Running Commentary on Torah 51 — Avnei Shayish Tahor

Beginner: Rabbi Akiva taught (Chagigah 14b, the famous Pardes passage — the four sages who entered the mystical 'orchard' of secret knowledge): **when you reach the stones of pure marble, do not say 'water, water'** — because the verse (Psalms 101:7) warns, *'One who speaks falsehoods shall not be established before My eyes.'* Rabbeinu explains: falsehood (sheker) physically and spiritually damages the eyes, as Isaiah 3:16 says *'u-meshakros einayim'* (usually rendered 'ogling eyes' but Rabbeinu reads the root as connected to *sheker*, falsehood). When the eyes are dimmed, they lie — they show a big thing as small, or one thing as two, the very opposite of truth. The eyes grow dim from tears; the sages said (Shabbos 151b, on Ecclesiastes 12:2 *'the clouds return after the rain'*) that this alludes to vision that weakens after weeping. And tears themselves come from the excess of **black bile** (*marah shechorah* — the melancholic humor), which the body expels through the eyes. The black bile is generated by a clouding of the **bloods** (*damim* — the vital forces of the body and soul). And the clouding of the bloods is caused by falsehood itself: one cannot speak sheker without first clouding his bloods, and one cannot speak truth without first purifying them. For the essence of speech is the soul — *'my soul went out when he spoke'* (Song of Songs 5:6) — and the soul is in the blood, as Leviticus 17:11 says *'for the blood, it is the soul.'* So lying clouds the bloods → generates black bile → produces tears → dims the eyes. And Job 30:4 mentions *'those who pluck malluach [saltwort] by the bush'*; **malluach** shares a root with *melach* (salt), and refers to the tears, which are salty waters born from (twisted) conversation. This is why Rabbi Akiva said: 'do not say mayim mayim' — the doubled 'water, water' is the very aspect of falsehood, which is salty tears. One who drinks sweet water has his thirst quenched; but one who drinks salt water is not only not quenched — his thirst grows, and he must drink more water to relieve it. Intermediate: **R' Akiva (Chag 14b)**: at avnei shayish tahor, do not say "mayim mayim" — "dovair shekarim lo yikkon l'neged einai" (Teh 101:7). Sheker damages the eyes (Yesh 3:16 "u-meshakros einayim" — derived from root שקר). Dim eyes lie. Vision dims from tears (Shab 151b on Koh 12:2). Tears = excess of marah shechorah, which comes from clouded damim. Clouded damim come from sheker itself — speech is the soul (ShhSh 5:6), soul is in blood (Vay 17:11). Iyov 30:4 "malluach alei-siach" — malluach (root מלח) = salty tears from speech. Hence "mayim mayim" = salt water = sheker; salt water does not quench thirst but intensifies it.

Beginner: The generation of **sheker**, which is **ra** (evil), which is **tum'ah** (impurity), all stems from **distance from Echad** — from the One. For evil is by definition *opposition*: whatever stands against a person's will feels evil to him. But in the One, there is no opposition at all — it is all *tov*, all good. The sages taught (Pesachim 50a, on Zechariah 14:9 *'on that day Hashem shall be One and His name One'*): in the future, Hashem will be *'kulo ha-tov ve-ha-meitiv'* — entirely good and beneficent — because in the One, evil simply does not apply. This is why in the messianic future *'the lip of truth shall be established forever'* (Proverbs 12:19); all will be Echad, all good. Truth is One. Example: when you point at a silver vessel and say *'this is a silver vessel,'* that statement is truth — singular, one correspondence, one reality. But if you call it a 'gold vessel,' that is sheker — and you could just as easily call it 'copper,' 'bronze,' 'wood,' and so on endlessly. Truth admits only one name; falsehood multiplies into *'cheshbonos rabim'* — **'they sought many calculations'** (Ecclesiastes 7:29). The essence of sheker is this fragmenting multiplicity, the move away from the single unified reality. Intermediate: **Sheker=ra=tum'ah from distance from Echad**. Ra = negdiyus (opposition); in Echad no negdiyus, all tov. "Ba'yom ha'hu yihyeh Hashem echad — kulo ha-tov ve-ha-meitiv" (Pes 50a; Zech 14:9). L'asid "sfas emes tikkon la'ad" (Mishlei 12:19). Emes=Echad: a silver vessel called "silver" = one truth; "gold"=sheker, multipliable endlessly. Sheker = "cheshbonos rabim" (Koh 7:29) — the fragmenting multiplicity that departs from unity.

