But by way of introduction, Rav Chaim Volozhiner lived in the second half of the 18th century, the first quarter of the 19th century. In the hakdamah to Nefesh HaChaim, which is written by one of his sons and his successor at the helm of the Volozhiner Yeshiva, Rav Itzele. So Rav Itzele describes how in his early youth he was a talmid of the Shaagas Aryeh, and then later in his 20s, he and his brother, the legendary figure Rav Zalmele, then became talmidim of the Vilna Gaon as well, and a relationship which lasted for about a quarter of a century until the Vilna Gaon's petirah at the end of the 18th century. For those of you who have the sefer in front of you, this is not in the Xeroxed pages, just if Nefesh HaChaim was published posthumously. It was in manuscript form at the time of Rav Chaim Volozhiner's petirah. And Rav Itzele recounts what the tzava'ah was that his father left him. And his father said that of everything of all his kisvei yad, so this had a din kedimah, this was the absolute priority that this sefer be published. And he describes the goal which he set himself in writing these kuntresim, which is how he referred to it as lehashrish, it's if you happen to be looking in this edition which I have in front of me as well, it's on page 25 in large bold print, להשריש יראת ה' ותורה ועבודה זכה בלב ישרי לב המבקשים דרכי ה'.
To inculcate, to let yiras Hashem strike root, and also to give people guidance on avodah zakah, on pure avodah, pure service of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And already here you get a little bit of a foreshadowing and it's something which bli neder im yirtzeh Hashem if we get far enough we'll see, certainly part of the Nefesh HaChaim as is well known is I guess a polemic against the Chassidus and two of the major themes towards the end of Nefesh HaChaim where he in particular takes issue with Chassidic practice and doctrine, one is in terms of the relative weight which should be assigned to kavanah versus ma'aseh, the kavanah the intention versus the action in a mitzvah. And the other of course the I guess the most famous discussion in all of Nefesh HaChaim, which is in Sha'ar Daled, the final sha'ar, about what exactly it means when it says that we aspire to learn Torah lishmah. Just one other brief comment and there's so much more which is probably worth saying, but one other brief comment, I think nowadays we sort of have the impression that one of the things which maybe divide Misnagdim and Chassidim is that Chassidim spend more time and they're osek more in Toras Hanistar, in Zohar and that whole tradition, and Misnagdim if at all certainly less so. And while that description and that assessment may be true in certain generations subsequent to Rav Chaim Volozhiner, it certainly wasn't true of the Vilna Gaon, it certainly wasn't true of Rav Chaim Volozhiner. One of the things which we'll see immediately, I don't think we're going to have to go beyond Perek Gimmel to already encounter it, is just how heavily Rav Chaim Volozhiner draws from from the Sefer HaZohar and the ideological differences and points of contention were not questions of that one has a worldview which draws from sources in the Zohar and the like and the other doesn't, but rather it was how to interpret those sources. The Rav zecher tzadik livracha used to quote how Rav Chaim Volozhiner writes in his introduction to the commentary of the Vilna Gaon. on parts of the Zohar he says it’s a terrible, terrible slander that people say and they malign the Vilna Gaon, as though the Vilna Gaon questioned whether or not the Ari’zal had Gilluy Eliyahu. He says Rachmana litzlan, it’s not the case; his rebbe never doubted for a second that the Ari’zal had Gilluy Eliyahu. In Yoreh De’ah when, in Hilchos Talmud Torah, so the Mechaber quotes the—there’s a Gemara in Sukkah, in Bava Basra, in Sukkah towards the end of the second perek that talks about how Havayos de-Abaye ve-Rava, I guess what we would call Halacha, is axiologically only a davar katon and really what’s davar gadol is Ma’aseh Bereishis and Ma’aseh Merkavah. And the Vilna Gaon there in his Be’ur Ha-Gra endorses the understanding which all the mekubalim have of that Gemara is that the ultimate chochmah, again, it’s the ultimate chochmah which is well, well beyond us and not accessible