A familiar saying of great and renowned people, as they are about to reveal something deep, is: “Behold, I am revealing a handbreadth and concealing two.”11 In general, our ancestors were extremely careful never to utter or write an unnecessary word, as our sages instructed us [Megilla 18a; Introduction to the Zohar with the commentary Hasulam, 18]: “A word for a sela [coin], silence for two.” This means that if you have something valuable to say that has a certain worth (a coin), refraining from saying it is worth twice as much. This is directed against those who spout forth superfluous words lacking content or practical use, and only do so for the audience’s pleasure in their literary quality.12 This manner of speaking was strictly forbidden in the opinion of our ancestors, as is obvious by examining their words, and as I shall prove in the essays that follow. We must therefore carefully consider this oft-repeated maxim.13
11. The original source for this saying deals with modesty in marital relations. [Nedarim 20b and Nachmanides in “Igeret Hakodesh”] However, the expression has come to be used generally to say that when revealing something, you should hide more than you reveal.
12. This means that if you have something valuable to say that has a certain worth (a coin), refraining from saying it is worth twice as much. However, this needs to be understood: If you have something valuable to say, why not tell it to another person?
(a) The idea is apparently based on Proverbs 23:23: “Buy truth and don’t sell.” In Kotsk (the Chassidic dynasty founded by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Morgenstern) they interpreted this: “Any time that you can buy, don’t start to sell.” That is, if you have not yet acquired knowledge or character that will perfect your soul in accordance with the purpose of your coming to this world, you do not have permission and justification to start to cultivate others or give them spiritual healing. According to this, it follows that if you wish to acquire knowledge, you must be careful to do so from a rabbi who has already perfected all the aspects of his soul, and this is called a true rabbi. However, if we followed this principle, the world could not continue to exist; for no one today would ever consider himself as authorized and fit to teach. Therefore at this time, one should seek a rabbi that at least attempts to reach the truth, even if he has not attained perfection. In other words, when one seeks a guide, it is wrong to take whoever comes along or to rely on some external indication or public opinion. Rather one is to rely only on this attribute – that the rabbi attempts to perfect his soul.
(b) However, the verse in Proverbs can be interpreted alternatively according to the principle used by Baal Hasulam that wherever scripture writes “don’t” or “it is forbidden,” the intended meaning is that it is impossible. Therefore the interpretation of “buy truth and don’t sell” is that it is impossible to sell the truth. For the truth is not merchandisable, but belongs only to a special breed of persons who have a spiritual inclination to truth. There will be no use in any effort to impart truth to someone who is not sufficiently spiritually developed to receive it.
(c) One must be silent so as not to deliver the soul of the Torah to those who peer at chimneys and to those who are ruled by their cravings, as Baal Hasulam stated in the previous essay.
13. Since our ancestors were so careful not to speak superfluous words, certainly there is deep meaning to the words in their maxim: “Revealing a handbreadth and concealing two,” and it is to this that Baal Hasulam alludes. For if they were not precise in their words and wanted only to declare the general idea that a certain portion should be revealed and a certain portion concealed, then they could have said, “revealing two handbreadths and concealing four handbreadths,” or something to this effect. Thus, on the contrary, in these exact words is certainly hidden some deep meaning.
Three Types of Concealment in Wisdom
There are three categories of secrets of the Torah, and each category has its own reason for concealment. They are called by these names: (a) “the unnecessary,” (b) “the impossible” and (c) “a divine secret for those in awe of God.” Even the smallest detail of this wisdom can be divided into these three categories,14 and I will explain each one in turn.
14. Just as we see that the form of the whole universe exists within any physical particle that is considered, so in the spiritual realm, every “particle” of wisdom includes the whole system in miniature. Therefore in any spiritual matter, there are these three types of concealment, for the rule is that the particular and the general are equal. The root of the idea is that the Creator is enclothed in any particular of the world, and thus there is no difference among the particulars in this regard, as the Creator exists within each one. Some people err in thinking that since the Creator is a universal whole – His glory fills the world – therefore it’s impossible for His glory to be in one person. Rather they think that a portion of the Creator is in one person, and another portion is in another person. However, when the soul merits to be attached to the Creator, it sees that there is no such thing as parts within the Creator. Thus, within each particular is included the entire whole.
