📋 Shiur Overview
Summary of the Shabbos Eve Lecture on Parshas Naso
The Question: Two Parshiyos in Eretz Yisrael and Chutz La’aretz
In Eretz Yisrael they’re already reading Beha’aloscha, and we in chutz la’aretz are still reading Naso. This confuses people, and rightfully so — because the parsha of the week is truly a kind of time-marker, a date: “Today is erev Shabbos Parshas Naso.” If so, when in Eretz Yisrael it’s already a different parsha, which day is today really?
The Foundation: Time is a Spiritual Level
One can certainly make this matter mundane — say that it’s just a technical arrangement, we need to catch up with the parshiyos, it’s a tradition that Bechukosai should be before Shavuos, therefore Naso always comes after Shavuos. But truly there lies here a higher dimension.
The root of time lies in Olam HaBinah. In Olam HaChochmah nothing takes time — there everything is at once. Only in Olam HaBinah, where souls need to learn, need to go through stages, there time begins. This is the secret of the fifty gates of Binah — according to how much binah one has, so does one know where one stands in time. This is the secret of shita alfi shnin alfi almin, the secret of the shemittos — an order of Torah that determines time.
The Well-Known Question: When is Shabbos Really?
This is the well-known question of the Radbaz and other Acharonim, brought in Shulchan Aruch HaRav Siman Alef and in Chabad sefarim: If kedushas Shabbos is a real kedusha that comes down to the world — not just a subjective feeling — how can it be that in Eretz Yisrael it’s already Shabbos and by us it’s still Friday? On the dateline it can literally be that by one person it’s Sunday and by the other it’s Shabbos. When is the real Shabbos?
If Shabbos were only an imagination, a subjective thing, the question wouldn’t begin. But even then — even if one says it’s subjective — one must still speak of it as a real thing, and that becomes difficult.
The Answer — First Half: The Baal HaTanya
The Baal HaTanya says: One must separate it. When one says that time is holy, one doesn’t mean the minute. Kedushas Shabbos truly means a level in intellect — a level of understanding that one reaches.
The approach: “Shivas yamim tochal matzos”, “sheva Shabbosos temimos” — this means seven stages of questions and answers. One asks a question, one answers, it still doesn’t fit, one goes deeper, again, until one reaches the seventh level — that is Shabbos. This is what the Arizal meant when he learned every sugya seven perushim al pi pshat and one perush al pi sod. Not literally seven separate interpretations — rather going seven times deeper, until one reaches the sod, which means: it fits one hundred percent, it’s no longer by way of metaphor.
Kedushas Shabbos is thus the Olam HaSeichel, the Olam HaMuskol — the level of understanding that one reaches after seven stages. After seven times of this is a shemita, and so on. This is the essence of kedushas hazman.
When it descends below, when one makes one day as a remembrance or an embodiment or a merkava of this in physical time — this changes according to people, according to places, according to times. In Eretz Yisrael it comes one time, in America another time.
The Answer — Second Half: The Ramak and the Kuzari
The Ramak places the accent on the second side: Shabbos is truly only in Eretz Yisrael. This is the answer of the Kuzari who began the whole discussion about the dateline.
The Ramak explains according to Kabbalah: The true Shabbos is in Eretz Yisrael, and the whole world draws from the essence of Eretz Yisrael — just as one gives terumah or bikkurim to the Kohen, to the Beis HaMikdash, and the whole world takes only leftovers. Even if there are places that have Shabbos before Eretz Yisrael (east), we in America are west to Eretz Yisrael — we receive Shabbos after Eretz Yisrael.
Therefore, when in Eretz Yisrael they’re already reading Beha’aloscha and we’re still reading Naso — Eretz Yisrael is ahead, not behind. This is correct, because the proper order of times is in Eretz Yisrael.
The Difference Between Chassidus and Kabbalah in This Matter
In Kabbalah (Ramak, mekubalim) one places more accent on the second side — the place, Eretz Yisrael, the revelation of the place. In Chassidus (Baal HaTanya) one places more accent on the first side — that kedushas Shabbos is a supreme concept, a level in intellect, above place and time. Both sides are true.
A Parable from Mathematics: Abstract Concept and Its Embodiment
A parable to understand this matter: Mathematics. When one teaches a child: “Three apples with four oranges is seven” — the apples are a parable, the learning isn’t about apples (apples is “hilchos apples”), but about numbers in apples. Three plus four equals seven is an abstract thing in itself.
Two points:
1. One doesn’t seek the apples — one seeks the abstract concept that stands behind them.
2. Every thing in the world can serve as a parable — three apples, three pumpkins, three hairs on the head — everything is equal, because the abstract concept stands above all distinctions. Precisely because it’s above the distinctions, can one apply it to each thing separately.
Not All Parables Are Equal — What is a “Good Parable”?
Therefore there are better and weaker parables. A good parable is one that has fewer distractions — it is closer to the abstraction. When one says “three people”, the child begins thinking about the people — this one I like, that one not — and he forgets the mathematics. Even apples — a child can begin thinking: is it a sweet apple or a bitter one? This makes no difference regarding the mathematics, but the additional properties of the apple can confuse the learner. Therefore, when one learns advanced mathematics, one uses x’s and y’s — symbols that have fewer extra properties, a clearer parable.
The foundation: Although the nimshal can extend into every thing, and the nimshal is essentially not similar to the mashal — therefore there are better and weaker parables.
Application to Kedusha: Shabbos in Different Places
Kedusha is always a parable. Kedushas Shabbos is a supreme thing that essentially has nothing to do with time in our world. But there are places where the parable fits better — where the supreme thing is embodied more correctly.
Example: The extreme north. There the sun doesn’t set a whole summer, and doesn’t rise a whole winter. Shkias hachamah with hanetz hachamah don’t work there. The poskim discuss what one does there with Shabbos. Can one say that there is no Shabbos there? That would be false — because Shabbos is a supreme thing, and everywhere where people live it’s good for them to work six days and rest the seventh, to remember Godliness, yishuv hadaas — all the virtues of Shabbos are there too. But — that place is less suitable, less fitting. The time-structure isn’t well expressed there. The Torah wasn’t given for such a place — it was given for a place with a normal day and a normal night, where the parable fits better.
Eretz Yisrael as the Best Parable — The Ramak, the Kuzari
In the same way: in Eretz Yisrael Shabbos fits better. The Kuzari says: there the cycle of the sun began. In another place one can also say “here it begins” — from when we arrived one begins counting. But in Eretz Yisrael it actually began — it’s a better parable, clearer.
The Ramak goes deeper, more spiritual, more kabbalistic: in Eretz Yisrael the whole existence is set up that there should be hashraas haShechina, a Beis HaMikdash — the lower reality there is better suited that the days should be embodied in supreme things.
Additional Examples: Moadim and Seasons
(Mentioned in the name of Rav Matis Zilber🙂 Chag hakatzir, chag ha’asif, chodesh ha’aviv — the order of the moadim revolves around seasons. But this fits only in Eretz Yisrael (or generally in the northern hemisphere). In South America it’s reversed — Pesach is at the end of summer, Sukkos at the beginning of summer. The seasons don’t fit. Even America doesn’t have the same climate as Eretz Yisrael. The supreme order of moadim and Shabbosos is made for Eretz Yisrael, not for us.