to us, but just in terms of what the worldview of the Vilna Gaon and Rav Chaim Volozhin was, so the the Vilna Gaon there endorses the pshat and says that the Ma’aseh Bereishis and Ma’aseh Merkavah means the interpretations of the Zohar and that whole tradition to these things. So and that’s something which again, even on the most elementary and exoteric level, which is the way we’ll be trying to learn through the Nefesh HaChaim, it’s something we’ll see. So the question wasn’t whether the Zohar and that whole tradition informed one’s worldview, the question was the interpretation of the Zohar and what was to be drawn from it. In terms of how we’ll proceed bli neder, so we’re gonna go very just word by word simply, just to read and try to understand on the most basic and elementary level and as and occasionally make certain, certain associations, but for the most part, we’re just gonna be trying to plow through word by word, line by line through the actual text of the Nefesh HaChaim, and again occasionally with associations. So let’s try to begin here without any further ado. So in שער א' פרק א', so the Rav Chaim Volozhin begins as follows: Kesiv, the pasuk says ויברא אלקים את האדם בצלמו בצלם אלקים ברא אותו that Hakadosh Baruch Hu, right, referred specifically here by the name of Elokim, created Adam in His image, capital H, בצלם אלקים ברא אותו in the image of Elokim He created Adam. And v’chein kesiv, and later in in Sefer Bereishis, the pasuk again reiterates this point כי בצלם אלקים עשה את האדם that He, Hashem, made Adam in the image of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Hineh, says Rav Chaim Volozhin, עומק פנימיות עניין הצלם, the depth of the esoteric understanding of what tzelem represents, what it means image, הוא מדברים העומדים ברומו של עולם, this is something which is very, very lofty idea, והוא כולל רוב סתרי פנימיות הזוהר. And to really understand it, so one it includes, it encompasses many of the secrets, of the esoteric secrets of the Zohar. Amnam, כאן נדבר במילת צלם בדרך הפשטנים הראשונים זל. He says I’m not undertaking to present that understanding of what tzelem means, but what we’ll talk about here with regard to the word tzelem is in the path of those who were understanding things on their more elementary level, and specifically relating to the pasuk על פסוק נעשה אדם בצלמנו כדמותנו כאשר Hakadosh Baruch Hu says let us make man in our image, in our form. V’hu, now again on the level of pshat, the most again exoteric level, כי מילת צלם ודמות כאן אינו כמשמעו. That when the Torah here uses the word tzelem and dmus, the Torah is not using it in its literal sense, right? Mashma’o always means that literal sense. When Rashi says pshuto ke-mashma’o, it means that the simple meaning is what it means literally. So pshat is the simple meaning which isn’t necessarily... literally why? ki kasuv meforash because there is an it's it's written explicitly in Yishayahu ומה דמות תערכו לו what what form or or what image can one arrange or ascribe to HaKadosh Baruch Hu meaning that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is as the Rambam writes in the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim eino guf HaKadosh Baruch Hu's incorporeal if he's incorporeal so obviously one can't talk about form and image in any literal sense Ella perusha what it means is דמיון מה באיזה דבר resemblance in a certain respect כמו דמיתי לקאת מדבר I I resemble the bird of the wilderness כי לא נעשו לו כנפים וחרטום it doesn't mean that he that he now possessed wings and a beak ולא נשתנה צורתו לצורת הקאת and it doesn't mean that his his bodily form changed to the form of of a bird rak shenidmeh az but rather he resembled then במקרה פעולותיו שהיה נע ונד in terms of his what was happening that he was wandering k'mo haka'as midbar like the bird of the wilderness shehu tzippor boded who is a a solitary bird u'me'ofef mimakom lemakom and is very transient is is flies from place to place so that's what dimyon means dimyon means that there is a certain element a certain aspect of resemblance כך הוא לפי הפשטנים הראשונים ז"ל and and that's what it means when we speak of being created when HaKadosh Baruch Hu says betzalmenu kidmusenu it means that there is resemblance similarly וכן על דרך זה הוא ענין מלת צלם in a similar sense that's what tzelem also