וזה היה ענין עבודת האבות כל ימיהם. כי המה בנוראות צדקתם וטהרת קדושת לבם היו מדבקים מחשבתם לרצונו יתברך כל ימיהם בלי הפסק רגע. ובטלו ברצונם כל הכחות שבעולם ולאפס ותהו נחשבו אצלם. ולכן זכו גם לנסים נפלאים בשדוד המערכות וצבאיהם כנ"ל. ולכן נתיחד שמו יתברך עליהם להקרא אלהי אברהם אלהי יצחק וכו'. וכאמרו יתב' בעצמו אלקי אבותיכם. ולזה אמרו ז"ל האבות הן הן המרכבה.
And this was the context of the Patriarchs’ service all their days. For they [emphatic], in their awesome righteousness and purity of their holy heart/minds, would attach their thoughts to His Will (blessed be He) all their days without even a momentary interruption. And they nullified with their will all of the powers in the universe, and they were considered as nil and nothingness to them. And therefore they merited also to wondrous miracles that changed the system of nature and those associated with it866Heb.: b’shee-dood ha-ma-ah-ra-khote v’tzeev-ei-hem, as described above. And therefore His (blessed be He) name was united with theirs to be called the God-Elohi”m of Avraham, the God-Elohi”m of Yitzkhak… . And as He (blessed be He) himself stated (Shemot 3:13): “the God-Elohi”m of your forefathers”, and because of this they (OBM) stated (Bereshit Rabba 47:22): “The Patriarchs, they [emphatic] are the Vehicle”867The Patriarchs are called “the Vehicle” in reference to the verses: Bereshit 17:22 and 35:13, 28:13. In all of those verses God’s presence is (so to speak) upon or permeates the Patriarch; God’s presence settles upon/permeates them and then lifts off of them..
2
אמנם מדרגת משרע"ה היתה עוד יותר גבוה. כמו שהעידה התורה ולא קם נביא וגו'. ועצם חילוק מדרגתו ממדרגתם ביא' הוא יתב' בעצמו ואמר אני הוי"ה. וארא אל אברהם וכו' באל שדי ושמי הוי"ה לא נודעתי להם.
However, Moshe Rabbeinu’s (peace be upon him) level was still higher, as the Torah testified (D’varim 34:10): “Never again has there arisen a prophet…”. And the essence of the difference between his level and theirs was as He (blessed be He) Himself explained, and He stated (Shemot 6:3): “I am God-YHV”H, and I appeared to Avraham… as God-Ei”l Shadda”i, but with My name God-YHV”H I did not make Myself known to them”.
3
והענין הוא הוא עצם החילוק שנתבאר למעלה בין השם אלהים לשם הוי"ה ב"ה. כי על הרוב בענין השגת האבות מצינו נאמר השם אלקים. האלקים אשר התהלכו אבותי לפניו. האלקים הרועה אותי מעודי. וכן אנחנו קוראים אותו יתב' אלהי אברהם וכו'. כמש"ל בענין קדושת מדרגתם. שלא השגיחו על שום כח וענין בעולם כלל. אמנם השגת נבואתם לא היתה בביטול הכחות ממציאותם לגמרי. וזש"ה וארא אל אברהם וכו' באל שדי שענינו ג"כ כענין השם אלהים ור"ל שאני בעל הכחות כולם וברצותי כל רגע אני משדד מערכת כל הכחות מאשר קבעתי בהם בעת הבריאה. זהו אל שדי. אבל בבחי' ענין שמי הוי"ם (כמו שנתבאר פי' ענינו לעיל פי"א) לא נודעתי להם בהשגת נבואתם.
And this [specific] matter, it [emphatic] is the essence of the difference that was explained above between the name God-Elohi”m and the name God-YHV”H (blessed be He). For in the majority of cases, in the context of what the Patriarchs grasped, we found that the name used is God-Elohi”m: “O’ God-Elohi”m before whom my forefathers Avraham and Yitzkhak walked” (Bereshit 48:15); “the God-Elohi”m who shepherds me from my inception” (ibid). And so too we call Him (blessed be He) the “God-Elohi”m of Avraham…”, as I described previously in the context of the holiness of their level, that they gave no credence to any other power or context in the universe at all. However, their achievement of prophecy was not by nullifying the powers from their existence in toto. And what the verse stated (Shemot 6:3): “and I appeared to Avraham… as God-Ei”l Shadda”i” (whose context is also the same as the context of the name G-d-Elohi”m), intends to convey that I am the Master of All Powers, and if I so will it, each instant, I change the system of nature and the powers from how I fixed them at the time of creation—this is “God-Ei”l Shadda”i”. But in the aspect of the context of “My name God-YHV”H,” (whose context was described previously in chapter 11), “I did not make myself known to them” to be within their prophetic grasp.
