Chasidut para sa Genesis 12:11

And this is the meaning of "Many are the thoughts in a man's heart, but the counsel of the LORD shall stand" (Proverbs 19:21). For many thoughts enter a person's mind each day, and lest you say they come to confuse you — therefore it says "the counsel of the LORD," that it shall arise from its fallen state. For through this, the thought comes into the aspect of clarification (berur), since it is for this that the Messiah waits — that we reach this level, as stated. And as the Baal Shem Tov — his soul in the treasuries on high — said on the verse "Behold now I know that you are a woman of beautiful appearance" (Genesis 12:11): How could he not have seen her until now, which is impossible [for him not to have]? Rather, because Abraham our father, peace be upon him, was a chariot to Him, may He be blessed, and was always bound in his thought to the root of thought, he had not, until now, seen or recognized in her the form of her beauty — for he was very far from that. Even though he saw her constantly, his thought was always elsewhere than in the place of physical sight, and so he did not recognize it in her until now. Only when he went down to Egypt — as it says, "And Abram went down to Egypt" — did he descend from his prior level, as explained in our earlier words.generation of the Flood caused the aspect of Torah and of thought to fall into the place of the kelipah (husk) of Egypt; and through this, Israel had to be there, to refine the sparks and reunify them as before. For the Egyptians were steeped in licentiousness, and the source of this was the world of love that had fallen there from the Torah, which is the aspect of chesed (lovingkindness), as it is written, "and the Torah of chesed is on her tongue" (Proverbs 31:26). And concerning Israel, Scripture testified that they did not stumble in this trait of licentiousness, as it is written (Numbers 26:7–14): "the Reubenite," "the Simeonite" — the hei [prefixed] on this side and the yod [suffixed] on that side [i.e., God set His Name, yod-hei, among them as testimony to their purity of lineage]. Through this they raised the fallen love back to its root, to the Torah that is called chesed, as stated; and through this they merited to receive [the Torah] at once in the third month, by refining the aspect of Torah that was there. But in Abraham's days the refinement was not yet complete, and therefore, upon coming to Egypt, he descended from his level, and thoughts began to come to him from the aspect of the shattering (shevirah) — as it is written, "Seven times the righteous falls and rises" (Proverbs 24:16). This means that the righteous one falls into the aspect of the "seven," which are seven kinds of thoughts that have fallen from their source; yet because he is righteous and rises and unifies them back to their root — to the source of thought, which is called chochmah (wisdom), the aspect of "my sister" — it is reckoned to him, through this, as still greater [divine] service. Therefore he said, "Behold now I know" — that I have fallen from my level, to the point that "I know that you are a woman," etc. — which was not so before, as stated. And he taught her da'at (knowledge), how to be saved from this in this place, which is Egypt, through "Say now you are my sister" — meaning, to take hold of the aspect of "my sister," which is the supernal chochmah, as stated. And then the thoughts that came to him in Egypt are in order to raise them to their root, and this is, on the contrary, the service of God, may He be blessed, as stated — and not that they came to confuse him. And this is "that my soul may live," etc. (Genesis 12:13). And this too is the intent of "And his sister stationed herself from afar" (Exodus 2:4). For Miriam, though she was a prophetess, nevertheless at that hour the prophecy did not come to her, and she could not grasp [it] in the aspect of [his] being struck down in the water — since this is certainly not a striking-down, for how [otherwise] could the earlier prophecy be fulfilled, that she was destined to bear a son who would save Israel? She did not attain it until she strengthened herself to stand in the level of the sage, who is superior to a prophet, as stated. And this is "And his sister stationed herself from afar" — that she stood in the aspect of "his sister," which is the aspect of chochmah, "to know" (le-de'ah) — a term of da'at, attainment through the supernal da'at — "from afar," that is, of what would come in the distance of time, at the end of the forty years that Israel were in the wilderness. And one may also explain "from afar" thus: that by standing in the aspect of chochmah, one is able to unify things that are in the aspect of distance, as stated. And this is "his sister... from afar," and through this, "to know what would be done to him" — that he would receive the Torah. And my teacher — his soul in the treasuries on high — said on the verse, "And she made for him an ark of reeds and daubed it" (Exodus 2:3): the Torah was at first in the place of thought (machshavah), so that the patriarchs of the world, who studied Torah, attained it as it is in the world of thought, as we have said elsewhere. And through Moses, who is da'at, it was drawn down to them into speech (dibbur), which is the last of the levels, of the seven days of building [the seven lower sefirot] — as it is written in the Torah many times, "And the LORD spoke to Moses," and "And God spoke all these words" (Exodus 20:1) — meaning that he drew the primordial Torah down into speech, where it was clothed in material garments. And this is "And she made for him a teivah (ark)" — read as an expression of gemiah (sipping/drawing in), which is the drawing [of water], to draw down through speech the delight within the Torah, from the attribute of chesed, as it is written, "and the Torah of chesed," etc. "And daubed it" (va-tachmerah) — that he made for it material garments [chomer, matter]. "And she placed it in the reeds (ba-suf)" — meaning, at the end (ba-sof) of the levels, which is the aspect of speech, as stated above. "And she placed it on the bank (sefat)" — from the language of "lips" (sefatayim), which is likewise the aspect of speech — [on the bank of] the river (ye'or), which is drawn from the supernal primordial stream, which was at first in thought, and at the time of the giving of the Torah was drawn down into speech.

Even if foreign thoughts arrive, my master taught me how to discern whether a thought is from the pillar of kindness, hesed, that fell through the breaking of the vessels and needs to be elevated. Some thoughts, however, are thoughts of transgression, and when such a thought arrives, you should know that there is judgement against you that want you to be punished, and you should tremble greatly at this understanding. By doing so, you can unite Awe and Awed, and "all evildoers will disappear." In this way he interpreted the verses "I know that you are a beautiful woman" (Genesis 12:11) and "Lest they kill me" (Genesis 26:7) - a hint at the punishment of one who harbours this type of thoughts of sexuality.