Chassidut sobre Êxodo 32:32

And because of this, when Moshe prayed concerning the sin of the Calf, he said (Ex. 32): "Yet now, if you will forgive their sin — ; and if not, blot me, I pray;" for it is from the [realm of] impossibility, that a man should not have some haughtiness, when he hears his praise told; all the more so when a great king praises and glorifies the man, then it is certainly from the impossible, that he should not have some haughtiness. But one needs for this the nullification of all his feeling and materiality; then the man can hear his praise, and he will not have any haughtiness, like Moshe Rabbeinu, who saw it written in the Torah: "And Hashem spoke unto Moshe,” “And Hashem said unto Moshe;" and Israel reads every day in the Torah the praise of Moshe, and he himself tells them his praise; and Moshe did not have any glory or haughtiness from this, as is written: "Now the man Moses was very humble," and certainly through his humility there was power in the hand of Moshe to atone the sin of the Calf, as is written: "but a wise man will pacify it."

This is the aspect of the disagreement between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel (Shabbat 21b). Beit Shammai said one gradually decreases (starts with 8 and removes one candle each night) and Beis Hillel said one gradually increases (starts with one and adds one candle each night). Beis Shammai's reasoning is: Our Sages of Blessed Memory said (Shabbat 31a) that Shammai was impatient, and because of this he would alienate the converts from converting and push them away from the building. But Hillel, due to the greatness of his humility, would bring them closer, with mercy even though it was not the custom (i.e. not suitable) to bring them closer and would say foreign things and craziness to teach them the whole Torah by standing on one leg, etc. Even so, he would not push them away; he would draw them close with his wisdom and his wondrous humility. Thus Beit Shammai, who were the students of Shammai, who due to the greatness of his righteousness and holiness was not able to tolerate those who were far and dirty with the sins of their youth and the like therefore they said one gradually decreases. Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel both acknowledged that it is necessary to add and increase light each day that comes next. For certainly the miracle of the days of Chanukah, where the lamp was lit even though it had no (oil) to kindle it for even one day and it stayed lit for 8 days, certainly every day that came after the miracle was even more great and wondrous. Therefore certainly it was necessary to have a greater light each day that came after it. But Beit Shammai held (the opinion) that because of this itself, because of the greatness of the light that draws down more light each day, because of this alone we must gradually decrease - because the evil ones and the ones who are far away (from Torah) are not worthy to use this light. And like our Sages of Blessed Memory said (Midrash Rabbah Chapter 12), Hashem saw that the world was not worthy to use/partake of the light of the 7 days of creation and He stored it away for the righteous, etc. Therefore they held that likewise now, that the righteous obtained a great light, it was necessary to conceal the light; and all those who obtain more and more must conceal the light more and more so, in order that the evil ones and those who are far away do not benefit from it, as explained above. This is the aspect of 'gradually decreasing'. However, Beit Hillel, which were from the students of Hillel, who engaged in bringing close those who are very far away, therefore they reasoned and said we gradually increase. Because, on the contrary, just like all of that great light which the righteous drawn down and increase more and more, so too it is necessary to illuminate the world more and more, to illuminate all creatures of the world in order to bring close those who are far away, to bring light to the small and the very low, to heal all those who are greatly sick, G-d save us. Just like how all the very sick need is to request for themselves a great Rabbi, as explained above. Likewise, the Rabbi and the tzaddik, all those who come to higher and higher levels, he is required to bring light to the small and the very low, as this is the essence of the greatness of Hashem Yisbarach and His glory, as it is written in another place (Likutei Moharan 10). Even though of course it is necessary to elevate the great light, and in particular when one comes to enlightenment and great and tremendous perceptions, of course it is necessary to elevate and store the light, because the world is not worthy to use them. Therefore, even so, they use ruses like these, and repair rectifications like these, and wear the light in their garments and wondrous contractions like these, until they enlighten even the lowly to a very high (level), as explained above. Through this they add and gradually illuminate the light below, every single day, more and more, in the aspect of 'gradually increasing', for we elevate in holiness and do not go down (Berachot 28a). And this is difficult; is it not so that one eleveates Da'at to bring down holiness, G-d forbid. Yet this is the aspect as seen above that there are tzaddikim, which are truly great and lofty, yet due to their holiness they are not able to tolerate the world. Therefore, by the force of their holiness they distance themselves and downgrade themselves, G-d forbid. There are people who become angry with them (the tzaddikim) because they (the tzaddikim) cannot tolerate their indecent conduct. But Hashem Yisbarach does not desire this, because He desires Chesed/lovingkindness and wants the tzaddikim to always have mercy on Israel and bring them close even if they are as they are. And even if He Himself, may He be blessed, has great anger toward them due to their evil deeds, He wants the tzaddikim to pray for them and draw them close, as our Rabbis of Blessed memory said on the verse (Exodus 33:7), "Now Moses would take the Tent and pitch it outside the camp, at some distance from the camp" due to the fact that the people sinned so much. Hashem Yisbarach said, 'I am angry and you are angry; if so, who will bring them close?', etc., as is explained by Rashi there. Thus we find regarding several prophets and tzaddikim that Hashem Yisbarach 'complained' to them and told them of His great sorrow, so to speak, that He has because of the many sins of Israel. When they took hold of His words and did not recommend Israel for good, He was very strict with them, as we find with Hosea the Prophet (see Pesachim 87a), and with Elijah, when He said (I Kings 19:10) "I am moved by zeal", etc., and He said to him (I Kings 19:16) "and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah to succeed you as prophet". And our Rabbis of Blessed memory interpreted (as brought in the explanation of Rashi) that He said to him, I do not want your prophecy since you plead for the prosecution of My children. Because Hashem Yisbarach wants only that to recommend good for Israel, and to have mercy on Israel, even on the lowest (of the low), to bring all of them closer to Him, may He be blessed, like Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, who gave his soul on behalf of Israel, and said (Exodus 32:32) "but if not, erase me from the record which You have written!”. This is the aspect of elevation in holiness. All that comes and enters holiness more and more, and perceives more of the perception of G-dliness, and does not descend - in other words, that one takes care that he does not send down the souls due to the greatness of their holiness - i.e. that one does not come to a general caring for Israel because of the greatness of their holiness and their perception of Hashem Yisbarach - that because of this they are not able to tolerate the lowest of them, and they become angry with them until they are able to lower them, G-d Forbid. For this is the aspect of 'gradually decreasing' which Beit Shammai said, as explained above. This is not so, for we must increase in holiness and not decrease. For everything that reaches high above, and the greatest perceptions, one must become wise and make new contractions with wondrous ruses/stratagems until one is able to bring many souls closer and closer, and to heal - even the lowest of the low and the very sick, as explained above. All of this is the aspect of the Chanukah candle(s) which are lit lower than ten tefachim and therefore it is necessary to 'gradually increase', as explained above.

