| Maor VaShemesh | |
| מאור ושמש | |
| merged | |
| https://www.sefaria.org/Maor_VaShemesh | |
| This file contains merged sections from the following text versions: | |
| -Sefaria Community Translation | |
| -https://www.sefaria.org | |
| Maor VaShemesh | |
| Introduction by the Author's Son | |
| Bereshit | |
| Noach | |
| Lech Lecha | |
| Vayera | |
| Chayei Sara | |
| Toldot | |
| Vayetzei | |
| And he dreamt, etc, and Yaakov woke up from his sleep and said 'Surely H' is present in this place, and I did not know it! etc This is none other than the abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven.' (Gen. 28:16-17) And there is a midrash that Yaakov awoke from his mishnah (Bereishit Rabbah 69:7). And this is surprising, and it appears to me [that the explanation is] that it is known that the essence of the service of a person, to come to the objective of completeness in their service to the Holy One of Blessing, to attain the Blessed One's Godliness, happens through Torah and Tefilah, and one cannot exist without the other. This is because an Am Haaretz cannot be a Hasid (Pirkei Avot 2:5), and also, Torah alone will not complete one's soul, as the saying of the sages z"l "anyone who says he has nothing other than Torah, has no Torah" (Yevamot 109b:4), since obviously through doing Torah for its own sake one can come to a great holiness when one learns for its own sake, and clings to one's life-force [nefesh], spirit [ruach] and soul [neshamah] through the letters of the Torah. However, one cannot come to the essence of Awe and Love and Longing in one's service to the Holy One of Blessing , and to grasp Godliness [with Torah alone], rather, through Tefilah, with self-sacrifice and enthusiasm as it is know from the sacred books. And behold the saying of the sages z"l is known: "and he encountered the Place, meaning, he fixed the evening prayer" (Brachot 26b:7) - behold he didn't know until that moment the secret of Tefilah, how great it is, and we find that Yaakov hid in the study house of Shem and Ever (Megillah 17a:5) and learned Torah, and we see that he knew the secret of Torah, however he did not discover God's Godliness until this moment, when it was revealed for him after he stood at the secret of Tefilah. And this is the explanation for the midrash "and he awoke from his sleep - from his mishnah" - they wanted to say from his Torah, that was awaken through this Tefilah, and he understood that he had not reached complete understanding through Torah alone, and so he said 'behold, there is Hashem in this place', meaning, through this tefilah he was able to understand more deeply the revelation of Godliness than he had until that moment, which was through Torah alone. "And I didn't know" this secret "this is but the House of Elokim", meaning through Tefilah, self-awakening and enthusiasm a persn can come to Higher Awe, which is called in the language of our sages z"l 'pity on one who has no courtyard etc' (Shabbat 31b:1). "And this is the gate to heaven" that Tefilah is the essence of the gate to heaven, to come to an understanding of Godliness and awe of heaven, a good treasure, since "awe of Hashem is God's treasure" (Isaiah 33:6) and pay attention to this, because it is correct. | |
| Vayishlach | |
| Vayeshev | |
| Chanukah | |
| Miketz | |
| Vayigash | |
| Vayechi | |
| Shemot | |
| Vaera | |
| Ad-nai spoke to Moshe, saying: I am Ad-nai ; speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I am speaking to you. Moshe said before Ad-nai: Here, I am of foreskinned lips, so how will Pharaoh hearken to me? Ad-nai said to Moshe: See, I make you as a god for Pharaoh, and Aharon your brother will be your prophet (Exodus 6:29-7:1) We need to be precise: What is this, that the Holy One of Blessing said to Moshe 'I am Ad-nai'? What is the connection of it, here? And second, this that God said 'speak to Pharaoh all that I am speaking [dover] to you' also is not clear, since it should have said speak to Pharaoh what I will speak [adaber] to you. What is this 'that I am speaking'? It implies that even this very saying ' I am Ad-nai', that the Holy One of Blessing said to him, will be said to Pharaoh. And this is surprising. And the rest of the specific points will become obvious on themselves. And it appears that according to the simple meaning, behold, here it is written a secret of Hashem to those who have awe of God. One needs to understand what are the secrets of Torah that all Israel calls them secrets of Torah. One cannot say that the intention is directed to the wisdom of kabbalah and the writings of the Ariz"l, and the Holy Zohar, because behold, the expression 'secret' means something that is not possible to be revealed to others at all, and aren't all these writings, the kabbalah, the Arizal's, the Zohar able to be revealed to others and explained with some effort? And if so, since they are