Erev Shabbos Kodesh Parshas Acharei Mos Pesach 5768

D’ei Chochmah
L’nafshechah
“Let your soul know wisdom”

Parshas Acharei Mos-Pesach

From the discourses of Moreinu v’Rabeinu

the Gaon and Tzaddik Shlit”a

- not for general circulation -

Published by the Yam Hachochmah Institute

Under the auspices of “Yeshivas Toras Chochom”
for the study of the
revealed and hidden Torah
D’ei Chochmah L’Nafshechah Parshas Acharei Mos—Pesach

,‫ ְיהוָה‬-‫ ְבּ ָק ְר ָב ָתם ִל ְפנֵי‬--‫אַהרֹן‬

ֲ ‫ ְשׁנֵי ְבּנֵי‬,‫אַח ֵרי מוֹת‬
ֲ ,‫ֹשׁה‬
ֶ ‫מ‬-‫ ֶאל‬,‫"וַיְ ַד ֵבּר יְ הוָה‬
-‫ ֵעת ֶאל‬-‫ ָיבֹא ְב ָכל‬-‫ וְאַל‬,‫יך‬
ָ ‫אָח‬
ִ ‫אַהרֹן‬
ֲ -‫ ַדּ ֵבּר ֶאל‬, ‫ֹשׁה‬ ֶ ‫ ַויּ‬.‫ָמתוּ‬
ֶ ‫מ‬-‫ֹאמר יְ הוָה ֶאל‬ ֻ ‫ַויּ‬
,‫ ִכּי ֶבּ ָענָן‬,‫ ְולֹא יָמוּת‬,‫ ָהאָרֹן‬-‫ ְפּנֵי ַה ַכּפּ ֶֹרת ֲא ֶשׁר ַעל‬-‫ ֶאל‬--‫ ִמ ֵבּית ַל ָפּר ֶֹכת‬, ‫ַהקּ ֶֹדשׁ‬
('‫ב‬-'‫א‬:‫" )ויקרא ט"ז‬.‫ ַה ַכּפּ ֶֹרת‬-‫ֵא ָר ֶאה ַעל‬

The Inner Sanctum

“And Hashem spoke to Moshe right after the death of the two sons of
Aharon, when they brought an offering before Hashem and died. And
Hashem said to Moshe, tell Aharon your brother not to enter at all times
into the sanctuary, beyond the paroches that conceals the aron, that he
should not die. For I appear in the cloud that covers the kapores.” Rashi
explained, “For I appear in the cloud—for I always appear there with My pillar
of cloud. And since the revelation of My Shechinah is there, he should take care
not to get accustomed to being there. That is the literal explanation. The Medrash
adds: He should not enter except in the cloud of incense on Yom HaKippurim.”
The main means toward attaining forgiveness for one’s sins is through
acquiring da’as d’kedushah, holy awareness. Although everyone learns Torah
and is occupied with avodas Hashem, there is an aspect of da’as d’kedushah
through which one can enter into the inner sanctum at any time. As the Rebbe of
Kozhnitz taught in his work on the Tikkunim, whenever the tzaddikim learn
gemara, when they contemplate the words of the Tosafos, they make numerous
supernal unifications. When they learn the Torah, they aren’t just learning it as

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D’ei Chochmah L’Nafshechah Parshas Acharei Mos—Pesach

some sort of mental exercise, G-d forbid. They transform every bit of learning
into a pathway to cleave to the Creator and unify His Name. All of their study is
for the purpose of fulfilling what they learn, because the main meaning of
learning lishmah is to study in order to fulfill the Torah. This fulfillment doesn’t
only mean bringing the words into the realm of action, for there are many areas
of study that have almost no practical relevance, as is well known. Rather, it
means using the study to come closer and cleave to Hashem, to enter the inner
sanctum, the kodesh kodashim.
No one should say that such a perspective on learning is completely
beyond him. The truth is that since the light of the holy works that were authored
by the true tzaddikim has already come to shine into the world, works that
explain the deepest mysteries of the Torah, every person has some way to access
the inner world of the Torah. Every person now has the ability to ascend and
enter into this exalted type of avodah and has no excuse to avoid it. For Hashem
gave the Torah in order that we study it and teach it, that we guard it and fulfill
it. He placed the task upon us to come to fulfill it; to enter into the inner sanctum
by virtue of the Torah that we study.
The Upper and Lower Unifications
Although the main light of forgiveness from sin can only be drawn down
from the upper unification [the yichudah ila’ah that is associated with the first
statement of the Shema], it cannot come down without an earlier yichudah
tata’ah, a lower unification. This lower unification is the actual study of the
Torah, studying in order to fulfill it, in order to enter the inner sanctum of
connection with Hashem through the study itself. This combination of the two

