The Root of the Good of Mitzvos in the Good of Existence Itself | Zohar Pekudei Introduction Parshas Noach 5787 (Auto Translated)

Pekudei D’Mara Alma: Three Levels in Mitzvot and the Unification of Havayah-Adnut

Introduction: The Zohar’s Title for the Mitzvot

This shiur was delivered on Erev Shabbat Parshat Noach, 5785. This is the first week of the new zman, zman Cheshvan, and we are beginning anew, as is customary at the start of a zman, just as we did in yesterday’s Rambam shiur.

I wish to return and study the Zohar’s introduction to the Pekudim, “Pekudei d’Mara Alma” – the commandments of the Master of the World. This is the Zohar’s title for its section called Sefer HaMitzvot of the Zohar, the reasons for the mitzvot, the Pekudim. I want to go through the introduction, summarize and establish the main points of what we have learned, note what we still need to learn and understand, and build further upon this foundation. And since this week’s parsha is Parshat Noach, it is also fitting to learn something on this topic from within Parshat Noach.

The first thing we learned is the Zohar’s title for the mitzvot – “Pekudei d’Mara Alma”. And indeed there is a great question here. We will see further on that the Zohar calls the mitzvot “Pekudei d’Orayta”, commandments of the Torah, while the title calls them “Pekudei d’Mara Alma”, commandments of Hashem, commandments of the Master, commandments of Adnut. And behold, this is indeed a contradiction, a paradox, a tension that stands at the foundation of a large part of the entire sugya that the Zohar seeks to explain here about the mitzvot, and around which its introduction revolves. This is the Zohar’s primary intent. There are other points we have raised, but the main intent of the Zohar in this introduction is to explain that “Pekudei d’Orayta”, commandments of the Torah, are “Pekudei d’Mara Alma”, commandments of the Master of the World.

Three Levels of Understanding in Mitzvot

“Mara Alma” itself requires clarification, for there is yet another level within it. We must understand that there are three levels here, and we must understand them all. We are accustomed to saying “Torah and mitzvot” or “mitzvot of the Torah.” And regarding the Torah we often say “the Torah says.” In the Gemara we usually find “v’Rachmana amar,” and when the Gemara says “v’Rachmana amar” it specifically means that this is what is written in the Torah, as the rebbe in cheder often translates “v’Rachmana amar” – it is written in the Chumash. However, the simple meaning of “Rachmana amar” is ‘the Holy One, Blessed be He, the Merciful One, said,’ meaning the Holy One, Blessed be He, who is merciful, is the one who said it. But the intent of these words, and indeed their meaning, is that we never say “Rachmana amar” about something that is not written in the Torah, for how would we know what He said if it is not written in the Torah? Rather, “Rachmana amar” means that this is what is written in the Torah, but in different language.

And when a person performs a mitzvah, it is proper that he know what he is doing. Our entire lives are the performance of mitzvot, and therefore he must know what he is doing. One who performs a mitzvah because it is written in the Torah – this is one level of understanding and comprehension. One who performs a mitzvah because the Holy One, Blessed be He, commanded it, and one might even say because the Holy One, Blessed be He, commanded it as it is written in the Torah, for the Holy One, Blessed be He, commanded in the Torah – this is another level of comprehension. And a third level is one who performs the mitzvah because the Holy One, Blessed be He, is thus, for He does not command merely because He commands or because it is written in the Torah, but because the Holy One, Blessed be He, commands not by virtue of what is written in the Torah. Although it may be that from what is written in the Torah the matter becomes known to us, and this is already a secondary matter, but there is such a level of understanding, where a person says ‘because the Holy One, Blessed be He,’ not ‘because the Holy One, Blessed be He, commands’ – but simply ‘because the Holy One, Blessed be He.’

The Name Adnut: The Master Who Gives Meaning

After this we must remember that there is an even greater level, called the Holy One, Blessed be He, Himself, knowledge of the Name Itself. Knowledge of the Name Itself is above even Master of the World. One can say that there is the Name Havayah and the Name Adnut, and everyone knows this. We must say “Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu,” and we do not pronounce the Name Havayah, but in kavanah we must have intent. And when we say Adnut, this is a very interesting kavanah. Indeed, all of Kabbalah is built on kavanah, and the mekubalim found a way to depict it in an image: Yud-Alef-Heh-Dalet-Vav-Nun-Heh-Yud.

But behold a wonder: when we say Adnut, it means Marei Alma, Master, my Master, my Lord Hashem, the Master of each person, Master of the World. That is, the ruler, the guide, the unifier, the one who makes the world make sense. We speak much about how the Holy One, Blessed be He, is Master of the World, the explanation of the world. One can say that He gives meaning to my life, and this too is mastership. People often think that mastership is acceptance of the yoke, it is fear, what we usually call mastership. We spoke last week a bit to explain the confusion in this matter (as we explained in the previous shiur about matters of mastership and this is not the place for it). Mastership – and then there is one who does Torah and mitzvot because they give meaning to his life, and meaning to life is also the Name Adnut.