In the name of the Baal Shem Tov, may his memory be a blessing for the world to come: He was troubled; what is the reason that we only mention the merit of the three forefathers, who are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and why we do not mention the merit of Reuben, the merit of Simon, etc.; the merit of Chanoch and Palu, even though they were also greatly righteous people? Another difficulty is that we find in the holy Zohar, a few teachers whose souls would come to study the secrets of the Torah after they died with Rabbi Shimon Ben Yochai and his colleagues — for example, the elder Rav Hamnuna and his son, etc. Yet we do not see that [other] teachers came back once they died, neither them nor their souls! The Baal Shem Tov, may his memory be a blessing for the world to come, explained like this. That a righteous person whose service and prayer was always for the generation continues with his traits even after his death. So he comes to rectify the generation by way of teaching them Torah, etc. And it is like they, may their memory be blessed, said in the holy Zohar (Tikkunei HaZohar 69), "Our teacher Moses, peace be upon him, extended over several generations, etc.," for every sage and righteous person. It is because, just like while he was alive, he gave over his life for the sake of all of the Jewish people — like the statement: if You will forgive their sin [well and good]; but if not, etc. (Exodus 32:32 in Parashat Ki Tissa) — so too, after his death, did he come to rectify each sage and righteous person. So the whole generation is rectified through him. Likewise with the forefathers whose actions and service was to rectify all the generations, as per our rabbis' statement, may their memory be blessed, "Were it not that the forefathers consumed and received their reward in this world, etc." (Bemidbar Rabbah, Bechukotai 30:3). That is why their merit is mentioned for all of the generations, which is not the case with righteous people whose actions and service were only to rectify themselves. That is why their merit is not mentioned, and their souls also do not come to study Torah with the other righteous people in order to rectify the generation.