Musar על יומא 76:10

And from this, we will understand very well what has disappeared from the eyes of researchers in what they have examined regarding, heaven forbid, a change in God's will. The Almighty decrees a decree and then repentance, prayer and charity can change that to the better; and sometimes it changes from good to bad. But they walk in darkness because there can be no change, heaven forbid. Rather all is one and is only a matter of one desire. That is to say this inquiry is a matter of faith. I will also copy what I wrote as a child in my pamphlet, even though it is a little different. In any event, it all goes together in one place. These are my words. Written in section of Godliness in the gate of unity. And the whole faith of unity is complete; as there is no body nor strength of the body, nor a separate mind, and will not change from thought to thought or from action to action or from one leader to another. It is a complete intellect and simple and unique in all parts of His names and in all attributes. And a change in actions on the part of the leadership only exists from the side of the recipients. Because the one who walks in innocence and straightness, and keeps a good home, receives goodness derived from God Almighty. And he who perverts his path and distances himself, is distanced from the good derived from God and the opposite is derived from Him.

But still, one should not despair, even one for whom it is difficult to cleanse his thoughts and to entirely remove lewd thoughts from his heart. For if so, even His mitzvoth and his Torah would not avail to sanctify his soul, and how would he ever attain his end? But the major element here is Chazal's formula: "If one comes to cleanse himself he is helped [by Heaven]." And if he desires with his whole heart to remove lewd thoughts from it, he will certainly be aided by Heaven to do this, and he must not, G-d forbid, nullify any mitzvah or Torah, even though his thoughts are not entirely pure. In this connection Chazal have said (Pesachim 50b): "Let one always occupy himself with Torah and mitzvoth, even lo lishmah [not for the sake of Heaven], for from lo lishmah, lishmah [for the sake of Heaven] will follow." That is, the holiness of the Torah and the mitzvah will help him, so that it will be in his power to do and to learn for the sake of Heaven, too. And this is what is alluded to in the above verse itself. For, in the beginning it is written (Bamidbar 15:39): "And you will remember all the mitzvoth of the L-rd and you will do them." "the mitzvoth of the L-rd," implying for the sake of the L-rd, is written only in respect to remembering, but not in respect to doing, his not yet having attained purity of thought in the doing of the mitzvoth. In any event, the doing of these acts will bring him to remove the [impure] thoughts of the heart and to overcome his lusts, after which he will reach the level of (Ibid. 40): "and you will do all of My mitzvoth," the doing, too, being exclusively for the sake of the L-rd; and this will bring him to the level of holiness— "and you will be holy." However, all of this obtains only with one who comes to purify himself and strengthens himself to remove the lewd thoughts and to keep himself from [the gratification of] his lusts. (Only) then does "He who comes to purify himself" obtain.]

ויקח קרח . We would have expected the Torah to write ויקחו, "they took." Another difficulty is the expression קריאי מועד, אנשי שם, "men who had been appointed, men of distinguished reputation" (16,2). Why should these men be mentioned favourably when the Tosaphot Talmud Shabbat 12 says: "Shevna a man from Jerusalem," etc. Rabbeinu Tam crosses out the title "a man from Jerusalem," (or omits his name altogether) of this man, seeing he was a confirmed sinner and we do not dignify such sinners by mentioning their titles or even their names. We have a tradition that "the name of sinners should rot" (Proverbs 7,10), based on Yoma 38b. Even according to the view of Rabbi Yitzchak cited there, that if, say, a sinner is called "Abraham," we surely cannot stop calling everybody "Abraham" on account of the one sinful Abraham, at the very least such a person should not be accorded his title! Here the Torah seems to go out of its way to describe how these people had earned their titles! Moreover, in Sanhedrin 110, we are told that these men had outstanding abilities, knowing when to add an extra month to the calendar, etc. It says there that the expression אנשי שם, means that their reputation was international.

But if they would know and understand that "no man can touch what is designated for his fellow even a hair's breadth" (Yoma 38b), and that everything is from G-d according to His wondrous judgment and unfathomable wisdom, they would have no reason whatsoever to feel pained by the good fortune of their neighbors.

However, that which can protect a person and save him from these detriments is trust in G-d. Namely, that a person casts his burden entirely upon G-d, knowing that it is certainly impossible for a man to lack what was designated for him, as our sages taught: "all of a person's sustenance [for the year] is fixed for him from Rosh Hashana [to Yom Kippur]" (Beitzah 16a). Likewise, they said: "no man can touch what was prepared for his fellow even to the extent of a hair's breadth" (Yomah 38b).

We need to understand the difference between the first and the second version. We must also try and understand why the phenomenon of the ascending and descending angels is ignored in the first version of the Midrash. Since in the first version the ladder is perceived as standing at the bottom of Mount Sinai with its head reaching unto the heavens, this alludes to the angels described, who are perceived as the צדיקים, i.e. G–d's messengers, the ones who observe G–d's word and carry out His commandments. These people are viewed as planted firmly on the ground with their heads in Heaven. Their deeds enable them to be transported to higher spiritual regions. When these צדיקים or their spirits, enter the Heavenly Domain, they experience new insights which they take back to earth with them. This is the meaning of the alternating ascent and descent Jacob saw in the dream. The reason G–d is described as standing on top is to convey to us that all of this is due to G–d's active assistance, though the force motivating the צדיקים is their free will employed constructively. Anyone wishing to, and commencing to do good, receives a Heavenly assist.

