Perek 70

[Bentzion Meltzer]

“G•d saw that [Moses] went to look, and He called out to him, ‘Moses,
Moses.’”1

The Baal Shem Tov taught:2

Moses was initially concerned that this vision before him was not a
holy vision, until G•d called out to him, “Moses, Moses.” Only then
did Moses respond, “Here I am.”

For Moses’ soul, as alluded to by his name, encompasses all worlds,
which is why Moses could not comprehend his own name, as we shall see.
For just as the Divine presence encompasses all worlds – the
inanimate, the vegetable, the good and the evil – so does Moses’ name:
the first letter mem, which alludes to the Divine Malkhuth/presence,
also encompasses all things, while the second letter shin encompasses
all spirits, and the last letter heh encompasses all souls.

Therefore, Moses’ difficulty in comprehending the Menorah, the shekel,
and the New Moon (HaChodesh), alludes to his difficulty in
comprehending his own name (Moses = Mosheh), his own essence, since
his name also encompassed good and evil. Furthermore, his difficulty
was also in comprehending how the Divine presence Itself, the
Shekhinah, is the Ultimate Unity, since It encompasses the antitheses
of good and evil, yet remains One Indivisible Unity. Thus, he was
confused how he, whose name was Moses, which encompassed these
antitheses, could bring about such Unity. Indeed, tradition records
that Moses had the tendency to be a kidnapper/gambler.3

However, the truth is that evil is a vehicle for good, as we find in
the teaching that Pharaoh brought the Jewish people to repentance by
pursuing them,4 or by the fact that beholding the ways of the wicked
brings a righteous person satisfaction and pleasure that he is not
like that. This arousal of pleasure from contrast to evil exists in
all worlds, and evil itself also has a virtual elevation from this,
only that when good rises in this way, all evil is dissolved in the
process.5 In the same way, all evil thoughts can be vehicles of
elevation.6

Thus, Moses did not answer G•d after the first call of his name, since
he did not comprehend how Unity could be achieved, for when the lowest
spiritual levels were revealed, as symbolized by the bush, all their
higher spiritual sources were also revealed to him. Therefore, Moses
could not understand why evil – as represented by the bush – was not
“burnt” by those sublime spiritual levels. Then G•d called out to him
again, “Moses,” alluding that the Ultimate Unity is achieved
specifically by the union of the lowest levels with the highest. Only
then did Moses say, “Here I am.”7

1 Exodus 3:4
2 Ben Porath Yoseph 126c
3 Tractate Bekhoroth 5a. The two alternatives are given by Rashi and
Tosafoth, respectively, and neither interpretation is very
complementary. Furthermore, there is a Midrash in which a king versed
in physiognomy requests to see a portrait of Moses, and upon seeing it
remarks that this person possesses all the worst traits in the world.
The point is that Moses grew to become Moses not only despite, but
because he had to overcome the existential human inner conflict
between good and evil tendencies. And the spiritual light that
appeared with him at birth, as according to oral tradition, was not a
manifestation of his inborn perfection, but of his potential to unify
these dichotomous elements within his personality into and towards the
singular goal of serving G•d, as in this teaching.
4 Zohar I 81b
5 Psalms 92:10
6 This idea is alluded to in #69 and expounded upon in #39.
7 As mentioned in n. 2 in #69, there are two ways of dealing with
evil: subduing it or transforming it. When Moses first saw the fire of
the burning bush, he understood the fire to symbolize that the bush,
representing evil, as said in the text, must be “burnt,” and subdued.
But then he saw that the fire was not consuming the bush – which he
understood to mean that all efforts to vanquish evil are doomed to
fail. If so, he thought, that evil is an existential reality, does
this not point to Duality, to an existence outside of G•d? But then
G•d called out to him a second time, “Moses,” thereby alluding to him
that he, too, was a seeming duality – a “lower” and an “upper.” Moses:
a very human Moses with all human frailties and weaknesses, but also a
“G•dly” Moses, and both were parts of his unique singularity. Then
Moses realized that the fire in the bush was not symbolizing
destructive power of fire, but its “light” – the potential of
transformation. Then Moses realized that both evil and good are really
part of the One. Moses then answered, “Here I am” – an integrated one.

Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Yehoshua Starrett and reprinted
with the kind permission of the Baal Shem Tov Foundation. Please visit
www.baalshemtov.com

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