This Doesn’t Mean the Torah Isn’t Valid in Chutz La’aretz
The Baal Shem Tov says: the Torah is everywhere — because the kedusha truly spreads. But this doesn’t mean there aren’t places where the parable fits better. In Eretz Yisrael it fits better, and therefore it fits there better.
Yom Tov Sheini Shel Galuyos — The Deeper Reason
In the Gemara stands the simple reason: they didn’t know when Rosh Chodesh was, so they had a doubt. But Rav Yaakov Emden, the Chasam Sofer, and others said: this can’t be the whole reason, it’s a weak reason, there must be a deeper matter. The Ramchal, Volozhin and others explained:
The deeper matter is embodied in the simpler reason. When it says on the clock in America the fifteenth of Nissan — it’s a weaker fifteenth of Nissan. Even when you know clearly that this is the same fifteenth of Nissan as in Eretz Yisrael — it’s not truly the fifteenth of Nissan. The fifteenth of Nissan is an agreement, a clarity, a definition, a decision that Beis Din made. The decision is not effective as well in chutz la’aretz. The time of chutz la’aretz doesn’t grasp as well the fifteenth of Nissan — it takes two days to grasp. Only after two days did one grasp that it was Yom Tov. Therefore the parsha gets pushed off — because it takes us longer to grasp, the lower time isn’t as well suited to the upper time in chutz la’aretz.
Back to the Parsha: Parshas Naso in Chutz La’aretz
Therefore it’s correct to say that it’s not as truly clear Parshas Naso by us. It’s only halfway Parshas Naso — because in Eretz Yisrael it’s already Parshas Beha’aloscha, they have the correct time. But we in chutz la’aretz, who are delayed, it takes us time to grasp everything — we’re still holding in Parshas Naso.
The Zohar in Parshas Naso — Idra Rabba
The Ohr Yakar of the Ramak
There is brought an important foundation in the name of the Ramak in his sefer Ohr Yakar, an essay that was printed erev Yom Tov. This is also the topic of the Zohar in Parshas Naso.
What is Idra Rabba?
The Zohar in Parshas Naso is very long, but most of it is not truly about the parsha itself. Most is the section called Idra Rabba — where Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai with his students gathered to explain certain secrets of the Torah that they didn’t have the courage, didn’t have the ability, didn’t have the possibility, didn’t have the mochin to speak about generally in the rest of the Zohar (except for other simpler Idros, Sefer HaTznius, and the like).
Why Does Idra Rabba Stand Specifically in Parshas Naso?
All the mefarshim ask: What is the connection? One might think it doesn’t belong in Parshas Naso, that the printers simply inserted this Zohar not in order. But this is not correct. One sees clearly from the rest of the Zohar, from the order, that it was written originally for the parsha. The Zohar explicitly connects it with the parsha and the beginning of the parsha.
Why Specifically Parshas Naso — Shavuos and Matan Torah
One of the simple reasons: Parshas Naso always falls around Shavuos, and it has to do with Matan Torah. Rabbi Shimon compares the gathering of the Idra Rabba to Matan Torah — it’s a time when one grasps secrets of the Torah, maaseh merkava, which one learns on Shavuos.
The Question: Why is Parshas Naso So “Empty” of Content?
Parshas Naso is the longest parsha, but it seemingly contains little content. Yes, there are important parshiyos — sotah, nazir, birchas kohanim — but most is counting the Levi’im and Kohanim, and later chanukas hanesi’im which repeats the same thing twelve times. There are seemingly few secrets of the Torah. One would have thought that in the week of Shavuos there should be a very deep parsha — Ki Sisa for example, or Bereishis, Lech Lecha, Vayeira — but not Naso.
The Chiddushei HaRim says: there are so many midrashim on Parshas Naso because there was great enthusiasm in Torah from Shavuos, so they said many chiddushim. Quite interesting — there is the most Midrash Rabba on Parshas Naso, great length, with many hints. But even the simplest pshat also has truth in it — one must understand the true connection.
The Topic of Hair — The Opening to the Idra Rabba
The Zohar shows that in Parshas Naso there are two (or three) parshiyos that speak about a person’s hair, and this is the opening to the Idra Rabba:
Sotah — Hair of Impurity
“Ufara es rosh ha’isha” — one uncovers the hair of the sotah. This shows that there is a kind of hair — hair of the aspect of female — that belongs to be covered. “Se’ar b’isha erva” — it’s a disgrace for daughters of Israel that one uncovers their hair. This is part of the punishment or examination of the sotah.
Nazir — Hair of Kedusha
“Haro’eh sotah bekilkulah yazir atzmo min hayayin” — the nazir doesn’t drink wine, but he also lets his hair grow: “Gadel pera se’ar rosho.” This is literally a dialectic, a contradiction: by a sotah (woman) uncovered hair is impurity, a disgrace. But by a nazir — who is “nazir lehazir laHashem”, sanctified to the Almighty, like a voluntary Kohen — long hair is specifically a kedusha. (A Kohen himself may not have long hair like a nazir, but the nazir has it.)
So one sees: there is hair of kedusha, and hair that is the opposite. A man has two kinds of hair: hair of the head and hair of the beard. Women don’t have a beard. A man has “hadras panim zakan” — the beard, and hair on the head, which the nazir doesn’t cut.
From Parshas Naso to Maaseh Merkava — The Hair Above
When one learns maaseh merkava — in Yechezkel it doesn’t say about hair, but in Daniel, where he sees the Atik Yomin on a throne of fire, it says: “Usear reishei ke’amar neki” — the hair of his head is like white wool, beautiful white hair. The Zohar imagines that it also speaks of the beard, although it doesn’t say so explicitly.
Also in Shir HaShirim there are descriptions: “Kevutzosav taltalim shechoros ka’orev” — a young man with black peyos, black hair, “kegibbor milchama.” “Lechayav ka’arugas habosem migdalos merkachim” — a bit of hair on his cheeks. But mainly Shir HaShirim doesn’t speak of a beard, because it speaks of a young man.
The Zohar thought that all these things are connected — the hair in Parshas Naso, the hair in Daniel, the hair in Shir HaShirim — and here he found an opening to speak of the Idra Rabba, of which a large part is the secrets of the beard — that is the thirteen attributes of mercy, which the Zohar explains according to the order of the beard.
The Piece of Zohar That Connects Parshas Naso with the Idra Rabba
Tanya Rabbi Shimon: “Ilmalei yad’u bnei nasha ma ka’amri behai she’ata” — if people would know what one says at the time when one speaks about the hair — “yisbareru lehu razin desodos de’oraisa” — they would know the secrets thereof — “kemo deyisbareru razei derazin” — as it says in the sefer “Razei DeRazin” (brought in Parshas Yisro), where it says that one can see on a person, on his hair, on his facial features, supreme aspects — “yishtamodu’un lemera’ihon bechochma shlim” — they would know their Creator, they would know the Almighty according to their secret, with supreme wisdom.