This is master. What is a king? What is a master? A master is a ruler. There is rulership, and there are all kinds of meanings of rulership. Rulership can be through coercion, what is called by force, meaning I force you, as we spoke last week (as we explained in the previous shiur about the rulership that is by force and this is not the place for it). However, this is only when one does not understand, and indeed even when one does not understand, this is only a very low way of understanding mastership itself.

A person thinks about a king, and indeed we say that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is King of the World. There are people who do not feel comfortable with this, for in our times there are no kings, in our times there is democracy. And a king seems like a bad thing, a king appears as a dictator, someone who insists on his way and rules by force because he is stronger. But one must know something very important: that the mastership of Hashem, the kingship of Hashem, is not primarily meant according to the view of the Sages, according to the view of wisdom, according to the view of the Zohar – the kingship of Hashem, the mastership of Hashem, does not primarily mean that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is stronger than us.

And even the word “strong” – sometimes the Zohar uses language of strength, and we find such language in Chassidic works, “great and mighty” – even “strong” itself has different meanings. One can say that one is a stronger talmid chacham, he has stronger understanding, “strong” simply means ‘more,’ but this ‘more’ can be understood in different ways. And we must know, these are very important principles, that we are accustomed to the concept that strength simply means as if it were by force, that is, in the most external aspect, what is called in Chassidut achorayim d’achorayim, the most external garment that can be of truth, of greatness, of strength, of power, of any language you wish – that everything is only like metaphors and other ways to express this – and it is the power.

The Parable of Father and Son

A person asks such a question: Why is it the law that fathers tell sons what to do, and sons do not tell fathers what to do? This is how it should be, and this is how it is even in our times with a small child. What is the meaning of the fact that the father guides the children and not the children the father? There is a school, a kind of Marxism, that certain schools say: Why is this so? Because the child is small, his body is small, he cannot defend himself, he cannot hit back, and the father will always win. And therefore the father guides, because the father is stronger.

And behold, if the children were to make a revolution, if the children were to find a way – and perhaps in our times there is a way where the children find a possibility not exactly physically, for physicality is only one thing as we will see immediately, for it is possible that the son is not stronger physically, but he is strong in that he can call the police on his father if the father hits him. Once the father could hit his son because he is a father, and the son would only try to hit him back – the father would always win, for he is twice and four times bigger and stronger than him. Almost every father is stronger than his children, and therefore the father guides the children. But today, when the son has the police on his side, and the father is not allowed to hit him, behold he is already as strong as a father – if so, the rulership ends, the father ends, the greatness ends, the superiority of the father over the son ends, for he has a stick, he can hit back.

And nevertheless, it is true that a certain impression, the final level of the superiority of the father over the son, of the father’s rulership over the son, of the father’s honor over the son, of the father’s awe over the son, is indeed strong thus. But this is the most external of the external of the external. Everyone understands, and even in our times when we live as if in some imaginary world, even in our times most normal people still understand that the main thing that makes fathers greater than sons is not that the father is physically stronger than the son. The main thing is that the father has greater understanding. Not understanding for his own benefit – for about this alone it is possible that the father understands how to exploit the son for his own benefit – but the father has greater understanding for the son’s benefit. In this the father is a father.

The Father Is the Son’s Good

In other words: it is true that the father rules over the son, that the son does not rule over himself. And he does not rule over him because he is stronger, and not even because he is cleverer in the sense that he can exploit and manipulate him. Rather, he rules over the son because the son’s good lies with the father. That is, the father understands more about the son. And the word “understands” is only one thing, that the father has more control over this; and to say “understanding” is not always the most accurate word. But the father is the one who gives the son his good. The good, the good life that the son should receive – the son himself does not yet have this good, he is not good enough, he does not control his own good, because he does not understand, or because he does not have the power, for all the reasons – not only because he does not understand. It is possible that he is a great sage, but he does not have the ability, he does not have the connections, he does not have the possibility – physically, spiritually, emotionally – he does not have the possibility.

And therefore the father controls the son’s good. One can say that the father is the one who gives the son his good, he gives him his meaning. How? Through all the ways of education. And certainly the best way is not through coercion, but this is already a secondary matter: whether he hits, whether he teaches him, whether he yells at him, whether he speaks to him pleasantly – all these are details. But the father, in being the son’s good, the father is the responsible one. One can use this language: the father is responsible for the son. And this is certainly a certain rulership.

And the superiority, the ultimate perfection, is that when the son grows up, he will no longer need to come to the father, but will understand by himself, for this is greatness. Bar mitzvah – the father says “Baruch she’petarani,” I am already exempt, the son can already do it himself, how good. But as long as he is a son, the main meaning of mastership can be as it is written “the father’s awe over the son”: the main point is not that the father is stronger, and not even that the father is cleverer and can outsmart him, but that the father is the son’s good.

