A thought on Parshas Bereishis
"...ha'isha asher nosata imadi hee nosna li...""...the woman that You gave to be with me, she gave it to me..." (3:12)
During the coming year, I plan to study the teachings of a commentary who is less well known (which is how I also depicted Rabbeinu Bachya a year ago), and whose name is usually mispronounced (which is also a phenomenon associated with Rabbeinu Bachya). In fact, this commentary is simply called by the last name of its author.
I first heard of this great Rishon (who lived in Italy from the latter part of the thirteenth century until the early years of the fourteenth century, in the same era as Rabbeinu Bachya) while studying in the yeshiva of Rav Moshe Feinstein zt'l. One year, my chavrusa, a chossid, quoted this commentary (using the yeshivish mispronunciation of the name) and I was chilled by the mystic tone of his ideas. When I asked who he was and what his name meant, no one seemed to know.
Now, years later, I have a set of the writings of the Levush, Rav Mordechai Yaffa zt'l who was one of the very early poskim Acharonim. This was a gift given to me by my sister and brother in law in London. In the back of the final volume, the Levush has a commentary on this commentary. I am now, b'H, finally able to study this Rishon first hand.
Often called "the Recanti", his name was actually Rabbeinu Menachem Recanati. This is actually a fairly common Italian Jewish last name. Much confusion and mystique has surrounded the meaning of his name, most of which has been debunked by those who know of his work and of his Italian origins. His family name was simply Recanati. He wrote works on kabbala and halacha, and is cited as a source by great poskim. He was a great mekubal and one of the first to put his thoughts into writing. He illuminated the mystical works of those before him. His commentary requires careful analysis, which is one of the reasons the great Levush wrote the Levush Aven Yakara elucidation of the Recanati.
May HaShem guide me in the months ahead as I attempt to introduce some of his work in these weekly parsha emails. Now back to our verse.
"...ha'isha asher nosata imadi hee nosna li...""...the woman that You gave to be with me, she gave it to me..." (3:12)
In the Garden of Eden, once Adam HaRishon has been confronted about having eaten of the Tree of Knowledge, he retorts that it was his wife Chava, who was meant to be a support to him, who had actually given him the fruit. There is a tone of double fault finding in the verse: not only does Adam blame Chava but he also implies that HaShem Himself is at fault as well. "The woman that You gave to be with me" implicates HaShem kavayachol in the event. What were the repercussions of this pointed allegation?
The Recanati writes that putting HaShem on par with the woman opened up a double sided mystical reality. In times to come, ages later, the Jewish people would enter exile. Part of that exile would serve to spotlight this supernal "fault" in Shomayim. Exile would involve a decrease in spiritual awareness and would also lead to a perception that HaShem was "faulty" (as in "fault lines"): the world, including the Jewish world, looks to the Heavens during exile and wonders "what has become of G-d?" It is as if we cannot see Him, when in reality it is our own spiritual energy which has become faulty and lacking. It is as if He has "become" a reflection of our own lack of wholeness and completeness as we recede into the shadow world of galus.
The other side of this mystical reality is that in our exile, the Divine Presence "goes into exile" alongside of us. Adam's pairing HaShem with "the woman" as having been at fault meant that during our centuries of suffering, the Divine Presence is, well, sensitive to our plight. He shares in our burden kavayachol, for as Adam HaRishon declared, "You had a role in my downfall too." This is not to contend that any of the above "accusations" are to be understood at a literal level, nor to imply that any of the Recanati's thoughts are to be taken at face value alone. He opens up for us a separate dimension in looking at the verses, for seeing deeper into their eternal ramifications.
Many years ago, my great rebbe Rav Simcha Wasserman zt'l, whose yartzeit is nearing, spoke about the meaning of the Hoshanos which we are saying during this week of Sukos.
He told us about the final prayer which we recite each day, Ani v'Ho hoshia na...k'hoshata elim b'Lud Imach and how it depicts the way in which HaShem stays with our nation during and throughout each step of our sojourns in exile. Each of the verses includes HaShem as well as a reference to ourselves (I suggest that you look at this passage in the Hoshanos and see it for yourselves!)
The Recanati makes the identical point here. He writes that this is the focus of Ani v'Ho...k'hoshata elim b'Lud Imach. It speaks of exile and it speaks of the Divine Presence which accompanies us into exile and stays a part of us here. It is a manifestation of "Immo
Anochi b'tzara" - I am with them amidst their suffering (Tehillim 91:15).
When Adam linked the Higher world with the lower world in explaining the events of his life, he inaugurated the connection between both realms, which continue to resonate for us when we are at our best and living a life of spiritual completeness, and during the dark night of exile, when we wander in search of our missing wholeness, followed and shadowed and protected by the Presence which we can sense hovering somewhere out there...
