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One of the best-known concepts in Judaism is Maimonides’ 13 Principles of Faith, which originally appear in his commentary on the Mishnah. According to the Zohar, their origin is the 13 Principles of Divine Mercy that were revealed to Moses by God to assist in bringing about God’s forgiveness. Less known are the 9 Principles of Divine Mercy found in parashat Shelach, from which stem 9 Principles of Faith of the Torah’s inner dimension.
In this second installment on this topic, we review the second principle, that our performance of commandments is needed by the Most High.
The contents of this series first appeared in Hebrew, in HaRav Ginsburgh’s book, Emunah VeMuda’ut (Faith and Consciousness). It is being translated here for the first time.
In the first installment of this series (Wonders, issue 198), we saw the rationale for introducing Nine Principles of Faith based on Kabbalah and Chasidut, the Torah’s inner dimension. We surveyed the nine principles of faith and went in-depth into the first one. As noted there, principles of faith are pervasive through Torah literature, both in the revealed and the concealed traditions, therefore hundreds of sources can sometimes be brought for each. Nonetheless, we saw that the first principle—that new interpretations of Torah are innovated in every generation and will particularly be taught by the Mashiach—has a very well-known source, which was quoted there.
Binah: Service is a Need of the Most High
Just before that source for the innovation of Torah, the midrash also restates a cardinal principle of the Torah’s revealed (nigleh) dimension, a principle known to all students of Torah, that, “the commandments were given to Israel only so that they might be refined by them.”[1] In other words, the commandments were given for our benefit as God’s creatures who need refinement, physically, psychologically, and spiritually. The corollary of this statement is that God has no need for our service. He does not need us to perform the commandments. In the language of the Bible, “if you become righteous, what do you give Him?”[2]
According to the concealed (nistar) dimension of the Torah, we know (with an inner experiential knowledge) that there is, as it were, a need on God’s part for human service (for He created man in His image, in order to serve Him truly). One of the Biblical sources for this is the verse, “You long for the work of Your hands.”[3]
The Sages coined the phrase, “service is a need of the Most High”[4] (עֲבוֹדָה צֹרֶךְ גָּבוֹהַּ). One of the clearest formulations of this principle is found in the words of Nachmanides, Rabbi Moses ben Nachman, one of the greatest sages of the Middle Ages. He states,[5]
…There is in this matter a great secret. For in the plain sense of things it would appear that [the dwelling of] the Divine Presence in Israel was to fulfill a want below [a need of the Israelites], but it is not so. It fulfilled a want Above [a Godly need]. It is similar in thought to that which Scripture states, “Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”[6] And Joshua said, “[For when the Canaanites… hear of it… and cut off our name from the earth,] and what wilt Thou do for Thy Great Name?”[7] There are many verses which express this thought: “He hath desired it [i.e., Zion] for His habitation”[8] and “Here I dwell; for I have desired it.”[9] And it is further written, and “I will remember the land.”[10]
Another important formulation of this same principle appears in the Maharal of Prague. The Talmud states:
Rav Yehoshua ben Levi said: From where do we know that the Holy Blessed One longs for the Priestly Blessing? From the verse, “and they shall place My name.”
The Maharal writes[11]:
The explanation of this matter is that He is the cause of all, and it is impossible for the cause not to provide effluence, and it is a matter that is compelled, for it is fitting for the Supernal One to bestow sustenance upon that which is dependent upon Him. And the Priestly Blessing is the blessing and flow of effluence from every area. Therefore, it is said that the Holy Blessed One longs for the Priestly Blessing, because the cause longs to bestow. Even more than the infant wishes to suckle and the woman [wishes] to nurse—for the power of the one who bestows is greater than that of the receiver, for the former is the active one and the latter is the recipient, therefore the Holy Blessed One longs for the priestly blessing.
Likewise, as they said,[12] “the Holy Blessed One longs for the prayer of the righteous,” for it is all one matter.
And understand the proof from what Scripture says, “they shall place My name,” as Rashi of blessed memory explained: placing His name upon them is a great need, and this is because He is the Supernal One who bestows effluence upon the world, and therefore this matter is called a great need.
Returning to Scripture, we find that the prophet says: “The humble shall increase in Havayah joy”[13] (וְיָסְפוּ עֲנָוִים בַּי-הוה שִׂמְחָה)—not “joy in Havayah,” which would mean that they increase the joy they take in their connection with God, but “in Havayah joy,” indicating that through the joyful service of the humble—“serve God with joy”[14]— they add joy and the revelation of intrinsic light within God’s infinite revelation itself.
