The Divine breathes within the words of the sages.
Even those things they wrote but they themselves did not grasp, even that can be found in the nuances of their sayings and writings.
From the wisdom of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righteous memory; words and condensation by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman. Subscribe and get your dose daily. To order Rabbi Freeman’s latest book, Wisdom to Heal the Earth, click here.
© Copyright, all rights reserved. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further, provided that you comply with Chabad.org's copyright policy.
More in this section
Join the Discussion
Lamont myers
Hallendale Fl.
June 7, 2016
More than they knew This is what happens when the finite looks into the infinite. Brilliant light. Reply
Shoeless, drowned
somewhere in the Mediterreanean Sea
June 6, 2016
Holding grief in my heart as i prepare for Shavuot
I read: “Pharaoh commanded to all his people: Every son that is born shall be cast into the River” (Exodus 1:22). The Nile was the mainstay of the Egyptian economy and its most venerated god. Therein lay the deeper—still relevant—significance of Pharaoh’s decree: Today, too, Jewish survival depends on our ability to resist the dictum that children must be submerged within an educational system whose focus and goal is the attainment of a “career” and “economic success” . . .
– The Lubavitcher Rebb
Reply
Brenda
Toronto, Canada
June 6, 2016
Merited To Know
To the extent the kabbalist sages came closer in qualities to G_d they attained higher levels of information which was permitted to be revealed to them.
All will have understanding of the wisdom of creation when we follow the kabbalist method of correction of our nature so that "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Creator as the waters cover the sea" [Numbers 14:21].
Reply
Rabbi David Mark
Pompano Beach, fl
February 9, 2010
More Than They Knew, V'Chulay
I deeply appreciate R' Tzvi Freeman's reply to my comment, since I have been an avid reader of his work for many years, and have used it in my divray Torah (publicly-spoken Torah thoughts).
OK, so I will try and understand the concept from his point of view. In my other life, as a scholar of English Literature, there is a school of thought known as the New Criticism, which postulates that once the poet has written the poem, it must stand by itself and cannot be interpreted in light of the poet's life, or mood, or what he ate for breakfast that morning.
Similarly, we may take the words of Chazal and read meaning into them which may be somewhat different from what they originally intended, but, as long as it isn't apikorsus, learn additional insights.
Is that correct? Or am I missing the point entirely?
Reply
Rabbi Tzvi Freeman
February 5, 2010
Re: The Words of the Sages
You're confusing two different concepts. This has nothing to do with being "closer to Sinai." Sure, that's also a factor, but not what this is talking about. We're talking about the way intelligence enters the world. Are ideas generated by the atoms of the human brain, or do our brains simply act as receivers to pick up truths from beyond? Or perhaps both dynamics occur at once.
The fact is, the way we say something reveals much deeper truths than the something that was said--the media contains a depth beyond the message. It seems there is something our non-verbal self knows and it's not telling that to the verbal self--but it's coming out nonetheless in our choice of words.
So too, these sages had truths that they themselves were not (verbally) aware of--yet these truths are nonetheless expressed in nuances of language.
Reply
Rabbi David Mark
Pompano Beach, FL
February 4, 2010
The Words of the Sages
I've always had a problem with this concept, going back to my days at YU-- what I call "The Law of Progressive Dumbness"-- meaning, that the farther we get from the Source (Sinai, for example), the harder it is to reclaim the true fire of an idea. Similarly, I have serious doubts that a Talmudic rabbi was closer to G-d than a contemporary rabbinic scholar using the same sources for study.
Therefore, I disagree that there are "nuances of untaught truth" in the words of the early sages-- we have to assume that they did the best they could with the materials at hand, but I believe that a Soloveitchik or a Heschel of today could be their equal, theologically and halachically.
Reply
Breathe Within Their Wisdom You must breathe within with there wisdom, Intelligence or none can come from any such nature:, Supernatural, Supreme beings, Extraterrestrials, My concept is our wisdom can be grasped from within with or without intelligence, makes sense, In other words, We have the tree of knowledge, As oppose to not, We can say, The tree of knowledge is the knowledge of knowing or the knowing of knowledge, How we grasp anything will not matter as long as we must breathe within their wisdom.
Thank you for this lesson.