Tree of Souls

by Howard Schwartz

  For more of the myths surrounding the ram’s horn, see “The Ram Sacrificed at Mount Moriah,” p. 150.

  Sources:

  B. Rosh ha-Shanah 16a-b; Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 23; Zohar 3:231a-b; Tiferet Uziel.

  Studies:

  A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice by Isaac Klein, pp. 190-197.

  377. THE CLOSING OF THE GATES

  On Yom Kippur, at the end of the afternoon prayers, when the sun is over the tree tops, it is time for the Closing Prayer. This prayer is known as the “Closing of the Gates.” What gates are these? The gates of the heavenly Temple. For when the earthly Temple was destroyed, God’s home was removed from this world. That is why all of Israel direct their hearts to heaven on Yom Kippur, praying for their prayers to ascend on high and be accepted with compassion before the heavenly gates are closed.

  At the end of the service, the reader says, “The Lord, He is God” seven times, and the congregation repeats the phrase after him. The seven times correspond to the departure of the Shekhinah who rested in their midst from evening to evening. Now they accompany the Shekhinah through the seven firmaments that praise the Creator, who dwells above them, as it is said, God ascends midst acclamation; the Lord, to the blasts of the horn (Ps. 47:6).

  This teaching, attributed to Rav, demonstrates the far-reaching consequences of the destruction of the Temple. Originally, the Closing Prayer on Yom Kippur corresponded to the closing of the gates of the Temple. This myth from the Jerusalem Talmud suggests that when the Temple existed, the people directed their hearts to the Temple, believing it to be the home of God in this world. But now that the Temple is in ruins, it is necessary to redirect one’s heart to God in heaven, for the closing of the gates now refers to the gates of the heavenly Temple, which still exists, where prayers are offered daily to God by the angels. For more on the traditions of the heavenly Temple, see “The Celestial Temple,” p. 416.

  Sources:

  Y. Berakhot 4.1;Tosafot, Berakhot 34a; Yamim Nora’im by S. Y. Agnon; Shulhan Arukh shel ha-Rav Shneur Zalman; Hilkhot Yom ha-Kippurim 623; Bayyit Hadash.

  Studies:

  Days of Awe, edited by S. Y. Agnon.

  378. THE FINAL BLAST

  After the Kaddish is recited at the close of Yom Kippur, one blast is blown on the shofar. Some say this is in remembrance of Moses, who ordered the shofar to be blown when he descended from Mount Sinai after he received the second set of the tablets on the tenth of Tishrei. Therefore later generations established the custom of blowing the shofar at the close of Yom Kippur, to remember how Israel received the Torah with a whole heart and willing soul.

  Here the shofar is blown at the close of Yom Kippur to recall the blowing of the shofar at Mount Sinai, when Moses descended with the Torah.

  Sources:

  Shibbolei ha-Leket; Mateh Moshe.

  379. THE WATER LIBATION

  When the Temple in Jerusalem was still standing, a water libation took place during Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. The water dripped down into a cavern that was under the altar. This cavern existed from the six days of Creation, and it went down into the very depths. When the angel in charge of water heard the water dripping down, he commanded the water reservoirs in heaven to give forth water, as well as those under the earth. In this way the water libation brought about abundant rain.

  This myth describes a Temple ritual intended to bring rain. Just as smoke rises from a sacrifice, and then the fire of the Lord descends to consume the burnt offering (see 2 Chron. 7:3), so here water is dripped upon the Temple altar, and, in turn, this brings about the release of water reservoirs in heaven and under the earth, resulting in rain. Thus the rain descends exactly as does the divine fire that consumes the offering. The myth also brings in the angel in charge of water, who releases the waters above and below.

  For another example of a Temple myth linked to a holiday, see “Repenting for God,” p. 323.

  Sources:

  B. Ta’anit 25b;B. Sukkah 49a.

  380. THE SEVEN SHEPHERDS

  It is known that on the first night of Sukkot a mysterious guest sometimes appears in the booths of the righteous. This is none other than Abraham, who is the first of seven guests to appear, one on each night of the festival. On the second night Isaac appears, and on the third, Jacob. Joseph appears on the fourth night, Moses on the fifth, Aaron on the sixth, and King David on the last night of Sukkot. Blessed, indeed, are those who receive these guests, who are known as the Seven Shepherds. Every day of Sukkot one of these seven shepherds arrives at the sukkah as a guest.

