A Kabbalistic Explanation of a Vexing Verse

Parshat Va'Era contains a vexing verse:

וארא אל אברהם אל יצחק ואל יעקב בא-ל ש-די ושמי יקוק לא נודעתי להם

I revealed Myself to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as God Almighty (E-l Sha-ddai), and did not allow them to know Me by My name YHVH.

This verse implies that HaShem's name YHVH never appears in Sefer Bereshit. HaShem only spoke to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov using the E-l Sha-ddai. However, a quick perusal of Sefer Bereshit shows that this is not true. The name YHVH appears all over Sefer Bereshit and specifically where HaShem is speaking to the Avot. For example, when HaShem talks to Avraham before the destruction of S'dom and Amorah (18:13), the pasuk states: ויאמר ה' אל אברהם (And YHVH spoke to Avraham). How do we understand this pasuk from Parshat Va'Era?

Rashi is also bothered by this vexing verse. He states that the phrase אני יקוק (I am YHVH) in the previous pasuk means, "I am trustworthy to reward and punish." Similarly, Rashi explains that our verse refers to the fact that HaShem promised the Avot to give Eretz Yisrael to their descendants. HaShem has not yet fulfilled that promise (this is the significance of the name E-l Sha-ddai) and now HaShem is beginning the process of fulfilling the promise. Rashi's explanation works well with many Midrashim and other sections of the Torah, but alas this is not the space to elaborate.

A little use of Kabbalah yields a different explanation. If you have not read my post on the Names of HaShem - do so now. I mean it, right click and open that post in a new window. Don't worry I'll wait for you.

That post discusses the idea that the name Elokim refers to the consistent laws of nature, whereas the name YHVH refers to the miracles that are created by HaShem. Now we can add another dimension to these names - the name YHVH also refers to the covenant between HaShem and the entire Jewish people. This covenant is finalized at Har Sinai when the Jewish people accept the responsibility of performing all Torah and Mitzvot. In return HaShem promises that the Jewish people will be "chosen", they will have an eternal favored nation status. This is the significance of the name YHVH - HaShem is promising that the entire world can have a relationship with Elokim. But only the Jewish people can have a relationship with YHVH. The Avot had a special relationship with HaShem and this relationship is represented by the name E-l Sha-ddai. But the unique eternal relationship that is represented by the name YHVH has not yet been established.

When the vexing verse states that HaShem appeared to the Avot with the name E-l Sha-ddai, but not the name YHVH, a Kabbalisitic interpretation of this verse is - HaShem had a special relationship with each of the Avot, but it did not automatically extend to their descendants. Now HaShem is telling Moshe the plan to begin the process of creating the eternal special relationship with the Jewish people. This process begins with the ten plagues, continues with the exodus from Egypt and culminates in the revelation at Har Sinai. This is the significance of the name YHVH.

The Tzaddik

One of the contributions of Chassidut to the corpus of Jewish thought and life is the institution of the Tzaddik. The word tzaddik literally means someone who is very righteous and pious. The Chassidic Tzaddik is a divine communal leader who is intended to be an intermediary between the Jewish people and HaShem.

Kabbalah states that special individuals are able to impact the higher realms with their mitzvot. These individuals can also use esoteric mystical knowledge (like permutations of the Aleph Bet and the different names of HaShem) to effect change in this world. The general picture of this special Kabbalist is an ascetic hermit who is barely connected to this world. Like the Talmudic story of R. Shimon bar Yochai (the author of the Zohar) who lived in a cave for years eating carob. (An occasional carob bar from a Health Food store is okay, but I can't imagine eating it for a week - never mind years!)

This special Kabbalist is also part of the identity of the Tzaddik. The Tzaddik is able to daven and do mitzvot more effectively than other Jews. But unlike the Kabbilistic hermit, the Tzaddik lives in the community and is available to the people. Chassidut encourages people to daven with a Tzaddik, because the Tzaddik can also help the tefillot of individuals. Their davening is connected to the Tzaddik and their prayers carried to higher realms with the Tzaddik's prayer. The Tanya (פרק ב) encourages people to daven with a Tzaddik for this same reason. Even though every LCR (Local Chassidic Rebbe) is not on the level of a true Tzaddik, the role of the Tzaddik is crucial to Chassidic thought.

