Nefesh HaChayim, Gate I

And from when Moshe came and brought it down to Earth, it is no longer in the heavens. And lest a great person whose attainments are vast becomes wise says: “I am one who sees the secret and hidden meaning of the commandments in the powers and upper worlds that are appropriate for me according to the root of my soul-Neshama”, or for anyone else according to his root, to violate (heaven forefend) any commandment or to neglect any of the smallest of details of performance, to perform it with an omission of even one detail imposed by the Sofrim, or to change its appropriate time (heaven forefend)—for this reason the Torah concluded with (Devarim 34:10): “no other prophet like Moshe arose”, and as they (OBM) taught [regarding] (Vayikra 27:34): “these are the commandments”. After that era ended, a prophet is not permitted to innovate anything (Shabbat 104a). And as the Torah spoke with authority (Devarim 13:1): “the entire word that I command…, do not add to it nor subtract from it.” For even “if a prophet will arise in your midst…”, that is, to add or subtract (heaven forefend), “do not listen to the words of that prophet. “Follow God-YHV”H your God-Elohi”m.”

And so it was that King Chizkiya who foresaw via ruakh ha-kodesh412Ruakh Ha-kodesh is the movement of the holy spirit, a level lower than prophecy. that he would have wayward children, and for that reason he didn’t marry (B’rakhote 10a), his intention was for the sake of heaven413Heb.: l’sheim sha-my-eem, not to increase the evil ones in the world. Even so Y’shaya came to him with God’s-YHV”H word (M’lakhim Bet, 20:1): “for you shall die…”, “and you shall not live” in the next world414The “next world” (Heb.: o-lahm ha-ba) is the “world-to-come”. because you didn’t engage yourself with reproduction. All of his extreme and awesome righteousness didn’t avail to bring him to the life of the next world, because he reasoned that he should free himself from one commandment from Moshe’s Torah, even though he foresaw via his grasp of Ruakh Ha-kodesh that he would have wayward children, and also took into account that it was a [passive] not-doing of a positive commandment415He sought to restrain himself from performing a positive commandment, in contrast to actively doing something proscribed..

For the reasons behind the commandments and their final effects have not yet been revealed to any person in the world, not even to Moshe Rabbeinu (peace upon him), other than First Adam before the sin, and that is the “wine guarded in its grapes since the six days of creation” (B’rakhote 34b), along with the light of the first day with which First Adam “could visualize and examine the world from one end to the other” (Chageega 12a), and so on.

For the holy Torah is emanated from above the head416Heb.: l’ma’al-ah roshe—essentially beyond the highest level accessible to us., beyond all conceptual grasp. How would it be possible for this matter to be placed within a human’s grasp, to change its halakhote and the organization of its times according to the expanse of his knowledge417Heb.: da-ah-toe? And it’s just as Y’shaya responded to Chizkiya (B’rakhote 10a): “Why are you concerning yourself with the secrets of the Merciful One? What He has commanded you, you should do, and what the Holy One (blessed be He) decides is satisfactory, that is what will happen.”

And during the period that prophecy still existed in Israel, a prophet was permitted only to innovate a practice as a temporary affair, and also even to transgress one of God’s commandments, for example Eliyahu on Mt. Carmel and other similar events.

However, this [permission] itself is derived from what we were commanded in Moshe’s Torah (Devarim 18:15): “to him shall you hearken”, it being a commandment and a warning to hearken to the words of the prophet, including when he prophecies in God’s name (blessed be He) regarding transgressing a specific commandment when necessary, as our rabbis (OBM) commented (Yevamot 90:b), with the exception of foreign worship.

But they may never (God forbid) innovate something and make it permanent for the generations. A case in point is Esther, who was one of the seven women prophets (M’geela 14a). Even so, when she instructed the sages to record her story “for the generations”, they responded (Mishlei 22:20): “Surely I have written it for you as an adjutant,”418They responded that they could endorse a temporary change but not a permanent one. until they found an endorsement from the TaNa”Kh (Mishlei 7:1). And so it was with Chanuka candles, [that] it’s certainly the case that they too found for themselves an endorsement from the TaNa”Kh. (Refer to the midrash that the RaMBa”N (OBM) cited in the parshat B’ha’alote-kha in the name of Rabbeinu Nissim Gaon (OBM).)

And from the moment that, because of our sins, prophecy ceased in Israel, even if all the sages of Israel to whom were passed the knowledge of the Creation Event and the Vehicle Event419The Creation Event (Heb. ma-ah-seh Bereshit) and the Vehicle Event (ma-ahseh mer-ka-va) are the two primary sources from which the hidden aspects of Torah (Kabbala) are derived. Rav Chayyim is referring to those to whom even the deepest secrets of Torah have been transmitted. would gather and apply their understanding and the purity of their intellect to change even one random detail of one random commandment, or to make the time of its fulfillment earlier or later, we would not accede to them420Heb.: no-veh—See Bereshit 24:5 and 8, D’varim 13:9 and M’lakhim Alef 20:8 nor heed them. And even in the case of a heavenly voice they stated (Bava M’tzeeya 59b): “it is not in the heavens”.

And still in the days of the sages of the Talmud, they were permitted to innovate rabbinic mitzvote when they found allusions to them in the Torah. For example, khanuka candles and others like that, as mentioned above. So too, [they were permitted] to impose restrictive decrees, for example the eighteen (TB Shabbat 13b) and similar others. And once the holy Talmud was sealed, for us there’s nothing to do but scrupulously guard and perform everything recorded in the holy Torah, written and oral, according to all their laws and mandates, and with their correct times, details and aspects of performance, without deviating from them even to the smallest degree.

And when the person of Israel fulfills them properly, even without intention, and even if he has no comprehension of the underlying reasons for and secrets of their intentions, even so, the commandments are fulfilled, and thereby the worlds are rectified, and holiness and light is increased, for each commandment according to its time, source and context421Heb.: l’fee sha-ah-ta, u’m’koe-ra v’in-ya-na. And it provides strength to God-Elohi”m (blessed be His name). For the Creator (blessed be His Name) established the nature of all the worlds in this way, that they should be influenced by man’s actions, and each commandment ascends on its own to cause the specific effect particular to it.

Those whom He (blessed be His name) privileged to attain the hidden aspects of our holy Torah that the great holy ones, the sages of the Talmud, transmitted to us, (for example: Rabbi Shim’on bar Yo-khai, his colleagues and students, and those from whom we drink their waters in these last generations, such as the holy rabbi, man of God-Elohi”m, the awesome Ariza”l, who enlightened us with a few of the reasons for and intention of the commandments), it’s only so that each one of us could contemplate, based on the limits of his intellect and ability, the effects of all the details of his actions, speech, thoughts and his entire situation on the upper and lower worlds and powers. And this will cause and awaken him to perform and fulfill each commandment, and the entire context of his service to his Creator (Blessed be his name), with ultimate scrupulousness, and with dread and awe and immense love and with holiness and purity of heart/mind, and via this cause even greater rectifications in the worlds than if he was to fulfill the commandment without the holiness and purity of intention. However, even so, the essence of all the commandments are the details of the action associated with them.