Two Levels of Secrets of the Torah: Razei De’oraisa and Sisrei Torah
Afterward it says in the Zohar: “Ad ka’an razei de’oraisa” — until here is secrets of the Torah. “Mikan ul’hala’ah — sisrei Torah” (or “kisrei Torah” according to another version). He brings a verse: “Secharah ve’esnanah kodesh laHashem” — the sisrei Torah is entirely holy, a higher level.
Seemingly “razei de’oraisa” and “sisrei Torah” are the same thing — one in Aramaic, one in lashon hakodesh. It sounds like: “Until here was Shabbos, from here on is the seventh day.” What is the difference?
The Ramak’s Explanation: Two Levels
The Ramak (in his Pardes, in several pieces) explains that there are truly two levels of secrets of the Torah:
Level 1 — Razei De’oraisa (Depth of Pshat)
One takes the mitzvos and stories of the Torah and explains them on a higher level. For example: Avraham Avinu is an aspect of midas hachesed — not just psychology, but an embodiment of the supreme midas hachesed. Or: one learns the secret of leket shichecha u’pe’ah — what kind of structure there is in the upper worlds, what is the true meaning thereof. Whoever gives leket shichecha u’pe’ah with the proper intention makes a true tikkun in heaven.
This is all still in the realm of parable — one still speaks of the parable that brings to the nimshal. The Ramak says: Most of the Zohar does this mainly — it takes the stories, the Avos, the mitzvos, and shows the higher aspect.
Level 2 — Sisrei Torah / Kisrei Torah
This is a completely different level. The essence of sisrei Torah is: The Torah didn’t come only to make life in this world better. On the first level — yes, the Torah also came to do that, that’s the pshat, that’s what the Rambam calls “even Chazal mention anger.” But the Torah also came to give a person life in Olam Haba, to say the truth — “emes Hashem le’olam.” Sisrei Torah is when one stops learning the Torah as an explanation of Olam Hazeh, and one begins to learn it as the truth in itself.
All the interpretations that one says on Torah — even the deepest secrets that connect Avraham with supreme chesed, Sarah with Shechina — this is all still a low level of sisrei Torah. Why? Because one still holds by explaining the Torah as an explanation for Olam Hazeh — one still speaks of Avraham and Sarah below, only with a twist that they represent sefiros. As long as one still speaks of them, one still holds by a garment, by a parable. Yes, it’s a better parable than a story of a non-Jew somewhere — but it’s still not true sisrei Torah.
The Parable of “Ve’eileh Hamelachim Asher Malchu Be’eretz Edom”
The Ramak brings the example from the Idra itself: the verse “Ve’eileh hamelachim asher malchu be’eretz Edom lifnei meloch melech livnei Yisrael” — Bela ben Be’or, etc. On pshat it simply means there were kings in Edom. The Ramban has an explanation why one needs to know this. But the Zohar asks: Doesn’t the Torah have something better to do than tell stories of Bela?
The essence: in eish shechora al gabei eish levana — in the Torah as it was truly written — nothing stands about Mister Bela ben Be’or. Not one word. What today’s mefarshim try to do — say that Bilam was indeed a bad person, and therefore he is “in the aspect of” shevirat hakelim — this is still only razin de’oraisa, not kisrei Torah. They don’t truly have any comprehension of the higher level.
What Does Kisrei Torah Truly Mean
Kisrei Torah means: the Torah speaks not at all about any Bilams. It speaks of things before Hashem, of supreme things, of true things that have no words in our language. Even “ten sefiros of chesed of Atzilus” is still a word that one says by way of parable. The true content is even higher than that.
The concept “kisrei Torah” comes from Rabbi Akiva’s kotzim shekeshurim le’osiyos — “kevutzosav” — this is the aspect of hair of the Torah. Like by a person: one speaks of his face, his body — and then one speaks of his hair. The hair says something, but it’s not the person himself. So too: the kesarim are above the Torah, connected with Torah but higher than it.
The Difference Between “Truth” in Olam Hazeh and True Truth
The key point: as long as by you “truth” means things that one can see in Olam Hazeh — that is, the combinations of the Torah that we can see — it will come out that the pshat of Bela ben Be’or is the strongest, and the sod is the weakest, because it’s not connected to the pshat. But one who understands that truth means things that one doesn’t need to be able to see in Olam Hazeh — one can understand them, one can believe them, but not see them — he first begins to learn Torah according to truth, that is keser haTorah.
In Heaven One Reads Differently
In heaven, when one says “Vayavo el Edom Bilam ben Be’or”, one doesn’t think at all that there is a pshat that there was a person Bilam. It means originally that higher thing. This is the Ramban’s foundation in his introduction: one can read the entire Torah with different combinations, and then one understands completely different words.
Back to the Beginning: Parshas Naso, Chutz La’aretz, and the Message
Here everything comes together: when there is a parsha like Naso that is difficult to learn on simple pshat, or when it doesn’t fit so well — when one is in chutz la’aretz and one is in the “wrong place” — then one must learn in the higher way. Through being stuck regarding the lower levels, one comes to a higher level. What stands “Bela” receives a completely different pshat — the true pshat. It becomes the meaning of Torah de’leila — “hi beteilah ve’einah osah peiros” — the upper Torah, not the Torah that speaks of Bela ben Be’or, but the Torah that speaks of Olam HaAtzilus. This is the Torah that one must learn for a joyful Shabbos.
📝 Full Transcript
The Sanctity of Time: The Spiritual Essence of Shabbos and the Weekly Torah Portion
Introduction: The Question of Two Portions in the Land of Israel and Outside the Land
Dear brothers, today is erev Shabbos parshas Naso, and in Eretz Yisrael they are already reading Beha’aloscha. But we are Jews here and we read the portion according to our order.
People become confused, because people think – and they are right, not just that they think – that the week is determined by which portion it is, just like the time. Yes, just like today is such and such a date in the month of Sivan, and it is erev Shabbos parshas Naso. So if in Eretz Yisrael there is a different parshas hashavua, so which day is today? I don’t know at all where I am.
The Foundation: Time is a Spiritual Level
But because originally there is a day, and in this Shabbos there is a Shabbos, there is a week, and in this Shabbos, in this week one reads the portion. So the fact that we count the time according to the portion is true. But from the fact that one becomes confused by this, one must understand that there is a higher level, not a lower one.
If one wants to make it lower it’s easy, to say: What does it mean? One must read the portion every year, one must get through it, there’s no difference, and it’s not that the week is the portion. I have no reason. The whole reason why Naso is always after Shavuos is because it must be so, it’s a tradition, it has to do with the fact that we want to read Bechukosai before Shavuos officially.
But it is certain that there are also aspects that Naso is always after Shavuos. So in Eretz Yisrael it was already Isru Chag Shavuos, and by us there is already a whole week in between, but one sees that it is indeed intentional, there is such a thing, certainly there is indeed such a thing as the true time, the true time that this is the portion of the week.
The Root of Time: Olam HaBinah and the Fifty Gates of Understanding
It is tremendous in the Torah, and everyone understands this according to what we have learned regarding the topic of shittah alafim shnin alafim almin, the secret of the shemittos, that this is an order of the Torah, the fifty gates of binah, and according to how much binah there is, that’s how much time one knows there is.
Time itself is only, the root of time is that it takes time to learn for us in olam habinah, yes, not in olam hachochmah, but in olam habinah for the souls it takes time to learn. Because of this there is time and physicality, so it is certainly that it makes a great difference.
