Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Daniel 10:5

The discourse of Abraham the author: Behold, I have endeavored to speak. The One, which precedes calculation, is, from one aspect, the cause of all calculation, and from another aspect, it is all the calculation – it neither adds nor subtracts, yet it is the cause of all addition and subtraction. It does not accept multiplication or division, yet it is the cause of both. And this One is the First World relative to the worlds that are after it. This world is not corporeal, and it is called the "likeness of the glory of the LORD" on high [cf. Ezekiel 1:28]. It does not change in essence or configuration, and it has no time or place, and the honored Name is within it. And the Second World, which is the Middle one – there reside souls/forms of truth without bodies [i.e., angels], and also souls in bodies [celestial intelligences?], and their number is beyond us, as are the bodies [celestial spheres/stars]. And all of them are honored [beings], for they have no opposite, or change, or alteration in their essence, but only incidentally in the configuration of their motion. And this world is called the Holy Temple/Palace (Heikhal Ha-Kodesh), and they are the Heavens of Heavens (Shmei Ha-Shamayim). And there is the Throne of Glory (Kissei Ha-Kavod), and there are Michael and Gabriel. Therefore, Jonathan ben Uzziel translated [Isaiah 6:3, “Holy, holy, holy...”] as “Holy in the highest heavens, the house of His Shekhinah...” [Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 6:3]. And this is what [Isaiah] mentioned first: “sitting upon a throne” [Isaiah 6:1], which is the Throne of Glory, “and His train” – meaning the train/hem of the Throne – “filled the Temple” [Isaiah 6:1]. And he said, “Holy upon the earth, the work of His might...” [Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 6:3]. And behold, the two [first declarations of 'Holy'] refer to the hidden [worlds], and afterwards he mentioned “Holy forever and ever” [Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 6:3]. Know that the attribute [of holiness] does not change relative to the places [worlds], therefore the secret of his words is [in the repetition] “And one called...” [Isaiah 6:3]. And behold, the bodies of the Middle World neither begin nor end. And concerning this world it is written: “Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His hosts” [Psalms 148:2], also the ministers [planets] and the two luminaries [sun and moon]. And concerning all, it says: “For He commanded and they were created. And He established them forever and ever; He gave a decree, and it shall not pass away” [Psalms 148:5-6]. Yet there is opposition/variety in their movements: some go from east to west, and the opposite [west to east]; also northward and southward; also along the equator; some are direct in their course, some retrograde, some stationary; some swift, some slow; some ascending, some descending; some visible, some hidden; the ministers [planets] alone have 120 conjunctions, and the higher ones [fixed stars?] are countless. Sometimes [they are] in opposition, sometimes in aspects of love. And I say [despite] all this, there is no [conflict] among them, but rather thus are new events generated in the Lower World, on account of their movement and their changing configurations, sometimes for good, sometimes for ill. And these matters require a lengthy explanation, and one book cannot contain the knowledge of their secret and purpose. And the Third World is beneath the firmament, and it is entirely full of bodies, both subtle and dense. And there are bodies containing souls (neshamot), also spirits (ruchot), also life-forces (nefashot). And Man alone is the secret [centerpiece] of this Lower World, and for his sake it was created, and his soul is bound to the higher souls. And because the speaker is human, and the listener is human, therefore [Scripture speaks of] the higher [realities] and the lower [realities] in