The Leviathan is saying, "Give thanks to G-d for He is good, His kindness
endures forever." (Psalms 136:1)
Rabbi Chanina
the son of Dosa would say: One whose fear of sin takes precedence to his wisdom, his wisdom
endures. But one whose wisdom takes precedence to his fear of sin, his wisdom
does not endure.
He would also say: One whose deeds exceed his
wisdom, his wisdom endures. But one whose wisdom exceeds his deeds, his wisdom
does not endure.
He would also say: One who is pleasing to his
fellow men, is pleasing to G-d. But one who is not pleasing to his fellow men,
is not pleasing to G-d.
Gevurah shebeNetzach (discipline and judgment within the context of victory
and endurance)
We now arrive at the twenty-third week, when the
Leviathan in Perek Shirah gives
thanks to the Lord, for He is good and His mercy is eternal. This week marks
the seventh day of Adar, the birthday
as well as the yahrzeit of Moses, Moshe Rabbeinu. Moses is from the tribe
of Levi. It is also no coincidence that the first three Hebrew letters of the
name “Leviathan” spell the word “Levi,” one of the tribes of this month.
The Leviathan is clearly a reference to Moses himself.
In general, fish represent tzadikim,
and just as the Leviathan is the biggest of all fish, Moses is the greatest of
all tzadikim.[1]
(See Week Four, regarding the eagle, the biggest of all birds)
A hidden reference to Moses being like a fish can also be found in the name of
his main disciple, Yehoshua Bin Nun. Nun means fish in Aramaic. The Torah
teaches us that a student is considered like a son.[2]
The gematria of the letter Nun is fifty, and when Moses passed away
he reached the fiftieth level of holiness. This is implied in the name of the
place of his burial, Mount Nevoh, which can also be read as "Nun Boh" ("the Nun is in it").
The last letter of the Hebrew word for Leviathan (Leviatan) is Nun. If one exchanges the Lamed
(which equals 30) and the Yud
(which equals 10) for a Mem (40), the
word Leviatan is transformed into Mavet (death) Nun. As mentioned above, Moshe
Rabbeinu reached the fiftieth level of holiness upon his death, even though
we say that Moshe Rabbeinu never
truly died.
The song of the Leviathan is well known, and repeated
many times in Psalm 118. In Hebrew, it reads, “Hodu l’Hashem Ki Tov Ki l’Olam Chasdoh.” Ki Tov, which means “for [He] is good,” is exactly the Torah’s
description for what Yocheved saw in her newborn son, Moses. She saw Ki Tov, that he was good. That is why one of Moses’ names is also Tuviah, from the word Tov. Rashi
explains that at the time of Moses’ birth, his mother saw that the house became
filled with light.[3]
Our sages explain that this is also a reference to the light that will only be
revealed in the end of creation.
The number twenty-three has the gematria of ziv, which
means light, radiance. Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh explains that ziv, as opposed to or, refers to a light that shines far away from its source. The
Leviathan is an animal that is mysterious and unknown. Its existence will only
be fully revealed in the messianic era. Our current understanding of the
Leviathan is negligible, equivalent to the brightness of a light coming from
far away, like the ziv. We know
through Psalm 104:26 and Midrashim,
that G-d created the leviathan to "play" with it, but we certainly do
not know exactly what that means. We also know that the Leviathan will be the
food served to us in the final redemption, the end of creation.
Ziv is also a biblical name given to the month of Iyar. The Torah states that it was “in
the month Ziv” that Solomon began to
build the Temple.[4]
The construction of the Second Temple also began in the month of Iyar. Furthermore, we know that it is
during Iyar that we count the omer, and that the word Sefirat Ha’Omer comes from the word sapir, saphire. During Iyar we work on ourselves to become
radiant like saphire. We make ourselves into proper vessels so that G-d can
dwell within us.
As we enter the month of Adar and experience Moses’ birthday and passing, we also begin to
work on our inner Temple. The Torah reading for this week is usually related to
the construction of the Tabernacle, and
we continue to collect the half-shekel, which historically was given towards
the Temple’s upkeep.
In order to achieve balance in the world, Hashem had to allow the female to die.
Despite this tragedy, the Leviathan still sings about G-d's kindness. The
Leviathan knows perfectly well that all that Hashem does is for the good.
The Leviathan praises Hashem for His eternal kindness, and Moses also showed great
kindness to the Jewish people, leading them out of Egypt in order to receive
the Torah at Mount Sinai. Furthermore, as the largest of all fish and the one
that has the closest relationship with G-d, the Leviathan is not content with
praising Hashem by itself. It
commands that others to do their part to praise G-d as well.
The last ma’amar
reviewed and edited by the Rebbe,
Ve’Atah Tetzaveh, was delivered
during Adar, and it is about the
relationship between Moses and the rest of the Jewish people. Tetzaveh means “to command,” but also to
tie, unite – the same root as the word mitzvah.
Tetzaveh is the one weekly portion of
the Torah since the introduction of Moses, in which his name is not mentioned.
This is said to be a hidden reference to Moses’ passing, on the 7th
of Adar, since Tetzaveh is usually read around this time. The connection between Tetzaveh and Moses’ death is so strong
that when there are two Adars, Moses’
yahrzeit is commemorated on the first
Adar, because it will be then that Tetzaveh will be read. Usually, when
there are two Adars, the “main” date
is usually the one in the second Adar.
It is worth noting that the Rebbe’s stroke was on Adar I, on the 27th day of that month. Two years later,
on this exact day, 27th of Adar
I, 5754, the Rebbe suffered another stroke, which ultimately led to his passing
a few months later.
Less
than two months prior to the Rebbe’s stroke, he gave an enigmatic talk in which
he described how his late father-in-law, the Previous Rebbe, was not able to
speak clearly in the last years of his life. At that time, even though it was
now more than forty years after the Previous Rebbe’s passing, the Rebbe
exclaimed that we all had to do our part, and take upon ourselves as a personal
challenge to increase Torah study and Chassidic gatherings in order to
compensate for the Previous Rebbe’s difficulty in communication, and to do so
with happiness.[5]
How unbelievable was it then that two months later the Rebbe would find himself
in the same condition.
The Pirkei Avot
teaching for this week comes from Rabbi Chanina the son of Dosa, who says that
anyone whose fear of sin precedes his wisdom, his wisdom will endure, but all
those whose wisdom precedes their fear of sin, their wisdom will not endure.
This teaching is perfectly related to Moses, who showed fear of Hashem since his first interaction with
Him at the burning bush.
Moreover, Rabbi Chanina also teaches that whoever is
pleasing to mankind is pleasing to G-d, and whoever is not pleasing to mankind
is not pleasing to G-d. This lesson also applies to Moses, whose acts were
pleasing to the Jewish people and to Hashem.
Rabbi Chanina, similar to Moses himself, exemplifies a
tzadik who is the foundation of the
world. The Talmud teaches that every day a heavenly voice exclaims that, “the
entire world is sustained in merit of Chanina my son, yet for Chanina my son,
one measure of carobs is enough from Friday to Friday.”[6]
In this twenty-third week, the combination of sefirot results in gevurah shebenetzach: discipline and strength within determination
and victory. As explained earlier, Moses represents the sefirah of netzach, and
his death is connected with the attribute of gevurah. From the above teaching, we see that Rabbi Chanina himself
also is very much connected to the gevurah
shebenetzach.
The lesson in self-improvement we can extract from the
Leviathan is that everything that G-d does is for good, and therefore we should
fully trust in Him.
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