implies again a certain aspect or element of resemblance because for our purposes presently כי המה דומין במשמעם בצד מה that they they're somewhat similar in terms of their their connotation and for present purposes we don't really need to distinguish the two Omnam lehavin inyan okay so that's what tzelem means okay that there is a certain resemblance now what that resemblance is so first we have to see another question להבין ענין אמרו בצלם אלקים דוקא ולא שם אחר right if we want to say that that Adam was created in the image of HaKadosh Baruch Hu so why does the Torah in particular specify the name of Elokim right of all the various names of HaKadosh Baruch Hu so the Torah says specifically that Adam was created in the the image of Elokim v'lo shem acher it doesn't mention any any other name of HaKadosh Baruch Hu כי שם אלקים ידוע פירושו it it's well known what the meaning what attribute of HaKadosh Baruch Hu is expressed by the name Elokim shehu moreh the name Elokim expresses and indicates shehu yisbarach shemo that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is ba'al hakochos kulu which usually is is understood but we'll see that according to Rav Chaim Volozhiner it's an incomplete understanding it means that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is omnipotent but we'll see in a minute that according to Rav Chaim Volozhina that's that's that's correct but incomplete כמו שמבואר בטור אורח חיים סימן ה' why cause if you look in Shulchan Aruch actually in Shulchan Aruch it says that every time we say Shem Hashem every time when we make a beracha ברוך אתה ה' אלקינו מלך העולם so it says in Shulchan Aruch that when we say Hashem right which is written Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei but we pronounce it of course Adnus so according to the Mechaber every time we say Shem Hashem every time when we make a Shehakol anytime so according to the Mechaber we're supposed to be mechaven both to the significance of the way it's written as well as the significance of the way it's pronounced it's pronounced Adnus Adon Hakol which expresses the fact that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is Adon Hakol it's written Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei comes from the shoresh havaya of existence which expresses the idea that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is Haya Hoveh v'Yihyeh that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is is eternal right HaKadosh Baruch Hu was HaKadosh Baruch Hu is HaKadosh Baruch Hu always will be that's according to according to the Mechaber the Vilna Gaon says that with the exception of the first pasuk in Krias Shema. So when we say Adoshem, it suffices that a person is mechaven just to the way it's pronounced, Adon Hakol, and a person needn't necessarily be mechaven haya hoveh veyihyeh. Okay. What about Elokim? So what understanding of Elokim are we supposed to have in mind when we say Elokim or Elokeinu, ברוך אתה ה' אלקינו? So it says in Shulchan Aruch, and this is what Rav Chaim Volozhiner is referring to, that we're supposed to have in mind that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is תקיף בעל היכולת בעל הכוחות כולם. That Hakadosh Baruch Hu is, is mighty, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu is, is, is powerful, and that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is, is all-powerful. Ba'al hakochot kulam. Now what does that mean? So let's now that's what the Nefesh Hachaim is about to explain. וענין מה שהוא יתברך נקרא בעל הכוחות, what does it mean when we say that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is ba'al hakochot? Again, it doesn't simply mean that he's omnipotent. Ki lo kemiddat, that's probably what ba'al hayacholet means. When we say takif ba'al hayacholet, that's what ba'al hayacholet means. Where does it come from in the word El? The, the word El means strength, as מי כמכה באלים ה'. Who, who is like you amongst the, the strong ones? Eilei Bashan means the strong ones of the Bashan. So just etymologically, that's what the word El means. When Lavan encounters, when he chases after Yaakov, so Lavan says to Yaakov, יש לאל ידי לעשות עמכם רע. I have the, I have the strength, I have the, the ability to, to do bad to you, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu told me