"The Great Redemption" (29)

"The Great Redemption" by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto

-- A Discourse on The End of the Exile and the Beginning of the Great Redemption

Translated by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
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29.

It’s also written, “Behold, winter has passed (and) the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing bird has arrived, and the sound of the turtledove is heard in the land” (Song of Songs 2:11-12). Take careful note of the fact that great mysteries are included in these verses.

Know that there are four seasons to the year which are actually two. There’s the great cold of the winter and the great heat of the summer (in which there’s just scant produce), and there are two abundant seasons -- (corresponding to the months of) Nissan and Tishrei.

Know that all that happens (on Earth) draws from the various celestial groupings. As such, the four seasons of the year indicated above can be divided so that two are (active in) the times of Judgment and two (in) the times of Kindness.

Know as well that Judgment works two different ways. The first is to constrict the flow of light by stopping-up the openings. Winter comes about down below this way. The other way is when (Judgment’s other facet, which is) Strength becomes just as strong as it can be and manifests itself as a consuming fire that burns everything in sight. The heat of summer comes about this way.

Now, G-d doesn’t want to allow Strength to extend beyond its limits, since the world would be destroyed if it did. So, even when Strength rules, some of the Kindness’s capacities are combined with it, and the world is perfumed (by the combination of the two).

But understand (the implications) of this well. For when the openings are closed and the passageways are covered over in the winter, G-d nonetheless empowers the right side so that the openings unblock and so rain can fall. That’s why it’s not that cold when it rains in the winter, since the rain comes under the control of Kindness despite the fact that it originates in severe Strength. And the world is thus perfumed. G-d likewise has it rain in great heat. For as I’d already said, it descends from the rule of Kindness. And that’s why things cool down in the summer when rain falls.

(c) 2005 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

(Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org )

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