Chasidut for Rosh Hashanah 7:5
אטו שלמה לא עבד הכי והכתיב (מלכים א ו, לו) שלשה טורי גזית וטור כרתות ארזים שלמה עבד מלמעלה ואיהו עבד מלמטה שלמה שקעיה בבנינא איהו לא שקעיה בבנינא שלמה סדייה בסידא איהו לא סדייה בסידא
- Solomon placed the wood above and he placed it below; Solomon sunk it in the building and he did not sink it in the building; Solomon plastered it over and he did not plaster it over. R'Joseph, (or, as some say, R'Isaac) said: Whence do we know that he deteriorated?
Kedushat Levi
In order to understand why Moses commences with the word וזאת, when commencing with Yehudah’s blessing, instead of simply commencing with: וליהודה, as he did when commencing the blessing of Levi or Joseph or Zevulun, etc., the author refers us to a verse in psalms 45,10 נצבה שגל לימינך בכתם אופיר, “the consort stands at your right hand, decked in gold of Ophir.”
This verse, or section of it, is discussed at length in Rosh Hashanah 4. The Talmud says that - [after discussing the meaning of the word שגל, or משגל, usually an uncouth term used by common people when speaking of sexual intercourse, Ed.]- the psalmist does indeed refer to a description of carnality committed with an animal, (female). When the sages of the Talmud react to this by asking how these words of the psalmist could then be interpreted as a welcome message, the answer given is that the prophet is telling the Jewish people that as a reward for their intense love of Torah, a love which if expressed in physical terms would be as intense as that experienced when gentiles climax in the sexual act, they would merit a similar proximity to G’d and would be treasured by Him as a husband who treasures his wife.
It is still difficult to understand why the Talmud chose precisely intensive Torah study as warranting this kind of reward, when there are many other cravings human beings experience that are as dear to them as indulging in the sexual act?
The answer is that by loving Torah, i.e. serving the One and only Creator, the observant Jew has demonstrated that rather than to be become addicted to some other less dominating influence, he has been intelligent enough to choose to become “addicted” to the King of Kings, instead of settling for second or third best. All other “ideals,” “deities,” “powers,” are transient, bound to disappear sooner or later, whereas G’d is both the origin, the purpose, and the meaningful content of all existence. Moreover, assuming one has craved for some other thing that people develop a craving for, and one has achieved an outstanding record of achievement in one’s chosen field, in the end one has achieved mastery in only one isolated field of human endeavor. Becoming a Talmid Chacham by applying oneself with the same devotion and singularity of purpose to Torah, results in one’s having mastered every discipline, for of Torah it is said that הפוך בה והפוך בה כי כולה בה, “keep turning over its pages again and again for everything you search for is contained in it.” (Avot end chapter 5) Seeing that this is so, true Torah study, when it is the result of a craving for getting closer to G’d, is the high road to succeeding in subduing all one’s cravings, as they are all inspired by the evil urge.
Although the path to G’d we have just described is a good path, it does not constitute the essence of true service of the Creator. The reason is that the person pursuing this path is still, in a manner of speaking, serving “himself,” i.e. with an ulterior motive, however noble that motive may be.
The truest service of the Lord is when one is concerned not with deriving pleasure- even spiritual pleasure from having done one’s duty- but when one’s sole purpose is to provide pleasure or its equivalent in celestial terms, to the Creator. The Creator is to derive satisfaction from His creature’s free willed actions, or in the words of Solomon in Proverbs 23,15:בני אם חכם לבך ישמח לבי גם אני, “My son, if your heart is wise, My heart too will be gladdened;” or in the words of the psalmist 104,31 ישמח ה' במעשיו , “may the Lord rejoice in His creatures’ deeds.” As a result of the Creator being pleased with the person serving Him in such a fashion, He, in turn will “play” with him much as a father plays with his children. This is the meaning of the verses quoted from Proverbs and psalms.
Indulging the various cravings available here on earth results in the person doing so receiving satisfaction, i.e. being turned into a recipient. At the same time man is aware that all such pleasures received on earth are transient in nature and will evaporate into nothingness, eventually.
The same is not the case when one indulges in marital intercourse with a view to producing offspring, posterity, that will replace the party doing so on earth after he has died. The male impregnating the female with his semen has become a “donor” at the very moment when he experiences fulfillment of his own sexual craving. The recipient is the woman in whom his seed has been implanted. To a certain extent, the husband experiences what G’d experiences when He is being worshipped on the highest level, as he has the satisfaction of providing his mate with pleasure.
