Humility Purifies When Preparation Is Lacking

1aThe Midrash Rabbah (Bereishis Rabbah 31:9) says on “Make the ark [teivah] with compartments [kinim]” [Bereishis 6:14]: “R' Yudan said: Just as this kein, the bird-offering, purifies the metzora, so your teivah purifies you.” This Midrash can be explained with the holy words of our great Rebbe, the holy Ba'al Shem Tov, zt"l, on the verse “Come, you and all your household, into the teivah” [Bereishis 7:1]. Teivah also means “word.” A person who speaks words of Torah or prayer should bring himself into the words he utters, so that they are not mere lip service. As my father and teacher, R' Yechiel of Alexander, zt"l, wrote on the verse “Take words with you” (Hoshea 14:3): a person should take himself along with the words. Now it is known that “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of Hashem” [Tehillim 111:10]. Before doing a mitzvah, or before learning Torah and praying, a person must prepare himself thoroughly. He should clear his mind of the affairs of this world and make a reckoning of his soul: first his own lowliness, and then Hashem's exaltedness. As the verse says, “Plow yourselves a fresh field, and do not sow among thorns” (Yirmiyahu 4:3). Plowing is essential before sowing, because it clears the stones and thorns from the field so that the seed can sprout later. Preparation is the same. Through it a person draws upon himself the fear and love of Hashem. As Chazal say (Berachos 32b), “The early chassidim would wait one hour before prayer and one hour after prayer.”

1bWhat they reflected on in the hour after prayer is explained by the holy Maggid of Kozhnitz (in Or Yisroel) in the name of the Ba'al Shem Tov. In the hour after their prayer they would look into themselves and reflect that their prayer had not been as it should be. “I am only ready to become something,” they would say. “For now I have accomplished nothing at all. My only wish is to learn Torah and pray properly from today on, as the Master of the world commanded us.” As the Tikkunei Zohar says (Tikkun 36), “That is why this point is called a maiden whom no man had known” [Bereishis 24:16]. The tzaddikim know that they have not yet done anything at all, and have not accomplished what they ought to have accomplished. With prayer of such humility, the forces of impurity cannot take hold, Heaven forbid. That is what the holy books mean when they say that the Name Ehe-yeh, “I will be,” is the holy Name that guards against the forces of impurity. Ehe-yeh is in the future tense: “I am ready to become something, but for now I have done nothing at all.” And in prayer of humility, the forces of impurity cannot take hold.

1cBut what of someone who did not prepare himself at all beforehand, because of obstacles and confusion of mind, Heaven forbid? While he is learning or praying, the holiness of Torah and prayer itself stirs him, and he takes to heart how he fell short in preparing before the mitzvah. He did not clear his mind of the stray thoughts that defile what is holy, and he did not first consider before Whom he stands: before Hashem, the King of the kings of kings. “With what face will he stand before the Supreme King and speak words?” Then his heart is broken to pieces, he is ashamed to lift his head, and he becomes humbled and lowly. Then “I dwell with the crushed” [Yeshayahu 57:15], which Chazal read (Sotah 5a) as “With Me is the crushed one,” and “Hashem is close to the brokenhearted” [Tehillim 34:19]. The light of that mitzvah's holiness shines on him as though he had prepared himself thoroughly and had made all the proper unifications above, in fear and love. That is what the wording of the blessings over mitzvos says: “Who has sanctified us with His commandments.” “Sanctified us” means preparing and making ready, as in “Sanctify them today and tomorrow” (Shemos 19:10). Doing the mitzvah itself is the preparation and the unification of the attributes. In bemitzvosav, “with His commandments,” the letter beis means “through,” and vetzivanu, “and commanded us,” comes from tzavsa, togetherness.

1dThis explains the Midrash. “Just as the bird-offering purifies the metzora”: fulfilling the mitzvah of bringing an offering for his purification, even without any inner work or preparation, the mitzvah itself purifies him. “So your teivah purifies you”: the words of Torah or prayer purify a person's soul and make it whole, even though he did not prepare himself beforehand at all. His shame and humility caused the Torah and the prayer themselves to purify him. This is the meaning of the verse “The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light” (Yeshayahu 9:1), which the Midrash Tanchuma on this parshah says refers to the Oral Torah. Their shame and humility came from taking their situation to heart. Until now they had walked in darkness, with no glimmer of light, because they had not thought to make a reckoning of their souls. They had not weighed how precious and exalted Hashem's mitzvos and Torah are, and the great preparation needed before fulfilling a mitzvah, so as not to sow among thorns. Though they did not prepare themselves at all, they merit to see a great light. “Hashem will be an everlasting light for them” [cf. Yeshayahu 60:19], for “the commandment of Hashem is clear, enlightening the eyes” [Tehillim 19:9].

