“And these are the Judgments that you must set before them.” (Exodus 21:1)
We learn in the Talmud (Berachoth 3a); R. Jose said: “I was once traveling on the road, when I entered into one of the ruins of Jerusalem in order to pray. Elijah the Prophet, of blessed memory, appeared and waited for me at the door until I had finished my prayer. Whereupon, he said to me. ‘Peace be with you, master!’ And I replied, ‘Peace be with you master and teacher!’ He said to me, ‘My son, why did you enter this ruin?’ I replied, ‘To pray.’ . . . He said to me, ‘My son, what sound did you hear in this ruin?’ I replied, ‘I heard a Divine Voice, cooing like a dove, saying, “Woe to Me, that I razed My house, burned My temple, and exiled My children among the Gentiles!” ’ He said to me, ‘By your life and by your head! It is not only now that God exclaims thus, He does so thrice each day! And even more than that, whenever Jews go into synagogues and studyhouses and respond, “May His great name be blessed!” the Holy Blessed One nods His head and says; “Happy is the king who is thus praised in his house! Woe to the father who banishes his children, and woe to the children who are banished from their father’s table!” ’ ”
We have previously discussed why R. Jose heard the Divine Voice only when he was praying amidst the ruins, even though the Holy Blessed One speaks thus three times every day. For behold! A Jew, tortured in his suffering, may think he is the only one in pain, as though his individual, personal pain, and the pain of all other Jews, has no affect Above, God forbid. But, as the verse (Isaiah 63:9) says, “In all their pain is His pain,” and as we learn in the Talmud (Hagigah 15b) in the name of R. Meir, “When a person suffers, to what expression does the Shechinah (Divine) give utterance? ‘O woe! My head, O woe! My arms.’ ” In sacred literature we learn that God, as it were, suffers the pain of a Jew much more than that person himself feels it.
Possibly because God is infinite—and hence unknowable in the world—His pain at the suffering of Jewish people is also infinite. Perhaps it is not just impossible for any human to feel such immense pain, it is impossible even to apprehend the level of God’s pain, to know that He bears it. Just to hear God’s voice saying, “Woe to Me, that I razed My house, burned My temple, and exiled My children among the Gentiles!” is impossible, because it is beyond the boundaries of human comprehension. It was only when R. Jose entered into the devastation of one of the ruins of Jerusalem, letting go somewhat of his self-centeredness, that the boundaries restricting his perception were also destroyed and he was able to hear the voice of God. Even then, he heard only a little of the voice, for, as he said, “I heard a Divine Voice, cooing like a dove,” while we know from the verse (Jeremiah 25:30) “God roars, howling over his city,” that God roars, as it were, like a lion, over the destruction of the Temple.
And so, the world continues to exist steadfast, it is not obliterated by God’s pain and His voice at the suffering of his people and the destruction of His house, because God’s pain never enters into the world. This could explain the teaching in the Midrash (Lament. Rabbah, Intro. 24.): “At the hour of the destruction of the Temple, God wept, saying, ‘Oh! Woe unto Me, what have I done? I brought my Shechinah (Divine Presence) down to dwell below, for Israel’s sake, and now I am retreating to My original position, to be the laughingstock of Gentiles, reviled among creatures.’ At that moment the angel Metatron appeared, and falling upon his face he begged, ‘Master of the Universe, allow me cry, and then You need not cry.’ God replied, ‘If you do not leave Me to cry now, I will go somewhere you have no permission to enter, and I will cry there, as it is written (Jeremiah 13:17): “For if you listen not, My soul will weep in mistarim (concealment).” ’ ”
In the Midrash (Tanna D’bai Eliyahu Rabbah 17) we learn: “Why does God weep in private? Because it is unseemly for a king to cry in front of his subjects.” If the only reason the angel Metatron asked leave to cry in God’s stead was because it is unseemly for God to cry publicly, the angel could simply have left God’s presence, leaving God to cry privately. But with what we have said above, it may be explained thus. What the angel meant is that it is a shame for his subjects that their king should have to cry at all. But since His pain is, as it were, infinite—pain greater than the world can discern—and consequently cannot enter the world, so the world does not even tremble at it, the angel made his proposal, saying, “Allow me to cry, and then You need not cry.” Although angels are messengers of God, through whom God performs His acts, this is why this angel wanted to be allowed to do God’s weeping, as it were, to introduce it into the world, so that God, as it were, would not have to cry: because, no sooner would the world listen to the sound of God’s crying, as it were then it would hear and explode! If but a single flash of God’s pain, as it were, would enter the world, all His enemies would be scorched. At the Red Sea, the Holy Blessed One said to the ministering angels (Talmud, Megillah 10b), “My handiwork drowns in the sea, and you want to sing?” And now, when the Jewish people are drowning in blood, the world continues to exist? “Allow me to cry,” said the angel, “and then You need not, because Your crying would no longer be necessary.”
