Posts
HH
Maamar
HaVeykuach
Exposition
of Disputation
Author’s
Introduction
Hashem the G-d of
Israel, our Father Who is in Heaven, Who chose us to be his special
(-segula) nation (Exodus 19:5, Deuteronomy 7:6, 14:2, 26:18), this He
gave us as a sign of His love, and of that which he separated us from
all the nations – knowledge of His great name and the secret of His
wondrous deeds, which is impossible for any creature to figure out,
except to the extent that He illuminates their eyes and imparts upon
them of His spirit. And likewise Elihu said (Job 32:8), “Truly
(wisdom) is a spirit in man, and the Divine (- of the Name: Sha”dai)
soul gives them understanding,” and regarding this matter it is
said (Psalms 111:6), “The power of His deeds He told to His
nation.”
And because He hid
the splendor of His Shechina (-presence) from the world, and
constricted It in the Heavens, as it says in the verse (Psalms
115:16), “The heavens are the heavens of Hashem,” therefore
people don’t know and are not perceptive of the truth of the works
of Hashem, and as to the reality of His conduction the world, rather
they attribute everything to nature, and to the constellations of the
heavens, and their foolishness. And the first heretics contrived to
serve all the hosts of heaven in ways known to them, in which they
drew their powers down according to their way of endowment. And all
of this came about from the administration of the holy Shechina not
being revealed openly in the world, only in a concealed way. This not
being the case with the angels, whose place in in the heavens, where
the Shechina reveals Her dominion, and those standing in them (-the
heavens) – know the truth which is hidden from those living on
Earth.
However, when the
Holy One Blessed He desired to draw close to Him His nation which is
very dear to Him, behold He tore the Heavens (-at Sinai by the giving
of the Torah), and revealed to them His concealment, to the extent
that they all knew, and it was made clear to them in truth – that
the entire conduct of those below, in the most exactitude
conceivable, is only in the hands of the Shechina. And you don’t
have a tiny thing in the world which doesn’t have vested in it
extremely exalted and lofty matters. And then they knew and
understood the entire secret of creation: for what the world was
created, and on what it stands, and how it is conducted, and what the
end of all these things is. And they knew the depth of His scheme,
blessed is His name, and the great creations which He created for His
glory. And they also saw how the people of the world go in darkness,
and the truth is hidden from their eyes. And how the Holy One Blessed
He set those things which cause the wicked to blunder. For, because
He is hidden from the people of this world – He gave allowance to
Satan to roam the Earth and go about it, and to do, and to seduce the
heart of people with all types of trickery and deception, which the
heart of man is lured after them, and is mistaken in so many
mistakes, and thinks that the world only functions according to this
nature which is visible to the eyes.
And behold all these
things He revealed to their eyes, and they saw them, and they
comprehended them in truth, and the reasoning to all this, and the
depth of the supernal scheme which operates all this with tremendous
wisdom, till the end of everything. And here they saw the greatness
of the Torah and the mitzvoas (-commandments), what they are about,
and how they enact great effects in all of creation. And they saw all
the details of the mitzvoas, upon what they are based, and how they
are so very, very necessary, like they o.b.m. said, “Between each
and every statement (-of the 10 Commandments) – were enumerated the
exact specifics and particulars of the Torah (Shir Hashirim Raba 5,
Jerusalem Talmud Shekulim 6:1).” And regarding all of this, Moshe
Rabbainu r.i.p. said to them (Deuteronomy 4:35), “You have been
shown to know that Hashem is G-d in the heavens above and upon the
earth below, there is no other.” Because the Holy One Blessed He
showed them all of existence, and upon what it stands, and they knew
with clarity that He alone is the conductor, and there is no other
conduct, not natural, and not random, and not in any other way, just
the conduct which He blessed He conducts in the deep scheme which He
revealed to them. And He commanded them as it it written (/likewise)
to inculcate in their hearts this truth, that it should be resolved
in them without any doubt, like they saw it with absolute clarity.
And this is what he said to them (Deuteronomy 5:21), “
That’s it for now,
pray that I merit to finish this very quickly.
Na
Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!
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