not to. So El means, means strength. And that explains, incidentally, right? It's always very strange when, when we see this name of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the fact that it's in the plural form, right? The yud mem at the, at the end indicates the plural, right? So how can Shem Hashem, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is Hashem Echad? So how can a Shem Elokim be in the plural? So the answer is because again, since the, the basic root of, of, of El means strength, so, so the fact that Elokim is in the plural is a way of showing that it's ba'al hakochot kulam. It reflects the, the plurality of all the kochot that we perceive in the world, not, not that Hashem is one obviously, but the plural reflects again the, the multiplicity and plurality of all the, the kochot, all the capacities of that we perceive in the world. So inyan mah shehu again, the second paragraph here: וענין מה שהוא יתברך נקרא בעל הכוחות, כי לא כמדת בשר ודם מדת הקדוש ברוך הוא.
The way of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the, the attribute of Hakadosh Baruch Hu is, is not like the, the attribute of, of flesh and blood, of human beings. Ki ha'adam, a person, כשבונה בנין דרך משל מעץ, if a person for instance will, will build a, a building out of, out of wood. Build a, a wooden, a wooden building. אין הבונה בורא וממציא אז מכחו העץ. First of all, the, the contractor, the builder, he doesn't create yesh mei'ayin, he and he doesn't generate the, the raw materials of the eitz from his own yacholet, from his own ability and his own, his own power. רק שלוקח עצים שכבר נבראו, no, he takes wood which has already been created, and what is his contribution? Umesadram bebinyan and he arranges them in the form of a building. ואחר שכבר סדרם לפי רצונו and after he arranges them according to his desire, according to his wishes, אם שכחו הוסר ונסתלק מהם. Even though right now he is totally, right? Literally, his, his force, his, his energy is withdrawn from them, he doesn't continue to exert any force to maintain the building, עם כל זה הבנין קיים. He pours the cement and the building stays up. He doesn't have to continue to exert any ongoing force. אבל הוא יתברך שמו but Hakadosh Baruch Hu, כמו בעת בריאת העולמות כולם. Just as at the first moment of creation, right? The Rav Chaim Volozhiner talks about olamos in the plural because we'll see throughout here, above our visible tangible world, there are other more spiritual worlds, and as we, as is relevant, we'll try to understand a little bit what that means and what the relationship is to our world. בראם והמציאם הוא יתברך. yesh me'ayin. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu first of all didn't have any raw materials to work with initially. Hakadosh Baruch Hu created and generated them, right, himtzi'am, brought them into metzius. He generated them yesh me'ayin, something from nothing, ex nihilo. How did he do that bechocho habilti tachlis with his infinite power? kein mei'oz and so too from then כל יום וכל רגע ממש every day, not just every day, every moment כל כח מציאותם וסדרם וקיומם again their their force of existence and and their ongoing existence totally it's not by inertia. It's not because Hakadosh Baruch Hu ה'תשס"ה years ago created the world so then the world continues to exist by virtue of inertia. No, but rather talui everything hinges רק במה שהוא יתברך שמו משפיע בהם ברצונו יתברך כל רגע
only because Hakadosh Baruch Hu infuses within them every single moment constantly כח ושפע אור חדש he he gives them an infusion again of literally of of strength and of of the light of existence. ואילו היה הוא יתברך מסלק מהם כח השפעתו אף רגע אחת
and if Hakadosh Baruch Hu would remove would stop that infusion af raga achas for even a a the slightest moment keraga instantaneously היו כולם לאפס ותהו everything would would revert to nothingness. So so the world doesn't exist by virtue of inertia but rather Hakadosh Baruch Hu constantly sustains the world by infusing the world again with the with the vitality which which allows it to continue to exist. I if I recall correctly, I'm not a hundred percent sure if this is how he said it, so if something is is is amiss, you'll you'll know why. But I think the Rav zichrono livracha in a drasha once mentioned amongst the chachmei umos ha'olam so