SHVII SHEL PESACH

לקוטי ים החכמה: מועדים | ניסן - פסח
Likutei Ya”M HaChochmah: Festivals & Seasonal Avodah Series – Nissan/Pesach - Shvii Shel Pesach
Rav Y. M. Morgenstern

Yechidah-Consciousness

There are two levels of yichud on Pesach – on the night of Pesach, and on Shvii shel Pesach (the 7th day of Pesach).

On the night of Pesach, there is mochin of Chayah, which is also the mochin of gadlus sheini which is drawn on the night of Pesach.

On Shvii shel Pesach, the mochin is in the secret of the Yechidah, which is also the secret of B’Atika talya milsa, “In Atik, the matter depends.” The Toras Chochom explains that through the light of Atik, a light is drawn that resembles the mochin of pnim on Shavuos, which reaches the level of the Yechidah. [However, it is all in a state of katnus.]

These two levels were gained by the Baal Shem Tov when he journeyed to Eretz Yisrael.

On the night of Pesach, his soul rose up to Heaven. This was when he reached Chayah- consciousness. He performed a miracle in Istanbul because of what he saw in Heaven, as the well-known story about this is told over. And on the seventh day of Pesach, he fell into a state of low spiritual consciousness and he lost all his spiritual knowledge. Then Achiyah HaShiloni came to him and taught him a yichud (the yichud of ADN”Y- EHY”H), and this allowed a great miracle in which he was saved from death. This was where he reached Yechidah level of the soul, which corresponds to the world of Adam Kadmon, which descends to the lowest point of Asiyah, and which can fix the lowest levels of katnus.

Splitting The Sea of Concealment

זֶה אֵלִי וְאַנְוֵהוּ
The secret of the event of the splitting of the sea was that the people reached the level of “This is my G-d, and I will glorify Him.” (shmot 15:2)

נחש > חשן
The Arizal (Shaar HaKavanos Pesach, 12) explains that it represented a level in which we can turn the Nachash, the Serpent (representing all darkness and concealment) into Choshen, the breastplate of the Kohen Gadol which contained the Urim V’Tumim, which answers all questions.

Hashem gives a person suffering only so that he will elevate that suffering and sweeten it, to mimic the splitting of the sea, in which we tore through all concealment, until we came to the recognition of “This is my G-d and I will glorify Him.” זֶה אֵלִי וְאַנְוֵהוּ

The Secret of Shvii Shel Pesach

The Arizal explains the secret of Shvii shel Pesach as yichud d’katnus or yichud d’achor, revealing the oneness of Hashem amidst the least encouraging situations. The Geulah – the final Redemption – is borne from this yichud. The S”M (Other Side) tries to prevent it, by bringing harsh decrees and all kinds of concealment upon us, so that it can nurse vitality and grow stronger from the yichud d’katnus or yichud d’achor. And therefore we have to be careful not to let the S”M get this vitality. The Toras Chochom teaches that the way to counter the plans of the S”M is, through the lofty powers of Arich and Atik – which can transform the yichud d’katnus into yichud d’gadlus (or yichud d’achor into yichud d’pnim).

At yichud d’katnus, a person is confused and he has doubts, and he doesn’t know what Hashem wants from him – even as he’s trying to become (in more kedusha) holier and grow to higher levels. The tikkun for this is to access Atik: “In Atik, the matter depends.” One needs to first enter into the light of Arich and then he can enter into Atik.

First, one needs to have mesirus nefesh to do the RATZON /will of Hashem, by not being concerned about what s/he feels right now. S/He just has to give her/himself over to the G-dly light (ohr Elokut) and surrender her/himself to Hashem, just as by the splitting of the sea, when the sea didn’t split until Nachshon jumped in and showed he was ready to give his life and submit himself to Hashem’s plan. [This is the mesirus nefesh, the level of Arich.]

