Calling Hashem Master: Awe Held by Mitzvos

1“And Yaakov settled in the land of his father's sojournings …” It seems to me that this verse should be read together with another: “May there be peace in your rampart, serenity in your palaces.”¹ The Gemara says: “From the day the world was created, there was no man who called the Holy One, blessed be He, Adon, Master, until Avraham Avinu came and called Him Master.”² At first glance, what was so new in calling Him Master? But it seems that we must unite the two Names, Havayah (הוי״ה), the four-letter Name, and Adnus (אדנ״י), the Name of Lordship; then His Name is called Adon, Master. As we say in prayer: “Kel Adon, God, the Master over all the works.”³ Kel, God, is chessed, kindness, as the verse says, “The kindness of Kel is all the day.”⁴ When we unite Hashem's Name, we cause kindness and compassion to be drawn down into the world, and that is Kel. In other words, when we awaken the kindnesses by uniting His Name, then He is “Master over all the works.” This same union is the meaning of the verse “And Hashem is in His holy palace; has, be silent before Him, all the earth.”⁵ As is well known, the Name Adnus is the palace of the Name Havayah. When His great Name is united in His holy palace, that is, united within the Name Adnus, then “has before Him, all the earth”: has (הס) has the numerical value of Adnus (אדנ״י).⁶ Then He is called Master over all the earth.

2This is the meaning of “And there was no man (adam) to work the ground (adamah).”⁷ Adamah means “ground,” but here it is read as the word in “Edameh, I will be like the Most High”:⁸ a person must make his own form resemble its Maker, and he does it by uniting all the worlds above as one, to the One, may His Name be blessed and exalted. So “there was no man to work the adamah” means that there was not yet a man who could unite the worlds in this way. Therefore “a mist (ed) would rise from the earth”:⁹ this hints that the Holy One, blessed be He, was not yet called Adon, Master. That is why the verse says ed (אד), only two letters of the Name Adnus (אדני). So it remained until Avraham Avinu came. He understood with his pure mind, served Hashem with love, and was privileged to unite His Name, Havayah with Adnus; and then He was called Adon, Master.

3The main avodah through which Hashem's Name is united is gazing at the greatness of God, blessed be He, and His majesty, with the awe and dread that come to a person of themselves when he gazes at His awesome and wondrous deeds. You may ask: if this is the main service, the service in thought, why did Hashem give us all 613 mitzvos to busy ourselves with? Let us serve Him in awe and dread by gazing at His greatness! But if a person gazed at His greatness constantly, without pause, he would cease to exist from the awe, dread and trembling it brings on him. So Hashem in His compassion gave us the 613 mitzvos to busy ourselves with in our bodies, in His service. They help a person, making it possible for him to endure in his deveikus, his cleaving to Hashem.

4This is what our verse means: “And Yaakov settled in the land of his father's megurei.” Megurei means “sojournings,” but here it is read as fear, the word in “Vayagar Moav, and Moav was in dread”:¹⁰ Yaakov was settled and remained on this level at all times, living in fear and dread, the fear of Hashem, his Father in Heaven. “In the land of Canaan” means that he served with his body and was always busy with Hashem's Torah and mitzvos, for “the land of Canaan” hints at the body. Through this he was able to endure in his deveikus and in his gazing, in thought, at the greatness of God.

5And this is the verse we read together with ours, “May there be shalom, peace, in your rampart”: see to it that the Name is shalem, whole, by uniting the Names as one, as we saw with Havayah and Adnus. Cheilech, “your rampart,” hints at the upper worlds, which are called cheil, “host,” because all the host of the heavenly army is there. “Serenity in your palaces” means: through serenity in your palaces, that is, in your body, with all its limbs busy with Hashem's mitzvos, you will cleave to Him, blessed be He, and unite His Name. May His Name be exalted forever and to all eternity, amen. Understand this.