Understanding Hashem & His Yichud

Let’s observe it here in Perek Sheini of Shaar Hayichud.

אמר המחבר אחר כמה פנים נתבאר יחוד הדבר הזה אמר מפני שפשטה מילת יחוד בדברי אנשי היחוד והרגילו בה הרבה בלשונם ובמילתם תמיד.

To speak of Hashem Echad has become part of our vocabulary.

אבל ששוה אצלם ממילות התימה על הטוב ועל הרע והם משתמשים בו בחמדת לשון ולצורך גדול ולהגדיל ולהפליא עניינם.

And it’s used as an exclamation, as a in context of a reaction. ואינם מעלים על מחשבתם and people don’t, doesn’t occur to them לא להבין אמיתת עניין מה שיעביר על לשונם and people don’t apply themselves to understand that which they say, that which crosses their lips, they don’t apply themselves to understand מפני הסכלות והעצלות. Not very good excuses.

והם חושבים כי עניין היחוד נגמר להם כאשר נגמר מילותם.

If you say it, you believe it. ולא ירגישו כי ליבתם ריקנה מאמיתתה ומצפונם נבובים ממנה. Also empty right? When you pour something out מפני שמיחדים אותו בלשונם ובמילותיהם. Many people says the Chovos HaLevavos pay lip service to the yesod of Hashem Echad. מיחדים אותו בלשונם ובמילותיהם ויחשבו בלבבם יותר מאחד but the conception of Hashem that they have really is one that’s not consistent with echad. Or and or vegam yadmu bematzpunam inwardly, internally, the image that they have is דמות שאר האחדים הנמצאים. Hashem is one the way we predicate one in other contexts. Veyesapru oto bemidot and they ascribe midot, attributes to Hashem that לא יאותונה לאחד האמת which is not consistent with Hashem who is truly one. And all this results

בעבור שאינם יודעים עניין האחד האמת ועניין האחד העובר אלא הסכלים מאנשי היחוד.

ha'over, sorry.

בעבור שאינם יודעים עניין האחד האמת ועניין האחד העובר אלא הסכלים מאנשי היחוד שהעמיקו בחכמה והבינו עניין הבורא והנברא וחוקי האחד האמת ומה שהוא מתבודד בו.

What’s unique right? What sets Hashem apart. ואמת אמר הפילוסוף באמרו the philosopher said in saying it

לא יוכל לעבוד עילת העילות והתחלת ההתחלות אלא נביא הדור בטבעו או הפילוסוף המופק במה שקנהו מן החכמה.

The navi, the outstanding philosopher is truly oved Hashem. Because he has a correct conception of Hashem and therefore his avoda is then directed to the right address.

אבל זולתם עובדים זולתו מפני שאינם מבינים נמצא אלא מורכב.

They don't conceive of anything which is truly absolutely echad, everything is really composite. So there's a tension here in the Chovot HaLevavot, right? There's a lot of tension here in this paragraph. But one of the points of tension, one of the sources of tension is that in the end of the paragraph, you know, when he endorses

אמת אמר הפילוסוף באמרו לא יוכל לעבוד עילת העילות וסיבת הסיבות אלא נביא הדור בתבלו או הפילוסוף המופלג.

That seems to leave the rest of us in the dust, right? But mi'idach gisa, you know, the beginning of the paragraph, he criticizes people who don't have the correct conception of Hashem echad because

אינם מעלים במחשבתם להבין אמיתת עניין מה שיביאו על הלשון מפני הסכלות והעצלות.

I mean, atzlut is certainly voluntary and yitachen that he's using sikhlut in that sense also.

אל יעלה במחשבתך דבר זה שאומרים טיפשי האומות ורוב גלמי בני ישראל שהקדוש ברוך הוא גוזר על האדם מתחילת ברייתו להיות צדיק או רשע. אינו דבר כן אלא כל אדם ואדם ראוי להיות צדיק כמו משה רבנו או רשע כירבעם או חכם או סכל.