After showing mesirus nefesh, one can then revel in a bliss in Hashem’s Presence with him that goes beyond all logic and reason. This is the light of Atik.

This is the secret of “Yisrael rejoices in his Maker.”
יִשְׂמַ֣ח יִשְׂרָאֵ֣ל בְּעֹשָׂ֑יו

–Tehilim 149

It is to enjoy one’s intrinsic connection with Hashem and be connected with the upper yichud – the essence of Hashem’s ratzon /will which is above every other revelation – and in this way, one transforms yichud d’achor into yichud d’pnim, going from yichud d’katnus to yichud d’gadlus.

This is how we turn the yichud d’achor on Shvii Shel Pesach, into a yichud of panim b’panim – the most intimate connection with Hashem. And with this, the Geulah (final Redemption) can come with Hashem’s mercy, with no harsh decrees or troubles. For “In Atik, the matter depends” – and through having mesirus nefesh for the will of Hashem, we can rise to the very essence of G-dliness.

The Revelation On Shvii Shel Pesach – Every Descent Is For The Purpose of Ascent

At the splitting of the sea on Shvii shel Pesach, the yichud that is normally above in Heaven was now happening down below on the world, where the Jewish people enjoyed an intimate, face-to-face relationship with Hashem.

It became revealed to everyone’s eyes, in great detail, how every single descent and failure we go through is really an ascent to a higher level, and revealing how every secret of Torah, in all of its different colors, is all bound and unified as part of the prism of ohr pashut, Hashem’s undivided infinite light.

The Jewish people reached this level on Shvii Shel Pesach, but they didn’t receive this level of “Torah” due to the breaking of the Luchos. This level will be revealed as a new level of Torah in the future – the Torah of Atika Stimaah (lit. ancient, hidden level of Torah). This is a level of Torah where all the secrets of the Torah are revealed to a person as an individual. It reveals the qualities of every Jew’s soul, and that each Jew is always going higher, and that every descent and failure was only for the purpose of revealing a higher and more intense perception of G-dliness, since everything is bound with the light of His undivided unity (achdus peshutah) – and all of our avodah was entirely give a nachas ruach, a satisfaction, to Hashem. At this level, we see how every descent and failure we went through was all for the purpose of making us ascend higher, to reveal a deeper perception of G-dliness.

Any one who cleanses her/himself off from all the impure effects of aveira, is able to reach this. For Hashem wants to be revealed – so that the Jewih nehama will feel His Reality throughout every detail, with the simplicity of a little child who doesn’t care about the fact that he doesn’t understand anything yet, and whose entire wish is just to give a nachas ruach to Hashem at all times, and to be “above and below at once”. Every moment, we should just be someone who is truly serving Hashem, who desires only to give a nachas ruach (satisfaction) to Him – and it shouldn’t make a difference to us if we find ourselves in a ‘bad period’, katnus (low-level inspiration) or in a ‘good period’, gadlus (high-level inspiration and growth) – or whether we feel like we are heading towards Gan Eden or Gehinnom. [We must only be concerned about one thing alone – giving a nachas ruach to Hashem].

Shvii Shel Pesach – The Emunah That Transcends Every Concealment

On the night of Pesach, we gain emunah, through the outpouring of mochin d’gadlus (high- level spiritual consciousness) that comes on the first night of Pesach. It is a night where a great, awesome yichud takes place (on High). But the seventh day of Pesach is called katnus (low-level spiritual consciousness), as explained by the Arizal (Shaar HaKavanos, Pesach 12).

When the people stood at the sea front, they were at the place of the Eitz HaDaas Tov vRa “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil” – or the mode where a person begins to feel his own reality and existence, “Me”, so he begins to fall into all kinds of questions. He notices his emotions and then he can have all kinds of questions based on what he’s feeling. Then he asks himself,

“Why is it that sometimes I can feel a certain truth and sometimes I can’t feel a thing? Why is it that sometimes I’m so defiled and sometimes I’m pure?”

