Numbers 8:1-12:16

Portion Summary

The portion, BeHa’alotcha (When You Raise the Candles), takes place a year after the reception of the Torah. The people of Israel are getting ready to journey, and hold a special ceremony for the inauguration of the altar. The portion details the laws concerning making the offering of the Second Passover for those who could not take part in the first Passover.

The portion speaks of the tabernacle, over which there was constantly a cloud. It is an indication to the children of Israel as to when they must rise and journey, and when they must settle down. The portion also tells of the two silver trumpets that were used to assemble the people at times of war, when making offerings, on Sabbaths, festivals, and special occasions.

Toward the end of the portion, several events take place that point to the heightening of the ego. The wicked in the nation complain about Moses and the Creator, and a consuming fire is sent to the wicked at the camp’s edge. The rabble, a group of proselytes that joined the children of Israel during their exit from Egypt, complains about their condition, and in return, the Creator showers quails on the camp. Anyone who jumps on the quails is put to death. This is why the place is called “the graves of craving.”

The end of the portion talks about Miriam—Moses’ and Aaron’s sister—slandering Moses. She says to Aaron, “The Creator appeared to me, as well as to you, so why is Moses the leader? Why are we listening only to him?” She is punished for it with leprosy. Moses asks the Creator to forgive her and He commands her to isolation for seven days. The nation, which was to travel, waits for seven days until she returns.

Commentary

All the events are spiritual states within us. We need to correct ourselves and achieve equivalence of form with the Creator, as it is written, “Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God” (Hosea 14:2). The text speaks only about correction. It is not about having to cross the desert and reach the Jordan River, cross it, and reach the land of Israel. Rather, it is about ascending, as in BeHaalotcha (When You Raise).

“Ascending” refers to building the soul. Each of us builds our own soul, and does it gradually. The soul is called “a portion of God from above” (Job 31:2). One begins the spiritual work, wanting to build oneself and achieve bestowal and love of others, connection with everyone, because this is how we become similar to the Creator, as it is written, “From the love of man to the love of God,”¹ from loving people to loving the Creator.

We achieve the love in stages, although we hate it because we are its complete opposite. These are the stages described in all the portions. At first, the Torah speaks only about when we receive the spark called the “point in the heart.” With that spark we begin to correct ourselves. The Torah describes this process until the end of correction, through what is called “before the eyes of all Israel” (Deuteronomy 34:12), through the end of the Torah (Pentateuch).

Therefore, when we begin to work and correct ourselves, we immediately find all kinds of problems within us. It is written in the portion that a year after all the preparations, when the children of Israel begin to move, problems began to arise in the camp. People began to find these problems after all the preparations had been made, when it seemed they were ready for the spiritual ascent. They began to encounter many obstructions such as thoughts and desires that went against spiritual ascents.

The obstructions that appeared were actually revelations of the desires and the thoughts, the mind and the heart that needed correction. It is precisely by correcting them that we ascend. Hence, we need not see these as obstructions, but as a means for ascent, a springboard. We can see in ourselves and in groups in Israel and elsewhere that problems begin the moment everything is organized and everyone is ready and eager to begin to correct the connections. This is when trouble starts, but it is the right way, the only way to ascend.

The problems that appear reveal different desires and layers of desire in us. Our general desire is divided into many layers, so it is no surprise that “people” suddenly appear, meaning those desires within us. The whole of Israel is called “Adam.” He includes everything, even the nations of the world within us. However, “Israel” are the desires with which we can advance for the time being, while the nations of the world are kept “frozen” so as to not deal with them.

When we want to go only with desires with which we can rise to spirituality, we discover that even with these, it is not easy. There are desires that have not sanctified themselves, which is the purpose of the Second Passover. All those who did not accomplish this during the exodus from Egypt can now have them corrected, so now we sanctify them. “Sanctifying” means that we bring the desires to the quality of bestowal, Kodesh (holiness, from the same root as the word, Kedusha), bestowal, or love of others.

We should learn how to sort the desires that are ready to be corrected in us from those that are not ready. The same goes for thoughts, working in the tent of meeting, and in the tabernacle. These are works of scrutiny and correction.

The work of the sacrifices, or the Mitzvot (commandments) connected to the offerings, is the most important because it entails instructions on how to separate each desire from the rest of them, how to process and understand them, know what they are, and how possible or impossible it is to advance with each desire.

Our only way to advance is by turning our egoistic desires into desires of bestowal and love. There are always problems in this process, such as leprosy or plagues, as described about Miriam or those who wanted to eat meat. It happens because our desire is divided into still, vegetative, animate, and speaking. “Speaking” refers to different kinds of people that the Torah mentions: priest, Levite, and Israel. Yet, we find that there are also strangers, proselytes, mixed multitudes, and others that seemingly do not belong to Israel, yet joined it.

