Parashat Tazri'a: "When I Went Out To Greet You, I Found You Coming Toward Me"
CHASSIDUT
by Rav Itamar Eldar
Yeshivat Har Etzion
ParAshat Tazri'a
When I went out to Greet You, I found you coming toward me
Rav Itamar Eldar
At the beginning of our parasha,
we read about the laws governing a woman after childbirth. The laws vary depending upon whether the
woman gave birth to a male child or a female child:
And the
Lord spoke to Moshe, saying, Speak to the children of
The halakhic distinction regarding
ritual purity and impurity between the birth of a male and the birth of a
female is not merely a technical matter, but rather it rests on the essential
difference that exists in general between males and females.
THE
MYSTERY OF THE SAWING
At the very beginning of the Torah,
we find the following description of the creation of man:
And God
said, Let us make Mankind in Our image, after Our
likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
So God created Mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created
him; male and female He created them. (Bereishit
1:26-27)
Many commentators have grappled with
the expression: "in Our image, after Our
likeness." It seems, however, that this expression is explained already in
the verses themselves: "In the image of God He created him; male and
female He created them." Scripture teaches us that this duality of man,
his being split between male and female, constitutes the image of God given to
man, and it is in this way that man resembles God.
We learn about the nature of this
duality in man through the "mystery of the sawing" discussed already
by Chazal in the framework of their attempt to resolve the apparent
contradiction between the first chapter of Bereishit, which implies that
the male and the female were created as one, and the second chapter, which
implies that the man was created first, and only afterwards was a portion of
his body removed, from which the first woman was fashioned:
R.
Yirmiya ben Elazar said: When the Holy One, blessed be He, created the first man, he created him as a hermaphrodite. This is what it says: "Male and female
He created them." R. Shemuel bar Nachman said: When the Holy One, blessed
be He, created the first man, He created him two-faced, sawed him apart, and
gave him two backs, a back on this side and a back on that side. An objection was raised against him: Surely
it is written: "And He took one of his tzela'ot" (Bereishit
2:21). He said to them: Of his two
sides. This is what it says (Shemot 26:20):
"And for the second tzela of the tabernacle" which we
translate as "And for the second side of the tabernacle." (Bereishit
Rabba 8:1)
Chazal understand that we are
not dealing here with a contradiction, but rather with two stages: When man and
woman were first created, they were joined back to back, and in chapter 2, they
were separated into two.[1] This separation, the kabbalists understood, was a
temporary separation, sort of "a descent for the sake of ascent," for
surely we have been promised "That is why a man leaves his father and his
mother, and cleaves to his wife: and they become one flesh" (Bereishit 2:24).
The joining of man and his wife
during coupling constitutes renewed connection, one that is even stronger than
the original connection before they were separated, for now they are joined
"face to face," whereas before they had been connected "back to
back."
