"The people stood afar and Moshe entered the fog where God was."
(Exodus 20:18)
When a person who has spent all his days in materialism
afterwards becomes inspired
and wants <to return and> go in the ways of God, the attribute of judgment
then denounces him and prevents him from going in God's ways. It also arranges
obstacles
for him.
Yet, God "is one who desires kindness" (Micah 7:18) and
He hides Himself, as it were, in this obstacle {see below}. Thus, someone
who is
wise will look at the obstacle and discover the Creator there. As we find
in the Yerushalmi (Ta'anit 1:1):
If anyone should ask you, "Where is your God?" answer him, "In the great
city of Rome." As is said, "One calls to Me from Seir" (Isaiah 21:11).
But someone who is not wise, when he sees the obstacle, he immediately
retreats.
Now, an obstacle corresponds to cloud and fog. This is because
a cloud and a fog are darkness, [and] ChoSheKh (darkness) connotes an
obstacle.
As is written (Genesis 22:16), "and
you did not ChaSaKh (hold back)."
This is the explanation of the verse:
The people kept their distance - For
when they see the fog, the obstacle, they keep their distance.
and Moshe
- He corresponds to the daat (holy knowledge) of all Israel.
entered the
fog where God was - In other words, into the obstacle, which is precisely
where God is hidden.
We heard more on this from [Rebbe Nachman's] holy lips.
He added an explanation of the earlier point, that God Himself hides Himself
within the obstacle.
He said:
God "loves justice" (Isaiah 61:8), and He also loves
Israel. Yet, his love of Israel is greater than His love of justice
(Zohar III,
99b). Therefore, when the attribute of judgment denounces someone
who is not worthy of drawing closer to God and prevents him from
entering
the
path of life so as to draw closer to the true tzaddik and the true
path; and [what is more,] God Himself loves justice - when this
occurs, God
is obliged, as it were, to agree to arrange obstacles for him so
as to keep
him from the path of life. [These obstacles are] commensurate with
what he deserves based on his evil deeds, in accordance with judgment
and
justice. For the Holy One cannot disregard the judgment, because
God loves justice,
as mentioned above.
However, since in truth God loves Israel, and
that love for Israel is greater than the love for justice, what
is the Holy One to do?
For He
is obliged,
as it were, to agree to the obstacles which keep the person from
the truth, because of the judgment and the justice that is upon
him_for He loves justice.
This notwithstanding, the ultimate truth is that God's will and
desire is that this man nevertheless draw closer to Him. This is
because,
as mentioned, He loves Israel more than justice.
Therefore, God
grants permission for obstacles to be arranged for him. But He Himself
hides Himself, as it were, within the obstacles.
And
one who is wise will be able to find God within the obstacles
themselves. For the truth is that there are no obstacles whatsoever in the
world. In the
very force of the obstacles themselves, God is hidden. Thus,
specifically
through the obstacles themselves one is able to draw closer to
the Holy
One, for God is hidden there, as mentioned above.
Thus, this is
the meaning of, "and Moshe entered the fog" - the obstacle
- "where
God was."
This cloud that covered Mount Sinai at the time of the Torah-Giving was
to be a regular feature of the revelations that Moshe Rabbeinu (our teacher)
received.
When Hashem (God) spoke to Moshe Rabbeinu in the Mishkan (Tabernacle) His voice
emanated from a cloud atop the Ark (which contained the Tablets). For us as
well, the ongoing revelations of life are dependent upon "entering the cloud."
We
all want to "ascend Mount Sinai," understand more of the Torah, not only
intellectually, but experientially as well. We have this ability due to the daat that
we are granted as a gift. It gives us the strength to continue the journey
and the struggle of life. But part of us is the am, the ordinary folk,
who are frightened of what new understanding may bring, of what it may require.
So we hold back. But if we hold back, God forbid, we have no Torah-Giving,
no new perception of how to breathe life into the Judaism we practice.
But,
the "cloud" is not negative at all. Rebbe Nachman directs our attention
to the contradiction of the cloud. On one hand it keeps us away, because
we don't see that God is there. It seems that He is not. It is only when
we enter the cloud of unknowing that we realize that not only is Hashem "behind" the
cloud, but that the cloud itself is a revelation of His love for us, the
cloud itself is Torah. It is specifically the challenges that allow us,
that force
us, to sharpen our perceptions so as to better understand how to improve
our practice of Judaism.
But there is another aspect to the limitation of
sight provide by "cloud." Reb
Noson points out that clouds and fog have the positive function of forcing
us to focus are vision strongly. (If you've ever driven in the fog you
know how true this is.) We must keep our eyes on what is in front of us
by blocking out what is distracting. The very fact that we "can't see" all
the things that make up the periphery allows us to concentrate more fully
on our goal. Thus, when Torah is our goal, we will appreciate the "fog" that
gift wraps it, because the fog allows us to ignore all those (seemingly)
sweet and beautiful distractions, like temptation and jealousy.
Furthermore,
because the "cloud and fog" is a call to grow, we have to
further refine the Torah knowledge and deeds we already possess in order
to use them
to correctly perceive the next level, so that our greater knowledge brings
us closer to Hashem, rather than the opposite.
agutn Yomtov!
chag sameach!
