עשה לך שתי חצוצרות כסף, “make for yourself two silver trumpets, etc.” According to the plain meaning of the text these two trumpets were made of silver, a single casting each as directed in our verse by the words מקשה תעשה אותם,”make them hammered out.” These trumpets had two functions 1) they served to call the people or the princes to an assembly. 2) They provided the signal for the people to break camp and commence their journeys. This is the meaning of the words: “they shall be yours for summoning the congregation and to cause the camps to journey.” When both trumpets would be sounded simultaneously this would be the signal to assemble the people; if only one of the trumpets was blown this was the signal that only the princes need assemble. This is the meaning of the words in verse 4: “when they will blow in one (trumpet), the princes will assemble to you, the leaders of the thousands of Israel.” Seeing that these people were special, unique amongst their peers, only a single trumpet was blown to call them to an assembly. The kind of blast blown was that known as tekiah, a smooth unbroken tone. The smoothness of the sound was a reminder of the attribute of Mercy, reminding people that G’d’s right hand is outstretched waiting to welcome penitent sinners. In order to make the camps start journeying the kind of sound blown was the teruah, shorter broken sounds, staccato-like. We know this from verse 6: “a teruah they are to blow for their journeys.” The reason, as we explained already, is that journeys called מסעות mean marching into war, i.e. involving the attribute of Justice. Basically, the journeys of the people of Israel were directed at dislodging the seven Canaanite nations from their homeland. It is the attribute of Justice which grants one victory in battle, and the Jewish people therefore alerted the attribute of Justice whenever they set out on their journeys. This is why in that connection you will always find the words 'על פי ה', “at the command of the Lord.” When the people got ready to journey the trumpets would be blown in each direction of the four camps seeing that the four camps faced the four directions (winds) of the earth. This is why we have separate verses describing the different camps breaking up at different times (verses 5-6).

A Midrashic approach based on Tanchuma Behaalotcha 9-10: [In order to understand this one must remember that the word חצוצרות is related to חצץ which also means crushing stones into pebbles. Ed.] According to this Midrash there is a connection with Psalms 24,7 where Solomon prayed for the gates of the Temple to raise themselves, seeing they were too low to admit the Holy Ark. When the gates demanded to know who was going to enter that they had to change their posture, Solomon said that “the king of glory wants to come in.” This did not satisfy the gates and they demanded again who this king of glory was. Solomon replied that it was ה' עזוז וגבור ה' גבור מלחמה, “the Lord, mighty and valiant, the Lord valiant in battle.” This still did not prove enough to persuade the gates to raise their heads until Solomon added that the king of glory he spoke about was ה' צבאות הוא מלך הכבוד סלה, that it was “the Lord G’d of hosts, He is the king of glory, Selah.” Up until that moment the gates had threatened to crush Solomon. When they heard the latter description of G’d, they opened up immediately. Seeing these gates had shown this honor to G‘d, G’d in turn promised to reward them saying that if and when He allowed His Temple to be destroyed these gates would not fall into the hands of the enemy or into the hands of any other creature. You should know that when the Babylonians took King Yehoyakim into captivity together with most of the furnishings of the Temple (Daniel 1,2), the gates were hidden. This is the meaning of Lamentations 2,9: “its gates sunk into earth.” The reason G’d is referred to as the king of כבוד, “glory,” is because He shares some of His glory with His creatures. How do we observe this in practice? We know that G’d is called אלו-הים. We find that G’d accorded the title Elohim to Moses when He told him: “here I have made you Elohim for Pharaoh” (Exodus 7,1). We know that it is G’d’s prerogative to kill and bring to life. Yet we find in Kings I 17,23 when Elijah told the mother: “here your son is alive (again)” that G’d had transferred this power to revive the dead to the prophet Elijah. G’d is known as “king” as we know from Psalms 47,6-8 עלה אלו-הים בתרועה....