Waters, Raven and Dove: Levels of Tzaddikim

27“The waters went on decreasing until the tenth month.” The holy Torah is called water, as in “all who are thirsty, come to the water”;¹ so “the waters” are the holiness and deveikus, the cleaving to Hashem, within a person. They [“went on decreasing”], for deveikus cannot last constantly. Sometimes he goes on in deveikus and sometimes it decreases, that is, his deveikus is broken off, in the way of mati velo mati, “reaching and not reaching.”² “Until the tenth month”: until a new level, the tenth, is renewed in him, chodesh, “month,” speaking of chiddush, renewal. That is the highest holiness, as in “the tenth shall be holy.”³ “On the first of the month the tops of the mountains were seen”: even though he has reached this level and come to complete oneness, as be'echad, “on the first,” suggests, still only “the tops of the mountains” were seen in him. He has reached only a part of holiness so far, for the service of the Creator, blessed be He, has no end.

28a“At the end of forty days”:⁴ after a person is privileged to come into the inner content of the holy Torah, which was given to Moshe Rabbeinu over forty days. “Noach opened the window of the ark that he had made”: here Noach, “rests,” names Hashem, blessed be He, for He dwells and rests in His world to watch over His creatures. Then He opens a gate for the tzaddik in his holiness, so that he goes on growing stronger in great holiness.

28b“He sent out the raven”:⁵ here the verse counts and lists the levels of tzaddikim that the Holy One, blessed be He, created in His world. “He sent out” means that He sent the tzaddik into the world. The first level is “the raven”: it hints that there are people whom Hashem created to engage in business in good faith, to support their children and their households. They are called “raven” after the Gemara's words about people who would not support their children: of such a man they would proclaim, “The raven wants its young, and this man does not want his children.”⁶ Orev, “raven,” also speaks of sweetness: the same letters (ערב) read arev, “sweet.” Such a man is pleasant and sweet in the eyes of Hashem and of people when he engages in business in good faith. This is “He sent out the raven”: the tzaddikim we described, who are called “raven.” “And it went out, yatzo vashov, going out and returning”: as soon as this man goes out to his business, he must return at once. He must test himself, so that his intention is for the sake of Heaven, and turn his intention back to Hashem. “Until the waters had dried up”: he should keep to this way until our righteous Moshiach comes, speedily.

29The second level is “He sent out the dove from him.”⁷ This hints at the complete tzaddik, who is called “dove,” as I will write further on. “To see whether the waters had abated from the face of the ground”: he sees to it that he breaks the power of the kelipos and separates them from the holiness, which is called “water,” as we saw with “the waters went on decreasing,” and that he raises the holiness higher and higher, bekal, easily, as hakalu, “had abated,” suggests. For once the kelipos are separated from the holiness, the holiness has the power to rise. “But the dove found no rest for the sole of its foot,” raglah: this tzaddik finds no rest for himself in things ragli'os. From regel, foot, comes ragil, habitual: these are the habitual, material things done in this world; his whole aim and longing is only to rise to holiness. “And it returned to him”: to Hashem; “to the ark”: to holiness. “For there was water on the face of all the earth”: the tzaddik sees that the holiness is below, on the earth, and his soul longs greatly to raise it. What does the Holy One, blessed be He, do? “He put forth his hand and took it”: Hashem does the tzaddik's will and puts forth His hand to help him, as the tzaddik's soul desires.