ספירת העומר

Seven Days You Shall Eat Matzot: The Level of the Seventh Day of Pesach

Introduction – The Custom to Learn on Erev Yom Tov

Gentlemen, today is erev Shevi’i shel Pesach [the eve of the seventh day of Passover]. There is a custom to learn every erev Shabbat [Sabbath eve] and yom tov [festival].

It is certainly late, and everything in the Torah is truth, whether one hears it before, after, or in the middle.

I want to teach us as follows: They learned on erev Pesach a ma’amar [discourse], actually the week before that, I mean Shabbat HaGadol [the Great Sabbath before Passover], when they spoke about the secret of bi’ur chametz [the removal of leavened bread].

The Simple Meaning in the Verses – The Emphasis on Seven Days

The simple meaning is that the verse says several times:

* “Seven days you shall eat matzot [unleavened bread]”

* “Seven days se’or [leaven] shall not be found in your houses”

* “Seven days you shall eat matzot and on the seventh day is a festival to Hashem”

* “Seven days you shall eat matzot and on the seventh day is an atzeret [assembly] to Hashem”

One sees several times in the simple meaning of the verses, that we, for example, don’t grasp – I mean, one does grasp, but we don’t grasp – it appears that the bi’ur chametz, the actual action, the action of “tashbitu [you shall remove],” one does this on erev Pesach, or perhaps one enters Pesach feeling that one has already left the chametz, one begins to eat matzah.

The positive commandment of eating matzah is only the first night according to how the Sages learned. But one doesn’t grasp, there is a strong emphasis in the Torah that one should not have chametz, one should eat matzah, according to how we learn, the simple meaning of matzah is “he shall eat for seven days,” with the simple meaning not chametz.

Two Aspects of Matzah

On the other hand, the topic of matzah, the main seven aspects of bi’ur chametz, there are two aspects of matzah, yes?

First Aspect: Matzah as a Practical Mitzvah

There is an aspect of matzah which is a practical mitzvah, a part of the joy, “al matzot u’merorim yochluhu [on matzot and bitter herbs they shall eat it],” “ba’erev tochlu matzot [in the evening you shall eat matzot],” because this is the obligation of the first night when one performs the eating of matzah.

Second Aspect: Matzah as the Negation of Chametz – The Essential

But this is perhaps not even the essential aspect of matzah, it is only like a detail in matzah. The essential aspect of matzah is the bi’ur chametz within it, “seven days se’or shall not be found in your houses,” “you shall eat matzot,” that on this there is an additional action on this that one should humble the se’or, influence the chametz, so that there should not be any chametz on Pesach.

But the essential action, the essential existence of the matzah of the entire Pesach is essentially not simply chametz, they eat matzah and not chametz. It is not even the speed of the chipazon [haste]. Yes, the chipazon one must speak of on the first night, that is certainly the time to speak of the chipazon of yetziat Mitzrayim [the Exodus from Egypt].

The Difference Between the First Night and the Seven Days

This is all in the aspect of leaving the chametz, the first thing, the moment that one leaves is the strong action, the great vitality, the liveliness, one does something, one goes out.

But afterwards there are seven days that one eats matzah, and it appears explicitly in the verses that the seven days is a new level, a new level of the aspects of matzah, different from the aspect of negating the chametz.

Pesach Mitzrayim – One Day

As we can see, in Pesach Mitzrayim [the Passover in Egypt], perhaps even in Pesach Midbar [the Passover in the Wilderness] according to the simple meaning, but the law is certainly in Pesach Mitzrayim there was only one day, there was only one day.

It states explicitly “ki tavo’u el ha’aretz [when you come to the land],” then it will be, one will make Chag HaMatzot [the Festival of Matzot], one will make seven days. Seven days of Chag HaMatzot is only when one has arrived in Eretz Yisrael [the Land of Israel]. So it states in “ve’achlu hayom hazeh lechem oni lezichronah [and they ate on this day bread of affliction as a remembrance],” and then “vechagitem oto chag l’Hashem [and you shall celebrate it as a festival to Hashem].”

“On the Seventh Day a Festival to Hashem” – The Yom Tov of the Seven Days

And it states further in the next parshah [Torah portion], “seven days you shall eat matzot and on the seventh day is a festival to Hashem.” As I said, this means that this appears in Parashat Va’era, as it were, with eating matzah seven days, and from this will come, through this “and on the seventh day” is a festival to Hashem.

What is “Chag l’Hashem”?

Chag l’Hashem is a very lofty thing, it doesn’t appear on everything, it appears on Sukkot, it appears several times chag l’Hashem. What is the chag l’Hashem that is not the festival of the first night which has to do with the offering of the korban Pesach [Passover sacrifice] from the fourteenth, from erev Pesach, and one makes the night also, “bayom harishon mikra kodesh [on the first day a holy convocation]”?

Apparently this is all a continuation of the first thing of the korban Pesach. You have an extra law of eating matzah seven days, that is, not eating chametz seven days, this is a new level, a new aspect, and this aspect has a yom tov.

Shevi’i shel Pesach – The Yom Tov of the Seven Days

The yom tov of this aspect is called Shevi’i shel Pesach, it is called atzeret, “on the seventh day atzeret,” or “on the seventh day chag l’Hashem.” This is the yom tov that has to do with the seven days.

It is the yom tov of the first day, it is true, there is an extra yom tov. It could be that Pesach itself, the fourteenth, according to the aspect of yom tov is not really a yom tov, there is no prohibition of work. There is a custom, once there was a custom, there are places that had the custom not to do work, but there is no mitzvah of prohibition of work, it is not really a yom tov from the Torah. The yom tov of this is certainly Leil HaSeder [the Seder night], the first day of Pesach, which is all a continuation of this.

But the seven days, the level that is called “seven days you shall eat matzot,” the yom tov of this is “on the seventh day chag l’Hashem.” The yom tov of Atzeret shel Pesach, which states atzeret, “on the seventh day atzeret” appears in Parashat Re’eh, or the chag l’Hashem which is Shevi’i shel Pesach.

The Necessity to Understand the Level of Shevi’i shel Pesach

And one must truly understand the level, the aspect, one is not just to speak about this enough. Usually Shevi’i shel Pesach all the sermons go on Kriat Yam Suf [the Splitting of the Sea], which is certainly a great thing, one should learn that there was Kriat Yam Suf at that time.

But one must remember that the simple meaning of Scripture, afterwards, I mean that also the depth of the secret, later there is a secret of Kriat Yam Suf, the Arizal connected somewhat the secret of Kriat Yam Suf with the matter of Shevi’i shel Pesach, perhaps we will explain a bit, perhaps one will be able to understand it.

The Simple Meaning: Shevi’i shel Pesach is the Seventh Day of Chag HaMatzot

But the simple meaning, Shevi’i shel Pesach is the festival, Chag HaMatzot, the seventh day of Chag HaMatzot. One can say, on Sukkot there is the seventh day, or the eighth day we have Shemini Atzeret [the Eighth Day of Assembly], it is an atzeret after seven days, here it is after six days, okay, it is a bit different.

I saw the Sforno [Rabbi Ovadiah Sforno, 1475-1550] perhaps wants to argue that from him one sees no, that Shevi’i shel Pesach is a new thing, it has to do with Kriat Yam Suf, because just as the seventh of Sukkot is not a yom tov, except for Shemini Atzeret, which is the eighth, it is a new thing, and it could be that the eighth of Pesach is essentially what we call atzeret to Shavuot.

But in any case, the simple meaning is not so, the simple meaning is that seven days, so it states explicitly, “on the seventh day chag l’Hashem,” this already appears truly even before Kriat Yam Suf, yes, it is already a mitzvah for generations, it was already given in Egypt. And this is the holiness of Chag HaMatzot, it is “on the seventh day chag l’Hashem.”

The Great Question: Why Does One Need Seven Days?

Let us want to understand what is the level of Chag HaMatzot seven days to Hashem. What would be missing if Chag HaMatzot were one day?

This is Not Just a Learning Question

This is not just that this is a question in learning that one can ask, it is even a yom tov that is one day:

* Shavuot is one day

* Rosh Hashanah is one day

* Yom Kippur is one day

One can very well make yamim tovim [festivals] of one day, it doesn’t seem necessary that the yom tov should be seven days.

This is Also a Question in Reality

This is also a question in reality, it is also a question in conduct. Everyone who makes Pesach, he feels, the great effort of Pesach one makes the first day, Leil HaSeder, it is certainly a great yom tov, a great light, and afterwards one drags oneself another six days of Chol HaMoed [the intermediate days of the festival].

And when Shevi’i shel Pesach comes, okay, there is another yom tov, like a little Shabbat, but one doesn’t see why the seven days are necessary.

A New “Mah Nishtanah”

And the answer to this is, it is another question of yours, you can ask a new Mah Nishtanah [What is different].

Mah Nishtanah halailah hazeh mikol haleilot [What is different about this night from all other nights], we answered, we left Egypt that night, bechipazon yetzatem [you left in haste], so lechem oni [bread of affliction], what will only be the reason for this one doesn’t eat chametz the first night, shebechol haleilot anu ochlin chametz u’matzah, halailah hazeh kulo matzah [on all other nights we eat chametz and matzah, this night entirely matzah].

The child should ask further, velo od kashah li [and not only is this difficult for me], the child asks tomorrow, Shevi’i shel Pesach he asks a new question, why do we eat… shebechol hashavuot [on all other weeks], yes, it is a new question, shebechol hashavuot anu ochlin chametz u’matzah, hashavua hazeh kulo matzah [on all other weeks we eat chametz and matzah, this week entirely matzah], it is an entire week, seven days you shall eat matzot. How does this come about?

The Question Becomes Even Stronger

If you will say, the simple meaning is as the Rambam [Maimonides] says, there is no obligation to eat matzah, there is only a prohibition to eat chametz. Okay, shebechol hashavuot mutar le’echol chametz [on all other weeks it is permitted to eat chametz], it is an even greater question, why hashavua hazeh asur [this week is it forbidden]?

If you will say we left Egypt, very good. How long did we leave Egypt? We already celebrated yetziat Mitzrayim on Leil HaSeder. What happened today that one may not eat chametz an entire week?

The Rambam’s Approach to the Reasons for the Mitzvot of Yamim Tovim

And I want to say the answer that the Rambam wrote in the way of the simple meaning according to his approach, and I want to learn it in a bit as we see here lately, and bring up the explanation in the Zohar.

The Zohar doesn’t speak exactly of the question, regarding Shavuot almost explicitly the Rambam’s question, but also in several places where the Zohar speaks of the secret of seven days you shall eat matzot, he asks usually it is in order to answer another question, two other questions that he answers with this, but it seems to me that it also has to do with understanding the secret, the level of seven days you shall eat matzot. And afterwards we will explain this, Rabbeinu HaAri [our teacher the Arizal] in continuation of what we have learned.

The Rambam’s Question

So what did the Rambam say? The Rambam asked such a question. The Rambam is always, as always, very broad in the general principles of things.

The World Understands What a Yom Tov Is

The world understands, there are different yamim tovim, the world understands what a yom tov is, one doesn’t need truly, he says himself, that a yom tov, there are all kinds of mitzvot, the reason for the mitzvot of why there are yamim tovim is not so difficult to understand, it is not a mitzvah like sha’atnez [the prohibition of mixing wool and linen] that one must search for the simple meaning.

Certainly there is more depth and more profundity that one can do, not just understand, one can do even more on a yom tov than the simple meaning. But that there is a yom tov everyone understands:

In Physicality

Either in physicality it is a good thing, a person should rejoice from time to time

Regarding Society

Either regarding society, which is in the aspect of tikun hachevrah [fixing society], that people should gather together, one should rejoice together, it is certainly also a good thing for this

Tikun HaMidot

Tikun hamidot [character refinement], that which makes “vesamachta bechagecha atah uvincha uvitecha ve’avdecha va’amatecha vehaLevi [and you shall rejoice in your festival, you and your son and your daughter and your servant and your maidservant and the Levite]” as the Rambam always emphasizes

In the Aspect of Spirituality

Either in the aspect of spirituality, that one should gather together to learn, one should remember the wonders of yetziat Mitzrayim, the teachings of emunah [faith], the da’at [knowledge]

These are all good things, all simple and clear matters, it doesn’t need truly any reason at all, these are matters, clear things, these are not things that need an explanation here.

But Details Need an Explanation

Nevertheless, there are details. So when one speaks of yamim tovim truly, it is not difficult, why there is a yom tov is not difficult. But details, and why here it is so and there it is so, this is indeed a thing that needs a bit of explanation. There are several kinds of details that one must try to explain.

The Rambam Seeks a Reason for the Length of Yamim Tovim

One kind of detail is what is the secret of the length of yamim tovim. It is very interesting, because here the Rambam actually seeks a reason apparently for the kind of thing that everyone thinks he said in his introduction there that on such things one should not seek any simple meaning, why seven days and not six days.

The Rambam says at the beginning that there are details, not on all details can there be a reason, because there must be something. I made eight days, you would ask why eight days? I made seven days. So the Rambam says on the numbers of how many sacrifices one brings, and such kinds of things.

But in practice, when it comes to how many days yamim tovim are, the Rambam does indeed seek a simple meaning.

The Rambam’s Distinction: Two Kinds of Yamim Tovim

And he says that there is a certain order in this. He says that there are yamim tovim of one day, there are basically two kinds of yamim tovim, interesting:

Yamim tovim of one day:

– Rosh Hashanah

– Yom Kippur — perhaps actually Yom Kippur is not really the same kind of yom tov

– Shavuot

Yamim tovim of seven days or eight days:

– Pesach

– Sukkot

Let’s say approximately the same. Two kinds of yamim tovim, these are the yamim tovim from the Torah.

The Two Questions That One Must Understand

One must understand what is the secret. This is one level, one question. Another question one must understand, why specifically seven days. These are two different questions. Yes, or eight days, let’s say Sukkot is seven plus one, let’s say it is similar, yes?

These are two questions that one must understand:

1. Why are there great long yamim tovim, weekly, an entire week of yom tov, and there are yamim tovim that are only one day?

2. Besides this there are yamim tovim that have a special number of seven, a special number.

These two questions the Rambam asks, and he answers according to the simple meaning, and we will see in this simple meaning a good teaching, and the Zohar which continues on this the secrets of the matters, and the Ramban, the Zohar, and the other commentators who bring out more afterwards the Arizal, we will see.

The Rambam’s Explanation: Why Shavuot is One Day and Pesach is Seven

Beginning with the Second Question

So first, and it is interesting that he begins first with the first question, why is it seven days at all? But I want to begin first with the second question, why is Shavuot different from Pesach? Or one should say Rosh Hashanah, Shavuot from Pesach and Sukkot. Because both are one next to the other, yes?

After Pesach comes Shavuot, after Rosh Hashanah comes Sukkot. There are two sets of, true, there is also Yom Kippur, there is another day, but in any case, there are two sets of yamim tovim that have one day, and afterwards next to it a seven-day yom tov.

Passover is the Festival of Matzot — The Commandment of Not Eating Chametz

He says this: Passover is about the matter of eating matzah [unleavened bread], yes? Everyone understands, one must eat matzah. Why? We understand, but it’s a major theme of Passover, it’s called the Festival of Unleavened Bread. Passover is called the Festival of Unleavened Bread, it’s not called Passover, Passover is only the first day. The Festival of Unleavened Bread, it’s the Festival of Unleavened Bread. That is, one must eat matzah and not chametz [leavened bread].

The Difference Between Eating Matzah and Not Eating Chametz

Now, let’s understand this: if one says one must make a great festive meal, “al matzot umarorim yochluhu” [they shall eat it with matzot and bitter herbs], eat a Passover sacrifice, that is probably a matter of one day. Everyone sees that it’s a joy, a celebration, a great festival that was made in honor of, one even went to the Temple Mount, one makes a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, a special commandment and joy that was made in honor of the Exodus from Egypt.

But if one says something else, not eating matzah, not eating chametz, not eating chametz. Imagine that one night one doesn’t eat chametz, or two nights one doesn’t eat chametz, two days one doesn’t eat chametz. It could all be by chance.