כי מלך כל הארץ אלו-הים, “G’d ascends as part of the teruah; ....for the king is king over the whole earth.” Moses has also been accorded the title “king,” as we know from Deut. 33,5 ויהי בישורון מלך, “he was king in Yeshurun (the Jewish people). Just as people herald the impending arrival of a king by blowing trumpets so G’d told Moses to make for himself two silver trumpets that were to be blown at the time the Israelites would be assembled (compare verse 3). The words עשה לך, “make for yourself,” mean that they will be yours exclusively; you will make them and no one else is to use them. Even Moses’ successor and foremost disciple, Joshua, never used the trumpets to blow in but only ram’s horns, such as when he was about to capture the city of Jericho (Compare Joshua 6,3). In fact we have reason to believe that Moses hid these trumpets already during his lifetime as we read in Deut. 31,28: that Moses commanded the Levites to assemble the people to him so he could address them. If the trumpets had ben available at the time, why did he not sound the trumpets to assemble the people? Obviously, they had already been hidden in order to fulfill the statement in Kohelet 8,8 that there is no authority exercised by a ruler on the day he dies. [Deut. 31,28 quotes happenings on the last day of Moses’ life. Ed.] We find a verse in Chronicles II 29,26 discussing matters which took place in the Temple during the time of King Chiskiyahu. ”The Levites stood equipped with the musical instruments of King David and the Priests were (blowing) the trumpets.” In verse 28 of the same chapter we read והשיר משורר והחצוצרות מחצצרים, “and the song was sung and the trumpets were blown, etc.” This was in contrast to David personally who favoured playing the harp as we know from Psalms 57,9 “awake, O my soul (my glory), awake, O harp and lyre, I will wake the dawn.” We are told that he had a harp hanging over his bed and that as soon as midnight arrived and the North wind began to blow the harp would start playing on its own. As soon as this occurred David would rise from his bed and together with all the other students they would study Torah and chase the sleep from their eyes until dawn. According to the Tanchuma the reason the verse in Psalms speaks about “waking dawn” in connection with his soul awakening was to demonstrate that David’s personal כבוד was nothing compared to G’d’s כבוד, glory. David “woke” dawn not just for himself but he wanted to shake up people from their slumber. A more kabbalistic approach: the two trumpets symbolized the tekiah and teruah, i.e. the attribute of Mercy and the attribute of Justice. When G’d said to Moses “these shall be for you an instrument to call the congregation to journey,” this is equivalent to His saying to Moses: “they shall be for you as either tekiah or teruah.” If so, this is clear proof that the journeys and campings of the Israelites were subject to the two attributes mentioned, i.e. that the words על פי ה' יחנו ועל פי ה' יסעו את משמרת ה' שמרו which are written adjoining the paragraph instructing Moses to make the trumpets are conceptually closely connected, and that the words על פי ה' refer to both attributes, as the case may be. If we consider that Moses was entrusted with these two trumpets and what they symbolised you can appreciate his elevated status, i.e. that he could call upon either the attribute of Justice or the attribute of Mercy at will, so to speak. This proves his status as king. The reason the trumpets had to be made only of silver, and that no other metal was acceptable as a substitute (as opposed to the Menorah), is discussed in Menachot 28. The Talmud says that the silver used for their construction was a silver bar. Whereas smaller pieces of silver scrap were acceptable as the raw material, other metals were not. The reason there had to be two such trumpets was in order for Moses to be able to address and be addressed by the attribute of Mercy on a “face to face” basis,” as sort of a vision within a vision, there had to be two. The construction is described in the Torah as מקשה, “hammered, beaten work,” This is the mystical dimension of what is written in verse 3 ונועדו אליך כל העדה, “the tekiah element when blowing both trumpets” is the signal to assemble the entire congregation to be exposed to the communication from the attribute of Mercy which addressed the Israelites out of the fire. This is what Moses had in mind when he told the people in Deut. 4,15: “on the day the Lord spoke to you at Chorev out of the fire.” When the tekiah was blown out of only one of the trumpets this was the signal for the princes who were unique people to be assembled around Moses. Moses who was unique, would hear the voice of G’d who was unique. He was the only one who could understand the voice of the attribute of Mercy speaking to him. The teruah sound would be blown to signal that the people were to get ready to journey, part of their campaign to conquer the Holy Land. The fact that the attribute of Justice (symbolized by the teruah sound) was called upon is a compliment to the stature of the Jewish people. Seeing that no other prophet had attained the stature of Moses to be addressed both by the attribute of Mercy and the attribute of Justice on a “face to face” basis by means of the trumpets, these trumpets had to be “hidden,“ so that no one else would use them. The very words והיו לך, “they shall be yours,” which G’d said to Moses concerning these trumpets mean that only Moses would have access to these two attributes of Hashem in such a manner. Seeing these trumpets were so sacred