The sawing apart, then, brought man
and woman from a state of "turning one's back" to a state of
"direct view." Kabbala and Chassidut teach us that this principle of
sawing apart and separating in order to bring about higher unity is one of the
foundations of the world. Even God
Himself operates in this manner. Thus
writes R. Kalonymus Epstein of
The verse
states: "And the Lord God made the side." And Chazal have
expounded: This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be
He, created him two-faced, and afterwards He sawed him apart. The purpose of the sawing to which we
entirely direct ourselves on all of the awesome days is that coupling should be
face to face. We find in the writings of
the Ari z"l that had, God forbid, the initial creation been face to
face, there would have been no standing [to the world], God forbid. The reason is also found there but it is
concealed. We must explain the reason. For all the worlds have an inner and an outer
aspect. But the outer aspect of the
supreme world is the inner aspect of the world below it. And similarly from one
world to the next, until the end of all worlds. And the actions of the tzadikim prove
this, as we see with our own eyes that their material eating, drinking and
speaking involves greater intentions than our Torah and prayer. Now in the truly inner aspect, externals
cannot take hold; it is only in the outer aspects of the worlds that externals
take hold. This too we see when two
lovers come together to rejoice, they sit face to face. For joy is from the form, that is, from the
inner aspects that rest on the face and the form that constitutes the image of
God, for there are found the forehead, the eyes, the beard, and the like. It is therefore impossible that the externals
should take hold there. But in the rear
there are almost no distinct organs, and the externals can take hold there, God
forbid. Therefore, had the initial
creation been face to face, and had there been rear sides, then the externals
would have taken great hold to the point that there would have been no standing
[to the world], God forbid. Therefore,
[man] was created two-faced, and back to back, so that there should be no rear
sides, and no place for the externals to take hold. And it is this that we await when there will
be a clarification of the worlds, when He, blessed be He, will find favor, and
then the externals will be nullified (as the verse states: "And I shall
remove the spirit of uncleanness from the earth"), and coupling will be
face to face. Now in
The author of the Ma'or
va-Shemesh teaches us that the world that we live in is a world of
separation, and that already at the time of creation, the world's unity was
sawn apart, and that from that time on the world has been striving for the
renewed unity of "face to face." He also explains the necessity of
creating a world of "back to back," which leads to sawing apart, in
order to elevate the connection to a higher level. The externals are able to take hold, argues
the Ma'or va-Shemesh, when the connection is face to face. The rear side is the place where the
externals are able to take hold. Put
simply, the direction towards which we turn our backs is our weakest point, the
place where trouble will begin.
R. Kalonymus portrays two arenas of
action. The one is the inner circle
created between male and female, between the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shekhina. This is the inner circle in which the male
unites with the female. The second is
all that surrounds the inner circle, the external world. There is located the exit from the closed
circle to the open expanse, the exit from concentration, unity, and refined
essence, to multiplicity, generality and materiality.
When the male and female join
together face to face, the "inner circle" is in full unity, but they
both turn their backs to what is behind them, to the external world. They pay no attention to it, for they
concentrate entirely one on the other.
This is the time that the "externals" act, when the inner
world is distracted, for it is in the rear that the externals find a place to
take hold.
R. Kalonymus teaches us that in a
world where the externals are many, a person must look at them directly. A back to back connection requires a waiver
of complete and absolute concentration in holiness and unity, but it allows a
person to direct his eyes and his mind to the world that surrounds him, to
guard against it on one level, and to elevate it to its source on another. Only in a repaired world where the externals
will also turn into inner light, from garment to essence, will it be possible
once again to connect face to face, without having to be concerned about
turning one's back to anything.
Reconnecting what had become disconnected is possible in a world in
which matter and kelipot do not threaten to take hold of holiness and
bring it down.
We hear the echo of this sawing
whenever we attempt "to unite the name of the Holy One, blessed be He,
with His Shekhina" ("le-shem yichud"). [2] We wish to reconnect what had become
separated, a desire which had it not been formulated by the great authorities
of
The Shekhina is found
throughout creation, but primarily in man:
"Rabbi
Levi said: This may be likened to a provincial who was married to the daughter
of a king. Even if he feeds her with
every royal delicacy, he will not fulfill his obligation. Why? Because she is the
daughter of a king. So too
whatever a person does for his soul, he does not fulfill his obligation. Why? Because it is from
above." The explanation of this matter is that this soul, wich is
from above but exists in the lower world, always yearns for the Torah and the mitzvot,
since it is in the lower world. And this
is regarded as a deficiency in its level, for it is a Godly essence from above
existing in the lower world. And
anything that is deficient yearns for perfection, and the Torah and mitzvot
are perfection for the soul, and so the soul yearns for the Torah and the mitzvot
in order to be actualized and perfect
That which he likens it to the daughter
of a king who was married to a provincial, and though he gives her every
delicacy in the world, he does not fulfill his obligation, because she is the
daughter of a king, who has connected herself to this provincial. And so she will always be lacking while she
is with this provincial, and no matter what he gives her, in the end she is
with this provincial who is not her mate.
