"The Great Redemption" (53)

"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
_____________________________________________

53.


This matter is cited in the verse “G-d the L-rd took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to care for and guard it” (Genesis 2:15). Our sages said that “to care for” refers to the mitzvah-imperatives, and that “guard it” refers to the prohibitions (Zohar 1:27a). I’ll now reveal a very great mystery to you (based on this).

For along the same lines it was said at the granting of the Torah, “we’ll do and obey” (Exodus 24:7), while yet in another place it’s written, “Depart from wrong and do good” (Psalms 34:15). (The explanation of all this lies in the fact that) in truth, after Adam’s sin, the husk became attached to holiness. So mankind can’t (really) rectify things until the two are separated, since he won’t succeed (otherwise). But that wasn’t so originally, for the holy and the profane were separate then, and doing that wasn’t necessary so emendations could be accomplished another way.

The point is that the mystery of mitzvah-imperatives is contained within the mystery of Chessed, while (the mystery of) prohibitions is contained within the mystery of Gevurah. Thus the Garden of Eden was originally to have been built in keeping with the mystery of mitzvah-imperatives, and its “guarding” was to be operative only after it was completed.

But let me explain this to you another way. There always has to be (an element of) sealing-off Gevurah on the outside (of things), which is termed its “husk”, while on the inside is light that’s termed the “marrow”.

Now, while the husk is impure at the present time, it’s still-and-all needed -- in order to guard the marrow. Once it’s removed from the world, though, the marrow will still be guarded by a husk; it’s just that the husk itself will be within the realm of holiness, since only the aforementioned sealing-off Gevurah would exist -- in fact, it must always exist, since a recipient can only receive within definitive boundaries.

(Parenthetically,) as to the statement, “your teacher won’t withdraw himself any more” (Isaiah 30:20), that indicates the fact that the husk is able to darken light when it’s impure, leaving behind only darkness and then light. But since the husk is in keeping with the mystery of Gevurah alone, it also emits light rather than (just) darkness, and only serves to provide a boundary. But it will provide a great deal of relief (in the future), as you’d heard.

As such, this is what Adam had to do to affect his emendation: he was first to have perfected his edifice by means of the mitzvah-imperatives and then to lay down “guarding”, in keeping with the mystery of Gevurah. And everything would have been rectified. The husk would no longer aspire to attach itself onto holiness for it would have been swallowed up for eternity.

Now, as you’d already heard, the husk would have already been destroyed when the various groupings within creation will be emended by the light of Chochma. It’s humankind that’s to do that and to be eternally rewarded for it. For G-d would then emend the various groupings enough for the Divine sustenance to flow perfectly forever and ever, as will be the case when the world is renewed, about which it’s said, “no eye has seen it G-d besides You” (Isaiah 64:3).

Now, the Jewish Nation achieved this level of emendation when the Torah was granted, which is why they said “we’ll do” in reference to the mitzvah-imperatives, and “we’ll ... obey” in reference to the prohibitions. But that way wasn’t viable at other times, when “Depart from wrong and do good” is in place.

So Adam was commanded to perfect the edifice, as it’s written, “Eat freely from every tree of the Garden” (Genesis 2:16) which is an imperative to emend the Garden, as I indicated. And it’s followed by, “but don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:17) which is a prohibition.

But since holy and profane mixed together when Adam sinned, and (the principle of) “G-d has made the one as well as the other” came into play since groupings of holiness had attached themselves onto groupings of the profane, (the mixture) grew strong enough from then on to spread through the world in the course of ten generations (from Adam himself to Noah). For it was the mystery of Adam itself that grew so strong. For the yetzer harah wasn’t (a force for) bad at first in man; it only became so later on.

(c) 2006 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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

********************************
AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued at *at a discount*!
You can order it right now from here
Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon "The Path of the Just", and "The Duties of the Heart" (Jason Aronson Publishers). His new work on Maimonides' "The Eight Chapters" will soon be available.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled
"Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal"