FROM THE RECENTLY PUBLISHED ‘REBBE NACHMAN’S SOUL’, ADAPTED FROM HIS AUDIO SHIUR ON SICHOS HARAN 40

The Entire Creation

Rabbeinu zal explains that the entire creation could be compared to the dreidel that we spin on Chanukah. A dreidel has the letters nun, gimel, heh and shin. The simple interpretation of the letters is that they are an acronym for “Nes gadol hayah sham,” a great miracle occurred there, at that time of the miracle of Chanukah. That’s the simple explanation for children. On a deeper level, since all of creation is like a dreidel, these four letters refer to the creation itself.

There are three categories of creation. The first letter, nun, stands for nivdal, that which is separated from physicality. It’s all spiritual. The first type of creation, such as the angels, have only a spirit, with nothing physical at all.

The next letter, gimel, stands for galgal, the upper sphere of the universe, the stars. It also contains parts of our physical heaven, which is not spiritual, but it’s still much more delicate than what we call material, earthly. It’s true that Chazal say that everything is made of afar, even galgal chamah, the sun (Bereishis Rabbah 12:11), which is a mass of material, yet in a more delicate sense than the earth. Galgal refers to the signs of the zodiac. These astrological figures, which represent the stars in their orbit around the earth, are not spiritual, yet they are not fully material either; they are in-between. Finally we have the letter shin, which stands for shafel, our very lowly material world.

Changing places from above to below

These three different levels of creation all come from one origin, and they spin like a dreidel. Spinning means that sometimes you see an angel, and sometimes you see a human. At times you see an upper part of creation, and at other times, a lower part of creation; they keep changing. We can’t see it now because it takes a long time, but there is a spinning revolution where sometimes that which is above goes down below, and that which is below rises above.

We find at the beginning of the Torah that angels came down to earth and materialized into human beings and remained on earth (Bereishis 6:4). This is called “elyonim lematah,” the upper ones are below. We find, too, cases of “tachtonim lema’alah,” lower ones who rose above. The Zohar HaKadosh says that certain people were taken up from earth and became angels. One example is Chanoch who disappeared, went to Heaven, and became an angel (Zohar Bereishis 56b), the Malakh Mem-Tes. Additionally, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai told his son, “When you leave the world, you’re going to have a new name in Heaven, the name of an angel” [similarly, Rebbe Nachman told his two closest followers, Reb Noson and Reb Naftali, that he will make them angels after they pass away. He even told them the names they will have (Oral Tradition)]. So we find that it’s possible for humans to become angels.

The Arizal says that since a tzaddik is greater than an angel (Eitz Chaim Sha’ar 28, ch 4), how can we say that when a tzaddik is nistalek, when he leaves this world, he becomes an angel? The answer is that an angel is greater than a person while the person is alive, but when a tzaddik passes on and becomes an angel, he’s a greater angel than those who were angels previously. Speaking about a head, a foot, top and bottom, Rabbeinu zal says that sometimes you can have a situation where the bottom is higher than the top. According to the basic rules of Kabbalah, there are four different levels of creation, four different worlds. The first world is called Olam Ha’Asiyah, our material world. Above that, you have Olam HaYetzirah, the world of the angels. Then comes Olam HaBeriah, and then Olam Ha’Atzilus, the highest one. The highest sefirah, the head, of the lowest world is lower than Malkhus, the lowest sefirah of the next world. Malkhus is the foot, the bottom of the next world. This is just one way of explaining this.

Defying science in the Beis HaMikdash

Rabbeinu zal says that the concept of the dreidel is more clearly defined when understood in terms of the Beis HaMikdash. The Beis HaMikdash defied scientific or philosophical explanation, illustrating the concepts of upper ones below and lower ones above.

For example, the pasuk says, “Ki ha’umnam yeisheiv Elokim al ha’aretz” (Melakhim I 8:27). Will HaShem dwell on the earth? Is there any physical item that can contain the spirit of HaShem? The spirit of HaShem is greater than all the worlds, including the lower worlds, the Heavenly worlds and so forth; and yet we find that it resided in the Holy of Holies, a tiny room in the Beis HaMikdash. Elyonim, what was above, came down to this small place below. We also find that which was low rising above: The animal, one of the lowest life forms, was placed on the Altar and sacrificed to HaShem, Who accepted it, way above in the upper worlds.