And therefore he cannot do as is appropriate for her, she being the
daughter of a king, for in any event she is connected to a provincial, and not
to a king, and therefore he does not fulfill his obligation regarding her. And similarly since the soul is from above,
even though the mitzvot and the Torah are for it an exit to perfection,
nevertheless since it exists in the lower world in the body of man and it is a
separate essence from the upper world, it will not receive perfection. Therefore it is not satisfied by the mitzvot
and it remains in potentia as long as it remains with the body. This is what I wanted to explain. (Maharal, Tif'eret Yisra'el 3)
While R. Levi's wonderful parable
does not deal with a man and a woman, but rather with a king and his daughter,
the principle is one and the same. We are
dealing with masculine and feminine elements that have become separated one
from the other, and from the moment of separation there is a mutual yearning
for renewed unity.[3] This mutual yearning appears in
the world in the form of two contradictory movements. The yearning of the Holy One, blessed be He,
for His Shekhina is a movement "from above downwards," in
which God tries to draw out the light implanted in the world and to come down
in order to rescue it from its imprisonment.
In kabbalistic terms this is labeled "awakening from above."
The yearning of the Shekhina for the Holy One, blessed be He, is a
movement from "down below upwards," in which the light that is held
captive in the world - whether this is the soul in the body of man, or the song
of every created being, be it inanimate, plant or animal, to its Creator
tries to rise once again and cleave to the supernal Divine light. In kabbalistic terms, this is called
"awakening from below."
IF A
WOMAN HAS CONCEIVED SEED
The holy
Zohar and in its wake the great Chassidic masters tried to connect the
beginning of our parasha to these movements of awakening from below and
awakening from above. The Sefat Emet writes
as follows:
"If a woman has conceived seed." Our
Sages of blessed memory have said that if a woman conceives seed first she
gives birth to a male child. And in the
holy Zohar: When the awakening from below stirs first, etc. This was fulfilled in Avraham Avinu, may he
rest in peace, as our Sages of blessed memory have said: That I have walked before
Him. This is the allusion of
"The zealous perform mitzvot at the earliest possible
opportunity," for they are prepared and yearn for the mitzvot. For this reason the mitzva of
circumcision was given to Avraham Avinu prior to the giving of the Torah,
because of his great yearning to draw near to God, blessed be He. (Sefat Emet, Tazri'a 5658)
When conception begins with the
woman, that is to say, when the movement toward unity begins with the feminine
aspect "His Shekhina," then she will give birth to a male,
only then will there be an awakening of the masculine element the Divine
movement toward the world.
The Sefat Emet brings an
example from Avraham Avinu, and indeed this example clarifies the meaning of
"awakening from below." According to the verses at the end of parashat
No'ach and at the beginning of parashat Lekh Lekha, one clear
morning God turned to Avraham out of the blue, and commanded him to leave his
homeland and go off to an unknown land.
From this perspective, the beginning of the connection between Avrahan
and God, and in essence between the chosen people founded by Avraham and God,
was at God's initiative, in His incomprehensible choosing of Avraham. Avraham, and after him Yitzchak and Ya'akov,
responded to God's initiative and desire to reveal Himself in the world, and
they were prepared to be the seat of that revelation. When we come to Chazal, however, we
find an entire world of midrashim that
in great measure reverse the picture.
The midrashim
of Chazal tell of Avraham, a young man in search of meaning, who
disdained idol worship and sought "the owner of the castle." From
this perspective, the owner of the castle turned to him only after he cried out
loudly, "Does the castle have an owner?"
