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Straight Path to Heaven 12:3
Translation and commentary by R. David Slavin.
There are two types of spiritual impurity. One is the poison of
the Snake. From that nobody is spared except for Hanoch, Elijah, and a few the
others who entered the spiritual Gan Eden alive. (Derech Eretz Zuta)
That impurity is very "thin" and doesn't damage the soul, rather it makes the
separation of body and soul difficult, each person in accordance with his
strengths and merits.  | | " All those who die in Eretz Yisrael, their souls ascend in a straight path...." | | |
The second impurity, is the type that chases after a person
after death. It is a "thick" impurity, which encourages a person to pursue the
fulfillment of his materialistic desires, even in a permissible way. Such as
indulgence in food, sleeping late in the morning, and excessive intimate
relations all of the above being done to satisfy his physical desires. They all
turn to the venom of the Primordial Snake in addition to the poison that was
incurred from the sin of Adam. The more a person adds to those pursuits the
stronger the power of the kelipa. Subsequently his flesh will pain him
greatly. That is the secret of those who avoided that type of impurity such as
Rebbe, who held up his ten fingers and declared that he hadn't derived pleasure
[with the intent of physical for the sake of physical] from this world even the
amount of his small finger. (Ketubot 104a) And also Rebbe Elazar, who
declared of himself the verse, "Even my flesh shall rest in security" (Psalms
16:9). (Baba Metzia 83b)
It is known that regarding all those who die in Eretz Yisrael,
their souls ascend in a straight path; there the thin veil accepts them. Yet
even those who died abroad also pass through this veil, yet tremendous pains
accompany them. The circuitous route they must take in order to reach Eretz
Yisrael causes that. That route entails being cast about by the kelipot
and [spiritual] rulers of each country, until they finally reach the place of
the holiness. | | " Lands outside of Israel don't have the strength to tolerate their holiness...." | | |
Behold, in the same fashion that Eretz Yisrael vomits out and
expels the non-Jews, (as is stated in the Zohar parashat Teruma 141a,
"And it pushes them out, and they float about and are recycled until they leave
the Holy Land and are led in circles by there evilness") so, too, the lands
outside of Israel expel those souls of the Jews, for lands outside of Israel
don't have the strength to tolerate their holiness. Therefore those souls must
travail until it reaches the entrance of Eretz Yisrael and then it ascends. The
intention of the above is to teach us that the kelipot cannot push the
Jew from Eretz Yisrael, only physically - not spiritually. | | " Eretz Yisrael is compared to the Garden of Eden whereas the lands outside Israel are likened to Gehinom...." | | |
Furthermore, Eretz Yisrael is compared to Gan Eden,
whereas the lands outside Israel are likened to Gehinom. This is
why our Rabbis of Blessed memory taught:
In the future, Gan Eden will say, "I have no desire for the evildoers" as the verse says, "And I shall shake the evildoers from her" (Job 38:13), which implies even the physical bodies of
the evildoers. And Gehinom says, "I have no desire for the tzadikim",
which implies even their physical bodies, for those bodies have been purified
and Gehinom (i.e. the lands outside Israel) can not tolerate the holiness
in its midst. Therefore all those Jews who died outside the Land of Israel just
roll in subterranean tunnels till they reach Eretz Yisrael. Only then can they
stand up for Resurrection of the Dead.
Once I clarified this concept, and I must apply it to
understanding a statement of the Talmud: "The Holy One, Blessed Be He,
grabbed Jeroboam by his garments, and told him, 'Return to yourself.'"(Sanhedrin
102a)
The first question is why is G-d conversing with, and holding
the clothes of Jeroboam (who was not only a sinner, but one who causes others to
sin)? The answer lies in the following concept: Aside from the different levels
of soul ( Neshama, Ruach, Nefesh) each person has a
garment for his Nefesh. This exists in between his Nefesh and
his body. This is the concept of Adam's realization of his nakedness after his
sin; before the sin he was in Gan Eden, where their souls were enclothed
with these special garments. | | " It is the custom of the Snake to encircle the walls of Gan Eden a few times a week...." | | |
Behold it is the custom of the Snake to encircle the walls of
Gan Eden a few times a week. This is done to show his greatness, as well as
to entice those who dwell therein. Nonetheless, those that recognize him for
what he is pay no heed to him at all. Yet those who follow his temptations end
up losing their special garments to the Snake where they continue naively in his
wake. This is what had happened to Adam and Eve; their special garments left
them and pursued the Snake. That is what is meant when the Torah states, "And
they knew that they were naked." (Gen. 3:7) For before the Sin, those garments
adorned them. That was the garment [not the material garment] of Jeroboam that
G-d grabbed while imploring him to repent. This is the deeper meaning of the
verse: "The garments of the treasonous have been dealt with treacherously". A
more lengthy discourse can be found in the "Sefer Gilgulim"
chapter 70.
