KabbalaOnline.org Tetzaveh 5783 Chasidic Masters Insights on the Torah Reading
KabbalaOnline.org Tetzaveh 5783 Chasidic Masters Insights on the Torah Reading
A Simple White Cloak
Chasidic Masters
By David
Sterne, based primarily on Shem miShmuel.
What
did Moses wear when communing with the One Above?
He
had a simple wardrobe – a white cloak.
That’s
remarkable, says Shem miShmuel, because the kohanim (the
priests in the Temple), whose work was bringing down high levels of
holiness and divine light from Above, needed to be covered with at least four
and as many as eight garments. The Levites (their helpers), whose
service was singing and elevating the offerings and prayers of the Jews, did
not need any special clothes. But, Shem miShmuel asks, since
Moses was the highest and most holy of all the people involved in service of
the One Above, why didn’t he dress in the garments of the priests?
First,
says Shem miShmuel, we need to understand why the kohanim had
to wear extra clothes (either four or eight garments) as they went about their
service in the Temple.
By
way of explanation, Shem miShmuel says this was because
the kohanim were involved with a higher level of divine light.
What was this light? It was the light that was formed during the six days of
creation. It was so powerful it could illuminate from one end of the world to
the other. G‑d hid this light away for the benefit of the righteous
in the future, and also in order to prevent the wicked from using it.
Shem
miShmuel says that this light could not have been physical light,
because even a very intense physical light would not have enabled anyone to see
from one end of the world to the other. The world is round, and no amount of
light would have enabled one to see over the horizon. So, it must have been a
spiritual light.
This
spiritual light is associated with the first day of creation, a very propitious
time, when the kindness (chesed) of G‑d was
most influential. It was this illumination and G‑d’s kindness which brought the
creation to a state of love and union with the One Above. The only problem was
that it did the same thing for the wicked; even though they didn’t deserve it,
when illuminated by this light, even the wicked were able to cleave to the One
Above in love and revelation. Therefore, G‑d set it aside for the future, when
the entire world would deserve it.
(His
students used to ask a similar question of the Kotzker Rav, the
grandfather of the Shem miShmuel. They noticed that there no longer
seemed to be the same level of the ahavat Yisrael – love among
Jews – in their generation as in former generations, such as in the time of the
Ba’al Shem Tov. He answered that in the earlier generations, the
famous Rebbe Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev had managed to open the
"storehouse of love" Above, but that the wicked had used this
"storehouse of love" for their own unholy purposes, and it had
therefore closed again.)
In
other words, if it’s too good, it’s not for this world, yet. The kohanim,
whose work was to bring light, kindness, and revelation down into the world,
had to do so quickly and quietly. They couldn’t be obvious about it, which is
why they had to wear special garments to conceal their movements.
The
Levites were not involved in bringing revelation down into the world, but in
lifting the world up. This was a task requiring discipline and caution. It
didn’t attract any would-be evil doers, because the forces opposed to holiness
were not lured by discipline and asceticism. Therefore it wasn’t necessary to
conceal the movements of the Levites, and they didn’t need to wear any special
clothes.
If
so, then what about Moses?
The Torah tells
us that "rays of light emerged from his eyes, and they [the Israelites] were
afraid to approach him." That is, it was clear to all that regarding
Moses, "fear of G‑d" permeated his being. Nobody wanted to approach
him, for fear of being "burnt" by the high level of G‑dliness
surrounding him. Therefore, it was sufficient for Moses to wear a simple white
garment.
And
that may be why there is a Kabbalistic custom to wear white on Shabbat,
says Shem miShmuel. It is known that Shabbat is higher than any
other day of the year, except for Yom Kippur. And just as the High
Priest (Kohen Gadol) would wear four white garments on Yom
Kippur, so it is a custom now to wear white garments on Shabbat.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[From
"Inner Lights from Jerusalem" based on Shem
miShmuel and other Chassidic and Kabalistic Sources, translated and
presented by Rabbi David Sterne.]
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