Home Page -Foreword - Introduction - One
The Commitment at Birth - Two The Role of Shabbos - Three The Tzadik
- Four Humanity’s Five Categories - Five Body Versus Soul - Six The Body Can Complement The Soul - Seven The Soul and Body of a Tzadik Eight The Five Parts of the Soul - Nine The Image of God Ten
to Twenty Six – NOT ON THE WEB YET.
Man is the highlight of creation and deserves honor and
respect for he carries the image of God.[1] What is the meaning of Tzelem Elokim, the image
of God? If I look at my reflection in a
mirror am I to think for a moment that I have seen God?! Judaism abhors any attempt to ascribe to God
any physical characteristics, as Maimonides defined it and it is one of the
articles of faith that Jews recite on a daily basis,
I believe with complete faith that
the Creator, Blessed is His Name, is not physical and is not affected by
physical phenomena, and that there is no comparison whatsoever to Him.
God is
totally incorporeal, so in what way is man in His image?
The
mystics explain that each Hebrew name of God denotes a different way in which man
perceives the Omnipotent. Sometimes, I
feel the Almighty’s boundless love, at other times I witness His awesome force
and power, at still other points I might see His hand in nature. Each of the different attributes of God that
man acknowledges is characterized with a unique name. The name YHVH[2]
reflects our feeling His love, Ado-n-y
is the name for the fact that He is the master of all, and Sha-d/k-y reflects His power and dominion, His setting limits for
the world.
Man was
formed in the image of Elokim. This name represents the awareness that God
is “Baal Hakochos kulam ubaal hayecholes,”[3]
“Master of all powers and He has total authority.” Man in the image of Elokim
means that man too, in a certain sense, is the master over all the forces of creation
and is endowed with unbridled power.
Tzelem Elokim teaches the cosmic effect of
human behavior. Our deeds affect the
entire world and the entirety of creation follows man’s lead.
An example of this principle is the story of
the great flood.
In parshas Noach the Torah tells of a time
when all creatures were corrupted. Even
animals and the inanimate earth violated nature’s law. Lions copulated with bears and a man would
plant peach seeds only to reap apples.
As a result of the pervasive corruption God sent a deluge of water that
destroyed almost all of humanity, the animals, plants, and several feet worth
of topsoil. Only man has freedom of
choice, animals, plants, and the earth do not have the ability to decide
between good and evil, so how did all of creation become corrupt? The answer is that man controls the rest of
creation.[4] When man performs evil, the spirit of
misconduct is increased throughout the world.
Animals and the earth become infected too, and they start to perform in
ways that are at variance with their law.
Mankind at
the time of the flood was thoroughly rotten.
They consistently chose evil. All the humans were sinners who polluted
themselves and they caused the rest of creation to be polluted as well. Noah was righteous and his influence allowed
for a minute sample of animal and plant life that maintained fidelity to its
laws.
Currently we confront a physical world that
suffers from pollution, ozone depletion, and global warming. The earth’s illnesses do not result merely
from industrialization and its excesses.
Spiritually there is an obvious cause for our planet’s troubles; human
society is an increasingly corrupt group.
Presidents lie, corporate titans shamelessly deceive, and the various
forms of media pull readers and viewers to the lowest of lowly urges. Innocent faith, old-fashioned honesty,
decency, and morality have become rare commodities. The rest of creation reflects our misdeeds.
How does
this cosmic power work? Why do the
actions of man have such effects?
The answer
is that man is a miniaturization of the entire spiritual realm. Man’s soul parallels God’s spiritual
universes that form the foundation for this physical world.[5]
Imagine two harps tuned to the same pitch
placed right next to each other. Play
note A on one harp, its string will vibrate and produce a loud sound. Even though you have not touched the second
harp, note A in the other harp will also vibrate softly. Man and the universe are parallel harps;
when we cause our strings to vibrate, parallel strings in the supernal realms
vibrate ever so softly, broadcasting the same notes throughout the world.[6]
The Spiritual Dimension as Supernal Universes
A great Rabbi once walked
with his student along a grassy path.
