The Avodah of Levi is the concept יעַם יִלָוֶּה אִישִי א לַ הַפַ - “My husband will be attached to me” as is explained in Torah Ohr in the Parsha of Vayechi.
This explanation of the word שְעָרִים which refers to an individual Avodah ‘each one according to his own ability’ is connected with the second explanation of the word שְעָרִים.
2. The second [of these two] explanations of the word שְעָרִים comes from the word שִֹׁיעוּר וּגְבוּל meaning measurement and limitation, which refers to the Avodah of each individual, even someone who already serves HaShem at a level of infinity without constraints or limitation. Nevertheless, in comparison to HaShem, his service is very much limited, and how much more so with regards to someone who has not yet broken out of his own limitation.
Nevertheless, ‘Her husband is known at the gates’—Hakodosh Boruch Hu makes himself known to all according to their own ability. However, in order to have that relationship with HaShem truly at a level of: הּנוֹדָע בַשְעָרִים בַעְלָ “Her husband is known in the gates”, one first needs to work on his Avodah of שֹׁפְטִים וְשֹׁטְרִים תִתֶּן־לְךָ בְכָל־שְעָרֶיךָ—setting up ‘Judges and enforcement officers’ for yourself in all your ‘cities’.
This can be achieved, through the ‘four gates to the soul’, which are: one’s vision; auditory sense; sense of scent and speech. One’s Avodah through his faculty of vision should be as the Possuk: שְאוּ־מָרוֹם עֵינֵיכֶם וּרְאוּ מִי־בָרָא אֵלֶה - Lift up your eyes on high and see, who created these”. The second gate is one’s Avodah through his auditory faculty and is as the Possuk says: וְעַתָה יִשְרָאֵל שְמַע - “And Now Yisroel listen.”
Vision
Meaning using one’s vision to serve HaShem, as explained in earlier footnotes. Possuk: Yishayahu (40:26). שְאוּ־מָרוֹם עֵינֵיכֶם וּרְאוּ מִי־בָרָא אֵלֶה הַמוֹצִיא בְמִסְפָר צְבָאָם לְכֻלָם בְשֵם יִקְרָא מֵרֹב אוֹנִים וְאַמִיץ כֹחַ אִיש לֹא נֶעְדָר “Lift up your eyes on high and see, who created these, who takes out their host by number; all of them He calls by name; because of His great might and because He is strong in power, no one is missing”.
Open your eyes and allow yourself to see the creative energy behind the created and learn to appreciate HaShem through looking. Meditate on G-dliness to the extent that you will be able to attain the level of clarity that is comparable to seeing with one’s physical eyes.
Auditory Faculty
The ability to hear the positive shining through and to understand one thing from another and appreciate that the hand of HaShem is in everything one hears. Also, in Chassidus there is something about hearing which is far superior to seeing because when one sees something they remain detached from that which they see—they have observed something going on outside of themselves, whereas when listening, that sounds permeates and reverbs right inside the person listening.
Possuk: (Devorim 4:1) וְעַתָה יִשְרָאֵל שְמַע אֶל־הַחֻקִים וְאֶל־הַמִשְפָטִים אֲשֶר אָנֹכִי מְלַמֵד אֶתְכֶם לַעֲשוֹת לְמַעַן תִחְיוּ וּבָאתֶם וִירִשְתֶם אֶת־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶר ה׳ אֱלֹקֵי אֲבֹתֵיכֶם נֹתֵן לָכֶם “And now, Yisroel, listen to the statutes and to the judgments which I teach you to do, in order that you may live, and go in and possess the land which HaShem G-d of your forefathers, is giving you”.
