The Name Kel: Strength from Hashem's Kindness

26The holy Arizal, in his kavanos, the inner intentions for each mitzvah, set the Name Kel for the first night of Chanukah. For the second night he set the attribute Rachum, “compassionate,” and so on through the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, and the eighth night draws from Notzer chessed, “He preserves kindness,” through v'Nakeh, “and He cleanses.”¹ Yet the light drawn from the attribute of Kel shines on all eight nights. For in the hidden teaching the Name Kel shines into the eight tikkunei dikna, the “adornments of the beard,” as the Kabbalah calls the attributes of mercy. So the first night is “the day that goes with all the days.” As has been explained on Chazal's words “On the twenty-fifth of Kislev, eight days are they”:² the twenty-fifth of Kislev, whose kavanah is the Name Kel, holds all eight days within it. From it the light goes out, in the secret of “the kindness of Kel endures all the day.” The attribute Kel (אל) is the same word as eilei ha'aretz (אילי הארץ), “the mighty of the land,”³ a word of strength. That is, it gives strength to the Jewish soul: “True, of my own I have nothing at all. But I trust in Hashem's kindnesses, for they have not ended,⁴ since it is He Who brings all beings into existence and causes all causes.”

27aTo understand it, we begin with what has been written on the Midrash: “‘And Yaakov settled.’ What is written just before this passage? ‘And these are the kings …’ And here it is written, ‘And Yaakov settled (vayeshev).’ R' Chunya said: A parable of a man walking on the road who saw a pack of dogs and was afraid of them; he sat down among them. So when Yaakov Avinu saw Esav and his chieftains, he was afraid of them and sat down (yashav) among them.”⁵ That is, Yaakov Avinu feared that while he was with Esav and Lavan, perhaps some spark of holiness had fallen from him, from the light of his da'as, his holy understanding, and that this spark was the source of their nourishment and their life. This is the fear the Midrash means: “When Yaakov Avinu saw Esav and his chieftains, he was afraid of them and sat down among them.” Afterward, when he repaired his da'as and lifted it high, the holy life left Esav's chieftains of itself, and they died.

27bThis rests on what the books of the Kabbalists teach: the seven primordial kings [the kings of Edom, read as the first order of the worlds, which broke] died because they exalted themselves in spirit, saying, “I will reign.”⁶ They did not know that the whole chain of being comes down from Heaven, from the One Who brings all beings into existence. Afterward Hadar reigned. He returned the kingship to Hashem and gave the honor and the splendor to Heaven, for he would reflect on where all his powers and his life came from. With him began the world of tikkun, of repair, and of life. That is why the Torah writes “and he died” of every king of Edom until Hadar, with whom life began.⁷ And we know that Yaakov is hadar, majesty, as the Tikkunei Zohar says: “‘The voice of Hashem is in majesty (behadar)’: this is Yaakov.”⁸ Yosef too is called hadar, as the holy Zohar says: “‘The fruit of the hadar tree’: this is Yosef.”⁹ And, as the holy sefarim write, Pa'u (פעו), the name of Hadar's city, has the numerical value of Yosef (יוסף), 156.

27cFor Yaakov and Yosef returned the kingship to Hashem, Who brings all beings into existence and causes all causes. That is why Yaakov is Tiferes, the attribute of splendor, as in “Yisrael, in whom I take splendor (espa'ar).”¹⁰ The splendor of the Jewish soul is to return the kingship and the honor to the King of honor, knowing that everything is from Hashem and that His providence is over every single thing. This is what Chazal meant: “Whatever is a splendor (tiferes) to the one who does it.”¹¹ La'oseha plainly means “to the one who does it,” but here it is read as “to its Maker”: whatever has splendor in it, a person should raise it up to its Maker, Hashem, Who created and made this splendor. Yaakov and Yosef raised all their da'as on high and returned the kingship to Hashem, for they knew with true knowledge that He brings all beings into existence. So they brought about the world of tikkun.

28aThis is the meaning of the Midrash's words a little further on: “R' Levi said: A parable of a smith whose shop was open in the middle of the city square … He saw bundles upon bundles of thorns coming into the city and said, ‘Where will all these bundles go?’ A clever man was there, who said to him, ‘Are you afraid of these? One spark goes out from yours and one spark from your son's, and you burn them …’ This is what is written: ‘The house of Yaakov shall be fire and the house of Yosef a flame.’”¹² That is, the spark, one from the One Who is unique and singular, going out from your bellows, burns everything, all the bundles of thorns that surround Yaakov. As Chazal say, “He blew on it, and it burned.”¹³ And the burning went out into a flame. For Yaakov and Yosef pass this spark of da'as on to their descendants for all generations. With the spark of the light of da'as their descendants will burn away all the barriers that separate them from their Father in Heaven, and “they will trust in the Name and lean on their God,”¹⁴ for “no one banished should stay banished from Him.”¹⁵

28bOn this night, the first night of Chanukah, the attribute of Kel is awakened, which is strength. So every Jew, in whatever state he stands, even, Heaven forbid, on the lowest level, should strengthen himself in Hashem's kindnesses, in the spirit of “the kindness of Kel endures all the day.” For “no one banished should stay banished from Him,” and “He does not forsake His devoted ones.”¹⁶ His soul is still bound to “the cord of Hashem's inheritance.”¹⁷