Chasidut for Shabbat 311:12
איתמר רבי חנינא אומר מזל מחכים מזל מעשיר ויש מזל לישראל רבי יוחנן אמר אין מזל לישראל ואזדא רבי יוחנן לטעמיה דא"ר יוחנן מניין שאין מזל לישראל שנאמר (ירמיהו י, ב) כה אמר ה' אל דרך הגוים אל תלמדו ומאותות השמים אל תחתו כי יחתו הגוים מהמה הם יחתו ולא ישראל
He who is born under Saturn will be a man whose plans will be frustrated.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] (to frustrate) is the Chaldaic equivalent of [H]. ');"><sup>31</sup></span> Others say: All [nefarious] designs against him will be frustrated. He who is born under Zedek [Jupiter] will be a right-doing man [zadkan] R. Nahman b. Isaac observed: Right-doing in good deeds.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Rashi: charitable. ');"><sup>32</sup></span> He who is born under Mars will be a shedder of blood. R. Ashi observed: Either a surgeon, a thief, a slaughterer, or a circumciser. Rabbah said: I was born under Mars.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And am none of these. ');"><sup>33</sup></span>
Kedushat Levi
When the Talmud in Shabbat 156 states that אין מזל לישראל, commonly translated as “the Jewish people’s fate is not subject to the influences of zodiac constellations,” the true meaning of the statement is that when a person considers himself as insignificant to the point of אין, as amounting to nothing, then he does not need to worry about negative zodiac constellations spelling trouble for him. According to our author the word מזל in that context does not really refer to zodiac constellations, but is derived from a root meaning השפעה, G’d’s largesse, as we read in Numbers 24,7 יזל מים מדליו, “water may flow bountifully from its buckets;” when a human being disregards the limitations imposed upon him by nature, then G’d can bestow upon him unlimited amounts of His largesse emanating in transcendental regions. On the other hand, as long as he is “firmly rooted” in nature, seeing in nature the bulk of his supply of sustenance, this limits G’d in His ability to make available to him the bulk of His largesse. The relationship between man’s receiving G’d’s largesse and his depending on natural sources for his needs, is in direct proportion to his reliance on the one or the other. If follows that when a person is an atheist, he will not become the beneficiary of any of G’d’s largesse. The reason is that such people consider themselves as in command of nature rather than as recipients of G’d’s generosity.
Seeing that we –the rgihteous- are not entitled to view ourselves as צדיקים, who may eschew the natural elements into which we have been born, we must not be arrogant enough to always wait for external divine stimuli such as we receive on our festivals, but must rather endeavour to generate such spiritual stimuli ourselves.
This brings us back to the discussion in the Talmud as to whether a kid tastes better than a lamb. The king who said that the kid tastes better understood the word גדיא, i.e. “kid,” as related to the word מזל, a word which, as we explained, alludes to G’d’s largesse. Such largesse is earned when the human being considers himself as “nothing,” i.e. denigrated his ego completely. This state of אין, “nothingness,” is the result of Divine influence as a reward for one’s ultimate humility.
The queen who had said that אימרא, sheep or lamb tastes better, used a word derived from אמר alluding to speech, alluded to worship of G’d in the commonly accepted way by mortal human beings. She credited these people with having generated their own spiritual elevation without having been “awakened” to do so by a heavenly assist. When both the king and the queen in the story agreed to let the High Priest become the arbiter of their disagreement, and the High Priest raised his hands and waved heavenwards, he meant to point to the source of heavenly inspiration, and pointed out that such inspiration occurs rarely and that therefore it is far better to rely on self-generated inspiration. The moral lesson is that we must not be content to wait for the advent of the festivals to be awakened into worshipping our Creator.
Seeing that we –the rgihteous- are not entitled to view ourselves as צדיקים, who may eschew the natural elements into which we have been born, we must not be arrogant enough to always wait for external divine stimuli such as we receive on our festivals, but must rather endeavour to generate such spiritual stimuli ourselves.
This brings us back to the discussion in the Talmud as to whether a kid tastes better than a lamb. The king who said that the kid tastes better understood the word גדיא, i.e. “kid,” as related to the word מזל, a word which, as we explained, alludes to G’d’s largesse. Such largesse is earned when the human being considers himself as “nothing,” i.e. denigrated his ego completely. This state of אין, “nothingness,” is the result of Divine influence as a reward for one’s ultimate humility.
The queen who had said that אימרא, sheep or lamb tastes better, used a word derived from אמר alluding to speech, alluded to worship of G’d in the commonly accepted way by mortal human beings. She credited these people with having generated their own spiritual elevation without having been “awakened” to do so by a heavenly assist. When both the king and the queen in the story agreed to let the High Priest become the arbiter of their disagreement, and the High Priest raised his hands and waved heavenwards, he meant to point to the source of heavenly inspiration, and pointed out that such inspiration occurs rarely and that therefore it is far better to rely on self-generated inspiration. The moral lesson is that we must not be content to wait for the advent of the festivals to be awakened into worshipping our Creator.
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Kedushat Levi
In the writings of the Ari, z"l, regarding the secret of the 36 candles of Hanukkah and the connection with the 8 shamashim, behold that makes 44, which corresponds to the name Ehyeh אהי"ה in degrees, that is, א' + א"ה + אה"י + אהי"ה + - which is in gematria 44, and adding the name itself, 45, and behold it is 88 with the kollel (?), which is the first letters of "to light the Hanukkah light"; up to here are his words. And on a general overview it is not understood, what is the idea behind adding those two names to the issue of Hanukah light? I think it can be explained as follows:
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Kedushat Levi
Exodus 3,2. “An angel of Hashem appeared to him within the flame of fire, etc.;” whereupon Moses said to himself: “I will turn away to investigate why this bush is not consumed by the fire;” when G’d noticed that Moses had, after all, turned to investigate the phenomenon, He called out to him, warning him not to approach closer while wearing his sandals as the location was holy soil.