This is what the Talmud had in mind when it compared the sexual act to the manner in which G’d craves the service of His creature, man, through Torah study. The Talmud wanted to stress the point that man, though merely a creature, is able to become a “donor,” when serving G’d. [This is a revolutionary concept, as we usually view ourselves as recipients of His largesse, especially so, as the relationship between us and our Creator is normally described as that of חתן andכלה , the creature being the כלה, the female of the “team,” i.e. at the receiving end. Ed.]
The Talmud describes how it is possible for Jews to sublimate something that when done by the gentiles is merely something physical, though also the male pagan is a donor when he provides his wife with physical satisfaction; however, since the metaphysical element is completely lacking in what the pagans do, even their most well intentioned efforts to please their partners are ultimately doomed to become extinguished, [as our sages have stated so eloquently when they referred to the letters י and ה respectively in the definition of איש and אישה as being what separates a true Jewish individual, as opposed to males and females of the gentiles in whom carnal desire ends up as being destructive fire, אש. Ed.]
This is also how the Talmud in Shabbat 140B in which Rav Chisda is reported as teaching his daughters ways of chastity is to be understood. He told his daughters to practice chastity even in their dealings with their husbands, such as not eating bread in front of their husbands, as they might be perceived as being too ravenous. This would revolt their husbands. Similarly, they were to be careful not to eat vegetables at night (evening) as this leaves an unpleasant odour coming from their mouths. Neither were they to eat dates or drink beer in the evening as this would lead to diarrhea. Also, when someone knocks on the door of their houses, asking to be allowed to enter, they should not ask מי הוא, “who is it?”, in the masculine mode but מי היא, “who is it,?” in the feminine mode.
As a further illustration of the value of the virtue of chastity, Rav Chisda held up one hand displaying a pearl, while in the other fist he held up a clod of earth until his daughters could no longer conceal their curiosity as to what their father had concealed in the second hand (fist).
When, to the dismay of his daughters, he displayed the clod of earth, he told them that their impatience to know what he had concealed in his fist was proof that people are drawn to worthless objects because they are concealed, whereas they look with disdain at precious objects, as these objects no longer arouse their curiosity. [What his daughters would conceal from their husbands for a while would intrigue their husbands, whereas what their husbands were familiar with about them would pale into insignificance.
You, the reader, have no doubt noticed that Rav Chisda’s last example about “chastity” quoted in the Talmud is totally different from the previous ones, and this is what prompted our author to resort to an allegorical interpretation, as the Talmud was not meant to provide us with “tidbits” about the personal lives of our Torah scholars.
Before presenting our author’s intriguing explanation, let me point out that the מאירי in his בית הבחירה on that folio in the Talmud offers a very good explanation without resorting to allegories. As his commentary had not been discovered until long after our author had died, he could not have been aware of it. Ed.]
A woman is equipped with two distinct sources of providing life/nourishment. 1) The visible source, her breasts from which the infant receives its life support and which fulfils all its needs. The invisible source is her womb. Her breasts are used to dispense loving kindness, whereas her womb is the location where she receives loving kindness.
If we substitute G’d as the speaker in the quotation from the Talmud of Rav Chisda to his daughters, and we see in the pearl Rav Chisda held in his hand, a simile for the manifest deeds of loving kindness performed by G’d for His creatures, this is an allusion to the first, and easy path for man to learn to serve his Creator. The impatience with which Rav Chisda’s daughters waited for their father to open his fist, represents man’s impatience for G’d to provide him with a “reason” to worship and serve Him by not merely being on the receiving end, but by being able to become “donors,” providing their Creator with satisfaction and pleasure. By providing Him with such pleasure, man also provides G’d’s celestial entourage with a measure of satisfaction.
This idea has also been expressed by Hoseah 2,18 when he says concerning a time in the future: והיה ביום ההוא נאום ה' תקראי אישי ולא תקראי לי עוד בעלי, “when that day will arrive you will call Me ‘my husband,’ and you will no longer call me: ‘my Master.’” When one perceives of one’s husband as בעל, “master,” instead of as אישי, “my male counterpart,” my complement, then it is obvious that one does not perceive of oneself as a Donor, but only as a recipient. The vision of Hoseah in the verse quoted looks forward to the time when not only a few individuals are able to serve G’d in the manner described as the “second path,” i.e. unabashedly aware that they too are “donors” when serving the Lord, not only “recipients.” When we keep this point in mind we can understand the verse in Hoseah as not only referring to the relationship between husband and wife, but to the relationship between Creator and creature. The prophet implies that the “largesse” man receives from G’d is tailored to his ability to appreciate it, and to use it as a stepping-stone to improve his relationship with his Creator. [The exception, presumably, is when G’d is “forced” to recompense the wicked for the good they have done on earth, as they have no afterlife to look forward to where they can make use of their “reward.” Ed.]
