"The Great Redemption" (74)

"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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74.

I still have to explain a certain mystery which is a very great principle alluded to in the verse, “And (He) said to me, You are My servant, Israel, in whom I’ll be glorified” (Isaiah 49:3). Shouldn’t He have called them “my son”? And we know that this verse is referring to the Moshiach, about whom it’s said elsewhere “G-d said to me, You are my son” (Psalms 2:7).

The truth of the matter is that the greatest emendation to come about in the days of the Moshiach -- may he come speedily and in our day! -- will be the emendation of the body, which is aside from the emendation of the soul. This is a very important principle, since much of the world’s emendation depends on it. For the body had been corrupted by Adam’s sin, and all the other losses followed in its wake. But since these things are known to those who know the truth, and inasmuch as I spoke about it a lot elsewhere, I won’t delve into it at length here. In any event, everything will have to return to its original emended state, and that’s a very important principle.

(The expression used in the above cited verse,) “you are my son” refers to the soul. (In contradistinction,) it’s said of the body that is already emended, “You are My servant”; and it’s said of the Jewish Nation that had likewise been emended, “You are My servant, Israel, in whom I’ll be glorified”. For in truth the holy Tipheret will grow more so in the body than in the soul. After all, wasn’t the soul sent to this world to emend the body which stands on its lowest level, as is known? So, when the body is emended it will be said, “all flesh will see it together” (Isaiah 40:5), for it will glow like the radiance Moses’s face (see Exodus 34:29).

But know that the radiance of Moses’ face shone from the hidden light that was granted him. Know as well that that light had been sequestered in the High Chessed that had become very mighty, of which nothing had been revealed down below other than the sun that shines, which is on the level of Tipheret. But since its light isn’t as pure as that of Chessed, since the power of Gevurah had been mixed in with it, this light was sequestered up above.

The truth is, it derives from the union of Tzaddik and Tzeddek (i.e., Yesod and Malchut). And since he’d ascended up above and stood at the place of Tipheret itself, Moses thus received light from a higher point than it, and the skin of his face thus shone. As our sages put it, his light “derived from the extra drops of ink from the pen” (Shemot Rabbah 47). Tthe “pen” (referred to here) is actually the Tzaddik written about in books, and the writing that is to be done (about him) will come about by means of this light, and that’s why Moses derived radiance from there.

This hidden light will be revealed in the days to come, when there’ll no longer be a husk or evildoers. And thus it’s written, “Arise, shine; for your light has come” (Isaiah 60:1). This light will come to the Jewish Nation (then), and their bodies will become pure thanks to it.

(c) 2006 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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

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