אמתטריקס

The Secret of Da'at (Knowledge) Now, man was created in the image of God: these are the 248 positive commandments, corresponding to the 248 limbs, and the 365 negative commandments, corresponding to the 365 sinews; and the root of all of them is love and fear, the "hands," to lift them up in holiness, as said. And through this he will ascend higher and higher. Now our Sages, of blessed memory, said: "Fifty gates of understanding (binah) were created in the world, and all of them were given to Moses except one" (Rosh Hashanah 21b; Nedarim 38a). And one must understand why they said "and all of them were given"; they should have said "and forty-nine were given to Moses." But the matter is: "The ultimate of knowledge is that you do not know." And it is explained by us elsewhere that all forty-nine gates we are able to attain, while the fiftieth gate, which is called "a path no bird of prey knows" (Job 28:7), is the very essence of the Divinity, blessed be His Name, which no one can attain, and it is impossible. And when one comes to this gate and attains that it is the very essence of His Divinity, which no created being, of the upper or the lower ones, has the power in any way to attain – this is the ultimate of knowledge, meaning that he attains the knowledge that it is impossible to know. All this is explained elsewhere, and here we have come [to speak] briefly. Therefore Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, attained the fiftieth gate as well; and the Talmud explains "all of them were given to Moses" – that is, also the fiftieth gate, meaning that he understood "except one," that it is not within one's power to attain it; and this is the attainment of the fiftieth gate. And although it is written, "And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses" (Deuteronomy 34:10) – in prophecy none has arisen; but it is possible for each person to come to the level of Moses in his righteousness, as explained in the Midrash: "There is no generation that does not have one like Moses," etc. And he can enter by way of the gates mentioned above.   And this is "Speak to the children of Israel… you shall be holy" (Leviticus 19:2): that all of them will be holy, and the matter will cleave to the form, and they will ascend to the place of holiness through "Lift up your hands in holiness" (Psalms 134:2), as said. And through the fifty gates of understanding that were created, one can gauge (lesha'er) and attain what is within their power to attain. In this way they are called "gates" (she'arim) of understanding, for it is known [from the Zohar] regarding gates, that each one ascends "according to what he gauges (meshaer) in his heart." And through the gates all of them will enter within. And [the Midrash] said: "Could it be like Me?" – that they would attain also the fiftieth gate, which is the very essence of His Divinity, blessed be His Name? Therefore the verse says: "for I, Hashem, am holy" – "My holiness is above [your holiness]," etc. (Vayikra Rabbah 24:9). That is to say: even when you attain the fiftieth gate, it is the attainment that I am above your holiness and am not attained at all. This is the very essence of the attainment – but not that you will attain His Divinity, for "no man can see Me and live" (Exodus 33:20). Understand this. And this is "How manifold are Your works, Hashem; You have made them all in wisdom (bechochmah)" (Psalms 104:24). For it is known that the letters of chochmah (wisdom) form ko'ach mah ("the power of 'what'"), as is known from the Tikkunim. In every work of Hashem in the whole world, which has cascaded down from the supernal wisdom – for His wisdom, blessed be He, decreed that it be so – one is to look at the ko'ach mah: who is it that gives life to the thing, and what is its intention? For surely His glory, blessed be He, is clothed there in that work, so that through it they will recognize His glory, as said above, that He measures Himself out through this and cascades down so that it will be easier for them to recognize His greatness, blessed be He. And this is none other than "The earth is full of Your possessions (kinyanecha)" (Psalms 104:24) – [as in] acquiring (lehaknot) a servant to his master – that the acquisition of holiness should fill the earth, through one's taking hold of the good that is in that work, and subduing the bad, by setting his heart to know the ko'ach mah, as said. (Me'or Einayim – Matot)   In Tractate Sotah (13b): "I can no longer go out and come in" (Deuteronomy 31:2) – this teaches that the wellsprings of wisdom were closed off from him; see there. And to understand what is this expression "go out and come in," if it refers to words of Torah: it is known that the tzaddik (righteous person), who goes from level to level, cannot come to a level higher than the first unless he first falls from his previous level and goes out of it completely; and then afterwards, through "the righteous one holds fast to his way" (Job 17:9), with the strength of the firmness of his attachment, [he rises] from the place of his fall to come to a level higher than the previous one. And the reason for this is "the advantage of light [that comes] from darkness" (Ecclesiastes 2:13), for from the aspect of darkness one comes to the advantage of light; for the aspect of absence must precede existence, as in the creation of the world, where there first had to be tohu vavohu (formlessness and void), and "He builds worlds and destroys them," and afterwards came the existence of the worlds. And so too in what is said here. And it is known that forty-nine gates of understanding were handed to Moses, except for one, as it is said, "You have made him a little less than God" (Psalms 8:6). The intent is that he attained the forty-nine gates of understanding which it is possible for created beings to attain; from there and above it is impossible for any created being to attain, because the fiftieth gate is the very essence of the Divinity of the Ein Sof (the Infinite), blessed be He, which is impossible in any way to attain, even for the supernal angels, as it is said, "Where is the place of His glory?" Accordingly, Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, attained everything that it is possible for a created being to attain, and left nothing of all that is possible for a created being to attain, and left nothing of all that is possible to attain. And surely in the course of his journey, when he was going from level to level, before he came to this level above which there is none, he was surely compelled to go out of his previous level in the aspect of the falling mentioned, and afterwards ascended higher, as said.   And this is what he said before his passing from the world: "I can no longer go out and come in." For until now I always needed to go out of the previous level and come into a higher level, until I ascended to the highest level, in which I am this day, beyond which it is impossible to ascend and attain further, for it is stima dechol stimin (the most concealed of all concealed), as said. And this is [the meaning of] "the wellsprings of wisdom were closed off." Understand this. (Me'or Einayim – Vayeilech) Translated from the Hebrew sources page "מקורות פרק ט”ז" by Roni Ayalon-Hirsch.

Sources – Chapter P