B”H
Ki Sisa
Zeh Yit’nu: Kol HaOver Al HaP’kudim
An adaptation of
the Maamar found in Torah Ohr
___________________________
During
their sojourn in the desert, several census counts were made of the Jews. In this week’s Torah portion, Ki Sisa,
we read of G-d’s instruction to Moshe (Moses) that, in taking such a census,
the Jews should not be counted directly. Instead, each person contributed a
half-shekel coin as they filed, one by one, past the census takers. These coins
would then be tallied to yield the census.
The
relevant verse (Exodus 30:13) reads, “This is what they shall give: all who
pass by of the counted [shall give] half a shekel of the holy shekel; the
shekel is twenty geira [a unit of currency]; half a shekel is the
offering to G-d.”
The
Torah stipulates that (as we would expect for such a census to work) each
person was to contribute exactly the same amount. A half-shekel was thus the
uniform contribution of every Jew, rich or poor.
In addition
to its plain meaning, the above can be understood allegorically as a reference
to the “lowest common denominator” expected of every Jewish person in his or
her service of G-d.
It is
written (Proverbs 13:23), “Her husband is known at the gates.” Because the
Hebrew word for “gates” is similar to that for “allotment, assessment” this
verse is often the object of a play on words by which it can be understood as
meaning, “Her Husband – G-d – is known to any given person according to the
amount of effort they expend and the capacity of their soul to know Him.”
Jewish mysticism associates the concept of a “husband” with transmission of
influence, and that of a “wife,” with receiving that influence. The point, for
our present purposes, is that since G-d is compared to the “Husband” of the
Jewish People – the source of everything we receive – we should recognize that
anything we have comes from Him. This is not limited to material possessions,
but includes whatever we possess in the spiritual sense as well: any true love
for G-d or fear of G-d which one may possess is actually granted us from Above,
as a gift from Heaven. It is a gift bestowed upon each person in proportion to
the degree of effort he or she expends in seeking out and preparing for these
gifts, through love and fear of G-d, as well as Torah study and mitzvah
observance. (These four factors correspond to the four letters of the
Tetragrammaton, G-d’s unpronounceable name.)
Yet this
requires explanation, for it seems incompatible with the notion of free will:
there must surely be some sense in which love and fear of G-d may be viewed as
a person’s own “accomplishments,” which they have achieved after making the
choice to devote themselves to G-d and to develop these feelings for Him. How
can it be said that any love and fear of G-d one possesses are Heavenly gifts?
The
answer lies in the opening verses of the Shema prayer (Deuteronomy
6:4-5), “Hear, O Israel, G-d is our G-d, G-d is One. And you shall love G-d
your G-d....” The Hebrew word meaning, “and you shall love” is susceptible (as
in English) of two meanings: that you should love – that is, as a
command – or that you will love – that is, as a prediction.
The
command to love G-d implies that we do in fact have the ability to develop love
for ourselves; this is what we are being commanded to do. The prediction that
we will love G-d, on the other hand, refers to a type of love that comes of
itself, a love bestowed upon us from Above. The Torah is saying that we may
eventually have this kind of love, but it will not be a result of our direct
effort; that is why the command form does not apply. (Although it is bestowed
by G-d in recognition of our effort, this type of love cannot be reached solely
by human effort. Rather, G-d sees how hard we are trying and helps us out from
Above.)
The
first kind of love, which we develop ourselves, is the product of contemplation
and reflection. We must understand and realize that G-d is One with a perfect,
all-encompassing unity: just as before the universe was created there was
nothing else but G-d, so also now is there literally nothing else but G-d –
there has been no change whatsoever from before creation.
This is
a profound thought indeed, and is frequently expounded upon in Chassidic
literature. While a full understanding of the concept is beyond mortal grasp,
we can at least come to appreciate something approximating it, in accordance
with the principle that (since G-d created humanity in His image) by reflecting
upon our own makeup, we can understand something of G-d’s (so to speak).
A person’s
thoughts are, quite literally, one with that person; they have no existence
outside him or her. It is only when one actually speaks that a thought seems to
take on more of a separate existence, as it is now expressed to the outside
world in words. However, in truth, words are themselves meaningless unless they
do express some idea, some thought – otherwise they are not words at all, but
sounds. Even as expressed in words, it is the underlying thought that counts;
the thought is what makes a word, a word. Words may thus be viewed as nothing at
all in relation to the thought they express.
Before
creation, all the worlds – physical and spiritual – were entirely one with G-d,
as a person’s thoughts are one with that person. There was literally nothing
else. (Even this is only true with respect to the “stage” of creation in which
the worlds were already in G-d’s “mind,” as it were, after He had decided to
create them. But if one is considering the stage “prior” to that, that is,
before G-d even “thought” of the worlds – all anthropomorphically speaking, of
course -- they did not even have that limited degree of existence.) Creating
the universe was similar to a person expressing his thought in words, as it is
in fact written (Psalms 33:6), “By the word of G-d were the Heavens created, and
by the breath of His mouth, etc.” Therefore, even now, as “words,” the universe
and all its worlds have no true existence in relation to the “thought” of G-d
that underlies and indeed, continually renews their existence. There is truly nothing
whatsoever but G-d.
