SOLOMON SEARCHED THE TORAH TO FIND LAWS AND CONCEPTS THAT PERTAIN BOTH TO EARTHLY LIFE AND TO THE HEAVENLY REALM Translator’s note: The Netziv in this chapter will be explaining the verse, “Koheles sought to find words of hefetz, delight, and that which was written in a straightforward manner, even words of emes, truth.” (Koheles 12:10) [TO SUMMARIZE WHAT we have explained until this point,] we stated in Part 1,¹ Koheles directed his heart such that, “he taught the people knowledge,” enabling the people to perceive the rationale for the laws his generation had received. The previously cited verse, “Not only was Koheles wise; he also taught the people knowledge,” was interpreted to mean that Solomon taught others the methods [the previous generations] used for deriving [laws] received [by his generation]. [This method] comprised of analyzing hints contained in the Written Torah, as stated in Tractate *Eruvin:*² the verse, “he also taught the people knowledge,” means that [Solomon] “taught them through signposts,³, as “signs hinted at,” or “symbols of cantillation.” See note 4 for Rashi’s interpretation. [and explained the laws with analogies].” Rashi explains that [Solomon] established traditions and signs that could be applied to the words of the Scripture and the Mishnah, i.e., the Oral Law. [Rashi] means to say that through meticulous analysis of the language of Scripture or the Oral Law, Solomon found proofs for the received [laws and traditions].⁴ should be translated as “indicators of reasoning” or “pointers to understanding.”

footnotes: ¹ Chapter 7. ² 21b. ³ Some translate simanei te’amim ⁴ According to this interpretation of Rashi it appears that simanei te’amim

Along these lines, [Solomon] continues, “Koheles sought to find words of hefetz” (delight) – i.e., he sought to discover insights by searching out laws that were not placed [where they seemingly should be]. This is like a person searching for gems, who finds precious stones intermingled with a multitude of rocks and dirt that are worthless [to him]; these types of gems are called “stones of delight.”⁵ 1:1, which states that words of delight are symbolic of the words of Torah and precious stones. Similarly, the form of exegesis called “words of delight” applies to the situation that occurs when one is hunting for a given word, idea, or concept at a particular moment, and he finds it alluded to within a multitude of words unrelated to the subject of his present search.⁶ usually translated as “delight,” should instead be translated as “words (or items) of choice.” This implies searching for something one wants that is mixed with other items that he does not necessarily desire – in other words, of secondary importance.

footnotes: ⁵ See the Jerusalem Talmud in Tractate Peah ⁶ The Netziv is saying that hafetz,

Solomon sought to find hints of laws from words scattered [throughout the Torah], outside their expected context. The verse describing the process of finding “words of delight” also states, “… that which was written in a straightforward manner….” This means [that Solomon also tried] to understand the passage in a straightforward manner related to the context. Obviously, this does not mean that that he sought a superficial understanding of Scripture, i.e., reading [and understanding] the verses as children are taught in school. Rather, this verse intends to [teach that Solomon sought] to find hints [in Scripture] through rigorous exegesis and analysis of each stroke of the letters. When he exerted himself and toiled in this effort, he attained much wisdom and knowledge.

Solomon then stated that the written words of Scripture are “words of emes, truth.” Solomon was not, Heaven forbid, arguing that the value of Torah is limited to words of truth and the absence of falsehoods. [This could not be so], as the value of Torah is described in Proverbs, not in Koheles.⁷ was written for the non-Jewish nations, which do not study the Torah. Furthermore, did not Solomon communicate with the people who believed with all their heart and soul that the Holy One, blessed be He gave us the Torah? If this is so, who could not know that the Torah consists of words of truth?

footnotes: ⁷ Part 1, chapter 1, notes that other than the last few verses, Koheles

Rather, Solomon has a deep-based intention regarding this matter: he explains why God communicates [through Scripture] as if He were speaking with “stuttering lips” or in a “foreign tongue” that requires one to search out “words of delight”⁸ and “straightforward words.”⁹ The reasoning is that since they are words of truth, it was necessary that they be written in such a manner. [To pursue this argument further] we will begin by examining the blessing [recited over the Torah]: “…Who gave us the Torah of truth and implanted eternal life within us.” This has already been explained by the Shulhan Aruch, [Orah Hayyim], 139:10 in that “Who gave us the Torah of truth,” refers to the Written Torah, while [the phrase], “and implanted eternal life within us,” speaks of the Oral Law. At first glance the [wording of this blessing] is incomprehensible, for if God gave us the Torah, it naturally follows that it is the truth. How can it possibly be the opposite?

footnotes: ⁸ Not related to the context of the verse. ⁹ Related to the context of the verse.