Person chooses whether to be a chacham or sachal. The Rambam obviously doesn't mean that a person chooses his IQ. We don't. But the Rambam does mean that a person can have an IQ that's off the charts and he can live like a fool and he can have an IQ which doesn't, I don't know, which isn't off the charts and he can live very wisely. So you do find the lashon sachal again used not to reflect whatever innate capacity of intelligence a person has but in terms of whether or not he exercises the capacity for chochma that he has. So yitachen, especially given davar ha'nilve b'inyano, given its being coupled with atzlut, that sikhlut is also something voluntary here in the Chovot HaLevavot. So on the one hand, at the end of the paragraph, he tells us, you know, you have to either be the navi hador or philosoph muflag. Okay, so I don't know, so how many people qualify for that? Not too many. So the rest of us who belong to the 99.999% of the population, I don't know, so we're being oved zulato rachmana litzlan? But he clearly doesn't mean that because at the beginning of the paragraph, I mean he couldn't mean it anyway obviously, you know, everything in, everything, it's an axiom that any mitzvah in the Torah is a mitzvah that we can fulfill. Every mitzvah in the Torah is a realistic expectation that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has of us. That is absolutely axiomatic. That's why the Os Sameach explains that everything in the Torah is pitched to the least common denominator amongst us. He has that mini-essay in the beginning of Hilchos Talmud Torah. Ayen sham. So again, the Chovos HaLevavos can't mean that, even if we didn't have the earlier line, and it's clear also, additionally, just minei ubei from what he's saying, he doesn't mean it. So what's the kasha hashlishi? How do you put it together? So we'll begin, we're not going to finish it today. Maybe we'll begin looking at a Meshech Chochma, and we'll begin today. I think maybe for today it may generate as many questions as an answers, I don't know, and then bli neder we'll continue with it next week also. If you want to find it on the computer, it's the Meshech Chochma in Parshas Bo on משכו וקחו לכם צאן למשפחותיכם, which is maybe פרק י"ב פסוק כ"א. Chof-Aleph. Chof-Aleph. You have it over there? Okay.

משכו וקחו לכם צאן למשפחותיכם וכולי והגעתם אל המשקוף ואל שתי המזוזות

v'inyan שנחלקו במדרש משלי החכמה היכן מצויה בלב או בראש v'habeur d'hahargashos, feelings, emotions, the non-rational side of man, heima kulan b'lev, k'gon nekima, ometz, ga'avah, kaas, mora. Those are all again, v'chol eilu shuv, again, they're non-rational states, emotional states, feelings. V'zeh she'kasuv

לבי יחיל בקרבי יסע לבו ממקומו לבו כלב הארי אולם המושכלות הן בראש.

Concept, things that ideas that we grasp, that we understand, or for that matter, I mean it could be a person it can be a wrong idea also. That would be something wrong b'rosh. The fact that it's b'rosh doesn't ensure veracity. Ulam hamuskalos, intelligibles, hein b'rosh. שם כח המושכלות והציורים והמדמה והזוכר וראש מלך שבאיברים. V'hinei hahargashos, feelings, etc., כולן באו לאדם מיום הולדו. A baby experiences hargashos. V'zeh she'omru, this one Chazal say, אימת יצר הרע ניתן באדם, right, משעה שנצאת ממעי אמו. That the yeitzer hara is from the time we're born. What does the yeitzer hara mean born? That the neonate wants to go do an aveira? No, what that means, again, the yeitzer hara represents the the physical, non-rational netiya, capacity, v'chulu. So that's from miyom hivaldo. אבל השכל הוא בא כשנשלים האדם. Now that a person there's a certain degree of development and intellectual maturity before you can refer to a person as a baal seichel. Ulekach kerauhu and in interpreting the figurative speech in Kohelet, yeled misken vechakham. So the yetzer hatov, again the yetzer hatov is the capacity and therefore the predisposition for rational thought and therefore behavior is referred to as a yeled misken vechakham, is referred to as a child because the yetzer hatov is younger than the yetzer hara. The koach sichli sheba'adam comes to him at a later stage, so as it were, if you're measuring the age of a person endowed with that capacity, so then his age is going to be a younger age than if you'll measure his age by how many years he's lived and been endowed with the koach hahargashos.

