Torah Ohr, Bereshit 1

“The heavens are My throne, and the earth is My footstool; what house…?” We must understand how it is applicable to say of Him, blessed be He, “My throne” and “My footstool.” After all, He has no bodily form, and He is not within the category of space. As it is written: “Behold, the place is with Me,” meaning that He is the place of the world, but the world is not His place. However, to understand the matter: the Torah is from heaven, as it is written, “For from heaven I spoke to you.” This means that Torah is the aspect of “heaven,” for shamayim, heaven, is composed of esh and mayim — fire and water. So too, regarding the Torah it is written: “From His right hand, a fiery law for them.”

Now, it is written: “You shall guard My statutes and do them.” The word is written otam — “them” — but it may be read as atem — “you.” This teaches that the person is the one who “makes” the Torah. Similarly, in the blessing Ahavat Olam — “With an everlasting love You have loved us” — we ask: “to guard, to do, and to fulfill.” First comes “to do it,” and afterward “to fulfill it.” This is accomplished through the request: “Merciful Father, have mercy upon us, and place understanding in our hearts.” From the level of supernal mercy, rachamim elyonim, there is drawn down binah — understanding and contemplation — into the heart. Through this understanding in the heart, and by means of it, the Torah is “made” and brought into being.

And how should this contemplation take place? This is explained in the Shema. The word Shema means “understand” or “comprehend.” This understanding is contained within the word Shema itself, for Shema can be read as shem ayin — “the Name” and the letter ayin. The meaning is that the enlarged letter ayin — the ayin rabbati — represents the level of “To You, Havayah, belong greatness and might,” and so on. These are the seven supernal emotional attributes, which are described as “to You,” meaning that they are nullified to Him and included in their source. At that stage, they have not yet entered into a state of drawing-down and expansion below, where they would be called by the names “greatness,” “might,” and so forth. At that level, this is called the enlarged ayin, the ayin rabbati. But the drawing-down that extends and spreads below is only the aspect of shem, “Name,” alone. It is merely a radiance. This is the meaning of the phrase: “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever.” It refers only to the aspect of His Name and the attribute of His kingship, blessed be He. For it is written: “Your kingship is the kingship of all worlds.”

This is the meaning of binah — understanding — “to understand one thing from within another.” The phrase “within another thing” refers to the level of memale kol almin, the Divine light that fills all worlds. This is the aspect of “Name,” meaning only a radiance and illumination that is drawn into the worlds. From this, one must understand that this is only a radiance, as explained above, whereas He, blessed be He Himself, is sovev kol almin, the Divine light that surrounds and transcends all worlds. “No thought can grasp Him,” and He is not of any of these attributes at all. Through this contemplation, one is brought to the state of “And you shall love Havayah your G-d” literally — to cleave to Him, blessed be He, to the actual blessed Infinite Light, Ein Sof Baruch Hu. As it is written: “Whom have I in heaven? And besides You I desire nothing…” Meaning: one’s only desire and will should be that Havayah — the blessed Infinite Light Himself — should become “your G-d,” dwelling within you. That is, there should be a revelation of the blessed Infinite Light Himself upon one’s soul. This is accomplished through “with all your heart,” as it is written: “If He sets His heart upon him, He will gather his spirit and soul to Himself.” For “spirit brings spirit and draws spirit.” Through the spirit of man that rises upward, when he “sets his heart upon Him” — meaning that his heart longs to cleave to Him, blessed be He, and to draw the revelation of His G-dliness upon his soul and within his soul — then “His spirit and His soul” from the level of sovev kol almin are gathered to him. That is, the Divine indwelling is gathered and rests within him, in the inner depth of the person and in the deep heart. From this there follows the verse: “And these words which I — the One who I am — command you…” Through this, the revelation of His G-dliness is drawn down, and the Torah comes into being in the aspect of “heaven,” composed of fire and water. For the Torah preceded the world by two thousand years. The meaning is that “world” refers to the level of fire and water, while the Torah is far higher in its level, in the aspect of “two thousand years,” which is above the level of world. In order for the Torah to be drawn down into the level of world — that is, to become “from His right hand, a fiery law,” referring to the 248 positive commandments from the right side and the 365 negative commandments from the left side — this drawing-down occurs through itaruta de-letata, awakening from below, in “And you shall love… with all your heart.” For “spirit brings spirit and draws spirit.” Through this, “you shall speak of them.” The word vedibarta, “you shall speak,” also has the meaning of leadership, direction, and drawing-down. That is, it means drawing the blessed Infinite Light into the Torah.