The Unnecessary
“Unnecessary” means that no one will reap any benefit from its revelation. Of course, there is no great harm in revealing such a thing. It is rather a matter of purity of mind – taking care to avoid actions based on the corrupting “so what?” mentality. That is, thinking: “So what if I do this, since it causes no harm or loss?”
Know that “so what?” is considered by our sages to be a corruptor more terrible than any other; for all the destroyers of the world who have been created or have yet to be created are none other than this type of person who indulges in thinking “so what?” That is, they involve themselves in unnecessary matters and cause others to do so. For this reason, no pupil was accepted before clearly ascertaining that the pupil would be watchful in his dealings so as not to reveal anything deemed unnecessary.15
15. The significance of this category is that those with the attitude of “so what?” have separated themselves from the Creator. Addressing the Creator, the liturgical poem “Song of Unification” says: “In Your work You have not forgotten even one thing, You have not given preference nor left out anything.” Every act of the Creator is true, balanced and measured for a completely absolute purpose, and must be executed until complete attainment of its goal. Thus, anyone whose approach is “so what?” has a different character from the Creator. And not only this, but in addition, the existence of the Creator is thus denied, for any act or occupation that is unnecessary constitutes complete disregard of the Creator.
The distinction between necessary and unnecessary is quite simple. Anything that is a command of the Creator, or somehow leads to attachment to the Creator, is necessary. Anything that does not lead to this is unnecessary. Therefore some of the teachers of wisdom would examine those who came to learn Torah from them in order to determine that they had nothing “unnecessary” about them – not in deed, nor in speech, nor in thought.
The Impossible
The meaning of “impossible” is that language is incapable of expressing anything of the character of these ideas due to their extremely ethereal and spiritual nature.16 Therefore any effort to enclothe them in words is likely only to deceive those who delve into them and lead them down a worthless path, which would be considered an unbearable sin. Therefore, in order to reveal something of these matters, one must have permission from heaven, which is the second aspect of the concealment of wisdom. However, this matter of permission requires further clarification.
16. There are divine revelations that can enter a person’s feeling within his or her mind and heart, yet cannot be expressed externally because of their great loftiness. However, in other places, Baal Hasulam claims that Kabbalists discovered a readily accessible language that enables them to express their perceptions, and this language is the language of “branch and root.” The series of worlds from higher to lower are like a series of a stamp that creates an impression of the stamp, which in turn creates an impression of the impression of the stamp, and so on. The highest stamp is the root and the impressions are the branches. In this way, all the phenomena of this physical world are emanated with complete precision from spiritual worlds. Therefore the Kabbalists can express their perceptions – even though they are completely spiritual and abstracted from all materialization – by referring to the physical branches that are related to those spiritual roots that are perceived by the Kabbalists. And if this is so, then: Why is this language not sufficient to express even the most subtle spiritual perceptions? In reply, it can be said that there are different ways to use the language of the branches, and one needs permission from heaven in order to use the language of the branches in a manner that will not cause anyone to err.
