Others say that a pillar of fire was sent to Adam to illuminate him and to guard him from all evil. When Adam saw that pillar of fire, he rejoiced, and he put forth his hands to the light of the fire and said, “Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the universe, Who creates the flames of fire.” And when he removed his hands from the light of the fire, he said, “Now I know that the holy day has been separated from the work day here below, for fire may not be kindled on the Sabbath day.” And at that hour he said, “Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who divides the holy from the profane, the light from the darkness.”
And that is the prayer, till this day, that serves to separate the holy from the profane. One must also say the blessing over fire because all fires are concealed on the Sabbath, and once this blessing is made, all of the other fires emerge, take their places, and are given permission to shine. And when the blessing over fire is made, one must turn one’s fingernails toward the flame, and let the flames reflect in them.
One must also smell spices as the Sabbath ends, because when the second soul of the Sabbath departs, a person’s soul is left naked, bereft of that spirit, and requires the scent of the spices to sustain the soul.
This is a midrashic example of a myth of origin. Never having seen darkness, Adam is terrified by its onset, and links it to the danger posed by the serpent of Eden. The identification of the serpent and the darkness derives from Psalms 139:11: Surely darkness will bruise me; the same verb, “bruise,” is used by the serpent in Genesis 3:15.
This myth also provides the story behind the creation of the Havdalah ritual that is performed at the end of the Sabbath. Havdalah is the ceremony at the end of the Sabbath at which time the Sabbath officially ends, the Sabbath Queen departs, and Jews are said to lose their neshamah yeterah, their second soul.
The rituals of Havdalah are described here: making a blessing over fire, letting the flames reflect in the fingernails, and smelling spices to revive oneself and let oneself recover from the loss of one’s second soul. See “The Second Soul,” p. 310.
Sources:
B. Avodah Zarah 8a; Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 20; Midrash Tehillim 92:4; Zohar 2:207b-208b.
Studies:
The Sabbath in the Classical Kabbalah by Elliot K. Ginsburg, pp. 256-284.
A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice by Isaac Klein, pp. 73-75.
412. THE SABBATH IN THE WORLD TO COME
In this world, if a person gathers figs on the Sabbath, the fig tree says nothing about it to him. But in the World to Come, if a man should pick fruit from a fig tree on the Sabbath, the tree will call out to him and say, “Remember the Sabbath!”
Work is forbidden on the Sabbath. In fact, there is a very long list of activities that constitute work, including picking fruit from trees. This rather tongue-in-cheek myth observes that while trees in this world are silent when someone breaks the Sabbath by picking their fruit, in the World to Come the tree will loudly protest.
Sources:
Midrash Tehillim 73:4; Yalkut Shim’oni, Jer. 315.
413. THE GREAT SABBATH
The world is destined to exist for six thousand years. The first two thousand years was the time of chaos, the next two thousand years the era of the Torah, and the last two thousand years will be the days of the Messiah. After that the world will lie desolate for a thousand years, before a new world is created in its place. For just as the seventh year is a year of release, so is it for the world: one thousand years out of seven it shall be fallow.
Now it is known of God that in Your sight a thousand years are like yesterday (Ps. 90:4). Therefore six thousand years are but six days in the eyes of God. And just as God created the world in six days and then rested, at the end of six millennia the world will cease to exist.
Some say the world will remain desolate for a thousand years, just as land lies fallow every seventh year. But after this the world will be revived, as it is said, He will raise us up, and we shall be whole by His favor (Hos. 6:2).
Others say that the six days of Creation represent all the days of the world, and the seventh day is the Great Sabbath, as it is said, a Sabbath of the Lord (Lev. 25:2). That will be the Sabbath of His Great Name. For the world as we know it was intended to exist for six thousand years: two thousand years without Torah, two thousand years with Torah, and two thousand years of the Messiah’s reign.
