The Secret of Splitting
the River
Free translation and adaptation of a discourse by
The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Eighth Day of Passover 5745 (1985)
by Rabbi David Rothschild
Preface
A Chassidic discourse is the most developed
form of the inner Torah. Every word is sculpted by Divine Inspiration.
Delivered to coincide with a weekly Torah reading or Jewish festival,
these discourses make a spiritual connection with auspicious times.
Concepts from Kabbala and Zohar are developed
to perfection. Their relevance to the Five Books of Moses and Tanach
(Old Testament) as well as passages from the Talmud is expounded upon.
This reveals their "inner meaning."
These discourses presuppose a familiarity
with Torah. Perhaps for these reasons, only a handful has been translated
into English and published as books by the Kehot Publication Society.
Over the course of two hundred years, the
Lubavitcher Rebbes delivered thousands of discourses. Now for the first
time they are being made public on the Internet.
In the texts that follow an attempt was
made to abridge and elucidate their content. To provide background information
for difficult terms and concepts, additional material from other Chassidic
discourses,has been added. The remaining content is a free translation.
Parts 1-2 (of 3)
OUTLINE:
A. Streams of Consciousness
The Verses
Messiah's Torah
Euphrates Crossing
River Thought
B. Two Torahs
People Parallel
Divine Speech
Divine Thought
A. Streams of Consciousness
The Verses
"G-d will dry up the Nile Delta and He will wave
His Hand over the Euphrates River with the power of His Breath; He will
break it into seven streams and lead the people across in dry shoes. There
will be a road from Assyria for the remnant of His people that will remain
from Assyria, as there was for Israel on the day it went up from the land
of Egypt" (Isaiah 11: 15-16 / Haftorah 8th day of Pasover outside
of Israel)
Messiah's Torah
Maimonides teaches that in the future Messianic era, the
Messiah will teach everyone Torah. The Sages write, "G-d will reveal
a new, innovative Torah.' This means that the manner of Torah study will
be new.
In that era, people will learn Torah visually! The revelation
of the attribute of sight will be an unprecedented phenomenon. It applies
to the level of thought in the Torah.
The Torah as we know it derives from the aspect of speech.
G-d spoke the Ten Commandments and verbally delivered the written and
oral Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai.
But in the future, G-d will transmit His New Torah to
Earth. This will be similar to our present day Torah, that was given below,
"not in heaven" (Deuteronomy 30:12). After all, the essential
legal decisions of Torah apply to affairs on Earth. As King Solomon disclosed,
angels "Descend to listen to your Torah learning" (Song of Songs
8:13).
These future revelations of the Torah are included in what the Zohar calls
"the Soul of the Torah." The principal application of these
inner aspects of the Torah will also be specifically on Earth. And their
revelation will be in a manner of sight.
Euphrates Crossing
Now we can understand the substance of the Splitting of
the Euphrates River which will occur in Messianic Times. The revelation
of the Revealed Torah - called the 'body' or essential Torah - first required
the Splitting of the Sea. For, only by means of this feat was the World
of Speech -- the Revealed World -- revealed on Mount Sinai. Likewise to
facilitate the revelation of Messiah's Torah, the World of Thought - the
Concealed World - must be split open.
This, then, is the significance of Isaiah's prophecy of
the Splitting of the River. But why should this future event occur precisely
in a river? Kabbala answers that thought is allegorized as a river.
River Thought
Thought never rests or remains still, it continuously
flows. The Hebrew word for river (nahar) is derived from the verb for
flowing. As Isaiah said, "In the end of days … All the nations
will stream (naharu) to the Temple" (Isaiah 2:2).
The Future Revelation will be such that Messiah's Torah
will spread out in a manner that resembles the ever-increasing breadth
of a river.
This is the concept of the future Splitting of the River.
Just as the sea split to permit the Infinite Lights it concealed to shine,
likewise the river will part to allow Messiah's Torah to become revealed.
For the Messiah will teach the Inner Torah, which corresponds to the World
of Thought. Hence that which today conceals this World must first be nullified.
Only then can the Infinite Lights hidden therein be revealed.
B. Two Torah's
People Parallel
A deeper understanding of this idea can be reached by
observing human beings. Kabbala tells us that man is similar to Divinity,
which is why the Hebrew word for man (adam), is constructed from the same
two-letter root as the term for "similar" (adamah). Thus by
appreciating human faculties, one can discern those of G-d.
Humans possess the faculties of speech and thought. The
distinction between them is comparable to the difference between revelation
and concealment.
Speech's function is to reveal to a recipient one's inner
thoughts. In the faculty of thought, however, our thoughts remain hidden.
As the Talmud says, "A man does not know what is in his friend's
heart."
Divine Speech
In like manner, G-d desired to make known his Revealed
Torah - called Divine Speech. He wanted to speak Torah on Mount Sinai.
But before He could do so, G-d first had to remove the obstacle that inhibited
Speech's revelation. That's why He split open the sea, which corresponds
to the final sefirah in the World of Emanation, the attribute of Kingship
(Malchut), which is associated with Divine Speech. [see "The Secret
of the Splitting of the Sea.] When the sea opened up, a revelation of
Divine Speech descended below. Then Divine Speech - the Revealed Torah
- was given to the Jewish people.
Divine Thought
Messiah's Torah will be of an entirely different nature. For the Inner
Torah relates to G-d's attribute of Thought. What's more, this high level
of Torah will be apprehended by means of man's faculty of sight. People
will not only know what lies within his friend's heart, rather, they will
be able to see what is there!
To precipitate this revelation, an even higher "splitting"
must first take place. While
Speech refers to Emanation's attribute of Kingship, Thought alludes to
its sefirah of Understanding (Binah). In order for Thought and G-d's Inwardness
to shine below, a splitting and revelation in the sefirah of Understanding
is required.
[on
to Part 2]
[David Rothschild, a resident of Tsfat, is the founder and editor of
Nefesh Magazine.]
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