No two people are identical in their ability to “cope” successfully, i.e. in a manner that builds their character, with the same amount of G’d’s “largesse.” Just as a doctor does not prescribe the same dose of medicine for all of his patients, so G’d does not dispense the same amount of largesse to two people. Each one receives what G’d alone knows to be ideal for his condition.
Nonetheless sometimes G’d dispenses His largesse to some people not based strictly on their deserts or ability to “digest” it constructively, but according to His independent wisdom, and the privilege He enjoys as being the creature’s “owner.” In other words, sometimes a person receives an “advance” on what he will be entitled to in the future, although he has not yet completed the preparatory steps for “deserving” what he is about to receive. This type of “advance payment” by G’d is dispensed only when the individual concerned is still on the level of serving the Lord according to what we have called “path one.” This level is known in kabbalistic parlance as עלמא דנוקבא, “the world in which the feminine element dominates,” i.e. a world dependent on external help, largesse from the Creator. Some people receive what the author calls “largesse” commensurate with the strength of a “wolf,” whereas others receive largesse according to the ability of a “lion” to make constructive use of it.
Once the recipient of G’d’s largesse has “qualified” to serve the Lord according to what we called “path two,” he is not in need of further assistance. The level these people have attained is known in kabbalistic parlance as עלמא דדכורא, “the masculine domain of the world”. [Once these people have come to understand that it is possible to be a “donor” vis a vis the Creator, they would not even appreciate it if G’d would “assist” them in their quest, as they would see in such “assistance” proof of their own inadequacy. Donors, by definition, are self-propelled. The last 6 lines are not the author’s but mine. The author proceeds along a somewhat different path, as you will see forthwith. Ed.]
This world of the masculine domain has been blessed by G’d with something known as כללות, a term that allows for the recipient of G’d’s largesse not to be restricted to his spiritual status. [The term כללות is not really appropriate as we no longer speak about domains in the terrestrial part of the universe. Ed.] It is a domain exclusively presided over by the אין סוף G’d in His capacity as the Eternal, unbounded by any limitations.. Seeing that this is so, anyone having secured access to this domain becomes privy to the רצון, the will of the אין סוף, a will that is not hindered from being executed by opposing forces, and he is able to achieve things in the spiritual domain that he was not able to achieve while bound by the limits of lower domains.
[The author now speaks, or rather alludes, to a domain of אותיות and two tiers of domains known as אמונה which I am not familiar with. Ed.] Suffice it for the reader to remember that just as the physical universe of which the Torah speaks at the beginning of בראשית, consists of three layers, i.e. בריאה-יצירה עשיה, so the spiritual disembodied universe known as עולם האצילות, also consists of various layers, tiers.
This verse, or section of it, is discussed at length in Rosh Hashanah 4. The Talmud says that - [after discussing the meaning of the word שגל, or משגל, usually an uncouth term used by common people when speaking of sexual intercourse, Ed.]- the psalmist does indeed refer to a description of carnality committed with an animal, (female). When the sages of the Talmud react to this by asking how these words of the psalmist could then be interpreted as a welcome message, the answer given is that the prophet is telling the Jewish people that as a reward for their intense love of Torah, a love which if expressed in physical terms would be as intense as that experienced when gentiles climax in the sexual act, they would merit a similar proximity to G’d and would be treasured by Him as a husband who treasures his wife.
It is still difficult to understand why the Talmud chose precisely intensive Torah study as warranting this kind of reward, when there are many other cravings human beings experience that are as dear to them as indulging in the sexual act?
The answer is that by loving Torah, i.e. serving the One and only Creator, the observant Jew has demonstrated that rather than to be become addicted to some other less dominating influence, he has been intelligent enough to choose to become “addicted” to the King of Kings, instead of settling for second or third best. All other “ideals,” “deities,” “powers,” are transient, bound to disappear sooner or later, whereas G’d is both the origin, the purpose, and the meaningful content of all existence. Moreover, assuming one has craved for some other thing that people develop a craving for, and one has achieved an outstanding record of achievement in one’s chosen field, in the end one has achieved mastery in only one isolated field of human endeavor. Becoming a Talmid Chacham by applying oneself with the same devotion and singularity of purpose to Torah, results in one’s having mastered every discipline, for of Torah it is said that הפוך בה והפוך בה כי כולה בה, “keep turning over its pages again and again for everything you search for is contained in it.” (Avot end chapter 5) Seeing that this is so, true Torah study, when it is the result of a craving for getting closer to G’d, is the high road to succeeding in subduing all one’s cravings, as they are all inspired by the evil urge.