Ramban, the Greeks, and Parshat Bereshit

There are a number of perushim by the Ramban on the Torah which have achieved the status of "world-famous" within the Yeshiva world. However, in the world of the Kabbalists there is one perush of the Ramban which is so famous and so fundamental to Kabbalistic philosophy, that I am inclined to refer to it as "Biblical". I am going to discuss the Ramban's "Biblical" comment about how the world was created. Nevertheless, since I do not want to confuse anyone, I will just refer to this comment of the Ramban as "world-famous", but we will know the real truth.

The "world-famous" Ramban in Parshat Bereshit concerns the first pasuk in the Torah
- בראשית ברא אלוקים. In reality, this is an extremely difficult phrase to translate accurately. The complex nuances of the Biblical grammar are barely within my grasp (hat-tip to Profs. Steiner and Eichler) but much too difficult to explain here. המבין יבין.

Nevertheless, the word בראשית is generally translated as, "beginning" - as in, "In the beginning blah blah blah." However, Chazal treat the letter "ב" at the beginning of the word as a preposition and translate the word as, "with ראשית." Now don't get lost because we are almost at the end - ראשית is generally translated as, "the best". Chazal translate the first phrase in the Torah as, "Elokim created with the best." Take a look at Rashi on this pasuk and you will see some suggestions for meanings of ראשית: B'nei Israel and the Torah. (Truthfully, Rashi translates the "ב" as, "for the sake of" - so Rashi would translate this phrase as, "HaShem created for the sake of the Torah".)

Ramban the Kabbalist is struggling to reconcile the first pasuk of the Torah with the Kabbalistic concept of creation ex nihilo. That is to say יש מאין, or something from nothing. The word ראשית refers to the very first "stuff" that was created by HaShem in the finite universe. Ramban explains that Greek philosophy has a similar idea of the first "stuff" that was used to create the universe - "hiyuli". (My Greek is a little rusty if not non-existent, so I welcome any help from any blog-like people out there.) According to Ramban, there was a single act of something from nothing creation, and the Torah calls the created stuff ראשית. All of the olamot and sefirot, and molecules and quarks are all made from this ראשית. And there you have it, Ramban uses a little Greek philosophy to help explain how the first phrase in the Torah actually refers to the fundamental Kabbalistic concept of tzimtzum.

Photo Credit - http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/solar-b/solar_019.html

What is the Meaning of Hoshanah Rabbah?

Since I have already established that it is מותר to blog on Chol haMoed, I am prepared to contribute a Chassidic thought about Hoshanah Rabbah. I recently learned a piece by Reb Tzadok where he discusses the significance of Hoshanah Rabbah in relationship to the sefirot.

I have not had a chance to fully discuss the sefirot yet, but you can say that they represent seven different ways that HaShem connects to the world. We can describe HaShem in terms of Chesed, Gevurah (restraint), and Tiferet (balance). For example, Avraham represents Chesed because he exemplified generosity towards others. Yitzchak represents Gevurah because of his experience at the Akeidah. The seventh and final sefirah is Malchut which is represented by David HaMelech. Malchut can be explained as the actualization of theoretical plans. If you wanted to connect to the sefirah of Chesed, later you might also focus on Malchut in order to emphasize Chesed in our world.

All of this is background information for Reb Tzadok's commentary on Hoshanah Rabbah. He says that Hoshanah Rabbah is the seventh day of Sukkot and represents the culmination of all of our prayers on Sukkot. We perform seven הקפות on Hoshanah Rabbah - one הקפה for each of the seven sefirot. The seventh day of Sukkot is represented by the Ushpizin David HaMelech (you can read more about Ushpizin here) and the sefirah of Malchut. According to Reb Tzadok, Hoshanah Rabbah is the culmination of our teshuvah efforts of Elul and Tishrei. During Hoshanah Rabbah, we should focus on the sefirah of Malchut and on making permanent changes in this world.

Photo Credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aravos.JPG

What is the Meaning of Ushpizin?