At the time of the destruction of the Temple God wanted to atone for the sins of the Jewish people, but it was not yet a time of salvation. So, He said to the angel, “I will go somewhere you have no permission to enter, and I will cry there.” Now, the pain is so great, the world cannot contain it; it is so far beyond the world. God’s pain and suffering have increased so greatly, they are beyond even the angel’s ability to perceive it, even he cannot see God’s pain. We learn in the Talmud (Hagigah 5b): “The Holy Blessed One has a place for weeping. It is called Mistarim. . . . Is there such a thing as weeping before God; has not R. Papa said, ‘There is no grief in the presence of the Holy One, blessed be He’? There is no contradiction; Mistarim refers to inner chambers, while R. Papa is referring to outer chambers.” The Maharsha (ibid.), in his commentary, teaches that the “inner chambers” refer to the sephirah of Binah (Understanding). It is understandable according to what was said earlier, because the sephirah of Binah is described in the book of the Zohar (Intro., la) as “open to inquiry but closed to comprehension.” Because it is beyond the capacity of the mind to comprehend, God’s pain is, as it were, hidden from the angel and from the rest of the world.
This, though, is the difference. We spoke last week about the Torah, which, before it was given on Sinai, was referred to as a “hidden treasure,” not as a precious object in a treasure house. We explained that it was incomprehensible, hidden by its own greatness. At the time of the destruction of the Temple, even though God’s pain was, as it were, hidden even from the angels and from the whole world, it was not incomprehensible due to its immensity. Note the word “chambers”—how the text uses the phrase “inner chambers,” because everything exists here in this world, in the Torah. Since, as we explained last week, the Torah was given on the Sabbath because everything had to be compressed and constricted for the sake of the Jewish people, it means that through the Torah absolutely anything can be revealed in the world. This includes even what has been concealed within “chambers,” hidden by the vessels containing it.
We learn in the Mishnah (Ta’anith 2:1): “What is the order of service for fast days? The ark, which houses the Torah scroll, is taken out into the open space of the city.” In the holy Zohar (vol. III, 71a) we learn that in times of trouble, may the Merciful One protect us, the Torah scroll was even taken out of its ark. Besides the reason given in the Talmud, to publicize the fast, it may be hinting at what we have said above. Through the Torah we are capable of revealing even the most sublime and concealed Light, even that which is usually hidden from the world because it is so exalted. It can even reveal God’s pain and His weeping, as it were, over the pain of the Jewish people. Then, as it is written (Psalms 94:4), “All who have wrought evil will crumble,” and our salvation will be revealed swiftly, immediately, and forthwith.
It is possible that this is the meaning of the verse (Psalms 22:2) “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me, so far from me, my salvation, the words of my pleading?” Of course, we believe that You will save us, that You have not forsaken us completely, God forbid. But, in feeling “forsaken,” we refer to our salvation that is so far away and the suffering that just goes on and on. The psalm continues, “You are holy; You dwell in the supplications of the Congregation of Israel.”