The word מגדיל, on the other hand, commences with the vowel Patach suggestive of G–d's outstretched hand, His initiating relations with man. Accordingly, the vowel Chirik in that word occurs later and under the letter ד near the end of the word. A complete treatise dealing with the symbolism of the vowels is found in Pardes Rimonim in the שער הנקודות. Consider also that the spelling מגדול used in Samuel represents a higher degree of sanctity, since the Holy Spirit with which the Books of Prophets have been composed is of a higher order than that of the Hagiographa, which include the Book of Psalms. It makes sense therefore, that on such days as Sabbaths and New Moons, days on which we are suffused with more spirituality than during the week, we should say מגדול rather than מגדיל. Both the Sabbath and the New Moon are days on which we are aware of our ultimate destiny to be worthy of the אור של בראשית, and of a world which is filled with sanctity daily, not only on the Sabbath.

Abraham was very worried that Isaac might not accept death entirely willingly due to the physical pain involved. In that event he would turn out to be a blemished offering instead of an עולה תמימה, a perfect offering. This is what his prayer was all about. He was not concerned with G–d revoking His instructions, but he asked G–d's help to make the death the experience it was meant to be. Abraham simply invoked the principle הבא לטהר מסיין לו, that he who sets out to purify is entitled to a heavenly assist (Yuma 38b et al). The entire prayer was that both he and Isaac should be able to fulfil the imperative עבדו את ה' בשמחה, "Serve the Lord joyfully," as we have been taught in Psalms 100,2.

The word אנכי is the mystical dimension of אחד, since when you "square" the letters of the word אחד, the total equals the numerical value of אנכי. The calculation is as follows: you multiply each letter in the word אחד by itself, i.e. 1 by 1=1; +8 by 8=64; +4 by 4=16. This adds up to a total of 81. The word 81=אנכי. The conceptual common denominator between the two words is that just as G–d is unique, i.e. אחד, so Rebeccah as potential founder of the twelve tribes making up the people of Israel is unique. The letters in אחד can also be read as follows: "The nation Israel consisting of 8 tribes born by Jacob's major wives ח, and 4 tribes born by Jacob's minor wives ד, together form one nation, א-אחי. The word אנכי is equivalent to the numerical value of כסא, G–d's throne, where Jacob's likeness is inscribed. After Jacob had received assurances that he would be the founder of twelve tribes, and that these tribes would enjoy G–d's blessings and be the forerunners of the eventual redemption when G–d would be "walking in their midst," he exclaimed that he had absorbed this information and that he had now received the answer to what had troubled his mother when she had questioned the value of her existence, i.e. her אנכי. The Talmud Chulin 91 even describes the ascent and descent of the angels as motivated by their desire to compare the features of Jacob with the image engraved on the throne of G–d. The angels tried to cause Jacob trouble, when G–d intervened. This is the reason why the Torah says: "Here G–d stood on top of him."

Secondly, the second version in that Midrash describes the present world, a world which is capable of being infected with impurity, a world in which the קליפות are rampant. It was necessary to exempt the act of Creation from exposure to curses and expose it to blessings instead, so that the heretics would not be able to claim that their actions had all been predetermined by the built-in presence of evil, and that therefore they could not be blamed for their evil thoughts or actions. The truth is that anyone who wants to purify, to repair, the imperfect state of this world, is assured of a Heavenly assist. This is the meaning of ברוך הבא בשם ה' "Blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord" (Psalms 118,26). To indicate both these guiding principles of Creation, the Torah may have commenced with both the first two words commencing with the letter ב, i.e. בראשית ברא.

This is why Rabbi Yochanan understood G–d to speak about "His" world. This is along the lines of the commentary by Rabbeinu Bachyah on: יראת השם היא אוצרו, "Fear of the Lord is His treasure" (Isaiah 33, 6). He says that it is in the nature of kings to include things which are rare in their treasures. G–d is on record as saying in Chagai 2,8: "Gold and silver belong to Me." In view of this, what new treasure can G–d keep stored up? The only thing which is not already the property of G–d is the fear of G–d. It is something extraordinary – because it is up to man to acquire it – using his free will. It has never been under Divine control. This is the reason Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish used the word כמוני, "just like Me," as a supposition that could be entertained by Jewish people attempting to become holy. They had to be told that G–d's freedom of choice and man's freedom of choice do not lead to exactly the same level of holiness. We have a principle that הבא לטהר מסייעין לו, "He who sets out to purify himself receives a Heavenly assist" (Yuma 38b). We have another tradition which says that "he who sanctifies himself a little in this world will experience that he is sanctified a great deal more in the Celestial Regions." When man sets out to choose good, G–d assists him and adds sanctity. The addition supplied by G–d is greater than the initial amount of sanctity attained by man's own efforts. When Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish described G–d as saying "My holiness is superior to your holiness," what he meant was that G–d's contribution to our holiness is greater than our own, which is due to our freedom of choice.