4
אבל משרע"ה היתה השגת נבואתו בחי' השם העצם המיוחד הוי"ה ב"ה. ולכן לא היה שום כח חוצץ בפני אור השגת נבואתו. וכן ע"י כל נסי ה' שנעשו על ידו ראו כולם ביטול מציאות כל הכחות לגמרי ואין עוד מלבדו יתב' לגמרי כמשמעו. כמש"ה אתה הראת לדעת כי ה' הוא וכו'. והוא ענין ופי' השם המיוחד הוי"ה ב"ה כנ"ל.
But Moshe Rabbeinu (peace be upon him), his prophetic ability was in the context of the quality of the essential name, the unique God-YHV”H (blessed be He), and for that reason there was no power obstructing the light of his prophetic ability. Thus, via all the miracles of God-YHV”H that were performed by him, everyone observed a complete nullification of the existence of all the powers, and there is nothing other than Him (blessed be he) completely, just as it sounds. As the text stated: “You have been shown to know that God-YHV”H is…”, and this is the context and explanation of the unified name God-YHV”H, as we described previously.
5
ז"ש וידבר אלהים אל משה ויאמר אליו אני הוי"ה. הודיעו עצם בחי' השגת נבואתו שגם השם אלהים אצלו הכל בחי' הוי"ה. כענין הכתוב כי ה' הוא האלהים אין עוד מלבדו. ומאז ואילך לא נזכר אצלו אלא וידבר ה' ויאמר ה'. וזהו ולא קם נביא וכו' אשר ידעו הוי"ה פא"פ {פנים אל פנים} . וז"ש בתיקון כ"ו ולגבי אבהן לא אתחזיא אלא במנעלים כו' אבל לגבי משה בלא כסויא כלל ורזא דמלא וארא אל אברהם וכו' עכ"ל:
This is what is written (Shemot 6:2): “God-Elohi”m spoke to Moshe and said to him: “I am God-YHV”H”. He informed him about the essence of the quality of his prophetic perception, that even the name God-Elohi”m, for him everything had the quality of God-YHV”H, as in the context of the verse (D’varim 4:35): “For God-YHV”H is the God-Elohi”m, there is nothing other than Him”. And from that point on nothing else is mentioned in relation to him other than “and God-YHV”H spoke” and “and God-YHV”H said”. And this is (D’varim 34:10): “And never again has there arisen a prophet… whom God-YHV”H had known face to face”, and what is written in Tikkoon 26868In the context of a discussion of yiboom and chaleetza.: “Concerning the Patriarchs He did not appear to them except wearing shoes,869Heb.: min-ah-leem—the garments that cover the lowermost extremities of the body., while concerning Moshe, it’s without any garments at all. And this is the secret of the verse: ‘and I appeared to Avraham’…”. This concludes its words.
6
והוא ג"כ ענין מאמרם ז"ל בס"פ כסוי הדם גדול שנא' במשה ואהרן יותר ממ"ש באברה'. דאלו באברהם כתיב ואנכי עפר ואפר ואלו במשה ואהרן כתיב ונחנו מה.
And this is also the context of their (OBM) statement at the end of chapter kisui ha-dahm (Chullin 89a): “What is said in relation to Moshe and Aharon is greater than what was said in relation to Avraham. For by Avraham it is written (Bereshit 18:27): “although I am but dirt and ash870Heb.: ah-far v’ei-fer”, and by Moshe and Aharon is written (Shemot 16:5): “for us, what are we?871Heb.: v’nahkh-noo ma”.
