Anochi - The First Commandment

(1) ..."I am, Hashem your God:" This statement is a positive commandment, as it says, "I am Hashem, who teaches and commands you that you should know and believe that there is a Hashem, and He is your God," that is to say, He existed before, from Him came everything by means of his desire [i.e., He created the world because He wanted to, not by accident] and capability, and He is your God, so you are required to serve Him. It says in the text, "who took you out of Eretz Mitzrayim," for He took you out of there to teach you about the reality and the desire [of Hashem], for with His knowledge and providence we left there, and to teach about the newness, for from the beginning of the world, not a thing has changed from His nature, and to teach you about what He can do, which will teach you about His uniqueness, like it says above [in Shmot 9:14], "so that you will know that there is no one like Me in all the land." And this is the reason for [the phrase] "Who took you out" - for they know of and bear witness to all of these [ideas.]

Rabbi Yocḥanan himself said that the word anochi that begins the Ten Commandments is an abbreviation for: I wrote myself (my soul) and gave it [ana nafshi ketavit yehavit]. The Rabbis said it is an abbreviation for: A statement pleasant was written and given [amira ne’ima ketiva yehiva]. Some say the word anochi can be interpreted backwards: It was written, it was given, its statements are faithful [yehiva ketiva ne’emanim amareha].

(1) And all of this [arises] from His overwhelming goodness and His (blessed be His name) great kindness, for He desires to exonerate us and to do good for us in the end. For this reason He created these wondrous designs, and made them permanent in this context, that each of these three should attach to the aspect above it [fem.], so that by way of this, man would be able to rise and connect from below to above, little by little, according to the degree of his involvement with His Torah and service of Him (blessed be His name), and the purity of his heart and his love and awe, until he shall ascend and attach (so to speak) to the “bond of life” with Lord-Y.H.V.”H. his God (blessed be His name), according to his root and level.

(2) There’s this and also more, for there are certain sins that if the soul-Nefesh commits one of them, it is liable for the punishment of being “cut off” or total destruction (heaven forefend). And the matter of “cutting off” is that the aspect of Nefesh is detached and cut off from its heavenly root, and the “twine” that was connected and attached to it until now via the connection we discussed above, is severed.

(6) Lest he go completely astray, His (blessed be He) will issued a judgment that they shouldn’t be cut off (heaven forefend) completely in all the ten aspects of the Nefesh. Only the nine lower aspects, from her Wisdom (Chochma) and down, they are cut off. However the uppermost aspect, the secret of her crown (Ketter) [*A] is not cut off; that on account of her attachment and connection with the aspect of the Spirit (Ruach) (as we described above) [*B] it [fem.] is judged to be aspect of Ruach for which there is no cutting off, as we will learn later. And this comes from compassion of the Above (blessed is He), that via the aspect of Ruach, that is via heartfelt verbal confession (which is the aspect of Ruach, as we described above), the nine aspects of the Nefesh will rise to connect all of them with the aspect of Ruach as before.

(7) Annotation A: That is to say that the inner will that crowns a Nefesh in Yisrael from the perspective of fear/awe -yir’ah is never, ever interrupted. And refer to the RaMBa”M at the end of chapter 2 relating to the ruling in a divorce issued under duress. [The case here deals with divorce. A divorce must be issued by the man’s own free will. If the divorce is issued under duress, the divorce is not legal. Maimonides ruled that a court may physically coerce a man to the point where he issues the divorce, and the divorce is considered legal. Isn’t this a “divorce issued under duress”? The answer is “no” because the court considers a man who refuses to issue a divorce as one who is overcome by his evil inclination.] “…until he says ‘I desire’, for the divorce is deemed legal if the law allows that he can be forced to grant the divorce.” And there they explained the reason that he is not considered “compelled”: his true will is to perform all the commandments, but his evil inclination dominated him. Since he was beaten until his evil inclination weakened and he then said “I desire [to divorce her]”, he divorced by his own will. Refer there for the holy RaMBa”M's (Maimonides) phrasing.

(8) Annotation B: That is to say, even if the souls-Nefesh of Yisrael are mired (heaven forefend) in evil desires (may the Merciful save us), even so His will (blessed be His name) established to elevate their soul-Nefesh via the aspect of His soul-Ruach (blessed be His name), as in the context that is written (Yeshayahu 59:21): “And Me, this is My covenant with them, says God-Y.H.V.”H.: My spirit-Ruach that is upon you… shall not depart…”, and as in the context of the Exodus from Egypt , and this is (Shemot 20:2) “I am, Hashem-Y.H.V.”H. your God-E'lohi”m who took you out of the land of Egypt”. And it’s known in the Zohar, that "I"-Anochi is the aspect of the crown. This is the commentary of the sages (OBM) (Shabbat 105a): “The word ‘Anochee’ is an abbreviation. It means ‘I, wrote Myself gave it to you’ [and another is] ‘beautiful pronouncement’.” And they are the two aspects of Neffesh and Ruakh, and the wise will understand.

(20) ... Why is this get not nullified, seeing that he is compelled by non-Jews or by Jews? The rule concerning a person who has committed a deed under compulsion applies only to one who has been pressured to do a thing to which he is not bound to do by the Torah, such as to sell or give. However, one who is possessed by his evil inclination to nullify a Mitzvah or to transgress, and was compelled to do that which he is obligated to do, or to distance himself from what he may not do, is not 'forced'. Rather, he has forced himself [away from the correct actions] by his bad thoughts. Therefore, this man that doesn't want to divorce his wife, since he wants to be part of Yisrael, and wants to do all the commandments and to avoid the transgressions, it his inclination that possessed him. Hi was forced until his inclination softened and he said "I wish [to give the divorce'. Thus, he already divorced willingly.