Chasidut על ראש השנה 33:17
Likutei Halakhot
And this corresponds to Rosh Hashanah, to the blowing of the shofar, which is the aspect of arousal from sleep. As is brought in the Kabbalistic texts, Rosh Hashanah corresponds to sleep, and the shofar representes arousal from sleep, since, "The whole world was created in Tishri" (Rosh Hashanah 10b). This is the aspect of disorder, Tav-Shin-Resh-Kuf, and when disorder is aroused, you must submerge yourself completely in sleep, which corresponds to the sleep of night. Rosh Hashanah is the first day of the Ten Days of Repentance, and the essence of repentance is to repent from haughtiness, humbling oneself and truly sensing one's lowliness and unworthiness. As our Sages said, "One self-chastisement is greater than one hundred floggings" (Berachot 7a), and, "He forgives transgression for the remainder" (Micah 7:18) - "to the one who makes himself a remainder" (Rosh Hashanah 17b). Therefore the essence of repentance is humility and humbleness, for all sins arise from disorder, from separating the Malchut and possessing it with haughtiness. That is the source of all judgments, to which the evil inclination and the forces of evil are attached, from which all sins arise. The holy books speak about haughtiness being the cause of all sins, since, "Whoever is haughty is as if he worshiped idols" (Sotah 4b), and, "Whoever acknowledges idolatry is as if he denied the entire Torah" (Chullin 5a). We find, all sins come through haughtiness, G-d forbid, for haughtiness separates disorder from order, which is the cause of all sins. Therefore, the essence of repentance for all sins is humbleness, making yourself as dust to be tread upon, sensing your lowliness and distance from Hashem, lowering yourself and breaking your heart before Hashem. That is how G-d will forgive a person, as written, "G-d will not scorn a broken and oppressed heart" (Ps. 51:19), and "Who forgives transgression for a remainder" - "for one who makes himself as a remainder". This is because humility and humbleness, one makes himself as Mah, as nothing and naught. In this way, one returns to order, represented by Mah, through which all judgments, which correspond to sins, disappear. Therefore, on Rosh Hashanah, which is the first day of the Ten Days of Repentance, the first day of Adam's creation, we must "sleep" - we must completely submerge ourselves as if we have no knowledge at all, but only cry out to G-d and declare Him King, in complete sincerity, without sophistication. On Rosh Hashanah Adam and Eve were created, corresponding to order and disorder. It was their task to rectify all the worlds, representing disorder, into order, to bring 'Eve' into 'Adam'. Had they done that, everything would have been brought into order, without any suffering and judgments, which represent disorder. But they blemished with their sin, and in doing so, they separated disorder from order, for their main sin was haughtiness, 'I shall rule', which was the essence of the Primordial Serpent's enticement, as written, "For G-d knows that on the day you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you shall be like G-d" (Gen. 3:5). As our Sages said, "It told them, 'Every craftsman hates his fellow craftsman - G-d ate from this tree and created all the worlds'" (Genesis Rabbah 19:4). In other words, he aroused jealousy in them and a desire to rule: 'you shall be like G-d' - 'creators of worlds', as if to say, 'Why should you subdue yourselves to Him? If you eat from the Tree of Knowledge, you will be a Gd and a King just like Him!' All this is the aspect of 'I shall rule', in that one desires to draw Malchut/Kingship to oneself, and then everything gets in disorder, for the person himself is in disorder. That is why all generations of mankind became destined to die, for they had blemished order, corresponding to wisdom, the source of all sustenance, as in, "Wisdom sustains life" (Kohelet 7:12), as in, "Mah is our life?". With their blemish, they separated themselves from order, from wisdom, from Mah, the main source of sustenance, and death as opposed to life was the inevitable result. Their blemish also caused everything to become disordered, represented by all the blemishes and decrees that were a result of their sin, as written, "With toil you shall eat of it...thorn and thistle will grow for you" (Gen. 3:17-18), upon which Rashi comments, "When you plant wheat, the earth will give forth thorn and thistle". All this corresponds to the disorder they caused with their sin, which was haughtiness, 'I shall rule', which caused all things to become disordered, since they had evoked disorder upon themselves with their sin. Not only did they not rectify, elevate and refine the world of the judgments that are attached to disorder, bringing everything into order, which is what they were supposed to do on the day they were created - for elevating the entire world to its source, merging disorder into order, was the very purpose for which Adam and Eve were created - but they caused great damage with their sin. The serpent first entices Eve, since she represents disorder, from which the forces of evil derive their power. The rectification should have been by merging disorder into order, by Eve being subservient to Adam, but the serpent overpowered Eve, representing disorder, enticing her to separate 'Eve' from 'Adam', disorder from order, so that Adam would follow Eve's will, so that disorder would rule over order. But they immediately repented and began rectifying everything, a rectification that would not be completed until the coming of the Messiah.