Although the path to G’d we have just described is a good path, it does not constitute the essence of true service of the Creator. The reason is that the person pursuing this path is still, in a manner of speaking, serving “himself,” i.e. with an ulterior motive, however noble that motive may be.
The truest service of the Lord is when one is concerned not with deriving pleasure- even spiritual pleasure from having done one’s duty- but when one’s sole purpose is to provide pleasure or its equivalent in celestial terms, to the Creator. The Creator is to derive satisfaction from His creature’s free willed actions, or in the words of Solomon in Proverbs 23,15:בני אם חכם לבך ישמח לבי גם אני, “My son, if your heart is wise, My heart too will be gladdened;” or in the words of the psalmist 104,31 ישמח ה' במעשיו , “may the Lord rejoice in His creatures’ deeds.” As a result of the Creator being pleased with the person serving Him in such a fashion, He, in turn will “play” with him much as a father plays with his children. This is the meaning of the verses quoted from Proverbs and psalms.
Indulging the various cravings available here on earth results in the person doing so receiving satisfaction, i.e. being turned into a recipient. At the same time man is aware that all such pleasures received on earth are transient in nature and will evaporate into nothingness, eventually.
The same is not the case when one indulges in marital intercourse with a view to producing offspring, posterity, that will replace the party doing so on earth after he has died. The male impregnating the female with his semen has become a “donor” at the very moment when he experiences fulfillment of his own sexual craving. The recipient is the woman in whom his seed has been implanted. To a certain extent, the husband experiences what G’d experiences when He is being worshipped on the highest level, as he has the satisfaction of providing his mate with pleasure.
This is what the Talmud had in mind when it compared the sexual act to the manner in which G’d craves the service of His creature, man, through Torah study. The Talmud wanted to stress the point that man, though merely a creature, is able to become a “donor,” when serving G’d. [This is a revolutionary concept, as we usually view ourselves as recipients of His largesse, especially so, as the relationship between us and our Creator is normally described as that of חתן andכלה , the creature being the כלה, the female of the “team,” i.e. at the receiving end. Ed.]
The Talmud describes how it is possible for Jews to sublimate something that when done by the gentiles is merely something physical, though also the male pagan is a donor when he provides his wife with physical satisfaction; however, since the metaphysical element is completely lacking in what the pagans do, even their most well intentioned efforts to please their partners are ultimately doomed to become extinguished, [as our sages have stated so eloquently when they referred to the letters י and ה respectively in the definition of איש and אישה as being what separates a true Jewish individual, as opposed to males and females of the gentiles in whom carnal desire ends up as being destructive fire, אש. Ed.]
This is also how the Talmud in Shabbat 140B in which Rav Chisda is reported as teaching his daughters ways of chastity is to be understood. He told his daughters to practice chastity even in their dealings with their husbands, such as not eating bread in front of their husbands, as they might be perceived as being too ravenous. This would revolt their husbands. Similarly, they were to be careful not to eat vegetables at night (evening) as this leaves an unpleasant odour coming from their mouths. Neither were they to eat dates or drink beer in the evening as this would lead to diarrhea. Also, when someone knocks on the door of their houses, asking to be allowed to enter, they should not ask מי הוא, “who is it?”, in the masculine mode but מי היא, “who is it,?” in the feminine mode.
As a further illustration of the value of the virtue of chastity, Rav Chisda held up one hand displaying a pearl, while in the other fist he held up a clod of earth until his daughters could no longer conceal their curiosity as to what their father had concealed in the second hand (fist).
When, to the dismay of his daughters, he displayed the clod of earth, he told them that their impatience to know what he had concealed in his fist was proof that people are drawn to worthless objects because they are concealed, whereas they look with disdain at precious objects, as these objects no longer arouse their curiosity. [What his daughters would conceal from their husbands for a while would intrigue their husbands, whereas what their husbands were familiar with about them would pale into insignificance.
You, the reader, have no doubt noticed that Rav Chisda’s last example about “chastity” quoted in the Talmud is totally different from the previous ones, and this is what prompted our author to resort to an allegorical interpretation, as the Talmud was not meant to provide us with “tidbits” about the personal lives of our Torah scholars.
Before presenting our author’s intriguing explanation, let me point out that the מאירי in his בית הבחירה on that folio in the Talmud offers a very good explanation without resorting to allegories. As his commentary had not been discovered until long after our author had died, he could not have been aware of it. Ed.]