Did you ever wonder what this whole Ushpizin thing on Sukkot was? Did you notice that Yosef often appears after Aharon and before David and he is not in historical order? If you have a little kabbalistic insight Ushpizin is an obvious and integral part of Sukkot. Each of the Ushpizin personalities also represents one of the Sefirot.

• Avraham - Chesed
• Yitzchak - Gevurah
• Yaakov - Tiferet
• Moshe - Netzach
• Aharon - Hod
• Yosef - Yesod
• David - Malchut

Each day when we welcome a different guest (Ushpizin) into our sukkah according to the order of the sefirot. We can also use the Ushpizin as an opportunity to improve the middot that are connected to that sefirah. For example, on the third day of Sukkot, when we welcome Yaakov Avinu we can also focus on how to achieve balance in our lives.

Each of the Ushpizin that we welcome to our sukkah also reminds us how we can continue the teshuvah process that we began in Elul into the rest of the year.

Technical Writing and Kabbalah

Now that I am back on the Kabbalah and Chassidut band wagon (at least for a little bit), I want to share an idea regarding my two careers: Rabbinics and Technical Writing. I am going to boldly go where no human has gone before. I have already done the Google search and behold - this is the first piece on the ENTIRE Internet that attempts to combine Technical Writing and Kabbalah. Folks, do not try this at home - I am a highly trained professional.

The picture that you see before you is a humble CAT-5 cable. It contains 8 individual wires which are twisted together and then covered to form one fairly thick cable. In layman's terms a CAT-5 cable is capable of transmitting speeds up to 100 Megabits per second. There are other types of cables that are slower than a CAT-5 cable, and some that are faster. In more scientific terms used by us Technical Writers, a CAT-5 wire transmits data "in the blink of an eye." A CAT-4 cable is a little slower (has smaller bandwidth) and can only transmit data "in three blinks of an eye." CAT-6 cable can transmit data even faster, "in the wink of an eye." And then there are fiber optic cables which are so fast that they use, "pre-wink data transfer protocol." (PWDTP for short) I apologize for all of that technical mumbo-jumbo, but it is an necessary part of the trade. The bottom line is, almost all of you probably use CAT-5 cable to connect to the Internet so that you can receive spam and watch YouTube at blindingly fast speeds.

Kabbalistically speaking, each of us has a connection to HaShem and it transmits the impact of our mitzvot and aveirot to the higher worlds. You can think of this connection as a network cable. If your connection with HaShem is a CAT-5 cable, then that defines how much you are able to affect the higher worlds. The greater the bandwidth of your connection with HaShem, the greater impact that you can have on these worlds. To carry this metaphor farther than it should be carried, let's pretend that you have a connection to HaShem that is comparable to a CAT-4 cable. Every time you do a mitzvah or an aveirah, that CAT-4 cable transmits that mitzvah or aveirah to the higher worlds. Your impact on the higher worlds is limited by the bandwidth of your connection with HaShem. Thus, if you do teshuvah and improve yourself, you can create a stronger connection to HaShem and "upgrade" to a CAT-5 cable. According to this משל, the Tzaddikim in this world would have a fiber optic connection to HaShem. Not only does would this connection give them a special relationship with HaShem, but according to the stories, it would even allow them to affect miraculous changes in this world.

One final word about fiber optic Jews - according to Chassidut and Kabbalah, doing mitzvot and learning Torah are not enough to "upgrade" your connection to HaShem. Torah and mitzvot are the "data" that are transmitted across your connection. Only by learning Kabbalah and Chassidut can you learn how to "upgrade" your connection with HaShem.

KID - What's In a Name?

We know from reading the Chumash that HaShem is called by many different names, yet according to Kabbalah each of these names has a specific function. A good example of the different names of HaShem can be found in the the first two perakim of Bereshit. The first perek refers to HaShem as Elokim, whereas the second perek refers to HaShem as YHVH Elokim. (Tangent - there is always a problem when discussing the names of HaShem because you are only allowed to pronounce them properly during davening or when you are reading a pasuk. Elokim is really Elo-him and YHVH is really Yud - Heh - Vav - Heh, which we do not know how to pronounce properly.) These are the two common names of HaShem - Elokim and YHVH. Other names include: E-l, Shadd-ai, and Ehi-yeh.

