The Question of the Fifty Gates of Understanding

This text is a Yiddish discourse explaining the concept of the fifty gates of understanding (חמישים שערי בינה) based on the teachings of Ramban (Nachmanides).

Chapter 1: The Ramban’s Foundation – From Seven to Forty-Nine

Seven Days of Creation Become Seven Times Seven

Apparently, what he means to say there is that the world was created in seven days, and if one understands the details of all seven days, it comes out to seven times seven. One can call it “refined sevenfold.” Apparently it means something was refined seven times. But it could be that this itself – that if one understands clearly means divided into seven – then understanding clearly seven times means seven times seven, which comes out to 49.

The Aspect of Revealed Torah – Seven Days

So one can say such an interpretation: In the revealed Torah, and this connects with what the Ramban speaks about there, and the same thing he speaks about in his introduction to Genesis. When you study Genesis according to its simple meaning, you only find seven things, seven days. This is what one tells the public – the six days of Creation.

“He Declared to His People the Power of His Works” – The Limits of Human Understanding

But about this it says “therefore the verse concealed from you ‘In the beginning God created’; ‘He declared to His people the power of His works’” (Psalms 111:6). The Ramban explains, “it is impossible to tell a human being the power of the works of Creation.” A person cannot understand the power of the works of Creation. One tells him seven, something he can understand at the level of a human being. A person can also work six days and rest on the Sabbath. Such an aspect a person understands – the aspect of the seven days of Creation.

Chapter 2: The True Intention – Fifty Gates of Understanding

The Hidden Torah – Forty-Nine Gates

But the true intention of the six days of Creation, about which it says “fifty gates of understanding were created in the world and all of them were given to Moses,” and the Ramban teaches there – it’s very interesting, and one must understand it well – that the entire Torah is the Torah of Moses.

The Question: Why Isn’t Moses’s Name in Genesis?

But the word “Moses our teacher” doesn’t appear – it doesn’t appear until the book of Exodus. Do we even know who Moses our teacher is? It doesn’t say, the Torah doesn’t begin “And God spoke to Moses saying, ‘In the beginning God created.’” It tells us the story. And all this we call the Torah of Moses.

The Ramban’s Answer: “It Was Given to Moses”

And the Ramban understands that about this it says “all fifty gates of understanding were given to Moses.” This is part of what it says in the Talmud. The Ramban says that “it was given to Moses” means that even the things that don’t say in the Torah that they were given to Moses were also given to Moses.

In other words, the six days of Creation, the entire book of Genesis that comes before Exodus, where the first prophecy of Moses appears. And the Ramban explains why it doesn’t say “And God spoke to Moses saying” at the beginning of Genesis.

The Torah Is Not Moses’s Innovation

Because the Torah is truly not Moses our teacher’s Torah. One should not think, no one should make a mistake and call it the Torah of Moses, as if Moses our teacher invented it. He revealed it, but did not innovate it. The Torah wasn’t from him, as we learn that the Torah was written in black fire upon white fire two thousand years before the creation of the world.

The Torah – The Wisdom of All Existence

In other words, the Torah means the entire world; Torah means the wisdom that created the entire world. Moses our teacher brought down one manifestation of this, one process of this, one manner of expression of what is relevant at this time according to its matter and according to its way.

Chapter 3: Two Levels of the Torah of Moses

The Paradox: Torah of Moses and Torah of God

But the entire Torah is called the Torah of Moses, and here one can say it both ways, right? But what we call the Torah of Moses is from Genesis. Why doesn’t Moses our teacher’s name appear in Genesis? To tell us that this is not simply Moses’s Torah; this is the Torah of the essence of existence in the world.

But this is Moses’s Torah; it’s called the Torah of Moses. The Ramban even says that Moses wrote it. I mean, this is already somewhat getting into details and technical – that Moses wrote it. I mean, if one strips away a bit – and so it says in Rabbi Moshe Cordovero and other commentators who strip away the point more – and one will truly understand this, that therefore Moses’s name doesn’t appear, because the Torah is not truly the Torah of Moses.

