Dei Chochmah LNafshechah

Parshas Vayishlach

Shalosh Seudos of Parshas Vayishlach 5770

"." - , ,
And Yaakov sent messengers before him to Esav his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom.1

Rashi explains: Messengers []Actual [ ]malachim, angels. The great Maggid of Mezeritch explained that Yaakov Avinu only sent the actual form and substance of the angels, or the aspect of the angels. The souls of the angels, however, he retained for himself. It is certain that these words of the Maggid conceal very great secrets that require much more clarification.

The Light of the Ultimate Future The reality of this world is characterized by the obscuring of Hashems presence. The tzaddikim grasp that the main purpose of existence is the future world, the place of the main revelation of G-dliness. This world, however, is a place of servitude, even though it is certain that His presence can also be apprehended here by way of all kinds of revelations and lights. Human nature is very difficult; even though the soul constantly yearns to attain the Divine light, nevertheless Hashem sent the soul down into the lower worlds of Beriyah-Yetzirah-Asiyah, which are places of division and darkness. This is why the tzaddikim have always taught that the main place of revelation is the future world. The most basic reason for this is that the primary revelation of all of the worlds is from the point of Arich Anpin, but the light of Arich Anpin is apprehended on the
1

Bereishis 32:4 3

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external level via Binah. This is why the arrangement of the compartments of the tefillin dShimusha Rabba [a more rare version of the tefillin that was not accepted as the standard halachah] are the same as those of the Rashi tefillin. The latter embody the mochin of Imma-Binah, while the former embody the mochin of Arich Anpin. The tzaddikim [and only the tzaddikim adopted the additional level of the Shimusha Rabba] realize that although the main pathway of avodah in this world is that of Binah [struggle] and Leah, nevertheless the innermost essence of Binah is Arich Anpin. In the ultimate future, however, we will merit the revelation of the [even higher] light of Reisha dlo Isyadah, which is the state where we come to fulfill our true purpose: to delight in the presence of Hashem alone. That lofty level is mainly set aside for the next world. Yet there were true tzaddikim who were able to draw down even this future light into this world. There is a head aspect at the level of Kesser [which is associated with Arich], and there is also a head aspect at the level of Chochmah. The innermost vitality of Chochmah is actually deeper than Kesser [even though it appears to be lower] because Chochmah derives its vitality from Atik [which is higher still than Arich]. In the lower manifestation, Chochmah is associated with Rachel; unlike Leah, the avodah of Rachel is, And you shall love Hashem with all your heart, all your soul, and all your means. Rachel is the avodah of the hearts desire, to act with selfsacrifice for the Creator, to uplift mayin nukvin at all times through the force of ones mesirus nefesh. The Fragrance of Holiness Then you shall say: They are your servant Yaakovs; it is a present sent [ ] to my master, to Eisav2 The Baal HaTanya taught that the word is an acronym of the terms: , and the final hei symbolizes Malchus. All forms of avodah are manifestations of mayin nukvin; all of them are rooted in the light of Dovid HaMelech, the light of Moshiach about whom the verse says, and
2

Ibid., 32:19 4

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He will sniff out [or be permeated with the aroma of] fear of G-d. The soul of Moshiach is sequestered in the heavenly chamber known as the birds nest, and this place is associated with the nose and the sense of smell. The capacity to sense the nature of something at a distance is the nature of the boundary of Eretz Yisrael in Yericho [.] = The true tzaddikim have the ability to sense the fragrance of the upper worlds at a distance; even in this lower world of darkness, they manage to grasp a trace of the revelation of G-dliness and His absolute unity. This is the meaning of the level of Atik it is hidden and removed [ ]from all of the worlds. The symbols of this removal are the preserved wine and the wild oxthe foods of the feast of Moshiach, which represent the experience of the loftiest levels of yichud in the ultimate future. This is what is meant by the verse, And Yaakov traveled to Sukkot Because he was bound up with the light of the sukkah [which is that of the makifin and Kesser]the sukkah is the embodiment of the feast of Moshiach, the wild ox and the levyasanhe built a house, which is the light of the Torah. He build for himself [ ]a housethese are the thirty-six tractates. Yaakov Avinu merited to grasp the fragrance of Atik, the level that is removed and hiddenit is so hidden that one cannot see it, he can only smell its fragrance at a distance. The future world is equivalent to Eretz Yisrael, and the boundary of that land is Yericho, because no matter how far away it is, one can still grasp something of its nature from a distance. The verse says, Say to Chochmah, You are my sister3 and it also says, And his sister stood at a distance.4 When a person enters into the depths of Chochmah until he really penetrates the tikkun of the letter ches, he finally reaches the lofty level of the chotem [the nose and the ability to smell spirituality from a distance], and the more internal level of Mocha Sesimaah which leads up to the ultimate: Reisha dlo Isyadah. Yaakov [who embodies the wisdom of Torah] is able to

