Parashat Vayikra
What Healing Secret Does the Ba’al Shem
Tov Learn from Parashat Vayikra?
Being Called to Emulate Moshe and Make Ourselves Small
We are entering the new book of Vayikra – “He called. Hashem” called Moshe into the Tent of Meeting to bestow upon him Divine prophecy. Since Moshe’s soul included all the Jewish souls, is this calling to Moshe also reverberating into our reality? Can we tap into Hashem’s call to us? Perhaps we are all called upon to emulate Moshe’s special character trait of humility, through which he merited prophecy. At this time when we read ourselves of chametz (leavened foods) we are parallelly working on subduing our puffed-up ego. This entails letting go of our rigid, personal perspective to be able to merge with the greater whole. Just as the seed dissolves before the new plant sprouts forth, with true humility and submission we allow ourselves to dissolve into the greater whole of it all. According to the Ba’al Shem Tov, this is the secret of healing, which we learn from the small א/alef in the very first verse of the Book of Vayikra:
The Secret of the Small א/Alef
The letter א/alef in the first word of the Book of וַיִּקְרָא /Vayikra – ‘He called’
is according to our מָסוֹרָהּ/masorah – ‘tradition’ small. Whereas big letters as in שְׁמַע/Shema indicate
greatness and elevation, the small alef teaches us smallness,
contraction, and submission. Moshe is known for being lowly in his own eyes.
Hashem chose him due to this humility. He honored Moshe by calling him alone to
the Tent of Meeting, to speak with Him. This is hinted in the small א/alef which almost
disappears so that the word can be read without it as וַיִּקָר/vayikar – ‘Honor’ (Megillat
Esther 8:16). Hashem granted Moshe this great honor because he considered
himself so small. By lowering himself, he achieved great heights (Maor
v’Shemesh, Parashat Vayikra). The Ba’al Shem Tov learned all his
knowledge of healing from the verse, “He called to Moshe….” (Ba’al Shem tov on Parashat
Vayikra). According to the Ba’al Shem tov, the small א/alef of וַיִּקְרָא/Vayikra indicates that
Moshe merited the secret of אָיִן/ayin – ‘nothingness,’ which is the 50th gate of בִּינָה/Binah –
‘Understanding.’ “Fifty gates of understanding were created in the world, and
all of them were given to Moshe, except for one” (Babylonian Talmud, Rosh
Hashana 21b). Why didn’t the Talmud simply write that Moshe was given 49
gates of understanding? This is because Moshe received the fiftieth gate of
understanding just before his death, as it states, “Moshe went up to the planes
of Moav to Mount Nevo” (Devarim 34:1). נְבוֹ/Nevo indicates: נ/nun is בּוֹ/bo – ‘in him.’ Whereas
Moshe merited the fiftieth gate of understanding when he received the Torah at
Sinai, this was only as surrounding lights. Only at his deathbed did Moshe
receive the fiftieth gate of understanding as inner lights within him. This is
the secret of אָיִן/ayin – ‘nothingness.’
Between אֲנִי/Ani –
‘I’ and אָיִן/Ayin – ‘Nothingness’
The two words אָיִן/ayin
and אֲנִי/ani – ‘I’ consist of the same letters, yet their meaning
is opposite. Whereas the word ani – ‘I’ is about expression, ayin
is about dissolving and inclusion in the root. The numerical value of the name
of Hashem spelled out with alef יוד -הא-ואו-הא has the
numerical value of אָדָם/Adam – ‘human’ (45), which refers to the vessel. Every vessel
needs light to achieve its perfection. When you add the four letters of
Hashem’s Name itself to Adam, you get 49, the numerical value as the word חוֹלֶה/choleh
– ‘sick.’ Adam still lacks the crown of the yud to achieve the
perfection of the fiftieth gate – the root of all. Thus, the root of sickness
is that we lack the fiftieth gate of ayin – ‘nothing.’ The secret of
health is not self-expression but rather self-effacement. It is not the ani –
‘I’ but rather the ayin – ‘nothingness.’ Sometimes people are committed
to serving Hashem, yet they lack submission and lowliness because people generally seek self-expression. When they aren’t able to express themselves, they
may get sick. The greatest healing and redemption are when we are able to
humble and surrender ourselves. By means of drawing upon ourselves the fiftieth
gate, we can be healed from any illness. This is the inclusion of the name יוד -הא-ואו-הא when including the four letters of the Name and the Name
itself, which together adds up to the fiftieth gate called אָיִן/ayin
– ‘nothing.’ When we elevate the judgments to the gate of ayin –
‘nothing,’ they become rectified. This is because the brokenness of judgments can
only exist in the forty-nine gates of this fragmented world. Yet, everything becomes
unified in the fiftieth gate of nothingness. There can be no breaking in this root
of existence, which is complete compassion.
Placing Submission Before Understanding
Each of the three letters that both the word Ani – ‘I’ and Ayin –
‘nothingness’ share has its own meaning. אלף/Alef
refers to אַלּוּפוֹ/alufo – ‘the Master of the world,’ יוּד /yud
– chachma meaning inner wisdom – submission, נוּן/nun
– binah – corresponding to the fifty gates of understanding. Had the
first man eaten first from the Tree of Life – the yud of wisdom, and
only afterwards from the Tree of Knowledge – the nun of understanding,
then the letters alef-yud-nun spelling out the word ayin –
‘nothingness’ would have been in their right order. Adam would then have achieved eternal life. However,
by first eating from the Tree of Knowledge, the first man created a different
order: alef-nun-yud spelling out the word ani – ‘I.’ By placing
the nun of understanding before the yud of submission, the first
man caused the upper abundance to flow down in an incorrect order, both on the physical
and spiritual level. This causes situations of illness and death, G-d forbid. The
reason why Hashem didn’t allow the first man to eat from the Tree of Life was
to ensure that the yetzer hara (negative impulse), causing illness and
death, G-d forbid, would not endure forever.
Unifying and Raising the Shechina to the Level of
Ayin – Nothingness
How do we treat
sickness resulting from the toxic Tree of Knowledge? Illness can be healed when
we set an intention to draw the gate of nun upon us. This is including
the name of Hashem – יוד -הא-ואו-הא, which
has the numerical value of forty-nine inside of the general name itself, making it add
up to fifty – the fiftieth gate of understanding that lifts us from individual
existence into the unified realm of nothingness. In other words, illness is
healed by means of submission and humility before Hashem, thus becoming included
in the root of all. The Ba’al Shem Tov further explains the Talmudic dictum,
“whoever prays on behalf of his friend is answered first” (Baba Kama
32a). What is the reason that the person praying is specifically answered
first? This is because the person praying for his friend needs to raise the
judgments to their root. In order to do this, the person praying must be in
that place first. Only afterward can he draw the sick person there as well.
This explains why the one praying is answered first. Rabbi Menachem Nachum of
Chernobyl testified that the Ba’al Shem Tov during his healing was able to
elevate his soul to the highest concealed place by means of unifications. He
would unify and raise the Shechina to the level of ayin – nothingness (Maor
Einayim, Parashat Naso). Based on Rav Daniel
Stavsky, Parashat Vayikra, Year 7582.
This is a very esoteric teaching, to be absorbed at a special time &when you are in the right frame of mind. I hope all your readers are!
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