Shaar HaEmunah — Chasidut

Shaar HaEmunah

Shaar HaEmunah — Chasidut on Beth HaMidrash: the Hebrew text with its English translation, with Rashi and the major commentators. Free, online.

דע את אלהי אביך ועבדהו, כי עיקר העבודה היא רק כפי הידיעה.The Principle of Service is based on Knowledge In this first chapter, R. Gershon Henokh discusses the centrality of knowledge in the path of serving God. This knowledge, however, has several aspects. On the one hand, it means exoteric knowledge: the knowledge of the Torah and its commandments, which enables a person to live a committed Jewish life and worship God according to the Codes of Jewish Law. On a deeper level, R. Gershon Henokh equates knowledge with faith; for the knowledge of God’s unity provides faith in times of adversity. Finally, in keeping with hasidic tradition, knowledge – da’at – also means an inner enlightenment, a direct awareness of Divinity. Thus, he refers to hasidism’s great principle: “In all your ways, know Him.” This is not merely the knowledge of how to serve God in all of life’s details – as defined by the Codes – but how to actually unite with His eternal presence, even as it manifests itself amidst the mundane aspects of reality. The goal of acquiring this knowledge reflects another important aspect of R. Gershon Henokh’s approach; that is, the descent of Divinity from the highest realms to the lowest, and the role of man and Torah study for investing the lowest levels with supernal wisdom, thus spreading the knowledge of God on earth.

אודה ה' בכל לבב, בסוד שרידים ואוהבים הצמאים לדבר ה' ואוהבי תורתו באמת ובתמים, לא למען חפור בה יעסקו בה, כאשר ילטוש איש קרדומו. ולא למען התעטר בה כלובשי אדרת שער. אך יכופו אזנם לשמוע דברי חכמים, ולבם ישיתו לדעתם:I thank God with all my heart, In the counsel hanisharim” in Hebrew, is a play on the words of Psalm 111, “b’sod yesharim,” “in the mystery of the upright of heart.” This leads us to the simple principle that the unknown becomes known through proper counsel, which is the aim of this treatise. It is also an allusion to the four major works penned by this author, collectively called Sod Yesharim, as mentioned in the introduction. As is often the case regarding the titles of Hasidic works, the numerical equivalent of the phrase, “sod yesharim,” is “Gershon Henokh.” (=630) It may be that this equation is the least significant of the mysteries contained in the pages of this book. of those who remain and those who love, Those who thirst for God’s word, Those love His Torah with truth and wholeness. They do not learn the Torah as a woodsman sharpens his axe, in order to earn a living. Nor do they adorn themselves in it like a fur coat. Yet they bend their ears to hear the words of the sages. Their hearts yearn to know the truth.

אף נושאים חרפה עליה וכלמתה תכסה פניהם. כל חורפיה גם אותם יחרפו ובוזיה אותם יבוזו. כל היום כלמה נגדנו, מקול מחרף ומגדף אויב ומתנקם, וכל זאת באתנו ולא שכחנוה, ולא נשקר בברית ה' אלהינו עמנו היא התורה אשר שם בריתו בינו ובינינו:They are shamed and disgraced due to [their love of Torah]. Yet, those who shame them will be put to shame, and those who scorn them shall be scorned! And as for us, we are shamed daily, by the voice of the reviler and the insulter, the enemy and the vengeful. Yet, regardless of all we suffer from them, we have not forgotten the Torah, for it is the covenant that God has forged with us.

ועם כי קנאתה אכלתנו וחרפת חורפיה נפלה עלינו, ילעגו עלינו באמרם מה יתן לכם ומה יוסיף הגות בתורה, הכי תוסיפו אם תגרעו בה הלא תורת ה' תמימה:Even though their envy of the Torah has consumed us, and the humiliation of those who blaspheme her have fallen upon us, and they mock us, by saying, “What will you gain, and what will your study of the Torah add for you? You will gain more if you reduce your efforts, for is not God’s Torah already perfect?”

כל אלה נחתו בנו, לא רק מאובינו שונאינו ומנדינו, אך אף מאחינו בעלי גמרא גמור זמרתא. גם המה בעוכרינו, באמרם, מה לכם להביט ולחפור בעומק, הלא די דברים ככתבן וכהוייתן, ולמה לנו להגות ולהבין תעלומה:All of these descend upon us, and not only from our enemies. We are insulted even by our brothers, masters of the Talmud., who studied Torah in an abstract way (an approach he rejects much later in the introduction), who failed to bring their learning down to the level of observance, and who clearly had a personal vendetta against him. They too sully our name, saying, “What business do you have digging to the depths of the Torah? The plain meaning is enough! Why should we contemplate and seek to understand that which is hidden?”(Johns Hopkins Jewish Studies) if you want to quote an academic source] Later, the author himself will agree that not everyone can penetrate to the Torah’s depth. Yet, in that he sees the entire thrust of Jewish history as the bringing down of supernal knowledge to the lowest level, he sets this as the goal of all true Torah scholars – a goal that was eminently achieved by his grandfather, Rav Mordechai Yosef, founder of the Izhbitzer hasidic dynasty, and the latter’s successors.

Sha'ar HaEmunah VeYesod HaChasidut, Introduction to Beit Yaakov 1