This is the meaning of the phrase: “And Havayah spoke to Moses.” In order for the Divine Name Havayah to be drawn down so that Torah may come into being, there must first be a drawing-down into the level of Moses. Moses is from the level alluded to in the verse: “For I drew him from the water.” This is the meaning of: “The heavens are My throne.” Since “heavens” refers to Torah, the Torah is like a throne. By way of analogy, a throne is made for sitting. Sitting represents a lowering compared to standing. When a person stands, he possesses his full stature; his head and mind are elevated high above the earth. But through sitting, his stature is lowered. So too, the Torah becomes a throne for the blessed Infinite Light, Or Ein Sof Baruch Hu, specifically for the level of His “head,” meaning His will, wisdom, and understanding. This is as stated: “You are wise, but not with a knowable wisdom; You understand, but not with a knowable understanding.” In the Torah, His wisdom and understanding descend and become progressively enclothed within physical matters, such as tefillin, tzitzit, charity, terumot and ma‘aserot, sacrifices, and so forth.

“And the earth is My footstool.” The word hadom, “footstool,” in the language of Scripture is like shrafraf, “stool,” in the language of the Gemara. It too is a small type of chair or seat. It is something placed beneath the feet of one who is sitting, in order to raise the feet above the ground. Concerning this, the Gemara comments on the verse “Thrones were set up” — karsavan remiv — that one throne was for a chair and one was for a footstool. The kisei, “chair” or “throne,” is the larger one upon which one sits, while the shrafraf, “footstool,” is the smaller one placed beneath the feet.

The matter is as follows: Knesset Yisrael, the Congregation of Israel, is called “foot,” as it is written: “You are children of Havayah your G-d.” And the son is called “the leg of the father” — bera kar‘a de’avuha. By way of analogy, we find that the foot possesses a superior quality that the head does not have. The feet are what walk; they carry the head and bring it to the place of its desire. Thus, the head needs the feet. Furthermore, the sinews of the head and its vitality — for “the blood is the soul” — are present in the feet. When blood is let from the foot, the head is healed and sustained. Likewise, there are many forms of healing that are performed through the feet, and the head is healed thereby. In this respect, the foot is called “head,” and the head is called “foot,” because in this particular quality the head is lower than the foot.

So too it is above: through the inter-inclusion of the flows and levels, “their beginning is wedged in their end, and their end in their beginning.” There is or yashar, direct light, and or chozer, returning light. Or yashar refers to the flow from above to below, where whatever is higher is considered superior. Or chozer refers to the ascent from below to above, where whatever is lower becomes superior. This is the meaning of “their beginning is wedged in their end”: the end becomes the beginning. Thus, the level of the “foot” is called “head.” Israel are called reishit, “beginning,” and it is written: “He saw the beginning for himself.” Through itaruta de-letata, awakening from below, a rectification of the supernal lights is produced above. This is what we find regarding Moses: at the sin of the Golden Calf, one thousand lights were taken from him. On Shabbat they are returned and given to him as a gift. This is the meaning of the prayer: “Moses rejoices in the gift of his portion.” Concerning this, our Sages alluded when they explained the verse: “Go, descend” — meaning, “Descend from your greatness.” G-d said to Moses: “Did I give you greatness except for the sake of Israel?” This is because Israel were in the aspect of Moses’ “feet,” as it is written: “The six hundred thousand footmen of the people in whose midst I am.” They were for him an encompassing level and an aspect of “head,” even though they were certainly also in the aspect of “feet” relative to him. So too it is with every Jew: when one rectifies one’s actions — which are performed through the power of action, in physical deed, corresponding to the level of “feet” — one’s mind and heart become purified a thousandfold.

Now, in order for there to be a “footstool” for the aspect of the “foot,” which is the level of Knesset Yisrael, the Congregation of Israel — that is, in order to raise and elevate her from below to above — this is accomplished through the aspect of “earth,” namely the practical commandments. The general category of these practical commandments is charity, tzedakah. Concerning this it is said: “Charity exalts a nation” — tzedakah teromem goy. “Exalts” means that it raises from below to above. This elevation and ascent takes place in the aspect of goy, “nation,” whose letters are gimmel-vav-yud. This alludes to the elevation of the emotional attributes, which are generally divided into three categories: kindness, judgment, and mercy — chesed, din, and rachamim. For netzach, hod, and yesod are only the extension of chesed, gevurah, and tiferet, and their branches. Their elevation is to the level of the letter yud, which represents chochmah, wisdom, through the letter vav, which draws down and connects thought, and so forth. Exactly so, below within the human soul, there is an elevation of the emotional attributes into one’s intellect and understanding. For when the emotions are separated from the intellect, they are considered an independent entity.