And just as one year in seven is a sabbatical year of release, so God will provide a day of release, a day lasting a thousand years. Thus, in the seventh millennium, the Great Sabbath will begin. Then all activity will cease. There will be no food or drink. But each and every one of the righteous will rejoice in his understanding of the Torah, and they will sit with crowns on their heads and feast off the splendor of the Shekhinah. At the end of this Sabbath year of days, the era of the World to Come will be ushered in, when death will never, ever again exist. For the World to Come will be wholly a Sabbath and everlasting rest.
The Sabbath is said to be a foretaste of the World to Come. This myth, based on an interpretation of Leviticus 25:2, about the need to let the land lie fallow every seventh year, describes a cosmic Sabbath, known as the Great Sabbath, that will come after 6,000 years—three ages of 2,000 years each. Just as the seventh day is the Sabbath, the day of rest, so for a thousand years there will be no life in this world as we know it, but the righteous will reap great rewards in the World to Come. Note that the righteous are sustained in the World to Come by feasting off the splendor of the Shekhinah. Or, in an alternate version, the light they bask in is none other than the primordial light, the light of the first day. See “The Light of the First Day,” p. 83.
In this myth, the existence of the world is said to be limited to six millennia, and the longevity of the world is directly tied to the six days of Creation. This explanation draws on the verse in Your sight a thousand years are like yesterday (Ps. 90:4), which was taken as the precise correlation between time on earth and in heaven.
Therefore the world that was created in six days will be destroyed at the end of six of God’s days. Here the key is the symmetry between the six days of Creation and the span of the world’s existence. This myth makes a distinction between the messianic era, which will last 2,000 years in this world, and the Great Sabbath that will follow, where all existence in this world will cease for good. In some versions of this myth, however, after lying fallow for a thousand years (some say 2,000 years), God will renew the world, and life will be revived (B. Sanh. 97a-b).
In B. Sanhedrin 97b, Rabbi Hanan bar Tahlifa tells of seeing an ancient scroll on which was written: “Four thousand two hundred and ninety-one years after its creation, the world will be orphaned. The years that follow will see the wars of Gog and Magog and the messianic age, but God will not renew the world until after 7,000 years.”
The kabbalistic doctrine of cosmic cycles, or shemittot, describes three eons of existence of 2,000 years each, followed by a thousand years in which the world will lay desolate. There is also an alternate theory of seven cosmic cycles, each lasting 7,000 years.
Sources:
B. Sanhedrin 97a-b; B. Hagigah 12a; Y. Hagigah 2a; B. Rosh ha-Shanah 31a;Eliyahu Rabbah 2:6; Genesis Rabbah 8:2; Leviticus Rabbah 19; Numbers Rabbah 14; Song of Songs Rabbah 5; Midrash Tanhuma Va-Yelekh 2; Midrash Shemuel 4; Tanna de-vei Eliyahu 2; Midrash Tehillim 90; Tikkunei ha-Zohar, Tikkun 36, 77b; Ma’arekhet haElohut 102, 185a; Sefer Mar’ot ha-Tzov’ot 102; Sod ha-Shabbat, section 14; Nachmanides, Perush Ramban al ha-Torah on Leviticus 25:2; Toldot Ya’akov Yosef; Sifram Shel Tzaddikim.
Studies:
“The Meaning of the Torah in Jewish Mysticism” in On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism by Gershom Scholem, pp. 77-86.
414. A DAY OF FASTING AND MOURNING
When the spies went into Canaan and brought back their report of giants, the people wept, for they were certain that they would all die by the sword there. The crying spread through the whole camp, and God said, “Because the people weep without caus
e and do not trust My word to bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey, this night and the following day, the Ninth of Av, shall be a day of fasting and mourning, a day of trouble and tribulation for many years.
This myth concerns the origin of the many tragedies that have come to be associated with the Ninth of Av. This includes the destruction of both Temples and many other catastrophes. Here the beginning of the curse of the Ninth of Av is traced to the report of the spies triggering panic among the people. This fear on their part was an affront to God, Who had promised to bring them into that land, provoking God to place a curse on the Ninth of Av. This myth is unusual, in that God is rarely portrayed making a curse. In fact, one myth describes an angel, Gallizur, whose job it is to utter all of God’s evil decrees for Him. See “The Angel Gallizur,” p. 199.