However, [within this blessing] is contained a deep matter that has been revealed to us by the holy man of God, Nahmanides, in the Introduction to his Commentary on the Torah, [where it states], “We have an additional tradition of truth that the entire Torah is composed from the names of the Holy One, blessed be He.” (Netziv’s addendum – See the holy Zohar at the beginning of the Torah portion of Korah.¹⁰ This is also the intent of what the sages wrote in Tractate Berachos 55a: “Betzalel knew how to re-combine the letters from which heaven and earth were created,” – i.e., the letters of the Torah – end of Netziv’s addendum). [Continuing the quotation from Nahmanides]: “The words [of God’s names] can be subdivided [and recombined] into names [or words] pertaining to other subjects. For example, the first verse in Bereshis can be subdivided into other words… This matter has already been discussed by our master Shlomo¹¹ in his commentary on the Talmud (Netziv’s note – Tractate Sukkah 45a), pertaining to the Great Seventy–two-Letter Name contained in the verses of ‘And he went…’¹² ‘And he came…’¹³ ‘And he stretched out….’”¹⁴ [For a fuller discussion], see the material in the holy words [of Nahmanides’s Introduction].

footnotes: ¹⁰ There the Zohar states, “R. Abba began his Torah lecture with a discussion of the following verse: ‘They are more desirable than gold – even much fine gold; and sweeter than honey – than drippings from the combs’ (Psalms 19:11). How lofty are the words of Torah, how precious, how beloved to [the Heavens] above, how dear to all. For [the words of the Torah] are from the Holy Name and all who are engaged in the diligent study of the Torah are involving themselves with the Holy Name. They [who study it] will be saved from all evil and will experience salvation in this world and in the World to Come….” ¹¹ This refers to Rashi. ¹² Ex. 14:19. ¹³ Verse 20. ¹⁴ Verse 21.

The intent [of Nahmanides’s words] is that it is known that the fifty gates of wisdom were created with His Names, may He be blessed, which are the components of the entire universe, as is discussed by Nahmanides [in his Introduction].¹⁵ This makes it clear that the world was created with the Torah. This is what is taught in the Mishnah in Avos, Chapter 4,¹⁶ 17. “The Torah is called a beloved vessel, for with it the world was created.”

footnotes: ¹⁵ Nahmanides writes: “Everything transmitted to Moses our teacher through the forty-nine gates of wisdom was written in the words of the Torah explicitly or implicitly, in the numerical value of the letters or in the form of letters, whether written normally or with some change in form such as bent or crooked letters, and other deviations, or in the tips of the letters and their crownlets,” and so on. ¹⁶ Actually it is Chapter 3, Mishnah

Using this tradition of truth, I offer an explanation through the sayings of [our sages] of blessed memory, who stated in Avodah Zarah 3b, “During the first three hours of each day, the Holy One Blessed be He, sits and engages in the study of Torah.” This statement is not susceptible to a simple understanding. In addition, the Gemara asks, “What does God do by night?… There are those who say that God sits and listens to songs uttered by the holy Hayyos [angels]. As it is stated in the verse, ‘By day God commands His kindness, and by night His song is with me.’”¹⁷ [During the day God commands his kindness. Since God is occupied with the study and teaching of Torah during the day, it is obvious that the kindness He directs to His creations during the day is related to the study of Torah]. This is difficult to understand, for what kindness does the One Whose name is to be blessed perform while He is engaged in studying Torah? Rashi’s commentary [in Avodah Zarah] explains that God employs his kindness by means of judging, sustaining and teaching Torah [to the souls of children who died very young].¹⁸ Rashi’s interpretation of this Gemara is that for most of the day God engages in acts of kindness, but in the first three hours of each day, He engages in the self-study of Torah, so to speak. However, the inferences from the verse [in Psalms] do not seem to be as [explained by Rashi].

footnotes: ¹⁷ Psalms 42:9. ¹⁸ The Gemara questions what God does during the fourth quarter of the day. It answers, “He sits and teaches schoolchildren Torah. As Scripture states, ‘To whom shall one teach knowledge? To whom does one explain a message? To those weaned from [their mother’s] milk, removed from the breasts’ (Isa. 28:9). The Gemara interprets this verse to mean that God teaches Torah to those who are “removed from the breasts,” which means that they died at an early age.