human terms. Behold, it attributes majesty to the higher and diminishes them [by using physical terms], for I cannot speak [of them] unless it is done thus, and it elevates the lower [by giving them human-like attributes]. Therefore, the Sages, of blessed memory, said: “The Torah speaks in the language of human beings.” They [Scripture] say: “the top of the earth's soil” [Proverbs 8:26], “covered the eye of the land” [Exodus 10:5], “Give ear, O earth” [Isaiah 1:2], “Incline your ear” [cf. Psalms 45:11], and concerning the stone, that it heard the word of the Lord [Joshua 24:27], “And the earth opened its mouth” [Numbers 16:32], “from the ends of the earth” [Isaiah 41:9], “in the heart of the seas” [Exodus 15:8], “on the lip of the river” [Exodus 2:3], “the hand [bank] of the Jordan” [II Kings 2:7], “a helmet of salvation on His head” [Isaiah 59:17], “eyes of the LORD” [Zechariah 4:10], “in the ears of the LORD” [Numbers 11:1], “for the mouth of the LORD has spoken” [Isaiah 1:20], “by the word of Your lips” [Psalms 17:4], “My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens” [Isaiah 48:13], “And the LORD said to His heart” [Genesis 8:21], “therefore My inner parts moan for him” [Jeremiah 31:19], “and under His feet” [Exodus 24:10]. And in this manner: “And the anger of the LORD burned” [Numbers 11:1], “the beloved of the LORD” [Deuteronomy 33:12], “And the LORD went” [Exodus 13:21], “The LORD sat enthroned at the Flood” [Psalms 29:10], “Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud” [Isaiah 19:1], “Awake! Why do You sleep?” [Psalms 44:24], “Then the Lord awoke as from sleep” [Psalms 78:65], “I have kept silent from of old, I have been still and restrained Myself” [Isaiah 42:14]. And behold, the Prince of Persia is the one appointed over the large or the middle company/grouping [perhaps referring to a level in the celestial/angelic hierarchy]. And behold, Daniel mentioned the appointed one [Prince of Persia] using the name "angel." And the matter of the additional [statement, Daniel 11:1] confirms this, as it stems from love [mutual support between angels]. And the meaning of the 21 days [of struggle, Daniel 10:13] corresponds to the appointee over Daniel himself, for just as there are appointees over every nation, so there is over every person. And the opposition between this [individual angel] and that [national angel] is the "war" [mentioned in Daniel 10:20]. And behold, this Lower World is the world of opposition and change, in essence, in configuration, and in motion. And the form that Daniel mentioned [the man clothed in linen, Daniel 10:5] appeared to him in prophetic visions. And I have already revealed to you the secret of the holy angels briefly through hints, and there is proof for all this from the words of the Prophets, and also proofs from the external wisdoms [philosophy/science]. And know that the decrees, past and future, come from the heavens, and they are the word of God, and it is written: “Forever, O LORD, Your word stands firm in the heavens” [Psalms 119:89]. And the secret of the configurations [of the heavens] from the beginning of their creation – upon all the configurations of the heavens are the Books [of decree]. Therefore, [this explains] the secret of dreams. And now I will return to explain the words of the angel.

Know that actually the Torah should have written ויקרא ה' אל משה ויאמר אליו; the fact that the subject of who was speaking i.e. the Lord, was not mentioned indicates that although the Book of Leviticus is a Book in its own right, it is an integral part of what came before it; the entire Torah is one continuous document, a single structure. The word ויקרא is simply a reference to the attribute of כבוד which was last mentioned in Exodus 40,35 when the Torah wrote that this attribute filled the Tabernacle.
The attribute which called to Moses was the “small” letter א in the word בהבראם In Genesis 2,4. In order to make this clear the letter א in the word ויקרא here is also written small.