“The Torah of God Is Perfect” – The Torah Is Complete

This is also what the Ramban says: “it was given to Moses” means to say, you shouldn’t think that something is missing in the Torah, “the Torah of God is not perfect,” something is missing – no, “nothing is lacking in it.” This is the language of the Ramban: “The Torah of God is perfect” (Psalms 19:8) is his exposition, yes? “The Torah of God is perfect; nothing is lacking in it.” In the Torah of Moses and God’s Torah, nothing is missing.

Why? The Gates of Understanding Are There

Why? Because God’s Torah means the gates of understanding through which one sees the entire world, and this is in a certain sense greater.

Two Levels: From Genesis and From Exodus

One can say there are two levels of the Torah of Moses. There is a level of the Torah of Moses that is from Genesis, and there is a level of the Torah of Moses from Exodus.

The Torah of Moses from Exodus is only the commandments, the story of the Exodus from Egypt, the entire thing that we learned from Moses our teacher, according to the manifestation of the Torah that had to be at that time for all Jews, all generations that learn that Torah, but only that one manifestation – one can call it only that one sabbatical cycle, according to the Ramban’s way of understanding the world, only the seven thousand years.

The Torah Is Greater Than One Sabbatical Cycle

We learn the Torah – so taught the Sefer HaTemunah and later commentators on the Ramban – we learn the entire Torah only in the aspect of one sabbatical cycle, one seven thousand years of the world. Let’s say this is how the entire world goes for seven thousand years.

Okay, I say from Moses our teacher’s time, but not today’s time. Today’s time is also Moses our teacher’s time. We live in Moses our teacher’s sabbatical cycle. But the Torah itself is much greater than Moses our teacher’s sabbatical cycle.

The Torah Is Seven Times Greater

The Torah itself – one can call the entire thing Moses our teacher if one wants. But the Moses our teacher who ascends in this sabbatical cycle is only one of the manifestations, one of the seven times that the Torah existed. But the Torah is seven times greater than the entire world, at least – refined sevenfold.

The Torah already existed for an entire sabbatical cycle before this. One can even see in our sabbatical cycle that the Torah already existed for two thousand years – I mean before the creation of the world the Torah already existed, yes? So already an entire sabbatical cycle, I don’t know more. It’s not exactly a sabbatical cycle, but an entire existence before the creation of the world is already the Torah. This is the meaning of the wisdom of existence, the wisdom of all parts of existence – this is the meaning of the Torah.

Chapter 4: The Wisdom – 49 Instead of 7

The Revealed Says Seven, the Hidden Says Forty-Nine

Now, the wisdom can call it 49 instead of 7. Because 7 – this is what Moses our teacher came and said: the Sabbath is the seventh day, and he told us.

How Did Moses Tell Us the Torah?

How did Moses our teacher tell us the Torah? Let’s understand: this is consistent with what the Ramban says, that even Genesis is also that Moses told us. Why does he need to say this? Because you shouldn’t think that Genesis contains all the secrets of the work of Creation – not in the revealed Torah. In the hidden Torah it says it, but in the revealed Torah it doesn’t say it.

“One Does Not Begin With Genesis”

Therefore we are told, “one does not begin teaching with Genesis” – one can indeed review the material, because it doesn’t say it; in the revealed part of Genesis the entire work of Creation doesn’t appear.

Where Does It Appear? In the Aspect of 49

Where does it appear? In the aspect of 49, in the aspect of seven times seven. This is the meaning of the hidden part of the Torah. The hidden part of the Torah is 49 – this is what Moses our teacher learned.

“Fifty Gates of Understanding Were Given to Moses”

About this the Talmud says, the Talmud tells us, that fifty gates of understanding were given to Moses, not just seven gates of understanding as you see in the simple meaning of the Torah, but fifty gates of understanding. Revealed to Moses and given to Moses, and the Ramban already brings the Torah – it says in the Torah in Genesis, although in Genesis seven of them are stated explicitly, but in hint and secret all forty-nine of them are hinted at. Soon we will see how it is hinted in the Torah; I will explain.