3 4

Mishlei 7:4 Shemos 2:4 5

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bring about this yichudthe joining of the ' and the .This is the uniting of the loftiness of Chochmah expressed by the yud [and the lowermost place of this world, which is the heel]. And a man struggled with him5 The sitra achra sought to topple the holiness of Yaakov. Even when a person enjoys great spiritual experiences and delight, because he is still living within the place of obscuritythe lower worlds of BeriyahYetzirah-Asiyahthe man will come to struggle with him. The sitra achra reveals Chessed-Gevurah-Tiferes as it is manifest within the side of impurity, to counteract the CHaGaT of holiness revealed by Yaakov Avinu. This is the struggle: the forces of impurity fighting against the forces of holiness. And he touched the hollow of his thigh6 When a person is immersed in the Torah, the sitra achra has no power over him. It is only when a person has a gid hanasheh means lapsing into forgetfulnessthat the yetzer can come to him and try to sell him the vanities of this world. Yaakov Avinu responded to the attack by actually forcing a blessing from his adversary, and receiving from him a new name: .The name Yisrael is a synthesis of the term "there are 231 gates of holiness. [Note: When the letters of the alef beis are arranged in non-repeating sequential pairs, there are 231 forms. The pattern runs as follows: " " "..." " ... "... " " "until the end of the alef beis.] The aspect of Chochmah is that of , of existence, but the roots of Chochmah are in the state of this is the meaning of .The tzaddik teaches the Jewish people to close their eyes when they pray so that they can sense from afar the light of ,"the Olam HaMalbush, the primal place of experiencing Hashems existence. [Note: The revelation of the Olam HaMalbush is expressed in the letters themselves.] Even though the Jewish people are not on the level of really attaining a revelation of Elokus in such a lofty way, nevertheless they sense it at a distance because every single Jew is rooted in Yaakov Avinu. Even if one is caught
5 6

Bereishis 32:25 Ibid., 32:26 6

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down in the heels, he is still bound up with the lofty yud of Chochmah in some way. This bond allows him to gain a sense of the light that is drawn from the highest place, from Atik. Above Twenty Cubits The schach of the sukkah cannot be more than twenty amos off the floor of the sukkah because, any higher than that and the eye does not hold sway over itit does not catch the eye and one does not realize that he is within a sukkah.7 The tzaddik is always connected to the lofty light of the schach, and his bond with higher places makes it possible for the Jewish people as a whole to dwell within the sukkah that he reveals in the world [just as Yaakov went to Sukkot]. Even though the grasp of the tzaddik is actually above the level of twenty amosmuch higher than our more simple eyes can catchnevertheless the light of the Chanukah candles can penetrate down that far, from above the place of twenty amos. Rabbeinu Yoel reasoned that if there is a distance of twenty amos along the walls of the house until the level of the candles, one has still fulfilled his halachic obligation. Even though the halachah does not follow Rabbeinu Yoels opinion, nevertheless we learn from this [and also from the fact that it is the walls of the sukkah that lead the eye up to the height of twenty amos] that the main components are the walls. Meaning, the ability to receive light from the place that is just above the twenty-amah mark depends upon the walls of the structure. The roots of this are very deep, because the gematria of the word or wall [456] is the same as that of the Shem HaVaYaH and five times Elokim combined [5 x .]62 + 034 = " + " Even though a real grasp of a revelation of G-dliness above the level of twenty amos is beyond the person, if he remains bound to the ,"to the wall of faith that is the joining of HaVaYaH and Elokimand one can only accomplish this by being bound to the true tzaddik who is constantly immersed in this awarenesshe too will be able to
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Sukkah 2a 7