There is a strange story in Pessachim 57 according to which one of the Kings of the Hasmoneans and his queen had an argument during their meal as to whether meat from a lamb is tastier than meat from a fully grown sheep. When they could not agree, they asked the High Priest to settle the argument, as he had experience from eating the sacrificial meat of both many times. The High Priest upon being consulted, waved with his hand pointing heavenwards: saying: “if the meat of a lamb would be tastier surely the Torah would have commanded that the daily communal offering should consist of a lamb?”
The Talmud relating this incident must not be taken at face value, of course, but the argument described concerned the question if the fate of the Jews is influenced by astrological considerations, or if the Jewish people are quite independent of the configurations of the stars. When the High Priest pointed heavenward, he implied that the “Mazzal” of the Jewish people is אין, the word describing the essence of G’d. This also explained the statement in the Talmud Shabbat 156 that אין מזל לישראל, commonly translated as “the Jewish people’s fate is not determined or influenced by constellation of the zodiac.” The true meaning of the statement is that the celestial force determining the fate of the Jewish people is none other than אין, “the essence of G’d Himself.” Moreover, the word מזל is closely related to יזל as in יזל מים מדליו, ”water flows out of its buckets,” (numbers 24,7). This verse alludes to what the queen in above parable had in mind when she said that a lamb tastes better, i.e. she was referring to people who depend on nature, water, etc., for their sustenance, a largesse from G’d which originates in a celestial domain known as האותיות עולם.
[Heaven, not unlike the physical universe, consists of several layers, one of which is known as עולם האותיות, another, ”lower” layer is better known as עולם האצילות, to which the Torah referred when the highest echelon of the Jewish people accompanied Moses immediately prior to his ascending Mount Sinai to receive the Tablets (Exodus 24,9-11) where these people are called for short אצילי בני ישראל .Ed]
When G’d warned Moses not to approach the “domain” הלום this refers to the domain of מלכות, “Royalty,” a domain which Moses wished to attain. It was not granted to him, i.e. he functioned as Royalty only during the generation of the Israelites who had participated in the Exodus, but did not found a dynasty. The function of a king is to dispatch “spiritual sparks” for them to attach themselves to the Creator, and this is what is meant when the Torah describes the function of a king to wage war. When he succeeds in doing this he is perceived as having been victorious in “war”. Within the parameter of his task, a king sometimes of necessity has to elevate some people’s status, whereas at the same time he will demote others. The king, in order to be successful, has to surround himself with advisers, i.e. he must be part of the people. The function of a prophet is the reverse, he must isolate himself.
We have already explained on a previous occasion that when the righteous engages in dispatching “spiritual sparks” ניצוצות, heavenward, he may himself “dress up” in these holy thoughts in order that his “holy clothes” carry him with the sparks on their “wings.”
There is a strange story in Pessachim 57 according to which one of the Kings of the Hasmoneans and his queen had an argument during their meal as to whether meat from a lamb is tastier than meat from a fully grown sheep. When they could not agree, they asked the High Priest to settle the argument, as he had experience from eating the sacrificial meat of both many times. The High Priest upon being consulted, waved with his hand pointing heavenwards: saying: “if the meat of a lamb would be tastier surely the Torah would have commanded that the daily communal offering should consist of a lamb?”
The Talmud relating this incident must not be taken at face value, of course, but the argument described concerned the question if the fate of the Jews is influenced by astrological considerations, or if the Jewish people are quite independent of the configurations of the stars. When the High Priest pointed heavenward, he implied that the “Mazzal” of the Jewish people is אין, the word describing the essence of G’d. This also explained the statement in the Talmud Shabbat 156 that אין מזל לישראל, commonly translated as “the Jewish people’s fate is not determined or influenced by constellation of the zodiac.” The true meaning of the statement is that the celestial force determining the fate of the Jewish people is none other than אין, “the essence of G’d Himself.” Moreover, the word מזל is closely related to יזל as in יזל מים מדליו, ”water flows out of its buckets,” (numbers 24,7). This verse alludes to what the queen in above parable had in mind when she said that a lamb tastes better, i.e. she was referring to people who depend on nature, water, etc., for their sustenance, a largesse from G’d which originates in a celestial domain known as האותיות עולם.
[Heaven, not unlike the physical universe, consists of several layers, one of which is known as עולם האותיות, another, ”lower” layer is better known as עולם האצילות, to which the Torah referred when the highest echelon of the Jewish people accompanied Moses immediately prior to his ascending Mount Sinai to receive the Tablets (Exodus 24,9-11) where these people are called for short אצילי בני ישראל .Ed]
When G’d warned Moses not to approach the “domain” הלום this refers to the domain of מלכות, “Royalty,” a domain which Moses wished to attain. It was not granted to him, i.e. he functioned as Royalty only during the generation of the Israelites who had participated in the Exodus, but did not found a dynasty. The function of a king is to dispatch “spiritual sparks” for them to attach themselves to the Creator, and this is what is meant when the Torah describes the function of a king to wage war. When he succeeds in doing this he is perceived as having been victorious in “war”. Within the parameter of his task, a king sometimes of necessity has to elevate some people’s status, whereas at the same time he will demote others. The king, in order to be successful, has to surround himself with advisers, i.e. he must be part of the people. The function of a prophet is the reverse, he must isolate himself.
We have already explained on a previous occasion that when the righteous engages in dispatching “spiritual sparks” ניצוצות, heavenward, he may himself “dress up” in these holy thoughts in order that his “holy clothes” carry him with the sparks on their “wings.”
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