7
כי עפר ואפר עכ"פ מתראה עדיין למציאות עפר. אבל משרע"ה אמר ונחנו מה כאלו אין שום מציאות בעולם כלל לגמרי. (ועם כי גם את אהרן כלל אתו בזאת הבחי' וכמאמרם גדול שנאמ' במשה ואהרן. לפי שתלונת ישראל היתה על שניהם השיבם בלשון רבים אבל העיקר בזאת המדרגה הנוראה היה הוא לבד).
For dirt and ash, from all perspectives, still appears to have the existence of dirt [*]. But Moshe Rabbeinu (peace be upon him) said “for us, what are we”, as if they have no existence in the universe at all, totally. (And even though he also included Aharon with him in this context, and as per their great remark that was stated regarding Moshe and Aharon, that since Israel’s complaint was about both of them, he responded in the plural; however the focus for this awesome level was him alone.)
8
הגהה: וענין עפר ואפר הוא כענין כוונת פרה אדומה שיוכללו הפ"ר דינין במקור שרשם באלף שהוא כח הפשוט של כל האותיות. וענין החילוק בין עפר לאפר כענין החילוק בין כתנות עור לאור:
Annotation: And the matter of dirt and ash is as per the context of the intention of the red heifer872Heb.: ka-va-naht pa-ra ah-doo-ma. The ashes of the red heifer (pa-ra ah-doo-ma—see Bamidbar 19) are used to purify from the state of ritual impurity associated with death, caused by powers of judgment. The root of the Hebrew word for heifer is par, spelled pei reish, with a g’matria of two hundred and eighty, the number of powers of judgment. Ei-fer (ashes) is written alef, pei, reish, the same as par with the addition of an initial alef, which has a g’matria of one. The one is the root of the judgments. Rav Chayyim seems to be saying that the correct use of the ashes re-integrates the two hundred and eighty judgments into their root (the alef)., that the two hundred and eighty judgments should be re-integrated into their root in the alef, that being the plain power of all the letters. And the matter of the difference between ah-far and ei-fer is like the difference between koot-note ore and or873Koot-note ore is a reference to the garments that God made for Ah-dahm and Cha-va in the Garden of Eden (Bereshit 3:21). Ore, written with an initial ayin, means skin or leather. Rabbee Mei-eer says (cited in Bereshit Rabba 20:12) that it should be read, rather, that God made for them garments of light (rather than leather )—light is written as or, with an alef instead of an ayin. Rav Chayyim says here that the difference between dirt (ah-far, written with an ayin) and ashes (ei-fer, written with an alef) is like the difference between ore and or. For more details see Etz Chayyim, sha-ar 49 (Sha-ar Kleepaht Noga), chapters 3 and 4..
9
וז"ש בשמות רבה פי"א יצחק אמר למשה אני גדול ממך שפשטתי צוארי כו' וראיתי את פני השכינה. א"ל משה אני נתעליתי יותר ממך שאתה ראית פני השכינה וכהו עינך כו' אבל אני הייתי מדבר עם השכינה פנים בפנים ולא כהו עיני. ומבואר למבין. וע' מ"ש הרח"ו ז"ל בס' הגלגולים בפי. מאמרם ז"ל אברהם אברהם יעקב יעקב פסיק טעמא. ומשה משה לא פסיק טעמא. שהוא על ענין הפסק וחציצה מועטת מענין הגוף ע"ש:
And what was written in Sh’mote Rabba (chapter 11): “Yitzkhak said to Moshe: ‘I am greater than you in that I offered my neck… and I saw the face of the Sh’kheena.’ Moshe responded: ‘I was raised higher than you, because you saw the face of the Sh’kheena and your eyes were dimmed…, but I spoke with the Sh’kheena face to face and my eyes were not dimmed’.” This is clear to one who understands. And refer to what Rav Chayyim Vittal (OBM) wrote in Seifer Ha-gilgulim, in the commentary on their (OBM) statement (Sh’mote Rabba 2): “‘Avraham, Avraham’ and ‘Yaakov, Yaakov’, have a p’sik874A p’sik is one of the ta-ah-meem (the trup marks that are an integral part of the Torah’s text that inform how to read the text). It denotes a break between words. between them, and ‘Moshe Moshe’ does not have a p’sik between them”, this being about the matter of the tiny separation and obstruction relating to the body, refer there [for more details].
