Vayikra – The Secret of the Small Alef and the Annihilation of Amalek

HOW DID RABBEINU ENTER THE LAND OF ISRAEL, AND HOW IS THIS CONNECTED TO THE SMALL ALEF? AND WHO WANTED TO BE SCRAPED WITH IRON COMBS LIKE RABBI AKIVA? HOW IS RABBI AKIVA REFERRED TO—'AKIVA' WITH AN ALEF OR A HEH AT THE END—AND WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO? ALSO: WHAT IS THE BOILING BATH THAT AMALEK ENTERED

CHIDUSHIM ON PARASHAT VAYIKRA FROM MOREINU HARAV ELIEZER BERLAND SHLIT”A

HOW DID RABBEINU ENTER THE LAND OF ISRAEL?

“[He] called to Moshe” – the secret of the small Alef, “Alef Ze’ira = 399,” the Gematria (numerical value) of “Rabbi Akiva.”  Only Moshe Rabbeinu merited to the small Alef.  No Tzaddik merited to the small Alef other than Moshe Rabbeinu.  There are a billion “kushyot” (difficult questions) here.  “[He] called to Moshe” (Vayikra 1:1).  Who called him?  Rabbi Natan explains that this is the Hidden and Concealed One.  “[He] called to Moshe” – this is referring to Atika Kadisha [the Holy Ancient One], this is Adam Kadmon [“Primordial Man”].  Everyone should read Daf 291 about the eternal kushya, the famous kushya.  It is written, “[He] called to Moshe,” but it is not written what.  Afterwards, it is written, “Hashem spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying.”  What does “He called” mean?  What did He say to him?  But really, He revealed to him the secret of the small Alef, which was the secret that was revealed to Rabbi Akiva at the moment he was scraped with iron combs.  It is written, “His eye saw every precious thing” (Iyov 28:10).  This is Rabbi Akiva, who had the secret of Tefillin revealed to him.

One of the Tzaddikim asked Rabbeinu: “With what trait did you enter the Land of Israel?  Which aspect did you enter with?”  The Rebbe told him that he entered with the secret of Tefillin, the small Alef.  When he reached the Land of Israel, the Rebbe revealed the secret of Tefillin, the secret of the small Alef.  “Alef Ze’ira” is the Gematria of “Rabbi Akiva” with a Heh [at the end], and afterwards, it turned into an Alef.  All one’s work is to turn the Heh into an Alef, that Rabbi Akiva with a Heh will become Rabbi Akiva with an Alef, and this secret was revealed to Rabbi Akiva.  This is the secret of the “Alef Ze’ira” = 399: Alef (111) Ze’ira (288).  Together, this is 399, which is Rabbi Akiva with a Heh.  In the end, he merited to be Rabbi Akiva with an Alef, because originally, it was “Or Zarua L’Tzaddik, Ul’Yishrei Lev Simcha (Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the straight-hearted)” (Tehilim 97:11), the final letters of each word (“Sofei Tevot”) forming “Rabbi Akiva” with a Heh.

All the work of a person is to turn Rabbi Akiva with a Heh into Rabbi Akiva with an Alef, and this is the secret of the small Alef.  This is the secret of “[He] called to Moshe,” because the greatest secret in the Torah is the secret of the small Alef.  When Hashem called to him, he called to him within a small Alef.  With this he called to him, because every letter calls to us.  Then all the secrets of the Torah were revealed to Moshe.  When Hashem called to him from the small Alef, all the secrets of “Atika,” of “Adam Kadmon,” of the Fiftieth Gate [of Understanding] were revealed to him.

A PERSON SHOULD KNOW THAT HASHEM CALLS TO HIM AT EVERY MOMENT

A person should know and hear that Hashem “called to Moshe” – that every moment a person is being called to.  Every moment there is “Vayikra (called).”  Then, whoever is a small Alef can hear the call.  “Alef Ze’ira” (399) is the Gematria of “Rabbi Akiva.”

[In the month of Iyar], 24,000 disciples [of Rabbi Akiva] died, [because] they did not respect [one another].  It is said that they did treat each other respectfully, but in their inner hearts, they did not appreciate one another enough – they did not internalize it.  A person needs to behave with the greatest respect to others.  He needs to know that “the other person is more righteous than I am, holier than I am.”  The Rambam says that a person needs to say about his fellow who sinned, that even though he stumbled, he was coerced, and I was not coerced.  The entire idea of [the days of] the Omer count is that now we have attained Rabbi Akiva, who is the small Alef.  The entire idea is to receive the small Alef, to always be “Ze’ir” (small) – humble.

