THE HAFTORAH FOR THIS SHABBAT STATES ‘ZION WILL BE REDEEMED THROUGH JUSTICE AND ITS CAPTIVES THROUGH CHARITY’.
When this verse tells us that the captives will return from exile with charity, Tzedaka, it means with the Charity or Righteousness of G-d, which is without any limitations, as is expressed in the verse ‘charity, oh G-d, is Yours’ (Daniel 9:7). This boundless charity will be expressed when the Jewish people repent, and then at once will be redeemed, without any delay at all.
The future redemption will be similar, in this respect, to the redemption from Egypt, as expressed in the verse ‘as in the days of your going out of Egypt, I will show you wonders’ (Micah 7:15). For then too there was a revelation of boundless Divine righteousness. After the Jewish people had fulfilled their part by undertaking circumcision and by offering the Paschal Lamb, the redemption took place through the unbounded revelation of ‘the King of Kings, the Holy One blessed be He’ as we say in the Haggadah.
Given this emphasis on boundless charity, why is there the term ‘justice’ in the first part of the verse, ‘Zion will be redeemed through justice’? Justice sounds rigorous and defined, the opposite of boundless charity. The Tzemach Tzedek explains that ‘Zion’ represents the scholars of Torah. For them redemption comes as their just reward. By contrast, for the ‘captives’, the simple people who are not scholars, redemption can only come through the boundless charity of the Divine.
This relates to a teaching by the Maharash (Rabbi Shmuel Schneersohn, 4th generation leader of Lubavitch) about the spiritual nature of exile and redemption. The destruction of the two Temples was the physical manifestation of a double split in the Divine Name. He explains that the First Temple expresses the Yud and the Heh of the upper part of the Name, and the Second Temple represents the Vav and Heh of the lower part of the Name. The destruction of the First Temple means the separation of the Yud from the upper Heh, and the destruction of the Second signified the separation of the Vav from the lower Heh.
The upper part of the Name, Yud and Heh, expresses the bond of Wisdom and Understanding, while the lower part of the Name, Vav and Heh, expresses the flow of the higher Sefirot into Malchut, Kingship. The full Redemption requires both aspects of the Name to be whole and to connect together.
However, the most important aspect is the lower dimension in which the Vav of emotion and speech flows into the Heh of Action. Only when the lower unity of Vav and Heh is in place, can the higher more spiritual unity of Yud and Heh, of Wisdom (or Inspiration) and Understanding, be effective.
Further, this relates also to the Sedra of the week, Devarim, which opens the fifth book of the Torah. This Book focuses on the practical laws of Judaism and on preparing the Jewish people for entry to the practical life in the Land. Further, since the Sages tell us that the Book of Numbers (Bemidbar) actually comprises three books, the Book of Deuteronomy (Devarim) is the seventh book of the Torah, expressing the seventh Sefirah, Kingship, Malchut.
The Talmud states (Shabbat 116a) that the verses Numbers 10:35-36, ‘Vayehi binsoa ha-aron’, constitute a separate Book of the Torah. This means the Book of Numbers contains 3 Books, and with the four other Books of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy) that makes seven, as in the verse ‘Wisdom.. carved out her seven pillars’ (Prov.9:1).
But the lowest Sefirah is rooted in Keter, Crown, the highest level of the Divine Attributes. Hence when the lower level of Kingship is properly established, by individual Jewish men and women studying Torah and keeping its practical laws in daily life, then the highest of level of Keter, Crown, is accessed, bringing healing and wholeness to all levels.
As we learnt above, the lower aspect of the Divine Name, Vav and Heh, the fulfilment of Kingship, corresponds to the ‘captives’ who are redeemed by charity, the boundless Divine charity mentioned earlier. When the lower level of the Divine Name is whole, the highest level of Keter is accessed, bringing redemption also to the higher level, the Yud and the Heh, which in terms of the Jewish people means the scholars and Sages. Then the third Temple, the fulfilment of the First and the Second, can be built and the Divine Name will be whole.