The Passover Haggadah and the Maharal’s Explanation

The Passover Haggadah, the Maharal [Maharal of Prague, Rabbi Yehuda Loew, 1520-1609] says this: “shebechol haleilot anu ochlin chametz umatzah” [on all other nights we eat both chametz and matzah]. What does it mean every night to eat either chametz or matzah? No, it means to say, it could happen that one eats a little chametz, it could happen a second night, there wasn’t time, so one made matzah. It could be, it happens, it happens, or simply there’s a matter that one eats matzah.

The theme of not eating chametz, yes, the theme, understand very well and very nicely this way: the commandment of yes eating matzah can be fulfilled the first night, and specifically the first night. Then, one night one eats yes a matzah, that’s okay, it’s a special matzah, one makes a blessing “al achilat matzah” [on eating matzah], one makes clear, this is the matzah of “zecher liyetziat Mitzrayim” [in remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt].

The Ramban’s Foundation: Not Eating Chametz Must Be Noticeable

But the commandment of not eating chametz, says the Ramban, one cannot fulfill it in one night, it’s not possible. Why can one not eat chametz in one night? One can make an intention, I’m not eating chametz today because of the Exodus from Egypt, because of Passover. Very good, but it’s not so noticeable. One couldn’t even ask a question on this “shebechol haleilot anu ochlin chametz umatzah”. Fine, it’s just a night when one eats matzah. What can you do to me?

In order that it should be a distinct status, that one should feel at all, he calls it “kedei sheteheyeh margish” [so that you should feel it]. Two things:

– That you should feel it

– And “sheyitparsem ha’inyan” [that the matter should become publicized]

We remember, all these commandments have a matter of making known, yes, making known the miracles, making known the knowledge, publicizing, everyone should know. One cannot do it in one night. How long must one do it? At least several nights.

Why Specifically Seven Days?

On this will come the second question why exactly seven, but it must be a longer… It must be at least first of all, it must be a longer period of time.

One can say it should be like a chazakah [a presumption established through repetition], yes? Three would already perhaps be a question if it’s enough, yes? Three is a chazakah. What does that mean? First time, coincidence. Second time, coincidence. Third time, ah, there’s already a pattern, there’s already something, there’s something that one must understand.

Seven is the Opposite of Coincidence

The same thing is even longer than three, seven. Let’s say a simple thing, seven is certain that it’s not a coincidence. Seven is the opposite of coincidence, very interesting, yes? Not the word chazakah. One, two times something happened, but one can say seven is two times three plus one, it’s even more.

There is an opinion that chazakah becomes from the fourth time, yes? That is three times, after that the fourth time it’s a moed [an established pattern]. So, three times did something, okay, done, eating chametz and matzah. Ah, the fourth time, or the seventh time, already double, already without any doubt a chazakah, now it has become noticeable that it’s a real thing, there’s something a true reason why one doesn’t eat chametz. And only this way can one fulfill the theme of not eating chametz.

The Difference Between Passover and Shavuot

This is the holy Rambam’s distinction, which is not the case with Shavuot. Shavuot is a remembrance of the Giving of the Torah. How long did the Giving of the Torah take? One day. One remembers it in one day.

The same thing Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is, let’s say, blowing the shofar is everything is for repentance. How long does it take to be aroused to repentance? Actually doing repentance takes ten days, the Ten Days of Repentance, at least, a whole life, but being aroused takes one day.

Passover Also Happened in One Day — But…

Simply, Passover is also a remembrance of something that happened in one day. Ah, one would have thought about this. Seemingly, this is how it looks, “hayom atem yotzim” [today you are going out]. But if one wants to do it through not eating chametz, not eating chametz one cannot do in one day. It’s not, it’s not any calculation. It’s only a calculation if one does it a whole week.

The Conclusion According to the Simple Meaning

So one understands already according to the simple meaning that “shivat yamim tochal matzot” [seven days you shall eat matzot], and in order to eat matzot which means not chametz, one must take seven days for this. This is the first level. And let’s already on this first level add what the Zohar adds to this.

The Zohar’s Explanation: The Secrets of the Matter

The Zohar’s Question: Why Isn’t Chametz Forbidden the Whole Year?

What does the Zohar say? The Zohar, two places, and two different answers, but both are in the same aspect of not eating chametz. The Zohar says, the Zohar asks, and one can the Zohar’s question, we spoke about this at length in the writings, and perhaps there were classes about this in previous years.

It’s a tremendous question, that if chametz is a hint for the evil inclination, or as the Kabbalists say deeper, that chametz is a hint for a husk/shell of impurity, for the inflated nature of the “make us gods” that we learned on the Great Sabbath before Passover. If so, why should one eat chametz the whole year? What is the contradiction? If chametz is a bad thing, it should be forbidden the whole year, like pig, like forbidden foods.

The Zohar’s Answer: A Parable of Royal Garments

Now, on this the Zohar says two different answers, at least, on the question. But I think both of them have to do the same, because both of them… I simply made a search in the Zohar how the Zohar speaks of the theme of seven days. Both of them the Zohar brings in the theme of seven days. It’s simple, because the prohibition of chametz is seven days indeed, but I think one must understand it in such a way.

The First Explanation in Parshat Bo

One thing the holy Zohar says in the Torah portion of Bo. Let’s give a check right away in which portion this is… Yes, in Parshat Bo. The first explanation that the Zohar says on this, the first thing that the Zohar says in Parshat Bo is, that he says a parable.

He says a parable, he says, he wants to bring out that chametz, the prohibition of chametz, is not literally that chametz is a bad thing. It’s more that chametz points to idolatry, let’s say, to the power of materialism, to the power of the seventy celestial princes, all these matters that we learn that this is the Exodus from Egypt, going out from them.

The Meaning of Going Out from Egypt

The Zohar says, that at the time when they went out from them, they went out against their will, went out from the dominion of chametz, from the dominion of the Other Side, forces of impurity, from the… The Zohar says there that it has many names: another god, evil inclination, the other harsh one [Aramaic], Pharaoh, Haman. It has many names there. There’s no difference how one calls it, the evil inclination is called by seven names, but the one who goes out from Egypt is exempt from all these things.

So essentially, that which one eats matzah on Passover and not chametz, is one must go out, one has already gone out, one has already gone out from this. But why does one eat?

The Parable: A Person Who Becomes Free

He says a parable, a person who was a simple person, he was made a free person, he was given a government position, he was given a high level, a high office in the kingdom. He doesn’t wear every day the royal garments, the special coronation clothes, yes? Special clothes that one wears, the crown, the special coat that one puts on in honor of the queen.

That one became a governor, a general, a nobleman, I don’t know what he became, one gives him something a special garment in order to dress in. He doesn’t wear it every day. Every day he does his work, and in other words, in a certain sense he lives in the weekday world, he lives even in the common world. He’s not always at the level of becoming a free person, of becoming the level. Becoming the level, that happened once.

The Application: The Seven Days of Inauguration

“Shivat yamim yemale et yedchem” [seven days shall your hands be filled]. One sees very nicely in the Torah, that one wants to make a person, the Torah portion of Tzav, one wants to make a person into a priest, he must seven days go and put on the priestly garments, yes, the many garments, one makes the anointing oil, one makes the inauguration ceremony, “shivat yamim yemale et yedchem”.

After that he’s still a priest, even when he goes out. During the service he must put on the priestly garments, but it doesn’t mean, he also has other services, “they shall teach Your laws to Jacob”, the priest is a teacher. Not always does he go with the level of “yemale et yedchem”.

The Application to Passover: Once a Year the Linen Garments

Why? Because one must think why, but perhaps this is the order. That one understands that the word is not that the chametz is itself the level, the not eating chametz is itself the level that one takes on, but a hint to this it is. The not eating chametz is the way how one goes out from level to level. It’s more that.

Therefore, only once must he do this. After that, says the Zohar, one makes a remembrance for this every year. Perhaps one makes a remembrance for the seven days of inauguration, not clear there. The High Priest brings a griddle-cake offering every day. He brings more than his death offering, which is the same offering that the High Priest brings in order to become worthy to become inaugurated, the High Priest does every day.

But the Zohar says that this is the order that once a year, when comes the anniversary of the time when he became received the honor, the position, he puts on again the linen garments, “and he shall put on the linen garments”, like a father puts on for Joseph beautiful clothes, “and he made him a coat of many colors”, says the Zohar, because it’s an aspect of “and he made him a coat of many colors”.

Why Specifically Seven Days of Passover? – The Rambam’s Explanation and the Natural Order

The Rambam’s First Reason: Seven as a Natural Number

This is one way how one can understand it.

And here further, here it’s already much clearer and closer to what we’re learning here. That is, it comes connected with what the Rambam says, because the theme is really the theme of healing. It’s very interesting, he’s going to bring what the first thing that the Rambam says: why exactly seven days?

The Rambam says this: why exactly seven days? Why not, I said three days, four days, which would also have been a chazakah? The Rambam says, first he says a reason: seven days is a good number, it’s a middle between the moon and the sun. A week – the sun goes through every day, the orbit of the sun is every day, one day. A month is thirty days, one divides a month by four, it makes sense to divide the month approximately by four, comes out a week. And he says that the order of a week has very much to do with the natural order.

The Question of the Commentators: Is a Week Really Natural?

The commentators struggle: what does the Rambam mean when he says that the natural order has to do with weeks? Seemingly, weeks are not a natural thing. So one says many times a week, the theme of a remembrance of the act of Creation, one says that the Almighty made the world in six days, the seventh day He rested. But one doesn’t see – the moon goes through in twenty-nine and a half days the moon goes around the world, that one can see in nature. The great orbit of the sun one can see from a year, the small orbit of a day one can see, but the seven days is seemingly not a thing that one can see in a natural manner. But the Rambam says that it yes has a natural thing.

Two Answers from the Commentators

The commentators say two things:

First Answer: The Seven Planets

One thing one can say that there are the seven planets. So one used to say once that there are seven planets, so they have each one of them has something to do with one day, one can understand that this also has a natural thing. That is, a complete orbit is one that goes through all seven planets.

This can be has to do with the first thing, the ascent to greatness, the drawing near, that was said that Israel is higher than the stars, that one ascends to greatness, that one comes to the level of “going outside, above the stars” [reference to God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 15:5]. This is the first level.

Second Answer: The Healing Cycle of Seven Days

After that he says, there’s a second thing. The commentators bring another thing, and I think we already spoke about this once, that a person is nothing but this [referring to the natural healing cycle], that when one makes a healing, the order is: a healing one must take for a piece of time.

Just as the Zohar brings here, usually a person has an illness, he takes antibiotics, he does a course of antibiotics. In most medicines this is the order, so it’s accepted by the doctors, for a very long time, also today. There are sometimes things with other numbers, but the most common number that’s accepted is seven days. This is the time period, which is a good time period, that seven days takes approximately for the body to swing through, to work through a new cycle, to become healed. So usually many medicines one says one should take seven days.

We see this also with the metzora [metzora: one afflicted with tzara’at, a spiritual skin affliction]. Metzora is an illness, and we see that the entire order of the metzora goes for seven days. Yes, we will soon come to Parshat Metzora [Parshat Metzora: the Torah portion dealing with tzara’at]. Seven days one makes hesger [hesger: quarantine], seven days one checks it, one comes back. Seven days is a tekufa [tekufa: period, season] in which one can see whether an illness is going up, whether it’s going down, or one makes a refuah, one does it for seven days.

The Application to Matzah: Healing for the Soul

Here it’s not exactly a refuah, it’s a tikkun [tikkun: rectification, repair], but ipuy haguf [ipuy haguf: the refinement/purification of the body] is seven days. There are many things where we see that seven days is a tekufa in nature, not only in the heavens, where we see the seven planets, but also in the world, in the body we see that seven days is a perek zman [perek zman: time period] that makes a change in the body. If one takes a refuah it needs to be seven days.

So it’s simple, that if one were to understand that matzah is merely a zecher liyetziat Mitzrayim [zecher liyetziat Mitzrayim: a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt], one would eat matzah, one could do it in one day. But if it needs to be a refuah, that is, it needs to make some kind of change, just as it made some kind of change then, or it’s a remez [remez: hint, allusion] for some kind of change that one makes in a person’s body, in a person’s eating, his maachal [maachal: food] is different, it needs to be a minimum of seven days, because that is the hekeif hativi [hekeif hativi: the natural cycle].

The Rambam’s Fundamental Principle: Torah is Healing of the Soul, Not Healing of the Body

And certainly, this brings us to the third thing that stands in the Zohar. Certainly this is perhaps the main thing that stands in the Zohar al pi Kabbalah [al pi Kabbalah: according to Kabbalah] regarding the topic of the question why there are seven days of Pesach, which already stands in the Ramban [Ramban: Nachmanides, Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, 1194-1270] and in Ibn Ezra [Ibn Ezra: Ibn Ezra, Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra, 1089-1167], and the Rambam meramez [meramez: hints at] to this, I don’t know how this is hinted at, but it has to do with this.

The Warning Against Understanding Torah as Physical Healing

The Rambam says: If someone will say that the Torah is natural, that the Torah is a natural thing, the Torah is something – the Torah is something merely like a medicine, a refuat haguf [refuat haguf: healing of the body]? The Rambam says in Hilchot [Hilchot: laws], well, what does one learn in Hilchot Teshuva [Hilchot Teshuva: Laws of Repentance]? If you will say that the Torah is refuat haguf, he is like holech shel hamakeh [holech shel hamakeh: one who is lost from the plague – referring to one who has no share in the World to Come], ein lo chelek le’olam haba [ein lo chelek le’olam haba: he has no share in the World to Come].

Why does the Rambam say this? She’omer shedivrei Torah refuat haguf einam ela refuat hanefesh [she’omer shedivrei Torah refuat haguf einam ela refuat hanefesh: one who says that the words of Torah are healing for the body – they are only healing for the soul]. If you think that the Torah is some way to be healthy, it’s a medicine, it’s not a medicine. The Torah is a refuat hanefesh [refuat hanefesh: healing of the soul]. It’s a refuat hamiddot [refuat hamiddot: healing of character traits], refuat hade’ot [refuat hade’ot: healing of beliefs/opinions], not refuat haguf.

The Torah Resembles Nature

So the Rambam says, true, but the Torah is mitdameh el hateva [mitdameh el hateva: resembles/parallels nature]. That is, nature is lacking, nature doesn’t have da’at [da’at: knowledge, consciousness], teva eino ba’al machshava vehitbonenut [teva eino ba’al machshava vehitbonenut: nature does not possess thought and contemplation].

That is, al pi Kabbalah, nature is only vak [vak: shisha ketzavot – six extremities, referring to the lower six sefirot without higher consciousness], nature doesn’t have gar [gar: galgalta reisha – the three higher sefirot representing higher consciousness], in nature there are no mochin [mochin: intellectual/spiritual consciousness]. And the Torah is mashlim the mochin of nature [mashlim the mochin: completes the consciousness]. This is the hanhagat Hashem al yedei hasechel [hanhagat Hashem al yedei hasechel: God’s guidance through intellect]. The Torah was given to ba’alei da’at [ba’alei da’at: people of knowledge], to bring da’at into nature.

But im kol zeh [im kol zeh: nevertheless], it is mitdameh el hateva. The madrega of gar, the madrega of mochin, is similar, it goes in the same structure as nature. This is exactly like, in other words, this is how one will see: a person’s body is healed in seven days, a person’s soul also. Ah, the soul is not the same. It’s not to think that eating matzah makes a refuat haguf. Lav davka [lav davka: not necessarily], it could be that it does, but lav davka. Rather the refuat hanefesh, the de’ot [de’ot: beliefs, opinions] that the matzah reminds of, it makes a zecher, goes in the same order. It was made for people with bodies. It enters into the more primitive reasons. But it is mashlim inyanim hativi’im [mashlim inyanim hativi’im: completes natural matters].

Brit Milah as a Parable: Perfection of the Soul Over the Body

What does he remind us of? Everyone knows, Pesach was also the generation of brit milah [brit milah: covenant of circumcision], one had to be circumcised [circumcise]. And regarding brit milah the Rambam asks the question: How can it be? It’s a question that is already brought in the Midrash [Midrash: Midrash, homiletical teachings of the Sages].