Sources:
B. Sota 38.
Studies:
A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice by Isaac Klein, pp. 247-251.
415. THE MOURNING DOVE
On the night of the Ninth of Av, while Jews mourn the destruction of the Temple at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and the sound of their weeping cleaves the heavens, a white dove appears in the darkness of the night and joins the people of Israel in their mourning. All night it stands at the corner of the Wall, wailing and moaning. Then a heavenly voice is sometimes heard, moaning like a dove, saying, “Alas, because of the sins of My sons I destroyed My house, I burned My sanctuary, and scattered My children among the nations.”
Here God is said to appear in the form of a white dove at the Kotel, the Western Wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem that is the only remaining wall of the Temple. The dove can be identified with God because, according to Jewish tradition, it was God who made the decision to destroy the Temple. In other accounts, this dove is identified with the Shekhinah, and is one of the three prominent forms She takes: as a bride dressed in white; as an old woman dressed in black, deep in mourning; and as a white dove mourning at the Wall. According to Zev Vilnay, the tradition of the mourning dove at the Wall grows out of the talmudic account in B. Berakhot 3a, in which Rabbi Jose, who lived about a century after the destruction of the Temple, prays in a ruin in Jerusalem and hears a voice like that of a dove, repeating words of regret at the destruction and exile. In later folk accounts, this dove is transferred to the Wall and linked with Tisha be-Av, the Ninth of Av, which commemorates the destruction of the two Temples.
Sources:
B. Berakhot 3a; Song of Songs Rabbah 6:5; Aggadot Eretz Yisrael, no. 189.
416. THE WAILING WALL
On the night of the Ninth of Av, drops of dew can be seen on the stones of the Wailing Wall, and it is said among the people that the Wall was crying at night for the Temple that was torn down.
Once, when worshippers stood in front of the Wall, pouring out their hearts, water began oozing out of the cracks of the Wall, and the people cried out, “The wall is weeping!” When the news spread among the people, they streamed to the Wall, and women collected the tears of the Wall as a precious remedy for many ailments.
That is why it is said that since the destruction of the Temple, the gates of prayer have been closed, but the gates of weeping are open.
The western retaining wall of the Temple Mount is known as the Kotel, or Western Wall, or Wailing Wall. It is the holiest Jewish site in the world, and the focus of visitors to Jerusalem, who often pray intensely at the Wall and leave messages to God in the cracks of the Wall.
Why is the Kotel known as the Wailing Wall? The name “Wailing Wall” is perhaps an outsider’s description based on the passionate weeping of the Jews who pray there, since Jews normally call it the Kotel, the Western Wall. This myth, collected orally in Israel, provides a different kind of explanation, a miraculous weeping of the wall, still grieving over the destruction of the Temple.
Sources:
B. Berakhot 32b; Aggadot Eretz Yisrael, no. 189.
417. THE WEEPING WELL
There is a well in the Temple court known as the Weeping Well. When the Temple was destroyed, young people cast themselves in that well to evade the sword. And on the Ninth of Av, even to this day, when all are mourning over the destruction of the Temple, a great weeping is heard from that well.
On the same night, a voice of mourning and sighing is said to go forth from the Temple site. All who pray there can hear it. And those who hear it are seized with weeping until they faint.
This is a myth of martyrdom, like that about Masada, about a well in the Temple court where young people took their lives by casting themselves in the well rather than be killed. The well is still weeping over those tragic deaths, as well as for the destruction of the Temple. In a broader sense, this myth is about how the tragedy of the Temple’s destruction still haunts the Jewish people.
Sources:
Ha-Ma’amar 3, p. 91; Kesef Tzaruf 160b.