לא כן ליצר הרע קראו מלך זקן וכסיל. והנה אמרו על ישראל שהן מאמינים בני מאמינים.

Vetzarikh lehavin halo be'umot ha'olam שאמרו ההמיר גוי אלהיו? elu kushim vekhadunim

שהללו עובדים למים וכולי. הלא מאמינים בטיפשות כאלו וכל העמים כן ואם כן כוח אמונתם גדול.

Baruch Hashem teinus, they're bigger ma'aminim. To believe what's true is not such a kunst. To believe in shtus, that's gvura, gvura capacity for emuna.

אם כן כוח אמונתם גדול. אומנם מצאנו במדרש שוחר טוב

emunim notzer Hashem אלו שעונים באמונה אמן עונים ברוך מחיה המתים ve'adayin lo ba. So maybe you'll say that we believe in future promises.

אם כן האמונה בעתיד אך לא יש מהעמים שמאמינים גם כן ביעודים עתידים.

Well, some of the other religions, להבדיל אלף אלפי הבדלות and more, they also believe in ye'udim asidim. So what's that quality of ma'aminim bnei ma'aminim?

והביאור דההרגשות כולן בנויות מהטבע והמוחש אשר תתרגש בהם לב האדם כמו האהבה והיופי והגבורה.

Emotions, feelings, emerge, are inspired by, are generated by what we see, experience in the natural world, by our sensory experience, that which is again sensible, tangible, muchash. אשר תתרגש בהם לב האדם, that a person's heart is excited, excited in its more literal sense, is excited by them, כמו האהבה והיופי והגבורה. Right, love is a reaction. Beauty is something that a person beholds. Veha'amim hakadmonim, the ancient nations and pagan religions, הקדישו כל כוחות הטבע בהתרגשם מכל זה והעריצום. Basically they deified all these kochos hateva and that's why there was a god of love and a god of beauty vekhulei vekhulei.

וקראו לכן שמות אלילים לאליל היופי לאליל הגבורה אליל האהבה כידוע. ומי שהיה לו בזה הפלגה,