How can one say that brit milah is a shleimut [shleimut: perfection, completion]? “Hithalech lefanai veheyeh tamim” [Hithalech lefanai veheyeh tamim: “Walk before Me and be perfect” – Genesis 17:1] – this is brit milah. Apparently, one breaks nature, one breaks, one cuts off the orlah [orlah: foreskin], a person is born with an orlah. The principle is, “Vayar Elokim et kol asher asah vehineh tov me’od” [Vayar Elokim et kol asher asah vehineh tov me’od: “And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” – Genesis 1:31], everything that is in the world is tov me’od, it’s the shleimut. How can it be that ma’asei Hashem einam shleimim [ma’asei Hashem einam shleimim: God’s works are not complete]?

The Rambam’s Answer: Two Levels of Perfection

The Rambam says there, yes, you must understand that a person has two levels. A person has his body, perhaps mitzad haguf [mitzad haguf: from the perspective of the body] he was more shalem [shalem: complete] with the orlah, could be, lav davka, but could be. But a person, the essence of a person is his soul. A person’s soul is better without the orlah, because then he is meimit his ta’avot [meimit his ta’avot: subdues his desires], he has correct de’ot, all these things.

The Torah is the shleimut of the soul, of the de’ot, not of the body. But it goes in the same similar way. Therefore he says that milah is bashemini [bashemini: on the eighth day], yes, the seven is the higher nature of Pesach, the eighth that is milah, but it is yes shleimut, it is mashlim a person [mashlim a person: completes a person], it is mashlim the nature of a person, but it’s lav davka through the fact that he has a complete body, rather through the fact that he has a complete soul.

The Higher Level of Seven: From Nature to Kabbalah

So since we understand that it doesn’t mean that one just needs to eat matzah so that the body should change from the matzah seven days should be a nikuy [nikuy: cleansing]. It also shows that here, if one will say al pi peshat [al pi peshat: according to the simple meaning], the matzah comes to teach something, to show something, and the thing that one shows is also something a topic of shiv’ah [shiv’ah: seven], it’s also something an inyan [inyan: matter, concept] of shiv’at yamim [shiv’at yamim: seven days].

Just as with the body it takes seven that this is the higher, so it goes a cycle seven seven seven, so there is also in the more sichli’dige madregot [sichli’dige madregot: intellectual levels] in the world there are seven days.

The Kabbalistic Understanding of Seven

And this is certainly understood in the Ramban, that seven is a remez to the seven days of the week, and even higher than that, the seven planets, there are seven sefirot [sefirot: sefirot, divine emanations in Kabbalah], or seven malachim [malachim: angels], or seven sefirot even higher, seven madregot, and the seven madregot that is truly the reason why there is everything goes seven.

And we have sefirat ha’omer [sefirat ha’omer: the counting of the Omer], and Chag HaShavuot [Chag HaShavuot: the Festival of Weeks/Shavuot] which is again seven times seven, it shows us the topic of the order of seven. There are seven thousand years in the world, etc. etc. etc. [etc.: and so on], everything goes on this seven, and this is the higher madrega of this seven.

“Bashiv’at Yamim” Versus “Shiv’at Yamim”: Time Versus Levels

In other words, not only, if one wants to interpret it, that one should say not only the body, so that a person should grasp that he eats chametz [chametz: leavened bread] needs to take him seven days, but also so that a person should grasp the lesson, the message that the chametz gives him, takes him seven days, or it takes him seven madregot, perhaps lav davka seven days, this is bechinat shiv’at yamim [bechinat shiv’at yamim: the aspect of seven days]. Not “bashiv’at yamim” [bashiv’at yamim: in seven days – referring to a time period] but “shiv’at yamim” [shiv’at yamim: seven days – referring to seven levels/aspects]. That the shiv’at yamim, the seven days, should be like one day, that one should eat with the matzah the seven days.

The Question of the Level and the Preparation

Ah, so what is the madrega? What is the hachana [hachana: preparation] to the madrega? What is the madrega? Simply that the thing, what is the shiv’at yamim itself, not the bashiv’at yamim, not the seven days of the olam hateva [olam hateva: the natural world], but the seven days themselves which is the olam hateva, which is a zecher for them, there is wrestling.

Shiv’at Yemei HaMatzot: The Level of Smallness and the Path of Ascent to Greatness

Chapter 4: Lechem Oni – The Essence of Seven Days as a Level of Deficiency

Seven Days as an Independent Aspect

Or the seven madregot, perhaps specifically seven days, the bechinot shiv’at yamim. Yes, not until shiv’at yamim, but shiv’at yamim. Yes, he says so, “Shiv’at yamim tochal matzah” – you will eat with the matzah the seven days. Ah, and what is the madrega? But we must ask ourselves, what is the madrega? What is this thing that is the shiv’at yamim itself? Not the until shiv’at yamim, not the seven days of the olam hateva, or the seven days themselves which is the olam hateva which they are worthy for them, which this brings us to be.

The Connection Between Matzah and Lechem Oni

We will understand an interesting thing. And this is also true, I think this is a deeper reason why one eats only matzah and not chametz seven days and not a whole year, because this has to do with what is called lechem oni. That is, that matzah is truly a chesaron. And truly that the place, or one place in Devarim where it says “Shiv’at yamim tochal alav matzot”, there it says “lechem oni”.

That is, “Shiv’at yamim tochal matzot” has to do with the fact that matzah is lechem oni. In other words, the shiv’at yamim are not exactly the highest madrega, they are still lechem oni. And regarding this it is only seven days, because we don’t want to remain with the lechem oni, we want to arrive at the manna, we want to arrive at the higher madrega, to the shtei halechem, to the lechem ashir, yes.

Chapter 5: Hallel She’eino Shalem – The Difference Between Pesach and Sukkot

Why We Don’t Say Complete Hallel on Pesach

So how does one understand this? And truly, this is also the reason why, everyone knows that Pesach is different from Sukkot, one doesn’t say complete Hallel the entire seven days. That is, one says so, because it’s still bechinot lechem oni. The seven days is lechem oni, it’s still not the shleimut.

This is “shavu veshavu” that stands by Shlomo and by Chizkiyahu, “shavu veshavu”, shavu tachtonim kiveyachol. Therefore he calls it seven days, from madregat hamalchut. That is, atzeret, bayom hashevi’i atzeret, atzeret means the malchut. Then, this is Hallel she’eino shalem, except the first night, we spoke about a different point.

Sukkot – The Level of Greatness

But Sukkot, Sukkot is already a higher madrega, Sukkot is the yemei gadlut, when then one can make seven days shleimut, yes, seven days of complete Hallel.

The Two Reasons for Not Saying Hallel – Kriat Yam Suf

And truly, it appears that this has to do with the topic of Kriat Yam Suf, why? There is indeed another reason that is brought in the Beit Yosef and in the Midrash, that one doesn’t say Hallel the second days of Pesach, or the Chol HaMoed of Pesach, because Kriat Yam Suf there is some aspect of difficulty. Certainly Kriat Yam Suf is tremendous, but “Ma’asei yadai tov’im bayam ve’atem omrim shira”, there is some difficulty in this, and apparently in honor of this one doesn’t say Hallel.

And certainly the commentators ask, if so, what about the other six days of Chol HaMoed, the other five days? And they say answers, forced answers.

The Depth: All of Pesach is an Aspect of Smallness

I think the depth of this is, that Kriat Yam Suf shows us that the entire Pesach is still an aspect of katnut. Still everything here, what does katnut mean? “Ma’asei yadai tov’im bayam” means katnut. What does katnut mean? That we still need to fight.

Now one already understands half the secret. One still needs to fight. Certainly this is a great madrega, “Yamutu resha’im veyir’u tzaddikim veyismchu” – good. But what is even better? Is “Yitamu resha’im velo chot’im”, “Yitamu chata’im velo chot’im”. Even better is that there is no Pharaoh at all, or that Pharaoh admits, “Hashem hatzaddik”. That would have been the plan, that Pharaoh should admit. Meanwhile we still had to fight with him, so there is still a bit of chesaron.

This means that one must have this, it’s an important step, without this there would not have been any success, but it’s still a chesaron.

Comparison to Sukkot – Elevating the Seventy Nations

Without this one still doesn’t properly understand the shiv’at yamim, it’s still a small shiv’at yamim. If so is the entire shiv’at yamim, certainly in this shiv’at yamim there was a great miracle, but in any case one sees that one still had to fight with Pharaoh. This is apparently “Halalu ovdei avodah zarah vehalalu ovdei avodah zarah”. Ah, no, it’s still different. The Jewish idol worshipers are still different from the gentile idol worshipers. Very good. But from the side of truth it’s still not the shleimut. On this there still doesn’t come complete Hallel.

I think this is the comparison of the two reasons, one can learn that this is the same thing.

If so we only need to add at the end of the shiur, to say what is perhaps the thing, the katnut, what is the point, why is it lacking on one hand? It’s not enough, let’s say so.

Chapter 6: Biur Chametz – The Negation of the Physical Conception

Chametz as a Symbol of Physical Conception

First of all, with what is it not enough? That is, we have learned that chametz points to the topic of elohim acherim, it points to the topic of physical conception, that a person, his imagination, even his senses, his imagination, which many people think is their thought, can only grasp physical things, only things that have volume, yes, just as chametz has length and height and width, yes, it has three dimensions, this he can grasp.

This is chametz, therefore the halacha says, even the halacha, kal vachomer the Almighty Himself is not a physical thing, not a knowledge of body, one must burn the chametz, one must be careful not to grasp it.

Chapter 7: Shiv’at Yamim Against the Seven Planets – The Deep Secret

Why Specifically Seven Days

The problem is however, let’s say such a word, the problem is that this cannot be in a minute. One will say one day, yes, one will say the same thing that they said regarding chametz simply, that one day, let’s say for example, someone serves an idol worshiper, his god is an idol of wood and stone, he needs to have an image and form, he serves some statue and picture, tavnit adam or behemah, tavnit, one of the tavnit that stands there in the Chumash, one of the things, this is his god, very good.

The Parable: One Day Is Not Sufficient

Comes a Jew, and one day he doesn’t, comes Avraham Avinu, he breaks one day, he doesn’t serve, he makes a prayer, to whom are you praying? To the God of heaven, to no one, there is no statue, it’s the Ein Sof, it’s One, Hashem Echad. One says, okay, perhaps this is another god, yes, one can make such a mistake, the idol worshiper also held that there is the one God who is One above, he says, okay, every one day you serve the sun, one day the moon, and one day Shabbat you serve the One above, the God of gods, no problem.

The Innovation: Hashem Echad – And No Other

But we want to tell you something deeper, yes, we want to tell you something much deeper, we want to tell you that the prohibition of idolatry doesn’t simply mean that there is also an elohei elohim (god of gods), there is also Hashem echad (God is one), but rather that there is only Hashem echad. A great chiddush (novel insight), one must understand this, this is already a great chiddush. In other words, it’s not enough one day, to say that it’s by chance, you thought that he is another god. No, I must not do for seven days, and seven days is against the seven wandering stars, which are the stars and constellations that the idol worshippers served.

Explanation of the Seven Wandering Stars

The first day the constellation, what is it called? The, I don’t remember anymore, the Shabbatai, and Tzedek, and Kochav, and so forth all these constellations, they, each one of their days, it goes like Sunday, because comes a Jew Shabbos, I don’t know, even Shabbos, Shabbos is also one of the forces, let’s say so, if a Jew would one day in the year not serve but the Almighty, he would say okay, what is Sunday? Presumably the gentile serves the god of Sunday. No, Sunday I also serve the Almighty. Comes Monday, says the gentile, presumably today he serves the god of Monday. No, Monday also not, Tuesday also not.

The Explanation: Every Day – Only Hashem

This is the seven days, “shiv’at yamim tochal matzos” (seven days you shall eat matzos), each one of the false days where there is a false god, that means one of the forces is false in the aspect of god, not false in the aspect of angel, in the aspect of forces, one must show that not only that I also serve the Almighty besides that, but you are not the Almighty on any one of the days. This is the secret of “shiv’at yamim tochal matzos.”

Chapter 8: Chochma and Bina – Deep Understanding Versus Momentary Understanding

The Level of Chochma – A Flashing Lightning

But this is certainly a great greatness, and certainly this must be done, this is the limit, that means one learns one day. Or one can even say simply, one minute, Pesach sugya (topic), Pesach ro’eh (sees), he understands in the aspect of chochma (wisdom), a flashing lightning, he understands Godliness, is not enough.

The Level of Bina – Seven Days

One must learn it in the aspect of bina (understanding). Bina is the… This we speak of a katnus (smallness) of bina, truly, but bina of all seven days, he goes through, he learns it with all the questions and all the answers, until he understands one whole week, he truly understands it, it’s not just by chance, it’s not just a verse a dance, it’s truly.

But the whole thing is still everything in the aspect of katnus. This is what we learn on Pesach, that the whole thing is still everything in the aspect of katnus.

Chapter 9: Katnus and Gadlus – War Versus Elevation

Why Is All This Still Katnus

Why is the whole thing still in the aspect of katnus? Because in gadlus (greatness) one doesn’t fight. The aspect of gadlus is yes seven days, but not fighting each day.

Sukkos – Elevation of the Princes

On the contrary, Pesach… what does one do Sukkos on all seven days? One brings seventy bulls. That means, against the seventy princes one brings seventy sacrifices. One gives abundance for each one of the bulls, yes? In other words, one elevates them to holiness. This is the level of Sukkos, and the Shavuos of Pesach was merchandise of this, from this one can say “zeh Keli v’anveihu” (this is my God and I will glorify Him).

Chapter 10: Deep Explanation – What Is the Error of Idolatry

The Error: Seeing the Forces as Divinity

In other words, and I say it briefly, one must bring it out much clearer, but it’s already the end of the shiur (lecture). In other words, what is the error of idolatry? The error is that he only comes to the Shabbatai, Tzedek, Chama, Kochav, Noga, Levana, etc., he only thinks that one of these things runs the world, and he doesn’t know beyond that.

The Jewish Response: “Uvchol elohei Mitzrayim e’eseh shfatim”

What do we do? We say on each one of the days, he goes as it were, one goes through to each elohei Mitzrayim (gods of Egypt), “uvchol elohei Mitzrayim e’eseh shfatim” (and upon all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments), yes? Someone thought that Ba’al Tzefon… says Rashi, he remained, they didn’t kill him? No, him also one had to kill the seven days.

This is a great katnus, yes? Because someone who has a little intellect understands that one doesn’t need to go through each one. And not only doesn’t one need to go through each one, one doesn’t need to nullify each one externally.

A Higher Level: “Gadol Hashem mikol ha’elohim”

What do we say? “Gadol Adoneinu v’rav ko’ach” (Great is our Lord and abundant in strength), “gadol Hashem mikol ha’elohim” (Hashem is greater than all the gods). He is higher, He is also… one can even say that He is the force that is in each one of the gods, right? He runs the sun and the moon and the stars and everything. One doesn’t need to go break the sun and break the stars and break each thing externally. This is all katnus.

“Zeh Keli v’anveihu” – Seeing the Divinity

And not only that, there is a true way of what we spoke of the Name of Hashem. One can also see the Almighty, one can also say “zeh Keli v’anveihu,” as it were. Just as we say “eleh” (these), what is the difference “eleh elohecha Yisrael” (these are your gods, Israel)? It’s different, plural language, singular language, it’s a great difference.

But it’s still always somewhat an aspect that we say, not God forbid we say that He is the god. Yes, that “zeh Keli v’anveihu” doesn’t mean that He is the god. He is not the god. Whatever one can see is not the god. This one may not say, this is idolatry.

Preparation for Gadlus

Therefore one must have seven days of katnus, seven days of removal of idolatry of “lo tochal alav chametz” (you shall not eat leavened bread with it).

Chapter 11: Atzeres – The Transition from Katnus to Gadlus

“Uvayom hashvi’i chag l’Hashem” – Atzeres

“Uvayom hashvi’i chag l’Hashem” (And on the seventh day a festival to Hashem). What is the atzeres (assembly/restraint) to Hashem? The atzeres, that one restrains oneself, yes, atzeres truly, the order that we said, “im ratz libcha shuv l’echad” (if your heart races, return to the One), one restrains oneself, means that the imagination wants to add, and one says no, this is not, it’s not the god. Okay.