418. THE NINTH OF AV IN THE FUTURE
The Ninth of Av is a time of mourning for the destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem and other disasters that have taken place on that same day. But in the future God will turn the Ninth of Av into a time of rejoicing. He will rebuild Jerusalem and gather the exiles of Israel. Whoever mourns for Jerusalem in this world will rejoice with her in the World to Come.
To convey how radically the messianic era will transform life from the present, this myth describes the Ninth of Av in the messianic era as a time of rejoicing instead of grieving. The root of this idea is in Zechariah 8:19.
Sources:
Yalkut Shim’oni, Eikhah 998; B. Ta’anit 30b; Pesikta Rabbati 28.
419. REPENTING FOR GOD
When the Temple in Jerusalem was still standing, a goat was offered up as a sin offering on every Rosh Hodesh. This was brought to atone for God’s sin. God said: “At first the moon was same size as the sun. Later, I decided to make the moon smaller. Now I regret doing that. So on every Rosh Hodesh, when the moon is small, bring a sin offering for Me, to atone for My act of making the moon smaller.”
The goat offering on Rosh Hodesh is described in Numbers 28:14-15: This is the burnt-offering of every new moon throughout the months of the year. And one he-goat for a sin-offering to Yahweh shall be offered.
This astonishing myth has God confessing that He has committed a sin, or at least an act He regrets—shrinking the size of the moon. The possibility of God’s reversing the decision is never considered. Even stranger, it is incumbent on the Temple priests to atone for God’s sin by offering a goat as a sin offering on Rosh Hodesh. Rosh Hodesh celebrates the new moon. This, the first day of the month, is the day that the moon appears to have shrunken to its smallest size. This shows that Israel does not only repent for its own sins, but for the sins of God as well, for which God seeks atonement. For the myth of the shrinking of the moon, see “The Quarrel of the Sun and the Moon,” p. 112. See, also, “A Scapegoat for Azazel,” p. 295, describing the custom of sacrificing a goat to Azazel on Yom Kippur.
Sources:
B. Hullin 60a.
BOOK SEVEN
MYTHS OF THE HOLY PEOPLE
Iscah was Sarah. And why was she called Iscah?
Because she saw through the Holy Spirit.
B. Sanhedrin 69b.
420. FOR THE SAKE OF ISRAEL
The world and everything in it was created only for the sake of Israel. Indeed, all worlds, above and below, were only created for the sake of Israel. Everything that was brought forth, created, formed, and made, everything that God did, was for the sake of His holy people Israel.
Israel was the first thing that arose in God’s thought. That is why the sages commented about the verse In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Gen. 1:1), that “beginning” means Israel, since God’s first thought was of Israel.
After the souls of Israel had been created, God was required to create and maintain the universe, for this was the purpose for which He had brought the souls of Israel into being.
God foresaw the pride and delight He would rec
eive from Israel, and it was because of this that God created the world. God perceived that Abraham would some day be born, and perform deeds of love and kindness. Thus God created a world of love out of His love for Abraham. Indeed, every detail of creation was brought into being because of some element of pride that God would have from His people. Even the sinners of Israel were included in God’s pride. Thus every single Jew is a garment for the Divine Presence.
The stars in the sky appear very small, but in heaven they are actually quite large. The same is true of Israel. In this world, Israel appears very small. But in the world on high, it is actually quite large.
When God created the world, it did not have the power to endure. God created Israel so that the world would be able to endure, for Israel is the sustenance of all universes. If not for Israel, everything would revert to its original state of nothingness.
This myth expands on the notion of Israel as God’s Chosen People by stating that “Israel was the first thing that arose in God’s thought” and that “The world was created only for the sake of Israel.” The Maggid of Mezrich compares the relationship of God and Israel to that of a father and his child—it is a relationship of love, pride, and delight: “When a father loves his child, this great love causes the child’s image to be engraved on the father’s mind. It is known that Israel rose first in God’s thought. This means that it is constantly engraved in the Supernal thought, just as a child is in his father’s mind.”
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