KabbalaOnline.org Shemot 5783 The Holy Ari Insights on the Torah Reading
KabbalaOnline.org Shemot 5783 The Holy Ari Insights on the Torah Reading
Please Note: The bold text is the direct
translation of the classic text source.
The regular text is the explantion of the editor/translator
On Guard from Age Thirteen until Twenty
The Holy Ari
Beginner
"They called him Esau."(Gen.
25:25)
This refers to the Evil Inclination, for with regard to every
mention of Esau and Jacob in this passage, Esau is[allegorically] the
Evil Inclination and Jacob is the Good Inclination. This is why it is stated,
"They called him Esau," for his father and mother realize that[the
newborn] has
an Evil Inclination.
Both
the Exodus from
Egypt and the birth of the twins Jacob and Esau serve as metaphors for birth.
The first of the twins to be born was Esau, who allegorically refers to the
Evil Inclination. The fact that Esau was born first reflects the fact that the
Evil Inclination is the first fully-developed consciousness to emerge with the
birth of the child.
It
is essential that the parents realize this in order for them to approach the
child's moral education properly.
The
Arizal
continues explaining the verse just quoted:
"Afterwards…" - this
always means after a long time, in this case, after thirteen years and a day.
There
are two words in Hebrew for "afterwards": "achar"
and "acharei". There is a difference of opinion in the Midrash over which
of these means "immediately afterwards" and which means "a long
time afterwards". (Bereishit Rabbah 44:5) The Arizal here adopts the opinion
of Rabbi Yudan against that of Rabbi Huna.
"…His brother came out."
This
refers to the inclination to do good, which is fully manifest in the child when
he or she reaches maturity at the age of thirteen or twelve, respectively.
It is not apparent to everyone when [the Good
Inclination] enters[the child's consciousness]. Only
G‑d is aware of this. Scripture therefore continues,
"And he named him 'Jacob',"
meaning that "He", the one who knows, called him "Jacob".
In
contrast to Esau, who was named by both parents ("they called him
Esau"), Jacob was named only by his father, Isaac. But the Torah refers to Isaac not by name but just
using the pronoun "he", so it may be interpreted allegorically to
refer to G‑d ("He"). This reflects the fact that only G‑d is aware of
the full entrance of the Good Inclination into the child's consciousness.
Indeed, we see no apparent difference in the child's way of thinking from the
day before his bar-mitzvah and the day after.
"And the boys grew" - This means that after
they grew they became two; until this point they had been one.
"And Esau" - that is, the Evil Inclination -
"was a man of the field", loving the affairs of this world. The
"field" in this verse refers to This World.
"But Jacob was a sincere man, sitting in the tents",
studying the Torah.
"Jacob was cooking some porridge."
The "porridge" here refers to the thoughts he always entertained
regarding how he could serve his G‑d. The word for "porridge"[in
Hebrew, 'nezid'] means "thinking", as in the
verse, "…which they planned[in Hebrew, 'zadu'] against
them" (Ex.
18:11), understood according to the Aramaic translation:
"…they were sentenced to the same affliction that they intended to
perpetrate on them." This therefore refers to someone who is always
thinking up ways to afflict himself in order to earn the life of the World to Come.
Before
the advent of the Chasidic movement, the Kabbalistic conception of
righteousness involved afflicting the body in various ways in order to weaken
its stranglehold over the person's consciousness. As is well known, the Baal Shem Tov decreed
that from his time on, this method of serving G‑d was largely outdated, and
that from then on righteousness entails educating the body and focusing it on
doing good rather than afflicting it.
One way or another, the Evil Inclination is subdued, since it sees
that the person is focused on the World to Come[rather
than this world]. This is the meaning of:
"And Esau…" -
the Evil Inclination…
"…came in from the field…" - the delights of
this world…
"…and was tired" - of all the thoughts of the
Good Inclination.
"And Esau…" -
the Evil Inclination…
"…said to Jacob" - the Good Inclination…
"'Please stuff me…'" - for you have been
afflicting me for days with your good thoughts and fasts, so now, stuff my
mouth with all I was deprived of all these days… "'…for I am tired.'"
"Jacob
replied, 'Sell me today your birthright…'" - for on the first day the
Good Inclination enters the individual's body (when he
is thirteen years and one day old) it takes charge by force and the Evil
Inclination is subdued before it.
Therefore, "on the eve of the fourteenth, we search for chametz[leavened
bread] by the light
of a candle."(Pesachim 1:1)
This
quote from the Mishnah
refers to the search for chametz conducted on the
eve of the fourteenth of Nisan.
Here, it is interpreted allegorically to refer to the day before a boy's
fourteenth year begins, i.e. the day before his thirteenth birthday, when he
becomes bar-mitzvah.
For on the first day of the[boy's] fourteenth
year,[his Good Inclination] enters[his body fully], in
the merit of the Torah he learned in his youth - which is called
"light", as in the verse, "…and the Torah is light"(Proverbs
6:23) - and in the merit of the commandments he was trained to
perform as part of his education, which are called "a candle", as in
the[same] verse, "For the commandment is a
candle…."
