Musar sobre Números 12:8

ויחר אף ה' בם, וילך . It is difficult to understand why G–d's anger is mentioned only here, after He had already dressed down Miriam and Aaron (12,4). The reason is that as soon as Miriam and Aaron had heard from G–d Himself that they had sinned, they should have confessed their sin, as David had done when the prophet Nathan told him he had committed a wrong with Bat Sheva (Samuel II 12,13).

The Chayat describes the same reference to receiving prophetic insights in his book folio 181b in these introductory words: "If you have received a valid prophetic insight via the mouth to mouth method, etc." Receiving confirmation of one's spiritual level is possible in five different ways. The most advanced of these ways is the one called by the Torah 'תמונת ה which we may call עטרה, crown. It is called thus because it represents the most unimpeded of the various kinds of (window-panes) i.e. visions, that different categories of prophets are able to receive. One perceives G–d [the source of the vision. Ed.] as inside seven Sanctuaries, one within the other. Each Sanctuary affords a category of prophets the kind of vision they are capable of absorbing without being harmed. Moses, of course, had access to the innermost Sanctuary accessible to any human being.

Moses did not need to be separated from the source of his visions by any window-pane, as it is said of him (Numbers 12,8): ותמונת ה' יביט, "He is able to behold a picture drawn by G–d." Daniel 8,2 on the other hand, described himself as seeing himself in Shushan, though in his vision he actually stood on the banks of the river Ulai. Hoseah 12,11 may have referred to the difference between these two kinds of prophetic visions when he said: ודברתי על הנביאים ואנכי חזון הרביתי, "And I (G–d), spoke to the prophets, having granted many visions." Surely the verse should have said עם הנביאים instead of על הנביאים if the meaning is that G–d spoke with or to other prophets. [Kittel brings a version which has the word אל instead of על (as in our texts). The author may have had such a version of the Bible since he dwells on the meaning of the word אל as opposed to על. Ed.] When you understand the meaning of the word אל, you will understand that we are dealing here with a type of prophecy which exceeds in clarity of vision all other types of prophecy and which is referred to in our literature as אספקלריא דנהרא, clear vision. This kind of prophecy was granted to none other than Moses, the father-figure for all subsequent prophets. The Torah (Numbers 12,8) says of him: "I speak to him mouth to mouth, etc." The very word חזון is a reminder of the expression הוגד לי חזות קשה, "a harsh prophecy has been revealed to me "(Isaiah 21,2). We also find this expression used in the type of prophecy Abraham received before he was circumcised, such as in Genesis 15,1.

Now to the subject of the Hereafter. Israel had been afraid that if they were to continue to acquire greater insights, i.e. over and beyond what they were spiritually and intellectually equipped to digest, they would surely die. They therefore had asked Moses that he should approach G–d and serve as their intermediary. They did this because, since Moses had already experienced the insights other people achieve only in the Hereafter, he had no reason to fear premature death. They realized that Moses had attained the fiftieth of the שערי בינה. When you take the letter ה which symbolizes the 5 Books of Moses and the letter י which symbolizes the Ten Commandments and you multiply them which each other the result is 50, an allusion to the fact that between the Ten Commandments and the five Books of the Torah you have the wisdom contained in the fifty שערי בינה. When Israel sinned at the golden calf, G–d told Moses: לך רד, "go and descend from the lofty platform of לך=50," as we have outlined earlier. Now G–d said: אל תוסף (3,26). The message was that during one's lifetime on earth the fiftieth level of בינה would not again be attained. This had to await a person's death. Only when separated from his body would one's soul-personality be able to attain that level of insights. To demonstrate that Moses did attain this level again when he died, the Torah describes his death as an ascent, i.e. ויעל משה … אל הר נבו (34,1). I have already mentioned that the name of the Mountain can be read as נ-בו, "50 is attainable through this Mountain." The choice of the word ויעל here is, of course, the reverse of the word רד G–d used when He told Moses about the sin of the golden calf. Moses attained during his lifetime what other צדיקים achieve only after their death. Once their bodies are left behind on earth their souls may behold what the Psalmist describes in Psalms 17,15: אשבעה בהקיץ תמונתך, "When I awake I will behold a vision of You." Concerning Moses, the Torah has testified that already during his lifetime: ותמונת ה' יביט, Moses was able to behold visions of G–d at will (Numbers 12,8). No one has an idea of the quality of עולם הבא in store for Moses; it is beyond anything we can imagine seeing that only G–d knows where even his body is buried.

Furthermore, he alludes to the exercise of the qualities of prudency and modesty (id., xxxvii. 3), "So shalt thou dwell in the land and feed in faithfulness." His saying, first, "So shalt thou dwell in the land," and then "and feed in faithfulness," shows that long life on earth is the result of cultivating humility and prudency, which he calls "faith," as thou knowest from the saying (Num. xii. 7), "He is faithful in all my house," and that which preceded in the description of modesty. That which we have said of the meriting of life, even long life on earth, corresponds to the expression (Ps. xxxvii. 11), "The meek shall inherit the earth." In saying (id., 4), "Delight thyself also in the Lord," he alludes to the quality of joy, which the righteous exercises in that service of the Lord, wherein he delights. Thus he says elsewhere (Ps. xxxii. 11), "Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O ye righteous"; again, he says of the season of gladsome tidings (Isa. Ixi. 10), "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord." In saying (Ps. xxxvii. 4), "He shall give thee the desires of thine heart," he alludes to the quality of yearning which is love, for God satisfies the yearning of the righteous, as is promised them in the saying (Ps. xx. 6), "The Lord will fulfill all thy desires."

לא תעשה לך פסל וכל תמונה. The emanation מלכות is also known as תמונת י-ה-ו-ה. According to the Kabbalists G–d says of this emanation in Numbers 12,8: ותמונת ה' יביט "He (Moses) beholds a picture of G–d." The Rekanati says "I have already told you that actions performed down here on earth leave an imprint in the Celestial Regions. Anyone who constructs a graven image or picture of a deity diminishes the בנין, "the whole fabric" from which the universe is built." The prohibition pertains to לך, "for yourself, for your own purpose." When such images as the cherubs were fashioned for use in the Tabernacle or later in the Holy Temple, this does not fall under the heading of לך, since it is G–d Himself who derives satisfaction from such figures. The two cherubs symbolise the "two faced" nature of א-ד-נ-י and י-ה-ו-ה. The numerical value of the word תמונה is identical with the numerical value of the expression פרצוף אדם, =501 (the face(s) of the cherubs on the lid of the Holy Ark). This is the mystical dimension of תפארת אדם.