Atzeres – Ne’etzar: The Containment in Divinity in a Vessel

After one does the atzeres, but the opposite of this is also “ne’etzar,” it’s also, the Zohar says “ne’etzar” is a language of containment, the Godliness becomes contained as it were in a certain vessel. What this means is, and I’m not going to explain now how it can be, but what this means is that if one holds by the gadlus, then one can yes, one can see, one can have a Mikdash (Temple), one can have a Torah, one can have mitzvos, one can have all these things, only without any error that these things are god. But they are yes.

In other words, that the Almighty chose to reveal Himself, or we from our side of our katnus see Him so, whatever it may be.

The Result: Seeing Without Error

This, whoever hasn’t eaten chametz for seven days, he can see this, because he has no concern of error, he has no concern of error in this. Not only does he have no concern of error it is said, but he also understands that the seven days that one is careful from chametz is a certain katnus, and one must afterwards come much higher.

—

Okay, this is in main points. In main points, the drasha (sermon) was much clearer than the foundation, but in main points we understood the main thing.

The Work of Removing Chametz: From Katnus to Gadlus

Chapter 5: Summary of Principles – The Essence of Katnus and Gadlus

The Recognition of the Rebbe’s Understanding

Not only does he have no concern of error as he said, but he also understands that the seven days that I am removing the chametz is a certain katnus, and I must still come much higher.

Overview of the Drasha

Okay, this is in main points. The drasha was much clearer than the foundation, but in main points we understood the main thing, that one must be able, and let’s just repeat the same, repeat the main thing.

The Main Point: Recognizing the Almighty in the Seven Days

One must be able seven days not to eat matza, and one should say that it’s a proclamation, and in other words one should say that here too there is a god.

The Difference Between Katnus and Gadlus

The Aspect of Katnus: Negating the False Forces

But what, in the katnus one goes through each one of them and says no:

– Not a god

– Not a god

– Not a god

Only One is the God.

The Aspect of Gadlus: Integration of Sparks

And the gadlus that on the seventh of Pesach is an integration of sparks of this, even still in the aspect of katnus, is to say that the One who is only One, automatically all are only One.

The Secret of the Gadlus: Subjugation Through Unity

One can subjugate the sun, and with this one subjugates the Almighty truly. This is the secret of the gadlus.

The Conclusion: The Seventh of Pesach Is Still Katnus

And on the seventh of Pesach we still don’t have words to say it properly, and we say that it is still the aspect of katnus.

Time and Understanding: The Path from Simple Faith to True Comprehension

Introduction: The Rush After Pesach

Dear friends who are already holding motza’ei Pesach, Isru Chag, erev Shabbos – everything is still in the mode of speed, rush. It’s still right after Pesach, I need to go already to Shabbos.

We know, the Maharal said that the secret of the rush is that the higher matters, the intellectual matters, are generally not subject to time. The soul, the intellect, is not subject to time, it’s not in time at all. That’s why one eats matzah in haste, the rush – there is no time. And the truth is that it’s like this the whole year. That is, if it’s not in time, the meaning is that it’s always.

But we do live in time.

Chapter 1: Two Types of Intellect – Chochmah and Binah

The Foundation: Not Just Body and Intellect, But Two Types of Intellect

And we remember that the distinction between time and not-time is not only the distinction of, let’s say, the intellect is above time, not subject to time, and in contrast the body is subject to time. Rather, in truth there are also two types of intellect.

We’ve already spoken about this recently, but we speak about this always. In Kabbalah it’s called mochin of Chochmah and Binah:

– Chochmah is the essence of intellect, that is, the essential intellect which is not subject to time

– Binah is intellect that takes time

Let’s explain this a bit, it’s a very important foundation, one can always review it, and with this we’ll go further.

Chapter 2: Klal U’Prat U’Chlal – Three Stages of Learning

The Order of Pesach, Sefirat HaOmer, Shavuot

There are two types of learning, two types of ways of understanding. The first is called klal u’prat. We’ve spoken, we speak many times, it’s called klal u’prat. And here I want to add another piece of chiddush, it’s also connected with the order of Pesach, Sefirat HaOmer, Shavuot, where we are holding now.

And we’ll say that there are two times, there are two levels of the klal. That is, there is a klal u’prat u’chlal:

– There is a klal before the prat

– And a klal after the prat

Klal Before Prat: Simple Faith (Pesach)

In other words, a person begins to learn, one can even speak, let’s say, about faith. A person begins to know what God means. One teaches him “Anochi Hashem Elokecha”, yesodei hayesodot, faith, wisdom, “leit atar panui minei”, “malei chol ha’aretz kevodo” – this is klal. He understands it in a general way, one tells him one sentence, he understands it in a general way. This doesn’t take time.

Chipazon – A Clarification

One can say that truly, here there is perhaps a bit of a distinction, it does take a little, one can say it takes very quickly, truly in haste. There is a bit of a contradiction, because the Maharal says that chipazon is a hint that it’s not subject to time, but it’s not so simple.

Chipazon is the Most Time

Chipazon is the most time, yes? One must remember and say, when people say, what is the difference between zerizut and atzlut, yes?

The lazy person is always rushing. A lazy person is always one who rushes. Why? Because he arrives late, so he has to rush.

A zeriz is one who never rushes, he’s always on time, yes?

Many times people say about a person who drags that he’s above time. It’s not true, he’s the most below time, he’s the most subject to time, he’s never organized, therefore he always has to rush, therefore he does everything with pazizut, that is not even zerizut.

That is the difference between zerizut and pazizut, yes?

– Pazizut is the opposite of zerizut

– Zerizut is he does each thing calmly, but on time

This is the level of time itself, not above time, it’s the level of time itself, he’s organized. A lazy person, he’s the one who comes late, he rushes more.

Matzot – A Galut-Chipazon

So the matzot actually, therefore the Maharal who says that matzot is a hint of chipazon, it’s truly a weak hint. Because matzot is not really like that. We say “lo hispik betzekam”, we say “eili lehotzi Hakadosh Baruch Hu”, yes? All the sefarim say, I think it’s the simple meaning, one must put in the fifty gates of understanding, but the idea is, there was once a time, one had to run out. If one had waited another minute, one would have been late, one would have had to wait another thousand years, I don’t know what, to go out.

This is not above time, this is the greatest below time. That is, you’re so late, you’re so stuck in time, that you must rush. This is truly the chipazon of Egypt, chipazon of a galut.

Simple Faith – Meichla D’Asvata (Medicine)

And truly, one can say that this is the first point. When a person begins to learn, for example, we always ask the question, truly to understand God, truly to understand what “Anochi Hashem Elokecha” means, one needs to live ten thousand years. I mean, then one still won’t understand, but at least to understand something in the Name.

Obviously he’s under great pressure and great urgency to say, and to the little boy who doesn’t know about the Almighty, he hasn’t begun to learn anything with him, one simply tells him simple faith, “emunatcha baleilot”, “Anochi Hashem Elokecha”, there is a God. Okay, this is chipazon, this is the meaning of simple faith.

About this we said another time that the Zohar says that matzah is “meichla dimehemnuta”, “meichla d’asvata”, two different expressions, let them be different things, no difference. But the word refuah, medicine, simply means something that is not according to the natural way. This is simple faith. Simple faith is a medicine, one must. I live without any knowledge, I have no way, one simply tells it.

This is the chipazon, the so-to-speak above time. It’s not truly above time, it’s truly the most compressed in time, he has the least time, he has only one second, he doesn’t have all the time, he’s above time, he has the least time. Just like the young people who are said to be above time, they are meanwhile the most compressed in time.

And this is step one, this can be called the step of Pesach.

Chapter 3: Binah – Learning That Takes Time (Sefirat HaOmer)

Gadlut Rishon and Gadlut Sheni

Afterwards there is learning that is within time, and it’s very important, and this we must remember in our lives. There is a distinction, yes, there is a distinction, we’re speaking of people who have a certain da’at, “ben yada lehavchin”, he has a certain maturity. People who don’t have maturity, the same thing exists in spirituality, yes, the Arizal says there is gadlut sheni.

Gadlut sheni means that it’s not enough that he became an adult once, that’s in the natural way, there is another level of becoming an adult. There are people who had a second bar mitzvah, and there are people who never had a second bar mitzvah, yes. This is gadlut sheni.

The Arizal says that gadlut sheni is truly after twenty. Gadlut rishon is until twenty, “ad ben esrim shanah”, afterwards most people stop growing then, they remain with their nature. This is what they called in the devarim, in the acharonim, or in the kra’ot, one who says that one must say the goral. This is the gadol, one who still has gadlut rishon.

Gadlut rishon is that the main work. The main work is gadlut sheni, is that afterwards he becomes again a gadlut rishon. And what does da’at consist of? One must know the rule: Gadlut sheni consists almost only of things that take time.

Why Simple Faith Doesn’t Take Time

This is truly what was explained in that shiur also, that one cannot say, if one thinks only of simple faith, it’s the root of this, one can arrive. The reason why this also doesn’t take time is because truly the foundation is not subject to time. But in practice, how it appears in this world, it’s the most subject to time. If everything would remain there, indeed this doesn’t need to take time. These types of things don’t take time.

True Understanding Takes Time

But true understanding, understanding of a person, human understanding, is by definition something that takes time. You can say, even in the most compressed way, the most divided way, in order to learn something there must be questions and answers, yes? One asks “Mah Nishtanah”, and one answers. It takes time. It’s already, in other words, two moments.

Yes, you say, you can do the question and answer in one moment? No problem. I already have two moments, yes? A question, there was a moment of the question, and a moment of the answer. It takes time. It’s not like simple faith, there are no questions and answers, right?

Simple faith means Chochmah, that is, the first point of Chochmah. That’s how it is, “kacha hu”, “koach mah”, that’s how it is. That’s how it is doesn’t take time. But is it so? Is it not so? Even if it takes you one second, there was already time. It’s already there in time.

In other words, it’s called “shakla vetarya”, “masa umatan”. It takes time. This is what there is in Sefirat HaOmer, and each, and the truth is, it takes very much time.

Ein Adam Omed Al Da’at Rabo Ela L’Achar Arba’im Shanah

Generally speaking, simple faith one speaks to children, to bachurim. They haven’t even seen yet, they don’t even know what forty years means. I also don’t know, I’m not yet forty. One doesn’t even know what it means.

And this type of knowledge, yes, what does it mean to know what forty years means? I can know. One year I know, forty times that. I can do the math. But that’s not it, yes? This is in the mode of Chochmah, in the mode of simple faith, in the mode of distant faith I can say I know what forty years means.

Do you know what forty years means? Do you know what it means to learn forty years? Do you know what it means to struggle with a question for forty years, to go back and forth for forty years about this? One cannot know, only it takes forty years to know. There is no way.

Perhaps there is a shortcut. I thought, Rav Elazar Menachem Shach said “keheref ayin”, “keven shivim shanah”. There is something called kefitzat haderech, yes? Kefitzat haderech can make it a bit faster. Just as a person says he’s already seventy years in his soul, even though in his body he’s not. Okay, there is such a thing, but even then it’s still bedi’eved. We know that the kefitzat haderech one had to complete later. It’s not.

In any case, in human reality, ordinary things take very much time. This is the order. This is a matter of chinuch.

Chapter 4: Practical Lessons for Chinuch

Chinuch Takes Time

Much of our chinuch is foolish, because chinuch one must fulfill in the mode of simple faith. One must begin with simple things. So one begins to think that chinuch is above time. Then one has complaints, “I already told my boy something ten times and he didn’t understand.”

Yes, because understanding is something that takes time. Understanding even in the mode of middot. Yes, the growth of the middot. The Sefirat HaOmer speaks of the growth of the middot. Also takes time. Takes truly seven weeks, not seven weeks. One says okay, give it even three years.

Even most, I look, I don’t know anyone who is not mechanech, he doesn’t live out anything. One who lives out, his children are students, he sees after a few years they figure it out. These simple things, it’s the simple thing. From the essence it’s simple. Then, from this side you can say it in a minute, but he doesn’t understand it. It takes much time. It’s a normal thing, it’s normal, it must be so.

Deeper Understandings Take Even More Time

And certainly deeper understandings. Deeper understandings, it’s truly, it’s truly, “lu yichyeh elef shanim pa’amayim”, yes, such expressions are written. It’s truly that one must take the time for this type of human understanding that is called Binah. It’s not the only type of understanding, but Binah, the main feminine understanding that is called Binah, takes time.

And as we learned, we always speak, time means that it must be in this like steps of separation, yes.

Chapter 5: The Ben Rasha – A Warning

And I also think, I thought about this, one sees all the magazines speaking about Pesach about the understanding that one does with the ben rasha. And I look, I’m fearfully worried. One has begun to believe that there is a category of a rasha. The rasha is the one who says this, yes, “lachem velo lo”. And one tells him back.

It doesn’t mean seriously. I already said at the Seder, it doesn’t mean seriously. It means to say, one says what it means. I explained at my Seder, the first Seder we explained what “lachem velo lo” means, “ve’af atah hakheih et shinav”. One can see it’s literally chinuch halachah lema’aseh.

The boy comes, the bachur, he says, “I, ah, who are you?” And as if he holds himself great, he’s not from you. Okay, let’s see if you really hold so. One tells him, okay.

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[End of Part 1]

The Process of Chochmah, Binah, and Chochmah: Understanding Takes Time

Chapter 1: The Concept of “OTD” is a Fiction

Against Creating Artificial Categories

Suddenly he’s angry, “You’re excluding me? One must include everyone”. That means you’re already once a part of us. Very good, that’s what we wanted to show. You do want to be a part.

And the truth is, I think it’s literally foolishness. One takes, one has an investigation, I mean, one goes to the Rav, one asks him, “My son is fifteen years old, he has the mind of a carrot of fifteen”. I mean, the father is already reading twenty, twenty-five, thirty, he already has a fifteen-year-old child. He understands that fifteen, when he was fifteen, he remembers, he didn’t understand anything, true?

And he begins to investigate, “I saw my son, he does some sin, I need to know”. He’s a person, he did something, he’s a boy. Begin, he’s a teenager, and he’s holding exactly at the level of the question. Very good, he asks the question like a rasha. Let him be. So what?

People Are Not Categories

One becomes so impressed by things that are temporary, that are… There is no such boundary, because someone said that there is something called OTD [Off The Derech], there is no such thing.

There are people, in every house, there are people who do more, there are children who are wilder, there are… everyone has their mitzvot and their sins. There is no such boundary that one must investigate, and one should spend entire disputes of the rabbis and educators to… to bring close there or to. The whole thing doesn’t make sense, in my opinion.

He’s a deist! It’s not… when one tells him, when one pushes him out is the Rav angry, yes? It is yes a part of this, right? Something that… I don’t even need to have the hora’ah… It’s a fact! There are people!

The Natural Process of Chinuch

People have free choice, people there is chinuch! Sometimes it takes so long, sometimes it takes so long… a person lives a normal person! It’s five six seven eight nine ten! Until seventy! Perhaps afterwards, one says, until it’s completed! They need to ask, on the day of passing! Afterwards, been seventy years! The whole Shabbat was a whole life! One would think, what hesped to say!

But now he’s seventeen! You’re already asking, what hesped to say? What is a normal person who is the whole forgotten, how the world works?

In any case, this is a topic of chinuch, regarding the relationship. I don’t believe there is such a thing. One can say like by the father. Yes, everyone has their moment of heresy, everyone has their times when he is, let’s say, not a yerei shamayim, let’s not speak of the mind, more speak even of a terrible deed. He also sometimes has things that he does a sin.

The Different Speeds of Teshuvah

But sometimes it’s faster, yes? When not he’s older, he catches faster. He knows to figure out, he does a sin and he does immediately teshuvah. Okay, that’s one way.

A second, he does it longer. He does it more blessings. He does a sin for six years afterwards, he does it already for three years.

The Need for a Broader View

One must look with a with a broader look, with a direction of years. Da’at is direction of years. One must look at years. Generally speaking, when one looks at this view, one sees that it’s fantasy, it’s fiction. There is no such concept, like a ben rasha.