וזה היה ענין עבודת האבות כל ימיהם. כי המה בנוראות צדקתם וטהרת קדושת לבם היו מדבקים מחשבתם לרצונו יתברך כל ימיהם בלי הפסק רגע. ובטלו ברצונם כל הכחות שבעולם ולאפס ותהו נחשבו אצלם. ולכן זכו גם לנסים נפלאים בשדוד המערכות וצבאיהם כנ"ל. ולכן נתיחד שמו יתברך עליהם להקרא אלהי אברהם אלהי יצחק וכו'. וכאמרו יתב' בעצמו אלקי אבותיכם. ולזה אמרו ז"ל האבות הן הן המרכבה.
And this was the context of the Patriarchs’ service all their days. For they [emphatic], in their awesome righteousness and purity of their holy heart/minds, would attach their thoughts to His Will (blessed be He) all their days without even a momentary interruption. And they nullified with their will all of the powers in the universe, and they were considered as nil and nothingness to them. And therefore they merited also to wondrous miracles that changed the system of nature and those associated with it866Heb.: b’shee-dood ha-ma-ah-ra-khote v’tzeev-ei-hem, as described above. And therefore His (blessed be He) name was united with theirs to be called the God-Elohi”m of Avraham, the God-Elohi”m of Yitzkhak… . And as He (blessed be He) himself stated (Shemot 3:13): “the God-Elohi”m of your forefathers”, and because of this they (OBM) stated (Bereshit Rabba 47:22): “The Patriarchs, they [emphatic] are the Vehicle”867The Patriarchs are called “the Vehicle” in reference to the verses: Bereshit 17:22 and 35:13, 28:13. In all of those verses God’s presence is (so to speak) upon or permeates the Patriarch; God’s presence settles upon/permeates them and then lifts off of them..
אמנם מדרגת משרע"ה היתה עוד יותר גבוה. כמו שהעידה התורה ולא קם נביא וגו'. ועצם חילוק מדרגתו ממדרגתם ביא' הוא יתב' בעצמו ואמר אני הוי"ה. וארא אל אברהם וכו' באל שדי ושמי הוי"ה לא נודעתי להם.
However, Moshe Rabbeinu’s (peace be upon him) level was still higher, as the Torah testified (D’varim 34:10): “Never again has there arisen a prophet…”. And the essence of the difference between his level and theirs was as He (blessed be He) Himself explained, and He stated (Shemot 6:3): “I am God-YHV”H, and I appeared to Avraham… as God-Ei”l Shadda”i, but with My name God-YHV”H I did not make Myself known to them”.
והענין הוא הוא עצם החילוק שנתבאר למעלה בין השם אלהים לשם הוי"ה ב"ה. כי על הרוב בענין השגת האבות מצינו נאמר השם אלקים. האלקים אשר התהלכו אבותי לפניו. האלקים הרועה אותי מעודי. וכן אנחנו קוראים אותו יתב' אלהי אברהם וכו'. כמש"ל בענין קדושת מדרגתם. שלא השגיחו על שום כח וענין בעולם כלל. אמנם השגת נבואתם לא היתה בביטול הכחות ממציאותם לגמרי. וזש"ה וארא אל אברהם וכו' באל שדי שענינו ג"כ כענין השם אלהים ור"ל שאני בעל הכחות כולם וברצותי כל רגע אני משדד מערכת כל הכחות מאשר קבעתי בהם בעת הבריאה. זהו אל שדי. אבל בבחי' ענין שמי הוי"ם (כמו שנתבאר פי' ענינו לעיל פי"א) לא נודעתי להם בהשגת נבואתם.