While they were talking, the student carelessly picked a flower from the
ground and started to scatter its petals.
The Rabbi stopped walking and said to his student, “In the Midrash
(Breishit Rabba 10) it is taught that every blade of grass has an angel that
stands behind it hitting the grass saying, ‘Grow.’ When you picked the flower from the earth, you caused this
flower’s angel to die. Do you have a
good reason for destroying the life of a celestial light?”
Our physical world is controlled by a spiritual world. Each blade of grass, for instance, has a
spiritual channel, an angel that provides for its life. Jewish mysticism details the makeup of this
spiritual dimension. In a broad sweep
this spiritual dimension is comprised of five spiritual universes.
Why is there a need for a spiritual
dimension? Can’t God direct us
personally without any intermediates?
The answer is that man’s feeble physical and spiritual nature would be
overwhelmed by the presence of God.[7]
God’s
essence is so overpowering that it does not allow for anything to exist
independently before It. The spiritual
universes are the steps in which God has limited His essence so that an
independent existence can emerge. The
key terms in understanding these steps are Tzimtzum,
constriction, and Or Ain Sof, Light
With No End.
Consider
light. Light usually enables sight, yet
too much light can blind.[8] Similarly, God is called Infinite Light (Or Ain Sof), with no end and no
beginning. He is the ultimate
Reality. His life and vitality is so
powerful, it overwhelms all other existing items that face Him directly. To allow for creation God acted with Tzimtzum, He pulled in His light. He then emanated from Himself a light that
was less bright than His essence. Even
this light was too much for existence, so out of this light He caused another
further limited light to emerge, and then another and another. At the last stage of limited light a
physical universe emerged out of the spiritual lights. Olam
is a universe, and the words heelam
and neelam, unknown and hidden, share
the same Hebrew root. A universe is a
“hiding of the Infinite”, a dimunition of Divine light. The process of limiting the light and
turning the spiritual into a progressively more physical creation is called Seder Hishtalshlus- the order of
development.
Hishtalshlus shares a root with the word shalsheles, a chain. Creation is a chain for two reasons. Firstly, in a chain each ring leads to
another and creation is a process of cause and effect, greater lights producing
lesser lights, out of which are formed even smaller forces.[9] Secondly, in a chain, the rings interlock,
the end of the first ring’s airspace has within it the beginning of the second
ring and in the spiritual dimension each level is interwoven with the next
level. For instance, the lowest level
of the universe of Atzilus (the first
universe), is also the highest level in the universe of Beriyah (the second universe).
The
different stages of the Seder
Hishtalshlus are the universes that are the soul parts of the physical
universe.
The first
supernal universe is so high that it too is a light that is almost
infinite. This universe is hardly
spoken about in Chassidic literature[10]
and is called Adam Kadmon, Initial
Man, or Olam Hatzachtzachos, in Kabbalah, it parallels the human soul part
of Yechida.
The second
universe is Atzilus. Atzilus
means next to, noble, and emanated or given off. This world is “next to” God, it is the first light that God gave
off. An Atzil is a nobleman,[11]
he has power and importance because of his proximity to the king. Similarly, this universe is next to the King
of Kings and that is where its importance stems from.
Prayer is
a soulful sojourn through the universes. Atzilus
is represented by the extremely righteous in their Shemoneh Esreh, - silent devotion - part of prayers. For the silent devotion one takes three
steps forward to enter into a new dimension in which the prayers are recited
silently. At this point of the service the petitioner is standing next to God
and that is why all can talk with Him in the hushed tones of an intimate
whisper. Furthermore, according to Halakha ideally this prayer should lead
to leaving the physical self and getting lost in rapture of the Divine. During the silent prayer the Tzadik achieves Dveykus, absolute cleaving.
Dveykus means becoming one
with God. What is it like to become
one with someone else? Oneness cannot
be described nor defined it can only be understood through the experience of a sensitive
heart. Loss of all bodily sensation and
absolute union with the Infinite is a human sensation that is Atzilus-like, it is a sense of a wholly
new dimension. The sense of absolute
oneness with the Divine is an out of body experience that emerges from Atzilus, the universe that is above our
world and serves as a makif an
enveloping light to our physical dimension.