  Before these celestial guests can appear, they must be invited with the following words: “Let us invite our guests. Let us prepare the table. You shall live in booths seven days (Lev. 23:42). Be seated, guests from on high, be seated! Be seated, guests of faith, be seated!”

  Some say there is another visitor who is present for all seven days of the festival. That is the Shekhinah, who dwells in the sukkah of each righteous man as She once dwelled in the Temple in Jerusalem. She spreads Her wings over him from above, and Abraham and the other holy guests make their dwelling with him inside it. And one should rejoice on each of the seven days, and cheerfully welcome these guests to stay.

  All the other days of the year, the Seven Shepherds are not able to descend to the lower world. This happens only in a sukkah, when air from the upper worlds is drawn down, and the sukkah becomes the Holy of Holies, and the Shekhinah dwells in it. Only then can the Seven Shepherds descend and enter this world. Therefore, everyone who fulfills the mitzvah of the sukkah becomes a partner with God in the work of Creation. Through the making of the sukkah and making a place for the Shekhinah to rest, one fulfills God’s intention to make a dwelling place below.

  Blessed is the portion of those who have merited all this. For it is said that those who welcome the celestial guests into their sukkah will rejoice with them both in this world and the next.

  The festival of Sukkot derives from a biblical injunction: You shall live in booths seven days (Lev. 23:42). Jews observe this holiday by building sukkot—booths—which have leaves and branches for a roof. During Sukkot Jews eat all their meals in these booths. There is a widely known tradition that the Ushpizin, literally, “guests,” who consist of seven patriarchal figures, come to visit the booths (sukkot) of righteous Jews during the festival of Sukkot, one on each night of the festival. These guests are known as the Seven Shepherds. When Jews leave their homes and enter the sukkah they receive the Shekhinah as a guest, along with one of the Seven Shepherds. Every night of Sukkot the prayer is recited that invites the guest to enter. They are invited with the words, “Be seated, be seated you exalted guests.” The patriarch Abraham is invited on the first day, and on subsequent nights Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joseph, and David are invited with the words “May it please you, my exalted guest, that all the other exalted guests dwell here with me and with you.”

  There are varying lists of the Seven Shepherds. According to Micah 5:4 and B. Sukkah 52b, they are Adam, Seth, Methuselah, David, Abraham, Jacob, and Moses. According to the Zohar (3:103b-104a), they are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, together with Moses, Aaron, and Joseph, plus King David.

  Among some modern Jews there is a new custom of also inviting the four matriarchs, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah, along with Miriam, Deborah, and Esther, or other female leaders of the Jewish people, to visit in the sukkah.

  For more background information about Sukkot, see the commentary to “Dwelling in Exile,” p. 300.

  Sources:

  Zohar 3:103b-104a;Sefer Netivot ha-Shalom.

  381. DWELLING IN EXILE

  On Rosh ha-Shanah, the Day of Judgment, God sits in judgment of all the inhabitants of the world, and on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, He seals that judgment. Now it is possible that the judgment decreed for Israel will be banishment. That is why a sukkah is built right after Yom Kippur, for when the people of Israel build the sukkot, and then banish themselves from their homes to dwell in them, God
considers this banishment equivalent to their dwelling in exile in Babylon, and therefore God continues to shelter Israel.

  So on the Festival of Sukkot, all of Israel goes to fetch myrtles and willows and palm branches and build sukkot and sing praises to God because He has atoned for them on the Day of Atonement. And on the first day of the feast God says, “Let bygones be bygones. From this moment on commences a new reckoning. Today, the first day of Sukkot, is to be the first day of this new era of reckoning.”

