Chasidut for Berakhot 127:18
Kedushat Levi
The Talmud in Shabbat 63 interprets the words of Solomon, speaking of the Torah in Proverbs 3,16 by describing it as follows: ארך ימים בימינה בשמאלה עשר וכבוד, “lengthy days is her right hand; in her left hand riches and honour,“ anyone reading this forms the impression that Solomon assures people keeping the Torah of worldly rewards, and at least when the reward hoped for is material, i.e. worldly riches etc., it is considered as belonging to the left side of the emanations, i.e. is a negative. This would contradict our statement that even though one keeps the Sabbath for such reasons, it is a positive accomplishment, though of a lower order, i.e. is not the kind of service that the Creator would prefer from His creatures, and that optimally, G’d prefers for His creatures not to serve Him for physical material rewards. Some righteous people completely eschew any recognition of their service to G’d as long as they have attained a more profound understanding of the essence of G’d while on this earth. Some go so far as to renounce the claim to a “name” in the world to come so as not to appear as looking for personal recognition of their accomplishments. This is what the Talmud in B’rachot 64 and in Moed Katan 29 had in mind when it stated that the Torah scholars have no “rest”, מנוחה, either in this world or in the world to come, but they keep progressing spiritually from one level to another. [“Rest” in this context is clearly considered as a negative, instead of as a positive quality as in connection with the Sabbath rest. Ed.] According to the way our author understands the prayer quoted, the repeated insistence that in all sections of the universe there is no One that has a name bar the Creator, reflects his view that the perfect tzaddik feels that being singled out (by a name) would detract from his selfless service of the Lord. When the author refers to the world to come in that prayer, he means that he does not desire “to rest on his laurels,” even after he (his soul) has been admitted to the celestial regions. The author of that prayer continues by stating that even if one serves G’d with the objective of experiencing the arrival of the messiah and the additional insights we will all be granted concerning the nature of G’d at that time, this too is not the ultimate optimal kind of service of the Lord.
[I must confess that I have difficulty in understanding the above prayer as anything but having G’d as its subject, not the author himself or his yearnings for a דבקות ה' at the expense of any individuality of his personality. Surely, G’d does not wish to be worshipped anonymously, but wishes to point out to us lesser mortals how great men such as Avraham, Yitzchok, Yaakov, etc, whose names matter, can serve as models for us. Ed.]
[I must confess that I have difficulty in understanding the above prayer as anything but having G’d as its subject, not the author himself or his yearnings for a דבקות ה' at the expense of any individuality of his personality. Surely, G’d does not wish to be worshipped anonymously, but wishes to point out to us lesser mortals how great men such as Avraham, Yitzchok, Yaakov, etc, whose names matter, can serve as models for us. Ed.]
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Kedushat Levi
The verses describing the births of Peretz and Zerach are meant to illustrate how such attempted reaching for that which was not completed represented a lost opportunity, so that the second of the twins wound up being the firstborn [in the physiological and halachic sense, similar to Esau. Ed.]
We have a statement in Chagigah 15, according to which there is a heavenly voice calling out once on each day emanating from Mount Sinai calling on sinners to do penitence, excluding only Elisha ben Avuya. The Talmud there illustrates that there exists an opportunity for each one of us to cement our relations with our Creator. All that is needed is to demonstrate one’s sincerity through performance of one of the mitzvot that are basic to Judaism, such as giving charity or Torah study. The reference to שיח, a word having several meanings, may be to warn us that we are not to waste our time on earth in idle conversation, if we aspire to establish a firm bond with our Creator. There is no need to add that if one employs the gift of speech to indulge in defamation of others, etc., that this instead of strengthening the bond with our Creator, drives a wedge between Him and us.
Such abuse of the power of speech is forbidden even when we find ourselves in the part of the universe that has either not yet emerged from the primeval state of חושך, darkness, or is on the verge of descending back into that sorry condition. Our author refers to the mental state of a person yearning for the closeness with the Creator that he describes as a state of התעוררות היראה, “an awakening to a feeling of awe of the Creator.” He has explained this phenomenon in connection with a statement in B’rachot 64 according to which the very existence of Torah scholars contributes to harmony, peace in the lower universe. [As I have not found where the author’s explanation on that statement in the Talmud has appeared in print, I will try and explain how I understand his thoughts. Ed.]
We have a statement in Chagigah 15, according to which there is a heavenly voice calling out once on each day emanating from Mount Sinai calling on sinners to do penitence, excluding only Elisha ben Avuya. The Talmud there illustrates that there exists an opportunity for each one of us to cement our relations with our Creator. All that is needed is to demonstrate one’s sincerity through performance of one of the mitzvot that are basic to Judaism, such as giving charity or Torah study. The reference to שיח, a word having several meanings, may be to warn us that we are not to waste our time on earth in idle conversation, if we aspire to establish a firm bond with our Creator. There is no need to add that if one employs the gift of speech to indulge in defamation of others, etc., that this instead of strengthening the bond with our Creator, drives a wedge between Him and us.
Such abuse of the power of speech is forbidden even when we find ourselves in the part of the universe that has either not yet emerged from the primeval state of חושך, darkness, or is on the verge of descending back into that sorry condition. Our author refers to the mental state of a person yearning for the closeness with the Creator that he describes as a state of התעוררות היראה, “an awakening to a feeling of awe of the Creator.” He has explained this phenomenon in connection with a statement in B’rachot 64 according to which the very existence of Torah scholars contributes to harmony, peace in the lower universe. [As I have not found where the author’s explanation on that statement in the Talmud has appeared in print, I will try and explain how I understand his thoughts. Ed.]
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