Atzilus is all good and it produces the Chaya part of the human soul. Chaya is the source of dveykus, devotional oneness, and what Chaya is in the human is what Atzilus is to the cosmos.
Out of Atzilus a further diminished light
emerged, the world of Beriah,
creation. Atzilus experientially is felt as a loss of self-hood, it is called
Ayin, a sense of nothingness. Beriah emerged out of it, thus Beriah is a manifestation of and the place of Yesh meayin, something coming out of nothing. In this world there is a possibility of evil
although good is the majority. This
world parallels the section of prayers that speak of accepting God’s yoke, the
recital of Shma and its
blessings. This world is also termed “Olam Hakisey” “the universe of God’s
throne.” Symbolically the Almighty
“sits” there, that is why there is a widespread Jewish custom to sit during the
prayers of Shma. Beriah
produced and parallels the Neshama
part of the soul. The Neshama is located in the mind and
expressed through thought, and in the world of Beriah thoughts are tangible and real. The depths of Neshama
can be felt when all of one’s thoughts are holy, centering on Torah knowledge
and Mitzvah fulfillment.
Beriah
let out a lesser light that became the world of Yetzirah. Yetzirah implies yesh miyesh, something from something, to form an item out of a
primordial matter. In Yetzirah evil has even more presence and
is equal to the amount of good. This
world is represented by the Psukey
Dzimrah - verses of praise - part of the morning prayers. Zimrah
also means to prune, the verses of praise are pruning shears, they cut away the
forces of evil and allow man’s prayers to enter before God.[12]
This universe let off the Ruach part
of the soul that it parallels. Yetzirah is the world of feeling and
man’s emotions of holiness reach this world.
The ultimate level of Ruach is
felt when one’s heart is filled exclusively with the best desires, such as
swirls of love for Judaism, or awe and fear of Heaven. Feelings are as tangible in the world of Yetzirah as objects are in our universe.
Finally,
there is the universe of Asiyah where
the majority is evil, and it parallels the Nefesh
part of the soul, and the prayers of Korbanos
- the sacrificial order that purified and provided the spiritual merit for this
world.[13] Good deeds performed on this earth reach the
world of Asiyah.
After the
spiritual universes, stands the physical universe itself, which is joined to
the world of Asiyah.
Man in
Hebrew is called adam a word that
shares a root with the word adameh,
literally, “I will resemble.” What is a
man? A being who resembles the Heavenly
domain. Since man’s soul parts constitute
a small harp to the great harp of the physical universe’s “soul-parts” his
actions cause similar results in those realms.
Man is the soul of the universe.[14]
The
secrets of creation are hinted in the letters of the Hebrew language. Lesson ten will show how the spiritual
universes and the parts of the human soul are hinted in the four letters of
God’s name YHVH.
Home Page -Foreword - Introduction - One
The Commitment at Birth - Two The Role of Shabbos - Three The
Tzadik - Four Humanity’s Five Categories - Five Body Versus Soul - Six The Body Can Complement The Soul - Seven The Soul and Body of a Tzadik Eight The Five Parts of the Soul - Nine The Image of God Ten
to Twenty Six – NOT ON THE WEB YET.
Please
email comments to hasid10(at)aol.com Hosted
by www.613.org
[1] The honor due man as the representative of God who carries His image is a basic theme is Chassidic thought. Supposedly this was the last teaching of the Baal Shem Tov. On his deathbed his final statement was, “An artist invests himself and expresses his deepest self in his work. Want to understand an artist? Look at his handiwork.” The point of the lesson was that to appreciate God and to love God it is necessary to appreciate and love man. Man is God’s greatest masterpiece, study the sculpture and appreciate it in order to appreciate the Divine. C.f. Maasey Hashem volume 1 page 55.
[2] In deference to the saintliness of the names I have not spelled them out fully.
[3] Tur, Orach Chayim, chapter five, see also Nefesh Hachayim chapter two.
