Chasidut к Берешит 4:25

Seeing that all the other prophets received their ‎prophetic insights through an intermediary, i.e. Moses, ‎it could not be as powerful as that of Moses who had ‎received it directly from G’d, [but it had not ‎been detached from its source, G’d, but was dependent ‎on Moses’ continued close attachment to its source. ‎Ed.] Prior to Moses no one had as close a ‎relationship, described also as G’d speaking to Moses ‎‎“mouth to mouth,” i.e. directly, not by means of ‎‎“visions,” i.e. images seen or nocturnally or at best ‎when the recipient was awake. There had remained a ‎gap between how Avraham had related to G’d and how ‎Moses had related to Him, a gap which G’d here ‎describes as a lower level of communication from Him.‎

‎[Before continuing, it is important for the ‎reader to remember that of all the sensory perceptions ‎at our disposal, the eyes, i.e. “seeing,” are considered ‎by the Torah as the most reliable, and therefore ‎testimony given at court must always be based on what ‎has been witnessed by one’s eyes. Ed.]‎
We need to appreciate also that there are two ways ‎of examining what one has seen, i.e. ‎ראיה‎. One is ‎merely a category of visually perceiving the outline and ‎colour of the object “seen,” whereas the other includes ‎the person seeing being able to understand the deeper ‎meaning of what his eyes have “seen.,” examining its ‎essence, something known as ‎ידיעה‎, “knowing”, ‎understanding. This latter category of visual ‎perception is known as ‎בחינת אותיות‎, examining the ‎‎“letters,” i.e. the structure of what the image consists ‎of. When Adam had marital relations with his wife ‎Chavah for the first time, (Genesis 4,25), the Torah ‎describes the experience with the words: ‎וידע אדם את ‏אשתו‎, “Adam gained intimate knowledge of the essence ‎of his wife.” Whereas “seeing” implies that one ‎perceives from the “outside,” ‎ידיעה‎, understanding the ‎essence of something, implies a much more intimate ‎connection to the matter which is the subject of one’s ‎knowledge. This kind of intimate knowledge is possible ‎only in domains that are completely spiritual, ‎disembodied, i.e. beyond the world of the ‎אותיות‎, ‎‎“letters.” True “knowledge” (in the sense of identifying ‎with the essence of the subject or object), presupposes ‎negating any personal, ego-oriented relation to it. This ‎also accounts for prophets appearing to act as if they ‎had taken leave of their senses while they were ‎receiving messages from the transcendental domains. ‎As a result of these transcendental messages these ‎prophets could feel greatly distressed when receiving ‎messages concerning the gentile nations, as these ‎messages originated in a domain that knows only ‎‎“goodness,” (as we explained) so that the prophet ‎would assume that what would be “good” for the ‎gentiles in the long run would also be good for them in ‎the immediate future, and therefore harmful for the ‎people of Israel. This is one of the limitations every ‎prophet labours under, as G’d explained to Moses in ‎Exodus 33,20, ‎כי לא יראני האדם וחי‎, i.e. that as long as the ‎prophet’s soul is still within his mortal body, he cannot ‎‎“see” i.e. completely understand what G’d is doing.‎
The difference between these two levels of “seeing,” ‎is also the difference between ‎כלל ופרט‎, “a general ‎principle and its application to a specific situation.” ‎‎[The 13 methods of exegesis of the Torah ‎composed by Rabbi Yishmael, by means of which texts ‎in the written Torah can be understood as ‎‎halachically accepted. Ed.]
Our ‎author explains this as the difference between ‎‎“category 10 and not 11,” (Mishnah 4) a term ‎used in the Sefer Yetzirah, the oldest ‎kabbalistic text. ‎

Exodus 2,4. “his sister positioned herself at a distance, ‎in order to find out what would be done with him.” This ‎verse helps us understand Jeremiah 31,2 “the Lord appeared to ‎me from a distance, etc.;”‎
There is a general rule that when the people in the physical ‎universe are fully preoccupied with their secular concerns, they ‎will not be able to elevate themselves to true service of the Lord. ‎This idea is hinted at when the Bible uses the term ‎מרחוק‎. ‎‎[The term does not describe distance in terms of ‎kilometers. Ed.] Rapprochement to the Creator ‎progresses at the same speed as distancing oneself from purely ‎secular concerns. The Torah chose to describe Miriam as ‎אחתו‎, ‎‎“his sister,” as it wished to allude to the word ‎מאחה‎, meaning ‎‎“attached,” i.e. ‎מדובק‎. Miriam was anxious to see if the attribute ‎of ‎אין‎, the eternal element of G’d, would continue to influence the ‎baby’s fate. On some occasions this attribute ‎אין‎ is also known as ‎מה‎, the word used in our verse.‎