The sorting and the scrutiny are not done immediately upon the exodus from Egypt, but later, when it turns out there is more to correct. We need to separate the sanctified part from the rest of our desires, which we temporarily “put on hold.” Some of these desires can be corrected, and through them it is possible to be sanctified and advance. It is possible to bestow with them, to ascend on the ladder. But with some desires it is impossible to do so.

The parts that can already be in bestowal and receive in order to bestow have already awakened. The light shines in them, as it is written, “When you raise the candles” (Numbers 8:2). There are clear signs in the scrutinies, which indicate when to take certain actions. If we are under a cloud, sitting, it is preparation. If the cloud wakes up, the heaviness and scrutinies awaken in us and we can start moving. The entire Torah is about how to correct the will to receive, which parts of it, and how we can scrutinize them.

Questions and Answers

What is the Second Passover? Do desires we have not brought out suddenly make a higher discernment and discover that they, too, deserve to come out?

It is not a higher discernment, but a more accurate, finer one. We discover that desires with which we thought we could leave Egypt and continue toward the reception of the Torah and the land of Israel do not really support bestowal. Eretz (land) means Ratzon (desire), and Ysrael (Israel) means Yashar El (straight to God). After taking a few steps forward, we discover some “uncleanness” within us that we previously overlooked. Only now that we have advanced can we discern desires with which we cannot advance, so we sort and correct them.

We sort and correct our desires in stages. It is possible to ruin the desires, kill them, separate them, or somehow mend them, as with the work of the offerings. We divide our desires into still, vegetative, animate, and speaking, and we sort the desires at the level of speaking into priest, Levite, and Israel. We should also remember the mixed multitude, the proselytes, and the nations of the world—the various gentiles that awaken within us.

There are primary desires on the animate level because the soul consists of Shoresh (root), Neshama (soul), Guf (body), Levush (clothing), and Heichal (house/hall), or Moach (marrow), Atzamot (bones), Gidin (tendons), Bassar (flesh), and Or (skin), depending on how we divide them. When referring to Moach, Atzamot, Gidin, Bassar, and Or, we cannot correct the Or. The correction of the Or is making parchment out of it, on which the Torah is written. The Or is divided into two—the outside, and the Duchsustus (inner part). This is how it achieves correction.

Before that, we correct a Kli (vessel) of Bassar on the animate degree. This is our main work at the altar. While there are salt, water, and other elements at the altar, the main one is the flesh. This is the Kli by which we correct our will to receive, which is the most important. The flesh is red; its structure is the great will to receive; hence, the work of the offerings, as the Torah describes, is primarily in the Kli (vessel) of Bassar (flesh).

Before that, we do not know or think that there is a need to perform these corrections. We understand it only as we advance at each stage, park at the stops, prepare all the camps, each with its own banner, and each in its place in the division. If we take the entire population of Israel divided into camps, tribes, according to location and form, we either advance or stand still. Instead of finding the tent of meeting, all the desires stand around the tent. The Levites, the priests, and the whole camp only describe the structure of the soul.

Bigger problems surface each time in the camp—whether it is external thoughts and desires that want to join the ranks, tribes along the way that attack them, or people in the desert who have not corrected themselves from their desires into a desire that is entirely Yashar El, which is the land that is full of milk and honey. That is, there are light of Hassadim and light of Hochma, while in the desert everything is dry; there is no water, no light of Hassadim; hence everything is only scrutinies.

There are many “physical” descriptions, such as the cloud going in front of the camp, and when the children of Israel rest, it rests, too.

This is concealment: we only see our measure of concealment from the revelation of the Creator. If the cloud, meaning concealment, departs from us, we advance. If the concealment descends on us, we lower our heads, sit, and scrutinize. Indeed, most of the forty years in the desert were spent sitting and scrutinizing, only to move a little forward and stop again for scrutiny.

Why is it written that the cloud is going before the camp?

We follow the concealment because we want to accept it, since according to the concealment we discover the process by which we are going.

What is the concealment in relation to us?

“Concealment” is when we receive it from the will to receive, when we want to be in it, as it is written, “wisdom is with the humble” (Proverbs 11:2), or Safra de Tzniuta (Book of Humbleness, part of The Zohar), meaning disclosures. Safra means book (in Aramaic), and a book is disclosure, a Megillah (scroll), from the word Gilui (disclosure). When we hide ourselves, agreeing to receive concealment from the Creator, this is when we advance.

True, it contradicts common sense, since what does it mean to “walk in bestowal?” This is when we do not want any disclosure and are seemingly rejecting it. We advance with Ohr Hozer (Reflected Light) because we are in the forty years in the desert.