Therefore, there can be a person whose heart is aroused during prayer, or at a similar time, when it is a moment of expanded consciousness — gadlut ha-mochin. But afterward, the love fades and passes away, and he turns back to his own path, moving from one extreme to the opposite, without understanding that these are two opposites. This happens because the emotional attributes are separated from the intellect. This is not so when the emotions are integrated within the intellect. Then the emotions are elevated to a much greater degree, to the point that they themselves become an aspect of mochin — intellectual consciousness. This is the meaning of “with all your soul”: with all the powers of the soul, even the aspect of “foot.” For even the level of “foot” is raised and elevated.

Now, this is the general meaning of what are called “heaven” and “earth”: Torah and commandments. More specifically, within Torah itself, “heaven” refers to the Written Torah. Shamayim, “heaven,” can be read as shem mayim, “there is water there,” for “Torah emerges from wisdom,” and wisdom is associated with water. “Earth,” by contrast, refers to the Oral Torah. For eretz, “earth,” is related to ratzon, will, as our Sages said: “Why is it called eretz? Because it desired — ratzta — to do the will of its Creator.” Also, eretz may be understood as the letters aleph-ratz — “the Aleph runs.” The explanation is that the Oral Torah is the comprehension of the ultimate Divine will: to know the practical “how” and “what” of the commandment. For example, regarding a sukkah: how high it may be, and so forth. These details are not explained explicitly in the Written Torah. The Written Torah, by contrast, is primarily the aspect of letters, in their exact form and image, for they are the Names of the Holy One, blessed be He. Therefore, one is said to “read in the Torah,” like one who calls by a name. This is a movement from above to below. But the Oral Torah is primarily from below to above. Through grasping the Divine will in one’s soul, the soul becomes included in its source above. And three things are called “earth”: Knesset Yisrael, the Congregation of Israel; the Oral Torah; and the commandments. All three are hinted at in one verse: “Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Havayah.”

But what is the meaning of “What house…?” A throne and a footstool are not normally placed outside, but rather inside a house. The aspect of “house” corresponds to “with all your might” — bechol me’odecha — which is an encompassing level, a makif. This is like the analogy of a house, which surrounds a person with its roof and its walls. This “house” is the house of prayer. Through prayer — through the eighteen times that one says “Blessed are You,” and so forth — encompassing lights are drawn down from the level of sovev kol almin, the Divine light that surrounds and transcends all worlds. This is the aspect mentioned above: “His spirit and His soul He gathers to Himself." These encompassing lights are drawn down through the bowings and prostrations in the blessings of the Patriarchs and Thanksgiving — at the beginning and at the end — for these bowings express the quality of bittul, self-nullification. The explanation is that it is impossible for there to be a revelation of the blessed Infinite Light, Or Ein Sof Baruch Hu — of which it is said, “No thought can grasp Him at all,” and that He is “not of any of these attributes” — within the innerness of the heart, except as an extremely small radiance. Even as a revelation in the mind and in intellectual comprehension, “no thought can grasp Him.” Therefore, the revelation can only be in the form of an encompassing and surrounding light. Concerning this it is said: “But to this one I will look,” which alludes to the aspect of prayer.

The explanation of the verse is as follows: “And all these My hand has made” refers to the aspect of action, meaning the practical performance of the commandments. “And all these came into being, says Havayah” refers to the Oral Torah, which is the “saying” and “word” of Havayah, the aspect of speech. By contrast, “But to this one I will look” refers to the aspect of prayer. “I will look” refers to gazing, or looking intently. This is the level of “Your eyes are like doves,” which is the aspect of thought alone. This itself is the level of makif and sovev, encompassing and surrounding light. By way of analogy: thought surrounds the thing that one is thinking about. The same is true of sight and gazing. Speech and action, by contrast, are inward and internalized levels. This Divine gaze is directed “to the poor and broken-spirited one,” meaning to the level of bittul, self-nullification — one who has nothing of his own, not even Torah and commandments. For this particular drawing-down cannot be attained through Torah and commandments, since they are inward, internalized levels. Rather, it is attained through self-nullification in prayer, through bowing and prostration. This is like the analogy of a king before whom people bow and prostrate themselves. Because it is impossible to come close to him due to the greatness of his exalted level, one bows before him. Then, automatically, this level is drawn down to the person. This is the meaning of “Blessed are You” — that is, “blessed” from Yourself and of Yourself, drawn down on Your own.

Now, regarding this level of drawing down the encompassing light, it is written: “He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob.” For regarding the inner, internalized level, it is written: “He examines hearts and kidneys.” This means that there is an examination of the felt longing — whether it truly comes from the inner depth of the person and from the deep heart, in absolute truth. By contrast, regarding the encompassing level, it says: “He has not beheld iniquity,” and so forth. Rather, “Havayah his G-d is with him,” meaning that this level is drawn down of itself, constantly.