He’s not. He’s today. What does one do with this bachur boy? Today he didn’t get up, to is my question. Okay, this year he didn’t get up to is my question. It’s not even so different. How much more, I don’t see the whole investigation, it seems to me like nonsense, it seems to me a foolish investigation. In the bottom line no…

Chapter 2: The Foundation – Truly Understanding Takes Time

Wisdom, Understanding, and Wisdom: The Order from Pesach to Shavuos

The True Meaning of Chochmah

But the truth is, it’s not tachlis hazman [the ultimate goal of time], it’s a hasagah [comprehension] of the thing kmo shehi [as it truly is], that’s the meaning of chochmah, that’s the true chochmah.

The Order of Pesach, Sefiras HaOmer, and Shavuos

Now it’s like this, this is the order of the simple pshat [straightforward meaning], of the order of Pesach, Sefiras HaOmer, Shavuos:

There is:

– Chochmah b’rosh [wisdom at the beginning]

– Binah inmiten [understanding in the middle]

– Chochmah b’sof [wisdom at the end]

That’s the order.

Conclusion

Okay, I think that’s a clear enough matter, we can stop here and go to the questions.

The Secret of Time and the Order of Creation: The Deeper Meaning of the Six Days of Genesis

Introduction

My teachers and rabbis, it is the eve of Shabbat Tazria-Metzora, and the Counting of the Omer. As has been our custom lately, I want to delve in a bit and explain the secret that we learned last night in the Rambam shiur, Shemoneh Perakim [Eight Chapters: the eight chapters of Rambam’s introduction to Pirkei Avot], to see what we can understand in this more deeply.

There are two main things, two main ways that we can explain more according to Kabbalah, from the side of the Kabbalah of the early authorities and the Zohar [the primary book of Kabbalah], the ways in which we interpret the same thing more deeply.

Understandably, as with all secrets, we haven’t fully grasped it – I haven’t fully grasped it. Perhaps there are Jews who have fully grasped it. But I have tried to do as is our custom, to say clear things:

– At least the questions should be clear

– At least the connections should be clear

– We should see how we need to proceed further here

For this is indeed a lengthy work.

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Part One: The Secret of the End – The Secret of Time and Order

The Foundation: The Secret of the End is the Secret of Time

Let us recall this: We learned last night that there is something called sod haketz [the secret of the End]. The secret of the ketz is truly the secret of time, that is, the order of time.

The order of time, or the word time, zman, is truly the word for order in general.

Chochmah and Binah: Two Types of Understanding

In other words, in order to understand the world – what does that mean, let’s say, Binah [understanding/comprehension], as we spoke about last week at the shiur – the type of understanding called Binah, not the type of understanding called Chochmah [wisdom/intuitive insight], which is above the world. There, there is no time, we don’t understand things in that way.

But the type of understanding that is called l’achar hatzimtzum [after the Divine contraction], or in the olam haneshamos [world of souls], in the world where there is a world, where there is intellect, what we call intellect, which takes time – that is also the type of understanding that exists there.

And the type of reality that exists there, one can say, because understanding is according to a reality, is such types of things that are ordered, and are ordered one after another.

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Part Two: The Six Days of Genesis – The Greatest Example of Order

The Torah Tells a Story in an Order of Time

As the greatest example of this is the six days of Genesis [the six days of Creation].

The Torah wants to say that the Almighty created the entire world, He is responsible for everything, He made everything. The Torah tells us the story in an order of time, even though “could it not have been created with one utterance?”

It didn’t have to be, and it didn’t have to be. When the Mishnah [Pirkei Avot 5:1] asks that it could have been, it means to say that it truly is – so learn all the kabbalists and all the commentators.

What is the Simple Point of the Creation of the World?

That is, according to the truth, the message, the point – one can say what is the point, one point, what is the simple meaning, the simple faith of the six days of Genesis, of the creation of the world, which is done in honor of the Shabbat?

To know that the Almighty made the world.

Or one can say that the Almighty makes the world, that the Almighty – I like the word “responsible,” yes?

King – a word that people think means some terrible dictator – it means He is responsible, yes? He is the thing, the thing that is responsible, from whom the world exists.

This is the meaning:

– Creation of the world

– Divine providence

– Creation

– All kinds of words that one can say

B’ma’amar Echad – Everything in One Moment

Now, truly, this is a point of one moment – “could it not have been created with one utterance.”

One says, one can even say it in one verse: “God created the heavens and the earth” – already even more than one verse, heaven and earth. “God created everything,” “I am Hashem who makes everything.”

This is enough, enough and more to say:

– That the Almighty makes everything

– The Almighty conducts everything

– The Almighty is master over everything

All kinds of expressions that one says for the same thing.

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Part Three: Why Do We Need an Order?

The World is Not Just “B’ma’amar Echad”

But, human beings – not just human beings, but the order of the world is not just like that. In the world, in order to understand what does it mean “the Almighty made everything”? I asked a question:

There are tables in the world, there are benches in the world, there are trees in the world, there are animals in the world, there are people in the world, there are all kinds of things.

What does it mean the Almighty made everything? How does this work? Did He make everything at once?

Sovev Kol Almin – The Truth of Unity

But the truth is, there is in this a point of truth. The Almighty is responsible for everything as one, yes – what is called in Chabad “sovev kol almin” [encompassing all worlds]. The Almighty is greater than the entire world, everything in total comes to Him. This is the truth.

But We Need an Order to Understand

But we wouldn’t understand it that way. In other words, it’s not entirely correct with time, the way the world works – there is an order in the world. But an order is explained.

He says that first, beforehand, yes, and who knows – it even says simply in the verses, all the more so that all the kabbalists and all the philosophers, all the commentators learn simply, that the six days of Genesis is not just divided into time.

On the contrary – dividing into time brings out what is called a causal order, an order of causes, an order of precedence.

The Order of the Six Days

That is, simple meaning:

– The first day: The Almighty made there should be a bit of dryness, He separated heaven from earth, He made light – He separated light from darkness

– The second day: He made there should be heaven and earth

– And so on…

This all goes level upon level. Yes, beforehand – perhaps we need to understand what is the understanding of nature that lies in this. But in any case, the intellectual order makes it intellectual, it makes an order of it.

The Parable of a Builder

First there must be that it shouldn’t be completely dark, there shouldn’t be a mixture of tohu vavohu [chaos and void]. Later one can make – as the Midrash tells – one must make space, one makes there should be a heaven, one makes there should be…

Like a person who builds a building: he makes first the floor, then the roof, and so on and so forth, the whole order. In this one can place people and animals and trees, the whole order. It makes logical sense.

This is what the six days of Genesis tells. It tells a story that is truly not in time.

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Part Four: Chochmah vs. Binah – Two Levels of Understanding

Above Time – The Attribute of Chochmah

In other words, it is from the side of the true understanding, from the side of the attribute of Chochmah, which is above the six days of Genesis in general, yes? It’s not even the eighth, it’s the ninth one can say, the order of the Sefirot. It’s not at all the six days of Genesis – there, there is no time, there the Almighty made with one utterance and so on and so forth.

The World of Binah – A Temporal Order

But since the world is a world whose order is a temporal order, and although one can learn time literally – that we take time for things – or even the time that is called intellectual time, yes, the time of Binah, not necessarily the time of the seven lower attributes, yes…

Two Types of Time

Time of Binah – the meaning, the time, that is that one thing causes a second thing. This is the meaning of time, this is the meaning of time at its root, not time in actual practice.

– Time in actual practice: Means to actually take time, a minute, etc.

– Time at its root: The meaning – as we said last week – that love is built from a question with an answer, from a premise with a conclusion, etc. etc.

The World Has Within It an Order

The same thing – that the world has within it an order. Since there is a system, one can build upon this a world:

– Since there is a father, children can be born

– Since there is dry land, land animals can live on it

– If you have a sea, there can be sea creatures

– If everything is tohu vavohu, nothing can be

This is the meaning of time, this is the meaning of the order of times, the order of the six days of Genesis – which is the first example, the first source, the first root of the fact that the world works in time, the world works with an order which is the order of times.

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Part Five: Application to History and Human Experience

Everything is “Built-In” from the Six Days of Genesis

Now, let us – here we have already shown a very simple way. One can already immediately see how what we have learned – the topic that there is a great debate, a great question how to understand the history of people.

One can speak – the words that we speak – one can speak in the general manner of the entire world, of all the nations that exist in the world. One can speak more specifically – a person who grows up, from what he grows in a certain time, or in a larger period of his life.

All these things one can already immediately understand now, that according to the truth, if one wants to think more basically, more about the basic ingredients that this is built from, one can immediately see that this is all built-in from the six days of Genesis.

It’s all built-in from the fact that in the world there is an order for things:

– Things cause one another

– Happen one after another

– Each thing in its time

“He Made Everything Beautiful in Its Time” – Ecclesiastes

“He made everything beautiful in its time” [Ecclesiastes 3:11].

When Ecclesiastes wants to tell that there are all kinds of situations in the world, all kinds of situations in the world, he says that there are all kinds of periods in the world, all kinds of times in the world – twenty-eight “a time to be born and a time to die” – and each thing has its time.

This is the meaning that the world is already built with a certain order, not that it’s random.

Random vs. Order

Random one can say like “with one utterance it could be created” – the Almighty makes everything:

– No difference what is before, what is after, what is in the middle

– There doesn’t have to be any prerequisites for anything

– Nothing is not prior to nothing

– In one second it can be like “suddenly it will come”

– In one second everything can be

This would be the world of Chochmah, the world above order.

But the world of Binah, which is the “God” who created heaven and earth – there, things must be with an order, at least an intellectual order. And when it becomes in actual practice, it also becomes an order of time literally.

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Part Six: The Great Question – Order and Free Choice

What Does This Mean for Human Free Choice?

Now it is like this – what this means is that everything we have spoken about that there is an order to things…

We have spoken that there is a whole problem how to connect the order with what we call:

– The service of human beings

– Bechirah [free choice]

– The possibility, the openness

– That things can be different

The Ability of People

That is, you have here that people have control, have an ability to decide things. Because this is built on the fact that in reality, in nature, the things for which people are responsible, are open:

– It can be this way

– It can be another way

– Not built into nature

In human matters, in the things how people live, in history – that it must be a certain way. This is indeed the meaning of what we say bechirah – that if not, there can’t be any free choice.

The Similarity to “B’ma’amar Echad”

The whole thing, however, is truly similar to the point of “with one utterance it could be created” – it’s very similar to the point that one can speak of everything at once. The problem is that then one doesn’t have any order.

So necessarily, the truth is that even what people do, what people have ability for, what people have control over – or in other words, that the world is not determined – in other words, which is the world of Binah, that the world, or each thing can be this way, can be another way…

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Part Seven: Free Choice Within the Order of the Six Days of Genesis

The Limits of Free Choice

It can be this way, it can be another way – not built into the nature of the things and people, in the things how people live in history, that it must be a certain way. This is indeed the meaning of what we say bechirah [free choice], that if not, there can’t be any free choice.

The Connection with “With One Utterance It Could Have Been Created”

The whole thing, however, is truly similar to the point of “with one utterance it could have been created.” It’s very similar to the point that one can speak of everything at once – the problem is that then one doesn’t have any order.

So necessarily, the truth is that even what people do, what people have ability for, what people have control over, or in other words, that the world is not determined – in other words, which is the world of free choice – that the world, or each thing can be this way, can be another way, all this is within the six days of Genesis. It’s all within the six days of Genesis.

Free Choice Within the Boundaries of Time

And one can say in a simple way like this: that means a person can decide, a person can change the order of things. In other words, the world of free choice, the world that turns and changes according to what people do, according to how the Almighty conducts Himself with people – this is all very fine.

But a person, for example, cannot do something without a time. Yes, I can do something, but on Sunday, on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday and so on I can do something. I cannot do something not in a time. This means that even what I do, I am limited in which time it is.

Time as the Root of Order

Now, if we understand that time doesn’t mean now just simply, not just some number what time it was – time truly means at its root, this is the six days of Genesis. In other words, that there is an order how things can be.

It comes out that all how much we can do, how much we can change, how much there can be changes in the world – is all within a certain structure of how things can be. This is the basic approach that comes out from what we learn.

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Deeper Contemplation of the Basic Structure

Now, if one thinks a bit deeper – in other words, one takes more into consideration what the basic structure of things are, what the basic order, the basic time on which the world turns is – one finds, truly, one can perhaps divide it in many ways. There is here a bit like a question what are things that are perhaps not necessary that it should be so.

The Question of Twelve or Seven Days

That is, in other words, when the Torah would have said, when it tells a story that the world was created in twelve days – I know, because one can divide everything into twelve – you know what? It’s not yet speaking now as an event that happened, that specifically the event of seven worlds that we don’t understand, that the Almighty had decided to make the world in seven days.

That is, when one says seven worlds, it means that it fits most for people – I’m speaking of people who learn the Torah in the culture, in the world – it fits to say that in seven days the world was created.

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The Order of Reward and Punishment

And it fits with everything else – it goes to fit in, it goes to be in sync. Everything else fits with the order, with the division, with “to give reward to the righteous and punishment to the wicked.”

In other words, one must be able to understand that there is reward and punishment, that there is a way.

Reward and Punishment is the Order Itself

Reward and punishment – yes, let us understand very clearly. Reward and punishment doesn’t mean that it arrives, doesn’t mean that it’s random that I do something. On the contrary, reward and punishment – this is the order. From Sunday comes Monday.

In other words, in the human world there is a system of reward and punishment. When one does good things — in certain good things, in certain things there are halachos, there are principles, laws in this, how it works.

The Ten Utterances and the Seven Days

And this is perhaps the aspect of what is called the seven days, what is called the ten utterances [the ten utterances of creation] — ten, seven. One can divide it in different ways, their root is truly ten and seven. One can divide it, but this shows that there is an order.

No Order — No Reward and Punishment

If it had been entirely with one utterance, there would not have been any reward and punishment either, because one could say that the Almighty can do what He wants, whatever He wants can happen — no difference where one stands, no difference what was before, no difference what will happen afterwards.

But the fact that there are the six days of creation, the fact that there are ten utterances, the fact that there is a certain order — this shows that what is below actually has effect, there are actions of people. In other words, there is a certain openness, not completely closed, not everything is known in advance.

Apart from what we speak of regarding God’s knowledge, but essentially how the world works — not everything is known in advance precisely what will happen, but it is within a certain order. One does good, it goes well. One does bad, it goes badly. It doesn’t happen suddenly that a person does good and bad happens to him, or vice versa.

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What Is Clear and What Is Not Clear

Now, let us try to make clear here what is clear and what is not clear.

It comes out that there is an order in the world, there is an order which is called the order of nature, the order of the six days of creation. This defines how everything will be according to the limitations after the tzimtzum [tzimtzum: the divine contraction].

After we are not speaking now of the world of Chochmah [the world of Chochmah/Wisdom], the higher world — we cannot speak of the world of miracles — we are speaking of the world of nature, or in other words of the world of Binah [the world of Binah/Understanding], that there is a certain order there. The order is called the seven days of creation.

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Why Specifically Seven?

Why specifically seven, not eight or twenty? I said, I don’t know if there is an answer for this.

In other words, in a certain sense one will say: this is how the Almighty wanted it to be the order.

The Analogy of Gravity

One can say: why is gravity exactly this strong and not that strong? I don’t know. What I know is that everything fits with this. Perhaps this itself is difficult to give a reason for, or we don’t know, or this is His supernal wisdom that we don’t know why — but it exists, this is the fact that this is how it works.

Human Matters and the Order of Seven

And especially when we speak of human matters — in other words, we make afterwards we make Shabbos every seventh day. We could very easily, certainly, people could certainly make Shabbos every eighth day — nothing would happen. There could have been a mitzvah that says there is Shabbos every eighth day.

But then it would not fit how the world was created, how the Torah describes the events of the world. All these things fit.

The Difficulty in Seeing the Difference

But it is very easy to see that the more we speak of events of man, the more open the things are — we cannot see necessarily. I don’t see, one can say all the reasons that we know for Shabbos — from faith, from… there needs to be rest, from the elevation of the worlds — all things, it would not have hurt at all if it had been every eighth day Shabbos.

