Probably as a result of renewed interest in the work of Martin Buber, the impression has spread that Hasidism is the only modern expression of Jewish mysticism. That this is not so is proved by the many works of mystical exegesis issued by the Mitnagdim, the rabbinic critics of Hasidism. They, following the lead of the great Gaon of Vilna, saw Hasidism as a threat because of its tendency to shift the emphasis from Talmudic learning to religious experience of a more direct nature. This appeared to mean a weakening of the binding power of rabbinic law, which for the Mitnagdim was synonymous with Judaism. But because they also understood that Hasidism’s main stress was mystical, they saw that it would have to be met on that level as well as in the field of law.
Thus a number of works challenging Hasidism were written under the inspiration of the Lurian Cabala. Their purpose was to endow the everyday observance of rabbinic law with mystical depth. Avoiding any implication that would read magical powers into rabbinic practice, they succeeded, nevertheless, in finding a previously unsuspected religious significance in the performance of the most insignificant-seeming precepts. These discoveries of meaning had an enormous influence both on the Mitnagdim and the Hasidim. As a matter of fact, they saved the latter for historic Judaism.
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The most interesting among these Mitnagdic adventures in mysticism is, perhaps Rabbi Hayim ben Isaac of Volozhin’s Nefesh Hachayim (“The Breath of Life”). R. Hayim was born in 1749 and died in 1821. His book was published posthumously by his son in 1824 and, gaining immediate recognition, was reprinted many times after that. Nefesh Hachayim was read not only in the yeshiva of Volozhin, founded by R. Hayim himself, but in all the other Mitnagdic yeshivas throughout Eastern Europe.
Its success was due in part to the fame of its author. The most brilliant of the students of the Gaon of Vilna, R. Hayim inherited something of his eminence in the field of Talmudic learning and, like the Gaon, was called upon to decide many difficult Talmudic problems. But a good deal more than its author’s reputation was involved in the success of Nefesh Hachayim.
The doctrine the book expounded was a mystical humanism that gave the everyday precepts of rabbinic law cosmic proportions. R. Hayim saw man as the delegated master not only of this world and the powers in it, but also of the celestial worlds that stand above him. Every human act corresponds symbolically to realities of which man is not aware but upon which he has effect nevertheless. This symbolic correspondence applies to every part of his body and to each of his faculties. Fulfillment of the precepts connected with the various parts of the body and the different faculties creates powers and realities in all the celestial worlds that are dependent on, and correspond to, the acts of man. Conversely, non-fulfillment of these precepts, or wrongdoing itself, destroys powers and realities already existing in the higher worlds. This is how the deeds of a Jew affect not only himself and his own spiritual welfare, but divine worlds dependent on his acts.
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I give below a translation of the first three chapters of Nefesh Hachayim, whose central idea, developed later in considerable detail but never altered, is to be found here in paradigmatic form: namely, that man controls all the worlds of creation. As is usual with rabbinic authors, this idea is developed through an interpretation of accepted material—in this case the verse in Genesis about man’s having been created in the image of God. This convinces R. Hayim that his own ideas are not original, and therefore that they are not specious; furthermore, it guarantees that his humanism is not at the expense of God. Man’s control of the higher worlds is owed to the divine image in him that makes him what he is; his power derives from God. Accordingly, God’s primacy is maintained despite the central position given to man.
That R. Hayim casts his thought in the form of a commentary on Scriptural and rabbinic sources may face the modern reader with difficulties, but it should be kept in mind that it was only in this way that the rabbinic writers were able to give the tradition a unity that it otherwise lacked.
—Michael Wyschogrod.
I
It is written: “So Elohim created the man in his own image, in the image of Elohim created he him” (Gen. 1:27). Similarly, it is also written: “. . . for in the image of Elohim made he man” (Gen. 9:6). Now the essential profundity of this matter of “image” is among the most sublime things in the world and contains within itself most of the inner secrets of the Zohar. Here, however, we shall speak of the word “image” after the fashion of the first simple commentators of the verse, “We will make man in our image, after our likeness” (Gen. 1:26), may their memory be a blessing.
Now the point is that the words “image” and “likeness” are not to be taken literally, since it is written explicitly: “What likeness can you compare unto Him?” (Isa. 40:18). It means, rather, some similarity in one aspect only, as in the verse: “I am like a pelican of the wilderness” (Ps. 102:7). There the meaning of the Psalmist is not that he has the wings and the beak of a pelican or that his shape has assumed that of a bird, but rather that in his activities at the moment, that of constant wandering, he resembles the pelican, which is a lonely bird flying from place to place. Such is the interpretation according to the first simple commentators, may their memory be a blessing. And similar is the case of the word “image,” for its similarity, too, is only in one aspect.