Revealed and Hidden – Two Levels

But for us, this is a secret in the Torah, not the revealed part of the Torah. The revealed part of the Torah is seven; the hidden part of the Torah is forty-nine. This is how the codes come out, if you can also think about it.

Chapter 5: Rabbi Yitzchak’s Question – “This Month Shall Be For You”

Why Not Begin With “This Month Shall Be For You”?

Rabbi Yitzchak said that one should have begun the Torah with “This month shall be for you” (Exodus 12:2, the first commandment given to the Jewish people). The meaning is, truly one should have begun from the hidden part, yes, because the six days of Creation – one could say the answer, one could even ask – the Ramban asks a question: why indeed did one need to begin the Torah from Genesis? For the foundation of faith?

The Ramban’s Question and Answer

But one can say for the simple meaning, one needs to begin for the commandment of the Sabbath. To this the Ramban answers, when he asks the question, he says it could have been written in the Tablets; it would have been enough to write in the Tablets “for in six days God made” (Exodus 20:11), and one would have known the commandment of the Sabbath. Okay, so for this it’s not missing.

But in other words, this is the simple plain meaning. For this one would have needed to begin apparently from the beginning of Genesis, which would have meant beginning from the Sabbath, which is indeed according to the revealed Torah.

Rabbi Yitzchak’s Answer: “This Month Shall Be For You” = 49

Rabbi Yitzchak comes in the Midrash and says: No, one must begin with “This month shall be for you.” Why does it begin with “This month shall be for you”? 49. Because what begins with 49? It’s so simple, although one can learn the opposite – that this is the first commandment given to Israel – but here one must see something new.

Chapter 6: From Seven to the Great Sabbath

The Jews in Egypt – Stuck in Seven

In a certain sense, the Jews in Egypt were stuck in the aspect of seven. Yes, when a person is sunken – what does seven mean? He was stuck in the character traits, he was stuck in the seven days of Creation, this is the natural world, what is called the natural world, what is called the attribute of Kingship/Malchut, the seven, “daughter of seven,” means seven.

Moses’s Purpose – To Bring Up to the Great Sabbath

And Moses came; the entire purpose of Moses was truly to bring up the Jews from Sabbath to the Great Sabbath. Therefore, when the first Sabbath came, it’s called the Great Sabbath. What does the Great Sabbath mean? The Great Sabbath means Jubilee, yes; the world knows, the Great Sabbath according to Kabbalah means Jubilee.

Fifty Times Exodus in the Torah

Therefore the Zohar says, fifty times the Exodus from Egypt appears in the Torah, to teach that the Exodus from Egypt was not from Sabbath but from the Great Sabbath.

“And You Shall Count For Yourselves From the Day After the Sabbath”

And where do you see this Great Sabbath in the Torah? “And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath” (Leviticus 23:15). What does Sabbath mean? Passover. Oh, you think Sabbath is Sabbath? No. The Sabbath you think is only seven, but the world is seven times greater than your seven.

The True Commandment of Moses

You learned the Torah as Moses our teacher apparently commanded Israel in the revealed Torah, but you must also learn how Moses our teacher truly commanded Israel, that he truly began from Genesis, from “He declared to His people the power of His works.” What did he teach them? That truly there are forty-nine in the world, not just seven in the world.

Chapter 7: How Is This Hinted in the Torah?

Not in Genesis

And how did he teach this? Not in Genesis. Genesis he wrote for the children, so they could understand, to say to the teachers what God made on the first day, and the second day, and the third day, and so on.

In “This Month Shall Be For You”

But where did he say it? In the Torah, in the Torah of “This month shall be for you” he said it. How did he say it? Because he said “And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath,” from the eighth day, you must count “seven complete weeks shall there be” (Leviticus 23:15), complete.

“Complete Weeks” – The Key to Forty-Nine

In other words, the Sabbath of Genesis is an incomplete Sabbath, so to speak; it’s a small Sabbath; it’s lacking; there’s only seven; there isn’t forty-nine. This goes for entire weeks.

