Parashat Beshalach
January 30, 2024
Last Saturday we studied the Elter Rebbe’s commentary on Parashat Beshalach. Below please find a translation and discussion which I wrote in 2022. For those who want to delve into the discussion deeper, I invite you to read the commentary. However, in discussion with Rabbi Potash, I think it is fair to make three key points.
- The Elter Rebbe compares the Exile and the Diaspora of the Jewish People to a fruit or a seed planted in dark moist soil. The peel of the fruit or the shell rots allowing the seed to germinate. The process of rotting is compared to the travails of Exile and the Diaspora. The Elter Rebbe compares the Dispersion of the Jewish People to seeds being planted throughout the world which then germinate.
- G-d wishes to have a relationship with mankind in general and the Jewish People in particular. To do so, He must lower Himself and conceal Himself. This occurs through the process of Tsimtsum, Contraction, whereby the Divine Light is contracted and Concealed.
- The purpose of the Jewish People is to peel away the layers of materialism concealing the Divine. This goal is accomplished by the performance of the 613 Mitzvot outlined in the Torah and Talmud
Torah Or page סא top of first column
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Gedalia Potash and William Schecter, MD
Thursday January 14, 2022
“And it came to pass that Pharoah sent the people and G-d did not send them through the Land of the Philistines etc” (Exodus 13:17 ) And here it is written the Exile of Israel in Egypt—“I will sow her in a land of my own” (Hosea 2:25 ). And the Rabbis of the Talmud said that one who sows a Kor (a unit of measurement) will reap several Kors (of produce). This helps us understand the relationship between sowing and the increase and multiplication that comes into being as a result of Exile (Galut) It is written: “Israel sanctifies for G-d the first of its produce” (Jeremiah 2:3) which is called the G-d’s produce (harvest). This is comparable to a man sowing some of his produce with the expectation that even more produce will grow. Similarly, G-d wishes to increase the revelation of His Divinity in the world and “the whole world will be filled with G-d’s Glory” (Numbers 14:21), G-d’s Honor will be revealed and all flesh (humans) will see it.
Comment: The Torah is describing Pharoah sending out the Jews but the Prophets refer to the Exile in Egypt as the Children of Israel having been seeded into a dark cold wet place (the Galut, the Exile) but this seeding is necessary for multiplying spiritual growth.
The Bible compares the Exile to Planting and Redemption to Harvesting.
Planting Israel (in Exile) is like seeding produce because Israel is G-d’s produce through whom His Glory is greatly revealed and this what is meant by the prayer “Blessed art Thou O Lord, G-d of Israel from the world and unto the world” (Psalms 106:48). This means that Israel is necessary to draw the blessing and augmentation of G-d’s revelation from the world of concealment to the world of revelation.
Comment: It is the task of the Jewish People to prepare the world as a dwelling place for G-d so that His concealed Presence can be revealed to the whole world. The Elter Rebbe in Tanya Chapter 37 says that all of
our work (service) in the Galut (Exile) will determine the level of Revelation in the World to Come.
Therefore G-d is called the G-d of Israel because the increased revelation of His Divinity below (in our world) will occur through Israel as it is above (in the Heavens). In the Heavens it is written that the Host of the Heavens bows down because they are nullified from the reality, from the revelation of the Divine Light such that here it is written “for the future they will see eye to eye (that is come face to face with G-d).
It is written “And they came in cliff caves and in burrows of dust because of fear of G-d” (Isaiah 2:18) . It is written “Every knee shall bend” etc (Isaiah 45:23 ) and before You they will bend and fall (to the ground). And the multiplier for Israel to rise to a high (spiritual) level is the seeding in the land in the time of the Exile which is analogous to planting one seed from which will grow many plants. Or planting a pip (a hard seed in a fruit) from which will grow a mature tree with many branches. Or as it is written “I planted for you a grapevine”, a grape vine twig, in order to grow a complete grape vine. And as the Rabbis of the Talmud said: Israel is compared to a grape vine.
Comment: Now that we have established the metaphor of planting and harvesting, there is another metaphor that is introduced—the rotting of the peel (or shell) which is not part of the fruit but is necessary for the fruit to grow. Planting is not just putting the seed into the ground but the seed must germinate after disintegration of the peel.
As in the analogy of seeding and planting cited above, when the seeds are covered by the dust of the earth from which plants will sprout, when the shell of the seed rots and is nullified vis à vis the power of germination present in the earth, this power of germination increases and grows plants in abundance. This is similar to the sowing of Israel. The explanation is that it is known that the peel is external to the fruit (the seed itself). As it is written “And these are the kings which ruled in the Land of Edom before a King ruled over the Children of Israel´(Genesis 36:31). Not that the peel truly preceded the fruit, G-d forbid, but the light and the vitality was invested within them with the attribute of Exile and Falling when the Vessels (the Sefirot) broke as is known to the Kabbalists. The light fell (descended) from the most supernal heights, i.e. the world to come, and Israel, whose Souls are rooted in the Holy Measures and the Torah produced from Wisdom with the attribute of the world of Asiyah. These measures are the performance of the Mitzvot (the 613 commandments in the Torah).