Permission from Heaven
This matter is explained in the book “Gateway to the Sayings of Rashbi”17 authored by the Ari17 (discussing volume 4 page 100 of the Zohar on the Torah portion Mishpatim, under the heading “The Son of Yochai Knew to Guard his Way”). These are the words of the Ari there: Know that some souls of the righteous have the quality of surrounding light and some have the quality of inner light (whose explanation can be found in my book Glowing Countenances [Panim Meirot], in the chapter “Those that Surround,” Section 48). All those who come from the aspect of surrounding light have the capacity to speak of concealed matters and secrets of the Torah by means of masking and great hiding so that only those who are fitting to understand them will comprehend.18 Now, the soul of Rashbi was from the aspect of surrounding light, and so he had the capacity to enclothe matters and expound them in such a way that, even should he express them publicly, only those who were fitting to understand his words would comprehend them. He was therefore given “permission” to author the Zohar, and “permission” to write a book on this wisdom was not granted to his teachers and predecessors, even though they were certainly more familiar with this wisdom than he was. The reason for this was that they did not have the capacity to enclothe matters as he could. And therefore it is stated, “The son of Yochai knew to guard his way ” [Zohar Mishpatim 100b] From this, you can appreciate the great degree of concealment in the Zohar that Rashbi wrote, for not just any mind can grasp his words. (Here ends the quote from the Ari.)
17. “Rashbi” is the acronym for Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, and “the Ari” refers to Rabbi Yitzchak Luria.
18. [Divine light can be so pleasing that it will be tempting to receive it in order to get the pleasure, instead of receiving it with the pure intention of fulfilling God’s purpose for creation.] Those that have a screen [filter that discerns what light can be received with proper intention] will be able to receive only that portion of the divine light – called the “inner light” – that can be received with the intention to give. However, the “surrounding light” is what cannot be received at this stage with the intention to give. The surrounding light is the much greater light that illuminates from afar, and reaches even those who are banished to a great distance from it. Each person receives something from this light in accord with that person’s spiritual state, and the more we work to follow the path of attachment to God (even while still dominated by defilement), the greater will be our illumination from the surrounding light.
The soul of Rashbi was from the surrounding light which is much greater than the inner light as previously noted; for the surrounding light is not limited by the soul’s vessels, but the inner light is limited by them. Thus Rashbi revealed the Zohar to the whole community of Israel with great sagacity, and each person can get some feeling from it, some illumination to his soul. However, a true understanding of the Zohar – that is, when the surrounding light shines within as inner light – is still only for those who struggle to perfect themselves, each according to his or her level. The path of spiritual work is to invest effort in learning as a means to draw down the light of the Torah from this surrounding light. Each person merits according to his or her level until the light of the Torah perfects him or her, and the surrounding lights become inner. This is the purpose of learning the inner meaning of Torah: To draw from the surrounding lights whatever is relevant to the soul of the individual.
The essence of his words is that the matter of clarification of issues within Kabbalah is not at all dependent on the greatness or smallness of the Kabbalist involved. Rather it is a matter of the special illumination of the soul with respect to this specific task, and this illumination of the soul constitutes “permission” from heaven to reveal the higher wisdom.
We thus learn that someone who has not been awarded this permission is forbidden to put forth clarifications of this wisdom, being unable to enclothe these delicate matters in suitable language such that students will not stumble in it.19 For this reason, there is no organized book of Kabbalah that preceded the Zohar of Rashbi. All prior books of this wisdom are not to be considered explanations of wisdom but rather general hints, and they do not contain any logical order, as is clear to anyone familiar with the subject. This is the end of our explanation of the words of the Ari.
19. In general, secrets of the Torah are the teachings regarding divine revelation and regarding the preparation required in order to merit such revelation. Clarifications of this wisdom must not be made by anyone without “permission.” How can someone know that he or she has merited this license or not? As a first step, you must feel that these matters are precious, and then you will naturally want to conceal them just as people hide their material treasures. This is similar to a person who has a very precious treasure in his or her house and hides it so no one will see it; because if care is not taken, disreputable people will try to steal the treasure and bring it into their unclean domain. Therefore before you reveal the existence of the treasure, you must check out very carefully who is there with you, and only if you find that they are completely honest can you reveal that you have this treasure. Furthermore, you should be capable of providing a hint – that is, you should be able to reveal this wisdom in a manner such that only those who have awe of heaven will understand, and others will not understand.