S/He begins to question Hashem. All of this questioning is really coming from being at the “Eitz HaDaas Tov vRa”, where a person determines everything based on how s/he feels right now.

The feelings of a person are mixed with good and evil. The problem that the philosophers had was that they came to conclusions based on how they felt. If they felt something was true, they thought it must be true, and if they didn’t feel it was true, then they concluded that it must be false, and that there was no other option.

But when a person goes beyond questioning and philosophy and human emotions, by gaining true daas, which is above the place of the Eitz HaDaas Tov vRa, s/he knows that s/he really doesn’t know a thing. S/He believes in all the Chachamim of the Jewish people and in the tzaddikim who came after them, and from that emunah, s/he can then come to the true understanding, daas.

But if a person follows her/his feelings and his material wishes, and s/he has no emunah in the chachamim and s/he doesn’t surrender her/his knowledge to the tzaddikim of the generation, s/he determines her/his worldview and his perception of the truth based on whatever s/he personally feels or intellectually understands. S/He will always remain on the outside of the truth, and s/he is found below on this world – at the place of the Eitz HaDaas Tov vRa. The Yam Suf represented the Eitz HaDaas Tov vRa because it is situated below Eretz Yisrael – it is below the place of emunah.

The kelipah of Paro stands squarely at the place of daas (neck) to prevent a person from attaining daas.

Paro is the voice of confusion to prevent a person from getting closer to the kedusha / holy and true daas. Paro also prevents all of a person’s mochin (knowledge and spiritual awareness) from filtering down below into a person’s heart, so that a person won’t internalize what s/he knows and he won’t be able to feel in her/his soul the revelation of Elokut / G- dliness.

Paro mainly takes hold when a person goes through suffering or failure, which every person goes through. When she sometimes falls into a state of immaturity or she falls into a small sin – and he feels terrible about this – she is then vulnerable to Paro, the kelipah that wishes to prevent emunah (the true daas) from entering one’s soul, and then Paro can drag a person into the sea of philosophy and denial of G-d. Paro’s entire vitality is to grab a Jew when he finds herself in katnus, where he is vulnerable to Paro’s voice of confusion. Pharoah wanted to lick the blood of the Jews [and he would bathe himself in Jewish blood] and taste the downfall of every Jewish soul, chas v’shalom.

When Paro descends below [from the ‘throat’ area] and he wants to grab onto the failures of a Jew’s soul and thereby accuse that “These are idol-worshippers”, at that moment, Paro is no longer situated at the ‘throat’, but he is found between the heart and the liver, the place of lust – the sea of desires. This is like Paro trapping the Jews by the Yam Suf, and this is where Paro is attempting to get a Jew to sin.

At that moment of difficulty, if one will strengthen herself with the knowledge of Elokut /G-dliness that Hashem is with her, s/he can draw forth new levels of mochin (spiritual perceptions) and knock down all of the barriers and concealments, in one moment – drowning Paro and his army into the sea.

The truth is that the Sitra Achra [represented by Paro] really isn’t able to distance a person from Hashem, and it cannot prevent a person from drawing forth new mochin, even as the Sitra Achra is enjoying the dismal, fallen state of the Jew’s soul and licking his blood and enjoying his suffering.

On Pesach night, Hashem did great miracles for us, punishing Paro and of his nation, giving us a special illumination so that Paro loses his balance and falls down from the ‘neck’ area where he is normally located at – the place of mochin – and at that moment, all the greatest levels of mochin descend into us, into our heart.

But after the first night of Pesach, all the mochin leave us.

Throughout the first week of Sefiras HaOmer, we begin to receive a new level of mochin. By the 5th day of the week following the first night of Pesach, we are found at mochin d’katnus. It was at that time when our people fell into a dismal state of katnus.

