Мусар к Дварим 4:24

Come and see the greatness of the eminence of one who upholds the Torah, and benefits a Torah scholar with his possessions and draws close to him, Scripture considering it as if he [thereby] cleaved to the Shechinah. As Chazal (Kethuvoth 111a) say on the verse (Deuteronomy 4:9): "And you that did cleave to the L-rd your G-d are all alive this day." Now is it possible for a man to cleave to the Shechinah? Is it not written (Ibid. 24): "For the L-rd your G-d is a consuming fire!" The intent is, rather, if one weds his daughter to a Torah scholar, or does business for a Torah scholar, or benefits a Torah scholar with his possessions, it is accounted to him as if he cleaved to the Shechinah." And they stated further (Ibid. 10b): "All who lodge Torah scholars in their homes and offer them of their fare are regarded by Scripture as presenters of daily ['continual'] sacrifices." And (Ibid. 63b): "R. Nechemiah opened [his discourse] in honor of the host, expounding (I Samuel 15:6): 'And Saul said to the Keni: Go, depart, go down from the midst of Amalek, lest I destroy you with him — and you have done lovingkindness with all the children of Israel': Now does this not follow a fortiori? If Yithro, who befriended Moses only for his own honor had this accorded [to his descendants, the Keni], then one who is host to a Torah scholar, and feeds him, and gives him to drink, and treats him of his possessions, how much more so!'… R. Elazar b. R. Yossi Haglili opened [his discourse] in honor of the host, expounding (II Samuel 6:11): 'And the L-rd blessed the house of Oved-Edom… because of the ark of G-d' [which he kept in his house]. Now does this not follow a fortiori? If the ark, which did not eat and did not drink — because they swept and sprinkled before it, thus [were they rewarded], then one who is host to a Torah scholar, and feeds him, and gives him to drink, and treats him of his possessions, how much more so!'"

לא תגנובו, "Do not steal," alludes to Adam who was a thief. נטע רבעי, the legislation of sanctifying the fruit of a tree in its fourth year, alludes to Noach who was drunk on a Wednesday. When a stranger (convert to Judaism) takes up residence among you, etc.," is an allusion to the first convert, Abraham. The prohibition of offering one's children as a sacrifice to the Moloch (20,2) is not part of the general prohibition to worship idols, but concerns itself specifically with the worship of fire. There are two kinds of fire. There is the fire described by the prophet Ovadiah 1,18 in the words: והיה בית יעקב אש, "The house of Jacob will turn into fire." This is a sacred fire, because the Lord your G–d is also called "fire." Also the fire in the Temple (Deut. 4,24) was sacred fire. However, there is another kind of fire, the fire of Esau, the fire of purgatory, a destructive fire emanating from the קליפה. When discussing the Moloch, the Torah adds (20,3) למען טמא את מקדשי ולחלל את שם קדשי, "and he so defiled My Temple and profaned My holy Name." How does the Temple feature in this paragraph? What does a fire-offering to the Moloch have to do with the Temple? The Torah wishes to point out that though fire-offerings to the Moloch are an abomination, there are fire- offerings such as the ones brought by Jacob which reflect the highest level of sanctity. When the Torah writes: והתקדשתם והייתם קדושים, it is an instruction to sanctify את קדוש יעקב, the G–d considered as the personification of holiness by Jacob. This is merely another way of saying: קודש ישראל לה', or that His name is called ישראל, the concept known as ישראל סבא, the first manifestation of G–d when He commenced creating the universe as a יש מאין by means of the first נקודה, as we explained above.

The above proves that the approach we have taken is based on ancient tradition. But I would like to suggest a mystical approach: We do not find that any person had enjoyed G–d's "light" from the time of Adam until the appearance of Chanoch whom G–d took from this earth and made into an angel (Genesis 5,24), the one usually referred to as Matatron. During the ten generations that elapsed between Adam and Noach, the latter was the outstanding צדיק of his time, refined enough to become the instrument of man's survival as a species. This is why the Torah reminds us that נח, whose name is half of that of חנוך, is referred to by the words זה ינחמנו, "This one will comfort us" (Genesis 5,29). His name also amounts to half the name of the angel מטטרון, Matatron, since the first three letters in that name equal 58, i.e. the same as the numerical value of נח. The remaining letters in the name of that angel spell נור, a burning light, to signify that חנוך had been turned into a flame of fire and become that angel. What had remained of חנוך after the 58=חן had been removed is וך, i.e. 26, a number equaling the numerical value of the Ineffable Name of G–d. Of the name מטטרון we are left with נור), a form of אש, fire, an allusion that "the Lord your G–d is אש אוכלה, a fire that consumes" (Deut. 9.3). We note that though there was an element of the quality of חנוך about נח, this was still שקר, deception, as it was not a true quality, seeing that even the "beauty" of אדם הראשון was only הבל, vain, since he had pursued values that are vain.