How can it be that people without superior character are able to perceive these matters, and what bad will come from their perceiving them? As Baal Hasulam explains in the introduction to Panim Meirot, we are dealing with people who, on the one hand, are high souls who indeed long for the perception of divine truths, and on the other, are not yet completely clean of the defilement of the desire to receive. Therefore they can do harm: In the best case, they may seek some gain from this wisdom in order to satisfy material lusts; and in a worse case, they may do spiritual harm by injecting corruption into the arrangement of spiritual worlds.
To this should be added – according to what I have received from Kabbalists and books on Kabbalah – that from the time of Rashbi and his students who were responsible for the Zohar until the time of the Ari, none of the authors of Kabbalah books during this period understood the Zohar and the Tikunim, as well as the Ari. All the works that preceded him, including those of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, are only hints to this wisdom.
It is fitting to say the same about the Ari, as he himself said about Rashbi. That is, that before the Ari, permission was not given from heaven to reveal the explanations of the Kabbalah, and the Ari was given this permission. There is no distinction to be made here between greatness and limited understanding, as it is perfectly possible that the level of those who preceded the Ari was inestimably greater than his level. Nonetheless, they were not given permission to reveal this wisdom. Therefore they did not write explanations related to the essence of this wisdom but contented themselves with short and disconnected hints. For this reason, from the moment that the books of the Ari were revealed to the world, everyone involved with learning Kabbalah ceased to study the works of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero and of all the others who preceded the Ari – as is well-known to those involved with Kabbalah – and they focused all their energy exclusively on the writings of the Ari. Thus the principal works that are considered proper explanations of the Kabbalah are only the Zohar and the Tikunim, and after them, the works of the Ari.20
20. Also regarding Baal Hasulam himself, it is fitting to say the same things that he said regarding Rashbi and the Ari. Namely, that without doubt, he received a special soul from the aspect of surrounding light, which constitutes the giving of permission from heaven. Therefore he is the third in the order of generations that has written a true exposition of this wisdom and not just by way of hints. Apparently, this is according to the needs of the generation.
A Divine Secret for Those in Awe of God
This means that the secrets of the Torah are made clear only to those who have awe of His name and guard His honor with all their soul and might, so that they should never give rise to any profanation of God’s name.
This is the third category of concealment of Kabbalah, and it is the most serious form of concealment for the reason that many have fallen as a result of such revelations. Those who rely on vows and amulets come from this category, as well as those who employ practical Kabbalah, thereby trapping souls with their craftiness. There are all kinds of mystics who use dried-up teachings that came from unworthy disciples [of Kabbalah masters], and derive from them physical benefit for themselves or others; and the world has suffered and continues to suffer greatly from their teachings.21
21. Baal Hasulam’s unwavering requirement is that the secret of God will be shown only to those that have awe of Him – that is, the Holy One blessed be He is dear to them, and they would never want His honor to be profaned by passing this secret to those who want to get physical benefits – such as money and power and ecstasies – from the divine wisdom. Since drops of wisdom do sometimes get to people still enslaved to selfish desires, these people use what they learn to make a pretense of being Kabbalistic masters. They claim to know how to use the holy names of God, as taught in practical Kabbalah, for the purpose of physical healing or to create supernatural phenomena.
All of this is a profanation of God, for the divine wisdom is intended for those who want to perfect themselves, to abandon self-love by means of the divine light. All their interest is to get to a state where they are serving the Creator in order to please Him, but these other individuals are only interested in themselves. They use the divine light for the opposite of its intended purpose. One must be careful of such people, and Baal Hasulam expressed disapproval even if they were using practical Kabbalah for worthwhile matters.
How does the above fit in with the fact that Rabbi Chaim Vital and other greats of Israel publicized different names of God that could be used to help with all kinds of practical matters? Apparently they believed that only people at the level of “the palace of the King” (a high level of closeness to God) would be able to really use this. For other people, the names would not work, and so they would not find any benefit in them; and people in “the palace of the King” would use the names properly – only in accordance with the will of God.