The Ramban’s Explanation of “Complete”

“Complete” – the Ramban explains, he says he hints at the secrets in the word “complete.” He says “complete” is what he points to Jubilee, and it would have been to the sabbatical year, to the simple seven, it would have been only incomplete, so to speak.

Small, Medium, and Great Sabbaths

“Complete weeks” – it’s known to say “small Sabbaths,” “medium Sabbaths,” and “great Sabbaths.” “Complete weeks” means there where it’s truly – one sees in each one of the seven, one sees a completeness of the seven, which comes out to forty-nine.

“From the Day After the Sabbath” – The True Comprehension

And then one counts from the day after the Sabbath. This is the true comprehension that Moses wants to give to the Jews – the forty-nine, not the seven. This is the meaning of “seven complete weeks shall there be,” which one begins to count and lead from the day after the Sabbath.

Chapter 8: How Is This Hinted in the Torah?

The Ramban’s Introduction

And this the Ramban says in his introduction. How is it hinted in the Torah? In the Torah it only says seven. How is it truly hinted in the Torah? He says, the number of forty-nine.

The Question: How Does One See All the Secrets?

In other words, how is it hinted that there exist all the secrets of Creation (sodot habri’ah), all the secrets of science, all the secrets of philosophy, all the secrets of Kabbalah, in the true plain meaning (pshat) of Shabbat? And one might think that we keep Shabbat because the Almighty created the world in seven days, and there are only seven things in the world.

The Ramban’s Answer: Sefirat HaOmer and Sefirat HaYovel

Says the Ramban, I will tell you where it is hinted. It is hinted in the Torah in the mitzvah of Sefirat HaOmer (counting of the Omer) and the mitzvah of Sefirat HaYovel (counting of the Jubilee). Yes. You have many countings (sefirot) in the Torah of seven, Sefirat HaMetzora (counting of the leper) and Sefirat HaZavah (counting of the woman with a discharge) and Sefirat HaNiddah (counting of the menstruant woman), as we have learned.

The True Counting

But where does the true counting stand? The true counting stands in the Sefirat HaYovel and the Sefirat HaShemittah, which are both the same, “And you shall count for yourself seven years, seven times” (Leviticus 25:8) or “seven complete weeks shall they be.”

The Only Place in the Torah

There is the only place in the Torah, there it is truly hinted in the Torah, where it is conducted…

—

[Continuation will come in Part 2]

Sefirat HaOmer: The Hint of the Forty-Nine Gates of Understanding in the Torah

Chapter 2: The Ramban’s Introduction — How is Forty-Nine Hinted in the Torah?

The Foundation of “Seven Complete Weeks”

This is the meaning of “seven complete weeks shall they be” [seven complete weeks shall they be: seven complete weeks shall be] which we begin to count from the morrow of the Shabbat (mimachorat haShabbat) [the morrow of the Shabbat: the day after Shabbat]. And this says the Ramban [Ramban: Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, Nachmanides] in the introduction (hakdamah) [introduction: introduction]: How is it hinted in the Torah? In the Torah it only says 7. How is it truly hinted in the Torah, he says, the number of 49?

And further, how is it hinted that there exist all the secrets of Creation (sodot habri’ah) [secrets of Creation: secrets of creation], all the secrets of science, all the secrets of philosophy, all the secrets of Kabbalah [Kabbalah: Jewish mysticism], in the true plain meaning of Shabbat? And one might think that we keep Shabbat because the Almighty created the world in 7 days, and there are only 7 things in the world.

The Only Place in the Torah Where 49 is Hinted

Says the Ramban, he says, how is this hinted? It is hinted in the Torah in the mitzvah of Sefirat HaOmer [Sefirat HaOmer: the counting of the Omer] and in the mitzvah of Sefirat HaYovel [Sefirat HaYovel: the counting of the Jubilee years]. Yes, there are many countings (sefirot) [sefirot: countings] in the Torah of 7: Sefirat HaMetzora [Sefirat HaMetzora: the counting of the leper], and Sefirat HaZav [Sefirat HaZav: the counting of the zav], and Sefirat HaNiddah [Sefirat HaNiddah: the counting of the niddah], as we have learned.