What does it give us?

This is how Malchut rises to Bina. We acquire Bina’s qualities of bestowal in our Kli of Malchut. With the qualities of bestowal, we walk with our eyes shut because we are following the concealment, the cloud, until we reach the entrance to the land of Israel. Upon entering the land of Israel, the light of Hochma begins to appear through the light of Bina, which is acquired during the forty years in the desert. This is when we begin to see.

The land of Israel is a land where the Creator is present, a desire filled by the Creator, when we have already discovered Him. But before that, when Malchut only rises to Bina, we acquire the concealment and consent to work only in bestowal without anything in return.

From where does the strength to walk in such concealment come?

The strength is given from above. It is the strength of the light received when receiving the quality of bestowal. The whole problem is that spirituality is not like corporeality, where everything is in our hands, in our vessels of reception, and this is how we advance. It is not hard to advance this way, since we remain in the ego.

In spirituality, we do not advance egoistically. Rather, we have to receive additional strength from above, an additional desire called “a new land,” “a new heaven.” Everything is new. “Through the desert” means that we cannot find any answers in our will to receive, and cannot find any fulfillment in it.

So what motivates us? Why do we advance?

The motivation comes from beginning to feel that we are following the upper force. It is good to feel it, but only if we are willing to follow the cloud, the concealment, with our eyes shut.

What does it mean to walk “with our eyes shut”?

“Walking with our eyes shut” means that we do not receive any justification to advance in bestowal, neither in our minds nor in our hearts. Our hands, namely our corporeal, egoistic Kelim (vessels), are where we feel in the heart and understand in the mind. Here we do not feel or understand anything. All we want is the chance to go above these worldly Kelim and rise to another, higher dimension. We exist there in completely different Kelim from the ones we understand and feel.

How do we know that we are even making any progress there?

The cloud, the concealment, is showing us the way, but only to the extent that we are willing to make constant sacrifices. That is, we sacrifice parts of the flesh of the various desires. If we sacrifice and do not want to engage in them, and are also willing to leave them with no rhyme or reason, we will draw closer. Korban (sacrifice/offering) comes from the word, Karov (near/close). In this way, we draw closer to the quality of the Creator, to pure bestowal, Bina.

What is the meaning of what happens to Miriam the prophetess? She makes a just complaint regarding Moses’ leadership. If a person wants to lead, then why only Moses?

Moses’ quality of Bina is perfect, complete, GAR of Bina. It is not so with any other desire.

How does the Creator speak to Moses, and how did Moses speak to Him?

This is the revelation. In spirituality, we have no sight, hearing, taste, smell, or touch. Rather, we are invited to “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalms 34:9). We do not taste in the mouth, but in the new Kelim that appear.

Does a person taste beyond the five physical senses?

There are Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut, Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey. Hochma is vision, Bina is hearing. Some prophets said, “I saw,” and some said, “I heard.” The Creator spoke to Moses, at the degree of Bina, GAR of Bina, pure, faithful Bina. He was faithful, meaning at the degree of faith. He heard, meaning he was primarily at the degree of hearing, which is the degree of Bina. This is how the Creator appeared to him.

Did Miriam not know this? What is the punishment she got? We know that there are no punishments, so how come after the leprosy she understood?

All punishments are corrections. When Miriam is made ill and sits for seven days outside the camp, the whole camp waits for her return, and only then do they advance in the desert. “As they walked” speaks of corrections. The Nukva (female) is a deficiency that stands opposite Moses. She does not speak at the degree of GAR of Bina, as does Moses, but from the degree of VAK of Bina. That is, the whole degree is connected to that hearing. The Creator speaks to everyone, but Moses also knows because he is in the part of Bina where the light of Hochma (wisdom) dresses, in GAR of Bina.

Are Aaron and Miriam not in GAR of Bina?

No; this is why Moses is considered the Creator’s house trustee, as it is written, “He is faithful in all My house” (Numbers 12:7).

Miriam is a woman, and almost everywhere in the Torah it is men who lead.

Not quite. Women exist in every stage and every action, but they are not mentioned. For example, Abraham begot Isaac, but he also had daughters.

Where it writes Et (the) in the Torah, does that refer to a female?

Yes, of course. The woman is the primary part of the Torah; she carries the deficiency that the man corrects. The reason we talk more about men than women is that the male part is the Masach (screen) that brings Ohr Hozer (Reflected Light) that discloses the Zivug de Hakaa (coupling) on the deficiency of the woman. In this portion, it is quite clear that without Prophetess Miriam, we could not draw near. In other words, she is at the degree of Bina, the degree of revealing the Creator.