When the Torah continues with מאהל מועד, “from the Tent of Meeting,” our sages in Torat Kohanim 1-2,10 state that the voice of G’d reached only the walls of the Sanctuary and was not audible outside. In order that we should not think that this was due to the voice of G’d being weak, close to a whisper, the Torah wrote הקול with the letter ה in front to teach us that the voice was powerful but that G’d deliberately restricted the sound waves to the inside of the Tabernacle. We have other verses in Scriptures where the word קול ה' occurs, such as in Psalms 29,4-5 קול ה' בכח, קול ה' בהדר, קול ה' שובר ארזים “the sound of G’d’s voice is power; the sound of the Lord’s voice is majesty; the sound of the Lord’s voice breaks cedars, etc. etc.” The letter ה in our verse before the word קול, while referring to a voice which is familiar to us from other occasions, did not mean that the voice of G’d was especially overpowering such as at Mount Sinai, but it simply meant that it was neither weak nor eardrum-shattering. If this is so, why did the Torah write מאהל מועד, “from the Tent of Meeting,” if the voice was not actually heard beyond the walls of the Tabernacle? The fact is that we encounter something similar in Ezekiel 10,5 where the prophet writes: “and the sound of the wings of the cherubs was heard up to the outer courtyard as the voice of El Shaddai when He speaks.” Another verse in which the voice of G’d is mentioned is in Ezekiel 1,24: “Then I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of great waters, like the sound of Shaddai as they moved, the sound of the words like the sound of the company; when they halt they release their wings.” The meaning of these verses is that the prophet Ezekiel compared the heavenly voice to four different phenomena; 1) he compared it to large bodies of waters the sound of which is steady, continuous; 2) he compared it to the voice of Shaddai, a voice which is neither too loud nor too weak. 3) The words “to the sound of a company (of angels) when they halt they release their wings,” describes the variety of sounds. 4) “The sound of a camp,” describes the sounds of the trumpets when the people in the camp are being alerted to break camp, etc. The remarkable thing was that this voice did not penetrate beyond the walls of the Temple’s courtyard.
The meaning of כקול אל שדי בדברו in Ezekiel 10,5 is: “similar to the voice of the G’d Shaddai when He was speaking,” It is a reference to the voice of G’d speaking during the revelation at Mount Sinai. That voice had been described as קול גדול ולא יסף, “a great sound which would not be repeated,” in Deut. 5,19, and as נפשי יצאה בדברו, “my soul departed when He spoke” in Song of Songs 5,6. At the time of the revelation G’d’s voice was inaudible beyond the confines of the camp of the Israelites, whereas here it was inaudible beyond the confines of the Tabernacle. The sound of the wings of the cherubs in Ezekiel’s vision were not audible beyond the walls of the courtyard of the Temple.
When you study the beginning of the Book of Samuel where Samuel is described as being called and the High Priest Eli had not heard the voice which called Samuel, he answered him: “go back to sleep” as he had thought that Samuel had mistakenly though that he, Eli, had called him (Samuel I 3,4). Eli thought hat Samuel’s imagination had played a trick on him. When Samuel experienced a second call Eli realized that Samuel had not imagined the call, but Eli was still not certain whether Samuel had heard a human voice or a divine call. In either event, he, Eli, had not heard any voice. This is why he told Samuel again to lie down and to continue sleeping. Only when Samuel reported hearing a voice calling him a third time did Eli understand that this was a heavenly voice. In the interval Eli had made a point of listening closely, and when he noted that Samuel had heard a voice which he himself had not heard, he realised that an angel had called to Samuel. This is the meaning of “Eli understood that G’d called to the lad” (3,8). Just as we find that voices heard by the prophet addressed by G’d or His angel are not heard by those whom G’d does not address, the same is true of visions which prophets are shown. G’d may show something to a person whom He has selected for that purpose, whereas others standing at the same spot will not experience the vision at all. We have clear proof of this in Daniel 10,7 where Daniel reports a vision he saw (obviously while awake and in the company of others) which the people next to him did not experience. This explains why the plagues inflicted by G’d upon the Egyptians were not noticed by the Israelites as affecting them at all. This was particularly true of the plague of darkness where the Torah states that the Israelites could even see in the very houses in which the Egyptians felt a palpable darkness so that they were unable to move (Exodus 10,23).