Wishing you a Year of renewal, a festival of joy through Torah and a good Shabbos. D Fox
During the coming year, I plan to study the teachings of a commentary who is less well known (which is how I also depicted Rabbeinu Bachya a year ago), and whose name is usually mispronounced (which is also a phenomenon associated with Rabbeinu Bachya). In fact, this commentary is simply called by the last name of its author.
I first heard of this great Rishon (who lived in Italy from the latter part of the thirteenth century until the early years of the fourteenth century, in the same era as Rabbeinu Bachya) while studying in the yeshiva of Rav Moshe Feinstein zt'l. One year, my chavrusa, a chossid, quoted this commentary (using the yeshivish mispronunciation of the name) and I was chilled by the mystic tone of his ideas. When I asked who he was and what his name meant, no one seemed to know.
Now, years later, I have a set of the writings of the Levush, Rav Mordechai Yaffa zt'l who was one of the very early poskim Acharonim. This was a gift given to me by my sister and brother in law in London. In the back of the final volume, the Levush has a commentary on this commentary. I am now, b'H, finally able to study this Rishon first hand.
Often called "the Recanti", his name was actually Rabbeinu Menachem Recanati. This is actually a fairly common Italian Jewish last name. Much confusion and mystique has surrounded the meaning of his name, most of which has been debunked by those who know of his work and of his Italian origins. His family name was simply Recanati. He wrote works on kabbala and halacha, and is cited as a source by great poskim. He was a great mekubal and one of the first to put his thoughts into writing. He illuminated the mystical works of those before him. His commentary requires careful analysis, which is one of the reasons the great Levush wrote the Levush Aven Yakara elucidation of the Recanati.
May HaShem guide me in the months ahead as I attempt to introduce some of his work in these weekly parsha emails. Now back to our verse.
"...ha'isha asher nosata imadi hee nosna li...""...the woman that You gave to be with me, she gave it to me..." (3:12)
In the Garden of Eden, once Adam HaRishon has been confronted about having eaten of the Tree of Knowledge, he retorts that it was his wife Chava, who was meant to be a support to him, who had actually given him the fruit. There is a tone of double fault finding in the verse: not only does Adam blame Chava but he also implies that HaShem Himself is at fault as well. "The woman that You gave to be with me" implicates HaShem kavayachol in the event. What were the repercussions of this pointed allegation?
The Recanati writes that putting HaShem on par with the woman opened up a double sided mystical reality. In times to come, ages later, the Jewish people would enter exile. Part of that exile would serve to spotlight this supernal "fault" in Shomayim. Exile would involve a decrease in spiritual awareness and would also lead to a perception that HaShem was "faulty" (as in "fault lines"): the world, including the Jewish world, looks to the Heavens during exile and wonders "what has become of G-d?" It is as if we cannot see Him, when in reality it is our own spiritual energy which has become faulty and lacking. It is as if He has "become" a reflection of our own lack of wholeness and completeness as we recede into the shadow world of galus.
The other side of this mystical reality is that in our exile, the Divine Presence "goes into exile" alongside of us. Adam's pairing HaShem with "the woman" as having been at fault meant that during our centuries of suffering, the Divine Presence is, well, sensitive to our plight. He shares in our burden kavayachol, for as Adam HaRishon declared, "You had a role in my downfall too." This is not to contend that any of the above "accusations" are to be understood at a literal level, nor to imply that any of the Recanati's thoughts are to be taken at face value alone. He opens up for us a separate dimension in looking at the verses, for seeing deeper into their eternal ramifications.
Many years ago, my great rebbe Rav Simcha Wasserman zt'l, whose yartzeit is nearing, spoke about the meaning of the Hoshanos which we are saying during this week of Sukos.
He told us about the final prayer which we recite each day, Ani v'Ho hoshia na...k'hoshata elim b'Lud Imach and how it depicts the way in which HaShem stays with our nation during and throughout each step of our sojourns in exile. Each of the verses includes HaShem as well as a reference to ourselves (I suggest that you look at this passage in the Hoshanos and see it for yourselves!)
The Recanati makes the identical point here. He writes that this is the focus of Ani v'Ho...k'hoshata elim b'Lud Imach. It speaks of exile and it speaks of the Divine Presence which accompanies us into exile and stays a part of us here. It is a manifestation of "Immo
Anochi b'tzara" - I am with them amidst their suffering (Tehillim 91:15).
When Adam linked the Higher world with the lower world in explaining the events of his life, he inaugurated the connection between both realms, which continue to resonate for us when we are at our best and living a life of spiritual completeness, and during the dark night of exile, when we wander in search of our missing wholeness, followed and shadowed and protected by the Presence which we can sense hovering somewhere out there...
Wishing you a Year of renewal, a festival of joy through Torah and a good Shabbos. D Fox
posted by Rabbi Dr. Fox at 11:05 AM
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