5134 —בריאת העולם, סיפורי התורה, ודיני שמיטה ויובל

B"H, 18 Shevat, 5717.

I received your letter belatedly along with the galley proofs of your essay "When the world was water within water" and on the secret of shemitin and yovelot. In response—at least briefly due to time constraints, especially since a proper explanation would require great length, as your essay touched on several key points: (a) Regarding matters of creation and the statements of our Sages related to this—as mentioned above, "when the world was water within water"—most are explained primarily in Kabbalistic works. There are those who mistakenly think everyone is free to interpret these matters however they wish since they do not affect practical halachah in Shulchan Aruch. While this is correct regarding matters that are only interpretations of verses or teachings of our Sages or homiletics—provided that the interpretation is infused with fear of Heaven and obviously does not contradict our faith—one may interpret as desired, and no one objects to such homilies. But this is not so regarding matters of reality—even realities in the past that seemingly have no practical legal consequence—for certainly it was a certain way and not otherwise. And where there is doubt or disagreement—even here there are established rules for clarifying doubts and determining which view is accepted as halachah; these are brought in books dealing with this part of Torah. The general central point is: regarding all matters of Kabbalah, the halachah follows the words of the Arizal over all who preceded him. This is well known even to beginners in Kabbalah study; Rav Chaim Vital elaborates on this in his introduction to Shaar HaHakdamot. This rule has been accepted by all circles among Sephardim and Ashkenazim, Chassidim and non-Chassidim alike.

(b) Regarding Torah narratives—that it was G‑d's tool in creating the world—as our Sages say at the beginning of Bereishit Rabbah: He looked into the Torah and created the world; as Zohar (II:161a) says: "He gazed into Torah and created the world." This includes all stages of hishtalshelut—all worlds from the highest down to our physical material world. These narratives speak not only about our world but also about higher worlds. This applies both to Written Torah and Oral Torah. For example, at the beginning: "Bereishit bara Elokim et hashamayim ve'et haaretz" (In the beginning G‑d created heaven and earth)—this recounts the beginning of hishtalshelut—the sefirot in Atzilut (the highest world), as explained in Zohar (I:30b-31b etc.). Of course it also refers to creation of physical heaven and earth in this world. There is no contradiction or dispute here; one Sage says one thing, another says another—they complement each other. Still, there are verses or teachings that refer only to spiritual worlds—such as descriptions like "the hand of G‑d," "the eye of G‑d." Others refer only to physical worlds—or at least only lower worlds—such as sin or prohibition: for only on earth does evil inclination exist (Shabbat 89a), and halachah rules nothing impure descends from heaven (Sanhedrin 59b). Still, even these have some root above; nothing below lacks a corresponding mazal above. This is explained in Pardes by Ramak (Shaar 25 ch.1), in Torah Or by Rabbeinu HaZaken (the Alter Rebbe) on Bereishit "to understand blessings," with glosses by tzt"z there etc.—but this is not the place for full discussion.

(c) Regarding shemitin (seven-thousand-year cycles) and yovelot mentioned in various Kabbalistic works: Initially there were differing opinions—some said our world is the second shemitah; before it was also a full world lasting seven thousand years; after this world will be five more shemitot each lasting seven thousand years (Sefer HaTemunah intro ch.3 etc.). Others said our world is the fifth shemitah (Ramak in Shiur Komah). But then Arizal came and ruled that we call these seven thousand years—the ones we live in—the second shemitah relative to previous spiritual sefirah-worlds; but before this there was no physical world—no physical heaven or earth etc., as explained elsewhere—for example Likkutei Torah by Arizal Parshat Kedoshim and Shaar Maamarai Rashbi (37a). His words were brought down and explained by Rabbeinu HaZaken in Torah Or Shemot "Vayomer... Mi sam peh," and by his son Admor HaEmtza'i in Torat Chaim "Vayomer... Lo ish devarim." As above—this is a clear halachic ruling accepted by all kabbalists just like other kabbalistic matters.

Summary

This letter teaches that while creative interpretation has its place regarding non-literal readings or homiletics, when it comes to realities—even those from creation itself—we must follow established principles rooted especially in Kabbalah as codified by Arizal.