Mastership Means the Meaning of Life

And the good, as we say in another way, is the same thing as “the meaning of life.” The son does not have the concept of “the meaning of life” as we speak of it, for he is not free to express it intellectually. But the meaning – what gives meaning to the son’s life? That is, what makes them good, good in all ways? The father.

And from here I wish to say an important principle. When people say that the Torah, the mitzvot, the mastership of Hashem, are not – one says: “I do not go in heresy, not because I fear Gehinnom, not because of the stick, but because it gives me meaning in life” – people think this is not mastership. And this is nothing but a mistake, a complete mistake. This is exactly what is called mastership, exactly what is called mastership. Mastership means that the meaning of your life is given to you through the Torah, through the mitzvot, through the Holy One, Blessed be He. This is the meaning of mastership – not from yourself. If I could by myself, if I were “li ye’ori va’ani asitini” (Yechezkel 29:3), I would give meaning myself; but I grasped that I cannot.

If so, the meaning, that is the good – what puts my life in good order, what makes things make sense – comes from the Holy One, Blessed be He.

And the Name Adnut is the same thing. The Name Adnut does not necessarily mean that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is the strongest. This is only the final garment, and perhaps it is even a poor garment. The Name Adnut means that He stands above you, He gives meaning to your life, and in this the Holy One, Blessed be He, is Master of the World.

The Kelipah in the Notion That Mastership Means Strength

We must understand that when we say that the Holy One, Blessed be He, guides the world, people continue to think always – and this is a terrible kelipah that one can fall into, and who brought this kelipah into the world, and why is it? – a terrible kelipah is that they think, when they say that the Holy One, Blessed be He, guides the world, that it means the Holy One, Blessed be He, is stronger than us. We think that we do things, we do business, we educate our children. No! The Holy One, Blessed be He, is the master of all powers, as we say. But there is a complete mistake here in the meaning of the word “power.” Certainly power, but one must strip the word “power” a bit. The Holy One, Blessed be He, is the master of power over the world in the sense that He can say the aspects that one wants to say. The Holy One, Blessed be He, commanded the world to be – this is language, but one must know what it means: He forced, because He can overpower you, He has the ability and you do not. One can say in another way: the Holy One, Blessed be He, explained to the world that it should be, that it is good that it should be. And how does He explain? Perhaps through intellect, if that thing has intellect; and something that does not have intellect, He explains it in other language.

Why Do I Make the Holy One, Blessed be He, King?

But the reason that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is strong, the reason why – they ask why the Holy One, Blessed be He? Who gave the Holy One, Blessed be He, kingship over the world? Why not me? A person tells me such stories, that the Holy One, Blessed be He, should be the King, so they say. And he asks himself: Why? Do you know why? Because I want to. I think it is better for me. I want, I don’t know, I want. I want to be the king of my own life. Why should I give the Holy One, Blessed be He, the kingship? Why do I say ‘Hashem melech’? Perhaps ‘I will reign’? This is indeed a good argument. Do you want to think like people? But you cannot. The Holy One, Blessed be He, indeed has the ability, He can crush you like a small ant if He wishes, for you are nothing and nothing. If so, He is stronger than you, you have no choice, give Him the kingship. But this means coercion, this is not “His kingship they accepted upon themselves willingly,” and this is also not the correct understanding of kingship.

That is, it is true that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is the master of ability, I am not saying this is not true, but this is only the final garment of the Holy One, Blessed be He. The Holy One, Blessed be He, does not guide the world by being the strongest. The reason that we make the Holy One, Blessed be He, king, that the world is subjugated to the fact that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is Master of the World, is not because He has more weapons. This is not a dictatorship, that the whole reason the superior is above is because he has more weapons. Even in actual reality, the truth is – I do not want to enter into this – but this is not the reason.

Kingship Built on Chesed

The reason that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is King, what makes the Holy One, Blessed be He, king – one can say that the attribute of Malchut is built on chesed, not on coercion. That is “v’yichonen b’chesed kis’o”. This is the entire work of the Yamim Noraim, to do so. I do not want to enter into all the reasons for this. The reason that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is King is because He is better. He is better. It is better that the Holy One, Blessed be He, should be King over us. When we guide ourselves, we have no content in our lives, for we begin like a dream that flies away. And when the Holy One, Blessed be He, guides our lives, it is better. This is the meaning of accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, accepting the mastership of Hashem. The kingship of Hashem does not mean that the Holy One, Blessed be He, stands against me, that I would want to rule and there is a whole war here, that the yetzer hara wants me for itself. No! Even the yetzer hara agrees to this. When one understands that it is better – sometimes a person does not understand, and then they hit him, they do external things – but one who has some intellect understands that the meaning of a person’s life cannot be entirely placed with him, but rather it is placed in his feeling his part in the entire world, for he has a role, he has a place, he has work.