[4] C.f. Beis Halevy on parshas Noach.
[5] The technical term for this concept is Olam Kattan, man is a miniature of the entire world. C.f. Shichas Malachey Hashareis chapter three, and the Overview of Artscroll’s Tehillim by Rabbi A.C. Feuer. When God created man, He said “Let us make man.” Nahmonides explains the plural of “Let us” to mean that God invited all of creation to contribute to the creation of man, man has within him microcosmic traces of each created being. When a man displays strength and power that is the aspect of the lion within man, sometimes man is timid and fearful, that is when the nature of the lamb expresses itself in man. When people idle, doing nothing, it is a display of the plant element within man.
[6] The imagery of two parallel harps is utilized by Rav Wolfson to explain a Talmudic story. The Talmud in Berakhoth 3b relates:
There was a harp hanging above the bed of
David. When midnight would hit, a
northern wind would blow. The harp
would then play. David would awake and
rise to study Torah until the morning.
This story sounds too fantastic to be true. Can a wind play tunes on a harp? The story is not to be understood in a literal manner rather the Talmud is utilizing allegorical imagery. The harp above the bed is really David’s heart, and the northern wind is the song of the souls of Tzadikim who reside in the northern part of the Garden of Eden. The righteous begin to sing at midnight. David’s heart was perfectly attuned to the souls in Gan Eden, when they started to sing, like a parallel harp, his heart started to vibrate in harmony and he then awoke and studied Torah.
[7] When the Torah was given at Mt. Sinai Jews experienced a direct revelation of Godliness. The experience was so overwhelming that their souls left their bodies and all of Jewry had to undergo a revival of the dead. Finite man cannot directly experience the breath of the infinite.
[8] The same is true with noise. A whisper can hardly be heard, only if one raises the volume of speech is it audible. However, if one shouts at the top of his lungs, the heightened noise renders the words inaccessible.
[9] “The Nefesh Hachaim and many other sources tell us that there are many interlocking levels to the Creation. In an infinitely stretching chain beginning at the very Source of existence, many worlds are connected in sequence. Each of these higher worlds infuses the level below it with existence and energy; each is “male” with regard to the world below it which is relatively speaking, “female”, and together they “bring out” yet another level below them. This process continues with myriad complexity until finally our finite world results.” (Living Inspired page 71) This process is called the Seder Hishtalshlus.
[10] The Ari Hakadosh wrote that humans should not try to meditate and think about this world. (Sichas Malakhey Hashareis chapter 3)
[11] C.f. Exodus 24:11 “ Vel atziley bney yisrael” “And to the noblemen of the Children of Israel etc.”
[12] C.f. “A call to the Infinite” page 67 quoted from Rabbi Yosef Gikatilla
[13] C.f. “A call to the Infinite” pages 74-75 quoted from Derech Hashem 4:6 13-14
[14] C.f. Sichas Malachey Hashareis chapter three. Rabbi Tzadok explains that the life-forms on our planet are roughly divided into four categories; domeim, inanimate materials such as air and water, tzomeach, growing items such as grass and trees, chay, living beings like animals, fowl, and insects, and medaber, speaking creatures, namely, humans. The world of Asiyah and the soul part Nefesh are expressed through righteous deed. If you put a coin into the hand of a poor person without any care for his welfare nor a thought about why it is correct to give charity, then it is exclusively in the realm of Asiyah. Domeim bears a trace of Asiyah. An act without feeling or thinking is like an inanimate item, the doer was a block of wood during its performance, no better than a mechanical machine. The world of Yetzirah is the source for Ruach and feelings and resembles tzomeach. Most of what I feel is internal, only a small fraction of my love or hate can be seen by others. I cannot see the tree moving up when it grows, however I do see a small fraction of the growth process, and by regular monitoring of a plant I can stay abreast of its development. Animals have some intelligence, thus chay corresponds to Beriah and Neshama, the sources of thoughts. Chaya and Atzilus is total connection to God, thus corresponding to medaber, the human who through speech can experience union with Infinity.