  Sukkot is one of the three Jewish pilgrimage festivals, along with Passover and Shavuot. In ancient times, before the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, Jews in the Land of Israel tried to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem on these days to bring harvest offerings to the Temple. Of these three festivals, Sukkot most retains the character of a harvest festival. The lulav, a palm branch, and the etrog, a citron fruit, are carried during Sukkot services. During the seven days of Sukkot, some Jews eat and sleep in booths known as sukkot that are erected beside their homes or synagogues, or on rooftops of apartment buildings, with only leafy boughs serving for the roof. This is to remind them of the wandering of the Israelites in the wilderness during the time of the Exodus, when the people had to live in temporary dwellings.

  This myth gives an additional and crucial symbolic meaning to the custom of building sukkot during the festival of Sukkot, and living in them for the duration of the holiday. The sukkot recall the 40 years of wandering of the Israelites, and the conditions of exile that they endured. Here also the sukkot are linked to the Babylonian exile. The new meaning that is added here states that God regards living in the sukkot to be the equivalent of living in exile. One effect of this myth is to give additional meaning to the ritual of building and living in sukkot. In this way, myth and ritual reaffirm each other.

  Note the role reversal in this myth, which has God atoning for the people, instead of the people atoning for God. This myth is also intended to highlight the quality of God’s mercy, in which God both atones for and forgives the people for all their sins.

  Sources:

  Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 27:7, Supplement 2:7.

  Studies:

  A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice by Isaac Klein, pp. 156-173.

  382. THE FEAST OF SUKKOT IN THE WORLD TO COME

  In the World to Come, when Israel is created anew, Israel will still take the lulav cluster and praise God with it. So great is the merit of the lulav cluster that in reward for its observance, God will inflict punishment on Israel’s enemies, rebuild the Temple, and bring the Messiah.

  God will build a sukkah for the righteous in the world to come. So too will the people dwell in that heavenly sukkah, and the Seven Shepherds visit each and every sukkah, each of the seven days of Sukkot.

  This myth indicates that festival rituals performed in this world will still be performed in the World to Come. The Sukkot ritual is the example given of a ritual that will be performed on high.

  The effect of this myth is to raise the importance of the ritual of the lulav, to emphasize the importance of its being observed. This myth also strongly suggests that Sukkot is to be regarded not as a minor holiday, but as a major one, so important it is still observed in the World to Come.

  The lulav cluster that is used in the Sukkot ceremony is said to symbolize many things. It not only represents God’s glory, but also the patriarchs, the matriarchs, and the Sanhedrin, the high court among Jews in Second Temple Palestine.

  Sources:

  Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 26:9-10.

  383. THE BODY OF MOSES

  Rabbi Hayim Vital once dreamed that it was the ancient custom of Israel to bring the body of Moses to the synagogue on Simhat Torah. The reason for this custom is that Simhat Torah is the day of rejoicing with the Torah that had been given through Moses. Furthermore, on this day the Torah portion that is read from Deuteronomy recounts the death of Moses.

  Now the day of the festival had arrived, and they brought the body of Moses to the synagogue in Safed. It took many men to carry the body inside the synagogue, for it was at least ten cubits long. Then the body, wrapped in a white robe, was placed on a very long table that had been prepared in advance. But as soon as the body of Moses was stretched out on the long table, it became transformed into a scroll of the Torah that was opened to its full length, like a long letter, from the first words of Genesis to the end of Deuteronomy. And in the dream they began to read the words of the Torah, starting with the creation, and they continued until they reached the last words, displayed before all Israel (Deut. 34:12).

  All this time the rabbi of Safed sat at the head of the table, and Hayim Vital sat at the foot. And in the dream it occurred to Hayim Vital that while the rabbi of Safed sat closest to the account of creation, he himself was closest to that of the death of Moses. And when the scroll of the Torah had been completely read, the scroll of the Torah became the body of Moses once again, and they clothed it and set a girdle around it. That is when Hayim Vital awoke, and for hours afterward it seemed to him as if the soul of Moses was present in that very room.

  This astonishing dream of Hayim Vital shows the close link in the Jewish mind between the Torah of Moses and Moses himself. In the dream the body of Moses is brought to the synagogue on Simhat Torah, which follows the seventh day of Sukkot and is a day of rejoicing. On Simhat Torah the year-long reading of the Torah comes to an end with the last few verses of the Book of Deuteronomy and starts again with the first verses of the Book of Genesis. This explains Hayim Vital’s focus on the end of Deuteronomy and the beginning of Genesis. Note that the death of Moses is part of the Sephardic liturgy for Simhat Torah, and this may have inspired Hayim Vital’s dream.