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see those Chanukah lights that shine down from the loftiest place. The main situation that brings us to such a unity is when we really do feel at a distance from Hashem; that is when we call out, Save me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Eisav! When we are brought to such a point of desperation and dependence on Hashem, we feel compelled to seek delight in something higher. Like Yaakov, we must only send the external aspects of our angel-messengers to Eisav, but keep the souls of the angels for ourselves. The inner soul of these angels is the yearning that we feel in our heart for Elokus. Even if we do not grasp this in a more externalized and tangible waythe external part of the angel is in the hands of Eisavnevertheless we retain our ability to sense a lofty revelation of G-dliness at a distance. There is deeper meaning to the soul of Moshiach being sequestered for the time being in the birds nesteven when the light of Zeir Anpin is immature, when it is only )051( "lights rather than the full complement of )073( "lights, nevertheless it is still possible to sense something of G-dliness at a remove. It is brought in the Leshem that when the verse says, And Yaakov was greatly afraid, and he was distressed,8 the sages said that it was because he worried that perhaps some sin had made him unworthy of Divine protection from his brother.9 The Leshem explains that this was only at the external level. At the internal level, Yaakov Avinu was only concerned with arousing mayin nukvin in order to merit to sense Gdliness from a much higher place. At his core, Yaakov Avinu was afraid of nothing, because he had achieved a bond with Hashem. The People of Yericho We find in the Mishnah that the people of Yericho tied up Shema and vahavta [joined them together] by leaving out the phrase Boruch Shem.10 The inner meaning of this teaching is that they had a sense of the fragrance of Elokus, that
8 9

Bereishis 32:8 Sanhedrin 98b 10 Pesachim 56 8

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everything is only G-dliness. Their vision and their smelling of this upper yichud was so powerful that the lower yichud of Boruch Shem was swallowed up by the upper yichud. It was only in later generations that Boruch Shem had to be articulated to such a great degree, so that the lower yichud could be revealed in all situations and places by an act of self-sacrifice. For the people of Yericho, this mesirus nefesh was a part of their experience of the upper yichud; they were within the bounds of Eretz Yisrael, and like anyone truly within the boundary of holiness their mesirus nefesh did not feel like selfsacrifice to them at all. Their Shema [awareness of Hashems absolute oneness] flowed naturally into, And you shall love Hashem your G-d with all your heart, all your soul, and all your meanswith total self-sacrifice. Crossing the River Yabok The Arizal revealed that the strait of Yabok parallels the area of the throat, which itself has a gematria of three times the Name Elokim [3 x .] = 1 + "The place of the constriction of the throat is the embodiment of mochin dkatnus, an immature and constricted state of G-dly awareness. The redemption is mainly dependent on Yaakov Avinu, as the Vilna Gaon explains. Redemption means repairing the straits of Yabok. While it is true that there are two main pathways to accomplish this, just as there are both Rachel and Leahif one does not survive, the other can save the situationnevertheless the main means of crossing is the uniting of HaVaYaH and Elokim [the sum total of .]68 + 62 = "What this means for us practically is that we must bring to the fore the latent power within every single Jewish soul to long for Gdliness at a level far above what we can reach. The longing is possible for us because the roots of our soul are really in such lofty realms. Then, even though we are filthy from out dust-up struggles with the other side, this is only on the outside. On the inside, we are receiving the fragrance of holiness from a much higher place.