they had to be hidden prior to Moses’ death. Do not wonder why they were made of silver (and not of gold). The manner in which they were hammered out of one piece made it impossible to construct them of any metal other than silver. The cherubs on the kapporet of the Holy Ark were also constructed in a similar manner, (out of gold). In the case of the cherubs the attribute of Justice was subordinate to the attribute of Mercy contained within it. Hence a soft metal, gold, was used. By the same token seeing that in the case of the trumpets the situation was the reverse, i.e. that the attribute of Mercy was subordinate to the attribute of Justice which was part of it, a hard metal, silver, had to be used to symbolize that concept. Joshua was not allowed to use the trumpets and he used the shofar instead to symbolize the attribute of Justice which was poised against his enemies, the inhabitants of Jericho. David also was not allowed to use the trumpets and used the harp instead which corresponded to his principal attribute, virtue. The author draws a comparison between the word כנור and the lake called ים כנרת, (sea of Galilee). The blue applied to the tzitzit is drawn from a fish in that lake, this is why his attribute is known as כנור דוד. (Rabbi Chavell found a source in the Zohar Beshalach 48 for this.) There are kabbalistic writings explaining why תכלת represents these attributes of Justice. [Remak (Rabbi Moshe Cordovero) quotes a saying that any color one sees in one’s dream is acceptable except techelet, as this represents the attribute of Justice in its full power. Pardess Rimonim discusses the colours and their mystical significance in a chapter called שער הגוונים. Ed.]. What we learn from the above is that every great historical personality was given the tools appropriate to his spiritual level to use in communicating with G’d or on behalf of G’d.

ויאמר משה לחובב, “Moses said to Chovav, etc.” Nachmanides writes that the Chovav mentioned here is identical with Yitro, Moses’- father-in-law. He was given a new name when he converted to Judaism. It is customary to give converts a new name when they are accepted into the Jewish religion. This is what happened to Tzipporah’s father. Her grandfather’s name was Reu-el. This is based on Isaiah 65,15 that “His servants will be known by another name.” This is the meaning of Exodus 2,18: “the said to Reu-el their father,” i.e. to their grandfather. The reference to a grandfather as a “father” is not unusual; we have seen this already in Genesis 32,1 where Yaakov speaks about “the G’d of my father Avraham.” We also find that Belshazzar was described as the son of Nevuchadnezzar although he was the grandson of Nevuchadnezzar (Daniel 5,2). On the other hand, our sages in the Mechilta at the beginning of Parshat Yitro claim that Yitro had seven different names. When Yitro said in verse 30: “I will not go but I will return to my country and my birthplace I will go,” Moses had turned to him without specific proposals just saying the Jewish people would treat him well (verse 29). Yitro understood this remark in terms of the Israelites giving him money, that they were going to let him share in the loot to be gained as a result of the conquest of the land of the Canaanites. He did not think that Moses’ promise would include land in the conquered country. This is why he declined the offer. He pointed out that in his own country he was better of, owning inalienable pieces of land, enjoying prestige, etc. When Moses became aware of this he told him: “please do not abandon us, etc.” He implied that Yitro’s knowledge of the desert etc., made him invaluable to the Jewish people. He assured him that he would share in all the advantages that would accrue to the Jewish people. He hinted that there would be a proper heritage for Yitro and his family in Eretz Yisrael in return for his assistance in conquering the land. I believe that Yitro agreed to this proposal. Thus far the commentary of Nachmanides.

והיית לנו לעינים, “you will act as our eyes,” to show us the way. Seeing that the Israelites had been journeying exclusively at the direction of the cloud and the cloud showed them the way, what need was there to employ the services of Yitro? The reason Moses said the words quoted was to reinforce the minds and hearts of the people whose faith in the miraculous guidance of the cloud was somewhat limited, people who preferred to rely on leaders of flesh and blood. Another meaning of the words: “you will be our eyes” was that they referred to Yitro testifying to the Gentiles what he had observed while traveling with the Jewish people. Yitro was to report all the miracles he had observed while traveling with the Jewish people. Upon hearing all this it was hoped that more Gentiles would be moved to convert to Judaism This is the approach of Onkelos who translates וגבורן דאתעבדין לנא חזיתא ויהי טבא ההוא יוטיב ה' עמנא ונוטיב לך, “the great deeds which have been done for us you have seen and the good that you have seen we will confer upon you.”