We felt that we didn’t know which way to go in – meaning that we didn’t know the way of how to serve Hashem. We were confused, trapped from all directions, by Egypt, by the desert, by the sea. And it was so dismal for us that there were accusations in Heaven against us, because the angels were saying, “They [the Egyptians] are idol-worshippers and they [the Jews] are idol-worshippers!”

But on the 6th day of that week, we received some level of mochin d’gadlus, but it wasn’t the same level as when we left Egypt. We were still in danger of Paro – we didn’t have enough light to remove Paro from his place where he is able to prevent us from daas, and therefore Paro could still cause us confusion.

On Shvii Shel Pesach - the seventh day after going out of Egypt – the Arizal says that the light of Mashiach began to shine.

We no longer had all the mochin, the great perceptions that we had when leaving Egypt – we didn’t have the awesome upper yichud of Pesach night with us – and instead, we felt that we had lost all our mochin, and we felt terrible about it. We were suffering from it. And the Sitra Achra enjoys it very much when we feel like we’re suffering from our loss of great levels, and that is when a Jew is most vulnerable to be dragged down by the Sitra Achra into the lowest abysses of defilement, due to the suffering in his soul that he feels – which are like the Mitzrim on one side, with the sea on the other side.

A person has to be smart about this and understand that when Hashem is testing her with katnus – when she feels small about herself – it is precisely then that she can draw upon himself an even greater level of mochin, where he can come to “This is my G-d and I will glorify Him.”

The Sitra Achra is the enemy who pursues our soul and steal all of our inner wealth, but even as it pursues us, Hashem is with us, hidden within the difficulty.

The Concept of The “Seudat Mashiach” On Shvii Shel Pesach

Whenever a Jew has suffering - whether it is physical, or emotional, internal suffering - at that moment when his spirit is low, he should use it to draw forth a higher level of mochin. Dovid HaMelech was being pursued and humiliated by different people in his life who wanted to destroy him, and it was precisely during those times where he merited the light of Mashiach. The truth is that he could have been made into Mashiach then [but the generation wasn’t worthy].

A Jew has to know that when the Sitra Achra, including Paro and his army, are pursuing her – when she feels like she is in a state of katnus - it is precisely then that she can find Hashem. She must know that it’s all for her good. The Sitra Achra thinks that when a person doesn’t feel inspired, it must mean that the person has truly fallen, so the Sitra Achra thinks that it can now grab hold of the person and gloat in enjoyment over the person’s defeat. At that moment when the Sitra Achra thinks it has been victorious, it comes down from its place – it lays at the “throat” area above – and it descends down below, to ruin the person. That is precisely the time where a person can draw forth great new levels of mochin, a degree of the light of Mashiach.

11 (Note; The lights of Leah, which are in the category of “Mashiach ben Dovid”, become drawn and integrated into Rochel - which is the secret of “Mashiach ben Yosef”. This is the root of the light of the final Geula, for it is through this that the soul of Mashiach ben Yosef is born on Shvii shel Pesach. And this continues on Shavuos, with the birth of Mashiach ben Dovid.)

Thus the Baal Shem Tov established to have a festive “meal for Mashiach” on Shvii shel Pesach, because Shvii shel Pesach is the time when Mashiach becomes born (as the Arizal says in Shaar HaKavanos), and it is an exalted time in which we can accomplish the arrival of Mashiach. As it is said of Rebbi Nosson of Breslev, who once saw his student inspiring himself in a state of growth, whereupon he said to his student: “It’s not a novelty that you can be strong now, when you’re anyways in a heightened stage of growth. I want to see what you are like when you find yourself in a state of katnus, if you will strengthen yourself then too.” When a Jew can serve Hashem even when he’s in a state of katnus, he can hasten the coming of Mashiach.

But that alone won’t be enough. A person also needs to know that it is precisely during a time of katnus when a person can draw forth the greatest levels of gadlus, and reach the essential lights of Mashiach, the mochin of achdus pashut with Hashem, in which a Jew can feel the yichud with Hashem. That is the great yichud on Shvii shel Pesach.