  Once the body of Moses, which is of gigantic proportions (as Moses was a giant among prophets—B. Berakhot 54b recounts that the body of Moses was ten cubits tall), is carried inside and put on a long table, it turns into the scroll of the Torah. Hayim Vital sits closest to the end of the Torah, where the account of the death of Moses is found. He assumes that because he is closest to this end, he is the closest to Moses. Once the Torah has been read from beginning to end, it turns back into the body of Moses.

  Hayim Vital had one of the richest religious imaginations in all of Jewish history, and in his dreams and visions the line between mythology and religion is completely erased, as here, where the Torah and the body of Moses are one and the same. In his writings he strongly hints that his master, the Ari, had a messianic role, and in his dreams, visions, and other writings he likewise attributes such a role to himself. In fact, he makes this connection explicit in his comments on the dream: “This indicates there was a cleaving and connection between my soul and that of Moses.”

  Sources:

  Sefer ha-Hezyonot 2:50; Shivhei Rabbi Hayim Vital. The dream took place on 20 Tevet 1609.

  Studies:

  Jewish Mystical Autobiographies, edited by Morris M. Faierstein.

  384. THE FLYING SHOE

  Every year the followers of the Ba’al Shem Tov celebrated Simhat Torah with wild dancing and singing. For on that day the reading of the Torah is begun anew, and Jews dance with the Torah in their arms.

  Then one year his Hasidim noticed that the Ba’al Shem Tov did not join in the dancing, but stood off by himself. He seemed to be strangely somber on that joyful day. Suddenly a shoe flew off the foot of Rabbi Dov Baer as he whirled in the dance, and at that instant the Ba’al Shem Tov smiled.

  A little later the Hasidim saw the Ba’al Shem Tov pull a handful of leaves out of his pocket, crush them, and scatter their powder in the air, filling the room with a wonderful scent, like that of Paradise. Then the Ba’al Shem Tov joined in the dancing with great abandon. The Hasidim had never seen him so happy, and they, too, felt possessed by a greater joy than ever before.

  Afterward, when they had all caught their breath, one of the Hasidim asked the Ba’al Shem Tov what he had smiled about, after having been so solemn. He replied: “While you were dancing, I went into a trance, and my
soul leaped from here into the Garden of Eden. I went there to bring back leaves from the Garden, so that I could scatter them among us, making this the happiest Simhat Torah of all time. I gathered fallen leaves with the greatest pleasure and put them in my pocket. As I did, I noticed that there were scattered fringes of prayer shawls in the Garden, as well as pieces of worn tefillin, from the straps Jews wrap around their arm when they pray. Not only that, but I saw heels and soles and shoelaces, and sometimes even whole shoes. And all of these objects were glowing like so many sparks, even the shoes—for as soon as they entered the Garden of Eden, they began to glow.

  “Now I was not surprised to see the fringes and straps, for they come from sacred objects, but I wondered what the shoes were doing there.

  “Just then a shoe flew into the Garden of Eden, and I recognized it at once as that of Rabbi Dov Baer.” The Ba’al Shem Tov turned to face him. “Dov, I realized that your love of God was so great that your shoe had flown all the way there. That is when I understood why there were shoes in the Garden of Eden. And that is why I smiled.

  “I would have come back to join you at that very moment, but just then I saw two angels in the Garden. They had come to sweep and clean the Garden and to gather those precious, glowing objects.

  “I asked the angels what they were going to do with the shoes, and one of them said: ‘These shoes have flown here from the feet of Jews dancing with the Torah. They are very precious to God, and soon the angel Gabriel will make a crown out of them for God to wear on His Throne of Glory.’”

  The Ba’al Shem Tov stopped speaking, and all who heard this story that day were filled with awe. Nor was Rabbi Dov Baer’s shoe ever seen again, for it had truly flown to the Garden of Eden.