The
divine soul and the Good Inclination enter the individual's consciousness
gradually, as the parents educate their child in its youth to accept the
"yoke of the kingdom of heaven", i.e. to fulfill G‑d's commandments,
study His Torah, and adopt the Torah's values. Ideally, by the time a child has
reached the age of maturity, he or she has been fully inculcated into the
Torah's lifestyle and is ready to accept his or her obligations. The divine
soul and Good Inclination can then fully manifest themselves in his or her
active consciousness.
In the merit of both of these, "we search for chametz",
which is the Evil Inclination, and expel it and subdue it, and his [divine] soul
and Good Inclination enter[his body fully].
Now, every person possesses[spiritual] leaven[in
Hebrew, "se'or"], which comes from the seminal drop of his
father. This is alluded to by the verse, "Behold, I was conceived in
sin"(Psalms
51:7); [in which King
David meant to say:] "My
father Jesse had only his own pleasure in mind[when
he conceived me]." (See Shaar HaGilgulim,
introduction #38; Yalkut HaMachiri to Psalms
118:28)
Leaven,
the agent that causes dough to rise, is a metaphor for the Evil Inclination,
the source of ego and haughtiness in a person. (Berachot
17a )
Although
Judaism does not believe in Original Sin, we are taught that the intentions the
parents have when conceiving a child determine the nature of the child's
spiritual "garment," through which he or she experiences life.1
The more selfish the parents' intentions, the more spiritual work the child
must do in order to refine his or her spiritual perceptions.
Since
King David
aspired to the highest levels of divine consciousness, he regarded even the
slight amount of selfish orientation his righteous father presumably
entertained while conceiving him as an obstacle in his spiritual development
that he had to overcome.
Chametz,[in
contrast,] comes
from the mother's seed, and is therefore called "machmetzet"["fermenting
agent"], in the feminine.
The
Torah commands us to remove all "leaven" and "fermenting
agent" from our possession before Passover.(Ex.
12:15-20)Rashi
understands these two terms to be synonymous: leaven is also referred to as
"fermenting agent" in order to indicate that even though it is
inedible, it is still prohibited to possess it, just as it is prohibited to
possess chametz.
All this is expelled, and we eat matzah, which signifies the Good
Inclination. We eat matzah, in order to expel the chametz, for seven
days, corresponding to the seven years that are left before the person turns
20. At that age, he is judged by the heavenly court.
For
certain sins, a person can be tried and punished by an "earthly,"
i.e. rabbinic, court. For such sins, a person becomes liable for punishment at
the age of maturity - 12 for a girl and 13 for a boy.
For
other sins, a person cannot be tried and punished by an earthly court but only
by the heavenly court. For such sins, he or she becomes liable for punishment
only at the age of 20. (See Bamidbar Rabbah 18:4; Midrash Tanchuma, Korach 3)
For during these seven years, a person must be extremely on
guard against his Evil Inclination, inasmuch as he had become used to[being
ruled by] it
until he became thirteen years and one day old. He is therefore[during
these seven years] like a sick person who is being healed of his infirmity,
who, during the first few days, has to eat only light foods that will not harm
him. We are therefore commanded to eat[only] matzah
for the seven days of Passover.
[This
is what] Rabbi
Shimon[bar
Yochai] responded
to his son, Rabbi
Elazar,
who asked him if chametz embodies the Evil Inclination and matzah the
Good Inclination why we are not prohibited from eating chametz the whole
year; the response was that in the days[of Passover],
we were like sick people who came out of Egypt, and therefore had to eat[only] matzah.
Afterwards, when we were healed and healthy, eating chametz would not
harm us.(See Zohar II:40a)
So, too, the young man must be very watchful against the Evil
Inclination until he reaches the age of 20.
…to
be continued.
Translated and adapted by Moshe-Yaakov Wisnefsky from Sefer
HaLikutim and Likutei
Torah; subsequently published in "Apples From the
Orchard."
Reprinted
with permission from Chabad
of California. Copyright 2004 by Chabad of California, Inc. All rights
reserved, including the right to reproduce this work or portions thereof, in
any form, without permission, in writing, from Chabad of California, Inc.
Footnotes
From
the teachings of Rabbi Yitzchak Luria; translated and edited by Moshe Yaakov
Wisnefsky
Rabbi Yitzchak Luria
[…Ashkenazi ben Shlomo] (5294-5332 = 1534-1572 c.e.); Yahrtzeit (anniversary of
death): 5th of Av. Buried in the Old Cemetery of Tzfat. Commonly known as the Ari,
an acronym standing for Eloki Rabbi Yitzchak, the G-dly Rabbi Isaac. No
other master or sage ever had this extra letter Aleph, standing for Eloki
[G-dly], prefaced to his name. This was a sign of what his contemporaries
thought of him. Later generations, fearful that this appellation might be
misunderstood, said that this Aleph stood for Ashkenazi, indicating that
his family had originated in Germany, as indeed it had. But the original
meaning is the correct one, and to this day among Kabbalists, Rabbi Yitzchak
Luria is only referred to as Rabbenu HaAri, HaAri HaKadosh [the holy Ari] or
Arizal [the Ari of blessed memory].
Moshe Yaakov Wisnefsky
is a scholar, writer, editor and anthologist living in Jerusalem. He is a
co-founder of Ascent Institute of Safed and one of the first contributing
writers for KabbalaOnline.org. He has produced two monumental works:
"Apples from the Orchard: Arizal on the Weekly Torah and a Chumash
translation with commentary based on the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe
(Kehot).
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