ספר בראשית

In order to understand why Moses commences with the ‎word ‎וזאת‎, when commencing with Yehudah’s blessing, instead of ‎simply commencing with: ‎וליהודה‎, as he did when commencing ‎the blessing of Levi or Joseph or Zevulun, etc., the author refers ‎us to a verse in psalms 45,10 ‎נצבה שגל לימינך בכתם אופיר‎, “the ‎consort stands at your right hand, decked in gold of Ophir.”‎This verse, or section of it, is discussed at length in Rosh ‎Hashanah 4. The Talmud says that - [after discussing ‎the meaning of the word ‎שגל‎, or ‎משגל‎, usually an uncouth term ‎used by common people when speaking of sexual intercourse, ‎Ed.]- the psalmist does indeed refer to a description of ‎carnality committed with an animal, (female). When the sages of ‎the Talmud react to this by asking how these words of the ‎psalmist could then be interpreted as a welcome message, the ‎answer given is that the prophet is telling the Jewish people that ‎as a reward for their intense love of Torah, a love which if ‎expressed in physical terms would be as intense as that ‎experienced when gentiles climax in the sexual act, they would ‎merit a similar proximity to G’d and would be treasured by Him as ‎a husband who treasures his wife.‎It is still difficult to understand why the Talmud chose ‎precisely intensive Torah study as warranting this kind of reward, ‎when there are many other cravings human beings experience ‎that are as dear to them as indulging in the sexual act?‎The answer is that by loving Torah, i.e. serving the One and ‎only Creator, the observant Jew has demonstrated that rather ‎than to be become addicted to some other less dominating ‎influence, he has been intelligent enough to choose to become ‎‎“addicted” to the King of Kings, instead of settling for second or ‎third best. All other “ideals,” “deities,” “powers,” are transient, ‎bound to disappear sooner or later, whereas G’d is both the origin, ‎the purpose, and the meaningful content of all existence. ‎Moreover, assuming one has craved for some other thing that ‎people develop a craving for, and one has achieved an ‎outstanding record of achievement in one’s chosen field, in the ‎end one has achieved mastery in only one isolated field of human ‎endeavor. Becoming a Talmid Chacham by applying oneself ‎with the same devotion and singularity of purpose to Torah, ‎results in one’s having mastered every discipline, for of Torah it ‎is said that ‎הפוך בה והפוך בה כי כולה בה‎, “keep turning over its ‎pages again and again for everything you search for is contained ‎in it.” (Avot end chapter 5) Seeing that this is so, true Torah ‎study, when it is the result of a craving for getting closer to G’d, ‎is the high road to succeeding in subduing all one’s cravings, as ‎they are all inspired by the evil urge.‎Although the path to G’d we have just described is a good ‎path, it does not constitute the essence of true service of the ‎Creator. The reason is that the person pursuing this path is still, ‎in a manner of speaking, serving “himself,” i.e. with an ulterior ‎motive, however noble that motive may be.‎The truest service of the Lord is when one is concerned not ‎with deriving pleasure- even spiritual pleasure from having done ‎one’s duty- but when one’s sole purpose is to provide pleasure or ‎its equivalent in celestial terms, to the Creator. The Creator is to ‎derive satisfaction from His creature’s free willed actions, or in ‎the words of Solomon in Proverbs 23,15:‎בני אם חכם לבך ישמח לבי גם ‏אני‎, “My son, if your heart is wise, My heart too will be ‎gladdened;” or in the words of the psalmist 104,31 ‎ישמח ה' במעשיו ‏‎, ‎‎“may the Lord rejoice in His creatures’ deeds.” As a result of the ‎Creator being pleased with the person serving Him in such a ‎fashion, He, in turn will “play” with him much as a father plays ‎with his children. This is the meaning of the verses quoted from ‎Proverbs and psalms.‎Indulging the various cravings available here on earth ‎results in the person doing so receiving satisfaction, i.e. being ‎turned into a recipient. At the same time man is aware that all ‎such pleasures received on earth are transient in nature and will ‎evaporate into nothingness, eventually.