Musar do Psalmów 136:13

The reason all the מצות are called גזרות, "pieces," or "sections," is that they are like the souls, each one of which is a "section" of the Divine though separated from G–d Himself. Similarly then מצוות are like the egg laid by a hen that is about to be slaughtered for human consumption (compare Beitzah 2A). In other words, the commandments are an integral part of G–d though separated from Him. The word גזר is used in this way in Psalms 136,13: "Who divided the sea into pieces." We have the same meaning in Genesis 15,17, at the "covenant between the pieces, "where G–d (a pillar of fire) is described as passing between הגזרים, the pieces. We learn there what the כריתת הברית, making of the covenant between G–d and Abraham, G–d laying phylacteries, robing Himself in ציצית, studying Torah, etc., is all about. All these activities which our sages attribute to G–d are not merely symbolisms, but reflect the fact that we, our souls, are part of the Divine, and that what we are asked to do in this physical world is basically no different from what G–d does in the spiritual counterpart of our world. It is wrong to attribute the legislation of chasing away the mother-bird to considerations involving the welfare of the bird. What G–d wishes to teach us by means of the מצות, is something for our sake, something that makes it easier for us to operate on His "wavelength." We are to train ourselves to wear "His garments," to adopt His attributes. It is not surprising then that these גזרות are difficult to understand, and the same applies to the restrictive ordinances, גזרות, imposed by Rabbinic law which are designed to prevent our infringing Sinaitic law. We sometimes fail to see the rationale in some of these ordinances.

Our father Abraham lowered himself, so the Holy One, blessed be He, gave him greatness. And that is to the one to whom the Holy One, blessed be He, first said, “Ask.” Rabbi Yonatan said, “There are three to whom the Holy One, blessed be He, said, ‘Ask.’” Rabbi Acha said they are four - Abraham, Solomon, Achaz and the messianic king. Abraham, from where [do we know it]? As it is written (Genesis 15:2), ‘And [he] said, “My Lord God, what will You give me?’” He would not have said, ‘What will You give me,’ unless He had said to him, ‘Ask.’ Solomon, from where [do we know it]? As it is written (I Kings 3:5), ‘In Givon, the Lord appeared to Solomon [... and …] said, “Ask that which I shall give you.”’ Achaz, from where [do we know it]? As it is written (Isaiah 7:10-11), ‘And the Lord spoke further to Achaz, “Request a sign for yourself from the Lord, your God.”’ The messianic king, from where [do we know it]? As it is written (Psalms 2:8), ‘Request of Me, and I will render nations your inheritance, your estate will be the limits of the earth.’” Rabbi Levi said, “The Holy One, blessed be He, showed our father Abraham, peace be upon him, the stars, the constellations and all the corners of the firmament, as it is stated (Genesis 15:5), ‘And He took him outside (chutzah).’ And did He take him outside of the universe? Rather it is that He showed him the chambers of the skies that are called chutzot, as it is stated (Proverbs 8:26), ‘Before He made earth and chutzot.’” Rabbi Yehudah bar Ilai said, “Five things did the Holy One, blessed be He, show to our father Abraham, peace be upon him, and these are them: 1) He showed him the splitting of the Red Sea, as it is stated (Genesis 15:17), ‘which passed between these pieces (gezarim).’ And likewise does it state (Psalms 136:13), ‘To slice the Red Sea into pieces (gezarim).’ 2) He showed him the giving of the Torah, as it is stated, ‘and behold, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch.’ And likewise is it with the giving of the Torah (Exodus 20:14), ‘And the entire people saw the torches and the sound of the shofar. 3) He showed him the Temple built and [4)] the order of the sacrifices, as it is stated, (Genesis 15:9), ‘He said to him, ‘Take for Me a calf of three.’ [5)] And He showed him the four empires (destined to subjugate Israel), as it is stated, (Genesis 15:12) ‘and behold, a dread of deep darkness fell upon him.’ Those were the four empires.” Rabbi Channan said, “He showed him the revival of the dead, as it is stated (Genesis 15:10), ‘Birds of prey came down upon the carcasses.’ He took the limbs and placed them side by side. And once the bird descended upon them, they came to life, as it is stated, ‘but Abram repelled (vayashev) them.’ And vayashev is always that they are scattered by the wind (which is only possible here if they returned to life), as it is stated (Isaiah 40:7), ‘when the breath [of the Lord] blows (nashvah) upon it.’”

והיה כי יביאך ה' אלוקיך אל הארץ אשר אתה בא שמה לרשתה . "When the Lord your G–d will bring you to the land to which you will come in order to inherit it." The Torah speaks of terrestrial ארץ ישראל which is similar to its celestial counterpart. The word הארץ refers to the "earth" after one's death in which one "sleeps," i.e. refines the body through metamorphosis in order to be able to take one's place in one's original inheritance, the one intended for Adam before the sin. Just as on our earth there are two mountains, Mount Gerizim and Mount Eival, which symbolize blessing and curse respectively, so there are two parallel mountains in the Celestial Regions. One is generally known in our scriptures as ההר הטוב, or הר ה', "the Mountain of ‘good,’ or the Mountain of G–d," the one which can be climbed only by people who have complied with the criteria set down in Psalms 24,4. The other Mountain is known as הר שעיר, the Mountain of Se'ir, symbolizing darkness exuded by the evil urge. Our rabbis describe it as a "Mountain" because they view the overcoming of the evil urge as similar to the scaling of a mountain. The wicked, on the other hand, consider the evil urge as something they can easily control and therefore the evil urge appears to them merely as high as an hair, hence the name הר שעיר, "the mountain no higher than an hair." Were it not for the "good angels" created by our various מצות, our access to the Mountain of G–d would be severed completely. G–d in His great mercy decided to pay more attention to the "voice" of what these good angels relate about us than to the foul deeds we commit with our hands, i.e. הקול קול יעקב והידים ידי עשו, "though the hands are the hands of an Esau, the voice is that of Jacob." [A homiletical explanation by Midrash Shmuel of Genesis 27,22 applied to Akavyah's statement in Avot 3,1. Ed.] The words ואין אתה בא לידי עברה mean that if you have קול יעקב going for you you are in no danger at the hands of Esau, the hands of Satan. The meaning of the name הר גריזים is similar to the meaning of Psalms 31,23: ואני אמרתי בחפזי נגרזתי לפניך, "I said in my haste I am thrust out of Your sight." The Psalmist goes on to say that David learned that he had not been cast out by G–d after all. The function of Mount Gerizim then is to reassure us that Paradise lost is recoverable. Our deeds create the "good angels" whose pleas reach the throne of G–d. there are also barriers in the heavens between the different categories of צדיקים. Every righteous person occupies a station appropriate to his conduct while he lived on earth. Our Rabbis (Tanchuma Beshalach 10) explained that G–d made separate lanes when the tribes of Israel crossed the Sea of Reeds. They base this on Psalms 136,13: "Who divided the Sea of Reeds into גזרים, sections." The same happened when the Jewish people crossed the river Jordan into the Holy Land. This was one of the reasons twelve stones were erected in the river-bed; they marked where each tribe crossed.