But where does the true counting stand? The true counting stands in the Sefirat HaYovel and in the Sefirat HaShemittah [Sefirat HaShemittah: the counting of the Shemittah years], which are both the same: “And you shall count for yourself seven sabbatical years, seven years seven times” [And you shall count for yourself seven sabbatical years, seven years seven times: and you shall count for yourself seven sabbatical years, seven years seven times], or “seven complete weeks shall they be.” There is the only place in the Torah, there it is truly hinted in the Torah that is lacking, so to speak (kiveyachol) [so to speak: as it were] from the general principle of the entire Torah (klal haTorah kulah) [the general principle of the entire Torah: the entire general principle of the Torah], from the root of the entire Torah (shoresh haTorah kulah) [the root of the entire Torah: the root of the entire Torah].

Different Ways of Hints in the Torah

And what the Ramban says there, that in the Torah everything is hinted, sometimes by hint (beremez) [by hint: with a hint], sometimes openly (begillui) [openly: openly], openly it says 7. Sometimes, he says, there are things that stand only in the initial letters (beroshei teivot) [in the initial letters: in the first letters of words], in the final letters (besofei teivot) [in the final letters: in the last letters of words], in the crowns of the letters (bekutzim sheba’otiyot) [in the crowns of the letters: in the crowns of the letters], in the forms upon the letters (betziyurim she’al gabei otiyot) [in the forms upon the letters: in the forms of the letters], and the like (vechedome) [and the like: and such].

The Hint in a Mitzvah Itself

And sometimes it is hinted in a mitzvah. This is an interesting thing. Sometimes it is hinted in a mitzvah. If you look in Parashat Bereishit, the mitzvah of Shabbat, you see only 7. If you learn twice Parashat Emor and Parashat Behar, and you see there, you see there what? You see there that there is 49. There you begin to discover the secret of how the world truly is.

The Ramban’s Approach to the Length of the World

According to Kabbalah (al pi Kabbalah) [according to Kabbalah: according to the Kabbalah], the world is much more. The Ramban said exactly this, that the world doesn’t stand only for 7,000 years, which is the little bit of wisdom that stands openly, but it stands for 49,000 years, which stands in the format (nusach) [format: format] of Jubilee, which is, as he says, this is 49 years.

Chapter 3: Back to the Fundamental Question — What is the Connection to the Fifty Gates of Understanding?

The Question from Last Week

Now we return, we come to the fundamental question that we learned last week, and we remained with a question, what comes in here, if the entire world is 49, very good, but these are the gates of our teacher (sha’ar rabbeinu) [the gates of our teacher: the gates of our teacher], it has nothing to do with what exists.

The Ramban says that there are 49 Shemittot (shemittot) [Shemittot: Shemittah years] in the world, the world stands for 49 thousand years truly. Or what we learned, the Ramban says another way of this in Parashat Bereishit and by the verse of Parashat Vayechulu [Vayechulu: and they were completed], the Ramban says that the entire world is seven thousand years, “six thousand years the world exists” (sheit alfei shenei havei alma) [six thousand years the world exists: six thousand years is the world], and the seventh day is the day of Shabbat corresponding to that of the holiness of Shabbat (yom haShabbat keneged zeh shel kedushat Shabbat) [the day of Shabbat corresponding to that of the holiness of Shabbat: the day of Shabbat corresponding to that of the holiness of Shabbat].

What does this have to do at all (biklal) [at all: at all] with the topic (nosa) [topic: topic] of the fifty gates of understanding (chamishim sha’arei binah) [fifty gates of understanding: fifty gates of understanding]? It still remains difficult, there are still things that one must be able to say about this.

The Difference Between Seven and Forty-Nine

But what I think today is this, that the, let us focus on the difference between seven and 49, the difference between seven and 49, which means impurity (tumah) [impurity: impurity] and which doesn’t mean impurity, the difference is the same sort of difference as the fifty gates of understanding that were transmitted to Moshe (shenimesru leMoshe) [that were transmitted to Moshe: that were transmitted to Moshe].