This is the meaning of Hashem’s guidance of the world, Hashem’s mastership over the world, Hashem’s divinity over the world – this is the good. And this is a very deep principle. I believe one could elaborate on this, one could contemplate this deeply for years, and strongly negate. These are all very subtle matters, for we say the language of kingship and see so much, but I believe the matter is simple: it truly seems as if the Holy One, Blessed be He, does not want, does not, but He must, without choice He becomes. The Holy One, Blessed be He, does not want to be King over the world by being stronger. As it were, one can call this the gevurah in kingship over the world, but then this is not even gevurah in kingship; the externality is the gevurah in kingship, that is, the sitra achra itself. The Holy One, Blessed be He, wants to be King over the world in the attribute of chesed in kingship, or the good in kingship, called chesed chochmah in kingship. In that He organizes the world, He gives, one can say, meaning to the world, He gives explanation to the world. Why is there a world? Because the Holy One, Blessed be He, did so, because the Holy One, Blessed be He, understands that it is good, “vayar Elokim ki tov” (Bereishit 1).

This is the meaning of the kingship of Hashem, this is the mastership of Hashem. And I have already said this in passing – and not in passing, but this is a great and awesome principle. If so, what is the meaning of Marei Alma? This is the meaning of “Pekudei d’Marei Alma”. From the aspect that the Holy One, Blessed be He, gives the good to the world, makes the world make sense, gives meaning to the world, gives meaning to life – from this aspect they are mitzvot. This is the meaning of “Pekudei d’Marei Alma,” which is already better than “Pekudei d’Orayta.”

Knowledge of the Name Itself: Above Master of the World

But one must remember that even this in itself is still not sufficient. And as we love the language of the holy Rebbe, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi: “This is not the essence of divinity, that He gives life to all the worlds” (Tanya). That the Holy One, Blessed be He, is the meaning of the entire world – this is the way we come to Him, initially and at least. But this is not what He is, as it were. The Holy One, Blessed be He, what He is in Himself, if one can say such a word, is not what He gives meaning to the entire world. Like a father, what he is in himself: indeed I have the aspect that I am a father, in relation to my son I am a father, but in relation to myself I have a completely different life, my own, which is my inner self, relating to myself. When I am not with my children, what do I do? The Holy One, Blessed be He, in Himself is a thing unto Himself.

And the wonder of Judaism is that we say the Name Adnut, that is, we say: the Master over us, the one who makes my life make sense. And it is so because we cannot express it, we have no words. And why do we not pronounce the Name Havayah? Because we have no words to express it in our language and in our world. There is no word in the world that reaches this, for this is outside the world. But we say the Name Havayah. The Name Havayah means His existence, that He exists. And it also includes that He brings into being, but we will speak of this immediately. The Name Havayah means His existence and His essence of the Name Itself.

The thing that gives the meaning to all of life – let us take this for a moment – the thing that gives the meaning and the ability and the understanding and the order and the sense and everything to the entire world, to all creatures, is a thing unto itself. As it were, as the Rambam says, if all creatures did not exist, He would still exist. And if – and indeed all creatures now exist – but “Lifnei Adon Olam asher malach b’terem kol yetzir nivra, v’acharei kichlot hakol levado yimloch nora” (Adon Olam). Meanwhile He is the King over us, He is the Master. But before and after, as it were one can say that the world is only a small area in time, imagination, only a parable, and all the rest of the infinity of time that was before and will be after – He alone.

And He alone – this is good, this is true, that we cannot say it, for we live in a world that is… but this is more true. Anyone who has some intellect, some feeling, can understand that it is much better to think about this than about that, as people understand by themselves. A person says: Let us not return to the Torah. And a person says: Torah is good, Torah makes life good. Very nice. But as it were, one asks: If so, is the Torah a servant to your life? And this is not true, this is not correct, for the good of your life is in that it goes to something higher. But otherwise I could always think so.

Torat Havayah: The Mitzvot Are Connected to What He Is

When we say Torat Hashem, or “Torat Hashem temimah” (Tehillim 19), it is not written ‘Torat Adnut.’ And seemingly the Torah is Torat Adnut. What does it have to do with Havayah? No! It is Torat Havayah, mitzvot Havayah, as is written in that chapter that we say in “HaShamayim mesaprim” (Tehillim 19): mitzvot Havayah, mitzvot Yud-Kuf Vav-Kuf. And if so, the meaning is that the Torah has a matter, the mitzvot have a matter with the Holy One, Blessed be He, as He is, not only as He rules over us and gives us meaning. And just as He is, as it were, in a certain sense, only for our sake, no! He is also for His sake, also because of what He is.

And it is understood that we must say in complete simplicity: when we say from His side, when we say for His sake, we do not mean what He is, as if we were imagining Him like us – when something relates to us, like a father who says he is a friend to his children, he has something as a father, he has his own experience. The Holy One, Blessed be He, does not have His own experience, He is not flesh and blood, it is only need and the like. But our intent is that we have good, that we have pleasure, that we have something from what He is.

