Article No. 17, 1985<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is written in The Zohar<\/em>, Vaera<\/em> (item 89): \u201cRabbi Elazar started and said, \u2018Know today and reply to your heart that the Lord, He is God.\u2019 He asks, \u2018It should have said, \u2018Know this day that the Lord, He is God,\u2019 and in the end, \u2018And reply to your heart,\u2019 since knowing that the Lord is God qualifies him to respond so to the heart.\u2019 He answers, \u2018But Moses said, \u2018If you want to insist on it and know \u2018that the Lord is God,\u2019 then \u2018reply to your heart.\u2019 Thus, we cannot know \u2018that the Lord, he is God,\u201d except by replying to the heart.\u2019 This is why the text first brings \u2018reply to your heart,\u2019 to know by this that \u2018the Lord he is God.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We should interpret this in the work. The order of the work is not what seems logical, as is the view of the nations of the world\u2014first \u201cwe will hear,\u201d and then \u201cwe will do.\u201d Rather, first \u201cwe will do,\u201d and then \u201cwe will hear,\u201d as Israel said, \u201cWe will do and we will hear.\u201d Our sages said (Shabbat<\/em>, 88), \u201cWhen Israel preceded doing to hearing, a voice came out and told them, \u2018Who told my sons this secret, which the ministering angels used?\u2019\u201d It follows that by saying, \u201cWe will do and we will hear,\u201d they became similar to the ministering angels and not to people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We should understand the reason for this: An angel is called a \u201cmessenger.\u201d There are two types of angels:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1) Those who do not mind what the sender tells them to do and take no interest in the act itself. Similarly, one who gives a package to give to another is not interested in the content of the package or the connection between the sender of the object and the messenger. But if he wants to carry out the sender\u2019s instructions he does it willingly. Certainly, the messenger receives some reward for this action, and this is called \u201cserving the rav [great one\/teacher] in order to receive reward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2) Sometimes, if the sender is an important person, his reward is the privilege of serving the rav, and he does not need any other reward, called a \u201cprize.\u201d It follows that the messenger has no interest or need to know the connection between the sender, who is sending the object to the receiver of the object. Also, he has no need to know what is the object, meaning what is in that package that he has received from the sender to bring to this or that person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the meaning of \u201cwe will do,\u201d like a messenger who is not interested at all, since we want to serve the king, to give him pleasure, and our pleasure is in having the possibility to serve him. This is the meaning of being an angel, meaning a messenger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe will hear\u201d means that he already listens and understand the matter through and through. That is, at that time he is not regarded as an angel, a messenger. Rather, at that time he becomes the receiver of the gift from the messenger. And then it is not regarded as messenger and sender, but as receiver and giver, since he knows what is in that package because the giver wants him to receive the package and see the importance of the gift he is giving him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the above we can interpret that the meaning of \u201creply to your heart\u201d as \u201cwe will do,\u201d which is faith above reason. Afterwards we can be rewarded with \u201cthe Lord, He is God,\u201d which is \u201cwe shall hear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n An act means potential action, when he has nothing to reply to the body\u2019s question. He sees that what the body is asking is a correct question, to which he has no answer. At that time there is no room for deliberation because it is asking correct questions. At that time there is only one answer: \u201cabove reason.\u201d That is, although the body objects to all the things he wants to do for the Creator, he should say, \u201ca Mitzva<\/em> [good deed] induces a Mitzva<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And since he has one Mitzva<\/em>, which he always keeps, the Mitzva<\/em> of circumcision, a Mitzva<\/em> that the body cannot resist, if he can be happy with one thing, even that he is keeping the Creator\u2019s commandment, if he is thinking about keeping this Mitzva<\/em>, of which the body has no opinion, by that he can reawaken his work and toil diligently once again, as he did prior to the descent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, we must know that each ascent is a new thing. That is, when a person ascends, he does not return to the previous state. Rather, it is always a new discernment, as the ARI says, \u201cOne day is not like another; and one moment is not like another; and one cannot correct that which one\u2019s friend will correct.