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D’ei Chochmah L’Nafshechah Parshas Acharei Mos—Pesach

yichudim is called the “mystery of the father and son together.”1 The upper
unification is the aspect of the father, and its light is revealed through the aspect
associated with the concept of son, the lower unification. In truth, it is only
intense avodos like those that were performed in the Beis HaMikdash that have
the power to really draw down the light of the upper yichud. This light is so
great, it is the light of the redemption, the light of Moshiach, the light of
atonement. But it cannot descend unless it is preceded by the lower yichud—by
studying the holy Torah.
The Flaw of Shaul HaMelech
The Creator constricted Himself, so to speak, during the act of creation
with five different types of constrictions. [Note: These five tzimtzumim parallel
the five types of grain that cannot be allowed to ferment on Pesach. Although we
eat matzos made of these species, when the negativity in them is expressed as
chometz, they are forbidden.] These consecutive constrictions of Hashem’s
endless light are the worlds of Adam Kadmon, Atzilus, Beriyah, Yetzirah, and
Asiyah. Any time that person feels some kind of constriction or obscuring of
Hashem’s light in his soul, when he feels within an overpowering inclination to
follow a negative attribute or desire, it isn’t because Hashem is trying to push
him away. Rather, all such feelings come over a person because he doesn’t allow
them to move him so that he will intensify his avodas Hashem. If he would, the
feelings would be transformed into the five essential vessels, the five true vessels
that can draw down the light of the upper yichud, the joining together of the
aspects of father and son.

1
Tikkunei Zohar 90a

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D’ei Chochmah L’Nafshechah Parshas Acharei Mos—Pesach

The Arizal taught that Shaul HaMelech sinned in two different ways: ‫נו"ב‬
‫ ;ואו"ב‬nun and beis, and alef and beis.2 [Note: This is an allusion to Shaul’s two
main sins: the murder of the kohanim of Nov / ‫ נוב‬who sheltered Dovid
HaMelech, and the occult consultation with the baalas ov / ‫ ]אוב‬These spell out
the words AV and BeN. That was why he and his son were killed in battle. Shaul
HaMelech did not fully grasp the inner meaning of the joining of the aspects of
AV and BeN. He did not know how to take hold of himself at times of trouble
and embitterment to get out of that state. The root of his soul was the aspect of
Chochmah d’kedushah, which is associated with pleasure and rest.3
All of the different types of emotional and spiritual suffering that a
person can experience derive from the five constrictions, and they parallel the
five inuyim, the five personal afflictions of Yom HaKippurim. But the light of
Yom HaKippurim is really the light of Purim—the purpose of the suffering is
not to torture the person, it is to come to the light of joy in Hashem’s closeness.4
Anyone who merits to enter the inner sanctum on Yom HaKippurim can feel the
great light of Purim, of the eating and drinking and the great pleasure that we
will ultimately feel on Purim. He transforms the inuy into oneg, into delight.
[Note: The word ‫ ענוי‬and the word ‫ ענג‬are equivalents; when the yud is reversed
and joined to the vav at the bottom, they form a gimmel.]
Purim is also a day of forgiveness and atonement, as the verse says: “My
cup (‫ )כוסי‬runs over.” The letters of the word kosi, my cup, are an acronym of
the phrase: "‫“—"ויאמר ה' סלחתי כדבריך‬And Hashem said, I forgive you in