What is
more, all the above is from our limited, human perspective. To us, it appears
as though the universe exists (an appearance which is totally false), but that
is because we cannot perceive things from G-d’s perspective. The best we can do
in appreciating the unity of G-d, therefore, is to comprehend the manner in
which words are nothing in relation to the thought that animates them, for we
can relate to the idea explained above, i.e., that words, which are outside of
a person, are actually nothing in relation to that person. But in reality –
that is, as things are from G-d’s own perspective – even His “words” are not
separate from Him: absolutely nothing is separate from Him. (For a fuller
elaboration of this concept, see Tanya, chapter 21.) As things are
before G-d, the reason the universe is as naught before Him is not due to any
subtle comparison between words and thoughts or to any other intellectual exercise.
Rather, the universe is as naught before G-d because it just is – really and
truly, in the simplest sense, and that’s that!
Furthermore,
as explained elsewhere, the universe is not uniform in the degree of
spirituality revealed therein. There is an entire hierarchy of spiritual
progression by which this physical world ultimately came into being: at the top
of the hierarchy is the most sublime spiritual realm, in which a great deal of
G-dliness is manifest; below that, in progressively lower stages, exist
spiritual realms wherein the underlying spirituality is more and more concealed;
until, finally, here in our world, G-d is totally concealed from our perception.
At each step of the way in this progression, the lower world is the expression
of the one immediately higher that itself, in the same way that words express,
and are nothing in relation to, thought. So, in fact, all the above is
multiplied endlessly if we consider our world in relation to G-d: not only are
we nothing in relation to Him, we are even nothing in relation to the spiritual
world immediately higher than us on the hierarchy of creation (known in Hebrew
as seder ha-hishtalsh’lus), which in turn is nothing in relation to its
own immediately superior world, ad infinitum.
That is
the meaning of the expression (Introduction to Tikunei Zohar), “No
thought can grasp You at all.” Even the most inconceivably sublime of spiritual
realms, at the very pinnacle of seder ha-hishtalsh’lus, the hierarchy of
all creation – even such realms as are considered “thought” in comparison with relatively
lower realms – cannot grasp G-d at all, for He is utterly beyond “thought.”
He is called “hidden of all things hidden” and “concealed of all things concealed,”
for, even from those sublime spiritual levels that are themselves hidden and
concealed from everything else, G-d is “hidden” and “concealed.”
Now, as
stated above, the command, “And you shall love G-d your G-d with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your might,” refers to the kind of love
that can be aroused and developed through intellectual contemplation. Specifically,
one should contemplate all that we have been saying about the true unity of
G-d, to the point that this brings one to a genuine love and yearning to be one
with G-d as well. In Hebrew, the phrase “G-d your G-d” uses the Divine names “Havaye,
your Elokim.” The name Havaye [an acronym for the Tetragrammaton,
which is too holy to be pronounced as written] signifies G-d as He is in
Himself, from His own perspective, as it were, before Whom all is revealed as
absolutely naught. Elokim signifies G-d as He is perceptible to us
created beings. The inner significance of this wording is that we should attain
a level of love for G-d at which we perceive Havaye as our Elokim “with
all [our] heart and with all [our] soul and with all [our] might.”
Torah
sources associate the above verse with such a degree of love for G-d as
involves self-sacrifice, offering up one’s very existence to Him. As a practical
matter, this means that all the vehicles by which one’s soul expresses itself –
that is, thought, speech and action, hinted at by the words, “with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your might” – should be nullified
before G-d (who, as explained above, transcends even “thought”), since thought,
speech and action only apply to worldly matters, and, as we have seen, worldly
matters are illusory and false: only G-d truly exists.
However,
it is impossible to render one’s thoughts totally blank. Accordingly, one
should engage them, as well as one’s speech and actions, exclusively as
vehicles for the expression of G-d’s Will, through the study of Torah and the
observance of mitzvos – for Torah and mitzvos also transcend the level of “thought.”
For “thought” is not as lofty a level as “intellect” itself, and the Torah is
said to stem from G-d’s very “intellect” (again, anthropomorphically speaking),
as the Kabbalah teaches (Zohar II:121a), “The Torah comes from [G-d’s]
Wisdom [chochmah].”