MOSHE RABBEINU ASKED FOR IRON COMBS

The “Megaleh Amukot” brings a thousand kushyot about the small Alef.  My Megaleh Amukot has only a hundred kushyot, but there is a Megaleh Amukot with a thousand kushyot [but it was lost over the years].  What is the small Alef?  It is Rabbi Akiva.  The Gematria of “Rabbi Akiva” is “Alef Ze’ira,” the Ten Martyrs.  It is impossible to attain any understanding except through the Ten Martyrs, only through iron combs.  “His eye saw every precious thing” – things that were not revealed to Moshe were revealed to Rabbi Akiva (Bamidbar Rabba 19:6), because Rabbi Akiva was scraped with iron combs.  Moshe requested from Hashem to also be scraped with iron combs.  Hashem told him that this was impossible.  Then Hashem showed Rabbi Akiva to Moshe.  Then he said that he wanted to be Rabbi Akiva.  Hashem immediately told him, “Be silent.”  The “Asarah Ma’amarot” and “Megaleh Amukot” ask what “be silent” means.  That Hashem told him, “You are Rabbi Akiva.”  Who is Rabbi Akiva?  It is Moshe Rabbeinu.  “Let me cross (e’berah) now and see” (Devarim 3:25).  “E’berah” is the initial letters (“rashei tevot”) of “Rabbi Eliezer ben Horkenus Akiva.”

Rabbi Eliezer ben Horkenus – a seventy-year-old carob tree was uprooted (Baba Metzia 59b).  The meaning is that Rabbi Eliezer ben Horkenus attains the seventy years of work of [other] tzaddikim in a single second.  A water canal flowed backwards (ibid.), which is to say that he can return the entire creation to its source, so that everything turns back.  Rabbi Eliezer had the power to return the creation to its source, as it was before the sin.  Therefore the walls of the Beit Midrash [leaned and were about to] fall, because there would no longer be any dispute.  If he would have returned the creation to its source, the water canal would flow backwards and everything would turn back.  Therefore, Hashem told Moshe, “Return behind yourself” (Menachot 29b), that Moshe Rabbeinu asked to see Rabbi Akiva.  He showed him Rabbi Akiva sitting and expounding, and Moshe Rabbeinu asked, “I don’t understand a thing.  What is he saying?”  Hashem told him, “Return behind yourself.”  He went back eight rows.  This is the Sefirah (Divine emanation) of Binah (Understanding).  The Sefirah of Binah is the eighth from the bottom.  “Return to Binah.  Return to Keter (Crown) of Binah.  Then you will be able to understand what Rabbi Akiva is saying.”  Then he heard Rabbi Akiva saying such chidushim (novel insights), and his disciples were asking him, “From where do you [know] this?”  Rabbi Akiva answered them that this was a halachah given to Moshe at Sinai.  What is the meaning of “a halachah given to Moshe at Sinai”?  Moshe hadn’t even received these Halachot yet, and Rabbi Akiva was already expounding them.  So who is Rabbi Akiva?  It is Moshe Rabbeinu himself, the Yechida [Unity -the highest level of soul] of Moshe.  Rabbi Akiva is the Yechida of Moshe.

Because Moshe now only reaches the level of Nefesh [the “Life-Soul,” the lowest of five levels].  He still hasn’t reached the level of Ruach, Neshama, Chaya, and Yechida.  Rabbi Akiva is the aspect of Yechida, which is impossible to reach except through iron combs.  Only if a person is scraped with iron combs can he reach the level of, “He saw every precious thing.”  Then the Heh turns into an Alef, that Rabbi Akiva (עקיבה) ascends to the level of Rabbi Akiva (עקיבא), and he merits to attain the small Alef.  The letters Yud Yud Vav (י י ו) which make up the letter Alef (א) have the Gematria of 26.  This is the secret of, “[He] called to Moshe and Hashem (Havayah) spoke to him” (Vayikra 1:1) – the secret of Havayah (26), because “Vayikra (He called)” is Adam Kadmon.  This is what is written in (Likutey Halachot) “Hilchot Shemirat HaNefesh,” that “Vayikra” is [referring to] the Hidden and Concealed One, which is Adam Kadmon.

PARASHAT ZACHOR

EVERY JEW IS A BOILING BATH

“Remember what Amalek did to you.”  Amalek jumped into the bath, because Am Yisrael is a boiling bath.  Every Jew is a boiling bath.  Every Jew is a flaming fire for Hashem Yitbarach.  Every Jew is entirely a flaming fire for Hashem Yitbarach.  Every Jew is a flaming fire, a boiling bath.  Amalek is “Am Lek [a nation that licks up],” which is referring to Bilam.  “Amalek Bavel” (274) is the letters of “Bilam Balah” (274).  Because now we are cutting off Amalek.  A Bar Mitzvah boy cuts off Amalek.  In a Bar Mitzvah boy, no trace of Amalek remains.  Because a Bar Mitzvah boy has three days in which he is surrounded by fire, and no trace of Amalek remains – on the condition that he doesn’t talk.  From now, you don’t speak until the third day after Maariv.  Until Aleinu Leshabe’ach, it’s forbidden to speak.  Then he will be surrounded by fire for three days and three nights.  Then all Amalek will be completely incinerated and no trace will remain of Amalek, and the Temple will be rebuilt in the blink of an eye, Amen.

The shiur underwent editing, and if an error is found, it should be attributed to the writer, and not, God forbid, to Moreinu HaRav shlit”a.

PAINTING COURTESY OF R’ YEHOSHUA WISEMAN

WWW.YEHOSHUAWISEMAN.COM