there was there was a philosopher David Hume from the the English school and and he was he was an empiricist. So he so what he what he argued was the following. He says that you can't even in studying science he says you can't claim that there are any any laws which dictate what's going to be because a person can't all we can describe is what was. You can't claim what's going to be, right? Again, he was an empiricist. So you can't you can't say that that this law exists, you can say that in my lifetime every time I throw something up it comes back down, but I can't I can't claim that there's a that there's a law of gravity that if in a minute from now if I throw it up it's going to come down. You can't you can't prove such a thing. Okay, sort of counter obviously counterintuitive in terms of of common sense. So what the Rav once commented on is obviously not on a practical or scientific level but on a certain philosophical level he's not wrong and that on a certain philosophical level again that in a totally different way than he intended it, so according to Rav Chaim Volozhiner it's also true what's going to be in a minute from now is is not is is only because in that minute Hakadosh Baruch Hu maintains the world as it always was, but it's not because it's not because of of any it's not because what always has been has its own ability to continue. And and and on a certain level, not not on the level in which he intended it, but on a certain level he's he's not wrong. An interesting observation. Now, says Rav Chaim Volozhiner, maybe this seems to be some kind of new thought that we haven't encountered. So he says no, we say it twice every morning, twice in the bracha of Yotzer Or. וכמו שיסדו אנשי כנסת הגדולה and just as the Anshei Knesses Hagedola who who formulated the the text of our tfillos so in the bracha of Yotzer Or they say המחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית that Hakadosh Baruch Hu in his goodness renews every day constantly ma'aseh bereishis. hainu tamid mamash says Rav Chaim Volozhiner what does that mean? Literally tamid, literally constantly. Every every moment. Uve'osiyos meforeshes and and how do the Anshei Knesses Hagedola know it? Ko'amar as the posuk says le'oseh orim gedolim. To Hashem who creates, who makes, who fashions the orim gedolim. Shelo amar asah, that didn't say Hakadosh Baruch Hu made or fashioned in the past tense, ela oseh, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu makes, fashions in the present tense. We're going to skip for the most part the hagahos. We'll do part of one hagaha, but for the most part we're going to skip the hagahos. So so going to the next larger hagaha, the long one you see at the beginning where there's a note on the bottom is from Reb Itzele, and the others where it's not indicated that it's Reb Itzele is from Rav Chaim Volozhin himself I think. The first question: Is this point that Rav Chaim Volozhin making here limited to maaseh bereshis or to hanhagas ha'olam? Anochan? What it means is that again nothing nothing exists by inertia. That's everything exists because at this moment Hakadosh Baruch Hu again is giving a direct infusion. You know if you imagine someone who's Rachmana litzlan hooked up to a machine, so he has to remain hooked up to that machine to his heart Rachmana litzlan has to be hooked up to a heart-lung machine. So it's at every moment because of what the machine is doing. So we have that constant infusion. Now that doesn't mean to the exclusion of bechirah chofshis, but what it means is that the chiyus which each of us has, which then allows us to exercise our bechirah chofshis, that chiyus, that that existence, that vitality is because at this very moment Hakadosh Baruch Hu is infusing us bifrat and everything bichlal with a chiyus, with a vitality. Then what we do with that chiyus, that's הכל בידי שמים חוץ מיראת שמים, that's our that's our bechirah chofshis. So it doesn't encroach upon bechirah chofshis. It doesn't encroach upon bechirah chofshis. Okay, now says Rav Chaim Volozhin, and now we understand what it means when we say Hakadosh Baruch Hu is Baal hakochos kulam. Again, Baal hayacholes already expresses that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is omnipotent. So what does it mean that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is