revealed, those are not 'secrets'. But what is really a secret, that no human can reveal to any other is the secret of Hashem, meaning, the essence of Godliness that was, is and will be, and this is the essence and the root of all worlds, what can't be revealed to any human, only each person assumes for themselves the comprehension of Godliness according to their mind, and according to the abilities/proportions of their heart. And everything that a person clarifies for themselves, and attains by themselves, with great effort to grasp what their mind can grasp, ever more clear. And what one can grasp with one's mind of God's Godliness. All that is what cannot be revealed to another human, it is inside the depths of the heart, and what is inside the depths of a person's heart, and their mind. Even if one can speak to others and bring the reality of God and the awe for God, blessed, inside their hearts, it is impossible to reveal all the consciousness of one's heart to them, as it is known to all those who are alive and enter truly to service. And this is called 'secret', because this is really secret, impossible to be revealed to any other human being, what is with a person in the deep point of their heart and thought, rather, each person understands according to their efforts and their self-purifying of their physical nature. And the more a human attains, in the understanding of Godliness, in general and in particular, which is the greater levels in understanding Godliness through self-purifying and analyzing, the harder it is to explain and reveal the consciousness of heart, and this is the secret of Hashem to those who have awe of Hashem (Ps. 25:14) meaning, that always remains with them in secret, impossible to explain. The more a person has awe of Heaven, the more secret is God, blessed, with the person, [until] it is impossible to reveal the depth of the consciousness of their heart, and it is impossible to understand from that person even the smallest of the great extent of what they understand from God, blessed. And those who are not yet at such great level in their grasping of God, blessed, is more able to explain to others what is in their heart, since there are no such great depths to their heart, and the simpler ones in the people can receive from them more than from the ones who have attained greater depths, as explained. And therefore, if a person who is great in their awe of Hashem, in great attainments of understanding of God, blessed be the Name, wants to reveal the depths of their consciousness so that others will understand, that person needs to translated to another person, smaller than them, who can understand their words and then tell them to others so that they can understand due to the smaller one telling them, and so they are able to receive and understand. And from this you can understand that this is the order of learning of all of our holy Torah, Aharon entered and taught his piece etc (Eruvin 54b), see there. We now return to explain the verses above... | |
| Bo | |
| <b>And thus you should eat it: your loins girded, your shoes on your feet... and your staff in your hand, and you should eat it in haste... and that day will be a remembrance for you... seven days...</b> One should pay attention to the reason for this mitzvah, why the eating should be hasty specifically. For wasn't the eating of the paschal lamb before midnight, and they couldn't leave their homes until the morning? We can consider further based on what is said in the Haggadah - "this matzah that we eat, what is it for? For there was not enough... as it is said... 'and also they had not prepared any provisions for the way' (Shemot 12:39)". And this reason still needs explanation. It's possible to explain according to what we said earlier, regarding the verse "from every tree of the garden you may eat, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat..." (Bereishit 2:16) And our rabbis were devided on which tree Adam haRishon ate. One could have asked, how did Adam know which tree was the tree of knowledge of good and evil, if not for the fact that Hashem Yitbarach showed him it. And this isn't according to the sense of the verse, but it's possible to say that the principal of God's commandment is not to be drawn after his cravings to eat food, since it is delicious and good to look at. And the thorn in its lowliness, this only will be your food to sustain your body alone. Since God has not separated in Their eyes between that which is good to look at and that which is not - rather, one's eating should be to satiate themself so they can be established for their service of their Creator. And this is the statement of the verse "from every tree of the garden you may surely eat..." meaning, you are permitted to eat from all of them, <i>just so long as</i> there is no difference in your eyes between eating from this