It appears that the explanation of the [Talmudic statement] that the Holy One blessed be He, sits and engages in the study of Torah, is [found in the words] formulated by the Men of the Great Assembly in the blessing [pertaining to] God’s creation of the luminaries.¹⁹ that are recited each morning. Within that blessing it is stated, “In His goodness, He constantly renews the work of creation every day.” It is clear that [God] renews Creation in the same manner in which He created it originally, i.e., with His holy names, which are the basic laws of the Torah. [God’s] engaging [in the study of Torah] is called kindness, [since it results in creation. As is stated in the blessing pertaining to the creation of the luminaries], “[Give thanks] to Him who makes the great luminaries, for His kindness endures forever.”

footnotes: ¹⁹ One of the two blessings preceding the shema

According to what I have written, this clearly explains what we indicate in the text of the blessing, “In His goodness, He constantly renews the work of creation every day.” The term “He renews,” means exactly what it says: for there is no day comparable to another in [the realm] of the Most-High Source. This is written in the book Nefesh ha-Hayyim, Sha’ar 2:13 pertaining to Tikkunei Tefillah.²⁰ in Sha’ar 1, chapter 2, where R’ Hayyim Volozhiner states, “If He, may He be blessed, were to remove His influence from them [His creations] for even a single moment, they would become utter nothingness. This [concept] is similar to what the Men of the Great Assembly instituted in the liturgy: ‘In His goodness He renews daily, perpetually, the work of creation.’ The word ‘perpetually’ is to be taken literally as every single instant. Proof of this is explicitly written in Psalms (136:7), ‘To Him Who makes great luminaries’; [the verse] does not state [Who] made, but ‘[Who] makes.’” In Sha’ar 2, chapter 13, R. Chayyim Volozhiner discusses the way in which prayer influences the creations in the Heavenly realm. He writes, “Every time we pray, it causes new formations in the arrangement of the [Heavenly] worlds and forces…. From the time that the prayers were set in order [by the Men of the Great Assembly] until the arrival of our Redeemer, may he come speedily in our days, there never was, nor will ever be, one prayer like another prayer… [similarly, a person’s own prayers] differ each day from what he [ever prayed before] or whatever he will pray in the future.” That is, the creations in the Heavenly realm above change daily, due in part to the prayers of man, and are constantly renewed. Even though in [the realm] under the sun there is nothing new within the nature of creation, nevertheless [in the realm] above the sun, there is a certain degree of change and renewal. This renewal is achieved through the variations in the combining of His Names, blessed be He, which is the origin of new laws before the Holy One blessed be He. This [concept] is brought by our sages in Bereshis Rabbah 49: “There is not a single day that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not originate a new law in the Heavenly Court, as it states, ‘Hear attentively the fury in His voice, and the sound that emanates from His mouth.’”²¹ God does not, Heaven forbid, change any of the Torah laws that He has given us to teach and practice, for decisions about Halachah is “not in [the hands] of Heaven.”²² 59b, describing how R. Eliezer, through the use of miracles and a heavenly voice, attempted to convince R. Yehoshua and the sages that the halachah was in accordance with his view. His opinion was not accepted; as R. Yehoshua stated, “[The Torah] is not in Heaven.” [The interpretation of this Midrash] is that before God, may He be blessed, [i.e., in His Heavenly Realm, He] changes the combinations [of His holy names] and the nature of creation in whichever manner.

footnotes: ²⁰ I found this statement of Nefesh ha-Hayyim ²¹ Job 37:2. ²² Deut. 30:12. See Tractate Bava Metzia

What we have [so far] explained is implied in what Scripture states in Proverbs 8:30–31: “Then I was with Him as a nursling, and I was daily sha’ashu’im, ‘all delight’, playing always before Him: playing in His habitable land, and my delights are with the sons of men.” [To understand these verses properly], one needs to understand why there is a duplication of words, and why there is a variation in the words where the Torah is first described as a delight and then as that with which one plays. In addition, why in the first verse is playing mentioned before delight, while in the second verse, delight is placed before playing? [The answer] is that [these verses] describe the two types of forces of the Torah that we have explained. The first type refers to the combination of Divine names used in the creation of the world. This portion of the Torah does not affect the behavior of man;²³ it is in reference to this aspect of the Torah that the verse says, “I was daily all delight.” Similarly, as used in the Talmud,²⁴ as the word is used in the Talmud in Tractate Bava Basra 4a. [the word sha’ashu’im, should be translated as something which a person handles, such as by pasting or smoothing it over]. For God daily [directs His attention to His creations] by constantly curling²⁵ and handling them, like a person who is infatuated with something.

footnotes: ²³ As it does not deal with areas of halachah. ²⁴ This sentence is difficult to translate. The Netziv states tersely, “similar to the language of the Talmud,” and one cannot be certain what the Netziv is alluding to. My suggestion is that the Netziv is telling us to interpret sha’ashu’im ²⁵ Curling, playing with a lock of hair.

The second aspect of the Torah consists of that which God has given us to keep and practice before the Holy One, blessed be He, by governing the world with reward and punishment for each particular nuance of Halachah. This is described [in the same verse] as “playing always before Him,” for no moment is separated from the power of God’s attention. All that is under the sun, all of that [realm], is influenced by the section of the Torah which is practiced [by man]. In reference to that which exists only before the Holy One, blessed be He [not before man], it commenced at the beginning of creation, [continues] with the daily renewal [of creation], and is followed by God’s administration [of the Heavenly realm].