Beginner: Because of this — that ra is rooted in distance from Echad — *l'asid la-vo* (in the messianic future), ra itself will be nullified, opposition will be nullified, and tears will be nullified. Three pesukim describe this triple nullification: (1) *'lo yarei'u ve-lo yashchisu'* — they shall not harm nor destroy (Isaiah 11:9) — nullification of **ra**; (2) *'ve-gar ze'ev im keves'* — the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard with the kid (Isaiah 11:6) — nullification of **negdiyus** (opposition); (3) *'u-machah Hashem Elokim dim'ah me-al kol panim'* — Hashem will wipe tears from every face (Isaiah 25:8) — nullification of **dim'os**, which (as seg 1 established) *are* sheker. (Rabbeinu cites Tikkunei Zohar 22, 66b on this sheker↔tears equation.) Then *'Hashem shall be One and His name One'* — all tov, all truth. Likewise, tum'ah itself will be nullified, as Zechariah 13:2 says *'the spirit of impurity I will remove from the land.'* And Job 14:4 asks *'mi yiten tahor mi-tamei — lo echad'* — 'who can produce the pure from the impure — not the One?' (Rabbeinu's hidden reading: the *grasping* of tahor/tamei comes precisely from being *'lo echad'*, from departure from unity.) **Before briyah** (creation), when creation was still only *b-koach* (in potential, not yet brought out into actuality), **all was Echad — all Emes, all Tov, all Kodesh**. At that point, even the category *tahor* (pure) did not yet apply. For 'pure' is only meaningful in contrast to 'impure' — as Ezekiel 36:25 says, *'ve-teharu mi-kol tum'oseichem,'* 'you shall be purified from all your impurities.' When all is One, there is no *cheshbonos rabim* — and cheshbonos rabim is the root of ra and tum'ah, as above. Rather, **taharah** (purity) is the **mediating** (*mematze'a*) bechina between kodesh and tum'ah: the bridge through which tum'ah is rectified and elevated. It is parallel to **bechirah** (free choice), which is itself a mediating bechina between tov and ra. Neither taharah nor bechirah applies *before* briyah, because there is nothing two-sided yet to mediate between — there is only the One. Once the Holy One brought creation out *mi-koach le-po'al* (from potential to actuality), a duality appeared: the Echad, and the created. Now choice applies; now purity applies. Purity is the mediator *close* to the One and has not yet descended into cheshbonos rabim (ra and tum'ah) — yet it carries within it a **hint** (*roshem ve-siman*) of the seder ha-hishtalshelus, the chain of descent: from it, emanation can continue downward until it reaches ra and tum'ah. This is why the Zohar (Bereishis 48b) teaches that **the main grasping of tum'ah is from the left side** — *sitra di-smala*. Purity itself already signals that impurity exists, and is the channel through which descent to impurity is possible. Conversely, this is precisely why impurity can be purified and elevated back up: because it originally descended *from* purity itself — as the pasuk says, *'ve-teharu mi-kol tum'oseichem.'* Purity is the bechina of **left**, which is the bechina of **Levi** (Zohar Korach 176b), the aspect of *'ve-tiharta es bnei Levi'* — *'you shall purify the sons of Levi'* (Numbers 8:6). Levi = left, as is well known in Kabbalah. Therefore tum'ah grasps from the left, because left = tahor, and tahor is the source from which tum'ah chains down. All of this — left, taharah, bechirah, from which the chaining of tum'ah descends — applies only *after* briyah, when duality exists. Thus the main grasping of sheker/tum'ah comes from *distance from Echad* — meaning, specifically, from the *post*-briyah situation. But — through **Hashem's hashgachah** (providence), even after creation has been actualized, everything returns to unity with Him. Ra sucks its vitality only from the *residue* of hashgachah, *me-achurei kasfa*, 'behind the shoulder,' as the Zohar teaches (Chukat 184b). Through **emes**, a person draws Hashem's hashgachah upon himself — as Psalms 101:6 says *'einai be-ne'emnei aretz'* — 'My eyes are upon the faithful of the land.' Through **sheker**, he removes Hashem's hashgachah from himself, as the verse continues (Psalms 101:7): *'dovair shekarim lo yikkon le-neged einai'* — 'one who speaks falsehoods shall not be established before My eyes'; all that remains for him is the vitality of *achurei kasfa*. Whoever wishes that even after actualization all should be Echad — *'av u-ven ke-echad'* (father and son as one), as it was when all was b-koach — must guard himself from