[An interjection from my beloved RaMaZ, Rabbi Moshe Zaccutto:]
Jeroboam was from the root soul of Cain (who stems from
the mystery of the " Tzelem", which has a numerical value of 160). He
was overpowered by the "Sayagim" [the adhesions], that are totally " Sag"
[Hebrew for "dross", as in Psalms 53:4]. Then, by switching the order of the letters, they are transformed to "gas" [Hebrew for "arrogant"] spirit. Then ascended the internality [the "Sag" = 63] of the Supernal Pleasance ["Noam" = 166], and that leaves us with the word "egel"
[ = 103, Hebrew for "calf", as in "golden calf"]. Being that he was from two
aspects of the name Eh-yeh spelled out with yuds [ = 161] which
are the depth of the two Tzelems, they equal the numerical value of
"Jeroboam" [ = 322]. That is why Jeroboam had two "Egels" [golden
calves] erected. Nonetheless, a sin can not extinguish his Torah, which is
his "new garment" (Sanhedrin 102a). [The word for "new" used here, "hachadasha",
has the numerical value of 322, also.]
That is why G-d told him, "Return to yourself," the
explanation of which is, "Return and replace inside yourself, in your
essential being, lest you prepare it and a tzadik shall wear it. For
if you do then 'I and the son of Jesse will stroll in Gan Eden'.
The explanation of this is that "Ben Yishai" [Hebrew for "the son of
Jesse" is the secret of two times "E-l" [each = 31], based on the
mystery of "Hekef" [meaning "surrounding" = 185]. The numerical value
of "and Ben Yishai" equals 378, for there are the roots of "Malbush"
["clothing", = 378] and " Chashmal" [ = 378]. And you from the two 161's
[spellings out of Eh-yeh with yuds] that from we get two
"E-l"s as is known. Then they will tour "Gan Eden" [ = 124], which
represents the mystery of the four times "E-l" [each 31] that shines
from the "Ohr P'nei E-l" ["light of the face of G-d", = 378]
as is known from the verse "In the face ["p'nei"]
of your elders stand up" (Lev. 19:32). The tour is the delight [in
Hebrew, "sha'ashua"]. They are the four [times the spelling-out of "
E-l", based on "hekef"] from above with the numerical value of "
shin ayin shin ayin" [ = 740]. Yet, being that G-d
told Jeroboam that Ben Yishai [referring to David] will be at the
head [for he was already rectified], he didn't want to return and he was
castigated.
| | " In the future Gehinom will scream, I have no desire for the completely righteous...." | | |
Based on the above, we can understand a teaching from our
sages about Moses. He was an Hebrew, yet his garments were of an Egyptian.
This was from the mystery of the ark [in Hebrew, "teiva"] in which he
was placed, which was the secret of "Batya" [which has the same letters as "teiva"].
And the enlightened shall comprehend.
Further we must know that the soul when it departs from this
world, it must pass through and be dunked into the Dinor [fire] river. For behold, even the angels when they must descend to this world to perform their
duties, upon their return they must also be dunked in the Dinor River. What
happens to the soul during the dunking is dependent on each one's level. In
regards to this verse (apparently Daniel 7:10), that when a completely righteous
person from the highest caliber passes through the river, needless to say he is
not damaged in any way, so much so that he wouldn't feel the heat from those
burning flames. Rather on the contrary, for him the river is transformed into a
flowing spring of living waters, from which this righteous person derives
pleasure. This is what is meant by the verse "They who pass in the valley of
weeping" (Psalms 84:7), the valley refers to the river or even to Gehinom
itself. "Into a spring they shall transform it" (ibid.). Not only that, but
even, "Also the blessings shall be encloaked by the 'moreh'" (ibid.).
That is understood to mean that the blessings and gifts will enclothe one that
passes through if he is a "moreh", an instructor of the Torah laws. From
this we can understand a statement of the Sages that stipulates that a righteous
person passing through Gehinom can take out some souls with himself.
After the righteous person enclothes himself with these souls, then "they shall
go from strength to strength" (ibid.), the numerical value of which equals "Etz
HaChaim" [Hebrew for "Tree of Life" = 233]. To the Tree of Life goes the
soul of the righteous with these clothes. He travels from one yeshiva to
another, in a fashion that gives merits to those souls because of him. They are
thus (as the garments of the tzadik) able to enter realms that on their
own merit they wouldn't gain admittance. That is why the verse "they shall go"
(ibid.) is in the plural form. This is also the understanding of the verse "the
fruit of the righteous is the Tree of Life" (Proverbs 11:30). In other words,
through the good deeds he had performed he has the merit to "go from strength to
strength" (Psalms 84:8), with the Tree of Life.
Yet, "The wise man acquires souls" (Proverbs 11:30). In other
words "He who passes through the valley of tears" (Psalms 84:7), in order to
take souls, he must be a wise man as in the verse, "the blessings shall encloak
the moreh'"(ibid.) The verse continues, "...and will appear before the Lord
in Zion" this is in singular form. That indicates that when the righteous soul
ascends to a higher level, as in "to appear before G-d in Zion", then he must
remove that garment. For it is known, "One mustn't appear before the King in a
garment of sackcloth" (Esther 4:2). That is why the phrase "will appear" is in
the singular form. (Thus far is from Rabbi Chaim Vital, of blessed memory.)
From this we can gain a very clear understanding of the
statement of the Sages: "In the future Gehinom will scream, 'I have no
desire for the completely righteous.'" The reason is quite obvious, for the
completely righteous enter Gehinom the take out with them the souls of
many evil-doers. And Gan Eden screams, "I have no desire for the
evildoers," who are the angel Sama'el and the Snake, for they encircle the walls
of Gan Eden twice a week, in an attempt to entice and lure away those garments
of the souls.
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