one because you crave it since it is delicious, or the thorn in its lowliness which is disgusting. This difference is forbidden to you, and this is "from the tree of knowledge of good and evil" you shall not eat - it wishes to say that you shouldn't distinguish in your eating between this which is tasty and the thorn which is evil in your eyes. And we can say that "the tree of knowledge" isn't a specific tree, but rather Adam was commanded equally regarding all of them not to distinguish between good and evil with regard to his appetites. And our rabbis of blessed memory were divided on which species he craved with a bodily craving. And for this reason our fathers went down to Egypt, to purify their material selves and to break their appetites by means of the yoke of subjugation, in order to right the sin of Adam haRishon. And for this, we are commanded to eat on Pesach bread of affliction, which is tasteless and without salt or preparation. This is for this intention: to teach that a person should not be drawn after human pleasures, which are illusory. And for this reason the matzah is called 'bread of affliction/poverty' - because the poor person isn't able to choose food that they crave or enjoy, and is forced to eat whatever comes to their hands even if it isn't delicious. So too with us: we eat matzah from dough with no seasonings. It would be the same to us if it were sweet, but there isn't sweetness - it's just to sustain ourselves to serve God and to sanctify ourselves by means of eating matzah for seven days. These correspond to seventy years, a lifespan, to show us that by means of from the need to cast away from opposite all worldly delights and from one's desires. [?] And this is alluded to in the statement "this matzah which we eat, why?... 'for they did not have enough... and they had also not prepared provisions...'". Meaning, we receive instruction from our ancestors who were on this level, that they were not drawn after their cravings to prepare flavourful and pleasant provisions. They ate at their exodus only cakes of matzah, without flavour. So we act according to their deeds. And the explanation of his words is, "this matzah that we eat", meaning, our intent when we eat matzah and say "this matzah which we eat, why?... 'for they did not have enough... and they had also not prepared provisions...'" is that we should intend that, just as our ancestors cast away their bodily cravings, so too we must trend [?] to act thus: by means of eating the matzah, we accustom ourselves to purify our material selves and to break the strength of this craving. And it is for this reason that Hashem Yitbarach commanded us to eat the paschal lamb "in haste" - it's known that even if the food is tasty, hasty eating won't allow one to derive pleasure in the same way as slower eating at a set table. To teach us again, as I have explained, that one should not eat to fulfil their cravings - only in order to sustain life in order to serve Hashem Yitbarach. And it finishes and says, "This day will be a remembrance for you" (Shemot 12:14) - meaning, you should remember this forever, why we're commanded to eat the paschal lamb in haste. For this is to break the strength of craving, and also "seven days matzot you shall eat" (ibid.) - that this should be on your heart forever. | |
| Beshalach | |
| Tu BiShvat | |
| Yitro | |
| Mishpatim | |
| Parashat Shekalim | |
| Haftarah for Shabbat Rosh Chodesh I | |
| Terumah | |
| Tetzaveh | |
| Ki Tisa | |
| Purim | |
| Vayakhel | |
| Pekudei | |
| Vayikra | |
| Parashat HaChodesh | |
| Tzav | |
| Shmini | |
| Tazria | |
| Metzora | |
| Pesach | |
| Shir HaShirim | |
| Shevii shel Pesach | |
| Achrei Mot | |
| Machar Chodesh Haftarah | |
| Kedoshim | |
| Lag BaOmer | |
| Emor | |
| Behar | |
| Bechukotai | |
| Bamidbar | |
| Shavuot | |
| Ruth | |
| Nasso | |
| Beha'alotcha | |
| Sh'lach | |
| Korach | |
| Chukat | |
| Balak | |
| Pinchas | |
| Matot | |
| Masei | |
| Devarim | |
| The Three Weeks | |
| Vaetchanan | |
| Shabbat Nachamu | |
| The Fifteenth of Av | |
| Eikev | |
| Re'eh | |
| Haftarah for Shabbat Rosh Chodesh II | |
| Shoftim | |
| Ki Teitzei | |
| Ki Tavo | |
| Nitzavim | |
| Rosh Hashanah | |
