שלהבות של אמונה י״בFlames of Faith 12

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1YECHIDAH: THE PINTELE YID

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2A Jewish bill of divorce is only valid if the husband willingly delivers it to his wife. If he is forced to write or send the document it cannot dissolve the marriage. Nevertheless, Maimonides rules that when a husband, ordered by the religious court to divorce his wife, refuses to obey, the court may send officers to hit the man until he mutters that he “wants” to divorce his wife. The Rabbis will then execute a divorce in his name.²⁰⁸This law was also formulated in regards to sacrifices. Sacrifices are only effective if they were offered willingly. If a man is obligated by law to bring an offering and refuses to spend the money and offer the animal, the court can send enforcers to beat the sinner. Once he says, “I want to,” they will bring a sacrifice in his name and he will receive forgiveness. See further Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, “The Laws of the Sacrifices” 14:16.

ג׳

3This ruling raises an inherent question. A coerced bill of divorce is meaningless. If the husband uttered the words, rotzeh ani, “I want to [fulfill the mandate of the court],” while being brutally beaten, how can the court accept that he meant what he said?

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4Maimonides²⁰⁹Mishneh Torah, “Laws of Divorce” 2:20. raises this question when formulating the law. He answers that in truth every Jew wants to fulfill the law of Torah and act in the moral way. Subconsciously the husband desired to give the bill of divorce. His evil inclination, however, coerced him and silenced the voice of virtue. The court enforcers with their blows merely silence the loud voices of his body. When the man croaks, “Stop hitting me! I want to,” his inner voice is speaking and the bill of divorce is commissioned willingly.

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5Yechidah is the part of the soul that sends a voice to man stating, rotzeh ani, “I want to [fulfill the law of God].”

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6Yechidah is the hidden part of the soul. Man himself is frequently unaware of it; it is a root motivation underlying much of one’s conscious thought. It is deeper than the subconscious, and it is totally united with the Almighty. This soul part is completely pure and constantly advocates virtue.

ז׳

7In Psalms it is written, Ve-od me’at ve-ain rasha, which literally means, “A little bit [of time] and there will be no more evil” (Ps. 37:10). However, Chasidim interpret the verse to mean that within every person “there is a little bit that is not evil.” Even when one commits many sins and it seems that the person is entirely corrupt there is a little bit that is faultless. A small part of the sinner always wanted and still desires holiness. This od me’at, “little bit,” is the voice of the yechidah. In Yiddish, this is called the pintele yid, the small and indestructible Jewish spark of faith.

ח׳

8Isaiah proclaims, Ve-ammeich kullam tzaddikim, “[Members of] Your nation are all righteous” (Isa. 60:21). This verse is also understandable in the light of yechidah. Since every Jew at his or her deepest level wants to serve God, from that perspective he or she never wanted to perform any sins and is completely saintly. Based on yechidah, all of Jewry is guaranteed a portion of eternal reward united in the perfect fellowship of pure virtue and total observance.²¹⁰See further Sanhedrin 90a.

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9The Secret of Lashes

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10Rava said,

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11Most people are so foolish! They stand in the presence of the Torah scroll yet they do not rise to honor the Torah scholar. [The Torah scholar’s power is greater than the scroll for] in the scroll it is written that the court will punish the sinner with forty lashes, and the Rabbis [using the tools for interpreting the Torah text] taught that the maximum amount of lashes is thirty-nine.²¹¹Makkos 22b.

י״ב

12Rava’s point seems to be that Torah scholars are greater than the Torah scroll, for Torah scholars have the power to interpret the Biblical text in ways that override the literal meaning. There are numerous examples where Rabbis of the Talmud reveal non-literal meanings of Biblical verses. Why did Rava feel that the lesson of thirty-nine lashes instead of forty was the most inspiring?

י״ג

13Lashes are administered by the court to a Jew who openly and brazenly disregards the admonition of witnesses and violates one of the Mitzvos. Why did the Torah seem to require forty blows? Nachmanides explains that forty is the number of days for the formation of a child. According to the Talmud, every human body is formed during the first forty days after conception.²¹²Prior to the fortieth day, the developing child is legally considered mere fluid. After the fortieth day it is an embryo and at least a partial life. The sinner has defiled every aspect of his person so he deserves forty lashes. Furthermore, the Torah was first taught to Moses, while he was atop Mt. Sinai, over forty days. Forty blows symbolize that the sinner has defiled the entire Torah with his brazen disregard for its statutes.