Chapter 4: The Structure of World-Year-Soul

The Three Orders are Parallel to Each Other

In other words, just as a person, we look at the world very much with limitation (tzimtzum) [limitation: limitation] in time. Everyone understood what I said last week, that one can answer this, that everyone understood that I mean to say, one can say as the Sefer Yetzirah [Sefer Yetzirah: the Book of Formation] says that the world was created in world, year, and soul (be’olam shanah venefesh) [in world, year, and soul: in world, year, and soul], and the three orders (sedarim) [orders: orders] are parallel to each other (makbil zeh lazeh) [parallel to each other: parallel to one another].

The Forty-Nine in All Three Orders

Just as there is in the world (ba’olam) [in the world: in the world] there are 49 gates of understanding from the Ramban’s introduction (hakdamat haRamban) [the Ramban’s introduction: the introduction of the Ramban], so there is in the year (bashanah) [in the year: in the year] 49 years, 49 thousand years, or 49 days of Sefirat HaOmer which makes exactly a hint for this, and so also there is in the soul (banefesh) [in the soul: in the soul] 49 levels (madregot) [levels: levels] of humility (anavah) [humility: humility], these are the gates of understanding, yes, and so forth (vechu) [and so forth: and so forth]. So everyone certainly understood.

Chapter 5: The Essential Difference — Limitation Versus Breadth

Seven is the Aspect of Limitation

But now I’m giving out a bit better what exactly the difference between the seven and the 49 consists of, and one understands that the difference consists of this, that what, that in the seven it is with limitation, seven is the aspect (bechinah) [aspect: aspect] of the six days of Creation (sheshet yemei bereishit) [the six days of Creation: the six days of Creation], that was the limitation, there it was that what, that the world is very small.

When the World is Small the Time is Small

And when it’s small, when a person’s world is small, his time is small, that means short of days (ketzer yamim) [short of days: short of days], he understands seven years, seven days, that’s how much he can grasp (mashig zein) [grasp: grasp], he doesn’t understand much more. When one speaks about much more, a true person sees only the minute, that means “a moment in the world” (rega be’alma) [a moment in the world: a moment in the world], yes? “A moment establishes every thorn” (rega kava kol kotz) [a moment establishes every thorn: a moment establishes every thorn].

Forty-Nine is the Aspect of Breadth

A person, the more he understands more time, more time of Creation (briah) [Creation: creation], more time of reality, he understands more broadly, and therefore (memeilah) [therefore: therefore] in this is also the same sort of thing, the same structure, one perhaps cannot say that it’s the same, but in the same way one will understand that what? That in the same way there is the point (nekudah) [point: point] that the entire understanding (havanah) [understanding: understanding] that a person has in the world is truly (be’emet) [truly: in truth] forty-nine large, not seven large.

The Connection Between Soul and World

This is the same point. Here it is by the soul, one connects both. It happens that the soul is forty-nine, he understands that the world is forty-nine large, exactly (bediyuk) [exactly: exactly] as it is, not only seven. The same thing he understands that history, how long the world is, is forty-nine and not only seven. The same thing he understands in every thing, in every thing he understands.

The Levels in a Week

That how one can see seven levels, that seven days, one week he can hold in his head, he should know that in one week there are two weeks, and three weeks, and four weeks, and six weeks, and seven weeks, until seven times, until the entire thing. This is the connection of the two things.

Chapter 6: The Three Layers of Understanding

The Purpose of This Lesson

And here one can understand a bit, one must here still clarify many things and make things clear that each thing by itself (bifnei atzmo) [by itself: by itself], and afterwards connect all these things. The lesson was more to connect a few things together, but I hope that it also at the same time clarifies each thing by itself.

The Third Thing — The Aspect of Service

And there is here a third thing that everyone can, but one must only say it so that one should know that there is another thing that we will connect in, one should remember. This is another whole thing that must be connected (mechubar zein) [connected: connected] in this topic (sugya) [topic: topic] here.

Two Extreme Topics

We have now discussed two extreme topics:

One is the topic of the gates of understanding (sha’arei habinah) [the gates of understanding: the gates of understanding], which is all the wisdoms of the world (chochmot ha’olam) [wisdoms of the world: wisdoms of the world], all the parts of the world (chelkei ha’olam) [parts of the world: parts of the world].

The second is the topic of times (zemanim) [times: times], which is more connected apparently (lechorah) [apparently: at first glance] with the plain meaning of Sefirat HaOmer.

How We Connected Them

Although (hagam) [although: although] we have now connected the two things, and we said that the exile (galut) [exile: exile], and one can understand it, the exile from Egypt or the act of Creation (ma’aseh bereishit) [the act of Creation: the act of Creation], this is a very small limited view of seven, and when one hears Pharaoh and one goes to Shabbat HaGadol [Shabbat HaGadol: the Great Shabbat], when one truly stands in the world, then one understands at forty-nine.

It’s Not Just a Parable

And we clarified that it’s not enough to say that it’s a parable (mashal) [parable: parable] with a lesson (nimshal) [lesson: the lesson of a parable], or that it’s the same “as it is above so it is below” (kemo shehu lema’alah ken hu lematah) [as it is above so it is below: as it is above so it is below], just as by a person there are different character traits (middot) [character traits: character traits], so also by the Almighty, or the deeper things that the Kabbalists (mekubalim) [Kabbalists: Kabbalists] say, that a person conducts himself in the traits of kindness (middot hachesed) [traits of kindness: traits of kindness] he awakens (me’orer) [awakens: awakens] by the Almighty the traits of kindness.

The Plain Meaning of Mimachorat HaShabbat

One celebrates Pesach, very good, like Shabbat, the morrow of the Shabbat, simple plain meaning. But if one thinks a bit deeper, one understands that the world is not only seven large, the world is forty-nine large.

Chapter 7: The Practical Difference — Purity of Fifty

What is the Practical Difference at All?

What is the practical difference (nafka minah) [practical difference: practical difference] at all? After seven weeks (shiv’ah shavuot) [seven weeks: seven weeks], after seven weeks of Pesach, the first day of Pesach, the Jews come and they grasp that it doesn’t begin here, and they began to understand, began to count the counting.

Counting Means Until Jubilee

Counting means that one counts until Jubilee (yovel) [Jubilee: Jubilee], it doesn’t end only at seven. One begins to understand that there is here much more to extract, there is much more to understand.

A Purity of Fifty

Ah, if so then there is a practical difference, one must have a purity (taharah) [purity: purity], which is a purity of fifty, not a purity of seven. It has a completely different level of purity. And regarding this (legabei zeh) [regarding this: in relation to this] one is not yet there, regarding this one must be permitted (nitar zein) [permitted: permitted] in the days of the counting (yemei hasefira) [the days of the counting: the days of the counting]. This is a very good plain meaning to understand the two things.

Chapter 8: The Third Thing — The Aspect of Service

The Difference Between Intellect and Service

But there lies here another third thing. In other words, this is already more, one can call it dynamic, more service (avodah) [service: service]. What is the difference? Many times one sees, there is the aspect of intellect (bechinat haskalah) [the aspect of intellect: the aspect of intellect] and the aspect of service. The aspect of intellect is another way to say what we discussed, a concept of wisdom and understanding (chochmah uvina) [wisdom and understanding: wisdom and understanding]. The aspect of intellect is what the thing is itself.

The Ramak in Sha’ar HaShi’urim

The Ramak [Ramak: Rabbi Moshe Cordovero] in Gate 13, Sha’ar HaShi’urim [Sha’ar HaShi’urim: the Gate of Measurements], he brings the two Zohars [Zohar: Sefer HaZohar], and this is how I understand the two things.

