Chasidut for Bava Batra 150:11
(יחזקאל מא, ו) והצלעות צלע אל צלע שלש ושלשים פעמים מאי שלש ושלשים פעמים א"ר לוי אמר רב פפי משום ר' יהושע דסכני אם ג' ירושלים הן כל אחת ואחת יש בה שלשים מדורין למעלה אם שלשים ירושלים הן כל אחת ואחת יש בה שלשה מדורין למעלה:
It has been stated: [In the case of a ship] — Rab said: [The buyer acquires legal ownership] as soon as he pulled [it],<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Pulling, Heb. meshikah, [H] is one of the modes of acquiring legal possession. It is performed by drawing the object towards oneself. ');"><sup>24</sup></span> however slightly; whereas Samuel said: He cannot become its legal owner until he has pulled its full length.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The entire ship must be moved from its position. by the buyer, until its farther end touches the spot on which the nearer end had rested. ');"><sup>25</sup></span> Must it be said that [they<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Rab and Samuel. ');"><sup>26</sup></span>
Kedushat Levi
Looking at the plain meaning of the text it is difficult to understand Onkelos.
Perhaps we have to fall back on the principle that every human being, as part of his character, (virtues) must endeavour to maintain close relations with his Creator. This involves a degree of awe and reverence for the Creator to be present in his mind at all times. It also presumes that he is imbued with a degree of love for his Creator, as he contemplates the greatness of G’d. He is obligated to do this if for no other reason than G’d has performed so many more deeds of loving kindness for the Jewish people than He has performed for any other nation. The same is true for other attributes of G’d that have been of benefit to us on numerous occasions. The sum total of such a relationship between us, the creature, and the Creator, makes this an עולם האמת, a world in which truth is predominant. Once we appreciate this we can understand the Talmud in Megillah 18 in which the rhetorical question is posed of how we know that G’d had referred to Yaakov by the title א-ל, a name used for referring to Him on many occasions?
The foregoing will also help us understand what the Talmud meant when it described G’d as having built and destroyed worlds on a regular basis before He commenced with the construction of the universe described in Bereshit. The Talmud in Baba Batra 75 tells us that just as G’d has been building worlds, so the righteous, in a future, refined world, will also “build worlds;” not only that but they will be given titles used by G’d to describe Himself. The ministering angels when meeting up with these righteous will address them as “your holiness.” Although such statements first strike us as bordering on blasphemy, when we consider that these “righteous people” have already acquired many of G’d’s own attributes, it is not difficult to understand the Talmudic references to the future better state of the world at all.
If man has not attained the level of perfection described in the last few lines, then instead of being accorded titles that he can share with G’d, he remains below that spiritual level; this is why Joseph asks his brothers if they have such a low opinion of him that he is תחת אלוקים, “beneath the level of minimal perfection” described in the Talmud, so that he would be capable of dealing on a basis of revenge with them.
If man has not attained the level of perfection described in the last few lines, then instead of being accorded titles that he can share with G’d, he remains below that spiritual level; this is why Joseph asks his brothers if they have such a low opinion of him that he is תחת אלוקים, “beneath the level of minimal perfection” described in the Talmud, so that he would be capable of dealing on a basis of revenge with them.