A Midrashic approach (Sifri Behaalotcha 80) the words “you will be our eyes” mean that “anything which had thus far been concealed from our eyes you will reveal to our eyes.” Still another approach: “you (Yitro) will be as dear to us are our own eyeballs.” The background to such a sentiment is the commandment in Deut. 10,19: “You shall love the proselyte.”

ויסעו מהר ה, “they journeyed from the mountain of the Lord.” The Israelites journeyed away from Sinai, the cloud leading the way. The Ark was being carried by the Kehatites behind the cloud. The cloud did not stop moving until the evening of the third day as it had been searching for a suitable site to make camp. This is the meaning of the words לתור להם מנוחה, “to search out for them a place to rest.” Our sages in Shabbat 116 interpret the words מהר ה' as meaning מאחרי ה', that as soon as they left the environment of Sinai the people deviated from following G’d, they literally fled from the nearness of G’d. Different desires began to surface. These desires surfaced on the 22nd day of Iyar seeing that on the 20th of that month the cloud had risen from the Tabernacle and commenced to move. The first day of the three days which is mentioned here was the 20th of the month, the day the cloud started moving. The overpowering desire to eat meat surfaced on the 22nd of the month; the meat materialised on the same day and the people kept eating of the quail for 30 days until the 22nd of Sivan. Why did the sages in Shabbat have to interpret events in this manner? It was to teach us that as soon as the people moved away from Mount Sinai they no longer felt that they were under the immediate benevolent supervision of Hashem. They believed that this kind of supervision existed only right at the Mountain of G’d. The expression הר ה' as opposed to הר האלו-הים is so unusual that the sages felt the essence of the move was “away from the Torah element associated with that mountain.”

ויהי בנסוע הארון, “When the Ark would journey,” the Torah interrupted its narrative with these two verses. By rights the Torah should have continued writing here ויהי העם כמתאוננים וגו', i.e. the first verse of chapter 11 which would have made the proper continuation for the words בנסעם מן המחנה, “when they journeyed from the camp.” As long as the Israelites were encamped around Mount Sinai they were not far from civilization, whereas the direction the cloud traveled took them deeper and deeper into the desert. The people reacted negatively to this journey becoming afraid of the discomforts they expected to encounter. Seeing that chapter 11 is a direct continuation of verse 35 in chapter 10 there should not have been any interruption of the subject matter.

The reason for this insertion of verses 36-37 according to the plain meaning of the text is this: we know that the terrestrial world is divided into three parts, i.e. sea, civilised areas, desert. Our sages in Pessachim 94 (Tossaphot) said: “one third of the surface of the globe is oceans, one third is land that is cultivated, and inhabited; one third is desert. When the Israelites entered the land of Israel they had already traversed all three kinds of the globe. The Israelites had had a visible manifestation of the fact that G’d created the world as something entirely new seeing G’d had demonstrated miracles both on sea, on land and the miracles which occurred when the seven Canaanite nations were driven out of the land of Canaan. Seeing that when one comes face to face in nature with high mountains, etc., etc., one forms the impression that these phenomena have existed for eons of years and have preceded man and G’d historically, it is necessary to counter such impressions among the people. This is why the Torah inserted the two verses 36-37 at this point as it had become aware of the impression that the wilderness had begun to make on the Israelites. The words ויפוצו אויביך וינוסו משנאיך, “may Your enemies scatter and those who hate You be put to flight,” are aimed at the people who believed that forces in nature are more powerful than G’d. The Torah which is deposited inside the Holy Ark testifies to the fact that G’d preceded all phenomena known to man. When the enemies of the Israelites are scattered this is the most potent proof of G’d’s having preceded all. This is the reason G’d performed so many miracles in the desert in order to demonstrate precisely in an environment which would otherwise lead people to believe that it had existed forever, that our G’d exercises full control over such phenomena. This is also the reason that the members of the Great Assembly who formulated most of our liturgy included a statement in Berachot 54 that benedictions are to be recited when one sees the ocean, the mountains, and deserts. The formula is generally: “blessed be the One Who created the universe.” The point of such a benediction is to confirm that in spite of appearances to the contrary the universe was created out of “nothing,” not out of pre-existing bodies of matter.