Two Levels of Time: Spiritual and Physical
But what, one must understand, how one must only understand that there are two levels one can say. That is, first of all, one understands simply, ah, there is such a time called parshas Naso, there is such a time. But the time doesn’t mean the day of the week, the day of the month, the day of the year, that is the physical time. It means the spiritual time.
The Well-Known Question: When is Shabbos Really?
It can be, because of this there is a question, yes, this is the answer to the well-known question, yes, which is brought in Shulchan Aruch HaRav in siman alef and in several places in Chabad sefarim, we once learned at length about this.
There is a well-known question from the Radbaz and other Acharonim who asked a question, as much as you speak about kedushas Shabbos, kedushas hazman, kedushas Yom Tov, how can it be that in other places it’s a different day of Shabbos? Even on the dateline it can be literally that by me it’s Sunday and by you it’s Shabbos.
But even more than that, the world is a big world, the world is round, and it can be that at a time when in Eretz Yisrael it’s Shabbos now, it’s already Shabbos, or yes, it’s already Shabbos in Eretz Yisrael, and by us it’s still Friday. How do these two things go together? That is, there comes down Shabbos, a kedushah on the world. It’s not a fake thing.
Why the Question Begins
If it were just an imagination in our head, the question wouldn’t begin. It’s just an imagination, it’s subjective, one could even explain it. Then the question already begins, as we learned then at length. That even then if it’s even in our head, even if it’s an imagination, even if it’s only subjective, still one must speak about it as a real thing.
It becomes difficult, people become confused. So, I call my brother in Eretz Yisrael, and it’s really erev Shabbos, so I am desecrating Shabbos. No, one understands that I can’t call him, I won’t pick him up. So, what is Shabbos? So, is this erev Shabbos? So, is this Sunday? What is motzaei Shabbos? There is a bit of a problem.
The Answer – First Half: The Baal HaTanya – Separating the Levels
And the answer, says the Alter Rebbe, says the Baal HaTanya several times, and the Ramak brings it from the Ramak, he doesn’t say exactly the answer, we’ll come to him, he will help us with this. This is an introduction to what I want to learn in the portion.
But the Baal HaTanya says an answer to this, the answer is that one must separate it. Certainly, when one says that time is holy, one doesn’t mean the minute. Certainly, one can’t say also that not, right? When kedushas Shabbos takes effect actually in the place, according to when the sunset comes, according to when parshas Shavua comes in the place, it does become Shabbos in the place.
But the essence of kedushas Shabbos, what is that which you are worried about, you ask if so, when is the real Shabbos? The real Shabbos is not any one. The real Shabbos is a level, let’s call it a level in intellect.
The Secret of Seven: Seven Days, Seven Weeks
As we have said, shivas yamim tochal matzos, shiva shavuos tispor lach, or “usefartem lachem sheva shabbosos temimos”. All these things mean, he asked seven questions, or seven times a question and answer, and at the end he has an answer.
Yes, this is approximately what it says in the Ari HaKadosh, that the Arizal learned every sugya seven explanations according to peshat and one explanation according to sod. What this truly means is not seven explanations. What is the matter of saying seven explanations on everything? It can be sometimes things that have seven aspects, it can indeed have seven true explanations.
But more deeply it means, he asked seven times a question, seven times learned something, he says, “It still doesn’t fit, let’s go further, perhaps it will fit, let’s go deeper,” until he came to Shabbos, which is the explanation according to sod. According to sod means to say that it fits truly, it’s no longer by way of metaphor, not just, it fits one hundred percent, that’s the meaning.
Kedushas Shabbos is Olam HaSeichel
So, kedushas Shabbos truly means the kind of kedushah, which we call what is called “olam haseichel”, and in other words, b’olam hamuskal, which one can understand. The level that one arrives at, the seichel that one arrives at, which is after the seven levels of questions, that is Shabbos. And after seven times of this is called shemittah, and so on and so forth. And this is the essence of kedushas haShabbos, this is the essence of kedushas hazman.
The Hishtalshelus Below: Time in Physicality
But what, here when it is mishtalshal lemata, when one makes one day as a remembrance of this, or as a garment of this, a merkavah of this in time, this indeed changes according to the people, according to the times, according to the places where one is. In Eretz Yisrael the time comes, in America the time comes, and so on and so forth.
So this is the first half of the answer. This is the half that the Baal HaTanya usually emphasizes when he speaks about this topic.
The Answer – Second Half: The Ramak – Eretz Yisrael is the Source
The second half of the answer however is what the Ramak emphasizes, and it’s true, it fits. Mekubalim always the Ramak emphasizes more the second side. And in Chassidus one emphasizes the first time, one must remember it.
The Answer of the Kuzari and Ramak
The Ramak is explaining, the answer of the Ramak is thus, that Shabbos is only in Eretz Yisrael. True, this is the answer of the Kuzari who began the whole discussion of the topic of the dateline about this.
He says, the Ramak explains in his language according to Kabbalah, the true Shabbos is in Eretz Yisrael. So he says, there is a place where there is truly Shabbos, and the whole world, all the more so such a language, draws from the essence of Eretz Yisrael.
Like one who receives the essence, like for example a Rebbe, like this is the secret that one gives terumah to a Kohen and the like, or bikkurim to the Kohen, to the Beis HaMikdash, as it were the Beis HaMikdash, the Kohen, the kedushah, that receives the whole, and the whole world takes only remnants.
The true place of Shabbos is in Eretz Yisrael, and even if there are places that already have Shabbos before Eretz Yisrael, we’ll already settle it technically, but we don’t have the problem, we are west of Eretz Yisrael, we indeed receive Shabbos after Eretz Yisrael.
Why Eretz Yisrael is Ahead in the Portions
So the answer to the question why is Shabbos in Eretz Yisrael before us, or why have they already read parshas Naso before us, as always when there is a difference in portions Eretz Yisrael is ahead, not behind, so the answer is that this is true, because the correct time of Shabbos, of the order of times, is in Eretz Yisrael.
There one has, the Kuzari says there one created the world, one will connect there, but he doesn’t mean only that, but as the Ramak explains, and this one must explain a bit better.
The Approach of the Ramak: Even in Hishtalshelus There Are Differences
That is, although certainly, everyone agrees, the Ramak doesn’t disagree, that the essence of kedushas hazmanim is the supreme concept, one can call it the sefiros, one can call it the order of binah that we learned.
But there is also a manifestation, there is also a hishtalshelus, there is also a descent of the times by us. Because when I make Shabbos the seventh day of my daily order, of my weekly progression, here in Lakewood, here in Howell, here in America, kedushas Shabbos takes effect, not only the theoretical kedushas Shabbos, the ideas, it takes effect on the time. Now I conduct myself in the time holy, I put on my bekeshe, my shtreimel, I go to the mikveh, it becomes Shabbos, yes?
Differences in How Shabbos Takes Effect: Better and Weaker Ways
Now in this there are also differences, one must know. One must know the foundation, the foundation of Kabbalah, in this there are also differences. In the fact that by me there is Shabbos, there is a better way and a worse way, or a stronger way and a weaker way, how there can be Shabbos here.