According to Chazal, God
waited ten generations from Adam to No'ach, and then another ten generations
from No'ach to Avraham, until the ground was ready, and until a call and even a
cry came from down below, from the world and directed to God, that He should
appear and reveal Himself. Avraham
Avinu, then, symbolizes the awakening of the lower world which led in its wake
to God's revelation. The same is true
about the mitzva of circumcision, explains the Sefat Emet, which
Avraham received long before the giving of the Torah the clear symbol of
"awakening from above." The mitzva of circumcision was a
fulfillment of Avraham's yearning, and so it may be seen as an expression of
"awakening from below." The circumcision performed on a person[4] is an expression of Avraham Avinu's desire and
yearning for God, whereas the giving of the Torah is an expression of God's
desire to reveal Himself and appear in the world through the people of
AWAKENING
FROM BELOW PRIOR TO AWAKENING FROM ABOVE
Setting "awakening from
below" as a condition for "awakening from above" may be
understood in two ways. The first
emerges from the following words of R. Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev:
"If
a woman has conceived seed, and born a man child
And on the eighth day the
flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised." Many ask how this is
connected to "on the eighth day." The answer seems to be that
sometimes there is supernal awakening, the Holy One, blessed be He, having
mercy upon Israel because of His attribute that He is called merciful and
gracious, on account of which He created all the worlds, as our Rabbis of
blessed memory have said: So that He may be called merciful, etc. And sometimes the Holy One, blessed be He,
has mercy upon
R. Levi Yitzchak argues that the mitzva
of circumcision mentioned in our parasha contains within it the
principle of "awakening from below." For we are dealing with a human act,
through which a person, albeit by Divine command, through his own power, brings
himself to a different level than which he had been on previously.[5] God
creates man on a certain level uncircumcised, and man performs another act that
goes beyond the Divine act. The gentile
who asked, "Whose work is finer," sensed that the act of circumcision
performed on the eighth day, the day that follows the perfect, natural order
marked by the number seven, defies God's work, as it were, saying that it has
no value without our involvement.
Chazal and R. Levi Yitzchak
in their wake do not recoil from this contention, for they understand that God
desires
Based upon this principle, we can
offer another explanation of the "mystery of sawing." The creation of male and female connected one to the other, and the
sawing which comes in the wake of this connection, create the mutual
yearning and desire of the male and female for one another. The connection and separation give rise to
yearning and expose the inner correspondence and full identity between male and
female, which would not have happened with a self-evident, primal connection.[6]
The "awakening from below"
exposes the inner craving implanted in the world to return to its source. God does not send a leader to take the people
of
It seems, however, that
"awakening from below" is critically needed for another reason. This emerges from the explanation offered by
R. Elimelekh of Lyzhansk regarding the
importance of
This
means: In any event appear so that you may draw and receive an awakening of
holiness from that day which has already been sanctified with great
holiness. As we see regarding the
festivals, and Shabbat, and Rosh Chodesh, that holiness is added
in man, because the day causes. So too
any day on which God, blessed be He, commanded a mitzva, that day is
sanctified with additional holiness on account of the mitza. And when that day arrives, it causes to
awaken holiness also in man. And
Scripture says: In any event appear so that you should be a vessel ready to
receive holiness through the awakening of the day. (No'am Elimelekh, Shelach)
The exposure of the desire, which we
discussed in the first explanation, turns the "lower world" into a
full partner in supernal unity. Not only
does God want to bestow His bounty upon
God teaches us that the way to
impact upon another person depends upon our ability to stir up his desire, to
bring him to attentiveness, to anticipation.
To expose his deficiency that yearns to be completed this is awakening
from below, which is the aspect of woman.
As for listening, let us examine the
following passage:
Or he
says: "Then she shall be unclean seven days." For even if a person is
righteous, he must always subdue himself and look at the deficiencies within
him, and never regard himself as complete in his actions. He must always serve Him, blessed be His
name, on the levels of the female and the male.
That is, he must always walk in the holiness of the elevated God and
look at his own lowliness. This is:
"'Remember' [zakhor] and 'observe' [shamor] were stated in a
single utterance," for remember is for the masculine and observe is for the feminine, these two
levels belonging to a single utterance.
Through this a person will merit that God, blessed be He, will provide
him with complete communion from above.