Baal hakochos kulam? So on the next page, the paragraph וזהו שנקרא הוא יתברך שמו, when we call Hakadosh Baruch Hu Ha'Elokim, right as in Hashem Hu Ha'Elokim, Baal hakochos kulam. So what that means is again not just when we say Hakadosh Baruch Hu is omnipotent, so what do we understand by that? What we understand by that is Hakadosh Baruch Hu is omnipotent, he can do anything, I can only do some things. I can lift 50 pounds, so I can do something, but I'm not I'm not omnipotent, I can't I can't lift more than that. Says Rav Chaim Volozhin no, when we say Hakadosh Baruch Hu is Baal hakochos kulam, what it means is שכל כח פרטי הנמצא בכל העולמות, any any capacity, any any ability, anything, הכל הוא יתברך שמו הבעל כח שלהם. Really that belongs to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Meaning any koach that that we have, the that we think we have, or any koach that we think we we perceive in in the world around us doesn't really doesn't really belong to that object or to us. Really everything again every every capacity is because of this infusion from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, which means that ultimately it all is they're all his, and that's what it means Baal hakochos kulam in an in an exclusive sense. Meaning not just when we say when we say Hakadosh Baruch Hu is omnipotent, so we mean he's omnipotent and we're somewhat potent, but but not omnipotent. And says Rav Chaim Volozhin no, what it means Baal hakochos kulam, it's a monopoly, that only Hakadosh Baruch Hu is a baal koach because all kochos belong to him and that there is no other baal koach. There is no other baal koach that exists. שכל כח פרטי הנמצא בכל העולמות, again any koach, any any ability, capacity, any any strength which exists in all all the worlds again in the plural as we noted before, Hu Yisborach Shmo, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, habaal koach shelahem. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is really the the one who's the master. of that koach, of that force, of that capacity, of that ability. Why? שמשפיע בהם הכח וגבורה כל רגע because it's Hakadosh Baruch Hu who's infusing, who's infusing within that person, that object, whatever it is, that, that capacity, that force, that ability. ותלויים בידו תמיד לשנותם ולסדרם. And again, and we don't, we don't have anything in, in our grip independently, autonomously, and it's up to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, if He wants any second, Hakadosh Baruch Hu can, can change it according to His will, Kirtzono Yisbareich. Now, we're just going to take a look again, for the most part we're not going to really be reading the, the hagahos, but, but if you take a look, just on the bottom line here of the page, Velachein Ne'emar, and, and that's why the pasuk says in Yirmiyahu, V'Hashem Elokim Emes. Right? The Gemara in Berachos quotes this pasuk in Yirmiyahu. That's why when we finish Krias Shema, so we, we connect the Ani Hashem Elokeichem to the Emes Veyatziv, the Emes Ve'emuna, based on this pasuk in Yirmiyahu of V'Hashem Elokim Emes. So what does it mean that V'Hashem Elokim Emes? So says Reb Chaim Volozhiner, it's V'Hashem Elokim Emes. Right? That's the way the pasuk should be read, שהוא הבעל כח האמיתי של כולם. Right? Again, the Elokim connoting Baal HaKohos, that Hashem is the only genuine Elokim, that Hashem again is genuine Elokim because Hashem again, exclusively, and in a, in a monopolistic sense, is the Baal Koach, שכולם מקבלים כח ממנו יתברך שמו. Again, that every object, person, anything that exists, whatever force, potency, capacity it has, is all because it's infused at that moment with it by Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Ze Shekasuv, and this is what the pasuk means, ויפלו על פניהם ויאמרו ה' הוא האלהים. That they, with, after the, the encounter, the showdown between Eliyahu and the Nivei HaBaal on Har Carmel, so Vayippelu Al Pneihem, they fell on their faces, ויאמרו ה' הוא האלהים, again, in exclusively, in, in this sense of exclusivity. Okay, bli neder, and next time we'll, we'll see how based on this he comes back to explain why when the Torah describes Brias Adam, why it's davka betzelem Elokim rather than betzelem of any of the other shemos of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.