We would not have seen a difference. Certainly, there would have been a bit less Shabbos, yes? Now there is a seventh of the time Shabbos, then it would have been an eighth. Okay, there would have been a bit less rest. It is difficult for a person to grasp and you want something is missing.

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The Fiftieth Gate of Binah — “Except for One”

On this we say that the root of Binah, that is the fiftieth gate of understanding [the fiftieth gate of understanding] — one can call it in this sense the structure, this sort of thing.

You say: why is it so? One has said, one has said, the Almighty has given an answer. Why is it so? Why is it so? In other words: why are there seven days? Why did the Almighty make the world in seven days? And why did the Almighty make the world in seven days? Why the second seven vessels?

Here you say: I don’t know. Perhaps one can understand, perhaps there is an answer. One can say because there are seven sefiros. And why are there seven sefiros? And why would this be seven something else?

Many Answers, But in the End — “Except for One”

One can give very many other answers, very many things that fit that are in the framework of seven, of the order that we understand, that this is the building principle the order of the world. But in the end, after asking the question many times, at least each one according to his limitation how much he understands — the answer is except for one.

Yes, except for one. Here I already say back the one utterance of the Torah. “Fifty gates of understanding were given to Moses, except for one.” There I already say: I don’t know. The Almighty gave the Torah there. The Almighty made it so.

This is the meaning of fifty days of the giving of the Torah. The Almighty made it so — the Torah runs on cycles of seven. Why should it be able to run on cycles of eight? I don’t know. I don’t see that it couldn’t have. But this is how it is. There must be a higher reason, hidden and concealed from this. What explains, but I don’t know what the higher reason is.

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What Is Indeed True — The Order of Seven in Torah

But what is indeed true? After there is the order, and we see that the world was created on such an order in the Torah, and we see that the Torah conducts itself on such an order with:

– Shabbos

– Shemittah [the sabbatical year]

– Counting of the Omer

– The seven days of the metzora that we learn this week the entire series

– The seven days of niddah that we learn this week the entire series

– All things that run on the number of seven

Which we have already brought Pesach and the Shavuos Pesach shiur, that one struggles with reasons why specifically seven. Now we have a bit more additional understanding in this.

The Ramban on Seven Times Seven

But one sees that everything runs on this. One can understand that how strongly one relates to this order, how much one is in sync with the order, the more things will fit — because this is a central order, this is a central order of how things work. It is easier this way.

The Ramban [Ramban/Nachmanides], I think, does not bring all these orders. The Ramban in the introduction to the Torah when he speaks of the five books, says that this is hinted at in the Torah in the counting of the Omer and in the counting of the Jubilee. The two times one sees explicitly the topic of seven times seven, with soon ten.

What is the difference between seven times seven and one time seven? But the counting of seven is hinted at many more times.

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Counting Seven as a “Reset” — The Analogy of the Metzora

In other words, why do I count seven? I want, let us say, for example a person is a metzora [one afflicted with tzara’as] or there is a question of tzara’as — why does one count seven days? What is something seven days?

They have said, perhaps it is the order, most illnesses take seven days. I don’t know, it could be natural. But why have I given? There would have been another order, further one can ask: it would have made six days the order, it would have made eight days the order — I don’t know, would something have happened? One sees the Shemoneh Esreh [eighteen], what is the eighth? And the Ramban says, sometimes it is the eighth.

The Analogy of a Person Who Has Fallen Out of Order

But the answer is that here we enter into this order. A person has tzara’as — this is the meaning that he has fallen out of the order, right? He has some illness, something is not going here.

Now how does he catch himself? It is as if, the analogy is like this: let’s say, a person is not organized, his day is not organized. He doesn’t know whether… he doesn’t know whether… he has forgotten, is it Wednesday or Tuesday.

In simple terms, a person who conducts himself in a weekly order, each day he does six, seven things. Wednesday he should be holding by the third thing, but he got mixed up in the second thing, and he doesn’t know — he needs to go back and he needs to do teshuvah. It is a great confusion, he doesn’t know where he is.

The Advice: Count Seven Days

One tells him: come, I will give you advice — count seven days. In other words, come back to the order of Shabbos, or make your own seven days, or come back to Shabbos.

Then there is like a reset — one catches oneself with the order of the cycle, the cycle that revolves in the world. You come back, then you can catch yourself, you can better measure your order, because you catch yourself with the order — the order of the world, the order of nature.

Shabbos and Yom Tov as an Order That Is Greater Than Your Private Order

And this is indeed the order of people. A Shabbos comes, a Yom Tov comes, some period comes that gives an order that is more not your private order. Theoretically you can make your own order, but it depends how a person goes and he knows what he does — his free will overcomes the order in the world.

The Secret of Seven and Seven Times Seven: Teshuvah, Counting of the Omer, and the Order of Creation

Teshuvah Through the Order of Seven

But when he is a metzora [person with a certain impurity], one tells him what there is. Or a zavah [woman with a certain impurity], yes, “and she shall count for herself seven days,” afterwards she will be pure. What is this “and she shall count for herself seven days”? Why not six days?

What he means is: go back to a more basic thing. Yes, your order has been lost. You have some particular order that has its thing, you don’t know what is going on, you have become confused. It is a punishment for the wicked — which we said last time, this is only an analogy, you don’t know.

Okay, go back, make a seven order, bring in the order of seven into your life. This way you will come back to a normal order, it will become organized again, settled the world, it will become settled again your life.

This is the secret of teshuvah.

It is one way of doing teshuvah, yes, the foundation of teshuvah of the Kohanim. What they always say — what comes to a Kohen, the Kohen says: wait seven days. This is a way of teshuvah of going back, catching oneself again with the order that exists.

The Difference Between Seven and Seven Times Seven

One must understand an important thing, and this is the foundation of the way of Kabbalah: of the difference between seven and seven times seven.

That one must understand, just as Shabbos — what is the word of Shabbos? One must understand what is the order. Shabbos goes six days, afterwards comes another six days, afterwards comes again, again, again.

Why does it come again? It repeats itself the same thing again, again.

The Question of the Repetition of Yom Tov

Or just as one always asks what comes with Yom Tovim — everyone knows the discussion — that every year one speaks again of the Exodus from Egypt? We already went out once, what is going on?

All the commentators say, all the Kabbalists, and all the Chassidic books, that the simple meaning is that one repeats every year the point that was once.

But the truth is here, and here indeed a question arises that I have, and one must bring it out better.

The Ramak, Arizal, and Ramban Regarding Counting of the Omer

The later commentators — the Arizal [Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the great Kabbalist], and this begins with the Ramak [Rabbi Moshe Cordovero] in the gate on the fifty gates of understanding — connect very nicely the topic of the fifty days of counting of the Omer with the fifty gates of understanding. The whole thing they connect very well with the topic of the Exodus from Egypt and the receiving of the Torah, the whole order.

The Ramban’s Different Approach

But in the Ramban [Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman] one does not see this, and the truth is that there is a good reason why.

Because it is indeed the opposite — the reason why in the Exodus from Egypt there should be an order of seven, must be because there is an order of seven in the six days of creation, and a greater order of the seven days of the world of seven times seven. So there is a more basic thing than the topic of the historical fact of the Exodus from Egypt.

This is one point.

The Ramban’s Concept of “Hint”

The second point is that it is not clear from the Ramban, one must understand it better: how the topic of the seven connects, the hint, the counting of the Omer, with the order of the fifty gates of understanding, of the seven that exists in the world.

The Ramban sounds in the introduction, and also in the places where he speaks about this in Parshas Emor and Behar regarding the topic of counting of the Omer of Shemittah, that it is more like a hint.

One must understand what a hint means. Seemingly, I will understand it better as I have said now:

The meaning is, we want to show, we want to connect ourselves into a certain order which is the correct order, which this is the order of the world essentially. True, it is certainly the story that one tells about the Exodus from Egypt — one looks into the story — is also correct. What the Zohar calls the story of the seven clean days, of a union that the Zohar has connected with this, is also correct.

But it seems that it is more that this is a simple order. And the point that one calls that one repeats the same thing — this is indeed itself, one must understand this in a deeper way — this is indeed itself a basic order.

The Deeper Meaning of “Repetition”

And here is the true difference between seven and seven times seven, as we have said.

The simple meaning is: it does not mean that it repeats itself, presumably doing the same thing each time, because there are spiritual influences from the Exodus from Egypt etc.

The simple meaning is: if one understands the world, one understands that the world was created founded the earth on the order of seven. And what repeats itself again, means that this is what happens afterwards — afterwards happens another seven.

And in total, this also has in a general way a greater order — a seven times seven. It repeats itself the same thing.

The Great Jubilee

And what is the end after the whole seven times seven? This is called a great Jubilee in the Kabbalists.

And truly, as we have said with the Baal Shem Tov, comes another seven, and one can make fifty times fifty. And we are in a very small part of the world, so one cannot see and one cannot bring out much greater orders. But one can imagine how many times greater it goes and how many times further it goes.

Return to the Root — The Secret of Jubilee

This is the thing that I want to leave here as a question, and I want to stop here for today, and with God’s help we will understand better. There are more ways that one can understand this, but this much we have explained about the seven complete weeks.

This is the first step.

The Previous Shiur About the Laws of Souls

One must remember that in his last year there was a shiur about souls, the laws of souls of counting of the Omer. Which that is truly another secret, which is a secret on what we said last night — the topic that there according to what a person does, according to what a person conducts himself.

We have already spoken also in another way on the seventh of Pesach and on the tenth of the festival — that the topic of how a person conducts himself, this is what he becomes. This is habit becomes nature, and through the way of reincarnations there is a deeper way to understand this, which we explained last year in that shiur.

The Concept of Return to the Root

There is another point that one must understand, because this is the topic that the repetition — what a thing repeats itself — also means that in a certain secret, return it goes back to where it came from.

This is called return to the root, which this is the true meaning of Jubilee according to Kabbalah.

And we need to understand this better, and with the help of Hashem (be’ezras Hashem) we will explain this next week.

Gates of Understanding: The Order of Seven Times Seven in Counting the Omer

Introduction

Maggid Shiur:

Rabbosai, erev Shabbos after Kedoshim. We are continuing a bit to continue what we began to discuss in the previous two shiurim, the topic of the order of seven times seven of Sefiras HaOmer. There are still many things that we don’t understand at all, but I just want to begin to add a bit of explanation, a bit of a continuation to what we have learned. And as we have said, at least begin to show what needs to be put together here, what is the topic that needs to be learned together, put together.

Chapter 1: Fifty Gates of Understanding – The Foundation of the Ramban

The Midrash and Its Connection to Sefiras HaOmer

So let’s begin like this. We spoke about the Midrash “Fifty gates of understanding were created in the world and all were given to Moshe except for one.” This is one source, one kind of way of thinking that we are learning here.

And seemingly the meaning of this, as the Ramban says, and the source that connects this to Sefiras HaOmer, u’feirash, is the Ramban in his introduction to the Torah. The Ramban in the introduction to the Torah says that what it says “Fifty gates of understanding were created in the world,” first he explains like this, what is the meaning?

What is Binah?

The Ramban says in the introduction to the Torah, his language is, sorry, how am I, that in the world there are fifty gates. And he explains, “Fifty gates of understanding” means, it’s not just gates of understanding. What then is the meaning of binah? Binah means to understand the world, to understand reality.

Yes? So understanding reality means that the world is divided into fifty, fifty gates.

The Metaphor of a Gate

He says, let’s see first what he says simply. Fifty gates, fifty… I know why it’s called a gate. Sha’ar means a gate. Perhaps sha’ar is a way of dividing things. I don’t know where it comes from, the… one must think about where the comparison comes from, the metaphor, the parable of a gate.

Yes? We are accustomed, one writes a book, one writes sha’arei… Sha’ar means like a gate. What it seems like is the idea is, one can think, one must think about this, why is something a sha’ar? What is this a sha’ar?

Perhaps the word is, as we learn “b’chochmah yibaneh bayis,” chochmah is the understanding of how things are, it’s called like a heichal, like a bayis, “chochmos bansah beisah,” the Torah, the world is called a bayis, yes, bayis, beis bereishis. It’s a thing like one enters, like keviyusa, there is a yeshiva, there is a place, a beis medrash where one learns the thing, and there are fifty ways in to this.

One can interpret it this way, and perhaps this explains why it is seven times seven.

The Ramban’s Examples

The Ramban says, let’s say, the trees are one gate, people are a second gate, animals are a third gate, and so on. And what is the meaning of a gate? One must understand.

The Ramban, here see the language with which he begins. The world has different heichalos, heichal of the first day, heichal of the second day, the light and darkness is called one bayis, and the sun and moon is called another bayis, etc.

Chapter 2: Hiskallelos – How Each Thing Contains the Entire World

The Foundation of Hiskallelos

And one can also explain that the sha’ar means that each thing is truly the entire world. Let’s understand a simple thing, this is called in Kabbalah the concept of hiskallelos, and that’s why there is indeed seven times seven.

How the World is Divided

The meaning is like this, I want to understand the world. You tell me, “vayomer b’ma’amar echad,” can I understand it? That the Ribbono Shel Olam can understand. But a person, “zachor v’aseh b’dibur echad,” only the Ribbono Shel Olam can do that.

Chochmah Elyonah – Understanding Everything at Once

Or a person in the way that he has such a kind of hasagah, or in the chochmah b’rosh that they called above, when he grasps an insight, he grasps something like almost a nevuah, he sees everything at once, but he cannot explain it because it’s not a thing.

Emunah Peshutah – Bitul HaDa’as

Or below, as they said “emunah peshutah,” where one is mevatel da’as.

The Parable of Tefillin – Chochmah SheBaYad

Or one can even say when a person does, yes, it’s very interesting that as I said tefillin shel yad is in one bayis, and the meaning of this, this week we learned tefillin, remember, the meaning of this is that when a person does, yes, say Shabbos, you can say Shabbos has twenty-five kavanos, twenty-five reasons, twenty-five explanations, what does Shabbos mean? Forty-nine!

But when a person is mekayem and he does Shabbos, he does everything at once.

Tefisah B’Fo’al – The Action Itself

And even actual grasping in actual practice, also in the lev ha’adam, I can learn many kavanos, many ways, in practice when I do, which shitah does one do?

Yes, sometimes I learn, there is the shitah of the Rambam on the understandings in the matter of mitzvos, the shitah of the Ramban, the shitah of the Kuzari, the shitah of the Baal Shem Tov, the shitah of the Ramak, the shitah of the Arizal. Okay, then one asks today, okay, and which one are you having in mind? Yes, so one asks a foolish question.

The Practical Question: Which Shitah?

So too one learns that there are four different explanations of Sefiras HaOmer, and which one should one have in mind?

One Way: Go with One Explanation

So sometimes a person says, my having in mind is decisive. I understand, there is a sefer that says this way, there is a sefer that says the opposite. But in practice, when I do avodas Hashem in practice, I must go with what my heart inclines to, with what my heart desires, I must go with one explanation, I don’t go with the other explanation. Other explanations I only learn theoretically, that there was once historically such an explanation, and I don’t learn it.

The True Way: Combination of All

This is one way how one can say it, but it’s not the true way how it usually works, and usually one who learns more than one way and he has more than one explanation, there are ways how he fulfills all.

Or one can say, some combination of all, some kind of mixture of all the explanations, and they stand together each in its place. Sometimes one is more mixed, one is less mixed.

The Rebbes and Teachers

That’s why there are the rebbes, the teachers who always teach in a selective manner, he doesn’t go so clearly with one shitah, and he doesn’t even know perhaps the difference, he says oy vey, there’s no difference, it’s all one thing.

There are people who are more learned, they always want to know the difference between one shitah and the other, but a great part of this has to do with this, because if one lives in practice, when one speaks halachah l’ma’aseh, what is called avodas Hashem, it must always be everything at once. It’s the combination of everything, according to how it turns out. Okay, this is the yad, the chochmah shebayad, the chochmah corresponding to the heart.

Chapter 3: Three Types of Hiskallelos

Rosh – Divide in Order to Understand

But to understand one must divide.