This is: "Day unto day pours forth speech," as Chazal have said: "A drop does not fall
from above unless corresponding drops go up from
below." This means that God, blessed be He, does not provide man with
communion from above unless two drops go up from below, these being the two
aforementioned levels, through which he serves with masculinity and
femininity. (No'am Elimelekh, Tazri'a)
R. Elimelekh of Lyzhansk describes
two psychological stands in the service of God, the feminine and the
masculine. Here already R. Elimelekh
brings us to a level that includes within it both the masculine and the
feminine. What permits R. Elimelekh to
do this is the change of terminology from bestower and receiver to
"remember" and "observe."
R. Elimelekh teaches us that
remembering is an active process of advancement and striving, whereas observing
expresses the passive aspect of "sit back and do nothing."
In a dichotomous world, we are
inclined to distinguish between two types of people.
A person who goes out and conquers
is the ultimate leader, one who acts and advances from one level to the
next. This is active remembering, which is
the expression of constant movement forward.
Such a person does not stop aspiring, and this aspiration, it must be
said, is founded on his confidence in himself, and in his ability to reach and
attain. He is not satisfied with his
current level, because he knows that he is capable of more. This is the masculinity that is always
directed outwards, to the continuation, to the next destination.
In contrast, there is the person who
preserves what already exists. A person
of this type does not set high goals for himself. He is aware of his deficiencies and he is
grateful for the small amount of good qualities that he has, which in his eyes
are nothing but total grace. His only
request is "Preserve all of this for me, please, my good God." He
contemplates his lowliness and he becomes weak like a woman. He is humble, and modest, and does not let
himself stand out. His contemplation is
always directed inwards. Not toward the
peak beyond the next mountain, but inwards toward his
self that seeks redemption. This is
femininity, calm, peaceful, and attentive.
R. Elimelekh teaches us that even
while he stands before God, a person must adopt for himself these two aspects.
As a male, running toward God
elevates a person every minute to new peaks, but this puts him at risk to lose
the capacity for attentiveness, sensitivity and modesty.
As a female, the recognition of
limits and limitations, and accepting them with total love, will give rise to
the ability to listen and be attentive, to accept God, His leadership, His
decrees, and the inner voice that He planted within every person. But this puts a person at risk for treading
in one's place, giving up on higher goals, suppressing the desire beating
ceaselessly within us that aspires for the infinite.
These "two drops" of which
man is composed must mix and fashion in man the correct balance, and the
contradictory inner dichotomy which gives rise to a new life of love and fear,
drawing near and distancing, coupling and separation. It is through this cycle, which is not
circular but spiral, that are built the state of face to face, of the direct
glance and stepping forward of a woman toward her husband, of a man toward his
God, and of the Shekhina toward the Holy One, blessed be He When I
went out to greet You, I found you coming toward me!
FOOTNOTES:
[1]
"And He took one of his tzela'ot" (Bereishit 2:21), tzela
bearing the sense of "side," as in (Shemot 26:20):
"And for the second tzela of the tabernacle."
[2] Many
good Jews, even those not steeped in Kabbala, are accustomed to recite "le-shem
yichud" before counting the omer, and some also recite it
before drinking the four cups of wine at the seder. Chassidim, however, have these words in
mind in their every action and before every mitzva.
[3]
Anyone who wishes to deepen his understanding of these ideas should see the
lecture series, published on this site, "Mavo le-Eser ha-Sefirot,"
especially the three lectures on the sefira of Malkhut.
[4] We
shall immediately see another aspect of this fact.
[5] While
the Sefat Emet attaches to circumcision the quality of "awakening
from below" in light of its contrast to the giving of the Torah, R. Levi
Yitzchak of Berditchev attaches that same quality to circumcision in light of
its contrast to the natural state in which man is born, i.e., uncircumcised.
[6] It
seems that this is the essence of Shir ha-Shirim, where the ideas of
connection and separation play out against each other many times.
(Translated by David Strauss)
This website is constantly being improved. We would appreciate hearing from you. Questions and comments on the classes are welcome, as is help in tagging, categorizing, and creating brief summaries of the classes. Thank you for being part of the Torat Har Etzion community!