Havayah Elokim in Parshat Noach

Behold the principle: it is written “Bereishit bara Elokim” (Bereishit 1), and we say Havayah Elokim. And the meaning is that the Holy One, Blessed be He, made the world not only with the Name Elokim but also with the Name Havayah, “b’yom asot Havayah Elokim eretz v’shamayim” (Bereishit 2). And what is the meaning? As you saw in Parshat Noach, the Ramban notes there that the entire parsha is with the Name Elokim, in judgment – now understand why. But the salvation, “vayisgor Havayah ba’ado” (Bereishit 7) – I believe once in the entire parsha Havayah is said – and then “vayarach Havayah et rei’ach hanicho’ach” (Bereishit 8). The rectification, the salvation, always with the Name Havayah.

And the meaning is: when we say that above the fact that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is Master of the World, He is also Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh. And it does not mean that that Havayah is not connected to the world. As we say, the meaning of Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh is that He is hoveh, was hoveh and will be hoveh – which I am not entering now to explain, for His mode of existence is not something that is today. When we exist, we are today, and He – He is today and yesterday and forever at once, He is not in time. But with this He is also, as at least the mekubalim explain, that He is hoveh – it is written in Etz Chaim that He is hoveh and also mehave kol beriyah. And what is the meaning of mehave kol beriyah? Mehave kol beriyah is the Name Adnut. This is the meaning of yichud Havayah Adnut. Yichud Havayah Adnut says, as the Rambam says, “me’amitat himtza’o nimtza’u kol hanimtza’im” (Rambam Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 1).

And these are lofty and deep matters, that one must hear them, that this is the meaning of truly mochin to malchut, in levels.

In Which Attribute Does the Holy One, Blessed be He, Guide the World?

One can ask thus, as we asked before: the Holy One, Blessed be He, comes, from what aspect? From what aspect does the Holy One, Blessed be He, guide the world? One can say, the lowest of the low level: the Holy One, Blessed be He, guides the world from the aspect of who is stronger. And this is a kind of religion, people can live this way, even this is something. One says: because He understands better, because He is the world’s good. If so, you are already grasping the chesed in malchut, grasping something deeper. One can say from the aspect of chochmah, because He sees that this is good. One can rank that chochmah is higher than good, or the opposite, and so on; this is already the next level.

After this a person can say something deeper. A person can ask: from what aspect? In what? As it were, one can ask thus: in which attribute? That is, in which aspect? Everything is His attributes, the Holy One, Blessed be He, does everything. But in which sense of what He is Elokim does He guide the world? The deepest meaning of ‘Havayah Elokeinu’ is that the Holy One, Blessed be He, guides the world, He is divine, Havayah Elokeinu, He is divine in what He is.

Only One Who Is Can Create the World

That is, when you ask such a question: what kind of creature, what kind of being, what kind of thing can make a world? One can make many levels. Something slightly better – a father can, and this is the aspect of “equated his honor with the honor of the Omnipresent” (Kiddushin 30). A father can make the good for his son, can arrange his life, this he can do. A flesh and blood king can make the order for the entire country, this he can do. That is, in the aspect of what he has the attribute called good, that is order, that he can arrange, can make justice, can make all the good attributes – in this he can make the world.

But when one contemplates deeply, one understands that to make the entire world exist, what is often called yesh me’ayin – which is not always the best word, and one must think about this and give new words to everything – to make the entire world exist, ultimately ultimately ultimately, only one who is can do this. One who is, for this is indeed utterly simple. In any case, according to this the matter is utterly simple, for before there is a world there is nothing, there is nothing in the aspect of world, there is only the Holy One, Blessed be He. And if so, the only one who can create the world – the attribute of Malchut cannot create the world. Consider: the attribute of Malchut means the guidance of the world, and this already requires a world. It turns out that after there is a world, the Holy One, Blessed be He, guides it, how good. But for there to be a world at all, only Yud-Kuf Vav-Kuf Himself can do this. One who is before any creature was created, only He can begin the whole thing.

If so, we say “me’amitat himtza’o nimtza’u kol hanimtza’im” (Rambam Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 1). That is, if I want to know – in what does the Holy One, Blessed be He, reign over the world? In what is the Holy One, Blessed be He, Master over the world? In that He is Havayah, in that He is what He is. And what He is – is He for the world? Exactly because of this. Exactly because what He is is not connected to the world, not at all from the attributes at all. And therefore, the world as it were draws existence, it borrows. The entire world borrows existence. The Holy One, Blessed be He, has existence from Himself, and the entire world borrows existence. Our existence is borrowed, secondary existence, it comes from Him, comes from the fact that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is existence unto Himself. A very deep matter to contemplate, and there is no way to err in it. But this is the foundation of foundations of ‘Havayah Elokim,’ the foundation of faith – to say that the Holy One, Blessed be He,

guides the world not only from the aspect that He is stronger, not from the aspect that He is better, not from the aspect that He is cleverer, not only from the aspect that He is more righteous – for all these are attributes by which He guides the world. But what He is, the foundation of foundations, in the ultimate beginning “Bereishit bara Elokim,” what makes Him the God of the world – is from the aspect of what He is.

The Choice: A Relationship with the Holy One, Blessed be He, from the Aspect of What He Is

And if so, here we understand that there is a certain choice, a very difficult matter, there is a certain choice. A person can base his humanity, base his Judaism, base his relationship with the Holy One, Blessed be He, on the fact that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is stronger, on the fact that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is better – and this is a good thing, for these are divine attributes. But the choice – for there is a choice here – its meaning is that the Holy One, Blessed be He, chose Israel and Israel chose the Holy One, Blessed be He. The meaning is that the choice is that a person should say: the Holy One, Blessed be He, wants – this a person can say – ‘Havayah Elokim,’ He wants the Holy One, Blessed be He, to be his God, that the Holy One, Blessed be He, should guide him, as it were, that is, that there should be revelation, that it should be clear that even what the Holy One, Blessed be He, guides him, even what the Holy One, Blessed be He, is his God – for a person thinks: why is the Holy One, Blessed be He, better for me than I am good for myself? – that all these things should be because of what the Holy One, Blessed be He, is what He is unto Himself.

And this is joy, this is the meaning of “yismach Yisrael b’osav bnei Tzion yagilu b’malkam” (Tehillim 149), “tzadikim yismechu ya’altzu lifnei Elokim” (Tehillim 68), as Chassidic works explain: before the Name Elokim. That is, his joy, his devekut, his taste and his faith are not because the Holy One, Blessed be He, is stronger than him, and not because the Holy One, Blessed be He, is cleverer than him. In “strong” there is no joy at all, and perhaps a little. Better, and the source of wisdom, the source of Torah, the source of righteousness, the source of victory – all these are good things. But the greatest joy, the greatest love, the greatest devekut, is in that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is the source of Havayah, He is your Havayah. This is the meaning of ‘Havayah Elokeinu’ as it were – Havayah is my Havayah as well.

And the meaning is that the Name Havayah rests upon a Jew, not only the Name Adnut. And when we say the Name Adnut, one must always remember this. That is, we must know: indeed we live in a world that requires order, requires guidance, requires even power, requires all these things. But one must remember: from what aspect does He have all this power? From what aspect? Why indeed is the Holy One, Blessed be He, greater than me, stronger and better than me? Because He is Havayah, because He is what He is. It turns out that I – although seemingly this is a contradiction in terms, how can I, from the aspect that I am created, have a connection with the Holy One, Blessed be He, from the aspect of what He is, which is not at all from the creatures – you can. If you remember this. And perhaps it cannot be said, it is forbidden to express it, for we have no correct words for it. One immediately needs to have subtle knowledge, subtle connection with this. But this is what can be. It can be. And not only can it be, but it must be so. Less than this cannot be.

Shamor and Zachor: Two Levels in Performing Mitzvot

Let us return to the explanation of “u’shmartem,” to “Pekudei” – what shall I do when I am still holding onto the introduction? “Pekudei d’Marei Alma” – this is the simple meaning of mitzvot, that they are commandments of the Master of the World. And in contrast to this, different from this, “Pekudei d’Orayta,” commandments of the Torah. One might think this is already a question of semantic meaning, how we explain the words. One can explain that “Pekudei d’Orayta,” when we say “Pekudei d’Orayta,” we wish to say something higher than the commandments of man. Why? Because pekudei, everyone knows according to the Zohar, mitzvah means Adnut, and Torah means Havayah. Torah and mitzvah means the unification of Havayah and Adnut. For mitzvah indicates something that must be done, that is, it stands above you, the Shechinah stands above you and guides you, tells you what to do. And Havayah the Torah is the understanding of the mitzvot, the understanding of the good of the mitzvot themselves.

And he says that the meaning of ‘Torah’ is that the Torah is higher than the mitzvot. But the Torah is not just Torah, but mitzvot of the Torah, and the Torah is Torat Havayah. One must therefore say Torat Havayah, mitzvot Havayah, pekudei Havayah, everything is Havayah. And he says that the meaning is that through all these levels the Name Havayah shines. And now arises a new way of how to do mitzvot, a completely new comprehension of how to do mitzvot, which is a very subtle thing, and again one can err in it in various ways, but I must say it as it shines, as it is simple. This is a new way of how to do mitzvot.

The Derash from “U’shmartem Va’asitem”

And let us enter this into the derash that the Zohar says. It is written “u’shmartem et kol mitzvotai,” “u’shmartem et mitzvotai va’asitem otam” (Vayikra 22/26). What is this shemirah and asiyah? And the Zohar asks another question: where is zechirah mentioned? For you know that there is zechirah? All the mitzvot that have shamor and zachor – where is the zechirah?

Shamor, he says thus, shamor is for nukva. If it is shamor, why is zachor not said? Rather shamor means that I guard the mitzvot. The mitzvot are higher than me, this is what the Holy One, Blessed be He, says: the meaning of my life, my good, is not placed with me, does not begin with me, but begins with the Shechinah. This is “u’shmartem et kol mitzvotai,” the aspect of nukva, that is, we are the aspect of nukva, we are the receiver. The attribute connected to us, the final attribute, is the attribute that receives from all the attributes. This is the meaning of “u’shmartem” – I guard, I guard Torah, one who guards Torah. This is one level, the first level. And which mitzvot does one guard then? Mitzvot Adnut. This is the true meaning: mitzvot of the Master of the World.