sheker. Through that guarding, hashgachah rests on him, and all is Echad. This is Rabbi Akiva's statement: **'when you reach the stones of pure marble'** — *avnei shayish tahor*. **Shayish** can be heard as *she-yaish*, 'that which is' — pointing to the post-briyah aspect of *existence*, which is where the name *tahor* applies (as above). But **avnei** (אבני, 'stones') can be heard as *av-v'nei* — *father-and-sons* — hinting at the bechina of father and son being one, which is the bechina of before-briyah, when all was b-koach, all Echad. Rabbi Akiva is saying: if you wish to bring *avnei shayish tahor* back to its root — if you wish that post-briyah (*shayish/she-yaish*) should re-inhere in pre-briyah Oneness (*avnei/av-u-ven*) — then **'do not say mayim mayim'**, because sheker removes hashgachah, distances you from Echad, and locks you into mere *shayish* cut off from *avnei*. Through emes, hashgachah descends; through hashgachah, all is Echad as before briyah. Therefore the reward of olam haba is *'ayin lo ra'asah Elokim zulasecha'* — *'no eye has seen, O G-d, besides You'* (Isaiah 64:3; see Berachos 34b). Because it will all be Echad, there will be no 'eye' that *sees* — only *'Elokim zulasecha.'* **A qushya Rabbeinu raises on himself**: if all becomes Echad in olam haba, how can each person receive differentiated reward according to his avodah? Surely not all will be equal — and yet, if all is Echad, what basis for distinction remains? Rabbeinu says: *ve-yesh ba-zeh sod she-i-efshar le-havino, ve-ha-devarim atikim* — 'there is a secret in this that cannot be grasped, and the matters are ancient.' Intermediate: **L'asid nullification trio**: (1) "lo yarei'u ve-lo yashchisu" (Yesh 11:9) = ביטול רע; (2) "ve-gar ze'ev im keves" (Yesh 11:6) = ביטול נגדיות; (3) "u-machah Hashem dim'ah" (Yesh 25:8) = ביטול דמעות=שקר (TZ 22, 66b). Also tum'ah: "ve-es ru'ach ha-tum'ah a'avir" (Zech 13:2); "mi yiten tahor mi-tamei lo echad" (Iyov 14:4 — grasping of tahor/tamei from being lo-echad). **Lifnei briyah (b-koach)**=Echad=Emes=Tov=Kodesh; tahor not yet applicable (only vs tum'ah — Yech 36:25). Cheshbonos rabim = shoresh ra/tum'ah. Taharah = mematze'a bein kodesh u-tum'ah = bechirah (mematze'a bein tov va-ra); neither applies pre-briyah. Post-briyah: duality → bechirah → taharah, close to Echad but roshem of hishtalshelus → descends to ra/tum'ah. **Zohar Bereshis 48b**: ikkar achizas tum'ah mi-sitra di-smala; tahor=smol=**Levi** (Zohar Korach 176b; Bam 8:6 "ve-tiharta es bnei Levi"). Hashgachah reunifies achar-briyah with lifnei-briyah. Ra yonek me-**achurei kasfa** (Zohar Chukat 184b). Emes → hashgachah (Teh 101:6 "einai be-ne'emnei aretz"); sheker → siluk (Teh 101:7). **Avnei shayish tahor**: shayish=she-yaish=havayah achar ha-po'al (=name "tahor" applies); avnei=av-v'nei=av u-ben ke-echad (lifnei briyah). Derech emes: hashgachah → shayish re-includes into avnei. **Olam haba paradox**: "ayin lo ra'asah Elokim zulasecha" (Yesh 64:3; Ber 34b) — kulo Echad, ein ayin ha-ro'eh. Qushya Rabbeinu: אם כולו אחד איך יש הבחן שכר לכל אחד? Teshuvah: "sod she-i-efshar le-havino, ha-devarim atikim".

Beginner: And for this very reason, sheker damages **in the hashgachah** — it removes Hashem's hashgachah from the person. Because through hashgachah, all is Echad post-briyah just as it was pre-briyah. Sheker damages **ha-Echad** (the One) — for sheker, by its nature, is distance from the One, as explained above — and therefore it forces the withdrawal of hashgachah, which is what had been holding achar-briyah and lifnei-briyah as one. Thereby, *rachmana litzlan*, a separation is introduced between achar-briyah and lifnei-briyah — and that very gap is where tum'ah grasps, as explained above. But through **emes**, which is the bechina of *kulo echad, kulo tov*, one draws down the hashgachah of Hashem — and then all is Echad. For through the hashgachah, achar-briyah is *kalul* (included) within lifnei-briyah, as explained above. And this is what Rabbi Akiva said (as above: avnei/av-u-ven, shayish/she-yaish, al tomru mayim mayim). And in this teaching, beginning, middle, and end connect perfectly — *u-mevin yavin* (the understanding one will understand). Intermediate: Sheker pogem **ba-hashgachah**. Hashgachah = mevatchas Echad achar-briyah ke-lifnei-briyah. Sheker = richuk me-Echad → siluk hashgachah → separation of achar-briyah from lifnei-briyah → achizas tum'ah. Emes = kulo Echad kulo tov → hamshachas hashgachah → "achar-briyah kalul be-lifnei-briyah". U'mevin yavin.