if you had someone who was very handsome, or you had someone who was a mighty, exceptionally mighty warrior, hikdishuhu, so they would also partially or entirely or to whatever degree deify him. Ve'ad hayom says the Meshech Chochma again initially I presented this as an impulse which was manifest in ancient pagan religions but it's still here. ועד היום העמים מציירים תמונות. Some religions are very into the visual dimension. Vehamavin yavin. ועד היום העמים מציירים תמונות ומקדשים המוחשים. And again they sanctify in the sense of deifying that which is sensible not in terms of making sense in terms of sensory data. That which is tangible. Ve'af hayishma'elim who the Rambam does classify as monotheists מקדשים קבר משיחם במכה וכיוצא בזה. So they haven't purged their religion entirely of this impulse either. נמצא דההרגשות מסייעים לאמונתם הבנוי על המוחש ועל המצוייר. So their emunah is an emunah which again to varying degrees again depending upon which religious system but it's an emunah which is an emunah of emotional reaction to hamuchash vehamatzuyar. Lochein Hashem. But such an approach will not yield emunah baHashem. שעמד אברהם והתבונן שאינו חלק מהנבראים. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not a part of the beriah. Right if you deify a god of love, a god of beauty vechulu so the god in quotation marks doesn't really stand apart from the beriah. Okay he's higher and depending upon what his power is god of maybe he can throw a few thunderbolts here and there and you better watch your step but שעמד אברהם והתבונן שאינו חלק מהנבראים. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not part of the created world. Velo ko'ach begeshem. He's not a physical force. He's not a force of beauty a force of love a force of gevurah. He's not a physical force. Ve'eino mesu'ar. We can't describe Hashem. Again we can describe what He does we can explain how we know there's a Ribbono shel Olam but in terms of Hakadosh Baruch Hu himself אינו מתואר ואינו מצוייר. He's not depicted ve'eino musag. Again we recognize that Hakadosh Baruch Hu again this is not just for human intelligence it's for angelic intelligence as well. Ve'eino musag. Hakadosh Baruch Hu one can't grasp the essence of Hashem. שאילו היה מתואר או מצוייר if Hakadosh Baruch Hu could be described depicted היה נגדר בדבר מה. Right to describe something is to define. You're going to meet someone so they tell you what he looks like okay so that's a type of definition. You want to know whether you should take a certain class in the college so they tell you the teacher's his teaching style what his expertise is. There's an element of definition. Description involves an element of definition. Ilu haya line four and five. Yeah, אילו היה מתואר או מצוי היה נגדר בדבר מה. That would impose an element of definition. But that means vehaya lo tichla. But definition, to define something, means that you can intellectually put it in a box. It means you can confine it within certain categories, which would mean that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not infinite. It's vehaya lo tichla. וכל שיש לו תכלה, any being that is limited yesh lo techila. Right, that lashon actually comes from Chovot Halevavot in a perek that we didn't read here in Sha'ar HaYichud. Presumably the alliteration is intentional. וכל שיש לו תכלה יש לו תחילה. And that is obviously totally, totally wrong because הקדוש ברוך הוא הוא מחוייב המציאות. Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't have, there's no beginning to Hakadosh Baruch Hu because Hakadosh Baruch Hu's, it's by His very nature He exists. He's mechuyav hametziut. We're not mechuyav hametziut. Our, the fact that we exist, is contingent. There was a time we didn't exist and we don't have to always continue existing. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is mechuyav hametziut. ממציא כל המציאות בלעדי האפשריות מאין המוחלט. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu brought into and sustains everything that exists from, again, absolute, in terms of the physical world, the created world, absolute nothingness. Yachid she'ein kiyichudo. And there's one unique Hashem שאילו היה יותר מאחד היה חילוק ביניהם. If there was more than one Ribbono Shel Olam, so then you'd have to differentiate and distinguish, and by differentiating and distinguishing, again, you would be imposing boundaries, and therefore והיו בעלי גבול שזה נגבל מחברו. But then that would mean yesh lo tichla and as we discussed earlier. וזה עיון אמיתי ומושכל. So this is a belief and emuna in Hakadosh Baruch Hu which isn't just sort of deifying the objects that we emotionally react to and that we physically experience.

אבל מי יוכל להשיגו עד כי כתב רבנו בחיי הזקן שלא יעבדו באמת רק הפילוסוף או הנביא.

V'chol zot. Right, here comes the Meshech Chochma lechoira with his kosev hashlishi. He's not disagreeing with Chovot Halevavot. I think he's suggesting that kosev hashlishi to the question we posed. כל ישראל מאמינים באמת מציאותו ואחדותו עניין מושכל כזה. Meaning potentially we can and if we don't fall prey to sichlus and atzlus we do. כל ישראל מאמינים באמת מציאותו ואחדותו. Hagam that this belief, again, it's something which is so deep and such a deep and subtle belief

ומלעיגים לכל ההרגשות וההתפעלות שמרגישים מצד הטבע ומבינים שהם כולם הוים ונפסדים אפשרי המציאות וכגרזן ביד החוצב. ועל זה ביארו מאמרם ז"ל.

This is what Chazal had in mind. And again here and again, this begins again to flesh out his answer, kosev hashlishi in the Chovos Halvavos. So we'll just begin it and bli neder I guess continue it on Monday.

מפני מה זכו ישראל לקרות את שמע שהן בני אברהם יצחק ויעקב?

So what does that mean? And why are we highlighting the mitzvah of Krias Shema over shear mitzvos HaTorah? So says the Meshech Chochmah, מפני מה זכו ישראל, where did we get the capacity to not only say Hashem Echad but to say it affirmatively, to say it in a way that piv velibo shavin, שהן בני אברהם יצחק ויעקב? מבינים ענין פילוסופי כזה, so we all have that capacity. It's not the point zero zero zero zero one percent of the population. That's all of בני אברהם יצחק ויעקב, מבינים ענין פילוסופי כזה, veyilagu, and we appropriately have disdain in the realm of emunah for kol hahargashos. Okay, so bli neder we'll pick up here on Monday. We need to understand more what we read already and also try to get on.