Scent
Smell is very spiritual—it is there, but you cannot touch it. Although basic vitality for life comes from food but sometimes one needs to draw in deeper, like when one is feeling weak or faint, which can be achieved through smelling, because when you smell something you draw it in deeper within. Because smelling is the essential link between the Neshomoh and the body, which is why it is through smelling that one is awoken from a faint. It is brought down in the Zohar that the scent that one inhales via the nose is the essence of vitality, and there are two levels, which are the two nostrils referred to in the Zohar as the ‘Pardashka’ of the nose, the right nostril and the left nostril. Also, in smelling itself there are two levels: there is smelling good food, like the smell of the animal sacrifices which is smelled through the right nostril and then there is pure smell like the smell of the Ketores – incense offering particularly the Ketores from Yom Kippur which is pure scent. This pure scent reaches the deepest part of the Neshomoh referred to as ‘Yechidah’ or the Neshomoh of the Neshomoh and can be reached via smelling through the left nostril. (The left nostril is also more Makif related, associated with Moshiach and Moreh Vadoin, also associated with Teshuvah).
Possuk: In Moshe Rabeinu’s blessing to the tribe of Levi. (Devorim 33:10) יוֹרוּ מִשְפָטֶיךָ לְיַעֲקֹב וְתוֹרָתְךָ לְיִשְרָאֵל יָשִימוּ קְטוֹרָה בְאַפֶּךָ וְכָלִיל עַל־מִזְבְחֶךָ “They shall teach Your ordinances to Yaakov, and Your Torah to Yisroel; they shall place incense before You and burnt offerings upon Your altar.”
Speech
Thank HaShem: This is the Avodah of acknowledgement, admission and of gratitude to HaShem via speech alluding to the service of prayer and repentance. The Torah Temimah writes: from the day that Hakodosh Boruch Hu created His world there was no person who praised Hashem until Leah came along and praised Hashem. (With regards to repentance Rabeinu Bachayeh writes: The reason this attribute is part of Yehudah’s name is that he was the first person to publicly retract and confess a mistake he had made when he accused Tamar of being a harlot. He was not ashamed to admit his error, which is the greatest impediment to repentance. According to the Talmud in Sotah (7a) Yehudah’s repentance led to Reuven’s repentance. This is why Dovid Hamelech became one of his descendants. Dovid is reputed to have “been elevated,” i.e. by means of his repentance, in the matter of Bas Sheva (Shemuel II 23,1). Dovid was considered outstanding because he unabashedly repented).
Possuk: When Leah gives birth to her fourth child Yehudah (Bereishis 29:35) וַתַהַר עוֹד וַתֵלֶד בֵן וַתֹאמֶר הַפַעַם אוֹדֶה אֶת־ה׳ עַל־ כֵן קָרְ אָה שְמוֹ יְהוּדָה וַתַעֲמֹד מִלֶדֶת “And she conceived again and bore a son, and she said, "This time, I will thank HaShem! Therefore, she named him Yehudah, and then she stopped bearing”.
Setting up Judges and Enforcement Officers
And the preface to these four must be “You shall set up Judges and enforcement officers for yourself in all your cities” implying that one must restrain oneself in vision; that one must blinker the eyes from looking at anything untoward. As is explained at length in the Musor Seforim and is also brought in brief from the Rebbe Rashab, in the ‘Kuntrus Hoavoidah’ that even if it is a passing glance in cool spirit, and there is no excitement at the time, it still makes a strong impression on and great indentation into the soul, and it will not pass by without an overt and negative arousal [thereafter]; G-d forbid.
Similarly, one needs to block one’s ears from listening to anything negative, like Loshon Hora, through which one can save the lives of three people. Furthermore, as a result of not hearing Loshon Hora one causes that in the realm above if some will come to prosecute him, then above they won’t want to hear Loshon Hora about him either, as the Possuk says: “וְלֹא־אָבָה ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ לִשְמֹעַ - HaShem does not want to listen”. This is because the conduct above operates in a manner of ‘measure for measure’. Therefore, when one does not want to hear anything untoward about his friend, he causes that when they want to speak negatively about him in the realm above, HaShem does not even listen from the beginning.
Similarly, there needs to be a boundary set in one’s faculty of scent, meaning that one needs to beware of evil thoughts, as our Rabbis of blessed memory say that the thoughts of doing an Aveira are worse than actually committing the Aveira itself, and the proof is in the ‘Scent’.
Similarly, one needs to be meticulous with one’s boundaries and faculties, ensuring that all four gates—vision, hearing, scent, and speech—are guarded and sanctified in the service of Hashem.