A Midrashic approach by our sages in Shabbat 115 concentrates on the inverted letters נ in order to demonstrate that this paragraph is not in its proper place. Rabbi said that these inverted letters did not really belong here but that they signal that what is within them is really a whole Book by itself. Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel does not agree with Rabbi seeing that he is on record as saying that in the future the Torah will be revised and these verses will be removed from here and be written at an appropriate place. The reason that they have been inserted here in the meanwhile is to provide a break between one disaster and the next. The first disaster was the fact that the physical departure from Mount Sinai coincided with a spiritual departure from what Mount Sinai stood for, something which occurred on the first day of the journey. The second disaster is the one commencing with verse 1 in chapter 11, that the people were looking for something to complain about. Thus far the Midrash. There are three opinions concerning this subject among our sages (according to Rashi on that folio). The first opinion holds that the appropriate place for these two verses would have been where the flags are described, adjoining Numbers 2,17. This is where the journeys are described for the first time. There the Torah mentions the Tent of Meeting, and the Ark about which these verses speak, was in the tent of Meeting. If the Torah inserted the inverted letter נ it was to alert us that these verses really belonged elsewhere. If you will count the number of paragraphs between where these two verses should have appeared and where they did appear you will find that there are fifty paragraphs between them. This is alluded to by the Torah employing the letter נ whose numerical value is 50 as the dividing symbol.

The second opinion is that of Rabbi who holds that this short paragraph was written in its appropriate place in the Torah. Seeing that it is part of the journeys of the Children of Israel it is in its proper place. The paragraph had commenced with the words: “it was in the second year in the second month on the twentieth of the month that the cloud rose... and the people journeyed” (10,11). The Torah continues here to enumerate the order in which the flags were journeying. Rabbi said: לא מן השם הוא that the reason that these two verses are enclosed in these inverted letters נ is not because they appear out of context but because the message is so important that the two verses constitute a whole Book of the Torah by itself. Rabbi holds that by means of these inverted letters נ the Torah was divided into a total of seven Books, or the Book of Numbers into three Books. The Talmud in Shabbat 116 inquires who is the source for the opinion of Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmeni who reported in the name of Rabbi Yochanan that the words in Proverbs 9,1 חצבה עמודיה שבעה, ”she has hewn her seven pillars,” is a reference to the seven Books of the Torah. The answer given is that this was Rabbi’s interpretation of this verse in Proverbs. Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel disagrees with Rabbi in a minor detail; he agrees that the two verses are in the right context, but believes that in the future, after the arrival of the Messiah, the sequence of these verses will be changed seeing there will no longer be any reason to recall all these disasters. Seeing that at that time the evil urge itself will have disappeared, recalling these disasters as a warning against the evil urge will no longer be necessary. The reason that these verses were inserted here in the manner in which they were inserted was to separate between one disaster and another.