2aGreeting Shabbos the Queen also needs preparation beforehand. As Shammai said (Beitzah 16a), “From the first day of the week, for your Shabbos.” The holy Maggid of Kozhnitz wrote in the name of the holy Ba'al Shem Tov on the verse “In plowing and in harvest you shall rest” (Shemos 34:21): the letters of charish, “plowing,” stand for Chamishi, Revi'i and Shishi, Thursday, Wednesday and Friday. These are the three days “before Shabbos,” as Chazal say (Pesachim 106a). On those days a person must prepare himself thoroughly to receive the light of Shabbos's holiness. This is “plowing,” the preparation described above. Shabbos itself is the sowing and sprouting. The three days “after Shabbos,” Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, are called “harvest,” because on them a person reaps: he receives all the blessing that came down to him through the Shabbos prayers. This is “Remember” and “Guard.” “Remember” is the preparation a person makes beforehand, as Chazal say (Mechilta), “Remember it from the first day of the week.” “Guard” is keeping holy Shabbos on the Shabbos day itself.

2bThe point is that a person must sanctify and purify himself each day in one of the seven attributes, and on Shabbos the seven are completed. In the same way, he must sanctify and purify himself throughout all his years. As Reishis Chochmah writes, the days of the week allude to the seventy years of a person's life. But when Friday afternoon comes and the light of Shabbos's holiness begins to sparkle, and falsehood is transformed¹, as explained in the writings of the Arizal [see later, Parshas Vayishlach], and as the Yerushalmi says (Demai 4:1), “An unlearned man is afraid to lie on Shabbos, because the awe of Shabbos is upon him,” then a person takes his poor state truly to heart, from the depths of his heart. He cries out to Hashem: “How can we feel the holiness of Shabbos, its pleasantness, delight and sweetness, when we did not prepare ourselves with plowing and sowing? How will we reap?” And he is deeply ashamed. As the Tikkunei Zohar says, Shabbos (שבת) has the letters of boshes (בשת), shame. Through the power of humility and shame, he draws the holiness of Shabbos upon himself from the Upper World, without any awakening from below, as though he had prepared himself thoroughly during the week. And he merits to feel the delight and sweetness of precious Shabbos.

3aThis explains the zemer [Kol Mekadesh Shevi'i]. “Draw out Your kindness to those who know You”: to those who prepare themselves properly, drawing upon themselves the fear and love of Hashem before doing the mitzvah. They unite the seven attributes in a higher unity, joining the attributes called love and fear, chessed and gevurah. That is “O jealous and avenging God [Kel kana v'nokem].” Draw out Your kindness even to those who, because of their many worries, do not prepare themselves for holy Shabbos during the week, but only “wait for the seventh day,” until Shabbos comes. Draw out Your kindness to them too. That is “to uphold ‘Remember’ and ‘Guard.’” “Remember” are those who remember Shabbos and prepare themselves to receive it. “Guard” are those who do not prepare themselves, but keep only holy Shabbos itself. As explained, Shabbos itself can lift them up too. “Gladden them with a complete building”: may they merit to repair the seven attributes that correspond to the seven days of the week, which is called “a complete building.” “With the light of Your face make them shine”: even though they did not prepare themselves at all, in the merit of their humility and shame, as explained, the holiness of Shabbos will be awakened upon them by an awakening from Above. That is called “the light of Your face,” from the side of the Giver.

3b“Help [those who rest on the seventh day]... in plowing and in harvest”: these are the ones who prepare themselves on Thursday, Wednesday and Friday, charish, as explained. “Who take a small step on it”: these are the ones who did not prepare and enter Shabbos with only “a small step,” making themselves small because they did not prepare. They only “dine on it three times.” “Their righteousness,” the merit of their humility, “make shine like the light of the seven days,” as though they had prepared themselves in the seven attributes that correspond to the seven days. “Hashem, God of Israel, love of the tamim²”: Chazal say (Bereishis Rabbah 30) that anyone described as tamim completed his years in full weeks. That is, he perfected all seven attributes through all the workdays, and so he is called tamim. And this is “love of the tamim,” for this is Hashem's will.

3cAs for someone who did not merit this: when holy Shabbos appears in its glory and he senses the great light, his heart breaks into pieces. He cries out to Hashem from the depths of his heart over having kept far from “the light of the King's face, which is life” [Mishlei 16:15] all week long. Then Hashem shines on him and reveals a great light, the light of the mitzvah and the light of holy Shabbos's holiness from the Upper World. It comes from the world of teshuvah, called Binah, understanding, as in “his heart will understand, and he will return” (Yeshayahu 6:10). Binah is called olam, “world” or “forever,” as the holy Zohar explains on “and he shall serve him forever [le'olam]” [Shemos 21:6], and as in “from world to world” [Tehillim 106:48]. And this is the zemer's “salvation of worlds [olamim]”: salvation from the world of Binah, which is called olamim, as explained.