2
Sefer HaLikutim, Parshas Kedoshim
3
Eitz Chaim, Shaar 8:4
4
Tikkunei Zohar 57b

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D’ei Chochmah L’Nafshechah Parshas Acharei Mos—Pesach

accordance with your words.”5 The cup that runs over is the drinking cup of the
tzaddikim who get drunk in the way of holiness on Purim. They embody the
spirit of the ultimate future, and so on Yom HaKippurim they feel the great light
that will shine out in the future. But to come to this, one must first grasp the
avodah of “the father and son as one,” to unite the upper and lower yichudim.
This was the mistake of Shaul HaMelech; when he felt embittered and in pain he
failed to realize that this was the time to unite the “father and son,” to know that
it is through the five afflictions and constructions that one comes to enter into the
inner sanctum and draw down the light of the upper yichud, the light of
forgiveness. Then the five afflictions of Yom HaKippurim are transformed into
the delight of the eating and drinking of Purim.
The Ramak taught that this flaw of Shaul’s eventually was reincarnated
when Achiyah HaShiloni agreed with the decision of Yeravam ben Nevat.6
Yeravam ben Nevat was an aspect of Moshiach ben Yosef, an aspect of Shaul
HaMelech.7 The main impetus behind Yeravam’s sinning and entrapment of
others was the fact that Achiyah HaShiloni commanded the Jewish people to
obey him. For this reason, Achiyah reincarnated into the body of Rabbi Shimon
bar Yochai who revealed the Zohar to the world—it is the work that rectifies all
of these flaws. Chazal recounted: “Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said, ‘I have seen
people of great spiritual aspirations and they are few. If there are a thousand of
them, then I and my son are among them; if there are one hundred, I and my son

5
Bamidbar 14:20
6
Sanhedrin 102a
7
Sefer HaLikutim, Melachim 1:11; Ibid., beginning of Parshas Pinchas

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are among them; if there are two, I and my son are them.”8 The Gemara there
concludes with an anecdote about Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his son. They
were walking through a forest—they had ascended to Gan Eden—for the Rashbi
and his son Elazar revealed the light of “the father and son as one,” the joining of
the upper and lower yichudim.
This is why it is so important for a person who is suffering emotionally or
spiritually to immediately contemplate Hashem, to unify all of his pains and
realize that they are all an aspect of the five tzimtzumim and afflictions of Yom
HaKippurim. Then he can enter into the inner sanctum and transform all of the
pain into the pleasure of the feasting and drinking of Purim. The main principle
is that physical, emotional, or spiritual pain must not be allowed to divert a
person from serving Hashem. Rather, they must be capitalized upon to develop
vessels with which to serve Hashem with ever-increasing strength.
The Coat of Many Colors
This is why Yosef’s brothers brought his blood-soaked coat of many
colors, his ketones passim, to their father to prove that he had been devoured by
wild beasts. It was their way of signifying that Yosef HaTzaddik did not have the
“clean garments,” the necessary rectified vessels to be a tzaddik. Yosef sought to
reveal the great light that will ultimately shine, and that was why he needed to
have pure garments and vessels. These garments and vessels are the perfected
observance of the mitzvos with an awareness of their deepest meaning, because
that is what presents an immovable protective barrier against all temptation. That
is why Yosef’s brothers pretended that a wild beast had devoured him—they

8
Sukkah 45b

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D’ei Chochmah L’Nafshechah Parshas Acharei Mos—Pesach

meant to express that he had not held fast against temptation. On the contrary;
his steadfastness against temptation was what made him worthy of receiving
especially beautiful garments. This is why Chazal taught that the word passim
(‫ )פסים‬is an acronym of the roster of Yosef’s challenges: Potiphar, Socharim
(merchants), Yishmaelim, and Midyanim.9 This was also the case with Rabbi
Shimon—he underwent all of the suffering of living as a fugitive in his cave and
he was tested by heaven through much darkness, but each time he rose again and
made use of his experience to enter into even more lofty worlds and the highest
levels of dveikus. He grasped the mystery of the “father and son as one” so that
each of the expressions of the five constrictions that came to afflict him only
brought him to a deeper connection with Hashem. This was the very opposite of
Shaul HaMelech, whose suffering interrupted his dveikus.
Rashbi revealed the rectification for this is the “kesones bad,” the linen
cloak of the kohein. The word bad (‫ בד‬/ linen) when manipulated through the
gematria system of A”T Ba”Sh (where a letter is exchanged for its mirror-image
in its placement in the alef beis) is sak (‫ שק‬/ sackcloth), which has a numerical
value of 400.10 This alludes to the “400 worlds of longing,” for the Jewish soul
has the power to transcend every form of temptation and impurity and reconnect
to Hashem. It has the strength to transform every bit of suffering into a gateway
to ascend Hashem’s mountain and enter into the inner sanctum. All of the true
tzaddikim went through, in some way or another, all kinds of suffering and pain.
That is why Moshiach is described as a leper, a metzora, who will have to

