The early Kabbalists, before the Ramak and the Arizal, called the attribute of kindness גדולה - Greatness, however the later Kabbalists called it chesed. In the verse, לך ה׳ הגדולה - "to you Hashem is the greatness", they would say, if חסד - kindness was meant it would have said לך ה׳ החסד - "to you Hashem is kindness". The reason behind their argument in this is that the later Kabbalists hold "Greatness" to refer to kindness as it is beyond the supernal attribute, as it is in divine will of כתר. Since אית חסד ואית חסד - "there is a lower kindness and a higher type of kindness". Thus Avraham called his attribute of kindness "dust and ashes" in comparison to the concept of גדולה - Greatness that was beyond him in Keser. However, Avraham was greater than everyone else in relative terms. Similar to concept of loving Hashem with all of ones might is מאדך - מאוד שלך - "your" might meaning, relative to you, that which is be...
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A source in Rishonim for the backwards head of the letter Tzadik. The Minchas Solet (R' Menachem Mendel Meshi-Zahav), perush on the Baruch Sheamar, brings that, while the custom of having the right head of the letter Tzadik face towards the right seems to originate from the Arizal, the truth is that you can find an earlier source for in the Rishonim. Namely, the Meiri and in his understanding of Rashi. In explaining that starting in the Gemara that you should be careful in writing that your letters Tzadik and Gimel should not look alike (לא יעשה צדין גמין), one explanation is that if you flip the gimel around it will look like the long Tzadik. Now, the sefer Hatruma qualifies this that the head of the backwards gimel will not match the right head of the Tzadik, since it will face towards the right. However, the Meiri understands Rashi to hold that it will match the Gimel, implying that the right head of the Tzadik also faces towards the right, according to Rashi.
The gates of tears There are four gates to the four directions, corresponding with the four letters of Hashem's name. The first, western, gates are called שערי תפילה - the Gates of Prayer and correspond to the last letter ה׳ of Hashem's name. These gates are only opened through our songs, praises, prayers and supplications. The second, eastern, gates are called שערי רחמים - the Gates of Mercy and correspond to the the letter ו׳ of Hashem's name. These gates are also called the gates of Torah (תורת אמת) and the gates of Tzedaka (מעשה הצדקה שלום). The third, northern, gates, corresponding to the first ה׳ of Hashem's name, are called שערי תשובה - the Gates of Teshuva (שערי תשועה, שערי ענוה) when they are open it is an עת רצון - a time of divine good will and at the times they are closed it is an עת צרה - a time of pain and difficulty. Even though it states, "there is nothing that stands in the way of Teshuva", nonetheless, we find at times t...
The snake and his pirate-ship of treasure! The Zohar hakadosh in Parshas Chayei Sarah 124:A explains the verse concerning the snake and Chava ואיבה אשית בינך ובין האשה - literally, "I will place an enmity between you and the woman..." in reference to the verse in Iyov 9:26 חלפו עם אוניות אבה - "traversed with boats of desire..." So what does the snake have to do with "boats" and how does that tie into the enmity between the snake and man? To understand this, first we'll examine the meaning of the word אבה - "eyveh". According to Targum Yonasan, it refers to ships of dignitaries laden with treasures - אלפיא דטעינין מגדיא. The word אבה - "desire" means "objects of desire", or treasures, in this context. (According to Rashi its simply the name of the swift river, but that does not help us for this). According to the Ramban, in his perush on Iyov (his other great perush, aside from the Chumash) quotes a Targ...
Some thoughts on the Parsha Avraham's going doen to Mitzrayim parralels yetzias Mitzrayim. "They will kill me and keep you alive" parallels "throw all the boys into the Nile and keep all the girls alive." Sarah was placed in a box to hide her and protect her and Moshe was hidden and placed in a basket. Sarah was taken to the house of Paroh, Moshe was taken to the house of Paroh. Sarah decreed plagued and makos on Paroh and his household and Moshe brought makos on Paroh and his household. Paroh, personally sent Sarah and Paroh personally got up to send away Moshe. Sarah went away with riches and animals and Paroh sent us away with riches וגם אתה תתן בידנו זבחים ועולות Lot left Mitzrayim with them and the Erev Rav left with them. There goals was to go to the south of Israel and bnei Yisrael also should have gone the path of the land of Plishtim. However, just like by Avraham it says he "went on his journeys וילך למסעיו ...
In the Ohr Hatorah Mamer ויראו אותה שרי פרעה the Tzemach Tzedek brings that the 4 rivers that come out of gan Eden correspond to the 4 ministering angels of the nations we were exiled to stating מצרים ויון כו׳ with the four rivers the starting with Egypt etc. So, if we are trying to correspond the rivers to the exiles perhaps we could start like this: The first river פישון, the mefarshim say is נילוס the Nile. So, that's easy enough. Although, according to the Ramban, פישון is the east-most river. Although, one might say, according to the other mefarshim it's talking about the same חוילה. You can see on the map how שור is right next to מצרים. Now, the other exiles, בבל, פרס ומדי, יון ואדום its not really clear which are meant here, unless he is quoting from somewhere in particular. So, here is more conjecture. The river גיחון surrounds כוש. Now, כוש was the son of חם, like מצרים. So מצרים is described in Tehillim as אדמת בני חם. However, נמרוד, ...