י״ד

14The reason why it takes forty days to create a child is that there are four primary supernal universes, atzilus, beriah, yetzirah, and asiyah, that correspond to the letters of God’s ineffable name: yud, heh, vav, and heh. Each universe has ten levels within it, for God created the world with ten statements,²¹³Rosh Hashanah 32a; Bereishis Rabbah 17:1. See further Zohar Vayikra 11:2, and Emunas Etecha, Parashas Nitzavim 5758. each of which appears in a different form in each universe. For the fetus’s body to develop, its soul must first travel through forty stops, four universes with ten levels to each. Hence forty days of formation, for on each day a different level of soul is received. The Torah’s multiple layers of meaning were redacted over forty days, so that Moses would understand forty levels of Divine Thought, and every level of Moses’ soul and personality would be filled with Torah thought.

ט״ו

15The greatness of Torah sages is that they revealed the existence of a hidden voice within the Jew. They taught that even the sinner who proclaimed, “I am sinning even though I know that it violates God’s command,” is not all bad. He did not defile every day of his formation. He may have seemed to sully all the letters of God’s name, but in truth he did not dirty the crown atop the yud, the fortieth level, the highest point.²¹⁴Since the supernal realm is constructed as a chain, the highest level of atzilus is really also the lowest level of Adam Kadmon. Thus the highest point of chayah is the lowest level of yechidah. This point, the yechidah within man, or the world of Adam Kadmon within each of us, cannot be defiled. See further Ma’or Va-Shemesh, Parashas Yisro. The apex stayed pure, and one voice within him always sought sanctity. That day of his formation, or innermost point in his soul, did not agree to the misdeed. This point, colloquially called a pintele yid always advocates sanctity. Take the inner voice into account when judging the sinner, and as a result he only deserves a maximum of thirty-nine lashes.

ט״ז

16For Rava, this lesson is the most impressive example of Rabbinics because it guarantees hope and consolation. Never feel that you are all bad. That is impossible. There is always at least a small voice of good within.²¹⁵See further Emunas Etecha, Parashas Ha’azinu 5757, and Shem Mi-Shmuel, Parashas Noach pg. 85 s.v. be-Zohar ha-kadosh.

י״ז

17A superficial glance at the sinner would not see his innermost voice. One who only sees the externals would say that the sinner has fully desecrated his being and deserves forty lashes. Fortunately, God is never superficial. God probes deeply to find merit. In His compassion, God takes the innermost voice into account and declares that the sinner only deserves thirty-nine lashes.

י״ח

18The Torah requires that man emulate His Maker. God hears the innermost voice. Likewise, man should always seek to view others in light of their innermost voice. Noah successfully thought about the hidden good within people. That is why Noah rebuked in the softest and gentlest terms, for no sinner was a demon in his eyes.²¹⁶See further Mishbetzos Zahav on Parashas Noach.

י״ט

19There is a Rabbinic custom that when meting out the punishment of lashes the following verse is recited three times: Ve-hu rachum yichapper avon ve-lo yashchis ve-hirbah le-hashiv appo ve-lo yair kol chamaso, “And He the Compassionate One will atone for sin and not destroy, He will repeatedly overcome His rage and He will not reveal the full measure of his fury” (Ps. 78:38).

כ׳

20The verse has thirteen Hebrew words. Through threefold repetition a total of thirty-nine words are recited. Perhaps this custom is an expression of the following thought. The sinner seemingly deserved forty lashes, but due to the Almighty’s compassion God looked deeply and acknowledged the voice of yechidah, and the sinner is only to receive thirty-nine blows.²¹⁷The scriptural source for the punishment of lashes contains a warning prohibiting excessive punishment. “He should be hit forty times, no more, lest you increase the amount of blows over these a great deal and your brother will then be embarrassed before you” (Deut. 25:3). Since the Rabbinic tradition revealed that the real limit is thirty-nine blows, the verse is referring to the fortieth blow, warning that forty blows is makkah rabbah, excessive. The gematria of makkah rabbah (65+207=272) is the same as the value of the words ve-hu rachum (18+254=272). This indicates that the compassion of God (represented by the words ve-hu rachum) is the reason for the liberal definition of makkah rabbah.
The Torah introduces the law of flogging with, im bin hakkos ha-rasha, “If the guilty party has incurred the penalty of lashes” (Deut. 25:2). The gematria of im bin hakkos ha-rasha (41+52+431+575=1099) is the same gematria as nefesh, ruach, neshamah, chayah, yechidah (430+214+395+23+37=1099). This is an indication of the lesson mentioned above. At the moment of flogging all the parts of the soul appear, the blows are then reduced, since the pure yechidah is present (Emunas Etecha, 5757, pg. 7).