The Exodus from Egypt with the Power of Understanding

There is what it says in the Zohar that the Exodus from Egypt (yetziat Mitzrayim) [the Exodus from Egypt: the Exodus from Egypt] was with the power of understanding (bekoach habinah) [with the power of understanding: with the power of understanding], and it says fifty times in the Torah the Exodus from Egypt to show that it was with the power of understanding.

The Ramak’s Question

But says the Ramak, do you mean about this you should tell me that immediately when the Jews left Egypt they understood the understanding, they understood all the fifty gates of understanding that we discussed? No, it was still before the giving of the Torah (matan Torah) [the giving of the Torah: the giving of the Torah], for this one had to wait fifty days.

The Difference Between the Aspect of Wisdom and the Aspect of the Soul

In other words, what the Zohar says that the Exodus from Egypt is already understanding, this is from the aspect of wisdom (mibchinat hachochmah) [from the aspect of wisdom: from the side of wisdom], from the aspect of the first night of Pesach, from the aspect of the sort of hint that the Ramban says in the beginning. Fifty, it’s a hint to the fifty times.

The Jews Had to Go Through the Fifty Gates

But the Jews themselves, from the aspect of the soul (mibchinat hanefesh) [from the aspect of the soul: from the side of the soul], from the aspect of service, did not yet hold there. They had to go through the fifty gates, and as we said another time, ask the questions (kushiyot) [questions: difficult questions] of the fifty gates, find the answers (teirtzim) [answers: answers] of the fifty gates. And then they understood and arrived at Shavuot [Shavuot: the holiday of Shavuot].

The Man Who is Pure Above

Like the man who is pure above (man dimotei tahor le’eila) [the man who is pure above: the man who is pure above], he comes to Shavuot, he purifies himself in all the fifty gates. This is a third sort of understanding that one understands.

The Hint of the Impurity of Sefirat HaNiddah

That the not-fifty is not only a hint of how the world is, this is also a hint of how a process (tahalich) [process: process], of a progression (mahalach) [progression: progression] that people go, and this is the hint of the impurity of Sefirat HaNiddah (tumat sefirat haniddah) [the impurity of Sefirat HaNiddah: the impurity of the counting of the niddah], Sefirat HaZavah (sefirat hazavah) [Sefirat HaZavah: the counting of the zavah], which is seven days, and they said another, last time he said it a good—

—

[End of Part 2]

Sefirat HaOmer: The Process of Purification Through the Fifty Gates of Impurity

Chapter 3: The Connection Between Sefirat HaOmer and Purification from Impurity

And then we will understand that he will arrive at Shavuos [the holiday of Weeks], that “mimacharat haShabbat tisperu lachem” [from the day after the Sabbath you shall count for yourselves], he arrives at Shavuos, he purifies himself in all the fifty sha’arei tumah [fifty gates of impurity]. And this is a different sort of havana [understanding] that one understands, that the fifty is not only a remez [hint/allusion] of how the world is, this is also a remez of how a tahalich [process], of a mahalach [progression] that people go through.

The Remez of Tumat Sefirat HaNiddah and Sefirat HaZavah

And this is the remez of tumat sefirat haniddah [counting of the menstruant woman], sefirat hazavah [counting of the woman with irregular discharge], which is seven days.

A New Havana in the Sefirah of the Zavah

And they said it differently. Last time they said that the sefirat hazavah is so that she should be mechaber [connect] back to the madrega [level] of seven, which is the seder havayah ba’olam [the order of existence in the world].

Now we say it a bit differently, now we say that the ishah [woman] is indeed a sufferer, it’s an emet [truth], now one takes seriously the tumah [impurity] that she has, and one says that she was indeed tamei [impure]. It may be that the tumah is indeed a din [law/judgment] that she doesn’t understand, but one takes it seriously, and one says that one must count seven days and not only count in order to be metaher [purify] oneself. And this is a third thing that one must explain more deeply, to be mesbir [explain] further.

Conclusion

And this was enough for the week to be mechadesh [innovate] chiddushei Torah [Torah insights] lichvod [in honor of] the yemei hasefira [days of the counting]. And to wish a freilichen Shabbos [a joyous Sabbath].