Know that the essential root of concealment of Kabbalah from its very beginning was completely on account of this third category alone. Out of this concern, the sages took strict precautions in examining prospective pupils, as the Talmud states [Chagigah 13a]: “Only to a head of court is transmitted an outline of the secrets of the Torah, and only if his heart trembles with concern.” Similarly, “we do not expound the matter of creation to two students, and the matter of the chariot not even to one.”
There are many similar statements, and all of this awe is based on what is explained above. For this reason, few are the exceptional people who have merited this wisdom, and even those who have met all the myriad criteria remain sworn with strict and awesome vows not to reveal anything at all of the three above categories. (See regarding this the introduction by Rabbi Moshe Botril to Sefer Yetzirah [The Book of Creation].)
Now, do not misunderstand my division of three categories regarding the concealing of the Kabbalah. I definitely do not mean that the wisdom of truth is itself divided into three categories. My intention is that every detail in the vast realm of Kabbalah – even the smallest word – is subject to these three categories of restriction, for these are simply three styles of explanation that always apply to this wisdom. Understand this.22
22. It works out that, corresponding to the three forms of concealment of wisdom that are due to the three problems that Baal Hasulam listed, there are three manners of clarification for every subject in wisdom. Therefore if you do not stick to a certain manner of clarification, then you are liable to produce its corresponding problem. [Saying what is unnecessary can cause separation from God, so one must say only what is necessary for the generation. Saying what is impossible can mislead, so one must say only what is possible by virtue of having received permission from heaven. Saying secrets intended only for those in awe of God can harm the honor of God, so one must say these secrets in a way that only the God-fearing will understand.]
However, it makes sense to ask at this point: Given that the teaching of Kabbalah has been so seriously restricted by virtue of the above criteria, how can it be that thousands of books have been published on it?
The answer is that there is a distinction between the first two categories of concealment and the last one. The main weight of the task of concealment falls only on the last category for the reason explained above. However, the prohibition regarding the first two categories is not fixed. For example, something which is considered “unnecessary” may, as a result of changing conditions, become “necessary.” Similarly, something which is considered “impossible” may become “possible” for one of two reasons: either because a generation has progressed in its development; or because of the granting of permission from heaven – as happened in the case of Rashbi and the Ari and as happened (to a lesser degree) in the case of those who preceded them. It is for these reasons that all the authentic books on wisdom that have been written were produced and came to be revealed.23
23. The issue of “necessary” or “not necessary” is of course relative to souls. Therefore it can happen that wisdom becomes “necessary” due to the state of the generation that is in need of a certain illumination from the wisdom of Kabbalah for the purpose of serving God or for its spiritual development. Also the “impossible” can become “possible” due to the development of the generation. That is, things that were impossible to reveal in previous generations may need to be revealed in later generations now that they have developed the ability to assimilate such ideas. “Giving permission from heaven” also is related to the need of individual souls, but Baal Hasulam distinguishes this from the development of the generation. This is because a Kabbalistic sage may receive permission from heaven to reveal sublime matters, even when it is not fitting for the people of that generation, but it is needed for people in a period that is several generations after the life of the sage. The primary cause for the delay in receiving revelation is that the generations require a stretch of time to allow the enfolding of succeeding states in the process of their spiritual development – this depending upon the extent they feel afflicted and the conclusions they draw from their afflictions. The upshot of all this is that the switching of the “unnecessary” to be “necessary” and of the “impossible” to be “possible” is only for the benefit of the souls in their development.
And this is what the sages intended in their phrase: “I revealed a handbreadth and will conceal two.” Their intention was that a situation arose in which it became appropriate to reveal something that had not been imagined by those who lived prior to this situation. The single “handbreadth” refers to the one category of concealment that can now be revealed, while the other two categories continue to be concealed. This expression is their manner of indicating that something happened to remove one of the reasons for concealment – either the unnecessary became necessary or permission was granted from heaven as I explained above. This is what is expressed in the saying: I revealed “a handbreadth.”