9
Bereishis Rabbah 4
10
Shaar Ruach HaKodesh 7a

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experience all of the suffering and all of the darkness of his entire generation.11
But the tzaddikim take all of that pain and transform it into a beautiful vessel to
attain greater dveikus. [Note: This is also seen in the relationship between the
growing of the hair (‫ )שער‬during sefiras ha’omer, which is a sign of mourning,
and the spiritual growth that develops level after level until Shavuos. Every
sei’ar is a sha’ar, every hair of mourning is potentially a gateway.]
The Level of Aharon HaKohein
One can only come to all these level if his mind is connected to true
da’as d’kedushah, true holy awareness. Then he can come and go as he pleases
like Aharon HaKohein, who could enter the sanctuary whenever he desired.12
This means doing the avodah of Yom HaKippurim all year long. The holy
Chozeh MiLublin would eat his kugel on Shabbos with the intention that it
should nourish him so that he will be able to fast on the coming Yom
HaKipurrim. The tzaddikim arouse the spirit of the service of that day the whole
year long so that on the holy day itself they are able to truly enter the kodesh
hakodashim. Then, the outer aspects of the five afflictions and constrictions are
left outside the realm of their real avodah. That is why it is so important to
become accustomed to turn every bit of pain and suffering into a new
opportunity and vessel for dveikus. Then, the “father and the son are as one.”
This was Rabbi Shimon’s entire purpose in revealing the Zohar HaKadosh; to
provide all of the necessary encouragement so that everyone will be able to
withstand all of the evil winds, all of the insane spirit of the time at work in the

11
Sanhedrin 98a
12
Vayikra Rabbah 21:7

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world. It can all be made into an upper yichud through the vehicle of the lower
yichud.
The Covering of the Blood
The Torah commanded that although fowl and game require the covering
up of their blood when they are slaughtered, cattle do not. The Arizal taught, and
the Komarna Rebbe explained at length, that each human being is a composite of
every creature that exists. The person’s head parallels the fish who represent the
tzaddikim who are called “fish of the sea.” The wild game animals parallel the
hands, and the birds parallel the aspect of Yesod (reproductive organs).13 Cattle
are related to the legs, and Dovid HaMelech referred to this when he said:
“Hashem, save the man and beast (beheimah, literally cattle).”14 Throughout his
upper half, a person is considered truly a human being, but throughout his lower
half he is more aligned with the beasts. This is why a person must take more care
to cover the areas of his body from the place of Yesod and upward, just as he
must cover the blood of the wild game and the fowl. This is unlike the blood of
cattle that parallel the legs—neither requires the same degree of coverage.
In terms of avodah, the blood of cattle can be uncovered because it is
connected with the lower part of the human being, with all of his animal-like
tendencies where the degree to which he is still imperfect is exposed. This is the
“uncovering of the blood,” because blood / dam / ‫ דם‬has the same numerical
value of the Divine Name EHYeH written b’achorayim, in successive layers that
unfold. Meaning, it is written alef, alef hei, alef hei yud, alef hei yud hei = 44.

13
Sefer HaLikutim, Acharei Mos 17
14
Tehillim 36:7

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This Name expresses the power of repentance when it is still mostly external,
when it is still in the aspect of BeN, the “son.” [Note: It was with this Name that
Hashem revealed himself to the Jewish people in Mitzrayim, and it was through
the bloods of Pesach and milah that we “lived” to be redeemed even though we
were still spiritually immature.] The lights of BeN are revealed in the sense that
they come through a more external process of teshuvah. This is not the case
regarding the lights of AV that are from a higher place, just as the body parts that
they parallel are higher on the body’s plane. Those lights are more “covered,”
they are not immediately accessible because they only come through the more
advanced avodah of yichudim. So the main means through which a person is
made whole is by uniting all of the parts of himself; “Hashem, save man and
beast,” so that all of the suffering, all of the blood, can be used as a vessel to
ascend to the place where the blood is covered. There, it seems as though there is
no blood at all, as if there is no avodah to do, as if the connection is effortless.
This is “the father and the son as one.”
This is what Chazal meant when they said that Aharon HaKohein could
enter the sanctuary at any time. For during every moment that a person is
occupied with the holy Torah, he has the potential to unify Hashem’s Name with
love and enter the innermost sanctuary, to withstand all of the five afflictions and
all of the spiritual darkness that can come upon him. Not only does he withstand
them, he transforms them into vessels of increasing dveikus. That is why one
should never allow any katnus ha’mochin, any small-mindedness or temporary
setback, to disturb his connection with Hashem. He should never fall to sins that
echo those of Shaul HaMelech—the murder of the kohanim of Nov and the