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n By that we can interpret what our sages said (Minchot<\/em> 43), \u201cWhen David entered the bath-house and saw himself standing naked, he said, \u2018Woe unto me for I am standing naked, without Mitzvot<\/em> [good deeds\/corrections].\u2019 When he remembered the Mitzva<\/em> of circumcision in his flesh, his mind was eased. When he came out he said a psalm about it, as it was said, \u2018To the chief musician on the eighth,\u2019 concerning the circumcision, which was given on the eighth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We should interpret that a bath-house is when a person comes to purify himself. A state of purity is called \u201cbath-house.\u201d At that time, when he looks at himself, at how much Torah and Mitzvot<\/em> he has, and of which he can say he did for the Creator, he sees himself as naked. This concerns the past. Afterwards he looks at the present and sees that now, too, he does not want to do anything in order to bestow. This is the meaning of the words, \u201cWoe unto me for I am standing naked, without Mitzvot<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen he remembered the Mitzva<\/em> of circumcision in his flesh, his mind was eased,\u201d since due in the commandment of circumcision he had no foreign thoughts because the view of the infant did not participate during the circumcision. Now, on the basis of the circumcision, he begins to build the order of his work, meaning that it will be above reason, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen he came out he said a psalm about it.\u201d That is, once he was out of his state, meaning during the ascent, regarded as coming out of the bath-house, when he has been purified, \u201cHe said a psalm about it,\u201d since he built the whole structure henceforth on that basis of above reason, since the first Mitzva<\/em> he had was above his reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is why we should interpret that he \u201csaw himself standing naked\u201d means that he had no desire to do Mitzvot<\/em>. Thus, he had no connection to Kedusha<\/em> [holiness], since the body resisted anything of Kedusha<\/em>. But \u201che remembered the Mitzva<\/em> of circumcision in his flesh,\u201d to which the body cannot resist. Even those who circumcised themselves, although they had choice while they were circumcising themselves, at the time they were in ascent, or they would not circumcise themselves. Afterwards, during the descent, they no longer had choice concerning the circumcision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But women, who do not need to circumcise their bodies, with what can they overcome? It is possible because of Arvut<\/em> [mutual guarantee], that \u201cIsrael are responsible for one another.\u201d That Mitzva<\/em> was literally carved in his flesh, meaning in his body, and not in a practical Mitzva<\/em>, which is from the externality of his body. \u201cHis mind was eased,\u201d meaning that in such a state of descent he is still connected to the commandments of the Creator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This can give him room to build his structure of Kedusha<\/em> and say to his body, \u201cYou cannot bring me to despair, since you see that you are detached from the whole issue of Torah and Mitzvot<\/em>, and you have no desire, so why are you still dreaming that it is possible that the Creator will bring you closer than others? You see that you are worse than others, so where do you get this insolence that He should bring you closer, to walk on the path of truth, which is to bestow and not receive anything, when you see that your body doesn\u2019t even agree to engage in Torah and Mitzvot<\/em> Lo<\/em> Lishma<\/em> [not for Her sake]?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n To this comes the answer that the Creator deliberately left a Mitzva<\/em> in your body, so you will be able to see that there is still something that connects you to the Creator, meaning the Mitzva<\/em> of circumcision, which you cannot cancel. This is the meaning of saying, \u201cThe outcast shall not be outcast from Him.\u201d Rather, everyone will approach the Creator. This is why his mind was appeased by this, for he began to build all of his reason on the circumcision in his flesh. This is the circumcision that was given on the eighth, since Bina<\/em> is called \u201ceighth,\u201d which is covered Hassadim<\/em>, meaning above reason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Article No. 17, 1985 It is written in The Zohar, Vaera (item 89): \u201cRabbi Elazar started and said, \u2018Know today and reply to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":6243,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"topic":[26],"class_list":["post-9453","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry","topic-rabash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n