There are many different meanings and functions that are assigned to these two names, the most well known is that Elokim refers to HaShem acting in a strict manner (מדת הדין - Middat HaDin). YHVH refers to HaShem acting in a merciful manner (מדת הרחמים - Middat HaRachamim). This is one of the themes of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, we ask HaShem to judge us in a merciful way (מדת הרחמים - Middat HaRachamim) and not in a strict way (מדת הדין - Middat HaDin).

In Kabbalah these names describe two different ways that HaShem relates to the world. Elokim describes how HaShem controls the laws of nature (השגחת כללית - Hashgachat Klalit). Ultimately HaShem controls how babies are born, how plants grow, Newtonian physics, etc... Additionally, the laws of nature are fairly consistent and predictable. Conversely, YHVH describes special providence from HaShem (השגחת פרטיט - Hashgachat Pratit) which can override the laws of nature. When a miracle happens which contradicts the laws of nature, the Torah will use the name YHVH to describe the miracle. For example, Shemot 14:21 describes HaShem bringing the western wind to split the Yam Suf and uses the name YHVH.

We discussed two of the names that HaShem is called in the Tanakh: Elokim and YHVH. We said that these names can be used to describe HaShem as being strict or merciful. They can also be used to describe different relationships that HaShem has with the world: a constant predictable relationship similar to the laws of nature, and a special miraculous relationship which can contradict the laws of nature.

Contraction in Action

K.I.D. - The Mystery of Tzimtzum

The Hebrew word tzimtzum means to contract. The Kabbalistic term tzimtzum is used to describe the process of the creation of the finite Universe.

The Chumash describes HaShem creating the Universe by telling different things to come into existence: light, darkness, the Earth, sun, moon, stars, etc… But the Chumash does not describe HOW the universe was created. How did we get from nothing to something? Not only is the Big Bang Theory is a good description of how the Universe was created; but we will also see that there is actually a lot of affinity between the Kabbalistic concept of tzimtzum and the Big Bang Theory.

In the Beginning

Before the Universe came into being there was only HaShem. HaShem is infinite and thus by definition there is no space for anything finite in a Universe with an Infinite Being. This is a philosophical problem that Kabbalah seeks to solve - it is impossible for finite human beings to coexist in the same Universe as the Infinite Being.

(A tangent about inifinity - Simon Singh the author of “Fermat’s Last Theorem” uses the following example to describe infinity. There is the Hotel Infinity [you can check in, but you can never leave!] and it is full of guests. What happens when you come in from the cold and damp and you would like a room at 11:00 pm? The hotel just adds one more room and voila, you have a place to stay for the night. What if 10 busloads of guests came to the hotel? You tell everyone who is staying in an odd numbered room to move one room over and there are now enough vacant rooms for the 10 busloads of guests. Pretty mind-bending stuff. If you are confused and under 40, you may want to find a new blog to read.)

Thus, in order for HaShem to create the Universe - HaShem needed to create a hollow space where HaShem no longer existed. HaShem needed to contract the infinity, in order to allow a finite Universe to come into being. The Kabbalistic term that describes this process of contracting from infinity to finitude is - tzimtzum.

Tzimtzum and the Big Bang

Kabbalah does not merely assert that HaShem contracted in order to allow the Universe to come into being. No, no, no. Kabbalah describes in excruciatingly minute detail every step of the process of creation. In fact, tzimtzum is a series of contractions that moves further and further away from the infinite HaShem. Hopefully, a comparison to the Big Bang theory will help illustrate this idea.

The Rose Center at the Natural History Museum in Manhattan contains an excellent exhibit depicting the Big Bang theory. The main idea of the exhibit is that you walk in a spiral and see illustrations of the unfolding nanoseconds of creation on the floor. You start at a condensed mass and then see the quarks fly and matter expands into the far reaching corners of the universe. (When I last visited this exhibit, I had not yet started learning Kabbalah. I was just a poor youth stumbling through the darkness of physical world. And I missed out on a great Kabbalah u’Madda experience.)