There is also the ketores, the spices, which are even lower than the animals. The word ketores, which means “to bind,” connected the lowest world, Asiyah, with the highest world, Atzilus – so great was the sacrifice of ketores [there are four levels or realms in creation: mineral, vegetable, animal and speaker (human). The animal offered as a sacrifice is from a higher realm than the ketores, which are spices from the vegetable realm]. These spices can rise above the world of angels, above the throne of HaShem. These are just two examples of the combination in the Beis HaMikdash.

The fourth item in creation

The HEH of the dreidel represents the fourth item in creation. Called the “ko’ach hiyuli,” this is a sort of a hidden topic. Ko’ach hiyuli means the intermediate power. There is the nivra, that which is created, and there is the Borei, the Creator. In between you have the ko’ach hiyuli, a power that goes from one to the other and creates. This is the space between theory and practice, thought and action. In order to translate thought into action there must be an intermediate power, the ko’ach hiyuli.

All the other three levels of creation: the nivdalim, the angels; the galgalim, the stars and astrological signs; and the shafel, this lower world, all come from this ko’ach hiyuli. Now let’s recall the four letters of the dreidel: nun, gimel, heh, shin. When the dreidel spins, what is in the upper worlds is sometimes below, which means the malakh becomes a person. At other times a person becomes a malakh. This can also mean that at times the head is considered a foot, and vice versa.

Rabbeinu zal says we find these phenomena in the Beis HaMikdash; the upper ones came below—the Shekhinah descended—and plant and animal life rose upwards. This is all found in the letters nun, gimel, shin, heh, with the heh representing the hiyuli.

A sign for the future

These letters also refer to the future, the time of the coming of Mashiach. The Arizal says on the pasuk, “Shalach lifanav Goshnah” (Bereishis 46:28), that before going to Egypt, Yaakov Avinu sent ahead one son, Yehudah, to open up a yeshivah. Goshnah is made up of the four letters of the dreidel – gimel, shin, nun and heh. Why did Yaakov send Yehudah to Egypt ahead of him? To open a yeshivah of learning, representing the Beis HaMikdash. Why Yehudah? As a sign for the future. Mashiach will come from Yehudah. He was sent ahead Goshnah – to build a symbol of the Beis HaMikdash. This is why these letters, too, refer to the future, because Goshnah (358 = גשנה) has the same gematria as Mashiach (358 = משיח).

In the future, it will be proven that the origin of all things is one. The entire purpose of Creation was to reach the goal of Mashiach. That is nun, gimel, heh, shin. “Nes gadol hayah sham,” a great miracle happened there. Where? There, in the Beis HaMikdash, with the coming of Mashiach.

Therefore Rabbeinu zal says that when the Jews left Egypt, they were told immediately that they were going for the sake of the geulah, the redemption. “Ga’alta shevet nachalasekha Har Tzion zeh shakhanta bo” (Tehillim 74:2). You redeemed the tribe of Your heritage, Mount Zion, on which You dwelled. The first letters of Ga’alta Shevet Nachalasekha Har are again nun, gimel, heh, shin. Hence, the purpose of yetzias Mitzrayim was for the geulah sheleimah, the complete redemption, when the Jewish people would reach Eretz Yisrael and build the Beis HaMikdash.

Questions that are meaningless

Rabbeinu zal explained all of the above, very lightly touching upon this point, to show that the philosophers’ questions are completely void of meaning. There is much more that could be said about it, but we will not pursue it any further. Rabbeinu zal always taught not to seek to answer these questions logically, because you will then be drawn into their trap, chas veshalom.

The best thing for a Jew is to be very pure and simple in his emunah. A person’s life is dependent on his emunah – and by ‘life’ I don’t mean physical life. That’s temporary. ‘Life’ means eternal life, life in Olam HaBa. A person attains eternal life only if he has solid emunah, which sustains him throughout. That’s the key to life for the neshamah. A person should strengthen himself with emunah, and with it he will live forever.