But, says the Zohar, you must understand that what we call zechirah, which is higher, can be called in another way: asiyah. “U’shmartem” – here is shamor, “va’asitem” – here is zachor. Everything is the same thing, zechirah here is asiyah. That is, there is one who guards mitzvot, and there is one who does mitzvot. Does mitzvot, as the Zohar must explain, and it is built on the Midrashim, it says “va’asitem otam” – that you should make the mitzvot, not that you should fulfill the mitzvot. Like one who acts from the mouth of an agent: “it is not the same to hear from the mouth of the king as to hear from the mouth of an agent.” One who guards the mitzvot hears from the mouth of an agent. And one who does the mitzvot, that is, he creates them, he is the doer. But how is it possible that a person should be the doer of the mitzvot?

A person can be the doer of the mitzvot if he hears what the Zohar says, that shemirah – that is, asiyah – is zechirah. And why is zechirah asiyah? He says: “kol man d’adchar milah l’tata ashchan d’it’avid hahu reshima l’eila” (Zohar). And they explain thus: simply they explain, as everyone knows, that by doing the mitzvot we arouse, and this is only a remembrance. We spoke at length that mitzvot are only a remembrance of what they truly are. But what we are explaining today is thus: how does a person do mitzvot? Can a person create the mitzvot? For the entire idea of a mitzvah is that you did not make it. Very nice. The Holy One, Blessed be He, made the mitzvot of Hashem, these are not the mitzvot of man. “asher ya’aseh otam ha’adam” (Vayikra 18) – how can a person create the mitzvah? A person can fulfill the mitzvah, and this is the aspect of shemirah. Usually when we explain the word ‘doing the mitzvot,’ we explain it at the level of shemirah, not at the level of asiyah at all. Asiyah is making. The Holy One, Blessed be He, is “ani Hashem oseh kol” (Yeshayahu 44), the Holy One, Blessed be He, does everything. How can a person do something?

The Answer: Pekudei Havayah and the Unification

The answer is: as long as you understand that mitzvot are an order that the Holy One, Blessed be He, gives, the order of good, a good way that the Holy One, Blessed be He, gives to the world – what do the mitzvot do two other things, what do they do with the Holy One, Blessed be He, two other things. Why? Because what the Holy One, Blessed be He, is, from the aspect of what He is unto Himself, from the aspect of what we understand what He is – is one thing; and from the aspect of what He guides the world – a completely different thing. And certainly you do, the Holy One, Blessed be He, is the mitzvot, and this is the study of Torah lishmah according to an agent.

But if you begin to contemplate the Name Havayah, you say that this is pekudei Havayah, not only pekudei Adnut, that there is the Name Havayah here, and you contemplate that this is a subtle thing that must be understood – for seemingly one can say that mitzvot certainly are not this, mitzvot are only Adnut, mitzvot are good order for the world. But he contemplates the order for the world: why do we say at all that the Torah is divine Torah, Torah from Heaven? This is Torah that is in Heaven, Torah. What does it matter where it came from? Is this divine Torah or earthly Torah? One should say that the Torah is from the Name Adnut, it should be from the Name Adnut. Very nice, the Name Adnut is also Heaven, but it is in the Name Adnut. “Heaven” – one knows that this is Tiferet, Heaven is the Name Havayah. In what way is the Torah from Heaven?

The answer is: he hears, he contemplates, and there is a certain choice in this. For this one needs to be a mekubal, one needs to be in a Chassidic shiur, to cease being a guardian of mitzvot only as a servant. He must begin to say: I do the mitzvot not only because they are good for me in this world, even for my soul. For what I contemplate is: in what way is the mitzvah good for me? Who makes them good for me? What ultimately makes them good for me is that Havayah is Havayah, that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is, that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is better than the entire world. And from the fact that the Holy One, Blessed be He, unto Himself is better than the entire world – perhaps indeed after much hishtalshelut – it emerges that the mitzvot are better than the entire world.

The Holy One, Blessed be He, Himself Is the Mitzvot

But my intent here is that there is a choice. For a person can build his relationship, his doing of mitzvot, on the aspect of shamor – very nice, a kosher Jew, a permitted Jew. But he can build it and say that zachor and shamor were said in one utterance, and that shamor is built on zachor. Israel – why, as a child would say: why are you my father? Because he is a father unto himself. And perhaps a flesh and blood father is not so, I do not know if the reason he is a father is because he is so good from his own aspect. But the Holy One, Blessed be He, the reason the Holy One, Blessed be He, is a father to me is not only because of my relationship to Him. On the contrary, my relationship to Him is built and rooted in His essential being, in what He is as it were in relation to Himself – and one is permitted to say such a word, this is the secret. One is permitted to say, for the Midrash says that the Holy One, Blessed be He, does mitzvot.

