Another Ram: The Soul Caught in the Thicket

1“And he looked, and behold, a ram, afterward (achar), caught in the thicket by its horns” [Bereishis 22:13]. My father and teacher, R' Yechiel of Alexander, zt"l, said in the name of our holy master R' Menachem Mendel of Vurka¹, zt"l, that ayil achar means, in Yiddish, “an anderer ayil”: another ram. My father explained these holy words at length, based on the teaching of my grandfather, zt"l². In the same discourse he also explained the holy words of our master R' Yitzchak of Vurka, zt"l, on Rashi in Parshas Beha'aloscha. On the verse “Aharon did so” [Bamidbar 8:3], Rashi explains, from the Sifrei: “This tells Aharon's praise, that he did not deviate.” This is hard to understand. Would anyone imagine that Aharon might deviate, Heaven forbid? And what praise is it that he did not change what Hashem commanded? The holy R' Yitzchak of Vurka said that “he did not deviate” means that no change or excitement could be seen in him while he lit the Menorah, despite all the awesome mystical unifications and intentions the lighting involves. And he added, with his holy wit: had Hashem given this mitzvah to the holy tzaddik of Berditchev, zt"l, he would have broken the Menorah and spilled the olive oil in his fiery enthusiasm for so great a mitzvah. But Aharon “did not deviate”: no change at all could be seen in him.

2aTo understand his holy words, we turn to my grandfather's teaching on the Gemara (Sotah 13b): “Moshe did not die. It says here, ‘Moshe died there’ [Devarim 34:5], and it says there, ‘He was there with Hashem’ [Shemos 34:28]. Just as there he stood and ministered, here too he stands and ministers.” The Tevuos Shor asked: the whole point of the derivation is that Moshe did not die. The Gemara should have said, “Just as there he was alive, here too he is alive.” Why the longer phrase, “stands and ministers”? My grandfather explained as follows. Man was created to cleave to the Supreme Wisdom forever and to make himself like his Creator, turning even his murky body, coarse matter that it is, into something spiritual like the soul. But when Adam sinned, good became mixed with evil and evil with good. From then on, body and soul could not be at peace together while alive, for each is the opposite of the other. Hashem wants the good of His people Israel. He saw that in life a person would never reach the true purpose for which he was created and what Hashem wanted of him. So He immediately “drove him out” [Bereishis 3:24] and decreed death upon him. After death a person would be set right, and the soul would return to her Father, the source from which she was hewn.

2bThat is why the Midrash says, “‘And behold, it was very good’ [Bereishis 1:31]: this is death” (Bereishis Rabbah 9:5), for through death the complete tikkun is achieved. This also fits what our master R' Bunim of Peshischa, zt"l, said on the verse “And now, lest he stretch out his hand, and take also from the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever” (Bereishis 3:22). After Adam's sin, Hashem in His great mercy foresaw that death had to exist in the world for the complete tikkun to be reached. So He was concerned “lest he stretch out his hand and take also from the Tree of Life” and never die. “Eat,” the physical, and “live,” the spiritual, would then stay mixed together forever and never separate. There would never, Heaven forbid, be a complete tikkun. That is why “He drove him out.” The holy Alshich says the same on the verse “My covenant was with him, life and peace” (Malachi 2:5). Pinchas merited, while still alive, to make peace between his body and his soul. Pinchas is Eliyahu (as Chazal teach in the Midrashim; see also Bava Metzia 114b)³. That is why Eliyahu went up to heaven with his body: his body had become as refined as his soul.