כ״א

21Thirty-Nine Instead of Forty

כ״ב

22In addition to malkos, “lashes,” there are several other instances in Jewish thought and history where the number forty plays an important role.

כ״ג

231) When the Jews were about to enter the Land of Israel, spies were sent to scout out the terrain. They returned after forty days and delivered a devastating report. They claimed that the land was inhospitable and its indigenous nations unconquerable. The people believed the scandalous spies and they cried and complained. As a result of the lack of faith in God’s promises to give them the land, God punished the Jewish nation and declared that they would spend forty years in the desert as a punishment for the forty-day mission of sin that the spies carried out.²¹⁸See further Numbers 13-15. However, it emerges from the writings of the Tosafos²¹⁹See further Tosafos at the end of Ta’anis s.v. yom she-bo kalu meisei midbar. that in the fortieth year nobody died. In the end, Jews only died for thirty-nine years.

כ״ד

24This historical event is another example of the power of yechidah. It seemed that the spies were all evil. It appeared that the Jewish nation was fully complicit in the sin of the spies, and it was decreed that the generation of the desert would die over forty years. However once the fortieth year was reached, yechidah was revealed. God looked at the deepest desires and saw that in the innermost recesses there had been a will to be good. Due to the revelation of yechidah, in the fortieth year all the Jews were deemed righteous and the community suffered no further punishment.

כ״ה

252) As a result of Adam’s sin (eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil), he was punished with the world, receiving thirty-nine curses. Due to these curses, there are thirty-nine primary categories of melachah—creative work, which parallel the curses. These types of work are performed during the six days of the week and are prohibited on Shabbos.

כ״ו

26There should have been forty curses, and the Sabbath too should have been a day of work, yet God looked at Adam’s voice of yechidah. He saw that within Adam there had always been regrets and a desire to withstand the temptation of the Tree of Knowledge. Shabbos represents the fortieth level. On Shabbos there are blessings, not curses; therefore, no melachah. Shabbos returns man to an Eden-like existence.

כ״ז

27In our lives we may sink spiritually through our involvement in our mundane activities of this world, the thirty-nine melachos. On Shabbos, though, we hit the fortieth level, and we are then liberated from the universe of toil.²²⁰See further Emunas Etecha (ibid.) and Shem Mi-Shmuel, Parashas Noachpg. 85 s.v. ve-hinneh.

כ״ח

283) Yom Kippur is the day of revealed yechidah.²²¹See Lesson Two, where the lesson of the Sefer Yetzirah of olam, shanah, and nefesh was explained. Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendelovitz, of blessed memory, would tell his students that on Yom Kippur every Jew has to touch the level of yechidah that they have within them for at least one moment.

כ״ט

29Why is Yom Kippur connected to yechidah? According to some, we are to begin blowing the shofar, which awakens man to repentance,²²²See further Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, “Laws of Return.” on the first day of the Rosh Chodesh, New Moon festival, of the Hebrew month Elul.²²³Elul has a two-day Rosh Chodesh. Blowing the shofar on the first of the two days means that one is blowing on the last day in the Hebrew month of Av. The shofar is then blown every day after that until Yom Kippur.²²⁴Twenty-nine days in Elul and nine days in Tishrei. Yom Kippur is thus the fortieth day after we began to remind ourselves of the need to repent. On the fortieth day there is a revelation of yechidah—the innermost will.

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30Generally, touching yechidah is only possible for the very righteous. However, on the fortieth day, through rigorous prayer and repentance, everyone can touch it. That is why Rabbi Mendelovitz said that every Jew is obligated to reach his personal level of yechidah on Yom Kippur.²²⁵Perhaps the most appropriate moment to reach yechidah, the fifth part of the soul, is during Ne’ilah, the final prayer of Yom Kippur, which is the fifth prayer of the day (ZR).
The Purim holiday that celebrates Jews being miraculously saved from a genocidal decree in the Persian Kingdom is also a day of yechidah. The Zohar links Purim to Yom Kippur, stating that the Day of Atonement is a yom ke-purim, “a day like Purim.” The name Purim is a derivative of the term pur, “lot,” for Haman cast lots to decide when to kill the Jews. Yom Kippur as well is a time of lots, as the key ceremony that creates atonement is one in which the High Priest draws lots to determine which goat is a sacrifice and which is sent to the desert.
On Yom Kippur the innermost will is revealed through a mortification of the flesh, on Purim it is revealed through indulgence of intoxicating alcohol that causes the innate essence of an individual to emerge. The symbolism of drawing a lot and then sending a goat out into the wilderness represents that our sins are not our essence, our sins are our external voices. The innermost “I” is a sacrifice to God, fully committed to His service. This concept transcends logic, hence the lots, a trans-logical means of decision making. Purim too is a day that celebrates the innate nature of a Jew that is fully committed to God, which is why its name is Lots.
In fact, the reason why the Talmud requires that the Purim reveler drink alcohol to the depths of a stupor is that the light of yechidah is shining on this day. The light of the yechidah is far beyond our world, which is why tzaddikim would get drunk in order to be able to contain such a powerful life force. Most of us, however, do not sense the light of yechidah as it comes to our world. That is why it is inappropriate for us to drink excessively on Purim.
The Talmud, in Megillah 12a, relates a discussion between Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his students as to why the Jews of that era were deserving of a genocidal decree. “They bowed to an idol,” Rashbi taught, “Yet since they only did it in an insincere manner, since at their essential core they desired to serve God fully, the decree against them turned out to be hollow as well.” Purim came about because God looked at the essential core of the Jew, saw his pure intentions, and therefore forgave (Rav Wolfson). See further Pachad Yitzchak, Purim, Ma’amarim 6, 8, and 11.