We learn in the teachings of the holy Rav, R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi, of blessed memory, that kadosh (Holy), is an expression of separateness and distinction, as in (Deut. 22:9) “Do not plant different species in your vineyard . . . lest the yield of both the crops be tukdash (condemned).” Meanwhile, as Rashi explains on the verse (Genesis 38:21) “There was no kedesha (prostitute) here,” kedesha means separated and distinguished for a single purpose.
This, then, is the meaning of God’s Kedusha (Holiness): that He is separate and distinct from all worlds. Thus, the verse reads, “Why have You forsaken me . . . You who are holy [i.e., separate and distinct]?” But the truth is, “You dwell in the supplications of the Congregation of Israel.” You are to be found in Torah and in the prayers of Jews, which are called “the supplications of the Congregation of Israel.” But how can You bear the humiliation of the Torah and the pain of the Jewish people, who are being tortured only because they observe the Torah?
Therefore, it is incumbent upon us, the Jewish people, to grasp the Torah, wherein is the Holy Blessed One. By entering into the Torah, by learning it and observing its commandments, we are actually entering into God’s presence. Then His weeping and His voice, as it were, which laments our suffering, will be revealed, and all evil, like smoke, will just disappear. It is true that in times of suffering it is very difficult to learn, and there are Jews who find it difficult to observe certain commandments. But the Jewish people have been skilled at suffering for ages, and have never slackened their observance of Torah and its commandments. Speaking generally, the Torah was not given to us on condition that when things go well for us, we will observe it, and when things are bad for us, God forbid, we will abandon it, God forbid. God is always our God, and we will always learn His Torah and observe His commandments.
Let us return to our previous discussion. Through the Torah that we learn and observe, God’s voice, roaring over the destruction of the Temple and the Jewish people, will be revealed and salvation will come hurriedly and swiftly. For He, God, and His voice, which are in mistarim—concealment, at the level of “My soul shall cry in mistarim”—will be revealed through the Torah, because although the Torah was once a “hidden treasure,” nonetheless it was revealed to the Jewish people. All the holiness of heaven can, likewise, be revealed through the Torah. Furthermore, Torah not only brings about a revelation of God and of His weeping, it also sweetens all the pain and judgments. At the simplest level, the sweetening of judgments is the reward for learning Torah, as is promised (Leviticus 26:3): “If you follow My laws and are careful to keep My commandments, I will provide you with rain at the right time. . . .”
Aside from that, as we learn in sacred literature, sin does not just draw din (judgment) down in retribution; sin and din are intrinsically connected. Similarly, the good brought about by observing Torah and mitzvot (commandments) is not just a reward; goodness is intrinsically and essentially a fact of Torah and mitzvot. For example, in the book Sha’are Orah (intro.), we learn that anyone who knows how to concentrate upon the meaning of his prayers has the keys to open all the gates of heaven in his hands. Since the flow and revelation happen through the letters and the names of God, when a person knows how to combine them, he is able to repair the conduit and restore the flow of abundance. Similarly, with Torah and mitzvot, good does not come only by way of a reward, but happens intrinsically. So it is with this. Aside from the rewards it brings with it, the Torah unifies all the voices into one voice, which is the voice of the Torah.
We learn in the Midrash that God’s voice at the giving of the Torah went from one end of the world to the other. We also learn that the Jewish people heard God’s voice coming from all directions—east, west, north, and south. Besides the literal explanation, this hints to us that we should not think the physical world too distant from and antithetical to the Torah, for this is not so. We can hear the Torah coming from everywhere in the world because the world was also created at the word of God. His word is the very essence of the world. It seems otherwise only because people utilize the world evilly, destroying thereby the world that was created with ten Divine statements. But he who uses the world to do good finds himself being assisted by the world in his Torah and in his worship.
In the Talmud (Baba Kamma 72b) we learn; R. Nachman said to Rava: “The reason why I did not tell you this in the morning was because I had not yet eaten beef.” Through eating meat, his knowledge of Torah increased. The simple reason for this is, as everyone understands, the living soul dwells inside the body, while the human mind, which is the seat of the soul, reposes in the brain. When a person’s brain is starved, it is difficult for him to acquire Torah, but when he eats as much as he needs, his mind is strengthened and gains the power to comprehend, and it becomes easier to increase his knowledge of Torah. Thus it seems that bread and meat can enable a person to hear the Torah. But at the time of the revelation of the Torah, the voice of Torah was heard from the whole world. Even now, a person can still hear the voice of Torah coming from everywhere in the whole world—not just from those parts of the world that merge with him and become a part of his body, as through eating and drinking, but also from the world that is external to himself.
The world was created at the word of God, and the Torah is the word of God. Truly, He, God, is One, and His word is One. The whole Torah was included in the Ten Commandments, and the Ten Commandments were uttered in one word, as is written in the Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni 250). Likewise, God’s word at the creation of the world and God’s word at the giving of the Torah are the same, one word. With hishtalshelut—the process of becoming physical in this world—the word of God separates into two elements, two manifestations of speech. For the world, God’s word becomes the mitzvot (commandments) to be observed by mankind and commands to the created world to come into existence. At God’s decree the sun shines by day and the moon at night, and so forth. For the Jewish people, God’s word becomes the Torah and mitzvot that sustain them and the world.
When examined at a higher level, the Ten Commandments are one word and the ten statements of creation are one. On the first day, everything was already created, as Rashi explains (Genesis 1:1). When examined at a still higher level, the word of the ten statements and the word of the Ten Commandments are also one word, because He and His word are One. Just as He is One, so all His words are also One.
A person who is elevated and united with the single voice of God in the Torah can hear the voice of the Torah from everywhere in the world—from the twittering of the birds, from the lowing of cattle, and from the voices and cacophony of people. Out of all of these, he hears the voice of God in the Torah. At the revelation of the Torah, it is written (Deut. 5:18), “. . . They heard a great Voice that did not cease. . . .” Rashi (ibid.) says that the Voice giving the Torah never ceased and can always be heard. Because it goes on forever and can be heard from everything, thus all evil is elevated to good. All the evil speech and evil doctrines spoken by the enemies of Israel are transformed into the voice of the Torah, because they also exist in the world. Their vitality is drawn from the voice of God in the Torah, which has branched out into evil words. It is simply that the words of admonishment to be found in the Torah have become physical and manifest to the point where the enemies of Israel—these ones or those ones—can talk of physically beating and inflicting pain on a Jew, God forbid. When everything is unified with the Torah, they also are elevated to become the voice of Torah, and all evil is sweetened.
To return to the verse with which we opened this chapter, “And these are the judgments that you must set before them,” Rashi (ibid.) explains that wherever the phrase “And these” is used in a sentence, it adds something to the previous subject, in that it forms a continuation of it. Here, the phrase “And these” adds these laws to the previous ones. Just as the previous ones, the Ten Commandments, were given at Sinai, so these too are from Sinai. With Torah, we can fix those words that are judgments, as is written (II Kings 25:6): “And they spoke judgments to him.”
The judgments must be set before the people according to their needs, and not, God forbid, in opposition to them. For these judgments also are from Sinai, and they are also the voice of God. It is just that they have branched out into din (judgment), into words, and even into the evil deeds of the enemies of Israel. In the Midrash (Tanchuma, Exodus, Ki Thissa 3) we learn: “Moses said to God, ‘But once I am dead, I will not be remembered.’ God replied, ‘I promise you: Just as you are standing here now, elevating them and teaching them the chapter of the shekels, so every year as they read the chapter of shekels before Me, it will be though you were standing right here elevating them.’ ” The Midrash explains that this is why the verse in the Torah does not say “count/raise their heads” but rather “You will count/raise their heads.” (Exodus 30:12) When, God forbid, there is fear lest there be a plague due to the census, their heads can be lifted through reading the Torah, because everything may become Torah, and everything can be sweetened into good.