Chassidut sobre Êxodo 33:11

This proves that their intellect was not of human origin, but rather an expression from Above: God expressing His spirit to Israel. It is an eternal expression, initially through the prophets, then the Men of the Great Assembly, then to the Tannaim etc. Since the generations decline and God’s light becomes more and more concealed. Thus, the intellect of the Torah, which is an expression of God’s spirit, also becomes more and more minimal and constricted. Yet we do not require intellectual proofs for this, for.²³⁶R. Shapiro’s note ends here, with a closing bracket in the manuscript before the word “one” [ahat], picking up in the body of the text. It is unclear if the sentence was left unfinished, or if it was meant to segue directly into the midst of the next sentence. One of the tenets of Torah and Israel is to truly believe that Torah is from Heaven, including the Oral Law given at Sinai and revealed to us through the talmudic sages, and that they too were windows of heaven shedding light on Israel.“‘And God spoke to Moses face to face.’²³⁷Exodus 33:11. R. Isaac says, God said to Moses, ‘Moses—you and I shall explicate the Law.” (Talmud Berakhot 63) Both the primary and homiletic meanings of Torah are not merely intellectual, but are rather constituted of divine light. For through Toray [study], there exists the aspect of ‘face to Face.’

(2) He said the Torah [entitled], "Call Yehoshua," with the sign, vav, on Shabbat Teshuvah after the Rosh Hashanah mentioned above. He then mentioned adjacently to the beginning of [this] Torah, the verse (Ezekiel 1:26), "and on top, upon this semblance of a throne, there was the semblance of a human form." (But in his writing, this verse is not mentioned until near the end, as is clear in the book, see there.) And then he grabbed the two handles of the chair on which he was sitting with his two hands. And, while moving with the chair, he said with trembling and fear and with tremendously great self-sacrifice these exact words: When one sits on the chair, then one is a man. (The Hebrew is then rendered into the Yiddish spoken by Rebbe Nachman.) And these words are very hidden (the transcriber says to see Zohar, Tazria 48). And then he completed this whole awesome Torah that is printed in the book. And at the time that he was saying the Torah, he did not speak at all about the matter of the intentions of Elul. Only afterwards when he finished saying this Torah, after he prayed the evening service and said Havdalah, and he afterwards went back and spoke about this Torah as is always his way, the then said and answered the important elderly men that were sitting with him, when they prayed from the prayer book of the Ari, may his memory be blessed, "Tell me how all of the intentions of Elul are hinted to in the previously mentioned Torah." And they were silent and didn't answer, because it was truly impossible in any way to understand on their own how all of the intentions of Elul were hinted to in the previously mentioned Torah. So he ordered that the prayer book of the Ari, may his memory be blessed, be brought in front of him; and he opened it and showed them the intentions of Elul. And then he opened his holy and awesome mouth and began to reveal the wonders of how all the intentions of Elul are hinted there in an amazing and very awesome way, as is explained about this in the book. And it is impossible to describe in writing the feeling in the heart and all of the delights and immaculate wonders that I felt then at the time that I merited to hear all of this. After Shabbat, he also spoke from the previously mentioned Torah that which was said there about Moshe, Yehoshua and the tent of meeting, which are in the aspect of the high dot, the low dot, and the vav. And he then told me, in these words, "Every place that a teacher and a student are conferring, it becomes the this aspect, the aspect of Moshe, Yehoshua and the tent of meeting." But behold, all of this was at the beginning of my becoming close to him; and I had then not yet merited to write the great Torahs in front of him. I only wrote the short statements by myself, not in front of him. And for a long time, I was yearning to receive this Torah from him in his holy writing, but I did not merit this until after Purim, when I was with him in Medvedivka. And then I sat in front of him and transcribed this Torah in front of him, and he read with his mouth to me from his book written by his holy hand, as I wrote [it] on paper. And afterwards at some point near nighttime, I stood in front of him when he already was sitting on his bed and wanted to sleep. And I spoke to him much then, and he then revealed to me the three commandments that the Jewish people were commanded when they came into the land (of Israel), which were relevant to this, as is printed in its place there, see there. And he concluded then and said that all three of these commandments are the aspect of repentance, as it is printed there. And then I asked him how these three commandments are the aspect of repentance. He answered and said, "You will say this." (The Hebrew is then rendered into the Yiddish spoken by Rebbe Nachman.) And then I went away from him, may his memory be blessed, with this, and I immediately began to think about it. And immediately when I went from my house to my inn, God, may He be blessed, prepared nice novel thoughts for me about this. And when I came to my inn, I found writing instruments, with God's help, may He be blessed, and I immediately wrote what God graced me with about this. And this was at the beginning of my education in adding upon his holy Torah, such that he educated me, with his mercy and his amazing ways. And on the next day, I brought what I wrote in front of him, and it was good in his eyes, and he laughed from joy. And he answered and said, "You can learn if you will be constant." (The Hebrew is then rendered into the Yiddish spoken by Rebbe Nachman.) Nevertheless, I was afterwards forced to stop adding until I studied much law, and then the books of the Kabbalah, etc.; until he afterwards ordered me to add. And he then ordered me to write, as it is explained about this in another place (below).

At the time when the Torah was given to Israel, the pshat (simple meaning) and the sod (secret) were given together. Each person understood the pshat and the sod according to his particular level. This is as it is written in the Zohar (Yitro, 83b): All of the various meanings, secrets, mysteries, decrees, and punishments, were all given as an inheritance to all of Israel. This is learned from the words preceding the Ten Commandments (Shemot 20:1), “and God spoke all of these words,” (meaning the pshat and the sod, for the specific purpose,) “to say” (meaning in order to be said and given as an inheritance to all of Israel). The knowledge of the Torah increased in the generation of the desert, for we call this generation the, “dor de’ah” meaning, the generation of knowledge, or the generation of the consciousness of the Torah. With the death of Moshe Rabeynu, the light of the written Torah receded, as it is written in the Zohar (Terumah, 156a), “At the time Moshe died, the sun was darkened in the midst of the day, and the written Torah, which is the aspaclaria d’meira (illuminating mirror),⁶³אספקלריא דמאירה – “A clear lens” means a perfectly lucid source of illumination, a level of clarity unique to the prophecy of Moshe Rabeynu, as the verse says (Shemot 33:11): “And God spoke to Moshe face to face.” This is contrasted with the אספקלריא דאינה מאירה – an unclear lens, or imperfect source of illumination, which is the level of all subsequent prophets, who received their prophecies in visions and dreams, and expressed them using metaphors. Nor were they consciously aware of their own prophecy, as was Moshe. was sealed and locked.” The sanctity of the prophets is inferior to the sanctity of the Torah. This was the beginning of the illumination of the Torah She’ba’al Peh (oral tradition). The Torah She’ba’al Peh is compared to the moon which receives its light from the sun. As long as the sun is shining, we do not see the light of the moon. When the sun sets, then the light of the moon is revealed. The prophets illuminated the light of the Torah She’ba’al Peh. This is as it is written in the Zohar (Kedoshim, 82b): There is a difference between receiving from one’s master, and receiving from the messenger of one’s master. What is the difference? It is written in the beginning of the Pirkei Avot, “Moshe received the Torah at mount Sinai and delivered it over to Yehoshua.” He received it, and then afterwards, transmitted it to everyone. When one receives from another, it is like the reception of the moon from the sun. The light of the moon is entirely a received illumination of the light of the sun.