(Even
though the Torah and mitzvos as we known them are enclothed in worldly form,
such as laws of what is forbidden and what is permitted, and expressed through physical
objects like coins for charity, and so on, this does not alter their essential
character as G-d’s very “intellect.” Chassidic philosophy frequently uses an
analogy to hair in making this point. The hair on one’s head grows outward through
miniscule openings, and has so little of the body’s life-force in it that one
can cut hair without feeling pain. This is in sharp contrast to what is on the
other side of those tiny holes: the brain, which is the very center of the body’s
vitality. Viewing the hair of one’s head as though it had pushed through the
barrier of one’s skull and were a visible, tangible extension of the brain into
the outside, hair serves as a metaphor for the way G-d lets unimaginably
refined and lofty degrees of holiness find expression even in the “lowest”
places. No one suggests that hair contains anything of the brain itself, or is
comparable to the brain in any other way, but we can still say that if it
derives from the brain, it is “of the brain,” so to speak. To apply this to the
Torah and mitzvos, while it is true that they are thoroughly bound up with this
physical world, they “derive from the brain”: the Torah and mitzvos as we know
them are nevertheless visible, tangible manifestations to this lowly, “outside”
world we live in of the rarified holiness within that deepest and most
concealed “brain”: the spiritual level associated with G-d’s chochmah,
or “wisdom.”)
It is
incumbent upon each and every person to reflect well upon all that we have been
saying. As explained, such contemplation arouses true love of G-d within a
Jewish person, and this contemplation is indeed subject to one’s free will. We
can choose to comply with G-d’s wishes and pursue this course of meditation,
thereby developing our love for Him; that is the sense in which we are
commanded, “You shall love G-d your G-d.”
The
second type of love for G-d, however, comes to us only after G-d has seen that
we are trying our best to achieve a degree of love for Him that humans simply
cannot attain. He then rewards us with the Heavenly assistance that lifts us
above our mortal limitations and allows us to experience this “great love” (ahava
rabba) anyway. That is why the verse says “Hear, O Israel…”: we only
experience the second type of love, ahava rabba, if it has been
presented to us by G-d, like someone who hears what has been said by another;
our own contemplation will not do it.
This is
known as “the holy shekel of silver.” The Hebrew word for “silver” is kesef,
a term which is etymologically related to the word for “longing,” as in the
verse (Genesis 31:30), nichsof nichsafta, “you have greatly longed….” It
refers to that Great Love, ahava rabba, that comes to each person from
Above, in proportion to the degree to which they have affirmatively engaged in worship
and practice of mitzvos (asei tov). (However, the corresponding aspect
of worship – refraining from committing any transgression of G-d’s will (sur
mei’ra) – is a given: all of us have an equal obligation to do so fully.)
That is
why the verse tells us “the shekel is twenty geira.” Each of the two
types of love we have discussed is comprised of the ten components (three “intellectual”
and seven “emotional”) that we find associated with the ten sefiros and
the ten levels of the Jewish soul. Thus, a person who has achieved both kinds
of Divine love has ten plus ten, or twenty, levels to his or her shekel, his or
her contribution to G-d.
And that
is why we are told (Exodus 30:12), “When you take the head [count] of the
Children of Israel according to their number, each man shall give the ransom of
his soul to G-d.” The wording of this verse makes it possible to understand it
also as follows: “When those Jews who are considered the ‘heads’ remember and ascend
to their origin,” that is, when the most refined and saintly among the Jews,
those who have reached not only the first level of love for G-d, but also the
second – the “heads” of the Jewish People – arise, then “they shall contribute
the full measure of their soul (all twenty levels of both types of love) to
G-d.”
However,
since, as we have said, not every person merits to experience the second level
of love for G-d – as this requires perfection in abstaining from sin and great
effort in performing mitzvos – not everyone can contribute a whole “shekel,”
comprised of twenty parts. Nevertheless, it is within the ability of
each and every Jewish person to achieve the first kind of love, since that can
be developed by implementing a conscious decision, which it is within the free
will of everyone to make, to reflect upon G-d’s unity, as explained at length
above. Then, at least he or she will be able to contribute “half a shekel” – the
ten components involved with that first level of love.
And
this, too, may be understood from the Hebrew wording: “This is what they shall
give: all who pass by of the counted … half a shekel is the offering to G-d.”
The word for “the counted,” hap’kudim, can also mean “the commandments”;
the word for “pass by,” oveir, can also mean “transgress.” Thus, the
phrase can be read, “all who have transgressed the commandments.” Even someone
who has, G-d forbid, by their transgressions prevented themselves from reaching
the higher degree of love for G-d is not excluded from participation in Divine
worship. On the contrary, every Jewish person has the ability to dedicate their
entire soul, in all its ten levels, to G-d “with all [their] heart and with all
[their] soul and with all [their] might,” and thus, “half a shekel is the [uniform]
offering to G-d.”
Ó 2003 Yitzchok D. Wagshul. Please note that the
foregoing is an informal adaptation by a private person, and that, therefore,
errors are possible. Also, the Hebrew original contains much more than could
possibly be presented here, and constitutes a much more direct transmission of
the Alter Rebbe’s teachings. Furthermore, the adaptation may
contain supplementary or explanatory material not in the original, and not
marked as such in any way. Thus, for those with the ability to learn in the
original, this adaptation should not be considered a substitute for the maamar.
Good Shabbos!