We do mitzvot not only because the mitzvot are for us, but because the Holy One, Blessed be He, Himself is the mitzvot. The Holy One, Blessed be He, is the mitzvot like us. People think that the Holy One, Blessed be He, has a lulav – the Holy One, Blessed be He, does not have tefillin, the Holy One, Blessed be He, does not have a lulav in Heaven. The lulav is something whose true reason, the first source of the lulav, is the Name Havayah, it is the Holy One, Blessed be He, as He is in Himself. And this is a new kavanah, one can have kavanah, one can be a completely kosher Jew and never do zachor and shamor, never remember the mitzvah that is the aspect of zechirah, which means zachor. This you can only remember, you cannot even say it – and perhaps when we say zachor the intent is to be reminded, this is the arousal, you can only arouse it, you cannot say it, you cannot do it, you cannot create the mitzvah. But you can remember that the shemirah is built on the zechirah. This you can remember, this you can do. And then the mitzvot are true divine mitzvot, then you do the mitzvot of Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah, not only the mitzvot for the good of people.

There Is No Separation: The Good of People Is Kudsha Brich Hu

In other words: then the good of people is Kudsha Brich Hu. This one must know. The good is not other – this is a great mistake that people make: if so, he exploits it for the Holy One, Blessed be He, and it need not be good for man. No! This too is separation, the opposite separation, which goes to Tiferet without Malchut. This too is separation, the same separation. One is called kitzutz b’neti’ot, one is called denial of the fundamental, and their rectification is an awesome thing. No! The unification says that what is good for you, what the mitzvot are good for all the worlds – this is because they are in the aspect of the good of Hashem, mitzvot upon what the Holy One, Blessed be He, is unto Himself, not only the good of Hashem for all but the good of Hashem in Himself, and therefore the mitzvot are the good of Hashem for all. And this is another important mistake that must be negated from the soul.

And thus, this is indeed the explanation according to sod, upon what we spoke yesterday in a more analytical way (as we explained in the previous shiur in the way of nigleh about the perfection in doing actions in the world and this is not the place for it): that the perfection, doing actions in this world – part of which is doing mitzvot – is not that one must cease doing practical mitzvot and think only about divinity, and not that while doing practical mitzvot he should think about divinity. One can indeed, but this is not the main thing. The main thing is that the kavanah – which we have now explained from the upper aspect, in the way of Kabbalah – the kavanah of the good in them, the reason they are truly good, is because they are rooted in the Name Havayah. This is the meaning of ‘Havayah,’ the Master Havayah supreme. This is the meaning of 613 mitzvot of the Torah, which are the totality of male and female, the totality of both things: from what the Holy One, Blessed be He, is unto Himself and from what the Holy One, Blessed be He, guides the world, and it is all raza chada, all one secret. It is forbidden to separate between the secrets. One who says that Kabbalah speaks of higher reasons than the reasons for mitzvot according to nigleh which are to repair the world, and says that no, Kabbalah says this is only to repair the Holy One, Blessed be He – this is falsehood and this is somewhat kitzutz b’neti’ot. It is both together as one. On the contrary, this is the contemplation: the contemplation in what, why is this good at all? Because – as according to nigleh that we learned yesterday – because this leads to that, and one could say as they say in nistar, because this is built upon, rooted in what the Holy One, Blessed be He, is unto Himself. This is the meaning of “pikudei Hashem yesharim mesamchei lev” (Tehillim 19) – when it is “pikudei Havayah,” then it is “mesamchei lev.” This is joy, this is the joy with which we rejoice on Simchat Torah.

Parshat Noach: The Name Elokim and the Name Havayah

And I have no time or strength to say a derasha on this from Parshat Noach, but one can understand by oneself that the Flood is the Name Elokim, this is the gevurah of what the Holy One, Blessed be He, is stronger than all. And therefore there is an entire parsha – we learned last week (as we explained in the previous shiur about the words of the serpent and this is not the place for it) that the serpent said there are only negative commandments, there is only what the Holy One, Blessed be He, is stronger, that it is forbidden to do, that is fear. And the Holy One, Blessed be He, gave a mitzvah to Noach. The salvation of Noach was through mitzvot, the mitzvah of building the ark, and this He gave in the Name Havayah. The Holy One, Blessed be He, gave the mitzvah to Noach, and Noach did “vaya’as Noach k’chol asher tzivah oto Hashem” (Bereishit 6), he did the mitzvah. And indeed, as Noach ish tzaddik, Noach did the mitzvah, he was the aspect of merkavah, the aspect of Yesod that does the mitzvah, and then he saved the world. And this was the covenant, the new covenant that the Holy One, Blessed be He, gave to Noach, this is the foundation of the covenant, that it is possible that even Adam HaRishon was in it but not in this way. This is the foundation of mitzvot aseh, “vayizkor Elokim et Noach” (Bereishit 8).