Service with Joy
The Maharal used a parable of a mother who wishes to feed her newborn to describe God’s need for our service. In the parable, the people who perform the commandments, who serve God are the newborn and the mother is God, as it were. Though at first it would seem that the mother is only interested in feeding the baby for the baby’s need, in truth, the mother wants to feed the baby because it is a relief for her to be able to give to her child. Likewise, God, as it were, gave us the commandments, not just for our own benefit, but so that we would perform them and would merit receiving Divine effluence, thereby fulfilling God’s need to give.
Indeed, the parable of a mother feeding her newborn is very appropriate since this principle of faith corresponds to the intellectual faculty of understanding (binah), which is also known as the Mother Principle (פַּרְצוּף אִמָּא). Understanding is like a space (or a womb, to use another image connected with motherhood) in which what wisdom has grasped fleetingly is integrated and internalized, just as a child develops fully within the womb. Understanding is also the faculty and location of Divine service where joy is experienced, specifically the joy described as, “the joy of the mother of children.”[15]
If the space of understanding (binah) is not filled with joy, its exterior becomes a source of harsh judgment.[16] We find this principle illustrated in the following verse, which is part of Moses’ warning to the Israelites before his passing, “Because you did not serve Havayah your God with joy and goodness of heart, out of abundance of everything—you shall serve your enemies.”[17] To illustrate this in another way, because understanding is where lies our intellectual capacity to fully grasp a matter and internalize it deeply within the soul, it can appear to someone observing from the outside as threatening. Thus, a very smart person who quickly grasps the depth of an issue may act with impatience to others who are unable to do the same. He or she may scorn them for not having yet absorbed the truth and internalized it. This may even lead to impatience and intolerance to those parts of one’s own being that have not yet received the new understanding. In short, challenges to the motherly instinct to feed her child lead to a state of harsh judgment.
But inwardly, the acquisition of insight and understanding brings calm to the soul. Likewise, when the child suckles and consumes its mother’s sustenance, the mother is filled with joy. When there is no feeling of threat from external challenges, when the truth known internally is revealed outwardly, joy is born in the soul over the holy innovation that has been acquired. When the mother sees her newborn enjoying the sustenance she is giving, she is filled with joy. Likewise, when God sees that we are fulfilling the commandments, even though we are seemingly acting in our own interest, we are also increasing His joy, His love, His compassion.
“Gratification Before Me”
Like the first principle of faith of the Torah’s inner dimension, the principle that our service is needed above also complements one of Maimonides’ 13 principles of faith. In particular, this principle complements Maimonides’ fifth principle, that it is imperative to worship God exclusively and not foreign gods. The Torah’s inner dimension adds that our service of God (with joy) adds light and delight above and causes true gratification before Him. This gratification is described by the Sages with the words, “Gratification before Me, that I spoke and My will was fulfilled,”[18] and as we have added, that God’s inner will has been fulfilled when we serve Him with joy and goodness of heart.
As mentioned above, according to Maimonides’ plain meaning, service is for our own benefit alone and is relevant only to us. But according to the Torah’s inner dimension, when one serves God alone, one is filled with joy as a natural consequence (for all "sadness" arises from a psychological state of being split between two “masters,” as it were. The prophet Elijah referred to this split state when he rhetorically asked the people, “For how long will you continue to skip between two opinions?”[19] When the service of God is performed with joy, it is easy for the soul to feel how God above also takes joy in our service. Joy unites our awakening below with God’s awakening from above.
But if we feel no joy below when performing our service, then there is no “awakening from below,” and consequently, there is no joy above, no awakening from above. It is then that God’s motherly principle becomes the source of harsh judgments, as explained above.
Every “awakening from below” is an example of teshuvah, of return to God, the service that is intrinsically connected to the sefirah of understanding, as it says, “his heart understands, and he returns and is healed.” Indeed, there are two types of return to God. The lower aspect of teshuvah or return is motivated by a feeling of bitterness because one has drawn so distant from the Almighty. But the higher aspect of teshuvah, is accompanied by joy that one is now drawing nearer to God. What this means is that the gratification God receives from our service is just like the gratification a mother receives from feeding her child—the more joy the mother sees in the child’s experience of feeding, the more joy she herself experiences.
