Musar for Rosh Hashanah 42:4

The numerical values of the names משה, and the name עקיבא, when we ignore the zeros, i.e use the system of מספר קטן, are identical. We would write it thus: משה=300+40+5=12. עקיבא=70+100+10+2+1=12. When you use the regular system of arriving at numerical values, you will, of course, find that the name משה=345, adds up to more than the name עקיבא=183.

When the Torah reports Israel as bowing down at the head of the bed, 47,31) ראש המטה), this is a reference to Jacob and his "bed" (children) jointly having completed the בנין, and having thereby acquired a claim to a domain higher than that of בנין itself. If the ultimate that Jacob attained is symbolized by the word Mittah, the ultimate that Moses attained is symbolized by a word composed of the same letters, i.e. Matteh, only the vowels being different. He is described as holding the מטה אלוקים בידו, the staff of G–d in his hand, an allusion to a higher היכל השם. The word is composed of the letters מט,+ the letter "heh". 49 of the 50 gates of בינה were revealed to Moses; the letter ה is an allusion to the first letter ה in the Ineffable Name, a letter representing בינה.

Moses himself had attained the fiftieth level of moral and intellectual perfection, i.e. the fiftieth of the fifty שערי בינה before the sin of the golden calf. As soon as Israel committed that sin Moses was no longer able to access the fiftieth level of בינה. This is alluded to in G–d's words in Exodus 32,7, לך רד, i.e. descend from the לך=50. This is also what the sages had in mind when they said that the world was provided with fifty "gates" of insights, all of which were granted to Moses until he lacked one of them" (Rosh Hashanah 21). Moses had originally been granted all fifty שערי בינה. Moses suffered this spiritual setback due to his indirect involvement in the sin of the golden calf. This would also be the meaning of Psalms 8,6: ותחסרהו מעט מאל-הים, "You have made him a little less than divine." This is an allusion to the letter א being the only part of א-לוהים that Moses lacked. Normally we understand this verse in Psalms to mean that no one ever quite penetrated the "highest" gate of בינה. However, we may also understand the verse to mean that Moses was deprived of a great deal and retained only 49, as the Yalkut Shimoni suggests when he interprets that the word מעט in this verse in Psalms should now be read as מט,=49. This would mean that though Moses had attained 49 gates of insights, the one gate which had escaped him was of paramount importance.

This may be the reason why when Abraham is reported as "sitting" in 18,1 the word Yoshev sitting is spelled defective without the letter ו. [maybe the letter ו symbolizes upright posture. Ed.] This indicates that he tried to rise. At that point G–d told him that he would be a symbol for his descendants, for G–d Himself would rise as a member of a collegiate of judges. How does the subject of "judges" enter the picture here? The meaning is that at that point G–d revealed to Abraham that the attribute of Justice was extended over Sodom. The reason Abraham was informed of this, now that he was circumcised, is that justice is something that can only be administered by people who have been circumcised, as we know from Exodus 21,1: ואלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם, "These are the judgments you are to place before them. "The words "before them" are to exclude Gentiles who have not been circumcised, as we learn from Gittin 88. Being uncircumcised is not only a matter of the foreskin, but the same concept also applies to one's thinking processes. This is why we have ערלי לב, people whose hearts have remained "uncircumcised" (Ezekiel 44,7). All the Gentiles fall into that category; they therefore cannot be entrusted to administer the laws of the Torah. The Torah calls the judges א-להים, the same letters as in מילה, (allowing for the addition of the letter א for G–d), and that is also the name of G–d which represents the מרכבה. This is the meaning of Genesis 17,22: ויעל א-להים מעל אברהם, "G–d "rose" from Abraham." Judges have to be סמוכים, i.e. close to G–d, a condition that cannot be attained until after circumcision. [Nowadays סמוכים means ordained. Ed.] The letter א that the word מילה falls short of being equal to the word א-להים alludes to the fact that man, even when at his spiritually highest plateau, still remains one little bit below the spiritual level of G–d, as we know from Psalms 8,6: ותחסרהו מעט מא-להים, "You have made him a little less than divine. The same is true of the 50 levels of intelligence and insight. The most any man, (Moses), was granted was 49 levels of such knowledge and insight. Our sages in Rosh Hashanah 21b have derived this from reading the word מעט in Psalms 8,6 as מט, i.e. 49.

כי בי-ה ה' צור עולמים . This means that the universe, i.e. the עולם הבא, was created with the letter י, whereas the עולם הזה, the material world, was created with the letter ה. The Mishnah in Avot 5,1 already told us that G–d created the universe with ten מאמרות, directives. The first of these was אחדות, Unity, as we will explain later. The term דביקות, attachment, refers to something that is ongoing, everlasting, as we know from Deut.4,4, ואתם הדבקים בה' אלוקיכם, חיים כולכם היום, "you who have been cleaving to the Lord your G–d are all alive this day." The material world was created by five מאמרות, i.e. the letter ה. Our sages in Rosh Hashanah 21b, say that 50 שערי בינה, "gates of understanding," were created, and that Moses was given all of them except one. We know this because it says of Moses "ותחסרהו מעט מאלוקים," that You have made him only a little less than divine" (Psalms 8,6). In the introduction on his commentary on the Torah Nachmanides (Chavell edition page 3) describes this statement as meaning that all parts of creation such as the minerals, the various categories of vegetation, animal life and even human life, each required a special שער בינה by means of which they were brought into existence. This process continued until possession of an advanced שער בינה would enable a person to understand the psyche of fellow human beings, enable him to divine if his counterpart was a thief, an adulterer, etc. and even enable him to know if someone else who was suspected of disobeying the laws of ritual impurity concerning sexual relations with a menstruant woman was in fact guilty of such misconduct. Beyond that, a still higher שער בינה would give such a person access to knowledge about the motions and functions of the stars and planets. The total number of such שערי בינה is fifty, the fiftieth being reserved for the Creator alone, who had not revealed that potential to any creature. The wording in the Talmud, נבראו, "they have been created," suggesting that they had not remained only in the realm of G–d Himself, need not be understood literally, as the Talmud was concerned with describing what happened to the majority of these שערי בינה. So far Nachmanides. I personally, feel that the 50th שער בינה, an all embracing potential called hiyuli, primordial is the creative potential which has been withheld from any human being. Nachmanides possibly has this in mind when he refers to the verse in Psalms 33,9: “הוא אמר ויהי,” He said and it came into being."