And this [specific] matter, it [emphatic] is the essence of the difference that was explained above between the name God-Elohi”m and the name God-YHV”H (blessed be He). For in the majority of cases, in the context of what the Patriarchs grasped, we found that the name used is God-Elohi”m: “O’ God-Elohi”m before whom my forefathers Avraham and Yitzkhak walked” (Bereshit 48:15); “the God-Elohi”m who shepherds me from my inception” (ibid). And so too we call Him (blessed be He) the “God-Elohi”m of Avraham…”, as I described previously in the context of the holiness of their level, that they gave no credence to any other power or context in the universe at all. However, their achievement of prophecy was not by nullifying the powers from their existence in toto. And what the verse stated (Shemot 6:3): “and I appeared to Avraham… as God-Ei”l Shadda”i” (whose context is also the same as the context of the name G-d-Elohi”m), intends to convey that I am the Master of All Powers, and if I so will it, each instant, I change the system of nature and the powers from how I fixed them at the time of creation—this is “God-Ei”l Shadda”i”. But in the aspect of the context of “My name God-YHV”H,” (whose context was described previously in chapter 11), “I did not make myself known to them” to be within their prophetic grasp.
אבל משרע"ה היתה השגת נבואתו בחי' השם העצם המיוחד הוי"ה ב"ה. ולכן לא היה שום כח חוצץ בפני אור השגת נבואתו. וכן ע"י כל נסי ה' שנעשו על ידו ראו כולם ביטול מציאות כל הכחות לגמרי ואין עוד מלבדו יתב' לגמרי כמשמעו. כמש"ה אתה הראת לדעת כי ה' הוא וכו'. והוא ענין ופי' השם המיוחד הוי"ה ב"ה כנ"ל.
But Moshe Rabbeinu (peace be upon him), his prophetic ability was in the context of the quality of the essential name, the unique God-YHV”H (blessed be He), and for that reason there was no power obstructing the light of his prophetic ability. Thus, via all the miracles of God-YHV”H that were performed by him, everyone observed a complete nullification of the existence of all the powers, and there is nothing other than Him (blessed be he) completely, just as it sounds. As the text stated: “You have been shown to know that God-YHV”H is…”, and this is the context and explanation of the unified name God-YHV”H, as we described previously.
ז"ש וידבר אלהים אל משה ויאמר אליו אני הוי"ה. הודיעו עצם בחי' השגת נבואתו שגם השם אלהים אצלו הכל בחי' הוי"ה. כענין הכתוב כי ה' הוא האלהים אין עוד מלבדו. ומאז ואילך לא נזכר אצלו אלא וידבר ה' ויאמר ה'. וזהו ולא קם נביא וכו' אשר ידעו הוי"ה פא"פ {פנים אל פנים} . וז"ש בתיקון כ"ו ולגבי אבהן לא אתחזיא אלא במנעלים כו' אבל לגבי משה בלא כסויא כלל ורזא דמלא וארא אל אברהם וכו' עכ"ל:
This is what is written (Shemot 6:2): “God-Elohi”m spoke to Moshe and said to him: “I am God-YHV”H”. He informed him about the essence of the quality of his prophetic perception, that even the name God-Elohi”m, for him everything had the quality of God-YHV”H, as in the context of the verse (D’varim 4:35): “For God-YHV”H is the God-Elohi”m, there is nothing other than Him”. And from that point on nothing else is mentioned in relation to him other than “and God-YHV”H spoke” and “and God-YHV”H said”. And this is (D’varim 34:10): “And never again has there arisen a prophet… whom God-YHV”H had known face to face”, and what is written in Tikkoon 26868In the context of a discussion of yiboom and chaleetza.: “Concerning the Patriarchs He did not appear to them except wearing shoes,869Heb.: min-ah-leem—the garments that cover the lowermost extremities of the body., while concerning Moshe, it’s without any garments at all. And this is the secret of the verse: ‘and I appeared to Avraham’…”. This concludes its words.
והוא ג"כ ענין מאמרם ז"ל בס"פ כסוי הדם גדול שנא' במשה ואהרן יותר ממ"ש באברה'. דאלו באברהם כתיב ואנכי עפר ואפר ואלו במשה ואהרן כתיב ונחנו מה.
And this is also the context of their (OBM) statement at the end of chapter kisui ha-dahm (Chullin 89a): “What is said in relation to Moshe and Aharon is greater than what was said in relation to Avraham. For by Avraham it is written (Bereshit 18:27): “although I am but dirt and ash870Heb.: ah-far v’ei-fer”, and by Moshe and Aharon is written (Shemot 16:5): “for us, what are we?871Heb.: v’nahkh-noo ma”.