However, with man this [sequence of events] occurs in reverse. [First he concerns himself with the section of the Torah relating to what he should practice, after which he concerns himself with the section that deals with the realm of creation]. First we need to occupy ourselves with the thoughts of Torah so as to know what to practice. Scripture applies to this the words, “Playing in His habitable land.”²⁶ The verse is careful to specify His land, since only in Israel is it possible to fulfill all the particulars of the Torah. This is not so outside Israel, as [the Diaspora] lacks many of the mitzvos that are tied to the Land of Israel,²⁷ and tithes, apply only in the land of Israel. as well as the sacrifices. It is also for this reason that the Torah is called “The law of the God of the land.”²⁸ After a person merits to be as complete as possible in his practice of all the precepts that he has derived through meticulous exegesis of the Torah, he is then able and, in fact, obligated to understand the various combinations of God’s names so as to understand the various sources of creation. As is stated in Mishlei Rabbati 10, “[After a person dies] the Heavenly Court asks his soul if he knows how the Heavenly Throne exists,” and continues endlessly questioning the soul [in similar vein]. These concepts are concealed from man’s natural intellectual capabilities. It would be impossible for anyone to comprehend these secrets without the knowledge of the combinations of God’s names contained in the Torah. This is the meaning of the verse, “My delights are with the sons of men,” that wherever they may reside, if one is worthy of that knowledge [God provides it to the deserving].

footnotes: ²⁶ Prov. Chapter 8. ²⁷ Many of the laws pertaining to agriculture, such as shemittah ²⁸ II Kings 17:26.

After all this, the deep intent of the words [contained in the blessing over the Torah], “A Torah of truth,” is now clear. [When we recite this blessing] we are not attempting to verify the truth of the utterances of the Holy One, blessed be He, or the [truth of the] Torah or [of the] commandments given by His mouth, may He be blessed, which He gave us to practice. [Instead, we are testifying] that though we see in the Torah many human conversations and narratives that seem to lack substance – that is, although historically accurate, they nevertheless [contain great wisdom even though they do not appear] to contain any enduring or eternal matter that would merit the title of truth; (all of this is in the Holy Zohar in the parashah of Be-ha’alosecha 149b).²⁹ uses the phrase Torah of Truth, since everything is contained in it, even the stories, enshrines lofty concepts and secrets that are applicable to the entire Torah. Because of this we declare in this blessing that the entire Torah is truth. The [combination of God’s names] in the verse, “Timna was a concubine,”³⁰ are equal to those found in the verse, “Hear, O Israel.”³¹ Both verses [consist of the Divine names] that are included in the essence of creation; both verses are the seal of the Holy One, blessed be He, which is [absolute] truth.³²64a, where R. Hanina proves that God’s seal is truth.

footnotes: ²⁹ There the Zohar ³⁰ Gen. 36:12. ³¹ Deut. 6:4. ³² See Sanhedrin

For this reason the entire Torah is referred to as the “Truth of the Torah.” This is stated in Tractate Megillah 16b. The Megillah requires engraved lines, since it is like the “Truth of the Torah.”³³ there states that we learn from Esther 9:30, “Dispatches were sent… with words of peace and truth,” that the Scroll of Esther requires etched lines similar to the Torah of Truth. For a king possesses a well-known seal, and though it be small, it is like an abbreviated proclamation, for his seal represents the banners of his army, as if it were a banner proclaiming to others all that is hinted at in that abbreviated seal. Thus the word emes (truth) functions as an abbreviated seal of the names of God, may He be blessed. For emes is an abbreviation of His names, may He be blessed, [as it comprises] the first, last and middle letters of the [remaining] twenty-four letters of the Torah,³⁴ and sin and bes and ves, while the final letters for chof, mem, nun, peh and tsadi are included in this number. and the “Truth of the Torah” is the great seal with which all the various combinations of His names, may He be blessed, are proclaimed. All this is included in the word emes (truth).

footnotes: ³³ The gemara ³⁴ There are twenty-seven letters in the Hebrew alphabet if we omit letters that are written in the same way but pronounced differently such as shin

For this reason it was appropriate for Koheles to state [that the words of the Torah “are words of truth”], for [this understanding] propelled Koheles to find “words of delight” that were not found in their expected place, and to find those concepts that are related to the context, that is, written in “straightforward words.” Both are words of truth, and there is not a single letter in the Torah that does not contain a sublime purpose. It is for this reason that the letters could not be written in any manner other than in the particular order [and form] in which they are found. Hence, we rely on the Oral Law to inform us how to comprehend the Written Torah’s hints and clues pertaining both to those related and unrelated to the context.