That is, there are places, the aspect of revelation of the place, or the aspect of the place, there are people, there are times in history and the like, that they can better bring down the kedushas Shabbos, the supreme concepts, as they are.
A Parable from Mathematics: Abstract Concept and Its Garment
For example, let’s think of a kind of parable with an application, for example, yes? For example, everything can be a parable almost for everything. That is, if one understands the structure, the basic structure of everything, everything has for example three sides, yes?
Let’s say one speaks mathematics, it’s an easy parable for such things. Everything has three dimensions, every physical thing has three dimensions, it has a height, a width, and a depth, length width height, a width and a height and a depth. And therefore one can measure everything according to the rules, according to the principles of geometry, of mathematics, one can measure everything.
Numbers and Parables
But it’s difficult for people to speak, except when one learns mathematics one speaks thus, one gives numbers. Numbers is also a parable, it’s a symbol, or a line, a diagram, it’s also a symbol or a parable of this.
Or even more practically, one gives a parable: look at this table, look at this house, look at this computer, there it has so much, and I give you a parable. Yes? This is a parable.
But, there is the idea, let’s say there is the concept, the notion, a triangle is a triangle, it’s a concept, one can define it, even the definition will be with words which is not the thing itself, but a garment of it, an easy symbol that gives it expresses it. And there are the things that are essentially a parable.
Three Apples with Four Oranges
When one comes to teach mathematics to a child, one says, three apples with four oranges is altogether three with four is seven. The three with four is seven is a separate thing in itself, but the three apples and the four oranges are a parable.
Now, if one will think into it one will see that not every parable is the same, essentially everything is a parable. That is, essentially two things:
Essentially, what one seeks is not the apples. When one learns mathematics one doesn’t learn about apples; apples is a study in itself, the laws of apples. Mathematics is about the numbers in apples, it’s not about the apples at all. That’s one thing.
Secondly, essentially, everything in the world one can measure, one can count. Every physical thing that exists, numbers apply to it, one can count and see, there’s no difference at all between three apples and three pumpkins, or three hairs on a person’s head, or a mixture of all these things, hair with pumpkins, with apples, with bombs that one throws.
Everything is the same, on everything the parable applies essentially the same way. Precisely because there is an abstract concept that is above all the differences between apples and oranges, one can apply it to everything differently. But it’s all still there
—
*[The lecture is cut off here in the middle of the parable, as an introduction to what he wants to learn in parshas Naso]*
Parables and Reality: How Kedushah is Clothed in Time and Place
Chapter 2: The Nature of Parables — From Mathematics to Kedushah
The Parable of Mathematics: What is a “Parable” and What is the “Application”
And there are the things that one uses with their parables. One comes and teaches mathematics to children, one says three apples with four oranges is altogether three with four is seven. The three with four is seven is an abstract thing in itself, but the three apples and the four oranges are a parable.
Now, when one thinks into it one will see that not every parable… that essentially everything is a parable. That is, essentially two things:
First, what one seeks is not the apples. When one learns mathematics one doesn’t learn about apples. Apples there is a study in itself which is apples. Mathematics is about the number in apples, it’s not about the apples at all. That’s one thing.
Second, essentially everything in the world one can measure, one can count. Every physical thing that exists, numbers apply to it on something, one can count. That is, there is no difference at all between three apples and three pumpkins, or three hairs on a person’s head, or a mixture of all these things — hair with pumpkins with apples with bombs that one throws. Everything is the same. On everything the parable applies essentially the same way. Precisely because it’s an abstract thing that is above all the differences between apples and oranges, one can apply it to everything differently.
Not All Parables Are Equal — What is a “Good Parable”?
But, there are still ways, there are still examples that are better examples. Whoever is a teacher knows that it’s a great work of being a teacher, of teaching children for example mathematics, is to find good parables.
What does a good parable mean? A good parable is such a parable that has fewer distractions. Let’s say, it’s closer to the abstraction. This is a simple way that one can understand it.
If I say three people, you begin to think a lot about the people, and this one I love, that one I don’t love, I forget about the mathematics. If I speak of apples, one can still also remember the apples, that I love apples, and a boy can begin to become confused: is it a sweet apple or is it a bitter apple? There’s no difference regarding the mathematics whether it’s sweet or bitter. But the apple does have sweetness and does have bitterness. There are additional properties, there are the extra properties that the apple has besides the fact that it’s a number, can confuse the person a bit, and it’s not such a good parable.
The Connection of Idra Rabba with Parshas Naso and the Two Levels of Secrets of the Torah
Chapter 1: The True Connection of Idra Rabba with Parshas Naso
The Opinion that Idra Rabba Doesn’t Belong in Parshas Naso
The truth is that there is what to think that it doesn’t belong in Parshas Naso, it just stands there because they printed the Zohar, it’s lo al haseder (not in order) and they placed it where it is. But this is not correct.
One sees clearly from the rest of the Zohar, from the order here, that it was written originally, that is, it belongs in the parsha, and so it explicitly connects it with the parsha and the section of the parsha.
The Reality that There is Little Zohar in Parshas Naso
At the beginning of Parshas Naso there is very little, relatively, not so much Zohar, there is less Zohar in Parshas Naso, and a part of the reason for this is because it was, it takes up the place of the, the Idra takes up the place, and there is an explicit connection in the Zohar of the parsha with the, with the, with the Idra. It’s not just incidental.
The Connection with Shavuos and Matan Torah
And further, one of the reasons is perhaps the simple reason, precisely because this week Shavuos always falls in Parshas Naso, and it has to do with Matan Torah. Rabbi Shimon compares the gathering of the Idra Rabba to Matan Torah. It’s a time when one grasps the secrets of the Torah that one grasps in Maaseh Merkavah that one learns on Shavuos. It’s certain that this is also simple pshat, but it also has something to do with Parshas Naso.
Chapter 2: The Problem with Parshas Naso – Why is it So “Empty”?
The Longest Parsha with the Least Content
Now there is a problem with Parshas Naso. Parshas Naso is a very long parsha, as everyone knows, but there isn’t so much standing there. We have here a few important, interesting parshiyos in it:
– Sotah
– Nazir
– Birchas Kohanim
– And so forth
But most of it, the beginning is the order where they counted the Levites, the Kohanim, and later stands the Chanukas HaNesiim, where there is less, it’s very much repeated the same thing seemingly that one speaks about this. There is seemingly very little content and matters of secrets of the Torah that one can understand.
The Question: How Does One Connect?
So how does one connect? It’s just such a question, it could have been that in Parshas Naso, which is the week of Shavuos, there should be something a very deep parsha. It should be Parshas Ki Sisa could have been then, it’s actually usually Purim, then is “kiblu v’kimu” (they accepted and fulfilled). There stands much secrets of the Torah in Parshas Ki Sisa. I know, Bereishis everyone understands, Lech Lecha, Vayeira, but not Parshas Naso is something not.
The Chiddushei HaRim’s Answer
Everyone knows, the Chiddushei HaRim said that there are many midrashim on Parshas Naso, because there was a great enthusiasm in Torah from Shavuos, they said many chiddushim? Actually very interesting! There is actually the most Midrash I think on Parshas Naso, at great length, many hints, in Midrash Rabbah.