| "And after these events, God tested Avraham, etc. your son, your only one, etc. Do not move your hand, etc., for now I know that you are one who fears God and have not withheld your son, your only one, from Me, etc. And an angel of the Lord called to Avraham, a second time, from heaven, etc." (Genesis 22:1-16): We need to understand, in these holy verses, first about the repetition of the words, “your son, your only one.” And [even though] they have already expounded about this, ‘the words of the Torah are like a hammer, etc.’ (understood to have different possible explanations). Also about its stating, “now I know that you are one who fears God” - did He not know it up until now? And also the verse, “And Avraham called the name of that place, the Lord will see; about which it is said, etc.” (Genesis 22:13) - all of this needs explanation. However it is hinted here as will be explained: Behold it is known that the trait of Avraham was kindness and mercy [with] which he shined and enlightened the service of God, to serve Him with great love and to bring down kindness and mercy upon the world. And all his relief and his sole desire was that the rod of chastisement not be waved and that [God’s] angry face not be shown to the Children of Israel and not to make them scared or frightened in the least way at all. And he served the Creator, may His name be blessed, with this trait all of His days. But when the spark of his son, our father Yitzchak’s light began to sparkle - peace be upon him - he chose for his service to Him, may He be blessed, to serve Him with awe and fear, to know that there is judgment and there is a Judge, and to be in awe of, and fear, the attribute of [strict] justice - the opposite of the trait of our father, Avraham, peace be upon him. So when our father Avraham, peace be upon him, was commanded to bind his son and to slaughter him, his intention was in two directions. The first was to fulfill the commandment of his Creator, the statute of the King and His decree, as He commanded him. The second was that he thought in his mind that His will, may He be blessed, was to eliminate the trait of Yitzchak from the world, which was the service of God from awe and fear. But nevertheless, “the two of them went together,” with one heart and with joy. [As] even though our father Yitzchak mastered the service from awe, nevertheless when he saw, according to what he thought and what he knew, that the intention of God, may He be blessed, was to concur with the trait of our father Avraham, peace be upon him, he was quick and hurried to do the will of his Maker with a full heart. So that is the intention of the Scriptures, when it stated that the angel said to Avraham, “do not move, etc.” That you should not completely eliminate the trait of Yitzchak from the world, “for now I know that you are one who fears God.” Meaning to say that now, in binding your son to slaughter him, modeling the will of God to completely eliminate the trait of Yitzchak, [it has become clear] that you were afraid of the trait of strict justice, which is “God” (the Hebrew word associated with that aspect of God), so as not to scare and threaten the Jewish people. And that is because you are afraid of “God.” To this He said, “I am not with you in this, to concur completely with your opinion. Rather the trait of justice is also required in the world, in order that they should be frightened from the trait of justice and, through this, to cause them to repent from their [improper] deeds. However the harshness will be sweetened in its root, and mercy will be brought down, so that the main administration of the world will be with the trait of mercy.” And this is [the meaning of] His saying, “and you have not withheld your son, your only one.” Meaning, you have not withheld your son, which is the trait of Yitzchak. [As] it will not be completely eliminated, so that it can be known that there is judgment and there is a Judge, so they will repent. Likewise the explanation of, “your only one (<i>yechidcha</i>),” is about the righteous ones (tzaddikim) who merit to have [five levels of soul, culminating in] the <i>yechidah</i> (singularity) - and the <i>yechidah</i> comes from the world in which there is no aspect of male and female, in which there is unity, in which there is no judgment at all; and that is why it is called singularity. So that is His saying that your <i>yechidah</i>, which indicates mercy, will also exist in the administration of the world. So the service of God will be through both of them, awe and love. And that is why Avraham took a ram and brought him up as a sacrifice instead of (<i>tachat</i>, which can also mean below) his son. It is exact, as it is to sweeten restriction by way of the slaughtering of the ram below his son, Yitzchak. “Avraham called the name of that place, the Lord will see (<i>yireh</i>, which is spelled the same as <i>yirah</i>, the word for awe)” - as he also conceded that He needs to be feared, to also serve God from awe; “as it is said [to] this day, On the Lord’s mountain, He will be seen (homiletically, will be feared)” - the explanation of which is that by repenting out of fear of the Creator, may His name be blessed, restriction will be sweetened and mercy will be aroused for the world. And there, ‘awe’ is spelled fully, which indicates mercy. | |
| . | |
| Vayeilech | |
| Shabbat Shuvah | |
| Yom Kippur | |
| Ha'Azinu | |
| Sukkot | |
| Kohelet | |
| Hoshana Rabba | |
| Shemini Atzeret | |
| Simchat Torah | |
| V'Zot HaBerachah | |
| Omissions | |
| Additions | |