Comment: The Elter Rebbe is comparing the Jewish People to seeds planted in Exile. With vegetation, the material layers must rot away allowing the central fruit to take nourishment from the moist soil allowing germination to occur. So too with Israel, which must experience the trials of Exile allowing the layers of materialism and physicality to be nullified allowing the G-dly Soul to be revealed and rise back to Its Source. The Elter Rebbe is saying that the Kings of Edom helped establish civilization before the arrival of the Children of Israel to Eretz Israel. These kings were necessary, like the Klipah (peel) of the fruit, to create a structure in the world for the Children of Israel
In Kabbalistic cosmology there are four main “worlds”. The world of Atzilut contains powerful Divine Energy and is closest to the Ein Sof—the Infinite—G-d. The creation of the World occurs somewhere between the world of Atzilut and Briah (Briah means creation in Hebrew). The next level down is the world of Yetzirah (another word for creation) and finally the world of Asiyah where the powerful Divine Light has undergone great contractions and is concealed. This is our world where Mitzvot must be performed and through the performance of Mitzvot we reveal the Divine Presence.
The explanation of the issue is that it was taught that there are ten generations between Adam and Noah and an additional ten generations between Noah and Abraham etc. This teaching was to show how slow to anger is G-d because all the generations angered G-d. The interpretation is that all of the idolators received the sustenance and vitality of this world from Divine Holiness and as it is written “And you give life to all with the attribute of slowness to anger and great loving kindness. Meaning that because He is capable of everything and grants life and sustenance with the great loving kindness, nevertheless they called Him the L-rd of the G-ds etc. in a place that conceals his Holiness. Therefore, they have wealth and honor not through accounting, action and knowledge but because they were suckled from the Divine Vitality which fell (descended) with the Klipot (layers) with the breaking of the vessels as is known to the Kabbalists. G-dliness is concealed from them. The light is blocked from evil doers. The light does not illuminate them (the evil doers) with the revelation of G-d but rather with the deepest darkness until they deny G-d. The villain says in his heart that there is no G-d and things seem as they are unto themselves. The evil inclination and the holy inclination both receive vitality from the revelation of the Light of G-d’s countenance and it is revealed in the descent and Histalshalut (flowing down) through the spiritual levels with the 10 Holy Sefirot which are His Holy Attributes which are the vessels for drawing the revelation of His Divinity. And so the Torah has the measure as it is written “Far from the Earth G-d produces a measure” meaning referring to its measure (merit, attribute) meaning it (The Torah) has the attribute of a vessel of His care (fostering care) but it is far from the earth. Therefore it is written “If you follow my Laws” (Leviticus 26:3)
Therefore, Jacob is called “the small” because he is the attribute of diminutiveness and contraction. Limiting His Divinity to be revealed according to the limited attributes of the light of Torah and Mitzvot (commandments) channeling His supernatural will down to the refined details of Torah ruling in a case “when Reuven will make such and such a claim etc.” And it will end thus.
Comment: What does the Elter Rebbe mean when he says “Reuven will make such and such a claim”? Reuven is not referring to Reuven the eldest son of Jacob. Rather, in Talmudic discourse, when discussing one person vis à vis a second, the first person is referred to as Reuven and the second as Shimon. Sol here, the Rabbi uses Reuven as a substitute for “a person”.
And so by way of analogy are the remainder of the Mitzvot, Tsitsit (fringes worn on four cornered garments), Tfillin (Phylacteries worn for morning prayers—except on Shabbat and major Holidays), which by revealing His Divinity and Will have the attribute of contraction, for His essence does not belong at all to the attribute of will, for His essence is infinitely far above the attribute of will and is called the L-rd of will.
Comment: Rabbi Potash commented: The process of bringing G-dliness to the world has no shortcut. You have to follow the manual. the Jewish People are bound by that process. The system of Torah is a system that draws down Divinity, through the process of Hishtalshalut and contraction, leading the revelation of the concealed Divinity in our world.
It is said the “Even the heavens to their uttermost reaches cannot contain You.” (Kings I 8:27). The meaning is: even as a vessel within a vessel receives vitality from the Divine Holiness that existed prior to the contraction. The vitality will be revealed by the orderly descent through Histalshalut. In this case, the attribute of “And these are the Kings…” (Genesis 36:31) receives the vitality from Divine Holiness from the attribute of great loving kindness from one level to the next to be enclothed in the attribute of concealment of the face and not in revelations at all until the end of days when “And I will make the unclean spirit vanish from the land” (Zechariah 13:2) and “For every eye shall behold The LORD’s return to Zion.” (Isaiah 52:8)