forth from Me, etc.” The prophet refers to a teaching which prior to that era could not have been understood at all by man, [as his spiritual horizons had not been sufficiently expanded. Ed.] This “Torah” will be called superior to all.
Besides, how is it possible to hasten the end of the exile, seeing that if all of Israel‘s virtues are the result of emulating G’d’s attributes, it follows that everything the Israelites do is pattered on the Torah, so how could they possibly be able to influence G’d’s timetable for the coming of the Messiah then? The answer is that by conferring on Yaakov the title א-ל, (Genesis 35,10, 33,20), He had conferred on him (and subsequent tzaddikim) some of His powers so that He had to warn them not to abuse these powers by making them take an oath. This complimentary title that G’d bestowed on Yaakov and other zaddikim after him was conditioned on his regarding the Torah and its laws inviolate. G’d had decided on His timetable for the coming of the messiah either at the same time as when He bestowed the title א-ל on Yaakov, or even earlier, so that his “powers” did not extend to overriding this. How could man then interfere with G’d’s decree? If man, i.e. the tzaddik could not interfere, why would the בנות ישראל, “chronologically later generations of Israelites,” have to swear an oath concerning something that was beyond their power to do anyways?
The apparent contradiction is resolved by an interesting commentary on Song of Songs 2,10, (a few verses after the verse in which G’d beseeches the “daughters of Jerusalem” to swear the abovementioned oath); we read there, concerning G’d: הנה זה עומד אחר כתלנו משגיח מן החלונות מציץ מחרקים, “here He is standing behind our walls looking down through the windows, peering through the blinds.” This verse describes G’d, Who, on the one hand is לעילא מן כל, “towering high above all,” as also on occasion retreating so far into the background that He only peers through the lattices. The verse alludes to the varying degrees of light that emanates from Him, tailored to what the situation requires. On occasion, if warranted, the tzaddik can override G’d’s plan; seeing that this is so, G’d had to protect His ultimate program for mankind by making the בנות ירושלים swear that they would not interfere with certain of His plans.
The problem with this “moral imperative” posited by the Talmud is that one of the attributes G’d has revealed to Moses in our portion is called א-ל, usually understood as a reference to G’d being omnipotent, תקיף; (compare Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 5) how are we to emulate such an attribute? We need to understand this slightly differently, i.e. that G’d has given the tzaddik the power to “compel” Him to carry out the tzaddik’s wishes. This is what the Talmud in Megillah 18 had in mind when it posed the rhetorical question of “how do we know that G’d called Yaakov by the attribute א-ל?” What possible “omnipotence” did Yaakov possess, seeing that all he could do was to abide by rules established in the Torah? Our sages in the Talmud in Ketuvot 111 alluded to this problem when they taught us that G’d made the Jewish people swear three oaths at the time of the destruction of the Temple. One of them was: “do not pressure Me to postpone the date of the coming of the messiah.” [Our author prefers an alternate version of that oath with the word ירחקו being replaced by the word ידחקו, i.e. pressuring G’d to advance the date of the coming of the messiah. Ed.] The root דחק is well known as referring to someone “hastening an event,” the best known example being the saying in B’rachot 64: כל הדוחק את השעה השעה דוחק אותו, “whosoever tries to advance the timetable for events destined to occur later, will find that it proves to have been counterproductive.”
Concerning the appropriate time for the coming of the messiah, the prophet Isaiah had predicted in Isaiah 51,4 כי תורה מאתי תצא , “for a teaching will come forth from Me, etc.” The prophet refers to a teaching which prior to that era could not have been understood at all by man, [as his spiritual horizons had not been sufficiently expanded. Ed.] This “Torah” will be called superior to all.
Besides, how is it possible to hasten the end of the exile, seeing that if all of Israel‘s virtues are the result of emulating G’d’s attributes, it follows that everything the Israelites do is pattered on the Torah, so how could they possibly be able to influence G’d’s timetable for the coming of the Messiah then? The answer is that by conferring on Yaakov the title א-ל, (Genesis 35,10, 33,20), He had conferred on him (and subsequent tzaddikim) some of His powers so that He had to warn them not to abuse these powers by making them take an oath. This complimentary title that G’d bestowed on Yaakov and other zaddikim after him was conditioned on his regarding the Torah and its laws inviolate. G’d had decided on His timetable for the coming of the messiah either at the same time as when He bestowed the title א-ל on Yaakov, or even earlier, so that his “powers” did not extend to overriding this. How could man then interfere with G’d’s decree? If man, i.e. the tzaddik could not interfere, why would the בנות ישראל, “chronologically later generations of Israelites,” have to swear an oath concerning something that was beyond their power to do anyways?
The apparent contradiction is resolved by an interesting commentary on Song of Songs 2,10, (a few verses after the verse in which G’d beseeches the “daughters of Jerusalem” to swear the abovementioned oath); we read there, concerning G’d: הנה זה עומד אחר כתלנו משגיח מן החלונות מציץ מחרקים, “here He is standing behind our walls looking down through the windows, peering through the blinds.” This verse describes G’d, Who, on the one hand is לעילא מן כל, “towering high above all,” as also on occasion retreating so far into the background that He only peers through the lattices. The verse alludes to the varying degrees of light that emanates from Him, tailored to what the situation requires. On occasion, if warranted, the tzaddik can override G’d’s plan; seeing that this is so, G’d had to protect His ultimate program for mankind by making the בנות ירושלים swear that they would not interfere with certain of His plans.
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