A woman is equipped with two distinct sources of providing life/nourishment. 1) The visible source, her breasts from which the infant receives its life support and which fulfils all its needs. The invisible source is her womb. Her breasts are used to dispense loving kindness, whereas her womb is the location where she receives loving kindness.
If we substitute G’d as the speaker in the quotation from the Talmud of Rav Chisda to his daughters, and we see in the pearl Rav Chisda held in his hand, a simile for the manifest deeds of loving kindness performed by G’d for His creatures, this is an allusion to the first, and easy path for man to learn to serve his Creator. The impatience with which Rav Chisda’s daughters waited for their father to open his fist, represents man’s impatience for G’d to provide him with a “reason” to worship and serve Him by not merely being on the receiving end, but by being able to become “donors,” providing their Creator with satisfaction and pleasure. By providing Him with such pleasure, man also provides G’d’s celestial entourage with a measure of satisfaction.
This idea has also been expressed by Hoseah 2,18 when he says concerning a time in the future: והיה ביום ההוא נאום ה' תקראי אישי ולא תקראי לי עוד בעלי, “when that day will arrive you will call Me ‘my husband,’ and you will no longer call me: ‘my Master.’” When one perceives of one’s husband as בעל, “master,” instead of as אישי, “my male counterpart,” my complement, then it is obvious that one does not perceive of oneself as a Donor, but only as a recipient. The vision of Hoseah in the verse quoted looks forward to the time when not only a few individuals are able to serve G’d in the manner described as the “second path,” i.e. unabashedly aware that they too are “donors” when serving the Lord, not only “recipients.” When we keep this point in mind we can understand the verse in Hoseah as not only referring to the relationship between husband and wife, but to the relationship between Creator and creature. The prophet implies that the “largesse” man receives from G’d is tailored to his ability to appreciate it, and to use it as a stepping-stone to improve his relationship with his Creator. [The exception, presumably, is when G’d is “forced” to recompense the wicked for the good they have done on earth, as they have no afterlife to look forward to where they can make use of their “reward.” Ed.]
No two people are identical in their ability to “cope” successfully, i.e. in a manner that builds their character, with the same amount of G’d’s “largesse.” Just as a doctor does not prescribe the same dose of medicine for all of his patients, so G’d does not dispense the same amount of largesse to two people. Each one receives what G’d alone knows to be ideal for his condition.
Nonetheless sometimes G’d dispenses His largesse to some people not based strictly on their deserts or ability to “digest” it constructively, but according to His independent wisdom, and the privilege He enjoys as being the creature’s “owner.” In other words, sometimes a person receives an “advance” on what he will be entitled to in the future, although he has not yet completed the preparatory steps for “deserving” what he is about to receive. This type of “advance payment” by G’d is dispensed only when the individual concerned is still on the level of serving the Lord according to what we have called “path one.” This level is known in kabbalistic parlance as עלמא דנוקבא, “the world in which the feminine element dominates,” i.e. a world dependent on external help, largesse from the Creator. Some people receive what the author calls “largesse” commensurate with the strength of a “wolf,” whereas others receive largesse according to the ability of a “lion” to make constructive use of it.
Once the recipient of G’d’s largesse has “qualified” to serve the Lord according to what we called “path two,” he is not in need of further assistance. The level these people have attained is known in kabbalistic parlance as עלמא דדכורא, “the masculine domain of the world”. [Once these people have come to understand that it is possible to be a “donor” vis a vis the Creator, they would not even appreciate it if G’d would “assist” them in their quest, as they would see in such “assistance” proof of their own inadequacy. Donors, by definition, are self-propelled. The last 6 lines are not the author’s but mine. The author proceeds along a somewhat different path, as you will see forthwith. Ed.]
This world of the masculine domain has been blessed by G’d with something known as כללות, a term that allows for the recipient of G’d’s largesse not to be restricted to his spiritual status. [The term כללות is not really appropriate as we no longer speak about domains in the terrestrial part of the universe. Ed.] It is a domain exclusively presided over by the אין סוף G’d in His capacity as the Eternal, unbounded by any limitations.. Seeing that this is so, anyone having secured access to this domain becomes privy to the רצון, the will of the אין סוף, a will that is not hindered from being executed by opposing forces, and he is able to achieve things in the spiritual domain that he was not able to achieve while bound by the limits of lower domains.
[The author now speaks, or rather alludes, to a domain of אותיות and two tiers of domains known as אמונה which I am not familiar with. Ed.] Suffice it for the reader to remember that just as the physical universe of which the Torah speaks at the beginning of בראשית, consists of three layers, i.e. בריאה-יצירה עשיה, so the spiritual disembodied universe known as עולם האצילות, also consists of various layers, tiers.
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