A kabbalistic approach: These two verses contain allusions to the entire history of this terrestrial universe, i.e. its existence of a total of 7,000 years. The hint consists of the seven times the letter א which is equivalent to אלף, 1,000, appears in these two verses. This is parallel to the very first verse in the Torah (Genesis 1,1) in which the letter א also appears seven times. [Actually in Genesis the letter א appears only 6 times in that verse, giving rise to the statement of the sages that the universe G’d created at that time was to endure in its present form for 6,000 years. (Compare Rosh Hashanah 31)]. After these 6,000 years there will be another 1,000 years during which the universe will be in ruins. We have to understand that seeing the entire Torah is built on the premise of creation ex nihilo, that just as the universe came into existence, had a beginning, it will also have an end. This is what is meant by Isaiah 44,6 quoting G’d as saying: “I am the first and therefore I am the last.” The prophet meant that just as G’d was first, i.e. before any creatures, so He will survive all creatures. This verse in Isaiah is proof that the terrestrial universe as we know it will have an end. If there would be a single surviving creature in the universe, how could G’d describe Himself as being the last? David explained this in greater detail when he said (Psalms 102, 26-27): “of old You established the earth; the heavens are the work of Your hands. They shall perish but You shall endure; they shall all wear out like a garment; You change them like clothing and they pass away. But You are the same and Your years never end.” The letter relating to the sixth millennium is the letter א in the word אלפי of the sequence רבבות אלפי ישראל. This is the sixth word in that verse. The seventh word, i.e. ישראל, in this instance alludes to a withdrawal of the forces which had kept the universe a going concern during the previous six thousand years, and a hint that during that millennium there would be ruin. This millennium is the one of which the Talmud said חד חריב, “one which is desolation.” We also find an interesting anomaly in Hoseah 9,12 where the prophet writes the word בשורי מהם spelling the word with the letter sin instead of with the shin. The idea is that the “turning away by G’d from Israel” will not be total. Seeing that the wordישראל can depict the absence of positive forces or the presence of positive forces depending on the context in which the word appears, it is possible that just as on occasion that word alludes to destruction, it may allude to reconstruction on occasion, i.e. a marshaling of positive, constructive forces. The word in our verse would therefore also allude to a rebuilding of the universe including the people of Israel. This is the mystical dimension of Psalms 24,2 על נהרות יכוננה, “He founded it on subterranean streams.” The psalmist did not write כוננה, “He founded it,” in the past, parallel to the word יסדה, in the same line where we read: “for He founded it on the oceans,” כי הוא על ימים יסדה, but יכוננה, “He will found it,” in the future. This reflects that at the beginning of this psalm David spoke about the fact that eventually the whole universe would return to the state it was in before the Creator created light. All of this proves that G’d had originated the universe not merely improved it or expanded it. You will also find that in the hymn dedicated to the Sabbath (Psalms 92,1) David said in verse 13: “the righteous bloom like the date-palm,” an allusion to an existence after the Sabbath (the seventh millennium). This is the mystical dimension of the verse in Genesis 2,3. I have already mentioned this concept when commenting on that verse commencing with the words ויכלו השמים והארץ, a verse which concludes with אשר ברא אלו-הים לעשות, “which the Lord had created in order to continue to perfect it.” The time when this will occur is “after the Sabbath,” i.e. after the seventh millennium. When David said in Psalms 72,7 that יפרח צדיק בימיו ורב שלום עד בלי ירח, “the righteous will bloom in his days and there will be much peace (well-being) until the cessation of the moon,” the meaning is that the world as we know it will continue until the great Yovel at which time the forces of nature as we know them will cease to exist. This cessation of the forces of nature will include the function of the sun and the moon. At that time the earth will revert to its state of Tohu Vavohu prior to G’d having given the directive: “let there be light.” As to the verse in Genesis 8,22: “as long as the earth will exist, seed-time, harvest-time, cold and heat, summer and winter, shall not cease” is concerned, this is merely confirmation that there is a time limit to the phenomena mentioned in that verse. The time set for these phenomena expires during the great Yovel, i.e. the seventh millennium. This is also the opinion of Solomon who said in Kohelet 1,4 “and the universe continues forever.” The word עולם used by Solomon in that verse is the עולם היובל, the “world” as perceived of as a cycle of seven Shemittah cycles followed by a year of Yovel as spelled out in Leviticus 25,8-10, where the microcosm is discussed, whereas Solomon referred to the macrocosm. All of this is due to the principle that things which have a beginning must be perceived to have an end. Solomon’s father David was of the same opinion as his son when he wrote about G’d’s handiwork perishing in Psalm 102, 26-7 whereas G’d Himself would endure. There are some verses in Psalms which at first glance appear to contradict the concept we have outlined, such as Psalms 145,1, 65-6 or Psalm 104,5 When the psalmist speaks about the phenomena