2cThe Rambam [Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah 7:6] explains the same thing. What is the difference between Moshe and the other prophets? All the prophets saw through a lens that does not shine. Their bodies had not been refined, so they could not remain standing when the light of prophecy from Hashem was revealed to them, as it says, “I saw, and I fell on my face” (Yechezkel 1:28). Moshe Rabbeinu was different. His body was luminous like sapphire and as refined as his soul. He stayed on high in his body for forty days and forty nights, and “ate no bread” [Shemos 34:28]. He saw through the lens that shines: he stood in his place, in his body, while prophecy was revealed to him. So Moshe Rabbeinu did not need death, for in his lifetime he reached the complete tikkun, as the Creator wants. That is the meaning of “Moshe did not die”: he did not need to. As it says, “He was there with Hashem,” when he was in heaven. “Just as there he stood and ministered” means, as the Rambam explains, that he stood in his place with his body while he was in heaven learning Torah from Hashem. “So here too he stands and ministers.” The whole precision lies in the words “stands and ministers.” So far my grandfather's words, as far as we need them.

2dThis is what our master of Vurka, zt"l, meant. All the changes and excitement a person shows while doing a mitzvah come only because his body has not been refined. He still needs toil and effort to do the mitzvah in holiness and purity. But a person whose body has already been refined until it is like the soul, whose whole desire and aim is only to serve Hashem, as it was before Adam's sin, needs no toil or exertion at all. That is “Aharon's praise, that he did not deviate.” He no longer needed any change or excitement, because his whole body had become luminous and refined, and he needed no toil and no changes at all.

3In the year 5653 [1892–93], my father added this explanation of the holy words of our master of Vurka on “another ram.” Avraham Avinu was also on this level. All his limbs were as holy as the Sanctuary itself, a throne for the Shechinah to rest upon. As we wrote above (Parshas Lech Lecha) on the verse “Avraham was one” (Yechezkel 33:24), Avraham turned everything to the right side, to good. Out of his fierce love for Hashem, when he wanted to give Him satisfaction and offer up his son at the Akeidah as he had been commanded, his love for his son counted for nothing. In his eyes, Yitzchak was as if he too were a ram. That is what our master, zt"l, said in his holiness: “an anderer ayil,” another ram.

4This is also the meaning of “There was a step in front of the Menorah, on which the kohen stood and prepared the lamps” [Rashi on Bamidbar 8:2]. The kohen had reached the level of “standing and ministering.” It was like Israel standing at Mount Sinai, when “their impurity ceased” [Shabbos 146a] and they needed no avodah or toil. Since the kohen merited to stand, unlike the other prophets, who were in the mode of “I saw, and I fell on my face,” he needed no effort or exertion, for his body was luminous and spiritual. That is why “he did not deviate,” as explained above. So far my father's words.

5aI have seen that the commentators object to this explanation. The finest way, they say, is to know and feel one's love for one's son and still not hold back from slaughtering him for Hashem. We could answer this. Still, because of their question, I will venture to explain it another way, perhaps along the lines of the holy books, among them the sefer Yismach Moshe by the holy Rav of Ujhely⁴, zt"l. As is known, Yitzchak's soul flew from him at the Akeidah, and it entered this ram. So Avraham truly offered up the soul of his son Yitzchak on the altar. Avraham saw how deeply his only son longed and wanted to be slaughtered to sanctify Hashem's Name. As the Midrash relates, Yitzchak said, “Father, bind me well, so that I do not kick and blemish the offering” [cf. Bereishis Rabbah 56:8]. The Torah also says, “And the two of them went together” [Bereishis 22:6], with one heart and one mind, one to slaughter and the other to be slaughtered. As Midrash Shocher Tov [Tehillim 29] puts it: “Avraham said, ‘I slaughter.’ Yitzchak said, ‘I am slaughtered.’”

5bThen Avraham saw the ram caught in the thicket by its horns, not straining with all its strength to leap over the barrier and come to the altar. And this ram had been created at twilight [on the eve of the first Shabbos] for this purpose alone (Avos 5:6). So Avraham said that this was not the ram prepared since the six days of Creation, into which Yitzchak's soul had entered. It was “another ram,” not the one prepared for this. But in truth it was that very ram. It was all intended by Hashem, who has mercy on His people and looks ahead to the end of all generations. He wanted our father Avraham to see that even someone truly created for this, whose soul is Yitzchak's soul, longing to come close on the altar for the sanctification of Hashem's Name, can be caught in the thicket of exile. As Chazal say, Samael caught the ram and entangled it, so that it could not go up and Yitzchak would be slaughtered (Bereishis Rabbah 56). Avraham saw that even a Jew formed and created for the sanctification of Hashem's Name can be caught in the thicket: in subjugation to the kingdoms, in the harsh yoke of earning a living, and in “the leaven in the dough” [Berachos 17a], the yetzer hara, which holds him back. Then he cannot rise by himself and come close to the sanctification of Hashem's Name.