Although the night of Pesach contains a greater and more awesome yichud, it still doesn’t lead to a birth of a new level. In order to give birth to new levels, one needs the light of Arich Anpin, of b’Atika talya milsa (Zohar Beshalach), and as it’s known, when a woman is kneeling to give birth, there is a great revelation then of Hashem’s kindness, for the key to children is found only in the hands of Hashem (Sanhedrin 113a), which is the mode of Arich, a great and intense light. This level is not revealed even by the night of the Seder. It is revealed precisely on Shvii shel Pesach, when a person has internal suffering in his soul and he finds himself in katnus, compared to the high level he felt during the Seder.

Through strengthening his bitachon in Hashem – when one knows that it is precisely when he feels like he has fallen, that he can draw forth new mochin and essential lights - the Sitra Achra doesn’t bother him, because it thinks that the person has fallen anyway. That is how a Jew can enter into yichud, and to be truly connected with Hashem - the secret of b’Atika talya milsa. Through the avodah that we did at the Seder on Pesach night, the birth can now take place on Shvii shel Pesach, which brings the soul of Mashiach into the world.

In A Time of Katnus, That Is When We Need To Enter Into The Great Bliss of D’veykus

Atik is the root of all Gevurah, because Atik is the secret of the true Existence, as revealed through Binah, which is called yeish (existing) in comparison to Chochmah, which is called ayin (nothingness). It is through Binah that all details become revealed. Binah, which is the root of all dinim, is the root that reveals all Gevuros, all the details that become revealed down below in Malchus, and this is the secret of the “84 dinim”. When addressing Hashem as “Atah” (You), this is the recognition of Hashem throughout all the many details that reveal Him upon the world. This is the secret of the six Heichalos (chambers), for Hashem wants people to recognize all these chambers and perceive Him by way of all these levels.

That is why sometimes a person falls into katnus, where he finds it difficult to serve Hashem. The entire reason that Hashem sometimes allows this Nachash - this katnus - to get stronger, is so that the person will be able to perceive the Heichalos and all the many details that reveal Him. For it is through this that a person receives the energy to attain a greater level of yichud afterwards.

This is by entering the secret of splitting the sea, of which it is said that “Hashem will fight for you all your wars” - the secret of b’Atika talya milsa (Sifra D’Tzniyusa 2), and this is what enables a person to reach d’veykus even during katnus.

A person needs to use a very inner and root kind of pleasure, which doesn’t get interrupted. Moshe used this pleasure by the splitting of the sea, which was a time of katnus – through using the secret of b’Atika talya milsa, it became revealed to Moshe the way of avodah of entering into the inner, root pleasure of enjoying the Presence of the Creator. For without pleasure, a person cannot serve Hashem at all, because there cannot be yichud without pleasure.

The difficulty during katnus is that there is no pleasure and then a person can’t consciously focus on yichud. But through revealing the root pleasure which never ceases even during katnus, a person can enter into the pleasure just from feeling the reality of the Creator. This pleasure is the essential, inner level of pleasure for the soul, the “desire of desires”. The main goal is to reach the upper, hidden daas, to reach d’veykus at all times, not only during the high of gadlus but even during the downs of katnus, because a person was created to find pleasure in Hashem, and even during katnus a person has to be connected to yichud, to the taanug etzem, the essential pleasure.

Repairing Kelipas Noga On Shvii Shel Pesach, Through Bittul

The difference between chametz and matzah is that chametz has the letter ches while matzah has the letter heh, which are only slightly different letters from each other.

R’ Eizik Chever explained that the letter ח ches is comprised of three lines, corresponding to the three active elements of fire, air, and water, which correspond to CHaGa”T (chessed/water, gevurah/fire, and tiferes/air). In the exile of Egypt, they were trapped in Egypt, like the letter ches )ח( which is sealed in from all its sides, and the letter ches represents chametz. By the exodus from Egypt, the left leg of the letter ches became opened (through the area where they left Egypt from) becoming a letter heh, and the letter heh represents the change from chametz to matzah.

