ספר דברים

Deuteronomy 2,1. “it is eleven days (march) from ‎Chorev to Kadesh Barnea.” In order to understand the ‎relevance of this line, it is helpful to understand a verse in ‎Proverbs 27,9 where Solomon says that ‎שמן וקטורת משמח לב‎, “oil ‎‎(for anointing) and incense gladden the heart.”‎When dealing with matters involving holiness, the basic ‎number used is the number 10. Already in the most ancient ‎Kabbalistic text, the sefer yetzirah, the number ten is ‎mentioned repeatedly as a contrast to the number eleven. The ‎ten emanations, ‎ספירות‎, different levels of holiness, are “matched” ‎by ten levels of spiritually negative levels, the difference between ‎the two being that the ‎גורמים‎, causes, of the ten levels of holiness ‎and the resulting holiness are viewed as part of something ‎integral, whereas a similar “integrity” of cause and effect is not ‎presumed to exist when spiritually negative forces and their ‎causes are concerned. When we read in the sefer yetzirah ‎about “ten levels of emanations and not eleven,” the author ‎wishes to make the point that the causes of the sefirot and ‎the sefirot themselves are not viewed as separate entities. ‎When Moses speaks of a “distance,” of eleven days [in a ‎spiritual sense, as in: ‘49 levels of ritual pollution,’ Ed.], ‎the word ‎חורב‎, [as distinct from Sinai. Ed.], is to ‎be understood as symbolizing the ‎סטרא אחרא‎, the ten spiritually ‎negative forces that are the counterweight of the ten spiritually ‎positive forces. The Israelites (priests) used to offer twice daily an ‎incense offering known as ‎קטורת‎, consisting of 11 different ‎categories of fragrances. When Moses elaborates by saying that ‎the “11 days” he refers to were in the direction of Mount Seir, the ‎region of the Kingdom of Edom, it becomes clear that he referred ‎to something that took the Israelites away from the spiritually ‎lofty atmosphere of Mount Sinai in the direction of the spiritually ‎totally polluted domain of Esau/Seir. This is a fitting introduction ‎to Moses rebuking the Israelites in this Book. In the parlance of ‎our sages, the evil urge is often referred to as ‎הר‎, mountain, i.e. ‎representing an almost insurmountable obstacle. It is also called ‎שעיר‎ as we know from Sukkah 52. [None of the seven ‎names mentioned in the Talmud there is ‎שעיר‎, Ed.] The ‎Talmud there does say that the evil urge appears like a tall ‎mountain to the righteous, whereas it appears as insignificant as ‎a thin hair to the wicked.‎