"...if a woman be with seed and give birth to a male child..." (Lev. 12:2)
The Zohar (3:42b) notes that from the time a woman becomes pregnant, all she talks of is whether the child will be a boy [or a girl].
I heard my teacher R. Dov Baer comment on the sages' statement "Israel sustain their heavenly Father" (Zohar 3:7b). He quoted the verse "The wise child brings a father joy" (Prov. 10:1), saying that our fulfilling the commandments and doing good deeds brings pleasure to our blessed Creator. This is the meaning of the sages' teaching, as pleasure is a sort of sustenance.
But can a Jewish person's mitsvot and good deeds really bring God pleasure? Doesn't the blessed Holy One have thousands of angels singing "Holy, holy holy!" in awesome fear? "What is man that You are mindful of him?" (Ps. 8:5).
This can be explained by a parable. The nobles among the gentiles have birds that they are able to train to speak human language. A person who hears this is astonished, running to tell his friends: "Come see and hear this great wonder!" The reference is obvious.
Therefore, you humans, open your eyes and see the great power of your mitsvot and good deeds, dwarfing the service of the angels down to nothingness...and bringing great joy to the Creator.
In this way the blessed Holy One becomes a "receiver," accepting all that pleasure from us. This too I heard from my teacher R. Dov Baer. "This [zot] has come from Y-H-W-H; it is a wonder in our eyes" (Ps. 118:23). Note that the word "this" is in the feminine [indicating receptiveness.] If the true purpose of all worship is that of bringing pleasure to God, then God becomes a receiver. That Y-H-W-H can turn into a feminine, receptive Being is clearly a wonder in our eyes. Indeed a great wonder!
Every person contains these three stages: seeding, gestation, and birthing. "Seeding" refers to our first arousal toward serving our Creator. "Gestation" is the developing desire to perform mitsvot; "birthing" is the actual deed.
This is what the Zohar means by telling us that a "woman," from the moment she becomes pregnant, talks only of her child's sex. From the time we begin to serve our Creator, until we give birth and actually do the mitsvah, we think of nothing other than whether our deeds will take on the active ("male") role of bringing blessing into all the worlds. May God give us the merit to serve in such a way! Amen.
The Zohar (3:42b) notes that from the time a woman becomes pregnant, all she talks of is whether the child will be a boy [or a girl].
I heard my teacher R. Dov Baer comment on the sages' statement "Israel sustain their heavenly Father" (Zohar 3:7b). He quoted the verse "The wise child brings a father joy" (Prov. 10:1), saying that our fulfilling the commandments and doing good deeds brings pleasure to our blessed Creator. This is the meaning of the sages' teaching, as pleasure is a sort of sustenance.
But can a Jewish person's mitsvot and good deeds really bring God pleasure? Doesn't the blessed Holy One have thousands of angels singing "Holy, holy holy!" in awesome fear? "What is man that You are mindful of him?" (Ps. 8:5).
This can be explained by a parable. The nobles among the gentiles have birds that they are able to train to speak human language. A person who hears this is astonished, running to tell his friends: "Come see and hear this great wonder!" The reference is obvious.
Therefore, you humans, open your eyes and see the great power of your mitsvot and good deeds, dwarfing the service of the angels down to nothingness...and bringing great joy to the Creator.
In this way the blessed Holy One becomes a "receiver," accepting all that pleasure from us. This too I heard from my teacher R. Dov Baer. "This [zot] has come from Y-H-W-H; it is a wonder in our eyes" (Ps. 118:23). Note that the word "this" is in the feminine [indicating receptiveness.] If the true purpose of all worship is that of bringing pleasure to God, then God becomes a receiver. That Y-H-W-H can turn into a feminine, receptive Being is clearly a wonder in our eyes. Indeed a great wonder!
Every person contains these three stages: seeding, gestation, and birthing. "Seeding" refers to our first arousal toward serving our Creator. "Gestation" is the developing desire to perform mitsvot; "birthing" is the actual deed.
This is what the Zohar means by telling us that a "woman," from the moment she becomes pregnant, talks only of her child's sex. From the time we begin to serve our Creator, until we give birth and actually do the mitsvah, we think of nothing other than whether our deeds will take on the active ("male") role of bringing blessing into all the worlds. May God give us the merit to serve in such a way! Amen.
Here a biblical passage that is difficult for us is transformed when applied, in good Hasidic fashion, to the spiritual life. The categories of "male" and "female" are widened beyond all limit. All of us are "pregnant" and "birth-givers" here, and God is wondrously "female" as well as "male." True, the ideal form of service is that of the "male," causing blessing to flow, but the feminine-receptive state is elevated to an attribute of God.
As every successful lover knows, the categories of "giving" and "receiving" pleasure are entirely fluid and normal. My greatest pleasure lies in giving pleasure to the one I love. Is it so difficult to imagine that this is true of our relationship with Y-H-W-H, the One we love indeed?
As every successful lover knows, the categories of "giving" and "receiving" pleasure are entirely fluid and normal. My greatest pleasure lies in giving pleasure to the one I love. Is it so difficult to imagine that this is true of our relationship with Y-H-W-H, the One we love indeed?