‎The same is not the case when one indulges in marital ‎intercourse with a view to producing offspring, posterity, that ‎will replace the party doing so on earth after he has died. The ‎male impregnating the female with his semen has become a ‎‎“donor” at the very moment when he experiences fulfillment of ‎his own sexual craving. The recipient is the woman in whom his ‎seed has been implanted. To a certain extent, the husband ‎experiences what G’d experiences when He is being worshipped ‎on the highest level, as he has the satisfaction of providing his ‎mate with pleasure. ‎This is what the Talmud had in mind when it compared the ‎sexual act to the manner in which G’d craves the service of His ‎creature, man, through Torah study. The Talmud wanted to ‎stress the point that man, though merely a creature, is able to ‎become a “donor,” when serving G’d. [This is a ‎revolutionary concept, as we usually view ourselves as recipients ‎of His largesse, especially so, as the relationship between us and ‎our Creator is normally described as that of ‎חתן ‏‎ andכלה ‏‎, the ‎creature being the ‎כלה‎, the female of the “team,” i.e. at the ‎receiving end. Ed.]‎The Talmud describes how it is possible for Jews to sublimate ‎something that when done by the gentiles is merely something ‎physical, though also the male pagan is a donor when he provides ‎his wife with physical satisfaction; however, since the ‎metaphysical element is completely lacking in what the pagans ‎do, even their most well intentioned efforts to please their ‎partners are ultimately doomed to become extinguished, ‎‎[as our sages have stated so eloquently when they referred ‎to the letters ‎י‎ and ‎ה‎ respectively in the definition of ‎איש‎ and ‎אישה‎ ‎as being what separates a true Jewish individual, as opposed to ‎males and females of the gentiles in whom carnal desire ends up ‎as being destructive fire, ‎אש‎. Ed.]‎This is also how the Talmud in Shabbat 140B in which Rav ‎Chisda is reported as teaching his daughters ways of chastity is to ‎be understood. He told his daughters to practice chastity even in ‎their dealings with their husbands, such as not eating bread in ‎front of their husbands, as they might be perceived as being too ‎ravenous. This would revolt their husbands. Similarly, they were ‎to be careful not to eat vegetables at night (evening) as this leaves ‎an unpleasant odour coming from their mouths. Neither were ‎they to eat dates or drink beer in the evening as this would lead ‎to diarrhea. Also, when someone knocks on the door of their ‎houses, asking to be allowed to enter, they should not ask ‎מי הוא‎, ‎‎“who is it?”, in the masculine mode but ‎מי היא‎, “who is it,?” in the ‎feminine mode. ‎As a further illustration of the value of the virtue of ‎chastity, Rav Chisda held up one hand displaying a pearl, while in ‎the other fist he held up a clod of earth until his daughters could ‎no longer conceal their curiosity as to what their father had ‎concealed in the second hand (fist).When, to the dismay of his daughters, he displayed the clod ‎of earth, he told them that their impatience to know what he had ‎concealed in his fist was proof that people are drawn to worthless ‎objects because they are concealed, whereas they look with ‎disdain at precious objects, as these objects no longer arouse their ‎curiosity. [What his daughters would conceal from their ‎husbands for a while would intrigue their husbands, whereas ‎what their husbands were familiar with about them would pale ‎into insignificance. You, the reader, have no doubt noticed ‎that Rav Chisda’s last example about “chastity” quoted in the ‎Talmud is totally different from the previous ones, and this is ‎what prompted our author to resort to an allegorical ‎interpretation, as the Talmud was not meant to provide us with ‎‎“tidbits” about the personal lives of our Torah scholars.Before ‎presenting our author’s intriguing explanation, let me point out ‎that the ‎מאירי‎ in his ‎בית הבחירה‎ on that folio in the Talmud offers a ‎very good explanation without resorting to allegories. As his ‎commentary had not been discovered until long after our author ‎had died, he could not have been aware of it. Ed.]‎ A woman is equipped with two distinct sources of providing ‎life/nourishment. 1) The visible source, her breasts from which ‎the infant receives its life support and which fulfils all its needs. ‎The invisible source is her womb. Her breasts are used to dispense ‎loving kindness, whereas her womb is the location where she ‎receives loving kindness.If we substitute G’d as the speaker in ‎the quotation from the Talmud of Rav Chisda to his daughters, ‎and we see in the pearl Rav Chisda held in his hand, a simile for ‎the manifest deeds of loving kindness performed by G’d for His ‎creatures, this is an allusion to the first, and easy path for man to ‎learn to serve his Creator. The impatience with which Rav ‎Chisda’s daughters waited for their father to open his fist, ‎represents man’s impatience for G’d to provide him with a ‎‎“reason” to worship and serve Him by not merely being on the ‎receiving end, but by being able to become “donors,” providing ‎their Creator with satisfaction and pleasure. By providing Him ‎with such pleasure, man also provides