6This is what the Midrash says (Bereishis Rabbah 56:9): “R' Yudan bar Simon said: After all the generations, Israel are caught in sins and entangled in troubles, and in the end they will be redeemed by the horns of the ram, as it says, ‘Hashem God will blow the shofar’ [Zechariah 9:14]. R' Chanina bar Yitzchak said: All the days of the year, Israel are caught in sins and entangled in troubles. On Rosh Hashanah they take the shofar and blow it, they are remembered before the Holy One, blessed be He, and He forgives them.” That is, Avraham also prayed for the generations to come. When they are caught in sins and entangled in troubles, it is all because they are held back from rising to Hashem and His service by hindrances and obstacles: the leaven in the dough and subjugation to the kingdoms. It is not because of who they are. By the very holiness of the portion of Hashem within them, they long, hope and yearn to come close to Hashem and His service. Avraham saw this with his own eyes in this ram, caught and entangled by hindrances though it wanted and longed to be offered on the altar.

7This is the meaning of the verse “Avraham named that place ‘Hashem will see,’ as it is said to this day, ‘On the mountain of Hashem it will be seen’” [Bereishis 22:14]. As the Midrashim explain, and Rashi cites, the merit of the Akeidah will always be seen and remembered when his children are in distress. When he named that place, Avraham Avinu prayed that only the inner point would be seen before Hashem: “Hashem is my portion, says my soul” (Eichah 3:24). In the innermost heart of Israel there is no desire for sin at all, and no sin. It is all in the outer garments, because of the hindrances, and not in the portion of Hashem within them. That is “Hashem will see”: may You see only the portion of Hashem, where there is no evil, only good. May You remember for them this service. Just as I saw with my own eyes in this ram, may You remember for them, and silence the mouths of the accusers, so that there is no accusation against them. Have mercy on them for good always, until in the end they are redeemed with the complete redemption, speedily.

8This explains Chazal's words, cited by Rashi on “in place of his son” [Bereishis 22:13]: Avraham said, “May it be Your will that this be considered as if Yitzchak my son were slaughtered, as if Yitzchak my son were burned.” This needs explaining. Hashem did not want Yitzchak to be burned and slaughtered. What merit is there in being slaughtered and burned against Hashem's will? Rather, Avraham Avinu prayed that Yitzchak's will and longing, as described above, be joined together with the deed done with the ram. Even when his children are in the thicket and cannot turn their hearts to Hashem, let alone bring out the thought hidden deep in the heart of every Jew, may Hashem remember for them Yitzchak's good will, joined to the deed of the ram that was caught. That deed will make its mark and arouse great mercy for us, as Chazal said.

9Along these lines we explained the verse “Hashem, God of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yisrael our fathers, keep this forever as the inclination of the thoughts of Your people's heart, and direct their heart toward You” (Divrei HaYamim I 29:18). That is: remember the good thought of the earliest generations for the later ones, even though their inclination is bad and they cannot focus their intentions. “Direct their heart”: the heart of the forefathers mentioned at the start of the verse, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. “Toward You”: may their good thought rise and come before You for Your children and their children forever, even though they are sunk in this world by troubles, subjugation to the kingdoms and the leaven in the dough. That is “the inclination of the thoughts of Your people's heart.” We have no understanding with which to focus our intentions. Join the thoughts of the forefathers to our deeds, and be filled with mercy for us. (From the author's handwritten manuscript.)