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Parshas Vayishlach

The dust of Yaakov Avinus struggle with the angel of Eisav reached until Hashems throne of glory.11 Even though he appeared to be engaged in battle, inside he was reaching until the kisei hakavod. When the tzaddik transcends his struggle by tapping into his innate yearning for Hashem, he arouses the power of what is known as the mouth; the mouth then communicates with and influences the nose and his sense of G-dliness from a distance. Together, he receives a breath [ ]from the force of Binah [which is associated with the level of ,]and he uplifts mayin nukvin. He receives a dose of strength from above that makes him willing to risk his life to reveal that there is a G-d in the world. Preserving the Torah Intact Now is the time to prepare for the upcoming days of Chanukaha time of expressing our gratitude and praise of Hashem for all of the miracles and wonders that He did for us. We must make ready to subdue the klippah of Yavan which prevents a person from receiving the light of yichud. The Greeks broke thirteen breaches of the fence that separated the Jewish and non-Jewish areas of the Beis Hamikdashthe essence of Yavan is that it infects the Jewish people with goyishkeit and turns Jews into Hellenists who also become seekers after the vanities of this world. The klippah of Yavan is formidable; on the one hand, it is close to holiness in the sense of, G-d has given beauty to Yefes, and he will dwell in the tents of Shem. [Greek is the only foreign language in which it is permitted to write a sefer Torah. This is the beauty of Yefes that dwells in the tents of Shem.] The klippah of Yavan forced thirteen changes in the translation of the Torah, howeverthese are another form of the thirteen breaches of the soreg. Ultimately, the thirteen breaches are direct affronts to the unity of the ultimate thirteen: the ,"which is the One above. They learn Torah [all non-Jewish study of Torah is based on the Septuagint, the Targum Shivim with its embedded errors]but there are fundamental
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Chulin 91a 10

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changes. A Jew can fall into the klippah of Yavan by studying Torah as usual, but without realizing that changes have crept into his understanding. Ultimately, he finds himself divorced from G-dliness even as he sits in the beis medrash. As soon as he is a Hellenist, even an unwitting one, he no longer has a portion of the G-d of Yisrael; his study becomes a lie and a kind of idolatry. The tzaddikim, however, interpret the Torah through thirteen methodsthis is the way that they bring the Torahs true light into every place and circumstance. It is very challenging to receive the light of the Torahs truth on ones own because the Greeks defiled all of the oils of Chochmah, but the tzaddikim who did merit to subdue the klippah of Yavan have instilled within us the power to light the Chanukah candles wherever we may be. Rav Boruch of Mezhibuzh explained that we have deep lessons to learn from the fact that on Chanukah, when we mention Matisyahu, we also say the name of his father, Yochanan kohein gadol. There are those who say that this was the Rabbi Yochanan who served faithfully as kohein gadol for eighty years, but who ultimate became a Tzdoki, a Sadducee. The sages attributed his fall to having changed the manner of avodah by lighting the incense outside instead of within the kodesh hakodashim. Rav Boruch of Mezhibuzh taught that the point of truth must remain always within the innermost sanctumthere is an innermost point that is absolutely true and bound to Hashem, despite the appearance of a world that is dark and lacking Hashems revealed presence. One does not build upon this point by lighting it outside; such an act will cause it to be corrupted. It must be cultivated from within, and from there it can then shine forth. Matisyahu gained the strength that he required to battle the klippah of Yavan from his father who did serve faithfully, in the innermost sanctum, for eighty years. Through the remaining pure flask of oil, Matisyahu was able to rekindle the light from the inner place so that it could again afterward shine outward and light up the darkness everywhere.