ל״א

314) According to Jewish law, many forms of ritual impurity are removed by means of fully immersing oneself in a mikveh, the immersion pool. A mikveh is a gathering of forty seah (a Talmudic liquid measure, approximately two gallons) of pure water (either rainwater or spring water that has not been transported in a man-made vessel). The purifying quality of a mikveh is yechidah. Once one is covered by the fortieth seah of water, the fortieth level of the soul, the yechidah, is awakened. At that point there was never sin or misdeed, resulting in purification.²²⁶Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov, the author of the work Bnei Yissachar, explained that the days of repentance (the month of Elul and the first ten days of Tishrei) are in fact a mikveh in the dimension of time. Yom Kippur as the fortieth day is the fortieth seah, the water that fully covers the body. On that day we are fully immersed in holiness, which results in forgiveness and spiritual cleansing. See further Emunas Etecha, Parashas Ha’azinu 5757, Shem Mi-Shmuel, Mo’adim pg. 103 s.v. be-midrash.

ל״ב

32The Deeper Meaning of Return

ל״ג

33Yechidah causes a redefinition of the concept of teshuvah, “repentance” or “return.” It is generally assumed that sin distances man from God, and teshuvah is the process through which man returns to stand before God. However in light of the above, teshuvah is not a return to God, rather it is primarily a return to oneself. Once you reconnect with your innermost self, you find yourself in the presence of God.

ל״ד

34Even the sinner has an inner point—his yechidah—that is perfectly righteous. Teshuvah is when he returns to this inner essence and allows it to influence the rest of his personality. Perhaps this is the meaning of the verse, Ve-hasheivosa el levavecha (Deut. 30:1), which is literally translated, “Take it to heart,” but it may also mean, “Return to your heart.”²²⁷See further Noam Elimelech, Parashas Vaeschanan, s.v. hishamer lecha, who writes, “A person should constantly consider his Heavenly soul... for if he does not know himself he will definitely not know the Almighty.”

ל״ה

35The Talmud teaches that when Rabbi Alexandry would complete his prayers he would say:

ל״ו

36Master of all worlds! You know that our will is to fulfill Your Will. Who prevents us from listening to our will? The leaven in the bread [a symbol of the evil inclination] and the yoke of foreign governments [who enact decrees prohibiting Jewish practices]. Please save us from their hands and we will return to serve you with full hearts.²²⁸Berachos 17a.

ל״ז

37Here too is a Talmudic reference to yechidah. Yechidah is “our will that desires to fulfill Your will.”

ל״ח

38One of the ways to calculate a gematria is to turn each letter into a word (the name of the letter) and calculate the numeric value of the “filled out” word. For example, the word lev (heart) in its filled out form would be lamed, mem, dalet, and then bet, yud, tav.

ל״ט

39The filled out form of lev (74+412=486) equals the phrase, Ve- ammeich kullam tzaddikim, “And your entire nation is righteous” (136+96+254=486). For in the depths of the heart, once you fully fill out the heart, the entire nation is righteous.

מ׳

40Yom Kippur is the day of return, when Jews are to return to their innermost will. The gematria of the phrase rotzeh ani, “I want to,” (301+61=362) is the same as the term Yom Kippur²²⁹If kippur is spelled with a yud (כיפור). (56+306=362).²³⁰Emunas Etecha, Parashas Ha’azinu 5757.

מ״א

41Lessons Thirteen and Fourteen will further clarify the power of the yechidah soul part.