|
THE ZOHAR |
|
HUKKATH Numbers XIX, 1-XXII, 1 AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES AND UNTO AARON SAYING, THIS (zoth) IS THE STATUTE OF THE LAW WHICH THE LORD HATH COMMANDED, SAYING. R. Jose said: 'This passage commences simply, "This is the statute of the law", but in another passage we find, "Now this (ve-zoth) is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel" (Deut. IV. 44). Why this difference? As we have learnt, because the addition of the vau (now) indicates the complete union of all, of the Community of Israel with the Holy One, blessed be He; and such is the essence of the Torah. But where this vau is absent, there we have only the "statute of the Law" and not the Law itself.' When R. Simeon and R. Eleazar and R. Abba and R. Isaac were once in the house of R. Phineas ben Jair, the latter asked R. Simeon to give some new exposition of the section commencing: "This is the statute of the law". R. Simeon, however, [I8oa] called on R. Eleazar. The latter thereupon discoursed on the text: "Now this was the custom in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things", etc. (Ruth IV, 7). 'This verse', he said, 'raises a problem. If the ancients adopted this custom on the basis of the Torah, and later generations abolished it, how could they do so, seeing that to abolish a thing laid down in the Torah is like laying waste the whole world? If, again, it was not an injunction of the Torah, but a mere custom, why was a shoe chosen for the purpose? The truth is that this was enjoined originally by the Torah, and because the ancients were pious and virtuous this thing was revealed to them, but when sinners multiplied the thing was done in a different way, in order to conceal matters which have a high mystic significance. Now when God said to Moses, "Draw not nigh hither" (Ex. III, 5), He also said, "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet"; and it has been explained that by these words He enjoined him to part from his wife and attach himself to another wife of holy supernal radiance, to wit the Shekinah, and the drawing off of the shoe removed him from this world and placed him in another world. Similarly with a dead man who has departed from the world without children. The Shekinah does not gather him in, and he is driven to and fro about the world, but God has pity on him and bids his brother redeem him so that he may be set right by means of other dust. Now if that redeemer is not willing to establish seed for his brother in this world, he must tie a shoe on his foot and the wife must loosen it and take it to herself. Why was a shoe chosen for this purpose? Because the shoe was the support of the dead man in this world, and the woman, by taking it, signifies that the dead man who was wandering about among the living will now through that shoe no longer wander about among them. She must dash the shoe on the ground to show that she has laid to rest the body of the dead, and God then, or after a time, has pity on him and receives him into the future world. Therefore it was that whoever desired to confirm an undertaking took off his shoe and gave it to his neighbour. This was beforetime in Israel when they were pious and holy, but when sinners multiplied they concealed the matter under another form, using the corner of a garment. [180b] 'A RED HEIFER, ETC. The heifer receives from Ox, who is on the left, and is therefore used to purify. "Red" symbolizes the sentence of judgement. "Without spot" symbolizes lenient judgement. "Wherein is no blemish" indicates the Shekinah. 'AND YE SHALL GIVE HER UNTO ELEAZAR THE PRIEST. Why to him and not to Aaron? Because Aaron was the friend of the Matrona, and also because Aaron came not from the side of Pure, but from the side of Holy; for only he is called pure who emerges out of impurity. The key to the whole passage is in the words, "for a water of impurity, it is a sin-offering" (V. 9). For all the lower judgements, and all that come from the side of uncleanness, when it sucks from the "other side" sitting in judgement bestir themselves and haunt the world, but when all this ceremony of the heifer is performed on earth, and cedar wood, etc., is thrown into it, [181a] then their strength is enfeebled and wherever they are they are crushed and weakened, since their power also appears to them in this form (of an ox), and they no longer stay with a man, and he is purified.' AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, EVEN THE WHOLE CONGREGATION, CAME INTO THE WILDERNESS OF ZIN. R. Judah said: 'Why is the section of the red heifer followed immediately by the statement of the death of Miriam? To show that just as judgement was executed on this heifer to purify the unclean, so judgement was executed on Miriam to purify the world. When Miriam departed, the well which accompanied Israel in the wilderness also departed. Therefore THERE WAS NO WATER FOR THE CONGREGATION, because the well had departed both above and below. Then the right hand was broken, as it says, "Let Aaron be gathered to his people", and finally the sun was darkened, when God said to Moses, "And die in the mountain", etc. There never was a generation like that in which Moses was present along with Aaron and Miriam. And think not that there was the like in the days of Solomon, for in the days of Solomon the Moon held sway but the Sun was gathered in, whereas in the days of Moses the Moon was gathered in but the Sun held sway. It is written: "And the sun ariseth and the sun goeth down" (Eccl. I, 5). This signifies, as we have explained, that when the Israelites came forth from Egypt the Sun [1] shone for them and not the Moon, but it went down in the wilderness. To where, then, was it gathered in? "Unto its place", in order to give light to the Moon. So it was with Moses, and that is the point of the verse, "What profit is there to a man from all his labour", etc. (Ibid. 3). The "man" here is Joshua, who laboured to give Israel possession of the land and yet did not succeed in bringing the Moon to fullness, because he laboured for Israel "under the sun", that is, on a lower plane than the sun of Moses, and he did not really take his place. That being so, what was his glory, seeing that he did not reach perfection on either side (either of the sun or of the moon)? [182a] R. Simeon said: 'What is "under the sun"? This is the moon; and whoever attaches himself to the moon without the sun, his labour is "under the sun" assuredly; and this was the original sin of the world; and hence it says, "What profit is there to man in all his labour, to wit, to the first Adam and all who have followed him.' LET AARON BE GATHERED UNTO HIS PEOPLE, ETC. R. Hiya adduced here the verse: "Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead", etc. (Eccl. IV, 2). [182b] 'How could King Solomon praise the dead more than the living, seeing that only he is called "living" who walks in the way of truth in this world, while the wicked man who does not walk in the way of truth is called "dead"? We must, however, look at the words which follow, "which are already dead". This refers to one who has already died but who has the opportunity to return to this world in order that he may rectify (his previous life); verily this one is more to be praised than the other dead, because he has received his punishment, and he is more to be praised than the living who have not yet received their punishment. Such a one is called "dead" because he has had a taste of death, and although he is in this world he is dead and has returned from the dead; whereas "the living who are still alive" have not yet had a taste of death, and have not received their punishment and do not know if they will be worthy of the other world or not. Observe, further, that the virtuous who are thought worthy to be "bound up in the bundle of the living" are privileged to see the glory of the supernal holy King, and their abode is higher than that of all the holy angels, while those who have not merited to ascend so high are assigned a lower place according to their deserts. They are stationed in the lower Eden, which is called "lower Wisdom", and between which and the higher Eden there is a difference as between darkness and light. These, then, are they whom Solomon called "the living who are still alive", but the others "who have already died" and who have received their punishment once and twice are in a higher grade than they, and are called refined silver which has been purified of its dross. "And better than both is he which hath not yet been"; this refers to the spirit, which remains above and which delays to come down to earth, since it has not to receive any punishment, and it is nurtured with that supernal food above. [183a] [Or, again, we may explain that] best of all is he that has not separated from God and is concealed in obscurity, the pious saintly ones that keep the precepts of the Law and study the Torah day and night: such a one reaches a higher grade than all other men, and all envy his canopy. Now when God said to Moses, "Let Aaron be gathered to his people", he was greatly distressed, as he knew that his right hand was being broken, and he trembled greatly, until God said to him, "Take Aaron and Eleazar his son", as if to say: "Moses, see, I have prepared for thee another right hand". And for all that, Eleazar did not completely fill the place of his father, since the clouds of glory departed on Aaron's death and did not return save for the merit of Moses, and not of Eleazar. 