Explanations of the Prayer - Boruch Sheamar - Part 3

00:00 These are matters connected with Hashem’s influence in the world. First, let’s talk about the creation of the world itself, and how the world was created through an illumination from afar. One thought—and through the creation brought about by that one thought, all the worlds were created. Everything came into existence. After that comes “Blessed is He.” We discussed the different explanations of what “Blessed is He” means—whether it refers to a level above, while “Blessed” refers to a level below, and so on. After that comes “Blessed is He who says and does,” which describes how the process comes down in an ordered way: He says and does, becoming involved in greater detail. It is not like the first mode, an illumination from afar, through which all the lower worlds come into being. Rather, He becomes involved in all the powers of the created beings, “saying and doing,” bringing about their existence as tangible entities. Then comes “He decrees and fulfills,” which is what happens after creation. At every moment, Hakadosh Boruch Hu sustains the world, endlessly, including every detail of every created being and the particular life-force continually at work within it. He then continues: “Blessed is He who makes the beginning.” In Chassidus, this is explained simply: “Blessed is He who makes the beginning” means that He makes the beginning—that He does all this, creating the entire world. But in the context of what follows, Chassidus explains a further meaning of “Blessed is He who makes the beginning.” Here, “makes” means “repairs.” As the verse says—and as we say in Kiddush—“which Elokim created to make.” What does “which Elokim created to make” mean? Hashem created it, so what remains “to make”? Rashi and the Midrash explain that “to make” means to repair: the work of perfecting the world. Hashem created the world in a way that requires repair. As in the parable brought in the Midrash: a non-Jew asked Rabbi Akiva why Jews perform bris milah. If Hashem wanted a person to be without a foreskin, He should have created him that way to begin with.

02:07 So Rabbi Akiva gave him an analogy from the food a person eats. To eat it, he has to prepare it. A person does not eat wheat straight from the field. He takes the wheat, works on it and processes it, and only then is it fit to eat. Animals, by contrast, eat kernels; they eat food that has not been prepared. In other words, a person was created to perfect the world. So that is the meaning of “Blessed is He who makes the beginning”: “makes” in the sense of action and repair. After Hashem established the entire seder hishtalshelus—“Blessed is He who spoke and the world came into being,” “Blessed is He,” “Blessed is He who says and does,” “He decrees and fulfills”—all of creation as Hashem made it, there must also be the next stage: Hashem gives us the power to perfect the world, to make it refined. This is the work of birurim. And this, too, is what we mean by “Blessed is He who makes”: the repair of the world, the refinement and purification of all created beings. It is accomplished through “the beginning.” What is “the beginning”? The first of the sefiros. Chassidus always explains that “the beginning” refers to the sefirah of Chochmah: “The beginning is wisdom.” Through the power of Chochmah, through its bittul, we have the power to refine. As it says, “Through Chochmah they are refined.” The power to carry out birurim comes from Chochmah. In simple terms, a person has this power through Chochmah, the faculty of koach mah: through the bittul a Jew possesses, he can refine and perfect everything in the world. And so it is above, with Chochmah of Atzilus, which transcends any sense of independent existence. The whole matter of refining the sparks belongs to the sefiros below Chochmah; through Chochmah, koach mah, the refinement can take place. This is the power to refine and perfect the world and make it a dwelling place for Him, blessed be He. And that is the meaning: “Blessed is He who makes”—the work of making and perfecting the world