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II
It is, however, necessary to understand why Scripture writes “in the image of Elohim” rather than in the image of some other name of God. The reason for this is that the name Elohim denotes that His Blessed Name is Master of All Powers. He is called Master of All Powers because His traits are not like the traits of a creature of flesh and blood. For when a man wishes to build a wooden building he does not create the wood by his own power but takes wood that has already been created and arranges it in the form of a building. And when, after having done this, he removes his power from it, the building will nevertheless still remain standing. But in the case of His Blessed Name it is entirely different. Just as at the time of the original creation of all the worlds, which He created and founded ex nihilo, by means of His power, so even now, every day and every actual second, their power of existence, regularity, and persistence depends exclusively upon being permeated every second, voluntarily, with the illumination of new light by His Blessed Name. And should the Blessed One withhold from them the power of His influence for even one second, that very second they would all vanish into void and nothingness. This is what the men of the Great Synagogue had in mind when they wrote in the liturgy: “Who in His goodness reneweth the works of creation every day, continually.” The meaning of “continually” is literal: every instant and moment. Their proof for this is explicit in Scripture: “To Him who maketh great lights” (Ps. 136:7). It does not say “made” but “maketh.”
This is the reason that His Blessed Name is Elohim, Master of All Powers. Every individual power that is to be found in any of the worlds is, each one, of His Blessed Name, the Master of all of them, who imparts their force and energy to them at all times and in whose hands it is to change and arrange them as He wishes.
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III
Similar is the thought implied in the comparison of “image.” The Blessed One created man and gave him dominion over myriads of powers and numberless worlds. He gave it into the hands of man to guide and direct these powers by means of the smallest details of his conduct: deeds, words, and thoughts. This direction may be good or, Heaven forbid, the opposite. By means of deeds, words, and thoughts that are good, he sustains and imparts strength to many powers and sacred, higher worlds. To these he adds sancity and light, as it is written in Scripture: “And I have put my words in thy mouth . . . to plant the heavens and Man, The Master of all Created Worlds 597 lay the foundations of the earth” (Isa. 51:16). Further, as the Sages write: “R. Eliezer said in the name of R. Hanina: Sages increase peace in the world, as it is written, ‘And all thy sons (banayich) shall be instructed of the Lord’ (Isa. 54:13). Do not read banayich (sons) but bonayich (builders).” The meaning of this is that it is they who order the higher worlds as a builder orders his building. These righteous people thus give the higher worlds great strength. On the other hand, Heaven forbid, by means of deeds, words, or thoughts that are not good, man destroys many powers and sacred, higher worlds without end and limit, as it is written in Scripture: “Thy destroyers and Thy wasters shall go forth from Thee” (Isa. 49:17). Or, at the very least, he darkens and diminishes their light and sanctity, Heaven forbid, and adds this strength to the Dwellings of Uncleanliness.
This, then, is the explanation of the verse: “And Elohim created man in his own image; in the image of Elohim created He him” (Gen. 1:27). That is, just as He, Blessed be His Name, is Elohim, Master of all the powers that exist in all worlds, arranging and ordering them every moment according to His will, so has His blessed will made man the ruler over myriads of powers and worlds by means of each of his smallest actions—in all of his concerns, at every single moment, according to the higher source of these actions, words, or thoughts, as though he were the master of these powers. This is the meaning of the Sages when they write: “R. Azariah said in the name of R. Judah the son of R. Simon: When Israel do the will of the Omnipresent they add strength to the Divine Power, as it is written: ‘We shall add strength to Elohim’ (Ps. 60:14); but when Israel fail to do the will of the Omnipresent they weaken, as it were, a great Power above, as it is written: ‘Thou hast weakened the Rock that begat thee’ (Deut. 32:18).” This thought also recurs in the Zohar very frequently; such as: “The sins of man cause imperfections above,” and conversely. Similarly, in the Zohar’s interpretation of the verse: “And it fell upon a day, that the sons of God came to present themselves (literally: to stand upon) before the Lord” (Job 1:6). The meaning of this is that in standing upon the deeds of Israel they indeed stand upon the Holy One, Blessed Be He. For when Israel does not do the will of the Omnipresent they fatigue, as it were, the powers of the Holy One, Blessed Be He; and when they do worthy deeds thev give strength and power to the Holy One, Blessed Be He. Therefore is it written: “‘Give strength unto God.’ Wherewith? With worthy deeds.”
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