Now, here in the dividing, excuse me, in the lev we said, here we have already learned two types of hiskallelos.

First Hiskallelos: From the Side of HaKadosh Baruch Hu

We spoke here about the hiskallelos that is from the side of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, from the side of the upper perspective everything is one, one can call it the binah, from the side of chochmah, let’s call it now, yes, in the upper world, from the side of the perspective of the Ribbono Shel Olam everything is one.

Second Hiskallelos: From the Side of the Action of the Person

And also from the side of the action of the person, a person can only do one thing, he cannot be mekayem Sefiras HaOmer in one minute according to the explanation of the Ramban and in one minute according to the explanation of the Ibn Ezra. He must go with something that he receives, even in practice, even whoever doesn’t know clearly, he cannot tell you any process of how he combines all the shitos, practically somehow one combines all the shitos of what he does and actually does.

Third Hiskallelos: Sha’arei Binah

Now we will iy”H briefly learn a third type of hiskallelos, a third kind of way how all things connect, because this is the hiskallelos of the seven within seven itself.

I think that about this it is called, I’m thinking now, I wasn’t precise and didn’t look it up and search, but perhaps about this it is called sha’arei binah.

Chapter 4: Sha’arei Binah – Each Gate is the Entire World

What Does Sha’arei Binah Mean?

What does sha’arei binah mean? The meaning is like this, if you want to understand the world, let’s say, we say the first thing that stands in Bereishis is or v’choshech.

The Parable of Or V’Choshech

Or v’choshech is one-seventh of the world, yes? There are very many other things besides or v’choshech in the world. There are also animals and people, there is also zachar u’nekevah bara osam.

Zachar u’nekevah is in the world, yes? Very many mekubalim, everything revolves around the framework of zachar u’nekevah, and explains how each thing has a zachar u’nekevah. There are thousands more things that one can do this way.

Understanding One Gate = Understanding the Entire World

But one understands that truly, when I understand the topic of or v’choshech, I thereby understand the entire world.

I cannot understand the concept of or v’choshech, I will say, Koheles when it’s divided in time makes it Koheles. I will say, on the first day of Bereishis there was nothing yet except or v’choshech, so then the entire world was only or v’choshech. Can I speak about or v’choshech as a thing in itself.

And this is necessary so that people should be able to grasp ma’aseh bereishis, one says or v’choshech by itself. But you hear, I’m saying this in meaning, I must make the entire world or v’choshech, because I can say even now, in reality or v’choshech is not, perhaps it was the first day like that, I don’t even know, perhaps that is only written so we should be able to understand, as Rashi says, truly everything was created at once.

Or V’Choshech is in Every Thing

Also in reality every thing in the world has somewhere or v’choshech, or v’choshech influences every thing. When you understand or v’choshech correctly, you will understand how this makes the day and night, how this makes the stars and moon, how this makes everything, basically.

In total, when I learn or v’choshech, I learn the entire world from the aspects of or v’choshech.

The Parable of Zachar U’Nekevah

The same thing, I learn zachar u’nekevah, zachar u’nekevah there is zachar u’nekevah of the person, zachar u’nekevah of the animals, zachar u’nekevah is the heavens is a zachar and the earth is a nekevah, and so on.

Zachar U’Nekevah in the Entire World

And even when one says practically, not only can one say that each thing is by way of parable a zachar u’nekevah, truly, in order that the power of memory of a person should work, there must be an entire world. And understand each thing, and understand the entire world.

What you want to divide is only fifty gates of understanding, fifty ways how to arrive.

Fifty Gates of Understanding: Hiskallelos HaMidos and the Gates to Understand the World

Hiskallelos HaMidos – The True Meaning

In total, when I learn or v’choshech, I learn the entire world from the aspects of or v’choshech. And the same thing: I learn zachar u’nekevah – zachar u’nekevah there is zachar u’nekevah of the person, zachar u’nekevah of the animals, zachar u’nekevah is the heavens is a zachar and the earth is a nekevah, and so on. And even when it says practically, not only can one say that each thing by way of parable is a zachar and a nekevah.

Truly, in order for zachar u’nekevah for a person to work, there must be an entire world and understand each thing – understand the entire world. What we see the beginning is only fifty gates of understanding – fifty ways how to arrive to hear, to understand the world. Through the gate one arrives at the entire thing.

For this, this is the simple meaning of what we call hiskallelos hamidos – there is chesed shebigvurah and gevurah shebechesed. The meaning is: truly in reality there is only one great thing. From the side of the Ribbono Shel Olam there is only not any chesed, not any gevurah – there is one great unity. But what, in order that we should understand, we say: “Ah, this kind of thing is called chesed.”

But one must think and see it, that in order to understand the chesed, you must also understand – as you now said before – you must also understand the gevurah, you must also understand the tiferes. In other words, the chesed shows you how to see the entire world from its perspective.

Every Wisdom is a Perspective on the Entire World

Each one who is a chacham in a certain science or in a certain process of understanding the world, he understands everything through this. It may be that not for everything is this the best way to understand – for that one needs to have a completely different way, the next gate of understanding.

What explains living things is one of the seven gates of understanding. And living things need to have food – dead things, domem food, and so on – and through this it lives. So it’s not simple that one can – there is not truly a science only of living things, there is not truly a science of any thing separately.

There is a science of each thing – an external science, an external gate, an external wisdom – that learns the entire world from the gate of the thing. And consequently, in each thing you can find the second thing and the third thing.

I need to find a better, clearer parable to explain this – I don’t have at the moment in my head a clearer parable – but this is the meaning. And therefore this is sha’arei binah – this is the meaning of fifty gates of understanding.

The Third Type of Understanding: All Gates in Each Gate

So here we said: here there is a third type of understanding. Because in each gate there are all the gates truly, but what I learn this with is the perspective.

One says for example: in time one can divide everything, in place one can divide everything, in nefesh one can divide everything – all kinds of ways how one can learn. And truly there is no time without place, no time without people – there are not all these things external in reality. But in our understandings there are all these things external, and each one of our kinds of understandings, our kinds of wisdoms, our kinds of sciences that we learn, is a gate to understand the world.

This is the meaning of sha’arei binah.

The Maharal’s Question: Why Separate Gates?

And therefore one also marks it. The Maharal asks: why is this at all a different gate? He asks – I mean one must look in the Maharal – he asks: a sheretz is one gate and fish is a second gate, what is the difference? Sheratzim and fish is the same thing.

No, because there must be a different kind of understanding. One needs for this different kinds of concepts, different kinds of vessels, in order to understand how sheratzim work. And indeed from the perspective of sheratzim you can understand: sheratzim need there to be sand, sheratzim need there to be animals that eat them, that they eat. Sheratzim have a perspective on the entire world, sheratzim have a kind of way of understanding the entire world.

But what makes it an external gate is that this is a chochmas hasheratzim, and this is not the same thing as chochmas hadagim, and so on.

This is the meaning: “Fifty gates of understanding were created in the world.”

“Nimseru L’Moshe Chutz Me’echad” – The Ramban’s Approach

Now, on this it says: the fifty gates of understanding were created in the world, we are told two things. First of all: “And all were given to Moshe except for one.” So it says in the Gemara, as it says: “vatechasserehu me’at me’Elokim” – all were given to Moshe except for one.

The Ramban interprets like this: what does “nimseru l’Moshe” mean? Moshe Rabbeinu was the great chacham and he knew everything. The Ramban understands that this means – so he says – that “all were given to Moshe” means that this has something to do with the wisdom of Moshe Rabbeinu, with the level of Torah. Moshe Rabbeinu, the Five Books of Torah, “Torah tzivah lanu Moshe” – “nimseru l’Moshe.”

He says, the Ramban argues: consequently it must be that in the Torah is hinted all the gates of understanding. This is one of his sources that he says there in the introduction that all wisdoms must stand in the Torah.

The Ramban’s Proof: All Wisdoms in Torah

What he means to say is: one of his proofs, one of his words, sources that he brings to prove this is the statement of fifty gates of understanding “nimseru l’Moshe.” And “nimseru l’Moshe” he learns doesn’t mean simply Moshe the person knew this – it’s interesting to say that Moshe the person knew all wisdoms – rather all lie in the Torah.

Ah, don’t you see in the Torah that they speak about everything? But in the Torah there is derech remez (the way of hints), there are other ways that you can find in the Torah.

A New Explanation: Torah is One of the Sha’arei Binah

I want to add to this a bit of explanation. I think it needs to be brought out. It’s no chochma (wisdom) to say “everything is in the Torah.” What do I gain from that? I can’t learn it out.

I think that according to what I’ve now said, one can understand it this way:

One must understand – we said that when we say chamishim sha’arei binah (fifty gates of understanding) it means in total that the world is divided into fifty.

The 32 Netivot Chochma from Sefer Yetzirah

I thought earlier: In Sefer Yetzirah (the Book of Formation, an ancient Kabbalistic text) it says that the world is on thirty-two. “Shloshim ushtayim netivot chochma” (thirty-two paths of wisdom) – with these the Almighty created the world, and so on.

One might think that it means that the Almighty has some computer system called the 32 netivot chochma, and from this He made the world. But whoever learns Sefer Yetzirah sees that what it actually means to say is that the world is divided into thirty-two basic ingredients – yes? The twenty-two letters and the ten sefirot. This is the basic way how the world is divided, and to understand the entire world is to understand that this is the world.

When the Almighty created the world with this, it doesn’t mean that this exists outside of the world – this is the world that the Almighty created.

The 32 Netivot Chochma versus Chamishim Sha’arei Binah

It’s truly a bit like a contradiction, and other mekubalim (Kabbalists) speak about this: which is it? Is it 32 netivot chochma or chamishim sha’arei binah?

And the answer is certainly this, and there are other approaches, or there are other ways how to explain this. After all, one can divide everything in different ways, one can divide the world in many ways:

– One of the ways is thirty-two netivot chochma that Sefer Yetzirah thought of

– A second way is what the Midrash from the Gemara thought of: chamishim sha’arei binah

Certainly this is chochma and this is binah. One can think about how, why is there actually a difference? What did the one who said chochma 32 mean? What did the one who said binah 49 mean?

Lag BaOmer: The Transition from Chochma to Binah

Certainly there is an explanation for this, and Lag BaOmer (the 33rd day of the Omer) is that it’s already after the 32 netivot chochma. So he has already gone beyond understanding the world from that aspect, now the chamishim sha’arei binah unfold. There remain seventeen – that means there are seventeen more from the sha’arei binah than the netivot chochma.

Sha’arei Binah and Netivot Chochma: The Same Idea

And another important thing one can understand is that what we call sha’arei chochma and netivot – sha’arei binah and netivot chochma – is further the same idea.

Sha’ar (gate) means like a way into the binah, into the understanding of the world, and netiv (path) also means a way – it’s a way in. It’s not just that one of the netivot is external to the other. Each one of the 32 netivot is a way to understand the entire world through that netiv – that is, netiv alef and netiv bet, however we’ll call it from the 32 netivot chochma.

What Does “Everything is in the Torah” Mean?

Now, all these things were given over to Moshe. We need to understand it this way – I mean we need to understand it this way:

Moshe, the Torah – what is the meaning that everything is in the Torah? I mean, one doesn’t need to come with all these interesting Torah insights based on remez (hints), based on gematria (numerical values of Hebrew letters), in order from the letters – the Ramban brings such kinds of things. It could be that this is the meaning that the Ramban spoke about, but I think one can say something simpler.

The Torah Contains the Entire World

Now, let’s say: the six days of creation contain the entire world, and in general the Torah contains all kinds of things from the world.

I mean, I saw in the Midrash last week in Parshat Tazria, it says “isha ki tazria” (when a woman conceives) – the Midrash begins to explain how a baby is born. The Gemara, yes: “isha mazra’at techila yoledet zachar” (if the woman emits seed first, she gives birth to a male) etc. etc. The Midrash goes into much more detail that here it speaks about how a baby is born.

Parshat Tazria: Halacha and Medicine Together

Now let’s understand the simple meaning, yes? “Isha ki tazria” doesn’t speak about the science of how to have babies. That’s not the topic of the parsha. It’s a parsha of halachot (laws). The parshiyot of Vayikra are halachot. It says how, what will be the law: if she gives birth to a female, if she gives birth to a male, what is the law of tumah from childbirth, of tumah of niddah etc., what is the law of all these things.

But let’s understand: I said earlier that all chochmot (wisdoms) are included in each other, yes? And people say: ah, in order to be a rav, in order to rule correctly on halachot niddah, one needs to be a bit of a doctor who understands how babies are born. Because if I don’t know what is dam niddah, I don’t know what is dam leidah, I don’t know if it’s a ziva or if it’s a leidah – these are all matters of medicine.

I know that today’s altogether (in general) says that it has no connection. I hold that it’s not correct. It could be it has no connection because we are confused, because we don’t know, and one must go with what the poskim have said even if it doesn’t match. But it’s clear: whoever learns the Gemara, whoever learns the sources in the Rishonim and Acharonim, it’s clear that from the perspective of truth this is the same chochma.

You want to be able to say that all chochmot are one? In other words, this is one sha’ar (gate).

Torah is One of the Sha’arei Binah – Not All of Them

I can say, I want to say such a meaning:

The Torah is only one of the sha’arei binah. I know that the Ramban says that the Torah is all chamishim sha’arei binah – he had all forty-nine. I think that’s not correct.

Torah – what does Torah mean? Certainly, the word Torah more broadly can mean everything. But the Torah, according to the garment of the Torah that we have, the plain Torah – what Torah means is primarily halacha, how one should conduct oneself in this world – this is one of the sha’arei binah.

The Ramban Only Speaks About Nature

The Ramban says chamishim sha’arei binah – he only speaks about nature. But it’s surely obvious that how people need to conduct themselves properly – and then the Rambam (Maimonides) explains in his introduction: when Shlomo HaMelech speaks, the wisest of all men, “vayedaber al ha’etzim ve’al ha’avanim” (and he spoke about the trees and about the stones) [I Kings 5:13] – whoever looks into Shlomo HaMelech’s books, in Mishlei and Kohelet, he actually speaks a bit about “nature,” but he speaks much more about middot (character traits), about mussar (ethics), about how a person should conduct himself.

And the Rambam explains there in a deep way, but the simple thing is: let’s say first of all in the simplest way, how people, the conduct of people is also part of nature…

Halacha, Science, and the Chamishim Sha’arei Binah: How Torah and Reality are One Whole

Shlomo HaMelech’s Wisdom: Human Conduct as Part of Nature

And then the Rambam explains in his introduction, when Shlomo HaMelech speaks, the wisest of all men, “vayedaber al ha’etzim ve’al ha’avanim” (and he spoke about the trees and about the stones). Whoever looks into Shlomo HaMelech’s books, in Mishlei and Kohelet, sees he speaks a bit actually about nature, but he speaks very much more about middot, about mussar, about how a person should conduct himself.

And the Rambam explains there in a deep way. But the simple thing is, let’s say, first of all in the simplest way, how people, the conduct of human beings is the most important part of nature, to understand the world. During the six days of creation comes also the mitzvah of how one should conduct oneself on Shabbat. To understand how people conduct themselves and how they should conduct themselves, this is certainly one of the great chamishim sha’arei binah that were created in the world. This is not an external thing.

Against David Hume’s Separation: “Is” and “Ought” are Connected

Those who say that halacha has nothing to do with science, this goes with a critical approach of David Hume (Scottish philosopher of the 18th century), who says that what one ought to do and what is are two different worlds. This is not correct, and we do not go, God forbid, with this approach. Because certainly what ought to be comes from what things are.

Whoever understands nature, whoever understands the world, as we say, “histakel be’oraita uvara alma” (He looked into the Torah and created the world) – the world and the Torah are just two sides of one coin. To understand what things are, this tells us what they ought to be.

Halacha Contains Sodot HaMetzius

And about this, this is the depth of why we say that in halacha lie sodot haTorah (secrets of the Torah). What does sodot mean? Sodot hametzius (secrets of reality). If you look into halachot tumah of childbirth, you see that this is connected, this is built on how the childbirth actually is. It’s not separate. If it’s separate, it’s a great separation, and one must repair this separation. This is like the exile of the Torah, the exile of the Shechina, which one must repair.

