Musar do Powtórzonego Prawa 5:20

ותקרבון אלי כלכם . Rashi comments that it was a mob that approached Moses. Later on, in 5,20, however, Moses says of the people ותקרבון אלי כל ראשי שבטיכם וזקניכם, "You approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders." At that time they asked Moses to become their intermediary since the people were afraid that being exposed to G–d's voice directly would become fatal for them. This latter approach (at the time of the revelation) was correct; children showed respect for their elders. Humility is one of the best traits a person can practice. Only by allowing others זכות קדימה, the right of precedence, can one prove that one deserves a measure of honour oneself.

When G–d gave the Jewish people the Torah at Mount Sinai, the people said to Moses: ואת תדבר אלינו, "You speak to us," that Moses should be the intermediary between G–d and them because they were afraid they would die if they would be exposed to G–d's voice any longer (Deut. 5,20-25). We may assume that the Israelites did not speak about this concern of theirs to the elders [which would have been the normal channel of communication with Moses at that time. Ed.], but, since they were afraid to look and die, they turned to Moses directly. Their concern was that the very fact that they had achieved such a high level of insight had brought them so close to G–d that their souls would return to their Creator and remain there due to the affinity established with Him. Such a "death" achieves far more in the way of תיקון, rehabilitation, than any ordinary death meant to atone for sins committed. It would have been a greater תיקון even than that achieved by Ben Azzai's death as a result of his entering the פרדס, even though his death was of the category described in Psalms 116,15. The elders mentioned in the Mishnah outlived Joshua.

The Torah writes: (4,33-5,20) הקול מתוך החשך וההר בוער באש." Seeing that fire and darkness are almost exact opposites, how do we explain that the Israelites heard the voice of G–d both from out of darkness and from out of fire? Clearly there is a mystical dimension to this. Another word for fire is שלהבת. This word divides into הבל and שת, the names of the two people reincarnated in Moses. The word חשך, darkness, on the other hand, refers to Cain who ended up in darkness. The Arizal explains the relationship between אדם, חוה, קין, והבל still better. אדם is perceived as having emerged from the second highest emanation חכמה which in turn is equivalent to כח מ"ה. This means the combination of the soul, נשמה plus the "junior" power symbolized by the number 45, the numerical value of אדם, the concept of Man. חוה emerged from the next lower emanation בינה. She was אם כל חי, "the mother" of all subsequent human beings. קין והבל originated in the domain of דעת, [an emanation in the center line of the diagram, below כתר but above תפארת. Ed.] הבל had received input from the emanation חסד, as suggested by his name (as we demonstrated before) whereas קין had received 5 units of input from the emanation גבורה, which is fed by the emanation בינה. This גבורה is sort of a קן, i.e. nest, receptacle for the חכמה. The combined units of input from the emanations בינה and חכמה are 10; they account for the letter י in the middle of his name. This is the deeper meaning of Psalms 84,4: ודרור קל לה, where the letter ק is written larger and which separates between דרוד and the letter ן. This is to alert us to the fact that דרור, freedom is equated with בינה, i.e. יובל =50. קין was predominantly part of חוה, who represented בינה; this is why she said קניתי איש את ה' when she bore him. By this she meant to say: "I have acquired a man with G–d, i.e. as distinct from "with Adam." Having said that קין was the "receptacle" of input from both חכמה and בינה, and in view of the letter ן at the end of his name alluding to the fifty gates of בינה, we can understand what G–d meant when He asked Cain אי הבל אחיך, "Where is your brother Abel?" G–d criticized Cain who should have remembered that he was the שומר, the receptacle for his brother. Cain represented the female, Abel the male. The female is the receptacle for the male. The word אי may be understood as an acronym of אינך יודע "Don't you know?" Furthermore, the letter א alludes to בינה, whereas the letter י alludes to חכמה. When G–d's name is spelled א-ה-י-ה, this symbolizes His manifestation in the emanation בינה, whereas when it is spelled י-ה-ו-ה it symbolizes His being manifest in the emanation חכמה. Seeing that the reference to אחיך most definitely refers to someone male, G–d made it clear that Cain represented the female in that pair, i.e. the sister, אחות. When G–d had told Cain previously -when the latter was upset that his offering had been rejected- (Genesis 4,5-7), הלא אם תיטיב שאת, "Surely if you do right there is uplift (forgiveness)!" the word שאת could be read as אשת, "wife of." In the future the אשת חיל, woman of valor, will be described as the crown of her husband, and at that time G–d will govern the world using the emanation גבורה i.e. דין, seeing that mankind will be on such a high level that G–d does not have to make allowances for man's weakness and employ the attribute of רחמים as He does in this present world.