It’s about this I think also a pshat why, and I spoke once about this in Chanukah time. But anyway, it’s important that even the simplest thing also has in it a truth, even if one thinks it’s not a correct interpretation, but one must understand the connection.
Chapter 3: The Topic of Hair – The Opening to the Idra Rabba
The Two Parshiyos that Speak About Hair
So the Zohar says, I want to read it through, so the Zohar says basically like this, so this is the way of the connection, I just want to read it through and explain the point and with this conclude.
The connection of Parshas Naso is with what it says like this, there are two parshiyos at least, or perhaps three, but two parshiyos at least from the parsha that speak about the topic of the hair of a person. What is spoken in the parsha about the hair of a person?
Parshas Sotah – Hair of Impurity
There is the parsha of Sotah, which has something to connect with the hair, it says “u’para es rosh ha’isha” (and he shall uncover the woman’s head), one shows a woman, one dishevels a woman, one dishevels a Sotah with the fact that one uncovers her hair. One sees that there is one type of hair, the hair of a woman, of the aspect of femininity, which doesn’t belong to be uncovered, it belongs to be covered. There is of course simply that it’s not a nice thing, it’s called “se’ar b’isha ervah” (a woman’s hair is nakedness), it’s a disgrace for the daughters of Israel that one uncovers their hair, this is like the punishment, or a part of the punishment or of the examination of the Sotah. This is one thing.
Parshas Nazir – Hair of Holiness
And very interestingly, “haro’eh sotah b’kilkulah yazir atzmo min hayayin” (one who sees a Sotah in her degradation should abstain from wine), but a Nazir, besides the fact that he doesn’t drink wine, also lets his hair grow, “gadel pera se’ar rosho” (he shall let the hair of his head grow long), he lets his hair grow long, he doesn’t cut his hair.
The Dialectic of the Two Types of Hair
It’s literally like a contradiction, like a dialectic. A Sotah, a woman, one can say a Sotah woman, a woman doesn’t go with hair, it’s an impurity so to speak, it’s a disgrace, a diminishment of honor to go with hair. But a Nazir on the contrary, what does Nazir mean? “Kodesh yiheyeh gadel pera se’ar rosho” (he shall be holy, he shall let the hair of his head grow long), there is a holiness in this. A Nazir who is separated, who is “nazir l’hazir laHashem” (a Nazir to be separated to Hashem), he is sanctified for the Almighty so to speak, like a Kohen, a voluntary Kohen, which we learned in our shiur according to pshat, he specifically yes has long hair.
A Kohen himself doesn’t have, a Kohen is not permitted to have long hair like a Nazir, but a Nazir has long hair, he lets long hair grow, he doesn’t cut his hair. It’s indeed interesting, one sees that there is a type of hair of holiness, and there is hair which is the opposite.
The Masters of the Zohar Are Aroused to Speak About This
So this ignited the imagination much more strongly, and this aroused the masters of the Zohar, and one must speak a great deal about this, and they indeed spoke about this, said about this why a woman’s hair is not good, and a man’s hair is good, a nazir’s hair, and then there is a woman who smokes, who also doesn’t cut her hair, but perhaps she covers it under the kerchief, she doesn’t cut it.
The Two Types of Hair of a Man
In any case, this is the topic of hair, one cannot now give an entire lecture to explain the topic of hair, because I want to make a more meta point about this.
The Zohar says thus, and according to the Zohar a man also has hair, a man has two types of hair, he also has the hair of his beard, not only the hair of his head. Women don’t have a beard, perhaps she has a bit of fuzz, she doesn’t have a beard, and the hair she also doesn’t have, she covers it. A man has more hair, he has two types of hair, he has the hair of his beard, hadrat panim zakan (the glory of the face is the beard), and he has hair on his head, which a nazir, this is the primary hair that a nazir doesn’t cut.
Chapter 4: From Parshat Naso to Ma’aseh Merkavah – The Hair Above
The Hair in Daniel’s Vision
And afterwards, when one learns, and the Zohar connects it immediately, one learns in ma’aseh merkavah (the Divine Chariot), one learns for example in Daniel, in the merkavah of Yechezkel nothing is written about the hair, and in the true merkavah of Daniel, but there is a vision which is like a vision of the merkavah, he saw the Atik Yomin (Ancient of Days) sitting on a throne there, on a throne of fire, and there it says “u’se’ar reisheh ka’amar neki” (and the hair of His head like pure wool), His hair of His head is like white wool, like white wool, beautiful white hair.
And the Zohar imagines that it also speaks of the beard, although regarding the beard it doesn’t say explicitly.
The Hair in Shir HaShirim
And also in Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs), where there are descriptions of the young man there, it also speaks almost not explicitly about his beard, because it speaks of a young man who doesn’t yet have a beard, perhaps a little, “lechayav ka’arugat habosem migdalot merkachim” (his cheeks are like beds of spices, towers of perfumes), it speaks of a bit of hair that he has on his face, on his cheeks, but mainly it doesn’t speak about any beard.
It does speak about his hair of his head, “kevutzotav taltalim shechorot ka’orev” (his locks are curled, black as a raven), as the Gemara says, “kegibbor milchamah” (like a mighty warrior), he has a young man with black sidelocks, black hair, “kevutzotav taltalim,” it means like peyot (sidelocks), or some such hair that sticks out, this is the beauty of a young man.
The Zohar Connects All the Hair Together
The Zohar thought certainly that all these things are connected, and therefore here he found an opening to speak of the Idra Rabba, where a large portion of the Idra Rabba as he learns it is the secrets of the beard, that is the thirteen attributes of mercy, which the Zohar explains according to the order of the beard, of the master, of what each one actually saw from what was built.
Chapter 5: The Piece of Zohar That Connects Parshat Naso with Idra Rabba
The Teaching of Rabbi Shimon
On this last piece the Zohar says thus, this is the connection, this is the piece that connects Parshat Naso with the Idra Rabba. It says thus:
Tana Rabbi Shimon, Rabbi Shimon taught: Ilmalei yad’u benei nasha, if people would know, mah ka’amrei behai sha’ata, what is said at this time, that he speaks about the hair, all these things that we have now spoken is more according to the simple meaning, yitbareru lehu razin desodot de’orayta, they would know the secrets thereof, kemo deyitbareru razei derazin, as it says razei derazin (secrets of secrets).
Sefer Razei Derazin – Chochmat HaPartzuf
Razei derazin is a book that is brought a bit in Parshat Yitro, where it says that these are secrets that one can see on a person, on his hair, on the form of the face, chochmat hapartzuf (the wisdom of physiognomy), one can see on the person supernal aspects, one can see secrets from the hair.
He says, if people would truly understand the book called razei derazin, they would not be enough, yishtamodu’un lemarei’hon bechochma shelim, they would know et bor’am (their Creator), they would know et adonam (their Master), they would know the Almighty according to their secret, they would know truly with supernal wisdom what the Almighty means. And therefore he goes to try to learn it properly.
Ad Kan Razei De’orayta, From Here and Onward Sitrei Torah
And this says thus, afterwards there is such a piece: Ad kan, says Rabbi Shimon or the writer of the Zohar, I don’t know, ad kan razei de’orayta, until here, until this section in the parsha, is the secrets of the Torah. Mikan ulehal’ah, from here and onward, sitrei Torah (hidden things of Torah), or there is a version kitrei Torah (crowns of Torah), I don’t know which version, both versions are honest.
