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Descending Into the Jewish Experience
The next three principles of faith found in the Torah’s inner dimension are all related and all three derive from the principle of faith that corresponds to the sefirah of beauty (tiferet) discussed above: God desires a dwelling place below. Furthermore, these next three (and in fact, four) principles take us from the realm of God, the Torah, Creation, and the Temple to the realm of the human experience, specifically the Jewish experience.
When considering the relationship between the sefirot, the next three after beauty are victory, acknowledgment, and foundation, which form a triplet that has its own acronym, pronounced Nehi in Hebrew and standing for their initials in Hebrew: netzach, hod, and yesod (נֶצַח הוֹד יְסוֹד).[1] In this article we will look at the principles of faith that correspond to the first two of these sefirot: victory and acknowledgment, while leaving the principle of faith corresponding to foundation for our next installment.
However, even though foundation will be discussed separately, it is in fact the essential element of this triad of principles. To fully appreciate this statement, let us first introduce the three principles of faith associated with the Nehi sefirot.
Victory corresponds to: “the tzaddik [the righteous individual] decrees and the Almighty fulfills his bidding. Acknowledgement corresponds to: “the Almighty decrees and the tzaddik annuls it. Foundation corresponds to the principle of faith that all Your people are tzaddikim, all Jews are in fact righteous individuals. The connection and interdependence between these principles of faith should be clear. Even though it may seem that the first two principles regarding both human and Divine decrees are relevant to only a select, few righteous individuals, in fact, the principle that all Jews are righteous expands their scope to include every Jew. This is important because it would render the decree-principles theoretical for most Jews if they themselves were not considered righteous. The foundation principle—that all Jews are righteous—makes the decree-principles universally applicable and pragmatic.
Two Sides of a Coin
Let us now focus on the two principles corresponding to victory and acknowledgment. These are the sixth and seventh principles of faith of the Torah’s inner dimension.
Victory and acknowledgment are described as “two halves of a single body.”[2] This image is meant to reflect the relationship between a husband and wife, described as “he shall cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh,”[3]—husband and wife[4] figuratively become one body. Likewise, victory and acknowledgment work in unison and produce offspring, or fruit, through their union. In fact, in Kabbalah, the relationship between male and female is identified with victory and acknowledgment, “He is in victory [netzach] and she is in [hod].”[5]
The inner dimensions or experiences of victory and acknowledgment are confidence (bitachon) and earnestness (temimut), the two qualities required for the groom and bride to merit a true union. The groom needs to gird himself with great confidence to dare descend from his secure solitude and commit himself in devotion to the bride, while the bride needs to fill herself with the quality of earnest sincerity and thanksgiving to give herself wholeheartedly to the groom. The same relationship exists between the principles of faith corresponding to victory and acknowledgment; they are in a sense to sides of a single coin.
“Outside the Body”
The sefirah of beauty out of which, as mentioned, victory and acknowledgment descend, is known as the “body” (גּוּפָא). It corresponds to the principle of faith that God craves, as it were, the very essence of His desire, is to dwell among the lower beings, among Israel in the manner of souls within bodies. This is the meaning of the verse, “[They shall make Me a Sanctuary] and I shall dwell among them.”[6] It is fitting therefore that victory and acknowledgment are described as laying, “outside the body”[7] (לְבַר מִגּוּפָא). Just as the legs extend beyond the body, victory and acknowledgment, which also correspond to the two feet, direct the external expression, and are not the innermost feeling itself, as are love, awe, and mercy.
Children of God
The word that means “outside” (לְבַר) also relates to “son” (בָּר). The relationship between outside and son is the secret of the Sages’ statement, “The son is the leg of his father” indicating that the son tends to walk in his father’s footsteps.[8] Likewise, relative to the emotive sefirot—loving-kindness, might, and beauty (which corresponds to the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—victory, acknowledgment, and foundation are the powers of action in the soul and are children, so to speak, of the inner feelings within the soul. Just as victory, acknowledgment, and foundation are the children of the emotions, they are also the great-grandchildren, as it were, of the intellectual sefirot, wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.[9]
The three habitual sefirot—victory, acknowledgment, and foundation—thus correspond to God’s children, the holy people of Israel, and to the three principles of faith that explicitly center on the Jewish people and their unique quality of completing and fulfilling the Almighty’s desire to have a dwelling place in the lower worlds.
“The Righteous One Rules through His Fear of God”
In his last words, King David said: “The God of Israel has spoken, the Rock of Israel has said to me: A tzaddik rules over men; who rules through the fear of God?”[10] The Sages interpreted this hard to understand verse as follows: “I rule over men. Who rules Me? A tzaddik! For I make a decree and he can annul it.”[11] And within this there are two aspects, one corresponding to the sefirah of victory, the other corresponding to the sefirah of acknowledgment (the “two halves of a body,” as above): “the righteous decrees and the Holy Blessed One fulfills it” and “the Holy Blessed One makes a decree and the righteous nullifies it.”
In each of these two aspects there is a decree issuing from the sefirah of victory and either a fulfillment or a nullification of that decree issuing from the side of acknowledgment. The reaction to the confident decree made by the tzaddik, the righteous individual, is acknowledgment from God. But, if acknowledgment and gratitude are not given by the tzaddik to God’s decree, then the decree is nullified.