mentioned enduring forever, he does not mean that they will actually endure forever but that they have been so constructed that they would not disintegrate on their own unless by an act of G’d. Seeing that we cannot perceive of the sequence of Shemittah cycles followed by the Yovel as being something which continues indefinitely, this small paragraph is encapsulated in the inverted letters נ, to indicate that such a progression as we experience will come to an end after 50 cycles. The great Yovel occurs at the end of 1,000 generations at which time the earth will revert to a state of chaos. The reason why the letter נ has been reversed is that just as when letters are written in the normal manner this is an indication of matters described by these letters continuing to exist, when you turn the letter upside down you are giving notice that what had been perceived as continuing indefinitely does in fact come to an end. In order to reinforce our appreciation of what these inverted letters mean the Torah wrote two of them in order to drive home the point, as well as in order to hint that not only earth as we know it will undergo the metamorphosis described but heaven will too. [‎After all, heaven was created on the second day, after the light. Ed.] The reason that the Torah wrote the word ויהי “it came to pass,” each time after one of these inverted letters נ appears is to convince us that there will be a new existence after the great Yovel during which this metamorphosis will occur. The Torah wanted us to appreciate these concepts. In order for this to become easier for us it legislated in the microcosm, i.e. in our life cycles the Shemittah and Yovel legislation concerning the sale of slaves, return of land which had been sold as the result of the owner’s distress, etc., etc. Once concepts such as Shemittah and Yovel, both of which represent different degrees of reversals of natural processes have become part of our daily lives, the macrocosmic principles which we described are much easier to visualize. Let me now try and explain to you the underlying reason for these cataclysmic events which will occur at the end of each cycle of 6,000 years and again at the end of 49,000 years. It is generally known that six of the ten emanations were active during the six days of creation. The first day was under the aegis of the emanation בינה, whereas the second day was under the aegis of the emanation חסד. The third day was associated with the emanation גבורה, and so on until the seventh day, the Sabbath, was under the aegis of the emanation יסוד. This emanation commenced its work which was to provide עונג ומנוחה, Sabbath entertainment and creative rest. The rest provided by this emanation was both in respect of the Sabbath itself and in respect of the preceding six days. When the emanation יסוד was at rest on the Sabbath, all the other emanations were at rest also. This is the meaning of Exodus 20,11 כי ששת ימים עשה ה' את השמים ואת הארץ וינח ביום השביעי, “for during (a unit of) six days the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day He rested.” The words ששת ימים describe the six emanations which G’d created and employed to do His work; the “rest” occurred on the seventh day by means of the emanation יסוד. Something similar will occur at the end of the six thousand years when the cycle will repeat itself with the interval being a period corresponding to the rest of the original Sabbath. Each millennium will be under the aegis of the respective six emanations we already referred to. Seeing that every emanation has completed its work at the end of one thousand years, it follows that the world will then become chaotic seeing all the emanations are inactive. This means that in our terrestrial, or “lower” world, a world governed by the relatively low emanation בינה, continuity has come to an end, all the “lower” emanations striving to return to the emanation בינה, their immediate origin. Once this has occurred the cycle renews itself; this whole cycle of 6,000 plus 1,000 years repeats itself six times until at the end of the seventh such cycle we come to the “great” Yovel. One of the reasons that during the first six such cycles there was a relative חורבן at the end of each 6,000 years is that the emanations תפארת and כבוד which govern the orbits of sun and moon respectively, return to their immediate origin the emanation בינה, and terrestrial earth cannot function unless both sun and moon are active in their orbits. Nonetheless the seventh millennium during these six cycles does not mean total chaos, i.e. תהו ובהו, seeing that these forces will rejuvenate themselves forthwith after having received input from the emanation בינה. At the end of the seventh such cycle all emanations including the ones above בינה revert to the אין סוף, G’d’s essence, necessitating a return to total תהו ובהו in the process. This is what Isaiah referred to when he wrote: “all the host of heaven shall molder, the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll and all their host shall wither like leaf withering on a vine, etc”. Another verse in Isaiah 51,6 describes something similar happening to earth. The reason for these phenomena is the withdrawal of sun and moon, i.e. the emanation תפארת and כבוד. This subject was revealed to David in Psalm 24 where he speaks about “the earth being the Lord’s as well as all that it contains, the world and its inhabitants.” The author proceeds to show that verses 7 and 9 in that hymn describe the developments which we have been describing. [Since the author himself imposes restrictions upon himself in going into details, I will also refrain from translating the remainder of his comments on that psalm. Ed.]