And he brings a verse, “secharah ve’etnannah kodesh laHashem” (her merchandise and her hire shall be holy to Hashem), the sitrei Torah is both merchandise and also a hire, which is a parable, is completely holy, this is completely holy, this is a higher level.
Chapter 6: The Two Levels of Sodot HaTorah – Razei De’orayta and Sitrei Torah
The Question: What Is the Difference?
What is the difference between razei de’orayta and sitrei Torah? Simply this is the same thing, one is in lashon hakodesh (Hebrew), one is in Aramaic, razin, setarim, orayta, Torah, simply altogether one has said the same thing, in Aramaic one says razei de’orayta, and he says sitrei Torah.
What is this piece thus, it’s literally a playful piece here. One says “until here it was Shabbat,” and from today and onward it’s the seventh day. It’s literally the same thing. What is the meaning of this?
The Ramak’s Explanation
The meaning of this says the Ramak (Rabbi Moshe Cordovero), I don’t know, I don’t have time to look in Otzar HaChochmah on the spot, but the Ramak in several places in his Pardes, in his several pieces that he has, he explains thus: that there are truly two levels of sodot haTorah. And this is important to connect with all the lectures that we learned before Shavuot about this, whoever kept up knows.
Level 1: Razei De’orayta – The Depth of the Simple Meaning
There are two things called sodot haTorah, and this will connect with what I spoke about at the beginning regarding the times. There are two types of sodot haTorah.
There is what we call peshat (simple meaning), like the peshat, we call it omek hapeshat (the depth of the simple meaning). We say the peshat of the things, of the mitzvot that are in the Torah, and one explains it a bit better, or one gives the higher aspect of this. As we say in all the lectures, we say to give the higher aspect of what we learn.
Example: Leket Shichecha U’Pe’ah
For example, we learn the secret of leket shichecha u’pe’ah (gleanings, forgotten sheaves, and corners), we learned it yesterday, and we must say according to Kabbalah what leket shichecha u’pe’ah means, what kind of structure there is in the supernal worlds which is the true meaning of leket shichecha u’pe’ah. And the true intention, whoever gives leket shichecha u’pe’ah with the intention, then this is a true tikkun (rectification) in the heavens. This is one thing that one can do.
Example: Avraham Avinu and Middat HaChesed
And the Zohar, the Ramak says, most of the Zohar does this primarily. The Zohar says, Avraham Avinu is an aspect of middat hachesed (the attribute of kindness). Yes, and the meaning, certainly, it doesn’t mean only to say a psychology of Avraham Avinu, as contemporary people mean, God forbid. It means to say that there is a manifestation of middat hachesed.
And how can he speak of the supernal middat hachesed, of the middat hachesed of keviyachol (as it were) above? Through the fact that we have the words, the parable that we spoke. Actually we spoke earlier, here the supernal concepts need to have a parable.
Avraham Avinu is certainly a good parable, he indeed conducted himself with middat hachesed. And the way that the Torah tells the stories is certainly precise so that it should be a good parable. It’s a good parable, you want to bring a person into the simple supernal concepts, holy concepts, secrets and holy matters of Hashem, you speak about Avraham Avinu. You can speak about Yitzchak Avinu from Akedat Yitzchak (the Binding of Isaac), he understands the matter, he understands this.
This Is Still the Parable
This is however still when one speaks of the parable, where the parable brings in to the nimshal (the thing being compared). Says the Ramak, but you must know that this is all quite a low level of sodot haTorah. Others believe that sitrei Torah is still explained as if it’s written as a commentary on olam hazeh (this world).
Level 2: Sitrei Torah – The Torah as Truth in Itself
The entire point of sitrei Torah is that the Torah didn’t come to make life in this world better. This is the secret of sitrei Torah. It’s not enough, it came to do this also, this is the peshat. This is what the Rambam says “even Chazal mention wrath,” this is the mention of wrath, very good.
But the Torah also came to give a person chayei olam haba (eternal life). The Torah came to say the truth, emet Hashem le’olam (the truth of Hashem is forever).
Kitrei Torah: The Highest Level of Sitrei Torah
Chapter 4: The Ramak’s Distinction Between Razin De’orayta and Kitrei Torah
The Lower Level of Sitrei Torah
Says the Ramak [Rabbi Moshe Cordovero], but you must know that this is all quite a low level of sitrei Torah [sodot haTorah: the secret depths of the Torah]. Why is this a low level of sitrei Torah? Because you still explain as if it’s written as a commentary for olam hazeh [the material world]. The entire point of sitrei Torah is that the Torah didn’t come to make life in this world better. This is the secret of sitrei Torah.
It’s not enough — it came to give you also — this is the peshat. As the Ramak says, there is a commentary on masechet kesef [the externality of the Torah], this is the masechet kesef, very good. But the Torah also came to give a person chayei olam haba [eternal life], the Torah came to seek the truth, emet Hashem le’olam [the truth of Hashem is forever], the hitachdut vehitdavekut baShem [unification and cleaving to Hashem], and this is truly sitrei Torah. This is what the Torah came to say.
The Problem with Speaking of Avraham and Sarah HaTachtonim
And therefore, this is the proper chapter, you can want to say this is the true chapter. Let’s speak a minute before it’s a commentary on the Torah, I will say a clear way without saying that it’s a commentary on the Torah. And therefore, one shouldn’t speak at all of Avraham and Sarah hatachtonim [the lower Avraham and Sarah]. As long as one still speaks of them, one still holds by levush [a garment, a covering], it’s a certain levush, it’s a certain mashal [parable, analogy].
It’s a good mashal, better than speaking of I don’t know what, a gentile somewhere — that’s a weaker mashal for the chesed elyon [the supernal attribute of kindness], okay. But no true sitrei Torah, sitrei haTorah it’s not.
What Is Razin De’orayta
It’s razin de’orayta [the secrets of the Torah], in other words, it’s the secrets that lie in what he means, I will say the words that he means. It’s razin de’orayta, it’s the razin that lies in the Torah. How does one understand on the highest level that one can understand Avraham Avinu [our father Avraham], one understands him thus. But there is however what one learns the Torah which has nothing to do with the peshat.
Chapter 5: The Example of “Ve’eileh HaMelachim Asher Malchu Be’eretz Edom”
The Simple Understanding of This Verse
Imagine that there’s a verse, and the Ramak brings the example from the Idra [Idra Rabba: a major section of the Zohar]. Imagine there’s a verse “ve’eileh hamelachim asher malchu be’eretz Edom lifnei meloch melech livnei Yisrael” [and these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned a king for the children of Israel]. Do you think it means simple peshat? That truly, certainly according to the simplicity, it means that there were in Edom all these kings, Bela [Bela ben Be’or] and so on.
The Zohar’s Question
The Zohar comes and says, what, the Torah doesn’t have to spend time telling stories of Bela? Now, certainly one can answer this question according to peshat. Yes, it’s necessary, one must know it, the Ramban [Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, Nachmanides] has some explanation, one can know why it’s necessary to say the story of Bela ben Be’or.