G’d’s celestial entourage ‎with a measure of satisfaction.This idea has also been ‎expressed by Hoseah 2,18 when he says concerning a time in the ‎future: ‎והיה ביום ההוא נאום ה' תקראי אישי ולא תקראי לי עוד בעלי‎, “when ‎that day will arrive you will call Me ‘my husband,’ and you will no ‎longer call me: ‘my Master.’” When one perceives of one’s ‎husband as ‎בעל‎, “master,” instead of as ‎אישי‎, “my male ‎counterpart,” my complement, then it is obvious that one does ‎not perceive of oneself as a Donor, but only as a recipient. The ‎vision of Hoseah in the verse quoted looks forward to the time ‎when not only a few individuals are able to serve G’d in the ‎manner described as the “second path,” i.e. unabashedly aware ‎that they too are “donors” when serving the Lord, not only ‎‎“recipients.” When we keep this point in mind we can understand ‎the verse in Hoseah as not only referring to the relationship ‎between husband and wife, but to the relationship between ‎Creator and creature. The prophet implies that the “largesse” ‎man receives from G’d is tailored to his ability to appreciate it, ‎and to use it as a stepping-stone to improve his relationship with ‎his Creator. [The exception, presumably, is when G’d is ‎‎“forced” to recompense the wicked for the good they have done ‎on earth, as they have no afterlife to look forward to where they ‎can make use of their “reward.” Ed.]‎‎No two people are identical in their ability to “cope” ‎successfully, i.e. in a manner that builds their character, with the ‎same amount of G’d’s “largesse.” Just as a doctor does not ‎prescribe the same dose of medicine for all of his patients, so G’d ‎does not dispense the same amount of largesse to two people. ‎Each one receives what G’d alone knows to be ideal for his ‎condition. Nonetheless sometimes G’d dispenses His largesse to some ‎people not based strictly on their deserts or ability to “digest” it ‎constructively, but according to His independent wisdom, and ‎the privilege He enjoys as being the creature’s “owner.” In other ‎words, sometimes a person receives an “advance” on what he will ‎be entitled to in the future, although he has not yet completed ‎the preparatory steps for “deserving” what he is about to receive. ‎This type of “advance payment” by G’d is dispensed only when ‎the individual concerned is still on the level of serving the Lord ‎according to what we have called “path one.” This level is known ‎in kabbalistic parlance as ‎עלמא דנוקבא‎, “the world in which the ‎feminine element dominates,” i.e. a world dependent on external ‎help, largesse from the Creator. Some people receive what the ‎author calls “largesse” commensurate with the strength of a ‎‎“wolf,” whereas others receive largesse according to the ability of ‎a “lion” to make constructive use of it.‎Once the recipient of G’d’s largesse has “qualified” to serve ‎the Lord according to what we called “path two,” he is not in ‎need of further assistance. The level these people have attained is ‎known in kabbalistic parlance as ‎עלמא דדכורא‎, “the masculine ‎domain of the world”. [Once these people have come to ‎understand that it is possible to be a “donor” vis a vis the Creator, ‎they would not even appreciate it if G’d would “assist” them in ‎their quest, as they would see in such “assistance” proof of their ‎own inadequacy. Donors, by definition, are self-propelled. The last ‎‎6 lines are not the author’s but mine. The author proceeds along ‎a somewhat different path, as you will see forthwith. Ed.]‎This world of the masculine domain has been blessed by G’d ‎with something known as ‎כללות‎, a term that allows for the ‎recipient of G’d’s largesse not to be restricted to his spiritual ‎status. [The term ‎כללות‎ is not really appropriate as we no ‎longer speak about domains in the terrestrial part of the universe. ‎Ed.] It is a domain exclusively presided over by the ‎אין סוף‎ ‎G’d in His capacity as the Eternal, unbounded by any limitations.. ‎Seeing that this is so, anyone having secured access to this ‎domain becomes privy to the ‎רצון‎, the will of the ‎אין סוף‎, a will ‎that is not hindered from being executed by opposing forces, and ‎he is able to achieve things in the spiritual domain that he was ‎not able to achieve while bound by the limits of lower domains.‎[The author now speaks, or rather alludes, to a ‎domain of ‎אותיות‎ and two tiers of domains known as ‎אמונה‎ which I ‎am not familiar with. Ed.] Suffice it for the reader to ‎remember that just as the physical universe of which the Torah ‎speaks at the beginning of ‎בראשית‎, consists of three layers, i.e. ‎בריאה-יצירה עשיה‎, so the spiritual disembodied universe known as ‎עולם האצילות‎, also consists of various layers, tiers.‎