Another way of understanding the verse of ‎וירא אלוקים את בני ‏ישראל וידע אלוקים‎, helps us explain a verse in Chabakuk 3,2 ‎ה' פעלך ‏קרב שנים חייהו בקרב שנם תודיע ברוגז רחם תזכור‎, “Oh Lord I have ‎learned of Your renown; I am awed O Lord by Your deeds. Renew ‎them in these years. O make them known in these years! Though ‎angry, may You remember compassion.” The verse may be best ‎understood by means of a parable. A poor man requests that a ‎wealthy man grant his request as he knows that it is within the ‎rich man’s power to grant same, and that once the rich man ‎seriously considers the sorry state the poor man is in he will not ‎be able to deny his cry for assistance. The Jewish people when in ‎pain and in need, turn to G’d, as they are well aware that He has ‎the power to help them. Because they are aware of this, it is their ‎duty to keep this factor in mind and to turn to G’d in prayer. ‎Moreover, the very word ‎תפלה‎, “usually translated as “prayer,” is ‎a word which expresses ‎התחברות‎, a close association, joining ‎together. We know this from Genesis 3,8 when Rachel called her ‎second son by proxy (Bilhah) ‎נפתלי‎, indicating that she felt that ‎G’d had come closer to her, and that she was comparable to her ‎sister now. Following the Jewish people’s first recorded prayer to ‎G’d during over 80 years of enslavement, G’d immediately ‎responded by coming closer to His chosen people and going about ‎appointing their redeemer, Moses. The word ‎וידע אלוקים‎ was ‎chosen therefore to remind us of this term used by the Torah ‎when Adam for the first time had marital relations with Chavah, ‎or as the Torah says elsewhere, “man and wife are to become one ‎flesh.” (Genesis 3,24) [The author quotes Genesis 4,25, but ‎my quote, I think is even more appropriate. Ed.] The ‎words ‎בקרב שנים‎ in the verse from Chabakuk above, mean that ‎‎“pain” is something that exists only in our world, a world that is ‎limited in space and time. In regions that are not influenced by ‎time, i.e. celestial regions, there is no such thing as pain, ‎suffering, etc.; G’d now being in a relationship of ‎וידע‎, i.e. ‎establishing close contact with His people, their pain and ‎suffering will come to an end as a result of their coming closer to ‎these regions of the universe.‎

Da’as implies connection and separation. Da’as implies connection, as the attachment between husband and wife is called in the Torah a da’as relationship.³⁶⁵The initial intimate closeness between Adam and Eve is called a connection of da’as: Va-yeda adam es chavah ishto, “And Adam knew Eve his wife” (Gen. 4:25). It also connotes a separation as evidenced in the statement of the Jerusalem Talmud, “Without da’as how could distinction be drawn?”³⁶⁶Da’as Tefillah pg. 401. Da’as means focusing upon and blending together the ideas from intuition (chochmah) and understanding (binah). To focus on a thought, I must separate my mind from other concepts and attach it exclusively to a single topic.³⁶⁷See further Da’as Tefillah pg. 402, who applies this focus to internalization of a sense of holiness and quotes the following source: “The concept of holiness requires two stages. Initially, it is a struggle and its end is a gift. Initially, man sanctifies himself, and at the end, God dedicates man.”
The effort entailed in man’s sanctification is that he detach himself entirely from materialism, and he must attach himself fully, at every moment, to His God. This level caused the prophets to be called angels, as was written in regards to Aaron, “For the lips of the priest preserve da’as, and Torah will be sought from his mouth, for he is an angel of the Lord of Hosts” (Mal. 2:7). Even at moments when he is involved in material acts that are needed for his body, he feels a sense of attachment with the Divine.
“It is impossible for man to reach this level on his own. Man is a material being composed of flesh and blood, which is why I said that the end is a gift. Man can attempt to pursue da’as of truth and constant appreciation of the saintliness of deeds. However, successful attainment of these levels comes from God who will lead man down the path he has chosen and He will place upon man His holiness and He will sanctify man” (excerpted from Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, Path of the Upright, Chapter 26). Feeling fully connected to the ideas that are father and mother (wisdom and understanding) causes them to fully enter one’s personality and to create emotions.