Eish Shechorah Al Gabei Eish Levanah
But in eish shechorah al gabei eish levanah [black fire on white fire — the true Torah as it was written in heaven], where the Torah was truly written, nothing is written about mister Bela ben Be’or, not a single word is written about this.
The Error of Contemporary Commentators
And the secrets that are said about this, the mistake, the Ramak, the mistake that all contemporary commentators try to do. Why do they try to do this? Because they don’t truly have any hasagah [understanding] in razin de’orayta, or in kitrei Torah [the crowns of the Torah]. They only want razin de’orayta. They say, one must understand that Bilam was somehow indeed a wicked person, and therefore he was in the aspect of [bebchinat] Bilam ben Be’or from the breaking [shevirat hakelim: the breaking of the vessels] of the whole thing.
No, this is not the point. The point is that this can hear that the truth which the Torah means, what this means truth, doesn’t speak at all of any Bilam’s with all these crazy people. It speaks entirely of the ten sefirot of chesed of Atzilut [the ten sefirot of the world of Atzilut], this is also a word that is said according to parable. It speaks entirely of things that have no words in our language. About this it speaks, about the devarim amiti’im [true things], about devarim elyonim [supernal things], the devarim shelifnei Hashem [the things that are before Hashem], about this it speaks.
Chapter 6: The True Meaning of Kitrei Torah
The Weak Hints
And even if it seems to you that there’s written something that has a himshacha be’olam hazeh [a connection with the material world], it’s literally a remez kalush [a weak hint]. In other words, the opposite of what we would have thought. We would have thought, if when the Zohar says a good peshat in a parsha of Akedat Yitzchak [the Binding of Isaac], what is the depth of Akedat Yitzchak? Such and such, al pi Kabbalah [according to Kabbalah], people are happy, ah, a good explanation of Akedat Yitzchak.
If when the Zohar says that Bilam ben Be’or means it, the hints are very weak, the hints are literally weak hints, it’s weak in my opinion that even if you learn Arizal [Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, may his memory be blessed, the Arizal], beautiful derushim [Torah interpretations] about this. The hints are literally thus, kitrei Torah.
The Parable of the Hair
What does kitrei Torah mean? On Rabbi Akiva, kotzim shekeshurim le’otiyot [the crowns that are bound to the letters], or kotzim, it says kevutzotav [his hair], this is the aspect of the se’arot shel haTorah [the hair of the Torah], yes? In other words, one speaks of a person and his body and his face [panim], and so on one speaks of his hair. What is the hair? It says something. Yes, whoever understands, and it doesn’t say. But it’s… one doesn’t speak of the person anymore at all.
Razin DeChochmata
One now speaks of the sitrei Torah, all kinds of truth, of the sitrei metziut [the secrets of existence] one can truly say. In other places the Zohar calls it razin dechochmata [the secrets of wisdom], not sitrei Torah, but razin dechochmata. When he says here sitrei Torah, he means back the same thing that in other places he calls razin dechochmata, in Tikkunei Zohar [Tikkunim: a part of the Zohar] there is such a language, sometimes sitrei Torah and razin dechochmata.
Or perhaps about this he says here kitrei Torah, it’s also said the ketarim [crowns] that are above the Torah [lema’alah haTorah]. It’s connected with Torah, because in other words, in heaven, when one says in heaven “vayavo el Edom Bilam ben Be’or,” one doesn’t think at all that there’s a peshat, there’s no peshat at all that there was a person Bilam. It means from the outset that thing, and this is the peshat that the Zohar wants to teach us, the level of the Idra.
Chapter 7: The Next Level – Torah DeLe’eila
Back to the Beginning: The Solution for Us
The next level, it’s not enough at all. In other words, here I come back to the beginning, why is the solution for us Jews, what is ours, if the parable doesn’t fit so well, this is the peshat, yes? There are places where the parable is good, it’s a bit zahav mezukak kesef [gold refined from silver], very good, there’s gold, there’s silver, it’s more, the pnimiyut [inwardness] is better than the chitzoniyut [externality], but the chitzoniyut is also silver.
When the Chitzoniyut Is Not Silver at All
But there are places where the chitzoniyut is not silver at all, Bela ben Be’or, one must say that it’s a holy piece of Torah, but lema’aseh [in practice], a weak story, it’s not mezukak kesef either, one learns almost nothing from the parsha according to peshat.
One Must Learn Entirely in a Different Way
But what? One must learn it completely in a different way, one must learn it that here we’re speaking altogether about devorim ha’omdim b’rumo shel olam [things that stand at the highest level of the world], it’s connected b’derech remez rachok b’alma [only through a distant hint] to Bila ben Be’or, and to the words where it says Bila ben Be’or, in truth one must read the words differently, as the Ramban says in his hakdama [introduction], one can read the entire Torah with different tzirufim [combinations of letters], one understands completely different words.
When Truth Means Things That Can Be Seen in This World
People look at this only as the weakest pshat in the Torah, because it’s not connected in the pshat, yes, that’s as long as you need to have that for you truth means things that can be seen in olam hazeh [this world], that the tzirufei haTorah [combinations of the Torah] speak about what we can see.
When Truth Means Things That Need Not Be Seen in This World
But someone who understands that truth means things that one need not be able to see in olam hazeh, one can understand them, one can see them, one can perhaps believe them, but one cannot see them in olam hazeh, then you will understand, and then, only when one begins to learn Torah this way, one begins to learn Torah al pi emes [Torah according to truth], that is called keter haTorah [the crown of the Torah].
Chapter 8: The Practical Application — Parshas Naso and Chutz La’aretz
A Completely Different Level
This is a completely different level, and when there is a parsha like Naso which is difficult to learn simple pshat, one must learn this way, or when it doesn’t fit so well, and they are in the wrong place, and they are chutz la’aretz [outside the Land of Israel], one must learn this way.
Through Being Stuck One Reaches Higher
And then one reaches a higher madreiga [level] through being stuck [stopped, held back] regarding the lower madreigos [levels] kivyachol [so to speak], and then the true lower madreiga, that is what says Bila, becomes a completely different pshat, and that is the true pshat.
Torah D’leila — The Higher Torah
Its meaning becomes the pshat of the Torah d’leila [the Torah from above] which is hi b’teila v’eina osa peiros [which is nullified and does not produce fruits — the highest Torah which is above all actions], the Torah ha’elyona [the supernal Torah], not the Torah that speaks about Bila ben Be’or, the Torah that speaks about olam ha’Atzilus [the world of Atzilus], this Torah one must learn for a joyful Shabbos.
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Summary: The Ramak teaches us that there are three levels in learning Torah:
1. Razin d’Oraisa — the secrets that lie in the Torah, how one understands Avraham Avinu in the highest way, but it still remains a commentary on the pshat
2. Sisrei Torah / Kisrei Torah — the true secrets, which don’t speak at all about the simple understanding, but about devorim ha’omdim b’rumo shel olam
3. Torah D’leila — the highest Torah, which speaks about olam ha’Atzilus and is above all actions
This is the lesson that we must take from the fact that we are in chutz la’aretz and learning a parsha that is difficult to understand on pshat — it’s a sign that we must learn the Torah on the highest level.