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The Thirty-Six Lights Our main task now is to prepare ourselves for the Chanukah lightsFortunate is the people for whom this is [] "who have received the thirty-six lights of Chanukah that are drawn from the highest place, the crown of crowns or ,whose initials spell ."We must realize that these lights are awakening our innermost souls, and our innermost selves are bound to G-dliness at the highest plane even if, on an external level, we seem to feel nothing at all. We must focus on their holiness and develop our emunah until even our external aspect of our soul lights up with a true and holy fire so that we can also battle the klippah of Yavan and share Hashems light in the world. If we want to be able to accomplish this, we must begin preparing ourselves for it now. They say that when the Baal HaTanya was in prison, the Baal Shem Tov appeared to him and spoke with him about the real reason for his imprisonment: that he had revealed the Torahs hidden secrets about the upper yichud. The Baal HaTanya asked the Baal Shem Tov whether, from that point on, he should refrain from revealing such teachings. The Baal Shem Tov answered, Quite the contrary! From now on you must work even harder to reveal more and more lofty teachings. The war with Eisav is a kind of spiritual bondage that every person experiences in his own way. One must never imagine that his struggles demonstrate that he is far from true avodah; quite the contrary, if he will devote himself even more to his spiritual goals he will certainly come to great things. For you have struggled with angels and men, and overcome. Every Jew can certainly overcomewe are all called Yisrael. May Hashem have mercy on us so that we will be worthy of the light of Chanukah, which the Baal Shem Tov taught is the light of the true tzaddikthe light of the crown of crowns. In the merit of the tzaddikim we will come to receive the face of the Shechinah every day, especially on the eighteenth and the nineteenth of Kislev, which are both days of celebration of the yohrtzeits of great tzaddikim. [The eighteenth is the yohrtzeit of Rav Boruch of Mezhibuzh, the nineteenth is that of the Maggid of
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Mezeritch in addition to being the day of liberation of the Baal HaTanya from prison. The following day was the date of the first publication of the Sefer Tanya.] The thirtysix candles receive their spiritual light from the thirty-six tzaddikim that sustain every generation. They each rise from level to level every day; like fiery angels they ascend constantly: Serafim stand above it [ .] "Even though we are so far from such lofty levels, nevertheless by virtue of being bound in some way to Yosef HaTzaddik upon whom everything depends, the light of the true tzaddik can reach even us so that we too can sense the aroma of holiness from a distance. May we then merit to see the immediate revelation of the one of whom Hashem said, I have set up a candle for My anointed. Let Your Soul Know Wisdom The minchah offering is said to include all of the other sacrifices. The Baal HaTanya explained that this is because self-sacrifice [the poor mans offering] uplifts mayin nukvin to the highest places. This is the meaning of: " "Let your soul (nefesh) know (dei) wisdom (Chochmah) and it will be a crown (Kesser) for your head.12 We need to bind Chochmah and Malchus [nefesh] our self-sacrifice and our yearning for G-dlinessso that we can rise to the light of Kesser and beyond, and delight in the innermost essence of emunah. Guard Your holy mitzvos, keep Your holy Shabboseven if a person finds himself in a state of mochin dkatnus, his solution is to return to the simple and straightforward observance of the mitzvos. This itself will eventually bring him back to the higher light and mochin of Shabbos. This is alluded to by the words of Yaakov: I dwelled with Lavanand I continued to observe the 613 mitzvos. If a person wants to reach for the loven haelyon, for the highest spiritual light, he must always protect himself by returning to a state of simplicity and the devoted observance of the details of mitzvos. And even if he errs while in the state of katnus, he simply returns to Hashem in
12

From the Shabbos zemer Dror Yikrah, based on Mishlei 24:14. 13

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teshuvah and corrects his error as well as he can, and waits patiently for Hashem to have mercy on him and uplift him when the time is right. The verse says, For a mitzvah is a candle, and the Torah is light. A ner is a vessel in which light shines, and the main vessel for spiritual light is the simple observance of halachah. This is discussed by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov in Likutei Moharan II:2, where he writes that the main delight of the future world is attained through the halachahlearning the law and fulfilling it, and repenting when one has erred. One must be an expert in halachah, in the sense of "" the pathways of the life of the ultimate future are laid down by walking the way of halachah here and now. May Hashem help us so that we will immediately see Your Kingship, with the arrival of our righteous redeemer in mercy. Amen.

Translated and Adapted by Rav Micha Golshevsky.

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