How unfortunate are those who only eat the straw instead of the real fruit of Torah and don't understand the inner secrets of the Torah. They learn only the simple stories as they are written and the logical deductions associated with them. They learn the stories and the strict rules. But the stories are like straw and the strictures are like wheat [in Hebrew, "chitah"]. The "chet-" part of the word ["chitah"] means "sin" [in Hebrew, "chet"] and the "hei" at the end of the word ["chitah"] is a letter from the world of truth.
Using logic alone to understand Torah is like eating straw….Wheat was the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which Adam and Eve ate in the Garden of Eden. Thus wheat is a mixture of good and evil, chaff and seed - sin and holiness - as reflected in the letters of its name. The spiritual source of reasoning and logical deductions is from this source of mixed good and evil, which explains why using logic [alone] to understand Torah is like eating straw instead of proper food.
Now it is not the accepted thing for a King or Queen to ride on a donkey [in Hebrew, "chamor" which shares the same root as the word "chumrot", meaning "strict rules"]. Majesty rides on a horse as it is written, "You rode on Your horses, your chariots of salvation" (Habakkuk 3:8). One does not degrade a Queen by putting her on a donkey and certainly not the King himself. It is more proper for the king's servant to ride a donkey.
The physical is called "chomriut" in Hebrew, associated with the word "chamor", "donkey".
All Israel are called 'the sons of the King'….This is the reason it is written about the Mashiach that he is "just and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey" (Zachariah 9:9). The word "humble" [in Hebrew, "oni"] in that verse is spelled ayin nun yud and is an acrostic for the three tractates of the Talmud that deal with the strict decrees - Eruvin, Nidah and Yevamot….
In the mystical realms these tractates represent the control of the physical realm as it given over to the angelic forces supervised by the faithful servant of the King, the angel Metatron. The commands of the King are delegated to this angel to carry out or delegate to others. He represents the spiritual forces affecting the physical world . Until the servant fulfills his command, He is not called King. The higher spiritual level is only revealed when there is unity between the spiritual and the physical, between the King and the Community of Israel.
[He] is not called "King" until he rides on his horse, which is the Community of Israel. When the King is outside his residence, not united with his Queen, He is not in His full majesty. In the future, when He returns to His residence, then "G‑d shall be King over all the earth; on that day G‑d will be one, and His name one" (Zachariah 14:9). All Israel are called "the sons of the King". Their relationship is like father and son, but not like the sons of the King until they return to the Land of Israel. When they return to the Land of Israel, the full majesty of their relationship will be revealed.
Zohar, parashat Ki Tetzei, Raya MeHemna, p. 276a; translation and commentary by Simcha-Shmuel Treister
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