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Kedushat Levi
The author of the central paragraph in the mussaph prayer on the Sabbath, which commences with the words: תכנת שבת ...צוית פירושיה עם סדורי נסכיה, refers to the fact that the Torah in the Sabbath legislation not only spelled out the commandment of how to observe this day with one’s body, by allowing the body to “rest” (constructively), but also spelled out how to observe it with our soul.
When referring to the creative acts that G’d abstained from on the seventh day of creation on account of which we are asked to sanctify the Sabbath, both in connection with the word: זכור in our portion, and again in Deuteronomy 5,12 in connection with the word: שמור, we must remember that the “light” which is described in the Torah as G’d’s first act of intervention in the condition of the “world” before G’d created order from chaos, was “direct” light, i.e. an emanation from the Creator, a light which expands in all directions of the universe, performing its function commensurate with the needs of the region or domain which it reaches. It then assumes a character germane to that region or domain. In other words, this אור ישר, will assume a different intensity in the regions inhabited by the highest ranking angels, the שרפים, from the intensity it assumes in the celestial regions inhabited by a lower ranking group of angels known as חיות. The same is true when this אור ישר, arrives in the regions of the terrestrial parts of the universe, the region known as עולם העשיה. At the same time arrival of this “light” also resulted, as an unavoidable consequence, in “reflected” light, a response by the creature who had received it from the Creator. [Compare pages 364/365 where this subject has been discussed previously. Ed.] Each region of the universe receives the amount and intensity of this אור הישר appropriate to its needs.
In kabbalistic parlance the nature of the אור החוזר, the “reflected light,” is perceived as the remnant of the original light which did not remain in the universe as the various universes were unable to ”digest” it so that they could not make use of it as it was too intense and would have destroyed these worlds. Upon the return of this “light” to the Creator, the אין סוף, it will be condensed, i.e. its power will be restrained, but in a manner that in the words of Michah 7,18 make it “digestible” only for the holy Jewish people-as described in connection with Exodus 14,21, see pages (364-366).-
Our sages in Rosh Hashanah 17 alluded to this idea when they explained the term לשארית נחלתו, “to the remnant of His inheritance,” (His own people) in Michah 7,18, as those Jews who transform themselves into truly G’d fearing personalities. Concerning these types of people my sainted teacher Dov Baer has said that the expression שארית נחלתו applies only to those צדיקים who spend almost all of their lives trying to elevate themselves to the level of sanctity of their Creator.
The root of the concept of sanctity, קדושה, holiness, sanctity, is found where the צמצום, the voluntary restriction G’d imposed upon His essence occurs, so that He would not be a destructive force in His own universe. [If we in our parlance, following Rashi, translate holiness as “something apart,” this is no contradiction, but a reflection of the difficulty of translating celestial terminology into language used in the terrestrial part of the universe, the part we humans inhabit. Ed.]
When the Jewish people sanctify themselves by means permitted to them, and in that process separate themselves from the pleasures of this terrestrial world, they do so because they are aware that the so-called pleasures of this terrestrial world are intrinsically worthless, so that they try to elevate themselves to a region outside the domain of the terrestrial, physical universe. These “regions” are beyond our ability to define and therefore we are unable to describe them adequately. Seeing that the nations of the world have none of them been found worthy of being שארית נחלתו “a residue of His inheritance,” it cannot be expected of them to show the least bit of understanding of this subject.
Suffice it to say that the subject matter we called אור חוזר is the unabsorbed part of the אור ישר, the “direct” light that had left the Essence of G’d and dispersed in different regions of His universes, any “excess,” making a “return journey” in preparation for further use by its Dispatcher, the Creator.