כי עפר ואפר עכ"פ מתראה עדיין למציאות עפר. אבל משרע"ה אמר ונחנו מה כאלו אין שום מציאות בעולם כלל לגמרי. (ועם כי גם את אהרן כלל אתו בזאת הבחי' וכמאמרם גדול שנאמ' במשה ואהרן. לפי שתלונת ישראל היתה על שניהם השיבם בלשון רבים אבל העיקר בזאת המדרגה הנוראה היה הוא לבד).
For dirt and ash, from all perspectives, still appears to have the existence of dirt [*]. But Moshe Rabbeinu (peace be upon him) said “for us, what are we”, as if they have no existence in the universe at all, totally. (And even though he also included Aharon with him in this context, and as per their great remark that was stated regarding Moshe and Aharon, that since Israel’s complaint was about both of them, he responded in the plural; however the focus for this awesome level was him alone.)
הגהה: וענין עפר ואפר הוא כענין כוונת פרה אדומה שיוכללו הפ"ר דינין במקור שרשם באלף שהוא כח הפשוט של כל האותיות. וענין החילוק בין עפר לאפר כענין החילוק בין כתנות עור לאור:
Annotation: And the matter of dirt and ash is as per the context of the intention of the red heifer872Heb.: ka-va-naht pa-ra ah-doo-ma. The ashes of the red heifer (pa-ra ah-doo-ma—see Bamidbar 19) are used to purify from the state of ritual impurity associated with death, caused by powers of judgment. The root of the Hebrew word for heifer is par, spelled pei reish, with a g’matria of two hundred and eighty, the number of powers of judgment. Ei-fer (ashes) is written alef, pei, reish, the same as par with the addition of an initial alef, which has a g’matria of one. The one is the root of the judgments. Rav Chayyim seems to be saying that the correct use of the ashes re-integrates the two hundred and eighty judgments into their root (the alef)., that the two hundred and eighty judgments should be re-integrated into their root in the alef, that being the plain power of all the letters. And the matter of the difference between ah-far and ei-fer is like the difference between koot-note ore and or873Koot-note ore is a reference to the garments that God made for Ah-dahm and Cha-va in the Garden of Eden (Bereshit 3:21). Ore, written with an initial ayin, means skin or leather. Rabbee Mei-eer says (cited in Bereshit Rabba 20:12) that it should be read, rather, that God made for them garments of light (rather than leather )—light is written as or, with an alef instead of an ayin. Rav Chayyim says here that the difference between dirt (ah-far, written with an ayin) and ashes (ei-fer, written with an alef) is like the difference between ore and or. For more details see Etz Chayyim, sha-ar 49 (Sha-ar Kleepaht Noga), chapters 3 and 4..
וז"ש בשמות רבה פי"א יצחק אמר למשה אני גדול ממך שפשטתי צוארי כו' וראיתי את פני השכינה. א"ל משה אני נתעליתי יותר ממך שאתה ראית פני השכינה וכהו עינך כו' אבל אני הייתי מדבר עם השכינה פנים בפנים ולא כהו עיני. ומבואר למבין. וע' מ"ש הרח"ו ז"ל בס' הגלגולים בפי. מאמרם ז"ל אברהם אברהם יעקב יעקב פסיק טעמא. ומשה משה לא פסיק טעמא. שהוא על ענין הפסק וחציצה מועטת מענין הגוף ע"ש:
And what was written in Sh’mote Rabba (chapter 11): “Yitzkhak said to Moshe: ‘I am greater than you in that I offered my neck… and I saw the face of the Sh’kheena.’ Moshe responded: ‘I was raised higher than you, because you saw the face of the Sh’kheena and your eyes were dimmed…, but I spoke with the Sh’kheena face to face and my eyes were not dimmed’.” This is clear to one who understands. And refer to what Rav Chayyim Vittal (OBM) wrote in Seifer Ha-gilgulim, in the commentary on their (OBM) statement (Sh’mote Rabba 2): “‘Avraham, Avraham’ and ‘Yaakov, Yaakov’, have a p’sik874A p’sik is one of the ta-ah-meem (the trup marks that are an integral part of the Torah’s text that inform how to read the text). It denotes a break between words. between them, and ‘Moshe Moshe’ does not have a p’sik between them”, this being about the matter of the tiny separation and obstruction relating to the body, refer there [for more details].