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forbidden consultation with the witch. How could the average person’s sins echo
such contemptible acts? It is human nature that as soon as a person falls into a
state of small-mindedness, he is likely to offend or cause harm to others and
connect with people who are false. So it is important to go in the opposite
direction. “With this will Aharon enter the sanctuary…” One must always feel
the desire to enter the innermost sanctum and connect the upper and lower
unifications. One must always strive to fulfill his main purpose in life; to draw
the light of the upper yichud down to the world and transform all of the five
afflictions into new revelations of G-dliness and new channels to achieve
dveikus. And to ultimately merit a universal revelation of Hashem’s presence
with the coming of Moshiach.
The Tzimtzumim of the Mind
The Mezritcher Maggid explained that the holy aspect of tzimtzum is
experienced when a person is flooded by thoughts and overcomes them by
focusing on a single thought. So too, it is impossible for a person to receive a
flow of Hashem’s endless light without contracting his mind to accept it in a
measured way. This is another manifestation of the concept of the “father and
son as one”—the father is the grasp of the light of the Ein Sof, while the son is
the act of focusing down and limiting the mind in order to accept it.
On every level, there is an aspect of “father and son,” because the
constriction of the mind must precede the ascent to the next level of
understanding which is Ein Sof relative to the level below it. This was the root of
Shaul’s sin; he was always at the higher level of AV. But it is impossible to stay
there; one must prepare for the next ascent by first experiencing the challenges of

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the lower yichud. If there is no “son” then ultimately there is no “father” either.
This was how Shaul fell into such terrible sins.
All of these concepts can be seen in the incident of Yehudah and Tamar.
We find that the Torah says of Yehudah, “And Yehudah went down from his
brothers…”15 The language of the verse makes it seem as though Yehudah fell
(which of course cannot be understood literally, since it was this union that
produced Peretz and Zerach, and Moshiach). The name Tamar alludes to
bitterness (merirus), and its gematria is equal to two times 320—an allusion to a
preponderance of dinnim. [There is a concept of the “Shach / ‫ שך‬dinnim,” the
320 “judgments.”] In terms of avodah this means that when a tzaddik feels
embittered, when he feels as though the dinnim are overwhelming him, it is as
though, “…she covered her face.” He feels as though Hashem’s face has been
hidden, but he must remember that Tamar stands “at the crossroads” (literally,
“at the opening of the eyes”). He must strive to recall that all of his bitterness is
only to have his eyes illuminated with a much greater light, the light of the upper
yichud. “And he considered her a harlot…” A person generally thinks that his
troubles necessarily drive him from a relationship with Hashem, but there is a
truth he has yet to recognize. “For he did not know that she was his daughter-in-
law,” he did not recognize that his pain was meant to bring him to a higher
yichud.
This is the meaning of the phrase: "‫—"דעה חכמה לנפשך והיא כתר לראשך‬
“Let your soul know (d’ei) wisdom (Chochmah), and it will be a crown (Kesser)

15
Bereishis 38:1

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for your head.”16 When you learn Torah for the purpose of fulfilling it, to join
together the aspects of the “father and son,” it will be a crown for your head.
May Hashem help us to learn His Torah in order to fulfill it, to unify His Name
with every single bit of learning, as the Baal Shem Tov and the Ramchal taught,
so that we will merit to withstand all of the temptations and never be moved by
any of our troubles or feelings of distance from Hashem. Rather, we will do the
service of Aharon HaKohein, to enter the sanctuary at all times and merit to
grasp Hashem’s endless light that is hidden within the Torah. Then we will merit
to see, “…eye to eye Hashem’s return to Tzion,” speedily and in our days, amen.

Translated and Adapted by Rav Micha Golshevsky.

16
From the Shabbos zemer “D’ror Yikrah,” based on Mishlei 24:14.

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