Halacha and Science: Two Gates to the Same Reality

But still, yes, it’s certain that it’s connected. It’s certain that whoever understands better the medicine of niddah, understands better halachot niddah. And if not, if he disagrees with other rabbis who say a different interpretation in halachot niddah, there is a contradiction, there is a question. But it doesn’t mean that the essential thing of how it works must work that way. One learns this way, and one learns that way. Doubt, so I certainly hold.

But what? What we see yes is, it still doesn’t mean that the wisdom of medicine of how babies are born is the same thing as the wisdom of halacha of Yoreh Deah part two. It’s two… but what is it? From this it’s called two gates. One gate is halacha. One gate is how one conducts oneself with tumah of childbirth, with tumah of niddah, with all these laws that revolve around this. And a second, and from this aspect, as you understand now what I said earlier, I was looking for a parable, now you actually understand one parable, a simple parable that we are familiar with.

Halacha as a Gate to the Entire World

The wisdom of halacha is a gate to understand the entire world. Someone who wants to understand all halachot, there are halachot on everything. Even on what one does in space there are halachot, yes? One writes responsa for whoever goes to space, how to keep halacha. On everything there is a halacha.

And if you want to understand, one actually the gate how you enter into the entire world is the Torah, is the halacha, is Torat Moshe, which the simple meaning is the essence of Torah is halacha leMoshe miSinai it’s called, yes? Halacha. Moshe’s thing is halacha. He gave mitzvot, halachot, mitzvot. From this you can enter into all of Torah in its entirety. This is also the foundation. “Amar HaKadosh Baruch Hu, lo hayu li arba amot shel halacha” (The Holy One Blessed Be He said: I had nothing but four cubits of halacha), the Rambam asks a question.

“Arba Amot Shel Halacha” – Halacha as a Gate to All Reality

That is, and it’s a pity for someone who has learned a bit of halachot niddah, and he wants to see that there are no sodot haTorah, there is no Kabbalah, there is no ma’aseh bereishit and ma’aseh merkava, everything is halacha. According to how we learn one can understand, the Rambam learns there differently, but according to how we learn one can interpret that arba amot shel halacha means in total, halacha is also a gate to the entire world.

What we seek is to understand reality, to be part of reality, the Almighty’s world, this is what we seek. There are many gates for this, each person must have his gate.

“Ein Adam Lomed Torah Ela Mimakom Shelibo Chafetz” – The Precision

And one can see, in this gate there are many contradictions that we said earlier, that each person must go according to his natural inclination, his libo chafetz. I ask a question, what does it mean? One should learn Torah only in the place where his heart desires? I don’t understand, every Jew is obligated to learn the entire Torah. Suddenly you say, you hold by Shlomo’s Uktzin, so what? It’s halacha, it’s in the Torah, you must learn Masechet Uktzin. What does libo chafetz mean?

It’s amazing, it doesn’t say “ein adam lomed Torah ela ma shelibo chafetz” or “ela hachelek shelibo chafetz”. It says “ein adam lomed Torah ela mimakom shelibo chafetz” (a person doesn’t learn Torah except from the place that his heart desires).

The Question is Only From Which Gate

That is, the question is only from which gate you enter. And each person can see, if someone is interested in some way how to enter into wisdom, a way how to enter into Torah, there is someone who learns halacha because he loves Kabbalah, he wants to understand sodot haTorah, he looks into the Zohar, he sees that the Zohar is all built on halacha. It’s always built on verses. He looks into the verses, and in order to understand the intentions.

And conversely, when someone will learn the simple meaning of Scripture and he sees in the Zohar, he explains from the Zohar one can clearly see the simple meaning of Scripture. And each person who learns in the Torah and what is in his portion of the science of the world that we are accustomed to, can see that it’s always from every way, from every place that a person just begins to be interested, he comes to everything, if he follows Torah, if he is not lazy.

The Parable of Sefirat HaOmer

If he is lazy and he forgets one day of counting, so to speak by way of parable, and he begins, he says, “ah, I’ve already forgotten one day, I can already say a Torah thought on the parsha, I’m already a philosopher,” then he doesn’t arrive. But if he is not lazy and he goes through until, yes, this is the meaning, he goes through until the fiftieth gate, he counts all the days of the counting, that is he begins, each person begins from one place, each person begins from some other chesed shebigvurah, through this he comes to everything.

Chamishim Sha’arei Binah Includes All the Wisdoms in the World

As I say here, when the Ramban says “chamishim sha’arei binah nimseru leMoshe” (fifty gates of understanding were given over to Moshe), the meaning is that in the wisdom of halacha are included all the wisdoms in the world. Because if you want to know halachot niddah, you must understand what is the nature of niddah.

And the same thing conversely, chamishim sha’arei binah were given over to the science of how she makes a baby, because from there he came to halacha.

“Vedibarta Le’etzat HaBanim” – To Know What Everything is Good For

As the Rambam said there that “vedibarta le’etzat habanim“, the meaning is, to know each thing truly is to know what each thing is good for. Not just what it is, but what it’s good for, what is the good in it. And the good in it, this is the Torah, “ein tov ela Torah” (there is no good except Torah). The Torah is what tells the good of each thing.

So truly, the end of science is also to know how one conducts oneself, what one does, there is what one conducts oneself regarding people, there is what regarding the entire world, etc. etc. This is the meaning of “chamishim sha’arei binah nimseru leMoshe”.

“Chutz Me’echad” – The Fiftieth Gate

Now, I hope that I’ve brought out a bit and explained according to how I understand the statement, and we need to go a bit further. First of all, it says “chutz me’echad” (except for one). “Chutz me’echad”. What does “chutz me’echad” mean?

Says the Ramban, I interpret thus: “chutz me’echad” – hu beyedi’a, hasha’ar beyedi’at haBoreh yitbarach shelo nimsar lenivra (this is in knowledge, the rest is in the knowledge of the Creator blessed be He which was not given over to any created being). Chutz meHashem, although the meaning is not nivra.

Not a Gate of the Created

He says the Ramban, if you put it in it says nivra ba’olam, let’s say that nivra ba’olam means the other 49, the first fiftieth gate is not a gate of the created. Do you understand what I’m saying here? Not a gate, what does not a gate of the created mean?

Knowledge is only a thing that speaks about the thing that is known. If you know trees, you know the gate that was created, the gate is the wisdom that speaks about trees. If you know hippopotamuses, you know the gate of hippopotamuses in the world. If you know the Almighty, which gate do you know? Not a gate of the created, you know the Almighty Himself.

“Lo Yirani Ha’adam Vachai”

But Moshe Rabbeinu Didn’t Receive This

But Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our teacher) didn’t receive this. How do we know? There’s a verse, the Almighty told him “lo yirani ha’adam vachai” [no person can see Me and live], the whole conversation in Parshas Ki Sisa. Moshe Rabbeinu also didn’t know the Almighty kemo shehu (as He is). What did he know about the Almighty? Mitoch habri’ah [through the Creation]. So he says, so is the simple meaning, so says everyone, yes, the Ramban says so.

The Question: Does the Torah Contain Everything Except the Almighty?

In other words, here we’re going to explain another interpretation of what we learned that the 50th gate is really just another 49 gates. It can’t be, let’s understand, it can’t be that one should say “hakol nimsru l’Moshe” (everything was given to Moshe).

In other words, someone said this: “nimsru l’Moshe” is stated in the Torah, meaning it comes out truly, in the Torah is written everything about the entire world except for one thing that’s not written in the Torah – about the Almighty. It’s a wonder.

It’s Literally Mockery

The entire Torah came to inform people that there is a God, “Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad” [Hear, O Israel, Hashem is our God, Hashem is One], “atah horeisa ladaas ki Hashem hu haElokim ein od milvado” [You have been shown to know that Hashem is God, there is none other besides Him]. What does it mean that in the Torah is written everything except the Almighty? It’s literally mockery. The Torah speaks only of the Almighty.

On the contrary, one should say in science books is written everything except the Almighty; the Torah contains the Almighty except for everything – that would make more sense. What does it mean that in the Torah is written everything except the Almighty?

The Torah Speaks About Created Beings

But on the other hand, this is certainly true. Why? Because what the Torah speaks about is only about created beings, the Torah speaks about how one should conduct oneself, how the created beings need to conduct themselves, that’s the meaning of the Torah. How the Almighty should conduct Himself, that’s for the Almighty, that’s not for people to know, “lo yirani ha’adam vachai,” no person can know the Almighty, no person can see the Almighty, no person can understand the Almighty.

But It Is a Divine Torah

But what is it on the other hand? Why is it called Torah? Why is it a Torah from Heaven? It’s a divine Torah. And what makes it a divine Torah? It’s a divine Torah in that all 49 gates that are written in the Torah all came, they all came to say “Bereishis bara Elokim vayechulu hashamayim veha’aretz” [In the beginning God created… and the heavens and the earth were completed], to give testimony on the act of Creation.

The Fiftieth Gate Is Again 49 Gates

So that’s the meaning that in the fiftieth gate, certainly the fiftieth gate exists. No one should say, God forbid, that one doesn’t know the Almighty. Certainly one knows the Almighty. But the fiftieth gate is another forty-nine gates. It’s again, one knows the Almighty, because one looks.

One can say one looks from the fiftieth gate at all the other forty-nine gates, and from that one understands the entire world.

Two Paths: Cigarettes to the Almighty, or the Almighty to Cigarettes

And one can also say incidentally, there’s also a way, yes, as we said, there are people who are curious about cigarettes, and in honor of that he needs to learn all kinds of wisdoms because everything is connected.

So there’s a second one, there’s a Jew who is only curious about the fiftieth gate, he’s curious about understanding the Almighty. One tells him, you want to understand the Almighty? One cannot understand the Almighty directly, one must understand through the entire world. Hineni muchan umezuman (behold I am ready and prepared), learn the entire world to understand the Almighty. This is certainly the holiest path. This is the meaning of Torah, true Torah.

Why Matan Torah Was on the Fiftieth Day

Why was the Torah, the giving of the Torah, on the fiftieth day? Because it was the fiftieth, that’s the “lo nimsru l’Moshe”. Lo nimsru l’Moshe is the meaning, this is truly only, the only thing that Moshe Rabbeinu was interested in was the thing that “lo nimsru l’Moshe,” in the fiftieth gate, in the “es mah Elokim” [with what is God].

Through His Desire to Know the Almighty

Rather what? Through his desire to know the Almighty, from that he received the entire Torah. And certainly, since one never understands the Almighty, therefore one constantly adds chiddushei Torah (Torah insights), constantly adds to investigate the world, constantly adds to investigate wisdom, because that’s a different motivation.

There’s someone who is motivated that his desire is to know I know what, how his cigarettes work. There’s another whose desire is to know the Almighty. Both of them know the same thing, from the cigarettes one arrives at the Almighty. But he came from the Almighty to the cigarettes.

Learning from the Fiftieth Gate All the Other 49 Gates

That’s the meaning, he learned from the fiftieth gate all the other forty-nine gates, vechozer chalilah (and returning again and again), one can learn deeper and deeper, that’s the thing we learned the other time, the simple meaning of the words of the Baal Shem Tov.

“Chutz Me’echad” = “Echad Elokeinu”

And that’s the meaning “kulam nimsru l’Moshe chutz me’echad” (all were given to Moshe except one). Chutz me’echad, that’s the One, the “echad Elokeinu shebashamayim uva’aretz” [One is our God in heaven and on earth].

The Ramban’s Hint in the Torah: Counting of the Omer and Jubilee

Says Rabbeinu Yonah, now he explains, the number of forty-nine comes out to be the fifty gates of understanding. Mispar zeh remez baTorah bisfiras ha’omer uvisfiras hayovel [This number is hinted in the Torah in the counting of the Omer and in the counting of the Jubilee], ka’asher ye’agud bo Yisrael begashem retzon Hashem [as Israel should connect with it in fulfilling the will of Hashem].

Says the Ramban, the number, in Chazal (our Sages) it says fifty, it doesn’t say that it says yes, it says 49 gates of understanding, fifty gates of understanding is 49 gates of understanding, which is seven times seven, and the fiftieth is lo nimsar l’Moshe (was not given to Moshe).

Says the Ramban, how does this appear in the Torah? How is this hinted in the Torah? We already asked last week, what does the Ramban mean appears in the Torah?

The Question of the Connection Between the Fifty Gates of Understanding and the Secret of the Days of the World

Introduction: A Clear Question Without an Answer

And I will now make clearer that there’s a question here, and I will make the question clearer. I don’t know an answer to the question, we’re thinking about the answers further, but I will make the question clearer.

How Is the Concept of Fifty Gates of Understanding Hinted in the Torah?

The Question

In the Torah, how is hinted the concept of the fifty gates of understanding where “kulam nimsru l’Moshe chutz me’echad” [all were given to Moshe except one]? How is the concept hinted? So there’s no apparent connection in Bereishis (Genesis). Okay.

The Hint: Two Times When We Count 7 Times 7

But in the Torah it says by counting, two times one counted 7 times 7. Yes, 7 times one counts many times in the Torah, but 7 times 7 one counts only twice in the Torah:

1. Once Sefiras HaOmer [Counting of the Omer] – 7 weeks

2. The second is Sefiras HaYovel [Counting of the Jubilee] – 7 shemittos [sabbatical cycles]

These are two times when one counts 7 times 7, and each time the 50th is kodesh [holy]:

– The 50th day of Sefiras HaOmer is kodesh

– The 50th year of Yovel is kodesh, “shnas hayovel” [the Jubilee year] which is kodesh

That’s the meaning, and here he found the hint of this mispar [number], the mispar hakolel [the inclusive number] where 7 times 7 is found only in these two places.

The Question Becomes Deeper

Now there’s an important question that we already asked last week: What connection does it really have? Now one can understand the question more deeply.

The Ramban’s Secret of Counting the Omer: The Secret of the Days of the World

When the Ramban Says This Secret

We’ve seen what the Ramban [Ramban: Nachmanides] is going to say, the secret that he’s going to say there, is be’ezras Hashem [with God’s help] when one arrives at Parshas Emor, Behar, Bechukosai [the Torah portions of Emor, Behar, and Bechukotai], the Ramban explains the secret of Sefiras HaOmer.

The Secret: The Days of the World and the 7,000 Years

The secret of Sefiras HaOmer, he says, is that in the world there are yemos ha’olam [the days/eras of the world], the secret of yemos ha’olam. The connection to Bereishis [Genesis] is a hint to 7,000 years. The seventh year is Shabbos [Sabbath], “yom shekulo Shabbos umnucha l’chayei ha’olamim” [a day that is entirely Sabbath and rest for eternal life].

The Midrash: Seven Shemittos and the Jubilee

Actually, so it says in the Midrash [Midrash: rabbinic homiletical literature], that there are seven shemittos, actually there is a Jubilee. The world stands for 50,000 years at least, perhaps after that after the Eitz HaDaas [Tree of Knowledge] another fifty gates of understanding from that.

The Hint of the Six Thousand Years

And therefore the sheshes alfei shana [six thousand years] is a hint, each day that was that thousand years of the Creation, of history, and at the end one arrives at the fiftieth gate, one arrives at Shabbos, because that’s the seven thousand years, yomo shel HaKadosh Baruch Hu elef shana [a day of the Holy One, blessed be He, is a thousand years], one arrives at the secret of the Jubilee, after seven circles of this one arrives at the secret of the Jubilee.

The Great Question: What Is the Connection Between the Two Approaches?

The Formulation of the Question

One must understand, and I’m going to stay with the question again, one must understand: What does this have to do with what we just learned so beautifully that this is the fifty gates of understanding, which is the way how the entire world is klul [included] in this?

What does this have to do at all with the order of history, which is apparently the secret of yemos ha’olam?

The Problem: Two Different Approaches

The secret of yemos ha’olam apparently includes much more the order that the Ramban says that the Torah hints at asidiyos [future events], what will be in each year, each thousand years, etc. [and so on].

This one must understand very well.

Conclusion: The Question Remains Open

There’s certainly an answer, everyone can think be’ofanim peshutim [in simple ways] and in deeper ways, but here we remain for today.