This was all a repair of the “three lines” which correspond to the three directions of the letter ches, but there is still a fourth direction that is open, on the bottom of the letter ches – this is the northern direction, and the north is tzafon, a hint to the evil inclination, who is associated with the north (from the north, evil is opened).

In order to repair the fourth direction, the north, which is open to the world, it is very difficult. It refers to the fourth kelipah, the kelipas noga, which is the hardest to repair from all the kelipos. In order to have the complete geula, the fourth line, the fourth direction, the kelipas noga, must be repaired.

The three impure kelipos, which came into power since the sin of Adam, are evil wind, evil fire, and evil water. The root evil trait is conceitedness, which branches into the three evil traits of jealousy, honor-seeking, and lust, which remove a person from the world. Jealousy is the evil wind, lusts are the evil water, and honor-seeking is the evil fire.12

NOTE: (12 For example, a person is learning and davening with enthusiasm and passion. This is “fire”, but it can become an evil fire storm when a person is doing this only to get honored by others, when he is completely self-focused on magnifying his own honor in the eyes of others)

The kelipas noga, which is the root of all of these, is the evil element of earth, which houses the other three active elements and enables them. It is the evil side to Malchus. It is repaired through Aba, because of the secret of Aba yasad barta, the father is the foundation of his daughter, and ‘daughter’ refers to Malchus. Through Aba, or Chochmah – the concept of bittul b’metzius – we can fix the northern direction that is open to the world. “With wisdom, gates are opened.” .

It is very subtle to repair the kelipas noga, and it is also very difficult. It requires a person to sanctify even his permissible pleasures and to become holy even in these areas. A person has to do what he is able to. “And you shall be holy.” A person has to do what he can to make himself holier. When he eats, he should have kavanah when he makes the blessing, and he should do what he can, and then he will receive help from Above to fix even his permissible pleasures, the kelipas noga. For “when a person sanctifies himself a bit below, he is sanctified a lot above.”

This is the secret of splitting the sea, which was through the 72-letter name of Hashem, which represents the world of Atzilus, which is the concept of bittul. It is through this level, bittul, that we can be zocheh to repair even kelipas noga.

The Dry Land Within The Sea

When the sea was split, the people walked into dry land within the sea. They were amidst the sea, but they walked on dry land. This is a deep secret, representing a whole new revelation of how a person can serve Hashem.

There are two main spiritual lights, called ani and ayin (nothingness).

The ani (Atik) manifests below in the worlds of BiY”A, as a feeling of independent existence. One needs to purify himself on many levels, with bittul after bittul at all times, erasing his ani and coming to ayin. One has to take the worlds of BiY”A - his independent “I”, the sense of his own existence - which is “the beach”, dry land – and elevate it at all times, through many levels of bittul, until a person becomes integrated within the “sea”. When one elevates his “I” and returns it to its root above, until he purifies his existence, he comes to the level where he walks in “dry land within the sea”, revealing how ani (I) is not a contradiction to ayin.

There are always two levels – “returning light” אור חוזר, which is longings and purifying one’s lower levels so he can rise to higher levels, purifying his independent “I” that feels separate from the Creator – and there is also “direct light”, which is bittul (surrender) through the ayin Eloki (the G-dly realm of nothingness).

They are actually both one and the same, because they are both about revealing Atzmuso (His essence, as it were). This is the secret of “ani and ayin at once”, which is the secret of the “sea” and “dry land”, at once.

Both the levels of Ma”H and Be”N, both the “direct light” and “returning light” (which are known in terms of avodah as bittul/Rochel/emunah and hishtokekus/Leah/tefillah) are all one matter, of revealing Atzmuso.

PHOTO: Sheva Chaya