Those who study these pamphlets [the essays later published in “Matan Torah”] should know that my intention is to publish them in the course of this year. All of them are new, having not appeared as a whole, or with such precise and authentic content, in any book that preceded me. I received them directly as oral teachings from my master who was authorized to do so; that is, who himself received them as oral tradition from his teachers, and so on.
Know also that I received them with all the above-mentioned conditions of concealing and guarding. However, because of the necessity that I discussed in my article “A Time to Act,” the unnecessary has become necessary, and so I reveal this handbreadth with full permission as I have explained above. Nonetheless, I will continue to guard the remaining two handbreadths as I was commanded.24
24. Baal Hasulam revealed his teachings as a response to the continued cheapening of the wisdom of Kabbalah due to the increase in books authored by those who know absolutely nothing about the holy Kabbalistic concepts. Kabbalah has been mixed with opinions based on defilement and self-love, and this has caused it to become viewed by the public as empty of content and lacking all substance. The Kabbalah is divine wisdom, and it was forbidden to permit these people to profane it. Therefore Baal Hasulam was provoked to write his pamphlets in order to stop the activity of this defilement and to rescue God’s honor from being profaned.
Furthermore, we see from his words that he revealed his teachings because the “unnecessary” changed to “necessary” and not because of permission from heaven that causes the “impossible” to become “possible.” However, it’s clear to us that he did receive permission from heaven, for the whole character of his explication is not a man-made work but divine light. Without divine light, it would not be possible to clarify what he clarified. So apparently he wrote as he did out of modesty, because he did not want to say explicitly that he received permission from heaven and thus place himself at the same level as Rashbi and the Ari. But in another context [Pri Chacham, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and its Essence”] our rabbi writes explicitly the following:
“I am glad that I have been born in such a generation when it is permitted to disclose the wisdom of truth. Should you ask, “How do I know that it is permitted?” I will reply to you that I have been given permission to disclose it. Until now, the ways by which it is possible to publicly teach and to fully explain each word have not been revealed to any sage. I too swore to my teacher not to disclose things, as did all the students before me. However, this oath and this prohibition apply only to those matters that are given orally from generation to generation, back to the prophets and before. Had these ways been revealed to the public, they would cause much harm, for reasons that are hidden from us.
By contrast, the way that I employ in my books is certainly a permitted way, and I have even been instructed by my teacher to expand it as much as I can. We call it “the way of enclothing things.” Check the writings of Rashbi to see that he calls this “giving permission,” and this is what the Creator has given me to a complete extent. It is accepted generally that the giving of permission is dependent not on the greatness of the sage, but on the state of the generation. This is why I said that my being rewarded with the manner of disclosing the wisdom is because of my generation.” [End of quote from Baal Hasulam]
The subject of “permission from heaven” divides into two opposite matters:
(a) From an “external” point of view, Baal Hasulam received the ability to explain things in a way that would give each person a connection so that it could effect a change in him or her. Thus, the meaning of “permission from heaven” is the teacher’s ability to reveal things.
(b) The perception of the inner meaning of things is dependent on the individual’s progress in (a) strengthening his or her faith and (b) restricting the desire to receive and increasing the desire to give. This also is part of the concept of “permission from heaven,” but from the opposite direction [the student’s ability to hear] – that is, the teacher was given permission to hint in coded language that can be decoded only by one who really lives by these teachings.
Questions for Review
1. If you have something valuable to say, why not tell it to another person? (See note 12)
2. Is each soul a part of the Creator? (See note 14)
3. Explain how someone whose approach is “so what?” in effect denies the existence of the Creator. (See note 15)
4. What makes a teaching “unnecessary?” (See note 15)
5. What is the purpose of learning the inner meaning of Torah? (See note 18)
6. How can you know that you have “permission” from heaven to reveal wisdom? (See note 19)
7. What could be wrong with using practical Kabbalah to heal the sick, for example? (See note 21)
8. Which form of failure to conceal wisdom is most likely to cause separation from God? Which form is most likely to mislead? Which form is likely to harm the honor of God? (See note 22)