From a more general perspective, the concept that the tzaddik issues a decree and the Almighty fulfills it” corresponds to the sefirah of victory whose essence is the power of the righteous one, the tzaddik, to make a decree regarding the governance of the worlds. The Almighty fulfills the decree represents the inter-inclusion of the sefirah of acknowledgment within victory. Likewise, the notion that God makes a decree and the righteous individual nullifies it corresponds in general to the sefirah of acknowledgment, whose essence is the tzaddik’s power to nullify God’s decree, alluding to the positive property associated with the verse, “my hod [glory/acknowledgment] was transformed,[12]” not to destroy me, but to improve me. Outwardly, it seems that the tzaddik does not agree and therefore does not acknowledge God, but inwardly, the tzaddik does acknowledge Him and strives to reveal His most inner will, which is sometimes the opposite of His revealed will. Only a “son” can sense the hidden will of his father in this way.
Regarding both aspects—when the tzaddik annuls a Divine decree and when he issues a decree and the Almighty fulfills it above—it is said in God’s name: “My children have overcome Me, My children have overcome Me”![13]
“Walk Before Me”
When God made His covenant with Abraham over circumcision so that he would merit having “holy seed, the blessing of God”[14]—the holy people of Israel, He said to him, “Walk before Me and be earnest.”[15] When describing Enoch and Noah, two great individuals who lived before Abraham, the Torah says that, “Enoch walked with God”[16] and “Noah walked with God”[17] meaning that they both walked side by side with God. But God commanded Abraham, the first Jew, to “walk before Me.” Where Enoch and Noah for all their righteousness could only walk with God, Abraham was commanded to lead God, as it were.[18]
“My Children Have Overcome Me”
Because the legs—i.e., the sefirot of victory and acknowledgment—lead and carry the body, when the Jewish people—God’s children who are sensitive to His inner will, as above—merit to overcome their Father in Heaven, it is as if they lead God, as it were. God has entrusted them with the power to guide the world toward the fulfillment of its ultimate purpose, which is the fulfillment of God’s essential intention for creating the world, which is His craving to make Himself a dwelling place below, in the mundane.
The “victory” of the children represents in fact the perpetuation of the father because by their “victory,” they prepare the mundane realm to be a suitable dwelling place for the Almighty. As explained in Chasidic writings, any place worthy of being a dwelling place is where one feels at ease and is free to remove his garments and reveal his essential self. This requires that the dwelling itself resembles its occupant, thereby arousing him to reveal himself in it. By “overcoming” their father, the children reveal how similar they are to him and arouse His desire to reveal Himself through them. So, in essence, it is the Jewish people themselves that become the dwelling place for God’s revelation.
This is why the sefirot victory and acknowledgment are also known as the “supporters of Torah”[19] (תַּמְכֵי דְּאוֹרָיְתָא), because Torah is synonymous with the sefirah of beauty and they sustain beauty. God’s craving is enclothed in His Torah, and it is the Jewish people that fulfill its goal.
This principle of faith, that a tzaddik, i.e., God’s children, can overcome their father’s own decrees serves as a complement to Maimonides principle of faith regarding prophecy and the prophets.[20] According to the Maimonidean principle, faith in prophecy means that a human being can be led by God, identified with, and imbued by His will. The Torah’s inner dimension adds that the Jew (the sensitive son, who senses the inner will of the Father's essence) is meant to lead the Almighty, as it were, and this itself is the most inner will of God, the compassionate Father, and affords Him the greatest pleasure.
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[1]. Sometimes the final sefirah, kingdom (malchut) is added to this triad and the acronym for all four becomes Nehim (נֶצַח הוֹד יְסוֹד מַלְכוּת). As we will see, the final principle of faith of the Torah’s inner dimension also directly descends from beauty.
[2]. Introduction to Tikkunei Zohar (Patach Eliyahu).
[3]. Genesis 2:24.
[4]. In Kabbalah, the husband and wife pair of entities are known as Ze’er Anpin [the Small Countenance] and Nukva [the Feminine].
[5]. Sha'ar HaKavanot, First Discourse of Chanukah.
[6]. Exodus 25:8.
[7]. Zohar 1:21b.
[8]. Eiruvin 70b; Rashi on Ketubot 92b, s.v. “kenoshe.”
[9]. The Arizal’s explanation of the wording of the Amidah’s first blessing is that “He brings a redeemer to their children's children” refers to the intellectual sefirot—wisdom, understanding, and knowledge—who are the grandparents of victory, acknowledgment, and foundation.
[10]. 2 Samuel 23:3.
[11]. Mo'ed Katan 16b.
[12]. Daniel 10:8.
[13]. Bava Metzia 59b.
[14]. Isaiah 6:13; 61:9.
[15]. Genesis 17:1.
[16]. Ibid. 5:22.
[17]. Ibid. 6:9.
[18]. As explained in length in the article, “Emunah VeBitachon” in our volume Lev Lada’at.
[19]. Zohar 3:307a.
[20]. In fact, according to Kabbalah, the Biblical prophets prophecy through the two sefirot of victory and acknowledgment.