This inability of the nations of the world to comprehend the nature of the Sabbath is the reason that while they understand the concept of the Sabbath being a day that symbolizes that the Creator had refrained from overt creative activity, they selected for themselves on an arbitrary basis a different day of the week, one that had not been sanctified by the Creator for that purpose. When the Torah, both in our portion and in Deuteronomy, stresses the element of the sanctity of this “Day of rest,” for the Jewish people, it alludes to the unbroken connection between the Jewish people and the celestial regions, in spite of the fact that our bodies (and, temporarily our souls) inhabit the terrestrial part of the universe. [I have used some of my own wording in the foregoing, for reasons of simplicity. Ed.]
When referring to the creative acts that G’d abstained from on the seventh day of creation on account of which we are asked to sanctify the Sabbath, both in connection with the word: זכור in our portion, and again in Deuteronomy 5,12 in connection with the word: שמור, we must remember that the “light” which is described in the Torah as G’d’s first act of intervention in the condition of the “world” before G’d created order from chaos, was “direct” light, i.e. an emanation from the Creator, a light which expands in all directions of the universe, performing its function commensurate with the needs of the region or domain which it reaches. It then assumes a character germane to that region or domain. In other words, this אור ישר, will assume a different intensity in the regions inhabited by the highest ranking angels, the שרפים, from the intensity it assumes in the celestial regions inhabited by a lower ranking group of angels known as חיות. The same is true when this אור ישר, arrives in the regions of the terrestrial parts of the universe, the region known as עולם העשיה. At the same time arrival of this “light” also resulted, as an unavoidable consequence, in “reflected” light, a response by the creature who had received it from the Creator. [Compare pages 364/365 where this subject has been discussed previously. Ed.] Each region of the universe receives the amount and intensity of this אור הישר appropriate to its needs.
In kabbalistic parlance the nature of the אור החוזר, the “reflected light,” is perceived as the remnant of the original light which did not remain in the universe as the various universes were unable to ”digest” it so that they could not make use of it as it was too intense and would have destroyed these worlds. Upon the return of this “light” to the Creator, the אין סוף, it will be condensed, i.e. its power will be restrained, but in a manner that in the words of Michah 7,18 make it “digestible” only for the holy Jewish people-as described in connection with Exodus 14,21, see pages (364-366).-
Our sages in Rosh Hashanah 17 alluded to this idea when they explained the term לשארית נחלתו, “to the remnant of His inheritance,” (His own people) in Michah 7,18, as those Jews who transform themselves into truly G’d fearing personalities. Concerning these types of people my sainted teacher Dov Baer has said that the expression שארית נחלתו applies only to those צדיקים who spend almost all of their lives trying to elevate themselves to the level of sanctity of their Creator.
The root of the concept of sanctity, קדושה, holiness, sanctity, is found where the צמצום, the voluntary restriction G’d imposed upon His essence occurs, so that He would not be a destructive force in His own universe. [If we in our parlance, following Rashi, translate holiness as “something apart,” this is no contradiction, but a reflection of the difficulty of translating celestial terminology into language used in the terrestrial part of the universe, the part we humans inhabit. Ed.]
When the Jewish people sanctify themselves by means permitted to them, and in that process separate themselves from the pleasures of this terrestrial world, they do so because they are aware that the so-called pleasures of this terrestrial world are intrinsically worthless, so that they try to elevate themselves to a region outside the domain of the terrestrial, physical universe. These “regions” are beyond our ability to define and therefore we are unable to describe them adequately. Seeing that the nations of the world have none of them been found worthy of being שארית נחלתו “a residue of His inheritance,” it cannot be expected of them to show the least bit of understanding of this subject.
Suffice it to say that the subject matter we called אור חוזר is the unabsorbed part of the אור ישר, the “direct” light that had left the Essence of G’d and dispersed in different regions of His universes, any “excess,” making a “return journey” in preparation for further use by its Dispatcher, the Creator.
This inability of the nations of the world to comprehend the nature of the Sabbath is the reason that while they understand the concept of the Sabbath being a day that symbolizes that the Creator had refrained from overt creative activity, they selected for themselves on an arbitrary basis a different day of the week, one that had not been sanctified by the Creator for that purpose. When the Torah, both in our portion and in Deuteronomy, stresses the element of the sanctity of this “Day of rest,” for the Jewish people, it alludes to the unbroken connection between the Jewish people and the celestial regions, in spite of the fact that our bodies (and, temporarily our souls) inhabit the terrestrial part of the universe. [I have used some of my own wording in the foregoing, for reasons of simplicity. Ed.]
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