03:56 is through “the beginning.” It happens through the beginning, through “the beginning is Chochmah,” through Chochmah and its power of bittul. There is also another meaning of “in the beginning.” As Rashi says at the start of Chumash, “in the beginning” means for the sake of the Torah and for the sake of the Jewish people. In other words, through the power of the Torah, the Jewish people bring about the refinement and perfection of the entire world. Everything in the world was created for the Jewish people, who perfect the world through the Torah. He then continues: “Blessed is He who has mercy on the earth; blessed is He who has mercy on created beings.” This means that Hashem’s influence upon the world comes in a manner of mercy. As we learned from the teachings of our Sages, Hakadosh Boruch Hu initially intended to create the world with the attribute of strict judgment. He saw that the world could not endure, so He joined it with the attribute of mercy. Everything we have discussed until now describes the seder hishtalshelus through which Hashem created the world. First, “He spoke and the world came into being”; then “Blessed is He”; then “Blessed is He who says and does,” “He decrees and fulfills”—the entire sequence of tzimtzumim. Seder hishtalshelus descended from the primordial thought of Adam Kadmon, corresponding to “He spoke and the world came into being.” Then it descended through the tzimtzumim: “Blessed is He,” “Blessed is He who says and does,” “He decrees and fulfills,” and “He makes the beginning.” That is creation as it stands according to the original plan. But what happens when the attribute of mercy is needed? For the world to endure, Hashem must also act with mercy and not judge us to a hair’s breadth. That is why we say, “Blessed is He who has mercy on the earth; blessed is He who has mercy on created beings.” And what is the difference? What is the difference between having mercy on the earth and having mercy on

05:39 created beings? Created beings are also on the earth. What are these two things, “having mercy on the earth” and “having mercy on created beings”? In the explanation here, “having mercy on the earth” means mercy on the world as a whole. Yes, on the world as a whole. “Created beings” means its individual parts, each and every created being. In other words, Hashem’s mercy is first directed toward the world as a whole, and then there is mercy on each created being individually. We see this with the Flood: Hashem said He would never again bring a flood. That was mercy on the earth as a whole. There had been a flood that affected the created beings, but He showed mercy on the world as a whole. That is what we mean by “Blessed is He who has mercy on the earth.” First there is mercy on the world as a whole, on the world in general. Then there is something more: mercy, an influence governed by the attribute of mercy, toward created beings, toward each individual creation. Chassidus explains “having mercy on the earth” at greater length. The maamar explains that “earth” refers to the sefirah of Malchus, as we also learned just now in the maamarim of 5659. Malchus is called “earth.” So “having mercy on the earth” means Hashem’s mercy on the sefirah of Malchus as a whole. On its own, its influence would have to come through tzimtzumim, concealments and hiddenness. Nevertheless, He “has mercy on the earth”: Hashem bestows His influence mercifully, without so much strict judgment and accusation, as we learned in the maamarim of 5659. Then it adds, “He has mercy on created beings.” This refers to the beings that come from Malchus: all created beings, all souls, all angels—primarily

07:31 Angels, animals, the inanimate, plants, living creatures, and human beings—all the created beings that come from Malchus—Hashem’s compassion extends all the way down to the lowest levels. Even “creatures,” as the Alter Rebbe says in Tanya, chapter 32: even mere creatures, beings on such a low level that they have no virtue, nothing at all to their credit. Their only distinction is that they are creatures, that they were created. Hashem has compassion on them too and sustains them, even though they do not deserve it at all. This comes from Hashem’s attribute of compassion, which has no limits and extends all the way down to the lowest levels. After that, it says, “Blessed is He who gives a good reward to those who fear Him.” Until now, it was speaking about the world in general—about the world, the created beings, all the angels, and all the beings in the world. Now it begins to speak about the soul in particular. “Those who fear Him” refers to the Jewish people, yes, who have this quality of fearing Hashem. And to those who fear Him, He gives a good reward. In other words, everything we have discussed—His compassion for the earth, His compassion for creatures—is what Hashem provides because it is necessary: the Divine sustenance needed for the world to exist. But those who fear Him, the souls of the Jewish people, serve Hashem and have fear of Hashem. So they receive not only the life-force necessary for their existence; they receive a good reward—an influence that is beyond measure and limitation. A good reward means an outpouring of G-dliness from Hashem that is beyond measure and limitation and beyond nature: a revelation of G-dliness. This includes the revelations of Gan Eden and the revelations of the future, all the revelations the souls receive because of their service of Hashem.