This exhibit is similar to the process of tzimtzum. The finite Universe begins with something similar to a condensed mass of HaShem entering the finite hollow space. This condensed mass of HaShem is directly connected to the uncontracted infinite HaShem. There is then a series of expansions as the universe comes into being. (One way to describe these expansions is called Olamot, which will be explained at a later date.) As time progresses the finite Universe expands more and more until our world is created, as is described in the Chumash.

Summary

I realize that this is a very complicated idea and I hope that I have not hopelessly confused you. Hopefully, the idea of tzimtzum will become clearer as we continue our Kabbalistic journey and you may want to reread this post from time to time.

Tzimtzum is the initial contraction of the infinite HaShem to allow a finite Universe to be created. After this initial tzimtzum, HaShem’s finite creations expand into this new created space. This new creation moves away from HaShem and becomes more and more physical (and less and less spiritual) until our world comes into being.

NOTE - This idea of the continuum between the physical and the spiritual is a very important hermeneutical principle of Kabbalah. More on hermeneutics in the next post.

PS - The image is actually The Colorful Demise of a sun like star taken from hubblesite.org.

And These are the Blog's Generations

Safe Study of Kabbalah

All of you out there in the blogosphere might be asking the following question: Am I old enough to read this blog? There is a well known halakhah that you must be over 40 to study Kabbalah. I will discuss this halakhah (more like advice) in depth in a later post. However, the short answer is - no you do not have to be over 40 to read this blog. Studying Kabbalah is not for everyone; some people will find Kabbalistic ideas to be antithetical to their conception of Judaism. Those people should not read this blog because they will find it to be disconcerting.

The study of Kabbalah is certainly an esoteric area of the Torah and is not suited to everyone. Most of you will be able to self-select; if you find the blog entries to be boring or somewhat absurd - then this is a good sign that the study of Kabbalah is not for you. Some of you may find yourselves feeling uncomfortable because of these ideas and I will try and help you as much as I can. Kabbalah is a definite paradigm shift from the mainstream approach to Judaism. I have found that my study of Kabbalah has had a very positive impact and I hope that you will also find reading this blog to be a positive experience.

Blog style

A note about the style of this blog - I have already discussed that the goal of this blog is to discuss interesting ideas from Kabbalah and Chassidut. I assume that you, the reader, have a general familiarity with basic Jewish terms and concepts; but you do not have any knowledge about Kabbalah. (And thus you are reading this blog!) I will explain Kabbalistic terms and concepts, but not necessarily other Jewish terms and concepts. For example, I will explain what the meaning of the word Olamot, but not the meaning of Mishnah or Gemara.

One problem with learning a new body of knowledge is that there is a group of basic ideas that need to be learned before you can understand the big picture. In Kabbalah there are a number of core concepts that are interdependent and you cannot fully understand one without understanding the others. (ie. You cannot understand A, until you understand B. And you cannot understand B until you understand A.) But you must start somewhere!? What I recommend is to reread the Kabbalah entries every couple of weeks in order to fully understand the ideas. (Feel free to make as many comments as you want as you reread the blog again and again!) The blogs about Chassidut are tangentially related to the Kabbalistic weltanschauung (love that word!) and will not be designed to help you understand the basic ideas of Kabbalah.

Kabbilistic Idea of the Day (K.I.D.)

I realized that I have spent so much time talking about the blog, that I haven’t actually said anything Kabbilistic yet. So here it goes. Koach and Po’al are two important ideas that are connected. Koach means potential, and Po’al means to actualize that potential. In simpler words, I can make a plan to write a book. And then there is the actualization of that plan, when I physically type in Microsoft Word. The planning of the book - is the Koach of my book. The writing of the book - is the Po’al of my book. The entire process of writing the book can be described as: going from the Koach to the Po’al. The movement from the Koach to the Po’al is a concept that appears in many different contexts in Kabbalah. If you are familiar with the famous Chabad table metaphor, that is also an example of this concept. If not, then you will have to wait until I post about it. Or you can ask your LCR (local Chabbad Rabbi).