The Doting Father
The Maggid of Mezritch expanded upon the parable of the mother who feeds her child and explored a parable of a father doting over his beloved young son. He is said to have taught the following[20]:
In the Midrash [Rabbi Yannai said]: The Torah needed to begin only from “This month shall be for you.” And why did He reveal to them the act of Creation?
Technically, if all God wanted to tell us was how to perform the commandments, He should have started the Torah with the first mitzvah identified as the commandment to sanctify the new moon. The first commandment appears in the twelfth chapter of Exodus and begins with the words, “This month shall be for you.” Why then did God begin the Torah with the Book of Genesis and with the entire account of Creation?
For the sake of Israel, [because] they said, “We will do and we will hear.”[21]
The Maggid responds with the answer quoted by Rashi on the Torah’s first verse, that Creation was for the sake of Israel. But, the Maggid adds, that Israel serves as a reason for Creation because they accepted the Torah.
This follows [what the Sages said]: “Israel arose in thought.” The primordial will [to create the world] was so that Israel would be righteous in every generation.
The entire purpose of Creation was so that there would be Jews in every generation who would be righteous and perform God’s will.
And the Holy Blessed One, as it were, contracted His radiance;
For God’s purpose to be revealed, He had to contract, or diminish His radiance, meaning his revelation. And this contraction can be understood with the parable of a father and his son.
Like the parable of a father who contracts his intellect and speaks childish prattle for the sake of his young son. In addition, all the traits connected with childish deeds are to be found in the father, who loves childish deeds so that his son may have delight and feel cherished by him.
Just as the mother wants to feed her child, the father loves his child and contracts himself to have a relationship with him. He steps down from his stature as an adult and enters the child’s world in all respects, enjoying everything the child does.
And because for the Holy Blessed One, past and future are equal, He was pleased by the deeds of the righteous and contracted Himself.
Indeed, Israel are likened to God’s children—“You are children to Havayah your God”[22]—and because God sees past, present, and future together, the foresight that He would engage with them as with His children, led Him to contract Himself primordially into a state in which He would receive pleasure from their deeds.
And the contraction is called wisdom, for wisdom emerges from nothingness…. And the contraction was for the sake of Israel.
And also love caused the contraction.
As explained elsewhere, the highest superrational reason for Creation is love. Just as a child needs to feel that regardless of his or her conduct or accomplishments, their parents love them dearly and adore them. Likewise, God created the world for the sake of His love for His children and the pleasure He receives from them.
And this is [the meaning of] “And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham begot…”
For this reason, God began the Torah with the story of the formation of the Jewish people beginning with Abraham, and Isaac, and tells of the true love between father and son, Abraham and Isaac, to stress that these stories that predate the Giving of the Torah are the type of relationship that God has with Creation.
The two parables of the mother and her child (referenced by the Maharal) and the doting father with his son (referenced by the Maggid of Mezritch) correspond to the sefirot of understanding and wisdom, respectively, stressing that indeed these two intellectual sefirot are like two companions that never part. Together, they illustrate why it is that God receives pleasure from our service and our following of His will.
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[1]. Vayikra Rabbah 13:3. Also Tanchuma 8; Bereishit Rabbah 44:1.
[2]. Job 35:7.
[3]. Ibid. 14:15.
[4]. Based on Shabbat 131a and Moed Katan 9a.
[5]. Ramban on Exodus 29:46, s.v., Leshochni Betocham.
[6]. Isaiah 49:3.
[7]. Joshua 7:9.
[8]. Psalms 132:13.
[9]. Ibid. v. 14.
[10]. Leviticus 26:42.
[11]. In his Chidushei Agadot on Sotah 38b.
[12]. Yevamot 64b.
[13]. Isaiah 29:19.
[14]. Psalms 100:2.
[15]. Ibid. 113:9.
[16]. Zohar 2:175b. To follow our metaphor through, if the intellectual faculty of understanding is not “pregnant” with a Torah idea that it can develop into a fully formed and integrated conceptual scheme, it releases harsh judgments, just as when a woman is without child, she menstruates and the menstrual blood is considered harsh judgment.
[17]. Deuteronomy 28:47-48.
[18]. Sifrei Pinchas 143.
[19]. 1 Kings 18:21.
[20]. Or Torah 1.
[21]. Exodus 24:7.
[22]. Deuteronomy 14:1.
