Musar for Sukkah 55:14

When Moses refers to G–d having "arrived from Sinai" (33,2), he refers to an event which occurred on the third day of the week, i.e. the numerical value of the word בא in this verse is 3. You will now understand why the Torah commences with the letter ב as a symbol of blessing. There is an interesting Aggadah in the Otiyot d'Rabbi Akiva: They asked the letter ב who had created it, whereupon the letter pointed at the letter א with its עוקץ, the "sting" projecting from the right side of the bottom of this letter. It is a fact that when the Torah was actually given to the Jewish people, i.e. when G–d revealed Himself by means of communicating the Ten Commandments, these commandments commenced with the letter א i.e. אנכי ה' אלוקיך. This shows that the letter א is the true root of blessing. This root is אור, light, the original light which was concealed from this earth at the time Adam sinned in Paradise. We quoted the Midrash as saying that the world was created for the sake of Torah which is called ראשית; we may deduce that the letter ב preceding this word is a reference to the two Torahs, i.e. the written and the oral Torah. These two Torahs may also be meant when the Torah reported the creation of the "two great luminaries, the great luminary and the small luminary" (Genesis 1,16). The "great" luminary would be the מעשה מרכבה, the esoterics, as expressed by the written Torah which is a combination of letters of the Holy Name of G–d; the "small" luminary would refer to what the Talmud describes as the הויות של אביי ורבא, the discussions exploring the oral law which were carried on by such Talmudic giants as Abbaye and Rava. The written Torah is symbolized by the letter א, the great light which nowadays is kept hidden and which contains the secrets called "the soul of souls" (Zohar on פרשת בהעלותך). These secrets will remain hidden till such distant future when Man too will be able to wear the garments made of אור, light -as had been the case before the sin- and to benefit from this great light. Nowadays, when we are forced to make do with כתנות עור, garments made of hide, i.e. a corrupt form of "light" spelled with the letter ע, we must be content with "only" seventy facets of the written Torah, i.e. with the letter ע symbolizing the light of the written Torah. Once our world will be filled with knowledge of G–d as envisaged by Isaiah 11,9 this letter ע will be replaced by the mystical dimension of עין, "eye." At that time all the hidden secrets which no human eye has ever beheld will be revealed. Why does the "sting" of the letter ב point at the letter א? Because the oral Torah [being merely based on unwritten tradition. Ed.] is always at pains to demonstrate its validity by establishing a link with the written Torah. The relationship of the oral to the written Torah is similar to the relationship between the first woman and the first man, about which Adam said: כי מאיש לוקחה זאת, "for she has been detached from Man" (Genesis 2,23). The oral Torah is perceived of as having been derived from the written Torah. The relationship of איש to אשה is the same as the relationship of זה וזאת; hence the relationship of the written Torah to the oral Torah is as the relationship of זה to Tת. Oral Torah in fact has its origin in the written Torah. This is the reason why the Talmud keeps raising the question: מנלן, i.e. "where is the source for this teaching in the written Torah?" The word אור appears five times in the story of creation. This alludes to the five books comprising the written Torah.

The third stage, that when the hole is big enough to allow a small root to grow through it, signifies that we are now dealing with the עפר, earth, part of man, which causes all materialism, and grossness. Nonetheless, even עפר contains elements of spirituality, in fact it is its very root and essence. It is this essence which harbors the potential of growth something rooted in earth but ascending heavenwards. The same applies to the raw material man is made of. Man's growth potential is rooted in his raw material, עפר, and that is why it is described as "a small root." This raw material contains a "small" root, i.e. the soul, which is the root that, though physically small and invisible, has the value of a great root. When the sages of the Talmud call the disputations of Abbaye and Rava as "minor," they do so when comparing them to matters involving מעשה מרכבה, the carriers of G–d's entourage. Abbaye and Rava concern themselves with the practical observance of the laws of the Torah, i.e. something essentially physical, whereas the מעשה מרכבה is something essentially spiritual. Both matters, in fact, are very great indeed. Our Rabbis already debated at great length, whether תלמוד i.e. study or מעשה, practical performance, is of greater importance (Kidushin 40). The Zohar in Parshat Tetzaveh describes Exodus 27,20: "Pure olive oil beaten to produce the eternal light," as referring to Torah study, since Torah provides spiritual illumination. The olive is the size mentioned by Ravah in his fourth example above of an earthen vessel that needs to be rehabilitated from impurity. Olive oil dispenses physical light, whereas Torah study dispenses spiritual light. It is in the nature of Torah study to crush man's physical strength, and he is left as crushed as the olive when pressed to produce its oil. Finally, Rava's fifth example, a hole the size of pomegrantes. This is a veiled reference to the actual מעשים, performance of Torah commandments in practice. Israelites are described as "full of מצות, just like the pomegrantes" (Berachot 57a). So here we have a hint of the spiritual implications of the הלכה concerning the ritual purification of an earthen vessel which has become impure. This corresponds to the five levels of spirituality man could possess, namely, in descending order נפש, רוח, נשמה, חיה, יחידה. Our Rabbis have this in mind when they mention that the soul is similar to G–d in five respects (Berachot 10a).

In the world, there are cold winds and warm winds. So is it with man. When he opens his mouth and blows, then his breath is warm. And when he closes his mouth and blows, then his breath is cool. The thunders of the world are like the voice in man; the lightning of the world is in the face of man when it shines like lightning. There are constellations in the world, and those who view the stars can tell the future from them. So are there signs in man. When a man has a rash, which does not come from a boil or a louse or a mite, experts in this matter can foretell the future. And so it is with the lines in the palm of a man's hand and with the form of his features that people may know the future. Now this wisdom was in the possession of the wise men of old but has been forgotten by the later ones. Similarly the wise men can tell the future by trees and herbs, and this is according to what they said concerning Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai that he knew the language of the date palms (Sukkah 28a). The meaning of this is that he was expert enough to perceive the motion of the date palms and from this he could tell the future (Aruch 68).