'AND MOSES DID AS THE LORD COMMANDED, ETC. Why did they go up "in the sight of all the congregation"? Aaron was most dearly beloved of all the people, and therefore, so that they should not say that he was laid out by Moses, they all saw when he stripped Aaron of the garments and put them on Eleazar. Why was Moses chosen for this task? Because Moses had put them on Aaron when he was invested with the priesthood; so now he stripped him of what he had given him, while God stripped him of what He had given him, Moses stripping without and God within. God prepared for Aaron a bed and a candlestick of gold with a light, taken from the candlestick which he used to light twice a day, and He closed the mouth of the cave and they descended.' R. Judah said: 'The mouth of the cave was left open and all Israel saw Aaron lying there and the light burning before him and his bed being taken out and in, with a cloud resting on it, and then they knew that Aaron was dead, besides which they saw that the clouds of glory had departed. Therefore all the house of Israel, men, women and children, wept for Aaron because he was most beloved of all.' R. Simeon said: 'Why were not these three holy brethren buried in one place? Some say that each was buried in a place where Israel was destined to be in danger, so as to protect them, but in truth each died in the fitting place, Miriam in Kadesh, between the north and the south, Aaron on the right side, and Moses in his fitting place, which was connected [by underground passages] both with the mountain where Aaron died and with the grave of Miriam. [183b] 'AND THE PEOPLE SPAKE AGAINST GOD AND AGAINST MOSES. That is to say, they spoke against God and wrangled with Moses. WHEREFORE HAVE YE BROUGHT US UP: they put all faces [i.e. God and Moses] on the same level. Therefore there were sent among them serpents that burnt them like fire, and the fire entered their bodies and they fell dead. 'THAT IS THE WELL WHEREOF THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES, GATHER THE PEOPLE, ETC. This well never left them. It may be asked, How could they all draw from it? It issued into twelve streams and a channel went forth in every direction, and when Israel encamped and required water they used to stand by it and recite this song: "Ascend, o well, bring up thy waters to provide water for all, so that they may be watered from thee". So, too, they sang the praises of the well: "The well which the princes digged", etc. All that they said in its praise was true, and from this we learn that if one wishes to set in motion the powers above, whether through action or words, he produces no effect if that action or word is not as it should be. All people go to synagogue to influence the powers above, but few know how to do it. God is near to all who know how to call upon Him and to set powers in motion in the proper manner, but if they do not know how to call upon Him He is not near. So here, the Israelites spoke words of truth so as to set in motion [184a] this well, and before they did this it would not move. So also with magicians who get the "evil species" to serve them, if they do not employ the right formulas to draw them, they do not stir. So it says, "They called on the name of Baal", etc. (I Kings XVIII, 26), yet they availed nothing, for one thing because it was not permitted to them to bring fire down from heaven, and for another because they did not use the right invocation, since God confused them, as it says, "Thou didst turn their heart backwards" (Ibid. 37).' R. Simeon said: 'Here I must tell you something. Whoever knows how to perform the correct ceremony and recite the proper words can certainly influence the Holy One, blessed be He. If so, it may be asked, what is the superiority of the righteous who know the root of the matter and can concentrate their minds and thoughts more than the others who do not know this? The truth is that those who do not know the basis of the ceremony, and perform it only as a matter of rote, draw down to themselves an influence from behind the shoulders of the Holy One, blessed be He, which is only called "Providence", but those who do know draw forth blessings from the place which is called "Thought" until upper and lower beings are blessed and the Holy Name is blessed through them. Happy are they in that God is near them and ready to answer them when they call. 'AND THE LORD SAID TO MOSES, Do NOT FEAR HIM. Og was one of those who clave to Abraham and were circumcised with him. Hence Moses was afraid that he would not be able to overcome the sign which Abraham had impressed upon him. Therefore God said to him, 'Do not fear him (otho)", as much as to say, Do not fear that sign (oth) which is upon him, because he has impaired that sign of his, and whoever impairs his sign deserves to be annihilated. [184b] Therefore Israel destroyed him entirely, with his sons and all his people, as it is written: "And they smote him and his sons and all his people".' _______________ Notes: 1. Tifereth.
|