Rabbi Saadyah Gaon, in his Emunot Ve-deyot describes the matter in approx. these words: “it is clear that the sound (voice) which the prophet hears is a sort of new creation by the Lord. Whereas ordinary prophets heard this voice of G’d through an angel who was the intermediary, Moses heard it without needing recourse to an angel as his intermediary. In other words, Moses himself took the place of the angel. This is what the Torah meant when it wrote that G’d spoke to Moses “face to face.” This is also what the Torah meant when it reported about Moses אשר ידעו ה', “with whom G’d was on intimate terms.” To remind us of this for all times, the Torah wrote (Deut. 34,10) that “never again did there arise a prophet of the unique qualities of Moses.” Moses was in a class by himself as prophets go through three distinctive features: 1) his prophetic insights were received without intermediary. 2) He was able to respond to prophetic visions immediately, without trepidation, without feeling physically weakened by the mere fact that he had experienced a call from G’d or a vision. Even great prophets such as Isaiah and Ezekiel describe that they were overwhelmed by their visions (Isaiah 6,1, and Ezekiel 1,28). Moses could immediately involve G’d in a dialogue as we know from Exodus 18,19: “Moses would speak and G’d would respond.” 3) Moses saw his prophetic visions by means of a single מחיצה, “screen, or filter, ”whereas other prophets’ visions had been filtered through no fewer than 9 such screens (based on Vayikra Rabbah 1,14). The fact that Moses did not need multiple “screens” or “mirrors” making such visions into riddles is spelled out in Numbers 12,8. On the other hand, Ezekiel and Daniel, for instance, needed 9 such “filters.” (They are quoted as using these words “such as the vision which I have seen no fewer than nine times for the same vision.” (Ezekiel 43,3). The word “vision” is in the plural on one occasion). The same is true in Daniel 10,5, 10,7-8. What Ezekiel and Daniel saw as מחיצות, barriers or filters, is described in the Torah by the word חידות in the verse from Numbers 12 which we quoted earlier. Thus far Rabbi Saadyah gaon.

HE SHALL PUT ON THE LINEN TUNIC OF ‘KODESH’ (HOLINESS). “This means that they [i.e., all the garments of the High Priest] must be of the Sanctuary [treasury, and not of his own possession].” This is Rashi’s language.³⁸Rashi thus interprets the verse to mean: “he shall put on the linen tunic of the Sanctuary.” Ramban will later suggest that by way of the simple meaning of Scripture, the phrase means that “he shall put on ‘the holy’ linen tunic.” It is so rendered in the J.P.S. translation. Thus the following phrase which states, they are garments of ‘kodesh’ (holiness) must therefore mean that all the garments [even those of the ordinary priests], must come from the Sanctuary [treasury]. And [so] it is stated in the Torath Kohanim:³⁹Torath Kohanim, Acharei 1:10. “‘Kodesh yilbash’ (‘He shall put on’ the linen tunic ‘of holiness’), this means that these [garments of the High Priest] are to be of the Sanctuary. From this phrase I would only know concerning these garments [i.e., the four garments worn by the High Priest when he ministered in the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement]. Whence do I know to include the other garments of the High Priest [i.e., the eight golden garments in which he officiated throughout the year], and the garments of his brethren the priests [that they too must all come from the Temple treasury]? Scripture therefore says, they are garments of ‘kodesh’ (holiness). It is a conclusion by analogy that all garments [worn by all priests] should be of the Temple treasury” [since they all come under the term ‘garments of holiness’].
By way of the simple meaning of Scripture, just as He said, and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother,⁴⁰Exodus 28:4. referring to the eight [golden] garments, He states that these [four garments worn by the High Priest on the Day of Atonement] are also holy garments. Their secret is analogous to the man clothed in linen,⁴¹Ezekiel 9:11. The symbol there is that G-d will not destroy His people, but that He will deal with them in mercy (Abusaula). and therefore He informed him that they are holy garments. And in Vayikra Rabbah the Rabbis have said:⁴²Vayikra Rabbah 21:10. “As the Service performed Above, so is the Service below. Just as of the Service Above it is said, one man in the midst of them clothed in linen,⁴³Ezekiel 9:2. so of the Service below it is said, he shall put on the holy linen tunic.